Leadership is not a title or position in CX

– drive customer-centrism through engagement and persuasion

Leadership is pivotal to every human endeavour, and many have defined leadership variously. Simply put, leadership is about influencing people (or an organisation) to achieve a common goal. The operative word here is influence. The dictionary articulates this as the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behaviour, opinions, etc., of others. This influence could either be positive or negative. Be that as it may, a leader will impact a group of people and persuade them to follow him or her toward planned outcomes.

John Maxwell defines leadership as follows: “Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing others”. In today’s world, CX professionals find themselves in situations where they are not the most influential in the organisation and will need the support of a highly influential group of people to achieve their goals. They must depend more on borrowed authority than their formal roles to navigate the complex web of corporate culture and politics, which is no mean feat. The goal of the CX lead is to become a great role model for the customer, as well as for all his/her colleagues.

Generally, addressing customer needs and achieving enhanced experiences is the responsibility of everyone in the organisation, not just the leadership. This should be the mindset in every company that aims to be customer-centric. The key is to take so much pride in what you do that your customers think you own the business. This will usually happen in an environment where the owner is so admired that a few among the lot would aspire to be like him. What pride there is when a leader of a team has people whose goal is to be like him/her. As the owner, your job is to be so great at what you do that your employees aim to be like you.

As an employee, your job is to be so great at what you do customers will mistake you for the owner. Therefore, regardless of your job title and regardless of your job role, just act like an owner and the customers will definitely be warm to you. Undeniably, as a CX, lead you have at your disposal systems and processes to help your team deliver the desired experience, however, note that ultimately it is the culture and your organisation that supports the people in your team. This resonates with something Steve Jobs said years ago about technology and people underscoring the importance of people in getting things done.

He said: “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people that they are basically good and smart, and if you give them the tools, they will do wonderful things with them”. This makes the leadership responsibility mutual to both leaders and followers. Here are a few thoughts to ponder as we reflect on the subject of leadership. First, earn trust among employees and colleagues. This goes a long way to improve the customer (and employee) experience. Second, adapt or die. Make sure you listen to your customers and learn what changes they expect.

Third, know the value of your customers, and understand the lifetime value of your customers. This will help you make the right decisions. Fourth, know what drives your success and understand the critical factors that drive your business success. Fifth, play to your strengths. You get better on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

Trust

Jack Welch shared some key leadership traits about how to earn trust from people. According to him, one of the most important leadership traits is what he calls the generosity gene. It is about someone who is generous with praise, recognition, and with their cash. This person is keen to see others receive promotions without getting jealous. This generosity has the effect of making people go the extra mile. Additionally, a leader must demonstrate empathy by listening to their peers (as well as followers) and showing them that they care about them and that they are not a know-it-all. They, in turn, will respect you and honour your decisions as a leader.

Another key trait is to let people know where you are going. When developing these goals, make sure you engage with your employees. It is important that the rest of your team are clear about “What’s in it for me?” When you consider the personal interests of your team – such as their personal life – ultimately, it translates business success into things like job opportunities, salary raises, and so on. Doing this gets your team on board quickly with your ideas. Finally, let your people know where you stand by conducting appraisals regularly to get them on the same page. Remember your goal is to get them to own the experience.

The Emotional Quotient (EQ) framework is a helpful tool in determining your leadership effectiveness. It is about the ability to understand your own emotions – self-awareness, the ability to control oneself and have a positive outlook to deal with setbacks, developing empathy when dealing with others, and managing relationships by impacting others positively, dealing with conflicts, being inspirational and team-focused. These are very helpful traits when dealing with (internal and external) customers. Ian Golding says it aptly: “Your head must be connected to your heart and your environment must support action”.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Adapt or die

A friend made an interesting comment about waakye sellers recently that got me in stitches; but upon reflection, I couldn’t agree more that he was right. He said waakye sellers are so unfriendly if the waakye wasn’t so popular people will shun them. They are so in a hurry to serve the next customer and collect their money they really don’t care a hoot about you. Times are changing and we see now that others have entered the waakye business with finesse and are changing this narrative very quickly. It is about listening to customers and connecting with them to ensure that you can meet their needs intuitively.

I watched an interview with the owner of the A and C Mall recently and was greatly impressed by the story and the philosophy behind the mall. The owner shared that the tenants at the mall were much more than tenants who come and go, and that they had built a relationship with them over time. He added to my catalogue of stories about happenings during the COVID-19 pandemic that set some businesses apart from the rest of the pack. According to him, he engaged them even to the point of freezing rents during the lockdown and negotiating flexible payment terms for them after the end of the lockdown to help them stay afloat.

Wow, this is incredible stuff. I read about these COVID-19 stories worldwide and missed this one. It clearly resonates with the customer experience journey. The owners have earned loyalty from their patrons as a result. Customer experience is more about the journey than the one-off encounter. It is all about adapting to the times. I learned this in Strategy years ago that to keep abreast with the times and ensure the sustainability of your business, you must adopt what is known as an evolutionary strategy. In an evolutionary strategy, rational methods don’t determine strategy, rather evolving does. Whittington (2000).

Know the value of your customers

What total income does this customer bring to your business? Knowing what a customer brings to your business over the entire period of their relationship with you enables you to learn about that customer and respond by delivering out-of-the-world experiences to keep them aligned with your brand. Your goal is not to get rid of others or to quickly get them out of the way to make way for this special one, but to keep the customer by taking steps that will help them decide that they want to come back to you for more. Therefore, increasing the value of your existing customers is a great way to drive growth.

A typical example here is to think about your local shop. You probably spend some GH¢80 to GH¢200 or more each week. To make it easier let’s consider that the average family visits this store twice a week, spending GH¢100 each time. That would be an average of GH¢10,000 in a year – this works out to GH¢800 per month over 12 months. Over a period of 5 years, this customer will bring you GH¢50,000. This means that the average customer might be worth multiple times the GH¢50,000. Note that with customers, loyalty is about emotions. Incurring a little cost to resolve an issue for such a customer is certainly worthwhile.

This explains why the supermarket where I encountered a technology challenge was quick to let me take the items home for free that day.  With customers, to earn their loyalty it is more about the next time, every time. Note that the customer will focus on every engagement uniquely; and that should anything go wrong on a visit to your shopfront, this could potentially negate all your good work. The Ritz Carlton has found a unique way of supporting their employees in delivering great value to clients. Employees are given a small amount of money to enable them to provide products to customers when they don’t have them on their service itinerary.

Focus on success drivers

It is necessary to know the important factors that drive your success as a business. You may start by identifying 3 to 5 drivers. Your next step is to choose which of them is the most important. It is imperative that once you have identified these, you share them with every manager and associate in the business. Shep Hyken uses an analogy from one of his clients to explain what he calls the 5Ps based on the marketing principle. The first of these is People. They drive your business by delivering great experiences to your customers to earn your brand a great reputation for being customer-friendly.

The next is Product. Ensuring that you stock high-quality products or deliver comparable services with the goal of ensuring that the customers get their needs addressed in every single trip. Your strategy is to ensure that you understand the needs of your local customers and that your products and services are primarily aimed at meeting their specific needs. This may include having to procure what they are looking for if it is not available at their asking. The third P is Pricing, delivering exceptional value for the money paid. This is summed up in Hyken’s example as: competitive price + convenience + quality products + exceptional customer service.

The fourth P is for Place. This has to do with your physical presence. The size of your store, its location, fixtures, signages and general arrangement and ambiance. These must demonstrate convenience and focus on the customer. The final of the 5 Ps is Promotion. This has to do with advertising, public relations, special reward programmes for repeat customers, and coupons to motivate both customers and employees.  Whether this is driven locally or at the national level, it makes a big difference in the marketplace. Knowing the 5 Ps is helpful in enhancing the customer experience. You can be creative about this. You don’t need the 5 Ps as a rule of thumb.

Play to your strengths

One thing that we must not lose sight of is that we can’t be good at everything we do. We must, however, strive to be the best at what our customer wants. To achieve this, we must find out how to be better at something that the competition is not already good at. The fast pace of digitisation today has left in its trail the tendency where customers have become less brand loyal. This has made it necessary for brands to focus on delivering a superior and more memorable digital customer experience to achieve greater customer retention. Just a few years ago while in the UK, I recall having to switch several times to utilities and phone companies.

There was a common trend where, at the end of each year, the electric and water companies begin to ‘hound’ you with adverts, mailshots, and other communication media to convince you to switch from their competitors and join their service. To address this threat, one must build robust synergies by aligning one’s CX strategy to the extent that all functional areas in the business are in sync. For example, Marketing and IT work closely to ensure that Marketing has access to the tools they need to deliver unique customer experiences successfully. The goal is to ensure that CX’s strategy is aligned with organisational goals.

Shep Hyken shares the following about playing to your strengths to keep your customer experience well aligned. First, develop a personal growth strategy that plays to your strengths. Second, if you are a manager, decide what items on your to-do list do not play to your strengths and can be delegated to others. Third, work on your weaknesses. The best people know it is better to work on improving your strengths. Fourth, if you are a frontline person, talk to your manager about supporting your company in ways that connect to your strengths.

As CX lead, you may find that like many other businesses, your role may not find you at the C-suite level. Success in your role depends on how effectively you use borrowed authority to influence the customer-centric mindset and drive CX across the company. The goal is to leverage key aspects of the business, such as building great relationships with customers. With the right mix of strategic and technological change, you can influence a customer-centric drive and deliver CX efficiently. It takes a lot of ‘cajoling’ and motivation to get things done.