CX...Oh!

Let's explore in our autumn-special episode the age-old yet freshly brewing bond that couples organizational excellence and customer experience with our vibrant guest Serena Riley, CX leader at Conversight.AI.

Serena's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serenariley

Xperience the magic of service!

We've boarded the new year wagon here at CX...Oh! (it's never late ;)) to decode E.P.I.C. experiences (yes, the EPIC ones only!) with Federica Roux, Chief Experience Officer at Odity. Here's a glimpse of what they read like.

E. Easy

P. Personalized

I. Intuitive

C. Contextual

Tune in to get the details of 'how' to incorporate them in our company culture.

Federica's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/federicaroux/

Experience the magic of service!

Customer success - just another jargon or a substantial integrant in the experience that a customer has with an organisation? Let's decrypt it with Irit Eizips, CEO, CSM Practice.

Irit's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eizips

Experience the magic of service!

What is it like to succeed with customer success? We're canvassing it with Maranda Dziekonski, Chief Customer Officer, Swiftly.

Maranda's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marandaanndziekonski

Experience the magic of service!

Talking real business numbers here, we're uncovering how experiences create tangible value for companies with Diane Magers, the founder of Experience Catalysts, a sherpa for new and developing experience-obsessed organisations, and the Emeritus Chair for Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).

Diane's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianemagers

Experience the magic of service!

What truly makes a great customer experience? Speed. Convenience. Consistency. Friendliness. And human touch—that is, creating real connections by making technology feel more human and giving employees what they need to transmit it to the end user. That's for the recipient, which in turn leads to business growth. Ever looked at the other side of the coin, what lies in here for the humans delivering this experience? Deliberating with us on this aspect is Adriana Salazar Hidalgo, a passionate CXer from Barcelona, who shares that embellishing the whole cake is a sense of fulfilment beyond words, which is the binding thread in a community. It's the community now that a company should wish to create for all stakeholders. 

Adriana's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianasalazarhidalgo

Experience the magic of service!

Hunting for the magic metric in CX? We're disentangling the experience barometer mania this week with Kristi Faltorusso, an award winning Customer Success Executive with experience in building, scaling and transforming customer success organisations at hyper-growth B2B SaaS companies. Currently, she's the Chief Customer Officer at ClientSuccess, and also the Founder of Keeping CS Simple, a content experience, supporting the simplification of Customer Success for Executives, CS Leaders, CPSs and more.

Kristi's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiserrano

Experience the magic of service!

Introducing to you in this episode, the woman running South Africa's 1st 100% black women owned CX Management Consultancy - Mandisa Makubalo, CEO, Unlimited Experiences SA, who has been ranked amongst the Top 100 CX Global Thought Leaders for 2021, is an author, community leader for Women in CX Africa chapter and serves on various boards across the country. 

We dig deeper into what lies at the core of strengthening your relationship with the customer that sets a sturdy foundation for an experience that self-nurtures.

Mandisa's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandisa-makubalo-9b180b6b

Experience the magic of service!

In the CX...Oh! studio this time is someone who believes that a remarkable customer experience is your best marketing strategy, it's Dan Gingiss from Chicago, an established international keynote speaker and customer experience coach. He teaches businesses and executives how to make the brand lovers louder than the haters by creating experiences they can’t wait to share with their friends and followers. Dan is the author of The Experience Maker: How To Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait To Share (September 2021) and Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media. He also hosts the Experience This! Show podcast and The Experience Maker Show.

Here's what we take up with him:

- Why traditional marketing no longer works

- How to solve the big problem of the “leaky bucket”

- What gets shared on social media (and what doesn’t)

- How customer experience affects your bottom line

- What the WISER model is and how it’ll positively change your business forever

- Why you need a Chief Experience Offer to solidify executive leadership

Dan's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangingiss

Experience the magic of service!

When we view technology through the lens of an individual CX function, connecting the dots becomes slightly blurred unless we adjust to the key CX activities: understanding customers and their experiences; analysing data collected from those experiences; acting on the insights; and continually managing CX efforts across the brand. And to ace the art of using this clarity to score goals, in house today is Gregorio Uglioni, host of 'CX Goalkeeper' podcast and a specialist in Business Transformation, Innovation and Customer Experience. Here's what we discuss:

- Service excellence as a customer focused value generating engine

- CX on Soccer pitch

- Data, technology and human touch : key enablers for service experience improvement

- Proactivity as a game changer

- Value Irritant Matrix

Gregorio's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorio-uglioni

Experience the magic of service!

Exactly as closing the loop efficiently automates electrical circuits, it makes businesses flourish, most specifically with reference to customer experience. The question is how to do it with consistency, and that's what we are taking up with Michael Brandt, a profound CX strategist and the founder of CX-Excellence.com based in Switzerland. Closing the loop demonstrates to customers that they are being heard and that their concerns are being taken seriously. Points that we cover:

- Process vs procedure

- Power that empowers

- Acting on negative feedback or complaints

- 5 step guide on how and where to begin

Michael's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-brandt-ccxp-9512a33

Experience the magic of service!

What does the art of magic have to do with customer experience?  

In this episode, we unlock the anatomy and physiology of the word M.A.G.I.C. and how to embrace this art to create a magical experience for those we interact with. All with the award-winning magician Ricky Locke!  In addition, Ricky is a speaker, behavioural trainer with 15 years of retail leadership background, and host of the 'Unlocked' podcast who inspires businesses to create memories that last a lifetime.  

Note: Stay till the end for a sweet magical cookie ;)  

Ricky's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricky-locke  

Experience the magic of service!

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a widely used metric to measure the experience of customers. But does it work for your organisation given raw? With Stine Marsal, Denmark's leading CX expert who's greatly contributed to directing smoother experiences for the customers of the three biggest Danish brands, namely, Copenhagen Zoo, Tivoli Gardens, and Copenhagen Airport; we'll look into how the NPS can be tailored to provide you with a view that matters to future decision making as a company. Here's what we take up:

- Using NPS-ish approach as the driver of top management focus 

- Co-creation of a CX culture with employee engagement as the driver

- Moving from strategy to CX culture while creating tangible change

- What frontline staff absolutely need from their organisation, in an age where all the easy customers go digital

Stine's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stinemarsal

Experience the magic of service!

Punk exploded out of the back of progressive rock with it’s democratic, DIY, back to basics approach that inspired both a cultural and musical movement and change in mindset. It dared to be different and was ok with the fact that not everyone liked that. So, is it time to consider what a punk rock version of CX would look and feel like, particularly given that many reports suggest that around 70% of customer experience projects fail to deliver on their promises? Let's check it out with our guest Adrian Swinscoe, an aspirant CX punk, best-selling author, Forbes contributor, blogger & podcaster.

Adrian's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianswinscoe

Experience the magic of service!

Happy CX Day fam! 

CX...Oh! is celebrating this special occasion with Dennis Wakabayashi, the global voice of CX.

The first Tuesday of October marks a global celebration of the companies and professionals that create great customer experiences, it's CX Day, general euphoria over all things CX! It’s a day when organizations roll out the red carpet for their customer-facing employees and CX experts, highlighting their contributions and underscoring the company’s commitment to excellence in customer experience.

And then comes Wednesday in October (the day after CX Day) that’s really most telling – because in many organisations, that’s when customer-facing employees are reminded of something quite disheartening.

Join us to figure out how we can make CX a genuine commitment not just on a single day of the year, but on all 366 days (taking it on the higher side for the love of customers :)). 

Promise to meet you again on the day after CX Day every year for #CXConversations - CX Wednesday movement!

Dennis' LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denniswakabayashi

Experience the magic of service!

McKinsey Global Institute predicts that AI (Artificial Intelligence) could increase productivity by up to 40%, double the growth rate, and lead to an annual economic boost of up to $13 trillion in 2030. We get to the 'how' and 'why' of it with Gaurav Bhattacharya, CEO at involve.ai, who's on a mission to make the world's companies more customer centric. He is a product nerd who started coding at 10 yrs old ,built his first video game at 12, and has been recognised as Forbes30under30.

We talk through:

- AI as the biggest opportunity in customer experience

- Whereabouts of customer success

- Customer support on steroid

- Right time to invest in customer success

- Being the hardest worker in the room

- Scaling with AI

Gaurav's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhattacharyagaurav

Experience the magic of service!

Is there any purpose of CX (Customer Experience) other than retaining customers and keeping the bottomline glowing? Of course, there's something that goes beyond business. It's about creating a CX practice for betterment for all involved; customers, employees, communities, society and shareholders. But what does that actually mean and how to bring it to play? That's what we're learning from Christopher Brooks, a customer strategist with over 20 years of agency, clientside and consultancy experience working with corporates across Europe and the Americas, he is now the MD at Clientship.

Here's what our chat includes:

- Fitting ‘beyond business’ philosophy in CX

- Roots of CX as a concept

- Not vouching on frictionless experiences

- Flip side of exceeding customers' expectations

- Sustainable customer centricity

Christopher's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-brooks-1425b7a

Experience the magic of service! 

Empathy, empathy, everywhere and lots of drops to drink! While the world's going gaga over empathy (and yes, we should), let's figure out in this episode with Charlotte Spain why empathy isn't the most appreciated characteristic in customer service and what works instead. Charlotte is a customer experience leader creating industry-defining, end-to-end customer experiences across all customer-facing channels, and currently oversees strategy and execution of rider experience at BuzzBike.

We gist about:

- Delivering against industry-leading KPIs 

- Customer loyalty and longevity in sustainable logistics business

- CS as a career path

- Role of universities in shifting paradigm

Charlotte's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-spain

Experience the magic of service!

Wondering how organizations and leaders attain, sustain, and regain the ultimate level of distinction? Oh wait, what is the 'ultimate level of distinction' first? Let's get that sorted with Scott McKain, a globally recognized authority on how organizations and professionals create distinction to attract and retain customers, and stand out in a hyper-competitive marketplace. His book, ICONIC, was named on Forbes.com as top 10 business books of 2018. Scott’s expertise has been quoted multiple times in USA Today, the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, and International Herald-Tribune. His commentaries were syndicated on a weekly basis for over a decade to eighty television stations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia – and he’s appeared multiple times as a guest on FOX News Network. Arnold Schwarzenegger booked him for a presentation at the White House with the President in the audience, and Scott played the villain in a movie named by esteemed critic Roger Ebert as one of the 50 greatest movies in the history of cinema, directed by the legendary Werner Herzog. 

Here's what our chat constitutes:

- Three Destroyers of Differentiation

- Four Cornerstones of Distinction 

- Criticality of customer experience

- Being 'iconic' - the ultimate level of distinction

- Factors of distinctive performance

- Reciprocal respect

To know more about Scott, visit https://scottmckain.com

Experience the magic of service!

Wondering where I'm going? Nah...I'm here only! 'I'll Be Back' is the title of Shep's upcoming release. Sounds powerful, eh? And that's why we've invited him so we can get a taste of this treasure before the rest. Shep Hyken is the Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations, an award winning keynote speaker and New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling business author. As one of the leading experts in the field of customer service and experience, Shep works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His book in question includes the must-have tools, tactics, and strategies you need to get customers to say, "I'll be back!"

Here are some of the points we touch upon:

- Designing and creating an experience that gets customers to return, again and again

- Distinguishing between repeat customers and loyal customers

- Monitoring the trends

- Building the "I'll Be Back" culture

- Amazing experiences being within the reach of every company 

If you'd like to know more about Shep and how he amazes every customer every time, visit www.hyken.com 

Shep's latest book 'I'll Be Back' is available here: www.illbebackbook.com

Experience the magic of service!

On our show is Sharon Boyd, the Chief Customer Officer for MKL Innovation and MD for MKL CX – a Customer Experience Agency. She has led multi-million pound transformation programmes for FTSE 100 companies in the UK, is a Director at the Customer Institute, a published author, among top 25 UK Customer Experience Awards winners 2021, and a captain on the CX World Games. We dissect with her the following topics.

- Conjoint nature of business strategy and customer strategy

- CX creation and maintenance

- AI as CX enabler

- Factors of CX maintenance 

- Mindset shift from internal to external focus

- Experience optimisation across digital touchpoints

Sharon's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boydlsharon

Experience the magic of service! 

Obsessed with the undying temptation to make data driven decisions in the present world, we clarify what to expect when incorporating dashboards in the CX framework with Sue Duris, Co-Founder and President of M4 Communications, a global marketing and customer experience strategic consulting firm that helps organizations create omnichannel experiences to engage employees and drive customer value. As an experienced Marketing and CX leader, with former positions as CMO, VP of Marketing, and Director of Customer Experience, and a history of helping companies create customer-centric models, she takes us step by step through the process of deriving value from so-called vanity metrics when it comes to measuring customer experience. Some of the bullets we chip at:

- Growth Triangle - Culture, Employee Experience, Customer Experience 

- Painting the complete CX picture 

- Focusing on the number, not the mindset

- Understanding 'why' and 'how' of the chosen metric

- Continuous Optimization

- Customizing Dashboard Composition

Sue's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sueduris

Experience the magic of service!

Our guest this weekend is Melissa Moore, a Retail Consultant, Mentor and Trainer based in Ireland. Built up on a strong foundation of working with well known international names in retail including high street brands, supermarket chains and premium hospitality for over 20 years, her business, The Retail Advisor, empowers retailers to reach their potential through sales growth and excellence in customer experience. In this authentic conversation with her, we see how CX works for retail per below points:

- Reimagining the retail experience 

- Cementing customer loyalty

- Personalised CX journey

- Understanding customer preferences 

- Who's reaping the benefits of technology - Business or Customer

- What to watch out for as a customer

Melissa's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mooremelissa1

Experience the magic of service!

We're heading to simplify 'Luxperiences', i.e., Luxury Experiences in this episode with Santosh Sharma, CEO of BookMyJet, India's 1st tech platform targeted at making private jet flying an affordable, convenient, and easy affair. What we definitely share in common is the passion for aircrafts, and building on it, we find out how open communication lays a strong foundation for memorable customer experiences as we dive into: 

- Exceeding customers' expectations

- Accessibility of information

- Revolutionizing private charters

- Websites & social profiles as new storefronts

- The reign of transparency

Santosh's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santosh-sharma-8b80326a

Experience the magic of service!

What does it mean for a customer to trust a service provider? Does trust equate to loyalty? Is it something to be expressed or lived? Hear from Jan Uriga, a CX and Innovation Strategist, Change Management lecturer at Vienna University and Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences in Bratislava on how companies live the trust in light of:

- Future of customer interactions

- Brand visibility or visibility branding

- Financial side of customer satisfaction

- A day called 'CX Day' 

Jan's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/januriga

Experience the magic of service!

Following Richard Branson who says, “Loyal employees in any company create loyal customers, who in turn create happy shareholders”, we set out to understand the equation EX = CX (Employee Experience = Customer Experience) with Claire Boscq-Scott, No.3 Top Global Customer Service Guru, author of 3 books (with a No.1 Amazon bestseller), BizShui creator, a marvellous keynote speaker who’s spoken in over 20 countries and the winner of the Institute of Director award. Here's what we talk about:

- Causality dilemma-what came first? The chicken or the egg?

- Employees as brand advocates 

- Rule of reciprocity

- Self care before customer care

- Organisational focus 

- Data for good

- An exclusive BizShui tip for great employee experiences

Claire's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claireboscqscott

Experience the magic of service!

Analyse the inverse proportionality between state of CX worldwide and number of CX professionals through the lens of Alex Mead, a global Customer Experience Executive and an adept leader working to transform experiences across contact centres, specialising in digital, social & omnichannel platforms, customer service operations innovation, CRM implementation, and CX strategy. We focus on:

- Betting on CSX (Customer Service Experience) versus CX (Customer Experience)

- Shifting nature of customer expectations 

- Adapting to Gen Zers

- Deteriorating state of global CX

Alex's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmead

Experience the magic of service!

Joining us from Flanders is Elke Dens, a tourism marketing maven and one of the major driving forces to lead VisitFlanders into ‘Travel to Tomorrow’, a vision based on regeneration. As Chairwoman of the Marketing Group of The European Travel Commission, she has been aligning the marketing directors from 28 countries in Europe with a focus on long term sustainable added value. Being an expert of the COVID-19 tourism recovery program of the United Nations, she has successfully launched projects like FairBnB, and is a proud board member of The Travel Foundation and the Impact Travel Alliance. Here's the chassis of my wanderlust discussion with her:

- Identifying the real customer

- Multifunctional experience

- Terminology matters - Tourist v/s Traveler

- Future of tourism

Elke's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elkedens

Experience the magic of service!

Joining us from the fashion capital of the world, Milan, is Billur Caglayan Inal, who is the Head of Net Promoter Approach (Customer Experience) at DHL Express Europe, the most international company in the world. Wondering what's common between fashion and this podcast? The ever-evolving nature. Billur is originally from Turkey, has a BSc in Manufacturing Systems and Industrial Engineering, BA in Classical Ballet and MSc in Management. We derive some inspiration from her passion of:

- Breaking the silo culture

- Hunting for continuous improvement opportunities

- Embracing multichannel learning 

- Delivering constant exceptional customer service in a more than ever global world

And yes, now Rome can be built in a day ;), thanks to the pandemic! Listen in to know how.

Billur's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billurkocabasoglu

Experience the magic of service!

Fasten your seatbelts as we take off to the aviation industry with our guest, Inderjit Singh, who has served as the CEO of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi, the largest and the busiest airport in India. Presently, he is a Consultant with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Montreal, Canada and has held diplomatic positions in several countries worldwide in the development of aviation infrastructure. Together we cruise through the skies of:

- Servant leadership 

- The 'airport' culture of service

- Influencing an experience

- Patching up with EI (Emotional Intelligence) 

- Complementing United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) 

Inderjit's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/inderjit-singh-b1615216

Experience the magic of service!

Let's step into the realm of real CX with Nicholas "Z" Zeisler, a Fractional Chief Customer Officer, a former Fortune 100 CX Executive, an Assistant Professor at the US Air Force Academy, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and as of this summer, a published author. His forthcoming book is titled "We're Doing CX Wrong...And How To Get It Right". We propose practical solutions to practical boardroom problems such as:

- Bubble office of the Chief Customer Officer (CCO)

- What's wrong in 'doing' CX (Customer Experience) wrong?

- Journey from VOC (Voice of Customer) to Process Improvement

- Falling in love

- Simon Sinek's 'Why'

Nick's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeislerconsulting

Experience the magic of service!

In this tête-à-tête with Bhavana Bindra, MD (South Asia) at Rehau, we traverse the territory of remodelling customer experiences with the power of a relatively soft word, 'care'. Here's what we take a sneak peek into:

- Feasibility of happy customers = happy employees formula

- Acropolis strategy for business success

- Foundation of a customer-oriented culture

- How everything speaks

Bhavana's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavana-bindra-14b3a796

Experience the magic of service!

Today we make our way into the education industry with Abhishek Gupta, Pro chancellor of Jagran Lakecity University, to understand the crucial factors contributing to the plenitude of service threads in schools and universities. Here are the points we check:

- Evolving from delivering degrees to delivering experiences 

- Harnessing diversity in expectations

- Democratically involving stakeholders

- Sustaining a service oriented culture

Abhishek's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishekmgupta

Xperience the magic of service! 

Preaching 'charity begins at home' is intended to help people in need. When we take it to the next level and begin practicing 'service begins at home', it gradually creates a world full of love and care on integration. We tap into the hands-on experience of our guest, Carlos Santos, CEO of Amorim Cork Italia, the Italian leader in the production and distribution of cork stoppers with over 600 million corks sold annually to around 3600 wineries; Tedx speaker, Director of AssoIndustria of Veneto, and sustainable development enthusiast on the points below:

- Customer's perception v/s company's reality

- Nurturing a customer-centric culture

- Role of senior leadership in bagging the right to customer-driven growth 

- Igniting the experience aficionado within you

Carlos' LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-manuel-veloso-dos-santos-5a9740178

Experience the magic of service!

CX...Oh! goes live with my birthday special episode today ;) and we are with the World's No. 1 Service Guru Ron Kaufman. Yay!!!

As the title 'Serve Better, Care More, Love Life' directs, we'll explore the following questions as we embark on this maiden voyage.

- What is service?

- Why does this term have a bad reputation historically?

- What entails being a service professional?

- How better service translates to a better world?

Ron's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronkaufman

Visit https://ronkaufman.com to learn more about Ron's work.

Experience the magic of service!