customer-centric mindset
“Without customers, your [small] business would not exist. It’s that simple. Your business success and longevity depend on acquiring and retaining its target customers. You can’t do so without developing and maintaining a customer-centric mindset.” (Beyond Your Logo: 7 Brand Ideas That Matter Most For Small Business Success ©2015)
In keeping with a customer-centric theme this Friday the 13th, here are 7 things you should never do when managing external customers: Continue reading
Is your business putting customers at the center of every action? The February report of The CMO Survey tells us that you should!
CMO (chief marketing officer) survey respondents rated excellent service (23%) over product quality (22%) and a trusting relationship (21%) when it comes to their customers’ top priorities in the next 12 months. This is a marked difference from 2014’s results which placed “superior product quality” at 31%, “trusting relationship” at 19%, “excellent service” at 18%, and “low price” at just 17%.
I find it fascinating that the differences from one year to the next can be so drastic. Take a look:
Most of us know that keeping customers is important to the success of our businesses or nonprofits. Yet, there’s still an over-weighted emphasis on customer acquisition even though it costs more.
Retaining customers is part of a much bigger picture. In my upcoming book, Beyond Your Logo: 7 Brand Ideas That Matter Most to Small Business Success, I delve into this topic.
Without customers, your business would not exist. It’s that simple. Your business success and longevity depend on acquiring and retaining its target customers. You can’t do so without developing and maintaining a customer-centric mindset.”
A customer-centric mindset (or customer orientation) “moves from selling products and/or services to serving customers’ needs and engaging them as people individually, not as a collective or by customer number. It is a mindset that puts customers at the center of every action.”
And, since customers’ experiences are directly connected to your brand, it makes sense to focus on every customer touchpoint to increase retention.
If you need the numbers to convince you, check out this customer retention infographic by Sparked that I discovered on the LoyaltyToday blog. Continue reading
