First come, first served
The roots of the large companies’ self-centricity
If you don’t look out for your customers in the sunshine, they won’t cover you when it pours.
The very way most organizations work hinders them from being customer-centric.
A year ago, somebody hacked my Facebook account. Contacting customer support was a nightmare. It took me a month to fix the problem.
You won’t face such difficulties if you want to advertise on Facebook and pay for the ads.
Most big companies seem customer-oriented only when they take your money. If you want to return the items you bought, need assistance, or have a problem, they become neglectful and indifferent.
Every MBA graduate knows the customer is king – or queen.
But a crown doesn’t make a ruler. An eye-catching customer-focused slogan on a corporate notebook doesn’t make your company customer-centric.
Many blame cutthroat corporate culture for that. But the problem is deeper.
Customers as strangers
Imagine you read a news report about an awful car accident. Many have been injured. Would you feel sorry for them?
It depends.
If it happened in a distant country where you have no friends or relatives, you would, but your feelings wouldn’t be intense.
If it happened two blocks away, your emotions would be stronger, even if it didn’t affect your loved ones.
Social psychologists call it the Psychological Proximity Effect.
We feel a stronger emotional closeness with those who are similar to us, who live in the neighborhood, or whom we know in person.
When a company is small, employees hear and see customers every single day. For big org leaders, customer problems are no closer than the plight of a starving tribe on a distant island.
Customer service quality decreases as organizational hierarchy increases.
If you work for a large business, and your role isn’t in marketing or sales, your emotional connection to customers is virtually non-existent.
Large companies are customer-centric only when they take your money for a good reason. Your money secures someone’s quarterly bonus.
Inspiring meetings and staff training don’t work. You won’t convert employees to the religion of customer centricity. They couldn’t care less, and not because they are arrogant. Their human nature dictates such behavior.
Facebook is profitable, so the shareholders are happy. Meta employees don’t quit massively, so they are presumably happy, too. They get what they need because of their proximity to the decision-makers.
While we enjoy our big profits, customers can wait.
But there is a solution.
Reducing the emotional distance between employees and customers
“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”
Jeff Bezos (source)
The task will require drawing up many lists:
Make a list of your target customer segments (if you haven’t got it yet).
Build a list of all customer touch points with your company – all of them, not just those related to sales.
Compile a list of customer needs.
Create a list of customer values your business should create to meet these needs.
Moving backward from customer values, build a list of all the business processes (Value Waves) that directly or indirectly impact value creation.
Develop a strategy for increasing customer value by improving the processes.
Set appropriate objectives, KPIs, and OKRs.
Begin to implement the strategy.
But this is not enough. Make customers your friends.
Set regular meetings with customers. Ask them about the issues they have when contacting your company.
Record these meetings on video. Make sure all your key employees watch these videos. Increase your employees’ psychological proximity to the customers.
Trace the KPIs. Celebrate small wins.
Build a strategy based on customer needs and values.
Read also: Seeking Product-Market Fit? Lost Before the Game Began.
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I might study this "Increase your employees’ psychological proximity to the customers." in the OKR context to act as a good Objective. May I borrow it for one of my LinkedIn posts? I'll do a backlink.
Yes, customer contact is important.
In many companies they classify employees as customer facing and non customer facing. I get it, but even the back office people can benefit from closer relationships with customers.