Customer focus is a long-term commitment to putting customers' experiences first.

Organizations demonstrate customer focus by:

Listening to customers

Salesforce reports that 73% of customers expect companies to understand their needs. The best way to understand customer needs is to listen to feedback and study their behavior. To do this, organizations often use technology to collect data and social media to have discussions.

Having empathy for customers

Considering how a customer thinks and feels gives insights into what they expect from your organization. For example, if you went straight to voice mail every time you called to inquire about a product or service, how would you feel?

Valuing each interaction

According to American Express, one in three customers will move on from a company after one bad customer service experience. If your organization isn’t making customers happy nearly all of the time, they are likely losing money.

Adapting to customer feedback

Listening to customers isn’t enough. Organizations that are customer focused change their products, messaging, and delivery style to meet customer expectations. This is a continuous process.

Let’s take a quiz.

John says he has built long-term relationships with most of his clients and feels that having non-responsive days here and there won’t hurt client relations, since they won’t switch providers after all this time. What point is John missing?

The answer is B. 

John isn’t recognizing that in his competitive landscape, every single customer interaction is valuable to his organization’s business.

Reflect on this:

According to the Harvard Business Review, improving customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25-95%. Those numbers promise a wide range of profits. If delivering value and meeting customer expectations is directly tied to your organization’s bottom line, what would likely be a top priority for your company?