Next in Queue

In 1989, Field of Dreams introduced us to one of the most famous quotes in movie history: “If you build it, he will come.”  In this scene, Terence convinces Ray to stop listening to his brother-in-law, who is only focused on one thing – the numbers.  The number of acres, the lost revenue, and the mortgage.  But Terence tells him that when he changes his focus to providing an experience to the people, the people will come. 

Annette Franz believes that building will bring things, too.  Her latest book, Built to Win, is a blueprint for designing a customer-centric culture that drives value for businesses.  During our conversation about employee experience, she said, “When you focus on the people, the numbers will come.”

Oh, numbers will come, Annette; numbers will most definitely come.

We discuss:  

· What Customer Experience means

· One of the biggest barriers to becoming customer-centric

· How employee experience impacts customer experience

· The biggest way you can make an impact on becoming customer-centric

· Brands that Annette is a fan of

· How scale and a dispersed workforce impact company culture

· How companies can leverage fans to deliver better experiences

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/annette-franz/

Books by Annette – https://www.amazon.com/stores/Annette-Franz/author/B07XKDVGTF

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

1968’s Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones reflects society undergoing incredible changes. Demonstrations against the Vietnam War attracted thousands of students, both in Europe and America. In some cases, they turned violent. “Hey, said my name is called Disturbance” could reflect changes we see, not just in society, but in business and technology.

When it comes to technologies used by contact centers, “Disturbance” goes by another name – “The Cloud.” Cloud-based technologies are rapidly changing the way contact centers interact with technology vendors. Perpetual licensing for on-premise “on-prem” solutions has been disrupted by short-term commitments to cloud solutions. Cloud-based solutions can implement advances in capability quickly and without involvement of the licensee.

Rachel Lane has spent her career as a vendor of technologies to contact centers (or centres as she would spell it) and has seen the revolution from on-prem to cloud firsthand.

We discuss:

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachellane/

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

It turns out that outsourcing isn’t the answer to everything like Homer suggests in this episode of the Simpsons.  But outsourcing can be an effective way for businesses to focus their people on the core functions of their business while ensuring the non-core functions are still taken care of.

But outsourcing isn’t a decision to be taken lightly and finding the right partner, whether they’re onshore, nearshore, or offshore, can be quite an undertaking.     

Tyler Orrell is a CX zealot who’s spent over two decades leading and developing contact centers all over the world. 

We discuss:  

·        The nebulous nature of the terms onshore and offshore when it comes to outsourcing

·        Reasons you might want to consider outsourcing

·        Things to consider when making an outsourcing decision

·       The various types of work that a BPO can handle for organizations

·        How an organization can navigate finding an outsourced partner

·        How technology impacts any outsourcing decision

·        How to create a successful relationship with an outsourced provider

Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-orrell-9b595335/

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

In this scene from Season 9 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David tries to invoke the Golden Rule at the airport.  The concept of the Golden Rule is to treat others the way you would want to be treated and its origins are at least 2500 years old.  The concept is present in all the world’s major religious traditions.

Despite the long history and widespread usage of the Golden Rule, Milan Batinich says there is an even better rule to apply during our interactions with others – The Platinum Rule®.  The Platinum Rule says to "Do unto others as ‘they'd’ like done unto them."  This concept originated from the 1996 book of the same name written by Dr. Tony Alessandra and Dr. Michael J. O’Connor.  Because each of us has a preferred communication style, the Platinum Rule suggests that

Milan Batinich is a motivational speaker and contact center leader who moonlights as a storm chaser.    

We discuss:  

·        Why understanding communication styles is important

·        Different options for evaluating communication styles

·        Characteristics of the 4 primary styles

·        Why modifying behavior leads to success in relationships with others

·        Real-world examples for how communication styles impact people at work

·        How Ikigai changed Milan’s professional path

Connect with Milan on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/milan-batinich/

Milan Motivates – https://milanmotivates.com

The Platinum Rule – https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Rule-Discover-Business-Personalities/dp/0446673439

Call & Contact Center Registration – https://bit.ly/3lKcMXr

Tickets generally cost $99, but with the promo code ROB100 you can attend for free!

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

In Searchin’, this 1957 Lieber and Stuller hit performed by the Coasters, Billy Guy, sings about his determined search that has yielded no results to this point.  While he’s searchin’ for his love, searching for specific, reliable, and up to date information to support customers can often feel just as challenging.

The promise of the internet was the world’s knowledge at your fingertips.  According to the latest estimates, 328.77 million terabytes of data are created each day and the amount of data is growing exponentially.  Speaking of exponentially, in 2022, two new prefixes, ronna and quetta, representing 1027 and 1030 were added to the metric system because the vast amount of data that exists was approaching the top range of the existing prefixes.  All this data has contributed to the challenge of locating exactly what you’re looking for.

Sariel Moshe saw this issue sifting through data during his days in military intelligence.  Eventually, he saw the same issue during his time at PayPal and he set out to improve search by making use of context.   

We discuss:  

·        Why keywords will become a thing of the past

·        Why enterprise knowledge base search bars work so poorly compared to Google

·        How “promptability” will change how knowledge is stored

·        Why he expects support teams to change focus from case-solving to knowledge creation

·        Why “trust” will become the key to the next level of search

Connect with Sariel on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sariel-moshe/

xFind – https://www.xfind.ai/

Disney Robot Debuts at SXSW – https://youtu.be/wCYpnJskleM

Call & Contact Center Registration – https://bit.ly/3lKcMXr

Tickets generally cost $99, but with the promo code ROB100 you can attend for free!

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

In the 1999 cult classic, Office Space, Peter Gibbons has just been requested by his awful boss, Bill Lumbergh, to work the weekend to make up for the recent layoffs their software company is going through.  This might ring a little too true for a lot of people lately, but hopefully, they don’t have to deal with a Lumbergh. 

Layoffs, or Reductions in Force (a.k.a. RIF), impact not only the people who are let go, but also the people who are left behind.  Lumbergh represents the kind of management unskilled in navigating these types of situations (or any situation, for that matter), but Andrew Rios joins the show today to talk about how to successfully navigate these challenges as a leader so you’re not remembered as a Lumbergh.

We discuss:  

·   Why layoffs aren’t always caused by poor management

·    How to effectively lead through a Reduction in Force

·    The unexpected opportunities presented as a result of a RIF

·    Effectively implementing cross-functional training

·    Handling demotions resulting from less employees

·    One mistake to avoid when dealing with smaller teams

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/riosa/

Call & Contact Center Registration – https://bit.ly/3lKcMXr

Tickets generally cost $99, but with the promo code ROB100 you can attend for free!

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

With more than a little influence by the Beatles, U2’s The Showman (Little More Better) from 2017 is a lighthearted warning to their fans

It’s rare for an influencer to come right out and tell you to be wary of the “influencer” system, but Alex Mead doesn’t consider himself an influencer even if LinkedIn does.  Alex drives CX innovation from within regardless of the industry.  Airlines, Banking, Whisky, Logistics – Alex has done it all, but he wants us all to understand that some “influencers” are more marketing fluff than substance.

We discuss:  

·       The issues with the CX “Influencers” and Awards ecosystem  

·       How Alex approaches every new project

·       The missing piece in most CX organizations

·       Why personalized and contextual customer service still isn’t common

·       A few myths about Customer Experience

·       How an “outsider” can bring value to CX design

Connect with Alex on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmead/

Call & Contact Center Registration – https://bit.ly/3lKcMXr

Tickets generally cost $99, but with the promo code ROB100 you can attend for free!

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

Do you need to rush out and adopt new tools like ChaptGPT to improve CX?  Should we be more focused on the human-to-human connection?  Are we simply not being strategic with our Customer Experience efforts delaying maturity?    

On this episode of Jump the Queue, I talk with 3 CX pros about where their focus is right now.   

We start in the home of Laverne and Shirley (yes, this is a test) with Murphy Fraser, Senior Consultant at TTEC Digital, who warns that with all the new and exciting tools out there, some may be executing tactically but not strategically.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/murphy-fraser/

Next, we head to the Music City to talk with Donna Drehmann, author of Things Lady Likes and Director of Customer Experience with Eargo, who talks

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

Finally, we take a trans-Atlantic trip to the U.K. to talk with Sue Duris, Principal Consultant for M4 Communications, who’s working tirelessly to educate companies on how a focus on CX will drive long-term returns. 

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

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

In the 1984 film, Revenge of the Nerds, the stereotype of

Jaclyn leads Business Intelligence and Customer Experience

We discuss:  

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Connect with Jaclyn on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaclyn-m-herr/

TeeTurtle:  https://www.teeturtle.com/

Unstable Games: 

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/

In 1969, Brian Wilson came out of semi-retirement to write and record Break Away, an often-overlooked Beach Boys hit song. It’s a life-affirming song about positive change in one’s life and the feelings that accompany that change.

Paula Naeff is a Performance & Productivity Coach who helps busy professionals break away from burnout and arrive at balance.

We discuss:

· How one of Paula’s passions led to a new professional direction

· How burnout manifested for her

· Peeling away the masks and confronting burnout

· How dance coaching is like life/business coaching

· A simple strategy for avoiding burnout

· One tip for changing your energy level

Connect with Paula on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-naeff-coach111/

Music courtesy of Big Red Horse – https://bigredhorseband.com/

Brought to you by Happitu – https://happitu.com/