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.

Thank You for Your Service

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Episode #219

Released: May 31, 2022

One of the best institutions to learn leadership skills is the military. Veterans often become some of the best business leaders in their fields. So how does military life translate into becoming an effective customer experience leader? Host Steve Walker welcomes Michelle Buretta, a vice president and CX strategic advisor at Walker, for a discussion on how her service in the Army prepared her to be a customer experience leader.

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Taking the Mystery out of Mystery Shopping

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Episode #166

Released: May 18, 2021

Mystery shopping: it’s that common practice where companies hire professional “shoppers” to evaluate and report on how your customers experience your business and gain valuable perspective on the customer’s journey. But, like many things today, the pandemic has shifted how customer experience pros approach their practice. Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Michael Mills, global vice president of sales for HS Brands International, to discuss why CX pros should consider broadening their toolbox with this practice.

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Storytime

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Episode #142

Released: November 17, 2020

There are so many ways in which a companies' or individuals' efforts to provide an exceptional and memorable customer experience. It's easy to remember the bad experiences but important we share the good one's as well. In this episode, host Steve Walker welcomes back Shep Hyken, a customer service and experience expert, Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations, a best-selling author, to share stories of exceptional customer experiences.

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Stop, Start, or Change

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Episode #176

Released: July 27, 2021

It’s been said a countless number of times on this show: customer experience has never been more important for companies today. The pandemic has changed not only how businesses operate, but how consumers are make purchasing decisions. This has provided CX programs an opportunity to make a huge impact on how companies navigate their way through new territory as we start to see the world emerge from the pandemic. Host Steve Walker welcomes back Jay Baer of Convince and Convert to discuss how CX has - or can - make an impact.

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Steer clear of the process map

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Episode #25

Released: June 26, 2018

Journey mapping is a powerful tool in the CX leader's arsenal, but there are some "detours" you should avoid. In the first of a three-part series, Steve discusses how to avoid the process map detour with guests Melissa Meier from Walker, and Sheila March from Ascension Ministry Service Center.

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Starting from Scratch

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Episode #77

Released: July 19, 2019

It might sound like more work but sometimes building a CX program from the ground up has its advantages. Steve welcomes guest Roberta O'Keith of Murphy-Hoffman Company, a full-service truck dealership, to discuss how she started customer experience programs in companies that had no such efforts in place.

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Start Your Engines!

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Episode #236

Released: October 4, 2022

In a special CX Day Celebration episode and playing of this year's theme "CX Drives Success," host Steve Walker welcomes experts Sean Clayton, Sheila March, and Jack Walker for a fun panel discussion on how racing shares similar traits with customer experience. CX Day is held every first Tuesday in October by the Customer Experience Professionals Association as a global celebration of the customer experience profession.

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SPRINTing to a solution

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Episode #30

Released: July 31, 2018

"Death by meeting” is a popular term, and it’s not uncommon to see businesses attempt to conceive and launch new solutions or products over a period of weeks - or months! But in the customer experience realm, speed is critical. Steve welcomes consultant Jack Walker to explain how the SPRINT process used in software companies can take the time needed to develop new CX programs from months down to days.

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Spinning-off without getting dizzy

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Episode #99

Released: January 14, 2020

Corporate changes such as spinning off a part of a company or rebranding can have dramatic effects on customer experience, so tooling your CX program for the disruption is critical. Pat Gibbons guests hosts with guests Rafael Chavez and Kory Weisman from Clarios, formerly known as Johnson Controls Power Solutions, to discuss how they navigated their CX programs during big changes within their company.

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In this special encore presentation, Steve Walker hosts the Live with CXPA event "Key Ingredients for Making an Impact with CX." As the ultimate advocate for customers, customer experience professionals are supposed to be catalysts for change and influential in building a customer-focused culture. However, it’s easy to get caught up in the details of managing a CX program and question if all this effort is really making a difference. In this session, join guest host Steve Walker and special guests Ian Golding, CCXP, Greg Melia, CAE, and Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP, as they discuss how to rise above surveys, dashboards, training, and other program components to really make a difference for your organization.

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Steve Walker hosts another Live with CXPA event with guests Mark Slatin, senior vice president and director of CX at Sandy Springs Bank, and Ann Schrader, CX strategist at Farm Credit Service of America, for a discussion on ways for CX leaders to improve their CX program’s visibility and build a reputation as a valuable part of their company’s strategy.

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Customer experience and employee experience are typically separate programs run by different departments. However, what if they were more in sync? Join guest host Steve Walker of the CX Leader Podcast along with a guest panelists Troy Powell, Jennefer Pursifull, and Ryan Willis for advice and examples that show how CX and EX can be integrated - all in service of creating more engaged employees and loyal customers.

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Soaring Above the Crisis

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Episode #232

Released: September 6, 2022

COVID required many companies – including Walker – to rethink how they do business. Come companies adapted well, others did not. But some unique challenges crop up when your business is highly regulated, like the aviation industry. Regardless of the pandemic, pilots still need to be trained, certified, and recertified, and if the training of pilots is the core services of your business, then some innovative thinking needed to happen in order to continue the important work of keeping people flying. Host Steve Walker welcomes Kara Gardner, global customer experience manager for CAE a manufacturer of simulation and modelling technologies.

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So you have a journey map… what now?

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Episode #27

Released: July 10, 2018

Customer journey maps are an excellent resource for companies to refine their CX initiatives, but companies often leave them on the shelf to collect dust. In the third of our series on avoiding the detours that can prevent your journey maps from going the distance, Steve welcomes back CX expert Allison Grayson, a vice president at Walker, to discuss how companies can activate their journey map, taking full advantage of their value.

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Smoothing Out Rough Holiday Experiences

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Episode #193

Released: November 23, 2021

It’s an unfortunate result of the pandemic that most people have experienced: supply shortages. Everything from breakfast cereal to new cars, jewelry, the newest name-brand mobile phone, and even turkeys. And it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for front-line retail workers as they receive the brunt of consumer anger over things they clearly have no control. But there are tools that can help both customer and employee smooth out these rough times. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes Seb Reeve from Nuance Communications for a discussion on A.I. and how the digital experience can help smooth out a rough holiday shopping season.

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Small Data Leads to Big Change

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Episode #114

Released: April 28, 2020

CX leaders today are having to make critical decisions on whether they should bother customers for feedback or find other ways to gather insights. Luckily there are tools in our CX toolbox that can help CX pros collect feedback, and unstructured voice of the customer is one of those tools. Host Steve Walker welcomes Cary Cusumano, a certified customer experience professional and principal client partner in customer experience design for Verizon to discuss ways to reconstruct the customer journey without using surveys or other potentially intrusive practices.

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Setting Your Priorities

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Episode #271

Released: June 13, 2023

Starting a CX program in any organization can be difficult. And one of the more challenging aspects of spinning up a new program is getting your company – especially leadership – to make it a priority. And to make things even more complicated: what areas of customer experience do you prioritize? Do you start with surveys? Closed loop feedback? Journey mapping? Host Steve Walker welcomes Adam Shapourian, associate vice president of experience at United Educators, for a discussion on how to determine your customer experience priorities.

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Setting Employees Up for Success

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Episode #255

Released: February 21, 2023

Customer experience is a wonderful blend of listening and understanding our customers, while creating the right actions to deliver amazing experiences. But putting all those pieces together is a tall task. How do we set up the right processes to ensure the right information is delivered to right employees, resulting in great experiences for our customers? Host Steve Walker welcomes Jill Helmle, the senior manager for customer experience strategy at ServiceNow, for a discussion on how to equip employees for success.

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