![\"customer-oriented](\"https:\/\/fransreichardt.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/2018-06-03-teamwork-fun-shutterstock_245163565-square-300x300.jpg\")
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Last month I seized the opportunity to see Bas Hoogland speak with both hands. Bas has been the commercial director of Landal GreenParks for 19 years. Bas managed to enthrall his audience for an hour. In a relaxed manner, he explained how Landal puts customer-focused entrepreneurship into practice and he illustrated this with stories and examples. With this, he gave a good impression of Landal\u2019s customer-oriented culture.<\/p>\n
In many organizations, culture is still quite an issue. A client of mine recently said that he wanted to change the culture in the company into a customer-oriented culture. When I asked him what such a culture looks like, how it feels, smells, and how it sounds, what people in such a culture do and don\u2019t do, it started to become more difficult. When I asked him how he would describe the current culture, he described flawlessly what\u2019s wrong and came to the conclusion: “Culture does not match our values”.<\/p>\n
Together we concluded that there is a culture that must have\u00a0originated somewhere and that, even though it does not fit in with\u00a0the values, has been given room to develop and strengthen. It has\u00a0never been formulated by anyone, it has never been decided, and it\u00a0has never been rolled out in full force. And yet it is there. In this way, all organizations have their own culture. The question we increasingly\u00a0ask ourselves as professionals in customer-oriented entrepreneurship\u00a0is: does this culture match our values and does it contribute to the\u00a0realization of our objectives?<\/p>\n
In a customer-oriented culture, everything starts and ends with\u00a0the customer in mind: why do we do this, what does the customer\u00a0notice and how happy does it make the customer? This starts with\u00a0a conviction that happy customers ensure better results. And that\u00a0happy employees ensure happy customers. These beliefs form the basis for everything. The customers form the compass for the choices\u00a0that the organization makes and for the actions of all employees.<\/p>\n
To get there, customer satisfaction must be part of the company\u2019s values. All employees are aware of the meaning of happy customers. Employees are rewarded for happy customers. All employees come into contact with customers. And they enjoy it to satisfy the customers and each other. You can write this down as a mission and hang it on the wall, but this does not change any culture. More important is that you do it. Culture is behavior.<\/p>\n
One of the aspects of creating a customer-oriented culture that Bas Hoogland highlighted, is exemplary behavior. Very simple: does the management itself show that it puts into practice what it preaches? A customer-oriented culture requires more than that, but it is certainly a factor of importance. Organizations and teams that distinguish themselves positively from others in terms of customer focus are, without exception, led by a leader who also shows that the customer stands on one. Together with the employees.<\/p>\n
Frans Reichardt | The Customer Listener<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the aspects of creating a customer-oriented culture is exemplary behaviour. Does the\u00a0management itself show that it puts into practice what it preaches? Organizations and teams that distinguish themselves positively from others in terms of customer focus are,\u00a0without exception, led by a leader who also shows that the customer\u00a0stands on one. Together with the employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[215,276,277,301,302],"class_list":["post-9965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-english","tag-customer-centric","tag-customer-centricity","tag-customer-experience","tag-customer-oriented-culture","tag-exemplary-behavior"],"yoast_head":"\n