Check out the best tips from experts for entrepreneurs to put the customer at the center of everything and stay competitive in business.

Putting the customer in the center of everything. It is this strategy that all companies should implement. After all, offering a memorable and personalized service at all steps of the customer journey is fundamental to guarantee the business competitiveness.

In an era where consumers are increasingly demanding, more than price, quality and convenience, customers wish to be treated with attention and individuality.

Experts explain that focusing strategies on the customer, investing in humanized service and meeting their needs is the first step for companies offering a good service.

“Even with the customers increasingly adapted to new technologies, they want to have a good service and look for companies that care about their needs. Thay said, the service cannot be robotic and, the first step for them to feel welcomed and have a positive experience is for companies to work to be customer centric, this means, putting the customer in the center of everything”, explains Antimo Gentile, CEO of DNK Infotelecom.

But, what to do and how to succeed when putting the customer in the center of everything?

Customer centric: why put the customer in the center of everything?

According to experts, society is always transforming – especially as new technologies are appearing. At the same time, the consumers’ habits and behavior follow these constant transformations.

Gentile explains that today’s patterns and means of consumption are very different from what they were in the past.

“With the internet popularization, it is natural that people have more access to information and use it in their favors. Especially when they are choosing a brand, product or service. Today, it is much easier to compare prices and characteristics of products offered by different companies”, affirmed DNK’ CEO.

According to the expert, this first point is already more than fundamental for the customer to have more choice power. After all, now he doesn’t need to be hostage anymore of what a company offers. Now, he has the conditions of looking for something better, if he feels this necessity.

Another reason for putting the customer in the center of everything is the change in the way that customers and companies relate. With the increase of social media, a more instantaneous dialogue between these two parties became possible.

“Thanks to the interactions that happen in the online environment, the customer feels closer to the brands that he follows. The brands, on the other hand, have more conditions of knowing this customer and planning more targeted strategies. Adhering to this customer centric perspective is, before anything else, a way to align the company with the new reality that she is immersed in, avoiding it from becoming obsolete and irrelevant to the competition”, guarantees Gentile.

Gentile alerts, however, that when talking about putting the customer in the center of everything, the strategy says about the construction of a solid relationship between the company and its customers.

“Companies should work to make the customer experience as positive as possible for them and to meet all their demands. It is this that generates the loyalty process and is what retains the customer and keeps him as a long-term source of income. We live in a moment where the brands who know how to create a bond with their customers are increasingly valued. Who knows how to make them feel special. People look for this inside the companies that they relate with. They give priority to the ones that really seem to care about their experiences”.

Customer in the center of everything: knowing the customer is fundamental, according to experts

The first thing to be done for a company becoming customer-centric is knowing the customer.

In the Gentile’s opinion, this is the basic principle to put the customer in the center of everything.

“If you want to create a customer-centric strategy, you need to deeply know him to discover how this strategy must be created and performed,” affirmed the expert.

The expert explains that, in this case, knowing the customer involves some steps.

Are they:

Persona description

Unlike the target audience, the persona says about the description of an “ideal customer”, that means, the consumer that your company wants to attract. In it, you should include as much information about the profile of this person, their habits and challenges, to totally understand him.

“The persona makes the customer palpable, because he is no longer an abstract figure. Usually, it is recommended that a brand have 3 different personas to work”.

Customer lifecycle management

The second step to better understand your customer is mapping and managing their lifecycle. This means mapping the steps that he goes through until purchasing the product and, after this, even making a repurchase. In this sense, the lifecycle is also known as the purchasing journey.

“The purchasing journey is really important because it helps to identify which are the touch points that a customer has with a company even before becoming a real customer. Thus, it is possible to identify which moments to intervene and in which channels to do it, so that he can move on to the next steps until he makes the purchase,” he says.

Gentile also alerts for the fact that each person should have their own purchase journey.

“As a customer can have a different journey from others, the tip that I give is to identify these journeys, always making a link with the persona so that everything makes sense. Thus, you will have a better-defined direction to follow when the time to think about the strategy comes. Besides that, when mapping the journey, the company can also eliminate the failures that exist during it, to improve the customer experience”.

Investing in a good data platform

“It is fundamental to count on a good data platform, like Big Data, that helps your company to collect information about the customer, organize it and ensure that it is easily accessible “, explains Gentile.

According to him, this information comes from many sources: lots of data can be found online, others are the result of forms applied directly to customers.

“The important thing is always having this database updated and using it to make decisions. If the objective is putting the customer in the center of everything, the company needs to be based on the characteristics and demands it actually has. To that, these databases are the best tool. However, this base needs to be centralized so that all employees have access to the same information. This ensures that the company has unified communications.”

Listen to the customer

“No one knows better the needs of a customer than he does. Your consumer is the best person to say how your company can improve the service, the product’s quality and other issues that make your expectations to be exceeded”, says Gentile.

According to DNK’s CEO, brands that put the customer in the center of everything adopt the habit of giving voice to that customer. This can be done from a suggestion box, such as satisfaction surveys, after-service evaluations and interactions on social networks.

“The simple fact of the customer noticing an initiative from the company to make a contact to discover how to improve, has already a great value. He already feels himself in the center of the actions. It is worth remembering, however, that it is necessary that a collaborator be responsible for collecting, filtering and organizing these answers according to their similarity and take it to the managers to verify which suggestions can be met. In addition, make sure that the public knows that your suggestions have been answered”, he guides.

Invest in personalized campaigns

Putting the customer in the center of everything is directly connected with building true relationships with your customers.

In the face of this context, Gentile alerts companies to use the collected information through the tips presented before to create personalized campaigns.

“Many times, the simple fact of putting the name of the person that will receive the email already makes all the difference in its perception. It is a demonstration of affection and attention with the customer. Take advantage that technology allows this level of personalization. Another tip is creating different campaigns for each persona”.

Train your collaborators

It is worthless improving the product’s quality if when the customer arrives at the service balcony, he finds a rude and with no patience attendant.

“The idea of putting the customer in the center of everything needs to be in the company’s philosophy. This means that it should be present in all sectors. Soon, you should offer the necessary training to all employees, so that inside their functions, they know how to keep the focus on the customer and thus, improve their experiences with the company. You can be sure that the consumer notices when all areas of a brand are aligned in the objective of better serving him”.

Invest in omnichannel service

The omnichannel service is an absolute trend and that will definitely not be a temporary wave.

According to Gentile, being omnichannel means offering many service channels so the customer can choose which one is the best one for him in case he needs to get in touch: phone, WhatsApp, chatbot, email, etc.

The expert still warns that, for the omnichannel service to be effective, it should have capable people monitoring all these channels, to ensure that customers are really being answered. Besides that, the channels need to be integrated.

“If the customer sends a message via Instagram complaining and the situation needs to be formalized by email, the company needs to send this email already making it clear that you know what it is about. The consumer shouldn’t have to repeat all his reports in different channels. Valuing your customer’s time, it is also a way to put him in the center of the strategy”, he explains.

Know how to delight the customer

According to DNK’s CEO, brands that can connect with their customers and build a relationship on a deeper level are the ones who established emotional bonds.

“It is necessary to delight the customer, either through a specific campaign that has a more emotional appeal, or by taking an artist to the establishment on a specific day to sharpen different sensations, or by responding to a message with more affection. Soon, seek to always create opportunities so your customers see your company beyond the tangible aspects. Besides that, delight good feelings of joy, satisfaction, confraternization. Because that’s what will create good memories”, guides Gentile.

Flywheel method: how to implement the customer centric perspective inside companies?

In the expert’s opinion, the Flywheel method, developed by Jim Colin, is the best way to put the customer in the center of everything.

Unlike the sales funnel, which, in principle, provides an end to the customer journey – in this case, conversion, the ultimate goal of many companies, the Flywheel method aims to delight the customer and does not rule out the idea that the relationship with the customer should last a lifetime from a journey capable of creating true bonds and not just transactions.

Thus, the method is composed of 3 steps and brings a circular perspective that has the customer in the center of everything, in addition to involving engagement and a genuine achievement that must be maintained through recurring actions.

1.Attraction

Attracting – and keeping – the customer’s attention is the first step of a relationship (in both methods mentioned before). To that, it uses the most various resources: colors, sounds, prices, algorithms, etc.

This can even take to a conversion, as promised by the funnel, but doesn’t create a genuine and lasting relationship between company and consumer. The product or service remains just one more in the crowd.

According to the Flywheel theory, the secret to obtain relevance is offering a memorable experience through stories with personalization and interaction. Therefore, the attraction will occur by generating emotions and provoking feelings.

2.Engagement

After effectively attracting the customer, the engagement will be a consequence. However, brands need to bet on interaction with the customers. Otherwise, it will fall into oblivion.

“Without the company’s initiative, the spell breaks. Enchantment is then similar to ongoing customer conversion: without focusing on the sale, but in the approximation and maintenance of the relationship”, explains Gentile.

In this sense, the method highlights some fundamental elements for the engagement: identification with the purpose, motivation and reward.

Another essential factor is trust. The theory says that the trust base is the recurrence in the delivery of services, products and contacts of excellence, with high performance.

3.Delight

In the journey built through the Flywheel method, the great objective is the delighting – mostly obtained in this step. The challenge, however, is making it tangible, scalable and putting it into processes, considering technological variables and, mainly, human ones.

Basically, it is necessary to positively surprise the customer both under normal circumstances, where services and products are working perfectly, and under adversity. Despite being a great challenge, this is the journey step that transforms the consumer into brand promoter and advocate.

DNK is number one in solutions that puts the customer in the center of everything

Aligned with the market trends and needs, DNK offers the best solutions for Call Center and Contact Center, being specialized in the development of high-performance products, solutions and services for companies in the area.

The use of last generation technologies together with a team of experienced professionals, took DNK to constantly innovate to transform the experience of customers and partners with their consumers.

DNK cherishes excellence in customer service, providing their partners with tools and platforms with innovative and customizable functions in order to guarantee a satisfactory and unforgettable Customer Experience.

With DNK’s products and services, customer service is made through an integrated omnichannel platform, which connects all service channels (WhatsApp, voice, web, chat, among others) with fast customer’s data and information recovery, in order to provide a complete and satisfactory management of customer journey with differentiated results, maximum security and in compliance with the standards required by the LGPD.

The company is recognized by the market and awarded by its solutions and successful cases. Winner of the “Best Self-service Solution” category in the XXI Modern Customer Award and champion of the silver trophy at the 2020 Cliente SA Award, in the“Leader in Innovation Strategy” category, in partnership with a customer, DNK understands that a well-served consumer is the secret to successful service.

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