Successful teams are made up of the right people. This is true in sports and it is true in customer experience work.
While larger companies are able to build a team of many people, it is typical to have a customer experience team of just a few or even a ‘team of one’.
In situations where it is a ‘team of one’, do everything possible to find the person possessing as many of the components listed below.
Components of successful Customer Experience Teams
- The people on the team must understand and embrace what CX is and what it takes to see success.
- They must be passionate about CX and the way it will improve the way the company works with their customers and the way they’ll be better able to engage with customers.
- They have to understand the specific goals of your CX program and the benefits to both the customer and the company.
- Your CX team needs to be self-motivated and driven. Especially if the team is new, they will be charged with educating everyone within the company how CX works and what their individual impact will be.
But be very clear on this: your CX team can be as motivated as they want to be, but they must be supported and encouraged by the leadership team.
Without this, most efforts will be fruitless and “just another thing we have to do.” CX work will drive most of the decisions you make as a company, so leadership must be on board and support the team in their efforts.
When selecting your CX team, be sure to consider that CX work incorporates both ends of the typical spectrum: data and emotions. The data often indicates a change in customer engagement or behavior patterns.
The people on the CX team need to complement and challenge each other from both the data and the emotional levels. As in your company culture, you need to hire for the right fit, but not clones of one particular personality type. They need to advocate for the customer and the business from the standpoint of making the customers’ world better.
About the Author
Kristina Evey is improving the way companies connect with their customers and increase their profits, she is an accomplished speaker and trainer on customer satisfaction and retention.
