Podcasts about customer code

Ever wondered how artificial intelligence could reshape the way we work? Join us for an exciting conversation as Jeannie Walters answers a question from former Crack the Customer Code podcast partner and current friend Adam Toporek about the transformative power of AI on the employee experience. Gain insights into how AI can boost efficiency, sharpen decision-making, and foster personalized skill development. You'll hear stories about the good, the bad, and the ugly, as we navigate the potential for role displacement and the crucial need for leaders to focus on reskilling and upskilling their teams.We'll also dive into the ethical maze of AI integration, especially its impact on remote work environments. From concerns about surveillance and privacy to the irreplaceable value of human empathy in customer and employee interactions, listen in as we discuss strategies to support employees who may feel anxious about AI and automation, and how to create moments that make them feel truly valued. Packed with practical tips and forward-thinking strategies, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of work.Resources Mentioned:Experience Investigators Website -- experienceinvestigators.comWatch the video version of this episode on YouTube -- youtube.com/@jeanniewaltersWant to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Struggling to craft brand messaging that converts?  This episode of The Unified Brand Podcast is your secret weapon! We dive deep with Kate Dileo, Founder of Accidental Brand Strategist and author of the #1 international bestseller,"Muting the Megaphone." Kate unveils her powerful Brand Trifecta framework, a three-step formula for crafting concise, audience-centric messaging that resonates with your ideal customer.  Learn how to ditch the jargon, focus on benefits, and leverage storytelling to create a brand message that drives sales and builds loyalty. This episode is for you if: You're tired of generic marketing messages that fall flat. You want to understand your target audience better. You're looking for a clear, actionable framework to craft compelling brand messaging. Tune in and discover the messaging magic that will unlock your brand's full potential! ------------------ Do Feel like your brand could use improving but not sure where to start? Or are you looking to build upon and grow your existing brand to create more impact? Or are you seeking an impactful, iconic and memorable logo and brand identity system?Schedule a brand discovery consultation call here - https://www.elementsbrandmanagement.o.uk/schedule-a-call ------------------------ SUBSCRIBE to our brand tip video series delivered straight to your inbox - https://bit.ly/2A8kpif ----------------------- Other Social Channels YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1DttwtvyIL5wOAewMSeRw Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/elementsbrandmanagement/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ElementsBrandManagement/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/ElementsBrand Website - https://bit.ly/36BQX00 Support the show Free Brand Development Resources How strong is your brand? Take our brand assessment and find out - https://bit.ly/2VksUSj Unified Brand Podcast - Subscribe here - http://spoti.fi/3sdg5nq Brand Building Course - Learn how to build a magnetic brand that stands out from the competition and grows your business - http://bit.ly/2Zw5dos

In this week's episode of the SIMPLE brand podcast, I talk with Adam Toporek, author of Be Your Customer's Hero: Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines.Adam's an internationally-recognized customer experience expert, keynote speaker, and customer service trainer who helps organizations transform their relationships with their customers through better strategy, training, and communication. He's the founder of Customers That Stick®, and the former co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast.Some of the topics we discuss include:It doesn't take grand, superhero actions to become your customer's heroThe need for focusing on peak emotions in the customer experienceConsistently focusing on positive “brand deposits” buys you goodwill with your customersThe service “triggers” that can set your customer offGet the biggest return on your customer experience efforts by identifying and removing your customer's biggest hasslesWhy you should regularly assess your policies and procedures and cut the ones that hinder your employeesHow curating and sharing success stories is one of the best ways to train employeesEmpowering your employees can deliver hassle-free experiencesAdam's 3S process for employees to follow when resolving customer issuesRESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:Adam's siteAdam's book - Be Your Customer's HeroSIMPLE brand episode 38 with Lisa Bodell - we talk about killing stupid rules and policies

Crack the Customer Code is back on the air! It's the start of a new season, and Jeannie and Adam are ready to help you solve your latest CX conundrums and bring a host of guests to share their valuable insights. The show has been on for so long, but the CX world never rests and never stops improving, so neither can CTCC. Tune in to learn about the new things you'll be getting this season, the new guests that will be joining us, and the new sponsor Crack the Customer Code now has. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How These Three Pillars of CX Drive Profits When Leadership Is Proactive About Customer Experience  This week's guest is Jeannie Walters, CEO and founder of Experience Investigators, a global customer experience consulting firm that helps companies improve loyalty and retention, employee engagement, and overall customer experience. For more than 20 years Jeannie has dedicated her work to creating meaningful moments and real results with one mission: To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™. As the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Experience Investigators, Jeannie has helped organizations—from small businesses to Fortune 500s—to do just that. In this episode, Jeannie explains the three pillars of good CX to create positive experiences for customers and employees alike. She details how this is possible when customer experience management is proactive instead of reactive.   Jeannie's Journey in CX  Jeannie began her career in fundraising consulting and marketing. While working in marketing, she found that many organizations thought about legal, product development, marketing, and sales but no one was truly advocating for the customer. So about 20 years ago, she and her brother decided to focus on customer experience. They successfully ran a CX firm together until 2009 when Jeannie started Experience Investigators.   She has helped hundreds of companies of all sizes and across three continents strengthen their CX strategy. In addition to being a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), Jeannie is a TEDx speaker, a founding member of CXPA, co-host of the top-rated Crack the Customer Code podcast, and a four-time LinkedIn Learning instructor whose courses have been watched by more than 200,000 online learners.   An active writer, Jeannie's work has been featured in “Forbes,” “CustomerThink,” “The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce,” and “My Customer,” as well as in university-level textbooks. She has received numerous recognitions for her work in CX.  The Three Pillars of Good CX  Jeannie has found that leaders often view customer experience as something that's nice, purely common sense, or solely focused on measuring feedback. But customer experience that's focused only on tracking customer satisfaction through surveys doesn't actually have an impact on the customer experience itself. This way of thinking about customer experience is an afterthought when what is really needed is forethought and planning to optimize the customer experience.  All organizations have customer experiences, whether intentionally designed or not. Jeannie's three pillars provide leadership a roadmap to be proactive, not reactive about the customer experience including how the entire organization should align to execute a successful CX plan.   1. Mindset  The first pillar lays the foundation for a CX strategy. The organization's mindset determines how to cultivate a customer service culture and ensures everyone in the organization is focused on it as something that is central to their business, not something extra or limited to certain departments.   Jeannie recommends writing a customer experience mission statement that helps everyone align where they're going so they can show up for customers no matter what. The mission statement documents who you are as a brand, including what you stand for. As an example, are you “the fastest” or “the most economical”? She points out the importance of gaining internal agreement on the brand promise in the customer experience mission statement as the north star that everyone in the organization gets behind.   2. Strategy  Next, this mindset needs to be translated into an effective business strategy to ensure customer experience is done right. The strategy must define what success looks like for your customer and for your organization. This becomes the success statement for the organizational goals, what the business leaders care about, how CX can support those goals, and how to measure that success.   Watching CSAT go up and down only helps your bottom line if you connect it to the bottom line. A business strategy builds these connections by, for example, discovering that a higher CSAT results in more satisfied and happier customers that share their remarkable experiences, spend more with your brand, and refer other customers. This connected strategy can support the revenue goals of your organization through increased customer loyalty and retention.   Throughout this process, it's important to be proactive about delivering intentional, positive customer experiences that connect to the central mindset and culture. We can apply best practices such as customer journey mapping, service blueprinting, and other tools. But because we ultimately experience things from our own perspective, we must be intentional in how we develop strategies that draw on the customer service culture to deliver excellent customer support.  3. Discipline  The third and final pillar is focused on crafting the discipline to deliver on the business strategy. This can't be accomplished effectively in silos, so it is essential to build collaborative cross-functional leadership teams that understand their role in creating the customer experience.   Everyone in your organization has a role in the customer experience. Your mindset and culture lay the foundation for guiding the discipline to deliver on your business strategies. Whether collaborating internally with colleagues, working with vendors, or communicating directly with customers from the contact center, everyone in your organization has a contribution to make and their daily efforts have a direct impact on the customer experience.  The Three Pillars in Action  Removing barriers to good customer service creates a chain reaction of positivity and empowers business leaders "To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™.” When organizations embrace these three pillars and implement a focused business strategy for customer experience, they will see measurable results.   By starting with the documented mission statement, you define how you will show up for customers no matter what. Sometimes there are tradeoffs because you can't always be the fastest and most accurate, for example. That understanding needs to be reflected in your company culture and mindset.  Then craft an execution strategy based on your organizational goals so you can measure the ROI you want to achieve. Include in your strategy details such as how each department plays a role in customer experience, how you will build your customer experience team, and how you will measure effectiveness and customer success.   Finally, turn your strategy into the discipline to work with other leaders within your organization. The coalitions you build will make powerful impacts, ranging from how you post jobs and how you hire and onboard employees, to how you deliver your products and how you collect payment.  In sum, by proactively identifying the business goals of your customer experience strategy, deciding on the execution steps necessary to achieve them, and determining how to measure your success, you can transform the customer experience into a strategic asset. By looking at a combination of experiential data (customer feedback) and operational data (customer behaviors) you can gain insights into your customer experience and modify your goals as you go, while remaining grounded in your mission for excellent CX.  Learn More About Jeannie  To learn more about Jeannie and her strategy for good CX, visit   ExperienceInvestigators.com where you can also find Year of CX customer experience resources and workbooks. Visit CrackTheCustomerCode.com to learn more about the podcast she cohosts with Adam Toporek featuring insights and innovations from business leaders.  What Jeannie Does for Fun  Jeannie enjoys spending her free time with her two teenage sons. She loves watching them do what they love, from choir concerts to soccer games. Her oldest son is heading to college in the fall and she's grateful for the time they have together.  Watch the episode video here. Read the blog post here.  

Jeannie and Adam are recording together for the season finale of Crack the Customer Code because it's another bourbon summit and bourbon is best drank in company. We've had a lot of guests this season and learned a lot of fascinating lessons on the future of CX, but more importantly, on what won't change in our industry. So, tune in to get a quick recap of what happened in this season and, of course, to learn about the bourbons Adam and Jeannie are drinking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you think that we at Crack the Customer Code innovate enough? Whatever the case may be, innovation is the key subject today. It's also vital in business in general as everyone wants to see it. Customers want companies to innovate, and companies themselves want to innovate. However, it's clear that not every business knows how to innovate adequately. Many do it for the sake of innovation and, in doing so, often fail to truly grasp what the customers want to get. It can be a big problem, which is why this entire episode is dedicated to innovation and the examples of how companies are innovating in the right way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn: Find out more about Jeannie's on-site and remote training, speaking, and workshops to help you create an amazing experience that keeps your customers coming back again and again: https://experienceinvestigators.com/Listen: To Jeannie's podcast Crack the Customer Code: http://www.crackthecustomercode.com/Follow Jeannie: on Twitter and LinkedInFollow Aprimo: on Twitter and LinkedInSubscribe: www.aprimo.com/studios/cheat-codes/Leave us a review!Want to be a guest or have feedback for our team? Let us know!Learn more about Aprimo

Recommendations are essential, and so is customer loyalty. Today's guest of Crack the Customer Code, Fred Reichheld, knows that well. He is the creator of the Net Promoter System of management, founder of Bain & Company's Loyalty practice, and author of five books, including a New York Times bestseller – The Ultimate Question 2.0. He is a frequent speaker at major business forums, and his work on customer loyalty has been covered in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Financial Times, The Economist, and Businessweek.  When Fred developed his Net Promoter System, he had no idea that it would end up being used by the majority of companies today. But times have changed, and so has CX, which is why he has had to make changes and updates to that system. He has a lot of intriguing things to say about the things he's been working on lately, so tune in to learn all about them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Crack the Customer Code! With so many changes in the world of customer experience, expect the upcoming season to be jam-packed with important knowledge, insights, and opinions you'll want to hear.  "We are all facing change like we never have before." Tune in for this brief introduction to the new season of the show where Jeannie and Adam will tell you what to expect. And don't worry, the first interview is coming soon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About our Guest, Jeannie WaltersJeannie Walters is the CEO/Founder of Experience Investigators™ by 360Connext, a global Customer Experience consulting firm. She has 20 years of experience helping companies improve loyalty and retention, employee engagement, and overall customer experience.Jeannie is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP,) a charter member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA,) a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association [NSA] and the NSA Illinois Chapter president, a Forbes Coaches Council Member, a C-Suite Network Advisor, a LinkedIn Learning and Lynda.com instructor, and a TEDx speaker.She was named one of the Huffington Post's “Top 100 Most Social Customer Service Pros on Twitter," Tenfold's “Top 40 Customer Success Influencers,” one of “The Top 5 Women Customer Experience Influencers” by CloudCherry, and her TEDx talk about micromoments, those small and often overlooked moments in the customer journey that matter, is one of Customer Thermometer's “Best TED Talks on Customer Retention Ideas.”Since 2014, Jeannie and her co-host Adam Toporek have been attacking today's biggest Customer Experience problems on the Crack the Customer Code podcast, which is one of CallMiner's “50 Must-Listen Podcasts on Customer Experience from Industry Experts and Influencers.”Jeannie is also a very active writer and blogger, and you can find her work on Social Media Today, Retail Customer Experience, CallidusCloud CX, Customer Think, and in Pearson college textbooks.She's passionate about making the everyday interactions we all have as customers better and writes, speaks, studies and trains on customer experience issues around the world. Her mission is “To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™.”Jeannie lives with her husband, two growing boys, and a somewhat spoiled dog. She spends her free time cheering at youth sports events and choir concerts and spoiling the dog.Visit Experience Investigators Crack the Customer Code PodcastVia Experience Investigators on LinkedIn Humans are emotional, messy, brilliant, irrational, and constantly evolving. And they're your customers. Our proprietary Customer Experience Investigation™ process serves mid-market and larger companies to bring back emotional feedback from customers and employees, evaluate the in and outs of the customer journey, and what your customers get ticked off about and expect from you. Customer expectations (and how to exceed them) are harder to figure Thanks for listening, commenting, liking, sharing, and adding Growing Social Now to your podcast playlist!!Cheers to your success,Barbara RozgonyiFounder, CoryWest Media, Top PR Blogger, Host of Growing Social Now, International Speaker and Inspirational Storyteller, Creative Marketing Team Coach, LinkedIn Social Selling Trainer, Avid Hiker, Natural Photographer Barbara Rozgonyi on Facebook Barbara Rozgonyi on InstagramBarbara Rozgonyi on LinkedInBarbara Rozgonyi on TikTokBarbara Rozgonyi on TwitterYouTubeGrowing Social Now wiredPRworksBarbaraRozgonyi.com

AI is everywhere, and it influences every life in one way or another, yet people rarely understand it. But Ovetta Sampson has a lot of interesting advice to give leaders who are not yet familiar enough with AI and data. If you want to learn more, you’ll have to listen to this data-driven episode of Crack the Customer Code. The insights you’ll gain afterward are more than worth the time spent listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crack the Customer Code is back! Jeannie and Adam are back with us again after a long pause since October 2020. However, they weren’t idle, and they bring with them a lot of changes and improvements to the show you’re bound to love! "We are moving to a seasonal model. We'll try being on and off for a while, and this is the beginning of a new season.“ The show is all about helping leaders be better, offer better customer service, and grow together with their customers. The new and improved Crack the Customer Code should help you with all of that, especially with anything new in the world that can affect you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“How can we design experiences for everybody if we don't really have everybody in that process?” Perfecting your customer experience could be the most important thing you do at the start of the year. And we’re making sure you follow all the right steps to do it with ease.  Jeannie Walters is the CEO/Founder of Experience Investigators, a global Customer Experience consulting firm. She has 20 years of experience helping companies improve loyalty and retention, employee engagement, and overall customer experience. Jeannie is an international keynote speaker and has a TEDx talk all about microinteractions, those small and often-overlooked moments in the customer journey that have a huge impact on customer emotions. She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), a member of the CXPA's CX Expert Panel, and a LinkedIn Learning Instructor. Jeannie was named in the Huffington Post as a "Top 100 Most Social Customer Service Pros on Twitter" and the Online Marketing Institute's "Top 20 Digital Marketing Strategists," and recognized as "One of the Top Customer Experience Influencers To Know" on CX Day. Jeannie has co-hosted the top rated podcast, Crack the Customer Code, since 2015, and is an active writer. You can find her work on CustomerThink, The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce, and Forbes, as well as in university-level textbooks. Jeannie and her team launched the Year of CX on CX Day 2020. Anyone can sign up for free resources at www.yearofcx.com. Jeannie lives with her husband and 2 growing boys and a spoiled dog, spending her free time cheering on young athletes and choir singers alike, and spoiling the dog. In this episode, Jeannie dives into the importance of knowing your customers so you can find opportunities and relate to them. Tune in to learn how to: Build a customer journey for diversity and inclusion with Jeannie’s framework Bring perspective and personal experiences into building exceptional customer journeys Ask yourself the right questions to increase critical thinking around diverse customer experiences Connect with Jeannie at experienceinvestigators.com, yearofcx.com, and on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Sophie Hedestad is interviewing Jeannie Walters about Customer Experience (CX) and how to build a customer centric organisation. For more than 20 years, Jeannie Walters has been dedicated to creating meaningful moments and real results. As the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Experience Investigators, Jeannie has helped organizations -- from small businesses to Fortune 500s like Verizon and Allstate -- create fewer ruined days for customers. She is a TEDx speaker, a founding member of CXPA, co-host of the top-rated Crack the Customer Code podcast, and a four-time Linkedin Learning instructor whose courses have been watched by more than 200,000 online learners. Links to Linkedin Learning courses: Jeannie's instructor page: https://bit.ly/jeannie-lil  Creating a Positive Customer Experience: http://bit.ly/lilpositivecx  Customer Experience: Journey Mapping: http://bit.ly/liljourneymap  Customer Service Blueprinting: http://bit.ly/lilblueprint  Journey Mapping: Case Study in Action: http://bit.ly/lilcasestudy    Links to Year of CX resources: Overview: YearofCX.com CX Success Statement Workbook: https://bit.ly/cx-success-workbook  CX Mission Statement Workbook: https://bit.ly/cx-mission-workbook  SMIRC Goals Checklist: https://bit.ly/smirc-checklist  Employee Journey Mapping Template: https://bit.ly/ejmtemplate  Customer Journey Storyboarding Template: https://bit.ly/journey-storyboard 

Sometimes customers are not ready for new technology, nor do they want it. The best example is in customer support, and that's precisely what Adam and Jeannie discuss in this episode of Crack the Customer Code. We've prepared many interesting points about the adoption of new technologies and whether or not everything that can be used should be used. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most leaders say their company is customer-centric, but their customers rarely feel the same way. If you ask those who are responsible for CX, they usually blame someone else, but the fact remains the same – customers are not as happy as they should be. So, what does all of this information mean? What is the real state of CX today? Join us in this episode of Crack the Customer Code and find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a very special episode of Crack the Customer Code – our 400th episode! For such a special occasion, we thought we would look back at history. It's been so long since we started having conversations over a glass of bourbon, so it's nice to think back and let you know how we changed. We also thought we would play around with the number 400 a bit! Adam did his homework, and he found out what happened in the world 400 days, 400 months, and even 400 years ago! And you'll be surprised by all the numerous exciting pieces of information he has in store for you.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The customer wins, the company wins, the team wins, everyone wins! That's the beauty of CX, and that's why it's important. In this episode of Crack the Customer Code, we talk about the latest research that suggests that successful CX programs will continue to grow and succeed, while other CX programs will simply disappear altogether. We are very likely to end up in a world that has only two types of businesses – ones with successful CX initiatives and ones with no CX initiatives whatsoever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie teaches you how to start considering siloes in a different light and not in the usual way we do all the time. So, tune in to this Jeannie-centric episode of Crack the Customer Code and learn how you can bust those siloes and become the next disruptor in your industry! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode of Crack the Customer Code is a short one. Adam is flying solo at the moment, but he has a lot to say about being customer-centric. Adam shares the three main tactics that you should use more in your company to become more customer-centric. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Companies need to realize that it's counterproductive for them to have a lack of collaboration between the technology teams and the other departments. It's essential to start collaborating to provide the best service for the customers. Join us in today's episode of Crack the Customer Code where Jeannie and Adam will discuss how all of this can work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie’s motto “Creating Fewer Ruined Days for Customers” has been adopted by business leaders who have benefited from her inspiring keynotes, her pioneering CX Cultural Transformation program, and her workshops and webinars. Customer Thermometer called Jeannie’s presentation on “Meaningful Micro-Interactions” one of the top five TED Talks on customer retention. Her podcast Crack the Customer Code, which she co-hosts with customer service expert Adam Toporek, has consistently garnered praise for its engaging industry insights. Jeannie has 20 years of experience helping companies improve loyalty and retention, employee engagement, and overall customer experience. Follow Worthix on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/worthix/ Follow Worthix on Twitter: @worthix Follow Mary Drumond on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marydrumond/ Follow Mary Drumond on Twitter: @drumondmary Follow Jeannie Walters on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/ Follow Jeannie Walters on Twitter: @https://twitter.com/jeanniecw?lang=en Learn more about Jeannie Walters at: https://experienceinvestigators.com/about-jeannie-walters/

In this episode of Crack the Customer Code, Jeannie delivers some great insight and advice about improving customer experience. Every company has an established process when it comes to dealing with customers. When it comes to changing that process, the answer is too often “It’s always been done this way”. This phrase is the killer of innovation. How can we avoid it? Who cares if it’s always been done this way? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this solo episode of Crack the Customer Code, Adam will talk to you about Closing the Loop with Customers, an essential part of offering the best customer experience – something you most certainly want to have with your customers. It goes for any industry or organization, so make sure you follow the steps. Talking about the steps, closing the loop involves five, and each deserves deep consideration if you want to do it right. It doesn’t matter how the interaction went with the customer, good or bad, active or passive – closing the loop is always desirable, and you’ll see why. You’ll learn that even with great customer interactions, you’ll still want to close the loop and reinforce those feelings – all to get more engagements, and more referrals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Toporek Customer Service Expert, Keynote Speaker, Author, Podcast Host, Trainer and Strategic Advisor Be Your Customer’s Hero Adam Toporek is an internationally-recognized customer experience expert, keynote speaker, and customer service trainer who helps organizations transform their relationships with their customers through better strategy, training, and communication. A third-generation entrepreneur with extensive experience in retail, wholesale, franchising, and small business, Adam understands the impact that customer experience can have on the bottom line. Adam is the author of Be Your Customer's Hero, the founder of the popular Customers That Stick® blog, the co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast, and the creator of the virtual training course, How to Deal with Difficult Customers. Adam is regularly ranked as a top customer experience thought leader and has been cited in Entrepreneur, Forbes, AMA, and over 100 other media. Website https://customersthatstick.com Crack the Customer Code Podcast http://crackthecustomercode.com LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtoporek Twitter https://twitter.com/adamtoporek Leadership Quote “You are what you focus on.” Subscribe, share and review on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-leading/id1461490512 Purchase "Be Your Customer's Hero" on Amazon! The Keep Leading!™ podcast is for people passionate about leadership. It is dedicated to leadership development and insights. Join your host Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator® as he speaks with accomplished leaders and people of influence across the globe as they share their journey to leadership excellence. Listen as they share leadership strategies, techniques and insights. For more information visit eddieturnerllc.com or follow Eddie Turner on Twitter and Instagram at @eddieturnerjr. Like Eddie Turner LLC on Facebook. Connect with Eddie Turner on LinkedIn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do diaper brands and Reebok have in common? Better loyalty rewards. Explore a more experience-based rewards system and experience better relationships with your customers, when you get to know them a little more. Here’s another insightful episode of Crack the Customer Code with the wonder twins of Customer Service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Toporek is an internationally-recognized customer experience expert, keynote speaker, and customer service trainer who helps organizations transform their relationships with their customers through better strategy, training, and communication. He is the author of Be Your Customer's Hero, the founder of the popular Customers That Stick® blog, the co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast, and the creator of the virtual training course, How to Deal with Difficult Customers. Adam is regularly ranked as a top customer experience thought leader and has been cited in Entrepreneur, Forbes, AMA, and over 100 other media. Follow Worthix on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/worthix/ Follow Worthix on Twitter: @worthix Follow Adam Toporek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtoporek/ Follow Adam Toporek on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamtoporek Follow Mary Drumond on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marydrumond/ Follow Mary Drumond on Twitter: @drumondmary

Adam and Jeannie discuss the rapid evolution of chatbots across industries and how to make the best decisions around existing and emerging chatbot technology. Chatbots are the new black Chatbots are taking the world by storm! They’ve made their way into foodservice, retail, SaaS, and more. Typically, we catch on pretty fast when interacting with a chatbot. But with Artificial Intelligence making leaps and bounds every day, that could be changing soon! “Our human assets are only as good as the intelligence and the information they have.” -Adam Toporek And it won’t be long before these amazing new capabilities enter the main stream. In fact, kind of technology is becoming more accessible and affordable to smaller companies every day. So, what about your company? To bot, or not to bot…that is the question! “It’s not just the one job or the one role…How does this fit into the journey? And what does this mean? What human controls do we need to put in?” -Jeannie Walters There’s no easy answer to this, but taking a look at how this technology is being used today and how new features and capabilities are rolling out will help you find your answer. Jeannie and Adam have been watching these trends for you, so they’ve dedicated this episode to sharing some of the best and worst ways chatbots have been (and will be) used. Here are a few things they cover: Chatbots have evolved quite a bit in recent years, but does your company need to take advantage? What are some new ways you may leverage chatbot technology in the future? And more importantly, how can you make your chatbots a seamless and satisfying part of the customer journey? Listen in for chatbot do’s and do not’s from two of the most respected names in customer service and customer experience, right here on Crack the Customer Code! Related Content 360Connext® post, 3 Ways the Best Brands Do Omnichannel Right Customers That Stick® post, Starting a Culture of Customer-Focused Innovation Episode 265: (Tip) Chatbots and Humans Episode 234: Tips for Customer Service Bots We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie discuss how to prevent valuable knowledge from leaving your company along with superstar employees who are ready to move on. Employee turnover is at an all-time high, so there’s lots of advice out there (and in previous episodes of Crack the Customer Code!) about how to keep employees happy and motivated. But whether you like it or not, some of your best people will still leave you. It’s frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking when your superstars resign, but the financial cost of employee turnover can be staggering. In fact, when an employee leaves, the turnover costs can be between 150% and 250% of their annual salary. Wow.  But here’s the thing: A good part of those costs go into training replacements, and it can be a long, slow, expensive crawl to stardom. “What are some of the ways you can stop that knowledge, experience and talent from walking out with your superstars?” -Jeannie Walters But you can cut these costs considerably simply by retaining the knowledge those employees would otherwise take with them. After all, a good deal of what you’ve invested revolves around gaining the knowledge to become a superstar in the first place! So, what can you do to retain that valuable knowledge and pass it on to the next generation of superstars? It takes more effort than simply having a team that’s willing to help and train others. Retaining that knowledge has to be intentional, not incidental. “The knowledge in their head is a business resource…The skillset goes with them. The knowledge can stay behind.” -Adam Toporek In this episode, we’re diving deep into some of the best ways to keep that valuable knowledge in the house. Jeannie and Adam have lots of tips not only to help you engage those superstars to start sharing their secrets, but to determine who those superstars are. You can’t always keep your best people from leaving, but you can prevent them from taking their secret sauce with them. Listen in to learn how! Related Content 360Connext® post, Are You Making the Most of your Customer Service Superstars? Customers That Stick® post, Creating a Customer Service Culture with Jeff Toister Episode 267: 3 Questions for Employees Episode 176: (Tip) Hiring a Customer-Centric Employee We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeannie and Adam dust off the crystal ball and have some fun bringing you their expert customer experience predictions for 2019. What are our top predictions for 2019? It’s that time of year again, when we look back at the year behind us and speculate about what’s to come. It’s been an amazing year for trends in business technology, organizational leadership, and customer expectations, so where are we headed based on these?  Here’s a peek at what we’re talking about: 1. Artificial experiences get real Artificial Intelligence has made leaps and bounds in 2018, but we’re not quite ready to let the machines take the wheel in most cases. Is that about to change? We see some exciting things about to happen! 2. Whose role is it anyway? More companies have created executive roles focused on customers, and for the most part, we think that’s a good thing. On the other hand, some have not done a great job at defining those roles. How can leaders avoid creating more of the interdepartmental friction and other side effects of expanding the C-Suite? 3. Is the retail apocalypse still happening? With the exodus of Toys R Us and many other age-old brands, the death of retail has been a hot topic this year, leaving many retailers scrambling for ways to hang onto their customers. Will the older retailers learn their lessons and adapt to the new retail landscape, or will they succumb to the underdogs founded around more experience-focused practices? 4. Going old-school 2018 has seen a resurgence of retro apparel, decor and even food...and the hipsters have been doing that since before it was cool, amiright!? We don’t think they’re going to stop there. In fact, they’re about to amp up their fascination with embracing the old as new and begin demanding retro experiences. Can you and your staff handle it? 5. Bleep, bloop, beep! Customer Experience Maturity has been all abuzz in 2018 as well. But with the flurry of new tech and mind blowing ways to analyze data, we’re challenging what “maturity” really means here in terms of WHY all this fancy tech is being used. 2019 will be a wake-up call of sorts when it comes to leveraging this tech, but it requires a shift in perspective. We had a lot of fun recording this episode, so we hope you’ll have as much fun listening! And here’s a bonus prediction for today: You will download this episode, then rate and review Crack the Customer Code today. (Can’t blame me for trying, right?) Listen in! Related Content 360Connext® post, What You Need to Know to Reduce Customer Effort in 2019 Customers That Stick® post, The Fusion of Brand and Culture with Denise Lee Yohn Episode 214: Who Drives Customer Experience? Episode 300: Celebrating 300 Episodes (with live guitar) We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Toporek is an internationally-recognized customer experience expert. Adam helps organizations transform their relationships with their customers through better strategy, training, and communication. He is the author of Be Your Customer's Hero and the co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast. My favorite statement in this episode is when Adam said, “You’re not responsible for someone else’s emotional state.”  We all have enough to take care of in our own lives. Follow Adam as he explains his 3 S’s - Soothe the Psyche, Solve the Screw-up, Set-up the Success. A great episode and fun! You’ll discover:   How you treat customers is who you are as a person Skill set to deal with challenging situations Understanding customer emotion What is the Amygdala hijack? The difference between being and acting like The importance of depersonalization and how it effects communication The peek-end rule Interview Links & Other Resources   Mere Mortals Unite on C-Suite Radio iTunes - Subscribe, Rate and Review Listen on Podbean

Jeannie and Adam report live from the National Speakers Association’s Influence 2018 conference to discuss what it means to do customer experience right. What’s the best way to “do” customer experience? We get this question a lot! In fact, our hosts recently attended the National Speakers Association (NSA) Influence 2018 conference in Dallas, TX, and several of the amazing speakers approached them to ask this same question. “When we introduce this idea of #CX, people ask ‘what does that mean?’ or ‘how do you start?’” -Jeannie Walters Being away from their studios, Adam and Jeannie decided to answer this popular question on camera for attendees then bring those tips home for you! There are a lot of strong opinions out there, but before you take one of them as gospel, please listen in and decide for yourself. “Every organization has a different DNA and a different cultural code you need to crack.” -Adam Toporek So, what is the best way to “do” customer experience, and more importantly, where should you start? Can you be the next Zappos, and is that even something you should be trying to do? Find out in this special “live, not live” video edition of Crack the Customer Code! Related Content 360Connext® post, Why Your Customer-Centric “Breakthrough” Is Not Working Customers That Stick® post, What Great Brands Do Episode 253: (Tip) Situational Awareness in Customer Service Episode 298: Michel Falcon, Incredible Experience Tips We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling author and global speaker Jeff Toister returns to the show with amazing tips and actions for creating and executing on your vision for an outstanding service culture. What’s your vision for a solid customer service culture? If you want to deliver outstanding customer service that inspires loyalty and positive word-of-mouth, then you need a customer-focused service culture. But while many leaders think they provide excellent service, they have an unrealistic vision of what that means. As a result, business strategies continue to cause conflicts that make maintaining a customer-focused culture an uphill battle. “It’s a journey that takes long-term commitment.” -Jeff Toister That’s why we’re delighted to have Jeff Toister on the show! In fact, Jeff joined us in the early days of Crack the Customer Code for a great discussion around the root causes of customer service failures. But now he’s back to help us create and execute a vision for customer service excellence. “You can’t just declare ‘from now on we’re going to move from a toxic culture to a service culture…’” - Jeff Toister Jeff has helped many leaders create realistic, scalable service visions, so the wisdom he brings to this episode is priceless. Not only does he share where many great leaders go wrong, but through great examples and actions you can take today, he shows us some simple ways to get on the right track. Good things come in threes! Here are some of the core disciplines and exercises Jeff gives you in this episode: 3 characteristics of a good service vision 3 rules for leaders to shape a customer-focused service culture A 3-question assessment for your service training Jeff explains all of these in detail, so you’ll know exactly what to do next. And as a bonus, he tells you where to find additional free resources to power up your transformation. Are you ready to create a service vision that motivates employees, delights customers and brings measurable results? Then listen in! Interview Highlights There are many parts to a good service vision, but what are the 3 most important characteristics? [4:10] Why is it so important to balance aspiration with reality in your service vision? [9:10] There’s a popular belief that culture is built from the bottom up. However, Jeff has a different take on this. [13:20] Training plays a huge role, so Jeff shares how you can assess how well employees are aligned with your service vision. [17:00] Want to do better at creating a service vision? Then Jeff has vital tips and a free resource to get you started! [21:40] About our guest Jeff is the best selling author of The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service. More than 140,000 people on six continents have taken one of his video-based training courses on LinkedIn Learning (a.k.a. Lynda.com). Jeff was named one of the Top 30 customer service professionals in the world by Global Gurus. He was also named one of the Top 50 Thought Leaders to Follow on Twitter by the International Customer Management Institute and Feedspot has named his Inside Customer Service blog one of the Top 50 customer service blogs on the planet. Jeff brings an adult learning background to his customer service work and holds a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) certification from the Association for Talent Development. Connect with Jeff Twitter Sign up for Jeff’s Customer Service Tips of the Week Download Jeff’s Service Culture Handbook Toolkit Related Content 360Connext® post, How to Unlock Your Outstanding Service Culture for Good Customers That Stick® post, Creating a Customer Service Culture with Jeff Toister Episode 014:  Handling Pressure, Jeff Toister, and The Customer as Hero Episode 222: (Tip) Instilling Culture Throughout the Organization We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is one awesome episode. I am in awe of our guest’s transition to being so strong and so empowered. Shari was once a skinny, weak, and clumsy kid. She’d occasionally dabble in exercise but not really get involved, until this one accidental “meeting” with kettlebells. Join me as Shari graciously shares her joys, aches, and pains in this fascinating episode. About Shari Wagner Shari Wagner founded Iron Clad Fitness in 2009 with the mission to redefine fitness by empowering people of all shapes, sizes and physical abilities to find their inner and outer strengths. Iron Clad Fitness specializes in the Russian style of kettlebell training, through online or in-person coaching programs, because it is known for producing dramatic results through precise technique. We empower people to get strong and healthy, in a realistic, sustainable way. Shari’s Top 5 StrengthsFinder Strengths Restorative Adaptability Responsibility Empathy Relator   Key Takeaways Recognize what your strengths are so that you can give yourself grace for what you’re not. Don’t judge people for the condition they’re in right off the bat. If you’re not your best you, you can’t give your best. Period. Time-Stamped Show Highlights [04:55] The kettlebell love affair I realized that, for the first time, I didn’t just look good but I felt good. [08:50] The lightbulb moment for Shari that changed her life, forever. This changed my life so much and I wanna help other people find the same. [10:17] An insight to Shari’s strength themes, what drives her and how she’s wired. Understanding your themes is not only obviously playing to your strengths but giving yourself grace. [15:27] Shari’s challenge in her business: how to keep people wanting to come, and wanting to show up, to do their worksout, so that they can become all they desire. [28:28] Podcast recommendation of the week! Selected Links for This Episode Shari’s Website Iron Clad Facebook Page Connect with Shari on Facebook Connect with Shari on Twitter Connect with Shari on LinkedIn Podcast of the Week: Crack the Customer Code with Adam Toporek and Jeannie Walters Frickin’ Awesome Resources Frickin’ Awesome Entrepreneurs Facebook Community From Frustrated to Frickin’ Awesome by Alissa Daire Nelson Daire Success Coaching website StrengthsFinder 2.0 test StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

 Adam Toporek is an internationally-recognized customer service expert, keynote speaker, and frontline trainer who helps organizations think differently about customer service.    -Where do difficult customers come from? What makes them difficult? (This would get into customer psychology and experience.)  - What do most organizations or people do wrong when working with difficult customers?  - What are some of the best methods for handling difficult customers. (FYI. I do a lot with customer psychology in this area, so these answers would not just be the same old tired advice.)     Adam Toporek is an internationally-recognized customer service expert, keynote speaker, and frontline trainer who helps organizations get results by thinking differently about customer service. A third-generation entrepreneur with extensive experience in retail, wholesale, franchising, and small business, Adam understands the impact that customer experience can have on the bottom line.    At CTS Service Solutions, Adam puts his extensive knowledge into practice with customer experience consulting and customer service training that includes live workshops and virtual training.    As the author of Be Your Customer's Hero, the founder of the popular Customers That Stick® blog, and the co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast, Adam regularly shares his customer experience and customer service insights with a global audience. He has appeared in over 100 media and is regularly cited as a top customer experience thought leader. In addition to his customer experience work, Adam is an angel investor with an interest in entrepreneurs who disrupt the status quo through innovation. Adam lives in Orlando, FL with his wife Renee and his golden retriever Dalton.    Website:: http://customersthatstick.com    Facebook:: https://www.facebook.com/customersthatstick    LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamtoporek      Premium binge worthy content. Up or Out with Connie is reaching over 2.5m listeners per episode. And we’re not done  yet…  We can be heard on… ·       C-Suite Network ·       iTunes ·       iHeartRadio ·       Stitcher ·       Multiple online networks, and ·       1,900 analog stations in 145 Countries. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, because you don’t want to miss any of the good stuff.   Let us know what you would like and need to hear on a future episode. We are here to mentor leaders who are ready to develop high-performance habits, achieve excellence and Be Unstoppable Together.   Register to be a guest at www.uporout.com   Book Connie to speak at your next event: UnstoppableSpeaker.LA Are you an executive looking for a mentor to help you develop High-performance Habits and achieve excellence? Give Connie a call at 570.906.4395, she just may be what you’re looking for!    Now to get your copy of the Be Unstoppable Freedom journal, simply send an email to TEAMPHEIFF@pheiffgroup.com. In the subject line include Be Unstoppable Freedom Journal.   I will send you to link where you can enter your information. I’ve ordered 2,000 books for you… my listeners. This journal retails for $97.00.  It’s yours for free, but I do ask that you help by paying for the shipping. That’s it, only pay for the shopping and I will send you and autographed copy.   It’s easy, send an email now to TEAMPHEIFF@pheiffgroup.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie discover how to attract your ideal customers with Jeffrey Shaw, author of LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language. Jeffrey Shaw and the power of the customer lingo As an entrepreneur or growing business, it’s critical to differentiate yourself and get noticed. But too often, brands get noticed by the wrong prospect. And to make matters worse, it’s very difficult to turn down the “wrong” customers. So, how can you attract the “right” customers while diversifying your clientele? “You don’t have to say ‘no’ if only the right customers are showing up.” --Jeffrey Shaw There are many ways to do this, but too often, it amounts to wasted time and resources going above and beyond to appeal to less-than-ideal customers. have you considered the language you use as a driving force? “The people they jumped through hoops for and went crazy over tend to be the least profitable.” -Jeffrey Shaw Today’s guest, Jeffrey Shaw, has unlocked the power of the customer lingo. Through experience, he has discovered that by narrowing down the language we use, you can not only make better connections, but also expand your audience. “Once you own that space, you realize you actually expand your audience.” -Jeffrey Shaw A big part of this is about turning inward to better understand your own language and differentiator. Jeffrey shares some great ways to discover and develop your own customer lingo. Through powerful anecdotes and inspiring stories, he tells us how this concept can make a huge difference. So, how about attracting more of the “right” customers, expanding your audience, and creating better experiences for everyone through a better understanding of your own unique customer lingo? Listen in and you can start today! Interview highlights Before committing to a client, what’s Jeffrey’s strategy for gauging if they’re a good fit? [3:00] How can we start aligning our company’s identity with the language of our customers? [5:00] Jeffrey tells us his own story of Cracking the Customer Code - aka -  discovering the power of customer lingo! [8:12] What's Jeffrey's unique approach to the 80/20 rule, and more importantly, why we must do better? [9:45] Jeffrey shares a prime example of a brand getting on the customers’ wavelength. [13:30] "What is the “New Niche?” Moreover, why is Jeffrey standing on his head!? [15:00] We’re in what’s widely known as “the age of specialization.” So How does Jeffrey’s concept of customer lingo fit in with what? [20:30] About our guest Having a keen eye isn’t just for what one sees, but also for what one senses. Jeffrey Shaw, the LINGO guy, has been the go-to portrait photographer for an exclusive clientele for 30+ years. His portraits have appeared on The Oprah Show, CBS News, in “O” Magazine, People Magazine and New York Family Magazine. Jeffrey is also the host of the popular business podcast Creative Warriors and a featured speaker on The Moth. Now Jeffrey uses his honed intuition to see and sense to help businesses stand out, attract their ideal customers, and create brand loyalty that supersedes price. His book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible helps business owners and entrepreneurs understand their ideal customers on a deeper level, increasing engagement and profits. Connect with Jeffrey LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Jeffrey’s website Creative Warriors podcast Check out the free download just for CTCC listeners! Related Content 360Connext® post, Do Your Communication Tactics Undermine Your Intentions? Customers That Stick® post, 10 Lessons from 200 Customer Service Podcast Episodes Episode 266: Chip Bell, Innovating Service Episode 86: Anthony Iannarino, Commitments Are for Closers We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie announce exciting changes to our show inspired by feedback from our our fans, friends and listeners. We’re listening to you too! We’d like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for listening, but we want you to know we’re listening too! We thrive on your feedback to continue making Crack the Customer Code better and better, and we get many great ideas from you. As a result, we’ve seen some common themes in what our listeners think would improve the show.  Today we’re announcing another change that we think you’re going to love! We’ve been working on ways to deliver more of what you like the most while making it easier to keep up with us. Listen in to find out what Adam and Jeannie have planned! This is YOUR show. We're so grateful for the valuable feedback, comments and suggestions from our communities. We're always looking for new topics, exciting guests, and suggestions for improving the show. Have comments, suggestions or questions? What are you waiting for? Get in touch with us! Email: thecustomercode@gmail.com Phone: (470)223-CODE Tweet to Jeannie Walters Tweet to Adam Toporek Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie share some lessons we can all learn from recent airline customer service disasters. What can we learn from airline customer service? There’s been so much in the news about airline customer service, it’s time we talk about it here on Crack the Customer Code! Including, but not limited to the customer who was dragged off his United flight, we’re not sure any airline has been left unscathed. “This was so visceral that I think people did respond in a very emotional way.” - Jeannie Walters It’s not news that airline customer service a long way to go, but more common issues are getting more public attention in the wake of these high-profile incidents. Clearly, there’s a theme of processes and regulations superseding the customer experience. Even United CEO Oscar Munoz has come right out blaming not his people, but the outdated processes they’re chained to. “There are people there that know better, so why are their voices not heard?” - Adam Toporek Today, Adam and Jeannie share their take on what’s happening with airline customer service, what’s causing the biggest problems, and why we’re seeing little improvement. What can you learn from airline customer service? Find out how airlines’ processes, regulations, corporate politics, and poor culture prevent them from doing right by their customers. Could this happen to you? Listen in to find out, then take action! Related Content 360Connext® post, This Is What an Epic Customer Experience Fail Looks Like Customers That Stick® post, Southwest Airlines: A Service Recovery Surprise Episode 215: (Tip) Losing Control of the Customer Experience Episode 123: CXPA Live, Regulated Industry Challenges We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message: Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and Jeannie celebrate our 200th episode by sharing actionable takeaways and thought-provoking quotes from some of our most inspiring guests. 200 strong and growing! We’re thrilled to announce our 200th episode, so we thought we’d bring you highlights from some of our prominent themes and inspiring thought leaders! From robots taking over the world to driving customer-focused change, we’ve worked hard to bring you guests and topics to help facilitate your success in today’s business world.  Content is king One of our favorite subjects, we just couldn’t share enough with you! Content marketing is all the rage, but it’s not just about pumping out compelling ads. It’s a vital part of the customer journey, and when misunderstood, it can damage customer relationships. We’ve brought you some of the very best minds in content creation and marketing, so you can produce and share content that provides instant value and connects seamlessly with your true customer journey. “Empathy is the most valuable marketing skill.” – Andy Crestodina Customer-focused innovation and tech Technology is taking over a lot of our tasks in business, but make no mistake- successful innovation is driven by customers’ needs. From artificial intelligence to the user experience, we’ve interviewed some of the best names in understanding what customers really need from tech, and what they’ll want next. Where does your tech intersect with customer service, and how does it affect the overall customer experience? “It's coming! …you can wait, or you can get in now and do it at a comfortable pace…” – Robert Scoble Culture, team-building and change Your customers keep changing, so to stay (or become) successful, your organization must change along with them. But how do you know what to change, and when? How can you facilitate change without turning your culture upside-down, alienating customers, and succumbing to pushback from employees? We’ve interviewed leading change experts, as well as customer service and customer experience revolutionaries, to help you take a smarter approach to customer-focused change. These guests have led some of the most successful teams in the world into change initiatives that get measurable results. Take advantage of their success stories and time-tested processes! “…the order of priority: Help your customer; Help your co-worker; Do your job.” -Amy Downs Thank you! We’d like to thank all our guests for making Crack the Customer Code a success! We’re sad we couldn’t feature more of our favorites, but that would be an immense download! They have all brought us unforgettable insights and immeasurable value.  And many, many thanks to our listeners, for sticking with us through our own changes, offering your great comments, support and suggestions. Let us know who you’d like us to interview, and what you’d like to learn about next! Sponsor Message: Free Webinar March 21st Align your brand promises with customer perceptions and the true experience delivered.   Do you know how to deliver the superior customer experience you visualize? We will help your team become a force for positive change, starting with a customer-centric mission. Jeannie Walters and the 360Connext team help companies across industries and around the globe develop unique and scalable customer-focused missions. And now they're offering the same set of actions to their community for free!   You need a compass for making astounding changes in the customer experience, and a way to break down the silos that are in your way. Develop a mission around consistently delivering excellent experiences, and make your employees proud to be on board. Visit CXWebinar.com to sign up for free. Featured episodes Customer-focused content 001: Apple Store Lady, Jackie Huba, and Heathrow Airport 140: Bryan Kramer, The Art of Shareology 027: Customer Experience Fragmentation, Ann Handley, and #1 Cochran Automotive 019: Writing for Machines, Andy Crestodina, and Personalized Robots 023: Creating Community, Mark Schaefer, and Keurig K-Cups Innovation and tech 174: Robert Scoble, Augmented Reality and the Fourth Transformation 116: Terry Brock, Growing Your Business with Tech 032: Cable Customer Service and Luis Serpa Team-building and change 193: Amy Downs, Customer Success 144: Eddie Turner, Facilitating Change 180: John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Toporek is a customer service expert. Not only does he do keynotes and training on customer service, but he has lived it, and grew his family's and his own businesses by delivering great customer service. He gets customer service! I met Adam last year at a National Speakers Association meeting, and we've been friends ever since. His common sense approach to customer service is refreshing for its simplicity and its honesty. I learn a ton about the right way to do customer service from reading Adam's blog, and listening to his podcast Crack the Customer Code, which is co-hosted by Jeannie Walters, one of the world's foremost experts on customer experience. In this interview, we crack some customer codes, break down customer service, and share stories of great and not so great customer service. More about Adam They keep giving Adam Toporek new titles: “Thought leader.” “Customer service expert.” “Customer experience influencer.” But he is really just a guy who loves customer service and who spreads his message of Hero-Class®service through engaging keynote speeches, high-energy training workshops, and informative writing. Adam’s business inclinations were demonstrated early on when, as a small child, he disappeared in a department store and was eventually found in the manager’s office playing with an adding machine. While he has since learned to do what he’s told when shopping with his mother (and his wife), he’s never lost his passion for making sure the numbers add up. Connect with Adam Toporek Buy Adam's book, Be Your Customer's Hero Listen to Adam's podcast - Crack the Customer Code Customer service articles - learn from the Customer's That Stick blog Follow Adam Toporek on Twitter

Are you ready for 2017? Adam and Jeannie share some announcements about what’s coming to Crack the Customer Code this year. Announcing exciting changes for the new year! We’ve had a long holiday season, but we’re back! And to kick off the new year, we’re announcing some changes to our podcast. Don’t worry - we’re still the same podcast you know and love… but better! We’ve been listening to our fans, and we’ve decided to bring you more of what you like and some new things you've been asking for. Adam and Jeannie have been working hard to bring you an exciting lineup of guests, expert tips and more. What else is changing this year? We couldn’t wait to tell you about it, and we recorded a special episode to fill you in. Listen in! Related Content Customers That Stick® post, 3 Areas to Focus your Customer Experience in 2017 360Connext® post, 3 Powerful No-Sweat Customer Experience Quick Fixes Episode 100: Customer Service 100 Years Ago Sponsor message: Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special 100th episode (yippee!) Adam and Jeannie recall some of the great (and not so great) moments in customer service history. Like it or not, you are making customer service history! Have you ever thought about what people will be saying about your customer service in 100 years? Probably not, and we’re guessing some of the brands mentioned in this episode didn’t make their ideas sustainable like Maxwell House did in the ad below. A look back in time reveals that we’ve come a long way with transparency in our marketing and customer service strategies. Just look at these ads! A lot has changed! Customers now see past this type of marketing. Have your strategies joined this new era of enlightenment? Sadly, there are some archaic practices still used today – and some of them are nothing short of cringeworthy! Let’s get up to speed with the trends that matter to real-life customers and lock those flash-in-the-pan advertising tactics up in the time capsule for good. Join us as we make our own history with the 100th episode of Crack the Customer Code. We wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you! Related Content Boredpanda post, 23 Vintage Ads That Would Be Banned Today 360Connext® post, Do Marketing Stereotypes Kill your Customer Experience? Customers That Stick® post, Tell Marketing, The Customer Experience Begins with Them Episode 082: Katie Driscoll, Lessons on Customer Perception Episode 050: 50 Pieces of Customer Service Advice Sponsor message: Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In honor of Thanksgiving, we’d like to share what we’re thankful for in this episode of Crack the Customer Code! We hope we can inspire you with some great stories of how some unique companies have thanked their own customers. From bold and big acts of gratitude to simply saying the words “thank you,” expressing appreciation is always timely, no matter the season. The Power of Gratitude Giving your customers something unexpected is a wonderful way to say "thank you." Listen in to hear how organizations ranging from property managers to online auction sites have delighted customers simply by saying “thanks.” And THANK YOU for listening, sharing, and being a part of our Crack The Customer Code community. We’re lucky to have you! Related Content Adam's blog, 7 Inspirational Customer Service Stories Adam’s book, Be Your Customer’s Hero Jeannie's blog, 5 Customer Appreciation Tweaks Customers Will Gobble Up! Jeannie’s blog, Several Ways to Thank Your Customers    Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In honor of the 50th episode of Crack the Customer Code, we've selected 50 customer service sound bites across a wide range of concepts. From designing and delivering great customer experience to overused clichés, these tips run the gamut, and we are excited to share them with you! What You'll Hear In This Episode 50 fantastic sound bites of customer service wisdom and advice. Sponsor Service Strategies offers a wide variety of Consulting Services for Support, eService, Field Service and Professional Services operations for technology companies. We have helped industry leading service and support operations enhance operational efficiency and drive world class levels of performance, while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Join Service Strategies at their Service Industry Summit event, which brings together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. As part of the event, an informative Customer Success Workshop will be held on October 27th. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. Related Content Adam's blog, www.customersthatstick.com Jeannie's blog, www.360connext.com Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Schwab describes how business leaders can implement NPS and inbound marketing to focus on customer satisfaction and offer them the products and services they need. Tom Schwab: Inbound Expert Tom Schwab is an entrepreneur, a consultant, a writer, a Navy Vet, and an expert at inbound engineering and strategy. He empowers business owners to implement and understand digital tools, build sales, and create marketing machines that amplify their business model by taking them beyond a single efficient transaction to building a lifetime brand. Connect with Tom: LinkedIn Twitter www.tmschwab.com/ctcc www.tmschwab.com Listen To This Episode! [iframe style="border:none" src="http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3751156/height/25/width/320/thumbnail/no/theme/standard-mini" height="25" width="320" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Sponsor Message The Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards establish the Global Benchmark for Service Excellence. Developed by Service Strategies, in cooperation with approximately 50 leading service and support organizations from around the world, the Service Capability & Performance Standards have enhanced the capabilities and performance of service and support operations worldwide since 1998. Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Success Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which brings together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. Inbound, Outbound. What Does It All Mean? Today Tom Schwab gives us a lesson in ecommerce. What exactly does your NPS or Net Promoter Score say about your business and it’s future success? Should you implement inbound or outbound marketing strategies? The terms are often tossed around but what do they truly mean and how can business leaders implement them to effectively build sustainable relationships with their customers? Outbound marketing is often composed of interruption-based ad promotions; email promotions, ads on the highway, these are all outbound. Outbound marketing tends to be annoying and invasive to customers. On the other hand inbound marketing is composed of content that answers questions. Blog posts and social media content, this very podcast, all are fine examples of inbound marketing that seek to help customers by offering advice or a product or service. This approach builds a sustainable, life-long relationship with customers based on trust. Want to learn how to implement inbound marketing strategies combined with your Net Promoter Score to convert detractors to lifelong, valued customers? Listen to this episode of Crack the Customer Code to find out how. Related Content www.NetPromoter.com, where you can learn more about Net Promoter Score Take care of yourself, and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all love metrics, and that’s what this episode of Crack the Customer Code is all about. In particular, it’s about one metric - the Customer Effort Score - and whether or not it’s the best customer experience metric to track. Do you know what the Customer Effort Score is?The Customer Effort Score, measures how much perceived effort your customers experience trying to get an issue resolved. The more effort they have to put in, the less satisfied they are. The less effort, the more satisfied.Listen in as Jeannie and Adam discuss the CES and whether or not it’s a reliable metric to use in evaluating customer experience - on this episode of Crack the Customer Code.Why no ONE metric is enough… not even this one!Even though Adam and Jeannie are devoting this entire episode to the discussion of one metric,  the Customer Effort Score, it’s not the only metric you should be considering because no single metric can tell you everything you need to know to manage your customer experiences. Why? Well… that’s why they recorded this episode, so hit the play button to find out!WHAT YOU’LL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE[0:10] Introduction to the topic: The Customer Effort Score as a metric. [1:53] Business folks can be passionate about their metrics, but no ONE metric is enough.[3:00] What is the Customer Effort Score?[3:42] Why “surprise and delight” don’t matter if the experience is bad.[4:50] Do you understand how “The Hassle Factor” plays a role?[5:58] The importance of knowing what to DO with your metrics.[7:28] An example of how one metric alone is not enough.[11:14] Each company needs to track its own particular metrics…do you know which ones YOUR COMPANY should be tracking?[13:36] How context informs the metrics.[15:50] Metrics are a spotlight to help companies understand their processes and clients. Sponsor Service Strategies offers a wide variety of Consulting Services for Support, eService, Field Service and Professional Services operations for technology companies. We have helped industry leading service and support operations enhance operational efficiency and drive world class levels of performance, while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Join Service Strategies at their Service Industry Summit event, which brings together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. As part of the event, an informative Customer Success Workshop will be held on October 27th. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lee Caraher tells us how intergenerational workplaces can succeed despite the perceived great divide between Millennials and earlier generations like Boomers. Are Millennials really that different from earlier generations? People talk about intergenerational conflict today like it's something new, but it's not. Humans have always been informed by their generation (in addition to many other factors), so it's no surprise that Millennials have a different perspective of the world than the GenXers before them, and the Boomers before them, and so on. A company today could have as many as three or four different generations working together. And within the Millennial group, there are three subgroups to consider: Ages 28–35, who entered the workforce after 9/11. Ages 22–28, who entered the workforce after the economy crashed in 2008. Ages 15–21, who will enter the workforce having grown up with technology from the start, including in school.   How do these subgroups perceive themselves and the world around them? And how can people from such different perspectives get along in the workplace? Listen to this episode of Crack the Customer Code to find out. About Lee Caraher Lee Caraher literally wrote the book on Millennials in the workplace. Lee is a Boomer whose company hired their first Millennial in 2010 and realized quickly that they were in for a change. By the end of the year, they had hired six more Millennials, all of whom failed within their first three months. Lee was disturbed by this high rate of failure and tried to figure out what happened. She found that a Google search of "Millennials in the workplace" turns up over 2.5 million negative entries. As someone with her own business and a ways to go until retirement, she decided, "I cannot be negative about the generation that’s going to make my future possible. So I threw everything out and we figured it out for ourselves.” In figuring it out for her business, she also ended up helping many of her clients figure it out for theirs, which eventually led to her authoring "Millennials & Management: The Essential Guide to Making it Work at Work."   Connect with Lee: www.leecaraher.com Sponsor Message  Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. Related Content Millennials & Management, Lee's book Malcolm Gladwell's Keynote Speech at Postback '15 Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few fun changes for Crack the Customer Code! SPONSOR MESSAGE Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. What's Happening at Crack the Customer Code? One of the best parts of podcasting is the flexibility of the medium. We're making some changes here on the podcast to improve the listening experience. Tune in for a short, bonus episode on what's happening.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we have a special episode. Adam’s new book Be Your Customer’s Hero launched this week, and Jeannie turns the table on Adam and places him in the interview hot seat for the entire episode! Be Your Customer's Hero Interview Here are some of the highlights from the interview: Why did Adam write Be Your Customer’s Hero? Adam shares a story about watching an employee mistreat a customer and how his passion to change that eventually grew into the book. Why mindset is so fundamental to customer service, why ex-Disney employees have a leg up interviewing with him, and how even good people can deliver bad service when they haven’t been given a customer-centric mindset. Why the right customer service language must be coupled with a genuine effort to serve. Why astronauts have competence and confidence and how frontline employees can get it, too. How to handle challenging customers, emotional reactions in difficult service situations, and why picturing your customer running down the street being chased by a bat can be effective. What is “Smart Empowerment,” why it’s important, and how Adam empowered his employees and changed his service delivery significantly. What it means to be your customer’s hero and how it’s not about creating viral-worthy experiences. Interview begins at 1:15. Bonus Section Also, as a special bonus, Adam shares the results from CTS Service Solutions’ recent survey of 425 retail workers and some of the crazy answers to the question, “what is the meanest thing a customer’s ever said to you?” Also, find out what Patrick Swayze has to do with customer service. Bonus begins at 14:33. OUR SPONSORS 13th Annual SCORE Conference: The Industry Forum on CEM Best Practices in Creating Customer Loyalty and Retention Strategies. If you are a CEM professional, you need to attend the SCORE Conference, the 13th customer service industry annual event taking place on May 20-22, 2015 at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. For more information, check out www.omegascoreboard.com CXWebinar.com Each month Jeannie explores a new concept like creating a customer experience mission or journey mapping. Go to http://cxwebinar.com. Also, interested in having Jeannie speak at your organization? Go to http://360connext.com/speaking/.     How to Sponsor www.crackthecustomercode.com/sponsor     People, Places, and Things from the Podcast: Adam Toporek is the author of Be Your Customer's Hero: Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines (2015), as well as the founder of the popular Customers That StickTM blog and co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast. He is the owner of CTS Service Solutions, a consultancy specializing in high-energy customer service workshops that teach organizations and frontline teams how to deliver Hero-ClassTM customer service. Adam has an MBA from UNC Charlotte and a Certificate in Customer Experience from the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University. Connect with him on Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube. Be Your Customer’s Hero Book Trailer How Do You Handle Angry Customers? Patrick Swayze Style!   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices