Often Imitated: CX Stories from History

Overlooked and Underserved with Tonio DeSorrento, Co-Founder & CEO at Vemo Education

Episode Summary

How did Sarah Breedlove single-handedly build a haircare empire in the 1800s? What does that tell us about CX design?

Episode Notes

Pricing and cost are always sticking points when it comes to CX. But what if there was a better way? How can CX leaders build a win-win experience? To get an answer, we looked at the experience of Madam CJ Walker and spoke to Tonio DeSorrento, CEO of Vemo. Tonio is doing something unheard of in student loan financing. He's building with students in mind.  

Experience: Designing experiences for overlooked communities 

Inspiration: Sarah Breedlove aka Madam C. J. Walker

Modern Day Execution: Tonio DeSorrento, CEO of Vemo

3 Takeaways

• Don't ignore the idea that won't go away. When you feel in your gut you have an opportunity to make an impact by doing something differently, whether that's founding a new business, or serving a new community — lean into that.
• Aligned incentives are the key to building and maintaining quality customer experience. When businesses view their customers as a means to an end, they overlook opportunities to make them successful.
• Stay close to your customers. The best way to know if your business is truly designed for your end-user is to ask them yourself. Instead of relying on high-level theories when you're designing, turn to tangible customer experience.

Key Quotes

• "It's a partnership concept rather than a loan concept. A school partners with a student and they share in their success."
• "First, pick the right customer, Second, meet the customer's needs. You have to love that customer and build an experience around them."
• "Don't be afraid to be very high touch. Use great people in your company to understand your customers and their pain points intimately, and then build or automate off of those learnings."

Links

• Tonio's LinkedIn
• Tonio's Twitter
• Vemo

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This podcast is presented by Oracle CX. 

Hear more executive perspectives on CX transformation at Oracle.com/cx/perspectives