Thursday, February 7, 2019

How to Become More Customer-Centric

Some walk the walk while others just talk the talk.  When someone makes an effort to visit your showroom, what type of experience should they expect?  What can you do to build trust and become an invaluable resource to your customers and prospects?  Everyone claims that they offer great customer service. but great customer service is no longer a competitive advantage.  To most of your clients, great customer service is an expectation.  To become a true customer-centric showroom, according to Denise Lee Yohn, author of What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest, you must:

  • Identify customers’ emotional needs, understand the reasons for those needs and respond effectively and appropriately to them.  
  • Hire customer-centric team members that make their customers’ needs their highest priority.
  • Establish systems and protocols that enable every member of your team to adopt a customer-centric mindset.
  • Every member of your team affects your brands and is involved in customer service.  Those responsible for deliveries, operations and back-office functions also need to understand and appreciate a customer's needs.
  • Tie compensation to customer-centricity. What can your team members do to enhance the showroom experience?  

Yohn illustrates the last point by using Adobe as an example.  That company offers short-term cash incentives that reflect the company’s revenue performance and customer success measures, such as retention.  

Remember, a customer-centric showroom provides services that are best suited for their clients, not necessarily the easiest ones for the showroom.

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