Are you looking to gain more budget and buy-in for your customer communications management (CCM) and customer experience (CX) initiatives? The benefits of investing in an all-in-one platform with augmented capabilities far outweigh the costs, but it’s not always easy to convince C-suite executives who ultimately control where dollars are allocated.
Many companies put millions into their technology stack, making it quite challenging to give up legacy systems in exchange for a more effective platform like ONEsuite. You may even hear the phrase, “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” which is likely misleading, since it’s rare to find various platforms working together without complex integration challenges.
So, what can you do to gain the C-suite’s sign-off? Here are some best practices to consider as you prepare your pitch to company leaders.
Know Your Audience
Executives respond to recommendations or solutions that impact ROI. When they understand the overall expenses and expected returns (i.e., improved customer acquisition and retention rates), they may loosen the purse strings and see the investment as a worthwhile endeavor.
Other ROI-related stats to calculate may include:
- People: “By moving to an all-in-one CCM/CX platform, we consolidate the number of resources needed to achieve our objectives.”
- Process: “A platform that automates manually-intensive workflows related to documentation and content changes will lead to operational gains in efficiency.”
- Technology: “Retiring our legacy systems and moving to an enhanced, all-in-one CCM platform will reduce expenses in the long run.”
Analyze Cross-Functional Needs
It’s important to bring key stakeholders together to determine what a new CCM/CX platform needs to do for teams across the organization. A solid CCM platform should engage various departments and roles within the company, making it critical to invite potential users from marketing, sales, IT, project management, C-suite, and more.
Conducting a needs analysis complete in anticipation of C-suite meetings shows that you’ve done your research and can recommend the ideal solution if asked. When you make their internal analysis and research easier, they’re more likely to support your case.
Gain Buy-In from ALL Departments
Your CCM/CX pitch will go much smoother if you have support from key stakeholders across business divisions. Often, different departments handle their own customer communications, even doing so through their own legacy systems. Any form of shift may cause stress or a sense of disruption.
It’s critical to connect with colleagues and demonstrate the CCM benefits to be gained by their group, the company, and, of course, your customers. When you have buy-in from diverse teams and leaders, you make your argument more compelling once you stand in front of the C-suite.
Map Out Implementation Timeline and Plan
C-suite leaders shouldn’t be left to make assumptions about the complexity of a CCM/CX implementation and integration. While you need to communicate technical aspects and potential risks, you can buffer those concerns with a thorough implementation plan. Every stage and step requires plenty of time and training to ensure minimal disruption. While everyone wants a “fast” conversion, it takes time to train everyone on a new system and all its capabilities.
Because ONEsuite is cloud-based, rather than hosted on-site like many legacy CCM systems, organizations can more seamlessly integrate it with other technology. This adds to the ease of implementation, and the opportunity to unbundle many of the ONEsuite products enables clients to choose what functions they want to take advantage of. O’Neil also offers thorough training programs to ensure all company divisions/departments, not just IT, can gain the full value of the platform.
Show Versus Tell
A big part of getting buy-in from the C-suite is in demonstrating how CX can improve the bottom line.
Customer journey mapping allows you to pinpoint broken processes and barriers throughout your current customer lifecycle. Show leaders how breakdowns or missed opportunities at various stages – from identifying a want/need to using the product/service to renewal – impact your company’s success. (Common customer journey steps include: “identifying a need”, “researching options”, “selecting an option”, “buying/paying”, “using the product/service”, “getting support”, renewing contract/repeat purchase” and “sharing experience with others”).
For each step of the journey, you should explain how every department’s CCM activities play a role in shaping the customer experience – and your bottom line. If you can correlate positive CCM/CX metrics such as customer purchases or Net Promoter Score (NPS) to your profits, your C-suite won’t be able to turn you down.
Don’t Give Up
Navigating conversations with C-suite executives, especially those that involve a major platform shift, isn’t easy. However, evidence consistently points to the fact that improving CCM/CX delivers extraordinary wins. This is especially the case when you work with a top provider like O’Neil Digital Solutions and our data-driven ONEsuite platform.
Did you know we were recently named a Global Leader on the Aspire CCM-CXM Leaderboard™️?
Contact us for a free 15-minute consult or to preview our top-rated ONEsuite CCM platform.
