Customerland

At one point in time Chris Brogan had a pretty big corner on the internet.  He was one of the first 10,000 or so Twitter users, one of the early adopters of blogging as a way to engage.  Along the way he has advised some of the biggest brands on the planet on topics related to everything from business strategy to the proper color of demo-poop (yes, it turns out, that's a thing).  

At present he has over 300,000 Twitter followers - that's down from millions a few years ago.  That fact - that he has "only" 300k-plus followers on Twitter - is telling.  And it's a good starting point to talk through the current chapter of Chris' life.

To say that Chris has learned a thing or two along the way is too easy, too simplistic.  What Chris talks about now - who he is, what he is doing with his life - and why - hold lessons for all of us in business and in life.   

This was one of the most extraordinary interviews we've had so far on Customerland.  It's a wee bit longer than most of our other episodes but that's only because it was such a rich conversation.  I (we) hope you get as much out of this as we did.

What is it about some business that seem to transcend the "normal" trajectory of growth and end up far ahead of the curve - well beyond their competitors?  In this special edition of Customerland, author and Wall Street Journal cartoonist, Stu Heinecke looks at the data, the trends, the processes and the people who are making things happen ... in spite of their circumstances.  

Stu's latest book, "How to Grow Your Business Like a Weed" comes on the heels of his  best-selling book "How to Get a Meeting with Anyone: The Untapped Selling Power of Contact Marketing" which has been named one of the most important business books of the past decade.  

Amperity is, at its core, a CDP.  But as I suspected, and as Matt Hallett, their head of product solutions revealed, Amperity has something of a secret sauce that has put it right at the center of the explosion in retail media networks. 

Beyond RMN's though, this conversation is one of the best primers you'll find on the differences between CDP types and what makes one better for some applications than others. 

Also a big nod to our sponsor for this episode, TheCRMC. 

Peter van der Putten is Director of Pega's AI lab - which essentially means that he's in charge of all of the various ways in which AI (and its derivatives) can be harnessed for the good of Pega's huge, worldwide customer base.  In this conversation, we cut through the hype and dive deep into the enterprise utility of AI - generative AI and conversational AI, specifically, and what the future holds for organizations that can intelligently deploy this revolutionary tech to enrich their customer relationships.

Not only is Peter extraordinarily well-versed on everything AI, but the conversation couldn't have been more timely considering all of the confusion and anxiety around the topic at the moment.  

Nicole Kyle is Managing Director and co-founder of CMP Research, the Customer Management Practice's dedicated independent insights and research & advisory service. All of which means she has a lot to say about what's working and what's not in customer service and CX efforts, and how organizations are navigating the new customer "normal" which pretty much looks like it's here to stay.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Nicole reveals what's behind the latest data and how brands can leverage those insights to create better experiences and better relationships with their customers.

Tim Mason is quick to say that he didn't "invent" the Tesco Club card but if you look at the history of Tesco's groundbreaking loyalty play, you'll find his fingerprints embedded all over it. Today, Tim is CEO of Eagle Eye, another groundbreaking loyalty offering that has taken the best aspects of his learnings at Tesco and married them with technologies that can now do what was unimaginable back in the day. In addition to hearing what Eagle Eye is and does, it's a unique opportunity to hear from one of the people responsible for developing what has become modern, programmatic loyalty.

Mike Tippets is VP of Enterprise Marketing at Hughes Network Systems. We had the pleasure of meeting with his colleague, Nikki at N R F back in January. We talked about some of the amazing things that Hughes has brought to market, and we committed that we would get deeper into the topics later in a follow-on conversation. This is that follow-on conversation. From Smart Plugs to Retail Media Networks, Hughes is leading innovations in a wide series of retail directions.

Somewhere in-between none and way-too-much lies the perfect balance - threshold, if you will, of how much personalization brands really need in order to optimize the channel, the communication, and the relationship.

The problem is, that line in the sand gets blown around constantly, and shifts radically within the context of the category, the brand and consumer expectations within those contexts.  

Gustavo Wille, 84.51's VP of Data Science and his team there, oversee some of the most sophisticated personalization efforts in the world - certainly some of the most successful ones.  We sat down with Gustavo recently for a lively and informative conversation to understand how 84.51 approaches brand personalization and what is behind their massive successes.

Know what one of the main factors behind an effective CX effort is?  (Hint: it's EX) Know what it takes to move the needle on enterprise-wide CX initiatives? 

In this episode of Customerland, we sat down with Tom Quish, SVP of Customer Experience at Rightpoint, and Jesse Murray, Rightpoint’s SVP of Employee Experience to continue a conversation we had begun at this years' NRF conference.  If you aren't aware - and I wasn't - both Tom and Jesse are the dual embodiments of passion and expertise as it relates to CX and EX respectively - and how those two concepts combine to reinforce and support the other.

Plus you'll learn when and why so many CX/EX initiatives never get out of the gate and what you can do to make sure that doesn't happen to you.

Also, a special shout out to Verint - our sponsor for this episode.  

In this interview, Mikel Lindsaar, the founder of StoreConnect, talks about how the idea of StoreConnect came to his mind and how it operates as a digital transformation solution. He identifies the difficulties small business owners encounter when it comes to digital transformation and how StoreConnect's integration with Salesforce can serve as a solution. The interview highlights the importance of saving time for small business owners, which is a critical aspect of StoreConnect.

Also a big shout out to Allant Group for sponsoring this episode of Customerland!