Five mindset changes to become more customer-centric

Vol 47: Issue 3 | October 2024

Our experts

Melanie Disse, Melanie Disse Consulting
Raj Mendes, The Customer Experience Company

It’s not easy to truly put the customer first with every business decision you make. Melanie Disse, founder and principal consultant at Auckland-based Melanie Disse Consulting, and Raj Mendes, founder and managing director of The Customer Experience Company in Sydney, suggest five practical ways to put your company vision into action by changing your mindset.

1. Live the customer experience

Mendes says leaders can get closer to customers by taking a hands-on approach.

“They need to understand the pain customers are feeling and how they can help to resolve that pain,” he says. “But how can leaders gain empathy and a deep understanding of their customers if they have never processed a claim or answered a service inquiry?”

Taking some time to work on the call-centre floor or visit a branch and interact with customers can help managers and the C-suite understand what customers see of the company, as well as what their staff may see as barriers to providing a great customer experience.

2. Understand the difference between customer service and experience

Mendes says many executives use the terms ‘customer service’ and ‘customer experience’ interchangeably when they’re quite different concepts.

“Customer service is what happens when you’re interacting directly with customers,” he says.

“Customer experience is all about building an emotional bond with customers by ensuring they’re happy with every touchpoint across the whole journey. Good customer service is just a part of the whole customer experience.”

3. Set the right KPIs

Leaders should empower employees and hold them accountable but not set misleading KPIs.

“While KPIs related to your NPS [Net Promoter Score] and CSAT [customer satisfaction score] are well intended, they often drive unintended and damaging behaviour from the frontline all the way to C-suite,” says Disse.

“For example, reducing average handle times in call centres doesn’t always correlate with positive customer experiences. It’s vital that your KPIs balance business and customer needs.”

4. Break down silos

Disse identifies organisational silos as one of the biggest barriers to creating a customer-centric culture.

“Leaders need to view the customer experience as a ‘team sport’,” she says.

“That’s a mindset shift, and it can be challenging as organisations are built around departmental silos. Leaders must work with others to understand customer experiences holistically and the impact every single part of the organisation has on the customer. Journey maps, customer feedback programs and storytelling are powerful tools to drive customer centricity.”

5. Use feedback for continuous improvement

Feedback can provide invaluable information. However, according to Mendes, this means looking beyond the so-called ‘vanity metrics’ that appear impressive but offer little substance. For example, the fact that many people are visiting your website is of little value if they aren’t buying policies or if they can’t find the information they need to answer a question or lodge a claim.

“Effective feedback involves listening to your customers and acting on what they say,” says Mendes. 

Read this article and all the other articles from the latest issue of the Journal e-magazine.

 Read issue 3 of the Journal