4 biggest discoveries that stand out as the barometer on if your company is customer obsessed!

Lots of companies say they are customer focused or obsessed with their customers yet what does that really mean? What does it practically mean when you are a company that is customer obsessed?

My 20+ years of working in Sales and Marketing, I find 4 traits that stand out as the barometer on if the company is customer obsessed or not. Amazon in a 2017 letter to shareholders that is also is a part of their leadership principles states “Customer Obsession starts with our customer and works backwards from there.” These traits are defined in many different words, mission statements or plaques hanging in the lobby. True focus on the customer is really a cultural focus not a catch phrase. To have a cultural principle requires a quantitative and qualitative measurement element that must be included (not covered here and held for another blog) to these principles to ensure these are being implemented, followed and experienced by your customers. Here is what it takes to be customer obsessed:

Trust: Building trust with customers is step one. Every customer interaction should be focused on listening and hearing their needs, requirements and goals. To understand their goals and focus helping them achieve those goals. Be willing to make more investments with customers that share the similar customer focused philosophy and accountability not just the vendor relationship of risk vs reward equation. Not every customer is the right customer for your business. Those that are must know your and share your customer obsession. Customers must be able to freely exchange ideas and information about their business with you. Each customer should be able to communicate honestly and without risk. This requires trust and building trust takes commitment to the customer goals. It also takes time with a consistent focus on every engagement by bring value to the conversation.

Example: Cloud platforms are an integral foundation for Dave & Buster’s Power Card loyalty solution. Any technology change, even for the better was met with skepticism because of the risk and impact on revenue. The IT organization had limited resources to investigate the solution compatibility with competing projects. We solved these hurdles by patiently listening, investing in additional travel to visit sites, and making upfront investments without any commitments. We successfully created our roll-out strategy planning and completed the IT investigation requirements using their assessment tools, documentation and documenting our proprietary information technology stack. Because our long term focus and willingness to learn about their business and shared obstacles, we were able to overcome.

Personal: This is critical to a truly being customer obsessed. Make the communication, messaging and solutions offering specific to the customer. Ask questions to ensure you know what the underling goal and problem they are seeking to solve. Then help the customer get internal approval. View each customer as unique and their requirements and execution are also unique. Are you willing to invest in their business to help them deliver better experience for their customers? Most companies are willing to invest resources to win and delivering a solution yet are you willing to personalize the solution to make it better for them; personalize the solution and willing take a lower price if it helps their business grow and succeed? What about renewals, are you willing to resign a customer at the best value for them? Offer the lowest price available to ensure their business is your focus? My experience is the balancing act between quarterly revenue results versus long term customer loyalty. You know which priority wins a majority of time.

Example: Cedar Sinai Medical Center was seeking a cloud communication solution for their customers when arriving at their large medical complex. The best solution for their customers, identified during solution discovery process, would include complex integrations with third-party software plus a proprietary integration. By listening and inquiring to understand the underlying customer customer’s experience for the best experience, we were able to customize our cloud platform and offer a unique response that included all the customer integrations in a single offering.

Innovative: Customers are seeking solutions that help them grow and want opportunities to improve their customer experience in new and creative ways. This is an opportunity for you to share your business acumen, creativity and prove out the organization commitment to their business. This means every part of the organization must be obsessed with the customer and put the customer first in every way. Clearly the front teams lead in this focus with sales, marketing and customer service lead the charge supported by product, finance and operations. Everyone starting with Senior Executives contributes to customer obsessions and deep level of engagement by your organization.

Example: MGM Resorts was a customer of ours when I was leading Sprint’s Western Division. Specifically, MGM Resorts is known for being an aggressive negotiator and view service companies as vendors not partners. We were in negotiations for a $20M+ contract that became stuck in our pricing/financing department due to margins thresholds. We found a way forward by creating a sponsorship opportunity to that cost the customer little yet provided significant value for our brand. With the sponsorship added, created a larger and longer commitment from both organizations and created long-term value for both brands.

Intentional: Organizational customer focus requires a deliberate leadership and documented process methodology that puts the customer first. This also takes a long-term view that is not completely prioritized to 1/4ly revenue objectives. Taking a long-term approach also needs to include honest sharing internally and externally on what is a priority and what is not a priority including where to invest in customers and where not to invest. What customers share a similar philosophy and accountability not just risk and reward.

Example: We proposed a customer communication solution for Saks Fifth Avenue part of Hudson Bay Company out of Toronto. We delivered a solution at ~50% off traditional margins and an extremely short software development and integration window. We agreed to deploy our SaaS solution as we were confident it would deliver Saks objectives and improve the shopper experience in their flagship 5th Avenue New York City store. I led our Executive team through the process on why this opportunity was the right investment and why we needed to be intentional in the approach with a long-term view.

These 4 traits are found in every company that is focused on their customers. The results of putting the customer at the center of all decision making directly impacts sales performance. Here are the facts; based on 2020 Sales performance study:

• 18.1% higher quota attainment

• 12.6% win rates

• 23.8 lower voluntary attrition rates.

What is your barometer and how do you define it for your company?

I am an expert leader in creating customer obsessed leader. Let’s discuss if your company has the right quantitative and qualitative approach to building a culture focused the customer!

Note:

• Real World Experiences: Lessons learned from my experiences are always bolded and blue.

• Critical Competencies: These are tangible proven skills sets that I have developed over my career. These should give insight into my competency and are highlighted in yellow.