It is our belief that, for too long, customers have been regarded as a poor second in comparison to product. Focusing the business on customers, and assuming a customer centric culture now, offers a significant differentiation capability.

Holistic View of Customer

Gaining an understanding of the customer holistically means knowing the customer better than they know themselves and being in a position to guide the customer. In creating an holistic view of the customer there is the ability to assist the customer better through having access to the bigger picture and a greater awareness of the customer needs both currently and in the future.

Customer Needs Analysis (CNA)

This is very much about predicting the customer’s needs going forward, so not just asking ‘What do you want now?’ but ‘What do you do?’ and ‘What does your future hold?’ and helping the customer decide what type of solution they will need in place in 6 months time. Effectively, there must be a personalised approach to each individual client.

Customer Centricity

A customer-focused business creates awareness in the staff that their job is to look after the customer, regardless of their role. A satisfied and successful customer should be a critical measure by which the business assesses itself. People first have to understand how essential customer centricity is for long-term survival, and then be committed to change their whole outlook and way of working.

Customer Advocacy

Customer loyalty once believed to be the secret to long-term customer relationships is now recognised for its tendency to be short lived. Instead it is now better recognised that the real test of customer satisfaction is the preparedness of the customer to endorse or advocate your product solution or company.

Integration of Sales, Marketing and Service

Sales, marketing and service are externally focused departments and as such need to present a consistent view to the customer and should communicate effectively with each other.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Downton Consulting can provide support from identifying your specific business requirements through to the full implementation of a CRM solution. By focusing on, and very accurately determining, the specific business requirements, we can assist a rapid low cost, highly productive implementation.

Our experience has shown that there are many companies where a fully implemented CRM solution is inappropriate or to advanced for immediate needs and we have developed a number of ways of improving customer relationship management, without investing heavily in CRM software.