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Customer Focused Change

 

Few customers are very loyal these days and even fewer are willing advocates for their providers.  Customers are thinking with their wallets and walking away where there is a greater perceived value for money.  I’ve seen multiple studies recently that clearly identify a change in perspective for both consumers and business customers toward the requirement that value for money remain high while high service levels are maintained.

Quite a conundrum! Pay less – get more.  What a strange reaction to the economic challenges of 2009.  I’m certainly not surprised.  I hope no one else is either.

Retaining customers is a priority.  Delivering to ever increasing expectations is a significant challenge.  My clients experience the rising demands of their customers daily.  At the top of every executives to-do list for 2010 should be customer focused change initiatives. 

Customer Focused Change

Cost reduction change, technology driven change, quality improvement change are all legitimate cases for doing things differently in your organization.  Not today.  The only true case for change in 2010 should be built around the customer. 

Increasing levels of fragmentation are evident in customer behavior.  Building lasting relationships with your customers can only occur when  a provider delivers valuable differentiated experiences at every touch.

Begin customer focused change today:

1. Aggregate all your customer data to mine for trends

2. Measure organizational effectiveness in spotting new trends

3.Evaluate organizational speed and agility in addressing trends “before” negative impacts take place

4. Assess the level of responsibility ownership for customer experience throughout the organization (Does a unique function seem to own the experience?)

5. Evaluate the impact 2009 changes have had on the customer experience

6. Initiate customer focused change at the enterprise level  by role modeling behavior and empowering front-line associates.

Vaccinate your organization with a renewed dedication to customers.

December 15, 2009 Posted by | Thinking About Change, Thinking About Customers | Leave a comment