How to Leverage Customer Experience to Grow Your Business from Brad Cleveland

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<v Speaker 1>So customer experience?

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<v Speaker 1>Some would say it's a failure.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't see it that way, but we definitely need to learn from it.

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<v Speaker 2>Brad Cleveland is the guy when it comes to customer experience.

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<v Speaker 1>Customer experience is the big umbrella.

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<v Speaker 1>Customer service certainly fuels customer experience.

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<v Speaker 2>He's built customer experience with companies like Apple.

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<v Speaker 2>He's worked with US government, Australian government.

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<v Speaker 2>You must know what your stuff is.

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<v Speaker 1>Roll up your sleeves and do the work with your team to make sure you're creating great experiences and harnessing these tools.

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<v Speaker 1>How can they enable your brand to shine through and for you to really create great experiences for your customer?

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<v Speaker 2>How do you define success in your life?

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<v Speaker 1>I've come to believe that success is finding your calling and pursuing it with everything you've got.

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<v Speaker 2>What is your thoughts on how success happens?

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<v Speaker 1>There are three big things.

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<v Speaker 1>One is we need to find our passion.

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<v Speaker 1>Secondly, build big, exciting goals around that.

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<v Speaker 1>And for me there's a third.

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<v Speaker 1>This one is probably most critical in my case what needs to happen today?

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<v Speaker 2>How does failure teach success?

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<v Speaker 2>What?

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<v Speaker 1>needs to happen today.

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<v Speaker 1>How does failure teach success?

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<v Speaker 1>I had a chance to meet the late Dr W Edwards Deming.

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<v Speaker 1>This was some 30 years ago now and he was.

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<v Speaker 1>I was in my early career and he was in his nineties, but I had a chance to have a conversation with him.

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<v Speaker 1>And I'm this young guy having this conversation.

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<v Speaker 1>I asked him, dr Deming, all the organizations you've worked with, if you could snap your fingers, what would you change you've worked with?

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<v Speaker 1>If you could snap your fingers, what would you change?

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<v Speaker 1>I'll never forget.

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<v Speaker 1>There was no hesitation in his response.

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<v Speaker 1>You had this booming low voice.

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<v Speaker 1>He said Brad, drive out the fear.

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<v Speaker 2>Did we shift from customer service to customer experience?

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<v Speaker 1>Customer experience is the big umbrella.

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<v Speaker 1>Customer service supports customer experience.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not in and of itself customer experience, but what we can learn from customer service certainly fuels customer experience, how can we improve products and services, and all of that.

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<v Speaker 1>So the shift's really been in terminology, but the principles have always been there.

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<v Speaker 2>Customer service seems to be reactive, whereas customer experience is really about being proactive.

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<v Speaker 2>Teach me more about that.

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<v Speaker 1>So customer experience some would say it's a failure Anytime we need to provide customer experience or customer service.

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<v Speaker 1>Rather, I don't see it that way, brad.

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<v Speaker 1>We're always going to have a need for customer service, but we definitely need to learn from it.

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<v Speaker 2>So how do we succeed at the customer experience?

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<v Speaker 1>We've got to have a vision, first of all, that we all as a team can get behind and this sounds like a cliche, but we've got to put a process behind it.

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<v Speaker 1>We've got to listen I mean like really listen and that goes way beyond surveys, because we're also over-surveyed as customers.

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<v Speaker 1>So what are we learning as we interact with customers?

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<v Speaker 1>What are we seeing in posts on social media?

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<v Speaker 1>What are we seeing in our operational data?

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<v Speaker 1>We've got to initially roll up our sleeves and do the hard work to get the journey right.

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<v Speaker 1>Just think through how are they progressing through their experience with us.

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<v Speaker 2>There's no magic to it.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the things you teach is how to see things from the customer's viewpoint.

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<v Speaker 2>How do we succeed at that?

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<v Speaker 1>I see, brad, a lot of leaders, those I tend to admire most.

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<v Speaker 1>They're out there actually rolling up their sleeves and doing the work.

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<v Speaker 1>So just those experiences of being out there working the counter, handling customer calls, having those conversations you learn so much and definitely involve your team, especially those who are working directly with customers.

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<v Speaker 1>They're close to what's happening.

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<v Speaker 1>They can tell you with no hesitation where the opportunities are and where maybe some of the pain points are.

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<v Speaker 2>You talk about the customer culture and you go through the traits of that.

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<v Speaker 2>Give me some of those traits and why they're important to us.

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<v Speaker 1>Big aspect of culture has to be that we're working off quality standards that we all recognize and understand.

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<v Speaker 1>So culture has to play out in everything that we do as individuals, and if that disconnects there, we've got to do some hard work to get rid of it.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it a misunderstanding, or do we have the wrong metrics or what do we need to change Right?

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<v Speaker 2>What are some of the key drivers to that employee engagement and making this a reality?

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<v Speaker 1>So, in a customer service setting, what am I learning that I know we're using to innovate with our products and services and processes.

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<v Speaker 1>That's pretty cool.

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<v Speaker 1>So I know I'm making a bigger difference than just that work I'm directly handling today.

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<v Speaker 2>Give people a bit more of an understanding of what is the consumer movement and how is that shifting in society today.

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<v Speaker 1>The expectations customers have, and I've studied this for years.

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<v Speaker 1>Very interestingly, they aren't changing, in the sense that they want us to be accessible, they want us to meet our promises.

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<v Speaker 1>They want us to have a team that knows what they're doing and be equipped.

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<v Speaker 1>They want us to be courteous but the definition of what those things mean is evolving very quickly.

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<v Speaker 1>So just being accessible, they want to interact with us in any channel, in any way.

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<v Speaker 1>That's easy.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, make it quick, make it easy.

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<v Speaker 2>What are you finding is the most important things we need to focus on there to be a success?

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<v Speaker 1>Social media is a great opportunity and a lot of organizations view it as a threat.

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<v Speaker 1>It is our friend.

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<v Speaker 1>If we're truly delivering great experiences, we're going to create customer advocates who have a very big platform to share their experiences.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's true with AI, with any of the technology tools that we're bringing into this.

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<v Speaker 1>View them as your friend, but definitely roll up your sleeves and do the work with your team to make sure you're creating great experiences and harnessing these tools.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't go after the shiny objects.

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<v Speaker 1>Do go after how can they enable your brand to shine through and for you to really create differentiated great experiences for your customer.

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<v Speaker 2>What do you see as a difference between companies that do good in customer experience and companies do great at it?

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<v Speaker 1>If there's one word that comes to mind, it's leverage, and it really came down to what is everybody's understanding of what we're supposed to do, what's our value, that we're contributing?

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<v Speaker 1>What they ended up doing is taking what he was trying to do on a one-off basis and creating processes around it.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, did you know about this feature in our software?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, now they've got a whole series of videos that go through product features.

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<v Speaker 1>They've got a customer community that they launched, that their tech support operation helps moderate All very cool, but it's process-wide, not just what he was doing as an individual.

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<v Speaker 1>So look for leverage.

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<v Speaker 2>How do you break the cycle of good?

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<v Speaker 2>How do you smash that and say, okay, we got to stop being good, we got to go for great, because it's easy to settle for good.

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<v Speaker 1>You know the formula, brad, that you use for businesses, which is so good at pointing out the levers how do we grow?

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<v Speaker 1>I think there's that kind of principle involved.

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<v Speaker 1>So what are the levers?

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<v Speaker 1>We're good at what we do right now.

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<v Speaker 1>If we were to move this dial a little bit, what would that mean to us?

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<v Speaker 1>So you start putting out those possibilities for your team and for yourself.

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<v Speaker 1>You think, wow, maybe there is more that we can go after.

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<v Speaker 1>And that begins to define, you know, redefine what good is and what great might look like.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's a big Success Podcast for today.

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<v Speaker 2>Hopefully, you took a lot of notes, learned a whole bunch and, if you need to go re-listen to it, we dropped a lot of information right there today.

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<v Speaker 2>Big success is what it's all about.

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<v Speaker 2>And, by the way, if you haven't subscribed, hit that subscribe button.

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<v Speaker 2>So you're here with us every single week on the Big Success Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm Brad Sugars.

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<v Speaker 2>That's BS.

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<v Speaker 2>Big success is what we're shooting for.

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<v Speaker 2>Check the show notes for all the links.

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<v Speaker 2>Make sure you follow through, keep learning, keep coming back.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, and, by the way, share this with any of your friends who you know are up for success.

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<v Speaker 2>I'll see you next week on the Big Success Podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>You've been listening to the Big Success Podcast with the number one business coach in the world, brad Sugars, to learn more about how to achieve business and personal success, as well as how to level up or listen to past episodes.

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<v Speaker 1>Visit wwwbradsugarscom.