What's Your Edge?

Most of us operate within a hyper-competitive marketplace.  A compelling value proposition is a critical business asset and one of the most effective competitive differentiators. Companies that succeed in attracting and retaining customers are those that focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences and creating measurable customer value. In this episode of What’s Your Edge?, we explore how Rebecca Woan, founder of Chartwell Insurance Services, a boutique property and casualty insurance provider, built a thriving business by staying true to a customer-centric strategy, using her firm’s value proposition to stand out in a crowded field, and foster long-term loyalty and growth. Rebecca and her team recognize the importance of making customers feel valued and finding value.

Rebecca, congratulations on building a customer-centric organization.  I know our community is eager to hear what you and your team do better and differently to deliver value to your customers.

What we do is anything but radical.  We take care of people.  We had a retail brokerage that specialized in a very different end of the business, and I had a number of prospects in the high net worth or what is also referred to as the “successful individual” space.  I found markets and serviced them to effusive praise. I thought to myself, I’m just taking care of them.  Then I asked myself why their brokers weren’t taking care of the, and then I had the lightbulb moment that there was perhaps a business opportunity in being responsive and educating clients. This was the recipe for our growth, along with a team of people who care as much about clients as I do.  There is no substitute for hiring good people.

Let’s jump right in.  I love this topic because we truly believe that a compelling, meaningful, and relevant value proposition is at the heart of finding, keeping, and growing the value of customers. It’s what enables companies to gain market share and charge a premium price.  You operate in an extremely competitive industry. I did a little research and learned that there are over 4,000 property and casualty insurance companies in the US and that the top 25 have nearly 79% of the market share.  And that the average churn rate for the industry is 16 out of every 100 policyholders.

Rebecca, what is your value proposition, and how has it enabled you to retain and create loyal customers?

Insurance is often sold on price, especially in the consumer sector.  We’ve all seen the name your price commercials and the you’ve been paying too much commercials.  We work with clients who recognize value over price and not as an unavoidable and unwanted expense, but as an important means to protect their real and personal possessions and help guard against assaults on their assets through liability lawsuits from aggressive third parties.  They also want to be placed with insurers who have a reputation for fair and generous claim settlement.  Not everyone is fortunate enough to make that choice, and that’s the market we operate in. 

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I’ve heard you say that “the most recent interaction is the interaction the customer remembers.” We love Jan Carlzon of Scandinavian Airlines book, Moments of Truth.  He defined a “moment of truth“ as any interaction with a customer or any event in which a customer uses or experiences a company’s product.” A moment of truth has a huge impact on customer satisfaction, retention, and advocacy. Employees are the keepers of moments of truth.  What have you done differently to empower your employees to deliver exceptional interactions?

That’s so true, however, you can only empower employees once you know they are well-trained. It’s important to have mentorship and make employees part of the conversation so they learn by hearing and observing.  We also share experiences and how we solve problems, so we can be collaborative and offer a team approach to service.  It doesn’t serve a customer well if the one person who knows about their program is out sick or isn’t available.  Having well-documented files makes it easy for someone else to pick up. This requires constant reinforcement, and more than once, I have one of my team members reminding me when I need to do a better job.  No one is perfect, and the converse is also true, so we all have to own our mistakes.  I firmly believe customers cannot be fooled, and they appreciate an apology and a fix more than a cover-up, which only gets worse over time. 

The idea that customer experience is essential for long-term growth is not new. For a decade, Gartner has been saying, “companies will compete primarily on the customer experiences they deliver.” Even so, many companies still struggle to map the customer journey and eliminate the breakpoints.

Earlier, you said that the challenge is to consistently make customers feel valued and find value in the product.  Process is an integral part of creating customer value.  What kind of processes have you implemented to engage customers and deliver a superior customer experience?

I remind my team that we cannot assume our customers understand all the nuances and the insurance lingo, so we need to clarify in our communications.  We start with a welcome call to let clients know what to do in case of an emergency, to call us first, and that we have an emergency 24-hour emergency service.  We are very proud of our collateral materials, which are clean and easy to read for proposals and reviews.  We also follow up conversations with emails to memorialize, because you can never over-communicate, in my opinion.

People might not connect innovation with insurance.  Yet you talk about the need to think outside the box and to innovate as a critical factor for competing.  What kind of innovations have you developed, and how have they enabled you to outmaneuver the competition?

I’m not sure we have outmaneuvered the competition, but we have looked at how AI can improve our communication and education, and I believe this will be a critical differentiator going forward. I’m delighted to now be part of a larger organization. We sold to EPIC, which has a large national footprint, and they have the resources for the budget that this really needs.  I do feel that in the short term, there will be an advantage for the larger brokerages that have the resources to implement these AI strategies.

Two of the many things we have in common are our passion for customer-centricity and strategy. We believe that a good strategy that is customer-centric and well-executed has the ability to positively impact a market and a company’s competitive position. What kind of customer-centric strategies have you employed, which ones have been the most successful, and why?

We are in the service business, so I don’t think we could be anything but customer-centric.  We have people who communicate.  We make phone calls to deliver difficult news, and in this very hard insurance market, we have a lot of that.  We like to meet customers at their comfort level. Some want a lot of automation, and others want more interaction.  We’ll make file notes about issues that are specific to them, or how to best approach them, or if one spouse prefers to delegate to another, or if it’s important to include both spouses in interactions. 

Crafting a customer-centric strategy takes solid data about who your customers are and which ones are a good fit. I imagine in your industry, it is essential to be able to hone in on the right segments and personas. Rebecca, what data does your firm use, and how do you use it to find, keep, and grow the value of customers? And how do you use the data to distinguish an ideal customer from one that isn’t?

We have not been that granular with data.  We do track retention and success with prospects, and also data about how pricing has changed quarter to quarter. There is probably a metric out there, but instead we look at patterns and conversational responses in a prospect call to determine whether there is a good fit before we complete the labor-intensive proposal process.  The goal is to have a very high win percentage for proposals delivered.

Win-rate. That’s a terrific metric. As we wrap up, I’d like to return to the start of our conversation about creating a customer-centric value proposition. Customer-centric companies build value props that offer a unique promise of value to their customers and articulate the benefits and solutions customers can expect. One of the key things we help our customers do is shift from value proposition construction to value proposition measurement. Measurement helps ensure a value prop remains strong, relevant, and capable of sustaining the vital connection between your business and its customers. We recommend selecting measures that measure the connection between your business and your customers, such as customer lifetime value, customer effort, customer retention rate, and others.  I’m curious to know what customer-centric measures you track and report, and why?

We look at the size of the account we need to be compensated for the cost of servicing. If the account is too small, we have made the difficult decision to politely decline the business. Also, once in a while, we have to tell a client that we cannot make them happy, which is our equivalent of the Dear John conversation.  Sometimes we recognize that our approach is not a good fit for someone who might not understand and appreciate our expertise and has an unrealistic expectation of what we should deliver. 

Rebecca, you’ve been at the helm of Chartwell for more than two decades. I imagine there have been both ups and downs. As we wrap up, what is some parting advice and lessons learned that might help our community outsmart their competitors.

You need to focus on what you can do best. I once heard a presentation about ideas which has stayed with me.  There are very few unique ideas, and chances are someone else is trying to do something very similar, and success comes from the one who executes best. Small businesses cannot afford to make a lot of mistakes, so they need to figure out where their profit margin is largest and which products or services are scalable.  If they can’t do this, or if the field is too crowded or the product is becoming obsolete, like the typewriter, for example, they need to pivot. 

This is an excellent reminder for all of us that to successfully complete and grow, we must focus and execute on what we do best, and that it’s important to know when to pivot. Thank you, Rebecca, for being our guest and revealing how you created and used a clear and compelling value proposition that served as a true competitive differentiator—even in a crowded and price-driven industry like insurance. Customer education and responsiveness and empowering employees, and leveraging processes for superior service delivery are critical to operationalizing customer-centricity. Your journey underscores that long-term success stems from consistent execution, deep customer understanding, and a relentless focus on delivering value.

Is your value proposition strong enough to attract and retain the right customers? Let’s talk about how we can help you assess and strengthen your value proposition to create a measurable edge in your market. Contact us to start your journey toward smarter growth.

(written by Penn of Sintra.ai)

Q1: What enabled Chartwell Insurance Services to stand out in a crowded, price-driven market?

Q2: What is Chartwell’s value proposition—and who is it designed to attract?

Q3: How does Chartwell operationalize customer experience through “moments of truth”?

Q4: What customer-centric processes help Chartwell deliver a superior experience consistently?

Q5: What role does innovation play in a service business like insurance?

Q6: What customer-centric strategies have been most successful—and why?

Q7: What data does Chartwell use to qualify prospects and protect profitability?

Q8: How does Chartwell decide when to decline or exit business—and why is that customer-centric?

Q9: What is Rebecca’s most transferable advice for leaders competing in saturated markets?

Q10: What is the core lesson about value propositions from this episode?

Christina Porter, the President of Stallergenes Greer Canada and Vice President of Strategy for Stallergenes Greer North America. The company provides therapies to help improve life for people who suffer from allergies. In 2017, Stallergenes Greer acquired a successful family-owned Canadian company to create a fully integrated Canadian operation. The company encountered several challenges during the transition that required them to take some steps back and re-engineer customer-centric processes, in order to grow and improve service quality and customer experience. And that’s the focus of this episode of What’s Your Edge?

Christina, we are grateful that you are willing to share the challenges you faced as a result of the acquisition. Every company we’ve ever worked with that has gone through a merger or acquisition has told us that the integration process was anything but a cakewalk. Some of the issues we’ve heard companies have faced post-merger include cultural clashes, talent loss, customer retention issues, integration cost overruns, and integration fatigue. All of these can impact the customer experience and impede growth.

What can you share about the situation you were facing during the transition?

It’s all the things you mentioned and in a predictable pattern (although in our naïve optimism, we didn’t predict it, unfortunately!):

First: culture clashes: we are a global company purchasing a 2nd generation family business- our expectations regarding policies, procedures, documentation, decision making, almost everything were different, and it was a very uncomfortable, tense time for everyone

Second: talent loss: The natural progression of culture clash is talent loss, and when most of the company’s intellectual capital is institutional knowledge, that’s a huge problem.   We lost the 2 owners very quickly, despite our expectation of a 2-year transition.  And many of the key people followed right behind, taking their institutional knowledge with them.

Third: production/delivery disruption.  Without the key players in the company, we rapidly became unable to fulfill orders. 

Fourth: customer dissatisfaction – you can imagine how our customers reacted.

Fifth: more disruption and delay caused by managing angry customers, and trying band-aid, reactionary solutions- training new employees, adding shifts, hiring consultants.

In my career and as part of our work, we’re big proponents of service quality. In the book, “Delivering Quality Service, “ first published in 1990, based on the authors’ research found that reliability and responsiveness account for over 50% of how customers evaluate service quality. What kind of data was your team seeing that indicated you had a service quality process issue that needed to be addressed?

Well, the first and most obvious source of “data” was the phone lines and voice mailboxes.  The phones never stopped ringing with complaints, and as fast as we were answering calls in person, more calls were filling the voice mailbox- to the point there was no physical way to answer everything- and anyway, we couldn’t answer the main question we were being asked – we called it WISMO- where’s my order???

The next was the very visual signal of orders piling up. Our orders mainly came in via fax at that time, and they were literally spilling and piling up on the floor, surrounding desks, and any other flat surface. In fact, our first initiative was to create a filing system just to hold backlogged orders- there were hundreds of them. We called it Bertha!

As we tried to solve problems, it quickly became obvious that we actually didn’t have the data we needed to pinpoint exactly where things were going wrong and therefore where we should prioritize our efforts.  It was a sobering time when we came to the realization that we couldn’t just work harder to get out of the situation we were in.  Instead, we needed to take a step back and become very analytical to make a sustainable solution.

You’re singing our song about taking a step back and being analytical.  As you analyzed the data, what decisions did you make?

We knew we had to carve out time to dissect every part of the business if we were going to improve- to get that time, we had to make the very painful decision to reduce the number of customers we could serve.  This led to some difficult, but honest discussions with valued partners to tell them they should go elsewhere because we could not serve them the way they deserved.  We counted on the fact that this transparency would serve us well when we were back on our feet and could reach back out for their support.   

We also had to purposely part ways with some long-standing but draining customer accounts where we couldn’t negotiate for a solution that worked in the new reality.

I know you had relationships with many of the clinicians and medical groups you serve. Being a customer-oriented person, I imagine “firing” customers was a very difficult decision for you. We believe that credibility and transparency are critical to maintaining market and customer trust during tough decisions. Beyond lost revenue, what was the impact of the decision on the organization, and what did you do to maintain customer trust?

Yes, this was such a difficult period of time for me and all our employees, especially because the business was built on customer service, and this is a core value for our leaders and all the people we hire.

The truth is, there was a significant loss of trust as we found our footing, and it was frankly embarrassing. But once the decision was made, we focused on being open and transparent about our situation, communicated regularly about the work we were doing to improve things, brought customers along with our vision as we innovated and finally, provided objective metrics to prove that when we asked them to come back, they could be confident in what to expect.

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There’s a process for analyzing the process and getting to the root cause.  What did you and your team do to analyze the entire process to understand what was creating the service quality problem and close the critical gaps?

We started with pure data collection at each point in the production process so that we could start to get a handle on what was going on and create a baseline.  Things like how many calls we are getting, how many orders, how many corrections, what kind of mistakes, how much time every step takes, etc.

Next, we attempted to simply see where the easiest and most obvious places to make improvements would be, we picked the “low-hanging fruit.”

But then we moved on to the detailed work of process mapping using six sigma tools such as value stream mapping, 7 wastes, 5S, etc.

It sounds like you employed the power of process mapping. All businesses run on processes. Process mapping provides a clear roadmap for improvement and optimization. What steps did you take to reengineer the process, and how did you envision the revised process would improve the customer experience?

We reengineered the org chart for role clarity, we re-designed the physical space for efficiency, we instituted a data management system so documents could be found easily and electronically, we standardized the ordering process, we introduced a prioritization protocol for order processing, we questioned the rationale for everything, we deleted and deleted and deleted any redundant steps or touchpoints we documented everything and created training metrics so skills became transferable and are reproducible, we added clear metrics at each stage of the process and instituted a bonus program that paid for performance, we created transparent dashboards and shared access to information with all employees so they could see the progress and we opened a formal process for feedback for continuous improvement.

Today, we are industry leaders in quality, consistency, and speed of delivery. When customers came back, they got what they were promised plus more.

In addition to clarifying gaps, process mapping creates opportunities for operational excellence. Did you find that this exercise helped align your team and streamline decision-making?

This is very true.  When we began this transformation, we thought we were just trying to get back to the way things were before the disruptions created by the integration, but what we discovered was that there were multiple ways to surpass good to become excellent by making the right decisions on where to focus our energy.

From a practical standpoint, once our teams could see the quantitative data, we could set ambitious goals to improve. We found that people became very engaged in making suggestions for incremental improvements in their day-to-day work- it’s now a very motivating part of our culture.  Teams are encouraged, empowered, and rewarded for implementing process improvements that streamline our offering. And because of the dashboards and other reporting tools we created, they can really see when their projects lead to real benefits for customers.

Tell us a little more about the steps you took to reengineer the process and how you imagined the revised process would improve the customer experience.

In our business, there are two things our customers care about: Quality and speed.  They need to be confident that what they order will be made correctly, using the highest standards, and that they will consistently receive their orders in the expected timeframe.  We worked to improve both of these areas.  In an interesting dichotomy, these two things often run at cross purposes.  High quality takes time, and you can gain speed by compromising on quality. When deciding where to focus, we took the decision to never compromise on quality and to manage expectations on speed.

We communicated clearly with our customers about the quality improvements we were making, and we vowed to offer the most transparency in the industry, often educating customers on best practices.  In this way, our customers could be assured, confident, and knowledgeable about what they were getting.  And we let them know what kind of trade-off this emphasis on quality would require.  So instead of going for record-breaking or even industry-leading speed, we promised consistency.

This combination, consistent delivery plus the highest quality product, turned out to be the winning formula.

You have shared a lot with us today about process engineering. What advice would you give to someone who is going to reengineer a process?

This is hard work that takes patience, persistence, and so much communication inside and outside of the organization.  It’s detailed work that takes precision.   It’s rewarding, but it can feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back, and for people who are builders, as most entrepreneurs and CEOs are, this can be draining.

I think it’s worthwhile to hire someone with the right skills and mindset to both lead and manage this type of transformation.  Operational excellence is not a one-and-done type of event, instead, it should be seen as foundation building and continuous improvement.  This will give you the satisfaction of serving your customers in a consistent and high-quality manner they deserve- and that will mean you can spend your time business building, confident of the commitments you can make and the difference you can ultimately make in the world.

Reengineering the process was quite an undertaking. I imagine the next challenge was to win back customers. In our experience, we’ve seen that regaining customer trust and loyalty after a major transition requires a strategic blend of customer-centricity, clear communication, and delivering measurable value.

We’ve found that incorporating the voice of the customer can be a game-changer for identifying gaps and improving customer experience. Did you leverage any customer feedback mechanisms, like surveys or advisory boards, to guide your decisions during this time?

I think we were afraid to ask for the voice of the customer!  Actually, it would be a good idea to do that now. Now that our processes have become so standardized, we’re able to implement change without disruption – we’d be able to act on any feedback we receive.

I will say that we get excellent feedback from the field about our offerings and especially about our customer service. It’s a great feeling to send salespeople out, knowing that they ask customers to come back with confidence.  It speaks volumes about the level of trust we garnered by being so transparent about our struggles.

The company is growing, so clearly the process and the strategy worked. What strategy and steps did you take to bring customers back and accelerate sales?

Even though it was painful, we stuck to the strategy of reducing volume, re-engineering our processes, transparently communicating with customers during the bad times, and creating systems for measuring everything.  We’re now able to back up our claims of quality and service with data and leverage word of mouth recommendations from new and returning customers.  We’re growing, and I guess it turns out that sometimes you have to go backward to go forward.

Is there any final piece of advice or insight you’d like to leave our community with?

I’ve had so many learnings from this experience but the thing that lives in my heart is that even though business can be cutthroat, in the end, if customers trust and believe that your true core value is to put them at the center of what you do, they will give you a second chance- even if you royally mess up!

Christina, thank you for sharing your insights and experiences. It’s clear that Stallergenes Greer Canada’s journey required emphasizing data and customer-centric processes to overcome challenges and achieve growth. Your story reminds us that while change is never easy, it can lead to significant improvements in customer experience and business performance. I admire your willingness to embrace a bold initiative to eliminate the chaos of random acts—those reactive, short-term fixes that drain resources and erode trust.

If your organization is stuck in a cycle of random acts and reactionary measures, or trying to navigate growth, integration, or customer service challenges, now is the time to take a deliberate step toward operational excellence.  Let’s talk about how we can help you reengineer your processes with a deliberate, customer-centric strategy that drives measurable growth and lasting customer trust.

Mark L. Vincent brings a wealth of expertise in driving customer-centric strategies at the C-Suite and board level. What I admire about Mark is his commitment to bridge the gap between executive leadership and boardroom strategy. In this episode of What’s Your Edge?, Mark and I discuss how boards of directors (BOD) and C-Suite (CXO) members can collaborate effectively to align goals and accelerate growth through customer-centricity by using data and performance management to support governance and forward-thinking. Mark L. Vincent is a process consulting pioneer and (meta) Systems Convener with more than 30 years of service as an Executive Advisor and Corporate Board Member. He currently serves on the boards of Century Companies and the Center of Steward Leader Studies and chairs the board for Mygrow.

In our experience, the relationship between the C-Suite and the board often determines the direction of an organization. Boards become significantly more effective when they are equipped with actionable insights derived from data. This allows them to support strategy development and make faster, fact-based decisions—critical for driving innovation, excelling at meeting customer expectations, and remaining relevant in the market.

Mark, as a board member, what data do you need from members of the C-Suite to help you make key strategic decisions?

I’m a fan of the hard work of distilling strategy into one-page plans supported by operating systems, a growing example of which is EOS. This enables information to be shared transparently, accurately, and in real-time, up and down the organization. I like to see this combined with 12-month trailing financial indicators and dynamic budgets adjusted for the next twelve months in accordance with what the data reveals. 

When these are used in combination you have the entire organization working with the same data set and from the lens they are to bring to the organization.

Many enterprises do not do this.  They use a budget plan that they update once per year, using financial reports that are already a month old. We could do an entire podcast on the many ways employees and executives game this system to their advantage and to the long-term harm of the business.

I’m a big fan of the one-page plan too, which is why created our patented SaaS application – Accelance®. It visually connects investments and activities to business results on one page.

Mark, many organizations are swimming in data and as a result are challenged to identify important patterns and signals needed to tease out the meaning behind the data. In addition, good narratives tell stories. Mark, how can C-Suite executives prepare a data-driven narrative that speaks to board members’ needs for operational resilience, financial performance, and innovation?

This is an area where I’ve done a lot of work with organizations across the years. An organization that has a compelling mission backed up with key products or services, and powered by a strategic direction with key initiatives, has a great outline for a budget narrative that tells the story of intention, and the reporting data that tells the story of results.

One look at the business plan of the organization will tell you what the real mission and real story is. Either it matches the narrative of the mission/strategy or it doesn’t. And if it doesn’t, then the mission and strategy is a farce. The financial plan and its results tell you where the priorities really are.

I agree, it’s easy for distractions to get our attention.  The key is to focus on priorities. I think somebody has written a book about that. A key role of the BOD is to ensure that the leadership team has the resources, support, and framework to successfully embed customer-centricity into every part of the organization. In this capacity, a BOD member’s role is about oversight and alignment rather than day-to-day management.

Mark, what role does customer data, like lifetime value, customer effort score, or customer retention, play in these discussions? And how can boards use these metrics to guide discussions about resource allocation and strategic priorities?

The BOD does not need to develop customer-centricity nearly as much as it needs to expect it and hold its executive accountable to develop and continually refine it.  Once they are in place, the data becomes useful to measure effectiveness, and then to drill down to where adjustment or refinement of strategy is needed.

And this brings us back to the narrative again. It’s tough to spin data when there is a specific outline and cadence of reporting to follow. I’ve been in more than one boardroom where an executive or functional manager’s long history of gaming the system to their advantage is exposed and no longer works. Thankfully, some learn to adjust and grow their ability to better lead the organization. Others do not and end up harming another organization elsewhere.  Either way, the organization becomes healthier.

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In our work, we’ve seen that achieving customer-centricity is an essential part of growth and needs to be integrated into the overall strategy. Customer-centricity requires organizations to strike a delicate balance between long-term strategic goals and short-term performance demands. This balance helps ensure sustainable growth while meeting immediate business needs. Boards play a pivotal role in guiding this alignment, helping leadership teams prioritize initiatives that deliver both immediate results and long-term value.

Mark, what do you recommend the BOD do to help enable the balance between the long-term strategic goals of customer-centricity with short-term financial performance?

There are two ways we might understand the word “balance,” and I prefer the second. The first is to think of it as alternating between short-term and long-term at appropriate times, trying to ensure that neither is neglected. The second is to expect both at the same time and at all times, never losing sight of either.

Let’s use the example of triage in a catastrophic medical situation. Triage is not just about quickly providing medical treatment at the moment (short-term). It is about saving lives and as many as possible (long-term). Neither is cast aside.

Having described this, I’d like to offer what I consider another method. In executive development, we want executives to think about long-term, mid or near-term, as well as short-term. And, we want to combine this with thinking about the top, middle, and bottom line. The complexities of these dynamics are always present so why not be aware of and respond to them ahead of time rather than constantly being surprised by their interactions and having to devote additional and scarce time and resources to play cleanup.

Many BOD members have served in C-level roles. Making the shift from a leadership role to a board member position presents unique challenges. One of my favorite sayings is ‘noses in and fingers out,’ which is attributed to Jim Brown. In his book, The Imperfect Board Member, he describes the ideal role of a board member—staying informed and aware of the company’s operations (‘noses in’) while not interfering with day-to-day management decisions (‘fingers out’).

Building on this idea, Mark, how have you found serving on a board different from running a company or serving in the C-Suite? How does the board’s perspective differ from that of C-Suite executives, especially when considering the strategic role of customer-centricity?

I like the metaphor as a way for C-Suite executives to begin learning that the roles are different than what they are doing in their working life.  And yet, there is a weakness in the analogy because the central point of reference is the executive suite rather than the boardroom.  When this happens, almost all of the agenda ties to the operations of the business, with the board feeling rather anemic because it is trying to keep its questions and comments elevated and not wanting to sound like a second-level executive.

The board needs to have its noses and fingers in the governance of the org, everything from its charter to its strategy, and all related policies. These set the stage for operations and how they will be measured and reported. The central point of reference for the board is governance. And its agenda should contain a number of governance matters in addition to any standard reporting deck from the executive.

This shift in perspective—from operational execution to strategic oversight—offers a unique opportunity for board members to champion initiatives that prioritize customer success. By staying focused on alignment and long-term business outcomes, boards can help ensure that customer-centric strategies remain at the forefront of organizational priorities.

To achieve this mission, board members must ask critical questions to ensure the company is on track with customer success initiatives and what we refer to as advantageous excellence. We have found that it’s very important for BODs to focus on assessing the organization’s ability to innovate, adapt, and align operations with customer needs.

Mark, as a board member, what kinds of questions do you typically ask related to strategy, data, operational excellence/processes, and performance management?

I’d love to have you unpack more of this, especially how customer success matches up with investor intention. There is a synchronicity here that every organization needs, or everyone (customer, employee, and investor) receives less than desired.

My response to this ties back to where we began, with strategy matched up with operational reporting in real-time.  When those are in place, my questions will follow a three-fold priority:

One other quick note to make is that a board meeting often operates under a tight time limit. That does not exempt my responsibility as a board member to ask important questions.  I’m on the board because of what someone felt was my unmatched point of view. I’m compensated to bring that and so I must. If I can’t do it at the board meeting, I can do it ahead of or following the meeting. 

Again, this is not about making statements and offering opinions, nearly as much as using my insights to bring good questions and expect robust answers.  It’s not about displaying whether I am knowledgeable at all. It is about the enterprise living into its expressed mission.

Thank you for sharing these three questions! Journalist Simon Caulkin is attributed to saying, “What gets measured gets managed—even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even- if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so.”

Mark, what do you recommend board members measure to determine the success of customer-centric initiatives, particularly when measuring against traditional KPIs like revenue growth or profit margins?

If we’ve done the work to identify who our customer is and how we meet a need or fulfill a desire, then we have items that should be showing up in our strategy, our plan, and our metrics.

An ongoing approach is for a board to have a finance committee and perhaps a separate executive compensation committee to make sure that organizational goals held by the board match up well with the operational goals given to key leaders. 

Staying on one of my favorite topics, performance management. What specific performance measures or KPIs do you feel are crucial when evaluating customer-centricity, particularly regarding customer loyalty, customer lifetime value, and retention rates?

How can leading versus lagging indicators, like referral rates and retention rates, help predict revenue and profit growth?”

I spent some time with a business owner of a growing enterprise this past week, where we were drilling down into this. We figured out his business drivers and how they become his lagging indicators of success (or not). We then unpacked them back to the leading indicators of whether enough has been done to continue driving business.  Another way to say this is that we moved in a progression of what produces a sale, followed by what the sales results were, then working all the way back to what continued activities are needed prior to any possible sale.

Each business is different in this regard. In this case, it was a leisure business.  If it is the manufacturing of a specific product, the offering of a counseling service, or the provision of medical care, the leading and lagging indicators surrounding the engine driving the business will be different.  And once again, we are brought back to mission/vision/values/strategy and operational metrics that tell the story in real-time, aren’t we?   

Yes, we are right back to mission, vision, values, and strategy! And that takes me back to the topic of customer-centricity as an organizational model. Customer-centricity is about how the leadership team makes decisions and runs the company.  We believe that integrating customer-centric practices is essential for long-term growth and profitability. Research from various organizations has found that customer-centricity directly drives increased customer lifetime value, retention rates, and referral rates—all critical for building sustainable, competitive advantages.

Mark, in your experience, what are the most effective ways BOD and C-Suites members can integrate a customer-centric approach into their overall business strategies? And how can BODs ensure customer success is treated as a priority?

Let me respond with a question.  What does the word “customer” mean here?

I think any stakeholder is a customer of the enterprise, either because an investment has been made or a purchase. Or, in the case of an employee, the selling of one’s time for a wage.  And in the case of a vendor, it is the provision of goods or services to the business for a price. If this stakeholder view is true then the answer becomes simple. Centering on the customer and centering on the mission become one and the same.

Investors, employees, vendors, and customers likely have individual agendas as they interact with the business.  If we are going to be customer-centric, we will need to engage in a lot of listening before speaking. And that listening metric would be one the board should expect to see. I would hope that listening shows up somewhere in those leading indicators.

Excellent point about listening! As an operational excellence expert, I imagine you agree that speed and adaptability are key to being customer-centric. This takes having the right systems, tools, and processes in place.

Mark, how can boards assess whether the necessary technology infrastructure and processes are in place to support customer-centricity?

Behind the technology are the people. Their desire to listen rather than to use technology as a substitute for their listening matters a great deal.  What we put into the development of the humans needs to lead the way. Then, technology can be chosen in support of the human capacity and speed things along. There is ample evidence that when we get it the other way around, technology leading the way, then humans reduce their capacities and support the technology rather than the customer.  As a board member, this is where I want to start.

As we wrap up, Mark, what advice would you give to C-Suite leaders who are trying to better align with their Board of Directors to ensure customer-centric strategies are fully supported and executed?

I would end where we started. Customer-centricity needs to be in the mission in order for it to be in the values and resulting strategy. Then it can become what we measure, report, analyze, and continuously improve.

I couldn’t agree more, customer-centricity needs to be the mission. Thank you, Mark, for your insights today. As we conclude, we invite our listeners to reflect on their own organizations. How can you leverage data and operational excellence to foster a customer-centric culture to drive growth and innovation? What changes might you need to make? For more insights and strategies for leading with change, visit VisionEdge Marketing’s website and explore our resources designed to help you grow and thrive.

Aligning your business strategies with customer expectations is essential for fostering loyalty, differentiation, and long-term success. In this episode of What’s Your Edge?, Karen Norheim, President and CEO of American Crane, discusses how data-driven insights, innovation, and a customer-centric mindset can overcome challenges and deliver exceptional business and customer value. From navigating leadership transitions to leveraging smart technologies, recount the actionable strategies used to reimagine how customer value is delivered to drive sustainable organic growth.

At VisionEdge Marketing, we believe that anticipating and understanding customer needs is fundamental to enduring growth. This requires leveraging customer insights, market intelligence, and competitive analysis. Aligning business strategies with customer expectations creates a compelling value proposition—one that fosters loyalty, differentiation, and long-term success. In industries like Karen’s, where competition is fierce, a customer-centric approach is a necessity.

Karen, I’m delighted to have you with us today. Thank you for joining us. Let’s dive right in.

American Crane, a company renowned for building high-quality specialty lifting equipment, has faced its share of challenges over the years. What are two or three of the biggest hurdles you’ve encountered, how did you tackle them, and what lessons did you learn?

One of the biggest challenges we faced was navigating the transition to new leadership after my father’s passing in 2021. While we had succession plans in place, there were still unforeseen emotional and operational hurdles that required quick adaptation. I had to establish my leadership style while ensuring continuity and honoring the foundation my father built. To tackle this, I leaned on my team, prioritized clear communication, and remained committed to our core values to provide stability during the transition. This experience reinforced the importance of preparation, teamwork, and adaptability during periods of change.

Another major challenge was balancing innovation with execution. Early in my leadership, I had ambitious plans for modernization, technology integration, and process improvements. However, I quickly realized that pushing too much change too quickly could lead to resistance. For example, when we introduced new technology to improve efficiency, some employees struggled with the transition, leading to frustration instead of immediate buy-in. This taught me the importance of meeting people where they are, providing support, and implementing change at a pace that allows employees to adapt. Change is most successful when people feel involved and supported throughout the process.

Finally, workforce development has been an ongoing challenge, especially during times of high demand. Instead of rushing to hire at any cost, we took a strategic approach by analyzing recruiting data, refining our hiring strategies, and focusing on cultural fit. This ensured that we brought in the right talent without compromising the integrity of our company. Additionally, I’ve learned that some challenges, like process inefficiencies, can build up over time if not addressed early. In the past, we assumed minor delays would resolve themselves, but over time, these inefficiencies compounded into larger operational bottlenecks. Now, we focus on early intervention to prevent small issues from becoming major obstacles.

Through these challenges, I’ve come to embrace the idea that failure is an essential part of growth. It’s not about avoiding mistakes, but about how quickly and effectively we learn from them. By staying open to feedback, being adaptable, and maintaining a long-term perspective, we continue to grow stronger as a company and as leaders.

What a great point about failure being an essential part of growth.  Most of our customers grapple with similar obstacles, and we’ve found that agility, adaptability, and resilience are key to overcoming these. A growth mindset is equally essential.

Companies that embrace a growth mindset leverage data in five critical ways:

In short, data empowers organizations to make smarter decisions, elevate customer experiences, and future-proof the organization.

Karen, how does American Crane leverage data to fuel its growth initiatives and create customer value?

At American Crane, data plays a critical role in driving our growth initiatives and enhancing customer value. By leveraging advanced technologies such as NorLink Smart Crane Systems and NorLink MHIot, we collect and analyze real-time operational data to improve equipment performance, enhance predictive maintenance, and reduce downtime. These data-driven insights enable our customers to optimize their operations, proactively address potential issues, and increase overall efficiency.

These innovations have also expanded American Crane into a whole new industry—data-driven industrial solutions. By integrating smart technology into overhead crane systems, we are not only providing lifting solutions but also equipping industries with intelligent, automated tools that transform the way they manage maintenance and productivity. This expansion allows us to serve a broader range of industries, positioning American Crane as both a leader in material handling and a forward-thinking provider of cutting-edge industrial technology.

Beyond technology, we leverage data to refine our internal processes and continuously improve our products and services. By analyzing customer feedback, equipment performance metrics, and industry trends, we ensure that our innovations are directly aligned with real-world needs. This data-driven approach allows us to enhance the durability, functionality, and usability of our equipment, ultimately delivering greater value to our customers.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to leveraging data and smart technology to help our customers stay ahead. Whether through automation, predictive maintenance, or process optimization, we are dedicated to creating solutions that not only improve equipment performance but also drive long-term success.

It’s clear that American Crane fosters a growth culture—one that embraces change and prioritizes data-driven insights. One of the things I most admire about you and your team is your relentless focus on delivering customer value.

Exceptional customer value is the cornerstone of a successful business strategy. It’s about solving customer problems, exceeding expectations and creating lasting impact. The ability to deliver value consistently is what separates industry leaders from the rest.

Karen, what does creating and delivering customer value mean at American Crane?

With a legacy dating back to 1972, American Crane is a well-established leader in its field. Many long-standing companies struggle to break away from traditional ways of doing things. Yet, innovation—whether through new products, services, or operational improvements—is essential to staying relevant and competitive.

What an amazing legacy. We too have found that innovation is essential to staying relevant and competitive. Karen, what are your customers’ expectations when it comes to innovation at American Crane?

Innovation often requires reimagining how value is delivered. Our customers expect innovation at American Crane to go beyond just new technology—they look for solutions that enhance efficiency, reliability, and safety in their operations. They want smart, data-driven systems that make it easy to predict maintenance, reduce downtime, and improve overall performance.

With advancements like the NorLink Smart Crane System and MHIot Devices, we’re not just meeting these expectations; we’re exceeding them by leveraging real-world data to refine our technology continuously. Our focus is on delivering practical, customer-centric innovations that drive measurable improvements, ensuring that our solutions provide long-term value and adapt to evolving industry needs.

I imagine you need to rely on technologies and processes to facilitate innovation. What new technologies and processes have helped you enhance customer value, and how have they impacted your business?

At American Crane, we are continuously leveraging new technologies and processes to enhance customer value by improving efficiency, safety, and reliability. In 2019, we made a deliberate move toward integrating modern technologies into our equipment, recognizing that staying at the forefront of innovation is critical for long-term competitiveness. This commitment led to the creation of our Innovation Lab, where cross-functional teams explore and develop advanced solutions such as NorLink Smart Crane and NorLink MHIot. These technologies allow for enhanced automation, remote monitoring, and predictive maintenance, which improve uptime and reduce operational disruptions for our customers.

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However, innovation isn’t just about technology—it’s also about how we work. To ensure we are delivering the best possible solutions, we have enhanced communication between our engineering, manufacturing, and service teams, ensuring that real-world customer insights directly influence product development. This has allowed us to refine our solutions in response to actual field needs, making our equipment more efficient and user-friendly.

Beyond technological advancements, we have also focused on addressing industry-wide challenges such as workforce development and supply chain resilience. By investing in employee training and fostering strong supplier relationships, we have built a more agile and adaptable operation that allows us to meet customer demands with greater reliability.

Looking ahead, we see significant opportunities in automation, data-driven decision-making, and predictive maintenance, all of which will continue to enhance customer value. By embracing new technologies, expanding into new markets, and staying committed to our core principles, we are ensuring that our customers benefit from cutting-edge solutions that improve their operations and drive long-term success.

I know firsthand—through initiatives like developing our SaaS application, Accelance®—that innovation demands enormous commitment and investment.

How have your investments in innovation and customer value strengthened American Crane’s ability to deliver on customer and business value?

Investments in innovation and customer value must translate into tangible business outcomes. That’s why it’s crucial to establish meaningful performance measures that track impact and guide strategic decisions.

At VisionEdge Marketing, we emphasize using performance metrics to ensure companies stay relevant to customers while maintaining a competitive edge.

Karen, what key performance measures—especially related to customer value and innovation—does American Crane track?

We track key performance measures that ensure we are delivering customer value and driving innovation. One of the most impactful ways we do this is through our continuous development and refinement of the innovative products we can bring to market.

Beyond technology performance, we also track customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and long-term reliability. By leveraging real operational data and direct customer feedback, we continuously improve our products and services to deliver top-quality solutions and superior customer support. This commitment to innovation, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement reflects our dedication to making our customers’ lives easier and ensuring their long-term success.

I truly believe that data-driven decision-making is at the heart of business success. Dashboards and reporting tools provide real-time visibility into key metrics, enabling organizations to make timely and informed decisions.

Karen, can you share an example of a strategic decision you’ve made based on your performance measures?

To meet the industry’s demand for smarter, data-driven solutions, we launched pilot programs in 2024 to introduce the NorLink Smart Crane System and MHIot Devices in real-world environments. These pilots enable us to collect usage data, performance analytics, and customer feedback to refine features, enhance usability, and optimize data insights. By leveraging real operational data, we ensure our technology delivers measurable benefits such as reduced downtime, increased efficiency, and improved predictive maintenance. This commitment to continuous improvement ensures our NorLink Solutions line of products evolves into customer-driven solutions that provide lasting value to the industry.

Using pilots is an excellent way to experiment and gain customer feedback. Karen, thank you for being our guest and providing insights into how American Crane navigates challenges, leverages data and innovation to create long-term customer value, and sharing your organization’s passion for helping your customers succeed.  I am confident our community has taken away at least one actionable idea from our conversation.  Congratulations to you and your team for being adaptable, and maintaining a long-term perspective, to support American Crane’s growth. We wish you continued success.

Many of us at the helm of our companies are often faced with implementing changes to remain competitive and relevant to our customers, and to create more customer and business value to achieve long-term sustainable growth. This was the case for Kelly Van Winkle, President and CEO of King of Texas Roofing Company, when she took the reins of the third-generation company. In this episode of “What’s Your Edge?“, Kelly tells us how small incremental changes helped strengthen customer retention, accelerated customer acquisition, and fostered a more customer-centric business.

For over 40 years, King of Texas Roofing has installed commercial roofs on multi-purpose structures, ranging from office complexes, sporting arenas, and retail centers, to large industrial warehouses, food storage, data centers, churches, and medical centers. The company is licensed in 16 states and averages 20-25 large-scale multi-million-dollar projects each year. In recent years, the growth in Texas and Oklahoma has kept Kelly and her team busy. In addition to managing the construction load, Kelly recognized that long-term success required some internal changes.

Some of the changes included shifting the company from a directive to a more collaborative culture, instilling a stronger focus on customer-centricity throughout the company, and recognizing that it needed to balance the “tried and true” techniques, skills, and protocols of the “King of Texas Way” with new technologies and techniques.

We’re so excited to hear Kelly tell us how she went about successfully making these changes. Welcome to “What’s Your Edge?” Kelly!

Those of you familiar with VisionEdge Marketing know we are avid fans of Peter Drucker and love his quote that the “purpose of business is to create a customer.” Kelly, I know from our previous conversations that a large portion of your revenue, as much as 90% in some years, comes from existing customers, many of whom have been with King of Texas Roofing for 15 or more years.

What are 2-3 of the practices you and your team employ to improve customer retention?

You are correct, at King of Texas Roofing, customer retention is paramount. Our customers include building owners, property managers, and general contractors. Roofs are one of the biggest investments for anyone constructing a building. It’s imperative to get a roof properly installed and regularly maintained because even the smallest roof leaks lead to catastrophic expensive losses. So, we work very hard to serve as trusted advisors to our customers.

That means staying engaged and maintaining a relationship even when there isn’t a project in progress or on the horizon. Educated customers are easier to deal with, and as a result, we create and deliver a lot of educational content to help our customers prolong the life of their roofs. This requires regular communication, from quarterly check-in phone calls to lunch and learns at customer offices.

I love your point about being a trusted advisor. Being a trusted advisor takes credibility. There can be no growth without trust. Credibility is invaluable in any industry. Kelly, what are some changes you’ve made to build on the company’s credibility?

In our industry, safety, accuracy, attentiveness, efficiency, and keeping a job on track are top priorities for our customers. We implemented a safety program that sets the standard in the industry. We have 2 full-time safety directors, and that has helped ensure we maintain an excellent safety record. In addition, we implemented processes and procedures to address accuracy and timeliness, job hazard analyze, and project production plans.

Our credibility and safety reputation also go a long way toward acquiring new customers.

I’m glad you brought up new customers. Kelly, what are some of the changes you’ve implemented to accelerate new customer acquisition?

One change we implemented is to survey our customers to identify opportunities to improve our processes, our communication, and the quality of our work and products.

I’m delighted to hear that you are conducting customer research. We are strong proponents of voice of customer research and customer advisory boards. Both can provide meaningful insights that will positively impact the customer experience.

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Speaking of customer experience, what are some of the changes you’ve made to your team and your internal processes to improve the customer experience?

Two key changes come to mind. First, we focused on improving field and office communication. When these two parts of the team are misaligned, jobs are impacted. This is where creating a more collaborative culture and modeling the way became paramount to success. By being willing to be more transparent, share information, and explain WHY things are done in a particular way, communication and collaboration improved.

Second, we implemented a process and software to improve internal alignment and accountability. As a result, we are now better at goal setting, task ownership, tracking, and reporting.

These examples sound like they are helping you make better data-driven decisions.  Now you’re singing our song! We are staunch supporters of leveraging data to understand customer needs, aspirations, and market trends. By doing so, businesses can tailor their offerings to improve customer retention and customer acquisition to meet customer expectations better, stay ahead of the competition, and identify opportunities for growth.

Kelly, as the president and CEO, what are some decisions your data has helped you make?

Market data surrounding commercial construction trends helps us understand what our customers are looking to achieve and what they value.  Data that we have internally on things like average daily production and various safety measurements also has helped us decide how to differentiate ourselves with customers.

I can tell you that you value data. As a leader who values data, what measures inform you that the changes are effective?

We have many measures but these three customer measures are very important to use:

These are solid examples of useful measures. It’s clear you too believe that creating business value requires delivering customer value. Kelly, I’m sure these changes took time and had some challenges. Change is a fact of life but that doesn’t make it easy, especially when change involves making alterations to the organization’s purpose, culture, structure, and processes. In our work, we have seen how effective change management facilitates prosperity and growth, even in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments. It helps to have a framework to support change management.  In the words of author Dallas Willard, implementing change takes intention, and getting your team on board is essential to success.

What were some of the challenges you and your team faced in making these changes, and how did you overcome them?

The older generation of leaders felt “put out to pasture” with our changes. We had to work hard to ensure that the previous leader of the organization felt appreciated for his 40 years of leadership and included in the new efforts.  The previous leader was offered an advisor role (VP of Risk Management), where he has been truly invaluable.  This has allowed us to successfully retain and utilize his 40 years of experience while still moving forward with our work on cultures, processes, and protocols.    

Kelly, thank you for sharing the journey of King of Texas Roofing and how you implemented small changes that fostered a more collaborative and customer-centric culture. It sounds like your approach to balancing traditional methods with innovative technologies has strengthened the company’s foundation for long-term growth, and the internal improvements you’ve made have enhanced the customer experience. The journey wasn’t without its challenges, but your commitment to effective change management and your leadership have clearly been instrumental in overcoming obstacles.

As you would imagine, a key takeaway for me from our conversation is the importance of serving as a trusted advisor for maintaining strong customer relationships. We believe that while it is an investment, this approach enhances customer loyalty and builds credibility, crucial factors in both customer retention and customer acquisition.

As we conclude, we invite you to reflect on your own organization. How can you leverage data and foster a customer-centric culture to drive growth and innovation? What changes might you need to make? For more insights on how to  Realize the Full Financial Benefits of Customer-Centricity check out our white paper “Bring Your A-Game to a Customer Empowered Market.”

For this episode of “What’s Your Edge?” I’m thrilled to welcome Heather Valentine to the conversation. Heather is a seasoned growth executive with over 25 years of experience leading high-performing teams in the SaaS-based healthcare and life sciences technology sectors. Her career spans the entire innovation lifecycle, making her a perfect fit for our Barriers to Revenue Growth discussion today and strategies to overcome these. I’ve had the privilege of working with Heather over the years and know she will be sharing some valuable customer-centric insights with us. Heather, welcome to “What’s Your Edge?”

At VisionEdge Marketing, we emphasize the importance of identifying growth barriers as early as possible. Heather, to kick things off, what do you think are the 3-5 biggest barriers to growth for most organizations?

Can you share a specific example from your career where you encountered one or more of these barriers? How did you and your team address them?

Because I attempted to choose some universal growth challenges, I have dealt with all three.  That said, I think the second category is worth digging into in more detail (even though I am passionate about getting all three right on a continuous basis). I usually call this category “Value Engagement” which really is about Value Identification, Value Realization, and Value Execution (documentation so you can replicate it for the next customer).

At VisionEdge Marketing, we believe that the better an organization can align itself around business strategies to create customer value, the better.  We have a number of Proven Business Frameworks to help organizations designed just for this purpose. But identifying the barriers is just step one. To truly drive growth, operational excellence is critical.

At VisionEdge Marketing, we define Operational Excellence as executing business strategy more consistently and reliably than the competition—with lower operational risk, reduced costs, and increased revenue.

Heather, in your experience, what operational changes have been the most impactful for accelerating revenue growth?

Truly measuring what is working and what is not working and being a metrics-driven culture.  I am not talking about micromanaging at all, but rather measuring what activities are producing the right results and how an organization can double down on what is working and reduce time spent on what is not working.

What are your thoughts on how organizations can balance efficiency with the need for innovation to maintain a competitive edge?

This is such a large topic in and of itself, and I think it is truly one of the most difficult areas that stifle company growth. In a nutshell (so to speak), many companies think they are measuring the right growth metrics when they are not. I will give you an example: relying on a Net Promoter Score and thinking that if you have a good score, all is well. Not so.

One thing we advocate at VisionEdge Marketing is to implement a continuous improvement culture, where teams are encouraged to innovate and optimize workflows regularly.  As part of this culture shift, we use a term, Advantageous Excellence, which focuses on strategic innovation and differentiation, to enable our customers to develop unique capabilities that will set them apart. The benefits of Operational Excellence include improved efficiency and cost savings, while Advantageous Excellence drives innovation and competitive differentiation.

Operational changes are crucial, but they must be aligned with a customer-centric approach to truly drive growth. And that takes us to one of my favorite topics: customer-centricity.

We believe that customer-centricity is the foundation for creating stellar customer experiences. While customer-centricity is a term we hear a lot about these days, it’s much more than a buzzword. At VisionEdge Marketing, we define it as putting the customer at the heart of every decision and action. It ensures that every interaction adds value and meets customer expectations, leading to satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.

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Heather, what does customer-centricity mean to you, and how does it relate to Customer Experience Excellence?

To me, it means truly understanding the industry, market, and the specific needs that your customers have.  This seems like a generalization, but I do not mean it that way. Rather, you can become an “industry expert” but also apply that expertise to the specific customer issues you are trying to solve.

A customer-centric approach is only as effective as the data that informs it. Let’s discuss the types of data that are most valuable for making informed, customer-centric decisions.

Heather, what types of data have you found most valuable in making customer-centric decisions?

The answer here circles back to some of my previous points in that an important growth driver (actual customer centricity itself) is truly understanding their issues and needs and how to help them reduce “lags” in their own growth trajectory. Creating customer-centric “replication stories” (use cases) and building up many of these to use in future customer engagements really helps the team be super “customer-centric.” This is what I meant previously about giving your teams the right “tools.”

Data-driven decision-making is critical for aligning customer needs with business strategies. At VisionEdge Marketing, we recommend using both qualitative and quantitative data—like customer feedback, purchase history, and engagement metrics—to guide these decisions.

So, my last question for you is, what data have you found most helpful in making customer-centric decisions?

To build upon what I have already mentioned, I find that to ensure that you are documenting value effectively, interviewing your customer base is critical and I find too many companies do not do this, or rely on really “thin” surveys only.

As you know from working together, we are passionate about selecting measures, metrics and key performance indicators that align with strategic initiatives with business results. Measures such as customer engagement, customer effort, and customer lifetime value can provide a clear picture of how effective customer-centric initiatives are.

How do you think organizations can better leverage advanced analytics to uncover hidden opportunities?

As we wrap up, do you have any last thoughts you’d like to share with our community?

Heather, thank you for such an insightful conversation. Listeners, take a moment to think about your organization. What’s one barrier to revenue growth you could overcome by focusing on operational excellence, customer-centricity, and data-driven decision-making? Start there.

For more tools, insights, and strategies, visit our website or connect with us on LinkedIn. Let’s keep the conversation going; visit our website and connect with us on social media.

Bringing a new B2B product and/or service (solution) to market is a multifaceted process. At the very minimum it requires a solid understanding of the customer, a compelling value proposition and associated positioning and messaging, an excellent go-to-market (GTM) strategy, and a keen awareness of the competition. Each phase of this process is crucial. Missteps in the process from development to launch to adoption can result in the product being obliterated in a competitive market. If you’ve ever built a sandcastle at the beach, you know to avoid seeing your creation be completely washed out to sea it needs a strong foundation and core structure, well-constructed towers, and defenses against the rising water. This episode of What’s Your Edge? explores four critical steps to successfully create and bring a new B2B solution to market.

How well a sandcastle survives starts with the foundation. Without a solid base, it will be overwhelmed by the tides. This is also true for a successful B2B solution, which relies on customer insights as its strong foundation. Customer insights are critical for developing and launching a customer-centric product that meets real needs and delivers value.

Here are three basic components for laying a solid foundation:

IBM provides a good example of a company that laid a strong foundation. For its Watson Analytics, the company conducted extensive market research and customer interviews to understand the unique challenges of enterprise customers—identifying key pain points in data management and decision-making before developing a product that directly addressed those issues. This customer-centric approach enabled IBM to build a solution that stands firm in a competitive market.

With a clear understanding of the customer, the next step in product development is to define a compelling value proposition. This phase is similar to shaping the core structure of a sandcastle—the walls, towers, and gates that make it stand out and capture attention. The value proposition answers the fundamental question: What unique value does this product offer to the customer?

Here are four initial thoughts on how to approach shaping the value proposition:

HubSpot illustrates this step. It shaped its value proposition by clearly identifying the key benefits of its inbound marketing platform—helping businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. The company built its product’s core structure by addressing the pain points of traditional marketing methods and differentiated it through a user-friendly interface and comprehensive toolset. Before fully launching, HubSpot tested its value proposition extensively with beta users, refining it to ensure it met customer needs and stood out in the market.

Once your value proposition is clearly defined, the next crucial step is to develop a GTM strategy. This step is about creating an entryway to your castle that entices and invites attention and signals the castle’s strength and appeal. Your GTM strategy outlines how the product will be introduced to the market and includes traditional elements such as pricing, positioning, sales channels, and marketing tactics.

The entrance to a sandcastle needs to be positioned where it’s most visible and accessible. The same is true for how you position your product. Effective positioning helps ensure your product stands out in a crowded marketplace, drawing customers in through a clearly defined and attractive value proposition. Questions to consider in this phase are: What niche will it fill? What message will resonate most with your target customers?

Salesforce’s GTM strategy for its cloud-based CRM platform is a classic example of crafting a successful entryway. The company positioned itself as a disruptive force in the traditional software market, chose a competitive pricing strategy that appealed to businesses of all sizes, and leveraged a combination of direct sales and a robust partner ecosystem. Salesforce’s marketing tactics focused on educating the market about the benefits of cloud computing, which helped it gain rapid adoption. The company continually used data-driven insights to refine its approach, ensuring its entrance was well-guarded against competitive pressures.

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After launching your product, the final phase is to ensure it withstands the competitive tides—just as a sandcastle must endure the incoming waves. In the B2B space, staying ahead of the competition requires continuous monitoring, refinement, and innovation.

Here’s how to defend your product against the market’s shifting tides:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has successfully defended its position as a market leader in cloud computing by consistently monitoring market conditions, gathering customer feedback, and keeping a close eye on competitors like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. AWS continually fortifies its operational excellence by ensuring top-tier service delivery and investing heavily in innovation, such as AI and machine learning services. This proactive approach has allowed AWS to maintain its competitive edge and grow its market share, much like a sandcastle that not only withstands the tide but continues to expand.

Bringing a new B2B solution to the market is like constructing a sandcastle that can withstand the tides. It takes careful planning, a deep understanding of your customers, a strong value proposition and messaging, a strategic GTM plan, and a constant eye on the competition. Each step is crucial in ensuring your product makes a splash and endures the waves of competition.

Now that we’ve explored the metaphorical journey from laying the foundation to defending against the elements, it’s time to assess your next move. Start by revisiting your customer insights, refining your value proposition, positioning and messaging, and crafting a GTM strategy that leverages data-driven insights. Keep innovating, stay customer-centric, and fortify your operations to maintain your competitive edge.

If you’re looking for expert guidance to help you build and launch your next B2B solution successfully, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s work together to ensure your product stands out and stands strong against the tides.

Imagine standing at the edge of a vast forest, where every towering tree, each lush canopy, and the dense undergrowth beneath represents decades, even centuries, of growth. This forest didn’t spring up overnight; it was cultivated with a long-term vision, nurtured with care, and sustained through continuous adaptation. Now, let’s translate this imagery into the world of business. Creating a customer-centric business that grows long-term value is much like intentionally growing a forest. And forests are valuable. The Boston Consulting Group estimates the world’s forests are worth $150 trillion, more than the U.S. stock market. Planning and design, species selection and planting, and forest protection and maintenance are critical steps for successfully producing a viable forest. Given their value, it makes sense to apply lessons and best practices of growing forests to growing a company: strategic planning, a strategy aligned to value creation, careful product selection and nurturing, robust performance management and operational excellence (OpEx), and a commitment to customer-centricity based on data-driven decisions. In no particular order, these five best practices for growing a business are the focus of this episode of What’s Your Edge?

A forest provides an excellent metaphor. Why? According to the United Nations, “over 1.6 billion people depend on forests for timber, food, fuel, jobs, and shelter—but all of us depend on forests in one way or the other. Forests provide critical ecosystem services that affect our climate, rainfall patterns, and watersheds, and at the same time they are also home to 80% of all land-based biodiversity.” Similarly, successful businesses are customer-centric since they provide valuable and needed services and products that create jobs and contribute to the business ecosystem.

A forest begins with a seed but it’s the vision of a thriving ecosystem that guides its growth. In business, this is like having a clear, long-term vision accompanied by a solid strategic plan. According to McKinsey & Company, companies with a focus on long-term strategy are 47% more likely to outperform their competitors in both revenue and profitability. Just as a forest needs time to grow, businesses must be patient and persistent.

To illustrate this idea, we can turn to Cargill, which has remained competitive for over 150 years. A global leader in agriculture, the company is committed to sustainable agriculture and global food security. Its investments in sustainable practices and innovations are like the deep roots of a forest, ensuring they can weather market fluctuations and continue to grow. Cargill doesn’t just react to market demands; it anticipates future needs and invests in ways that will allow it to meet them.

Just as the tallest trees in a forest started as small seedlings, businesses must plant the seeds of future success through a well-defined strategy and a commitment to long-term outcomes that deliver enduring business and customer value. What does that mean for you and your business? It means you and your board of directors, if you have one, must see beyond the immediate gains and focus on the enduring legacy you want your business to create.

A healthy forest is sustainable; it regenerates, adapts, and continues to grow over time. Similarly, a business needs a sustainable strategy that aligns with long-term value creation. In its report “How Executives Can Help Sustain Value Creation for the Long Term”, McKinsey & Company claimed that “when executives consistently make decisions and investments with long-term objectives in mind, their companies generate more shareholder value, create more jobs, and contribute more to economic growth than do peer companies that focus on the short term.”  This disconnect highlights the challenge of building a strategy that balances immediate needs with long-term goals.

John Deere provides an exemplary case of a company committed to a sustainable strategy. By investing heavily in precision agriculture and sustainable practices, John Deere ensures it not only meets current customer needs but also anticipates future demands. Its approach—akin to planting trees that will provide shade and shelter for generations to come—has allowed the company to remain competitive for nearly 200 years.

Forests require careful management to remain healthy and vital. Consider both short-term gains and long-term sustainability when you develop your strategies. When making decisions, keep customer value and long-term business growth in mind.

In a forest, diversity is key to resilience and growth. Different species of trees and plants are essential to creating a thriving ecosystem that can support a variety of wildlife. For a business to thrive, leaders must focus on delivering value to its customers through continuous innovation and the nurturing of talent. Studies suggest companies prioritizing innovation experience a 16% increase in efficiency, are 55% more likely to surpass industry peers in revenue growth, and have a 60% higher likelihood of organic growth.

3M, at over 100 years old, serves as a prime example of a company that understands the importance of innovation. Known for its longstanding commitment to research and development, 3M’s culture of innovation has led to the creation of thousands of products across various sectors, making it a leader in multiple industries. By nurturing talent and fostering a culture of innovation focused on customer value, 3M ensures it remains adaptable and competitive, much like a diverse forest that can survive and thrive in changing conditions.

Innovation is the lifeblood of growth, much like new seedlings in a forest. If you want your business to grow, invest in your people and create a culture where new ideas that provide real value to customers can take root and flourish.

A forest grows successfully when there is a balance between different processes—from photosynthesis to nutrient cycling. In business, performance management and operational excellence are the equivalent of those processes. These two elements make sure every part of the organization works efficiently and effectively toward achieving business results. Research by McKinsey & Company revealed companies that prioritize performance management are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their peers, seeing 30% higher revenue growth and lower employee and customer attrition.

Operational excellence and performance management in a business are about more than just efficiency; they are about creating processes that support long-term growth and an exceptional customer experience at every touchpoint. We believe companies that excel in OpEx and performance management are better equipped to respond to market changes, optimize their resources, and deliver consistent value to their customers.

Take Toyota, a company closing in on 100 years, as an example. Toyota’s commitment to operational excellence through its lean manufacturing processes has made it a leader in the automotive industry and allowed it to continuously improve and innovate. This relentless focus on process improvement is like the natural processes in a forest that support ongoing growth and renewal.

Just as a forest’s survival depends on the efficiency of its natural processes, your business’s success relies on its operational excellence. Continuously refine and optimize your performance measures and processes to ensure you are well-positioned to grow and thrive over the long term.

In a thriving forest, every element is interconnected; the health of one part affects the whole. In business, customer-centricity is what connects all aspects of the organization. While many companies claim customer-centricity is a priority, a study by Vantage Partners found that “only about 9% of companies operate in a truly customer-centric manner.”

Long-term strategies should be deeply aligned with evolving customer preferences and needs. Customer insights derived from data are the sunlight and water that allow businesses to grow in the right direction.

Slack provides an example of a B2B company that incorporated a customer-first philosophy into its strategy from day one. Slack puts its customers at the heart of its strategy, basing every update on feedback or user need.

Instill customer-centricity as a mandate in your business. It’s like ensuring the forest floor receives enough sunlight for new growth. Without customer-centricity, even the most well-planned strategies can fail to thrive.

Each of these five best practices contributes to a business’s overall health and growth. As you reflect on your own business, ask yourself: Are you planting the seeds today that will grow into a thriving forest tomorrow? Are you nurturing your talent and innovation to ensure your business can adapt and grow? Is your strategy designed to create customer value? Do you have the performance management and operational excellence to deliver on customer-centricity?

You’re only one growth idea away from an actionable step to transform your business into an enduring forest. Begin by evaluating your long-term strategy and aligning it with both the vision for your business and your customer needs. Invest in your people, refine your processes, and make data-driven decisions that will support sustainable growth. With the right approach, your business can grow into a thriving, resilient forest that stands the test of time.

Let’s have a conversation about how to map out your strategic plan and identify key areas where you can invest in growth, innovation, and customer-centricity. Remember, the seeds you plant today will determine the strength and vitality of your business tomorrow.

In their book, Geeks and Geezers: Leading and Learning for a Lifetime, Warren G. Bennis and Robert Thomas refer to defining moments as “crucibles.” These crucibles represent transformative periods of testing from which leaders can emerge either hopelessly broken or powerfully emboldened. It’s been decades since this book on leadership came out but the metaphor of a crucible is fitting for any company and its leaders who emerge stronger and more resilient after enduring severe challenges. Many companies are finding the path to customer-centric organic growth fraught with obstacles, much like the intense heat and pressure within a crucible. In this episode of What’s Your Edge?, we’ll explore how three elements data-driven insights, advantageous excellence, and stellar performance management enable business leaders and boards of directors (BODs) to create something new or bring about change when they emerge from the crucible.

We can use two companies, Microsoft and Maersk, to illustrate this concept. Microsoft, when faced with the challenge of staying relevant in a rapidly evolving tech landscape, shifted its focus to cloud computing, resulting in Azure. Today, Azure is one of top three cloud platforms worldwide with nearly 25% market share and drives 24% of the company’s revenue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maersk, the global shipping company, faced severe supply chain disruptions. It made a number of significant investments so it could adapt more quickly to market conditions and customer needs as well as enhance supply chain visibility. While these are both very large companies with extensive resources, leaders and BODs of every company need the ability to come out of the crucible stronger.

Our customers tell us they are being tested on a number of fronts. Below are some of the business challenges most frequently mentioned. Are you as a business leader or BOD member experiencing these same tests?

Being able to survive and thrive in the face of these challenges tests leaders’ and BODs’ resilience and agility to foster growth. Returning to the metaphor of the crucible, these severe tests can either break an organization or forge it into something stronger and more innovative. Leveraging data-derived insights, focusing on advantageous excellence, and enhancing performance management can help ensure the latter occurs, with businesses withstanding the heat of the crucible and emerging transformed. Let’s examine each element.

Within a crucible, refining agents are a key element since they remove impurities. Data-driven insights act as the refining agents in our metaphorical crucible, guiding companies through their trials and enabling more strategic customer-centric decision-making. We encourage our customers to use these insights to:

Here are five questions we recommend as a starting point to harness the power of data:

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Heat is the next element. The crucible’s intense heat purifies and strengthens an organization. This relentless pursuit of advantageous excellence creates a high-pressure environment that drives continuous improvement and customer-centric innovation. Companies that embrace this intense heat can withstand the challenges of the crucible and emerge as stronger, more competitive entities. Here’s how we advise our customers to use advantageous excellence to turn up the heat:

The third and last element is performance management. By focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs), employee performance, service quality, sales performance, and benchmarking, businesses can drive continuous improvement and innovation, and make quick course adjustments. Here’s how  evolving performance management helps businesses endure the heat:

Navigating the crucible is challenging but not insurmountable. Business leaders and BODs can forge a stronger, more resilient organization capable of creating something new and driving change by leveraging data-derived insights, focusing on advantageous excellence, and evolving performance management. Book a free consultation to talk about how you can turn challenges into opportunities and emerge stronger in the years to come. Remember, only those who can withstand the pressure and make the right customer-centric strategic decisions will succeed.

Do you ever feel like capturing customer behavior is akin to chasing the flickering lights of fireflies, with each fleeting glow marking the lightning bug’s path? Every customer’s behavior provides a moment of insight into their journey, preferences, and needs. Just as fireflies illuminate the darkness, capturing and analyzing customer behavior—how they act—is an essential part of being a customer-centric company. Insights from customer behavior data illuminate the path to growth and success for your business. In this episode of What’s Your Edge?, we’ll explore the idea of capturing customer behavior and what behavioral data to chase.

Catching fireflies might seem like child’s play but scientists are in the chase as well. Scientists learn a lot from fireflies. The chemicals luciferase and luciferin found in fireflies’ tails have many applications in medicine and science, including detecting tumor cells and bacterial and viral infections, as well as studying diseases like cancer and muscular dystrophy. The food industry also uses fireflies’ light reaction to detect contaminated food.

The data on how your customers interact with your products, services, or brand serves a luciferase for detecting and anticipating customer behavioral patterns. That makes it important to be able to separate the signals from the noise. Capturing this data is also like trying to capture fireflies. It is not as easy as it seems since it may appear that customers like fireflies often move in random patterns.

Fireflies are referred to as an indicator species, a species that can provide information on ecological changes and give early warning signals. And like fireflies, customer behavior provides a brilliant array of insights into various aspects of business performance and customer dynamics.

For example, analyzing behavioral data can help you identify patterns and trends that explain changes in product adoption rates or which features or benefits resonate most with customers for new product development ideas. Tracking customer data can provide insight into referral rates and offer clues to the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing and potential areas for enhancement. Customer behavior data can provide clarity around changes in share of wallet—how much of a customer’s total spending within a category is captured by your business. Analyzing changes in how your customers act enables you to see shifts in customer loyalty and identify at-risk customers. Because the possibilities are limitless, its essential to understand what insights are worth the chase.

If as a child you were ever in a field full of fireflies, you might recall starting the chase for one firefly only to be lured into chasing another, leaving the first behind, and repeating this process over and over with the hope that eventually you’d capture one. This can be fun as a child but wasteful for businesses to chase one behavioral pattern and then be lured into another direction. Therefore, we advise customer-centric companies to focus on gaining insights from data which will facilitate decisions designed to create and expand both customer value and business value.

We’ve already established the last thing you want to do is aimlessly flit around. So, because the amount of customer data is vast—behavioral as well as other types—start by identifying the questions you need to answer to fuel your decision-making. These questions may include:

Fireflies are found all over the world; they like humid, warm environments, and are more visible when it’s dark. If you want to catch them, you need to be where they are at the right place and the right time. This is also true for finding customer behavior data.

Customer behavior manifests in various forms, online and offline, offering valuable insights. Here are a few good places to find customer behavioral data:

Capturing your customers’ actions is about more than collecting data; it’s about harnessing the power of insights that drive business growth. Behavioral data provides insights for developing customer-centric strategies that are aligned with your customers’ expectations and preferences. Deep insights into your customers’ behavior provide you with a competitive advantage and enable you to offer personalized experiences and anticipate customer needs. Data-driven insights enable you to streamline operations, optimize resources, and enhance customer service. Making decisions based on insights from customer behavior fosters loyalty, reduces churn, encourages advocacy, and ultimately increases customer lifetime value.

Like chasing fireflies, each behavior captured illuminates a path forward for your business—whether it’s enhancing customer experience, optimizing operational efficiency, or shaping strategic decisions. Need help navigating the complexities of customer behavioral data? Let’s talk about how we can help.