Episode 9 | Evolving Customer Experience in the Digital World

TRANSCRIPT OF PODCAST VIDEO

Transcripts have been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

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Doug Clingman: Welcome to another episode of At the Table with Central Valley Ag. I'm Doug Clingman, your host today and chief technology officer at CVA. Today, we'd like to talk about how our member-owners interact with CVA and how that's evolving, especially through digital interactions that make it easier for them to do business, stay informed, and stay connected with their local team. This conversation really isn't about technology for technology's sake. It's more about improving and talking about the customer experience. Giving members more visibility, more convenience, and more flexibility on how they engage with the cooperative is really the purpose of this conversation. 

Joining me today are two people that bring this to life every day at CVA. Bailie Hennes-Clingman is our director of member experience, and Michael Bayer, one of our regional sales managers. Welcome Bailie and Michael. Bailie, I'd like to start with you. Before we dive in, tell the listeners here a little bit about your journey to CVA and your current role. 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: Great. Thank you, Doug. I started out at Washburn University where I majored in pre-law. After undergrad, I did move home and from there, started at the local cooperative, oddly enough in technology. And so first and foremost, started as an IT technician. My primary role was support for the organization for our internal team members. And from there, moved up to computer operations supervisor and then eventually became the general manager of a joint venture that CVA is the majority owner of called Ag Solutions IT. After five years there, I moved into the role I'm currently in, which is director of member experience. And what that role really means is I sit in the middle between our members and our internal team members and with the focus of how we can make doing business with CVA easier, both in person and digitally. 

Doug Clingman: Excellent. Michael, why don't you give a little background and tell us about your journey. 

Michael Bayer: Yeah, thanks Doug. Appreciate being here. Yeah, as said, I'm Michael Bayer. I'm a regional three sales manager here at CVA. I've been here almost 18 years. It's hard to believe 18 years already with CVA. Didn't see myself joining CVA right out of college, but I did and it's been a great experience ever since then. I get to work with a lot of growers throughout the growing season or throughout the year. I can help them manage their accounts, make decisions, and look at changes that they can make within their operation on a day-to-day basis. By doing this, I kind of get that firsthand experience of how a digital platform like CVA Connect can help them manage their daily events or the workflow that they have throughout the year. 

Doug Clingman: Excellent. 

Michael Bayer: Doug, what about you? What's your background? 

Doug Clingman: Yeah, so interesting enough my background is all military. 18 years in the United States Army. I've been all over the world and I never thought I'd come back to small town America, but I did and I don't regret that decision at all. I have been with CVA for the last 10 years, always in a technology capacity. I hear a lot of themes of what you do, Michael, as well as you, Bailie, and I would believe I do the same, and it's a lot of listening. My primary role here at CVA is really act as a custodian of technology. Really look at what's coming, what's over the horizon, what things are new and improved. Not necessarily bleeding edge, but leading edge and trying to bridge the gap on technology versus operations and making sure I'm like a translator between technology and people that are not into technology. 

I'd like to jump right into why digital interaction matters. So Bailie, when we talk about digital interaction, what problem are we trying to solve versus technology for technology's sake? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: Sure. So the primary reason behind CVA Connect or digital experience in general is to reduce roadblocks for our members. So we understand at CVA that our members manage very diverse and unique operations, which requires a multitude of decisions being made day-to-day. And with that, we want to provide flexibility for them and quick access to their information. And we understand that sometimes their hours don't match our facility hours. So we want to make sure that they have the ability to look at data when it's convenient for them and then enhance their conservations with their sales rep or their internal CVA team members when it matters most. 

Doug Clingman: So what would be something from a digital platform and a digital engagement side that we offer in our digital tools? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: Sure. So we have the ability for them to check invoices, look at their prepays, see how much they have remaining. Maybe they have questions about products or even pricing. Easy way to connect here with Mike's teams on maybe product availability and maybe what we can do for them as far as pricing goes. 

Doug Clingman: Excellent. Michael, from the field, how are you seeing members actually use digital tools in their current operation and/or CVA's digital tools? 

Michael Bayer: Yeah. A lot of our member-owners are using this tool in a very practical way. We see a lot of guys looking at their accounts when they're home during the evening in their house, or they're looking at their transactions that they have before calling into one of our CVA locations, or they're just taking a quick glance at their information that they have at the tips of their fingers when they're sitting in the corn line waiting to dump their corn or beans or whatever. So we get a lot of positive feedback and it seems like the growers that are on these tools are having better conversations with our sellers or with the people at our locations. It seems like we're spending more time talking about new strategies and next step opportunities we have when growers are more informed about their accounts. 

Doug Clingman: So from a perspective of whether you're a grower or an internal employee or just an average CTO with a smartphone, there's been more apps developed in the last one year than the last 20 years combined. So how do we combat app fatigue and get over the stigma that it's just another app and it's an app that actually is there for them and it can add value. 

Michael Bayer: So how many apps are we all using today? 15, 20, 25. I mean, the number can just go on and on and on. But what we're tyring to do here with CVA Connect is take multiple apps or multiple places that you need to go to get your information and bring it into one house. So a lot of benefits of that, a lot of time savings for that and just a lot of correct information that these growers are getting now at the tips of their fingers. 

Doug Clingman: Bailie, with your background from a technology support perspective, how do you combat against app fatigue to ensure people are fully leveragign tools that are out there that are adding value and not just white noise?  

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: Sure. I think a lot of that just stems back to conversation with the growers. Understanding where they're struggling so that way we can weed out some of those tools that may not benefit them as much ast those that will. And I think CVA Connect positions us well to provide kind of some closure to multiple apps coming all together into one seamless tool, whether that be through searching for products, statements, being able to view their statements in the portal, making online payments, those types of things, being able to do all of that in-house, but still have our team members on the outside there to help them through the process if they so choose, I think has been extremely beneficial. 

Doug Clingman: From an app support perspective and talking and interfacing with these growers, and I'd ask you both to kind of weigh in is, how does that feedback from the Farm Gate drive what the digital experience looks like currently and what it'll look like in the future? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: So to me, member input is paramount. We have to truly listen to what our growers need so that way we can focus on the future, but even more so, I think we have to look or listen to the frustrations that they have about maybe what we're lacking so that way in the future we can help to enhance conversations like Mike kind of alluded to where they're spending more time having strategy conversations versus basic frustration conversations. 

Michael Bayer: Yeah you're spot on, Bailie. The conversations we have or the feedback we've gotten is it's all around convenience. Our growers want their information when they want it, at the tips of their fingers, and not that we want to replace the personal relationships because we by no means want to do that, but we want to just give them another resource that they can have to look at their information to help them make decisions when they want to. 

Doug Clingman: So for somebody that hasn't digitally engaged or leveraged these offerings, what's the message that you want them to hear? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: I think it's important for them to remember that their digital experience is their own and can be done at their own pace. So what I mean by that is there's no pressure to interact with CVA digitially. Our internal teams are still going to be here at a local level to support them through that digital journey of they choose to do that in-person only. We're here to facilitate that no matter what. But at the end of the day, CVA's goal is just to make doing business with CVA easier, not complicate it further. 

Doug Clingman: So I'm still going to get my statement in the mail? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: You are absolutely going to get your statement in the mail. 

Doug Clingman: Very good. How about you, Micahel? I mean, what's the message you'd like to get across for everybody that might be listening?

Michael Bayer: Yeah. Once again, this is just another supplemental tool for these growers to use, another resource that they can have in their toolbox. Again, by no means we want to replace that personal relationship that they have with their current sellers or locations. We're just here to enhance their experience. I would ask them to take small steps with the CVA Connect tool, find something on there useful that would help them make some decisions here and there throughout their daily lives, and whatever is not important to them, just ignore it. Again, like Bailie said, our overall goal is to give each of our member-owners a positive experience and work with CVA.  

Doug Clingman: Appreciate that message that we're putting out there with the big focus being customer intimacy, customer support and customer satisfaction, but how do I get this digital interaction? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: So the easiest way is to go to cvacoop.com, choose the login option and then from there there's two options. You can either request access or sign in. The other option is to go download the CVA Connect app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. Type CVA Connect and the process is the same. Request access or sign in from there. And if you request access, a CVA representative will reach out to them to help them get logged into the app. 

Doug Clingman: And if I'm not a smartphone user? 

Bailie Hennes-Clingman: If I'm not a smartphone user, we absolutely have a customer portal option for you. So that can be access from just a basic web browser on a computer. The experience is the same, but whether you're looking at the mobile view or the customer portal. So we do have a lot of customers who use both. Maybe do a lot of the bookwork side from the customer portal via the web and then those that may look at their quick views, the scale tickets or maybe e-sign their contracts via their mobile device as well. But the experience is their own so they can choose whatever avenue works best for them. 

Doug Clingman: Well, I the message to wrap up here from Bailie, Michael and myself, if you're a member-owner looking for easier access, better visibility, or flexibility on how you do business with CVA. To your point, Michael, I mean transparency, access to data. We encourage you to explore these digital options or talk to your local CVA team member about what's available. Big thank you to Bailie and Michael for sharing their perspectives today and to all of our listeners for joining us here at the table. We appreciate your trust and partnership as we continue to build together. We'll see you next time At the Table with Central Valley Ag. 

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