The VoC Advantage

Why healthcare executives should integrate Voice of the Customer data into their strategies  

World-class organizations are customer focused. They are continuously creating value and differentiation around their products, solutions and experiences with the customer in mind. While being “customer-focused” is a common goal that many strive towards, putting it into action and ensuring that focus resonates throughout every level of the organization is a challenge. Several high-performing companies we’ve studied in our research have similar fundamentals in place that ensure that the Voice of the Customer is built into the foundation of their organization. Let’s explore them. 

CX Focus Starts at the Top: Leaders at top-performing organizations have a clear purpose, mission and vision. Every team member in the organization should understand how their purpose fits into the mission and vision. The mission and vision need to be well known up and down, and across the organization, and the words stated in the mission need to translate into everyday behaviors that create excellent experiences for the customer. It is critical that both are aligned. Leaders who communicate their mission have fulfilled only half of the equation. They must also use language to help every member of the organization understand how their daily actions in their individual roles fulfill that mission for the customer. 

Talent Selection: World-class companies select (not recruit) people for the organization who are energized by the purpose, mission and vision. Those selected to join the cause must be customer-focused and committed to delivering excellence. Other more technical skills can be trained. It is important to identify a candidate’s dedication to the end consumer during the selection process to ensure that they will be able to live up to the organization’s mission. 

Clear Metrics to Drive Success: Top-performing companies across the globe have customer loyalty Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at every level of the organization. These KPIs are simple and transparent across the entire company and are grounded in fundamentals that are most important to customers from across the markets served. This helps everyone in the business work together to identify and address performance gaps with existing customers and identify opportunities for improvement. 

Closed-Loop Reporting and Feedback: Leading organizations drive continuous progress by deploying closed-loop measurement and management systems that rely on both quantitative and qualitative insights. This intelligence is disseminated throughout the organization to provide a more complete picture of actual performance and help identify areas that need attention.  

Frequent Communication: Hosting a regular cadence of meetings across the enterprise focused on customer loyalty KPIs is essential. World-class companies use these venues to share best practices and lessons learned, update teams on pilot projects and innovations, and review key customer trends that may prompt the organization to adjust product and service offerings. These standing meetings also provide opportunities to reinforce the company’s purpose, mission and vision and each team member's role in their execution. 

Organizations that want to become customer-focused should evaluate their own foundation and ensure it’s built on their customers' wants and needs.  

• Are all team members aware of their purpose?  
• Does your mission include the Voice of the Customer, and does everyone in your organization understand how their role aligns with that mission?  
• Do you have specific goals based on customer expectation metrics and a way to share those metrics and performance against them across the organization?  
• Are your leaders consistently meeting with all employees to communicate performance against customer loyalty KPIs, the state of your customers’ experiences, and opportunities to improve?  

If you’re not answering yes to each of these questions, now is the time to start working towards addressing your foundational gaps and becoming a customer-first organization focused on excellence.