Host Steve Walker welcome the CEO of Customer Think Corporation and the founder and editor-in-chief of CustomerThink.com Bob Thompson to discuss how he started in the customer experience industry and his thoughts on the future of the CX movement.
A resource for customer experience (CX) and experience management (XM) professionals. 
Full Episode Listing
A complete list of episodes from The CX Leader Podcast.
This episode features a more open-ended conversation on one of the host's favorite topics: the differences between B2B and B2C, but focusing on what it is like for a CX professional to transition from B2C to B2B, or vice-versa. Steve Walker welcomes guest Stuart Gilchriest, director of CX strategy at UKG, a technology company providing solutions for HR, payroll, and workforce management technology.
For almost a year now many companies have had to work remotely - changing the way in which their employees interact and some companies had an easier time absorbing that change than others. Knowing that the employee’s experience can have a direct effect on the customer experience, it’s important to explore all aspects of how CX can be improved. Host Steve Walker welcomes Shelly Langona, president of RJE Business Interiors, and Sam Julka, the president and founder of DORIS research, to discuss their recent study on workforce collaboration and productivity and how it can be affected by the workplace environment.
Several years ago, many companies made predictions on the state of the customer experience industry. Walker was no exception, having published a widely referenced report, “Customers 2020.” Now having reached that milestone year in CX, guest host Pat Gibbons and CX thought-leader and Walker’s vice president of strategy and analytics discuss what was covered in that report, highlighting predictions that came true, those that didn’t, and covering what was missed altogether.
In early March of 2023, thousands of experience management professionals from across the globe gathered in Salt Lake City to take part in the 2023 Qualtrics X4 Summit. Featuring keynote speakers like Martha Stewart, Malala Yousafzai, and Chip and Joanna Gaines, the X4 Summit succeeded in creating a memorable experience, while providing opportunities for XM professionals to connect. Host Steve Walker invites Lauri Jones, Sarah Walker, and Pat Gibbons back to the show to recap what they experienced at this year's X4 Summit.
In the second part of a two-part series on the basics of experience management, or "XM," Steve welcomes back Aimee Lucas from the Qualtrics XM Institute to discuss the six competencies CX leaders need to have to maximize their experience management efforts: lead, realize, activate, enlighten, respond, and disrupt.
Experience Management, or “XM”, is a newer term in the area of customer experience and CX professionals will certainly be hearing more about how XM will impact their programs. Steve welcomes Aimee Lucas from the Qualtrics XM Institute to provide an overview of experience management and how it impacts CX professionals’ efforts within their companies.
In the second of this 10-episode series, Steve welcomes back guest Melissa Meier, a certified customer experience professional and vice president of Walker Information, to discuss the importance of being knowledgeable in your field as a CX leader.
Data is flying everywhere and CX pros are always striving to gobble-up whatever insights they can get about their customers. It’s easy to look at an average support call time, or NPS scores to get an idea of how things are going. But what about the things that are more difficult to quantify? How do find a hard number for something like customer service? Host Steve Walker welcomes Nathan Bobay, director for Consumer Service at Delta Faucets, for a discussion on quantifying the value of service.
Providing the tools and resources for employee success seems like a "no-brainer," but companies often overlook the systems and processes that can create friction in the customer experience. And if the employees struggle to provide seamless experiences, then you can bet that customers are feeling their pain as well. In the fourth episode of our "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," host Steve Walker welcomes expert Georgetta Parisi, Ph.D., for a discussion on employee enablement.
Competitive retail electricity markets give consumers a choice of who will supply their electricity. Only 18 states in the U.S., including Washington D.C., have introduced these types of markets, giving consumers a choice in who generates their electricity. This, of course, has a significant impact on how a utility company approaches customer experience. Host Steve Walker welcomes guests Suzie Dieth and Scott Burns from Reliant Energy, an NRG company and electric utility headquartered in Houston, Texas, to discuss how customer experience works in a retail utility market.
In the fourth episode of the CX technology series, Steve discusses the perspective from the technology provider with Kirk Baetens who is a global partner manager for Qualtrics, a world-class provider in experience management software and Walker’s technology partner.
There are lots of different ways to measure what a customer thinks about your company. But customer emotions can be pretty tricky. How a customer feels can affect other metrics – someone who’s happy with their service will likely provide a high NPS rating. Someone who is angry or frustrated will likely choose “very unsatisfied” in a CSAT survey. So it’s important to understand the emotions of a customer as context for other metrics. But what about more complicated relationships, like a B2B2C channel? On this episode, host Steve Walker welcomes Nancy Flowers, director of customer experience at Voya Financial* and featured in Jim Tincher's newest book, "Do B2B Better". Nancy discusses why CX pros needs to remember that emotions are important for B2C and B2B channels.
The importance of the employee engagement has been featured on this podcast throughout several episodes. And while there is a strong connection between engaged employees and engaged customers, the two programs are typically separate. Employee experience is run by HR, customer experience is run by CX pros, and the two typically don’t interact much. However, that seems to be changing and experience management leaders are seeing applications for the two to come together. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcome back Troy Powell for a discussion about Walker's new report, "Effectively Combining CX and EX."
It's important to quickly identify and remedy pain points in your customer's journey - removing friction in the experience and making the necessary changes to provide easier ways for the customer to engage with your organization. On the first episode of the new year, host Steve Walker welcomes guests Mallory Elias-Cvengros is a senior customer experience analyst, and Serena Riley is the Director of Customer Experience, both at Llamasoft, a Coupa software company specializing in decision-making platforms for supply chains, and they discuss how they redesigned how their customers interact through online services to make the experience easier.
It's safe to say that most people are feeling the effects of today’s economy. Dealing with financial issues can create a great deal of stress. Families are penny-pinching and, in many cases, grappling with ways to help ease the burden. And many financial companies don’t make that process easy. But there are ways in which companies can make that experience better and promote what our guest refers to as “financial health.” Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes Rochelle Gorey, co-founder and CEO of SpringFour, a Certified B social impact fintech company, for a discussion on ways to make it easier for people achieve financial health.
Many companies use them: personality tests or evaluations - ways to help employees discover more about how they and their colleagues work with others. Some might roll their eyes at the mention of them yet others find them very useful in trying to connect to other people in their company. Regardless of how you feel about them, the goal is ultimately a better-working team. And employees working well together means there’s better potential for excellent customer experiences. Host Steve Walker welcome Dan Silvert, partner and president of the Velocity Advisory Group, a strategic consulting company.
Just like any other business process, customer experience programs need occasional review and scrutiny to ensure it delivers the best possible experience. This is true even if your program seems to be running smoothly. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes Luis Angel-Lalanne from American Express to discuss the process in which they transformed how customer sentiment was gathered to help improve their CX.
For a discussion on how to move a not-for-profit organization from making decisions based on gut instinct to utilizing customer feedback, Steve welcomes Andrea Krohnberg, senior director of customer experience at the YMCA Twin Cities in Minneapolis. They discuss how she led the effort to make customer insights and data a key decision-making driver in the organization and how it improved their CX efforts.
Don’t Forget the Customer in Your Customer Journey Map
More detailsEpisode #79
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Creating a meaningful journey map can be a lengthy and expensive process and it's tempting to cut corners. Steve's guest Jim Tincher, founder and mapper-in-chief of Heart of the Customer and co-author of "How Hard is it to Be Your Customer", explains why hastily created journey maps can give you a false picture of your customers.