Amazing Business Radio

Meeting Consumer Demand through Amazing Customer Support and Innovation Shep Hyken interviews Mark Ang, CEO and Co-Founder of GoBolt. He talks about taking a proactive approach to customer service and embracing technology to enhance the customer experience. Top Takeaways:  ·Customer obsession is a crucial aspect of every business, regardless of its size or industry. It should be embraced by everyone in the organization, from senior leaders to frontline employees. ·To provide exceptional customer service, it is essential to have a dedicated customer support team that is well-trained and equipped with the right tools and technology. Utilizing cutting-edge solutions like chatbots and AI can improve efficiency and reduce ticket volume, allowing the team to focus on handling complex support issues. ·Respond quickly and be available through your customers' preferred channels, such as phone, email, text, and social media. Customers have high expectations when it comes to responsiveness, and meeting those expectations can significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty. ·Being proactive and using data to anticipate customer needs is a game-changer. By analyzing customer behavior and trends, companies can address potential issues before they arise, providing a personalized and proactive approach to customer support. ·While technology plays a significant role in improving customer service, human interaction remains essential. It's about finding the right balance between AI-powered solutions and human touch to provide a seamless and personalized customer experience. ·Plus, Mark shares how he founded GoBolt in college and how being customer-obsessed built it to become the award-winning company it is today. Tune in! Quote:  "The goal is not to eliminate humans. The goal is to create more time for our people to deal with higher-level support requirements, manage more complex processes, and oversee different areas of the business." About:  Mark Ang serves as the CEO and Co-Founder at GoBolt, an organization offering simple, customer-centric, and sustainable logistics solutions. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Marketing and Training Go Hand in Hand in Shaping Customer Perceptions Shep Hyken interviews Barry LaBov, the founder of LABOV Marketing Communications and Training and author of The Power of Differentiation. He discusses the importance of aligning marketing messages with employee training to create a unique and consistent customer experience. Top Takeaways:  Giving employees a sense of meaning and purpose creates excitement and engagement. When employees feel connected to the brand and enjoy the experience they deliver, it translates into a better connection with customers. Training is crucial in aligning employees with the brand's unique experience. If new hires don't receive the same training as the rest of the team, the result is inconsistency, which can create a disconnect with customers. Onboarding processes that quickly integrate new employees into the company culture are essential. Brands should aim to bridge the gap between their brand image and customer experience. If customers become excited about the product or brand, their expectations should be met or exceeded from the moment they interact with the business. Aligning the messaging and experience is crucial in maintaining customers' enthusiasm. Differentiating a product or brand starts from within. Before promoting to the world, it's important to share and celebrate what makes the product unique with employees. Ensuring employees are knowledgeable promotes consistency and helps avoid miscommunication or confusion. The right customer experience creates brand loyalty. Your brand's reputation is created by every individual representing the brand. It's important for employees throughout the organization to understand their role in shaping how customers perceive the brand. Regardless of location or demographic, customers expect a consistent and predictable experience.  Plus, Shep and Barry discuss how engaging one employee at a time can be more effective than mass engagement. Tune in! Quote: "Marry the message to the experience. The marketing and promotion should be congruent with the actual experience the customer receives."  About:  Barry LaBov is the founder of LABOV Marketing and Training in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He empowers brands to impress their customers and capture the hearts of their employees. He is the author of The Power of Differentiation, a book that helps leaders discover and share what makes their brands unique. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investing in Customer Experience and Employee Engagement Shep Hyken interviews Alan Masarek, CEO and Board Director of Avaya. He discusses prioritizing customer satisfaction and creating a positive workplace culture. Top Takeaways:  Being a destination workplace requires deliberately building a culture that attracts talented individuals. Organizations should strive to create an environment where employees are proud to work, find meaning in their careers, and have growth opportunities.  In today's job market, loyalty to a single company is less common. Employees often see their first job as a stepping stone to their next employment opportunity. Companies need to create a work environment that employees never want to leave and would want to recommend to others. Providing innovation without disrupting existing systems is a strategic approach for companies with large installations. The gradual integration of new channels and capabilities can help customers evolve and expand in the journey they have chosen. Creating a clear and transparent roadmap is key to building trust with customers and employees. Companies can foster stronger relationships and restore confidence in their offerings by demonstrating reliability and actively involving customers in the decision-making process. This can be achieved through open communication, sharing long-term plans, and consistently delivering on commitments. Balancing financial results with customer and employee objectives is essential for long-term success. Companies should prioritize customer delight and creating value for shareholders. Organizations can create a clear roadmap for success by aligning these objectives and holding themselves accountable for achieving results. Plus, Shep and Alan talk about Avaya's North Star and how it can be applied to businesses of any size, in any industry. Tune in! Quote: "The megatrend in business today is towards CX. Brands have to differentiate themselves based on customer experience.” About:  Alan Masarek, CEO and Board Director of Avaya. He is the former CEO of Vonage. and brings over 30 years of software and cloud-based business experience. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Balancing Technology, the Human Touch, and Customer Experience (CX) Shep Hyken interviews Tom Martin, CEO at Glance, a software company focused on helping businesses connect with their customers. He discusses combining technology with human-to-human interactions to create a seamless and personalized customer experience. Top Takeaways:  In the age of advanced technology, it's crucial for businesses to prioritize the overall customer experience. While chatbots and digital solutions are valuable, human-to-human interactions still plays a vital role, especially when technology falls short.  Understanding and predicting customer needs are key to effective customer engagement. By analyzing their data and journey, businesses can provide tailored assistance "in the moment". This not only solves customers' problems efficiently but also strengthens the relationship. Provide seamless connections between various communication channels, including chatbots, apps, phone calls, and emails. The goal is to create an effortless customer experience, removing friction and allowing them to interact with the company through their preferred channels.  Customer interaction often spans multiple departments or silos within a company. It is important for leadership and management to know that the customer doesn't care about silos and what is happening in the background. The only thing that they care about is that they have a great experience with you – and when they do, they reward you with more business. Repetition is unnecessary friction in delivering a seamless customer support. Customers dislike having to repeat themselves or go through verification processes multiple times. Companies should strive to streamline their support systems so that customers can connect easily and quickly without unnecessary steps or frustrations. When offering digital support systems, enable customers to reach a real person whenever needed. Use AI to provide contextual information to the agent as the conversation is happening. When AI pulls information from the customer's history or a knowledge base, support agents are empowered to have better interactions and efficiently provide the best solution. Plus, Shep and Tom talk about "wallet share" and how providing an amazing experience can help companies gain trust and become the go-to provider for all of their customers' needs. Tune in! Quote: "Different channels allow you to communicate with a business, and each one can serve a very specific purpose. All of these need to work together so that the customer experience isn't disrupted and there is no unnecessary friction to get from one channel to the next." About:  Tom Martin is CEO at Glance, a software company focused on the enterprise space, helping businesses connect with their customers inside of a digital journey to bring in the human connection in moments of need. He is a CX contact center strategist, product lifecycle expert, and partnership builder. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How AI is Transforming Customer Communication Shep Hyken interviews Anand Janefalkar, CEO and founder of UJET. He talks about the power of AI enhancing CX and how businesses can leverage it to improve customer support and avoid churn. Top Takeaways:  Customers have so many options and want to get the best out of the money they spend. Since there are many options for companies offering more or less the same services, customer support becomes the differentiator. It comes down to how easy it is to communicate with a business and how delightful the experience is. In the 80s, the White House commissioned the Technical Assistant Research Program to conduct a study on customer experience. They found out that the number one reason customers leave is rudeness or apathy. Almost 40 years later, our customer service and experience research has the same findings - the number one reason customers leave to do business elsewhere is rudeness or apathy.  The evolution of customer communication has expanded beyond traditional phone and mail. Companies must embrace diverse channels like chatbots, social media, and visual communication to meet customer expectations and deliver a seamless experience. Customer service professionals and support agents now mostly consist of young professionals who are digitally acquainted. They are "obsessed" with their phones, and the internet has become a seamless extension of their day-to-day lives. Training them on a stack designed 20-30 years ago, which they have never used in their lives, then asking them to solve a problem for the customer without using their senses of visual and contextual information gathering is a recipe for disaster. The result can be rudeness that comes from frustration from the inability to solve that issue. Technology must feel intuitive. Just like smartphones became popular because they are easy to use, customer service platforms must prioritize user-friendly interfaces that make interactions effortless. They should have a human-first mindset when designing communication between customers, support agents, and AI. Organizations need to be responsible for using AI for customer interactions. Proper training, data, and empathy are crucial to ensure AI understands and responds appropriately to customers, providing a human-like experience while maintaining efficiency and accuracy. Plus, Shep and Anand discuss how AI can empower agents and increase their efficiency. Tune in! Quote: "Natural language processing and AI play a crucial role in customer communication. When communicating with customers, it needs to feel like you're explaining something just like you would explain it to a family or a friend."  About:  Anand Janefalkar is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of UJET. Anand founded UJET to modernize the contact center by addressing long-standing design flaws and conventional thinking that have failed to evolve in parallel with changing human interaction landscape. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Creating a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Workplace That Drives a Better Employee Experience Shep Hyken interviews Philip Mandelbaum, founder, and CEO of Mandelbaum Marketing and Head of Content of Customer Management Practice. He talks about how prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion creates a supportive work environment that drives revenue growth and customer loyalty. Top Takeaways:  Employee experience is the new customer experience. It goes beyond a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce. It is also about company culture, training, work environment, and how an organization supports growth that plays into how people think about a brand.  Many people in diverse workforces report being discriminated against. According to Deloitte's State of Inclusion survey, nearly 2/3 of workers have experienced bias in the workplace, and 40% experience bias at least once a month. Studies have shown that companies devoted to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) earn 140% more revenue. They are 70% more likely to capture a new market and 35% more likely to outperform their competitors.  There is a difference between equality and equity. Equality is about treating each person with respect regardless of their background. Equity is acknowledging that people show up to work under their own unique circumstances. It considers historical and present-day disadvantages and makes sure that each individual has the appropriate resources to succeed.  Customers buy and support companies that care about the same things that they do. According to our 2023 Achieving Customer Amazement Study, sponsored by Five9, 43% of consumers believe it's important that a company has a social cause that's important to them. 41% are willing to pay more if the cause is important to them, making the price less relevant. 60% of Gen Z said they are willing to tolerate a poor service experience from a company that cares about the same things they do. Plus, Shep and Philip discuss who they think is the most important person in an organization - the CEO, the customers, the employees, or the shareholders. Tune in! Quote: "Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to a business's internal success with the employees, which translates to customer success." About:  Philip Mandelbaum is a 20-year industry veteran and thought leader in digital marketing, customer experience, and employee experience. He is the founder and CEO of Mandelbaum Marketing and Head of Content of Customer Management Practice. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Benefits of the As-A-Service Model Shep Hyken interviews Yann Toutant, founder of Black Winch and author of AS A SERVICE: Turn Your Product Based Business Into a Subscription Model. He talks about what an As-A-Service model is and how it impacts the customers, the business, and the environment. Top Takeaways:  Usership means using – not buying – what you need for the experience you want at a specific moment and location. For example, customers who enjoy windsurfing do not need to purchase, store, and maintain a windsurfing board. They can go to a good windsurfing shop and rent, lease, or subscribe to the “use” of the equipment for as long as they want.  Customers often have many possessions that require their time and money to manage. In an As-A-Service model, customers become users instead of owners. Through usership, products will fulfill a need without the burden of maintenance, storage, and the added cost of owning.  The benefit of usership in the As-A-Service model is that when the product or solution a customer subscribes to is no longer needed, they can easily opt out of it without being left with something they can't use. The As-A-Service model creates a circular relationship with customers. The interaction does not end when the sale is closed. Instead, companies provide an experience where customers have a much stronger connection to the brand through regular (daily, weekly, monthly) contact.  There is a positive environmental impact with the As-A-Service model for physical products. When a user no longer needs a product, another user can use it, or the manufacturer can refurbish or remanufacture it into new equipment.  Plus, Shep challenges Yann to think of a product that cannot be transformed into an As-A-Service or subscription model. Tune in! Quote: "Do you own your belongings, or do your belongings own you? I decided to rid myself of many belongings anchoring me down and go for usage instead of ownership. You don’t need to own something to get the best experience.”  About:  Yann Toutant is the founder of Black Winch, where he helps organizations focus on the customer experience by implementing a successful and scalable As-A-Service Model. His book, AS A SERVICE: Turn Your Product Based Business Into a Subscription Model, is now available on Amazon. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Creating Simple and Convenient Customer Experiences Shep Hyken interviews Ricardo Saltz Gulko, Managing Director of Eglobalis and Co-Founder of the European Customer Experience Organization (ECXO). He shares how brands prioritizing simple and convenient experiences can gain a competitive advantage. Top Takeaways:  A simple and convenient customer experience can be a competitive advantage for brands and companies, whether it’s B2B or B2C. It starts with leadership, where decisions are made and trickle down to every department in the company. Being nice and respectful is one thing, but there is more. There must also be a process behind delivering an amazing customer experience. Adoption means loyalty. Make it easy for your customers to adopt your products and services. This will make the difference between them continuing to do business with you instead of going to your competitors. There is a place for simplicity and complexity. Behind-the-scenes, your operation can be complex, allowing you to deliver everything your customers need and expect. However, on the surface, it needs to be simple. Most people have a limit on the number of decisions that they want to make in a day. A confused buyer will likely move on and find a place that’s easier to do business with. Make it simple for your customers without sacrificing quality. Measure and get feedback on the different points of the interaction throughout the customer’s journey. Use the data and feedback to improve the experience. Ricardo wrote a must-read article on why brands should simplify customer and employee experiences. Plus, Shep and Ricardo share how much money companies leave on the table by making experiences too complicated for their customers. Tune in! Quote: "If you don't design customer experiences around simplicity, you are leaving money on the table. The easier you make the experience for your customers, the sooner they will adopt your products and services." About:  Ricardo Samuel Saltz Gulko is a global strategist focused on customer experience, operations simplification, technology design, and culture transformation. He is the Managing Director of Eglobalis and the co-founder & initiator of the European Customer Experience Organization. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Empowering Employees From the First 100 Days and Beyond Shep Hyken interviews Joey Coleman, an award-winning speaker and author of Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention. He shares why employees leave and how organizations can create a meaningful work culture that supports longevity. Top Takeaways:   ·      You can only expect to deliver a remarkable customer experience if you have remarkable employees. People think that customer experience and employee experience are two different silos. The better way to look at it is that they are two sides of the same coin because we need to work on both.   ·      The first 100 days are the most important time in the entire relationship with an employee because this is where the foundation is laid. How we onboard employees and make them feel part of our organization’s community can differentiate whether they will be long-time employees or leave as fast as they came.   ·      When onboarding and acclimating your employees, the number of days you're willing to spend teaching them, showing them the ropes, and “holding their hand” is directly proportional to the number of months they will stay as an employee.   ·      Work Institute did a massive survey of exit interview investigations, and here's what they found - Top 5 reasons why employees leave:   ·      Reason #1 Career - 24% of the employees leave because they couldn't see a clear career path.   ·      Reason #2 Job - Stress, lack of resources, training, and empowerment.   ·      Reason #3 Health and Family - Their personal health or a responsibility to care for kids or aging parents.   ·      Reason #4 Work-Life Balance - Travel, commute, or scheduling.   ·      Reason #5 Rewards - Only 9% of employees leave for a bigger paycheck.   ·      Employers may care about their employees, but the employees themselves may not know it. Your employees probably have no idea of all the time and effort you're spending thinking about making payroll, advancing their careers, and making sure people don't suffer burnout. Share it with them, but when you do, spend a little less time telling and a little more time showing.   ·      Plus, Joey shares the two of the eight phases of the employee journey that every organization needs to ace. Tune in! Quotes:  “If you're not painting a clear path for your people and expecting them to manage and figure out their careers on their own, then you deserve to lose them.”   About:   Joey Coleman is the creator of the First 100 Days® methodology for improving customer and employee retention. He is the author of Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days and Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leveraging Content and Social Media to Provide Customer Care Shep Hyken interviews Mich Hancock, CEO of 100th Monkey and the host of MichMash Podcast. She talks about how brands can use digital content and social media to communicate with customers, showcase their values, and enhance customer experience. Top Takeaways:  Social media is called "social" for a reason. It's more than posting branded content. It is about communicating with your customers, getting feedback, responding to comments, and taking action based on what your customers tell you. Respond thoughtfully to every comment, positive or negative. Instead of replying with a generic "thank you" each time someone leaves a comment, respond in a way that makes the customer feel heard as an individual.  Customers are watching you on social media. They are especially watching how you handle negative comments or complaints. When you handle negative comments effectively, it gives customers tremendous confidence to want to do business with you. Remember, you are not trying to win an argument, you are trying to win the customer – and in the world of social media, everyone can watch Social media is a way for businesses to bring people into their community. It is a way for brands to tell a story about their business so customers can get to know them better and understand how they work.  When you offer customer care through social media, educate your customers to go to that channel, and make sure you are monitoring those channels and engaging with your customers promptly.  Plus, Mich shares how companies can share their values, message, and authenticity with their customers. Tune in! Quotes: "Customers like to do business with companies that care about the same things that they do. If you support an amazing cause, you should talk about it because it says a lot about you." About:  Mich Hancock is the CEO of 100th Monkey. She is the Co-Founder and License Holder of TEDxStLouis and the host of Michmash Podcast, where she helps individuals and organizations raise their voices and be heard. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices