Jon Picoult

Customer & Employee Experience Expert, Acclaimed Author & Advisor to CEOs

Jon Picoult

Customer & Employee Experience Expert, Acclaimed Author & Advisor to CEOs

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Biography

Jon Picoult is masterful at helping companies impress their customers and inspire their employees, creating raving fans that drive business growth. He is a noted authority on customer and employee experience, and the leadership traits needed to excel at both.

From Fortune 500 CEOs to budding entrepreneurs, Jon has advised business leaders worldwide on how to cultivate loyalty in both the marketplace and the workplace – not just by shaping people’s experiences, but also by shaping their memories.

Using captivating stories and eye-opening studies, he explains the breakthrough, psychology-based strategies that great, admired companies use to turn everyday people into lifelong fans. Jon leaves audiences enlightened and energized to apply those same techniques in their roles and organizations.

Jon’s insights have been featured by dozens of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Inc., Fortune and Forbes. His landmark study on the ROI of customer experience is one of the most widely cited pieces of research in the industry, referenced by firms such as McKinsey, Deloitte, Accenture, Forrester, SAP, and Oracle.

Jon is also the author of the bestselling book, From Impressed to Obsessed: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans, which debuted as an Amazon #1 New Release in its category and was featured in The Wall Street Journal as a top reading pick. The book has earned praise from business luminaries such as Horst Schulze (co-founder of Ritz-Carlton Hotels), Hubert Joly (former CEO of Best Buy), and Marshall Goldsmith (world-renowned executive coach).

Currently the Founder & Principal of Watermark Consulting, Jon previously held senior executive roles at Fortune 100 firms – heading up service, operations, distribution, technology, sales and marketing. Early in his career, at the age of 29, Jon earned the distinction of becoming the youngest executive officer in the over 150-year history of a leading global financial services company.

Jon received his bachelor’s degree in cognitive science from Princeton University and his M.B.A. in general management from Duke University.

Speaker Videos

Customer Experience, Customer Service, Leadership

Why Customer Experience is Bigger Than Customer Service

The Best Service Recovery Story... Ever!

Speech Topics

The Art & Science Of A Great Customer Experience

If you’re aspiring to satisfy your customers, then you’re aspiring to mediocrity. That’s the fascinating premise behind this keynote, and it will fundamentally change how you think about creating a successful, beloved business.

Jon explains why building customer loyalty requires not just satisfying customers, but impressing them – forging indelible memories which drive the repurchase and referral behavior that is the lifeblood of any thriving business. With fascinating case studies and engaging stories, he reveals the 12 proven, science-based principles that legendary companies use to create truly impressive brand experiences – the kind that turn more sales prospects into customers, and more customers into lifelong fans.

Whether you serve external or internal customers, you’ll emerge from this program with specific, actionable ideas for turning your organization’s customer experience into its greatest competitive advantage.

Lead For Loyalty: A Great Customer Experience Starts With You

A great customer experience is like a beautifully choregraphed performance. As with any performance, an important part of this one involves what goes on backstage – in the work environment and with the leaders who shape it.

In this insightful keynote, Jon highlights the parallels between how great companies cultivate engagement with customers, and how great leaders accomplish the same with their workforce. He explains how leaders, via their own personal behaviors and the workplace constructs they create, have an unparalleled opportunity to encourage customer-focused behaviors throughout their organizations.

An ‘A’ For Effortless

Lots of companies fly the “easy to do business with” banner. Few ever actually fulfill that promise, as most consumers can attest. In this fascinating talk, Jon reveals how great companies make it not just easy – but completely effortless – for people to do business with them.

Using eye-opening statistics and amusing real-world examples, Jon explains why an effortless customer experience is such a rare and powerful competitive differentiator. In addition, for versions of this keynote geared towards leadership audiences, he explains how to eradicate distracting, unproductive effort from the workplace, so employees can keep their focus where it belongs – on their customers.

The Cognitive Science Behind A Great Customer Experience

The key to delivering a great customer experience? It’s all in your head! That’s because creating a great impression on customers isn’t just about shaping their experiences, it’s about shaping their memories.

In this fascinating program, Jon describes how great companies capitalize on cognitive science to influence how customers perceive and remember their experiences, driving the repurchase and referral behavior that’s at the heart of any successful business. From improving sales close rates to building positive word-of-mouth to enhancing employee engagement – you’ll find the principles outlined in this program to be invaluable.

From Great Recession To Great Cessation: How To Strengthen Customer Loyalty During Difficult Times

In 2008-09, during the height of the Great Recession, Hyundai Motors increased its market share by a remarkable 40%. Starbucks lost half its market value during that same economic downturn, yet emerged stronger from the recession, outperforming the S&P 500 by more than six-fold.

Just a few years after the Covid-19 pandemic’s Great Cessation decimated the air travel industry, Delta Airlines bounced back strong, delivering a shareholder return that was more than twice that of its peer group.

These are just three examples of companies that skillfully leveraged Customer Experience strategic principles to not just survive a period of crisis, but to thrive in the aftermath. In this fascinating and timely program, Jon reveals the techniques that smart companies use to strengthen customer loyalty during even the most challenging times.

Testimonials

“Jon Picoult has been a cornerstone of our leadership development programs and one of our most highly rated and highly respected speakers. He does his homework to ensure he knows the audience and tailors the content to be fully relevant and insightful. The breadth and depth of the knowledge, perspective, and insight he brings has been invaluable to our leaders. Jon is an impressive, inspiring, and engaging presenter... a true professional in every sense of the word.”

- Executive Vice President, AT&T

“Hire him! As our keynote speaker, Jon Picoult spoke with such authority, such passion and such authenticity, that our membership, mainly senior marketing executives, shared that his hour talk was worth their two-day conference admission. Hire him! If you are looking to engage your audience with insightful, purposeful, and actionable concepts, you have that in Jon. Hire him!”

- President, Insurance Marketing & Communications Association

“Jon really brought the energy! What a fantastic presentation and delivery. He did an amazing job closing out our customer conference, sharing such compelling stories and tips throughout, all carefully tailored to our audience. I heard so many positive comments from the attendees."

- Chief Marketing Officer, UserTesting

"Jon’s presentation was the highlight of our conference and his message truly resonated with our audience. The insights that he provided on the behaviors and ‘backstage’ mechanics that influence the experience of both internal and external customers were both inspiring and actionable. Jon’s enthusiasm for delivering a world-class customer experience is contagious!"

- Head of Americas Division, ASSA ABLOY

“We were thrilled to have Jon Picoult as the keynote speaker for our virtual conference. His presentation was very well received. Jon brought real-world relevance to his talk, with a logical and complete framework for creating a world-class customer service experience. If you’re looking for a speaker who will bring intellect, humor and lots of practical learning, we absolutely recommend Jon.”

- Co-founder, PROSPER Show

“Jon was fantastic! His presentation was extremely informative and highly entertaining. He gave us invaluable insight into what it takes to create a great customer experience – not only in terms of how we interact with our customers, but also how we interact with each other. He’s one of the best outside speakers we have ever brought in.”

- Chairman, Philadelphia Insurance Companies

“Jon Picoult delivers the one-two punch you hope every speaker will land – original material combined with palpable passion. Jon closed our TEDx event and left the audience uplifted and ready for action. I highly recommend Jon to open, close or present anywhere within your agenda where you desire to stimulate your audience's minds and senses.”

- Co-Chair & Host, TEDx Conference

“Jon Picoult's keynote was honestly one of the best closing presentations we've had in a long time at a Barron's Conference. We continue to hear rave reviews about it.”

- Advisory Content Manager, Barron’s Conferences

“Jon Picoult's keynote was honestly one of the best closing presentations we've had in a long time at a Barron's Conference. We continue to hear rave reviews about it.”

- Sr. Director, Property Casualty Insurers of America

“Jon’s keynote presentation at our conference was outstanding. His energy, humor and ability to keep the audience engaged is truly impressive. He was the highlight of the entire event and received the highest rating on our feedback survey.”

- Sr. Director, Property Casualty Insurers of America

“Jon Picoult's presentation was not only engaging and high energy, but it also gave us practical ways by which we could swiftly move toward our goal of becoming a world-class customer experience organization.”

- CEO, Veritiv Corporation

"Jon showed real interest in who would be attending our event and what they would be looking for, and he customized his program accordingly. His delivery was very energizing and he kept the audience engaged throughout. For such a confident and compelling speaker, Jon displays great humility and knows how to enhance the customer experience for sure. He was a pleasure to work with."

- Vice President, Gartner