Peppers & Rogers write:
One of the dozens of financial, organizational, and personnel reports delivered to Virgin Mobile U.S. CEO Dan Schulman every week is a "customer incident report." It shows every customer complaint tracked by the company's contact center and sales force. Virgin Mobile's senior mangers all start their day by reviewing a data highlight report prepared by CIO Michael Parks' department.
History has shown that a CEO's direct involvement in any customer-oriented initiative greatly increases its chances of success, we write in our book. In 2004 IBM conducted in-depth interviews with hundreds of business executives around the world and concluded that "top-down, ongoing support of senior executives and clear links to overall corporate goals" was one of the most critical factors that differentiated successful initiatives.
Regardless of how senior executives choose to manage customer strategy initiatives, remember that any meeting or steering committee should have its roots in accountable, fact-based reporting. "I think accountability is the key to any kind of executive sponsorship," says Mike Emerson, general manager, Siebel Marketing. "Companies we work with have a global accountability system for any customer initiative. As marketing departments get more funding for customer relationship programs, it helps C-level executives track their effectiveness when they see KPIs like ROI, churn rates, and new customer revenue. It's easier for the CMO to step up to the plate and tell the executive team that this program is going to deliver accountable value and not just excitement."