Becoming a customer-centric company, is that something the sales department handles with support from marketing? I believe such an approach is challenging and far too slow.
I think it’s challenging because one must overcome the tradition of having products and solutions in focus. And, I think it’s slow due to that both the company and the people need to shift mindset, and also the incentives need to change.
The focus must be to think from the outside and put the most essential parts of the organisation and the customers first. Product and solution selling is mostly about offerings and unique selling points, and not about buyers and unique buying reasons.
- Do you run a truly customer-centric organisation?
- Is there a B2B company that can show an implemented customer-centric model? All B2B companies have to realise that shifting to a relationship-driven, buyer-benefit selling model will take quite a long time to implement as their natural way of doing business.
- Does your company have the ability to understand what each prospect and customer wants - and then provide offerings they want to buy?
I believe all ambitious companies must learn their customer’s expectations, habits and needs. Most corporations remain product- and solution-focused, providing offerings their leaders think buyers want, asking sales and marketing to make people aware.
Companies that listen to their customers and articulate those needs to the company’s product development enjoy the advantages of creating offerings that people are more likely to buy. Also, very often, these products are more intuitive to understand, implement, and use. As a result, these companies enjoy higher revenue due to the pull of market demand.
Buying behaviour has changed
over the past 12 years.
Companies must realise the importance of this key takeaway.
Buyers want to exert control in making their purchasing decisions. They don’t want to be manipulated by salespeople. Instead, they should be treated the way they want to be. They want to be understood and supported in choosing products and solutions that, in turn, makes them achieve tangible results - and the desired business outcome.
Companies aspiring to be truly customer-centric must change from inside market views to an outside individual market view. This will require completely tearing down the existing ways of working, processes, systems and structures.
Customers’ expectations and needs must be the fuel that propels product development. In turn, this requires significant organisational change - but a substantial benefit will be gained.
It’s time that your company realises the potential to improve business results significantly.
Hopefully, you find above helpful. Feel free to contact me if you want to know more about what to start with and how.
