By implementing a customer centric sales process, you ensure that your customer is at the forefront of your business – and that can lead to big profitability.
Did you know that over 99% of businesses in Canada qualify as SMEs or small and medium-sized businesses?
While having a staff of hundreds can be advantageous, smaller SMEs don’t have this advantage. That means doing more with less to ensure profitability.
What Is Customer Centric
First, let’s define what it means to be customer centric. It’s more than buzzwords; it’s a complex business strategy that takes a lot of work to get right – but when done correctly there can be huge benefits.
Customer centricity is a business strategy that’s designed around putting your customer first, providing a positive experience, and building a long-term relationship with them.
A customer centric business strategy applies to all aspects of your business. Customer centric communication requires the customer to be the focal point of all decisions that can influence customer loyalty and satisfaction. It means making communication with customers personable, and easily accessible.
Of course, a customer centric approach can also be used for your sales process, and it can be a great way to improve sales.
Why Customer Centric Is Important
Shifting to a customer centric sales strategy addresses the customer’s needs at every stage of the sales process. With this strategy, a sales person essentially acts in a supporting role. They understand that a customer may have some information about a product or service available to them, but they may need help figuring out their options and finding the right specific solution for them.
What are the benefits of a customer centric sales strategy?
For one, it leads to higher customer retention. Acquiring new customers is costly and time consuming. A customer centric approach ensures that a customer is getting the solution they need.
Customers also talk – for better or for worse, online and offline in person. What are your customers saying about you? If what they are saying is positive, you have a competitive advantage that’s difficult to beat.
A customer centric approach requires that your customers receive personalized attention. However, this helps naturally form and sustain long-term relationships.
Implementing a Customer Centric Sales Process
So how do you implement a customer centric sales process? There are 5 key steps to a customer focused sales process:
- Believe in the process
- Research your customers and ask questions
- Have sales act as consultants
- Use customer centric communication
- Invest in training
With a customer centric strategy, all of these steps are important, and all of them are ongoing, but it all starts with your beliefs.
Believe In the Process
Everyone needs to be personally invested and believe in the process of putting your customers first. Employees, especially frontline workers, need to approach customer interactions with their best interests in mind. Of course, this belief starts at the top of your organization.
Remember, a customer centric approach isn’t solely for B2C. B2B sectors can also benefit from this strategy.
Research Your Customers and Ask Questions
Your sales teams should ask probing questions to get to know the customer better, as well as their needs and objectives. Be prepared for common objections, especially when cold selling.
Don’t go on instinct alone. Use data-driven insights to help understand your customers better.
Have Sales Act as Consultants
A customer centric strategy means that your sales team should be consultants. This means practicing active listening, offering advice and suggestions, and tailoring solutions for each customer.
Active listening is such a huge part of being a consultant. Does your team know how to practice it?
If not, now’s the time to learn active listening skills. Learning these skills builds trust and understanding.
Use Customer Centric Communication
Active listening is also an important part of your customer centric communication.
Encourage and take note of feedback from your customers to continually fine-tune your strategy and gear it towards your target demographic.
Along with your sales team, your customer service team also needs to be invested in a customer first mindset. Remember, customer service is an integral part of a customer’s experience with your brand. If you can get both teams on board with a customer first approach, you are going to have better results.
Communicating with your existing customers can also be a powerful way to leverage your existing customers for B2B lead generation.
Invest in Training
A customer centric sales strategy will always be an ongoing sales strategy, especially since your customers’ needs will change over time. That means continually training your staff to meet your client’s needs, especially if economic conditions change or shift.
Reviewing and improving your sales strategy is key to an effective sales pipeline.
Get Customers Not Leads
Are you looking to put your customers first with a customer centric sales process? If so, you need powerful AI and data science to filter prospecting customers.
Our goal isn’t to get you leads – it’s to get you actual customers. We use tried and tested methods to make that happen, generating pre-qualified leads for you. These are leads with high intent and valuable credit information, helping your organization achieve profitability and a high ROI.
See it in action. Book a demo for your company, and we will show you what Accumulate can do for you!
