Today’s customers expect companies to adapt to their needs, proactively seek them out with relevant offerings, and make the effort to build a trust-based relationship aligning closely with their values. To deliver on these items, organizations should first look to become intimately engaged with their customers. How customer-engaged is your business? Let’s take a quick temperature check by answering these questions: Can you list what your company has done recently to boost your customers’ trust? Does your company have a plan to respond to unexpected situations impacting customers? Is your company aligning its offerings and messages to your customers’ core values? If you answered yes to the questions, your company is a leader in today’s marketplace to meet and exceed the expectations of increasingly sophisticated customers. Constantly connected across all channels, customers have the power to impact a company’s growth, strategy and operations. To meet the demands of the new customer-led marketplace for business success, companies can start by following four important customer-focused guidelines: 1. Adapt to customers’ dynamic and unforeseen needs Customer needs can shift due to an unexpected event, whether a natural disaster or personal tragedy, and how a company reacts can have a long-lasting positive or negative impression. Companies that plan ahead, anticipate customer responses, and adapt culture to carry out targeted initiatives, are able to better support their customers during the unexpected moments. 2. Establish a trust-based relationship with customers To gain a customer’s trust and form an invaluable relationship, a company must demonstrate that they have the customer’s best interests in mind. How can this be accomplished? Businesses should focus on being transparent, keeping customers well informed, establishing a two-way trust, and placing an emphasis on its customers’ well-being. 3. Use the customer’s entire network Do not underestimate the power and reach of a customer’s network, as it could become a stronger marketing source than a company’s own marketing and advertising efforts. To develop a clearer understanding of the interests in a customer’s network, consider the following approach: