JULY 2023 | VOL. 12

If you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back and that makes your shareholders happy.

— Herb Kelleher, founder, Southwest Airlines

As we move into the summer months, many organizations are beginning to turn their focus to their annual strategic planning sessions. These annual rituals are filled with a plethora of data analysis exercises, competitive monitoring, budgetary wish lists, and ultimately the promise of change and improvement. Teams gather at remote locations, void of devices and surrounded by flip charts and whiteboards. Teams bond over break-out sessions, working lunches, and the occasional alcoholic beverage. And in the end, plans are defined and priorities identified. But how are these priorities determined?

Is the voice of the customer present? Does the impact on the customer experience have a bearing on decisions? And will the investments improve the customer and employee experience in such a manner to drive economic returns?

In this issue, we review the challenges that many organizations face in injecting the voice of the customer and specifically the role the customer experience can play in driving improved financial performance. We’d also like to know your thoughts on the prominence of CX insights on strategic prioritization of initiatives. Enjoy and as always, please share your thoughts and opinions with us!

July 2023 Poll

Our new poll for July asks, "Are you in or are you out? Or somewhere in between?"

How would you rate your organization's

commitment to achieving CX Excellence?

Frustrated with the lack of progress in implementing successful CX change initiatives? Join the crowd…

According to a Forrester June 2023 report, CX quality among brands in the US declined for an unprecedented second year in a row. Despite more than 80% of business leaders indicating that improving CX is a high priority, just 6% of brands saw a significant increase in 2023, compared to 10% the year prior.

With continued investment in Research, Unstructured Data Analytics, AI, CX measurement platforms, etc. why is this the case? Why are companies continuing to invest in CX strategies and tactics when the results, from a customer perspective, simply are not there?

We believe there are three points here that should be considered:

Executives talk a good game but oftentimes lack the managerial courage to break down silos and drive the necessary change due to risk avoidance and/or short-term revenue and profit pressure.

• Verde Group perspective: CX practitioners are not passing the boardroom test because many CX measurement programs lack the necessary financial grounding to create momentum and ultimately drive change – we see this time and time again - without a financially-based CX strategy, leadership may find your CX program interesting but not compelling enough to take what is likely perceived to be a risk in shaking up organizational functions/operating practices.

A good CX relies on a good EX. It is inevitable that problems will occur in the customer experience. But great CX organizations encourage customers to tell them about their problems and then do an excellent job resolving those issues. Empowering employees to “make things right” not only addresses the customer’s issues but also drives employee engagement and a feeling of accomplishment as they serve the brand’s needs.

• Verde Group perspective: When customers have their issues resolved to their complete satisfaction, there is a complete rebuilding of loyalty. Verde Group has seen a 30%-50% increase in customer loyalty when employees have the tools, resources, and ability to address the customer’s issues quickly and completely.

Don’t chase the squeaky wheels. Too often, organizations focus on addressing high-frequency CX friction points without understanding if they are material in driving business performance. This approach, while reducing potential noise in the marketplace, can create the illusion of progress but not positive financial outcomes.

• Verde Group perspective: Over 50% of the time, the most frequent CX friction points are not the most damaging. And in a vast majority of instances, CX friction points to the cause of the greatest economic impact that's not on a company’s radar screen – the silent killers of your business. Separating noise from signals is critical in an organization’s pursuit of CX excellence and more importantly, improved market share.

July 2023's Question:

Our CX initiative is largely viewed as a “change initiative” internally. What approach would you recommend to drive the adoption of our proposed changes throughout our organization?

Answer:  Great question! To answer this, we're going to turn to a leader in change management circles, Simon Sinek. We had the pleasure of meeting Simon many years ago and really bought into his perspective. If you’re not familiar with Simon’s work, you should be. We particularly found this video very informative. It essentially states that to drive cultural change, you need to focus on the “early adopters” in your organization and not waste time trying to get the masses to adopt new ways of operating. Once the early adopters have begun operating in new and more effective ways, the followers will follow and change will occur. Check out this YouTube video… it’s worth your time: