227: Fireside with Nate Brown

Charlotte Ward: 0:13

Hello and welcome to episode two hundred and twenty-seven of the Customer Support Leaders Podcast. I'm Charlotte Ward. Today, welcome Nate Brown to talk about mission-driven CX. I'd like to welcome back to the podcast today after quite a break. Um, my good friend Nate Brown. Nate, it is lovely to have you back. Um, was it really last year? Was it really last year when we last spoke?

Nate Brown: 0:48

Can you believe it? The world is a different place. But thank you so much for letting me back on. I'm thrilled to be here today.

Charlotte Ward: 0:53

Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome. And you brought a very interesting topic to talk about today as well. So I'm gonna let you lead this one. Where you go, I will follow.

Nate Brown: 1:03

And wonderful. Well, then please ask any questions or anything that jumps out in your mind because this is a concept where I feel like I'm I don't have this locked in. You know, this is definitely an exploration and it's something where I feel like this is a trend that is coming, but frankly, I'm not sure. So I would love to hear your thoughts or even your criticisms on some of the things that I'm learning so far.

Charlotte Ward: 1:26

I would never ever criticize one of my guests, please.

Nate Brown: 1:30

You are welcome to in this case.

Charlotte Ward: 1:33

So the topic that you brought for me that you you dutifully filled out in Calendarly as you made the appointment. Other scheduling apps are available. Um was um was mission-driven CX, which is quite uh quite a topic. I mean, that sounds like something we could talk about for hours, but let's let's talk about the about it for the next few minutes. What does that mean to you?

Nate Brown: 1:56

Yeah, well, mission-driven CX in my mind is is designing experiences that actually align with the stated ideals of an organization to that of its customers. So we have organizations right now that are taking a bold, bold stance in terms of who they are as an organization and who they're looking to serve in the community and how that service looks like. I mean, we have this idea of you know, every company likes to say how they're making the world a better place, but I mean, ultimately, our definition of what that better place looks like and how we're doing that, the very specific ways and the stated ideals that we're embracing as part of that process, it's it's different today. And so these organizations that are tapping into this and and are able to make a bold brand core promise and then ultimately deliver uh on executing that through great consistent customer experience, those are the brands that are sticking out to me and I think to most people.

Charlotte Ward: 2:57

That makes complete sense. I think um I think I agree with you. I think people are thinking much more about values, which is really what a mission is, isn't it? It's a statement of uh of you know what a cust what a what an organization wants to be and and and what it wants to be to its customers, right?

Nate Brown: 3:16

Yeah, I think it historically we tried to be all things to all people. And I don't think that we're in that era anymore. I I think that we're becoming more and more focused on this is who we are, and this is who we're trying to serve, and this is how we're trying to serve them. And and it was really a conversation with with my wife that that helped me to arrive here, and we're wrestling with this reality that we're in together right now of how do we spend our limited resources and and how how do we navigate these challenges that we have right now as a family? And she made this brilliant statement. She said, it's just so hard to know what to do with our life, our time, and our money. And I was like, Yeah, it's like, whoa, yeah, there's some real brilliance, not only to those three things, but to the order of those three things. Because I I do think more than ever now, it starts with life. How can we support organizations that are making the world a better place according to our definition? How can we add to their momentum and serve our community in the ways that matter to us? But then time is still so valuable. It's such uh um an expendable resource that I mean, we're we're tired, we're burned out as a people group. I mean, we we just we need more time, we need more energy, and and we we just hate those brands that make us jump through hoops and and make the experience friction-filled. But those those those organizations that respect our time and give us energy back, we love those organizations. And then finally, that money category. It is still very important. We have to get good value for the limited money that we have. We we want to make sure that that value is there. But I I believe, Charlotte, that we're thinking about it in that order of life and time and money.

Charlotte Ward: 5:05

Yeah. Um I I I think that uh there are a few things that you said there that were really super interesting. Uh, and I want to pick out particularly one or two of them. I'm gonna put money aside because that's just it's bottom of the pile. You've already established that. Um, it, you know, it's it's not a finite. I mean, you know, nobody unless you're in the lottery has effectively an infinite amount of money to spend, but it's not super finite. You you always have the opportunity to gain more money uh one way or another, through whatever means you choose. Exactly. But but life and time are not renewable resources, and uh, and I think those two are really interesting. And I think that you used a few words in both of those that um I think there's a there's a common thread through both of those that like our life is effectively a time span, but but it is all but it is also about effort and everything else that you just said. You had echoes there of um a talk I gave at Inbound uh virtually in 2020. I was on like one of their audio tracks, where I was talking about the frictionless experience and how the whole point of um of attempting to deliver that frictionless experience is about respect for your customers' time. Uh, and and I really like that because you use the word frictionless in in the sense of it's saving time for your customers. And those that's that's one of the two things at the top of the heap, right? Life and time. And I think that that that kind of that frictionless experience is is super interesting in that context when you think about it as a as a kind of a statement of respect for your customers' life and time.

Nate Brown: 7:18

Yeah, I put out a quick survey on LinkedIn because I was having trouble finding much data around this idea of mission-driven CX and how much of a loyalty driver that really is. So I wanted to get a pulse from my own network. So I had about four people, 400 people respond, and almost 80% of them selected consistent service as the primary loyalty driver.

Charlotte Ward: 7:41

Yeah.

Nate Brown: 7:41

So what you're saying, Charlotte, about time and friction still being king when it comes to customer experience work, it's just it's top of mind for us right now, still. And reducing that friction is really what matters most in terms of what the companies that are going to attract our loyalty.

Charlotte Ward: 7:59

So what do you what can companies do then in terms of delivering that mission-driven CX? And particularly the as it relates to that frictionless experience, that respect for time and life of our customers. This is a big question. It's getting bigger by the word, I think. But but somewhere in there, I think what what is it companies generally are doing, or you think should do, to deliver a mission-driven customer experience rather than just, you know, an out-of-the-box. We've got a good customer experience. We've been been we've been and done all of our journeys. And and uh, and you know, we we've we've kind of we've walked the walk. How how how do they do how do they walk the walk rather than talk the talk? I guess that's what I'm asking.

Nate Brown: 8:48

I think Denise Youn has some great advice for how to get started here. And and she has this brilliant quote of customers are more savvy today than ever. They see advertising rhetoric for what it is, and they no longer accept brands at face value. So we're skeptical of these brands and the promise that they make. They want authenticity, brands that live up to the promises and stated ideals. So, I mean, that that's really where this work begins is that that brand promise, that brand core, and the associated stated ideals. And it starts with you living those out inside of the organization authentically. Because no, no customer is going to be fooled by things that you slap on your website. They're gonna be looking to the employees who are living these stated ideals out, who are acting as ambassadors for the organization. And if that's truly happening and they're representing these brands in that way and personalizing these stated ideals outward, then I mean that's going to resonate. That's going to be very compelling. So, I mean, there's a brilliant resource from uh Harvard Business Review called the Company Identity Matrix. And it helps an organization to lock in on this brand core as they define it. What do we promise? What are the core values that sum up what our brand stands for? So that is where this work begins is what does our brand stand for? And then those stated ideals, how do we act towards each other? How do we act and behave towards our customers? And how can our customer experience be a representation of that? And so that we can do it together and we can do it consistently because that's how we earn loyalty.

Charlotte Ward: 10:30

I think consistently is really a big part of this, isn't it? Because that's where the expectations come from for a customer.

Nate Brown: 10:37

That's where trust comes from. I mean, it's one thing if if when I call, I'm gonna I'm gonna pick on Ring. I think Ring is a great security organization. And and and I've had kind of missed mixed experiences with them in terms of through the brand. If if I'm in the digital experience, I get a little stuck and and I'm uh there's friction there. But when I call in, their personality is so compelling and they're so helpful. So in in this case, there's a deviation in the journey. They're really strong here when I'm when I'm interfacing with an actual ambassador of the brand over the phone, but the digital experience isn't quite there yet. But when when you can get those things consistent and have them working together and supporting one another so that the customer feels like you can relate to the company universally, feel like I can relate to that company, like I can relate to you, Charlotte, as a friend and not something that's kind of bipolar, like here and there.

Charlotte Ward: 11:32

Yeah. Yeah.

Nate Brown: 11:33

Where the experience is great here, and then it's not so good. And then I when I call back tomorrow, it's gonna be awful. And then later this week it's gonna be fantastic. That that consistency is so critical when it comes to forming trust.

Charlotte Ward: 11:45

Yeah, yeah, I completely agree with you. Uh, and that that sort of relating to an organization in a universal way, that thing you said there. It's it's it depends on so much. It depends on operationally being able to join up those conversations internally. It it depends on projecting, as you said, that set of ideals and values that your organization has as a supplier or a vendor or provider outwardly in the same way and consistently and delivering on it through every through every way, doesn't it?

Nate Brown: 12:23

Yeah. So I mean that that really is where it begins. And then, you know, as we think through the the implications of it, you know, there's definitely some some additional tenets that that we can work through in in terms of building that trust and that consistency. Um, you know, one idea is is thinking through, okay, so we we've got that brand core that we formed. Now, where does it live? And I give the example, I actually did a training class with a company in Nashville, and and they had this these beautiful stated ideals, like in this bronze sculpture on the wall behind the training room. This beautiful artistic expression of their core values. And and the the class had to walk through that door by that expression as they came into the class. And and of course, you know, I asked them, What are those stated ideals on the wall behind me? Somebody, somebody tell me what those are. They couldn't name a single one.

Charlotte Ward: 13:19

Uh oh, interesting.

Nate Brown: 13:22

Because I mean, right, in the inside of that organization, the ideals lived on the wall. And because it's a backdrop, right? That's as far as they got. They never penetrated the hearts and minds of the people because they weren't being lived out at all. It stopped at the wall, but you know, conversely, uh, a few days after that, I walk into my automotive shop, uh, Jim Bennett's automotive in Smyrna, Tennessee, and somebody had taken a 50 cent poster board and sharpied on three core values of that automotive shop. And they they were living these things out. I mean, we drive from far away into this shop because we trust them in a way that I've never trusted an automotive shop before. So, like the these core values on this poster board were were being lived out in a very compelling way. So the the question, the challenge is what where does where does your brand core live right now? Is it in the hearts and minds of your people or is it on the wall somewhere? Is it on a website somewhere? You've got to make those jump off the page and and be able to, another Denise Leonism, it's a gift that you get to give to your people that they can then give to their customer. They only have the gift that's given to them from the leadership of the company. That's the only thing that they have the ability to extend forward to the customer. So, what does that gift look like? Is it consistent? Is it authentic? Does it match the brand voice of this organization? Does it match the stated ideals that we're trying to project? Because only then can we start to create a really good, consistent customer experience together.

Charlotte Ward: 14:58

Yeah, yeah. The the starts with the mission, ends in the hearts and minds of your people and therefore your customers, right?

Nate Brown: 15:06

Exactly. Exactly. And and we don't we don't just stop with this this kind of ethereal, you know, uh talk of culture and hearts and minds of people. I mean, these are principles that should go all the way through into the ways that we're constructing our digital experience and and the ways that we're we do this, the work that we do together. I mean, when when customer experience and together with these stated ideals, this idea of mission-driven CX, when that can really take root into the decision making that the company does, everything from product development into implementation, into finance, into sales. I love seeing the rise of customer success. In my opinion, that's the replacement of tradition, traditional sales and marketing into a customer-centric way of acquiring loyalty and earning the right to grow the business. I think it's one of the most wonderful nods to the power of customer experience that I've seen in my lifetime.

Charlotte Ward: 16:07

Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining me today, Nate. That was super interesting. Yeah. Please, please come back and talk some more about this and and anything else you like, anytime. Please don't leave it another year.

Nate Brown: 16:22

I won't. Thank you all.

Charlotte Ward: 16:24

Awesome. Thank you so much. That's it for today. Go to customersupportleaders.com forward slash two two seven for the show notes, and I'll see you next time.