I unf*ck sh!tty experiences. | Author, Unf*cking Your CX Newsletter | SaaS Executive, Practitioner, Enabler | 7x Sales Velocity in less than 10-months (2x)
Over the last 4 years, I have reviewed 250+ RFPs for CX. The requirements speak volumes about why CX gets viewed as a "nice to have." 95% of RFP requirements of the status quo: Dashboards Metrics Tech 5% of RFP requirements from experience leaders: Culture Innovation Business Outcomes The experience leaders understand the business strategy. They focus on wrapping the experience strategy around the business strategy. Yes, you need tech as the enabler. But, if you don't know what your tech is solving beyond insights and dashboards, you are a "nice to have."
Frankly speaking one can drive CX change with an Excel and may be a PowerPoint. The effort would surely be totally different, of course, but if the company is not ready for culture and innovation, there is not a tool in the world that would make it happen. While dashboards and metrics may not seem to be the crucial deciding factor in an RFP, they pave the way to make people think, to help do the “internal selling” of the CX efforts, to make a step forward. And it is the experience leader’s responsibility to assess what exactly fits to where their company is at the moment. I wouldn’t buy a Ferrari while I was learning how to drive, though it would be “nice to have” one.
Another great post Zack! ?? I’d even say that if ones only outcome is insights and dashboards with no actionable CX strategies in place CX/VoC will do more hurt than good. Because without a true CX/customer-centric strategy the decision maker will use the universal exec strategy: “What’s measured gets done” and “if it’s important, add a bonus to the KPI target”. ..and then your KPIs are gamed instantly and therefore worthless at best.
In most orgs, CX is philosophically important, yet not strategically critical like, say, finance. Tons of orgs don’t have a CXO, but you wouldn’t dare run a business without a CFO. It’s mostly for the reasons you’re describing. There’s a lot more work to do.
Interesting stats. I do agree but I’d go further. In my experience most companies are product centric - product groups are profit centres and everything else is peripheral. The real change needs to be in making customer segments profit centres - then real cultural and structural change will occur and CXO’s will wield real power in the C Suite.
Wow. 250 RFPs! I'd love to hear more about what you're seeing from such a broad sample base. Feel free to DM me if you'd like to continue the discussion.
Amen ??
Words to live by
Exactly
Zack Hamilton ?? - this is profound! Would you prioritize your company’s "Differentiator" as a "nice to have"?
Vice President | Leading CX Strategy & Insight
1 年Dashboards are easy. Real CX requires a hell of a lot more work than a dashboard. Unfortunately, too many companies stop at the dashboard (and check the box) when they realize the effort required to change the organization in a way that will improve the customer experience.