Crack the Customer Code

Why is it so hard to be prepared for the service failures that every organization experiences from time to time? Today we explore proactive customer service and how to be ready when things blow up.

No matter how great your customer service team is or how thoroughly you’ve mapped and improved the customer journey, something will go wrong. Are you prepared for the situation that turns it all upside-down?

You need to consider two things:

Adam and Jeannie share some great stories about customer service gone awry and how some brands were not prepared.

Mistakes will happen. Are you prepared for the worst? A great recovery can actually help strengthen customer loyalty. So the next time something goes wrong, will customers rave about your stellar response or will they publicly hate on your brand? 

This episode explores great ways to prepare for and recover from those moments. Listen in to turn those mistakes into opportunities to show your dedication to creating outstanding experiences.

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 develop and internalize unique and scalable customer-focused missions. 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

You only have one chance to make a first impression with a potential customer or client. Sylvie Di Giusto is an expert on personal branding and making great impressions that last.

The average person makes about 3,000 impressions per day. How is that possible!?

Our guest Sylvie Di Giusto explains the many ways we can make an impression when we don't even know it's happening. Are you ready for this? What can you do to turn those fleeting impressions into advantageous connections?

Sylvie explains that 11 crucial judgments are made in about 7 seconds when you make a first impression. What's the one thing people remember about you? What will they remember about your organization? Sadly, they are much more likely to remember the things you don't want them to.

And you don't just need to make a first impression that is good, you must make one that also stands out.

Sylvie says, "You never know who you're going to meet, or who you're going to be next to..." So how can leaders like you create an image that's ready for first impressions at personal, team, and organizational levels? Sylvie shares some great tips with our listeners.

Sylvie di Giusto helps individuals and organizations to explore how people make up their minds very quickly about them, their leadership potential, or their company, and either open the door or slam it shut.

Twenty years of corporate experience and her ability to empower people to influence the success of their own careers has led to her launching Executive Image Consulting, based in New York City. It’s where she uses her extensive corporate expertise as a professional speaker, corporate trainer and image consultant for professionals, politicians and companies who place great importance in themselves and their powerful appearance.

Sylvie is Austrian by birth, French in her heart, Italian in her kitchen, German with her work ethic and American by choice.

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.

 Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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

Cause marketing is a broad, nuanced topic. But when it’s done well, it can create a rewarding experience for customers and forge great relationships with your brand.

Adam and Jeannie share some great examples of companies that are raising awareness for and donating to nonprofit cause on behalf of their customers.  From car dealerships to online merchants, companies across industries are leveraging the power of cause marketing.

But cause marketing has become very common. So common, in fact, that many cause marketing campaigns go unnoticed by customers and rendered essentially ineffective.

Can cause marketing still help your brand forge customer loyalty and help improve your brand image?

The answer is yes! But you have to be willing to put your heart into the project and go beyond the generic “10% of proceeds goes to [worthy cause]” banner on your product or website.

Adam and Jeannie outline the key elements of a cause marketing campaign that grabs attention and becomes part of a memorable experience customers will want to talk about.

What are smart brands doing to create outstanding cause marketing campaigns? Listen in and learn from the best!

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.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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

Customer perception is a difficult thing to understand, and even harder to change. Do customers see themselves in your brand image?

Are your real customers properly represented in your marketing? What if 13% of your qualified customers never noticed your brand simply because they can't identify with how you present who your customers are?

Customers will buy from those who create an emotional connection, and one of the first steps is making sure they see themselves reflected in the marketing materials you present them.

Katie Driscoll's organization, Changing the Face of Beauty, has combated the idea that people only want to see "traditionally" beautiful people in advertising. She has had a tremendous impact on the way some major brands represent their customers, particularly those with disabilities.

A viable segment of just about any market, children with disabilities are a prime example of a group that tends to be grossly under-represented. Katie shares how inclusion can make a world of difference for your marketing reach and your bottom line.

Image courtesy of Katie Driscoll and Changing the Face of Beauty

We talk a lot about inclusion in the workplace these days, but how does the concept of inclusion impact your marketing strategy? Does your audience see themselves in your brand?

Listen in to learn how to find and inspire many more of your potential customers.

Founder and President of Changing the Face of Beauty (nonprofit), Katie Driscoll, believes media and advertising can change perceptions and open opportunity for people of all abilities. She is also a photographer and writer.  Katie has been featured on the Today Show as well as interviewed by Huffington Post, People Magazine, and other media publications.  She believes media and advertising can change perceptions and open opportunity for people of all abilities.

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 develop and internalize unique and scalable customer-focused missions. 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

It’s EASY to talk about improving customer service. It's a lot harder to actually do anything about it! Why is it so hard to create a real strategy around putting the customer first?

Making a big deal about becoming "customer–centric" through new options and features but neglecting to deliver what customers actually need to be happy is not really walking the talk. Jeannie and Adam see this happening in many industries, and a few companies are getting away with it (for now).

But let's face it: Many organizations don’t have the luxury of cornering consumers with hefty contracts and limited competition -- like cable or utility companies can. Most organizations have to compete, and few have developed raving fans so loyal that they are willing to tolerate subpar customer service and frustrating experiences.

It's dangerous to assume the complacency of your customers translates to loyalty, or that your revolutionary product or service alone will keep customers from exploring alternatives.

Adam and Jeannie share some timely examples of companies that continually fail to deliver on their promises, and how it's catching up to them. How and why does this happen, and how can you avoid making the same mistakes?

Learn from great stories about organizations that are walking the talk. Discover what's standing in the way of delivering standout service experiences that create a sustainable customer-focused culture.

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 develop and internalize unique and scalable customer-focused missions. 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

Mana Ionescu, President of Lightspan Digital, shares tips and insights on keeping up with the changing landscape of social customer care.

In today’s marketplace, as Mana explains, few organizations can thrive and compete without a presence on social media. But what does that mean for customer care?

Mana shares some valuable insights for smaller organizations who need to provide a better level of care on social channels without a dedicated social media team.

Many organizations are making the same mistakes over and over again. Mana outlines some of the common pitfalls of social customer care and what to watch out for.

 Are you ready to tackle customer care on your social channels? Are you sure!?

Listen in and Mana will help you decide what your organization can realistically do TODAY to provide top-notch social customer care without breaking the bank.

Mana and her team focus on driving traffic to clients’ websites and building profitable connections through social media and content marketing.

Mana believes in digital marketing done with purpose. With her practical and hands-on approach, Mana has been busting social media myths and showing measurable results are possible. A sought-after speaker, she’s been sharing digital marketing knowledge as Kellogg Executive Education faculty and via numerous conferences, from Techweek to SES, from Social Media Week to MPI TechCon, from 312Digital to Marketing Profs University and Pubcon. A staunch STEM education supporter, Mana serves on the Board of the Illinois Math and Science Academy Fund. In March 2014, Mana was awarded the “Chicago Woman Making History” Outstanding Entrepreneur Award by the City of Chicago Treasurer’s Office.

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.

 Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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

2016 is going to be a wild but shaky ride. Hold on tight! Where’s the next hairpin turn for your organization? Adam and Jeannie have some customer experience predictions to help keep you in your seat.

The landscape of customer experience improvement has changed a lot over the past year. New tech means more robust service solutions and new ways to connect with customers. Hooray!

But be warned: It’s a two-way street. Better tech also means greater expectations from customers. They will put that new tech to the test, expecting better service, seamless cross-channel experiences, and unprecedented levels of customization. And as social customer care goes mainstream and loses its status as an “alternative” form of communication, customers have more power than ever to tarnish your brand when things go awry.

Did you know that 89% of companies are expected to compete mainly by the experience they provide for customers this year? That’s a tall order if you’re not looking ahead to what customers want next.

We’ve got you covered! Adam and Jeannie have been looking ahead for you. What’s next for customer experience? Listen in and get ready for an exciting year.

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.

Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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

What will you do to make 2016 the best year yet for your customers?

Adam and Jeannie discuss some of the resolutions they believe every organization should have to make 2016 better for all their customers through improved service and proactive experience design.

Destroy the silos! Make things easier! They sound so simple. Get some inspiration to improve your customer’s experience today and throughout the year.

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 develop and internalize unique and scalable customer-focused missions. 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

Crowdsourcing is one way companies are reaching customers before developing products or services. What do you think about this modern way of including customers?

Crowdsourcing: Tapping into the collective knowledge, creativity and in some cases, funding, from the community.

What happens when you let your customers into the process before you are ready to introduce new products/services? You get ALL the ideas, and that has its own set of challenges. What are the best ways organizations are crowdsourcing innovation?

Is crowdsourcing the answer for you? Adam and Jeannie discuss the pros and cons of soliciting ideas from the community and transparently sharing what might work and what might not.

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 develop and internalize unique and scalable customer-focused missions. 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

Aaron Walker, veteran entrepreneur, has built his business around mentorship and used his vast experience to mentor leaders in many industries. Aaron has a great story and shares how he walks the talk, while leading others to do the same.

Aaron tells us the exciting story of his background in entrepreneurship, which started at the age of 13. (What!?) That’s right! We don’t want to spoil this amazing story for you, but building businesses has been Aaron’s passion for decades, and in this episode, he passes on some of the leadership skills he has accumulated during his years of experience.

How do business leaders and managers become great coaches and mentors for their people? Aaron shares key points from his time-tested process with us. 

What dreams do you have for your team? Aaron explains why it’s OK to dream big, and how boosting morale can translate to measureable results.

Aaron also gives us some expert advice for entry-level professionals and front-line employees. How can the next generation of professionals gain the confidence to be outstanding leaders? What makes Millennials different?

Learn how to accept and leverage the ups and downs of customer service. Strike the right balance between instant gratification and long-term success.

Listen in so you can grow your brand!

Aaron Walker is, without question, a veteran entrepreneur. Starting his first business at 18, and selling to a Fortune 500 company nine short years later, demonstrates Aaron’s passion for success. Unwilling to rest on past success alone, Aaron started, bought, and sold eight successful companies over the past 36 years. Having a strong desire for personal development has kept Aaron in a weekly mastermind group for more than a decade with Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Ken Abraham, and seven other notable “Nashvillians.” Aaron has enjoyed a 35-year marriage with his beautiful wife, Robin. Today, Aaron spends the majority of his time helping men grow in success and significance as President and Founder of View from the Top, a premier life and business coaching resource.

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.

 Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.

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