Crack the Customer Code

Should you avoid all negativity in customer service training? Adam shares research data, case studies, and expert advice

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!

• 360Connext® post, How to Unlock Your Outstanding Service Culture for Good
• Customers That Stick® post, Communication: The Most Important Skill in Customer Service
• Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
• Episode 249: How Customer Service Training Goes Wrong
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We can help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. The Customer Experience Investigators™ at 360Connext specialize in helping companies across industries and around the globe. Developing and internalizing unique and scalable customer-focused missions has been crucial to their success.

Want to compete with the other 89% of companies staying afloat by providing better experiences? You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience while breaking down the silos that are holding you back. We offer evaluations, workshops, and roadmaps to keep your wheels firmly planted on the road to a customer-centric future. Join us on our mission To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™ today. Visit us at 360Connext.com.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie and Adam interview Nienka Bloem, Certified Customer Experience Professional and creator of 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 practices in Europe, Nienka shares her amazing story of implementing CX strategies to quickly transform an organization with a poor NPS.

More importantly, we learn the inspiration behind the Customer Experience Game, how it works, and how it has helped leaders worldwide develop their own CX aptitude.

Don’t miss this fun and inspiring interview, which happens to be our first officially international episode!

Interview Highlights

• How did Nienka fall into customer experience in the early days in Europe, and what was it like? [2:30]
• What is Nienka’s Customer Experience Game, and how does she use it? [8:20]
• Nienka outlines her 3 pillars of CX strategy, and how they relate to certain topics leaders need to learn more about. [10:15]
• Who are Nienka’s heroes symbolizing 2 ways of looking at customer experience, and the change process? (And which way should you choose?) [12:40]

Nienke Bloem MBA CCXP is often called the Customer Experience Guru. She is a keynote speaker and inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. Besides a public speaker, she is a trusted advisor for boards and guides organizations in their leadership journey. With her 20 years’ experience in strategic change management positions within telecom, Customer Experience, financial and IT businesses, she knows how large corporate organizations work.

She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and an Authorized Resource and Training Provider of the CXPA. She also founded the Customer Experience Game which is an engaging and fun way to experience CX.

Connect with Nienka

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• TheCustomerExperienceGame.com

• 360Connext® post, How to Start Improving CX in the Real World
• Customers That Stick® post, Turn Your Customer Experience Inside Out
• Episode 075: Can You Gamify Customer Experience?
• Episode 094: Joseph Michelli, Becoming Customer-Obsessed
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Are you ready to build a customer experience strategy on a solid foundation for the long term? We’re shattering the top 5 CX strategy myths in our latest evergreen webinar.

• How to avoid the 5 so-called “Customer Experience Strategies” that aren’t strategies at all
• What drives a winning customer experience strategy and examples of companies that “get it”
• How to create a foundation for a customer experience strategy that works for the long term

Join Jeannie at a time that works for you for some serious mythbusting and a head start on creating a customer experience strategy that works! 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie share tips for defining, finding and optimizing every moment of truth within your customer journey.

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? Listen in for tips you can use today!

• 360Connext® post, Challenges of Understanding the Customer Journey End-to-End
• Customers That Stick® post, Turn Your Customer Experience Inside Out
• Episode 163: When to Update Customer Journey Maps
• Episode 248: (Tip) 3 Moments of Truth
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message

Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie and Adam interview Kristina Quinones, head of customer experience at MeetEdgar, about amazing growth through a unique approach at customer service.

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 customer’s day” -Kristina Quiones

However,  it’s trickier to create a great service experience that scales. So MeetEdgar has established a culture where everyone is heard and included. This helps keep known issues out in the open, consequently creating opportunities to improve and innovate.

“We do want people on the team to step on each other’s toes…” -Kristina Quiones

So how can you create a customer service approach that not only solves issues, but makes customers’ days? Listen in to learn how MeetEdgar’s customer service approach makes amazing growth almost inevitable!

Interview highlights

• We hear “customer service is everyone’s job” a lot, so why is this not the case at MeetEdgar? [2:25]
• What about Kristina’s background has inspired her great passion for customer experience? [5:45]
• Kristina shares a common situation where everyone (even you!) can go above and beyond to make a customer’s day. [9:10]
• What cultural role does transparency play at MeetEdgar, and more importantly, how does that affect customer experience? [12:00]
• What’s one lesson any organization can learn from MeetEdgar’s approach at customer service? [16:10]

Kristina Quinones leads the Customer Experience team at MeetEdgar, a social media management tool that keeps your updates from going to waste. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and their three sons.

Her favorite thing about working at MeetEdgar: The level of ownership and autonomy every single team member is entrusted with. The team is designed with people who can get stuff done and work well with others. So Kristina is always 100% impressed with how well our team operates!

Connect with Kristina

• Twitter
• MeetEdgar.com

• 360Connext® post, 3 Ways to Add Magic to your Customer Service Training
• Customers That Stick® post, The Importance of Onboarding Employees
• Episode 176: (Tip) Hiring a Customer-Centric Employee
• Episode 249: How Customer Service Training Goes Wrong
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message

Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie and Adam discuss the pros and cons of Tesla’s new strategy for escalating customer service issues.

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 program like this? If so, then how would you know and how could you make it work?

“Sometimes serving one customer makes you serve 20 other ones badly…” -Adam Toporek

Adam and Jeannie have a lot to say about this, but they don’t agree on everything! In this short but powerful episode, they address the pros and cons of escalation, what messages it sends to customers and staff, and many other things to consider. You don’t want to miss this one!

• 360Connext® post, How to Unlock Your Outstanding Service Culture for Good
• Customers That Stick® post, Communication: The Most Important Skill in Customer Service
• Episode 133: Tesla and the Infrastructure of Innovation
• Episode 266: Chip Bell, Innovating Service
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We can help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. The Customer Experience Investigators™ at 360Connext specialize in helping companies across industries and around the globe. Developing and internalizing unique and scalable customer-focused missions has been crucial to their success.

Want to compete with the other 89% of companies staying afloat by providing better experiences? You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience while breaking down the silos that are holding you back. We offer evaluations, workshops, and roadmaps to keep your wheels firmly planted on the road to a customer-centric future. Join us on our mission To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™ today. Visit us at 360Connext.com.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie interview karmaCRM founder John-Paul Narowski about smarter ways to manage and nurture customer relationships.

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 Narowski

In this episode, JP helps us understand how to better approach CRM as a means to build and nurture relationships, to stay committed to the system, and to integrate it into a customer-focused culture.

Are you new to CRM, or just tired of investing in tools that don’t really help the way you expected? Listen in to learn how to make CRM work for you, once and for all!

Interview Highlights

• What inspired John-Paul to create karmaCRM? [2:40]
• How does John-Paul go about putting the “R” back in CRM, and what does that mean to him? [5:20]
• How can startups and entrepreneurs approach customer service when they’re not sure who their customers are? [10:15]
• What can leaders do to overcome lack of commitment to using CRM and related tools? [13:30]
• John-Paul sums up how CRM will evolve to better assist businesses and leaders in the future. [17:30]

John-Paul Narowski has been bootstrapping businesses since he was 16. His years of startup experience have made him into a full-stack developer, globalization junkie, and serial entrepreneur. Devoted to passionate entrepreneurship and growing businesses for the common good, JP founded karmaCRM, a simple web-based CRM built with small businesses in mind.

Connect with John-Paul

• Linkedin
• Twitter
• karmaCRM

• 360Connext® post, Which Comes First? Customer Experience or Sales?
• Customers That Stick® post, Interview: GetApp’s Top 25 Customer Service Apps
• Episode 237: Peter Friedman, Customer Service Messaging Apps
• Episode 246: Chase Clemons, Basecamp’s Customer Service Ethic
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Are you ready to build a customer experience strategy on a solid foundation for the long term? We’re shattering the top 5 CX strategy myths in our latest evergreen webinar.

• How to avoid the 5 so-called “Customer Experience Strategies” that aren’t strategies at all
• What drives a winning customer experience strategy and examples of companies that “get it”
• How to create a foundation for a customer experience strategy that works for the long term

Join Jeannie at a time that works for you for some serious mythbusting and a head start on creating a customer experience strategy that works! 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie announce exciting changes to our show inspired by feedback from our our fans, friends and listeners.

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!

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 us!

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (470)223-CODE
• Tweet to Jeannie Walters
• Tweet to Adam Toporek

Sponsor message

Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie and Adam discuss microchipping employees with RFID devices and how this tech may affect culture and the customer experience.

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!” -Jeannie Walters

What do you need to know about RFID technology as an employer, and what questions should you ask yourself before exploring the options that are available today? More importantly, what does an RFID-enabled workplace mean for the future?

Take off your tin foil hat for 15 minutes and listen in!

• 360Connext® post, Is Your Customer Experience Technology Helpful or Creepy?
• Customers That Stick® post, 6 Steps for Rolling Out New Technology to Frontline Staff
• Episode 067: Customer Security – It’s More Than Digital
• Episode 089: Will Companies Demand Your Phone Records?
• Three Square Market
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message

Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie shares 3 powerful questions to assess and improve employee engagement for better business outcomes.

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 can you do to find out how engaged your employees really are?

Correcting poor engagement can be a lot of work! However, there are some simple ways to find out if you have a problem and get clues on where to focus your attention first.

Today, Jeannie is sharing 3 simple questions you can ask employees to better understand their engagement level.  Engage your employees to connect with your company and customers on a higher level! Listen in to find out how, then start asking!

Related Content

• 360Connext® post, Are Your Employees Engaged to Tell You the Truth?
• Customers That Stick® post, An Interview with Kate Nasser: Better #PeopleSkills
• Episode 093: Why Employee Engagement Matters
• Episode 168: Nate Brown, Service Center Engagement
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message

Are you ready to build a customer experience strategy on a solid foundation for the long term? We’re shattering the top 5 CX strategy myths in our upcoming webinar.

• How to avoid the 5 so-called “Customer Experience Strategies” that aren’t strategies at all
• What drives a winning customer experience strategy and examples of companies that “get it”
• How to create a foundation for a customer experience strategy that works for the long term

Join Jeannie August 22nd at 11:00 am Central for some serious mythbusting, live Q&A, and a head start on creating a customer experience strategy that works! 

If you can't make it on August 22nd, don't worry! You'll miss the live Q&A, but you'll still have access to the recording 24 hours after the live presentation. 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie interview bestselling author Chip Bell to discover how the best brands are innovating service to create 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 create experiences that leave lasting impressions customers want to talk about.

And it all comes back to culture! It takes a creative culture to deliver value-unique experiences. Moreover, delivering value-unique experiences also creates a more valuable connection among employees.

“Empowerment doesn’t mean unlimited license. It means responsible freedom.” -Chip Bell

So how can you create a culture around adding emotional value to the service experience? And how can you begin innovating your service to create these value-unique experiences? Chip has some great tips and examples we can all relate to and learn from.

It was a great pleasure and privilege having Chip on the show, so listen in!

Interview Highlights

• Why is innovation crucial for customer service and customer experience, and why don’t most organizations understand this? [2:54]
• Chip explains how we lose our emotional connection with customers efforts to provide more consistent experiences. [9:25]
• Chip shares amazing examples of how Hotel Monaco wins by creating unique experiences vs. adding value. [11:15]
• How does creating value-unique experiences relate to workplace culture? [17:00]
• What can you do to start down the path of innovating service to create more unique experiences? [20:25]

Chip R. Bell is a renowned keynote speaker and author of several best-selling books including…

• Take Their Breath Away
• Managing Knock Your Socks off Service
• The 9½ Principles of Innovative Service, and
• Sprinkles: Creating Awesome Experiences through Innovative Service.

His newest book is the bestselling Kaleidoscope:  Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles released in February, 2017.

Dr. Bell has appeared live on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, CNN, ABC, CBS, NPR Marketplace and his work has been featured in Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Businessweek, Entrepreneur Magazine, CEO Magazine, Money Magazine, and Fast Company. 

Connect with Chip

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• ChipBell.com

• 360Connext® post, 3 Ways to Lead Your Team to Customer Experience Victory
• Customers That Stick® post, How Employee Empowerment Really Works
• Episode 246: Chase Clemons, Basecamp’s Customer Service Ethic
• Episode 242: Jason Forrest, The Power of Customer Certainty
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Are you ready to build a customer experience strategy on a solid foundation for the long term? We’re shattering the top 5 CX strategy myths in our upcoming webinar.

• How to avoid the 5 so-called “Customer Experience Strategies” that aren’t strategies at all
• What drives a winning customer experience strategy and examples of companies that “get it”
• How to create a foundation for a customer experience strategy that works for the long term

Join Jeannie August 22nd at 11:00 am Central for some serious mythbusting, live Q&A, and a head start on creating a customer experience strategy that works! 

If you can't make it on August 22nd, don't worry! You'll miss the live Q&A, but you'll still have access to the recording 24 hours after the live presentation. 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices