“Put your money where your mouth is.” Do you remember that tagline from a toothpaste commercial many years ago? Or am I dating myself? You know what that means, right?
Show by your actions, not just by your words, that you believe in something.
What does that have to do with employee or customer experiences? A lot, actually.
Take for example my blog post from last week, where I mentioned that Stephen Cloobeck, the CEO of Diamond Resorts International, has his business card displayed at the front desk of every one of his properties. He encourages his guests to call him if they have issues or if they want to compliment someone.
Or look at Jim Tincher’s post about his experience with Conversocial and the subsequent follow-up by Joshua March, the CEO of Conversocial. Josh left a comment on Jim’s blog and included his email address for all the world to see!
This is where the rubber meets the road. Or the money gets put in his mouth. He needs to not only preach, but practice what he preaches… and be prepared to show that he stands behind what he preaches; that he stands behind his people, his product, and his service; and that the buck stops with him should any of those fail.
How many CEOs do you know that would do what Stephen and Josh do? Does yours? And if yes, does he or she actually respond to customers personally? That’s the true test!
If your CEO puts his/her contact information out for the public to see/use (of if you know of a CEO who does) AND actually personally responds to customers, let me know. Add a comment below; it will be interesting to see how many there are!
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. -Mahatma Gandhi
Nice reflection, Annette. There aren’t any reasons not to do it, only excuses.
As founder and CEO of Relenta CRM, dealing with customers directly is my favorite part of the job. It also happens to be the most important. Everything else, like planning and executing, comes secondary. After all, how would you really know what to plan and execute?
Every person who signs up with Relenta, either as a paying customer or for a free account, gets a personal email from me offering personal support and soliciting feedback.
Having a layer of middle management between CEO and customers is simply not good.
Dmitri Eroshenko
Relenta CRM
Dmitri,
Thank you for reading and for responding. You are the first to respond in all the locations this blog is posted! I appreciate your approach and applaud you. I know your customers do, too! Thank you for personally standing behind your product, your people, and your brand!
Annette 🙂