Dave Cain: Welcome to unsuitable on Rea Radio, the award winning financial services and business advisory podcast that challenges your old school business practices and the traditional business suit culture. Our guests are indiscrete professionals and experts who will challenge you to think beyond the suit and tie while offering you meaningful modern solutions to help you enhance your company’s growth. I’m your host Dave Cain.
It doesn’t matter if your company’s purpose is to serve individuals or other businesses. Heck, it doesn’t even matter if you’re in the business of producing goods or services. To truly enhance your company’s bottom line, you have to start paying attention to the customer experience, which is also the topic of today’s episode on unsuitable. Nick Glimsdahl, client enablement director at VDS, is here to tell us more about customer experience, why it matters and what we can do to improve the customer experiences in our own businesses. Welcome to unsuitable, Nick.
Nick Glimsdahl: Thanks Dave.
Dave: What do you think of our up-to-date, high tech studio?
Nick: It’s probably the best high tech studio I’ve ever seen.
Dave: Best podcast studio you’ve been in.
Nick: Yes.
Dave: How many podcasts have you done?
Nick: All of them.
Dave: All of them, you got it. So, what we’re gonna do today is talk about customer experience, but before we get into that, we want to talk about your current position with VDS. We use the title of client enablement director at VDS. Tell us a little bit about what that is all about.
Nick: So the position itself, or the company?
Dave: Both. True.
Nick: True, yes. So VDS, we’re a leader in integrating technologies to enhance the customer experience, and what I mean by that is, our mission is to create effortless interactions between our customers and their customers. So, as a client enablement director, I enable my customers and prospective customers to enhance their customer experience through technology. I do that through the state of Ohio, about a 90 mile radius from Columbus.
Dave: So VDS, is that new to the Columbus market? Are you guys new to the Columbus market?
Nick: Yeah, yeah. We’re very new to the Columbus market. Based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, been around for about 30 years, done a lot of really good things in Michigan, and now we’re in four states, looking to get to about eight states by the end of the year.
Dave: So we are at the right place to find more about customer experience, you got it. So, let’s kind of jump in. Sometimes customer experience is not overly well-defined, so in your words, let’s talk about a definition of great customer experience.
Nick: So that’s the tough part, is that there’s no exact definition that you can look up on Wikipedia or the dictionary, but at the end of the game, it’s what is the perception that your customer has of your organization? So it really doesn’t matter what the enterprise or the executives or directors have. If you’re customers think that your experience sucks, then that’s …
Dave: That’s what it is.
Nick: … what it is, yeah.
Dave: So it doesn’t matter what you think or I think or the board of directors think or the CEO, it’s we gotta get in the customer’s head.
Nick: Yep, absolutely.
Dave: So one of the things I found very interesting is you’ve quoted a great philosopher, I believe it’s Vanilla Ice, and said something about stop, collaborate, and listen.
Nick: Yeah, he is one of the greatest philosophers. So if you don’t stop and collaborate and listen to the customers, then you’re not really having that customer journey or improving that experience, and so what we did at VDS is we listened to our customers, and they came down to what they wanted was three things. They wanted expertise, they wanted responsiveness, and they wanted peace of mind. What we did is we have KPIs behind that. Normally, it’s key performance indicators, but what we call it is kept promise indicators. We have a metric behind each brand promise, and we take that metric and measure it against how we’re doing, and kind of where we pull away from everybody else is we have a financial impactful guarantee that we’re gonna do what we say we’re gonna do, or the customer gets money back.
Dave: Where did you ever come up with Vanilla Ice? Are you a rapper by trade? You look kind of like a crooner more than a rapper. Fans, you gotta check us out on YouTube and let us know whether this is a rapper or a rocker or a crooner.
Nick: So, I would like the people to comment below on if I am a rocker or a rapper. I think I’m more of the Vanilla Ice type. If you could stop, collaborate, and listen, or if you got a problem, you all solve it. Right? That still has to do with customer experience.
Dave: You got it. You got it. Good intro. I guess you guys and VDS, you help companies, you help individuals navigate this customer experience. I think one of the things that we had talked about is you work on call center, the call center environment would be one of only, but give us some ideas of what you guys have done to help improve the customer experience.
Nick: Yeah, so great question. Back in the day, it used to just be a call center. So when somebody had a problem, or if somebody needed information, they would go directly to the phone, dial the number, and get somebody, an agent, right? Now it’s more towards a contact center or the omni channel approach, and so it’s social media, it’s text, it’s web chat, it’s email, and then it’s call potentially, but the whole goal is to meet the customer where they’re at and when they want to talk. It also comes down to, if you think of the millennials, it’s the whole asynchronous, so if you want to go on a web chat, and then you want in the afternoon follow up on an email, and then in the evening follow up on a text, it’s all the same conversation. So the whole goal is to keep it on one platform and have that be able to, a seamless experience.
Dave: So there’s different strategies depending on the media or your audience.
Nick: That’s right.
Dave: Again, does your company, VDS, and you particularly help consult to put together a strategy?
Nick: Yeah. What we come in and do right away is, obviously, the whole goal is to listen to that prospect and even our customers, but we come in and do assessment of the current environment, and listen to what their goals are, and then we understand where they want to go, and based off of that assessment, we make recommendations. If they want to go with us or not, that’s that first step. The next step is kind of a design and implement, and that’s exactly what it is, is we design and implement a solution for them. Then once they go with that solution, it’s a manage and support. So that acronym is VDS.
Dave: As I’m listening to some of your comments, I’m always kind of thinking, look, sometimes I don’t get a second opportunity. If I mess up customer experience the first time, I may not get another chance. So you gotta have your folks and people trained right out of the gate, get that first experience.
Nick: That’s right, yeah, so when it comes to … I like to say the customer experience is the battle ground for brand loyalty, right? Because if you think about brand loyalty the way it used to be, it was my parents or my grandparents had an insurance, right, so it doesn’t matter who it was, you were going to go with that organization through thick and thin, and now, if somebody has a bad experience, and it’s their definition of experience, right, and if they have a bad experience, they’re going to pick up the phone and call your direct competitor.
Dave: We were talking off mic of an experience I had with a call center. It wasn’t particularly bad, but maybe it wasn’t the greatest, but I shared with you that the call center was being answered offshore, and for the particular product that I was purchasing, I was a little bit annoyed …
Nick: And how did that make you feel?
Dave: Not very good. I thought, boy, if I had another option, I would do it, but at that moment, I didn’t have another option.
Nick: Yep. And if you’re still under contract, it’s a tough situation, and either way you’re going to get frustrated, so you can go ahead and complain to management, but that’s only going to get you so far if they’re not going to, willing to train their employees or improve their experience.
Dave: When you talk about planning an experience and training the experience, obviously, there’s the technology part. As you talked about, there’s the social media part, and then there’s the individual part, the training, that you go through. Does your company also provide in-depth training for the individuals?
Nick: So, once we implement our solution, then we manage and support it, it’s the product and the software and the maintenance behind that. We will work with them to train them how to use the software and hardware that we currently have, but we surround ourselves with kind of a sphere of influence when it comes to that customer experience, so we can bring in additional people if it’s not a good fit for us.
Dave: Can you give us an example of a solution that, maybe dress it up a little bit, change the names to protect the innocent, but can you give us an example of a solution, firsthand solution?
Nick: Yeah, so there was an organization that is a national organization, retail, grocery store, and they have 300-some locations, so what we did is kind of the whole situation, right? We understood what they were going through. It was a big process, but they were really frustrated with their current experience, and what their technology could do, and sometimes the way that is, kind of a side point is sometimes you can buy technology and it’s not implemented correctly. That was one of the other problems, but, so we take a solution and put multiple solutions that we had, and we took that and put in their headquarters, at their call center, and then we went across and went to 300 of their sites. It was a pretty neat solution.
Dave: Pretty in depth.
Nick: Yeah.
Dave: I think you hit on a pretty good piece there. Hey, we can spend all the money in the world on the technology, but if we don’t know how to use it, what good is it? And I think there’s where some of your KPIs are coming in place.
Nick: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and the neat part about our KPIs or our kept promise indicators is that we publish those on a monthly basis on our website.
Dave: Nick, we had a lot of business owners of all different industries that listen to the podcast on a regular basis, and I kind of reach out and I kind of think what they’re thinking a little bit. As a business owner, how do I put a rate of return on this, whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent? The whole customer experience, it’s just hard for me to measure.
Nick: Yep.
Dave: Any words of wisdom? I’m sure you do.
Nick: Yeah, so I always have something to say, but …
Dave: Yes, you do. Ice Ice Baby.
Nick: Ice Ice Baby. When it comes down to improving your customer experience, you actually … Stats and metrics have shown that you actually increase your revenue, and you increase your loyalty, so it’s different per industry and per organization, but there’s definitely a natural impact to the organization and the loyalty behind that, so I can’t say an exact number per business owner, but would be happy to work through that with them.
Dave: Yeah, so there are KPIs, and you would help me manage those KPIs. So, let’s talk a little bit about, again, our listeners, they contact us, hey, who was that guy? I need to get a hold of him, but what would be the best way to learn more about your company and you particularly? Can you tell us your website, maybe … We don’t need your cell phone, but what about the website?
Nick: Yeah, so you can go to govds.com.
Dave: And you can learn anything and everything about what we’re talking about.
Nick: And you can ask for the Vanilla Ice guy, and I’ll be happy to take care of you.
Dave: Yeah. That’s … Well, for sure. That’s your brand.
Nick: Yeah.
Dave: The Vanilla Ice guy.
Nick: Or the rocker. Or the crooner. That’s right.
Dave: You happen to know any other songs other than Ice Ice Baby that Vanilla Ice did just to kind of see?
Nick: Oh, man.
Dave: Maybe Go Wit’ It?
Nick: Oh, can you tell me more about that? I’m not familiar…
Dave: That may be off mic, but we’ll do that, but I think he does also a version of Play That Funky Music.
Nick: Oh, really?
Dave: Yeah. The old Wild Cherry version?
Nick: Yeah. Sounds great.
Dave: So, you know, if you’re going to bring music references to the show, you got to back it up.
Nick: Yeah. Sounds good.
Dave: Obviously, the production crew knows what they’re doing.
Nick: Yeah. I will be prepared, … production crew.
Dave: Again, this is probably an obvious question, but it’s worth discussion, and why should companies keep the customer first?
Nick: Yeah, so I would push that back onto the business owner and say, who is more important than your customers? I mean, they ultimately make the decision of if your organization is a viable organization or not. If you think about it, I have it down here where we are all consumers and we’re all customers of something, right? And, we know that the difference between a good experience and a bad experience, and so if you don’t put the customer first, the probability of them staying with you is not likely, and actually I think, so Jeff Bezos from Amazon once said that …
Dave: Well, name drop.
Nick: Yeah. You like that?
Dave: Good buddy of yours?
Nick: Yeah, so we go way back, yeah. Me and Jeff B. That’s what we call him. Yeah, so he says back in the day, you would have a bad experience and you’d tell six people, six to ten people. You have a bad experience now, and you tell 6,000 on social media, and so how do you change that perception of your experience even if you think it’s good?
Dave: That’s an interesting stat, even if the numbers are a little bit off, nowadays, that bad experience travels quickly.
Nick: Yep.
Dave: By the end of the minute, in the hour.
Nick: That’s right.
Dave: So, let’s jump in a little bit and talk about how people can start to improve the customer experience, and I think we talked, you’d shared with me, there’s maybe three parts that you guys work with companies. One is leadership, technology and also keeping the customer first. So let’s pick off the first one in the few minutes we have left, and that’s the leadership component.
Nick: Yeah, absolutely. So, regardless of what the initiative or what the project is, if you don’t have executives that are interested in the project or what that really means to the business, it’s not going to go anywhere, and so if I could name drop with Jeff B. Again, he would take a couple thousand of his managers every year and bring them onto the contact center or the call center for two days so they could actually listen to the customer to hear what they’re saying, and then it’s a good perspective on how they can improve, and then they’d take it a step further and they put a chair in every meeting room that’s empty, and they’d call that, that’s the chair for the customer, and really it’s the most important person in the room.
Dave: As the old adage used to be the customer is always right. Does that still hold true? There are some companies that don’t embrace that.
Nick: Yeah, so I would say a lot of times the customer is right, but there are some cases that they’re not.
Dave: Let’s dive into technology. All around us, every place we go, how can technology help solve the client experience?
Nick: Yeah, so let’s say that you’re on social media, and you’re trying to talk with an organization, and then you want to go to a different option, but they’re very siloed, and they’re, in their channels, and so they don’t communicate with each other, so they’re saying hey, here’s an 800 number you might want to call in, and that decreases the customer experience.
Dave: Right.
Nick: So the whole goal is to, back what I said earlier was the whole omni channel approach, so if you can create that effortless interaction and keep the effort as low as possible for that customer, it’s a game changer. So, you were talking about your experience with the contact center, and so we’ve all had the experience where you’re trying to get a hold of somebody or the agent, and either you get Peggy, right? The hello, this is Peggy.
Dave: Press two.
Nick: Yeah, so you press two, but you’re … At the end of the day, you’re always trying to think of how do I get to the representative? So you’re hitting zero, you’re hitting zero, you’re hitting zero, and then you’re finally yelling “representative” into the phone because you want the representative, or you’re repeating yourself to multiple agents. It shouldn’t happen with the technology that’s available.
Dave: I think, when we talk about technology, we automatically kind of assume it’s the old way, the desktop, maybe you’re iPad, but anymore, what you’re talking about, it’s the cell phone.
Nick: Yeah, well, it’s the cell phone, but it also could be the soft client inside the, on the computer or the thin client or either it could be the phone, but the phone can go with you, right? It could be a soft client on the cell phone, too, or you might just need a headset that plugs into your computer and you’re directly dialing from your CRM, so the whole integration is super helpful, too, so you keep your customer or your employees happy, and at the end of the day your customers are going to be happy because the retention is going to go a long way.
Dave: Does VDS also, you mentioned CRM, does VDS also help develop strategies for the CRM in this whole experience?
Nick: We won’t develop strategies for the CRM, but we will help integrate into the CRM or ERP or systems to make it as efficient as possible because if you could click one button inside the CRM and automatically it’s going to dial in through your call center, or if somebody calls in and it goes through your CRM to pull up that Dave Cain’s calling, and immediately you’re saying, hey, Dave, how are you?
Dave: Here’s the stuff. Yeah. So, give us, as we close down, as we bring it on home, let’s talk about a couple real quick things about how to keep the customer first, kind of reminders, something that every day that we come to the office, every day that you go to work, keeping the customer first. Anything jump to mind?
Nick: I would think from my perspective is always think about the customer, right? You have to understand where the customer is, who your customer is, and how they want to be reached on a daily basis. If you’re not, somebody else is.
Dave: Good. That’s a good closing, and appreciate it. Our guest today has been Nick Glimsdahl, client enablement director at VDS, new to the Columbus market, and is really willing to sit down with your group and talk about the client experience. Thanks again for joining us on Unsuitable today, Nick. Great comments.
Nick: Thanks, Dave.
Dave: I’ve a whole new appreciation for customer experience. Thanks for sharing your insight. Listeners, we’re also pretty passionate about customer experience here on Unsuitable, and we would love to hear about your experience and what you think we can do to improve. Shoot us an email at podcast@reacpa.com, or when you’re watching the video of today’s episode on YouTube, you’ll not only see Nick the rocker, but leave your feedback in the comment section. Until next time, I’m Dave Cain, encouraging you to loosen up your tie and think outside the box.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on unsuitable on Rea Radio are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rea and Associates. The podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the professional advice you would receive elsewhere. Consult with a trusted advisor about your unique situation so they can expertly guide you to the best solution for your specific circumstance.