Episode 5: How to build a customer-centric culture that actually lasts with Michel Stevens

Episode 5: How to build a customer-centric culture that actually lasts with Michel Stevens

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Michel Stevens to explore one of the hardest questions in business today: how do you actually embed customer centricity into an organization, instead of just talking about it? From leadership mandate to micro CX leaders on the front line, the conversation digs into what separates organizations that genuinely live customer experience from those that treat it as a quarterly report. Michel challenges the idea that CX is a "grassroots" movement, makes the case for capabilities over maturity models, and explains why following your gut still matters in a world obsessed with data. Through stories about claims processes that should take two days instead of ten, B2B leaders who read customer feedback every morning before opening their inbox, and the difference between leaders who say they care and the ones who prove it when things get hard, the discussion reveals what real customer centricity looks like inside the walls of an organization. A candid and practical conversation about leadership, culture, training, and what it takes to make customer experience part of the daily rhythm of a business. Key findings from the episode * Customer centricity needs both top and bottom. Senior leadership has to endorse and live it, but it also has to live in the walls of the organization through everyday decisions. * CX is a moving target, not a destination. You don't "become" customer centric. You practice it, the same way you practice agile. * Think capabilities, not maturity. Maturity implies an endpoint. Capabilities can be built, stretched, and applied continuously. * Leadership mandate is non-negotiable. Without it, CX projects burn energy and go nowhere. Michel walks away from projects without it. * Watch what leaders do, not what they say. The "go to gemba" test reveals whether a leader actually walks the floor and engages with real customer interactions. * Follow your gut sometimes. Data is powerful, but over-reliance on dashboards can suppress the human judgment that makes great CX possible. * Train continuously, not once. CX training is a series of interventions and nudges, not a single workshop. People need course corrections to stay sharp. * Build micro CX leaders. Empower individuals to make the right call in real situations rather than scripting every interaction. * Use feedback in two loops. The inner loop solves the individual customer's problem. The tactical loop tackles the top three recurring issues, week after week. * Introspection is the new differentiator. As efficiency and innovation become easier to copy, the organizations that know who they are and what matters to them are the ones that will stand out. * Customer centricity is the most fun strategy. Cheapest is a race to the bottom. Most innovative gets caught up in an instant. Closest to the customer is where meaning and competitive edge meet. Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com [https://www.hellocustomer.com/]

Episode 4: Trust Is The New Currency of Digital Customer Experience with Steven Van Belleghem

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos sits down with Steven Van Belleghem to explore a growing tension in modern business: as companies become more efficient and automated, do they risk losing customer trust? From AI-driven service to community-driven brands, the conversation dives into how organizations can balance efficiency with human connection. Steven challenges leaders to rethink their obsession with short-term ROI, argues for intuition alongside data, and explains why the future of competitive advantage will be belonging and trust rather than perfect transactions. Through stories about telcos, viral brand moments, pet-food companies sending condolence gifts, and the famous “doorman vs elevator attendant” metaphor, the discussion reveals how companies can remain human in an increasingly automated world. A candid and practical conversation about leadership, customer trust, and what will truly differentiate companies in the age of AI. Key findings from the episode * Trust requires short-term sacrifice. Truly customer-centric companies are willing to lose money in the short term to build long-term trust. * Micro ROI obsession kills great ideas. Not every action needs a measurable return. Small “ROI-negative” gestures can create huge brand value. * Efficiency alone won’t differentiate companies anymore. AI will make high-quality service cheap and widely available. * Customer relationships will become the real competitive advantage. Brands must create emotional connection and community, not just frictionless transactions. * Consumers now have AI superpowers too. Intelligent agents will make switching providers effortless, increasing price competition. * Community-led brands are rising. Creators and community leaders can rapidly build businesses based on trust and belonging. * Companies must shift from selling products to enabling success. The winning mindset is “how do we help our community succeed?” rather than “how do we sell more?” * Intuition still matters in leadership. Over-reliance on data can suppress creativity and bold decisions. * Most organizations kill good ideas internally. Fear, legal concerns, and risk avoidance often suffocate innovative customer initiatives. * The “doorman vs elevator attendant” lesson. Automation replaces tasks, not meaningful human value. Roles that provide trust, empathy, and real assistance will remain essential. Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com [https://www.hellocustomer.com/]

Webinar. Beyond the Hype: GenAI in Customer Experience in 2026

In this Hello Customer webinar, CEO Bram De Vos is joined by CTO Jonas Beullens for a blunt, practical conversation about AI in customer experience, and why the loudest takes are usually the least useful. They open with a deliberately provocative claim: AI is threatening your job. Then they quickly pop the balloon. Predictions around “AGI is near” and “whole professions will disappear” have been confidently wrong before, and the bigger point is simple: in the next three to four years, CX is far more likely to be reshaped than erased. The work shifts, but the human layer still matters because customers still prefer humans for many moments that count. From there, Bram reframes the hype cycle: what looks like a sudden revolution is often a long evolution. LLMs feel new because they became visible to everyone at once, but the underlying trajectory has been building for years. And the people shouting “this changes everything” often have something to sell, or at least attention to win. Then they tackle the opposite complaint: AI doesn’t know our craft. The answer is “it can, but only if you feed it properly.” Jonas breaks down how language models work, and why outcomes depend heavily on inputs. A simple story makes it stick: a friend failed a golf rules exam using ChatGPT, then passed after uploading the rulebook. Same tool, different context, completely different results. They bring it back to CX execution with concrete examples from Hello Customer: evolving from basic categorization and sentiment to hyper personalized taxonomies, adding implicit feedback from chats, emails, and call transcripts, and using Ask Isaac to turn questions into consistent, data backed reports. A key warning shows up here too: plain ChatGPT can give confident but inconsistent answers to the same question on the same dataset, which is exactly why prompt enrichment, retrieval, and traceability matter. On trust, they land on two pragmatic guardrails: verify sources (like Perplexity does, and like Hello Customer does by linking back to knowledge base articles or verbatims), and treat privacy as real risk, not an afterthought. They call out data leakage and model training concerns, and explain why keeping models and processing inside the EU and preventing data reuse changes the equation. They close on the 2026 direction: the real leap is from insights to action. Automate the low risk work, keep a human in the loop for high risk moments, and aim for fewer dashboards and more guided next steps. The final advice for CX people is refreshingly unglamorous: get your hands dirty, try one small use case each week, share what works, and do not give up. Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com [https://www.hellocustomer.com/] You can watch the full webinar and see the discussion unfold on video here: https://www.hellocustomer.com/en/resources/webinars [https://www.hellocustomer.com/en/resources/webinars]

Webinar. Voice of Customer Intelligence: Using customer feedback to gain competitive advantage

In this Hello Customer webinar, CEO Bram De Vos is joined by Michel Stevens, course director at CXM Academy, for a no nonsense look at how to turn feedback into action, and why most companies still miss the point. Key Topics Covered: * The importance of reading raw customer feedback daily * The blind spot of focusing only on complaints * Two-dimensional customer relationships (emotional connection vs. product satisfaction) * The three layers of service recovery (functional, emotional, social) * Proactive feedback collection strategies * Communicating customer centricity internally and externally * Calculating ROI through promoter/detractor analysis Core Takeaway: "Never assume, always ask" — understanding customer reality through direct conversation is vital. Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com [https://www.hellocustomer.com/] You can watch the full webinar and see the discussion unfold on video here: https://www.hellocustomer.com/en/resources/webinars [https://www.hellocustomer.com/en/resources/webinars]

Episode 3: When Customer Experience Delivers ROI

In this episode of CX Matters, host Bram De Vos brings together two leading voices in customer experience: Michel Stevens and Horst Remes. Michel brings the lens of leadership and culture, while Horst approaches CX through design, experimentation, and evidence. Together they explore the question that often sits unanswered in boardrooms: how do you turn customer experience into measurable financial impact? They discuss why CX has historically been framed around emotions rather than business value, why linking experience to revenue and cost reduction has proven difficult, and how organizations can finally bridge that gap. From the role of strategy alignment to the cost of distrust, the conversation covers both the revenue upside of loyalty and the efficiency gains of happier customers. Michel and Horst share practical examples of redesigning processes, challenging internal assumptions, and reframing CX as a business investment just like any other. They also explore the messy nature of ROI calculations, how to communicate value to CFOs and C-level leaders, and why CX should always start from real customer needs rather than internal logic. The result is a grounded, candid discussion on turning sentiment into evidence and experience into cash. A sharp finale to the three-part series on customer centricity, culture, and measurable impact. Learn how Hello Customer turns feedback into business improvements: https://www.hellocustomer.com [https://www.hellocustomer.com/]