Neal Topf is proud, and a little bit fanboying, to welcome back to the podcast the esteemed author Annette Franz.

Following on from the success of Annette's first book, "Customer Understanding", Annette's second book, "Built To Win", promises to reshape how companies and individuals look at employee experience and the difference between customer-centric vs customer focus.

Annette takes Neal on a whirlwind tour of the book, she touches on the 10 principles that help change the culture, why changing culture is hard and how can you measure culture.

We also get to hear a bit about what drives Annette, why did she want to write this book, what was her why.

All of the above, and more, are discussed in the podcast. Download to find out more!

Happy New Year to all our listeners at Fireside Chats Without The Fires, and thank you all for the support for the podcast. As we enter our second year (yes, second!!), we are amazed to be starting the year with a simply outstanding guest.

Adrian Swinscoe, the author of Punk CX, joins Neal to talk about his latest book, Punk XL. 

Punk XL does the entire CX community a solid by creating this creative masterpiece (yes, masterpiece) of tracks that make us think/re-think how we set our customer-facing organizations up to succeed. Ever heard of rEcIpe? HIPPO? Proto-WTF-col? Each of these explained on video and sound by author extraordinaire, Adrian Swinscoe 

Amanda Malach joins Neal Topf on today’s episode of #spotlightonthebusinessofcx. In the limited podcast series, Fireside side chats without the fires brings together thought leaders and experts from the world of investment and finance to share their knowledge on how important it is to align any CX projects to the company’s bottom-line.

David Koning and Robert Bamberger from Baird are back from a third episode focusing on the business side of CX.

Hosted by Neal Topf, the limited podcast series aims to bring a clearer understanding of the impacts that positive CX has on business, from an investment and financial standpoint.

On this episode, David and Robert talk about the insights from Bairds Q3 survey results about 2022 in the BPO space, and the potential impact that wage inflation may have on pricing. They also discuss the performance of TaskUs, TELUS and Accenture, and how these three companies are bucking the trend and showing growth in Q3 and what that means for 2022.

The panel also discuss digital channels, pre and post COVID, the difference between value and value companies and Robby shares his experience of Curb Mobility.

Jessica Noble, MBA, CCXP, a long-time friend and supporter of Fireside Chats Without The Fires, joins Neal Topf today’s episode of “Spotlight on The Business Of CX”.

In this limited series of podcasts, Neal is joined by CX experts who look at how CX impacts the bottom line. Today, Jess and Neal talk candidly about a myriad of different topics related to this area.

Some of the questions that they answer include Is CX at a crisis point right now?, should businesses be focusing on niceness right now? and is does the person who is leading your CX have a strong business acumen? If not, is that really the right person to lead CX?

Jess shares her thoughts on how the return of CX must be seen in the bottom line, otherwise, what is the point of doing CX? What problem is CX solving and does that solve have a financial impact on the company? Jess also confronts the frequently asked question about adding new channels to the business. Her standard reply is, quite simply “Is it seamless and will they talk to each other?”.

Insightful, maybe a touch controversial but, ultimately, educational, this is a podcast that you do not want to miss! 

Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus from the International University of Monaco is today's guest on the podcast. 

Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus joins Neal to talk about his recently published article "What matters most to ultra-high-net-worth individuals?" The article, which is included on this link, explores what really does matter to those individuals who have everything? Do they have the same wants and needs as us mere mortals?

Dr. Klaus, with a passion that is very seldom seen, answers the above question, and more, in today's podcast. He explains what really matters to the uber-rich, why it matters and that a company's focus should be on post-purchase, rather than purchase itself, whether that's a yacht, airplane, assistance with financial wealth or a super-car. 

One of the major take-aways from the podcast is Dr. Klaus's 4 Step framework for improving #CX, including such items as the importance of personal relationships and achieving consistency and saving time. As Dr. Klaus puts it, time is the currency of the future of CX and , while you can't delight a customer, you most certainly can delight your company to bankruptcy (you heard those two golden nuggets here first!.)

Dr. Klaus also has a special call out for Christopher Brooks, and his world with the #CXWG2021.

Prof. Dr. Phil Klaus's studies: https://bit.ly/3pGQipM

Fireside Chats Without the Fires is thrilled to welcome back to the podcast, the talented Jessica Noble to talk about her chapter from the CX 3 book, “It Depends Trap”.

Jessica chats to Neal about how a cooperate event several years ago highlighted an issue of inconsistency, or, as Jessica likes to call it, “It Depends Trap”. The Trap, as Jessica tells it, is when a customer receives poor experience because they “called in on a Monday”, therefore, IT DEPENDS when a customer calls in to receive good experience.

Hear from Jessica about tackling “It Depends Trap” can have a positive impact on customer retention, employee experience, reduce costs and have a positive impact on the bottom line. One of the tools that Jessica uses to do this very thing is something called “The 5 Why’s”, how by asking WHY 5 times can help identify issues that are causing pain for the customer. As always, Jessica’s enthusiasm for this topic knows no bounds, and, if you or your business find yourselves in the “It Depends Trap”, then give this a listen.

David Wales, author the chapter “Seeing Through the Smoke” from the CX3 book, is the guest on the podcast. 

David’s fire service background may not be one that people usually associate with customer experience, however, as he explains to Neal, his experience in this field has given David and unique view into CX.

David shares how the Fire Service is learning to include cx in their roles, and that there is a place for voice of the customer, honestly, who would have thought that? Through his stories, David shines a light on how, on occasion, what we think people will do vs what they will actual do is poles apart (not that it’s a bad thing at all), and, in one story, how listening to a fire victim opened a whole different avenue in dealing with the public. To end the podcast, David poses the question as to whether the fact that streaming services, such as Netflix (please tag) is a good thing? Does it allow companies to see us as individuals or as pigeonholed into certain boxes?