CX Conversations

In this episode we speak with Matt Freedman, brand builder, band strategist, and Enterprise Account Executive at Kustomer. We talk about the me-economy, the generation where everything is on demand and how that’s putting high pressure on companies. Organizations that have been able to keep up are the ones succeeding. 57% of people have said that customer service is the main reason they will remain loyal to a brand. People are spending 20% more on products because of their loyalty to a brand rather than taking the cheaper option. We discuss what people’s expectations are these days, how much it's affecting our current economy, and then what organizations should focus on to meet those demands.

The Me-economy 3:58
The main reason people feel loyal to a brand 11:00
SLS 18:02
Summary of what companies have learned 27:50

“As you’re setting expectations, now obviously going through this new world virus economy that we’re living in, it’s a great time to kind of pause and reset and just rethink, ‘Man, am I really set up and optimised for not only these fringe cases anymore, but this gigantic new wave of demand expectation that this on demand economy has?’” 6:16

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-freedman-aa03028/

Today we talk to Mike Miller, the Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Convey, and Vikas Bhambri, the SVP of Sales and CX at Kustomer. We discuss issues and trends we are seeing in the customer service business, such as a spike in e-commerce and an increase in customer inquiries. Other things like an increase in online orders has put a strain on deliveries and being able to get deliveries out on time. Don’t assume that you’re over-communicating with the customer, but instead always be proactive in communicating with them and wait for them to let you know you’re reaching out too much. We talk a little bit about AI and the effects it’s having on customer service, and then we need to be thinking about how we can be strategic in these times and take advantage of the shift in the market.

Trends and challenges customer services organizations are facing 1:46
What companies are doing well to combat this 7:40
An example of the problem we face now 12:00
Artificial intelligence 14:51

“We hear pretty consistently that customers at least are looking for 3 things, and the first is setting an expectation around when something that is going to arrive. That is harder to do today than it has been historically, but that is absolutely the expectation. They want frequent updates as early as possible as to when that’s going to change, if it is going to change. And then lastly they’re looking for flexibility about delivery options.” 7:48

In this episode we talk to Brad Birnbaum, co-founder and CEO of Kustomer, Matt Dixon, Chief Product and Research Officer at Tethr, and Lauren Pragoff, Vice President of Effortless Experience at Challenger. We talk about some of the largest issues and challenges companies have been facing during the pandemic, such as employees transitioning to working from home and how they’ve had to crack down on making help readily available through their online channels. Another thing they’ve seen is an increase in inquiry volume and a lack of reps to meet the demand of these inquiries. We discuss the fact that the world is ready for more machine learning and more advanced artificial intelligence to meet the needs of this increasing demand. Lauren has seen that a third of companies are actually seeing a decrease in inquiries with the pandemic, so they’ve had to use a proactive outreach approach to keep reps busy. We talk about how many customers go to a lot of third party sources of information in order to get the answer to their questions, such as Youtube or Google, but these sources aren’t always reliable. Brad tells us about a technological shift companies should be using to meet the needs and desires of customers, such as reaching out and answering their question before they actually ask it.

Guest introductions 1:41
The biggest challenge companies are facing and how they are overcoming it 3:56
How Matt has seen people doing more with less 12:28
Types of technologies companies should be adopting now to make this change more successful 25:42

“The thing that really got our customers to stay on our website and not get frustrated, pick up the phone and call is when we started writing at a grade 5 to 7 reading level so that customers could absorb that information quickly. So often our content is laden with corporate jargon, industry vernacular, or stuff that the attorneys made us add in and it stopped making sense to our customers. So go back, make it simple, and it’ll stick. It’ll siphon off those live calls.” 24:42

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-pragoff-99967532/
https://www.kustomer.com/leadership/brad-birnbaum/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/
Twitter: @bradbirnhaum
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/
https://tethr.com/leadership/matt-dixon/

In this episode we talk about an empathy-driven support model with Irene Griffin, the Director of Customer Support at FranConnect. The goal for her team is to listen and understand the customer needs, while building strong relationships. She talks about her hiring process and the importance of high-energy reps. She suggests that hiring the right customer support team is about finding a balance between skills and personality. Technology is natural for younger generations, which means it is easier to learn, but the ability to listen, understand and empathize with each individual situation is just harder. Listen to the full episode for the insights on creating a playbook that gives reps a sample call language versus scripted responses for a more empathetic approach.

What is the empathy driven support model? 1:19
How Irene team builds 8:02
How she manages responses with her team 11:27

“I stick with more of what a sample question might be where it’s just long winded, convoluted, there’s extra stuff in there, and again I’m not looking for the outcome as much as I’m just looking for the reaction and the ability to kind of parse it out, kind of stay cool, and be organized.” 6:40

https://www.linkedin.com/in/irenegriffin/

Today we talk to Douglas Kramon, Director of Customer Operations and Fan Support at ESPN. In this interesting conversation, Gabe and Douglas discuss how customer care and agent care drives customer experience. For fans, sports are memories and emotions created during live experiences. How could ESPN create human connections during COVID-19, when all live events were cancelled? Douglas tells us about their tactic of connecting with their customers by creating a fan-to-fan dialogue. Tune in to this conversation to understand how ESPN has standed with their fans during these hard times.

Douglas’s background 1:02
The recent changes in sports 2:58
Be brief, be bright, and be gone 6:14
Tools they use at ESPN 15:19

“We like to say, and we believe this wholeheartedly, for customer service we are fellow fans in the stands. With our fans, we’re not the suits in the suites, meaning we’re there with you. We’re sports fans just like you and we understand what you’re going through. And if you want to talk a little sport, we do too.” 7:17

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglaskramon/

Today we talk about digital customer service with author, speaker, and customer service expert Paolo Fabrizio. Paolo helps clients integrate digital channels and coaches them on the importance of hiring and training the right digital customer service assistants. In this conversation with Gabe, Paolo touches on the importance of emotional intelligence and the relevant role reps play in taking care and retaining happy customers. Is it different hiring agents for traditional channels vs digital channels? Listen to the full conversation for Paolo’s take.

About Paolo 0:54
Something often Paolo sees in organizations 2:38
How he trains and hires employees differently 6:57
Some of the differences he sees between these channels and the typical channels of phone and email 10:31
Get in contact with Paolo 14:16

“Digital customer service is not just using digital tools, digital platforms, or digital channels. It’s taking care of each digital conversation you have with your customers in order to leverage conversations to retain and attract customers.” 2:08

https://customerserviceculture.com/

In this episode, we discuss the importance of treating your employees like customers to drive customer loyalty. We have with us Vipula Gandhi, Managing Director at Gallup, who has vast experience working in different industries such as hospitality, consulting, and banking. As a true expert in business strategy, business performance and human potential, Vipula will talk about how to leverage information and extract insights to strategically take action that directly impacts the business. Join this interesting conversation to understand how emotions improve the customer experience and how to build a brand that transcends time by taking care of their employees.

About Vipula and Gallup 1:26
What is wrong with the current way we think about customer experience? 3:31
Example of emotional and actionable drivers in customer experience 14:14
The importance of treating your employees right 18:50

“What we have found through science and through our experience of working with clients in this area is that, we don’t want people to complain obviously, but when people complain there’s an opportunity for you to actually increase the emotional engagement with the brand after the complaint more than what was possible before the complaint.” 14:24

www.gallup.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vipulagandhi1/

In this episode, we talk about how to really drive customer experience for high-end brands. We are joined by Jason Henne, Director of Customer Aervice at Momentum Solar. He tells us of how he threw call time out the window and focused more on quality customer experience. We discuss the importance of thoroughly training your reps so that they have the tools to effectively help the customer. Additionally, the Better Business Bureau has given Momentum Solar amazing reviews and Jason tells what they have done to gain and maintain their reputation.

Jason Henne Introduction 0:51
How does customer service vary between similar businesses? 2:40
An example of different, great customer service 7:17
The Importance of training your reps 10:45
How Jason has managed through an emerging industry like solar 15:09
What Momentum Solar has done to maintain their reputation 17:22
The one thing Jason tells all his employees 23:52

“You go into a Lexus dealership for instance, or a Porsche dealership. You are getting red carpet treatment. ‘OK sir, would you like a bagel? Would you like me to get a cup of coffee for you?’ And they keep you updated regularly on your situation and you’ll get a loaner car if you need. You’re not going to get that with the lower end brands. So again, it’s brand reputation, it’s word of mouth.” 5:29

Email: [email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-henne-6481513/
https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Jason-Henne/3451523495

Today, we talk with Nate Brown who is the Founder of CX Accelerator, a virtual community for CX professionals, and Chief Experience Officer at Officium Labs. Nate tells us how the customer experience industry is evolving and he explains how to drive meaningful change in order to keep up with the ongoing evolution in the market. We also talk about how crucial it is for companies to support their customer service department, how to properly receive feedback from customers, training employees, and the importance of adapting to an ever-changing market.

Nate tells what he does 1:03
How they are able to hear the voice of the customer 12:10
Customer Effort Score 17:39

“If we don’t make our customer experience legendary, then we won’t be here in ten years. This is the way that the experience economy is moving. I have isolated this individual and this function that’s gonna help guide us intelligently in our strategy here and we’re all going to work with this individual as part of the CX Change Coalition to improve our end to end customer experience.” 8:48

https://www.cxaccelerator.com/

Gabe and Vikas kick off this episode announcing that Kustomer has been selected as the only enterprise customer service CRM platform in the Shopify Plus Certified App Program. Now more than ever, the world’s leading brands need CRM (Customer Relationship Management) that can scale and evolve as they do. With this seamless integration, businesses can create contextualized, actionable customer profiles to drive more personalized and data-driven customer journeys. With pressure already high due to the digital transformation forced by the pandemic, what are customers expecting from businesses now? In this conversation, Vikas and Gabe discuss the "MEconomy" and the role of self-service in the customer-business relationship.

Will companies continue to have employees work from home? 8:38
Customer delight 14:44

“We have pressed the fast forward button on the future by 2 years, and that’s just the reality. We can’t go back. We’re not going to go back. The consumer’s not going to go back, the brands can’t go back… Unfortunately, most companies don’t think that far in advance… They’re thinking about it in monthly, quarterly cycles… You really have to think about what would your business have looked like two years from now and operate at that cadence today, which, good luck with that.” 20:05

https://www.kustomer.com/product/integrations/shopify/