How to Build Customer-Centric Business Models

What if your biggest growth opportunity isn’t in your sales pipeline, but in your post-sale experience? While most revenue teams obsess over lead volume and top-of-funnel performance, high-performing organizations are reallocating resources toward the one area most overlooked (and most profitable): customer retention. You’re not losing revenue because you can’t acquire customers; it’s because you can’t keep them. Customer experience, loyalty, and client services are no longer “support” functions. They’re strategic growth levers. And the cost of ignoring them is compounding: - Customer acquisition costs (CAC) are rising 60–75% - Churn is erasing pipeline gains before they hit the forecast - Siloed orgs are failing to act on critical post-sale insights Here’s how growth leaders are operationalizing customer-centricity to outpace competitors: ✅ Shift GTM strategy from funnel-filling to journey stewardship. Map the full customer lifecycle, then build cross-functional ownership for every phase beyond the sale. ✅ Hardwire retention into revenue models. Redefine revenue metrics: CLV, NRR, and CSAT become as critical as quota attainment. ✅ Turn customer success into a revenue function. Enable CS teams to identify expansion triggers, churn signals, and feedback loops that inform both product and GTM. ✅ Engineer feedback into daily operations. Surface real-time insights from support, community, and product usage–not quarterly surveys or lagging indicators. The companies doing this right see up to a 25% lift in renewals, 35% higher LTV, and customer referrals that shorten sales cycles by 30–50%. Want to build a revenue engine that scales and sustains? Start by asking: How are we designing for the customer after the contract is signed? Read the full post: https://lnkd.in/dY3Rxsc9 __________ For more on growth and building trust, check out my previous posts. Christine Alemany Join me on my journey, and let's build a more trustworthy world together. #Fintech #Strategy #Growth

🧩 As many of us have discussed for years, Customer Success isn’t a department. I suggest in 2025 (and beyond), it’s a business model. One of the most important shifts I’ve seen as a CCO? CS has outgrown the “post-sales” box. When I talk about key customer topics or metrics at the executive table or with Board, I don’t start with CS terminology. I start with business outcomes: ✅ What’s our expansion potential? Where are we growing and where do we have opportunity? ✅ Where are we at risk of silent or churn? ✅ How do we operationalize lifetime value—not just acquisition? That’s when everyone leans into the conversation. Because Customer Success today is about predictive revenue strategy— Not just reactive support or proactive engagement. Here’s how we’re reframing CS at the top level: 🔹 Retention = Revenue efficiency In tight markets, retention is the biggest foundation of growth. We need CS to surface leading indicators and opportunities for growth, not lagging ones or metrics not related to revenue. 🔹 Health = Forecasting advantage When CS owns a true customer health score that is correlated to customer value and key stakeholders, it becomes an early-warning system and a roadmap to expansion. 🔹 CS Ops = Strategic intelligence This isn’t a siloed function. CS Ops must be integrated into the company’s broader approach to operations — whether that’s stand-alone, part of Business Ops, or embedded in RevOps. That’s how we ensure the customer lens is built into how we operate, not just how we serve. The more I connect CS to core business goals, the less I have to defend it… and the more we’re asked to lead. 💬 For other CS and GTM leaders: What’s resonating at your exec table right now? How are you positioning CS as essential to the business? #CustomerSuccess #CCO #ExecutiveLeadership #RevenueGrowth #PostSales #CustomerStrategy #FutureOfCS

#Banks are changing their business model, creating ecosystems that offer hyper relevant and personalized experiences using the Network Effect👇 Bill Gates said it best: « Banking is necessary, Banks are not ». Banks face an existential threat as others move on to turf. Yet while banks are aware of this, it’s also the case that most still do what they’ve always done: provide banking products and services. Granted, many such offerings are available via digital channels, but simply digitizing existing banking products and services isn’t enough. The Key: 👉 To survive and thrive, Banks must think about their role and how they can expand their functions to stay relevant in their customers’ lives. How so, by becoming a #LivingBank: a bank that can adapt its services and offerings to its customers by providing a « deeply personalized experience wherever and however they customer wants ». Banks are in a unique position to make those changes swiftly: 🔸Trusted customer-base 🔸Great brand recognition 🔸Deeply embedded into their consumers lifestyles Banks have the data on what their consumers earn, where they spend their money and how much more which is not the case for firms that sell consumer good while providing banking services #BaaS. A great example is AutoFi: a US-based fintech whose e-commerce platform lets customers look for, buy and finance a car wholly online. It is the sort of customer-centric, ecosystem-driven space that creates hyper-relevance for customers. Banking, then, is changing fast, and leading banks are shifting from providing core banking-centric services to delivering customer-centric services. The following 3 factors underpin this: 🔸The demand for Service Aggregators 🔸The approach of GAFAA firms and Neobanks, which focus on the experience factor to win customers 🔸The acceleration of change due to internet and eCommerce To build a marketplace, a Bank (Bank of America, Wells Fargo & others…) needs to go through 3 processes: 1️⃣ Define a Marketplace Strategy (B2B, B2C, P2P) 👉 Dive into Marketplace Types, Target Audience and Products / Services. 2️⃣ Design from the Customer, to the Customer 👉 Banks need to be customer-centric and not business-focused, providing a space for banks to bring products to customers with simplicity 3️⃣ Decide on the eCommerce Platform and Capabilities (diagram below) 👉 Platform Strategy 👉 Platform Governance 👉 Platform Innovation 👉 Platform Operations 👉 Data Analytics 👉 Technology 👉 Sales & Marketing 👉 Banking Products 👉 Corporate Functions 👉 Business Operations Generating a volume strategy by pursuing a #networkeffect is crucial for a Bank to become a Living Bank. Change is needed by it’s happening. ----- Hit the 🔔 on my LinkedIn to stay updated with the latest Payment & Sustainability Initiatives 👇 ✍️ Don't be shy, comment! 📲 Sharing is caring, right? 📩 Anything you want to learn more about, DM me! #bankingmarketplace #banking #payments #globalpayments #fintech

Great leadership starts with understanding your customer. 👇 The best leaders use proven models to build strategies that keep their customers at the center of every decision. Here are 6 models for Customer-Focused Leadership: --- Behavioral Insight Approach Master customer conversations by actively listening and continuously learning from every interaction. --- Weekly Insight Cycle Agile responses come from regular feedback. Engage weekly and base decisions on real customer insights. --- Sprint Execution Framework Rapid prototyping and collaboration foster innovation. Execute and test with focused sprints to stay ahead. --- Habit Loop Blueprint Pinpoint user actions that drive engagement. Build experiences that create repeat behaviors and increased lifetime value. --- Assumption Audit Method Identify and test critical assumptions to reduce risk and focus resources where they’ll have the most impact. --- Aligning Products with Real User Jobs Tailor your solutions to the actual jobs your customers are trying to do, not just demographics. Which model will you implement? -- Want to start understanding your customers better? Join Vantom Group's Entrepreneurs Sales Playbook Email Course and discover proven methods to transform your customer insights into sales strategies. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gC2bQirx

Your growth is stalling - because customers feel forgotten. When I was an executive hiring agencies, the relationships often felt too transactional. It rarely went beyond deliverables. That’s something I wanted to change when I owned my agency. I remember a client once saying: “I trust your team more than my own.” That stuck with me. It wasn’t just about delivering great work - it was about showing up in ways they didn’t expect. My big takeaway: Customer-centric strategies go beyond the work itself. They’re about building trust and creating value. Here’s how to do it: 1. Map the customer journey - what’s working, what’s not? 2. Turn data into action - behavior reveals more than surveys. 3. Align your teams - sales, marketing, and CX should work as one. 4. Prioritize retention - it’s more profitable than constant acquisition. 5. Iterate constantly - customers evolve, so your strategy should too. Stay focused: Growth isn’t just about more - it’s about better. Better relationships, better strategies, better results. P.S.: What’s one way you’ve strengthened loyalty with your customers?

Everyone talks about building a customer-centric culture, but how do you actually make it happen? After years of seeing what works (and what doesn’t), I’ve noticed even the best leaders hit the same roadblocks on their way to true customer centricity. The good news? Small shifts make a big difference. Here are three key barriers and ways to overcome them: 1. Being too focused on internal metrics. It’s natural to prioritize business goals, but if the customer isn’t top of mind, your decisions can drift off course. Consider every change from the customer’s perspective to keep your team aligned. 2. Not getting the whole team on board. Customer experience isn’t just a task for your support team—it’s a company-wide commitment. One thing I’ve learned is that when the whole team buys into that mindset, it changes how you operate. It’s up to leaders to make sure everyone understands how their role impacts the customer journey. 3. Collecting feedback but not acting on it. Feedback is a powerful tool, but only if it leads to action. I always encourage my team to see it as an opportunity to grow and improve—after all, it’s coming straight from the people we’re here to serve. Building a customer-centric culture takes focus, but the payoff is real. By keeping your team aligned and tackling these barriers, you’ll foster stronger relationships and lasting loyalty. 💪

My CX Game Changed When I Realized This… I had a very slim chance of getting initiatives prioritized if I went at it alone. Even if I had an airtight business case justifying the business value, proving the ROI, and making a compelling argument for why it mattered. Why? I wasn’t the P&L owner. I was fighting for customer-centric initiatives in a room full of leaders who owned their P&Ls—each with their own targets, KPIs, and priorities already stacked up. And here’s what I learned the hard way: The strength of your case doesn’t matter if the people holding the budget don’t see the problem as their own. So, if I wanted to get customer experience initiatives prioritized, I needed two things beyond a lock-tight business case: 1️⃣ Cross-Functional Champions I had to stop pushing CX initiatives alone and start co-creating solutions with the leaders who controlled the P&L. The CFO isn’t losing sleep over NPS—they care about customer retention and cost-to-serve. The CMO doesn’t care about your effort score—they care about conversion and repeat purchases. The COO isn’t worried about customer sentiment—they’re worried about efficiency and reducing operational waste. I needed to speak their language and show how CX isn’t a competing priority—it’s a lever for helping them hit their own targets. Winning buy-in isn’t about convincing leaders that your priorities matter. It’s about proving that your priorities help them hit theirs. 2️⃣ Make the Problem Their Idea No one wants to feel like they’re being sold on a problem. But people will fight for their own ideas. So instead of walking into the room with a “Here’s the problem, and here’s my solution” pitch… I flipped it. I led with questions that helped them see the issue on their own. “How are we ensuring our best customers stay engaged and keep spending more?” (CMO) “Do we know what percentage of our support volume comes from delivery confusion, and what that costs us?” (COO) “What if we could reduce refunds and lost revenue by improving delivery transparency?” (CFO) By the end of the conversation, they were coming to me asking how we could fix it—and suddenly, CX wasn’t just my initiative. It was theirs. The Shift: From CX as an Ask → CX as a Business Strategy The reality is, if you’re leading CX, you’re not the main decision-maker. But if you know how to build internal champions and position problems as their idea, you’ll stop being the person who’s constantly begging for CX investment… And start being the person who drives business-critical, revenue-impacting change that gets prioritized every time.