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Customer Experience Officer feat. Thomas Linton (Part 2)
104 Plays1 year ago
Today’s episode will feature the role of a Customer Experience Officer. The Customer Experience Officer (CXO) is a fast-growing role in business culture. This person ensures that the company vision and values match with the customer’s experience using their product or service. They shape what a company offers to its customers. For example, if I visit an airport lounge such as the Delta Sky Club, the CXO would set standards for the Greeters, Service Staff and Kitchen to ensure I am happy and comfortable during my trip. They make sure the customer is getting the most value.
As a salesperson myself, this philosophy is the north star of success so I have been eager to get Thomas Linton on the show. Thomas refers to himself a Customer Zealot and has succeeded developing products and services at banks, consumer packaged goods companies, financial services and healthcare companies. His foundation is strengthened with experience in Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Project Management and applying Six Sigma practices. I’m excited to learn from him today and see what lessons I can apply to strengthen my own sales future and how I service customers.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaslinton/
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back for part two of Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. We'll pick up where we left off. But before you go, we need your help to spread our message. So please subscribe, like, and rate five stars wherever you get your podcast and on LinkedIn at Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. Thank you, enjoy.
Artistic Representation of Career
00:00:22
Speaker
You know, I want to flip things a little bit on its head and we've talked a lot about the role and what you've done, but I want you to think abstract with this next question. And so if you had a painter who wanted to commemorate your career as a painting or drawing, what would you tell that painter to draw?
00:00:48
Speaker
Yeah, you really go in abstract, don't you? So I would actually I would actually have the artist create an out of body experience, right?
00:01:02
Speaker
where I am not in my body but I am out of body and I am observing and doing and feeling what the customer would feel. I want the artist to portray me walking in the shoes
00:01:22
Speaker
of the customer, right? Initially, you know, I would have the artists create a visual of that wall such that I could share with everyone in the company, right? So they could understand
00:01:39
Speaker
how their actions and their decisions impact that customer's walk. So it's kind of this out-of-body experience where I'm walking in the shoes of the customer and I'm seeing their whole journey from their perspective and I'm able to take that portrait and share it with the organization so they can see, you know, how they interact with that customer.
00:02:04
Speaker
Wow, yeah, that's, that is awesome and very descriptive. I, I would love to describe my career like that, especially as a salesperson and, you know, let's, I used to sell spirits and wine and part of that was selling in
00:02:20
Speaker
display pieces that go along with the product so you can build an end cap and I always wanted to work with the marketing team and say hey this is how a liquor store is built your display won't fit in there come come spend like a day walking the shoes of the customers who need yeah and so I love the way you just described that because I would have loved to
00:02:42
Speaker
When I was selling spirits and wine, I would have loved to take in the marketing team, the legal team, the finance team, and put them in the shoes of a liquor store owner and say, hey, this is what they experience every day. Now, how can we do our job to support them so that they want to buy more? So I love that description you just gave. So thank you so much.
00:03:01
Speaker
This next question. I guess you know we and we've talked a lot about the good and you know I kind of want to switch things up for the next couple of questions, because there are lessons that can be learned throughout a career so
00:03:16
Speaker
I guess as you look back over your career, what was something that you didn't anticipate? It was a little bit unpredictable. It may have thrown you off your game for a little while, but you were still able to recover.
Adapting to Different Bosses
00:03:31
Speaker
But it was a lesson learned. Can you share a professional experience that caused you stress or frustration? And I guess how did you overcome it?
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah, so here's what I would say. I've had several things like this, right? Several experiences as a young executive or leader going through corporate America. I was one of the first many Blacks to do it, right?
00:04:10
Speaker
didn't have a lot of folks that I could look up to to say, hey, they did this or they did that. Um, and so one example that I would share with you is just, you know, your interactions with your boss, right? I had, um, uh, one boss that I just absolutely loved. We got, we got along great and yeah,
00:04:36
Speaker
I love their style. They love my style. Then I got moved to another boss and it was completely opposite. It was a disaster. Um, my style didn't fit with, uh, with their style. And so, you know, a big, big lesson learned is that, you know, they always, you hear these scenes all the time without people never leave companies. They leave, uh, bosses, right. And, uh, man, that situation, man, I just, I just dug it out. I had to.
00:05:07
Speaker
try to put myself in their shoes, understand what they were looking for, see if I could change and do things a different way. I struggled through it. I got through it. I think it was like a couple of years. I didn't get high ratings that year, but then got to the next boss in his spine. So the lesson is, hey, you're going to have
00:05:27
Speaker
bosses, you're going to have people that come across your space and you're going to have to, it's not if, but when, right? It's not if, man, you're going to have to figure out, hey, how do I adjust? Because every boss is different and you have to be the chameleon as a
00:05:47
Speaker
worker and figure out hey how to adjust and Get what you need to get done get what the company needs to get done and get with your boss needs to get done and so Again, it wasn't easy. It wasn't I wasn't happy but you know got through it and got done But that's what that's one one example that I would give you that boy man I don't wish that on anybody but it happens and you got to figure out how to adjust as a as a worker
00:06:16
Speaker
Yeah, could I pick your brain about that scenario? Because like you said, it's not a matter of if, it's when, it's happened to me where I've had bosses change and the culture on the team changes, the relationship with my boss changes. And you know, it was tough to navigate. And also in a way, you have to learn how to protect yourself from that boss.
Handling Difficult Bosses
00:06:36
Speaker
So when you got that boss where y'all didn't have that chemistry,
00:06:40
Speaker
How did you protect yourself? How did you still, you know, if they weren't, you know, they weren't positively looking at the work you were producing, maybe even looking at it negatively, you know, that could maybe, you know, like you said, it could affect your rating. So how did you protect yourself during that time where you, I guess, protect yourself, protect your own mental state to knowing that you were still a quality worker and protect yourself with the company to not risk losing your job? How did you protect yourself when it comes to these types of bosses or these types of relationships?
00:07:09
Speaker
Well, first and foremost, for me, I talk to you about my family. And so I had solace and safety and comfort at home. And I would make sure that I talk to my wife about it. She was very supportive. So that's one thing. You've got to have some support somewhere outside of that interaction.
00:07:34
Speaker
Secondly, again, while I was not a salesperson, excuse me, while I was not another leader in the company, I had another gentleman that I worked with inside the company that I could talk to. So just finding some support, whether it's inside or outside the company to kind of help you get through that is one thing to do. Secondly,
00:08:01
Speaker
I always talk about relationships are based off of love, trust and communication, right? And so in this example, there was no love, right? You know, I was trying to build the communication and the trust with this guy. And so the other ways I would protect myself is on top of
00:08:26
Speaker
But at some point, right, I can't remember if I did it here, but at some point you're going to have to say, hey, this is either working or it's not. And if it's working, great, if it's not, hey, what can we do to resolve it, right? At some point you're going to have, if it's not something that's going to be able to be fixed right away, you're going to have to approach it and come up with solutions and say, hey, how do I help myself to your point, protect myself and either
00:08:54
Speaker
get another role or get another role inside or outside the company. That's how you have to protect yourself. And so, I had a family, right? So I had to make some choices different than I would if I didn't have a family. But I think, so those are the two things I would say, talk to someone either inside or outside the company and communicate, communicate, communicate to make sure that
00:09:23
Speaker
you understand the expectations and you're best to get it done. If it's not, you can't get it done, try to find some solutions either inside or outside the company. Awesome, awesome. Thank you so much for that advice. I appreciate it. I know at some point down the line, my audience is going to appreciate it. So thank you so much for sharing how to protect yourself, have a support system at home, have a mentor or somebody supportive within the company as well. So thank you so much.
00:09:54
Speaker
Now, you know, as we are, we as a society, so when I say we, I'm talking about Earth, our community, society, as we are kind of sort of coming out of this pandemic and, you know, we're starting to see technological advances happen at a faster rate.
Evolving Customer Experience Role
00:10:12
Speaker
How do you see the CX role evolving because of the pandemic and because of technology?
00:10:20
Speaker
That's a great question. See, at the core, I think the essence of marketing customer experience is going to be the same, right? It's about understanding needs. It's about using these tactics to drive awareness, consideration, purchase, and overall experience, right? I think what will change is the way that we obtain feedback from customers.
00:10:46
Speaker
There will be newer ways to capture that feedback. It'll be easier for customers to automatically give real-time feedback on their experiences with a brand. And then the marketing and customer experience leaders will have to take that feedback and act faster on solving kind of customer needs. So I think the technology
00:11:08
Speaker
will change and how we capture that feedback and leaders will have to use it to adjust and make sure that the needs are addressed in a more real time perspective because I've I've been in situations where we've gotten feedback and it's been months late and it's tough to make and you can still make changes but it's tough to
00:11:36
Speaker
to impact something when the data that you get is months late. I think technology is going to change in such a way that allows us to capture that feedback sooner and allow us to modify, update our processes to react and drive change faster to meet the customer needs.
00:11:58
Speaker
And you know what, while we're on this topic of the future and evolution, what sources do you read or follow to stay updated on innovation in your career? You know, it's a good question. So I recently
00:12:22
Speaker
got certified as a customer experience professional. It's called the Certified Customer Experience Professional Certification. It's a foundation that's created by this organization called the Customer Experience Professionals Association.
00:12:41
Speaker
And that organization puts a framework together around what customer experience is, what it should and shouldn't be. And, you know, so I use that organization to kind of help me stay abreast. I also attend networking meetings with folks from that organization, just again, just to stay abreast on what things they're going through and what things I'm going through and how we can all help each other.
00:13:11
Speaker
So no matter what we're doing, I always ask him to stay abreast by either functional or industry kind of organizations that you have at your fingertips. Gosh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And it's great to see continuous learning be a part of your career also. That's the only way for success. So thank you for sharing that. And in this next question,
00:13:39
Speaker
I hope there's an experience you can share. I love to have a little fun with people in their careers. But what has been the most shocking experience that you've had? That could be with customers, with your team, with whomever. What's been the most unpredictable thing that has happened while working?
00:14:00
Speaker
So, you know, we're all humans, right? Perception and people's perspective of us can be lost at one by how you show up, right? So I was helping a colleague of mine interview a candidate. And this candidate passed all first impressions. They had a phenomenal resume. You know, they passed the phone screen. We were very, very excited to meet her.
00:14:25
Speaker
It was my turn to go in and do the interview. So I walked in the interview room, greeted the person, and I hate to say this, but the person had like a front tooth missing, right? So unfortunately, while she answered the questions, great.
00:14:47
Speaker
I just couldn't get past the tooth. And I was thinking to myself, could I put her in front of our CEO? Could I put her in front of her customer, right?
00:15:02
Speaker
And unfortunately, the answer, you know, was no, you know, there's no written rules about how you show up, right? You know, what your appearance is and all that stuff. There's nothing written about that. But you know, having someone that you love and trust to give you some feedback on that stuff is really helpful. Unfortunately, she did not get the role.
00:15:25
Speaker
But I would say that it was funny, but it wasn't funny, right? Because it was one of those situations, man, that, again, looked great on paper. But unfortunately, in business, right? Again, there's so many unwritten rules. That was one where you got to be able to show up and show up well. And that was not a way to do that.
00:15:51
Speaker
Right, yeah. I mean, as you mentioned, we're all humans. And one of the things about humans, we have small attention spans. And if there's any type of distraction with the message you're trying to communicate, then you lose that message. And so for you, if you're looking at her and saying, hey, this is going to be too much of a distraction where when she's communicating, whether it's an internal customer like your boss or an external one, they're not going to hear her message because they're going to be too distracted by that. So I totally understand what you mean.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Cool. Let's see. With every career or industry, it has its own lingo, its own acronyms. So as you look over your career, what has been your favorite term within CXO in the world that you've worked in? What's been your favorite term of acronym professionally?
00:16:48
Speaker
Well, I got two. So one is CX. It says letter C and the letter X, right? And it stands for customer experience.
00:17:03
Speaker
Now, customer experience is a C and an E, but they say CX because as you say the word experience, it sounds like it comes with an X, right? But the second one, man, is anybody that's in business has got to know this term and it's called EBITDA. Have you heard of that? Earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation, appreciation.
00:17:33
Speaker
depreciation and depreciation. Ah, thank you, thank you. Okay. EBITDA, EBITDA, yes. Yeah, right. Okay. So when I talk to people about that, they're like, what is that? Is that a, what is that? And so these are the earnings that a company makes from its operation, from the operations of its business, right? So as you, as a business leader,
00:17:58
Speaker
you know, you, you're going to play any person in a company is going to be in some line item on the financials, right? Whether you are in sales and you're driving revenue, or you in manufacturing, you're helping make the product, or you are in marketing and you're in over here, you're somewhere in that number, right? And so as a business leader, you're trying to
00:18:24
Speaker
you know, optimize that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. So those are two terms. One is CX and one is just general business that is interesting.
00:18:37
Speaker
Very cool. Yeah, that I recently have gotten deep into financial literacy and understanding the stock market and how I could benefit from it. And I know EBITDA is one of the most popular terms within the financial world as far as evaluating the company's performance. So thank you for bringing that in. And maybe I want to start having a term of the episode also. So you're starting to peak. My brain is starting to turn, as you said that. But thank you for sharing that.
Final Thoughts on Career and Relationships
00:19:09
Speaker
So we're coming up to the end of the interview and I appreciate all of these gems you have been giving us. But are you ready for the surprise question that wasn't on the sheet that I sent over?
00:19:25
Speaker
Absolutely. Awesome. Okay. Okay. And there is no right or wrong answer. This is just a chance for the audience to, you know, learn a little bit more about you and your interest and see, you know, see what you like outside of the professional world. So here goes the scenario. You are an A&R at a music record label.
00:19:48
Speaker
and you have been given an unlimited budget to create a song with three artists and then one producer or beat maker. Which three artists in which one producer would you put into a studio to create this song? Man. For the three artists, I would pick Wale. Okay, all right.
00:20:19
Speaker
as an artist, I would pick, um, Lauren Hill. Okay, okay, okay, okay, all right, all right. And I would pick, um, Frankie Beverly. Ooh, okay, okay, okay, okay, without Mays? Just Frankie Beverly, no Mays.
00:20:40
Speaker
You said an artist, so that's a group. I would pick Frankie Beverly and Mays if I could pick them both. Yes, yes, yes. A group counts as one entity, so yes, they can count within the three artists. So Frankie Beverly and Mays count as one, yes. Okay, cool. Okay. And then from my producer. I love how you brought three artists from three different decades as well. That creativity that they're going to cover together is going to be amazing, so that's awesome.
00:21:06
Speaker
And so the producer, I think I would pick Pharrell. Can't go wrong with him. Can't go wrong with him. Okay. Okay. Just Pharrell, have him do a little master mix up for that group and it would be bomb, man.
00:21:27
Speaker
It would. That would be a fire track. That would be a fire track. That would be awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for, thank you for playing along and having a little fun with that. I'm always loving that question and hearing people's answers and seeing what three artists will put together. And I really wish I could actually bring this question to life. That would be amazing, but thank you.
00:21:49
Speaker
Well, Thomas, we're coming up to the end. I appreciate your time and you sharing so much with me. Part of why I wanted you to come onto the show is because of that emphasis on customer, which has been a big part of my life also. And so I really learned a lot today from you as far as the perspective of getting work done.
00:22:10
Speaker
Also, thank you for sharing that career lesson that you shared about how to handle a tough boss. I appreciate you opening me up and sharing about that as well. So thank you for improving my life. Thank you for helping the audience out. And thank you for coming on and sharing your career journey. It's invaluable. So thank you so much. Thank you. You're doing some great work, man. I appreciate what you're doing for the community.
00:22:35
Speaker
Thank you very much. Thank you. Before we go, is there any last thing you may want to say? There's one last thing, right? One of the questions that I wanted to expound on was
00:22:51
Speaker
you know, lessons learned, right? And so I'm going to give you three things that folks should really be thinking about from a lessons learned. Boy, if I had to do it all over again, these are things I would have done. One is you have to build and cultivate relationships.
00:23:11
Speaker
throughout your career, not to get a job, not when you get, it's before you get a job, while you own the job and after the job. You gotta build and cultivate relationships too. You have to learn how to sell and influence. Everybody is in sales. Yeah, everybody is, and I didn't realize that as an engineer and he's a marketer, right? Everybody is in sales. You either selling to a customer or you're trying to sell and influence your ideas internally. So you gotta learn how to sell.
00:23:40
Speaker
And then lastly, we talked about it earlier, but you gotta get help handling challenges. Challenges are gonna come. It's not if, but it's when, and really try to get help, get somebody else's perspective on how to handle those challenges. So those are three things, man, I would leave you guys with this. As you and your audience think about career and how to be successful, building relationships, learning how to influence, selling influence, and how to handle challenges.
00:24:08
Speaker
Amazing. Well, thank you again. I love number two even more. One, everybody is in sales because no matter your job, you're trying to influence somebody or you're trying to influence somebody to get them to do what you want to do. So everybody is in sales, whether your customer is internal or external. And then you said learn how to sell an influence. And I look at that as like, learn how to write and communicate your thoughts.
00:24:36
Speaker
Because that's a big part of getting people to follow you or when you're trying to get a group of people. I've been in cross-functional roles where I've had to pull one person from marketing, one person from legal, one person from sales, and get them all together even though they have different deliverables. I have to get them on a team and find a deliverable to forget them to work together.
00:25:00
Speaker
And if you aren't able to succinctly and clearly communicate what you need from people, then your message is going to be lost. So if I could just double down on point number two, you know, practicing your writing skills, practicing communicating, getting those leadership opportunities. When you brought up being in a team sport, handling conflict with your peers in a team sport is one of the biggest ways to learn how to communicate. I think anytime I've been in conflict with a peer, whether it's one team,
00:25:29
Speaker
or in my fraternity in college. It was those times when I really learned how to navigate conflict because this is my peer. This is somebody that I can just ignore and walk away from. I'm going to have to interact with them daily moving forward. Let me find a positive way to build this relationship and get my point across. So learning how to write and talk is critical to success. So thank you again for those lessons.
00:25:52
Speaker
All right, man. Appreciate you. Hey, before you go, we need your help to spread our message. So please subscribe, like, and rate five stars wherever you get your podcast and on LinkedIn at Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. Thank you.