The Consistent Experience

Release Date: July 12, 2022 • Episode #224

If you’re a CX pro for small or medium size company, you already know the challenges in designing and delivering the best possible experience for your customers. But what about companies that have multiple locations? What about a company like Starbucks which has over 33 thousand locations? How do they deliver such a consistent experience across so many countries and cultures? Host Steve Walker welcomes Jim Hardeman, chief marketing officer and chief product evangelist for CMX, for a discussion on how larger companies create consistent experiences across multiple locations.

Jim Hardeman
CMX
Connect with Jim

Highlights

Create a sense of community

“…I think some of the secret sauce is, number one, they know who they are. They know who their target audience is. You know, they don’t stray too far from that. They stay really true to that. And I think they do a really good job of creating a sense of community or a sense of affinity to the brand with their customers”

Measure what matters

“…you need to measure what matters. And employees know they know exactly what’s expected because it’s continually being measured and it’s not done in a disruptive or punitive way. It’s done in a way to help people understand, like you said, what is the end zone and where are the guardrails or the or the sidelines to be able to have some freedom and flexibility within. But everybody knows where they’re going and what’s expected.”

Transcript

The CX Leader Podcast: "The Consistent Experience" : Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

The CX Leader Podcast: "The Consistent Experience" : this wav audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Steve:
So when you walk into a Starbucks for your venti cafe mocha or check in at a Ritz-Carlton, you know what experience to expect. So how do large companies maintain such a consistent experience?

Jim:
I think some of the secret sauce is they know who they are. They know who their target audience is. And I think they do a really good job of creating a sense of community or a sense of affinity to the brand with their customers.

Steve:
How large companies provide consistent and amazing experiences across multiple locations on this episode of The CX Leader podcast.

Announcer:
The CX Leader podcast with Steve Walker is produced by Walker, an experience management firm that helps our clients accelerate their XM success. You can find out more at walkerinfo.com.

Steve:
Hello, everyone. I'm Steve Walker, host of The CX Leader Podcast and thank you for listening. As we like to say on this show, it's never been a better time to be a CX leader. And we explore the topics and themes to help leaders like you deliver all the amazing experiences for your customers. If you're a CX pro for a small or medium sized company, you already know the challenges in designing and delivering the best possible experience for your customers. But what about companies that have multiple locations? What about a company like Starbucks, which has over 33,000 – that's 33,000 locations. How do they deliver such a consistent experience across so many countries and cultures? Well, my guest today is going to help provide some insight into such endeavors. Jim Hardeman is the chief marketing officer and chief product evangelist for CMX, a company providing enterprise quality management solutions. Jim, welcome to The CX Leader podcast.

Jim:
Hey, Steve, thanks for having me.

Steve:
Well, it's a real pleasure. And this is actually a topic which I'm really interested in, because just based on my career, I know there's a lot of cool activities that we're going to discuss today and talk about. But before we get into that, give us a little bit of background on you. I'm always interested in our guests and how their career evolved to become a CX pro. And then also share with us a little more about CMX, just to set the context for our discussion.

Jim:
Sure. Yeah. So my background is been in software for 20, about 25 or so years. All that time has been focused on business to business enterprise software. And it's really run the gamut from everything from retail to supply chain to financial services. But really, over the last 11 years, at my current company, CMX, focused largely on the restaurant space hotel, hospitality, grocery, convenience store. So any, any large distributed enterprise that has a brand that they're trying to uphold but deliver that in a highly distributed fashion across hundreds, if not thousands of locations or countries. That's really where our software comes into play and enables these brands to deliver ultimately their guest experience or customer experience.

Steve:
I love the way that you already have worked in the distributed business model concept because that's how I think of it too. And and in a way, these are really rich, rich organizations for CX because you literally every location is a laboratory, right?

Jim:
It is, yeah.

Steve:
And so I love that about any kind of retail or scalable type of hospitality group where you have this common brand, but you have all these places where you can deliver and innovate off of that.

Jim:
Yeah. And it's not just brick and mortar obviously anymore. And certainly with COVID over the last two years, a lot of these brands have had to reinvent themselves to and what was maybe a smaller portion of their business has really flipped the business to be more digital or other channels. So we work with leading customers like Chick fil A, Intercontinental Hotel and Resorts, Wegmans Grocery Store. These are all brands that are that are highly respected for the experience, and they're doing it across lots of locations. So it's it's a challenge, but the great ones do it and make it look really easy. But it's not easy behind the scenes for sure.

Steve:
Well, let's start there. Let's start with the the these marquee companies and talk about what the gold standard is. So if I go into a Chick fil A, for example, and I may actually now that we said that I may go today.

Jim:
Good. [laughing].

Steve:
It sounds good, but I know what kind of experience I'm going to have and it doesn't matter where I'm at or what I do, but customer experiences have come a long way and these are some of the ones that have really, I guess, up the ante. So what is their superpower? How do they make this happen like that?

Jim:
Yeah, you know, I think we really as us as a software company, really have had the privilege to work with some incredible companies, incredible operators over the last 11, 12 years. And so I think some of the secret sauce is, number one, they know who they are. They know who their target audience is. You know, they don't stray too far from that. They stay really true to that. And I think they do a really good job of creating a sense of community or a sense of affinity to the brand with their customers. How that translates to how do you how do you how do you take that and make that operationalized that they've been really purposeful in how they design and engage with their customers regardless of channel. So it's they're very purposeful and how they do that. I think they're also the good brands that we work with. It's been interesting to see that they're really overcommunicate from the top down. There's a real focus on alignment and the big thing there is just focusing, ensuring that from everybody from the front, front line team member, all the way up through the organization, everybody has a clear understanding of the organizational goals, the expectations and the requirements. They get the basics right. They focus on getting the basics right day in and day out. But they really play to their strengths, their differentiators, and they use technology. I mean, I think it's one thing to start with pen and paper and build processes, but to really scale to hundreds, if not thousands of locations and do that consistently day in and day out, you have to have technology and you have to empower the front line workers with what are the expectations and what is the right thing to do at the right time and how to do it the right way each and every time. It certainly become more challenging with COVID, with turnover and labor constraints, but the ones that are doing it right are just they're they're methodical and deliberate about communication, training, reinforcement, and in really empowering their end workers to be able to deliver that expectation. The ultimate customer experience.

Steve:
Yeah, you said a bunch there and let me just unpack it a little bit. You speaking of pen and paper, I was taking copious notes because I think you were you were laying out the kind of the building blocks of this. But a couple of things. You said they know who they are.

Jim:
Yeah.

Steve:
They're not trying to be everything to everybody. Focus equals growth and equals differentiation. I love that.

Jim:
Yeah.

Steve:
You can't communicate too much over communication reinforcement to the point where people almost get. Yeah, I already know that.

Jim:
Yes, thank you. But yes.

Steve:
Execution, you know, the simple game plan that is flawlessly executed is key. And then leveraging the technology. And then I don't know if you have like a five bullet points, but these are the five bullet points I got. And then the last one was sort of some sort of authority or autonomy within guardrails for the person that's kind of on the point with the customer, right?

Jim:
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, so just Chick-Fil-A as an example, we've worked with them for about ten years and literally every single thing that's expected to how do you run a great restaurant and deliver great food, safe, clean environment and the customer experience that they expect. Everything is broken down into very exacting requirements and and it's measured, you know. I think measuring what matters, that's one of the sayings that we have at our company is you need to measure what matters. And and employees know they know exactly what's expected because it's continually being measured and it's not done in a disruptive or punitive way. It's done in a way to help people understand, like you said, what is the end zone and where are the guardrails or the or the sidelines to be able to have some freedom and flexibility within. But everybody knows where they're going and what's expected. And I think that that's what empowers employees to feel connected and have a sense of of value in their work is they know how they're being judged and knowing what's what's being expected. And the great brands like Chick fil A do that very well.

Steve:
Yeah, actually you said what is measured matters and I think what gets measured gets done too.

Jim:
Exactly. Yeah.

Steve:
And I think that's one of the greatest management principles ever created. And it is it's it's actually liberating for people that want to help their organizations succeed, which I think the percentage is in the high nineties most of the time.

Jim:
Exactly.

Steve:
Most people want to do a good job and they want to be able to take care of customers. And so really getting those those things correct and measured is really important. So what role does the data play in some of these organizations, you know, without giving away your trade secrets? But just just a few examples of like how a company might leverage data to get this kind of an environment.

Jim:
I think data is obviously obviously critical. It's it's absolutely mandatory. But I think we've I think as an industry, people have largely moved beyond data. I think we're all swimming in too much data. And I think really where we're headed is, is the ability to have insights and then ultimately guidance out of that data. So I think a lot of organizations are collecting data. There certainly issues with duplicate data or gaps in data. So either having a single platform or having multiple integrated platforms and data is really critical. But then what do you do with all that data and how do you make sense of it? And then ultimately, how do you shorten the gap between what is what is the maybe the home office scene with the data? And then how do you translate that back down to the front line worker to change behaviors, behaviors or adapt to new working environments? And so I think really where we're going kind of the next wave of CX is is really being able to utilize that data and then give very specific guidance to the people that are on the front lines delivering that customer experience.

Steve:
Yeah. Again, I don't want you to give away any confidential information, but if you could just sort of give me a high level view of what a outstanding company might share, for example, with a store manager and then with actually somebody who's working, working the counter.

Jim:
So I'll give you a very specific example without naming the customer. But, you know, there were increases in complaints around undercooked food. And what's in the first reaction at the restaurant level is to constantly look at is the is the fryer or the the grill calibrated the right way? Is it right temperature? Is it being cooked for the right time? Because with under cooking chicken can cause a food safety issue and overcooking chicken can cause a terrible, terrible tasting product. So being very exact as to how to cook and prepare the food at a restaurant level is really critical. And doing that across lots of different locations, lots of employees. So a lot of these brands will have very exacting, obviously, cooking requirements and recipes. But the issue wasn't going away even with training and calibration and machines. But ultimately, what it turned out to be is that the product itself was out of spec and spec, and so the product was too thin. So therefore the cooking times and the calibration around that were off and so the product was being overcooked and ultimately delivering a terrible product. And so it's not just at the front lines, it's all the way back up through the supply chain. So it's a lot of these brands that do it really well. It starts in the supply chain. It's it's picking great suppliers to work with. It's being very specific around the products that you're sourcing. And then ultimately down to the restaurant, is it being cooked correctly and served the way it's expected? And so in that case, you know, having a single platform where you can have not only data at the front lines, but data at the supply chain level is really critical. And so it's just a quick example of where things can go awry. And it's not necessarily an operational issue. It's a supply chain issue that that impacts the operations.

Steve:
And it really is a dynamic marketplace. And the last couple of years have really shown that. Again, I'm amazed at Chick fil A's drive thru approach, but they kind of went to a point there during COVID where there was only drive thru available. And how has that changed the last couple of years with with drive thru? And then also even like the third party delivery and Uber eats and Clustertruck and all these other kind of options.

Jim:
Yeah, I don't think there's a I don't think there's any business that hasn't obviously been impacted by in the last two years, starting with COVID and then just the ripple effects of the labor market, the great resignation, employee turnover. And then just like the impact in supply chain with delays or even substitutions impacting. So everybody has had to change their business. And, you know, we serve a lot of quick service or fast casual restaurant chains. And so the big the big difference there is that, you know, they went from maybe, say, 80% in restaurant dining with 20% takeout delivery, and that model completely flipped. And we're seeing a lot of the brands we work with, it's as high as 7030 or even 80, 24, the vast majority of being takeout and delivery. So that has greatly impacted their operations. It changes the way you train your employees. It changes production, it changes the line flow. It can change substitutions. You know, not all food holds up well to delivery. I've had you know, everybody's had a horrible experience at least once during COVID where you order something. And by the time it gets to you, it looks nothing like the picture. So it's changed with recipes, more durable food packaging is going through a big a lot of changes right now. So there's a ton of impact and all of that has to be figured out and then communicated. And employees need to be retrained on how to to do things. And all of that impacts the customer experience for sure.

Steve:
Hey. My guest on the podcast this week is Jim Hardiman. He's the chief marketing officer and chief product evangelist for CMX. He's given us a really cool overview of kind of what's going on with distributed business models and how these big organizations scale their experience over many, many locations and really a lot of good insights. Jim, you talk about packaging. I mean, the environmental impact I know is is huge for certain organizations there, you know, how much plastic they're generating.

Jim:
And yeah, well, I think that's also that also impacts the customer experiences. I think more and more people are becoming hyper aware of things like ESG and corporate social responsibility and responsible sourcing. Where is the food coming from all the way down to packaging. And so not only do I want it fast, but I want it to taste good, but I also want it to be environmentally safe and sound. And so all of those things are definitely impacting businesses that have traditionally had low margins and high turnover. So, you know, it's it's it's remarkable what most restaurant chains have had to endure over the last two years. And it's been a massive transition for all of them operationally.

Steve:
And how do you think they're all faring? Is the worst behind us? You know, one of the things that with this perspective now two and a half years later, it's you know, it's there was a lot of bad things that happened, but there's also been a lot of neat things that have occurred, so.

Jim:
You know, I think there's been a lot of innovation and I think there's been a lot of continued growth by a lot of the big brands, certainly the ones that are that had a high degree of great operations, that were focused on operational excellence, that had great customer experience. I think those continue to thrive. I think COVID has certainly weeded out some of the weaker ones. I think it's been I think it's been really hard. If you're if you're more of a sit down kind of focus, you know, a brand where you really relying on the experience of people coming into the restaurant. If you didn't have takeout and delivery or or you didn't have drive thrus, I think you definitely suffered. But the ones that you know, the ones that had drive thrus and that were able to move nimbly, a lot of them have gained a lot. And there's been a lot of acquisition and some some very large chains of of sold in the last two years. But I think overall things have gone pretty well, all things considered. I think the what we're seeing, where the challenge is and there's a lot of challenges, a lot of data to back this up is there's seems to be a growing just kind of dissatisfaction overall with the customer experience. So I think that's where the challenge is going to be kind of the next two years is is getting back to the basics and serving the customer. I think a lot of things have been just how do we survive and get through it? But I think to going forward, I think the ones that are going to thrive are the ones that are return back to the basics and really focus on the customer.

Steve:
Good. What are you kind of seeing in the near term future here for the customer experience at these fast food and fast casual and all the hospitality distributed business model, what's kind of your prediction? What's your crystal ball saying, Jim?

Jim:
Well, if I had a perfect crystal ball, I can't tell you where we're going to go with inflation or where the markets are going to go. I wish I knew that. Yeah, but we'd all be we'd be having a different conversation if that was my crystal ball. But, you know, I think the things that we're seeing is obviously rising wages is going to continue to impact these businesses. I think the employees are demanding and wanting better working environments. We talked about engagement. They want to be feel connected to the brand. So just like customer experience, customers want to feel connected to the brand and have an affinity. I think employees want that same thing. Employees are willing to leave businesses that aren't providing that. So I think rising wages and better conditions, but the tooling, training, all of that, I think there's been a lot of discussion about automation and will people be replaced in these types of businesses? I don't think that's the case. I think, you know, me as a consumer, I still want the human element when I go into a restaurant, go into a hotel, a grocery store.

Jim:
But I think the promise always for automation and technology has been to free up people, to be able to spend more time with their employees or with their customers. I believe that to be true still with a lot of what's coming. I think artificial intelligence, machine learning, the analysis of video, those are the types of things that are really going to be important going forward. We see a lot of growth in just more cameras in these environments, more sensor networks, more environmental monitoring for safety, temperature, and then just video of of watching interactions and then using that hopefully in a in a way that it encourages and corrects and coaches employees to do better. But, you know, technology isn't going away, regulations aren't going away, and consumer demands are not getting any less. And so I think you'll continue to see a focus on technology to be able to make things easier, make things more efficient. And then, like I said earlier, just making sense of that data and providing guidance for employees to empower them to do their job better.

Steve:
So if I had to summarize that you're you're relatively optimistic about the future, despite all the uncertainty.

Jim:
I am. You know, I think some of that comes with maybe age and having lived through a couple of things. But, you know, I think I think whenever there's difficulty, there's opportunity. And I think, you know, I think there's there's business models are shifting. And I think the employees are demanding and wanting more. And I think customers are more and more demanding. So I think the businesses that recognize that and shift and start to take advantage of that with investment in the right tools and technology and enabling their employees, are the ones that are going to win. And ultimately, that's the market's going to decide that. And I think customers are more and more exacting in what they want from these brands and businesses.

Steve:
Jim, you're excited. You're you're optimistic about the future. What are some of the things that that you see coming down the pike for the future of customer experience in this realm that you're so familiar with?

Jim:
Yeah, kind of two things from a digital experience standpoint. I know, a lot of people will criticize Facebook and other and Amazons of the world, but frankly, I think Facebook and Instagram and YouTube and Amazon, I think they do a pretty amazing job of being able to suggest companies, products or even experiences based on my own interests. And so from a digital standpoint, I'm very excited about more and more personalization. You know, I can't, you know, countless products that I've discovered, be it around my hobbies or interests through just using these types of apps. And so I think there's great discovery still there, and I love a lot of the personalization. So that's from a digital standpoint, I would say digital personalization I'm very excited about. In real life, I'll… man, I would love to see airports and air travel reinvented. You know, it was a it was a wonderful break, not having to be jump on airplanes for work for for quite a while there during COVID. But for those of us that are back to travel and using airports and rental cars and airplanes, it's pretty bad out there. So I'm I'm very hopeful that air travel and airports will be reinvented and putting the customer first. It's certainly not a customer centric environment when you get get to the airport.

Steve:
Well, boy, I'd second that. You know, this is a topic for another podcast. I don't pick on airlines or cable companies because it's just too easy. Hey, Jim, I really appreciate you being on the show, but we've reached that point of every podcast where I ask every guest for their take home value. This is your best tip that should help our CX pros take something back to the office or back to their screen and really actually improve what they're already doing. So, Jim Hardeman, what is your take home value for today's podcast?

Jim:
You know, I was thinking about if you're a CX leader or you're an aspiring CX leader or you're maybe just in an organization where you're trying to move the needle. I think employee engagement. When I was preparing for the podcast, that was the first thing that came to mind is employee engagement. I think most people think of when they're trying to design the ultimate customer experience and what is their way to play or what is their go to market thing. Obviously, to be customer centric, you have to put the customer at the center and figure that out. But, you know, employees are what make the difference. Employees are the ones that actually deliver that customer spirit and can make the difference. You know, me as a consumer, when I get on an airplane or I go to go to a doctor's office or I go to a grocery store or a restaurant, at the end of the day, what's most memorable is my interactions with other humans. And so. So you can't design your customer experience without employee engagement and really including the employees that are responsible for delivering that customer experience involving them in the design. Soliciting their ideas. Obviously, employee surveys and the like are really important mystery shopping, but you have to include your employees, get them empowered, get them involved in the process. And I think that that's where we'll start to see more of a real change because you can design the perfect experience, but if the employees can't deliver it or don't, aren't engaged and have the ability to deliver it, then it's it's all for naught. So I'd say employee engagement is my number one tip.

Steve:
Well, thank you for that. Jim Hardeman is the chief marketing officer and chief product evangelist for CMX. Jim, thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise with our listeners today on the podcast. It's been a real pleasure.

Jim:
Thanks, Steve. Thanks for having.

Steve:
Me. Hey, and if anybody wants to continue the conversation, why don't you just give me a little bit of your contact details so people could reach out to you?

Jim:
Sure. You can find me on LinkedIn. That's probably the easiest. It's Jim Hardeman. It's h.a.r.d.e.m.a.n. I'm at CMX where you can shoot me an email at jim.hardeman@cmx1.com. That's cxm1.com.

Steve:
Great. Thanks again for being a guest on the podcast. Really appreciate it. If you want to talk about anything you heard on this podcast or about how Walker can help your business's customer experience, feel free to email me at podcast@walkerinfo.com. Be sure to check out our website cxleaderpodcast.com to subscribe to the show and find all of our previous episodes, podcast series, we have our contact information. You can drop us a note, tell us how we're doing, or suggest an idea for a future podcast. The CX Leader Podcast is a production of Walker. We're an experience management firm that helps companies accelerate their XM success. You can read more about us at walkerinfo.com. Thank you for listening and remember, it's a great time to be a CX pro, so go out there and do it and we will see you again next time.