Stacy Sherman: Why 'Satisfied' Is the New 'Fine' And 12 Reasons That's Not Good Enough"

Low-Cost, High-Impact CX Improvements The Power of Language: Transform "I can't" into "How can we" Shift from "I have to" to "We get to" Being "impeccable with your word" (inspired by The Four Agreements) Words trigger emotional responses that shape customer perception Getting CX Buy-In Across Organizations The Alignment Problem: CX initiatives fail when metrics aren't shared across departments Success came when executives adopted the same CX metrics as the CX team Without shared goals, customer insights get shelved with "we'll get to it later" The Pilot Program Strategy: Start small before asking for big budgets Show proof of concept with intentional, measurable pilots Use success to rally and align different areas of the company Real Example - CX Day Success: Introduced first-ever CX Day celebration at 145-year-old engineering company Started small despite skepticism Now an annual tradition that continues after her departure Rethinking CX Metrics Beyond Traditional Measurements: NPS and effort scores are starting points, not endpoints "Satisfaction" is no longer good enough (it's the equivalent of "fine") New focus: Emotional altitude across every touchpoint The Emotional Impact: Brains constantly cycle between thinking and feeling Emotions create lasting imprints that shape brand perception Research shows: 12 positive experiences needed to overcome 1 negative Measure emotional highs to identify gaps and successes The Four Rs of CX Impact: Revenue Retention Reputation Referrals The Future of Contact Centers Human + AI Integration: Smart companies intentionally map where humans add value vs. where AI should handle interactions The answer is "both/and" not "either/or" Critical: Validate designs with real customers, not just internal teams The Contact Center Superpower: Contact center teams speak to more customers in a week than other departments do in a year This proximity to customers gives agents unique power to be organizational change agents Voice of customer insights should inform product development, marketing messaging, and more Words Matter in the AI Era: Example: Website offering "24/7 support, our guides are happy to help you" "Guides" for both humans and AI feels impersonal Naming and framing still matters The Power of Customer Voice The 10-Minute Video Story: A contact center leader captured customer feedback about a failed new product. At an executive meeting, he played a 10-minute compilation of customer complaints. The CEO's initial advisor said it was a career-ending mistake The CEO walked out during the video Result: CEO returned and said it was "the best 10 minutes anybody's ever played" and named him employee #1 Customer voice changed the company's trajectory The Validation Imperative: Internal perspective isn't enough Customer validation must be iterative, not one-time Can't use internal team as proxy for outside voice Both internal knowledge AND customer validation matter The Fundamental C-Suite Challenge When C-suite leaders aren't aligned in their meetings, misalignment trickles down through the entire organization. This is the root problem preventing effective CX implementation. Notable Stories The Morgan & Morgan Tattoo Story: Leadership promised to get company logo tattoos if the team hit an unprecedented conversion rate goal. When they achieved it, 40 leaders got matching tattoos - four tattoo artists came in for the day. The question became: "Is your brand tattoo-worthy?" Stacey's Podcast Origin: Bought her first microphone for under $50, then waited six months before taking it out of the box due to fear. That mic ignited her journey to intentionally sharing her voice through podcasting. Living Podcasting: At the conference, Stacey pulled out her mic to record a 10-minute session where Amas (who has Parkinson's) gave direct advice to her relative with a similar condition - creating immediate, personal value rather than secondhand communication. Takeaways for Contact Center Leaders Language shapes reality - Small word changes create emotional shifts in customer experience Demand metric alignment - CX can't succeed unless executives share the same measurements Start with pilots - Prove value small-scale before requesting major investment Leverage your proximity to customers - Use it to become the organizational glue and change agent Validate everything with real customers - Internal assumptions aren't enough Map the human-AI journey intentionally - Design where each adds value, then test with customers Bring customer voice to leadership - Sometimes the most powerful thing is making them listen directly Average isn't acceptable - Move beyond satisfaction to creating emotional highs

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