An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
We had a bit of fun this week with the completely revised and updated CPP Masters program. Working with a terrific organisation who dedicate themselves to helping their community – Can:Do (see http://www.candogroup.com.au/) ten people qualified as CPP Masters.
This is in addition to the folks who achieved Masterdom last year at the Sydneys 14th CPP Master event.
Here’s three snippets, the first using signing. Thanking you Can:Do for all you do.
This next one is the Certificate handout with a synopsis of the program.
And finally the earlier session in Sydney from 2014
Join us to learn the Secrets of Apples, Googles, Zara, Zappos and Amazons success
Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Stop making dumb things happen faster for less money!
A lot of companies pay lip service to customer-centricity, write contributors Steve Towers and James Dodkins, but not many “walk the talk”. Here are 10 differences between inside-out and outside-in companies.
There is a lot of talk today, more than ever, about customer centricity, client focus, customer experience strategy and Outside-In. Many organizations have adopted aspects of these disciplines and where many have achieved monumental success others have fallen by the wayside. Why is this? The problem is perception.
Countless organizations have said all the right things to make the workforce believe that they are becoming a customer-focused organization and then doing the complete opposite.
The effect of this is rising costs, shrinking revenues and ever lowering customer satisfaction.
The problem with this is that there is now a collective of organizations that have a “customer centricity doesn’t work” mentality. It’s like putting a rain hat in your pocket, going out into a storm, getting wet hair, then swearing the hat is useless. Just having the Outside-In customer centricity ideals is not enough; you have to use them in the right way.
So, how do you know if you work in an Outside-In organization or an Inside-Out organization wearing an Outside-In mask?
Table 1: Inside-Out or Outside-In?
Inside Out – attending to tasks and activities
Outside In – aligning to Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO’s)
Doing things right
Doing the Right things AND doing things right
1
Pyramidal management knows best
Context and customer defined
2
Business as a factory (left to right)
Customer Oriented Architectures
3
Benchmarking competitors
Determine customer needs and trends
4
Customer feedback retrospective
Customer needs designed and delivered
5
Process Improvement and optimization
Customer Experience innovation
6
DMAIC/SIPOC/DFSS/Lean
CEMMethod/4D’s
7
Improving efficiencies
Developing value for the customer
8
Model and method oriented
Customer journey and experience focus
9
Top down business architectures
Customer centric frameworks (context sensitive)
10
Remuneration for tasks completed
Rewards based on delivery of SCO’s
Let’s review the not so subtle differences
#1: Pyramidal management Does your CEO really know the most about your organization? Can your CEO really relate to customers? Let’s face it, your CEO probably hasn’t spoken to a customer in years (if ever) so, why are they best qualified to determine how your organization is run? Maybe they aren’t…
#2: Business managed as a factory (left to right)
What percent of the work within your organization is manufacturing? What if you don’t manufacture anything? Then why does everything within your organization look like a factory?
We can’t meet the future with an industrial age mindset… join the rest of us in the 21st century.
#3: Benchmarking competitors
If you benchmark against other competitors you will, at best, only ever be as good as them, no better, most of the time worse and you will always be one step behind the trend.
Are you still managing a business that you think looks like this?
Rather than focusing on what your competitors are doing, focus on what the real need of the customer is and deliver that, innovate the customer experience, there is no easier way to become a market leader…let your competitors benchmark you.
#4: Retrospective customer feedbackAsking customers “how did we do” is stupid, asking customers “how did we do” 3 weeks after it happened is even more stupid, allowing customer to self-select for a survey to tell you how you did 3 weeks after is happened is even more stupid than that.
If you want to get totally non-representative, inaccurate, and relatively useless data on how some customers may have felt you performed at some point then the traditional methods are fine (NPS, CSi, etc).
To measure a customer experience properly and objectively you need to first know what makes a great customer experience and measure if you are doing those things, we need to get scientific about the customer experience (CXRating). If you are still in the land of subjective, self-selecting, retrospective feedback, chances are you have no idea just how well, or poorly, you are performing…even if you think you do.
#5: Focus only on process improvement and optimizationTaking what you are already doing and making it happen in a shorter time frame, more efficiently or for less operating cost is not good enough any more. If you are doing dumb things all you are doing is making dumb things happen faster for less money.
You should focus on innovating the customer experience. Any work within your organization is caused by a customer interaction somewhere down the line. If you engineer and innovate at the causal level, you will make the customer experience better and eliminate swathes of pointless dumb work that you are wasting time on every single day…simple really isn’t it?
#6: Trying to use DMAIC/SIPOC/DFSS/Lean to optimize the customer experienceIf you are using process improvement methodologies that were created to optimize manufacturing processes to optimize the customer experience then you will find yourself in a mess.
Use a 21st century methodology like the CEMMethod that was designed for this day and age to really turbo charge your customer experience efforts. Have you ever heard the phrase “trying to fit a square peg into a round hole”? Methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma were great at what they were created to do, but they were not created to improve customer experience… and therefore won’t.
#7: Improving efficiencies for internal customers onlyTrying to make things more efficient for yourselves inside your organization – more often than not – will actually make things worse for the customer. Don’t just perpetuate the Inside-Out mindset. You need to make sure that everything you are doing is actually creating value for customers. Don’t focus on internal customers, focus on real customers… they pay your wages.
#8: Model and method orientedDon’t get shackled by the oppression of the models and methods that ‘the man’ has said you should use. You shouldn’t focus on trying to implement a model or method you should be focused on how to make the customer experience better… whatever it takes.
#9: Top down business architecturesDo you work in an environment when the person above you tells you what to do and you tell the people below you what to do? If your whole working life is focused on trying to make your boss happy what aren’t you focusing on? That’s right, the customer.
As soon as we enter a habitat like this we make a habit out of ignoring what’s right for the customer over what is perceived to be right for the organization. I’m not saying you’ll be able to change this overnight, I’m just saying it’s wrong and will eventually lead to your organizations downfall… don’t get left behind.
#10: Remuneration for tasks completedIf you pay people for doing stupid things, they get very good at doing them. Traditionally, you will get paid for completing tasks and activities, filling in forms, processing invoices, taking calls etc.
If everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) was paid for delivering customer success just imagine how different your working environment would be. Empowering workers to be able to do whatever it takes to deliver customer success is the polar opposite of workers having to complete X number of forms in a day… this is maybe the biggest game changer of them all.
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Everything changes- businesses, people, relationships, products, food- you name it. If everything is changing, why would a successful business stick to the same old tired routine? We’ve noticed it before- rapidly destabilizing work environments, unhappy employees, and unhappy customers. What used to work simply isn’t doing it anymore.
Why?
Because age old tactics like Lean Six Sigma that only approach customers as an end to reduce waste, whereas the only true focus is to reduce waste and lower costs are driving customers away.
Good businesses operate with an “outside- in” approach that allows them to succeed in the highly transparent times that technology has created. Instead of putting your customers at the end of the list- most modern, successful businesses (like Google, Acuity, Twitter or Intuit) have started putting the customer first. Sure, it’s a novel idea, but the end result is the same- to increase sales, do what customers want. There are a wide variety of ways that modern companies are approaching this topic:
User Experience Technicians
Enterprise Feedback Management
Voice/Needs of the Customer
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Understanding CEM (Customer Experience Management)
But in general, it’s all about simply collecting and analyzing the things that customers say about your brand, business or market. Then, you have measure the gap between what you’re doing and what you want to do, and close the gap. The way modern businesses are doing this is by supporting the idea that positive customer experiences fuel sales and retain customers- and that’s going to increase the overall organization’s market position.
There are 8 Ways to Achieve the Outside- In Approach In Your Business
1. Figure out who your customer is.
2. Define what outcome you want your customer to have.
3. Figure out how to align your goals with your customer goals (this is called SCO [Successful Customer Outcome] in the business world)
4. Identify what is keeping your customer experience scores lower than perfect
5. Use these scores and interpretations to figure out your weak points internally and eliminate them
6. Establish plans that reinforce achievement of your SCO to boost sales exponentially
7. Execute your plan as you go
8. Don’t wait to improve your customer’s experience, start now instead of waiting for a sign off from upper executives
When all your eggs fall into the right basket, everything works perfectly. Your business revenues skyrocket, your employees are happier because your customers are happier, and you’re lowering costs because you’ve cut out the parts that aren’t working, and buying more because you can afford to branch out. The facts are thus:
-You’ll see 10% pipeline conversion to your competitors
-40% increases in staff productivity
-25-30% improvement to customer retention
-lower costs across the board
Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Forrester Research’s[1] recent report suggested that despite good intent many Customer Journey Mapping initiatives fail. Why is this so despite the often significant investment required, the many consultants offering help, and the good intent of the people involved? The key reason in our findings is that fundamentally Customer Journey Mapping does not sufficiently represent the Complete Customer Experience and instead skates the surface and emphasizes just customer touch points and the customer lifecycle.
So how do you represent the Complete Customer Experience?
The BP Groups research with 800+ clients worldwide in the last two years provides us with an easy to apply 1-2-3 guide to maximise the chances of success.
Ensure your mapping exercise encompasses (a) the customer experience – the moments of truth, and (b) the internal interactions which contribute to the moments of truth, the handovers and business rules within our organizations.[2] The reality here is that all work an organization does is ultimately spawned from those moments of truth. Hence you need to map the complete customer experience.
Understand the Successful Customer Outcome[3]. Mapping is a worthy task however it needs to have context. Do you fully comprehend the real customer needs that shape the customer experience? There are organizations that spend years customer journey mapping with context. Why are we doing this and what is the ultimate Successful Customer Outcome? It should come as no great surprise that top teams lose faith with efforts that lack clear definition and purposeful delivery.
Focus on mapping the Causes of Work[4]. It stands to reason that identifying the causes of work and then seeking to eliminate them will significantly reduce costs and improve service simultaneously. All too often process improvement work focuses on the tasks and activities that are an ‘effect’ created by a ’cause’. Masking the pain never works, it will get worse and spreads. You need to identify the Cause of the pain and eliminate it. This then becomes a ‘seek and destroy’ mission and as a consequence Customer Journey Map’s should be broad and deep. It is about the Causes of Work that create the activity across functional silo’s. By identifying the very Causes of Work and in subsequently fixing them much of the internal complexity becomes unnecessary. Do not get deflected by specialists who may be fixed in a shape of work created decades ago.
The Complete Customer Experience represents a unified view that enables Customer Journey Map’s to deliver success from the get go.
Customer journey mapping is just the beginning of customer centric transformation. To deliver ultimate success you need to include the complete customer experience – not just the bits directly experienced by the customer but as importantly how the internal systems and processes are wired. Reframing the organisation to achieve success requires a multi disciplinary effort involving the front line, the back office, the top team and the technologists. For a more detailed review of emerging shape of organisations James Dodkins latest book ‘Foundations for Customer Centricity’ is short and stimulating read. You can download a complimentary copy at this link:http://bit.ly/foundationsEbook
In summary Customer Journey Mapping should be inclusive – let’s make it so.
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
James Dodkins new eBook launched in December 2014, “Foundations for Customer Centricity.” explores the basis of what makes a great CustomerExperience.
The book delivers a pragmatic and executable plan that provides the means for organizations to deliver on the promise of Customer Centricity in terms of cost, revenue and service.
Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program
Orlando USA March 16-20, Denver USA March 23-27, Dubai UAE Apr 12-16http://www.bpgroup.org/book-class.html
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Become a qualified CPP-Master and demonstrate your professionalismhttp://www.bpgroup.org/book-class.html
We all need a better picture, one that represents both the outside and the in. A representation that brings a clear view of the customer, their interactions and the resulting internal dialogue across people, systems, process and rules. That is what we have here. Something new. Something shiny. And…. something proven.
Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program
Orlando USA March 16-20, Denver USA March 23-27, Dubai UAE Apr 12-16http://www.bpgroup.org/book-class.html
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Become a qualified CPP-Master and demonstrate your professionalismhttp://www.bpgroup.org/book-class.html
Has Net Promoter Score gone passed its shelf life? On a scale of 1-10 what would you respond? And would you kindly refer me to a friend?
Seriously though the popular NPS (well with certain executive teams) seems to have run its course.
This last year has seen a clutch of leading companies coming to the same conclusion, simply put we have to get more scientific about the Customer Experience.
Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program
Orlando USA March 16-20, Denver USA March 23-27, Dubai UAE Apr 12-16http://www.bpgroup.org/book-class.html
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
Become a qualified CPP-Master and demonstrate your professionalismhttp://www.bpgroup.org/book-class.html
It’s a confusing world out there. At the last count there were over 19,000 improvement methodologies (Wikipedia) all geared to helping organizations get better at business. So at least there’s always been plenty of choice depending on your particular flavor of the month however one has to ask the question why so many and why do even the better ones fail to help our companies adapt and change?
Regular readers of our stuff will know we can be quite outspoken on this matter, and it’s
best summed up by the phrase “you may be doing things right, but are you doing the right thing?”.
The vast majority of techniques, approaches and methods are misleadingly geared to fixing problems, and essentially getting better at doing things right. That was fine in the 19th and 20th century world where efficiency was king. Not anymore where effectiveness and efficiency are a ‘business as usual’ prerequisite for business success. However just getting better at what you currently do (doing things right) has also become the road to hell of diminishing returns. The harder we try, the tighter we get, the poorer the gain each time around.
Let’s contrast that with doing the right thing. Here we seek to determine what the right thing is, and in our language it centers on Successful Customer Outcomes (SCOs). And that isn’t about (just) filling forms correctly, tightening bolts or producing widgets. It is a philosophy that seeks to improve our alignment in everything we do towards the SCO. It is geared to understanding Causes rather than fixing effects, and unfortunately again so much of what is called ‘improvement’ is about fixing effects, rather than flushing out the causes of work and the Points of failure (POF).
The approach we espouse, which we call Customer Experience Management Method (CEMMethod), has a set of principles and philosophy that makes sure everything you do improves the SCO. CEMMethod helps an organization bring their processes, systems, strategy and people into ‘outside-in’ alignment.
Does CEMMethod work? Absolutely and that’s precisely what allows those leading companies to carry on creating clear water between themselves and the nearest ‘inside-out’ rivals.
So how could we compare the recent emergence of CEMM with less effective approaches like Six Sigma and Lean? Easy..
Six Sigma – Fixing problems. Doing Things Right. For example people may not be filling in a form correctly. Six Sigma understands how often, where and what could be done to improve accuracy of the form.
Lean – Doing Things Right, and sometimes doing the Right Thing. Similar to Six Sigma however goes a stage further in removing waste associated with form completion by removing unnecessary steps and sometimes as a consequence negates the need for a form entirely. In doing so occasionally, but not by design, stumbles into doing the right thing.
Both Six Sigma and Lean don’t challenge directly whether the form helps to achieve an SCO. Conversely,
CEMMethod – Doing the Right Thing. Doing it Right, doing it even Better. Asks whether the form contributes to the achievement of the SCO. If it doesn’t we stop doing this dumb stuff. It is typical to find that a massive amount of work in a CEMM examined process becomes unnecessary and in doing so frees up scarce resource.
The good news is that those ‘outside-in’ success stories can help all of us embrace the SCO and identify and achieve immediate substantive triple crown benefits for our organizations.
Terms used in this article:
CEM – Customer Experience Management CEMMethod – Customer Experience Management Method SCOs – Successful Customer Outcomes POFs – Points of Failure Triple Crown – Concurrently Improving Revenues, Enhancing Service and Reducing Costs. Inside-Out – viewing the organization as a self sustaining functional enterprise focused on division of labor Outside-In – understanding and living an approach that recognizes the only reason an organization exists is to deliver SCOs. In doing so achieving Triple Crown benefits which benefit the Customer, the companies employees and the shareholders.
Certified Process Professional Masters (CPP-Master) Program
An internationally recognized program with proven track record delivered by been there and done it coaches more than 130 times, in 52 cities with delegates from 105 countries. The program, now in its tenth year, utilizes the BP Groups approaches and framework to help you and your organization win the triple crown – simultaneously reduce costs, grow revenues and enhance service. Producing Immediate and sustainable business results across any industry and sector.
