Are your sales efforts negatively impacting your customer experience?

Wondering how to fix common sales mistakes that hinder long lasting relationships and referrals? 

In this episode of Doing CX Right, you’ll learn how to transform your sales approach to achieve better sustainable results. Host Stacy Sherman and David Newman reveal solutions for building genuine client relationships, debunking sales myths, and balancing automation with personal interactions.

10 Sales and Customer Experience Lessons:

1. Clarify your target audience and their specific problems.
2. Earn the right to sell by building relationships and trust first.
3. Humanize your sales process; focus on serving, not just selling.
4. Reframe sales as a dialogue about helping before pitching.
5. Personalize every customer interaction to tailor their experience.
6. Embrace the mindset that everyone in your company impacts CX.
7. Collaborate across departments to ensure seamless customer communication.
8. Shift from thinking sales is a numbers game to viewing it as a relationship game.
9. Encourage leadership to praise team members publicly, specifically, and often.
10. Treat prospects like clients to naturally attract more business.

Episode Timestamps

05:52 Learn how to sell, it’s people-centric.

08:48 Customer experience: personalized, tailored, not one-size-fits-all.

11:14 Personalization in marketing and sales is crucial.

14:12 Ensure product usage, client success, and support.

18:13 Rescue puppy from fire, help with sales.

20:29 Specialize to maximize profits, target your niche.

24:19 Employee actions impact customer experience, prioritize training.

27:05 Leaders should understand individual personality preferences.

Whether you are a business owner, a CX leader, Sales or Marketing enthusiast, the wisdom shared can be your game-changer. 

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About David Newman:  

The author of the business bestsellers “Do It! Marketing” and “Do It! Selling.” He’s the founder of the “Do It! MBA” mentoring program and the host of The Selling Show, a top-rated business podcast with over 400 episodes. David is also the founder of the Appointment Agency, where his team wins initial sales meetings for cybersecurity consulting firms.

Learn more:  www.doitmarketing.com
www.appointmentagency.com

About Stacy Sherman: Founder of Doing CX Right®‬

Customer experience and marketing global keynote speaker and advisor author of the award-winning DoingCXRight podcast. Known for her Heart & Science™ framework that helps you gain profitable clients and brand loyalty–fueled by an empowered workforce. Stacy’s been walking the talk for 25 years as a strategist and practitioner at companies of all sizes and industries, i.e., Liveops, Verizon, Schindler Elevator Corp, Wilton Brands, and AT&T. She’s also a board advisor at multiple universities, featured in Forbes and other top-rated publications.

Her Why: To cultivate loyal relationships and meaningful experiences that enrich people’s lives. Contact Stacy for DOING Customer Experience (CX) and Service Right, not just TALKING about it. Continue reading bio >here.

Keyword themes: Doing CX Right podcast business customer service  sales customer experience

You likely know the importance of a customer-centric culture, but how do you effectively implement and gauge its success?

Stacy Sherman and guest Sam Stern, Senior Manager of CX at LinkedIn, answer these questions and more, including why prioritizing customer needs enhances satisfaction, how Bright Spot Analysis can refine your CX efforts, and which KPIs are crucial for monitoring progress. Additionally, they examine the transformative role of leadership and the significance of psychological safety in managing change.

Customer Service and Culture Topics Discussed:

• How Sam Stern’s eclectic background, from owning a food truck to forging ahead on customer experience teams at top companies like LinkedIn, nurtures a rich perspective on CX.
• Insights into the cultivation of a customer-centric culture within your enterprise and why this ethos is central to long-term organizational success.
• The often underestimated timeframes and dedication required for true cultural transformation and why senior leadership’s ownership of this process is non-negotiable.
• Tips on utilizing employee engagement metrics and loyalty as a barometer for your company’s customer-centric pulse.
• The revelation of Bright Spot Analysis: a transformative method for fostering change and reinforcing constructive behaviors across teams.
• Valuable leadership and self-care principles that Sam Stern champions for leading teams with authenticity and effectiveness.
• Strategies to leverage AI and emerging technologies to bolster, rather than intimidate, your workforce.
• A refreshing viewpoint on psychological safety’s impact in facilitating organizational and individual shifts towards a more customer-aligned paradigm.

Timestamps

[00:38] – [01:15] Fun fact about Sam owning a food truck
[01:15] – [03:11] Discussion about Sam’s path from entrepreneurship to corporate
[03:11] – [04:08] Advice for Sam’s younger self about taking time
[04:08] – [06:25] Culture transformation taking 5+ years
[06:25] – [07:13] Relation to Stacy’s entrepreneurial experience
[07:13] – [08:32] Definition of doing customer experience right
[08:32] – [10:14] Connection between customer experience and company culture
[10:14] – [11:46] Who owns culture transformation in an organization
[11:46] – [13:06] Role of AI in culture transformation
[13:06] – [14:43] Using AI for learning and development simulations
[14:43] – [16:39] Importance of psychological safety in culture transformation
[16:39] – [19:12] Bright spot analysis technique
[19:12] – [20:04] Example of bright spot analysis at Hampton Inn
[20:04] – [20:54] Importance of leadership being customer-centric
[20:54] – [22:30] Five steps to shift towards customer-centric culture
[22:30] – [23:23] First step – having a clear “why” statement
[23:23] – [25:25] Metrics to evaluate culture

Whether you are a business owner, a CX leader, or a marketing enthusiast, you won’t want to miss the wisdom shared that can be your game changer. 

Press Play  To WATCH On Youtube

About Sam Stern:  

Sam is a member of the customer experience team at LinkedIn, focusing on CX vision, experience design, and customer-centric culture. Previously he started the customer experience practice at New Balance, and worked for 16 years as a CX analyst and consultant at Forrester Research.

Sam shares his CX thought-leadership in his CX Patterns newsletter on LinkedIn, and his CX Patterns podcast, available everywhere fine podcasts can be found. He also publishes regularly on CMSWire, and has created two LinkedIn Learning course on Customer Experience.

Connect with Sam on Linkedin. And, check out his Linkedin Learning courses.

About Stacy Sherman: Founder of Doing CX Right®‬

Customer experience and marketing global keynote speaker, journalist, co-author of two books, advisor, and host of the award-winning DoingCXRight podcast. Known for her Heart & Science™ framework that helps you gain profitable clients and brand loyalty–fueled by an empowered workforce. Stacy’s been walking the talk for 25 years as a strategist and practitioner at companies of all sizes and industries, i.e., Liveops, Verizon, Schindler Elevator Corp, Wilton Brands, and AT&T. She’s also a board advisor at multiple universities, featured in Forbes and other top-rated publications.

Her Why: To cultivate loyal relationships and meaningful experiences that enrich people’s lives. Contact Stacy for DOING Customer Experience (CX) and Service Right, not just TALKING about it. Continue reading bio >here.

Is “service fatigue” plaguing your teams and negatively impacting the customer experience?

Do you need motivation and practical strategies to refresh and refuel your customer service approach?

In this episode of Doing CX Right, host Stacy Sherman is joined by Speaker Hall of Famer Laurie Guest. Together, they unpack the concept of “service fatigue” and its damaging ripple effects across the customer journey.

Discover Laurie’s powerful principle of the “10 Cent Decision” and how to implement small but mighty changes that lead to significant gains. You’ll hear actionable insights to reignite passion in your people, combat complacency, and create customer conversations that build loyalty and new business.

What You’ll About Customer Service Fatigue:

• The impact of “service fatigue” on customers and revenue
• The power of small decisions in transforming experiences
• Countering the repercussions of overlooked service fatigue
• Reigniting motivation to excel across the customer journey
• Making your brand stand out and be talked about

Customer Service Fatigue Key Takeaways:

• Prioritize intentional design in customer experiences to ensure that every interaction is meaningful and distracts from any possible discomfort, leading to greater customer satisfaction and retention.

• Implement small, consistent decisions that positively transform the customer service dynamic, like eliminating unnecessary steps to improve efficiency and customer conversion rates.

• Foster a workplace environment that creates joy for employees to combat service fatigue, utilizing ideas such as casual dress days and meeting-free schedules to bolster team camaraderie and trust.

• Embrace technology and AI to reduce service fatigue while maintaining a balance with a human touch to ensure personalized customer interactions.

• Validate customer concerns during service outages without making excuses. Educate customers to own their emotions and experiences, fostering a culture of joint responsibility for a positive customer experience journey.

Timestamps

[01:04] Importance of leadership in customer and staff experience

[03:30] The role of trust and camaraderie in team building

[04:55] Impact of consistent small decisions in business

[06:10] Case study: Streamlining customer conversion at a cosmetics company

[07:35] Understanding and mitigating service fatigue

[09:45] Insights into the balance of automation and human touch in customer service

[11:12] Addressing service fatigue for customers and service agents

[12:50] Creating joy in the workplace to combat service fatigue

[14:33] Exploring JOMO within corporate life and on social media

[19:40] The importance of making customer experiences report-worthy

[25:35] Laurie and Stacy’s passion for competitive gaming

[26:57] Laurie Guest’s advice to her younger self

[29:48] Origin and thesis of Laurie’s book, “10¢ Decision”

[32:43] The role of empathetic experiences in customer service

[34:05] The importance of praising good service

[35:19] Understanding and addressing service fatigue

[37:31] The application of personal boundaries at work

[38:59] The totality of the customer experience journey

[40:45] Addressing the connection between culture intelligence, DEI, and service fatigue

[44:00] How genuine and impactful communication maintains trust

Whether you are a business owner, a CX leader, or a marketing enthusiast, you won’t want to miss the wisdom shared that can be your game changer. 

Press Play  To WATCH On Youtube

About Laurie Guest:  

An entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author, Laurie Guest became known as a “go-to-resource” for customer service excellence during a successful career in the healthcare industry. In 1997, she channeled that expertise into Guest Enterprises, Inc., her own speaking and training company. For more than two decades, she has shared her practical point of view on customer service and staff development to audiences across the country, blending real-life examples and proven action steps for improvement.

Laurie is an award-winning columnist and the author of two books. With her latest, The 10¢ Decision: How Small Change Pays off Big, Laurie presents her most sought-after and impactful strategies to find and retain the best staff and highest-quality customers while delivering exceptional guest experiences.

In 2021 Laurie was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame, an honor held by less than 1% of speakers worldwide. She lives in northern Illinois where she is a wife, mother of two, lover of board games and below-average cook. Connect on LinkedIn.

About Stacy Sherman: Founder of Doing CX Right®‬

Customer experience and marketing global keynote speaker, journalist, co-author of two books, advisor, and host of the award-winning DoingCXRight podcast. Known for her Heart & Science™ framework that helps you gain profitable clients and brand loyalty–fueled by an empowered workforce. Stacy’s been walking the talk for 25 years as a strategist and practitioner at companies of all sizes and industries, i.e., Liveops, Verizon, Schindler Elevator Corp, Wilton Brands, and AT&T. She’s also a board advisor at multiple universities, featured in Forbes and other top-rated publications.

Her Why: To cultivate loyal relationships and meaningful experiences that enrich people’s lives. Contact Stacy for DOING Customer Experience (CX) and Service Right, not just TALKING about it. Continue reading bio >here.

Keyword themes: Doing CX Right podcast business customer service  customer experience