I walked away from my favourite burger joint over two paid squirts of ketchup. In most eateries, whether standing in a chips-and-chicken shop in the middle of the night, or seated at a fancy restaurant, tomato sauce comes with fries, by the bottle! Their small savings turned a loyal customer into an ex-customer. It is a trivial example, but businesses often make penny-wise choices that erode their treasured customers' experience, loyalty and quietly drain revenue.
Even though the statistics on the impact of Customer Experience (CX) on competitiveness are eye-catching, it is hard for most leaders to articulate what needs to be done to make their companies more customer-centric. Companies that are leaders in CX achieve growth rates 3.4 times those of CX laggards, and leaders in CX can charge more than 16 percent more than their competitors. This is news that should make every leader sit up. Here is a simple four-step framework that teams can use to evaluate whether they are being customer-centric.
