A customer centric culture refers to a business mindset, approach, or culture. This culture positions customer satisfaction at the top of every agenda and process.

All forward-looking organizations have a customer centric culture. It’s crucial for success in a digital economy.  It goes way beyond just delivering top-notch products.  It starts with a mind-set that all aspects of your organization are geared towards nurturing relationships with your customers. Such companies align their products, processes, and people with the needs of their customers. They serve customers by:

  • Meeting their demands
  • Solving their problems
  • Satisfying their desires
  • Addressing their issues
  • Valuing their feedback
  • Supporting their success
  • Enriching their experiences
  • Exceeding their expectations

A company’s revenue, reputation, and relevance depend on how it treats customers. Satisfied customers lead to higher profits, stronger brand loyalty, and sustainable growth. Furthermore, happy customers tend to share their experiences by word of mouth or on social media. The evolution of organizational structures shows how important a customer centric culture is and why you need it. It may sound easy, but there are some challenges you should consider.  For example, lack of a shared definition of customer centricity, resistance of your employees and lack of follow through.

Building a customer-centric business takes time, resources, and a lot of determination. But like any other journey, all it takes are a few simple steps to move forward:

  • Incorporate customer satisfaction into your organization’s core values.
  • Create a universal definition of customer-centricity for your organization.
  • Get everyone involved, especially the ones at the top (CEO and other C-level executives).
  • Drive organization-wide awareness about the imperative to embrace customer-centricity.
  • View everything you do from a customer’s vantage point.
  • Listen to the customer’s story and build products around it.
  • Recast existing services and products to match the needs of the customer.
  • Integrate customer-centricity in compensation plans. (e.g., link customer retention/churn with incentives/bonuses for customer-facing roles)
  • Hire customer-focused candidates.
  • Conduct regular and updated customer-centricity training.
  • Celebrate the success of customers