Selling the Value of a Customer Experience Strategy

Editor's Notes

• #2 Welcome everyone to Avtex Customer Conference 2012. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to be with us today. I’m Mark Gavin, VP of Strategic Consulting at Avtex. For over 13 years I’ve teamed up with a number of talented employees to successfully design, implement and facilitate a variety of business and technical assessments. “Selling the Value of a Customer Experience Strategy” is the first of four customer focused sessions that will address the intersection of Technology and Customer Experience!
• #3 We have a full agenda today with a lot of information to cover. I’m especially excited about having Jeannine Peterson from CPP North America with us today to talk about their customer experience initiative.
• #4 Let’s begin by setting a foundation for what Customer Experience is, and maybe just important, what customer experience isn’t
• #5 It’s important to level-set on what customer experience is, and maybe just as importantly, what it isn’t.WHAT IT ISPerception is reality – this is significant because we really need to understand customer perception if we’re going to effectively manage the experience going forward. Their perception could change depending upon where they are in their journey with your organization.Technical advances, access to tons of online information, ability to quickly assimilate new product and service offerings has significantly reduced the barriers to entrywe need to constantly be on the lookout for points of differentiation.Customer experience is profitable – loyalty, retention, and referrals generate revenue; examination of the customer experience journey, corresponding touch points, and underlying processes will reveal cost savings opportunities. Outside In provides some great supporting facts and figures.WHAT IT ISN’TSlogan and paint – if cx initiatives are going to be successful in your organization then they must be treated as a business discipline. Success will be limited at best if your CX efforts are not tied into the overall company vision, don’t have executive support, and you can’t demonstrate a meaningful return on investment.You can’t satisfy everyone – some customer types, or personas, may not be profitable for your product or service offering…. so don’t spend resources catering to them! Focus your time and resources on those customers that are profitable. Begs the question… do you know your customers?Successful customer experiences result from a culture of CX dedication; make a commitment!Designing, implementing, and managing customer experience programs can be challenging… not to mention overwhelming if you haven’t gone through the experience in the past. Have a plan; create a strategy! Get support from all business units. Be incremental.
• #6 Before you can effectively move forward with any CX initiative it’s imperative that you understand the “ecosystem” in which your customer exists.A variety of ecosystem definitions exist but the core participants typically include:1). Customers – can be many customer types!2). Partners – inward facing and outward facing3). Employees – inward facing and outward facingDuring the CX Session track we will be exploring a couple topics that are receiving a lot of attention lately.
• #7 How many of you in attendance have had to sell an idea, project, or significant purchase to your CEO or CFO?Its not easy…Selling the value of a customer experience program can be especially challenging because the customer experience topic feels squishy. Its not as tangible as an equipment purchase for example.Because of this squishiness its critical that we start by building a viable business case.
• #8 Selling the value of a customer experience program is becoming easier. Recent publications like the Outside In, continue to provide real-world proof that customer experience excellence is paying off. With that said, you’re not Fedex, Bank of America, or US Cellular. You need to build a your own case for CX.Would we ever pitch a new product launch without quantifying the financial impact; what is the cost? What is the expected ROI? Is it a complimentary product offering or do we risk cannibalism; etc..? NO! Customer experience initiatives must be treated the same way!Build a sound business case with predefined objectives and time frames.ProfitableLoyalty  incremental purchases from current customers; retained revenue via lower churn; new sales resulting from word of mouthDepending on the industry this loyalty metric can result in billions of dollars!Speak the “Financial” language - we need to present our CX initiatives using investment terminology familiar to our CEO/CFO
• #9 We need to treat CX as a business discipline.Building a strong business case in terms that a CFO can interpret is critical. Speak the “Financial” language - we need to present our CX initiatives using investment terminology familiar to our CEO/CFODemonstrate how CX is ProfitableLoyalty  incremental purchases from current customers; retained revenue via lower churn; new sales resulting from word of mouthDepending on the industry this loyalty metric can result in billions of dollars!
• #11 Selling the value of a customer experience program is becoming easier. Recent publications like the Outside In, continue to provide real-world proof that customer experience excellence is paying off. With that said, you’re not Fedex, Bank of America, or US Cellular. You need to build a your own case for CX.Would we ever pitch a new product launch without quantifying the financial impact; what is the cost? What is the expected ROI? Is it a complimentary product offering or do we risk cannibalism; etc..? NO! Customer experience initiatives must be treated the same way!Build a sound business case with predefined objectives and time frames.ProfitableLoyalty  incremental purchases from current customers; retained revenue via lower churn; new sales resulting from word of mouthDepending on the industry this loyalty metric can result in billions of dollars!Speak the “Financial” language - we need to present our CX initiatives using investment terminology familiar to our CEO/CFO
• #12 The importance of strategy within
• #13 I’m not here to talk about the importance of strategy. I trust that everyone here understands the role that strategy plays in the world around us. We see strategies unfold right before our eyes every day. Professional sports teams, presidential debates, When sound strategies are not applied we seeStrategies allow us manage, analyze, measure, and then respond/modify to meet the changes within the ecosystem.By systematically analyzing and measuring we’re able to respond quicker to strategies that aren’t always obvious unlike these classic product snafus..Strategy, or lack thereof, shapes the perception of our employees, partners, and ultimately our customers.
• #14 I’m not here to talk about the importance of strategy. I trust that everyone here understands the role that strategy plays in the world around us. We see strategies unfold right before our eyes every day. Professional sports teams, presidential debates, energy independenceWhen sound strategies are not applied we seeStrategies allow us manage, analyze, measure, and then respond/modify to meet the changes within the ecosystem.By systematically analyzing and measuring we’re able to respond quicker to strategies that aren’t always obvious unlike these classic product snafus..Strategy, or lack thereof, shapes the perception of our employees, partners, and ultimately our customers.
• #15 I’m not here to talk about the importance of strategy. I trust that everyone here understands the role that strategy plays in the world around us. We see strategies unfold right before our eyes every day. Professional sports teams, presidential debates, energy independenceWhen sound strategies are not applied we seeStrategies allow us manage, analyze, measure, and then respond/modify to meet the changes within the ecosystem.By systematically analyzing and measuring we’re able to respond quicker to strategies that aren’t always obvious unlike these classic product snafus..Strategy, or lack thereof, shapes the perception of our employees, partners, and ultimately our customers.
• #17 1). If you don’t have a detailed understanding of your CX ecosystem your chance for sustained customer experience success is slim. At best you can expect to make small CX improvements.2). Great customer experience is well thought out and orchestrated among employees and partners.3). If your CX strategy is not aligned with the corporate strategy you’re likely going to confuse employees, partners, and customers!4). Your organization may have brand messaging that has a direct impact on customer experience. Be sure you’re aware of the specifics!5). Don’t leave your CX strategy up for interpretation! Make sure it’s tangible. Squishy isn’t good.
• #18 Keep in mind  you’re trying to create differentiation! Your CX strategy shouldn’t emulate another organization’s customer experience.
• #19 Now… since many of you in the room are technologists we should point out that although technology is instrumental
• #20 How many of you have platform or channel responsibility?How many of your organizations have distributed platform or channel ownership? Distributed ownership can create challenges for CX programs if they’re not properly managed.When creating your CX strategy there are three “rules of thumb” to keep in mind.This last “rule of thumb” provides a nice segue into a real-life example of an Avtex customer that is currently in the process of formulating their customer experience vision and strategy.
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