In today’s competitive business world, customer experience (CX) has become a critical component of any successful business strategy. In the B2B space, CX is just as important as it is in the B2C space, and failure to provide a positive CX can result in lost business, negative word-of-mouth, and a damaged reputation.
A recent article titled “Five Steps to Avoiding B2B CX Failure in 2023” offers valuable insights into how B2B companies can improve their CX in the coming years. Let’s take a closer look at each of the five steps and explore how they can be implemented in practice.
- Lean on upper management – woo a sponsor
Working in a vacuum is thankless and unproductive. A senior leader who acts as your mentor and fills a sponsorship role can streamline the process of acquiring resources such as people and money – all the components you need to be successful. Using operational and financial metrics that are already familiar tools to these upper-level leaders can support your position, and prove your points.
- Build a powerful – but short – CX priority list
The most dynamic and successful CX strategies will incorporate only 3 to 5 priorities into their model – any more than that, and B2B’s run the risk of diluting the mix and overlapping plans. A short list of robust, well-thought-out CX priorities will generate a more powerful focus that organically attracts sponsorship and investment dollars. These initiatives should be well-defined, to the point and compelling.
- Data, data, and more data
Your B2B CX strategies need to be built on data – consistent, comprehensive, and connected. These types of analytics will persuade a potential sponsor that you have done your homework and have created a strategy. Keep in mind that your customer data should represent your entire customer pool and not just a random sampling. It should also reflect 24/7 monitoring of insights as opposed to intermittent feedback and should be fully tied to the day-to-day operations of your teams and their needs. This type of data-centric model can be implemented into most organizations in approximately 3 months.
- Speak the same language as your recipients
When communicating the progress of your CX initiatives, keep in mind that your corporate teams’ interactions are based on a revolving door of continuous activities, and schedules. Data and metrics that are pulled from surveys simply won’t fit in this context and won’t provide ongoing analysis and feedback requirements. Keep in mind that your teams will be more engaged and interactive through relevant data – common language and metrics will build a stronger unit and ultimately deliver a higher success quotient with customers.
- Project management certification is a plus
It’s important for all B2B organizations to be mindful of the value that PMP or PRINCE2-certified project managers can bring to the table. There are many moving parts to a dynamic, successful CX strategy, and these types of specialized individuals can be worth their weight in gold. They should understand the critical interdependency between various project workstreams, the interconnected relationship between the creation and execution of a plan, and the importance of using trustworthy, relevant operational data that reflects the entire customer base.
It’s clear that in all industries and business models, the common thread of CX is impacting all. BPO outsourcing companies like award-winning Anexa can impact your company’s ability to harness this potential. Anexa is a customer service veteran, with an exceptionally skilled workforce of bilingual agents who recognize the importance of the 2023 ‘customer experience’ and specialize in delivering just that. Our pros are trained to represent YOUR brand in an authentic, results-driven way, no matter which areas they manage – customer service, inbound and outbound sales, lead generation, tech support – they have your company’s back. And eCommerce? We were made for that.
Anexa was the recipient of the silver award for Best Operations Strategy at the 2021 Premio Nacional awarded by the IMT, was named as a finalist at the 2021 Customer Centricity World Series and has taken home both gold and bronze Stevie Awards at the 2020 International Business Awards.
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