Customer-centric approach: the purpose and program of the training

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Have you heard about seminars and trainings, the theme of which is a customer-oriented approach to doing business? Let's look at what these classes are and how they can be useful for you or your employees.

What does "customer-centric business" mean?

The essence of a customer-oriented approach is that the focus of attention of employees is directed primarily to the buyer or customer. The main task of each member of the team is to do everything to ensure that the one who replenishes the cash desk of the company wants to return to you more than once in the future.

The following principles of a customer-oriented approach can be distinguished:

1. Deep understanding and satisfaction of the needs of the buyer or customer.
2. Selling products and services that meet or exceed customer expectations.
3. Effective interaction with clients built on mutual respect.
4. The willingness of leaders at any level to communicate openly.
5. Flexibilityorganizations in relation to the changing needs of buyers and customers.
6. Creating a comfortable psychological environment for the client.
7. The desire to help the buyer, to take part in solving his problems.
8. Continuous work to improve the quality of service.
9. Planning activities to attract and retain customers.

As you know, the classic way of doing business involves working on 4 elements of marketing at the same time: product, price, location, promotion. The 4P scheme (product, price, place, promotion) is described in sufficient detail in F. Kotler's famous book "Fundamentals of Marketing".

How does a customer-centric business prioritize? There are many marketing theories, their value is not denied. But with a new type of building relationships with buyers and customers, the company puts at the forefront not the product and not the price. The most important area of work for senior management and other employees is effective interaction with customers.

The benefits of a customer-centric approach are as follows:

1. Building a positive business reputation of the company in the market.
2. A circle of loyal customers is formed, constantly replenishing the cashier.
3. There are more and more new buyers and customers who apply to your company on the recommendation of friends.
4. Customer centric approach drives sales and business growth.
5. Advertising spending is falling or becoming more efficient.

Why do we need seminars and trainings on customer orientation?

It's no secret that the introduction of a customer-centric approach is carried out gradually. First, the company needs to study its customers and customers, understand and anticipate their needs. To do this, employees need to mentally take the place of customers, understand:

• what exactly do they want when they contact your organization;
• what products and services customers and customers need;
• what is the ideal service from their point of view;
• what difficulties does the client face when purchasing your product or service, due to which they can be alleviated;
• what the buyer or customer expects to get by cooperating with you, is it possible to do something more for him;
• what can cause positive emotions in the client, how can your company bring joy to the buyer.

It is important to work through every point of contact with the client: promotional materials, telephone conversations, car parking spaces at your office or store, the service process.

One of the best explanations of how to implement a customer-centric approach in sales comes from John Schole. An American expert on quality service suggests focusing on listening carefully to customers, constantly recording their wishes and complaints. Getting feedback from buyers and customers in the form of filling out questionnaires is ineffective, according to Shoal. Not all clients wantfill out questionnaires, and those who agree tend to embellish reality. Employees receive much more information from buyers and customers in the process of work. Based on it, the company can significantly improve the quality of service. So, for example, if customers want to call you at night, it is important to give them the opportunity to do so. Otherwise, the company, in particular, will lose the opportunity to work with customers living in the other half of the globe.

The introduction of a customer-centric approach will not succeed if the organization's employees are not properly trained in the new business philosophy. The difficulty lies in the fact that the art of effective interaction with buyers and customers cannot be transferred in theory. Rather, it is brought up in the general atmosphere of the company. The company's top manager and middle managers should themselves lead by example in customer-centric behavior.

What can be said about the documents regulating the process of servicing customers and customers? A customer-oriented approach in an enterprise will not be implemented if it is limited to communicating instructions to employees on how to make sales. It is necessary to develop a system of effective work with buyers and customers.

Goals of customer focus trainings

A customer-centric approach should be encouraged in all employees. And with each member of the team, the immediate supervisor should regularly discuss situations in which the employee made a mistake when interacting with customers.

It is better not to talk about problematic situations at production meetings. For general discussions, it is more convenient to use the game form of training.

Interactive classes partly solve the problem of "educating" employees, although they do not replace the daily communication of managers with subordinates.

Usually, the following goals of trainings on customer orientation are distinguished:

1. Teaching employees how to think and behave effectively.
2. Increasing the level of emotional intelligence among team members.
3. Developing effective communication skills.
4. Fostering the personal growth of employees.

Sales managers after completing the training are happy to practice a client-oriented approach in their work. The professional development program for this category of employees often gives good results.

What topics are important to cover during the training

A customer-centric approach implies that employees have a range of professional knowledge and skills. Therefore, modern trainings devoted to this topic, as a rule, include the following blocks:

1. Performance of practical tasks, the purpose of which is to make the participants understand how important it is to take care of the client. Finding out the reasons why buyers and customers leave. Drawing up an action plan on how to retain a client.
2. Games and exercises that develop the ability of managers to put themselves in the place of buyers and customers and understand their needs.
3. Discussion of phasescustomer loy alty (regular customer - loyal customer - loyal customer).
4. Studying the characteristics of consumer behavior, factors influencing the decision to make a transaction.
5. Introduction to customer service techniques. Training of skills of work at the same time with several clients. Experimenting with active listening techniques.
6. A block dedicated to dealing with difficult clients. Implementation of practical tasks on the analysis of objections. Learn how to deal with complaints.
7. Familiarization of managers with techniques that allow them to enjoy their work. The study of methods of self-regulation and self-organization. Mastering techniques for dealing with stress and getting rid of fatigue.

Let's take a closer look at some of the tasks used in trainings on customer orientation.

Calculating the cost of losing a customer

The benefits and economic benefits of a customer-centric approach can be demonstrated by the example of an arithmetic problem that even a schoolboy can solve.

Suppose that a client purchases goods and services from your company for the amount of 10 thousand rubles. in year. Every year this amount increases by 2 thousand rubles. How much sales will the company lose if the buyer or customer does not buy from you over the next 5 years? Calculate the amount of future lost profits. In our example, it will be:

10 + 12 + 14 + 16 + 18=70 thousand rubles

Such is the cost of lostclient. It is useful to set up automatic calculation of this indicator in the CRM program, if such is used in the company.

Knowing the approximate profitability of the company, you can also calculate the amount of lost profits. For example, if the net financial result is 20% of sales, over 5 years the company will lose 14 thousand rubles.

In the process of solving the problem, the participants of the training should understand how much the loss of each client costs the enterprise. It is also important to emphasize that finding and attracting a new buyer or customer is even more expensive.

Reasons why a client leaves

At the next stage of the lesson, it is important to analyze the reasons why a buyer or customer most often stops contacting a company whose goods and services he previously used.

For this purpose, each participant of the training should be asked to remember a case from his life when he was very badly served in a store, after which he didn’t want to visit the outlet. It is important that students answer the questions:

1. What was the mood of the staff who spoke with you?
2. How did they behave?
3. What exactly didn't satisfy you about the service?
4. How did the conflict start? What made you angry or upset?
5. What emotions did you experience during and after visiting this outlet?
6. Did you continue to shop at this store after the accident?
7. How many people have you shared an embarrassing story with?

During the discussion, a list of reasons why buyers or customers stop using the services of companies is compiled. It is also suggested to recall cases from business practice when customers left.

Service Levels

It's no secret that each person has his own understanding of what service should be in the company. By spending money, we expect to get a certain level of comfort and experience positive emotions (or at least avoid negative ones).

Customer-centric approach in modern management requires knowledge of 3 levels of service that can be observed in various organizations:

1. Low. The client's expectations are not met. He gets less than expected, experiences negative emotions.
2. Standard. The client's expectations are met. He gets exactly what he expected. The client is indifferent, calm.
3. WOW service. The client gets more than expected. He experiences positive emotions, feels the desire to return to the company for new purchases.

To study the different levels of service, the participants of the training are divided into 3 teams. Each team in a limited period of time (10 minutes) must come up with and act out a scene of buying in a store:

- with low level of service;

- with standard service level;

- with WOW service level.

Before each skit, the participant of the training, playing the client, must tell the audience which organization he goes to, what he plans to buy, what expectations he has regarding the processshopping.

After the presentation, the client voices what emotions he experienced and what thoughts were spinning in his head. The participant also reports how he evaluates his desire to once again come to buy from a fictitious company.

Game "Yes, and more"

An important component of customer-oriented service in a company is the ability of its employees to agree with the buyer and the customer, to be on the same side with him. Problems that arise in business are important to resolve in such a way that both parties win. For this, it is important for managers to teach them to perceive the client not as an adversary, but as a friend, with whom one can always negotiate kindly.

It's no secret that one of the most important rules for effective interaction with a partner is not to tell him that he is mistaken. It is important to agree and immediately make a counter offer on how best to act in this situation.

A fun game is often played at trainings to develop this valuable skill, according to the rules of which? participants do not enter into a dispute, but only agree and negotiate with each other. The facilitator invites the participants to break into pairs. The game partners must imagine that they barely know each other and found themselves together in an unusual situation: stuck in an elevator, lost in the forest, shipwrecked and ended up on a desert island, became hostages of bandits. They need to agree on what to do next. Players take turns putting forward their proposals. According to the rules of the game, you need to agree with the opinion of a friend every time (say: “Yes …”) and supplement it with your own idea (“… and more …”).

This results in funny dialogues:

- Let's buy a bottle of wine.

- Yes, and a cake.

- Yes, and let's go eat it in the forest.

- Yes, and share with squirrels…

The game continues for 3-5 minutes.

After completing the task, the participants of the training discuss what emotions they experienced during the game, what thoughts came to their mind, what seemed difficult, and at what moments it was very simple.

Exercise to develop the ability to maintain a conversation

The mistake of many employees, which often fails to implement a client-oriented approach in the work of the organization, is the unwillingness to talk with the buyer on any topic not related to work. Meanwhile, many customers prefer to deal with sellers with whom they have a good relationship.

Therefore, in trainings on customer orientation, they study the technique of "small conversation". Participants are invited to talk to each other on abstract topics, using the following techniques for this:

1. Quote what the interlocutor once said.
2. Give your partner useful information.
3. Tell an interesting story.
4. Thank you.
5. Give a compliment.
6. Say a positive affirmation.

Vocabulary exercise

This creative activity helps managers learn to speak the customer's language. The participants of the training are divided into teams. Leader for each teaminstructs to compose the text of the presentation of the company's goods and services, adapted for a representative of a certain profession (programmer, doctor, sailor, journalist). You are given 5-10 minutes to think. Advertising text must be written using professionalisms and terms that are widely used in the client's work environment.

Exercise "Guess what he doesn't like"

One of the training participants portrays a dissatisfied customer: the client has decided not to be served by the company anymore, but does not want to directly state the reason why he is leaving. The reason is described in advance by the presenter on a piece of paper. The client participant can make any comments and express any emotions, but not voice the essence of the problem. The task of the second participant is to understand what exactly the client is dissatisfied with.

At the end of the game, the facilitator sums up: did the manager find out the reason for the client’s dissatisfaction, by what signs he could and should have recognized it, how the client hinted at the essence of the problem.

Explain to someone who doesn't understand exercise

Training participants imagine that they are selling an ordinary, but not the simplest product in a store, such as a flash drive or a bank card. At the same time, the client is an unintelligent person (a small child, a lady who knows nothing about technology, a teenager, a deaf-mute, a madman). The seller's task is to explain politely, in a language accessible to the client, what exactly he is selling and why the buyer needs this item.

Features of training in a bank

Customer-centric approach init is more difficult to implement in a bank than in a trade organization. The tasks of employees of a financial institution include not only customer service, but also compliance with a number of legislative norms, procedures, and instructions. In this regard, a bank employee must put forward a number of requirements for the client regarding the provision of the necessary documents, the provision of the necessary information.

Training on a client-oriented approach for employees of a financial institution should include a well-designed block for handling claims and objections. It is important for bank employees to improve their soft conflict management skills during the lesson.

Carefully planned game tasks will help trainees learn to serve customers at the highest level, while insisting on meeting the requirements of the organization.

The training program for bank employees should include a large block on time management and self-organization. Operating employees, credit officers, employees of sales departments work in conditions of hard time pressure. They are limited by the time of the trading day and at the same time often deal with queues of negative visitors. Constant stress affects the nature of interaction with customers.

Exercising self-maintaining skills should be one of the main topics in a class with bank employees.

Training for education officials

Due to the fact that an increasing number of both secondary and higher educationestablishments are becoming fully commercial, the attitude towards students and schoolchildren is changing. The client-oriented approach in education is also becoming more widespread. As a result, teachers find themselves in a rather difficult position. On the one hand, they must objectively evaluate the knowledge of their students, giving low scores if necessary. On the other hand, even the most inept student is now a client. His dissatisfaction with the educational institution may result in the loss of part of the income of the school or university.

Therefore, training for employees of the education system should include staging and analysis of all problem situations that arise in lessons, lectures, seminars. It is important for teachers to learn to put themselves in the shoes of students and understand their needs.

It is also important for educators to master the art of inspiring students in training, awakening in them a strong desire to deeply master the subjects studied.

Features of training for tourism employees

Customer-centric approach in the tourism industry is especially important. In business, people take many small annoyances and inconsistencies calmly, waiting for them. Going on vacation, however, even chronic workaholics do not want to deal with difficulties and problems. Enterprises related to the leisure, tourism, entertainment industry should be especially attentive to customers.

It is important to pay special attention to work on the positive mood of the participants during the training. Employees of hotels, entertainment facilities, restaurants, travel companiesit is important to radiate the energy of calmness and joy. When purchasing a trip abroad or a ticket to an attraction, the client should feel that he is already resting.

Conclusion

Customer-centric approach in times of crisis does not cease to be relevant. In conditions of the strictest economy, many organizations are successfully implementing ideas that allow them not to save on customers and customers.

To keep customers loyal, many companies are segmenting them and identifying their needs more thoroughly. In times of crisis, competition intensifies. Business executives care about what customers need, how much money they are willing to spend, what other products they can produce or purchase specifically for their regular customers.

It seems that the financial crisis will further spread the customer-centric approach in small and medium-sized businesses. Seminars and trainings dedicated to this topic are likely to remain in demand for a long time.