Today’s customers can choose based on what they want, what they like and what they hear about. For them, loyalty is just a matter of time, mainly because they can make informed choices. They have information at their disposal, they hear reviews all the time on social media and they can get to cheapest prices (or value for money products) in no time.
This presents a distinct challenge for the leaders, marketers, product designers (as the product lifecycle of many products, services reduces and demand for ’wow’ features increases), sales folks alike. A possible solution lies in developing a mindset of total customer centricity, if you haven’t have one yet.
You should exist to delight customers, whether or not they pay you. This is a patience game and if you do the things right, they will pay and honour you. Every word and action of yours, be it internal or external should focus on enhancing that customer experience. It will show up in customer reviews, in solutions you provide, your customer service, discussions your employees have at the coffee table, path taken by your innovators, strategy of the leaders and everything else.
This can help develop a distinct competitive edge in the marketplace, something which is not easy to replicate, something which is a mindset and a culture. A clear example is Amazon and its unflappable focus on its customers. Read any speech of Jeff Bezos in Amazon’s annual reports and you will realize his deep focus on Amazon’s customers.