The CX Leader Podcast | A resource for customer experience leaders

Companies around the world are having to adjust their operations in response to COVID-19, and customer experience leaders are finding that you cannot continue in a "business as usual" mentality. CX programs need to adapt along with the overall business. While their toolbox might be fairly well-stocked, these unprecedented times are leaving some CX pro's and executives frustrated on next steps, won...

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 p...

CX leaders are often tasked with managing change throughout the company in order to create an exceptional customer experience, and building relationships is key to helping manage that change. But when life is disrupted on a global scale, it's critical that everyone in the company trusts each other to make certain the customer's experience is not sidelined. Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Stuart G...

Companies are often hesitant to actively seek feedback during crisis situations and that can affect your customer listen programs. But there are ways in which employees can be a source of customer insights. Host Steve Walker welcomes back Dr. Troy Powell, vice president of strategy as Walker, to discuss how a voice of the customer through the employee program, or "VOCE," can continue to provide a...

Businesses and organizations are facing a new operational reality that affects customers and employees, and as a CX professional, you and your company need to be prepared to effectively manage crisis situations. Host Steve Walker welcomes Jennifer Dzwonar, a partner at Borshoff, a PR agency known for their work in crisis and community relations, and discuss how CX professionals can help communicat...

"Social distancing" has become the term saturating the news and social media. Experts all agree that the best way to fight the spread of the coronavirus is to keep distance from others, when possible, and practice some basic hygiene, like washing our hands. That makes things a bit difficult for CX professionals who are used to leading exercises like journey mapping and other workshops that require...

The ability for computers to adapt and respond to real-time data provides value to companies needing to streamline business processes. And CX pros have not ignored the potential for this technology to provide better experiences for their customers. Host Steve Walker welcomes guests Sarah Simon, a CX Design Partner for Verizon Business, and Erin Van Remortel, a strategic account executive with Astu...

What is the role of customer experience during a crisis? Host Steve Walker and guests Jonathan Ruchman, CCXP, and Senior Director of Customer Experience at Brookdale Senior Living, and Michelle Morris, CCXP, a Customer Experience Design Partner at Verizon and member of the board of directors for the Customer Experience Professionals Association, discuss the important role customer experience profe...

Online communities are now part of daily in life for many consumers and businesses. Most community interaction happens within larger social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But some companies are finding the value of having their own online community that focuses customer interaction and experience to their product or services, allowing for the customization of a user's exp...

In the second of a two-part series on the value of customers, host Steve Walker discusses with Rob Markey, a partner at Bain and Company and recently published author in the Harvard Business Review, how companies often overlook the compounding value of customers and instead get distracted by looking too much at the present and not planning for the future.

Your customers are why you're in business but are they loyal customers? How do you measure that customer's loyalty and why do companies so often undervalue their customers? Host Steve Walker welcomes guest Rob Markey, an author, speaker, podcaster, and partner at Bain and Company. They discuss Rob's work on helping develop the Net Promoter Score and how it helped simplify the close-the-loop proces...

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...

Customer experience professionals sometimes hit that wall of having to handle a high volume of tasks and customer interactions but there isn't the peoplepower or resources to keep up. Strategically add a little automation to your processes and you could have a powerful CX tool that allows the customer to personalize their experience and relieve strained resources. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcome Ej...

Customer experience professionals have an abundance of technological choices when it comes to gathering customer feedback, providing vast amounts of data to use in guiding their CX efforts. But sometimes the "low tech" solution is the best option. Steve welcomes guest Jen Pardi Cusick, senior customer experience strategist at Gogo Business Aviation, to discuss how employees across their company pa...

Every company has their own unique set of challenges when it comes to providing an exceptional customer experience, and financial services companies are no exception. Regulatory pressures, compliance, and risk management review are just some of the obstacles CX pros in this industry must maneuver, but according to this episode's guest, that's not an excuse to provide anything less than a stellar "...

On the 100th episode of The CX Leader Podcast, host Steve Walker interviews his friend and mentor Dwaine Canova, CEO of Zynity, a company that provides online tools for organizational Leaders. Dwaine discusses his new book, "Elite Executive Teams," and how executive leadership should be the driving force in making customer experience a priority in your company.

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 comp...

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 (an...

As 2019 comes to an end, Steve welcomes Walker colleagues Sonya McAllister, Brad Harmon, and Troy Powell back to the podcast for a discussion on what they felt was significant for CX in 2019 and predictions on trends in customer experience into 2020.

Steve welcomes back Aimee Lucas form the Qualtrics XM Institute to discuss the six competencies CX leaders need to have to maximize their experience management efforts.

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.

It's Thanksgiving here in the United States and we've dedicated an episode to sharing some short stories of customer experiences that made a positive difference in people's lives. Producer Chris Higgins hosts an episode with stories that include industries such as retail, automotive, restaurants, government agencies, and hospitality. 

Like any other profession, CX professionals need to stay up-to-date on best practices, find new ideas for programs, and learn how customer experience works in other companies. Many resources exist to help - including this podcast - but sometimes you need to meet with like-minded professionals face-to-face. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes guests Branden Schossler and Gary Batroff to discuss how the...

Immersive experiences can be a powerful tool to demonstrate the customer experience, but for patients at a hospital, it can be impactful - and emotional - for the leadership of an organization. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes guest Karen Cernock from Indiana University Health to discuss how an immersive experience for their board developed into a program throughout the organization.

Guest host Pat Gibbons interviews author Ali Cudby about her new book "Keep Your Customers," which discuss how companies can create loyal customers and slow customer turnover.