The Trusted Guide Podcast with Mark Slatin

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#27: Pt. 1 - Lou Carbone, the Father of Experience Management Apr 06, 2023

Show notes

A Conversation with Lou Carbone, the Father of Experience Management, Part 1 of 2

In this fascinating two part mini-series, Lou Carbone distills decades of thought leading ideas that cut through years of misled efforts to delight customers.

In Part 1 we cover:

The difference between customer driven vs. customer centric
The shift from the industrial economy to the experience economy
Why we are "inhaling exhaust and expecting to get oxygen afterwards"
Why CX leaders understand the power of unconscious need

Be sure to listen to Part 2 for more great gems from Lou

Meet Lou

Lou Carbone is the founder, president and chief experience officer of Experience Engineering, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm dedicated to customer and employee experience management. He is widely regarded as the father of the experience management movement. Founded in the late 1980s, Experience Engineering helps companies discover what really makes customers tick and offers solutions to help them increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and repeat business.

A frequent college lecturer, writer and inspirational speaker; Carbone is the author of "Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again" (Prentice-Hall, 2004), which won the Fast Company Reader's Choice award.

Companies that Carbone and Experience Engineering have worked with include Pizza Hut, KFC, Avis, H&R Block, General Motors, IBM, Taco Bell, Progressive Auto Insurance, John Deere, Blockbuster, IBM, La Quinta, Time Warner Cable, Deluxe Financial Services, Office Depot, Audi of America, Royal Bank of Canada, and Boston Children's Hospital.

Carbone has lectured and has taught at many leading educational institutions including the Harvard Business School, Columbia, The Cornell School of Hospitality, Haas School at the University of California at Berkeley, Texas A&M's Center for Retail Studies, Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota, Boston University, UNLV and Parsons School of Design.

Prior to starting Experience Engineering, Carbone was an advertising executive with major agencies in New York, Detroit and Minneapolis. While with Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Grey Advertising, and Manoff Geers Gross, he worked with wide array of companies including American Tourister Luggage, National Car Rental, Walt Disney World, Eastern Airlines and Howard Johnson.

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#26: A Five Step Model to Earn Customer Loyalty with Mark Slatin & Patty Soltis Mar 30, 2023

Show notes

A Five Step Model to Earn Customer Loyalty with Mark Slatin

I've interviewed some of the legends in customer experience on The Delighted Customers Podcast but this episode will be a twist!

In this episode, Patty Soltis, CCXP, and a leader of Patient Experience at The Moffitt Cancer Center, turns the tables and interviews ME!

It was fun to be on the other side of the table and share why CX is the growth engine for businesses.

In this episode:

What does it mean to empower my clients?
Why consistency is so important for business results like referrals, retention, and cost reduction
The often underestimated cost of customer friction (and how to reduce/eliminate it)
The 5 Step Model I take to empower my clients and my "why" for serving them

Meet Mark

Above all else, I'm passionate about customer experience because I've learned that when we serve others well, we positively impact their lives and make the world a better place in the process.

I help clients by listening to them and really understanding their goals, vision, and challenges. Whether you are just launching or ready to take the journey to the next level, I leverage my "real world" experience that only comes from serving as a CX practitioner in the financial services industry.

My focus for the last decade has been leading an award-winning CX journey from launch to maturity at Sandy Spring Bank . During that time, the Bank received numerous awards including The CX Innovation Award (2X), Great Places to Work, Forbes America's Best Bank, and American Banker Best Bank to Work For, The Washington Post Top Workplace, among others.

I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Customer Experience Professionals Association and Chair the Higher Education Subcommittee. I designed and taught a Customer Experience Management Course in Loyola University's MBA program where I held an adjunct professor position. I have served as a judge for the CX of M Awards, and have been featured in the book Chief Customer Officer 2.0 and Customer Experience Magazine.

I have been a guest on numerous industry webinars and podcasts and have been a featured speaker and panelist. Prior to my CX leadership role, I served as a management consultant for companies in a variety of industries dramatically improving their business results. I helped them craft their vision, mission, and core values in addition to designing their revenue growth strategies.I spent the first two decades of my career in sales management working for Fortune 500 companies like Boise Cascade and Standard Register. I hold a BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland, and an MBA from Loyola University Maryland.

When I'm not working, you might find me enjoying time with my kids and grandkids, tinkering with home projects, and chasing a little white ball around.

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#25: Using the Right Data To Improve Your Customer's Experience with Sami Nuwar Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

Sami Nuwar got his start as a researcher and evolved to a CX leader at Verizon before shifting to Medallia, a VoC software company that designs solutions for businesses.

It won't take you long to recognize the depth of Sami's wisdom.

With all the talk about AI and machine learning, Sami talks about a very straightforward approach to using data to drive customer loyalty.

In this episode we discuss:

The rational and emotional sides of data
Why loyalty overall has dropped and how data can reverse the trend
How AI can be used to scale up customer data in a few clicks
Why you should never rely on one metric

Meet Sami

Prior to joining Medallia, Sami led experience management programs in global B2B environments, with a diverse background that includes large telecom service & consumer goods manufacturing.

With a deep background in insights, process improvement, and governance, Sami has helped drive customer-centric transformational shifts, aligning execution toward desired experience outcomes.

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#24: The Intersection of Customer Success and Customer Experience with Adrian Brady-Cesana, CXO, CX Chronicles Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

The Intersection of Customer Success and Customer Experience with Adrian Brady-Cesana, CXO, CX Chronicles

Adrian spent his early years in Manhattan, helping launch Saas startups in a fast-paced environment. He learned a lot of valuable lessons through the school of hard knocks and he shares some of that wisdom with us on this episode.

We cover a lot of ground and some of the highlights include:

Customer Success vs. Customer Experience
What's the biggest side benefit of investing in CX?
Why is adoption so critical after a sale?
What are the unexpected benefits of connecting the dots between EX and CX?
What it means to build "team pods" to ensure customer success and attract the best employees

Meet Adrian

I have been working in Customer Experience, Customer Success, Customer Service, Sales, Marketing and Sales Operations Management and Consulting for 15+ years.

I've had the pleasure of working in New York with ACV Auctions, Hometeam, onefinestay, H.Bloom, and a plethora of other venture capital backed executive leadership teams.

I've been starting, building and scaling companies and internal customer focused teams my entire career. I've developed an in-depth understanding and appreciation for what it takes to succeed in growth phase businesses as well as the importance of understanding the power of implementing a cohesive business strategy focused on the The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback.

Today I spend much of my time working with our amazing clients at CXC helping them optimize the Four CX Pillars within their businesses. I'm also the host of of a top 10 CX/CS Business podcast called The CXChronicles Podcast, a weekly show that interviews customer focused business leaders from across the world. Lastly I have a book on Amazon, check it out now to learn more it's called "The Four CX Pillars To Grow Your Business Now -- The Customer Experience Playbook".

Building businesses and finding new customers to serve has always been one of my greatest passions. I've started several of my own companies over the years including; RPM Marketing, Property Armor, Simply Travel, Maids of Manhattan, American Buddha Co, WNYCatering, WNYBnB & most recently CXChronicles, as well as the CXChronicles Podcast. I love building teams and working with customers, it's my favorite part of the game, hands down.

Please feel free to reach out to me today -- I'm always open to meeting and discussing new business opportunities and finding new connections for the future!

CXC Bio:

CXC believes that customer experience & success is modern selling + a team sport that must be prioritized in any business or industry as you grow and scale!

We help our growth focused clients navigate the jungle of CX/CS/RevOps by helping them optimize The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. We do this by working with customer facing teams to ensure that your investments in customer experience & customer success are yielding positive ROI & leading to revenue growth & retention.

CXC provides our clients with a variety of Fractional CXO & CX/CS/RevOps focused managed services including; CX Scorecard assessments, customer journey mapping, curating living playbooks & FAQs, constructing your Voice of Customer Dashboards & providing you with CXC certified leadership support by leveraging the "CX Nation" our community of over 12K+ customer focus

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#23: Why AI is a Game Changer for Customer Experience with OCX Recognition CEO Richard Owen Mar 09, 2023

Show notes

Why AI is a Game Changer for Customer Experience with OCX Recognition CEO Richard Owen

Richard Owen is an innovator.

The former CEO of Satmetrix, who helped Fred Reichheld elevate Net Promoter Score to become the world's most popular customer loyalty metric, is innovating again.

Richard is the CEO of OCX Cognition, a newly formed technology company with the aim of disrupting the status quo in the customer experience world.

In this episode we discuss:

The economic disparity between the 3 NPS segments
What's the difference between AI, machine learning, and neurolinguistic programming
How can this data help companies improve their customer experience?
The evolution of customer research and why AI is a game changer

And a whole lot more.

Meet Richard:

Richard Owen

Founder and CEO

Richard Owen is one of the best-known thought leaders in the Customer

Experience industry. While CEO at Satmetrix, his team led the development

of the Net Promoter Score methodology with Fred Reichheld, which created the

most widely used approach to measuring customer experience in the

world.

Together with Dr Laura Brooks he co-authored "Answering the ultimate

question" which quickly became the "how to" guide for NPS practitioners. Richard launched netpromoter.com which was supported by over 20,000 subscribers; the NPS Certification program with over 6,000 companies taking part and a conference series that ran for 10 years and 20 conferences. Today he is the founder and CEO of OCX Cognition, a software and data science company using machine learning to create real time NPS and customer health performance data. Richard has enjoyed a 30-year career centered around the use of technology to transform business operations.

As an executive at Dell Computer Corporation, he oversaw the re- engineering of the companies supply chain operations, the growth of Dell's consumer business in Japan and, as VP of Online, the scaling of the world's largest electronic commerce business

of the 1990s. He has led two software companies to successful exits, with AvantGo (mobile enterprise software) achieving a public listing on the Nasdaq and Satmetrix, the cloud software co-creator of NPS, sold to NICE Systems. Richard has held several board positions in both public and private companies and has served on compensation, audit and special board committees.

An active venture investor, he most recently joined the board of Ajua, an innovative pioneer in customer data based in Nairobi, Kenya. Having lived in Japan, the UK and the USA, he is a true international business thinker and Africa is a new and exciting passion for him. Richard holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Nottingham, England, and an MBA From the MIT Sloan School of Management. He lives with his wife Susan in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Contact:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-owen-98ba3/

https://ocxcognition.com/company/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ocxcognition

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#22: The Do's and Don't of an Impactful Customer Experience Discipline with Bob Azman, CCXP Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

The Do's and Don't of an Impactful Customer Experience Discipline with Bob Azman

Bob is a CX veteran.

He's been around long enough to know what works and what doesn't.

In this episode he helps you accelerate the path to delighting customers as we discuss:

His mountaintops and potholes
The difference between behavioral vs. skill training
The importance of a strategic envelope around technology
Where corporate social responsibility intersects CX

Meet Bob

Bob Azman is the Chief Customer Service Officer and Consultant for Innovative CX Solutions, LLC. Innovative CX Solutions is a Customer Experience Consulting firm specializing in CX Design and Execution, Sales and Service Experience Design and Talent Development. As a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), Bob is a thought leader, practitioner, podcaster, educator, and business partner helping organizations become more customer focused and easy to do business with. Bob is an Emeritus Chair of the Board of the Customer Experience Professional Association (CXPA.org).

He is the former Vice President, Traveler Experience, Americas and Global responsible for all customer operations in Canada, the United States and Latin America as well as global sites located in Poland, Manila, Bogota, and Costa Rica as well as related experience in India and Australia. In this role, Bob transformed the customer experience for clients and travelers of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Prior to joining CWT, Bob was Chief Experience Officer, at Avtex Consulting Solutions, LLC. In that role, he consulted with companies in a variety of industries on developing and implementing strategies to improve their overall customer experience and service operations. Bob also brings a wealth of diverse, general operations and business background as an executive at large corporations such as Thomson Reuters, Ceridian, and Deluxe Corporation.

Bob earned both his MBA and bachelor's degrees from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. He is an Adjunct Professor in the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management's Supply Chain and Operations department and at the Rutgers University School of Business Executive Education programs.

He is a frequent speaker on developing effective customer experience and service strategies at industry forums and conferences where he receives top ratings on his interactive approach and unique ability to combine academic principles with real life experiences.

Email: bob@innovativecx.com

Website: www.innovativecx.com

Podcast: https://linktr.ee/AllThingsConsideredCX

Twitter: @innovatve_cx

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#21: Winning Stakeholder Support: The "Daisy Chain Strategy" with Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

Winning Stakeholder Support: The "Daisy Chain Strategy" with Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP

What are the first steps in leading a customer experience practice in any organization?

Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP, VP of CX Strategy at UKG, shares her thoughts about how she applied her deep knowledge of psychology and research to accelerate CX success at one of the world's largest HR software companies.

Roxie co-architected the CX Index™ during her 13 years at Forrester Research. She is a CX thought leader and currently serves as the Board Treasurer on the CXPA. We get into the specifics of how to transform

In this episode:

What are the first steps after taking the lead on a CX discipline?
What do you need to double down on?
What's the Daisy Chain Strategy to build trust with key stakeholders?
How to avoid being labeled as a market researcher?

We get into the specifics of how to transform a CX practice. This episode is full of deep insights.

Meet Roxie

Roxie is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and the Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy for UKG, a provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions with more than 14,000 employees. Recently, Ultimate Software (Roxie's original company) merged with Kronos to become UKG. Shortly after the merger, she was promoted to her current VP role.

Roxie came to UKG from Forrester in 2018. There, she had led a customer experience practice centered around the CX Index, which she cocreated. It helped organizations diagnose their CX quality and identify how to improve their outcomes. This visibility into what drove other programs' success helped Roxie bring in new practices that matured UKG's program.

Roxie's very focused on using the data to diagnose the most efficient and effective way to target resources to improve the customer experience in a way that maximizes business impact. She was recognized with the CXPA's CX Impact Award in 2020 and now is that organization's Board Treasurer. She was also a finalist for the CX Leader of the Year in 2020.

Reach her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rstrohmenger/

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#20: What Leaders Must do Today to Compete in the Future with Bill Staikos Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

What Leaders Must do Today to Compete in the Future

Bill Staikos is a CX thought leader and futurist.

Bill shares his thoughts on the big misses and the right path for business leaders when it comes to building the customer experience as a part of their culture.

Bill talks about the intersection between technology and customer experience. He shares what will separate the future winners.

In this episode we cover:

Avoiding the survey break-fix trap
Embedding empathy into your culture
Democratizing insights throughout the enterprise
Re-thinking the ROI of CX argument
Common CX pitfalls
What to do now to prepare for the future

Bill uses a number of real world examples to support his points.

This episode is full of gems!

Meet Bill

Bill Staikos is the Senior Vice President of Industry Solutions with Medallia.

With more than 25 years in financial services and a primary focus on driving customer and employee experience excellence, Bill is a recognized client advocate with proven expertise in envisioning and executing holistic customer-centric strategies.

Staikos previously served as the Head of Customer Experience at Freddie Mac where he was responsible for the creation, execution, and measurement of the Customer Experience strategy across Freddie Mac's $2.3 trillion single family guarantee portfolio. Prior to Freddie Mac, he was Head of Customer Experience Analytics & Strategy for Chase's Home Lending business, and he held senior-level, global positions with Credit Suisse Group AG and American Express.

He hosts an award-winning podcast, Be Customer Led, with listeners in nearly 80 countries, and is also co-founder of Monday Mentor Meetup, a LinkedIn group dedicated to helping Customer and Employee Experience practitioners accelerate their careers.

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#19: The Blueprint for Customer Obsession with author Marbue Brown Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

Marbue Brown believes companies that focus on Customer Centricity are missing something. In his new book, Blueprint for Customer Obsession, he highlights why customer obsession strategies are what excel sustainable business results.

In this episode he shares: The difference between Customer Obsession and Customer Centricity The benefits of adopting customer obsession as a strategy If and how Southwest Airlines can recover from their recent troubles

Marbue Brown Bio: Marbue Brown is an accomplished customer experience (CX) executive with a track record of thought leadership and signature business results at some of the most iconic companies on the planet, including JP Morgan Chase, Amazon.com, Microsoft Corporation, and Cisco Systems. As a CX leader, he guided the Chase Consumer Bank to record performance in the JD Power Retail Banking Study, NPS and branch satisfaction.

He transformed the Andon Cord mechanism at Amazon.com from a primarily manually triggered to system to a primarily automated system triggered by machine learning and statistical models. The Andon Cord is one of Amazon.com's most significant mechanisms it uses to personify its Customer Obsession culture.

Marbue devised and codified the NSAT Improvement Approach at Microsoft, which was widely used by business units to dramatically improve CX as well as international subsidiaries who won nationwide awards in the process. He co-authored seminal articles about customer experience measurements that are widely cited in industry. He is a sought after speaker and published author on customer experience, business strategy and economic policy.

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#18: Disrupting the C-Suite with Kathy van de Laar, CCXP Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

Disrupting the C Suite with Kathy van de Laar ‖, Founder, EarlyBridge

Summary Kathy is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and strategy expert. Gaining C-Suite support is one of the biggest challenges for customer experience success.

In this episode she shares: The "Blank Brown Paper" story Why leadership is the catalyst for customer centricity How to engage reluctant leaders When to take emotional risks with leaders

Bio Kathy van de Laar Kathy van de Laar, CCXP, works at the crossroads of customer experience and organizational development. She is founder of EarlyBridge, a bureau focused on mobilizing organizations around the customer. EarlyBridge helps organizations build the bridge between their strategy and business results. Kathy has more than 20 years of experience in people driven change. Her clients include telco's, energy companies, insurance, FMCG and financial and insurance institutions. Before founding EarlyBridge, she held various management, leadership and consulting positions for Digitas, IBM, and KPMG in the United States and EMEA. She helps companies with customer strategy and mobilizing employees around strategy and results. Her team's work has been recognized with multiple Dutch CustomerFirst Awards for business impact and change, and the global Change Management award from the Association of Talent Development. She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and a Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) board member and mentor, focused on helping customer experience professionals develop and grow in their careers.

Met vriendelijke groet, Kathy van de Laar, managing directeur, CCXP M +31 (0)6 2124 1245 EarlyBridge BV Ellermanstraat 18A, 1114 AK, Amsterdam-Duivendrecht, The Netherlands | www.earlybridge.nl

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