Improving customer experience is well recognized as a game-changer for organizations looking to build retention and loyalty from their clients. I had the pleasure of meeting keynote speaker, customer experience futurist, and author, Blake Morgan. As a keynote speaker, Morgan has worked with companies like Comcast, Allstate, Adobe, and Verizon to help them connect with modern customers and become a customer-centric success.
She is a guest lecturer at Columbia University and the University of California, San Diego, a contributor to Forbes and the Harvard Business Review, and host of “The Modern Customer Podcast.” A bestselling author of several award-winning books, Morgan’s latest book, “The 8 Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership,” makes the case for taking a closer look at customer relationships and provides the blueprint for getting it right.
I recently had a conversation with Morgan about how she got her start, what a customer-centric company culture looks like, how she is creating her own path, and what’s next for her career.
AAE: Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in the field and as a speaker.
Morgan: I was early in the customer experience space. I started podcasting and blogging in the early 2000s. Demand increased for thought leadership on customer experience – there was a thirst for information about what customer experience was, who did it well, and how can companies do a great job at it? I started reluctantly because I was very shy, but by getting involved with Toastmasters and then becoming President of a Toastmasters club in NYC, I got more and more comfortable on the microphone.
Eventually, I worked at Intel corporation and started speaking about the work we were doing in customer experience. My husband, also a professional speaker, was instrumental in helping me learn the ropes. Then in 2016, I started doing thought leadership full time while also starting to book keynote speeches. The next year, I came out with my first book, and the rest is history. I’ve just published my third book on customer experience called “The 8 Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership.”
I’ve been fortunate to speak in the Philippines and Switzerland within the last year, bringing my message of the power of customer experience to international audiences in a variety of industries.
I’ve had the chance to work with amazing companies and travel all over the world, while also starting a family. I love my job and I love the ability to change a person’s mindset!
AAE: What topics do you speak on and why are they important to you?
Morgan: Customer experience is truly a growth accelerator for companies. The core of what I present is the idea that every day you have to bring your passion to your work. When you care about your customers, you wake up every day knowing the job to be done. You feel extreme ownership over your work, and you are accountable to the customer. If you have a customer-centric culture of employees that feel this in their hearts, your company is unstoppable and you create experiences that get people talking. My job is to inspire greatness in individuals, helping them see that their work matters every single day. For CX to be successful, employees have to bring their A game every single day. When you build companies that are customer-centric over being product-centric, you have built something very special.
AAE: What kinds of audiences do you usually speak to? Who do you think resonates the most with your message?
Morgan: I have presented to a wide variety of audiences – my message is relevant for anyone with a customer! I am often hired by software companies to inspire their prospects and customers to focus on customer experience. But I have spoken to everyone from pizza franchisees, the federal reserve bank CEO and leadership team, and the Filipino telecom market. We all curate customer experiences in some form every day, so mine is a universal message that everyone can benefit from..
AAE: What is unique about your take on a topic or message that differentiates you from others in the field?
Morgan: What makes me unique are the stories and research I have accrued over the years. I also have a unique style that I bring, a mix of infotainment and education. As a speaker, my job isn’t solely to relay information; it’s to communicate in a compelling way that will make people not only hear what I’m saying, but make the connection, bring greater understanding on the topic, and have them remember it long after the event.
AAE: What’s an example of the impact of one of your presentations on a client or audience member?
Morgan: I was in Florida this year speaking to a financial software company. After I spoke, one of the audience members explained to me how much he was struggling with customer experience; specifically, helping his team members understand CX was a challenge. He heard the story I shared of a franchise in China called Haidilao that makes customer experience the cornerstone of everything they do. They don’t just feed their customers, they bring them an incredibly authentic experience unlike anything most of us have seen before at a casual dining restaurant. After I spoke, he came up to me and thanked me profusely for helping make the connection for him. The story clicked for him, and he was so excited with his newfound epiphany and outlook. It was such a genuine interaction that I will never forget it.
AAE: What do you think has been your greatest accomplishment or impact?
Morgan: I consider my greatest accompaniment to be the fact that I can continue to focus on my career while also raising two amazing kids. Women often feel like they can’t have it all – they have to choose kids or career. The amazing part of being your own boss, particularly in the content and thought leadership space, is that you can choose how and when you work. You can be there for your kids while also not taking a break from work. It’s not always easy and you don’t always have a perfect balance, but you do the best you can every day. I hope to show my kids they don’t have to sacrifice what they love to follow a path someone else has carved out. I created my own path and I’m building the plane as I fly it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
AAE: What’s next for you in your career journey?
Morgan: My book “The 8 Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership” recently came out. I’m excited to continue to get the book into audiences hands and see the reception and hear the feedback to the book. I believe leadership is critical today, and I’m excited to share my unique perspective on customer experience for leaders, which is not spoken about often enough.
If you’re interested in booking Blake Morgan for your next event, visit her speaker profile on AAE’s website to learn more.