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The concept of a company's customer focus: definition, approach in sales. Customer-oriented approach in the work of a modern organization

“The customer is always right” is a phrase that business owners use as an example for their employees to teach them good service.

“The customer is always right” – this is the phrase that employees hate, believing that they provide good service, and the customer is just “borzeet”. The thin line between good and bad is called customer focus.

Looking ahead, I can say that if you have just decided to postpone reading an article with the words: “My company has good service, which means customer focus is at its best,” then I will immediately advise you not to rush.

Your service may be good compared to competitors or the market average.

However, after traveling around the world, I realized that Russia has room to grow. But the conversation is about you.

Therefore, even if the customer focus in your company is high, I insist that you read this material to the end.

Usefulness, chips and practical experience for the development of customer focus - everything will be. Without it in our blog in any way.

Tomorrow, today will be yesterday

In principle, this is all you need to know about the concept itself before moving on to specific tools to increase customer focus.

Small business - no service needed

The only thing I want to pay attention to is who is customer-oriented.

That is, which company needs to purposefully deal with it, and who better to postpone it for later and start attracting customers.

The answer is simple to disgrace - everyone. Yes, there are a lot of rumors now that this is only necessary for those who work in highly competitive niches.

But small companies, monopolists and innovative start-ups do not need this. But this is a delusion, or rather an excuse not to do this business.

Monopolists can "score" on a good service only for the time being, until a new competitor appears.

Then dissatisfied customers will immediately go to him. A startup is much more likely to “start powerfully” due to good service, external and internal customer focus.

And a small business should value each client as the apple of its eye, so as not to make ends meet in sales endlessly, and start word of mouth.

Therefore, everyone needs it. Only one question - "To what extent?". Everything is more flexible here.

It makes no sense to kill only over one service. Only one service people will not go. Therefore, it is like in, you need to do well, but not perfectly. After all, work on the ideal is endless.

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Two types of approach

You could say we started talking about practice. And for its basis, we need in our head to divide customer focus into two types, which many do not know about.

Conventionally, they can be described as external and internal customer focus.

Customer oriented employee (internal)

The customer focus is a huge plus. These are very valuable employees who are quite expensive in the labor market.

They differ not only in that they comply with all the regulations for communicating with the client, but also in the fact that they put the customer, not the company and management, at the forefront.

Although it sounds strange. The example is as old as the world, but it reflects the idea most fully.

Customer oriented internal

It is they who follow the saying - "The client pays you money, not the manager."

It is quite difficult to evaluate and see such employees, but, as a rule, they are good sales managers who sell much more than their colleagues. They have the most loyal and regular customers.

Customer-oriented company (external)

This is a company that primarily focuses on long-term work and long-term stay in business.

To do this, the company develops whole rules, regulations and employees with customers. Where it is written even what temperature to pour tea to the client.

But papers are papers, it is impossible to foresee all situations. Therefore, the company's management must initially determine the strategy, not only create rules, but also nurture this attitude in each employee.

Unfortunately, this is the main problem, because companies are more focused on money and customers, and not on working with employees.

Examples of successful implementations

Example 1 Dom.ru Internet provider. After connecting the Internet, the master at the door, scratching his hands, asks the question: “Mistress, do you still need to do something around the house?”.

Most, as a rule, refuse, but there are people who ask to fix the faucet or throw out the garbage. The loyalty of the client after such an act of the master, of course, rolls over.

Example 2 Zappos online store. The company takes care of the domestic problems of employees.

The company has a “Good Deeds Department” that helps employees with family tasks (for example, taking their mother to the hospital).

Thus, employees become more focused on work, which means they treat the client better, because they see a good example.

Example 3 Clothing store. In the event that a client needs a different size in the locker room, all he needs to do is press a button, at the signal of which the seller will come and bring the required size.

Usually the client has to scream or worse, dress in their clothes and repeat the lap of honor.

Example 4 Center for Child Development. The administrators of the company give out tablets with the Internet and games for those parents who are waiting for their child during the lesson.

Thus, time flies by unnoticed, besides, all this is supported by comfortable and large chairs.

Example 5 Starbucks coffee shop. On each ordered glass of coffee they write your name.

This helps them not only in finding the owner of the drink, but also makes it possible to communicate all the time with the client by name. And as you know, we are ready to listen to our name forever.

Customer Focus at Starbucks

Example 6 Our company. We always call back to all clients who do not call us (for example, outside working hours) and give a bonus for the current situation.

On the one hand, we are not obliged to give anything, because it is normal that there is non-working time.

But on the other hand, the client made an appeal to our company, and this is important for us.

Example 7 Jewelry "Cartier". When buying a ring in Europe, I was prepared for the fact that they would speak to me in English, but no.

For all popular countries (including Russia), native speakers are provided on site. And for rare countries, you can be provided with an interpreter for a few hours.

Example 8 Bank Alfa-Bank. In the winter season, the bank wrapped all its metal handles with soft, velvet material, so that when the client opens the door, he would feel not the cold, but the warm love of each person from this company.

Customer focus in Alfa-Bank

Example 9 Pizza restaurant. Since the restaurant is very famous, with the influx of the season there are queues for tables that go along the street.

The wait can be up to 1 hour. So that during this time you are not tired, you are provided with chairs and free water, which is constantly replenished by the waiter in this area.

Example 10 Taxi service. When ordering a car, you can choose the “Silent driver” option.

Such an order will make it clear to the taxi driver that you need to drive in silence, and not tell how much he already drives this car and how the last passenger deceived him by 10 rubles.

Concrete steps

It is impossible to give a list of required actions to become a customer-oriented company.

Because if you read carefully, all criteria are based on the needs of the client.

In one business, it is important for the consumer to have soft chairs in line, and in another, they don’t give a damn about these chairs, the main thing is to be able to fill out all the documents on their own, even while standing.

In the example above, you can start to object and say: “We need both chairs and self-filling.” It's right.

True, if we are talking about small and medium-sized businesses, then there are no resources and time for everything.

Therefore, you need to move by priority and start with the most important. One to one, as in the use of advertising channels (see the video below).

But in order not to let you go with bare hands and a stuffed head, I will give you some theoretical and practical advice that will help you form the right actions in order to lay the foundations of customer focus.

Determine direction. To a greater extent you are aimed at the client or at money. This is important because, for example, customers are often dissatisfied with a product and demand an exchange, a gift, and a return.
Under the law, in some cases, you can refuse them. But the fact of the matter is that customer focus is not a law, so you need to decide on the shore what to do.
Count customer churn. Customers leave (below are interesting statistics) and this cannot be avoided. But if all customers leave, then something urgently needs to be changed.
After all, the outflow of customers is one of the indicators of your service. Tracking losses is easiest with .
Exceed customer expectations.“Easy to say but hard to do,” you think. But actually it is not.
For example, all a retail store needs is to include a chocolate bar in a customer's purchase. This will surprise him, and ruin you for mere pennies.
Do not collect feedback using questionnaires. Never! Listen, never!
Questionnaires do not work, because even a positive client is too lazy to fill it out, and if he fills it out, he writes only good things so as not to offend.
Deal with angry/gone customers. Be ready to talk to a lost client at any time.
A particularly powerful effect is achieved if the issue is resolved not just by the employee, but by his manager. And this will brighten up the negative if the issue has not been resolved positively.
Change the staff. Implement bonuses for the best customer-oriented employees, this will be an additional incentive for them.
The prize can be both material and non-material, the main thing is that the employee wants to receive it.

Calculation formula

Everyone knows a lot about customer focus, but how to measure it - there is no single formula that takes into account all factors.

But I liked the Ovum research (it's a big research center).

They developed their own formula and decided to test different companies to see which one was how much customer-focused. Ready for results?

Even such large companies as Apple, IBM, General Electric could not rise above 80%. The absolute majority of companies did not overcome the bar above 55%.

This perfectly shows that most companies in America "do not bother" with the quality of work. What can we say about Russia, where the situation is much worse.

Only by focusing on service and quality of service in order to avoid lowering the coefficient due to the product and other technical issues that are not directly related to customer focus.

The article reveals the content of the concept of customer orientation. On the basis of the McKinsey "7C" model, various aspects of the manifestation of customer orientation are demonstrated. Significant results of the development of customer focus are presented. They propose the concept of creating a customer service group (functionally customer-oriented division).

customer focus

satisfaction

development

1. Busarkina V.V., The concept of customer orientation of an enterprise and the problems of its evaluation // Problems of modern economics. - 2007. - No. 4. - S. 18-23.

2. Gelmanova Z.S., Spanova B.Zh., Osik Yu.I. Management of innovation activity in the context of globalization Textbook of Karaganda: Publishing and printing center of the Kazakh-Russian University, 2014. - 168 p.

3. Gelmanova Z.S. Competitiveness: (theory, methodology, practice) Monograph. - Almaty: "Gylym", 2000. - 331 p.

4. Gelmanova Z.S. Assessment of the competitiveness of metal products. Monograph. - Almaty, 1997. - 91 p.

5. Gelmanova Z.S. Methodology for researching the client-oriented strategy of JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau” Monograph Temirtau, CSTI. 2013. - 147 p.

6. Gelmanova Z.S. Competitive development strategy of the company. Tutorial. Karaganda, TSNTI. 2004. - 100 p.

7. Losev S.V. Principles of building a client-oriented organization // Management in Russia and abroad. - 2008. - No. 6. - S. 42-45.

When analyzing the main trends in the situation in various corporate markets, the constant growth of competition is obvious. It is she who encourages companies to look for new tools and approaches to attract and retain customers. A customer-centric approach is seen by many as a worthy way out of the current market situation. However, most managers and specialists do not know what to do to make the client vote with his money for customer orientation.

More recently, "customer centricity" refers to the policy of a successful organization that recognizes that the client is at the center of its activities. Even the most common interpretations of it are the identification of the needs of the client, a respectful and interested attitude towards him, an orientation towards long-term relationships with the client, etc. - do not give a complete picture of how the organization must change in order to become customer-oriented.

Very often there is a substitution of concepts: customer focus is identified with the presence of quality service standards in the company. Any customer has the right to guaranteed quality service and respect, even if the purchase did not take place. These are the basic norms of customer relations that are relevant for any organization. But at the same time, strictly observing service standards, the organization may not be customer-oriented. In other words, she does not seek to create conditions under which the client will want to re-use her services.

To reveal the image of a customer-oriented company, it is necessary to define the term "customer-oriented" itself. It seems logical to consider this concept broader than just “customer orientation”. The definition proposed below was formulated after examining organizations that the experts interviewed identified as customer-centric and identifying common characteristics inherent in such an organization.

Customer centricity is a customer relationship management tool aimed at obtaining sustainable profits in the long term and based on three criteria: core competencies, target customers and equality of positions.

A core competency is the ability of a company to achieve certain results with greater efficiency. Key competencies should be continuous in time (not short-term and not one-time), conscious of the company's management and regularly used (staff must be able to repeat their successful actions). In many cases, the core competency can be narrowed down to the concept of "competitive advantage" - a supplier's characteristic perceived by the client (its core competency), which has a significant impact on the client's preferences. An organization cannot have many key competencies, but at the same time, their formulation should be extremely specific, giving an unambiguous idea of the advantage of this company. Here are examples of key competencies of different companies (from work experience): effective management of a wide range of inventory; technologies for creating a unique product; the ability to fulfill the obligations assumed in any case; the ability to build the infrastructure in the best way to serve a large number of customers; the ability to masterfully sell any product.

Target customers - a limited list of customers or customer groups that are a priority for the company in the long term. Characteristics of target customers should be formalized and meet the main segmentation criteria, namely: independence of characteristics from the relationship of the company to the client (examples of dependent characteristics are the volume of purchases from the supplier, the internal rating of the client from the supplier, the duration of the relationship); measurability and unambiguous interpretation of characteristics (an example of ambiguous characteristics is the type of personal relationship between a manager and a client representative, a good / bad client); independence of characteristics when used in combination (for example, it is impossible to simultaneously use the characteristics of the scale of the client's business and the total need of the client for the product); similarity of buying behavior within the client group.

Each target customer group should have unique needs identified. Unlike the basic ones, they, as a rule, are not reflected in the standards of quality service and go unnoticed. Such needs, in particular, include: carrying out shipments during off-hours; maintenance of an emergency stock in the warehouse of the supplier; special requirements for the period of replacement of non-conforming product specifications; provision of licensed and other solutions by the supplier; execution of documents in a form different from accepted standards; additional reporting, etc.

Equality of positions (partnership) - the relationship between the supplier and the client, in which there is no dominance (conscious or accidental) of one of the parties at any stage of the relationship. At the same time, partnerships imply a sufficient degree of openness between the seller and the buyer, expressed, for example, in the voluntary disclosure of the price structure for the buyer or warning the client about the possibility of a shortage of any product. The openness of partners allows for the possibility of showing dissatisfaction with the state of the relationship (the existence of working conflicts between the seller and the buyer). The main feature of partnerships is the lack of dependence on the counterparty.

Customer centricity can be understood as the self-restraint of an organization, rewarded by its customers. The company does not go beyond its competence and does not try to satisfy absolutely all the needs of all its customers, instead focusing on its core competence for a limited target group that is capable of establishing partnerships.

Various aspects of the manifestation of customer orientation can be demonstrated on the basis of the McKinsey "7C" model, which considers the organization as a system consisting of seven elements. The result of such a systematization of forms of customer focus is presented in Table. one.

Thus, it is possible to determine the following prerequisites for an organization that claims to be customer-oriented: the presence of conscious and purposefully developed key competencies and the absence of declarative key competencies of a general nature (examples of the latter: production of a quality product at a fair price, satisfaction of consumer expectations); unambiguous identification of target groups and identification of their unique needs. Willingness to refuse a non-target client for priority service to a key one; priority of long-term profit over short-term profit. The urgent task is development, not survival.

Among the factors that prevent the organization from becoming customer-oriented are the following: an aggressive strategy of the organization aimed at a significant increase in market share; focus on short-term profit.

In some cases, customers do not allow the organization to be customer-centric. For example, in the case of oligopsony or a situation close to it, the client does not want to put himself in an equal position in relation to the supplier. Significant differences in the scale of the business of the supplier and the client also often prevent the possibility of partnerships. The client, taking advantage of the fact that the supplier depends on him, “presses through” favorable conditions of interaction only for him, forcing the supplier to abandon customer focus.

Table 1

Forms of customer focus on the elements of the McKinsey "7C" model

Element of the "7C" model	Element entity	Forms of customer focus
Strategy	A long-term plan for the development of an organization that promotes growth Competitiveness and creating strong competitive advantages	The presence of a strategy allows the organization to achieve key competencies in various aspects of customer relationships
Structure	Method of organizing interaction between departments, indicating the principles of subordination and areas of responsibility	Interaction between the "front office" and "back office" in order to ensure the well-coordinated work of personnel in the process of servicing consumers.
Control system	Methods for making managerial decisions, conducting daily work in an organization, business development	Compliance of the adopted rules and procedures with the requirement of maximum customer satisfaction
System of values	Norms and standards of interaction in the organization; corporate culture principles, mission	Promoting the values of customer focus among employees of the organization
Skill system	Capabilities, potential and competencies possessed by the personnel of the organization	Competencies that are necessary to implement a customer-centric approach
Composition of employees	How many employees work in the organization, who they are by specialty, how work with personnel is organized: recruitment, advanced training, motivation	The staff is an active participant in communications between the organization and its customers, i.e. receives and transmits information about the degree of customer satisfaction
Relationship style within the organization	Management style adopted in the organization; the importance of managers and their role in making strategic decisions on business development	Customer-centric relationship style enables improvement and meeting customer expectations

Who benefits? In which markets will the use of customer-centricity tools be effective? Here are a few possible situations: a large number of potential customers; the market is competitive, a significant number of players without a monopoly leader; there is no drastic change in market shares between competitors.

At the present stage of development, the metallurgical industry (especially large industries with many large and small customers) is faced with the problem of quality service for each of the customers (in most cases there is no customer-oriented strategy).

Metallurgical enterprises in Europe offer the concept of creating a customer service group (functionally customer-oriented unit), the basic structure of which will be discussed below. At the leading enterprises, the question is always raised: how to create an effective customer support team? The question for this answer is the following diagram, which describes the necessary components and structure of the group.

To create a client-oriented group, it is necessary to define the following components: the program and tasks of the department / group; relevant technicians; management support; selection of the most efficient model; support / sufficient number of specialists; communication with the logistics department / order management; communication with different production departments; means of interaction.

Since ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC is part of the largest steel company ArcelorMittal, the European advanced plants of the company proposed to create a customer service group in Temirtau, which would bring AMT JSC to a new level of cooperation with our regular customers both in Europe and in Asia, improving multi-faceted relationships at every stage of production, delivery and processing of products.

The group model was worked out together with European experts Operational Excellence, AM Gent, AM Sidmar, AM Florange and many other experts in the field of work with consumers.

The first steps in creating the group were as follows: a group was created to work with clients; a meeting was held with ArcelorMittal Gent on the functional and technical features of the group's work; identified the main ("critical", key) consumers of the European and East Asian regions - "key-customers"; a scheme was prepared for the interaction of CS with the services of the plant; a questionnaire was created to assess satisfaction with the quality of products of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC.

According to the approved concept of the group's work, its main tasks are defined:

1. Strengthening communication with regular customers.

2. Improving customer service (consideration of the delivery time of our products, the quality of delivery, packaging, method of fastening our products; participation in the processing of experimental lots; participation in the production of responsible orders from our metal by the consumer; if necessary or at the first request of the client as soon as possible departure of our representative to the consumer; offer of products with the most suitable characteristics for processing at the consumer).

Unlike a product, whose properties are formalized and specified in the contract, for which the client is charged directly, the service represents the company's attitude to the client, characterized by emotional and behavioral aspects. Moreover, if the product is clearly determined by the field of activity of the company and can be defined as a product or service, then the service does not have “specialization” and depends solely on the quality of the organization of processes and the competence of the staff. Quality service is the concentration of all resources and all employees of the company on customer satisfaction. First-class service provides two things that form a sustainable competitive advantage: the company's unique position in the market and its difference from competitors, since its provision does not have strict formalization and, therefore, cannot be copied; individuality of relations with each valuable client for the company, which ensures a stable emotional connection and maximum satisfaction of the buyer's needs.

There are several levels of service maturity. The basic level involves courteous treatment and individual customer service. Now, for almost all industries, this is significant even at the stage of product selection. The second level determines the high competence of the company in solving customer problems and responding to non-standard situations. The ability to organize the work of the company's personnel so that requests are considered promptly, and problems arise as rarely as possible is a key feature of a quality service. If requests at the second level are initiated by the client, then at the third level the company takes the initiative. Elements of cooperation ensure the prevention of emergency situations, effective conflict resolution, development of the most beneficial product and service offers for the client, including those that ensure the development of his business (in the field of B2B). The service provides personalization of relations with the client, a clear understanding and satisfaction of his current and future needs, and this, in turn, retains the client and increases his long-term value.

3. Determining the advantages and disadvantages of our products and competitors' products, analyzing the data obtained and issuing recommendations to meet consumer requirements (compliance of product quality (chemical composition, mechanical properties, surface quality, geometry, tolerances, flatness) with consumer requirements; obtaining information on processing of our metal (yield, material consumption, manufacturability); obtaining information on the products of our competitors and conducting a comparative analysis with our products; issuing measures and recommendations to improve our products according to indicators that do not suit the consumer).

4. Increasing volumes and expanding the range of products (collection of information about the range of products that the consumer can consume and additional requirements for products; familiarization with the consumer's plans for the future and providing the consumer with information about our plans to improve quality and meet consumer requirements; offer the consumer products other grade or with other characteristics).

Quality management is based on such important parameters as compliance with standards, compliance with consumer expectations and efficient production (competitive cost). The use of specialized IT solutions, the main function of which is to support quality management processes, can significantly increase the efficiency of many enterprise processes, thereby improving the quality of their functioning.

table 2

Feedback distribution

Rice. 1. Level of customer satisfaction

At the present stage of development of the metallurgical industry, the meaning of the term "quality" combines the requirements of standards (chemical composition, mechanical properties, requirements for surface quality, etc.), a high production culture within the plant, which consists in careful handling of metal products during preparation metal for shipment (transportation by cranes, marking, fulfillment of additional consumer requirements, loading onto wagons), as well as careful attitude when delivering products by rail, handling metal in ports, safe transportation in ships, unloading and warehousing in consumer ports.

In 2015, ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC was at the peak of relations with its European and Asian consumers, fulfilling the shipment volumes to the maximum, as well as paying close attention to the requirements and wishes of consumers in terms of technology and product service. In order to determine the current state of the quality of steel products JSC "ArcelorMittal Temirtau" carried out a comprehensive analysis of the comments and suggestions of consumers in the East Asian region, which is currently a growing segment of the consumption of metal products. The results are shown below. Feedback received: Iran, East Asia and the Middle East.

The survey consumer analysis represents approximately 20% of the volume for Temirtau (East Asian market segment) (Table 2).

The above consumers were surveyed on the main production indicators for satisfaction with them. The distribution is shown in the figure.

As can be seen from fig. 1, the histogram reflects the attitude (satisfaction) of consumers / intermediate traders to the main components of the characteristics of steel products and service. Thus, the graph shows that end users are less satisfied with key indicators compared to wholesalers. Thus, end users are more satisfied with pre- and after-sales service. The greatest satisfaction of wholesalers is explained by their intermediate role in the distribution chain, which minimizes their technical requirements for products, and enhances logistics and service. Based on the survey, the main provisions for evaluating the criteria for metal products were identified:

Customer satisfaction is generally good. That is, there is no major discrepancy between what the consumer is looking for and what the factory supplies except for the claims management part;

Most regular consumers are informed and aware of what they expect to receive from Temirtau, this applies to the supplied material;

Understanding the market and quality are in agreement with each other except for a few points;

Consumers are generally satisfied with order management, pre- and post-sales/service;

Needs improvement: claims management, product development;

Product Quality, Product Development and Claims Management Issues: End-customer satisfaction is lower compared to sources/traders/inventory firms;

The relationship and partnership with ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC remains the highest priority for everyone and is permanent.

The survey also included the collection of comments / positioning of various consumers in relation to any aspects of the activities of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC.

Rice. 2. Key factors from the point of view of consumers

Table 3

Ranking of key factors by priority

Key factors of purchases of AMT products are reflected in fig. 2.

So from fig. 2 it follows that for end users are important: product quality / technical support / terms of payment / price. For wholesale firms, delivery / communication efficiency / pre- and after-sales services are preferred. The survey also showed the priority of key product factors for end consumers and wholesale firms (Table 3).

From the analysis of the table. 3 it follows that both end consumers and wholesalers give priority to product quality and price, which is the most attractive for AMT JSC.

The growing influence of consumers leads to the need to focus all the company's resources on achieving a single goal - "creating a satisfied customer", due to the quality of the product and service provided. The customer service department (CRM) is becoming a kind of one of the corporate strategies, the development of which is under the direct control of senior management, and all structural divisions and employees of the company take part in its execution.

Thus, customer relationship management can be understood as a separate activity of the customer service department (CRM in the "narrow" sense), as well as the integrated activities of all organizational units aimed at increasing the value of the company for customers and increasing customer capital (CRM in the "narrow" sense). broad sense).

We emphasize the importance of the transformations that must be carried out by the company when implementing a customer-oriented approach. The vector of the company's activity should shift from "product" processes to the search for the most profitable customer segments and the development of a strategy to retain them.

Bibliographic link

Gelmanova Z.S., Petrovskaya A.S. CUSTOMER-ORIENTED APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRM // International Journal of Applied and Fundamental Research. - 2016. - No. 10-2. – S. 292-298;
URL: https://applied-research.ru/ru/article/view?id=10337 (date of access: 11/24/2019). We bring to your attention the journals published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural History"

We talk about approaches and examples of using customer focus in practice in this article.

You will learn:

Without which elements a client-oriented approach is impossible.
What are the benefits of a customer-centric approach?
What approaches will help to assess the company's customer focus.
What problems and "gaps" may arise in the company's customer-oriented system.

When done right, customer focus builds customer satisfaction and loyalty, and builds strategic business sustainability.

The essence of a customer-centric approach

Customer focus is a concept that is not clearly defined in Russian and foreign literature. Summarizing its different interpretations, we can talk about customer focus as a strategic “superstructure” of a business, which is based on 4 elements:

Orientation of goals and all activities to customers, fixed in the mission, values, strategy and positioning of the company.
Identification of customer needs and flexible response to changes in their behavior patterns, including those influenced by new megatrends, market and industry trends.
Creating a customer experience at every step of the customer journey that anticipates customer expectations and builds customer satisfaction.
The company's focus on long-term relationships with consumers. This element is one of the basic postulates of the concept of customer relationship marketing. The business is focused on maximizing the number of repeat customer requests to the company. Their return for goods and services again and again is stimulated by the first three elements and the formation of loyalty.

Customer focus can be defined by the following formula: Customer focus = Understanding the customer + Caring for the customer + Building customer value

The basis of a customer-oriented approach is the respect of customers by the company and the trust of customers in the company. It is also important to talk about mutual benefit. In the case of consumers, it means receiving customer value that meets expectations, as well as various tangible and intangible bonuses for repeatedly contacting the company. For the seller - a stable client flow, formed not only by new buyers, but also by a large base of regular ones.

Benefits of customer focus for business:

A high rate of repeat requests and a large proportion of regular customers.
The presence of a group of "advocates" of a brand or company who voluntarily or for bonuses recommend goods and services to their friends and acquaintances.
Decreased price sensitivity of consumers - when buying a product or service, they receive a higher customer value than competitors. This leads to the fact that consumers stop responding to price increases (up to 15% on average).
Saving marketing communications budgets with the help of actively working "word of mouth".

Mistakes companies make with a customer-centric approach

The development of a customer-oriented approach is a response of business to increased competition. However, often, starting with consumer orientation, companies move to the level of price competition (offering only discounts), then all participants lose - sellers lose profitability, and consumers increasingly pay attention to the decrease in the quality of goods and services. Enterprises are forced to compensate for the loss of profits by reducing production and personnel costs.

Another misinterpretation of customer centricity is the blind adherence to the well-known slogan "The customer is always right." In the pursuit of maximizing customer satisfaction, a business can become so engrossed in trying to retain customers that all of the profit gains are offset by the cost of customer focus. If a company wants to stay ahead of the competition, the customer must be right, but always to the advantage of the company itself.

Therefore, when thinking about implementing a customer-centric approach, you need to determine what additional value the business wants to give to its customers and how much per retained customer it will cost.

What to consider when implementing a customer-centric approach

I want to draw attention to 3 important points that need to be considered when deciding whether to implement a customer-centric approach:

Customer focus is not expensive. It is cheaper to be a customer-centric enterprise than it is to push your way through the huge information noise that surrounds today's consumers with the help of marketing communications. However, the costs will not always be material and also involve a revision of work approaches, the identification and elimination of “gaps” at the junction of departments, in the system of non-material motivation of personnel, and so on. In other words, it is not only monetary, but also time costs.
Customer focus is needed where there is direct or indirect (by phone, through feedback forms) communication between buyers and staff. This means that it works best in the service sector. Good results are obtained by the work on keeping consumers in online commerce of all formats. If we talk about mass production, since communications are minimal, in this area other marketing tools come to the fore when building loyalty.
The effectiveness of customer focus does not depend on the size of the business, but on the correctness of its “setting”. This means that for small businesses it can become a low-budget, but very effective competitive tool.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of a client-oriented approach

To assess the level of customer focus, surveys, in-depth interviews, focus groups, the mystery shopper technique, or auditing with the help of specialized companies are used. But despite all the attempts to digitize customer focus, there is still no single methodology and it is unlikely to appear. The reason is simple - the expectations and their compliance with each client are subjective, individual and may even depend on the mood on a particular day of making a purchase.

One of the most popular assessment methods is the NPS (Net Promoter Score) loyalty index, which allows you to assess the willingness of buyers to recommend the company's products or services to other consumers.

By evaluating customer centricity in projects carried out for our clients, we are looking for answers to 4 questions that can be used in all markets:

What is it like to be a client of a company? An understanding is formed of what needs, problems, fears and barriers customers have at each stage of their customer journey and how the company “responds” to each of them.
How much does it cost to be a client of the company? We are talking not only about the cost of goods and services, but also about all other associated costs, including time. For example, how long does it take for a consumer to get to a company's office through traffic? Or how much does a car service cost from competitors, are there any risks that they will “outbid” the client?
What keeps clients from leaving? It is necessary to understand what costs reduce the desire of consumers to switch to competitors' offers. For example, a convenient location for a fitness center, an extended work schedule (from 8 am to 10 pm, while competitors work from 10 am to 9 pm), “your own” client manager or employee, negative feedback about competitors, etc.
What makes customers come back again and again? In this case, the company needs to praise itself as much as possible, but against the background of competitors. It is necessary to identify factors that are really significant for consumers, distinguishing the company from competitors and encouraging them to make multiple choices in its favor. This question is similar to question 3, but allows you to look at the customer journey more broadly.

To test the above technique, I recommend using its services that you regularly use. After trying it for yourself, you can then answer questions based on existing data or with the help of additional research.

Tools for a customer-centric approach

It is important to distinguish customer focus from its tools that are not:

The presence of scripts, regulations (prescribed business processes) and service standards does not guarantee customer orientation. Mechanically implemented standards without their adaptation to specific situations and customer requests cause more negative than satisfaction. For example, the Teremok chain of pancakes is famous for its obsessive standards, which cause dissatisfaction among many St. Petersburg residents, which they have repeatedly stated.
Loyalty program based only on discounts. Today, almost all companies have loyalty cards, but more than 90% of them are an attempt to tie customers with discounts within 10%. There are practically no unique programs that take into account the behavior and path of consumers.
Feedback and hotline, complaints management system and regular satisfaction assessment without any corrective action. All these tools should become sources of valuable information about consumers and areas of growth for the enterprise, and not be performed “for show”.

"Gaps" in the system of a client-oriented approach

It is also important to highlight the main problems and “gaps” in the customer-centricity system that companies may face:

If a company invests in staff training, but at the same time employees are poorly motivated, there is no need to talk about customer orientation. Often this happens in the premium auto business, when sales managers are forced to overcome their internal psychological barriers on a daily basis, working with buyers who have a much higher income level than theirs.
If even the best client strategy is developed, but not brought to the attention of employees or not understood by them, the company will not receive a result in the form of increased satisfaction and loyalty. At the heart of customer focus are always people (customer staff), only then procedures and tools.
If the staff is not motivated, it will not work to introduce a new approach. It is not uncommon for a new client strategy to involve an almost complete change of staff. At the same time, the focus is on the remaining customer-oriented employees, who, as a rule, are few, but they can be clearly identified by high sales rates, the presence of “their own” client base and a large number of regular customers.
If communication between departments is not established, all efforts to focus on customers can be futile. Especially often this happens between the departments of the "visible" and "invisible" zones. For example, even the best client manager can lose a client if the accounting department hangs up the contract for a long time for approval.
If the staff does not have acceptable limits for empowerment, nothing will fundamentally change for consumers.If the sales manager is forced to coordinate all his actions with the sales manager (for example, the size of the discount for a regular customer), time is lost during which the client can go to competitors. The same may apply to the return of goods, the postponement or time of visiting a specialist, etc. It is necessary either to take into account such moments as much as possible in the regulations, which is almost impossible, or to give the staff the authority to resolve such issues on the ground.

An example of the impact of a customer-centric approach on business

You can talk a lot about customer centricity, but the best way to demonstrate its impact on business is through the digitization of results. Below is an example of the Clinic of Dr. Shmilovich (Alter Mental Health Center), of which I am an invited marketing director (outside CMO).

We encountered the solution of the problem of customer orientation at the stage of developing the strategy and positioning of the Clinic, realizing that this tool is the source of strategic competitiveness in this market. The development of positioning was based on the results of the study (survey and in-depth interviews with clients, specialists and administrators of the Clinic, mystery shopper, competitive analysis and the study of reviews on the Internet).

The market for psychological and psychiatric services from a consumer point of view is one of the most complex and “delicate” markets in both private and public segments. The main market growth constraints are listed below.

With such serious restrictions associated with consumer behavior, as the analysis showed, market players practically do not use marketing tools that would help overcome them.

Development of strategy and positioning began with building a customer journey. At the first stage, the criteria for selecting specialists were identified by interviewing potential clients (patients) (Fig. 2).

The main selection criteria are the recommendations of friends, acquaintances or colleagues. In other words, new customers in this market are the result of the customer focus of its participants. This was also confirmed by the analysis of the client base of the Clinic - about 90% of new patients come to it on the recommendation, every third patient recommends the clinic and its specialists. With such features of consumer behavior, advertising is practically ineffective, the basis of promotion is word of mouth.

The study showed that, on average, consumers search for "their" specialist for 3-6 months, while the vast majority of them find him 3-4 times. This is another factor that reduces the level of trust in clinics. It has been hypothesized (currently being tested) that more than 50% of people who have experience seeking services end up without medical care due to the termination of searches.

Next, the client's path was built, at each stage tasks were set, the solution of which will allow overcoming the fears and barriers of potential patients, forming a positive consumer experience (customer experience) and loyalty through the maximum consideration of the characteristics of consumer behavior. The model is based on the results of the study (Fig. 3).

A study of key competitors revealed another feature of the market - it is not customer-oriented from a marketing point of view. Apart from websites, minimal activity in social networks and minor PR activities, market players practically do not use any tools.

The following key “gaps” in the work have been identified:

Competitors in no way reduce the risks of patients when choosing specialists. If they are not satisfied with a specialist, they are forced to either prove it in the legal field, or embark on a new search for “their” specialist. The administrator of one of the clinics, in response to a mystery shopper's question about the possibility of choosing a specialist, replied: “Doctors are not suitors, there is nothing to choose them. Come and heal." What kind of customer focus are we talking about here? In response to this result of the study, the Clinic will offer a so-called "test drive" - once during the treatment program, the patient can replace a specialist without losing money, arguing his desire.
Customers are interested in discounts, but only a few market players offer them. The decision is always the responsibility of the chief physician and only on an individual basis. At the same time, there are no loyalty programs even for regular customers. Taking into account the fact that patients usually receive 5-10 consultations within the framework of treatment programs, this is a rather significant cost for their budget. About 1/3 of the Clinic's clients contacted it 3 or more times, so in response to this research result, the Clinic is implementing a loyalty program.
Competitor websites have a large number of feedback forms. Almost all of them work, but the answers are not always prompt (30-40 minutes). When asking for information on social networks, answers can come in a few hours. In most cases, the answers are formal, despite the high level of customer anxiety in this market. In many cases, when contacting through an online consultant, feedback forms and social networks, links to site pages or materials are poisoned. When communicating in clinics by phone, the conversation is conducted mainly in the "client's question - employee's answer" mode. In response to this result of the study, the Clinic will introduce a flexible script for telephone conversations, which allows, at the first call, to remove the maximum fears and barriers of clients.
Competitors have a large number of negative reviews on the network, on average, such reviews are about 15-20%. Despite the specifics of the market (features of services), this is a very high figure, while the main part of complaints falls on the lack of customer focus. A study of more than 300 reviews about the Clinic revealed only 12 negative reviews without detailing the negative in them. Against the backdrop of a large number of negative reviews about competitors, this confirmed the correctness of the current activities of the Clinic and made it possible to determine the list of criteria for its positioning on the basis of a client-oriented detuning from competitors.
None of the competitors implements programs of the so-called "Bring a friend" format, since satisfied patients, even if they are the "lawyers" of the clinics, do not receive any bonuses for this. In this regard, the Clinic is now implementing the "Circle of Support" program.
Competitors use virtually no marketing promotions, despite the fact that they are widespread in all consumer markets. The specifics of the market do not imply the “frontal” use of discounts for services, however, it was decided to introduce discounts for consultations at the least busy hours in the Clinic (to equalize the client flow), as well as discounts for contacting the Clinic on the day of the call for new patients (in this case, the client goes to any free specialist).

The above are only brief results of the study of the market of psychological and psychiatric services and models of consumer behavior on it, as well as the main directions of development of the Clinic of Dr. Shmilovich.

This example illustrates how market participants are weakly using a client-oriented approach and how, with minimal investment, clinics can significantly increase their level of work with clients. The study showed that the Clinic "intuitively" uses client tools, which allows it to have an annual revenue growth rate of more than 15%. It is expected that the recommendations being implemented, with a clear positioning and a clear strategy, will allow in the coming years to increase revenue at the level of + 30-40% annually.

“The customer is always right” is a phrase that business owners use as an example for their employees to teach them good service.

Your service may be good compared to competitors or the market average.

However, after traveling around the world, I realized that Russia has room to grow. But the conversation is about you.

Therefore, even if the customer focus in your company is high, I insist that you read this material to the end.

Usefulness, chips and practical experience for the development of customer focus - everything will be. Without it in our blog in any way.