"Follow the Leader", Featuring Shep Hyken

What is the most important role of the Chief Customer Officer?

In my mind, there three important areas for the Chief Customer Officer to focus on: culture, systems and customer advocacy.

When it comes to the culture, either the company is completely customer focused or it’s not. That begins with culture. It’s how employees are hired and trained, and how the vision or mission is created or changed to reflect a customer-focused philosophy. Customer service and experience must be woven into the fabric of the entire company.

And then there are the systems that the company has in place. The CCO’s job is to help ensure that the systems are customer focused and that everyone – and every department – is working together. Silos must be eliminated, with the goal of creating a unified company that is focused on the customer. The CCO must constantly be asking questions that challenge the company’s systems and processes to be customer-focused.

The third responsibility is customer advocacy. CCO is the manager of the “Voice of the Customer,” which includes direct customer feedback and data analysis. The CCO must understand both the business and the customer well enough to know what data is important and how to interpret the data.

The Chief Customer Officer has his or her hand in all aspects of the company if nothing else than to ask the right questions and keep the company focused. And, at the same time, he or she is the advocate for the customer. There must be a balance between how a company operates and what a customer expects. An effective CCO creates a sense of harmony between the company and the customer.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling author who works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.

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