What Kind of Customer Experience Leader Do You Need to Be?
Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP
Customer Experience Speaker, Trainer, Podcast Host, and CEO
Hello! ?? This is?Customer Experience Works, a weekly series sharing actionable advice to help you improve your customer experience. If you're new to our community and would like to improve the customer experience at your organization, click the?'Subscribe'?button above. Want to request a future topic? Let us know in the comments below!
The job descriptions for a customer experience leader vary between tactical analyst and strategic rulers.
Defining just what a?customer experience leader does can be tricky. But what’s even trickier is when you may not have customer experience or customer insights in your title. Maybe you’re a survey pro or a journey mapping guide, but only when your regular duties allow.
Being a customer-focused leader is a tall order.
…with or without the fancy title and proper job duties. So, how can you lead by example to make the experience better for your customers, regardless of where you are on the org chart?
Decide what type of leader you want to be!
1. The “Lead by Example” Customer Experience Leader
This role fits if you feel you’re on your own, trying to educate the masses about the gaps in your customer experience and how to fill them. You must get others on board by showing them the way.
Lead with data on why customer experience is important. Lead by sharing feedback from customers any way you can, and reinforce the importance of that feedback in every meeting. When you are asked about a design or an idea, ask the presenter what customers will think. Did we find out? What will we do to make sure they really like it?
Leading by example means extra preparation and never taking comfort in the status quo. It can be uncomfortable but also incredibly effective in changing a culture from the inside-out.
If you are this kind of customer experience leader, then you need to get comfortable being repetitive and patient. You need diligence and persistence in this type of leadership.
领英推荐
2. The “Big Idea” CX Leader
There is something powerful and magical about getting a group on board with the BIG idea. It can be a Herculean feat in some organizations who are so focused on the daily dashboards and monthly reporting their eyes are never beyond the details.
The Big Idea Leader takes those small moments of reviewing a dashboard and asks big questions. What do you think would happen if we offered an unlimited product offering? Would our Customer Lifetime Value go up? Then how can we test it and find out?
Leaders who feel like the only movement is small may want to try on the Big Idea leader practices for a while. Once you start seeing OTHERS think big and act on those big ideas, you know you’re making a difference.
3. The “Data-Centric” CX Leader
These leaders seem to be in high demand, based on the job descriptions I’m seeing. But the irony, of course, is that the very places that want these types of leaders often already live in a data-centric culture.
The need is there in organizations who can’t quite put a finger on why customer experience matters. The nay-sayers asking “Is it worth it?” don’t see any evidence that it actually benefits the organization.
This leader is necessary to share the real results of customer experience efforts. Data can help tell the story in real results for your business. Don’t focus on just data, but it’s important to understand and share its value.
The best CX leaders are ready to lead in each of these ways.
Based on what’s needed, what changes are on the horizon, and who needs convincing, the best leaders use these skills and traits to share the stories that matter.
Are you ready to lead in a multi-faceted way? Whether or not your title reflects it, your customers need you to be a leader!
This article, What Kind of Customer Experience Leader Do You Need to Be? , originally appeared on ExperienceInvestigators.com .
Customer Experience Practitioner | Senior CX Certified & Insight Professional | Chartered Manager CMgr MCMI | Voice of Customer Specialist | Customer Insight, Research & Strategy Professional |
2 个月Great article. I believe a good customer experience leader has multiple hats including someone who prioritises the customer at every touchpoint, data driven and using insight to inform decisions whilst continously improving the journey and closely working with various departments to ensure an effortless customer experience.
Leadership & Strategy ● Transformation ● Cultural Change ● Customer Experience
2 个月Jeannie this resonates so much for me. The balance of the 3 is so true. As a straight line and interchangeable. Creating a customer culture is tough, needs consistent navigation, is all about growth yet is so very rewarding. Thanks for the article #customerexperience #evolvingculture.
Call/Contact Center Digital Transformation Expert, Fractional COO, Strategic Assessment, OD Expert & Board Member "Growing bottom line profit and increasing top-line revenue"
3 个月Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP Thanks great insight again! As a leader the best way to lead the CX efforts is to spend time with your customer service agents and customers, they will tell you how you can improve. I was shocked when I reached out to about 30 Chief Customer Experience Officers and asked them if doing business with their contact center is easy, nobody responded. I then looked at about 20 JD's for Chief Customer Officers and not one had included the responsibility of working with the contact center leadership team to drive customer service experience at this mission critical touchpoint. I am not sure why there seems to be a chasm between the CCO and the contact center?
Providing Actionable Surveys that Drive Insights. Multiple CX Methods ? Latest Tech ? Scientific Surveys ? Affordable ? Complete Feedback Campaigns. CCXP & Six Sigma Black Belt Certified.
3 个月From my 20-year career in CX, I find that the only CX leadership that really takes hold, starts with scientific data, that is then translated into examples which then leads to a few strategic, big initiatives per year. Unfortunately, the gross national experience underperforms significantly because companies don't have the rigorous data they need to ignite and support the right plans, processes, and people. Toward better experiences everywhere!
? Award Winner: CX Team of the Year | Author of "The CX Dictionary" | B2B CX Practice Leader ?
3 个月Articles about "CX Leadership" avoid the much trickier topic of how to recognise and recruit CX talent within the existing pool of front-line staff. For every 1 million articles I've seen on "How to be a Great CX Leader" I've seen pretty much nothing on "How to be a great CX employee" or "How to develop a meaningful career in CX". There should be plenty of advice and insight on this from the marketplace, since Leaders set the direction, but the hard graft, tough confrontations, complaints-handling, issue resolution, Gemba walking and problem-solving (which ultimately drive customer-centricity) is ALL done on the front-lines. When your customer comes back and rates you...they're hardly rating the effectiveness of the CX Leader's Journey Map, are they...?