Be Customer-Centric
Customer-Centricity is a mindset which we must carry on while serving Customers both from front and back.
A Customer-Centric organization values and serves its customers with utmost priority, seeks feedback, and offers them convenient solutions. It promotes and nurtures a positive customer experience from every customer interaction point, which helps it to build customer loyalty and satisfaction, leading to referrals for more customers. Whenever the organization makes a decision or takes any action, it always strives to make customers life simple.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” — Henry Ford. That means if Henry Ford listened to what the Customer was saying at that time, he would have never produced Cars. Instead, he anticipated the future Customers need even before they knew they wanted it. Today, American entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company Tesla manufactured futuristic Model X SUV electric cars, keeping in mind Customers need safety, comfort, and smoothness. One of the leading companies in Bangladesh, bKash started with being a solution to one of the people’s significant daily needs — simplified money transfer to another person. bKash foreseen Bangladesh’s people’s need for simplified money transfer service and combined tech to serve customers. This is the reason behind bKash’s phenomenal growth over the years — providing solutions to people transactional problem that is very much Customer-Centric.
Let me share with you one of my personal experiences regarding Customer-Centricity. On the way to the office one day, while checking my credit card account, suddenly I figured out two international transactions made from my credit card worth $14 and $6.99. Since I didn’t do those transactions, I was searching how those transactions happened. Finally, I revealed that my son, who uses Amazon Fire Tab for educational and entertainment purposes, did those transactions unknowingly. Immediately I emailed Amazon Customer Service to let them know about the issue and asked for a refund. To my surprise, I got an email from Amazon within an hour regarding it, and they agreed to give me a refund of the full amount within 3–5 business days. It was more than expected, and I was delighted. It is an example of Customer-Centric action. Customer-focused action is a prime factor why Amazon became one of the most influential companies in the world right now.
We all represent our company in our every action; people see us as the brand ambassador. So to make our organization Customer-Centric, our every action needs to complement it. So are we following it?
You must be wondering how you be Customer-Centric without any guidance and instruction, but believe me — you can. It starts with understanding the root cause of customer problem — issue identification. If we can understand the issue/problem properly, we can prescribe a solution for it. And whenever you are providing service to the customers, think whether there is a better way to increase customer satisfaction and ensure customer delight. It can be changing the process we follow to provide service, updating communication to customers, understanding problem from the Customer’s point of view, and serving them the way you would have wanted from a Customer Service Representative. People who are providing support from the office, think about how you can eliminate unnecessary steps in execution so that average Customer handling time improves. Whenever you have an idea, share it and be the Change Maker.
It’s the Customer-Centric Mindset that will lead you to think and act accordingly. When you have that Mindset, you are halfway there to make an organization Customer-Centric.
Abdul Mukaddes is a Customer Service and Marketing Expert and Trainer, having more than 10 years of working experience in corporate, tech and startup companies. I would like to hear from you about how you think about this article. Let’s discuss! You can also reach me in abdulmukaddes@gmail.com