As a branch manager for a heavy equipment maintenance company, how can I create a customer centric strategy for my company?

A customer-centric company is more than a company that offers good service. Both Amazonand Zappos are prime examples of brands that are customer centric and have spent years creating a culture around the customer and their needs. Their commitment in delivering customer value is genuine – In fact, Zappos is happy to fire employees if they do not fit within their customer centric culture!

The importance of being customer centric continues to grow.

Econsultancy recently asked what the most important characteristic is in order to establish a truly “digital-native” culture. The answer to that was question and leading the responses with 58% was to be customer centric.

However, executing a customer-centric strategy doesn’t happen overnight. You have to start somewhere, and this blog post is intended to guide you in to achieving this.

Customer centricity is not just about offering great customer service, it means offering a great experience from the awareness stage, through the purchasing process and finally through the post-purchase process. It’s a strategy that’s based on putting your customer first, and at the core of your business.

When you put your customer at the core of your business, you collect a wealth of data within your CRM software, giving you a full 360 view of the customer, which you can then use to enhance the customer experience.

For example:

• You can use customer data to understand buying behavior, interests and engagement
• You can identify opportunities to create products and services for your best customers
• You can use customer lifetime value to segment customers based on top spending customers

Not only does focusing on the customer make sound business sense, but research byDeloitte and Touche found that customer-centric companies were 60% more profitablecompared to companies that were not focused on the customer.

The power shift between brand and customer happened during the economic downturn.Customers became more selective in which brand they chose to spend their money with – The winning brands were the ones who treated their customers with respect, with great service, and built a relationship with them that still exists today.

And during the same time as the recession, social media exploded onto the scene and mobile became a major part of the customer journey. Customers can now compare products and services in real time and across multiple devices, which has presented a huge challenge for many brands.

Research has found that companies are struggling with this change and are unable to become a customer-centric organization – with the biggest challenge not being able to share customer information across departments.

Most companies do not have all of the components in place to claim they are customer centric.

You need to start with your customers, not your products and focus on what your customers want to do. By designing your company from the customer’s perspective, your organization will be focused on the customer’s needs.

By being customer centric, you will want to anticipate customers’ needs and delight them with products and services they may not have thought of, but will immediately fall in love with (ie, Apple’s iPhone or iPad). Thus, the customer centric brand creates products, processes, policies and a culture that is designed to support customers with a great experience as they are working towards their goals.

The four best practices that stand out regarding customer-centricity are:

1. Brands that are committed to customer centricity are passionate, and truly believe the customer comes first. They believe that without the customer, they cannot succeed in business (which is true) and want to see the world through the customer’s eyes. Marketers inside customer-centric organizations understand what customers want, and use customer data to capture customer insights and share this across the organization.
2. Brands that are committed to customer centricity focus on what the customer wants and needs, and develop products and services around that.
3. Brands that are committed to customer centricity focus on building relationships designed to maximize the customer’s product and service experience.
4. Brands that are committed to customer centricity analyze, plan and implement a carefully formulated customer strategy that focuses on creating and keeping profitable and loyal customer.

Not every organization will have the same customer metrics to measure customer centricity. However, the two most important customer centric metrics that should be carefully monitored are churn rate and customer lifetime value.

Churn rate

Acquiring new customers is getting more difficult. Therefore, more companies are investing in keeping existing customers instead of trying to find new ones:

• Acquiring new customers can cost up to 5x more than keeping existing customers
• A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10%
• On average, companies lose approx. 10% of its customer base each year

Companies with a high retention rate grow faster. The key to success is to understand why people leave, and why people remain customers.

To calculate the churn rate, measure the number of customers who left in the last 12 months divided by the average number of total customers (during the same period).

Customer lifetime value (CLV)

For a customer-centric business, the most valuable asset is the customer. The profits generated during the retention phase are often known as customer lifetime value or CLV. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) measures the profit your organization makes from any given customer.

To calculate CLV, take the revenue you earn from a customer, subtract the money spent on serving them and adjust all of the payments for time value of money. Another way to calculate it is to take average order value and repeat purchase rates. For example, if your average order value is $100 and the repeat purchase rate per customer is 20% your estimated CLV is $125.

Calculating the customer lifetime value helps you understand why it makes sense to invest in keeping your customers. It’s a great way to get an understanding of your customer portfolio and to segment your customer.

The shift towards becoming a truly customer centric organization is both complex and long but, do not be put off by this as even the smallest changes to policy and processes can have a significant benefit for both employee and your customer.

Being a customer centric organization is the Holy Grail towards unlocking the true potential of customer value. Always put yourself in the shoes of the customer and minimize customer effort and maximize customer value.

Source: superoffice

1. Listen to customer needs & wants,  and offer the best suitable solution.

2. After service support process:

    - efficient contact center CSR

    - Reporting application

    - KPIs on CSR activities

3. Adopting new solution in the global market

4. Your customer feedback and satisfaction level

Important: 'If You Can't Measure It, You Can't Manage It'

Good luck,

As a branch manager for a heavy equipment maintenance company I can create a customer centric strategy by concentrating on the below:

• The service and experience the customer receives when doing business with them.

• Putting the customer at the heart of decisions, ideas, marketing, system design …..

Fully agree with Ms. Lana Oudeh.......thanks Lana for the excellent efforts.

Answer given by Lana....is to the point...agreed

agreed with miss lanas answer.

customer centric is where as organization we are producing goods/service that are tailored made to customer needs, This goods/service should be able to catch or fulfill customers needs

In addition to Mrs.Lana 's answer, i would like to add that you can do the following:

1. Organize and list your customers activities

2. Contact your customers and find out about the difficulties they face

3. Work on their needs

4. Simplify rules and procedures

5. Stay in touch with them and improve the service !

Thank You

agreed with miss lanas answer ................................

thanks invite. ....Support answer Lana oudeh

By making the company accessible

By making the company cohesive

By making the company nimble

By making the company to be responsive

By making the company to be empathetic

There the branch manager would have created a customer centric strategy the company