Content Strategies

Darcy Perry, Customer Experience Manager at Franke Group, shares her journey from early customer service roles to managing contact centers, highlighting lessons learned from healthcare and emergency services. She emphasizes the pivotal role of contact centers in business success, addressing challenges like turnover and employee engagement with empathy-driven strategies. She advocates for balanced AI adoption to enhance efficiency while preserving human connection.

In the latest CEO Growth Talks episode, Pete Hayes interviews Kyle Buckett, CSDO and Co-Founder of Stealth Energy Startup and author of “Leadership is Overrated.” Kyle advocates for self-led teams and a culture of collaboration, drawing on his Navy SEAL experience. He emphasizes that empowering teams and improving culture are crucial for long-term success and employee satisfaction.

In this episode of CEO Growth Talks, Pete Hayes speaks with Professor Leigh McAlister about the "Growth Gears" framework from their collaborative research. Professor Leigh reveals how marketing proficiency is integral to company growth, offering insights on strategy, customer understanding, and the role of marketing authority in driving success.

In this episode of CEO Growth Talks, host Pete Hayes interviews Nate Agentis, CEO of Agentis Plumbing and founder of Plumbing CEO. Nate shares his journey of scaling a family business founded by his grandfather, highlighting strategic growth through technology, data, and AI. He also discusses his coaching platform aimed at empowering service plumbers and offers insights on resilient leadership during personal challenges.

In this episode of CEO Growth Talks, host Pete Hayes interviews Tom Cassara, CEO of Agilis. Tom discusses Agilis' rise in financial consulting, focusing on risk management and client-centric solutions for organizations managing over $10M in assets. He highlights the firm's evolution through a buyout, fostering team creativity and collaboration to drive growth, and his leadership approach prioritizing adaptability, client trust, and decision-making speed.

In this episode of CEO Growth Talks, Pete Hayes interviews Michael Waxman-Lenz, CEO of the American Technion Society. Michael discusses his transition from corporate to nonprofit leadership, emphasizing the importance of modernizing philanthropic efforts. He also shares insights on leading through crises, adapting to generational changes, and blending corporate metrics with mission-driven, trust-building strategies.

Nidhi Daga, SVP of Marketing, Growth, and Digital Experiences at JPMorgan Chase, explores how customer experience (CX) is becoming the key differentiator for businesses. She shares insights from her journey in engineering, product building, and marketing, highlighting the importance of empathy and curiosity. She also offers a roadmap for leveraging CX to align marketing, product, and customer success for sustained growth.

Baris Vural, CRO at Smartlinx, emphasizes the vital role of a well-defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) in accelerating go-to-market success. He explores how understanding evolving customer needs, fostering human-centered communication, and building communities enable businesses to connect deeply with C-suite executives, address their challenges, and create targeted, impactful marketing strategies.

In this episode, Charlie Bankart, the Senior Internationalization Officer for the University of Kansas, discusses the institution’s commitment to comprehensive internationalization. Bankart highlights the importance of internationalization as an ongoing and sustainable practice rather than a static set of offices and initiatives. He emphasizes the need for proactive advocacy across campus and shares insights into best practices. This conversation sheds light on the University of Kansas’ approach to internationalization and its impact on the institution’s planning and practices.

Mihaela Metianu, Assistant Provost for Global Engagement at Florida Atlantic University, underscores the importance of mastering fundamentals in planning for growth in international education, including organizational structure and expertise development. She highlights the critical role of data in advocacy and decision-making and the necessity of strong communication, compliance, and external partnerships. Metianu asserts that international education is an institutional responsibility that should be integrated into all facets of university life.

Grant Chapman is the Associate Provost for International Programs at Kansas State University. He has held key roles such as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Assistant Provost, and Provost, with a strong focus on international education. Grant is a Fulbright Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa member, known for leading universities to prestigious awards like NAFSA Paul Simon Spotlight and IIE Heiskill Honorable Mention. He has raised millions in external funds for international programs and taught courses in legal studies, international relations, business, and management, including international public law and international business law.

Randy Kluver, Associate Provost and Dean at Oklahoma State University, underscores the importance of broadening the mission of international engagement offices. He advocates for innovation, proactive advocacy, and exploring new opportunities. Through projects like the Afghan family initiative and global trade partnerships, he illustrates the transformative community impact and funding success that can be achieved.

Cheryl Matherly, Vice President and Vice Provost for International Affairs at Lehigh University shares her unconventional journey in international education. She discusses pivotal moments in her career and how her background in career counseling shapes her approach. She emphasizes universities as community anchors, integrating international education into teaching, research, and service, and highlights the importance of data and partnerships. She also stresses the need for SIOs to effectively communicate the value of international programs to ensure their sustainability and growth.

Chris Rojas, Head of U.S. Customer Service at Raisin, shares insights on transforming customer support teams from cost centers into value creators. He discusses building customer-centric operations, aligning stakeholders on service goals, and leveraging qualitative and data-driven approaches. He also highlights AI’s role in empowering agents, not replacing them, and stresses robust agent support to foster trust and reduce turnover.

Patrick Martin, Coveo's EVP of Customer Experience, delves into crafting a seamless customer journey. He stresses consistency across touchpoints, directly impacting a company’s bottom line. Martin draws from a PwC study, highlighting the costs of subpar experiences and the need to adapt to evolving customer demands. AI's integration in service, alongside human agents, is explored, focusing on guided resolutions and future channel efficiencies. The discussion extends to sustaining this excellence even with outsourced support, ensuring a frictionless customer experience end-to-end.

Candace Wallace, the Chief Customer Officer at Relias, discusses the importance of advocating for downward customer satisfaction (CSAT) trends and other key metrics in key customer interactions. Candace emphasizes scaling with self-service and technology, personalized experiences, and understanding customer behavior. She stresses the impact of focusing on complex cases and enhancing the digital experience on satisfaction and business outcomes. Additionally, Candace highlights the role of agent satisfaction and company culture in delivering exceptional experiences and reducing turnover.

Pat Ferdig, Chief Customer Officer at 441 Locals, highlights the need to address systematic resistance to sub-par performance. He points to the crucial role in driving growth and advocates reframing contact centers as pivotal to company expansion, not just cost centers. He stresses a human-centric approach, including listening to agents and integrating them into cross-functional teams. Pat asserts that organizations can enhance performance and success by showcasing the contact center's value in improving customer experience and revenue growth.

Steve Kaay, Contact Center Consultant at Kaay Enterprises LLC and an industry veteran with 30+ years, challenges the belief that outsourcing diminishes quality. He advocates for outsourcing's potential to enhance customer interactions by selecting the right BPO partner and investing in agent training. He also stresses the importance of culture and trust in outsourcing relationships. This discussion redefines outsourcing perceptions, offering crucial insights for businesses contemplating customer interface outsourcing.

Andreas Janssen, CEO at Blauband GmbH, discusses human intelligence in customer support on the Contact Center Prospectus podcast. He stresses AI's role in enhancing processes but emphasizes human agents' irreplaceable abilities in personalized customer experiences. He also highlights customer support's strategic value for growth and satisfaction, urging businesses to prioritize it beyond a cost-centered mindset.

Patrick Martin, Coveo's EVP of Customer Experience, delves into crafting a seamless customer journey. He stresses consistency across touchpoints, directly impacting a company’s bottom line. Martin draws from a PwC study, highlighting the costs of subpar experiences and the need to adapt to evolving customer demands. AI's integration in service, alongside human agents, is explored, focusing on guided resolutions and future channel efficiencies. The discussion extends to sustaining this excellence even with outsourced support, ensuring a frictionless customer experience end-to-end.

Neil Dlin, Founder of Chorus Tree and the VP, Customer Service Experience at Aviso Wealth, critiques the outdated practices of 2024 contact centers, advocating for a shift from a manufacturing-based model to a human-centered approach. He stresses the need to understand employees and customers as individuals, challenges outdated KPIs, and underscores the importance of trust in agent interactions. He also advocates for a redefinition of metrics to place a stronger emphasis on delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Shareth Ben, Chief Customer Officer at Apptega, shares insights on executing customer success strategies in large organizations. He emphasizes the role of change management, internal collaboration, and data-driven decision-making in driving competitive advantage. He also highlights the importance of aligning internal processes to enhance customer outcomes and productivity.

Anne-Sophie Engert, Head of Customer Care and Conversion at Sonova, stresses why boards should invest in contact centers by showcasing their potential to drive profits through superior customer experience. She explains that metrics such as CSAT, NPS, and repeat purchase rates measure success and demonstrate the financial return on investing in customer care. She also advises aligning agent traits with customer profiles to boost empathy and service quality.

Thomas Lehner, Director of Global Support and Operations at Spryker, shares his journey from entrepreneur to global leader in customer experience. He emphasizes the role of an entrepreneurial mindset in fostering innovation, sustainable value, and effective feedback loops for continuous improvement. He also discusses the importance of aligning product development with evolving customer needs.

Christian Hörnebrant, Customer Experience Manager at Telia, shares his innovative approaches for modernizing contact centers. He details his “contact center nudging strategy,” which leverages incremental changes to improve customer experience and service conversions. He also emphasizes integrating technology with empathy for personal, consistent interactions and highlights the role of active listening and leadership in empowering teams to transform contact centers into value centers.

Bennett Potter, Associate Provost and Dean at Oklahoma State University, underscores the importance of broadening the mission of international engagement offices. He advocates for innovation, proactive advocacy, and exploring new opportunities. Through projects like the Afghan family initiative and global trade partnerships, he illustrates the transformative community impact and funding success that can be achieved.

Gary Yorke, Executive Director of Customer Experience at the City of Toronto, shares his approach to integrating 69 city entities to enhance service standards. By prioritizing empowerment, psychological safety, and data-driven strategies, he transformed the customer experience without additional budget. He also emphasizes the value of transparent communication, agile processes, and strong leadership in building trust and improving public satisfaction.

Vivian Malandrin, Senior Manager of Customer Experience at Amazon Brazil, explains how customer obsession fuels Amazon's continued success. She emphasizes the company’s strong culture and leadership principles that prioritize customer needs. She also describes how real-time feedback and anecdotes drive innovation and improvements.

Neelam Sandhu, Former Chief Elite Customer Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, & SVP Sustainability, shares insights on transforming sales strategies to focus on customer success. She discusses aligning sales with customer-centric approaches, the impact of technology on relationships, and key strategies for long-term engagement. Prioritizing customer success fosters sustainable growth.

Sri Velamoor, Vice President of Global Support and Product Enablement at Workiva, discusses the importance of customer experience as a revenue growth driver. He emphasizes the necessity of addressing customers' emotional needs by aligning his concepts with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He also illustrates how exceptional customer experience can provide companies with a competitive edge, fostering growth by delighting customers and addressing their higher-level needs.

Madelene Motin, Head of Customer Service at STRONGER, shares her extensive experience in customer service. She explains how customer service can evolve from a cost center to a growth driver. She shares examples of leveraging customer feedback, proactive strategies, and cross-department collaboration. She also highlights transforming customer service into a strategic asset by focusing on satisfaction, revenue growth, and employee empowerment.

Harini Gokul, Chief Customer Officer at Entrust, discusses how contact centers drive growth and impact the business's bottom-line revenue. She emphasizes customer engagement and proactive problem-solving and challenges the view of contact centers as cost centers. She also discusses changing mindsets, the importance of agent turnover, AI's impact on agent roles and thought leadership in contact centers.

Tracey Virtue, Chief Customer Officer at NeoGov, highlights transforming contact centers into a competitive edge, primarily as vital customer feedback sources for other departments. With a wide range of her own experiences within other departments, Tracey underscores contact centers' holistic impact, aiding organizational growth. She stresses frontline staff investment, empowering excellent service, and nurturing a positive culture.

Lauren Volpe, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Zip Co, emphasizes reframing contact centers from cost centers to value-added assets, highlighting AI's impact on enhancing the experiences of agents and customers. She shares insights from testing AI applications, stresses clear communication about AI benefits with agents, and underscores data analysis for performance improvement. Trust, empowerment, and focusing on the middle customer segment are also discussed to reduce agent turnover and drive revenue growth.

Gemma DePalma is the COO of Foria, a company focused on bringing more pleasure to more people through products that address female intimate well-being. With a background in R&D, product development, supply chain, and logistics, Gemma brings a holistic perspective to customer happiness. She joined Foria five years ago as the Director of Supply Chain and now oversees the entire product lifecycle, including customer happiness.

Florian Schröder, Head of Customer Success at Stepstone, Europe’s largest online recruiting company. Florian shares his insights on the importance of customer success in this episode. With years of experience in the field, Florian discusses how he has helped elevate customer experience to a key performance indicator at Stepstone. Explore Florian's approaches to transforming the image of contact centers from cost centers to value centers that directly impact bottom-line revenue.

Fabian Wilckens, CRO of Mindfuel, discusses creating a go-to-market flywheel for B2B. He explores the impact of digital channels and AI on sales, emphasizing the need to reintegrate the human element. Fabian also highlights the importance of transforming siloed operations into a cohesive model that drives continuous growth through customer engagement.

Manoj Jasra, CMO at Emids, discusses his experience as a B2B CMO and strategist, emphasizing how to create value swiftly within organizations while addressing stakeholder expectations. He highlights critical aspects of launching in new roles, including learning the business, building relationships, and securing budgets, while also discussing the evolving role of AI in marketing and the importance of clear communication.

Warren has over 25 years of experience in the B2B sales and marketing industry as a top B2B seller, sales leader, and Executive PL buyer of B2B services. Additionally, Warren's background as a Fractional CRO and sales/marketing advisor for B2B companies has created the foundation of knowledge and experience for The CRO Collective. If you are a CEO, a CRO, or an aspiring CRO, the CRO Collective was created for you.

Dawn Mueller, CMO of Vitech Systems Group, discusses the importance of strategic interfunctional coordination in driving company success. She explores market orientation, focusing on customer, competitor, and interfunctional alignment. She also highlights the CMO’s role in fostering teamwork to boost profitability and customer satisfaction.

Joanna Nguyen, CMO at Willow, shares insights on building and scaling marketing teams based on her experiences at Amazon and FireEye. She highlights strategies like high-velocity sales, product-led growth, and customer engagement, emphasizing the importance of testing and learning. Joanna also discusses breaking traditional B2B marketing molds by integrating B2C and SMB practices for success.

Stephanie Bunnell, SVP of Marketing at Aki Technologies, emphasizes the role of employee morale in shaping brand perception and customer experience. She highlights how employees act as powerful brand ambassadors. Stephanie also shares strategies for fostering internal culture and authentic customer advocacy.

Rhiannon Staples, CMO of GWI, highlights the critical need to align the executive team around the Ideal Customer Profile [ICP]. She emphasizes the value of using data to define the ICP and ensuring that this alignment spreads across all business functions. She also discusses how marketers play a key role in improving the customer journey and creating a competitive advantage.

Megan Howe, the Chief Sales Officer at Oversight and an expert in branding and demand generation, delves into the relationship between marketing and sales, highlighting the significance of branding and thought leadership in the buying process. She underscores the necessity of collaboration between sales and marketing teams to ensure a library of branded thought leadership content is readily available. This addresses objections and maintains credibility throughout the sales cycle.

Jon Stauff, Assistant VP for International Affairs at South Dakota State University, discusses the undervalued role of faculty in this field and the importance of collaboration between faculty and international education offices. He shares his experiences leading study abroad programs, highlighting faculty impact on students' global learning. He also emphasizes faculty advocacy in promoting international education and shaping the university's reputation. The conversation underscores the crucial role of faculty in driving transformative international education programs.

Meredith McQuaid, an expert in international education with over 15 years as SIO at the University of Minnesota and leadership roles at NAFSA, discusses raising a university's profile through global education. She stresses gaining support from university presidents and building a coalition of stakeholders who grasp its value. McQuaid emphasizes effective storytelling and data-driven advocacy to showcase its impact on the student experience. She outlines challenges and opportunities, offering practical strategies for success.

Alison Nagy, the Associate Director of Study Abroad and Inbound Programs for International Education at American University. Alison shares her insights and experiences on how American University has grown the study abroad programs from a handful to over 100, with a remarkable participation rate from students of well over 60%. She emphasizes the importance of making study abroad attainable for all students, ensuring that there are academic options for a wide variety of majors and that financial barriers are minimized. Alison also discusses the significance of effective communication, data analysis, and departmental buy-in in creating a successful study abroad program.

Paul Hofmann, a 4 times Senior International Officer (SIO) currently at the University of Louisville, talks about the importance of international education to the overall health and vitality of universities. They discuss the impact of international education on the enrollment cliff, diversity, and global engagement. Paul emphasizes the need for advocacy and building support and the strategic role of digital infrastructure to streamline processes, make better decisions, and save the time of up to five full-time employees while increasing staff satisfaction and retention.