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Customer-centric thinking means two things. Firstly, it is a business strategy based on building a strong emotional relationship with customers to drive engagement and drive sales. Secondly, it is a type of business culture that uses an understanding of customer psychology to inform decision-making across an organization.
Over and above good business sense, fostering a customer-centric culture also helps businesses in other ways. The idea of the customer journey—from learning about your brand, to making the first purchase, to leaving online feedback and recommending the product to friends—has its roots firmly in the world of e-commerce and online sales. But any business with clients will benefit from a client-centred attitude.
In this article, we will examine some of the ways in which this kind of corporate culture can be beneficial to all types of organizations, as well as offer some ideas for achieving it in your company.
What then is Client-Centric Culture?
When an organisation has a client-centred culture, it simply means that the client comes first. That might sound obvious enough—and pretty much every company with clients will tell you that those customers are always top of mind. But following a really client-centered approach to doing business takes more than the normal “the customer is always right” clichés.
A client-oriented company invests time, resources and money to understand customers’ wants and needs. It also values building data-driven profiles based on their shopping behaviours and backgrounds. These types of organizations are designed to promote meaningful and lasting relationships with the people they sell to. They do so by consciously planning the client journey and placing it at the forefront of every business decision they make.
Why is a Client-focused Culture Important?
A client-centric culture is one that focuses on the way your clients think and feel about your brand. There are many reasons to shape your business around this foundation, but one of the most obvious is that customer acquisition costs increase every year. Putting the customer experience at the centre of a business strategy is essential to build brand loyalty, retain existing customers and ultimately save the company money.
Changing your Organizational Culture
Why is Organizational Culture so difficult to Change? To take the old picture, organizations are like container ships. Shifting direction requires a lot of planning and effort, and tiny, early adjustments can have profound effects later on.
Careers are based on an analysis of why many organizations have so much trouble changing their culture. Some of it boils down to a basic aversion to change, such as how legacy organizations tend to overvalue the strategies that brought them their initial success and avoid ideas that seem radical and full of risk. There is an example in the film rental sector, as well as many others.
This problem is not only faced by inflexible corporate giants Even start-ups that find their place may find themselves caught in a cultural rut, adopting the accepted policies of their industry in the hope of recreating the successes of others. A shift in organizational culture demands a willingness to take risks and innovate.
How can we change a Corporate Culture to be more Client-Centric?
Recruiting is an organization’s most powerful tool when it comes to managing a business culture in one way or another.
To become more customer-focused, a business should try to hire staff trained in communication who have a high level of natural empathy. Most companies have only a handful of potential touchpoints between the brand and the customer themselves, so you need to ensure that your messaging is friendly and personalized, and comes from a position of understanding the customer’s needs.
This does not only apply to the hiring of customer service positions. Empathy and communication skills are also important in creating data-informed client profiles. They are your fictional, idealized clients with names, hobbies, personalities and jobs—to whom you will market your product or service.
This client information must be shared with all employees in the business to encourage client-centric thinking across all departments. That way the customer is always top of mind, whether your graphics team is designing an app interface, your development team is prototyping new products, or your marketing team is writing a fresh advertising campaign.
Build your own Customer-Centric Culture.
Moving to a client-centred approach is more than just keeping customers happy. It starts with building a company culture focused on the customer experience—one in which your entire team is helping to build better relationships with the people who buy from you. The end result is increased loyalty, sales and success. Horizons Offices can help you transform your company culture, with customizable office space close to your customers that scales to meet your needs. And for flexibility when you need it most, Horizons Offices gives you pay-as-you-go access to stylish workspaces and meeting rooms with no monthly commitment to worry about.