Crack the Customer Code
509 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 38 ratingsCrack the Customer Code is dedicated to helping business professionals, small business owners, and customer-facing professionals learn the ins and outs of creating great customer experiences. With interviews and insights from a wide range of experts in the field, Crack the Customer Code will explore both timely and timeless topics, from how to increase customer loyalty through social media to why customers are more prone to lose control with companies nowadays. Crack the Customer Code provides a peek behind the curtain of what customer experience professionals really know about customers and how to make them happy and keep them loyal.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
305: Supporting Your Team in the Retail Apocalypse
January 30, 2018 13:00 - 15 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss ways to inform your team and keep them motivated through the retail apocalypse. Retail apocalypse: Who thinks the end is nigh? Rumor has it we’re in the Retail Apocalypse…have you heard of this? With increased competition and ever-increasing customer expectations, the evidence is all around us. The internet is all abuzz with what this means for businesses on the macro level, but what about the actual people in your organization? Your employees see the evidence too....
304: Arnie Malham, Innovating Culture
January 23, 2018 13:00 - 31 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview Arnie Malham to uncover his secrets to innovating culture for a better overall customer experience. Innovating culture for better experiences all around When starting a new company, we have a vision of how we want to be different – to have a great culture and a memorable experience. It’s easy to believe that if we hire the right people and train them well, then everything will fall into place. “I’m going to have a company where people are proud to put us on thei...
303: How to Build Brand Trust in 2018
January 16, 2018 13:00 - 7 minutesJeannie shares expert tips for building brand trust through truly consistent customer experiences. Consistency and brand trust Brand trust is one of the cornerstones of customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, trust is hard to earn and easy to destroy. And you may know customers can trust you, but do they know? So, it’s imperative to think of ways to deliver an experience that earns trust for the long term. There are many building blocks to trust, but today we’re focusing on one of the ...
302: Tom Karinshak, Comcast Customer Service
January 09, 2018 13:00 - 31 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss the incredible transformation and enhancement of Comcast customer service with Tom Karinshak, Comcast's Executive Vice President of Customer Service. Comcast customer service and game-changing innovation When we ask people about their worst customer service experiences, cable and communications providers often top the list. And years ago, Comcast may have been the first company to come to mind. But this is changing fast! Customers now demand better experiences from...
301: Will Experience Be Your Difference This Year?
January 02, 2018 13:00 - 6 minutesAdam shares expert advice for making customer experience your competitive advantage in 2018. Customer experience is THE competitive advantage Welcome to 2018! To start off the new year, we’d like you to think about customer experience as your competitive advantage. Because unless you plan to compete on price, providing a customer experience that is both frictionless and memorable is the best way to differentiate your brand this year. But many brands fall into a trap when trying to differen...
300: Celebrating 300 Episodes (with live guitar)
December 12, 2017 13:00 - 21 minutesJeannie and Adam celebrate 300 episodes by sharing outrageous predictions for the distant future of customer experience and customer service. 300 episodes and counting…Celebrate with us! When we started this podcast back in 2015, the idea of having even 100 episodes seemed so far away. But sine then, we’ve celebrated 100, 200, and now (drumroll, please) 300 episodes! This reminds us of how not so long ago, customer experience was something most leaders had never heard of, and excellent cus...
299: Operationalizing New Channels
December 07, 2017 13:00 - 15 minutesAdam and Jeannie share tips for making new channels a seamless part of the overall customer experience from the inside out. Working new channels into your DNA Customers are engaging with brands on more channels that ever before. It’s staggering how quickly a new channel can change the way customers buy, engage, and just live their lives. As a result, smart leaders put a lot into developing those channels quickly to have a presence wherever heir customers are. But in the age of smart watches ...
298: Michel Falcon, Incredible Experience Tips
December 05, 2017 13:00 - 30 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview Michel Falcon to explore employee and customer engagement strategies that lead to amazing experiences that scale. Leveraging culture for amazing experiences If you want to deliver outstanding experiences, then you must have an amazing culture to match. Today’s guest, Michel Falcon, is an expert at creating employee engagement strategies that lead to amazing customer experiences, and he has some great tips to share with you today! First off, Michel explains that ...
297: How to Balance Promises with Performance
November 30, 2017 13:00 - 13 minutesAdam and Jeannie discuss how to balance your performance and resources with the promises you make to customers. Is your brand making meaningful promises? Broken promises chalk up to bad customer experiences. As a result, many brands set low expectations regarding call time, hours of operation, and many other things. On the flip side, brands need to differentiate themselves by making bold promises. And yet many create customer service nightmares and harm their brand image by making promises ...
296: Jeffrey Shaw, The Lingo of Customers
November 28, 2017 13:00 - 28 minutesAdam and Jeannie discover how to attract your ideal customers with Jeffrey Shaw, author of LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language. Jeffrey Shaw and the power of the customer lingo As an entrepreneur or growing business, it’s critical to differentiate yourself and get noticed. But too often, brands get noticed by the wrong prospect. And to make matters worse, it’s very difficult to turn down the “wrong” customers. So, how can you attract the “right” customers while diversifyin...
295: A Leader's Guide to the Holidays
November 23, 2017 15:14 - 14 minutesJeannie and Adam share tips and ideas to make the holidays more meaningful and less stressful for customers and employees alike. A quick leadership guide for the holidays The holidays are not only about spreading extra cheer, but also about giving thanks. It's one thing to say "thank you" to customers and employees, but showing them you appreciate them is another. Does your gratitude shine through in the way you do business? This time of year is more stressful for just about everyone. So ...
294: Katy Lynch, The Codeverse Experience
November 22, 2017 13:00 - 25 minutesAdam and Jeannie discuss an innovative approach to the education experience with Katy Lynch, Co-founder and CMO at Codeverse. Codeverse and innovations in education Educating the next generation on coding the things that keep our lives going is critical. But traditional schools don’t provide an environment where kids can excel at coding while keeping parents up to speed with what’s happening and why. Moreover, there are a lot of myths about what an education in coding is really about, and w...
293: Are Millennials Killing Your Industry?
November 16, 2017 13:00 - 16 minutesAdam and Jeannie share updated insights on what and how millennials buy and what that could mean for your industry in the future. Are millennial trends destroying your industry? We discuss millennials quite often on this podcast because new trends are developing so fast! This time, we have fascinating (and scary?) new insights because they’re reaching a new phase of adulthood. As it turns out, millennials are different in more ways than we ever imagined. And it’s not just about skinny jeans...
292: Mark Podolsky, Happy Customers Guaranteed
November 14, 2017 13:00 - 26 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview Mark Podolsky about keeping customers happy while maintaining a passive income. Can happy customers and passive income coexist? Earning a passive income is a dream most of us have, but so few of us can do this in a sustainable way. How can you automate most of your workflow while still delivering a great customer experience? Today’s guest not only survived, but triumphed over the real estate crash of 2008. Instead of closing shop like so many others, he used the ...
291: LinkedIn Learning for Customer-Focused Leaders
November 09, 2017 13:00 - 20 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss the content and creation process behind Jeannie’s new customer experience course on LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn is not just for networking, and Jeannie’s wisdom is not just for podcasts! We have a special announcement for you! Have you ever heard of LinkedIn Learning? Formerly Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learning offers video courses to sharpen a vast range of business skills and learn new ones. In fact, LinkedIn Learning is adding new content every day from industry expe...
290: Ian Golding, Operationalizing Customer Experience
November 07, 2017 13:30 - 30 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview global customer experience professional Ian Golding to conquer the challenges of operationalizing customer experience. Turning CX wisdom into action with Ian Golding Leaders all over the world are making the connection between customer experience and business success. While that’s a good thing, just talking the talk is not enough! If you read the right blogs and know the right people, all the wisdom and best practices are there for the taking. But few know how to ...
289: Transitions and Gaps in CX
November 02, 2017 13:19 - 6 minutesJeannie exposes unexpected gaps in CX created by transition processes and procedures within the customer journey. Are you creating unnecessary gaps in CX? Who has not had a great experience do a complete 180 somewhere along the way? This often happens during transitions in the customer journey. In fact, experience gaps in these transitions are often invisible from within the organization. Do you know where they are? A great overall experience means not only delivering excellence during eve...
288: Amy Climer, Fostering Creativity
October 31, 2017 12:00 - 27 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview creativity and innovation expert Amy Climer, Ph.D. to discover how to foster creativity in your team. Creativity is not just for “creatives” Creativity is a necessary trait for teams from the c-suite on out to customer service. Much of what we do in business requires creativity- from innovation to general problem-solving. But many of us don’t think of it this way! When we’re not prepared for the creative process in these situations, we get bad ideas, push-back fr...
287: The Multi-Device Customer Journey
October 26, 2017 12:00 - 10 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss today’s multi-device customer journey and share tips and ideas for optimizing your omnichannel experience. What’s your multi-device customer journey really like? Offering a multi-channel customer experience is nothing new. In fact, it’s now expected. So we test our websites on iPhones, Android tablets, and different operating systems. We develop what we think is the best experience for PC users, for Mac users, etc. Then, when we determine the experiences are optimal ...
286: Anthony Iannarino, Commitments Are for Closers
October 24, 2017 12:00 - 31 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview bestselling author and leading sales expert Anthony Iannarino. Closing in on meaningful relationships with Anthony Iannarino Automation is great, but it makes creating lasting relationships with sales prospects much harder. What’s more, dated sales tactics drive what we don't automate. So that personal attention we’re giving often chalks up to wasted energy where both salespeople and customers are concerned. While automation and dated closing tactics may lead to ...
285: When to Disclose Bad News to Customers?
October 19, 2017 12:00 - 13 minutesAdam and Jeannie discuss the Equifax data breach and how to decide when it’s right to disclose issues to customers. To disclose, or not to disclose? Not everything you need to tell customers is good news! Are you prepared to deliver the bad news when the time is right? Take the recent Equifax data breach, where it was months before customers became aware of the problem. As you may know, the news caused quite a panic! Why did Equifax withhold the information for so long, and why did they rel...
284: Nick Francis, HelpScout Customer Service
October 17, 2017 12:00 - 26 minutesJeannie and Adam smash the myths about customer support software and remote collaboration with HelpScout CEO and Co-founder Nick Francis. How HelpScout customer support makes a difference We’ve come a long way with the ways we offer customer support, but are we shooting ourselves in the foot with the tech we use? More specifically, with the rise of help desk software, customer support has grown cold and sterile - lacking the emotion and the personal touches we get from 1:1 communication. Th...
283: Pay Attention to Customers
October 12, 2017 12:00 - 9 minutesAdam explores real-life situations that exemplify commonly wasted retail opportunities in brick-and-mortar customer service. Are wasted retail opportunities looming in your store? While online retailers like Amazon continue to grow, those who maintain physical locations have a tall order! They need to give customers a real reason to visit, instead of shopping a competitor online. Many customers still prefer to speak to a sales associate, examine the merchandise, and browse the aisles. Real-...
282: Stephen Shapiro, Innovating Customer Experience
October 11, 2017 12:00 - 30 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview Master of Innovation Stephen Shapiro for a better approach to innovating customer experience and more. A better approach at innovating customer experience Customer needs and expectations change, so it stands to reason that we must continue innovating customer experience. However, too many companies have the wrong idea about what innovation is and how to get game-changing ideas! “People have a confused notion of what innovation is…” -Stephen Shapiro The best in...
281: CX Clichés and Overused Examples
October 05, 2017 12:00 - 13 minutesJeannie and Adam break down some common CX clichés and unoriginal thoughts that stifle truly customer-centric thinking and doing. Are CX clichés hampering your progress? For those situations when you couldn’t have said it better yourself, we have clichés. And while they sometimes represent "a fundamental truth” as Adam says, but sometimes these clichés are used as an excuse not to think deeply say what really matters. Sadly, in the customer experience space, we hear a lot of them. “It can...
280: Lesley Lykins, CX Day
October 03, 2017 02:00 - 23 minutesIn this special edition CX Day episode, Adam and Jeannie interview Lesley Lykins, Executive Director of the Customer Experience Professionals Association. Happy CX Day! Customer experience has come a long way, and the whole world is celebrating on this 5th annual CX Day. Celebrating along with us today is Lesley Lykins, Director of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.) Lesley in particular is very excited to celebrate CX Day this year, and we’re delighted to have her on...
279: Is Efficient Customer Service Best?
September 28, 2017 12:00 - 13 minutesJeannie and Adam question the meaning of efficiency and uncover hidden and unnecessary challenges to providing efficient customer service. The hidden challenges of efficient customer service When we think of efficient customer service, the emphasis is typically on what’s happening at the front lines. Then we look at things like “time on call” and other specific metrics to gauge efficiency. However, there are many other factors that play into front-line efficiency, and how they affect the ac...
278: Stacey Hanke, Communicate with Influence
September 26, 2017 14:00 - 32 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview Stacey Hanke, influence expert and author of Influence Redefined…Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be. Is your influence as strong as you think? The ability to influence others is critical to the success of any business or entrepreneur, and there’s a lot of content out there about becoming an influencer. However, many leaders don’t truly understand the chemistry that turns communication into true influence. We often equate our titles, as well as proven success in o...
277: 5 Digital Experience Offenses
September 21, 2017 12:30 - 5 minutesJeannie shares her expertise in digital experience evaluation with 5 sales-killing offenses even the best of us should look out for and tips to make good on them. Digital experience offenses are still everywhere! Are you guilty? Umm… probably. It’s easy to say what you don’t like about another company’s digital experience, but what about your own? Because you know where everything is and how it’s all supposed to work, finding pain points in your own digital experience is not as straightforw...
276: Nora Burns, HR Undercover
September 20, 2017 21:30 - 30 minutesJeannie and Adam explore hiring and new employee processes from the candidate's perspective with Undercover Candidate™ Nora Burns. HR Undercover A good team is critical to the success of any business, so why is it so hard to attract and keep good talent? It seems most organizational leaders think their hiring processes are solid - while most job candidates have horror stories about their experience. You’ve heard the horror stories from friends and colleagues... In fact, you probably have...
275: (Tip) Go Negative with Your Training
September 14, 2017 12:00 - 5 minutesShould you avoid all negativity in customer service training? Adam shares research data, case studies, and expert advice Do you avoid negativity in customer service training? Pop psychology says negativity in customer service training could be harmful and should be avoided. The idea is that focusing on negative situations begets more negative outcomes. However, real customer service situations don’t always go well. In fact, it’s safe to assume that even with the best teams, something will e...
274: Nienke Bloem, Gamifying Customer Experience
September 12, 2017 14:00 - 20 minutesJeannie and Adam interview Nienka Bloem, Certified Customer Experience Professional and creator of the Customer Experience Game. Are you learning the customer experience game? Learning about customer experience is becoming a must for business leaders worldwide, but many still don’t really know what that means. For instance, what if you live in a place where customer experience is just taking off? What are your options? It turns out, in some cases, there aren’t many! “The momentum is here ...
273: (Tip) What Is a Moment of Truth?
September 07, 2017 12:00 - 5 minutesAdam and Jeannie share tips for defining, finding and optimizing every moment of truth within your customer journey. What exactly is a moment of truth? While every touchpoint in your customer journey deserves attention, some are more critical than others. In short, a moment of truth is a critical touchpoint that can drive your customer to the next level, or chase them away. “Not every piece of the customer experience is AS important…” -Adam Toporek And you may think you already know whe...
272: Kristina Quinones, MeetEdgar Customer Service
September 05, 2017 12:00 - 21 minutesJeannie and Adam interview Kristina Quinones, head of customer experience at MeetEdgar, about amazing growth through a unique approach at customer service. Explosive growth and the MeetEdgar customer service approach Thanks to its unique approach at customer service, MeetEdgar has grown from 2 to 30 employees in three years. So we're proud to interview their head of customer experience, Kristina Quinones. Kristina shares how to use the same approach at your business! The customer service te...
271: Take It To the Top – Tesla’s New Strategy
August 31, 2017 13:00 - 16 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss the pros and cons of Tesla’s new strategy for escalating customer service issues. Escalating customer service: Can Tesla’s new strategy work for you? Customers demanding that a service issue or complaint be escalated is often the worst nightmare both for front-line staff and their leaders. While service agents aren’t anxious to admit they couldn’t make the customer happy on their own, team leads and are typically not happy or prepared to take those calls! Now imagin...
270: John-Paul Narowski, KarmaCRM
August 29, 2017 11:30 - 24 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview karmaCRM founder John-Paul Narowski about smarter ways to manage and nurture customer relationships. Enhancing customer relationships with tech If you’ve user Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software before, then you may know these systems tend to be either lacking the features you need or overcomplicated with features you don’t. Either way, leaders find themselves investing in tools they’re not using to their best potential. “We paid for these tools and ...
269: We’re Listening
August 24, 2017 12:30 - 6 minutesAdam and Jeannie announce exciting changes to our show inspired by feedback from our our fans, friends and listeners. We’re listening to you too! We’d like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for listening, but we want you to know we’re listening too! We thrive on your feedback to continue making Crack the Customer Code better and better, and we get many great ideas from you. As a result, we’ve seen some common themes in what our listeners think would improve the show. Today we’re...
268: Microchipping Employees
August 21, 2017 11:30 - 15 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss microchipping employees with RFID devices and how this tech may affect culture and the customer experience. Microchipping employees RFID tags are everywhere, from the microchips that help deter theft in retail settings to those that help us locate lost pets. But employers are taking this technology to another level by microchipping employees. And although it’s a voluntary procedure (for now?) many employees are opting in for the conveniences that come with having th...
267: 3 Questions for Employees
August 17, 2017 11:30 - 5 minutesJeannie shares 3 powerful questions to assess and improve employee engagement for better business outcomes. How engaged are your employees? Employee engagement has a direct impact on critical business outcomes. Poorly engaged or actively disengaged employees lead to high employee turnover, subpar service, and terrible customer experiences. On the other hand, highly engaged employees have an amazingly positive impact on workplace culture, better-informed business decisions, and customer sat...
266: Chip Bell, Innovating Service
August 15, 2017 12:00 - 26 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview bestselling author Chip Bell to discover how the best brands are innovating service to create value-unique experiences. Winning customers' hearts with value-unique experiences We all want customers talking about their experience with our brand, but providing great service isn’t enough. And though we hear a lot about the power of adding value, it's easy to weigh the experience down or simply waste money on freebies. You need to add emotional value through unique e...
265: (Tip) Chatbots and Humans
August 14, 2017 09:30 - 11 minutesJeannie and Adam share research and expert tips for getting chatbots and humans to work together in harmony. Are chatbots and humans working well together? Chatbots are here to stay, and new research says we love them! However, we have a long way to go before they can fully operate on their own. For instance, bots are great for answering simple questions, but real humans do need to step in to answer the tough ones. “Not all chatbots are created equal not are all humans.” -Adam Toporek E...
264: (Tip) Mobile Potential
August 10, 2017 12:30 - 11 minutesAdam and Jeannie share tips to unlock your full mobile potential and deliver what customers need most in the moment. What’s your mobile potential? We talk about mobile a lot on this show, but that’s because capabilities and expectations are always changing! Are you keeping up? Because there are many ways to leverage mobile technology to make it easier to do business with you. “Ask yourself, ‘What does a customer really want via mobile?’” -Jeannie Walters There are many ways mobile can b...
263: Merit Gest, Sales Engagement
August 08, 2017 10:30 - 21 minutesAdam and Jeannie interview Merit Gest to discuss powerful sales engagement and onboarding strategies for customer-focused sales teams. Onboarding for outstanding sales engagement Sales is often treated as separate from the customer experience. Consequently, sales staff is often not trained to deliver a customer-focused experience from start to finish. Even when customer experience principles are included, typical sales training falls short on empowering sales professionals to deliver great e...
262: Ecommerce Still Not Getting It Right
August 07, 2017 10:30 - 10 minutesAdam and Jeannie explore recent research about prevailing ecommerce experience pet peeves and offer creative solutions. How does your ecommerce experience stack up? Ecommerce experiences have come a long way since the 90’s, but recent research shows that we still have a long way to go. Customers are still having problems with navigation, personalization, functionality, and just plain poor user experiences. “It’s still not really about the customer at the end of the day…” -Jeannie Walters ...
261: Thoughts on First Contact Resolution
August 03, 2017 09:30 - 6 minutesAdam shares surprising statistics about first contact resolution, why it’s important, and tips for putting this knowledge to better use. First Contact Resolution (FCR) is not always customer-centric How many steps must a customer take before resolving an issue? More importantly, how does the customer feel about the experience of making contact? Because speediness for speed’s sake tends to harm the way customers perceive the experience. First Contact Resolution (FCR) is a common metric in c...
260: Julie Ann Sullivan, Employee Attitudes
August 01, 2017 10:00 - 20 minutesJeannie and Adam interview podcaster and employee attitudes expert Julie Ann Sullivan live from the NSA Influence 2017 conference. Employee attitudes vs overall success While you may have a solid business strategy and great employees, you may still struggle with engaging your workforce to deliver the best experiences possible. Do your employees WANT to come to work? Even more important: Is their attitude conducive to a healthy and engaging culture? Because policies and and skill sets aside,...
259: Predicting Behavior and Risk
July 31, 2017 13:00 - 12 minutesJeannie and Adam discuss creative ways predicting behavior and risk without investing in advanced technology. Predicting behavior is not a new thing Predictive analytics is amazing as it sounds, and the technology is improving rapidly. Machines can now analyze data to predict customer behavior, calculate risks, identify who is likely to upgrade or buy more… The list goes on. But what if you don’t have the budget and resources to take advantage of this amazing technology? “You can find be...
258: (Tip) Making Sure Your Team Knows Their Goals
July 27, 2017 12:30 - 8 minutesAdam and Jeannie share tips for helping employees understand, align, and stay motivated to achieve goals. You’re setting goals, but are they setting in? Everyone sets goals to drive their business forward… But teams, departments, and the individuals within them have goals of their own. Keeping all those smaller goals in tune with the greater mission of an organization is challenging! “We are what we focus on.” -Adam Toporek It’s critical to make sure employees understand what their mis...
257: Pat Iyer, Legal Nurse Podcast
July 25, 2017 14:00 - 14 minutesJeannie and Adam interview author and medical liability expert Pat Iyer live from the NSA Influence 2017 conference. Nurse your business to health! Stakes can be high in any business... but imagine if you had legal and medical issues thrown in the mix! Today’s guest achieved amazing results turning the experience around in the high-stakes medical liability industry. Dealing with lawyers, patients, and issues that require legal intervention, it’s no doubt medical liability is a touchy subjec...
256: How Not to Hire Idiots When You're Desperate
July 24, 2017 11:27 - 11 minutesJeannie and Adam know how difficult it is to hire right. Often, organizations feel tremendous pressure to fill open roles, and too often, these rushed hires are poor hires. In this episode, Jeannie and Adam share tips for hiring well you're under the gun. One way to maintain hiring standards when you don't have time is to compress the hiring process. Make sure to not short the process by eliminating steps but to find a way to execute the full hiring process in a shortened window. Check out...