Following the Customer
Thank you to Sondra Halperin, Customer Experience Leader for the inspiration and support in creating this story.
Following the Customer
Friday March 7th, 2025; Austin Texas
“Thank you Erica. On behalf of myself and the board I can say that your Executive Evaluation and this summary are very thorough and certainly give us plenty to consider. We will be in touch as we decide on the actions we will take based on these recommendations” said Javier, the Founder and CEO of LifeFuel; a mid-stage startup in the consumable products industry.
Erica, a consultant hired to do a deep dive Executive team assessment, gathered her things and prepared to leave the conference room. Just as she was about to leave Javier added, “let’s touch base in the next two weeks. We may want to get the ball rolling on the gap you noted around customer experience leadership.”
Erica smiled and replied, “of course, please dive in and let me know. I do believe that this is a place where some real advancements can be made in short order that will have impacts not only in retention but on expansion as well”.
Javier then turned to the board who remained in the conference room.
“Well, this is all good news from my point of view. The opportunities and gaps Erica noted are all growing pains; and very correctable.”
“This report solidifies what I believe the first step should be and I would like to get alignment here before I proceed.”
“In short, we are now ready for a leader solely focused on Customer Experience. I am proposing we create a new position; Vice President of Customer Experience.”
Well, I am not sure I am aligned” said Julie.
Julie was an initial investor and had contributed to every round. She was well respected on the board and had a track record for working with and leading winning startups. She frequently spoke first. If you wanted to persuade Julie, you better have your proverbial ducks in a row.
“That is not in the 2025 budget for one thing” she continued. “Just where do you intend to get the funds to hire a VP level person?”
“Thank you, Julie, you as usual make an excellent point; one that I am fully prepared to answer” Javier replied with just a bit of a grin. He and Julie have been friends and business partners for the last 30 years. This would be the third startup they worked on together.
“I am proposing a fractional hire on this one. We need the experience and advanced leadership, we do not need the overhead of an FTE. As you know, I do have that budgeted; it is OpEx | Consulting.
“Fair enough; we continue to have success with fractional hires. So, tell me the problems this hire will solve and how they tie into our overall 2025 Objectives and Key Results” replied Julie.
As usual, Javier was prepared and he walked to the whiteboard.
He wrote the following on the board:
Understanding the Customer Journey
Discovery
Decision/Purchase
Adoption
Retention
Advocacy
Creating a Customer Experience Plan
Follow the customer
As was his style, Javier would write a few bullet points to guide the conversation, then pace in front of the notes, occasionally pointing at the appropriate item to drive home the point.
“This report did not expose all of this, but it did validate an assumption of mine. This is a leadership problem, not an execution problem. We need a person to lead and foster this as their primary accountability, not in addition to other areas of focus.”
“We have seen our retention rates starting to drop. It is not a big problem yet, but as our sales team focuses more and more on new business, we are losing the voice of the customer.”
“This can happen and in the past we have managed this fairly well but as the complexity of our product lines grow, we simply are not aware of all of the customer journey touch points. He pauses, AWARE might be too strong of a word, but I am certain it is not a documented plan.”
He taps the Customer Journey and Experience plan on the white board as he speaks to these elements.
“The very reason that one of our objectives this quarter is to increase our retention numbers is because we all know it is less expensive to retain a customer than to replace a customer. This will go directly to that objective.”
“Just like every other executive on the team, this VP of Customer Experience will carry a number. I believe that one of the reasons for our continued success with hiring fractionals is how we set expectations and that they are always on par with their W2 peers.”
“So, that goes to revenue, but there is more.”
“When we have a full document accounting for all of the customer journey points, we will also be able to be more proactive with not only the regular communications, but with interactions. Following the customer’s journey will tell us about the customer. ‘Walk a mile in their shoes’ as it were. Having this information available to all of our customer-facing teams from marketing to front-line support will enable our team to really feel connected to our customers.”
“Our team is always more engaged when they have better information when interacting with our customers. Creating deeper customer personals aligned with their journey will do just that. This will go towards our objective of increasing our internal NPS.”
“These are high bar accountabilities and they need the focus of a leader who can then work across teams sharing these insights.”
Javier pauses and looks across the room. “Who has thoughts? Are we aligned?”
Orville, the Chairman of the Board, looks up from his notepad, adjusts his glasses and says, “I think the Employee NPS uptick is a stretch and should not be a direct accountability of this hire. While they should own a piece of it, it is not reasonable as a justification for this hire.”
“That said, the fact that you tried to ‘pile on’ (doing air quotes) shows me you are passionate about this role and will give it your full attention as you would with any other direct report. One thing I believe should in fact be added to their accountabilities is measuring and increasing the customer feedback loops. I do not see it in our regular metrics, Feedback loops are foundational on multiple levels and with this metric we can look at the relative impact across the full customer journey.
“Pull together a budget and the number you want this position to carry and barring anyone having a strong objection; this hire is approved.”
Orville and Javier both survey the room and are met with nods of approval.
Javier returns to standing behind his chair and says, “We are agreed.
Thank you for your time today everyone; I will see you next month.”