Whether you moved into customer experience (CX) because of a passion for customers, an affinity for problem-solving, or to support an overarching business strategy, you probably already know that improving the experience you deliver results in happier customers who stay with you longer, buy more and more often, and cost less to serve.
You probably also know by now that actually improving the customer experience is hard. Given the way many CX programs operate, it’s important to note that I said improving the customer experience, not improving survey scores. Leadership, whose support is essential for your budget and operations, doesn’t care about survey scores. The C-suite cares about business results.
But most CX programs today can’t connect their work with outcomes that fuel those results, or drive the kind of cultural shift needed to get everyone in the organization on board with a customer-centric transformation. That’s where change management, the missing element in most CX programs, comes in.¹
Effectively leveraging change management principles helps you overcome the two thorniest challenges that are likely hindering your success: your ability to demonstrate financial benefits from your initiatives, and your limited influence across the organization.
John Kotter’s seminal book, Leading Change,² offers valuable general guidance, broken down into eight steps, for applying change management within an organization. But it’s not written for CX, which straddles every facet of a company and presents unique demands. As a result, most CX programs don’t make it past his first few steps.
However, by adapting Kotter’s lessons to the specific challenges and aims of CX, we can create the solid framework needed to achieve and sustain attention-getting business goals.
I provide that adaptation in this white paper, drawing on more than two decades of experience in CX, in-depth original research initiatives involving hundreds of CX professionals, and dozens of successful, real-world, change-focused CX initiatives that have helped clients reimagine the way their companies operate.
Like the saying goes, the best time to incorporate these change management techniques into your CX practice was last year. The second best time is today.
Your customers, your bottom line, and your career will reap the benefits.
This article is posted at heartofthecustomer.com
Please fill out the form to access the content
