Crack The Customer Code

Adam and Jeannie discuss ways many companies fail to get ready for the holidays, and how you can start preventing customer service disasters today. How much time do you have to get ready for the holidays? Think about that for a moment... Count the days, then cut that number in half! You and your staff have parties, shopping, kids off from school, and many other things standing in your way. And the holiday season is famous for exposing hidden pitfalls and inadequacies in the customer experience.  If you have not thought about the holiday season, this is your wakeup call!  Things you can't control like bad weather, server overloads, and supply shortages can cause huge problems. Now's the time to prepare for the things you can control, including how you respond and react to those things you can't.  There's no way to be sure what the holiday season will mean for your business, but we have some tips to help you prepare for the unexpected. Listen in!  Related Content Customers That Stick® post, Infogr

Customer engagement thought leader Doug Sandler joins us to discuss highlights from his bestselling book, Nice Guys Finish First. About our guest Doug Sandler has over 30 years of business experience as an entrepreneur and leader. His book, Nice Guys Finish First is a #1 ranked Amazon Best Seller.  As a podcaster, Doug has interviewed Arianna Huffington from HuffPost, Dan Harris from Good Morning America, Ron Klain, White House Chief of Staff and dozens of celebs. He specializes in teaching others the "how-to's" of building relationships and strengthening connections. Doug is a nationally recognized speaker and writer.  His weekly posts reach hundreds of thousands of readers. Doug has been titled by a leading social media marketing company in the top 100 of Social Media Thought Influencers to follow. “You can only be a human being in business. You cannot be a sterile machine…” Connect with Doug Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Google+ Doug’s website Related Content Customers That Stick® infographic,

Today we’re sharing tips and best practices for keeping customer journey maps current and making them more useful. Just when you think your customer journey map is finished… Changes are happening in your organization, your products, or your customer’s expectations while you work on your customer journey map. Essentially, it's always out of date! A real, working customer journey map is never “finished.” So, when and how often should you update yours? This can depend on the size and structure of your organization, what you’re using it for, and if you’re even using it at all. The customer journey mapping process may be different for everyone, but it’s never easy. It takes lots of time and patience, and it can be quite painful. When the time comes to update, are you going to scrap all that hard work and start over? Protect that invest!  We have expert advice for not only when to update, but how to approach the process to create a customer journey map that drives results. Related Content Customers That Stick

Adam and Jeannie discuss leadership skills that drive customer experience success with international change advocate and author of Keep Stepping, Joy Marsden. About our guest Joy Marsden has over 20 years business experience in technical textile design, Marketing, Customer Service and Area Sales Management working with blue chip companies including Marks and Spencer, Mars, Next PLC and Avon Cosmetics.  Today as an influential change advocate, Joy works internationally using her uniquely designed Keep Stepping!® program, which focuses on key principles that must be mastered when going through challenge and change. She is an author of the book “Keep Stepping! Essential ways to lead yourself and others through challenge and change.” Joy works with leaders and their teams in both the public and private sector and some of her clients include, PepsiCo, Michelin, BBC, Aon, Chartered Institute for Personal Development, Police Superintendents’ Association, Oracle and National Institute of Health & Research. Episo

Has a customer ever left your employees shaking in fear? Today we discuss ways to diffuse customer threats and protect our brands and ourselves from the worst. Is your front-line prepared for customer threats? We’ve turned the tables a bit today! Instead of advocating for the customer, we’re talking about protecting our staff, and our brands from customer threats. A lot of time and energy goes into training customer-facing employees. But few leaders train their people specifically on how to respond when customers behave in a threatening manner. Sometimes they will only threaten your brand reputation, but if you’ve worked in retail like Adam, you know some customers will threaten bodily harm. What is your protocol for handling a customer who has gone from irate to downright scary? Where do you draw the line between customer service issues and personal safety issues? If you've never had to ask a customer to leave or file a police report, don’t be so sure it won’t or can’t happen in your industry. How you re

Today we interview author and customer experience expert Blake Morgan to discuss the future of customer experience and her new book, More is More. Excellent customer experience as a differentiator Over the past decade, there has been a huge emphasis on customer experience in the business world, and we’ve come a long way. But today’s guest says we still have a long way to go. “Very few companies execute perfectly on customer experience and it’s a hugely missed opportunity,” says Blake. So why are many companies still failing? From social customer care to the importance of creating a better employee experience, Blake shares highlights from her groundbreaking new book, More is More. It’s all about leveraging the many overlooked opportunities to differentiate your brand through excellent customer experiences. Where do many self-proclaimed “customer-centric” companies go wrong, and how can we prepare for the best possible customer experience in the future? This episode covers a lot of ground. Listen in! About

Adam and Jeannie discuss ways you can make noticeable improvements when there’s little or no budget for customer experience initiatives. No customer experience budget? We hear this from great leaders in large and small organizations who see the long-term value of investing in the experience. “Where do we get the resources? How can we convince other leaders? We have no budget!” Of course, the more money and resources you have to work with, the more options you have. But make no mistake: Money isn’t everything. In fact, expecting things to work out simply because a lot of money has been thrown at the issue is one of the biggest mistakes we’ve seen. Larger companies who aim to become customer experience leaders end up shooting themselves in the foot by assuming larger investments will yield greater returns. So whether you have a huge customer experience budget or no budget at all, we urge you to forget about the money for a moment and focus more on what really matters to your customers. Take the opportunity

Christoff Weihman, bestselling author and coordinator of the Excellerate Service 2016 conference, shares his secrets to 5-star service in the hospitality industry. About our guest Throughout his career, Christoff Weihman has served in various capacities-as a server, bartender, wine sales rep, catering sales manager, event planner, and banquet service manager. He has worked for Wolfgang Puck in Hollywood; Darden Restaurants, as well as other establishments in St. Louis, Los Angeles, and at the Hyatt in Guam and Nikko Hotel in Saipan. He has spent many years in Sales & Business Development, as well, including in the automotive industry as well as Staffing and Recruiting. Christoff believes that regardless of the type of restaurant or establishment, 5 Star Service should always be the goal. He is a life-long learner, an avid reader, and passionate about personal development. He writes a weekly blog about Customer Service entitled Soupfly which has readers in 108 countries.  He is currently working on his 2nd

Today we discuss employee incentives and how they can actually work against our long-term goals. Employee incentives gone rogue! It’s very common for companies to incentivize goals like sales quotas, new customer acquisition, and more. And while it’s great to reward employees for reaching these goals, the way we do it can create huge problems. Take Wells Fargo, who is facing multiple lawsuits due to the creation of millions of fake accounts resulting from years of aggressive acquisition quotas. While this is an extreme case, the problems created by your incentive program can go unnoticed until there’s a huge problem. The biggest problems we hear of stem from focusing on metrics rather than experience outcomes. For instance, your report may show a significantly reduced call time, but it will not tell you how many calls were hastily and poorly executed. It won't say how many customer service issues were ignored to keep those calls short. Will your employees turn against each other to reach your new sales go

Adam and Jeannie discuss Wow Marketing and the power of adding value for customers with JD Dwyer, founder of The Institute of Wow. About our guest John Dwyer (known as “JD” to most) is an Australian entrepreneur, marketing and business coach. He’s the founder of The Institute of Wow, company that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners attract more customers and boost sales through the Wow factor. The list of professionals that have collaborated with JD includes popular comedian and actor Jerry Seinfeld, who JD convinced to be a spokesman for a Small Australian bank – a campaign that resulted in the bank tripling its home loan market share in just 24 months. Connect with John Twitter LinkedIn Facebook JD’s website, The Institute of Wow Related Content:  Customers That Stick® Post, Sometimes WOW Only Takes 5 Seconds 360Connext® post, LOVE: Microinteraction of the Month Episode 007: Stan Phelps, Founder of 9 Inch Marketing Sponsor message: EXCELLERATE SERVICE 2016 promises to be an in

In today’s short but sweet episode, we discuss the importance of considering Baby Boomers when designing products and improving experiences. Are you turning your back on the world's third largest demographic? We’ve talked a lot about Millennials and Generation Z, but the Baby Boomers are a HUGE market demographic, and they have more spending power than anyone! So you’re missing out big time if you’re not paying attention to what they need. Designing experiences with Baby Boomers in mind can make the experience easy for everyone. This can mean huge opportunities for business across many industries, including startups. What about your customers? Can you target Millennials while making the experience better for all generations and vice-versa? Smart companies are doing just that. Listen in for examples and fun anecdotes from our hosts. Related Content 360Connext® post, Obsessing over CX for Millennials Ruins It for Everyone! Customers That Stick® post, 5 Millennial Traits to Improve Customer Service Epi

Adam and Jeannie interview bestselling author and Forbes columnist Adrian Swinscoe and discuss highlights from his latest book, How to Wow: 68 Effortless Ways to Make Every Customer Experience Amazing. About our guest Adrian Swinscoe is a customer experience consultant and advisor, and has been growing and helping develop customer-focused large and small businesses for 20 years. He has previously worked with Shell, FT and The Economist Group and has advised and consulted to numerous large and smaller businesses helping them engage with their customers, build their customer retention and improve their service and customer experience. Adrian is a huge fan of organizations that do great things for their customers and their people. He enjoys using research, stories and human insights to help create change and better results for his clients. Overall, he's a lover of simplicity and an advocate of the human touch with some really useful technology thrown in. Adrian has an MBA from Cass Business School, City Unive

Some of the ways we approach great new customer service technology often create unnecessary rifts in the customer experience. What should you know before you upgrade? New customer service technology wins and fails What happens when we adopt great new customer service technology, but the front-line staff isn’t trained for it? We’ve all been in that situation where a customer service rep has to tell us, “Uh, this is new. Gimme a minute.” Before you blame the employee, there are several reasons this can happen. Among them, these are the most prevalent: The staff is resistant to change. The staff did not receive adequate training or instructions. The new technology isn’t set up properly. Whatever the reason, unnecessary frustration and wasted time for customers is the real problem. How do the best companies get ahead of this? If you’re rolling out new customer service technology for your organization, your next step can be critical to your customer experience. Listen in and learn from some of our best an

Today we’re uncovering what every small business owner needs to know about online reviews with Daniel Lemin, reputation expert and author of Manipurated. About our guest Daniel Lemin is a respected authority on the reputation industry. An early Google hire, Lemin was one of the first pioneers to realize the importance, impact, and power of online ratings and reviews on businesses and the ongoing struggle business owners have with their online reputations. Daniel is the head of consulting for Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert consulting team, and he’s a regular contributor to the Convince & Convert marketing blog, rated the number-one content-marketing blog in the world. Connect with Daniel Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Slideshare Daniel’s Book: Manipurated Related Content:  360Connext® post, 3 Ways to Survive Dangerously Casual Customer Reviews Episode 096: Jay Baer, Hug Your Haters Episode 036: Goodsnitch, Jennifer Maldonado, and Customer Experience Gaps Sponsor message: EXCELLERATE SERVICE 2016

Adam and Jeannie discuss the growing trend of integrating customer experiences with experiences people are already having in their daily lives. On-the-spot customer experiences For the busy consumer, making a purchase is often hinged on convenience. People want things when and where they need them! Potential customers may not have time to add another experience to their daily regimen. So what about bringing the experience to them? Consider morning commuters who may be in a rush but want a cup of coffee or a snacks for a meeting. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has developed the Columbus Circle subway to include an underground market, Called TurnStyle, that brings customers what they need where and when they need it, without having to take much time out. The success of such an initiative is about much more than speed and convenience. In this environment, the experience needs to be simplified to save time and space, and that could mean eliminating certain choices. And what about those

Bestselling author and global speaker Phil Gerbyshak shares his energy and passion for creating powerful social connections with customers. About our guest Phil Gerbyshak believes in the power of social selling and connection. With a unique speaking style—part sales expert, part entertainer—Phil keeps his audiences awake and engaged while providing actionable steps to bring in more leads, more referrals, and more business. If he’s not traveling, speaking, or making new connections, Phil writes. He’s published 5 books, including 10 Ways to Make It Great and #TwitterWorks, more than 2,500 articles, and been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Financial Times, and more. Connect with Phil Twitter LinkedIn Facebook YouTube PhilGerbyshak.com Related Content:  Customers That Stick® Post, The Future of the Social Purpose Corporation (Video) 360Connext® post, 5 Ways Everyone Wins with Proactive Social Media Engagement Episode 140: Bryan Kramer, The Art of Shareology Episode 019: Writing

Must customer service and technology fail at the same time? Today we discuss how to prepare for tech failures and prevent them from creating nightmares for customers. When customer service and technology fail To invest, or not to invest? It's a tough question, but not always the most important one. Enormous breakdowns in customer service can occur whether the latest and greatest technology fits your budget or not. Where will you be when your hobbled old tech finally takes a dive? Where will your staff be when your shiny new system stops responding to customers in distress? And where will your customers end up when your app or website can’t help them through their journey? These are all very serious concerns that seem to surface when it’s too late. Time and time again, we see customers in peril when technology is outdated, being upgraded, or simply just not working. Consider the madness that ensued when 2,000 Delta flights were recently grounded due to an overloaded system. Don't question if, but when your

Adam and Jeannie discuss customer-centric workforce development with author, speaker, and Workforce Development Group president and founder, Randi Busse. About our guest Randi Busse (Bus-ee) is a Customer Service Speaker, Trainer and Author of "Turning Rants Into Raves: Turn Your Customers On Before They Turn On YOU!" She is the President of Workforce Development Group, Inc., a training and development organization that specializes in improving the customer experience, increasing customer retention, maximizing revenue and creating a culture of ownership among employees. Randi is a dynamic speaker with the ability to make audiences listen, nod, laugh … and connect the dots between their own experiences as a customer and how their behaviors and the way their employees treat customers affects their bottom line. Connect with Randi Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Google+ Related Content:  Customers That Stick® Post, Turning a Customer Service Culture 360Connext® post, Common Mistakes in Organizational Cultu

Direct messaging and chat are growing as part of social customer service. Omnichannel may soon mean much more than you thought! Are you ready? Customers expect more from social customer service Social platforms have been growing and evolving as a means for customers to provide feedback and resolve issues. We often think of these as public channels, but customers are discovering new rules and features that allow them to contact you directly via Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and more. As this trend continues to grow, it’s becoming a whole new responsibility. Do you have the time or resources to respond fast enough? Is your staff prepared to handle one-on-one chats? You may not be offering live chat on your website, but your customers may still be expecting it on Twitter! Don’t start scrambling for ways to turn off these features just yet. How you handle omnichannel customer service can have a huge impact on satisfaction and loyalty, good or bad, and private channels are no exception. Listen in as Adam and Jea

Adam and Jeannie discuss the overlap of sales and customer experience with author and sales coach, Casey Carpenter. About our guest An introverted, shy wallflower turned dynamic business-builder, Casey knows this: Anyone can improve her sales skills with the right training and the right mentor. Casey founded The Sales Breakthrough Coach for organizations that want to exponentially improve their sales, communication and leadership skills, and close more deals. She designed and delivered customized online learning content for the Productive Environment Institute, and recently led sales and leadership- boosting workshops for Believe, Inspire, Grow, Women in Health Management, and the Association of Image Consultants International. Casey served as a sales expert panelist at Montclair State University’s Women Entrepreneurs Week. She recently joined the Forbes Coaches Council, an invitation-only community for leading business coaches. She is also the author of the brand new book, “Introverts in Sales: Turn Your