The reason companies are faltering in their ambition to become customer centric is because — as a mindset — it is at odds with what it takes to succeed in business.

A business is a system, where what determines success is making trade-offs between multiple, often competing factors, all of which matter.

Sometimes customers are very happy but not enough of them know you exist — awareness is the problem in other words. 

Sometimes eliminating a nice-to-have but very expensive feature makes the product slightly less desirable but a lot more profitable. This might be a smart decision but it isn’t exactly customer-centric. 

Sometimes building infrastructure at the expense of short-term profit creates an unassailable competitive advantage. This might be a great trade off for the long-term. 

Sometimes improving the customer experience protects your pricing power. This might not show returns for years but might still be a great decision. 

What’s the point?

A well-run business isn’t “centric” around anything — customers, revenues, costs, competitors, brand, or anything else — it identifies the constraints or biggest opportunities to increase their performance and puts their focus on those. It thinks in terms of compromises and trade-offs for the good of the whole — maintaining performance in some areas, and addressing deficits in others.

This isn’t a radical idea, it’s how every business is run in reality. So thinking in terms of systems rather than centricities will allow you to perform better, and help your discipline add more value — whatever role you play.

See this post on LinkedIn