What works (and what doesn’t) when building CX teams from scratch in organizations still learning to value customer experience.

In this episode of the Simplify CXM Podcast, host Shilpa is joined by Shelly Chandler, SVP of Customer Experience at Wells Fargo. With two decades of experience spanning banking, consulting, and CX leadership, Shelly brings deep insights into what it takes to roll out successful customer experience programs — especially in companies where CX isn’t fully understood yet.

Shilpa and Shelly talked about:

• - The classic mistake of sounding like a consultant when you're actually inside the organization.

  - How to avoid being seen as just “the feedback team”

  - What it really means to tie customer insights to business outcomes

  - The importance of aligning early with business goals and forming internal alliances
  - Why CX leaders need to sharpen their data skills — and how data + emotion win minds and hearts
  - Tips for evaluating new CX roles: are you signing up to build something or just to run surveys?
  - Ways to influence without authority in large organizations
  - How to deal with teams who claim “we already know what the customer wants”
  - Shelly’s favorite brand experience — and the emotional power of personal touches in CX

How can customer experience (CX) teams turn crises into opportunities for growth and action?

In this episode, Shilpa is joined by Mary Catherine, a seasoned customer experience leader at Autodesk. Known for her expertise in creating actionable insights from customer feedback, Mary shares valuable lessons on CX strategies, handling crises, and the power of listening to both internal and external customers.

Through Mary’s journey at Autodesk, she reveals how the team transformed negative feedback into a powerful driver of change, earning customer trust and executive buy-in along the way.

Shilpa and Mary discussed:

• Turning Feedback into Action
• Getting Executive Buy-In
• Building Trust in B2B CX
• Celebrating Wins with Skeptics
• Advice for CX Newcomers

In this episode, I sit down with Chris to dive deep into what it truly takes to build meaningful and successful customer relationships. We talk about the importance of empathy, customer success strategies, and how connecting on a human level can transform the customer experience.

Chris shares his insights on how businesses can move beyond logos and focus on the people behind them. One of his key examples is how Salesforce highlights real people on their customer pages rather than just showcasing brands. It's all about bringing a more personal touch to your customer interactions.

We covered:

• Practical steps for building a successful customer success team
• The importance of empathy in creating strong customer relationships
• The role of ownership and accountability in delivering great customer experiences
• Chris’s hiring strategy: finding people with a "warm heart and a cool head"
• Insights into how brands like John Lewis are excelling in customer experience
• Why personalizing interactions is key to customer loyalty
• How to operationalize a customer 360 plan by starting small and growing it
• The impact of putting a human face behind the brand in customer interactions