Sustaining Customer Experience Strategies

Customer experience strategies are increasingly important to B2B companies looking to elevate their offerings and solutions beyond the competition. The stakes are high as B2B leaders are vying for significant revenue for every renewal, win or up sale in an intensely competitive global environment. What’s more, most B2B companies have a hyper-concentration of revenue sitting in a very small group of clients, and as a result B2B leaders must consider strategies that put the client at the center of their work and help them to differentiate offerings. In many cases this requires intensive customization to deliver the value clients have come to expect.

The above scenario plays itself out on a daily basis for B2B leaders and when this level of intensive competition occurs, it is human nature to go back to what we know—a product or brand-driven focus. Our experience with clients shows that as tempting as this is, it creates an extremely difficult go-to-market because offerings are inevitably focused on internal rather than external stakeholder interests. When the going gets tough here are a few tips to keep you focused on what matters most:

Customer Day
Nothing will focus your team more on the customer than having customers present to your company on a regular basis. Create a calendar of client presentations and share those with your entire organization. This will help to keep the client front and center for your organization and will bring valuable lessons and sharing to your teams.

Know the Customer
Simple marketing principle, yes, but we are surprised how often this fades into the background when marketing leaders are with their senior executive leaders who decide to make their interests the top priority instead of the customers’. You’ve done the qualitative and quantitative research—point to the facts and do not let hierarchy trump client knowledge.

Focus on Small Wins
The organizational implications of client experience work can be enormous and challenging. Remember that you are moving people to think differently and you are asking them to have a totally different orientation in their work. Build plans and approaches that establish small victories rather than trying to achieve a complete organizational shift overnight. Celebrate those small wins publicly to encourage the culture to continue to change.

Related Stories

Putting the Peer in Client Engagement

Posted on 03.6.2023 by in Customer Advisory Boards, Featured, Understanding the C-Suite

In this era of social connectedness, opinions and input from peers are of paramount importance to driving buying decisions and the adoption of new enterprise products and services. In working with executive engagement programs, the power of peer  

Continue Reading »

Customer Advisory Board Advice: Learn to Love the Pain

Posted on 08.30.2022 by in Customer Advisory Boards

The thing about Customer Advisory Boards is you just might get what you wished for: unvarnished advice about your strategy and your business. And while this is the very reason to create a Board, it can sometimes  

Continue Reading »

Executive Engagement Programs: Take the Time To Listen

Posted on 08.1.2022 by in Engagement Strategy, Featured, Understanding the C-Suite

If customers take the time to tell you, take the time to listen.

Whenever a customer provides feedback, take the time to listen. In a recent meeting a company told me they had “piles of feedback” but no way to respond  

Continue Reading »

Is it a Good Time to Launch a Customer Advisory Board?

Posted on 06.6.2022 by in Customer Advisory Boards

Not sure whether a Board is right for you? Here are some trigger points to consider.

Continue Reading »


Customer Advisory Boards

Customer Advisory Boards are powerful engines of engagement, insight, and business transformation. Make the most of yours.

Meeting Facilitation: Virtual and In-Person Boards » Taking Your Customer Advisory Board Meetings Virtual »

Learn More »

Engagement Strategy

Like any good relationship, customer engagement is a long-term, reciprocal effort. When done well, meaningful engagement leads to better business results, faster.

Engage Your Customers to Help You Stop Pitching » Getting to a Customer Engagement Mindset »

Learn More »

Understanding the C-Suite

Building C-level programs that are meaningful and bring value to you as well as to your c-suite customers is challenging. Veiled sales pitches won’t win the day with this audience. Deliver what executives want: ideas, inspiration, innovation, influence.

Building a C-Suite Client Experience Strategy » Do you Know What Your Customers Value? »

Learn More »