Red Shoes Experience and Customer Success – CS100 Summit Session Recap: Lonnie Mayne
Lonnie Mayne is the president of InMoment, a cloud-based customer experience (CX) optimization platform that helps brands leverage customer stories to inform better business decisions, and create more meaningful relationships with their customers. Lonnie kicked off his presentation at the CS100 Summit with sincerity by sharing how InMoment is passionate about a “red shoes” concept, as he calls it. Lonnie later on describes that InMoment does things a bit differently than other technology companies, and he believes that people and the true value that a company provides is by far the most important aspect of business.
Watch the video of Lonnie’s presentation below:
Red Shoes Experience
Lonnie’s goal for attendees at CS100 Summit was to get them to take a chance and “wear red shoes”. He explained everyone has an option to either live a life of mediocrity, or to wear red shoes and take the step to be different in any situation. He explained that throughout our lives, mentors, coaches, religious leaders, friends, and others have taught us the golden rule and the need to be committed to our values. But over time, these wonderful things that we were taught get drowned out by the noise in the world. Lonnie believes that every day we need to remind ourselves what we’re about at the core of who we are, and put those values to use in business and in life.
“What did you want to be when you were young?”
Lonnie asked the audience to think about this simple question, and he speculated most aren’t doing what they thought they would do when they were young. He asked, “If that 12-year old had a dream, then how do we still keep that alive, even in the midst of our day to day?”
The concept of the red shoes was created as a result of building InMoment’s platform. Lonnie explained that metrics are a critical aspect to running a business. But behind the metrics are a whole host of stories. He realized this as he was meeting with executives all over the world and they were getting lost in the numbers, but they weren’t going further than that. Lonnie now poses this question to those executives and other he meets:
“What is the outcome you are trying to drive towards by utilizing this science and these metrics? For many, it’s creating the best possible experience for customers and members.”
Unfortunately, though, many don’t reach their goals as they aren’t actually acting on them. Lonnie explained that [businesses] should strive to stand out like red shoes. “If we slow down and ask ourselves the objective, and it’s to create a great experience, then why are we not?”
The 5 Pillars of Red Shoes Experience (Living):
1. Awareness: Lonnie commented that it’s easy to get lost in the mundane of everyday life and busyness. He urges us to be aware of all the good things around us at all times, and be sure to capture those moments
2. Gratitude: Be grateful for whatever we have, such as the food we eat, the tools we use, and of course, our friends and family. He urges us to be grateful for the simple things in life.
3. Everyone Has a Story: Lonnie proposed the question, “If I knew each of your stories and what you might be going through on a certain day, would I interact with you differently?” He explained that it’s our responsibility to understand our customers’ stories. We run through life without truly knowing what others around us are going through, but knowing their personal stories might make all the difference.
4. Respect (Kindness): There are always ways to show others kindness and respect, even in small ways. But according to Lonnie, this is a lost art. He shared a story that Richard Petty was famous for signing every single autograph, and when asked why, he responded simply, “It’s easy to be nice”.
5. Put Yourself Out There!: This is the most critical pillar in order to succeed, Lonnie emphasized. “Somewhere along the way, the world beats insecurity into us. We need to start putting ourselves out there and live it out every single day, even in the midst of the demand of business.”
Lonnie concluded by sharing that sometimes life is more complex than we want it to be. We need to stay true to the dreams we have had throughout our lives. At the end of the day, Lonnie submits we make things too complicated. “We can make a difference and stand out like a pair of red shoes if we simply pay attention. InMoment has built the concept of red shoes into every single aspect of the business.”
As an extra punctuation mark to the red shoes concept, Lonnie shared this quote:
“Treat those that have more than you as equals and those that have less than you as kings or queens.”
You can view Lonnie’s entire presentation here.
Join us this September at the CS100 Summit 2017 at Sundance, Utah. This is an exclusive summit for leaders of customer success teams. Rub shoulders with the best leaders in the industry. There are only 100 executive seats available and we sold out last year. Learn more and register here.
Download the full “Customer Success as a Culture” eBook series:
Customer Success as a Culture: Customer Success Leaders Edition
Customer Success as a Culture: Sales Leaders Edition
Customer Success as a Culture: Marketing Leaders Edition
Customer Success as a Culture: Product Leaders Edition
Learn more about how ClientSuccess can help your company develop a strong customer success methodology and strategy with easy-to-use customer success software by requesting a 30-minute demo.