Customer retention and loyalty should be a top corporate goal, if not the top goal. So why aren't all companies walking the customer-centric walk? Many companies think they are, but from my experience, companies that are customer centric make very different decisions than companies that aren't.

These decisions fall in five key areas: customer experience, employees and brand ambassadors, process changes, performance management, and technology. To make customer-centric decisions in those areas, an organization's leadership has to be willing to change the way they do business and think about customers, then spend the money and resources to align the company for successful customer-centric advocacy.

The most important decision customer-centric companies make is to deliver a unique customer experience. These firms rely on their front-line employees to deliver that unique experience—and boost their bottom lines. Studies show that a customer's opinion of a company is created by the experience with the agents. More than likely, customers will stop doing business with a company because of a bad experience.

Delivering a compelling experience in the contact center starts by transforming agents into customer advocates and brand ambassadors. The transformation process starts with using EEOC-approved assessment tests for selection and job assignment. Studies show that when job requirements are in alignment with employees' natural abilities the employees are more confident, have better attitudes, and experience less stress, thus enabling them to provide a unique customer experience that demonstrates their commitment to the customer while boosting their firm's brand image.

The assessment provides insight for both the manager and the employee into the individual's customer advocacy quotient, as well as the type of work for which they are best suited. For instance, detail-oriented people are able to flourish when crunching data, closers prosper in sales positions, and empathizers thrive as conflict resolution specialists.

A profitable approach to change
Customer-centric best practices also require paradigm shifts in customer-facing processes. One area requiring change is the sales process. Organizations should recognize both sales and service agents as part of the revenue chain. Black & Decker, for example, leverages the information from customer service interactions to deliver rich, timely information about customers to the rest of the organization. The sales staff can use that data to make more informed decisions.

In the customer-centricity model, companies know that great service creates long-term success that enhances the short-term gains obtained from upselling and cross-selling. So, another area to modify is the decision-making processes: Give agents the information and authority they need to truly deliver a stellar customer experience. Employees with a say in serving the customer become self-motivated brand ambassadors.

Performance management programs are integral to developing employees as customer advocates and spurring process changes. Organizations must design their programs around their customer-centric business plans. The programs should include training in skills-based competencies and proficiencies (e.g., effective use of the knowledge management system, closing sales, and converting cancelled accounts). Iowa Telecom's performance management program, for example, measures, guides, recognizes, and rewards agent performance. The results since using it have been significant improvements in agent productivity and the customer experience.

But to accomplish all this, agents must be enabled by technology that is designed to provide a great customer experience. Without the right information at the right time to the right agent, the customer is left with a poor experience. The agent, bearing the brunt of customer frustration and anger, feels helpless and stressed, which triggers attrition. To avoid an exasperating situation (and to create a unique customer experience) the agent needs access to accurate, reliable customer data that includes relevant information from all parts of the organization. Continental Tire's blended contact center, for example, enables agents to handle both phone and email inquiries and view customer contact histories across all customer channels from a single application. The contact center agents are able to deliver on Continental's brand promise of trust by quickly accessing the right information for their customers.

The companies that have made these customer-centric upgrades have raised the bar for all other companies—those that don't are the ones we swear we won't shop with again. Brand ambassadors, empowered by customer-centric processes and technologies, and supported by proper training and recognition, can facilitate a great experience that keeps customers coming back for more. But this will only happen when an organization understands the bottom-line benefits of customer centricity. Companies that are focused on customers' best interests create a deliberate plan to provide a great customer experience.