Customer experience beyond the sale with Jeannie Walters

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Welcome to the agency management Institute community, where you’ll learn how to grow and scale your business, attract and retain the best talent. Make more money and keep more of what you make. The build a better agency podcast presented by white label. IQ is packed with insights on how small to mid-size agencies survive and thrive in today’s market. Bringing his 25 plus years of experience as both an agency, owner and agency consultant. Please welcome your host, drew McLellan. Hey, everybody

Speaker 2 (00:32):

Drew McLellan here from agency management Institute. Welcome to another episode of build a better agency as always. I am incredibly grateful that you carve out the time to hang out with me every week. So thank you very much for that. Please don’t think that I ever take that for granted. I know how busy you all are and, uh, I am, I’m thrilled and it’s a privilege to be a part of your regular activities every week. So whether we are walking your dog or we’re on the treadmill together, or you are, uh, sitting on a cozy couch, however, we are sharing this hour together, uh, please know that I am grateful. So thanks for, thank you very much for tuning in. So, uh, the topic today is one that, um, I think is often overlooked in terms of opportunities for us as agencies to create more revenue for ourselves and it create an incredible value for our clients.

Speaker 2 (01:34):

So I’m hoping that, uh, this triggers some new opportunity ideas for you before I tell you a little bit about our guest, of course, uh, I want to tell you about something that’s happening inside the AMI world. Hopefully by now, you know that, uh, we are going to be the host of the build a better agency summit in August of 2021. Uh, it’s going to be it’s my third attempt. So third time’s the charm to try and host a conference that is built just for you for small to mid-sized agency owners. And when I say small to mid-sized, I mean, maybe you have one employee, maybe you have 20 employees, maybe you have 50, maybe a hundred, but probably for most of you, it’s, you know, 50 or less. Um, that’s my definition of small to midsize. And right now there’s no conference out there for you teaching you how to build and solidify and protect and scale the business side of your business.

Speaker 2 (02:35):

And so that’s what we’re going to spend two days talking about, and we have amazing speakers who are going to talk about everything from getting your agency in tip-top shape. So if you decide to sell it, you can get a maximum return on that to, uh, BizDev strategies to, uh, dealing with diversity inside your agency, the diversity issues to imposter syndrome and all kinds of other things. We’re going to talk about how to build your wealth outside the business, uh, in real estate, we’re going to talk about some HR issues. We’ve got it covered. We have so many presenters in so many different formats, so we’re going to have keynote speakers. We’re going to have breakout speakers, but we’re also going to have round table speakers where you’re you and six to 10 other agency owners are going to sit with a subject matter expert and have a very personal conversation around the topic of their expertise.

Speaker 2 (03:30):

So we have, we have, I think covered a lot of topics that are of great interest to you. And I know you’re going to leave those that conference. Those two days of being together, feeling excited, having new ideas, making some new friends, and also just feeling like you are not in this alone, that you are a part of the AMI community and that it is powerful to hang out with other agency owners and leaders and learn from them and be a teacher and share what you know, that there’s great. It’s a great gift to have that and that you can do it in a non-competitive safe environment where you don’t have to be watching your back, uh, that everyone is really, truly there to learn and to help each other learn. So I hope that you join us. You can buy your tickets now on the agency management Institute website, uh, when you get to the website in the upper left corner of the navigation, it’s going to say BA BA summit.

Speaker 2 (04:33):

So build a better agency summit, click on that, and you can grab your ticket. So I hope to see you there. Uh, I think we are all going to be very hungry, uh, by August to be in a room full of people who walk the same walk that we do and that we can have meaningful conversations and make connections and of course, throw darts, uh, while we drink. So I think all of that’s going to be Jim dandy. So I hope you join us. So let me tell you a little bit about, uh, this week’s episode and this week’s guest. I believe that many agencies miss the Mark when we are working with clients, when we’re putting together a marketing plan that a lot of times, and I think a lot of many times this is dictated by the client, but I think a lot of times we sort of stop at the point of the sale.

Speaker 2 (05:24):

And rather than thinking through that customer experience and the journey mapping just up to the sale, I think in some ways that’s just the beginning of the journey and that the real journey begins when we get into a relationship with a customer. And now it’s about fortifying and amplifying and enriching that relationship over multiple transactions over multiple months and years. And I think we, as agencies are uniquely qualified to help clients figure that out and to build a customer experience that surprises and delights, uh, their customers that makes their customers feel loved and appreciated and generates repeat purchases, word of mouth referrals, all of the good things that we know that come out of happy customers. So I think this is a super important topic. So I invited Jeannie Walters to join us. And Jeannie is the CEO and founder of a company called the experience investigators and Jeannie is the real deal.

Speaker 2 (06:33):

So she is, uh, an international speaker. She has done a TEDx talk. She, uh, LinkedIn invited her to create, uh, multiple courses in their learning environment. So she is, uh, she is an expert on this and she comes from our world from the agency world. So she can speak to this from the agency perspective and I’ve known Jenny for years. And, um, she is incredibly intelligent, uh, super articulate speaks in a way that you can understand what she’s talking about. And she has such a passion for empowering customer experiences. And, uh, she really believes that this can be the game changer for brands. And I, I’m going to say to you, I think after you hear her talk for a little bit, you are going to be a true believer as well because she, she teaches from the heart and what she knows in her experience has been, and she’s going to help all of us think about not only how we can do this for our clients, but also how we should be thinking about it from our own perspective as agency owners and leaders, how do we create a customer experience for our clients that is second to none, and that makes our clients feel like they couldn’t imagine slogging through business without us by their side.

Speaker 2 (08:03):

So without further ado, I want to introduce you to Jeannie and I want to get, I want to start digging into her expertise so you can absorb as much of it as you can in this time. All right. All right. Without further ado, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining us. Thank you

Speaker 3 (08:18):

So much for having me. I’m thrilled to be with you drew,

Speaker 2 (08:21):

You know, we were saying before we hit the record button, you and I have known each other for a long time, and I don’t know why I didn’t think sooner. So I’m glad we finally got around to introducing you to the audience. Cause I know they’re going to love hearing from you about the whole idea of customer experience. So can you give everybody a sense of, uh, your background and how you came to have this, this vast knowledge on this?

Speaker 3 (08:48):

Thanks. Sure. Yeah. I, nobody goes to kindergarten and tells their teacher they’re going to grow up to be a customer experience consultant. So we all have kind of a jagged path here, but so did you go with like cowgirl? Yeah, I think I went through a doctor phase. I went through a couple of phases, but I, you know, started my background, you know, right after college, I was in fundraising consulting and then I was in traditional marketing and it was really in that marketing role that I realized that, you know, things were changing. This was kind of what I call the Dawn of the big internet, which is when big companies started realizing they needed more than just brochureware for a website they needed for people to actually do things right. And I was working with the Allstate insurance, one of the largest insurance companies out there, and they were, they announced that they were going to be the first ones to have online quoting and online purchase.

Speaker 3 (09:42):

And it’s such a no brainer now. But back then, that was a huge move because they always have middlemen before they always have brokers or agents. And so it was during that project that, um, my partner, who was my brother, uh, he and I kind of looked around and said, this is different. This is more than marketing. This is about an entire experience with the customer. And we really put a stake in the ground and changed how we operated and how we positioned ourselves. And then in 2009, I started this company on my own. And really, because I started seeing how social media was breaking down those barriers between customers and brands and how that was changing the game. And so I’ve just kind of been watching the evolution of this and hanging on and making sure that I am constantly learning and growing. And now there are credentials, you know, I’m a CCSP, which is a certified customer experience professional. So it’s really grown as a profession and I’ve been really honored to be a part of it.

Speaker 2 (10:43):

I know you’re not going to tell us this, but you’re sort of in the top of the heap of people who know this, I mean, you, LinkedIn has asked you to be an instructor. You’ve gotten all kinds of awards. So I’m curious from your sort of position of like you, you’ve known this and done this for a long time. What did you notice? So we are recording this at the tail end of December, 2020. So we have, we have endured the pandemic for almost a year now. What did you notice about the customer experience in relation to the pandemic?

Speaker 3 (11:15):

That’s a great question. And I think it’s something that like, most things we could not have predicted, right? We could not have predicted what the pandemic would have done, but essentially I think it did a couple of things. One is brands that had announced their digital transformation plans that were going to take three to five years. They turn those things around in about eight weeks, right? And it’s because they realized that there was going to be no other way to serve their customers. So I think it showed what’s possible in that regard where if you decide that this is right for the customer and for your brand, you can make it happen on the flip side of that. Customers have totally different expectations now about what is possible as well. And a lot of customers who never dreamed of shopping online and picking up their groceries, curbside, all of a sudden they’re doing that every week and they’re thinking, wow, this is pretty easy.

Speaker 3 (12:11):

I’m going to keep doing this after the pandemic. So I think we’re going to see a lot of those expectations continue even after we kind of get back to where we can all shop when and how we want. Um, and then the other thing I’d say about that is that we’ve also all had a lesson in things like supply chain management. You know, when, when you go to the grocery store and there’s no toilet paper, suddenly you understand the supply chain. And I think that customer experience is really paying attention to not just the interactions that a customer has with the brand, but also the whole ecosystem around that. How are we supporting our partners? How are we making sure our suppliers have what they need so that we can deliver to our customers? It’s becoming a much bigger conversation, which I think is really important.

Speaker 2 (12:56):

Yeah. One of the things I think that we all realized was we get in our own way a lot. So as you were saying, these digital transformations that they were projecting, we’re going to take two years when their back was against the wall. And it was either we get it done or we don’t make any money. All of a sudden, the two year project, there was no politics. There was no committee meetings. There was no 12, you know, versions of review. It was get it up and get it going. I think we learned to be scrappy in a lot of ways.

Speaker 3 (13:27):

I totally agree. I totally agree. And I think the other part of that is, you know, I have seen a lot of, I tend to be a very optimistic person and sometimes that gets in my way, but I will say that a lot of times with clients, I’m kind of pushing them to think bigger about customer experience because they, they think about it in these little incremental ways of how can we improve this just to smudge. And I want them to think like, what could we do to change the game? Because that’s really where you see this amazing innovation. And I think that’s what I saw with all these companies who are able to turn things around so quickly people really thinking in bigger, more innovative ways and willing to, to take that first step, even if it wasn’t perfect because we know that we can keep iterating, we can keep moving, we can keep improving. And so I think that was really exciting to see. And that’s a weirdly positive outcome out of this year, I think. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:22):

So the necessity in 2020 forced people to think bigger and think in ways that they pro like no one had ever done it that way before and they’ve thought of it and they executed on it. So we’ve all probably experienced that both in our own agencies, we all had to figure out how to serve our clients differently. We helped our, our clients serve their customers differently. So we, we all thought bigger cause we had to, right. So how do we not lose the ability to think bigger when the stakes aren’t what they were during the pandemic?

Speaker 3 (14:58):

Uh, I love this question. What a good question. So I think there are a couple of things that we tend not to do. And one is we tend not to push change. And what I mean by that is, you know, sometimes I do a lot of work around customer journey mapping, which is really understanding what is the actual experience that your customer is having with your brand? Not the one you think they’re happy having, but the one they’re actually having. And a lot of times, you know, we’ll be doing an exercise and everybody says, Oh yeah, that’s a terrible, everybody hates that process. Every our customers complain about it all the time. Uh, but everybody in our industry does it that way. Worst answer ever worst answer ever because, and I joke about it, but when I leave workshops and stuff, I say, if you hear somebody say, because it’s always been done that way, flip the table over because that’s how dramatically we have to resist that idea.

Speaker 3 (15:49):

So, you know, when we do journey mapping exercises, one of the things I challenge and I challenge agency owners, because this would be a great exercise is, think about what if your industry didn’t exist? Or what if you were the guys who decided we’re going to disrupt this industry? What would that look like? Yes, exactly. Because you look back on all the disruptors, this is what they did. They thought, what if you know cabs, weren’t a thing, right? What if we could figure all this stuff out without all of the things that we hate about all of these processes and journeys. And so that’s what I encourage people to do is like once a year, disrupt yourself, disrupt your industry, disrupt. However you can, because if you’re doing that to yourself, then you’re going to stay ahead of the people who are, are actively looking to do that right now in your industry. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:44):

So as agencies, how do we help our clients think in that bigger way? Are, are there questions to ask or are there, is there an exercise maybe that you teach that gets people to put aside the bias? I think it’s so hard to unknown what we know and to forget what is the norm? How do you help people do that?

Speaker 3 (17:05):

Well, I think that with so many industries and agencies have been around a long time now, there are certain paradigms that we all subscribe to. Right. But what we don’t always do is give everybody in an agency, the empowerment to really connect with the client or the customer, even if they’re not what we would call customer facing, we still need them to be connected emotionally to what are we trying to do for our customers? So one of the things that I’m a huge proponent on for any organization is to have a customer experience mission. And this is about documenting, what do we want on behalf of our customers? What, how will we show up for our, no matter where they are on the journey, no matter, you know, what kind of customer they are, if they’re big or small, how are we going to show up?

Speaker 3 (17:56):

And what’s most important and it’s really aligning those values with your organization. And then I like to use it too, to really figure out, is this a good fit? I mean, we talk about that in the agency world a lot, right? Like sometimes you got to fire the customer and all that. And I think this can really help align those values and say, you know what? We want this for you. And if the customer agrees that that’s exactly what we want to, it makes everything a little easier. Cause you can lean on that a little bit and say, are we really living up to the mission here? Are we really doing this on behalf of you as our customer and your customers and everybody in the organization has to really key into that because otherwise they feel disenfranchised. They don’t feel like they’re part of it. And we tend to in agencies kind of lift up the creatives, right? Like they’re the woo. And, but you know what, the people who are sending out invoices might have more interactions with your customers than those people. So also looking at what are the interactions that we have and how can we improve those individual touch points that really can go a long way too, but empower your people to think about it, empower every single person in your organization to understand what the customer experience mission is and then how to deliver on it.

Speaker 2 (19:14):

Can you think of a client or a company that you think has a great customer experience mission?

Speaker 3 (19:21):

There are several that I love. Um, one of the things that I look for, and this is, this is kind of the paradigm that I subscribed to is it’s not really about the product or the service. It’s about something greater. So if you look at the Ritz Carlton, for instance, their mission is about life’s journeys. It’s about showing up for people during life’s journeys. They don’t talk about hotels. They don’t talk about resorts, same thing with Southwest airlines. They talk about this idea of service and the capitalized customer service, um, with a sense of company spirit. And so it’s really about connecting, not just what your customers are looking for as far as a product or service, but what are they going to do? How are they going to live their best life with that? And I’d like to also look for words that are emotionally charged because we can’t be all things to all people.

Speaker 3 (20:11):

And so we have to figure out who are we going to be and how do we show up like that? And so the mission of my company is to create fewer ruined days for customers. That’s it, it’s not even a full sentence. And the way we use that is we introduce it to all of our prospects and clients, everybody we interview, we talk to them about it. I start every staff meeting with it. So it’s really part of who we are, because what I want to know is if we take on this client, are we really going to be helping them create fewer ruin days for their customers? And if the answer is no, then we’re going to rethink that. We might not take that on. And if we do, we might have to redefine that a little bit to make sure that it’s living up to those values. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:56):

Makes total sense. You were talking about a journey mapping. Do you think most people, because as you know, a lot of agencies do journey mapping, do you think we do it wrong? Or is there, are we missing because there was something you said that made me think, Oh, she thinks that most people don’t do this quite right. So what are we missing in journey map?

Speaker 3 (21:17):

Wow. I hope I don’t get in trouble with this one. I think a lot of times agencies and marketing groups and folks like that are very focused on the end game of the sale. And a lot of organizations show me what they think is a customer journey map, but it’s really the buyer’s journey. Um, and it literally ends at the buy. Uh, if you look at how business people in general have been educated, how traditional business plans are set up, we don’t talk about it. We talk about acquisition a lot. We talk about marketing. We talk about branding. We get to, how are we going to get all these customers in the door? And then we kind of move on to backend operations. And I think that we have to spend a lot more time looking at the end to end journey from awareness before they even know they need you all the way through to either when they leave you or when they are your biggest advocates. And the more you can explore that, then you’re going to see more opportunities to deliver these moments of delight. You’re going to see opportunities where, you know, what, if we tweaked this just a little bit, we would actually have so many fewer complaints, you know, think about how many. And I know like in, in smaller organizations, sometimes we have that one poor person where we’re like, Oh, send it to Shirley. Shirley’s got the complaints, right? They all go to her inbox and it’s up to her seriously. Surely needs a break,

Speaker 2 (22:46):

Probably a raise.

Speaker 3 (22:49):

And a lot of times, surely isn’t even remotely close to the client side, right? Like they’re the admin or they’re the whatever. And so I think figuring out, you know, what, what is the journey that we want to deliver for our customers? Then you can start looking at those things that come in that are complaints and, and evaluate, what did we do here that didn’t deliver on that? How can we introduce best practices? How can we have more processes on the backend that really will consistently deliver the type of experience we want? So journey mapping is a whole big thing. Um, that’s one of my, I actually have two courses on LinkedIn about journey mapping that are, um, all about this idea because it’s, it really is a great, great tool, but you have to use it as a tool.

Speaker 2 (23:32):

So what I’m hearing you say is we don’t actually map out the entire journey. We map out the first quarter of the journey because hopefully they’ll stick around and be a customer for a long time. So they actually, the post purchase journey should be a lot longer than the pre purchase journey.

Speaker 3 (23:50):

You are absolutely correct. Yes. Because you really want to figure out, uh, what happens when they are happy and continue on, how do we treat those customers? If we treat everybody the same, are we missing opportunities? You know, we have an ironically the more invested a customer is where they are emotionally connected to your brand. The more risky it is when they are disappointed. And I’m sure, you know, we’ve all experienced this on both ends, right? Where people say, you know, I’ve been a customer for X number of years. I can’t believe I’m being treated this way because they are just devastated that the trust that they put in the brand is not being lived up to. And so I think, you know, really figuring out, especially in agencies where you want those long-term relationships, how can we guide people through that? How can we guide brands through that and our clients through that in a way that makes sense for that longterm vision that we have.

Speaker 2 (24:46):

Yeah. You know, it’s interesting. One of the workshops that I teach at, one of the things I talk about is, uh, you know, we do a lot of research with people who hire agencies. And one of the things that comes up over and over again is a lot of times clients fire us because they don’t feel like we love them that much anymore. And to paraphrase what they say is they used to bring me flowers all the time and candy, and now I don’t even get flowers on our anniversary, let alone on a Tuesday. Right? Like it’s like, I don’t matter that much anymore. And again, that’s because I think those agencies haven’t mapped out. How do we continue to nurture and love and appreciate those clients long after they’ve been clients?

Speaker 3 (25:28):

Yeah, I totally agree. And one of the things I talk about is that Bruno Mars song, you know, I used to hold my hand, used to give me flowers. I wish I had the chance, you know, to do that again. But the opposite of love is not hate it’s neglect. Right. And so much of what we do when we have long-term relationships, it becomes neglectful and customers feel the same way. I mean, we, we want to feel special all the time. And so I think it’s really an important point and something that is often overlooked. And I think that’s why I’ve seen in my own experience. I’ve seen a lot of agencies who are shocked and horrified when they find out that their client is shopping. Right. They’re like, Oh my gosh, we are renewals next month. What do you mean? This is crazy. And it’s like, but they didn’t call for six months or they didn’t show up.

Speaker 2 (26:18):

And then they pour on the love. Right. That’s right. And so then the client’s like, Oh, I get it. I need to, I need to act like I’m going to break up with you to be important to you. And now you’ve got a whole different problem on your hands.

Speaker 3 (26:31):

That’s right. That’s exactly right. So it’s the journey mapping and really understanding your client’s specific journey is just such a powerful tool. Not only for, you know, creating those great experiences that we want to for our clients, but getting the business results, we want to, those things are connected. And that’s the other part is this is not a soft exercise. Customer experience is not a trend. I’ve heard that. And I’m like, really? Cause it’s always happening. Your customers are having experiences, whether you call it that or not. So I think that there’s so much potential for really leaning in to some of these tools because you’ll be ahead of your competition. No doubt.

Speaker 2 (27:09):

You know, and as I’m, as I’m listening to you and nodding my head, you know, this is for us as agency owners and leaders. This is important for us to think about, uh, for our own business, but it’s also important for us to help our clients think about it because we’re often the ones doing the journey mapping and sort of helping them sort of figure out what are the touch points. And so this is a huge sort of light bulb we can turn on for them, that they can understand that the journey basically begins when the customer makes that purchase. And now, how do you, how do you enhance that journey for years and years and years to keep making more money, right.

Speaker 3 (27:49):

Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s a huge opportunity that often it’s not seen until like, like we just talked about like when they don’t renew, right. And that’s because somebody else came in and said, you know what? We can not only get them in the door, but we’re going to think about their experience all the way through. And so we can provide support along that journey. So that it’s, it’s something that’s great for everybody. I think that, you know, communication is such a huge part of any customer experience and agencies have such a great role to play there, but they don’t often see it. They don’t see themselves in that role. And I think that there’s lots of opportunity to support brands in that way.

Speaker 2 (28:28):

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I want to talk about the B2B to be, to see differences. Um, but first let’s take a quick break. And then when we come back, I want to talk about how customer service shows up differently, depending on who you’re selling to. Hey there, you know, I am incredibly grateful that you listen to every week and I want to make sure you get all of the support and tips and tricks and hacks that we have to offer in every issue of our newsletter. I tell you, what’s on my mind, based on the conversations I’ve had with agency owners that week, we also point you to additional resources and remind you of anything we’ve got coming up that you might benefit from. If you are not subscribed to our newsletter. Now we can fix that in a flash head over to agency management, institute.com/newsletter and complete the symbol forum.

Speaker 2 (29:18):

And we’ll take it from there. All right, let’s get back to the show. All right. We are back and we’re just before the break, I was saying, I want to talk about the B2B versus B2C. So most obviously for agencies, we are squarely in the B2B. We’re trying to get businesses to hire us. And I think a lot of people think about the customer experience with brands like Ritz or Apple or, you know, Southwest. Those are all very famous consumer brands. So talk to us a little bit about customer experience in a B2B environment versus a B to C.

Speaker 3 (29:55):

Yeah. I think one of the things that happens to me a lot is I’ll speak at a conference or something. And somebody comes up to me afterwards and says, this is all great, but we’re B2B. Like it’s a totally different animal and it’s really not. Uh, you can use all of these techniques to really understand what you’re doing. B2B can be more complicated. It usually has more layers. So you might have, uh, you know, distributors, you might have different, uh, accounts versus, you know, within one organization, things like that. Um, so it’s worth it to kind of think through all of those things, but at the end of the day, businesses don’t hire us. Right. People hire us. And so when we are talking about the customer journey and the customer experience, I really challenge people to think about that because I have seen over and over where, and I, myself, I’m a supplier, right.

Speaker 3 (30:47):

I ha I’m B2B essentially. And I find myself sometimes saying, I cannot believe what they’re making me go through just to get paid, right? Like all the invoicing systems and this and that, they are forcing something on me instead of considering me as kind of a customer or part of their ecosystem. And there are so many moments like that in B2B, so many moments. And it’s a lot of, what’s always been done. A lot of what happens in B2B is, you know, I’ve done things like a customer advisory sessions where we bring in different customers and, and map things out with them. And one of the things that happens almost every time in B2B is I say, talk to me about sales. And somebody is like, Oh, John is great. It’s all about John. Oh, and somebody else’s John. So great. He’s our guy too.

Speaker 3 (31:35):

And everybody loves it on John and everybody else who didn’t have John as a sales guy is sitting there quietly because they had a totally different experience. And the, if John leaves that company, he takes all of that Goodwill with him. And so what we need to do is look at who are superstars, who are those people who are delivering for us all the time and what are the behaviors that they are exhibiting? What are the actions they’re taking and how can we put that into a process? How can we share those best practices throughout our organization? So that we’re not so dependent on the individual employees, because that’s what I see over and over and over. So that’s a big difference in B2B and it’s, it’s a relationship like anything else. And we have to treat it that way.

Speaker 2 (32:23):

As you were talking about, you know, you’ve got distributors, you’ve got this. And you’ve got that. All I could think of was I think on the B2B side, there’s so many more places for things to go wrong, right? And there’s so many other, there’s so many more people that need to understand, you know, what you were talking about, which is this customer service mission that if you’re working through a dealership network or something like that, if they don’t know how you want your customers to be treated, and they don’t know that you’re expecting them to honor that mission, then they’re going to do it their way, which may not be so awesome.

Speaker 3 (32:59):

You are totally right. And I, I mean, invite them into this conversation. That’s the best thing you can do because the other thing is you can hold people accountable. You can say, you know what? It’s really important to us that we are delivering this experience for our customers. We are relying on our ecosystem to do that. Uh, if you can’t do that, or if we hear complaints in a certain way, then we need to work together to figure that out. And an example I saw recently was this, um, you know, transformation of delivery several years ago. So it wasn’t that recent, but you know, all the delivery drivers, they all have the handheld technology now. Right. Where you sign on it. Well, that was hard to roll out because all these guys would use clipboards for 20 years. Suddenly they were like, well, you want me to do what with what?

Speaker 3 (33:44):

That’s they didn’t want to be a part of it. Yeah. And so we actually worked on, okay, how can we get this out in a way that’s authentic and we’ll deliver. And so we started basically peer round tables. We found one early adopter. And we said, okay, you’ve got to convince these six guys that this is the way to go. And we held classes and all that. But then we started like once we got everybody up to speed, then it was like, okay, if you don’t use this because some people just refused, right. If you don’t use this, there are consequences. And it’s not because we’re trying to be mean it’s because this is the experience we need to deliver. And this is what it’s going to do to help our customers. And I think that’s another conversation we tend not to have. Sometimes we focus on the internal process that we’re trying to change. And we don’t explain everybody. This is about our customer experience. And this is something bigger than just this one process or this one touch point.

Speaker 2 (34:36):

So, you know, you were talking about earlier that sometimes the person who does the invoicing at an agency may have more influence on a client’s on a client’s experience, or have more interaction with a client than say, uh, a web developer or an art director. How do, how does an agency owner beyond having this mission, but how does an agency on our actually get everyone in the shop regardless of their role, regardless of their client facing, how do they get them to understand that while they may not be client facing, they do have to be client centric. And what does that look like?

Speaker 3 (35:15):

It’s a cultural thing. And it has to come from the top. It really does. I think every, every leader who wants to run an organization that is customer centric needs to talk the talk a lot and more importantly, walk the walk, meaning that instead of just focusing on KPIs, like revenue or new clients every month, you know, talk about, we also retained this many clients, right? We also, uh, you know, gained the loyalty of, of another department in this organization. Um, all of those things, because I think, you know, there is so much emphasis on acquisition on how do we get customers in the door? And we give them all of our love. We give them all of our attention and that’s what we measure as success. Right? Uh, you know, another tool we use is called the customer experience, success statement, and it’s really figuring out what can we measure to know if we’re doing this right?

Speaker 3 (36:10):

Because if we just define it as we’re going to give an exceptional customer experience to everybody, what does that mean? How can you measure that? So really defining success around this is also really important and then rewarding. You know, if we do this well, everybody wins because then everybody has something in it. And the invoicing thing people might have heard me say this before, but I find it really ironic that we often don’t include invoicing as a real touch point. We don’t, you know, it doesn’t show up on a journey map or anything. We don’t include the people who do the invoicing as anybody that we consider customer facing. And yet, sometimes that is the most regular touch point we have. Right. And we showered in anything. Is that right? That’s right. And we shower, you know, during the sales process, we shower with love and affection. And then we send an invoice that basically says, if you don’t pay this, these are all the horrible things that will happen. Right.

Speaker 2 (37:04):

Love us. Yeah. Right.

Speaker 3 (37:07):

So that’s such a ripe opportunity to create something meaningful that we just miss all the time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:13):

Yeah. One of the things that we teach in our eight bootcamps is whether you bill electronically, or you still do an old fashioned paper bill to attach a note with every invoice that says something about the project. Like, boy, we had a great time doing this, or we were so excited when this worked or whatever it is, but just to kind of remind the client that you’re getting this bill, because something good happened, not just because we want some money. Right. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:38):

And, you know, I appreciate that templates were introduced in the nineties that said, uh, thank you for your business on the bottom, but everybody knows that’s pre-written right. So take a minute, edit that line. And you’re good. Like it’s really, it’s, it is exactly about that because I think there are so many times it’s automatic and then they get the collection call if they’re a day late. And it’s like that we’re treating that in such a way that it’s punitive instead of, you know, what we did all this awesome stuff. And now, you know, this is the arrangement we have, but we are going to continue to deliver for you. And that’s kind of the momentum we want to build with those. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:17):

I know you talk a lot about, um, micro-moments so can you tell us what you mean by that and how we can bring that to life in both our own agencies and how we can help clients understand that concept and bring it to life with their customers?

Speaker 3 (38:33):

Yeah. I can talk about this a long time, but I’ll try not to. Um, so I define micro-moments as those moments that either build or erode trust along the journey that are typically neglected or ignored, meaning that, you know what everybody has. If you go to a restaurant, everybody has bathrooms and they’ll say women are run. Um, if you put a little more thought to that, if you get a little more creative, it creates this moment of surprise and of, you know, what we are paying attention to every step along your journey. So one of the examples I’ve used is there in Chicago, a lot of old buildings and some restrooms are downstairs in restaurants. And so I was going downstairs and there was a door and it had a sign up that said not yet. And it had an arrow and then there was another door and it said, still not there.

Speaker 3 (39:22):

And then another door. And those were all like employee offices. Well, they could have said, do not enter or, you know, or just nothing. And so people would be trying those doors as they go that little thought process of what is the journey really like, and how can we provide that moment of delight goes so far. And the point we just talked about with the invoices, that is a moment that is neglected because you know what the thank you for your business is already on the paper. We just send it, this is how everybody does it. Let’s not even think about it. And if you can create those little moments, they can go. So, so far and agencies have such a great opportunity here because in things like, you know, error messages on websites, I bring those up a lot because if you let the program or write them, right, it’s going to look like a programmer, wrote them.

Speaker 3 (40:11):

And if you can really think about what is the customer trying to do and how can we guide them to the next step in a way with humor or playfulness or, uh, or just kindness in some cases then, you know, that goes so far to building trust. And if you are doing things where you’re not paying attention and just because that’s always the way it’s been done, that actually can erode trust as well. So that’s how I define it. Tons of opportunities. And now that I, now that I’ve said this, I hope that all of you listening start seeing them everywhere.

Speaker 2 (40:42):

So that, so that’s what I was just going to ask you is those are like, in my mind, we just drive by those, right. We don’t even notice them. Some, this is something that we do. How do we look for in our own organizations and with clients, how do we look for and identify those opportunities? Like how do we spot them? Because they’re pretty much things that we walk by everyday and we don’t notice.

Speaker 3 (41:07):

Yeah. Uh, I think two things, one is awareness, like just being aware of this concept. And there’s kind of a joke of the people who work with me cause after they’re like, Oh, curse you. Cause I see them all the time and now they can’t stop. But there’s that. And there’s also understanding your customer’s journey. I mean, that’s really what so much of this is just this week I was ordering some Christmas presents online. I was sending them to my sister and the place said, do you want to give, give? And then you’ll pay on the next thing. So I clicked the gift receipt, went to the next page and there was nowhere to put a note anywhere. And so I chatted with them and I said, I need to send a gift note. And they’re like, well, we don’t have that option. And I thought, well, you’ve, haven’t thought about this at all.

Speaker 3 (41:47):

Right? Like if you want a gift receipt, then clearly I’m sending a gift. So I think that’s a perfect example of just not really looking at the customer’s real journey. Somebody just said, Oh yeah, we should put a check Mark for a gift receipt without actually thinking through the process and the needs of the customer. So that’s an example of how to find those. But I also think thinking about, you know, what, what is happening that we already know, people don’t love, what is having a complain about or they complain about, or we know we’re behind our competition or all of those things. You don’t necessarily have to boil the ocean. You can, you know, maybe you don’t have the technology to compete in certain ways yet. Can you communicate differently? Can you create those little moments that build trust and build positivity throughout the experience, even if you don’t have the big bells and whistles that maybe larger organizations do, that’s another good way to think about it even acknowledging, right? Yes. Yes. For sure.

Speaker 2 (42:45):

Fascinating. And I have probably another five hours worth of questions. So we’ll have to have you come back. But, um, any last thoughts as we, as we look at our agency, and again, you and I were talking a little bit before we hit the record button about how one of the cool things about the pandemic is it’s really forced everybody to think about their business differently. And I think 20, 21 is going to be an opportunity for us to continue to do that. So as we go into the new year, if people are listening to this in real time and you know what, this is good for us, no matter when you’re listening to it, what sort of words of wisdom, parting words of wisdom do you have for us in terms of creating a customer experience for our clients that not only do they stick around, but you know, we all know there’s nothing better than word of mouth and that there’s nothing that shortens the sales cycle than somebody saying, Oh my gosh, you need to talk to my agency. They’re amazing. They make me cry with joy every day. How do, how do we do this? Like, what would you tell us about that?

Speaker 3 (43:47):

I think, you know, the first thing is know who you are and who you want to be. So that customer experience, mission, like really understanding how do we show up no matter what that is super critical. The other is know who your customers are and really understand not just their interactions with you, but their real life. Like how, how do we expect them to show up? And what do we do if we can, you know, maybe not deliver on time? What are the things that we can put in place so that even when things go wrong, we’re still living up to that mission. And everybody in the organization knows that mission as well as just continuing to disrupt, continuing to look around for what is not really working in the best ways that it could. And what would we do to disrupt that in our own industry? I think that can be such a powerful way to look at things and force you to really flip the script and look at what is, what does it really like for your clients? Not what we think is happening, but what is it really like for them? Uh, and then I’ll, I’ll put a plug out that we have tons of resources on our site [email protected].

Speaker 2 (44:56):

Well, I was just going to ask you that question. So that’s perfect. So if folks want to learn more about your work, they want to tap into your resources. If they want to be able to check out the LinkedIn courses, what’s the best way for them to get immersed in all of the goodness that you share.

Speaker 3 (45:14):

Sure. Thank you for that. Yeah. Experience investigators.com is the main site and you can find a bunch of things there. And then this year we started a cool program where we’re offering a free downloadable tool every few weeks. We’re calling it the year of CX and you can sign up for [email protected]. And it’s just something we’re doing to try to, you know, provide these tools and resources to folks as they go through this journey. So there are things to help you build that success statement, build that customer experience, mission, do your own journey mapping. And then of course, we’re also very willing to support you in those endeavors too.

Speaker 2 (45:50):

Yeah. Awesome. This has been great. Uh, we’ll include links to all of that, uh, on the, in the show notes, but thank you so much for being on the show. I can’t tell you how important I think this topic is. And I think it is just such a huge opportunity for us to be the heroes for our clients to help them figure this out.

Speaker 3 (46:09):

Well, I totally appreciate that you are inviting this conversation because I think it’s really important. And I think the work that you and all agency owners do, it’s important work. People rely on you and we shouldn’t neglect that either. So thank you for everybody out there, putting in the effort and thank you for having me drew

Speaker 2 (46:27):

You bet it was fun. All right, guys, this wraps up another episode of build a better agency. I want to remind you that on the AMI website, if you go to agency management, institute.com/assessment, one of the tools that we have there for you is you take a quick assessment. I think it takes five or six minutes, and you answer a bunch of questions about your agency. And what it does is it shows you the areas where you need to focus your efforts. So might be, uh, building your account service team. It might be in terms of finance reporting and based on your results, we will also then send you some free resources to begin to improve in that area. So a it’s an interesting assessment and sort of forces you to think through where there’s growth opportunities for you. So great timing at the end of the year, but two we’ll also give you some additional resources that will help you move along in the areas where you’d like to improve in the, in the coming year.

Speaker 2 (47:26):

So please take full advantage that also want to give a quick shout out and thank you to our friends at white label IQ. They of course are the presenting sponsor of the podcast, but what they really do all day and every day is they support agencies just like you. So if you need white label design, dev, or PPC, they are a wonderful resource. They help a lot of AMI agencies. So I hear, I hear rave reviews about them every single day. And you can learn more about them by going to white label iq.com/ami. And they’ve got a special discount there just for you. And I will be back next week with another guest to get you thinking a little differently about your agency. And in the meantime, you know how to track me down. I’m [email protected] really should have picked a shorter URL anyway, in the meantime, thanks for listening. Take care of yourself and

Speaker 4 (48:18):

Talk to you next week. That’s a wrap for this week’s episode of build a better agency visit agency management institute.com to check out our workshops, coaching packages, and all the other ways we serve agencies just like yours. Thanks for listening.