Strong leadership turns customer centricity into sustainable growth

Creating a customer-centric culture is a tough challenge that relies on clear direction from the top. Olivia Buckle-Wright explains 4 approaches for bringing impetus for change. 

Customer centricity sounds like simple common sense. After all, which company doesn’t want to grow closer to its customers and put their best interests first? However, creating a customer centric culture is easy to say, but very hard to do. According to research, nine out of 10 companies know they should put the customer needs at the heart of their business strategy. They see customer experiences as a source of competitive advantage. But when pressed, only 14% of business leaders are prepared to claim that their companies truly focus on the customer.  This gap is a source of lost opportunity - industry leaders in Net Promoter Scores (NPS) gain almost three times higher total shareholder return, compared to the stock market average.

Don’t confuse customer centricity with customer awareness. It takes more than thinking from your customers’ point of view. Truly customer-centric organisations obsess about exceeding their customers’ current and future expectations. Their culture puts customer needs at the core of decision making and execution – across all functions. It becomes automatic to ask: “What next for our customers?”  

There are several strategic choices that a company can make to improve customer centricity, but top of the list is a shift in leadership. This direction needs to come from the CEO and executive, who should own and role model customer centricity (not defer to sales and marketing). Leadership teams that consistently challenge what they do, with the customer in mind, will deliver better results.

Change requires the right mindset: tenacity, understanding, empathy, customer insight and consistency at every level and department of the organisation. Be warned: embedding a new leadership attitude can be disruptive. It won’t happen overnight. Benchmarking is critical to see where you really sit versus the competition, especially for companies not used to hiring in talent from customer centric businesses. But, without that new talent, there’s a danger you will continue to think as you've always done.

Customer centric leadership means more than giving customers what they asked for or reacting to research. It's about a leadership team that is set up to ensure better delivery against the unmet needs of the customer in the future.

Leading the transformation

Creating a customer-centric culture is a tough challenge that relies on clear direction from the top. Olivia Buckle-Wright explains 4 approaches for bringing impetus for change. 

Customer centricity sounds like simple common sense. After all, which company doesn’t want to grow closer to its customers and put their best interests first? However, creating a customer centric culture is easy to say, but very hard to do. According to research, nine out of 10 companies know they should put the customer needs at the heart of their business strategy. They see customer experiences as a source of competitive advantage. But when pressed, only 14% of business leaders are prepared to claim that their companies truly focus on the customer.  This gap is a source of lost opportunity - industry leaders in Net Promoter Scores (NPS) gain almost three times higher total shareholder return, compared to the stock market average.

Don’t confuse customer centricity with customer awareness. It takes more than thinking from your customers’ point of view. Truly customer-centric organisations obsess about exceeding their customers’ current and future expectations. Their culture puts customer needs at the core of decision making and execution – across all functions. It becomes automatic to ask: “What next for our customers?”  

There are several strategic choices that a company can make to improve customer centricity, but top of the list is a shift in leadership. This direction needs to come from the CEO and executive, who should own and role model customer centricity (not defer to sales and marketing). Leadership teams that consistently challenge what they do, with the customer in mind, will deliver better results.

Change requires the right mindset: tenacity, understanding, empathy, customer insight and consistency at every level and department of the organisation. Be warned: embedding a new leadership attitude can be disruptive. It won’t happen overnight. Benchmarking is critical to see where you really sit versus the competition, especially for companies not used to hiring in talent from customer centric businesses. But, without that new talent, there’s a danger you will continue to think as you've always done.

Customer centric leadership means more than giving customers what they asked for or reacting to research. It's about a leadership team that is set up to ensure better delivery against the unmet needs of the customer in the future.

Creating a customer-centric culture is a tough challenge that relies on clear direction from the top. Olivia Buckle-Wright explains 4 approaches for bringing impetus for change. 

Customer centricity sounds like simple common sense. After all, which company doesn’t want to grow closer to its customers and put their best interests first? However, creating a customer centric culture is easy to say, but very hard to do. According to research, nine out of 10 companies know they should put the customer needs at the heart of their business strategy. They see customer experiences as a source of competitive advantage. But when pressed, only 14% of business leaders are prepared to claim that their companies truly focus on the customer.  This gap is a source of lost opportunity - industry leaders in Net Promoter Scores (NPS) gain almost three times higher total shareholder return, compared to the stock market average.

Don’t confuse customer centricity with customer awareness. It takes more than thinking from your customers’ point of view. Truly customer-centric organisations obsess about exceeding their customers’ current and future expectations. Their culture puts customer needs at the core of decision making and execution – across all functions. It becomes automatic to ask: “What next for our customers?”  

There are several strategic choices that a company can make to improve customer centricity, but top of the list is a shift in leadership. This direction needs to come from the CEO and executive, who should own and role model customer centricity (not defer to sales and marketing). Leadership teams that consistently challenge what they do, with the customer in mind, will deliver better results.

Change requires the right mindset: tenacity, understanding, empathy, customer insight and consistency at every level and department of the organisation. Be warned: embedding a new leadership attitude can be disruptive. It won’t happen overnight. Benchmarking is critical to see where you really sit versus the competition, especially for companies not used to hiring in talent from customer centric businesses. But, without that new talent, there’s a danger you will continue to think as you've always done.

Customer centric leadership means more than giving customers what they asked for or reacting to research. It's about a leadership team that is set up to ensure better delivery against the unmet needs of the customer in the future.

Creating a customer-centric culture is a tough challenge that relies on clear direction from the top. Olivia Buckle-Wright explains 4 approaches for bringing impetus for change. 

Customer centricity sounds like simple common sense. After all, which company doesn’t want to grow closer to its customers and put their best interests first? However, creating a customer centric culture is easy to say, but very hard to do. According to research, nine out of 10 companies know they should put the customer needs at the heart of their business strategy. They see customer experiences as a source of competitive advantage. But when pressed, only 14% of business leaders are prepared to claim that their companies truly focus on the customer.  This gap is a source of lost opportunity - industry leaders in Net Promoter Scores (NPS) gain almost three times higher total shareholder return, compared to the stock market average.

Don’t confuse customer centricity with customer awareness. It takes more than thinking from your customers’ point of view. Truly customer-centric organisations obsess about exceeding their customers’ current and future expectations. Their culture puts customer needs at the core of decision making and execution – across all functions. It becomes automatic to ask: “What next for our customers?”  

There are several strategic choices that a company can make to improve customer centricity, but top of the list is a shift in leadership. This direction needs to come from the CEO and executive, who should own and role model customer centricity (not defer to sales and marketing). Leadership teams that consistently challenge what they do, with the customer in mind, will deliver better results.

Change requires the right mindset: tenacity, understanding, empathy, customer insight and consistency at every level and department of the organisation. Be warned: embedding a new leadership attitude can be disruptive. It won’t happen overnight. Benchmarking is critical to see where you really sit versus the competition, especially for companies not used to hiring in talent from customer centric businesses. But, without that new talent, there’s a danger you will continue to think as you've always done.

Customer centric leadership means more than giving customers what they asked for or reacting to research. It's about a leadership team that is set up to ensure better delivery against the unmet needs of the customer in the future.