Curtis on...Critical Success Factors for CCOs: 2. Executive Support
In this second of seven videos on critical success factors for chief customer officers and senior loyalty executives, Curtis Bingham, Founder and Executive Director of the Chief Customer Officer Council discusses the CCO's need for support from the C-suite, particularly the CEO.
Transcript for Curtis on...Critical Success Factors for CCOs: 2. Executive Support
The second critical success factor for CCOs and other loyalty executives is unwavering executive support. Probably the biggest factor in the success of chief customer officers and loyalty executives is this notion of unwavering executive support.
The CEO needs to be beating your drum. How the CEO champions your cause gives you credence and credibility throughout the organization.
One thing that you need to be sure of doing is finding opportunities for the CEO to vocally and to visibly support you. This could be through creating executive sponsorship programs. It could be through creating advisory boards and having the CEO sit in on the advisory boards; telling the customer stories; making the customer come alive for the executive suite and having the executives then, in turn, telling those customer stories to the rest of the organization.
If you're the CEO, you didn't appoint someone just to watch them fail. Make sure that you find every opportunity to help them get everyone on board and even, sometimes, break down the door of resistance that the CCO may be running up against.
If you're the chief customer officer or other loyalty executive, don't be afraid to use the CEO. You don't have to do it all alone. Use the CEO. Use the executive leadership strategically. Get them involved with customers. Get them on board with championing the customer cause so that you can get your job done better and faster.