by Shaun Smith
Chapter Ten
On Purpose profile
The On Purpose research findings
In this book we talk about numerous brands (the good and the bad). You’ve read the stories, felt the passion and hopefully been inspired to think about applying some of the principles to your own organization. At times you probably nodded your head in agreement, shook it in violent disagreement at our choice of some of the featured brands, and protested loudly about the omission of some much-loved purposeful brands that you thought should have been included, but weren’t. (Perhaps even one that you own?) Whatever your thoughts, the most important question is… what does this all mean for you?
How does your company compare? How do you measure up against those principles and practices that mark the difference between the brands that simply talk about their purpose, and those that actually act on purpose? And what are the tools you can use to help you become one of them? Start by taking a quick look at the eight questions below. Think carefully about your brand and your organization as you go through them:
Are you purpose driven?
How purposeful is your leadership?
How infectious is your communication?
Is your customer experience distinctive enough?
Do you continuously innovate?
How strong is your culture?
Is your employee experience as distinctive as your customer experience?
Do you place as much emphasis on measuring the experience as you do on measuring results?
You will get the chance to think about these in a little more detail at the end of this chapter.
Eight practices common to all purpose-led brands
The eight questions listed above are important because these are the very factors we identified as being common to all purpose-led brands. They are strongly rooted in the research we did for our last book Bold: How to be brave in business and win, in which we created a survey that measured the eight practices that described these organizations. As has been said, one of the things that emerged strongly from that book and that research was the sense of purpose that drives bold organizations. It was that insight that led to this book.
We have now evolved the Bold survey to reflect the latest thinking and findings from our research with the ‘on purpose’ brands. As you would expect, given that one was evolved from the other, there is a great deal of similarity, yet the importance of purpose shines through.
Each of the eight dimensions is supported by five attributes that describe what purposeful brands actually do. These were derived from the analysis of the many interviews we have conducted for this book as well as Bold. As we have told the stories throughout this book we have attempted to illustrate these practices in action. There was one final check we wanted to make before reaching definite conclusions about what makes a purposeful brand purposeful, and that was to conduct a survey with some of the executives featured, as well as executives from random brands.
We asked some of the brands we use as case studies in this book to complete the survey and we show the results over the page along with the comparison profile. This comparison was derived from asking readers of http://www.mycustomer.com (the leading customer experience portal in the UK), http://customerthink.com (the leading portal in the United States) and http://gccrm.com (one of the best customer experience sites in Asia) to complete the survey. These respondents were self-selected from random organizations in the UK, the United States and Asia to provide our ‘average company’ profile.
The sample of data is not large, but the results are statistically significant – we are happy to provide the T-Test results for the statisticians among you, but you only need look at the profiles over the next pages to see that there is a large difference between the way the executives of the on purpose brands responded to the way that the executives of the random brands responded.
Our conclusion is that the quantitative research supports what we found in the interviews, namely the executives of the on purpose brands place emphasis on quite different things to many executives in typical companies. In particular you can see that being ‘purpose driven’ and having a ‘cult-like culture’ are high points for the brands we feature.
In answer to the survey question ‘Overall, I would describe my organization as having a clear sense of purpose’ the brands we studied and who participated in the survey scored an average of 4.7 versus the 3.5 of the comparison brands, so the perceptions of the people in these organizations support the findings from the individual dimensions.
In answer to the question ‘Overall, we deliver a distinctive customer experience across multiple channels’, which of course is a measure of intentionality – our other use of ‘on purpose’ – the brands we studied scored an average of 4.4 versus the 3.1 for comparison brands. Once again, there is a clear difference in the way that the respondents from the on purpose brands perceive the experience their organizations deliver from the respondents in the comparison organizations, and the gap is even higher than for being purposeful.
As we said, the numbers are not high at the moment but we are confident about our conclusions and, as we continue to collect data, we can add to the findings. How does your organization compare? You can complete our online survey and by doing so contribute to our continuing research. Complete the On Purpose survey here:
http://on-purpose.questionpro.com
Or you can complete the survey over the page and plot your scores for each section to find out how you compare to the on purpose brands and average company profiles as they stand at the time of going to print.
Please use this survey to assess your own organization. Rate each individual statement as accurately as you can, awarding a 4 or 5 if you feel that your organization is distinctly different or market leading, 3 if it is average or you don’t know, and 1 or 2 if there is considerable room for improvement or this is an area where your organization does not currently focus.
Image 10.1 On Purpose Survey
Now calculate the average scores for each of the eight practice sections. Plot the average scores for each of the eight practices on Figure 10.1 and ‘join up the dots’.
Figure 10.1 My company profile
–Overall, I would describe my organization as having a clear sense of purpose
On purpose brands = 4.7. Comparison brands = 3.5. My brand =
–Overall, we deliver a distinctive customer experience across multiple channels
On purpose brands = 4.4. Comparison brands = 3.1. My brand =
Which are our strongest practices?
1
2
3
Which practices do we need to focus on?
1
2
3
So how do you compare to the on purpose brands or the comparison companies in our survey? Compare your profile with Figures 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4 and the results for your summary questions.
Figure 10.2 On purpose brands (n = 72)
Figure 10.3 Comparison brands (n = 86)
The most significant difference is that the on purpose companies pay much more attention to being purpose driven. The comparison companies are significantly less focused on creating a distinctive customer experience across channels – the intentionality part of our on purpose concept. These findings, as we expected, endorse the findings in our book Bold, but lend greater clarity to the notion of purpose.
You may find it useful to plot your profile to overlay Figure 10.4 so that you can see precisely where your opportunity areas lie. We hope this is helpful for you, but if you would like a more in-depth insight please see details of our Masterclass in Chapter 12.
Figure 10.4 The profiles compared
Chapter Eleven
How to implement – successfully
We hope that at this point in the book you will agree that the ‘stan
d up, stand out, stand firm’ framework is a simple yet powerful way to describe what purposeful brands do and why they do it. It is not, however, a model that describes how they do it.
Just as a travel guide is a vital source of information for describing what a place might be like and some of its most notable features, it does not actually tell you how to get there. For that you need a satnav or map that provides the direction and key steps on the journey.
The map that we use to help organizations become purposeful brands and differentiate themselves through the customer experience (CX) is what we call our ‘CX Seven Step Guide’. There is nothing magical about it except that it works and manages to avoid the pitfalls that many organizations fall into. It provides a simple strategy for implementation. And that is sorely needed. As we said in the Introduction, ‘on purpose’ refers to being focused on something other than profits but it also refers to creating a customer experience that is intentional.
Our own experience has taught us that there are seven deadly sins to implementing customer experience successfully and they relate to a number of the Forrester findings. (Forrester, State of Customer Experience Report, 2013)
The seven deadly sins of customer experience (CX)
1 Lip-service leadership
Leadership is vital for any significant organizational change yet all too often leaders fail to commit. Senior executives, having concluded that the brand is underperforming, decide that it is the result of customer-facing staff behaving in ways that are ‘off-brand’. They then issue a directive exhorting employees to ‘put customers first’ or something similar. Executives then return to the important business of focusing on the financials.
Our own work and research have shown time and time again that the most significant factor in creating strong companies is having leaders who take personal responsibility for communicating, demonstrating and rewarding brand or company values.
2 Silo thinking
In many organizations the customer experience is fragmented. For example, one function owns the contact centre; another runs the retail operation; whilst marketing communicates new propositions, forgetting to first ensure that the front line can deliver them. Worse still, the board announces a new customer experience initiative only to backtrack at the first sign of pressure on the share price.
To be successful the senior management team must own the customer experience. Each function has its particular part to play but the functions must operate in what we call a ‘triad’ to optimize resources, efforts and budgets to create an organization-wide strategy for delivering the brand (see Figure 11.1). Aligning marketing, operations and HR is critical to getting the internal commitment needed to deliver your experience.
Figure 11.1 Triad power
Source: © shaunsmith+co
3 Assuming all customers are equal
The starting point for our work is collecting customer data to inform the definition of a promise and to design the new experience. The most frequent client response to this suggestion is: ‘We already have lots of customer data and research so you don’t need to bother’. In reality, whilst organizations undertake customer research and collect mountains of data, relatively few know who are their most valuable (not largest) customers. The fact is that a few customers will typically represent the significant proportion of your profit and these are the ones to focus improvement efforts on.
It is all very well knowing who are your most profitable customers, but you also need to know what these customers value and the three or four most important attributes that drive their intention to repurchase. Without the answers to these questions you may have data, but you do not have insight.
4 Assuming all touchpoints are equal
Whether you are bidding for new business, selling a product, delivering a service, dealing with complaints, submitting proposals, operating your call centre or negotiating contract renewals – each touchpoint will create an experience that either builds value for your brand or destroys it. Increasingly, brands are realizing that the entire customer journey must be seamless across different channels. But seamless does not mean that it should be the same across all touchpoints.
Where many organizations go wrong is to assume that all touchpoints are equally important and therefore they should try to excel in all of them. In fact, some are more important than others, either because they represent greater value to customers or because they provide the opportunity for you to differentiate your brand or dramatize your brand promise. Trying to excel at every touchpoint will either drive you out of business on cost grounds or create confusion about what is really important.
5 Thinking training is the answer
So many organizations ‘do’ customer service training. Yet so few deliver a great experience. Most often, it is because organizations rely on undifferentiated training to deliver a differentiated experience. If you cannot bring your brand alive during training for your people, then you cannot expect your people to bring it alive for your customers.
The other issue is that all too often training is done ‘to’ your people rather that done ‘with’ them. Bringing in external consultants to conduct a two-day workshop (the classic ‘sheep dip’) may have a short-term effect but the benefit is rarely sustained. But the greatest sin is to think that training is all you need to do. We have seen many companies invest a lot of money and time in training their people, but fail to change any of their other HR processes. The ways you recruit, motivate, measure and reward people all need to be aligned. Most importantly, the employee experience has to mirror the experience you wish to deliver to your customers. That is why starting with your leaders is vital.
6 Putting technology in charge
One Bearing Point report (Insight Executive Report) estimated that 55 per cent of CRM systems drive customers away and dilute earnings. This is because most CRM systems are installed before organizations are clear about the customer experience they are supposed to enable, and without any thought about how they might add value for the customer.
Letting technology dictate your customer experience is a bad idea. You end up with customers feeling hunted rather than wooed. Our definition of CRM is ‘Constantly Receiving Mailshots’, because so often the systems are used as a blunt instrument to sell rather than create value for the customer.
7 Measuring satisfaction rather than experience
Peter Drucker’s famous maxim that ‘what gets measured gets managed’ is still true today. Yet many organizations focus exclusively on end-result measures. Market share, profitability and earnings per share (EPS) growth are all vital measures of business performance but they are all lagging indicators; they are a result of differentiation, customer loyalty and brand preference.
Nor is measuring customer satisfaction enough. Smith+co research found that 80 per cent of customers who switch suppliers express satisfaction with their previous supplier. Satisfaction has become the price of entry not the way to win. The only true customer measure that correlates with improved business results is advocacy. We define this as those customers who give top-box ratings for their experience. Nothing else counts – yet we see many organizations adding up the percentage of customers who give ‘somewhat satisfied’, ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’ ratings and then congratulating themselves that ‘87 per cent of our customers are satisfied’ or, even worse, ‘delighted’.
Summary
The good news is that these seven sins can be avoided by using our CX Seven Step Guide (see next page). The CX Seven Step Guide is a quick, simple introduction to managing some of the tricky stuff around customer experience. It also shows links to a set of nine simple but useful online tools and templates that you can access for free (www.smithcoconsultancy.com/cem-toolkit).
It is not a prescriptive set of rules, it’s not big on theory and it is in no way intended as a replacement for the many excellent books out there on customer experience management (includ
ing our own!). It is simply a few suggestions and reminders of things to think about – and some of the other pitfalls to watch out for. Some of the pointers may seem incredibly obvious and some may seem quite basic. But, as we’ve come to realize from our many years of helping organizations with their customer experience journey, there is a tendency to overcomplicate the process and forget the simple things that actually make the difference between success and failure.
The CX Seven Step Guide ENGAGE
What is the number one priority for customer experience management (CEM) success? Engaging your team with a compelling reason to proceed. This ensures an aligned and committed team behind your implementation plan.
Here are a few things you can do
Quantify the benefit in a simple way. The ‘power of one’ is a good starting point. For example, what would be the financial impact for the year if each of your customers bought one more item, stayed one more day or referred one other person?
Define the type of customer experience needed to achieve this change in behaviour. At this stage, it is not about thinking about the detailed design – it is about stimulating your team to envision something bolder, better and more differentiated than the experience you currently provide. Outline a practical road map to show the steps needed to implement the experience and how this could be achieved within the organization’s existing resources. Keep it simple at this stage and break it into phases with clear deliverables and benefits outlined for each.