155: How to Build Customer-Obsessed Cultures (That Don’t Burn Out Your Team) | Van Battle

“73% of customers say experience is a key factor in their purchasing decisions just behind price and product quality,” according to a report from PwC. 

Customer experience is no longer just a support function of your business... it’s a leadership strategy. 

In this episode, we’re joined by Van Battle, a seasoned customer experience leader who has first hand experience on how it can improve a company’s success based on his career working with brands like Jamba Juice, Urban Remedy, and The Sharper Image.  

In this episode you will learn: 

• The real difference between customer service and customer experience 
• How to turn your support team into your company’s most strategic asset 
• Why empathy is a leadership skill 
• How “minor league” development programs can retain top talent 
• What most companies get wrong when using AI in customer experience 
• How to empower reps to resolve issues without escalating every time 
• What leaders must do to instill a culture of ownership 

Timestamps: 

00:16 – Leading through stewardship: what it looks like 

01:09 – Lessons from the restaurant world: empathy starts on the frontlines 

03:26 – The invisible value of busboys and call center reps 

05:18 – Why Van sends reps into stores and orders their own products 

06:58 – Customer service vs. customer experience 

08:46 – Anticipating issues before they happen 

10:23 – Turning reps into “insight engines” 

12:32 – Avoiding burnout: how to distribute workload fairly 

13:40 – Baseball, development, and team balance 

14:57 – The “minor league program” for career growth 

17:11 – Upskilling with Learnit: real examples that worked 

19:03 – Creating a culture of learning and mobility 

20:04 – Training teams to own the resolution 

22:45 – Building confidence through empowerment 

23:39 – When the customer isn’t right—and how to respond 

25:22 – Tracking patterns to prevent abuse 

26:52 – Balancing trust between customer and employee 

29:36 – How to turn customer data into internal action 

32:01 – Getting specific: “friendly” means what exactly? 

33:18 – How customer expectations have evolved 

35:52 – Humanizing digital experiences in a tech-first world 

37:49 – What Southwest’s shift says about customer loyalty 

39:14 – What AI should never replace 

41:04 – Will AI replace frontline workers? 

42:47 – Van’s biggest leadership lesson about customer experience 

Resources & Mentions: 

• Follow Van on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vancbattlejr/  
• Urban Remedy: https://urbanremedy.com/  
• Jamba Juice: https://www.jamba.com/  

Connect With Us: 

Website: www.learnit.com 

Email: podcast@learnit.com 

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