We love to champion customer obsession. It’s a rallying cry across industries, especially in SaaS, tech, and hospitality. Be responsive. Go above and beyond. Make them feel like the only one that matters.
But what happens when customer obsession becomes customer appeasement?
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What happens when the foundation holding up great service, your internal team, starts to crack under the weight of customer-first thinking?
The Hidden Cost of “Always Yes”
Many CX professionals pride themselves on being heroes. We jump in fast. We fix fires. We make customers smile, even if it means working late, breaking process, or shouldering more than our fair share.
And at first, it feels like winning. CSAT is high. Customers are happy. The team is proud.
But over time, cracks appear:
A team member burns out from handling too many exceptions.
A sloppy process gets normalized because “it worked last time.”
New hires inherit chaos masked as hustle.
Suddenly, “yes” starts costing more than it gives.
Being obsessed with the customer isn’t the problem. Being obsessed without boundaries is.
True customer experience excellence doesn’t mean saying yes to every request. It means designing a system that supports consistency, clarity, and care for both the customer and the team.
Here’s the hard truth: If your internal team is constantly compensating for broken processes, lack of clarity, or a reactive mindset, the obsession isn’t heroic, it’s harmful.
It’s a signal that leadership may need to step back and re-evaluate what sustainable service really looks like and a chance to shift from reactive support to intentional experience design.
A Better Kind of Obsession
The best brands in the world,Disney, Ritz Carlton, and Apple don’t rely on heroics. They rely on systems that allow ordinary people to deliver extraordinary experiences.
That’s the shift:
From reactive to repeatable.
From “fix it fast” to “fix it upstream.”
From “how do we save this account?” to “how do we never have this issue again?”
Customer obsession at its best means being obsessed with the entire journey, including the team members behind the scenes.
Because your internal team is your first customer.
A Reflection for CX Leaders
If you lead CX, support, or success, ask yourself:
Are we solving the same issues over and over?
Do our systems support our people, or do our people have to compensate for our systems?
When something goes wrong, do we rush to appease or pause to understand?
And most importantly:
Are we building a company where customer obsession is sustainable or just performative?
Final Thought
Serving customers with excellence is the standard. Building a culture that supports your team while doing it, that’s the next level.
When we lead with clarity, care, and intention, we create experiences that are not only exceptional, but sustainable.
Real obsession isn’t about reacting faster. It’s about designing better.
Let’s build something that serves both sides of the experience, customers and the team that supports them.
Thanks for reading Experience Matters: Unleashing the Power of CX! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
