Definition: Customer focus is a business philosophy that places the customer at the center of all business development and management decisions. It is a marketing approach also, that involves products and services to be developed around consumer’s preferences.
What Does Customer Focus Mean?
A customer focused company is one that decides to move at the pace of its consumers. The Marketing Department takes a crucial role under this philosophy, since it is mainly their duty to gather the required information through research and other sources to find out the patterns, preferences and tastes of the product’s and company’s target audience. The whole idea of focusing on customers demands an organizational design that can deal with the ever-changing preferences of consumers, which is not always an easy task.
To take a customer-focused approach companies have to develop ways to “hear” what clients are saying and to act quickly upon that information. The company’s management has to stay flexible to these demands, in order to follow the trends. On the other hand, some companies can also anticipate to customer’s needs, by enhancing the current state of the products and services available, therefore being at the vanguard of the competitive environment. Most successful companies act this way, to keep customers amazed and expectant.
Example
Clear Vision Co. is a company that manufactures sunglasses for high-end customers. The company’s business has evolved spectacularly and they are a reference for other industry players. The founder of the company, Gary Torsthend, has said in a recent interview that the secret for Clear Vision’s success has been its customer focus.
Before they even start designing the next models, they ask themselves, is there anything new we can bring to the market? That question leads the entire conversation towards finding models that serve as pioneers for the entire sunglasses’ industry. They don’t do surveys or market research, they are good at anticipating the preferences of its customers, or better, they create something they like, before they even know they liked it. That’s the formula that worked for them, he said.
