I talk to company leaders all the time about CUSTOMER OBSESSION and how it is the most critical ingredient to helping them become a REMARKABLE company. And while they all get excited and say it sounds awesome, few take action.
I’m always amazed at how they don’t see the Tsunami coming toward shore…despite tons of research from some of the most respected and largest consulting and research firms in the world! They still don’t believe the Tsunami will hit them and they can “wait it out” just a little longer. The problem with this strategy (or lack thereof) is that when a Tsunami gets close enough to shore where it can be felt and seen, it’s too late. You can’t get to higher ground fast enough so it wipes you out…a similar scenario many predict will happen to many businesses by making the decision to wait.
I talk and write a lot about WHY it is imperative that companies make the change immediately from a PRODUCT/SERVICE CENTRIC company to a CUSTOMER OBSESSED organization. It’s essentially about avoiding extinction in their industry and alternatively, rising to the top where they can be a leader instead of a casualty. For those that listen and want to act, this article/post isn’t for you. But if you haven’t yet made the strategic decision to becoming Customer Obsessed, this might be helpful to you.
I thought it be helpful to share some of the reasons WHY company leaders tell me they want to stay where they are today and why they don’t want to seek higher ground with the impending Tsunami headed their way. While there are more than these 5, I wanted to start with at least the TOP 5 I hear the most about why they don’t OBSESS over their customers…and at the same time offer some quick thoughts on how to turn it into an OPPORTUNITY…
- Products/Services doing fine today…they are in a highly competitive (commodity) market in their industry but they are “holding their own” at the moment. This is the most common situation most companies are in today. I firmly believe the leaders of these companies know they are on the edge of disaster at some point…they just don’t know when. So when you don’t know what to do, you tend to just do more of what you are currently doing.
Those that find themselves in this situation are generally more in a state of ignorance than they are not wanting to do something…they simply don’t understand Customer Obsession and what it can do to transform their company. Helping them understand the power of Customer Obsession is where they need to start. If they understood how this could completely differentiate them and what an incredible difference it could make in their company they wouldn’t use this excuse. Education for these leaders is critical…and sooner than later.
- We don’t have any resources/personnel…While on the surface this seems like a legitimate answer, it is usually more of a “smoke screen” for other issues. Lack of funds is always an easy excuse to not do anything…including becoming Customer Obsessed and creating an incredible and memorable Customer Experience. I usually call “foul” on this in early discussions since the cost today of not doing something is greater than the cost of doing something in this critical area.
For example, in some of the latest research I read, they found that NOT building your company around a WOW Customer Experience has a 20% negative impact on revenues…meaning it costs companies (on average) 20% of their revenues. This is a huge number and can mean the extinction for many companies.
The other side of this argument is that they “lack the personnel” needed to make it happen. What many don’t realize is that in most cases it doesn’t take more (in fact sometimes less) personnel to be a Customer Obsessed organization. Since employees are just doing things differently and with more focus on the customer instead of what they are doing today, they don’t add more they just redirect what they are doing and why. This one is also usually a “smoke screen” for the Owner/Leader who just doesn’t want to do anything different.
The solution or opportunity is to do some analysis of what this might take, both economically and the personnel necessary to implement a strategy of Customer Obsession and create an incredible and memorable customer experience. Armed with this information an executive can make an informed decision…and this usually changes from an excuse to thinking of the possibilities it could create for their organization.
- It isn’t part of our strategic plan…this might be the easiest of excuses to overcome or to change for a business leader. Many organizations I come across don’t have a current strategic plan so this is a very useful and helpful exercise to go through to get one in place. When I help them do their strategic planning, we talk about what a Customer Obsessed company would look like as opposed to a Product/Service centric Once they understand how much stronger their differentiation could be and how much more value they can be to their customers, it is not just accepted but embraced as the way to go strategically.
The opportunity for leaders is to develop a Customer Obsessed Business Strategy and build the company around creating and delivering an incredible customer experience. This gives them the focus, clarity, and direction for how they can become a Customer Obsessed company. Now they can communicate this to their employees (building a customer obsessed culture) and their customers. This is usually the easiest excuse I hear to get resolved.
- We already love our customers and treat them well…this is perhaps the most dangerous of all the excuses and reasons. I call this one the “head in the sand” excuse because they think they are doing something they aren’t. According to a recent statistic, 82% of the company leaders felt they were already delivering an awesome customer experience. But when they asked these companies customers to give their opinion, only 8% of their customers felt they delivered a great experience. This is a massive difference in any industry.
This says the leadership inside these companies is clueless about what an awesome, incredible, amazing and WOW customer experience really means and looks like. This is pure denial…no other reason for this to happen. And like anything, when someone is in denial, getting them to see another perspective is incredibly difficult.
The opportunity here is challenging…it’s changing the mind of the top leaders. However, if they are willing to look at the research and statistics on what these research and consulting companies are saying, hopefully, it will open up a discussion. Giving them examples of companies who are Customer Obsessed and how successful they have become also helps get the dialog started. If we can get them to being open minded about the topic, they will usually see the light and want to at least learn more about what it means to become Customer Obsessed.
- This is just too big of a change for us right now…this excuse is perhaps a combination of all of the above. It doesn’t really tell you what is holding them back from either considering it or learning more about it. Until we can learn more about their true reason for resisting, they won’t want to consider it. They will just resist without being open to change and something that can significantly improve their company.
The big opportunity is to drill down further with the leader to better understand why this would represent such a big change right now. When this is identified, they can start to get their arms around what the real opportunity is in front of them and why they should move to a Customer Obsessed company. Like number 2 and 4 above, this is usually a smoke screen and defense put up due to lack of understanding and knowledge about what it really means.
While there are other reasons, these are some of the top reasons companies resist the idea and concept of becoming a CUSTOMER OBSESSED company.
The OPPORTUNITY for CHANGE usually starts with being open minded and listening to the research and what other companies are doing. This helps open the discussion so they are more receptive to understanding what it really means to be Customer Obsessed. Once they are interested, they can see how the tools, such as Customer Experience Mapping, can help to bring this to life and reality. And when they better understand how the implementation works, they can get past some of these initial areas of resistance.
The key is to be OPEN MINDED and willing to see what it might look like to move to “higher ground” with the impending Tsunami approaching the shore. When they understand and believe this, they are open to having an entirely different discussion…one of OPPORTUNITY and what SUCCESS could look like for their company. Now they can start dreaming of what their company might look like if they were completely DIFFERENTIATED from their competitors. This is where the real fun begins…
