Post-it Ninja
"Improving the customer experience, that's what we're working on." I'm having an interview with a CX colleague at a government agency. In the case of a large brown paper, she explains to me what I see on this. A beautiful customer journey, full of ups and downs in emotions and many, many post-its. Unfortunately not of very good quality, because there are also a lot of them on the ground. But that's not what this blog is about.
Now I'm a big fan of the post-it myself. Super handy for all your customer journey sessions, workshops, improvement sessions and what not. But I've also wondered how others see me and my CX colleagues. Whether we have customer journey manager, service designer or customer experience expert as a job title.
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues. What do they see and what will they think? Could it be something like, 'Hey, there she is again. Always busy with those brown papers and all kinds of colored self-adhesive small papers. Where does that post-it it ninja go next? And what happens to that brown paper? Will she take it off the wall and will something happen to it? Or will this customer journey soon hang on the wall as beautiful office art and is it a reminder of a wonderful session?'
Yes, that could just be the image. And if so, then we have caused it ourselves. It's up to us to show that something is really happening with it. Because what else are we doing? Of course, one of our roles is to increase the customer awareness of colleagues. But we are only successful if the customer notices something. I do know that sometimes we are seen as those post-it it ninjas. Like those guys with the biggest plans and most beautiful sessions, but with too little impact. And we are responsible for that. Also to change that, because we really need to get rid of that image.
We owe it to our CX booth that we have customer impact. That we are where the customer is. That we really know how to improve that customer journey. That we entice leaders to participate in the contact center. That we sometimes use brute force to draw attention to the major customer issues. That every now and then we very subtly let everyone realize that it really can't be like this. Sometimes with post-its and much more often with the 'voice of the customer'. But always with the honest customer story and a lot of do-power. As CX professionals, we are responsible for our own impact. Down with office art, hello customer success. From post-it ninja to customer hero; Let that be our aim.
This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on March 11, 2020
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Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
