Where Do You Go from Here to Become a Customer Expert
You are ready to become a Customer Expert, based on what you have learned in this book.
1.Understand What Customers Value and Related Customer Tools. First, understand what Customers value and why they buy. To do this, you have to understand and use principles of Customer Value, its terminology, its usage, and its advantage both for quantitative metrics such as Customer Value Added and mind-set changes and implementation of Customer Value techniques such as Customer Strategy, Customer-Centric Circles, Customer Bill of Rights and the Circle of Promises, Zero complaints, and so on. You must use Total Customer Value Management (Total CVM) effectively.
In summary, understand Customers and what they value, and have the mind-set to add value to them.
2.Know More than Your Colleagues and Be Recognized as the Customer Expert. With your enhanced learning, two things will happen. You will have more knowledge than your colleagues, and you can start using some of the knowledge. Using more of your knowledge will require your educating your colleagues and bosses, and slowly the Total CVM program will take hold. But certainly start where you can with what is within your control. First, change yourself and your thinking. Unlearn old ideas. Bring in the new ones. Impact those close to you before expanding further.
Remember, to be effective, you must break silos, have teamwork with all departments in offering the Customer a seamless experience and enhanced value.
3.It’s All about Mind-set and Attitude. To be successful, you must have the right mind-set. You know that when you are in your company or your mind is focussed on your functional job, you are trained to think like an executive, and not like a Customer. Once in a while, take of your executive hat and wear your Customer hat. See and feel the difference. Inculcate a Customer mind-set. Help your front line people with a Customer attitude and mind-set. Just don’t keep training them on skills. Help them into a self-education and a self-reflection way of learning. Let them tell you what they want to do for the Customer. Help them in this process.
A great feeling for the Customer and doing the right thing for her will emerge. Combine this thinking with Customer-friendly processes.
4.Go from Being a Functional Manager to Being a Value Creator. All this learning will move you from being a functional manager to being a Value Creator. Consciously, create value and think of ways to do this for yourself and the Customer. Destroy less value.
Once you create more value for yourself, and create value for others, who in return will create value for you, you will be a successful Customer Expert.
Recall that a Customer Expert creates Value for the ecosystem: for herself, her colleagues, her employees, her partners, supply chain and delivery chain, society, and for the shareholder.
5.Join Associations and Learn from Others. Join associations like Customer Value Creation International, Customer Think, and Linked in sites, such as the Journal of Creating Value. Interact with Customer Value Foundation and Customer Value Creation International.
Learn from others. Become leaders of next practices. Do not just seek best practices.
Do see if you are ready by using the following Executive’s Customer Value scorecard.
Good luck!
For any help you can reach me at [email protected]
The Company and the Executive’s Customer Value Scorecard
