To make something centric is to put it at the center or forefront. Thus, when your business begins implementing customer-centric service, you are focusing especially on the customer experience!! 

How customer-centric are most B2B brands? 

Sadly, according to research by B2B International, only 14% of large B2B companies are truly customer centric—where the customer experience is deeply ingrained in the company culture. This indicates that B2B organizations have significant work to do to become more customer-focused, but it also highlights an opportunity for B2B firms to differentiate their brands and improve profitability by delivering a superior customer experience. 

How can Customer Centricity be Viewed in Organizations?

• Embedded: Customer experience is ingrained in the fabric of the company 
• Engaged: Customer experience is a core piece of the company's strategy 
• Committed: Customer experience is critical, and executives are actively involved 
• Invested: Customer experience is very important, and formalized programs emerge 
• Interested: Customer experience is important but receives little attention 

How to create a customer centric organization?  

Commitment:  

Being enthusiastic about satisfying customers and making them feel valued is the first step in committing to provide an excellent customer experience, which entails satisfying – and where feasible, delighting – customers. Employees must share a common goal of customer centricity for 100% commitment to the customer experience across the organization.  

Fulfilment:  

Understanding and delivering on customer needs is vital to customer satisfaction but is easier said than done. Customer demands are frequently diverse and increasingly demanding – more customized, cost effective, quicker, etc.  

Seamlessness:  

Customers want easy, easy use, easy transactions, easy transformations, etc.  Across virtually all b2b markets, a top driver of overall satisfaction and loyalty is ease of doing business with the supplier. Regardless of whom the customer is buying from – be it a manufacturing company, a reseller, a SaaS provider, a consultant – seamlessness is central to a smooth customer experience. 

Responsiveness: Timely response, delivery and resolution  

As consumers in the digital era, we are accustomed to intelligence at our fingertips and receiving answers in a matter of seconds. Business professionals are also consumers and have the same expectations in the workplace. Timely response, speedy delivery and fast problem resolution have become the standard. Companies that excel on providing responsiveness that is quicker than competitors and in a timeframe that exceeds customer expectations are likely to deliver a superior and memorable customer experience.  

Proactivity: Resolving issues before the customer feels the pain  

Proactive companies are those capable of anticipating customer needs and desires and that strive to resolve issues before the customer feels pain. It is easier for companies to be proactive if they are good at fulfilling customer needs and can foresee potential customer needs and pain points.  

Evolution: Continually seeking to improve the customer experience  

Customer needs, behaviors and attitudes can change any time, as can other areas such as competitive threats and influences like technology and legislation. Companies that already perform well on delivering an excellent customer experience cannot be complacent. The totally customer centric firm acknowledges that improvements must be made on an ongoing basis. 

So, what's in it for a b2b business? 

Increased retention:  

Customers want to continue to do business with organizations that listen to them, care about them, solve their problems, and create value for them.  

Increased loyalty:  

Not only do customers stay, but they buy more, spend more, etc.; customer-centric organizations focus on journeys, not just on touchpoints, which means that they focus on relationships, not transactions.  

Increased referrals:  

All of that customer love leads to a supplemental marketing and sales force (your customers!) that can’t wait to advocate for your brand.  

Increased revenue:  

It’s easier to sell services when they solve problems for your customers, and they solve problems because you took the time to understand customers.  

Reduced costs:  

When organizations listen to customers and use that feedback to make improvements, they realize operational efficiencies through process improvements and more.  

At MPWRSource, we focus on empowering our clients.  We don’t focus on certain products or services, rather, we focus on the needs of each individual client.  Were you to ask us what we do, the simple answer would be “Whatever it takes.”  But realistically, this looks like finding solutions for our clients.  We put their needs at the center of what we do in order to help their business soar.