Next in Queue

This scene is from the 2006 movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, inspired by the true story of Chris Gardner. Homeless with his young son, Chris was desperate to get a different job that would change his situation. But how does a salesman of bone density scanners transition to being a stockbroker?

Transitions to any new role are challenging and that holds true in CX – whether you want to get into a CX role or out of one. Jenny Dempsey, CX Thought Leader and Chief Learning Advisor for CX Accelerator, joins this week’s episode of Next in Queue to talk about these transitions.

We discuss:

· What a typical CX involves

· Functions that often lead to CX roles

· Key skills needed for CX roles

· Do CX Certifications matter?

· Free resources for CX aspirants and CX practitioners

· What does a CX career path look like?

Connect with Jenny on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-dempsey/

CX Accelerator – https://www.cxaccelerator.com/

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

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

Despite the layoffs in the tech sector, unemployment in the US is at historic lows and we’re experiencing a labor shortage in many other sectors of the economy. Contact Centers have long experienced high turnover with baseline ranges estimated to be between 30 and 40 percent. While 2022 was seemingly the year of Employee Engagement, SQM’s research shows that agent engagement has remained stubbornly low for the industry and turnover is rising.

On this episode of Jump the Queue, I traverse the US from coast to coast to talk with 3 contact center pros about attracting, engaging, and retaining employees.

We start in the Midwest with Milan Batinich II, a contact center veteran and motivational speaker who’s focused on driving engagement in contact centers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/milan-batinich/

Next, we go out west to hear from David Powers, author of Blue Collar Call Center and CXO of Rooter Hero Plumbing & Air in Los Angeles.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjpowers2/

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Collar-Call-Center-Conversational/dp/B0BF2HCKHS/ref=sr_1_1 

Finally, we head to Jacksonville, FL for an east coast perspective form Bunyamin Cankirli, Service Delivery Director for Concentrix, a global BPO.

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

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

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

Nelson Mandela would spend 27 of his 95 years of life in prison. When The Ska revival band, The Specials (under the name, The Special AKA), released Nelson Mandela in 1984, he had already been in prison in apartheid South Africa for over 20 years and it would be another 6 years before he saw his release. He became the father of the modern, democratic South Africa, bringing an end to apartheid and becoming the first black head of state in South Africa. Winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, Mandela became a revered figure worldwide.

He is credited with saying, “I never lose. I either win or learn.” This mindset of growth and a redefining of failure is a key to accelerating performance and innovation, says Neil Pretty, the CEO of Aristotle Performance.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss:

· How leaders create psychological safety and trust

· What corporations can learn from the military

· The key conditions for driving innovation among teams

· Why leaders often default to managing

· A simple strategy to improve your leadership presence

Connect with Neil on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-pretty/

Aristotle Performance – https://www.aristotleperformance.com/

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

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

Organizational Change can be difficult, especially when you’re a new leader. And while some skills like engaging with those who may be resistant to change should be encouraged, a top-down approach to change management can be lonely and frustrating effort.

Michael Corleone found this out the hard way after taking the reins of the family business. And while most of us aren’t dealing with an organization like his (nor do we have a title like Godfather in that organization), we are all impacted by organizational change efforts. Some of us are even tasked with leading those efforts.

While she’s not a boss in the way Michael Corleone was a “boss”, Sally Mildren is the CEO of Boss Lady Consulting, and she joins the show to discuss how Change Management affects Customer Experience (CX) and how to humanize change efforts.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss:

· The most common mistake in managing change

· How to deal with vocal opponents of change

· The antidote to change fatigue

· Keys to sustaining change efforts

· How to measure the long-term impact of change efforts

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-mildren/

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

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

After over 160,000 employee layoffs in the tech sector in 2022, 2023 has already followed up with over 100,000 layoffs in the first two months of the year alone. While this pales in comparison to the number of jobs being created in the overall economy, mass layoffs have a huge impact on those affected and the psyche of people in the affected industries.

This first episode of Jump the Queue, I talk with 3 people with interesting angles and insights on this subject and over the course of these 3 related yet distinct conversations, you’ll hear what’s foremost in their minds right now.

We start with Michael McMillan, a CX insider and entrepreneur who literally grew up in a call center.

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

Next, I talk with Mark Brody, a contact center vet with over 30 years of experience and current the President of the Austin Contact Center Alliance.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-brody-410b003/

Finally, I chat with Tony Won, a Player Experience expert in the gaming industry who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonywon1980/

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

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

In the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, we were introduced to HAL 9000, a supercomputer with advanced AI who decided the mission was more important than the lives of his human crew. 16 years later, in The Terminator, we were introduced to Skynet, an AI developed by Cyberdyne Systems that began seeing humanity as a threat to its existence and triggered a nuclear holocaust that would forever change the earth and its inhabitants.

These two seminal films, nearly a generation apart, engendered a distrust of AI in successive generations that are now grappling with how much to trust AI in their everyday lives. Today I visit with Carlos Kemeny who has a passion for data and how people use data to make decisions.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss:

· The progression of the adoption of AI

· What decisions people are willing to put in the hands of AI

· The best way for humans and AI to work together

· CX situations where AI will only make things worse

· The reasons people often don’t trust data

Connect with Carlos on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kemenyc/

Take part in the Decision-Making study – https://research.drumcv.com/aistudy1/

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

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

When most people think of the 1990 film Pretty Woman, they think of Richard Gere playing Prince Charming to Julia Roberts’s Rapunzel. But the real hero of that story (at least in my eyes) is Barney Thompson played by Héctor Elizondo. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that character. Let me refresh your memory.

You may remember that Vivian (Roberts) was tasked with buying a dress for dinner but couldn’t get the stores on Rodeo Drive to take her seriously. It was in this moment of desperation that she ran into Barney in the hotel lobby. Once he understood the situation, he arranged for her wardrobe. Later in the movie, it was Barney that said to Edward (Gere), “It must be difficult to let go of something so beautiful,” prompting Edward to realize he was in love.

In short, it was Barney who enabled the experiences that made Pretty Woman the fairy tale we all remember, even if we don’t remember him.

My guest this week is Patrick Ignacio, CORE Assistant Manager at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago. He has been in the hospitality world for two decades, a world that is about making memorable experiences to drive customer loyalty.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss:

· How the reservation process impacts Guest Experience

· How Franchise Branding provides both risks and rewards to owners

· How “Word of Mouth” is dramatically changed by social media

· How to drive loyalty by customer segment

· The pros and cons of technology for guest experience

· A lesson for other industries

Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-ignacio-446744/

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

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

In the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s dog, Toto, pulls back a curtain to reveal the Wizard to be just an ordinary man, operating machinery that projects a gigantic, ghostly, and intimidating image of his face. The Wizard had built his reputation using technology that no one in the merry old land of Oz understood.

Today, there’s a technology impacting Customer Experience that few understand – algorithms.

My guest this week is Dennis Wakabayashi,  and he is on a mission to help people understand how marketing fits into modern CX and how technology is changing the landscape.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss:

· The 3 Algorithms that shape CX

· The fundamental change in Social Media marketing professionals need to be aware of

· The surprising name that might become the next MySpace

· How ChatGPT will change CX in unexpected ways

· Where Revenue “Leaks” Occur in the Customer Journey

· The CX Leadership Alignment Strategy that Works

Connect with Dennis on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/denniswakabayashi/

Follow Dennis on Twitter – @CXCreator

Visit the website – https://denniswakabayashi.com/

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

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

In 1990, Public Enemy released “Fight the Power” from their third album, one of the most popular and influential songs in hip hop history:

People, people we are the same

No we're not the same

'Cause we don't know the game

What we need is awareness, we can't get careless

You say what is this?

My beloved let’s get down to business

Mental self-defensive fitness

Don't rush the show

You gotta go for what you know

Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be

The song is, among other things, a call to recognize and mitigate the bias that guides our decisions and attitudes.

30+ years later, our recognition of our own bias is still suspect and can impact basic functions of support and service organizations like Quality Assurance.

My guest this week is Ines van Dijk and she is on a mission to build better quality programs and Fight the Bias along the way.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss:

· The Strategic Purpose of QA (Quality Assurance)

· 3 Common Types of Bias in QA

· How AI can both Mitigate and Amplify Bias

· Strategies for Mitigating Bias

· The First Step to Building a QA Process

Connect with Ines on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/inesvdijk/

https://qualityinsupport.com/reducing-bias-in-reviews/

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

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

“Everybody lies.”

Recently, I started re-watching the TV series House on Netflix. Probably the most famous quote and theme from the show is, “Everybody lies.” As diagnosticians, Dr. House and his team had to use the data presented to them to find the truth about what was really happening to their patients.

Surveys may be the voice of the customer, but as Dr. House says, “Everybody lies.” But we have access to other forms of data to inform us about what’s happening with our customers.

My guest this week is Craig Stoss, Director of CX Services at PartnerHero, and he believes organizations should use their customer support data to deliver the best possible experiences for customers.

This week on Next in Queue, we discuss at:

· 4 Types of Customer Data

· The biggest challenge related to utilizing data

· Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data

· Next Issue Avoidance

· Why Product Teams should listen to Support data

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cstoss/

https://www.stoss.ca/

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

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