How to ensure your business has a strong customer focus

Strong customer focus is a leading attribute of a successful business as it brings in new customers and loyal customers continue to return. Even if you have outstanding products and services, they aren’t enough to bring your brand to life and maintain business success. Your customers are your lifeblood and should be continuously nurtured.

However, with so many elements to juggle when running your own business, how do you make sure your customers are your number one priority? Here are three tips:

1. Understand who your customers are

Make the time to really know who your customers are to understand their needs and wants and identify what they want to achieve. This will go a long way to delivering products and services that really make a difference.

Also a marketing-driven approach to understand who your customers are and what they are looking for is useful. This can be achieved by conducting surveys and focus groups. Similarly, monitoring analytics like sales figures, web traffic and conversion rates is valuable to determine who your customers are and what they want.

It’s also vital to get to know them on a personal level to really solidify the relationship. Ask them about their family, how their weekends were and identify any common interests you may have.

2. Action feedback immediately

It’s important to immediately action any problems customers may have. Many customer studies have found that if mistakes do happen, the way that a company responds will either create or destroy customer trust. A major benefit of immediately responding to customer feedback is the ability to quickly resolve problems, thereby improving customer trust.

If you have requested customer feedback or are looking at customer reviews, see what suggestions you can easily implement to keep your customers happy. Successful, customer-focused businesses have strong processes to ensure all feedback gathered is recorded and responded to quickly and efficiently.

3. Remove pain points

Reviewing feedback on a regular basis is a great way to capture and remove pain points early so your customers don’t get frustrated with any interactions with your company. Taking on board all feedback will give you insights to challenges and points of frustration that your customer base experiences. Work on creating fast turnaround times, but don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Also, proactively review elements of your services that are negatively affecting good customer experiences. For example, think about your phone answer service. Does it have a menu that might be out of date? Is your website optimised for mobile?

4. Practise patience and empathy

We’ve all had that wonderful customer service experience where we explain our problem or what we are looking for and the person serving us really goes out of their way to help. This makes us feel warm, valued and appreciated. This is the feeling you want to instil in your customers. Show customers that you would take an ordinary request to the next level and will do what it takes to keep them happy.

A strong customer focus isn’t just about making the most sales or having the most customers. It is about creating a brand with an excellent reputation. A brand that really cares about the needs of its customers and does everything it can to meet them. One that your customers are excited to engage with.

You create positive experiences for your customers whether online or in store, so ensure you meet their needs with all your brand touch points. Remember, your customers have the power to make or break your brand so treat them as the first priority they are.

Daniel McKenzie, Director, Kwik Kopy Miller Street