The concept of ‘customer-centricity’ is extensively evangelised alongside CRM and so companies feel it behoves them to adopt this principle, whether or not it is appropriate for their businesses. The senior management agonise about how they are going to make this momentous change from being product-centric to being customer-centric.
But from experience, it can be stated that some businesses – in fact, some sectors of business – will always require an element of product-centricity. It is finding the balance point that is important; there can be a significant difference between being customer-centric on the one hand, and being product-oriented but customer service driven on the other. Some will argue that CRM is dead and that it is the customer experience that is central these days – usually meaning the outcome of the customer’s experience of your website or call centre or, in the case of retailers, their face-to-face encounter with store staff.
But doesn’t this too involve the customer’s experience with the product? Sure, they will tell their friends if they had great service or encountered an intuitive website – but just as a well-managed complaint or timely offer can promote loyalty, it is vital to understand that dissatisfaction with the product can overshadow the whole relationship. Likewise, companies need to understand how the customer wants the relationship to be managed – what channels of communication are preferred, what kind of proposition is welcomed.
Here again there is a balance point that has to be identified and acted upon. There are those customers who, unless they receive every offer going, feel unloved; and at the other end of the spectrum there are those who want to be left to their own devices. Either could be your most loyal customer and that loyalty will be reinforced if you understand how they want to be dealt with.
Companies run into problems with their customer strategy because they do not apply a similar approach to all aspects of relationship management. The solution is to build a management framework that, through a relationship management system (RMS), integrates commercial objectives with current and planned technology, the skill sets of the human resources, business and market intelligence, and the dialogue between company, customer and supplier.
The starting point is to understand whether your business is ready for a management strategy. If it is, the framework will provide an initial view, a process for achieving the required initial status, thereafter evaluating the position of the business at every stage to keep the company on the roadmap to success.
