How Well Do You Know Your Customers?

Almost every company raves about how much it cares for its customers. However, only a few organizations are truly customer-centric. Why? Being customer-centric is not easy. Customer-centricity requires consistent investment of time and effort. It is a mindset that is achieved by building an organizational strategy around it.

Many organizations reach out to customers only when it is necessary. They don't have a proactive mechanism to build a relationship with customers. They view the time and travel budgets for customer visits as unnecessary expenses. But there is a long-term cost for not staying close to your customers that may not be obvious right away.

Early on in my career, I was fortunate to work with an organization that had a strong emphasis on building proactive relationships with customers. Our GM was customer-obsessed. Not only did he himself extensively travel globally to hear what customers had to say about the products and services, but he was also very particular that his team travelled frequently to visit diverse customers. In fact, in our 1:1 meetings, the first thing he wanted to know was the number of customers visited and their feedback. That relentless focus on customers made me develop a strong customer-centric mindset that paid off very well in developing product, market, and business strategies in the global market.

Are You Listening To Your Customers?

Understanding customers takes commitment. While the commercial and service teams provide valuable voice of customers, however, they are often reactive.

To proactively understand your customer, you must be in their shoes. But how do you get in their shoes?

Conduct Observational Research

If you can watch how your customers are performing their work that involves your solution, it will give you a wealth of information that you may not otherwise get, even when your customers directly share their experiences. This is because they may not necessarily view certain nuances as opportunities for product improvements. I recalled watching the workflow of radiologists while they used our analysis software. In the course of observational studies, we were able to pick up several inefficiencies. After we validated those gaps and updated the software, we received positive feedback on how it improved radiologists’ workflow and productivity.

Observation is power, but it requires patience. The insights may not come right away or just from a single incident. You must observe several sites, observe intently, and take copious notes. I always took a colleague from the application or product team with me during my observational visits. Comparing our notes ensured data objectivity.

Build Customer Intimacy

Building a deeper relationship with key customers is important to receive frank feedback. Not all customers are driven to share their honest feedback. You must build a relationship that creates an environment of mutual respect and trust. It doesn’t mean that you have to be their friends. However, you must demonstrate your sincerity, which signals commitment.

One thing that tremendously helped me was to actively listen. I would ask just a few open-ended questions to set up the stage and then let customers speak. The more I listened, the more I learned. This quiet listening also does something amazing. Customers appreciate that you are there to listen with an open mind. You win your customers’ trust.

Building customer intimacy takes time and requires ongoing interactions. It is not achieved by visiting your customers once a year or meeting at the trade show. You have to nurture your relationship over time.

Don’t Ignore Unhappy Customers

It is uncomfortable to face unhappy customers. However, I always felt a duty to attend to them more than the happy customers. Why? I am curious why a customer who trusted us over the competition became a distractor?

One of our customers in Korea was very upset with us. The local team warned me not to visit him. Ignoring their advice, when I went to meet him, he gave me an earful for 20 minutes, uninterrupted. I kept taking notes and only asked clarifying questions. I could sense his anger. I could also sense his surprise as I didn’t offer any excuse. After he finished, I offered him a sincere apology. I meant it. I took responsibility for the situation, which was a result of miscommunication. We rectified the situation. However, his feedback also provided some useful information on improving certain processes.

Unhappy customers provide a heap of insights, but to access that, you must not be defensive. Gather information objectively and keep asking why until you know you have found the root cause.

Become An Empathic Leader

I have found that empathy is the single most powerful attribute that can elevate the power of marketers. Marketers connect the dots between a solution and the customers' problem. To understand others’ pain, you must have empathy.

Empathy lets you in under the skin of your customers. You can feel their pain, fear, and desires. The clearer you can see them, the better stories you can develop that resonate with them.

There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for truly understanding your customers - it’s a mindset you cultivate over time. When you begin listening with genuine intent to help, trust builds naturally, and valuable insights begin to flow that eventually help the business to grow and achieve higher customer retention and satisfaction.