This is a question I get asked quite often when speaking to Business Owners and Leaders. It’s a great question…and the right question.
Customer Obsession is successful when it is “top down” in any organization…coming from the top Leader as the way you are going to run the business. It isn’t successful from the “ground up”…where it is driven by some passionate employees wanting to be more about the customer. Without the top person(s) driving this…relentlessly…an organization won’t cross the chasm to becoming Customer Obsessed. They will most likely give up when they hit what I call “The Valley of Despair”. This is the place when things get tough, employees complain, the results aren’t maybe what were expected, it takes more work, or there are too many other things pulling at you and you don’t stay the course. If you, as the leader, aren’t fully immersed into pushing through, your employees usually aren’t either.
What does it take to be this type of leader? There are 5 key traits I feel are necessary if you want to lead your company into the utopia called Customer Obsession…
- Burn the Ships…first and foremost is to be “all in” and committed to seeing this through and making the transition…no matter what! Customer Obsession isn’t an initiative or a project…it’s your DNA. It is about who you are as a company and a team of employees. This is who you will become as an organization and it’s at the center of everything you do in the business. It’s a mind shift away from products and services (although they will certainly still be a key part of your business) to starting every decision with your Customer in the forefront. I love the term “Burn the Ships” because it describes exactly the mental state the organization (and leadership) needs to be in to see this through…it means there is “no going back because we don’t have our ships any longer.” You have arrived and chosen your path…you have eliminated any temptations of “going back to the way things were”…you are 100% committed to your new direction and focus of Customer Obsession. There is no reverse…you are all in and you have to figure out how to make it work and make this your new foundation.
- Create a new VMV…without a new Vision, Mission, and Values foundation, it will be virtually impossible to move from being product/service centric to Customer Obsessed. If you wanted to build a new house with a completely different design, you wouldn’t use your old foundation…you would create a new one. The same goes for an organization…the leader needs to create a new Vision (or modify the existing one), create a new Mission (focused around the customer) and then add the Values the leader sees as key to helping them get there (this usually requires some modifications). With these in place, both the internal (employees) and external (customers, partners, vendors, etc.) audiences see you are committed to a different path…it becomes readily apparent. These changes will emphasize the customer being at the center of the universe for the company, which will become your brand, your mantra, and your guide for everything you do moving forward. The VMV absolutely has to be in alignment with your focus on Customer Obsession to have a chance of success.
- Walk the Talk…just like the saying goes, if you don’t demonstrate what you say through your actions no one will believe what you say. This couldn’t be truer than with Customer Obsession. It’s hard to tell everyone internally and externally you are obsessed with building the business around the customer when you are still focused on your products or services as the driving factor for the business. The Customer Experience has to be at the core of everything you deliver to the customer. I has to be your focus and the first place you start with any solution. When your teams are seeking a solution, do you start with how this is going to impact our customer and their experience or do you start with how your product or service will work the best? This is the type of different thinking and shift in your mindset that creates differentiation and shows your employees and customers you are “all in” and walk the talk.
- Consistency, Consistency, Consistency…if there is one thing that cements something in place it’s being consistent…relentlessly consistent…toward this new direction. The audience (internal and external) is always watching to see if the leader remains consistent or if they waiver in any amount and in any direction. If there is any sign the leader may not be completely committed, focused, and steadfast, they will use this gap to create a cavern. But when the leader is consistent in everything they say and do, people get the message this is “non-negotiable” and it is who the company is going forward. When you look at the very best companies in the world that have been consistent in being Customer Obsessed, such as Disney, Zappos, Amazon, Nordstrom, and many others, they never changed from their focus to make the customer the center of everything they design, build, sell, and do…they are relentlessly consistent. This is what it takes to change people’s thinking that you aren’t just “checking it out” or “giving it a try” or “seeing how it goes”…you are doing this day in and day out. Consistency of message, delivery, execution, and focus is critical for the successful Customer Obsessed leader.
- Recognition and Rewards…this is one of the most important aspects of leadership…regardless of whether you desire to be Customer Obsessed or not…it just needs to happen. For many leaders it isn’t a primary part of what they do or how they communicate…they are very decision oriented and often times just aren’t thinking in this way. It doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate all the good work being done, they just don’t go out of their way to recognize it as often as I believe they should. But for something as big as taking your company down a path to change your VMV and get your internal (and external) teams on board and supporting where you want to go, recognizing people is absolutely, positively critical. Leaders need to see how important it is to literally “go out of their way” to find things people are doing well in support of your new direction. I usually create a “tool” for them to use to capture these as they happen so they can remember to share them with their employees on a just-in-time or regularly planned basis. This allows leaders to have a formal way to capture all the awesome things their employees are doing to help move the organization forward in this new direction. A leader without this as part of their core skill set is going to struggle to get the support they need from their teams.
There are certainly other skills that will help a leader be successful at becoming a Customer Obsessed organization. These are the 5 I see as non-negotiable if you want a great chance of succeeding. Other skills can be important but these are critically important and need to be demonstrated through leadership. If these are present, the organization stands a very good chance of becoming very successful at being Customer Obsessed.
Challenge yourself as a leader. Can you incorporate these 5 skills into your leadership style and move forward with execution? If not, why not? If so, then what are you waiting for…Customer Obsession can be just around the corner for you and your company. True differentiation and uniqueness is awaiting you and your customers! Now is an awesome time to strike…create a brand that stands alone among your competitors and is the envy in your industry…and LOVED by your customers. Today is Day One…
