looking decisions that enhance internal
efficiency and ease the load of internal
work, without considering the burden the
processes thereof place on the customer.
Measuring CX excellence needs to be
done with the same due diligence as
measuring financial performance after
each set period. The measurement then
needs to be translated into meaningful
reports that go into the board packs for
decision making.
Conversion of customer service levels to
financial gain or loss should be conducted,
and all these performance indicators need
to be discussed at the top for strategic
implementation or change. A top
leadership that does not have their eyes
on the shifting customer needs and the
impact of these on the organization, need
to repurpose their strategic tools.
Leading CX
Communication
The same effort and care that it would take
for the Chief Executive Officer to make a
public announcement about the company,
is the same level of concern that should be
placed on communicating the importance
of customer service to the overall business
sustainability.
Internal customers are the first publics and
as such, important aspects of the business
need to be shared and communicated for
ownership. The entire organization both
customer and non-customer facing staff,
including outsourced service staff where
applicable, need to be on the same page
where customer experience excellence is
concerned.
Leaders need to
drive CX innova-
tion or face the im-
minent downfall of
their brands. There
is need to constant-
ly look out for new
and innovative ways
to serve customers,
ensure their needs
are met and to en-
hance customer con-
venience.
34 MAL34/20 ISSUE
Very often organizations make inward look-
ing decisions that enhance internal efficien-
cy and ease the load of internal work, with-
out considering the burden the processes
thereof place on the customer. Measuring
CX excellence needs to be done with the
same due diligence as measuring financial
performance after each set period.
Everyone needs to be concerned about the
welfare of customers and to take up the
mantra that world renowned leadership
expert and author Ken Blanchard
posits that “Customer service is not a
department, it is everyone’s job.”
To have everyone interested in and ready
to deliver great experiences, top leadership
must provide customer service guidelines
to be followed to ensure consistency.
These guidelines must be percolated to all
departments and across all touch-points
both physical and virtual. The message
that CX is important to the organization
must be spelt out in black and white.
To truly record success though, staff
need to be provided with some leeway
to recreate or make exemptions to the
company polices, in order to customize
customer experiences where need be.
Guidelines are important and they are
created to steer organizations forward
professionally.
However,
customer
situations often present themselves in a
way where it would be deemed necessary
to do things differently.
Caution must be taken however to draw
the line between flagrantly flouting
company customer guidelines, and using
creative problem solving to turn around
customer conflict situations. The stringent
reliance on ‘company policies’ set by
management, allows for this to be used
to fend off complaining customers and to
create an ownership divide.
Over time, with the added responsibilities
of customer decision making placed on
staff, and by learning through challenges
faced, leadership will have demonstrated
customer service culture uptake in
practical terms.
Leading CX Innovation
Leaders need to drive CX innovation
or face the imminent downfall of their
brands. There is need to constantly look
out for new and innovative ways to serve
customers, ensure their needs are met and
to enhance customer convenience.
Innovation need not necessarily mean
developing swanky new technological
interventions as is often the assumption
when the topic on customer innovation
comes up. It could be as simple as
examining existing processes and ways
of doing things, and tweaking areas that
would ensure better efficiencies towards
customer satisfaction.
Walking in the customer’s shoes by
listening to feedback and literally sampling
the products and service on offer is a
valuable strategy. Physically experiencing
the customer journey and working through
service failures as a customer, provides
an enhanced perspective to innovate for
change. This needs to be led and driven
by leadership in the organization, who
should not only facilitate experimenting
for customer change, but also be part of
the exercises to sample and put customer
touch-points to test.
The results of these forays into different
brand touch points’ needs to be reported
and shared with the different teams for
internalization and action. Practical
experiences generate customer driven
decision making.
To innovate requires that the voice of the
customer is constantly heard. Not in bits
and bursts, because customer sentiment
is often based on environmental changes
and influences, but as an ongoing activity
to hear what they are happy about,
unhappy about, and is on their wish list
with regards to the products and services
offered.
Tracking customer feedback will give
rise to new products and services to meet
their ever changing needs. Leading CX
innovation requires the organization