Four Customer-Centricity Best-Practices and Three Customer-Value Metrics for Customer-Relationship Success

The current economic downturn and the barrage of media choices require a different relationship with customers—and a different way of monitoring that relationship.

Changes in the way customers receive and process information via social-networking sites, mobile phones, and the Internet, combined with shrinking margins, deteriorating customer loyalty, and increased demand for marketing accountability, suggest the need for a new approach to customer-centricity.

A. G. Lafley, CEO of Proctor & Gamble, signaled this reconfirmation best with his resounding cry, "The customer is boss."

Studies confirm that point of view:

• According to a 2009 study by Heidrick & Struggles, the number-one focus for C-level executives this year is the customer—acquiring new ones, increasing retention, and improving their lifetime value, in that order.
• A study by MarketingProfs indicates many marketers are focused on some form of customer acquisition or retention as their most important marketing objective.
• And a study conducted some years ago by Deloitte and Touche found customer-centricity makes sound business sense. It found that customer-centric companies were 60% more profitable, two times as likely to exceed return on shareholder equity, and twice as likely to exceed goals for pre-tax returns on assets, sales growth, and market share compared with less customer-centric counterparts.

Still, a recent study by SpencerStuart with over 200 chief marketing officers found that only 33% believed their success to be tied to having a customer orientation; moreover, 92% of the CMOs said they must "own" the brand to be successful, compared with 41% who indicated they must "own" the customer relationship.

Finding, keeping, and growing the value of customers is the reason for Marketing's existence. Accordingly, Marketing has the responsibility to take the lead for driving customer-centricity within the organization. So how can organizations accomplish this?

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