Where is your CX function located?
That’s a common question often used to kick off conversations on many webinars and conference chats. For a while I found it mildly interesting as a survey question and as an icebreaker or a means of getting people engaged right off the bat. But the more I found the answer to be “within the Customer Support organization,” the more puzzled I became:
Isn’t the goal of CX, to a degree at least, to drive support out of business? (more…)
I have written previously a couple times about return on investment for CX. In fact, there are volumes of articles and books written about it. It’s almost as though there’s a sense of having to prove ourselves as CX professionals constantly. Now, in previous professional lives I’ve been part of PM teams and Process Improvement teams. Having to justify our existence is something I’ve had lots of experience doing. Sometimes CX feels the same way: we can feel kind of peripheral to the operational or revenue-generating parts of our organizations. And sometimes that catches us off-guard when someone asks us, “So, what are you bringing to the table?”
There’s not one easy answer to that, especially because every company is different. And it’s also fair to say that if the leadership of your organization doesn’t see the intrinsic value of good Customer Experience, you’re fighting an uphill defensive battle in the first place. That’s no excuse not to try to make the case, but it’s important to know where you’re starting and the built-in cultural challenges you’ll face. Again, there’s no silver bullet, but the broad general strokes of the ROI for CX fall really into two categories, as far as I can see:
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It’s not always easy to get through the din of corporate metrics. But as a CX professional, it’s our responsibility not only to take them seriously ourselves, but to drive awareness and interest in them within our organizations. With financial and operational KPIs front-and-center, Chief Customer Officers and their teams have a unique challenge to make the measures of CX relevant within a company. It’s actually just an example of the work we need to do to ensure our peers and organizations take Customer Experience seriously and not treat it as just another ‘feel-good’ thing that’s going on in the background while other people and functions “do the actual work” to make the money and dominate the market.
Gaining buy-in for CX metrics (whether it be NPS, C-SAT, Customer Effort Score, or whatever the next thing around the corner becomes) really requires a two-front approach: Up, and in.
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This is from a couple days ago, I forgot to post here with all the teachin’ I’ve been doing!
In the short term, you can always put profits "ahead of Customers"
But long-term, #CX is a *requirement* for profitability.
Ultimately, organizations that require making a choice between the two are already in trouble… pic.twitter.com/rA8ND2xXop— Nicholas Zeisler, CCXP, LSSBB, CSM (@NicholasZeisler) July 6, 2020
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…)
Been There. Done That. Now get the t-shirt!
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