Six Things Organizations Should Fix in 2011

Customer Strategist Wayne Kingston: The Six Things Organizations Should Fix in 2011

from Strategy Speaks: a Peppers and Rogers Blog by Customer Strategist

This year I've been involved at varying levels with some 50 Australian companies across verticals ranging from banking and finance to telecommunications to retail, pharmaceuticals, media, utilities, transport and logistics, and travel and entertainment. And I've talked with executives ranging from the CEO, COO, CMO, CFO, and CIO right through to receptionists and call centre operators. What I've learned is remarkably similar across most, if not all of them.
Here are the six I've selected as the things I'd most like to fix in 2011:

1. Organisations are too busy "being organizations" to truly address the needs of their customers. Most organisational structures are exactly that: structures. Very few firms are fluid enough to put the needs and wants of their customers ahead of the needs and wants of the executives who run them.

2. Most companies are still structured around "product silos" rather than customer segments. Their financial reporting systems are traditionally built around measuring their "return on products." Businesses using those financial systems find it very difficult to convert to measuring the "return on customers." And next to none are capable of measuring customer lifetime value.

3. Many executives are still confused by social media--or at the very least they are confused about how to capitalise on it. The more fragmented our media and channels to market become, the more confused our executives have become in deciding how to reach out to their customers.

4. Many customers are disillusioned with most of the companies they deal with. Customers today want and demand complete transparency. The days are gone that you can fool most of the people most of the time. Today they just have to Google you, or ask on Facebook whether you are pulling the wool over their eyes . And when is it going to sink in that customers demand to talk to real, local people and not to machines!

5. "Below the line" is now well and truly the new "above the line." Most CEO's are demanding more and more accountability for their marketing dollar, while most customers block out just about any message that is not directly relevant to them. Consequently, the company's customer database is now a major corporate asset.

6. And, last but not least, no company will fix any of the above until their respective CEOs assume the role of "chief customer officer." You can't delegate customer centricity. Unless the CEO is driving CRM (or what we prefer to call CEM, or customer experience management) the executives throughout the rest of the organisation will find it too hard to be truly customer centric. If only we were all Richard branson!

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About the Author: Wayne Kingston is a Managing Partner of Peppers & Rogers Group