By Sandra Lawler, Founder Director, Alternatives

How do you remain a relevant and valued strategic partner that helps your organisation put the customer at the centre of its business, whilst ensuring your own personal career success? Here are 10 must be’s…

1. Be the Trends Agent.

Be constantly curious about your Market- the global one. The massively evolving market place, with new industries completely disrupting old. Be the eyes and ears from the outside in. Know where it’s happening and be the conduit of change into your organisation. Beg, borrow and steal interesting business models from other sectors. Understand the impact of online and help imagine long term opportunities.

2. Be the tech champion.

Get trained in IT. Be IOT curious. Don’t wait to get impacted but explore the positive impact of how this evolving digital world can help your business improve margins, distribution, communications and engagement. Be AI aware. It’s here already.

3. Be the customer consulting department.

Have a passion for the consumer, always wanting to understand more. Know every segment like you know your family and friends. Ensure your organisation understands, innovates for and engages with all generations and segments of consumers.

4. Be the interpreter and story-teller.

Own Data, yes, but not for the joy of running models and analysing stats. Rather for the joy of knowing what’s important to know, interpreting data concisely, providing insight, and communicating it all through simple stories across the organisation.

5. Be the translator.

Of data led insight into Segmented Strategy because business success is achieved at segment level. Help develop differentiated value propositions that do just that- provide real value to each target segment.

6. Be the CEX Orchestrator.

Step out of your silo and form a true, holistic and single view of the customer. Plan in the detail, then activate and motivate the business to deliver a seamless and superior journey that delights.

7. Be the creator of purpose.

Create powerful and trusted brands that are beacons. That express their clear purpose and values, both those working to create it and those who choose to be its customers and consumers.

8. Be the engager.

Challenge, discover, delight, inspire, engage. In real time, on a personal level, online and offline. Deliver through deep understanding, powerful, creative, bold ideas that engage and create results across all platforms.

9. Be the speaker of languages.

See every function, every stakeholder as a segment. Know their needs, their perspectives as you would your customers. As you would with your customers, talk to them in their language. Maybe “brand” means “brand” to some. Maybe it means “reputation” to others. Maybe talk results, rather than the stuff you’ve created. Use language to connect people to the market and the customer, across functions.

10. Be obsessed.

With results and return. With effectiveness. Make advanced tools your friends to target and measure. Know every “return on” there is. Use it to reinforce your stories of success.

Sandra Lawler is Founder Director of Alternatives, a flexible talent solutions business, specialising in marketing, digital, data and customer focused talent. Alternatives helps businesses and great people achieve their growth ambitions.