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Presidents & CEOs: Become a new customer every year
For several years we’ve said that a company’s CEO has the greatest impact on customer experience. We’ve said that when a CEO is the most demanding customer of their own product, it shows.
It’s a recurring theme we’ve seen from people like Bruce Temkin at Forrester.
I don’t think many senior level executives have any idea what it’s like to become a customer of their company. They’ve become out of touch the experience as it exists today and rely on internal and external analysis to understand the experience their providing. Analyzing the experience is a great step to take in bettering whatever it is you do but it doesn’t replace experiencing it first hand.
More senior level executives need to take the initiative and become a new customer of their company every year. By doing so they’ll have a much better sense of the type of experience they’re providing their customers. In time they’ll also be able to see the impact their decisions are having.
Geoff, Thank you for pointing to the article.
Your post reminds me of a story I used to hear as a kid. About a king who used to go out at night dressed as a pauper to chat up locals and hear what people have to say about him.
I think he was Akbar. In fact he also was patron of a various of arts, sciences and religions. He would include people from all different kinds of disciplines in his court. It was his way of getting broadest range opinion possible.
A true leader, I feel, understands the importance of smoothening out tiny creases in customer experience. He also understands how his customers are different and each comes with his own needs. Each experience leads to a story and subsequently, a conversation. And conversations drive opinions.
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