Chief Customer Officer: Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action

reviewed by Robert Pritchett

Chief Customer Officer: Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action by Jeanne Bliss was written in the hopes that corporations would pay more attention to those who buy their wares instead of navel-gazing all the time.

What caught my attention was that JeanneÕs last name is ÒBlissÓ, which is what corporate types would like to think is the customer satisfaction level when they purchase their products. But then again, Jeanne has not sat in just one corporate environment for very long; 5 different corporations in 25 years. IÕm beginning to believe that is the life-expectancy of just about anybody in a corporate environment these days, what with constant change and constant shuffling. Maybe Chief Customer OfficerÕs donÕt have long-term life expectancy?

This book goes to great lengths to discuss customer satisfaction metrics based on her own personal Òsurvive-and-thriveÓ experiences at Allstate, Coldwell Banker, Lands End, Mazda and Microsoft before Ògoing consultant at Customer Bliss. On her website she has a CCO Blog and a Reality Check Audit and her Chief Customer Officer Toolkit composed of topics discussed in the book: Power Core, Customer Quicksand, Guerilla Metrics, a Tom Sawyer Formula and the question she would like all corporations to ask – Do you need a CCO? There are also two dynamic streaming videos online on discussing Power Core and Guerilla Metrics.

By the way, we used to call Power Core, ÒCore CompetenciesÓ.

The book is predictably full of charts, graphs, lists and questions. These are found in four parts; Part One discusses why customer efforts crash and burn, corporate mediocrity, and silo-mentality where metrics, mechanics and motivation compete for time and resources. Part Two wrestles with handwaving vs. real passion from gut feeling and intestinal fortitude, gathering guerilla metrics and heading C.A.T.S - customer targets and the Reality Check Audit. Part Three asks if a CCO is really needed and what it takes to become one. This is where the Tom Sawyer Formula kicks in and where we read about what it really takes to drive change. Part Four is a section devoted to success stories of existing (still?) CCOs at Nuatilus, Evercare, Cisco Systems, Colorado Rockies, Monster.com and Unica.

The book wraps up with an Epilogue that lists a bunch of questions regarding our current state of corporation and customer leadership. After that is an Afterword by Jill Griffin where she states; Òhaving the information in this book and not acting n it is a lot like sitting on a winning lottery ticket and not cashing it in.Ó Maybe she should have had this put in the Forward, because she says that this book is really an accountability blueprint.

Pardon me from stepping away for a bit, IÕve got a corporate website to Òde-siloÓ, since Òcustomers defect when the silos donÕt connectÓ and want a superior customer experience. ShouldnÕt we be focusing on satisfying customers instead of dishing ÒmediocrityÓ out to them?