“The entire company will be working to ensure the success of your project – that is from the CEO to the junior most employee” – It’s not uncommon for startups & small companies to make the pitch and to list the handphone numbers of the CXOs in the proposal. Subsequently, having gained business from the customer, the entire organization strives to ensure that their counterparts (at individual levels) are happy. Everybody works like their next meal depends on it & quite often, that is the case. As organizations grow, it appears they lose that Customer Experience edge
At this point, it’s important to differentiate between Revenues and sales especially for B2B product companies. Dollars from selling products could be one source of income whereas dollars from all sources of income constitute revenues.
*Service companies are (typically) paid on the fulfillment of service or milestones. The quality of service rendered and CX are key aspects of these interactions that are inbuilt in the relationship. Typically Long-term service or non-one-off service activities are paid over a period of time (monthly, quarterly..), therefore any bad CX could be punished immediately and some times severely
One potential road for product companies to go about ensuring CX is to “SaaSify the org”, that is to inculcate a service organization type orientation but without necessarily creating a subscription financial arrangement
It is also important to note here, an additional significant benefit of SaaSifying is the potential of avenues for revenues, for instance from selling office furniture to providing office productivity solution with additional $ opportunities of consulting, delivery, installation, maintenance, productivity audits, etc. This is moving away from “incomes” to “revenues”
The key to success of CX in any organizations is to institutionalize it, that is to include CX in their structure, policy & process – deliberately & purposefully
Some potential changes
Structure:
– Revenue head (not sales or marketing, but both)
– CX head
Revenue Head – One person responsible for sales, marketing & customer service having a single view of all these functions. This would minimize the traditional conflict between sales, marketing, & support with a clear focus on the customer journey and customer experience
The buck stops somewhere, action with consequences and somebody has to pay a price or receive a reward for CX. A CX head would be ideal
Process:
Absolute clarity to all participants in the process
– The potential /customer journey matches the engagement process. The touch points in the journey are engaging (value add + actionable)
– An Anchor(SPOC) leads & manages the full buyer’s journey
– Process measurement and metrics
– Appoint a Process Principal, a guiding force & coach in the process
Process principal guides and supports the process, the buck stops with the Anchor (sales rep) and responsible for the execution of the process/journey for the customer
The potential customer journey (process) is understood and matches the activities of the engagement team (not just the sales team).
The potential /customer is informed & understands the predictable experience journey with clear next steps as well as timelines
Clarity on Roles, & Responsibilities, internal to the team and the potential customer
Policy changes:
– CSAT, NPS, Happiness index,..etc
– Incentives across the board for CX
– CX as part of the KRA
The organization clearly states the activities& results that will be measured for success or failure. This will set the bar for achievement across the organization
If CX is a small part of the KRA with little implications on reward or censures (punishment sounds severe) it will not have the desired effect on behavior
Culture:
– Leadership
– Engraved in the vision of the company
Many would argue that CX is a “cultural thing”. The culture in an organization is set by the Leadership. The leadership team sets the expectation and example – for the entire organization and importantly, what exceptions are acceptable (if any). Ideally, the Leadership should engrave CX in the Mission statement making it abundantly clear (and publicly) to the rest of the organization
One fine example of leadership engraving CX in the mission statement is Happiest Minds. Admittedly not a product company – but it is a great example
Leadership having set CX in the vision statement with a clear criterion of measurement, has laid the foundation for CX to be adopted in structure, policy, process, and culture
CX is one pillar of SaaSifying an organization but probably one of the most important pillars
*Note: There is an implicit assumption in the arguments above that B2B service companies are great in CX vis-a-vis product companies. Not true all the time. Vice-versa is not totally true either, but the slide favors service companies
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