Jim Tincher
CustomerThink
Minneapolis, MN, United States
Contact Jim
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Jim:
CX Needs Change Management
You probably moved into customer experience (CX) because of a passion for customers. You chose this space because you know that if you can improve customers’ experiences with your company, they will be happier, they’ll stay with you longer, and both the business and your customers will prosper. But actually improving the experience is hard. If you’re like most of the 85 CX professionals we’ve… → Read More
The Myth of the Customer-Focused CX Leader
Back in February (which feels like a century ago!), our analyst Diane and I were at the offices of Legrand AV, interviewing VP of Customer Experience Laurie Englert and her team. During a break, I turned to Diane and said, “There’s something here. I’m not sure what it is, but something stands out as different.” “I know what it is,” she said. “Each one of them mentioned how they talk to customers… → Read More
Five Ways to Make Your Surveys Matter
Most survey programs provide information: “Our Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 25, up from 22, compared to our competitive benchmark of 30.” While those figures might be interesting, they don’t provide the context that is essential for prompting action. As Heart of the Customer has been conducting interviews with CX pros (more than 70 so far this year!), we’ve found some common themes – notably that… → Read More
Customer Journey Map – the Top 10 Requirements
It’s hard to believe it’s been seven years since I launched my customer experience consultancy, Heart of the Customer, way back when CX was still in its infancy. At that time, when I first wrote Customer Journey Maps – the Top 10 Requirements, I didn’t know the post would be viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and reposted around the world. But I did know that customer experience as a… → Read More
CX Pros: Help Your Company & Your Customers Deal With COVID-19
The jolt that nations, and communities, all over the world have experienced in the past few weeks due to the relentless spread of COVID-19 is enough to induce whiplash. While the situation is extremely fluid, all signs point to it getting a lot worse in the U.S. before it gets better. I’m not going to presume to address what this means for the people, and their loved ones, who are directly… → Read More
Are Your Surveys a Crutch or a Tool?
I just finished a monster road trip, shadowing two of our clients who have more mature CX programs for two days each, as part of Heart of the Customer’s massive undertaking to capture the current state of CX as a discipline. This came on the heels of over a dozen interviews with less mature CX programs. There were a ton of revelations, but I want to share a few learnings that stand out. They… → Read More
Creating a Customer-Centric Agency at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
I heard Lee Becker, Chief of Staff of the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) of the VA speak at a recent Medallia conference and was blown away by his remarks. I reached out for an interview because I wanted to share with a broader audience his thoughts on what it’s like to drive change within a massive organization, what’s at stake, and what success at the VA might mean for government services in… → Read More
Why a quarter of CX staff will lose their jobs in 2020
Your CFO doesn’t care about your customer experience surveys. She cares about the health of your business, and it’s unlikely she sees a direct link → Read More
What's the difference between a journey map and a customer experience map
At Heart of the Customer, we’re known for creating world-class journey maps. But sometimes, it’s not a journey that you need to map.When a po → Read More
How Journey Mapping Differs from Traditional Market Research
We find a lot of confusion in the marketplace around journey mapping. Some think that journey mapping is just a workshop where you take all the people who created your broken, siloed experience, give them Post-It Notes, and Bam! You have a journey map. Others go the opposite direction, considering journey mapping to be traditional market research with a nice-looking report. It’s this latter… → Read More
The Most Important Question: Who’s on your Journey Mapping Team?
Note: We’re celebrating the upcoming launch of our new book, “How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? Using Customer Journey Mapping to Drive Customer-Focused Change,” by Mapper-In-Chief Jim Tincher and B2B Practice Lead Nicole Newton. In the book, we introduce five journey mapping questions to answer as you launch your customer journey mapping effort. Interested in the five journey mapping… → Read More
Who’s the Right Customer to Map? Your Third Journey Mapping Question
Note: We’re celebrating the upcoming launch of our new book “How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? Using Customer Journey Mapping to Drive Customer-Focused Change,” by Mapper-In-Chief Jim Tincher and B2B Practice Lead Nicole Newton. We’re using the launch as a cheesy excuse to walk through the Five Journey Mapping Questions. Two weeks ago, Jim covered “What’s the Business Problem or Opportunity,”… → Read More
Defining Scope: Should You Map an End-to-End Journey or a Specific Sub-Journey?
Editor’s Note: As we get ready for our book launch in May, we’re previewing the major topics. You can read more about our book at . Mapping the Right Journey At Heart of the Customer, we recommend starting a journey mapping project by answering these five questions: * What is the business problem or opportunity behind mapping? * What is the right journey to map? * Who is the right customer to… → Read More
Defining Scope: Should You Map an End-to-End Journey or a Specific Sub-Journey?
Editor’s Note: As we get ready for our book launch in May, we’re previewing the major topics. You can read more about our book at . Mapping the Right Journey At Heart of the Customer, we recommend starting a journey mapping project by answering these five questions: * What is the business problem or opportunity behind mapping? * What is the right journey to map? * Who is the right customer to… → Read More
The First Key Journey Mapping Question: What is the Right Journey to Map?
Editor’s Note: As we get ready for our book launch in May, we’re previewing the major topics. You can read more about our book at www.HowHardIsIttoBeYourCustomer.com. What differentiates a mapping program that drives action from one that doesn’t? A major factor is the reason for doing journey mapping in the first place. We can confidently predict whether a mapping program will be successful in… → Read More
The First Key Journey Mapping Question: What is the Right Journey to Map?
Editor’s Note: As we get ready for our book launch in May, we’re previewing the major topics. You can read more about our book at www.HowHardIsIttoBeYourCustomer.com. What differentiates a mapping program that drives action from one that doesn’t? A major factor is the reason for doing journey mapping in the first place. We can confidently predict whether a mapping program will be successful in… → Read More
What is the Right Level of Granularity for Your Customer Journey Map?
Two weeks ago I hosted a webinar with Intouch Insight (you can view the recording here), and I was blown away with all of the good questions we had. We left fifteen minutes for Q&A and weren’t even able to get through everything! Samuel, in particular, asked two good questions we often hear from companies considering journey mapping, so I thought I’d share his questions – alongside my… → Read More
Interview with Marlanges Simar
Marlanges Simar is the Director of Customer Experience at Prime Therapeutics (Prime) managing their CX (Customer Experience) Architect team. Prime manages pharmacy benefits on behalf of health plans, employers and government programs. I interviewed her to better understand their role, and how they help Prime improve the customer experience. Could you start off by describing the CX Architect… → Read More
Interview with Marlanges Simar
Marlanges Simar is the Director of Customer Experience at Prime Therapeutics (Prime) managing their CX (Customer Experience) Architect team. Prime manages pharmacy benefits on behalf of health plans, employers and government programs. I interviewed her to better understand their role, and how they help Prime improve the customer experience. Could you start off by describing the CX Architect… → Read More
Four Ideas for Navigating Backorders with B2B Customers
As 2018 wrapped up, we finished mapping three very different B2B journeys – healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution. We found one major consistency: customers in all three reported recent backorder issues. The customers were all businesses, but that’s where their similarities ended. Some were mom and pop retail storefronts; others were global manufacturers whose names you would immediately… → Read More