How does a company robustly and comprehensively embark upon true customer-centric transformation and sustainable growth? Here is our 10-part approach to driving customer-centric growth: the C‑change growth engine. It brings together many new and well-established approaches to customer-led growth. Collectively, this brings about the transformation that any private or public sector organisation needs to secure customer-led growth.
While it is unlikely for any organisation to implement all of the C‑change components from day one, the more the organisation can invest energy and resources in this, the more it will see business transformation and growth over time.
These C-change growth drivers show the key actions you can take to achieve this.
Organisations should put in place a Voice of the Customer (VoC) programme.
Embed your VoC programme into your company’s culture.
Companies should avoid the classic VoC pitfalls.
Create an outcome-oriented VoC team.
Culture
The successful organisations in the Customer Economy will not be wedded to the rigid, traditional organisational functions and structures.
Chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior leadership need to transform their organisations’ cultures with all employees being responsible for the customer.
Ultimately, every organisation should appoint a chief customer officer (CCO).
To help instil a customer-led culture, the CEO and CCO must establish a customer vision statement and rigorously promote it at all times.
Every employee should ultimately understand and be measured on his or her role in fulfilling the customer vision.
Experience
The most successful companies (in both B2B and B2C) relentlessly focus on delivering a great Customer Experience (CX).
Build an outside-in view of the customer by leveraging Voice of the Customer (VoC) insight.
Do not let technology alone define CX.
Technology
Build a customer operations team.
Back-end technology and systems should be as simplified, unified and joined-up as possible.
Do not fall into widget traps.
When it comes to providing great CX, data is the new oil.
Digital
Organisations that provide the simplest and most frictionless digital experiences will be those that win.
For many organisations, the entire product and service offering for customers is digital.
Maintain a relentless focus on simplicity.
Omnichannel digital experiences should always be deployed in a joined-up way.
Success
The Customer Success Manager (CSM) plays a critical role in ensuring cross-functional alignment around the customer.
The role of the CSM is evolving from merely a post-sales function.
CSMs should be incentivised and compensated first on successful customer outcomes, and second on securing customer renewals.
Health
Customer Health measurements are objective and data-driven – use them to better understand and predict customer behaviours, wants and needs.
Build a Customer Health index (CHI) to objectively measure your entire organisation’s company-wide impact on the Customer Experience (CX).
Develop client-specific health scores to align your own organisation’s goals according to those of the customer.
Engagement
Create a VoC-derived, strategic customer engagement programme to increase co-creation and customer advocacy.
Audit existing customer engagement programmes such as user groups or customer advisory boards and test them with your target customer personas.
View account-based marketing (ABM) as a strategic component of customer engagement.
Co-creation
In the Customer Economy, collaborative models for innovation have become the norm.
The best way to achieve co-creation is for employees to be empowered and rewarded for co-creating with customers, partners and other stakeholders.
Make customer co-creation one of your organisational values.
Advocacy
Customer advocates are the most effective salesforce your company will ever recruit.
Customer Advocacy is the result of implementing the C‑change growth engine.