Customer-oriented approach in the HORECA industry. The concept of a customer-centric company: definition, approach to sales What is a customer-oriented approach

High quality service and great attention to the needs of the client contribute to an increase in the number of consumers and, subsequently, the company's income. Knowing this, many companies have completely changed their attitude to building a business and additionally began to use tools to increase the level of customer focus.

What is customer focus

From the very definition of "customer focus" when parsing the word into two semantic parts, one can understand that the phrase implies "customer orientation", or rather, his needs. This is precisely the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe concept.

Customer focus has several concepts that target market concepts. However, they all come to the conclusion that it is the firm's ability to deliver a high level of customer service and the ability to generate revenue through attitudes and customer satisfaction.

Whether the company is customer-oriented or not - you can find out after the consumer has contacted technical support, claims department or service. That is, the client's assessment helps to understand how the organization pays attention and meets the needs of its visitors.

To increase the indicator, the company must constantly modernize its internal processes: hire qualified employees and train them with high quality, acquire and use tools for working with clients, develop and design offline and online points of contact. Every little thing in an organization is a building block of customer satisfaction.

Customer-centric principles

The company must adhere to and fulfill the basic principles that can increase the number of new, regular customers and profits.

Customer insight

Working on customer focus implies a long and serious strategy that includes analyzing the audience, dividing it into separate segments, designing the result between the organization and the client, and providing individual proposals. All tools help to deeply understand those who apply to the company. As a result, the analyst determines what the product, site, premises, technical support, advertising and much more will be like.

Most executives should be aware that customer focus is not about simple smiles, and nothing should be created afterwards without understanding customer needs.

Customer care

Before starting to work on this principle, which implies openness to the needs and problems of the audience, it is worth considering what customer care looks like and depends on.

• The external and internal view of the points of contact (including online platforms) is convenient, simple and understandable for the client.
• The employees will recognize the visitor, know who he is, what company product he uses and what he talked about last time with the consultant.
• Employees have flexible skills to feel the visitor and are happy to provide assistance.
• After purchasing a product or service, communication with the customer does not end. He is offered individual offers, additional services, a loyalty system and additional information on social networks or on the company's website.
• Leaders pay attention to reviews, not fake reviews. A negative comment from your client encourages you to improve the company, eliminate negative aspects in it.

Motivated employees

Employees are an important part of the company, influencing most areas of the organization. They are the ones who care and understand the visitors. Paying attention to internal customer focus is also necessary, because it is impossible to complete tasks without motivation.

Professionals must know the organization's policies and be familiar with its culture. To do this, the manager needs to create an atmosphere where the employee will feel his importance and value for the company and his customers. Without all this, the company will not rise to a new level and will not acquire the status of customer-oriented.

Motivated employees do not work out of fear of losing their jobs and losing their bonuses, but because they enjoy their job and are willing to spend more time and energy. Each client feels that when he is really approached by a good-natured person who wants to help, and someone who works under the anger of the leader.

Types of customer focus

Customer focus is conventionally divided into two types: internal (employees) and external (company).

It is quite difficult to find customer-oriented staff. Typically, they are valued employees who put customers first, not the company. They have a high percentage of sales and have loyal and regular visitors. It is these specialists who follow the figurative expression “the client pays you, not the manager”.

The client-oriented company is planning a long-term presence in the market. To this end, the company develops rules and regulations for communicating with clients, learns and applies new tools for doing business. The big problem with executives is that they are initially targeting customers and profits. In fact, an important part in a customer-centric company is the employees who follow the customer satisfaction strategy.

Customer focus assessment

Evaluation is done in different ways.

• Conducting surveys, the results of which assess the level of customer focus of the company. Reviews and suggestions of visitors are necessarily considered. It is recommended to conduct surveys every month.
• Organization of focus groups that assess the quality of service. Such a circle of people should include not only customers, but also managers and staff of the company. Groups should be formed at least once a year.
• Inviting external experts to conduct analysis among the firm's employees. As a result, consultants can recommend a new tool and approach to staff to increase customer focus.

Customer focus is assessed in two areas: employees and the company.

Companies

A great influence on the indicator of a company's customer focus is influenced by its employees. For the formation of personnel who will perform their work with high quality, and most importantly - meet the needs of customers, it is necessary to develop a clear regulation of the behavior of employees when communicating with a client. Based on this information, the company should recruit, train and supervise employees.

To create the rules, it is worthwhile to initially prioritize the company, including in case of conflicts with clients. For example, a buyer can ask for a refund for an item or exchange it. By law, the seller is not always obliged to do this and does not do it. However, it should be understood that in case of refusal to fulfill the visitor's request, the organization will show its non-customer focus. In the future, the client will no longer return and write a corresponding review on the Internet.

Customer-oriented company is aimed at long-term existence and brings the owner a stable profit

Employee

The level of customer focus of the staff is how they comply with the regulations and rules developed by the company when communicating with customers. But besides this, the employee must understand that the interests of the buyer are above their own needs, colleagues and employers.

A consumer-oriented employee is much more valuable in the labor market, his sales figures are significantly different from ordinary specialists, and accordingly the salary is higher.

The indicator of customer focus for a developing company is of great importance. To increase it, you must follow the advice of experts.

• It is worth making sure that the client comes back and becomes a regular consumer of the company's product.
• Continuously work to improve the quality of service.
• Don't make promises that won't be fulfilled.
• Strive to ensure that there is always a positive response to the client's request.
• It is not worth spending money on the maintenance of controllers that will monitor the work of employees. A customer-oriented company must ensure that each specialist will independently control himself in working with the buyer.
• The absence of complaints and negative reviews should be alarming. It is worth establishing the work of customer feedback that will help point out the company's shortcomings.
• It is worth analyzing the actions of all the tools used by the company. Such actions will reveal which methods are effective and which ones hinder the development of the organization.
• It is important to remember that the level of an employee's salary directly depends on the ability to work. Cash reward is a motivation for work, and a motivated employee is the main point for increasing customer focus.
• Being polite when dealing with customers will help avoid or solve many problems.
• It's okay to borrow effective customer service ideas from competitive companies.

Examples of customer-oriented companies in different service sectors

The shops

When trying on things, the buyer will need a different size. In order not to be distracted from the business and not to change into their clothes, the client can press the button in the locker room to call the employee who will bring the necessary thing.

Banks

Royal Bank of Canada serves over 18 million customers in 55 countries around the world. The company is interested in researching its customers and testing the latest tools to improve service quality.
Recently, operators began to call their service consumers and ask a question: “We value your trust very much and would like to express our gratitude for remaining our client. Tell me, do you have any questions or problems? "

A year later, the company recouped all project costs, increased sales and the number of regular customers. A method that convinces the client that the company values \u200b\u200beach of them will be relevant at all times.

The medicine

If we compare the state and private hospital for children, we will see that the state is not interested in attracting clients. The cramped corridor, the lack of toys and a room where the child could spend time waiting in line, the lack of seating places to wait for an appointment with the doctor - all this only repels visitors. However, the private clinic has a children's corner, TV with cartoons, new and safe furniture. Most parents will turn to a second company, where it will be convenient for them and their child.

Restaurants

In the famous Italian restaurant "Pizza" with the influx of the season, queues for tables along the street are formed. The wait can be up to 1 hour. In order not to get tired during this time, the client is provided with chairs and free water.

Starbucks employees write the customer's name on every cup of coffee ordered by a customer. This helps to remember the visitor and refer to him by name the next time he returns.

Customer focus through the eyes of the customer

According to most people, certain firms are attracted to them for several reasons:

Thus, customer focus is an important part of increasing profits and growing new and regular customers who purchase a product or service of the company. The main steps of the company are drawing up the rules of communication with consumers and motivating employees.

1

The article reveals the content of the concept of customer focus. On the basis of the McKinsey 7C model, various aspects of the manifestation of customer focus are demonstrated. The significant results of the development of customer focus are presented. They offer the concept of creating a customer service group (functionally customer-oriented unit).

customer focus

satisfaction

development

1. Busarkina VV, The concept of customer focus of an enterprise and the problem of its assessment // Problems of modern economics. - 2007. - No. 4. - S. 18-23.

2. Gelmanova Z.S., Spanova B.Zh., Osik Yu.I. Management of innovative activity in the context of globalization Textbook of Karaganda: Publishing and Printing Center of the Kazakh - Russian University, 2014. - 168 p.

3. Gelmanova Z.S. Competitiveness: (theory, methodology, practice) Monograph. - Almaty: "Gylym", 2000. - 331 p.

4. Gelmanova ZS Assessment of the competitiveness of metal products. Monograph. - Almaty, 1997 .-- 91 p.

5. Gelmanova Z.S. Research methodology of the client-oriented strategy of the company JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau »Monograph Temirtau, TsSTI. 2013 .-- 147 p.

6. Gelmanova Z.S. Competitive development strategy of the company. Tutorial. Karaganda, TsSTI. 2004 .-- 100 p.

7. Losev S.V. Principles of building a customer-oriented organization // Management in Russia and abroad. - 2008. - No. 6. - S. 42-45.

When analyzing the main trends in the situation in various corporate markets, the constant growth of competition is obvious. It is she who encourages companies to search for new tools and approaches to attract and retain customers. A customer-oriented approach is viewed by many as a worthy way out of the current market situation. However, most managers and specialists do not know what to do in order for the client to vote for customer focus with his money.

Recently, “customer focus” has been understood as the policy of a successful organization that recognizes that the customer is at the center of its activities. Even the most common interpretations of it are identifying the needs of the client, respectful and interested attitude towards him, focus on long-term relationships with the client, etc. - do not give a complete picture of how the organization must change in order to become customer-oriented.

Very often there is a substitution of concepts: customer focus is equated with the presence of quality service standards in the company. Any customer has the right to guaranteed quality service and respect, even if the purchase did not take place. These are the basic norms of customer relations that apply to any organization. But at the same time, strictly observing service standards, the organization may not be client-oriented. In other words, she does not seek to create conditions under which the client wants to re-use her services.

To reveal the image of a customer-oriented company, it is necessary to define the very term "customer focus". It seems logical to consider this concept broader than just “customer orientation”. The definition proposed below was formulated after studying organizations that the interviewed experts recognized as client-oriented, and highlighting the common characteristics inherent in such an organization.

Customer focus is a customer relationship management tool aimed at generating sustainable long-term profits and based on three criteria: core competency, target customers, and equity.

The key competence is the company's ability to achieve certain results with greater efficiency. The core competency should be long-term (not short-term and not one-time), realized by the company's management and regularly used (personnel should be able to repeat their successful actions). In many cases, the core competence can be narrowed down to the concept of “competitive advantage” - the customer's perceived characteristic of the supplier (his key competence) that has a significant impact on the customer's preferences. An organization cannot have many key competencies, but at the same time their formulation should be extremely specific, giving an unambiguous idea of \u200b\u200bthe advantage of a given firm. Here are examples of key competencies of different companies (from work experience): effective management of a wide range of inventory; technologies for creating a unique product; the ability to fulfill their obligations in any case; the ability to build the infrastructure in the best way to serve a large number of clients; the ability to masterfully sell any product.

Target customers - a limited list of customers or customer groups that are priority for the company in the long term. The characteristics of target customers should be formalized and meet the main segmentation criteria, namely: independence of characteristics from the company's attitude to the client (examples of dependent characteristics - the volume of purchases from the supplier, the internal rating of the customer from the supplier, the duration of the relationship); measurability and unambiguous interpretation of characteristics (an example of ambiguous characteristics is the type of personal relationship between a manager and a client's representative, good / bad client); independence of characteristics when used in combination (for example, it is impossible to simultaneously use the characteristics of the scale of the client's business and the total need of the client for the product); similarity of purchasing behavior within the client group.

Each target customer group should have unique needs identified. Unlike basic ones, they, as a rule, are not reflected in the quality service standards and go unnoticed. These needs, in particular, include: carrying out the shipment outside working hours; maintenance of emergency stock at the supplier's warehouse; special requirements for the period of replacement of nonconforming product specifications; provision of licensed and other solutions by the supplier; execution of documents in a form different from the accepted standards; additional reporting, etc.

Equality of positions (partnership) is a relationship between a supplier and a client in which there is no dominance (conscious or accidental) of one of the parties at any stage of the relationship. At the same time, partnership relations imply a sufficient degree of openness between the seller and the buyer, expressed, for example, in the voluntary disclosure of the price structure for the buyer or warning the client about the possibility of a shortage of any product. Openness of partners allows the possibility of showing dissatisfaction with the state of the relationship (the existence of working conflicts between the seller and the buyer). The main feature of partnerships is the absence of dependence on the counterparty.

Customer focus can be understood as the self-limitation of the organization, which is rewarded by its customers. The company does not go beyond its competence and does not try to satisfy absolutely all the needs of all its customers, instead focusing on its core competence for a limited target group that is capable of establishing partnerships.

Various aspects of the manifestation of customer focus can be demonstrated on the basis of the McKinsey 7C model, which considers the organization as a system consisting of seven elements. The result of such a systematization of forms of customer focus is presented in table. 1.

Thus, it is possible to determine the following prerequisites for an organization that claims to be client-oriented: the presence of conscious and purposefully developed key competencies and the absence of declarative key competencies of a general nature (examples of the latter: production of quality goods at a fair price, meeting consumer expectations); unambiguous identification of target groups and identification of their unique needs. Willingness to refuse a non-target customer for priority service of a key; priority of long-term profit over short-term profit. The task of development is urgent, not survival.

The factors that prevent an organization from becoming customer-oriented include the following: an aggressive strategy of the organization aimed at a significant increase in market share; short-term profit orientation.

In some cases, clients do not allow the organization to be client-oriented. For example, in the case of oligopsony or a situation close to it, the client does not want to put himself in an equal position in relation to the supplier. Significant differences in the scale of the supplier and customer businesses also often preclude the possibility of partnerships. The client, taking advantage of the fact that the supplier depends on him, “pushes through” favorable conditions of interaction only for him, forcing the supplier to abandon customer focus.

Table 1

Forms of customer focus on the elements of the McKinsey "7C" model

Element of the model "7C"	Element essence	Forms of customer focus
Strategy	A long-term development plan for an organization that drives growth Competitiveness and the creation of a lasting competitive advantage	Having a strategy allows an organization to achieve key competencies in various aspects of customer relationships
Structure	The way of organizing interaction between departments, indicating the principles of subordination and areas of responsibility	Interaction of "front-office" and "back-office" in order to ensure well-coordinated work of personnel in the process of customer service.
Control system	Methods for making management decisions, conducting daily work in the organization, business development	Compliance of accepted rules and procedures with the requirement of maximum satisfaction of customer needs
System of values	Norms and standards of interaction in the organization; principles of corporate culture, mission	Promoting the values \u200b\u200bof customer focus among employees of the organization
Skill system	Abilities, potential and competencies possessed by the organization's personnel	Competencies required to implement a customer-centric approach
Composition of employees	How many employees work in the organization, who are they in their specialty, how the work with personnel is organized: recruitment, professional development, motivation	The staff is an active participant in communications between the organization and its customers, that is, they receive and transmit information about the degree of customer satisfaction
Relationship style within the organization	The management style adopted in the organization; the importance of leaders and their role in making strategic decisions for business development	Customer-centric style of relationship provides an opportunity to improve and meet customer expectations

Who benefits from this? In which markets will the use of customer focus tools be effective? Here are some possible situations: a large number of potential customers; the market is competitive, a significant number of players without a monopoly leader; there is no sharp change in market shares between competitors.

At the present stage of development, the metallurgical industry (especially large industries with many large and small customers) are faced with the problem of providing high-quality service to each of the customers (in most cases, there is no customer-oriented strategy).

Metallurgical companies in Europe offer the concept of creating a customer service group (functionally customer-oriented division), the basic structure of which will be discussed below. At leading enterprises, the question is always posed: how to create an effective customer technical support team? The question for this answer lies in the following diagram, which describes the necessary components and structure of the group.

To create a client-oriented group, it is necessary to determine the following components: program and tasks of the department / group; relevant technicians; support from management; selection of the most effective model; support / sufficient number of specialists; communication with the logistics department / order management; communication with different production departments; means of interaction.

Since JSC "ArcelorMittal Temirtau" is a part of the largest steel company "ArcelorMittal", the European advanced mills of the company proposed to create a group for work with clients in Temirtau, which would bring JSC "AMT" to a new level of cooperation with our regular customers both in Europe and in Asia, improving multifaceted relationships at every stage of production, delivery and product processing.

The group model has been tested in collaboration with European experts Operational Excellence, AM Gent, AM Sidmar, AM Florange and many other customer service professionals.

The first steps in creating a group were as follows: a group was created to work with clients; a meeting with ArcelorMittal Gent was held on the functional and technical features of the group's work; identified the main ("critical", key) consumers of the European and East Asian regions - "key-customers"; a scheme for CS interaction with the plant's services was prepared; a questionnaire was created to assess satisfaction with the quality of products of JSC "ArcelorMittal Temirtau".

According to the approved concept of the group's work, its main tasks are determined:

1. Strengthening communication with regular consumers.

2. Improvement of customer service (consideration of the delivery time of our products, the quality of delivery, packaging, the method of fastening our products; participation in the processing of experimental lots; participation in the production by the consumer of important orders from our metal; if necessary or at the first request of the client as soon as possible visit of our representative to the consumer; offer of products with characteristics most suitable for processing by the consumer).

Unlike a product, whose properties are formalized, spelled out in a contract, for which the client is charged a direct fee, the service represents the company's attitude towards the client, characterized by emotional and behavioral aspects. Moreover, if the product is clearly determined by the field of activity of the company and can be defined as a product or service, then the service has no "specialization" and depends solely on the quality of the organization of processes and the competence of the personnel. High-quality service is the concentration of all resources and all employees of the company on customer satisfaction. A first-class service provides two points that form a sustainable competitive advantage: the company's unique position in the market and its difference from competitors, since its provision is not strictly formalized and, therefore, cannot be copied; individuality of relations with each valuable client for the company, which provides a stable emotional connection and maximum satisfaction of the customer's needs.

There are several levels of service maturity. The basic level assumes courteous treatment and personalized customer service. Now, for almost all industries, this is significant even at the stage of product selection. The second level determines the company's high competence in solving customer problems and responding to non-standard situations. The ability to organize the work of the company's personnel so that requests are considered promptly and problems arise as rarely as possible is a key feature of a quality service. While requests on the second level are initiated by the client himself, then on the third level the company takes the initiative. Elements of cooperation ensure prevention of emergency situations, effective resolution of conflicts, development of the most beneficial product and service offers for the client, including those ensuring the development of his business (in the B2B field). The service provides personalization of relations with the client, a clear understanding and satisfaction of his current and future needs, and this in turn keeps the client and increases his long-term value.

3. Determination of the advantages and disadvantages of our products and competitors' products, analyzing the data obtained and issuing recommendations for meeting consumer requirements (compliance of product quality (chemical composition, mechanical properties, surface quality, geometry, tolerances, flatness) with consumer requirements; obtaining information on processing of our metal (yield, material consumption, manufacturability); obtaining information on the products of our competitors and conducting a comparative analysis with our products; issuing measures and recommendations to improve our products according to indicators that do not suit the consumer).

4. Increasing the volume and expanding the range of products (collecting information about the range of products that the consumer can consume and additional requirements for the products; familiarizing with the consumer's plans for the future and providing the consumer with information about our plans to improve quality and meeting consumer requirements; offering the consumer products of a different range or with other characteristics).

Quality management is based on such important parameters as compliance with standards, meeting customer expectations and efficient production (competitive cost). The use of specialized IT solutions, the main function of which is to support quality management processes, can significantly increase the efficiency of many enterprise processes, thereby increasing the quality of their functioning.

table 2

Distribution of feedback

Figure: 1. Level of customer satisfaction

At the present stage of development of the metallurgical industry, the meaning of the term "quality" combines the requirements of standards (chemical composition, mechanical properties, requirements for surface quality, etc.), a high culture of production inside the plant, which consists in careful handling of metal products during preparation metal for shipment (transportation by cranes, marking, fulfillment of additional consumer requirements, loading onto wagons), as well as respect for the delivery of products by rail, handling metal in ports, safe transportation in ships, unloading and storage in consumer ports.

In 2015, ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC was at the peak of relations with its European and Asian consumers, having fulfilled the shipment volumes as much as possible, as well as paying close attention to the requirements and wishes of consumers in terms of technology and product service. In order to determine the current state of the quality of metal products of JSC "ArcelorMittal Temirtau", a comprehensive analysis of comments and suggestions from consumers of the East Asian region, which is currently a growing segment of the consumption of metal products, was carried out. The results are shown below. Feedback received: Iran, East Asia and the Middle East.

The survey analysis of consumers represents approximately 20% of the volume for Temirtau (East Asian market segment) (Table 2).

The aforementioned consumers were surveyed on the main production indicators for satisfaction with them. The distribution is shown in the figure.

As seen from Fig. 1, the histogram reflects the attitude (satisfaction) of consumers / intermediate traders to the main components of the characteristics of metal products and service. Thus, it can be seen from the graph that end consumers are less satisfied with the key indicators in comparison with wholesalers. Thus, end users are more satisfied with pre- and post-sales services. The greatest satisfaction of wholesalers is explained by their intermediate role in the chain of commodity distribution, which minimizes their technical requirements for products, and strengthens logistics and service. Based on the survey, the main provisions for assessing the criteria for metal products were identified:

Customer satisfaction is generally good. That is, there is no major discrepancy between what the consumer is looking for and what the plant is supplying except for the claims management part;

Most of the regular consumers are informed and aware of what they expect to receive from Temirtau, this concerns the supplied material;

The understanding of the market and quality is consistent with each other except for a few points;

Consumers are generally satisfied with order management, pre- and post-sales service / service;

Requires improvement: claims management, product development;

Product quality, product development and claims management issues: the level of satisfaction of end-user requirements is lower compared to sources / traders / firms, owners of stocks of products;

Relationship and partnership with ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC remains the highest priority for all and is constant.

The survey also included the collection of comments / positioning from various consumers in relation to any aspects of the activities of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC.

Figure: 2. Key factors from the point of view of consumers

Table 3

Ranking key factors by priority

Key purchase factors for AMT products are shown in Fig. 2.

So from fig. 2 it follows that the following are important for end users: product quality / technical support / payment terms / price. For wholesalers, the following are preferred: delivery / efficiency of interconnection / pre- and after-sales service. The survey also showed the priority of the key factors of products for end consumers and wholesalers (Table 3).

From the analysis of the table. 3 it follows that both end consumers and wholesalers give priority to product quality and price, which is the most attractive for JSC "AMT".

The growing influence of consumers leads to the need to focus all the company's resources on achieving a single goal - "creating a satisfied customer", due to the quality of the product and service provided. The customer service department (CRM) becomes a kind of one of the general corporate strategies, the development of which is under the direct control of senior management, and all structural divisions and employees of the company are involved in its implementation.

Thus, customer relationship management can be understood as a separate activity of the customer service department (CRM in the "narrow" sense), and the integrated activities of all organizational units aimed at increasing the company's value for customers and increasing customer capital (CRM in " broad "sense).

We emphasize the importance of the transformation that must be made by the company in pursuing a customer-focused approach. The vector of the company's activity should shift from “product” processes to finding the most profitable customer segments and developing a strategy for their retention.

Bibliographic reference

Gelmanova Z.S., Petrovskaya A.S. CLIENT-ORIENTED APPROACH TO FIRM DEVELOPMENT // International Journal of Applied and Fundamental Research. - 2016. - No. 10-2. - S. 292-298;
URL: https://applied-research.ru/ru/article/view?id\u003d10337 (date of access: 24.11.2019). We bring to your attention the journals published by the "Academy of Natural Sciences"

Have you heard about seminars and trainings, the topic of which is a customer-oriented approach to doing business? Let's take a look at what these activities are and how useful they can be for you or your employees.

What does “customer-centric business” mean?

The essence of the client-oriented approach is that the focus of the employees' attention is directed primarily to the buyer or customer. The main task of each member of the team is to do everything so that the one who replenishes the company's cash desk would like to return to you more than once in the future.

The following principles of a customer-oriented approach can be distinguished:

1. Deep understanding and satisfaction of the needs of the buyer or customer.
2. Implementation of products and services, the quality of which meets or exceeds consumer expectations.
3. Effective customer engagement built on mutual respect.
4. The readiness of leaders at any level to communicate openly.
5. The flexibility of the organization to meet the changing needs of buyers and customers.
6. Creating a comfortable psychological environment for the client.
7. Striving to help the buyer, to take part in solving his problems.
8. Continuous work to improve the quality of service.
9. Planning actions aimed at attracting and retaining customers.

As you know, the classic way of doing business involves the simultaneous work on 4 elements of marketing: product, price, location, promotion. The 4P (product, price, place, promotion) scheme is described in sufficient detail in the famous book by F. Kotler "Fundamentals of Marketing".

How are priorities set in a customer-focused business? There are many marketing theories, their value is not denied. But with a new type of building relationships with buyers and customers, the company does not focus on the product and not the price. The most important area of \u200b\u200bwork for top management and other employees is effective interaction with customers.

The advantages of a customer-centric approach are as follows:

1. A positive company is being formed in the market.
2. A circle of loyal customers is formed, constantly replenishing the cash register.
3. More and more new buyers and customers are appearing to contact your company on the recommendation of friends.
4. A customer-centric approach drives sales and business growth.
5. Advertising costs are reduced or more efficient.

Why do we need customer-focused seminars and trainings?

It is no secret that the introduction of a customer-oriented approach is carried out gradually. First, a company needs to study its customers and customers, understand and anticipate their needs. To do this, employees need to mentally take the place of customers, understand:

• what exactly they want when they contact your organization;
• what goods and services do buyers and customers need;
• what is the ideal service from their point of view;
• what difficulties a client encounters when purchasing your product or service, due to which they can be facilitated;
• what the buyer or customer expects to get by working with you, whether something more can be done for him;
• what can cause positive emotions in the client, how your company is able to bring joy to the buyer.

It is important to work out every point of contact with the client: advertising materials, telephone conversations, parking spaces near your office or store, service process.

One of the best explanations for how to implement a customer-centric sales approach comes from John Schole. The American expert on quality service suggests focusing on listening carefully to customers, constantly recording their wishes and complaints. Receiving feedback from buyers and customers in the form of filling out questionnaires is ineffective, according to Shole. Not all clients want to fill out questionnaires, and those who agree tend to gloss over reality. Employees receive much more information from buyers and customers in the process. Based on it, the company can significantly improve the quality of service. So, for example, if customers want to call you at night, it's important to provide them with this opportunity. Otherwise, the company, in particular, will lose the opportunity to work with buyers living in the other half of the globe.

The introduction of a customer-centered approach will not be possible if the organization's employees are not properly trained in the new business philosophy. The difficulty lies in the fact that the art of effective interaction with customers and customers cannot be transferred in theory. Rather, it is brought up in the general atmosphere of the company. The company's top manager and middle managers themselves must set an example of customer-oriented behavior.

What can you say about the documents governing the process of servicing buyers and customers? A customer-centered approach in the enterprise will not be implemented if you limit yourself to communicating instructions to employees on how to make sales. It is necessary to develop a system of effective work with buyers and customers.

Aims of customer focus trainings

A customer-centric approach should be encouraged in all employees. And with each member of the team, the direct manager should regularly discuss situations in which the employee made a mistake while interacting with customers.

It is better not to say problematic situations at production meetings. For general discussions, it is more convenient to use the game form of training.

Interactive sessions partly solve the problem of "educating" employees, although they do not replace the daily communication between managers and subordinates.

Usually, the following goals of customer focus trainings are highlighted:

1. Teaching employees the skills of effective thinking and behavior.
2. Improving the level of emotional intelligence among team members.
3. Skills development
4. Stimulating the personal growth of employees.

After completing the training, sales managers are happy to practice a customer-oriented approach in their work. The professional development program for this category of employees often yields good results.

What topics are important to cover during the training

A customer-oriented approach requires employees to have a wide range of professional knowledge and skills. Therefore, modern trainings on this topic, as a rule, include the following blocks:

1. Completing hands-on activities aimed at helping participants understand the importance of customer care. Finding out the reasons why buyers and customers leave. Drawing up an action plan on how to retain a client.
2. Games and exercises that develop the ability of managers to stand in the shoes of buyers and customers, to understand their needs.
3. Discussion of the phases of customer loyalty (regular customer - loyal customer - follower customer).
4. Studying the peculiarities of purchasing behavior, factors influencing the decision to make a deal.
5. Acquaintance with technicians of service of visitors. Training of skills to work with several clients simultaneously. Experimenting with
6. Block devoted to dealing with difficult clients. Implementation of practical tasks on the analysis of objections. Learning the principles of handling complaints.
7. Familiarizing managers with techniques to enjoy their work. Studying the techniques of self-regulation and self-organization. Mastering techniques for dealing with stress and getting rid of fatigue.

Let's take a closer look at some of the tasks used in customer focus trainings.

Calculating the cost of losing a client

The benefits and economic benefits of a customer-oriented approach can be demonstrated by the example of an arithmetic problem, the solution of which even a student can do.

Suppose a client purchases goods and services from your company for 10 thousand rubles. in year. This amount increases annually by 2 thousand rubles. How much sales will the company lose if the buyer or customer does not make purchases from you for the next 5 years? Calculate the amount of the future In our example, it will be:

10 + 12 + 14 + 16 + 18 \u003d 70 thousand rubles.

This is the cost of a lost customer. The automatic calculation of this indicator is useful to set up in the CRM program, if such is used in the company.

Knowing the approximate profitability of the company, you can also calculate the amount of lost profit. For example, if the net financial result is 20% of sales, the company will lose 14 thousand rubles over 5 years.

In the process of solving the problem, the training participants must understand how expensive the loss of each client is for the company. It is also important to emphasize that finding and attracting a new buyer or customer is even more expensive.

Reasons why the client leaves

At the next stage of the lesson, it is important to analyze the reasons why the buyer or customer most often stops contacting the company whose goods and services he previously used.

For this purpose, each training participant should be asked to recall an incident in his life when he was very poorly served in a store, after which he did not want to visit the outlet. In doing so, it is important that students answer the questions:

1. What mood were the employees who communicated with you?
2. How did they behave?
3. What exactly did not satisfy you in service?
4. How did the conflict begin? What made you feel angry or upset?
5. What emotions did you experience during and after visiting this outlet?
6. Have you continued to shop at this store after an unfortunate incident?
7. How many people have you shared a bad story with?

In the course of the discussion, a list of reasons why buyers or customers stop using the services of companies is drawn up. It is also suggested to recall the cases from business practice when clients left.

Service levels

It's no secret that every person has their own understanding of what the service should be in a company. By spending money, we expect to get a certain level of comfort and experience (or at least do without the negative ones).

A customer-centric approach in modern management involves knowledge of 3 levels of service that can be observed in various organizations:

1. Low. The client's expectations are not met. He gets less than he bargained for, experiences negative emotions.
2. Standard. The client's expectations are being fulfilled. He gets exactly what he expected. The client is indifferent, calm.
3. WOW service. The client gets more than he expected. He experiences positive emotions, feels a desire to return to the company for new purchases.

To study different levels of service, the training participants are divided into 3 teams. Each team within a limited period of time (10 minutes) must come up with and act out a shopping scene in the store:

Low level of service;

With a standard level of service;

With WOW service level.

Before each scene, the training participant playing the client must inform those present which organization he is going to, what he plans to buy, what expectations he has regarding the buying process.

After the speech, the client voices what emotions he experienced and what thoughts were spinning in his head. The participant also reports how he assesses his desire to once again come for a purchase to the invented company.

Game "Yes, and more"

An important component of customer-oriented service in a company is the ability of its employees to agree with the buyer and the customer, to be on the same side with him. It is important to solve problems that arise in business in such a way that both parties benefit. For this, it is important for managers to learn to perceive the client not as an adversary, but as a friend, with whom you can always negotiate in a kind way.

It is no secret that one of the most important rules of effective interaction with a partner is not to tell him that he is mistaken. It is important to agree and immediately make a counter offer on how best to act in the current situation.

In trainings, a fun game is often held to develop this valuable skill, according to the rules of which? the participants do not enter into a dispute, but only agree and agree with each other. The presenter invites the participants to split into pairs. The partners in the game must imagine that they barely know each other and found themselves together in an unusual situation: they got stuck in an elevator, got lost in the forest, were shipwrecked and ended up on a desert island, became hostages of bandits. They need to agree on what to do next. The players take turns putting forward their proposals. According to the rules of the game, each time you need to agree with the opinion of a friend (say: "Yes ...") and supplement it with your own idea ("... and more ...").

The result is funny dialogues:

Let's buy a bottle of wine.

Yes, and another cake.

Yes, and let's go eat it in the forest.

Yes, and we will also share with squirrels ...

The game continues for 3-5 minutes.

Based on the results of the assignment, the training participants discuss what emotions they experienced during the game, what thoughts came to their minds, what seemed difficult, and at what moments it was very simple.

Exercise to develop the ability to maintain a conversation

The mistake of many employees, due to which it is often not possible to implement a customer-centered approach in the work of the organization, is the unwillingness to talk with the buyer on any topics not related to work. Meanwhile, many clients prefer to do business with those sellers with whom they have a good relationship.

Therefore, at trainings on customer focus, they learn the technique of "small talk". Participants are encouraged to talk to each other on abstract topics using the following techniques:

1. To quote what the interlocutor once said.
2. Give your partner useful information.
3. Tell an interesting story.
4. Give thanks.
5. Make a compliment.
6. Make a positive affirmation.

Exercise "Vocabulary"

This creative task helps managers learn to speak the client's language. Training participants are divided into teams. Each team is instructed by the presenter to compose a text for the presentation of the company's goods and services, adapted for a representative of a certain profession (programmer, doctor, sailor, journalist). 5-10 minutes are given for reflection. Advertising text should be written using professionalism and terms that are widely used in the client's work environment.

Exercise "Guess what he doesn't like"

One of the training participants portrays a disgruntled customer: the client has decided not to be serviced by the company anymore, but does not want to directly voice the reason for leaving. The reason is described in advance by the presenter on a piece of paper. The client participant can make any comments and express any emotions, but not voice the essence of the problem. The task of the second participant is to understand what exactly the client is dissatisfied with.

At the end of the game, the presenter sums up the results: did the manager find out the reason for the client's dissatisfaction, by what signs he could and should have recognized it, how the client hinted at the essence of the problem.

Exercise "Explain to someone who does not understand"

The participants in the training imagine that they are selling an ordinary, but not the simplest product in a store, for example, a flash drive or a bank card. At the same time, the client is an unintelligent person (a small child, a lady who does not know anything about technology, a teenager, deaf and dumb, crazy). The task of the seller is to explain in a polite manner, in a language understandable to the client, what exactly he is selling and why the buyer needs this item.

Features of conducting training in a bank

A customer-oriented approach is more difficult to implement in a bank than in a trade organization. The tasks of employees of a financial institution include not only customer service, but also compliance with a number of legislative norms, procedures, instructions. In this regard, the bank employee must put forward a number of requirements for the client regarding the provision of the necessary documents, the communication of the necessary information.

Training on a customer-centered approach for employees of a financial institution should include a well-developed block on handling complaints and objections. It is important for bank employees to improve their skills in soft conflict management during the class.

Carefully planned will help the trainees learn how to serve clients at the highest level, while insisting on fulfilling the requirements of the organization.

The training program for bank employees should include a large block on time management and self-organization. Operations workers, loan officers, sales staff work in a tough time pressure. They are time-limited and often deal with queues of negative visitors. Constant stress affects customer interactions.

Coaching skills to keep yourself in good working order should be one of the main topics in a lesson with bank employees.

Conducting training for employees of the education system

Due to the fact that an increasing number of both secondary and higher educational institutions are becoming completely commercial, the attitude towards students and schoolchildren is changing. The client-oriented approach to education is also gaining popularity. At the same time, teachers find themselves in a rather difficult situation. On the one hand, they must objectively assess the knowledge of their students, giving low scores if necessary. On the other hand, even the most diligent student is now a client. His dissatisfaction with the educational institution may result in the loss of part of the income of the school or university.

Therefore, training for employees of the education system should include the dramatization and analysis of all problem situations that arise in lessons, lectures, seminars. It is important for teachers to learn to step into the shoes of students and understand their needs.

It is also important for educators to master the art of inspiring students in trainings, to awaken in them a strong desire to deeply master the subjects studied.

Features of training for tourism employees

A customer-centric approach in the travel industry is especially important. In business, people take many minor troubles and inconsistencies calmly, expecting them. When going on vacation, however, even chronic workaholics do not want to deal with difficulties and problems. Enterprises related to the leisure, tourism, and entertainment industries should be especially attentive to their customers.

At the training, it is important to pay special attention to working on the positive attitude of the participants. It is important for employees of hotels, entertainment establishments, restaurants, travel companies to radiate the energy of calmness and joy. When purchasing a voucher abroad or a ticket for an attraction, the client should feel that he is already resting.

Conclusion

A customer-oriented approach in a crisis does not cease to be relevant. In the conditions of the strictest economy, many organizations are successfully implementing ideas that allow them not to save on customers and customers.

In order to keep customers loyal, many companies are segmentation and more thorough identification of needs. In a crisis, competition is getting tougher. Company managers are concerned with what customers need, how much money they are willing to spend, what products can still be produced or purchased specifically for their regular customers.

It looks like the financial crisis will further spread the customer-centric approach to small and medium-sized businesses. Seminars and trainings dedicated to this topic are likely to remain in demand for a long time.

Customer focus is the ability of the company and its employees to timely determine the desires of customers in order to satisfy them with their products or services with maximum benefit. In terms of business, customer focus creates a flow of loyal customers, increases sales and helps to differentiate from competitors.

The reasons for the emergence of customer focus in high competition in almost all business niches. In such conditions, marketers had to look for resources to increase sales not through production or dumping prices, but by improving the quality of service. In simple terms, a customer-oriented approach is a well-known phrase: “the client is always right”. That is, with the development of a culture of consumption, buyers wanted not only to receive the product, but to do it with maximum comfort. Accordingly, people came to those companies where they were well served as VIPs.

Thus, another definition of customer focus is putting consumer interests above all others. For example, an employee is ready to serve a client during his lunch break or staying late after work.

However, it is necessary to distinguish between the customer focus of the company and the employees. The organization comes first, because it is she who must put the interests of customers first. Accordingly, in such a company, the customer focus of employees should be at their best. Otherwise, they part with them.

In this model, not only customer orientation should be clearly visible, but also the effect of increasing profits should be visible. A sales technique built on these principles should generate income, not losses.

For example, a company offers a free installation of split systems, which has many benefits for buyers, but brings more losses to the company.

Another of the principles of customer focus is the client "plus" the profit that he brings by solving his problems.

What is a customer-oriented company?

A customer-oriented company is a business that is designed for the long term, generates income through regular customers. Employees of such a firm must identify customer demand and cover it with the organization's product or service.

Customer-oriented service is a number of criteria, which include:

1. Long-term relationships with customers, long-term cooperation with loyal customers.
2. Recommendations of your brand to other consumers from existing customers, buyers.
3. Customer focus in sales implies a large selection of personal offers for each segment or group of consumers, as well as a high level of service - responsive consultants and managers. Usually, employees are divided into two categories: the first - they attract new leads, the second - they work with regular customers, increasing the customer focus of the brand.
4. Systematic study of consumer preferences. The basis of marketing in such a company is built on the interests of customers in the first place. Simple algorithm: determine what your customers want the most and give it to them. For example, most users of online services need fast technical support from specialists, so by giving this to customers, you can significantly increase the customer focus of your business.
5. Feedback from consumers. It is difficult to consciously improve something when there is no customer response about the quality of the product or service. Plus, customers like it when their questions are answered quickly. Poor communication with the “outside world” may be indicated by the fact that there are no complaints. There are always consumers who are dissatisfied with something, they just cannot convey their opinion to you.
6. Implementation of the “rule of three yes” in work with clients. It is often not easy to implement such an approach in practice, but it must be strived for. By creating a positive image of pleasant conversations, you increase customer loyalty. However, it is important in words not at variance with deeds. Customer focus is not about promises, but about guarantees, which you can actually do.
7. The main principles of communication with customers are courtesy and attention to the problem. Customer focus begins with the fact that the seller listens carefully to the wishes of the buyer, without interrupting, and offers the best solution.
8. Constant analytics of the firm's activities. This will allow you to identify effective actions and abandon unproductive activities.
9. Corporate culture. The relationships in the team must be at their best, and the salaries of the employees must correspond to the efforts expended. It is difficult to maximize the productivity of employees by paying a meager salary.
10. Borrowing good ideas from competitors, leaders in other market sectors.

Customer focus of employees

An indicator of an employee's customer orientation is that he fulfills the instructions developed by the company for effective communication with product consumers. However, the employee himself must also understand that the priority for him is the client's requests, which sometimes may be above corporate interests. There is a very fine line here, an experienced employee maintains it.

Customer focus is now highly rated in the labor market. Such staff of the company sells by an order of magnitude better than ordinary salespeople, respectively, and their salaries are higher. However, it is important to understand that customer focus is a skill that is not inherited, but acquired. Therefore, if you care about career growth, then you need to pump these abilities. According to statistics, employees who know how to work with clients are promoted much more often.

Customer-centric principles

1. Conscientiousness in work. This is the key factor. If a company and its employees keep their promises, do it comfortably for customers, then customers will definitely mark such an organization.
2. Understanding what the consumer wants. Customer focus is not just pleasing customers, but constant analysis of product quality and service. How to check? Go through the buying path yourself, note what you like and what needs to be improved.
3. Understanding and accepting the buyer's opinion. You need to learn to listen and not say no to the customer. Sincere attention to the problem, the desire to be useful in solving it - captivates.
4. Attention to detail. When dealing with people, you need to try to notice the little things that will irritate the buyer. It so happens that the customer focus of the company is at its best, but because of annoying little things, some of the customers leave. These oversights must be identified and eliminated.
5. Anticipating consumer desires. If you can pleasantly surprise your customers, then 100% will get a regular customer. Do a better job, give more than a person expects - this increases brand loyalty.

Examples of customer focus

Here are some successful options for implementing the principles of customer focus on the examples of well-known companies:

How to measure customer focus

In marketing, if an indicator cannot be measured, then it is difficult to influence it. How to measure the level of customer orientation of a firm, employees? There are no clear metrics or formulas. But each company prescribes the rules for working with clients, taking into account the principles outlined above. For example, you can track the following metrics:

• An employee, a manager must go out to meet a client no later than 20-30 seconds after he entered a store or office. In the case of online services, the employee's response to the request should be in 15-20 seconds. Usually they write when they answer a call or message. It is important to keep your promises.
• The seller, the employee must say hello, smile, introduce himself.
• The rule of "three yes" is used in communication. Putting the consumer in a positive conversation is half the battle in sales. The second half is sincere attention to the problem, the ability to listen.

These are just a few of the starting points of the company's regulations. If you work out such a questionnaire completely, then you can get a checklist and consciously monitor the indicators. You can also check the performance of employees using customer surveys, personal observations, and mystery shopping options. Combine methods to get the full picture.

Summary

We learned what customer focus is. We studied the principles and types of this approach. Considered the implementation features of leading companies. Today, with the growing competition in all business sectors, it is important to pay more attention to the factor of customer loyalty. Otherwise, you will lose in the competition. Only high-quality service will ensure the influx of new and retention of existing customers.

As you read the LPgenerator blog, you know how often we emphasize how important it is for the client to feel their value for the company and its attentive attitude to their needs in the process of communicating with your brand.

This customer-centric approach is becoming more than just the preferred strategy today: it's what customers expect from you. And they also expect their experience to come when they make a purchase.

The benefits of a personalized experience are significant. According to the CMO agency, 86% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for a product or service if the service is more tailored to their needs and personality. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that those companies that advocate a customer-oriented approach in their activities earn more than their competitors. Yet while most firms recognize the importance of pursuing such a strategy in doing business, many never take action in this direction.

What does it mean to be customer focused?

At the beginning of the article, it was noted that customer focus is the client's feeling of their importance for the company in the process of interacting with it.

This is the simplest and most basic understanding. But, as you may have guessed, in order to get a true understanding of what customer focus is, you need to dig deeper.

But before proceeding directly to the definition of customer focus, you need to determine the difference between its two levels: "customer-centric" and "customer-focused".

Customer-centric or customer-focused?

Do not think that companies that are not “obsessed” with the customer are not acting in the best interests of their customers! The vast majority of firms care about their customers and want to help them succeed.

However, the reality is that usually companies tend to just focus on the customer ("customer-focused" -approach), but do not see in it the reason and purpose of what they do ("customer-centric").

It may seem to you that this is just a play on words (especially since both of these expressions are translated into Russian in the same way), but there really is a big difference between these two approaches.

• Customer-focused companies only think about how to provide their customers - period. The relationship between such a brand and its customers is more transactional: the customer pays for a product or service, the company fulfills its obligations.
• The firm, whose activities are entirely dedicated to the client, perceives each new customer as a member of its family. These companies strive not only to satisfy the needs of their customers - they make any brand experience great.

Another major difference between these levels is that customer-centric organizations tend to be reactive, while customer-centric firms are proactive in their activities.

Yes, a customer-focused company will always strive to give the customer exactly what he expects to receive - but they will not do anything until the customer himself clearly identifies his own desires. By contrast, customer-centric firms can anticipate the needs of their customers - and satisfy them even before a customer request is received.

Obviously, the service provided by early organizations isn't necessarily disappointing, it just leaves a lot to be desired. This is the "best" and distinguishes them from the latter.

This article will describe the benefits that a customer-centric approach will give you. However, first it is necessary to highlight the principles and main difficulties of adopting such a course of action.

7 pillars of customer focus

As mentioned earlier, it is difficult to grasp the meaning of the concept of "customer focus" in one sentence, and not entirely fair.

Based on these considerations, the American Marketing Association has identified the following 7 pillars of customer focus:

K - communication

Customer-centric organizations keep in touch with their customers whether they have paid for their services or not. They send their customers personalized and relevant messages through the person's preferred channel or platform. In addition, you can contact such companies at any time, and the range of communication tools is usually quite extensive.

L -

Customer-centric firms accept all new customers as members of their family. They show this attitude, thanks to customers for their loyalty and rewarding them with personalized and relevant bonuses.

A - assortment

When developing their products, customer-centered companies do not take a one-option-all approach. Rather, they provide their customers with a range of options (differing in both price and feature set) in order to personalize their offering as much as possible.

С - special promotions

Client-oriented companies constantly offer each buyer various special promotions, additional offers (upsells and cross-selling) and other types of incentive offers based on the purchase history of a particular client, his needs and other factors related to a particular client.

С - cost

Customer-focused companies do not necessarily provide their products or services at the lowest cost; rather, they seek to offer a fair price (and that is how customers should perceive it). It was mentioned above that people are ready to pay more for the service - but only as much as the quality of the service justifies this cost.

H - best experience

It was mentioned in the previous section that providing what your customer paid for is the least thing you can do for them. Client-centered companies do more to ensure that every aspect of their clients' experience is of the highest quality. Organizations that follow this rule always receive grateful reviews from satisfied customers. Moreover, they recommend the company to their friends.

About - feedback

Client-centered companies apply to all offers and. They not only actively seek these suggestions and complaints, but they also strive to improve their products in accordance with them (instead of developing the product according to their own beliefs).

Now that the meaning of customer focus has more than been revealed, let's move on to describing the possible difficulties that your company will face when moving to this approach.

Here are some of the most significant challenges that can arise when moving to a customer-centric approach. Before you begin this transition, you need to be prepared for these challenges.

Misunderstanding of customer focus

This has already been repeatedly said above, but, as you know, repetition is the mother of learning: without a clear and unified understanding of the fundamentals of customer focus by all departments of the company, you will make a lot of mistakes at the very beginning of the journey. No amount of good intentions will save you from wasted time and money if you do not initially define everything that goes into the strategy of becoming a customer-centric organization.

Culture change

Another big problem in the transition to a client-oriented approach can be the fact that for everyone involved in this process it will be new and unknown. Therefore, heated disputes and misunderstandings can arise not only between individual employees, but also between entire departments. Just imagine how an employee with 25 years of experience might react to a statement that the list of his responsibilities and target results will be radically changed. Below this problem will be considered in more detail.

Separate divisions of the company

Companies that have begun to focus on customer needs in their activities often face the problem of the isolation of members of different departments in the organization.

One of the main principles of customer focus is to ensure effective work with your customers, and for this it is important that each department maintains constant contact with others and provides assistance (as, for example, it happens when a potential client is transferred from the marketing department to the sales department).

While a company is always made up of distinct departments and teams, they all need to get along with each other and be able to work together to meet (and anticipate) the needs of each customer.

Logistics problems

To become customer-centric, a company must make a series of internal changes, each of which costs time and money.

From training and adaptation of employees to the acquisition and implementation of new technologies (such as CRM) - all this requires large financial costs. Of course, the more changes you need to make, the more expensive the transition will be.

In the long run, all these investments, of course, will pay off, but the amount that you have to spend here-and-now may be somewhat confusing, especially if you are not ready for this kind of investment.

Everything mentioned above should not scare you; on the contrary, you must be prepared for this kind of difficulty. The shift to customer focus is necessary for a number of important reasons. In the next paragraph, you will read about how the customer-centric approach will actually benefit your customers.

Customer-centric benefits

By now, you probably don't need to be told that a customer-centric philosophy is beneficial to customers. But it is definitely worth talking about the benefits of this approach for your company as a whole.

As noted in the introduction, customer-centric companies are more successful. Actually, what else can you talk about further?

But let me draw your attention to such a trifle as the experience that you get as a customer-oriented company, and which leads to increased profits.

Shifting your focus on customers allows you to learn more about them - both as consumers and as individuals.

Once you can build a more complete customer image, you will have a much better idea of \u200b\u200bwhat a particular customer's expectations will be at one point or another in their individual buying journey. This, in turn, allows:

• , content and marketing campaigns that will truly resonate with a specific segment of buyers;
• provide better customer support and develop more efficient onboarding;
• become more flexible in providing personalized support to clients in need of assistance.

In addition to all this, the customer-focus will strengthen the internal structure of the organization. As mentioned above, adopting this approach requires that all departments in your organization are in close contact with each other, and this will lead to more fruitful collaboration and better cohesion throughout your company. Ultimately, the sense of responsibility for each member of the team will grow, which will improve performance and discipline, due to which you will have additional growth potential.

Unlike firms that focus only on their own needs (in which improvements and other changes are made based on decisions made at the top management level), customer-oriented companies make changes based on the actual needs of customers. Since these needs change over time, the company itself will have to constantly change, adapt to changing conditions.

Organizational structure of a customer-oriented company

In a report titled Organization Structure and Customer-Centricity, Merkle provides the following diagram of the company's hierarchy:

Main department	Subdivisions
Customer Team (customer service department): responsible for the overall customer experience, for the achievement of financial metrics such as customer acquisition / satisfaction metrics.	Customer Strategy Group (customer strategy development department): Responsible for the formation of the initial image of the Customer Experience Map and the promotion plan; works with the customer data analysis department to better optimize the customer experience; develops an investment model, and also gives recommendations on the choice of communication channels, the nature of messages, etc.
	Customer Analytic Group (customer data analysis department): responsible for the development and implementation of a client data analysis framework; responsible for the analysis of all customer data, including segmentation, profitability analysis, response / acquisition analysis, sales analysis, ROI analysis (return on investment), optimization analysis, etc. liaises with the technology department and the promotion department to collect relevant data.
	Customer Promotions Group (promotion department): responsible for translating the advancement plan into a tactical plan; is engaged in bringing it to the market; Manages supplier relationships, data flows, campaign scheduling, campaign script, etc .; develops new tactics, looks for new promotion channels; works with new suppliers.
	Customer Technology Group (technology department): responsible for providing the technological infrastructure for customer-oriented promotion; includes SFA tools, websites / digital assets, digital data, marketing incentives, data sharing.

Compared to the more traditional structure of the company (in which, for example, the marketing department is responsible for marketing, the service desk is responsible for providing support, etc.), the customer-oriented structure is more holistic, in fact, requiring all employees to interact with each other to fulfill their duties.

Creating a customer-centric culture

Throughout this article, the thought has repeatedly sounded that talking about yourself as a customer-oriented company and meeting the requirements of a customer-oriented company is far from the same thing.

Of course, this is not an impossible undertaking. If you approach the process wisely, the transition to customer focus can be painless, productive ... and even enjoyable.

Redefining the mission of the organization

Perhaps the most important part of moving to a customer-centric philosophy is gaining an understanding of why you should do so.

Above all, you should not seek a customer-centric bias simply because "everyone else does it." In order for you to consider yourself to be truly customer-centered, you must be genuine about this task; if you are just adjusting to the trend, trying to benefit from it and nothing else, your target audience will notice it first. On the other hand, if you reorganize your business to provide customers with better service and products, then that too will not go unnoticed.

In addition to understanding why you should be a customer-centric organization, you need a plan for what needs to be done to make these changes - and how you will do it. You will think about:

• how your organizational structure will change;
• what is the cost of these changes (time, money, other resources);
• what needs to be added (technology, personnel) for this transition to be effective.

Perhaps the best (and most famous) example of a customer-centric company is Amazon. Its CEO, Jeff Bezos, is also known for leaving one of the chairs at the table empty at every workshop, implying that "the most important person in the room is the customer."

Amazon really makes every decision without losing sight of its users for a second. The company never makes changes to its services without first simulating the possible reaction of its customers to innovations by analyzing customer data and their reviews. Thanks to this approach, from year to year Amazon continues to be one of the most successful companies in the world.

No one should be left out

Every employee must be involved in the transition to a customer-centric philosophy.

The best way to engage everyone is to assign them a customer-centric task and explain what results they can get and what conclusions they can draw upon completion.

The assignment shouldn't be too difficult. For example, you can instruct the support team to identify the three main product defects that users most often complain about, bring them to the attention of the development department, so that they, in turn, make specific improvements to the product.

The main goal of this initiative is to rid your employees of the “this is not my job” mindset. A prime example of what happens when old ways of thinking are set aside is the experience of a Marriott hotel, where staff assisted a pregnant woman throughout her stay. Each of the employees (regardless of job position or salary level) tried to provide the guest with maximum comfort - a true sign of a client-oriented organization.

Hiring and training the right people

It was noted above that some people are simply not suited to work in a customer-centric organization.

In fact, you should make some adjustments to the job descriptions of each employee and communicate to everyone the fundamental principles of the customer-centric philosophy that the organization now adheres to. It is quite possible that you will have to update your staff somewhat, hire those people who will accept this model of work faster and better.

In any case, you must be sure that your employees:

• have all the necessary skills to solve problems in new conditions;
• have a worldview that is consistent with the new order now accepted in your company;
• fit into the team (regardless of the department)

As a result, all employees must fully understand the value of positive customer experiences and learn to anticipate their needs.

Securing Success

In the process of moving towards customer focus, your employees may not always understand if they are doing everything right.

It is your responsibility not only to develop the principles of a customer-centric philosophy, but also to determine the criteria for people to do their job well. You can celebrate achievements both during the day, addressing personally those employees who behaved correctly in a given situation, and at weekly or monthly meetings, where you can mark in more detail those moments when the whole team worked as a whole in client-oriented manner.

Perhaps one of the best ways to celebrate the excellence of your staff is to show them grateful customer feedback - especially regarding service improvements they may have recently noticed.

It is important to be able to convince all employees that the transition to a customer-centered approach cannot happen by itself - and that the efforts made by each of them make the lives of customers better and the company more successful.

Conclusion

A customer-focused company is not in the business of providing a specific product or service; first of all, it meets the needs of its customers - whatever those needs may be.

By adopting a customer-centric approach, you will ensure that your company is always able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the audience and will remain afloat for a long time, while more traditional competitors disappear into oblivion. Join forces around customers, introduce a new culture, and allow you to personalize your marketing and create a landing page that is focused on the needs of your users.

 

It might be useful to read:

• What is an assortment matrix?;
• What does the word matrix mean in trading;
• Sales department development plan;
• Advertisements Testing of advertising materials;
• What is GRP (Gross Rating Point)?;
• Marketing analysis of the market: types, stages, methods;
• What is an advertising strategy;
• Marketing research;