University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Customer What?
Book

Customer What?

The honest and practical guide to customer experience

Ian Golding
Ian Golding, 2018
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Customer experience (CX) consultant Ian Golding delves deep into CX transformation, from fundamentals to maintaining momentum. Drawing on 24 years of consulting in multiple sectors, Golding cuts through assumptions and misconceptions – he recommends putting employees first, not customers, for example – with honesty, clarity and empathy. The book includes a long chapter on journey mapping and a fresh, practical perspective on personas. Golding’s advice is essential reading for CX leaders and those about to undertake transformation.

Summary

​The business has to be ready before you implement a customer experience (CX) strategy.

The business’s level of readiness will determine how easy or difficult you’ll find it to implement a CX transformation. A readiness assessment will reveal the organization’s receptivity to a sustainable, complete CX program. The assessment can also help you decide on an approach and pace for the implementation, as well as identify people who will support the initiative.

For a complete assessment, you’ll study four elements of readiness:

  1. Acknowledgment of CX’s role – Analyze whether the organization acknowledged CX management as playing an important role in performance.
  2. Awareness of drivers – Audit the level of awareness of CX drivers within the organization and their strengths and weaknesses.
  3. Commitment to action – Probe the level of commitment to action to improve those drivers, including willingness to make investments and allocate resources.
  4. Commitment to continuous improvement – Examine the level of commitment to embedding a program for continuous improvement of CX...

About the Author

Ian Golding is a freelance customer experience consultant. With over 20 years in business improvement, Golding is a certified Customer Experience Professional and Customer Experience Specialist and certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. His experience includes consulting globally in multiple sectors, including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, retail, technology and education.

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