Key Commandments of Customer-Focused Organizations

Key Commandments of Customer-Focused Organizations

Customer-Focused Organizations

  1. Are “close to the customer”—especially senior executives (i.e., see, touch, feel, meet and dialogue with them face-to-face on a regular basis out in the marketplace).
  2. Executives—include the customers in their decisions, focus groups, meetings, planning and deliberations.
  3. Know and anticipate the customers’ needs, wants and desire—continually, as they change.
  4. Surpassing customer needs is the driving force of the entire organization.
  5. Survey the customers’ satisfaction with our products and services on a regular basis
  6. Have a clear “positioning” in the marketplace vs. the competition in the eyes of the customer.
  7. Focus on Creating Customer Value—i.e., “value-added” benefits to the customer through our Star Results Model (Quality products and services, Customer Choice, Responsiveness, delivery, speed, Service vs. Total Cost of doing business with you).
  8. Set quality customer-service standards—expectations that are specifi c and measurable to each department.
  9. Customer Service Standards are based on customer input and focus groups.
  10. Require everyone in the organization to experience moments of truth by meeting and serving the customer directly…at least one day every year.
  11. Focus and reengineer the business processes based on the customer needs and perceptions…and do it across all functions.
  12. Focus the organization structure based on the marketplace—i.e., structure the organization by customer markets (1 customer = 1 representative).
  13. Reward customer-focused behaviors (especially cross-functional teams that work together to serve the customer).
  14. Have a clear policy…and the heavy use of recovery strategies to surpass customer expectations.
  15. Hire and promote “customer friendly” people.
[smartpages]