Is Customer Success dead? - With Chris Adlard Artwork

The CX Iconoclast

If you’re exhausted by traditional approaches to CX, impatient with the stunning lack of progress in the field, and done re-hashing the “best practices” that don’t change anything, you’ve found your podcast. Here’s what we know: Companies gain competitive advantage through exceptional customer experience, and customer insights are the best decision-making tool there is. But traditional CX approaches have run their course and it’s time for the next revolution in CX. Tune in every two weeks as Richard Owen, co-founder of OCX Cognition, hosts conversations and interviews with business leaders, academics, and thinkers whose ideas can guide the CX profession to think in new ways about what success looks like. Most of them aren’t CX professionals, but all of them have something to teach us about CX. We’ll take a clear-eyed look at the problems that have hampered the discipline and explore the compelling ideas behind a re-engineering CX for a modern world. Come disgruntled, leave inspired. Find us at www.ocxcognition.com

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The CX Iconoclast

Is Customer Success dead? - With Chris Adlard

March 25, 2024 • OCX Cognition

Is customer success indeed dead? That’s just one of the questions answered during this discussion. (Spoiler alert: it may well be dying at your company.) Join host Richard Owen and Chris Adlard, co-author of ‘The Customer Catalyst’, as they discuss the essence of customer transformation. Chris introduces us to the ‘C-change diagnostic’, a tool that companies can use to evaluate their CX progress and receive extensive suggestions on the next actions each major function should take. Chris emphasizes the need for a company-wide customer obsession, arguing that customers are today’s growth engine, especially in the SaaS industry. He adds to this by arguing that isolated individual teams focusing on customers cannot possibly succeed on their own.

The conversation takes an intriguing turn as Chris and Richard dissect the nuanced difference between being profit-driven and genuinely customer-obsessed. They challenge businesses to transcend short-term gains and anchor their strategies on long-term customer loyalty – a pathway they argue is not just ethical but economically rewarding.

They spotlight iconic founders like Michael Dell and Charles Schwab, who defied contemporary profit-driven models with their long-term customer focus. The discussion extends to companies like Workday that have metamorphosed from being merely customer-focused to becoming pinnacles of innovation in the SaaS space.

Finally, they explore the role of ethics in business. Chris argues that greenwashing must be avoided and that it is far more ethical to give customers a great experience and get the company obsessed with the customer. They conclude by suggesting that the purpose of business is to create outstanding rewards for shareholders by creating outstanding results for customers.

Tune into this podcast for an entertaining conversation exploring how businesses can rewire their operational DNA from feature obsession to prioritizing exceptional customer experiences. It’s more than a discussion; it’s an invitation into a world where business ethics aligns with shareholder value creation by prioritizing outstanding results for customers. Your perspective on business operation will not remain the same!

Find out how predictive CX analytics can help your business: https://ocxcognition.com/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ocxcognition/
Connect with Richard Owen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richard-owen-98ba3

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