Episode 58: Stacy Sherman – Blogging about Customer Experience through DoingCXRight

Stacy Sherman is the Director of Customer Experience (CX) at Schindler Elevator Corporation. When she’s not at her day job, Stacy shares her extensive CX expertise on her blog, DoingCXRight, which provides mentorship and knowledge sharing with CX professionals looking to differentiate their companies and personal brand.

On this episode, Stacy shares:

• What inspired her to start DoingCXRight back in 2017, and the type of content she writes for the blog
• How she balances work, family, friends, blogging and all the other parts of her life, by being intentional about how she spends her time
• How writing with authenticity has built her credibility as a blogger and woman in corporate America
• How she has used feedback from her readers to refine the themes she writes about on her blog
• The types of networking, speaking and mentoring opportunities that her blog has opened up for her—and how it has helped her support the careers of other women

Read and subscribe to Stacy’s blog at www.DoingCXRight.com  to increase your own CX skills and/or to transform your organization. Her latest blog post is about Women Leadership & Customer Experience.

Follow Stacy on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram where she shares actionable CX tips!

 

Stacy Sherman’s full bio:

Stacy Sherman combines marketing know-how with a passion for CX. Having worked on the client-side and in agency environments, Stacy has led projects for reputable brands including Verizon Wireless, Martha Stewart Crafts, ADP, and AT&T.

She uses her expertise in developing and launching customer experience (CX) programs and Voice of Customer (VOC) initiatives to maximize conversions through proven optimization techniques. Stacy’s CX areas of expertise include: CX within new product development to ensure products launch with the highest probability of success; CX within specific channels (eCommerce/digital) and offline retail;  and also CX within a sales organization driving employee engagement and a customer-centric culture.

She’s gained Expertise in designing & implementing customer-centric programs with a focus on research, measurement & close the loop processes to shape product design, messaging and experiences that exceed Satisfaction (CSAT) & NPS goals.

Currently, Stacy is the Director of Customer Experience (CX) at global company, Schindler Elevator Corporation. Stacy continues to infuse customer centricity in all initiatives to cultivate profitability along with “close the loop” processes for ongoing success.

Stacy lives and breathes CX. When she’s not at her day job, she shares her voice and passion at events, on podcasts, in industry articles and on her DoingCXRight blog, which provides mentorship and knowledge sharing with CX professionals looking to differentiate their companies and personal brand.

She is a founding CX Board Member at Rutgers University. She is CX certified and has an MBA in Marketing.

 

The full episode transcript is below.

CAROLYN: Today, on Beyond 6 Seconds…

STACY: “It’s so much easier to do nothing than put yourself out there for possible ridicule. It’s easier to not share my voice in fear that no one will care or read my articles, but I took the non-easy path and I said to myself in 2017 that the worst that happens is I learn something even if it’s what not to do.”

CAROLYN: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six-second first impression to share the extraordinary stories and achievements of everyday people. I’m your host Carolyn Kiel.

On today’s episode I’m speaking with Stacy Sherman.  Stacy combines marketing know-how with a passion for Customer Experience. Having worked on the client-side and in agency environments, she has led projects for reputable brands including Verizon Wireless, Martha Stewart Crafts, ADP, and AT&T. Currently, she is the Director of Customer Experience (CX) at Schindler Elevator Corporation.

Stacy uses her expertise in developing and launching CX programs and Voice of Customer initiatives to maximize conversions through proven optimization techniques. Stacy’s CX areas of expertise include: CX within new product development to ensure products launch with the highest probability of success; CX within specific channels (eCommerce/digital) and offline retail; and also CX within a sales organization driving employee engagement and a customer-centric culture.

Stacy lives and breathes CX. When she’s not at her day job, she shares her voice and passion at events, on podcasts, in industry articles and on her DoingCXRight blog, which provides mentorship and knowledge sharing with CX professionals looking to differentiate their companies and personal brand.

Stacy, welcome to the podcast!

STACY: Thank you very much.

CAROLYN: So how did you get the inspiration to start your blog about customer experience?

STACY: Yeah, so first of all, I love networking and I love learning from people. And I also enjoy sharing my experiences to help others too. And while I was doing that on a local area, I aspired to reach a much larger audience to share my passion about leveraging customer experience as a brand differentiator and building personal skills to be an effective leader in the CX field. And I knew what I needed to do to achieve my goals, which was leveraging the Internet, but I hemmed and hawed for a very long time, and not until 2017 did I decide to just follow Nike’s advice and “just do it.” And I made my vision become a reality and launched DoingCXRight which has continued to evolve ever since.

CAROLYN: Wow, that’s really cool! So once you actually had the idea to start a blog and decided to “just do it,” what did you do to get started?

STACY: Yeah I got started somewhat randomly. I should say it was, it was top of my mind, but the start date was random. I was introduced to a very smart woman, Liliana Petrova, who worked at JetBlue at the time doing similar work as I was at Verizon Wireless. And we would speak for hours and hours over the phone as we shared CX in common, but ironically what connected us was our differences, as we knew so much about CX but from different angles, having worked in different industries and coming from different cultures and different academic experiences. Well to make a long story short, we decided to collaborate and write articles together, and I have to admit having a friend or even an acquaintance to jumpstart an idea like a blog is incredibly helpful and it reinforces what I’ve always believed which is, people come into our lives at the right time for the right reason and it’s, it’s really true.

CAROLYN: Yeah, that is an interesting bit of serendipity that you found each other at this one time and decided that you had enough of a connection and a good working relationship to start off a blog! How did you plan out your first few blog posts, like how did you even know what to start writing about?

STACY: Yeah, so what to write is not my problem. I have a list that is pages and pages long. What the challenge is: how to find the time to write. And so that’s really the struggle, because I work full time, I’m a mom and I wear many different hats, and the key to balancing it all, I have to say, is being very organized, very focused and intentional on how I spend my time, and I can’t forget that having a very supportive family is extremely important because without their help I could never do it all. But with that said, one helpful habit that I’ve been doing a while is waking up early in the morning before emails and texts come in from family and friends and co-workers, and I found that I love the quiet time and noticed that I write my best articles as the sun rises. So to your question, the inspiration’s in my head. It’s just everywhere I go, I notice opportunities and examples to write about. But time is precious, and it’s very easy to say I have no time to do something. If you can figure out your passion and do something with it, then time spent becomes enjoyable and enhances your life, and for me, I’m living and breathing customer experience every day as a business leader and as a consumer, and it’s all connected, which makes blogging and mentoring so natural for me.

CAROLYN: That’s fantastic! You know, some of the other writers that I’ve talked to as well really talk as you have about the importance of dedicating time and finding that time to write and to work on your side passion. So yours is in the morning, which I think is also a really creative time for a lot of people. So I think that makes a lot of sense to literally carve out that time.

So what kind of things do you write on the blog? Is it stories, is it like best practices and tips?

STACY: Yeah it’s both. I would say it’s practical how-to knowledge that I’ve gained from on the job over the years and academics that I’ve been certified and done a lot of education around. So part of it is more academic and practical knowledge, and some of it is sharing examples that I’ve experienced as a consumer and for the companies I’ve worked for noticed that, what does good look like? And obviously I’m never writing about the employer I am working with at the time to give away any trade secrets, but I really focus on things that are common knowledge that really apply to all industries, and even just my own living through life that I see, or when I’m on the phone with customer service, and the pain points I go through, and when I go to a restaurant, what’s that experience, even before I get to the restaurant, you know, that whole journey I go through, I scrutinize that, I can’t help it. It’s the inspiration for what I write about.

CAROLYN: I see, yeah since you pretty much live and breathe CX throughout your life, I’d imagine there’s inspiration really everywhere in almost any interaction that you have throughout the day.

STACY: Absolutely, for sure.

CAROLYN: And how often do you post new content on the blog?

STACY: I would say once a week. I post a lot on social media because that’s very quick hits, but to sit down and write an article definitely takes a lot of thought power. So I would say 90 percent of the time I’m writing my own content and maybe 10 percent it’s an article I’ve read somewhere and then I’ll just share my thoughts on it. But I really, I try to really write my own content because I’m trying to have my own voice and share best practices for my own practical day-to-day doing CX and leadership. But yeah, it’s a lot of time.

CAROLYN: Oh yeah.

STACY: I love it.

CAROLYN: That’s awesome. So, tell me about the biggest challenge you faced in either launching or currently running your blog, and how do you address or overcome it?

STACY: I would say my biggest challenges are the same today as when I started DoingCXRight a few years ago, and it all has to do with the back end of the website. When a page doesn’t load or the site breaks in some way, it takes so much time to identify the issue and implement solutions. And I’m not technical, I don’t know coding nor do I want to learn it. So what I do when the issues occur is I’ll contact WordPress in this case for help, but that is such a huge pain point because there’s no customer service phone number to call, and the only way to get help is by paying for online chat support, which I do, but sometimes it helps and other times causes more frustration depending on who I’m chatting with. So that is really a difficulty, but I have to say I’ve gained a lot to even write about it on my blog, because it’s a big component about customer experience, and it reminds me that it’s one point in that customer journey like getting help on my blog, when it requires such a high level of effort, I do tell others and I think about leaving and going to another site and I’ve considered that countless times. So fortunately I found some help from some developers that I’ve met from prior jobs, and I just recommend anyone who starts a blog, make sure you’re friends with technical people or find them and build your tribe because it’s hard if you’re not technical.

CAROLYN: Yeah I definitely feel your pain with that. I am just starting to build a new website for my podcast and I just worked with a developer but it’s not ready yet because it was, you know, the same as you said, just things breaking, things not quite working right, and then it is very time consuming, so I definitely agree to make friends who have that technical background. It makes it so much easier to have that support there to bring that to fruition.

You’ve been working on the blog, you said, since 2017? Is that when you started?

STACY: Yes.

CAROLYN: In that time, are there any memorable responses to posts that you’ve written or feedback you’ve gotten from your readers about the content on the blog that you’d like to share?

STACY: Yes definitely. The greatest compliments I continue to receive is that I write with authenticity. I keep it real. And I appreciate that feedback so much because I am the same person at work and at home, and people pick up on that and view me as a credible source because of that, which I believe is the basis of my success as a blogger and a woman in corporate America too.

CAROLYN: Yeah, I think the best writing really has that voice of authenticity because it helps people connect to the experiences. So that’s wonderful that you’ve gotten that feedback. Very very cool.

You mentioned a little earlier that your blog has continued to evolve since you started it about two years ago or so. How has your blog evolved over time?

STACY: Yeah, so it’s changed:  both my writing style and also what I share. Originally I would write about random topics guessing what people wanted to learn about in the field of CX, and as I started to gain an audience and followers, I got a better understanding of what my audience cares about and narrowed my themes, such as, people want to know: how exactly do you measure customer experience? How do you collect voice of customer feedback, and when you have it, how do you close the loop effectively? They ask me about:  how do I engage employees to deliver customer excellence, and they hear a lot about personas and journey maps, but why, why create them and how do you even get started? So that’s where I really have been spending time on those topics and more, to narrow my themes based on what people are telling me they want to hear. My blog also changed because technology and CX tools continue to evolve. And given that I’m a CX strategist and practitioner, people turn to me to stay informed and I believe my content helps differentiate both my blog and even me as a brand.

CAROLYN: Wow, that is great! And you mentioned that you are now starting to write things based on what people are telling you that they want to learn about. How do your readers tell you? Do they literally e-mail you and tell you? Do they leave comments? Like, how do you have that communication back and forth with your readers and your followers?

STACY: Yes, all the above. So they will read the articles, they will share and speak to me on social media, they will leave a comment, they will go to my contact form and send me a note, and a lot of times that conversation will continue online as well as offline. So it’s a variety of ways. Sometimes it’s even meeting in person and mentoring people to help them build their skills or, I mean the questions really vary, so the blog has been the vehicle to really connect me with people that I would never have met otherwise.

CAROLYN: That’s so cool that it’s actually creating those connections for you and probably opening up a lot of different new opportunities for you to do things and learn things! What kind of opportunities has your blog opened up for you?

STACY: Oh yes you’re exactly right. There’s opportunities I never could have imagined. First of all, famous CX authors and speakers who I truly admire have featured me on social media and on their websites and contributed content to my site, including Shep Hyken, Annette Franz, Stan Phelps and others. And I’ve also had opportunities to speak at large events, enabling me to teach and inspire diverse audiences. And you know it’s interesting when I think about it, because I have to admit that I used to be afraid of public speaking and now I love it. It’s funny to think that my blog started out as a place to express my written thoughts and turned into something much more. It accelerated my confidence and has driven me to leave my comfort zone. And on that note, I want to highlight that my career has grown in the business world, particularly as a woman leader. Women starting out in the workplace and trying to take their career to the next level continue to contact me, and it’s really rewarding. Even my employer, Schindler Elevator Corporation, recently interviewed me and shared my advice on social media to help elevate other women, reiterating the importance of self-advocacy, and even today talking to you on this podcast, it’s an opportunity that came unexpectedly. So I’m really grateful for all of this and the things that I don’t even know about yet to come.

CAROLYN: That’s fantastic! We both know having worked in digital marketing how powerful it is to create and curate your own content and how over time, it helps establish you as a thought leader and an expert, and people start going to you, and it sounds like that’s exactly what’s been happening since you started your blog. That’s really awesome.

STACY: Yeah. And I have to say that what you just said about thought leadership, that is the very intention and purpose every day for me, and the purpose why DoingCXRight started, and I’m really passionate about that so I’m glad it’s coming through.

CAROLYN: Yeah it definitely is. What have you learned from your blogging so far?

STACY: So much. I’ve learned the meaning of taking chances and not being fearful if it doesn’t work out. I’ve learned to shove fear and negative thoughts away. If I had not done that, DoingCXRight would never have launched. It’s so much easier to do nothing than put yourself out there for possible ridicule. It’s easier to not share my voice in fear that no one will care or read my articles, but I took the non-easy path and I said to myself in 2017 that the worst that happens is I learn something even if it’s what not to do. And I trusted certain people like the Virgin Group leader/founder Richard Branson who says that when opportunities arise and you’re not sure you could do it, say yes, then learn and figure it out. And it’s the best advice, with the understanding that success comes with a lot of hard work, time and commitment to figuring it out, but when you love doing something that you’re passionate about, it becomes part of your routine and it’s not work, it becomes fun.

CAROLYN: Yeah definitely. And I think a lot of people can really relate to, you know, having an idea that they’re really passionate about, but they’re nervous to get started for all those reasons that you mentioned:  the fear of no one reading it or getting rejected or just not being able to make an impact or not getting it perfectly. But you know, I think it’s just important to just start and know that you can continue to change and improve and adjust things. And I guess one of the cool things about starting out when no one has really discovered you yet is that you have that time to experiment and try new things without a lot of eyes on you, so that when you finally figure out what actually works and connects with people, you can continue to build your audience from there.

STACY: Yeah definitely. In fact, I’d make myself laugh sometimes when I read my very first articles, and I’m my worst critic and I just was like, wow that wasn’t so good, compared to how I articulate now, and it’s true, you just learn by doing over and over again.

CAROLYN: Yeah exactly. Oh so, you know, you’ve been running your blog for about almost two years. What are your goals for your blog going forward?

STACY: Yeah it’s a great question. I am still figuring out my future strategy. I believe strongly in a crawl walk run approach and starting a blog was the crawl phase. Now I’m thinking a lot about how do I reach even more people in a scalable way with such limited time, so I don’t know, maybe I will write a book, maybe I’ll teach a night class as I’ve been offered by universities, and of course I’ll continue to mentor people. I love advising and coaching people, especially working moms and dads, because I have so much to offer them as I’ve been, I am a mom of two who’s worked for over 20 years and I know what it means to balance and how to do it all successfully. But to your question, there’s endless opportunity and I’m simply allowing life to guide me on my course organically and we’ll see where it goes.

CAROLYN: That’s fantastic. And now you’ve got a large body of content and writings that you have, so I could see the blog developing and feeding into all those different new kinds of projects that you mentioned, like classes and books, because you’ve already got that great start underneath you, so that is awesome. Super!

STACY: Yes.

CAROLYN: How can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about your blog or about customer experience in general?

STACY: Yeah I would say the best way to reach me probably is email, which is DoingCXRight@gmail.com. And if you want to learn about customer experience to increase your own skills and/or to transform your organization, subscribe to my blog, read my articles, follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn and Instagram as I share actionable tips frequently, which you probably can just find it if you search on social or my name Stacy Sherman and yeah, I would say, read and join the conversations, it’s really about a community.

CAROLYN: Awesome. So I’ll put a link to your blog and to your social accounts in the show notes of the podcast so that people can find it there too.

STACY: Oh good. Thank you.

CAROLYN: Stacy, thank you so much for coming on my podcast and sharing the story of your blog, DoingCXRight, and all of the behind-the-scenes of what it really took to get it to grow and to create new opportunities for you. As we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know, or anything else that they can help or support you with?

STACY: Thank you for that. Yes. I’d say learn about customer experience, get educated. It’s a growing booming field. Almost all top brands are hiring experts. Universities are creating new classes and degrees focused on CX, and at minimum, get certified. I can tell you a lot more about this having gone through it myself, but it’s a growing field, and network with purpose, that’s helped me a lot. And as far as anything people can do to support me, I’d say again, joining the conversations, and let’s collaborate, let’s share best practices, and especially for those women listening right now, let’s support one another more than ever before. And I’m passionate about creating a place where the next generation of women like my daughter reach higher levels of management because they are valued like any other human being. And I’ve seen progress over recent years, but we still have a long way to go, so you know, I care about all of this. And thank you. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to express and share my personal views today and I’m grateful for you and those listening to this podcast.

CAROLYN: Absolutely. Thanks Stacy, I really appreciate that.

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