A resource for customer experience (CX) and experience management (XM) professionals.
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Full Episode Listing

A complete list of episodes from The CX Leader Podcast.

Don’t Ruin Their Day

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Episode #186

Released: October 5, 2021

“Do NOT ruin your customer’s day” sounds like something that belongs at the top of any list of rules for CX professionals. We’ve all had those moments where an employee with a bad attitude ruined your mood, or you’re left waiting on hold for over an hour and steamed about the experience for the rest of the day. But there are ways where you can help prevent “ruined days” for your customers. Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Jeannie Walters, a CX consultant, speaker, podcaster, and CEO and Chief Customer Experience Investigator for Experience Investigators, for a discussion on why it's important to not ruin your customer's day.

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Don’t Lose the Humanity

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Episode #175

Released: July 20, 2021

Many are exhausted over the pandemic and discussing how it “changed everything,” but it would be a disservice to not recognize its effects on the CX profession. But there are some valuable take-aways in what we’ve learned about the experience management world during the pandemic. Host Steve Walker welcomes Jeanne Bliss, a c-suite coach and global thought leader for CX, the Founder and CEO of Customer Bliss, a co-founder of the CXPA, and host of the podcast The Human Duct Tape Show, to discuss CX trends as world emerges from the pandemic.

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Don’t let your brand make false promises

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Episode #28

Released: July 17, 2018

Does your brand make a promise to your customers? Then you need to make certain your CX program can deliver on that promise! Steve welcomes back Jennifer Batley, a vice president and certified customer experience professional at Walker, for a discussion on how to make certain your brand aligns with your customer experience.

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Don’t drive past your customers!

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Episode #26

Released: July 3, 2018

Companies are always looking to save time and money by taking shortcuts, but don't be tempted to detour around your customers' feedback or you might find your journey map is not accurate to your customer experience. Steve discusses how to avoid this detour with Krista Roseberry, a vice president at Walker, and Tracy DeCarlo, director of performance management, client and member services at ELAP Services.

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Do Your Homework

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Episode #87

Released: October 8, 2019

Companies often hire implementation specialists to help get their customer listening technology up and running, but don’t do the necessary preparation required to make the process happen smoothly. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcome Walker technology consultants Liz Wallshield and Charlie Rumsey to talk about some of the step companies should take to make the implementation process happen smoothly and on schedule.

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Do Me a Favor

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Episode #8

Released: February 27, 2018

Steve welcomes guest Sonya McAllister to discuss how CX leaders need to be influential - persuading other people and teams to engage and join in efforts to create a customer experience that provides a competitive advantage.

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Discovering the “Why”

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Episode #134

Released: September 22, 2020

Educational institutions are beholden to a different type of customer: students. Discovering how students experience the education and services they receive from one of the largest community colleges in the nation requires a substantial experience program. Host Steve Walker welcomes guests Matt Ashcraft and Meredith Warner from Maricopa Community Colleges to discuss experience management within an educational institution and the differences between higher education and for-profit organizations.

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Designing for People

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Episode #141

Released: November 10, 2020

Customer experience is about people: your customers or clients, your employees and colleagues, your business partners – people make the experience. So, it goes without saying that designing any experience should include the perspective of those involved, and human-centered design can help inform that process. Host Steve Walker welcomes Seth Fritz, the manager of the Design Futures team at the Delta Faucets Company, for a discussion on human-centered design.

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Designing for Beautiful

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Episode #207

Released: March 8, 2022

Just as a car requires regular maintenance, customer experience programs need regular evaluation, leading to small "tune ups" - or complete overhauls - so they deliver the best possible results for your company. For a company that produces live events, the pandemic presented lots of challenges that required their CX program to adapt. Host Steve Walker welcomes Christine Beishline from Freeman to discuss how they “design for beautiful,” always keeping the end results in mind when evaluating the effectiveness of the customer experience and making changes to deliver the best possible results for the company.

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Design Thinking for CX

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Episode #179

Released: August 17, 2021

A key element to building any customer experience program is understanding your customers and creating empathy. And there are tools to help with that: surveys, interviews, journey mapping sessions. But what about the process beyond all the discovery that happens? What do you DO with all that “understanding?” Host Steve Walker welcomes Emily Stump of Indiana University Health for a look at how design thinking can be a valuable tool for CX professionals.

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Dashboards everywhere!

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Episode #127

Released: July 28, 2020

The concept of dashboards is probably nothing new to customer experience pros. We use them to help communicate data like NPS and Loyalty. But is your dashboard up to snuff? Is it showing you the data you really need and is it organized in a way that your employees or colleagues can glean from it the right information? Host Steve Walker welcomes data reporting expert Katie Hatch from Walker to discuss some key best practices in making certain your dashboards communicate the data you need.

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CX Through Partner Channels

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Episode #211

Released: April 5, 2022

Many companies rely on partners to deliver the best results for their customers – we here at Walker enjoy the benefits of being a member of the Qualtrics Partner Network. But any CX pro will know that it may not be particularly easy to manage the experience when it’s in another organization’s hands, and it’s natural to want to ensure that any experience your customers have with you or your partner reflects your brand promise. So how do you manage the experience beyond your own walls? Host Steve Walker welcomes Andrew Carothers, senior manager of digital experience at Cisco, for a discussion on delivering exceptional experience to and through your partner channels.

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CX in Healthcare

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Episode #154

Released: February 23, 2021

Arguably, healthcare is a unique industry in which lives literally are on the line. So how do healthcare companies and providers plan and execute customer – or in this case, “patient” – experience? Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Patty Riskind, head of global healthcare at Qualtrics, an experience management company, to discuss the importance of gathering feedback to help both the patients and the front-line of the healthcare workforce.

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CX Horror Stories V: The CX Apocalypse

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Episode #240

Released: October 31, 2022

What would the world look like if customer experience simply... disappeared? How would anyone receive support? How would companies know what products work? How would you be able to hire someone to fix your dishwasher? In this special episode of The CX Leader Podcast, producer Chris Higgins assembles a panel of experts from Walker to perform a terrifying thought experiment worthy of an episode of The Twilight Zone: imagine a world without customer experience. Panelists include Walker experts Brett DeWitt, TJ O'Neil, Liz Wallshield, and Job Willman.

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CX Horror Stories IV

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Episode #189

Released: October 26, 2021

Co-hosts Steve Walker and Pat Gibbons take listeners on a frightful journey of terrible customer experiences with plumbing, restaurants, baby supply stores, hospitals, and even vampires in blood banks! Guests include Jeannie Walters, Christine Trippi, Mike Grindstaff, and Drew Hall. Listen, if you dare!

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CX Horror Stories III

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Episode #139

Released: October 27, 2020

It's another edition of The CX Leader Podcast's annual CX Horror Stories! Hosts Steve Walker and Pat Gibbons endure frightening tales of bad hotel service, poor rental management, ghoulish social media responses, and spine-chilling encounters with government agencies. Guests include Sandra Mathis (HCL Technologies), Brandi Dale (Walker), Johnathan Ruchman (Brookdale Senior Living) and Amy Brown (Authenticx).

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CX Horror Stories II

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Episode #90

Released: October 29, 2019

Hosts Steve Walker and Pat Gibbons present another frightful episode of CX Horror Stories - tales of customer experience gone bad. This year's scary offerings include healthcare, travel, and automotive repair.

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CX Horror Stories

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Episode #42

Released: October 31, 2018

It's a spooky edition of the CX Leader Podcast as Steve welcomes back Pat Gibbons, SVP and principal of Walker Information, to listen to scary stories of customer experience failures and discuss how they could have been avoided.

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CX for the People

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Episode #162

Released: April 20, 2021

In the United States, people typically don't think of themselves as “customers” to the government. However, governing bodies from the local, state, and federal levels have been embracing customer experience as a way to connect to the community, and commercial businesses can learn from their efforts. Host Steve Walker welcomes Qualtrics experts Chelsie Bright, global head of government, and Sydney Heimbrock, chief industry advisor for government, for a discussion on understanding how CX works in government at all levels.

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CX For Start-ups, Part 2

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Episode #214

Released: April 26, 2022

In Part 1 of "CX for Start-ups" guest Jen Batley discussed why it’s so important for new companies to really be in-tune with their customers. Knowing their needs while providing a product or service that disrupts the field is critical for start-ups. But what if you’ve been around for a while and are looking to scale-up? Are you providing what you promised to your customers? How are you listening to your customers while you grow your company? Host Steve Walker welcomes back Jen Batley of Batley Advisory to discuss companies looking to scale-up their business.

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