037: Experiences Rule, Reebok’s Ben Blakesley, and Fraudsters

Product vs Experience: Selling and maintaining emotional connections Ben Blakesley, Sr. Manager, Global Social Media, Reebok Customer Zero: How scam artists are ruining the experience for the rest of us SPONSOR MESSAGE Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. Product vs. Experience: How Sweet Emotional Connections turn Sour A hot topic touched upon by Fast Company and investigated further by author Gretchen Rubin, Adam and Jeannie discuss the idea that it’s not really products that we aim to sell to customers, but the experiences and emotional connections facilitated by those products. While many companies go above and beyond to sell customers on the experiences delivered by the products themselves, they often drop the ball when it comes to the overall customer journey. Jeannie and Adam discuss some of the ways companies can carry that emotional connection beyond marketing and maintain it through the total customer experience. Discussion begins at 01:33 Ben Blakesley, Sr. Manager of Global Social Media at Reebok Special guest Ben Blakesley shares how to truly define success in social media. He explains that companies need to determine how social media serves their business needs, rather than simply ”doing” social media. Ben explains some of the ways Reebok creates a mutually-beneficial social environment by creating and maintaining emotional connections on social channels while staying aligned with business goals. Ben shares some inspiring stories around Reebok’s strategy of featuring the challenges and victories of everyday athletes instead of pro sports figures many customers could never realistically compare themselves to. This sets the stage for a very strong culture within Reebok that is centered on helping customers and employees be the very best they can be. Listen to hear the many ways Reebok is walking the talk! Discussion begins at 10:40 Customer Zero: How Fraudsters Affect the Customer Experience across Industries Credit card companies bear the brunt for most credit card fraud in the U.S today… but that’s about to change! Adam and Jeannie talk about things like Chip-and-PIN technology and the coming shift in fraud responsibility. Retailers and vendors will soon need to be more vigilant about protecting themselves from credit card and gift card fraud. Adam and Jeannie discuss several ways the coming changes can affect the experience honest customers are having with your brand. Discussion begins at 24:01  People, Places, and Things of the Podcast: Ben Blakesley is the Senior Manager of Global Social Media at Reebok, and formerly Marketing Manager for Vanguard. Ben is also the author of the book Get Social: A practical Guide to Using Social Media for Business. Connect with Ben: LinkedIn | Twitter Reebok The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things Gretchen Rubin   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices