Customer orientation needs a new corporate organization
Editorial
-
July 7, 2017
The main task of a company of the future? It is to make a contribution to the quality of life and the professional and/or business success of its customers. Success is no longer achieved at the expense of others or the environment, but by improving people's lives, which is why any form of leadership today must begin with the following questions:- What impact does our business have on society and the environment?- What contribution do our products/services make to a future worth living?- How do we create a home port for our employees?- How do we create a place of longing for our customers?This is about wanting to have, wanting to participate, emotions and meaning - embedded in an increasingly technologized world. Meaning and the associated experience of happiness arise when empowered employees are able to perform tasks that are as concrete as possible and in which they experience themselves as essential. Each of us was born as unique individuals with a powerful will to create, to lead a life full of meaning - and not to be an externally determined cog in the corporate machine.First and foremost: a new organizational modelThe customer is not even mentioned in the usual pyramidal top-down organizational charts. They are a pure self-aggrandizement program for top management. They focus on power and not on the market. They cement hierarchical thinking, rigidity and conformity. Such systems of order are like the monocultures in our forests: unhealthy and unsustainable in the long term. They don't stand a chance in the digital storm, even if you are (still) operating successfully on the market: Quickly start a process with the aim of reinventing yourself from the inside out. This is not just about digitalization in production and other areas of the company, but above all about new working and management models. What's more, the entire organizational structure of a company needs to be rethought and repositioned. The diagram I propose for this, which is explained in detail in my new book "Fit for the Next Economy", does not show an organizational chart, but the basic idea of a corporate organization for today and tomorrow. Rigid hierarchies and isolated silos do not exist here. Everything revolves around the purpose of the company and its customers: There are bridge builders between all the large areas, shown here as differently colored, permeable circles, who connect the respective neighboring circles with each other. The links between the purpose and the customers are the (unpaid!) influencers and WOM activists. They (and not advertising) are the key influencers of purchasing decisions today. WOM stands for Word of Mouth, i.e. word of mouth, reviews, testimonials and recommendations.Purpose: at the heart of an organizationIf you want to initiate organizational restructuring, you first need to define the purpose of the company. This has very little to do with the vision formulations and guiding principles of the past, often called mission statements. These are communication prose for the public, which nobody believes in internally anyway. Today, top talent and customers expect a company to pursue loftier goals than market leadership and maximum returns. They want to know what value a provider offers the world and its people. So Google does not say, as old-school companies would: "We are the largest search engine operator in the world", but: "We organize the world's information." This utility value, the reason for being, the why of a company is called "purpose". This "purpose" is so attractive that people want to own the provider's products, use its services and/or work with it. As a customer, employee and supplier, you would love to support such an ecosystem, be a part of it and be proud to report on it.Customer obsession: thinking and acting from the customer's perspectiveWhile conventional managers think primarily about the competition, their quarterly targets and costs, smart entrepreneurs have long understood that everything revolves around customers (and their data). They look specifically for problems and a suitable solution. They call this "thinking from the customer's perspective". Amazon is also following this path. Anyone who has ever had to deal with their customer service in a tricky situation will know what I mean. "We see ourselves as inventors who want to make the world a better place for our customers," says Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO and second in command to Jeff Bezos, in an interview with Wirtschaftswoche. "In every country I visit, I first find out what customer satisfaction is like there. Only then do I look at the sales figures. "Today, companies are driven by customer wishes. What customers "dislike" falls through. What they praise to the skies, on the other hand, can achieve global fame. Accelerated by digital application programs, they move incredibly fast. Their expectations rise daily. From their point of view, the benchmark is not the competition, but the best in their field across all industries.At the touchpoints: customer-centric instead of process-obsessedTraditional companies are usually just chasing after what prospective customers and consumers want and desire today. Many will lose this race. The braking power of their structures, the inertia of their processes and outdated mindsets are throwing them out of the race. Above all, they are good at making procedures cumbersome, stealing time from their customers and making them feel bad. Customers used to grumble about this. But those days are long gone, and marketing, which in many cases is increasingly becoming an advertising juggernaut and data junkie, will have to reorganize itself as quickly as possible. Silo mentality, isolated activities and departmental egotism are no longer acceptable. Experts from the individual disciplines will gather around customer groups and projects and do the best they can for customers. All activities at the individual touchpoints will be synchronized. The core task of the customer touchpoint manager is to act as a bridge builder at the company's external touchpoints, i.e. the points of contact between products, services, brands, employees, portals and customers, in order to achieve a 100% customer focus. This function is cross-functional. Its goal is to transform the entire company into a networked, customer-oriented organization.Further training in customer management: training to become a certified Customer Touchpoint Manager from August 24 to 26, 2017 in MunichThe future of a company depends on what actually happens at the touchpoints in the "moments of truth" between provider and customer. All areas of the company must therefore focus on the customer's well-being. This requires not only customer touchpoint management but also a customer touchpoint manager. Their core task is to enable one hundred percent customer orientation and to ensure a consistently positive, inspiring and reliable customer experience across all departments. The three-day training course to become a certified Customer Touchpoint Manager is primarily aimed at ambitious employees from the areas of marketing and customer service who want to ensure their employer's competitiveness in the context of our new business world and with the help of this additional qualification. It will take place in Munich from August 24 to 26, 2017. For further information and to register here. The book "Fit for the Next Economy" is available here.*Anne M. Schüller is a management thinker, keynote speaker, multiple award-winning bestselling author and business coach. With a degree in business administration, she is considered Europe's leading expert in touchpoint management and customer-focused corporate transformation. She is one of the most sought-after speakers in the German-speaking world. In 2015, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the German Speakers Association. Her clientele includes the elite of the business world. Her Touchpoint Institute trains certified touchpoint managers. Contact: www.anneschueller.de
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The main task of a company of the future? It is to make a contribution to the quality of life and the professional and/or business success of its customers. Success is no longer achieved at the expense of others or the environment, but by improving people's lives, which is why any form of leadership today must begin with the following questions:- What impact does our business have on society and the environment?- What contribution do our products/services make to a future worth living?- How do we create a home port for our employees?- How do we create a place of longing for our customers?This is about wanting to have, wanting to participate, emotions and meaning - embedded in an increasingly technologized world. Meaning and the associated experience of happiness arise when empowered employees are able to perform tasks that are as concrete as possible and in which they experience themselves as essential. Each of us was born as unique individuals with a powerful will to create, to lead a life full of meaning - and not to be an externally determined cog in the corporate machine.First and foremost: a new organizational modelThe customer is not even mentioned in the usual pyramidal top-down organizational charts. They are a pure self-aggrandizement program for top management. They focus on power and not on the market. They cement hierarchical thinking, rigidity and conformity. Such systems of order are like the monocultures in our forests: unhealthy and unsustainable in the long term. They don't stand a chance in the digital storm, even if you are (still) operating successfully on the market: Quickly start a process with the aim of reinventing yourself from the inside out. This is not just about digitalization in production and other areas of the company, but above all about new working and management models. What's more, the entire organizational structure of a company needs to be rethought and repositioned. The diagram I propose for this, which is explained in detail in my new book "Fit for the Next Economy", does not show an organizational chart, but the basic idea of a corporate organization for today and tomorrow. Rigid hierarchies and isolated silos do not exist here. Everything revolves around the purpose of the company and its customers: There are bridge builders between all the large areas, shown here as differently colored, permeable circles, who connect the respective neighboring circles with each other. The links between the purpose and the customers are the (unpaid!) influencers and WOM activists. They (and not advertising) are the key influencers of purchasing decisions today. WOM stands for Word of Mouth, i.e. word of mouth, reviews, testimonials and recommendations.Purpose: at the heart of an organizationIf you want to initiate organizational restructuring, you first need to define the purpose of the company. This has very little to do with the vision formulations and guiding principles of the past, often called mission statements. These are communication prose for the public, which nobody believes in internally anyway. Today, top talent and customers expect a company to pursue loftier goals than market leadership and maximum returns. They want to know what value a provider offers the world and its people. So Google does not say, as old-school companies would: "We are the largest search engine operator in the world", but: "We organize the world's information." This utility value, the reason for being, the why of a company is called "purpose". This "purpose" is so attractive that people want to own the provider's products, use its services and/or work with it. As a customer, employee and supplier, you would love to support such an ecosystem, be a part of it and be proud to report on it.Customer obsession: thinking and acting from the customer's perspectiveWhile conventional managers think primarily about the competition, their quarterly targets and costs, smart entrepreneurs have long understood that everything revolves around customers (and their data). They look specifically for problems and a suitable solution. They call this "thinking from the customer's perspective". Amazon is also following this path. Anyone who has ever had to deal with their customer service in a tricky situation will know what I mean. "We see ourselves as inventors who want to make the world a better place for our customers," says Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO and second in command to Jeff Bezos, in an interview with Wirtschaftswoche. "In every country I visit, I first find out what customer satisfaction is like there. Only then do I look at the sales figures. "Today, companies are driven by customer wishes. What customers "dislike" falls through. What they praise to the skies, on the other hand, can achieve global fame. Accelerated by digital application programs, they move incredibly fast. Their expectations rise daily. From their point of view, the benchmark is not the competition, but the best in their field across all industries.At the touchpoints: customer-centric instead of process-obsessedTraditional companies are usually just chasing after what prospective customers and consumers want and desire today. Many will lose this race. The braking power of their structures, the inertia of their processes and outdated mindsets are throwing them out of the race. Above all, they are good at making procedures cumbersome, stealing time from their customers and making them feel bad. Customers used to grumble about this. But those days are long gone, and marketing, which in many cases is increasingly becoming an advertising juggernaut and data junkie, will have to reorganize itself as quickly as possible. Silo mentality, isolated activities and departmental egotism are no longer acceptable. Experts from the individual disciplines will gather around customer groups and projects and do the best they can for customers. All activities at the individual touchpoints will be synchronized. The core task of the customer touchpoint manager is to act as a bridge builder at the company's external touchpoints, i.e. the points of contact between products, services, brands, employees, portals and customers, in order to achieve a 100% customer focus. This function is cross-functional. Its goal is to transform the entire company into a networked, customer-oriented organization.Further training in customer management: training to become a certified Customer Touchpoint Manager from August 24 to 26, 2017 in MunichThe future of a company depends on what actually happens at the touchpoints in the "moments of truth" between provider and customer. All areas of the company must therefore focus on the customer's well-being. This requires not only customer touchpoint management but also a customer touchpoint manager. Their core task is to enable one hundred percent customer orientation and to ensure a consistently positive, inspiring and reliable customer experience across all departments. The three-day training course to become a certified Customer Touchpoint Manager is primarily aimed at ambitious employees from the areas of marketing and customer service who want to ensure their employer's competitiveness in the context of our new business world and with the help of this additional qualification. It will take place in Munich from August 24 to 26, 2017. For further information and to register here. The book "Fit for the Next Economy" is available here.*Anne M. Schüller is a management thinker, keynote speaker, multiple award-winning bestselling author and business coach. With a degree in business administration, she is considered Europe's leading expert in touchpoint management and customer-focused corporate transformation. She is one of the most sought-after speakers in the German-speaking world. In 2015, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the German Speakers Association. Her clientele includes the elite of the business world. Her Touchpoint Institute trains certified touchpoint managers. Contact: www.anneschueller.de
