Tom Vander Well

Customer Experience Strategist, Researcher, and Author of This Call May Be Monitored (What Eavesdropping on Corporate America Taught Me About Business and Life)

Expert on

  • Accountability
  • Coaching / Mentoring
  • Communications
  • Customer Experience
  • Inspirational
  • Leadership

Fee Range

$2,500–$7,500

Travels from

IA, US

Biography

Tom Vander Well is a customer experience researcher, consultant, and storyteller who has spent more than three decades listening to customers—literally assessing over 100,000 phone calls and emails between clients and their customers. He helps organizations learn how to truly hear what customers are saying and deliver what drives satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

Tom is CEO and President of Intelligentics, a customer research provider serving clients in telecommunications, manufacturing, distribution, utilities, healthcare, retail, and B2B services since 1987. His work lives at the intersection of data and humanity—where metrics meet moments, and where customer loyalty is either quietly built or accidentally broken.

His forthcoming (March 2026) book, This Call May Be Monitored: What Eavesdropping on Corporate America Taught Me About Business and Life, draws on real-world customer interactions to reveal what actually drives satisfaction, trust, and long-term loyalty. Rather than focusing on scripts or slogans, Tom shows leaders how resolution, courtesy, and respect for customers’ time form the backbone of meaningful customer experience—and how frontline employees shape a company’s reputation one conversation at a time.

Known for his engaging, story-driven style, Tom brings research findings to life with vivid examples, practical frameworks, and immediately applicable insights. Whether speaking to executives, managers, or frontline teams, he helps organizations move beyond buzzwords and toward experiences customers remember—for the right reasons.

Speaker Videos

This Call May Be Monitored: What Customer Conversations Reveal About Your Business

Every customer interaction is a performance—and customers are always listening. Drawing from thousands of real calls and service encounters, Tom reveals the hidden patterns inside customer conversations and what they expose about leadership, culture, and operational blind spots.
Key takeaways:

  • What customers really care about (and what they don’t)
  • Why resolution beats charm every time
  • How frontline conversations predict churn—or loyalty

The Holy Trinity of Customer Satisfaction: Resolution, Courtesy, and Time

Organizations often chase the wrong CX metrics. This session introduces a simple, research-backed framework that explains why some experiences delight customers while others quietly erode trust.
Key takeaways:

  • Why “friendly” isn’t enough without competence
  • How time perception shapes satisfaction more than speed
  • Practical ways to coach teams around what matters most

Your Frontline Is the Brand: Designing Experiences That Don’t Depend on Luck

Customers don’t experience strategies—they experience people. Tom explores how systems, policies, and leadership decisions either support or sabotage frontline performance.
Key takeaways:

  • How leadership behaviors show up in customer interactions
  • Common policy decisions that frustrate both employees and customers
  • How to design service experiences that work on a bad day

From Feedback to Fixes: Turning Customer Data into Action

Most organizations collect plenty of feedback. Very few know what to do with it. This session focuses on closing the loop between insight and improvement.
Key takeaways:

  • How to separate signal from noise in customer comments
  • Why “themes” matter more than scores
  • How to prioritize changes that customers actually notice

Coaching the Moments That Matter: Improving Service One Interaction at a Time

Great service doesn’t come from slogans—it comes from coaching. Tom shows leaders how to use real interactions as tools for growth rather than punishment.
Key takeaways:

  • How to coach without demoralizing
  • Why most quality programs miss the point
  • Building confidence and competence at the same time