Three years ago, Wendy McLaughlin stood in front of a room of retail leaders and told them customer experience wasn’t a survey score, it was a Monday morning decision. Some of them didn’t quite believe her. By the time NPS had climbed from 69 to 83 across a 54 store network, they did. It’s the pattern that’s run through Wendy’s whole career: an insight is only worth having if it changes what a team does next.
That belief was forged over two decades leading large, multi site retail and sales teams across New Zealand, coaching leaders through the unglamorous work of turning strategy into habit. It’s also what’s kept her close to Feedback ASAP for the past six years, before formally joining as GM CX Growth NZ.
“I’ve never been interested in measuring how customers feel and stopping there. I want to know what we’re going to do about it by Monday.”
WHAT WENDY ACTUALLY BELIEVES
Wendy’s approach is built on a simple conviction: intent means nothing without action. She believes advocacy is built, not measured, one clear routine and one accountable leader at a time. She believes the why has to reach the frontline, not just the leadership table, or nothing changes. And she believes celebrating progress, not just the score, is what makes change stick. In her role at Feedback ASAP, she works directly with clients and their leaders across New Zealand to build the coaching, accountability and follow through that turns customer feedback into growth.
BACKGROUND
Before Feedback ASAP, Wendy led national retail and sales teams for organisations including 2degrees and Ziera Shoes, responsible for networks spanning corporate, dealer and franchise models and hundreds of frontline team members. Alongside the NPS lift at 2degrees, she built a Retail Apprenticeship Programme now in its third cohort, and was recognised as part of a Retail Employer of the Year win in 2025. She holds an International Coaching Certificate and has spent her career proving that disciplined coaching, not just good intentions, is what moves the number.
OUTSIDE WORK
Based in Auckland, but with her heart scattered the length of New Zealand, Wendy’s happiest on a walk with her husband and two fur babies, or pottering in the garden with a coffee in hand.