Customer centricity is a way we do business so that every team and department fosters a positive customer experience, at every stage of the customer journey. Being customer-centric has built customer loyalty and satisfaction, and, in turn, enhanced referral of new customers
Envisaging what our customers need before they ask is one thing that set us apart as a great company from good companies.
Some very practical ways that has been adopted by Afrimash and which has proven to be quite effective in staying a step ahead of our prospects and subsequently customers are highlighted below:
UNDERSTAND THEIR NEEDS
Understanding what prospects need, discovering what they want and helping them avoid their fears will increase your closing ratios. One study found that salespeople who sell to the buyer’s needs and wants are three times more likely to close the sale.
The best way we take the guesswork out of selling is to ask customers the right questions and listen carefully to their answers. Giving buyers clearly articulated information in the language they understand, when and where they need it is the role of a good salesperson. As a company, we at least attempt to, map out the various different interactions a person has with the company both on the path to purchase and after becoming a customer — and fixate on improving the customer experience.
BUILD YOUR BUYER PERSONAS
An effective way we build buyer persona profiles is to interview customers who purchased our product or service. Our interview goal is to trace the decision-making story from beginning to end. Starting with questions about the event or problem that motivated the customer to search for a solution.
Knowing what made it urgent to find a solution will be valuable in your future prospecting efforts. Try to find out who participated in the evaluation and decision-making process. The attitudes surrounding their decision may reveal useful insights and prove valuable when dealing with new prospects.
Building a better experience means not only understanding the company’s customers’ demographic information and behaviours, but also understanding what the customer’s needs and motivations are — this is at the core of creating a better experience. If you can anticipate the emotions or desires of customers, you can tailor their experiences to address these needs in the most personal way possible.
DON’T AVOID BUYERS
If your customer doesn’t choose you but chose an alternative, it is not time to fret. Don’t avoid buyers who selected your competitor instead of you. They provide valuable data on where your solution fell short by comparison. Prospects that rejected your proposal may be candid about telling you why.
Pay particular attention if the prospect says you were rejected because your product or service was too expensive. Did your “too-expensive” solution contain features the competitor didn’t offer? Or did your offering lack features the prospect required?
MEASURE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.
Determining a metric that can be used is what we implement at Afrimash to prompt action, rather than worrying about whether or not, it helps us measure every small interaction, and this is the key.
Whatever metric a company uses to measure customer success — be it Net Promoter Score, customer satisfaction, or customer happiness score — measure it frequently, and obsess over customer feedback.
GET EVERYONE ON YOUR TEAM INVOLVED.
Work it into compensation and bonus packages for your employees, and make sure each and every one of them is aware of it and can play a role in improving customer experience.
At Afrimash, our entire work system revolves around making sure that our customers are happy and satisfied. For any customer centric organization, such as ours, we ensure that everyone on the team is fully involved in customer care. Whatever you do, realize that the growth and the extent of the growth of your company rest largely on how well you can satisfy your customer.
Written by DAMILOLA Akinloye; Head, Corporate Sales, Afrimash Nigeria