CX ACCELERATOR
COMMUNITY MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
The CX Accelerator community wouldn’t exist without its members. Working across almost every geography and industry at all organizational levels, it’s you, our members, who make our community a place where we can learn from each other and work at the cutting edge of CX best practice.
Because of this, it’s only fitting that we shine a spotlight on the people who help to make this community the vibrant and varied place it is!
Each month, we’ll be launching a new Community Member Spotlight, giving you a glimpse into the ideas and experiences of other CX Accelerator members.
February Spotlight:
STACY SHERMAN
Stacy has just been blowing us away with her wisdom, kindness, and positive energy. She is someone you definitely want to know!
Bio:
Fearlessly dedicated to HUMANIZING BUSINESS and challenging the status quo to maximize customer satisfaction. Revolutionizing & differentiating brands through #DoingCXRight®. Includes driving employee engagement to fuel customer loyalty and referrals. Achieving record-breaking Net Promoter (NPS) results, contributing to multi-million-dollar revenue growth (+6% Y/Y) and portfolio protection.
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Hello Stacy!! What in the CX space has you excited currently?
Customer experience excites me because it has to do with fueling more happiness in the world. That’s something I care about and focus on personally and professionally. As a CX Corporate Leader, I get to impact the workplace. The basis of CX is creating authentic human connections as people buy from people they like, and refer too. It sounds obvious but there’s a methodical way to achieve customer satisfaction and measure it too. While CX is a science and an art, it all begins with employee engagement. Brand success happens only when people enjoy their work and place of employment. Customers feel it. I recently met a woman named Sherry during my hotel visit. She created Wow Moments for me, and so I asked her impromptu what Customer Experience means to her. Listen to what she has to say and then you’ll get my point. People like Sherry excite me. We need more Sherry’s in the world. I’m finding them and encouraging everyone to be like Sherry.
What’s your fav accomplishment in CX Career?
One of my favorite moments was Oct 1st, 2019, otherwise known as CX Day led by the CXPA organization. I brought the idea to the Executive team at my workplace (Schindler Elevator Corp) to celebrate customers and employees who deliver excellence daily. Thanks to budget approval and massive cross-team support, my vision turned into a reality. Schindler celebrated globally in bigger ways than I ever imagined. You can view photos and also get 14 Effective Ideas To Celebrate CX Day. I recommend planning for for CX Day 2020 well in advance as “it takes a village” to achieve success.
What is your fav CX resource?
I have a long list of favorites. If I had to pick only one, it’s CX Accelerator. I’m not just saying this because you’re featuring me and offer readers inspiring content, but more importantly, it’s because of the people! Everyone is so smart, kind, willing to share information, confidence boosting and....and....Competition is replaced with mentorship and support with a feeling that there’s room at the top for all of us. If only I could bottle your community and spread across companies everywhere, we’d have more happy employees and thus, customers too. They go hand in hand.
Choose a superpower to help in CX career and outside of it, what would you choose?
I’d choose Healing Ability. CX involves empathy, for which pain gets in the way of “walking in the customer shoes.” I’d like the ability to heal what’s hurt. Fix what’s broken, and save what’s lost. What a dream come true that would be.
😁 Thank you so much Stacy for all you do! Can't wait to see you at Go Bold!! 😁
November Spotlight:
KAYE CHAPMAN
Bio:
We are going to be a bit selfish this month and feature one of our own, the amazing Kaye Chapman! Kaye actually just finished her doctorate on the role of community groups in professional development...with a big focus on CX Accelerator. We are so proud of you Kaye!!
Kaye's roots are in the contact center space, having worn the hats of agent, manager, QA specialist, coach, and trainer. Now, her passion is managing CX-influenced learning programs for customer-facing staff of all kinds. She is a widely recognized thought leader in the space and one of our all-time favorite writers. Get to know Kaye below in our November community spotlight!
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Greetings Kaye! Tell us where you are in your CX career right now?
I started off, like many of us do, in my teens on the phones myself. The contact center I started out in wasn’t the best, had zero knowledge resources and no training program, and nobody really had a clue what we were meant to be telling customers. Needless to say we weren’t providing good service at all.
So I coded a basic knowledge hub for the team with the HTML I’d learned from designing terrible teenage Geocities websites. I took on training duties, coaching and mentoring other staff, and doing quality assurance. And I kicked off programs to measure and improve KPIs, built out a VoC program, and implemented continuous improvement processes, using those to feed back into training and development plans for staff so we were measurably improving.
Since then I’ve worked in a variety of different organisations in the private and public sector, designing and delivering customer-centric learning programs for staff of all kinds, although my heart definitely lies in the contact center. I now manage Learning & Development for Comm100, a customer engagement software company. I work with our contact center clients to get their staff beautifully trained on our software and handling customer queries with ease.
Are you a CX practitioner or an ally?
In my work with Comm100, I primarily design learning solutions for the agents, managers, system admins and project managers who are all learning to work with our software. Those solutions could be training courses, videos, reference guides and more. I never interact with the customers that our clients serve, but I definitely consider the experience of those customers in everything that I do!
When designing I have a few aims in mind. First, how take what I know about contact center work and learning to make it as easy as possible for staff to use our software? Then, what extra hints and tips can I give from my experience as an agent and in CX that I know will result in really outstanding customer outcomes?
It takes a bit of thinking outside the box to not just talk about features of our software on a surface level, but to demonstrate how they can be exploited to maximum advantage, making things easier for agents and allowing them to give their very best to customers.
What have been some CX highlights for you so far?
I’m a big proponent of social learning at work. When we look at how learning occurs throughout history, often we see social learning at play, with apprentices and craftspeople, for example, showing how skills can be passed down and kept alive through generations of people learning together. So in our workplaces I’m very concerned with creating the tools, processes and communication flows to allow people to do the same.
I consider CX Accelerator to be like a modern, online version of that, on a community scale and allowing even geographically disparate people to learn from each other. So it’s been amazing for me to be a part of the CX Accelerator community facilitator team and see social learning in action, helping community members build relationships, pick up skills and grow bonds that I know will serve them throughout their careers.
What's next for you?
I’m hoping to take what I’ve learned from the CX Accelerator community and apply it to creating our very own customer learning community!
How are you doing CX even if your job title doesn't say it?
CX and Learning & Development (L&D) are both undergoing parallel shifts in understanding, and I’m sitting at the intersection of these changes.
We’re realising that EX is at the root of CX. That of course our employees won’t be serving customers at their best if they’re given poor tools, if they have to follow broken processes, if they’re deep in silos or if they’re not rewarded or developed enough.
At the same time, L&D has changed. Once, training courses were viewed as the answer to most performance issues at work. Now, we’re realising that often that’s a sticky-plaster approach as often people aren’t enabled to learn, grow and do their best work in the first place. So the focus for L&D pros has shifted and we’re increasingly working to provide the tools, systems and communication flows for people to improve their working processes, learn from each other and get the feedback they need to grow.
In my world on the vendor side, we can’t control a lot of the experience our client’s employees have in their workplaces and how those experiences impact on customers. But what we can do is implement technology, give best practices and help clients build effective implementations that take the strain off a whole host of other workplace problems, and we’re primarily seeing those benefits achieved through customer- and agent-side automation right now.
Finally – imagine you have your own late night talk show. Who would you invite as your first guest?
Ever since I was a kid I’ve thought that the late great Robin Williams is probably one of the funniest people who has ever existed. Now, I’ve started doing a little stand-up comedy and I’ve grown to appreciate what a gifted comedian he was. So I would definitely choose him (and if I could book Jim Carrey too I’d be delighted!)
August Spotlight:
ERICA MANCUSO
Erica is an unstoppable force. She knows that CX work is a marathon not a sprint...and also how to run real marathons. 😄 Learn more about this remarkable person in our August spotlight!
Bio:
Erica has over 15 years of experience building and leading customer facing teams for SaaS companies with focus in healthcare technology and e-learning, with roles spanning implementation, customer support, customer success, and account management. She is an expert at employee development and transforming performance data into strategies and action plans that produce results.
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Hey there Erica! What excites you about CX?
There is so much opportunity to build bridges across siloed organizations so that companies can deliver better experiences and outcomes for customers (and employees).
What pains you about the CX function today?
Building these bridges is simple in theory, but in reality, it's a heavy lift! We're fighting inertia, competing priorities, and other functional goals that shouldn't, but often do, take priority over the customer.
What has been your favorite accomplishment in your CX career?
So far, it's been rebuilding an under-performing support team. I stepped in when CSAT was low and attrition was high. By focusing on people, process, tools, and the right metrics, I was able to take this to 98%!
What is your favorite CX resource?
This CX Accelerator community, of course! I've also been loving the Repeat Customer podcast by Zendesk recently! They do a great job at showcasing companies from a range of industries who are doing CX well.
Finally – if you could choose a superpower to help you in your CX career and outside of it – what superpower would you choose?
Omnipresence! My productivity would skyrocket and I would never have to choose between customers, family, or a workout ever again. 😄
Amazing stuff, thank you Erica. Keep setting the pace for all of us! - The CX Accelerator Team
July Spotlight:
YAEL MCCUE
Bio:
Yael is one smart and talented dude. As someone who is KCS® certified (Knowledge Centered Service) and a "Customer Support Futurist" he is able to bring a wonderful perspective to the CX table. Yael is an Uber and TaskRabbit alum, but currently serves as the "Manager of Strategic Customer Success" at Guru. Get to know Yael inside of the CX Accelerator slack channel!
* KCS is a registered service mark of the Consortium for Service Innovation
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* Greetings Yael! What pains you about CX today? *
When you’re doing something new and different, not everybody gets what you are and what you’re doing right from the start. This pain is shared by marketing and sales, even up to the C-suite, but it really affects CX because we do a lot of the work in anchoring the change that marketing and sales establish. Guru is the third innovative startup I’ve worked for (Uber and TaskRabbit were the first two), and helping customers see that we really want to make their lives better has been a challenge in every one of those roles.
* What excites you about CX? *
Customers aren’t just buying your product; they are buying the future version of themselves that they will create with your product. But the product itself can only do so much of getting them there; they need guidance. That’s where CX comes in, and that’s why I’m proud to work in CX. We are sherpas, life coaches, wizards, transforming our customer into the person they want to become with our product.
* What has been your favorite accomplishment in your CX career? *
Earlier this year, I was excited to get to work with my customer Eraj Siddiqui of Autodesk to create The Essential Customer Success Tech Stack (bit.ly/successtechstack) and present it at Gainsight Pulse. It was cool both because we got to fill a need that we saw in the Customer Success space, since Customer Success as a branch of CX is still so new, and also because I got to help a customer realize a project idea he had outside of the work we were doing within Autodesk.
* What is your favorite CX resource? *
Lincoln Murphy! Follow his blog, get his email newsletter, attend his workshops. If you’re in customer success, this guy provides the best perspective I’ve found yet.
* Finally – if you could choose a superpower to help you in your CX career and outside of it – what superpower would you choose? *
Oh, I would definitely want to read minds. There are a lot of tools out there now that show you where your customer was working before they reached out to Support, but I’d like to get more insight than that, and to see what their mindset is when they open a ticket, to understand past experiences they’ve had with other CX reps that lead to certain assumptions they might have, to know if they’ve generally been having a good day or a bad day. In the past few years, I’ve focused a lot on asking more questions before jumping into an answer so that I can gather some of this knowledge myself, but how amazing of an experience would it be if I already knew all of that and could give them the right answer immediately!
Thank you so much Yael...keep that creative energy flowing, you inspire all of us! - The CX Accelerator Team
Hey Matt! What pains about CX today?
I wake up every day excited to do the work I do. That hasn’t been the case throughout my entire career, but I’m fortunate that it has been over the last several years. So, nothing really pains me about CX as a professional. As a customer, it pains me to see companies that market themselves as focused on CX but it’s clear it’s just marketing. The employees in those companies always get the short end of the stick.
What excites you about CX?
I’ve always believed that treating customers better, and providing meaningful products and services to customers, is good for the health and well-being of employees, so focusing on delivering better customer experiences can also help team members at work live better, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. So, for me, working in CX has always been about improving lives: of customers, team members, my family, and my own.
What has been your favorite accomplishment in your CX career?
It is incredibly difficult to name one event as a favorite accomplishment. What I am the proudest of are the many team members I have worked with through the years that have moved into new positions and new careers after excelling as a customer service representative. Throughout my career, I have seen a great number of team members take the lessons they learned in the contact center and applied them to roles in sales, marketing, human resources, accounting, product development, and many more. There is nothing more gratifying than to see people learn how to deliver exceptional customer experiences and then go on to build successful careers.
What is your favorite CX resource?
Well, I promise I wasn’t asked to respond with this, but, my absolute favorite resource is the CX Accelerator Slack workgroup. It is, by far, the greatest resource for any CX professional. This Slack group has many dedicated members that are willing to help one another with any specific problem they’re working on.
Also, I’m always listening to podcasts, and I love so many of the CX focused shows out there, especially Decoding the Customer, which is hosted and produced by my former colleague (and fellow CXA Slacker, Julia Ahlfeldt). Julia has great guests and she explores many facets of CX, from personal leadership journeys to company transformations. https://www.julia-ahlfeldt.com/podcast-episodes/
Finally, if you could choose a superpower to help you in your CX career and outside of it – what superpower would you choose?
When I was a child, I used to wish I had the power of invisibility. I mostly thought of the pranks I could pull on my friends, and eventually got to be old enough to realize being invisible could be sort of creepy. But, since I believe most companies do an absolute terrible job asking customers for feedback, I think it might be interesting to be able to observe customers interacting with a product of service, rather than asking customers to take surveys. I guess, in a way, this is what artificial intelligence is already starting to do.
Thank you so much Matt...the CX community is better with you in it!
Join Mr. Beckwith and other great CX pros in our community!
May Spotlight:
MATT BECKWITH
Matt is an unstoppable force in the contact center / CX space, as well as one of the most encouraging guys you will ever meet!
Bio:
Matt describes his life's work as orchestrating people, process, and technology to deliver improved business outcomes through better customer experiences. Matt is more than just a little fanatical about contact centers and has called a contact center nearly every day of his career!
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April Spotlight:
ANDREW GILLIAM
Andrew is one of the kindest and smartest guys out there. He's got a story and a whole variety of witty sayings for just about any situation. Get to know Andrew inside of the CX Accelerator slack channel!
Bio:
"I deliver Amazing Customer Service and Technical Support™ by fulfilling my client's unstated and stated,psychological and business needs. I'm passionate about continuously innovating and redefining the customer experience." - Andrew
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Where are you in your CX career, Andrew??
I’m currently outside of CX, beating on the glass trying to get in. My background is in Information Technology, and I currently work for a university IT service desk. Our team has always prioritized customer service, but we’ve never had formal processes to ensure it happens. I’ve been incrementally improving our experience with small, manageable changes and a lot of persistence.
Are you a CX practitioner or an ally?
I like to get my hands dirty, but sometimes my fingers get pinched. I do my best to influence our overall customer experience from the single touch point I have access to. I think we’re making progress, but there’s still a long way to go. Change and continuous improvement drive my thinking. We can always do a little better.
What have been some CX highlights for you so far?
There’s so much more to CX than just surveys, but I also picked the low hanging fruit. Our old transactional survey was a boondoggle; our response rates were horrible and the data wasn’t actionable. I begged to change it, and my persistence eventually paid off. A simple change to our invitation emails quadrupled our response rates overnight. Industry standard questions now give us clearer picture of how we’re doing. Using innovative new questions that I developed, our survey has become an active part of the experience.
We’re also in the process of expanding a revolutionary silo-busting technology called A.G.E.S., short for the Andrew Gilliam Email System. I had no part in choosing the name, honestly! A.G.E.S. reduces customer effort and increases perceptions of problem ownership, by allowing us to electronically send requests that are outside our scope of support to other departments without directing the customer to call or email someone else. A.G.E.S. has the added benefit of providing more accurate and detailed information to the receiving department, because details necessary to solve the problem are collected by our experienced and knowledgeable service desk staff instead of leaving the customer to guess what to include in an email or voicemail. Upon receipt, the appropriate department follows-up with the customer by phone or email at their preferred time.
What's next for you?
An engaging, thoughtful employee experience is the groundwork for great customer experience. As flight attendants say, “put on your own oxygen masks before assisting others!” With that in mind, I’m working on a reboot of our team’s vision statement. It’s never been helpful or meaningful to our team, and I’m hoping we can create something that will inspire and align us all around a common goal.
Further into the future, I’d like to expand my influence to cover more than a single touch point. While it is thrilling to make small, tactical changes and see the results, it’s also frustrating to be confined to one point in the customer journey. Truly great CX is only possible when everyone works together to achieve a seamless experience.
In future roles, I’d like to work on more customer research and Voice of the Customer (VoC) projects. Learning from customers and their behavior has always intrigued me. I’m particularly interested in finding new ways of listening and learning from customers in a wider variety of situations. I’m also currently working on a Masters of Business Administration, which will further help me justify future initiatives.
How are you doing CX even if your job title doesn't say it?
Slowly. Leading from the bottom isn’t easy, particularly in a large organization that’s very much set in its ways. While not as glamorous as major initiatives, small improvements gradually make big impacts. Small changes also have a greater probability of success, because there are fewer moving parts to break and less significant buy-in is required from stakeholders. Everyone can (and should) contribute to CX, regardless of their role. All of us see things that are broken, frustrating, or could be improved. Just because it’s easy to leave the problem for someone else, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing ethically or economically. The only thing necessary for mediocrity to triumph is that good employees do nothing.
Finally – imagine you have your own late night talk show. Who would you invite as your first guest?
The audience, obviously! Never forget to invite the customer to your business. Without them, you’re just a crazy person talking to yourself.
You are one-of-a-kind in a great way Andrew!! Join Mr. Gilliam and a host of other great CX pros in our community!
March Spotlight:
Murphy Fraser
Murphy is a fantastic voice for Customer Service and Customer Experience. She cares about her people and is very creative in her approach to engage both employees and customers.
Bio:
As the Customer Experience Manager at Skillshare, Murphy is a dynamic and dedicated customer-centric professional who loves people, technology, and connecting the two through meaningful customer experiences & unforgettable customer service
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Where are you in your CX career, Murphy?
As the Support Supervisor for an online ordering and food delivery company in Madison, WI, I am first and foremost a contact center leader. The role has grown and evolved exponentially since I joined EatStreet three years ago, and it’s been a great adventure. Over the last year or so, I’ve really developed a passion for CX. We exist in a very competitive space, so I’m constantly asking myself how we can leverage our support and the CX we deliver to differentiate ourselves. Today, most of my time is spent serving the needs of our people on the front lines- ensuring their ideas are heard, their coaching needs are met, and that the processes we have in place are not getting in the way of their being able to deliver great experiences. After all, employees want many of the same things customers do. They want to be heard, they want us (their leaders) to know who they are and what they care about, and when they have a problem, they want us to support them through the process of getting it solved.
Would you consider yourself a CX practitioner or an ally?
I like to think that I am both. Some days I might assume the role of one more than the other, but the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. As a people leader, even if I’m not elbows deep in a CX project or initiative, the time I spend coaching the team on how to better care for and interact with our customers is an act of better serving the customer experience. Championing and advocating for an improved, meaningful customer experience happens in a lot of different ways. Whether I’m in Product Ideation meetings advocating for more customer-focused resource allocation, utilizing customer survey data to change a process causing friction or to deliver a channel request, or even just giving agents additional resources to surprise and delight our customers during Customer Service Appreciation Week, I’m always on the customer’s side.
What's next for you?
I hope to have more bandwidth to focus on CX work in the new year and beyond. I’d also like to continue focusing on the EX as it relates to CX, and deliver on feedback around how we can better serve the Support team. Social care opportunities have my attention as well, and it will be a great year of innovating as the business grows!
How are you doing CX even if your job title doesn't say it?
I’ve lost a bit of connection with my title, Support Supervisor, as my role has evolved so much in the last year. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a leader who came in and allowed me space and time to run with my CX passion through a support/contact center lens, so I’ve been able to do things like design and implement the team’s first ever quality assurance program, re-design the post support interaction survey to ask more meaningful questions, partner with tech to provide customers with a new self-help portal, introduce texting as a new communication channel for customers, and many other smaller wins. Customer experience work exists everywhere and anywhere the customer might find themselves. That’s a lot of places!
Finally – imagine you have your own late night talk show. Who would you invite as your first guest?
The first person that came to mind was Barack Obama. As a twenty-something, he was the first prominent public leader that I found accessible, that got me excited about being an engaged citizen and a productive contributor to issues I care about. Politics is really just another branch of customer service, and I’d like to poke his brain about whether or not he sees it that way. Bonus points if he brings Michelle!
☘ Learn from Murphy and other great CX pros in our community right here! ☘
February Spotlight:
SHANE GOLDBERG
Shane is a wonderful addition to the CX Community. He combines a strong analytical perspective with a great personality and desire to help. Get to know Shane inside of the CX Accelerator slack channel!
Bio:
As the Founder and Principal at CustCore Consulting (a boutique CX consulting firm based in Melbourne, Australia) Shane has specialties in Customer Experience & Advocacy, Customer Satisfaction, Net Promoter Score, NPS, Sales Operations, Product Management, Go To Market, Process Management, Business Improvement, Knowledge Management and much more.
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What pains you about CX today, Shane?
My biggest frustration about CX is the number of companies I see where the senior leadership, or the marketing messages they promote, talk all about their focus on putting customers first, but in reality they don’t focus on customers at all.
Too many companies jump on the CX bandwagon, but then don’t make the hard choices and investments to really drive CX improvement in both experiences and internal culture that are required for long-term change.
What excites you about CX?
I get excited about CX because I can see so many opportunities in the clients I work with and the broader business environment to drive real change in how organisations interact with their customer base. I strongly believe that if organisations truly focus on delivering great experiences and backing these up with internal capabilities and an internal culture which is customer-centric that they can create great outcomes for both themselves and their customer base.
What has been your favorite accomplishment in your CX career?
My favorite accomplishment was probably when I worked with another consultancy to improve their customer experience by interviewing both their client base and internal consultants to work out what they could do better, and how to change their internal activities as well. I really enjoyed this because first of all I found it fascinating to talk to their clients who were so similar to mine, and also because the two owners were so open to the recommendations I delivered to them. The outcomes have also been great as well, they have changed most of how they deliver their work and interact with customers, and this has driven significant change in their business.
What is your favorite CX resource?
This may seem strange but my favorite CX resource is actually LinkedIn. I have followed many, many other CX practitioners, consultants and research firms, and I really enjoy seeing and reading all the articles and information they provide.
Finally – if you could choose a superpower to help you in your CX career and outside of it – what superpower would you choose?
I’d probably choose the ability to read minds. If I had that superpower it would make all the change management challenges that driving real CX improvements can produce much, much easier to manage.
♣ We appreciate you Shane! Keep up the great CX work! ♣
January Spotlight:
LYNDON FILE
Lyndon is an exciting voice within the CX industry. Get to know Lyndon and his take our interview below...and many more inside of the CX Accelerator community!
Bio:
Experienced Director Of Customer Experience & Advocacy with a demonstrated history of working in the leisure, travel & tourism industry. Skilled in Customer Service, Tour Operators, Adventure Travel, Management, and Travel Management. Strong community and social services professional graduated from Auckland University of Technology.
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What pains you about CX today, Lyndon?
This is such an interesting question. I’m going through a number of different pain points that immediately spring to mind, but as I distill them there are two main themes. First would be along the lines of demonstrating the benefit of CX. I find myself constantly trying to answer questions along the lines of: why are we doing this? What is the benefit of that? To be fair, some of those questions I am asking myself. The benefit of CX cannot always be immediately seen or demonstrated as well as any credit sometimes being assumed by other functions. CX it seems to me can be slow to be credited for successes.
The second theme falls into the category of educating the business on the actual customer journey. We sell a very sexy product (Adventure travel). Our trips are fantastic and often supply life-changing experiences and we celebrate the success of this. But the reality is the customer journey starts well before someone sets foot in Peru, Morocco, Mongolia or anywhere else we run tours, and finishes well after. The CX challenge is to educate the business around the concept of the entirety of the customer journey (not just the sexy bits) and the opportunities we have to measure and improve upon it along the way.
What excites you about CX?
The possibilities. I’m excited about shaping our customer experience to be all it can be. I am given free reign to focus on the priorities I have identified and leverage appropriate resources internally and externally to make it happen. No one company can claim to have a perfect customer experience (ourselves included). But I firmly believe we can all learn from others and adapt ideas and concepts for our CX purposes. There are limitless options and opportunities out there just waiting to be discovered and unpacked. I am excited about identifying and creating the best solutions for our company.
What has been your favorite accomplishment in your CX career?
I would have to say defining and depicting our Customer Journey. It’s a massive undertaking as anyone who has gone through it will understand. But I loved going through the exercise and listening to our customers. I loved then mapping this to a digestible journey. I use the customer journey as a daily touchpoint, and as I socialize it across the business, it does help erode the pain point of having the business focus on just the sexy stuff as mentioned above.
What is your favorite CX resource?
This is going to sound like a paid advertisement….but I assure you it’s not. I am a CX team of 1, and sometimes, I find myself in need of a soundboard, or inspiration on things CX. So, I find the CX Accelerator a place to bounce ideas and have meaningful conversations with like-minded folks.
Finally – if you could choose a superpower to help you in your CX career and outside of it – what superpower would you choose?
Ironically, as I wrote this, it’s Halloween and I find myself sitting here in a Batman suit. Hmmm…What would Batman do?
I would have to say I would love the ability to understand what is NOT being said. In our CX world, we hear from certain sections of the customer base. The disgruntled have a very strong presence, so to the brand advocates. But….unless you make a point of asking them (but then, you can’t ask them ALL), the ‘Meh’ Middle are an underrepresented and understood bunch. What are they thinking? How can we
make their experience better? I would love to know that (and so much more!) and then be armed with a more fulsome understating of our customer.
Also, I can see this Superpower being very helpful and constructive with the Wife 😁
♣ You rock Lyndon! Thanks for being so encouraging in our community and for everything you do!! ♣
December Spotlight:
MARY DRUMOND
Mary is one of our favorite new fresh voices in the CX space. Get to know Mary a bit better in our interview below, and a lot better inside of the CX Accelerator community!
Bio:
Currently the spokesperson and PR for Worthix Corp, Mary has a +10 year track record in positions of leadership; extensive experience in agile management, digital marketing strategies, public speaking, growth strategies, and multi-language communication skills (trilingual). Most recently, she has hosted and produced the Voices of Customer Experience Podcast --a podcast that interviews CX thought-leaders, executives, researchers, academia and Customer Experience front-liners.
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So Mary, what pains you about CX today?
A couple things:
1) The fact that folks can't agree on a clear definition and/or range of CX. Corporations don't even know where to put us: is it under Marketing? Brand? Data Analyses? Who knows? We say CX needs to be holistic, but being a little bit of everything, everywhere can make CX seem excessively pliable, therefore expendable to leadership.
2) For a brand-new industry, there is a whole lot of old school going on. At times, I find fellow CXers to be late adopters of technology and slow to get on-board with the speed at which customers move.
3) Empty metrics that say nothing and lead nowhere also pain me. Let's stop settling for scores that don't deliver the answers to stakeholders' questions and get ourselves some decent, actionable insight from our VOC programs.
What excites you about CX?
The vibrant, fun and welcoming CX community. Everyone is so passionate and eager to do better and go farther. It's energizing!
What has been your favorite accomplishment in your CX career?
The Voices of CX Podcast. I love how it has become a go-to tool not only for CX, but for overlapping industries as well. My idea was always to broaden the CX reach and educate other parts of the organization on how the entire company can learn and build to improve experiences. It has also given me the opportunity to learn from some incredible thought-leaders and practitioners, as well as a great reminder that I am but a speck in a universe of great minds.
What is your favorite CX resource?
I do a lot of reading. I read on behavior, on social psychology, on customer journeys, and on design thinking. I'm fascinated by the human mind and deciphering the decision making process. Discovering the "why" behind customers' decisions and determining which experiences drive positive and negative behavior is, to me, the ideal starting point of any CX program.
Finally – if you could choose a superpower to help you in your CX career and outside of it – what superpower would you choose?
The power to override mental biases! The funny thing about biases is that we are powerless to them, even when we know they exist. But being bias-free would mean being judgement free! It's rather utopic, really.
We appreciate you Mary! Thanks for bringing so much great content and being a rock star in the community!!
