Test your service culture with the CX vision test

Alan was passionate about customer service.

He was the CEO of a rapidly growing mid-sized organization. Alan (not his real name) knew a strong service culture would help that growth continue.

Consistency was the biggest challenge. Alan assumed customer experience was obvious. He couldn't understand why employees didn't always do the right thing.

Alan hired me to speak at an all-hands meeting. I delivered a service culture workshop to the leadership team prior to the event.

During the workshop, I gave leaders the customer experience (CX) vision test. The test was revealing. It showed exactly why service was so inconsistent.

What is a CX vision?

A customer experience vision is a shared definition of an outstanding customer experience that gets everyone on the same page.

It guides strategy, leadership, and training.

Employees in customer-focused organizations used the customer experience (CX) vision to guide their actions. It acts as a compass to point them in the right direction whenever they're unsure of what to do.

Here's an example from Yelp. It's mission statement doubles as the CX vision:

Connecting people with great local businesses

The mission drives everything Yelp does.

It provides a clarity about how Yelp serves its customers and forms the foundation of Yelp's business strategy.

Here's a slide from Yelp's February 2024 investor presentation:

How does the CX vision test help?

There are many leaders like Alan.

They care deeply about customers. Their mistake is assuming that a great experience is obvious and doesn't need defining.

The CX vision test reveals the truth. It works by asking leaders three questions:

1. What is our CX vision? (word for word)
2. What does it mean?
3. How do you personally contribute?

Alan's company had a lot of statements. There was a mission, vision, brand promise, customer service slogan, and a strategic plan with multiple pillars.

The leadership team disagreed on which statement was most important. Most didn't have their preferred statement memorized. Nobody agreed on what the statements meant or how their teams contributed.

Leaders suddenly realized why service was generally good, but inconsistent. Employees didn't have clarity because leaders didn't have clarity.

The results are very different in customer-focused companies.

I tried this test at Yelp. (Full disclosure: they've hired me for several content projects like this one and this one .)

Every employee passed. They knew the mission word for word and could consistently describe its meaning.

Take the CX Vision test

You need a CX vision before trying this test. It could be a mission, vision, purpose, brand promise, or some other corporate statement.

If you don't have one, here's a step-by-step guide to writing one in just two hours: How to write a customer experience vision

Once you have a vision, you're ready to try the test. Ask members of your leadership team three questions and compare the answers:

1. What is the CX vision? (word for word)
2. What does it mean?
3. How do you personally contribute?

A CEO I was coaching did this exercise and found widespread confusion. Her organization already had a great mission statement that served as the CX vision.

The challenge was a lack of understanding and alignment.

She worked on making sure every executive could pass the test. Two months later, the team was running like a well-oiled machine. Executives became more focused and revenue began to soar.

Service culture resources

1. Conversation. Follow me on LinkedIn where I post daily (M-F) about service culture.
2. Training. Join 146,322 professionals who have taken Leading a Customer-Centric Culture on LinkedIn Learning.
3. Guidebook. Get a step-by-step guide from The Service Culture Handbook .