There's no substitute for reading customer comments. It's so powerful to go through pieces of unstructured text - the genuine comments that people have made.

Typically, when customer information is internalised, all the emotion is stripped out of it and we tend to rationalise it. We put it in reports; we've probably got graphs and charts. But this doesn't tell you how your customers are feeling, which is the most important part of why they decide to stay or ultimately leave.

It’s often a real struggle for organisations to find a way to operationalise a customer-centric approach across thebusiness. How do you prevent it from being another initiative, another action, another KPI or another incentive program? If it is a program, it will eventually die.

Work closely with those areas of the business that have quite a lot of customer interaction (people that are in the field or in the Contact Centre). Look to engage them in gathering feedback from customers. Often you’ll find your customers have more positive things to share than you feared but may also highlight niggles and frustrations that you were previously unaware of.

Recognition can be more important than monetary rewards. Often, what frontline staff really want is praise from senior management - acknowledgement that what they do is important and that it has a significant effect on the organisation.

Take your customer experience to such a level that yourcustomers are actually making suggestions and sharing ideas about product development. Instead of just collecting feedback from your customers, open up a genuine dialogue with them - a two-way conversation.