The Delighted Customers Podcast with Mark Slatin

• Stuck? Unlock Trust to Get Approval!

  Are you a customer experience leader facing roadblocks when trying to get your initiatives approved?   In this episode, Mark delves into the power of trust with Charlie Green, co-author of "The Trusted Advisor," to uncover strategies for breaking through bureaucratic walls and fostering buy-in.   Key discussion points include: The importance of building strong relationships with your leaders and understanding their priorities. Why expediency can backfire and how taking the time to connect with stakeholders can save you time in the long run. The Three Levels of Listening: Learn to listen beyond the facts to uncover the context and emotional meaning behind what others say. The Trust Equation: Discover how credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-orientation impact your trustworthiness and how to identify areas for improvement. Practical tips for building intimacy and creating a safe space for open communication. The significance of role-modeling trustworthiness as a leader. Tune in to gain valuable insights on cultivating trust, overcoming resistance, and driving meaningful change within your organization.   Bonus: Charlie shares a link to a trust assessment tool that can help you identify opportunities to deepen trustworthiness. Link to TQ Assessment: https://trustsuite.trustedadvisor.com/ Other resources: Building Trust with Key Stakeholders, The Delighted Customers Podcast with Charles H. Green - https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast/episode/28000408/building-trust-with-key-stakeholders-author-charles-h-green The Trusted Advisor (book) - https://qrcd.org/5RkY The Four Trust Factors (book) - https://qrcd.org/5Rkc The Trust Equation explained - Trust Matters Blog - https://qrcd.org/5Rkn   Meet Charlie: Charles H. Green is an author, speaker and world expert on trust-based relationships and sales in complex businesses. Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates, he is author of Trust-based Selling, and co-author of The Trusted Advisor and the Trusted Advisor Fieldbook.  He has worked with a wide range of industries and functions globally.  Charles works with complex organizations to improve trust in sales, internal trust between organizations, and trusted advisor relationships with external clients and customers.  Charles spent 20 years in management consulting. He majored in philosophy (Columbia), and has an MBA (Harvard).   A widely sought-after speaker, he has published articles in Harvard Business Review, Directorship Magazine, Management Consulting News, CPA Journal, American Lawyer, Investments and Wealth Monitor, and Commercial Lending Review.   More about Charlie: https://trustedadvisor.com/consultants/charles-h-green  

  --------  

  31:59
• #122 Support, Don't Solve: Empowering Leaders to Create Authentic Spaces

  How can leaders support their teams effectively without falling into the trap of fixing everything themselves? Leah Marone is a psychotherapist with expertise in treating anxiety and mood disorders. She also works with athletes on performance anxiety issues, demonstrating her ability to understand and manage high-stress situations. If you can relate, there are a ton of gems in this show, including: What are some of the problems or ways that leaders lead that is the opposite of creating authentic spaces and solving? How can leaders balance the need to control and deliver results with the approach of validating and empowering their employees? What are the steps involved in transitioning from being a solver to a supporter as a leader, and how can these steps be applied in real-world scenarios? How can leaders effectively inquire and motivate their employees while ensuring that they maintain ownership of their tasks? And hey, did you catch our role-play experiment? That was like a masterclass in what not to do—Leah's advice saved the day by turning a "Ron-ian disaster" into a pathway to peace.  Meet Leah Leah Marone, MSW, LCSW, is a seasoned psychotherapist and corporate mental wellness consultant based in Charlotte, NC, with over 20 years of extensive experience. Leah received her Master's degree in clinical social work from the University of Texas at Austin, a top-ranked institution in social work education. She has conducted over 20,000 therapy sessions and contributed articles to reputable publications such as Psychology Today, The Atlantic, and Newsweek, earning recognition for her expertise in mental health. Leah's personal journey as a former anxiety-ridden Division 1 basketball player fuels her passion for working with high-achieving individuals, often described as type A go-getters. She specializes in addressing internal pressures, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and performance anxiety. In her dual role as a mental wellness consultant and board member, Leah collaborates with both companies and nonprofits. Her areas of focus include anxiety and stress management, burnout prevention, boundary setting, mindfulness practices, effective communication, and emotional intelligence. Leah's holistic approach involves a thorough assessment of company culture to tailor her services, meeting organizations where they are and addressing their specific needs.  Leah's innovative 5-step initiative underscores the significance of mental wellness organization-wide, identifying areas for growth and connection. This initiative aims to prevent high turnover, address burnout, and enhance overall collaboration and productivity.  Leah has facilitated dozens wellness workshops for educators, leaders, and healthcare providers and has presented her acclaimed "Support, Don’t Solve" framework on prominent stages. Her inspirational keynotes provide practical tools for self-awareness that can be seamlessly integrated into busy schedules. Renowned for her expertise in boundary setting and resilience, Leah is a sought-after speaker for leadership groups. She addresses individuals navigating perpetual burnout, often fueled by relentless inner critics and the challenges of people-pleasing. Her insights offer a transformative guide for cultivating resilience and establishing healthy boundaries in demanding professional environments. Beyond her professional commitments, Leah enjoys traveling, hiking, exercising, and working on her upcoming book slated for publication early next year. Additionally, she actively contributes as a coach for her daughter's club soccer team, showcasing her dedication to both personal and community well-being. https://www.leahmarone.com/    

  --------  

  45:30
• #121 Achieving Value Realization with a CX Toolkit

  Brad Smith, CCXP, who brings his extensive experience from working with major companies like Symantec, Yahoo, and Sage. Mark and Brad delve into the future of customer experience (CX) management and explore a variety of valuable tools that can be applied to enhance CX. Brad shares actionable insights on hidden value, value realization versus value erosion, and introduces the concept of value mapping. He also discusses the importance of having a clear brand promise and how it plays a crucial role in delivering a cohesive customer experience. Key topics covered in this episode include: The importance of leveraging a comprehensive CX toolkit, including techniques like empathy maps, journey maps, and value mapping. A detailed discussion on identifying and unlocking hidden value within a company by examining areas with high customer traffic, and differentiating between value realization and value erosion. A fascinating case study on Brad's work with AARP, showcasing how to diagnose and rectify systemic issues that lead to customer churn and operational inefficiencies. The concept of value mapping, its significance, and how it helps in uncovering friction points in customer experiences. The critical role of brand promises and how they should guide every interaction to ensure consistency and memorability. Insights into the symbiotic relationship between marketing and CX in delivering on the brand promise. Meet Brad Brad has had the privilege of leading organizations in their customer-centric transformation at Symantec, Yahoo!, and Sage as their CCO/CMO. Across his 30+ years of leadership, Brad has led global support and service functions for Oracle, Openwave, and Verisign as well as small start-ups. Leveraging decades of experience and insights gained from over 50 client engagements, he knows how to quickly identify, unlock and realize the trapped value concealed across any organization. Currently, Brad is the President & Chairman of the Board of the Consortium for Service Innovation and through the work of the Consortium, has helped 100’s of customer service organizations innovate better business models to deliver deep value to their customers while better engaging their employees to grow their businesses. He is also one of their recognized Innovators. Brad is also a Co-Founder and Tribal Advisor at TribeCX Ltd, an alumni member of the Forrester Chief Customer Executive Council, and the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) council, and a alumni Board Member (2018-2021) & recognized Innovator of Customer Experience Professional Association (CXPA). He is also a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP). He is a recognized thought leader in the Customer Experience and Service Innovation space and has published dozens of articles for various online publications including Forbes, New York Times, Fox Business, and Entrepreneur. He is a frequent keynote speaker across the CX and Customer Service industries. Brad is home based in Irvine CA and is the Founder/President of Vector Business Navigation, Inc. – A customer experience/customer success transformation consulting provider - committed to mentoring inspired leaders to successfully navigate their CX ecosystems since 2015. You can learn more about Brad here: All things CX Considered Podcast with Bob Azman The Conversational Podcast with Julie Roehm Reasoned Podcast with Sabrina Meditz

  --------  

  35:20
• #121 Understanding Customer Value

  I'm thrilled to host Dr. Maxie Schmidt, a principal analyst at Forrester's Customer Experience Practice. Maxie is a global thought leader in CX measurement and value for customers, and she dives into the significance of customer value metrics. From how companies can effectively measure what their customers truly value, to the intricacies of trust and co-creation, Maxie offers unparalleled insights that are sure to challenge conventional thinking and provide actionable strategies for CX leaders. This conversation stands to be invaluable for anyone eager to foster stronger customer relationships and drive business success through customer-centric strategies. Why You Should Listen: Learn about innovative approaches to measuring customer value. Understand how to build trust and maintain customer loyalty. Discover ways to co-create value with your customers. Gain actionable insights from a leading expert to elevate your customer experience strategies. Key Questions: What are customer value metrics, and why has measuring them been a challenge for companies? Maxie provides a foundational understanding of customer value metrics and sheds light on common misconceptions in current measurement practices. Can you explain the concept of co-creation of value with customers and provide practical examples? Maxie explores the co-creation of value by using real-world scenarios, emphasizing the importance of customer engagement and mutual value generation. What specific steps can companies take to better measure the value that customers perceive they are getting? She discusses methodologies and strategies businesses can implement to accurately gauge the perceived value from the customer's perspective. Why is it crucial for companies to understand their role in the customer's value network, and how can they identify where they should play? Maxie elaborates on the need for companies to identify the right touchpoints in the customer journey, backed by examples like DBS and AARP, to ensure they are adding genuine value. Tune in to this episode for a transformative conversation that promises to enhance your approach to customer experience and business growth. Forrester Articles on Value: How we define value: https://www.forrester.com/blogs/value-for-customers-a-60-second-look-at-the-top-11-driver-categories/ https://www.forrester.com/blogs/three-truths-about-value-for-customers-hint-you-cannot-deliver-it/ Deeper dive into why companies cant “deliver” value: https://www.forrester.com/blogs/the-customer-is-neo-not-you/ And here a recent piece on journeys and value: https://www.forrester.com/blogs/energize-your-journey-portfolio-optimize-journey-value-for-customers-and-the-business/ Meet Maxie! Maxie Schmidt VP, Principal Analyst Forrester Dr. Maxie Schmidt is a principal analyst in Forrester’s customer experience (CX) practice. She leads Forrester’s research on CX measurement and value for customer. In her role, she advises leaders on how to build effective CX measurement programs, make the case for CX, and cocreate value with customers. Maxie is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and leads CX workshops at events. Previous Work Experience Before joining Forrester, Dr. Schmidt was a management consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners. She led global engagements with firms across industries to improve products and pricing and to design pricing processes and governance. Prior to that, Maxie was an assistant professor of services management at the School of Business in Ingolstadt, Germany. Education Maxie earned her doctorate and taught as the chair of service management at the School of Business in Ingolstadt, Germany. She was awarded an Emerald Literati Best Paper Award for research on the frustration that customers experience in loyalty programs. She also published a book on optimizing the quality of customer interactions in contact centers.

  --------  

  42:14
• #120 Strategies for Integrating AI in CXM from a Marketing Legend

  When you think of combinations who comes to mind? 👉 Jobs and Wozniak? 👉 Proctor and Gamble? 👉 Hewlett and Packard? When it comes to customer experience and one-to-one marketing, hands down, it's Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. They are the individuals behind the Peppers and Rogers brand. Don has authored or co-authored eleven different business books, collectively selling more than a million copies in 18 languages.  In 2022 Peppers and Rogers released the greatly revised and updated Fourth Edition of their graduate-level textbook and desk reference, Managing Customer Experience & Relationships (Wiley, 2022). I had the chance to pick Don's brain about the intersection of AI and customer experience management. It was a lesson in how to think about the value customers expect and the value companies desire. There were so many powerful insights including: 👉 Transforming Customer Interactions with AI: Don highlighted how AI, especially generative AI, can revolutionize real-time, individualized customer interactions by analyzing emotional sentiment and providing empathetic, immediate responses. 👉 Rethink Success Metrics: Don emphasized the importance of measuring success through customer-centric metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV) and proposed the innovative concept of 'Return on Customer (ROC)' as a more accurate gauge of business performance over traditional Return on Investment (ROI). 👉 Fostering Trust for Long-term Value: A significant part of his message was about building trust with customers. Don stressed that maximizing customer value inherently requires businesses to always act in their customers’ best interest, nurturing trust and long-term relationships. Don's vision and experience provide a roadmap for leveraging AI in creating truly personalized customer experiences. For more pearls of wisdom from Don Peppers, tune into the full episode of the Delighted Customers Podcast! Meet Don Peppers During the course of his career, Don has authored or co-authored eleven different business books, collectively selling more than a million copies in 18 languages.  His first book, The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time (Doubleday, 1993), coauthored with business partner Martha Rogers, kick-started the Customer Relationship Management discipline (“CRM”), which has evolved over the years into the “customer experience” field.  This is near and dear to my heart because I’ve had the blessing to teach customer relationship management at Michigan State in the first CXM Masters Degree program in North America.   So you’ll have to understand, this is an extra special episode for me. To have the Tom Brady, the Wayne Gretzky, the Babe Ruth, and the Michael Jordan the GOAT on the show is a big deal. Finally, In 2013 Don and Martha were inducted into the Data & Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame, along with their business colleague Seth Godin (Don wrote the foreword for Godin’s 1998 breakthrough book Permission Marketing).  In 2022 Peppers and Rogers released the greatly revised and updated Fourth Edition of their graduate-level textbook and desk reference, Managing Customer Experience & Relationships (Wiley, 2022). As an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Menlo College, Don teaches from this very textbook, and when time permits he Harvard Business Review articles: World Class Bull (May 2009), an HBR Case Study commentary, with Martha Rogers Is Your Company Ready for One-to-One Marketing? (Jan-Feb 1999), with Martha Rogers and Bob Dorf Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever? (Mar-Apr 1995), with Martha Rogers and B. Joseph Pine II    

  --------  

  44:10

More Business podcasts

Trending Business podcasts

About The Delighted Customers Podcast with Mark Slatin