Tune in as we share real-talk conversations between women working in CX and those influencing the CX agenda from the periphery too.
Clare Muscutt talks with Airship’s Strategic Services Lead, Jennie Lewis about the challenges faced by women in Customer Experience technology.
I mean, it's not easy [for women in tech] For years I'd go into meetings where I was the only woman in the room, like it would just be a bunch of Engineers and me. I think, the two biggest things I ran into were folks, taking credit for my work— Having people just, just straight-up take credit for it. That, and then really getting dismissed during some of those meetings. You know, in some cases one of the guys that I had a little joke where I would say something and we had a customer who would just be like... “No, that can't possibly work”. And then ‘he’ (my account management friend) would repeat the exact same thing I said and it was accepted….. The sexism is mind-blowing…..
Clare Muscutt talks with Sarah Sargent about customer experience in the housing and non-profit sectors
“So, there's a real shift to true customer involvement and customer engagement.
You're seeing a lot more in the sector of not just surveys and feedback about perceptions of the service and levels of satisfaction, but a lot more co-creation where customers who are interested in digital, for example, can come and help to design and deliver website and digital tools and solutions to customers who get involved in their own local community because a lot is about actually how to create safe places for people to live and to thrive and to work.
So, there's a lot of that local engagement going going on, as well, but it's really using that customer voice to help…”
Clare Muscutt talks with Adi Tobias about CX in platform-based businesses and neurodivergence as a CX superpower!
“But I think now working in an environment where I can legitimately show up to work like this, and lead a team like this, and present in any which fashion – nose ring, hair, coloured lips, coloured nails – ‘Doesn’t matter. We’re interested in your work. We’re interested in what you can put together. We’re interested in the way you lead.’ I think that is so, so important in leveraging the benefits of having people who aren’t neurotypical because it’s magical. It’s magical to have a brain that works like this. It is. I fully believe it. I sell it to my team. If I go off on a little rant, they know to bring me back to the conversation because ‘Full disclosure: this is who I am. I love what I do. And sometimes, I don’t necessarily, can’t necessarily stay in the conversation like you can, but it’s worth it. Like stick it out with me and you’ll see the benefit.’ And it typically…”
Clare Muscutt talks with Gita Samani about CX and Digital Transformation, Perfectionism, and Beating Burnout
“And I think when we spoke, as you said, you recognised it in yourself, as well, when we both sat here and we’re like… and we just literally breathed. We just breathed. And I think that was so important to realise that it’s not just yourself; there are other women out there or people out there – not just women – there are people out there who are feeling this way because they are striving for so much. And, you know, I do think it’s a symptom of my own making that I am a bit of a perfectionist and I like to make sure that everything is right, and everything is done properly. And I do get slightly irritated when it doesn’t happen, and it’s something I have been pulled up on. But sometimes, you just have to let the small things go, and you have to…”
Clare Muscutt talks with Sarah Curran-Usher MBE about the evolution of retail customer experience
I think it’s really important that I stress that, you know, particularly when we’re talking about profitability… and sometimes, I think there’s this unfair assumption towards female leadership that we’re focused on all the sort of exciting and cosy stuff, the warm staff that kind of creates this loyalty, but actually that therefore we’re not looking at the bottom line. And that’s not the case because actually, particularly if you’ve got a low average selling point, protecting your operational margin and operational profits is even more important because you haven’t got much to play with. But then, it’s about driving that repeat customer through strong loyalty, strong retention. It’s about maybe purchasing less inventory and stock so that you’re actually selling more at actually full price versus having to constantly give out discounts to incentivise people to shop.