From Boardrooms to Buttons: Where Strategy Meets Reality
Did you know acquiring a new customer is five times more expensive than retaining an existing one? Or that customer-centric companies can grow their revenues 4% to 8% faster than their competitors? Or that companies that focus on enhancing the customer experience see, on average, a 15-20% increase in sales conversion?
But, in order for an organization to truly adopt a customer-centric approach, everyone, from front-line staff to leadership, must understand the customers they serve.
Meaningful change starts at the top. And yet, it’s astonishing how few boards or leadership teams spend actual time with the customers they claim to serve.
Feet on the ground
As a board member at Touchtech—a SaaS platform supporting salespeople in retail and wholesale—I recently had the opportunity to gain firsthand insight into the customer experience. Touchtech’s solutions are available in over 600 stores and 200 showrooms worldwide. Last week, I joined Touchtech CEO Deniz Chaban at the Jack & Jones and VILA stores in Nordstan, Gothenburg, as part of his European tour to better understand how their solutions could be improved.
The experience was, as always, eye-opening. We observed customer interactions, saw staff using the technology in real-time, and gained valuable insights into challenges and opportunities at the store level.
Immersing ourselves in the customer experience isn’t just critical for product development and innovation—it is also foundational for more strategic and meaningful discussions in the boardroom.
Viewing CSAT and NPS scores is not enough
In reality, most boards and leadership teams rarely, if ever, spend time getting a ground-level view of the customer experience. Yet, these same boards unanimously agree on the importance of customer-centricity for organizational success.
If customer centricity is genuinely critical, viewing CSAT and NPS scores simply is not enough. So why don’t more boards make it mandatory to spend at least one or two days a year “on the ground”? Imagine the insights they’d gain by observing the key moments when customers interact with and use their products or services.
This simple shift could lead to better products and services, more thoughtful boardroom discussions, and, frankly, a more fulfilling experience for board members.
Prioritize companies with the right leadership
How do we make this a standard practice? One approach is for investors and stakeholders to prioritize companies where board members actively engage with customers. We already know that customer-centric organizations are more successful, so that should be an easy decision. As an investor, I’m far more inclined to support organizations where leadership demonstrates this level of understanding and commitment.
Change starts at the top. It’s time for boards to walk the talk and implement a customer-centric organization, from boardroom to buttons. What’s stopping your leadership team or board from putting themselves in the customer’s shoes—even for just one day a year?