Imagine the org chart that describes your organization. Even better, take a moment to sketch it.

There's the chief at the top, with the CFO and other senior managers lined up on the next row. From there, lines drop to more boxes on more rows as authority runs downhill to junior managers, assistants, support staff and finally to field sales reps, service team and customer support. Dealers and independent sales people probably appear on page 2.

New clients invariably map their business with this kind of chart, whether it's a slick PowerPoint diagram or a ballpoint sketch on a cocktail napkin. It's also a vivid example of the introverted, counter-productive thinking that dominates most organizations.

The common org chart reflects the distribution of power, authority and responsibility in an organization, but it does nothing to define what really counts: the creation of value, the delivery of value to customers, the perception of value from the customer's perspective, and the accumulation of brand loyalty.

On your org chart, put your finger on the people who actually talk with your customers every day - the people who sell and support your products, turn complaints into compliments, win back customers who are frustrated and ready to cancel their service. These are the people who reinforce customer loyalty, extend customer life-cycles and quietly build shareholder equity.

Where are they? Chances are they're near the bottom of the chart. On many org charts they appear in summary boxes like "Customer Service Team" or "Field Sales, Northeast Region."

Where are your independent reps? Where are your dealers? And even more important, where are your dealers' counter salespeople? In many businesses, these are the folks who actually sell - and often decide which vendor's product to sell, too.

Where are your customers? I'll bet they're not on the chart at all. But if you think customers don't belong on a chart that defines the key relationships in your organization, think again. Successful companies are relentlessly customer-centric.



Your rep or your brand?

There are many ways to map your organization - and they're all better than the classic org chart, because they convey something more meaningful than the company pecking order.

I prefer maps that concentrate on critical functions, such as the management of customer relationships, the flow of information to (and from) the front lines, and the creation of value for customers.

For example, we recently re-drew a Washington-based company's org chart to illustrate both the perceived importance of its frontline people and the great risk inherent in the company's practice of maintaining a single point of contact with customers.

We drew one large box in the upper half of a page. Inside that box we entered the title, "My Rep." A line dropped down to another box, which was wide and short, labeled, "Everybody Else." That was the whole chart - the company as seen through a customer's eyes.

Customers did not recognize the deep resources that enabled their rep to succeed. Sure, they appreciated the value they were receiving, but to them the source of this value was their rep - their personal hero - not the brand.

To boost brand strength and stabilize current business by lowering the risk of customers following their favorite reps to a competitor, we shifted toward client relationships with multiple points of contact, at several levels. This combination reflected the numerous types of service and support delivered to customers, and it increased awareness of all the value the company had been delivering. It also helped build strong, multi-tiered relationships within the customer company, which stabilized each account significantly.



Are you really customer-centric?

Here's a useful map for a service-intensive business. Draw a set of concentric circles on a large sheet of paper, with a fairly large center circle labeled, "Customers." Now, in the ring that touches the center circle, enter the people who contact customers directly and manage customer relationships. In a small organization, you should enter individual names; in a larger organization, enter "primary contact" people according to their function: direct sales, independent reps, dealer counter sales, field service, customer support and so on.

In the next ring out, enter the people who support the folks with direct customer contact: inside sales support, marketing and those IT functions that directly support strategic knowledge management and sales/marketing operations.

Depending on the size of your organization, continue to populate rings with people who contribute to the company's success but are farther from direct contact to customers: finance, general management, HR and general IT services.

When you're finished, you'll have a poster worth pinning to the wall in your break room. It sends a clear message: Although many of your frontline people are seldom seen at the home office - they're in the field or remote contact centers - they are the primary ball-carriers. Short-term sales and long-term customer relationships rely on their success. For everyone else in the organization, the number one goal is to help frontline people succeed.

This strong statement can stimulate better communications and closer cooperation between all frontline teams and their corresponding support teams. It can help everyone stay focused on the right goal. Sometimes, for example, marketing people can use a reminder that the goal is not to do more research and planning, but to start selling.

It can also help to bridge the classic divide that separates field sales people from everyone else in the company - a historic psycho/business phenomenon that is unnecessary and truly counter-productive.

The most useful maps do more than just capture today's structure. They support a clear, forward-looking strategy and company aspirations. Whether you are describing your company as customers perceive it, or describing customers as your people perceive them, take this opportunity to articulate your philosophy and drive it.



Don Condit is president of Condit Marketing Communications Inc. in Fort Collins.  To join the discussion, send questions or comments to dcondit@conditmarketing.com.