The Customer Experience Podcast

Latest Episodes:

63. Creating Fans Through Human Connection w/ David Meerman Scott Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

If you're looking to grow your business, then having a raving fan base can help you get you there. Passion is contagious, and they are passionate about what you have to offer.

So, as your fandom flourishes, so will your company.

To accomplish this, you have to give people an experience they'll always remember – one built on human connection. And that's hard to do.

But you can't have truly invested fans without it.

Fortunately, our guest on this episode of The Customer Experience Podcast, David Meerman Scott, knows a thing or two about what it takes to create a solid company fanbase.

Reasons to Listen:

Why real (not virtual) human connection is vital to business success
What the underpinnings of Fanocracy consist of
Why giving things away for free is beneficial to making more fans
How to increase face-to-face proximity with current and potential fans through video
When data obsession gets in the way of human connection

Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

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62. The 6 Layers of Learning: Bloom's Taxonomy w/ Ethan Beute Feb 27, 2020

Show notes

Because you're listening to this podcast, I can make one pretty good guess about you… You're a learner. You intentionally seek out information, meaning that you actively learn as a regular part of your life.

I'll go out on another limb and say that in your week to week — at work, at home, or somewhere else — you're probably also in a teaching role. In other words, you're both a learner and a teacher. (To my mind, this is also called leadership.) I've got something fabulous for you in this episode that I think you're going to enjoy as much as I have. It's called Bloom's Taxonomy.

My name is Ethan Beute, the Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, coauthor of Rehumanize Your Business, the host of The Customer Experience Podcast, and the cohost of the CX series on the B2B Growth Show. In this episode, I'll be sharing my love for learning and how Bloom's Taxonomy can deepen your understanding of how and why we know what we know.

What I talk about:

How I first became aware of Bloom's Taxonomy
A brief history and overview of how the taxonomy has evolved
What the 6 layers of learning are
Why Bloom's Taxonomy matters in your day-to-day

Check out our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher.

61. Creating Instant Connection With Anyone You Want to Know w/ James Carbary Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

If you want your business to grow and succeed, it needs to be built on a solid foundation of relationships. Obviously. However, creating connection with the right people can be quite difficult — even damaging — if you go about it the wrong way. What if I told you that creating connection is as simple as collaborating with anyone you want to know to create valuable content?

This very episode of the Customer Experience Podcast is both a consequence of and a demonstration of content-based networking. About four years ago, I created some content with someone who is now my friend. It's a relationship that grew relatively slowly. It took a couple of years of content collaboration before any deals were made. But this is what content-based networking is all about: making content with people with the aim of creating a connection that could turn into future business. You really have nothing to lose with this approach. Worst-case scenario – you end up with stellar content and new relationships.

I'm so honored to introduce you to my friend James Carbary, Founder of Sweet Fish Media, host of B2B Growth, and author of Content-Based Networking.

What we talked about:

Improving CX with content-based networking
Making your own luck to create valuable content and meaningful interactions
Focusing on the process of building relationships instead of the outcomes
Taking a journalistic approach to content creation
Balancing online connection with offline connection

Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

James was inspired by Never Lose a Customer again by Joey Coleman and all the books by Gary Vaynerchuk
James's book is Content-Based Networking
I've interviewed James before at BombBomb HQ.
He's interviewed me twice at B2B Growth (Ep 248 and Ep 381).

Subscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.

60. The Context Marketing Revolution w/ Mathew Sweezey Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

As the customer experience evolves, so do our motives.

Consumers are no longer motivated by a great piece of content (if they ever were). They're motivated as long as you can offer them the best solution at the most essential time.

In fact, the director of market strategy at Salesforce — Mathew Sweezey — wrote an entire book on what exactly goes into context marketing. That book, entitled Context Marketing Revolution: How to Motivate Buyers in the Age of Infinite Media, lays out in detail how marketers can break through the world of endless noise we've built.

Luckily for us, Mathew was kind enough to hop on The Customer Experience Podcast and answer a few questions.

What we talk about:

Why collaboration and executive buy-in make for top marketing performers
How businesses can grow by way of holistic customer experience
The origin of his new book, Context Marketing Revolution
Why we've become immune to attention-based marketing
How to take a human-centered approach to marketing
The benefits of using video in a holistic CX

Resources mentioned in this episode:

EF Schumacher - Small is Beautiful
Searles, Locke Levine Weinberger - The Cluetrain Manifesto
Pine & Gilmore - The Experience Economy
Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Message
Seth Godin - Permission Marketing
Aldous Huxley - Island

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59. The Pirate's Guide To Sales: Learn and Steal from The Best w/ Tyler Menke Feb 11, 2020

Show notes

When you constantly learn from the best, you become the best. Today we're learning from some of the best salespeople, who know that the secret to improving customer experience is no secret at all. My most recent podcast guest spent a few years as a Marketing Director before becoming a Territory Manager for UPS, selling supply chain solutions. For the past decade, he's been blowing out his quotas in sales and account management roles. He currently serves as a Manager of Strategic Accounts at Myriad Genetics.

On this episode, I interview Tyler Menke, Manager of Strategic Accounts at Myriad Genetics and author of The Pirate's Guide to Sales: A Seller's Guide for Getting from Why to Buy.

We chatted about everything from Simon Sinek, TED Talks, losing a parent, ending a book, and why medical sales are so hard to break into. You'll also hear about:

Our mutual adoration for Simon Sinek, Daniel Kahneman, and TED Talks
Establishing VALUE
How strategic accounts is like a quarterback
What sales should understand about marketing

Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

The Pirate's Guide to Sales — Tyler's book

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

TED Talks

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58. Uniting Customers and Brands Through Experiential Marketing w/ Ruthie Schulder Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

Three experience-based goals are the foundation of an amazing agency that builds the concept of experience right into its name: The Participation Agency.

Translating digital experiences into lived experiences.
Creating remarkable, resonant experiences without abandoning data and analytics.
Building affinity between customers and brands through experience.

The extreme laser-focus on experience obviously caught my attention, but as I learned more about The Participation Agency, I saw that its success can be credited to the dedication and energy of the two founders… one of whom I got to interview on The Customer Experience Podcast.

She's been named Inc's Millennial CEO Rising Star and one of Adweek's Disruptors, one of 39 women leading a revolution in advertising, media, and tech, and she's also the co-founder and CEO of The Participation Agency — Ruthie Schulder.

We had such a great conversation about how experiential marketing builds brand awareness and ultimately relationships.

You'll also hear about...

Experiential marketing
Definitions of placemaking and 360 marketing
Why it took hustle to build the agency
The experience Ruthie creates for her partners (clients)
Why you don't really need an MBA

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57. Customer Obsession As Your Key Differentiator w/ Ned Arick Jan 28, 2020

Show notes

Experience differentiators were the subject of a recent LinkedIn post that grabbed my attention for the way it spoke to the heart of this podcast… aligning to invest in creating and delivering better experiences for our customers. I asked its author to be a guest on my podcast to hear more about his experience in operations, account management, biz dev, and sales roles.

I was so excited to interview Ned Arick, Account Executive at YourWelcome, after connecting with him because of his LinkedIn content.

Keep listening or reading below as Ned dives into what it really means to rewrite the narrative and how he keeps it real on his LinkedIn. The insights he shares will apply to everyone who wants to build relationships and keep the customer experience holistic.

What we talked about:

Becoming "the educator" and not just the trusted advisor
What his 12-year-old cousin has to do with hyper-competition
How to actually rewrite the narrative
What LinkedIn has done for Ned's reputation (hint: it's good)
Ned's testimonial about the humanizing power of video

Check out these 2 posts of Ned's we mentioned during the podcast:

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56. 3 Customer Experience Myths Debunked & Set Straight w/ Ethan Beute Jan 23, 2020

Show notes

The most economically valuable thing you can do is to meet customer expectations.

Meet the expectations. Not exceed customer expectations. Not surprise and delight your customers at every turn. Actually, the best way (economically and experientially) to serve your business and especially your customers is to meet their expectations.

I'm Ethan Butte, here today on The Customer Experience Podcast to share my appreciation for a book that I'm, yes, late to the party on. It's called The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi.

The first chapter of The Effortless Experience starts out by calling out myths that tend to be overlooked by marketing, sales, and leadership — but which are highly relevant to these people and their organizations. There's so much focus on customer delight and the so-called "wow moments," but not enough focus on something much simpler and more economically valuable: meeting customer expectations and reducing their effort.

Delighting customers in the service channel does not pay.
Customer service drives disloyalty, not loyalty.
The key to mitigating disloyalty is reducing customer effort.

Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi
Matthew Dixon's other coauthored books, The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer
Episode 34 with Mike Redbord: 4 Things Every Customer Wishes You Understood About Them

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55. How "Slightly Better Than Average" Creates Amazing Experiences w/ Shep Hyken Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

Amaze every customer every time … that sounds like a promising foundation for a remarkable customer experience, doesn't it? That's the theme of the conversation you're about to enjoy. My guest today is Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations and a customer service expert and speaker. He's the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six books, among which include:

In this episode of The Customer Experience Podcast, I talk with Shep about what it means to be amazing, how amazement applies to the customer experience, and how to use video to beat expectations by just 10% each time, every time.

Shep has years of experience in customer service and has been a speaker on the topic for decades. Keep on reading as Shep dives into our discussion about how to deliver an amazing customer experience by being just slightly better than expectations — and about why "fine" is the danger zone for satisfied customers.

You'll also hear:

Why you have to exceed expectations by 10%
How nothing's changed in CX in 50 years
Video techniques to deliver amazement
Your brand is a promise
How a car dealership amazed Shep with its superior customer service

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54. Unlocking the Science of Video w/ Vanessa Van Edwards Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

Today, we're talking about how people work. It's no understatement to say that knowing how people think and what makes them tick is a must for everything from making sales to just holding conversations that uplift both sides.

I was incredibly excited to talk to Vanessa Van Edwards, Lead Investigator at Science of People and bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People.

In this episode of The Customer Experience Podcast, we chatted about 3 types of people, why video is so important, how Vanessa still challenges herself to be authentic after 12 years on YouTube, and ways to open and close conversations. This episode is not to be missed for anyone who's ever had to make boring small talk or wanted to know how to develop deeper connections faster.

What we talked about: