The Experience Strategy Podcast

On today’s episode of Experience Strategy Podcast, hosts Dave Norton and Aransas Savas will prove to you that your business needs a strong strategic POV on your customer experience in order to thrive. Listen in to hear how brands like @Apple, @W Hotels, and @Best Buy’s Geek Squad used a compelling experience POV to innovate and drive business success. KEY TAKEAWAYS One of the key elements of an experience strategy is a point of view statement. The POV statement describes the near future needs of your customers and how your company is going to dedicate resources to meet those needs in a unique and compelling way. There are a variety of ways to create a POV statement including a declarative statement, an insight statement, a story, a theme, and a comparison. Once you have the statement you can begin to build frameworks that help your organization to make better decisions regarding experience  

Today we are joined by Jake Haupert and Jorge Perez, thought leaders and entrepreneurs in transformational travel. We explore why travel is the perfect launchpad for the transformation economy; how transformational experiences differ from our traditional ways of looking at categories like healthcare, finance, retail, technology and beyond; which customer types seek transformation and why they value it. Most importantly, we talk about how to effectively deliver on transformation. GUEST BIOS  Jake Haupert:  He's passionately advocating for new ways of believing, being, doing, and traveling that positively impact our lives, how we are with others, and how we relate to our planet. Travel today has become devoid of intention, integrity, meaning, and purpose, resulting in personal experiences lacking their full potential which, too often, reinforces boundaries, worldviews, and practices rather than stretching and evolving them. Despite our good intentions, unintended consequences have contributed to our current social and ecological crisis rather than catalytic to human development, healing, and collective prosperity. Jake believes the time is now to change that and invites you to join him. Jake is currently most excited to be participating in the "Transformation Economy Collaborative" led by Stone Mantel, an experience strategy company, and convening a roundtable of travel-specific brands.   Jorge Perez:  A passionate traveler and sustainable development promoter.  A pioneer on conservation through adventure travel and private land conservation, with more than 20 years of experience in these fields. Founder of  Tierra del Volcan, an Award-winning travel company that offers life-changing adventures that leads to legendary moments in Ecuador, South America. Adventure guide. Former president of The Ecuadorian Ecotourism Association. South America ambassador for the Transformational Travel Council and vice chair of the board of TTC. Ambassador for Adventure Travel Trade Association. Panelist and conference speaker at events like; ATWS, TNC private Land Conservation expo, TIES Ecuador, Ela Travel Show.  

Experience Strategy and Branding Strategy sometimes reference similar ideas and frameworks, but often don’t complement one another in execution, for the good of the customer. Catherine is the Co-Founder of the branding agency, clarkmcdowall. Catherine has been a thought leader in brand strategy, architecture and innovation since the 90’s. Her work is built on the fusion of art and science, left and right brain… or what she calls “intelligence and imagination”. Her work has helped shape some of the world’s biggest and most innovative brands. Today, we look at the possibilities and pitfalls of these two approaches, and the magic that is possible when they find their rhythm and dance in harmony. KEY TAKEAWAYS  Successful brand strategy helps you define the character of your company. Successful experience strategy helps you define the needs of your customer. The two have the potential to work in partnership, or end up creating confusion for customers. Empowered employees enable the brand and experience dance to be harmonious. (Spoiler alert: it’s not just about consistency, but about actually supporting employees with the technology to support customers. See @southwestairlines for more on this point.) GUEST BIO  Catherine is the Co-Founder of independent NYC-based branding agency, clarkmcdowall. A true pioneer in the business of branding and innovation, Catherine came to New York in the late 90s and quickly established her reputation as a thought leader in brand strategy, architecture and innovation. She joined forces with Paul McDowall in 2001, creating clarkmcdowall – an original agency built on the fusion of art and science, left and right brain… or what they call “intelligence and imagination”. Together, they have built a powerful team of talented individuals and helped shape some of the world’s biggest and most innovative brands. Catherine leads the strategic direction for the agency’s work and oversees the business. She is committed to supporting women in the pursuit of their ambitions, and is proud to have a long fostered women-majority leadership group.

Historically, customers expected categories like hospitality and healthcare to support their wellbeing. Today, categories as wide-ranging as finance and electronics are expected to design for wellbeing.  Don’t think you’re in the wellbeing industry? Think again. Cultural shifts and crises have changed the game. In this episode, we are joined by Sallie Fraenkel, the founder of Mind Body Spirit Network, and the former CMO & COO of SpaFinder and EVP for the Global Wellness Summit. Together we look at how changing customer expectations influence the perception of your experience and specific ways that you can meaningfully integrate wellbeing for your customers and company.    KEY TAKEAWAYS A decade ago, customers sought pampering from experiences. With time, that has become less differentiating. In fact, it’s become a functional job to be done. Now, customers demand a more systemic understanding of their needs. They want companies to deliver products that support their total wellbeing. To meet the wellbeing needs of customers, look at the role you play in their life systems. Understanding those intersections will help you better serve them as you synch, coordinate and align with their lives. Use moments of intention and reflection to understand what your customers value, and where they most need you to support their systems.   GUEST BIO Sallie Fraenkel is the founder of Mind Body Spirit Network which was founded in 2014 to offer consulting services to wellness-oriented businesses and networking events for wellness-oriented individuals.  Sallie’s passion for wellness travel and tourism has led her to destination spas and resorts around the world where she has created numerous trips, tours and experiences for wellness industry-insiders and travelers. Between 2004 to 2014, Fraenkel served as CMO & COO of SpaFinder and EVP for the Global Wellness Summit. Her first career was in the entertainment industry where she ran the home entertainment division for Showtime. As a leader in the industry, Fraenkel serves on several boards including the Transformational Travel Council, GSN Planet, NYSPA, One Well World, Well Defined and Vacayou. Fraenkel draws upon the expertise of many professionals with whom she has collaborated during her career. She values creativity, ingenuity, authenticity, integrity, and connection in her work and that of others.

Experience Strategy has expanded over the past decade to include a wide range of disciplines: CX, UX, Patient Experience, Employee Experience, Service Design, and so many more. With all these exes running around, experience strategy can sometimes sound like a country & western song. Today we are joined by Gary David, a Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Information Design and Corporate Communication at Bentley University, and the voice of ProfessorEXP on Twitch. We look at how we can learn from cultural ethnography to tame the wild west of exes by learning shared languages and measuring what really matters. KEY TAKEAWAYS Disintegrated systems cost everyone: customers, companies, and employees It’s tempting to rely on standardized metrics like NPS, but they often oversimplify and mislead paths in their understanding of customer needs. To measure what really matters, continue asking “why” and “to what end” to find metrics that matter for both the customer and the company. “Do you want to have measurable impact or real impact?” ~Gary David It’s up to experience strategists to become multi-linguists who understand the intention behind different disciplines. Higher education is a prime example of disintegrated systems. To integrate, as with companies, employee and customer metrics must reward integration. BIO Gary David, a Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Information Design and Corporate Communication at Bentley University. He is the founder of ethno-analytics, LLC, a consultancy that focuses on integrated design and experience alignment. He has worked with major companies and small community organizations to help create better experiences for all stakeholders. He is a keynote speaker and organizational educator at garyconnects.com. He also is an educational livestreamer on Twitch under the moniker ProfessorEXP. He co-hosts Experience by Design podcast, where they explore 'experience designs of all kinds.'

Chip Conley, legendary hotelier, was dubbed the Modern Elder at Airbnb because he was twice the age of the average Airbnb employee and as curious as he was wise. As the internal mentor to the young Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, Chip got to see the value of intergenerational collaboration in a company that has now grown to be the most valuable hospitality company in the world. His bestselling book "Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder" is a testament to rethinking the value of having 5 generations in the workplace and why more companies are doing their best to encourage their older workers to stay in the workplace longer. In this episode of The Experience Strategy Podcast we talk to Chip about his vision of the future, for experiences, our aging population, and our ways of working.    Listen in to hear more about The transition from a #ExperienceEconomy into a #TransformationEconomy Transformational Travel Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for customers and the intersection with @ClaytonChristenson’s Jobs to be Done KEEP LEARNING: Experience Strategy Trend Report The Modern Elder Academy  Wisdom @ Work by Chip Conley Peak by Chip Conley

Customer needs and expectations are constantly evolving. What can recent trends in customer expectations and context tell you about what’s coming next? How can these inform your experience roadmap and prepare your business for what’s next? Our goal is to provide data-driven trends for Experience Strategists that will help you with planning by identifying the major customer and cultural trends that should be informing your roadmaps and thinking for customer journeys, channels, and personas. Listen to our latest episode to hear the top trends influencing experience strategy and how they can move your company forward. Then, visit us at https://www.stonemantel.co/trendsreport to download our full report. What you’ll learn: The top 6 meta trends influencing experience strategy in 2023 The research methodologies used to create the first-ever Experience Strategy Trends Report The cultural forces contributing to the experience strategy trends Examples of companies that are struggling or embracing trends Powerful ways to harness these trends for your business  

In this episode you’ll meet Jake Kahana, the co-founder of Caveday, a company helping you improve your relationship to work. Their global community has participated in over 50,000 hours of deep work “In The Cave.” Learn how Jake and his co-founders started with a specific job to be done and then wrapped an experience around it to create a game-changing solution, how they use internal and external research to contextualize and inform their experience, and how they’ve adapted their product to current conditions. Be forewarned, you’re going to ask yourself while listening if the way you’re working is working. If not, Jake has some ideas for you. Key Takeaways Benefits of working in a flow state: generating more creative and novel ideas, faster learning, clearer communication, and higher quality work.  Employee and Customer Experience Strategists need to focus on Modes (a mindset and a set of behaviors that people get into temporarily)  No one taught us how to work so when we’re doing work that feels really hard or really challenging, our brains want to bring in dopamine. It’s like when we’re having an awkward silence and we want to fill it with something comfortable we take our phones out. Top lesson learned: Identify an unmet need and then listen to your customers to find out if you’re meeting it.   Keep exploring Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. Flow Research Collective by Steven Kotler and Huberman Lab in Stanford by Andrew Huberman. Parkinson’s Law: the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. The term was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson; The Economist talks about the essay he wrote for them here.

The Washington Post recently shared evidence that US employees have gotten dramatically less productive. The Wall Street Journal reported that companies like Ford are giving severance packages to underproductive employees. And pretty much every media outlet has told us that employees are “quiet quitting” in astounding numbers. Today we are joined by Corinne Murray, an employee experience thought leader who has worked at companies like WeWork, American Express, RXR, Gensler, and CBRE. We look at what’s really driving our collective malaise, the influence and lasting impact of distributed and hybrid workforces, and how companies can create authentic and lasting employee engagement. Spoiler alert: they use the same strategies companies use to create lasting customer engagement. You don’t want to miss this episode!   Key takeaways: “Your people are your workplace” -Corinne Murray Engagement isn’t about where we work, but how we work. The most successful employee experience strategies are powered by employee purpose. Instead of one size fits all, over-corrections that revert to familiar and comfortable formats, they talk to employees about what matters to them, and design balanced strategies to support those.  Most companies are too focused on bringing employees back into the workplace rather than understanding what works best for the type of work the employee is doing. Check out this framework from Gartner for an example: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/4-modes-of-collaboration-are-key-to-success-in-hybrid-work The best way to keep employees engaged and productive is to create policies that help them feel like the way they work is time well spent.

As we continue our exploration of Modes: the behaviors and mindsets people adopt to accomplish a goal, today we will reflect on prayer mode with Agapi Stassinopoulos the bestselling author of Wake Up to the Joy of You and Unbinding the Heart: A Dose of Greek Wisdom, Generosity, and Unconditional Love and most recently Speaking with Spirit 52 Prayers to Guide, Inspire, and Uplift You. If you’re in the business of creating meaningful or transformative experiences, reflection is essential to your value proposition. History, and our research, have shown that people respond to having a higher purpose. Agapi shares the mindsets, behaviors and blocks that can stand in the way or create powerful impact. Be prepared for some delicious Greek wisdom.   Key Takeaways Prayer is a technique that is found in many spiritual disciplines and serves to help people develop a higher purpose Understanding reflection and prayer mode can help us create more meaningful experiences Companies have more permission than they often think to support the spiritual wellbeing of individuals. To help people create routines, companies can reduce the expectation of special context, settings and props. By simplifying, you can overcome perceived barriers.