Hi all,
I found some interesting an interesting article about
Apple which is a great example of how to be successful by being customer fixated.
Apple have come from near bankruptcy in the 90s to being one of the most successful technological companies of the decade. How have they achieved this goal? Apples’ success, is totally down to their obsession with their customers which can be detailed by four key business behaviours:
1. Identify target customers: identify key customer segments with the most potential value for your business and remain focussed whatever the rough sea of business throws at you. In contrast other technology companies are obsessed with market share and domination, which they achieve through trying to dominate different platform environments or via locking customers into unfriendly contracts. A method which works, but isn’t long-term sustainable
2. Building products for their target audience which reflect 100% their customer needs: Apple build products which are tailored to their target users, which are simple and intuitive to use; these products may not be as flexible as others on the market, but the good news is they work, and work really well, as the saying goes “Less is more”.
3. Over exceed customer expectations: Focussing on a core set of customers is great as it allows you to deliver on one key goal. The ability to over achieve against your customer expectations. This Nirvana for any business, as it creates an evangelical customer base who will happily push your products to everyone around them. This can only be achieved by focussing your customer target and organising your business around them.
4. Integrated business to deliver outstanding customer experience: From the marketing, walking into a Apple store, product packaging, and the product itself; Apple make sure the whole experience is integrated to provide the maximum customer experience.
So what’s this got to do with me, I’m not a huge global company? These lessons hold true for any company large or small. Even in my local village I can see the Apple example. My local pub, even in a recession, is packed most nights with happy dinners enjoying well cooked local fair, and what’s more interesting is the pub spends nothing on marketing. The pub has done well following similar principles as Apple, they are primarily focussed around a customer segment, and they always overachieve against their customer expectations. Consequently they have very loyal customers who evangelize the pub to their friends and family, creating a successful business which so far seems recession proof. If you want to learn more about this, take a look at my guide on building a customer focussed business on my website
Customer centric business its importance and value by ysatisfy.
Thanks
Phillip Hunt
Ysatisfy Customer Satisfaction Consultancy
www.ysatisfy.com
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customer focus key for success even in a recession
