The Power of 12 – Transforming client journeys

Becky Mackarel, Consultant in our Financial and Professional Services Practice, speaks to C-Suite Leader and Client Transformation Specialist Christopher Willmott about his experience and expertise in delivering great client journeys

We have all been going through seismic changes in the way we work. The move online has been fast and furious, throwing up many opportunities for driving digital innovation. This has been hard for us all but now is the time to fix service failings and find better ways to deliver great service that makes it easier for clients to work with you and that motivates your staff to drive your business forward.

Any transformation programme worth doing must be comprehensive and carefully organised as it will touch every aspect of your firm – marketing, sales, onboarding, service, legal, operations, finance, HR, corporate, compliance and technology. Strong leadership that identifies and works to the routines and rhythms of a change process enables transformation but to be successful teams will need to evolve their skillsets and as a result, not only are the disciplines of driving change important but also focusing on learning and development will be a core component of a successful programme.

For this article, Christopher Willmott, a C-Suite Leader and Client Transformation Specialist discusses with Becky Mackarel his extensive experience in transforming client journeys. From this conversation it becomes clear that strong leadership skills and the willingness to be self-reflective and go the extra mile for your clients will be the keys to success.

Christopher’s approach to transforming individual client experiences into successful client journeys is based on a clearly structured and measurable programme which consists of 12 individual steps that are grouped into 3 different stages.

The Design Phase

Setting out the initial phase of his approach, Christopher explains that this is the time for you to work with your consultant to build a measurable action plan that fully aligns to your clients’ needs and says “the first four steps of a transformation programme form the Design Phase and are all about working together to fix immediate issues, understand opportunities and evaluate options, during which the programme and its objectives will be analysed, scoped and buy-in achieved.” Not only will this phase build a “robust understanding of your clients’ existing experience” but it will also resolve urgent issues and identify quick wins.

The Build & Implement Phase

Through pursuing the steps in the ‘Design Phase’ the programme will be aligned closely to “your firm’s aspirations and ambitions,” Christopher believes. And by doing so, the second ‘Build & Implement’ phase – when the heavy lifting across your teams really begins – will be well placed for success. Christopher advocates “negotiating strong commercial arrangements, building rigorous processes and developing robust capabilities” but recognises this is hard. Elaborating on what this entails, Christopher says “cross functional teams with deep expertise must work alongside project teams to develop the capabilities and processes and all must be closely involved in reviewing and iterating the solutions and this requires painstaking attention to detail.” However, by successfully navigating this phase your teams will have the tools to “deliver brilliantly” and you will be on course to minimise the programme’s time to value.

The Run Phase

The last phase in Christopher Willmott’s programme to achieve great client journeys is the ‘Run Phase’ which is comprised of four further steps that aim to ensure all activities are fully “embedded in the work processes, culture and employee training” of your firm and which gives you access to “timely, accurate and relevant information” that will enable you to continue to “measure, monitor and invest” in building successful and lasting relationship with your clients.

If you would like more information about Christopher Willmott’s 12 Step programme, or you would like to discuss this article in more detail, please contact Becky Mackarel.