“A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world”, John le Carré once noted. CEOs and senior executives have long heeded the advice of the spymaster and author. For most, their weekly or monthly ritual of spending a day or three in the market calling on customers and consumers is a non-negotiable fixture of their generally hectic schedules.
They value seeing and experiencing ‘the coalface’ and, of course, being seen doing so. What’s more, it’s exhilarating – executives love it. They love how they are welcomed, what they see and the animated discussions that follow. Time spent at the coalface is seen as time well spent – but is it?

Orthodox thinking
A reasonable interpretation of the theory, empirical analyses and anecdotes aplenty is indeed that customer visits are a smart allocation of scarce executive time. Firms led by executives who fully appreciate and take seriously the customer’s perspective are often at an advantage when compared to their less enlightened competitors. They align and mobilise colleagues on their shared mission more clearly, they fix customer problems faster, they innovate better and faster, and they respond to market developments more emphatically.

Direct customer contact should work for senior executives because it provides them with an indisputable version of the truth, equips them with a filter through which to view indirect data such as formal market research, stimulates powerful storytelling, and spreads not just the results of learning but also the act of learning. That’s how it should work. Nevertheless, I’d suggest stopping customer visits completely or rethinking them fundamentally.

Consider reports of how once-hot US retailer Target conducted such visits, as reported by Fortune: “Store visits, ostensibly intended as intelligence-gathering missions, were meticulously planned affairs, only slightly less formal than, say, a presidential visit. Every relevant national manager and local functionary would be notified in advance, each step choreographed, the ‘regular shoppers’ handpicked and vetted.”

Brian Cornell, Target’s new CEO, has ditched the old visit process. Instead, he reaches out to pals outside the company to put him in touch with a mix of Target shoppers, with whom he visits a local store unannounced to management or staff

Based on my experience in measuring, monitoring, evaluating and participating in customer visits for two decades, most of them are like Target’s old visits – a complete waste of time, hugely resource intensive, distracting and meaningless.

The problem is that the depressingly typical approach provides executives with an indisputable version of a fiction, fabricated by insecure country managers or divisional executives. The probability of spontaneous, realistic interaction providing an invaluable, hitherto unrealised insight is practically zero. Reliable learning is minimal or non-existent.

A new way
Brian Cornell, Target’s new CEO, has ditched the old visit process. Instead, he reaches out to pals outside the company to put him in touch with a mix of Target shoppers, with whom he visits a local store unannounced to management or staff. They give him what he values most – a grip on reality. There’s no advance notice, no quota of visits, no specific schedule, no set visit plan – instead there are loads of basic questions. He absorbs reactions and answers, he probes for better understanding, he learns and he has a more vivid, animated and powerfully informed perspective with which to engage his management colleagues. For Cornell, these visits are simply part of how he does his job – which, right now, is focused on steadying the ship and gaining much-needed forward momentum.
It’s time to stop the waste of customer visits. CEOs still need to heed Le Carré’s wisdom and get out from behind their desks, but in a different way – a way that avoids their being duped, and instead provides meaningful insights into what is really going on at the coalface.

The first step is to immediately scrap customer visits as they currently stand. To get closer to the market, to enrich value creation discussions with colleagues, and to enhance the customer’s lot, this is essential. But be ready – there will be a backlash. Colleagues will feel undermined. And that reaction reveals the underlying issue – culture change. Scrapping the customer visit is a loud, visible warning shot across the bows of all internal, process-oriented organisations. It signals your belief that the real voice of the customer is of paramount importance and must be clearly heard. It’s a big move and an opportunity to move the culture in the right direction, if the next recommendations are implemented.
The second step is to go and see. Most of you are living a life utterly disconnected from that of those making, delivering, buying or consuming your product. Insist on making their voices heard. Insights come from developing deep understanding, appreciation and empathy. So, make it a part of your schedule. Make time to visit real customers without in-firm, in-country support. Organise authentic spontaneous visits using your own contacts. Genchi genbutsu, or ‘go and see’, is part of the Toyota Way. When there is a challenge to be addressed or a problem to be solved at the company, it is simply inconceivable that leaders would not go to the source where the work is done to find the facts they need to make sound decisions and build consensus to achieve their goals.

Thirdly, it is vital to use your time behind the desk well. Visits aren’t the only way to get customer insights. Rupert Soames, the CEO who led the turnaround of British temporary energy provider Aggreko has described how, thanks to the company’s customer feedback system, he benefited from reaching out by phone “whenever [he] had a moment” to 15-20 unhappy customers. When doing something like this, make sure to convey clearly that these insights inform your perspective in executive team decision-making.

Finally, make sure to re-examine your promotion/hiring criteria and processes. Across the board, irrespective of function, do your employees reveal a genuine interest in customers’ lives, challenges, interests and values? Are they passionate about improving the customer’s lot? In the end, you want colleagues around you who care, who want to get at the truth, and who want to create the conditions for winning customer preference
every day.

Customers remain deeply sceptical about the intentions of companies they buy from. There is, therefore, an opportunity to win in the market place by being the obvious choice for customers. You cannot get there without the voice of the customer informing decision-making up and down your organisation. It does work – but it is hard to achieve, and current practices can get in the way. If this is so, intervene! Scrap meaningless visits, and focus on influencing values, behaviours and beliefs. This is the way to become a truly customer-led CEO.

For further information:
www.imd.org