Customer-centric businesses are driven by the needs of the market, which they try to meet efficiently and quickly. After all, the customer is the ultimate judge and the one who rates whether you are a partner of choice, through buying or not buying what is offered. This is the magic of the liberal market, which rewards value propositions with real impact on society and customer needs.
As we all know the raison d'être of every company is to provide value. The challenge with value lies in its difficulty to be defined. Different perceptions make it difficult to define a common definition of value and common measuring techniques, most of the time balancing different perceptions of value.
Following the careful recognition and classification of the stakeholder groups is vital to understand their perceptions of value. What will alleviate their pains? What will help them exploit new opportunities in the market they are operating?
Find out your customers' opinion and expectations about your business and your competitors. For example, find out what they think about:
- The value they receive from products and services
- The quality of customer service you provide
- Your competitors
No matter how good your product or service are, the simple truth is that no one will buy them if the final customers don't want it or think they don't need it. And you won't convince anyone that they want or need to buy what you offer, if you don't clearly understand what they really want. Knowing and understanding customer needs is at the heart of any successful business, whether selling directly to individuals or to other businesses. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to convince potential and existing customers that buying from you is in their best interest.
At the end of the day, what the customers want is:
- To be satisfied by your products and/or services, meaning to perceive your products as high valued
- To feel valued and respected with a high-quality customer support
Author: George Sioutzos