How strong customer experience will help tech services professionals stand out

I see from your LinkedIn and your recently published book that you are very passionate about the importance of customer experience. Can you tell us a little bit more about your philosophy around customer experience and why you think it’s so crucial?

I decided to write my book, “The Art of Seducing Your Customers”, because I've seen first hand the impact that great employee and customer experience can have on a business. This book articulates my framework for thinking about customer experience. The framework begins with understanding the competitive marketplace you're working in, who you're competing with, what the market looks like, and how you need to continue to either stay ahead or keep up. I share examples like Sears Roebuck, which was taken out by Amazon in less than 28 years or more recently, the yellow cab in New York City being taken out by Uber. Companies need to really pay attention to what is happening in the marketplace so that they can step up to effectively compete. You asked about the importance of customer experience, it starts with employee experience. I have a few chapters in my book focused on employees because you cannot deliver great customer experience without great employees and teams. 

Then I get right into acquisition and retention. Companies spend a lot of money, time, and energy on acquisition. Where they fall short is on the retention side, which is as important if not more important. I’m the president here at ISG Research. One great stat from our research is that when a contract comes up in large deals, the incumbent loses partial or all of the renewal 70% of the time. That tells you that companies spend a lot of time winning the business, but not a lot of time retaining the business.

My favorite chapter in the book is about reducing friction. I call it being a “friction hunter”. Think about interactions in your everyday life, like getting a cappuccino at Starbucks. There are opportunities to reduce friction. Did you pre order it? Did you pre-pay? Were you able to just get it and walk out of the store? What was that experience like? I encourage readers to think about their brand and consider how they can remove moments of friction in customer experience. It never goes away completely. It's like radiation with a half-life, it gets smaller and smaller as you chip away at it.

Gen AI is already transforming customer experience in a dramatic manner? Many worry about the loss of personal touch. What potential opportunities/ risks do you see?

Gen AI isn't going to be a fad. It is here to stay, no questions about it. That said, it's not necessarily gonna replace jobs or experiences, it’s going to become a tool that will augment and elevate our everyday lives and the work that we do. For example, consider a retail setting, imagine if Gen AI was able to identify the customer coming into the store and what information the business has collected about them. Stores already know their customers and collect data about them, Gen AI has potential to present that data in a more actionable and meaningful way. Gen AI can reduce friction for customers. It isn’t a replacement for human experiences, but a tool to help customer experience before they reach that human touchpoint.

This newsletter is geared towards professionals in the Consulting, Professional Services, Digital industries. I would love to ask you some questions about this space. 

This sector is so focused on constant growth, how can services companies scale without losing their passion for the customer and sacrificing on customer experience?

Companies need to leverage technology to augment their own teams and grow. That said, they can’t just grow at any cost. One of the examples I love sharing is Jetblue. When they first began to hire stewards and stewardesses, they brought on first responders. They recognized that the ability to serve is central to those jobs. It enabled them to hire people with the skill sets they needed, even though they hadn’t worked in this industry or in these kinds of jobs. That creativity enabled them to grow without sacrificing what was important in their customer experience.

Another good example of a firm that really makes sure they don't lose sight of the customer is a client of ours, Ensono. They're a large service provider growing at a very rapid pace. They actually have this teddy bear they named Ernesto that sits in every meeting internally to represent their clients. I love that so much, because it makes them think of their customers. It makes them think twice before cutting something that would sacrifice customer experience. Having that physical representation of the customer in every internal meeting has reshaped many conversations.

There is a lack of standardization in the customer experience that services companies offer, customer experience often varies based on who that customer is interacting with at the company. Do you think this lack of standardization is good for agility or can this sector learn from other industries that offer an elevated, differentiating customer experience?

I'll be a tad controversial here, I think a lack of standardization is an opportunity for high performers to differentiate themselves in this marketplace. In some cases, standardization can mute the chance of really rising above. At the end of the day though, customers are going to speak with their wallets. Standardization or not, if they don't like the experience, they're not coming back. So I'm not sure that standardization is the opportunity, the opportunity is for those high performers that really want to differentiate to leverage the fact that there's not an engagement standard and go above and beyond their competitors.

Both consumers and employees are getting less and less tolerant of things not being exceptional. We're seeing a huge trend in tech right now where if employees don’t like the onboarding process on day one, they don’t come back for day two. That's amazing to me. Companies can’t afford to not make good experience a priority.

In this time of low growth, how should companies think about go-to-market and relationship management? What kind of talent should they be looking for to fill these roles?

Large service providers are always coming to us at ISG Research with regards to net new logos that they want to acquire. The question I always pose back to them is, “Are you doing 100% percent of the tech work for your current client base?” The answer is always “no”. In fact, they're probably doing anywhere between 5% to 15% of the work for their current clients. Imagine what might be possible if they focused on growing their current client base’s revenue to where they're doing 20% of their tech work. The chances of growth with existing clients probably far exceeds the chances of acquiring a couple of new logos. The real opportunity here for growth is to think about your current client base and how you nurture them and create incredible experiences to gain more than your fair share of their wallet.

If you were an early- mid career professional in the services industry right now, what would you be focusing on? What skills/ traits/ experiences would you be looking to get?

Knowing what I know now, I would focus on two things. First, being a champion internally at my company for employee and customer experience. As I think about what has worked for me throughout my career and how I've excelled, it's because I've always had this passion for experience. Second, I would focus on understanding how to create retention at my current company with the current employees and customers we have. Those two things- experience and retention, are key to success both internally and externally.

How do you hire? What do you look for in people?

I have several chapters dedicated to employees because I think it's so critical to have great people and great employee experience. I actually have a unique perspective on this. I happen to be an Eagle Scout, I was a part of the Boy Scouts of America which is now known as Scouting. If you are an Eagle Scout from Boy Scouts or have the Gold Award from Girl Scouts, it will guarantee you at least an interview in my process. Because at the very least, I understand your work ethic, your ability to lead and follow, and your ability to deliver on the promises you make. You cannot become an Eagle Scout or a Gold Award recipient unless you can do all of those things.

I look for those qualities in all professionals, it doesn’t just have to be Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Maybe they did junior achievement or are part of a rotary club, these people carry characteristics that you want to bring into your organization. Technical skills can be taught. I always start by looking for someone with these shared core values.