Six Tips to Build a Customer-Centric Corporate Culture

Customer centricity is a culture of putting the customer at the center of everything you do.

And it matters. According to the Harvard Business School, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

Just about every company depends upon satisfied and loyal customers for their success. Most claim in their mission statement and company values to be customer-centric. Yet few companies truly put the customer first and foremost on a day-to-day basis. Comcast, the lowest ranking customer service company in 2014 according to Temkin Ratings, proudly states that they "strive to earn the respect and trust of our customers" in their corporate values. Yet customers rated them at 22% compared to the leader, USAA, at 81%.

See if you can find what is wrong with the illustration above. Sure, there are attendants waiting for the bell to ring. But why should a customer need such an attention-getting device? Customer-centric companies excel at proactively anticipating client needs with the ability and genuine desire to help. Customer centricity is not an empty slogan - it is a way of doing business.

One of the attributes of truly customer-centric companies is having the infrastructure where listening is part of the culture of the whole company, not just in the customer service or marketing departments.

To see that your company truly operates with the customer at the center of your business, you need to build a culture that treats the customer as king. The entire organization from top to bottom needs to understand that this is simply "the way" you do business.

Read About the 6 Tips To Build a Customer-Centric Culture

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

4 Steps to Truly Delight Your Customers

What can one truly delighted customer do for your company?

When you can transform a simply satisfied customer to a genuine promoter, you have a customer who will buy more, return again and spread the good word to their friends. If you could replicate this interaction across the organization, every customer could become an important advocate for your company!

According to Bain & Company, companies that excel in the customer experience grow revenues up to 8% faster based upon stronger loyalty and higher recommendations. As a result, delighted customers have a lifetime value of 6 to 14 times greater than dissatisfied customers:

1. Articulate a customer-centric vision Company leaders need to create a clear, compelling and implementable vision of how your company truly differentiates itself from the competition in the eyes of your customers.
   
   Is your aim to offer speedy delivery, to anticipate the needs of your customers every time, or, perhaps, to solve customer issues in one easy call?
   
   To delight their customers, Zappos depends upon free overnight delivery service as a "thank you" for each order. L.L. Bean offers an actual live, friendly, knowledgeable person on the line on every call...no phone tree needed.
   
   Your customer service strategy needs to be simply stated and understood by everyone from the board room to the employees on the front line.

Read the Other Three Steps to Truly Delight Your Customers

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned