It’s Time for Truth – Measure It/Reward It

It goes without saying (but I will say it anyway) what gets measured gets attention! What gets measured and rewarded gets done!

I state this seemingly obvious truth because I continue to be brought into organizations that talk about customer centricity but that lack customer engagement metrics and in no way link rewards to performance on customer engagement.  Why would you claim that your priority is the customer and then not ask your customers how you are doing both operationally and emotionally? Why would you talk about customer service as being paramount and then only reward staff for sales performance?

While this may sound like venting, it truly isn’t!  The disconnect between stated customer priorities and relevant measurement/rewards structures represent job security for me as an organizational consultant.  I am simply perplexed by the scorecards and KPI’s (key performance indicators) deployed by some business leaders.  Name a business where your customers’ level engagement is not integral to your business’ long-term success. Moreover, name a business where you can sustain sales growth without maintaining customer satisfaction, emotional engagement, and loyalty.

The days of monopolies or companies so dominant in product quality or distribution that their service levels become irrelevant have long passed.  It’s time to measure customer experience and reward those who deliver it well. I have a hunch, that the reason some businesses don’t measure customer engagement can be summed up in the memorable line from the movie “A Few Good Men” where Jack Nicholson says “You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth.”

What truth do you need to know about your customer experience?  How are you measuring customer engagement? How are customer engagement metrics blended into your balanced performance scorecard?