In Sweden, a 16-year-old butterfly flapped its wings. Like a modern day Rosa Parks, Greta Thunberg picked a simple, harmless act of defiance. She stopped going to school. Instead, she spent her days picketing the Swedish Parliament for better environmental laws. She called for other students to do the same.
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Near my home, in Brussels, two young women copied the silent protest. They hoped that a few dozen of their friends would join. On the first day 3,500 showed up. In the weeks that followed, their two-woman civic disobedience grew to a weekly protest. For now, it peaked at 65,000 youngsters walking the streets of Brussels, and every major Belgian city. 

The government scrambled to keep up. Unable to cope with Gen Z’s innovative ways of protesting, a climate minister was forced to resign. 

As the news cycle continues, the movement goes global. School walkouts have sprung up in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands. Global leaders have been shamed in Davos. EU president Juncker criticised for being out of touch with reality. And on March 15, 2019, the students are committing to go on strike in over 50 countries. If past protests are an indicator, hundreds of thousands could take to the streets. 

This is bigger than kids skipping school. A movement cannot grow this fast, this big, unless its cause resonates on a broader scale. All of these youngsters have parents and teachers. They could easily have blocked the protest from the start. But they didn’t. In fact, they tacitly and explicitly encouraged it as a proxy form of protest. 

Sure, it’s great to see that 'youth still cares'. It’s fun to chuckle at the rich and powerful being called 'immature' by children. But something else is going on. Consumer mindsets are shifting. And they’re shifting fast. 

Where consumer mindsets go, actions will follow. Not straight away. We need to be honest. We are too fond of our cars, our weekend getaways and the smell of bacon in the morning. And the United Nations diet of no meat / no cars / no holidays / no sex (well, 'kids') is a hard sell on the best of days. Especially if you look at continents where these modern comforts are finally getting within reach.

But the innovation cycles have taught us that market tension brings forth disruptors. New players who will find innovative solutions to sustainability problems in places where no incumbent looks for them. 

And these game-changers will find customers. Early adopters who will go hydrogen or solar for their car. Switch to synthetic milk and cow-free burgers. And like with other 'crazy ideas' like Uber or Netflix, their numbers will eventually grow. Until an inflection point is reached where animal-meat or budget flights are as frowned up on as 'real fur' coats today.

Then, the pressure points will shift. Today, fossil fuels rightfully take most of the criticism when it comes to CO2 emissions. But it only takes a Google search to realise that meat and dairy companies aren't too far behind. Or that electric cars may save on CO2, but that their batteries rip open the earth in South Congo. Force children into labour. And I haven’t even mentioned plastics.

So it's only a matter of time before public pressure will expand from politicians to brands. If only because some of these politicians won’t mind passing the buck. At best, this will lead to Twitter storms. At worst, consumer boycotts can declare anyone fair game.

There is still (some) time. All of this won’t happen overnight. When it does, it will only affect small segments. A few percent of consumers will start flying less because of Flygskam. Others will replace fast fashion with second hand, avoid companies that rely on single-use plastic or try out that new type of synthetic meat when it hits $2-5 price-points.

But 10 percent here and 5 percent there will add up. The shifting buying patters will need to come out of someone’s bottom line. Which will cause a ripple effect. Forced by consumers to become more sustainable, B2C players will lean on their supply chain. Driven by a sense of urgency, they won’t wait around for their existing partners to catch up. The ones who are most prepared will win. They who cannot transform themselves will be replaced by those that invested in sustainability before it became a matter of commercial survival. Trillions will start shifting and industry shakeouts will be inevitable.

So what can you do? For the average company sustainability is "important, but not yet urgent". Which means that you need to prepare by:

1. Accepting that transformation is inevitable
Every 12-step programme starts with the realisation that you are (part of) the problem. That 'you' need to change. Even if you are not really bothered by the possibility of global mass-extinction, your customers will be. The will come a time that they vote with their wallets. If you cannot deliver what they are looking for, they switch to the disruptors that will. This may feel unfair. But such is life. Get over it.

2. Educating yourself and your organisation
Sustainability will take effort. New processes. New KPI's. New ways of working. Even new business models. In fact,

the transformation into a sustainable business, will make digital transformation seem like a walk in the park.

If you’re like me, this means that you and your people will lack the language and skills to make the transition. Only very few of us ever went to 'green school'. So start reading up. Go to conferences. Talk too experts. Learn about LCA. Start thinking about what you could do.

3. Get started
But don’t go crafting inspirational mission statements or launching ‘grand’ initiatives. You won’t be able to turn around everything overnight anyway. Do make a 3-5 year plan to turn your company and supply chain from 'planet harming' to 'planet supporting'. The sooner you’ll start, the sooner you’ll be the one who’s disrupting rather than being the disrupted. 

To conclude
In Sweden, A 16 year old butterfly flapped her wings. It declared a 'fool’s war' on a world that creates fake riches by destroying them. Its fight will easily last a decade, probably more. Once they recover from their initial shock, it will be attacked by all the powers that be. With trillions at stake, it's bound to get dirty.

But even if politicians, lobbyist and corporate agendas manage to silence the current movement, its cause won’t disappear. In a decade, today’s teenagers will take their place in the market and the workforce. At that point, Greta Thunberg’s prediction in the European parliament will become true. The road may be long, but she and her fellow protesters will win. If only, because they’ll outlive us all.

Even if you do not care about the planet, sustainability is the only business development path with long-term viability. So the question isn't whether you should put it higher on your agenda. The question is when you'll get serious about transformation.

The first rule of movement building is that 'if you see someone doing something worthwhile, you join them'. So, in support of Youth for Climate I've decided to also start 'skipping school' a few hours every week.

Not to protest in the streets. It's not my style. But to use what little influence I have to encourage environmental change in meetings, and through the occasional initiative. I realise that my individual contribution will be small and may start making some of you feel uncomfortable. But I believe that if we all take a few uncoordinated and even uncomfortable steps, a number of us will eventually get it right. And that's all that matters ;-)

Note: opinions are my own.
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(c) Alain Thys, all rights reserved. 

In 2015, Japan introduced us to Henn Na. It was the first hotel in the world completely operated by computers and robots. In January 2019, a growing number of customer complaints led the company to fire 243 of their robotic workers and replace them by humans.

The Henn Na case is extreme. But it illustrates the tension between technology and humanity in customer experience. Companies invest billions in technologies to make experiences easy, predictive and even immersive. However, while helpful, this technology can make customers uncomfortable.

Human vs. Machine - Should we draw a line?
The debate on where to draw the line between humans and machines is interesting, but moot. As customers, our standards are expectations continuously evolve. We complain about ‘everything that those stupid computers get wrong’. But the moment they get it right, we embrace new technologies with a vengeance. So what’s unthinkable today, will be tomorrow’s new ‘normal’. Digitalisation is here to stay.

But it can't fix everything. As it permeates our life, digital teams should remember that:

“As long as people are paying the bills, no amount of digitalisation can ignore that all customer experiences are inherently human.”

So feel free to pursue your dream of a digitally transformed business. But don't let your customer experience lose its humanity in the process. 

I've summarised three ways in which you can do this.

#1 Think of ways to make your technology 'feel' human
Steve Jobs was right. You need to "start with the customer experience and work your way back to the technology”.  Sadly, many digital initiatives only do this in part. They equate customer experience to simplifying or even eliminating jobs to be done. 

This isn’t wrong per se. Using digital tools to eliminate pain points can make our lives easier. But focusing too much on this aspect can make teams miss the bigger picture. This is that differentiated customer experiences are predominantly emotional. 

Customers aren’t data-points or rationally minded bio-organic interfaces. They are beautifully irrational, emotional, social and behaviourally flawed individuals. Folks who want to work their way up the Maslow scale. Who just want to be happy, or at least content. 

As such, they will appreciate that you eliminate the pain in the jobs they need to get done. But the absence of negative experiences doesn’t add up to a great one. To really get customers to care, your digital tools, interfaces, algorithms and gizmo’s need to connect at a deeper level. Raise the customer’s heartbeat.  Make them feel truly understood.

So next time you embark on a digital project, raise the bar. Think about how you can achieve this. What is the customer insight you’re tapping into? How will it get the job done? How will it trigger the emotion you’re looking for?  Don't stop, until you're crystal clear about the answer.

#2 Craft human + technology (hybrid) solutions
Still, being realistic, there is a limit to the level of emotions that your technology can elicit. While great progress is being made, today’s and even tomorrow's technology lacks the empathy and familiarity of a human.

ust consider the Tipsy Robot bartender in Las Vegas’ robotic. It may look cool and it can serve 100 drinks an hour in any combination. But can it give you a sympathetic look or pretend to laugh at your jokes?

Compare this to CitizenM hotels. They combine a digital self-check-in for their customers with welcome staff that actually has time to have a chat with new guests as they arrive. And if needed, do the check-in for them. Or Amazon Go, where people walk in and out of the store without passing a cash-register. And where staff has the time to offer help to customers proactively (when did that last happen in your local supermarket?).

The desire to ‘make customers self-sufficient’ is often corporate speak for ‘can we use technology to cut costs?’. But take a breather before you replace your people with machines. Look at ways to leverage the free staff time your digital solution creates.  If you combine humans with technology, can you deliver and generate even more value. Create even better and richer experiences? 

Whether online or in real life, human employees are still the most advanced experience personalisation engine around. And they’re by far the most qualified to make your customers smile.

#3 Humanise your business
Finally, it's time to get philosophical. Especially in the West, customers are getting increasingly annoyed by unsustainable, tax-avoiding, money-above-everything corporate behaviours. Soon, this irritation will also affect their spending habits.

Whether you think this is a good or bad development, depends on your political conviction. But topics like purpose, sustainability and fair trade are moving out of the fringes. They are becoming mainstream. In the coming decade they will actually become customer expectations.

Companies that can align themselves with this changing mindset, will continue to flourish. Those that can‘t stand up to scrutiny, will start feeling the heat.

As Gilette, Pepsi and others experienced, this path isn’t easy to walk. But the good news is that the world isn’t burning yet. There’s still plenty of time to plan a humane transformation for your business. Provided you start today.

My final 2 cents
None of the above paths are easy. And I'm definitely not claiming to have all the answers. But as we augment our customer experiences through deep learning, 5G and intelligent interfaces, we should never lose sight of the end goal. This is that every digital initiative should enhance the ability to deliver and capture customer value.

From the customer's perspective this value is partially rational, and largely emotional. And it needs to be managed as such.   


I wrote this article as a warm-up for the friendly 'keynote battle' that I'll be engaging in on 28/02 with Geert Martens at the CUBE Conference on 'Humanizing data in a digital world'.

If you'd like to discuss or explore the topic a little more, feel free to come by, or get in touch for a (virtual) coffee.


(c) 2019, Alain Thys, all rights reserved
This article first appeared on www.customerfit.eu

In the 1970s, the British economist Charles Goodhart had an insight. He found that “any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes”.

This statement is pretty dry and hermetic. But it is something that every customer experience professional should be aware of. Because in regular-people-speak it translates as: “when a measure becomes a target, it stops being a good measure”. 

The reason for this is simple. When presented with an outside target, humans will always seek the path of lowest effort to achieve it. Especially if the target is connected to some sort of reward or punishment.

It's everywhere
At some point in our lives, we have all done this. In school, we were evaluated on our grades. So the ’smart’ kids knew to prioritise the memorisation of mindless facts over actual learning. And if one exam questions returned ever year, this would move to the front of the study queue.

This behaviour exists everywhere. The pressure to perform makes researchers, academics and data scientists manipulate their data (aka. p-hacking). Online targets like number of followers or likes have created fraudulent bots. Politicians fix unemployment by excluding categories of people, rather than creating more jobs. 

And yes, employees manipulate customer happiness scores. Not because they are evil. But because for many it’s not just the easiest thing to do, it’s also the smartest.

It's common sense
Think about it. Imagine you are a store manager or are a machine maintenance worker who visits clients. You just got the target to improve your Net Promoter or Customer Satisfaction score by 15%. 

Now, especially as a front line employee, you know that customer happiness is a very complex thing. Even if you put in 200% of effort, a product flaw or a policy outside of your control can totally mess up your targets.

So you have one of two choices:

• Option 1: you follow your company's customer experience handbook. You do your best delight customers, and accept the risk of failing gloriously because of software issues at head office;
• Option 2: you get creative and find a way to hit the numbers, without making the effort or running the risk.

In my experience, most people start off with option 1. They actually want to do a good job and make customers happy. But this changes when they realise that their managers only care about the numbers. Then, they start shifting to option 2.

At this point, they get creative about manipulating the score. They tell customers that only 9 or 10 count as satisfied. They only give surveys to customers who are clearly happy. They bribe. They beg. Or they use any other gaming trick in the book. 

It may only start with one employee in one week. But once people see that this gets management off their back, it spreads like wildfire. Especially if can help them get that Christmas bonus.

It's a path of no return.
But it gets worse. Once these practices take hold, they are very difficult to end. Honest reporting could make the scores plummet and then everyone would look bad. Especially the managers who’ve been putting the pretty growth numbers into pretty PowerPoint slides.

So you may end up with a situation where a lot of people know that the numbers are BS, but pretends otherwise as this would upset the status quo. And while everyone is busy manipulating the numbers, the conversation shifts further and further from the customer.

No one is immune
Now just in cas you think that Goodhart's law only applies to front line employees, let me tell you the case of a country CEO and his management team I encountered.

They were given a new set of stiff Net Promoter targets which they felt were out of their reach. So they found a simpler solution. Instead of improving the customer experience, they simply fired their unhappy customers (detractors).

As a result, their Net Promoter Score shot up and Christmas bonuses were safe. In fact, the CEO got to speak at the next global company summit. The topic: his country's customer-centric transformation.

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So while I'm not saying that a Net Promoter target can never be useful, I have learned to thread very carefully. Instead, I found it makes much more sense to measure and reward people's behaviour towards the customer.

The scores are then a consequence, rather than a goal.


If you want the tools to make your customer voice programme hit all the 'right notes', check out the Customerfit Academy sprint pack 'Listening to and acting on the customer voice' or get in touch for an informal chat with me or one of the Customerfit coaches.

This article first appeared on www.customerfit.eu

​ (c) 2018 -  Alain Thys, all rights reserved.

If you look at the latest Forrester data, customer experience efforts seem to be hitting a wall. In spite of big language and increased investment, the needles are barely moving. Some companies even consider to give up and compete on price or focus on easier domains. 

Many of these problems come from an addiction to ‘easy solutions’ and ‘low hanging fruit’. While there is nothing wrong with the occasional quick win, real change requires a more structural approach. Only those companies that are willing to bite this bullet will succeed at the customer-centric change required to stay competitive.
So, if you're one of the people who are willing to look beyond the branded content stream of 'feel good' articles and 'quick fix' template, the five suggestions in this article are for you.

They are based on the Customerfit benchmark data and highlight 'big wins' which should be relevant for a majority of companies. None of them are necessarily easy, but if you want to play for real in 2019, you may want to consider them.

BIG WIN #1: Stop chasing scores and focus on capabilities.
Any sports coach can tell you that top performers don’t prioritise the scoreboard. They focus on process and capability. Hit the ball in the right way. Eat the right food. Practice every day. Get those things right and the scores will follow. 

But many businesses forget this. They launch initiatives to 'improve their NPS score' or 'drive loyalty'. They forget that these are merely scoreboard outcomes for having played the right game in the first place. As a result, initiatives only deliver a fraction of their potential and the drive for customer-centricity fails to build momentum.

2019 RECOMMENDATION: Shift the customer experience dialogue from results and initiatives to 'organisational readiness'. Map all the capabilities that your business needs to achieve its CX goals. Then, develop a customer fitness programme to help develop these capabilities and systematically measure progress. Accept that the scores will only follow if you stick to your practice schedule. And if this takes time, don’t run off to find the next silver bullet. Do what any sports champion does. Train harder. 

BIG WIN #2: Before you journey map, set clear customer experience standards.
Almost every company says it wants to provide a great customer experience. But in spite of all the research and journey maps, many struggle to articulate what this actually means. What is a good experience? And when exactly does it become great? And how do both concepts evolve over the span of the customer relationship?

This causes employees to make their own assumptions. Sometimes this goes well. Sometimes it doesn’t. The only certainty is that - with the best intentions - the customer's experience depends on who ever happened to be running a given touchpoint/episode and their related journeys.

2019 RECOMMENDATION: Formally articulate your company's CX standards. What is the minimum experience your business needs to provide at every stage in the customer relationship? How exactly will you delight customers? When are you doing too much? How will you turn these efforts into money? By giving your people clear guidance on each of these parameters, they won’t just get better at providing the CX you promise. They can do it consistently. 

BIG WIN #3: Build the customer into your mid-term plan.
In our mission statements, customers are "at the heart of everything we do". Tactically, they are part of our efforts to fix issues or capture opportunities. But typically, they don't appear in our mid-term (3-5 year) operating plans.

This is problematic. To structurally improve the customer experience, multiple silos need to co-operate over a number of years. If the operational targets and resources for this co-operation aren’t written into the mid-term plan, they will never be more than nice intentions. After all, a vision without resources and KPI's, is called a day-dream.
 
2019 RECOMMENDATION: Clearly embed your customer goals in every department’s mid-term plan. Let each team demonstrate how it will help create and capture customer value in the short and medium term. Then allocate resources based on this contribution (note: this is easier when you’ve created the customer experience standards above).

BIG WIN #4: First think customer, then technology.
I love my technology-minded friends dearly, but ‘how can I digitally transform my business?’ is the wrong question.

Sure, it can make a business feel that it is on the path to modernity. People get to participate in glitzy workshops. Everyone is busy doing what the gurus say, and the organisation is spending a lot of money. Surely, this must be good. But unless a digital transformation is rooted in customer, market and competitive insights and underpinned with a clear business case, it’s a very expensive distraction. 

2019 RECOMMENDATION: The late Steve Jobs said it well: "You have to start with the customer experience, and work backwards to the technology". So check whether your digital transformation efforts focus on the jobs your customer is willing to pay for. If these require AI infused, blockchain-based, 3D printing protocols, all power to them. But don’t chase technology for its own sake. 'No customer insight’ means 'no project'.

BIG WIN #5: Show the business the money, but this time for real.
Everyone assumes that customer experience investments will generate a financial return. But it’s still too rare that this assumption is made explicit in financial targets, or even a rudimentary business case.

But worse, is that a large number of companies leave money on the table. They create 'promoters' but have no programme to systematically capture all the profit from these happy customers. And as my grand dad used to say, ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’. 

2019 RECOMMENDATION: If you haven’t yet got one, make a (rough) business case for your experience efforts. Even if the data is shaky at the start, it’s better than flying blind. And even more important, launch an initiative to help your business capture the maximum amount of value from every customer it turns into a promoter. And ask your CEO to add these extra profits to your customer experience budget 😉.


It is possible to do all of the above at the same time. But unless you're truly committed, this may be a bit ambitious. So if you want to make a dent in your company's customer-centric universe, pick the one that you feel could have the biggest impact.

2019 is a time where the market will start separating the CX players from the wannabe's. This means it's time to start reaching for the apples at the top of the tree.
If you'd like to discuss any of the above topics for your business, feel free to get in touch.

This article first appeared on www.alainthys.com.

Ever since the early 90s, doomsayers have heralded the end of the physical retail. In our age of digital disruption, stores would crumble under the weight of the e-giants. The high-street would all but disappear.
 
I didn’t buy it back then, and I'm not buying it now. Sure, video stores are gone, and high-street bankers better rethink the way they do business. High street real estate may even experience a dip. But the concept of shopping isn’t going to disappear any time soon. It will merely evolve, just like it has been doing since the first market trader opened their stall in ancient Sumeria. And if you don’t take my word for it, read Gen Z shoppers like physical stores.
 
The challenge to brands and retailers isn’t that retail spaces will disappear. It’s that they need to be reinvented for a new shopper reality. This comes down to answering three – existential – questions:

• If shoppers can have everything they desire to be home delivered, why would they still come to your store?   
• If you can run most of your e-business from a proverbial beach in Bali, will retail bricks still add value to your bottom line? 
• If brands, retailers, media, Silicon Valley, Etsy sellers and Amazon all compete for the same customer’s coinage, how will your proposition make a dent in the universe? Update: Amazon is increasingly taking the battle to the high-street. Check out their pop-up boutiques.

 
These are hard questions. But for anyone who directly or indirectly profits from the cash-register’s ring, answers must be found. To do so, brands and retailers need to let go of industry orthodoxies and embrace a number of new perspectives. 
 
As a thought experiment, I’ve outline seven mind shifts to be considered. If you have more or different ones, let me know!
 
MIND SHIFT #1: OMNICHANNEL IS MERELY A ‘QUALIFIER’
Endless aisles, home delivery, in-store pickups, chatbots and self-service tools may make for exciting projects. Being easy may even turn some customers into promoters. But tomorrow, these initiatives will merely be qualifiers to play the retail game. So rather than look at them as strategic change programmes, we need to consider them as must dooperational programmes. They may provide a temporary, tactical advantage. But they remain operational hygiene factors like GDPR compliance andinventory management. I.e. We know it’s complex, but let’s just get on with it.
 
MIND SHIFT#2: FROM STRATEGIC CHOICE TO ‘FUN’ AS THE ONLY VIABLE OPTION
Shoppers want price, convenience and fun. Theoretically this gives three axes of differentiation. But for most players, there is only one viable strategic option. As a qualifier, convenience isn’t sustainably unique. Anything you invent today will be copied tomorrow. Price is a game that can only be won by one or two players in every category (increasingly named Amazon). So, unless you’re fully committed to becoming the Aldi of your industry, that’s off the table too. Which leaves fun as the only remaining path to sustainably attract shoppers at healthy margins. And I realise fun can mean many things. But they all require retailers to learn the art of making customer interactions enjoyable, surprising and enriching.  
 
MIND SHIFT#3: FROM LOCATION BASED TO TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING
A retail store has always been a tactile storytelling machine.  It connects to shoppers and relates the values, purpose and aspirations of a business. This makes it a great platform to provide the fun I just described. But in an omnichannel world, retailers need to master telling this story across all channels. Learn that in this transmedia approach the store merely becomes a piece of a puzzle. It showcases a proposition, communicates the brand and builds a relationship with customers. However, whether these customers then purchase on-site or on their mobile phone, is irrelevant.
 
MIND SHIFT#4 FROM TRANSACTIONAL TO RELATIONSHIP ECONOMICS
Retail efficiency metrics like profit/m2, shopping cart value and comp store sales worked well when customers had to exit by the cash register. But when sales can come from anywhere, this won’t do any more. Retail operators should think in terms of customer lifetime value, dynamic pricing, personalised discounts across channels and Netflix style subscription models. This also means that the physical space needs to be accounted for differently.  As the physical cash register becomes inadequate to measure retail success, new metrics should assess the financial contribution of physical space. This will be the only way to truly assess whether bricks should be kept or abandoned. 
 
MIND SHIFT#5 FROM STAFF TO AMBASSADORS
Customers can find all the products and information they need online. So when they decide to speak to a human they want more than mainstream service. Retail staff needs to become ambassadors that help people enjoy themselves. Geniuses that provide specialist information which you cannot find on Youtube. This requires a mindset shift in talent management. Store operators must review the way in which they attract, develop and retain the right type of people for their customers. And figure out how to offset the inevitably more expensive payroll with the smart use of technology. 
 
MIND SHIFT #6: FROM MASS TO INDIVIDUAL
Retailers, and to a lesser degree brands, are number machines that try to track everything. But most of their analysis describes what customers (plural) have done (past tense). To personalise experiences across channels, this conversation must become forward looking. Predictively adapt offers to what a given customer (singular) will do (future tense) .This isn’t just about technology. It’s also about letting go of the mindset in which stores are seen as  conduits to get products and services to a faceless mass of shoppers. They should be seen as places where individual customers get an individualised experience. 
 
MIND SHIFT#7: FROM INCREMENTAL INNOVATION TO REINVENTION
The ‘disruptions’ we’ve seen so far are merely a prelude to societal, environmental, supply chain and digital changes that are coming our way.  So, when looking beyond the horizon of next year’s profit plan, it’s time to let go of cautious incremental innovation. Every brand and retailer needs to boldly explore ways to reinvent themselves and their category. And no, this doesn’t mean outsourcing the business to Amazon. 
 
It does mean challenging every orthodoxy that we know to be true. After all, who says that stores need to look like stores. Can’t they be immersive experiences, community centres, bars, spas or pop-up art exhibitions?  Do they need to be located in high-traffic locations? Triple the amount of staff on the floor?  Eliminate staff completely?  An age of change brings risk, but also endless opportunity. 
 
So, who will be the Mr. Selfridge of 2025? 
 
 
This is a thought experiment, so if you have criticism, extra insights or violent levels of agreement, don’t hold back 😉. I’m not interested in ‘being right’, I just want to get closer to the right answer.
 
Also, if you’d like a explore ways to reinvent your brand or retail experience, feel free to get in touch. If it’s complex or ambitious, I’m in. 

From the start, I knew the Customerfit Academy would be my most ambitious content project to date.

Building on the Customerfit model, my goal was to capture everything I’ve learned on customer-centricity/customer experience and make it available in an online environment. Not as fluffy online courses, but as Ikea-style build-it-yourself implementationpacks which would give any subscriber all the knowledge, tools and templates they would need to be successful.

It turned out to be even bigger than I thought. So far I’ve written over 100,000 words, produced about 14 hours of video and created dozens of supporting slides, templates and DIY tools. And I’m only at 3 of the 10 programmes that should be online by February.

But the first results are highly motivating. Supported by a Customerfit coach, the first group of users have found the approach highly productive. In fact, their employer has now pre-purchased 100% of all content produced until 2020 (hence that February deadline for the first 10 programmes). Also, we have had multiple confirmations that both  The Customerfit System and the Customerfit Academy are well ahead of anything the big name CX research, strategy and consulting firms have in their portfolio.

So the product is getting there, which means we’re slowly starting up the promotional/sales engines for 2019. For the the Academy, each programme will get it's individual price, but I'm also gauging reactions to a Netflix-style €500/user/month all you can eat approach (minimum commitment 12 months - enterprise discounts apply).  

I have been criticised by some that this will make the Customerfit Academy ridiculously cheap.  A one-year subscription would get users all the know-how for which regular consultancies charge literally hundreds of thousands.

But I’m committing to the affordability route, as I hope it will allow the content to spread into countries and companies for which this know-how would normally be out of budgetary reach. Plus, if I’m honest, I kind of enjoy shaking things up a bit 🙂. 

So my journey to make the world a little more customer-centric continues. Watch this space and if you’re interested in getting or giving your people early access to the biggest library of customer-centric know-how on the planet, let me know. As long as we’re in soft-launch mode, deals can be made 😉. 


PS. Strategic investors with access to online marketing resources, customer networks or media are welcome to get in touch as well. Proof of concept is there, first cash is coming in and soon it's time start to start scaling.

I have always wondered what it would be like to just pick up your life and run your business from a laptop while sipping Daiquiris on an exotic beach.

Last month, I didn’t take things that far, but I did move to a village near Barcelona. I wanted to see whether I could combine the marvels of Catalunya with a 35,000-word writing target and a set of client deadlines. 

To lead with the conclusion: my digital nomad ‘light’ experiment was an experience I would and will repeat. But there are a few things I’d do differently next time. And in the spirit of sharing what I’ve learned, I thought I’d write them down. Just in case you’d like to try it for yourself J.

Lesson #1: A month is not enough
If you know you're somewhere for 30 days, and that a chunk of this time spoken for by work, you want to make the most of the leisure time available. So, we packed every free moment with trips and activities. We marvelled at Dali’s house in Cadaqués. Submerged ourselves in the urban underground of Barcelona. Learned how to mix the perfect mojito at Casa Bacardi. But while all this experience hunting was great, it was also exhausting. Especially as it left no downtime between work and fun. 

☛  Don’t think 3-4 weeks. Think 3-4 months. This lets you get settled and takes away the urge to become a binge tourist.

Lesson #2: Think about your workspace
My experiment became a lot easier because some friends were kind enough to let us use their spacious and air-conditioned apartment for the month. This meant that I had a cool space to write as outside temperatures hit 35-40°C. But I also found that for more complex work, my small laptop screen and the lack of my trusted printer made some jobs a lot more difficult.  

☛  Take along all the office material you need. And if you cannot do so, make sure you are closed to a shared workspace that has them available.

Lesson #3: Plan buffer time for idea overload
During this one month in Spain, I had more ideas than I’ve had all year. Part of this was due to going native in a different environment than my own. Part of it was because the palm trees and Mediterranean made me get much more serious about my down-time than I do at home. But as I had been so efficient in planning  my work-time, I didn’t get to do more about these ideas than write them down and move on.
  
☛  Expect to have more creative ideas than usual and allow yourself time to expand on them. This will increase the chance you will use them at some point.

Lesson #4: It’s not all beaches and Mojito’s.
There is a saying that you cannot run from your life as you take it with you. So if you take your business to a foreign land, you take the good and the bad. Accounting obligations won’t go away. Neither will the little frustrations. And some days, the appeal of palm trees outside actually made it more difficult to write those extra 1000 words. 
 
☛ As I went in without expectations, this realisation didn’t particularly delight or disappoint me. So, if there is a lesson there, it is to do the same. Be realistic that the most beautiful beach will not magically make parts of your life disappear. Though it can make them more enjoyable ;-).
 
Lesson #5: Take a swim beforeseeing your loved ones
My wife and son have been amazing during this month as they organised their schedule around my work-time whichallowed us to explore Catalunya together. But we were sometimes out of sync. They were in holiday mode. My head was still rehearsing a client call or resolving a writing problem. This also happens at home, but somehow the Spanish sun made the contrast between these mindsets much starker. 
 
☛  Consider that the people travelling with you may be in a different mindspace. So, make sure your work-ation mood doesn’t affect their good time. In my case, I learned that the smartest thing to do after work, was to go for a swim and then meet my family. And frankly, it's not a bad habit anywhere J
 
I fully realise that picking up and moving to another country isn’t within everyone’s reach. But I also thought it would be impossible for me. What I found is that with preparation, fast internet and a little more office equipment, I could have continued for another 2-3 months without a problem. Especially as Barcelona airport was only 25 minutes away.
 

Many customer experience programmes encourage the front-line staff to smile at the customer. This of course makes total sense. A genuine smile is a great way to connect to anyone. You can even hear it over the phone.

But this simple expectation of friendliness creates an interesting management problem. A challenge which stretches all the way to the C-Suite.

After all, how do you make an employee smile? 

Genuine smiles don’t appear on command. You can try to prescribe them as part of your training and process manuals. But compliance doesn’t mean sincerity, and customers can spot a fake smile a mile away.

You can also decide to create a wonderful working environment. There’s growing support for the statement that happy employees produce happy customers. Think of it as a modern day variation of the statement that happy cows give more milk.

But also on this path, success isn’t guaranteed. In fact, kindred customer spirit Maurice Fitzgerald even questions whether it leads anywhere. After analysing 345 companies, he could only conclude that: "employee satisfaction does not do anything at all for customers in most industries". While my data-set is more limited, I can only confirm this conclusion. I've even experienced situations with an inverse correlation between employee and customer happiness.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that employee satisfaction doesn’t contribute at all. But I am saying that to make employees smile at customers, they need to be more than happy to be working for you. They need to enjoy working for the customer. Enjoy providing them with great experiences.

As a leader, this means you need to do three things:

#1. Give your people a reason to get out of bed.
Don’t tell your people to smile at customers as part of hitting their targets. Instead, give them a customer related purpose which they enjoy fulfilling and which will eventually drive profit for your business. If they like putting a smile on your customer’s face, they will start smiling themselves.

#2. Show them you mean it.
Too many leaders fail to walk the talk. So greet your colleagues with a genuine smile. Build teams of positive people, that support and build each other. Even if they’re not in the front line. And yes, create that employee experience which treats your people like you hope they will treat your customers.

#3. Be ready to support.
No one can be cheerful all the time. But customers will nonetheless expect the same level of friendliness at every interaction. So be sensitive to the ups and downs of your people. Give them an opportunity to take a time-out. Put a mechanism in place to cheer them up on those days when it’s hard to smile. 

Creating a front-end culture of genuine smiles is one of the bigger leadership challenges that I'm aware of. Because as you might guess, it’s not the smile that matters. It’s the sincerity that goes with it. The desire to meet and exceed customer expectations. The desire to make customers smile, because you made their day.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS! Did I miss a beat? Do you (dis)agree? What do you do to make your people smile? Use the comment section to share your thoughts and views with everyone who reads this article.  We can all learn from each other.

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This article is one of a series to help me articulate my thoughts for The Customer Fitness Code. This is a new book I’m writing to complement the rapidly expanding Customerfit system. If you would like to know more, you can already check out www.customerfit.eu or get in touch. Meanwhile, don't forget to follow me on Linkedin or subscribe to my newsletter.

I regularly meet customer champions who complain that their colleagues just don’t get it. Or that they don't care about the customer.

I always challenge this mindset. If, as customer advocates, we cannot convince people to care, this doesn’t mean that they are slow. It only means that we haven't been convincing enough. After all, no one gets out of bed with the intent of upsetting customers (well, there was this one guy, but that's another story :-)

So with this article, I would like to share three suggestions to help your people care about the customer. None of them are magic bullets, but I hope you find them useful.

1. Show people how they impact the customer experience.
In my Reebok days, a colleague of mine ran a programme to create the perfect order for UK sports retailers. Like everyone else in the business, the warehouse staff also got involved.

During one of the many workshops, a breakdown occurred. One of the warehouse workers wanted to leave the session, as he felt it was a waste of his time. After all, all this customer b**lsh*t didn’t apply to him. He worked with boxes and had no influence on customer satisfaction.

Now, luck had it, that on this day the CEO of a major retailer was visiting that particular warehouse. He overheard this employee. In a friendly way, he joined the conversation and asked him about his job at the warehouse. The man explained that he worked on picking and packing. He had to seal the boxes before they went on the truck.

The CEO continued with a rhetorical question. "So you are telling me, that you are the last person to see and touch my product before it comes to my stores? And you say you have no influence over my satisfaction as a customer?" The point didn't need any further explanation.

ACTION 1: The actions of every employee (should) add value to the customer. Explain to each of your colleagues how they are part of the bigger picture. Once they see how their work puts a smile on the customer's face, it'll be easier for them to get excited about it.

2. Make the customer voice actionable. 
Customer voice programmes can be a great source of honest feedback. They can help you pinpoint what you are getting right and what you are getting wrong. But those unfamiliar with the way these programmes work, may struggle to see their value.

For example, if a customer complains about the price she needs to pay, billing may not be the issue. Sales or marketing may have created the wrong expectation. Those delivering the service might have delivered sloppy work. The invoice might be unclear.

Yet, if you work in marketing, service delivery or IT, you may not immediately see these aspects. After all, the bill being too high has nothing to do with the job you do.

ACTION 2: Complement your customer voice programme with a regular root cause analysis. Translate customer feedback into functional and departmental language that resonates with your silo-colleagues. Once they see how they can contribute, they are more likely to act on this.

3. Humanise your customers.
Every business and employee wants to look professional. Tools of this trade include PowerPoint presentations, jargon and complex analytical models.  

While these serve a purpose, they can dehumanise customers. Juan, Mary and Gérard, become units-in-use, policy holders or PAX (BTW does anybody even know what that abbreviation means?). This directly affects the organisation's ability for customer action. In fact, once we turn someone into a number, there is a dramatic decrease in our ability to care. Bringing back the customer as a human can inverse this process.

A few years ago I saw a brilliant example of this at a global telecom operator I worked for. Like any other telco they had clients that suffered from bill shock. Especially when confronted with unexpected post-holiday roaming charges.

Also, like at every operator, these customers were numbers on a spreadsheet. That is, until one of their customer experience champions singled out the story of Johan.

Johan was a single dad who had been on holiday with his two children. Upon returning home at the end of August, he found that his bank account was empty. The country he was in, wasn't part of his data-plan and he had incurred a bill of several thousands of Euros. Through automatic debit, this amount had disappeared from his bank account. At the start of the school year, he didn't have the money to buy his children the books and new clothes they needed.

Telling this story at the start of the bill-shock meetings, got a lot more of people's attention than the spreadsheets used to do.

ACTION 3: Replace your cold customer reports with human accounts. Give your people the opportunity to relate to your customers as individuals. Make them care. Once they do, they'll be ready to help. Not because KPI's say so, but because it's in our nature.


Thank you for reading until the end of this page. This article is one of a series to help me formulate my thoughts for The Customer Fitness Code (project title). This is a new book I'm writing to help companies improve their customer experience management capabilities (aka. customer fitness). If you would like to know more, you can already check out www.customerfit.eu or - alternatively - get in touch :-) 

Meanwhile, if you haven't done so, do subscribe to my newsletter. Here, I share articles like this one, additional thoughts and the occasional freebie. You can find a registration field at the top of this page.

In Bavaria, a driverless bus scoots across the countryside. In China, a man enjoys his dinner thanks to a dental implant set by a robot. In Northern Ireland, a toddler sports a 3D printed kidney. A Caribbean robotic bartender mixes cocktails on a cruise-ship.
 
The world has changed, and customer expectations are changing with it. 2020 will be a world where technical customer loyalty is dead. Where customers can buy what they want, when they want it, where they want it and even at the price they want it.
 
To adapt to this new reality, we will all need to reinvent ourselves. In fact, every company will need to develop three specific capabilities (*):
 
#1. Precognition
We need to learn how to solve customer problems before they occur. As devices around us get smarter, customers will expect smarter environments. Interfaces that only show the stuff they like. Mechanics that repair machines before they break down.
 
Customer insight collection needs to become instant and continuous. Sensing technologies and algorithms need to predict customer needs before competitors do so. Even before customers identify these needs themselves. This will allow further simplification of the customer's life. Cut transactional steps and touchpoints. Even complete journeys.
 
Checklist items:

• Are your methods for customer insight generation up to scratch? Can co-creation, data discovery and old fashioned customer conversations enhance them?
• Are you investigating how AI and algorithms can help predict customer behaviour?
• Do you regularly review how new technologies can simplify or even cut complete customer journeys?

 
#2 Humanisation
As long as humans are paying the bills, we want to be more than an organic interface to a digital process. Before we part with our money, we want attention, empathy and warmth. So while a more digital experience can add value, you will always need to infuse it with a human touch. 
​
Tactically, you need to truly understand the customer's emotions at every stage of the relationship. Strategically, your business needs to develop a human face. A purpose and business model that transcends the simple pursuit of profit.
 
Checklist items:

• Do you really understand your customer’s emotions at and around every interaction?
• Do your people know how to manage these emotions to build relationships? Or are they merely managing touch-points?
• Does your business have a clear purpose beyond making money? A way to create meaning?

 
#3. Immersivity
The experience we offer IS the product. But the opportunities to deliver this experience are getting scarce. Customers already tuned out of (intrusive) marketing efforts years go. Digitalisation now helps them avoid our showrooms, stores and offices. Unless these visits make their life easier or more enjoyable.

So when they do give you their time and attention, you need to pull out all the stops. Immerse them in your offer and the story of your business. Give them an experiential memory that can lasts months, years or even a life-time. After all, there’s no telling when you’ll get another chance to interact. 
 
Checklist items:

• When you touch your customers, do you immerse them in your showroom, store, warehouse or office? In the essence of your brand and business?
• Are you exploring ways to immerse your customers when they are not present? Methods like virtual/augmented reality, or technologies that travel with them?
• Are you working on experiences that go beyond Pavlovian action-reaction scripts? That trigger your customer’s imagination beyond the transaction you propose? That may even offer the opportunity of personal transformation?

 
Bonus checklist item: reinvention
I realise that the above may feel like customer experience science fiction. Especially as many of us are still coming to grips with journey mapping and VOC programmes. But unfortunately, I'm not making the rules. Technology will accelerate. New players will disrupt existing markets. Customer expectations will rise.

Above all, this means mastering the skill of reinvention. The ability to challenge our own habits and beliefs. The willingness to learn new techniques and skills. Even if they are far outside of our comfort zone.
 
Checklist item:
Does your business have a process to challenge itself on a regular basis? Do you deploy red teams to find weaknesses in your system? Set up think-tanks to explore new business models? In short, are you ready for reinvention when the need presents itself?