Getting CX Organizations Aligned

So, you’ve identified your infrastructure brand’s CX champion (maybe it’s even you). But your leaders are struggling to align upon a new series of metrics that go beyond satisfaction and loyalty to actually measure timely engagement. This requires brands to set clear expectations and then follow through on them to engender ongoing trust. Getting CX organizations aligned is a must.

Gaining this alignment is the starting point to building a stronger CX culture. That means achieving alignment from executive leaders on the business outcomes they seek and then illuminating how these business objectives intersect with customer experience improvements. And the research backs this up:

• Forrester Research reports that aligned sales and marketing organizations achieved an average of 32% annual revenue growth, while less aligned companies reported an average 7% decline in revenue.
• MarketingProfs says organizations with tightly aligned sales and marketing had 36% higher customer retention rates and achieved 38% higher sales win rates than their competitors.

Schedule a strategic planning and alignment session where all the important stakeholders — leaders, subject matter experts, etc. — are clear on the work ahead. They must have buy-in on the scope and scale of the effort and must help define priorities, even if they don’t end up building the strategies to execute them.

Flashback: So You Think You Need a Workshop

At the foundational stage, there are typically more questions than answers. That’s okay. The key is to identify the outcomes the organization seeks to achieve.

Using the analogy of a house, only after the foundation is built can the subsequent framing and building happen. In fact, these are the three phases of our simple model representing the marketing maturity curve. Just as a home must have a foundation before its walls are framed – much less a roof or landscaping – marketing CX maturity requires similar steps to achieve sophistication. Gaining alignment from leaders and stakeholders is key to building a strong foundation for success.

For a deeper look at the three-phase model used to gain alignment and achieve better CX, download our full eBook. The Big Lil’ Book of CX offers actual tips, tricks and tools that you can use today to gain alignment.
 

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