Experts of Experience: Episode #54 - How to Turn Customer Experience Into a Revenue Driver

Host: Lauren Wood
Guest: Monica Trivedi, Vice President of Global Client Experience at JLL Technologies
Release Date: October 30, 2024
Presented by: Salesforce Customer Success

Introduction

In Episode #54 of Experts of Experience, host Lauren Wood engages in an in-depth conversation with Monica Trivedi, the Vice President of Global Client Experience at JLL Technologies. The discussion revolves around how customer experience (CX) can be transformed into a significant revenue driver for businesses. Monica shares her insights on leadership, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), and creating data-driven strategies that foster client success and innovation.

Understanding Customer Experience at JLL Technologies

Monica Trivedi emphasizes the integral role of client experience in driving revenue. She explains that JLL Technologies employs a comprehensive approach to CX, encompassing departments like professional services, implementation, customer success, and global support, spread across regions including North America, AMEA, and APAC.

“Client experience really starts as soon as that deal is signed and many times even before it's signed, we get brought in.” [02:18]

Lauren Wood highlights the seamless in-person experiences facilitated by JLL Technologies' property management technology, which operates behind the scenes to ensure functionality and efficiency in large commercial real estate structures.

"You’re really helping to make sure that there's a seamless in-person experience as people are coming into a building or being in a building." [03:35]

Customer Success as a Revenue Driver

Monica discusses her belief in the direct correlation between customer experience and revenue growth. She outlines a two-pronged approach:

1. Strategic Client Engagement: Meeting clients where they are in their technological and business journeys. Monica recounts her first day at JLL Technologies, where she proposed the introduction of Customer Success Consultants to partner strategically with clients, enhancing their overall experience and creating additional revenue streams.

   “They need more than just the technology, they need more than just us training them on features. They need someone.” [04:53]

2. Service Bundling: Integrating subscription models with service components to support clients beyond software capabilities, addressing their bandwidth and resource limitations.

   “Clients don’t either have the bandwidth for, they don’t have the resources. And so how can we help support them in a way where we can actually do a lot of that stuff for them.” [07:00]

Lauren Wood reinforces the importance of balancing technology with human interaction to build trust and uncover new opportunities for client retention and upselling.

“Giving them a human to speak to can so often alleviate a lot of pain, allow us to find the opportunities and create trust with the client so that they want to stay with us.” [08:17]

Identifying Growth Opportunities Post-Sale

Monica stresses the importance of understanding the client's ecosystem to identify growth opportunities. Her team actively listens to clients' broader business challenges, which often reveals new needs and potential for additional services or product enhancements.

“It's about understanding the industry, understanding the ecosystem and being comfortable asking questions and listening.” [09:24]

She shares techniques such as facilitating open-ended conversations that encourage clients to think about their needs holistically, leading to mutually beneficial solutions.

“Give them the opportunity to think. I remember when I was managing really young professionals, those that had just recently graduated when I was at Oracle... let's listen to them.” [11:22]

Managing a Diverse, Global Team

Monica outlines the challenges and strategies for managing a multi-functional, culturally diverse team spread across different time zones. Her "human first" approach includes:

• Skip-Level Meetings: Regular one-on-one interactions with team members to understand their individual and cultural contexts, fostering transparency and trust.

  “I do meet with every person on my team, which is a lot. But I want to understand at the individual level.” [13:22]

• Cultural Sensitivity: Adapting leadership styles to fit regional preferences, such as prioritizing face-to-face interactions in certain cultures versus virtual meetings in others.

  “Being able to meet not only my team members where they're at, but also our clients in those regions where they're at is so important.” [13:38]

• Effective Communication: Implementing flexible meeting schedules and breakout sessions to accommodate global teams and build camaraderie.

  “When I created my quarterly All Hands, we do two. And we also do breakout sessions so teams can actually meet one another across the globe.” [14:56]

Prioritization and Empowerment

Monica identifies prioritization as a critical challenge in CX management. To address this, she aligns her team's objectives with the broader organizational goals through the use of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), ensuring clarity in priorities and facilitating swift decision-making.

“Prioritization is probably one of the biggest things I've been focused on over the last quarter or two.” [26:18]

By clearly communicating priorities, her team can effectively manage competing demands and make informed decisions about which tasks to tackle, fostering an environment where saying "no" becomes a strategic tool rather than a setback.

“I want to be able to tell my teams exactly what that is. So when they're faced with a challenge or competing priority, it's easy for them to say, oh, no, this is our priority.” [26:59]

Building Cross-Functional Relationships

Monica underscores the importance of strong relationships between customer experience teams and other departments, particularly product teams. She discusses strategies such as:

• Regular Enablement Sessions: Keeping the CX team informed about product updates and value propositions to better serve clients.

  “Our product leader that I partner with is incredible... our enablement sessions that we're trying to build up.” [19:26]

• Leveraging AI Tools: Utilizing AI to streamline processes like managing support tickets and generating FAQs, thereby enhancing efficiency and responsiveness.

  “We're leveraging tools to be able to help our release notes process be better, help our enablement better, really just being lockstep.” [21:14]

Monica also shares a personal anecdote about fostering collaboration between CX and product teams to address recurring customer issues, highlighting the transformative impact of these relationships on team morale and effectiveness.

“I need to come to Copenhagen for a week and hang out with the product team... it really made such a massive difference to bridge those gaps.” [22:20]

Embracing Artificial Intelligence in CX

AI plays a pivotal role in JLL Technologies' CX strategy. Monica details various applications of AI, including:

• Client Sentiment Analysis: Using AI to assess client engagement and sentiment, which aids in resource allocation and identifying opportunities for premium service models.

  “An AI tool that sort of looked at client sentiment and engagement... drove some revenue results.” [34:05]

• Support Ticket Management: Streamlining communication and categorizing support tickets to identify common themes and enhance training programs.

  “Looking at the support tickets, uploading it, getting a quick buckets of where we could maybe train more on what are the themes of these tickets.” [35:10]

• Performance Reviews: Facilitating performance management through AI-driven insights, allowing for more nuanced and effective evaluations.

  “Performances, performance reviews... putting our key criteria for how we do performance management.” [36:35]

Monica envisions AI as an assistant that enhances human capabilities rather than replacing them, ensuring that the human element remains central to customer interactions.

“It's not going to take away the human aspect of it. You still need that, but we don't need to spend all these hours doing weekly recaps.” [38:43]

Creating Moments of Delight

Towards the end of the episode, Monica shares a personal story about Lego's exceptional customer service, illustrating the profound impact of creating "moments of delight." This experience underscores the importance of going above and beyond operational expectations to foster strong, lasting relationships with customers.

“You just created a moment of delight for me.” [42:03]

She relates this to her professional practice, emphasizing the value of authentic interactions that extend beyond solving immediate issues to genuinely enhancing the customer experience.

“If you can create a moment of delight and just have a really authentic conversation with them, that's going to go far.” [43:39]

Advice for Customer Experience Leaders

Monica offers valuable advice for CX leaders:

1. Develop a Thick Skin: Be prepared to handle challenging interactions with clients without taking things personally. Maintaining composure is crucial for effective problem-solving and client retention.

   “Have a thick skin, right? Be an advocate, be relentless.” [44:24]

2. Advocate for Customers: Constantly ask whether decisions serve the customer's best interests, ensuring that customer centricity remains a core organizational value.

   “Are we making the right decision for the client or are we just making a decision?” [31:30]

3. Foster Transparency and Authenticity: Encourage open communication and transparency within the team to build trust and enhance the overall client experience.

   “I want everyone to ask themselves that question first.” [31:30]

Monica concludes by stressing that prioritizing customer centricity not only benefits the clients but also ensures the long-term success and integrity of the business.

Closing Thoughts

Lauren Wood wraps up the episode by acknowledging the transformative potential of technologies like AI in reshaping customer experience. She encourages listeners to stay abreast of these advancements to effectively integrate them into their organizational strategies.

“Salesforce is called Agent Force... it's really something. I think all leaders, we should all be thinking about how our orgs are going to be changing as this technology advances.” [37:53]

Monica and Lauren's conversation offers a comprehensive exploration of how strategic customer experience initiatives, empowered by technology and strong leadership, can drive substantial revenue growth and foster enduring client relationships.

Notable Quotes:

• Monica Trivedi: “Client experience really starts as soon as that deal is signed and many times even before it's signed, we get brought in.” [02:18]

• Lauren Wood: “Giving them a human to speak to can so often alleviate a lot of pain, allow us to find the opportunities and create trust with the client so that they want to stay with us.” [08:17]

• Monica Trivedi: “Have a thick skin, right? Be an advocate, be relentless.” [44:24]

• Lauren Wood: “Salesforce is called Agent Force... it's really something.” [37:53]

This episode serves as an essential guide for customer experience professionals aiming to leverage CX as a powerful revenue driver, offering actionable strategies and inspiring insights from industry leadership.