In a packed room at Elite Business Live, the first panel of the day buzzed with anticipation. Many audience members had probably sat through their fair share of business panels and expected the usual platitudes and polite agreement. What they got instead was a punchy, passionate debate that left everyone genuinely inspired, and more than a little reflective.
Customer Experience (CX) was the battlefield, and the panellists: Chloe Clover (WNDYR), Mark Finlay (Moneypenny), Nicola Cook (Company Shortcuts), and Joseph Valente (Trade Mastermind), marched in with real-world war stories, bold opinions, and surprisingly candid reflections. Here’s what we learned.
It’s not just lip service. CX is make or break
The panel kicked off with a provocative question: Why does CX matter when everyone’s under pressure to cut costs? Isn’t it just a race to the bottom?
Chloe Clover answered with calm defiance: “Short-term, yes… It’s tough. But long-term? Customer experience is your moat. It’s how you build trust, loyalty and longevity.” Her words hung in the air like a challenge to every business cutting corners.
Mark Finlay nodded in agreement. At Moneypenny, which handles calls and digital interactions for thousands of businesses, the data is clear: the ones that invest in CX thrive. “It’s a brave decision,” he admitted, “but those who double down on service, especially now, are the ones who survive and grow.”
CX is your brand, whether you like it or not
What struck everyone was Nicola Cook’s razor-sharp insight: “Customers don’t compare you to your competitors. They compare you to every other interaction they’ve ever had.” In other words, your firm isn’t just up against the rival down the road, it’s up against Apple, Disney, and Amazon in the customer’s mind.
Nicola’s advice was simple but powerful: “Map every process, pre-sale and post-sale, based on what your customer needs and expects. Every touchpoint should leave a positive emotional footprint.”
The trade secret
For Joseph Valente, the serial entrepreneur and former Apprentice winner, customer experience is a weapon that many SMEs still ignore, particularly in trades. “When I pivoted from plumbing maintenance to boiler installs,” he shared, “I studied British Gas, great service but expensive! So, I copied their sales experience and offered it at a mid-market price. We blew the competition away.”
His point? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to roll it better than everyone else.
Automation without alienation
Naturally, the conversation turned to technology. Can AI and automation deliver the kind of CX customers expect?
Mark Finlay was unequivocal: “Absolutely not, at least not alone. People are being forced down automated routes that frustrate more than they help.” At Moneypenny, automation is used carefully, in tandem with real humans. The goal isn’t cost-saving, but journey-improving. “Don’t automate just to save money. If you lose one high-value client because of a poor automated experience, you’ve lost far more than you saved.”
Nicola added another layer: map the emotion in your customer journey. Then decide where tools, AI, automation, or human support can best serve that need. Her approach, involving Post-it notes, boardroom tables and detailed journey mapping, felt refreshingly grounded in a world obsessed with tech buzzwords.
The overlooked CX superpower
One of the most moving moments came from Chloe Clover, who reframed CX to include not just clients, but teams too. “Only 8% of people in our industry are from working-class backgrounds,” she said. “We take mental health seriously. Our staff can take no-questions-asked mental health days each quarter. That’s part of our customer experience, because a valued team creates value for clients.”
Mark echoed that sentiment, explaining Moneypenny’s ESG initiatives in Wrexham and the increasing importance of social impact in client procurement decisions. “Gen Z will make up 30% of the workforce by 2030,” Chloe added. “And they care deeply about who they buy from and work for.”
Profit and purpose can coexist
There was a refreshing realism to the discussion. Joseph Valente put it bluntly: “You can do more good when you’re profitable.” He shared how his eight-figure training business is investing in AI agents to improve customer outreach, and his own voice is cloned to do it. “That’s 2,000 calls a day with my voice,” he said with a grin.
Nicola offered a final word of balance. “We don’t need to ‘sell’ the way we used to. Today, customers arrive 75–80% of the way through their decision-making journey before they even speak to a human.” The task now, she said, is to build an environment that allows them to buy with clarity, value and trust.
CX is culture
As the panel walked off stage, one thing became crystal clear: CX isn’t a department. It’s a culture. It’s the value you place on people, your customers, your team, your community. And in today’s crowded market, it’s not just a nice-to-have. It might just be your strongest differentiator.
So, ask yourself: when a customer interacts with your brand, whether via chatbot, phone call, or in-store, are they walking away with a story worth telling?
