Make your business worth choosing
Corporate acupuncture for customer-passionate leaders
500+ mio
1+ million
Top-decile
Net Promoter Scores
customers touched
employees impacted
TRUSTED BY
Adidas · Audi · Barclays · Bekaert · Bordeaux Wines · Bridgestone · BNP Paribas Asset Management · Brightfish · Coca-Cola East-Japan · Deloitte · Etex · Gemalto · Generali Group · Grant Thornton · ING · Kinepolis · Lantmännen Unibake · Lexus · MCE · Mercedes-Benz · Mondi · Nationale Nederlanden · Oriflame · Philips · Pontes · Reebok · Sanoma · Teijin Aramid · Toyota · Vodafone · Wabco · Weber-Stephen · Wireco
Customers need a reason to choose you.
Teams need one to deliver on that promise.
So call me when you worry…
You’re becoming interchangeable
Everyone in your industry starts looking alike. Algorithms decide who gets reviewed, selected or even bought. No matter how fast you move, customer expectations evolve faster.
I help you introduce offers and experiences that tap into your customer’s unchanging needs, so they consider you worth choosing. Even when their bots say otherwise.
Your transformation may not stick
Your teams mentally sigh when they hear about the next change initiative. You know cascading harder isn’t the answer, but also that customer promises don’t deliver themselves.
I help you develop and deliver customer, strategy and AI transformations that teams embrace. Not because you tell them, but because they represent a future they want to be part of.
I found that both problems are often one and the same.
The future you promise isn’t clear enough, isn’t wanted enough, or is too hard to achieve.
In either case, we rely on The Transformation Code to find and make the two or three moves that unblock momentum.
Not yet ready to talk?
Corporate acupuncture?
Don’t worry, it doesn’t involve any needles.
Though perhaps a few pointed questions.
It’s the way a friend described how I work.
We park the fancy sprints, magic metrics or vibe-coded agents.
At least until we know they add real value.
Instead, I bring my little black book.
We discuss the offer, experience, strategy or technology on your mind.
Review the work already done. Team views. Gut feelings.
Test, refine and pivot prototypes as needed.
The outcome
Two or three clear moves that give customers a reason to choose you and energise your teams.
Who then take it forward. With or without me involved.
Hi, I’m Alain
I’m a customer transformation architect
I learned my trade the hard way.
Global programmes. Local initiatives. From accounting to cars to wine.
I had great results. Got painful bruises.
But while proud of the work, I felt my profession drifting.
Experiences that weren’t. Transformations that fizzled. The mad race towards Artificial Irrelevance.
So I looked elsewhere.
For seven years, I stepped out of my business bubble to learn from the real experts in emotion, humanity and change: neuroscientists, theatre makers, systems thinkers.
A tarot reader taught me the power of narrative. A Nepalese monk threw rice in my face. An improv coach made me play an ATM. Apparently I wasn’t convincing, as she recast me as a tree.
We went deeper than I ever had. Even turned McFunerals into meaningful farewells.
It taught me that real change comes from creating a future humans want. And then helping them get there.
It’s how you become a business worth choosing. By your customers. Your teams. Yes, even yourself.
The Transformation Code
Δ = Story × Resonance × Flow
After three decades in customer transformation, I reached a deceptively simple conclusion:
To become worth choosing, a business needs to help its customers, teams and stakeholders become who they want to be.
Help them transform.
Which always comes down to the same three factors:
Story: A new way to see the future that is possible
Resonance: The desire to achieve that goal
Flow: The freedom, tools and conditions to act
The opportunity this creates for leaders is to look beyond the corporate noise and find the two or three moves that make transformation real.
Selected Cases
I’ve been involved in too many projects to list, but these cases give a first flavour. I'll happily discuss limited case details and other credentials in a personal conversation (subject to NDA).
-
At Pontes Crematoria, we looked beyond the death care industry’s focus on operational efficiency to ask what grieving people actually need.
The result: a crematorium opening in 2029, designed to redefine the industry’s standards, scripts and rituals.
-
At a global non-food retailer, we flipped the usual AI-first cascade by asking why teams would, and wouldn’t, want to use AI.
The result: a pragmatic, honest AI narrative that fitted the corporate strategy, addressed teams’ aspirations and fears, and shaped a programme to make AI relevant to store staff.
-
Luxury car brands obsess over the vehicle. At Lexus, we went further, turning the brand’s ‘omotenashi’ heritage into an automotive experience on a par with five-star hospitality.
The result: a retail experience that helped Lexus become the NPS leader in most European markets.
-
When ING Insurance (later NN) prepared for its IPO, we paired international experience standards with a customer movement that invited staff to show customers they cared.
The result: hundreds of grassroots initiatives, leading to #1 or other top NPS positions in every market.
-
At Grant Thornton, we looked beyond the professional services focus on meeting clients’ needs to ask how clients should feel at every stage of the relationship.
The result: shared standards for both the practical and emotional sides of client experience, with measurement and capability development across 100+ markets.
-
At Generali, we broke with the habit of scripting every possible customer scenario from headquarters. Instead, we crafted a global customer manifesto and worked with market teams to turn it into experiences they could stand behind.
The result: a set of customer standards for purchase, claims, service and renewal, with the people, technology and organisational capabilities to deliver them.
-
At Philips, we shifted marketing’s focus from the company’s technology-centric heritage towards an approach led by customer insight.
The result: one of the world’s first global, cross-functional Net Promoter programmes, stronger customer-led marketing capabilities, and better alignment between marketing, sales and technology.
-
Some other projects include:
Creating and implementing international experience standards at Oriflame, Vodafone, Bridgestone, …
Implementing customer-centricity programmes at Bekaert, Deloitte, Weber-Stephen, Mercedes, McLaren, …
Developing and introducing new value propositions at MCE, Lantmännen-Unibake, Sanoma Group, …
Implementing customer voice, strategy and employee programmes at Toyota.
Setting up a global advocacy programme for Bordeaux wines (tasty!)
and so on …
What others say about me
-
![Alexandra de Greck]()
"With his collaborative, commercial and hands-on approach, Alain sparked a fire for customer experience across the company from the moment he started."
Alexandra de Greck
Chief Operations OfficerOriflame
-
![James Wallman]()
From our first interactions, I thought: "Wow, this guy's sharp - super smart & also super honest. He exemplifies the concept of radical candour."
James Wallman
CEOWorld Experience Organisation
-
![Nikolaas Tahon]()
For the first time in my life, I got a more structured way of thinking about customer experience and client satisfaction.
Nikolaas Tahon
Global Board MemberDeloitte
-
![Dominik Endler]()
Alain helped define and form our customer-centricity program. His skill to listen, understand and bring everything into the context of his client is amazing.
Dominik Endler
VP Customer & Commercial Excellence and CMOBekaert
-
![Paul English]()
Alain has worked with us on our CX agenda from the beginning. He brings clarity, relevance and a commercial mindset to engage a diverse and international audience.
Paul English
Global Leader - Markets & ClientsGrant Thornton International
