Brad Birnbaum's guest appearances

Brad Birnbaum

The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

Finding Genius Podcast

Amazing Business Radio

CX Conversations

Built By Humans

Nick Mehta

Klaviyo CEO

Cameron Deatsch

Matt Dixon

Gabe Larsen

Auren Hoffman

Annette Franz

Dan Gingiss

Todd Olson

Shep Hyken

Daniel Rodriguez

Vikas Bhambri

Scott Brown

Tien Tzuo

Dorian Stone

OwlTail

Today we talk to Brad Birnbaum, the CEO here at Kustomer, and we talk about the future of customer experience and the effects we have felt from the big events in 2020. We saw numerous changes last year, expected and unexpected, some of which being a boom in retail and an influx in customer inquiries. Remote work has been a large change that most companies have embraced and it seems companies across the board will keep this change and adapt moving forward. The customer’s expectations have changed as the world has changed, and then we discuss how and what companies can do to adapt and start to win moving forward. Summarizing 2020 1:32Remote work 4:03The change in consumer expectations 5:45How companies can start to win in 2021 7:11Artificial intelligence and machine learning 9:24Multi and omni channels 11:22The mantra all companies should have 13:29“I think remote work has impacted the vast majority of us. I think you and I are both doing this from our homes right now, right? So remote working has impacted, kind of almost everyone, and I think the world was trending towards remote work, but wow did we just put that in hyperdrive.” 4:04

Today we talk to Brad Birnbaum, the CEO here at Kustomer, and we talk about the future of customer experience and the effects we have felt from the big events in 2020. We saw numerous changes last year, expected and unexpected, some of which being a boom in retail and an influx in customer inquiries. Remote work has been a large change that most companies have embraced and it seems companies across the board will keep this change and adapt moving forward. The customer’s expectations have changed as the world has changed, and then we discuss how and what companies can do to adapt and start to win moving forward. Summarizing 2020 1:32 Remote work 4:03 The change in consumer expectations 5:45 How companies can start to win in 2021 7:11 Artificial intelligence and machine learning 9:24 Multi and omni channels 11:22 The mantra all companies should have 13:29 “I think remote work has impacted the vast majority of us. I think you and I are both doing this from our homes right now, right? So remote working has impacted, kind of almost everyone, and I think the world was trending towards remote work, but wow did we just put that in hyperdrive.” 4:04

Tomorrow’s Customer Experience Starts Here | Brad Birnbaum

In this episode we talk with CEO and Founder at Kustomer, Brad Birnbaum. We’re gonna be talking about this idea of a ticket free future. We discuss how and why Kustomer started, Kustomer focus on a seamless customer experience, and the role of an omnichannel platform to service modern customer needs. Brad’s background 0:44The 3 principles on which Kustomer was founded 2:49What does truly omni channel mean? 4:17CRM’s role 7:33Final advice for leaders of customer service 14:05“You have to adapt, right? It’s kind of adapt or die, right? You have to adapt and that is how you do business in every facet of how you do business. Customer service of course is a critical part of it. You can have a great product, but poor customer service and you probably will not have repeat customers, you won’t have customer advocacy, and in the end you probably won’t win.” 14:39https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/

In this episode we talk with CEO and Founder at Kustomer, Brad Birnbaum. We’re gonna be talking about this idea of a ticket free future. We discuss how and why Kustomer started, Kustomer focus on a seamless customer experience, and the role of an omnichannel platform to service modern customer needs. Brad’s background 0:44 The 3 principles on which Kustomer was founded 2:49 What does truly omni channel mean? 4:17 CRM’s role 7:33 Final advice for leaders of customer service 14:05 “You have to adapt, right? It’s kind of adapt or die, right? You have to adapt and that is how you do business in every facet of how you do business. Customer service of course is a critical part of it. You can have a great product, but poor customer service and you probably will not have repeat customers, you won’t have customer advocacy, and in the end you probably won’t win.” 14:39 <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/</a>

The Future is Ticket Free | Brad Birnbaum

In a world where change is the only constant, opportunities to disrupt large incumbents present themselves every so often. When Brad Birnbaum started Kustomer in 2015 there was no shortage of major players in the market (ex. Zendesk). Brad shares how to spot opportunities for disruption, differentiate from the competition and move up-market.

In a world where change is the only constant, opportunities to disrupt large incumbents present themselves every so often. When Brad Birnbaum started Kustomer in 2015 there was no shortage of major players in the market (ex. Zendesk). Brad shares how to spot opportunities for disruption, differentiate from the competition and move up-market.

27:  Kustomer CEO Brad Birnbaum on why all industries need to be disrupted once a decade

In this episode we talk to Brad Birnbaum, co-founder and CEO of Kustomer, Matt Dixon, Chief Product and Research Officer at Tethr, and Lauren Pragoff, Vice President of Effortless Experience at Challenger. We talk about some of the largest issues and challenges companies have been facing during the pandemic, such as employees transitioning to working from home and how they’ve had to crack down on making help readily available through their online channels. Another thing they’ve seen is an increase in inquiry volume and a lack of reps to meet the demand of these inquiries. We discuss the fact that the world is ready for more machine learning and more advanced artificial intelligence to meet the needs of this increasing demand. Lauren has seen that a third of companies are actually seeing a decrease in inquiries with the pandemic, so they’ve had to use a proactive outreach approach to keep reps busy. We talk about how many customers go to a lot of third party sources of information in order to get the answer to their questions, such as Youtube or Google, but these sources aren’t always reliable. Brad tells us about a technological shift companies should be using to meet the needs and desires of customers, such as reaching out and answering their question before they actually ask it.Guest introductions 1:41The biggest challenge companies are facing and how they are overcoming it 3:56How Matt has seen people doing more with less 12:28Types of technologies companies should be adopting now to make this change more successful 25:42“The thing that really got our customers to stay on our website and not get frustrated, pick up the phone and call is when we started writing at a grade 5 to 7 reading level so that customers could absorb that information quickly. So often our content is laden with corporate jargon, industry vernacular, or stuff that the attorneys made us add in and it stopped making sense to our customers. So go back, make it simple, and it’ll stick. It’ll siphon off those live calls.” 24:42https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-pragoff-99967532/https://www.kustomer.com/leadership/brad-birnbaum/https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/Twitter: @bradbirnhaum https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/https://tethr.com/leadership/matt-dixon/

In this episode we talk to Brad Birnbaum, co-founder and CEO of Kustomer, Matt Dixon, Chief Product and Research Officer at Tethr, and Lauren Pragoff, Vice President of Effortless Experience at Challenger. We talk about some of the largest issues and challenges companies have been facing during the pandemic, such as employees transitioning to working from home and how they’ve had to crack down on making help readily available through their online channels. Another thing they’ve seen is an increase in inquiry volume and a lack of reps to meet the demand of these inquiries. We discuss the fact that the world is ready for more machine learning and more advanced artificial intelligence to meet the needs of this increasing demand. Lauren has seen that a third of companies are actually seeing a decrease in inquiries with the pandemic, so they’ve had to use a proactive outreach approach to keep reps busy. We talk about how many customers go to a lot of third party sources of information in order to get the answer to their questions, such as Youtube or Google, but these sources aren’t always reliable. Brad tells us about a technological shift companies should be using to meet the needs and desires of customers, such as reaching out and answering their question before they actually ask it. Guest introductions 1:41 The biggest challenge companies are facing and how they are overcoming it 3:56 How Matt has seen people doing more with less 12:28 Types of technologies companies should be adopting now to make this change more successful 25:42 “The thing that really got our customers to stay on our website and not get frustrated, pick up the phone and call is when we started writing at a grade 5 to 7 reading level so that customers could absorb that information quickly. So often our content is laden with corporate jargon, industry vernacular, or stuff that the attorneys made us add in and it stopped making sense to our customers. So go back, make it simple, and it’ll stick. It’ll siphon off those live calls.” 24:42 <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-pragoff-99967532/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-pragoff-99967532/</a> <a href="https://www.kustomer.com/leadership/brad-birnbaum/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.kustomer.com/leadership/brad-birnbaum/</a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradleybirnbaum/</a> Twitter: @bradbirnhaum <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewxdixon/</a> <a href="https://tethr.com/leadership/matt-dixon/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">https://tethr.com/leadership/matt-dixon/</a>

How to Successfully Manage CX During a Global Pandemic | with Matt Dixon, Brad Birnbaum, and Lauren Pragoff

In this episode of Customer Service Secrets, we talk with the CEO of Kustomer, Brad Birnbaum, about the growth and development of Kustomer and the Kustomer platform. We discuss how customer experience has changed over the years, what has influenced this transformation, and how we need to react to stay ahead of the curve. Brad also talks about what the future holds for Kustomer. Join us as for valuable tips and insights for customer experience professionals. Introduction to Brad and Kustomer 0:34How Customer Service has changed 3:19Channels of Communication 8:31Automation 13:34“One of my favorite things to do is to call Delta and if I get an answer that I don’t like, then I call another agent. So what you’re doing is eliminating [the] other channels.” 11:13

In this episode of Customer Service Secrets, we talk with the CEO of Kustomer, Brad Birnbaum, about the growth and development of Kustomer and the Kustomer platform. We discuss how customer experience has changed over the years, what has influenced this transformation, and how we need to react to stay ahead of the curve. Brad also talks about what the future holds for Kustomer. Join us as for valuable tips and insights for customer experience professionals.  Introduction to Brad and Kustomer 0:34 How Customer Service has changed 3:19 Channels of Communication 8:31 Automation 13:34 “One of my favorite things to do is to call Delta and if I get an answer that I don’t like, then I call another agent. So what you’re doing is eliminating [the] other channels.” 11:13

How Customer Service Has Transformed in the Last 20 Years | Brad Birnbaum

Brad Birnbaum is the Founder &amp; CEO @ Kustomer, the first intelligent platform for customer experience that enables you to know everything about every customer. To date Brad has raised over $38m in funding for Kustomer from some of the very best in the SaaS business including Tomasz Tunguz @ Redpoint, Ed Sim @ Boldstart, Canaan Partners, Box Group and Social Leverage just to name a few. Previously he was the Co-founder of Assistly, which was acquired by Salesforce and became Desk.com. Prior to that, he was CTO for Talisma and Co‑founder &amp; CTO of eShare Technologies. In addition, Brad was also the CTO @ Sean parker’s Airtime and VP of Engineering with Salesforce. In Today’s Episode We Discuss:  How Brad made his way into the world of customer experience and SaaS over 20 years ago? This is Brad’s 4th time at the roadshow, what does Brad believe are the core benefits of repeat entrepreneurship? How did his prior experience change his operating mentality with Kustomer? What has he done differently this time? What worked and he has kept the same? Brad has made the transition from CTO to CEO, how did he find this transition? What were some of the most challenging elements? What have been some of the biggest surprises? What advice would Brad have for other CTOs who have made or are thinking about making the transition? Brad initially served SMBs with Kustomer but now primarily focuses on mid-level, what would Brad’s biggest advice be when it comes to finding the right go-to-market strategy for you? How did their transition alter their approach to pricing, product, messaging and distribution? Where does Brad see many people go wrong on go-to-market?  Brad’s 60 Second SaaStr:  What does Brad know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? When is the right time to pour fuel on the company fire? What would Brad most like to change in the world of SaaS?  Read the full transcript on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Brad Birnbaum

<a href="https://twitter.com/bradbirnbaum" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brad Birnbaum</a> is the Founder &amp; CEO @ <a href="https://www.kustomer.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kustomer</a>, the first intelligent platform for customer experience that enables you to know everything about every customer. To date Brad has raised over $38m in funding for Kustomer from some of the very best in the SaaS business including Tomasz Tunguz @ Redpoint, Ed Sim @ Boldstart, Canaan Partners, Box Group and Social Leverage just to name a few. Previously he was the Co-founder of Assistly, which was acquired by Salesforce and became <a href="http://Desk.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Desk.com</a>. Prior to that, he was CTO for Talisma and Co‑founder &amp; CTO of eShare Technologies. In addition, Brad was also the CTO @ Sean parker’s Airtime and VP of Engineering with Salesforce. In Today’s Episode We Discuss: <ul> <li>How Brad made his way into the world of customer experience and SaaS over 20 years ago?</li> <li>This is Brad’s 4th time at the roadshow, what does Brad believe are the core benefits of repeat entrepreneurship? How did his prior experience change his operating mentality with Kustomer? What has he done differently this time? What worked and he has kept the same?</li> <li>Brad has made the transition from CTO to CEO, how did he find this transition? What were some of the most challenging elements? What have been some of the biggest surprises? What advice would Brad have for other CTOs who have made or are thinking about making the transition?</li> <li>Brad initially served SMBs with Kustomer but now primarily focuses on mid-level, what would Brad’s biggest advice be when it comes to finding the right go-to-market strategy for you? How did their transition alter their approach to pricing, product, messaging and distribution? Where does Brad see many people go wrong on go-to-market?</li> </ul> Brad’s 60 Second SaaStr: <ol> <li>What does Brad know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning?</li> <li>When is the right time to pour fuel on the company fire?</li> <li>What would Brad most like to change in the world of SaaS?</li> </ol> Read the <a href="https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcast-200-brad-birnbaum-founder-ceo-kustomer-discusses-the-right-way-to-think-about-saas-pricing-today/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">full transcript</a> on our blog. If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented, you can follow us on Twitter here: <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonlk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jason Lemkin</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harry Stebbings</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/saastr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SaaStr</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/bradbirnbaum" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brad Birnbaum</a>

SaaStr 200: Should SaaS Startups Start At SMB and Scale To Enterprise or Vice Versa, What It Takes To Make The Transition From CTO To CEO & The Right Way To Think About SaaS Pricing Today With Brad Birnbaum, Founder & CEO @ Kustomer

Kustomer.com allows companies to know everything about every customer. The Kustomer platform allows companies to see all conversations with a customer across different channels including email, texts, and more. This gives companies the full context of a customer’s history, which enables companies to engage with customers in a more personalized way. Automation helps your customer experience and support processes by integrating every relevant customer data system and application, lowering the cost and effort of delivering a premium experience. React faster and scale personalization with workflows, allowing for automated outreach and service to every customer.

<a href="http://Kustomer.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kustomer.com</a> allows companies to know everything about every customer. The Kustomer platform allows companies to see all conversations with a customer across different channels including email, texts, and more. This gives companies the full context of a customer’s history, which enables companies to engage with customers in a more personalized way. Automation helps your customer experience and support processes by integrating every relevant customer data system and application, lowering the cost and effort of delivering a premium experience. React faster and scale personalization with workflows, allowing for automated outreach and service to every customer.

Brad Birnbaum, CEO & Founder at Kustomer – Get To Know Your Customer.

How can you provide a better experience for the customer and an even better one for the agents?Shep Hyken sits down with Brad Birnbaum, CEO and Co-Founder of Kustomer, to talk about how to understand and know everything about your customer.Top Takeaways:•	A common problem is when the customer knows that the company has information about them, yet the customer support rep solving the problem doesn’t know anything about the customer. Every support agent should have all the information about the customer in front of them. By having knowledgeable agents, you can increase productivity by 20%.•	When you create friction, you end up creating a complaint. To eliminate friction, agents must have the relevant data about the customer at their fingertips, reducing the time of the phone call and the number of emails exchanged. •	Consider using a “sentiment rank” to gauge how happy or angry the customer is. Then find all the unhappy customers and reach out to them to try and get them to re-engage. •	Chatbots are best used for simple requests and less effective for personal service. Combining a chatbot with a Conversational Form is an effective way to use the chatbot to collect data or conduct a survey. It may feel like a chatbot but is really collecting data along the way. This makes customers feel like they’re immediately in the chat instead of having to make selections to get to the right place.About:Brad Birnbaum is the CEO and Co-founder of Kustomer (https://www.kustomer.com/) and is a 20-plus veteran of the customer service industry. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you provide a better experience for the customer and an even better one for the agents? Shep Hyken sits down with Brad Birnbaum, CEO and Co-Founder of Kustomer, to talk about how to understand and know everything about your customer. Top Takeaways: •	A common problem is when the customer knows that the company has information about them, yet the customer support rep solving the problem doesn’t know anything about the customer. Every support agent should have all the information about the customer in front of them. By having knowledgeable agents, you can increase productivity by 20%. •	When you create friction, you end up creating a complaint. To eliminate friction, agents must have the relevant data about the customer at their fingertips, reducing the time of the phone call and the number of emails exchanged. •	Consider using a “sentiment rank” to gauge how happy or angry the customer is. Then find all the unhappy customers and reach out to them to try and get them to re-engage. •	Chatbots are best used for simple requests and less effective for personal service. Combining a chatbot with a Conversational Form is an effective way to use the chatbot to collect data or conduct a survey. It may feel like a chatbot but is really collecting data along the way. This makes customers feel like they’re immediately in the chat instead of having to make selections to get to the right place. About: Brad Birnbaum is the CEO and Co-founder of Kustomer (<a href="https://www.kustomer.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.kustomer.com/</a>) and is a 20-plus veteran of the customer service industry. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>