Customer centricity in small business
The current hot topic of debate in the world of small businesses is: does being customer centric play a role in the success of their business? Can great customer service alone do the job? Can being customer centric be detrimental?
Customer service is defined as "the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase / service." Every company with a customer list relies heavily on their customer service to retain those clients throughout the years. Being customer centric is defined as "creating a positive consumer experience at the point of sale, or post sale". More simply put, it means putting the customer at the centre of a company's marketing efforts, without the main focus being solely on closing on the sale.
The question here is whether being customer centric is a beneficial or detrimental strategy for small businesses. The debate is heated, as many believe that becoming customer centric implies that the customer is always right, and that at any cost, the customer shall be satisfied.
A small business would most likely suffer in this environment, as budgets are often too tight to accommodate such an expense. Some have broken customer centricity down into a more streamlined formula that can easily be applied to each customer, in each sale.
Customer service is defined as "the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase / service." Every company with a customer list relies heavily on their customer service to retain those clients throughout the years. Being customer centric is defined as "creating a positive consumer experience at the point of sale, or post sale". More simply put, it means putting the customer at the centre of a company's marketing efforts, without the main focus being solely on closing on the sale.
The question here is whether being customer centric is a beneficial or detrimental strategy for small businesses. The debate is heated, as many believe that becoming customer centric implies that the customer is always right, and that at any cost, the customer shall be satisfied.
A small business would most likely suffer in this environment, as budgets are often too tight to accommodate such an expense. Some have broken customer centricity down into a more streamlined formula that can easily be applied to each customer, in each sale.
- Awareness and Consideration: Be aware of what the customer is looking for and make sure you are offering that, at all stages of the communication.
- Select and Buy: Streamline your purchasing process to make sure that it is as simple as possible for customers to buy from you.
- Initial Experience: Prevent buyer's remorse by actively engaging your customers from the initial buy, inquiring immediately about their level of satisfaction; in other words, nip problems in the bud.
- Use, Learn and Support: This is the crucial part of customer retention, post sale and follow up - you must continue to nurture the relationship at all times.
- Repurchase and Recommend: A successful completion of stages 1-4 will ensure you arrive at the last stage where you have engaged your customers into generating new business seamlessly.