This document discusses 8 questions that every B2B company CEO should ask themselves about how customer-centric their company is. The questions cover topics like whether the company can identify profitable vs unprofitable customers, whether they treat customers as individuals or accounts, whether they have customer experience processes in place, whether they approach customers emotionally or rationally, whether all departments are focused on customer profitability, whether they leverage existing customer wins, and whether the CEO provides customer-centric leadership. The document is from Futurelab and suggests they can help companies answer these questions and improve their customer focus.

1. Every CEO of a
B2B Company
Should Be
Asking Himself.
8 Customer Questions
FUTURELAB

2. Reality check
Customer satisfaction will not
provide you with extra profit or
customer loyalty. After all, when
did you last pay to be dissatisfied?
As such, most customers that
defect a business, were satisfied
at their time of defection.
How Futurelab can help
We let you look beyond the
satisfaction metrics and discover
your customer’s real motivations.
Once these are known, we assist
in devising the strategies that drive
loyalty and customer profit.
Do you still measure “satisfaction”?
Question #1
FUTURELAB

3. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Reality check
Not all customers are equally profitable. In fact, the customers who are the happiest with your services
often make up most, if not all of your profits.
How Futurelab can help
We can show you which customers are most and least profitable for your business and devise strategies
that maximises your profit by not treating all customers equal.
Can you tell your most profitable customers from the money losers?
Question #2
FUTURELAB

4. Question #3
Companies are multi-faceted. Do you think in people or in accounts?
Reality check
B2B customers consist of many
stakeholders which each play a
part in the ultimate decision to
(re)purchase .
If you can’t align their different
perspectives, your business
could be at risk.
How Futurelab can help
We can help you understand the
thinking of various individual
stakeholders and help them
develop a favourable perception
of your business.
FUTURELAB

5. FUTURELAB
Have you got an experience process in place?
Question #4
Reality check
Most B2B companies only
manage a fraction of their
customer’s total experience.
As a result they leave important
steps in the customer decision
process up to chance. If things
go wrong, they slip up.
How Futurelab can help
We can help you map the
complete customer experience
and establish management
methods & measures that allow
your people to get it right at all
moments of importance to your
customer.

6. Reality check
There is substantial evidence that
B2B purchasing decision are at
least 50% emotional.
Companies which approach their
clients with a purely rational
business model, are therefore
substantially undermining their
chances of success.
How Futurelab can help
We can help you identify the
emotional drivers that get your
stakeholders to act. These allow
us to assist your commercial
teams to push all the right buttons.
Do you approach your customers as humans or as robots?
Question #5
FUTURELAB

7. Reality check
Customer profits are probably
the most important focus area
for any business. But most
departments are driven by
operational KPI’s which are not
customer-centric.
As a result they don’t really care
about customer profis. And
many opportunities go to waste.
How Futurelab can help
We can help align the KPI’s and
mindsets of the people in your
organisation around the
customer. By getting everyone
to focus on the right actions and
behaviours, no profit opportunity
goes to waste.
In how far do your people care about customer profit creation?
Question #6
FINANCE – OPERATIONS – SALES – MARKETING - …
FUTURELAB

8. Reality check
Quality management has taught
us to focus on fixing what our
business is getting wrong.
But the biggest leverage is often
gained from expanding and
amplifying the customer
relationships you are already
“getting right”.
How Futurelab can help
We can help you identify the
unique strengths of your
business (from a customer
perspective), and leverage these
for maximum profit in your
business and in your industry.
Do you really leverage all your wins?
Question #7
FUTURELAB

9. Reality check
Most CEO’s carry the customer
in their heart. But their ability to
express this is often limited by
the corporate straight-jacket of
quarterly results, political
balance and corporate legacy.
As a result the employees never
receive the leadership example
they need to succeed.
How Futurelab can help
We can – privately – help you
review the ways in which you
can inspire your organisation to
higher customer profits, all while
remaining within the boundaries
of your role as CEO.
Are you truly a customer-centric leader?
Question #8
FUTURELAB