Temkin Group’s (Exciting) Plans For CX Day 2016

Last year, Temkin Group had a great time celebrating CX Day. This year, CX Day will be held on October 5th and we’re planning another exciting celebration.

Temkin Group has labelled 2016 The Year of the Emotion for customer experience. As you’ll see below, we’re continuing that theme in our CX Day plans:

• Thought leadership video: Bruce will interview renowned author and thought leader Barry Schwartz, in a pre-taped webinar entitled “Infusing Humanity Into CX.”
• Webinar with Jen. Jen Rodstrom will present The Fundamentals of Customer Experience (see recording).
• Webinar with Aimee. Aimee Lucas will present Building a Customer-Centric Culture (see recording).
• Free research. Anyone who attends either of the two Temkin Group webinars will receive a code for downloading a free copy of the report, Lessons in CX Excellence, 2016.
• Free eBook. We’ll be publishing a new eBook, 25 Tips for Tapping into Customer Emotion, that will be available to download for free.
• CX and Emotion video. We plan to unveil an fun new video showing the importance of customer emotions in customer experience: Start Talking About Emotions.
• CX Infographic. We’ll publish a new version of “The Ultimate CX Infographic” that’s been very popular over the last few years.
• Research discount. We’ll provide a discount code via twitter that will give a 15% discount on any research purchased during CX Day (12:01 AM ET to 11:59 PM ET).

The bottom line: Join Temkin Group in celebrating CX Day 2016!

Temkin Group Plans For CX Day 2015

Last year, Temkin Group had a great time celebrating CX Day. This year, CX Day will be held on October 6th (1st Tuesday in October) and we’re planning another great celebration.

Temkin Group has labelled 2015 as the Year of the Employee for customer experience. As you’ll see below, we’re continuing that theme in our plans for CX Day 2015:

• Research discount. We’ll provide a discount code via twitter that will give a 15% discount on any research purchased during CX Day (8:00 AM ET to 8:00 PM ET).
• Free webinars. We’ll hold two free webinars. Aimee Lucas will present Tapping into the Power of Engaged Employees at 1:00 PM ET and Jen Rodstrom will present The Fundamentals of Customer Experience at 4:00 PM ET.
• Free research. Anyone who attends one of the two Temkin Group webinars will receive a code for downloading a free copy of the report, Lessons in CX Excellence, 2015.
• Free eBook. We’ll be publishing a new eBook, “15 Tips to Engage Employees” that will be available to download for free.
• Customer Experience Matters video. We plan to unveil an exciting new video showing the importance of customer experience and the critical role of employees.
• New CX Infographic. We’ll publish a new version of “The Ultimate CX Infographic” that’s been very popular over the last few years.
• Blog Post. As part of the CXPA’s blog carnival, I’ll be publishing the post, Hungry for CX, Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch.
• CXPA Webinar. Bruce will join Jeanne Bliss for a webinar sponsored by the CXPA at 11:00 AM ET.
• CXPA Event in SoCal. Bruce will be speaking in Los Angeles at the CXPA.org’s SoCal local networking event.

The bottom line: Join Temkin Group in celebrating CX Day 2015!

12 Ways To Engage With The Customer Experience Professionals Association

I recently posted about the Past and Exciting Future of the Customer Experience Professionals Association. After reviewing our progress over the last few years, I am even more excited about the future of the organization and what it means for CX professionals worldwide.

In that post I unveiled an updated version of the CXPA.org’s mission statement:

The Customer Experience Professionals Association is the premier global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and cultivation of the Customer Experience profession. We increase the impact and visibility of Customer Experience professionals, facilitate effective member-to-member sharing, and establish respected standards.

I also mentioned that we were working on developing the strategic pillars that will guide the CXPA over the next several years. Here they are:

• Establish the role of CX professionals as essential for business success. For our profession to be successful, we need to make sure that people (especially business leaders) understand the importance of our work and that we highlight how our community is helping to drive the success of their organizations.
• Grow the community of engaged CX professionals. The CXPA is a non-profit organization that is built on the collective energy and support of our members. Growing the number of members is not enough, we need to encourage members to become active and to raise the number of highly-active members within our community.
• Increase members’ CX knowledge, capabilities, and effectiveness through member to member programming. We want to help our members be the best that they can be, but don’t want to replicate the content and resources that already exist in other areas. We believe that the most effective way to add value in this area is to create mechanisms for our members to share with each other and to foster a culture of sharing across our community.
• Create tailored strategies based on key member segments. As our community grows, we will want to cater some of our offerings to meet the needs of different subgroups (e.g., new CX professionals).
• Ensure that the CXPA has the right talent. From the board of directors to the volunteers across the community, we need to make sure that the CXPA has great people in all of the key roles and a plan for evolving that leadership over time.

To help drive these efforts, we are aligning the CXPA’s board of directors around each of these pillars.

If you’re a CX professional, then I hope you see the value that the CXPA provides to you. It’s YOUR organization. Together, we can collectively raise the visibility and effectiveness of customer experience professionals.

I urge you to join and become active in the CXPA. The strength of our association, and the ability for us to achieve our mission, is based on the participation of CX professionals around the world.

Here are 12 ways that you can get involved…

1. Go to the online CXPA community and introduce yourself.
2. Participate in a YourMembership call to learn about all the resources available to you.
3. Learn or share your successes on a webinar or educational call.
4. Become a mentor or mentee in our new CX mentorship program. 
5. Meet and interact with other CX professionals at one of our many Local Networking Events.
6. Attend our flagship Insight Exchange in San Diego in May, a “must-attend” event!
7. Pose a question or suggest an answer in our online community.
8. Submit a question to our panel of CX Experts.
9. Post a job or find a new amazing opportunity on our CX career list.
10. Celebrate CX Day on October 6th and help plan the events when we call out for volunteers.
11. If you’re qualified, work towards a Certified Customer Experience Professional and proudly display your CCXP credentials.
12. Showcase your support of the CX profession by becoming a CXPA sponsor.

The bottom line: Get involved in the CXPA!

CX in the C-Suite: Webinar With Mercedes-Benz CEO

As part of Customer Experience Day, I interviewed Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) CEO Steve Cannon on a CXPA.org webinar called Customer Experience from the C-Suite. Cannon was energetic and informative in describing how MBUSA has infused a strong sense of CX across its organization as well as across the company’s network of 375 dealership franchisees.

One of the highlights of the webinar was when Cannon said that “customer experience is the new marketing” and is critical for fulfilling MBUSA’s brand promise, The Best or Nothing.

Here are some other highlights and lessons from the webinar:

• The CEO plays a critical role in CX. Cannon was clear on the role of the CEO in driving CX across the organization. “If the CEO doesn’t take CX personally, he’s not going to be able to convince people that it isn’t just the flavor of the month.” He called himself the “Chief conversation starter” and “Chief Evangelist.” Cannon mentioned that CX is a topic in every single town hall and when he visits a facility, he says, “Don’t give me a facility tour, give me a customer experience tour.” (Related: CX Mistake #1: Faking Executive Commitment).
• Change takes focused leadership. Cannon pointed out that historically; CX resided in too many siloes (sales, marketing, presales, etc) across MBUSA. One of the first thing Steve did was reorganize around CX, carve CX out of different business units and put them together in one unit with a General Manager who reports directly to him. (Related: State of CX Management, 2014).
• Alignment is well worth the investment of time. When CX became the MBUSA’s main objective, the executive team went offsite and spent two days debating and critically examining the organization’s CX—where they were coming from and where they were going. This meeting incorporated the voices of General Managers into MBUSA’s CX plans, making them what Cannon called “co-architects.” Afterwards, Cannon held similar meeting with the next two levels of leaders across the company. (Related: WL Gore Succeeds Without Employees).
• It all starts with employee engagement. Cannon said that Employee Engagement is a precursor to CX. Cannon stated that “MBUSA is committed to investing in people because they are the only ones who can create great CX.” And Cannon is investing in this area. He discussed the company’s Immersion Program. Over the next few years, 26,000 employees will visit the MBUSA plant in Alabama and go through a learning journey that includes driving cars and visiting the company’s brand center. (Related: The Untapped Value of Employee Engagement (Infographic)).
• CX is about culture, not a veneer. Cannon mentioned that great leaders create culture that creates great customer experience. That’s why Cannon is so proud of MBUSA leadership academy. He said that CX is in the DNA of the MBUSA, and is its higher calling. (Related: Driving Customer Experience Transformation, Made Simple).
• “Satisfaction isn’t enough.” Cannon stated that any company can satisfy customers just by operational excellence and performing a transaction right. Instead of satisfaction, MBUSA wants to delight its customers. To measure this objective, MBUSA is changing its metrics to include Net Promoter Score within a basket of other metrics. (Related: Customer Effort, Net Promoter, And Thoughts About CX Metrics).
• Engage your channel partners. Cannon was clear that dealers have the ability to amplify, accentuate, or marginalize everything MBUSA does. He explained that 2.5 points out of the 5.5 points of performance bonus that dealers can earn are related to delivering great customer experience, which results in a $40 million customer experience payout across dealers. Cannon was proud of the “Drive a Start Home” program that provides dealer employees with a Mercedes-Benz to drive for two days. (Related: Our B2B content plus an upcoming report on B2B2C CX).

Check out last year’s webinar with Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint.

The bottom line: CX leaderships requires executive leaders like Steve Cannon.

Random Thoughts From My London Visit

I just returned from London; it’s a great city. I learned to love it during a semester I spent at the London Business School many years ago. This visit was a combination of Temkin Group work, CXPA.org business, and vacation with my wife. As always, London delivered a great experience.

Here are some random thoughts from my visit:

• Customer experience is alive and well in the UK. One of the main purposes of my trip to London was to attend a local networking event of the Customer Experience Professionals Association and to discuss ways in which we can expand in the UK. It was a great session hosted by Thomson Reuters, full of many passionate customer experience professionals. I have to give a shout out to Rachel Buckley, Alan Woollam, and Marcio Rodrigues for putting together such a fantastic event. I am confident that the CXPA will continue to blossom in the UK.

• London theater is great. Even the expensive tickets for a top show are well below the prices we pay on Broadway. We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (very good show, wonderful staging, although the first act dragged a bit) and Once (outstanding show, lots of energy from the cast). Here’s a picture of the cast jamming on stage before the show began.

• You can walk and walk and walk in London. We relied on the Tube to periodically drop us in the right neighborhood, but we mostly walked the entire time we were in London. We thoroughly enjoyed taking walking tours with London Walks. The guides were knowledgeable, kept a good pace, and were thoughtful enough to keep us out of the sun during the unusually hot days. The walks were all about two hours and met right outside of a Tube stop. We really enjoyed the Famous Square Mile, Old Westminster, and The Old Jewish Quarter walks. I’m not sure why we don’t walk around our neighborhood the way that we did in London.
• Oliver Cromwell was an interesting chap. Besides our walking tours, we went to the typical attractions such as Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace. Oliver Cromwell stood out on many of our stops. During our walk by Parliament, which has a prominent statue of Cromwell, we heard about how he lead the charge to remove the monarchy in the mid 1600s and had King Charles I beheaded in 1649. At the Tower of London, we found out that he had melted all of the historical crown jewels, so you can only see crown jewels from later monarchies (King Charles II came to power, restoring royal rule in 1660). During our Jewish walk, we found that Cromwell’s tolerance allowed the Jewish community to come back into London. We also saw where he was initially buried (it’s long story) at Westminster Abbey.
• We had an excellent food visit. As a student in London, I ate a lot of cheap fish and chips and pub sandwiches and never thought much of British food. But we actually had some really good meals during this visit. We booked many of them through Toptable, which is almost a mirror of Open Table (which we use all the time in the U.S.). Our favorite meals were at Bill’s (we had two great breakfasts and a casual dinner), PJ’s Bar & Grill (where we got 50% off the food on Sunday night),  Heliot Restaurant, Lounge & Bar (which is in the Hippodrome, my old dance club hangout), Nopi (with it’s well known chef Yotam Ottolenghi). Here’s our first course at Nopi…
• 
• The Tube is, uniquely, the Tube. You can get just about anywhere in London by Tube, it’s the best subway system I’ve ever seen in terms of covering a large city. Of course, you can sometimes walk for what seems like miles trying to make a connection between lines in a station. As the temperatures rise in London, however, the Tube becomes much less appealing. It was quite uncomfortable on some of the more crowded lines.
• No baby prince(ss). William and Kate were due to have a baby during our visit, but it never happened. While it might have been nice to be in London when the new royal was born, it would also have been a bit chaotic, especially anywhere near St Mary’s hospital. And, I’m pretty sure we aren’t on the “A” list of visitors to view the baby.

The bottom line: I look forward to going back to London soon

Debriefing the CXPA Members Insight Exchange

Don’t miss the 2013 Members Insight Exchange
in San Diego on May 14th and 15th

I just finished two fantastic days in San Diego at the gorgeous Hotel Del Coronado for the CXPA Members Insight Exchange. As with last year’s event, there was a ton of energy throughout the two days. And there should be. We’ve just crossed 1,500 members and there are great things going on across the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).

Here’s one of the slides that we used to kick off the event that provides a good sense of what the CXPA is all about:

Since Jeanne Bliss and I were leading the event, I did not get to see all of the sessions. But here are some of my observations from what I was able to take in:

• It’s easy to grow apart from your customers. Simon Lowe, Director, Field Operations discussed a phase of growth where 1-800-GET-JUNK ran into problems. His assessment: “The bigger and faster we grew, the further away we became from our customers. Our customers became ‘jobs.’” Ray Davis, CEO of UmPQUA bank, had this to say about the topic: ” Bureaucracy and processes take over when you grow for growth’s sake, and that’s the kiss of death.”
• Even junk can drive loyalty. Lowe talked about how 1-800-GOT-JUNK ran into some problems after a fast growth spurt. The company realized that “Loyalty comes from listening and acting on the feedback given.” They also found that “Satisfied customers will not grow our business. Loyal, enthusiastic raving ‘promoters’ grow businesses.” They looked at how many customers repeated business with them in from 2010 to 2011: 4% of detractors, 8% of passives, and 18% of promoters.
• Life is empty without purpose. Neff Hudson, USAA’s AVP of Emerging Channels, discussed one of USAA’s three pillars: “Make it about a bigger vision.” The company’s mission it at the heart of all it does: “…facilitate the financial security of its members, associates, and their families through provision of a full range of highly competitive financial products and services…” Ingrid Lindberg from Prime Therapeutics shared this thought: “Everyone wants to be part of something bigger, but you have to help them figure out how they fit.”
• Engage thy employees. Davis says that UMPQUA’s front line employees “make every and any decisions on customer service.” He also said “if you empower people and have their backs, they won’t abuse it. If a few do, then you just need to get rid of them.” Anna Elwood, Director of Operations at medical visit scheduling company ZocDoc, talked about how her company’s performance reviews are focused on “living the values.” Lowe says this about 1-800-GOT-JUNK: “To differentiate our customer experience, first we improved our relationship with our employees.” Andrew Smith, VP of Customer Experience and Strategy at Signature HealthCARE talked about how his company is embedding its service values in hiring, on-boarding, training, daily stand-up meetings, and almost all elements of its human resource efforts.
• Mobile, mobile, did I mention mobile? Many speakers mentioned the current or upcoming impact that mobile will have on their business. Hudson provided some compelling numbers for USAA: Between 2011 and 2016, USAA expects the volume of mobile interactions to grow from 192 million to over 1 billion, and represent over half of all USAA interactions. As a matter of fact, the company expects digital interactions to be around 20x its traditional call center volume in that timeframe.
• You can’t know your customer well enough. One of USAA’s three pillars is “know our members.” And they do. Hudson talked about how a member may call in to change his address, but the reps are trained to understand “why” and deal with bigger issues. If the call is from a soldier who is about to be deployed, then the rep might check to see if the member has thought about items such as a will, power of attorney, and life insurance. The rep might even put a hold on the member’s car insurance, so he doesn’t have to pay if it’s not going to be used while he’s deployed. Lowe from 1-800-GOT-JUNK said “loyalty comes from listening and acting on the feedback given.” The company has identified that customers are interested in different value statements, so it teaches employees to recognize and sell towards that value statement.
• CX innovation is blossoming. Throughout the event, we heard from CX practitioners who are finding new ways to help their organizations build loyalty by delivering outstanding experiences. For instance, the “Member Show & Tell” highlighted 16 different tools that members are successfully using. We also announced the 2012 CX Innovation Award winners: Copart, Fidelity Investments, ICW Group, Memorial Health Systems, PHH, UnitedHealth Group (congratulations!). These companies were judged as the best out of almost 100 nominations. We also heard from six vendors that were selected from nominees to participate in vendor innovation presentations: Allegiance, Confirmit, Ipsos Loyalty, PeriscopeIQ, PwC Advisory Services, and The Service Profit Chain Institute.
• CX professionals can shake their booties. A great group of highly engaged attendees dug into the content, shared with each other, and took every opportunity to have fun. Then we took it out to the beach for letting loose with drinks, fire pits, and S’mores. On the second day, we got most of the group to stand up and dance to the CXPA’s newest theme song “C-X-P-A.”
• We have great volunteers.As a non-profit organization, we are reliant on our members to give their time. And many of them have done fantastic work for the association. We gave a special shout out to those member for their great dedication: Dorsey McGlone, Kim Proctor, Desirree Madison-Biggs, Erin Kelly, Amy McCarty, Yvonne Nomizu, Karl Sharicz, Daryl Travis, and Michelle Romanica. In addition, we awarded three members with the 2012 “CXPA Extra Mile” award: Mike Wittenstein, Dawna MacLean, and Diane Simmons (congratulations!).
• This is YOUR CXPA. With 1,500 members in its community, the CXPA has established itself as THE professional association for customer experience professionals. This non-profit organization is already helping members learn share best practices, network with each other, and raise the visibility of CX as a thriving, critical professional discipline. We become stronger and more valuable for the entire community as we grow, so join us.

Here’s a scene from the “Show & Tell” session where attendees rotated across tables as practitioners discussed CX tools that they use.

Here’s a scene from the beach party:

You can catch some of the action on the CXPA’s YouTube Channel.

The bottom line: Don’t miss next year’s CXPA Members Insight Exchange

Top 8 Reasons to Join Us in San Diego at the CXPA Event in June

There are many customer experience events, and several of them are very good. But I want to make the case for joining us at the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org) Members Insight Exchange on June 19 & 20 in San Diego at the Del Coronado.

In case you don’t know about the CXPA, it’s a non-profit organization dedicated to the long-term success of customer experience professionals. Here are my top 8 reasons for joining us:

• Learning. Hear best practices from great speakers and during highly interactive sessions.
• Networking. Meet customer experience professionals from different industries and regions.
• Sharing. Let other people know about your successes and challenges, helping to improve the entire profession.
• Experiencing. Participate in an exciting agenda that’s filled with educational sessions, networking events, an “unconference” session and some other surprises.
• Building. Help shape the CXPA’s agenda and make it a powerful asset for you and the entire profession.
• Innovating. Learn about the CXPA’s first annual CX Innovation Award winners and see presentations from a specially selected group of innovative vendors.
• Beaching. Enjoy the beautiful setting of the Del Coronado on the beach in San Diego.
• Belonging. Join your peers in the CXPA who are investing their time to make you and other customer experience professionals successful.

The bottom line: Don’t miss this great event!

I’m Excited About The Customer Experience Profession

I’m getting ready to head to Fenway Park for the final day of the CXPA Members Insight Exchange. It’s been great so far. 180 dedicated, passionate CX professionals have come together in Boston to learn, network, and define the future of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).

On Tuesday, all five of the CXPA’s committees got together to discuss plans in their areas: Membership, Marketing, Profesional Development, Networking, and Education. The meetings were really energizing and the committees developed some great ideas. We followed those meetings with the first meeting of the CXPA’s newly elected board of directors. I am thrilled with all of the great people we have running the CXPA.

Yesterday, we convened in the rooftop ballroom at the Omni Parker House Hotel, the oldest operating hotel in the country. This spot played an important role in Paul Revere’s ride and many other elements of US history, so it was an ideal location for our first meeting. Hopefully, we will all remember back to this meeting as one of the pivotal moments in the evolution of the customer experience profession.

There were great sessions as members shared and discussed many aspects of customer experience (CX) management, from leadership to employee engagement. Here’s the group going through a co-design process called World Cafe in which they collectively defined requirements and asprations for many key aspects of the CXPA.

My vision for the CXPA is that it will be a guiding light for CX professionals. Doctors have the AMA, lawyers have the ABA, and now CX professionals have the CXPA, a professional organization that will set standards, endorse and share best practices, and raise awareness of the importance of CX and the value of CX professionals.

This meeting has made me even more convinced that the CXPA is the right organization at the right time to support a previously fragmented group of CX professionals. As a united group, we can make the CX profession great!

Now, I’m off to the Fenway Park for the final day of the event. Enthused, energized, and thrilled to be working with such a great group of people.

The bottom line: If you’re not yet a member of the CXPA, then get on board!

Announcing The CXPA; Customer Experience Professionals Unite!

As we all know, great customer experience requires great customer experience professionals doing great work in a supportive environment. That’s why I am thrilled to announce the launch of the Customer Experience Professionals Association…

Here’s the mission of CXPA.org:

The Customer Experience Professionals Association is a global, non-profit organization that supports the professional development of its members by enhancing networking, providing research and education, establishing standards, promoting the industry, and creating a better understanding of the discipline of customer experience

Here’s why Jeanne Bliss and I co-founded this organization:

• There are many customer experience networking groups, but the industry has hit a stage where it needs a single, collective voice to map its evolution
• We want to help customer experience professionals embed customer experience management skill sets across their organization
• Our goal is to identify standards and best practice approaches and transfer those skills across the industry
• We want to ensure that that customer experience management continues to generate a vibrant set of opportunities for customer experience practitioners

The CXPA recognizes that there is an ecosystem of customer experience professionals which includes companies that are committed to customer experience leadership, individual professionals who are committed to customer experience efforts, and vendors that help companies improve their customer experience. So there are membership options for all of those constituents.

We’re thrilled to already have a great group of corporate members including…

Adobe, Clarabridge, Confirmit, Cox Communications, EMC, Fidelity Investments, Healthy Directions, Medallia, Microsoft, Mindshare Technologies, ResponseTek, RightNow Technologies, Safeco Insurance, SAP, SapientNitro, Strativity Group, Symantec, Tealeaf Technology, Thunderhead, Universal Mind, and Vovici.

These companies, along with any corporate members that sign up within three months from today, will be considered Founding Corporate Members. Keep an eye for upcoming announcements about additional Corporate Founding Members!

We also have some great sponsors, who will make it possible for the CXPA to deliver additional services to our members. So I want to thank our initial Gold Sponsors: Adobe, Confirmit, Medallia, RightNow Technologies, SapientNitro,  and Tealeaf Technology; Silver Sponsors: Clarabridge and ResponseTek; and Bronze Sponsor: Mindshare Technologies

Here are the CXPA membership opportunities:

• Individuals can join for $195
• Companies can join for between $2,500 and $10,000 based on size
• Non-profits, government agencies and educational organizations can join for $1,500

And, of course, you can become a sponsor with investments that start at $5,000.

The bottom line: The CXPA is here to help YOU succeed!