Foreword xiii
Chapter 1 The Breakdown Before the Breakthrough 1
How Do I Manage This Crisis? 2
Recovery and Resilience 3
Serving at a Higher Level 4
The Breakdown Leads to a Breakthrough 4
Chapter 2 Don’t Bet on Your Blind Spots 9
How “What If?” Became, “Why Not?” 9
Would you be willing to bet your business—or your career—on a single number? 10
The Challenge: We’re asking the wrong questions—and we’re asking the wrong questions of the wrong people 11
The Greatest Nightmare Any CEO Can Face 12
Never Again 14
Are you willing to do what it takes to retain 100 percent of your customers? 15
Decrease Distance Between Your Home Office and the C-Suite: First Steps 18
Be Selective 18
Why Stop at One? 18
Chapter 3 The Beginner’s Mindset 21
A False Sense of Security 23
Listening is the First Step in Decision Making 25
Chapter 4 Big Impact 27
Chapter 5 When Organizations are Out of Alignment 37
Action is Where Mantras and Missions Come to Life 39
How often does your customer feedback tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to know? 40
If you consistently achieve your customer experience improvement targets, are you measuring what matters to your customers? 40
Do perfect scores alert you to risks? Competitive threats? When a customer is about to leave you? New engagements or sales opportunities? 41
How often are you interested in your customers’ feedback, rather than invested? 43
Chapter 6 Defining the Digital Divide 47
You are Not Alone 49
People Before Process 50
How Big is Tourism in Amsterdam? 51
Transportation Considerations 52
Redefining Crowdsourcing 52
A Single Signal is Effectively False 53
Chapter 7 Better Questions, Better Answers 59
Out of the Mouths of Babes 62
Chapter 8 Got Genius? 71
Moving Day: Entering the Unknown 72
Finding Genius 74
Chapter 9 Genius, Revealed 83
Myth #1: Customers Demand Quick Answers and Short Call Duration Times 87
Myth #2: The Survey is the Solution 87
Myth #3: “Ease of Doing Business” is an Operations Play, so Attacking It Like a Project is Best 88
EODB is Not a Project, It’s a Purpose 88
Go Beyond the Survey 89
Myth #4: Customer Support is about Resolving Complaints 90
Exec Listening Creates New Results 90
From Black Hole to Above Goal in 88 Days 91
Myth #5: We don’t Have the Resources to Transform Our Customer Experience/Customer Support Right Now 93
Myth #6: Great Customer Support is about Agent Knowledge, Productivity, and Extensive Training 93
Make It Easier on Yourself 94
Myth #7: The Process is the Solution 96
Chapter 10 The Secret Sauce 97
What Happens When Ego Enters the Conversation 100
What’s Necessary Isn’t Always Easy 100
Chapter 11 Dealing with Disruption 111
A New Destination 115
The Right Players at the Right Time 117
Chapter is How to Win 121
The Customer Advisory Board 123
Press Pause on PowerPoint 124
Chapter 13 Moving at the Speed of the Customer 129
The Value in Bias 130
Lack of Knowledge 131
Misinformation Endorsement 131
Why You Have to Earn the Customer 135
Owning the Journey 135
New Value, New Solutions 136
Human-Centered Design 139
Chapter 14 Look Who’s Talking 141
Finding Value 143
A Match Made in Heaven 144
The Customer Experience Assessment 144
Building the Relationship 149
Community Kills Competition 153
Chapter 15 Moment of Signal 155
Restoring Hope 156
About the Author 161
Acknowledgments 163
Index 167