This past month, I have had the privilege of addressing some pretty diverse groups. From the leading social media marketers on the planet…to those top-level customer experience professionals in Australia.
The end result is that I am glad, mad, and excited.
Here’s where I’m glad: I was dramatically reminded that there are sincere and dynamic professionals in marketing and who are totally committed to deliver “Ultimate Customer Experiences ®” to those who seek to do business with their organizations.
These aren’t smarmy marketers who are trying to be so slick that they rope you into buying something you neither need nor want. They are high-integrity professionals who seek to inform and execute on strategies that will interest and engage you and earn your ongoing commitment.
The world needs more people like the ones I met at Social Media Marketing World and CustomerExperience 360.
Here’s where I’m mad: Here are two challenges I heard repeatedly:
- Our senior leadership isn’t involved or committed to enhancing the customer experience
- Our senior leadership doesn’t coordinate the efforts we are making in marketing with the progress we are making in the customer experience
What they aren’t saying (to me, anyway) is this: our leadership team doesn’t “get it.”
Every C-suite executive should be obsessed with the experience customers receive when doing business with you. It should be “job one.” If it’s not, it’s a poor reflection upon the executive’s understanding of what generates profitability for the business — and lack of insight about the future of business, as well.
I spent some time recently with my friend — and favorite CEO — Michael Bartsch of VW Group Australia. Even as car dealers in his country are struggling with economic challenges coming from aspects outside their control, Aussie VW dealers are doing better (on average) than competing dealers. Why? In part, it’s because of Bartsch’s — and his Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Jason Bradshaw’s — relentless pursuit of enhancing the experience that VW customers receive.
Their efforts have traction because they come from the top. Yet, I often see pompous so-called “leaders” who are obsessed with driving down costs or some other activity at the expense of what customers experience. That is the same path that the leaders at Sears, Circuit City, and a host of other organizations followed, as well.
A student can graduate from some medical schools and become a doctor without taking a single course on seriously studying “bedside manner” and patient communication. In the same vein, you can obtain an MBA — even a Ph.D in business — from many august institutions without thoroughly studying the impact of the customer experience on profitability.
That drives me crazy.
No honorable professional should be pursuing the goal of enhancing the customer experience and marketing integrity without the total and complete support and leadership from the C-suite.
Here’s where I’m glad: There are more tools than ever to market with integrity and to deliver an “Ultimate Customer Experience.®”
I wish I could live to be 150! I’m so excited to see how organizations will communicate and connect with customers in the future, it gives me goose bumps. Does that mean I’m excited about everything going on in the world today? Of course not.
However, change is going to happen whether I am opposed or supportive. There’s no stopping it. So, what I’ve realized is this: if it’s going to happen whether I like it or not, my world becomes so much easier if I decide to be excited about it.
We see too many people clinging to a past that no longer exists. In fact, perhaps that’s a decent definition of irrelevancy.
YOU have to make a choice: will you embrace the future, or adhere to an irrelevant past?
I don’t know about you, but I choose to embrace the future! It does not mean I have to love everything that it generates. However, I am going to get on this roller coaster and savor the ride!
No matter where you are on your pathway — personal or professional — I invite you to do the same. Be glad, mad, and excited. Be passionate about the opportunities and tools that are all around us to become better than we have ever been!
