Hold on, we are under construction – we are building the CX foundation – said no company ever, or did they?
Building a foundation is commonly associated as part of a construction, as the first step of building a new structure. You must have a foundation first and then you can build a building on top, right. The building process starts by digging underground, and not building straight up and the taller the skyscraper, the deeper underground the foundation must go.
By no means I am not a professional in building houses, however, I use this metaphor often when helping my clients with their CX goals.
Customer Experience MUST be in the foundation
Ask any company these days what matters most to them, and you might hear it’s their customers. And not just to have customers, it’s their loyalty and the revenue as well as the referrals they bring along. Usually, the discussion then drifts into wondering how to increase the value of their existing clients: how to keep the customers, sell more, wow them, and how to attract new business etc. Common issues we are all trying to figure out.
Now, when is the last time you paused, put your company under construction sort of speak and thought about the foundation your company is built on? Do you already have Customer Experience Foundation built in?
Understanding the foundation
Understanding the foundation is the starting point in 99.9% of the companies we work with. It is almost impossible to start working with a new client without understanding their groundwork. Understanding what’s under the “hood” allows visibility to see why some things are not working the way they should on the surface.
Lot of companies have adopted in enormous speed to the customer demands and that is amazing. Human attention spam has shortened so much and these days things have to be done in lighting speed. But are you struggling to meet the demand perhaps because your foundation is not built right?
Out of sight, out of mind
Some might argue that you cannot even see the foundation of a building so why would it matter? If you are answering the demand, fulfilling orders, getting revenue in, and things are working, why spend extra resources on digging up what has already been build underground? Good question. Maybe all things are working fine, but what then, when the demand triples and you are struggling to keep up? You end up feeding money into extra resources you need to keep up with the orders and eventually that only ends up eating all the profits you would have made of the increase in sales.
So, even though you cannot see the foundation, it is there and it is the vital part of your company. Without it you won’t be able to face all the hurdles in the future so fixing it now could save you from a lot of trouble later. Under construction for two months is much better than being out of business in two years.
Start building the CX Foundation
My favorite CX foundation building block is: Understanding. Just like when building a sturdy structure, you must understand the soil, the material, the tools you are working with etc. Same goes in customer experience. Start by understanding who you are selling to, what do they value and most importantly, make sure your team is involved from the get-go.
Understanding, who is your customer?
Do you know their name, email, how they buy, when, and what they prefer as their delivery or pick-up method? Sounds super simple, but when you know the basics (and you’ve saved the information somewhere) it’ll helps you a lot in planning around their shopping habits, and understanding what channels they use you can then market to them.
Understanding, what do they value?
Why is it that they buy your service or product? A lot of times business owners do not know why people buy their service. Obvious answer is that your product is, of course, the best, but sometimes the purchase motive is different. Have you asked your customers? Talk to them face-to-face or send out a survey with 1 simple open-ended question asking: “What do you like about my company/service/product?”
Team understanding; Does your team know these things?
You might already know all there is to know about your customer and why they like your product or service – good for you. Does your team know too?
Your team MUST understand who your customer is, so give them the access to that information. Once your team knows who your customers are, what they like, and how they like to purchase, your team can meet the customer needs. Knowledge should be shared across all departments inside your organization, big or small: Bob from billing, Phil whose packing, front of the house Francesca, and all the way to Caroline the copywriter. Do not leave anyone out. Preach the importance of customer experience like it is everyone’s business because customer experience should be.
And finally, give your team the power to use customer information, make decisions based on it, and add to it when they learn more about your customer. Why? Because that will be your CX foundation.
Kudos to you
Kudos to you for being a business owner, growing, and innovating new great things. Now, let’s get working on your CX foundation to make it strong enough, so you can build that skyscraper: Jonna@FINN-X.com
Thanks for reading,
-Jonna