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Customer-Centricity
By Bill Self on September 9, 2009
Amazon.com continues to be a successful, strong brand because it always answers its business questions—strategic and day-to-day—with a solution that includes “the customer.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, has given the world insight into how he leads the Amazon organization through a series of interviews over the years. I believe the best is “The Institutional Yes” (Harvard
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Posted in Customer-Centricity | Tagged Customer-Centered, Customer-Centricity, Differentiation, Great Performances, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on July 22, 2009
I love it when people shake up the way we think. That is what we need in order to stay competitive in today’s business environment. A growing number of new thought leaders are helping us to understand that the best approach to bringing about positive change is to structure our actions around being customer-centered.
Pip Coburn,
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Posted in Leading Change | Tagged Customer Loyalty, Customer-Centered, Customer-Centricity, Differentiation, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on July 8, 2009
Much has been written recently about right-brain thinking—and it is long overdue. Business has traditionally been left-brained, but its ability to search for greater efficiencies and to innovate while lowering costs has reached a plateau. The new opportunity to take performance to the next level is through right-brain thinking. A shift to this approach signifies
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Posted in Customer-Centricity | Tagged Customer Focus, Customer-Centricity, Differentiation, Great Performances, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on July 1, 2009
When I conduct client workshops I often ask participants this question: What could your competitors be developing for your customers right now that you don’t currently offer?
We know it is impossible to draw an accurate picture of the future. As Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” But we continue to
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Posted in Differentiation | Tagged Change Management, Customer Closeness, Customer-Centricity, Differentiation, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on May 13, 2009
The new competitive advantage is in outperformism, built around delivering the passion in your organization for being customer-centered. Because that fresh way of thinking is really, really valuable today, it should be viewed as your new brand.
The old paradigm was to brand your product, then throw in your customer-centered behavior as icing on the cake.
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Posted in Differentiation | Tagged Brand Loyalty, Customer-Centered, Customer-Centricity, Great Performances, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on May 6, 2009
Outperformism is what successful organizations must do to differentiate their products and services and keep their competitive advantage. This level of performance only occurs when a company implements a structured system to proactively exceed the expectations of its customers. It is borrowed from the term ‘outperform’ for a rating which a stock analyst might give
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Posted in Differentiation | Tagged Brand Loyalty, Customer-Centered, Customer-Centricity, Great Performances, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on April 29, 2009
Much has been written about the successful partnership model epitomized by Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart in a landmark collaboration started 20 years ago. However, in addition to the Information Technology and supply chain synergies that developed, the even greater lesson to be learned is that being customer-centric involves changing your organization chart in terms
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Posted in Leading Change | Tagged Customer Loyalty, Customer-Centricity, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on April 15, 2009
What if you developed a specific strategy that focused your organization on becoming more customer-centered? It would take your organization to a new dimension, where you will outperform your competitors in the eyes of your customers.
Most companies tell themselves that their strategy is to make profits or maximize return to their shareholders. This is not a bad
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Posted in Differentiation | Tagged Business Strategy, Customer-Centered, Customer-Centricity, Differentiation, Great Performances
By Bill Self on April 8, 2009
Breakthrough ideas are easier to identify than ever before. Train your organization to use its design capabilities. Designer thinking will become more and more important in every organization’s relationships with its customers.
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Posted in Differentiation | Tagged Customer-Centered, Customer-Centricity, Designfulness, Great Performances, Thinking Like a Customer
By Bill Self on March 18, 2009
Becoming customer-centric is transformational and it requires a change in culture as well as in process design. It demands a long-term commitment that involves everyone in your organization. However, there is one proven method to jump-start the process in a way that will accelerate the company-wide commitment to the journey.
The graphic with this article shows
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Posted in Customer-Centricity | Tagged Customer Commitment, Customer-Centric, Customer-Centricity, Employee Motivation, Leading Change, Thinking Like a Customer
He is a member of the National Speakers Association and delivers dynamic presentations on the transformative power of genuine customer-centric behavior at conferences or in settings for individual companies. Visit Bill's speaking page to learn more.
