Crack The Customer Code

Adam and Jeannie discuss the Equifax data breach and how to decide when it’s right to disclose issues to customers. To disclose, or not to disclose? Not everything you need to tell customers is good news! Are you prepared to deliver the bad news when the time is right? Take the recent Equifax data breach, where it was months before customers became aware of the problem. As you may know, the news caused quite a panic! Why did Equifax withhold the information for so long, and why did they release it when they did? “How will you deal with this proactively moving forward?” -Jeannie Walters Delivering bad news is often a case of weighing your company’s best interests against your customers. So when you have bad news to disclose, are you protecting your customers, or covering your own butt? “Maybe it’s better to control the crisis a little bit for the customer’s sake.” -Adam Toporek Disclosure and transparency are not just buzz words! In fact, customers are demanding these virtues by name. If you haven’t

Jeannie and Adam smash the myths about customer support software and remote collaboration with HelpScout CEO and Co-founder Nick Francis. How HelpScout customer support makes a difference We’ve come a long way with the ways we offer customer support, but are we shooting ourselves in the foot with the tech we use? More specifically, with the rise of help desk software, customer support has grown cold and sterile - lacking the emotion and the personal touches we get from 1:1 communication. This is bad news for those of us who need to maintain meaning customer relationships. (Hello, everyone!?) “Moving from email to a “help desk” was actually a big deterioration of the customer experience.” -Nick Francis That’s why we’re delighted to welcome HelpScout CEO and Co-founder Nick Francis to the show. Because as a small business owner, Nick always saw help desk software as too robotic to meet his own standards for engaging customers in need. Therefore, he founded HelpScout to continue using his more human approa

Adam explores real-life situations that exemplify commonly wasted retail opportunities in brick-and-mortar customer service. Are wasted retail opportunities looming in your store? While online retailers like Amazon continue to grow, those who maintain physical locations have a tall order! They need to give customers a real reason to visit, instead of shopping a competitor online. Many customers still prefer to speak to a sales associate, examine the merchandise, and browse the aisles. Real-life visitors give retailers an amazing opportunity - not just to upsell, but to offer experiences customers simply cannot have digitally. But many are wasting these opportunities! Flailing processes and inattentive staff don’t balance the equation when customers can shop nearby competition from their smartphones in the meantime. “Many retail workers are adept at studiously avoiding eye contact…” -Adam Toporek Sadly, these situations are quite common! Customers using in-store pickup or seeking knowledge from a profess

Adam and Jeannie interview Master of Innovation Stephen Shapiro for a better approach to innovating customer experience and more. A better approach at innovating customer experience Customer needs and expectations change, so it stands to reason that we must continue innovating customer experience. However, too many companies have the wrong idea about what innovation is and how to get game-changing ideas! “People have a confused notion of what innovation is…” -Stephen Shapiro The best innovations solve a problem, and we get there by asking the right questions. But it’s not just what you ask but how. Stephen shows us some simple but critical ways to reframe the questions we ask – not only to drive more innovative thinking, but to get more positive results. Even the most successful companies can miss the mark when the next big innovation is needed. Stephen explains what they typically do wrong, and more importantly, how to not follow in their footsteps. “Their past success led to their future failure.”

Jeannie and Adam break down some common CX clichés and unoriginal thoughts that stifle truly customer-centric thinking and doing. Are CX clichés hampering your progress? For those situations when you couldn’t have said it better yourself, we have clichés. And while they sometimes represent "a fundamental truth” as Adam says, but sometimes these clichés are used as an excuse not to think deeply say what really matters. Sadly, in the customer experience space, we hear a lot of them. “It can become a form of generalization that doesn’t apply, that actually can mislead you…” -Adam Toporek Many of these unoriginal thoughts have invaded the customer experience space, and it’s preventing some of us from facing critical truths in how to interpret and approach customer experiences. It’s not just about words! In fact, core customer experience practices and popular examples of the companies that implement them have been grossly misrepresented or used to death. While these examples roll nicely off the tongue, they

In this special edition CX Day episode, Adam and Jeannie interview Lesley Lykins, Executive Director of the Customer Experience Professionals Association. Happy CX Day! Customer experience has come a long way, and the whole world is celebrating on this 5th annual CX Day. Celebrating along with us today is Lesley Lykins, Director of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.) Lesley in particular is very excited to celebrate CX Day this year, and we’re delighted to have her on the show! First, Lesley talks about how widespread the global CX Day celebration is, giving us a little history and a rundown of the many ways to celebrate. A lot goes into it! “It feels like a New Year’s celebration for customer experience!” -Lesley Lykins But we’re not just talking about events here. Why celebrate? Lesley tells us how much customer experience has grown and spread throughout the world, as companies continue to create more and more customer-focused roles. She shares some amazing stories of what it’

Jeannie and Adam question the meaning of efficiency and uncover hidden and unnecessary challenges to providing efficient customer service. The hidden challenges of efficient customer service When we think of efficient customer service, the emphasis is typically on what’s happening at the front lines. Then we look at things like “time on call” and other specific metrics to gauge efficiency. However, there are many other factors that play into front-line efficiency, and how they affect the actual experience is not always straightforward. So what we see as efficient from our perspective may not be delivering the experiences that are needed most from customers in the moment. “What is the relative output to the inputs you put in?” -Adam Toporek In this episode, Adam and Jeannie explore the concept of efficiency and how it is perceived through different lenses. From internal processes to equipment and software put in place with the purpose of making things efficient, they uncover hidden challenges that inadve

Adam and Jeannie interview Stacey Hanke, influence expert and author of Influence Redefined…Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be. Is your influence as strong as you think? The ability to influence others is critical to the success of any business or entrepreneur, and there’s a lot of content out there about becoming an influencer. However, many leaders don’t truly understand the chemistry that turns communication into true influence. We often equate our titles, as well as proven success in our fields with influence… but this is where we go wrong. And we often think social networking and technology can fill in the gaps, but unfortunately, depending on these things too much actually widens them! “Sometimes, the technical gadget is not going to be the best medium.” -Stacey Hanke Today’s guest, communications and influence expert Stacey Henke, says influence is not something you can turn on and off like the gadgets we now use to get our messages across! She’s worked with thousands of leaders to help them wal

Jeannie shares her expertise in digital experience evaluation with 5 sales-killing offenses even the best of us should look out for and tips to make good on them. Digital experience offenses are still everywhere! Are you guilty? Umm… probably. It’s easy to say what you don’t like about another company’s digital experience, but what about your own? Because you know where everything is and how it’s all supposed to work, finding pain points in your own digital experience is not as straightforward as you may think. So when customers are so close to making a purchase, your polished-up website or mobile app may be letting them down in those critical moments. Those would-be customers are dropping out over things that cause confusion, frustration, mistrust…even to the point of publicly hating on your brand! Jeannie Walters has been conducting qualitative analyses on digital experiences since before they really became a “thing,” and now, she sees digital experiences make and break once-successful brands every day.

Jeannie and Adam explore hiring and new employee processes from the candidate's perspective with Undercover Candidate™ Nora Burns.  HR Undercover A good team is critical to the success of any business, so why is it so hard to attract and keep good talent? It seems most organizational leaders think their hiring processes are solid - while most job candidates have horror stories about their experience.  You’ve heard the horror stories from friends and colleagues... In fact, you probably have horror stories of your own. So what's really happening during your own hiring and new employee experience processes? And more importantly, how does it affect your ability to hire right for the experiences you want to deliver? Because how you hire, not just whom you hire, can have a big impact on your brand. “You’ve not only lost me as potential talent, but you’ve also lost me as a consumer…” -Nora Burns That's what today’s guest Nora Burns wanted to find out, so she invested years in finding out! Nora is with us to d

Should you avoid all negativity in customer service training? Adam shares research data, case studies, and expert advice Do you avoid negativity in customer service training? Pop psychology says negativity in customer service training could be harmful and should be avoided. The idea is that focusing on negative situations begets more negative outcomes. However, real customer service situations don’t always go well. In fact, it’s safe to assume that even with the best teams, something will eventually go wrong or just be poorly executed. We all have bad days! Real life customer service is NOT all unicorns and rainbows.” -Adam Toporek So how can you address the negative possibilities and still have positive overall outcomes with your training initiatives? It’s not an easy question to answer, but Adam has you covered! He has surprising facts, valuable case study insights, and expert advice to share with you. Listen in for tips to help you strike the right balance! Related Content 360Connext® post, How t

Jeannie and Adam interview Nienka Bloem, Certified Customer Experience Professional and creator of the Customer Experience Game. Are you learning the customer experience game? Learning about customer experience is becoming a must for business leaders worldwide, but many still don’t really know what that means. For instance, what if you live in a place where customer experience is just taking off? What are your options? It turns out, in some cases, there aren’t many! “The momentum is here in Europe, where everybody’s talking about customer experience…” -Nienke Bloem So today’s guest, Certified Customer Experience Professional Nienka Bloem, created the Customer Experience Game to help bring this wisdom to continental Europe and beyond. In a time when those who wanted to learn about CX had to attend boring conference sessions in hopes of taking away some CX wisdom, Nienka changed the game- both literally and figuratively! “Listen, analyze, report, and act!” -Nienke Bloem A pioneer in customer-centric p

Adam and Jeannie share tips for defining, finding and optimizing every moment of truth within your customer journey. What exactly is a moment of truth? While every touchpoint in your customer journey deserves attention, some are more critical than others. In short, a moment of truth is a critical touchpoint that can drive your customer to the next level, or chase them away. “Not every piece of the customer experience is AS important…” -Adam Toporek And you may think you already know where these moments of truth are, but that’s how many leaders go wrong! It’s too easy to focus on things that seem pivotal from the inside while moments that have a greater effect on the outcome are glossed over.  “Some moments in the customer journey will drive loyalty more than others…” -Jeannie Walters In this episode, Adam and Jeannie help you understand where the REAL moments of truth are in your customer journey. Want to eliminate pain points that derail customers from their path to conversion, loyalty or advocacy?

Jeannie and Adam interview Kristina Quinones, head of customer experience at MeetEdgar, about amazing growth through a unique approach at customer service. Explosive growth and the MeetEdgar customer service approach Thanks to its unique approach at customer service, MeetEdgar has grown from 2 to 30 employees in three years. So we're proud to interview their head of customer experience, Kristina Quinones. Kristina shares how to use the same approach at your business! The customer service team at MeetEdgar has struck a magical balance between customer service and customer experience. Not only do they deliver the best service possible, but they go beyond when customers need a little extra help. So what is their secret? “There are situations where we should be doing more…mostly because we can.” -Kristina Quiones It’s not just about solving problems, answering questions, or eliminating friction. But rather, it’s about making that interaction a highlight in the customer’s day. “…be the bright spot in a cus

Jeannie and Adam discuss the pros and cons of Tesla’s new strategy for escalating customer service issues. Escalating customer service: Can Tesla’s new strategy work for you? Customers demanding that a service issue or complaint be escalated is often the worst nightmare both for front-line staff and their leaders. While service agents aren’t anxious to admit they couldn’t make the customer happy on their own, team leads and are typically not happy or prepared to take those calls! Now imagine if those calls went straight to the c-suite… “… things get escalated so that you don’t have that level of frustration again.” -Jeannie Walters Tesla has announced a new program where their automotive customers can bypass the front line and take their issues straight to an executive. While this sounds like a great move for customers, the prospect of willfully escalating customer service raises a lot of questions about accountability, perception, and allocation of resources. Could your organization benefit from a pro

Adam and Jeannie interview karmaCRM founder John-Paul Narowski about smarter ways to manage and nurture customer relationships. Enhancing customer relationships with tech If you’ve user Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software before, then you may know these systems tend to be either lacking the features you need or overcomplicated with features you don’t. Either way, leaders find themselves investing in tools they’re not using to their best potential. “We paid for these tools and I see him putting a sticky note on his monitor…” -JP Narowski Today’s guest, John-Paul (JP) Narowski found himself in a similar situation with his own company, so he set out to create his own CRM tools. Bearing all the common challenges and pitfalls in mind, JP created karmaCRM for a customer-centric approach at managing relationships. But it’s not just about which tools you use. It’s about how you use them, and whether or not you’re committed. “If you had the right commitment…you would make that system work.” -JP Na

Adam and Jeannie announce exciting changes to our show inspired by feedback from our our fans, friends and listeners. We’re listening to you too! We’d like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for listening, but we want you to know we’re listening too! We thrive on your feedback to continue making Crack the Customer Code better and better, and we get many great ideas from you. As a result, we’ve seen some common themes in what our listeners think would improve the show.  Today we’re announcing another change that we think you’re going to love! We’ve been working on ways to deliver more of what you like the most while making it easier to keep up with us. Listen in to find out what Adam and Jeannie have planned! This is YOUR show. We're so grateful for the valuable feedback, comments and suggestions from our communities. We're always looking for new topics, exciting guests, and suggestions for improving the show. Have comments, suggestions or questions? What are you waiting for? Get in touch with u

Jeannie and Adam discuss microchipping employees with RFID devices and how this tech may affect culture and the customer experience. Microchipping employees RFID tags are everywhere, from the microchips that help deter theft in retail settings to those that help us locate lost pets. But employers are taking this technology to another level by microchipping employees. And although it’s a voluntary procedure (for now?) many employees are opting in for the conveniences that come with having this tiny bundle of circuits injected beneath the skin. “We exchange convenience for privacy all the time…” -Adam Toporek And as this tech continues to develop, we are faced with the possibility of requiring customers to allow microchipping as a condition of doing business. This raises many questions… While Adam and Jeannie see very much potential for RFID technology, they also have big concerns about how this may affect the customer experience as well as company culture. “It’s not just with them in the office!” -Jea

Jeannie shares 3 powerful questions to assess and improve employee engagement for better business outcomes. How engaged are your employees? Employee engagement has a direct impact on critical business outcomes. Poorly engaged or actively disengaged employees lead to high employee turnover, subpar service, and terrible customer experiences. On the other hand, highly engaged employees have an amazingly positive impact on workplace culture, better-informed business decisions, and customer satisfaction. What’s more, they are emotionally invested in delivering great customer experiences and reporting back to leaders when those experiences fall short. “Strengthen your focus on the customer experience through your employee experience.” -Jeannie Walters But busy leaders often fail to detect an employee engagement problem before it spirals out of control. While subtle warning signs loom deep within the workplace, it’s easy to blame a dip in sales, renewals and conversions on more superficial things. So, what c

Adam and Jeannie interview bestselling author Chip Bell to discover how the best brands are innovating service to create value-unique experiences. Winning customers' hearts with value-unique experiences We all want customers talking about their experience with our brand, but providing great service isn’t enough. And though we hear a lot about the power of adding value, it's easy to weigh the experience down or simply waste money on freebies. You need to add emotional value through unique experiences. “People don’t go out and talk about good service anymore. it’s got to be unique!” -Chip Bell So what can you do? Fortunately, we had the privilege of interviewing one of the most prolific customer-focused authors to date! And he's here to explain how your brand can be the next one people are talking about. Chip Bell coined the term “value-unique,” which describes service experiences that provide more emotional value. Through amazing examples and heart-warming stories, he explains how the best companies cr