How HP, Forrester, Dell and Others Master the Customer Experience

Translating data insights into an actionable plan is the foundation for building a successful and emotionally connected brand.  The 2014 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit shines an important lens on measuring and aligning data, along with linking attitudinal metrics to behavioral data across the enterprise. This three day open forum allows for high-level knowledge exchange with the most distinguished leaders in the customer experience space. 

See for yourself - download the brochure for full program detail and session descriptions: http://bit.ly/1fhJFi9

Our visionary speakers on data and linkage include:

KEYNOTE: Employees are the Key to delivering your Customer's Experience
Peter Neill, Former Chief Customer Officer, Level 3 Communications
The ability to deliver upon a differentiated CE falls upon your employees and how your culture enables them and your customers. Your employee experience requires investment and shouldn't be left to chance if "how" you deliver is equally as important to your customers as "what" you deliver. It's critical to incorporate employees and customers into your VOC Program - Measurement, E2E Analysis, Action, Communications, and Recognition.

KEYNOTE: Personal Intelligence: The Power of Personality at Work
John D. Mayer, Renowned Professor of Psychology, The University of New Hampshire and Author, Personal Intelligence
John is a groundbreaking behavioral psychologist and key innovator in intelligence research having written more than 125 scientific articles, books, and psychological tests, including the internationally known Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. John argues that understanding personality is the key to our well-being. We are all curious about what people are thinking and what makes them tick. This urge to understand others helps us to adapt successfully to the world around us. Mayer talks about personal intelligence at work and the use of personal intelligence to understand our customers.

Twelve Year Customer Experience Journey
John Sullivan, Global TCE Leader, HP Financial Services
The key to the success of this twelve year journey could only happen through an engaged employee workforce. This presentation deconstructs the twelve year journey of a global company with over 1,500 employees supporting customers in over 50 countries competing for loyalty and wallet share in an industry and marketplace that provides superior customer experiences. John focuses on identifying and segmenting customers; internal as well as external, implementing a measurement process that gives continuous feedback and how to turn this information into meaningful, measureable action that would drive customer loyalty.

Making Promises, Keeping Promises: Building Brand and Loyalty Through Customer Experience
Kerry Bodine, Former VP and Principal Analyst, Customer Experience Research Practice, Forrester
Companies are waking up to the fact that customers' perceptions have a profound impact on business metrics ranging from brand equity and customer loyalty to increased revenue and cost savings. But for businesses to succeed, they need to get serious about the way they define, implement, and manage the customer experience. This session will explore how to make the connections between experience, brand and loyalty, the role that various touch points play in creating customer expectations and delivering on them and how marketers need to collaborate with the rest of the organization to ensure a high-quality customer experience.

....and, many more industry leaders!

Mention code TCEL14BL & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today:  http://bit.ly/1fhJFi9

Join us and the greatest customer experience strategists of our time and together we'll advance business relevancy through customer strategy.

Cheers,

The TCEL Team

@TotalCustomer

customers1stblog.iirusa.com

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Mastering the Digital & Social Marketplace

To call this an event is an understatement. The annual The Total Customer Experience Leaders 2014 is a meeting of the minds for those folks dedicated to advancing business relevancy through customer strategy. This salon style event facilitates the exchange of higher level dialogues and access to the greatest strategists of our time. It's where provocation is grounded in actionability and presented through articulate facilitation. The 2014 event has a specialized focus on today's digital & social marketplace. 

Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit 2014

April 9-11, 2014

Trump International Beach Resort

Miami, Florida

Our distinguished speakers include:

How Current Trends are Shaping the 10 Growth Areas of Tomorrow
KEYNOTE: Jared Weiner, Futurist and Vice President, Weiner, Edrich, Brown 

Several emerging consumer trends for 2014... and beyond...are revolutionizing the future of customer engagement. This session will focus on how major technological, social and economic trends are shaping the 10 growth areas of the emerging Metaspace Economy. Together, we will take a quick journey into the short - and long-term future to uncover the growth opportunities of tomorrow for businesses. Jared brings his experience as a futurist working with some of the world's largest companies to the table and observes how the economy is evolving to put more of a premium on customer experience than ever before.

Move Brands Faster and Longer in the Social Media Era
Nestor Portillo, Director, Social Communities and Customer Experience, Microsoft 

With new social media networks/platforms emerging almost every day, how can brands timely and efficiently engage customers while delivering a cohesive experience that drives customer loyalty? This presentation shares Microsoft's strategy of serving +22 million customers per month through different social platforms (Blog, Forums, Wiki, Social) in 13 languages, and why customer experience is the key to making the content viral and engaging. What's the trade-off between the social platform used, the level of trust and the cost when delivering a customer experience through your website and social channels? Customer experience involves customer service and support, how both can co-exists in today's organizational model and how companies need to get prepared for the new wave?

Thriving in a Digital Commerce World

KEYNOTE: Jay Topper, CIO & CTO, VITACOST.COM

To succeed as a dotcom retailer, it isn't enough to sell cheap and deliver on time. The entire end-to-end digital eco-system must constantly transform: From marketing, through the web experience, into fulfillment and post-sale services-consumer expectations are on the rise-and must be met in order to create the loyalty necessary to thrive.

How does technology both serve and lead transformation within marketing, merchandising and operations?

How have expectations in internet retail increased and what's around the corner?

How does post-sale innovation contribute to life-time value-cracking the code of loyalty isn't easy when your competitor is a click away

Mastering the Mindset of the Millennial Candidate
Kassandra Barnes, Research & Content Manager, CareerBuilder 

The millennial generation is the first to grow up in a digital world. That's why this new generation of candidates, who navigate the increasingly complex and fragmented digital environment with ease, is a challenge for many organizations. We'll examine insights gleaned from years of studying candidate behavior online and discuss how organizations can use this new media environment to their advantage and personalize their experience with this ever-changing talent pool.

....and, many more industry leaders!

Download the brochure for the full agenda: http://bit.ly/1iPF4El

Mention code TCEL14LI & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/1iPF4El

The take away? A viable actionable plan to securing your company's future success. Join other leaders charged with creating a sound strategic customer plan in Miami this April.

Cheers,

The TCEL Team

@TotalCustomer

http://customers1st.blogspot.com

Customer Experience Conversations: Keith Ferrazzi

In this next post in our Customer Experience Conversations series, we sat down with Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit’s keynote speaker Keith Ferrazzi, who is also CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight and Author of Never Eat Alone. Ferrazzi discussed how customer experienced has evolved in the digital age and the importance of customer experience leadership.

This year, TCEL will explore the new realities of building brands and relationships in today’s socially driven and data abundant world. The event will shine an important lens on the power of insights and the critical need for marketers to focus on factoring emotion into the bigger equation to get a return on customer relationships.

Here is what Ferrazzi had to say:

IIR: Why are empathy and emotion so important in when it comes to customer experience?

Ferrazzi: Technology's pretty much leveled the field with regard to quality, making customers more likely to develop relationships with the companies they choose to work with. That's put the customer in the position of looking for a more personal experience. They want to work with people they trust. Empathy, vulnerability, emotion are ways to develop that trust. 

IIR: What are the key traits of a great customer experience leader?

Ferrazzi:  Obviously, accountability is critical. You're responsible for your customer's experience, good or bad. But trust, creativity and adaptability are also pretty high. You have to trust your team to constantly look for new ways to improve the customer experience. You need the creativity to see the bigger, longer picture. And you need to be lean enough to change courses when necessary.

IIR: If your customers have a bad customer experience, how do you reconnect with them moving forward?

Ferrazzi: Before anything else, admit your mistake, if it was your mistake, and apologize directly. So many difficult situations can be neutralized with two simple, but sincere, words: "I'm sorry." Customers are angry after a bad experience because they feel like they were treated poorly. By apologizing, you've already changed the dynamic and make resolving the situation more collaborative. From there you can turn a bad customer experience into a loyal customer just by being open to their feelings.

IIR: How has the digital revolution changed the overall customer experience?

Ferrazzi: It's certainly had an equalizing effect. Neither customer nor company is limited by the old, pre-digital marketplace. Small start-ups can compete against big brands by serving a specific niche and can reach customers all over the world, just by being where their customers are online. And with so much market segmentation targeting your specific customers is more cost effective. You'll reach fewer eyes but the ones you do reach are more likely to be interested in your product.

IIR: How has social media affected customer experience?

Ferrazzi: It's made feedback instantaneous. You know immediately whether your customer's had a good or bad experience. The customer is far more empowered and a dissatisfied customer is always more likely to voice his or her opinion. One bad meal, one rude CSR, and Twitter, Facebook, Reddit knows immediately. You can see that as a problem, or you can use that same medium to show how much you value your customers.

IIR: How do you make the connections between experience, brand and loyalty, which together create customer expectations?

Ferrazzi: Understanding what your brand brings to your customers, not just in the specific goods or services, but in the visceral experience, is critical. Even if you are your brand, is your audience one who is looking for something posh or homey? Luxurious or utilitarian? Intellectually rigorous or practical? Know what emotional need your fulfilling in addition the good or service you're providing, and you'll turn a generic transaction into an "experience" which will trigger loyalty. 

Want to hear more from Keith on customer experience in person? Join him at Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit 2014 in Miami in April. To learn more about the event and register, click here:  http://bit.ly/1ces31p

About the Author: Amanda Ciccatelli, Social Media Strategist of the Marketing Division at IIR USA, has a background in digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business strategy, marketing, and technology. Amanda is the Editor at Large for several of IIR’s blogs including Next Big Design, Customers 1st, and ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts, and a regular contributor to Front End of Innovation and The Market Research Event,. She previously worked at Technology Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and feature stories in the technology industry. She can be reached at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc.

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Customer Experience Conversations: Len Ferman

Welcome to our brand new Customers 1^st blog series entitled, “Customer Experience Conversations.” This series will highlight customer experience leadership ideas and insights from the experts who will be speaking at the 2014 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit (TCEL) in April.

This year, TCEL will explore the new realities of building brands and relationships in today’s socially driven and data abundant world. The event will shine an important lens on the power of insights and the critical need for marketers to focus on factoring emotion into the bigger equation to get a return on customer relationships.

With the onset of the New Year, I wanted to get an in-depth look at the ever-changing customer experience landscape from an expert’s point of view. I was fortunate to sit down with Len Ferman, managing director, Ferman Innovation, to discuss the importance of empathy when it comes to customer experience leadership.

Here is what Ferman had to say:

IIR: Describe your best customer experience.

Ferman: When I think about great customer experiences I like to focus on the intentional experience rather than the typical story of a "lone wolf" hero acting on their own and bending the rules. I absolutely applaud those who go above and beyond the call of duty and shows true empathy for a customer. However, from a corporate point of view we should be creating intentional customer experiences that demonstrate empathy for our customers. 

In this light, my best customer experience involved my teenage son losing his iPhone. Verizon delighted me with their process of transferring the account to a new phone two times in the same day at no charge and without having to visit the store. First, my son transferred his account to an old droid phone I was no longer using. He needed a phone immediately because he was driving back to college. Then when he got back to school he found a friend who had an extra iPhone.  He then contacted Verizon and transferred his account a second time. Each time the transfer was handled remotely in a couple of minutes and at no charge. This was a huge improvement over several years ago when you would have needed to bring the phone in and might be charged a transfer fee.

IIR: Why are empathy and emotion so important in when it comes to customer experience?

Ferman: Corporations often lose sight of customer needs in the perpetual quest to meet next quarter’s earnings. What's good in the short term for the stock price is usually at conflict with long term customer satisfaction and shareholder value. Corporate leaders need to spend more time attending traditional face to face focus groups and watching their customers talk about their pain points and challenges in everyday life and in interactions with the company. 

When you see customers face to face you pick up the body language and expressions that you cannot discern in the most disciplined reading of a market research report. And, only when you have seen your customers talking about your company can you truly empathize with their needs.  This is what is required for companies to develop the stimulus to identify the improvements they need to make to their products and services.

  

IIR: What are the key traits of a great customer experience leader?

Ferman: Great customer experience leaders ensure that the customer comes first, always, period. What's good for the customer will ultimately be good for the shareholders and stakeholders of the company. This doesn't mean you give away your products for free. This means you design your products and services in a way that they create value and intentional "wow" experiences for your customers every day. By creating value for your customers you create customer advocates, and you spawn a willingness to pay that will generate superior returns for the shareholders. 

IIR: If your customers have a bad customer experience, how do you reconnect with them moving forward?

Ferman: The most important thing you must do immediately following a bad customer experience is to acknowledge and apologize for the bad customer experience. You must empathize with the customer and show you are on their side. Customers want to know that you are a partner, not an adversary. But, just a simple show of empathy is not enough. There must be a short and long term strategy to reconnect with the customer. 

In the short term, you can actually leverage a bad customer experience as a way to create a valuable customer advocate.  I have seen repeatedly that an individual customer's bad experience can be turned into a unique opportunity to delight that customer when the solution is handled properly. Often these customers report higher satisfaction scores after the remedy that prior to the problem. Long term, you need to incorporate the bad experience into the process you need to have for continuously evaluating and improving your overall intentional customer experience for your products and services. 

IIR: How has the digital revolution changed the overall customer experience?

Ferman: The digital revolution has changed the game in terms of the expectations of customers and has provided an expansive array of new opportunities to delight customers. In the digital age customers expect change to happen fast.  Customers expect that your systems all "talk" to each other and that they should not have to explain their problem more than once. Customers want instant gratification, so you must be prepared to solve their problems quickly on the first call.  

From a corporate point of view the digital revolution has created fantastic new opportunities to create intentional great customer experiences. Forward thinking companies are finding ways to use the web and mobile platforms to deliver their products and services in a way we couldn't dream about 20 years ago. The possibilities are limitless and simply require a commitment to constantly understand customer needs and generate new solutions. 

IIR: Employee recognition can positively influence employee behaviors and cultivate a customer-centric culture. How do you recognize and motivate your employees?

Ferman: I have found the best way to motivate employees is to include them in the process of developing customer solutions. When you ask an employee to participate in a brainstorming session to determine how to improve the customer experience you create a "wow" experience for the employee. Instead of showering employees with costly incentives in an effort to buy positive behavior it is much better to partner with your employees and make them feel like they are a valuable part of the equation to create a customer centric culture. In addition, you will find that your employees are the best source of great new ideas.

IIR: How do you strategize and innovate on your company’s customer experience to continuously improve it as the marketplace grows increasingly competitive?

Ferman: The key is to have a standing process in place of continuous customer innovation. It can't be something you do once in a while. You have to have a team in place that is constantly gathering and synthesizing information about your customer's experience. This includes primary market research with your customers as well as a disciplined approach to capturing and evaluating customer problems. Then you have to have a process that looks at all the data and identifies and evaluates potential new customer solutions. When you do this continually you create the ability to identify and respond to your most pressing customer experience issues.

Want to hear more from Len Ferman on customer experience? Join me at Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit 2014 in Miami in April. To learn more about the event and register, click here: http://bit.ly/1dton09

About the Author: Amanda Ciccatelli, Social Media Strategist of the Marketing Division at IIR USA, has a background in digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business strategy, marketing, and technology. Amanda is the Editor at Large for several of IIR’s blogs including Next Big Design, Customers 1st, and ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts, and a regular contributor to Front End of Innovation and The Market Research Event,. She previously worked at Technology Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and feature stories in the technology industry. She can be reached at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc

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Build Empathy with Your Customers at Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit

An essential aspect of a sound customer plan is customer discovery which begins with developing a deep understanding of a customer's needs and motivations. Gaining empathy - recognizing and connecting with your customers' emotions is your key to success. At Total Customer Experience Leaders we shine an important lens on the power of insights and the critical need for marketers to focus on factoring empathy into the bigger equation to get a return on customer relationships.

Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit 2014

April 9-11, 2014

Trump International Beach Resort

Miami, Florida

Discover the emotional drivers that are critical in creating an effective customer story from Total Customer's renowned speakers: 

Bringing Empathy into Your Organization
Crystal Collier, CEO, TARP Worldwide & Dan Hill, President, Sensory Logic and Author, Emotionomics and On-Emotion Engagement
Explore emerging trends that are taking companies to new levels of customer understanding. Hear stories of innovative analytical approaches to understanding the key drivers of satisfaction and loyalty among customers and employees. Learn how to apply this knowledge to customer-facing programs that leverage empathy to improve the customer experience. Changes in employee behavior are tailored to strengthen the emotional connection and deliver consistent and rewarding interactions that drive bottom-line results.

Using Emotional Energy To Make Your Customer Experience Programs Easier, Faster and Smarter
Daryl Travis, CEO, Brandtrust
Some moments in the customer's experience simply matter more than others. Success or failure hinges on the emotional energy of customers and employees in those moments. Identifying and designing for your customers' and employees' emotional needs will simplify and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your customer experience programs. Learn how to discover and leverage emotional energy to streamline your customer experience program and drive better business results.

Empathetic Marketing for Total Customer Experience
Mark Ingwer, Ph.D., Founder, Insights Consulting Group and Author, Empathetic Marketing
Traditional approaches to understanding customers' experiences and motivations are ineffective in today's world. Business needs to develop a more comprehensive and intimate approach to engaging and sustaining customers. To do so, they must understand the core emotional needs underlying customers' attitudes and behaviors. Dr. Mark Ingwer will draw from the ideas in Empathetic Marketing and outline a clear path for translating emotional knowledge into progressive, innovative marketing strategies for your customers.

Incorporating the Rational and the Emotional into the Customer Experience Journey
Jill O'Neill, Director, Client Strategy and Execution, Bank of Montreal
This case study will discuss the change management transformation on which BMO Harris Private Banking has embarked to create a culture and organizational structure that not only meets client needs but exceeds their expectations. Ultimately the case study will provide an overview to help leaders and customer experience practitioners identify key opportunities to build loyalty by improving the client experience and to also build confidence and support within the organization for future investment in client experience efforts.

....and, many more customer experience sessions!

Download the brochure for the full agenda: http://bit.ly/1c43FU2

Join us at Total Customer and learn the techniques to mastering the art of customer discovery, allowing you to be well equipped to give your customers exactly what they need. This is your call to action to strengthen and advance your organization with a sound customer plan. 

Mention code TCEL14LI & Save 15% off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/1c43FU2

Hope to see you in Miami in April!

Cheers,

THE TCEL Team

@TotalCustomer

http://customers1st.blogspot.com

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