We, at Nitor Infotech, recently did a poll on LinkedIn and we asked for the most crucial factor to achieve continued customer satisfaction.
75 % people felt that delivery excellence, product engineering mindset, and customer empathy are all equally important for achieving customer satisfaction. All of the above (AOTA) is the correct answer, if you favour two out of three, it is not just me but even a Washington State University research on AOTA says the same thing. But for those aiming for excellence and sustained customer satisfaction, I will say what they need is a ‘Product Engineering Mindset’. And this one as the image above shows garnered just 3%.
This is why I decided to write a blog series on product engineering mindset. My first blog in this series is going to be a pithy introduction about how Product Engineering mindset plays a pivotal role in achieving customer satisfaction and how getting that right will automatically get you to empathize with your customers and achieve delivery excellence. No brainer to say that it is all about culture and making it best practice.
Four phases to achieve customer satisfaction with a Product Engineering mindset
What I have learned in my 21 years of experience in the software development industry is that business leaders neglect to develop and nurture a product engineering mindset. However, to shift gears from average to excellent, this blog will be guiding business leaders on developing a product engineering mindset and channelizing it to maximize customer satisfaction.
What exactly do I mean by ‘Product Engineering (PE) Mindset’? To put it simply, having a product mindset for starters, where your goal is to deliver value to your customers’ business and getting your teams to see the bigger picture rather than focusing on short term goals. Then adding an engineering mindset to the mix where innovation, taking calculated risks for your clients, and solving complex and open-ended problems becomes your thing.
Now put those two together and you get a powerful concoction of thought process, innovation, adventure, and finally excellence. That is Product Engineering Mindset, and that is what will take you to sustained customer happiness.
This blog will walk through all the 4 phases i.e. “Laying the foundation”, “Adopting the right mindset”, “Empathizing”, and “Excelling”.
Phase 1: Prepare – Laying the foundation
Being prepared, or laying the foundation means having clarity in your thought process, always working with facts and figures, having a fail-fast strategy in place, and backing this up with clarity and consistency in communication. This should be your first step in understanding your customer. Transparency, if you ask me, is the key!
There is something else that requires even more attention during your groundwork, innate interpersonal aspects that leaders must impart and nurture within their organization. What I mean is acceptance of facts and situations, honesty in action and words, and trying to be swift in your actions. I have penned a blog about how you can successfully lay the foundation for a product engineering mindset for you to read.
Phase 2: Develop – Adopting the right mindset
Once your groundwork is laid i.e., you have your thought process and your emotions in check, the next step is to have the right mindset. If you ask me, it is what is needed most to see a satisfied customer. It is a fairly under the popular word (3% people said this was crucial in our polls) – Product Engineering Mindset.
Like I said earlier, Product Engineering mindset is making data-driven decisions for your customer, helping them innovate constantly, taking risks on their behalf, increasing the ROI, and focusing on building a great business ecosystem which will ensure long-lasting and memorable customer experiences.
What you just need to have is the right mindset in place so you could see your customer’s ideas to fruition and finally succeed in the market, their satisfaction increases and so does their loyalty.
From what I have learned during my career, I think adopting a product engineering mindset can be broken down into the following steps:
There are a few things I did not put in this picture above one of which is the need to aim at being holistic. Yes, you need to know everything about everything and everyone. I have decided to podcast about it soon to help you unravel the mysteries of the Product Engineering Mindset and its relationship with continued customer satisfaction.
Phase 3: Empathize – Keeping the customer at the core
Empathy means figuratively being in your customer’s shoes. It means thinking three steps ahead (some think 20, but they are in a different profession and we call them Grand Masters); having customer empathy means reading between the lines and listening to what is not said explicitly.
Creating great customer experiences requires customer empathy, and 8% of you did say that is what crucial. Yes, it is important, but I think it comes naturally if you have your mindset in place – Product Engineering Mindset. Businesses at their core are people driven after all, and figuring out what your customer wants, and taking it a step further by thinking of the customer’s customer should take you to delivery excellence and continued customer satisfaction.
Product Engineering mindset will also lead your team to develop something I call ‘Cognitive empathy’ that will ensure the human touch to your business setting you apart from your competition.
Phase 4: Excel – Achieving delivery excellence
Now coming to the amalgamation of your thought process, your newly formed product engineering mindset, and that extra customer empathy to achieve customer satisfaction and the resultant delivery excellence (14% in the polls but needs to be more if you ask me). There are two key aspects on which we need to focus:
So, you want to know more about what are multi-level connects, don’t you? Stick around for my blog on that soon as I discuss what connects at all levels (CXO, Engineering, Product) are all about.
Summing up, an active focus on PE Mindset will automatically help you and your team empathize with your customers, achieve continued customer satisfaction, and sustained delivery excellence.
Meanwhile, you can reach out to us to learn more about our services and how you can ideas to fruition and finally succeed in the market
