Zeisler Consulting

MARCH 19, 2024

I wrote recently about how the term “representative” can take on a different meaning depending on whether you consider your front-line agents as representatives of you as a brand, or of your Customers as they navigate your systems. When dealing with a hospitality brand recently, that came to mind. There was a discrepancy and I kept repeating my point with every new escalation (I was passed off from one department to anther a couple times, and then up the supervisory chain).

Policies 93

Policies Hospitality Brands System 93

Zeisler Consulting

MARCH 5, 2024

I once had a great co-worker and mentor who, when teaching his Lean Six Sigma courses, would drop the quote: “Never take ‘No’ as an answer from somebody who doesn’t have the authority to say ‘Yes.’” Now, in his context, we were talking about internal politics and change management in general. As he was putting it, while working on a project, if you’re getting push-back from someone you’re working with, think hard about whether that person is simply gate-keeping or actually even has the permiss

Hotels 93

Hotels Conference Policies Customer Centricity 93

Zeisler Consulting

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

“Your feedback is important to us.” Sometimes those are just words. And some Customers are suckers and will fall for it. A while back, I had some work done with a service provider and, to say the least, the experience was not up to snuff whatsoever. This was a luxury brand and as such I’d expected some pretty fantastic attention to detail, and to me as the Customer.

Feedback 93

Feedback Survey Customers Culture 93

Zeisler Consulting

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Folks who work in your Customer-facing organizations have a lot of different names. Agents, technicians, associates (which always makes me chuckle a little bit ), service providers, and others. One that often makes me think is: Representative. It’s curious to me because it can go either way, can’t it? Whenever I get a ‘representative’ on the phone, I wonder: A representative for whom ?

Policies 93

Policies Hotels Brands System 93

Zeisler Consulting

JANUARY 23, 2024

I know I rail on about VoC (truth be known, that’s not my strongest topic of expertise; I’m much more of a Process Engineer)…Sure, VoC and Customer Insights inform the work we do to improve and better align our Customers’ Experiences with our Brand Promise, but it’s really just the first step. Nevertheless, I get a lot of inquiries from clients about the surveying process and techniques.

Survey 93

Survey Meeting Video Feedback 93

Zeisler Consulting

JANUARY 9, 2024

It’d be a little melodramatic (not beyond me, mind you) to call it the bane of my existence , but yes it’s a bit of a task that complicates my days: Explaining, when I say I’m “in CX” or that I “do CX” that, no, I’m not a ‘contact center guy.’ I don’t do Customer Support or Service. I’m not in “Customer Care” or whatnot. There’s always a bit of a word-shuffle differentiating that, well, yes, all those things are part of a Customer’s Experience, and yes, they do play a huge—and important—part

Contact Center 93

Contact Center System Customer Care Brands 93

Zeisler Consulting

DECEMBER 13, 2023

A while back, I wrote an article that kind of cheekily suggested that we simply stop doing VoC. For that matter, I kind of went on a speaking circuit with my snarky little message. (The punch-line is, well, don’t actually stop doing VoC things like surveying your Customer or walking in your Customers’ shoes, or simply taking a look at what’s coming into your Customer Support queue…rather, if you’re not acting on what you learn there, you’re wasting your time and effort collecting those ins

Contact Center 72

Contact Center Survey Feedback Customer Insights 72

Zeisler Consulting

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

There’s an adage in the Process Engineering world that one should never automate a bad process. I have friends who are in the automation business, and there are actually a lot of companies out there who are leveraging new technologies to streamline their operations. But the philosophy stands: If you’re automating, you’re wasting time and money and not getting nearly as much out of it if you haven’t already perfected those processes before you send them to the machine to run.

Omni-Channel 93

Omni-Channel Brands Customer Experience System 93

Zeisler Consulting

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

It was a long time ago that I first wrote about the difference between CS and CX. Here, define CS as Customer Support, Customer Service, Customer Success, or Customer Care (that last one is actually CC, but you get the drift). Yes, they’re all actually different among each other, so shouldn’t always be lumped in together as the same thing , but they’re all not CX per se, so I will just for this little article.

How To 93

How To Contact Center Customer Care Customer Success 93

Zeisler Consulting

OCTOBER 24, 2023

We recently needed a battery replacement in one of the household computers, so I made an appointment at the brand’s retail location in a local mall. The process of registering and scheduling an appointment was super easy, and the appointment times were remarkably specific, so I figured I was in for a very tightly-run experience. I also had a few other questions about other devices and things I was sort of shopping for at the store anyway, so depending on how efficient they were (fix our device

Customer Centricity 93

Customer Centricity Retail Tips Course 93

Zeisler Consulting

OCTOBER 10, 2023

I recently wrote an—unintended to be, but maybe could be construed as, snarky— article about not doing VoC anymore. The upshot was that, anything you put into your VoC program is wasted time, money, and effort if you’re not doing stuff with the insights you get out of it. You may say maybe I’m not interested in what Customers have to say, but that’s not at all what I meant.

Customer Insights 72

Customer Insights Course Report Marketing 72

Zeisler Consulting

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

If you’ve followed me much at all, you know that my main mantra about CX is that you need to work your VoC insights, by which I mean, you have to take action on what you’ve learned there. Otherwise (as I’ve written recently ), you’re simply throwing your money away with surveys, interviews, and the like. In fact, as I’ve also mentioned , the largest part of your CX program—the part that should receive the most attention, the most effort, the most resources, time, and energy—should be your Proce

Chief Customer Officer 72

Chief Customer Officer Customer Centricity Culture Resources 72

Zeisler Consulting

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

I’ve been toying with an idea recently: Tell my clients to simply stop doing VoC. Yes, I realize that sounds kind of controversial. But as opposed to my usual way of doing things, that’s not why I suggest this. In fact, I’m only (partly) sort of kidding anyway. But here’s my reasoning: Brands sometimes spend inordinate gobs of money and time and resources developing over-the-top tremendously complicated VoC programs.

ROI 72

ROI Social Media NPS Survey 72

Zeisler Consulting

AUGUST 29, 2023

Probably one of the worst shows streaming these days is Kobra Kai , but if you’re like me, you can’t look away. Naturally, being a Gentleman of a Particular Age™, the original Karate Kid movie was part of my growing up, so I was curious. In the modern iteration, the acting is atrocious, the dialog is forced and clumsy, and for that matter, even the plot lines are eye-rollingly bad with all the surprise loyalty shifts and team-jumping.

Hotels 72

Hotels Conference Interaction Brands 72

Zeisler Consulting

AUGUST 1, 2023

My partner gets his hair cut at one of the chain “salons”. I use the quotes because it’s not a fancy place. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s a chain that you can probably guess…there are a few of them and they do fine work for a great price. His only gripe is one I think we as Customer Experience folks can appreciate. They have an app on which you can not only find a location, but “check-in” if you’re looking to get a cut right now or right-now-adjacent.

Wait Times 72

Wait Times Fashion Omni-Channel System 72

Zeisler Consulting

JULY 19, 2023

I’ve written before about how astonishing it is that some brands seem to be actively trying to alienate their Customers with obvious slights like specifically using the words “Do_Not_Reply” for the actual name of the mailbox when communicating. It’s as though someone asked a hypothetical question: “How could we best indicate to our Customers that we don’t care what they have to say nor even want to hear from them?

Consulting 72

Consulting System Customer Centricity CRM 72

Zeisler Consulting

JUNE 21, 2023

I was speaking with a friend recently who had some car trouble. Hers is a fancy car (much more fancy than mine ) and she’s used to having concierge-type service and treated very well by her car company when she needs help. However, on this instance, her experience with the tow-truck driver who came to help her was decidedly not luxury. The guy wasn’t offensive or objectionable, but he was late, was a poor communicator (both in manner and style), and sort of curt when it all came down to it.

Consulting 72

Consulting Brands System Course 72

Zeisler Consulting

MAY 23, 2023

I write a lot (these days, at least, it seems) about cars. Last year I had a lot of interactions with my car company and other support organizations having to do with my automotive needs. So I guess with it front of mind, it seems appropriate that this little anecdote popped into my head the other day: Do you remember in 2022 when BMW decided to make heated seats a subscription service ?

Automotive 72

Automotive Loyalty Programs Brands System 72

Zeisler Consulting

MAY 9, 2023

I’m not saying I’m a big shot or anything, but mine is a luxury car. Okay, to prove I’m not a big shot, I’ll concede that it’s the entry-level first-time-buying-a-luxury-car model from a certain German automaker. And , I bought it a while ago. I’ve had it for a while. So yes, boujie I’m not…yet (keep that Growth Mindset going!) But here’s the thing: Recently I had an experience with this brand that was decidedly not luxury in any way whatsoever.

Brands 72

Brands System Technology Leadership 72

Zeisler Consulting

APRIL 25, 2023

You know that I’m big into walking in your Customers’ shoes. I write about it all the time and it plays a huge part of the book. But you’ve got to go into it with the right frame of mind. It’s not practical to expect you can shed all your priors and blinders, but you’ve got to assert yourself as best you can and imagine the experience your Customers are having.

System 72

System Brands Customer Care Customer Experience 72

Zeisler Consulting

APRIL 12, 2023

When you ask an analyst a question, ideally it’s met with several in return. That’s because good analysts are inquisitive not just about what you want to determine, but why you’re looking for a quantitative answer. A healthy dialog between you and an analyst will lead to much better analysis and even more importantly, that analysis will come with much better insights.

Analysis 72

Analysis NPS Survey Interaction 72

Zeisler Consulting

MARCH 28, 2023

I wrote recently about an interaction I had with a support representative in which I told her I was sorry that she was working for a brand that disrespected her enough to preclude her from being allowed to help me. I’m not sure if she appreciated that I was being honest and sincere in my sentiment, but I imagine the interaction made more of an impression on me, as she surely had other calls to take the rest of her day.

Contact Center 72

Contact Center Knowledge Base System Brands 72

Zeisler Consulting

MARCH 14, 2023

A while back, I participated in a round of judging for a Customer Service and Support awards competition. It was both an honor to be asked to participate, and a real inspiration to read so many great stories of dedicated Customer centricity. I got a few good ideas from some of the stories that were told, and frankly the future does look bright for Customer Experience, if you know where to look.

Fashion 72

Fashion Customer Care Customer Centricity System 72

Zeisler Consulting

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

This is part of a series of articles about brands that are getting it right. Often we see plenty of examples of brands dropping the ball and failing to live up to their promise, but here’s a chance to highlight those who seem to have gotten it figured out. YMMV, of course, and sometimes these are just anecdotes about only one experience, but as I’ve noticed, when a company really embraces its Brand Promise, these experiences are usually quite common.

Entertainment 72

Entertainment Retail Brands Course 72

Zeisler Consulting

JANUARY 31, 2023

I was on the phone with an agent on a support line the other day and I told her that I was sorry. No, I didn’t apologize… I’d done nothing wrong… Yes, I was upset, I was disappointed, I was frustrated. But I’d treated the agent with the utmost respect and courtesy and didn’t take it out on her. Such is the subtle difference between saying ‘Sorry,’ and apologizing.

Policies 72

Policies Leadership Brands Course 72

Zeisler Consulting

JANUARY 17, 2023

The late actor (who also did some other things) Ronald Reagan had a saying: “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.” Now, when it comes to popular politics, what he meant by that was that it’s important to keep your arguments simple: The more succinct you can make your point, the more likely people are to agree with you, and more quickly. If all it takes to come to your conclusion is along the lines of: ‘Well, here’s the fact, therefore, here’s the conclusion,’ you’re likely to win lots of pe

Policies 72

Policies Tools Brands Customer Experience 72

Zeisler Consulting

JANUARY 4, 2023

If you read much of what I write, you’re aware that one of the best sources of Customer insights and the one I most frequently recommend is Walking in the Customer’s Shoes. It’s one of the best—if not the best—way for you to understand what your Customers go through when they interact with your brand and your processes. It can be tricky sometimes to get out of your own head (you understand, from the back end, after all, how your systems work, so that perspective is hard to shed completely), bu

Insurance 72

Insurance Brands Customer Experience Customer Insights 72

Zeisler Consulting

DECEMBER 20, 2022

As a math and stats professor, I assign a lot of homework (my cadets can attest to that), but that homework is distinct from the exams I administer. That’s because the purpose of each is different. When we give homework, the purpose is for practice and learning; getting better at stuff, which is often pretty tremendous to watch from the teaching perspective, because in a lot of topics I teach, that’s going from zero knowledge to proficiency in a short amount of time.

Effort Score 72

Effort Score Feedback Customer Insights Course 72

Zeisler Consulting

DECEMBER 7, 2022

At one point a while back in my career I spent most of my days teaching Lean Six Sigma around the company for which I was working at the time. From a (much more seasoned) colleague I learned a witty thing to say at the end of each session: “If you have negative feedback, please share it with me; if you have positive feedback, please share it with my boss.

Chief Customer Officer 72

Chief Customer Officer Feedback Consulting Survey 72

Zeisler Consulting

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

I’ll often describe CX in terms of an analogy to other operations within your company. If it’s to make an impact, it should have a charter that includes responsibility for and the moving parts needed to drive changes. Otherwise, there’s no point in having a CX department in the first place. The conversation usually comes as a side note to the dreaded ROI of CX discussion.

ROI 72

ROI Culture Sales Training 72

Zeisler Consulting

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

Anybody who’s read much of what I have to say about Customer insights and Voice of the Customer (VoC) knows I’m quite critical of legacy KPIs like CSAT and NPS. Part of that, naturally, is my inherent wiseass contrarian nature, sure. That said, if I didn’t really believe that there’s a better way to do things, I’d not have invented a new top-level CX metric of my own (the Brand Alignment Score ).

Effort Score 72

Effort Score NPS Metrics Average Handle Time 72

Zeisler Consulting

OCTOBER 11, 2022

I recently wrote about how some brands don’t really listen to their Customers when they develop new functions, features, and even new products, and how frustrating that can be. That’s often because a brand feels so comfortable and strong that they don’t really need to listen. “We know what our Customers want, we’ve been doing this for years,” they seem to be saying.

Customer Centricity 72

Customer Centricity Course Culture Trends 72

Zeisler Consulting

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

I participated recently in another one of these awesome forums where CXers gather to chat and share ideas about our profession. The main topic centered on VoC approaches, and at one point someone brought up the challenge of interpreting his company’s NPS results. To paraphrase him, sometimes one Customer may rate an experience as a ‘0’ while another Customer may rate the exact same experience as a ‘10’.

Brands 72

Brands Effort Score NPS Metrics 72

Zeisler Consulting

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

I once worked with a client who was having a somewhat complicated concern about survey data: Every time they interacted with a Customer they’d send out a survey invitation. That was well and good, but they never knew (does anybody?) when they’d get a response. They put a time limit on the survey in that the invitation expired after 30 days, but they knew their Customers were busy, so it may be a couple of weeks before someone got around to filling it out.

Data 72

Data Survey Metrics Report 72

Zeisler Consulting

AUGUST 24, 2022

A friend of mine was ribbing me the other day about the Net Promoter System and how I’m a pretty ardent critic , or at least questioner of it…not least because I think there’s a better approach (hint: It has to do with the proper purpose of doing CX in the first place). He said, “Z, why do you hate NPS so much? Don’t you think there’s anything redeeming about it?

NPS 72

NPS Effort Score Comparison Consulting 72

Zeisler Consulting

AUGUST 9, 2022

This is another in a series of articles I decided to start writing a while back calling out brands for doing the right thing when it comes to CX. There’s a lot of negativity out there, and I’m even a big fan of learning from our (and others’!) bad CX practices. You’ll notice I don’t name names when I write about poor CX, but here it’s the opposite and I endeavor to highlight those who get it right.

Brands 72

Brands Marketing Customer Experience Strategy 72

Zeisler Consulting

JULY 26, 2022

I’ve been with a certain service provider for about 20 years now. It’s definitely the longest I’ve ever been with any brand that I can think of off the top of my head. Sometimes you stay because it’s the only game in town (you can likely consider your cable company for this example). Sometimes you stay out of a sense of laziness (are you a Coke person or a Pepsi person?).

Loyalty 72

Loyalty Sports Airlines Course 72