Consumer Centric or Customer Friendly?

An often-heard criticism of traditional brokerage firms is that they are not inclined to be consumer centric. Given the fact that consumer centricity is not a traditional business policy, or even a recognized value factor, this may well be true. But one cannot help but wonder if this suggested lack of consumer centricity or sensitivity is a product of traditionalism or merely a cultural shortfall.

We recently had an opportunity to work with a brokerage whose new management team wanted to experiment with the whole issue of consumer centricity with an eye towards moving the firm gently towards a more productive consumer perspective. As a starting point, we conducted a series of surveys and interviews with management executives, administrative staff and top agents. Our objective was to determine a residual attitude with respect to the idea of consumer centricity. While we would not suggest that our research methods met the requirements of a PhD dissertation, it was sufficient to arrive at some management quality conclusions. What we discovered was an atmosphere of consumer neutrality.

The research failed to disclose any overt anti-consumer sentiment. But neither did it discover any overwhelming urge within the firm to cozy up to the consumer. What we did find interesting was the fact that those whom we surveyed or interviewed did not really think about consumers at all. Rather they focused their attention on their customers instead. Most interesting of all was the discovery that most of the individuals who participated in the research had a very strong sense of customer service but no impressions regarding appropriate consumer interactions. Moreover, while their respect for their customers was quite high, there was no corresponding cultural or professional respect for consumers.