Speaker Spotlight: Kim Noltemy, Boston Symphony Orchestra

In the weeks leading up to the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit we're going to be featuring some of our fantastic speakers here on the blog.

Kim Noltemy, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Boston Symphony Orchestra will be presenting "Integrating Management Decisions into the Customer Experience" at 3:45pm on Friday, June 8th at the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit.

In her session, you'll cover:
How to best integrate and leverage our customer touch points.
What measurements to use, and what is an acceptable return on investment.
How to effectively use technology, design, branding, and training to ensure a successful and meaningful interaction with customers.

Plus, find out how the Boston Symphony Orchestra uses unique and cost effective ideas to engage the customer throughout the entire process.

For a taste of Noltemy's presentation, download this eBook "The Art of Participation: Shared Lessons in Audience Engagement" from the Mass Cultural Council. In it, Noltemy is quoted as saying:

“You don’t get the results unless you pull it all together to create a real presence in the digital world.”

 It is this sort of holistic thinking that we're looking forward to at the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit.

Time is running out, but you can still join us in Boston. Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: Happily Ever After

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

The infographic pictured here, recently published by Bolt Insurance, is a great illustration of some of our recent points here on the blog. If you click through and scroll to the suggestions at the end you'll see that improving your company culture, offering loyalty rewards and listening to your customers online and through surveys are the main keys to keeping customers happy. We couldn't agree more.

Via: Bolt Insurance

This post on The Huffington Post speaks to the company culture aspect of loyalty building, saying "In many cases, empowering employees to resolve customer issues will save you time and effort down the road. Employees should also feel confident that they have the backing of management, so that they can enforce company policies quickly and efficiently without the issue escalating."

Elsewhere in customer loyalty news: Beth Hirschhorn, EVP of global brand, marketing and communication, and a member of MetLife’s executive group spoke with Forbes about Metlife's customer-centric initiative. She is quoted as saying "for us the objective is to focus as much on existing customers as it is about obtaining new customers."

The Harvard Business Review blog hosted a piece on "Three Myths about What Customers Want" that delves into the myths companies may believe about building loyalty and customer relationships. Key takeaways? Don't underestimate the power of discounts and focus on your brand's core values.

For an interesting look at how *not* to do customer service, click through to this piece from The Guardian. Yes, it is important to be listening online, but call centers or store associate availability by phone are still an important piece of the picture.

So what are you doing to remain "happily ever after" with your customers? Like any relationship, it takes work.

We're looking forward to delving into the topic more at the Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit which is now less than two weeks away. There's still time to join us: register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

Speaker Spotlight: Chuck Feltz, Author, Never by Chance

In the weeks leading up to the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit we're going to be featuring some of the speakers.

One of our keynotes, "Never By Chance: How Leaders Align Intentional Customer Experience to Accelerate Strategy" with Chuck Feltz, CEO, Managing Partner, FELT Z & ASSOCIATES, LLC and Author, Never by Chance: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership will focus on what is clearly a recurring subject here on the blog: how leaders can develop an internal culture that encourages great customer experiences.

Far too many organizations leave too much to chance by failing to intentionally align people and strategy from the top down. This session will show you how to increase your organization’s relevance by creating an intentional customer experience that aligns your organization from the top down and leaves nothing to chance.

For a great sneak peek of this session, check out this interview with  Chuck Feltz on the Peter McClellan Radio Show discussing strategy.

One key takeaway  "The thing is to make sure employees understand what the endgame is." How are you aligning your culture to your vision statement? One place to start: by joining us at The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit this June in Boston.

Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: Let's Get Social

image source Microsoft Dynamics Community via Business2Community

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

When discussing holistic customer experience, you can't ignore the power of social media in today's world. A recent American Express study found that "The 2012 American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer also found that consumers who have used social media for service wield the greatest amount of influence. They tell significantly more people about their service experiences, and say they’d spend 21% more with companies who deliver great service – compared to 13% on average."

But it's not just because you fear a consumer badmouthing your company that you need to get social. As marketing consultant and trainer J-P De Clerck recently wrote on conversionation.net "Customer experiences are about touchpoints and touchpoints are by definition social. Guess what is a key focus in 2012? Indeed, social."

Business2Community illustrated the importance of Social CRM Apps this week with the above image and by saying: "If conversation between a sales rep and his or her client has moved to the world of social media, the sales rep must be equipped with the proper technology to best interact with and understand the customer."

Former Total Customer Experience Leader's speaker Becky Carrol wrote about the topic on her blog earlier this year, citing Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker as an inspiration and saying "Social media, by contrast, provides not only the opportunity for an instant response but also for a personal response."

So what can we take away? Don't go social because you fear the customer response, go social because it is a way to make a personal connection with today's connected customer. For social CRM, it may be a way to close the sale or keep a customer loyal. For a contact center it may be the way to turn an unhappy customer into an evangelist or a VOC text analytics program could use social to measure sentiment. Are you social? How? Share with us in the comments!

Total Customer Experience Leaders is social: You can follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for industry news all week long.

Hear from BMO Financial, Dunkin' Donuts, Prophet & More at Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit

There are certain people who, when they speak, people listen. The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit brings you these voices - to share their customer experiences insights with you. Get the rare opportunity to hear from cross-industry leaders under one roof, at one time.

• Kelly Harper, Director, Brand & Customer Experience, BMO Financial Group shares how delivering great customer experiences begins with embedding customer experiences within your organization and fostering a customer-focused culture.

• Chuck Felts, CEO, Managing Partner, Feltz & Associates explores how you can increase your company's relevance by creating an intentional customer experiences that aligns your organization from the top down.

• Peter Dixon, Senior Partner, Creative Director, Prophet defines the need to create and manage a clear customer experience in your organization.

• Scott Hudler, Vice President - Global Consumer Engagement, Dunkin' Donuts discusses how the 60+ year-old brand has transformed the way it meets the needs of today's consumer by remaining true to its brand promise.

• Plus 5 additional keynotes from: Burke Inc., Experience Engineering & Maritz Research, Porter Airlines, Starwood Hotels & GfK Custom Research and USAA.

Download the conference brochure for the full agenda and session descriptions.

Your colleagues and competitors have already signed up - will you?

See who's already registered to attend:
1to1 Magazine, AAA, AAA Arizona, AARP, American Family Insurance, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Brandtrust, Bridgewater Bank, Chadwick Martin Bailey, Citizens Bank, Crystal Flash Energy, CUNA Mutual Group, CVS Caremark, Desjardins General Insurance, eBay, Expedia, Forrester Research, Hunter Douglas, Indiana University, Inflexxion, Janet LeBlanc & Associates, JoAnna Brandi & Co, KS&R, Leadership Learning Systems, Lenze Americans Corp. , Liberty Mutual Insurance, Loyalty Research Center, Medical Packaging Inc. , Morpace Inc. , Nationwide Insurance, OptumHealth, OtterBox, REI , Rockwell Automation, SAS Institute, The Chamberlain Group, The Hartford, Time Warner Cable, TNS, Travelers Insurance, TXU Energy, Verint, Vistaprint, Wright Express Corp., Yandex

Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TotalCustomer
Become a fan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TotalCustomer

Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: "Holistic"

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

One of the biggest terms that we keep seeing as we perform research for the event in June is "holistic." Organizations are increasingly interested in customer experience, but without a holistic solution that covers all aspects of customer experience, it will be difficult to increase long-term customer loyalty.

This recent post on "The Customer Experience Disconnect" highlights some of this data:

The Temkin Group found an "abundance of CX ambition and activity," with most companies employing a customer experience executive (six out of 10 companies), launching significant customer experience activities, and having a staff of six to eight full-time employees focused on customer experience and 28 percent employ more than 20 people in this area. However, the survey found that despite having these customer experience components in place, only 7 percent are "very strong" at customer experience today and 35 percent of companies are in the lowest stage of customer experience maturity. And 59 percent of the respondents state that their company's goal is to become the industry leader in customer experience within three years.

This week, let's look at some expert views on building a holistic customer experience program:

In this Fast Company 30 second MBA video, Motorola Solutions CTO Paul Steinberg explains how to solve problems before users know they have them. As he says "it's not about delivering quick fixes. It's really about delivering a holistic solution to a problem."


1to1media also wrote on "Taking a Holistic Approach to Building Customer Loyalty" this week, saying [customer experience] "initiatives tend to be owned by different departments, often siloed and disconnected from one another.

To realize the full potential of their loyalty endeavors, companies should link them to create one holistic program." One tip that they recommend: Using data to centralize loyalty efforts.

In this post on "Why Brands Need to Go Post-Mobile" Jonathan Gardner, Director of Communications, Vibrant recommends "thinking broadly about consumer perceptions of your product, and communicating about them in a holistic way." The impact of new technology can't be ignored, and it may even be a way to make messaging more holistic. As this piece says, "technology forces businesses to deal with the experiences of their customers."

Forbes also recommends that product marketers "make testing a key phase in their product life cycle." This could apply to anyone interested in the holistic experience: do a small roll-out, test and learn and listen. And ideally, be nimble enough to change.

Of course, as we covered before: creating a customer centric culture from the inside out is also part of the transformation. What would you recommend to those looking to unify their customer experience management for a more holistic view?

Share with us at Total Customer Experience Leader's summit this June in Boston, or Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook to share with the TCEL family.

Creating Your Own Customer Experience Measurement Program

Customer experience design is one of the most powerful accelerants of business strategy a leader has. It provides one of the most compelling answers to the question: do we matter to our customers? And yet, far too many organizations leave too much on the table by failing to intentionally align people and strategy from the top down to ensure this happens.

At the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit you will learn how to increase your organization's relevance by creating an intentional customer experience that aligns your organization from the top down.


Featured Session: Summiting the Customer Experience Measurement - Anne-Marie Davidson, Senior Marketing Research Analyst, REI
Like many retailers, REI faces the challenge of becoming a more customer-centric organization, one that connects all aspects of the customer's experience. For the last two years, REI has been developing a comprehensive customer measurement program, building from a blueprint, and including management interviews, qualitative and quantitative research, action planning, linkage and goal-setting. This presentation will describe that journey and provide attendees with a process for developing their own customer experience measurement program.


Download the brochure to see the full program.

Joining Anne-Marie at the event is an impressive line-up of customer experience professionals sharing their own real-life stories.
Hear from:
AAA NCNU, AARP, American Family Insurance, BMO Financial Group, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Burke, Inc., Citizens Financial Group, Dunkin' Donuts, Experience Engineering, Feltz & Associates, LLC, Forrester, GfK Custom Research, GfK Customer Research, Hunter Douglas, Indiana University, Janet LeBlanc & Associates, JoAnna Brandi & Company, Inc., Maritz Research, Porter Airlines, Prophet, Rockwell Automation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, The Hartford, Time Warner Cable and USAA.

Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!
The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team


Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TotalCustomer
Become a fan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TotalCustomer

Customer Experience in Action: JetBlue, Doing It Right.

In this era of the more empowered customer, it seems we hear a lot of negative stories about customer experiences, but there are some companies out there that are taking customer feedback and truly rising to the challenge, providing a customer experience that delivers on brand promises on all levels, from digital to in-person.

Personally, working for one of the largest providers of trade conferences, expositions, and  networking experiences in America, I spend a lot of time traveling to different conferences. On my most recent trip I was sitting in the airport with a little time to kill and working on the upcoming Total Customer Experience Leader's event, and I couldn't help but think that my airline on that day, JetBlue, really has customer experience down to a science.

First, booking your trip and getting to the airport: JetBlue has a newly relaunched iPhone app (pictured above, right) and mobile website that provides both an easy way to book your flight and pertinent information for the day of your travel. The app provides local weather information, baggage policy, options for sending a friend directions for airport pickup or even help with looking up a local car service. You can even browse the DIRECTV® offerings for your flight within the app. Now, there is one thing that's missing here, mobile check-in ability, but overall it is a brilliant application that left me feeling delighted with the small touches.


Regarding the new mobile developments, Michael Stromer, vice president of customer connections at JetBlue, Forrest Hills, NY was quoted in this article as saying “The initial mission behind JetBlue is to bring humanity back to air travel, and we are trying to do that with these initiatives.”

Indeed, the brand has done a good job at maintaining this "human" touch off-line as well. When I sat in the airport lounge at JFK's Terminal 5 to grab a snack, I was pleasantly surprised by a personal-feeling note (pictured left) from management OTG on the menu about their dedication to customer experience.

The trend continues at the gate as well, with clear signage showing flight status and destination weather. Ample seating and plenty of places to plug in complete the experience.

But perhaps it's not how they are at their best that is telling of a company's approach to customer experience, but instead how they react when faced with a challenge. Luckily or unluckily, I had the chance to experience that as well on this particular trip. As we were waiting at the gate, an announcement was made that the plane we had been assigned for the flight did not have functioning DIRECTV® service. This was a disappointment to some travelers for sure, but by the next morning I had an email in my inbox from JetBlue apologizing for the incident and rewarding me with a loyalty credit. The email read:

"We‘re sorry that DIRECTV® service didn’t work during your flight—we know this is one of the many reasons our customers choose to fly with JetBlue. Please accept our sincere apologies and this flight credit for the inconvenience you recently experienced with us."

I couldn't help but think that this is how the "empowered customer" is expecting to be treated. Acknowledgement and an apology like that actually left me feeling better about the trip then if I had taken a neutral, expected flight.

Have you had lived through any customer experience success stories lately? E-mail me at mleblanc@iirusa.com if you'd like to publish one here as a guest blog.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

Idea Gathering: Customer Experience Starts with You

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

This week, we chatted with TCEL speaker Janet LeBlanc, President, JANET LEBLANC + ASSOCIATES about creating a customer-centric culture. On that note, let's look at some of the ways to develop that culture and the effects that doing so can have.

This post on the Experience Required™ blog suggested that the The CEO’s role in changing culture starts with taking three steps: #1. Be visible.
#2. Give feedback regularly.
#3. Demonstrate quick wins.

This piece on "The Rateocracy" (which calls back to last week's focus on the more empowered customer) advises: "The CEO of the future will need to work harder to align the corporation, its employees, and stakeholders around a shared vision."

Forbes recently posted "Why the Megalomaniac in the Corner Office Isn't Doing Your Company Any Favors" discussing this topic as well. The article cites "(Lack of) Open Culture" as a major downfall for organizations and posits "a way to run a better business is by enabling a wealth of executives to make business critical decisions and empowering them to act and react around the globe."

CMS wire agrees, writing "Almost every company across America says the same hackneyed cliche: Our people are our strongest asset. Almost every company in America is not doing what's necessary to make their employees believe that their employers actually believe this."

Based on all of these sources it's clear: customer experience starts at home. Look at your employee's experiences and the culture they are working in and think "How does this align with our customer experience strategy?"

Have you ever made an effort to change corporate culture from within? Share your successes and challenges in our comments section.

Like these updates? Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for industry news all week long.

Podcast: Janet LeBlanc on Creating a Customer-Centric Culture

Janet LeBlanc, President, JANET LEBLANC + ASSOCIATES will be speaking on Creating a Customer-Centric Culture at our upcoming Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit.

I caught up with her last week to record a quick podcast where we discussed the growing priority of creating a customer centric culture and some steps an organization can take to identify and change their culture.

 On trying to create a customer-centric culture Janet says "it's one of the most challenging transformational change initiatives for any senior executive to undertake." However, there are some concrete steps you can take to get there. The first being, define what culture your organization currently operates within.

For more on the process and the types of culture you may currently be operating under, listen to the podcast here. 

If you'd like to hear more from Janet LeBlanc, join us at the Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit this June in Boston. As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Visit the webpage to register today. 

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.