tag:tonybodoh.com,2005:/blogs/the-customer-withinThe Customer Within2018-10-17T06:55:35-05:00Tony Bodoh Internationalfalsetag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/53020362018-06-18T08:48:12-05:002018-10-17T06:55:35-05:00New book, ProphetAbility, now available on Amazon<h2>I am thrilled to share that my newest book, ProphetAbility: The Revealing Story of Why Companies Succeed, Fail, or Bounce Back is now available on Amazon.<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://amzn.to/2tc5rAH" target="_self"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/c35dbf7616dc064ce152c754111501c58ad3cc11/original/prophetability-front-cover.jpg/!!/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_" /></a> </h2>
<p>Exactly 100 days ago, I reconnected with my friend Betsy. We had such a dynamic conversation about what is happening for businesses in 2018 and how disruption is happening in every sector over the next three to five years that we decided right then to co-author a new book. </p>
<p>ProphetAbility is heralded as a "masterpiece" and a "must-read" for CEOs and leaders who want to run a successful customer-centric business because it provides critical insights into the human experience and shows what works, what doesn't and why. </p>
<p>You'll read stories of success, failure and bounce back from companies like Weight Watchers, Pixar, IBM, Gainsight, Xtracycle, Toys R Us, Casper Mattresses, Mylan (EpiPen), PepsiCo, General Motors (GM), and more. </p>
<p>You will gain strategic insights and be able to take step-by-step tactical actions today. </p>
<h2> </h2>
<h2>I have a favor to ask of you… </h2>
<p>We are doing everything we can to make ProphetAbility a #1 best seller and to get it in the hands of as many CEOs and leaders we can so that we can help them transform their customer experiences...and as a result transform the world. </p>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>You can help us achieve this in any or all of these five ways: </h3>
<p><strong>1. You can buy ProphetAbility </strong>in the paperback version or the Kindle version here https://amzn.to/2tc5rAH. The paperback is only $19.97 and the Kindle book is at lowest price Amazon allows us to offer ($2.99) right now. By the way, if you don’t have a Kindle, no need to worry. Amazon has a free download so you can read the book on any device. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>2. You can write a review of the book</strong> after purchasing it (you can just read a short section that sounds interesting to start with then write your review) so that others will be convinced this book is right for them. </p>
<p>Jay Elliot, the Best-selling author of “The Steve Jobs Way,” and CEO of iMedGo, said that this book had, <strong>“Great advice for any CEO!” </strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>3. You can buy a copy for a friend</strong>, business colleague or even your entire leadership team. You can send them the paperback or gift them the Kindle version. </p>
<p>Anthony Royer, the CEO of Allied Dispatch Solutions (4th largest roadside assistance company - a fast-growing startup) told us, “<strong>I am going to require my leaders to read this book.</strong> It shares real world / current examples that resonate across today’s challenges. Thought provoking!” </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>4. You can share the link to the book</strong> from Amazon to help your followers on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or LinkedIn find it. (Here is the link again https://amzn.to/2tc5rAH) </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>5. You can follow me and share my updates </strong>about the book during this promotional period so thousands of CEOs and leaders can learn how they can improve their customer experience and create ProphetAbility in their business. </p>
<p> </p>
<h3>Here are a few places you can follow what’s happening with the book: </h3>
<p>Twitter: www.twitter.com/TonyBodoh </p>
<p>Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tonybodoh </p>
<p>Facebook: www.facebook.com/TonyBodohInternational </p>
<p>ProphetAbility Blog: www.prophetabilitybook.com/blog </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Thank you for helping us transform the world through customer experiences by sharing our book with CEOs and leaders across the globe.</h2>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/47364662017-06-07T09:20:09-05:002017-06-07T09:30:27-05:00How Micro-Moments Are Transforming Your Customer Experience & Impacting Your Sales<p><strong><span class="font_xl">How Micro-Moments Are Transforming Your Customer Experience & Impacting Your Sales</span></strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a0bfc703333c1bdbc419132f6b70182de3944303/original/time-1739629-640.jpg?1496844140" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><strong><em><span class="font_large">Customer journeys and customer touch points are important at the macro level, but buying decisions are made pre-consciously in the micro-moment experience.</span></em></strong></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I absolutely love video conferencing. Yesterday, I had a video conference call scheduled with a new client. She is the CEO of an entertainment celebrity’s brand. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">We were planning to discuss one of their websites and how we could improve the experience of the guest within the first few seconds after arrival so the guest becomes more likely to make a purchase. When we started the call I could see the frustration she was feeling even before a word was spoken. I felt my body shift in my chair; I felt myself go into coach mode.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/115f3b28236ddf0dbaf9d88a64fe3ab0855b15ff/original/skype-835470-640.jpg?1496844140" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>The Future of Customer Experience</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Far fetched? Maybe. But, my reactions to the expression of frustration on the CEO’s face that appeared on my computer screen yesterday were automatic. I did not have to think about them. I could only reflect on the fact that I was aware that I did make adjustments to my body posture and my demeanor and that my mind shifted to a different set of operating instructions which I identify as ‘coach-mode.’ Technology should be able to enhance this natural ability.</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/818eab35396844668064c3e9ec764bab80967678/medium/mri-782459-640.jpg?1496844140" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">For several years now, I have imagined the day when customers and employees will be fitted with biofeedback devices that provide updates to each other wirelessly that we are biologically to slow to be consciously aware of or our bodily senses are not capable of detecting. I can see in my mind how these devices can even trigger an appropriate emotional reaction in the employee to the emotional state of the customer, although the employee is unaware of the reason for the trigger. And, in this emotional state, the employee serves the customer in the best possible manner because he or she is triggered to do so.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong>You may also like: <a contents="3 Strange Questions that Prove the ROI of Excellent Customer Experience" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/KI3Emugtdhc">3 Strange Questions that Prove the ROI of Excellent Customer Experience</a></strong></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>Micro-Moments of Experience</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">What happened to me was a micro-moment experience. Psychologists and neuroscientists believe a <a contents="moment of human experience" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://tonybodoh.com/ideas/blog/this-is-the-real-reason-customer-experience-matters-so-much">moment of human experience</a> is about three seconds long. So, experiences that happen in less than that timeframe are micro-moments. I first learned of this term while reading Barbara Fredrickson’s research on <a contents="the positivity ratio" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.positivityratio.com/">the positivity ratio</a> and love. She examines how micro-moments of positivity have profound and lasting effects on relationships and human performance.</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/bf38015488831a76233de78ea65177d27133a43e/original/alarm-clock-1303182-640.jpg?1496844139" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Researchers have also shown that our <a contents="conscious awareness of a decision" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.wired.com/2008/04/mind-decision/">conscious awareness of a decision</a> being made can be delayed by up to seven seconds. This means that we are not consciously making many of our decisions using the logic of our conscious, rational mind. Instead, our emotions are guiding our decisions in a pre-conscious or sub-conscious manner.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>Applied to Customer Experience Research</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">In our research of customer feedback in emails, surveys, pre-sales applications and conversations, we have been able to show that specific pre-conscious nuances in language are indicative of behaviors that will be taken days, weeks or even months in the future resulting in a purchase or a account termination. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">More and more of our research is aligning. It seems that the customer journey matters on a macro level, but it is the micro-moment of experience that captures the attention and determines how the customer will interpret their journey. While the journey design is important, the identification and optimization of key micro-moments is the real opportunity for customer experience and user experience professionals in the future.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/9633ed0664faa544bd4c2a6f792948e79c1d6997/original/dna-1811955-640-1.jpg?1496844139" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>The DNA of a Micro-Moment Experience</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I currently believe that micro-moments of experience have three fundamental characteristics. I refer to them as the 3 F’s. </span></p>
<ul> <li><span class="font_large"><em><strong>They are fast</strong></em>, happening between a fraction of a second and a few seconds as described above. </span></li> <li><span class="font_large"><em><strong>They focus the customer</strong></em>, usually pre-consciously, on a tiny detail that sets his or her expectation for the future moments or determines how past moments will be interpreted. </span></li> <li><span class="font_large"><em><strong>They involve feelings</strong></em>. I define feelings very specifically here as the conscious awareness of an emotion. The science of emotions demonstrates that a multitude of emotions are firing in our body all of the time in order to transfer information around the body and to or from the brain. Yet, only a small number of emotions ever reach our conscious awareness in a manner that we can say, ‘I feel…’ about them. </span></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong>You may also like: <a contents="3 Powerful Steps You Can Master to Easily Win More New Customers" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/LVnm21aYJVk">3 Powerful Steps You Can Master to Easily Win More New Customers</a></strong></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>Examples of Micro-Moments </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Here are 5 examples of micro-moments that we have discovered in our research and which made a difference for our clients’ customer experiences and their sales. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Brand Promise </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">As early as 2008 I became aware of the impact of just a few words uttered in a micro-moment. A hotel was having an unusually high number of complaints related to the type of bed (i.e. king or queen) in a guest’s room, location of the room, the speed of check-in, long waits, and more. After some investigation the team I was working with discovered three words in the reservation script that were setting false expectations. The agents were telling guests that they “guaranteed your room.” This was not the reality. No rooms were guaranteed. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Once those words were changed to “noted your preferences” the satisfaction scores doubled and the complaints disappeared. A single micro-moment experience altered the entire perspective of the guests’ stay.</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/04cee5f80c8adb4b35bf663bdad40394fc651a57/original/keywords-letters-2041816-640.jpg?1496844140" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Product Positioning </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">A client that conducts trainings for small business owners was doing well, but they were intrigued by some of the case studies we presented. They asked us to do an audit of their pre-sales applications to see what we could discover. We returned with over two dozen findings and recommendations. One in particular made an immediate impact. We found that buyers were more likely to express interest in the expertise of the company’s trainers than non-buyers. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Using this insight, our client altered their subtle patterns of their language during the initial training sessions to focus on the teaching about availability of the company’s internal expertise and to deemphasize their external network of experts. The change of a micro-moment experience resulted in a 90% increase in sales for the next tier of training. In essence, those who were not pre-disposed to buying at the start of the training learned to value the internal expertise during the training so they chose to invest in more training. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Decision Point </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">A resort company asked if we could help them improve their room upgrades from one-room suites to two-room suites. They found that their overbooking of one-room suites led to giving away free upgrades to two-room suites and the returns for the additional capital investment were not sufficient. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">We analyzed their guests’ feedback and found that there were several comments from past guests who expressed delight at the experience they had (as a result of paying for) the upgraded suite. We worked with our client to create small updates to the sales page where the prospective guests of a one-room suite would see a testimonial and other subtle evidence of the value of the two-room suite prior to booking the room. The early results are proving promising. Guests are unaware of the social influences we put in place and are deciding to adjust their behaviors pre-consciously.</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/3dcfd897a7c2dcad200ba19ec8404299a39773d7/original/apple-1086439-640.jpg?1496844140" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Thank You Again </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">A real estate firm reached out to see how we could help them improve their social reputation and word of mouth referrals. We did an initial audit of the online reviews and found that the company was doing nearly everything perfectly. So, we dived deeper into their operations. We found that they sent out a survey for their internal benchmarking and tracking. In this process they had an automated ‘thank you’ message delivered to the client who submitted the survey. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I encouraged the CEO and her team to also send a handwritten ‘thank you’ with a $5 gift card. This was a complete surprise to their clients because they thought the electronic ‘thank you’ was the end of the process; they already had psychological closure. That additional micro-moment of surprised delight made a noticeable difference. It triggered a desire in the heart of the client to reciprocate. Within two weeks of implementing this new step, the CEO reported that word of mouth referrals were up and they were directly attributed to the handwritten note and gift.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/3ddb3bd7cf365407a0ed3acaabd9257da504a2c8/original/ecommerce-2140603-640-1.jpg?1496845010" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Homepage Conversions </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Many of our clients, like the CEO of the entertainment celebrity’s company I mentioned at the beginning of this article, believe they have greater opportunities to convert visitors who arrive on their homepage. We’ve worked with consulting companies, health and wellness firms, even a bicycle manufacturer who was moving to online sales. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">We audited their customers’ feedback, their customers’ behaviors and the current customer journeys (i.e. the homepage and website experience). In each case we found between five and seven immediate opportunities for improvement that can impact sales. These include minor changes to the pictures, the presence of logos of clients or third party certifications, short quotes from customers that validate the value proposition, and more.</span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/e83623c34741152308e5074f6e500584dc585f5b/original/scientist-2141259-640.jpg?1496844139" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>Where to Look for Micro-Moments </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">When you have an awareness of the power of a micro-moment you can evaluate your customer experience in a new way. The emotions expressed in written comments, the words your staff consistently hears, and even the expressions you detect on customers’ faces can all become data for you to analyze. Then you can exam the under-utilized assets you have that will trigger positive micro-moments. These could be: </span></p>
<ol> <li><span class="font_large">Logos of clients or awards that languish at the bottom of your homepage </span></li> <li><span class="font_large">Testimonials or quotes on social review sites or in your survey responses </span></li> <li><span class="font_large">A picture of a customer engaging with one of your team members </span></li> <li><span class="font_large">Opportunities to surprise or delight with a small gift </span></li> <li><span class="font_large">Gamification of a process </span></li>
</ol>
<p><span class="font_large">These small, seemingly insignificant elements of the customer journey, or of a customer touch point are in fact the most influential elements responsible for triggering positive micro-moments. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_xl"><strong>You Know It When You See It </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">While I was on the video conference with the CEO yesterday, I walked her through several examples of where her team could make improvements. I continued to coach her until I saw it: the ‘Aha!’ look that washed across her face followed by her joyful expression, ‘I got it! I know I should do this but until you told me I just didn’t think about it.’ </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Sometimes an outsider can more easily and quickly see the opportunity for improving micro-moment experiences because to them, everything is new. </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "<a contents="The Complete Experience" data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">The Complete Experience</a>: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" and he is the creator of the <a contents="Admiration Equation" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.AdmirationEquation.com">Admiration Equation</a>.</strong></span></p>
<p> </p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/45882702017-02-13T12:23:46-06:002017-02-13T12:23:46-06:0010 Lessons I've Learned During 8 Years in Business<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a81784bf1d25a26fc20caa56c758a429fca1154d/original/climb-1366823-640.jpg?1487009528" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>I did not realize it until the messages started flowing in on LinkedIn.</strong></span><br>Apparently, today marks eight years of business for my customer experience consulting firm, Tony Bodoh International. It also marks the week I decided to leave my corporate job to strike out on my own. <br><br>As I sit here reflecting on the last eight years, my mind is swimming with all that we've been through and all that we've accomplished as a company, in the customer experience industry and in my family. There still moments that make my stomach twist into knots, even though they are just memories. And, there are moments of pure fulfillment that are as fresh today as when they happened. While I did not enjoy some of it, I would not trade any of it. Each moment has contributed to what we've built and it serves as the foundation for the lessons and success we will enjoy in the future.<br><br><strong><span class="font_large">In light of this anniversary, here are 10 lessons I learned and work to live every day:</span></strong>
<ol> <li>Set big, breakthrough goals for yourself and for your industry. Anything less is a waste of the precious moments you have in this life.</li> <li>Become self-aware so you know what you are feeling and thinking. Operating from a state of awareness increases your power to achieve your goals.</li> <li>Learn to distinguish between the feelings that are actually warnings of danger and those which are just warning you that you're outside your comfort zone. Being aware of the former will protect you while being aware of the latter will allow you to move forward when you least feel like it.</li> <li>Learn the value of using five minute increments to work toward your goal. Sometimes when you are facing fear, doubt and worry five minutes of brave action is all you can muster. That will be enough to turn things around.</li> <li>Learn the value of relaxation, meditation, exercise and other tools through experience. There is no greater asset than your mental, emotional and physical well-being.</li> <li>Master focus by turning off the distractions and staying with a task for hours at a time. In this world of 140 character updates, your ability to focus will amplify your results.</li> <li><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/767e2c0b786821bebee128e9a867cd2aba2a2fe5/original/adventure-1807524-1920.jpg?1487009528" class="size_l justify_right border_" />Find top-notch coaches who have proven results and be teachable. You're going to make mistakes and fail but having a coach who you learn from can help you avoid some mistakes and get you back on track after you do fall.</li> <li>Learn to tell good stories because information alone is not nearly as powerful as a story. People remember the feelings they had when you told a story and the information you give them will tag along.</li> <li>Only work with clients who are as passionate about their customers' 'success' as you are about your clients' success. Belief in what's possible has always been the catalyst for doing the 'impossible.'</li> <li>Be humble and ask for feedback often from those you trust most. You are blind to some of the effects of your beliefs, feelings and actions and you need a good friend to tell you what they see if you are to achieve real success.</li>
</ol>BONUS LESSON: Always find and be grateful for the kernel of truth in all feedback you receive. Even the most unpleasant feedback can move you forward when you graciously receive it and seek the truth in it.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Let's Go Deeper</strong></span><br><br>I believe these lessons have helped me achieve the many things I have these past eight years. If you believe they were worth your time and have given you something to consider, I invite you to join me in my <a contents="Brave Leadership Masterclass webinar" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://expertise.tv/webinar/brave-leadership-masterclass/landing">Brave Leadership Masterclass webinar</a> that I am offering this week. The webinar will give examples of how I apply some of the 10 lessons above with the customer experience, marketing and sales work we do with our clients and what our clients have been able to achieve as a result.
<p>If the link doesn't work you can register by copying and pasting this URL in your browser: https://expertise.tv/webinar/brave-leadership-masterclass/landing</p>
<p>*** <br><strong>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book</strong>, "<a contents="The Complete Experience:" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.TheCompleteExperience.com">The Complete Experience:</a> Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" and he is the creator of the <a contents="30 Day CX Challenge" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.30daycxchallenge.com">30 Day CX Challenge</a> where employees quickly learn how to really listen for the hidden patterns in what customers say or write and then how to effortlessly act to evoke a 5-Star customer experience.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/2a69ebcd207df635968a7e5d078c42b1422065cf/original/hiker-1082297-640.jpg?1487009529" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/45648602017-01-26T11:13:47-06:002018-07-07T07:57:26-05:00This is the Real Reason Customer Experience Matters So Much<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><b></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="font_large"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/07a0888efee58ffa5bd8e162f0223bc036b3bd87/original/baby-22194-640.jpg?1485449590" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>“Breathe!”</strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="font_large"><strong>“Breathe!”</strong></span></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong style="font-size: 1.4em;">“Breathe!”</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong style="font-size: 1.4em;">I told myself as I waited for my medication to take effect. I was in anaphylactic shock in a hotel room. My wife asleep next to me and my kids across the room sleeping on the pullout sofa.</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Will I wake up? Will I ever see them again?”</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I felt tears streaming down my cheeks.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had awaken moments before, gasping for air. I had to tell myself to breathe because my body was deep into shock already and my nervous system was shutting down. My heart was slowing down. I was losing consciousness.</p><p></p><p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had just enough strength to will myself to grab my medicine off the nightstand beside me and take it.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In that moment I made a decision. Then all I remember is…blackness.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span class="font_large">Paying Attention</span></strong><b></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How often have you heard the phrase, “Pay attention,” and given its meaning any deep thought?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What does it mean to pay attention? Why is paying attention so important?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Marketers pay billions of dollars a year to find new ways to get you to pay attention to their brands, products and offers. Your significant other raises his or her voice to influence you to pay attention. When you are in a meeting with someone who can affect the course of your career or project, you find yourself paying attention.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But why? What makes attention so important?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Simply stated: We only experience what we pay attention to. And, the experiences we have form what we believe about how the world operates and what we remember about the past. Our experiences ultimately define our lives.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When we pay attention, we are altering the course of the rest of our lives whether we are paying attention by our deliberate choice or by default.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/091424677fa32481b4ad931941d1377a96b4cd7e/original/street-1600073-640.jpg?1485449503" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Limits of Attention</strong></span><b></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our experience of life itself is dependent upon what we pay attention to and how we pay attention. </p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A wide range of scientists from experimental psychologists to neurobiologists to quantum physicists have been attempting to identify the information processing rate of our conscious mind. Estimates range from 128 bits per second to 2000 bits per second. </p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That may seem like a massive difference, but in reality, it is insignificant. These same scientists have calculated that we have upwards of 400 billion bits of information streaming into our brain from internal and external stimuli each second. So, whether we are conscious of 1/200,000,000 or some slightly different portion of the information available to us, is insignificant. And, the information we are processing does not include the information around us and within us that is not detectable by our sensory faculties and therefore available for processing (i.e. sound frequencies, light waves, odors, etc. that are present but we cannot detect).</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In reality, our moment-to-moment experience of life is based on just a tiny portion of what is really happening around and within us. And, we can only recall a much smaller portion of that which we were ever consciously aware of for a moment.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But let’s take this a step further.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/5359f20b852d485948c64dc2e6f5b4c26e3d4996/original/clock-650753-640.jpg?1485449590" class="size_l justify_center border_" /> </p><br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="font_large"><strong>Moments of Your Life</strong></span><b></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">None of us know how long we will live, but we do know our lives will come to an end. I experienced what it was like to get too close to that door. The moment and the memory of those moments in that hotel room, telling myself to breathe, changed the course of my life. But, for all this talk of moments, what is a moment?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psychologically, a moment is about three seconds. There have been multiple studies that come to the same conclusion. It is in that timeframe that something lingers that we have conscious awareness of. </p><p></p><br><br>Interestingly, this leads us to the ability to estimate two things and ponder a third:<p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><!--[endif]-->How many moments are in a person’s life?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><!--[endif]-->How much information can a person consciously process in a lifetime? </p><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><!--[endif]-->What is the value of a moment?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the first question let’s assume a person lives for 80 years, we can estimate that they will have about 2.5 billion moments in their lives. But, if you subtract the third of their life that they are sleeping, you arrive at nearly 1.7 billion moments of potential conscious awareness.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Next, we can estimate that for each 3-second moment they are processing 6,000 bits of conscious information so they will be aware of approximately 10 trillion bits of information in their lifetime or 1.25 terabytes.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Please note, I am neither a neuroscientist, physicist, psychologist or computer scientist. If I have made an error or offended you by my simplistic explanations, I apologize. There is a point to all of this.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If we can measure the information one can process, and if we can begin to understand how one momentary experience—like my life-or-death moment—can alter the course of one’s life we can potentially calculate the real value of a moment in light of the effects of the measurable changes that are the result of that moment.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/fd5e526582746dbe412e6bb20d85281a46ab2081/original/father-1633655-640.jpg?1485449385" class="size_l justify_center border_" /> </p><br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="font_large">Why Does this Matter?</span></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nearly everyone can point to at least one ‘defining moment’ in their lives where they decided to change the direction their life was headed. This causes ripple effects throughout their families, communities and eventually, the world. </p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I for one decided to leave my corporate job and start my own business. As a result, I have helped clients and met people from around the world that I would likely have never crossed paths with otherwise. And, because of the impact my work has had on my clients’ customer experiences, I’ve had an impact on millions of other lives. At least some of them experienced moments of change as a result.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These moments matter because as we change by decision or default in response to an experience we have, we change the course of human history.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p><br><span class="font_large"><em><strong>YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: <a contents="The Fundamental Choice in Customer Experience&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://tonybodoh.com/ideas/blog/the-fundamental-choice-in-customer-experience">The Fundamental Choice in Customer Experience </a></strong></em></span></p><br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="font_large">Researching Positive Experiences</span></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The formal scientific study of moments of positive experiences expanded exponentially under the leadership of Dr. Martin Seligman since 2000. This research continues to prove that positive moments lead to greater human achievement and economic benefit. It is now intersecting with the field of Behavioral Economics to show how ‘irrational’ human behavior is predictable and positive engagements can impact social and economic outcomes. Here are a few notable researchers who I follow:</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>Dr. Paul Zak works with the neurology and biochemistry of trust. He discovered that as we express empathy toward others and engage in pro-social behavior we evoke trust. His research proves that the bonds of trust have a real and measurable economic impact on both microeconomic and macroeconomic levels.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>Dr. Barbara Fredrickson and her associates have found that micro-moments of expressing and feeling positivity lead to deeper relationships, better health, higher productivity and improved communications.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>Dr. Martin Seligman and other positive psychologists have discovered that regular gratitude exercises which include the deliberate expression of gratitude to others leads to improved physical, emotional and mental well-being.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>Researcher Carol Dweck has shown that priming people with praise for effort rather than for achievement can immediately move them into a more creative and capable state she calls the ‘growth mindset.’ This mindset helps people find better solutions to problems because they are willing to learn and take new perspectives.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identified the conditions that lead to flow—athletes call this ‘being in the zone’ and artists or spiritual gurus refer to it as ‘transcendent oneness with the Divine.’ He calls it the optimal human experience. It triggers optimal human performance, enhanced creativity and moments of exceptional achievement.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> </p>Daniel Kahneman developed Prospect Theory and many say he is the father of Behavioral Economics. His work shows that emotions, not logic, drive many—if not most—of our economic choices.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p><em><span class="font_large"><strong>RELATED CONTENT: <a contents="The Most Missed Step in Customer Experience Improvement" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://tonybodoh.com/ideas/blog/the-most-missed-step-in-customer-experience-improvement">The Most Missed Step in Customer Experience Improvement</a></strong></span></em><br> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="font_large">Applying this to Customer Experience</span></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When customers have an experience, they have paid attention to how they feel, what they are thinking and/or what they are doing. This means they have sacrificed some of their limited moments of life itself and given it to you. They have traded, not something that can be replenished like their money, but that most precious gift—life—for the experience that is evoked by your employees, product or brand.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While few people ever consider the value of that trade—the investment of life—they do have some level of conscious awareness that it happens. Wasting time and waiting for answers or assistance are leading causes of complaints or low scores on customer reviews. Of course, most people would say they’re upset because they have better things to do. But, they can only make this assessment of the value of time if they understand there are limits to their time.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sure, they may be thinking of this hour or this day as being limited. But, why do we even measure time? Because it is limited and we need to know how to use it wisely and how to organize the activities of our lives so we maximize the value of the time we have.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A customer’s experience is not just important because of the value it can bring to your top and bottom lines. These are important and I would never suggest otherwise. The additional cashflow allows you to invest and innovate in making new products and services that make life even better for your future customers, your employees, your shareholders and you.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But, if you stop there and never think about the value your customers are really trading for the experiences they are having with you, you will never grasp the gravity and importance that needs to be placed on the customer experience in this moment. Realizing that customers are actually trading their life for the experience you and your employees or products are evoking makes the equation lean heavily in your customer’s favor and should cause you to consider deeply the intentions and behaviors you and your teams engage in daily.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p> <br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/42bdeaa1bc399c63387fa7b83105311e35778d03/original/away-1019854-640.jpg?1485449384" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="font_large">If That Doesn’t Motivate You…</span></b></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I assume if you’ve read this far, you grasp some bit of the importance I place on evoking positive customer experiences. But, if you are still skeptical, I will share this last point. It really is my weakest point, but it seems to resonate with a certain audience.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="font_large"><em><strong>YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: <a contents="Why CEOs See Customer Experience Improvement Projects as Risky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://tonybodoh.com/ideas/blog/why-ceos-see-customer-experience-improvement-projects-as-risky">Why CEOs See Customer Experience Improvement Projects as Risky</a></strong></em></span><br><br>If you survey the trend of the development of human rights in the U.S. and around the world, you will probably agree that we’ve come a long way in the last 50 years. We recognize rights no previous generation even considered. Will we someday recognize that individuals have a right to positive experiences and that negative experiences are a violation of a our rights because they have a real impact on our long-term health and well-being?</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The science of the mind and the body and how the two are integrated to create the phenomenon we call ‘life’ has been advancing and if not already, will soon be able to measure the effect certain experiences have on our life expectancy and the quality of our lives.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I believe that our ability to measure and comprehend the impact that experiences have on our bodies and minds will continue to advance. In parallel, computing and data science will advance. I believe that it will be possible in the relatively near future to actually calculate the value of a positive or poor experience for each individual. </p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It won’t be a far leap for a resourceful attorney to seize this opportunity to start litigating against companies and executives who have—through ignorance or calculated risk—allowed customers to have poor experiences. It seems to be a natural extension of the quality lawsuits of the 1970s and 1980s.</p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Given enough time, someone will find a way to measure that which we intuitively know has value. And, when that someone finally figures out how to measure the value of human experiences—beyond your bottom line—you will be already living in a new world.<br><br> </p>
<p>*** <br>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "<a contents="The Complete Experience" data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">The Complete Experience</a>: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" and he is the creator of the <a contents="30 Day CX Challenge" data-link-label="30-Day CX Challenge" data-link-type="page" href="/30-day-cx-challenge">30 Day CX Challenge</a> where employees quickly learn how to really listen for the hidden patterns in what customers say or write and then how to effortlessly act to evoke a 5-Star customer experience.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p></p><!--EndFragment-->Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/45526222017-01-18T00:27:44-06:002017-01-18T00:33:09-06:00What Brave Leaders Do Daily<strong><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/7eca72040c84b71ff913c881687ddd4d62c79dab/original/0o1a3110-944.jpg?1458486543" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Leadership can be a daunting task. It can be lonely. It can be gut-wrenching. Especially if you are changing the culture of a company. </span></strong><br><br>At other times it can be exhilarating, fun, and sometimes even transcendent.<br><br>If you're a leader, you probably understand this. And as you read this, maybe today is a good day for you. But, for many of you, I am guessing it's a bit rough. <br><br>Leadership is not for the timid. Doing it right takes brave souls who have the willingness to persevere and the determination to grow. While I believe everyone has these capacities at birth, few seem to apply themselves to the deliberate practice of expanding their emotional resilience and mental focus to the point that they can be called a brave leader.<br><br>Over the last 17 years I've worked with or for numerous executives who led startups to Fortune 500 companies. I was focused on researching the causes of customer experiences and behaviors (i.e. conversions, sales, churn, etc.) that were the resulting effects of those experiences. Our goals were to sell more, save more and satisfy more.<br><br>Somewhere along this journey I began to learn about more than just customer experiences. I dug into my own personal and professional experiences. I dived deep into the causes of the very essence of human experiences. What I learned changed my view of nearly everything.<br><br>From that point forward the successful implemenation of the recommendations I made in my customer experience research projects resulted in dramatic improvements for some clients. But, for a select group of clients the recommendations ended up just becoming 'yet another' research project. No action was taken. They had a list of reasons they couldn't move forward. And, if we solved that challenge, another would inevitably arise. It took me a bit, but I eventually realized that it was not my recommendations but something deeper in my clients mental and emotional habitual patterns that caused their hesitation. <br><br>In time, I discovered several things about the leaders that made the greatest companies great and ultimately distinguished them from all of their competitors. The brave leaders of the greatest companies have daily practices that they use to be both highly effective and highly efficient. In essence, they use these practices as their north star in rough seas. They return to these proven practices each day to bravely take on the challenges facing them. When they run into an obstacle, they return to the practices. When they succeed, the credit the same practices.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>What Brave Leaders Do</strong></span><br><br>What is it that these leaders do? Here's the list that I've come up with. You may have some to add. They:<ol> <li>Set clear intentions for themselves and they help their teams do the same. (NOTE: Intentions are more than goals.)</li> <li>Challenge themselves and others.</li> <li>Track and celebrate the success of putting in the right effort, not just reaching a destination.</li> <li>Treat trust as their most valuable currency and they invest in increasing its return.</li> <li>Build authentic relationships based on genuine caring.</li> <li>Grow as a whole person and help their team do the same.</li> <li>Ask for and accept help, while making it safe for others to do the same.</li>
</ol>
<p>Do these seem on point or at least interesting? Keep reading below to understand why each matters and how you can apply them daily. Many of these are simple, but not easy to do. They take courage and a willingness to face one's fears, doubts and worries. This is why I have come to call leaders who engage in these practices brave leaders.<br><br><br><strong><span class="font_large">Setting Clear Intentions</span></strong><br>We've all been inundated with advice related to goal setting. Some of it is good, but much of it is just recycled nonsense with little actual proof of it's value. Fortunately a study was finally done to prove the value of goal setting. But, it went further to show how you can achieve more with goal setting. In fact, the <a contents="Dominican University study on goal&nbsp;setting" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.dominican.edu/dominicannews/study-highlights-strategies-for-achieving-goals">Dominican University study on goal setting</a> shows that only 43% of those who just thought about a goal made significant progress whereas 76% of those who wrote down a clear goal with committed action steps and shared weekly updates with a friend achieved significant progress. Brave leaders take each of the steps described in the latter case because they know that thinking about goals alone is not enough for success.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/8cabb9faeb01ed1d826d76f8ca3cd6316988dbd7/large/goalachievement.png?1484717559" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>However, the brave leader goes one step further. They help their employees do the same thing. In fact, a <a contents="Gallup study on goal setting" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/186164/employees-don-know-expected-work.aspx">Gallup study on goal setting</a> showed that leaders who helped their teams set goals had, on average, nearly ten times more employees engaged than those who leaders who left their employees to goal set on their own (38% vs 4%). And because engaged employees consistently produce higher results in every meaningful metric, this step alone can make a massive difference in a team and a company's results. </p>Many leaders may protest, saying they do this already. But remember, it is not one-and-done activity that is for January alone. This is a daily practice that breeds real long-term success.<br><br>Now, it is important to note that goals alone are not enough. Intentions are key. And, intentions go deeper. Intentions involve how we are going to be while we are achieving a goal that we are working toward. What is our mindset? What will we choose to feel? Who will we show up as when we are faced with challenges or we achieve success.<br><br>I've spent nearly two decades finding ways to bring together the quantitative data companies collect from sales, clicks and cancelations with the qualitative data of emotions, influences and opinions. Studying one without the other may give you some insights. But, when you bring both together, you have a powerful combination that provides the key to lasting success.<br><br>The same is true of your daily goals and intentions. Decide what type of person you want to be today while you are achieving or failing to achieve your goals. Help your team do the same. What a tragedy would it be to have achieved our goals and yet been miserable or been the source of misery to those we are closest to daily.<br><br>I often remind myself of what Steve Jobs said,<div style="text-align: center;">
<br><strong><span class="font_large">"I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."</span></strong>
</div><br>To me, in the context of the commencement address in which he made this statement, I believe he was referring to the quality of his life, not just the quantity of his achievements.<br><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Challenge Yourself and Others</strong></span><br>As a researcher of human experience I study many theories and models of psychology and behavior. There is one model that has always fascinated me because it resonates so deeply with the way I work and with what I have discovered as a key to excellent customer experiences. This is the model of Flow, conceived by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (Watch his TedX Talk below for more insights.)<br><br>Flow is alternatively defined as 'optimal experience' by psychologists because of the depth of connection we can achieve with our best self. While in this state we lose track of time, self-consciousness fades, we are at the edge of control and we even feel at one with the task we are performing. This is truly the edge of where our skills are tested and expanded in the face of a challenge. Athletes call this 'being in the zone' while artists describe it as transcendence because things just happen automatically and their well-trained bodies and minds take over to achieve spectacular results.<br><br>Flow theory postulates that a person has to meet three conditions achieve a flow state: <ul> <li>Be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals</li> <li>Receive clear and immediate feedback regarding your progress</li> <li>Perceived challenges must be in balance with perceived skills.</li>
</ul>When leaders move into a flow state, they perform a peak levels. When their teams achieve this state, it seems that magic happens.<br><br>Brave leaders focus daily on creating the environment that allows and encourages their team to participate in the flow state. They do this by helping their team set daily intentions with an eye on the right level of challenge with a clear set of goals as well as identifying how progress can be measured and feedback provided on a moment-to-moment basis. This feedback may be something binary (i.e. yes-no or on-off), quantitative or progressive (i.e. checking an item off a list, etc.). It should also be emotional (i.e. I feel stuck, I feel confident, etc.).<br><br>When we partner with companies in doing customer experience improvement efforts, we apply a similar method. First, we research what customers say when they are having an excellent, fair or terrible experience. Then we teach employees how to listen moment-to-moment for customer feedback or to evaluate customer emotional expressions. Based on this feedback the employees know to engage in actions that will enhance good customer experiences or resolve poor experiences at that moment.<br><br> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="fXIeFJCqsPs" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/fXIeFJCqsPs/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fXIeFJCqsPs?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="400" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Track and Celebrate the Right Efforts</strong></span><br>Douglas Conant, the turnaround CEO of Campbell Soup Company, credits his practice of sending handwritten notes that celebrated specific contributions of employees as a key to his success as a brave leader.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br><span class="font_large"><strong>"Most cultures don’t do a good job of celebrating contributions. So I developed the practice of writing notes to our employees. Over 10 years, it amounted to more than 30,000 notes, and we had only 20,000 employees. Wherever I’d go in the world, in employee cubicles you’d find my handwritten notes posted on their bulletin boards." <br>Douglas Conant, Former CEO, Campbell Soup Company</strong></span></p>
<p><br>It is critical to celebrate success, but as you can see from flow psychology, immediate feedback that one is headed in the right direction is essential for peak performance. When you focus on celebrating that a person engaged in the right effort, you encourage a growth mindset. As research shows, those who have a growth mindset are more likely to take on greater challenges, have more energy and enthusiasm and achieve more success over the long-term. Those who only see success in the destination will tend to withdraw from new challenges and will succumb to the fear that they might not be good enough.<br><br>As a brave leader, you must be willing to look at the efforts you and your team are taking and correct where you are off course as well as celebrate where you are on course, even if the target seems further away than you expected. Modeling behaviors (i.e. doing what you teach), the language you use (i.e. 'great effort today with that challenging prospect' vs. 'way to close the deal'), and giving positive behavioral examples (i.e. reading excellent customer reviews, etc.) on a daily basis can impact team performance almost immediately. Researcher, Carol Dweck, showed that a person can be subconsciously shifted from a fixed to a growth mindset with just a few of the right words.<br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/43dae0dd07931aa90b313870ec8fb6c61f1496f5/original/employeemindsetemployeeengagement.jpg?1484672198" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Treat trust as Your Most Valuable Currency</strong></span><br>When I speak at conferences, one of the most popular questions I am asked is 'What drives an excellent customer experience?' Usually they want the 'one thing' that makes the difference. But there isn't one thing. There are several factors and the influence of each factor depends on the industry, company, product, marketing messages and a host of other variables. However, there is one constant. Trust.<br><br>If you read any excellent review you'll see a common thread. It is a theme of being delighted or impressed that this company, employees or product actually did more than the customer expected. In other words, the company set an expectation by making a promise in their marketing campaigns and then they more than kept that promise. Or, the company's previous customers made promises under the auspices of recommendations or reviews, and the company lived up to and exceeded the expectations the promises evoked.<br><br>Trust is a currency. In fact, it is the currency of currencies.<br><br>What are a piece of paper, or the numbers in a bank ledger or the stars on your online review worth? It all comes down to trust.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/bac898ba4d747a601fc4718a873901d28b31be7c/original/dollar-1161782-1280.jpg?1484720054" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Brave leaders know this. They understand that if they are not trusted, even the truth they speak will be greeted with skepticism. So, they work daily to promise what they can deliver. They work to exceed that promise. And, when they fail to do so, they are transparent quickly and set an action plan to remedy it. They teach their teams to do the same. <br><br>Look to the reviews on <a contents="Glassdoor.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.glassdoor.com">Glassdoor.com</a> to see how employees to express their opinions of companies and management. This site is a go to resource for employees evaluating their next potential employer. Current or former employees provide reviews and ratings that help other potential employees learn what can be trusted and what to be skeptical about. Leaders have to be brave to face what is now being said publicly about their company and their behaviors. And they have to act bravely to do the right thing to build trust.<br> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="font_large">"Trust is a core currency of any relationship. Sometimes our need to control and micromanage everything erodes our confidence in ourselves and others. The truth: People are much more capable than we think. A hearty dose of trust is often what's needed to unlock the magic. Go ahead, have faith."<br>Kris Carr - Creator of the 'Crazy Sexy' Well-Being Brand</span></strong></p><br>You'll find that brave leaders trust in a deeper way. They tend to trust in a power greater than themselves. Some may call this power 'God' others have a different name for it. Regardless, they believe in and operate from the world-view that there is something greater than themselves helping them navigate through the challenges of life. This provides these leaders the confidence to go on when it seems illogical. It gives them the strength to get up after being knocked down hard. It is a source of comfort during the storm that seems to have no end and it is the reason for hope when only hopelessness makes sense.<br><br>Can you measure trust? <br><br>Researchers like <a contents="Dr. Paul Zak" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust">Dr. Paul Zak</a> is working on it and cracking the code. He has led the way in some profound research already. We still have much to learn. And, there are elements of trust that may not be measurable, like so many other emotions we have. Therefore, the logic of the actions we take under the influence of trust may still be a mystery. However, every brave leader does behave in a manner that proves he is trustworthy and he does trust others.
<p><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Build Authentic Relationships Based on Genuine Caring</strong></span><br>According to <a contents="research conducted by Google" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-google-sold-its-engineers-on-management">research conducted by Google</a>, leaders "who 'express interest in and concern for team members’ success and personal well-being' outperform others in the quality and quantity of their work."<br><br>Is it any surprise that employees who feel like they are interesting and cared for perform better? Of course not. But, many leaders don't understand how to apply this on a daily basis. <br><br>Being aware of personal and professional challenges, opportunities and goals is a key part of the relationship building process. If you are a brave leader you are already doing these based on what was described in the sections above. In addition, taking the time to engage in water-cooler conversation, team-building and even let down your guard to have some fun can really build relationships. And, if your team is customer-facing, they will learn how to do this with the customers in a way that generates more sales, better service and higher satisfaction. <br><br>After trust, we see that most companies earn excellent customer ratings when the employees build a relationship-even if momentary-with the customer. Often the customer reviews will even mention how the leader relationship to the employee is impressive and should be applauded. (<a contents="For even more&nbsp;insights from our&nbsp;customer experience research click here." data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">For even more insights from our customer experience research click here.</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/ae0f554daae3e14a1f4fed55afc0e9abf25f8f96/original/workplace-1245776-1280.jpg?1484721155" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>"More than half of people who leave their jobs do so because of their relationship with their boss. Smart companies make certain their managers know how to balance being professional with being human. These are the bosses who celebrate an employee's success, empathize with those going through hard times, and challenge people, even when it hurts."<br>Dr. Travis Bradberry - Expert on Emotional Intelligence</strong></span></p><br><br><strong><span class="font_large">Grow as a Whole Person</span></strong><br>There was a time, years ago, when I worked in Corporate America that I felt like I had to check my soul at the door every morning as I walked in. Don't get me wrong, I worked for a great company and I loved my role, but I just had to leave so much of myself behind to be the person I thought the company wanted me to be in order to earn a promotion. It nearly killed me. I eventually left to start my own company. I have no regrets about working for the company or leaving the company. It served me in many ways. It was the catalyst for me to realize there is much more to life than just my career.<br><br>Brave leaders know this too. They invest the time and money in growing themselves as a person and as a leader. They invest in helping their team do to same through recommendations of books, paying for seminars or onsite training, or encouraging employees to take personal growth courses. <br><br>We have come into an era where there is an abundance of evidence that shows our mental health and emotional resilience is directly related to our ability to be creative, productive and manage stress well. Leaders who ignore this reality put their lives and the lives of their employees in jeopardy not to mention the profitability of the company. We've seen clear connections between the companies that offer training to help leaders and employees personally grow and the profits of the company growing. <br><br>There is no better way to show people you care than by letting them know that you are aware they're not there just to serve the mission of the company. They are there to earn money to care for their family, to be fulfilled, to contribute and give to the world, to earn more than they need so they can take vacation and spend quality time with family, friends or maybe just learn more about who they are and what they are capable of by engaging in a hobby. When you show an interest in and actively support their growth you and your company will be rewarded. Do the same for them and for yourself.<p style="text-align: center;"><br><strong><span class="font_large">"More than once in the history of Whole Foods Market, the company was unable to collectively evolve until I myself was able to evolve - in other words, I was holding the company back. My personal growth enabled the company to evolve." - John Mackey - CEO, Whole Foods Market</span></strong><br> </p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/58aaf9c0ab7d4a84924cd78b091993ad903d691c/original/hands-1926704-1280.png?1484720709" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><strong><span class="font_large">Ask For and Accept Help</span></strong><br>Brave leaders know they don't have to answer every question or or solve every problem. They can ask for help and be vulnerable. Their vulnerability unleashes a strength within their team.<br><br>Andrew Carnegie, the king of steel and the richest man of his day was aware of this. He told Napoleon Hill, author of "Think and Grow Rich," that the best way to lead was to form a mastermind that brings together those with the highly specialized skills you need for the "coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony...for the attainment of a definite purpose."<br><br>When you bring people around you who are smarter and more capable and you organize the thinking and vision of the team, you unite the minds in a way that increases awareness and creativity. <a contents="Research shows" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://smallbusiness.chron.com/create-hyperlink-mac-os-desktop-46052.html">Research shows</a> that certain structures in our brains can create connections between leaders and followers or collaborators so closely that they the individuals mirror each other's feelings and brain chemistry. The result of their collaborative thinking can be ideas that are more powerful than any single individual could have come up with on their own.<br> <p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large"><strong>"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change."<br>Brene Brown</strong></span></p><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Becoming an even Braver Leader</strong></span><br><span class="font_regular">As you consider the daily practices of other brave leaders, you may realize you have areas where you too could improve your leadership. While it is not for everyone, we have created a program to teach advanced leadership skills to those who want to achieve more, more quickly. We call the program <a contents="Brave Leadership Mastery" data-link-label="Brave Leadership Mastery Coaching" data-link-type="page" href="/brave-leadership-mastery-coaching">Brave Leadership Mastery</a>. It is available by application only. We leverage the latest research in human experience to help you overcome the mental and emotional patterns holding you back from success. We help you instill daily and weekly practices that are proven to work through rigorous double-blind tests at Harvard, Stanford and other top universities.<br><br>If you'd like to see if you qualify for this unique program of Brave Leadership Mastery, we invite you to apply at <a contents="www.BraveLeadershipMastery.com" data-link-label="Brave Leadership Mastery Coaching" data-link-type="page" href="/brave-leadership-mastery-coaching">www.BraveLeadershipMastery.com</a>.</span><br><br> <p>*** <br>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "<a contents="The Complete Experience" data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">The Complete Experience</a>: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" and he is the creator of the <a contents="30 Day CX Challenge" data-link-label="30-Day CX Challenge" data-link-type="page" href="/30-day-cx-challenge">30 Day CX Challenge</a> where employees quickly learn how to really listen for the hidden patterns in what customers say or write and then how to effortlessly act to evoke a 5-Star customer experience.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/45277872016-12-28T00:33:38-06:002016-12-28T00:33:38-06:00Here's How You Can Find the Best Hotel Deals Fast on TripAdvisorIf you follow my posts, you know I run a consulting firm that analyzes customer experiences in order to help companies improve their service and innovate new products. In that time I developed some ways of researching to find the best hotel deals fast for my business or personal travel. I thought my lessons may be helpful to others so I decided to share it in this post.<br><br>It can be a challenge to find a good hotel room on a budget, but it is possible. And, when you know how to use the filtering tools TripAdvisor provides, you can find the best deal, faster than you'd believe. <br><br>So, forget about the other sites where you look for the best rates and then have to go research each possible hotel before you make a decision or you bid and take a chance on the quality of the service. Turn the process on its head. Start with the end in mind: start with the experience.<br><br>I spend much of my time in hotels. For five years I worked at the corporate headquarters for Gaylord Hotels (now owned by Marriott) where I was responsible for building their analytics teams and analytical systems as well as running their market research, guest satisfaction and meeting planner loyalty programs. During that time I traveled several times a month to our 4-star resorts for meetings, research, interviews and to assist in process improvement projects. I loved the luxury and service of the Gaylord brand--the people were second to none--and I loved sharing these fantastic locations with my family when we traveled. My daughters were shocked later when we stayed at a hotel that did not provide room service. It's not that we needed to stay in luxury, but it sure has its benefits.<br><br>After I started my own consulting company I chose more reasonably priced hotels but I insisted on high quality service, clean rooms and great employees. These are critical when I travel. To put it in perspective, in one 13-month stretch I spent 300 days on the road. I have stayed a year of my life at Marriott hotels (see below). Unfortunately, I did not start my rewards account as soon as I should have.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/e98de0cbb0bd9bf91eb9136cc77a424aaa6636af/medium/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-11-15-18-pm.png?1482902220" class="size_m justify_center border_" />So, with all this experience, how do I find the best hotels with the best deals, fast? I have an easy, proven and repeatable ten step process.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 1: Go to TripAdvisor</strong></span><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/faad2485def10e2061011dd7eff0cd9c01ef9c5a/medium/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-56-52-pm.png?1482901029" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><p>I use TripAdvisor (and no, I am not paid by them for this post) because they have the widest range of hotels and a great sample of feedback for most of the hotels on the site. That matters to me. They also have the rates available so I can see if the price is right.</p><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 2: Search for "Hotels" near the city you are traveling to</strong></span><br><br>Once you are on the site, you can quickly type in the city you are headed to and what you are looking for.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/0de4974bf16aacf4e8b40dbc626fc714eb4e3860/original/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-38-53-pm.png?1482900975" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>I know this seems basic, because it is. We are getting to the tricks in the next few steps.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 3: Sort by "Ranking"</strong></span><br><br>When the site updates with your city and the hotel listings, you'll see a "sort by" bar across the top of the hotel listings. Change the selection so it sorts by rankings.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/e229094eaef6c263bb8e2c8ce1d5d915a75901c0/original/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-39-11-pm.png?1482900975" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Rankings are important. TripAdvisor has a secret algorithm that sorts the hotels and ranks them, but the most significant factor in the ranking are the ratings provided by previous guests. Therefore, when you sort by rankings, you are seeing which hotels the guest most liked. <br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/3446211184879c1aa9a14881e283d1e249b16e90/original/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-45-15-pm.png?1482900973" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><p> </p><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 4: Select the Dates and Details of Your Stay</strong></span><br><br>This step is pretty straight forward, but it is necessary. It also unlocks the tool you need to use in your next step.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/45857ff90308c92498c780383821dcbddbb8748f/medium/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-45-05-pm.png?1482900974" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 5: Choose Your Budget</strong></span><br><br>Decide what you are willing to pay and use the convenient slider bars to narrow your range. Frankly, I never move the low end. Who would? There might be a great deal waiting for me.<br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/29029b431ee52d080c252be31f59805073ee11d3/medium/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-11-33-37-pm.png?1482903301" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>This is where some of the magic starts to happen. When you select your rates, you'll see the hotels in the list start to shift, and some will disappear because they are too expensive. But, you have one more step yet to really find the best deals.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 6: Choose the Hotel Class</strong></span><br><br>You do not want to miss this step or you will be scrolling through pages of poor options. Hotel class is the fancy name give to the rating levels provided by 'experts' who travel to hotels and check on the quality of their service. Do you remember AAA ratings? This is essentially the same type of thing.<br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/e48db4bb91fe40bed46d7a13e521b90527086079/medium/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-11-34-07-pm.png?1482903301" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Now that you've selected the hotel class, you will see the list of hotels shuffle again. Personally, I will never consider a two star hotel, unless the budget absolutely does not allow it. Which might be the case over New Year's Eve in Nashville. But, I can probably find something worthwhile. It is not often I find a four or five star hotel in the range of the business travel budget when clients are paying, but I will try because they occasionally surprise me with a deal (or a steal).<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 7: Review Hotels </strong></span><br><br>Your list is now properly sorted and filtered to the right level and all it took was a few choices and a handful of clicks. There is a caution for you here. Be wary of the first listing or two. These are usually ads and are not part of your search criteria. You can see the 'sponsored' hotel at the top of the list in the picture below.<br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/9c5367775e07851829c3dc0f7c67efdd7d6acb52/large/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-45-03-pm.png?1482900975" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Just ignore this listing. It is likely too expensive and actually a lower ranked hotel. As in the case of the picture above, the Best Western Plus is way out of my $200 maximum price and it is also #58 on the ranking for guest satisfaction... Not a great option in my book.<br><br>So, just scroll past that ad and look at the list of options you have to consider.<br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/861f90a42446efa41c05e26a7439a452f51ed876/original/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-46-31-pm.png?1482900972" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>You have three great hotels and one is a real stand out. The Drury Inn and Suites is ranked as the #8 hotel in Nashville by guests who have stayed there. And, it meets all my criteria. It is a 3 star or above, under $200, with availability on my travel dates.<br><br>I will scan quickly through the other options, but as you can see in this case, the second option is #31 and only save me $10 while the third option is #43 of 154 hotels (think of that being like a 72% on a test -- passing, but not something to brag about). So, I can very quickly decide on the Drury Inn and Suites.<br><br>But, there are two more things to do before you put your money on the table.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 8: Check the Ratings</strong></span><br><br>President Ronald Reagan gave us some great advice back in the 1980s, "Trust but verify." I do exactly that. You can do the same by clicking through to see the actual page on TripAdvisor for the hotel of your choosing. There is a lot of information on this page. Most of it can be ignored unless you're a nerd. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/e47dcf56be62023c3a84966677b36e0dfaaf220e/original/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-48-00-pm.png?1482900972" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>What you really want to pay attention to is the 'Traveler rating' section.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/d84b678399284f8525ad3ff8b1d5ce3aa46d7477/medium/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-48-03-pm.png?1482900971" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>This section shows you a visual indication of the distribution of reviews by level. In this case, 64% of the guests gave an 'Excellent' rating and another 27% gave a 'Very Good' rating. In total about 91% of guests thought this hotel was better than they expected. Why do I say this? Because in the millions of hotel reviews I have analyzed over the last ten years, I found consistently that an 'Average' rating really means 'I got what I paid for,' whereas 'Excellent' means, 'Wow! They went out of their way and the employees here are amazing.' If you're interested, 'Very Good' usually means that there was some sort of minor unexpected problem and/or the staff was just good and not great.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 9: Read the Reviews</strong></span><br><br>The last step of the decision-making process involves reading the reviews. I usually scan quickly to see a few things:<ul> <li>Are the reviews recent?</li> <li>Are the recent reviews highly rated?</li> <li>Do I love the things that these guests rated highly?</li> <li>Can I tolerate what these guests rated low?</li> <li>Do these reviews 'feel right' or do they seem to be fake?</li>
</ul><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a5b462423af8c96badb8e8af6f518644d958269e/original/screen-shot-2016-12-27-at-10-48-16-pm.png?1482900971" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Once I satisfy my curiosity, which usually takes a scan of the first ten to fifteen reviews and an in depth reading of a few of the best reviews and one or two of the recent low-rated reviews, I make the decision if this hotel is right for me or if I want to start the process over again.<br><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Step 10: Book the Room</strong></span><br><br>Pull out your credit card and place your reservation. <br><br><br><br>This process is quick and has provided me with consistently excellent rooms for years. I hope you find it effective too.<br><br>If you would like to read more about some of the discoveries my team and I have made in the ten years of customer feedback research we've done in a variety of fields, you can check out my <a contents="cases studies " data-link-label="Case Study Overview" data-link-type="page" href="/case-study-overview">cases studies </a>or even read <a contents="my #1 best selling book" data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">my #1 best selling book</a>.<br><br> <p>*** <br>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" and he is the creator of the <a contents="30 Day CX Challenge" data-link-label="30-Day CX Challenge" data-link-type="page" href="/30-day-cx-challenge">30 Day CX Challenge</a> where employees quickly learn how to really listen for the hidden patterns in what customers say or write and then how to effortlessly act to evoke a 5-Star customer experience.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/45121442016-12-15T08:44:42-06:002016-12-15T08:44:42-06:00Here's What You Need to Know Before You Federate Your Customer Experience Model<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/d89dd4924522aa82b596002545a75b6b6d1fb222/medium/matrix-1013611-1280.jpg?1481813041" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Congratulations! <br><br>You've built up a centralized customer experience model and have seen successes. But there have been challenges too. So you are exploring the web and attending conferences to find best practices. You've likely heard the discussions and seen the research promoting the federate customer experience model. This may be a good choice for you. It was the approach I took with several companies.<br><br>To be transparent, over the last ten years, I have built or guided the building of multiple customer experience teams using different models. If you place the purely centralized model on one end of a spectrum and the federated model on the other, I have supported several degrees between the two. And, some of these programs are now models in their industries or in the broader customer experience arena. I mention this, to make you aware that I have seen several models. None of them are perfect, but all of them have advantages.<br><br>In my experience, the centralized model faces challenges in organizations where it is limited to a research role. While each company is different, typically, the CFOs approach this and related market research as an expense that must be contained. As a result, budgets are limited and ROI is difficult to prove because product and customer service teams don't want to share the ROI benefits of changes they had a significant role in implementing--even if they would never have know what to address without the centralized customer experience team's research.<br><br>I've seen my share of centralized teams struggle. Sleepless nights. Frustrating meetings. Turf wars that lead to damaged relationships. This is often the time when the leader who is passionate about improving customer experience starts to look for alternative models that will result in acceptance and adoption.<br><br>Before they go too far down the path they need to evaluate these five areas of readiness:<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Vision</strong></span><br>Do you have a singular vision of the ideal customer experience? If so, is your company--from top down and from one end to the other--in agreement with your vision of the ideal customer experience?<br><br>This ideal vision should include the description of the 'must have' emotions, attitudes, beliefs and mindsets of the customer who has a relationship with your company. The ideal vision is then used to inform the vision of each customer journey, product and touchpoint. In the centralized model, you may have that vision. But, is it shared across the company? If not, this may actually be a source of your challenges.<br><br>Building a unified and accepted vision of the ideal customer experience will significantly increase your success rate because your agenda is clear and it defines what the organization is striving for on each customer service call, product design session and each pixel of your app or website.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Capability</strong></span><br>There is no lack of technology for customer experience professionals. But, technology does not make a capability. This is a challenge too many C-level executives fail to really understand. The greatest area of demand today is not in more or even better tech (although I have some recommendations in this area), it is in the need for data interpretation and analysis skills and in the need for advanced understanding of consumer behavior and psychology. But, these too cannot stand alone. A customer experience research capability requires these five things at a minimum:<ul> <li>Consistent collection of customer feedback and behavioral data </li> <li>Data analysis and interpretation skills</li> <li>Advanced understanding of consumer behavior and psychology</li> <li>Technology to accelerate data mining and automate the mining of known themes in unstructured data</li> <li>Expertise in simplifying the communication of complex ideas so the audience takes action</li>
</ul>You likely have these built into your centralized model, but do you have these skills spread throughout the organization? If not, you can develop them or contract them. But, fundamentally, you have to build a plan to internalize these if you consider your customer experience to be a core competency of your business. <br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Customer </strong></span><br>Does your customer expect a unified experience across all divisions of your company? Do they expect divisions and departments to share knowledge and data? The answer to these questions may not be as obvious as you think.<br><br>In the financial services industry you may find one company that promotes the concept of being the one-stop-shop where another promotes specific products rather than a multi-product brand. The former creates an expectation in the mind of the consumer that they will share information across organizational (or regulatory) silos whereas the latter is only promising to be the best in a narrow segment of services. The customer judges their engagement based on these expectations.<br><br>When you shift from a centralized to a federated customer experience model, you must be sure that the model still supports the appropriate level of centralization that the customer expects. If your centralized model is not adequately solving this issue in your customer feedback, shifting the model is only likely to aggravate the issue even more because each federated team is then empowered and likely incentivized to explore the customer experience only in relation to their department or division. This leads to a devolution of customer-centricity and is a masked version of product-centricity.<br><br><br><strong><span class="font_large">Political</span></strong><br>Do you currently lack the political sway in your centralized customer experience model to affect budgets, decisions, and resourcing? If so, don't believe that it will suddenly change when you introduce the federated model. It will likely only get worse.<br><br>The federated model empowers the localized teams to act without regard to your centralized guidance and authority. A change in a department head elsewhere in the company can have a profound effect on the results of your team in a centralized model. Consider the impact in a federated customer experience model. It is exponentially greater because they now have the power to generate their own reports, interpret data as they choose and ignore your governance. The decision to federate must not be based on your perception that it will gain you more power. It won't. You will lose control and you will spend most of your time herding cats. Federation is not about gaining power, it is about giving power away in a responsible manner.<br><br><br><strong><span class="font_large">Culture</span></strong><br>This is the crux of customer experience. What does your company believe? How does it behave? How do the constituents see themselves as part of the company and how do they see the company in their lives? <br><br>The federated model will amplify the culture you have in place. If your company leans product-centric, this will only make it more product-centric. If your company has tall silos with thick walls, the federated customer experience model will only buttress those walls. If your C-suite does not believe that customer experience is the key to differentiation in the market and the source for future growth, adopting the federated model will not resolve that issue.<br><br>In every customer experience maturity model that I've seen, the highest level of maturity describes culture. Prior to this level the culture has not yet converted. And, the real challenge is this: Cultures do not evolve. They are the result of decisions because cultures are about what the constituents of the organization choose to believe about how the world works. These are decisions that are made.<br><br>While it may take repeated, persistent and consistent exposure to an idea to influence a person to change their mind, the changing of the mind happens in an instant. There is a clearly definable moment when we move from being a person who believes the world works one way, to believing the world works a different way and automatically, subconsciously, behaving according to that belief. Adopting the federated model will not necessarily change your company culture from being product-centric to customer-centric. Rather, it is the continuous and unrelenting effort of your internal influence marketing that will shift the culture. But that is a discussion for another article.<br><br><br><br>In short, if you are considering the adoption of a federated customer experience model, it might be the right choice for you. Most of the organizations I have worked with had some level of federated model. The most successful addressed the five points above before adopting the model and the least successful adopted the model to address the points above. <br> <p>*** <br>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" and he is the creator of the 30 Day CX Challenge where employees quickly learn how to really listen for the hidden patterns in what customers say or write and then how to effortlessly act to evoke a 5-Star customer experience.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/44829322016-11-24T16:12:53-06:002016-11-24T16:12:53-06:005 Last Minute Tips: How to Have an Amazing Black Friday Shopping Experience<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/ae5771ba6775dafbbb0c28883bbb4157fdc543ae/medium/img-6023-1653.jpg?1480024859" class="size_m justify_left border_" />If you plan on shopping during the Black Friday sales in the U.S. you will be out there with <a contents="76 million other customers" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://time.com/money/4579801/black-friday-2016-online-stores/">76 million other customers</a>. Every year the sales start a bit earlier and the lines get a bit longer. We also see videos of aggressive shoppers trampling each other, fighting for the last electronic gadget or gotta-have toy. These videos go viral and the world watches in horror as the those who were offering Thanksgiving for all they've been blessed with just hours before devolve into a mob fighting to save a few bucks.<br><br>Well, we're going to help you this year. We've spent the last two years doing deep analysis on all kinds of customer experiences. Our research revealed distinct patterns of behaviors that common for those customers who report having top-rated experiences.<br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>#1 Make a Positive Personal Connection with the Employees</strong></span><br><br><span class="font_regular">The greatest difference for <a contents="customers who report a positive experience" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/here-s-why-customers-pay-more-for-excellent-experiences">customers who report a positive experience</a> versus those who report a negative experience is a positive personal connection with one or more employees. Acknowledging an employee's effort, attitude or even their smile can open the door to a momentary connection. Using their name and thanking them for serving you can trigger a reciprocal action of the employee giving you even better service. After all, most of the other customers are likely to just treat them as a cog in the machine. If you give them the respect they deserve and you extend them some gratitude, they are likely to automatically return the favor.</span><br><br><br><strong><span class="font_large">#2 Maintain Control of Your Emotions </span></strong><br><br><span class="font_regular">This is the dirty little secret that few of customer experience experts will actually admit or even address. The source of your experience as a customer is you. I know, that may not seem politically correct to say, but it is true. While companies and employees are not perfect, your mindset and emotions dictate how you perceive a situation as a customer.<br><br>Numerous scientific studies prove that <a contents="your emotional state actually colors your perception" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.livescience.com/43196-emotions-influence-perception.html">your emotional state actually colors your perception</a> of your circumstances and then alters the meaning you derive from the situation. If you are frustrated or feeling vulnerable, you are more likely to interpret a neutral comment as negative or a slightly negative comment as very negative. On the other hand, if you are happy you will perceive everything better than they may actually be. That makes for a better shopping experience.<br><br>The key here is to make sure you care for yourself. Here are a few ways to do that:</span>
<ul> <li><span class="font_regular">Get plenty of sleep, even if you have to get up early. </span></li> <li><span class="font_regular">Make sure you keep your blood sugar at a good level. Hunger puts you on the fast path to unpleasant emotions. </span></li> <li><span class="font_regular">Finally, take a break if the emotions of people around you start to 'leak in.'</span></li>
</ul><span class="font_regular">If you are an introvert or an empathic person, you are more likely to experience a drain or even a nausea in the presence of intense extroverted energy common in the crowds of Black Friday shoppers. Take a few minutes in your car to recharge or even at the local coffee shop.<br>If you have 15 minutes, you can learn a lot from my good friend Dr. Joan Rosenberg. She teaches you how to quickly and easily process the unpleasant emotions you may feel. What a great time to practice!<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="EKy19WzkPxE" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/EKy19WzkPxE/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EKy19WzkPxE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></span><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>#3 Be the Victor, not the Victim</strong></span><br><br>Customers who report having excellent experiences use language that indicates that they maintained a belief that they were in control of their situation and they never give the conditions around them the power over them. In other words, they are victors, not victims. The customers who have the best experiences actually take responsibility for the things they are paying attention to and the things they are doing and feeling. This is an extension of them maintaining control of their emotions (see #2 Maintain Control of Your Emotions). <br><br>The customers who have the worst experiences are those who blame the store, the employees or something else for the situation. On Black Friday, if you find yourself wanting to blame someone else or something outside of you, you are headed down the spiral of unpleasant emotions because if you allow yourself to believe another person is in control, you are telling your mind and your body that you are helpless and a victim. This triggers a series of toxic chemicals that are felt as unpleasant emotions which then causes you to think thoughts of what might happen to you if you are truly not in control. The spiral continues as your emotions fire with anger, even hostility resulting in you attacking the person who you are blaming for your condition. Think about what you see in those viral videos of shoppers fighting with each other.<br><br>Instead of going down this spiral when you feel like you don't have control, pause for a moment and take three deep breaths. This slows the emotional reaction and allows your rational mind to catch up so you can see things as they really are. Then, ask for help or clarification with curiosity. This approach will stop the downward spiral and you will immediately stake your claim of dominance over the situation.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>#4 Tap into the Positive of the Experience</strong></span><br><br><span class="font_regular">Customers who have excellent experiences express appreciation for the experience of the moment. In fact, the best experiences are reported when customers identify three or more things that engage different senses (i.e. seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, tasting, etc.) and that trigger different emotions (i.e. positive surprise, warmth or welcome, awe and amazement, etc.). This grounds the customer in the moment and helps them remember the whole experience in a more positive way than if these sensory engagements pass with little notice.<br><br>You can tap into the experiences of the moment when you savor your coffee for a few seconds while you look around at the holiday decor and listen to the holiday music. Or, while you are standing in line waiting for your turn at the register, you can appreciate how vibrant you feel being up early and succeeding at finding great deals. You can even put your attention on others and see the love in the eyes of a young couple who are shopping for their first Christmas together. Whatever it is, take these moments and focus your attention on them and it will improve you experience both in that moment and for the day.</span><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>#5 Share Your Positive Experiences With Others</strong></span><br><br><span class="font_regular">Giving is a part of this holiday season. Several scientific studies have shown that <a contents="when we give, we benefit" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for_you">when we give, we benefit</a>. But, more than that. The receiver and any observers benefit as well. This is the last tip to make your Black Friday an amazing experience.<br><br>Share your positive moments with others. Yes, you can share the deals you found, but that's not really what I am referring to. Our research shows that customers who tell others about the positive experiences of the moments that they tapped in to (See #4 Tap Into The Positive of The Experience) are far more likely to have a better shopping experience. When you share a Facebook post, Tweet or Snapchat about the young lovers who melted your heart or the employee who went out of their way to help you, you help people pause a moment and feel a sense of connection through you. They literally experience a version of what you experienced in the moment. This could be the greatest gift you find and share on Black Friday.</span><br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>BONUS TIP: Remind Yourself of this List</strong></span><br><br>Here is something I have learned to do over the years and it has resulted in me having some amazing experiences. Create reminders for yourself to actually do the things on this list. <ul> <li>Set an hourly alarm to do #4</li> <li>Put a sticky note on your credit card to do #1</li> <li>Schedule your break (See #2) before you even leave home</li> <li>Before walking through the doors of any store take three deep breaths (See #3)</li> <li>When you are standing in line or you get back to your car do #5</li>
</ul><br>I hope each and everyone of you have a Happy Thanksgiving and have amazing Black Friday shopping experiences.<br><br><br>***<br>Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 best selling book, "<a contents="The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty</a>" and he is the creator of the <a contents="30 Day CX Challenge" data-link-label="30-Day CX Challenge" data-link-type="page" href="/30-day-cx-challenge">30 Day CX Challenge</a> where employees quickly learn how to really listen for the hidden patterns in what customers say or write and then how to effortlessly act to evoke a 5-Star customer experience.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/44683252016-11-15T17:42:00-06:002021-10-31T01:46:18-05:00Here's How We Are Pushing Customer Experience HigherBrussels sprouts. As a kid I HATED them. Their bitter taste was too much to tolerate. And, they were either boiled to a green pulp or they were still as hard as a leafy rock.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>My Unbelievable Experience</strong><br><span style="font-size: 12px;">These were not brussels sprouts. They couldn't be!</span></span><br><br>Roasted to perfection. Topped with hickory smoked bacon and drizzled with maple glaze. These were prepared for the culinary gods. My server told me I chose the best appetizer as she nearly swooned thinking about them. She even confirmed my order was right by telling me she was having them for her dinner once her shift ended in fifteen minutes. Then, unsolicited, another server walked by and told me they were the best item on the menu. I am sure I heard his stomach growling as it coveted my brussels sprouts. I felt compelled to offer him a few, but I selfishly resisted. If you're ever on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas find the restaurant at Hotel Contessa and order the brussels sprouts.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a5301b6129c4611874733d9973a51d561f0d3dbb/original/20161110-212052.jpg?1479248445" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Why did this experience have such an impact on me?</strong></span><br>Let's start at the beginning. Seeing brussels sprouts on a menu at such a fine establishment surprised me. It caused me to ask about them because I was intrigued. I mean, bacon makes everything better, but who puts maple syrup on green leafy veggies. Then there was the whole-body reaction of my server when she thought about--or maybe tasted in her imagination--the brussels sprouts. That told me that I was about to make a seriously good choice. The second server, the one who delivered my food, couldn't resist the hunger that caused his stomach to protest leaving the brussels sprouts with me. Finally, when I tasted them, I was blown away. Maybe 'awe' is the right emotional description. Every bite reconfirmed my decision and I may even have been a bit proud of my choice. Now here I am, writing prolifically about my brussels sprouts at Hotel Contessa.<br><br>Why does this matter to every other customer experience in the world?<br><br>Because it confirms some stunning and important discoveries we've made in our research over the last year.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>The Admiration Equation™</strong></span><br>We've learned that when customers tell stories about their experiences in the form of survey responses or online reviews (similar to my story above), and rate these experiences on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent) there are specific patterns that emerge at each rating level. We've confirmed these findings across industries as varied as insurance and financial services to technology to hospitality and restaurants to personal development to medical and dental offices. Reviews of products as different as dishwashers and tires also show similar patterns. And, these patterns can be identified, compiled and then applied to help staff interpret and act effectively in response to emails, in-person customer comments and even to prospects evaluating their purchase options.<br><br>We adopted the term Admiration Equation™ to encapsulate the factors that consistently drive customers to give five-star reviews. During this time, we have been working with clients to integrate a process of testing their customers' experiences to see if they sufficiently meet the factors of the Admiration Equation™. When applied, these factors lead to significant return on the investments in customer experience.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ADMIRATION EQUATION</strong></span></span><span class="font_xl"><span style="color:#FF0000;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">™</span></span></span><span class="font_large"><span style="color:#FF0000;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></span></span><span class="font_large"><span style="color:#FF0000;"><strong>IN THIS VIDEO</strong></span></span><br><br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="HDOmuj5OxR4" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/HDOmuj5OxR4/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HDOmuj5OxR4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br> <p><span class="font_large"><strong>The Results</strong></span><br>One client was pleased with the results their educational marketing campaigns were producing, but willingly agreed to test some recommendations we made. They altered the language used in some presentations and repositioned the expertise of the presenter. As a result of the improvements, the company sold 90% more than any previous campaign. This was an upsell offer to existing clients who had already invested deeply with the company's products within the last six months, yet, with the right experience, they were grateful to have the opportunity to invest even more.</p>
<p>With another client we analyzed their online reviews and comments from internal surveys. Then we examined their online marketing, email marketing and even television ads to identify the key experiences that were missing in each of these tools, by customer segment. The company is currently updating their marketing assets with the expectation of improvements. </p>
<p><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Accidental Discoveries</strong></span><br>While doing this analysis we have gone beyond just reviewing customer experience surveys and reviews. Some clients provided access to their data from buyers and non-buyers. Using these opportunities, we explored how the Admiration Equation™ could be applied in the sales process. Here we found that, like five-star reviews, customers who bought had effectively engaged each of the factors we measured for. The most fascinating discovery was that some of our clients provided data collected from their buyers weeks or even months before the purchase was made. We are now engaged in research to determine how companies can confidently predict sales based on unstructured comments collected before marketing campaigns start and sales offers are made. It appears that the subconscious or non-conscious minds of customers are working on their purchase decisions long before companies even start to solicit.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>The Future of Customer Experience Analysis</strong></span><br>As we continue to pull back the curtains on what drives the excellent customer experience, we will likely continue to find new ways to apply our findings. We regularly help improve operations and augment staff training. We've been supporting the innovation of dozens of new products and services for years. These range from smart phone apps to the design of some of the world's largest hotels. Now that we are venturing into the design of marketing campaigns and sales processes as well as offer innovations, I suspect that we will see an unpredicted expansion in the role of customer experience analytics, particularly in the area of integrating structured and unstructured data with both technology and highly-trained analysts. <br><br>Maybe with these advancements in customer experience analytics, we will see culinary innovations with brussels sprouts in more restaurants during our travels.<br><br>***<br>Learn more about our newest customer experience training program at <a contents="www.CXSimplified.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.CXSimplified.com">www.CXSimplified.com</a></p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43642652016-09-09T08:37:11-05:002016-09-09T08:37:11-05:008 Reasons Southwest Flight Attendant Videos Keep Going Viral<span class="font_large">While CEOs and CMOs are meeting in board rooms across the globe to figure out the next new tactic to get the attention of the public, line level employees are going viral online simply by using their talents and skills to bring fun to their job and humor to their customers. </span>
<p>This Southwest flight attendant, Zach Haumesser, gives the passengers on this flight into Chicago the final instructions as the plane is approaching the gate. Except, he does it in the voices of nearly a dozen Looney Tune characters. </p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="k9wo6BteNG0" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/k9wo6BteNG0/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k9wo6BteNG0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="400" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Why did this video go viral?</strong></span><br><br>Here are eight reasons that caused this and similar videos to go viral. You can apply these same principles to go viral too:<br><br>1. <strong>Novelty</strong> - Most airline announcements follow the standard approved language with a rehearsed tone of voice. Zach used his skills to be different within the requirements of his job. <br> <br>2. <strong>Timing </strong>- It was done at the end of the flight which makes it easy for people to upload and share before they leave the plane or when they're between flights. Research shows that the beginning and <a contents="end of an event are more memorable" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_kahneman_the_riddle_of_experience_vs_memory#">end of an event are more memorable</a> than the middle.<br><br>3. <strong><a contents="Dominance" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/here-s-what-you-can-learn-from-the-virality-of-the-epipen-scandal">Dominance</a> </strong>- Think about it. As a passenger, you're strapped into your seat. You cannot move under threat of breaking the law. You're not in control of the massive vehicle that you are being transported in and you cannot see much outside the plane. Others are literally in control of your life. Then, suddenly, you are given a gift that you can share with your seat mates, family or friends. You are again put in control of your mind and emotions. The energy of the moment shifts. You want to share this experience that gave you control again.
<p>4. <strong>Social capital</strong> - Most of us are trying to find ways to build new or long-term relationships. One of the most common ways to do this is by sharing useful information or something that others will find meaningful so that <a contents="people see us as&nbsp;valuable." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN4eDk1pq6U">people see us as valuable.</a> And, humor is both useful and meaningful.</p>5. <strong>Escapism</strong> - We want to escape the normality of our lives. So, when someone transports us to another dimension with the use of their skills, we enjoy the journey and deeply appreciate the time away. This is why movies, sports, books and magazines are multi-billion dollar industries. Customer experiences can provide that form of escapism. When you watched the video above, you likely escaped from whatever moment were in.<br><br>6. <strong>Inspiration</strong> - Zach is an inspiration on many levels. He is going out of his way to evoke humor and happiness in his guests. He is also freely going above and beyond in his role and using skills not required to just do his job. He has obviously practiced and developed his talent to be able to use so many different character voices for such a long monologue. <br><br>7. <strong>Positivity</strong> - Last but not least, <a contents="positivity is shared more frequently" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.frac.tl/research/viral-emotions-study-2">positivity is shared more frequently</a> than negativity. But, it is not good enough to just be positive. The viewer needs to experience the sense of dominance if they are to share it with others.<br><br>Do you need all of these reasons to go viral? Probably not. But, you do need the right combination of several of them. <br><br><br><br><span class="font_large">What's the 8th Reason Southwest Flight Attendant Videos Go Viral?</span><br><br>It's not the first time a Southwest flight attendant has done something that went viral across the internet. Below are two other famous clips.<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="sPfya60FYo4" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/sPfya60FYo4/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sPfya60FYo4?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>
<p>This flight attendant tells jokes the whole time she is providing instructions before takeoff. She acknowledges many things most of us think during flights: "It's been a long day," or "Airline service sucks," or "There's no room in these seats." <br><br>Acknowledging all of these things in a humorous way diffuses the situation and changes the perspective most people have. It creates another reason that videos like this go viral. </p>
<p>8. Shared experiences - When we share an experience with people, we build a connection and begin to develop trust. We feel a bond because oxytocin is released and it creates that feeling that we crave: being connected with another person.</p>Just for fun, these two flight attendants tell jokes as they prepare for take off. They have worked together long enough to coordinate their efforts. You can see that they tell a few of the same jokes as the flight attendant in the previous video because Southwest flight attendants let each other know what works to entertain guests. Then, at 6:42, they go on to trigger a sense of patriotism. This drives powerful emotional reaction that many people deeply appreciate. Be sure to watch each passenger thanking the flight attendants as they leave.<br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="_F_n09WMV6Y" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/_F_n09WMV6Y/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_F_n09WMV6Y?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br> <p>The shared experience these flight attendants evoked continue to create tremendous value for Southwest.<br><br>1. Viral exposure to prospective customers<br>2. Memories that influence future purchase decisions<br>3. Reputation enhancement that attracts more like-minded employees so the cycle continues and the reach expands<br><br>These elements require the creation and promotion of an environment that promotes the development of individual talents, the expression of unique skills and the celebration of the best in each other. </p>
<p><br>Other posts you may enjoy:<br><br><a contents="Here's What You Can Learn from the Virality of the EpiPen Scandal" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/here-s-what-you-can-learn-from-the-virality-of-the-epipen-scandal">Here's What You Can Learn from the Virality of the EpiPen Scandal</a><br><br>PODCAST: <a contents="Creating a Stronger Customer Experience by Listening" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/creating-a-stronger-customer-experience-by-listening-podcast-part-1-of-3">Creating a Stronger Customer Experience by Listening</a><br><br>BOOK: <a contents="The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty" data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty</a><br><br><br>***** </p>
<p>Tony Bodoh is a two-time, #1 best-selling author and the founder or co-founder of five companies ranging from customer experience consulting to small business training to television. He easily navigates the international stage speaking at both personal growth seminars as well as the uber-nerdy technology conferences.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43431492016-08-26T10:29:27-05:002017-01-15T21:34:10-06:00Here's What You Can Learn from the Virality of the EpiPen Scandal<a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/martin-shkreli-weighs-epipen-scandal-calls-drug-makers-vultures-n634451" target="_blank"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/38022b9d36a94fb6071faa6ce7c5374fc32c494e/medium/epipen-price-hike-chart-ea751a0276b621824fddbe7a26965984-nbcnews-ux-320-320.png?1472219065" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="EpiPen average wholesale price chart, 2007-2016. Ben Popken / NBC News" /></a>
<p>I invested in my first EpiPen after nearly dying in a hotel room. I made the decision to never travel without one while in a state of anaphylatic shock. I remember watching my girls, who were 3 and 5 years old at the time, sleeping across the room, peacefully unaware that I was moments away from death. I did not want to lose time with them and I did not want them to lose me.<br><br>Since then, the EpiPen has given me a new sense of calm and the freedom to eat out with caution, but not worry. It has given me the freedom to travel and have dinner with clients or at conferences, without being embarrassed that I am so picky about my foods. In fact, the EpiPen marketing made others aware of the challenges those of us with allergies have and how serious it can be.</p>Mylan, the maker of EpiPen is now experiencing what so many of my clients have been afraid of facing. A negative viral campaign in the media and on social media.<br><br>I rely on EpiPen like over three million other Americans. I carry the medication with me because it stops a life-threatening reaction to certain foods. And, like many others, I am concerned about the price increase.<br><br>I confess, I do not understand all of the workings of pricing in the pharma industry and am not qualified to comment on the decision in a rational way. Instead, I will use this post to help you learn from this Mylan's decision so your business may be able to avoid a negative viral campaign.<br><br>Mylan's decision to raise the price of EpiPen falls in line with the rise in U.S. drug prices. Forbes reported that between 2009 and 2012 g<a contents="eneric drug prices increased" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://fortune.com/2016/04/26/drug-prices-valeant-pfizer-merck/">eneric drug prices increased</a> by 8% per year. Reuters reported that four of the top ten most widely used drugs in the U.S. had price increases of over 100% since 2011. Another report shows that Mylan's EpiPen price increase is dwarfed by another decision the company made for a <a contents="542% increase in ursodiol" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/08/24/mylan-generic-drug-price-hikes/">542% increase in ursodiol</a>, a generic medicine used to treat gallstones.<br><br>If you track the story back just a bit, you'll find that not quite a year ago, Bloomberg ran an article sharing the background strategy that led to the <a contents="growth of EpiPen" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-23/how-marketing-turned-the-epipen-into-a-billion-dollar-business">growth of EpiPen</a> from a $200 million product in 2007 to a $1 billion product that delivers about $1 of epinephrine per dose. EpiPen had margins of 8% in 2008, but those skyrocketed to 55% in 2014 and accounted for 40% of Mylan's operating revenue. This particular part of the story is fascinating.
<p>Heather Bresch, Mylan's CEO realized that she could market the drug to the parents of children with allergies because there was a deep connection to be made with the fear of loss these parents live with daily. She then lobbied to have the drugs available in schools and the public buildings similar to difibrillators because of the life-threatening condition many allergies pose. This marketing strategy was coupled with gradual price increases. It was only recently that they did a triple-digit price increase. This is where she made her mistake and why this particular decision has gone viral and is generating so much negative press.<br><br><br> <iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="lE-df9WN1RM" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/lE-df9WN1RM/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lE-df9WN1RM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p><br><strong>How the EpiPen Strategy Backfired</strong><br>Bresch saw that the drug could play on the fear parents have of their children facing life-threatening allergic reactions without medical treatment being readily available. And, that fear is a massive motivator. The problem is that now that fear is working against Mylan and Bresch.<br><br>EpiPen, like so many other products, is really a type of insurance against a relatively unlikely event. Products that serve the role of insurance are really far more useful when they are owned because they provide peace of mind and are seldom used. Think about the number of ways you insure yourself from loss. You probably have car and home or renter's insurance. You likely have life insurance for those who survive you. And, you definitely have health insurance.<br><br>Did you also think about:</p>
<ul> <li>The Insurance <ul> <li>you bought with your newest technology device</li> <li>you pay to the electric or water company to cover damage between their lines and your home</li> <li>you have on your loans if you lose your job</li> <li>included in your furniture, lease or car payments</li> </ul> </li> <li>Buying the bulk package of <ul> <li>toilet paper so you don't inconveniently run out</li> <li>snacks in case you get hungry between meals</li> <li>cold or flu symptom medicine in case you feel under the weather</li> </ul> </li>
</ul>The point is this: We buy many things for the sake of feeling like we will still be in control if life does not go as we planned. And, this is what Mylan and Bresch relied on to increase the sales of the EpiPen. The EpiPen gave parents and their kids dominance again. It made them able to live a bit more freely, with a bit less worry of being caught without life-saving medical treatment. Freedom. That is what we all want. <br><br><br><strong>Where Mylan Went Wrong?</strong><br>Based upon the research we've done with clients who have products that provide a feeling of 'insurance from uncertainty,' it seems that there were three things that converged to cause the negative viral reaction.<br><br>1. <strong>The triple-digit price increase.</strong> We've seen it happen repeatedly with products that have an 'insurance' feel to them that people react very negatively when there is an instant triple digit increase in the actual dollar amount or when there is a series of smaller increases of double digit percentages over several years. But this alone is not enough. As I shared above, EpiPen was making increases and had more than doubled in price over the last several years. And, there was no outrage in September of last year when Bloomberg mentioned their whole marketing approach. In fact, the video interview seemed to convey a bit of admiration and the gradual increase was used as a contra-example to the other drug price increases that were taking national attention at the time.<br><br>2. <b>Explanations are too complex.</b> This is the second key to the EpiPen virality. I believe the company could have been able to continue the gradual growth for some time, but when they initiated the triple-digit price increase, it triggered the attention of people. Then, when consumers and advocates asked 'Why?' and there is no simple explanation that makes sense to the public. Worse yet, there is no explanation that makes sense to a parent who knows her child may need the EpiPen or face death. This brings in the third element that makes this such a viral story.<br><br>3. <strong>Valence-Arousal-Dominance.</strong> <a contents="Emotions have many characteristics" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.frac.tl/research/viral-emotions-study-2">Emotions have many characteristics</a>. In our customer experience analysis consulting, we look closely at the valence, or the level of positivity or negativity of the emotion. In fact, much work is done in this area and software can detect with a level of accuracy the valence a word or a phrase communicates. However, the arousal and dominance factors of an emotion are key to things going viral. The anger and outrage being expressed are high arousal emotions. They are coupled with the fear of loss (of a child and/or of the access to freedom and safety that EpiPen's presence provides). Where fear alone can be a low dominance or submissive emotion, it seems to shift to a high-dominance emotion when we feel like something is being taken from us. This likely triggers a sudden dose of testosterone and a rich cocktail of emotional chemicals that move us to attack the threat aggressively.<br><br><br><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="mFvBu5vnA8M" data-video-thumb-url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/mFvBu5vnA8M/0.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mFvBu5vnA8M?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="200" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe><br><br>In the end, Mylan triggered this viral outbreak itself. The decision to focus marketing on giving parents the feeling of freedom meant these parents now felt they had emotional dominance over their children's allergic reactions and they likely had a positive view of the EpiPen. But, when the triple-digit increases hit in an instant and could not be explained in an easy-to-accept manner, there was no one to lash out against except the drug manufacturer.<br><br><br>If you are concerned that your marketing and pricing strategies are not aligned with your intended customer experience strategy, <a contents="contact us" data-link-label="Contact" data-link-type="page" href="/contact">contact us</a>. We can do an audit and show you where you might be at risk of negative viral exposure.<br><br>You also may find these posts of interest: <p><a contents="This is More Dangerous to Your Company than Low Yelp or TripAdvisor Ratings" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/this-is-more-dangerous-to-your-company-than-low-yelp-or-tripadvisor-ratings">This is More Dangerous to Your Company than Low Yelp or TripAdvisor Ratings</a></p>
<p><a contents="Why CEOs See Customer Experience Improvement Projects as Risky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-ceos-see-customer-experience-improvement-projects-as-risky">Why CEOs See Customer Experience Improvement Projects as Risky</a><br><br><a contents="Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-goals-and-roi-are-essential-to-your-voc-program">Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program</a> </p>
<p>***** </p>
<p>Tony Bodoh is a two-time, #1 <a contents="best-selling author" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/book">best-selling author</a> and the founder or co-founder of five companies ranging from customer experience consulting to small business training to television. He easily navigates the international stage speaking at both personal growth seminars as well as the uber-nerdy technology conferences.</p><br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43202722016-08-11T11:54:03-05:002017-01-15T21:34:10-06:00What You Need to Succeed as a VOC Leader<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/7d70e7496091d19f17bdb756eb3cba5dd9947c1d/large/football-1523014-640.jpg?1470935980" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Author's Note: This is the sixth of a series of six posts about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your&nbsp;VOC Program is&nbsp;Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br> <br><br>Failure is only permanent when you decide it is. <br> <br>That statement holds true in any scenario and the truth of it burns deeply when you realize that failure, like success, is ultimately your choice. <br> <br>If your Voice of the Customer (VOC) program is one of the more than <a contents="70% that are not delivering actionable results" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/(http://www.cmo.com/opinion/articles/2016/3/29/the-real-value-in-voice-of-the-customer-the-customer-experience.html#gs.Bp0duxs)">70% that are not delivering actionable results</a>, then you have a program that is currently a failure. If you want, you decide to try again to achieve success. This is an often sobering, but very necessary conversation that I have with clients. <br> <br>During my years of building VOC programs, I have been asked several times for a list of characteristics leaders should look for in new employees who will be hired to work in their VOC programs. I’ve decided that my first recommendation is, by far, grit. <br> </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">Talent x effort = skill <br>Skill x effort = achievement </span><br>Dr. Angela Duckworth’s <a contents="Grit Formula for Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/07/a-psychologist-says-this-is-the-formula-for-success.html">Grit Formula for Success</a> <br> </p>
<hr><p> <br>Becoming an expert in VOC and then applying that expertise to build a successful VOC program requires vast amounts of learning, experimentation and failure. It requires that you be realistic about outcomes and confident in your ability to learn what is required to achieve those outcomes. It may require long nights of learning followed by long days of analysis. Being a great VOC analyst or leader is not for the timid. In my mind it is one of the most challenging jobs that exists in the corporate world today. <br> <br>Think about it this way. <br> <br>You will read thousands or even millions of comments from customers who are hurting, who feel they’ve been victimized, who have been ‘robbed’ from. <br> <br>Then, you have to convince your leaders or peers to invest in improving things that show up again and again in complaints by what seems to be a small number of customers instead of investing in the new sexy feature that the designers or engineers have come up. <br> <br>Then, you have to collaborate with other teams who have their own agenda and probably don’t want you giving them direction on what to improve or how to improve it. </p>
<p>Finally, after the improvements are made, you need to ensure that people remember you were a key part of the success so that your program and team are funded for future efforts. <br> <br>It is a tough job. You are changing the culture of your company. You are challenging beliefs and traditions. You need to be gritty. <br> <br><br><strong>What is the reward for being gritty? </strong></p>
<ul> <li>Personal growth and emotional mastery that can transfer to so many areas of your life </li> <li>Professional recognition as a VOC master because you outlasted the others who were unwilling to do what it took to succeed at the level you did </li> <li>Customers who are grateful for the improved experience, even if they don’t know they have you to thank for it </li> <li>Maybe a raise or a promotion or an offer from a company that values what you can do even more than your current employer </li> <li>The opportunity to get a peek into your true potential and who you could become if you get even grittier. </li>
</ul>
<p>Grit is one of the least available resources in the marketplace today. You can train someone to be a data scientist or an analyst or even a behavioral psychologist far more easily than you can train a person to be gritty.<br><br>Read more about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program&nbsp;is Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43202342016-08-11T11:47:16-05:002017-01-15T21:34:10-06:00Why Having Guts and Following Your Gut Leads to VOC Success <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/0306b1c1c6aedd2480db7cb6628ee773d8fd54b1/original/lion-805390-640.jpg?1470935979" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Author's Note: This is the fifth of a series of six posts about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your&nbsp;VOC Program is&nbsp;Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your VOC Program is Failing</a>. <br> <br><br>Did your Voice of the Customer (VOC) tool vendor or consultant tell you you’re going to need to have the guts to stand up for your VOC program and sometimes you’re going to have to follow you gut when you’re analyzing data? <br> <br>Probably not. <br> <br>Most research on the differences between successful and failed VOC programs never mention either of these as critical components to your success. Yet, every VOC leader I’ve ever worked with faces challenges on a daily basis that they’ll admit requires courage and guts to move forward. <br> <br>Here’s how I see it. <br> <br>If VOC is new to your organization, you are in for massive change management. That means you are going to have to be absolutely convinced of the value of VOC in general and your VOC program and its capabilities in particular. You need absolute confidence because you will be called upon to at least defend your: <br> </p>
<ul> <li>Funding requests </li> <li>Data integration requests </li> <li>Team’s insights and recommendations </li> <li>Insight to action initiatives </li>
</ul>
<p> <br>Beyond these, you will likely have to have the guts to stand up to your leaders to explain that some of their requests are a waste of resources while at the same time you train these leaders how to ask high quality questions that you can actually research. <br> </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"In business, courageous action is really a special kind of calculated risk taking. People who become good leaders have a greater than average willingness to make bold moves, but they strengthen their chances of success—and avoid career suicide—through careful deliberation and preparation. Business courage is not so much a visionary leader’s inborn characteristic as a skill acquired through decision-making processes that improve with practice."</span><br>Kathleen K. Reardon <br><a contents="Harvard Business Review" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hbr.org/2007/01/courage-as-a-skill">Harvard Business Review</a>, January 2007 </p>
<hr><p> <br>The fastest way to destroy your VOC program is to lose your focus on what you are researching. If a research project does not lead you in the direction of the agreed upon goals of the program, it is a luxury at best and a waste of precious resources at worst. <br><br><strong>What You Can Do</strong><br>I cannot count the number of times leaders asked, “Is anyone talking about this?” I have trained my clients to do one of two things when they hear this type of question: </p>
<ol> <li>Ask more questions to understand what the leader is actually thinking, what their hypothesis is, what they are going to do with the research finding if they receive it and what metric the findings are likely to impact; </li> <li>If that does not work, then I tell my clients to only do the necessary research required to answer the question with a “Yes” or “No.” This answer will cause the leader to ask more questions that will help you know what you actually need to research as addressed in the outlined above. </li>
</ol>
<p>This may seem obtuse. But, remember, you are responsible for reaching specific goals and you have limited resources to do so. Often, leaders ask questions because they are interested in entertaining their curiosity but it has no real value for the business. This is a habit that can be changed and you help them become a more effective leader when you drive their behavior toward the asking of high quality questions. <br> <br><br><strong>Following Your Gut </strong><br>You may also find yourself in a situation where you don’t have the information you need or you don’t have the confidence to declare a definitive answer to a research question. In these cases, I encourage you to follow your gut and trust in your intuition. <br> <br>I am not suggesting you state an unsupported conclusion that ‘feels right’ but rather that you follow the path that feels right in your research. As you develop your expertise in this area, your intuition will become stronger and you can learn to listen to that small voice in your head or that feeling in your gut that suggests an alternative path. The more you work with your intuition and learn the voice of your intuition, the more likely you are to follow the correct path. That being said, always test your intuitive hypotheses with sufficient rational analysis and develop a theory on solid data. <br> </p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">“Information subconsciously perceived in the brain will help with decisions if that information holds some value or extra evidence beyond what people already have in their conscious mind”</span><br>Cari Nierenberg<br><a contents="Live Science" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.livescience.com/54825-scientists-measure-intuition.html">Live Science</a>, May 20, 2016 </p>
<hr><p> <br>A few months ago I was doing analysis for a new client and I had a feeling that there was more hidden in the open-ended survey responses than I was seeing and the software was revealing. My conclusions just did not feel complete. I felt this deep sense of knowing that something seemed to be missing. <br> <br>I put in several additional hours of reading and analyzing the feedback manually (yes, VOC tools can’t do it all). After several intuitive hypotheses failed to stand up to the rigor of rational analysis, I stumbled across one that was valid. When I shared the insight and my recommendation with my client and they applied it in their next marketing campaign, they saw sales increase 90% year-over-year. That one finding was worth more than 10x the investment they made in my research. <br> <br>This was not a one-time occurrence. I follow many gut feelings in the process of researching. Some of my most valuable findings have been the result of this process.<br><br>Read more about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program&nbsp;is Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br><br>Or read the next post <a contents="What You Need to Succeed as a VOC Leader" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/what-you-need-to-succeed-as-a-voc-leader">What You Need to Succeed as a VOC Leader</a>.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43202312016-08-11T11:40:41-05:002017-01-15T21:34:10-06:00Why Good Relationships Matter to VOC Success <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/01f3b4975d996cc1823508e077471160c98a79bf/original/hand-427509-640.png?1470935979" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Author's Note: This is the fourth of a series of six posts about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your&nbsp;VOC Program is&nbsp;Failing&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br> <br><br>Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs are not self-sufficient islands. They need a wide variety of resources from across the company. Here are just a few examples: </p>
<ul> <li>Data from multiple systems and departments </li> <li>Analytical resources with different specialties and perspectives </li> <li>Funding for research efforts or for the program tools and personnel </li> <li>Trust in the VOC findings and in the stated value of taking action </li> <li>Willingness to invest resources to take action on VOC insights rather than other projects </li> <li>Enthusiastic and passionate support for the VOC program from the C-suite </li>
</ul>
<p> <br>As this list shows, relationships are vital to success of the VOC program as well as individual VOC projects. When relationships fail, the only means of progress depends upon authority. And, few leaders respond well to dictates from their boss that were driven by the complaints or cajoling of a peer in another department. <br> </p>
<hr><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"Nearly 80 percent of the senior executives surveyed in a 2005 study said that effective coordination across product, functional, and geographic lines was crucial for growth. Yet only 25 percent of the respondents described their organizations as "effective" at sharing knowledge across boundaries."</span><br>Robert L. Cross, Roger D. Martin, and Leigh M. Weiss <br><a contents="McKinsey Quarterly" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/mapping-the-value-of-employee-collaboration">McKinsey Quarterly</a> August 2006 </p>
<hr><p> <br>There are two significant relationship challenges that I’ve seen over the years of working with VOC programs and other analytical teams. The first is the desire to “throw bombs” at the department that is not taking the desired action. The desire to help the customer is often the motivator of ‘bomb-throwing’ but too often the use of data to embarrass another leader or to force his hand is more damaging in the long-term. <br> <br>I’ve seen Vice Presidents of analysis teams present data to the C-suite with a storyline that implicated a Vice President in another department (e.g. product management) of failing to take appropriate action. This may seem to be a win in the short-term, but long-term it hurts everyone as well as the credibility of the VOC program. If your data is not convincing enough to move others to take action, you should seek first to understand their motives and agenda. Then seek to find a solution from that perspective rather than forcing your agenda upon other leaders and their teams. <br> <br>The second relationship challenge comes up when researchers believe they should work in a bubble and that their job is just to do research. Numerous times I’ve seen amazing research end up in a file folder or on a shelf because the researchers believed their job ended at the moment they delivered their insights. <br> <br>Nothing is further from the truth. While it may be uncomfortable for the researcher to get involved, it is positive change, not insights that matter. The change must be guided by the researcher who had the original insights. Therefore, the VOC researcher must learn to engage with the action teams throughout the course of the improvement or innovation project so that the insights are applied accurately and the result is effective. <br><br>While working with one client, I experienced the long-term effect this challenge. The social marketing team was so accustomed to the company’s other researchers just delivering insights that when I came over with the VOC team to help the social marketing team, they resisted. We repeatedly attempted to work with them, but they insisted that they knew better. So, we decided to deliver exactly what they requested while caveating our deliverables by explaining what we expected would happen if they tried to use the insights as proposed. Within months, our predictions were realized and the investment wasted. If we had been able to build the relationship with the social marketing team instead of allowing them to see us like every other researcher, we would have a different ending to the story. <br><br><br><strong>How You Can Build Critical VOC Relationships</strong><br>Relationships are challenging. They take work. They take attention. They take time. And, if you don’t invest in them, they will cause your VOC program to ultimately fail to deliver insights that are acted on. <br> <br>Here is what I suggest: </p>
<ol> <li>Identify those people who are critical to your VOC program’s capability to create value from the point of data collection through insight generation and through action-taking </li> <li>Use your lunch hour to meet one-on-one with the people who you depend on for your VOC program’s success. </li> <li>Teach your team to do the same.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you invest an hour every day in deepening these critical relationships, you will further twenty relationships each month. If your team engages, you multiply your results.<br><br>Read more about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program&nbsp;is Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br><br>Or, read the next post <a contents="Why Having Guts and Following Your Gut Leads to VOC Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-having-guts-and-following-your-gut-leads-to-voc-success">Why Having Guts and Following Your Gut Leads to VOC Success</a>.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43202032016-08-11T11:30:59-05:002017-01-15T21:34:10-06:00When Your Genius is Not Enough for VOC Program Success <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/c3c0d034a9556543867c2312f6728c90a34caf4a/original/lamp-432247-640.jpg?1470935979" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Author's Note: This is the third of a series of six posts about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your&nbsp;VOC Program is&nbsp;Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprises Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br> <br>There are few multi-expertise geniuses in the history of humanity. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re one of them. The best Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs and highest value VOC projects are led by people who understand the limits of their area of genius and how to integrate the genius of others to create a unified mind that sees more clearly, understands more deeply, and generates more value as a whole than is possible with a sum of the parts. <br> </p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">“The lone genius is a myth that has outlived its usefulness. Fortunately, a more truthful model is emerging: the creative network, as with the crowd-sourced Wikipedia or the writer’s room at ‘The Daily Show’ or — the real heart of creativity — the intimate exchange of the creative pair, such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney and myriad other examples with which we’ve yet to fully reckon.” </span><br><a contents="New York Times" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-genius.html">New York Times</a>, Joshua Wolf Shenk, July 19, 2014 </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<hr><p> <br>While big data is such a hot idea, we seem to have forgotten the value of big conversations. I have learned more in my career and discovered my most valuable insights when I invested in conversations with people who were geniuses in fields I could barely understand. <br> <br><strong>Elevating Your VOC Genius</strong><br>The best VOC program leaders find ways to constantly build conversation between the members of the team, other analytical teams in the company, and other VOC teams inside and outside their industry. A few years ago I read some great research that pointed to why Silicon Valley grew as the technology innovation capital and Boston did not even though there was roughly the same concentration of skills and talent in each location in the mid-sixties. <br> <br>The answer was the frequency of conversation between different geniuses which led to the cross-pollination of ideas. Conversations between big thinkers was more common and highly promoted in Silicon Valley whereas in Boston they were shunned and frowned upon or even prevented with strict non-disclosure and non-compete contracts. <br><strong> </strong><br>VOC teams that elevate their own genius through continuous mastery of their craft will accelerate and amplify their results when they consistently engage with geniuses in tangential areas of the organization, industry or the customers’ lives. <br> <br>Here are a few examples of other geniuses I have relied on for help in generating insights: </p>
<ul> <li>Product managers </li> <li>Contact center agents (especially the agents who are masters at saving the customer relationship) </li> <li>Marketing copywriters </li> <li>User experience designers </li> <li>Ethnographic researchers </li> <li>Data scientists </li> <li>Executive assistants (they are the key to influencing some leaders) </li>
</ul>
<p><br><strong>Integrating Data </strong><br>This integration of geniuses should be complemented by the integration of data. Big data is important. And, of all customer data, the first data that matters to VOC is customer behavioral data. Remember, if you are setting goals to improve any customer driven metric, you need the data to segment the best and worst contributors to that metric so you can understand what they have said and how it correlates with or causes or results from their behavior. (See <a contents="Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-goals-and-roi-are-essential-to-your-voc-program">Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program</a>) <br> <br>An equally important, and often overlooked data set that is required for proper VOC analysis involves the company’s engagement data. This involves the operations data like hold time, first contact resolution, aging of issues (how long customers have to wait to get answers) and the calendars and details of company publications and product or service updates. These latter are often ignored. But, when unexplained spikes occur in VOC themes, it can often be traced back to something that was done by the company like a scheduled website or app update. <br> <br>Understanding how different departments are using their genius to influence the customer experience or to engage the customer or simply to fulfill the customers’ requests are all vital to understanding the context of the VOC themes you’re analyzing.<br><br>Read more about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program&nbsp;is Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br><br>Or, read the next post <a contents="Why Good Relationships Matter to VOC Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-good-relationships-matter-to-voc-success">Why Good Relationships Matter to VOC Success</a>.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43201852016-08-11T11:23:37-05:002017-01-15T21:34:10-06:00Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/64b089d91cbceca4ded308495cd25d5fe5189cdd/original/paying-1438142-640.jpg?1470936355" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Author's Note: This is the second of a series of six posts about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program&nbsp;is Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br> <br><br>Every Voice of the Customer (VOC) program needs goals that are clear and measurable. The program itself must be held accountable to generate insights that drive ROI. Otherwise, there is no point in investing in a VOC program. And, no matter what you believe about NPS, customer satisfaction scores or ease of doing business scores, unless you have actually studied their impact on your specific business, you should not assume that improved scores equate to a significant ROI. <br> </p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"According to the research, best-in-class VoC users—the top 20% of respondents, based on performance—enjoy an almost 10-times-greater year-over-year increase in annual company revenue compared to all others."</span><br><a contents="CMO.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cmo.com/opinion/articles/2016/3/29/the-real-value-in-voice-of-the-customer-the-customer-experience.html#gs.Bp0duxs">CMO.com</a>, Michael Hinshaw, March 29, 2016 <br> </p>
<hr><p><br>Instead, VOC programs should be focused on defining clear annual and quarterly goals for the program and supporting goals at the level of each research project. This often leads to a few challenges: </p>
<ol> <li>Companies don’t have the right data to measure profitability at the required level of granularity so measuring ROI can be nearly impossible. </li> <li>Departments often disagree over who should take credit for the value of the improvements in sales, retention, etc. and these disputes cause many leaders to discount the value of VOC insights even if they were the catalyst for positive change.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you’re running into problems already with these issues, you’ll have a real challenge even getting people to take action on insights because these are some of the largest roadblocks. My clients who are the VOC leaders in their companies are continually asked, “How does investing in taking action on this insight provide more value than investing in the other projects we have in the pipeline?” Not being able to justify the investment means the insight will be unlikely to ever reach the action stage. <br> <br>In the second case, there have been some epic turf wars between departments resulting in hurt egos and damaged relationships because the VOC team and the product or channel teams were competing for credit on who created value from the insights. Often, VOC teams back off and agree to be measured by the number of insights they generate. This is a mistake because insights are useless until they’re applied. <br> <br><br><b>The Solution </b><br>One solution that works is to define the target metric you are trying to impact. As an example, identify the value of retaining customers for 10% longer. While you may not have exact profitability statistics, you can probably find some agreement on a an average value per customer per additional time period or per additional transactions that makes sense across the organization. <br> <br>Next, aim for a target that is big enough so everyone can participate and receive the credit for the effort they contributed. For an individual project with specific research investment, I look for a 10x or greater target vs the investment. As an example, if I charge a client $100,000 for a research project, I want them to generate $1,000,000 in sales in 6 months or less. If I am doing a portfolio of projects or looking at the VOC program as a whole, I aim at generating insights that can provide 10% or more growth in sales or retention per year for the entire company. <br> <br>When the target is bigger, you will naturally look for more meaningful challenges and you will find them. In addition, you are growing the pie for the company, not just taking part of someone else’s existing slice. VOC should never be an added expense. It must always be focused finding insights that improve a measurable growth target.<br><br>Read more about <a contents="Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program&nbsp;is Failing" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-you-shouldn-t-be-surprised-your-voc-program-is-failing">Why You Shouldn't Be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing</a>.<br><br>Or, read the next post <a contents="When Your Genius is Not Enough for VOC Program Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/when-your-genius-is-not-enough-for-voc-program-success">When Your Genius is Not Enough for VOC Program Success</a>.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/43201842016-08-11T11:17:06-05:002017-01-15T21:34:09-06:00Why You Shouldn’t be Surprised Your VOC Program is Failing <p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/0074a14123d12f784184888435b137a3ac497944/original/keyboard-621832-640.jpg?1470935980" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Author's Note: This is the first in a series of six posts on to help VOC professionals build a successful VOC Program.<br><br><br>The reported statistics are staggering. More that two out of three Voice of the Customer (<a contents="VOC) programs fail" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="(http://www.cmo.com/opinion/articles/2016/3/29/the-real-value-in-voice-of-the-customer-the-customer-experience.html#gs.Bp0duxs)">VOC) programs fail</a> to deliver actionable insights. While these reports are staggering, they’re not completely unexpected. <br> <br>How many of us experienced similar rates of failure over the last 20 years with the implementation of versions of business intelligence (BI), customer relationship management (CRM), or any of the other analytical solutions that have been offered to help companies find the newest way to differentiate so they don’t die? <br> <br> </p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"The failure rate for CRM projects will rise from the current 65% to over 80% by mid-2003, according to Gartner research. It will, however, fall back to less than 50% by 2005 as an increasing number of companies embark on CRM initiatives without understanding the full extent of change required."</span><br><a contents="MyCustomer Newsdesk" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.mycustomer.com/selling/crm/europes-crm-project-failure-rates-to-peak-at-over-80-says-gartner">MyCustomer Newsdesk</a>, June 15, 2001 </p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"According to new research, success in 68 percent of technology projects is 'improbable'. Poor requirements analysis causes many of these failures, meaning projects are doomed right from the start."</span><br><a contents="Michael Krigsman" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/study-68-percent-of-it-projects-fail/">Michael Krigsman</a>, January 14, 2009 <br> </p>
<hr><p><br>It’s a pattern. Just like the patterns we look for in the data we analyze. And, if we were using our own VOC tools to listen and learn, we would discover that VOC, as a solution to the differentiation problem companies face, has failed in the vast majority of cases. <br> <br>Now, to be clear, failure does not equate to death. By no means is VOC dead. It has a long and likely prosperous journey ahead. Ask any entrepreneur and you will learn that failure is part of the process of learning. And, applied learning is mandatory for success to eventually be achieved. <br> <br> </p>
<hr><p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font_large">"Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again."</span><br>Richard Branson <br> </p>
<hr><p> <br> <br>I’ve built BI, CRM and VOC analytical programs for the past 16 years for Fortune 500 companies and I have done analytical projects for startups. The products and services these companies offer range from hotel rooms to bank accounts and mortgages to auto and home insurance to medical exams to document management software to consulting and training services. I’ve had far more failures than successes in that time, but each time, I tried to learn from the failures to achieve new levels of success for my clients. The teams I’ve worked with have earned numerous industry awards for their achievements and their companies have grown. Together, we’ve learned a lot. <br> <br><strong><span class="font_large">Why VOC Programs Fail </span></strong><br>Over the years, I have detected five different levers that can be combined to create success or cause failure for VOC programs. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution. In fact, each company will have a unique approach to using and combining these five levers to create their version of success. The five levers are below, followed by a brief explanation. Each lever is explored more fully in its own separate post so you can click the link to learn more. <br> <br> <br><strong>Goals</strong> <br>Every Voice of the Customer (VOC) program needs goals that are clear and measurable. The program itself must be held accountable to generate insights that drive ROI. Otherwise, there is no point in investing in VOC. And, no matter what you believe about NPS, satisfaction or ease of doing business scores, unless you have actually studied their impact on your business, you should not assume that improved scores equates to ROI. (READ MORE ABOUT <a contents="Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-goals-and-roi-are-essential-to-your-voc-program">Why ROI Goals are Essential to Your VOC Program</a>) <br> <br> <br><strong>Genius </strong><br>There are few multi-expertise geniuses in the history of humanity. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re one of them. The best Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs and highest value VOC projects are led by people who understand the limits of their area of genius and how to integrate the genius of others to create a unified mind that sees more clearly, understands more deeply, and generates more value as a whole than is possible with a sum of the parts. (READ MORE ABOUT <a contents="When Your Genius is Not Enough for VOC Program Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/when-your-genius-is-not-enough-for-voc-program-success">When Your Genius is Not Enough for VOC Program Success</a>) <br> <br> <br><strong>Good Relationships </strong><br>Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs are not self-sufficient islands. They need a wide variety of resources from across the company. Here are just a few examples: </p>
<ul> <li>Data from multiple systems and departments </li> <li>Analytical resources with different specialties and perspectives </li> <li>Funding for research efforts or for the program tools and personnel </li> <li>Trust in the VOC findings and in the stated value of taking action </li> <li>Willingness to invest resources to take action on VOC insights rather than other projects </li> <li>Enthusiastic and passionate support for the VOC program from the C-suite </li>
</ul>
<p>As this list shows, relationships are vital to success of the VOC program as well as individual VOC projects. When relationships fail, the only means of progress depends upon authority. And, few leaders respond well to dictates from their boss that were driven by a peer in another department. <br>(READ MORE ABOUT <a contents="Why Good Relationships Matter to VOC Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-good-relationships-matter-to-voc-success">Why Good Relationships Matter to VOC Success</a>) <br> <br> <br><strong>Guts and Following Your Gut </strong><br>If VOC is new to your organization, you are in for massive change management. That means you are going to have to be absolutely convinced of the value of VOC in general and your VOC program and its capabilities in particular. You need absolute confidence because you will be called upon to at least defend your funding requests, data integration requests, team’s insights and recommendations, and your insight-to-action initiatives. <br> <br>You may also find yourself in a situation where you don’t have the information you need or you don’t have the confidence to declare a definitive answer to a research question. In these cases, I encourage you to follow your gut and trust in your intuition in the process of doing your research. <br>(READ MORE ABOUT <a contents="Why Having Guts and Following Your Gut Leads to VOC Success" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-having-guts-and-following-your-gut-leads-to-voc-success">Why Having Guts and Following Your Gut Leads to VOC Success</a>) <br> <br><br><strong>Grit </strong><br>Becoming an expert in VOC and then applying that expertise to build a successful VOC program requires vast amounts of learning, experimentation and failure. It requires that you be realistic about outcomes and confident in your ability to learn what is required to achieve those outcomes. It may require long nights of learning followed by long days of analysis. Being a great VOC analyst or leader is not for the timid. In my mind it is one of the most challenging jobs that exists in the corporate world today. <br>(READ MORE ABOUT <a contents="What You Need to Succeed as a VOC Leader" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/what-you-need-to-succeed-as-a-voc-leader">What You Need to Succeed as a VOC Leader</a>)</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/42676802016-07-07T17:17:47-05:002017-01-15T21:34:09-06:00The Unexpected Ways "As Low As..." Hurts Your BrandAs a recovering marketing manager, I still have a deep-rooted tendency to think of the different elements in copy that can be tested to improve conversion. Back in the good-old-days of direct mail (If you don't remember, it's the type of mail you'd get in the box at the end of your driveway or in the slot in your door.) we were always looking for ways to convert ever larger segments of the customers we were mailing.<br><br>It was a lot tougher then than it is today. Now you have immediate access to social profiles, social likes and shares, clickstream data, etc., and can change out copy or pictures on the fly. Instead, we used statistical models based on demographics and maybe a limited set of past behaviors to determine who to mail. We had one chance to get it right. We never really knew who opened the mail, read it or simply tossed it in the trash. All we knew was who responded.<br><br>Even though today we have a tremendous amount of flexibility and the ability to track many more actions of prospects, marketers still make major mistakes. For some reason, the big data revolution does not seem to help some companies. I suspect sometimes its because some people expect the machine to do the thinking. Later in this post I will provide some additional reasons. Let me share an example of the issue.<br><br>I'll bet you have received an offer in the last 60 days that uses the language "As Low As" in big bold letters. This seems like a pretty good idea for an emotional hook, and it works to attract attention. You might have even paused long enough to impress an image of the now faint memory of the offer. While it makes a good hook, there are some significant challenges with the "As Low As" offers that most marketers overlook.<br><br><br><strong>How Generic Offers Backfire</strong><br><br>I don't remember exactly when, but I do remember that Marriott Hotels made a change to their website that shocked me. As I remember it, in the past when you searched for a room on particular dates, it would present you the actual average rate for your dates of stay. Some time ago, I was doing a search and I was pleasantly surprised to see a rate lower than I anticipated for a hotel I stay at several times each year. I proceeded to checkout page when, just before finalizing my booking, something caught my eye. The estimated charges were several hundred dollars more than I expected. <br><br>I scanned the page to figure out what I had done wrong. Nothing. The the room type and dates were exactly those which I requested. Then I saw it. The price they were teasing me with was the lowest priced night of the multi-night stay. Every other night was higher. Some were nearly twice as high. <br><br>"What! Why would they do this!"<br><br>I was angry, frustrated, exasperated. I felt like they just lied to me. And, I trusted them. I felt like they were taking advantage of me. It hurt. And, they wasted my time.<br><br>I started the process over and looked for another hotel that was REALLY in my desired price range. It was then that I noticed that they had added a tiny little word to the<p>sales page. That word was, "From."</p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/2becf8a0d6456e8b4536371d60202b4a08955134/small/screen-shot-2016-07-07-at-3-44-59-pm.png?1467924849" class="size_s justify_center border_" /><br><br>While researching for this post, I went back to their site. I found it to be even more confusing. This time, the "From" rate was not even really accurate. It seems to represent the highest priced night of the stay for this particular room type. I could understand the attempt to convince me of the lowest rate in order to lure me in, but why put the highest rate. I am likely to book another hotel if I don't proceed to the checkout page and examine the total cost.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a59da571aceb2881f1a27215aa06e1f905d816e0/large/screen-shot-2016-07-07-at-3-56-15-pm.png?1467925086" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br><br>Regardless of the reasons why, I now intentionally take a bit more time analyzing what I am really being quoted on Marriott's website. And, that is not an ideal customer experience. I also examine my bill a bit closer than I used to. I like when things can be habitual and I don't need to think about them. Now I feel like I have to. (You may like this post about <a contents="Why CEOs think Customer Experience Projects are Risky." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/why-ceos-see-customer-experience-improvement-projects-as-risky">Why CEOs think Customer Experience Projects are Risky.</a>)<br><br>Marriott damaged our relationship by trying to get more sales with the "As Low As" concept. Was it worth it? I can tell you that I have actually started shopping around and actually booking in other hotels whereas before I was a loyal Marriott customer. They made me pay attention. Before I would have trusted them and acted habitually.<br><br><br><strong>How Specific Offers Backfire</strong><br><br>Banks, auto dealers and other companies that have an extensive amount of data tend to use the "As Low As" hook to sell payment plans, loans and credit cards. Often customers see the offer and respond excitedly. They click the offer, send emails, apply online or call your contact center at above average rates. This is a success, right?<br><br>Not so fast.<br><br>Some of our clients have found out there is a backlash to using promises like "As Low As." And, when we show them why, they are usually surprised.<br><br>This is where the misuse or the lack of proper use of big data is often to blame. Customers are segmented and mined based on specific criteria like the age of their car, their payment history and a host of other factors. Then, the marketing team makes up an offer. The challenge happens when marketing writes copy that attracts people who have no chance of getting the "As Low As" rate or price. In fact, I've seen "As Low As" offers made to a group of customers where less than 1% could possibly even qualify. <br><br>What happened? The customers retaliated. <br><br>The social media accounts, call centers and email centers were filled with complaints, angry messages, threats to leave and letters to regulatory bodies. This was a mess. And, it happens more than you'd think.<br><br>This is where the disconnect between big data analysis and marketing messaging create a brand nightmare and a customer experience debacle. Customers immediately lose trust. They start to take a second look at everything. They move from being habitual customers to edgy, highly-attuned customers looking for issues and evidence to validate their suspicion that the company is trying to slip one past the customer.<br><br><br><strong>What Happens When You Can't Fulfill the "As Low As" Promise</strong><br><br>From analyzing thousands of comments in situations where customers feel "baited and switched" we found that there were a series of emotions expressed. Here is a typical sampling:<ol> <li>Expectation - We expect you to tell the truth so therefore we expect that we really have pre-qualified for this offer as your marketing copy says.</li> <li>Ownership - We've taken mental and, more importantly, emotional ownership of the things we are going to buy with your offer (e.g. the new car, furniture, etc.)</li> <li>Disillusion - We can't believe our rates or prices are so high compared to what you promised.</li> <li>Disappointment - We guess we cannot get what we set our heart on. </li> <li>Anger - We blame you for this. You promised us something we could never have and you tricked us. We hate you.</li> <li>Revenge - We are going to tell every one we can and get back at you for this.</li> <li>Apathy - We see that you're like every other company out there. We guess we should have known better. If offered something more appealing, we'll switch without saying a word to you.</li>
</ol>With just one marketing mistake you can move your customers from trusted fans to apathetic users. If they stay, they will likely be an anchor on your sales, profitability and experience ratings. If they leave, they will likely be gone a long time.<br><br><br><strong>What's the Solution?</strong><br><br>Our experience is that these mistakes happen when there is too big of a gap between the marketing, data analytics and customer experience teams. This can be a real gap created by leadership, turf battles or simply ignorance. On the other hand it can also be a gap in mindset caused by different goals, visions, or the interpretation of data.<br><br>To ensure this doesn't happen in your company you should consider bringing together the teams that will be contributing to or affected by the decisions. Make sure you have representatives of all parties from sales to strategy from fulfillment to customer service. Let them all speak. They likely have anecdotes and data to help you avoid mistakes that would trigger a backlash and potentially a negative ROI on your campaign. This one meeting may be enough to save your campaign and prevent a costly error.<br><br><br>********<br>(You may also like this post: <a contents="The Most Missed Step in Customer Experience." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/the-most-missed-step-in-customer-experience-improvement">The Most Missed Step in Customer Experience.</a>)<br><br>Tony Bodoh has published two #1 Best-Sellers this year. <br><br><a contents='"The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Satisfaction"' data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">"The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Satisfaction"</a><br><a contents=""LEVERAGE: Achieve a Lot with the Little You've Got"" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.LeverageToAchieve.com">"LEVERAGE: Achieve a Lot with the Little You've Got"</a><br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/42344602016-06-16T20:07:41-05:002017-01-15T21:34:09-06:00Why do People Get Stuck?<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/037a1f555eb98e0ba7250f97f80246db5087e313/medium/0o1a9820-2875.jpg?1458486569" class="size_m justify_left border_" />It is frustrating. When it happens, it makes me feel so vulnerable and even inadequate. If it goes on long enough the world itself starts to look a bit gray and unwelcoming. </p>
<p>Much of my life I have felt like I am in a battle between boredom—usually brought on by having to do the same thing again and again without any enthusiasm for the task—and overwhelm, which I would typically describe as feeling stuck or maybe as having a boulder in the pit of my stomach. The battle comes when I decide I am done being bored and I set to achieve a goal that is bigger and bolder than anything I’ve done in a particular area of my life. In that brief moment as I cross the border out of boredom I enter a land that is bright, brilliant, even thrilling! </p>
<p>I would love to stay in this land of delight forever, but I know from experience that sitting here is just a distraction, so I move on along my journey to the next border that marks the edge of my expertise in this type of endeavor. This is where growth happens. </p>
<p>As I approach this border, I feel everything within me tighten up. It’s a reaction. But it happens nearly every time. There was a brief moment in my life where I had converted that reaction so that I interpreted this tightness as enthusiasm, but lately I’ve usually started spiraling down the unpleasant corkscrew of emotions. That is, until I become aware and consciously will myself to think a new thought and to face the truth instead of imagined conditions. </p>
<p>Have you ever been here? </p>
<p>If you own a business you probably have. If you’ve been in love, you probably have. If you’ve gone after a new job or just about any “big” goal in life, you probably have. </p>
<p><strong>Why does it matter? </strong></p>
<p> Because, this state is the boundary between creative growth and oppressive contraction and it is where every leader finds himself at some point in time. To successfully navigate this path takes requires willpower, vulnerability and clear-thinking. Unfortunately, these faculties tend to narrow and even shut down as you approach the border of your expertise and step across the threshold into the unknown. </p>
<p> I’ve been on this journey of discovering how to continuously and consistently choose to advance toward the edge of my expertise and cross into the land of the unknown because I know, while it can be frightening and while I may feel out of control, this is the only place that I can truly discover who I am and what I am capable of. This is the only place I can learn more about me. </p>
<p> My whole life I have been amazed by the ‘geniuses’ who imagined what was not and made it so. People like Edison who invented a system of illumination, not just an improved lightbulb, but the whole system of generating, distributing and converting electricity into light for homes. Or, someone like Carnegie who saw the future of steel as the building material for the world and was willing to put everything he’d created on the line to build a commercialized version of the Bessemer Process so that the price of steel would drop to pennies on the dollar. </p>
<p> In all my studies (I majored in history in college) I moved from an admiration of what they had done in the creating of the things, to an admiration of their understanding of the process of how to navigate the border between their current expertise and the expertise required to achieve the vision they had. It is this process that fascinates me and that I continue to study. </p>
<p><strong> Why do I continue to study? </strong></p>
<p> We live in a world filled with things that were dreamed up by someone who had to cross that border of their expertise into a land of the unknown. There are few if any moments in our days that we are not in contact with something that was not first manipulated, altered or improved by humanity. The houses we live in with their manicured landscapes that we admire as we drive away in the morning in a car with a satellite radio broadcasting news or music while we sip our Columbian coffee. Even most of our conversations with people first pass through one or more of the many media created by humanity to amplify our voice or extend our reach. </p>
<p>This world will only continue to become more a creation of humanity as we move forward. To support that, we need to dream bigger. We need to dare more boldly. We need to create more effortlessly. And, we need to master our ability to navigate the border between what we have become an expert in and what we do not yet know. </p>
<p>While I do this work daily for my clients, my teams in my companies and my family, I also must do it for myself. That means that I must observe and document my successes and my failures so that I can learn deliberately more quickly, use my willpower more effectively and efficiently, be more vulnerable and think more accurately. </p>
<p>As a result of doing this work and finding a tribe of people who are on parallel journeys, I had the opportunity to take on a new vision—in just 19 days write and publish a #1 best-selling book with my good friends and business partners Vinny and Connie Ribas. As of yesterday, we achieved it—and we did it on schedule. </p>
<p>We released the book, “LEVERAGE: Achieve a Lot with the Little You’ve Got” as our first of many books to come. In this book we lay out a simple, easy-to-use process of identifying all that you have. We created “My Total Asset Inventory™” templates that help the reader think through every asset they own, have access to or may be able to use. Then we share a ten-step process, broken down into bite-sized actions that anyone can take without being overwhelmed. </p>
<p>When we shared the manuscript last week with some early reviewers, I felt very vulnerable and quite uneasy. I was unsure if we had achieved something worthwhile or if it was just a repeat of what’s out there already in the genres of self-improvement or business growth consulting. </p>
<p>To my relief—and yet, as a part of me expected, we achieved our goal. In less than sixty pages (about a ninety-minute read) we lay out how to document the tangible, intangible, intellectual property, relationship and idea assets you have and then how to start using them to achieve whatever your goal is. </p>
<p>Here is how my friend Dr. Joan Rosenberg, psychologist, best-selling author of “Ease Your Anxiety” and host of “The MindStream Podcast” reviewed the book: </p>
<p><span class="font_regular">“The ability to achieve big goals and dreams requires a parallel ability to think about the incremental and sometimes small steps and activities it takes to pursue those goals and dreams. That’s what this book, LEVERAGE, is all about . . . providing you with the practical steps and activities to help you map out the assets, resources and sequence you will need to reach your desired success. Your result is a clear plan for what to do and how to do it.” </span></p>
<p> After reading that review I definitely put my anxiety to ease. Since Joan’s email, we have received dozens of similar messages from readers who are already seeing a difference in the way they think about what they can achieve because they are realizing two things: 1) they have far more resources that they were unaware of; and, 2) they can follow the simple steps that will move them, one moment at a time, from where they are to where they want to be. </p>
<p>This journey, like so many others in my life, started out with a simultaneous frustration of boredom and a burning desire to help more people achieve their goals more quickly and easily—and without the unnecessary emotional pain. </p>
<p>If you’d like to read our book or review some of the resources we have available, you can peruse our website at <a contents="www.LeverageToAchieve.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.LeverageToAchieve.com">www.LeverageToAchieve.com</a>.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/42067462016-06-01T19:33:57-05:002017-01-15T21:34:09-06:00The Fundamental Choice in Customer Experience<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/34a8a4bcb0fa4ffd1e5b7e2db20f8cd3e80d668b/small/wooden-path-gy7qnnq.jpg?1464808978" class="size_s justify_left border_" />"Tonight we're set up for a family atmosphere," my client pointed toward a table where kids were enthusiastically painting signs to support the home team.<br><br>"In a few nights we'll be hosting a playoff game and that will be geared more toward the sports fanatic who's is a diehard supporter of our team. We craft each night to bring out a unique experience for the fans we attract to that event. That way our guests can choose the one night a week they want to come to have the experience they want or they can come several times a week and have a different set of experiences."<br><br>I scanned the crowds of excited fans. Many were standing in line to order some of the highest-rated food that sports arenas offered in the U.S. Others were browsing the newest offerings in the apparel shop. Around one corner, the cheerleaders were dancing with young kids whose parents were snapping pictures of their sons and daughters having that once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was a beautifully architected and masterfully executed melding of dozens of unique environments that created the ecosystem that made this the top-rated indoor arena in professional sports.<br><br>I was blown away. I could see in person what I had struggled to find data for, but yet I intuitively knew was real. It was the defining moment that began a new era for the research I was doing in customer experience.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Seeing Things in a New Way</strong></span><br>Over the years I've had the opportunity to work with many of the top-rated consumer brands in the world. And, I have worked with brands that stagnated or went into a free-fall and have yet to recover. What bothered me is that I could not identify the key differentiator between success and failure.<br><br>Sure, we all know that more positive ratings and a positive net promoter score is indicative of better performance. But those are lagging indicators. I wanted to know what it was that shifted within the company that was the catalyst for one company to succeed and another to drop in comparative rankings?<br><br>The popular answers point to the need to "be more focused on solving problems" or "to be more empathetic" or "to make it easier to do business with."<br><br>I admit I preached those same mantras for a while. And, there is some truth to them. But, if you look deeper, what are they really saying? <br><br>Not much. <br><br>It's like telling your kids to "be good" or to "get an 'A' in math." They are statements that don't really solve the problem at all.<br><br>I intuitively knew that what I saw that night roaming the halls of this great arena was the answer. And, after much research, I know my intuition was accurate.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Two Paths in Customer Experience</strong></span><br>When I graduated from high school my English teacher gave me a copy of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken." I share it here so you can read it from a new perspective today:<p>"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, <br>And sorry I could not travel both <br>And be one traveler, long I stood <br>And looked down one as far as I could <br>To where it bent in the undergrowth; </p>
<p>Then took the other, as just as fair, <br>And having perhaps the better claim, <br>Because it was grassy and wanted wear; <br>Though as for that the passing there <br>Had worn them really about the same, </p>
<p>And both that morning equally lay <br>In leaves no step had trodden black. <br>Oh, I kept the first for another day! <br>Yet knowing how way leads on to way, <br>I doubted if I should ever come back. </p>
<p>I shall be telling this with a sigh <br>Somewhere ages and ages hence: <br>Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— <br>I took the one less traveled by, <br>And that has made all the difference."</p><br>My wife framed a copy of this poem many years later as I started out on my journey of creating and building my own business. She knew that this was a poem I often came back to in moments of decision. It became a north star for me. It is a sort of reminder that to achieve something different than what the masses have achieved, I needed to make different choices than the masses made.<br><br>That brings me back to the moment when I was walking through the arena. I realized the leadership team made a choice that was different than the leadership of other arenas. It is the same choice that faces every business every day.<br><br>Do you choose to make your customers happy?<br><br>Or...<br><br>Do you choose to create the best version of the experience you can imagine possible?<br><br>The leadership of this arena chose to create the best version of the experience they could imagine because they knew that "making customers happy" was not a sufficient goal. Each night meant a different set of customers. Therefore, what was required to make the customers happy changed from night to night. Further, they knew that their best marketing was not what happened on the TV or the radio or on their website, it was what one fan said to another fan at the office, in the gym or on the phone the next day. Word of mouth was the key driver of attracting more fans who were like the best and most loyal fans that the arena already had. As I've said before, "market what your customers value and you are able to consistently deliver." This is what this arena's leadership understood that most other companies never learn.<br><br> <p><span class="font_large"><strong>Does Not Focusing on Happiness Pay Off?</strong></span><br>Steve Jobs famously said that customers do not know what they wanted. I think what he meant by that is if he chose to make them happy, they would have gone on asking him to make minor improvements to the way they were living. Instead, Jobs imagined a whole new destination. He then chose to create the best tools possible to evoke that experience. With the iPod he imagined 1,000 songs in your pocket. Then he created the tools that would enable that experience. </p>Most companies today choose to make their customers happy. They choose this for one of two reasons. Most are unaware that they have another choice. Those that are aware are afraid to make that choice for the second option because they will be doing what no one else is seeming to do. Being alone seems very scary and it triggers one of humanities oldest fears. That's why those who see this possibility turn away from it.<br><br>The fundamental choice in customer experience then is to choose to make your customers happy or to create the best version of the experience you can imagine. The difference in the outcome of this choice followed by committed action is astronomical.<br><br>Apple is currently ranked as the most valuable company in the world.<br><br>Steve Jobs returned to a nearly bankrupt Apple in 1997. By 2007 Apple introduced the revolutionary iPhone after the successful launches of iPod and iTunes Store. The iPad was released in 2010, just six years ago. Together these tools changed the course of humanity. Today, Apple holds steady in its position as the most valuable company in the world. In less than 20 years, the commitment to creating the best version of the experience one can imagine as opposed to making customers happy, has resulted in a series of world-changing products and billions of dollars of sales and millions, if not billions, of happy and loyal customers.<br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Where Most Companies Go Astray</strong></span><br>Most leaders choose to try to make customers happy. They fail to realize that they have now subverted the mission, vision and values of the company they work for based on misguided beliefs. For starters, any company that decides for a value of customer happiness is ignoring what psychologists and neuroscientists have proven over the last 15 years.<br><br>We know now that happiness is not the result of something outside of ourselves, it comes from within. Happiness is a choice. Choosing to try to satiate customers who are unhappy instead of boldly proclaiming what experience the company intends to create followed by the unceasing effort to create that experience and to attract customers who want to have that experience is a fool's errand. Not one of us can make another person happy. At best, we can give them the tools of awareness so that they can choose happiness, but that is as far as we can go.<br><br>Companies that focus on making customers happy are focused on making something outside the customer better. They are contributing to the ignorance of those who believe they must "get" happiness or "pursue" happiness rather than simply choose happiness. As a result, these companies set themselves up for failure.<br><br>If they succeed in making a customer happy, it is only for a moment. Then, the hedonic treadmill turns on and these customers find themselves running faster and faster after the next version of the best thing since sliced bread. Like a drug (actually it is caused by an internally produced drug), this boosts sales in the short-term, but is unsustainable long-term because no company can innovate fast enough to outpace human desire. The moment a person is satiated they have new, more expansive desires. Companies that market and sell happiness are not long able to fulfill their promise so their customers choose to leave for the next new thing a competitor offers or they remain sullen, dissatisfied and unhappy. <br><br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>What does this mean for the customer experience industry?</strong></span><br>It means we have to focus more on helping leaders decide what experiences they want to evoke in the world. We must help these leaders create a vision that is qualitatively rich and quantitatively deep. We must embrace the science of human experience and apply proven principles that often defy the "common sense" or "best practices" of the day.<br><br>In short, we must not focus on making our clients or leaders happy. We must decide that we will create the best version of the experience we can imagine for them and then we must commit to evoking it regardless of the cost. In the end, we will achieve our goal, and, like Steve Jobs, we may just "ding the universe."<br><br>In February I co-authored "The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty" which quickly achieved #1 best-seller status in retail and hospitality and soon was a top-ranked business book. In the book, we address the need to define your vision for what you want customers to experience. We describe how online reviews are really a form of marketing content from past buyers for future prospects. We share how you can mine these reviews to help you determine what an excellent experience is for your company or your industry and how you can build the team and processes to consistently deliver on the promise these reviews make to future customers.<p><br>The fundamental question you must ask yourself if you are in the customer experience field is this: "Do I believe it is my job to make customers happy or is it my job to design the best experience I can imagine for the customers I want to attract?"</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/41110432016-03-29T20:40:16-05:002017-01-15T21:34:08-06:00This is More Dangerous to Your Company than Low Yelp or TripAdvisor Ratings<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a5b780c2c18f96c2c40ce54aad8ed6e4a5e589ab/small/0o1a1609-472.jpg?0" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><span class="font_large">What could possibly be worse than a low-rated review on Yelp for a small business like a restaurant, medical office, dental practice or mechanic? Or on TripAdvisor for a hotel or attraction? </span><br><br>We'll get to that in a moment. First I want to share an "Aha!" that I had recently. <br><br><em><strong>We are just starting the fourth stage of evolution in the understanding of online reviews.</strong></em><br><br>In this post, I am going to take you through the four stages of online reviews that have really affected businesses and share my perspective of where we are headed next.<br><br><br><strong>Stage 1: Businesses believe Yelp and TripAdvisor are signs of the apocolypse</strong><br><strong>Timeframe: June 2007-September 2011</strong><br><br>During these 4 years most news or blog content about online reviews focused on either the negative effects or on the uncertainty of any effect of online reviews. There were some academic sources with mixed results, but in general business owners and sales leaders treated online reviews and the sites that hosted them with scorn, contempt, fear or even anger. They believed most negative reviews were fake, written by their competitors to discredit them. <br><br>What drove the start of this era was the i<a contents="ntroduction of the iPhone" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/09Apple-Reinvents-the-Phone-with-iPhone.html">ntroduction of the iPhone</a> in June 2007 and its advanced abilities, at the time, to connect to the internet and allow browsing with relative ease. People could instantly post reviews while sitting in a restaurant before the check arrived or while riding in the taxi on the way from their hotel to the airport. In addition, prospective customers could now actively search for crowdsourced feedback about companies, products and services as they were on their way to make a purchase. This era reached its end in September 2011 when Harvard Business School released <a contents="Michael Luca's study" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/reviews-reputation-and-revenue-the-case-of-yelp-com">Michael Luca's study</a> about the positive effects of Yelp on businesses. He showed that an additional star in ratings meant a 5-9% in additional revenue for restaurants. This study was the first notable and well-publicized account that I've found of Yelp helping businesses. It marked the end of the era of negativity and brought an era of more balanced consideration.<br><br><br><strong>Stage 2: Business are open to the listening to the benefits and some even actively support the review sites<br>Timeframe: September 2011-November 2012 </strong><br><br>These fourteen months were the peak of the landmark research efforts showing the positive effects of online reviews and social media. <a contents="Oracle" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/commerce/live-help-on-demand/oracle-live-help-wp-aamf-1624138.pdf">Oracle</a>, <a contents="American Express" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://about.americanexpress.com/news/docs/2012x/axp_2012gcsb_us.pdf">American Express</a> and <a contents="Cornell University" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/chrpubs/5/">Cornell University</a> all produced breakthrough research that was widely reported on. It not only crossed platforms from Yelp to other sites, it crossed industries. Cornell's research in the hotel industry really cemented the value of positive reviews when the report was released in November of 2012. The authors showed that hotels could actually drive pricing up by over 11% if they moved up one star in their rating while still maintaining stable occupancy. These reports are also widely linked to as original sources in much of the content that has been produced since that time. It was in November 2012 where the tide turned dangerous.<br><br><br><strong>Stage 3: Businesses are barraged with superficial or even bad advice<br>Timeframe: November 2012-February 2016</strong><br><br>This is the most dangerous stage of evolution. While many more research efforts were completed and reported upon after the Cornell researchers released their study in November of 2012, much of the new research just confirmed or updated previous or studies. From 2013 forward there has been a rise in articles, blog posts and white papers that refer to the research from "Stage 2" as a foundation and then the authors of these pop articles go on to provide unfounded advice as to how to move ratings up for businesses. It is common to see recommendations to "exceed expectations" or to create "remarkable experiences" and other such superficial tips. These are unfounded and dangerous for a number of reasons including:<ul> <li>There is little or no research that actually points to a link between these suggestions and improved scores or the financial impact of these efforts;</li> <li>Business owners or leaders are given lists of statistics from various sources with the implication that these metrics are connected and causal when in fact there is no connection;</li> <li>Business owners or leaders who attempt to improve their ratings are at a loss for a strategic approach because there is not meat to the recommendations;</li> <li>Approaches that are hyped have not been proven and they can cost more than necessary to make changes;</li> <li>Many businesses don't know how to or don't have the ability to track their return on investment (ROI) because they had no defined path or project approach; and,</li> <li>Businesses have attempted to implement many change programs without proper testing and experimentation so they don't know what, if anything is working</li>
</ul>While we will continue to see many articles, blog posts and white papers that promote superficial recommendations for some time in the future, the advance of data science as well as the broader adoption of software tools will allow the discipline of a scientific methodology to develop and real proven solutions for specific situations and circumstances will emerge. This marks the dawn of Stage 4.<br><br><br><strong>Stage 4: Businesses have scientifically proven tools to make positive strategic impact by using online reviews<br>Timeframe: February 2016-???</strong><br><br>The emergence of Stage 4 is marked by the publication of the book I co-authored with Kayla Barrett, <a contents='"The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty."' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.thecompleteexperience.com">"The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty."</a> I know, it sounds self-serving, but give me a moment to explain. <br><br>This book opens the door to a new era of a scientific approach to researching customer behaviors, feedback and emotional engagement. It links the feedback from online reviews as the cause of shifting patterns in consumer purchasing patterns. It goes further to link employee engagement as the direct cause for online reviews and rating levels. And then, it offers fifteen exact steps for readers to take to start improving their companies' online reviews. These fifteen steps layout the exact question to ask when creating a vision of the ideal customer experience so that it can be exactly defined with words rather than ratings (i.e. "We want a '5'."). The steps actively involve a company's whole team and builds employee engagement through the process. Then the steps help the reader review her company's online feedback and show her how to prioritize action so she can move the company's ratings up.<p><br><strong>Why Stage 4 Now?</strong><br><br>The findings and recommendations in the book were based on the work Kayla and I have done in our respective companies and in our careers prior to starting our companies. For me, that included fifteen years of building customer intelligence analytical teams and programs for companies ranging from the Fortune 150 down to startups and crossing industries from financial services, insurance, direct marketing, technology, consulting, healthcare, personal development, entertainment and hospitality. Together, we've developed a proprietary method of research and action planning that consistently delivers positive impact to companies. The results speak for themselves: </p>
<ul> <li>90% improvement in sales in the first campaign after our recommendations were implemented</li> <li>400% improvement in upsales in one week after our experiential employee and leader training concluded</li> <li>200% improvement in satisfaction in three weeks after we facilitated cross-departmental discovery sessions</li> <li>600% improvement in online ratings in a year after leadership took action on our recommendations</li>
</ul>Stage 4 is only possible now because it is supported by:
<ol> <li>The coming of age of the research methods that merge quantitative and qualitative methods;</li> <li>The availability of low-cost, highly effective technology to support research and monitoring of themes in feedback;</li> <li>The understanding of the leader-employee-customer-profit dynamic; and,</li> <li>The integrated approach to recommendations that start with a specific desired end state (i.e. more sales, better satisfaction scores, higher online rating, etc.) and ends with the implementation of development programs which recognize the leader and employee as the direct cause of customer experience improvement</li>
</ol>While the journey has been painful for many of us to watch and be a part of, it has also been fascinating and energizing as we broke through old barriers and establish new norms for those following behind.<br><br><br><strong>Will there be a Stage 5? </strong> <br>Of course there will be a Stage 5. But, I will save my view of what that is for another post.<br><br>I always appreciate feedback. What are your thoughts about the four stages of evolution of online reviews?<br><br>If you would like to improve your own online reviews or your internal surveys, contact me and we will <a contents="schedule a strategy session" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/contact">schedule a strategy session</a> to discuss your objectives and desired outcomes. Or, just learn <a contents="14 simple, easy, highly effective, low cost ways to generate more sales with your online reviews" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/14-simple-easy-ways-to-sell-more-with-online-reviews">14 simple, easy, highly effective, low cost ways to generate more sales with your online reviews</a>.<br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/41069212016-03-26T17:22:27-05:002017-01-15T21:34:08-06:00Why CEOs See Customer Experience Improvement Projects as Risky<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/918823d1dc147d1e88819fbc744ebb48c3313fc2/medium/banana-peel-x1lar4.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_left border_" />I was nervous. My stomach was in knots and my breakfast was not settling well. I walked into the room where the team was gathered and I just felt awkward and uneasy.<br><br>The week before I'd sent an email with preliminary findings of the customer experience analysis my company was finishing and I received a one sentence reply from the CEO, "You've got my attention."<br><br>Nothing more.<br><br>Nothing else ever came. And, now I was in the room with my client and I saw the CEO and COO talking. I really wish I knew what got their attention and what that one sentence meant. Once again I tried to convince myself it was good, but honestly, I was worried that I had really messed up.<br><br>With a rock in my stomach I crossed the room. There was no turning back now. I reached my sweaty palm out toward the COO, "Hi Jack, it's good to see you..." What happened next shocked even me. And, I've been doing this for a long time.<br><br><br><strong>Getting to Yes</strong><br>Four months before this meeting I'd sent a proposal to the CEO saying that I could increase their sales by 15%. I knew if they achieved that, they would easily earn several multiples on the investment they'd be making in improving their customer experiences. Their sales conversion rate was good for the industry, but, like with most companies, there was plenty of room for improvement. Without seeing their data, I didn't know exactly how much room. But, I decided to go for broke and take a chance.<br><br>I'd been in conversations with this client for two and a half years and even demonstrated what was possible by doing a pilot study. There was interest, but frankly, they were growing pretty well without my help so I told myself the story that they were distracted and that's why it was taking so long to convert them from prospect to client. <br><br>The truth is this: I knew deep down that I never quite knew how to approach them with a compelling offer. Then, four months ago, I finally decided that I wanted them as a client and I was either going to enroll them in what was possible or I was going to be told to leave them alone. There were events in my business and my life that motivated me this time. While I always wanted to be working with their team. They were great people and their company was one of the best and fastest growing in their industry. That is the place to be. But unlike before, I had a burning desire to show them what was possible.<br><br><br><strong>Listening in a Certain Way</strong><br>An interesting thing happens when you have a burning desire to accomplish something. You hear different things or you hear the same things differently. You learn faster. You seek out the little details and clues that will give you an edge. You become hypersensitive to new information and micro-expresssions of another's body language. You even hear words that slipped past your ears unnoticed in the past.<br><br>I was very interested. I took lots of notes. I asked lots of questions. And, I enrolled their team in my beliefs about what was possible. We signed a contract and they got to work collecting the data we required for the research.<br><br><br><strong>Discovering What Changed</strong><br>Meanwhile I turned my attention toward gaining a deep understanding of what changed. I engaged in more conversations with CEOs and as a result of some of those conversations, I landed more contracts for customer experience research. Some were from unlikely sources including a technology company and a medical office. Then, there was the opportunity to speak to a group of dentists about how to evoke "excellent" patient experiences. Then came other speaking engagement for a regional tourism board and the companies they represented. <br><br>These results signaled a change and I had to understand what shifted so I could sustain it.<br><br>What I learned when I analyzed my notes from the conversations was interesting. When comparing the conversations, I found that my clients have these five elements in common:<br><br><strong>"I want a solution that is simple, easy, highly effective and low cost"</strong><br>CEOs have tough jobs already. The buck stops with them and they don't want you or me making their jobs any harder than they are. They want you to show them that there are better ways to achieve results that are simple, easy, highly effective and low cost. They intuitively know that things can be done better. They want to know that we know how to help them achieve this. Yet, most of the messaging in the customer experience industry is focused around making a substantial investment in infrastructure, technology and other changes that may well upset what is working well in exchange for the promise of something that might work better. We need to move away from this as our introductory pitch and enroll CEOs in the investment in projects that really are simple, easy, highly effective and low cost to start them on the journey. Once they trust us, they will be more willing to invest in bigger, more beneficial projects.<br><br><strong>"Tell me what you can do with what I have."</strong><br>One CEO expressed this sentiment very clearly. He said, "I am really excited because you are telling me you can do something with the prospects and customers I already have coming to me. Everyone else says I need to go find different customers." CEOs know finding new sources of customers is hard, potentially expensive and the returns may never be realized. Instead, they want to know that you can first <a contents="generate more sales from the people that they are already attracting" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/NfrDEirQnAo">generate more sales from the people that they are already attracting</a>. Certain types of customer experience analysis can do this. If the research is effective, one effort can earn returns that fund future research efforts and the associated customer experience improvements. Again, lower the initial risk of the investment by identifying what can be done with the resources they already have in place. Minimize change in the short-term to prove to the CEO you and your team can be trusted and are worth a larger investment.<br><br><strong>"Talk to me about like I'm an investor." </strong><br>CEOs, more than anyone else in their companies, care about risks and returns more than they care about features and processes. The key difference in a conversation with a Director of customer experience and her CEO is that the Director is focused on staying within her budget and moving the metrics her team is committed to or responsible for. The CEO is responsible for the optimization of the company's resources including financial capital, brand capital, human capital and more. He is dedicated to minimizing risk and maximizing returns. Short-term gains in customer experience improvement projects are extremely helpful to show what the long-term investment strategy can yield. But a promise of long-term returns without any evidence of short-term gains is not likely to be a promising conversation with a CEO who has not been down the path of customer experience improvement before.<br><br><strong>"I am a human, treat me like one."</strong><br>CEOs want to have an excellent experience. Their emotions fire and their brains wire just like yours and mine. A CEO needs to have multiple micro-moments of positive emotion when they are engaged with you. They need to be made aware of potentially negative micro-moments before they happen so there are no surprises. And, they need to have key negative micro-moments resolved so that they do not impact their memory of their experience with you or your company. Design your entire approach to the CEO as an matrix of micro-moments that evoke positive emotions and prepare them for predictable negative emotions. This will help them trust you more and be more open to seeing you as part of their risk management team.<br><br><strong>"Be yourself."</strong><br>You have to let the CEO determine if she wants to work with you. And, you must determine if you want to work with the CEO. A personality conflict is a high-risk issue that needs to be identified and addressed early in any relationship. If you enjoy humor or wit, let it show. That will win the CEOs over who appreciates it or deflect CEOs who don't like your style. This is important because if (or when) there is a challenge, you can rely on these moments of deep connection from the past to give you the relationship capital required to work through the challenge of the moment. Most importantly, you must walk your talk. If you are in the customer experience business, be sure to evoke positive experiences in your clients' hearts and minds.<br><br>If you don't keep these sentiments in mind when working with CEOs you will fail to connect with them. You will fail to earn the trust required for them to consider your position. You will fail to move their hearts and minds to a place of openness and curiousity about the possibility of what customer experience improvement can mean for their businesses and themselves. Finally, you will fail to serve their customers who are relying on you to convince the CEO that improvement of the customer experience really does matter.<br><br><br><strong>The Result of My Meeting</strong><br>So, how did my meeting with the COO and CEO progress?<br><br>The COO welcomed me with a gracious smile and a twinkle in his eye he told me that in the past week they had implemented changes based on my insights and their first campaign with the changes produced 90% more sales. Then, the CEO came over and told me that he was going to reach out to another CEO he knew to tell him how valuable this research was and to recommend that his friend invest in a research project for his own company.<br> <p><strong>CEOs trust other CEOs</strong><br>This is the final point. When you've proven your value, be sure to ask for recommendations and referrals to other CEOs. You can even ask for a written or recorded testimonial. This will warm up the other CEOs so that they will seek you out.</p><br><strong>Feedback</strong><br>I thrive on feedback. I consume feedback. I love feedback. Someone once said "Feedback is the breakfast of champions." I believe it. With that in mind, please, share your feedback about this post below so we can engage in a conversation. That's far more interesting than me just stating my perspective.<br><br><br><strong>More Resources</strong><br>If you'd like to learn more about how you can leverage your customer feedback you can read the #1 Best Selling book I co-authored, <a contents='"The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty"' data-link-label="Book" data-link-type="page" href="/book">"The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty"</a> or you can listen our interview about the book and how to use online reviews.<br><br>You can also download your copy of "<a contents="14 Simple, Easy, Highly Effective and Low Cost Ways to Generate More Sales with Your Online Reviews" data-link-label="14 Ways Simple Easy Ways to Generate Sales From Online Reviews" data-link-type="file" href="/files/235254/14%20Ways%20Simple%20Easy%20Ways%20to%20Generate%20Sales%20From%20Online%20Reviews" target="_blank">14 Simple, Easy, Highly Effective and Low Cost Ways to Generate More Sales with Your Online Reviews</a>."Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/40826412016-03-10T17:55:29-06:002017-01-15T21:34:08-06:00Here’s What’s Missing in Your Customer Journey Mapping<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/e6c8a116e4c0bf981f09e317e993465eb379aa10/medium/opportunity-opportunity-f1qlod-d.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_left border_" />I remember sitting in the heavy cherry wood boardroom table, just half-listening to my vice president give the weekly updates. My mind wandered as I stared out of the floor to ceiling windows into that cold January morning. I could see a falcon perched in the bare branches of a tree near the river’s edge as it focused intensely in its hunt for lunch. <br> <br>“Tony is now going to be managing the guest and meeting planner experience programs…” <br> <br>“Wait! What?” my mind shouted. <br> <br>Have you ever had that moment when you get so scared that you can feel the heat rise in your head and hear your heart pounding in your ears and your heart starts racing because your adrenal glands just dumped a fresh batch of adrenalin into your bloodstream? Your heart takes off like a like the engine of a drag racer when the NOS hits the piston chambers and explodes. Suddenly your body is prepared to fight for your life or run like hell. <br> <br>That’s what I felt. I was paying complete attention. Absolute attention. I swear that I could hear the thoughts my VP was thinking right then. <br> <br>I heard people around the table congratulating me and I acknowledged them the best I could. But I was scared. I was a “hard numbers” guy. This customer satisfaction stuff was completely different. <br><span class="font_large"><strong> <br>The journey I took </strong></span><br><br>My career path up to this point involved working for large publicly-traded companies. I would start with the company with the responsibility of building their sales, marketing and operational analytic programs and teams. Then I would transition the analytical team to another leader and act as an advisor to the team as I dived into a role that leveraged and applied the data, systems and teams I created. The pattern was simple: Learn. Build. Apply. Repeat. <br> <br>This was new. This was not about numbers. It was about that soft, fluffy, intangible world of feelings. This was not anywhere remotely close to my comfort zone. <br> <br>After the meeting, back in my office, I replayed the same thoughts over and over. <br> <br>“I’ve never written a survey, much less analyzed the results. I am a process person. A ‘Lean Thinker’ a Theory of Constraints practitioner. This customer satisfaction analysis requires an understanding of psychology. It takes years of research practice to master it. How can I possibly do this? I have a bachelor degree in history and a minor in economic thought. Yeah, I have an MBA, but I AVOIDED all of the optional psychology courses and opted for the quality improvement courses because I knew my career was focused on being the ‘hard numbers guy.’” <br> <br>I stared at my computer. I toyed with the option of telling my VP that this was not for me and that they should look elsewhere. After all, it was unsolicited and I still had all of the other work on my plate. I didn’t like that option so I kept thinking. <br> <br>Then a thought struck me. <br> <br>“You are a quick learner. Why don’t you just read as much as you can on the topic for the next month, before results need to be reported.” <br> <br>So, I logged into my computer and opened up Google. <br> <br>I could say the rest is history, but that would not do it justice. Within the year, I learned an incalculable amount about customer satisfaction surveys, methods and how I could impact what was happening. I knew for sure that I knew how to build analytical programs from the ground up so I focused on that. <br> <br>We brought in a text mining vendor to conduct a pilot program using their software. In our first test run, we generated insights that resulted in the redirection a $300 million investment to more profitable opportunities. We built a team of experts across the company who not only generated insights but put them in action so that the company had a solid foundation to set new records for customer satisfaction in the brand and the industry. <br> <br>A year after receiving the assignment, I was standing before an audience as the presenter at an international business intelligence conference sharing what my team and I had done. It was one of the earliest presentations about text mining in the customer experience arena and probably the first for our industry. <br> <br>I shared that, not to impress you, but to impress upon you what happened when I learned some key lessons in that first year of study when I decided to master my understanding of customer experiences. In short, I had to take a different approach to my education in the industry. As a result, I have different viewpoints and a track record of success that supports my alternative approach to customer experience research. <br><br> <br><span class="font_large"><strong>Your mission is to evoke experiences, not sell to products or services </strong></span><br> <br>Product, services, features, benefits, etc. are simply the tools your company uses to change the mindset of customers from where it is to where it needs to be so they can experience that which you intend. <br> <br>Consider this: A good friend of mine just found out her mother was seriously ill. My friend had no desire for plane trip or a taxi ride to and from the airport or the peanuts on the plane. She was in the mindset of “I need to get to Mom fast, in the realm of what I can afford.” The products and services she chose were a direct outcome of the mindset she had. She didn’t charter a jet or take a horse and buggy. She chose a commercial flight because that matched her mindset. With a different mindset, she would have chosen a different option. <br> <br>I was on a call with the CEO of technology vendor for the Federal Government today when this point came up. His company continues to grow and he is concerned that new hires are not understanding the experience he, as the CEO, wants clients to have. I asked him to describe what he expected the customers to show in their facial expressions, what they would say to associates or what they might write in a review or survey. This content formed an outline of his vision of the ideal customers’ experiences. <br> <br>This is counter to the typical approach of asking your customers what they want to experience. While it is important to listen to your customer, remember that they are providing FEEDBACK, and feedback is an expression of their opinion of how well you delivered on the brand promises they believe you communicated. It is far more important for the company leadership to decide—not wish or want—but to really make a committed decision for the experience they want the customers to have as a result of engaging with the company. When leaders do this, their team can then create a system that consistently delivers that experience and the marketers and sales team can promise that the company will do so. <br> <br>Every new feature, benefit, product, service, marketing message or call center script must flow out of the convergence of three things: 1) the leader’s vision of the ideal customers’ experiences; 2) the awareness of the ideal customers’ current mindset; and, 3) the strategic steps it will take to move the ideal customer from their current mindset to the new mindset that allows them to have the experience the leader has decided for. <br> <br>As with any trip you take, you decide where you want to end up before you figure out how you will get there. Therefore, your customer journey map must start at the destination: the ideal customers’ experiences. Then it needs the starting point: the mindset of the customer today who is not experiencing what you want them to experience. Finally, the journey map has as many moments as are required to transform the mindset of the customer from the current to the ideal. This is accomplished through the products, services, features and benefits you provide. <br> <br>Anything that does not serve the purpose of moving the customer from the current to the ideal mindset so that the ideal experience is a predictable outcome is wasteful and potentially a distraction. It should be eliminated. <br> <br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Challenge conventional wisdom and question “common sense” </strong></span><br> <br>Clients often contact me and ask for support when they have grown frustrated with the lack of success in their own efforts. They love their customers and often feel a sense of guilt or remorse that some customers are having bad experiences. They are open to change when I arrive to guide them, but there is a difference between those who succeed and those who fail. <br> <br>The clients who fail have some common characteristics: 1) They want to copy someone else instead of deciding for their own unique customer experience; 2) they ask for advice but then chose to ignore it and do things their own way; 3) they believe more in following “common sense” and the equivalent of urban myths rather than leveraging the right data to generate insights; 4) they stop with insights and never act—these clients are the worst because they are convinced they’re doing great work and they pat themselves on the backs but they make no real progress for the customers; and, 5) they stop too soon and never complete one effort before going on to the next. <br> <br>I’ve fired clients who where unwilling to change their ways because it is a waste of my time and their money—which is paid for by already unhappy customers. I am keenly aware that I and my teammates only have a limited time on this earth and all of us want to make the biggest dent in the universe that we can. So, I decided I only work with clients that are a good fit for us and I expect my clients to feel the same way. <br> <br>I share this because in every case so far, when I arrive, I find that my clients should either fire up to 35% of their customers because these customers are a financial and emotional drain on the company and there is no real probability that these results will change. It’s not a fun conversation to have with the C-level, but it will immediately boost the remaining customers’ experiences. <br> <br>Here’s why you need to fire these customers: Your least profitable customers are likely your most dissatisfied or disgruntled customers so they complain a lot and demand too much. This complaining wears out your employees and requires attention that could be focused on profitable customers and new innovations. You cannot satisfy these customers because you either don’t understand their mindset, how to move it or where you want to move it to. That means, you don’t have the products, services, features and benefits required to support their transition. They will never be happy under these conditions. So, either fire them or get busy analyzing your data and understanding them. This is the point at which I know if a customer will be a good long-term fit. What do they decide to do when faced with this choice? <br> <br>It is not common sense to fire your customers. How do I know? Think about the reaction you had when you first read that statement above. Did you see the truth in it or did you reject it or at least question it? If you did not immediately embrace it, the concept is not “common sense” for you and most other people in your circle. Have you ever fired a customer? <br> <br>Your customer journey map absolutely requires that you challenge conventional wisdom and question “common sense.” If you don’t add this step to your process, you won’t make the progress necessary to make real change. If you find yourself thinking or hear another saying, “We’ve always done it this way,” be very wary. You’re about to take the wrong turn. <br> <br>One of my clients recently told me how they challenged conventional thinking. They had my company analyze their pre-sales client applications—this is a franchise-like operation. In the comments we discovered some key indicators of a buy or no-buy mindset. As a result, they took action and challenged the way they had always marketed the product. With changes to the messaging and the process, they nearly doubled sales in their next campaign, which was only two weeks after they received our analysis. <br> <br>When you are examining your customer journey map, be sure to ask what data supports the continuation of doing business in this specific way and where conventional wisdom, industry standards or best practices are prevalent. Documenting these data on the customer journey map will give you a quick, full perspective of the possible opportunities to create a more impactful and efficient customer journey. <br> <br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Build a support team from outside your organization </strong></span><br> <br>Is this a shameless plug to hire consultants? Absolutely not. But if you don’t hire outside experts your probability of success drops like a rock. <br> <br>When I was running the guest and meeting planner satisfaction program I mentioned above, I actually brought in several different teams. I created a team of teams. <br> <br>I hired a market research c<span class="font_regular">ompany th</span>at specialized in supporting online surveys with data feeds so I could integrate data from our sales and operations systems into our survey responses. This company was actually managed by our text mining technology vendor who built a support team in their office to manage our cloud environment—one of the first of its kind, and now the standard—and to help run statistical analysis that was beyond our internal skillsets. This helped us revolutionize the company’s, and as a result, the industry’s approach to customer experience analysis. <br> <br>I also brought in a market research company to conduct focus groups and do phone interviews, etc. to bolster our feedback and help us identify the mindset and values of our guests and meeting planners. Then, I hired a customer satisfaction consultant to use that data to generate insights in using a different methodology from the company that collected the data. <br> <br>Finally, because the customer experience program was so new for me and required massive amounts of focus and clarity to make quick and accurate decisions that impacted millions of customers and had the potential to generate hundreds of millions of dollars, I hired an executive coach out of my own pocket so I could grow into the person I needed to be to create an industry-leading customer experience analysis program. <br> <br>Incidentally, after all these years I am still a client of the executive coach because I keep pushing the envelope to stay on the leading edge. In fact, because I saw how important this type of coaching is for the leaders who are really creating the customer experience analysis field and the C-Level executives who are changing their companies from product-centric to customer-centric, that I decided to earn my own coach certification. Now I am equipped to guide my own clients through their personal, professional and corporate transformations that are an inevitable part of the journey my clients are on. <br> <br>One of my clients told me a few weeks ago: “This is why I hired you. You hear things that I didn’t even know I was saying.” We are in the process of journey mapping his ideal clients’ experiences and developing the coaching and training content for his team so they can effectively move the customers’ mindset from where it is to where they want it to be so that they can evoke a unique experience for their customers. <br> <br><br><span class="font_large"><strong>Customer journey mapping is more than… </strong></span><br><br>When you approach your customer journey mapping and your customer feedback analysis with a mindset informed by the ideas I shared above, you will see that customer journey maps are not stagnant, one-and-done documents. They are maps of customer psychology and influence. They are markers of the territory of your customers’ deepest desires and highest aspirations. Customer journey mapping is also a process of self-discovery for you and your team—if you do it right.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/40422762016-02-15T12:07:30-06:002017-01-15T21:34:08-06:00The 9 Tipping Points That Your Customers Are Talking About<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/550c6271cfe7bf2929eacd2ebfbf33e1e08e398f/medium/0o1a0120-37.jpg?0" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Several years ago, while reading an article about the next “must use” customer experience metric I found myself contemplating all of the various metrics that had come and gone throughout the years. I’ve been building analytical systems and teams in the business intelligence and customer intelligence arenas since 2000, so I’ve seen more than a few new metrics show up, shine and eventually fade. Frankly, I’d grow a bit frustrated every time my clients heard about a new metric because they would often abandon the efforts we were engaged in to chase the next shiny object without completing the work involved with their previously chosen metric. In the end, their lack of persistence meant a lack of improvement in the customers’ experiences. <br> <br>While good metrics are critical for diagnostics, I often found that my clients were still stuck with a number or a score and were not really any closer to trying to figure out how to identify what they needed to do to solve the problem that the metric revealed. You see, a number may tell them what was wrong, but it cannot detect why its wrong or how to fix the issue. <br> <br>I knew it was time to take on the challenge. So, instead of developing another metric my team and I took a different approach. We focused on the content of the comments in the surveys or online reviews that included the rating that was used to calculate the desired metric. <br> <br><strong>Discovering Nine Tipping Points</strong> <br>Our first step was to conduct a meta-analysis of dozens of academic articles, books and industry reports on customer experience research that claimed to have identified a better metric to drive customer satisfaction or loyalty. We created a list of <a contents="tipping points throughout the customer journey" data-link-label="CX Tipping Points" data-link-type="page" href="/cx-tipping-points">tipping points throughout the customer journey</a> that the research showed were critical to evoking a positive experience and increasing loyalty or evoking a negative experience and decreasing loyalty. </p>
<p>In essence, these tipping points were moments on the journey where a customer would have a tendency to become overwhelmed with the challenge and start to a downward emotional spiral. On the other hand, some companies mastered these moments and they became the opportunity for customers to start an upward emotional spiral that would lead to satisfaction, the perceptions of excellent service or even loyalty. This was the turning point in our research <br> <br>We then analyzed thousands of publicly available customer comments across industries ranging from hotels, restaurants, rental cars, online and traditional retail outlets, electronics, home appliances, software and apps, financial services and insurance. These comments provided us insights to a list of nine descriptive tipping points that are universal across customer experiences. We have since used these to help our clients develop the voice of the customer listening programs so they can identify what really needs to be fixed. <br><br> <br><strong>The Nine Tipping Points </strong><br> <br><em><strong>Availability</strong></em> <br>Customers often have an idea of the product, service or features they want. They will look through your sales materials or your website for something to meet their needs. When these self-service customers don’t find what they’re looking for they may leave without asking for your assistance and eventually give their business to a competitor. <br> <br>You can usually discover an “availability issue” of this type when you look at the website analytics, search terms and other metrics that show that the customer has abandoned their search. In those cases where customers do ask for assistance or indicate a challenge on a survey or in an online review, they often address what they are looking for in the terms of what they’ve seen a competitor has using the brand name. They may also ask, “Do you have anything to help me do…?” This is why it is valuable to review your customer comments in the call center notes, emails or surveys. You may detect language related to questions about whether your company offers a product, feature or solution and use that information to improve marketing content or innovation new products and services. </p>
<p> <br><br><em><strong>Access</strong></em> <br>Once a customer has purchased a product or service, they likely need access. This could relate to logging into a website, app or their account over the phone. It can relate to passwords, fraud blocks or technology failures. Customers may not address the real problem that is occurring when they cannot get access because all they know is that they cannot get in to do what they intended to. <br> <br>If you are interested in understanding the impact of access on customer loyalty, peruse the app stores online. Nearly every bank with an app has faced the wrath of customers who suddenly lost access to their accounts when the app updated and something went wrong. Access denials or errors are worse than having no app at all in today’s world for some businesses. Financial services is definitely one of the industries that suffers from poor quality assurance in app access. Customers often threaten to close their accounts if they cannot get the access they expect.<br> <br> <br><br><em><strong>Clarity</strong></em> <br>Assuming you have what the customer wants and you have provided access so they can get what they want, your next challenge is clarity in communication, and for online businesses this includes website and app navigation. A customer who has difficulty finding things will often ask, “How do I…?” <br> <br>If you can correlate your channel data you will likely recognize the customers who are having clarity issues because you will see that they are on your website and on the phone with your customer service or tech support team at the same time. They want to know how to achieve their goal and they failed to do so with just self-service. If you can show them this one time, they will learn how and gladly do it in the future. But, if you change the procedure, they are likely to call back for more “training” and they will begin to wonder why they are loyal to your company when you apparently do not value their time and emotional state. <br> <br>If you run an offline business, have instruction manuals for your products, have a menu, or the customer simply needs directions to complete a task, make sure the instructions are clear to different learning styles. I am often amazed when I watch my daughters figure out how to use new products. One daughter reads every word of the instructions. The other goes to YouTube to watch and listen. They each learn differently. So do your clients. Support multiple learning styles. <br> <br><br> <br><em><strong>Ease of Use </strong></em><br>Once people understand how to do a thing, there is still a question of how easy it is to do that thing. I know how to change my oil or change a tire on my car, but each of my vehicles require a different degree of effort to complete these tasks. In recent years we’ve seen growth in the metrics related to the ease of doing business with companies. While I believe there is merit in these metrics, solving the problem requires an explanation from the customer about what is or is not easy. <br> <br>If you are reviewing commentary about the ease of use, look for the adjectives and adverbs that describe how easy or hard a thing is. This sounds straight forward, but if you are using a text-mining software, you have to be careful how you build the rules or compile the training set. A less observant analyst may fail to realize that some “How do I…?” questions may be asking an “ease of use” question while others may be asking for clarity about an issue. <br><br> <br><br><em><strong>Accuracy</strong></em> <br>The first area I would tell most companies to examine accuracy is in their billing and reconciliation area. It is amazing to me how many times these processes fail. In fact, my team and I have noted a sharp increase in the lack of proper alerts in processes and procedures when failures occur. It seems that with the growth of automation there is a lack of critical thinking about the possible failure points during the process design phase of a project. Some clients tell us they wait for the customer to inform them of inaccuracies or failures. While you may do this during testing with a select panel of customers, this is simply unacceptable for your entire customer base. How are you compensating them for being your quality assurance team? <br> <br>Customers expect accurate reporting, accurate policy enforcement and accurate answers to their questions. But, too often we find that accuracy is not nearly as important to companies as call time and related metrics that promote transactional efficiency over task completion effectiveness. If you find your customers telling you that there are errors, things are wrong, or any of a number of related comments, you should consider rethinking your policies, processes, procedures and metrics. They may be too complex to ensure accuracy or your quality assurance is lacking. <br><br><br><br><em><strong>Speed </strong></em><br>There are several topics to consider when analyzing speed. We have been challenged to break speed down to different categories, but we have not been able to successfully isolate the language of one type of speed vs. another type of speed. The English language is far to complex or maybe just too ambiguous for the projects we have engaged in so far. <br> <br>Speed may refer to the speed of your website, the speed of answering your customer calls, the speed with which a customer receives an answer on a question they asked or a host of other issues. The point to look for here is what your ideal customers really expect and how you can operationally standardize the best processes and procedures to best serve them. <br> <br><br><em><strong>Consistency </strong></em><br>If you consider the balance between accuracy and speed you will often land on a challenge in the area of consistency. Too many companies fail to strike the balance that allows customers to know what to consistently expect because it seems to make no real sense why one customer representative is so knowledgeable, responsive or engaged while the next is ignorant, apathetic, disruptive or disrespectful. <br> <br>We often tell clients not to worry about impressing customers with a “Wow!” moment because it can actually more damaging for most companies. They look at us like we are crazy until we describe how a “Wow” that is not systemized simply expands the gap between the best and worst experiences customers have and therefore reduces consistency because customers will not know if the employee they are dealing with will do what’s required to get by or if they will go all out to impress. If you see phrase like, “Last time…, but this time…” you know you have consistency issues. Also, if customers tell you that they are getting different answers for the same question, you may have a consistency issue. <br><br><br><br><em><strong>Closure </strong></em><br>No discussion of customer experience tipping points would be complete without pointing out the need for psychological closure. Customers have a need to know that their issue is resolved, or at least the case is closed and no further action or results should be anticipated. Without closure, the customer has a psychological “leak” where they feel a drain emotionally but cannot actually identify why they are leaking. <br><br>“Is there anything more you can do?” is an example of what you might read when customers lack closure on the issues they raised. The longer they stay in this state of emotional leakage, the higher the likelihood that they will tell other customers and prospects about their unpleasant experience; thus, causing greater damage to your brand. You can control this by being direct and expressing empathy for the way the situation remains. <br> <br><br><br><em><strong>Emotion Evoked </strong></em><br>This is the broadest of the nine tipping points, but it is really a significant one. While the other points can usually be mapped to a specific interaction or moment on the customer journey, we have found that there are also points where customers are triggered emotionally outside of the other eight tipping points. These triggers are primarily related to the mindset of the customer and the paradigms they enter the situation with. <br> <br>These emotions should not be discounted or dismissed. They actually account for much of the feedback some of our clients receive. It can be helpful to gather and categorize the types of emotions that are evoked at each step of the customer journey. You can use this data to compare and contrast how well your company is doing to meet the vision of your ideal customer experience, if you have such a vision. If not, you ought to develop the <a contents="vision of your ideal customer experience" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/i-have-a-confession">vision of your ideal customer experience</a> first.<br> <br> <br><br><strong>Next Steps </strong><br>We’ve just barely touched the surface of what each of the <a contents="nine CX Tipping Points" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.kajabinext.com/marketplace/courses/5148-cx-tipping-points-quick-study">nine CX Tipping Points</a> are, how to detect them and what to do if you discover an issue with one of them. We’ve conducted months of research with clients and spent years building their Voice of the Customer systems so they can automatically detect these issues. While, the Fortune 1000 companies often require this level of support, we’ve found that smaller companies cannot afford the investment and don’t have the resources to build a full-scale, full-time VOC analytical program. Therefore, we’ve created a few options for our clients who are growing, but not ready for that level of service. <br> <br>We find that our smaller clients or clients just experimenting with a VOC program make substantial improvements by having us serve as the <a contents="outsourced customer experience analytical service" data-link-label="Strategy & Analysis" data-link-type="page" href="/strategy-analysis">outsourced customer experience analytical service</a> once a year or once a quarter. You can do the same thing by planning a one-time research project on a periodic basis. In addition, we created the <a contents="CX Tipping Points" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.kajabinext.com/marketplace/courses/5148-cx-tipping-points-quick-study">CX Tipping Points</a> Quick Study training program as a low-cost solution for companies that want to explore the opportunities of using their customer feedback, but are not ready to engage in a project.<br> <br>Regardless of your size or level of engagement, it is important to start exploring the how each of these tipping points affect your customer experience and which CX Tipping Point you can address right now to make immediate improvements.<br><br><br><br><br>Have you read our #1 Best-Selling book, "The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty?" <br><a contents="" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Experience-Unlocking-secrets-customer-ebook/dp/B01BB5SUA4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455558733&sr=8-1&keywords=the+complete+experience"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/8d11a4bca568aae7b6b90513b0d97ffbba687d65/original/screen-shot-2016-02-02-at-10-06-09-am.png?1454608905" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></a></p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/40207372016-02-02T12:49:14-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00I Have a Confession...At first, I didn't take my own advice.<br><br>I sat down with my good friend, Kayla Barrett, the CEO of Organization Impact, on December 28. Over the last several years we've partnered on several customer experience and employee engagement projects. Many of them have been in the hospitality industry, but we both have worked in other sectors including utilities, banking, insurance, technology, entertainment and well-being.<br><br>Our intent was to clarify our vision of how we were going to work together in 2016 and what type of projects and how many we wanted to do together. <br><br>It was a typical meeting and we decided that we would author an ebook. You know, one of those marketing pieces that's longer than a white paper, but not really deep enough for a person to really make a difference in their business. The type of publication that's designed really just to attract attention, trigger some reciprocity and encourage the reader to become a prospect. We committed to the release of our first ebook during the first week of February.<br><br>That was a fine plan. But there was a problem.<br><br>The more I thought of it, the more something felt a bit off. Around that time, I wrote a post where I asked readers to consider, "<a contents="What would you love to hear your customers saying about your company, products and services." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/the-most-missed-step-in-customer-experience-improvement">What would you love to hear your customers saying about your company, products and services.</a>" <br><br>This was the trigger for me.<br><br>I knew I wanted to write a book that provided real, impactful and effective tools for people, some of whom just needed a starting point. Others may decide to contact us to ask for help to improve their customer experience. But, what would I LOVE to hear my clients saying?<br><br>So I went deep into the question as I encouraged my readers to do.<br><br>On the other side of my inquiry I found myself facing a list of statements like:<ul> <li>This is a must read for every business leader.</li> <li>Tony and Kayla hit the mark!</li> <li>This book shows how online reviews are really the result of employee engagement/disengagement. I now get it!</li> <li>I loved reading this book!</li> <li>This book is now mandatory reading for my team.</li> <li>They give a solid plan of action that I know i can take.</li> <li>I've already started to improve my online reviews. It really works!</li>
</ul>What was clear to me when I read the list aloud is that these statements were far different than the ones I would expect to receive based on what we were going to write, much less, something I've ever given when I read a free ebook that a company sent me when I gave them my email address.<br><br>I had to grapple with this dissonance between what I decided for and what I really loved.<br><br>Kayla and I met again on January 13. I was hesitant to address the issue, but I knew I had to.<br><br>As I shared my mental and emotional evolution, i could see that Kayla was not only in agreement, but she was fully supportive and thrilled by the idea. We leaned into the possibility of what we could create and decided, "We are writing and publishing a #1 Best-Seller the first week of February."<br><br>Between attending conferences and client work that we had scheduled, we wrote, edited and re-wrote the book. We reached out to friends, industry experts, executives and business owners and asked them to review the manuscript. We called colleagues who had earned their best-selling status and asked them for advice. As we shared our vision, the support poured in.<br><br>It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.<br><br>Along the way we learned several lessons. Here are some of the key things:<ol> <li>Always start with the vision of what you'd love to create and what you'd love to hear your customers saying.</li> <li>Share your vision of the possibility with a close team of partners who will support you in the achievement of the vision.</li> <li>Be vulnerable and open. This is how you learn and grow. This is how you achieve what you've never done before. </li> <li>Ask for help from those who have achieved success like you desire. They can guide you around the pitfalls and potholes. </li> <li>Be prepared to fall into new pitfalls and potholes and have a team who can help you climb out, quickly.</li> <li>Forget about being comfortable for a while. Pour your whole self into the work.</li> <li>Be willing and enthusiastic about trading your life (days, weeks, months, etc.) to create what you'd love.</li> <li>Ask for more support than you think you need. It will always take more than you expect at the beginning.</li> <li>Allow people to have their negative opinions about what you're doing. Take what you can to learn and leave the rest behind.</li> <li>Always check back to compare what you are creating with "What would I LOVE...?" and make the adjustments required until the reality and the ideal are the same.</li> <li>Never stop until you achieve it.</li>
</ol>With this list, you can create and deliver exactly what you'd love. And, you WILL hear what you'd love to hear your customers saying.<br><br>How do I know?<br><br>Because on February 1, we released our book. In less than 24 hours we hit #1 Hot New Release in Hospitality, Tourism and Travel and #1 Hot New Release in Retailing.<br><br>As of the writing of this post, we are the #1 Best Seller in Hospitality, Tourism and Travel and we have achieved Top 5, Top 50 and Top 100 in several categories on Amazon. We're not done yet. But, we are already hearing what we decided we'd love to hear from our clients just a few weeks ago.<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/8d11a4bca568aae7b6b90513b0d97ffbba687d65/original/screen-shot-2016-02-02-at-10-06-09-am.png?1454436187" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><br>What are you doing today to envision and deliver the experience that will have your clients, customers or guests telling you what you'd love to hear?<br><br>Our book, "<a contents="The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Experience-Unlocking-customer-ebook/dp/B01BB5SUA4/ref=zg_bsnr_154821011_47">The Complete Experience: Unlocking the secrets of online reviews that drive customer loyalty</a>" is currently available on Amazon.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39881282016-01-14T12:21:09-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00Why CX Leaders Refuse to Answer "What would you love to hear?"<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/d5d5b170ed4c50a172afee7385936d008492cf0c/small/hand-drawing-light-bulb-gj6czcr.jpg?1452794968" class="size_s justify_left border_" />The feedback and questions from my <a contents="previous post " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/the-most-missed-step-in-customer-experience-improvement">previous post </a>have been really powerful. They were so good, in fact, that I that instead of just posting responses to each individual site, I decided would address a few of the key themes in future posts. <br><br>You see, it struck a chord. Many people have never REALLY asked, "What would I love to hear my customers saying about my brand, products or services?"<br><br>One reader, the Chief Customer Officer of his company, emailed me his answer to that question. It was a very compelling answer. I applaud him for taking the time to think into this question.<br><br>Another reader emailed me to say, "At first I thought it was a silly question..."<br><br>That response struck home. Is it really silly for us to ask what WE would love to hear our customers saying about our company? We are investing our life in building this company even if we are just employees.<br><br>I've run into a variety of explanations as to why the initial reaction to my question above is to think it is silly or even a waste of time to really consider. Here is my take:<br><br><strong>False Humility</strong><br>So many of us were raised in families or schools where we were taught not to brag. In fact, we were led to believe that even talking about the good things we know about ourselves was considered bragging and a bad thing to do. Maybe we were not allowed to excel because someone else might feel bad. We were told to "be humble" and just thank God that we had the skills we did.<br><br>The problem with this behavior and belief is that if we do not embrace our talents and skills and press on to use them beyond what we've achieved before. As a result we fail to really live. If we hold back out of a false sense of humility, we hold back all of humanity. If we do not rise higher than anyone has ever risen before, we fail to let others see what is possible for themselves. True humility embraces the wholeness of who we are and allows us to bring light to the dark places within while at the same time shining as brightly as possible where possible. <br><br>The human species thought the 4-minute mile was impossible, and some doctors even said the human heart would explode if pressed that hard. But, when Roger Bannister ran the first 4-minute mile in May of 1954, he inspired other runners to do the same. Now, it is standard for top athletes to achieve what was once considered impossible.<br><br>We have to seek to achieve what we desire if there is good in it for ourselves and others. To do any less is a waste of the precious moments of life we have.<br><br><strong>Suppression of Imagination</strong><br>Those who are not plagued by false humility, are likely held back from answering the question, "What would I love to hear my customers saying about my brand, products or services?" due to a suppression of their imaginative skill. Let me be clear, I did not use the word "lack." I don't believe there is a lack of imagination, unless someone has had severe brain damage. <br><br>If you don't think you're creative and that you don't have an imagination, think back to the last time you were waiting on hold for a customer service agent rehearsing what you were going to say and how they were going to respond and then how you were going to reply. Voila! You were using your imagination.<br><br>As best as I can tell, somewhere between second and fifth grades, most children suppress their wonderful imaginations because they are repeatedly told to pay attention. The problem is not that they were not paying attention, they were simply paying attention to what was going on in their imagination instead of what the teacher or parent was saying. So, instead of working with the children, parents and teachers tend to react angrily or with frustration. Children learn that using their imagination to create wonderful things is dangerous and punishable. So, they suppress the use of imagination for these purposes.<br><br>Business schools typically exacerbate the problem when they focus most of the assignments and lessons on the use of reason. "Figure out" how to make things happen. But, do not imagine what might be possible.<br><br><strong>Reclaiming Imagination for the Customers' Sakes</strong><br>It is time we reclaim our imagination for the sake of our customers and for our own sakes. There is no inspiration in announcing that "We will raise satisfaction scores by 10% this year." That will usually deflate most employees instantly.<br><br>Instead, invest the time in seriously considering the question, "What would I love to hear my customers saying about my company, products and services?" Then, share this inspirational message with your team. Decide that you will accomplish this. Engage them and encourage them to imagine how they could help you achieve it. <br><br>In short, create a vision that lights up your team and calls upon them to become like children again. Let them safely explore what seems impossible to that they can evoke experiences in your customers that your competitors still believe are impossible. Then, like Roger Bannister, you too can prove to the world that nothing is impossible.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39853792016-01-12T14:16:30-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00The Most Missed Step in Customer Experience Improvement<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a1ab2c18e644c749161468e3ad557b128f2b18e7/small/img-4484-1393.jpg?1452629744" class="size_s justify_left border_" />While at a conference last week I had lunch with a doctor who is also a best-selling author and the owner of a medical practice with multiple locations. We started talking about her practice and the patients' experiences. After a few minutes of discussion, I asked her a question that stopped her cold. She looked at me with a bit of a shocked look on her face and said, "I've never really thought of that?"<br><br>"Don't worry, most companies miss it," I told her, "Even some of largest companies in the world miss this critical step in their customer experience improvement efforts."<br><br>What did I ask this world-renowned doctor that caused her to stop and think?<br><br><em>"What would you love to overhear your patients to say about you and your practice after their visit?"</em><br><br><br><strong>What would you love to hear?</strong><br>Think about that for your own company. Have you ever really answered that question?<br><br>I find it ironic that most of our clients never considered this question before we asked it. Yet, they want to hire us to help them analyze and improve their customer experience. How do they propose we do that without first telling us what the target is?<br><br>Well, the answer most will try to give is usually some number or rating level on a survey or review site. "We want to get all tens," or "We want to be #1." The problem with these answers is that different customers have different ways of rating. And, their expectation, based on your marketing messages or the industry standard or some other influences, of what they will experience sets the bar before the experience even happens. From one perspective, no matter how well you serve them, it might not be right to earn the top rating because they have a different expectation or set of values.<br><br>Consider two examples that we've found repeatedly over the years in our research. <br><br>A guest arrives at a 2.5-star hotel, as rated by a third party like AAA, and he expects a particular level of service that he has experienced at the same type of hotel several times before. But, in this hotel, things are different. There are more smiles, more attention to details, more focus on pleasing the guest--and all for the same price. By the end of the stay, the guest believes he has just had the best hotel stay of his life. He rating and review online reflect his surprised and delight.<br><br>Another person who typically stays at a 2.5-star hotel decides to go to a 4-star hotel for a conference or business event. During and after his stay he complains extensively about everything that was wrong even though he received objectively better service at this hotel than other hotels. Why does this happen? Because, the guest is used to paying a lower rate for the use of a bed and a bathroom. He finds no value in marble countertops in the restroom or extra soft comforters or a massaging shower head. These are just a waste of money to the guest. Therefore, he would rather stay at their 2.5 star hotel and pay a bit less. As a result, he feels like he's been taken advantage of or "nickel-and-dimed" throughout the entire stay. His survey ratings reflect this and the hotel's reputation suffers.<br><br><br><strong>Building a Customer Experience Vision</strong><br>When you are creating your vision of the ideal customer experience what should you consider?<br><br>I recommend starting with the five autotelic experiences that Dr. Martin Seligman, the founder of Positive Psychology, has identified as key to a thriving life. These experiences are sought for their own sake, not as a means to another end. Dr. Seligman conducted years of research and has clarified each element. I find these provide the right starting point when you consider your ideal customer experience. Your vision should help you understand what you want to evoke in your ideal customer's experience, not how it will be evoked. The latter will be addressed in the features and benefits of your product or service.<br><br><em><strong>Positive Emotions</strong></em><br>What positive emotions do you want your customers to feel? What feelings do you want them to be aware of in a particular moment on the customer journey and which emotions do you want them to remember long after they finish their transaction with your company? What part of "the good life" will they associate with your company? <br><br><em><strong>Engagement</strong></em><br>Do you want your customers to be "in the zone" or get into a state of flow? The state of flow is powerful because in that state, a person's complete attention is focused on the task at hand and they have no bandwidth to be distracted or to be self-aware. Their consciousness essentially merges to be one with the task they are performing. Video gamers know this state. It can be a blissful state. Flow can be evoked in many different settings and is key to individual growth. Do you want your customers to be fully engaged at a specific point of their journey?<br><br><em><strong>Relationships (Positive)</strong></em><br>Do you build rapport, trust and a real relationship with your customer? This nothing to do with measuring the dollars they spend with you. It relates to how well you know your customers and if they would turn to you for help in a challenging situation. Do they see you as a support structure for them to lean on? Can they rely on you in tough times? Can they share their successes with you? Do they want to stay connected to you in some way? Would they consider your brand to be like "a friend."<br><br><em><strong>Meaning</strong></em><br>Does your ideal customer experience create meaning and significance in the life of your customer? Is it something they will look back to as part of one of their lifelong memories? Will they remember that it was your product or service that helped them be a part of something bigger, give back to the world, or will it help them see themselves as a contributor not just a consumer? As an example, we provide a way for clients to <a contents="help us build villages in Africa" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://myunstoppablechallenge.org/Tony-Bodoh-International-2015">help us build villages in Africa</a>.<br><br><em><strong>Achievement</strong></em><br>Do you help your customers achieve a new level of mastery? Can they rely on you to help them through life's challenges to arrive safely on the other side with a deeper awareness of who they really are and what they can truly accomplish? Do they feel like your company's products and services are a critical part of the successes in their lives?<br><br>Each of these five types of experiences can manifest in a variety of ways. And, if you consider them well, you will have the milestones to know if you are on the right path or not when you actually hear your customers' feedback. Then, you can consider which features and benefits you need to improve to move closer to the experiences you'd love to evoke in your customers' lives.<br><br><strong>Why this matters</strong><br>In a previous post I called on you to help find ways to "<a contents='give life" to your customers' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/i-know-you-don-t-really-care-about-your-customers-and-i-ll-tell-you-why">give life" to your customers</a>. Exploring which autotelic experiences you intend to evoke is how you start identifying what "giving life" looks like for your company. These autotelic experiences improve the quality of your customers' lives and raise their awareness to what is possible in their life. Customers may be uplifted and inspired. These experiences could change the course of your customers' lives and the decisions they make in the future.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39546652015-12-07T22:53:38-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00I Know You Don't Really Care About Your Customers and I'll Tell You Why<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/f81ca1c793389a7941d6a353ce910adf4f75ab48/medium/810-6441-202.jpg?1449550730" class="size_m justify_left border_" />Let's get real for a moment. <br><br>Most of us have heard, and probably espoused, that "Our customers come first" or that "We value our customers." Maybe you've even gone so far as to fill out one of those silly industry surveys that asks if you plan to invest more or less in customer experience next year.<br><br>So what!<br><br>The fact is this: We (and I include myself in this) are failing our customers every single day.<br><br>I know that's not news to you but I have to point out the painful truth.<br><br>Now, I'm not going to tell you you're failing because you need my company's services or a new software or some next generation app. Nope! You don't need any of those things to really turn your customers' experiences around. Those are just icing on the cake at best if not just distractions from the real problem you have.<br><br>There is only one thing that is really wrong in your company that is causing those unacceptable conditions your customers have given up trying to tell you about.<br><br>If you're still reading this, I am impressed. You might actually care. <br><br>Ok, I know some of you think I'm being obnoxious or rude. Maybe I am. I'm doing it to get your attention.<br><br>You see, the moment we lower ourselves into a discussion about the ROI of customers' experiences we are at the edge of forgetting what really matters. Is ROI important? Absolutely! You should not launch a single customer experience improvement effort without knowing that it will, or is at least highly likely to, generate an acceptable ROI. But, the return cannot be the "Why" behind your customer experience improvement efforts if you want to really sustain a leadership role in your industry for a long time.<br><br>The only thing that deserves to be considered the "Why" behind your CX improvement efforts is the customer.<br><br>Now, I'm not talking about the persona that marketing created for you or the vague "customer base" that your research team refers to in their 52 slide PowerPoint deck.<br><br>I am referring to your living, breathing customers. More specifically I am referring to the moments of life that you steal from them through your poorly designed processes, automated gatekeepers and slightly veiled attempts to improve call times while failing to really resolve your customers' issues.<br><br>Each customer entrusts you with their life. Literally.<br><br>They give you irreplaceable, precious moments of life that they will never reclaim. They give you the breath they take during those moments. They give you control of their thoughts and emotions. They give you access into their very being.<br><br>And what do you do?<br><br>Put them on hold. Treat them like sh**. Despise their very existence. <br><br>What if you took a moment of your own life to reflect on what you are doing to your customers and on the fact that you will never get that moment back? It cannot be reinvested, reused or recycled. It's gone.<br><br>One neuroscientist calculated that a psychological moment for a human was about 3 seconds long. That means that a person who lives to be 80 years old will experience 840,960,000 moments during their life.<br><br>That may seem like a lot, but you've burned up about 150 moments reading this. Was it worth it? Would you recommend someone else give up 150 precious, irreplaceable moments of their life to read this? <br><br>While those 150 moments may not seem precious now, heck you have a few hundred million more to go, how precious will they be when you are struggling to take just one more breath? <br><br>At that last moment, what would you give to get back just a few of those moments you wasted while being on hold for your cable provider, bank or mechanic. Was it worth it?<br><br>This very thought has been the "why" that has fueled me since late one night in February 2009 when i was at the edge of life itself. Between my gasps for air as I fought to stay alive, I vowed that, if I awoke in the morning, I would leave my "secure" job that was so stressful it was killing me and I would find a way to impact the world. When I awoke the next morning, I was a bit shocked. Then, I remembered my vow. Within three months I left the company I was with and started my own consulting company. My mission was to help companies create experiences for their employees and customers that gave life, not took it away. We've achieved a lot in the last 6.5 years. But there is so much more to do.<br><br>I hope that, when I do finally take my last breath, I do it knowing that my work has provided for more moments of life for billions of people who have lived or will live long after me. And, I sincerely hope that I can thank you with my last breath for your part in helping me give life to those billions of people.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39418332015-11-30T16:01:56-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00Beyond the Hotel: How Unkept Promises Hurt Brands and the Industry<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/ce4cdd0eaf61004a05929928bb3e3aa0f032c54d/medium/dreamstime-xs-31352105-2.jpg?1448920881" class="size_m justify_left border_" />"I heard everyone in front of me getting the same explanation from the front desk agent, 'We're sorry we only have king beds left and there are no more rollaway beds available.' They all just went along with it. They were content to squeeze three or more people in just one bed. Not me! I had four people in my group and I made a reservation with a credit card months ago. I demanded a solution."<br><br>My friend was telling me about her experience that happened the night before. At that moment we were both waited for our daughters to step on stage for their respective Irish Step Dance competitions. She was still fuming and incredulous about the whole situation. I had heard similar stories from other families that attend the same dance school as our daughters. I was glad we booked late and were "forced" to stay at a nearby hotel.<br><br>I find it interesting that there are still a few industries that get away with doing things that no other industry possibly could. Hotels are just one example. Airlines and banks are two others, but I will save them for later posts.<br><br>Hoteliers, and I am a recovering one, seem to fail to comprehend what credit cards mean to those who use them regularly. If you ask anyone, they will tell you that when they give you their credit card number and the relevant information, they have made a purchase. To most people, it is the equivalent of the transfer of cash from one hand to another or the signing of a contract. <br><br>Yet, hotels get away with ignoring the norms of accepted human behavior and a foundational human mindset.<br><br>They take your card and will demand payment, even if you can't show up because conditions out of your control prevent it. Mechanical or weather delays for the airlines? Too bad. Hotels will charge you for the missed night. But, if you arrive at your hotel and you booked a specific room type, the courtesy is not extended to you to guarantee the room type you requested. It's a lottery at best in many hotels, especially if they are busy that particular night.<br><br>The problem I, and most other guests, have with this is that we know that the hotel does not change the number of beds of each type that they have in inventory from day to day. Yesterday there were 100 kings. Today there are 100 kings. Tomorrow there will be 100 kings.<br><br>Why then do hotels insist on NOT updating their reservations software so that people can get the room type they reserve? Do they fear the loss of a sale if a prospective guest was to know that the type of room she wants is not available at the time of the reservation? Or, do they believe it is acceptable to make this a one-way street where the hotel can make promises that they cannot keep and guest just have to live with it?<br><br>Regardless of the reason, if hotels don't figure it out soon, they will lose more business to Airbnb and other alternatives that will be more honest, direct and service oriented.<br><br>As for the my friend? She swears she will never stay in the brand of the hotel that gave her the trouble. And, she was not the only one that I heard say that. <br><br>This is not an issue of a single hotel. This is a brand issue. This is an industry issue. Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39366392015-11-26T12:34:33-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00The One Thing Every Company can do to ImproveDuring a re<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/8ca3ff3baa56e3e062cef5fe5a44d9c94ecc2dd8/medium/screen-shot-2015-11-26-at-11-47-42-am.png?1448560155" class="size_m justify_left border_" />cent a Twitter discussion a follower asked me (@TonyBodoh):<br><br>"What's one thing you think every company could do to improve their customer experience?"<br><br>I loved the question for two reasons:<br><br>First, most companies focus on changing too many things at one time. Each team, project manager, etc. see their area as stand alone and they hardly take the time or ask how their changes will affect the whole system that creates the ecosystem that customers interact in and with. Without focus on a fixing a very narrow set of triggers that impact customer experiences and as a result, the customers' future buying decisions, the company may fix many local problems while creating several new systemic problems. So, to ask what "one thing" companies could do shows the wisdom of understanding the value of focus.<br><br>The second reason I loved the question was because it asked for a universal answer for something "every company could do." This may seem like a nice question and could result in a cliche answer, but the reality is, any company can make massive improvements in customer experience. I see so many companies and experts unaware that they are limiting themselves and their companies when they ask, "How can we get a "10" on the survey?" or "How can we outrank competitor X?"<br><br>I believe these are the wrong questions because they have the company at the center, not the customer. Making massive improvement in customer experience our objective means we can forget about competing and focus on evoking an experience that customers have never had before. Something that they will choose to use to measure every interaction they have with all companies. We know we achieve this when we hear our competitor's customers or even customers in other industries ask, "Why can't you be like (insert your company name here)? They know how to treat their customers!"<br><br>Why focus on a survey score when, next week someone could set a new standard and make what was your "10" today an mere "8"? You will always be chasing the competition and you will never build a culture of massive improvement that habitually outthinks and outperforms your competitors.<br><br>As you can see, this question really caused me to think. But, how did I respond?<br><br>"Great question! Before starting their shift have every employee list 3 things they are deeply grateful for that customers enable."<br><br>Gratitude is a renewable resource that actually grows in value the more of it that is available. In an experience economy, experiences add value the more we have, whereas in an economies built on physical commodities or products or services, the more that exists, the less each is valued. <br><br>In the quality movement and during the era of the balanced score card, we all attempted to tie an employees actions to a corporate metric so each employee could see how they contribute to the company as a whole. This is not wrong, it just seems to be incomplete. Why? Because it again puts the company, not the customer, at the center of the picture.<br><br>What if we put the customer at the center?<br><br>What if we asked employees to focus on what the customer enables in their lives?<br><br>The warmth and security of a home. A fresh steaming hot meal on the table every night. Clean clothes. Children receiving a great education and having the opportunity to play sports or to learn to play an instrument. How they can give to their church or to build a home with their neighbors for a family that is homeless. And on and on.<br><br>When employees learn to connect the customer, not just the company, with the meaningful things in their lives and the employees practice feeling the gratitude for what the customer is providing, the employees will shift. They will generate empathy. They will listen more carefully. They will seek out solutions more diligently. They will go the extra mile to solve problems or even to eliminate the problems before customers experience them.<br><br>A sustained practice of gratitude that connects the customer to what is meaningful in our lives creates a power that can transform every company, every products and every service. It transforms every experience into an expression of deep gratitude.<br><br>Don't let Thanksgiving happen just one day a year. Feel and express the gratitude of Thanksgiving every day, even several times a day. It will change everything.<br><br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39260262015-11-19T09:43:00-06:002017-01-15T21:34:07-06:00My Bi-Lingual Breakfast at Waffle House<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/87527eee14d00217396405578787966cf66d9e6c/medium/wafle-10-144.jpg?1447947600" class="size_m justify_right border_" /><p>This morning, as I ordered my hashbrowns at the Waffle House near my office in the suburbs of Nashville, I found myself scrambling to find the right words. <br><br>“Smothered (sauteed onions), Covered (melted cheese),…” my voice trailed off.<br><br>“Do I want it chunked?” I thought to myself. “Not today. But, I want mushrooms. What’s the right word?”<br><br>“Capped,” I said a bit louder. <br><br>I felt a shot of dopamine run through my system in the form of a reward because I found the right word to use to speak the waitress’s language.<br><br>It was only as I was eating my raisin bread and cheesy scrambled eggs that it occurred to me that I had adapted to my environment to speak the language of the Waffle House staff. <br><br>Well, almost. This Yankee did not call the waitress, “Sweety” as they typically do to the guests here in the South.<br><br>Language is a key to culture. This is true of societies, communities, families and companies.<br><br>Mining the language your customers use in their feedback and comparing it to the language you use as an organization can help you identify where you and your customers are connected or disconnected. </p>
<p>Are you literally speaking the same language or not?<br><br>You may be thinking this just applies to trivial things like knowing how to order my favorite hash brown toppings at the Waffle House, but there is so much more.<br><br>Are you speaking in acronyms that only employees who have worked with the company for ten years understand. You would’ve heard this type of language used when I was on a call with the Army’s Soldiers for Life team yesterday. The military is the epitome of creating a unique language that clearly says, “We know you’re not one of us if you don't understand."<br><br>But there is more than that.<br><br>Do you customer service representatives match the language of the customer and translate the between the internal and external languages flawlessly?<br><br>Do your representatives match the tone, pace and emotional pitch of the customer on the phone?<br><br>Now let’s dive even deeper.<br><br>At a recent conference in the text mining industry—talk about a language and culture of its own—I shared samples of research where my company was able to identify the differences in the satisfaction of customers by their use of articles (i.e. a, an, the) and personal pronouns as well as the complexity and length of sentences. It was possible to show a higher probability of a comment being positive or negative without the assistance of reading the content words (i.e. nouns, verbs and adjectives) or measure the sentiment of scored adjectives and adverbs.<br><br>I don’t recommend listening only to the articles and pronouns, but these and seven other types of words create the structure of the sentence and can be used to measure connection, engagement with your company and customer culture, and more.<br><br>How does this relate to my breakfast at Waffle House?<br><br>I became aware that I was adapting to my environment and the culture of the Waffle House when I was struggling to find the right word for “mushrooms.” But, how did I adapt my speech patterns in other ways that I did not recognize? Did I assimilate into their culture or did they know I was an outsider? <br><br>They knew. And, as I was editing this article I saw a clue that I may have made adjustments. I non-consciously used the word “scrambled” to describe my mental state in the first sentence, probably because ordered my scrambled eggs just a few moments before. This environmental clue and the recency of my use of the term made it the most easily accessible word to describe the mental struggle I was going through.<br><br>The masterful part of this breakfast experience was that my lovely server, Jill, took it all in stride and treated me with the empathy I appreciated. She gave me a few moments and found another task to do as I read the menu. Then, she returned as happy to serve me as before. </p>
<p>She had been well-trained either by the Waffle House or she was selected because of her ability to adapt to guests easily. Either way, Jill’s level of empathy led to a connection that both gave me an enjoyable experience and inspired this article. Thanks, Jill.</p>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39256932015-11-17T21:25:04-06:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00When its Good that Customers Feel Bad & How to Keep Them Loyal<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/865ef65a9dbc1a55c718ed0b508a5a8186bd031b/small/bnmkht.jpg?1400791273" class="size_s justify_left border_" />I know. You're thinking I've gone crazy. You might be right, but indulge me for a moment.<br><br>Have you ever had that nagging feeling that maybe some customer experiences are not meant to be delightful or easy?<br><br>Think for example about the last time you met with your personal trainer, your mentor, or even your doctor. Did you have to do things that made you feel uncomfortable or even caused physical or emotional pain?<br><br>Recently I had such and experience. I made a decision that my mentor called me out on. She knew I was shrinking from the challenge I was facing and that the path I chose would not lead to the achievement of the goals I set.<br><br>Thank god she was not worried about me feeling good in that moment. She knew I really wanted to achieve something more and she would not stand for me believing that the obstacle I saw in front of me was bigger than me. After a few minutes of a "sweaty palms" conversation and a significant amount of stomach churning, I reversed my decision and set out on a new course.<br><br><em>(By the way, she taught me practically everything I know about executive coaching. I've learned how to have these conversations with my clients.)</em><br><br>In that moment, as a client, I needed to be shaken and stirred. And, my mentor knew it. It was far more important to her that she do what I hired her to do: help me see what I could not see, no matter how that made me feel. The outcome I truly desired was more important to her than my feelings in the moment. My mentor had to risk my anger directed at her and the possibility that I would fire her. She was doing something far more important than making me feel good. She was helping me achieve a long-term goal by facing short-term pain.<br><br>There are other situations where experiences may not be delightful. You might consider Dr. Martin Seligman's PERMA model from positive psychology as a source of ideas. PERMA stands for:<ul> <li>Positive Emotions</li> <li>Engagement</li> <li>Relationships (positive)</li> <li>Meaning</li> <li>Achievement</li>
</ul>These each represent types of experiences we seek for their own sakes. No doubt you can see how each of these may involve uncomfortable or even unpleasant feelings as you are on the journey to experiencing the end state. <br><br>Engagement or flow involves the need to risk and to put yourself in a position where your skills are not quite matched to the challenge.<br><br>Positive relationships often come out of shared trials and tribulations or involve going through tough times together.<br><br>Doing what is meaningful to you might lead to criticism from others who have a different perspective.<br><br>Achievement requires mastery and mastery demands discipline, practice and frequent failures on the path to growth.<br><br>Why does this matter? <br><br>Because when you are considering the ideal customer experience and you are designing the environment that will most likely evoke that experience in your customers, consider the temporary unpleasant feelings that your customers need to pass through in order to feel the fullness of the positive experience at the end of their journey. <br><br>How will you support them through these unpleasant feelings? <br><br>My mentor has established a level of trust with me over years of working together. Now I know when she evokes these feelings in me it is because she cares deeply about my success and this is the most effective method of expanding my awareness. She established a pattern of support in the past that I could reflect on in the moment when she evoked discomfort in me. I could see that she was actually helping me and not inflicting unnecessary pain. <br><br>How are you building the support structures your customers will need to lean on when the journey doesn't feel good?<br><br><em>You can learn more about our customer experience <a contents="executive coaching" data-link-label="CX Executive Coaching" data-link-type="page" href="/cx-executive-coaching">executive coaching</a> services.</em><br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39101582015-11-02T16:13:31-06:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00DIY or DFY Customer Experience Analysis?<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/7f34eeee0e1ca6ee5ba300c2cd3d27bcb9aa7dcf/small/36322-3149.jpg?1393195927" class="size_s justify_left border_" />My wife meticulously folded the material, measured and cut. I watched silently and with some amazement knowing that if I was to embark on the adventure of making my daughter's Halloween costume, she (well, probably both my daughter and my wife) would lock herself in the bathroom sobbing for the next few years. I am not a Do-It-Yourselfer (DIY) when it comes to crafty things. I would rather spend the $100 or so and buy the costume.<br><br>It got me thinking though. <br><br>How many companies do their customer experience analysis in a DIY mode? Or, do they choose to follow the Done-For-You (DFY) mode?<br><br>Most of my clients start out with great intentions of DIY, whether they are bootstrapping startups or cash-rich Fortune 500 companies. When reality sets in, they call for help.<br><br>DIY analysis is hard. Especially in the customer experience space. It requires a variety of skills in one person or in a close-knit team. Here are a few things I would recommend looking for if you plan to take the DIY approach:<ul> <li>
<strong>Research Experience</strong> - Knowing proper methodology is an absolute necessity for analysts. It is way too easy to end up stuck in your own cognitive biases and reporting back findings that are more harmful than helpful.</li> <li>
<strong>Quantitative Research Experience</strong> - There are many "quants" out there doing research. It is easy to find them. They are necessary because you want to determine the size and opportunity that the customer experience problem represents. But, they have to be open enough to be willing to deal with levels of uncertainty that come with the territory when they cross the threshold into qualitative research.</li> <li>
<strong>Background in Psychology</strong> - Formal training or significant experience in experimental psychology, behavioral psychology or related fields is helpful when trying to undertake DIY customer experience analytics. Understanding human behavior and motivations requires an understanding of the complexity of human emotions, paradigms and hidden patterns in language that are overlooked by the average person.</li> <li>
<strong>Passion</strong> - This cannot be overstated. I have worked with perfectly qualified and intelligent analysts who had no passion for the work. Passion matters because, in most companies, reporting on and changing the customers' experiences often requires deep cultural shifts in the organization. Change leads to resistance and demands persistence and a reason to continue on day after day.</li> <li>
<strong>Whole Mindedness</strong> - This is probably the most rare of the characteristics I find in the field. If you find a person with the characteristics above AND they have whole mindedness, do whatever it takes to keep them. Usually, that means help them see their analysis turn into real change in the organization. Whole mindedness means that they can see the scope of the whole of the customer's life, the business, the processes, the need for customer satisfaction and ROI, etc. But, they also have the opportunity to zoom in and focus on the one detail that shifts the whole customer engagement system to be something greater.</li> <li>
<strong>Empathy and Shrewdness</strong> - Combining these is vital. The analyst must be able to relate to the customer but they must also realize that not every problem needs to be solved. In fact, they need to curb their empathy with shrewdness when they decide where to focus their leader's attention. Budgets are limited. Focus on the few challenges that will have real impact on the customers' experiences when they are funded and backed by political support.</li>
</ul>If you plan to go down the <a contents="DFY path" data-link-label="Services" data-link-type="page" href="/services--2">DFY path</a>, or you realize your team is missing one or more of the critical elements to do DIY themselves, you need to find these skills in the market. Knowing who you are hiring is as important as what you are hiring them for. Too often a mismatch in expectations between clients and the hired help leads to a challenging relationship and missed opportunities. Here is how I breakdown the market in Customer Experience analysis:
<ul> <li>
<strong>Contractor</strong> - These individuals can be a dime a dozen. They have the ability to fill a chair and get functional tasks done. Give them a process or let them follow their own process and you will witness a human information factory at its best. They churn and burn through data and can provide you the added hands you need. But, in many cases, you are not hiring them for their heads. They want to keep it simple and follow established procedures.</li> <li>
<strong>Consultant</strong> - Brains for hire. These individuals are paid to think. The question is, can they think outside their box. And, if they do, will you listen to them. If you think you know the answer already, and don't plan on changing your mind, don't waste your money hiring a consultant. Now, many "consultants" are really contractors in suits. They tend to be just out of business school and following the firm's established approach. In other words, they are not thinking, they are doing. Don't pay for thinking when its not happening. </li> <li>
<strong>Curriculum</strong> - This and the next "C" on the list could cross over to DIY, but here we are referring to those who come in to develop a training program that is unique to your company and designed to create results for your company. Its not about "best practices" unless those are the best practices for your company. Curriculum is only as good as the commitment of those in the program to stay the course and master the new mindset. If you don't plan to give your team the time to learn or the latitude to fail their way to success, don't waste money on curriculum. Just hire a consultant or contractor.</li> <li>
<strong>Certification</strong> - Those who are serious about professional development and want a form of a guarantee of results need to consider certification. These are relatively new in the CX field and they vary from a simple test to a 2-day seminar to <a contents="online multi-week&nbsp;training" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.kajabinext.com/marketplace/courses/2747-customer-feedback-analyst-certification">online multi-week training</a>. While mastery takes time to develop, certification programs are a great way to keep your best talent with your team. They feel rewarded when you pay for training and a qualification that they take with them the for rest of their career.</li> <li>
<strong>Coaching</strong> - The highest level of DFY is <a contents="coaching" data-link-label="Coaching" data-link-type="page" href="/coaching">coaching</a>. Executive coaching specifically designed for you as a leader in the CX field. But coaching for your team related to analysis projects, vision building or other skills is also valuable. They key difference between a coach and a consultant is that the coach does not give you the answers. He or she teaches you how to think about the problem and possible solutions in a way that evokes the answer from you. This is a life-changing experience.</li>
</ul>Whether you ultimately decide to DIY or have your customer experience analysis DFY, you have plenty of options and more than enough research to do.<br><br>What have you tried? What worked? What didn't? Let's start a dialogue.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39035812015-10-21T00:50:13-05:002018-07-20T05:48:36-05:0011 Weird Brain Hacks to Generate Better Customer Experience InsightsBig data, text mining and dozens of other technologies are here to stay. Yes, they are helpful, but in most cases, the best computing machine you have is the one between your ears. Its especially useful if you learn how to hack it and leverage your whole body experience when you are doing analysis. Your brain is incredibly flexible and can rewire itself to meet the demands you place upon it.<br><br>I've been challenged to do analysis on some "unsolvable" problems using customer feedback and customer behavioral data over the last 15 years. I've been asked:<br><br>How should the world's largest hotels design their meeting space to optimize their guest room occupancy and increase meeting planner satisfaction? <br><br>How can a company that was open for just 90 days double customer satisfaction and loyalty scores?<br><br>How can a personal development company use surveys taken weeks before an offer is made to predict which product a prospect should be offered?<br><br>And, frankly, none of these required the use of anything more than some spreadsheets, whiteboards and lots of creative thinking. By the way, I am not a math whiz. I nearly failed trigonometry in high school and I took Euclidian geometry as my token college math course while earning my bachelor degree in history. There were no protractors or compasses needed.<br><br>I share this not to impress you but rather to impress upon you that you don't have to be a genius to figure out what customers really want when you have the right data. And, I am not discounting the value of the right software. I use software to speed up the processes. However, the insight does not happen in a computer. It happens in your head (and your body).<br><br>Here are eleven of my favorite mind-body hacks I use when I am facing new, unknown data and a tough question. I typically follow this order, but sometimes I mix it up when I am stuck. They may seem weird but I swear by them:<br> <ol> <li>
<strong>Write an absolutely clear intention.</strong> You have to be crystal clear on what you are doing. You'll want to write it out and read it to yourself every time you start working on the project. This focuses your mind and clears out the clutter. Nothing less than this intention will be accepted and no distraction is entertained.</li> <li>
<strong>Decide it is solvable.</strong> This will be a breakthrough for you. It will take you from dabbling with "impossible" questions to solving them while stretching beyond what you've ever done before. One of my mentors continually reminds me when I am stuck, "You don't need to know how to do something in order to decide to do the thing." She then reminds me that the Wright brothers did not know how to fly before they flew. Similarly, you won't know how to solve the problem until it is solved. So just decide it is solvable and get to work.</li> <li>
<strong>Move into a state of gratitude.</strong> Before you start working, fill your whole being with gratitude. Why? Because gratitude affects your whole mind and body. In the positive state of gratitude your body releases a cocktail of neuropeptides that allow you to see more, be more creative and connect ideas that you could not do in a lower emotional state. Read some of the research on the power of gratitude if you don't believe me. Besides, why wouldn't you be grateful. You just decided that this impossible problem is solvable and you are the one who is solving it.</li> <li>
<strong>Segment your data.</strong> Don't start by reading everything. Decide what metric you want to move. Then, segment out those customers who affected that metric into those who behaved in the way you want them to from those who behaved in the way you don't want them to. You might take those who canceled a product vs. those who didn't. Or, those who were made an offer to choose one of three products and segment by product purchased their feedback prior to making the purchase. Segment to your heart's content. But, remember to focus on segmenting by the behaviors that really matter to that metric.</li> <li>
<strong>Consume each segment's data separately.</strong> Just read. You can take notes if you want, but don't bother coding your comments. Just get into them by reading. Submerse yourself in them. Cover you walls with the feedback or the behavioral data so every time you look up you can see it. A pattern will emerge. This was one of the techniques I used to figure out how to design hotel meeting space. I had 9 years of convention data printed out and taped up all over my office walls. I know there were rumors whispered around the office and the occasional disbelieving glance into my office by passing executives. Who cares what they think. You're solving their problems.</li> <li>
<strong>Pay attention to your intuition.</strong> Don't underestimate your body's ability to help you reach an insight. Research shows that our unconscious biofeedback systems can detect patterns in data well before our conscious minds are able to declare that there is a pattern. I have learned to feel whether I am on the right path or not. Is it always right? No, but more often than not it seems to be. In fact, I have learned that I have a "buzzing" sensation in my head within hours of coming up with a breakthrough insight. Is that real or just an imagined state? I don't know, and it doesn't really matter because it fuels me on through the next several hours as if they were mere minutes. And, I get to the breakthrough.</li> <li>
<strong>Test your hunches.</strong> Once you feel the breakthrough and have the "Aha!" moment, be sure to test your hypothesis. This is where the software can be handy. It can speed up the process of validating your insights. NEVER, EVER, EVER publish your hunches as fact. Always test them first. While I trust my intuition, I know that the fifth venti Starbucks dark roast in as many hours may have a slight effect on my highly tuned senses. In other words, I might be wrong. Intuition is seductive and addictive because when our brains have the "Aha!" moment, a new neural pathway is created. You actually rewire your brain. In the process, your body releases dopamine which can be addictive. The good feeling that dopamine triggers causes the best of analysts to over estimate the factual nature of their intuitive hypothesis.</li> <li>
<strong>Walk away.</strong> This one cannot be overstated. You have got to push yourself over the edge of stress into the state of diminishing returns where you feel stuck and probably a bit frustrated. When you feel that frustration, STOP. Take a few deep breaths because it changes your body chemistry. Then, get up and walk away. You have been in your head for hours. Get back into your body. Feel your body move. Go walk in nature and observe the beauty of nature. Don't think about the problem. Fill your mind with what you feel as you walk and let all of your senses kick in to high gear as you take in the surroundings. Often, this is where the insight or the new perspective that leads to the insight shows up. Stop thinking about the problem consciously by flooding your conscious mind with sense data and you allow your subconscious mind to take over the problem solving.</li> <li>
<strong>Learn about your customers.</strong> Your customers use your products and services for mere moments of their lives. Go read about what's happening to them in the other 99% of their lives. Get outside of the walls of your cube or office. Get into their hearts and minds. What do they worry about? What do they really want in life? What have they tried already? I asked these types of questions while working with one client studying millennials and we came up with 27 different product and service ideas that they could innovate.</li> <li>
<strong>Walk in your customer's shoes.</strong> I am always amused when I tell one of the many stories to analysts I am training about how I often pretend I am the customer and I walk from one employee to another to understand what the customer is going through. When I am really adventurous, I pretend I am a packet of information or data being transmitted around the company, manipulated by people and processes to reach some ultimate outcome. This latter exercise is particularly helpful when I study the parts of a customer's journey that are not working well. Suddenly, the data flow comes to life and I can see exactly where the problems are at. I once reverse engineered a programming error that was deep in a software product the company I worked for was using. I shared my discovery with the vendor and told them which step in the process was broken and how I thought it should be actually written. They were amazed to find that I was right and then suspicious that I had hacked their system to see the code. We all got a good laugh when I described my process of "being the data."</li> <li>
<strong>Read the data or feedback with a new mind. </strong>Finally, after all those other mind-body hacks, come back to the data and read it again. Let it be your second first impression. If you did at least some of the hacks above, you are a new person with new perspectives and you will see something new in the data.</li>
</ol>I've heard that Einstein once said, "<span style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 18px;">No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."</span><br><br>When facing an "impossible" problem, the only thing you need to change is your consciousness.<br><br><a contents="For more hacks and customer experience analysis training, click here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.kajabinext.com/marketplace/courses/2747-customer-feedback-analyst-certification">For more hacks and customer experience analysis training, click here.</a>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/39011452015-10-16T18:25:54-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00What Can Pro Athletes Teach Customer Experience Professionals?<br>I recently had the opportunity to work with one of the world's top mental performance coaching companies. They brought in their coaches from around the world who work with athletes in a variety of sports ranging from amateur teen soccer players to professional baseball and football players to olympians. There were also coaches who work closely with top executives and business owners as well as international political leaders. These are master coaches who help their clients move through challenging experiences to reach and sustain peak performance for extended periods of time. <br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/2ec28026f9aac60735e808c060cb85d2767a64eb/medium/customer-engagement-3.png?1445035168" class="size_m justify_right border_medium" alt="" /><div>
<br>What do you teach master coaches?<br><br>I shared my Customer Engagement Curve and applied it to the principles that they use to help the athletes and executives achieve their goals.<br><br>You may think of customer experience as positive, neutral or negative. The Customer Engagement Curve shows a new dimension of the experience. Let's break it down.<br><br>In every task the customer must perform, there is a level of challenge from low to high. Each customer brings her own skill set to the challenge which can also be rated from low to high. The point at which the customer's skills match the challenge she faces is the starting point for growth of a new skill. Prior to this point on the curve (i.e. in the green zone), she knows what to do and how to do it. After this point (i.e. beyond the green zone) she doesn't have the skills to deal with the challenge.<br><br>If the customer's skills exceed the challenge, she will either be bored or only operating from a habitual, possibly mindless state. This is likely where she considers the task to be neutral, unless there is some inherent joy, pleasure or other positive state that the performance of the task generates. <br><br>As an example, it requires relatively little skill to watch a sitcom, which is why they are played during the dinner period after the end of a long day of work and before we are refreshed with a meal. We are often emotionally and physically exhausted which means our abilities to perform challenging tasks, like following a complex plot, are diminished. Therefore, the easy laugh requiring low engagement and prompted by a "live" audience keeps us in the habitual state of watching our favorite show.<br><br>On the other hand, if the challenge far exceeds the customer's skills, she will become overwhelmed and start to shut down emotionally and rationally. This can lead to fight, flight or freezing if the customer proceeds into survival mode. This is typically what happens when you hear negative feedback from customers. They have gone beyond their skills to manage the situation and fight back. It is also the place where customers tend to go silent because they "freeze" and cannot communicate. Some customer experiences trigger a learned helplessness and the customers decide silence is better than reaching out because, "there is no use."<br><br>The optimal place for companies to generate good will from customers who are ready to engage their brand is in the small area marked "Flow." This is the state that is just beyond the customer's current skills so she has to pour her attention fully into the task. She forgets about her concept of self because she cannot afford to doubt her skills or worry about what others think of her. She becomes one with the task and it feels fluid and she senses that she is at the edge of absolute control. In the moment of flow, there is no realization of the emotion associated with the task. Her limited conscious attention cannot be wasted on this luxury. Instead, after the task is over, if she was successful, she will feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment and even a deeper connection to who she is at her core. And, she may develop a halo effect with your company because you helped her achieve that state of flow that allowed her to grow her skills. If she fails in the task, she may feel badly and blame your company rather than accepting her portion of the responsibility for the failure. This often results in negative feedback.<br><br>How do you move your customer to the edge of flow and help her achieve her goal successfully?<br><br>1. Create a task that is just beyond her current skills, but not so far that it triggers frustration or overwhelm. The magic number is about a 4% stretch beyond her current skills.<br><br>2. The task must have a clear goal that she is aware of and buys in to. If she is unaware she may slip into overwhelm because the outcome is unclear and she does not know where she is headed. If she doesn't buy into the goals, she may disengage and be ambivalent.<br><br>3. Give her a way of receiving immediate feedback so she knows if she is on course or off course. This feedback will allow her to maintain flow from moment to moment and will help her be confident enough to keep with the task until she either completes it or decides to engage your support.<br><br>4. Have options easily available so she can receive immediate guidance that is trustworthy, empathetic and supportive of her growth.<br><br>It's not surprising that the coaches I was training grasped the concepts I shared. It was a demonstration of what they do with their clients. They invite the athletes, executives and political leaders to go just beyond the comfort zone into a state of creativity, flow and peak performance. It is truly a service for their clients. It will also serve your customers.<br><br><a contents="Check out the coaching " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.beastmodelive.com">Check out the coaching </a>we can provide for your leadership, sales and customer service teams so they maintain their peak performance. </div>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/38612962015-09-18T10:25:24-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00Why The Focus of Your Customer Experience Research is Wrong<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/6bbd15d0129b38fac2388495e657b9e457545ee8/small/eating-some-chocolate-cake-with-a-cup-of-coffee-z1sh64vu.jpg?1442589836" class="size_s justify_left border_" />I really like dark chocolate. I like the bittersweetness. I like the "warmth" of it as I slowly savor it. I like that I can rationalize it is healthy for me.<br><br>But I don't always want dark chocolate. I can see it near the cash register and I don't desire it. I am not motivated to buy it. I don't even pick it up.<br><br>What do my enjoyment of and inclinations toward dark chocolate have to do with customer experience research? It could help you understand if you are studying the right emotions in your customer feedback.<br><br>Do you want customers to buy your products and services or do you want your customers to like your products and services?<br><br>Your CEO, Board of Directors and shareholders want your customers to buy first and like second. But, most product managers, market researchers and feedback analysts are focused on whether or not customer like their products and services or have a pleasant experience. This is why many research findings fail to drive sales when they are applied. The research is focused on liking, not wanting.<br><br>If you want to understand what drives a customer's behavior to buy, you must study their emotions and feedback leading up to the decision to buy (<a contents="Watch this 46 second case study" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://youtu.be/NfrDEirQnAo">Watch this 46 second case study</a>). If you want to see if they liked something, you must study their emotions and feedback after the decision. This comes down to a fundamental fact of brain science. Desire or wanting uses different brain circuitry than pleasure or liking. Confusing the two can be disastrous for your company.<br><br>Consider a prospective customer. If she has never experienced your company's products or services or similar products or services in the market she will not know if she likes them. You must focus on understanding what she wants, her desire. If you trigger her desire deeply enough she will buy. Desire involves dopamine, the same chemical associated with addiction. This is what determines future purchases. Whether she enjoys the product or service may or may not impact her future desire to buy again. Pleasure is not required to trigger desire and desire does not require the promise of pleasure. Pleasure is the reward that arises from the presence of opioids in the brain and may occur during or after we satiate a desire. But it is neither a requirement nor a guarantee when we satiate a desire and it is transient.<br><br>Now consider your existing customers. They have had an experience with your products and services. They may have enjoyed the experience. But that does not mean they want the experience again. We have seen customers who express satisfaction but also express that they do not intend to be a repeat customer (See "<a contents="Investing in a 5-Star Rating" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/investing-in-a-5-star-rating">Investing in a 5-Star Rating</a>"). Your efforts to remind them of what they liked may not be enough to influence them to desire another interaction with your company. On the other hand, if your customers both want the benefits you offer and found the experience pleasurable, you may have the proper mix of motivation and expectation that make them a loyal customer.<br><br>Studying what motivates purchases requires a different focus than studying what your customers enjoy. Your CEO wants you to focus first on what motivates, then on what customers like.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/38409372015-09-03T09:39:56-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00Transformative Experiences and My 40th Birthday<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/f8bad210de9d534bda73e8f73d8e5569e414724f/medium/img-21082015-164637-2.png?1441286809" class="size_m justify_left border_" />As a company, we invest most of our time studying customer experiences of companies that span hospitality, financial services and insurance, well-being, personal development and technology. But, what about non-profits? How do they support their "customers?"<br><br>Over the last few years my company has looked for opportunities to give back in ways that match our values. One organization that stood out in our research was the <a contents="Unstoppable Foundation" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://myunstoppablechallenge.org/Tony-Bodoh-International-2015">Unstoppable Foundation</a>. <br><br>Founder, Cynthia Kersey, works with her team to build sustainable villages in Africa. This means they provide education, sustainable farming, fresh water sources, education and income generation. In other words, they take a systems approach to solving the problems families face rather than just fixing a touchpoint that is painful.<br><br>I had the opportunity to talk with Cynthia a few weeks ago and was impressed with the progress she and the Unstoppable Foundation are making. As a result of that, I decided to throw extra support behind them. So, in celebration of my 40th birthday this month, my company and are matching donations that are made through our campaign page. Our goal is to build two sustainable villages. If you would love to be part of this, or just to learn more about the <a contents="Unstoppable Foundation," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://myunstoppablechallenge.org/Tony-Bodoh-International-2015">Unstoppable Foundation,</a> go to the following link. <a contents="http://myunstoppablechallenge.org/Tony-Bodoh-International-2015&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://myunstoppablechallenge.org/Tony-Bodoh-International-2015">http://myunstoppablechallenge.org/Tony-Bodoh-International-2015 </a>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/38370242015-08-30T22:22:35-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00Why Actionable Insights Fail to Drive Action<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/4d7d0be240cb0b9b92e1013467da4f4cba0d9ff9/small/bmliterth.jpg?1400791240" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Do you ever find yourself feeling the frustration of discovering great customer experience insights that could really impact your company's success metrics, but you can't get executives to take action? Maybe you invested an all-nighter in exhaustedly preparing the slides. Or, maybe you had that pit in your stomach when you missed your child's ballgame because you were on calls trying to convince people to listen. Maybe you've gone to bed at night feeling defeated because you know what the problem is, but no one seems to be listening?<br><br>You're not alone. I've been there.<br><br>I clearly remember how In one Fortune 500 company, I was elated when I discovered the causes of $500 millions in attrition. The middle managers I was supporting were excited to bring it to their leaders, but they insisted the slides have more graphs, charts, statistics and numbers. They said it had to be, "bulletproof." Apparently, that was the only way we would influence action. So I stayed late at night and missed my daughters' dance classes to make the slides.<br><br>I went along with it and made excuses to myself and my family about how this was so important and I rationalized it because I "knew" that this time would be different. When my wife rolled her eyes, I pushed down that uneasy feeling in my gut and assured her that it would really change things this time. It had been three hard years of long hours of analysis coming up with good solid insights that produced little action from the operational teams. In the past, with each actionable insight we discovered, we were made to feel useless because we were told that the number of customers affected was not big enough to merit an investment. We needed something bigger.<br><br>This time it was big. $500 million a year big.<br><br>I would like to say we had success, but instead, after several weeks of attempted meetings and little executive attention alone with missed family dinners, we were directed to put the findings aside because there was no way to take action on them. I felt broken.<br><br>This was a low for me. I almost gave up. I struggled for weeks through the lack of motivation and then through the anger that I had given up so much and missed so much of my kids' lives in exchange for being ignored by the very executives who said they wanted my help.<br><br>When I started to get re-energized I began to ask a different question. "What motivates people to invest in something?" <br><br>That's when I stumbled upon some experiments that were done with charities. The sicentists found that people would be more empathetic and give nearly twice as much when they are told the story of one "victim" versus hearing statistical information about a tragic situation. Priming donors with statistics engaged their rational brain and actually blocked their emotions from engaging in empathy. But, if people could relate to the victim and they felt like they could solve the problem, they would invest nearly double in the cause.<br><br>That was the moment of awakening for me. <br><br>I thought, "We need a cause. We need a victim. But, we also have to do the statistical analysis to find what will really drive improvement for the company. We have to tell the story of just one customer and we need to demonstrate how they were a victim in the situation. This might move executives emotionally so they pay attention and invest resources to fix the problems."<br><br>After a few attempts, I discovered the key elements that needed to be on a single slide that would tell the story of a customer "and thousands" like him or her" in a way that immediately moved executives into a state of empathy and action. It was refreshing to see the company take action and invest millions in solving problems that generated larger returns. <br><br>In one particular case, the CMO of the company walked in unannounced to a meeting. He sat down and looked at our story slide. Within a few moments, he looked up and said, "This happened to my wife the other day. What do we need to do to fix it?" Before we left the room the CMO sent emails with directives for a number of his leaders. Within weeks, over $1.2 million was invested in the first stage of the solution.<br><br>Remember, actionable insights will not drive action alone. You need to tell a story. Your customers are relying on you to tell their story.<br><br>In order to help more companies help their leaders take action, I created a course called "Storytelling with Your Data" based on my discoveries and had the opportunity to share it with clients as well as the executives and TDWI in Boston last year. It made an impact on several of the attendees. <a contents="Contact me" data-link-label="Contact" data-link-type="page" href="/contact">Contact me</a> if you know someone who would benefit from the course.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/38065562015-08-06T13:43:55-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00I Dare You to Wait Until 2020<span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/0b5bba71a1e4c416f10d9ba64b3d7d5e750a3cb7/small/past-present-and-future-signpost-showing-evolution-destiny-or-aging-zjmvn-pd.jpg?1438885494" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Over the last week I have seen an increase in reporting on various research findings that state customer experience will be the primary differentiator, even more than price, by somewhere between 2016 and 2020.<br><br>If you believe that, I have some REALLY bad news. The future is here.<br><br>Take for instance what a family friend posted on Facebook just yesterday:<br><br>"Tried a new restaurant today. I had read a review of it and looked up the menu online. After sitting down in the uncomfortable booth, being served water by a very hip bartender who was too cool to even make eye contact, looking over the unappealing menu and being completely ignored by all other staff for 10 minutes E and I took ourselves over to the Loving Pie Company and had a fabulous lunch. I highly recommend it if you're looking for cozy atmosphere and great food!"<br><br>Hotels and restaurants have been competing on service for decades but with the advent of TripAdvisor and Yelp, that competition intensified. Instead of people having a bad experience before they switch brands, they read about other's experiences and decided which company they would not use. Hotels and restaurants don't even have a first chance to make the first impression on perspective guests.<br><br>Angie's List does the same thing for a variety of small business owners. Product review sites that are found on HomeDepot.com or Bestbuy.com are examples of where product competition stiffening based on customer experience. Mobile apps, banking and insurance industries have review sites too. These sites are not new, they've have been around for years.<br><br>I know some of you may think that I am handpicking industries and you can dismiss it because your industry doesn't have a centralized online product or service review site. Maybe you think that business-to-business sales are different.<br><br>They're not.<br><br>When I was responsible for building the analytical programs for Fortune 1000 companies as early as 2000, I insisted that vendors allow me to talk to other customers before I purchased. I went to industry conferences and had conversations over lunch or dinner about which vendors were really good and which ones to avoid. In fact, because I knew how important that information was for my decision-making process, I offered to speak to prospective clients on behalf of vendors I used. <br><br>One company that I did several prospective client interviews for was Clarabridge, a provider of customer experience intelligence software. Their team was amazing when I worked with them and they helped me be successful. Of course I was going to share my opinion--of the good things and the challenges. Several of the prospective clients who I spoke with are customers of Clarabridge even today because the team continues to deliver as well as, or better than, they did back when I was their client.<br><br>Here's the point: You have to closely examine your industry, your customer base and your prospects--especially those prospects who don't purchase--to really understand how often and in what situations you are already competing on service. If you're lagging, you need to catch up fast. If your industry is in the early stages, move now to take the lead in the market so you set the customer experience standard.</span>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/38045542015-08-05T11:17:05-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00Investing in a 5-Star Rating<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/123dee56ce513aaa4917148f3130a2dbb3865c7c/small/dreamstime-xs-10361105-2.jpg?1400774135" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Customers have an innate sense of fairness. They may not be able to explicitly tell you before they have an experience what is fair, but they absolutely will let you know after the fact what was or was not fair.<br><br>When we analyze online ratings for companies, products or services we find that consistently, the concept of fairness arises at the mid-point of the rating scale. Let's say for instance, the site uses a five-point rating scale. In this case, customers who select a "3" on their overall rating tend to describe the transaction or experience as being a fair value. It was what they expected for what they paid. It was worth the experience, but they are not likely to pay for it again.<br><br>Does this make sense?<br><br>Customers believe it was fair, but they explicitly say they do not intend to be a repeat customer. Absolutely!<br><br>Traditional "rational" economics dictates that businesses should extract every penny of value from each transaction for maximum profitability. This may work with purely rational customer. But, it fails to realize how real, irrational, emotional humans behave.<br><br>Real humans expect fairness. But, in today's abundant market situation, fairness does not create loyal customers. <br><br>Loyalty requires trust. Trust is an emotion and has been scientifically traced to a specific, predictable cascade of chemicals in the human body coupled with the right environment. <br><br>Dr. Paul Zak describes in his book, "<a contents="The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Molecule-How-Trust-Works/dp/0142196908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438789192&sr=8-1&keywords=moral+molecule">The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works</a>," that in the right environment, when oxytocin is released, it can trigger the release of serotonin and dopamine which are feel-good chemicals. This results in feelings of empathy and pro-social actions that lead the recipient of the action to trust the actor. <br><br>Consider it in non-scientific terms. You are about to purchase something. Maybe you have your heart set on a new tv. You really want it and you know that the price is fair. <br><br>The sales person who has been assisting you is waiting for your answer and can sense your desire and your hesitation. He then says, "I will tell you what, I will throw in delivery for free and give you $100 off installation." <br><br>WOW! You smile and say, "Ok, I will buy it."<br><br>The sales person could have let you debate the decision to buy the tv at the set price, but instead, at the right moment, he acted in a pro-social way. He gave you something that was more than fair. It was something free. Something special that you may believe is just for you.<br><br>And, you bought it. Literally.<br><br>Economically, the sales person gave up some revenue and profitability on this transaction. But, what did your company receive in return?<br><br>Assuming the delivery and installation go well, and the company has the right mechanisms in place, you will tell others about the experience you had. You will write a review of the product and the store. You may even bring others into the store. You will likely come back for the next purchase you want to make. You might even be blinded by the memory of this positive experience in such a way that you either don't look to compare prices on the next purchase or you rationalize the higher prices because of the experiences you have at this store. In your mind, its worth the premium.<br><br>This happens every day.<br><br>When we examine the 4 and 5 star ratings on online review sites, we see that customers have had a multiple multi-sensory positive experiences and that they will either rationalize higher prices or blindly commit to future purchases that they often follow through on.<br><br>When you invest in being "more than fair" you invest in a relationship. And, the early stages of that budding relationship can often involve a 5-star review of your company, products or services online, in the exact place that other prospective customers are researching where they will make a purchase.<br><br>But, there is one key that you have to remember. The pro-social action that leads to loyalty cannot just be another sale. It has to be associated with the moment that empathy is shown by the sales person and the "gift" that is given must be made explicit so that the customer can see the pro-social act and reciprocate accordingly. Timing and awareness make the difference for your investment in the gift to pay off.<br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/38018452015-08-03T17:45:29-05:002017-01-15T21:34:06-06:00Stop Saying You Know Your Customer Because You Don't<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/38213cad328745565d40059188cc1c1c9f8d3799/small/img-9357-406.jpg?1438642481" class="size_s justify_left border_" />I had to stop reading so I could vent a bit. <br><br>Today, I have been doing research for my book, <em>The Customer Within. </em>While I was reading literature from companies that provide software and services in the customer experience arena I was shocked at how they continuously used the phrase "know your customer." In doing so, they were espousing how much better the customer's experience is when you know your customer.<br><br>I agree with that concept in principle, but they went too far.<br><br>They reasoned that if you have enough information ABOUT your customer you KNOW your customer. <br><br>That is ludicrous!<br><br>As a history major I studied hundreds or thousands of historical figures. I knew lots about them. But I never knew a single one of them.<br><br>As a customer experience analyst and consultant I've read millions of pieces of feedback but I don't know the authors of these comments. I just know something about them and how they may have felt at a particular moment in time.<br><br>Just because we can peak into the lives of other people on social media platforms and record their actions on our apps or websites and we have their purchase history, does not mean we know them. It means we may know some things about them, but that is far different than knowing them.<br><br>If you read an article about your favorite celebrity in the latest issue of a popular magazine and she reveals her favorite movie, do you know her? No! You simply know something about her. Stalkers claim they know the celebrity when, in fact, they only know a lot about her. <br><br>Can we stop assuming that we know each other just because we know about each other? This will be the start to acknowledging that we don't yet have a relationship. And, that will allow us to approach each other as equals with integrity as two people who want to get to know each other.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/37999882015-08-02T08:26:54-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00Why Customer Experiences Won't Improve Soon<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/7f20187101380ea4b3f8ae77fcd9a50cd6991c88/small/id-100233296.jpg?1393195900" class="size_s justify_left border_" />We all want to believe the predictions that this is the year customer experience management breaks through and customer experiences finally improve. It would make our lives easier and our businesses would be thriving because people would be demanding our expert services. But, I don't see that happening anytime soon for three reasons.<br><br>First, consider the belief systems of the executives in most companies. Many have MBA's and are trained to think from a rational economic perspective. If consumer demand rises, the executives promote raising prices. After all it's fair to get whatever the market will allow. Economist Richard Thaler provides a relevant example in his book,<em> <a contents="Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.amazon.com/Misbehaving-Behavioral-Economics-Richard-Thaler/dp/0393080943/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438521528&sr=1-1&keywords=misbehaving+the+making+of+behavioral+economics">Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics</a></em><a contents="Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.amazon.com/Misbehaving-Behavioral-Economics-Richard-Thaler/dp/0393080943/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438521528&sr=1-1&keywords=misbehaving+the+making+of+behavioral+economics">.</a><br><br>Researchers asked consumers to consider a hardware store that was selling snow shovels for $15. The morning after a large snow storm, the store raised the price os shovels to $20. 82% of consumers responded that this was unfair. However, 76% of MBA students thought it was acceptable. This is clearly a customer experience issue that would show up in feedback.<br><br>Second, consider the fact that these same executives demand the promise of an ROI before investing in customer experience improvement technology or initiatives. The challenge here is that, if they come from the rational economic perspective demonstrated above, they will often either dismiss any prospect of improved revenues from better customer experiences as anomalies and not worth the risk of investing in, or, they will immediately focus on raising the prices so that they can harvest the economic value of the newly improved experience. <br><br>In the latter case, their focus is not really on the customer experience, but on the higher prices which often causes them to promise their leaders or the board of directors improved revenues in an unrealistic timeframe. When they miss their targets they don't blame their myopic focus on higher prices, they declare the value of improved customer experiences to be hoax and they cast aside the progress that was made. They proceed to tell other executives of the failure of customer experience which deepens their resolve to a rational economic approach to business.<br><br>Third, these executives fail to see how they live a double life. As executives they expect customers to behave rationally to the point that the customers should understand that lower prices mean longer waits, potential quality issues, etc. However, when the executive leaves the office and becomes a consumer, he or she acts with the same irrationality. <br><br>He gets mad at the waiter who forgets to customize his meal. He yells at the call center representative who put him on hold for too long. He posts a scathing review of the hotel that reserved the queen bed instead of the king bed for him. As a result, he swears he will never do business again with these companies and goes to their competitors. He acts like an irrational customer instead of an impartial, rational executive.<br><br>In short, the advancements in higher quality customer experiences are not being held back by the lack of funding, or technology, or expertise. I believe the key obstacle is the belief that executives hold that customers should behave rationally and those who don't are simply an anomaly to that can be ignored.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/37966552015-07-30T16:44:20-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00Forget Customer Centricity When Innovating<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/39c1e744265be6e7afa99ed6b10709273d1d9c24/small/handbox4.jpg?1400788880" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Even the best executives and companies get the innovation process backwards much of the time. They see their company and its products as the center of the universe and they do all of their customer research from that perspective. Think about the sales numbers, the satisfaction scores and the dozens of other key performance indicators (KPIs) that show up on the corporate dashboard. Yes, they need to focus on these, but this is where executive influence over innovation research tends to go wrong.<br><br>We are long past the days of product-centricity and I won't buy into "customer-centricity" because that's not realistic or pragmatic. <br><br>Think about the latter for a moment. Your customers would tell you that they would be happier if your products were free. But, you'd be out of a job, if not out of business in a heartbeat if you put their desire for "free products" at the center of your business operations. And before you point out the Freemium model, let me clarify that I am not talking about that. Even in that model, someone pays your bills. My example of "free products" may seem extreme, but there are plenty of things your customers would like from your company that are just not feasible.<br><br>So, realistically, how should one approach customer experience research for the purpose of innovating?<br><br>The simple answer is: from the perspective of the phenomenon of the experience. <br><br>The experience is not the customer. Nor is it the company. The experience is evoked in the body-mind of the customer when she is aware of an interaction--in the moment or as a memory--with your product, service, brand, etc. <br><br>The experience is the center of the research. Not the customer. Not the product.<br><br>Here is one example of how to start your customer experience-based innovation research.<br><br>Instead of asking customers why they stopped using your product or canceled their subscriptions to your services, take a sample set of customers who behaved this way. Then find all of the emails, comments, call center notes and other communications that they provided to you in the previous 90 to 120 days. Examine what they asked for, the challenges they had, and what habits were underlying these behaviors. <br><br>Patterns will emerge from the data and you will likely discover the real reason they left. If you look deep enough, you may even discover the triggers that you can listen for in feedback from existing customers that indicates that they too are on the path to becoming a "former customer. When you have these insights, you can create innovation initiatives to lower your attrition rate and improve your loyalty. <br><br>You will have the desired impact on your dashboard's KPIs when you stop focusing your research on the KPIs. Quantitative measures can only tell you how many times something happened. They cannot help you understand why something happened.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/37872012015-07-22T13:29:55-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00Ignore it if You Want, But You'll Hurt Your Contact Center<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/4fd7dd596652ce66bc10ce9c920ed3759af5ff9b/small/cour.jpg?1400444264" class="size_s justify_left border_" />Have you ever had one of those moments when you look back and "discover" a catalyst for change in your life or your business?<br><br>While doing research for my upcoming book, "The Customer Within," I found an article I read in 2011 that caused a profound shift in how my company does customer experience analysis and how we make recommendations to our clients. It was an article about the research Twitter conducted measuring the ebbs and flows of mood throughout the day and week. The researchers found that tweets were more positive on weekends compared to weekdays and they were more positive in the morning than later in the day. They concluded that it was related to the sleep patterns and potentially work related stress of the individuals posting.<br><br>This changed how we approached research as a company because it caused me to face the reality that no matter how good the processes, policies, procedures and products are, my clients have to focus on improving their people. I thought, "If biology can have this effect on tweets, it must be impacting customer experiences too."<br><br>I went to work analyzing tens of thousands of customer surveys from contact centers around the world and confirmed that there indeed are patterns throughout the day and across the week that contribute substantially to the survey scores. I could actually see how the scores moved by several points up or down throughout the day. And, if more surveys were taken in particular period of the day than usual, it could have a noticeable impact on the scores for the day, week or even the month. <br><br>Since then, we have worked to recommend changes in the first 4 Ps of processes, policies, procedures and products. However, the most significant change occurs when we work with the fifth P: people.<br><br>As a result of this insight, last year we introduced <a contents="Beast Mode Live" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.beastmodelive.com">Beast Mode Live</a>. It combines the mental focus and emotional resilience training that Dave Austin, a leading mental performance coach for professional athletes and Olympians, created with the research I have done over the last 15 years related to customer behaviors and beliefs. <br><br>We realized that any training that helps contact center employees has to go beyond service basics, technical training and reinforcing the metrics that matter to develop a shift in mindset and the ability to reset their emotions instantly.<br><br>As an example, while on a challenging call, employees who have internal alerts to make them aware of their spiraling emotions and an available mental trigger to bring them back to focus on what they can do, not what is out of their control, they are more successful in solving problems and make more sales while providing better service. The trifecta! This type of training supports immediate improvement and long-term growth in the employee which has a substantial impact on her morale and engagement, the customer's experience and relationship, and the bottom line of the company.<br><br>Positive customer experiences depend deeply on employees who maintain a positive emotional perspective and an open mindset that is focused on what is possible.<br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/37806602015-07-16T16:25:49-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00SPOILER ALERT: Customer Experience Redefined!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/a6ed9385a547ccd9f70c9e89f7203c9cc227659f/small/img-8463-91.jpg?1437082182" class="size_s justify_left border_" />My daughters begged me to take them to the new Pixar film, "Inside Out." It sounded like a fun evening after a long day of customer experience analysis and training program development.<br><br>WOW! <br><br>I have always been a fan of Pixar's films because of the many levels that the audience can engage with them and learn from them. My daughters were entertained and they took away some pretty advanced ideas that I wish I had known when I was their age. I was definitely entertained. But, I was also intrigued.<br><br>You see, in the movie, Joy discovers that she is not sufficient for the mental and emotional health of Riley, the young girl who Joy animates. Riley needs the other emotions to take control at points to keep her safe, to help her process new challenges in life and to be aware of opportunities. When Joy refuses to let Sadness have her turn, Riley takes a turn for the worse.<br><br>What I loved is that the movie brilliantly shows that an interaction can involve multiple emotions. If we focus on one moment it may be Joy, but if we turn the clock back a few moments, we may find sadness or anger. This is how we complex humans really work. <br><br>An experience is not the sum or or product of the interactions we have, it relates to the moment we are focused on remembering right now. Riley had happy memories, but turning back the clock, we see that the happiness comes out of her most challenging and sad moments. It is this complexity that helps her grow to embrace all of her emotions.<br><br>Do a <a contents="Google search for the definition of customer experience" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.google.com/search?num=100&site=&source=hp&q=definition+of+customer+experience&oq=definition+of+customer+experience&gs_l=hp.3...1593.6141.0.6468.34.15.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1.1.64.hp..34.0.0.0.RkmX883rVtk">Google search for the </a><a contents="definition of customer experience" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.google.com/search?num=100&site=&source=hp&q=definition+of+customer+experience&oq=definition+of+customer+experience&gs_l=hp.3...1593.6141.0.6468.34.15.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1.1.64.hp..34.0.0.0.RkmX883rVtk">definition of customer experience</a> and you will see that most of the experts out there consider the customer's experience to be the sum of or the product of all the interactions that a customer has with a company. This is just not true. Like Riley, the experience you are having in this moment depends on what you remember in this moment and not on all of the moments of interaction. <br><br>Studies show that when individuals are primed with different emotions they can recall the same interaction in different ways. Customer experiences are highly dependent on person's state during the moment that the interactions are being remembered, not on all of the moments of the actual interaction. We must move away from our simplistic ideas of human experiences. We must embrace the reality of how human beliefs, biology and behaviors impact our experiences at the moment of interaction and at the moment we recall those interactions.<br><br>Thank you Pixar for making it easier to explain the complexity of human experience.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/37520002015-06-23T14:36:07-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00Forget About Solving Every Customer Experience Problem<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/06981b37e3550ca8f34d414d686f1a1c563e8ddf/medium/img-9645-88.jpg?1435088142" class="size_m justify_left border_" />If you've bought into the hype that you need to have a perfect customer journey and that you need to solve every problem, then what I'm about to write is not for you. It would be heresy for me to say this during a keynote address at any of the major customer experience events. But, I'm going to say it here.<br><br>Too many people have bought into the idea that Customer Experience Management (CEM) practices should exactly mirror that of the Quality Management movement. They think we can apply the blanket solutions that worked in the quality sector to the customer experience sector. They're wrong. <br><br>Of course, we can and should take the thinking methods and leverage the tools that allow all employees to engage in the processes of making better products and services, but we have to make some distinctions. <br><br>Machines wear down. Machines break. Machines need to realigned by external forces. Machines react to the programming or design without question.<br><br>Humans are not machines. Humans are resilient and can bounce back from challenges. Humans can grow from the very things that threaten their survival. Humans can synthesize a positive outcome from negative conditions. Humans are creative and can change the conditions they find themselves in or reinterpret what those conditions mean.<br><br>The core difference between human and machine is our ability to pay attention.<br><br>Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has studied human attention for 40 years and says,<br><br><em>"The content and quality of our lives is determined by what we pay attention to and how we pay attention to it."</em><br><br>Think about that in relation to your customers' experiences. The content and quality of their experiences are determined by what they pay attention to and how they pay attention to it.<br><br>The key to improving your customer experiences and likely increasing your sales, improving your loyalty and expanding your profit margins is understanding what your customers are paying attention to and how they are paying attention to it.<br><br>Are you really listening to your customers? <br><br>Sure, you have a customer service team that diligently works to resolve issues. But are you really listening?<br><br>Can you detect the hidden language patterns, the tone of the conversation, the nuances that distinguish the difference between a customer who will:<ul> <li>Buy your top-tier product vs. your entry level product;</li> <li>Be likely to give you a positive review vs. a mediocre review; or,</li> <li>Be moved to become an advocate for your product or brand if you make the changes you are planning for?</li>
</ul>You don't need to focus on solving every problem or creating a perfect customer environment. You need to understand what your customers are paying attention to and how they are paying attention to it. Then, go, solve those problems.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/37450762015-06-17T02:57:47-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00Is Your Company Fundamentally Flawed?<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/57f56018b988a571beca41b460871d696506607f/medium/red-broken-link-shows-insecurity-and-disconnection-zyy314dd.jpg?1434527545" class="size_m justify_left border_none" alt="" />"What are we doing wrong?" is one of the most common questions that I hear from my clients who want to know how to improve their customers' experiences. They are typically hoping that our company will find a silver bullet in the form of a broken servicing process or a unmet desire for a specific product feature hidden in the language of the customers' emails and surveys. But, the real problem is most often not in found in these areas.<br><br>The real problem is evident in the question the executive team is asking.<br><br>The leaders I work with are intelligent people. They hire smart people. They design good processes and great products. They care deeply enough about their customers as is evident when they invest in our services to learn how they can improve their customers' experiences.<br><br>The real problem is not in the company. The problem is in how the executives think about their company. It is hidden in their beliefs. It is buried deep in their assumptions.<br><br>Many of these leaders believe that there is some fundamental flaw in their product or service that, if they fix it, they will see sales increase, satisfaction will rise and loyalty and advocacy will grow.<br><br>What they don't see, because they are too close to the situation, is that the problem is in their beliefs. They are so focused on their belief that the company did something wrong to cause a poor customer experience that they never ask an obvious question.<br><br>"Are we attracting the ideal customers who will love the experiences that our products and services evoke?"<br><br>When executives shift their focus from their belief that their products and services are flawed toward the question of what type of customers they are attracting, it opens their minds to the possibility that maybe they are thinking about growth in an unsustainable way.<br><br>Is growth really about attracting more new customers who may not be like the existing ideal customers to the same products and services that have sold well in the past? <br><br>Or, is it about selling complementary products and services to the existing customer base? <br><br>Or, is it about educating prospects who are not yet acting like the existing customer base up to a level where they are thinking and behaving like the ideal customers who are already being served impeccably?<br><br>Or, is it about creating a different version of the products and services that are currently offered so that they are relevant to the new customer base that the company wants to attract?<br><br>Most companies are not fundamentally flawed. The leadership of the company just needs to ask themselves and their team different questions that challenge their current beliefs and assumptions.Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/32349572014-10-15T22:28:50-05:002014-10-15T22:28:50-05:00From Corporate Life to Entrepreneur - Lessons LearnedI had the pleasure of being interviewed by Dr. Thomas O'Grady on his <a contents="Life Unsettled podcast " data-link-label="" data-link-type="" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/10-stress-corporate-or-entepreneur/id913227356?i=319288926&mt=2" target="_blank">Life Unsettled podcast </a>. The podcast continues to gain followers and reached #2 on the New and Noteworthy list in iTunes. I recommend that you listen to several of the interviews that Dr. O'Grady has done. They have great content and provide deep insights.<br><br>Dr. O'Grady asked me to elaborate on the experiences that led to my move from corporate life to the entrepreneurial lifestyle. I shared the very personal story of how I nearly died from health conditions brought on by stress related to my job. It led to my decision to leave Corporate America and start my own business. I learned to manage my stress along the way. <br><br>Then, a year into my own venture, when I was about to lose it all, my family and I had to flee our house in the midst of a flood that threatened to take everything I had spent the previous 10 years acquiring. The story unfolds with a few of the key lessons that I now turn to daily as I continue to grow and learn to master life.<br><br>While this is not about customer experience, it is about human experience. And, if we truly intend to put our customers at the center of our businesses, it is helpful to be aware of and in tune with the challenges of the human experiences our customers are having in their lives every day.<br><br>If you listen, please leave a comment on the iTunes podcast page. Let Dr. O'Grady and I know what you learned, appreciated or even what you would challenge.<br><br><a contents="Listen here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/10-stress-corporate-or-entepreneur/id913227356?i=319288926&mt=2" target="_blank">Listen here</a><br><br>Dr. O'Grady did a great summary of our interview on the following page:<br><a contents="Visit the Life Unsettled website" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.lifeunsettled.com/10-stress-can-relate-learn-redirection-tony-bodoh/">Visit the Life Unsettled website</a>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/31346812014-08-13T08:55:16-05:002014-08-13T08:55:16-05:00Creating a Stronger Customer Experience by Listening - Podcast - Part 3 of 3We continue our Voice of the Customer series with leadership and employee engagement expert Kayla Barrett of <a contents="Organization Impact" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.organizationimpact.com">Organization Impact</a>. In part three I share how to take the customer experience message to your team of employees.
<p>In segment one, we defined customer experience and why is matters to businesses who want to succeed. You can listen to the episode <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/creating-a-stronger-customer-experience-by-listening-podcast-part-1-of-3">here</a>. Then in segment two we described how leaders can gather data that provides insight into how to understand and take action with the feedback your customers provide. You can listen to the episode <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/creating-a-stronger-customer-experience-by-listening-podcast-part-2-of-3">here</a>.</p>
<p>Today’s focus helps leaders learn how to help your team (employees) go beyond customer service. In today’s marketplace, customer service is not enough. A remarkable experience must occur and to accomplish this you must ensure the employee and customer experience are linked together.</p>
<p>Key ideas from our 3rd conversation:</p>
<ul> <li>Communicate your Vision to the team by identifying specifically what it is your want your customers to experience. Identify the emotions you want customers to have then equip the team to evoke those emotions that in turn impact new buying behaviors.</li>
</ul>
<ul> <li>If you want your customers to engage the way you want them to your employees must have a similar experience with the organization as well (ie: have used the product or services you provide, know what it feels like to be a customer).</li>
</ul>
<ul> <li>The employee’s mindset determines what the employee will do for the customer. If they think they can resolve an issue, they will do everything they can to do so. If they believe it’s hopeless, they will never really give it a try.</li>
</ul>
<ul> <li>Management mindset matters too. If they are afraid of customer complaints and viral complaints online or by word of mouth, they will focus on the problem, not on the experience they would love customers to have.</li>
</ul>
<ul> <li>Leaders should study their customer and employee feedback and identify one thing at a time that they can do to deliver that experience (fixing a problem or creating a new experience)</li>
</ul>
<ul> <li>Finally, they should focus on successes and amplify throughout the organization. Focusing here and rewarding success is often far more effective for change than penalizing the failure.</li>
</ul>26:45Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/31248922014-08-07T11:51:09-05:002017-01-15T21:34:05-06:00The Dark Mind of Your Customer<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/131799/d803666752dd064f19fa829f0b3492e17cab112d/small/technology-background-913-1649.jpg?1407430159" class="size_s justify_left border_none" alt="" style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-right: 15px;" />We live under such illusions. We think that what we perceive and are aware of is all, or at least most, of what actually is. How wrong we are.<br> <br>I was reminded of this fact when I was perusing the science section of a book store with my oldest daughter recently. She was looking for a book that would be an interesting read. Mind you, she is turning 11 soon but she was intrigued by the quantum physics books. (Yes, I learn much from her.)<br> <br>As we browsed, she came upon a book, “The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy , and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality.” She read the summary of the book on the back cover. Her eyes lit up. <br> <br>“Daddy, I want this book! I want to learn about the 96 percent of the universe we cannot see.”<br> <br>It got me thinking about how much information is all around us that we never experience. According to research there are approximately 11 million bits of information bombarding our senses in every given second. However, our conscious awareness can only process 126 bits of information in the same time frame. <br> <br>How much are we missing? A ton.<br> <br>Consider these facts when you are designing or redesigning the environment your customer journeys through. Most of the effort you put in will be missed by most of your customers. Which elements have an impact and which one's don’t? You find out by asking your customers what they loved, as much as you ask them what they would like improved.<br> <br>In reality your customers can only tell you what they are aware of, and that is very little. So use that as your starting point. You learn from what they think they experienced and why they think they experienced it. Then you work back to the causes of those experiences to determine which ones were in the environment and which were in the minds of your customers.<br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/30832712014-07-17T16:13:22-05:002014-07-17T16:13:22-05:00Creating a Stronger Customer Experience by Listening - Podcast - Part 2 of 3<p style="margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);">I was interviewed by Kayla Barrett, President of <a contents="Organization Impact" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.organizationimpact.com" target="_blank">Organization Impact</a>, for part two of our joint podcast series. I share what businesses can do with the information they receive or gather from customers. You can listen to Part One before listening to this week’s episode.<br><br>***<br><br>Customers reveal their core needs and desires to our business through a hidden language. There are cues, likes and dislikes that influence their buying behavior. When companies understand this language, they can create a unique customer experience the competition cannot replicate. And a new level of loyalty follows.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);">Customer feedback will likely reveal both short and long term issues to address. Businesses will gain credibility when they respond quickly to those issues that are easy fixes or changes. For more complex issues a more strategic approach must be used to determine how those issues can be addressed. In addition, it’s important for business leaders to listen to the feedback from the perspective of the customer – not from the business itself.</p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);">Key Ideas from my 2nd conversation with Kayla:</p>
<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 35px 20px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"> <li style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;">Emotions dictate how your customers think about their impressions of your service experience.</li> <li style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;">There is no set formula for the amount of data a business needs before taking action. Each point of feedback must be considered in context to the business.</li> <li style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;">For businesses starting with this process, read every piece of feedback to gain perspective on your customer’s impressions.</li> <li style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;">The research process typically follows a 2-hour, 2-day, 2-week and 2-month timeframes depending on how in-depth you want to understand what your customers think and feel.</li> <li style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;">Transformational success in your business will often involve a change in both thinking and actions of every person on your team.</li> <li style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word;">A business leader must be very clear on the metric he wants to move forward to gain the best ROI from any customer experience initiative. Start with the end in mind.</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(68, 68, 68);">Voice of the Customer Series – <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://tonybodoh.com/blog/blog/creating-a-stronger-customer-experience-by-listening-podcast-part-1-of-3" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(1, 75, 140); font-weight: 700; transition: opacity 200ms ease-in-out, color 200ms ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: opacity 200ms ease-in-out, color 200ms ease-in-out;" target="_blank" title="Voice of the Customer - Part One">Part One Episode</a></p>26:50Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/30270892014-06-19T14:40:43-05:002014-06-19T14:40:43-05:00Creating a Stronger Customer Experience by Listening - Podcast - Part 1 of 3In the first of a 3-part series, I was interviewed by Kayla Barrett of <a contents="Organization Impact" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.organizationimpact.com" target="_blank">Organization Impact</a> to discuss the business benefits of listening to the voice of your customer to create a strong customer experience. Kayla wanted to understand more about the hidden language customers speak that reveal their core needs and desires from a business. She also wanted to know how companies that understand this language create a unique customer experience that the competition cannot replicate.<br><br>In today’s market products themselves are commodities and it is difficult for businesses to distinguish themselves. It is no longer about the transaction but rather the ongoing conversations with your customer that identify their unique needs and desires. Those needs will translate to buying decisions which, if your business understands, can tweak, modify or provide the specific services to them.<br><br>How can leaders can get started developing a Customer Experience focus?<ol> <li>Notice what you are noticing – listen to what is being said by customers and employees. What adjectives are coming up over and over? Those adjectives reveal the mindset of your employees and customers.</li> <li>Clarify the vision of the experience you want to evoke with your customers. Tony includes a practical exercise you can use is to help you get started immediately.</li> <li>Find ways to understand the behavior of your customers – sales, how long since their last purchase, buying patterns, the cycle of your product or service (if applicable). Note: this does not require a major investment.</li> <li>Start with what you can analyze today. Various methods are available to garner customer feedback including surveys, call center notes, or as simple as an on-site capture of daily customer interactions and purchases.</li>
</ol>Listen to our discussion and be sure to visit <a contents="Organization Impact" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.organizationimpact.com" target="_blank">Organization Impact</a>.21:56Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/30268762014-06-19T13:38:51-05:002014-06-19T13:38:51-05:00When does the customer experience start?Customer experience does not start when the prospect clicks through to your website or walks through your door. The experience begins when they first become aware of your ads. I use the word “aware” intentionally. Nothing is experienced until we are consciously aware of it or the feeling it evokes within us.<br><br>If you have an online marketing campaign you know that there are various ways of measuring the eyeballs that view your content. These metrics are often confused with awareness. As an example, in another business (<a href="http://www.LeaderBridge.net">www.LeaderBridge.net</a>) my partner and I post business growth insights several times a week on our business Facebook page. We see the number of people who were exposed to it. What this really means is that we see the number of people who may have seen it in their newsfeed, but we have no idea how many people actually read any portion or all of the post.<br><br>Does that mean we should ignore the numbers?<br><br>Not necessarily. This is why I used the term “aware” in my opening paragraph. <br><br>We see thousands of advertisements, logos and other marketing content daily and most of it is never raised to the level of our consciousness. There is a part of our brain, the reticular activation system (RAS), that determines whether something is allowed to reach our conscious awareness or not. The RAS is programmed primarily to keep us out of danger. But it also alerts us to possible rewards in our environment. This is why the RAS plays a critical role in whether the marketing content that companies produce actually ever gets noticed.<br><br>Over time ads that eventually make it to our conscious awareness begin to wane in their effectiveness. They are no longer important enough for the RAS to distract us from where our attention is currently focused. As a result, the ads effectiveness declines and the customer no longer has an experience of the branding or the ad.<br><br>One organization experienced this process and took action to re-engage their customers in a way that attracted much needed attention and eventually caused the ads to go viral. Even I was so moved by it on my first viewing (at least that I am aware of) that I was inspired to write this blog post and share the link.<br><br>Rather than spoil the effect, I will let you read the article and watch the video at this <a contents="animal shelter link" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.upworthy.com/when-their-sad-ads-stopped-working-one-animal-shelter-tried-out-a-new-idea-it-saved-5000-dogs?c=upw1">animal shelter link</a>.<br> <br> Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/30172672014-06-15T14:26:39-05:002014-06-15T14:26:39-05:005 Things Your Father Figure Taught You About Serving CustomersHappy Father’s Day to those of you who are fathers or father figures. <br>Father’s Day is a great time to reflect on transformational customer experience. Doing so may help you take your customer service to a new level.<br> <br>Think back to some of those positive transformational moments your father figure guided you through. <br> <br>Some of these experiences were undoubtedly filled with powerfully positive emotions. Fun times, great celebrations or holiday memories leave an indelible mark that we can return to year after year to relive. They help us when we need to disconnect or distract ourselves from temporary pain or discouragement by reminding us of the good times.<br> <br>You probably witnessed him engage deeply in a task that was just outside the realm of his ability. In those moments you may have seen him lose track of time and forget the outside world as he struggled to maintain the focus required to hone his skills so he could become more than he ever had been. This modeled for you the reality that growth takes not just an intention, but undivided attention and the expectation of success.<br> <br>He may have helped you define what was meaningful in your life. After clarifying what mattered, it was easier to discover ways to incorporate activities into your life that helped you feel like you were building a legacy. He showed you that significance is greater than either satisfaction or even success although you can find both of these in a life that is given to build something meaningful.<br> <br>It is likely he supported in accomplishing a task that you deemed bigger than yourself. He showed you that you are capable of more than even you believe possible. He gave you the power to know that mastering something is more important than dabbling in many things.<br> <br>Throughout all of this, even though he was not perfect, your father figure was a model of a positive relationship. Your beliefs and habits were formed by the man who was your father figure in so many unknown and inconceivable ways. His guidance and support could even be more powerful in transforming you than the genetic code you were born with.<br> <br>Sometimes our customers need more than a delightful moment. They may need your help to keep them focused on reaching just beyond the skills they know they have so they can become someone more than they ever have been. You may have to help them shape the meaning of an event in their life so they can embrace it and take on the challenge of living a life of significance rather than just satisfaction. They may want to master something and need you to believe in them, just one more time. In all of this, they are going to need someone who they can rely on and someone they can trust.<br> <br>The father figure you celebrate today taught you how to serve your customers. Honor him by acting as he did. Happy Father’s Day!Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/30146652014-06-13T15:47:33-05:002014-06-14T14:04:03-05:00Tony Speaking to Fortune 1000 LeadersTony has been invited to speak to Fortune 1000 leaders at the <a contents="TDWI Executive Summit" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://events.tdwi.org/Events/Boston-Executive-Summit-2014/Sessions/Wednesday/Driving-Cultural-and-Operational-Change-within-an-Organization.aspx" target="_blank">TDWI Executive Summit</a> in Boston on July 23, 2014. He will present the topic, "Driving Cultural and Operational Change within an Organization by Merging Quantitative and Qualitative Data.” Tony will share with the audience how they can bring together their qualitative data from surveys, emails and contact center notes and quantitative data from sales and CRM systems to create insights that can generate a substantial return on investment. Higher sales, greater customer loyalty and new product and service innovations are all possible when new insights are generated from the combined data.<br><br>“I am grateful to be invited to speak with these leaders who represent the largest companies in the world,” said Tony Bodoh in response to the invitation. "The more they understand how to use the data they already have, the more these companies will be able to provide what customers want, with a better value proposition, while earning a greater profit. This will help the company and the consumer."Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/28492242014-04-06T20:17:43-05:002014-06-06T16:44:00-05:00Thinking With The End In Mind, Part I<div aw-variable="value"> </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" width="100%"><tbody> <tr class="article"> <td class="image" style="padding: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" valign="top"> <table align="center" class="floated-none" style="float: none; text-align: center;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><a class="aw-image-link" href="http://tonybodoh.com/" style="color: rgb(40, 153, 215);"><img src="https://hostedimages-cdn.aweber-static.com/k3fte4/thumbs/5266db6e2dd5050ee5b7ffea.jpeg" class="size_orig justify_center border_" alt="Image" height="192" style="margin: auto; width: 128px; height: 192px;" width="128" /></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> <td class="paragraph" style="line-height: 18px;" valign="top"> <div aw-variable="value">
<span class="font_regular">I was recently listening to Stephen Covey's "7 Habits for Managers" on the way to the office. When he shared his principle "Start with the End in Mind" I knew I had to write this article.</span> <p><span class="font_regular">Every week I find myself in conversations with clients or prospects who are struggling with the same problem: They cannot figure out how to show the financial value of improving the customer experience. I remember struggling with this same question early in my career. It can be challenging, as a service professional, to read or listen to customer feedback and not become so emotionally engaged that you just want to solve the problem for the customer. But, solving every problem is not the answer, nor is it profitable.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I typically ask three questions in response to the claim that a client or prospect cannot show financial value for improved customer experience.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">The first question I ask is this, "Did you segment the feedback and isolate customers who reduced or terminated their relationship with you?"</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Most leaders never get past this first question. They admit that they spent their time reading every piece of feedback from every customer, no matter what the customer's behavior after the feedback was. So, the leader has no idea if the "problem" they have identified is actually causing customers to reduce or end their relationship with the company. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Based on my experience, this is where companies need to start their customer feedback analysis. Leaders should first identify a group of customers who have actually terminated their relationship. Then the company should identify the top 5 themes in the commentary (i.e. sales calls, emails, surveys, etc.) they received from those customers weeks or even months before the sales waned. Through this process the leader can develop an understanding of the correlation of problems that potentially lead to the loss of customers.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Leaders that focus their inquiry and efforts on resolving these issues have little challenge with building a case for investment because they can show either a high correlation or a cause of attrition related to the customers' experiences.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">In the next segment, I will share my second question. It takes a similar approach, but is often neglected by companies that analyze their customer feedback.</span></p> </div> </td> </tr>
</tbody></table>Tony Bodoh Internationaltag:tonybodoh.com,2005:Post/25880112013-11-21T16:45:00-06:002022-01-28T09:55:06-06:00Leveraging the Power of Gratitude<div class="definition-parent" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="paragraph" style="line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 12px;"><div aw-variable="value">
<div><span class="font_regular">Have you ever considered the Power of Gratitude?</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">Years ago, several of my friends worked for a hotel. They told me that the week before one of their largest annual events, the event planner informed the hotel's management team that the event would be hosted at a new location in the future years. This was a blow to the hotel.</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">The management team brainstormed. What could they do to save the event?</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">Someone suggested that every employee could express their gratitude to every attendee they met at the event and share how much it meant to have the event at the hotel. The decision was made and all of the employees were asked to participate.</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">Before the three-day event ended, the planner and the members of the board informed the hotel's management that they were so impressed with the staff's gratitude that they would be changing their plans and that they would return the next year.</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">How can you leverage the Power of Gratitude in your business and life?</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">Several years ago I started practicing a daily gratitude exercise. I spend several minutes each morning reviewing what I am grateful that I have an opportunity to create and do in the upcoming day. This exercise focuses me on the good that I am creating in my life and the lives of my family, team, clients and community. It keeps challenges in perspective and helps me focus on what is truly important in my life and business.</span></div>
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<div><span class="font_regular">Would you be willing to experiment with the Power of Gratitude for five minutes a day?</span></div>
</div></div></div>Tony Bodoh International