The Customer Experience Podcast

Are we using technology to create barriers between us and our customers? Or are we doubling down on things we know that our customers respond to, like a human voice that’s friendly, accessible, and even vulnerable?In this episode, I interview Mark Schaefer, COO at B Squared Media and author of Marketing Rebellion, about returning the human voice to the center of marketing.Mark also talks with me about:- Cumulative advantage vs. competitive advantage- Two thirds of your marketing is done by your customers- A fracture is a business opportunity- The role of momentum in changeCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- {grow} blog- BusinessesGrow.com- The Cumulative Advantage- Marketing Rebellion- Mark on LinkedIn- Mark on Twitter- Keith Reynold Jennings- The North Face- GlossierSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

The sales funnel is actually a pyramid that looks like this: top-level is sales tools, middle level is sales skills, bottom level is the humanity of the sales professional. By restoring a connection to the authenticity, emotion, and mindset of the sellers themselves, the art of sales can begin to return to the foundation of customer experience: making people’s lives better.In this episode, I interview John Sweeney, the Owner and Speaker at the Brave New Workshop Theater, about blending principles of comedy, improv, theater, and art to train sellers in using emotion to sell in person and via video.John & I also discussed:- What the art of theater has to do with sales- Understanding the real sales pyramid and the mindset of the authentic self- How to become comfortable with being uncomfortable- Strategies for putting the human at the center of customer experienceCheck out this resource we mentioned during the podcast:- The Innovation MindsetSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

The forever customer is someone who trusts you to solve their problem. They’ve taken off their consumer hat and put on their member hat. They aren’t looking for alternatives anymore.In this episode, I interview Robbie Kellman Baxter, Strategy Consultant at Peninsula Strategies, about how to achieve forever customers with customer-centricity. Robbie also talked with me about:- Why short-term revenue matters so much less than long-term relationships- Her journey toward the forever transaction — and what that looks like for businesses- You want to balance acquisition and retention- The importance of knowing what your best customers have in commonCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Robbie’s books are The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction- Robbie’s podcast is Subscription StoriesSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

Just because someone fills out a form doesn’t mean they’re ready to talk to a salesperson. Two problems stem from this fact: the problem of discerning which leads are ready and the problem of how to nurture the ones that aren’t. Welcome to the explosion of martec.In this episode, I interview Jon Miller is Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Demandbase and previously co-founder at Marketo and Engagio, about account-based experience (ABX):Among the things we talked about were:- The evangelistic sale- The analogous relationship between CX and ABX, and B2C and B2B- Who’s responsible for company culture (not just the CEO)- MBAs are important for career switchersSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for the Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

As a CRO, how do you change the culture of your org so that customer experience is everyone’s responsibility? In this episode, I interview Darryl Praill, CRO at Vanilla Soft, about how he distributes the ownership of customer experience across the whole org by dissolving barriers between teams.Darryl talked with me about:- What a matrix organization is- How colleagues are influenced by how they are compensated- 3 ways to create a culture of empathy- How marketing leaders can develop their personal brand- The role of video in customer experienceCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Neewer Photo and Video- Darryl on TwitterSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

Not only is kindness important on a human level, but it can become a core value for any company. How?In this episode, I interview Cole Baker-Bagwell is Founder and Chief Kindness Advisor at Cool Audrey, about how and why to turn kindness into a core company value.Cole talked with me about:- The cashmere effect in customer experience- The business case for kindness (it’s very strong)- Mindfulness and intention in business & its customer impact- An answer to the outcome-oriented skepticsCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Cole’s podcast is Kindness Think Tank- She mentioned Said Ziouani and Whereby Subscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

You want to level up your customer experience to customer obsession, but how? Get started now. In a year’s time, you’ll wish you started today.In this episode, I interview Joseph Jaffe, host of CoronaTV and Admiral/Co-Founder at The HMS Beagle, about the origins of his show and everything he’s learned along the way.Joseph and I discuss:- The availability heuristic (things that are harder to measure are the more important)- How to implement customer obsession as a host- The origin story for CoronaTV- The art of having real conversations encapsulates entrepreneurshipCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Watch CoronaTV- Joseph wrote Flip the Funnel- Joseph is also on TwitterSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for The Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

Are you a text person? Or are you better on the phone? We all know we're better on the phone. We've got our voice tone, pace, and personality to work with. Let's raise the stakes: Are you a phone person or a face-to-face person? I’m Ethan Beute, Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, host of The Customer Experience Podcast, and co-host of the CX Series on the B2B Growth Show. Not long ago, I enjoyed the privilege of presenting at the inaugural TEDx UCCS (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) about face-to-face communication.A very quick overview:- Why we avoid personal contact even though we know it's more effective- The truth about the "93% rule" of nonverbal communication- Tying facial expression to empathy, ethics, and justice- What you're normalizing in everyday communicationSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.

These trends will be important for the future of CRM: transparency, multiple companies working together, and proving value using a new wave of enterprise software and data sharing. What if we started to think of the customer being part of our customer system?In this episode, I interview Scott McCorkle, CEO at MetaCX, about how to reinvent CRM with transparency.Scott and I talked about:- The definition of competitive customer experience- Trends in enterprise software driven, in part, by the pandemic- Feedback on MetaCX’s emotional outcome-based view of relationship- Embracing uncertainty, challenge, and mistakes in the startup worldCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Scott Dorsey- Delta Airlines- MetaCXSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for the Customer Experience Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

When your customer base is everyone who needs images (which more or less means everyone), your customer experiences will look as different as your customers do. What do you focus on to deliver exceptional CX? Among many other things, you have to be easy to trust.In this episode, I interview Grant Farhall, Chief Product Officer at Getty Images, about delivering a supply of compelling imagery and video content to customers — when customers have such different needs.Grant and I discuss:- Delivering flexibility to a broad customer base- Creating a powerful and intuitive search experience (plus Grant’s top search tip)- The power of searching concepts and emotions- Authentic, raw, and real imagesCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Shazam- Craig Peters, CEO at Getty Images - Getty Images- iStockSubscribe, listen, and rate/review the Customer Experience Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or Google Podcasts, and find more episodes on our blog.