Blind Men, Blame Games, and Elephants: The Customer Journey Map

More often than not, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success resemble the three blind men and the elephant. They touched the elephant, the leg, the trunk, the ear - yet they don't see the elephant.

“A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.”

- Titha Sutta, an ancient Buddhist text.

This parable dates back thousands of years, but in business, it’s as true today as was when it was written.

The “elephant” in business is the customer journey. Each department has its own opinions and ideas of what that journey should look like.

Marketing sees it as branding. There is no direct line to sales figures.
Sales see everything in terms of closings, not seeing the value of a brand.
The customer sees it all from their perspective, which is really the only one that matters,

Imagine if the five blind men in the story simply started blaming each other for “not getting it” when someone tells them they’re not seeing the whole picture.

Now imagine a sixth person arrives, someone with sight who looks and sees the whole elephant. They can see that each piece is only part of the whole. That it all fits together in a specific way to create an amazing and beautiful animal.

That’s exactly what’s lacking from most businesses. That’s exactly what JAXX has set out to create.

With other online apps, like Salesforce or Hubspot, you only see a portion of the elephant. JAXX has created a map that shows you the entire elephant at a glance by incorporating data from all available sources. And, importantly, it also shows you where the entire process is stopped or slowed by a bottleneck that needs to be cleared.

You’re able to see the relationships between all the parts. This allows you to improve where things need to be improved and to augment places that are working well.

The customer journey is changing daily. You need a map that can keep up, a map that allows you to see when you need to change directions, when part of your team is lagging behind, and when a shift in perspective is needed.

Rather than being a room full of “blind” people pointing fingers at each other and lamenting the failure of the system, use a map that shows everyone where they’re at on the journey and what they need to do to improve their station and their relationship with the other parts of the customer journey.