Cx Leader Podcast With Steve Walker

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. Learn more about the Qualtrics X4 Summit at https://www.qualtrics.com/x4summit/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

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

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. Learn more about ASM Global at https://www.asmglobal.com/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

There have been many guests on this show, each with unique stories and backgrounds about their path to becoming a customer experience professional. But we haven’t often discussed how YOU can develop your own professional life. So how is your career growth going? Are you new to the profession and need some tips, or are you a seasoned pro that could use some ways to spark new creativity? How do you keep your career batteries charged? Host Steve Walker welcomes Natalie Onions, vice president of customer experience at Customer.io, a marketing automation platform, to discuss way to help develop your career as a customer experience professional. Learn more about Customer.io at https://customer.io/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

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. Learn more about ChenMed at https://www.chenmed.com/ Learn more about Jamey at https://www.jameylutz.com/ Listen to more podcasts at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ or check out our blog at https://walkerinfo.com/blog/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Customer experience is a wonderful blend of listening and understanding our customers, while creating the right actions to deliver amazing experiences. But putting all those pieces together is a tall task. How do we set up the right processes to ensure the right information is delivered to right employees, resulting in great experiences for our customers? Host Steve Walker welcomes Jill Helmle, the senior manager for customer experience strategy at ServiceNow, for a discussion on how to equip employees for success.  Learn more about ServiceNow at https://www.servicenow.com/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

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, director of product design and strategy at Studio Science, for a discussion on service design. Learn more about Studio Science at https://studioscience.com/ Listen to more podcasts at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Customer experience pros know that one of the many indicators of a successful CX program includes how many promoters you have among your customers – often measured using the Net Promoter Score. The more promoters you have, the more likely your customers will recommend you to others, right? And that’s it - we typically don’t think there’s something better than “promoters.” However, there are ways in which CX pros can create “superfans” – customers that not only recommend you to others, but become serious advocates for your business. Host Steve Walker welcomes Brittany Hodak, an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker, to discuss her new book, “Creating Superfans: How to Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates.” Learn more about Brittany's book, "Creating Superfans" here: https://brittanyhodak.com/book/ Listen to more episodes of The CX Leader Podcast here: https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker here: https://walkerinfo.com/ 

A common business adage states: “fast, cheap, or good – pick any two.” But in today’s world of same-day shipping and self-service technologies, customers are demanding speedy experiences and will not accept excuses for sacrificing quality or price. On the eighth and final episode of our series, “CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution,” host Steve Walker welcomes Sean Clayton for a discussion on why customer experience professionals should keep speed at the top of their list when optimizing their CX programs. Read blogs and listen to more episodes in our CX Now series here: https://walkerinfo.com/cxnow/ Listen to more episodes of The CX Leader Podcast here: https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker here: https://walkerinfo.com/

It's no secret that most companies have different groups of customers with differing needs. And we, as CX leaders, naturally need to able to adapt our programs to account for those differences. Depending on your company, differences between your customer segments might be small. But for businesses where each segment’s needs are vastly different, more complex experience strategies might be necessary. So how does a CX pro design and execute for different customer segments? Host Steve Walker welcomes Leigh Redington, general manager at Potawatomi Carter Casino Hotel in Wabeno, Wisconsin, for a discussion on designing experiences for various customer segments. Listen to more episodes of The CX Leader Podcast here: https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/

In the 250th episode of The CX Leader Podcast, we'll continue the series “CX Now - Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution” by discussing adaptability: how companies should maintain an agile mindset in order to provide the best possible experience for customers. Host Steve Walker welcomes Drew Hall, a vice president and team lead from Walker, to discuss why companies need to move away from the old-world model of "make and sell" model and adopt a more "sense and respond" mentality. Find more episodes and blog articles in our CX Now series at https://walkerinfo.com/cxnow/ Find more episode of The CX Leader Podcast at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

There are lots of different ways to measure what a customer thinks about your company. But customer emotions can be pretty tricky. How a customer feels can affect other metrics – someone who’s happy with their service will likely provide a high NPS rating. Someone who is angry or frustrated will likely choose “very unsatisfied” in a CSAT survey. So it’s important to understand the emotions of a customer as context for other metrics. But what about more complicated relationships, like a B2B2C channel? On this episode, host Steve Walker welcomes Nancy Flowers, director of customer experience at Voya Financial* and featured in Jim Tincher's newest book, "Do B2B Better". Nancy discusses why CX pros needs to remember that emotions are important for B2C and B2B channels. Learn more about the book, "Do B2B Better" at https://heartofthecustomer.com/dob2bbetter/  Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ * Production note: We interviewed Nancy Flowers in

Some organizations collect very little data and some collect a ton of data. But like many other aspects of customer experience, CX pros should be thinking of the end goal when designing programs and integrating their data. A "data diet:" everything in moderation. As part of our continuing series "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," host Steve Walker welcomes Ashley Hicks for a discussion on how CX pros can organize, integrate, and constructivley access their data to make better business decisions. Read more about the "CX Now" series here: https://walkerinfo.com/cxnow/  Find more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Many have experienced the dreaded "handoff" - that experience where someone calls into support and get transferred multiple times, to the point where frustration compels them to simply hang up. Continuing the series "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," host Steve Walker welcomes Diane Skirvin, vice president and team lead at Walker, to discuss the importance of making customer experiences seamless. Listen and read more about the CX Now series at https://walkerinfo.com/cxnow Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Data is everywhere! And CX pros have structured ways to keep it all organized. But what about all the UNstructured data your customers provide? While there are some challenges in using unstructured data, it has the potential to bring a rich set of insights about your customer experience efforts. Host Steve Walker welcomes Ellen Loeshelle, director of product management, XM Discover at Qualtrics, for a discussion on how customer experience professionals can take advantage of the tools available to extract the value from unstructured data. Learn more about Qualtrics XM Discover at https://www.qualtrics.com/discover/ Listen to more podcasts and subscribe to the show at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Providing the tools and resources for employee success seems like a "no-brainer," but companies often overlook the systems and processes that can create friction in the customer experience. And if the employees struggle to provide seamless experiences, then you can bet that customers are feeling their pain as well. In the fourth episode of our "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," host Steve Walker welcomes expert Georgetta Parisi, Ph.D., for a discussion on employee enablement.  Listen to more podcasts or read blog articles in the "CX Now" series: https://walkerinfo.com/cxnow/ Listen and subscribe to The CX Leader Podcast at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/  Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/  

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. Find more episode and blog article in the "CX Now" series: https://walkerinfo.com/cxnow/ Find more episodes of The CX Leader Podcast at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

One toy that was, and continues to be a popular choice for both parents and kids is LEGO®. So named after the Danish phrase to “play well”, LEGO® bricks and playsets are still a best-selling product today. So you might be asking, “what does this have to do with customer experience?” Host Steve Walker welcomes Sirte Pihlaja, CEO and customer experience optimizer for Shirute, a customer experience research and strategy company, to discuss how she utilizes the LEGO® Serious Play® method to build better customer experiences. Learn more about Shirute at https://www.shirute.com/en/ Read more about the LEGO® Serious Play® method for CX professionals: https://www.shirute.fi/en/shirute-cxplay/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/     

Speed has always been an important factor in delivering a great experience to customers. And many times "fastest" is best. But there are some situations in which you could almost be too fast, so the trick is to find the right "now." Host Steve Walker welcomes Jay Baer, a keynote speaker and author on customer experience, to discuss his latest research in collaboration with StatsSocial, “Time to Win: the Consumer Patience Study." Download the study for free at https://www.thetimetowin.com/ Learn more about Jay Baer at https://www.jaybaer.com/  Find more episodes and subscribe to The CX Leader Podcast at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/ 

Designing ways to personalize the customer experience is essential. But there are different levels in which personalization can be executed: reactive, selected customer, and proactive. And customer experience programs that are not fully executing on personalized experience could be dropping the ball. In the second episode of our series "CX Now: Eight Essential Themes Driving CX Evolution," Steve Walker welcome Saari Gardner, vice president of advisory and managed services at Walker for a discussion on way companies can take their personalization efforts to the next level. Find more resources in our "CX Now" series at: https://walkerinfo.com/cxleader/cx-now/ Listen to more episodes at https://cxleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about Walker at https://walkerinfo.com/