Crack the Customer Code

Adam shares tips for keeping your customer experience consistent with third parties or subcontractors.

Consistency is a key element to customer experiences that drive loyalty, but that can be tough when dealing with third parties. What happens when we hand the experience over to subcontractors, essentially giving up control? Does that mean we will lose control?

The incident with United Airlines, which recently went viral, is a great example of what can happen when a company loses control of the experience. And while your customers may not be at any risk of injury, with the experience in the wrong hands, your brand may still face an emergency! 

As more and more companies bring in temps, subcontractors and freelancers, the risk is very real. Are you using third parties to deliver experiences to your customers? Chances are, you will have to at some point.

Will you hand the experience over with confidence, or will you lose control of it? Adam’s here to help you plan ahead, make better choices, and avoid disasters. Listen in for tips you can use today!

• 360Connext® post, 4 Ways to Change Organizational Perspective on Customer Experience
• Customers That Stick® post, Who Owns the Customer Experience?
• Episode 191: (Tip) Outsourcing Customer Service
• 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

Adam and Jeannie clear the hype and buzzwords to really find out who drives customer experience in your organization, and how.

Chief Customer Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Customer Success Officer, Chief of Customer Service…The list of possible high-level customer experience titles is as long as your imagination. But what do these titles really mean in your organization and who drives customer experience in your organization?

“The only way to drive customer experience is for people to step up and drive it themselves.” -@adamtoporek

Too often, companies create these customer experience roles with the best of intentions, but they end up being focused more on metrics. And while data does help determine where changes are needed, a truly customer-focused organization needs someone who can turn that insight into action.

“It’s not going to work unless it’s part of the DNA, part of the #culture…” - @jeanniecw

So, who is in charge of customer experience in your company? Are they simply using data to pinpoint your shortcomings, or are they driving actual change? However you name that role is up to you, but make sure they are prepared to help bake customer-centric practices into the DNA of your organization.

• 360Connext® post, 4 Ways to Change Organizational Perspective on Customer Experience
• Customers That Stick® post, Who Owns the Customer Experience?
• Episode 206: (Tip) The Role of the CX Evangelist
• Episode 087: The Next Generation of Customer Experience Leaders
• 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

Adam and Jeannie share simple but effective tips for calculating customer experience ROI.

Calculating the return on any investment can be challenging. And when it comes to the ROI of customer experience, many leaders don’t know where to start. It’s not easy to put a numeric value on the intangible results of a customer experience initiative, but it is possible!

 “If you churn, your profits burn!” -Adam Toporek

How do you know if your investment is paying off- for your organization and your customers? There are a few simple metrics you can use to not only help calculate the ROI of customer experience, but also figure out where to invest next.

“Your best customers tell others, who become your next best customers.” -Jeannie Walters

Are you getting a return on your customer experience investment? Adam and Jeannie face this tough question often, and they’ve got some tips you can use today. Listen in!

• 360Connext® post, Customer Experience ROI: Why Not Investing can Sabotage Your Success
• Customers That Stick® post, 3 Areas to Focus your Customer Experience in 2017
• Episode 177: The ROI of Customer Experience
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Jeannie is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) who has held highly engaging Customer Experience Mission workshops for larger audiences, and customized ones for clients with outstanding results. Sign up to learn how to start your own Customer Experience Mission for free!

• Make your mission statement meaningful both to customers and employees
• Ensure customer-facing employees meet and exceed expectations
• Turn ordinary processes into a conduit for your mission
• Steps for creating a mission your team will be proud to get behind

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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

Jeannie shares tips for innovating when and how it’s needed the most, despite what the competition is doing.

Competition is fierce! So it’s easy to think it’s necessary gauge customer experience against that of the big disruptors like Zappos and Netflix. Too often, companies focus on making a big splash with their next innovation, without digging in to see what that actually means for their customers.

"Are envy and rationalization about the darlings of CX working against you?" -Jeannie Walters

Innovating take a lot of hard work and resources, so it’s important to keep your customers in perspective. Are you innovating out of necessity, or envy? Before you say you need to be the Zappos of banking or the Netflix of nursing, Jeannie has three challenges for you! Listen in for tips you can use today.

• 360Connext® post, 3 Ways to Let Customers Guide Your Greatest Innovation
• Customers That Stick® post, Innovation Is No Longer Optional
• Episode 133: Tesla and the Infrastructure of Innovation
• Episode 101: How the Innovation Process Fails Us
• 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

Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask You Answer, shares powerful, proven ways to build trust and increase sales through content.

You want to increase sales, but you don’t have unlimited funds for advertising… What can you do?

Believe it or not, this may put you at an advantage. Today’s guest, Marcus Sheridan, isn’t just a sales expert. He is a “Sales Lion!” And he’s here to tell you how content marketing can not only save your business, but push it towards exponential growth.

“We can either make the rules…or we can watch our competitors make the rules…” -Marcus Sheridan

Maybe you don’t know the first thing about content marketing, or maybe your strategy isn’t getting the results you want. Don’t fret! Marcus started from scratch as a last effort to save his business after the market collapse of 2008, and he’s seen phenomenal growth ever since.

Today, we cover how to get started with content marketing, how to determine what customers need the most, and how to marry this up with long-standing sales techniques. This episode covers so much ground, so get ready to build trust like never before.

“When all is said and done, the only thing that really matters is trust.” -Marcus Sheridan

You’re going to have things to do after this episode, so sharpen your pencils and listen in!

Highlights from the interview:

• Marcus explains how the philosophy of “They Ask, You Answer” saved his business. [2:50]
• Why is trust so important in sales and marketing, and how can content build that trust? [7:15]
• If 70% of buying decisions are made before customers meet us, how can we get through the vetting process? [10:40]
• What is the “ostrich marketing strategy,” and why is it so effective? [15:00]
• How can we “disarm” customers, or get them to let their guard down and be receptive to communication? [16:40]
• Marcus shares best practices around sharing prices (or not) on company websites. [24:00]

Called a “web marketing guru” by the New York Times, the Story of how Marcus Sheridan was able to save his swimming pool company, River Pools, from the economic crash of 2008 has been featured in multiple books, publications, and stories around the world—and is also the inspiration for his newest book, “They Ask, You Answer,” which was dubbed the #1 marketing book to read in 2017 by Mashable.

Today, Sheridan has become a highly sought after global speaker and consultant in the digital sales and marketing space, working with hundreds of business and brands alike to become the most trusted voice of their industry while navigating the ultra-fast rate of change occurring within consumers and buyers today.

Connect with Marcus

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Website
• Email: [email protected]

• 360Connext® post, No Longer a Buzzword: Customers Redefine Transparency
• Episode 205: Colin Shaw, The Intuitive Customer
• Episode 104: Pat Helmers, Sales Babble Podcast
• 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 share tips for educating customers to increase customer success and reduce support issues.

Have you ever been really excited to try a new product or service, then realized it’s way more complicated than you expected? (For those of us working in the digital world, that can be a daily conundrum!)

No matter how useful and robust your product or service is, customers are not likely to make the next purchase, upgrade or renewal if they find it confusing. And while FAQ’s and help desks are useful, they typically fall short when customers need step-by-step guidance.

“Sometimes the best way to learn is through show and tell.” -Jeannie Walters

The best companies understand how and when help is needed the most, and offer it proactively to keep customers active and confident.  It’s all about using the right medium at the right time to keep customers on the path to success.

Don’t let your content stop at marketing.” - Adam Toporek

Do your customers have the guidance they need to use your product with confidence? Don’t leave it up to them to search for answers. They may just find an exit on their way instead.

Adam and Jeannie are here to help you decide the best way to retain your customers while reducing your support load through product education. Listen in for tips you can use today!

• 360Connext® post, Challenges of Improving the SaaS Experience
• Episode 139: The Role of Content in Customer Service
• Episode 209: (Tip) Do You Have the Resources for Service?
• 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

Adam shares tips to make sure you have adequate resources for service that’s consistently great.

We know what kind of service experience we want to deliver, but sometimes don’t consider the resources needed to make it happen. And it’s not just about making sure we can deliver great service today, but about being prepared with the resources we’ll need tomorrow.

“…all great customer service begins with having the adequate resources in place.” - Adam Toporek

Are you ready to consistently deliver a great service experience? Listen in for tips you can use today!

• 360Connext® post, Free Customer Experience Resources
• Customers That Stick® post, Great Customer Service Begins With Adequate Resources
• Episode 085: Proactive Customer Service and Worst-Case Preparation
• Episode 053: Preparing for Worst Case Customer Scenarios
• 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

Adam and Jeannie share unconventional but powerful ways to predict customer behavior.

We often look to past behavior to predict customer behavior for the future. However, we often have little past behavior to build from. Can we predict the behavior of new or future customers? The short answer is yes…

“Past behavior is no indication of future behavior…or, is it?”- Adam Toporek

One way to do this is with predictive analytics. But unless you’re a huge company, predictive analytics is not yet economically feasible. And while it can be valuable, demographic data is not sufficient for making truly informed decisions when creating future experiences.

How can we know how customers will behave in the journey we’re putting in front of them if we don’t have enough data? You have more useful data than you think, so why not start using it proactively?

“Customers more often drift away silently than storm out…”-Jeannie Walters

No matter what little data and insights you already have, there are ways you can take them to the next level. Today, we’re discussing great ways to predict customer behavior with little or no history and without expensive software. Stop relying on demographics as your only option.

Adam and Jeannie have some tips you can use today, and examples of great companies who have put them to work. Listen in!

• 360Connext® post, 5 Leadership Biases that Hinder Success in Business
• Customers That Stick® post, When Does Your Customer Experience Start?
• Episode 043: When Is it Okay to Hack Customer Behavior?
• Episode 119: CXPA Live, Predictive Analytics
• 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

Adam and Jeannie share tips and best practices for when you need to turn away customers for the greater good.

Maybe there was a time you really should have! When you’re over capacity or getting dangerously close, the obvious reaction is to think about scaling up and hiring more people. However, these things can take time. So what do you do in the meantime?

This is something most of us don’t want to think about, but sometimes it’s just necessary to turn away customers. We know it hurts, but the fact of the matter is this:

Your customers shouldn’t have to suffer from your own growing pains!

Don’t sacrifice the quality of your current customers’ experience just to make another sale, because it’s not worth it in the long run. Don’t bring in new customers at a time when you can’t give them as much attention as they deserve.

So, how can you turn away customers without spoiling potential relationships or making your company look bad? Adam and Jeannie have some tips you can use today!

• 360Connext® post, Infographic: Are You Still There for the Customer?
• Customers That Stick® post, 6 Ways to Keep The Sucky Service Snowball from Rolling Downhill
• Episode 088: Richard Shapiro, The Endangered Customer
• Episode 148: Randi Busse, Workforce Development
• We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

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 shares expert tips for becoming a CX evangelist or hiring the right person to fill this role in your organization.

Customer experience roles are evolving and expanding like never before. Leaders know customer experience is important, but not always top-of-mind for everyone.  So many struggle to internalize customer insights, get buy-in from multiple departments, and educate those teams.

Whether it’s a partial role or a dedicated one, an effective CX evangelist can blur the lines between silos and help unify your organization to work for the customer. But what is needed most from this role, and how can you go about finding the right person for the job?

“Aim to make all your teams promoters of customer experience.” -Jeannie Walters

Today, Jeannie is sharing expert advice to help you determine what traits are needed most, and what to expect from a CX evangelist- even if that happens to be you. Don’t wait to fill the title, because your customers are counting on you. Listen in for tips you can use today!

• 360Connext® post, Why Enlightened Leadership Is Key to Customer Experience
• Customers That Stick® post, Turning a Customer Service Culture
• Episode 176: (Tip) Hiring a Customer-Centric Employee
• Episode 087: The Next Generation of Customer Experience Leaders
• 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