Creating a customer-centric culture is essential for delivering consistent, high-quality interactions.
Companies that prioritise customer satisfaction and loyalty tend to outperform their rivals. But creating a truly customer-centric culture goes beyond just paying lip service – it requires a fundamental shift in mindset, processes, and operations.
Victoria Eastaugh, Group Manager of Operations at TSA Group, says that empowering employees to put the customer first can cultivate an environment where consistently delivering on customer needs and expectations become ingrained in the organisational DNA.
Providing excellent service and experiences isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s an expectation that customers have come to demand, Ms Eastaugh says.
“It’s important to have a customer-centric culture because it offers our customers exactly what they deserve,” Ms Eastaugh says. “It’s incredibly important from an employee perspective as well, because it actually engages them into having purpose in their role and making sure they perform exceptionally every day, not just for themselves, but for their customers and for their team.”
Empowering frontline employees
At the heart of a customer-centric culture lies the ability to connect with customers authentically and develop a deep understanding of their needs and pain points.
“Whether it’s a service-based business or anything else, you have to be able to connect with the customer authentically and understand their needs to be able to do the right thing,” Ms Eastaugh says.
To truly embrace a customer-centric approach, Ms Eastaugh says businesses must empower their frontline employees – the individuals who directly interact with customers on a daily basis. This involves providing them with the autonomy, tools, and decision-making authority to resolve issues and deliver personalised solutions that best serve the customer’s unique needs.
Rather than being constrained by rigid processes, scripts, or policies, Ms Eastaugh says frontline team members need to have the freedom to think critically and take action in the customer’s best interest.
“For us, we have to make sure that we are on the front foot in empowering our frontline to be able to do the right thing for the customers,” she says.
“We encourage them to put themselves in the customer’s shoes in order to treat them the way they need to be treated. It’s about making sure that we’ve looked through that lens with every decision that we make, and that we also support our team members in having that freedom to do the right thing for customers.”
Leading by example
According to Ms Eastaugh, fostering a customer-centric culture requires leadership buy-in and from the top down, with senior leaders and managers needing to exemplify the behaviours and mindset they wish to instil in their teams.
“Our leaders need to show an example and lead by example to inspire their frontline to look through that customer lens,” Ms Eastaugh says. “When leaders consistently demonstrate customer-centric decision-making, it sets the tone for the entire organisation and reinforces the desired cultural norms.”
Achieving a sustainable customer-centric culture also necessitates investing in comprehensive training and development initiatives that equip employees with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to understand, anticipate, and exceed customer expectations.
Ms Eastaugh says training to help employees look at each interaction from the customer’s perspective should cover topics such as active listening, empathy, problem-solving, and decision-making frameworks to help employees navigate various customer scenarios effectively. However, she says training alone is not enough; employees must be empowered to apply their knowledge and make decisions that benefit the customer.
“You’ve got to allow the frontline to have that freedom to make the right decision,” Ms Eastaugh says.
“By creating a culture of psychological safety where employees feel comfortable taking calculated risks and learning from failures, companies can foster an environment of continuous improvement and innovation in customer service.”
The rewards of a customer-centric culture
By fostering a customer-centric culture that genuinely empowers employees, businesses can create a sustainable competitive advantage and cultivate lasting customer loyalty.
Ms Eastaugh says a recent rebranding initiative by a TSA Group client demonstrates that when employees are equipped with the knowledge, tools, and autonomy to connect with customers and make decisions that prioritise their needs, customer and employee satisfaction metrics soar. The client, which rebranded from its previous name to better align with its refreshed customer-centric vision, experienced remarkable results after empowering its workforce to prioritise customer connections and needs. Over the past year, Ms Eastaugh says the company has seen massive lifts in its Net Promoter Score (NPS) and agent satisfaction levels.
By investing in comprehensive employee onboarding and training initiatives, it brought over 450 employees up to speed, ensuring exceptional service delivery without compromising customer experience during the rebrand transition.
Ultimately, cultivating a customer-centric culture isn’t just a box to check; it’s a strategic imperative that can drive long-term business success, Ms Eastaugh says.
By empowering employees, leading by example, and continuously investing in training and development, companies can create an environment where delivering exceptional customer experiences becomes second nature.
TSA are Australia’s market leading specialists in CX Consultancy and Contact Centre Services. We are passionate about revolutionising the way brands connect with Australians. How? By combining our local expertise with the most sophisticated customer experience technology on earth, and delivering with an expert team of customer service consultants who know exactly how to help brands care for their customers.