The Future Of Business Is Customer-centric: 3 Pillars To Create A Customer-centric Strategy

This article was originally published on CEOWORLD Magazine

In a world of implacable change and challenges we need businesses that care less about the brightest piece of their product and care more about the people inside and outside of their organisation.

For years companies have been focussed on selling as many products and services as possible to as many people as possible in order to maximise profit and gain the highest level of market share as possible. But regardless of the “as much as possible” target that companies have, if they are not able to acquire and retain customers, they won’t survive. This strategy seemed to have worked for some time but in the 21st century companies are under a lot of pressure for many different reasons, such as commoditization of products, more empowered consumers, lack of relevance in highly saturated marketplaces. Pete Fader, professor of marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says “This approach ignores customer heterogeneity and wastes valuable resources on chasing down product sales to anyone and everyone, at any cost.”

Companies have been trying to adopt customer-centricity for years now but are losing the battle to achieve it. Why are so many companies not getting the customer-centricity as right as they think? Companies face various barriers, from data overwhelm to lack of digital experiences but the most common is the lack of customer-focus. Companies that are focused on products and profits are obviously investing their time, initiatives and activities around those ends, meaning that the most important aspect, the customer, gets forgotten. Companies that forget customers are destined to fail.

What makes a true customer-focussed strategy?

In my article published by CEO WORLD magazine, I share my opinion on what makes a true customer-focussed strategy. Please take a look and let me know what you think.