2. CX for Founders

Last week I launched a challenge which I really liked, to type in the “name of an entrepreneur” followed by the word “customer” on Google and read what comes up. This challenge came up as a response to a question I was asked which I couldn’t immediately answer.

The question was: “Should a company’s founder worry about CX?”

Instinctively my answer would be a great “yes”, however, I needed more data to answer with propriety. In search of this data I went after the entrepreneurs I admire, companies which I’m a true fan of, so that I could understand how customer experience showed up in their radar.

Looking for Brian Chesky (Airbnb) I found an excellent article written by another entrepreneur I greatly admire, Reid Hoffman. In this he share’s Chesky’s 4 lessons tied to CX. These are lessons on how to draw a perfect experience for your customers and how important that truly is, specifically when your company hasn’t gained scale, while it learns what really delivers value to its customers.

Even though companies still fail at it, offering a good experience is already the benchmark. In order to stand out one must offer new experiences which impact their customers

When it came time to research Reed Hastings (Netflix) I found another excellent article, this time about how the analysis of customer data matters not only in the offering of the best experience, but also in the offering of something above and beyond what’s expected, what everyone else in the market is doing.

What I learned from this research

Even though entrepreneurs approach the problem in very different ways, the complete focus on the customer was there. The answer to that original question was there: a great “yes, every founder should care about CX”, but I think it deserves a somewhat greater depth, especially in regards to smaller companies.

First of all, let us rapidly talk about culture. CX is culture. A company which truly offers the best experience to its customers does not do so because it has the best processes but because the company’s culture was built in a way that each and every employee wants to offer the best experience and, so that it is possible to do so, then the best process is constructed.

It is a fundamental quality which makes it so that even before processes are perfect, every employee is already focused on doing what is possible to ensure the best experience and, thanks to that culture, the process will be created with the focus on the customer and not with the focus on the operation.

We cannot talk about culture in young companies without speaking about their founders. They are the ones who make the culture, their actions inspire their employees. It is their recognition and admonitions which, great or small, incentivize employees to care about the customer or the operation first.

However, creating a customer-centered culture is not the only reason instructing founders to obsess over their customers. You can easily imagine many benefits connected with product and problem understanding that such an obsession ensues. I’m talking about something a little harder to imagine.

“Welcome to the Experience Economy”, the article that made companies start moving towards the offering of the best CX was published 22 years ago — it is common, the greatest companies already know how to deliver it and their customers consider that having a good experience while interacting with the brand is the bare minimum.

Even though companies still fail at it, offering a good experience is already the benchmark. In order to stand out one must offer new experiences which impact their customers. One of the ways to impact is making them truly care and connect to the brand.

In order for them to care and connect you must know Who your company is. That is done by communicating purpose (and acting in consistency with it).

Purpose will be on the backdrop of every interaction the customer has with your brand. When the purpose is well communicated and consistent it allows for the bonds to be tightened and a connection be formed with greater depth than that which your customer has with other brands.

We circle back to the founders: they are the ones responsible for breeding the purpose.

If the purpose is unclear, if it is not aligned with what the customer seeks, if the founders aren’t capable of communicating and incorporating this purpose on the day to day of the company, customers will have difficulty connecting with the brand. The lack of connection will weaken the relationship and consequently decrease the impacts of a good experience.

Want a real live example? Check this TED Talk: The power of purpose in business by Ashley M. Grice.

No matter the founder’s profile, all of those which I admire have managed to create a strong culture and are faithful to the purpose they communicate since the company was made.