Hugh van Praet
Your very own customer experience specialist!
My name is Hugh van Praet, Principal at Guiding Progress. I like to say that I found my professional purpose in helping individuals and businesses elevate their performance.
After several years as a sales executive with companies such as Oracle, IBM, and smaller high-tech start-ups. I knew I had more in me, and that’s why I decided to create my own path in January 2017 as an employee and customer experience specialist, and as an award-winning mentor to CEOs of SMEs and Corporate Leaders.
I have lived and worked in North America and Europe.
Customer Experience Specialist for Your Business
As a customer experience specialist, we help Medium Size businesses in two areas:
- Sell more
- Attract and retain the best team members
We assist distributors, services companies, and SaaS vendors in improving their customer experience and satisfaction, upselling and cross-selling even better and providing tools to their team members to respond better to challenging situations.
After working with our customers, they see improvements in their team member’s interpersonal skills such as self-confidence, communication, and self-motivation.
The first step is to get to know each other a little, understand what you would like to change/improve and see if we can help.
My ideal individual clients
You need a professional sounding board
Digital vs Human part
Digital isn’t replacing the human part of relationships. The human part is becoming more valuable, but how to leverage that in the digital world.
Networking opportunities
Working for yourself doesn’t have to mean being alone. Join a community like-minded of entrepreneurs and sales professionals to leverage best practices.
My ideal individual clients
You need a professional sounding board
Digital vs Human part
Digital isn’t replacing the human part of relationships. The human part is becoming more valuable, but how to leverage that in the digital world.
Networking opportunities
Working for yourself doesn’t have to mean being alone. Join a community like-minded of entrepreneurs and sales professionals to leverage best practices.
My clients might be going through
4 Customer Experience Mistakes Businesses Make
While helping businesses as a customer experience specialist, I’ve identified a few common mistakes that can quickly turn a positive customer experience into a negative one.
Besides these common mistakes as an example, please feel free to download “How to Build Effective Customer Experience Feedback Surveys” with the link below.
1. Not Asking For Feedback
One of the most common mistakes businesses make is not asking for feedback from their customers. This can be a missed opportunity to learn about what your customers want and how you can improve your business.
2. Not Listening to Feedback
Even if you do ask for feedback, it won’t do you any good if you don’t listen to it. Make sure you take the time to read and understand what your customers are saying. This will help you make the necessary changes to improve your business.
3. Not Responding to Feedback
Another mistake businesses make is not responding to feedback. This can make customers feel like their feedback is not important to you. (Make sure you take the time to respond to feedback, even if it’s just to say thank you.) But to react appropriately and not like 61% of all employees, they need to buy into the ethos and values of the company they represent.
4. Not Being Empathetic
Empathy is one of the most important things in customer service. So, remember to take the time to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and see things from their perspective.
Companies that trust us
For YOU
Coaching, Mentorship for Managers, Employees and Other Professionals
We help middle managers or business owners in two areas:
- Build clarity about how they can grow their profession or business.
- Enhance skills needed to get there.
We do this through a seven-week program, as mentioned in the “For You” tab. Our experiences with Oracle, IBM, startups, and receiving a mentorship award allow us to call ourselves “employee experience specialists” and “customer experience specialists”.
Why Guiding Progress?
Our mission as a customer experience specialist is to help businesses of all sizes reinvent the way they think and operate. We see business success as the result of a series of behaviors.
We’ll work with you to identify simple changes that will supercharge performance, customer experience, and ROI, embracing the digital revolution and harnessing the power of human connection.
Our values are Do More with Less, Embrace & Drive Change, and Build Open & Honest Relationships.