Podcast appearances and mentions of Jason S Bradshaw

Jason S. Bradshaw, at 14 years of age started his first business by 21. He had started and successfully exited 3 separate businesses. In every instance, he disrupted the marketplace and won by delivering great customer experiences. He has worked for some of the world's most recognizable brands like Target and Volkswagen, helping them transform the experience they deliver and grow profits.   Today he works with businesses of all sizes to super charge their growth, all still with a focus on the experience they deliver.    Questions • You were on our show, I think it was back in 2021. Talk to me about what's happened since then, how have things been for you? • Could you tell us about the book that you had before It's All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience, some of the key tenants or themes that came out across that book? • As it relates to how to start improving the experience for your customers and your employees without needing to invest in additional money, what's one thing that we can start with? • As it relates to the employee experience versus the external customer experience, which one would you give more attention to? • You spoke a little bit earlier about two books you're currently working on but they haven't been published as yet. Could you share with us what those books are going to be about? • Are there any trends as it relates to customer experience that you're seeing currently that you believe will continue to be big things for 2024? And two things that you believe organisations should be looking to focus on for their organisation as it relates to strengthening their customer experience or growing your customer experience? What would those be? • What's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? • Can you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. • Where can listeners find you online? • Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track if for any reason you got derailed or you got off track, the quote kind of gets you back there. Do you have one of those? Highlights  What's Happening with Jason Now! Me: Now, I know that you were on our show, I think it was back in 2021. Talk to me about what's happened since then, how have things been for you?   Jason shared that things have been busy. He's finalizing the manuscript on not one but two new books which will come out early in the new year. He's also been working with some really unique organizations, in various ways as interim Chief Growth Officer as a pure consultant. And of course, continuing to do keynote presentations and his work supporting leaders and boards across the globe, transform the experiences they deliver. It's been a really unique time watching organizations of all shapes and sizes, navigate this post pandemic world, and what they've considered a priority and what they haven't.   About the Book – All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience – Key Tenets from the Book Me: So, for those of our listeners that would not have tapped into your previous episode with us. Could you tell us about the book that you had before It's All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience, which is one of the top reasons we had brought it on. That book was so amazing, could you tell us about some of the key tenets or themes that came out across that book?   Jason shared that It's All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience, that was his first walk. And it was a bit of a passion project to start with, because he'd always wanted to write a book. And he finally put the theory into action and wrote a book that was designed to help any individual in an organization understand a couple of key things.  Firstly, the key link between customer and employee experience, you can do some tactical things to improve the customer experience for a short period of time, but if you really want to maintain and differentiate the experience that you deliver to your competitors, then you also need to focus on the employee experience. So, they tackle that in the book.  They also tackle in the book how customer experience is not a soft measure, it's quite often seen as hugging your customers, or something that's rather soft. But actually, in the book, you'll discover that there's some really strong commercial ties and commercial impacts to the work of a true customer experience professional.  And then the third area that they explore in the book is how to actually go about getting started. It always frustrates him, throughout his career where he's worked in 7 different industries, banking, finance, government, automotive, retail, etc.  It's always frustrated him when he's turned up to an organisation and the first thing that he hears is, “We haven't been able to do anything because we don't have the money to start.”  And he's like you can start today, you do not need to throw millions of dollars at a problem to start improving it. And in the book, he gives a really practical step by step guide on how to start improving the experience for your customers and your employees without needing to invest in additional cent or build out a new system. Of course, he talked about some of that stuff as well in the book, but the key message is just get started and here's the way on how to do it.   Improving the Customer and Employee Experience Me: So, I like the train of thought as it relates to so you don't need millions of dollars to start, but let's say you have a CEO in front of you that says, but Jason, it takes money, it costs money to make money and to train the staff, to get them to be customer oriented, to bring in a consultant, we don't have the resources, we don't have an HR department, we don't have a resource person internally that we can use. What's one thing that we can start with then since you're suggesting we can do this without millions of dollars invested?   Jason shared that the first thing is to define what great looks like and measure yourself against that. So, if a CEO came out today and said, “I think the company is successful if all of our phones are pink and I'm going to measure how many of our phones in the company are pink.” Well, all of a sudden without training anybody, without spending a cent on banners or education programmes, or retreats to get people inspired, the sheer fact that you've stated that it's a key goal, this sheer fact that you're measuring, it means that someone in procurement is going to start buying pink phones. And it's the same with customer experience and employee experience, define what great looks like and define how you're going to measure it, and start doing that even in the most rudimentary ways. But the moment you start talking about it, the moment you start putting focus on it, people will start to move towards it.  Now the problem is, most organizations say we want to be known for delivering great customer service or delivering great customer experiences and they stop there.   And then 6 months down the track they say, “Well, we said we wanted to be famous for this. But nothing's improved.”  Well, you've missed the key point. The key point is you've got to define what great looks like. So, what do you mean when you say, we want to be great at customer experience, what defines or represents great in our terms, and then you have to say, and I'm going to measure it this way and this will be the marker of success. When you combine that clarity, you don't need to instantly spend money on new systems or new profiles or training because people will start gravitating towards it. But if you don't have the clarity, people will just fumble around and they won't deliver any improvements. In fact, in many instances, without clarity, you'll go backwards.   Employee Experience Versus External Customer Experience Me: Now, you talk a lot about great customer experiences, and defining what that looks like what great looks like, what are your views, since this is an area that you were practising, and you have a lot of experience in it as it relates to the employee experience versus the external customer experience? Do you believe there's a direct correlation between the two? And if you were to let's say for example, focus on one more than the other, which one would you give more attention to?   Jason shared that that's the million dollar question always. If you have to choose one, the area to start out on is the employee experience. And he says that because try to get a happy employee to deliver a bad experience, it's less likely. Try to get a disgruntled employee to deliver a great experience, almost impossible because they're so caught up in their own drama and their own challenges that they're faced every day.  An organization that gets a specialist to come in, they wrote a 300 step process to deliver a great customer experience. But they don't train their team members, and they don't align their systems to the processes. The team member can't deliver that great customer experience that the process was designed to deliver, because everything is getting in the way. But if you say to an employee, I'm going to invest in you, I'm going to make this a great place to work, and you are going to want to see the company succeed, then they will find a way to deliver a better experience for customers.  Because intrinsically, they're being motivated by the great experience that they have. So, if you have to choose, absolutely go with employee experience first. The caveat he'll put on that though, is yes, you can start with employee experience, but you still have to define what great looks like for the customer.   Books Jason is Currently Working On Me: Now, you spoke a little bit earlier about two books, I think you mentioned that you're currently working on but they haven't been published as yet. Could you share with us what those books are going to be about?    Jason shared that one book is a really practical application book. And what he means by that is you can turn to almost any page in the book, and read just that page, and go and do work that will improve the experience of your customers, of your products, of your employees. It's designed in a way to encourage action, and take away some of the fear of not knowing what to do. So, think of it as a bit of an Experience Management Handbook.  The other book is very similar to his first one in the sense that it's more traditionally, a more traditional business book. And it explores this concept of moving beyond the singular transaction with a customer or with an employee and focuses on what's next. What does a customer really need to see to be fiercely loyal, for example, to your organisation, and again, it will provide some practical guides to how you go about implementing some of the concepts he talked about in the book.  And importantly, it's written in a way that it doesn't matter if you're the team leader of an organization or the CEO, you can see yourself having success and delivering success and growing your business through it.    Me: All right, and when are those books expected to hit the newsstands?    Jason stated that the year's getting away on us. So, both books will come out early next year, towards the back end of January.   Focus for 2024 Me: Now, we're embarking on a new year, as you just mentioned before, we're less than less than 60 days. Are there any trends as it relates to customer experience that you're seeing currently that you believe will continue to be big things for 2024? And if you are to, let's say two things that you believe organizations should be looking to focus on for their organization as it relates to strengthening their customer experience or growing your customer experience? What would those be?   Jason shared that he's going to give three if that's okay. The first one is specifically aimed at the CX professionals in organizations, you have to tie your work to the return on investment, you have to deliver a return on the investment. He's seeing companies all around the world, disinvest in customer experience programmes because the CX leaders in those organizations have been unsuccessful in creating a really robust link between their work and the commercial results of that work. And it's not surprising that CFOs then start to question it, but this work has a commercial element to it, and don't forget it.  Number two, how can you be the most convenient for your customers?  How can you meet your customers where they are, so that you are integrated into the way that they live versus being a transaction? How can you go from being a commodity to be a convenient resource that is part of their life? So, what he means by this is, beyond the sales channels that your customers wanted to be on, offer your customers the communication channels that they want to be on.  If you have customers that are 80 years old, and you have customers that are 20 years old, then yes, you need to have a landline phone number and you also probably need to be able to service them on Tik Tok, to think that you can only do one or the other means that you're going to have disgruntled customers at some spectrum. And of course, he's using some broad strokes here with those ages. But you understand his point.   And the third area is think beyond the purchase, beyond the transaction. If you think of Coca Cola, many people could argue that Coca Cola is a pure transaction product, you go in, you pick up the can of soda at the shop, you pay for it, you walk out, you drink it, and the transaction is over, the experience is done, and you move on.  You have fiercely loyal customers that will only drink Coke, they won't drink Pepsi or any other Cola products, and vice versa for those brands as well. And that's because they create an environment that associates with the consumers lifestyle choices, they have so much money that they spend on marketing to make you believe that drinking Coke is a lifestyle choice, that talks about you.  Now, he mentioned Coke as an example, because quite often the point that he's about to share with people, they say, “Oh, well, we just have a product like Coke and they just buy it and consume it and, there's nothing post the purchase that we can do.” His argument is that post the purchase transaction, you need to find a way to continue to be in the customers conversation, you need to continue to deliver value.  Now, in the sake of a soda, it's about being seen as a lifestyle choice, a successful lifestyle choice potential. But if you're selling someone a fridge or a washing machine or a course or a camping tent, whatever you're selling, how can you help that customer actually leverage the benefits of that product?  Get the most out of that product, so that in six months' time when they are at their barbecue talking about stuff with their friends, they can say, “You know, I bought this mobile phone or I bought this item or I did this course. And they genuinely wanted me to enjoy it, they genuinely wanted me to be able to use every feature to get the most out of it, to get the most value out of it.” And so, to sum up point three, deliver value to your customer, even after the purchase has concluded.   App, Website or Tool that Jason Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resources that he cannot live without in his business, Jason stated that that would be his survey tool. Now, for him, it doesn't matter what tool you use, there's lots out there. There's no secret of the fact that he's a big advocate of Qualtrics Technology. But Qualtrics is an enterprise grade product is delighted for small businesses. There's a whole range of products out there. But the reason he says his survey tool, is because if you don't invite your customers and your employees and the marketplace in general to provide you with feedback, if you don't make it easy for them to give you unsolicited feedback, well, then, are you really listening? Are you really trying to get a pulse of what's working and what's not working in your business?  And so, for him, it's from a pure tactical perspective. For him, it's that tool and he'd encourage everyone to have that tool that lets them get structured and unstructured feedback from customers, employees and the marketplace at general. And so, he always go to that survey tool. But outside of that, at a personal level, it's not really a tool but he's a big believer in continued personal learning. And so, he read 30 odd books a year, so, you could imagine that audible sits on his mobile phone and always has a book ready for him to listen to when he's in the car or sitting on the plane.   What Jason is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that's he's really excited about, Jason shared that these two new books that are coming out, they are absolutely one of the passions that he's working on at the moment. And he's not just saying that because he wants people to buy it, of course, he does want people to buy it. But they've taken on a life of their own. One book is actually technically two years overdue, but that's okay. And the reason he says it's okay is because he listened to what was happening in the marketplace and to what his customers were experiencing, and said, “No, the book I was writing is not the book people need.”  And so, he hopes and trust that when people get the actual version that the final manuscript that he's written, that they will see that customer experience isn't an option, focusing on it isn't an option, it is essential to driving your business forward and the book has the tools to help them deliver it. It really is something that's just taken on a life of its own and as he said, it's definitely two years overdue, his publisher, they'd like to have published it quite a while ago.  But it is so important to him that he gets this book right because he wants to really leave a dent in the world and improve the lives of customers, employees, through his work.  And then at a more personal level, he's working on a couple of new projects that he'll be launching in early December, which are online programmes designed to help businesses, specifically small to midsize businesses break through and have business success.    Where Can We Find Jason Online Website – www.jasonsbradshaw.com  Twitter – Jason S. Bradshaw Linkedin – Jason S Bradshaw Facebook – Jason S. Bradshaw   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Jason Uses When asked about a quote that he tends to revert, Jason stated that he absolutely does. And the quote is, “No matter what, you've got this.” And it's so simple, but it was something a colleague said to him once and it's just is a reminder that whatever the challenge is, it doesn't matter, because you've had challenges before and you've got over them, you've succeeded and you can do it again. So, no matter what, you've got this.  Me: Thank you so much for sharing Jason.  So, Jason just wanted to extend our deepest appreciation and gratitude for you coming back on our podcast as a returning guest, that's an awesome milestone, so grateful that you made the time to come back again, especially seeing that you're literally on the other side of the world. But all of the great insights that you shared with us today, reminding us about the things that were in your previous book, CEX, so those of our listeners that would like to tap into that we'll definitely have the link in the show notes of this episode for our awesome resource. And of course, to keep in touch with you for your new books that are coming out to the latter part of January 2024. So, we are extremely grateful that you decided to come and join us again for a quick conversation on mastering customer experience. It was great, thank you, Jason.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     It's All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience by Jason S. Bradshaw •     Episode 145: Understanding The Power of Delivering An Amazing Employee and Customer Experience – Released – October 05, 2021   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Jason S. Bradshaw is the CEO and co-founder of Bradshaw, Koh & Co, a global strategic advisor to C-suite executives and start-ups. He is a keynote speaker on experience management, customer and employee experience, digital transformation, and leading through crisis. Bradshaw has led transformative change for recognizable brands like Target, Fairfax, and Volkswagen, resulting in customer-centric growth including a 200% increase in lead generation, $36 million in eCommerce sales in year one, and decades of customer and employee metrics improvements. He is a best-selling author on customer and employee experience and recipient of over 40 industry awards, and voted as one of 30 global gurus on customer experience. He started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 14 with his first business. Learn more and engage Jason for coaching and speaking at: https://jasonsbradshaw.com

From teenage entrepreneur to global thought leader and coach. Jason S Bradshaw started his first business at 14 and since those beginnings has worked with some of the worlds most recognizable brands like Target and Volkswagen. He is the best selling author of It's All About CEX The Essential Guide to Customer & Employee Experience.      Do you want to get the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/   Support the show on Patreon:  https://patreon.com/mspradio/   Want our stuff?  Cool Merch?  Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com   Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mspradionews/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/

Jason S. Bradshaw is a global strategic adviser to C-suite executives and start-ups, a keynote speaker on customer and employee experience, digital transformation and leading through crisis.   He has led transformative change with some of the most recognizable brands like Target, Fairfax and Volkswagen. Delivering phenomenal customer-centric growth including over 200% increase in lead generation, $36 million in e-commerce sales in year one, and decades of customer and employee metrics improvements.   He is a best-selling author on customer and employee experience, recipient of over 40 industry awards and voted 1 of 30 global gurus on customer service and experience.   Questions   In your own words, can you share a little bit about your journey, how you got to where you are today? Can you maybe share one or two examples of just experiences you've had either working in an organization where you saw that the employee experience is just as important as the customer experience or even in a capacity where you played a leadership role and you saw that it really played an impactful part? What are some areas that you think organizations have had to maybe give a little bit more emphasis to, especially in light of this global pandemic? Could you share with us maybe what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you, it could have been a book that you read recently, or maybe a book that you read a very long time ago, but it still has had a great impact on you. We have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who definitely feel that they have great products and services, but sometimes they feel that they lack the constantly motivated human capital, so constantly motivated human people. If you were sitting across the table from one of these persons, what is the one piece of advice that you would give them to have a successful business? Could you share with our audience, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? It could be something that you're working on to develop yourself or your people. Where can listeners find you online? Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quarter or saying, it kind of just helps to get you back on track or get you refocused.    Highlights   Jason's Journey   Me: Even know we read your bio and it really does sum up all you've done in your lifetime. We always like to hear from our guests, in their own words a little bit about their journey, how they got to where they are today. And I have quite an idea because I've read about half of your book, it's all about CEX so I do know a little bit, but maybe you could just share that summary for us so that our guests can get a great understanding of who you are.   Jason shared that his journey started at the age of 14, like so many young teenagers, he wanted to buy stuff and he could have gone and worked at a local store or he could do something different, he went down the path of doing something different and started selling his own telecommunication and computer hardware and software.   And it really came about because he had this undying curiosity of this thing called business, his parents had side hustles, his grandparents had their own businesses and he just thought, there's got to be a smarter way than just going to work at the local supermarket and getting minimum wage was not the fast track to get the nice shiny gadgets he wanted to buy.   So, it all started at that first business, but at the age of 12, he can remember saying to dad, “Can you buy me this business magazine?” And he looked at him like he was some crazy kid, but he did in a way. And when he was interviewed at 14 years of age, he said, “I can't compete on price, but I can compete on the service that I deliver.”   And that has been the hallmark of his career. For over 20 years, he's worked with some of the world's largest brands, helping them significantly improve the experiences that they deliver through caring about their customers. And this is a journey, not a destination.   So, certainly over the 20 years, the way he talk about it, the things that he's done and the results that he's delivered has improved, but it all comes down to those very early days where he was curious about business and at the same time of having that curiosity, he wasn't just reading about how to sell stuff but he was reading people like Tom Peters and his book The Pursuit of Wow!: Every Person's Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times, and about how you can differentiate yourself in more ways than just through product and price.   The Importance of Employee Experience and Customer Experience    Me: Now, as I mentioned earlier, I started reading your book, It's All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience. And I just want you to maybe share one or two examples of just experiences you've had either working in an organization where you saw that the employee experience is just as important as the customer experience or even in a capacity where you played a leadership role and you saw that it really played an impactful part. Because as you mentioned in the book, there are times when you said some senior leadership persons see customer experience as a feel good type of thing and they don't necessarily see the bottom line impact of it.   And you gave quite a few examples of if you take care of people inside of course, they will take care of external customers, and that will create loyalty and retention. But just give us maybe two examples that you've had, as I said, either as a leader or just working in an organization as an employee.   Jason shared that he can remember starting a job with a telecommunications company as the National Customer Service Manager of an enterprise team and he didn't know it at the time, but sometime after starting one of the people more senior than him said to him, “The reason we gave you the team that we gave you was because we figured it's been broken for so long, if you get it wrong, what's it matter?”   It's been broken for so long. And what he walked into was he thinks he would call it the departure lounge, because people were leaving the team, leaving the business just as fast as you could recruit them when he turned up. And you can imagine what that's like, you've got new people that are worried about getting through the trial period, of their probation period, you've got new people that absolutely have not got the skills or the ingrained training around what they're meant to be doing.   And then the only tenured people or the majority of the tenured people within the team are there because they're fearful that they can't get another job. And so, you don't necessarily have the talent, you have what you have.   And every metric and they were serving corporate customers, every metric that there was, was failed.   And wind forward just six months, and every metric was being achieved, they were no longer being referred to as the departure lounge, because they had some turnover when he first started, but that was intentional turnover as they rebuilt the team.   And rebuilding the team was about really being clear with their team members about what success looked like, about providing them with regular coaching bites. So, not expecting someone to know everything from day one, or trying to train them everything from day one, but consistently improve their skills.   And then the third thing was bringing humanity into the team. So, if someone made a mistake, not using that as a reason to chastise them, or belittle them, but rather using that as an opportunity to help them learn and grow.   Now, there is always a limit to that one, someone can't make a mistake, the same mistake every day for 50 days. But if you take it a genuine approach that people turn up wanting to do a great job, and you enable them to do so and when they have a misstep, you walk them through that, the results are phenomenal.   And like he said, in 6 months, in under 6 months, we went from meeting no metrics to being the only team meeting all the metrics. And those metrics, importantly, weren't just organizational metrics, they were every month judged by corporate performance of their customers.   So, the customers that they were serving had contractual service levels that were different to each other, and they had to meet them all. And so, he thinks that's a real testament to what can happen when you actually start caring about the employees.   And, of course, it's not just in contact centres where that may makes sense, it matters everywhere. And equally, not caring about your employees can have the opposite effect of what he was just explaining.   He worked for a company where there was a new senior leader joined the leadership team and that individual believed in one thing, cost cutting. And if you had a conversation around, “Do we have the $2 biscuit or the $2.10 cent biscuit in the lunch room, in the break room?” Well, then the first response was, “Can we get the $1.90 biscuit and we're going to limit the number of biscuits we put out each day because people can't have two biscuits.” And when you have someone come in and disrupt a culture in that respect, what ends up happening is a whole lot of inefficiencies because people spend their time talking and gossiping around how things have changed for the worse and inevitably start looking for work elsewhere as opposed to being focused on the mission of the company.   Areas Where Organizations Have Place Emphasis in Light of the Global Pandemic   Me: So, the employee experience is just as important as the customer experience. I know you're in Australia, I guess you could share a little bit about how COVID has impacted customer experience in your parts of the world. But are there some areas that you think organizations have had to maybe give a little bit more emphasis to, especially in light of this global pandemic? I know a lot of people have to be working from home, have you seen any trends where people had to make a change or shift in terms of their approach to employee experience and customer experience since the pandemic versus pre pandemic? Have people had to exercise a little bit more empathy and compassion towards people and is it a case where employees are less tolerant if organizations are not extending these types of behaviors to them, and does that impact the external customer? How have you seen it playing out on your side of the world?   Jason shared that across Australia and North America where the majority of his clients are, the number one thing that he knows the pandemic has impacted organizations is the level of trust that they have in their employees.   And he means that in a really great way, think of the organizations 13/15 months ago would have never considered letting people work from home. And through necessity, they had to, and they had to also trust that their employees were going to do the right thing when they were working at home and he feels that that trust has been paid back 10 times by employees.   The real challenge now as different parts of the world open up again, is will that trust be extended, was it a situational trust?   Or was it really the turning point that led to trusting and we've certainly seen a lot in the media around different companies and how they're embracing or not embracing a flexible work environment.   But definitely, he sees that on the main there is a greater willingness to have that flexibility with employees, which ultimately leads to a better experience for customers and that's because if an employee feels empowered and trusted to do the right thing, then they're going to do the right thing more times than not.   The other thing that has occurred is and he loves the word empathy that Yanique mentioned, is that to an extent, customers have become certainly in the early parts of the pandemic, that they themselves have had more empathy towards who they were doing business with because everyone was in this together, nothing more like a common cause to bind people together, whether it be customers or employees.   The real challenge though is what companies have done and learned through the pandemic. So, at the very beginning of the pandemic, you had empathy from customers, because they were living the same pain that the people that were serving them were living them regardless of socio demographics, everyone's lives got disrupted, some more than others but everyone's lives got disrupted. The real challenge though is that we're 18 months in some countries, we're 18 months into the pandemic and there are companies still using the pandemic as an excuse for bad customer service.   There's a telephone company that he won't name names, but the telephone company is a very large company and when you contact them today, whether it be via telephone, by web form, via online chat, the very first thing that they say to you is that, “Due to the pandemic, there we are experiencing significant delays.”   Now, they have a large outsourced operation that, yes, 18 months ago was having some problems, but they've also had 18 months to find a solution to that problem. And organizations need to move beyond the pandemic as a reason for not delivering a great experience for customers.   And the research is there to back that up, 30% of consumers will now leave a business after just one bad experience and it's easy for them to do so. There are companies that are doing things today that they just 2 years ago would have never thought they would be doing but they're doing it because they have to survive.   And that becomes the customer's new expectations, once you start doing home delivery because of the pandemic, as soon as your country opens up, or your city opens up, that doesn't mean the customers just suddenly doesn't enjoy the benefits of home delivery.   And so, he thinks the real challenges that we've had this is massive injection of empathy up front on every side of the coin but organizations are not taking the lead during the pandemic to reinvent, to fix their broken things that were broken in the beginning so that their customers don't have a reason to look elsewhere.   Me: So, those are really, really good things that you brought up and I'm happy that you were able to show us where it is that customers have been placing an emphasis on especially since the pandemic as well as where organizations have been putting their emphasis on.   App, Website or Tool that Jason Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resources that he cannot live without in his business, Jason shared that he's going to say the Qualtrics Learning Network. Qualtrics is a large software company that provides research solutions in the experience management space. And whether it's Qualtrics, or someone else, what he's saying here is, and the reason he says Qualtrics is because there is almost every day new case studies, new thought leadership, new information to help individuals in small businesses or in large enterprises grow their practice, their intentional practice on delivering great customer and employee experiences.   And so, he thinks the best online resource for any entrepreneur out there or leader is one like the Qualtrics Learning Network where you can constantly get fed new thought leadership and new ways of doing things and not because you have to change what you're doing every week, but a healthy curiosity and openness to see what is class leading today will help inform your decisions and ensure that you continue to grow forward.   And he thinks that's the biggest challenge that most companies have, especially small businesses have is that they start with this really great ambition to be better than the store down the road and perhaps at first they are but they fail to continue to evolve and innovate so that they stay competitive and mindful that today their experiences that they're delivering are being judged not based on the last time he had his car serviced, or the last time he went to a bank, it's been judged on the best experience, his last best experience regardless of the industry. So, something like the Qualtrics website where you get exposure to the evolving nature of business globally he thinks is really great.    Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Jason   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Jason shared he'd already mentioned Tom Peters The Pursuit of Wow!: Every Person's Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times, it was one of the very first business books he ever read, he thinks everything in that book still plays through today, anything by Tom Peters will certainly get you thinking. But let's move to today, there are three books: ICONIC: How Organizations and Leaders Attain, Sustain, and Regain the Highest Level of Distinction by Scott McKain 2.The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience that Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty by Shep Hyken Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact by Phil M. Jones   He mentioned those three books because any of them will absolutely help you start to get clarity and start to move forward in creating a better experience for your customers and your employees. But here's the thing, none of those books are about hugging your customers, it's about making really strategic steps to improve the commercial viability of your business, while also differentiating your business through the experiences that you create and deliver.    Advice for Business Owners Who Lack the Constant Motivated Human Capital   Jason shared that the first thing piece of advice that he would give is ask your employees “When was the last time they had experienced achievement in your business?”   “And what's preventing them from having achievement more regularly?”   So, humans, employees, measure their experience and their engagement with us is really impacted across three lenses, did they have success or achievement in their day, everyone wants to go home or in their working day by feeling that they actually were useful, that they achieved something, that it wasn't just the same old, same old.   They of course, want things to not be handed to them on a silver platter, but they don't want things to be difficult for the sake of being difficult.   And the third thing is that they want to feel a human connection with their leadership and with their business.   So, if you ask your team members, “When was the last time you had achievement and tell me why you aren't having achievement more often?”   You will start to unearth the real challenges in your business and if you turn around and start taking action in small ways, and big ways to remove those barriers to achievement, your employees will start to see that you genuinely care, they'll start experiencing more achievement, because you're removing the roadblocks and through that, you'll build engagement and loyalty and motivation.   What Jason is Really Excited About Now!    Jason shared that the number one activity that he's working on right now is finalizing his manuscript for his next book. So, he has a new book coming out in quarter 1 - 2022 and this book has completely changed in direction at least two or three times as a result of the pandemic.   And he's really knuckling down to finish it off, because this book will really help organizations and leaders in businesses of all size, take their business to the next level, and be really practical, and filled with great case studies to help organizations in any industry move forward. And so, he can't wait to have it finished but he also can't wait for people to get it in their hands, and importantly, taking action as a result.   Where Can We Find Jason Online   Twitter – @jasonsbradshaw LinkedIn - Jason S Bradshaw Instagram - @jasonsbradshaw Facebook - @jasonsbradshaw Website – www.jasonsbradshaw.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Jason Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Jason shared, “The standard that you walk past is the standard that you accept.” We can all get so wrapped up in the busyness of the day, of the crisis, of the moment, but the moment we start walking past people in our organization, or start letting ourselves slip in our standards, and then we start to dilute the overall experience of our customers and employees. So, the standard that you will past as the standard you accept, let's lead by example and set the standard.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners    Links The Pursuit of Wow!: Every Person's Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times by Tom Peters It's All about CEX!: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience by Jason S. Bradshaw ICONIC: How Organizations and Leaders Attain, Sustain, and Regain the Highest Level of Distinction by Scott McKain The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience that Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty by Shep Hyken Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact by Phil M. Jones   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.”   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

When a customer buys something from your business, it's not the company as a whole that they remember - it's the experience that you've given them. Jason S. Bradshaw tells us about what he learned when he began running his first business at 14, and how you can compete with big corporations without worrying about prices.  Listen to Episode 132 of Small Business Talk for the full details. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's the difference between customer service and customer experience (CX)? 90s – Customer Service 2000s – employee engagement Today – experience management – customers and employees Experiences = memorable What did you learn about CX working at Volkswagen?  How does a manager motivate a team to be more customer centric? Should we recruit for people skills so it's more effortless for a team member to be customer-friendly? Make everybody feel genuinely appreciated. Personalize your customer service. Discover your employees' untapped potential. The Warby Parker eyewear example. ABOUT JASON BRADSHAW Jason Bradshaw is included in the Global Gurus Top 30 list of customer service experts globally.   A Director of Customer Experience at Volkswagen Group Australia, Jason Bradshaw is author of ‘It's All About CEX! The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience'.   Jason is a thought leader in CX (customer experience), EX (employee experience) PX (product experience) and BX (brand experience).   CONTACT: https://www.jasonsbradshaw.com/ https://www.itsallaboutcex.com/ (book website) ABOUT HOST, NINA SUNDAY CSP Author of ‘Workplace Wisdom for 9 to thrive; the 12 soft skills everyone needs to know for workplace success' , Nina frequents the speaking stage, in-person in Australia/New Zealand and virtually to international audiences from a professional studio on transforming team culture through Second Curve Thinking and constant reinvention. With a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma in Education, and graduate of the 3-year program of the Australian Film, TV and Radio School, Nina worked as Production Manager in television, before founding the training organisation, Brainpower Training Pty Ltd, now leading a team of Facilitators Australia-wide. Nina is a past chapter president of Professional Speakers Australia, a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and twice-certified CVP (Certified Virtual Presenter) which means she can present virtually for any timezone globally. If Manage Self, Lead Others inspires you, you can book Nina as a speaker for your conference visit https://ninasunday.com . Brainpower Training's face-to-face and online workshops in Productivity, Communication, Leadership or Change and will take your team to the next level. Visit: https://www.brainpowertraining.com.au/training-topics/ Follow Nina Sunday on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninasunday/ The Manage Self, Lead Others podcast is mainly for experienced and aspiring managers to explore ways to elevate and transform team culture. Each week, Nina Sunday speaks with key experts from Australia and across the globe who share their insights in self-leadership and leading others. Fiercely Australian. Fiercely global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first stage of improving is listening. With that in mind, let’s welcome back Jason S Bradshaw in today’s Tactical Friday to share with us the concrete steps in fixing the culture in your organization. He will also cover the structure that every leader should follow in order to stay on track when talking to their employees. Vulnerability in leadership also plays a big role in Jason’s tactics to set up a proper work environment so let’s jump right into it and see what we can do for our organizations today! Things you will learn from this episode: [00:01 - 1:00] Opening Segment I welcome back today’s guest, Jason S. Bradshaw Recap of last Monday’s episode [1:01 - 6:46] Fixing the Culture in Your Organization Today What is my business famous for? Confirm these from your employees Follow up question: What do I represent to you? Vulnerability in leadership [6:47 - 12:12] Structuring the Feedback Questionnaire Tell people that you’re doing it and why Takedown notes and write down your questions and their responses Set an expectation that you won’t justify [12:12 - 13:37] Closing Segment How to connect with Jason See links below Tweetable Quotes:  “We think we are one thing. Yet our customers or our employees see us in a different way.” - Jason S Bradshaw “There’s nothing more powerful than actually asking for feedback face-to-face or on the telephone because you can’t hide from it.” - Jason S Bradshaw “The first stage to improving is listening.” - Jason S Bradshaw Resources Mentioned:  https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-about-CEX-Experience-ebook/dp/B07JBR3Y6L (It’s All About CEX!) To connect with Jason, you can visit his https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsbradshaw/ (LinkedIn), https://www.facebook.com/jasonsbradshaw (Facebook), https://twitter.com/jasonsbradshaw (Twitter), and https://www.instagram.com/jasonsbradshaw/ (Instagram). You can also visit his website http://www.jasonsbradshaw.com/signup (www.jasonsbradshaw.com/signup) to receive the first 2 chapters of ‘https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-about-CEX-Experience-ebook/dp/B07JBR3Y6L (It’s All About CEX!)’ and for regular newsletter. Guest email: jason@jasonsbradshaw.com, kaitlyn.herzog@interviewvalet.com Did you love the value that we are putting out in the show? LEAVE A REVIEW and tell us what you think about the episode so we can continue on putting out great content just for you! Share this episode and help someone who wants to expand their leadership capacity or click https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-leadership/id1498567657 (here) to listen to our previous episodes. Tactical Leadership is brought to you by Knight Protection Services. A veteran-owned and operated company, with extensive experience in risk assessment and crime prevention. Find out more by visiting  https://knightprotectionllc.com/ (https://knightprotectionllc.com/) If you want to learn how to build a better business check out my website at https://beatacticalleader.com/ (Beatacticalleade.com). You can connect with us on https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaknight (LinkedIn), https://www.instagram.com/beatacticalleader/ (Instagram), or join https://www.facebook.com/groups/BATLgroup/ (Our BATL Space) and become part of the community.

We all know that an organization’s success is the connection between the leader and the people, but in today’s episode, Jason Bradshaw will also highlight the importance of creating a healthy relationship with the customers. Jason is a customer service expert and a best-selling author of the book ‘https://amzn.to/38xjKFR (It’s All About Cex!)’ which focuses on the customer and employee experience across all platforms. He will also talk about crises and how organizations should pivot these to something more fruitful. Let’s jump right in and build a culture of trust in our organization. Things you will learn in this episode: [00:01 - 10:36] Opening Segment I introduce today’s guest, Jason Bradshaw Jason’s background and history Improving customer and employee experience Consistency of experience Strategies around CEX Providing employees with clarity on what success looks like Knowing how to deal with mistakes [10:37 - 17:38] Creating a Culture of Leaders Culture of trust as a culture of leadership Embracing mistakes and not fearing them Setting the right standards for your employees Human connection and genuine care [17:39 - 25:16] Opportunities in the Midst of a Crisis Jason shares a story of when he worked at Target Pivoting the crisis The Pandemic as an opportunity  [25:17 - 30:19] Common Blindspots in Customer and Employee Experience People either don’t ask questions or ask but do nothing with the data Survey fatigue Making a full experience management focus Failing to tell it to somebody else [30:20 - 34:07] Closing Segment Jason’s legacy to the world Burning desire inside leaders to be better in serving their communities How to find more of Jason See links below Final words Tweetable Quotes:  “It’s not about perfection. It's about a constant endeavor towards perfection.” Jason S. Bradshaw “We as leaders need to constantly be aware that the standards we walk past are the standards we accept.” - Jason S. Bradshaw “The easiest customer to sell to is the loyal customer.” - Jason S. Bradshaw Resources Mentioned:  https://amzn.to/38xjKFR (It’s All About CEX!) To connect with Jason, you can visit his website http://www.jasonsbradshaw.com/signup (www.jasonsbradshaw.com/signup) to receive the first 2 chapters of ‘It’s ‘https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-about-CEX-Experience-ebook/dp/B07JBR3Y6L (All About CEX!)’ and for regular newsletter. Guest email: jason@jasonsbradshaw.com, kaitlyn.herzog@interviewvalet.com Did you love the value that we are putting out in the show? LEAVE A REVIEW and tell us what you think about thm/Lincoln-Leadership-Executive-Strategies-Tough/e episode so we can continue on putting out great content just for you! Share this episode and help someone who wants to expand their leadership capacity or click https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-leadership/id1498567657 (here) to listen to our previous episodes. Tactical Leadership is brought to you by Knight Protection Services. A veteran-owned and operated company, with extensive experience in risk assessment and crime prevention. Find out more by visiting  https://knightprotectionllc.com/ (https://knightprotectionllc.com/) If you want to learn how to build a better business check out my website at https://beatacticalleader.com/ (Beatacticalleade.com). You can connect with us on https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaknight (LinkedIn), https://www.instagram.com/beatacticalleader/ (Instagram), or join https://www.facebook.com/groups/BATLgroup/ (Our BATL Space) and become part of the community.