How To Infuse CX Into Your Company Culture

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What is company culture, why is it important and how does customer experience play a role? According to Webster, it is “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.” Culture is very important because it impacts employee mindsets and actions throughout the company. Customer excellence does NOT happen automatically. It takes a lot of focus and commitment from the top down and bottom up. 

What Do ADMIRABLE CX Leaders Share In Common?

  • They put the customer first and develop internal processes to ensure compliance.  
  • They remind employees that customer experience is owned by EVERYONE, not just a single individual or team. A true master of this is Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. I love his quote:

Company Culture & DoingCXRight

What Are proven best practices to create a customer-centric culture?

  • Include CX goals in ALL employee performance agreements.

    Hold everyone accountable for quantifiable metrics such as C-SAT (customer satisfaction) and NPS (likelihood to recommend the company) among other KPIs. I recommend establishing benchmarks either from using internal data or leveraging external research based on similar brands and industries. There are many published reports based on analysis of hundreds of brands. ForeSee, Medallia, Forrester are a few good examples.

  • Establish a CX Training program and make it mandatory for completion. 

    Every employee has an impact on some part of the customer journey. Regardless if someone works in IT, Customer Care, Sales, Marketing or another department, everyone needs to understand CX best practices and how to apply them. Some companies offer CX training in-house while others have partnerships with external universities. Both are good options as long as employees get trained upon joining the organization and continue to increase their skills over time. (Read more about my certification experience at Rutgers University. Online and classroom options available @20% discount).

  • Incorporate CX Topics at weekly staff meetings. Motivate employees to “walk the CX talk.” 

    Read survey responses and solve customer pain points as a team. Likewise, celebrate successes too. If a customer mentions an employee by name, thank the individual and consider giving him or her a gift card or other tokens of appreciation. Everyone likes to feel appreciated. The more management recognizes good behaviors, the greater the likelihood that employees will do right by customers even when their boss is not watching.

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll share more effective CX strategies that I’ve personally deployed and have proven to be successful. In the meantime, if you want another brilliant idea, read my other article, “CX Example That Stands Out Above The Rest.” While it pertains to the hospitality industry, all companies can replicate the concept and it costs $0 to implement. The owner of Woodloch, John Kiesendahl, is truly brilliant in how he keeps employees engaged and accountable to customer excellence as well as what he personally does every day.
 

WANT TO INCREASE YOUR CX SKILLS & TRANSFORM YOUR ORGANIZATION?

 
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*All opinions expressed on the DoingCXRight Blog and site pages are the authors’ alone and do not reflect the opinions of or imply the endorsement of employers or other organizations.

Stacy Sherman
Professional speaker, author, and customer experience practitioner. Specializes in helping brand leaders double their income from existing customers. Stacy has coached and delivered hundreds of speeches and workshops based on her Heart & Science™ model that consistently produces tangible results and brand distinction. Recognized repeatedly as a Top 30 Global Guru and a Top 25 CX Thought Leader by ICMI, Stacy is also a W3 award recipient for her DoingCX Right podcast. Her latest insights are offered through a LinkedIn Learning course, with an upcoming book on Customer Journey Management

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