4 Simple Tips for Building a Customer-Centric Culture
Running a business isn’t all about acquiring new customers. Retaining existing customers is equally important and one of the best ways to do it is to build a customer-centric culture in your organization. But how exactly do you do this? Only 14 percent of marketers say customer-centricity is what makes their business unique and 11 percent of them say their customers would agree with that statement. This shows just how tough building a customer-centric culture can be but you might be able to do it if you follow these four simple tips.
Hire for customer orientation
If you’ve been running a business for a while, you probably already know that your employees are one of your most valuable assets. After all, they interact with your customers and play a huge role in whether shoppers will decide to come back. Therefore, you have to think about your customers’ needs even when hiring. Interviewing candidates can be a daunting process but it’s something you simply have to do if you want to build a customer-centric culture. Once you make a shortlist, give the candidates’ previous bosses a call and check how well they interacted with customers at their old job.
Walk a mile in their shoes
Everyone who reads business blogs has noticed how much use the word empathy got in the world of business in the last few years. Business owners are now supposed to care about their customers even more and show them that they understand their needs and problems. The best way to do this is to walk a mile in your customers’ shoes and make adjustments in your approach according to what you learn about them. In order to be able to do this, you might first have to identify your ideal customer and maybe even conduct a survey.
Make sure they feel welcome
No matter how often your customers visit your office, making them feel welcome is a must. Luckily, you can now use technology to make sure they enjoy the time they spend in your headquarters. You can start using a visitor management app and reduce the time they wait at the entrance by receiving a notification once they arrive. These things even let you highlight your VIP customers and receive notifications about any late arrivals. This allows you to manage your schedule more effectively and ensure you’re able to save your customers’ time by not having to make them wait in the hall.
Celebrate customer success
Take a look at any customer-centric organization and you’ll see they celebrate when their customers find success. No matter what kind of products you’re selling, if they help your customers achieve something, celebrating can really turn out to be a great idea. It shows your customers that you care about them but it also helps you attract new customers. There are a number of ways you can do it and hosting an event is the most popular among them. You can use the opportunity to reward everyone involved in the process and take photos for your social media pages.
Final thoughts
Building a customer-centric culture in your business sure isn’t easy but if you follow these four tips, you might just be able to do it. Just remember that none of these tips will work if you don’t offer top-notch products and quality customer service.