Most initiatives related to building a better customer experience emanate from the customer experience function. Others come from well-intentioned marketing and strategy groups. For businesses with a retail operation, sometimes it’s the store management function that starts the ball rolling.
The problem is that these ground-up approaches are like a plumber trying to build a whole house. They face a variety of issues due to their limited reach:
- KPIs of various functions are naturally misaligned, and it takes power and will to align them.
- Financial pressures can easily override customer-serving initiatives and often provide a series of setbacks unless protected.
- Conflicting priorities emerge and the group sponsoring the program has no easy conflict-resolution process.
- Consistency is the hallmark of a good experience. Without the ability to finance and pursue a better customer experience over a period of time, such programs tend to fade away quickly.
It’s no wonder that such initiatives sound good on paper but often fail to have the promised impact.
In our experience, building a consistently differentiated, world-class customer experience starts at the leadership level of a business. The alignment drive comes when the functional leaders, facilitated by the General Manager of the business, are motivated and aligned on the purpose of serving the customer. In a world of ground-up initiatives and skunk-work projects, this is one initiative that seems to work at scale only if it starts at the top and then cascades down through the organization.
The leadership team is like a real estate developer who recognizes the need for a better “house of customer experience” and commits to top-quality construction. Marketing is the architect that designs the house based on the needs of the customer and perhaps also the contractor that coordinates the work. Other functional groups are the electricians, carpenters, and painters. But without the developer’s involvement in setting the vision and consistently advocating for success, the house will never be built successfully.
