10 Commandments for a Successful CX Strategy

1 Leadership

Leaders of the organisation must set the standard, not just ‘talk the talk’ but also ‘walk the walk’. Demonstrate through their actions, that they believe in CX and then encourage the right behaviours by demonstrating them on a daily basis, every single day.

2 Ownership

Management at all levels must take ownership for their respective areas and push on with actions that will develop the CX with their teams. This is not about waiting to be told what to do, this is about taking the initiative and driving out actions – making things happen. Some stuff will work, some won’t. It doesn’t matter, be brave and experiment. If you are starting with your Customer in mind, that’s all that matters.

3 Accountability

People at all levels of the business need to be held accountable. There should be consequences (good & bad) for demonstrating the right behaviours and language, and also for not performing in the right way. No-one should be allowed to ‘opt out’. People opting out and deciding this is not for them will seriously damage an organisation’s ability to max out on the opportunity delivering a great CX offers.

4 Empowerment

Staff at all levels need to be empowered to make the right decisions for their Customers. In any situation, there is only one question which should be asked: “ What is the right decision for the Customer”.

As Richard Branson says ‘ ask me for forgiveness not for permission’

You may wish to set some boundaries/guidelines, but your people must feel empowered to deliver a great CX for your Customers.

5 Support

Initially your team may not find this easy to grasp. They have many (potentially bad) habits which will take a while to eradicate. Support from the leadership team will be key. Ask them what support they need (collectively & individually) to move this on, then provide that support and work with them to help them make progress.

6 Momentum

It is critical that you start to do some ‘stuff’ quickly and that you start to build some momentum. Once started, activity (different ‘stuff’) should be driven/encouraged/made to happen every week/month/quarter until momentum is developed. This is very much like pushing the proverbial snowball up the hill, a great deal of effort will be required initially until you reach the top and push it over the crest, and then it will run & run.

7 Communication

Keep telling everyone what is going on. Weekly/Fortnightly/Monthly comms. (newsletter, emails) are essential to keep everyone up to speed with what is happening across the business.

Share success, catch people doing things right, share Best Practice, ideas, good news – anything related to Customers & CX.

This should be positive, upbeat and fun – and have lots in it about people! Certainly initially, CX needs to be kept top of mind, until it is embedded and becomes cultural (how we do things around here). Comms are the way to drive this.

8 Recognition

Praise people when they get it right, when they demonstrate great CX, when you get positive feedback, Customer compliments etc. This doesn’t need to be loads of ££££, this is about fun, making people feel good, feel valued and encouraging the right language and behaviours.

9 Measurement

You have to have a starting point (where are we now? How well are we doing?). Not a subjective starting point, but very much an objective starting point. Suggestion: Spend i.e. a month asking Customers to rate you on a 0-10 basis. Use these scores to determine your Net Promoter Score and you have starting point. Through regular feedback , you can then measure your NPS and see how you are tracking.

NB – you MUST measure, otherwise how do you know that what you are doing is working and how well you are progressing?

10 Fun

Quite simply this is critical! Initially all this CX stuff can all seem a tad ‘intense’. Help your team to want to do it – by making if fun!

Happy staff = happy Customers.

Take time (MAKE time!!) for you and your team to have fun and enjoy the CX work/progress you are making.