Is your Leadership Team truly aligned with your customer goals?

Is your leadership team truly aligned with your customer goals, or are they inadvertently holding you back? This is a crucial question that many businesses need to address to ensure sustained success.

One of the most significant barriers to delivering exceptional customer experiences (CX) is often leadership itself including Investors, the Board, CEO’s and Directors.?

Frequently, leaders prioritise financial and operational concerns over customer-centric initiatives which then becomes the culture and the ‘way things are done’. However, in today’s landscape where customer expectations are constantly rising, this approach can hinder success rather than facilitate growth.

Culture is a critical aspect of any organisation, and it starts at the top. It encompasses various elements such as values, mission, communication, rewards, learning and development, and more. However, when leadership focuses solely on financial metrics like revenue and operating costs, it steers conversations and culture towards short-term gains for stakeholders, rather than the long-term benefits of sustainability, employee satisfaction and customer loyalty.

This fixation on financial metrics can lead to a culture that is toxic and neglects the needs of both employees and customers. As a result, employee morale decreases, customer satisfaction dwindles, and organisations face challenges such as high turnover rates and service issues.

CX Story- High Street Retailer goes bust!        

I saw first hand a well-known, very popular high street brand fall into liquidation due to its leadership’s single-minded focus on revenue.

Staff attrition and sickness was at an all time high, staff morale and productivity was low and there was more complaints than ever before.

After interviewing employees and completing a root cause analysis we found there was repeated complaints about a specific faulty sofa fabric.? This came unfortunately as no surprise to the Directors and Managers as they knew the company wanted to continue selling faulty products anyway.?It was their best selling sofa fabric and it was more important to get the revenue that month than worry about the overall profit after returns (different cost centre/ P&L).?

The board and leaders failed to listen, understand or act on what is important long term ie loyalty and repeat purchase.? They just focused on huge discounts, increasing foot fall and new sales.

This shortsighted approach resulted in inferior products, increased customer complaints, lack of retention, stressed employees, increased attrition and massive product return costs.

This was just a small kink in the amour but probably representative of the whole operation. This, and many other potentially negative decisions ultimately led to the demise of a once-thriving company, which had been very successful since the 1950’s.

?? None of this is rocket science;

• Growth comes from customer loyalty and satisfaction
• This delivers repeat purchase and an increased lifetime customer value
• Profit comes from being able to service these important customers in the most effective way- still offering the exact or better service than you promised!!

Although this is obvious for some, it’s as we know harder for others to understand.? And as a CX or Service professional I know it’s sometimes hard to keep beating the same drum about the value of investing in CX, especially when historically your business or industry has just been focused on the cold hard cash!

??My top 5 tips to…. for Customer Leaders;

1. Obtain financial facts about the benefits and risks of investing in CX
2. Focus on employee and customer feedback and competitor insight
3. Turn the insight into action and feedback
4. Trial or prove a concept first and then roll out wider
5. Keep communicating with leaders, employees and customers

I have experienced amazing organisations that have pulled themselves around to be Customer focused but it takes the tone from the top to change. And unless we start increasing the awareness and educating them in their language how will our Investors, Boards, CEO’s and Senior Leaders know we need to change!?

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?? 'Infusing CX & Culture' Session

Friday 26th April 9.30-11.00am (GMT)

???Emotional Culture MEET UP on Compassionate Leadership ??

Have you heard of the Emotional Culture Deck by Riders and Elephants? If not then get ready! Some seriously forward thinking companies such as Canva, Netflix and Amazon are already using the ECD, and we are inviting you to be part of it;

Be quick and grab that 1 last space now!

For more details and future events click here.? It's a great way to wrap up the week!

Leonie ??

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How we help;

We specialise in integrating a customer-centric mindset into various aspects of your organisation. We don’t reinvent the wheel but instead enhance existing processes to prioritise employee experience (EX) and CX effectively. By focusing on what matters most, we help businesses unlock their full potential and achieve sustainable growth.

Embarking on the journey of a customer-centric culture is not a one-time task but an ongoing commitment. As you progress, stay focused on aligning your strategy, empowering your employees, and nurturing a mindset that prioritises the customer.

If you need support we can help in 3 ways;

Our Customer Culture Programme- Measure Up ??, visit our website

Our CX Mentoring Programme- Customer Edge, register for the waitlist

Emotional Culture Workshops & Power Hours, attend ‘Infusing CX & Culture’