Kate Guenther: 0:00

I've seen us reduce fraud, deliver product insights, boost conversion. I mean, those three alone, get you a seat at the table in the room,

Rick Denton: 0:09

customer experience, wisdom, a dash of travel talk. We've been cleared for takeoff. The best meals are served outside and require passport. Hey there. CX, passport travelers. Today we're back with another edition of CX open to work series, and this time I'm joined by Kate Gunther. Kate's on the lookout for what's next, but not chasing a title. She's looking for a role that brings real meaning and real impact. She's got the background to back that up with deep experience across retail and financial services. She's led a team in contact centers e commerce and omnichannel operations. Most recently, she scaled the team from 60 to 600 at a Canadian fashion brand, driving big change while staying close to the customer born in the Midwest now, bringing that Pacific Northwest and Vancouver vibe. Kate's the kind of leader who knows how to get things done and bring people along with her. Kate, welcome to CX passport. Hi, Rick, today I remember finding you in Vancouver. Am I finding in the Pacific Northwest? Where do I find you today? Seattle, one of my favorite towns. And folks, we're recording this July 15, which is, I would assume, smack dab in the best season possible that Seattle offers. What's I imagine you're gonna have a glorious day there. Yes,

Kate Guenther: 1:32

85 today. Not humid, beautiful.

Rick Denton: 1:36

And I bet that mountain may take a peek out, and everybody's gonna enjoy getting to see the scene there, Kate, I know that you have had an experience that spans a lot of what the definition of customer experience is. You're drawn to this idea of delivering great customer experience. Why is that important to you? At

Kate Guenther: 1:55

a young age? My family had their own interior design firm. I was exposed to that experience. Actually, I'd go on, I'd go and meet clients with my grandmother, and she Yeah, and I watched, I had this mentor in my life that, you know, was an excellent designer, but also taught me the value of relationships. And I watched her naturally connect with her clients, and saw the value that that brought. They were quite successful. And at the height of their fame, you know, they were advertising in Time and Newsweek. So, you know, I my grandmother, grandfather, you know, they lived this business together, and my dad subsequently worked for them too. And so, you know, I got to hear about it all the time. I mean, we definitely brought work home with us and in school, when I went away to school, I needed to get a job. And I admired Nordstrom, that was outside of Cleveland, Ohio, and I got recruited to work there. So I started selling little boy suits. I had no idea how to sell a little boy suit. Soon became a household name for every bar in Bat Mitzvah, a little kid that was going and for every first communion. And quickly learned there was a market there for, you know, for that, for that experience. And I learned the art of a handwritten note, but learned from the Nordstrom family, who was actively and still is and involved in the business. And they said, treat the customer right, and that was your handbook. And are you mobile? Because they were growing at a rapid pace. And so that really propelled my career in retail alone. So I started, you know, with this, with the client, and then learned different at different capacities, as I had a almost 17 year career there, how to service that client in different ways, eventually ending up at the bank.

Rick Denton: 3:47

I'm curious, when you talked about going with your grandmother on those client visits, what sticks in your head? Of kind of you remembering about how she went about delivering? We didn't call it customer experience back then, she probably just figured she was just doing the right by her clients. What did you see then that you take forward today?

Kate Guenther: 4:07

Well, you know, we would go visit her first name was Genevieve, and so she used her name frequently throughout that they seemed like they were friends, you know, and she made sure her back seat was filled with a ton of accessories that she knew Genevieve needed. And what I liked about that is it was almost like, you know, when I think about the fitting room experience, right? It wasn't in the back seat, but she had this amazing, curated amount of things that she knew Genevieve would love, and there was a story attached to every single one. And so it just wasn't an accessory. It was an accessory about where why it was right for Genevieve, and why it was the perfect thing for Genevieve to have in her house. And of course, Genevieve bought all of it. So I learned that my grandmother not only established a relationship with her trust, but also. So she found way to stay valuable to her and add value continuously. So maybe she wasn't designing an entire room anymore, but she was finding ways to stay connected with her through the product. And that really helped me understand that idea through my entire career and what I've done and the customer journey, because, as an 11 year old attending the job to see Genevieve, we, you know, I saw that, I saw that personalized experience, and then she would write Genevieve, and, know, probably take her to dinner. Sometimes they grew for this love of making her house beautiful and making Genevieve feel wonderful, and I, I really valued that

Your CX Passport Captain: 5:45

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Rick Denton: 6:10

I love that. We're talking about Genevieve, right? You're talking about something that is decades ago in the past, and it's Genevieve is as fresh to your mind as it was in that moment. There were several things you said in there. One that really caught my my ears, was this idea of she built this relationship. And we talk a lot about relationships and customer experience. You said something though that appeals kind of the business mindset. She stayed relevant. She stayed in a mode of adding value to her client, to her Genevieve at that point. How have you seen that play out in the experiences that you've had around look, yes, we know we need to build these friendly and empathetic and human relationships, and we also have to add value. How have you bridged those two worlds?

Kate Guenther: 6:58

I think technology really. I think in order to stay relevant, you have to adopt, and you have to adapt, and you have to stay current and how people want to one give you their money, you know, like for my example, but also to how they how they want to be served, how they want to communicate. And, you know, we're no longer sending catalogs to communicate and show off our beautiful product. You know, we're using in social media to connect with people. Want to

Rick Denton: 7:26

go back to the experiences you've had. It may be the Nordstrom one, but you've also been in a lot of companies since then. Thinking about your past. How have you created an experience that your customers wanted? And I think that's an important phrase there, that they actually wanted, not that you thought they expected, not that that was required, but something the customers wanted in your past,

Kate Guenther: 7:50

um, I would say they wanted to feel safe, right? When they gave it, when they wanted to feel safe, they wanted to be it to be personal, and they wanted, they were huge fans of our product. So at aritia, most recently, you know, scaled the team from 60 to 600 Oh my gosh. Typically, everyone was this huge brand advocate. We had to take a little bit of a risk and hire people that may not be familiar with our brand. How are we going to teach everyone this information? So we had this real push and pull environment where we when our team was pulling all this information about Rick, when he would contact us, versus pushing it. So we really started to create this environment that was pushing information. So you could understand how Rick liked to engage with us, how Rick liked to shop with us what categories, what categories maybe were missing from his closet. So I could introduce new things to you and so really understanding full circle who they were was important, but also who, who they weren't, right, what they weren't shopping for, you know. So maybe, you know, he was a big fan of Levi's, and we had to convert him to our denim. I mean, we made sure that that experience, like they walked me in like, wow, I just bought a new pair of jeans and spent 300 more dollars. But not only am I shopping at a cool place, right, not only shopping, I feel like I got something that not everyone had. So it was the exclusivity and feeling special about the product, but also engaging with that person. So it was less of a transaction, more of an interaction. Rick, tell me why? Tell me about your, about your your routine with exercise. We've got an amazing product right now, right for the gym. Tell me about that. You know, you might be like, Hey, I go every day. Sweet. Done. And that was my entry. So really I would say, I would say it was more less of the what and more about how we were doing it. I think being consistent and and teaching your team, and teaching your team how right is really important, because I don't know if naturally, people understand that and they have to get comfortable. About who we are a product and that and the vibe, right? And really be clear on who we are, what we stand for, what we're trying to provide for our clients.

Rick Denton: 10:09

Okay, I want to pull on that a little bit how, because I like the idea of yes, the how of it, and needing to equip those teams, especially when you're talking about 60 to 600 being able to equip them they weren't, maybe organically, brand act advocates. And so equipping them to be brand advocates, along with equipping them with the human skills you're describing and the well, even the financial skills of, how do we make sure that our sales and our revenue and all of that are starting to increase? How do you go about doing that when you're scaling at that well, at that scale, if you will.

Kate Guenther: 10:42

Great question. You know, I had that at Tommy Bahama too and Aritzia, my last two companies and similar hiring situation. Teaching, teaching them about our brand was really important, and so bringing product closer to them, right? So either making sure that they're visiting our stores regularly, or they're looking at their online marketplace, which is the website or getting free product. So having, having promotions showing people the value of A for every $100 pair of leggings, this is incrementally how your sales will grow, and sort of give them that what's in it for them, right? Yeah. But So let's, let's go after this one product and talk about it a lot, and let's really engage with the with the features and benefits of that product. So you can, you can really be great at this, because every person needs a pair of these black leggings, every person, every person may not need a wine shirt like a Tommy Bahama. We used to have these FIVE POCKET pants that were brockey pants, and they were awesome, and they were four way stretch men love them, and we made sure our team understood how to sell those by wearing them, feeling them, really, understanding the breadth of the offering, and getting excited about and proud of who We were and what we were able to offer.

Rick Denton: 12:02

Let's expand on that, because you may have seen me smiling throughout that one I well, I smiled on the fact of the pants that stretch, because, yes, I certainly value stretch. There's the reality of the tension that I described earlier, like the delivery of customer experience often doesn't tie to those business results. How are you helping your teams, or even not just your teams, but your peers, and the executives and the company understand customer experience actually delivers tangible business results. How are you tying those together?

Kate Guenther: 12:35

I've seen us reduce fraud, deliver product insights, boost conversion. I mean, those three alone get you a seat at the table in the room, and if you provide the data. I mean, we had sentiment analysis, we had data to back that up, and that's where the big impact was made. And that's why I love these, these smaller to medium sized companies that start booming, because you can come in and you're like, wow, there's like, so much to do that, so much cool stuff. And I would say those were my top three in my last role. And, you know, it was, it was such a value add to be there to offer what we stood for and what we were hearing, you could aggregate all of that information that's coming into this, this CX space, and really serve up, you know, here's what's happening with fraud. These are the these are the policies and procedures that we have to change with our clients to create the ultimate experience. Here is, here's what's happening with our product. People love this. We're hearing this about the other product, right? And then when you think about boosting conversion, hey, we are. People are bracketing with our, with our, with these three coats. So we're seeing that people are buying multiple sizes of this coat. What does the copy look like? Are we giving really great fit, fit instructions and really sharing that information so people could take something away, yeah, and then make it better. And everybody wants to make more money, right? I mean, at the end of the day, it's like, create the best experience, sell some stuff you

Unknown: 14:00

Ooh,

Rick Denton: 14:08

Kate, that is so awesome, like you brought in all of these things that we talk about in customer experience. How do we break down the silos? How do we deliver the impact? And how do we well, I mean, fundamentally, as a business, a for profit business. How do we make more money? I love it. We're gonna take a little change of pace here. When I am flying from where I live in North Texas, Seattle, it's four hours. It's not the longest flight, but it can be nice to stop off in the lounge. And I know you've had some places where you would love to have stopped off in the lounge. So I'm gonna invite you to join me here in the first class lounge. We'll move quickly here and have a little bit of fun. What is a dream travel location from your

Kate Guenther: 14:41

past, I would say it's fairly recent. I went to Santa Fe and Taos, and, you know, I would say, I think I'm gonna retire there. I love it.

Rick Denton: 14:52

It is a beautiful area now, for the listeners that may not be from the US and aren't as familiar, this is in the New Mexico mountains. Santa Fe and Taos, beautiful. Beautiful, very artsy, very natural, very beautiful, and some phenomenal food. Yes,

Kate Guenther: 15:07

I could live. It's the third largest art market too, behind LA and New York. So that's really

Rick Denton: 15:12

cool. I had no idea that they were third. I knew it was a very artsy and very art gallery, intense area. Never would have thought that they were number three. That's awesome. Hey, what's a dream travel location you've not been to yet?

Kate Guenther: 15:24

Japan, where I'm going. I mean, that's got to be next year. Japan. Yeah, I

Rick Denton: 15:29

am long time. Listeners know it comes up all the time. It's either the dream travel location from the past or the one that you've not been to yet. It is amazing how much Japan comes up. And yes, it is an amazing place. I encourage you to prioritize and get there as quickly as possible, because it is truly, truly amazing. One of the things that I enjoyed when I was there with my family was the food. And I mentioned food earlier. What is a favorite thing of yours to eat?

Kate Guenther: 15:55

I love a medium rare filet, my husband's risotto, Betty salad. This is my foot my this would be my last meal. Betty salad, which is a Toledo Ohio, a salad dressing recipe from where I'm where I grew up. And then for dessert, I want Cassata cake from Little Italy. Corbos is the bakery in Cleveland, yeah.

Rick Denton: 16:18

Oh my gosh. I love that we got not only food but travel destinations. Everybody needs to write these things down. The ultimate go to Little Italy. Yes, you mentioned the dressing from an area where you you grew up. What is something you were growing up that you were forced to eat but you hated as a kid, we

Kate Guenther: 16:35

always said fish on Friday, salmon patties. And my mom would melt a slice of Velveeta cheese on top of it and fry in a pan. It was horrible. It was out of a can. And now that I live up here, I'm like,

Rick Denton: 16:50

You know what salmon should taste like? To the memory of what it was and realize you were not offered good salmon back then, I understand. I remember those salmon patties as well, from that era, time for us to leave the first class lounge. What is one travel item, not including your phone, not including your passport, that you will not leave home without?

Kate Guenther: 17:09

My cosmetic bag, it has everything in there, and I it's I've left it in an airport. So I understand the pain is real when you don't have it. It was a very expensive replace you.

Rick Denton: 17:28

Yeah, that's awesome. I think there have been times that I may have had an individual item that I thought was three ounces, but was too much and it got confiscated security. But to leave the entire bag, yeah, I could see that that would be a remarkably expensive replacement, hopefully, hopefully that never happens again.

Kate Guenther: 17:46

My husband went to Sephora with me the next day, and he was like, I didn't know makeup costs this much. And I was like, you're not supposed to, that's

Rick Denton: 17:53

right. Little market research trip that caused his eyes to bug out absolutely. Yeah, right. You mentioned Sephora, and it's one that a lot of folks really go to because they value the experience that they get there. And folks are choosing it because of the experience. We also know the other way. And what is it that you see companies doing today that are really missing in customer experience? And then how can they improve on what they're falling short on?

Kate Guenther: 18:20

I would say, what's the strategy? What's the strategy from the frontline employees all the way to the C suite, and how are you using that data to really make an impact on the experience? That's what's missing. And I think we've got the data, we've got the great employees, we've got the C suite, but do we know end to end. And if I go to the frontline employee, to the C suite employee, are they all aligned on the same objective? Do they all know what our objective is with our client experience?

Rick Denton: 18:53

I like that. I like the breaking down, the silos, the strategies, all of that. Like the education that's there, the understanding that's there. Okay, how can you help them do that?

Kate Guenther: 19:04

Well, I always call it scaling with soul. We got to have a little soul with this, right? And I what I think is important is you have to identify where all your touch points are. It's not just at your brick and mortar store. It's just not on your econ site. What are people seeing around right? And what are your reviews looking like? Do you have a location problem? Do you have a website problem? Do you have a people problem, right? Is it a product? So really understanding what is what? What can we aggregate, right? What information can we, can we take from the universe, and how can we use that to make really smart decision across people and Product Price process, because there is friction points. And they will tell you, they will tell you, and I will tell you this, that the way that I went after this, and most people should, is spend a day with the people that touch the client the closest they you will learn a ton. 10, you will learn a ton. I loved it when Mr. Nordstrom would call come to the Call Center in Denver, Colorado, and we were answering phone calls about the credit card with his last name on it. Yeah. I mean, he was so much passion. And there he walked with a list, a list, a huge list, for all different people within the organization. And I would say that as a CX strategist, really understanding who those people are in the organization that you should be bringing together so you can make an impact. Because really it's finding that information first and sharing it

Rick Denton: 20:33

can. Let's stop on that for a second. The idea of being there in the front line and whatever that frontline means, it can mean in the store. It can mean in the store, it can mean in the contact center. It can be with your sales team. It can whatever that is, where the customer is being directly interacted with you. And I know that that's one of the most valuable sources of information. Generally, customer experience professionals know that to be true, and many companies do know that to be true, and yet we don't see it happening all that often. Why do you think more companies aren't doing what you're describing is the best way to understand their customer?

Kate Guenther: 21:10

I think that sometimes people lose priorities, and I think that, you know, it's got to be a priority, and if that, if that isn't a priority, then it never will be and people forget, those are the people making the decisions to use their wallet to come to your location and to your company. And it's important we get that experience right.

Rick Denton: 21:32

Oh, man, oh, I could stop this right now. The episode could end with that wisdom nugget. Folks, if you if you didn't hear that, go, hit replay, cement what Kate just said in your mind. Kate, before we go though, I want to ask, what's next for you with customer experience? What does that next best opportunity look like for you?

Kate Guenther: 21:49

You know, I want to. I love I love people. I love a little bit of chaos. I love figuring things out and sorting it and being a part of the plan and strategy. But I love executing too, you know? I mean, I would say that, you know, the three inch to the 30,000 feet like I enjoy it end to end. And I think that if you're really, really passionate about CX, you have to, you know, you have to enjoy the end to end journey and seek to understand it and really dig in. I I love that. So what is the next role for me? I'm not gonna lie. I love fashion and design. I mean, I love, I love, I love a good fashion crisis. But you know, that doesn't mean that doesn't mean that I'm not open to, you know, right? Beautiful, beautiful things. How's that I like? Oh, I like things like that

Rick Denton: 22:45

a lot. That is exactly where we'll end. Kate, Kate, if folks wanted to get to know a little bit more about you, your approach to customer experience, your experience and to help you find that next beautiful things, opportunity, what's the best way for them to get in touch?

Kate Guenther: 23:01

My LinkedIn profile, it's Kate Gunther, or they can shoot me an email at Gunther, kate@icloud.com I would love to chat with them. I would say, LinkedIn, I'm all over it all the time. I post it regularly.

Rick Denton: 23:16

Excellent. Well, then if you aren't following Kate, make sure you do. And all of that information is in the show notes. Click there. You don't even have to hit pause, just click off. You go, and you can get in touch with Kate. Kate. Thank you very much for being a part of this. Well, I hate to overuse this word, but journey. It's been a fun conversation. I really, really appreciated that you started with an 11 year old child going with her grandmother to see what real delivery of human to human customer experience is like. That was beautiful. Kate, thanks. Thank you for being on CX passport. Thanks for joining us this week on CX Passport.

Kate Guenther: 23:50

Thanks, Rick, If you liked today’s episode I have 3 quick next steps for you Click subscribe on the CX Passport youtube channel or your favorite podcast app Next leave a comment below the video or a review in your favorite podcast app so others can find and and enjoy CX Passport too Then, head over to cxpassport.com website for show notes and resources that can help you create tangible business results by delivering great customer experience. Until next time, I’m Rick Denton and I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport.