the plight of a customer centric company _ socialsteve's blog

8/12/2019 The Plight of a Customer Centric Company _ SocialSteve's Blog

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2/2/2014 The Plight of a Customer Centric Company | SocialSteve's Blog

http://socialsteve.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/the-plight-of-a-customer-centric-company/

centr ic organization it is all a bout wh at y ou do for y our cu stom er as opposed to your offering s. Yes, th is is a

small v ar iance of go-to-m ar ket positioning , but t he nu ances affect brand perception an d success.

While br an d positioning is im port an t to becom ing a cu stom er cen tr ic business, i t is only a sta rt. May be t he

strongest exa m ple of a cu stom er cent ric bu siness is Am azon. J eff Bezoss declar es that Am azon.com is th e m ost

customer-centric company in th e world. Is th is lip serv ice? Consider a ll of th e following points:

Am azon determ ines their cu stom ers needs, and then w orks backwa rds to deliver solut ions.

In th e beginning a t Am azon executiv e meetings, there was often a ch air left empty and unseated. This is

sym bolic of the ever -present custom er. Now specially tr ained employees represent th e custom er, called

Customer Experience Bar Raisers. When they frown, v ice presidents tr emble.

Bezos requires that m id-lev el meeting s inclu de one person serv ing solely as the customer a dv ocate. This

person ha s the power to vet o act ions that un dermin e custom ers interests.

Am azon reorga nizes often. Th e reorg s are alw ay s done so wit h a focus to better serv e their cu stom ers.

Bezos requires ever y one on staff to be able to work in t he call center.

Bezos stat es, In the old world, y ou dev oted 30 % of y our t ime to building a gr eat serv ice and 7 0% of y our tim e

to shouting about it . In th e new w orld, tha t inv erts.

Bezos v etoes snar ky ads that mock customers.(Sources How Great Leaders CommunicateandAm azon Technology Jeff Bezos Gets It)

The points abov e briefly highligh t w hat it takes to be a tru e customer centric company . Am azon is a great

example of a cu stomer centric company . They walk the w alk as opposed to talk the ta lk. The r esult, the m ost

successful online r etailer . I expect Bezos to take Th e Washingt on Post and rev am p success solely driv en by a

keen focus on the a udience. Dont expect th is to happen over nigh t. Bezos is willing to be misunderstood for l ong

periods of tim e only to ultim ately cha nge th e way business funct ions in the most successful wa y .

Social m edia is th e curr ent r ationalization for ev olution to becom ing a cu stom er centr ic com pany . I got

inv olv ed in social m edia early on because I follow customer behav ior t o influence my ma rketing approach. Idid not get bullish on social m ar keting becau se of hy pe. I follow the au dience actions and act accordingly .

Learn to follow y our a udience and fully act accordingly . Audience behav ior is very important in th e

ma rketin g of y our bran d, but th at is not enough. You m ust allow customer opportun ities, issues, and solut ions

to driv e y our company organ ization and actions. Tra ditional company organ izations mu st ch ange an d

inher ent silos m ust be disman tled. Tru e leaders will recognize these fundam ental success crit eria an d chang e

the DNA of their company . Are y ou ready ?

Make It Happen,

Social Stev e

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