How customer-centric is your firm/branch?

Amazon’s mission is to be the “Earth’s most customer-centric company.” And they increasingly are!

Your firm can grow faster and more profitably through next-level customer centricity. How? Make sure all employees can answer and act on the following questions. Some Customer-centric IQ questions:

1. What percent of your net profits do the top 10 and the top 10% of your customers give you, respectively?

2. Within your top 100 accounts, can some customers be sorted into niches based on what common goods they buy and how (peculiar service needs) they buy them?

3. What specific service metrics do your most profitable customers (and best niche of customers) desire?

Do all employees know by heart?

1. The top 5 most net-profitable customers? Perhaps in your No. 1 most net-profitable niche of customers?

2. Your top 5 most promising net-profit-growth, largest customers?

3. Why and how to all work to improving specific service metrics for these accounts?

4. How to dynamically give both preferential and exceptional service to the top 10 accounts?

5. How they, and all stakeholder groups, will economically benefit from doing all of the above?

Customers vary in their purchasing maturity and effectiveness: The least are price buyers. Wiser ones want basic service excellence guaranteed before focusing on price. And 2.5% of your customers (usually large and/or fast growing due to innovation) are looking for a supplier to partner with.

They would like to move down the buying/selling cost curves together on a win-win basis (like McDonald’s does with its distributors). However, it takes a consulting team to believe, speak and sell those solutions. A rep’s role on the team will depend on what each customer prefers (customer centricity!).

1. Can the team explain how you identify, target and sell these accounts effectively?

2. Does everyone believe that by inventing better service value for best customers you can better, retain, penetrate and potentially partner these accounts?

Ambition, analytics and execution: Are you curious and brave enough to improve on existing management beliefs? Then get customer and SKU profitability analytics to answer directly and indirectly the quiz questions.

For a generic execution plan, request my “Core Renewal Roadmap” at bruce@merrifield.com.