In the C-Suites of many large firms around the globe there is recognition that growth and differentiation requires a holistic Customer-First orientation. But how to make it happen?
It starts with one core truth: Business growth depends on changing customer behavior. For a business to holistically change the behavior of its customers it needs more than effective marketing – it must also change the behavior of every employee who impacts the brand experience, as well as the culture and organizational structures they work in. Ultimately, it means Executive leadership teams need to shape business and investment priorities through the lens of stakeholders whose behavior matters most – customers and employees.
Today Ketchum is announcing that its change management and employee engagement firm, Ketchum Change, is merging with the Omnicom management consulting firm I co-founded 17 years ago, Daggerwing Group. The integrated offering combines the powerful and complimentary capabilities of Ketchum Change and Daggerwing. Intellectually, we have proven expertise in human-centered ways of changing behaviors. Operationally, both firms have a history of combining consulting rigor with creative ways of engaging stakeholders.
The most important thing to know about the Daggerwing Group legacy is that we’ve always worked with C-Suite leaders to bring Customer-First to life with every client, helping them balance business goals with customer needs.
And with all that experience, I’ve learned that the Customer-First client challenges usually boil down to these three big questions:
1. How to get the entire executive team – across every function and region (not just marketing) – completely aligned on what the customer centric vision looks like and how it changes priorities of the whole company.
2. How to then figure out the organizational, cultural and operational changes that need to happen to truly improve the way the total company engages with customers.
3. How to subsequently get employees engaged, educated and ready to deliver on Customer-First.
With leaders focused on growth in the face of continuous, complex change in customer needs, marketplace dynamics and employee fatigue in the face of change, the new Daggerwing Group is excited to offer increased value, capabilities and resources to our existing clients, while competing for new ones on a global scale.
Check out the press release about the merger, and stay tuned for more news in the weeks ahead.
