We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ty Givens. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ty below.
Ty, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
Well, at first I did it all wrong, and I’m not totally sure I got it exactly right now, but I can say it’s better. When I first launched, I called the company The Workforce Pro. The name was meant to bring attention to a practice called Workforce Management which gets the right people, in the right place at the right time. No one got it. Literally, no one. It didn’t help that I had a hard time explaining what I did to people either.
After five years, I realized that this was actually my job and it was up to me to make the name stick, so I hired an agency but ended up naming my own company (a complete waste of money). The name is now CX Collective and it’s meant to show that CX is a collective effort between many people with many different backgrounds who come together to create these unique and bespoke experiences for customers.
At CX Collective, we are pioneering the way companies scale their customer experiences. We provide specialized teams on limited engagements and offer expertise from more than 20 years of experience in CX.
Our unique value proposition is to align our customers’ desired customer experiences with their budget capabilities so no one gets left behind.
Our mission is to revolutionize how businesses approach scaling their customer experiences through reliable partnerships, quality services, and cost-effective solutions.
Our vision for the future is a world where all businesses can reach their maximum potential with delightfully designed customer journeys that create remarkable results. To achieve this vision, we will continue to build lasting relationships with each of our customers and remain an industry leader in providing innovative strategies for success.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Ty. I’m proudly from South (Central) Los Angeles and customer experience has been my passion since I was 18 years old. I’ve had the opportunity to work with both Fortune 500 companies and startups. I’ve always loved the dynamic energy of startups!
I founded CX Collective because I saw a need for startups to have access to experienced strategic leadership at an affordable cost. So, I created a team that startups could rely on. What sets us apart from other consulting agencies is that we don’t just give recommendations and disappear. We actually get in there and do the work alongside our clients. We’re like partners!
We’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing clients like Furtify, Wonderfold, Brighton, and many more. Whether it’s a newer company in stealth mode or an established company ready for transformation, they come to us for our expertise and hands-on approach.
At CX Collective, we believe in transforming the customer experience to make our clients more efficient and improve customer satisfaction, which ultimately leads to retention. We’re all about making a real impact!
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I started out, I thought I knew what my clients would want (without asking them, go figure) and I was wrong. I also thought that warning someone of what was to come was enough for them to trust my guidance and hire me… wrong!
I started out with an option on my website for people to schedule an hour with me to pick my brain (as if I’d proven why they should). When that didn’t work, I started offering to fill in as head of CX. I thought because I was constantly getting recruited, I’d stand out in the space too. Wrong. Then I was asked to help a company optimize their Zendesk instance.
I was thinking, sure I can do it, but there’s more that you need other than a few system tweaks… but what I learned from that, is that’s how my clients see the problems we can solve. They think it’s the system not the process. It’s my job to help them understand where the opportunity lives. So I moved from being focused on trying to solve undefined problems to solving a clearly defined problem many companies have. I’m glad to have made that shift.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
In 2018, our pricing model consisted of a flat rate for services, with payment due in two or three installments, depending on the project length. Unfortunately, I encountered a situation where two clients made the initial payment but failed to make any subsequent payments, coincidentally happening in the same month. As those were the only two clients at the time, it significantly impacted our revenue for that period.
Despite my attempts to reach out to them, I had to accept the loss. However, this incident taught us a valuable lesson. We now require upfront payment and final payment before delivering documentation or resources. Although this approach may not always sit well with some clients, I prioritize retaining clients who value our services over acquiring new clients who may not fulfill their payment obligations.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ccollective,com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/cx.collective
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/cxcollective.la
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecxcollective
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cxcollective/podcasts
- Other: CX Collective In The Zone (Spotify): https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cxcollective
Image Credits
Rayne Duronslet
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