How To Grow Your Sales By Being More Customer-Centric

‘Customer-centric’ is a fancy phrase for focusing on your customers’ wants and needs. For such a basic concept, it amazes me that many companies still fail to understand their customers.

From TV and Internet providers to health plans, wireless carriers, utilities, and airlines, there are too many companies with subpar customer experiences that I could name. Without proper policies, practices, and people put in place, your company could easily join their ranks.

Reasons for Adopting a Customer-Centric Approach

1. Customer-Centric Brands Dominate Brand Recognition

When we think of companies that offer a great customer experience, the biggest, most recognizable brand names likely come to mind. The staying power of these brands comes from their dedication to customer satisfaction. Good products, services, and profits are all paramount to a brand’s success, but they occur through the lens of customer satisfaction first. Having a customer-centric approach translates to how those companies shape their product, conduct business, and approach their bottom line.

A great example is Apple Inc. Renowned for their technology, their commitment to designing a great customer experience was what actually fueled their initial growth. Their co-founder Steve Jobs’ obsession with simplicity and its impact on the user played a central role in cementing Apple’s legacy as an innovative, customer-centric brand. As UX expert Joe Natoli wrote:

“Apple’s success comes directly from making sure that every minute aspect of their products work together to provide an overall positive user experience. So much so that technical and functional considerations – like the iPod’s slow connection speed or lack of 3G support – take a back seat to the touchy-feely experience issues that most CEOs cut from the chopping block at first pass.”

This cuts both ways for businesses trying to up their brand recognition. Greater brand visibility can improve sales, but that visibility will only deliver returns if the customer’s interaction with your brand and offerings makes them the center of attention.

2. Good Customer Experiences Bolster Brand Credibility

Small business owners and larger companies both play the ‘credentials game.’ No matter what marketing spin they generate, reputation remains their most valuable currency.

When your company doubles down on improving the customer experience, you deposit reputation dollars in the bank. This framework leads to better product and service development, which in turn improves a brand’s credibility. Even just the public affirmation of adopting such a framework can generate returns. It communicates to the customer that they come first in your company’s strategy.

Why does this matter? Explicitly putting the customer first appeals to emotions tied to ego and feelings of belonging. Most companies aren’t in the business of providing therapy, but their success still hinges on the feelings of existing and new customers. Research consistently finds that emotion – not reason – drives consumer decision-making and habits. In other words, making people feel good can increase your company’s success in finding profitable footing.

3. Customer Loyalty Drives Cost-Effective Growth

Customer Retention

Happy customers are more likely to stay customers. A whopping 94% of consumers will buy again from a brand following a positive customer service interaction.

It can cost up to five times more to acquire customers than it does to retain an existing one, making customer retention a cost-effective strategy for your business.

Organic Growth Through Customer Referrals

• Friends and families are the most trusted source of product recommendations, with close to 90% of customers trusting their recommendations.
• 84% of all B2B customer engagements begin with a referral, closing at a pace 69% faster than other sales cycles.
• Referred customers are four times more likely to refer your company to someone else.
• The lifetime value of a referred customer is 16% higher than one acquired through different means.

Put simply: happy customers refer other customers. Those customers are more loyal than non-referral customers, generate more revenue, and will refer more customers like themselves to your brand.

Word of mouth doesn’t come for free. It requires you to invest in cultivating an exceptional customer experience first, but the return on your efforts will be more than worth it.

4. Being Customer-Centric Is Good for Business

It’s easy to dismiss terms like ‘customer-centric,’ ‘user experience,’ and ‘customer experience’ as buzzwords. However, when companies embrace these ideas and apply best practices, the resulting numbers put the importance of such terms in sharp focus.

• Companies with a customer-centric approach are 60% more profitable than those not focused on the customer.
• Brands that prioritize the customer experience bring in 5.7 times more revenue than those that do not.
• Significant investments in a customer-centric business model can double your revenue over 36 months.
• Increasing retention rates through a strong customer experience by 5% can boost profits by 25% to 95%.

Increased customer retention, extended customer lifetime value, and improved referral metrics all provide a compounding effect. Happier customers bring in other happy customers, all of whom will spend more over time; this ultimately adds up to real dollar amounts.

How To Make Your Business More Customer-Centric

A customer-centric business model that delivers top-tier results might feel ‘easier said than done.’ If you want to make that profitable pivot, there are a number of steps you can take.

Seek First To Understand Your Customers

The importance of paying attention to what your customers say cannot be understated. They provide you with a roadmap for product development, marketing, sales, and customer service. You just need to listen.

If the feedback you receive isn’t sufficient or doesn’t seem valuable, seek out additional information. Follow up with customers regularly to ensure full satisfaction. Doing so also allows you to gauge the behavioral patterns within your customer base.

Another valuable tool for garnering feedback is your Net Promoter Score (NPS). On a scale of -100 to 100, an NPS measures customer satisfaction by subtracting brand detractors from loyal customers. Businesses typically calculate this score based on participation in a short online survey. Not every prospect or customer will participate in an NPS survey, but the input from those who do often proves tremendously valuable.

Practice Good Communication Skills

No one likes to feel like they’re being talked at instead of to. Just as your company as a whole should listen to its customer base, your team members also need to listen to individual customer feedback. This involves understanding pain points, confirming that understanding, expressing empathy, and proactively seeking solutions.

Sometimes, a solution cannot be reached during the course of one phone call or email. In such cases, there must be active and ongoing communication about the status of the solution. Managing customer expectations makes it easier to temper their emotional reactions. A well-communicated resolution process will also better protect your brand equity.

Empower Your Team

Your team serves on the frontline in the battle for market share. Just as you wouldn’t send troops to war without arming them appropriately, you should never deploy your team without adequate resources.

Invest in effective training to build a consistent, measurable customer experience. Provide up-to-date metrics and relevant, useful marketing collateral. Recognize and reward exceptional service. Managing and strengthening your team is how you demonstrate your commitment to improving the customer experience. It proves that your talk about a customer-centric business is more than just lip service.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Most people simply don’t ask for referrals, even with all the data emphasizing their importance in growing a business. In fact, 40% of salespeople rarely ask for a referral, while only 20% ask clients for referrals every time.

Make asking for referrals a non-negotiable part of your sales process. Instruct your team to ask for a referral directly toward the end of the call. The ask should be rooted in gratitude for their patronage. This provides a simple, pathos-driven way to drive referrals.

It also offers broad insights into your customer experience quality and brand equity. If regularly asking for referrals delivers more sales, you know you’re doing something right. However, if sales stay stagnant, this indicates that your customer experience efforts need some work.

Centered Customers Are Valuable Customers

Customer satisfaction equals perception minus expectation. If your perceived value falls short of expectations, your customers will be dissatisfied, and your bottom line will suffer.

It doesn’t matter the size of your business or which audience segments you choose to target. When you focus on your customers through a customer-centric approach, you establish relationships, build loyalty, and grow sales in both the short and long term.

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[Editors’ Note: To learn more about this and related topics, you may want to attend the following on-demand webinars (which you can view at your leisure, and each includes a comprehensive customer PowerPoint about the topic):

1. The Sales, Marketing, Advertising & Publicity Bootcamp
2. The Start Up/Small Business Advisor
3. Marketing Tips For The New (Or Old!) Business Owner: Which Marketing Channels Should You Use and Why?

This article was originally published on April 26, 2023. This article was most recently updated by the Financial Poise Editors.]

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