Establishing a Customer-Centric Business Model

Over the years, many companies have been trying to adopt a customer-centric business model. Unfortunately, only 14% of marketers believe this concept is a hallmark of their company, and only 11% of their customers agree. Due to the complexity of the customer data collected today, many companies cannot get the most out of their marketing efforts. This is why they must adopt a customer-centric business model. Some companies lack the technology and processes to segment and profile their customers.

Another common reason many companies fail to adopt a customer-centric business model is their lack of a culture that values this concept. Most organizations still focus on sales or product-focused activities, while customer centricity is only considered a priority for marketing.

A company's culture must also align with its operating model and customer-centric strategy. This can be done by developing a set of values and mindsets designed to inspire employees. These are some actions that are needed to build a culture that is conducive to the success of the customer-centric business model.

Instill Customer Empathy

One of the most critical factors that a company must consider when adopting a customer-centric business model is the development of a culture that values the concept of customer empathy. This concept is about identifying a customer's emotional need and developing a strategy to respond effectively. Unfortunately, many companies do not understand what it means to be a customer of empathy.

Leaders must do more than give lip service to instill empathy in their organizations. They must also implement strategies and procedures to make it a part of their culture. For instance, Slack, a business communication software, has a team of employees who spend a lot of time listening to and understanding the customers' needs.

To improve the efficiency of its support team, Slack requires employees to conduct research on their customers and create mini personas to help them understand how the platform is used. The company also screens support personnel who know how to express their empathy.

Hire a Customer-Centric Team

Before hiring new employees, the company must ensure that they are focused on the needs of its customers. This can be done by developing goals and procedures to make it a part of their culture.

To ensure that the company's new hires are focused on the needs of its customers, every interview is conducted to ask every candidate a question about their customer orientation. This practice ensures that every candidate is aligned with the company's customer-centric strategy.

Share Customer Data and Feedback

To ensure that employees are focused on the needs of their customers, every department must have access to customer insights. For instance, Adobe Systems allows employees to access customer insights through its tools. This eliminates the need for sales and marketing departments to spend their time focusing on their functions.

The company also established a new department composed of employees and customers to help them understand the needs of its customers. It has set up listening stations for employees to listen to customer calls. At every meeting, the company's leaders are regularly updated on the company's progress.

Let Customers Interact with Employees

Even in the back office, companies must develop ways that allow employees to interact directly with their customers. This can help them improve their customer experience and gain a deeper understanding of them.

Airbnb has a policy that allows its employees to interact directly with hosts by staying in their hosts' homes whenever they travel for work. The company also will enable hosts to stay with their employees during meetings. Employees get to participate in an annual event with the hosts to discuss their learnings from the past year.

Although many businesses do not allow employees to interact directly with their customers, leaders can still facilitate this by allowing them to participate in various forms of interaction, such as group meetings and customer events. Some examples of these include ride-along and focus groups.

Measure Customer Outcomes

One of the most important factors businesses can consider when establishing a customer-centric business model is the link between their culture and customer outcomes. This is because if they cannot measure their approach's effectiveness, they will not be able to make informed decisions.

According to the head of Human Resources at IBM, employee engagement is one of the most important factors businesses can consider when establishing a customer-centric business model. She noted that it drives two-thirds of the company's client experience scores.

Leaders are starting to realize that the culture and strategy of a company go hand in hand when it comes to establishing a customer-centric business model. Only then can they realize their vision of being a customer-centric organization.