‘I believe that change must start from within each of us’: Tania Amar, Founder and CEO of CXP Consulting

CIO Bulletin is happy to announce that Tania Amar, Founder and CEO of CXP Consulting, has been selected as one of the Best Women Inspiring Leaders of the Year 2022. Coming from a background of 25 years in marketing and business development, Tania has served many global brands and VCs as their Chief Marketing Officer. As an international public speaker, she has spoken widely on the impact of disruptive Israeli innovation on well-established sectors, such as Finance, Insurance and healthcare, and the importance of strategic storytelling to support for technology ventures go-to-market. Established in 2016 by Tania Amar, CXP Consulting guides its clients on a journey throughout the buying cycle – from defining their unique and powerful story to creating a delightful customer experience that turns prospects into supporters.

In tête-à-tête with Tania Amar, Founder and CEO

Q. What would you tell young women who are just starting to work? What would you like them to know?

Your attitude and mindset are just as important as any of your skills, experience and hard work. People like to be around positive, optimistic and high-energy individuals who bring their unique personality and drive to the table.

My other advice is to trust yourself and your intuition. Ask yourself if this is the right place for you. Are the atmosphere, the culture and working environment appealing to you? Do you look forward to going to work every morning? Your first workplace is a great opportunity to learn what fits your style and career ambition best. Would you rather work in a team or independently (or maybe both, depending on the task)? How do you interact and communicate with colleagues and your boss? How do you handle feedback (and even criticism) on your work? How do you deal with your emotions? What motivates you or on the contrary discourages you?

Practicing such self-awareness will serve you everywhere you go and help you land the right job opportunities in the future where you will be at your best and feel satisfied.

Use this time to learn from others. Is your boss willing to mentor you? You may even pro-actively seek out a mentor within the organization who can assist you with understanding the environment and colleagues’ behaviors.

Ask questions - this is the best way to elicit knowledge sharing. Answers and insights are only as good as the questions you ask. Always be curious!

Finally, and I know this is easier said than done, try to take it one step at a time. Release yourself from the pressure of “getting somewhere”. The road ahead of you is long and not necessarily a linear one. Don’t be afraid to pivot a few times, so remain always relevant and enrich your career and your life. That’s what makes it exciting!

Q. Why do you think companies would benefit from having more women at the top?

This is always a delicate question that often elicits “cliché” answers about increasing creativity and efficiency through diversity. The truth is that this hasn’t yet led to a major shift, judging by the remaining low number of women in senior management roles.

I believe that the change must start from within each of us. As women leaders the more we entrust other women to take more responsibility in senior leadership positions, the more we’ll see women stepping into bigger roles.

Q. Have you drawn professional inspiration from other women? Tell us about someone who has inspired you.

My mother, who recently passed away, has always inspired by. I always admired her strong energy in everything she did, her ability to re-invent herself over and over again, and her sense of self-confidence. No challenge was ever too big for her.

Among the women leaders who inspire me are the She-entrepreneurs with whom I have the privilege to work, in the context of my consulting, coaching and start-up mentoring activities. A common characteristic stands out among these exceptional ladies. They strive to achieve a BIG vision that will make a significant impact on people. Financial reward and personal status is rarely their top priorities.

Q. What inspired you to set up CXP Consulting?

In my 20 years of executive roles at international corporations and venture capital firms, I realized that I developed a very special skill of crafting creative and exciting business stories that touch people and motivate them to take action. This is where my consulting business is centered today. Through storytelling, I support dozens of revolutionary technologies and amazing startups to achieve the success they deserve and make a difference in the world.

Q. How much does customer experience matter to you?

Customer Experience (CX) is the essence of powerful storytelling, since the focus should always be on how technology impacts people through the value they experience, rather than the features. Steve Jobs’ famous quote inspired me (and also my choice of our Company name): “You have to start with the customer experience and then work backwards to the technology.”

This focus on CX is an integral component of our discovery process. First and foremost, we listen to the users of our customers. They are the “heroes” of the story. We need to gain a full understanding of who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. What is the problem (the “villain” of the story) they are facing that our client’s product can help to solve?

Asking thorough and empathic questions allows us to get to the root of their deepest motivations and drivers. By focusing on why decision-makers would want to buy, rather than what we sell and how it works (Pull vs Push), we make our customers’ offering irresistible to them.

Shed light on your integrated branding and sales services.

CXP consulting works with CEOs and top executives who want to take their company to the next business level, whether they need to raise new funding through an IPO or venture capital, expand into new geographies or new vertical markets, or launch a new product. They know that to lead a successful leap ahead, they need to delineate a strong and differentiated positioning and implement it effectively.

Tightly tying together strategic brand positioning and sales execution allows us to support our clients effectively, enabling them to reach - and often surpass- their business goals.

Q. What is the specialty of your services?

The approach we are using has been exclusively developed by our leadership team and it’s called.

T.O.P. ™ – Techniques of Persuasion. It is based on extensive research and field experience on the deepest rational behind decision-making.

The T.O.P. ™ method covers the whole spectrum of persuasion techniques: from neurolinguistics methods of using “power’ or “magic” words to body language analysis, behavioral cold reading, and how to successfully handle objections. By using T.O.P.™ techniques, you can greatly improve your communications effectiveness and power of influence.

Tell us a success story with one of your customers.

The methodology has proven to support a large number of companies over time on their business transformation pathway (spin-off, IPO, raising funds, penetrating a new market, launching new products, after or before M&A, pivoting, etc.) whatever the domain might be, enabling them to make an even greater impact in the world. The method consistently works!

For example in 2022, one of our most inspiring clients is a biotech company that specializes in cancer diagnosis. This is a company who had already achieved huge success, yet, the management team was humble enough to realize that in order to successfully leapfrog to their next (significant) business milestone – they should use an objective, professional and experienced assistance (CXP, in this case).

Due to our personal exposure to cancer, Alon Laor (co-founder of CXP Consulting) and I felt particularly compelled to help this company’s international expansion and funding round.

The kinds of projects we do with such outstanding entrepreneurs fills us with such a strong sense of purpose and passion to continue our business journey.

Meet the Leader

CXP Consulting was founded by Tania Amar after a career as a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of global multibillion-dollar high-tech corporations such as NICE Systems (the #1 high-tech company in Israel - valued at $17 billion), Click Software (acquired by Salesforce in 2019 for $1.5 billion) and JVP Venture Capital (managing $1.4 billion of funding).