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[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]A common mistake among novice chess players is to bring out the queen early in the game. But this often leads to a loss.
It’s a tempting thought. The queen is the most powerful piece on the board. At one level of play, a player can capture a number of pieces and dominate the board by wielding the queen early. There’s even a 4-move checkmate (often called the Scholar’s Mate) that can end the game in startling fashion using the queen.
But there’s a problem. Bring out your queen early against experienced players and you’ll get crushed. Try the Scholar’s Mate on an advanced player and you’ll find yourself on your heels the rest of the game.
Why? When you bring out your queen early, you focus all of your efforts on developing one piece. You’re not developing your other pieces so you are not able to attack your game plan in an orchestrated fashion.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”8337″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Good chess players develop their pieces as a cohesive attack. They develop their pawns, knights, and bishops and then castle when possible. Then, when they bring out the queen, she’s leading a coordinated army (the king, unfortunately, quietly hides behind his castle walls during most of the fight).
In our client work, we often see a similar phenomenon in competitive strategy. Executives get lured into bringing out their queen without developing all of their pieces.
A business services firm seeking growth focuses on recruiting talented sales personnel without fully developing marketing content and supporting resources in a coordinated fashion.
A regional bank allocates a large amount of resources on mobile app development while neglecting core online banking capabilities and digital experience that has a higher impact on customer satisfaction.
A retailer launches multiple promotional campaigns to drive new customer purchases but does not adequately prepare contact center representatives with the tools and training needed to answer customer questions when contacted about these promotions.
Companies can avoid this queen-only trap when measuring and managing customer satisfaction across all channels. Underdeveloped materials, online banking performance, and custom care issues can all be captured with a cross-channel scan of the customer experience.
The customer is king. And as in chess, the end goal is to get your pieces to work together with a coordinated effort with a focus on the king.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][/vc_row]