Customer Experience Program From the Ground Up With Mike Gomes,"
1. **Introduction to the Podcast and Guest**
- Host introduces the podcast "CS Conversations"
- Overview of the podcast’s focus on customer service, support, and experience
- Introduction of guest Mike Gomes, with a background as a Disney executive and now Chief Experience Officer at Cortland
2. **Mike Gomes' Background and Transition**
- Foundation in guest experience at Disney
- Applying Disney principles in sports
- Transition to the multifamily apartment industry
3. **Establishing a Customer Experience (CX) Program**
- Importance of leadership support for customer-centric strategies
- Leveraging consumer insight and research
- Identifying customer needs
- Prioritizing non-negotiable base offerings
4. **Implementation of Surprise and Delight Strategies**
- Defining base offerings
- Determining surprise and delight moments in the customer experience
5. **Consistency in Customer Experience with Evolving Systems**
- Maintaining consistency amidst evolving systems and processes
- Implementing a CRM system to enhance customer journey
- Correlation of management communication and customer service with overall satisfaction and renewal intent
6. **Change Management in Software Implementation**
- Role of communication and feedback
- Using appropriate language to drive attitudinal shifts
- Focusing on the journey of the customer/resident rather than the property
7. **Community Creation and Satisfaction**
- Importance of creating a community
- Focus on both employee and customer satisfaction in the real estate industry
8. **Case Studies: Negative and Positive Customer Experiences**
- Negative experience at a local restaurant
- Positive experience on a Virgin voyage cruise
- Impact of consistent branding and intentional customer segmentation
9. **Insights and Data Gathering**
- Using large data and insights to define business foundations
- Recognizing different primary drivers for various fan groups
10. **Investment in CRM System**
- Improving communication satisfaction and community satisfaction
11. **Improving Fan Experience in Stadiums**
- Focus on enhancing the food and beverage experience for fans
12. **Achieving Consistent Customer Experience**
- Importance of consistency in execution and leadership reinforcement
- Challenges in achieving consistency across diverse workforce and customer base
13. **Leadership, Training, and Processes**
- Model of consistent operational standards inspired by Chick-fil-A
- Emphasis on leadership, training, and processes for achieving sustainable success
customer support, customer experience, Mike Gomes, Disney executive, Chief Experience Officer, Cortland, CX programs, internal buy-in, voice of the customer, guest experience, multifamily apartment industry, leadership support, customer-centric strategies, consumer insight, customer needs, surprise and delight strategies, base offerings, consistency in customer experience, evolving systems, CRM system, change management, communication feedback, attitudinal shifts, customer journey, community building, employee satisfaction, negative customer experience, positive customer experience, branding consistency, customer segmentation

Listen to the full episode now and enhance your CX and CS strategies!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneehawthorne/

Mastering Remote Workforce Management: Insights from Shauntel Lizzarazo on CS Conversations

In the latest captivating episode of CS Conversations titled "Engaging, Retaining and Growing A Remote Workforce with Shauntel Lizzarazo," hosts Whitnee Hosting and Shauntel Lizzarazo delve into the evolving dynamics of remote workforce management. Given her rich background and role at Navon, Shauntel offers invaluable insights into crafting an effective remote work environment, particularly enhanced by her experiences at JetBlue. This episode doesn’t just navigate the theoretical aspects; it gives listeners a real-world peek into the implementation and challenges of remote supervising.

**Key Insights from Shauntel Lizzarazo:**
1. **Intentional Leadership and Regular Communication:**
Shauntel underscores the importance of leadership that intentionally focuses on the unique needs of remote teams. Leaders must schedule regular one-on-one sessions with employees to ensure they feel connected and part of the team. These interactions, as highlighted, are not just formalities but are structured and compensated to reflect their importance in ensuring employee engagement and satisfaction.
2. **Implementing 'Direct with the Directors':**
During the tumult of the pandemic, JetBlue introduced the "Direct with the Directors" platform. This initiative provided a structured way for remote agents to receive updates and engage directly with their leaders. Shauntel points out that such platforms are crucial during uncertain times, helping to maintain open lines of communication and thereby ensuring that every team member feels valued and informed.
3. **Prioritizing Compassion in Customer Interactions:**
Sharing a personal anecdote from a hospital visit, Shauntel illustrates how the compassion shown by a medical technician not only eased her anxiety but also shaped her outlook on customer service. This story serves as a poignant reminder that whether in healthcare or aviation, the core qualities of kindness, caring, and compassion are essential for delivering superior customer experiences. She reinforces the need for training programs that cultivate these attributes among customer service providers.
4. **Engagement Beyond Conventional Methods:**
Discussing strategies for maintaining a motivated remote workforce, Shauntel advises against relying solely on recognition and fun activities. Instead, she champions building trust through active listening, consistent engagement, and involving employees in decision-making processes, thus making them feel genuinely valued and understood.
5. **Leveraging the Voice of Remote Agents:**
Understanding the voice of remote agents is crucial in tailoring customer experiences that are both effective and empathetic. Shauntel outlines how during the pandemic, increased mandatory overtime put a significant strain on her team at JetBlue. By choosing to engage with the workforce openly, and having video calls to actively listen and problem-solve together, the leaders managed to sustain morale and productivity.
**Conclusion:**
Shauntel Lizzarazo’s episode on CS Conversations provides rich, actionable insights for anyone managing remote teams or engaged in customer service and support roles. Her strategies emphasize much more than the logistics of remote work; they hinge on the human aspects of business like communication, compassion, and trust. As remote work continues to define our global workforce, the lessons shared in this episode will undoubtedly remain relevant for fostering engaging, supportive, and effective work environments.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shauntellizzarazo

Listen to the full episode now and enhance your CX and CS strategies!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneehawthorne/

Brittany is the author of Creating Superfans: How To Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates.

The book has sold tens of thousands of copies in the United States and has been translated into foreign languages for international release.

It won the 2023 Outstanding Works of Literature Award for Sales & Marketing Book of the Year. Its simple operating model has helped companies of all sizes and across all industries operationalize customer experience across every department. Forbes wrote upon its release, “If you have customers, you need this book. Period.”


You can find out more about Brittany and Creating Super fans at: https://brittanyhodak.com/podcast/

Topics covered in the conversation with Brittany Hodak:
1. Importance of Creating Superfans
- The purpose of a business is to create customers who become advocates
- Turning customers into superfans makes everything about the business easier and more fun
- Real-time measurement of the creation of superfans is important for the health of the business
2. Measures to Create Lifelong Advocates
- Use of KPIs and Metrics
- Importance of real-time or near real-time feedback for actionable insights
- The challenge of turning customers into superfans due to the need for buy-in at every level of the organization
3. Measuring Overall Experience and Impact
- Importance of measuring customer satisfaction (CSAT) for instant feedback and peer benchmarking
- Not everything that counts can be counted, and vice versa
- Introducing the concept of net negative, net positive, and net neutral experiences from an employee's perspective to measure customer interactions
4. The Role of Employees as Acting Chief of Experience
- Employees as the face of the brand and the critical touch points for customer experience
- The need for a greater sense of purpose and accountability among employees in delivering exceptional customer interactions
- The impact of employee experience on customer experience
5. Examples of Great Customer Experiences
- Story about an innovative and entertaining on-hold message experience with the Nashville Zoo
- The connection between creativity, ingenuity, and exceptional customer experiences
- Importance of employee and customer experiences in shaping brand perception
6. Where to Find More Information
- Information about Brittany Hodak's book, "Creating Superfans: How to Turn Your Customers into Lifelong Advocates"
- Availability of the book in various formats
- Access to more stories and newsletter from Brittany Hodak on her website
7. Closing Remarks
- Invitation to visit csconversations.com for more customer experience content
- A call to sign up for the CS Conversations mailing list for access to the latest insights and trends in customer experience

customer service, support, customer experience, industry experts, thought leaders, customer centric innovation, CX pro, creating superfans, brand advocacy, KPI, employee experience, CSAT, NPS, EGR, metrics, real-time measurement, customer journey, customer feedback, employee training, customer interactions, agent performance, call center experience, brand representation, customer touch points, employee accountability, brand storytelling, customer engagement, customer satisfaction, brand purpose, customer influence, entertainment strategy

Listen to the full episode now and enhance your CX and CS strategies!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitneehawthorne/