Tag Archive from: cx inspiration

Strategy 5: Where to start?

When it comes to customer experience, should you start by interviewing customers and sending out surveys? Or should you start by mapping customer journeys and then interview customers? Or..?

In this video you'll explore that many roads lead to Rome. But which road to take? Where to start? That's what strategy 5 is about. Check it out!

https://youtu.be/zCcl39s-GN8

I read aloud a chapter every week. Enjoy listening to my book. I do hope that I'll inspire you to spice up your journey as a business leader, a CX leader, or maybe even as a leader in your personal life. 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you'll be notified if another chapter appears!

Would you rather read my book? You can find it online on Amazon or - in the Netherlands and Belgium - in any bookstore online.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Strategy 4: Create doable chunks

Giant goals can stimulate you to go forward, but they can also freeze you. They excite and frighten you at the same time, because where to start? What should your first step be?

Let me show you how to do this. Watch this video about creating doable chunks. Yes, this is the 4th strategy!

https://youtu.be/MimLiWBwp2I

I read aloud a chapter every week. Enjoy listening to my book. I do hope that I'll inspire you to spice up your journey as a business leader, a CX leader, or maybe even as a leader in your personal life. 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you'll be notified if another chapter appears!

Would you rather read my book? You can find it online on Amazon or - in the Netherlands and Belgium - in any bookstore online.

 

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speakcxs the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Strategy 3: Set a BHAG

Strategy 3 is: set a BHAG. This really helps you to transform and to become the leader you wish to be. Dare to aim for something big, by setting your BHAG.

Don't know yet or don't even know what a BHAG is? Then surely listen to chapter 3 and get inspired!

https://youtu.be/jXCKKEFtnkk

I read aloud a chapter every week. Enjoy listening to my book. I do hope that I'll inspire you to spice up your journey as a business leader, a CX leader, or maybe even as a leader in your personal life. 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you'll be notified if another chapter appears!

Would you rather read my book? You can find it online on Amazon or - in the Netherlands and Belgium - in any bookstore online.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Strategy 2: Choose the path of energy

Choose the path of energy. That's the second strategy on how to spice up your leadership. Whether it is your leadership in private or business, you need to make lots of choices, small and bigger ones. But how to make this easy for yourself? By choosing the path of energy.

If you think 'huh?', then find out: listen to chapter 2 now!

https://youtu.be/VU1R6ZsF3UM

I read aloud a chapter every week. Enjoy listening to my book. I do hope that I'll inspire you to spice up your journey as a business leader, a CX leader, or maybe even as a leader in your personal life. 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you'll be notified if another chapter appears!

Would you rather read my book? You can find it online on Amazon or - in the Netherlands and Belgium - in any bookstore online.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Strategy 1: NOW is always a good moment to start

The first section of the book is about: How to start? From idea to action. And the first strategy is that NOW is always a good moment to start. Sounds obvious, but I'm sure that almost everyone has a bucket list item covered in dust, with no other plan than to do it someday...

I share the story behind my decision to walk a pilgrimage and relate that to you, being a leader in CX.

So, listen to my first strategy and chapter: Now is always a good moment to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_jdQJSYwUs&list=PL7GBbYOGbs1d58Yl6OpeV0AI2EbAklj36&index=12

I read aloud a chapter every week. Enjoy listening to my book. I do hope that I'll inspire you to spice up your journey as a business leader, a CX leader, or maybe even as a leader in your personal life. 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and you'll be notified if another chapter appears!

Would you rather read my book? You can find it online on Amazon or - in the Netherlands and Belgium - in any bookstore online.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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System

For a customer experience workshop I am conducting, I designed materials and had them printed. When I receive the envelope of printed materials, 75% of the order is missing.

Fortunately, I was in plenty of time to order and didn't need the materials right away. I can't call during opening hours because I'm participating in the annual fox hunt that day. To complete the picture for the visual thinkers: I am dressed as an orange supporter.

So I send a message to this printing giant. I include exactly the information I suspect the service person will need. The order number, that which did get delivered - my document named Handout, exactly as it says in the confirmation email - and that the other three items are missing.

Dressed entirely in orange, I walk around town in the meantime. I check my mail and read:


'Dear,

How annoying that things went wrong with the delivery of your order. So you have the handout, but the loose-leaf article and stickers are missing? When we have this clear then we can look at an appropriate solution.

Sincerely,

Madelon'

Um, yes. This is a case of copy-paste without reading properly. Because I already indicated that only the handout was provided. And apparently it is too much trouble to write to me with my name. Not recognized and certainly not acknowledged. I quickly reply back that this is indeed true. To get the following email back:

'Dear,

Totally right I put it in the system for you.'

Huh! And now? What a sloppy nothing email, even with a typo. She must have put it in the system, but what does that mean for me? For the entrepreneur who needs these materials to teach CX classes?

So this is where it often goes wrong. For Madelon it is probably obvious, but for me - the customer - it is now unclear. Is my order to the printer? Will I get my materials? And when? I send a short message on chat after this, to which a colleague kindly replies that the materials will be printed.

The fox hunt was top-notch. Just stripped of orange face paint, we sit enjoying afterward over Friday afternoon drinks. Then, at 6:41 p.m., I receive the cherry on the cake email.

'Dear Sir/Madam,

Unfortunately, due to excessive traffic, we were unable to ship your order today.

By: System'

What, this system is broken! Like so many systems. As a customer, it's killing me. It reminds me of a video from Little Britain, which I translate for you for free: 'System says NO.'

It's done: customer says NO. I'm going to look for another printer.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on May 2, 2023

Don't miss another blog? Sign up for my monthly CX Greetz!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Cup of coffee?

I almost always offer delivery drivers a cup of coffee. Or in the summer, I have a few cans of fresh cold. Or maybe they want to use the toilet for a while?

Usually they turn this down, because busy busy busy, but sometimes there is a need and some time for it. Like last Sunday when my meal package was delivered, where Tugrul liked a cup of coffee.

We started talking and he told us that this is his part-time job. He is happy to deliver these boxes, in addition to being an entrepreneur with his own Barbershop. Because living on your own costs money. So he works extra shifts as a delivery driver for this meal box service. What a great energy and drive. It was very nice to hear his perspective on delivery and entrepreneurship. Are you in Utrecht and would like to get a haircut by this entrepreneur? Then you can definitely go to Ozky's Barber at Bartoklaan 17 in Utrecht.

He also asked me what was actually in that box. Because he had never seen that before. Maybe a small point of improvement in the Employee Journey of this meal delivery company. But I fixed that. I showed him the app; That you have a choice of 30 meals, we opened the box together, he looked at the contents of the box, the recipes and with all the love he took the box back immediately. Good for the environment!

What a pleasure to meet such great delivery people and this also starts with ourselves. The customer. Do you do this too? If I take it wider. Are you nice to the service in a restaurant? Against flight attendants? Staff in stores?

Back to the delivery people. They don't have it easy. I have to deal with the strangest situations in terms of traffic, especially in Utrecht where I live. Just think about what it's like to have to go to the toilet when you have so many packages in the back of your bus...

So ask your delivery person if he/she wants a cup of coffee or tea. Just have a few take-away cups at home, because then they can go back into their bus with a nice hot cup of hopsakee. Or if it's summer and warm, have a few cans of cold lying around. Offer that they can use the toilet for a while. And for the meal deliverers; Have some euros ready. I know it can be done in the app, but I'd much rather give a few euros myself that I have in a container. That's how I thank them personally. And everyone likes that. Tugrul certainly does.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on April 4, 2023

Don't miss another blog? Sign up for my monthly CX Greetz!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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In love, engaged or is it complicated?

Yes, it is. February, the month of love. Or to be more precise, the month in which Valentine's Day falls. That day when a lot of people send a card. Buy a bar of chocolate that says "I love you" and then give it to a loved one. Or send someone a message. To our loved one, a friend, mother, neighbor or daughter.

Actually, the shape doesn't really matter. Showing love can be done in many ways. Say something nice, send or do something nice. It works. It makes your own heart do a dance and therefore also that of the other. Isn't it wonderful to have a column about love? Unfortunately, this is where the happy part ends.

Because I want to switch to another world. That of love for the customer.

That's where my heart stops with the dance. Unfortunately, for many, that's where the imagination stops. Because love for the customer. What does it look like? Should we call the customer and tell them we love her/him (I'll keep it to her for now)? No, we're certainly not going to do that here in the Netherlands, that's too American for us. But that's not the point.

The point is that we do want the customer to love us and give us a nine or ten in the survey. That she spends her money with us every year. Tacitly renews the contract. Buy more policies. Tacitly accepts the price increase and let's hope she doesn't call. That she doesn't disturb us with our work, but mainly finds her own way, digitally.

Love. That's exactly where things go wrong in organizations. We don't really like the customer. Of who she is. What she's doing. We do want her to choose us. But even if she, as a customer (i.e. citizen, participant or applicant), cannot choose, that she does not bother us too much.

That's what we're talking about here. About whether you and your colleagues are in love, engaged, or married to the customer. And whether you really feel something about it. Or is it complicated? (Thank you Facebook, for allowing us to choose this wonderful addition within "types of relationships"). After all, do we talk about the customer internally as if we love her? Or do we prefer to use her customer number? Do we talk about customers in meetings, or do we prefer to stick to the process?

The love for the customer is a topic that should really be discussed. Do you love your customer? Ask yourself and your colleagues the question. I suggest that you have this conversation lovingly in your organization. I dare say that Valentine's Day next year will be a very different one.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on March 7, 2023

Don't miss another blog? Sign up for my monthly CX Greetz!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Unknown makes unloved

We go back in time about ten years and I am sitting across from my then CEO. I have been in charge of KPN's Customer Excellence team for three months now. I am new to the company, he even a little newer. My goal is to bring the relational NPS from -14 to zero in just under three years.

Yet he asks "Nienke, what result did you achieve with your team last month? Stammering, I bring out that we have a long-term goal. That our growth strategy is focused on reducing detractors, what actions we have for that, that I am confident. 'No, no. I expect you to bring results here every month. Of course it's good that you have plans, but I also want to know what short-term results you've achieved with your team.'

Full of doubt, I left the meeting room. How was I supposed to do that? With such an erratic long-term goal that might grow a point or two per quarter? I consulted a colleague and he told me how he did it.

A light bulb went on for me. All those years I had worked very hard in various roles and management positions, but I had never structurally kept track of my successes (and failures) and reported on them. Nor did I have my story in focus when I spoke to colleagues: I mainly told them what I did. What results I had achieved, I could not tell in a few sentences.

If you work in a large organization, it's important to think about your own marketing. "Huh?!" I hear you say. Yes. That's important if you work in customer service or customer experience, well, really anywhere. But especially in our professions, it's important for people to understand the work you do, how it is linked to the business strategy and the impact you make.

In marketing, they often talk about Know, Like, Trust. Apply this to yourself: make sure management knows you, likes you professionally, and ultimately trusts you. You don't want to leave that to others, so take charge yourself.

I saw a great example last week at the International CX Awards. Vattenfall's CX team won three Awards, including the best B2C CX team in the world! As a big learning point, they told me that the process to the Awards had helped them to tell very concisely where they had achieved successes.

So, dear reader. Is your marketing in order? Do you know and share your successes? Don't underestimate this. Because unknown makes unloved. The choice is yours.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on December 13, 2022

Don't miss another blog? Sign up for my monthly CX Greetz!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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How can you add fun to change?

Customer centric change is a matter of having a long breath: changing behavior and engaging colleagues won't happen in just a month. It is a demanding process, both from you as the initiator, facilitator or leader, as well as from the people you want to engage in the change. Adding FUN to your CHANGE program is a brilliant idea, since it will boost morale and will be distinctive from other programs.

Here are my five tips on how to add more fun to your CX change program and achieve your goals at the same time:

  1. Create an overarching appealing storyline
    Too many CX strategies are linear, corporate schmorporate (sorry for my language). They don't give any excitement and fun and don't create any arousal while you share it. So, what about adding an appealing story line? Using sports, movie scripts, heroes, best practices and all kind of other stories. I still love Project #99 that Clint Payne CCXP started in 2016. He wanted to improve the current customer experience of Multichoice, a South African Telecom and Television provider and created an overarching storyline where he challenged the organization to fix 99 current customer and employee issues. Project #99 is a great tagline that gives context to the change.
  2. Set an appealing BHAG
    How about aiming for the moon when it comes to your CX or change program? How about truly going for an ambitious quantitative and qualitative goal. The example of Project #99, is already a perfect one - fixing 99 issues in one year. But I have more examples for you. What do you think of this one? In three years, you and your company are best in class in Customer Experience, your NPS is at a certain number (the quantitative part). And that the CEO of your company will share the story of how the organization changed in the last three years to a true customer centric company in the Financial Times or HBR? These kind of moonshots a.k.a. BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) work. They add fun and excitement to change.
  3. Celebrate and celebrate milestones
    Too often we just keep going after we delivered a success. But how about turning your BHAG into a couple of milestones that can be celebrated? Or put the spotlight on those that did a fabulous job? Who showed customer centric leadership or is there a team that fixed a big customer issue? My suggestion is that you make sure you have a collection of fun gifts. How about branded t-shirts, water bottles, pens or tailored virtual backgrounds and give those recognition? Have those that did well have lunch with a senior leader. Take them on an inspiration trip, to another customer centric organization or to an amusement park.
  4. Create challenges and visualize them
    What happened in project #99 is that the CX team created challenges and that employees and leaders adopted those challenges. Working on short term projects (don't try to implement a CRM system with this one ????) that have high energy and are supported by senior leadership, they work magic. By making sure the change is pleasant (rather than painful, although it may feel painful at first), it creates a feeling of hope (rather than fear) and it creates a feeling of identity with others who are doing the same. Make sure you visualize the journey of the challenge, so others also understand what they are doing. Have those fun and vibrant visuals (like a logo of your team or project) all around the organization. Both offline and online. Yes, this might require some guerilla marketing actions and you might bump into some conflicts with the communication and facility departments of your organization. But remember: no guts, no glory!
  5. Use fun in your interventions
    Too many workshops are just functional: learning the new behavior by the customer manifesto and delivering on the new brand values. Workshops are important and it is up to you to add fun to them. Some examples.
    1. Create a CX quiz, where you quiz around NPS topics, add some fun CX facts (like from what date was the first complaint) and of course you have a winner.
    2. Play the CX game, this is a fun CX workshop (dressed up as a board game), where the questions and assignments are tailored to your organizations context. The feedback we always hear is: "this was FUN!"
    3. Add persona re-enactment to your customer journey workshop. Bring artifacts like scarves, sports gear, glasses, hats and whatever. Transform your participants of the workshop into customers. My experience is that participants will be a bit hesitant upon starting, but once they get going, everybody will have the most of fun!

You see, there's a lot of things you can do and organize in order to add FUN to CHANGE. And I strongly recommend you do so! Create big or small fun and know it will give you and your colleagues the energy you need to keep the change going. I am curious how you feel about these suggestions. And if you have any other suggestions, please let me know in the comments!

 

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*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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