When I go into a meeting, I’m not the CEO; I’m the customer

Business leaders all have different motivations for nurturing a successful company. Some strive to solve longstanding issues within the industry in which they operate, while others enjoy steering the ship of innovation. However, a common goal unites them all: the desire to cultivate a thriving business. In my view, the key to achieving this lies in authentic customer-centricity throughout every stage of the business journey.

While all these motivations allow for CEOs to excel, I believe there is one motivation that is particularly effective and that is the motivation that is not even yours. To steer your business and the direction of every decision to a fruitful outcome, it is important to ‘become’ your customer in mind and spirit. By ensuring that each choice tangibly benefits the customer, one can grow a much more successful business.

To serve a customer well, walk a mile in their shoes

As my business primarily serves the finance function and the office of the CFO, when I go into meetings, I take off my CEO hat and make decisions with the mindset of the CFO instead– a position I have previously held. Through this almost “method-acting” approach, I can remain focused on the customer’s challenges and make business decisions that are directly in line with the customer’s needs.  

For instance, I know that cash count is something that keeps CFOs up at night. Therefore, in my customer-centric mindset, I can remain focused on how our business solutions facilitate working capital optimisation. If a solution doesn't directly alleviate the finance function’s pain points or streamline their processes, we reevaluate our approach until it does. This has been an incredibly effective approach at Serrala.

We offer innovative solutions such as AI-driven scenario modelling and predictive analytics, empowering finance leaders with real-time insights. By easing the cash flow worries mentioned above, we enable CFOs to focus on being strategic partners within their business.

To provide another more specific example, we once had a plan to overhaul one of our offerings and change the functionality completely, but when I took a step back and considered this again from the perspective of our customer, it occurred to me that it was a tool that was integral to how they operated day-to-day, and changing it would actually hinder them rather than help. I also sense-checked this with an existing customer and they agreed. We instead just updated the existing solution, and diverted our attention to creating a solution to alleviate another pain-point they were having. Both efforts were driven by this customer-centricity mindset, and both proved to be hugely successful.

Staying within the customer mindset

Individually engaging with customers, attending industry events, and staying connected with CFO networks has enabled me to better understand customers’ unique challenges and needs. However, this approach goes beyond my own role as CEO and is ingrained across the mindset of the whole business. We have a dedicated customer experience team that hosts user group sessions, where we invite customers to our headquarters and spend a day learning from their challenges. We also organise yearly customer summit events, enabling us to connect with and celebrate our customers. While I have previously been the CFO, and my own target persona, this isn’t essential to adopting the same approach. Any business leader can do this.

There is nothing preventing CEOs from engaging with different customers in their network, seeking firsthand insights, and asking the right questions to understand their perspective and “become” them to support the development of their offering. I would strongly recommend that CEOs adopt a customer-centric approach not only at their level, but also at a company scale, encouraging every department and every employee to constantly ask themselves: Is this benefiting the customer?

While there are many different strategies for running a successful business, a business is nothing without its customers. Their pain-points, motivations, and ambitions should be fundamental to everything a leader does. By deeply understanding their needs and perspectives, and integrating this understanding into every decision, leaders can unlock untapped potential and create value for their customers, today and in the future.