Collaborating with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, we co-developed the first iteration of the Sales Growth Learning Curve, a proprietary methodology of market-driven strategy and sustainable revenue growth. The 21-Elements of High Performance Revenue is our proven iteration of SGLC, which is evidenced by trends and changes in the broad and tactical world of sales and marketing.
This article will focus on 4 of the 21-Elements surrounding Customer Experience (CX) and look deeper into a broad buying journey for sake of sharing some interesting insights. CX is now becoming a hot topic in certain verticals of the B2B world, not just BC2. Many learnings and practices surrounding CX offer valuable insight into your customers. CX as a new overarching practice from its beginnings in B2C and migration into some B2B organizations has gained traction due to the digital and cultural shift to “Customer Centric” over product and service. It is a customer personalization focus that is moving from archetypes to real time mindsets and preferences of your target audience. Lastly the findings are often immediately actionable and fall under the OKR’s associated to your Sales and Marketing Teams. Your customers buying journey end-to-end can heavily influence greater sales, retention, and advocacy. CX exists with every interaction but the 4-Element Headings of focus surrounding CX are: Customer Intelligence, Preferences and Testimonials, Frictionless Engagement, and Branding and Awareness. So how do you begin analyzing and investing in the CX? What knowledge needs to be transferred and to who? What digital tools are available for your organization? How do you measure improvements? These are all important questions that need answering, but let’s focus on the foundation of this endeavor. What matters most in amplifying CX in your organization? Here are some of our findings.
I. EXECUTIVE BUY-IN
- One hundred percent buy-in from the top is needed in creating a CX obsessed organization. Its not a project or new initiative but a holistic cultural focus communicated across all company channels and disciplines. Owned by a key person/s from the management team reporting directly to the CEO. The likely lead options are CMO, CRO, or Embedded Trusted Advisor / Consultant – Guided Learning approach. Execution is typically where things can go wrong.
II.KNOWLEDGE AND KEY INSIGHTS
- Telegraphing history and key insights; mindsets, values, motivations, aspirations, and essential yearnings of your targeted buyer and how they view of the world.
- Choice factors, what matters most; beliefs about your offering, sentiment, preferences, buying behavior, and rituals. Again, Its moving from archetypes to a deeper level of connectivity.
- What forces are shaping the behaviors of your like-minded targeted audiences? Ideas about what matters most from your buyers. Its why one may choose Subaru over Jeep. It’s mainly visceral but also cerebral.
III. BRAND PROMISE
- Brands exist in the minds of people who interact with them. There’s a requirement to create an emotional difference, not mainly cerebral (Product/Service benefits). To accomplish this manifestation of distinction you must really know your customer.
IV. BUYER JOURNEY
- List all customer touchpoints in the buying process. Which are human-centric? Which are digital? What are they thinking, feeling, and doing at each touch-point? Where are they spending most of their time? Where, and what are the priority touch-points? Where is the greatest friction? How can you measure improvements?
V. What are the main benefits of personalizing the CX?
- The benefit of iterations in CX can be abundant. Unlike many revenue growth strategies, insights into CX are often actionable immediately. Now what’s the challenge with this deeper understanding of your key customers and analysis of each touchpoint? What do you do with this information? What points have the highest importance? What are the refining iterations in messaging be it digital, content, or voice, that’s going to improve the experience? Where is there an opportunity in the journey for a wow moment? One that reinforces the brands visceral distinction.
Fostering an obsession in CX It’s a discerning process of analyzing each interaction with possible changes. However, it’s very important to study the entire customer journey from end-to-end. This helicopter ride over the journey will provide your team with additional clarity afforded by the view at ten thousand feet. Rediscovering CX accelerates and grows revenue, advances the brand connection and uniqueness, identifies shifts in buying behavior. It further advances sales strategy and marketing strategy, and iterations in best practices. We’ve also seen overall employee experience elevated through this purpose-driven focus to create a greater experience of the customers you serve.