Finding the right person to helm your Customer Experience (CX) function is an absolute must to stay competitive in today’s marketplace. Customers are savvier and more sophisticated than ever, and they expect consistent, quality, and personalized experiences. An exceptional CX leader delivers all of that, along with the bump in ROI and internal culture that can continue to drive cycles of success.
What qualities do truly great Chief Experience Officers (CXOs) have in common. A recent article highlighted six top traits, and we’re taking a closer look, along with insights on hiring these critical leaders.
The Six Signs of Success
In MIT Sloan Management Review, Amelia Dunlop, CXO at Deloitte Digital, laid out her six-part analysis of what makes a great CXO. As she explains, “The chief experience officer (CXO) serves as the voice of the customer, asking, ‘From the customer’s perspective, does it make their life easier? Does it remove friction? Does it create a delightful experience?’ If it doesn’t, the experience needs to be redesigned.”
CXOs will deploy a variety of techniques and skills to gather this information, analyze it, and transform it into actions. According to Dunlop, the following six skills are the common threads between successful CXOs:
- The CXO offers a vision that inspires others to take the view of the customer. In other words, the CXO is the person in the room advocating for a customer-centric view and highlighting customers’ success stories and frustrations alike.
- The CXO teaches the disciplines needed to design for the customer. CX requires constant learning and improvement, making adjustment to the needs of the customer base. Great CXOs won’t be locked in by what has always been done, but look for possibilities to improve.
- The CXO meets customer problems with action. Asking questions is great—driving solutions is better. The buck stops with the CXO when it comes to solving the “pain points” in the customer journey.
- The CXO collaboratively designs the foundational technology used to orchestrate and personalize the customer experience. Rather than get swept up in costly but ineffective trends, successful CXOs advocate for technology adoption that will actually have a noticeable, positive impact on customers.
- The CXO measures the impact of customer experience on the bottom line in a way that can be communicated to others through management- and board-level dashboards. A great CXO must have a clear understanding of the data underlying CX strategy and be able to prove ROI on the customer-friendly actions they push for.
- The CXO creates the cross-functional ecosystem designed to serve the customer. Call them the Avengers, the Justice League, the X-Men—great CXOs know how to bring together cross-disciplinary experts to solve specific problems, and they also know when to let the team dissolve and go back to “normal” work until they’re needed again.
Finding Your Superhero CXO
Understanding what you need in a CXO is one thing, but hiring for these traits is a challenge in and of itself. Depending on the specific structure of your organization, that job description and expectations might look different. Focus on three key things: job responsibilities, experience, and desired goals.
Job responsibilities are, in many ways, the “simplest” part of the search. Ask yourself: what do you want the CXO to actually do? Which teams will they oversee, and how are those divided up? Are you looking for someone to overhaul the strategy, steer the course, or increase awareness? How will they advocate for both internal and external stakeholders?
In turn, those responsibilities will help you narrow down the kinds of experience you’re looking for. Consider whether you’re looking for someone with a broader business or operations background, or someone who already has a proven track record in the CX field. That is likely to intersect with the specific goals of the search. By which metrics will success be measured?
Your team may also choose to work with an executive recruiter with CX experience, like Blue Rock Search. CX-specialized recruiters know the unique dynamics of the CX field and have experience matching on-paper qualifications and achievements with sometimes-nebulous skills and traits. They can also tap into hard-to-find talent, including passive talent who aren’t actively searching but are interested in moving for the right opportunity. Working with a recruiter also means less time and resources taken from your internal team; a recruiting partner can do the serious legwork for you and deliver quality, pre-vetted candidates ready to be interviewed—and ready to accept an offer, should you make one.
Blue Rock Search is here to help you with your search for top CX talent! Talk to our team to learn more about our CX recruiting solutions to boost your brand’s reputation for quality experiences and great customer interactions.
By Dawn Russell
About the Author
As Managing Director and CX Executive Search Practice Leader for Blue Rock, Dawn brings her Social Talent Black Belt skills and deep analytic abilities to bear, developing quality talent pipelines for a variety of diverse industries focused on Customer Experience. Dawn is the only Managing Director at Blue Rock Search that is equally knowledgeable in three of our five specialties, including Customer Experience, Franchise, and Human Resources.