● Irrespective of the nature and size of the business, it is vital to ideate strong personal bonding with customers to stand out from competitors and cultivate customer loyalty. Experienced business tycoons deem customers as the lifeblood of a business and hence suggest that they must be at the core of all critical business decision-making. Today, we discuss how customer-centricity helps businesses to stand out from their competitors.
● 1. Customer Satisfaction Culminates in Better Sales
● Customer satisfaction is equally, if not more, important than sales for a business's growth. While it may appear counterintuitive, focusing on customers rather than sales can result in better sales. As per a report by Deloitte, customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that don't keep customers at the centre of their focus.
● Businesses must treat customer satisfaction and sales as mutually dependent factors that lead to success. They should adopt a more humanised sales approach focusing on solutions rather than metrics to drive sales. Building a relationship of trust and respect between the customers and the organisation creates a feeling of reciprocity that is imperative for the business's long-term success. When customers feel valued in an organisation, they feel obligated to return the favour in the form of brand loyalty leading to consistent sales.
● 2. Enhanced Brand Loyalty
● By forming strong bonds of trust with customers, organisations can benefit from increased brand loyalty. Brand loyalty forms the cornerstone of business success, irrespective of the industry. It leads to a lower churn rate, higher lifetime value, and improved engagement. When consumers become loyal to your brand, they will likely return to you. It becomes easier to study their buying behaviour to design strategies that increase customer engagement and satisfaction.
● 3. Better Customer Retention
● Due to increased competition in the market, most businesses focus on acquiring new customers, which relegates customer retention to a secondary position. However, surprisingly customer retention is more profitable than customer acquisition. As per reports by Out Bound Engine, acquiring a new customer costs five times more than retaining an existing customer. Additionally, increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-95%.
● As your competitors focus on customer acquisition over retention, you can gain a competitive advantage by leveraging customer retention. In addition, customer-centric selling acts as an effective filter that removes potentially dissatisfied customers from the organisation's clientele. This ensures that the customers that remain are the business's ideal clientele. It improves retention rates and allows businesses to go deeper rather than wider to provide additional solutions for their loyal base.
● 4. Improved Operational Efficiency
● As per a report by Tandf Online, every 1 % improvement in customer satisfaction leads to an increase in operating profit of nearly six per cent. Hence, we see that businesses that work with the customer-centric approach can improve their operational efficiency considerably. When the business keeps customers at the centre of all crucial business decisions, the chances of trial and error are reduced considerably. As a result, businesses can devote more time and energy to bigger organisational goals.
● 5. Increased Referrals
● Happy and satisfied customers play an instrumental role in stimulating brand buzz. Their positive feedback and word of mouth create a flywheel effect that makes acquiring additional customers even easier. As a result, these businesses that adopt a customer-centric approach develop a competitive edge over those without the benefit of word-of-mouth marketing.
● As per a report by All Business, word-of-mouth marketing was found to be even more effective than paid ads, resulting in five times more sales. This, clubbed with other marketing strategies, can build an overall appealing image of the brand in the market.
● Wrapping Up
● No amount of technological advancements would dilute the significance of customers in the business world. As the markets get more diverse, it becomes even more challenging for brands to build a solid customer base and maintain a high retention rate. This necessitates having professionals who are experts in customer relationship management and can utilise it for the overall growth of the business.
● CRM has evolved as a crucial element of business over the past few years. Taking cognisance of the growing demand, many new-age graduates are gravitating towards it. Since the field is constantly evolving and less saturated at the moment, taking up a CRM certification could boost your career significantly.
● IIM Lucknow's Executive Certificate Program In Customer Relationship Management could be the best choice for a CRM course. It is meticulously designed to help a candidate develop the skills and knowledge required to strategise and implement plans for better customer experience and business success.
● The ECP CRM modules include core concepts along with strategies, practices, and technologies required to win and retain customers for a profitably long duration. Join the certification program today!
To know more: https://executive.timespro.com/course/general-management/iim-lucknow-ecp-customer-relationship-management/
