I first met Tom DeVries when he was giving a keynote at the 2024 CXM 360 Conference at Michigan State University. Tom took an unorthodox approach to the keynote by not talking for the first 5 minutes. What? Yup! He used non-verbals, videos, and audio cues to engage the audience.

Tom has built a successful design firm and has shifted his focus in the last 12 years to include customer experience. He is an expert in human-centered design and has worked with some of the biggest brands in the US.

He shares some invaluable wisdom in this episode including:

• CX Metrics vs. Genuine Improvement:
• Tom criticizes organizations for focusing too much on CX metrics rather than genuine improvements.
• Operational Changes for Better CX:
• He suggests that organizations should initiate changes at the operational level before implementing measurement systems.
• Transformative Change in CX:
• Tom speaks about the need for transformative change in CX.
• Adaptability in CX Roles:
• Tom notes the importance of learning how to learn and adapting quickly in the current business environment. How can CX leaders foster a culture of adaptability within their teams?
• Case Studies and Pilot Programs:
• Tom emphasizes using case studies and pilot programs to demonstrate CX improvements. He discusses some key elements that should be included in a case study to make it impactful
• Brand Behavior and Customer Perception:
• The episode discusses how a brand is defined by its behavior and how it is perceived through customer experiences.
• The episode touches on the idea that brands today compete for relationships rather than transactions. How can businesses effectively build and maintain strong relationships with their customers?
• Shifting from Mechanical to Ecosystem Thinking:
• He urges businesses to shift from mechanical to ecosystem thinking. In what ways can adopting an ecosystem mindset benefit an organization in today’s fast-paced environment?
• Storytelling in Brand Strategy:

The role of storytelling in brand strategy is highlighted in the episode.

The episode is loaded with useful insights; some of which challenge traditional CX approaches.

Meet Tom:

Tom DeVries is a creative, straight-shooting strategist with a reputation for crafting industry-leading products,

brands, and experiences. By fusing business, technology, and humanity, he creates solutions that hit hard, turn

heads, and boost bottom lines. As the founder of ThoughtFull, an award-winning design firm, and Crucx, the world’s simplest customer

experience operating system, Tom drives growth by liberating organizations and their customers from the ordinary.

One of the most challenging jobs is to change a culture that achieved success with legacy thinking. It all starts with trust, especially if you are a CX leader. Stuart Gilchriest is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) who has worked in CX for 10+ years across multiple industries .

After starting his career in the hospitality industry in his native England, he transitioned into Customer Experience roles in the travel industry and became a respected voice on VOC program management, CX Strategy and Experience Design. He is most proud of helping Hertz achieve their only JD Power Customer Satisfaction wins in the past 20 years, in 2019 and 2020.

Stuart shares some practical applications in this episode including:

1. Community Support: Stuart emphasizes the importance of reaching out to communities for support when facing challenges.
2. The Forgetting Curve: Stuart discusses the "forgetting curve" by Ebbinghaus and the importance of reinforcing information through repetition. How can this concept be applied effectively within an organization to improve stakeholder engagement and information retention?
3. The Role of Repetition in CX: How do you ensure that key information and messages are consistently reinforced with your stakeholders to foster deeper relationships and ensure effective communication?
4. Change Management and ADKAR: The episode touches on change management models like ADKAR.
5. Building Trust: Stuart speaks about building and maintaining trust through practices like listening tours and the "emotional bank account" concept.
6. CX Roadmap: Stuart emphasizes the importance of a CX roadmap that addresses both short-term and long-term goals while aligning with stakeholder metrics.

This episode is packed with gems

Meet Stuart:

Stuart Gilchriest, a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) has worked in CX for 10+ years across multiple industries including hospitality, education, travel, vehicle rental (Hertz), and HR technology (UKG). He is currently Director of Sales Experience at Mercury Insurance, a mid-sized P+C insurance carrier based in Los Angeles, CA. He is passionate about the CX discipline and helping turn customer and agent insights into financial and operational success for Mercury.

After starting his career in the hospitality industry in his native England, he transitioned into Customer Experience roles in the travel industry and became a respected voice on VOC program management, CX Strategy and Experience Design. He is most proud of helping Hertz achieve their only JD Power Customer Satisfaction wins in the past 20 years, in 2019 and 2020.

Stuart holds a BA in Economics from the University of Nottingham in the UK, an MBA from Hult International Business School in Boston, MA, and a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) designation. He currently lives in Naples, FL with his wife Mayra, son Nicolas (21), daughter Mariana (5) and dog Chewy. He is a sport fanatic and has watched live sports on 5 continents (and counting), is an avid traveler (Colombia is a favorite destination), and is currently working on perfecting his homemade Indian curry recipes (the spicier the better!).

Customer Experience Management takes on an entirely different context when you or a loved one gets a cancer diagnosis. As you'll hear from my guest on this episode, the healthcare system is broken in many ways. UNC is starting with a better way to listen.

Loretta Muss, coordinator of the Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) at the North Carolina Basnight Cancer Hospital, recently retired after advocating for patients, families, hospital staff and administration for the past 14 years.

Muss started in her role with the PFAC in 2009 with the hope of strengthening the relationship between patients, caregivers and their cancer care teams.

On this episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast, Loretta talks about some of the realities stressing our healthcare system and the impact on patients. She shares the immensely successful PFAC she launched for UNC's Cancer Hospital and we talk about how the model can be used to help businesses inside and outside of healthcare.

Here are three pivotal questions she answered, which we believe can reshape how we view healthcare:

1. How can caregivers' inclusion in advisory councils transform patient care?

Caregivers play a crucial role in the patient journey, often providing the most consistent care. Understanding their perspectives can lead to more holistic and effective healthcare solutions.

1. What strategies can be employed to prevent burnout among healthcare providers while maintaining high standards of compassionate care?

Burnout is a critical issue affecting healthcare providers worldwide. Addressing it is essential to ensure that providers can continue delivering the high-quality, compassionate care that patients need.

1. In what ways can personalized patient interactions improve overall healthcare outcomes?

Personalization in healthcare can bridge the gap between clinical efficiency and patient satisfaction. Exploring this can lead to better health outcomes and a more humane healthcare experience.

Curious about Loretta's insightful answers? Tune in to our latest podcast episode and discover how these questions and their answers can drive significant improvements in the healthcare sector. 

How Leaders Can Leverage Video to Improve CX and EX - Rose Bentley, CEO, Qumu

Video in business is here to stay. The question is how to best leverage it to engage employees and customers to improve their experience?

On this episode:

• Qumu CEO and President Rose Bentley shares how you can best leverage technology to make deeper connections with your employees and customers. 
• She shares the specific role video plays and doesn’t play in an organization
• She talks about how she uses video in her role as CEO and the lessons that leaders can learn to improve effectiveness and engagement

Rose Bentley

Rose Bentley is responsible for overseeing global operations and implementing the strategic growth plan for Qumu. Her experience and leadership most recently at Teradata and Cisco have been focused on developing and partnering to deliver technology-driven business solutions and services, optimizing go-to-market performance, providing a seamless customer experience, and driving profitable revenue growth.

Qumu

Qumu Video Engagement Platform is a SaaS-based enterprise video technology that helps globally distributed enterprises create, control, deliver, experience and analyze live and recorded video at scale. It drives greater context and connection in communications with employees, customers and partners in the modern workplace, one that is highly distributed and diverse.

https://qumu.com/about/

Read Rose Bentley’s Vivid Vision and learn more about Qumu

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Part 2 of 2

Predictive NPS - How Loyalty Measurement is Changing with Rob Markey

A powerful, insightful, revealing interview so packed with gems that I had to break it into two parts!

Rob Markey is the Co-Inventor of the Net Promoter System and the Co-Author of The Ultimate Question 2.0.

In Part 2 (this episode):

We discuss:

• Rob’s definition of customer experience
• The impact of digital transformation on CX
• Why and how NPS will still play a role despite the emergence of technology
• The evolution of NPS in a digital world
• Is it moral and ethical to treat every customer the same? (hint - his answer may surprise you!)

Rob Markey Bio

• Has led dozens of successful customer-centric transformations at large, global companies​
• Creator of Bain’s approach to customer-centricity​
•  Introduced Earned Growth through Customer Value Management in “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers,” Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2020​
•  Co-inventor of the Net Promoter System; co-author The Ultimate Question 2.0; Leader of Bain’s NPS Loyalty Forum​
• Founder of Bain’s Customer Strategy and Marketing practice​
• 30+ years at Bain​
• MBA, Harvard; BA, Brown​
•  Ran 7 marathons and aspires to complete all the world majors by 2024
• And by the way, happens to host his own podcast, The Net Promoter System Podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Rob Markey on the Delighted Customers Podcast Part 1 of 2

What would you expect from one of the top CX thought leaders in the world?

A powerful, insightful, revealing interview so packed with gems that I had to break it into two parts!

Rob Markey is the Co-Inventor of the Net Promoter System and the Co-Author of The Ultimate Question 2.0.

In Part 1 (this episode):

We discuss:

Loyalty levers to pull in a down economy How loyalty leaders can excel in a recession Why Rob initially rejected a single question to measure customer loyalty? This misinterpretation of Net Promoter Score Why that one question was selected as the right question to measure customer loyalty

Rob Markey Bio

Has led dozens of successful customer-centric transformations at large, global companies​ Creator of Bain’s approach to customer-centricity​ Introduced Earned Growth through Customer Value Management in “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers,” Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2020​ Co-inventor of the Net Promoter System; co-author The Ultimate Question 2.0; Leader of Bain’s NPS Loyalty Forum​ Founder of Bain’s Customer Strategy and Marketing practice​ 30+ years at Bain​ MBA, Harvard; BA, Brown​ Ran 7 marathons and aspires to complete all the world majors by 2024 And by the way, happens to host his own podcast, The Net Promoter System Podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

I caught up with Brittany Knox at MSU’s CXM 360 Conference. Brittany is a graduate student in MSU’s Masters of Science in Customer Experience Management. She’s also a Project Consultant at BCBS of Michigan.

In this episode, she shares:

• The benefits of walking in the shoes of the employee who is serving BCBS members

• The importance of looking at customer pain points holistically to determine root causes

• Why she was led to background enroll in the MSU CXM program although she was a researcher at Johns Hopkins

Brittany Knox

Brittany Knox is a Michigan State University graduate student in the inaugural cohort for the Customer Experience Management program; however, she is not a novice in the CX field. 

For the past six years, she has been obsessed with the customers of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. As a consultant, her primary focus is tracking and reporting key initiatives that make a significant impact on the customer experience. Prior to that, she coordinated research studies in asthma, ovarian cancer, and autism. 

Brittany is passionate about helping minority owned businesses deliver on their brand’s promise. 

Through CX, she’s able to tap into her superpower -- connecting with the customer through empathy and building an employee culture that supports the company’s customer experience goals. 

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

The Role of Perception and Expectations in Customer Experience

This episode is definitely different!

Gary David, PhD, is a professor of sociology and a conversational analyst. 

On this episode:

• What his dissertation research at an immigrant-owned liquor store in downtown Detroit taught him about making emotional connections despite contentious social constructs
• We take a look at the role expectations play in the customer experience and how those expectations are not just formed by a customer’s experience with your brand.
• We look at “the collective,” how our experience gets shaped differently when we experience things with others. 
• We consider Gartner’s definition of customer experience that underscores the importance perceptions and feelings play in CX. Gary has a slightly different spin on that.

A fascinating episode that will definitely provide some new learnings.

Meet Gary

Gary David is a Professor of Sociology and Experience Design at Bentley University. He also is a professional speaker and consultant focusing on creating workplace communities and connected environments, DEI & Belonging, and experience design and alignment. He is co-host of Experience by Design podcast, where he and co-host Adam Gamwell “explore experience designs of all kinds.” He also livestreams on Twitch as “ProfessorEXP”, where he leads discussions on current events, culture, business, digital entertainment, and design.

https://www.experiencexdesign.com/episodes

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Carla Higgins has made a career in the banking industry and held many positions. She knows banking from the inside out.

Today we talk about the evolution of banking and how Covid accelerated the rollout of ITM’s and how they may be a cost effective alternative to the traditional brick and mortar model.

She breaks down the Interactive Teller Machines:

• What problem do they solve?
• How can they improve the customer experience?
• How can they reduce operating costs?
• What resistance did she experience?
• And the question burning in everyone’s mind - is there actually a bank branch in Punxsutawney, PA or is that just a rumor some groundhog made up?

Meet Carla 

Ms. Higgins joined ERIE BANK as a Community Office Assistant Manager in July 2006 and has since held positions as Community Office Manager, AVP/Regional Administrator and AVP/Commercial Lender prior to accepting the newly created position of CNB AVP/Quality Assurance Manager, for all divisions of CNB Bank, in September 2017. She was promoted to VP/CX-Quality Assurance Manager in June 2018, and SVP/Multi-Experience in October of 2021.  As SVP/Multi-Experience, Ms. Higgins oversees bank-wide strategic initiatives based on client and employee experiences. In addition, her early Client Experience accomplishments include the establishment of Multi-Experience Customer Service Center and service metrics, implementation of call recording, bank-wide phone conversion, live chat enhancements, ITM (Interactive Teller Machine) integration, implementation, deployment and adoption strategies, and ongoing ITM initiatives. Raised in Erie, PA, Ms. Higgins is a graduate of Mercyhurst Preparatory School, earned her B.S. in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing from Edinboro University, and her M.B.A from Gannon University. She is also a 2017 graduate of CNB Financial Corporation’s Leadership Institute. She volunteers her time serving the Erie community on the Board of Directors as Chair for VisitErie, Board of Trustees Secretary for Mercyhurst Preparatory School, and a School of Business Advisor for Edinboro University. Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-higgins-301261195/

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Today I talked to Bruce Temkin, speaker, thought leader, and a customer experience legend.

Bruce co-founded the Customer Experience Professionals Association in 2011 and currently serves as the Head of the XM Institute.

Bruce shared his thoughts on some important topics that can help empower your customer experience efforts:

• Bruce’s transition from submarine engineer to CRM researcher at Forrester and the early days of the customer experience movement.
• A true story of Bruce enlightening two Australian retail executives on why CX is a must despite their current success.
• The ROI of CX explained philosophically and pragrmatically-
• Common pitfalls of CX leaders
• Demystifying this relatively new term: Human Experience

Meet Bruce

Bruce Temkin is an Experience Management (XM) visionary and is often referred to as the “Godfather of Customer Experience.” He leads the Qualtrics XM Institute, which provides thought leadership and training to help organizations around the world master XM and is also building a global community of XM professionals who are radically changing the human experience. Prior to Qualtrics, Bruce led Temkin Group, which provided research, advisory, and training that helped many of the world’s leading brands build customer loyalty by engaging the hearts and minds of their customers, employees, and partners. He is also the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Customer Experience Professionals Association. Prior to Temkin Group, Bruce spent 12 years with Forrester Research during which time he led the company's B2B, financial services, eBusiness, and customer experience practices and was the most-read analyst for 13 consecutive quarters. Bruce has a mechanical engineering degree from Union College and a master’s in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Qualtics XM Institute

https://www.xminstitute.com/team/bruce-temkin/

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Risa Lovell, Director of Property and Casualty Customer Service at Farm Bureau Insurance joins us from the MSU Hotel and Conference Center at the first in-person episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast. 

Risa shares some helpful insights:

• How Farm Bureau Insurance lives their mission to give back to the community
• How she broke down silos and looked through the customers lens to improve CX in the contact center
• Why she chose to pursue her Masters of Science in Customer Experience Management at MSU

Risa Lovell

Risa Lovell is a servant leader driven by her passion for the employee and customer experience. She is currently the Director of Property and Casualty

Customer Service for Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan. She is a graduate student in the inaugural Customer Experience Management Master’s Degree

program at Michigan State University. Her goal is to create a frictionless and sincere customer experience while adding value and purpose for the employee.

In her personal time Risa enjoys camping with her family, cooking, baking, playing guitar and watersports.

You can reach her on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/risa-lovell-1962b350/

Thanks for listening to the Delighted Customers Podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

This episode is part 2 of a 2 part series featuring a very special guest, Professor of Marketing from the Wharton School of Business, Dr. Peter Fader. We will talk about how his new book may revolutionize the way Wall Street looks at what a company is actually worth based not on traditional financial metrics alone but the overall health of it’s customers. At some companies, it’s already starting to happen. 

He challenges leaders who spend countless hours looking at traditional financial statements without understanding the health of their customer base. In this episode we will break down The Customer Base audit with real world examples from his book and from my experience as a CX practitioner and other practical applications. I hope you will keep an open mind as we dive into some groundbreaking concepts that could change the way organizations think about their business.

Meet Peter Peter Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise centers around the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping/purchasing activities. He works with firms from a wide range of industries, such as telecommunications, financial services, gaming/entertainment, retailing, and pharmaceuticals. Managerial applications focus on topics such as customer relationship management, lifetime value of the customer, and sales forecasting for new products. 

Much of his research highlights the consistent (but often surprising) behavioral patterns that exist across these industries and other seemingly different domains. In addition to his various roles and responsibilities at Wharton, Professor Fader co-founded a predictive analytics firm (Zodiac) in 2015, which was sold to Nike in 2018. He then co-founded (and continues to run) Theta to commercialize his more recent work on “customer-based corporate valuation.” Fader is the author of “Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage” (2020) and co-authored “The Customer Centricity Playbook” with Sarah Toms (2018). A third book, “The Customer-Base Audit,” will be published in Fall 2022. He has won many awards for his research and teaching accomplishments. Among these achievements, he was named by Advertising Age as one of its inaugural “25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers” in 2017, and was the only academic on the list. The Customer-Base Audit

The First Step on the Journey to Customer Centricity

Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross As a leader in your organization, you will be very familiar with your organization’s key financial statements and monthly management reports. You may have spent countless hours discussing budgets and expenditures. But how much time have you spent reflecting on the fact that these revenues are generated by actual customers—the people who pull out their wallets and pay for your products and services? In The Customer-Base Audit: The First Step on the Journey to Customer Centricity, experts Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross start you on the path toward really getting to understand your customers’ buying behavior as well as the health of your overall customer base.

To order the book: https://www.amazon.com/Customer-Base-Audit-Journey-Customer-Centricity/dp/1613631618

Contact me if: - You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast - You would like to be a guest on the show - You would like to book me on your show Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

This episode is part 1 of a 2 part series featuring a very special guest, Professor of Marketing from the Wharton School of Business, at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Peter Fader. We will talk about how his new book may revolutionize the way Wall Street looks at what a company is actually worth based not on traditional financial metrics alone but the overall health of it’s customers. At some companies, it’s already starting to happen. 

He challenges leaders who spend countless hours looking at traditional financial statements without understanding the health of their customer base. 

In this episode we will break down The Customer Base audit with real world examples from his book and from my experience as a CX practitioner and other practical applications. I hope you will keep an open mind as we dive into some groundbreaking concepts that could change the way organizations think about their business.

Peter Fader's Bio

Peter Fader is the Frances and Pei-Yuan Chia Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise centers around the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping/purchasing activities. He works with firms from a wide range of industries, such as telecommunications, financial services, gaming/entertainment, retailing, and pharmaceuticals. Managerial applications focus on topics such as customer relationship management, lifetime value of the customer, and sales forecasting for new products. 

Much of his research highlights the consistent (but often surprising) behavioral patterns that exist across these industries and other seemingly different domains.

In addition to his various roles and responsibilities at Wharton, Professor Fader co-founded a predictive analytics firm (Zodiac) in 2015, which was sold to Nike in 2018. He then co-founded (and continues to run) Theta to commercialize his more recent work on “customer-based corporate valuation.”

Fader is the author of “Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage” (2020) and co-authored “The Customer Centricity Playbook” with Sarah Toms (2018). A third book, “The Customer-Base Audit,” will be published in Fall 2022. 

He has won many awards for his research and teaching accomplishments. Among these achievements, he was named by Advertising Age as one of its inaugural “25 Marketing Technology Trailblazers” in 2017, and was the only academic on the list.

The Customer-Base Audit

The First Step on the Journey to Customer Centricity

Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross

As a leader in your organization, you will be very familiar with your organization’s key financial statements and monthly management reports. You may have spent countless hours discussing budgets and expenditures. But how much time have you spent reflecting on the fact that these revenues are generated by actual customers—the people who pull out their wallets and pay for your products and services?

In The Customer-Base Audit: The First Step on the Journey to Customer Centricity, experts Peter Fader, Bruce Hardie, and Michael Ross start you on the path toward really getting to understand your customers’ buying behavior as well as the health of your overall customer base.

To order the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Customer-Base-Audit-Journey-Customer-Centricity/dp/1613631618

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Cyndi Lyon is the VP of Customer Experience and Strategy at Otava. She's a Certified Customer Experience Professional and earned her Master of Science in Customer Experience Management from Michigan State University. In this episode, she broke down some of the key barriers that get in the way of building a successful customer experience management practice and offered some actionable ways to overcome them.

In this episode Cyndi answered these questions and more:

• Do You Have a Clear Vision and Plan for Your Organization? Cyndi underscores the importance of having a clear roadmap for your organization’s future. It’s not just about the big picture—breaking it down into manageable, actionable steps that employees and stakeholders can understand and support is crucial for long-term success.
• Are You Iterating and Celebrating Small Wins? Cyndi believes that even the best plans will fall short without iteration. Starting small and making adjustments along the way allows for steady progress. By breaking long-term strategies into smaller, achievable milestones, you not only keep teams engaged but also create momentum by celebrating each victory.
• Is Your Approach Employee- and Data-Centric? Cyndi highlights the power of linking CX metrics to business data and effectively communicating these insights to stakeholders. She emphasizes the importance of understanding who owns the data and engaging champions within the organization to propel the CX strategy forward.

Meet Cyndi!

CYNDI LYON, CCXP

With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Cyndi Lyon is a trailblazer in the realm of customer

experience (CX). As the Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy at OTAVA, she is

leading a transformative shift towards a customer-centric model, ensuring that the customer is

always at the heart of every strategy through relentless focus on continuous improvement and

operational excellence.

Cyndi's dedication to CX is unparalleled. Recently, she earned her Master’s in Customer

Experience Management from Michigan State University, marking her as a pioneer in this

evolving field. Her expertise spans creating exceptional customer experiences, operationalizing

CX strategies, drive continuous improvement and fostering a customer-centric culture that

permeates every aspect of business operations. For Cyndi, the cornerstone of every successful

business is a deep understanding and genuine appreciation of the customer.

Cyndi's career spans product management, technology operations, professional services,

marketing, and more. This breadth of experience fuels her passion for delivering top-notch

customer experiences. Her drive for enriching product and service delivery is realized through

innovation, collaboration, process improvement, and organizational development.

Since joining OTAVA in 2018, Cyndi has built a legacy of success, leading the company’s

product, marketing, and business strategy, and heading the operations team to streamline

processes and systems. Her ability to build and inspire teams, coupled with her strategic

foresight, has been instrumental in OTAVA’s growth and customer satisfaction.

Outside of her professional life, Cyndi is a proud wife and mother of two teenage daughters. She

holds the prestigious CCXP certification and enjoys regularly participating in half marathons and

spending quality time with her family in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Delivering Happiness 2.0 - Behind the Scenes Look at Zappos with Head of Customer Research, Alex Genov

In 2009, Amazon bought a start up shoe company that broke the mold by selling entirely over the internet . 

It differentiated solely on customer service. The legendary stories of their obsession with #DeliveringHappiness (CEO Tony Hsieh's bestseller) shifted paradigms.

Amazon paid for $2.1billion for Zappos. 

Zappos is very much thriving today and poised for the next stage of its adventure.

Join us for a fascinating peek into the world of innovation and "meaningful culture" in this episode with speaker, author, PhD, and wicked smart...

Alex Genov, Head of Customer Experience Research, as he shares: - Reflections of working with the legendary CEO, the late Tony Hsieh .- Developing a culture of meaning. -Zappos' scrappy beginnings and how that translated to results down the road - The shift that's Zappos is undergoing right now from customer. service excellence to customer experience excellence - Zappos adaptive, which underscores Zappos is commitment to diversity and inclusion.  - His new book called, Forget the Customer, See the Person. 

All that and a sneak preview into a little standup comedy from Alex, which should be a lot of fun. : )

Meet Alex

Alex Genov, Head of Customer Experience Research, Zappos.com

Alex is an experienced customer research professional who applies his Experimental Social Psychology background and his passion for research, design, and innovation to solving important customer and business problems. His professional goal is to help teams create remarkable products and services which make people's lives easier and more enjoyable.

Currently Alex is leading Customer Research for the Zappos Family of Companies. In previous positions, he was responsible for research and usability of the products and services for companies like TurboTax (Intuit), State Farm Insurance, and the Active Network. Alex has a PhD in Experimental Social Psychology and over 25 years of relevant experience – 5 years of academic research and over 20 years of customer research in the software industry.   

Alex’s areas of expertise include: defining and measuring emotions, the psychology of individual differences, usability, market research and consumer segmentation, customer experience research and strategy. 

Here's a link to his new book:

Forget the Customer, See the Person: A business guide to deeper customer empathy in uncertain times and beyond

https://www.amazon.com/Forget-Customer-See-Person-uncertain/dp/B0B14MBQRZ

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

In celebration of CX Week this episode features Nancy Porte, Chair, Board of Directors, CXPA. 

Nancy discusses 3 important topics:

1. Why gaining the support of executives is critical and how you might go about achieving that.

2. Why CX professionals and those considering the profession might want to join the Customer Experience Professionals Association. 

3. On a more personal note - Nancy shares her work in support of disadvantaged children and teens where she serves on the Board of the Children's Village. She also talks about how she applies customer experience principles to help operationalize CX. Meet Nancy Nancy is an Executive leader experienced in building corporate revenue through a loyal and reference-able customer base. Expert in developing Voice of the Customer programs, transforming organizations and increasing satisfaction and loyalty through differentiated customer experience. Experience in Board of Director membership and leadership including professional association and community organizations. Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP). Nancy is the immediate past-Chair of CXPA.

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

In celebration of CX week, my special guest, CXPA CEO Greg Melia talks about how he ended up becoming the first full time CEO of CXPA and why the organization helps CX professionals differentiate their careers by joining and engaging in the organization.

He also shares the new CX Book of Knowledge and shares a "sneak peek on what's on the horizon that will be a significant benefit to members.

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

The race to digital transformation was accelerated by the pandemic. Many organizations have invested time and money and have little to show for it. Jaya Sudarshan shares the secret to blending the right combination of digital improvements to an improved customer experience.

She also emphasizes the importance of designing experiences with an awareness of different country cultures. From the difference in dust levels, electricity portals, and personal applications, she shares how experience design plays out at HP.

Jaya also shares her mountaintop moments and pothole realities that help appreciate the journey of delivering outstanding experiences consistently.

Meet Jaya

Jaya currently leads customer experience initiatives for the CS F&C organization across Greater Asia and India. She has been with the HP family (HP/HPE/HPI) throughout her 18 year old career.

She serves as a Board member for the Global Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) - a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and cultivation of the Customer Experience profession. A passionate Inclusion & Diversity advocate, she has holds office as the communication chair for the global CS F&C DEI council. As a certified #IamRemarkable facilitator, she furthers her volunteering efforts towards building a better, inclusive world. During her free time she enjoys travel, food and books!

Jaya can be reached by email at jayalakshmi.sudarshan@hp.com .

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Trust.

Isn't that one of those soft, touchy-feely words?

In today's word of digital transformation, isn't people skills so...yesterday?

From someone who walked the walk as a CX practitioner, one of the most critical skills is the ability to influence - without positional power. 

The ability to build trust with key stakeholders is a golden asset for any business leader but it's essential for a CX or EX leader! 

How Do You Build Trust with Key Stakeholders?

My guest on this episode of the Delighted Customers Podcast, Charlie Green, knows a thing or two about building trust - he should, he wrote the book on it. 

Here are just a few of the benefits that trusted advisors enjoy. CX Leaders can expect their key stakeholders will:

1. Reach for your advise 2. Be inclined to accept and act on your recommendations 3. Bring you in on more advanced, complex, strategic issues 4. Share more information that helps you help them

Meet Charlie

Charles H. Green is an author, speaker and world expert on trust-based relationships and sales in complex businesses.

Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates, he is the author of Trust-based Selling, and co-author of The Trusted Advisor and the Trusted Advisor Fieldbook. He has worked with a wide range of industries and functions globally. Charles works with complex organizations to improve trust in sales, internal trust between organizations, and trusted advisor relationships with external clients and customers.

Charles spent 20 years in management consulting. He majored in philosophy (Columbia), and has an MBA (Harvard).

A widely sought-after speaker, he has published articles in Harvard Business Review, Directorship Magazine, Management Consulting News, CPA Journal, American Lawyer, Investments

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Dr. Tom DeWitt, trailblazer and Director of CXM@MSU, talks about why it was time to launch a Masters of Science in Customer Experience Management (CXM) at Michigan State University. 

He shares some powerful realities about why companies should lead with a customer experience strategy and how this program can close the gap by preparing leaders to lead CX at the C-level.  

If you are thinking about advancing your education and you're a CX practitioner, or if you are an employer interesting in preparing leaders to contribute to revenue growth by earning customer loyalty, this episode is a must.

For more information about the program, interested applicants and companies should visit https://broad.msu.edu/marketing/cxm/.

Here's some interesting research that supported the creation and launch of the new degreed program at MSU:

According to a survey conducted in the summer of 2020 with 160 decision makers that were provided with a description of the proposed MSU MS-CXM degree program, 87% indicated that it is important to hire employees that are experts in the field of customer experience management (CXM); 80% said they would be likely to give a raise to current employees who have obtained the degree; and 78% of US companies and 89% of international companies would be likely to hire students graduating from the program.

Similarly, a survey of 338 professionals working in CX conducted at the same time found that 87% of respondents indicated that CXM is critical to success; 85% were interested in a master’s degree in CXM; 63% would be likely to apply if the MSU MS-CXM degree were offered; and 44% of respondents that are extremely likely to pursue a master’s degree in the next 5 years would be extremely likely to apply to this MS-CXM degree.

Meet Tom DeWitt, Ph.D

Tom DeWitt, Ph.D. is the Director of CXM@MSU, an entity dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management (CXM), and a fixed-term faculty member in the Department of Marketing of the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. As the Director of CXM@MSU, Dr. DeWitt has created North America’s first academic program in customer experience management (Masters of Science in Customer Experience Management - MS-CXM) and hosts industry conferences twice each year for organizations to share best practices in CXM. 

For more than a decade Dr. DeWitt has also provided customer experience management (CXM) solutions to organizations and audiences around the world through consulting, workshops and presentations. Prior to joining academia, Tom enjoyed a career in the hospitality industry, where he served in senior management roles in the USA and Asia.

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

In this episode, my guest Stacey Nevel gives practical tips on how to engage employees and avoid some of the most common mistakes that negatively impact employee engagement. 

Have a clear purpose and align your team to that mission is the first step. She provides illustrations of how to do that and steps that winning organizations take to ensure congruence between corporate strategy and how it's lived in the organization's culture.

Ultimately, engaged employees drive customer loyalty, retention, profitability, forgiveness, and referrals. 

She also shares an interesting story about how linemen in a utility company were out of alignment with that mission and how that impacted the impact on their clients.

Join us for some fresh perspectives from the Vice President of Voice of the Customer at the rock, Prudential Financial.

Meet Stacey

Stacey is a seasoned Customer Experience (CX) professional with over 25 years of experience designing and managing customer and employee feedback programs. She has a background in CX feedback measurement and management within client-side financial services and insurance companies as well as vendor-side CX technology and consulting providers. Throughout her career she has sought to better understand and share the linkages between VOC, VOE and operational metrics to positively impact the customer experience, customer loyalty and product usability. Stacey holds a B.S.B.A. in Marketing from Georgetown University as well as CCXP, CEM and NPS® industry certifications.

CURRENT ROLE

Currently, Stacey is serving as the Vice President, Voice of the Customer, where she oversees the strategy, methodology and competitive benchmarking of the US VOC program while also service as a senior relationship lead for 3 key business units. Since joining Prudential she has worked to develop a comprehensive Voice of the Customer (VoC) research strategy that supports a continuous cycle of listening, analyzing, action planning and monitoring, partner with Customer Experience (CX) leaders and teams on the design, measurement framework, analysis, synthetization and socialization of customer and evangelize the importance of democratizing customer feedback data to enable timely close loop processes and targeted employee training that drives customer-centricity. In addition to her role at Prudential, Stacey also serves on the board of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) and as chair of the CCXP Advisory Committee.

BEFORE PRUDENTIAL 

Prior to joining Prudential Stacey was the Director, CX Consulting for Confirmit Inc., where she grew the Confirmit CX practice through thought leadership and strategic consulting to scope, design and sell customer experience feedback programs to prospective and current North American clients. In 2017 alone, she participated in over 15 speaking opportunities spanning broad CX and industry specific events. She also authored Confirmit’s internal methodology document and co-authored their CX maturity model, client onboarding process, and empathy and customer-journey mapping processes. Prior to Confirmit, Stacey has accumulated a wealth of CX and VOC knowledge from her experiences with major platform providers and agencies, including Allegiance, Satmetrix, Vovici, and CustomerSat. 

FIRST CAREER ROLE 

Citibank, N.A., Manager, Client Satisfaction and Support. Stacey managed the monthly survey and mystery shopping programs for the New York retail bank market for five years. She was the recipient of the Service Excellenc

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Customer friction can lead to customer defection. Often, companies attempt to fix their customer's pain with a short term solution. Diane defines design thinking and why it's a different approach that starts with putting your customer in the center. 

She also shares what led her from a career as a clinical psychologist, supporting those dealing with death and dying, into the world of customer experience management. 

What caused her to career to change trajectories may surprise you.

Meet Diane Diane Magers, CCXP (Certified Customer Experience Professional), MS, MBA 

She's the Founder and CEO of Experience Catalysts.

Passionate experience transformation executive and change agent. Sherpa for new and developing experience-obsessed organizations. Thought leader and innovator for engaging associates, customers, and partners. Believes sustainable change requires embedding customer and experience capabilities into all parts of an organization.

Skilled in creating Experience Management business value and systematically changing organizations to align around experience and drive financial impact. She specializes in enabling brands with skills and competencies like design thinking, journey management, and value mapping to drive sustainable shifts in how organizations work to achieve results. Over 25 years of transforming experiences working in and with brands such as Sysco, AT&T, State Farm, Dale Carnegie, CommScope, Invisalign, Ciena, Freeman, Cisco, and Sodexho. 

Diane is the Emeritus Board Chair and recent CEO for the Customer Experience Professionals Association, speaks and conducts workshops all over the world to help transform Experience Management strategy into action. She has a very unique background…earned an MS in Clinical Psychology and an MBA. She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and holds certifications in Voice of Customer, Customer Experience Management, Net Promoter Score, and CX Design, and Innovation LUMA certified.

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

Jon shares gems from his new book: From Impressed to Obsessed: 12 Principles for Turning Customers an Employees Into Lifelong Fans. Excellence is never an accident. Jon brilliantly pulls the curtain back on proven methods to fundamentally change the way you think about creating a successful, beloved business.

Jon Picoult shared practical and proven principles from his new book From Impressed to Obsessed in this episode. We talk about real world challenges for CX leaders and what cognitive science implies about where organizations go wrong and what leaders can do about it.

Meet Jon

Jon Picoult helps companies impress their customers and inspire their employees, creating “raving fans” that drive business growth. He is the founder of Watermark Consulting and a noted authority on customer and employee experience. A sought-after business advisor and public speaker, Jon’s insights have been featured by dozens of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, and Forbes.com (where he is a regular contributor). 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 new book, “From Impressed to Obsessed: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans” (McGraw-Hill, Nov. 2, 2021), which debuted as an Amazon #1 New Release and 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). Jon has advised the C-suite at some of the world’s foremost brands, including companies such as AT&T, Allstate, ADT, Generali, and Becton Dickinson. He’s helped these and other organizations capitalize on the power of loyalty – both in the marketplace and in the workplace. Prior to establishing Watermark in 2009, Jon held senior executive roles at Fortune 100 companies – leading 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 insurance and investment firm. Jon received his A.B. in Cognitive Science from Princeton University and his M.B.A. in General Management from Duke University. Learn more at Jon’s website: https://watermarkconsult.net/ ​

Contact me if: - You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast - You would like to be a guest on the show - You would like to book me on your show Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

The Delighted Customers Podcast trailer describes who the show is for (business leaders and CX leaders) and how it can help listeners delight their customers to achieve sustainable growth...consistently. 

You can get all the podcast episodes at Empoweredcx.com/podcast.

https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Please subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

Contact me if:

• You have feedback you'd like to share about the podcast
• You would like to be a guest on the show
• You would like to book me on your show

Email me at mark@empoweredcx.com

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Podcast so you don't miss an episode: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter

One of the major problems that data visualization solves is the need for quick and clear communication of complex insights, particularly to time-constrained executives. 

It’s about storytelling with data…but how?

With her extensive expertise in data analytics and digital transformation, Katie Manty, a professor at Michigan State University’s Customer Experience Management Master’s program and a leader at Omnicom Health Group, offers unparalleled insights into this crucial aspect of business strategy. 

In this episode of "Delighted Customers Podcast," Katie shares compelling strategies and best practices for utilizing data visualization to enhance customer experience and drive executive buy-in.

Key Takeaways:

1. Customer Experience Improvements:

   - Pain Points in Banking: Katie highlighted how customers in banking and investment sectors often struggle with mobile check deposits and managing dormant 401(k) accounts. The complexity and inaccessibility of instructions lead to dissatisfaction. She shares best practices on how to solve for that.

2. Data Storytelling:

   - Katie's personal advice: Focusing on data storytelling and understanding audience incentives can significantly improve your professional influence. She walks through several illustrations of how to effectively tell stories with data.

3. Effective Data Visualization:

   - Importance for Executives: Visualizing data is essential for conveying insights quickly and clearly to senior leadership, facilitating swift decision-making. Katie shares common missteps and how to overcome them.

Meet Katie:

Katie has a passion for building highly-prized customer experiences. Throughout her marketing technology enablement career, she gathers multiple perspectives, analyzes data sets, forges a business vision and puts the initial concept into production using a test and learn mindset for continuous improvement of the product or process. Katie has been with Omnicom Health Group for three years as a leader in digital transformation and data analytics capabilities in the health care sector primarily supporting biotech and pharmaceutical marketing teams. 

Katie services clients with Omnichannel marketing solutions based on a framework and capabilities that she derived from years of marketing and data strategy experience. She is a Thought Leader enabling colleagues to upskill and speak marketing acumen underscored by data, data visualization and technology integration concepts. She shares a regular Data Coffee Talk with colleagues on all topics data in marketing including how AI is changing the advertising business.

She began her career at Ernst & Young leading application development, business analysis, roadmap visioning and emerging technology teams. Katie earned an MS degree from MIT in the Management of Technology. Her undergraduate degree is from Smith College with a BA in Computer Science and Economics double major. 

Katie is an active alum with both of her alma maters. She spends her free time soaking up the sun as an avid beachgoer, consuming fiction and shuttling her teenage daughter to activities. 

Additionally, Katie is a Faculty Instructor for MSU’s MS in CXM degree. She teaches Data Analysis, Data Integration and Data Visualization as part of the program.

A 34-year-old man fighting for his life in the intensive care unit is on an artificial respirator for over a month. Could it be that his chance of getting off the respirator is not how much his nurses know, but rather how much they care?

A 75-year-old woman is heroically saved by a major trauma center, only to be discharged and fatally struck by a car while walking home from the hospital. Could a lack of compassion from the hospital staff have been a factor in her death?

Compelling new research shows that health care is in the midst of a compassion crisis. But the pivotal question is this: Does compassion really matter?

In Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference, physician scientists Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli uncover the eye-opening data that compassion could be a wonder drug for the 21st century.

This episode is packed with practical insights and ROI evidence for customer experience investment.

Join me and my guest, Dr. Stephen Trzeciak, author, Ted Talk speaker, and, oh yeah, Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Healthcare.

In this episode:

• Evidence-Based Compassion: Compassion in healthcare isn’t just a moral imperative; it has measurable, impactful benefits. Studies show that even a 40-second compassionate intervention can significantly reduce patient anxiety.
• ROI of Compassion: Compassionate care doesn't just improve patient trust and outcomes; it also positively affects hospital revenue, reduces staff turnover, and enhances overall service quality. Compassionate hospitals achieve better patient loyalty and team cohesion.
• Combatting Burnout: Dr. Trzeciak highlights the inverse correlation between compassion and burnout. Genuine, compassionate relationships are key to fostering resilience and well-being among healthcare providers, ultimately improving team retention and reducing costs related to high turnover.

Meet Dr. T

Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH is a physician scientist, the Edward D. Viner Endowed

Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care, and Professor and Chair of

Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey. Dr.

Trzeciak is a practicing intensivist (specialist in intensive care medicine), and a clinical

researcher with more than 100 publications in the scientific literature. His scientific

program has been supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health

and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, with Dr. Trzeciak serving as

Principal Investigator. Dr. Trzeciak is the co-author of two books, Compassionomics:

The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference (2019), and

Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine

for Yourself (2022). Broadly, Dr. Trzeciak’s mission is to raise compassion globally,

through science.

Karl Sharicz is back with his follow-up to CX-PRO, featuring advanced insights from a global lineup of 16 CX thought leaders. (Yes, I’m thrilled to be one of them!) This book highlights the power of collaboration in the CX community, bringing together practitioners, consultants, and educators. It emphasizes human-centered design, a commitment to quality, and the lasting impact of genuine human connections. The book celebrates employee-driven insights as key drivers of innovation and dives into the diverse career paths that fuel the CX ecosystem.

In this episode:

• Why this book offers CX leaders a fresh perspective on customer experience management
• How the contributing authors were selected
• A closer look at standout chapters with exclusive excerpts
• A teaser on my chapter about change leadership

This book is an essential resource for CX leaders and anyone passionate about advancing their understanding of customer experience management.

-----------------------

Show Notes:

Meet Karl

Karl brings over thirty years of skills and experiences gained in high-tech research and manufacturing B2B environments along with proven business acumen. Throughout his career, he has served in a broad range of roles within marketing, sales, training, and training management—developing internal and external customer relationship skills and building a decided customer-centric focus along the way. As the Founder and CEO of HorizonCX, Karl offers professional services to organizations in two general categories.

• Small to medium-sized businesses aiming to begin the Customer Experience journey
• Large enterprises on the Customer Experience journey aiming to bring it to the next higher level

​

In his former corporate role within Tyco SimplexGrinnell, a leading fire and life-safety provider doing business throughout North America, Karl served as Customer Experience Lead where and his team focused on driving those elements of the customer relationship and experience that increased customer satisfaction, reduced customer churn, and increased customer lifetime value.

​

Karl is steeped in the Customer Experience Management discipline, including developing customer-centric cultures; determining the voice of the customer and deriving insights and understanding; fostering organizational adoption and accountability; creating customer experience strategies, designing approaches that will achieve customer experience excellence, and setting up metrics and measurement systems that help drive organizational return on investment.

Books: CX-PRO - Beyond the Basics: Advanced Insights for Customer Experience Professionals Paperback – September 10, 2024

by Karl Sharicz (Editor)

https://www.amazon.com/CX-PRO-Advanced-Insights-Experience-Professionals/dp/B0DD9L8BKC

Jon Picoult, bestselling author and CX thought leader was my first guest in 2022 when The Delighted Customers Podcast launched. He was gracious enough to come back for episode 100 to talk about his His landmark study on the ROI of customer experience is one of the most widely cited pieces of research in the industry.

Jon sheds light on the groundbreaking CX ROI study he initiated, which highlights the tangible and economic benefits of a great customer experience. We'll explore the challenges CX leaders face, particularly in getting executive buy-in, and how Jon's research demonstrates the outperformance of top-rated CX companies versus their lagging counterparts, even amid the pandemic's impact.

If you’re a CX practitioner, you should have this study in your toolkit and understand the trends over the 16 years of research. Spoiler alert - CX leaders outperformed laggards by 5.4x over 16 years!

In this episode:

• What’s the purpose and methodology of the CX ROI study?
• What makes it different from other studies?
• How can CX leaders use it to make the business case for CX?
• What are the DO’s and DON’T of applying the findings?
• How should business leaders approach the use of AI when it comes to CX strategies

-----------------------

Show Notes:

Meet Jon

Jon’s insights have been featured by dozens of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, 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 Amazon bestseller, “From Impressed to Obsessed: 12 Principles for Turning Customers and Employees into Lifelong Fans,” which was featured in The Wall Street Journal as a top reading pick, and has also 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).

Prior to establishing Watermark, Jon held senior executive roles at Fortune 100 firms – leading 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.

• Watermark’s Customer Experience ROI Study:  www.watermarkconsult.net/cx-roi
• Watermark’s Website:  www.watermarkconsult.net
• Jon Picoult’s Speaker Website:  www.jonpicoult.com

Books: https://www.amazon.com/Impressed-Obsessed-Principles-Customers-Employees/dp/126425878X

In the episode, Guy Shalom, the CEO of Glassix, shared the personal story behind the company's inception. Glassix began as a solution to a personal challenge: both of his parents have the same disability, which made effective communication challenging. 

This experience inspired Guy to develop a solution that could improve communication not only for his parents but also for customers facing similar difficulties. Over time, this idea expanded and evolved, ultimately becoming Glassix—a company dedicated to improving the customer experience through advanced digital channels and messaging platforms. This journey from a personal challenge to a broader mission encapsulates the company's commitment to making customer interactions more seamless and accessible.

Guy was joined by his Head of Product, Yoad Rashti and his CTO, Boaz Katan as I stretched my podcasting limits with three guests at one time!

🔹 AI-Driven Efficiency and Personalization: Glassix is revolutionizing how businesses interact with customers through AI-driven features like conversation summaries, chatbot AI answers, and mood interpretation. These advancements allow for real-time personalized responses, significantly improving both customer satisfaction and agent efficiency.

🔹 Cross-Channel Communication: With integration capabilities across multiple platforms like WhatsApp, web chat, Facebook, and Apple, Glassix provides a seamless communication experience. This multi-channel approach ensures that customers can reach out through their preferred platform, making interactions smoother and more effective.

🔹 Customization and Security: Glassix's platform is not just powerful but also customizable and secure. Offering flexibility for various industries and compliance with standards like PCI DSS, the platform ensures that user data is protected while allowing teams to tailor solutions to their specific needs.

Catch the full episode for an in-depth discussion on how AI is shaping the future of customer experience and how you can leverage these innovations to boost your business! 🎙️

-----------------------

Show Notes

• Guy Shalom

CEO & Co-founder, Glassix

Guy Shalom is the CEO and Co-founder of Glassix, a leading software company revolutionizing

customer service with its omnichannel interactive communication platform. Under Guy's

visionary leadership, Glassix has become a pivotal player in the SaaS industry, providing

leading-edge digital solutions tailored to the needs of modern contact centers.

• Yoad Rashty

CTO& Co-founder, Glassix

Yoad Rashty is the Chief Technology Officer at Glassix, where his expertise in driving

• technological innovation and his deep understanding of customer experience technologies empower leading companies to deliver exceptional customer experiences. With a robust background in software engineering and a keen focus on integrating leading-edge artificial intelligence technologies, Yoad leads his teams in developing advanced, scalable, and a secure platform that enhances customer interactions for businesses globally.

• Boaz Katan

Head of Product at Glassix

Boaz Katan leads the development of an advanced omnichannel messaging platform designed to enhance customer experiences. With over 10 years of experience as a product designer in both startups and large corporations like NICE and NetApp, Boaz has a proven track record of designing complex B2B systems.

Contact Info:

For guest contact information, I recommend checking out the multiple platforms mentioned in the episode. You can reach out to the business through their:

- Website

- Web chat

- Facebook page

- WhatsApp account

- Apple account

If you prefer more direct contact information, you might want to visit the Glassix website or their social media pages for further details. 

www.glassix.com

Trust in CX: Lessons from the Executive Assistant to Ronald Reagan

In the latest episode of the Delighted Customers podcast, Peggy Grande shares her fascinating journey from a regular middle-class family to becoming the executive assistant to President Ronald Reagan. From her unlikely selection to be the executive assistant for Ronald Reagan to her touching farewell to the 40th President of the United States, her stories provide invaluable lessons in building trust, particularly through the lens of the trust equation. 

Here are some key takeaways:

Credibility: Peggy’s story emphasizes the importance of intuitive confidence and competence. She recalls, "I was young, yet I had to present myself as a voice of authority, even when I wasn't always completely confident in myself." This highlights that beyond technical skills, credibility is built by speaking confidently and being willing to take on tasks and make decisions quickly.

Reliability: Peggy demonstrated the immense value of dependability by always being present and prepared. She mentions, "I made it a habit to arrive at the office every day about a half hour before the office officially opened." Showing up consistently and anticipating needs is a cornerstone of reliability.

Intimacy: Building a safe space for confidential discussions and knowing when to offer empathy is essential. Peggy recounts a touching instance during Reagan's Alzheimer's battle, noting how she had to step in discreetly to help him finish a familiar story. This exemplifies psychological safety and the delicate balance of being supportive without undermining.

Self-Orientation: Selflessness in serving another's best interests can build profound trust. Peggy showcases this by emphasizing personalization in her tasks, such as learning Reagan's preferences and structuring his day accordingly. Her focus on others' needs over her own effectively strengthened her relationships and trustworthiness.

Show Notes:

Meet Peggy

Peggy Grande was Executive Assistant to President Ronald Reaganfrom 1989 – 1999, after he left the White House. She is author of the book, “The President Will See You Now: My Stories and Lessonsfrom Ronald Reagan’s Final Years.” She served as a Presidential appointee during the Trump Administration and considers it thehonor of a lifetime to have worked for two Presidents of the United States in both support and strategic roles.

Peggy is an international keynote speaker, TV and radio commentator, and widely published opinion writer in the US, UK,

Australia, and the Middle East. She was Chair of World for Brexit and was national spokesperson for a California ballot initiative. She

serves on the Board of Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and the Board of the Center for American Ideas.

Peggy is a graduate of Pepperdine University, mother of four grown children, and has two granddaughters.

LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenpeterson/

Website: https://www.questionpro.com/us/?

---------

The Delighted Customers Podcast is sponsored by Better Help

Ken Peterson is the President of QuestionPro’s Customer Experience Division and joined me for an enlightening conversation about the intersection of AI and CX. QuestionPro’s Voice of the Customer platform already incorporates AI in its range of products from basic surveys to complex research, customer experience and employee engagement.

GenAI promises to change customer experience but what are the smartest strategies to create a win for the customer, a win for employees, while delivering on business outcomes?

Ken, a self-admitted geek and mathematician, shares his vision for the future and shared insights on practical applications.   

In this episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast, Ken answers these questions and much more: 

• How can companies be proactive in addressing customer feedback to prevent passive customers from looking for alternatives?
• What are some examples of AI tools, like those used by companies such as Target, that empower employees to assist customers more effectively?
• In what ways can AI contribute to customer retention, share of wallet, and add-on sales, as well as improve employee satisfaction?
• Why is it important for content to be curated and actionable when incorporating AI into customer experience, and how can companies ensure that employees are properly trained to use it?

Tune in to discover how integrating AI thoughtfully can revolutionize your customer service strategies. 

Episode Notes:

Meet Ken

Ken Peterson has over two decades of experience in the marketing research, retail, technology, hospitality and transportation industries with a recent focus on Big Data Business Insights, and SaaS deployments. This ties in with his long history of P&L responsibility and detailed understanding of improving business operations. He has had the privilege of helping clients in retail, hospitality, technology, travel, sports and media better understand how to make use of the vast quantities of data that is now available, but often underutilized and misinterpreted. He enjoys delivering relevant insights, fact-based execution and bottom-line results.

LInkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenpeterson/

Website: https://www.questionpro.com/us/?

Imagine that you’ve been asked to lead a credit union in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. With a rich background in financial and nonprofit marketing, Kristen Heisey has been steering Everence Federal Credit Union towards new heights for the past two years. Under her leadership, the credit union has not only navigated through post-COVID challenges but has also embraced a vision of sustainability and relevance in a competitive market, putting CX at the heart of the change.

Kristen instituted innovative programs like Connect 30, Branch Reimagined, Reach 2030, and Innovation Teams, to achieve breakthrough growth and impact Everence’s culture.

Here are three thought-provoking questions that Kristin's experiences and insights might inspire:

🔹 How can organizations go beyond traditional CX metrics like NPS and CSAT to deepen relationships with their customers?

🔹 What strategies can leaders employ to integrate empathy and genuine care into their customer experience, rather than just pushing products?

🔹 In what ways can financial institutions leverage unique offerings, such as charitable credit cards, to differentiate themselves in the market?

Tune in for a conversation filled with actionable strategies and inspirational leadership perspectives!

Show Notes:

Contact info: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenheisey/

website : https://www.everence.com/

This week on The Delighted Customers Podcast, I’m thrilled to welcome Jeff Dickshinski, a Senior Product Designer and Design Lead at Microsoft. With a career spanning digital product development, creative management, and UX design for public-sector and Fortune 100 companies, Jeff brings a wealth of knowledge to the table.

At Microsoft, he leads the creation of mission-critical products for U.S. government and enterprise customers, leveraging human-centered design and UX research.

In this episode, we examine the shift from engineering-focused solutions to user experience-driven design. Here are four key takeaways:

👉 Embracing User Experience Design: Learn how to foster a cultural shift from engineering-centric to customer-centric solutions, including strategies for educating teams and securing leadership buy-in.

👉 Microsoft’s UX Journey: Gain insights into Microsoft’s UX maturity levels, diverse design groups, and the integration of UX into product development.

👉 Tools and Methodologies: Discover the “jobs to be done” framework and traditional personas, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer goals and emotions.

👉 Building a User-Centric Culture: Explore the value of cross-functional collaboration in creating a culture that drives better product outcomes.

Whether you’re a designer, developer, team leader, or CX professional, this episode is packed with actionable strategies to elevate your UX game.

Meet Jeff

Jeff Dickshinski is an award-winning product design professional with extensive experience in

digital product development, creative management, and visual design, for public-sector and

Fortune 100 companies. Currently, Jeff is a Senior Product Designer and Design Lead at Microsoft,

where he creates mission-critical products for U.S. government customers and internal enterprise-

level products, leveraging human-centered design, UX research, and ideation for innovative, end-

to-end experiences.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Jeff led the UX design consulting practice at LMI. He has also worked at

Marriott International and IBM. He holds a BA in psychology, from the University of Maryland at

College Park.

Imagine walking into a clinic feeling anxious about a possible cancer diagnosis and leaving with all your concerns addressed, feeling genuinely cared for and understood. 

Unfortunately, for too many patients today, that’s simply not the case. The pressure of production goals, burned out and short-handed physicians, and an increase in administrative load are a few of the challenges that doctors and medical staff face day-to-day.   

As a result, patients who are awaited results from diagnostic tests like mammograms have their anxiety rise and are left feeling like a number.

In this illuminating episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast, we dive deep into the art and science of patient communication with Rachel Hitt, MD. 

As the Medical Director of Patient Experience for the Tufts Medicine Integrated Network, and Division Chief of Breast Imaging for Tufts Medical Center, Dr. Rachel sheds light on the pivotal role of efficient care and effective communication in enhancing patient interactions. Discover how active listening, empathy, and breaking down complex medical jargon into digestible information can transform a patient's experience. 

1. Why are effective communication and efficient care essential in patient interactions?

2. How do empathy, active listening, and partnership with the patient contribute to communication in healthcare?

3. What are some strategies for breaking down medical information into understandable chunks for patients?

4. How can meeting patients where they are, including considering language barriers and providing interpreter services, improve patient experience?

The lessons that Dr. Hitt shares on this episode aren't limited to healthcare - after all, humans have the same needs regardless of the environment.

Improving Customer Loyalty through Martech and AI-Powered Solutions

Greg Kihlstrom is a best selling author with nearly 20 books on Martech and customer experience management. Greg shares fresh insights into how companies can leverage marketing technology and AI to bolster customer loyalty and satisfaction. 

Whether you're a C-suite executive or a marketing professional, this episode will equip you with actionable strategies to deliver exceptional, personalized customer experiences.

Here are three pivotal questions Greg answered during our interview:

- How can companies efficiently organize and access vast amounts of customer data for better decision-making?

- What are the common mistakes in Martech implementation, and how can businesses avoid them?

- How does AI enhance—rather than replace—human work to improve both customer and employee experiences and drive business outcomes?

Subscribe to our show for more expert insights. Link in the comments!

Greg Kihlström - Biography

Greg Kihlström is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, and serves as an advisor and consultant to top companies on marketing technology, marketing operations, and digital transformation initiatives. He has worked with some of the world’s top brands, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, FedEx, HP, Marriott, Nationwide, Victoria’s Secret, and Toyota. 

He is a multiple-time Co-Founder and C-level leader, leading his digital experience agency to be acquired in 2017, successfully exited an HR technology platform provider he co-founded in 2020, and led a SaaS startup to be acquired by a leading edge computing company in 2021. He currently advises and sits on the Board of a marketing technology startup.

He executive produces 5 business and marketing-related podcasts, including the award-winning The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, now top 5 on Apple’s U.S. marketing charts and in its 6th year with over 500 episodes and millions of downloads, which discusses marketing technology and its role in the customer experience with some of the world’s leading experts and leaders.

Greg is a contributing writer to Forbes, MarTech, CustomerThink, and CMSWire, and has been featured in publications such as Advertising Age, Business Insider, Financial Times, and The Washington Post. Greg has been named #1 on its list of the Top Global Marketing Thought Leaders by Thinkers 360, was named one of ICMI’s Top 25 CX Thought Leaders two years in a row, and a DC Inno 50 on Fire as a DC trendsetter in Marketing. He’s also participated as a speaker at global industry events and has guest lectured at prominent universities and colleges.

Resources This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/DELIGHTED and get on your way to being your best self. The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Have you ever wondered how digital experience and AI can transform your customer interactions?

Andrew Carothers, CCXP, a senior digital experience leader in the CX area at Cisco Systems, shared insights from this multinational leader's industry-leading portfolio of technology innovations, including networking, security, collaboration, and cloud management.

🎧 Check out the latest episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast where Andrew answers these burning questions:

👉 How can businesses seamlessly transition from digital to human interactions to meet customer needs?

👉 What are the challenges and benefits of expanding the digital component in customer experience?

👉 How can companies leverage AI to not only enhance the digital experience but also create growth opportunities?

Andrew’s expertise in building and scaling customer experience teams is unparalleled. Tune in to get actionable insights and drive your business forward! 

About Andrew Carothers, CCXP

Andrew Carothers, CCXP, is a senior Customer Experience leader helping companies build and scale organizations that increase customer adoption and retention, improve renewals rates, and drive growth. A founding member of Cisco System’s CX function, Carothers has built extensive strategic and tactical CX knowledge, including digital CX, partner programs, voice of the customer, customer-centric culture, and journey mapping. An eight-time International Customer Experience award winner, he frequently writes and speaks on CX topics, and co-authored The Publicity Handbook (McGraw Hill), a Fortune Book Club selection. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for the University of San Francisco’s School of Management Strategic Artificial Intelligence program.

Resources This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/DELIGHTED and get on your way to being your best self. The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Transforming Workplace Culture Through Employee Experience

Dr. James Killian is an expert in the field of employee experience. He has held high-impact global leadership positions at Qualtrics, SAP, IBM, Hogan Assessment Systems, and led several startups to record growth, and he’s a professor in the Masters of Science CXM program at Michigan State University.  

From exploring the significance of breaking down organizational silos to hiring a chief experience officer, we'll discuss how these strategies can uplift your team's experience and ultimately benefit the customer. 

Our conversation also examines the pitfalls of disengaged leadership and the misconceptions CEOs often have about the value of HR and employee programs.

Dr. Killian and I will share personal stories, including an eye-opening experience at Starbucks, highlighting the direct link between employee satisfaction and a brand's reputation. 

Lastly, we'll tackle the challenges organizations face, from supply chain issues to tech problems and ineffective engagement surveys, and offer actionable advice for leaders navigating these turbulent waters.

James Killian, Ph.D. is Managing Director of Growth & Innovation at HSD Metrics, leading the category creation of Employee Experience Process Outsourcing (EXPO). He previously held high-impact global leadership positions at Qualtrics, SAP, IBM, Hogan Assessment Systems and led several startups to record growth. In his role as an employee experience leader, Killian consults with highly complex global customers to help them navigate candidate attraction, employee retention, the criticality of technology in the future of work and collaboration, the importance of addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at work and other drivers of employee engagement and experience. He is also a pioneer in "CrossXM" helping organizations successfully connect their EX and CX programs to make better data-driven business decisions.

Dr. Killian is also a professor in the Master of Science in Customer Experience Management (MS-CXM) program in the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, and the author of over 50 published articles, conference presentations, and book chapters on the topics of leadership, assessment, employee engagement, and employee experience. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a serious fitness fanatic, foodie, and outdoor enthusiast.

Resources The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

The Science of Sticky Ideas: Crafting Memorable CX Strategies

We revealed some powerful insights from "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath on my latest podcast episode with Megan Burns! We explored why some ideas thrive while others fade away, and how leaders can apply these principles to make a lasting impact.

From the death of traditional buttered “movie theater popcorn” to flip the pyramid when making your point, this episode is loaded with practical insights to help you tell stories that stick.

In this episode:

👉 How can transitioning from a "know it all" culture to a "learned all" culture foster genuine curiosity and continuous learning in your organization?

👉 What role does emotion play in B2B decision-making, and how can recognizing and incorporating it lead to more effective solutions?

👉 How can storytelling and envisioning future scenarios help in making more informed and impactful business decisions?

👉 What strategies can make your ideas sticky, memorable, and easily communicable within your team and to your stakeholders?

Tune in to gain insights from Megan Burns as she shares her expertise and experience! 📈✨

Megan Burns is a customer experience strategist, author, and keynote speaker who partners with Fortune 500 companies to build world-class customer experience programs.  

A world-renowned expert in CX transformation, Megan led ground-breaking research as a Vice President at Forrester for more than a decade. The architect of two of the most well-known CX frameworks—the Customer Experience Index and the Outside In Maturity Model—Megan’s insights have been featured in books like “The Power of Moments” by Chip and Dan Heath and dozens of publications like The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, AdAge, and CNBC.  

Megan has helped hundreds of corporate executives at companies like Microsoft, Workday, Akamai, FedEx, Verizon, and AT&T use CX to stay competitive, build loyalty, and accelerate growth in a customer-obsessed world. Her portfolio spans dozens of industries including B2B tech, financial services, healthcare, travel, logistics, manufacturing - even farming!  

Her wit and wisdom make Megan a popular speaker at events like the Wall Street Journal’s Experience Management Forum, CXPA Leaders Advance, the Chief Experience Officer Summit, and the Qualtrics X4 Summit. As a CX pioneer, she is regularly invited to judge industry awards like the CXPA Innovation Awards and World Customer Centricity Awards and to appear on popular podcasts like Voices of CX and CX Luminaries. After interviewing Megan, one host said: “I’ve never seen anyone with customer experience so deeply in their blood.”

Resources The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Ritz Carlton is not just a brand.  

It’s a brand that sets the bar for customer experience.

It was an incredible honor to host one of the icons in customer experience, Horst Schulze, the co-founder and former president of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company.

We talk about his new book, Excellence Wins, and he shares insights that transcend the hospitality industry.

👉 What lessons did Horst learn from his early experiences in the hotel industry that he applies to his business practices today?

👉 The concept of “We are, ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen” is central to Horst's philosophy. How has this idea shaped the service standards in the hotel industry and beyond?

👉 What role does leadership play in creating an environment where employees are motivated to meet and exceed customer expectations, according to Horst?

👉 How does employee orientation contribute to the overall vision and success of an organization?

How Horst overcame a terminal cancer diagnosis that led him to a newfound faith and deeper appreciation for life and relationships.

From the legendary 24 principles, to “my pleasure” (Chick-fil-A got it from Horst), to a $2000 customer happiness fund for every employee, Ritz is the gold standard for CX excellence. 

A must listen for anyone who wants to learn from a true master.

🔊 Listen now and subscribe for more insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Resources The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company, https://qrcd.org/5b23

Salesforce.com is THE leader among their peers (11 straight years) in Customer Relationship Management solutions.  

Phil Nanus leads Salesforce’s Customer Success organization, a team of over 2000 employees. He shared invaluable insights into how Salesforce is revolutionizing customer success through innovation, trust, and technology. 

Here are my 3 key takeaways from our conversation:

- **Embrace Technology for Customer Success:** Salesforce is leveraging AI to enhance customer experiences and improve sales; their collaboration with Gucci is a great example. The rise of AI and generative AI paves the way for more personalized and efficient customer interactions.

- **Core Values Drive Success:** Salesforce's commitment to values such as trust, innovation, equality, and sustainability is foundational. Their one-one-one philanthropic model (donating 1% of time, products, and profits) and V2MOM document, ensure alignment and a clear vision across the organization.

- **Passion and Lifelong Learning:** Phil’s advice to university students is gold – find your passion and be a lifelong learner. Passion fuels opportunity, and embracing failure is crucial for growth and learning.

Phil shared a number of practical applications on how you get to be “Technology Led and Customer Obsessed” on this episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast.

Phil Nanus is the Executive Vice President of Account Success within Salesforce's Customer Success organization. His team helps orchestrate the Salesforce customer experience and partners closely with Sales to create growth and value realization through strategic customer care.

Since joining Salesforce in 2021, Phil has focused on customer health by working to optimize adoption, customer expertise, and technical health, at every stage of the customer lifecycle. He is passionate about helping customers build trust and maximize value from Salesforce products while enabling career growth and development for members of the Account Success team. Prior to Salesforce, Phil spent over 20 years in SaaS, Enterprise Software and management consulting (Accenture, Symantec, Infor, TSIA).

Phil holds dual bachelor’s degrees from the University of Central Florida. He currently lives in Florida with his wife and three children.

Resources The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

How Bilt Uses 3-D Instructions to Enrich Lives

“...Bilt's greatest usage by just sheer volume, happens literally on Christmas Eve and early, early in the wee hours of Christmas morning. And, you know, parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles there, you know, put the kids to bed and -okay, now let's go and assemble this in a bike and a play set and whatever, and expect it to be a very frustrating experience.”

Nate Henderson, CEO of Bilt, turned a problem into an opportunity.

With millions of users and partnerships with top brands like Apple, Weber, and the United States Air Force, Nate’s team is redefining traditional instructions through interactive 3D guidance. Here are three key takeaways from our discussion:

- **Empowering Users and Enhancing Brand Perception:**

Nate emphasized the importance of creating enriching experiences that not only empower users but also improve their perception of the brands they engage with. 

- **Addressing Talent Shortages in Manufacturing:**

One significant challenge in the manufacturing industry today is the talent shortage. Nate's company tackles this head-on by offering a unique, hands-on learning experience tailored for Generation Y and Generation Z. 

- **Future of Immersive Training with Apple Vision Pro:**

Looking ahead, Nate shared his excitement about the potential of Apple Vision Pro in creating fully immersive environments for training and entertainment. He believes this cutting-edge technology will soon become the preeminent tool for training and enablement, eventually leading to extended reality through smaller, more accessible headsets or glasses.

Nate Henderson is chairman and CEO of BILT Incorporated, a SaaS company he co-founded in 2015. Under his leadership, BILT has grown from an idea to improve assembly instructions into a user experience revolution fundamentally changing the way professional technicians and consumers interact with the brands and products they buy. 

BILT’s 3D Intelligent Instructions® transform paper manuals and videos into fully manipulable immersive guides. Hundreds of brands and manufacturers deliver next-generation training on BILT for the assembly, installation, and maintenance of thousands of products. 

BILT is proven to reduce errors, rework, and calls to support while improving efficiency, productivity, and user sentiment. The award-winning BILT app is available worldwide in 12 languages on iOS, Android, Microsoft, and now visionOS for Apple Vision Pro.

Prior to BILT, Nate spent 17 years at SAP where he filled various roles in product management, consulting, sales, and innovation programs. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in manufacturing engineering technology and the Thunderbird School of Global Management with an MBA in international business. 

Resources The Delighted Customers podcast website:https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/ Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/ The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

CX leaders are faced with one of the most difficult challenges in their organization. They have small teams and limited positional authority and therefore need the support of others to make progress.

Patty Soltis, CCXP, shares her wisdom from decades of experience leading change in great brands like Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, The Moffitt Cancer Center, and now in her role as a Senior CX Manager at Upwork.

In this episode:

• Leading with Empathy
• The Role of Emotions in Decision-Making
• The importance of Detailed and Granular Information
• Servant Leadership
• Navigating Organizational Success

Learn how to treat your employees like your customers to improve the experience for your customers.

This episode is filled with practical tips and wisdom from a CX thought leader who has been there and done that and is still making a difference!

Resources

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class Special Podcast Offer Valid through June 5, 2024 here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delighted

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Do we make buying decisions as individuals or individuals who are part of a group?

 The answer may surprise you.

Gary David, PhD is a Professor of Sociology and Experience Design at Bentley University. Dr. David has been researching sociology and its intersection with the business world for several decades.

His findings challenge the status quo when it comes to drivers of consumer behavior and how CX leaders should think about engaging customers.

We discuss how consumers perceptions of their social identities impact their brand loyalty, and ultimately, bottom line results.

In this episode we explore: 

👉 How social identity impacts buying decisions

👉 How to design experiences that connect with consumers social identity

👉 Where most companies get it wrong

👉 Strategies on how to understand social identity and design experiences that earn customer loyalty

Resources

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class Special Podcast Offer Valid through June 5, 2024 here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delighted

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Tanya Thomas is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and VP of Client Experience Management and UX Design at Experian Health. She's brings years of experience in the CX world at one of the largest organizations in the world, Experian. Known as one of the big three credit bureaus, Experian Health is a major player in the healthcare market.

In this episode Tanya shares some great gems including:

• Customer Intelligence and Market Trends: Tanya emphasized the importance of gathering deep customer intelligence beyond just basic operational feedback. By understanding user behaviors within software tools, monitoring market and industry trends, and exploring customer pain points, organizations can better anticipate and meet evolving customer expectations. This intelligence is crucial for staying ahead in the market and continually disrupting sectors like healthcare, where incremental improvements can significantly enhance user experience.

• Mobilizing Action with Customer Insights: Tanya underscored the necessity of converting customer insights into actionable plans. It’s not enough to gather data; organizations must ensure it permeates throughout the company and drives accountability. One effective approach she highlighted was prioritizing key pain points and integrating them into the strategic priorities discussed by the executive leadership team. This ensures that actions are taken on feedback, and systematic improvements are made to enhance customer experiences.

• Collaborative Leadership and Influencing Change: Tanya discussed the importance of partnership and collaborative leadership in driving CX initiatives. Instead of trying to be the hero, it's more effective to be the guide. She shared how cultivating relationships with key stakeholders, including finance teams and executive leaders, and deeply understanding the business can help in getting buy-in for CX initiatives. By using data to support the narrative and speaking the language of business success, CX leaders can influence positive change and ensure that improvements are not only implemented but also aligned with the broader organizational goals.

Meet Tanya:

She is a strategic experience management leader driving customer focus and impactful change for over 15 years in roles spanning the retail and entertainment industry, financial services, and healthcare. She aspires to ignite those around her with a sense of purpose and to be an example of authenticity and integrity.

She has had a natural inclination toward creating seamless and delightful experiences, as well as an entrepreneurial spirit, for as long as she can remember. She would be the kid that wanted to pass out fresh fruit at garage sales or bring her own creative activities and supplies to babysitting gigs to ensure repeat business.

When she was old enough for "real jobs," she set her sights on companies like Nordstrom and Disney, which further fueled her relentless dedication to the customer and her curiosity for what makes some brand experiences stand apart from the rest. Along the way, she picked up an obsession with optimizing technology to increase efficiency, and she is addicted to the rush of collaborative problem-solving. Her greatest joy, however, comes from inspiring and motivating others toward their best work and being a force of positive momentum in everything she does.

The Science of Brand Love

What makes brands like Apple and Nike not just recognized, but truly loved.

Dr. Ahuvia’s book, The Things We Love, explains the psychology behind brand love, and it has been named by Amazon as a “best business book.” He conducted the first scientific studies of brand love some 30 years ago and continues to lead research on this topic. His research on dating sites led to an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show.  

On this episode of 🎙🎙🎙The Delighted Customers Podcast we explore the science behind “brand love” and strategies companies can use to drive customer advocacy.

Highlights of this episode include:

👉 Understanding Brand Love**: Learn how 'brand love' evolves from mere satisfaction to deep emotional connections, much like human relationships. It's not just about the quality of products but how brands make consumers *feel* that determines loyalty and advocacy.

👉 Strategies to Cultivate Brand Love**: Discover actionable strategies such as anthropomorphism (think Siri or Alexa), connecting brands to relatable personalities, and aligning with universal values to foster a closer bond with your audience.

👉 Impact on Financial Performance**: Grasp the clear correlation between brand love and profitability. Brands that achieve emotional resonance with their consumers typically see enhanced financial outcomes.

👉 Warnings of reaching too far** - when deploying brand love strategies

Resources

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

In today's fast-paced networked economy, professionals (especially CX pros) must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of one's discipline is not enough and that’s why Charles H. Green co-authored the Trusted Advisor (and the recently published the 20th Anniversary edition).

The key to change leadership is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of key stakeholders.  

The stakes are even higher for CX leaders who typically have constrained budgets, small teams and limited positional authority.

Charlie returns to the show and shares some fresh insights that leaders can use immediately to boost their impact on change on this episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast.

Highlights include:

• Why trust and trustworthiness are critical to any change leadership role
• How trust plays into the decision-making process
• Busting myths about trust - like it must take time to build or rebuild
• Lessons from Lincoln: The strategic importance of perception

Resources

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Lessons from Taylor Swift About How to Create Superfans with Brittany Hodak

Have you ever wondered why some celebrities create a swarm of superfans that become lifelong advocates for them (and others, not so much)? 

My guest on this episode of the Delighted Customers Podcast worked her way up from radio station mascot to the head of a marketing agency that promoted the biggest name stars from Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Dolly Parton along with some of the biggest brands like Walmart, Amazon, and Disney.

Now an author and speaker, Brittany Hodak and I explore her book, Creating Superfans: How To Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates.  

Highlights from the show:

• What lessons can leaders take from Taylor Swift’s incredibly loyal fanbase?
• The power of “common lessons”
• How to cultivate customer loyalty
• Understanding personal brand influence

And much more…

Resources

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Jennifer Ashman is a CX thought leader and experience design expert. She has been in the field for over two decades and is a Professor of Practice at Michigan State University, where she teaches Experience Design in the Master's Degree program in Customer Experience Management.

Jennifer shares some real world examples to help make the conversation easily relatable.

Content Highlights:

- **Deep Dive into Qualitative Research**: Jennifer unpacks the myriad ways this research method informs decision-making to avoid costly missteps and enhance customer engagement.

- **The Art of Human Interaction**: Discover the irreplaceable value of human-led research methodologies in drawing out the rich, personal details that AI tools often miss.

- **Journey Mapping Mastery**: Learn about the art of crafting journey maps from the customer's perspective with actionable insights, as Jennifer shares her hands-on approach to customer-centric problem solving.

- **Real-World Impact**: Be inspired by stories of organizations that transformed their practices and customer relationships through the actionable intelligence gained from qualitative research.

Resources

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

You’ve just been hired as the Chief Experience Officer to run a financial services firm. What are the keys to driving sustained success?

Join CXO Eric Smuda share his insights on the keys (and the challenges) to leading successful change by driving outstanding customer experiences.

My favorite quote from Eric? “If you’re not using CX as your growth engine, what are you doing???”

Some of the key lessons for this episode of The Delighted Customers Podcast (link in comments below):

1. 'CX and Profit': Good customer experience merges business benefits with customer satisfaction.
2. 'Interaction ROI': Show return on investment in CX by linking experience improvements to CX Suite imperatives such as enhancing acquisition, retention, customer lifetime value, and lowering service costs.
3. 'Digital Impact': Enhance digital CX to increase conversion rates and decrease abandonment, demonstrating clear benefits. 4.
4. 'Relationship Building': Build strong relationships by learning about colleagues' business areas and contributing to shared goals.

And lots more gems.

Resources

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

How can you design experiences to drive customer loyalty?

Kevin Budelmann is an Experience Design expert, a professor at both Michigan State and Northwestern Universities, and authored Brand Identity Essentials.

He brings over a quarter-century shaping design, strategy, and brand experience. We explore the converging paths of behavioral economics, design thinking, and customer experience—all through the lens of his extensive expertise. On this episode of the Delighted Customers Podcast.

🔑 **3 Key Takeaways**: 

• **Trust & Emotion in Branding**: Kevin illuminates the critical role of emotional connection and trust in shaping the brand experience - imperative in an era where customers' decisions are heavily influenced by both. 
• **Understanding Beyond Surveys**: We explore they why and how of recognizing customers’ deeper needs and desires, which often go unspoken, to excel in tailoring your product offerings. 
• **Impactful Design Decisions**: Discover how design touches our everyday experiences, sometimes subtly, other times overtly, but always with the potential to create a strong impression – and why this matters to your brand.

Resources

The Delighted Customers podcast website: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast

Sign up for The Trusted Guide newsletter here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/newsletter

Get the latest news and updates on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markslatin/

Register for the next Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class here: https://www.empoweredcx.com/

The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company