Key Success Factors
CCO Must Report to the CEO
Without this direct linkage, the CCO is hamstrung in his or her ability to affect change inside the company on behalf of customers. Companies where the CCO doesn’t report directly to the CEO but is instead buried in a marketing or service organization are not serious about the role or the customer-centric function it offers. They are merely paying lip-service to their customers and when customers find out the CCO is powerless, their relationship is at risk of terminal failure.
Vocal and Visible Support from the CEO
If there was one thing that every single CCO agreed upon it was that the CCO must have a very visible mandate from the CEO to act for and in behalf of the customer. One relatively new CCO said that he was spending nearly 50% of his time justifying his value to executives and business functions. Clearly, customers are not getting the value they deserve and the company isn’t generating the results for which they hired the CCO. With extreme support from the CEO, the CCO doesn’t need to spend inordinate amounts of time proving value and can focus on driving profitable revenue through effective customer strategy.