Can you solve the formula
to the right? 
If you paid as much attention to algebra as me in maths lessons at school, probably not.
That said, I can almost guarantee that you do understand the formula (or at the very least will by the end of this blog!).
In my time working on a very progressive service initiative in the commercial insurance area, the organisation I was with were responsible for a huge upturn in their new business, rate and retention results by understanding that just because a customer doesn’t choose you this time, doesn’t mean they will make the same decision the next time round.
What will dictate their next decision will be the feelings and associations they have of you and your brand as a result of the experience you gave them.
I listened in to a call once where a city Broker spoke with our Trader to say he was placing a £900k risk with a rival insurer after three months of effort on our Traders part. I’ll never forget the startled reaction of the Broker as our trader told him:
“not a problem, well done, you’ve done a great job to get that price. We’d love to speak with you about it again next year, I’ll put something in our diaries as a reminder”.
Not only did we win back the risk the next year, but we got a lot more incremental business in the following 12 months from the Broker.
Moving on to an example of a slightly smaller value, my mortgage company with whom I also have a credit card and a debit card (let’s call it a 321 debit card) recently failed to apply the new rate I had chosen following my initial two year rate coming to its end. They said they hadn’t received the letter, I knew I had sent it – it was their word against mine and as a result of the mistake, I had been overpaying for three months.
As the conversation unfolded, it became clear that the experience I had expected; application of the new rate going forwards, and no reimbursement for me, wasn’t going to happen. In fact, the excellent, empathetic, and well trained advisor applied and backdated the rate, taking the corresponding amount of money off my next mortgage payment.
Am I likely to move my mortgage or any of my cards now? Not a chance.
We at Lexden take the same view. We feel that when deciding whether to set out on a CX journey or not, the last thing any organisation should do is call in the consultants to decide for them.
It sounds counter-intuitive coming from a CX consultant, but it’s something that we beleive must be owned and driven from within rather than outsourced. It can lead to a complete lack of ownership of CX within the business.
Whereas we find the most fruitful engagements are those with clients who have a clear desire to deliver excellent experiences. We do of course help them understand what matters most to their customers and how to amplify their authentic difference through customer experience, but throughout we are ensuring ownership, drive and knowledge rests with our clients.
Our experience of this approach has led to client’s inviting us back in and welcoming us rather than judging the value of CX support provided, time after time. This is my understanding of customer lifetime value (even if I still can’t quite decode the equation!)
Posted by James Edmonds, Senior Consultant, Lexden
Lexden helps deliver effective customer experience strategy and solutions for clients seeking sustainable profit from customer experience.
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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CONSULTANTS | LEXDEN 
You actually make it seem really easy together with your presentation however I to find this matter to be actually one thing that I feel I’d by no means understand. It sort of feels too complex and very huge for me. I am looking forward on your subsequent publish, I’ll try to get the cling of it!