Since founding Beyond Philosophy some seven years ago, I have had the pleasure of working with a number of CEO’s across many diffident industry sectors, on both sides of the Atlantic.
Over the years, sadly, I have that only about 20% of CEO’s are really committed to improving their Customer Experience and making their organisations Customer centric. The other 80% break into two groups.
40% say they support a new Customer initiative but they are not really committed. You can see it in their actions. Typical the signs are
These are just a few….
I know that CEO’s are busy people, but if this is a key initiative then it deserves a person time as we are normally talking about changing the culture of a company and that culture change starts at the top.
Sadly the other 40% could not careless, and any initiative is doomed to failure from the beginning.
We have a policy of challenging all of our clients at the beginning of any engagement. We ask, “Are you serious”? Our advice is very direct, if they are not then we do not waste their time or effort. Surprise surprises the engagement that works are the ones where people are serious.
It is not a matter though of asking people if they are serious. As one client put it, “What Senior Executive in their right mind would say the Customers are not important”? You need to hear them and see their actions, or lack of actions.
Therefore when I read Bruce Temkins, Forrester’s excellent blog on CEO’s I thought this went along way in articulating my thoughts as well.
Bruce’s insights on the key role of CEO’s in Customer Experience are spot on:
I would add a few of my own:
I hope this helps. I would suggest that if your CEO is not operating in this manner, somehow make sure your CEO see’s this post and maybe, just maybe, it will help them realise what they need to do to change.
7 Comments
And one more for this great CEO checklist: The CEO must have a clear idea of the fundamental need or problem that his / her company solves. Focus on solving this need should drive choices & actions across the company. From the customer’s point of view, they’re out to solve a need. CEO’s are too often in the business of selling vs solving.
Let’s say the company sells health insurance – that’s what it sells. What does it solve? To make health care easy? To be a partner that shares responsibility for managing someone’s health?
The choice would drive this CEO to make different choices (assuming they have tackled the commitment requirement you and Bruce both rightly suggest).
Thanks Colin. Great post.
Colin, thanks for the insightful post. I agree completely – if the CEO doesn’t “get it” & provide the strategic direction, there is very little anyone can do to help a company get to what I call Level 3 of the Customer Experience Evolution.
Colin – I used to work as a Customer Experience Business Consultant for a large insurance company and sadly came into contact with the 40% you speak of here who say the right things but unfortunately whose actions do not back up what they profess to believe. They were more than happy to compete with their customer satisfaction survey results but much less interested when it came to WHY their customers felt like this. As a result – they continue to lose customers and disappoint those that do not leave.
All the points made are valuable and useful. One addition is that CEO’s manage shareholder value. In order to truly back customer experience, they need to see a clear to financial metrics–whether that be same store sales, number of transactions, or even cash flow. Demonstrating that tie is critical. In addition, large blue chip companies now tie customer satisfaction to executive compensation–another way to drive top-down engagement.
Liz, with at least one exception
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Colin the CEO battle is the biggest challenge. Better they pay you 50% and donothing than pay you 100% and don’t commit. With the former they save 50% of your fees and a lot of effort but still achieve the same. CEO’s underestimate the size of the challenge and what’s required. Few are man enough.
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