Nothing substitutes for the voice of the customer. Unblemished truth is vital to effective decision making in any business, and in no place is this more real than directly from the mouth of our customers. I have written in the past about RightNow’s VOC program, but personally visiting clients adds another insight dimension. That is why I make it a practice to visit customers face to face regularly. I have completed about 100 individual visits already this year and will do more than 200 for the full year. I want to share a couple of the things I have learned.
The most important thing is to listen well. I consider my visits a continual MBA program. I get to meet with senior executives at many of the world’s largest consumer businesses and ask what they are working on. Their answers to this question give me insight into the issues and trends in their business and vertical industry. As I do multiple meetings in a particular vertical industry (we focus primarily on Public Sector, High Tech, Retail/CPG, Travel, Entertainment, Telecom and Financial Services), I start to spot trends and uncover ways we can contribute effectively to their efforts. The insight also helps us enhance our solutions and services to better serve them. In addition, I find that because I have been doing these visits for years, I can speak their language and contribute to their planning. I become a trusted advisor.
As each customer lists their three to five top priorities, regardless of industry, almost always one or two relate to improving their customer experience. They don’t always use those exact words, but the intent is the same; better customer experience is critical to our success. Often we find immediate ways to help them advance their objectives given the breath of our solutions and our best practice understanding.
That is the biggest take away from my recent customer visits; Customer Experience is universally being recognized as THE differentiator for large consumer businesses in the emerging socially-enabled, mobile, immediate gratification, consumer-centric economy. Consumers are frustrated and they want to be served now! Not improving the customer experience it is a risk that few firms are taking.
This focus on delivering great customer experience bodes well for all of us as consumers.
What are you doing to incorporate the voice of the customer into your planning and to improve the experience you deliver to your customers?
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