Crack The Customer Code

Today we transcend the plateaus of current customer experience understanding with Colin Shaw, founder of Beyond Philosophy and co-author of The Intuitive Customer. Creating loyalty with The Intuitive Customer So many companies are focusing on customer experience, yet so many are getting it wrong! That’s why as practitioners in the customer experience field, we’re delighted to interview Colin Shaw to discuss his new book, The Intuitive Customer. We put so much effort into understanding the rational side of the experience, such as time on call and product delivery, we often neglect the irrational side, which is centered on emotion. Unfortunately, this is the side of the experience customers will remember, and what will ultimately influence their decisions. “Paying sole attention to a rational experience,” says Colin, “is at the root cause of why organizations are getting this stuff wrong.” In this interview, Colin shares many of our favorite highlights from The Intuitive Customer. He explains how new academ

Adam shares expert tips for the most effective customer service leadership in any industry. Achieving world class customer service leadership Effective leadership is more than just telling people what to do, especially if you want a team that consistently delivers exceptional customer service. Your team is unique, so there is no magic solution that applies to everyone. “There's no magic #management fairy dust that applies in every situation.” -@adamtoporek" However, there are some best practices that can make anyone more successful at leading customer service teams. Adam has helped customer service leaders in many industries develop their leadership skills, and he has identified some common threads among those who have been the most successful. Listen in for a few of Adam’s best tips any customer service leader can use today! Related Content 360Connext® post, 5 Leadership Biases that Hinder Success in Business Customers That Stick® post, 9 Customer Service Training Ideas That Work Episode 176: (Tip)

Adam and Jeannie discuss key distinctions to handling B2B vs. B2C customer relationships. B2B vs. B2C customer experience Customer experience is all about people, regardless of whether it’s a B2B or B2C relationship. Core customer experience practices still apply in both cases. But there are a few critical distinctions, and each can come with its own set of challenges. “B2B is not just about faceless organizations. It’s about people too.” -@jeanniecw Much of the great customer experience advice out there does not outline best practices for B2B vs. B2C customer experience. Today we’re covering some key distinctions around gathering feedback, innovating, getting buy-in, and more. “The advantage of co-creation with another business is that they have a lot invested…” -@adamtoporek So, are you B2B, B2C, or a combination of the two? How you answer can make a big difference in how you approach and nurture customer relationships. Listen in for tips you can use today! Related Content 360Connext® post, 7 Way

Adam and Jeannie look at customer service tech from the past, present and future to help you take the risks out of upgrading. Customer service tech: Helpful or harmful? Businesses of all kinds are implementing artificial intelligence and other cutting edge technology to make customer service faster, more accurate, and more efficient. Customer service tech has taken some great leaps, but is it taking over completely? Not so fast! From chat bots to supermarket self-checkouts and beyond, customer service tech has taken quite a bit of the human element from some of our day-to-day experiences. But it has not come without a cost. Larger companies have taken big risks by rolling out new tech that resulted in unforeseen challenges, lost productivity, and customer pushback. Most of us can’t afford to risk losing customers while we test out our new tech. So how can we implement this new technology without creating gaps in the customer experience, or alienating customers when they need you the most? Adam and Jeannie

Jeannie shares tips and distinctions for delivering an excellent overall customer experience to those who your digital products and services. User experience vs, customer experience: Is there a difference? Your rock star dev team has created an excellent user experience, so why are customers still dropping out on you? If the product or service you offer is digital, you might say “all our customers are users,” so it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking user experience covers it all. But while they can be similar, there are some critical distinctions!  “A good customer experience model will take every part of that journey into account, including the digital." -@jeanniecw” We’ve seen this many times: digital products that deliver an excellent user experience, while the experience around it needs lots of work! So maybe it’s time to take your developers out of the hot seat and look elsewhere for the answers. Want to make sure your user experience is conducive to the overall experience you envision for

Adam and Jeannie celebrate our 200th episode by sharing actionable takeaways and thought-provoking quotes from some of our most inspiring guests. 200 strong and growing! We’re thrilled to announce our 200th episode, so we thought we’d bring you highlights from some of our prominent themes and inspiring thought leaders! From robots taking over the world to driving customer-focused change, we’ve worked hard to bring you guests and topics to help facilitate your success in today’s business world.  Content is king One of our favorite subjects, we just couldn’t share enough with you! Content marketing is all the rage, but it’s not just about pumping out compelling ads. It’s a vital part of the customer journey, and when misunderstood, it can damage customer relationships. We’ve brought you some of the very best minds in content creation and marketing, so you can produce and share content that provides instant value and connects seamlessly with your true customer journey. “Empathy is the most valuable marketin

Graeme Newell, co-author of Red Goldfish, returns to share the secrets of building a brand following through social purpose. Building loyalty with social purpose Graeme Newell is back to talk about a growing trend with businesses today, which is getting involved with social purpose. Especially with millennials, companies are building a powerful affinity through charity groups and community efforts. Having a strong social purpose can be very powerful for building customer loyalty, shareholder value, and better relationships across the board. “[#Millennials] want to be with companies that match their own values and their own priorities.” - @gnewell" It’s common for companies to tout their involvement with a certain charity or local effort, but what today’s customers are looking for is not that simple. They’re looking for companies that are walking the talk day after day, not just paying lip service. Graeme’s latest book, Red Goldfish, is all about building a brand following with social purpose. Together

Adam shares tips to please unhappy customers without breaking the bank. What do unhappy customers really want from you? Customers may accept and even appreciate perks and comps as part of an issue resolution, because who doesn’t like free stuff!? Gifts and discounts may help soften the emotional state of the customer in the moment, but they don’t solve any problems or strengthen relationships for the long term. ”The most powerful and universal #custserv technique is completely free.” -Adam Toporek Don’t be so quick to put a dollar value on your customers’ time, patience, and loyalty. In many cases, you can save money by giving customers what they really came for! Adam is sharing no-cost ways to not only resolve customer service issues, but turn them into customer success stories. Build customer loyalty while reducing superfluous overhead you may use for improving the experience and growing your business. Listen now for tips you can use today! Related Content 360Connext® post, Customer Personas Need T

Get amazing insights from customer personas by creating and using them better with expert tips from Adam and Jeannie. Getting the most from customer personas Customer personas are typically used as a heuristic to understand customers in a sales funnel. But did you know good ones can help you understand customers throughout the entire journey? There are many great uses beyond the sales phase, if you’re creating and using them properly. “A good #persona is a deep one.” -Jeannie Walters But before you fall in love with the idea of using customer personas, be advised: Bad ones can disconnect you from the true overall experience! So, what makes a good customer persona? “Heuristics are only helpful when the model itself is strong.” -Adam Toporek How well do you know your customers? Personas help you know them better, if you know how to dive in deep while keeping them in perspective. This episode is full of tips for creating better personas, getting more value out of them, and avoiding costly mistakes. Listen

Adam and Jeannie discuss ways of innovating with customers to deliver the experiences they need the most. Are you innovating with customers? When we think of innovation, we generally think of huge product launches and paradigm-shifting technology that gets a lot of attention. We rarely think this way about smaller changes in things we’re already offering. But small changes can have a profound effect on the true experience delivered, and your customers are crying for them. Are you listening? “Not everyone is Steve Jobs," says Adam. "We remember his successes, we don’t remember his challenges.” Some of the best innovations are simply around improving a small part of the customer journey, but how would you know those things need improvement? How would you find the most meaningful solutions, or know when to make those changes? It’s time to think about innovating with customers, not just for them. As Jeannie puts it, you need to “get them talking about how they use your products and services and what they fee

Jeannie shares expert tips and guidelines for building a customer experience team that scales efficiently and aligns with organizational goals. Building a customer experience team When it comes to building customer experience teams, leaders often struggle to decide what is needed from those new roles and when. What do those jobs entail? When is best to hire, and how? “Not one person can do the heavy lifting for an entire customer experience team.” - Jeannie Walters A lot goes into building a solid team! And with so many questions unanswered, it’s easy to jump into reassigning employees or posting a series of job opportunities to cover all the bases. But starting out right is crucial in building a team efficiently. You need a team that brings positive change today and aligns with bigger goals for the future.   Don’t waste precious time and resources building a team that grows into something that doesn’t make it happen. Jeannie has some tips to help you identify the capabilities needed the most now, whil

Adam and Jeannie share quick tips and a little neuroscience to keep negative interactions from causing poor service and employee burnout. Are your agents emotionally trained to handle negative interactions? From dealing bad tempers to outbursts and emotional meltdowns, our customer-facing employees see the worst in people – sometimes daily. It’s a natural human reaction to take on some of the negative emotions we’re exposed to. For employees, that could lead to lashing out at customers, taking it out on co-workers, and general burnout. And many other issues can stem from employees just being unhappy at work. "The key is not to not have a reaction, but to remember how to control the reaction." -Adam Toporek How can we stop our agents from taking these interactions too personally? To stay focused, employees need to understand what’s actually happening in their brains when exposed to these emotions. They need to know how they can keep their emotions under control despite the negative emotions swirling aro

Chief Customer Success and Happiness officer Amy Downs of Lifesize outlines her strategic path to a 79-point increase in Net Promoter Score. Customer success and happiness: A mini case study Customer experience is gaining traction! But when we think about how the slightest increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a cause for celebration in most organizations, we realize there’s still a long way to go. Thankfully, we have inspiring leaders like today’s guest who have proven that success is within reach, even for those of us who’ve fallen way behind. With their NPS looming at -4 and customers already “screaming,” making necessary changes to the service model at Lifesize was creating even more tension. But as the Chief Customer Success and Happiness Officer at Lifesize, Amy Downs quickly turned these challenges into opportunities. While the company was on its head, she brought customer obsession into their culture, core values, functional processes, and communications. And now? Their NPS currently shines at 7

Adam shares tips and best practices for understanding and providing great customer service through a focus on internal customer service. Internal customer service matters. A lot. Be they co-workers, vendors or partners, others are depending on you to execute their own responsibilities. Do you know who your internal customers are? Have you ever considered the importance of delivering great customer service? Just because they are not buying your product or service doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice good customer service skills with internal customers. Poor internal service can breed frustration within your organization, and that frustration will ripple out to your external customers. "Good internal customer service is an important component of good external customer service, " says Adam Toporek. “Poor internal service is a poison to any organization!” If you want to provide consistently excellent customer service, then it’s important to turn some of your focus inward. Make sure those internal transaction

Adam and Jeannie share tips for outsourcing customer service without outsourcing your integrity and values. Outsourcing customer service Outsourcing has an ambiguous reputation, often being mentioned in negative context. But whether your company needs to scale quickly or has cost restrictions, sometimes outsourcing customer service just makes sense. How do you connect with an outsourcing partner that delivers the right experience to your customers? Can you make sure your customers are receiving the level of service and care you envision? Putting customer service in someone else’s hands is one thing, but making sure they are the right hands is another! With the tips and suggestions Adam and Jeannie are sharing today, you can find an outsourcing partner that works for you and your customers. Listen in! Related Content Customers That Stick® post, 5 Millennial Traits to Improve Customer Service 360Connext® post, Are you SURE you’re Hiring the Right person? Episode 168: Nate Brown, Service Center Engagemen

Adam and Jeannie share facts and stories to help you decide how and when to engage on social media with colleagues and customers. Social media with colleagues Are you Facebook friends with co-workers? What about clients, or your boss? Should you be? Some companies have rules against it, while others encourage or expect it. But in many cases, it’s left up to the individual to decide. So, what is your policy for social media with colleagues? Whether you’re trying to develop a policy for yourself or for your employees, there are many factors to consider. We wish there could be one simple, flat rule! But there isn't... and how you decide could impact the relationship either way. On one hand, engaging on social can help strengthen customer relationships and workplace culture. On the other hand, colleagues can use social media to get information to use against you. Then on the other hand, you don’t want to offend anyone. Wait, that’s too many hands! (See, I told you this could get confusing!) This subject is g

Jeannie shares quick tips for gathering intelligence to better understand your competitor's customer experience and how yours measures up. Have you evaluated your competitor’s customer experience? Customers are certainly judging your customer experience. But did you know they’re also judging the experience your competitors provide? Never assume your customers will always be satisfied with the experience you provide. You need to gather some competitive intel! So how do you know if your customer experience is keeping up with competitors? It’s easier than you think, and Jeannie is here to make it even easier for you with some tips you can use today. Not only will you find things your competitors are doing better, but you will also uncover hidden differentiators you can use to beef up your marketing. Ready to find some quick wins? Your customers WANT you to gather competitive intel. Listen in! Related Content 360Connext® post, Your Journey Map is Incomplete without Competitors Customers That Stick® post, H

In this special Valentine's Day edition, Adam and Jeannie share simple ways you can show your customers the love! Show customers some love! If you’re listening today, that must mean you love your customers. Where would you be without them!? A great experience may be baked into your processes, but how about going beyond the usual routine to show your customers the love? Today, Adam and Jeannie have some great tips for surprising customers with a little extra something to show your appreciation. Don’t underestimate the power of these little things you can do today! They can go a long way towards forging solid relationships, loyalty, and even brand advocacy. Related Content 360Connext® post, Why New Customer Rewards Stink For The Rest Of Us Customers That Stick® post, Infographic: What Your Customers Wish You Knew About Them Episode 070: Giving Thanks to Your Customers Episode 090: How Can You Show Customers Love? More to love: We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor messag

Adam and Jeannie interview Jacqueline Jasionowski about how improving customer experience at BMW is breaking the car-buying mold and differentiating the brand. Improving customer experience to stay on top BMW has a long record of success as “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” But even they recognize that we’re in a paradigm shift when just having a great product isn’t enough to stay on top. “…everybody sees that the customer experience landscape is the battleground for customer loyalty,” says today’s guest, Jacqueline Jasionowski. And she has played a huge role in helping BMW differentiate their brand by improving customer experience. Focused more on sales that customer experience, the car-buying experience is typically very stressful and time-consuming. By focusing on the customer experience and weaving it into their culture and training, BMW has climbed the ranks as customer-focused automakers. They have brought relationship-building experience strategies down to the store level where it makes the most impact

Today we discuss building culture that drives both revenue and a great working environment with author Bobby Albert, author of Principled Profits—Outward Success Is an Inside Job. About our guest Bobby Albert, who led a small, local family business to a nationally recognized leader in its industry, explains how it happened in Principled Profit—Outward Success Is an Inside Job. In this inaugural book, an in-demand speaker/consultant pinpoints specific principles that, in practice, can supercharge any enterprise. The book hits the shelves in 2017, but Bobby is here today to explain how he went from a humble start to good to great in his business - and how any leader can leverage the same principles and practices in his or her own organization. Connect with Bobby Twitter LinkedIn Facebook BobbyAlbert.com Is creating culture around customer delight really profitable? We talk a lot about what’s in it for the customer when we create experiences, but it is certainly important to raise the question: “What’s