To be customer-centric, pop the bubble of institutionalised arrogance
Tesco’s Chief Customer Officer Alessandra Bellini says customer-centricity requires a broader focus than marketing noting: “It is about really having the courage of listening to customers and looking brutally at the reality of what they say.” Obvious in principle, but it’s the culture shift that’s the kicker. The fact that Tesco’s top marketer is a Chief Customer Officer sends a signal internally that the role transcends traditional functional silos, and this is critical to success.
Key points:
- Tesco’s head of marketing is a Chief Customer Officer
- She believes putting customers at the heart of the business requires an oversight of multiple areas within the business
- For big companies, a culture of humility is critical to be able to listen to customers
- Keeping the drivers of brand performance together drives results
- When customers, not results, are the central focus, innovation follows
- Big retailers need to understand and respect the high touch relationship they have with customers if they want to leverage it
Everyone wants to put the customer at the heart of their business. But for big powerful incumbent players it always means evolving culture – popping the bubble of institutionalised arrogance and the focus on financial KPIs as an end in themselves, rather than a biproduct of valued customer relationships. This mindset shift is profound and places the emphasis on customer insight as the driver of competitive advantage.
A healthy brand “only works if all of it works” across the marketing team making the customer promise, and the whole business delivering and exceeding that promise. In big retail it’s complex to achieve this alignment of purpose, thinking and effort. But the brand can’t be strong, differentiated and vibrant without it.
The less obvious point here is that brands need to think about the role they play in peoples’ lives, and how frequently people interact with them.
Some sectors are inherently low touch – think energy companies and other utilities – which brings its own challenges around what it takes to build some kind of customer connection. In these sectors, customers have been encouraged to remove interactions in pursuit of “simplicity” (and cost reduction).
But brands in the grocery and convenience sector interact with customers daily. This frequency of interaction has a couple of implications. To earn the right be a valued part of everyday life puts customer-centricity as the core mindset of the business. Your brand strategy must be built on well-defined drivers of customer value, and customer insights and data need to be a powerful voice at the top table.
Knowing what matters isn’t sufficient either. The ability to respond to, or ideally anticipate, customer needs in unexpected and differentiated ways is central to sustainable brand health. When your customers rely on you every day in way they can’t on competitors, then you’re where you want to be.
