Punk CX: Customer Experience Insights with Adrian Swinscoe

Today’s podcast interview is different. Here's how it is different: It’s Part 1 of a two-part conversation about a new project. Part 2 will be released next week. It's available as a podcast and also as a video [follow this link]. But, most excitingly, it's about Punk XL, a follow up book to Punk CX, which I am delighted to say is officially released today around the world! Now, Punk CX was published in 2019 and explored what a punk rock version of customer experience (CX) could look and feel like. However, a lot has happened since then. It's no longer sufficient to talk about customer experience in isolation. To succeed, we need to think about experience holistically, especially if we are to deliver the outcomes and reach the heights we aspire to. Punk XL, where XL stands for eXperience Leadership, seeks to explore what it means and takes to deliver a great experience at different levels (individual, team, organisation, customer and beyond). Like its predecessor Punk CX, it will be composed of a series of short and punchy "tracks" organised loosely around a series of concentric rings or dimensions that will explore what eXperience Leadership means at that particular level. To add richness, perspective and depth, it features contributions from a number of different experience "artists" from around the world. Those "artists" are Ari Weinzweig, Serena Riley, Lara Khouri, Richard Hammond, Amy Scott, Sandra Thompson, Paul Greenberg, Joyce Kim, Karen Jaw-Madson, Martin Lucas, Sandra De Zoysa, Clare Muscutt, Oisin Lunny, Tom Watts and Matt Wilson (more details about all of them are below). But today, I want to share with you a conversation I have recently had with some of the "artists" I worked with on this book, namely Serena, Lara, Amy, Joyce, Oisin and Tom. I talk to them about Punk XL, what XL means for them, why it's important, why they got involved with the project, what their favourite bits of the new book are and why all of the book's proceeds will be donated to charity. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Only 2% of marketers say they experience perfect alignment with sales – Interview with Scott Addington of SugarCRM – and is number 411 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s interview is with Scott Addington, VP of EMEA Marketing for SugarCRM. Scott joins me today to talk about letting the platform do the work, the continued misalignment of sales and marketing teams, what it is costing them, what they should do about it and how technology can help. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The end of the customer experience is so important but is often looked – Interview with Joe Macleod #Endineering – and is number 410 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s interview is with Joe Macleod, the Founder & Head of Endineering at AndEnd and a two-time author. Joe joins me today to talk his new book: Endineering: Designing consumption lifecycles that end as well as they begin, why the end of the customer experience is so important, often looked, what that is costing us and what we should be doing about it. This interview follows on from my recent interview – CRM is not just about technology; it’s actually about relationships – Interview with Victoria Wejchert of Kinship – and is number 409 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s interview is with Victoria Wejchert, who is the founder and CEO of Kinship, a contact management app that makes it easy to store and act on contact information to build stronger professional and personal connections. Victoria joins me today to talk about Kinship, the CRM space, building a phone-based CRM application in what is already a crowded market and how with all of the tech that we are surrounded by right now we are not really focusing on building real, lasting and meaningful relationships. This interview follows on from my recent interview - 12 principles for turning customers and employees into lifelong fans – Interview with Jon Picoult of Watermark Consulting - and is number 408 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s interview is with Jon Picoult is founder of Watermark Consulting, a leading customer experience advisory firm, and author of a new book: FROM IMPRESSED TO OBSESSED: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans. Jon joins me today to talk about the book, the most universal problem in customer experience today, why customer experience is like a choreographed performance, the biggest mistake companies make when embarking on a customer experience improvement effort and the ROI of customer experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer purchasing decisions are increasingly being driven by their values – Interview with Alan Williams — and is number 407 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s interview is with Alan Williams, who is the Founder & MD, SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL, and helps service sector organisations to deliver significantly better business performance and a service excellence culture through values-driven organisational alignment. He joins me today to talk about his new book: “The Values Economy, How to Deliver Values Driven Service for Sustained Performance”, what we can learn from it, how values can impact better service and experience and World Values Day. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Customer service: The most important job in the company – Interview with Fortuné Alexander of Pega — and is number 406 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Today’s interview is with Fortuné Alexander who is the senior director of product marketing for customer service and sales automation solutions at Pega. Fortuné joins me today to talk about National Customer Service Week, recognising and celebrating excellent customer service, the changing world of work, service with respect, simplifying service, applying technology, where to start, contact center heroes and giving them the recognition they deserve and also leadership. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The only thing that limits you on a no code platform is your imagination – Interview with Pierce Buckley of babelforce — and is number 405 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at babelforce for sponsoring my podcast this month.

Today’s interview is with Pierce Buckley who is an automation and CX expert plus the CEO and Co-founder of babelforce. Pierce joins me today to talk contact centres, customer service, customer experience, AI, the schmai-i bit, busting a few myths around the whole tech and service space, no-code platforms, what that really means, what’s the difference between RPA and no-code and how organisations should be approaching and leveraging AI and no-code in their business, particularly when it comes to improving customer service/experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The metric that is more important than NPS and CSAT – Interview with Shep Hyken — and is number 404 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at babelforce for sponsoring my podcast this month.

Today’s interview is with Shep Hyken, who is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Shep joins me today today to talk about his latest book: I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again, what an Arnie is, the metric that is more important than NPS and CSAT, the difference between a repeat customer and a loyal customer, where true empathy for the customer starts and if self-service can drive customer loyalty and a whole host of other things. This interview follows on from my recent interview – We need to start talking about experience leadership – Interview with Peter Cross — and is number 403 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at babelforce for sponsoring my podcast this month.   babelforce is the #1 most flexible platform for contact center service. Pierce Buckley, CEO and Co-founder of babelforce, and his team of telecoms veterans have created a powerful cloud communications solution focused on No-Code integration and automation. Their goal is to break down every barrier to great customer experiences by putting intuitive tools in the hands of people who live and breathe CX. Pierce and Jonathan Baer of Vonage are running a webinar on the 28th October at 11:00am CET and they will be discussing exactly how businesses are getting maximum benefit from WhatsApp, one of the fastest-growing channels for customer service. Follow this link to sign up. You don’t want to miss out as you will get to see a demo of the babelforce platform in action!

Today’s interview is with retail expert Peter Cross who until recently was the Customer Experience Director at John Lewis and Waitrose and prior to that spent ten years as Mary Portas’ business partner. Peter joins me today to talk about retail customer experience, some of the lessons he has learned over the course of the last few years, experience leadership and what he sees as some of the challenges ahead for experience leaders. This interview follows on from my recent interview – The top frustrations of customers and agents are the same – Interview with Jeff Nicholson of Pega — and is number 402 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at babelforce for sponsoring my podcast this month.   babelforce is the #1 most flexible platform for contact center service. Pierce Buckley, CEO and Co-founder of babelforce, and his team of telecoms veterans have created a powerful cloud communications solution focused on No-Code integration and automation. Their goal is to break down every barrier to great customer experiences by putting intuitive tools in the hands of people who live and breathe CX. Pierce and Jonathan Baer of Vonage are running a webinar on the 28th October at 11:00am CET and they will be discussing exactly how businesses are getting maximum benefit from WhatsApp, one of the fastest-growing channels for customer service. Follow this link to sign up. You don’t want to miss out as you will get to see a demo of the babelforce platform in action!