On several occasions I’ve had the opportunity to share an anecdote about a leader who once, in exasperation during a conversation I was having with him about Customer-centricity sort of threw up his hands a bit and exclaimed, “well, Z, we could just give every Customer a Ferrari, then they’d be happy.”  Without missing a beat, I responded, “well, at least now we’re negotiating.”  We were both kidding each other a bit (I don’t think he was being seriously dismissive), but there was a point to be made.

I use that story for jumping-off points very often when I speak with organizations regarding their CX efforts.  Today I bring it up to point out the difficulty in defining a return on investment (ROI) for your CX endeavors.  While people have been “doing” CX for a long time, as far as recognized professions go, ours is pretty young.  That means that as we navigate our careers among peers in leadership positions, we often have to bring others along as to what Customer Experience means in our corporations.  Inevitably you’ll run into those who have yet to be exposed to what CX is, how it works, and what value it brings.

One of the surest ways to fail before you start your CX journey is by not bringing on advocates in the leadership of your organization.  Some people (ideally your boss who hired you!) will be on board and know the value of a strong CX team with a broad base of support.  Others will not be familiar with what we bring to the fight, and still others will be downright hostile.  I’ve experienced the whole spectrum, and you may have as well. (more…)