Making Time for What Matters - Customers at the Heart of Decision Making

Nicole Shepherd, Executive Manager Brand and Marketing, Western Sydney International Airport

Customer centricity is a fancy way of saying put your customers in the centre of everything you do. I think the majority of businesses would say they are customer centric, but I would argue very few companies actually are. But why should you care? A 2025 McKinsey report found that companies that had customer experience at the heart of their organisations achieved twice the revenue growth of less customer focused peers.

At the heart of becoming a customer-centric business is understanding your customers. And how do you do that? Why you speak to them of course.

We Don’t Have Time to Speak to Customers.

How many times have you heard someone say that in the office? Our cognitive bias, makes us believe when we are experts in our field that our opinion must be right and that we know the business better than anyone. But if you aren’t the target audience of your product or service how would you know how they feel? Or if you know so much already about your product or service, what’s important to communicate to someone experiencing your business for the first time? On top of this, while we like to think of our customers as segments, personas or groups, each person is an individual and a number of rational and emotional decisions will impact on how their perceive and feel about your business.

How often should I Speak to Customers?

Every day. Now I can hear you say. Wait! What? But it doesn’t have to be formal customer research. It can be in the form of browsing social media channels. Not only your owned ones but other groups or channels that may reference your brand. It can be listening in to calls in your call centre or reading customer feedback emails. The verbatims in your voice of customer program can also uncover nuggets of wisdom.

True customer centricity doesn’t come from affirming your ideas with your customers, it comes from starting with your customers.

And we are all human right? What is important to me today might not be as important to me next week or in a years-time due to any number of factors such as children, health, money, employment. Make sure your insights aren’t based on yesterday’s news, but anchored in today, with a view towards the future.

We Don’t Have Enough Money to Speak to Enough Customers.

It is true that traditional customer research often took a considerable amount of time and money to execute. Including incentivising customers, writing questionnaires, data analysis and insights, room hire, prototype set up, the list could go on. But now, thanks to technology, and dare I say AI using either real or synthetic people, AI research tools can turn around insights within a couple of hours at a fraction of the cost. Depending on the tool and delta, up to 95 percent cheaper.

If It’s Important, You’ll Make Time.

True customer centricity doesn’t come from affirming your ideas with your customers, it comes from starting with your customers. What unmet problems or issues are they encountering? If you fix that problem, will it change how they perceive your product or service? Is it unique to you? How quickly can it be copied?

Stop making excuses and start making the time. Your customers and your bottom line, will thank you.