Cx Leader Podcast With Steve Walker

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. Learn more about the CXPA Emerging Leaders Awards at: https://www.cxpa.org/advance-your-career/awards/emergingleaderawards Listen to more episodes at: https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Ever see the old classic Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds”? There’s a famous scene when a flock of crows attack a group of fleeing school children, swarming without mercy and terrifying everyone in their path. It sometimes feels like that with A.I. - people pecking and swarming at you to try and integrate it into your business in any way possible. And many CX pros are feeling pressure to find ways of incorporating artificial intelligence into their programs. So how can we approach this technology in a way to have it meaningfully contribute to our CX efforts?  Host Pat Gibbons welcomes back Mike Miserendino, founder and president of GravityDrive, an experience design consultancy group, for a discussion on how customer experience professionals can take an objective approach in effectively incorporating A.I. into their CX programs. Learn more about GravityDrive at https://www.gravitydrive.com/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

Bonus Content! We interview many great customer experience professionals and they have a ton of great advice to share. But sometimes we have leave some of the interview out of the final episode in order to keep our podcasts a reasonable length. So you're not left out of hearing all the wonderful content our guests provide, we'll occasionally release material that was left out of the final episode as bonus content. This content is only available to those that follow the show through their favorite podcast provider. In our episode "Becoming Customer Obsessed" (episode #302), guest Marbue Brown discusses the importance of being creative when it comes to anticipating customer needs. During the interview with host Pat Gibbons, he told a touching story about a company that when above and beyond to help a customer in need. The story didn't make it in the original episode so we're releasing it as bonus content. Listen to the original episode at: https://cxleaderpodcast.com/becoming-customer-obsessed/  Listen to more

Chances are, if you're a regular listener to this show, you at the very least have a healthy respect for customer experience and the value it brings to your organization. But there are a few brands out there that have a following like none other brands like Apple, Costco, Trader Joe's, Chick-fil-A, and, one of our host's personal favorites: Chewy, the online pet supply retailer. These companies are obsessed with customer experience, but what does that mean? And how can you get your company to adopt that mindset? Hot Pat Gibbons welcome Marbue Brown, founder of The Customer Obsession Advantage and author of “Blueprint for Customer Obsession,” for a discussion on his new book and why companies need to engage personally, deliver exceptionally, and connect emotionally to their customers. Connect with Marbue at https://www.customerobsession.net/  Learn how to get Marbue's book, "Blueprint for Customer Obsession" at: https://www.customerobsession.net/resources/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com

Producer's Note: This episode originally dropped on February 14, 2023. Steve Walker interviewed Justin Zalewski on how CX professionals can take an ordinary journey mapping process and do more than just find problems and build empathy - instead, Justin describes how to turn your journey mapping process up to "11". Please note that some details and situations described in the episode may not necessarily be the same as when it originally was released. Most CX pros are familiar with customer journey mapping – the process that identifies the path customers take when interacting with your company. We’ve done a few episodes on it already and you can check those out on cxleaderpodcast.com. But what if we did a little more than just pinpoint problems and build empathy for our customers? What if we included the customer in the process and they help design improved experiences? In other words, we turn the journey mapping process up to eleven! Host Steve Walker welcomes Justin Zalewski for a discussion on service design

That’s right - 300 episodes! Walker has been producing this podcast since January of 2018 and collected over 150 hours of content, discussed trends and events that included everything from COVID to artificial intelligence, and met some amazing customer experience professionals along the way. And at the beginning of each year we like to take a look at what to expect in CX over the next 12 months. Host Pat Gibbons welcomes Walker experts Sonya McAllister, Sean Clayton, and Tanner Smith, to reminisce on 2023 and make some predictions about trends moving into 2024. Read more about Walker's experts at https://walkerinfo.com/who-we-are/our-people/ Listen to more podcast episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/  Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

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. Connect with Topher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tophermitchell/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

Let’s face it: not every person is well-suited to be, quote, “customer-facing.” Whether it’s their personality, their specific job requirements, or just their preference or personal talents, some people do better on the “behind the scenes” aspects of the company. And it’s easy to assume a mentality that they don’t necessarily need a customer-centric focus in their work. But an organization’s employee experience can impact not only their perspective of why they do what they do for the company, but also the customer experience. Host Pat Gibbons welcomes AJ Schneider, president of Wheaton World Wide Moving, for a discussion on why it's important all employees - regardless of their interactions with customers - know they are important to CX. Learn more about Wheaton at https://wheatonmoving.com/ Listen to more podcasts at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Most customer experience pros know about transactional and relational surveys, but did you know there's a third kind of survey you may need to use? Add the confusion of which surveys are best sent often or once a year, versus how long they should be, it can get frustrating for you - or your customer - on deciding what survey to use when. Walker expert Heather Koiro clears up the "survey confusion" with her Quick Tip Minicast! Listen to more Quick Tips at http://cxleaderpodcast.com/quicktips/ Explore more episode of The CX Leader Podcast at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Think about a time when you visited someplace that’s meaningful to you: a special museum, the distillery of your favorite beverage, a presidential library – you walked away from that exhibit or tour with a heightened understanding and appreciation for that particular interest. Or possibly gained a deeper understanding of something new. That experience was likely designed to better connect you with the product, person, and/or brand. Host Troy Powell welcomes Christian Lachel, chief creative officer at BRC Imagination Arts, for a discussion of discovering the interests and needs of your audience and designing experiences that tell your brand story. Read more about BRC Imagination Arts at https://www.brcweb.com/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

While there is some historical debate on this, Aristotle is widely recognized as one of the early inventors of the scientific method – the way in which we observe, hypothesize, experiment, and gather data. Experimentation is key to logically understanding our world. And just like any other business practice, experimenting with CX can help you gain insights on what works best for your organization in delivering an amazing experience. Host Pat Gibbons welcomes Gabs Dracopoulos, head of global customer success at Intuit, for a discussion on CX experimentation.  Connect with Gabs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielledracopoulos Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

It’s a subject on which we’ve dedicated several episodes: employee experience. And we’ve even covered how to effectively combine CX and EX, a subject for which Walker released a report that you can find on walkerinfo.com. But we haven’t really explored the value of combining employee and customer experience – is it even worth it, and what challenges can I expect? Host Steve Walker welcomes Suzanne Scharer, a product scientist at Qualtrics, for a discussion on why it's worth the effort to combine your customer and employee experience data.  Learn more about Suzanne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannescharer/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Companies often struggle with knowing their customer's needs and why they actually stay customers. Are they happy? Are they looking elsewhere for their needs? Why are they not happy? Segmenting these customers into a loyalty scale is common, but not necessarily actionable. On this episode of The CX Leader Quick Tips Minicast, Michelle Buretta, a vice president at Walker, shares how the Walker Loyalty Matrix™ provides businesses with a practical means to leverage the voice of the customer for improved business performance. Learn more about Michelle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleburetta/ Read more about the Walker Loyalty Matrix™: https://walkerinfo.com/solutions/loyalty-matrix/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/quicktips/

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, the majority of workers in the U.S. say that focusing on DEI in the workplace is “a good thing.” With so many organizations adopting ways to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion, it seems that we, as CX professionals, should explore ways we can incorporate this important work into our efforts of improving customer experiences. And my guest on this episode has already made progress in incorporating DEI into CX and EX programs. Host Sara Walker welcomes Victor Udoewa, service design lead at the CDC, for a discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion in CX metrics and programs. Learn more about Victor via his LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/udoewa/ Listen to more podcasts at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

There’s so much talk about artificial intelligence these days. With stories of how it is changing the world on so many fronts, customer experience professionals can’t help but explore its impact on their organization’s CX program. And when we think about another common struggle with CX – linking the work of customer experience back to revenue – a little bit of help from machine learning might offer a solution. Host Pat Gibbons welcomes Nikhil Nadiminti, senior program manager ISG for worldwide customer experience at Lenovo, for a discussion on proving CX's value through machine learning.  Learn more about Lenovo at https://www.lenovo.com/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

There's an adage that implies designers and data scientists sometimes don't always see eye to eye. Designers look for esthetics and the functionality while developers and researchers lean towards the data. Why is that? We can all get along and there's no reason why we can't work together! You can use data to create usable and esthetic designs that support excellent customer experiences. Host Pat Gibbons welcomes Caroline Quinlan, digital CX manager for Electric Ireland, for a discussion on how data combined with design thinking can create amazing customer experiences. Learn more about Electric Ireland at https://www.electricireland.ie/ Listen to more podcasts at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

We must warn you: the podcast episode you're about to listen to is filled with frightful tales of deliveries gone wrong, misdirected concert tickets, terrible website engineering, and rental cars that won't start. This can only mean one thing: it's another blood-curdling episode of CX Horror Stories! Hosted by Sara Walker and Gary Szeszycki, guests include Diane Skirvin (Walker), Bill Daughtery (Gibson Teldata), Tyler Morris (Walker), and Kerri Meyer (Qualtrics).  Listen to more horror stoires (if you dare!) at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/series/cx-horror-stories/  Listen to other episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

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.  Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

You're ready to get going on gathering customer feedback, but there's always that looming question: what will we ask them and how much is too much survey? On this edition of The CX Leader Quick Tips Minicast, Walker expert Molly Work gives helpful advice on how to determine the right amount of questions to ask in a survey.  Listen to more Quick Tips at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/quicktips/  Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Managing your money is already a stressful task, and it's sometimes difficult to intentionally think ahead about what happens when we retire. Luckily, there are some very smart people in the world of personal finance who can help with that aspect of life. But what does the customer experience look like in that field? Continuing our look into the winning programs at the 2023 US Customer Experience Awards, host Pat Gibbons welcomes Jenny Schmidt, vice president for strategic initiatives at Prudential Financial, to discuss their many awards from USACXA, including the 2023 CX Team of the Year. Learn more about the Prudential Stages for Retirement at: https://stages.prudential.com/  Listen to more podcasts at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/