There’s lots of talk in the industry about the need for organizations to become more customer centric to avoid potentially dire business consequences. Loss of relevancy as a brand in a super-cluttered environment being one such effect.

Whilst we don’t dispute the likely negative bottom line impact when neglecting to provide goods and services that are insight led, there is an often-forgotten secondary effect on businesses that aren’t driven by insights. That is on the motivation levels of their employees.

Pride in the workplace

There are customer centric star organisations both old (e.g. Unilever) and new (e.g. Zappos) that place the customer at the heart of everything they do.  They live and breathe the customer. Some (like parts of the Lego organization) even have the lofty ambition of always starting fixed meetings with a story about the consumer.

‘Consumer service shouldn’t be a department, it should be the entire company’ – Tony Hsieh CEO Zappos.

Their products, services and campaigns often get championed by the industry – riding a wave of goodwill, and you can anticipate that this energy translates into pride and a sense of purpose for those working there.

Just imagine that you are working for something more of a corporate ‘laggard’, where ‘inside out’ push marketing and product development override the need to deeply understand end users and create solutions for real needs. Falling market share and revenues are one thing, but could this feeling of being less ‘meaningful’ as a business eventually spill over into a lack of fulfilment for working for that organisation? Would this affect the ability to attract top talent? Maybe so…

Meet our Consumer Centricity Academy

Several of the modules in our new Consumer Centricity Academy discuss the theme of creating a customer insight led culture in your business, which is a continuous process that goes beyond Market Research functions.

Our Consumer Centricity Academy is a scalable, blended (online & offline) and modular training program to teach you the ins and outs of insights. Why do we need to be relevant and insight led? What’s an insight? How do we find and write the great ones? How do we create real impact by turning these golden insights into action?

Wish to become more customer-led and improve the competence level of insights in your organization? Let’s talk about the Consumer Centricity Academy!