Lessons Learned From Scaling CX Orgs

Why Write This?

As we prepare for another exciting CCW Conference in Las Vegas this month, I was thinking back to Nashville and some of the key takeaways. During our breakout session, we focused on the lessons learned from scaling CX orgs at fast growth startups. Whether it was Billie or Greats for Emily or Freshly for myself or now Pair Eyewear where we've teamed up to rapidly scale another team, the lessons have remained the same and so I felt like this is an opportune time to get some of this down in writing and share the wealth so to speak!

Lesson #1 - SWOT Analysis

When presented with a young scrappy CX org at a fast growing startup, a leader must step back and evaluate the situation. A proper SWOT Analysis is a must! What's going super well, what isn't, where can we grow, and what should we keep our eye on. Typically you look for structure. Are there clearly defined processes and standard operation procedures? Do the front line staff have an clear idea of what success looks like and can they easily see where they stack up in terms of their status on the team? Are there currently manual processes that can be helped by automation? Are there tools in place that aren't being utilized as best as they can? Does CX have a seat at the decision making table? If not, how will we earn our place at that table? Are there any staff we need to add immediately? Is there a major issue on the team currently that we need to address before adding anyone else?

These are just some of the things we need to be mindful of when preparing for scale. If these questions aren't addressed in a formal process early on, things can get very messy to fix later on down the road and the CX team will miss out on influencing the correct changes needed across the org.

Lesson #2 - Building Your Tech Stack

Once you've answered those questions and you feel like you've got a firm sense of what type of tools could be helpful to your org, you now have the daunting task of going out into the wilderness to find the right tech stack. As someone who has been down that road many times, it can be scary. Tons of SaaS companies claiming to do everything you need and pricing can vary from manageable to astronomical. Navigating the seas can be a struggle for even the best of us. If you have a procurement team, of course a formal RFP process is ideal - but not many startups have that sort of organization from the early days. Of course there's the trial and error method - but that can be costly in dollars and time spent.

So the lesson here to is remember you're not re-inventing the wheel! There are many more of us out there and we can find them easily with a quick LinkedIn search. Lean on the advice of other CX leaders and see what they've learned from their own experiences. If you're lucky enough to be in a professional Slack community - such as the Zendesk Community - then ask questions and participate in the channels where knowledge is shared openly and widely. (BTW - if anyone wants to join that Slack group - just DM me and I'll be more than happy to get you an invite!) But knowing your strengths and weaknesses and asking the right questions is where it all starts. You can't ask for the help identifying the proper tools until you know what the problems are intimately and know your goals in addressing those problems.

Lesson #3 - Be The Voice Of The Customer

You've now done the proper analysis, you've signed some pricey contracts, and the team is working a lot smoother - what now?!?!

The Customer Experience department is sitting on a mountain of vital data that the organization needs to be aware of and be using to drive change across the various departments. Having a VOC program is the best way to do this. Are you measuring NPS? CSAT? Are you tagging contacts in a way that leads to valuable and actionable data that you can trust?

Once you have something to share - you must be sharing this data in the most impactful way you can. I think the KISS method works best - Keep It Simple Stupid - just give the headline. X number of contacts are coming into this department because of Y and Z being a major pain point for our users. If we fix just Y, we can expect a reduction of this % of tickets - if we address just Z here's that % - and if we fix both, look at how much time and money will be saved and how many negative CSAT scores will vanish - is this now a priority for the organization? Does this data mean we can leapfrog some of those tickets in the backlog?

Likely the answer is YES!

So What?

Nothing I've said here is revolutionary - but as a young CX leader - those steps were never clearly defined for me anywhere. So while they are simple lessons, they open up the door to so many more deeper questions that will vary from company to company and start a discussion that leads you down the right path. My hope is that you can take something away from this either as a founder or a young CX leader or even a front liner who dreams of leading their own department someday. If you have questions or comments or think I'm 100% wrong in every way - share it with me! I want this to open a door to conversation and if you're attending CCW Las Vegas, attend our fireside chat session and we can dig in even more!