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That said, a professional networker (or one of those consultants to consultants) would likely say, along the lines of good vibes and karma, that it’s better to go into situations like that more with a sense of giving than receiving. Or even, “Do you need that?” This guy’s out there, basically soliciting.
I came across the following article I wrote in an earlier part of my consulting career (I was much thinner then). Without knowing it at the time, I foreshadowed a lot of reflection that I use now as an executive CX consultant and Fractional CCO. This is not the case at all in the world of consulting.
I don’t have a lot of experience applying for work, as an independent consultant myself, but from time to time, something comes across my transom that piques my interest. I once had an experience with a consulting organization (I won’t name names) that is in my business and was interested in expanding their pool of consultants.
I know some of my fellow CX consultants go so far as to use the ROI of CX as their calling cards…not only engaging in the discussion but also leveraging it as the heart of their pitches to clients. How do you sell CX to leadership? I’ve even written about it myself on several occasions.
One Big Question I hear a lot these days is about AI and automation. How will AI impact CX? How the heck should I know? Its clear Im the one writing all these articles, isnt it? I wonder if well reach the singularity and the world will implode if someone uses AI to write an article about AI and the impact it has. Surely itll be a glowing review.
I wrote the other day about what I thought was a conclusion drawn about the impact of automation and AI and all that stuff on CX, from a conversation Id had with a colleague.
Having spent a lot of time in education—corporately doing plenty of L&D work, having had lots of clients delivering workshops and such, and of course as a professor—I’m intrigued by how folks learn. What’s lost on a lot of educators, unfortunately, I’ve found, is the purpose of education in the first place.
I used to say that I don’t know anything about Marketing. Then I started spending a lot of time with marketers. They’re an interesting bunch, and considering that, as I like to say, Marketing and CX share two sides of the same coin—that being the Brand Promise—I’ve had many conversations as our work compliments each other.
I recently had a particularly silly experience with the US Postal Service.* I mailed an envelope (containing nothing more than a copy of my very thin, light book) from Denver across the country to a client. The estimated arrival time on the east coast was to be two days.
As a CX consultant and Fractional Chief Customer Officer, at times I’ve had clients and worked with companies in highly-regulated industries; from healthcare to insurance as well as others. In the online webinar panels I moderate, I also come across senior leaders at companies in these sorts of fields all the time.
I wouldn’t be a self-serving, self-promoting consultant if I didn’t have a few frameworks to show you, so at the risk of shaming myself and losing my membership card, here’s another one. Over the course of five articles, I’ll get into each of them, but here I’ll lay out what I term the Principles of Good CX.
As an independent consultant, I’m always looking for work (perhaps you can relate). We know what bad service looks like, we know what poor support looks like. If you’re like me, you almost feel a sense of moral obligation to call it out when you see it (just peruse my blog or Twitter feed).
As a consultant, I can relate. And if part of your job is to physically go to another city, spend the night, and then go to another city, spend the night there (and so on), of course, your boss puts you up in a hotel, too. That’s how it works no matter what you do for a living.
And if you got some slick CX consultant to come in and convince you that this magical NPS thing is directly tied to sales and revenue figures, well I can understand. Then again, if there was no strategic reason for you to do CX in the first place, that question may have seemed just as logical as any other, right?
Fast forward now to my life as a Fractional Chief Customer Officer and CX consultant (and constant pest when it comes to preaching about the value of feedback), and it occurs to me: Maybe it’s okay sometimes to ask for a positive review. Last week I had (yet another…I live in Colorado, after all) pit fixed in my car’s windshield.
This is obviously some sort of automated Jira- or Salesforce-generated (sorry, Jira and SF…it’s not your fault…although you should have consultants onboard who can explain ways your clients should and should not use your tools) message. Funny, I’m still out here with questions.
I knew it was coming, and frankly, it was my own fault; the desktop warning and request that I either pick a time or it’ll happen of its own accord “outside of active hours,” as if a self-employed consultant has such things. Nevertheless, I’ve been assimilated and do expect to fall prey to how The Borg chooses to run my electronic life.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how often Brand Promises are impacted—negatively, often—by the company we choose to keep; which is to say, our business partners.
As a consultant, I can relate. And if part of your job is to physically go to another city, spend the night, and then go to another city, spend the night there (and so on), of course, your boss puts you up in a hotel, too. That’s how it works no matter what you do for a living.
I posted about this way back when it happened, but I’m enjoying working from the mountains these past couple weeks, so the experience is in mind, and I figure it’s worth drawing your attention to it in a more formal manner: Copper Mountain ski resort in Summit County, Colorado, is my mountain. I love it, so I’m partial to them anyway.
I’ve been thinking lately about what causes CX to go south. Well, okay, I do that a lot anyway. Naturally, considering my Framework , I concentrate a lot of my efforts on identifying processes and systems that are causing misalignment with a Brand Promise.
Your mom may have told you to always read the fine print. Or maybe it was a college professor or something along those lines. If you’ve ever interacted with an attorney of course you’re familiar with the admonition. By and large that’s always a great idea, even when working with a trusted and Customer-centric brand.
I recently had to return a pair of shoes I’d purchased online. I realized immediately when I tried them on just after they were delivered that the size was wrong.
Some of your Customers are idiots. Hey, full disclosure, that includes me. In fact, in some circles, I’m known as the “LCD,” or least-common denominator. As the joke goes, Z is the dimmest bulb in the group, and as such, if I get something, everybody should be able to understand it.
I wrote recently about how the term “representative” can take on a different meaning depending on whether you consider your front-line agents as representatives of you as a brand, or of your Customers as they navigate your systems. When dealing with a hospitality brand recently, that came to mind.
I once had a great co-worker and mentor who, when teaching his Lean Six Sigma courses, would drop the quote: “Never take ‘No’ as an answer from somebody who doesn’t have the authority to say ‘Yes.’” Now, in his context, we were talking about internal politics and change management in general.
“Your feedback is important to us.” Sometimes those are just words. And some Customers are suckers and will fall for it. A while back, I had some work done with a service provider and, to say the least, the experience was not up to snuff whatsoever.
Folks who work in your Customer-facing organizations have a lot of different names. Agents, technicians, associates (which always makes me chuckle a little bit ), service providers, and others. One that often makes me think is: Representative. It’s curious to me because it can go either way, can’t it?
I know I rail on about VoC (truth be known, that’s not my strongest topic of expertise; I’m much more of a Process Engineer)…Sure, VoC and Customer Insights inform the work we do to improve and better align our Customers’ Experiences with our Brand Promise, but it’s really just the first step.
It’d be a little melodramatic (not beyond me, mind you) to call it the bane of my existence , but yes it’s a bit of a task that complicates my days: Explaining, when I say I’m “in CX” or that I “do CX” that, no, I’m not a ‘contact center guy.’ I don’t do Customer Support or Service. I’m not in “Customer Care” or whatnot.
There’s an adage in the Process Engineering world that one should never automate a bad process. I have friends who are in the automation business, and there are actually a lot of companies out there who are leveraging new technologies to streamline their operations.
It was a long time ago that I first wrote about the difference between CS and CX. Here, define CS as Customer Support, Customer Service, Customer Success, or Customer Care (that last one is actually CC, but you get the drift).
We recently needed a battery replacement in one of the household computers, so I made an appointment at the brand’s retail location in a local mall. The process of registering and scheduling an appointment was super easy, and the appointment times were remarkably specific, so I figured I was in for a very tightly-run experience.
A potential client contacted me a while back and was inquiring about my framework (well, thanks for asking, of course, you can check it out in my new book !).
I wrote a while back about how a big-box home improvement retailer made it less convenient for military folks to receive their in-store discount, while saying the purpose was to make it more so for us.
I wrote a while back about how a big-box home improvement retailer made it less convenient for military folks to receive their in-store discount, while saying the purpose was to make it more so for us.
We recently swapped service providers here at home for one of our communication services. The entire experience was a headache and we almost immediately regretted making the switch from our previous provider.
A potential client contacted me a while back and was inquiring about my framework (well, thanks for asking, of course, you can check it out in my new book !).
Last week I wrote about an interaction I had with a large well-known brand that provides services for homeowners. It was a cautionary tale about how challenging it is to actually communicate with some brands.
I had a support incident a while back with one of the service providers we use in our home. In fact, I had two incidents in close succession with two different brands.
You’ve heard this before, right? “Due Due to current circumstances, we’re experiencing longer-than-usual wait times.” Those “circumstances” can vary. Over the past twenty months, of course, it has been Covid-19. Sometimes it’s the holidays. Sometimes brands stiff-arm you without even giving you the courtesy of telling you why.
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