Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

My colleague, Steve, is absolutely correct -- while certain departments can exhibit great care for the customer, this is diminished when the entire company from the top down, does not put the customer first.

This means a customer focus starts with the vision and mission of the company and is evidenced in the attitude and work ethic of all employees.

It means that the question "What will help our customers succeed?" is the most important question every person, team, department, and executive can ask. It means that all the items Steve listed are thoughtfully addressed.

But how is this translated into concrete actions? Well, the question above should drive goal setting, strategy development, product planning, and service creation -- as well as every single touchpoint with the customer. For marketing, it involves wanting to understand everything about the customer in order to build strong relationships. How can Marketing better communicate with the customer -- talk to and relate to them? How can Marketing dialogue more effectively with peer departments to deliver customer information that impacts company decision making? These are several basic questions that, yes, are high level, but should drive down to specific tasks, projects and deliverables.

We recently wrote an article entitled "Is Your Organization Customer Focused?" It highlights eight factors that define a truly customer-focused organization. You can access it at https://www.rethinkmarketing.com/articles/custfcs.htm . I think you may find it helpful.

Good luck!

I'm with Steve too. Customer focus starts at the top.

Having said that, one way for you to begin to make the point in the company is to really get to know what's on your customers' (and potential customers') minds. Get to know them better than anyone else in the company -- from quantitative market research and from one-on-one meetings with the people who actually use your product (or ought to use it).

Each time there's a decision to be made, ask yourself, "How will our customers react to this?" If you've done a good job of collecting and analyzing what you've learned from your research, you'll have that answer and be able to inject it into the discussion and the decision-making process.

If you do that enough times, perhaps the organization will start to realize that it exists to serve the needs of your target market. That's the way customer-centric organizations think, and it's often the breakthrough realization that transforms a company's culture.

This won't be fast or easy, but it's the right thing to do. Spend the first 3-6 months listening and learning, asking high-gain questions, and really trying to understand what's driving your customer base. Don't try to sell them anything. Just ask, listen, and take lots of detailed notes. Conduct some quantitative studies to confirm/refute your hypotheses. In short, become the customer expert within the company.

Good luck. This could be a great experience for you and for the entire organization. Enjoy it!

Another good tip, that must come from the top down is to generate some "values" for your business. You can only become customer centric if you put your customers AND your employees (as they have to deliver) at the heart of everything you do.

Some generic values are typically:

1. The customer is King
2. We are professional
3. We respect each other

Good Luck