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Reasons to read and share

LinkedIn, Medium, tons of CX blogs and websites, including the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), Customer Think, and others, are all great sources of information for those looking to expand their knowledge and understanding of Customer Experience.  There are insights into specific tactical issues, organizational concepts and approaches, strategic thought leadership, and much more.  Given the robust nature of topics within CX, it’s vital to be out there consuming as much information from as many different sources as possible in order to keep up. (more…)

By | 2021-04-20T16:33:54+00:00 April 20th, 2021|Categories: Consulting, CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|0 Comments
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Shouldn’t we know better?

Let’s start today with a couple of anecdotal experiences:

Anecdote 1:  It seems every time I pay in cash (who does that?), this happens:  The cashier, when returning my change lays the bills down in my palm, and then pours the coins over top of them.  This means that, to put the change away, I have to slide the bills out from under the coins (a la a magician with the table cloth out from under the glasses and place settings), put the change in my pocket, fold the bills with one hand, then fumble them into my wallet, all while trying to manage the bag of items I just bought.  Every time this happens, I’m reminded that a much more convenient way to receive change would be the opposite:  Put the coins in my palm then either hand me the bills in the other hand or lay them on top of the coins, thus allowing me to fold the bills with one hand and simultaneously chunk the coins into my pocket.  That’d avoid the little magic trick of shuffling the bills out from under the change. (more…)

By | 2021-04-13T14:58:16+00:00 April 13th, 2021|Categories: CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Process Engineering|0 Comments
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CX for SaaS

I’ve done some work with some folks in the software as a service (SaaS) space and have lots of colleagues and friends who are also working there.  Whenever I talk with them about Customer Experience, I always chuckle when the conversation turns to the Voice of the Customer. (more…)

By | 2021-04-06T15:14:52+00:00 April 6th, 2021|Categories: Consulting, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, VoC|0 Comments
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For CX, Where is not as important as What and Why

Where a CX function is located within a company is a frequent discussion topic among CXers.  I’ve been thinking about this recently and, while obviously each company is unique and every situation different, it occurs to me that where a CX function resides isn’t nearly as important as is what it’s chartered to do.

But if I could get all Simon Sinek-y here, naturally the greater question still, is the Why.  Let’s look at the charter of what your CX organization should be in the first place, then we can start to look at what difference it may make as to where it’s located.  The why should drive the what, and therefore, the where will really just be a slight tweaking and refinement of range of influence. (more…)

By | 2021-03-30T15:13:13+00:00 March 30th, 2021|Categories: CX Culture, CX Jobs, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Leadership|0 Comments
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Quantitative versus Qualitative

I just got off the phone with a colleague and we were having a conversation about data.  He brought up some good questions and points and so I figured I’d jot a few of them down here before they went right out of my head again.

The gist of the discussion was the difference between quantitative and qualitative data.  He was having some trouble explaining the difference to his boss.  One line of questioning I asked right off the top was, “Why is this a controversy?  Why the heck does this even matter?  How did this become a topic of conversation?”  It’s always useful to get to the bottom of why someone is asking a question so as to better address it in the first place.  Plus, this seems more like an academic inquiry rather than something that’ll actually make a huge difference in what they’re doing.

It is, however, pertinent in a discussion like this, because I’ve used the mechanism that quantitative data can tell us where to look, while qualitative data can tell us what to do once we get there.  More on that in a moment. (more…)

By | 2021-03-23T15:05:44+00:00 March 23rd, 2021|Categories: CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Measures & Metrics|0 Comments
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It’s the little things

I’ve noticed that, when I write about CX or speak with other CX professionals, I often tend to append my anecdotes about my own experiences with something like, “Well, now, this wasn’t a huge deal, but…” or, “Of course, it’s not the end of the world, but…”  I see many other CX leaders do the same thing.  I’ve written before about how CXers can be the best and the worst Customers because, while we’re sympathetic to those with whom we interact, being in the business we’re also pretty demanding from those who should know better; we recognize and call missteps out when we see them. (more…)

By | 2021-03-15T15:36:05+00:00 March 15th, 2021|Categories: CX Culture, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|0 Comments
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Half-measures and full-measures

I used to work out at a gym that had a bothersome, but almost comedic tendency:  Whenever a piece of equipment broke down, someone would diligently and swiftly mark it with an “Out of Order” sign.  The particular machine would usually sit like that (broken, that is) for weeks on end.  Now, part of this is the result of compartmentalized work:  The person whose job it was to properly label broken machinery literally is done with his job once that sign is in place…it’s someone else whose responsibility it is to fix it.  But you almost got the sense through the entire club that that’s all that was necessary when something went wrong: label it as broken, and move on. (more…)

By | 2021-03-11T15:27:41+00:00 March 11th, 2021|Categories: CX Strategy, CX Thoughts|0 Comments
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Don’t confuse your system with reality

Improving our processes is hard work.  There’s a lot of research and thinking that goes into the exercise of getting better at what we do.  Add to that the complexities and politics of change management—especially if your organization is large and/or well-established—and it can be daunting for sure.  People spend careers refining their approach to Process Engineering, and quite frankly, if it’s being done right, there’s a lot of math involved.  And as any one of my cadets can tell you…math is hard.

One thing that (unnecessarily, in my opinion) makes it even more of a challenge is the wrong perspective.  I consider it unnecessary because it’s a human tendency, but not an inevitability, to see things from our own perspective and miss those of others. (more…)

By | 2021-03-08T16:26:03+00:00 March 8th, 2021|Categories: Consulting, CX Strategy, CX Thoughts, Process Engineering|0 Comments
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