Episode summary
This episode features an interview with Jeff Newman, Manager of Customer Care for Porsche North America. He works to provide Porsche car customers with a best-in-class experience that aligns with Porsche’s 75-year history of brand excellence. In this episode, Jeff shares his leadership philosophy, and what he’s seen work over the course of his career. He also explains what makes a customer experience program successful, and how he’s built the program at Porsche.
About the guest
Jeffrey is Manager of Customer Care for Porsche Cars North America. He’s been with the company for 8 years, having started in April of 2015. Before Porsche, he served as Director of Customer Service for the Northeast Region for American Express. He has also held leadership roles at Windstream Communications, Alltel and Walmart. He has a B.S. in Marketing from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Key quotes
“I think that being an effective leader… it’s the same arrows in the quiver, if you will. So whether it’s in retail, whether it’s in contact centers, or sales or service or tech support, you can still be a great leader. The same things that helped me be successful on the retail side was no different once I came over to the contact centers.”
“It’s difficult to say that something is or isn’t working if everybody’s doing it in many different ways. So to me, one of the things I always like to do in a new role is asking if we have standard processes in place for a good 80% of what we do. So let’s standardize what we’re doing, and then we can go back and simply measure and say, is this working or is this not working?”
“I am a huge proponent of quality assurance. It’s something I am extremely passionate about. It’s something I’m trying to finish a book on. But quality assurance in human behavior skills is something that I will never, ever, ever dictate with scripts.”
“People can typically handle when changes are made, when they’re being informed why. And so while I started out in the field, I always promised that if I ever became a corporate guy, that I would never be that person that’s sitting in the ivory tower, sort of doing the regal wave to everybody. I’m never gonna be that person that’s gonna let things happen to people without them being part of the process.”
“To me, when you have a well-oiled quality program set up, a huge component of that is knowing the individuals. Everybody is a unique individual and you have to treat them as such. It’s the only way you’re gonna be successful.”
“[I have] this mantra, like everything that we do, whether it’s building customer experience programs or agent programs or anything: how are we showing that we value your time?”
Time stamps
[04:47] How Jeff got to where he is today
[07:50] Jeff’s leadership philosophy
[08:34] The importance of data
[10:28] Standardizing customer service
[17:26] Running a well-oiled program
[20:48] How Jeff coaches
[22:36] A customer field study
[27:59] The importance of a purpose-driven brand
[37:32] Jeff’s future
Thanks to our friends
This podcast is brought to you by HGS. HGS is a digital customer experience leader dedicated to delivering winning customer interactions at scale that are prompt, personal, and positive. We continuously transform, optimize, and grow enterprises to exceed ever-rising customer expectations. HGS provides our clients with the right talent and technologies needed to champion every moment. Learn more at hgs.cx
