I think it is a little ironic. Customer strategists are frequently charged with collecting insights from thousands of customers. And yet, if you ask them if their own people are putting those insights to use, you may get a hesitant answer like, “I think so.”
Here’s an idea – ask them.
Conduct an internal usage assessment. The basic idea is to answer the question, “Is anybody using this stuff?” Send a simple survey to the people in your organization that addresses common barriers to usage. From this you can learn …
… if people are aware of customer listening initiatives.
… if the reports they receive are clear and useful.
… if they understand what they are to do with the insights they receive.
… if the insights are relevant to their specific role.
… if they use customer insights to make better decisions.
… if they feel company’s customer strategies are having a true impact.
All this provides guidance to help make improvements to increase awareness, understanding, and belief in an organization’s customer strategy. This approach can go a long way to prompting more action and delivering better results from your customer initiatives.
