Crafting Beyond Hammer and Nails: Unveiling Your CX Tool Belt

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I’ve been thinking about tool belts recently.

Maybe it’s because we just moved into a new home in Colorado and are dealing with a lengthy punch list with the builder. If you've been through new builds or renovations, you know the drill. Our builder, a general contractor, struggles to find subs for the work.

Meanwhile, our new next-door neighbor is constructing his home himself, harvesting timber from the land, and planning to do nearly every part of the build himself. He's been at it for over a decade in Michigan and Montana, braving winter storms and bears. Clearly, he wields a hefty toolbelt.

Have you thought about your metaphorical tool belt in your profession?

When I founded LoyaltyCraft seven years ago, I envisioned a tool-packed workroom with imagery rooted in carpentry and welding. The concept of "craft" resonated with me, of an activity involving skill in making things by hand. Still does.

My tool belt is a continuous work in progress. An active strategist must keep their saws and skills sharp. Customer Experience tools evolve, and we owe it to ourselves, our organizations, and our community to understand how we use these tools to construct success.

However, the expanding Customer Experience Toolbelt often goes misunderstood and underused. How so?

• Companies jump into the journey mapping without setting a CX North Star.
• Executives request NPS scores to showcase to investors/boards.
• Surveys resemble organizational shrapnel, lacking methods in measurement, omnichannel strategy, and closed-loop process.
• Leaders dip their toes in CX waters, using feel-good words like empathy and customer-obsessed, forgetting to do the work of calculating the ROI.

This misunderstanding often stems from an insufficient mastery of the trade. Many companies hopped on the CX trend in recent years, cherry-picking convenient tools. It's like choosing all chocolate and no broccoli.

Implementing CX requires more than superficial efforts. Effective leaders, those who've worn the toolbelt for a while, understand how to wield these tools properly.

Returning to LoyaltyCraft's core, the tool belt I wear proudly each day encompasses six key areas:

• Customer-Centric Strategy
• Customer Insights and Understanding
• Customer Design
• Employee Experience and Culture
• Measurement, Metrics, and ROI
• Organizational Accountability

For each of these six areas, I carry 10-15 tools on my belt. Knowing which tool to apply and when is what makes for an effective CX leader. Here are five of my best practices that I’ve only learned from putting that toolbelt on every single day and learning when to use a hammer vs. a sledge.

1. Start with a formal CX Assessment to benchmark your maturity. The LoyaltyCraft assessment includes over 40 questions across the six CX areas and is conducted with a series of interviews and artifact reviews. My clients use it as an organizational benchmark and work hard to improve their score, which we measure every quarter.
2. Set a Clear CX North Star aligned with the company mission. Clarity on when and how to use a CX Vision becomes crucial. The CX Vision might articulate the 'what' and 'how' when the Mission Statement is closely linked to CX. Conversely, at times, the CX Vision should focus on explaining the 'why.'
3. Listen, listen, listen. It’s critical to establish effective listening posts with both internal and external customers. These must take multiple formats across the channels. I’ve seen too many organizations assume they know what the customer is thinking (or even worse, thinking they know better). A Customer Journey Map should only be called a Customer Journey Map if the customer is in the room, telling you her actions, thoughts, and feelings. This is one of the most used and abused tools out there. And yet, when used properly, it provides the biggest opportunity for golden nuggets.
4. Craft a measurement strategy alignment with the CFO’s goals. Focus on the metrics that drive growth or cost savings. Create a business case for each CX initiative that demonstrates both hard and soft benefits. If the measurements don’t exist, create them and establish benchmarks.
5. Drive CX across the organization, involving everyone. CX is never implemented in a vacuum. And while you may have executives on board (lucky you!), you’ll fail if you don’t create a groundswell across the organization. You are an educator, a cross-functional facilitator, an interrogator, a cheerleader, and a coach. Listening closely to the needs of employees is necessary to effectively serve them, the organization, and ultimately, your customers.

Sound overwhelming? I know. CX isn’t for the faint of heart. The toolbelt may not be like my neighbor's who is battling bears while hewing wood by hand. But it’s still awfully heavy.

Are you a CX practitioner refining your toolbelt while implementing a CX strategy in your organization? Let’s talk! At LoyaltyCraft, we serve as the right hand of CX leaders across multiple organizations.

Are you a leader of an organization wishing to be more customer-centric, but not sure where to start? Let’s talk!

LoyaltyCraft?was built out of a passion for helping companies create meaningful customer experiences. Founded in 2016 by Lauren Feehrer CCXP, we focus on strategy, qualitative research, customer design, and employee engagement to help mid-market companies open the door to new customers and keep existing ones from leaving out the backdoor.