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 academic research and psychology play a critical role in delivering great customer experiences, and how to connect the two. He drills down to the root causes of the general lack of real understanding companies have about their real customers.

“The only way to build customer loyalty is through customers’ memories.” -Colin Shaw

It’s not just about creating great experiences, but about creating good memories. You can deliver an outstanding customer experience, and yet still be remembered for the one low point in the journey. What do you want to be remembered for?

“We go to the bank and they put pens on chains, which says, ‘We don’t trust you.” -Colin Shaw

How can you use psychology and research to create memories that customers will want to return to? How can you transcend the common pleaters of customer experience understanding today? In this episode, we cover this and much more than we can list here. Listen in!

Highlights from the interview:

• What inspired The Intuitive Customer, and why is now the perfect time to read it? [4:15]
• Why is academic research so important to customer experience practitioners? [6:50]
• Colin explains how lack of understanding manifests itself as poor customer experiences. [9:15]
• How can telecom companies, for example, better connect emotionally with customers? [11:10]
• How can you leverage customers’ memories to create customer loyalty? [13:30]
• What’s the single biggest thing Colin has learned in the past 10 years? [18:20]
• Why are small, seemingly trivial customer touchpoints, or microinteractions, so important? [21:10]

About our guest:

Colin Shaw has been recognized, by others, as a Thought Leader in Customer Experience. LinkedIn bestowed him the accolade of being one of the ‘World's Top 150 Business Influencers’.  As a result, Colin now over 242,000 followers on LinkedIn. Brand Quarterly readers also voted him one of the 'top 50 Marketing Thought Leaders Over 50' for the last two years in a row.  Colin has written six bestselling books on Customer Experience. He has made many appearances on TV and radio including CNN, BBC and NPR. He is Founder & CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world's leading Customer Experience companies.

Connect with Colin

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Beyond Philosophy
• Colin’s books

Related Content

• 360Connext® post, How to Drive Business Results With The Peak-End Rule
• Customers That Stick® post, The Peak-End Rule and Customer Experience
• Episode 054: Marilyn Suttle, Co-Author of Who’s Your Gladys
• Episode 177: The ROI of Customer Experience
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Develop your customer experience mission

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.

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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) Hiring a Customer-Centric Employee
• Episode 110: Mike Ganino, Guest Experience Expert
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Give your team the customer service training they deserve

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.

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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 Ways to Mystery Shop Your B2B Experience
• Episode 167: Signs You’re Losing a Customer
• Episode 099: B2C vs. B2B Customer Experience
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Give your team the customer service training they deserve

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.

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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 share some great examples of customer service tech gone wrong, and what could have been done to make it right from the start. What new tech are you implementing in your business? We’re here to help you look before you leap. Listen in!

Related Content

• 360Connext® post, Why Customer Service Technology Can’t Replace Humans
• Customers That Stick® post, Self Service Should Never Mean Solo Service
• Episode 153: Training for New Customer Service Technology
• Episode 174: Robert Scoble, Augmented Reality and the Fourth Transformation
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Give your team the customer service training they deserve

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 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 your customers? Jeannie is serving up some answers to help you keep these parts of the experience in perspective, and some great tips you can use today!

Sponsor Message: Free Webinar March 21st Align your brand promises with customer perceptions and the true experience delivered.   Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We will help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. Jeannie Walters and the 360Connext team help companies across industries and around the globe develop unique and scalable customer-focused missions. And now they're offering the same set of actions to their community for free!   You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience, and a way to break down the silos that are in your way. Develop a mission around consistently delivering excellent experiences, and make your employees proud to be on board. Visit CXWebinar.com to sign up for free. Related content

• 360Connext® post and video, User Experience and Customer Experience: What’s the Difference?
• Customers That Stick® post, Turn Your Customer Experience Inside Out
• Episode 120: Jim Kalbach, Experience Mapping Expert
• Episode 025: Customer Journey Maps, Justin Zacks, and Amazon 2-Hour Delivery

 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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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 marketing skill.” – Andy Crestodina

Customer-focused innovation and tech

Technology is taking over a lot of our tasks in business, but make no mistake- successful innovation is driven by customers’ needs. From artificial intelligence to the user experience, we’ve interviewed some of the best names in understanding what customers really need from tech, and what they’ll want next. Where does your tech intersect with customer service, and how does it affect the overall customer experience?

“It's coming! …you can wait, or you can get in now and do it at a comfortable pace…” – Robert Scoble

Culture, team-building and change

Your customers keep changing, so to stay (or become) successful, your organization must change along with them. But how do you know what to change, and when? How can you facilitate change without turning your culture upside-down, alienating customers, and succumbing to pushback from employees? We’ve interviewed leading change experts, as well as customer service and customer experience revolutionaries, to help you take a smarter approach to customer-focused change. These guests have led some of the most successful teams in the world into change initiatives that get measurable results. Take advantage of their success stories and time-tested processes!

“…the order of priority: Help your customer; Help your co-worker; Do your job.” -Amy Downs

Thank you!

We’d like to thank all our guests for making Crack the Customer Code a success! We’re sad we couldn’t feature more of our favorites, but that would be an immense download! They have all brought us unforgettable insights and immeasurable value. 

And many, many thanks to our listeners, for sticking with us through our own changes, offering your great comments, support and suggestions. Let us know who you’d like us to interview, and what you’d like to learn about next!

Sponsor Message: Free Webinar March 21st Align your brand promises with customer perceptions and the true experience delivered.   Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We will help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. Jeannie Walters and the 360Connext team help companies across industries and around the globe develop unique and scalable customer-focused missions. And now they're offering the same set of actions to their community for free!   You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience, and a way to break down the silos that are in your way. Develop a mission around consistently delivering excellent experiences, and make your employees proud to be on board. Visit CXWebinar.com to sign up for free. Featured episodes Customer-focused content

• 001: Apple Store Lady, Jackie Huba, and Heathrow Airport
• 140: Bryan Kramer, The Art of Shareology
• 027: Customer Experience Fragmentation, Ann Handley, and #1 Cochran Automotive
• 019: Writing for Machines, Andy Crestodina, and Personalized Robots
• 023: Creating Community, Mark Schaefer, and Keurig K-Cups

Innovation and tech

• 174: Robert Scoble, Augmented Reality and the Fourth Transformation
• 116: Terry Brock, Growing Your Business with Tech
• 032: Cable Customer Service and Luis Serpa

Team-building and change

• 193: Amy Downs, Customer Success
• 144: Eddie Turner, Facilitating Change
• 180: John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution

 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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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 with co-author Stan Phelps, Graeme Newell researched more than 250 companies that started with a passion that ripples out to customers.

“Sure, you make great stuff, but so do 9 other people. I want to see what you stand for.” -@gnewell"

In this interview, we discuss highlights from Red Goldfish, along with some of the best ways to find a greater social purpose and see it through. Graeme share some inspiring examples of companies that execute this beautifully while building profitability!

Graeme covers the many benefits of being a company that wants to make a positive impact in the world. What’s your greater purpose, and how can you see it through in ways that make others proud to connect with your brand? Listen to this fascinating interview with Graeme Newell to find out!

Highlights from the interview:

• What is social entrepreneurship? [3:30]
• Eliminating some of the risks to taking a stronger stance on social issues  [5:30]
• How is social entrepreneurship profitable? [7:00]
• Are traditional charities in on this, and how is it affecting them? [8:30]
• The power of expressing company values through storytelling [12:30]
• What are the common threads among companies that are successful with social purpose? [14:40]
• Want to get started today? Graeme has some recommendations for you! [16:50]

About our guest:

Graeme Newell is President of 602 Communications, a marketing research and consulting firm that specializes in emotional connection. Graeme and his team of emotional attachment experts show companies how to change complacent customers into passionate groupies.

Graeme has delivered more than 400 speeches at events in 25 countries around the world. He is known as the example king.  His presentations are loaded with cutting-edge techniques used by the world’s most passionate brands. He has compiled an extensive emotional connection video library with more than 50,000 examples. He uses this library to teach leaders how to build deep lasting friendships with their customers.

Graeme Newell has done speaking, research and consulting for corporations across the globe, including: GE, Disney, Sony, CBS, Madison Square Garden, Comcast, and Universal Studios.

Graeme lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Annette.

Connect with Graeme

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Related Content

• Episode 106: J V Crum, Social Consciousness in Business
• Episode 118: David Williams, Make-A-Wish
• and Episode 083: Cause Marketing Done Well
• Graeme Newell's book, Red Goldfish
• PurpleGoldfish.com

Sponsor message:

Free Webinar March 21st

Align your brand promises with customer perceptions and the true experience delivered.

Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We will help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. Jeannie Walters and the 360Connext team help companies across industries and around the globe develop unique and scalable customer-focused missions. And now they're offering the same set of actions to their community for free!

You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience, and a way to break down the silos that are in your way. Develop a mission around consistently delivering excellent experiences, and make your employees proud to be on board. Visit CXWebinar.com to sign up for free.

 

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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

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 To Get Real
• Customers That Stick® post, Turn Your Customer Experience Inside Out
• Episode Episode 18: Brand Personas, Rod Brooks, and Small Moments
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Give your team the customer service training they deserve

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

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 in!

Related Content

• 360Connext® post, Customer Personas Need To Get Real
• Customers That Stick® post, Turn Your Customer Experience Inside Out
• Episode Episode 18: Brand Personas, Rod Brooks, and Small Moments
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Give your team the customer service training they deserve

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 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 feel is missing, and that will actually lead to those innovative ideas.”

Today we’re discussing some great ways to bring customers into the innovation process, and to zero in on the changes they need the most. Your next innovation may not make a big splash in the media, but putting customers in the driver’s seat will bring amazing value.

Episode highlights

• What is co-creation? Jeannie and Adam explain. [1:00]
• When should we bring customers into the innovation process? [4:15]
• Warning: Innovation is a double-edged sword. [6:00]
• Real-life customer-driven innovations: Small changes that made a huge impact [7:20]
• Keys to experience-driven innovation [12:20]

Related Content

• 360Connext® post, How to Make Customer Experience Magic with Co-Creation Sessions (part 1)
• Customers That Stick® post, Innovation Is No Longer Optional
• Episode 101: How the Innovation Process Fails Us
• Episode 072: Matt Phillips, Innovation Expert
• We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts

Sponsor message:

Give your team the customer service training they deserve

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