Enhancing experiences for customers is her passion
Nathalie Schooling is a customer experience strategist and founder and CEO of Nlighten
The purpose of our business is to partner our clients to help them achieve a better experience for their customers. We do this by using in-depth customer research and developing strategies to improve the business offering, so they can retain and gain new customers. We also develop bespoke customer experience (CX) training, journey mapping and customer experience redesign.
While my main role is to engage potential new clients, develop client proposals and manage the strategic direction of our business and new partner opportunities, I also get involved in some of the day-to-day management of our accounts.
I love the research and training side of the business; it keeps me grounded and in tune with the changing face of business.
Who would be your typical client, and what are they looking for?
Our typical client would be an organisation’s head of customer experience or human resources, the director of strategy or the head of marketing. Basically, the people who are looking for experts to drive their customer service agenda.
What are the biggest issues in customer experience at present?
Getting everyone in the organisation to realise that, if you truly want to differentiate through great experiences, it needs to be a company-wide effort. The entire team needs to be involved.
The other challenge is ensuring a flawless process when interacting with an organisation, product or service.
To have a truly great customer experience today, everything has to be seamless at every level.
My best is when we pitch for work, we can see the hesitation at first with some of the folk in the room being less than convinced.
Fast forward 12 months, and they are seeing positive changes reflecting in customersatisfaction scores.
We then see the proverbial lights come on, and those who were once sceptical are now fully onboard.
What advice would you give to someone asking about your journey?
Starting your own business is not for the fainthearted. There are going to be days that you are ready to chuck in the towel. Think positive thoughts — as John Kehoe says: “Thoughts are real forces.”
What is the best career advice you have ever received, and who gave it to you?
It’s important to remember that your reputation will always precede you. So make sure you understand right from the start of your career that you need to “live your brand”.