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In this day and age being obsessed with your customers is becoming necessary to succeed in business. Reinforcing this point are Forrester Analysts, Ted Schadler and Phil Karcher, who recently authored a report talking about customer-obsessed employees. In their report they state, “In the age of the customer, companies that focus on customer’s need are showing greater economic returns. 60% of outperforming companies collaborate strongly with their customers, while only 39% of underperforming companies do.” Based on this statement alone, it is clear that the customer needs to be our number one priority.
Forrester’s research shows that at the end of 2013, employees were mostly using emails and phones to engage with their customers. Schadler and Karcher point out that this is not the wisest form of communication. Internally, employees are using more “sophisticated” technology like instant messaging, video conferencing, and team sites, to interact with their colleagues, but this activity isn’t carrying over into customer interactions. They forget that their customers prefer to communicate via these “sophisticated” technology as well.
Using sophisticated technology is not the only thing Schadler and Karcher recommend doing to get into a more customer-obsessed mindset. The goal should be to get everyone within the company to think about the customer; from the CEO to the technical staff, to the interns. The customer should be top of mind for everyone. When everyone is thinking about the customer, and are truly customer-obsessed, then the shift in focus drive organic improvements that can be easily seen in client interactions. It doesn’t take long before this impacts the bottom line and fuels growth of the business.
At Mediafly, we’ve seen this first hand. We’re proud to admit that we are a customer-obsessed company and put our customers first at every level within the organization. From our engineering/product teams all the way to our external-facing sales and marketing teams. Our technical teams are committed to creating technology that puts the human-factor first. They take the time to consider how every feature is going to be used and make sure that it’s intuitive and elegant. The result is that our customers want to use our solutions because it makes their role easier, more effective and enables them to have more impact within their company.
Externally, our market and sales teams are always thinking about the customer too. The marketing team develops useful, tailored and educational content with the customer always at the forefront of their mind. With customer-friendly content, our sales team is armed with what they need to make the most effective use of their client’s time and adds real value to each and every interaction.
Schadler and Karcher’s report acknowledges the benefits of adopting more sophisticated technology when communicating and interacting with customers. At Mediafly, we agree. We also agree that when everyone in our company is thinking about the customer, our customers are delighted, dedicated and are in a true partnership with us. We can say that we are part of the 60% of outperforming companies that are collaborating strongly with customers and we will continue to do so in the future.
Is your organization customer obsessed?
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