The heart and soul of every successful business
If you want a better business in 2016 and beyond, then …. Customer Experience is where it all starts!
Why is your customer experience the heart and soul of your success?
Because in today’s economy how businesses create value has changed, and the main driver of this change is your customers. With mass commoditisation of nearly every product and service and the continuous disruption of technology, the power has shifted from you to your customers – the Age of the Seller has given way to the Age of the Customer – an age where only “customer-obsessed” businesses will survive.
This new age, the Age of the Customer, is transforming the way businesses operate, the way employees are managed, how products are designed and sold and the way customers are treated.
Businesses who concentrate on being customer centric will continue to outperform and out last their competitors and are proven to have, on average, 2 – 3 times more profitability, productivity and growth than the market.
Embed this in your culture
“Our future survival and success depends on whether we embrace or ignore the Age of the Customer”
Never forget:
- The Age of the Customer is the new norm
- The buying decision always rests with your customer – not you, and they decide if they will buy from you, or your competition or not at all.
- No customers = no profit = no business !
Just like you can’t survive without a heart or soul – your business can’t survive without customers!
So the game has changed
Over the next decade, just about every business will compete on the basis of customer experience. In fact most businesses already do, they just haven’t realised it yet. If you want to succeed and survive, to win more customers, keep them longer, and maximise the resulting profits, you’ll need to understand the importance of having a Customer Experience Culture by design not by chance and why it is a game changer for your business. If you are struggling to come to grips with this fundamental shift (Age of the Customer) or struggling to know where to start – you are not alone! Most other businesses also don’t yet understand what this shift really means, what’s at stake for them, and more importantly, how to adapt to it. (hint– its more than just being nice to your customers).
And that’s where we can help – our simple yet effective strategies can not only help you adapt to this new business environment, but to also succeed in it – to outperform and out last your competitors and be your target customers business of choice.
Let us show you how you can improve your business and gain a profitable sustainable competitive advantage by improving your customer experience culture and becoming more customer centric.
It’s do or die time
Yes making your business more Customer Centric and improving your customer experience takes time, effort and money – but doesn’t anything worthwhile in business?
Remember no customers = no business, and as we said earlier your future survival and success depends on whether you embrace or ignore the Age of the Customer.
If you want to succeed today and in the future, first you have to accept that the game has changed, what worked for you previously won’t in the future, second – commit to making your customer central to everything you do and lastly but most importantly – take action, start as soon as you can – but definitely before your competitors do, otherwise they will have the advantage over you. While all this may seem scary, the thing that should scare you more is being seen as a commodity to your customers – meaning they either leave or continually price shop you. And this will start happening sooner than you want if your competitors start down the customer centric road before you do.
“Do what you do so well that they want to see it again and bring their friends” Walt Disney
The overall experience your customers have when dealing with your business is the key determiner whether they will give you repeat business, stay with you and not go to a competitor and most importantly recommend you to their friends and family.
Your main job is to make your customer want to:
- Spend their money with you and not your competitors,
- Buy more, pay more, refer more and stay longer – with your business, not your competitors
Customer Experience is not an optional “add on” to your business any more
As mentioned before the Age of the Customer is transforming the way businesses operate, the way employees are managed, how products are designed and sold and the way customers are treated. Ultimately it will determine whether businesses thrive or die in this new age.
Your best customers are continually reassessing where they spend their money, and your best employees are continually reassessing who they want to work for. Because of this you can no longer ignore, pay lip service to it, treat it as something you will get around to when you have time, or assume your customers and employees are happy and satisfied. It is now a non negotiable essential for every business.
Consider the following results from a survey of SME’s about their focus for the next few years – these are likely your competitors
- 90% say Customer experience is critical to future plans, profitability & growth
- 77% will focus on gaining new customers
- 80% will use experience to differentiate themselves
- 76% will focus on getting “good” staff to achieve this
and yes your best customers and employees will likely be on your competitor’s radar! you can no longer ignore this – your competitors could ,and likely are, working hard on improving their customer experience culture to make sure they keep and attract the best customers, employees and referrals. Isn’t it therefore a no brainer to concentrate the bulk of your time, energy, resources and budget on the one thing that usually accounts for over 80% of your profit and ultimate success. Remember your employees are customers as well!
Beware for you are not alone in this race – It’s not just about being good at these things – it’s about being better than your competitors.
Contact us to find out how we can help you transform your Customer Experience Culture from a bumper sticker to a self-sustaining, highly profitable, competitive advantage.
Quizz Time: Like most businesses you will likely have plans, and budget allocations, for the following:
- Strategic
- Business
- Marketing
- Profit Budget
- Capital Expenditure
- IT and HR
- Customer Experience Culture
But do you have the last one – Customer Experience Culture? If not scary given that the last is equally important for your business.
Contact us to help your Customer Experience Culture be “by design – not by default”
“The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer” Peter Drucker