Strategist and Financial Consultant, Dr. Daniel Seddoh has advised businesses to make customers the centre of their business plans as they advance into the new year.

According to him, businesses that had failed to put customers first at the peak of the pandemic had suffered significant losses and are struggling to recuperate.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition, Dr. Seddoh stated that to avoid the kind of losses suffered by those who were self-serving, the right move was to find innovative ways to serve the needs of one's customers.

“You set up basically to serve that customer. Now that customer has been affected by Covid. What is it that has changed about this customer? Now if you can identify what has changed about this customer and what his real need is currently, that is covid, what has changed? Covid says there’s restriction, you can’t move, keep a certain distance, wear mask, sanitise, so what do you do?

“How do you create convenience for this customer? So in your planning if your focus is on the customer, you’ll get it right. If you don’t shift the focus on yourself and say there’s Covid, I need to do this, that is for your benefit you will get it wrong,” he said.

He explained that by centering customers in the year's plan, it allows business owners to come up with innovative ideas that meet the needs and demands of customers.

Achieving this, he says, could prove very rewarding especially now as business are struggling from the pandemic.

“So set out to serve the interest of the customer, and if you get that right, you’ll be rewarded. So for me the emphasis is who is my customer? Who pays my bills? How do I satisfy that person? Once you get it right you’ll be rewarded,” he said.

“So for instance, the customer can no longer come to you. How do you deliver your service to that customer? So how do you engage the customer for him to understand that you care about what is happening to him and engage him and say how do we improve the quality of our service to you?

“Now when you engage him, he tells you what his concerns are, and if you take the concerns seriously and you reorganize yourself to serve that customer, you will be rewarded,” he elaborated further.