Why you need The Seven Essentials of Customer Centric Business

Recently we began a series of articles with uxmag detailing out The Seven Essentials of Customer Centric Business. Some may ask why they should remodel their company around these ideals when everything seems fine with their revenue and sales. I hope to answer that critical question here and to provide some understanding for why we promote these essentials to our clients. All of us here at Different sincerely hope that you enjoy this ongoing series of articles and find them as valuable as we do.

Joseph L. Borne

Principal Experience Architect

Different

 “Something has changed and we just can’t seem to figure out what it is!”

I heard this statement recently from a client during a meeting. It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard it and I know it won’t be the last. Companies around the world and even whole industries are asking this question and scratching their heads in bewilderment. To make matters worse, the usual channels of marketing and customer information are failing to give actionable insight.  Business leaders sense danger and change, but are blind to its causes and currents.

It’s no wonder that so many are worried by the current market. There are customer and market dynamics in play right now that have never been seen before in confluence. It’s a very scary time to be in business, particularly to be a company that’s been in business a long time. Change is afoot in a way the world has never seen and only the smartest, fastest, and strongest companies will survive the economic revolution of the next decade.

Customers under economic pressure, but with almost infinite choices equal a recipe for revolution.

What’s causing this? Well that is the big question and the answer is not simple. It starts with the complex economic situation the world is experiencing. The overload of debt, taxation crisis, spending overflow, and investment stagnation has filled the consumer indexes with fear and uncertainty. In the USA, housing markets are in a severe depression and high unemployment is making the situation worse. Europe is experiencing a similar issue on a lesser, but still concerning scale. No one seems to have a simple solution; and indeed there probably isn’t one. Many economic experts are predicting a market correction on a scale to rival the great depression of the 1930s. Whether these predictions are true or not is irrelevant. They are simply the voice decrying the situation and how we feel about it.

These conditions are putting consumers under a great deal of pressure. Many families and individuals are watching their spending very critically and making each spending choice after considerable thinking. Investments are seeing the same pattern and assets are swiftly moving into the most risk averse strategies.

In the new globally connected market the power of the customer will be absolute.

These situations have occurred before and businesses know how to tackle them. Increasing product value, reducing cost, and streamlining for efficiency can mitigate much of the risk in that scenario; but this time a new dynamic is complicating things. Consumers find themselves with virtually unlimited purchasing and service options. The advent of the internet spawned a new market where provincial offering limitations have disappeared. If customers don’t like the choices they have at their local stores, the internet can provide a plethora of options with delivery to their door. This new way of servicing customers has driven delivery expenses down to the point that often products can be purchased online and delivered to the consumer’s home for less than the shelf cost at the local store. Over the last decade the online businesses have refined this model over and over and every year it becomes more attractive. Since these companies don’t have to consider brick and mortar issues, they have been able to focus almost exclusively on the customer experience.  Amazon, Ebay, and their online compatriots have been the cause of death for many more “Mom and Pop” stores than Wal-Mart.

Some groups and organisations are seeking to slow or stop the encroachment of big businesses on their main street; but remain oblivious to the infinite digital freeway that runs right beneath it. Many of the organisations that have noticed this online progression are turning to legislation and trade agreements as a solution; but all of these tactics will fail. The new dynamic is picking up speed and momentum and it is bearing down on the old market like a juggernaut.

How do companies or industries avoid finding themselves in the path of this? Well the first step is to acknowledge that the toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no stuffing it back in. Even if all of the efforts to contain this new market were put into law; they would still fail as the new system would simply adapt and flow around these laws. Legislation can only restrict those who agree to be bound and the allure of the massive profits to be made incentivise companies and countries to create havens for these business models. The new models also have techniques and technology at their disposal that can neutralize any remaining obstacles.

Fighting this change isn't merely futile - it could be deadly.

From the time Napster launched in 1999 and until its original incarnation was shut down in 2001, it demonstrated one clear fact to the collective consumer consciousness:

“You have an almost infinite array of choices for little or no cost and your current providers have been keeping them from you.”

Of course, there are those who would argue that the shutdown of Napster meant that the courts were the answer to stopping this new threat. The recording industry learned how wrong this approach was as dozens of new services sprung up to replace the recently expired Napster. These new music sharing services swiftly learned to become decentralized in distribution and tracking, in order to avoid having a central entity for lawsuits or legislation to address. They additionally utilized encryption to avoid censorship through technology, and in the end open sourced their code to shield their developers. Like water, the new market adapted and flowed around all obstacles and conquered an industry that was once seen as invincible.

Now, desperate to stem the tide, the recording studios have turned to suing their consumers. This tactic of biting the hand that feeds them has proven very expensive and has offered very little financial return. It has also damaged their reputation and gained them no sympathy from the public. No one will argue that the music industry does not have the right to protect their intellectual property; but being right hasn't protected them from the changing market.

The leaders in the new market will be those who follow The Seven Essentials of Customer Centric Business.

Business should not waste time trying to sue, legislate, advertise or market against the coming change. All the effort placed into those doomed tactics is better spent in learning how ride this new wave through innovation. Apple demonstrated a winning strategy with the creation of Itunes, giving consumers exactly what they wanted – instant access to the broadest array of music possible with a price point they could accept. While the so called music industry experts tried to figure out how to make everyone go back to paying for a CD with 1 good song and 13 bad ones; a technology company that everyone thought was dead leapfrogged them. Of course, some people still choose to illegally download songs; but those downloads eat further into the recording industries profits while Apple continues to post record earnings.

The last and most important step is to adopt the Seven Essentials of Customer Centric Business. The only way you can thrive in the coming environment is to demonstrate clearly and constantly why consumers would want to do business with you over your competition. Beyond price and value, businesses will have to create an overall consumer experience that can overcome traditional barriers. The Seven Essentials of Customer Centric Business demonstrate a tiered approach to success.

This is not an easy proposition and only those with courage, commitment, and a willingness to let go of the old ways will be successful. Will you be one of them?

Stay tuned here and at UXmag over the next few months as we detail out the Seven Essentials of Customer Centric Business. Each of the seven has been researched extensively and time tested through application. They have become a part of our internal DNA here at Different and they help to drive our success. As part of our anniversary celebration we’ve decided to share them with the UX and business community. It is our sincere hope that these essentials can serve as a guide to those willing to embrace this new market.