Customer orientation

Having a strong customer orientation has been found to increase customer satisfaction (see here and here), customer loyalty, and the intention to purchase.

It has also been found to improve job performance, enhance customer-directed extra-role behaviour, decrease the chance of burnout, and improve job satisfaction.

The big challenge is for companies to foster a customer-oriented attitude with their staff to the extent that this can weather the occasional bad experience with abusive or complaining customers, and the swings in mood and motivation that are bound to happen every day in every organisaton with every individual staff member.

Orea's Customer Orientation Probe

To this end we have developed the Customer Orientation Probe, a diagnostic tool that determines the degree to which customer-oriented behaviour is anchored deeply in the personal bedrock of intrinsic motivation, autonomously felt obligation, and sufficient opportunity.

To get an idea of the insights the probe could yield, take a look at this excerpt from a recent report.