How to Become a "Customer-Led Company"

The core idea of the customer-led company is to focus on needs and not products. The central idea of marketing is that customers want to meet a need or solve a problem and not to buy a product.

The Concept and Why the Different Mindset

What is your operation now? Questions to ask yourself:

• Do you manufacture products and supply a service to a target market?
• Do you supply a variety of products?
• Do you sell your services so your clients buy from you?
• Once your client gives you a job, do you work for that job?

"Selling tries to get the customer to want what the company has"

The whole focus is job/product orientated you only work on the job without asking about the customer needs. For example, you are manufacturing an automotive part and the client needs 100 units within 3 days. The order is large and you have to assign a whole line to fulfil the order which you regularly do because he is an important client. A customer-led company would spend a bit of time to ascertain the client specific need and find out that he requires 20 units a day to fulfil his overseas orders. With a bit of research, the company could introduce a "Just in Time" order programme that would provide a solution to everyone's needs.

Businesses that are good at satisfying customer needs can grow and satisfy all concerned:

• Shareholders - value in the company
• Managers - pro-active instead of reactive
• Customers - satisfaction
• Employees - security
• Creditors - high credit rating

A Customer-Led Company

Marketing-led is to build a relationship to meet the customer needs.

"Marketing tries to get the company to produce what the customer wants and to meet a need and not buy a product"

The customer buys a benefit, not a product. Eg. a lady will buy a new dress but she needs shoes to go with it, she will shop until the correct pair has been found, the benefit is a matching outfit.

How Do You Create a Customer-Led Company?

• Work on internal communications and relationship building within the company.
• Training on customer needs and benefits to the customer.
• Customer focus on everything you do, customer orientated.
• You will create a differential advantage over your competitors.
• If your service, friendliness, competent skills and quality is totally focused on the customer you will be like a shining beacon to your competitors.

To be customer-led you need to do some training and here is a guideline to follow.

Training Sessions for a Customer-Led Company

1. Training Session - Forming The Vision and Mission Statements

A mission statement seeks to describe the purpose of a business and its essential character. Managers and staff need to buy into the firm's vision and mission.

It has three functions:

• Motivation of employees
• A shared sense of purpose
• Identifies major policies

The four components of a mission statement are:

• Definition of a competitive scope - what is its business - Coca-Cola Head Office selling syrup to its bottling distributors. Honda the combustion engine.
• Strategic intention - the vision, courage to be number 1
• Competencies and competitive advantage - unique skills
• Key stakeholders - who they are

2. Training Session - Employee Attitudes

• Employees - a major asset to the company
• All employees are important to achieve goals
• How do they feel about the company
• Level of co-operation between departments or functions
• Improving internal operations and enhancing performance
• Invite suggestions and challenges for the best suggestion
• Employee incentives

3. Training Session - Customer Analysis

If you lose a customer through poor service, or for any other reason a compounding effect takes place.

Not only have you lost R2 500 turnover per month but R30 000 in a year and R90 000 over 3 years and that's just one customer.

One satisfied customer will refer you to 3 to 5 other potential customers but one dissatisfied customer will tell 10 to 15 people not to use you.

How good is the company in satisfying the customer needs:

• Customers as assets
• How to improve its services to customers
• Making sure that the business is really selling what the customer wants to buy
• Analyse products and after-sales service
• Who are your customers and who should it be
• What customer segments should be targeted
• Who makes the buying decisions
• What do they buy
• Where do they buy
• When do they buy

4. Training Session - Competitive Attitudes

Competitive environment and analysis of the changes in:

• Technology - any new upgrades or advances
• Demographics - population size, age, sex, occupations, income etc.
• Culture - relationship internally and externally, black empowerment
• Legislation - labour laws
• Economy - interest rates, Rand exchange rate, petrol price

What makes you different from your competitors, areas to analyse: Quality, Relationship, Skills, Staff, Systems, Technology, Leadership, Price, Place (location), Promotion, Service

5. Training Session - Strategy Development and Implementation

This is a crucial part of the process. It involves positioning the company with the aim of obtaining high marks from customer scorecards. A positioning strategy has two components. The first is to obtain who the target market is and secondly to differentiate the business in the eyes of the customer to establish a preference.

A good way to implement the concept is through participation and belonging. Two tools are particularly useful, a quality circle and a challenge.