This month we have more to share than usual: registration is open for CX Conference 2026, and every attendee goes home with a copy of our new book. We also have a First Fridays recap worth your time, Kim and Lisa’s latest CX Breakdown episode, and updates on two CX Institute offerings built to help your frontline teams. Here’s everything.
Registration Is Open for CX Conference 2026, and Every Attendee Gets a Copy of Our New Book
Two days of keynotes, workshops, and practical sessions for B2B CX leaders, October 20–21 in Charlotte, NC. This year, every registered attendee will go home with a copy of The Industrial Customer Experience Playbook, Lynn Daniel and Doug Fowler’s new book on loyalty, growth, and operational excellence in B2B industrial companies.
The agenda includes a keynote from Caley Edgerly, President & CEO of Sonny Merryman, a hands-on Analyst Interactive session, a workshop on presenting CX initiatives to senior leadership, customer touchpoint mapping, and a half-day session with Dr. Anna Kallschmidt on the unwritten rules that shape workplace culture and customer experience.
Register for CX Conference 2026 →
First Fridays Recap: The Unwritten Rules That Shape Your Customer Experience
On September 4, Bryan Gregory sat down with Dr. Anna Kallschmidt, an industrial-organizational psychologist and author of The Unwritten Rules of Work, for a conversation about why employee experience is the missing link in most CX programs.
One line worth sitting with: “Culture is not what you said it is on your website. It’s what people know is accepted. It’s what people know is rewarded. It’s what they know will be punished.” The conversation also covered Gallup’s finding that global employee disengagement costs the world economy ten trillion dollars a year, and the 2020 Starbucks “meaningful connection” cup mandate as a case study in forced positivity that customers and employees both saw through immediately.
Dr. Kallschmidt will build on this conversation with a half-day workshop at CX Conference 2026 this October.
Watch the Full Conversation & Read the Recap →
The CX Breakdown: When an 8 Is Actually Good News
Kim Battles and Lisa Lyle’s latest episode looks at a real heavy equipment service survey: three 8s, no 10s anywhere. On a system that only rewards 9s and 10s, that number looks like a problem. But this same customer rated his experience a 2 back in 2022, after a failed repair, weeks of downtime, and getting charged twice for the same issue.
An 8 today isn’t mediocrity. It’s a customer who went from a 2 to an 8 after the dealer fixed what actually mattered. The lesson: don’t coach your customers on the scale. Read the comments. Check the history. The number is the headline. The comments are the story.
EX Connect: Listening to Employees Before They Leave
Skilled employees rarely leave without warning signs first. EX Connect is a structured employee listening program, onboarding surveys at days 7, 45, and 90, ongoing engagement surveys, and independent exit interviews that tend to surface more honest answers than an internal HR conversation can.
The EX Connect page has interactive sample surveys for each onboarding milestone and a live sample dashboard showing how results roll up by department and location, so you can see exactly what the program looks like before any conversation with our team.
Call Monitoring & Coaching: Hear What Your Customers Hear
Every call is a first impression. Call Monitoring & Coaching grades your team’s recorded customer calls against a custom scorecard built for your business, then delivers written feedback, monthly scorecards, trend reports, and coaching priorities, so you know exactly who needs help and on what.
It works in three steps: send us your recorded calls securely, we grade each one against your criteria, and you get the scorecards and coaching priorities to act on. Optional add-ons include AI Interactive Training and one-on-one Phone Coaching built directly from your team’s own graded calls.
Explore Call Monitoring & Coaching →
Ultimate Call Handling: Every Call Is a Customer Experience Moment
The person who answers the phone at the parts or service desk may be the only human interaction a customer has with your dealership all week. Ultimate Call Handling is a short, simulation-based CX Institute module employees complete at their own workstation. Employees practice real dealership call scenarios, equipment down, a frustrated customer, an unclear transfer, and build the instinct to handle them well before a real customer is on the other end of the line.
Explore Ultimate Call Handling →
A phone call, an exit interview, a survey comment, a room full of peers at a conference. Every one of these is a customer or an employee telling us something. The work is making sure we’re set up to actually hear it, and to act on what we hear.
Lynn Daniel, Founder & CEO, The Daniel Group
Click here to schedule a meeting.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When and where is CX Conference 2026?
- CX Conference 2026 takes place October 20–21, 2026, in Charlotte, NC. The two-day event includes keynotes, workshops, and practitioner sessions for B2B CX leaders. Every registered attendee receives a copy of The Industrial Customer Experience Playbook by Lynn Daniel and Doug Fowler.
- What is The Industrial Customer Experience Playbook?
- The Industrial Customer Experience Playbook is a new book by Lynn Daniel and Doug Fowler of The Daniel Group covering loyalty, growth, and operational excellence in B2B industrial companies. Every attendee of CX Conference 2026 will receive a copy.
- What did the September First Fridays session cover?
- The September 4 First Fridays session featured Dr. Anna Kallschmidt, industrial-organizational psychologist and author of The Unwritten Rules of Work. The conversation explored why employee experience is the missing link in most CX programs, including Gallup's finding that global disengagement costs the economy ten trillion dollars a year and why forced positivity initiatives tend to backfire.
- What is EX Connect and who is it for?
- EX Connect is The Daniel Group's structured employee listening program. It includes onboarding surveys at days 7, 45, and 90, ongoing engagement surveys, and independent exit interviews. It is designed for B2B industrial companies that want to understand employee experience at each stage of the employment lifecycle — from first week through departure.
Employee Feedback Programs
Understand how employee experience drives your customer experience outcomes.
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