The Trusted Guide Podcast with Mark Slatin

I first met Tom DeVries when he was giving a keynote at the 2024 CXM 360 Conference at Michigan State University. Tom took an unorthodox approach to the keynote by not talking for the first 5 minutes. What? Yup! He used non-verbals, videos, and audio cues to engage the audience. Tom has built a successful design firm and has shifted his focus in the last 12 years to include customer experience. He...

One of the most challenging jobs is to change a culture that achieved success with legacy thinking. It all starts with trust, especially if you are a CX leader. Stuart Gilchriest is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) who has worked in CX for 10+ years across multiple industries . After starting his career in the hospitality industry in his native England, he transitioned into Cust...

This week on The Delighted Customers Podcast, I'm thrilled to welcome Jeff Dickshinski, a Senior Product Designer and Design Lead at Microsoft. With a career spanning digital product development, creative management, and UX design for public-sector and Fortune 100 companies, Jeff brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. At Microsoft, he leads the creation of mission-critical products for U.S. go...

Tanya Thomas is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and VP of Client Experience Management and UX Design at Experian Health. She's brings years of experience in the CX world at one of the largest organizations in the world, Experian. Known as one of the big three credit bureaus, Experian Health is a major player in the healthcare market. In this episode Tanya shares some great gems...

Michael shares his impressive career journey that spans over 20 years in customer-facing roles, from the banking sector to an energy startup, and his impactful time as the SVP of Customer Experience at Figs, a notable direct-to-consumer e-commerce company specializing in medical apparel. Michael shares the impressive story behind Figs—a company founded by two women who revolutionized the medical a...

Meet Alek Alek Catlett is a manager in EY's AI & Data consulting practice, where he has worked for the past 4 years. Alek helps his clients solve complex problems where the customer and data meet. Prior to EY, Alek spent 6 years at Tailored Brands, parent company to Men's Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, and Moores. Alek is also a graduate of the first Masters of Science in Customer Experience Management...

Tom Shimko, a seasoned expert in customer experience (CX) and marketing, to discuss the ROI of CX. Tom highlights the necessity of treating CX as a strategic imperative rather than a mere nicety. He unpacks the IDIC framework by Peppers and Rogers, emphasizing identification, differentiation, interaction, and customization as key steps. Tom shares insightful case studies, including work with 1800...

On the latest episode of  The Delighted Customers Podcast , Roxie Strohmenger, CCXP, an acclaimed CX strategist and Board Chair-Elect of CXPA, shares valuable insights on the power of data in customer experience. Roxie has shaped industry standards, from co-defining Forrester's CX Index to leading award-winning CX initiatives at UKG, and is now a principal strategist at Heart of the Customer. In t...

Seth is a legendary thinker and marketer known for challenging conventional wisdom. In this episode, he dives into his latest book, This is Strategy , offering fresh perspectives on how to craft and execute a powerful strategy in today's fast-changing world. Beyond just strategy, Seth explores the crucial connection between strategy and customer experience (CX), helping listeners understand why al...

Raj Sivasubramanian has served as a CX leader in great brands like AirBnB, eBay, Verint, and Bain and now leads the journey management practice at QuestionPro. He's a Professor of Practice at Michigan State University in the CXM Masters of Science Degree program. He's worked with some of the most successful brands and joined us to share insights about how great companies differentiate on customer...

Customer Experience Management takes on an entirely different context when you or a loved one gets a cancer diagnosis. As you'll hear from my guest on this episode, the healthcare system is broken in many ways. UNC is starting with a better way to listen. Loretta Muss, coordinator of the Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) at the North Carolina Basnight Cancer Hospital, recently retired aft...

Cyndi Lyon is the VP of Customer Experience and Strategy at Otava. She's a Certified Customer Experience Professional and earned her Master of Science in Customer Experience Management from Michigan State University. In this episode, she broke down some of the key barriers that get in the way of building a successful customer experience management practice and offered some actionable ways to overc...

One of the major problems that data visualization solves is the need for quick and clear communication of complex insights, particularly to time-constrained executives.  It's about storytelling with data…but how? With her extensive expertise in data analytics and digital transformation, Katie Manty, a professor at Michigan State University's Customer Experience Management Master's program and a le...

A 34-year-old man fighting for his life in the intensive care unit is on an artificial respirator for over a month. Could it be that his chance of getting off the respirator is not how much his nurses know, but rather how much they care? A 75-year-old woman is heroically saved by a major trauma center, only to be discharged and fatally struck by a car while walking home from the hospital. Could a...

Karl Sharicz is back with his follow-up to CX-PRO , featuring advanced insights from a global lineup of 16 CX thought leaders. (Yes, I'm thrilled to be one of them!) This book highlights the power of collaboration in the CX community, bringing together practitioners, consultants, and educators. It emphasizes human-centered design, a commitment to quality, and the lasting impact of genuine human co...

Jon Picoult, bestselling author and CX thought leader was my first guest in 2022 when The Delighted Customers Podcast launched. He was gracious enough to come back for episode 100 to talk about his His landmark study on the ROI of customer experience is one of the most widely cited pieces of research in the industry. Jon sheds light on the groundbreaking CX ROI study he initiated, which highlights...

In the episode, Guy Shalom, the CEO of Glassix, shared the personal story behind the company's inception. Glassix began as a solution to a personal challenge: both of his parents have the same disability, which made effective communication challenging.  This experience inspired Guy to develop a solution that could improve communication not only for his parents but also for customers facing similar...

Trust in CX: Lessons from the Executive Assistant to Ronald Reagan In the latest episode of the Delighted Customers podcast, Peggy Grande shares her fascinating journey from a regular middle-class family to becoming the executive assistant to President Ronald Reagan. From her unlikely selection to be the executive assistant for Ronald Reagan to her touching farewell to the 40th President of the Un...

Ken Peterson is the President of QuestionPro's Customer Experience Division and joined me for an enlightening conversation about the intersection of AI and CX. QuestionPro's Voice of the Customer platform already incorporates AI in its range of products from basic surveys to complex research, customer experience and employee engagement. GenAI promises to change customer experience but what are the...

Imagine that you've been asked to lead a credit union in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. With a rich background in financial and nonprofit marketing, Kristen Heisey has been steering Everence Federal Credit Union towards new heights for the past two years. Under her leadership, the credit union has not only navigated through post-COVID challenges but has also embraced a vision of sustainabilit...

Imagine walking into a clinic feeling anxious about a possible cancer diagnosis and leaving with all your concerns addressed, feeling genuinely cared for and understood.  Unfortunately, for too many patients today, that's simply not the case. The pressure of production goals, burned out and short-handed physicians, and an increase in administrative load are a few of the challenges that doctors and...

Improving Customer Loyalty through Martech and AI-Powered Solutions   Greg Kihlstrom is a best selling author with nearly 20 books on Martech and customer experience management. Greg shares fresh insights into how companies can leverage marketing technology and AI to bolster customer loyalty and satisfaction.    Whether you're a C-suite executive or a marketing professional, this episode will equi...

  Have you ever wondered how digital experience and AI can transform your customer interactions? Andrew Carothers, CCXP, a senior digital experience leader in the CX area at Cisco Systems, shared insights from this multinational leader's industry-leading portfolio of technology innovations, including networking, security, collaboration, and cloud management. 🎧 Check out the latest episode of The...

Transforming Workplace Culture Through Employee Experience Dr. James Killian is an expert in the field of employee experience. He has held high-impact global leadership positions at Qualtrics, SAP, IBM, Hogan Assessment Systems, and led several startups to record growth, and he's a professor in the Masters of Science CXM program at Michigan State University.   From exploring the significance of br...

The Science of Sticky Ideas: Crafting Memorable CX Strategies   We revealed some powerful insights from "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath on my latest podcast episode with Megan Burns! We explored why some ideas thrive while others fade away, and how leaders can apply these principles to make a lasting impact.   From the death of traditional buttered "movie theater popcorn" to flip the pyramid...