Stay with me for this one. James Dodkins says he just cut n pasted the best CX Quotes into his cornerstone work of 365 CX Quotes. He didn’t because I was there to see the process… try this google ‘Great Quotes’* and you will have some idea of the size of the task in hand.
* It produces results of nearly two billion. ๐ฑ
And we all know that 95% of those are dross. So that leaves just 10 million half ways decent ones to get it down to 365 which itself is a herculean task. However he did it, and you can get the results for free (see the link below). One a day CX quotes to brighten the dullest day. And without the dross.
Talking of arrogance and dross produced a really nice quote from that brilliant sci-fi guy, Isaac Asimov.
Let’s just say, like some of us, he doesn’t suffer fools gladly…
Now I would have included that, but I also know James Dodkins hates with a passion sci-fi. Don’t mention Star Trek, Star Wars, or Space Rangers. You will become persona non gratis ๐ Hence Isaac isn’t in this book…..
Even so, this book is an inspiration. Open it at random and you might get your thoughts changed for a day or two. Or treat it like a 365-day advent calendar and regale your friends with a quote a day for a year – no don’t do that, it is too nerdy.
Here are a couple of fine examples.
I especially like this one. Been there and done that way too often.
Here’s a link that will get you this work of a genius (OK then, the work of the CX RockStar)
There are always more questions than answers ๐ However, in the ACX Masters program, we cover all the bases and provide a set of tools and approaches that enable you to WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN in every CX initiative Join us soon!
Entrepreneurs are often interested in physical strength and health, but mental strength is even more important. Mental strength is a critical characteristic for entrepreneurs, as many articles address tenacity, โgrit,โ optimism, and unfailing ability to โfail up,โ as David Williams of Forbes puts it.
do not resist change, embrace it
However, mentally strong individuals avoid doing certain things as well. Licensed Clinical psychotherapist and social worker Amy Morin[1] created a list of things mentally strong individuals donโt do as part of LifeHack. It inspired me enough to summarize and spread it around, and Iโll add my thoughts on how these things relate to entrepreneurs.
Mentally strong individuals donโt waste time feeling bad for themselves. They donโt waste time thinking about how theyโve been wronged. They are responsible for their actions and consequences and realize that life isnโt always fair. Even though they emerge from difficult situations with self-awareness and gratitude for the lessons learned, they can respond to an unfavorable outcome with the phrase โOh, well.โ Next!โ or simply โNext!โ
Hand their Power to Others. Mentally strong individuals avoid relinquishing control to others, ensuring they do not feel inadequate or inferior. They understand that they are in charge of their actions and emotions. They acknowledge that their strength lies in managing how they respond.
Seeing change as an enemy A mentally strong person accepts change and challenges with open arms. If they have a greatest โfear,โ it is of becoming inwardly focused, complacent, and stuck. An environment of change, challenge, and uncertainty can energize a mentally strong person and bring out their best.
Waste time on things beyond their control. A mentally strong person doesnโt whine about bad traffic, lost luggage, or other people (as these things are usually outside of their control) but instead focuses on what they can control: their response and attitude. Even in a bad situation, they know that the only thing they can always control is their response and perspective, and they make the most of these attributes.
Wanting to be liked by everyone. Do you know any people pleasers or people who go out of their way to displease others to reinforce an image of strength? Neither position is good. A mentally strong individual aims to be kind and just, in addition to pleasing others if appropriate, but they are not afraid to speak up. They can deal with difficult situations where someone might become upset with grace, if possible.
Worry over taking Risks. A mentally strong person is very willing to take calculated risks. This differs from taking foolish risks. However, with mental strength, an individual can weigh the risks and benefits thoroughly, consider the potential downsides and even the worst-case scenarios before taking action, and make a rational decision.
Lament and become sentimental about a past event. A mentally strong person can avoid miring their mental energy in past disappointments or fantasies of the โglory daysโ in the past. Acknowledging and learning from past experiences, in particular, provides mental strength. Investing the majority of their mental energy in creating an optimal present and future is what mentally strong people do.
Avoid Habitual Mistakes. The definition of insanity is when we take the same actions repeatedly while hoping for a better outcome than we got the last time. We all know what it means. A mentally strong individual acknowledges responsibility for previous actions and is willing to learn from errors. According to research, one of the greatest strengths of successful executives and entrepreneurs is their self-reflective, accurate, and effective way of thinking.
Avoid the Green Monster trap. It takes strength of character to be genuinely pleased and enthused by other peopleโs achievements. Mentally strong people possess this skill. When others succeed, they donโt become jealous or resentful (although they may carefully observe what the individual did right). They work hard for their own success rather than taking shortcuts and are willing to do so.
Surrender when they fail. The most outstanding entrepreneurs acknowledge that many failures characterized their first efforts. Every failure provides an opportunity to improve. Mentally tough individuals are willing to fail repeatedly as long as they can learn from each โfailure.โ They donโt fear being alone; they treasure and even enjoy it. During their downtime, mentally strong individuals reflect, plan, and accomplish things. They donโt need others to keep them happy and cheerful, so they donโt rely on others. They can enjoy being with others and also enjoy being alone.
ย Understand that the world owes them nothing. Employees and executives at all levels realize that the world does not owe them a salary, rewards package, and an easy life regardless of their education and preparation. People with mental strength are prepared to work and succeed on their own merits at every stage of life.
Those who want immediate results will be disappointed. Even when they start a business or begin a workout plan, people with mental toughness are in it for the long haul. They know that they must take measured doses of time and energy and celebrate each step of success as they go. They have staying power and recognize that real change takes time.
Are you mentally tough? What areas of these habits do you need to strengthen?
There are always more questions than answers ๐ However, in the ACX Masters program, we cover all the bases and provide a set of tools and approaches that enable you to WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN in every CX initiative Join us soon!
> Most successful CX companies do these things to lift their game
> Steve Towers shares the winning strategies
> Model your own strategy based on leading CX next practices
This article is a build on terrific feedback from my recent piece โ5 Critical Failures of 80% of Customer Experience initiativesโ.
(You can see that here: https://bit.ly/CX5Results)
George Bernard Shaws observation is pertinent
โSuccess does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.โ
So with that in mind, letโs move beyond the mistakes and uncover the winning strategies and how best we can implement those insightful approaches.
Based on our recent work and research my report from the CX front line should help you rethink your approach in our collective endeavor to get more scientific about the customer experience.
In the earlier article, we identified five major errors and causes ofย failure. Letโs review how winning CX companies reframe those into successful strategies.
1. Top teams understand CX success and get out of the way of their people to let them get on with it.
To achieve strategic CX success, it is necessary to understand the limitations imposed by industrial-age thinking (getting better at doing the wrong stuff faster, functional specialisms, outdated reward systems) and help the organization migrate to Outside-In thinking and practices. At Zappos, for instance, it is more important to meet the customer (see Zappos hits the road.. http://bit.ly/Zappos2017), gather insights, and provide input to reshape the organization. The top team is actually out there โWe want to shake the customers hands, give them really big high fives and meet their friends โ delivering happiness and memorable experiences along the way,โ said Kristin Richmer, Senior Brand Marketing Manager, Zappos.
The task then is not overlaying the new insights onto an industrial age siloed world. It is actually to reshape the organization, its people, the reward systems, processes and systems to better deliver successful customer outcomes. Tony Hsieh reinforces this feed-forward approach โwe actually want to talk with customers more as 70% of our business are repeat buys. Hiding our contact details and making it difficult to talk is not our wayโ http://bit.ly/TonyHseih
2. Customer needs are understood and developed to create the organizational alignment towards successful customer outcomes.
Leading CX Companies have developed an a-b-c strategy when boiled down includes
(a) stop asking customers what they want
(b) get your head around current customer expectations, and
(c) articulate customer needs even when the customer doesnโt know what they are.
This effort is not a โone and done’, it is about continual learning and then the development of services and products that anticipate customer needs rather than following the outdated mantra of those organizations seeking more and more (often meaningless) feedback.
And Disney provides a demonstration of this a-b-c approach.
Consider this:
Disney World Orlando, is about 43 square miles, about twice the size of Manhattan. 30 million guests per year enjoy 4 theme parks: the Magic Kingdom, the Hollywood Studios, Epcot and the Animal Kingdom.
You can navigate to these parks by car, bus, monorail, boats and a ferry depending on your hotel โ and that in itself includes over 20 themed for your delight. Coupled with Disneys new wearable โMagic Bandsโ (seeย http://bit.ly/MagicBand) you receive a smooth personalized experience where ever you are.
This collection of entertainment is a dynamic living system focused on successful customer outcomes. With digital real-time feedback, Disney offers an integrated experience built around a co-ordinated set of business and customer outcomes, from the time you think of a trip, to the time you are back home with the kids.
3. Being customer-centric isnโt about projects โ it is a state of mind.
A great mistake of many is approaching customer experience as an initiative, something with a clearly defined start and end point. Appreciating CX is a state of mind for the whole company is a major differentiator and allows successful organizations to continually tweak and evolve, rather than live in a permanent state of project stop-start crisis. The guiding principle is, at the heart of CX, change is desirable, welcomed and systematic. It impacts everyone and everything all the time.
4. Successful CX transcends measures and implements a rigorous feedback/feed forward framework.
A recent analysis in the banking industry suggested that more than 85% of the total key performance indicators measured outputs โ things that get produced from activities.
Successful CX companies however have a very different profile and focus, their attention is on measuring outcomes โ the result of what is produced. To these companies this is not a semantic distinction, it underpins the total CX strategy. As a result, the measurement systems are simplified, and the focus on results rather than activity moves the dial towards customer centricity so much more quickly. Programs such as Disneys True North set a direction with supporting metrics, and rather than measure everything that moves they focus on the results and outcomes that need to be delivered to achieve successful customer outcomes. In this context, more than 75% of measures are โOutcomesโ with less than 25% outputs.
Test this for yourself in the call center. What are your top ten measurements, are they output-oriented or outcome-based? The former would be things like average handle time, abandon rates, downtime and so on. The latter would be the delivery of customer need, queries completely resolved (not the piece mean partial interim โfirst call resolutionโ type things measured with a functional bias).
In summary, CX leaders have fewer measures and the majority are now Outcome-based.
5. CX is both the strategy and the operational objective to overcome needless complexity.
A recent Forrester survey says 81% of CX professionals are mapping experiences from the customer’s perspective, but only 21% are mapping the ecosystem (processes, people, technology). In this context there are two opportunities that successful CX companies exploit:
i. CX can only be successful if you build a complete CX ecosystem mapย (we call that a CXecomap) which includes cause and effect and connects the people who deliver the customer experience with those people and systems who provide the means for it.
ii. CX Current state crisis.ย Successful CX companies can clearly articulate the what and how the organization should be doing to deliver great experiences. They do not become mired in the exercise of mapping all the current external and internal processes and systems (which can take years to complete and provides little in the way of direction for what should exist.)
These companies understand the reality that the current structure and systems were never created with excellent CX in mind but were in fact designed around an industrial age, production system based model. Accordingly, next practice is to utilize design principles that envision what should be, and then progressively mature and migrate the organization to that vision.
To conclude CX success doesnโt come from wishful thinking.ย It is a deliberate and sustained effort to understand and articulate the ever changing customer. To build a new trust with them that goes beyond the platitudes of the past. In the near term it is about becoming more scientific about the customer experience. In the longer term it is a guarantee of business success.
We have codified these CX next practice approaches into the CEMMethod (now version10). You can access that as a resource with others below.
The earlier article can be viewed here: โ5 Critical Failures of 80% of Customer Experience initiativesโ.ย http://bit.ly/CX2017
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 180 times, in 64 cities with delegates from 118 countries.
The program, now in its eleventh year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown โ simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Dr. Durrell Ramrathan is for many an unsung hero carving a path for the rest of us to follow as he takes CX and Analytics to the next level. This recent keynote is exactly what |I am talking about, chokka block full of useful practical guidance and some great stories at the same time.
Watch the presentation here and download the transcript below.
There are always more questions than answers ๐ However, in the ACX Masters program, we cover all the bases and provide a set of tools and approaches that enable you to WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN in every CX initiative Join us soon!
QUESTION 1: Why do so many organizations struggle to become truly customer-centric?
ANSWER: They are using an out-of-date mindset. The thinking is borrowed from the industrial age when optimizing production and throughput was the thing. That way of thinking is about production management, efficiency, effectiveness, and waste elimination. Does that sound familiar? The mindset is not exactly customer focussed.
Next
QUESTION 2: What is (probably) the biggest hurdle to becoming Outside-In and customer-focused?
ANSWER: It is getting passed this industrial age mindset and all the things that come with it. For instance, it is our reward structure. It’s the approach to employee empowerment. Another one is rigid out of date linear processes and systems. I think you get the picture.
Alright, one more concern.
QUESTION 3: If listening to the customer is so important, then what is โbest practiceโ and the emerging next practice?
ANSWER: Often times many companies try to drive forward by only looking in the rear-view mirror. That is by listening to subjective perceptual historic feedback rather than paying attention to every interaction 100% of the time.
The GOOD news isโฆ
In the ACX Masters program, we show you step-by-step how to handle these challenges so you donโt have to Fall into the Bear Pit.
You can get the full scoop and preview here at the BP Group site.
Cheers for now!
There are always more questions than answers ๐ However, in the ACX Masters program, we cover all the bases and provide a set of tools and approaches that enable you to WIN THE TRIPLE CROWN in every CX initiative Join us soon!
SEEING THE WORLD AS IT IS CAN BE A CHALLENGE FOR SO MANY PEOPLE
The other day I was rewatching The Matrix – can you believe that was released in 1999?… but I digress.
One of the most interesting scenes is where Morpheus presents Neo with a choice of the red pill or the blue pill. What was Neo’s response to the offer?
As described by Morpheus: “You take the blue pill…the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill…you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo chooses the red pill and joins the rebellion.
What will your choice be – Red or Blue?
Yes, he chose to see the world as it really is, not as it appeared to be….
Thatโs a lot like the choice companies face now. Do they carry on living in the blissful ignorance of a collective hallucination from the industrial age, or do they see the world as it really is now.
Maybe Iโm geeking out on this a bitโฆ
But when youโre as immersed as I am into Outside-In and Customer Centricity you just start seeing these little lessons everywhereโฆ even in popular films.
We do a lot more about moving beyond the hallucination during the ACX Masters 4 day program.
Simple things can be very very effective and that is certainly the case with this ‘go-to’ template. Based on the Next Practice of some of the worlds leading companies completing this could change the way you think and do business forever.
It is my first interaction with Top Teams and Leaders and I use it as my first conversation with anyone who says they are tasked with helping transform their organisations (and themselves sometimes!)
[PRESSRELEASE] DENVER, COLORADO – August 31st, 2022
BP Group, the leader and creator of the CEMMethodยฎ in 2006, announced that Multichoice Group Executive Head of Customer Experience and Operations, Roland D. Naidoo, successfully completed all the requirements to qualify as an Accredited OKR Coach fully.
For the full Press Release, go here OR click the button below.
When Steve Jobs kicked off the Customer Experience (CX) movement in 1997 (video here), he crystallized the idea of understanding customer NEEDS before doing anything else.
At the same time, another CX genius, Jeff Bezos, was three years into creating the most profitable company on the planet and precisely understood the working backwards imperative.
A young fresh-faced Jeff Bezos
There is this Need (even though customers donโt know it yet), and I can create the desire and meet that Need now. The rest is history. Watch the 2-minute video here.
Jeff Bezos
Do you want to embrace advanced Customer-Centric thinking and become Outside-In?
