One of the key challenges that our clients are facing, whether an SME or a large Government Agency, is understanding their customer’s requirements and providing services or products that are innovative, market competitive and sustainable for future growth.

It appears to be simple however that are endless assumptions being made on the customer front and when budgets will be under further scrutiny and workforces needing to be optimised, now is the time to consider your client’s needs.

The word “customer” is often misunderstood and it is important to start with educating your workforce on who your customer is. This could be both internal and external stakeholders within your teams, operations or business however by taking the time to include all your people in these strategic conversations will allow a shift of focus back to customers and how they engage and how they can improve.

Your client will absolutely appreciate your investment back into understanding their business and how you can make a difference. Being authentic with your client will build the partnerships that will sustain the challenges that we are all facing with the pandemic and our economy.

Some of our tips for understanding your customer needs are:

• Listening to your front line staff

Your front-line staff are the key to have a depth of knowledge of your customer including their history, their requirements and also how the view your product or service offering. This is your opportunity to not only engage with your people by listening to their feedback and also suggestions but also to consider how you can improve or refine based on their intel.