CVMBoK Launch: Empowering Customer Value Managers
Untapped Potential in Customer Value Management
The Customer Value Management (CVM) function is complex, blending marketing, technology, customer support, and many other roles.
Skills and training are scarce, making knowledge sharing tough. Leaders struggle to create frameworks, leaving CVM professionals feeling isolated and unable to meet company goals.
CVMBoK Fills the Gap
CVMBoK unlocks the value of the Customer Value Management function within organizations.
As the first and only comprehensive guide, it sets the foundations needed for both leaders and professionals to develop CVM discipline into a growth driver.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Šarūnas: We want to make CVM profession famous. Everyone knows project management or product management, but nobody knows customer value management. So let’s let’s change that. Make it real strong, well founded profession. We initially thought that it will be something simple. You describe the technology stack a process or two, but when we started iterating through the information, we understood that we need to do a proper documentation of the whole context of CVM function.
[00:00:29] Exacaster: Welcome to CVM Stories, the podcast on customer value management. Together, we explore how companies can be more successful and the customers happier through the use of latest customer value management techniques. Learn key commercial and analytical insights from telecoms, retail, finance and other industries that drive CVM forward. CVM Stories is produced by Exacaster. We help companies take their customer value management to the next level. To stay updated on our latest episodes, subscribe to the podcast or sign up for an email newsletter at exacaster.com/cvmstories
[00:01:03] Egidijus: Last year, the same place, the same time we met with you and we launched CVM stories, a podcast for customer value management. This was a really big thing at the time. Now, a year later, we are launching another big thing. So what is it?
[00:01:24] Šarūnas: Okay, so let me tell you, uh, revealing our secret, it is, uh, CVMBoK or customer value management body of knowledge. Uh, basically, it’s a digital resource for customer value managers, the first and only comprehensive guide to the topic. So, uh, it’s not a small thing. This is what we’re launching.
[00:01:46] Egidijus: It’s a super exciting time for us. And, uh, it’s a really natural next step after CVM stories, when we had those countless interviews with the industry professionals. We are doing our daily work, and we have a chance to get all that know how. Uh, but at the same time, we see that this know how is actually in our heads or in our clients heads or in CVM heads. And every time when we see that our clients employ a new customer value management and manager in the area, these people go through the same very difficult process. They need to learn from the scratch what to do with customer value management. What is it? What’s that function, how does it work in the organization, and so on. So we actually searched through a number of resources. We find a lot of one pagers or two pagers about CVM. But there is no comprehensive guide, uh, that we could found. So uh, we decided to build it. Yeah.
[00:03:03] Šarūnas: I mean, uh, one thing is to say, let’s, uh, let’s write the body of knowledge. Another one is to write. So actually, when when you think about, uh, other professions that have gone in a similar sort of evolution, uh, there was a moment where, where someone decided to write down what what is happening, and, uh, project management comes to mind, uh, with its now famous project management body of knowledge, or CVMBoK, uh, data management comes to mind, has its own data management body of knowledge, product management, another profession, lots of, uh, people putting in the effort to kind of clarify what the responsibility is all about.
[00:03:47] Egidijus: What should it be, uh, what are the different ways of doing the, the role? So we kind of set this task, uh, for ourselves and, uh, yeah, the result is, uh, is here. So yeah, the result is here. It’s, uh, uh, to be honest, it is. It was way more challenging than I initially, uh, kind of thought that kind of I really knew that it will be mandatory to talk with, uh, many, many industry professionals. So, um, we had. Probably in number of hundreds. Different conversations with different CVMs. I can count customer value managers from all continents. Definitely. Um, and kind of we took their know how. But when we tried to compress that know how and to describe it, uh, I couldn’t believe that it will take us six iterations of rewriting the content from scratch. And this is, like, crazy. Yeah. It’s crazy.
[00:04:55] Šarūnas: I think originally our estimate was, uh, three months maximum. So let’s do this quick thing and we’re done. And now, 12 months later, I think we have another six months of work ahead of us easily if if we would allow ourselves the time. But I think what we got, uh, already today is, uh, is is usable for the first edition. My personal feeling is, uh, maybe a bit pessimistic. I think it’s maybe 50% accurate, but, uh, for the first edition, I think it’s good enough.
[00:05:27] Egidijus: So I am a bit, uh, more optimistic. I would go for at least 75% accuracy. Um, but, uh, yeah, there are a lot of room for improvement. We get, uh, we got very, uh, a lot of early feedback from, um, uh, from the reviewers and, uh, I think, uh, one important part is to understand the why does it take so long to document, let’s say, a function in the organization. So, um, if we, uh, if we would kind of do a small sneak peek into the content. Uh, we initially thought that it will be something simple. You know, you describe the technology stack that you use, you describe a process or two, and it’s basically done. But when we started iterating through the information, we understood that we need to do a proper documentation of the whole context of the CVM function, like describing what it does. This, uh, what do CVMs do in the context of marketing? How does it integrate with the four P’s of the marketing? We also needed to describe how the CVM function fit in organization itself, because if we talk with different, different telcos, they place it in very different areas. Some put it under marketing, some, some put it under customer service, under sales and so on. There are kind of plenty of ways how to integrate it into organization. There are many KPIs that cvms, uh, are um, responsible for, uh, especially kind of, uh, for uh, revenue, for retention, for NPS and so on.
[00:07:25] Egidijus: And what is even more challenging, uh, so there are many different flavors how organizations, uh, choose to implement CVM function and so on. So we started doing all this, and it’s like I am just describing the different chapters of uh, of, uh, CVM Body of Knowledge. And it takes a bit time.
[00:07:46] Šarūnas: Yeah. And this is just the context. We didn’t even get to the meat of the work, you know, the programs, the different things that customer value management does, things like onboarding or life cycle or next best offer, next best action, loyalty, retention, lots of topics. Uh, each of those is a separate book, essentially, and we tried to systematize them on at least some level to to give you an overall feeling for, for the, for the role. So, yeah, the subject has, uh, appeared to be a lot broader than we expected originally. And I think that also explains why it’s so hard for anyone to describe it, uh, on any given day. So you come into to the new, new CVM role and try to describe what is it that you’re doing. So that’s that’s the struggle that we went through. And, uh, kind of we did the work for you in the sense. So just take it and and iterate forward. Yeah, exactly.
[00:08:44] Egidijus: Uh, when we try to ask, uh, customer value managers what they, they do, it’s, it’s pretty much impossible for them to, to describe that. And I now I really understand why because even if you try to list the technology stack, uh, where the Cvms are actually contributing, using, etc., it’s like, I don’t know, 17, 18, uh, different pieces of technology and channels that we need to integrate.
[00:09:12] Šarūnas: And yeah, you’re talking about campaign management. You’re talking about data, about machine learning, about AI, about chat bots, data warehouses, data lakes, you name it. So yeah, it’s it’s it’s a huge, uh, huge role. And uh, so far it has remained largely hidden. Yeah. Because of this complexity.
[00:09:32] Exacaster: If you are interested in customer value management, check out our Customer Value Management body of knowledge. CVMBok is a comprehensive guide for CVM professionals offering tips, tools, and best practices to help you in your job. Visit cvmbok.com for more.
[00:09:49] Egidijus: Uh, we spent with you countless hours of like, writing and rewriting the content. What was your most surprising findings when you tried to document what’s in your head, uh, in the CVMBoK?
[00:10:03] Šarūnas: Uh, actually, for me, the most surprising thing was that it is such a cross-functional role. So when people, uh, list things that they’re doing every day, uh, many of them actually belong to another team or department. So, like, you’re, you’re, uh, reviewing, uh, customer data and preparing requirements for, for customer 360 view. That’s maybe by work or data management teams work or you’re looking at campaigns. Well, that’s that’s clearly a channel, uh, topic. And maybe you’re worrying about, uh, legal compliance of the things that you’re doing, things like GDPR. So clearly legal teams should be involved.
[00:10:47] Šarūnas: And then of course, there’s pricing. How much, uh, should we charge for things at the end of the day when we listed, uh, we got, I don’t know, 17, uh, functions or so that the, uh, role interfaces with. It’s an insanely cross-functional role if you try to imagine any other role. I’m actually struggling to imagine it’s one of the most cross-functional roles there is. So for me, this was, uh, very, very surprising. You kind of know it, but until you write it down, you don’t see it. Now I see it, and I’m shocked.
[00:11:27] Egidijus: To add, on top of your insight about this kind of very cross-functional thing, uh, for me, before I would kind of describe customer value management more through campaigns perspective, through the program’s perspective. But now for me, customer value management is a leadership role. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:11:47] Šarūnas: Yeah. I mean, you can’t do 17 functions yourself. There is no way you can do it. So essentially it’s a senior senior leadership role. And at the end of the day, it also links to how the entire organization views its strategic marketing approach. It can be ownership of an entire, uh, customer segment or brand, or it can be, uh, product, but it’s a super senior role. And many of these other functions, you’re just aligning them, making sure that the whole, uh, it’s kind of like the conductor of the orchestra type of role. I wouldn’t say it’s a CEO role because that role has other things, but clearly the role that is looking at the customers and also looking at the business objectives and trying to align them both.
[00:12:38] Egidijus: Yeah. And and on top of that you get, uh, crazy technology stack. Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So what was, uh, surprising for you? I would say the most surprising aspect was that customer value managers are so willing to contribute to this topic. Uh, that’s kind of extremely inspiring for me. So, for example, when we started writing this TVM body of knowledge, you know, uh, I, uh, I didn’t have a full confidence that this is really necessary. Maybe it will be just another marketing tool, etc.. But, uh, then when we did the first iteration of the CVM, Bok and I asked for a basic feedback, guys who work in customer value managers, please help us to build that, uh, customer value management body of knowledge. Could you review the content? And 40 people replied to me like, yes, I want to contribute. Uh, give me to review. And I was like, shocked. Yeah. How energetic those people are, how willing to contribute and how important the topic is.
[00:13:48] Šarūnas: Yeah, I think it kind of circles back to our original insight that the profession is very important, but very much, uh, not seen, uh, very lonely.You can’t talk to anyone because the only other peer is your competitor. So you have to find somewhere, uh, a community of people doing the same thing.
[00:14:08] Egidijus: Yeah, exactly. And the key challenge is that your community is global.
[00:14:13] Egidijus: Yeah. It’s like you don’t have a local one. Yeah, exactly. It’s crazy. Crazy. And, uh, uh, another, uh, shocking thing for me was that, you know, I was talking with cvms from different continents, from very different economies, from different countries, cultures, etc., and the problems are always the same.
[00:14:34] Šarūnas: Okay.
[00:14:35] Egidijus: Just the context is different and the toolset is different, etc., but the problems are essentially the same. And you can talk with some guy from, I don’t know, uh, Africa or from Australia or from United States. And everybody talks the same language. Yeah. It’s really, really amazing. So the community is there is just global. Yeah. It’s just global. It’s not connected. And uh, hopefully, uh, uh, we will bring, uh, this community a bit closer. Uh, another interesting thing was that we started getting way more insights from industries besides telco. It’s like from financial, uh, financial services, subscription, mobile apps, etc., where we see that the problems they overlap, but the details are slightly, slightly different in the execution. Uh, part. Uh, I don’t know. Did, uh, did you had some insights there as well?
[00:15:33] Šarūnas: Yeah. So actually, for me, this is a very, uh, promising topic because, uh, this is a safer space to share information. I mean, you can take the learnings from financial industry and apply it in telecommunications or take from telecommunications, apply it in digital subscription services. It’s actually accelerating the know how sharing and development. So this is a very, uh, promising direction for sure. And the approaches are all valid and all innovative.So that’s super interesting. Very exciting to to hear that.
[00:16:07] Egidijus: Uh, yeah. For me, for me, it was, uh, totally. Mind blowing because kind of both. For example, subscription apps and telco does the same onboarding, but the KPIs are slightly different, the methodologies are innervated differently, and so on. It’s like really interesting to to see all that know how and start packaging it and incorporate the learnings. Yeah. So we talked a lot about the context, why we are doing there, etc. and we didn’t mention basically what is the vision, uh, of that. So where are we heading with this.
[00:16:45] Šarūnas: Yeah. So the vision is simple. We want to make CVM profession famous. Yeah I love that I love that, you know. Yeah. So like, everyone knows, uh, project management or product management, but nobody knows customer value management. So let’s let’s change that. Let’s let’s bring it out of the shadows into the limelight and make it a real, uh, strong, uh, well-founded profession like the others. So I think that’s that’s the vision. And, uh, maybe you can share what are our plans? What are the upcoming, uh, features or changes in the CVMBoK?
[00:17:24] Egidijus: So, uh, we are definitely, uh, kind of committed to make, uh, make and making those CVM famous. But we need to start from a very simple things, actually. So our step number one is basically communicate now the CVMBoK to as many people as possible and start getting the next round of feedback and collect that feedback and incorporate it into the next iteration of the CVM version. And we, uh, we are working on launching a proper book so that, you know, every function needs to have a book written, uh, physical copy in your library, you know, to show to your friends what you are actually doing, you know? So this is kind of, uh, the thing number one. Uh, the thing now, number two is, if you do not have a certificate, it’s not official, you know. Yeah. So we must, uh, what we are working on next is actually building a, uh, certified training program for cvms so that it would be standard, internationally recognizable, and you could actually have a formal training on that, you know? Yeah. And, uh, the third part is, uh, of course, continue improving the CVMBoK by a major expansion, expansion to other, uh, industries. So it’s, um, so that this, uh, so that Cvms would definitely get famous.
[00:18:59] Šarūnas: Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. So I think these three steps are for sure ahead of us. Let’s look at what we have got today. So what we are launching now, the first edition is here. It’s going live today. It’s about 80 pages, uh, long. I mean, it’s not the longest, but still fairly, fairly sizable. And, uh, you can take and use it today, uh, at least for three things. So first thing, uh, you can use it for alignment. You can read it yourself with your team, uh, discuss with your boss, share with your peers to align what CVM is all about. And how are you guys doing it? Second thing is you can assess yourself versus others. There are a lot of, uh, practical examples and ideas in the in the book. And you can see where are you, uh, ahead of the game. Where are you behind? Maybe there are some big gaps. So there’s already a good source of ideas for you. Uh, right there. And the last thing is you can make an improvement. So find one thing which you can fix in your work already now. And also don’t forget us. So share at least one, uh, idea, suggestion, or comment with us so that we can incorporate into the second edition. So I think that’s the three, uh, things you can do today.
[00:20:21] Egidijus: Yeah. And they definitely agree with the third one. Please share your feedback with us. And uh, I would add the fourth one. Help us to make CVM function famous, share the CVMBoK to your peers to, uh, whoever is interested in this topic, to your management, to your, uh, cross-functional teams, so that we would, uh, kind of improve this function and make this function famous. Thank you for listening to CVM stories podcast.
[00:20:52] Exacaster: If you enjoyed the show, check out the Customer Value Management body of knowledge for more insights. CVMBoK is the go to guide for customer value management professionals offering tips, tools and best practices to help you in your job. Find it at cvmbok.com
