The Modern Customer Podcast

What's the future of contact centers in shaping customer experience and brand loyalty? Companies are increasingly recognizing the critical role that contact centers play in shaping customer perceptions and driving brand loyalty. In this podcast episode, Stephanie Shaffer De Jesus, a seasoned customer experience practitioner, shares invaluable insights into the future of contact centers and the role that Experience Level Agreements play versus the Service Level Agreements that contact centers are generally managed by. By backing into contact center metrics - starting with the customer and the desired customer experience - the contact center can transform.  Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Storytelling is the ultimate tool for persuasion and connection. Rob Biesenbach is a seasoned professional speaking coach and author who understands the transformative power of storytelling. In this week's podcast, Rob shares that presentations should never be about merely delivering data – they should be about sparking change, getting buy-in, and igniting action. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Customer service is a big part of the customer experience, and the call center is a critical focal point for direct interaction with customers. With all the changes in technology recently, I wanted to ask an industry expert his thoughts on the future of the call center in the customer experience space. In this episode of the Modern Customer Podcast, I had a conversation with an expert who has probably worked with more call centers over the past three decades than anyone else in the world. Brad Cleveland got his start in call centers decades ago and has watched this space grow and develop as a consultant, speaker, course instructor, and author of ten books, including his latest, Leading the Customer Experience. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

On this episode of the Modern Customer Podcast, I spoke with Kelly McDonald about meeting customer expectations. Kelly is a speaker and author of several books, including her latest title, It’s Time to Talk about Race at Work, a guide for leaders to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Her ideas can be applied everywhere, from call centers to service and customer experience. According to Kelly, so many businesses are still providing a one-size-fits-all customer experience, but this isn’t what customers want anymore. These days, they seek personalization more than ever when shopping, using services, and receiving customer care. And with growing diversity in all markets, it’s important to understand that different people may wish to be treated in different ways. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Most of us have grown up with the stereotyped idea that a leader should be emotionless and impersonal. But this isn’t the case, as we so often see that introducing personal feelings and emotional intelligence into the mix can make for better leaders with stronger connections to their employees. In this episode of my podcast, I’m proud to say that I sat down with Jacob Morgan, my husband of nine years and father to our two children. Jacob is a certified futurist and speaker and has just published his fifth book, Leading with Vulnerability: Unlock Your Greatest Superpower to Transform Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization. Jacob spoke with me about vulnerability in the workplace and how it’s an essential tool and complement for leadership. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

As customer experience professionals, our goal is to listen to what customers want and make changes to improve our service and their experience. But as David Cote suggests, so many companies miss the mark because they think they have to choose between short- and long-term goals for their business rather than aiming for both. Under David Cote's leadership, Honeywell's market cap soared from $20 billion to $120 billion, a testament to his effective management strategies. I sat down recently to speak with David about his experience as CEO of Honeywell and his recent book Winning Now, Winning Later. I wanted to know how his leadership experiences could be applied to the customer experience space. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Despite trying to do our best every day in customer experience or any other facet of business, we often run up against a wall. We focus all of our energy on performance, and by doing so, our results can actually decrease. But why would that happen? Eduardo Briceno, TEDx presenter and author of The Performance Paradox, believes it’s because so many of us are stuck in a fixed mindset. Despite aiming for growth, we don’t properly cultivate a growth mindset in order to help us achieve it. We’re continually putting our best effort into less effective practices, so our results don’t improve. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

The most competitive brands today understand the contact center is an opportunity, and ensuring a customer-centric culture in that contact center is key. The problem for most brands and customer experience leaders is high churn and the reality that burnout is real. I talked to Brian Dunphy, an experienced contact center and customer experience expert who’s guided customer experience strategy for notable companies such as Disney, Bank of America, WarbyParker, and Postmates. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.  

Over the past few decades, the landscape of the Fortune 500 has changed immensely. Reflecting on this transformation, Alan Murray, the founder of Fortune, offers an intriguing perspective. “If you go back 50 years and you look at the balance sheet of Fortune 500 companies in the 1970s, over 80 percent of the value came from physical entities - from oil in the ground to inventories on the shelves," he says. But he points out that this is no longer the case. In today's digital age, more than 85 percent of the value of the Fortune 500 is tied up in intangibles such as intellectual property, software, and brand value. At its core, brand value epitomizes the emotional bond a brand shares with its customers. The emphasis has shifted from the tangible to the intangible; from concrete assets to human emotion and ingenuity. As Murray explains, “Ingenuity is the human capacity to craft innovative solutions to enhance life." Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.  

Modern customer experience is data-driven. Management needs data-backed insights to understand what they can improve in their processes or products to yield better customer service. This is why research companies such as Forrester exist. Forrester is an advisory company offering research, consulting, and other services to help companies make better customer experience decisions. On the Modern Customer, I talked to Pete Jacques, a principal customer experience analyst at Forrester, about Forrester’s recent report and we discussed that it’s critical for customer experience leaders to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.