You’ll Know You’re Customer-centric IF…

Today, with all the new toys and communication tools available, most companies will tell you they listen to their customers, have great customer service (which most believe is better than their competitors) and are customer-centric. Truth is, many are not.

How do you know if you really are customer-centric? Here are the top 10 ways to evaluate your company.

1. Every member of your team understands making products and services are secondary to long-term customer relationships. Your entire culture embraces the customer-centric attitude and demonstrates it consistently.

2. You allow customers, not your internal departments, to shape your products and services.

3. Your company listens, genuinely cares, and makes significant changes based on the feedback you receive.

4. All decisions are based on “is this right for the customer?” rather than “is this right for us?”

5. Customer service is always handled in-house, not outsourced.

6. Every employee is empowered to make it right for the customer, on the spot.

7. Your entire organization is structured according to customer needs and behaviors rather than traditional operational functions.

8. Cross-functional teams share information regularly with no territoriality. All teams fully understand each customer or customer type.

9. Marketing shifts from one-way push to completely interactive. Marketing becomes the primary driver of customer relationships and manages your CRM program.

10. Your most important performance metric is customer satisfaction with long-term customer equity overriding traditional market share.

How does your organization score? If you already do 8 to 10 of these things, you’re doing great; if not, your customer-centric culture is a work in progress. In this case, consider implementing a Voice of the Customer (VOC) program to gather valuable feedback and help you formulate a plan to become more focused on customer needs.