Need for Customer Focus in emerging Competitive Scenario

Customer is God - this saying has been there for long, but in today's cutthroat competitive business environment, it assumes a far greater significance. Today, unless the customer is treated as God and pleased with good service, he can get angry and shift loyalties - which is not desirable by any company. With multitude of companies with similar capabilities vying for the market share, it is the quality of product and customer service that tell the leader apart.

Customer Focus is not just a fancy term to be discussed in boardrooms- it is a way of professional life. It should be engraved in the psyche of each and every worker. A customer is the main reason and cause of the existence of a company. Each and every action of the company and its workers should be inspired by the idea of giving maximum satisfaction to the customers. Customers should be at the forefront while making important business decisions. When such a policy is adopted, the rewards naturally follow.

Understanding customer needs fully is the first step towards full customer satisfaction. Not doing so can lead to expensive changes and delayed schedules at a later stage. Knowing for what job the customer is going to use the product finally, is also an important consideration. To meet this end, properly trained and expert people should be employed whose sole job is to listen to and interact with the customer to understand the requirements in minute detail, prepare a draft of the same, finalize it between both the parties and then publicize it among work-group members. Proper surveys/studies should be done to gauge the customers' demands. An internal discussion should be held to clarify the specifications fully so that each person involved with the project is aware of the task at hand. Past experiences with the customers should be taken into account in dealing with them. Proper communication with the customer should also be maintained throughout the manufacturing cycle of the product so that the doubts are cleared in time. Latest communication methods like e-mail, fax should be employed for this. Unless the company and its customers are on the same wavelength, all actions are futile.

The various departments of the company should keep the other departments - which are their internal customers - satisfies with on-time and quality work. For example, the performance of the production department should be satisfactory to the engineering department and vice versa. If there is harmony among various departments of the company, the manufacturing time will be less and product will be exactly as per specifications. For this, there should be effective communication setup among all the departments and the respective managers should be well versed in modern communication method like e-mail, fax etc. Training programmes should be organized periodically for that purpose. The whole machinery of the company has to work in unison to successfully to complete the project to the minutest details of the customer's specifications.

Proper, full and easy to understand documentation (manuals etc.) should be shipped with every product so that the users are able to easily use the product and proper customer care services should be in place to handle the complaints and these should be manned with appropriately trained, polite people so that the grievances are addressed promptly. Vendors should always know that their customers might not be technically as sound as them. The product should also be aesthetically pleasing to the end user - it makes a huge difference. Adopting the latest techniques/mediums like the World Wide Web, which can increase customer convenience to see the product, buy it and troubleshoot it also score lot of customer points.

A strong and efficient public Relations system and good, truthful publicity should be used to project a strong image of the company to potential customers. If the service is not at par with the publicity, the customers will be disgruntled and the company's image will suffer. In today's environment, brand building is an important part of every company's budget and should be given its due importance, but half-truths and total lies should not be used to attract a customer. It may be good for short term, but in the long term it can prove disastrous and deter prospective customers.

One more contributor towards customer satisfaction is employee satisfaction. Discontented employees cannot make contented customers.The employees should be adequately compensated for their efforts. The employees should have a positive image of the company and should be involved in the decision making process. They should be kept abreast of the contexts of the decisions made by the company. They should have a clear idea of the company's vision and objectives and should feel that they are moving towads those objectives.

It is rightly said that the best publicity is through word-of-mouth. If a customer is satisfied and happy with the company's performance, the word will spread and the company will reap the rewards.