A complete list of episodes from The CX Leader Podcast.
How does the customer experience practice work with other disciplines? In the inaugural episode of a new series, Steve explores the intersection of CX and UX (user experience) with guests Mike Miserendino and Suzi Shapiro from GravityDrive, a user experience consulting services company in Indianapolis.
Episode #256
Released:
Healthcare in the United States is a complex, and often a divisive subject. With some healthcare companies focused on the bottom line, family practitioners can get overwhelmed and have little time to develop relationships with their patients. So when a company comes along and says that there IS a way for doctors to spend better time and provide better care – in other words, putting the humanity back into the experience – then it’s definitely worth exploring! Host Steve Walker welcomes Jamey Lutz, managing director of brand and service excellent at ChenMed, for a discussion on how their company puts the humanity back into patient experience.
Many businesses today use a customer relationship management platform, or “CRM” to help organize how they interact with their customers and prospects. But how customer-centric are these platforms, and do they truly help put the customer at the heart of your business? Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Jake Sorofman, president of MetaCX, to discuss how his company plans to put the “customer” back into “CRM.”
It's easy for companies to look at data and make assumptions about their customers’ needs, but truly placing the customer central to your business means considering them in all business decisions. Host Steve Walker welcomes back to the podcast the founder and CEO of CX Journey Annette Franz to discuss her new book "Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the 'Customer' in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business).”
In 1989, Evered and Selman put forward the idea that looking at managers as “coaches” creates a better culture for employees. They say, “coaching focuses on discovering actions that enable and empower people to contribute more fully, productively, and with less alienation than the control model entails.” We take the same view here at Walker, where our team leads take the role of coaches to develop CX teams. A lot of those skills translate to leading a CX team in a company – or guiding a whole organization to get onboard with CX initiatives. Host Pat Gibbons welcome Walker expert "Coach Drew" Hall for a discussion on the value of CX coaching.
How do you gain the support for customer experience from stakeholders? By proving the value of customer experience. Host Steve Walker welcomes Bob Thompson, CEO of Customer Think, , a global online community of business leaders. They discuss the findings in their recent report on “Best Practices to Prove the Business Value of Customer Experience” which highlights how CX professionals can, “show that improving experience will deliver value to the customer and the business.”
It goes without saying that designing any kind of product is no easy task. And in the case of software, balancing the engineering needs versus customer expectations can be daunting. Simple things like moving a button from the place it’s been for several versions can cause confusion and frustration. So it’s important to understand customers’ needs and communicate those needs to product designers. Host Sara Walker welcomes Naina Tahnilramani, a senior customer experience manager at Intuit and winner of the 2023 CXPA Emerging Leaders Award, for a discussion on the customer experience when launching new or updated products.
The data companies collect can be valuable in providing insights into the past and current behaviors of customers. But that data can also be useful in predicting trends and behaviors in the future. Continuing the series "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," host Steve Walker welcomes Dr. Troy Powell for a discussion on how companies can use their customer data to perform predictive analysis using A.I., natural language processing, and other tools to anticipate customer needs and actions.
When it comes to your health or the health of a loved-one, it gets personal. That’s why it’s so important for healthcare providers to pay attention to the patient experience (PX). It can be different from customer experience, but there are similarities, and just like B2C experiences are influencing how B2B companies design and execute their programs, there are some things that patient experience pros can learn from the CX world. Host Steve Walker welcomes Kim Gerber, a patient experience professional, for a discussion on better understanding the difference and similarities between PX and CX.
With supply chain shortages throughout the globe CX pros are reminded how operational logistics can affect the customer experience. All companies have some sort of operational processes – shipping, legal work, graphics design, as a few examples - so it’s important to consider how the efficiency of your operations impacts the customer experience. Host Steve Walker welcomes Dr. John Olson, professor of operations and supply chain management and program director of the masters of business analytics at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for a discussion on why CX leaders should drive the move towards operational excellence.
The famous quantum theory thought experiment called "Schrodinger’s Cat" imagines a cat is placed in a box with a vial of poison. Schrodinger suggests that until you open the box and observe the fate of the poor animal, it is simultaneously alive and dead – its fate isn’t determined until you’ve observed its condition. Leaders in a company can sometimes feel that way about the benefits of customer experience, and the fault really doesn’t lie with them – as a CX pro, you need to open the box and prove the value to your organization. Host Troy Powell welcomes Topher Mitchell, manager of the value advisory group at Qualtrics, for a discussion on the importance of customer experience professionals proving the value of CX.
Customers today have so many touchpoints available to them when interacting with companies: websites, social media, text messaging, call centers… it can be dizzying just thinking about it. However, all that complexity can still come together to create a seamless customer experience and understanding how an omnichannel CX strategy can work for your organization. Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Gabe Larsen, VP for Growth at Kustomer and host of the Customer Service Secrets Podcast.
When we talk about “experiences” it’s often from a holistic point of view – through the lens of “experience management”, or “XM.” But how do you connect the customer with the employees, or the employees with the brand? One way is through the use of storytelling, which can be particularly effective in building empathy and understanding. Host Steve Walker welcomes Bruce Temkin, head of the XM Institute, for a discussion on how storytelling can build customer empathy and lead to better customer experience.
CX professional Krista Roseberry joins Steve to discuss what she learned from binge-watching the Olympics: leaders need to be focused.
In their latest report, "Next-Level CX for B2B Companies," Walker teamed up with the Qualtrics XM Institute to assess the current state of B2B CX. Host Steve Walker welcomes back guest Dr. Troy Powell to discuss the report, highlighting findings of low CX maturity in B2B companies, and how CX leaders can align CX programs and design truly exceptional customer experiences.
Host Steve Walker welcomes back guest Dereck Mobley, associate vice president at Walker, to share some stores of companies that were proactive and innovative in their approach to customer experience as a response to the pandemic.
Finding time and methods to communicate CX efforts across a company with 900+ employees can be challenging. Steve welcomes guest Mark Slatin to discuss how Sandy Spring Bank synchronizes all their CX efforts through an innovative educational program that includes cross-functional activities.
It’s important for those leading a company’s CX efforts to make certain the customer experience delivered by your front-line employees matches the customer’s expectations. And that means your employees need to understand your brand and the expectations it promises. Host Steve Walker welcomes Chris Wallace, co-founder and president of the InnerView Group, for a discussion on how to ensure your front-line employees deliver the experience promised by your brand.
Between website feedback, social media posts, product reviews, and every other way customers can provide insights, a staggering amount of data is generated everyday. If you’re a customer experience professional trying to make sense of everything your customers are saying about your company, you need a tool to help quantify all that information. That’s where text analytics can help. Host Steve Walker welcomes Matt Braun and Job Willman, both associates at Walker, to provide helpful guidance on using text analytics to quantify your data.
Steve and guest Melissa Meier, a certified customer experience professional and vice president at Walker Information, continue the discussion of the recently published report "Customers 2020: A Progress Report" by describing about how companies can make it easy for their customers to do business.