Episode 027: Customer Experience Fragmentation, Ann Handley, and #1 Cochran Automotive

  Will customer experience become as fragmented as marketing An interview with Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes And our Customer Hero is #1 Cochran Automotive     Will Customer Experience Become as Fragmented as Marketing     Jeannie and Adam discuss whether or not customer experience will become as fragmented and specialized as marketing and other developed industries like accounting and law.     Adam argues that increased specialization is the natural progression in any developing industry.   Jeannie warns against having too broad a job description and describes how specialization has benefited her.     Discussion begins at 1:40.   Interview with Ann Handley, Author of Everybody Writes     Jeannie and Ann discuss how they first met at South by Southwest, in pedi-cabs.     Ann tells us that she wrote Everybody Writes to empower people who feel they are not good writers and to provide a call to arms to create better content.     Ann discusses how she focuses on the substance of writing over the mechanics and that one of her pet peeves is people and organizations that just push out content.     Ann says that the era of the marketing generalist is done, and marketing will become more specialized. She also notes that many companies still see content and social as bolted on instead of as a central component of marketing.     Ann points out that tone of voice can help organizations define who they are and help them better communicate with their customers.     Interview begins at 6:35.     Customer Hero, Customer Zero: #1 Cochran Automotive     #1 Cochran Automotive is making waves by shifting to a more customer-centric approach to selling cars. They realized that their customers were not the types who wanted to haggle but the types who preferred a better experience.     Jeannie says that most of #1 Cochran Automotive’s numbers have gone up, and Adam tells a story about a bad car buying experience.     Discussion begins at 24:35.       People, Places, and Things from the Podcast:     Sponsor:   Be Your Customer’s Hero– Adam’s new book, Be Your Customer’s Hero, Real-World Tips and Techniques for the Service Frontlines, is available now! This is a one-stop training guide for anyone who works with customers.     How to Sponsor   www.crackthecustomercode.com/sponsor           Guest Speaker / People   Ann Handley is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, keynote speaker, and the world’s first Chief Content Officer. Ann speaks and writes about how you can rethink the way your business markets. Cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and recognized by ForbesWoman as one of the top 20 women bloggers, Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a training and education company with the largest community of marketers in its category.  Twitter (Marketing Profs) | Twitter (Ann) | LinkedIn #1 Cochran Automotive         Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices