Ep. 228: Tony Ezell | Sustaining Success: How Customer Loyalty Drives Organizational Stability
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
Release Date: 02/22/2024
Ep. 249: Scott Taber | Why Four Seasons Turned Guests Away
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
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....
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Ep. 248: Utibe Bassey | Restoring Power, Recharging Customer Experience
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
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...
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Ep. 247: Mari Cross | These B2B Customers Don’t Buy Features. They Buy Outcomes.
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
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...
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Ep. 246: Deon Nicholas | A Glimpse of the AI Future—It’s Here Today
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
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...
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Ep. 245: Eduardo Roma | When Effortless Digital Isn’t Enough: Competing on Customer Relationships
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
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...
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Ep. 244: Eric Almquist | The Value Experience: Why Adding Elements of Value Adds Company Value
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
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...
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Ep. 243: Cutler Andrews | When an 8% Donor Base Funds a University: Unlocking Hidden Alumni Engagement Opportunities
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
Episode 243: At Emory University, 99% of donations come from just 8% of donors. It’s a small alumni minority funding almost the majority of the university. This raises a big question: How do you cultivate loyalty among everyone else? In this episode, Emory’s Chief Experience Officer, Cutler Andrews, describes how they’re dismantling silos—by merging alumni relations, donor relations, and events—to offer a cohesive experience. They’re seeing success. Within five years, Emory’s engagement nearly doubled from 28,000 to 54,000 participating alumni. Learn how Emory’s four engagement...
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Ep. 242: Kunal Madhok | The Black Box Fallacy: Why Wells Fargo Doesn't Trust an AI It Can't Explain
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
Episode 242: Wells Fargo has established a clear position on artificial intelligence: If you can't explain how an AI model works, you shouldn't deploy it. This stance challenges the common assumption that black box algorithms are acceptable costs of advanced AI capabilities. In this episode, Kunal Madhok, Head of Data, Analytics, and AI for Wells Fargo's consumer business, reveals how the bank has operationalized this philosophy to enhance customer experiences while maintaining rigorous standards for model explainability and ethical deployment. The stakes for financial...
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Ep. 241: Abhii Parakh & Mike Estep | Flawless Over Flashy: Prudential's Unconventional Path to Customer Experience Leadership
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
Episode 241: When is mastering the basics a differentiator? In an industry where complexity is the norm, Prudential Group Insurance has made a counterintuitive strategic choice. While many companies chase innovation through digital transformation and enhanced features, Prudential has discovered that operational excellence—the "absence of noise"—can be a more powerful differentiator. Abhii Parakh and Mike Estep reveal why group insurance demands a fundamentally different approach to customer experience than high-touch industries like hospitality or travel. For Prudential, success...
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Ep. 240: Caroline Lombardi | The Evolution of the Chief Customer Officer: From Scorekeeper to CEO Successor
Customer Confidential: Untold Stories of Earned Growth
Episode 240: How has the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) role evolved over time? Traditionally focused on tracking metrics, CCOs now play a proactive and forward-facing role in driving business innovation. In this episode, Caroline Lombardi, Global Head of the Hospitality & Leisure Practice at Egon Zehnder, explores the CCO role’s dramatic evolution. Customer experience—no longer just about tracking satisfaction or retention—has become a valuable springboard for boosting revenue and gaining a competitive edge. Successful CCOs are skilled in holistic customer experiences, from call...
info_outlineHow does a global medical technology company maintain customer focus while managing operational challenges during a pandemic?
In this episode, Tony Ezell, executive vice president of North America and chief marketing officer for Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), explores how integrating customer feedback into your business strategy can maintain—and even enhance—customer loyalty by helping shape business strategies that are both robust and responsive to evolving customer needs.
Tony outlines how customer loyalty and adaptability are essential strategic tools in healthcare innovation. Together, we explore how BD leveraged a customer-centric approach to skillfully navigate operational continuity and customer satisfaction.
We also take a short trip down memory lane to connect the dots from our chat with Tony a decade ago, exploring the ongoing impact of customer experience and Net Promoter Systems on Tony's evolving career trajectory and leadership style.
Guest: Tony Ezell, executive vice president of North America and chief marketing officer, Becton, Dickinson and Company
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Send a note to host Rob Markey: https://www.robmarkey.com/contact-rob
Episode Highlights
- Introduction and Tony Ezell's background [01:59]
- The balance of operational responsibilities and customer-centricity [04:53]
- Covid-19’s impact on customer loyalty at BD [05:50]
- Implementing customer feedback into business strategy [09:09]
- BD’s challenges and opportunities [12:09]
- Tony’s NPS work [15:07]
- Customer feedback scores [20:07]
- Partnerships [21:30]
- Connecting the dots between 2014 and today [26:22]
- Driving loyalty [27:46]
Quotable Quotes:
- "We have customers who were starting to decide whether they want to go away from us, who are now calling us to engage, to help them solve their problems again.” [01:19]
- “I always think about what drives loyalty, and do we know what drives loyalty? And are we actually delivering on the things that matter most to our customers, that drive loyalty? And that’s what we’re operating on now.” [04:33]
- “Our customers see us as one company, not as seven or nine different businesses. And now that we’ve done that, we’re starting to make improvements.” [12:38]
Additional Resources:
- Hear Tony’s 2014 podcast with Rob Markey: “Breaking Down the ‘Invisible Fence’”
Host: Rob Markey