The time to define your culture is now…
Have you ever felt like you are building a plane while you are in flight, and fully (and awkwardly) aware that in order to build the plane you are going to need to pick up specific parts which you can only get to if you fly your barely functioning plane there?
No? Just me? Probably time to stop watching early aviation movies then…
In all seriousness though, that is exactly what I’ve felt like every time I’ve started a new venture. Of course every time, as I stressed more about having enough resources to get to goal A, while juggling goal B, having a social life, being a reasonably mentally present wife and keeping my business afloat, somehow everyone always has some sort of advice, and there is never enough time in the day to implement it all, and for some inexplicable reason, it is usually prefaced by a “you must at all costs…”
Urgh… just hearing that phrase makes me shudder… and yet, here I am, to tell you that there is one crucial thing, that is so critical, you absolutely need to do it now: defining your culture.
The thing about culture is that it is intangible and somehow also sticky, hard to describe but totally recognisable with just a quick glance, and it can have a fundamental impact on the success of your venture, so the earlier you get to work on it the better. While many people think of company missions and visions as their culture, in the world of experience we define it as a guiding compass that informs how we take each step. It’s not a rule book exactly, it is more like a set of shared behaviours and consistent actions that ultimately speak to your collective values, and the sooner you bring your customers to its heart, the better.
A customer-centric culture brings many benefits, from driving customer loyalty and increasing lifetime revenue, through to purpose-driven product development. Your customers, buyers, users (especially the early adopters) have a critical role to play in the growth of your business. How then, can you strive to forge such culture and make the most out of those early interactions?
Start with leadership buy-in and alignment. As leaders commit to and prioritise customer satisfaction, others in the organisation will follow suit, safe in the knowledge that their decision-making process is guided by the same priorities as those they report to.
Once your team is on board, you might want to consider doing some customer empathy training. I know it sounds like we should all naturally and magically be able to muster empathy in the appropriate way, at the right time, but empathy is complex, especially when we don’t get to interact with the other party IRL, so a little bit of training to help your team recognise when and where empathy can help them de-escalate most difficult interactions. Make sure everyone participates, including non-customer facing roles, because every function in your organisation has a contribution to make in this space.
Now that you’ve conquered the minds of your team, and have started to share knowledge and insights about your customers and their experience, you will be in a great position to start thinking about how you can make the most out of customer feedback. When your users take time out to let you know how they love your product, but really wish it had one last extra feature, or when they call to say that things have not gone to plan, they offering you an opportunity to learn more about how to improve your product and service. Of course you won’t be able to take every suggestion and feature request on board, but it helps to listen carefully to your customers, with the intent of always improving how they experience your brand.
The final critical step is to foster cross-functional collaboration. I see to many companies wrongly assuming that experience is just part of their after-sales or even marketing efforts, and while those two departments definitely have a key role to play, the truth is that every team can make an impact in this area- wether they are responsible for settling the invoices that keep your CRM up and running, or writing the instructions your customers will follow as they first interact with your brand, each will have an impact on how your customers experience your brand, so help them make their contribution count!
Has this read inspired you to think about doing CX differently, but you don’t know where to start? Don’t worry dear founder, that’s where I come in…
See you in 2024!
Hi! I'm Ori, a Customer obsessed strategist on a mission to help my clients offer the #CustomerExperience of their dreams! As you can probably tell, I could talk about this stuff for hours, so if you'd like to learn more about the latest trends in the industry, follow me 👉🏼 Oriana Ascanio for regular content 💜