FOCUS: The Customer

If you have been lucky enough to have studied marketing at any level, you will know that the Customer is King. This applies everywhere, whether it be a client company or a customer individual.

My favourite car brand Audi understands that being on top does not come through pushing communications onto their consumers, yet connecting with them and hearing what the other side also has to say. Customer focus seems to be key for the German car manufacturer and understanding customers more so. 

What are the customer needs, wants and desires? How do we, as a company, capture their attention, yet create excitement and involvement with the brand?

Segmentation, target audiences, differentiation and so on are approaches, yes. But who really is this customer we are talking about?

Someone I know who works at airport security told me how much they enjoy making passengers 'suffer' in terms of making security difficult for them. They also said that certain nationalities get more of a 'hard time' then others to ensure security's entertainment! And there I thought 'Oh dear God.' I told my friend 'Do you not realise these people you are referring to are your customers? Do you not realise you are representing your country as well as professionalism to these people? Do you not know that the customer always comes first, no matter what?' And as I expected, I got a blank stare back.

It is interesting to know that at different levels of any organisation employees do not realise the importance of a customer. Especially within service based areas such as airports, restaurants, telephone services, banking and so on the customer receives a service and if that service is bad, he or she will open their mouth to express their dissatisfaction. But it will rarely be to the company, rather it will be to friends, family or discussion forums online, which lead to one thing and one thing only: negative word of mouth.

Customers are walking, talking advertising machines! 

It is word of mouth that is most trusted and it is word of mouth that plays a vital role in customer decision making.

Sayings such as 'We have CRM implemented in our company' do not mean a thing. It is the connecting touch points with the customer that count. In the end it is the consumer that wants to feel like he/she are number one. They want to know that the organisation listens and cares!

So a customer focus should be top priority for anywhere in the organisation that in any way has something to do with its consumers. One day I hope companies learn this, and that all employees follow through.