"Drew, everyone's talking about customer centricity, but my executive team thinks it means sending out another NPS survey. Meanwhile, our customers are as quiet as the Cameron Crazies are loud, and our community efforts have all the energy of a sloth meditation retreat. What am I missing?" confessed a huddle of B2B CMOs.
What they’re describing is the gap between customer-centric theater and actual customer-centric growth. Speaking of fascinating behaviors, did you know that penguin pairs return to the exact same spot every year to reunite with their mates? Sounds a lot like customer loyalty to me! And they don't achieve it through surveys – they do it by creating meaningful connections.
So, my fine feathered marketing friends (yes, penguins have feathers, too), here's part 3 of 5 posts on the 25 ways CMOs can cut through in 2025.
11. Self-Serve or Self-Sabotage?
How about letting customers discover, evaluate, and even buy our solutions without forcing them through our "optimized" sales process? I recently heard of a $75M company doubling its pipeline by simply creating an intuitive self-serve experience. Their secret? They actually asked customers how they wanted to buy.
12. Your CAB Needs More Than a Facelift
One CMO I know transformed their CAB from a quarterly snooze fest into a year-round insights engine. The key was that they stopped treating it like a presentation platform and started treating it like a partnership incubator.
13. Podcasting: The New Power Lunch
The most successful B2B podcasts aren't corporate infomercials – they're authentic conversations that make your customers the heroes. One CMO's podcast started with 50 listeners (mostly their team) and, one year later, is driving 30% of their pipeline. The difference? They focused on sharing stories from an underserved niche audience and avoided sales pitches.
14. Partnership or Just Another Press Release?
Quick quiz: How many of your 2024 partnerships actually delivered value? If you're drawing a blank, you're not alone. But the CMOs who are winning aren't just signing logo-swapping deals – they're creating genuine value exchanges. Once you establish a reputation as a great partner, other partners will seek you out, and that's when flocking awesome happens.
15. Community: Your New Growth Engine
Most B2B communities have all the vitality of a corporate cafeteria on WFH Friday. But when done right? Pure magic. Just ask Latané Conant, who grew 6Sense's community into a movement. The secret? Stop thinking about community as a marketing channel and treat it like your crown jewels.
Customer-centric growth is about fundamentally changing how you engage with, learn from, and create value for your customers.
And to all those executives who think customer centricity means sending another survey: Maybe it's time to actually talk to a customer? Just a thought.
Next week: The five more ways for B2B CMOs to cut through in 2025. Spoiler alert: It won't involve asking for NPS scores.
Read Part 4
Written by Drew Neisser
