Focusing On The Customer
Without your customers, your business isn’t much besides a hobby. Chapter 11 of Groundswell, brings forth the idea of a customer-centric organization and, if I may say so, it’s genius. All my work and my personal projects work around the customer. With what they want and how they would interact with the tools. Of course as a business starting out, having a focus on a quality product is important but, in the future, you cannot disregard the impact your customer has. It becomes important to consider or implement a change in favor it.
Evolving Your Business
Groundswell mentions three key elements (Bernoff & Li, 2011, p.217) to transform your business into one with more of that focus:
Take It Step By Step
Take It Step By StepDon’t rush. Making changes step by step allows for everyone in the organization to have an opportunity to “adjust their concepts of how things should work” (Bernoff & Li, 2011, p.217). I like to look at this like a web project, it’s better to focus on one thing at a time rather than rushing in the design and code of it. You can make simple mistakes that can cost hours upon hours of bug searching.
Every Step Leads To The Next
Just like any project, every step leads to the next. This happens, regardless of how small it may seem.
For example, regardless of what the project is, you start with planning then that moves to design and then to being finalized and/or presented. Basic steps that we all know and they transition into one another as work is completed in each of them. You can even delve deeper in how the steps in each are completed. For example, if you’re drawing a picture, you first draw it which then leads to you colouring it.
You Need Executive Support
In a team situation, not sole-proprietor, it’s important to have the support of those you follow. According to Groundswell, the best way to do this is to use small projects to show gradual success towards a common goal. This brings more support and approval from them for proposals and changes in the future.
The process to creating a customer centric business needs time. It can’t be rushed and, overall, can contribute to the running theme, on this blog lately, of creating a personal connection with your customer.
SOURCES
Bernoff, J., Li, C. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies (expanded and revised edition). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing