Companies in the business-to-business (B2B) sector engage just 29 percent of customers, according to Gallup. In other words, we’re letting 71 percent go astray. This article calls all of us in the channel of influence to act. It means we must spend more time and resources to understand customers’ perspectives. This is true for veterinary teams and retail associates, as well as manufacturers and distributors. Gallup believes that customer centricity is the surest path to customer engagement. I agree.
Source: Gallup Business Journal, March 1, 2016.
Businesses looking to grow by buying up other companies are likely to see their acquisition strategy hit a wall. Gallup believes that customer centricity provides the surest path to customer engagement. Gallup has found that developing a customer-centric model comes down to four phases: (1) Discovery – involves evaluating the current state of customer relationships. (2) Diagnostic – involves conducting qualitative and quantitative analyses. (3) This phase synthesizes the findings and insights from the discovery phase to identify the key drivers of the customer experience and how the B2B company is performing on them. (4) Sustainment – pinpoints specific steps to take to improve the customer experience.
INSIGHTS: In a recent editorial, I wrote, “Too often, companies look at customers as cash machines that can satisfy shareholders and offer solutions without the customer in mind.” Based on this Gallup analysis, the need for a customer-focused evolution must become a priority in our industry beyond the Form 8-K and Form 10-K focused management. Being profitable and growing is important. Providing sustained value to customers is more dependent on the transactional nature of our customer interactions and making the most of these interactions over and over again. Economic value naturally flows from these daily interactions where the customers’ needs are the top priority.