Elevate Your Performance with Customer Centric Strategies

“By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator.” – Walker Information, Customer Experience Report

Customer centricity is putting the customer at the heart of everything you do. It’s an approach to business where the needs, preferences, and expectations of customers are placed at the core of every decision you make. The ultimate goal is to provide a positive customer experience throughout the entire sales process from start to finish. In B2B sales, customer centricity is crucial to long-term success, as it fosters enduring relationships with clients, creating long term stickiness and loyalty.      

Key Behaviors

One of the most critical behaviors that demonstrates customer centricity is active listening. Understanding customer needs is paramount in B2B sales, as it allows sales professionals to provide tailored solutions that deliver tangible value to clients. To actively listen, salespeople should give their undivided attention to the customer and ask open-ended questions that welcome the client to share valuable insights about what’s on their mind and causing them the most friction. Great salespeople will then play back to the customer what they’ve heard to clarify if their interpretation is correct and demonstrate they understand their client’s needs. In her experience working with clients Coach Katherine Pitcher shares, “The client is far more receptive to learn about what you are selling once they feel heard and understood.”     

Going one step further, strong sales people also possess a high level of empathy and emotional intelligence. This enables them to put themselves in their client’s shoes to better understand their challenges and expectations. Building trust and rapport with customers is essential for creating lasting relationships, and empathy plays a significant role in this process. 

Internal Collaboration

Collaboration and cross-functional partnerships are also vital in driving customer centricity. By working closely with internal teams, such as product development, marketing and customer service, sales professionals can ensure a seamless and consistent customer experience. Aligning these departments ensures that everyone is working towards the same goal, in the relentless pursuit of delivering a world class customer experience. Sharing customer insights across departments helps create a comprehensive understanding of your client’s needs and a unified voice, which in turn enables better decision-making and targeted strategies.

Continuous Improvement & Measurement

Continuous improvement and measurement are essential components of customer centricity. Staying up-to-date with industry trends helps salespeople remain knowledgeable and competitive. Attending conferences and workshops is an excellent way to gather insights, learn new techniques and build credibility. But encouraging and taking action on customer feedback is a fail-safe way to improve and innovate. Salespeople should proactively seek constructive criticism to identify areas for growth and development.

Establishing customer-centric KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) helps organizations measure and monitor the success of their customer-centric initiatives. By focusing on metrics such as customer satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value, businesses can gain a clear understanding of their performance in this area. Regularly reviewing progress is crucial for ensuring alignment with customer-centric goals and adapting strategies as needed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, customer centricity plays a vital role in B2B sales success. By adopting key behaviors such as active listening and empathy, salespeople can demonstrate their commitment to putting the customer first. Communication and collaboration across departments is also essential for fostering a customer-centric culture within an organization. Lastly, measuring and monitoring performance through customer-centric KPIs helps organizations stay on track and make necessary adjustments.

How will you act on your customer’s behalf and create more customer centricity within your organization? Consider meeting with a coach to help you develop an action plan.  With the right guidance and support, you can transform your team’s approach and achieve sustainable long-term sales growth.

Book your session with Katherine Pitcher or another TaskHuman sales coach today! 

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