Category Archives: Communication

The core of a customer experience program

With so many customer experience programs beginning, many people are asking, “Where do I start?”  It’s a question that I have heard often enough that I thought I might do a blog series on what you want to focus on in the first year of your customer experience program.  And it might be interesting for those of you who are already well under way in your program. 

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The Power of Listening

I recently had the opportunity to speak at a summit meeting for a SaaS firm in the area called Appfolio  One of the great questions that came up during the Q&A was this (forgive the paraphrasing): “What is one of the most powerful things you can do to improve your customer experience?”  My answer:  active listening

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A confessed customer experience geek

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Robert Stephens, of Geek Squad fame, and I was fascinated with one particular image he shared, which I immediately and shamelessly appropriated.   I loved hearing him speak and then he showed a Venn diagram (shown below) and really won me over.  Yes, I do enjoy a really good Venn diagram.  Come on, be honest who doesn’t love them?

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Rhythm of Business

I’ve been thinking a lot about timing lately – so much of success can hang on that.  But timing, the right timing, doesn’t have to be left up to luck.  You can plan for it.  We’ve been talking about developing a clear understanding of the rhythm the business uses to make decisions.  The better that rhythm is understood and mapped out, the better functions like mine (customer insights) can adapt to it and deliver what analysis is needed to help support and drive business decisions. 

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When predictability is good or “How to Train your Dragon”

My husband and I took our seven year old daughter to see the new 3D movie “How to Train Your Dragon” this weekend.  http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/  We thoroughly enjoyed it – funny, sweet, well designed and yes, predictable.  I found it interesting, hearing some of the negative comments from the other movie goers regarding that very predictability. 

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The Deliberate Customer Experience

So tell me, is your customer experience deliberate?  That was one of the questions posed last week at the NPS conference and it made me think – what do you mean by deliberate?  Does that mean written down?  Does that mean everyone in the company knows it?  I think that you have to be both – every employee should know it, feel it really, and it should be written down.  Because if no one writes it down, everyone believes we all have the same idea… and I would bet that isn’t the case.  It may be shades of grey close but still, is that deliberate enough?  This is beyond mission statements and core values – this is what you want your customers to see, think and feel when they interact with you and your products/services.  Right?  What do you think?

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Engaging Stakeholders

Few things will kill the development of a successful program designed for change than unengaged stakeholders.  For many, the desire to get things done quicklycauses the elements of communication and engagement to fall by the wayside.  If you have been in that situation, you know how easily you end up wondering at the end why your new or improved process isn’t going as well as planned. 

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My Top 6 Customer Survey Design Suggestions

I’m going to try and avoid my soapbox here but I will warn you in advance that I may not be successful.  You be the judge…

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Why is simple so hard?

I was inspired by a conversation with a colleague, to write about this very topic.  Why do we tend to add complexity?  In other words, why is simple so darn hard?  We appreciate it, we recognize it when we see it, we even admire it – but aspire to it as an integral thing, nope, that’s just not natural behavior – or so it seems. 

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Social Media Frenzy

Okay, I admit it, I am new to the social media whirl.  I am an admitted party wallflower – sociable and gregarious in compact and focused settings but throw me into a party of strangers and watch me cringe.  I spend more wondering what to say, trying to remember my “hmmmm, that’s interesting” questions and trying to determine what the polite time to leave is, that I never get to the actual enjoying part.  Sad, is it not?

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