Explore every episode of the podcast The Trusted Guide Podcast with Mark Slatin
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| #135 Emotional Imprinting and the Future of Experience Management | 15 May 2025 | 00:30:43 | |
Join us for a special episode featuring Lou Carbone, widely regarded as the father of the experience management movement. As the founder, president, and chief executive, Chief Experience Officer of Experience Engineering, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm dedicated to customer and employee experience management, Lou brings over 30 years of expertise to the discussion. He pioneered the field with his groundbreaking 1994 article "Engineering Customer Experiences," which may have originated the term "customer experience." Lou is also the author of the book Clued in, How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again and has worked with major companies like Pizza Hut, KFC, Avis, H&R Block, General Motors, IBM, and Taco Bell. He has lectured and taught at leading institutions like Harvard Business School and Cornell School of Business and is currently a Professor of Practice at Michigan State University in the Customer Experience Management Program. Why listen? Lou believes the profession is at a crossroads and will challenge conventional thinking about CX, exploring the current state of the profession and offering insights into moving beyond traditional approaches to create truly distinctive value. He will discuss how organizations can shift their focus from how customers feel about the brand to how they cause them to feel about themselves after interacting with the brand, highlighting the critical role of emotional imprinting in designing memorable experiences that drive value. Tune in as we explore: •What does it mean when we say "customers cannot not have an experience," and how does this fundamental truth shape the approach to experience management? •How can organizations move beyond fixing problems ("fixing broken") to design experiences that leverage emotional imprinting and lead to "distinctive economic value"? •In a world where the definition of CX is fragmented, how can understanding "next practices" rooted in emotion, psychology, and neuroscience help prove the ROI and Return on Strategy of experience management initiatives? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review the Delighted Customers podcast on your favorite platform! Your support helps us bring you more insightful conversations with leaders shaping the future of customer experience. Apple Podcasts (US): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-delighted-customers-podcast-with-mark-slatin/id1635863804 Spotify: Search "The Delighted Customers Podcast with Mark Slatin" in the Spotify app or website Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/928496db-78cc-4f1e-ba61-d62a1fa1af06/the-delighted-customers-podcast-with-mark-slatin radio.net: https://www.radio.net/podcast/delighted-customers-podcast Official Website & Other Platforms: https://www.empoweredcx.com/podcast | |||
| #134 "It's Not About the Coffee": A Starbucks President's Recipe for Delighting Customers with CX | 08 May 2025 | 00:30:18 | |
"It's Not About the Coffee": A Starbucks President's Recipe for Delighting Customers with CX Join us for an insightful conversation with Howard Behar, a pivotal figure in Starbucks' legendary growth. As the President of Starbucks North America and the founding President of Starbucks International for 21 years, Howard participated in the company's expansion from just 28 stores to over 15,000. He also served on the Starbucks board of directors for 12 years before retiring. He's also authored two books on leadership titled "It's not about the Coffee" and "The Magic Cup," book titles that encapsulate his core philosophy. In this episode, Howard tackles a fundamental challenge faced by rapidly growing businesses: How do you scale operations from a small number of locations to a global empire while preserving the deeply personal customer experience that made you successful? Howard argues that the answer lies not just in the product, but in a relentless focus on people – both employees and customers – understanding that Starbucks was always "in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people". Listen in as Howard shares firsthand how this philosophy drove extraordinary growth and answers critical questions, including: •How did the philosophy "we're in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people" shape Starbucks' approach to customer experience? •How did Starbucks manage its rapid expansion from 28 stores to over 15,000 while maintaining a consistent, personal customer experience? •How did leadership make decisions about investing in initiatives and supporting teams, particularly when facing the challenge of proving the ROI of customer experience? Discover actionable insights on servant leadership, empowering employees, the power of listening, and taking calculated risks to build a truly people-centric organization that delights customers and achieves remarkable growth. Don't miss this eye-opening conversation with Greg Kihlstrom! Listen and subscribe to the Delighted Customers podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or find us on your favorite podcast platform Meet Howard Howard Behar's extensive career spans over 50 years in consumer-oriented businesses. He served at Starbucks Coffee for 21 years, retiring after participating in the company's growth from 28 stores to over 15,000 across five continents. He held pivotal leadership roles as President of Starbucks North America and the founding President of Starbucks International. Howard also served on the Starbucks board of directors for 12 years before retiring. He is the author of two books on leadership. Books by Howard Behar:
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| #125 Inside LinkedIn: Designing Value for Members and Customers | 06 Mar 2025 | 00:42:22 | |
Are you on LinkedIn? Ever wondered how LinkedIn keeps its users engaged and loyal? Join us for an insider's view of the platform that drives business networking. Unpacking Value Creation:Sam Stern delves into the importance of distinguishing between LinkedIn users—members versus customers. He explains how this differentiation impacts the value each group gets from the platform, ensuring a balance between the needs of paying customers and non-paying members. Continuous Evolution:LinkedIn is committed to continuous research, aiming to understand user pain points and iterating solutions based on direct feedback. This approach helps uncover underlying issues and experiment with ways to enhance user experience. Aligning with the Power Core:Drawing on Jeanne Bliss's Power Core concept, Sam illustrates how aligning with LinkedIn's core strength as a product-driven organization has revolutionized their ability to influence change and elevate the customer experience. This alignment underscores the importance of understanding and working within the organizational power structure. This episode promises a deep dive into the strategies that make LinkedIn a powerful networking tool! Meet Sam: Sam Stern is a customer experience expert with more than 20 years in the field as a speaker, community builder, practitioner, podcaster, and researcher. Currently, he leads the Service Design team at LinkedIn, helping to design and deliver delightful experiences for the platform's 1 billion members and customers. Sam has also created three LinkedIn Learning courses on customer experience, and hosts his own weekly podcast, CX Patterns. In past roles, he started a customer experience team for the footwear company New Balance, and worked in research and consulting roles at Forrester Research. While there, Sam helped launch Forrester's CX Certification training curriculum, and he started Forrester's popular "CX Cast" podcast. | |||
| #36: The Biggest Obstacles to Successful Change Initiatives - with Amanda Schmoldt, CCMP, President, ACMP | 08 Jun 2023 | 00:33:03 | |
What are the biggest obstacles to successful change initiatives? Amanda Schmoldt has the expertise and experience that only comes from successfully leading change management initiatives at some of the most respected brands in the world like USAA and Neiman Marcus. Not only is she the President of the Association of Change Management Professionals, but she's also the Senior Director of Change and Transformation Enablement at Halo Branded Solutions. Customer Experience Management (CXM) and Change Management (CM) are kindred spirits and have a lot in common. We explore the intersection of both professions as well as some other practical advice for leaders such as: 👉 Why CM initiatives fail 👉 The intersection of CX and CM 👉 How she helped change the culture at Neiman Marcus 👉 What USAA did right when it comes to cultural transformation 👉 Using behavioral metrics to measure success for change initiatives Meet Amanda Amanda Schmoldt, CCMP, has more than two decades of experience in organizational change management, human resources, communications, and organizational effectiveness. Amanda is President of the Association of Change Management Professionals and serves as Senior Director of Change & Transformation Enablement for HALO Branded Solutions. In her current role, she leads a team that is dedicated to building enterprise change capabilities and supporting the people side of the company's change and transformation efforts. Before joining HALO, Amanda held various leadership roles at Neiman Marcus Group, USAA, Caterpillar, Archer Daniels Midland, and the State of Illinois. She lives in San Antonio, Texas. You can reach her on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-schmoldt/ 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 | |||
| #35: The 5 Leadership SUPERPOWERS with Jay Weiser | 01 Jun 2023 | 00:41:17 | |
The 5 Leadership SUPERPOWERS with Jay Weiser, Principal and Founder, Jay Weiser Consulting Jay Weiser is a leadership expert. He's a graduate of the Wharton School, and has consulted at Accenture. He's worked with recognizable names like Autotrader, Bristol Myers Squibb and others. Jay helps us think critically about the tensions that exist for leaders and how to leverage them to build superior organizations. In this episode we talk about:
Meet Jay Jay Weiser is the Principal and Founder of Jay Weiser Consulting. His passion is enabling leaders and organizations to not only survive but thrive in the face of disruptiveness and uncertainty. Knowing traditional leadership capabilities are insufficient in this environment, Jay developed THE FIVE LEADERSHIP SUPERPOWERS™ capability model to address this need. Through speaking, training, assessment, and advisory services, he helps his clients succeed by improving their preparedness/readiness enabling them to better withstand disruptions, recover quicker, accelerate forward, and be positioned to jump on opportunities faster. Jay has over 3 decades of experience advising executives across multiple industries and various environments. His clients and employers span from the middle market to Fortune/Forbes 500, including recognizable names like Autotrader (Cox Auto), Bristol Myers Squibb, Fulton County Schools, JP Morgan Chase, to Publix. Jay has delivered presentations to executive groups and has been interviewed for multiple podcasts around the globe. Most recently, he was interviewed by Eric McNulty with the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a joint program between Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Chan School of Public Health. His thought leadership has been featured on Forbes.com, Rework.co, The Balanced Scorecard Report (an HBS publication), LinkedIn, and on his website, www.jayweiser.com. He has a BS in Economics from The Wharton School (UPenn) and his MBA from the Goizueta Business School (Emory). LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/jayrweiser Twitter – www.twitter.com/@Jay_R_Weiser 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 | |||
| #34: Why do most surveys fail to get results? with Rick Denton, Managing Principle, EX4CX | 25 May 2023 | 00:38:22 | |
Why do most surveys fail to get results? Rick Denton believes too many companies rely too heavily on survey data and consequently don't get results. He suggests CX leaders should look beyond surveys to - listen, act, and engage. It's a simple, yet powerful model we explore on this episode of the Delighted Customers Podcast along with: 👉 What not to ask customers 👉 How to use customer feedback to inspire employees 👉 Why customer experiences are tanking 👉 The importance of aligning brand promise to experience 👉 What's missing in CX today Join us for a lively and fun episode with two CX pros who also host podcasts Meet Rick Rick Denton believes the best meals are served outside and require a passport. A sought after Customer Experience Advisor and keynote speaker, Rick enables companies to achieve Experience Transformation, guiding them to stop Survey & Score and start Listen & Act, using a Total Voice of the Customer approach. As a Managing Principal at EX4CX, Rick helps clients unlock tangible business value from their Voice of the Customer Programs, create Customer Experience visions, culture and reality while driving revenue growth & operational improvement. In his leadership roles prior to EX4CX such as with Bose, Capital One and several other industry champions, Rick created customer obsessed cultures, high performance execution systems, and clear outcome-oriented alignment. Rick delivered these results across multiple industries and company size profiles both domestically and internationally. In addition to scouring the globe for the best customer experiences, Rick, his wife and two children, love to travel the globe simply to travel. You'll as easily find them in Texas as you'll find them in Thailand. (Ask him about the fantastic grilled squid on a stick!…Or the not so great fried tarantula!) When he's not with the family or clients, you'll likely find Rick hiking on a mountain somewhere in the southwestern USA desert. Rick combines these loves by hosting the CX Passport podcast, a weekly talk with guests about customer experience and travel. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenton/ 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 | |||
| #33: Applying Lessons from Football (Soccer) to Customer Experience with Greg Uglioni, CCXP | 18 May 2023 | 00:34:12 | |
What does football (soccer) have in common with Customer Experience? Greg Uglioni, CCXP, Head of Business Transformation / Digital Transformation at Kantonsspital Winterthur connects the two in a very innovative way. Greg was voted a Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Customer Loyalty 2022 Thinkers360 Greg joins us all the way from Switzerland, to share wisdom from his experience in both financial services and healthcare including:
Meet Greg Gregorio Uglioni is a specialist in Business Transformation, Innovation and Customer Experience. Thanks to his strong leadership skills, Gregorio has successfully led several transformation programs achieving great results, creating a positive customer impact while relentlessly nurturing a positive innovation culture. His cross-industry engagement for the development of the customer experience discipline (e.g., with his podcast "CX Goalkeeper", as a Judge at several international events, as a co-author of the global best-sellers "Customer Experience 3" and "Customer Experience 4") and his in-depth know-how allowed him to be recognized and awarded several time in Customer Experience Community. Gregorio holds two masters from the University of Zurich. He is a CCXP and the world's first certified ACXSPlus. He started his career at Accenture and is now the Head of Business Transformation at the Cantonal Hospital of Winterthur in Switzerland. Gregorio's battery charger is his family 2023 Recognitions: CXM STARS #8 TOP CX INFLUENCER by CXM ICMI'S TOP 25 THOUGHT LEADERS FOR 2023 by ICMI World's Top 200 Business & Technology Innovators by Engati Top 50 Global Thought Leaderss and Influencers on Customer Loyalty 2023 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Digital Transformation 2023 Top 25 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Customer Experience 2023 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Leadership 2023 2022 Recognitions: CXM STARS #10 TOP CX INFLUENCER from CXM "Influencers to follow" from the UK Customer Experience Awards 2022 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Customer Loyalty 2022 Thinkers360 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Digital Transformation 2022 Top 10 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Customer Experience 2022 Thinkers360 Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Leadership 2022 2021 Recognitions: TOP INFLUENCER 2021 by ENGATI Customer Experience World Games 2021: Overall Star Player Recognition, 30 July 2021 Thinkers360: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Customer Experience, October 2021 Survey2Connect: Featured in the list of the 100 CX Thought Leaders Around The World That Are Changing The CX Game Some quotes: "my family is my battery charger" "When I wake up in the morning, I want to create value, to have an impact and to serve others to achieve our goals together" "Yes, it is possible to create value for employees, customers and shareholders. At the end, they are all human beings!" "blending agility & CX will be a key success factor in future" 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 | |||
| #32: "The Evolution of CX at Walgreens with Danielle Wipperfurth, CCXP, Director of Customer Experience " | 11 May 2023 | 00:55:23 | |
How did a neighborhood drugstore, founded in 1901 and measuring just 50 feet by 20 feet, become the pharmacy all others are measured by and one of the most respected American corporations? Charles R. Walgreen, Sr took a job at Horton's Drugstore in Dixon, Il because an accident left him unable to take part in sports when he was 16. After working in several drugstores, he grew increasingly knowledgeable - and increasingly dissatisfied with what he saw as old-fashioned, complacent methods of running a drugstore. Walgreen saw a clear way to differentiate back in the late 1800's: "...the most dramatic change Walgreen instituted was a level of service and personal attention unequaled by virtually any other pharmacy in Chicago." Today Walgreens has over 13,000 locations across the U.S., Europe, and Latin American with over 325,000 team members. Recently, Walgreens has formalized their Customer Experience Management efforts and Danielle Wipperfurth, CCXP, Director of Customer Experience at the storied retailer joins me for a fascinating discussion on The Delighted Customers Podcast. She shares some practical tips and stories including:
Meet Danielle Danielle Wipperfurth serves as Director of Customer Experience at Walgreens. Her background includes leadership roles across sectors and internationally in organizations as diverse as an incubator for social impact startups, a creative agency serving the White House, and a luxury outdoor kitchen company.
Danielle's expertise includes healthcare customer experience, the relationship between employee and customer experience, and the power of aligning experience with your brand promise. She is deeply committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, serving on the Diversity Advancement Committee for the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).
Danielle earned her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and her bachelor's degree from Davidson College. In 2020, she was recognized as an inaugural Emerging Leader in Customer Experience by the CXPA, and now invests in the next generation of CX leaders as Chair of the program.
You can reach her at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellewipperfurth/. 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 | |||
| #31: Understanding Intrinsic and External Motivators to Unlock Discretionary Employee Effort - with Greg Kihlstrom, Principal, Chief Strategist, GK5A | 04 May 2023 | 00:43:06 | |
Greg Kihlstrom is a speaker, author, advisor, and strategy expert. With a background in digital marketing, Greg brings experience from that background along with his experience in the customer experience world to help companies up their game. Some of the gems Greg shares:
…and a whole lot more. Meet Greg Greg Kihlström is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, currently an advisor and consultant to top companies on marketing technology, customer experience, and digital transformation initiatives as Principal and Chief Strategist at GK5A. He is also the host of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. He is a two-time CEO and Co-Founder, growing both companies organically and through acquisitions, and ultimately leading both to be acquired (one in 2017, and the other in 2021). He has worked with some of the world's top brands, including Adidas, Choice Hotels, Coca-Cola, Dell, FedEx, HP, Marriott, MTV, Starbucks, Toyota, and VMware. He earned his MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology and is a member of the School of Marketing Faculty at the Association of National Advertisers. He currently serves on the University of Richmond's Customer Experience Advisory Board and the Workhouse Arts Foundation Board as Chair of the Marketing Committee. Greg was the founding Chair of the American Advertising Federation's National Innovation Committee and served on the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Mentorship Advisory Board. Greg is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified, is an Agile Certified Coach (ICP-ACC), and holds a certification in Business Agility (ICP-BAF). Greg has had multiple best-selling books, including his Agile Brand Guides series on marketing technology platforms and practices. His eleventh and most recent book, House of the Customer (2023) discusses the 1:1 personalized customer experience of the future, and how brands can organize the people, processes, and platforms that enable it. Meaningful Measurement of the Customer Experience (2022), provides guidance on how to create a customer-centric culture that prioritizes customer needs while aligning internal teams around a common goal. His award-winning podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström, launched in early 2019, discusses brand strategy, marketing, and customer experience with some of the world's leading experts and leaders. Greg is a contributing writer to Fast Company, Forbes, MarTech, and CMSWire, and has been featured in publications such as Advertising Age and The Washington Post. Greg has been named a 2022 Top 10 Marketing and Customer Experience Thought Leader 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. 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 | |||
| #30: The "Customer Chair": The Power of Storytelling, Richard Dorfman, MBA, Vice President, Customer Experience, Eastern Bank | 27 Apr 2023 | 00:40:51 | |
The Customer Chair: The Power of Storytelling, Richard Dorfman, MBA, Vice President, Customer Experience, Eastern Bank Influencing decisions in the C-Suite requires an appeal to both the logical and emotional sides of the brain. Sure you have to have data to support big decisions, but emotions are always linked to influence. Stories are a powerful way to engage leaders to get your ideas accepted. Rich Dorfman, the CX leader at one of the largest Boston-based banks, shares his real world experience as a CX practitioner and how he used the power of storytelling to influence key decision-makers. In my opinion, there's nothing like hearing from someone who has learned real life lessons to lead a customer centric culture. Some of the highlights of the episode include:
Meet Rich For more than nine years, Rich has led Eastern Bank's customer experience efforts managing all aspects of this strategic initiative from program design to Voice of Customer (VOC) measurement and management to analysis and reporting to being the "customer-first" catalyst of the company. The result of Rich's relentless pursuit of this critical outside in perspective has focused and aligned the bank around customer-centric behaviors and attitudes. Key accomplishment include: > Created a Customer Experience (CX) governance council empowered to identify and repair CX pain points, which then communicates these customer and institutional "wins" to all impacted stakeholders > Designed customer feedback programs in every line of business with robust closed loop management processes > Integrated VOC insights into business plans to drive CX enhancements > Developed a comprehensive and actionable CX financial linkage analysis that strongly correlates customers' sentiments to their banking business and profitability > Embarked on a CX maturity benchmark assessment to uncover a defined strategic roadmap for future CX improvement initiatives Prior to Eastern, Rich's banking career included strategic marketing positions at Chemical Bank/Chase in New York, Shawmut Bank/Fleet Bank in Boston and as principle of his own strategic consulting firm focused on delivering differentiated value to high-revenue small business segments. Connect with Rich: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richdorfman/ 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 | |||
| #29: You Got the CX Leader Job, Now What? with Allison Landers, Chief Experience Officer (CXO), UBS | 20 Apr 2023 | 00:36:54 | |
You Got the CX Leader Job, Now What? with Allison Landers, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) for Banking and Lending, UBS Allison Landers knows a thing or two about customer experience. She started her career in the .com space working for AOL and then shifted into financial services working at some of the most respected brands like Key Bank, Wells Fargo, and now UBS, where she serves as the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) for Banking and Lending. Our conversation was particularly timely given the turbulence in the financial sector and the critical need to earn customer's trust. Allison has taken the helm and successfully led CX practices that were at various stages of maturity. Some of the highlights of the episode include:
Meet Allison Allison Landers joined UBS Bank USA as Managing Director and Chief Experience Officer (CXO) in 2022. In this new role, Allison is responsible for the design, delivery and ongoing management of end-to-end, omni-channel client and employee experiences. Her focus areas include journeys, client and field messaging, research, Voice of the Customer/Employee and client experience and engagement measurement. Allison brings over 25 years of experience in Customer Experience (CX), Digital Product Management and Marketing. She started her career in the .com space, working for America Online (AOL), American Greetings and Sabre Networks. Since 2005, Allison has been applying best practices from those industries to move Financial Services forward, leading Digital and omni-channel CX efforts at KeyBank, TD Bank, Prudential and Wells Fargo. Allison earned her undergraduate degree in Journalism/Advertising from Indiana University and her MBA in Marketing from Marymount University. Allison is active in both the industry and her community. She lives in Little Silver, New Jersey with her husband Steve, their three sons and her dog Daisy. She can be best reached on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonpainelanders/ 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 | |||
| #28: Pt. 2 - Lou Carbone, the Father of Experience Management | 13 Apr 2023 | 01:04:22 | |
In this fascinating two part mini-series, Lou Carbone distills decades of thought leading ideas that cut through years of misled efforts to delight customers. In Part 2 we cover:
Be sure to listen to Part 2 for more great gems from Lou Meet Lou Lou Carbone is foun der andCEO of Experience Engineering®, Inc., an experience management consulting firm, the first of its kind, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since the late 1980's, Carbone, actually referred to as the "father of Customer Experience Management", has been at the forefront of exploring and developing and creating cutting edge tools and experience management perspectives. He is globally recognized as a significant thought leader in the field as well as an experience management futurist continuously innovative, hands-on academic/practitioner. He has written and co-authored numerous academic articles and wrote the book "Clued In: How to keep customers coming back, again and again, Published by FT Prentice Hall which won Fast Company's Reader's Choice Award. Including a paper that was cited as the best paper by Sage Publications on Memorability of Experiences. Citations from those works in academic publications number in the thousands. More than two decades has collaborated very often with Dr. Leonard Berry, of the Mays School at Texas A&M. Len co-authored the book Management Lessons from the Mayo Clinic with Dr. Kent Seltman, former Chair of Marketing at the Clinic and has been recognized for contributing more to academic literature than any other academic ever. Lou originated the concept of Total Experience Management™ and a robust methodology called Experience Engineering®. He is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at Health Quality Partners and has served on the board of Fairview Physician's Associate Network, as well as the Chairman of the Brown College Board of Trustees. Board Brown College Board Chair. He has spoken across the Globe hundreds of times delivering Keynote addresses. Prior to founding Experience Engineering Lou was the Global Vice President of Marketing at National Car Rental during the innovative creation of the Paperless Rental Agreement, Emerald Club®, The Emerald Aisle where choose your vehicle. Which the entire industry has now mimicked by the industry decades later. Lou was a senior executive with major advertising agencies in NYC, Detroit and Minneapolis and served as a Journalist in his early career. Prior to starting Experience Engineering, Carbone was an advertising executive with major agencies in New York, Detroit and Minneapolis. While with Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Grey Advertising, and Manoff Geers Gross, he worked with wide array of companies including American Tourister Luggage, National Car Rental, Walt Disney World, Eastern Airlines and Howard Johnson. 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 | |||
| Special Edition: Update from Greg Melia, CEO, CXPA | 07 Apr 2023 | 00:19:41 | |
Special Edition: CX Update from the CEO of CXPA, Greg Melia Customer satisfaction is down in nearly every industry and customers are growing more and more frustrated. This means the risk of customer churn is rising. If you're a customer experience leader you will want to equip yourself with the best resources to help your organization stand out from this customer frustration. In this Special Edition of the Delighted Customers Podcast, Greg Melia, CEO of the Customer Experience Professionals Association shares how CX leaders can best prepare for a turbulent world and what trends he's seeing in the marketplace. Greg returns to the Delighted Customers Podcast to give us an update on 3 things:
Meet Greg Greg Melia, CAE is an innovator and leader dedicated to advancing associations and customer experience. Greg was appointed by the Customer Experience Professionals Association as their first full-time CEO in April 2019. CXPA is the premier global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and cultivation of the Customer Experience profession. It has more than 55,000 followers in 70 countries around the world. Greg holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from The College of William & Mary, a master's degree in social anthropology from the London School of Economics, and a graduate certificate in Creativity and Change Leadership from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at the State University of New York. Greg is also a Coca-Cola Scholar and has served as a member of the Coca-Cola Scholars Alumni Advisory Board. He was also designated an honorary member by Farmhouse Fraternity International in 2016. Like many in CX, Greg's professional experiences have helped develop his passion for CX. He worked for several years in hospitality, including as an inaugural staff member of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Pentagon City, Virginia. He worked on employee culture and organizational strategy issues for the as an organization development consultant to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, has more than 15 years working with member experience at various associations including the American Society of Association Executives and The US Chamber of Commerce, and background in world-class storytelling at ITN Productions Industry News.
Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter | |||
| #124 The Secret Ingredient to Customer Delight | 27 Feb 2025 | 00:35:05 | |
Do you remember the shock ending of The Sixth Sense? The film taps into that mysterious sixth sense—something beyond our usual perception. Similarly, in the world of taste, umami goes beyond salty, sweet, bitter, and sour to create a richer, more memorable experience. But what if businesses could apply this concept to customer experience? In this episode, Aga Szóstek, PhD—author, CX leader, and design expert—shares a powerful framework that parallels umami, helping brands forge deeper emotional connections, stand out in the market, and drive lasting loyalty. Drawing from her work with companies like Google and Philips Lighting, Aga delivers invaluable insights, including:
This conversation is packed with actionable wisdom you won't want to miss! 🎧 Subscribe to The Delighted Customers Podcast for more expert insights. Show Notes: MEET Aga! Aga Szóstek, PhD is the author of "The Umami Strategy" and "Leadership by Design" and an expert in strategy and leadership. Over the last two decades she has worked with leading companies combining design, technology and business. She has worked with brands such as Google, Philips, Samsung, Play, Allegro, EY, Santander, ING, Orange and many more, bringing a strategic experience design approach to design teams and boards. Aga also supports her clients in leadership development based on key leadership challenges anchored in their organisational culture. She offers unique leadership programmes delivered in the form of an unforgettable experience. -------------------------------------
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| #27: Pt. 1 - Lou Carbone, the Father of Experience Management | 06 Apr 2023 | 00:46:43 | |
A Conversation with Lou Carbone, the Father of Experience Management, Part 1 of 2 In this fascinating two part mini-series, Lou Carbone distills decades of thought leading ideas that cut through years of misled efforts to delight customers. In Part 1 we cover:
Be sure to listen to Part 2 for more great gems from Lou Meet Lou Lou Carbone is the founder, president and chief experience officer of Experience Engineering, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm dedicated to customer and employee experience management. He is widely regarded as the father of the experience management movement. Founded in the late 1980s, Experience Engineering helps companies discover what really makes customers tick and offers solutions to help them increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and repeat business. A frequent college lecturer, writer and inspirational speaker; Carbone is the author of "Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again" (Prentice-Hall, 2004), which won the Fast Company Reader's Choice award. Companies that Carbone and Experience Engineering have worked with include Pizza Hut, KFC, Avis, H&R Block, General Motors, IBM, Taco Bell, Progressive Auto Insurance, John Deere, Blockbuster, IBM, La Quinta, Time Warner Cable, Deluxe Financial Services, Office Depot, Audi of America, Royal Bank of Canada, and Boston Children's Hospital. Carbone has lectured and has taught at many leading educational institutions including the Harvard Business School, Columbia, The Cornell School of Hospitality, Haas School at the University of California at Berkeley, Texas A&M's Center for Retail Studies, Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota, Boston University, UNLV and Parsons School of Design. Prior to starting Experience Engineering, Carbone was an advertising executive with major agencies in New York, Detroit and Minneapolis. While with Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Grey Advertising, and Manoff Geers Gross, he worked with wide array of companies including American Tourister Luggage, National Car Rental, Walt Disney World, Eastern Airlines and Howard Johnson. 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 | |||
| #26: A Five Step Model to Earn Customer Loyalty with Mark Slatin & Patty Soltis | 30 Mar 2023 | 00:32:13 | |
A Five Step Model to Earn Customer Loyalty with Mark Slatin I've interviewed some of the legends in customer experience on The Delighted Customers Podcast but this episode will be a twist! In this episode, Patty Soltis, CCXP, and a leader of Patient Experience at The Moffitt Cancer Center, turns the tables and interviews ME! It was fun to be on the other side of the table and share why CX is the growth engine for businesses. In this episode:
Meet Mark Above all else, I'm passionate about customer experience because I've learned that when we serve others well, we positively impact their lives and make the world a better place in the process.
I help clients by listening to them and really understanding their goals, vision, and challenges. Whether you are just launching or ready to take the journey to the next level, I leverage my "real world" experience that only comes from serving as a CX practitioner in the financial services industry. My focus for the last decade has been leading an award-winning CX journey from launch to maturity at Sandy Spring Bank . During that time, the Bank received numerous awards including The CX Innovation Award (2X), Great Places to Work, Forbes America's Best Bank, and American Banker Best Bank to Work For, The Washington Post Top Workplace, among others. I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Customer Experience Professionals Association and Chair the Higher Education Subcommittee. I designed and taught a Customer Experience Management Course in Loyola University's MBA program where I held an adjunct professor position. I have served as a judge for the CX of M Awards, and have been featured in the book Chief Customer Officer 2.0 and Customer Experience Magazine.
I have been a guest on numerous industry webinars and podcasts and have been a featured speaker and panelist. Prior to my CX leadership role, I served as a management consultant for companies in a variety of industries dramatically improving their business results. I helped them craft their vision, mission, and core values in addition to designing their revenue growth strategies.I spent the first two decades of my career in sales management working for Fortune 500 companies like Boise Cascade and Standard Register. I hold a BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland, and an MBA from Loyola University Maryland.
When I'm not working, you might find me enjoying time with my kids and grandkids, tinkering with home projects, and chasing a little white ball around. 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 | |||
| #25: Using the Right Data To Improve Your Customer's Experience with Sami Nuwar | 23 Mar 2023 | 00:46:35 | |
Sami Nuwar got his start as a researcher and evolved to a CX leader at Verizon before shifting to Medallia, a VoC software company that designs solutions for businesses. It won't take you long to recognize the depth of Sami's wisdom. With all the talk about AI and machine learning, Sami talks about a very straightforward approach to using data to drive customer loyalty. In this episode we discuss:
Meet Sami Prior to joining Medallia, Sami led experience management programs in global B2B environments, with a diverse background that includes large telecom service & consumer goods manufacturing. With a deep background in insights, process improvement, and governance, Sami has helped drive customer-centric transformational shifts, aligning execution toward desired experience outcomes. 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 | |||
| #24: The Intersection of Customer Success and Customer Experience with Adrian Brady-Cesana, CXO, CX Chronicles | 16 Mar 2023 | 00:37:53 | |
The Intersection of Customer Success and Customer Experience with Adrian Brady-Cesana, CXO, CX Chronicles Adrian spent his early years in Manhattan, helping launch Saas startups in a fast-paced environment. He learned a lot of valuable lessons through the school of hard knocks and he shares some of that wisdom with us on this episode. We cover a lot of ground and some of the highlights include:
Meet Adrian I have been working in Customer Experience, Customer Success, Customer Service, Sales, Marketing and Sales Operations Management and Consulting for 15+ years. I've had the pleasure of working in New York with ACV Auctions, Hometeam, onefinestay, H.Bloom, and a plethora of other venture capital backed executive leadership teams. I've been starting, building and scaling companies and internal customer focused teams my entire career. I've developed an in-depth understanding and appreciation for what it takes to succeed in growth phase businesses as well as the importance of understanding the power of implementing a cohesive business strategy focused on the The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Today I spend much of my time working with our amazing clients at CXC helping them optimize the Four CX Pillars within their businesses. I'm also the host of of a top 10 CX/CS Business podcast called The CXChronicles Podcast, a weekly show that interviews customer focused business leaders from across the world. Lastly I have a book on Amazon, check it out now to learn more it's called "The Four CX Pillars To Grow Your Business Now -- The Customer Experience Playbook". Building businesses and finding new customers to serve has always been one of my greatest passions. I've started several of my own companies over the years including; RPM Marketing, Property Armor, Simply Travel, Maids of Manhattan, American Buddha Co, WNYCatering, WNYBnB & most recently CXChronicles, as well as the CXChronicles Podcast. I love building teams and working with customers, it's my favorite part of the game, hands down. Please feel free to reach out to me today -- I'm always open to meeting and discussing new business opportunities and finding new connections for the future! CXC Bio: CXC believes that customer experience & success is modern selling + a team sport that must be prioritized in any business or industry as you grow and scale! We help our growth focused clients navigate the jungle of CX/CS/RevOps by helping them optimize The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. We do this by working with customer facing teams to ensure that your investments in customer experience & customer success are yielding positive ROI & leading to revenue growth & retention. CXC provides our clients with a variety of Fractional CXO & CX/CS/RevOps focused managed services including; CX Scorecard assessments, customer journey mapping, curating living playbooks & FAQs, constructing your Voice of Customer Dashboards & providing you with CXC certified leadership support by leveraging the "CX Nation" our community of over 12K+ customer focus 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 | |||
| #23: Why AI is a Game Changer for Customer Experience with OCX Recognition CEO Richard Owen | 09 Mar 2023 | 00:33:21 | |
Why AI is a Game Changer for Customer Experience with OCX Recognition CEO Richard Owen Richard Owen is an innovator. The former CEO of Satmetrix, who helped Fred Reichheld elevate Net Promoter Score to become the world's most popular customer loyalty metric, is innovating again. Richard is the CEO of OCX Cognition, a newly formed technology company with the aim of disrupting the status quo in the customer experience world. In this episode we discuss:
And a whole lot more. Meet Richard: Richard Owen Founder and CEO Richard Owen is one of the best-known thought leaders in the Customer Experience industry. While CEO at Satmetrix, his team led the development of the Net Promoter Score methodology with Fred Reichheld, which created the most widely used approach to measuring customer experience in the world. Together with Dr Laura Brooks he co-authored "Answering the ultimate question" which quickly became the "how to" guide for NPS practitioners. Richard launched netpromoter.com which was supported by over 20,000 subscribers; the NPS Certification program with over 6,000 companies taking part and a conference series that ran for 10 years and 20 conferences. Today he is the founder and CEO of OCX Cognition, a software and data science company using machine learning to create real time NPS and customer health performance data. Richard has enjoyed a 30-year career centered around the use of technology to transform business operations. As an executive at Dell Computer Corporation, he oversaw the re- engineering of the companies supply chain operations, the growth of Dell's consumer business in Japan and, as VP of Online, the scaling of the world's largest electronic commerce business of the 1990s. He has led two software companies to successful exits, with AvantGo (mobile enterprise software) achieving a public listing on the Nasdaq and Satmetrix, the cloud software co-creator of NPS, sold to NICE Systems. Richard has held several board positions in both public and private companies and has served on compensation, audit and special board committees. An active venture investor, he most recently joined the board of Ajua, an innovative pioneer in customer data based in Nairobi, Kenya. Having lived in Japan, the UK and the USA, he is a true international business thinker and Africa is a new and exciting passion for him. Richard holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Nottingham, England, and an MBA From the MIT Sloan School of Management. He lives with his wife Susan in Scottsdale, Arizona. Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-owen-98ba3/ https://ocxcognition.com/company/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/ocxcognition 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 | |||
| #22: The Do's and Don't of an Impactful Customer Experience Discipline with Bob Azman, CCXP | 02 Mar 2023 | 00:39:21 | |
The Do's and Don't of an Impactful Customer Experience Discipline with Bob Azman Bob is a CX veteran. He's been around long enough to know what works and what doesn't. In this episode he helps you accelerate the path to delighting customers as we discuss:
Meet Bob Bob Azman is the Chief Customer Service Officer and Consultant for Innovative CX Solutions, LLC. Innovative CX Solutions is a Customer Experience Consulting firm specializing in CX Design and Execution, Sales and Service Experience Design and Talent Development. As a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), Bob is a thought leader, practitioner, podcaster, educator, and business partner helping organizations become more customer focused and easy to do business with. Bob is an Emeritus Chair of the Board of the Customer Experience Professional Association (CXPA.org). He is the former Vice President, Traveler Experience, Americas and Global responsible for all customer operations in Canada, the United States and Latin America as well as global sites located in Poland, Manila, Bogota, and Costa Rica as well as related experience in India and Australia. In this role, Bob transformed the customer experience for clients and travelers of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Prior to joining CWT, Bob was Chief Experience Officer, at Avtex Consulting Solutions, LLC. In that role, he consulted with companies in a variety of industries on developing and implementing strategies to improve their overall customer experience and service operations. Bob also brings a wealth of diverse, general operations and business background as an executive at large corporations such as Thomson Reuters, Ceridian, and Deluxe Corporation. Bob earned both his MBA and bachelor's degrees from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. He is an Adjunct Professor in the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management's Supply Chain and Operations department and at the Rutgers University School of Business Executive Education programs. He is a frequent speaker on developing effective customer experience and service strategies at industry forums and conferences where he receives top ratings on his interactive approach and unique ability to combine academic principles with real life experiences. Email: bob@innovativecx.com Website: www.innovativecx.com Podcast: https://linktr.ee/AllThingsConsideredCX Twitter: @innovatve_cx 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 | |||
| #21: Winning Stakeholder Support: The "Daisy Chain Strategy" with Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP | 23 Feb 2023 | 00:49:34 | |
Winning Stakeholder Support: The "Daisy Chain Strategy" with Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP What are the first steps in leading a customer experience practice in any organization? Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP, VP of CX Strategy at UKG, shares her thoughts about how she applied her deep knowledge of psychology and research to accelerate CX success at one of the world's largest HR software companies. Roxie co-architected the CX Index™ during her 13 years at Forrester Research. She is a CX thought leader and currently serves as the Board Treasurer on the CXPA. We get into the specifics of how to transform In this episode:
We get into the specifics of how to transform a CX practice. This episode is full of deep insights. Meet Roxie Roxie is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and the Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy for UKG, a provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions with more than 14,000 employees. Recently, Ultimate Software (Roxie's original company) merged with Kronos to become UKG. Shortly after the merger, she was promoted to her current VP role. Roxie came to UKG from Forrester in 2018. There, she had led a customer experience practice centered around the CX Index, which she cocreated. It helped organizations diagnose their CX quality and identify how to improve their outcomes. This visibility into what drove other programs' success helped Roxie bring in new practices that matured UKG's program. Roxie's very focused on using the data to diagnose the most efficient and effective way to target resources to improve the customer experience in a way that maximizes business impact. She was recognized with the CXPA's CX Impact Award in 2020 and now is that organization's Board Treasurer. She was also a finalist for the CX Leader of the Year in 2020. Reach her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rstrohmenger/ 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 | |||
| #20: What Leaders Must do Today to Compete in the Future with Bill Staikos | 16 Feb 2023 | 00:43:38 | |
What Leaders Must do Today to Compete in the Future Bill Staikos is a CX thought leader and futurist. Bill shares his thoughts on the big misses and the right path for business leaders when it comes to building the customer experience as a part of their culture. Bill talks about the intersection between technology and customer experience. He shares what will separate the future winners. In this episode we cover:
Bill uses a number of real world examples to support his points. This episode is full of gems! Meet Bill Bill Staikos is the Senior Vice President of Industry Solutions with Medallia. With more than 25 years in financial services and a primary focus on driving customer and employee experience excellence, Bill is a recognized client advocate with proven expertise in envisioning and executing holistic customer-centric strategies. Staikos previously served as the Head of Customer Experience at Freddie Mac where he was responsible for the creation, execution, and measurement of the Customer Experience strategy across Freddie Mac's $2.3 trillion single family guarantee portfolio. Prior to Freddie Mac, he was Head of Customer Experience Analytics & Strategy for Chase's Home Lending business, and he held senior-level, global positions with Credit Suisse Group AG and American Express. He hosts an award-winning podcast, Be Customer Led, with listeners in nearly 80 countries, and is also co-founder of Monday Mentor Meetup, a LinkedIn group dedicated to helping Customer and Employee Experience practitioners accelerate their careers. 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 | |||
| #19: The Blueprint for Customer Obsession with author Marbue Brown | 09 Feb 2023 | 00:43:58 | |
Marbue Brown believes companies that focus on Customer Centricity are missing something. In his new book, Blueprint for Customer Obsession, he highlights why customer obsession strategies are what excel sustainable business results. In this episode he shares: The difference between Customer Obsession and Customer Centricity The benefits of adopting customer obsession as a strategy If and how Southwest Airlines can recover from their recent troubles Marbue Brown Bio: Marbue Brown is an accomplished customer experience (CX) executive with a track record of thought leadership and signature business results at some of the most iconic companies on the planet, including JP Morgan Chase, Amazon.com, Microsoft Corporation, and Cisco Systems. As a CX leader, he guided the Chase Consumer Bank to record performance in the JD Power Retail Banking Study, NPS and branch satisfaction. He transformed the Andon Cord mechanism at Amazon.com from a primarily manually triggered to system to a primarily automated system triggered by machine learning and statistical models. The Andon Cord is one of Amazon.com's most significant mechanisms it uses to personify its Customer Obsession culture. Marbue devised and codified the NSAT Improvement Approach at Microsoft, which was widely used by business units to dramatically improve CX as well as international subsidiaries who won nationwide awards in the process. He co-authored seminal articles about customer experience measurements that are widely cited in industry. He is a sought after speaker and published author on customer experience, business strategy and economic policy. 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 | |||
| #18: Disrupting the C-Suite with Kathy van de Laar, CCXP | 02 Feb 2023 | 00:39:47 | |
Disrupting the C Suite with Kathy van de Laar ‖, Founder, EarlyBridge Summary Kathy is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and strategy expert. Gaining C-Suite support is one of the biggest challenges for customer experience success. In this episode she shares: The "Blank Brown Paper" story Why leadership is the catalyst for customer centricity How to engage reluctant leaders When to take emotional risks with leaders Bio Kathy van de Laar Kathy van de Laar, CCXP, works at the crossroads of customer experience and organizational development. She is founder of EarlyBridge, a bureau focused on mobilizing organizations around the customer. EarlyBridge helps organizations build the bridge between their strategy and business results. Kathy has more than 20 years of experience in people driven change. Her clients include telco's, energy companies, insurance, FMCG and financial and insurance institutions. Before founding EarlyBridge, she held various management, leadership and consulting positions for Digitas, IBM, and KPMG in the United States and EMEA. She helps companies with customer strategy and mobilizing employees around strategy and results. Her team's work has been recognized with multiple Dutch CustomerFirst Awards for business impact and change, and the global Change Management award from the Association of Talent Development. She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and a Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) board member and mentor, focused on helping customer experience professionals develop and grow in their careers. Met vriendelijke groet, Kathy van de Laar, managing directeur, CCXP M +31 (0)6 2124 1245 EarlyBridge BV Ellermanstraat 18A, 1114 AK, Amsterdam-Duivendrecht, The Netherlands | www.earlybridge.nl 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 | |||
| #123 Stuck? Unlock Trust to Get Approval! | 20 Feb 2025 | 00:31:58 | |
Are you a customer experience leader facing roadblocks when trying to get your initiatives approved? In this episode, Mark delves into the power of trust with Charlie Green, co-author of "The Trusted Advisor," to uncover strategies for breaking through bureaucratic walls and fostering buy-in. Key discussion points include:
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 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 and Wealth Monitor, and Commercial Lending Review.
More about Charlie: https://trustedadvisor.com/consultants/charles-h-green
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| Fred Reichheld: What's the Pioneering Edge for Today's CX Leaders according to the NPS Creator | 26 Jan 2023 | 00:47:43 | |
What's the Pioneering Edge for Today's CX Leaders according to NPS Creator, Fred Reichheld? There's so much to unpack in this episode:
And a ton more! Fred Reichheld Bio Video about Winning on Purpose - https://www.bain.com/our-team/fred-reichheld/ Catch Fred's Articles on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-ideas-2023-battling-inflation-companies-cant-just-fred-reichheld/
Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter | |||
| #17: How Leaders Can Leverage Video to Improve CX and EX - Rose Bentley, CEO, Qumu | 19 Jan 2023 | 00:26:58 | |
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:
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. 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 | |||
| #16: Pt. 2 - Measuring and Managing Customer Loyalty in a Digital World with Rob Markey, Bain & Co. | 12 Jan 2023 | 00:45:38 | |
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 Markey Bio
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 | |||
| #15: Pt. 1 - The Room Where It Happened: The Net Promoter Backstory with Rob Markey, Bain & Co. | 05 Jan 2023 | 00:30:48 | |
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 | |||
| #14: From Hopkins Researcher to CX Pro - Brittany Knox, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan | 29 Dec 2022 | 00:24:35 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #13: The Role of Perception and Expectations in Customer Experience, Gary David, PhD, Bentley University | 22 Dec 2022 | 00:48:26 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #12: ITMs: Virtual, with a Human Touch, Carla Higgins, SVP, Director of CX, CNB Bank | 15 Dec 2022 | 00:47:05 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #11: Demystifying the Human Experience, Bruce Temkin, Head of the XM Institute | 08 Dec 2022 | 00:49:44 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #10: Breaking Down Departmental Silos to Improve CX - Risa Lovell, Farm Credit Insurance | 01 Dec 2022 | 00:21:30 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #9: Pt. 2 - Don't Treat All Customers the Same: The Customer-Base Audit with Dr. Peter Fader of Wharton Pt. | 06 Nov 2022 | 00:29:13 | |
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 | |||
| #122 Support, Don't Solve: Empowering Leaders to Create Authentic Spaces | 13 Feb 2025 | 00:45:29 | |
How can leaders support their teams effectively without falling into the trap of fixing everything themselves? Leah Marone is a psychotherapist with expertise in treating anxiety and mood disorders. She also works with athletes on performance anxiety issues, demonstrating her ability to understand and manage high-stress situations. If you can relate, there are a ton of gems in this show, including:
And hey, did you catch our role-play experiment? That was like a masterclass in what not to do—Leah's advice saved the day by turning a "Ron-ian disaster" into a pathway to peace. Meet Leah Leah Marone, MSW, LCSW, is a seasoned psychotherapist and corporate mental wellness consultant based in Charlotte, NC, with over 20 years of extensive experience. Leah received her Master's degree in clinical social work from the University of Texas at Austin, a top-ranked institution in social work education. She has conducted over 20,000 therapy sessions and contributed articles to reputable publications such as Psychology Today, The Atlantic, and Newsweek, earning recognition for her expertise in mental health. Leah's personal journey as a former anxiety-ridden Division 1 basketball player fuels her passion for working with high-achieving individuals, often described as type A go-getters. She specializes in addressing internal pressures, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and performance anxiety. In her dual role as a mental wellness consultant and board member, Leah collaborates with both companies and nonprofits. Her areas of focus include anxiety and stress management, burnout prevention, boundary setting, mindfulness practices, effective communication, and emotional intelligence. Leah's holistic approach involves a thorough assessment of company culture to tailor her services, meeting organizations where they are and addressing their specific needs. Leah's innovative 5-step initiative underscores the significance of mental wellness organization-wide, identifying areas for growth and connection. This initiative aims to prevent high turnover, address burnout, and enhance overall collaboration and productivity. Leah has facilitated dozens wellness workshops for educators, leaders, and healthcare providers and has presented her acclaimed "Support, Don't Solve" framework on prominent stages. Her inspirational keynotes provide practical tools for self-awareness that can be seamlessly integrated into busy schedules. Renowned for her expertise in boundary setting and resilience, Leah is a sought-after speaker for leadership groups. She addresses individuals navigating perpetual burnout, often fueled by relentless inner critics and the challenges of people-pleasing. Her insights offer a transformative guide for cultivating resilience and establishing healthy boundaries in demanding professional environments. Beyond her professional commitments, Leah enjoys traveling, hiking, exercising, and working on her upcoming book slated for publication early next year. Additionally, she actively contributes as a coach for her daughter's club soccer team, showcasing her dedication to both personal and community well-being. https://www.leahmarone.com/
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| #8: Pt. 1. - Don't Treat All Customers the Same: The Customer-Base Audit with Dr. Peter Fader of Wharton | 27 Oct 2022 | 00:30:13 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #7: Delivering Happiness 2.0 with Alex Genov, Head of Customer Research at Zappos | 20 Oct 2022 | 01:16:29 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #6: Gaining Executive Support & CXPA Benefits with Board Chair Nancy Porte | 13 Oct 2022 | 00:50:38 | |
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:
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 | |||
| CX Week Special Edition: How CXPA is a Differentiator for CX Professionals with the CEO, Greg Melia | 06 Oct 2022 | 00:36:30 | |
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:
Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter | |||
| #5: Designing Digital Transformation to Improve CX with HP's Jaya Sudarshan | 29 Sep 2022 | 00:46:08 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #4: Building Trust with Key Stakeholders - Author Charles H. Green | 22 Sep 2022 | 00:47:12 | |
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:
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 First Ever Degree in Customer Experience Management - Dr. Tom DeWitt, MSU Professor | 15 Sep 2022 | 00:35:06 | |
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:
Subscribe to The Delighted Customer Newsletter for practical tips and insights: https://www.empoweredcx.com/delightedcustomersnewsletter | |||
| #3: Engaging Employees for Outstanding Customer Experiences with Stacey Nevel, CCXP | 08 Sep 2022 | 00:49:09 | |
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 | |||
| #2: Design Thinking with Diane Magers, CCXP | 01 Sep 2022 | 00:34:54 | |
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:
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 | |||
| #1: From Impressed to Obsessed - Author Jon Picoult | 25 Aug 2022 | 00:47:44 | |
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 | |||
| #121 Achieving Value Realization with a CX Toolkit | 06 Feb 2025 | 00:35:19 | |
Brad Smith, CCXP, who brings his extensive experience from working with major companies like Symantec, Yahoo, and Sage. Mark and Brad delve into the future of customer experience (CX) management and explore a variety of valuable tools that can be applied to enhance CX. Brad shares actionable insights on hidden value, value realization versus value erosion, and introduces the concept of value mapping. He also discusses the importance of having a clear brand promise and how it plays a crucial role in delivering a cohesive customer experience. Key topics covered in this episode include:
Meet Brad Brad has had the privilege of leading organizations in their Currently, Brad is the President & Chairman of the Board of the Brad is also a Co-Founder and Tribal Advisor at TribeCX Ltd, an alumni He is a recognized thought leader in the Customer Experience and Brad is home based in Irvine CA and is the Founder/President of Vector You can learn more about Brad here: All things CX Considered Podcast with Bob Azman | |||
| Trailer | 18 Aug 2022 | 00:01:22 | |
The Delighted Customers Podcast is about trust. Hosted by Mark Slatin, the show helps CX leaders become trusted guides—earning executive confidence, influencing decisions, and leading change that sticks. Episodes focus on turning insight into credibility, building CX roadmaps leaders support, and navigating the realities of organizational influence for experienced CX professionals. | |||
| #121 Understanding Customer Value | 30 Jan 2025 | 00:42:13 | |
I'm thrilled to host Dr. Maxie Schmidt, a principal analyst at Forrester's Customer Experience Practice. Maxie is a global thought leader in CX measurement and value for customers, and she dives into the significance of customer value metrics. From how companies can effectively measure what their customers truly value, to the intricacies of trust and co-creation, Maxie offers unparalleled insights that are sure to challenge conventional thinking and provide actionable strategies for CX leaders. This conversation stands to be invaluable for anyone eager to foster stronger customer relationships and drive business success through customer-centric strategies. Why You Should Listen:
Tune in to this episode for a transformative conversation that promises to enhance your approach to customer experience and business growth. Forrester Articles on Value:
Meet Maxie! Maxie Schmidt VP, Principal Analyst Forrester Dr. Maxie Schmidt is a principal analyst in Forrester's customer experience (CX) practice. She leads Forrester's research on CX measurement and value for customer. In her role, she advises leaders on how to build effective CX measurement programs, make the case for CX, and cocreate value with customers. Maxie is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences and leads CX workshops at events. Previous Work Experience Before joining Forrester, Dr. Schmidt was a management consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners. She led global engagements with firms across industries to improve products and pricing and to design pricing processes and governance. Prior to that, Maxie was an assistant professor of services management at the School of Business in Ingolstadt, Germany. Education Maxie earned her doctorate and taught as the chair of service management at the School of Business in Ingolstadt, Germany. She was awarded an Emerald Literati Best Paper Award for research on the frustration that customers experience in loyalty programs. She also published a book on optimizing the quality of customer interactions in contact centers.
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| #120 Strategies for Integrating AI in CXM from a Marketing Legend | 23 Jan 2025 | 00:44:09 | |
When you think of combinations who comes to mind? 👉 Jobs and Wozniak? 👉 Proctor and Gamble? 👉 Hewlett and Packard? When it comes to customer experience and one-to-one marketing, hands down, it's Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. They are the individuals behind the Peppers and Rogers brand. Don has authored or co-authored eleven different business books, collectively selling more than a million copies in 18 languages. In 2022 Peppers and Rogers released the greatly revised and updated Fourth Edition of their graduate-level textbook and desk reference, Managing Customer Experience & Relationships (Wiley, 2022). I had the chance to pick Don's brain about the intersection of AI and customer experience management. It was a lesson in how to think about the value customers expect and the value companies desire. There were so many powerful insights including: 👉 Transforming Customer Interactions with AI: Don highlighted how AI, especially generative AI, can revolutionize real-time, individualized customer interactions by analyzing emotional sentiment and providing empathetic, immediate responses. 👉 Rethink Success Metrics: Don emphasized the importance of measuring success through customer-centric metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV) and proposed the innovative concept of 'Return on Customer (ROC)' as a more accurate gauge of business performance over traditional Return on Investment (ROI). 👉 Fostering Trust for Long-term Value: A significant part of his message was about building trust with customers. Don stressed that maximizing customer value inherently requires businesses to always act in their customers' best interest, nurturing trust and long-term relationships. Don's vision and experience provide a roadmap for leveraging AI in creating truly personalized customer experiences. For more pearls of wisdom from Don Peppers, tune into the full episode of the Delighted Customers Podcast! Meet Don Peppers During the course of his career, Don has authored or co-authored eleven different business books, collectively selling more than a million copies in 18 languages. His first book, The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time (Doubleday, 1993), coauthored with business partner Martha Rogers, kick-started the Customer Relationship Management discipline ("CRM"), which has evolved over the years into the "customer experience" field. This is near and dear to my heart because I've had the blessing to teach customer relationship management at Michigan State in the first CXM Masters Degree program in North America. So you'll have to understand, this is an extra special episode for me. To have the Tom Brady, the Wayne Gretzky, the Babe Ruth, and the Michael Jordan the GOAT on the show is a big deal. Finally, In 2013 Don and Martha were inducted into the Data & Marketing Association's Hall of Fame, along with their business colleague Seth Godin (Don wrote the foreword for Godin's 1998 breakthrough book Permission Marketing). In 2022 Peppers and Rogers released the greatly revised and updated Fourth Edition of their graduate-level textbook and desk reference, Managing Customer Experience & Relationships (Wiley, 2022). As an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Menlo College, Don teaches from this very textbook, and when time permits he Harvard Business Review articles:
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