Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth

Rob Markey, Bain & Company partner and customer experience expert
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Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth

The Customer Confidential Podcast unlocks a world of unparalleled customer and employee loyalty insights. Host Rob Markey, a Net Promoter System pioneer, uses his deep expertise and empathetic approach to challenge conventional wisdom, peel back layers of typical advice, and expose the real stories of industry transformation. Take a deep dive into discussions on CX, customer journey, customer insights, Net Promoter Score, and more. Every episode is a master class in loyalty. Guests include CMOs, CXOs, and heroes of customer-centric transformation, along with thought leaders who inspire them. Exploring organizational structures, operating models, goals, and metrics, Rob and his guests from companies such as Vanguard, American Express, and more bring to light practical marketing, product, customer experience, and technology strategies for earning customer-focused growth. This podcast is your source for untold stories of customer and employee loyalty. Challenging, insightful, and instructive—all in one place. Earned growth starts here.

  1. 2D AGO

    Ep. 251 | Mike Valanzola: Many Voices, No Shared Truth: How Dell Revitalized Its Customer Feedback System with Help from the CXRA

    Episode 251: In 2018, Dell set out to do something big: turn customer feedback into a system that could not only provide insights, but help set priorities and run the business. They had the data. They had the intent. But they made a compromise that many organizations settle on: Rather than enforce one unified approach to customer feedback, they allowed each team to build its own. While this helped with initial adoption and change management, it also led to fragmentation—multiple tools, different methods, no shared truth. And it got worse over time. Real progress ultimately would require centralizing what had become scattered. When Dell’s Marc Stein appeared on this podcast in 2018 (episode 129), the company had just completed its EMC merger and launched a chief customer office. The ambition: one integrated Net Promoter System to tie sentiment to economics and put the customer at the center of every decision. But good intentions ran into a harsh reality: Every function was listening to customers, but no one was hearing the same thing.  In this episode, Mike Valanzola, Dell’s Senior Director of Voice of Customer and NPS Operations, picks up the story. He explains how misaligned tools, siloed ownership, and governance gaps made customer feedback hard to act on. His team didn’t want to tear down what existed. Instead, they brought it together. Through consolidation, centralization, shared standards, and stronger governance, they transformed scattered signals into an enterprise-wide system of action. The turning point came with the Customer Experience Roadmap and Accreditation. The CXRA gave Dell a framework to drive internal accountability and rebuild trust in the system. As Mike describes, cross-functional teams now meet weekly to act on shared signals. Tomorrow's goal? Make every employee a promoter and make every signal actionable. Guest: Mike Valanzola, Senior Director, Voice of Customer and NPS Operations, Dell Technologies Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give us feedback: Customer Confidential Podcast Feedback Send us a note: Contact Rob Time-Stamped Topics 00:01 - Marc Stein’s 2018 ambition: a unified CX system 03:50 - Why integration faltered: fragmentation, politics, data overload 06:20 - Mike’s mission: centralize tools, enforce governance 10:00 - Transforming custom systems to create shared accountability 13:30 - Early delivery surprises and sentiment gaps 17:10 - Predictive models and operational fixes 21:00 - How Dell built trust in the new NPS engine 27:45 - Weekly action meetings: turning listening into doing 35:30 - Why CXRA certification mattered, internally and externally 40:00 - Reflections on past company decisions Notable Quotes “ We have a robust  partner community that allows us to  expand our scale in terms of the customers that we can  touch. Each and every one of those folks has some things that are important for us to hear.” [8:00]  ”We do—and did—as a company, listen regularly, but we didn't always hear. The reason for that came down to every function across the company, ultimately doing their own listening programs, using their own application, governing how they listened, controlling what they got back, and not sharing it.” [18:00]  ”We had been really in a run-the-business function, really focused on  NPS management, really focused on owning  that measurement for the company. And now, I was proposing a large-scale, end-to-end corporate transformation that was going to require my own team  to think about how we operate, and effectively operate differently.” [28:00] Additional Resources Hear our 2018 podcast with Marc Stein on Dell’s original CX ambition, Bringing Net Promoter to Scale Learn more about Bain’s MyCX Roadmap & Accreditation

    39 min

  2. 5D AGO

    Ep. 250 | Sean McEntire | A Decade of Discipline: From NPS Pilot to Outer Loop Powerhouse

    Episode 250: Comcast solved the age-old problem of how to make employee suggestions a powerful, reliable source of value-driving improvements at scale.   Sean McEntire, Comcast’s Vice President of Customer Strategy and Operations, explains how the Outer Loop channels every employee elevation—no matter how small—through a disciplined screen, assigns a named owner, and tracks progress in public view. Ninety thousand teammates now feed a single pipeline that forces scattered ideas into accountable hands and verified fixes, solving 7,000 customer pain points so far. A frontline agent’s push for an easy‑to‑use, large‑button remote shows the system at work: The idea passed triage in hours, landed on the product team’s desk, and shipped nationwide within months—evidence that voices on the floor can reshape the hardware in customers’ hands. Once an elevation clears triage, technology, operations, or product leads must respond within set deadlines—accept, reject, or ask for data. Every decision and follow‑up lives on the same dashboard employees use to log ideas, so trust grows with each visible step. As McEntire puts it, “CX is all about transparency. If you’re going to be transparent with your customer, you need to be transparent with your teammates.” The result? Faster fixes, rising JD Power and NPS Prism rankings, and a workforce that, 10 years into the transformation, keeps feeding the Outer Loop because they’ve seen their suggestions become reality. Guest: Sean McEntire, Vice President, Customer Strategy and Operations, Comcast Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give Us Feedback: Help us improve the podcast (feedback link) Want to get in touch? Send a note to host Rob Markey. Time-Stamped Topics (00:01) Comcast’s early days of the Outer Loop (03:00) Why NPS never drifts when the Outer Loop is active (06:00) What it takes to operationalize trust with 90,000 employees (08:30) Large-button remotes and other frontline-sourced Outer Loop ideas (11:00) Inside the elevation system: votes, comments, and Outer Loop visibility (13:00) Why rejecting ideas can build more trust than accepting them (16:00) An industry-wide trust gap and the Outer Loop’s role in closing it (18:00) Moving beyond scores to what drives CX progress (20:00) Synthetic feedback, benchmarking, and the new Outer Loop data stack Time-Stamped Notable Quotes  [3:00] “This is our ten-year anniversary of operationalizing NPS within the organization. And we consistently, to this day, listen to both our customers and teammates. We learn from that feedback. […] We act on putting new solutions into the business that improve the lives of our customers and our teammates.” [5:00] “We are approaching our 7,000th resolved NPS elevation. So that's 7,000 net new experiences for both our consumers and teammates. And that's true progress.” [12:00]  “CX is all about transparency. So, if you're going to be transparent with your customer, you need to be transparent with your teammate.” [16:00] “CX never sleeps.” [23:00] “ It's not the score, it's the system. And if people focus on the score, you spend more time trying to explain a few basis points of score change and trying to correlate what may have caused that when it may have nothing to do with that. So it's, the score will be your north star on, ‘Are you making progress?’” Additional Resources Learn more about the NPS® Outer Loop by Bain & Company: https://www.qualtrics.com/marketplace/bain-outerloop/ Listen to our two-part 2018 podcast on the origin of Comcast’s NPS journey with Charlie Herrin, Comcast’s chief customer experience officer: https://www.netpromotersystem.com/insights/inside-a-cable-giants-net-promoter-turnaround-nps-podcast/

    25 min

  3. JUL 10

    Ep. 249: Scott Taber | Why Four Seasons Turned Guests Away

    Episode 249: When “revenge travel” brought guests roaring back to Four Seasons Hotels, they capped occupancy, turning away guests and revenue. Scott Taber, senior vice president of global hospitality, describes the Four Seasons philosophy: No points, no perks. Just great properties, individual recognition, personal service, and an emphasis on making sure the first five minutes after check-in are spectacular. That belief was put to the test when the world started traveling again and labor gaps persisted at the end of the pandemic. The company had a choice: chase revenue or protect intimacy. It chose intimacy. To avoid overextending staff and diluting the experience, Four Seasons capped occupancy. The organization focused on preserving what Scott calls the “first five”: those opening minutes that define a guest’s stay. “People want to see your eyes and your teeth,” he says. They want to be recognized, not processed. That doesn’t mean resisting tech. Four Seasons embraced tools that support connection: a CRM “golden record” surfaces each guest’s preferences so staff can deliver personal touches at scale. They also rolled out a proprietary 11-platform chat tool that helps staff resolve 80% of requests within 90 seconds. Last year, they set an NPS record.  Culture provides the foundation for the organization’s enduring success. Recruiting favors empathy, veterans mentor newcomers, and managers celebrate tiny moments of recognition as fiercely as revenue. With management contracts that stretch a whopping 80 years, Four Seasons plays the long game: culture first. For Four Seasons, the strongest currency isn’t points, but people. Guest: Scott Taber, Senior Vice President for Global Hospitality, Four Seasons Hotels Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give us feedback: Customer Confidential Podcast Feedback Send us a note: Contact Rob Topics Covered: 00:04 How occupancy caps protect service under pressure 00:12 No points program means loyalty through recognition 00:20 Salesforce “golden record” and how it personalizes at scale 00:30 The benefits of their chat platform that responds instantly to guests 00:35 Getting culture right, like hiring empathetic staff and having veterans mentor newcomers 00:41 How their 80-year contracts reinforce a culture-first strategy Notable Quotes: 00:02 “It’s the service excellence that we want to have in our properties every single day, and making sure that we have the right tools, training, support, structure, to truly bring that to life. And all while creating great jobs and helping to have amazing leaders and supporting them to create great memories and experiences for our guests.” 00:03 “We had a record year last year with our guest experience score, Net Promoter Score.” 00:11 “Our typical management agreement is 80 years. We want to be with this hotel, we want to be with this project, for the long term. It’s the vision of Mr. Sharp [Four Seasons’ founder] committing himself to the property and us being committed to the property for that period of time. I think there are some pretty good foundational elements to keep us going for a long time to come.” 00:12 “ [Customers] want to be remembered and appreciated for their business. Four Seasons doesn’t have a loyalty program. We’re a small brand: 133 hotels. So, how do we do that in a way that is thoughtful and that helps our employees to be able to remember our guests in the right way?” 00:25 “We want to hire for attitude and teach the skills. So you are looking for someone who wants to connect with that guest and be in sync with what that guest needs at that moment. And that comes with how we teach and how we coach that behavioral side to engage with the guests—what’s important for them in the moment.” Additional Resources: Connect the dots between the present and the past with our Customer Confidential podcast from 2016, Inside the Four Seasons Approach to Five-Star Service Learn more about how Four Seasons was impacted by Covid-19 in our brief: The Power to Change

    43 min

  4. JUN 12

    Ep. 248: Utibe Bassey | Restoring Power, Recharging Customer Experience

    Episode 248: At Dominion Energy, keeping the lights on isn’t just a priority—it’s the single biggest driver of customer experience. But as customer expectations continue to evolve, the bar keeps rising. Customers don’t just want to know when their power will be back, they want to know why it is out. And they expect that experience to be as seamless, informed, and intuitive as downloading and using their favorite mobile apps. Meeting those expectations requires transparency, empathy, and a companywide commitment to service. In this episode, Utibe Bassey, vice president of customer experience, shares how Dominion Energy’s mission-driven culture empowers this commitment, and how the company is harnessing tools like NPS Prism to better understand what customers need and how they perceive the service they receive—especially during critical moments like outages. That feedback helps teams act faster, communicate better, and focus on what really matters to customers. And it is, truly, a team sport. From operations and audit to communications and compliance, delivering a great experience takes cross-functional alignment and a shared sense of purpose. It’s a culture where colleagues often rotate into different areas to build a greater understanding of the customer experience. Through data-driven decision making, a customer-centric mission, and an “all in” commitment to serve, Dominion is proving that customer-centricity can be a utility’s greatest source of power.  Key Topics Covered: Communicating clearly about service disruptions Aligning teams around the customer journey Bridging the gap between customer perception and reality NPS Prism as a tool to inspire and inform improvements Meeting rising customer expectations in a utility context The value of empathy and transparency in customer communications Cross-functional teamwork and shared CX goals Strengthening a customer-centric culture Guest: Utibe Bassey, Vice President of Customer Experience, Dominion Energy Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give Us Feedback: Help us improve the podcast. Want to get in touch? Send a note to host Rob Markey. Notable Quotes: [6:00] “We have a term that we say, ‘all in service,’ because we’re all in service of the customer. We want people, whether they’re front line facing or they’re in audit, supply chain, or ethics, to connect the dots between … even if it’s three or four steps removed, it impacts how customers see our company.” [13:00] “The main thing our team tries to keep front and center for all of our stakeholders is that we need a shared outcome.” [32:00] “When you have an organization whose colleagues think about the customer in a way that connects themselves to the customer, even personally, this stuff is like wildfire.” Additional Resources: Bain & Company’s Case Study with Dominion Energy: How a National Leader Turned CX Ideas into Action with NPS Prism

    33 min

  5. MAY 29

    Ep. 247: Mari Cross | These B2B Customers Don’t Buy Features. They Buy Outcomes.

    Episode 247: What if customers achieve real results—but don’t know it? Most vendors sell functionality. Mari Cross wants customers to see impact—in their own numbers, in real time. Mari Cross, Chief Customer Officer at Infor, is dismantling a common illusion: that delivering software features equals delivering value. Infor sells enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, but Mari's focus is on proving business outcomes. She built a system where customers define the results that matter, track them through the product itself, and act on them with confidence. Her team isn’t there to rescue implementations. They’re there to make value obvious—and to ensure it keeps showing up. Most ERP systems operate like black boxes. Even when customers get results, they can’t always prove it. Mari attacks that gap.  Infor's value mapping begins before the deal closes. Once the system is live, telemetry and process mining show what’s working and where clients are drifting off course. This isn’t a side program—it's baked into the product and reflected back to users in dashboards, metrics, and business KPIs. The shift isn’t just operational. It’s cultural. Mari rebuilt Infor’s customer success team to be proactive, industry-specific, and integrated from day one. That means fewer rescue missions, fewer slide decks, and more conversations grounded in actual product usage and outcome data. And it means the customer success journey starts well before go-live—and runs all the way through renewal. “A good value conversation is if you have some measures in place that are more repeatable than having a value engineer fly in from left field,” Mari says. Learn how Infor’s CareFor Success program gives customer success teams the tools, visibility, and data to show what’s working and where to go next. And learn how and why value delivered is value clients understand. Guest: Mari Cross, Chief Customer Officer at Infor Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give Us Feedback: Help us improve the podcast (feedback link) Want to get in touch? Send a note to host Rob Markey. Key Topics Covered: (01:00) The value void: what clients miss—and what it costs (03:30) Why Infor embeds value mapping into the sales process (06:10) Telemetry, process mining, and outcome tracking (11:45) The difference industry specificity makes (14:50) Mari’s CareFor Success program explained (17:30) Getting sales, success, and product aligned (22:15) Making value visible across the customer lifecycle (25:00) How to track value realization in real time (36:00) Culture change and customer empathy Notable Quotes: [05:00] “If someone wanted to stick completely to standard, they could flip the switch on Day 1 and use our product. That’s very different than the approach, I think, some other vendors take.” [10:00] “In the vision of, ‘We succeed when our customers succeed,’ the [chief customer officer] role [at Infor] was really pivoted to make sure to focus on ongoing value realization and optimization after the go-live date. That is probably a very unique orientation for Infor.”  [12:00] “We are very focused on this idea of value engagement. We launched CareFor Success, which is our success program, last year. But it's completing this value-based customer journey all the way through where we are on a regular basis, across all teams, and repeatedly driving value with our customers by helping them look at the data, optimize, and then that visibility into value delivered within the product.” [29:00] “We want to be in sync with our strategy when we talk about success motions, because that alone is an incredible power. We can become proactive.”

    41 min

  6. MAY 15

    Ep. 246: Deon Nicholas | A Glimpse of the AI Future—It’s Here Today

    Episode 246: The AI future of customer service is already here—and it’s better than most people think. In this episode, Deon Nicholas, President and Executive Chairman of Forethought, joins host Rob Markey to show us how some companies are already using AI to resolve customer issues end-to-end in ways we could barely imagine just a couple of years ago. Deon introduces us to agentic AI: an emerging class of intelligent agents that take real action, integrate across enterprise systems, and adapt to each customer’s needs. Drawing on his experience building Forethought’s platform, Deon reveals how these systems are resolving issues, improving customer satisfaction, and going live in as little as 1 to 30 days. This isn’t a future promise. It’s happening now. The episode explores the architecture behind agentic AI, including Forethought’s use of multi-agent systems, plain-language Autoflows, and a Discover model that learns company policies from historical tickets and call logs. Rob and Deon dig into risk, hallucination, and data privacy concerns—and how to address them without six-month implementation timelines. A surprising insight? Forethought sometimes adds a delay to its lightning-fast responses. Why? To build trust through operational transparency. Deon explains how even loading dots can reassure customers that the system is working on their behalf. Guest: Deon Nicholas, Founder, President, and Executive Chairman, Forethought Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give Us Feedback: Help us improve the podcast (feedback link) Want to get in touch? Send a note to host Rob Markey. Key Topics Covered [1:00] Agentic AI vs. traditional chatbots [2:00] Why chatbots fail regarding decision trees and limitations [4:00] Real-time AI issue resolution and automation [7:00] AI integration with enterprise systems [12:00] Fast deployment and autoflow policy learning [15:00] Multi-agent AI systems and scalability [18:00] AI adoption challenges and business integration [22:00] Balancing AI automation and human agent handoffs [27:00] Cost comparison of AI vs. business process outsourcing [30:00] Rapid AI deployment and testing strategies Time-stamped Notable Quotes [4:00]  “With an agentic AI, you have something that has learned from your business policies. It's read through hundreds of thousands of past conversations, knows the vernacular, knows how to respond, and knows the business policy. So, instead of getting a menu of items, you just have a conversation.” [13:00]  “You probably already have hundreds of thousands of conversations, whether they're sitting in transcripts, support tickets, [or] call recordings. It turns out that is a wealth of data that can train an AI in such a way that you don't need to manually create all these rules and decision trees and workflows.” [ 16:00] “When we first launched our LLM-native AI two years ago, there were some hallucinations. But we've been able to go through, evaluate the model, fine-tune the model, and now we’re at the point where it rarely happens. What we typically say to everyone is: ‘Test it. Test it before you launch it, run a 14-day free trial, proof of value, run us against anyone else in the market.’” [21:00]  “What's beautiful about all of this is now you get to the point where AI can become embedded into the ecosystem—and, ironically, make all of these human experiences better.” [21:00] “AI is making it so that when it's time to actually hand off to a human agent, you're far less frustrated, or far less likely to be frustrated. And then the humans will now be resolving issues that require more judgment and more empathy.”

    42 min

  7. MAY 1

    Ep. 245: Eduardo Roma | When Effortless Digital Isn’t Enough: Competing on Customer Relationships

    Episode 245: What happens when digital transformation becomes table stakes—and customer relationships become the real differentiator? Eduardo Roma, Global Head of Customer Experience Transformation at Bain, believes companies that spent years optimizing transactions and digitizing every interaction are now unprepared for what matters most: becoming more humanized. The human element is now critical, and efficiency can’t be mistaken for real connection. Eduardo outlines three forces reshaping customer experience: Digital is now table stakes, customer power has surged to new heights, and predictive, data-driven relationships are setting brands apart.  Too many organizations still equate digitization with progress while missing what actually builds loyalty: emotional relevance, early engagement, and personalized support that evolves alongside customer needs. Learn how leading firms are using data to build trust, earn loyalty, and deliver meaningful value—especially in the earliest moments of the customer relationship. And discover how to make customer engagement a true driver of growth. Guest: Eduardo Roma, Partner, Bain & Company, Global Head of Customer Experience Transformation Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give us feedback: Customer Confidential Podcast Feedback Send us a note: Contact Rob Topics Covered: 00:30 – Why customer experience is at an inflection point 01:00 – Digital experiences are now table stakes 02:00 – Generative AI and the shift in customer power 03:10 – Moving from reactive to proactive experience management 05:00 – The limits of digitization when every app feels the same 07:00 – Personalization that creates value, not just sells more 08:30 – The problem with local optimization in product teams 11:15 – Digital capture vs. earning engagement 14:00 – Humanizing experiences with data and behavioral science 17:00 – Creating customer value creation plans 20:00 – How new challengers are forcing incumbents to rethink CX 21:30 – Predictive, proactive engagement and relationship signals 24:00 – Why CX professionals must speak the language of value Notable Quotes: “Now that [companies] have digitized experiences, they really need to humanize those experiences through data. And what I mean by that is how to make interactions with customers much more meaningful, much more relevant, [and] much more personalized in a way that those interactions build enduring relationships with customers.” “There are way too many degrees of separation of people who understand the customers and where some of the decisions are being made. It is important for organizations to be aware of those blind spots and to close those gaps.” “The whole idea of just focusing on the experience, we need to move people beyond that. Move to relationships, to stop and think where we are on this experience pointing in time. We need a more holistic view.”  ”Now, customers are much more in control. That is [a] transformation of organizations, when they think about the reach and relevance of the relationship they have with customers.” Additional Resources: Transforming Customer Experience with AI: A Guide to Sustainable Growth (A webinar by Eduardo Roma, Rob Markey, and Phil Sager) Eduardo Roma on Three Changes on Customer Engagement (Video located on Eduardo’s profile page)

    32 min

  8. MAR 6

    Ep. 244: Eric Almquist | The Value Experience: Why Adding Elements of Value Adds Company Value

    Episode 244: What defines a differentiated customer experience? It starts with a clear framework for measuring intangible value and making calculated trade-offs. In this special tribute show, we revisit our 2016 conversation with Eric Almquist, a former partner at Bain & Company, on the Elements of Value. This framework transforms how businesses understand loyalty, brand equity, and growth. Inspired by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Eric made value practical, categorizing 30 elements into functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact levels. His research connected the dots between delivering on multiple elements and revenue growth. Learn how successful industry leaders deliberately layer value over time and how even in B2B, solutions that ease complexity can offer emotional benefits, such as hope. Eric was a pioneer in customer analytics and segmentation, his mantra being: What do customers truly value? His valuable insights continue to shape business thinking. Today we celebrate his legacy in customer experience and brand strategy. Guest: Eric Almquist, former partner, Strategy & Marketing practice, Bain & Company Host: Rob Markey, Partner, Bain & Company Give Us Feedback: We’d love to hear from you. Help us enhance your podcast experience by providing feedback here in our listener survey. Want to get in touch? Send a note to host Rob Markey: https://www.robmarkey.com/contact-rob Topics Covered: [00:01:00] Eric Almquist discusses the Elements of Value and why they were created to help managers better understand demand [00:02:00] Eric’s contributions to customer analytics, segmentation, and experimental design [00:03:00] How the Elements of Value were first developed, inspired by questions about what customers truly value [00:04:00] The connection between the Elements of Value and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and why Maslow’s model is hard to apply in business [00:05:00] The four levels of the Elements of Value: functional, emotional, life-changing, and social impact [00:06:00] The impact of delivering multiple elements of value on revenue growth and customer advocacy [00:07:00] The 2016 Harvard Business Review article and how the framework connects to Net Promoter Score℠ [00:08:00] Unexpected insights from the research, including how B2B solutions can provide emotional value, such as hope [00:09:00] The evolution of the framework, from 16 to 36 elements over time [00:10:00] How value can persist across generations, such as in heirlooms and wealth preservation [00:11:00] The role of brand strategy and the caution against over-promising value in marketing [00:12:00] Closing remarks from Rob Markey, reflecting on Eric Almquist’s impact and legacy Time-stamped Notable Quotes: [00:01:00] "There's a fundamental asymmetry within management that it's easier to manage the cost side than it is the demand side, because the cost, you can see, you can quantify. It's much harder to know how to increase demand, and how to increase revenue. That asymmetry is what's motivated me to develop the elements of value.” [00:04:00] "Maslow's hierarchy of needs was developed in the mid-20th century. So as we're drawing on something very old, when I talk to audiences, I'll ask them if they know Maslow's hierarchy of needs and all the hands go up, and then I ask them how many of you have used it to, say, improve a product or think of a new product, and the hands tend to go down. The reason is that it's pretty academic." [00:05:00] "We began to think about functional elements of value, emotional elements of value that could be life-changing. Following Maslow's hierarchy, the top of the pyramid, the highest level of motivation, was around altruism or charitable giving. We call that social impact." [00:07:00] "If you are delivering on zero elements of value by our threshold definition, revenue growth tends to be around negative 2%. If you're delivering on four or more elements of value, the average is 13%. Eight of the original 47 companies that we looked at were delivering on zero elements of value at our threshold. The truth is if you're delivering on zero elements of value for very long, you're probably going to be crushed by a competitor or be acquired, would be my guess." [00:09:00] "[The elements of value] really began as a thought experiment. I began thinking about all the work that I had done over all the decades, thinking about what I've heard in focus groups and interviews and observations and surveys. I began to realize value is not infinitely complex nor mysterious. There are actually things that you can point to that are appealing or not appealing.” Additional information on what was discussed in today’s episode: HBR article, The Elements of Value, by Eric Almquist, John Senior, and Nicolas Bloch: https://hbr.org/2016/09/the-elements-of-value  Eric’s perspective on the elements of value: https://www.bain.com/insights/eric-almquist-managing-the-elements-of-value-video/ Episode 117 of Customer Confidential with Eric, What Do B2B Customers Want?: https://baincompany.libsyn.com/ep-117-eric-almquist-what-do-b2b-customers-want  Explore the B2C elements of value in more detail here: https://www.bain.com/insights/elements-of-value-interactive

    13 min
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4.9
out of 5
44 Ratings

About

The Customer Confidential Podcast unlocks a world of unparalleled customer and employee loyalty insights. Host Rob Markey, a Net Promoter System pioneer, uses his deep expertise and empathetic approach to challenge conventional wisdom, peel back layers of typical advice, and expose the real stories of industry transformation. Take a deep dive into discussions on CX, customer journey, customer insights, Net Promoter Score, and more. Every episode is a master class in loyalty. Guests include CMOs, CXOs, and heroes of customer-centric transformation, along with thought leaders who inspire them. Exploring organizational structures, operating models, goals, and metrics, Rob and his guests from companies such as Vanguard, American Express, and more bring to light practical marketing, product, customer experience, and technology strategies for earning customer-focused growth. This podcast is your source for untold stories of customer and employee loyalty. Challenging, insightful, and instructive—all in one place. Earned growth starts here.

Information

  • Creator
    Rob Markey, Bain & Company partner and customer experience expert
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2025
  • Episodes
    251
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Net Promoter® and NPS® are registered trademarks and Net Promoter Score and Net Promoter System are trademarks of Bain & Company, Satmetrix Systems and Fred Reichheld. © 1996-2015. Bain & Company
  • Show Website
    Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth

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