• Customer-Centricity as a Business Mission

    This article was originally published on Entrepreneur Europe.

    While it is a widely spread board-room buzzword, the reality is that it is not as widely applied. Customer-centricity is easier said than done.

    Customer-centricity often gets mistaken for customer experience and to explain the difference in simple terms; to deliver exceptional customer experiences you first need to be a customer-centric business. In other words, how much your company is customer-centric or willing to become so, is the result of the delivery of your customer experience.

    A growing number of companies, in Europe and beyond, are focussing on providing positive experiences for their customers across all stages of the customer journey with the goal of creating returning customers for the long term. This includes to map, analise, fix, plan, organise, educate, measure, etc. But the main requirement is the need for a customer-centric approach across the business which must be transformed into a strategic initiative.

    What constitutes a true customer-driven organisation?

    In my Entrepreneur article, I share my opinion on what I believe is a customer-centric organization. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

  • 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.