Customer Centricity

By Manya Arora

Edited by Sanchita Malhotra, Associate Editor, The Indian Economist

“Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game.”

-Tony Allesandra

By means of the widespread cut throat competition and rapidly increasing globalization, the only way to get an edge over your competitors is to provide your beloved customer with the finest customer service. In this modern age of customer empowerment we need to “woo” our customers, and providing operational brilliance is just not enough! We need to twirl customer satisfaction into customer delight. In today`s market the pre-requisite for market leadership and unrelenting profitability is customer centricity. Customer experience has become the new competitive battlefield.  A number of organizations claim to be customer centric but their actions don’t follow what they preach, are you one of them? Read further to find out!

Customer centricity

Customer centricity involves aligning organizational resources for effectively responding to the ever changing needs of customers, while building mutually profitable relationships. For companies to be customer centric they need to let go of the “one size fits all” approach. A customer centric organization ideally involves a custom made package of services or products for the customer depending upon the flexibility of their respective business. Technologists should be given the authority to successfully cater to the customer`s requirement.

“Customer is lord” needs to be ingrained in employees throughout the company. This can be achieved by inculcating the net promoter score as a determinant to the employees’ bonus package .Also the employees’ performance should be measured against some set standards. On doing so the employees would be motivated to work in accordance with their customer`s wishes instead of just fulfilling their target. Operating practices and procedures, internal and external systems and the products and services need to be aligned according to the customer needs. Customers are retained in the company on the basis of the relationships rather than services. It is the bitter truth, hence you need to buckle up and build mutually profitable relationships with them. This involves

•  Ascertainment of customer request
  ·         Ensuring profitability
  ·         Finding out repeatability of transactions
  ·         Prior determination of feasible terms of relationship
  ·         Developing a framework  to capture the voice of the customer

Your most unhappy customer is your greatest source of learning. Thus a mere feedback is not enough. You need to act on the issues pointed out by the customers so as to not repeat it in the future, and this may even help you win the customer back! The cost of acquisition of new customers is very high therefore one should focus more on retention; after all a bird in hand is worth two in a bush! A regular check of the quality of product, quality of processes and quality of relationships should be in place in order to retain your most valued customers

The implementation of customer centricity is easier said than done. Customer centricity involves the understanding of customer requirement. That can be achieved by going the extra mile to fulfill the customer’s business wants and opting beyond the obvious method of congregating the requirements. Watching user interaction and taking care of not just customer needs but providing customer with their exact requirement rather than what has been committed .The customer should be a part of the product. That can be achieved by understanding the customers’ exact requirement and keeping them informed on all new developments and initiatives undertaken. So go ahead and dazzle your customer!

Manya is a high-spirited, passionate and enthusiastic individual with a keen interest in economics. Currently  realizing her passion, she is pursuing Economics Honors from Maitreyi college, Delhi university. She sports a positive outlook and takes the half glass full approach to almost all aspects of her life. She believes that an educated individual is the utmost resource of a country and has volunteered for a number of NGOs sharing the same ideology. Coming from a defense background she loves travelling and meeting new people. If not writing you’ll find Manya at her beloved ballet class or enjoying a good read. She can be reached atmanyaarora1303@gmail.com