A customer centric company culture can only be created if the CEO and all other top managers are continuously listening to the voice of the customer and are actively involved in improving customer satisfaction.

Top management prioritization of customer needs should be manifested in many tangible ways, from reviewing top customer complaints to creating incentives for all employees based on customer satisfaction.

The voice of the customer should truly be a priority for all functions, not just the customer facing ones (like call centers) which have an immediate effect on customer satisfaction.

Voice of the customer as a top management priority does not mean that investments should be made to increase customer satisfaction without proper business cases, but rather that the right investment needs are properly identified and that customer treatment is as good as possible at all times given the situation.

Management Actions for Customer Centricity

Frequently review which are the top customer complaints, questions and suggestions.

Define frequently review key customer service KPIs  e.g., call center waiting times.

Set time aside to interact with individual customers  e.g., personally respond to a certain number of e-mails per month.

Visit key corporate accounts and channel partners/distributors on a regular basis to listen and learn.

Visit customer facing staff  e.g., call center operators, regularly to get a sense of the sentiment in the customer base.

Institutionalize customer satisfaction surveys and reviews of the results and implications on a regular basis.

Drive usage of customer focus group and other research to get early customer input on new important initiatives.

Institutionalize a best customer suggestion prize given out to the customer that gives the best improvement suggestion.

Encourage all employees to participate in driving customer satisfaction by introducing employee suggestion reward programs.

Create incentives for all employees based on customer satisfaction.