How to spice up your leadership? That is what my book ‘CX is a pilgrimage’ is all about. In 2021, I decided to spice up my life and found the magical connection between Customer Experience, pilgrimage, and leadership.
I walked 1,000 kilometers on the Via Francigena, a pilgrim’s path in Italy and finished in Rome on May 17th, 2022, my 50th birthday. That’s why I decided to share 50 strategies in my book ‘CX is a pilgrimage – 50 strategies to spice up your leadership’.
https://youtu.be/SafsVE7Kpkk
I read aloud a chapter every week. Enjoy listening to my book. I do hope that I’ll inspire you to spice up your journey as a business leader, a CX leader, or maybe even as a leader in your personal life.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you’ll be notified if another chapter appears!
Would you rather read my book? You can find it online on Amazon or – in the Netherlands and Belgium – in any bookstore online.
*****
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
https://www.nienkebloem.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2023/08/Nienke-reads-CX-is-a-pilgrimage.png400400Nienke Bloemhttps://cluster.swstatic.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2021/03/Nienke-Bloem-Logo1.pngNienke Bloem2023-05-15 11:38:002024-06-07 14:45:48Introduction to my book ‘CX is a pilgrimage’
Het is nog steeds zomer en ik ben in vakantiestemming. Dus tsja, waarover dan te schrijven? Over zon, zee en strand? Over Magnums, chips en de twee dozijn komkommers die we op dat strand weg geknaagd hebben?
Het personeelstekort laat ik gewoon even weg, want dat is een ongezellig onderwerp. We weten het nu ondertussen wel. We moeten langer wachten op onze koffie en onze koffers. Er rijden minder treinen en ook in de callcenters sta je iets langer in de wacht. Dit alles vraagt van ons als klant iets nieuws. Geduld.
Gelukkig zijn we daar helemaal op voorbereid. Toch? Want we hebben de vakantie achter de rug, zijn naar dat strand geweest en hebben ellenlange wandelingen gemaakt. We hebben de zonsondergang vanaf die berg bekeken en zijn lekker uitgerust. Klaar voor de laatste paar maanden van 2022.
Ik voorspel je, de komende tijd kunnen we ons geluk op als klant. We mogen oefenen in geduld en vriendelijkheid. Iets wat we de afgelopen tijd misschien wel verleerd zijn. Ik roep op tot een liefdevolle benadering van al het personeel dat klanten bedient. In restaurants, bij de bakker, de slager, in callcenters, de bezorgers, receptionistes, stewards, schoonmakers en baliemedewerkers. Je begrijpt het ondertussen wel.
Wees voorbereid op de omgekeerde wereld. Het bedienend personeel is aan de macht. Niet wij als klanten, maar zij, aan de andere kant van de bar. Want ergens zijn zij verdwenen. Gingen ze liever bij de GGD werken. Met een masker op staken ze een stokje in neuzen en kelen om te testen. Liever dat, dan ons als klanten te bedienen. En ik begrijp dat wel. Want hoe leuk zijn wij als klant? Die ontevreden koppen, trommelende ongeduldige vingers en afkeurende blikken. Misschien ligt het wel aan onszelf, de klant? Dat moet anders.
Dus ben je er klaar voor? Om de tofste versie van jezelf te gaan zijn? Om met een glimlach het verzekeringscallcenter te gaan bellen, terwijl de rekening van je prolongatie niet duidelijk is? Om als je vijf minuten op je cappuccino wacht, er gewoon nog eens vijf bij op te tellen en daarna een vrolijk Dank je wel te zeggen tegen dat meisje op het terras, dat heel duidelijk haar eerste werkdag heeft?
Laten wij als klanten de reden zijn, dat iedereen weer in de klantbediening wil werken. Natuurlijk ook omdat het geweldig geregeld is in organisaties en er goed betaald wordt. Maar vooral omdat klanten lief zijn. Omdat ze geduld opbrengen, ook als het even niet lukt. Omdat klanten complimentjes geven. Wees de komende maanden de beste versie van jezelf als klant. De wereld heeft ons nodig.
Dit blog werd geschreven voor CustomerFirst en gepubliceerd op 6 september 2022
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
Elke maand versturen wij onze CX Greetz. CX Greetz is de naam van mijn maandelijkse CX-nieuwsbrief, en die is gebaseerd op hoe ik mijn e-mails altijd afrond. Ik eindig met “happy greetz” in plaats van “met vriendelijke groet” of wat je daar ook zou kunnen schrijven. Terwijl we het naar mijn community van meer dan 2.200 geïnteresseerden sturen, krijgen we ook veel out-of-office-berichten.
Sommige doen me fronsen: “Ik ben nu niet op kantoor, als ik terugkom, worden alle e-mails verwijderd, dus stuur het alsjeblieft opnieuw op datum x”. Sommigen maken me aan het lachen: “Ik ben bezig met het kijken naar kerstfilms, zie je later”, en van sommigen krimp ik spontaan ineen: “Ik heb de komende drie weken vakantie, maar als je me echt wilt bereiken, stuur me dan alsjeblieft een sms’je.”
Nee. Nee. Nee. Natuurlijk komt dit heel behulpzaam en welwillend over, maar je helpt jezelf daar bepaald niet mee. Laten we zo’n situatie eens nader bekijken: een collega besluit dat hij je nodig heeft voor iets heel belangrijks. Hij sms’t je en vraagt om je hulp en verwijst naar een e-mail die hij je heeft gestuurd.
Je zit lekker op het strand met je partner en misschien zelfs met je kinderen. Het is zonnig, je drinkt een cocktail en de sushi wordt binnen twintig minuten gebracht. Je telefoon maakt het sms-geluid: “Hallo, dit is werk!” Net nu het de bedoeling was dat je zou genieten van wat mentale en fysieke ontspanning.
Omdat je een sterk verantwoordelijkheidsgevoel hebt, open je je e-mail en lees je het bericht, die je collega heeft gestuurd. Je beantwoordt zijn vraag. En nu ben je toch bezig, dus je leest meteen ook alle andere e-mails. Je partner vraagt wat je aan het doen bent en je moppert over collega’s die je blijkbaar niet kunnen missen. Je ziet van alles waar je toch nodig bent. Op de een of andere manier is de sfeer en energie veranderd.
Geloof me, vakantie is vakantie. Je moet duidelijk zijn: als je weg bent, ben je weg. Zorg ervoor dat collega’s kunnen beheren wat er moet worden beheerd. Pas wanneer je terug bent, ben je ook echt back in the office. Want zodra je begint te reageren op e-mails en sms-berichten, denken mensen dat je beschikbaar bent en heb je je eigen ellende gecreëerd.
Maak een duidelijke out of office, waarin je vermeldt met wie je contact kunt opnemen tijdens je afwezigheid, omdat je nu namelijk niet beschikbaar bent. Nu is het aan jou om je collega’s te vertrouwen om de tent te runnen als jij er niet bent. En natuurlijk om je voicemail en je WhatsApp-profieltekst te wijzigen.
Ik denk even terug aan mijn eigen ervaring, toen ik tijdens mijn eerste wandeletappe mijn laptop meenam. Terwijl ik een aantal klanten hielp en e-mails beantwoordde, dachten ze dat ik ook de vragen zou beantwoorden die uit die e-mail voortkwamen. Elke avond vond ik dat ik mijn laptop moest openen om e-mails te checken. En niet alleen dat, elke avond zat ik met werkgedachten die in mijn hoofd bleven hangen. Omdat ik WhatsApp ook in een zakelijke context gebruik, heb ik daarna mijn profieltekst gewijzigd in “Pelgrimspad aan het lopen -> datum X”. Als mensen me sms’ten, stuurde ik ze een verzoek om in plaats daarvan een e-mail te sturen en ik vermeldde dat mijn assistent het zou regelen, aangezien ik op pelgrimstocht was. En totaal niet verrassend; iedereen begreep het!
Wij mensen hebben mentale rust nodig. Tijd weg van kantoor zoals vakanties, of zoals ik heb gedaan, een pelgrimspad bewandelen. Dit zijn perfecte momenten voor een mentale reset. Om de ideale setting te creëren, moet je duidelijk zijn naar de buitenwereld. Creëer grenzen en zet zelf de toon. Vakantie is Vakantie. Niet eens een beetje werk, niet één e-mail.
Tijdens de latere etappes van mijn pelgrimstocht had ik mijn laptop niet bij me, maar ik heb mijn team ook op een betere manier geïnstrueerd. “Beheer alle e-mails en verzoeken van klanten zelf. Ik geloof in je en als ik terug ben, ben ik volledig uitgerust en energiek genoeg om al het werk weer gedaan te krijgen.” Dat was voor iedereen duidelijk. Mentale rust voor mij en door het vertrouwen van mij in hen hadden ze het gevoel dat het bedrijf in veilige handen was.
Geloof me. Duidelijkheid en ernaar handelen, maakt de weg vrij. Out of office is out of office.
Dit blog komt uit mijn nieuwste Engelstalige boek ‘CX is a pilgrimage – 50 strategies to spice up your leadership’. Het boek verschijnt eind september 2022.
*****
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
https://www.nienkebloem.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2022/06/Out-of-office.png400400Nienke Bloemhttps://cluster.swstatic.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2021/03/Nienke-Bloem-Logo1.pngNienke Bloem2022-06-21 14:31:002024-06-07 14:33:55Out of office is out of office
Wanneer je als klant een groot aantal tickets boekt, ben je waarschijnlijk een B2B-klant. Maar ik was dat in dit geval niet. Toch wil je je in zo’n geval een beetje speciaal voelen. Ik boek 13 tickets! Dat moet toch een mooie deal zijn voor het bedrijf? Beter dan 1 vliegticket, toch?! Ik voelde niets bij deze hele transactie. Het was moeilijk, procesgericht en ik heb zelfs onduidelijkheid. Want, heb ik de tickets nu wel of niet?! Er is geen portal waar ik kan zien of mijn boeking is gelukt.
Als ik naar dit proces kijk met mijn CX-bril op, heb ik vier ideeën hoe dit te verbeteren:
Stap in de schoenen van je klant. Probeer eens zelf een groepsticket te boeken. Kijk hoe lang het duurt voor je een offerte krijgt. Ervaar de wachttijd aan de telefoon. Print de offerte en het contract eens uit. Kijk hoe lelijk het eruit ziet. Zoek de verschillen tussen wat er in het contract en in de e-mail staat.
Maak een shortlist van eenvoudige verbeteringen en laat een dedicated team dit oppakken. Vooral het contract en de communicatie. Voeg het ‘warme klantgevoel’ toe. Geef mij, de klant, het gevoel dat je blij bent met deze deal van 13 tickets. En kijk waar je onduidelijkheden kunt wegnemen en duidelijkheid kunt toevoegen.
Align met andere processen die klanten kennen. Stem af op het gemak van individuele processen, vooral als het gaat om het boeken van een individueel ticket. Stem ook de voorwaarden af. Waarom heb ik als particulier meer flexibiliteit als een klant die 13 tickets heeft geboekt? Align en design de toekomst. Denk aan de digitale kanalen, zeker als je problemen hebt met wachttijden in je klantcontactcenter.
Deel in de organisatie, als het gaat om klantgerichte verandering. Ik zou dit soort voorbeelden delen in de organisatie. Bij het team van Groepstickets zijn deze contracten en werkwijzen de norm. Zo werken mensen al jaren. Ze hebben ‘The Curse of Knowledge’. Maar als je een klant bent, zoals ik, die hier helemaal nieuw in is, voel je je gevangen in het interne jargon en de processen. Het delen van de behoefte aan verandering en vragen blijven stellen over de dagelijkse routines, is dus nodig voor het vormgeven van een succesvolle toekomst als het gaat om het veranderen van de cultuur.
Het gaat hier echt om procesverbetering, maar dan vanuit de lens van de klant. Dus niet alleen Business Process Redesign, maar echt in mijn schoenen (die van jouw ideale klant) stappen en me helpen. Customer Journey mapping is de perfecte manier om dit te doen. Wist je dat mijn collega Barbara van Duin een geweldige cursus heeft, om dit te leren. Ik heb de cursus zelf gevolgd en raad het aan.
Ik hoop dat alles in orde komt met de tickets en dat mijn vriendinnen, dochter en moeder op 20 mei naar Bologna vliegen! Tijd om La Dolce Vita te ervaren. En dan is de ervaring met de groepsticketboeking vast helemaal vergeten.
Wil je zeker weten dat je geen CX-lessen meer mist? Schrijf je dan in voor mijn maandelijkse CX Greetz, waarin ik veel CX-ervaringen, -inspiratie en -lessen met je deel.
*****
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
Look at this photo. Isn’t it a brilliant moment of fame? These are the winners of the International CX Award 2019 for Best Customer Experience Team: the CX team of KCB Bank. This bank is located in Kenya and their CX team nailed it when it comes to CX. What can you learn from them? I will share my insights, as I was one of the judges of this category and the host of the Awards.
1. Name of your CX team
When you are in the profession of Customer Experience Management, you want to differ from other teams within your company. You are responsible for the customer and the change within the company into customer centric behavior. You are there to elevate these KPI’s that matter. It could be NPS or CSAT, but that is what you are there for. So, what is your team name? The CX Team of KCB, named themselves Team Possibilitarians. To propel the customer experience agenda, they have made the KCB Customer Experience Team a fun place to be, as they believed that offering delightful customer experiences can only be natural and seamless in a fun, but yet an official setting. Smart!
2. Business rationale
Customer Experience Management is a business profession. That means – as CX professionals – we are there for a business reason. To deliver business value: to customers and therefore to the company. To create a competitive advantage, to help innovation, to boost a customer centric culture. That is also what CEO’s expect of the CX profession. Within KCB, the team is led by Job Njiru. The banking industry in Kenya, faced homogeneity and a dynamic environment created by Customers. The CX team had to look for clear paths to help remaining the market leader in a very competitive market. Customers demanded personalized and differentiated experiences. They required products initiated by their requests and the products to meet their expectation of reliability, speed, efficiency, low cost and convenience. KCB thought of a plan to ensure that their customer needs are met. In 2018 a Customer Experience Division was created within the bank as an independent division, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, “to eat, think, dream and sleep as the customer”. To align that, they created a business metric that really measures CX support across all staff, named Rate My Support (RMS). The team has grown in score and helped building a customer centric culture across the business, helped meeting customer service level agreements by reducing TAT on complaint resolution from 72 hrs in 2017 to 24 hrs in 2019, improving NPS by 5 points up, making them the market leaders in the Kenyan banking industry. So, the question is: what is your business rationale and how can you show your success?
3. The CX Story for change
How do you engage the organization? Do others understand what you are doing with your team? Do they know what to do and how? What I love about the CX team of KCB Bank, is that for 2019, they decided to focus on the 4E’s of customer experience which for them are Emotion, Expectation, Effort and Execution. This has helped building customer trust, enhancing customer understanding and building a community of believers who advocate KCB globally. What is your acronym? Your list of 4E’s (or other elements) that creates engagement and that are memorable elements?
Congratulations to all members of the CX #TeamPossibilitarians of KCB Bank with your win. It was a fierce competition in this category within the awards, but you so much deserve it. And for all readers of this blog: will you also compete in this year’s International CX Awards? It will help you within your company as an authority and it will give you the praise you deserve. I certainly hope to meet you and challenge you to compete on the Elite Podium of CX!
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
https://www.nienkebloem.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2020/11/The-3-learnings-of-the-best-CX-Team-of-2019.jpeg400400Nienke Bloemhttps://cluster.swstatic.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2021/03/Nienke-Bloem-Logo1.pngNienke Bloem2020-02-14 17:16:192024-09-30 14:45:14The 3 learnings for YOU from the best CX team of 2019
Ok, het is eind januari als je deze column leest. Alleen schrijf ik het, nu we nét het jaar zijn begonnen. En traditioneel denken we dan collectief na over onze goede voornemens.
Ik zou geen CX-expert zijn, als ik die voornemens niet aan klanten zou koppelen. Daarom geef ik je een mooi overzicht van 20 Goede Klantvoornemens. Hopelijk zijn ze in jouw organisatie al volkomen normaal. Laten we dat eens checken.
Wij gebruiken geen kleine lettertjes, die we eigenlijk niet goed kunnen uitleggen.
No-reply e-mailadressen doen we niet aan. Want het is toch raar dat wij als organisatie wel tegen een klant mogen praten, maar dat deze niets mag terugzeggen.
Onze enquêtes zijn kort en krachtig en zien er tof uit.
Vult een klant een enquête in, dan doen we er ook iets mee. We verbeteren onze dienstverlening en koppelen terug wat we hebben gedaan.
Wij reageren op reviews die de klant achterlaat.
Wij vinden de klant leuk en dat ervaart deze in al ons klantcontact.
Als we beloven een klant terug te bellen, dan doen we dat ook.
Natuurlijk hoeft de klant zijn of haar verhaal nooit te herhalen, wij gebruiken ons CRM-systeem zodanig dat alle collega’s weten wat er besproken is.
Komt onze klant er digitaal niet uit, dan bieden we een alternatief.
Wij bedanken de klant, omdat deze al jarenlang klant is. Als nieuwe klanten een leuk aanbod krijgen, dan krijgen onze gewaardeerde klanten dat aanbod natuurlijk ook.
Wij verstoppen ons telefoonnummer niet op onze website.
Ons management draait regelmatig mee aan de ‘voorkant’, zodat ook zij van onze klanten mogen genieten.
We sturen onze klanten misschien dit jaar wel een kaartje. Met hun verjaardag, of gewoon omdat we dat leuk vinden.
Bij ons staat een klant nooit lang in de wacht, ook niet als we de Belastingdienst zijn.
Wij gebruiken geen irritante wachtmuziek.
Gaat er iets mis, dan zeggen we welgemeend ‘sorry’ en lossen we het op.
Wij geven nooit een andere organisatie de schuld als iets misgaat, maar nemen zelf de regie.
Onze brieven zijn in begrijpelijke taal geschreven.
Wij vragen nooit om negens en tienen voor onze dienstverlening, maar zijn oprecht nieuwsgierig naar iedere klantervaring.
Natuurlijk is ons contactcenter ook ’s avonds en/of in het weekend open, als onze klant daar behoefte aan heeft.
Staan er punten in deze lijst die je nog niet voor klanten doet? Besluit dan om het vanaf vandaag anders te gaan doen. Aan de slag. Happy 2020!
Dit blog werd geschreven voor CustomerFirst en gepubliceerd op 29 januari 2020
Last year around this time, I got to visit two of the greatest names when it comes to Customer Experience. Disney and Zappos. I traveled to California to learn all about CX magic at Disney Institute. In Las Vegas I got a tour at Zappos where I interviewed leaders at their fun property. Many of the learnings I shared in my blogs and I even published an e-zine on my insights at Zappos. But why did I do that? Why did I choose these two companies as my Go-To-Learning-Place for 2019? It’s all about development. Let me share my vision with you in this blog.
Buy my flowers!
But first I want to share with you that tulips are my favorite flowers. Nice to know, right? Or not? But hang on, it has to do with the story ?. The picture you see is taken at the local flower market in Utrecht. Every Saturday you can buy all kinds of flowers and plants on this market. It is a very bright and happy place to visit, even when it rains. The colors, the smells, the people and especially the salesmen and women behind their flower stands make me smile. They get it when it comes to selling their goods. They look at you, recommend their flowers and try to lure you into their domain.
What could happen – and they understand sales really well, so it probably will happen – is that they seduce you to buy some flowers. Not just the flowers you planned to buy. But more and different ones. Which will cost you more money than you had planned to spend and they will take up more room in your house. Colorful, yes! But maybe not what you went out for.
Stick to the plan
The same might happen with development. You go out there, see all kinds of education and inspiration, but what to decide? When you go online you might get lost in a maze of development options. To learn new skills, get inspiration, be a better entrepreneur, learn all CX, be a better you. I know many people that get seduced to follow webinars, free events and buy education as a result. Sometimes for the good. Often maybe not for what they planned to do. Is that bad? No, but think of all the time and money that is wasted. So when I go out to get tulips, I get tulips. And maybe one extra bunch of flowers to give away. But I stick to my plan.
The big picture
That is where my big picture in development comes in. Every year I determine in what area I want to develop myself. Two examples to show you how I do it. In 2018 I wanted to learn more about comedy, about being funny on stage or when delivering my Masterclass. To learn what my trade was, when it came to this art. I went to a standup comedy weekend in Brighton with Jill Edwards, had a day course with Jeremy Nichols and watched tons of comedians. On stage as well as on Netflix. A big learning experience that resulted in finding out that I am more of an improv comedian, than a standup comedian. But it was such a good learning ride.
Personal and business development
2019 was all about learning more on CX. Really deep diving into my own profession and learning from the best. The reason I went to Disney and Zappos. And why I hosted the International CX awards and why I was a judge. Because we were also writing our book about CX, I needed to focus on my profession. An extra touch was that both Disney and Zappos focus on change from a cultural lens. Very handy with regard to our Employee Experience Game and the Masterclass CX Culture I am developing. This investment in me was not only an inspirational one, but also a business smart decision!
The plan for 2020
This year will be all about growing my facilitation and audience interaction skills. I want to find my own interaction games (I already have some fun ones, but I think I can be better). Not only in a small setting like our CX Masterclass with 16 participants, but also with audiences of thousands. I like people in my audience to be really involved. So, I have work to do. I will visit the Global Speaker Summit in Namibia in February to learn from the world’s greatest speakers and I will join the annual PSA Australia event in Adelaide to get some Down Under magic. In April I have booked myself a seat in a two-day Masterclass to be a better Master of Ceremony (dagvoorzitter for the Dutchies). I don’t fancy becoming an all-round MC, but at customer events, I love the role. Because I can add some Nienke Bloem and CX magic to the day.
Your theme for this year
So, what to learn from all this? The big picture. My question to you is, what is your theme for the year? Do you like my way of bringing focus to personal development? Or do you have other ways, that I can learn from? Please share, because there are far more ways when it comes to development, and there is no good or bad. Oh well, actually there is a bad one. That is doing nothing. Staying still. Not investing in yourself. So, when you are at the flower market, I hope you’ll be seduced to buy some flowers. I will get myself some tulips.
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
https://www.nienkebloem.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2020/11/The-need-of-a-development-plan.jpeg400400Nienke Bloemhttps://cluster.swstatic.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2021/03/Nienke-Bloem-Logo1.pngNienke Bloem2020-01-21 14:10:202024-09-30 14:45:58The need of a development plan (and what it has to do with tulips)
Maybe you know, maybe you don’t. But me wearing a blue dress when I perform and speak, has a start. I call it the birth of my personal brand. Let me share the story with you.
It was Sunday March 29th 2015. I was invited to my first Professional Speaker Association event, not only to learn, but also to speak. Imagine this: I had just quit my job 3 months earlier, was in the early days of my speaking career and the second bunch of people I spoke for, were all speakers. I was so terrified and excited at the same time, and worked vigorously to create a brilliant story. Where CX meets a speaker’s business. I did try outs, worked on my slides, and worked on my body, since I wanted to look my best. Ever.
Besides yoga I ran twice a week (I jogged to be honest). Two days before D-day, when I was running in the city of Utrecht, I sprained my calf. It hurt like crazy and the most awful part was, that I couldn’t walk. Should I cancel my PSA event? From a body’s point of view: yes. I couldn’t walk and had to keep my leg up, to give it rest. But there was no issue with my mouth and voice, so I decided to go anyway. And with crutches, I could make my way around the event.
There was just one issue. I had planned to wear a red dress, but I had blue crutches and that was not a beautiful match. So, I dug deep in my closet and found the perfect dress. A dress that matched my crutches. A blue dress. And I tailored my story more to the blue theme. I used the blue bear as a metaphor, the big blue bear that is an art work outside the Denver Convention Center. My metaphor for staying curious and yes, blue again. So, the day came, where I delivered my keynote speech. I was nervous, and yes it felt a little strange to not stand up and walk while speaking. I delivered my keynote on a barstool, but hey, I did it!
It went great and I got a big round of applause of all my new speaker friends. After my speech, a colleague of a speaker bureau came up to me and asked if I was interested in speaking for their agency. As the speaker in the blue dress.
That is where it all began. And since then, I almost always speak in a blue dress. As it has grown to be my personal brand. To be an authentic part of me doing what I love to do. Helping my customers to make the world more beautiful for their customers and employees. I get many questions about my blue dress thing and thought it would be handy to create a FAQ for you.
The FAQ of the blue dress
Do you have funny stories about you in your blue dress?
The best story of me and my blue dress, is one that happened at Schiphol Airport. I ordered a cappuccino when I was on my way to fly to London. The barista gave me my cappuccino and said; “that is one euro 60”. I looked up in amazement, because cappuccino’s in airports are normally triple that price. She saw my surprise and said: “Employee discount.” She thought I was an employee of KLM ?. So up to now I have saved at least three euro’s doing my blue dress thing.
How many blue dresses do you have?
It is more than four years ago and since then, my collection of blue dresses has grown. Every time I walk into a department store or boutique, my Blue-dress-radar starts immediately. I am always on the lookout for a new edition to add to my blue dress collection ?. In my closet, I have designers’ dresses, La-Dresses, a ball gown, sleeveless dresses, V-neck dresses, short and longer dresses. I just counted them for you, and I dare to share that I have 17 blue dresses in the colors cobalt/royal blue.
Do you have any other color dresses?
Yes I have other colors, but I must admit, my blue collection takes half of my closet. I treasure my royal blue ones, but I also have a collection of darker blue. And of course, other shades, some with flowers. But know that I almost never wear them when I deliver a presentation or when I teach a masterclass: those moments I’ll stick to my vivid blue ones. O well, I give you an idea what my wardrobe looks like.
Do you ever wear trousers?
Yes, I do. When I go to the gym I always wear trousers. That is twice a week. And that is enough for me… I have some jeans in my closet. But I rarely wear them. I love the simplicity of a dress. One piece, no hassle and I look feminine instantly.
Do you ever speak in another colored dress?
Especially when I speak abroad, I bring two dresses of different colors. The blue one and most often an orange or red one. The reason I do this, is because when the stage is all blue, me in my blue dress will fade away against the background. And I don’t want that. So sometimes I have to decide to let the personal brand go and choose for client delivery. A logical choice, because when you can’t see the speaker that well, I have not done a great job.
Did you ever go to Denver and see the blue bear for yourself?
Yes, I did. You have to know, that in 2015 when I started with the blue bear in my stories, I made a pledge to myself that I wanted to see that blue bear with my own eyes. In 2016 I went to a training of a speaker colleague to learn all about marketing and sales for speakers. In DENVER. Yiha! So, I got to meet the blue bear, the immense art work that is almost 13 meters high.
Do you also have a blue car, blue nails, blue everything?
No. I just wear a blue dress. That is my image, my personal brand. In my logo I have blue as a color, but that is about it. I don’t want to be a blue lady and identify with Smurfette, although I really think she is adorable. So, just a blue dress. Now you know everything about the origin of that!
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
https://www.nienkebloem.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2020/11/The-story-behind-the-blue-dress.jpeg400400Nienke Bloemhttps://cluster.swstatic.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2021/03/Nienke-Bloem-Logo1.pngNienke Bloem2019-07-16 14:57:562024-09-30 14:47:44The story behind the blue dress
“Nienke, zullen we het gewoon een keer niet over Coolblue hebben? Zijn er geen andere gave voorbeelden als het gaat over customer experience?” Een opmerking uit een recente Customer Experience Masterclass.
Het zou kunnen dat er Coolblue-moeheid is in de wereld van de klantbeleving. En ja, dat snap ik. Altijd maar die merkbelofte, dat ‘Alles voor een glimlach’. Altijd maar die Pieter Zwart, eindbaas to the max. Bijna irritant. Maar ik moet eerlijk zijn: ze zijn ook goed. Niet een beetje, maar in de categorie ‘Goed, Beter’ zijn zij de allerBeste.
Een voorbeeld uit de praktijk en zo zijn er waarschijnlijk vele. Mijn laptop crashte. Goed waardeloos, want weg levenslijn met de wereld. Er moest dus gelijk een vervanger komen. Maar welke? Voor sommigen is het uitzoeken van een nieuwe een genot. Maar ik ben meer van de categorie ‘harde vloek, shit, alles straks opnieuw installeren’ en ‘o o o wat ben ik blij dat ik alles in de cloud heb staan’. Want zo slim ben ik dan weer wel.
Dus wie bel je dan? Juist, Coolblue. Ik had even gekeken op de website, maar had toch een hulplijn nodig. Binnen no-time werd de telefoon beantwoord door Aron. In slechts een paar vragen leidde hij mij tot de juiste selectie. Een HDMI-aansluiting (echt, ze maken nog laptops zonder, hoe is het mogelijk?!), minimaal twee USBaansluitingen, een grafische kaart en een 13 inch-scherm. Dat was het en ik wilde het apparaat snel hebben. “Hoe snel?”, vroeg Aron. Hij stelde zijn vraag om 18.45 uur ’s avonds. Mijn laptop kon ik de volgende ochtend om 8.30 uur ophalen bij het postkantoor op de hoek. En zo geschiedde: ik typ deze column op mijn vanmorgen opgehaalde, nog glimmende laptop.
Ik ben verre van Coolblue-moe. Ik ben fan en wel om vijf redenen. Allereerst blinken ze uit in Vriendelijkheid; de tone of voice is alsof ik een goede vriend aan de telefoon heb. Nummer twee is Betrouwbaarheid – ik weet dat als ik iets aan ze vraag, dat ze er voor me zijn. De derde reden is Slimheid. Aron wist precies de juiste vragen te stellen. Dan komt Snelheid; hoe goed heb je je proces op orde, zodat je binnen 14 uur de laptop ter plaatse hebt? Helden. En als allerlaatste, nummero vijf: de Leukheid. Coolblue is een tof bedrijf met toffe mensen. Die glimlach hebben ze bij mij altijd te pakken.
Dus ja, misschien is het voorbeeld uitgekauwd. Wordt het tijd voor een nieuwe CX-ster aan het firmament. Daarom daag ik jullie allemaal uit om mij als klant net zo blij te maken als Coolblue dat elke keer doet. Eitje toch?
Dit blog werd geschreven voor CustomerFirst en gepubliceerd op 8 mei 2019
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
Disney – we all know the brand, and I have visited their theme parks several times. Both in Paris as well as in Orlando. But how do they consistently deliver their Disney Magic? This year I decided to invest in myself and learn more and follow one of Disney Insitute’s courses. A separate company, dedicated to spreading Disney’s knowledge through training and advice.
I followed a One-Day course at Anaheim, the Disneyland location. The very first location of all Disney parks, where Walt Disney himself had his vision and where he put it in practice.
The whole day was well organized, starting very early with breakfast at 7:30 AM. From the moment I entered the training room, the Disney touch was there, including plenty of Mickey shaped confetti on the table. There was a workbook for all participants and a refillable Disney water bottle.
This program was focused on how to consistently deliver quality service to your clients, based on your own brand. This is exactly how I envisage my A.C.E. Strategy that I speak and write about:
Authentic experiences from your unique brand perspective, consistently delivered during the customer journey, by Employee Ambassadors who understand and can deliver the service to customers.
It was fabulous to see how Disney puts that into practice and together with 47 other participants, I learned all about this at Disney Institute. Besides the theoretical part, we also went into the park itself (although short) to see and experience the theory ourselves (also known as a Customer Safari).
I have written about ten pages full of insights, quotes and memorable stories. As you are probably not waiting for all of my notes, here are the three major insights I got from the course:
1. Purpose over Task
At Disney everybody is educated by the spirit of Walt Disney and learns about the common purpose of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts: “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere” in short “Creating Happiness for Others”
It was interesting to learn the origin of this purpose, with a big role of new person to me: Van France, Founder and Professor Emeritus of Disney Universities. What was even more interesting, was that in the Disney Philosophy, every employee has the freedom to create happiness for guests. That means that in a service moment, where the guidelines are clear for a specific task, there is room to make an exception. The employee may decide to follow his/her gut and go for happiness instead. To be “off task” and “on purpose”.
They gave an example about a girl called Alice who visited the park. The Disney employee asked why she was sad, as she had a birthday pin on. So she told them that yes, it was her birthday, but all her friends had to cancel, because of illness and other appointments. But she decided to go to Disney anyway. The employee did all she could to create a special moment in a restaurant, where characters of Alice in Wonderland (see the alignment ?) were present and celebrated with her. Because, in Disney there are always friends and a birthday should always be celebrated.
Should the member of staff do this all the time? No. But was it appropriate at this moment and she had every reason to be “off task” (which was providing service at an attraction) and “on purpose” to go out of her way and arrange a perfect birthday celebration for Alice. Of course, Alice still visits Disney often, made new friends, and is an ambassador forever.
So the lesson here is: What is the purpose of your company and which are situations where your employees go the extra mile? Do you have such brilliant stories within your company; those everlasting customer stories that make you feel proud and cause a smile on everybody’s face?
2. Prioritize Quality Standards
When I am visiting companies, I am always interested in what they want to deliver to their customers. Often, we are creating a customer compass or a customer charter. With three to five (up to seven, but that is exceptional) customer promises or brand values that are specific for the brand and that align all employees towards the same customer experiences.
In Disney they have four Quality Standards, also known as “The Four Keys”. Courtesy, Safety, Show and Efficiency. A very interesting assignment during the course, was to prioritize these four keys. Because, in the way Disney teaches their employees, they need to know what is important to make consistent decisions. So each of these standards is equally important (don’t ever say the fourth is least important… ?), but there is a logical Disney order. And that is
Safety
Courtesy
Show
Efficiency
This sounds so logical to apply a prioritization, but I have never done it this way. So from now on, prioritization will be added as an option to the Nienke Bloem CX toolkit.
3. Seriously organize your service recovery
Things can go wrong. Even at Disney things go wrong, but they make it their task to recover what needs to be recovered. I like the description: “Service Recovery is an event that occurs when the customer’s expectations are not met.”
For Disney it is important to pursue the relationship with the customer, which has great impact on their view of service recovery, or as I see it named in companies’ “Complaints” procedures. At Disney they don’t want to just resolve the issue, but they want to reconciliate the relationship.
Because guests are likely to care just as much – if not more – about how they are treated following the service failure as they care about the outcome of a service recovery itself.
So what Disney has done is to put processes and systems in place on service recovery. Of course they also have the outer loop and are continuously improving their operations and systems, but as they pursue the same consistency in service recovery as in their daily service, they have thought about everything.
On this topic we had a guest speaker who told so many compelling service recovery stories, that really proved that Disney has this under control. And she closed off with the following: “Things can go wrong, they might not be our fault, but they are our problem.”
The ownership of service issues, of things that went wrong, that is where Disney steps up and makes the difference.
My question for you, is how are service recovery processes organized in your company? Do you have the same drive for service recovery and do people take ownership? Is the How(the way) just as important or maybe even more so than the What (the solution)? If you can answer: “Yes!”, hurray for you, as you joined Disney in customer obsession. If you have to answer: “No”, you’ve got work to do!
These were my three major insights and I will take them along and incorporate them in my consulting, writing, presenting and teaching practices. So, you can expect more on Disney and my findings in the common months.
Disney rocks! They want to differentiate themselves from the market. They are a premium brand and strive for consistent delivery of their four quality standards every day. I want to challenge you to go the Disney way. Is there one of these three insights, that spark your imagination and make you ambitious enough to step up the customer experience in your company? Reach out to me or please share in the comments which of the three insights it is for you, so I also learn which appeals the most.
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*****
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She’s a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person voor CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With her over 20 years corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results.
https://www.nienkebloem.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2020/11/What-did-I-learn-at-Disney-Institute.jpeg400400Nienke Bloemhttps://cluster.swstatic.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/142/2021/03/Nienke-Bloem-Logo1.pngNienke Bloem2019-02-18 11:58:232024-09-30 14:54:26What I learned at Disney Institute: my three major insights of graduating the course ‘Disney’s Approach to Quality Service’
