Shep Hyken on Customer Experience Leadership

I am very excited to present to you an interview that I conducted with Shep Hyken. He is a recognized thought leader and expert on customer service, known worldwide for his insights on customer loyalty, customer experience, and in leadership. He is a sought-after speaker and has consulted some of the most respected and beloved companies and brands. And, he has authored several New York Times Bestsellers, which you can learn more about in his author bio after the interview.

Be sure to read our other interviews in our leadership series.

I hope you enjoy this interview and find what Shep has to share with us helpful and practical in your efforts to improve the customer experience ¹.

Interview with Shep Hyken on Customer Service

1. Shep, can you briefly share with the audience what led you, among all the possible areas of business, to focus on the customer experience?

Customer service is what I’ve always known. My parents taught me to do the right thing. When I started my first business at age 12 (a birthday party magic show business), I created an amazing service experience, without even knowing it. I called ahead to confirm with the customer (parents), I showed up early, did my best while I was there, stayed late, followed up with a thank you note and then followed up with a phone call to make sure I did a great job. It was a total experience for the customer.

2. Can you share with us the best experience you’ve had as a customer? What made it so good?

So many great experiences. I love to share the story of a cab driver who treated his customers far better than even a limo driver. He picked me up, provided soft drinks, a newspaper and even showed me a favorite local landmark on the way to the airport. Four days later I received a thank you note – and he sent holiday cards. What made it so good? More than anything, he had an amazing attitude about taking care of his customers. You can watch me tell the story on my YouTube channel.

3. Let’s talk about customer service. Historically, customer service has been a cost center in most companies. Can customer service be strategic? If so, how and please share examples of where you’ve seen customer service play a strategic role in a company.

Customer service isn’t a department. It’s a philosophy. The best companies recognize that everyone impacts the customer experience, even if they never interact directly with the customer. A department may be a cost center, but a philosophy permeates the entire organization and is part of what makes that company successful. Look at Zappos.com, the Ritz-Carlton, Ace Hardware, and Southwest Airlines – just to name a few. They all use customer service to their advantage and are successful (and profitable) as a result.

4. Is the customer always right?

No, the customer is not always right. But, they are always the customer, so let them be wrong with dignity and respect.

5. What about employee engagement in the customer experience? What’s the role of the employees in creating loyalty and endearment?

Every interaction the customer has with anyone at the company is an opportunity to create a positive Moment of Truth, which I refer to as a Moment of Magic®. Every employee must be aware of how they impact that customer experience. It’s everyone’s job. And, if they aren’t dealing directly with a customer, they are supporting someone who is, so they must manage that interaction as well.

6. In terms of customer experience metrics, many companies use the Net Promoter Score. What other metrics, from your experience, that effectively measure the customer experience?

It’s hard to argue with the power of NPS. There are other surveys and programs, but NPS is simple to understand and implement. I like to suggest to my clients to add one open ended question to the simple NPS question, which is: Is there one thing you can think of that would make the experience better?

7. What’s your view on Detractor Avoidance versus Customer Delight, or both?

There will always be detractors. Don’t avoid them, embrace them. They can help you improve. And, you can turn these “detractors” around and they become your advocates.

8. Let’s suppose you are working with a company that lacks understanding of how the emotional aspects of the customer experience can impact both loyalty and the bottom line – psychobabble would be how the company characterizes discussions around customer sentiment and emotion.

What approach would you take to help others see the value on the emotional and less quantified aspects of the customer experience?

I have the luxury of working with clients who understand the power of a consistently great customer experience. And, if they aren’t achieving it, they are doing what they can to fix it. Companies aren’t going to hire me if they don’t have that attitude. The market – their customers – will convince this company over time, as they defect to the competition.

9. Tell us about the role of process improvement in the field of customer experience? Are they compatible, how?

Anything you can do to make the company better – in any way – has positive impact. Even if it primarily impacts the employees, they will be happier, which translates to being more fulfilled and willing to work hard to create a positive customer (and employee) experience.

10. While many industries are recognizing the importance of focusing on the customer experience, some haven’t. Where are some areas of opportunity where a focus on the customer experience can make a big impact on loyalty, retention, and growth?

It always surprises me when there are companies or industries that haven’t recognized the importance of customer service, especially with all of the social proof that is out there to prove the benefits of delivering good customer service. The biggest opportunities for improvement are in air transportation and telephone/communications. Companies in those industries are making strides, but they have to deal with their recent negative reputations.

11. Any final words of advice, or anything else you’d like to share?

Recognize that with all of the technology out there today, typically people still do business with people. Companies must hire the right employees, train them well and create a customer focused culture. If you don’t, your competition will. Finally, as mentioned in an earlier question, customer service is not a department. It is a philosophy to be embraced by everyone in an organization, from the highest level executive, to the most recently hired.

Shep Hyken is a customer experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations.

He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession.

Shep is the author of the following bestselling books: The Cult of the Customer, Moments of Magic, The Loyal Customer, and The Amazement Revolution.

Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. For more articles on customer service and business go to Hyken.com, where you will be able to contact him on business and customer related matters.

Other interviews in our leadership series:

Lean Leadership Interviews
Jeffrey Liker, NYT Best Selling Author, Professor, and Author of the Toyota Way	Jeffrey Liker, author of The Toyota Way, shares his thoughts on Toyota Kata, why sometimes root cause analysis isn't necessary, and what else he is excited to learn - even after 30 years of being a student of the Toyota Production System.
Eric Ries, Author of the Leanstartup	In this Podcast interview with Eric Ries, the author of The Leanstartup, we learn about the how he's applied Lean principles to starting companies. He also tells us about his consulting work with GE and how GE, worldwide, has applied Leanstartup throughout all its divisions and is considering Leanstartup as its new Operating System for the company.
Michael Balle, Author and Respected Lean Thinker	Michael Balle is a leading voice in Lean. In this interview, he shares with us his thoughts on Lean, tells us about his book, and spends a good amount of time discussing Respect for People.
Michael Jones, Head of Content at eBay	Michael Jones is the Head of Content at eBay and is the son of Daniel T. Jones, the co-author of The Machine that Changed the World - the watershed book that first brought awareness of the Toyota Production System to America.
Akash Trevidi	We caught up with Akash Trevidi, a product manager at Kiva.org, the microfinance company that aims to help entrepreneurs worldwide in order to alleviate poverty through self-reliance and entrepreneurship.
Hugh Molotsi, VP of Innovation at Intuit Labs	We caught up with Hugh Molotsi at the Lean Startup Conference. Hugh is the VP of Innovation at Intuit Labs. In this interview, we discuss how to encourage everyone's voice in innovative product development and in solving problems.
Zetdi Runyan Sloan	Zetdi Runyan Sloan leads the startup and entrpreneurship events at the New Mexico State University. Learn about how use of Lean Startup.
Al Dupree	Al Dupree is the head of innovation at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology. In this interview, he discusses his use of Lean Startup principles in the world of research and innovation.
Cory Strong, Lean Leader at Nebraska Health System	Cory Strong first learned Lean by learning the Kawasaki Production System. Many years later, he finds himself in the exciting and high impact world of Lean Healthcare as a Lean Leader at the Nebraska Health System.
Jon Miller, CEO Kaizen Institute	We interview Kaizen Institute (Kaizen.com) CEO Jon Miller. In this interview, we get a glimpse of Jon's balanced and thoughtful approach to learning, teaching, and the application of the Toyota Production System.
Jonathan Escobar Marin Global Head of Lean Management at Hartmann Group	Jonathan Escobar Marin is a Lean Leader and practitioner who first learned of the Toyota Production System while he was on a benchmarking trip to Toyota while employed at Procter and Gamble. In this interview you learn about his journey and how he blends the High Performance Organization Model with Lean.
Daniel Debow, SVP at Salesforce.com	Interview with Daniel Debow, Senior Vice President at SalesForce.com; In this podcast, we discuss Deming, Lean at SalesForce, and the SalesForce Wearables Initiative.
Matt Long, VP of Continuous Improvement at Herman Miller Inc.	Matt Long, VP of Continuous Improvement and 24 year veteran at Herman Miller Inc. shares with us the history of Lean at Herman Miller, their association with the Toyota Supplier Support Center, and about the Herman Miller Performance System.
Bob Emiliani, Author and Professor of Management	This interview with Dr. Bob Emiliani covers several aspects of Fake Lean versus Real Lean. There are real insights here from the "Lean Professor".
Michel Baudin, Author and Respected Voice in Lean Manufacturing	Michel Baudin is an author, highly-sought after consultant in the Toyota Production System. In this interview we learn about his distinctions between Lean-Lite versus Lean-Deep and how he understand the Respect for People Principle versus Respect for the Human as is used internally at Toyota.
Laura Busche, Author of Lean Branding	Lean Branding is an application of Lean principles to branding. Read her provocative and practical approach to brand branding using the principles of Lean.
Robert Martichenko, Founder of Leancor	Robert Martichenko is the Founder and CEO of LeanCor - a lean logistics and supply chain company. He is also the author of the book "A Lean Fulfillment Stream", published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. In this interview, he shares with us how Lean can be applied effectively beyond the 4 walls of manufacturing and outside the office, but infused into the entire supply chain.
Peter Armstrong, CEO of Leanpub (Lean Publishing)	Leanpub is an innovative approach to book publishing, where Peter believes that lean principles apply. He claims that writing a book is essentially a startup. And, the worst waste of all is writing a book that nobody wants. Read more to learn how to apply lean to the world of book publishing.
Keith Sparkjoy, Chief Culture Officer at Pluralsight	Keith Sparkjoy is the Culture Officer at Pluralsight, a Utah company that raised $135 Million in 2014 - an unprecedented amount of venture capital. And, here's the really cool part, as the culture officer, he's trying to transform his company using Dr. W. Edward Deming's teachings.
David J. Anderson, Author of many books on Agile, and inventor of Kanban for Creative and Knowledge work	David J. Anderson is the pioneer of the application of Kanban for creative knowledge work. His methodology and approach has had widespread acceptance and adoption and in this interview he shares results from companies that have tried his approach and other lessons learned.
Dimitar Karaivanov, CEO of Kanbanize	Dimitar Karaivanov is the CEO of Kanbanize, a visual kanban system designed for creative and knowledge workers. In this interview, we discuss the product and its many uses and how it embodies the principles of Lean.
Chris Hefley, CEO LeanKit	Chris Hefley is the CEO of LeanKit, a company that provides Virtual Kanban software for software development teams and knowledge workers. Reah his interview and learn what led to the development of LeanKit and the role Lean and the Toyota Production System plays.
Dan Markovitz, Noted consultant and expert on Lean for Office	In this interview with Dan Markovitz, we learn why he believes that everything is connected to the customer through the office. Based on this belief, he feels that Lean for Office makes the most sense. Read and learn how he's implemented Lean for the Office.
Jason Yip, Consultant to software development organzations	Jason Yip is a noted thoughtleader in software engineering. As a consultant, he helps software engineering organizations get better. In this interview, we learn the state of software engineering and the role of Agile, Lean for Software and Kanban.
Matthew May, NYT Best Selling author, consultant, and expert on Toyota Production System	Matthew May is an author and influential voice in Lean and also Design Thinking. He worked close to a decade at University of Toyota to help codify the Toyota Production System. In this interview, he shares with us his thoughts on his experience and what we can learn from it.
Mark Graban, Best Selling Author and expert on Lean for Healthcare	Lean Healthcare expert Mark Graban stops by and share his thoughts with Shmula readers on how Lean can be applied to arguably the most important industry in the world, healthcare.
Art Smalley, 15 Year Toyota Veteran and authority on Toyota Production System	Art Smalley is one of the most honest and influential voices in Lean. He was the first American to work in Japan's Kamigo plant, the plant where Taiichi Ohno began the Toyota Production System. He shares with us his thoughts on the Lean Movement and where it is going wrong.
Jeff Gothelf, Author of Lean UX, applying Lean for User Experience	Lean is being applied to every facet of business. Jeff Gothelf shares with us his thoughts on applying Lean for user experience, or Lean UX.
Cecil Dijoux, Expert Consultant on applying Lean for IT	Cecil Dijoux shares with us his thoughts on applying Lean to IT, definitely a must-read if you are in the information technology space.
Brent Wahba, Author and Expert on applying Lean for Sales and Marketing	Brent Wahba is a fellow at the Lean Enterprise Institute and shares with us his thoughts on Lean for Sales and Marketing.

Interview with Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

In December 2008, I was fortunate enough to interview Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. In a 5 part series of interviews, we discuss the Zappos strategy and Tony answers questions on why he chooses to focus on the customer and how he sees that as strategic.

Interviews with Customer Experience Experts
Mark Roenigk, COO of Rackspace and Board Member at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation	Rackspace Interview on Customer Experience: We interviewed Mark Roenigk on June 10, 2013. We discussed the Net Promoter Score and also topics around process improvement and how Rackspace places the customer first.
Shep Hyken, Author and expert on Customer Experience Strategy	Shep Hyken Customer Service Interview: We interviewed Shep Hyken on June 3, 2013 and discussed topics close to his heart - the customer. We focused our discussion on customer service and how focusing on the customer is strategic, not just tactical.
Annette Franz, Customer Experience Strategist and Survey Design Expert	Annette Franz Gleneicki on Customer Experience Strategy: Annette Gleneicki is a customer experience thought leader and Director at Confirmit, a voice of the customer platform. We discuss her thoughts on customer experience and the direction of the overall field.
Michel Falcon, Customer Experience Strategist and Author	Michel Falcon on Improving the Customer Experience: Michel Falcon is a former executive at 1800GOTJUNK and was the person who propelled 1800GOTJUNK to become a customer service powerhouse. In this interview, we discuss what he did and the lessons he learned.
Adam Ramshaw, Consultant to fortune 500 companies on Customer Experience	Adam Ramshaw, a customer experience consultant with Genroe, explains the relationship between continuous improvement and customer experience.

Leadership Interviews
Aza Raskin, Author, Startup Founder, and Son of Mac Inventor Jef Raskin	This is a multi-part Interview with Aza Raskin, on the Humane Interface. He discusses Agile Software Engineering. Then, in a later interview Aza Raskin discusses the "infinite scroll" approach to Google search results. In part 3, Aza Raskin shares his thoughts on Feature Bloat (aka, "Featuritis") and how to overcome it. In part 4, Aza Raskin describes the concept of Quasimodal Design and how to implement it in our software projects. Finally, Aza Raskin explains the role of Poka Yoke in the User Experience and why Lean should be applied to software engineering and knowledge work in general.
Mary Poppendieck, Author and codifier of Lean for Software Engineering	In this multi-part interview with Mary Poppendieck, the pre-eminent evangelist and teacher for Lean for Software, explains Lean Software Engineering. Then, Shmula.com readers were able to ask her questions of their own - read them here as Mary Poppendieck’s Answers to ALL Readers’ Questions, which includes questions such as Should Lean be Top-down or Bottom-up?. Then, another Interview with Mary Poppendieck. Then, Another interview with Mary Poppendieck where she explains Lean Software Engineering to a Lean Six Sigma audience. Plus, here's the Original Article to Ask Mary Poppendieck Anything. Finally, Mary considers the idea of "handoff" and how that's such a big problem in software projects - Mary Poppendieck on the Handoff and Waste
Gauri Nanda, Entrepreneur and inventor of Clocky	The inventor of Clocky, Gauri Nanda, shares with us her thoughts on innovation and the birth of Clocky
Gretchen Rubin, Author and evangelist of Happiness	In March 2010, I held a 2 part series of interview with Gretchen Rubin, the author of the Happiness Project. Her answers to reader's questions on a variety of topics centering on happiness will enlighten you. Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project, shares with us here thoughts on how to be happy and what our part is in choosing to be happy. Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project, answers questions on happiness. This is Part 1 of 2. And, In part 2 of 2, Gretchen Rubin, the author of the Happiness project answers more questions on how to be happy.
Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow	Spencer Rascoff, the CEO of Zillow, shares with us his thoughts on this interview with Zillow back in June 2006.
Josh Coates, Entrepreneur and Startup Guy	Josh Coates, the founder of Mozy, shares with us jokes and the innovation behind Mozy.
Lloyd Hildebrand, Physician, Entrepreneur, and Enemy of Preventable Diseases that cause Blindness	Lloyd Hildebrand describes Diabetic Retinopathy and how his company, Inoveon, a Telemedicine Company, aims to eradicate diabetic retinopathy.
Ryan Kiskis, Gamer, Product Director, World of Warcraft	Ryan Kiskis of xFire, the developer of World of Warcraft, explains his thoughts on innovation.
Brian Hansen, Product Director, Kaboodle, the first pinterest	Kaboodle, was clearly the predecessor to Pinterest. We learn about Kaboodle and the innovation behind it.
Mark Jen, Product Manager, Guy who was fired from Google	Mark Jen, VP of Product Management at Plaxo, a Contact management company, the predecessor to Linkedin speaks to us about innovation and the business of business networking.
Samuel Adams, Community Director and expert on all things word of mouth	Bzzagent, the word of mouth marketing company, explains the power of the buzz.

Read More Leadership Interviews ↩

Shep Hyken on Customer Service, Customer Experience, and Leadership