A customer-centric approach is a key driver to reaching corporate innovation: here is why
Corporate innovation is essential to gain a competitive advantage compared to other companies operating in the same industry. Usually, individuals tend to focus only on the concrete product and its features, or the price. However, what needs to be taken into consideration is the role of the service offered by the product itself, and the employees working to achieve common goals. Therefore, in this article, I want to focus on the importance of implementing a customer-centric strategy and give a few examples of how we are doing
so at Novable.
Having a customer-centric approach means delivering a great customer experience, both before and after the transaction. This is directly connected to increased customer loyalty, as well as business growth. However, a customer-centric business needs to do more than just provide excellent customer service. Employees need to genuinely care about providing value to customers.
Let’s look at some numbers before diving deeper into the subject. Econsultancy conducted a study about this, asking readers to name the quality that they felt would help create a “digital-native” culture. “Customer-centric” was the leading answer, with 58% of responses, followed by “data-driven” (40%), “innovative” (28%), collaborative (28%), and agile (26%).
Implementing an effective customer-centric strategy takes time. It is not a process that happens overnight. CRM deals with three main dimensions: people, technology, and business processes. The end goal is to create long-term relationships with your customers. This requires time to gather accurate information, in order to gain a 360-degree perspective of their persona. The correct use of these resources allows you to improve the overall experience of your customers.
Customer data can be used to comprehend purchasing patterns, preferences, and engagement behaviors. Moreover, you can create highly customized products for your most loyal clients. If you do a good job, those clients will turn into advocates and promoters of your business, spreading positive information about the company. They will basically perform marketing activities on your behalf, making you save money.
Now, moving on to the specific case on Novable, there are a few aspects that I would like to point out. Even though Novable is a high-tech, software company, we truly value our customers by establishing high degrees of adaptation to their specific needs. As you probably know from previous articles, Novable helps innovation professionals within large corporations identify and engage with startups, to feed corporate innovation projects. What I would like to stress is the fact that this is achieved by combining AI-based technology with the expertise of our Novable Agents. Talking to our agents is extremely important because they follow you throughout the whole scouting process, from the strategy definition, to how to break big problems into smaller pieces to obtain high-quality results. Going back to the adaptation skill, our agents help you to iterate and keep up to date with your results, in case the first list of companies is not satisfactory. It is a collaborative journey.
How to become a customer-centric company?
- Prioritize long-term relationships. Emotional intelligence is what you should put first, particularly, empathy, communication, and conflict resolution skills. In this way, your workforce will be able to treat customers as individuals engaging in co-creation processes, instead of viewing them as pure numbers who need to be evaluated and examined.
- Hire for customer satisfaction. Employees are the workforce that will directly interact with customers. Select and train employees who may be aligned with your company’s commitment to customer-centric thinking and the value of the experience, regardless of the role. CRM is not a concern of the marketing department, but of the whole organization. Employee Brand Alignment is key.
- Focus on data to improve customers’ experience by facilitating a deeper knowledge of their wants and needs.
Don’t be discouraged by the complexity of the transition to a fully customer-centric organization. Even the tiniest adjustment to procedures and policies can have a big impact on both your employees and customers. Always consider customers’ different perspectives to reduce effort and increase value.
Thank you for reading, I hope you found this article interesting! Discover the Novable platform and follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter to keep up with the latest news!