Jeannie Walters: 0:00

Customer experience can be a little messy. So what do we do when our clients might demand different things at different times? Let's listen in to our question on the Experience Action Podcast.

Listener Question: 0:14

Jeannie, I've noticed that in my B2B organization, that it's really common for one client to have multiple internal contacts, sometimes with competing priorities between departments. What's your advice on creating an experience that feels cohesive and valuable to everyone, even when different people within the same client company expect different things?

Jeannie Walters: 0:40

Okay, this is, first of all, a very real part of serving in the B2B market. When we are talking about B2B customers, we're never really talking about one person. We're talking about really an internal ecosystem. So one client doesn't necessarily mean one set of needs. We need to start thinking about who are the folks that we are serving in their individual roles. If you think about B2B as an internal ecosystem, you've got to consider things like you might have the buyer who has very different needs and wants than the end user. There are day-to-day operators of what we sell who have strong feelings and want to give us feedback, but they might not have the right avenue to do that. Sometimes there are gatekeepers involved. If you haven't yet encountered some of those executive assistants or chiefs of staff who can really make or break your relationship with the executive teams, this these are the people we need to think of. The executive sponsor, the people who are involved in different parts of the organization who maybe do have different needs. So one thing that I would love for you to think about is if you are being proactive about the customer experience that you're delivering, which I hope you are, that means you're designing, you're being intentional about it. And when we're intentional about it, we want to make sure that we understand that these roles are different. They are held responsible for different things, they have different levels of accountability and influence. And so we want to make sure that we're not just assuming they're all going to magically align. Instead, we want to possibly go as deep as creating role-based experiences. But this is the trick. We have to make sure that they all come together around a shared outcome. So if you map the experience by role and not just company or client name, this is where we can think about things like where are expectations conflicting? What will they say over here in marketing versus over here in operations? Where is success actually defined differently? I do see this a lot between sales and marketing. So if you are serving those two groups, really make sure you understand how they define success and what the differences are. And sometimes there are times where one department team leader, they're actually bearing the cost of what the work is while somebody else might be getting the value of it. So if you are not communicating in the right way, then they might only feel the burden of the cost and not see the results that are so critical to another part of the organization. So just like you've heard me say before, you know, I often talk about how within your organization it's so important to have one clear, defined definition of what success looks like. That is also important if you are dealing with a B2B client that you might have lots of different players. You want to make sure that you are anchoring around a shared success definition for that client. So this is about alignment. This is how you create that cohesive experience. Because when things are feeling messy, especially in the beginning, it's great if you can get the right people in the room. And some of them might love that because they want to work together. They just don't have the opportunity to. But you actually talk about things like what does success look like for this organization? What does failure look like? And who feels that first? And what trade-offs do we have to make? What are the restrictions, the constraints, the limitations that we have? And then document it and share that with all the people, all the roles that you are interacting with. Because then when you have priorities that compete, which you will, you have something that is your North Star that will align you all around that shared success definition. This is incredibly common in B2B. And honestly, it is one of the hardest parts of delivering a great experience because you are never serving just one customer. You're serving all of these different players who have all these different responsibilities, all these different priorities, and all these different expectations. So what you really need to focus on is just recognizing that these different roles, they need different experiences. Now, that doesn't mean that every single thing has to be perfectly nuanced and customized. But you may consider things like how can we better communicate with the buyer? How can we make sure that the end user has a way to provide feedback to us so that we get the feedback in a timely manner and we can do something about it? What about those two groups that we know have competing priorities? Can we get them together to focus on our shared definition of success? There are lots of different ways to approach customer experience. And in B2B, it can get complex, it can get very layered. There are all sorts of things that can look like obstacles when you're workingless. But I will tell you one of your roles is to be the translator. How do you help everybody understand that if we can be intentional and proactive about our customer experience, we all win. That means that everybody in that B2B ecosystem understands that one of the outcomes of great customer experiences is that we achieve our business results. Your role has to be about making sure they understand that that is part of this mission. I love working with B2B clients because there is always so much to learn. The different industries are fascinating. You can really get curious, which I find great. That is a trait that most customer experience people have. We are curious people. We want to know. So you get exposed to all these different types of organizations. But whenever you're talking about your client as if they're this faceless organization, you might be missing the opportunity to really zero in on the individual people who make that organization succeed or not. And if you can connect your role and the role of customer experience to their individual success, that's when you really win. I'm so happy to be here with you again. I'm so happy to hear your great questions. So don't forget, you can leave me your question at askjeannie.vip. And if you're not sure where to start, if you are kind of figuring out your customer experience strategy and program, check out the CXI Compass. Now you might not know the answers exactly, but that's okay. It's not about perfection, it's about progress. Take the assessment, complete it, and then we set up a strategy call with you to go over your results. It's a great way to move forward with your strategy and your vision for the future of your customer experience program. I will see you next time. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening to Experience Action brought to you by Experience Investigators. If you're ready to turn insights into action, join our CXI membership. That's our community for customer experience investigators just like you. It's where CX leaders get the tools, support, and inspiration to move from ideas to true impact. And don't miss my new book, Experience is Everything: Making Every Moment Count in the Age of Customer Expectations. It's available now for pre-order. Learn more and reserve your copy at ExperienceInvestigators.com. Until next time, keep asking questions, keep improving, and keep leading with experience.