From Product Focus to Customer Centric

Is a good customer service enough to build a successful system of customer interaction?

The question comes back to define the essence of customer interaction to say that without the shift toward customer-centric perspective there is no interaction with customers regardless of how good the customer service is. Without the shift toward customer-centric perspective you are not in interaction, you are rather in monologue with yourself as a business talking about your products in a blindness mode of what the customers are looking for.

Many companies mistakenly equate being customer-centric with having good customer service. They are fully trying to put a thin layer of customer service on the top of their strategy of product centric promoting themselves in ego-centric ways based on a fragmented view of the customer. But in truth, customer-centricity is so much more than that.

A product centric company will place all of its focus on a product and try to sell that individual product to as many people as it possibly can. A customer centric company will focus on one sole customer and try to sell that individual customer as many services as it can looking at the needs and the aspirations driving that individual.

Generally speaking, customer-centric businesses believe that their clients are the primary reason that they exist, and they’re happy to go the extra mile to keep their customers happy. Examples of customer-centric companies include Amazon and Zappos.

Product-centric companies start with the product. They look to develop new products by leveraging technology or specialized skills that exist within the company, rather than look outwardly to see what needs are not being met.

Customer-centric companies, on the other hand, start with the customer. They continually look for solutions that fulfill the unmet needs of customers. Customers prominently feature at the heart of every business decision they take and not as an afterthought.

• A customer-centric company cares about ‘customer needs’
• A customer-centric company offers more than good service or support
• A customer-centric company articulates the entire customer journey, from before the sale too long after the sale is completed
• A customer-centric company drives repeat business and customer loyalty
• A customer-centric company is all about creating positive customer experiences
• A customer-centric company understands the value of customer relationships; they don’t just scratch an itch

All these translate in terms of features in the customer interaction system by

• Avoiding restrictions around dealing with the customer from the thin layer of customer service
• Taking the customer as a whole from onboarding to maintaining the relationship based on the captured data beyond the requested products
• Transforming the internal processes to seamlessly evolve around fulfilling the needs of the customer as a whole integrating the requested services including channels of communication, platform of exchange, and reporting & data analytics.

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