Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Medallia Experience conference in Las Vegas. It was my first in-person event in over 5 years, and wow, what a difference it makes to see people in person!
While not a huge fan of Lost Wages, I’ll admit that staying at the Wynn was a motivator — a fabulous property a bit away from the crazier part of the Strip. My experience there was nearly flawless, except for one issue that the hotel handled with CX excellence. More on that in a moment.
The conference delivered a well-balanced program of company updates, thought leadership, and customer perspectives. One sobering conclusion: companies are still struggling with issues that have been around for the past decade and more:
- gaining executive buy-in
- building a CX culture
- breaking down silos
- getting out of the survey rut
- closing the loop after feedback
The new news: AI.
What’s Up with Medallia?
Early this year Medallia appointed Mark Bishof as the new CEO. And he has been busy. From his opening keynote, he emphasized that while Medallia was well-established as a CX provider to major brands, the company needed to do more. So, he and fellow executives are engaging with customers to “put CX back into Medallia.”
Reenergizing their product strategy is also a priority, with AI taking center stage. While analytics has long been a key part of the Medallia tool set, AI gives new opportunities to more easily analyze customer feedback and close the loop.
One challenge is getting Medallia customers to pivot from surveys to an omnichannel approach that leverages Medallia’s platform. Chief Strategy Officer Sid Banerjee spoke about the need to leverage AI to make CX an “actioning platform,” not just an analytics tool. Medallia’s Smart Response offers help in taking action on customer feedback.
With a mostly new leadership team, Bishof seems intent on making Medallia stand out in a CX tech space that has consolidated to a few major players (for large enterprises, anyway). The good news is that Medallia has an impressive roster of brands as customers. The bad news is that the market isn’t rocking and rolling like it was 5-10 years ago. M&A and PE buyouts are a sign of market maturity. Only time will tell whether AI-infused products will stimulate more growth.
Leadership, Leadership, Leadership
Ten years ago I published a book on customer-centric practices. One of the key findings of my research was the importance of leaders setting a good example — sometimes called “walking the talk.”
In one article, I dubbed this the “X factor” because there was a huge gap of 20 percentage points between Leaders and Laggards across five customer-centric habits. From that article:
CEOs, if you are serious about customer-centric success, you have to show it through your personal behavior. Spend time with customers, and in customer-facing jobs. Listen to customer needs. Require your people to use customer input in decision-making. Empower your people to take ownership and risks, and don’t punish them for failure.
I’m willing to bet that, 10 years on, nothing has changed. Without leaders personally driving a CX culture, there’s little chance of success. Installing the latest AI-powered CX software won’t do it.
So the most positive thing I heard about Medallia’s approach was not the tech strategy. Because, um, every tech company is offering AI-powered solutions these days. Rather, it’s the focus on Medallia’s culture. Medallia customers have the same challenge. Without strong customer-centric leadership, they won’t succeed either.
Unreasonable Hospitality
Take off the green eye shades. Put down that spreadsheet. It’s time to get unreasonable!
At the conference, Will Guidara shared his story of building a New York restaurant into the best in the world. Here’s a summary courtesy of Perplexity, an AI tool I’m using more and more as an alternative to search engines:
Will Guidara’s “Unreasonable Hospitality” (formerly titled “Secret Ingredients of Great Hospitality”) emphasizes creating extraordinary experiences through intentional service. He shares strategies to craft memorable moments centered on human connection, highlighting the power of personalized attention to exceed expectations. Guidara draws from his experiences at Eleven Madison Park, illustrating how small gestures can transform interactions. By focusing on emotional connections and tailored experiences, businesses can build lasting relationships with customers, setting them apart in any industry. His approach underscores the importance of empathy and understanding in delivering exceptional hospitality.
A pretty good summary of the key points, but fails to convey Guidara’s leadership, passion, and persistence. For that, I recommend investing 14 minutes of your time to watch his TED Talk video. And then, ask yourself, are you up for being an “unreasonable” leader?
Wynn’ing Time
As mentioned, Wynn Las Vegas is a fabulous hotel. It should be — it’s expensive! The hotel property, rooms, and restaurants were all amazing.
The check-in experience was memorable because of a friendly chat with an agent, and a surprise room upgrade. Opening the door caused the drapes to open automatically, revealing a stunning view of Las Vegas from the 31st floor.
The only flaw in the experience was the in-room electronics: a bit too tech-forward for my taste. Controlling the TV required using a tablet, and a call to the front desk to figure that out. Also, an Amazon Echo device offered voice controls for the room and more, but didn’t work.
When a survey appeared after my stay, I filled it out, giving mostly 10s on a nicely designed NPS-style survey, but noting the tech issues. I figured that would be the end of it, but shortly thereafter a personalized email appeared thanking me for my feedback and promising follow-up on the tech issues. Didn’t appear to be generated by AI.
So there you have it, a great experience, listening, and action. CX excellence!
Disclosure: Medallia provided me a free conference pass and covered my travel expenses. My comments should not be taken as an endorsement of Medallia or its solutions.