CEOs:
You Need a Customer Accountability Platform.
The people in your organization need you to take ownership for your customers.
They need clarity in what you expect and in what they are accountable for regarding customer treatment, experiences and management. And they need to hear it from you.regularly.
My services are directed right to you, and when desired, to your leadership team to create that clarity. And to make what's perhaps eluded you in the past a reality.That is your personal platform for managing and demanding accountability for customer relationships and profitability. To learn more,
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Jeanne Bliss is a force to be reckoned with when you want focus on customers. With her uniquely strong background, she was able to help us accelerate our performance, which translated to revenue growth and profitability.
-- Chandler Barton, Retired President Coldwell Banker Corp. |
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All Eyes Look to You to Make This a Priority |
The fact of the matter is, customer issues are
just not making it as a priority or to the boardroom level.
According to a November 2004 Harvard Business Review article entitled Bringing Customers into the Boardroom, customer management issues being kicked upstairs are on the decline. Among the large U.S. companies surveyed for that article, over a third of them said that their boards spent less than ten percent of their time on customer-related or marketing issues.
Leaders who "own" the customer agenda don't stand for that.
They elevate high-priority customer issues to the critical level, and they get their boards close to the customer and to understanding the investments required to keep them close. But this remains the exception and not the rule. That survey further reports that only a few of those companies' boards are ever in contact with customers through either visits or one-to-one contact. In the cases where customer councils exist, again that face-to-face contact doesn't extend to the boardroom. "Customer" is something off in the distance, discussed in an anecdotal fashion.
Sobering Facts and Food for Thought. |
"Customer" Is Not Yet a Boardroom Topic.
YOU Can Change That. |
The fact of the matter is that not many CEOs have made customer profitability their personal platform. Yes, I know you care about it. But is it woven into the language you use and the top-of-mind questions that you ask? Are you a zealot about digging into the separate plans that are brought to you for approval to make sure that they go beyond one-off tactics-to actually add up to something for your customers? Are you so clear in your mind of where you want to lead your company for your customers.that people want to take that hill?
I'll take a chance here and say probably not.
Have You Moved Past Hand-Wave to Commitment? |
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If you lose more customers than you keep, this is not good. 
a slippery slope.