According to our latest HR Reflections research, customer centricity is the top rated area of importance in the UK – 84% say it’s an important focus for them currently.
The thing is, while many organisations might recognise the importance of customer centricity, the practices in place are not creating the right culture. Only 35% currently hire and screen employees for customer-centric attitudes and behaviours, and 33% consistently recognise and reward customer-centric behaviour.
To be truly customer-centric, an organisation has to put the customer at the heart of everything that it does.
Our experience shows there are four areas in need of improvement.
Consistent and regular communication
This is critical. Information needs to flow effortlessly and consistently from the top and all around the organisation. Feedback – both good and bad – needs to be shared. The bad is important to learn from, the good promotes best practices, injects excitement and brings customer centricity to life.
It’s not just what you say but what you do that counts
Employees will take inspiration and direction from the top. If managers are leading by example and visibly caring about the customer, employees can take inspiration and direction from them.
Being an inspiring leader is a widespread challenge, but it’s a trait which is becoming increasingly important. The better the organisation’s vision is communicated and reinforced, along with the shared goal, the more motivated the entire team will be.
Every employee plays a key role
No matter whether they are customer-facing or not, each member of an organisation has an impact on how the end user experiences a product or service.
Customer journey maps are a great way to illustrate and highlight the part that each person/department plays. It also shows how teams work together and why that collaboration is important.
Get the right people through the door and keep them focused on the big picture
You can train aptitude but you can’t change attitude. Not for long, anyway. More focus needs to be made to hire and screen for customer-centric behaviours and attitudes, to help to create and reinforce the desired culture. Recognising employees acting in a customer-centric way and rewarding them for meeting targets and objectives reinforces what the organisation values.
