It is more important than ever for businesses to look at the needs and desires of their customers as indicators for how to operate. Since a business does not exist without customers, having an understanding of what they are looking for in the companies they support is imperative for success. More and more companies are putting the customer first at all levels of decision-making. This kind of attention to customers keeps organizations competitive, innovative, and prepared to stay ahead of changes in the industry.
Overview: What is customer focus?
Customer focus is when a business puts its focus on making sure that the primary function of each interaction is to help the customer, as opposed to solely the organization.
3 benefits of customer focus
There are some clear advantages to making your company customer-focused:
1. Customer satisfaction
Putting your customers first cannot help but increase their satisfaction. This leads to building a good reputation, repeat business, and bringing in new customers.
2. Competition
Keeping a focus on your customers helps keep you ahead of your competition in your industry.
3. Expectation
Focusing on your customers helps you understand and predict the expectations of your client base.
Why is customer focus important to understand?
Customer focus is important to understand for the following reasons:
The high standards of customers
Having an understanding of customer focus is important since customers have higher standards than in the past.
Driving sales
Most customers will spend more money with companies that offer more personalized customer service. Having an understanding of customer focus puts your organization in a position where it can increase sales.
Keep your customers from going to the competition
Understanding customer focus and making it a priority in your organization helps keep your customers from going to your competitors. A large percentage of customers will go to a competitor after just one negative customer service experience.
An industry example of customer focus
McDonald’s is known for basing its decisions on the needs and desires of its customers. The fast-food giant introduced an all-day breakfast menu after focusing on overwhelming feedback from social media and surveys that requested that breakfast always be available at McDonald’s locations. Other examples of McDonald’s’ customer focus include partnering with Uber Eats and rolling out easy-order kiosks.
3 best practices when thinking about customer focus
Here are some best practices to consider when thinking about making customer focus a part of your organization:
1. Empathize with the customers
To really get to know your customers, it is important to be able to empathize. Strive to understand their needs, what drives their decisions, their goals, and how they are feeling.
2. Create space for ideas
Foster a work environment where good ideas can come from anywhere and be acted upon. Great ideas for how to improve and innovate your business can often spring from listening to the public, so do not be so rigid that you can only work with ideas that come from directly within your organization.
3. Create unity among your departments
Have the feeling in your organization that it is a unified whole. Have an environment where customer dealings in one department are communicated and reverberate through the whole. This leads to departments working together to create the best overall customer experience possible.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about customer focus
What are some ways to improve a company’s customer focus?
Some methods include encouraging collaboration, making customers feel heard, leveraging AI, and combining data with empathy.
What is a chief customer officer?
A chief customer officer is someone on staff in an organization who acts as the voice of the customer while ensuring customer focus is maintained at the company. The chief customer officer utilizes data and research to champion the business’s customers. They also utilize the needs of the customer to drive the design of processes and products.
How is new technology increasing customer focus?
Technologies like AI allow for specific customer targeting that is meant to optimize the customer experience.
The ever-increasing drive toward customer focus
With so much competition out there and ever-changing technology, the need for a business to have its focus on customers has never been greater. It does not appear that this is a short-term trend. With the ability to now collect and crunch massive amounts of customer data, the ability to target the wants and needs of an individual customer keeps getting better. For businesses to succeed in this landscape, being able to make decisions in your organization around your customers is a necessity.
