AI is rapidly becoming embedded in customer experience and voice-of-customer programs. 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most companies actually have more customer data than they know what to do with. They run NPS surveys, collect customer support feedback, gather onboarding input, do product roadmap questionnaires, have account manager summaries in their CRMs, the inputs are endless.

Customer frustration doesn’t wait for your next meeting. Act fast, or watch loyalty erode and customers vanish. Here’s how to intercept issues in real-time.

I regularly speak with small, fast-growing companies who often say they haven’t started an NPS, customer satisfaction, or Voice of Customer (VoC) program. When I ask them why, their common justification: “We’re still small, haven’t lost customers yet, and they stay in personal touch.”

In the past, attracting customers meant mastering Google Ads: select prime keywords, set your bids, and watch the inquiries pour in. But that tried-and-true approach is fading fast.

Most companies think they’re doing enough to understand their customers. They run an annual satisfaction survey, maybe buy some anonymous market research report, and call it a day. The problem? That’s not really knowing the mind of your customers. That’s checking a box.

Just the other day I was reading a post on X by some silicon valley VC talking about how AI agents are going to replace countless different jobs. As expected it kicked off a lot of comments and replies.

Management consultants have long been a go-to strategy for the C-Suite. They’re brought in to evaluate a business, recommend strategic directions, advise on product launches, encourage RIFs, and even weigh in on M&A.

Customer churn is one of the most pressing challenges any business faces. Regardless of the state of the overall economy, or even the caliber of your competition, keeping current customers happy is critical. Your customers are the foundation of your business and it costs a lot more to get a new customer than it does retaining them.  

Market research is essential for every business. It’s a shame, however, that companies spend so much money to get such a small return.

Every business faces the same challenge: figuring out where to focus. Where are the best opportunities? What’s the best go-to-market strategy? Who are truly the toughest competitors to have to deal with?

AI isn’t just supposed to speed up existing processes, it’s supposed to improve them. But when it comes to the world of HR and recruiting, is AI actually causing more problems that it solves by screening out good candidates before they even get the chance to get interviewed by a real person?

For many healthcare organizations, participating in standardized patient surveys like HCAHPS is mandatory. These government-mandated surveys are supposed to help gauge true patient satisfaction and improve care quality. But in practice, they fail miserably.

While doing a great deal of calls with hospital executives recently, AI was (unsurprisingly) constantly brought up. But I noticed that cloud infrastructure was mentioned quite frequently as well. The two seemed to go almost hand-in-hand. 

When a major health system reached out to their software vendor’s new CEO after a major acquisition, they expected a prompt response. As a client paying 7-figures annually for enterprise software, they assumed their concerns would matter. Months of silence cost the vendor a 9-figure renewal—and revealed a critical lesson for every business leader: ignoring customers sends a message you can’t afford.

Right from the jump I’ll just say it: most companies’ customer sat programs are pretty lousy. In fact, in many cases, they end up damaging the very relationships they were meant to improve. Here’s why…

In sales, the classic “hunters vs. farmers” analogy has long shaped hiring strategies. Successful hunters develop and research their qualified pipeline and close deals; farmers cultivate existing relationships and grow revenue over time. Traditionally, hunters land in sales and farmers in account management or customer success.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the traditional sales model is undergoing a fundamental transformation. As customer acquisition costs rise and subscription-based models become the norm, companies are realizing that the real revenue opportunity lies not just in landing the deal—but in keeping and growing it. Enter: customer success.

Customer success has become a buzzword, with companies investing heavily in dedicated teams, sophisticated software, and data-driven strategies. But is it truly worth the investment, or is it just another trend that over promises and under delivers?

Politics are a hot topic, especially this time of year, and it’s hard to stay above the fray. To that point, we’ve seen several CEOs publicly state on LinkedIn which politician they support and it got us wondering if that’s a great idea or not. 

Specifically, when a CEO posts something on LinkedIn, the industry might naturally conclude that the CEO is also speaking for their company and, as such, is that appropriate? What do their employees think? 

This is certainly a very touchy subject that we, of course, just had to quickly research. The results are exceptionally, and overwhelmingly, clear. Just don’t… 😉

There’s a great deal of uncertainty in the job market right now owing to what might happen with the presidential election, will the Fed keep lowering interest rates, and what impact AI is having in replacing work normally done by employees.

For that reason, we decided to run a quick poll to see what candidates are experiencing. Here’s what we found out…

Hospitals acquiring other hospitals, clinics acquiring other clinics, is one thing. But PE firms, insurance companies, pharma, and even big tech acquiring them is something else altogether. Because this is happening with increased frequency we did a quick poll about it. The results were even more pessimistic than we’d anticipated…

Here are the results of a quick poll on the level of interest in attending the RSNA 2024 conference.

Here are the results of a quick poll on the level of interest in attending the upcoming CHIME Fall Forum.