NBOP National Board of Operations Professionals

Part three. The SignalLesson 11 of 14

Three patterns of the unowned touch point

Every account has moments that belong to nobody. They are where the relationship quietly ends.

The instrument The unowned touch point audit

0:58. Captions on by default. Everything said here is also written on this page, so nothing is only in the video.

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Map every point at which a customer interacts with your organization and write a name against each. The gaps follow three recognisable patterns. The handover gap, between functions, most often sales to delivery and delivery to support. Both sides believe the other has it, and the customer experiences a period during which nobody is theirs, frequently just after paying. The quiet account. No tickets, no escalations, so no attention. Silence is read as health and it is equally consistent with disengagement. And the renewal approach, owned by whoever is compensated on it, so the relationship changes character in the final months. Then verify each name with the person. Ownership that exists only on a diagram is not ownership.

Map every point at which a customer interacts with your organization and write a name against each. The gaps follow three recognisable patterns.

The handover gap. Between functions, most often sales to delivery and delivery to support. Both sides believe the other has it. The customer experiences a period during which nobody is theirs, and it is frequently their first experience after paying.

The quiet account. No tickets, no escalations, no complaints, so no attention. Silence is read as health and it is equally consistent with disengagement. The quiet accounts are systematically under-served by every prioritisation scheme, because every scheme sorts by noise.

The renewal approach. Owned by whoever is compensated on it, which means the relationship changes character in the final months, and the customer notices that they are now being sold to rather than served.

The audit is to list the touch points, write the name, and then verify the name with the person. Ownership that exists only on a diagram is not ownership, and the verification conversation is where you find that three people each believed one of the others had it.

Two things worth doing, neither of which costs anything

One Help decide what a competent operator is expected to know The eight domains carry equal provisional weighting until practicing operators say what the work actually is. Takes about eight minutes. Two Check whether you are eligible About a minute. No account, no email field, and nothing you enter is kept.

Read the standard in full, free and in the open, before you pay anything or give anyone an address.