If any of these common red flags sound familiar, it might be time to rethink your approach to the customer experience.

1. That Your Organization Isn’t as
16 SIGNS
Customer Centric
as You Think

2. WHAT IS CUSTOMER CENTRICITY?
Intentionally putting the
customer at the center of
everything you do as an
organization
An all-encompassing philosophy
that combines culture and targeted
skill sets to create the best
customer experience possible
Anorganizationthatistrulycustomer
centric consistently considers the
viewpoint of the customer when
makingdecisions,creatingprocesses,
defining behavior expectations
and developing future strategies

3. A Look from the Outside
CUSTOMER
CENTRICITY
WARNING SIGNS
If any of the following scenarios
sound familiar, it might be
time to rethink your approach
to the customer experience.

4. Every company can expect the occasional
poor review, but if your overall ratings are
dropping and the frequency of bad reviews
increases, you have an obvious problem with
customer satisfaction.
1BAD ONLINE
REVIEWS
“Poor customer
service...”
“Stay away!”
BAD!

5. 2FEWER REFERRALS
FROM CLIENTS
Been awhile? You might want to think about why.
When was the last time you heard...
“My friend told me about your product/service,
and I just had to try it”?

6. 3DECREASING
NPS RESULTS
A high score = your organization has loyal
enthusiasts who are likely to provide referrals.
An intermediate score = indicates customer
satisfaction but not a lot of enthusiasm.
An low score = unhappy customers who are
likely to damage your brand.
When your NPS starts to
drop, it’s time to take action.

7. 4CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
SCORES DECREASING
If you perform customer surveys to gauge satisfaction rates, and you see a noticeable
decline, it’s time to do something about it.
That’s why you do those types of
surveys, right?
A+
c-

8. 5CLIENTS AVOIDING
YOUR CALLS
Nothing screams dissatisfaction like a client
ignoring your calls or actively avoiding you.

9. Losing an existing customer to the competition not only
stings, but it’s also a canary in the coal mine. Ignore this
alarm and you can expect worse things to come.
6LONGTIME CLIENTS CHOOSE
A COMPETITOR

10. 7
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ARE
ONLY MENTIONED WITH
COMPLAINTS
If every Facebook or Twitter mention that comes your way is a customer
complaining about your product or service, it’s time to take a closer look
at your customer interactions.
The customer service was terrible...
We are never coming back here...

11. If you get complaints before an individual even becomes a
customer, your organization is in dire need of an overhaul
when it comes to customer centricity.
8
EVEN PROSPECTS ARE
COMPLAINING
ABOUT SERVICE

12. 9
DIFFERENT CUSTOMERS
ASK THE SAME QUESTION
ALL THE TIME
If your customer service representatives find
themselves answering the same questions all the
time, it’s a sign that you aren’t giving customers
what they need.

13. Now... Look Inside
SIGNS
are not so obvious, but that
doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t
pay attention to them. Customer
centricity starts inside the
organization, so it’s important to
evaluate your internal processes
and behaviors.
SOME
INTERNAL
WARNING

14. Individual sales are great, but repeat sales are what keep many
businesses going. If you have goals for sales but not goals for
customer retention, it’s an indicator that you are not focusing
enough on your existing customers.
10
YOU HAVE METRICS AND
GOALS FOR SALES
BUT NOT RETENTION

15. 11LEADERSHIP
USES THE TERM “COST CENTER”
TO REFER TOSERVICE AND SUPPORT
Negative terminology like “cost center” demonstrates that leadership
doesn’t put enough value on serving and supporting customers. This
negative language trickles down to the individuals performing the work
as well.
COST
CENTER

16. 12EMPLOYEES
ARE FLEEING YOUR ORGANIZATION
Nobody wants to stay on a sinking ship. When employees see warning
signs like customers going to competitors or bad online reviews, they
start to look for work at places with a more positive outlook.

17. 13
YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS
SPEED-FOCUSED
NOT QUALITY-FOCUSED
Customer support should be about quality and not quantity.
Consumer research has shown that customers are more
concerned about the level of engagement they feel rather
than speed of service. When it comes to customer service,
faster is not always better.

18. 14EVIDENCE
OF SILOS
When departments don’t communicate effectively,
the customer experience can get lost in the shuffle.
When you recognize multiple teams going down
different paths, step back and consider how this might
impact the customer experience.

19. 15BREAKDOWN
OF CUSTOMER PROCESSES
If your carefully designed customer processes stop
working, you must find out why. It could be because
individuals in the organization are not considering the
customer experience in everything they do.

20. 16
CHANGES TO THE
ORGANIZATION
OR FUNCTIONAL RESOURCES
Is it harder to serve customers because access to
resources has become more limited? Although they
might be framed as cost-saving measures, changes to
the organization that negatively impact the customer
experience indicate that your organization is not as
customer centric as you think it is.

21. NEXT STEPS

22. Create a strategy for becoming a customer
centricorganization.Yourplanshouldinclude
communication fromleadership,corporate
trainingtoalignindividualswiththenecessary
skills, a timeline for execution, and metrics
that allow youtomeasureprogress.
1
MAKE A
PLAN

23. Youcan’texpectchangetohappenwithout
action.Afteryouhavecreatedastrategy,
executeitandsticktoyourtimeline.Schedule
corporate training events, add customer
centricitytrainingtothenew-hireonboarding
process,andpayattentiontoyourmetrics.
2
EXECUTE
THE PLAN

24. Encourageretentionbyschedulingrefresher
courses,discusshowcustomercentricityskills
arebeingappliedintheworkplace,and
celebratesuccesses.
3
SUSTAIN THE
TRAINING

25. Eagle’sFlighthasbeenhelpingcompanies
becomemorecustomercentricfordecades.
DownloadourfreeGuidetoBuildinga
CustomerCentricOrganizationtolearnmore
aboutwhatyoucandotoensurethatthe
customeralwayscomesfirst.
WORK WITH THE
EXPERTS

26. CHANGING BEHAVIOR TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE