A customer-oriented strategy, as defined by Tony Buzan in his recently published book, Getting Real: What Every Customer Wants You to Know About Sales and Marketing, is a “positioning strategy designed to position the company for the future.” Strategy must be “designed around the customer’s interests and their requirements.” This is a “two-way street.” The strategies must be in line with the customer’s needs and expectations. Otherwise, the strategies are destined to fail.
But what if your company isn’t in direct competition with other companies? Perhaps you’re a small startup with only a few salespeople. Perhaps you have no competitors in sight! And yet, there’s a problem. Your customer-oriented strategy is predicated on the belief that if you just make your products better, customers will reward you with loyalty.
But what if your customers aren’t aware of your product or services? They may not be aware of your value proposition. They may not be aware of your benefits or features. In addition, they may not be aware of the various support and network resources you have at your disposal. In a word, customers are blind. They cannot be expected to make informed decisions regarding your company.
This means that your customer-oriented strategy is doomed to fail. However, it doesn’t mean that you simply have to walk away from your customers. That certainly isn’t an option. You need to create a more effective customer-oriented strategy by improving your organizational capabilities.
Many companies think of customer contact employees as merely assistants who contact customers when they call. However, customer contact employees can also be an integral part of your customer-oriented strategy, as well as an effective frontline organization. The frontline element of your customer-oriented strategy is the person who speaks directly to the customer, making an appointment, or assisting a customer in finding the right product or service.
Your customer-oriented strategy should place customer service in the forefront of your organizational capabilities. That means you need to improve your organizational capability to offer the highest levels of service possible. To achieve this capability, you should improve your customer satisfaction rate. To improve your customer satisfaction, you should use customer service software to develop a comprehensive customer satisfaction strategy and train your customer service representatives to use this customer service software to increase customer satisfaction.
The fourth element of your customer-oriented strategy is marketing. You have to do two things: improve your customer-oriented strategy and market your strategy effectively. If you market your customer needs effectively, you will be able to attract new customers. If you don’t market your strategy effectively, you won’t be able to attract new customers.
Finally, the fifth and final element of your customer-oriented strategy is brand reputation management. You have to create a positive brand image for your business. You need to do this through good public relations and promotions. For this part of your strategy, you should partner with a reputable brand agency to create a campaign that will create a positive image for your business. This campaign should be comprehensive, and it should include new customers, existing customers, repeat customers, and potential new customers.
As part of your customer-oriented strategy, you also need to improve firms financial performance. One of the ways to do this is to use the financial statements of the business in which you are conducting business to improve your customer-oriented strategy. For instance, if your firm consistently loses money in a particular quarter, then you should consider analyzing the causes of the loss. You have to identify the root cause of the loss, and then you can determine what you can do to prevent the same thing from happening in the future. Once you have identified the cause of the loss, you can take the necessary steps to correct it.
Another element of your customer-oriented strategy is service to customers. A good service element in your marketing mix will allow you to attract new customers. At the same time, good service will allow you to retain the loyalty of your existing customers. The key to this element is providing customer-friendly facilities. If you offer goods or services that are not only reliable but also convenient for your customers, then you will be able to attract new customers as well as retaining your existing customers.
Finally, customer-oriented marketing strategy is all about quality. In today’s marketplace, there is very little room for low quality products and services. Customers do not want to spend their hard-earned money on substandard products and services. However, they will tolerate a little bit of excess waste from your firm because at the end of the day, it will be the money spent in terms of increased production that will enable you to make a profit. If you manage to provide quality goods and services to your customers, then chances are high that they will also choose to purchase your products and services from your firm.
Therefore, when you develop your customer-oriented strategy, you must first analyze your market. Next, determine what your competitors are doing and try to create a strategy that will be able to counter any or all of your competitor’s strategies. Finally, establish a customer base that you can draw upon. A customer base is a group of potential customers that you can use to ensure that you are able to meet all of the requirements set by the customers. This approach will not only help you expand your business but will also improve the loyalty of your existing customers.