Why Everyone in Your Organization Should be Concerned with CEx

Quick question: How many jobs can you identify that would cease to exist if there were no revenue to fund them?

Eventually, without revenue, any job will cease to exist.  Even jobs in the public sector depend on tax revenue to fund them.  No revenue, no job. 

Which is where CEx comes in.  As in Customer Experience. 

Customers Vote with Their Wallets

Most things that are sold (products and services) have more than one choice from which to buy.  Customers love choices, and free markets that offer choices. 

 

Providers who offer solutions that performed as advertised and are priced fairly begin to earn a share of customers’ wallets.  

In today’s technology-driven world, customers are now making the first part of the buying journey themselves, armed with a set of keywords and the internet.  And discovering what customers say about their customer experience before making the decision to become your customer.

CEx in Two Phases

You can measure Customer Experience in two distinct areas:

• The Buyer’s Experience. Buyer’s experience includes factors such as how easy it was to learn about your products or services; the clarity and accuracy of the information they found online; their personal purchasing experience; and how they were treated during delivery/installation.  
• The Owner’s Experience. Owner’s experience includes how the customer was treated when he or she had a problem or question; the seller’s post-sale follow-up; the performance of the solution relative to what expectations the customer had; and the quality of their interaction with you.

Remember, no customers, no revenues.  No revenues, no job.

An Extraordinary Business Case for Achieving High CEx

Consider these financial statistics quoted in a recent Forbes report:

• 73% of companieswith above-average customer experience perform better financially than their competitors.
• 96% of customerssay customer service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand.
• Brands with superior customer experience bring in 7 times more revenuethan competitors that lag in customer experience.
• Loyal customers are five times more likelyto purchase again and four times more likely to refer a friend to the company.
• American consumers will pay 17% moreto purchase from a company with a reputation for great service.
• Companies that excel at customer experience have 5 times more engagedemployees than less customer-focused companies.
• The top reason customers switch brandsis because they feel unappreciated.
• Customers tell an average of nine people about a positive experience with a brand, but they tell 16 people abouta negative experience.
• A 2% increase incustomer retention is the same to profits as cutting overall costs by 10%.

What are the Best Indicators of Customer Experience?

There are a number of well-written articles and studies about how to measure Customer Experience.

• Evaluate Your Customer Service Performance with These 10 Essential Metrics from CustomerThink.
• Parlor’s 10 Best Customer Experience Metrics.
• Gartner’s How to Measure Customer Experience.
• UX Magazine’s How to Measure Customer Experience.

Suggestion: Every business is different and has different things that can track and measure.  Take a look at what you can measure in your business and pick the top four or five metrics that you can measure, report, and communicate throughout your organization.

Three Out-of-the-Box Actions Smart Leaders Will Take

Do you really know what your organization’s customers are experiencing?  Really? Firsthand?  Or just what people who work in those areas tell you?  Here are three out-of-the-box ways to see for yourself:

• Be a Customer. Participate in the buying experience for your organization’s products or services… as a customer. You’ll need to have your true identity concealed from the salesperson; otherwise, they will give treat you like royalty ‘cuz you’re the boss.  You have to look and act and behave like a real customer would.  You want to see the good, the bad and the ugly of what it is like to be a customer of the products and services your company provides. 
• Spend a half day with the sales staff observing as they meet with customers. To get a real feel for what goes on, don’t spend time with your best salespeople, because they are probably doing most things well.  Pick a person in your bottom third.  You are an observer.  Have the salesperson introduce you as a trainee who is observing… and dress, look and act the part of a trainee.  DO NOT jump in and try to rescue any situation where you think you might help.  You need to see what happens when the boss isn’t around.  It’s a waste of time if the customer thinks you’re the boss or the sales staff defers to you.  You need Realville.
• Spend a half day silently listening to live customer service calls, especially if you have a call center. If at all possible, the staff should not be aware that you are listening to calls.  You need to see and hear for yourself what customers experience when they call in for support and problem resolution.

Average leaders won’t do any of these things.  They’ll get reports and look at number but never really see through the eyes of the customers.  And that is a shame, because you are in a position to see reality… and change it for the better.

Bottom line: Virtually everyone reading this post should be highly concerned about the CEx of the organizations that employ you as an employee or engage you as a business partner.  Remember, no customers, no revenues.  And no revenues, no job or engagement.

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