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How implementation works

CNS runs as a Listen, Act, Learn cycle through five phases, each with an exit test. It starts with commitment from the top and serves three audiences with one shared language of Needs & Wants.

The method: five phases, each with an exit test

  • What the method is for:
    • "It analyses what people say, not how they score. A score without an attached statement is discarded. This is the weakness in NPS that CNS exists to fix — a number that tells you the temperature and nothing about the cause."
    • It is a cost method as much as a satisfaction method (core needs met at the lowest cost).
    • It ends in owned actions with metrics.
  • Operating cycle: Listen → Act → Learn, run through five phases. Each phase has a purpose, a duration, inputs and outputs, and an exit test.

  1. Scope

    Duration 1–2 wks

    "Fix whose needs are being examined, and what decision the findings will inform." Inputs: "Existing segmentation, org structure, current survey estate, sponsor's stated objective". ~15 named senior stakeholders.

    Exit test

    "You can name the specific decision that will be made differently because of this work, and the person who will make it. If you cannot, stop here — the engagement will produce interest rather than change."

  2. Listen

    Duration 3–4 wks

    Open questions on needs and wants, each scored for performance, importance and emotion. "Never name the topic first. The whole point is that the respondent chooses what to talk about." Saturation from ~300 statements. B2B target ~1,000 external + ~600 internal. Collect from staff too (customer–staff gap). Client holds the contact data behind a unique ID.

    Exit test

    "New statements have stopped producing new concepts. If fresh data is still generating new codes, keep sampling."

  3. Codify & analyse

    Duration 2–3 wks

    Grounded Theory coding, manual first, then AI probability-mapping against the coded learning set. Discard unpaired data. Expect 6–10 needs, with the top 5 ≈ ¾ of comments. Needs are written as first-person sentences, with drivers beneath each.

    Exit test

    "Every need is expressed in words a front-line member of staff would recognise, and every driver traces back to statements you can quote."

  4. Play back & act

    Duration 2–3 wks

    Leadership workshop: define, structure and measure needs, set target performance, agree shared vocabulary.

    Exit test

    "Every action has a named owner, a date and a measure, and the cost discipline holds: core needs are being brought to standard at the lowest possible cost before anything is enriched above it."

  5. Monitor & embed

    Duration "Continuous, typically on a monthly cadence"

    "The manually coded set becomes the training data for automated coding … A monthly analysis cycle with around half a day of support per month is a realistic steady state. Re-baseline properly once a year."

    Exit test

    "Someone inside the organisation, not the consultant, can run the next analysis cycle unaided."

Roles, and eight ways this fails

  • Roles:
Role Held by Accountable for
Sponsor Board or executive "The decision the work informs; releasing the authority to act on it"
Product / process owner Client, senior "Owning the needs set and the action plan after handover"
Navigator External lead "Method integrity, pace, and the honesty of the findings"
Analyst Either "Coding, saturation judgement, scoring, the AI learning set"
Subject-matter experts Client functions "Root cause, feasibility, owning actions in their area"
Oversight group Joint "Challenge against the method's own principles; unblocking"
  • Eight ways this fails ("Each of these has happened, most of them more than once"):
    1. "No named decision."
    2. "Leading the respondent. Ask about the topics you already suspect and you will get them back, confirmed."
    3. "Scores without statements."
    4. "A sample too small or too skewed to extrapolate."
    5. "Diagnosis without a mandate to change anything. The fatal one."
    6. "Averaging a handful of cases … Report the range and the dominance, never the mean alone."
    7. "No pre-agreed treatment of released capacity … Marginal costs run at roughly a third of average costs, so a modelled pathway saving is not a cash saving until capacity actually reduces."
    8. "No Learn phase … Accreditation is not a nice-to-have; it is the exit strategy."

Three audiences, one operating model

"There are really 3 practical outcomes required in the solution:"

  1. "A solution for Senior C suite that provides high level actionalable management information."
  2. "A solution for insight & CX team that provides clear direction and detailed data to support change."
  3. "A solution for front line operational staff that provides tactical information on a day to day basis."

These are bound together by the Needs & Wants DNA and map to the playback layers: Top / Mid / Front.

  • CX function role: "Interactive, embedded collaboration with the Cx function, so transform the function into a facilitator/enabler of a Customer Empathetic Strategy, rather than a Silo'd collector and analyser of Cx data on behalf of the business."
  • Dashboards: "Institutional learning through dashboard. Provide context and explanations at the point of access and facilitate discussion. Individual experiences instead of aggregation."
  • Alignment: "If an organisation is then able to align its business strategy and objectives with a customer strategy they can avoid point solutions and create truly effective action plans that align with the strategy and produce real business outcomes."

Executive buy-in is non-negotiable

  • "Strategic Cx partnership. Cx from the Board and C-level down it the only way to be successful with a customer empathy led strategy."
  • "For a feedback programme to work, it must have buy-in from the people at the very top of an organisation". Also: "the more committed a client is to a culture of really listening to customers, the more successful they are in terms of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention."
  • The mindset shift CNS aims for:
From To
What they THINK "Customer-centricity is important" "Customer-centricity is fundamental to my business"
What they FEEL "I'm told we're already doing it, but I don't trust it" "The tangible results … give me confidence we have the right approach for a sustainable business."
What they DO "A mash-up of many Cx things, at significant cost" "…the knowledge, tools, confidence and support that has enabled us to create a resilient and sustainable, customer-centric business, across our culture, language, operations and tech."
  • Stephen’s long-standing question: "How many CEO's can really demonstrate that being Customer Centric is top of their agenda, & can they really explain its link to profit?"
  • Delivery model: "This approach is only works with a boutique approach with a select group of suitably motivated clients. It is not possible with the typical big-platform, automated analysis, quant oriented approach."

Linking CNS to a leader’s own objectives

A 2022 CNS concept starts from four objectives of the business leader: to be more profitable over the longer term, more resilient and adapting to change, a better life for employees, and a more ethical, caring business. Its central message: "These objectives can only be met by meeting the needs of the customer." Each objective has an answer:

  • How will CNS make my business more profitable over the longer term? "CNS allows identification of 'must have' customer needs and how they are delivered at the lowest cost."
  • How will CNS make my business more resilient, adapting to change? "By identifying emerging needs and evolving my business to meet those needs through innovations in strategy, operations and products/services"
  • How will CNS create a better life for my employees? "CNS teaches us how to better understand the needs of people - clients, customers, colleagues, family etc. - enabling better interactions and greater fulfilment in life and work."
  • How will CNS create a more ethical, caring business? "CNS will allow you to understand what people and society need and the role that your business can play in meeting those needs and help people to see your business in a positive light."

What the customer experience lead needs

The same 2022 concept lists the needs, outcomes and objectives of the customer experience lead:

  • More profitable customers
  • Acquisition of new customers
  • Less complaints
  • Improved customer ratings
  • More loyal customers