"Voice of the Customer Radio" - Execs In the Know

It is a well accepted truism that before using social media interaction, you must first listen - and listen carefully. First generation social monitoring provided more raw data than actionable information, and was initially focused on gathering marketing and competitive intelligence.  Social Media Monitoring (SMM) has become mission critical, and with an arguably low entry barrier from a technology (if not scalability) standpoint, the burgeoning vendor community has not only responded with many product and service offerings, but has itself been experiencing turmoil with many mergers and acquisitions. In this episode you will learn about the current state of the art of SMM, top trends, which criteria should be considered when making purchase decisions, and how the major incipient trends will affect you in the 3 areas covered in the Social Care section of the Execs In The Know 2013 Customer Experience Management Benchmark Study:  (Download the 2013 Study at www.bit.ly/EITK-CX-2013) Tony van Kessel   Principal/Founder, Social Media Deliverables® Tony@SocialMediaDeliverables.com  705-789-0465 Tony is a seasoned veteran in the telecommunications, social media and HR/Talent Management industries, is recognized for management leadership of high-growth venture-backed and public companies in a variety of technology segments, and a multipreneur committed to helping organizations accelerate their business results through the use of advanced technology, social media and cloud-based services.   

Focusing on your company’s “Customer Experience” is so much more than the latest industry trend or program of the month.  Improving an organization’s customer experience can also put more dollars on your bottom line.  Often, customer experience leaders lament the challenge of competing with other functions for a company’s limited investment dollars and coming up short.  The reason? Executive Leadership may proclaim the benefits of investing in customer experience to be too intangible for real and substantial returns on the investments made.  We think otherwise.  As customer experience leaders, we’re challenged to clearly state the case for investments that are more than cost reductions or efficiency improvements.  Investments in CX increase customer satisfaction and loyalty as well.  A recent study by Watermark Consulting found that Customer Experience leaders realize 43% total cumulative return versus 15% for the S&P 500 and -34% for Customer Experience Laggards.  Topics discussed in our session will include the formula for improving customer loyalty; effective service recovery programs and using industry partners to help state the case for the true impact of CX investment on your business.     Bob Azman Chief Experience Officer, Avtex Consulting Solutions, LLC Bob Azman, Chief Experience Officer, consults with companies in a variety of industries on developing and implementing strategies to improve their overall customer experience.  As a thought leader, practitioner and business partner in customer experience design and execution. Prior to joining Avtex, Bob was Senior Vice President, Customer Experience at Thomson Reuters providing corporate consulting services to its various business units.  

Overview: A majority of organizations are using some sort of community based support model or have considered doing such.  The question is, are you seeing the results and cultivating real relationships with your customers?  It is known customer communities can be an incredible source of support, for both your customers and your organization.  In this episode, I have invited Michael Pace (Customer Support & Community Management Executive) to join myself on Voice of the Customer Radio to discuss “Community”. Objectives: Learn about communities and community management for all levels of the enterprise Uncover the tremendous benefits of this unique “self” service tool Step by step assessment guide on how to get started Technical options available for you Questions to Reviewed: What is a community or support community? And how are they beneficial/ How do they impact engagement? C-Sat? Reducing Costs? Driving top line growth? How did you get involved in communities? Where do you start? Once you are up and running, how do you keep your customers engaged? Metrics? How do you get executive buy in to pursue? People – what kind of people do you need to be community managers? How do you hire/ What kinds of tools are available? Are there any resources to help get folks started?

Branded Dialogues: Bridging the Gap Between Brand Promises and Customer Experience  Expected Outcomes Include: Recognizing the gap between brand image and customer experience Review of common pitfalls in organizations Relieving the tension between efficient delivery and experience Examples to best practices -- Leaders in the field Measuring experience as well as performance How to improve communication between Marketing and Operations How to "Brand Train" agents Bruce's Bio Bruce Lebowitz is an experienced marketing strategist with expertise in creating compelling conversations. With over 20 years of experience in both the consulting and client sides, he has solved problems and created successful programs for many Fortune 500 companies. Working in the space between creating great brands and developing effective customer dialogues, Bruce works closely with marketing and operations staff to create programs that delivers excellent customer experiences. Most recently, Bruce has managed a call center for a healthcare start-up and managed all call-center marketing for BarclayCrad, a top ten credit card issuer in the United States.  Prior to that, Bruce founded and grew a Teleweb call center practice for Ogilvy & Mather and managed a marketing strategy practice, developing relationship marketing programs and integrating the call center experience with online marketing programs.      

Title – Leveraging “Customer Insights” and “Real Time” Decisioning for Customer Success  Expected Outcomes: Using real-time decisioning to guide customer interactions across multiple channels Applying business intelligence and analytics to customer interactions How companies can access customer information with little or no access What quantifiable results should you expect if implementation is made with real-time decisioning What are the organizational obstacles to getting real-time decisioning up and running Example of best practices Featuring: Jo Ann Parris Principal, The Parris Group Formerly Vice President - Vertical Solutions Marketing at Convergys Bob Moore - Independent Consultant Formerly Director of Marketing at Convergys  Episode: • Friday October 5th 12:00pmEST - 1:00pmEST • Call-in Number: (323) 679-0913  

Friday – September 7th – 12:00pm EST – 1:00pm EST   Title – How to Start a VOC (Voice of the Customer) Program Internally   Featuring: Scott Swift - VP Customer Information - Hunter Douglas We strive as Customer Experience Leaders to drive customer excellence across our respective organizations.  I have asked Scott Swift from Hunter Douglas to join me in sharing his journey and sharing of unique strategies to build an engaging VOC program.  Scott and I will work our way outward, bringing a focus on the customer at every organizational level and end up with a robust customer experience program that all of us can have take-aways. If you are a Service Leader wanting to validate your internal VOC program, this is a no-miss episode Expected Outcomes: Broadening a Voice of the Customer program from the inside out Effective methods of creating and sustaining the importance of the voice of the customer How a brand leader brought the voice of the customer to the organizational forefront Episode: Friday  September 7th 12:00pmEST - 12:30pmEST Scott Swift – VP Customer Information – Hunter Douglas Call-in Number: (323) 679-0913  

Title – Taking Performance Leadership/Customer Experience to the Next Level Featuring: Brian Mullaney – Senior Vice President Customer Contact Center – The SCOOTER Store We all know as Service Leaders, the largest aspect of our  budget/responsibilities is people.  I have asked Brain Mullaney from The SCOOTER Store to join me in discussing current strategies on how to engage employee performance in a multi-channel customer experience environment.  Brian is a recognized Service Leader with proven ability to harvest the most out of successful employee engagement, with little or no resources.   If you are a Service Leader wanting to validate your employee performance strategies, this is a no-miss show. Expected Outcomes: Performance Leadership Methods– What works and how you can be creative with little or no budget Accountability – How to ensure you get the best performance out of each employee Hiring the right people in a multi-channel contact center environment – one shoe does not fit all Culture – How important creating a “culture” is      

Have you ever wondered why you are hearing that a “personal brand” strategy is important to establish? It is an “online” and “wired” world we live in and with the evolution of social media there are many new ways we communicate as professionals however the bottom line is that business is still about people and relationships. The show will be 30 minutes, fast paced and highly interactive (there is no charge for participating). Agenda: Why a "Personal Brand Strategy"? What are my best sources to develop my brand (with little to no cost)? What strategies have worked and why. How can I become a Subject Matter Expert and increase my visibility? What are the pitfalls and considerations to avoid? How do I maintain/update my brand? I don't have time to write blogs, etc. What about my employer? Are they already checking online presence? Does this help or hurt? What don't I know? Questions/Answers. 

Join Voice of the Customer Radio to learn how American Airlines and Genesys are engaging the new customer through social media and other emerging channels of customer engagement.

A rare opportunity.... we have gathered some of the most impressive minds in “Service Leadership” and "Customer Experience"…Mark your calendar for Friday February 3 12:00pm 1:00pm EST as we bring the 2012 Advisory Board on “Voice of the Customer Radio” Ask your questions first hand of industry leading service experts who are driving customer experience across an intergrated and enterprise wide strategy.  What is working, not working, etc.  .  Advisory Board Includes: Jeannie Diefenderfer - SVP Global Enterprise Customer Care  - Verizon John Bowen – SVP Enterprise Customer Care – Time Warner Cable Carol Borghesi – SVP Customers First Culture – TELUS Jim Moloney – General Director, Customer and Relationship Services – General Motors David Thornton – SVP Business Operations – Bank of America Kathry McGavick – Corporate Vice President Customer Support – Coinstar/Redbox Jeff Russakow – EVP Customner Advocacy - Yahoo   The Advisory Board will be discussing details of both the upcoming Customer Response Summit4 in Austin (May 9-11, 2012) and providing critical perspectives of customer service solutions facing corporate America.  www.customerresponsesummit.com   Chad McDaniel President Execs In the Know - A Division of M.E.R. Inc. 866-991-3555 (toll-free)

Join us for an interactive discussion where we will cover areas such as sourcing, recruiting, screening, training and managing the day to day operation leveraging work at home techniques in brick and mortar operations.  The results can have a transformational impact on your business.  Speaker: P.J. Weyforth-Drummond -Customer Service Operations Executive Independent Consultant

Join me and Rick Merson formerly Accenture Partner/Senior Executive, as we discuss “ Transformational Outsourcing” and how this is impacting the future of traditional outsourcing. Rick will share his views on how outsourcing as a transformational opportunity opens the door to a broader spectrum of cost savings and potential quality improvements.  Next episode: • Tuesday - September 27th - 12:00pm EST – 12:30pm EST • Rick Merson – Formerly Accenture Partner/Senior Executive • Call-in Number: (323) 679-0913 • www.blogtalkradio.com/execsintheknow

Join myself and Seth Hall (Vice President Customer Service - Philadelphia Insurance Companies) on "Voice of the Customer Radio" Interactive and knowledge filled discussion on: The importance of developing a well-defined implementation strategy for the deployment of a Voice of the Customer Program.  We’ll cover the potentially hidden challenges of implementing VOC Programs and mitigation tactics to ensure greater success.  Seth W. Hall Vice President, Customer Service Philadelphia Insurance Companies

We have gathered some of the most impressive corporate leaders to join in an unprecedented event on how the “new” customer is shaping the dynamics of corporate enterprise, outreach and impact on the outsourcing model.   Our esteemed panel members own the “customer” for very large and significant enterprise organizations.   You want to know the future of where customer service is going with “new” customer, then join us Friday August 26th   What we are going to discuss – don’t miss!   How is the “new” customer shaping the way corporate enterprise is engaging and outreaching to their customer base? What do we need from the “vendor” community to help in engaging this new customer? Where does the traditional call center outsourcer fall into the strategic equation? What is the current state, requirements needed, predications?     Panel Members Include:   Jeff Russakow – Chief Customer Officer – Yahoo Jim Moloney – General Director, Customer & Relationship Services, GM Customer Care and Aftersales – General Motors Douglas Schmitt - VP Global Support Services - Dell Dan Hernandez - EVP Global Strategy - Sykes Enterprises Chad Carlson - President & CEO - Startek    Next episode: • Friday August 26 -  12:00pm EST – 1:00pm EST • Call-in Number: (323) 679-0913 • www.blogtalkradio.com/execsintheknow

We hear often about employee productivity and engagement leading to dynamic results for the company.  What are some of the best practices being implemented to increase employee productivity and engagement? I have asked Terry Booton, President of AMI (Advanced Marketing Instruction) to join me on “Voice of the Customer” radio as we examine some of these fundamentals. The show will be designed to be highly interactive and we will be asking the listeners questions and sharing of ideas.   The radio show is one your HR professional will not want to miss.

Join us for an engaging conversation with Matthew Wilcox - VP Zions Bancorporation. Matthew was one of our featured speakers for CRSII and was highly rated by the attendees.  You will not want to miss the conversation. As Vice President for Zions Bancorporation, Matthew oversees all of their eBusiness activities. His primary responsibilities include all interactive channel development and strategy. This includes online and mobile banking, social media, and Interactive Marketing. In addition to a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions offers a comprehensive array of investment and mortgage services, and has a network of loan origination offices for small businesses nationwide. The company is also a leader in providing electronic banking services.  

In the highly competitive service provider market, TELUS continues to grow as one of Canada’s largest telecommunications providers. Now with 12.3 million customer connections spanning wireline, mobility, Internet and TV services, TELUS is committed to unleashing the power of the Internet at home, in the workplace and on the move. Carol Borghesi is Senior Vice President, Customer First Culture at TELUS. Her 27 years of telecommunications experience spans three continents from TELUS in Canada, to British Telecom in the UK, to Bharti Airtel in India. As past Chair of the CCA (UK’s contact center association), Carol will share her customer experience insights and challenges on Voice of the Customer Radio.  

Join us to hear three different industry vendors on the front-line of driving new services and efficiencies in the emerging customer response channels (i.e. social, web 2.0, mobile, video, etc.).  Must listen episode on the latest technology and service enhancements for Voice of the Customer Professionals. Featured show guests include: Salesforce.com (www.salesforce.com) - Fergus Griffin - VP Service Cloud Product Marketing Verint (www.verint.com) - Greg Sherry - VP Marketing and Business Development Avaya (www.avaya.com) - Molly True - Sales Enablement & Offer Manager

Join us to hear three different industry vendors on the front-line of driving new services and efficiencies in the emerging customer response channels (i.e. social, web 2.0, mobile, video, etc.).  Must listen episode on the latest technology and service enhancements for Voice of the Customer Professionals. Featured show guests include: Mike Mumford - VP Business Development - 3CSI  www.3CSI.com Bob Moore (Director Marketing Strategy) Convergys www.convergys.com Sam Falletta (CEO) Incept – www.inceptresults.com

The conversation is focused on a business-to-business (B2B) perspective and how Pitney Bowes is engaging thier customer experience in a B2B environment. You will not want to miss the conversation.