The shift of power from vendor to customer requires a new way of doing business. Old methods of operating are no longer appropriate in the era of the empowered customer. Similarly, the nature of business leadership must change to reflect the new paradigm. For example, sales managers focussed on quick wins and one-off sales - instead of the formation of deep customer relationships - are increasingly becoming moribund.

 

In the emerging Customer Engagement Economy, the functional areas experiencing the greatest change are: Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and IT. Let’s take a quick look at how leadership roles are evolving in each of these areas.

 

Sales

Global sales productivity, revenue generation and the pipeline remain top of mind for sales managers in the Customer Engagement Economy. However, sales managers must gain greater visibility into customer engagement using new metrics that consider the customer experience, interaction, advocacy and the sales outcome.

 

Sales leaders must teach staff to proactively listen, relate, influence and engage with customers using the social and mobile technologies that the customers themselves use. They must also foster a new, collaborative culture for the sales team. Rather than individual sales staff being allowed to hold customer and contact information close to their chest, there needs to be a free flow of information across the entire organisation to promote knowledge-sharing and a consistent customer experience.  

 

Marketing

The role of Marketing is moving from a focus on the acquisition of names for the prospect database to one of building a deep relationship with customers. Where we used to talk about targeted campaigns based on database segmentation, Marketing now needs to consider personalised communications that nurture prospects and existing customers as individuals, recognising each has their own needs and interests. It’s no longer who you know, but what you know about them.

 

The traditional marketing profile offers a limited view of the customer as a person, without the benefit of the rich information being shared on social networks. It’s not enough to collect social data though -- it must tie to more traditional business data to be actionable. Marketers must integrate core social insights into the database of record to facilitate a shift from segmentation-based marketing to “persona-based” marketing, which delivers an experience that is infinitely more personal.

 

Marketing must also lead the charge as communication becomes social and mobile. They must foster collaborative communities that engage and support customers. This will lead marketing leaders to work far more closely with the CIO, as they equip staff for real time collaboration, and develop strategies that tie marketing automation and social technologies with the customer care platform.

 

Customer Service

The customer service team is at the front line of customer engagement and as such, it is imperative that agents are engaged and well equipped for their jobs. This is where much of the information about changing customer likes and dislikes, expectations and interactions can be captured.

 

Similar to sales management, the challenge for customer service leaders will be to cultivate collaborative knowledge so that the information can be translated into ideas for innovation and improvement. They must also become ambassadors for the customer, orchestrating successful communication between customers and staff.

 

As the customer grows in importance for the business, so too will the customer service team. Leaders who successfully facilitate visibility into customer interactions can expect to become essential contributors to the executive team of the near future.

 

Information Technology

As in the past, IT's challenge is to align the company's information systems with business imperatives. In the emerging economy, the CIO must recast all existing and new strategies through the lens of the customer. The CIO's knowledge and experience will be essential for turning Marketing's information and Customer Service's ideas into innovation.

 

At a practical level, IT is key to the development of social and mobile customer relationship management platforms. IT also holds responsibility for developing the integration between back and front office systems to allow the flow of information across the enterprise. Good, open communication with other departments will be important. Collaboration will be even more so.

 

A time for leadership

Change won't be restricted to these four areas of operations as the quest for customer engagement will involve every employee, every manager and every part of the business. A collaborative, agile environment requires strong guidance and vision from leaders, and employees who are engaged and empowered to take risks and innovate.

See how you can harness new technologies and process to become a customer-obsessed company.