The oversupply in the 21st-century business scenario has transformed the customer into the protagonist. Whereas in the past, the consumer’s opinion was inferior to that of distributors or manufacturers, today the efforts of all companies are focused on the customer. This is now known as customer orientation.
Basically, it is a strategic framework that guides all decision-making around customer needs.
To understand this better, in this article, we develop in-depth what the culture of customer orientation is all about. And how you can start to reorient your company if you are not giving it this essential approach to succeed in the industry.
What is customer orientation?
Customer orientation is a business philosophy that puts the customer first. This means making decisions with the customer’s needs and desires in mind; always striving to provide the best possible experience.
A truly customer-oriented company must put the customer at the very center of its values and goals. And every department must be based on this philosophy.
How can you achieve it? By ensuring that your company gives all its operations a cultural focus. This requires the responsible and constant study of the customer in terms of:
- Needs.
- Perceptions.
- Preferences.
- Attitudes and satisfaction levels.
This information is sought not only to understand the current customer, but also the future customer. In this way, the company can detect trends before they occur. And thus, design strategies to stay relevant and competitive in the market.
What is the importance of customer orientation?
If you know and understand your customer, you can tailor your product or service to their needs and preferences. With this, you can sell your products or services more effectively. At first glance, this stands out as the most profitable advantage for a company. But, to have a successful career in the market, you require more than just selling.
Here are some of its key benefits:
- When customers feel that they are valued and their needs are being met, they are more likely to remain loyal to the company. This can lead to repeat business and referrals, which can help a company grow.
- Employees who feel they make a difference and bring value to customers are often more satisfied with their jobs. This can lead to higher productivity and higher quality work.
- Increased profitability – When customers are happy and loyal, business profitability increases. A customer-oriented culture can help a company attract new business opportunities. For example, successful, customer-focused companies tend to suffer less risk when diversifying their product or service portfolio.
- Improved reputation – A customer-focused company is likely to develop a good reputation in the marketplace. This can make it easier to attract new customers and business partners.
In truth, creating a customer-focused culture requires the commitment of everyone in an organization – from the CEO to front-line employees.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can implement a customer-oriented culture in your business:
Tips for implementing customer orientation in your company
To be truly customer-focused, your company must take a number of important steps. Here are some tips to make sure your company puts its customers first:
Ask yourself the basic questions again.
To have a meaningful change, ask yourself these questions again:
- What is your purpose?
- Why does your company offer that service or product?
As you answer these questions, you must define or redefine what customer orientation means to your company. This may vary depending on the industry: your type of business and its scope; however, it is critical to have a clear understanding of what it means to be customer-oriented within your specific context.
Don’t forget the internal customer
Ever heard of a company’s internal customer? Well, it’s your employees. If you create a good work environment and take care of your team, they will be more willing to do a better job. Therefore, they will treat customers better.
Our point with these first two tips is very simple and elementary: if you want your company to be successful with customers out there, make sure you are in the right place from within your organization.
Train all employees in customer service.
Everyone in your company, from the CEO down to entry-level employees, should learn how to provide excellent customer service. This training should cover everything from handling complaints to dealing properly with loyal customers.
Seek customer feedback
Indeed, gathering customer feedback on a regular basis and acting on it is vital. One of the best ways to ensure that your company is meeting the needs of its customers is to collect their feedback regularly and use it to make improvements. This can be done through surveys, focus groups, or simply by talking to customers directly.
The best tool to do this is social media. They are the ultimate platform for interacting with customers and letting them know that they are important to your business.
Through them, you can encourage customer participation in decision-making. So, whenever possible, involve your customers in decisions that affect them. This can mean anything from soliciting feedback on new products or services to allowing customers to vote on changes to your company’s policies.
Adopt the necessary tools and technology
Being customer-focused means investing in what it takes to give them a better experience. Digital tools are there for you to do this. Actually, they are a win-win: they improve the quality of your services while increasing customer satisfaction.
One tool that can help you better organize your company and make it more customer-oriented is Freshsdesk Omnichannel. This powerful tool is an omnichannel suite that allows you to be on all communication channels at the same time. Here are some of the advantages it offers you:
- Serve all your customers seamlessly and through the channel they prefer. Thus, the experience they will have with the company is more fluid.
- Integrate a ticketing system, so you can solve your customers’ problems quickly and efficiently.
- Create a self-service portal, so your customers can access a knowledge base and forum.
- Customize the look and feel of your support portal with full CSS customization or pre-designed templates.
- Keep your customer profiles up to date. Then, design strategies based on them and improve your product or service.
In this way, if you follow our advice, you can create a customer-oriented culture within your company that will lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.
If you want to know more about Freshdesk Omnichannel or other of our solutions, don’t hesitate to contact us.
