Stichting Gouden Oor

What Stichting Gouden Oor does

Stichting Gouden Oor is a Dutch non-profit foundation (Stichting) established in 2004 and headquartered in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. It develops and maintains the Gouden Oor Standaard (Golden Ear Standard), a nine-area assessment framework for organizational customer listening and feedback management. The standard is anchored in ISO guidelines for customer satisfaction and ISO 23592:2021 for service excellence, and covers Voice of the Customer, Leadership, Employees, Resources, Learning & Innovation, Connected Employees, Better Service Delivery, Customer Experience & Trust, and Societal Contribution. The foundation operates a horizontal go-to-market serving Dutch organizations across healthcare, financial services, energy/utilities, and online marketplaces, with named participants including ING, Nuon, ABN Amro, and Marktplaats.

The foundation's product portfolio spans a layered methodology: free self-evaluation tools (Zelfevaluatie Luisterend Vermogen), the Gouden Oor Volwassenheidsscan (maturity scan), the Gouden Oor Route (structured development pathway), the Gouden Oor Assessment, training programs (Gouden Oor Practitioner and LuisterMasterclass), specialist workshops (Service Recovery Journey Mapping, Workshop 'Warme Brief', Klantbewustzijn), and the formal Gouden Oor Erkenning certification. Audits are delivered not directly by the foundation but through four accredited third-party certification bodies: Certificatie in de Zorg, Lloyd's Register Nederland (LRQA), Stv, and Vedas Quality. Eric de Haan serves as chairman (voorzitter), with Rien Brus as staff contact.

Revenue is generated through three streams: certification-related professional services (audit fees via accredited bodies), training and education (LuisterMasterclass, Practitioner, workshops, maturity scans), and publications (books including "Luisteren is goud" by Eric de Haan, 2022). Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is contact-based for organizational assessments and certification. Marketing is digital-first, anchored on the goudenoor.nl website with presence on LinkedIn, X (@goudenoor), YouTube, and Pinterest. The organization is privately held as a Stichting under Dutch law with no disclosed parent, investors, or funding rounds.

Name

Stichting Gouden Oor

Legal name

Stichting Gouden Oor

Website

https://goudenoor.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Stichting Gouden Oor is a Dutch non-profit foundation that develops the Gouden Oor Standard and certifies organizations on customer listening and feedback management, serving Dutch enterprises across healthcare, financial services, and other sectors through training, assessments, and third-party audits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

's-hertogenbosch

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Certification Services: Fees for auditing and certifying organizations against the Gouden Oor Standaard. Accredited certification bodies (Certificatie in de Zorg, Lloyd's Register, Stv, Vedas Quality) perform audits.
2. Training & Education: Revenue from Gouden Oor training programs including LuisterMasterclass, Gouden Oor Practitioner certification, workshops, and maturity scans.
3. Publications & Books: Sale of books authored by foundation leaders including 'Luisteren is Goud' and other publications on feedback management and service excellence.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Stichting Gouden Oor develops and maintains the Gouden Oor Standaard, a nine-area assessment framework for customer feedback management grounded in ISO guidelines and ISO 23592:2021. It sells training programs (LuisterMasterclass, Practitioner), maturity scans, and assessments, and oversees certification audits delivered by accredited bodies that award the Gouden Oor Erkenning to qualifying organizations.

Product overview

Stichting Gouden Oor is a non-profit foundation that provides a comprehensive methodology and certification framework for customer feedback management. The core offering is the Gouden Oor Standaard (Golden Ear Standard), a nine-area framework for assessing organizational listening capabilities. This standard is operationalized through various assessment tools including the Gouden Oor Volwassenheidsscan (maturity scan), Gouden Oor Route (structured pathway), and Gouden Oor Assessment. The foundation also offers professional training programs such as the Gouden Oor Practitioner certification and Gouden Oor LuisterMasterclass, along with specialized services like Service Recovery Journey Mapping and workshops. Organizations can achieve formal Gouden Oor Erkenning (recognition) through accredited certification bodies. The portfolio is complemented by publications including the book 'Luisteren is goud' by Eric de Haan.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Gouden Oor Standaard: The certification framework and standard for effective customer feedback management, rooted in ISO guidelines for customer satisfaction and ISO norm 23592:2021 for service excellence.
• Gouden Oor Erkenning
• Gouden Oor Volwassenheidsscan
• Gouden Oor LuisterMasterclass
• Gouden Oor Practitioner
• Gouden Oor Route

Products and services

• Gouden Oor Standaard Nine-area framework and assessment standard for effective customer feedback management, rooted in ISO guidelines for customer satisfaction and ISO 23592:2021 for service excellence. Used by organizations and certification bodies to evaluate listening capability.
• Gouden Oor Volwassenheidsscan Maturity scan that evaluates how effectively an organization listens to and responds to customer feedback, identifying strengths and improvement areas in feedback management capabilities. For organizations beginning their listening development journey.
• Gouden Oor Route Structured pathway for organizations to develop and improve their customer listening and feedback management capabilities over time.
• Gouden Oor Assessment Evaluation tool that measures organizational performance against the Gouden Oor Standard criteria for customer feedback management excellence.
• Gouden Oor Practitioner Professional certification program that trains individuals in implementing the Gouden Oor methodology for customer feedback management within their organizations.
• Gouden Oor LuisterMasterclass Advanced masterclass focused on developing listening skills and techniques for effective customer engagement and feedback management, based on Theory U methodology.
• Service Recovery Journey Mapping Methodology for mapping and improving the customer journey when service failures occur, helping organizations turn complaints into opportunities for relationship strengthening.
• Gouden Oor Training Klantbewustzijn Customer awareness training designed to help employees understand the importance of customer feedback and develop skills for handling customer input effectively.
• Workshop 'Warmer Brief' Workshop teaching effective letter-writing techniques for responding to customer feedback and complaints in a manner that strengthens customer relationships.
• Service Recovery Monitor Tool for monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of service recovery efforts after customer complaints or feedback incidents.
• Zelfevaluatie Luisterend Vermogen Online self-evaluation tool enabling organizations to assess their own listening capabilities and customer feedback management readiness. Offered free of charge.
• Gouden Oor Erkenning Formal recognition program where accredited certification bodies audit organizations against the Gouden Oor Standard and award recognition to those meeting the criteria for customer listening excellence.
• Boek: Luisteren is goud Book by Eric de Haan titled 'Luisteren is goud' (Listening is Gold) published in 2022 by Boom uitgevers. Sold through the foundation website and publisher.

Named customers4 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Certificatie in de ZorgcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAccredited certification body for auditing organizations against the Gouden Oor Standaard. Contact: Dick Koster / Robert Jan Messemaeckers van de Graaff.
• Lloyd's Register Nederland (LRQA Nederland B.V.)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAccredited certification body (formerly Lloyd's Register). Contact: Fabian de Winter / Jisvi Schreuder. Performs audits for Gouden Oor certification.
• StvcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAccredited certification body for Gouden Oor audits. Contact: Ron van Kesteren.
• Vedas QualitycoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerAccredited certification body. Contact: Hein Dekker. Performs audits for organizations seeking Gouden Oor Erkenning.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• The Customer Institute: The Customer Institute is a Dutch-based CX training and certification organization offering courses and CX certifications. It operates in the same Dutch market with overlapping customer-feedback and customer experience training content aimed at similar enterprise buyers.

Direct peers

• Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA): LRQA is a global certification body performing ISO and proprietary standard audits, and is itself an accredited certification partner of Stichting Gouden Oor. It is a direct peer in certified-audit delivery and competes broadly for the same customer-listening and service-excellence certification mandates.
• CXPA (Customer Experience Professionals Association): CXPA is a global professional association that defines CX standards, certifies individual CX professionals (CCXP), and runs training. It is a direct peer in the CX standards-setting and individual certification model that aligns with Gouden Oor's Practitioner certification and Standard.
• Kiwa: Kiwa is a large Dutch-based Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) body operating certification and accreditation services across many standards. It is a direct Dutch-market peer in the certification governance model that Stichting Gouden Oor uses for its accredited audit partners.
• EFQM: The European Foundation for Quality Management is a non-profit foundation operating an ISO-aligned quality management standard with assessment, certification, and training offerings. It is the structurally closest peer to Stichting Gouden Oor in Europe, sharing the foundation model and standards-based certification GTM.

Broad incumbents

• Bureau Veritas: Bureau Veritas is a global TIC giant offering certification against ISO and proprietary standards across industries. It is a broad incumbent in the certification space with overlapping service excellence / customer experience audit mandates, though it does not specialize in the customer-listening niche.
• TÜV Rheinland: TÜV Rheinland is a global TIC organization offering ISO management system certification, training, and assessment. It is a broad incumbent adjacent to Gouden Oor's accreditation-based audit model, with much greater scale and international footprint.
• DNV: DNV is a global certification and standards body offering management system certification (quality, service, customer experience). It is a broad incumbent that competes for the same third-party audit channel used by Gouden Oor, especially for larger enterprise accounts.

Emerging players

• Medallia: Medallia is an enterprise experience management platform providing customer feedback, sentiment analysis, and CX analytics SaaS. It is an emerging digital competitor for the same enterprise customer-listening mandate, threatening to commoditize parts of Gouden Oor's assessment and training offering.
• Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a leading experience-management platform providing VoC, customer feedback, and CX measurement at scale through SaaS. It competes for the same enterprise customer-listening budgets, offering a technology-led alternative to Gouden Oor's methodology-and-certification approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/goudenoor
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/groups/814347
• Pinterestpinterest.com/pin/138415388530402870

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stichting Gouden Oor