Don Peppers wrote a profound article recently pointing out that most companies are not acting on building superior customer experience over the medium and longer term. He tells us that most of what is being done delivers minor efficiencies and is short-term in impact – NPS measurement that addresses the symptoms and not the cure, customer journey mapping that is not really acted on, and creation of a customer experience role or function that has no authority and limited influence across the organization. Over time this impetus dilutes and dies as senior sponsors move focus on to other initiatives. He provides some good advice on how to overcome some of these weaknesses.
In our experience, most companies, claiming to be customer focused or embarking on the activities noted above, are missing the key foundation required for sustained customer experience success – a strong customer-centric culture. The diagram below illustrates how a customer engagement culture encompassing all leadership and employees drives customer experience, which in turn creates loyalty, advocacy, and better business performance.
Peppers notes, and we agree, that customer experience is a journey. It requires the capabilities that a strong customer culture delivers and needs a focused plan and commitment by senior leadership to carry it through to the medium and longer term. It requires a “customer” mindset in all parts of the organization and a deliberate commitment to embedding this at all levels and all functions as “the way to do business”.
It should begin with measurement and benchmarking of the level of customer-centric culture in all parts of the business. This highlights strengths, weaknesses, levels of employee engagement with customers, and priorities for capability building. This forms the foundation for an ongoing customer experience improvement strategy that all employees in the business can buy into and can contribute towards its implementation.
At MarketCulture we have a proven roadmap that successful companies use to build an ongoing customer experience capability that delivers consistency and sustainability – and results in sustained growth and industry-leading profitability.