Full Episode Listing
A complete list of episodes from The CX Leader Podcast.
Every first Tuesday of October, CX pros take a moment to celebrate their profession and bring awareness to the benefits of a great customer experience, and we hope you’re celebrating with us as well! Since 2011, the Customer Experience Professionals Association, or CXPA, has been dedicated to the advancement of the CX profession and continues to provide support for customer experience professionals throughout their career. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes Greg Melia, CEO of the CXPA, for a discussion on why we should take time to celebrate all things CX.
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When did customer experience come into existence? If you’ve listened to this show for a while, you’ll know there was no definitive “big bang” event for CX. It evolved from various other disciplines into the “ethos” of customer centricity that it is today. And there’s no stopping it – customer experience is here to stay, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future. Host Steve Walker welcomes back Megan Burns, a world-renowned author, keynoter, and CX expert, for a discussion on the past, present, and future of customer experience.
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You’ve heard us promote the US Customer Experience Awards several times on this program. If you’re not familiar with them, we recommend you check them out at usacxa.com. In this episode, host Steve Walker had the privilege of welcoming a CX leader that helped earn their company the Overall Winner of the 2023 Customer Experience Awards, in addition to winning gold and silver awards in several other categories. Steve welcomes Riccardo Porta, the Global Director for CX at Dow, the materials and science company, for a discussion on their program and a look into the Advanced Manufacturing CX Consortium (AMCX).
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Data is flying everywhere and CX pros are always striving to gobble-up whatever insights they can get about their customers. It’s easy to look at an average support call time, or NPS scores to get an idea of how things are going. But what about the things that are more difficult to quantify? How do find a hard number for something like customer service? Host Steve Walker welcomes Nathan Bobay, director for Consumer Service at Delta Faucets, for a discussion on quantifying the value of service.
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Almost immediately after the first horseless carriages appeared on America's roads, motorists began organizing automobile clubs. AAA formed in 1902 with 1500 members. AAA continues to save the day after a breakdown and making dream vacations a reality for more than 63 million members. The logistics of that aren’t easy, but this episode's guest will provide a glimpse of how the AAA National Office coordinates a complex customer experience program. Host Steve Walker welcomes Bryan Sander, managing director of member experience at AAA and a member of the CXPA board of directors, for a discussion on getting CX work done in a complex environment.
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For some people, getting excited about a new project means diving right into the “fun stuff.” Working to fix up that cool classic car you just bought, or painting a landscape that inspired you. The temptation is to pick up the wrench or paint brush and dive in. But even artists and mechanics need a plan, and so do CX experts. And a critical area of planning for customer experience is communications. It’s important to know your audience and why you’re collecting data in the first place and planning your communications should be one of the first things you do. Host Steve Walker welcomes Molly Work, associate vice president in client services at Walker, for a discussion on the importance of communication - internally and externally - to improve customer experience.
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In the grand scheme of things, customer experience is still a newer practice. While it’s growing as companies and organizations realize its potential, there are still few options for formal education and training in CX. And that can make things difficult for CX pros trying to engage the entire company in customer experience efforts. So how do you raise the level of expertise across your organization? Host Steve Walker welcomes back Drew Hall, vice president and team lead for advisory and managed services at Walker, for a discussion on expertise building.
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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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We’ve mentioned the Customer Experience Professionals Association more than once on this podcast. The CXPA offers excellent resources and networking opportunities for CX professionals, and one of those opportunities includes the CX Leaders Advance Conference which was recently held in Orlando, Florida. The event offered CX pros an opportunity to discuss the most “pressing challenges faced by CX leaders.” Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes back to the podcast Walker experts Sheila March and Dr. Troy Powell who participated in the conference and provides a recap of the events and the most pressing topics on the minds of CX professionals today.
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Combining your customer experience and employee experiences can have a tremendous impact on your overall experience efforts. But what does that look like from the data perspective – how do they link and why would it be advantageous? Host Steve Walker welcomes Tanner Smith, senior analyst at Walker, for a discussion on linking CX and EX data and how it benefits the organization's experience programs.
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It's safe to say that most people are feeling the effects of today’s economy. Dealing with financial issues can create a great deal of stress. Families are penny-pinching and, in many cases, grappling with ways to help ease the burden. And many financial companies don’t make that process easy. But there are ways in which companies can make that experience better and promote what our guest refers to as “financial health.” Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes Rochelle Gorey, co-founder and CEO of SpringFour, a Certified B social impact fintech company, for a discussion on ways to make it easier for people achieve financial health.
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As our profession continues to mature and more organizations adopt customer-centric cultures, CX pros often need a way to maintain alignment between their customer experience programs and other company functions. A “hub”, if you will, of CX expertise that the entire company can look to for advice and ideas, so your customer experience efforts align with the company’s mission and vision – a CX Center of Excellence. Host Steve Walker welcomes Greg Chase, an XM catalyst from the Qualtrics XM Institute, for a discussion on how organizations can leverage a CX center of excellence to improve their customer experience.
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Journey mapping: that tried-and-true exercise of discovering your strengths as a company and the places in your customer’s journey where things could be improved. It’s a great tool to identify pain points and create empathy for your customers. But what about employees? Seems like it would be a great practice to build some empathy for your own team, right? Host Steve Walker welcomes Dr. Cecelia Herbert, principal XM catalyst at the Qualtrics XM Institute for a discussion on mapping the employee's journey.
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We’ve been talking more about the patient experience on this show and how CX practices can be applied in the healthcare industry. In fact, Walker just released a report on the subject: “PX: Designing Better Patient Experiences.” Host Steve Walker welcomes Nicole Richendollar, an associate video president, and Emily Chesnut, a senior project manager, both at Walker, for a discussion on how digital surveys can benefit closed-loop follow-up, or as it’s known in the healthcare space, “service recovery.”
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There are so many times on this show that our guests have described their customer experience efforts as living within their marketing department, and there are good reasons to practice CX in that structure. But what if we made the case that CX should exist on its own: an independent CX practice capable of working with all aspects of the organization, thus improving the customer experience at all levels? Host Steve Walker welcomes Amanda Flashner, Chief Experience Officer at LendingPoint, a financial technology platform, for a discussion on why their company invested in a separate CX function to improve the customer experience.
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Creating seamless experiences is one of many goals of CX pros. But what should be perceived by the customer as a smooth experience can sometimes create complicated processes for the company – like the hidden part of an iceberg. But if done right, it can benefit both the customer and employees, and we have a guest on the show who heads-up a unique program to make that happen. Host Steve Walker welcomes Andy Netzel, CCXP and the head of the Performance Innovation Lab at KeyBank, for a look at how they work to create seamless experiences for their customers.
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People in general want to do good things for others. But it’s easy to assume that everyone sees the world with similar eyes. We live in a diverse world with people that have different needs, so it’s important that CX professionals plan and accommodate so the experience is accessible and meaningful for all their customers. Host Steve Walker welcomes Stacy Sherman, a customer experience and marketing keynote speaker, content creator, and host of the podcast "Doing CX Right", for a discussion on creating inclusive experiences for customers and employees with different needs and abilities.
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In early March of 2023, thousands of experience management professionals from across the globe gathered in Salt Lake City to take part in the 2023 Qualtrics X4 Summit. Featuring keynote speakers like Martha Stewart, Malala Yousafzai, and Chip and Joanna Gaines, the X4 Summit succeeded in creating a memorable experience, while providing opportunities for XM professionals to connect. Host Steve Walker invites Lauri Jones, Sarah Walker, and Pat Gibbons back to the show to recap what they experienced at this year's X4 Summit.
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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.
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Attending concerts, sporting events, conferences, and other gatherings is a big part of our culture and could easily be considered the pinnacle of experience design. But there are so many elements that go into crafting the ideal event experience to make it truly memorable – how do you put it all together to exceed the high expectations of today’s consumers? And how do you plan and manage blockbuster events like the Super Bowls, NCAA Final Fours, Olympics, World Cup, concerts from the world’s biggest stars and the most important conferences and tradeshows on the planet? Host Steve Walker welcomes Alex Merchán, chief marketing officer at ASM Global, a leading venue management and services company who hosted the previously mentioned events, for a discussion on experience management for large events.
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