You have a business, employees, a cool logo and an airtight marketing concept. But if you can’t foster and fuel customer loyalty, you’re toast.
Without a fan group, even the most promising organization is bound to fail. That’s why taking the customer experience (CX) seriously should be a top priority for all companies.
Unfortunately, many teams fall flat on executing CX with panache, style, and thoughtfulness. Not sure how to improve the groove of your CX? Turn to the experts and CX speakers to learn from their trials and successes.
5 CX Speakers To Follow
These top CX speakers and influencers will teach you how to cultivate deeper and longer lasting relationships with your customers. They live, breathe, and love CX. Plus, they’re not shy about sharing their mad marketing and selling skills.
1. Brittany Hodak, Chief Experience Officer, Experience.com
It’s one thing for a brand to acquire customers, but it’s something else altogether when a product or service makes the leap to creating superfans.
As the Chief Experience Officer for Experience.com, Hodak helps brands foster deeper connections with their existing and prospective customers. She does this by first identifying every touchpoint a client has with a brand and then seeking to optimize every step in a customer’s journey.
Hodak has spent decades researching how customers are transformed into brand evangelists, effectively serving as unpaid cheerleaders in their personal circle of influence. She shares what she’s learned through a mini series on superfans.
She is also a co-founder of The Superfan Company, a multimillion-dollar agency that counts Walmart, Disney, Amazon, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, the Boston Red Sox, and many more among its clientele.
2. Jeannie Walters, CEO and Founder, Experience Investigators
Jeannie Walters’ self-professed mission To Create Fewer Ruined Days for Customers™ has catapulted her to CX speaker stardom. Her TEDx talk on micro-intentions alone will leave you pondering—and perhaps become a springboard for your next brainstorming session.
What makes Walters’ viewpoint unique among others in the CX space is the way she carefully dissects the customer journey. If you’re looking for a refreshing perspective on CX, you can trust Walters’ 20+ years of expertise. She brings humor to the table, as well as her own brand of straight-up realism.
Unless you like dealing with constant customer turnover, make Walters one of your trusted CX authorities. You can tune into her Crack the Customer Code podcast for regular doses of inspiration.
3. Brian Solis, Global Innovation Evangelist, Salesforce
What’s a futurist? You’re about to find out when you listen to Brian Solis. He helps audiences understand how to identify and even create corporate and social trends. Solis relies on digital analysis to guide his beliefs, as well as coined the term “Digital Darwinism.” Listen to just one of his speaking engagements and you’ll be sold that he’s the real deal.
Sought after by some of the biggest brands and celebs the world over as a CX speaker and expert, Solis’ concepts can revolutionize your culture. As we’ve all learned, business culture and disruption has a major effect on CX. With a little help from Solis’ writings and teachings, you’ll move the needle on customer trust and retention.
Though he’s in the executive ranks at Salesforce, Solis still attends conferences as a keynote speaker. Most recently, he was a top virtual presenter at Conga Connect 2021.
4. Lynn Hunsaker, Chief Customer Officer, ClearAction Continuum
CX doesn’t start with your marketing. It starts with your employees and their level of engagement. So says Lynn Hunsaker, whose work stretches across the corporate and academic worlds. Students of her CX programs gain more knowledge on how to improve internal performance to increase external results.
Case in point: One of Hunsaker’s tips for 2021 includes putting a premium on the value of employee teamwork. In her experience, preventing problems through stronger colleague trust bonds helps improve CX ROI and reduce friction points.
Searching high and low for a way to bring your staffers into alignment to drive CX? Start by flipping through any of Hunsaker’s written works. Hunsaker’s masterful at helping business leaders like you and your managers understand how to rally their teams.
5. Jeanne Bliss, Founder and CEO, Customer Bliss
Her last name says it all. Jeanne Bliss truly believes that blissful interactions can be attainable. In fact, she witnessed firsthand how strong the customer tie could be when her dad retired from his shoe sales business. Customers lined up down the street for the opportunity to wish him a fond farewell. If that isn’t CX, nothing is!
Yet CX isn’t just about being friendly. And it’s not akin to giving away the store, either. In Bliss’ opinion, it’s about being memorable and acting with humanity and grace. Nevertheless, those actions need to come from a place of strength and deliberation, not happenstance.
Bliss is a CX speaker ready to help you learn how to drive customer interactions that matter. With Bliss’s tutelage, you’ll bring out the humanity in your CX—and your brand reputation. She is speaking mostly virtually this year and posts many of her talks on her website.
Unforgettable CX isn’t a unicorn dream. It’s real and within your grasp. All you have to do is listen to a few of the above-mentioned CX speakers. Their wisdom will help drive you to a new level of CX that’s bound to create long-term, mutually beneficial customer relationships.
