Why do businesses fail?
Simple answer.
They stop listening to their customers.
Most of the successful 💯 businesses are successful because they are built around their customers.
At Amazon 📦, Jeff Bezos set a tradition that in every meeting the chair at the head of the table had a placard saying “customer”. The virtual customer chaired the meeting. Companies like these always keep the customer benefit at the center of every initiative. They value customer needs and feedback the most. The change in customer desires, needs, and preferences drive strategic changes.
When I joined Gallup, we had 200+ clients, but our average revenue per client was low. I identified the top 10 clients, sought a meeting, and spoke to them. I understood that the clients saw more value in implementation support than in the employee engagement surveys. We worked with Gallup University in the US to bring a lot of training and capability development programs, besides implementation support programs to the Indian market.
These programs were lapped up by the clients. As a result, the average revenue per client rose significantly. This resulted in 160% revenue growth in the first year.
How can we build a customer-centric organization?
◼ Create platforms to listen to customers.
◼ Analyze their input to create programs for improvement in product or service and the post-sale service.
◼ Ensure implementation and create review mechanisms.
◼ Start every leadership or management meeting with the review of progress in the customer initiatives.
How do you ensure that your organization is customer-centric?