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Art Harrison is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Daylight. He's an experienced entrepreneur and leader with over 20 years of experience developing and delivering production grade solutions. With a background in computer science and software development, Art was previously Vice President at iNTERFACEWARE and previously founded MXD Communities in 2001.   Questions   Could you share a little bit about your journey, how did you get to where you are today? Could you tell us a little bit about Daylight? And what Daylight does and how Daylight is helping their customers achieve their goals? Could you share with us how is it that consumers or organizations are able to increase their overall customer satisfaction and brand loyalty by offering positive and engaging Omni channels CX at scale? Could you share with our listeners what low-code is for those listeners who are not familiar with that? And why do you believe it's disrupting the CX landscape? You're in the CX space, as well as the design space, could you share with us maybe one or two things that you've seen emerge in the last few months that you will see as an ongoing trend, at least for 2023 in this space? Could you also share with us what is the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that have had a big impact on you, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it still left a great impact on you. Could you also share with us what's 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, could you also share with our listeners, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track if for any reason you get derailed.   Highlights   Art's Journey   Art shared that like most people, it's been an interesting journey, it's not one that he would have mapped out in advance. But he'd say he's always been passionate about using technology and building things. And he thinks that's been really the guiding principle of his career. So, he started off very entrepreneurial in the social networking and online dating space when he was in university. And really what he found from that led him to marketing and ultimately led him back to being a founder again, here at Daylight.   And it was just a passion to build things that people want to use, and to find ways to delight customers and end users along the way. And even though his career has spanned technical and marketing and other kind of lanes, the common thread has always been, “What do people need? And how can we make their lives better and delight them along the way?” And so, it's been an interesting journey. But he's always excited about where it's going to lead him next.   About Daylight – What Does Daylight Do and How Daylight Helping Their Customers Achieve Their Goals   Art said absolutely. And kind of an interest of this podcast, Daylight is kind of in the space of customer experience, in that they're a platform that helps large enterprises primarily, but really any organization that knows how they want to improve the experience they're providing, not just to their customers, but to their employees as well.   And they're a platform that allows them to rapidly design, build and deploy solutions that really touch on that interaction between people and process. So, the simplest example he can give you is the TurboTax type of example, where you have the IRS and the United States, the CRA in Canada, any other tax agency, they have a business process, but it's a terrible process for most people to interact with.   And TurboTax and the tax industry exists to create a better on ramp that'll guide people through that process in a way that's intuitive to them and is the way they're used to working with other solutions, not just paper forms and addendums. Daylight is a platform that lets organizations build that kind of an experience for any interaction that their customers or their employees are having and to do it at scale across the entire organization. So, they're touching more places, and then proving that experience at every interaction that people are having with the business and their services or processes.   How Organizations Increase Their Overall Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty by Offering Positive and Engaging Omni Channels CX at Scale   Me: Now, one of the areas that we would love to discuss with you, as we have you on our podcast is could you share with us how is it that consumers or organizations are able to increase their overall customer satisfaction and brand loyalty by offering positive and engaging omni-channels CX at scale? Could you share a little bit about that with us?   Art shared that it's a broad question, but he does think there's a lot of ways. Part of the thesis and a hypothesis when they were starting Daylight was this understanding that most organizations are primarily invest in the major touchpoints that they have with their clients.   So, you think about any lifecycle of a client, there's the research and acquisition phase or the signup phase, whatever you want to call it. So, how are we going to bring this customer in and most people are investing a lot of money to try and make that experience as pleasant as possible.   And then there is the renewal or upsell phase, a lot of investment goes in there. But everything that happens in between that is actually what leads to their satisfaction, their probability of churning or abandoning or leaving that organization and so when you can start thinking about what are all the ways that they need to interact with us, it may be that they're just looking for information, they're looking to change some basic information about themselves, their family, their account. And so, when you start thinking about how do we improve the CSAT scores or the NPS for the employees, it's really looking and saying, “Okay, we know we've got the book ends really well.” But there are dozens of times where that friction, they're leaving friction in place, or they're creating friction for someone just to talk to someone to understand, “Hey, can I change the payment date that I have?”or “I've just got married, I want to update some of my information so that my family is included in my account.”or whatever it may be.   When they can look at that and say, “What are all those touch points? How can we make a bigger impact and improve the experience across all of those areas?” And furthering that to like, how do they want to have that experience? It's one thing to say we're going to make everything available online and self-service and there is a core group of customers that care about that. But you need to also think about, well, sometimes there's a lot of information there, or it's someone that doesn't want it, they just want someone to take care of it for them.   You have to look at the entire lifecycle and all of the interaction points and find ways to create a more natural experience in any of those.   But one of the key things that they talk about at Daylight when they're talking with customers, is changing this mindset of, “I have a business process, I have something that I want to accomplish and so I'm going to push it on to the customer in the way that I need it for them to give me their information.” So, you think about a bank, they have a process for anything, you want to open a new checking account, this is how they need the information. And historically, they would even if they were digitizing it, they take their process and put that online. But that's not how we think, as consumers, we don't think about their business process, we think about the outcome we want to have or the experience. So, you have to kind of evaluate all of those touch points from the perspective of the person doing it and try to make those improvements.   What is Low-Code and Why is it Disrupting the CX Landscape?   Me: Now, in preparing for this interview, I noticed that when you were introduced, it was introduced that you were a good candidate to speak about how low-code is disrupting the CX landscape. Could you share with our listeners what low-code is for those listeners who are not familiar with that? And why do you believe it's disrupting the CX landscape?   Art shared that typically, a low-code, it can mean a lot of things for a lot of people but the simplest description of that is historically, anything that you were building new, a technical task required software developers, designers, people on the technical side of the spectrum, to understand your needs, and build that solution for you to the best of their understanding. And what low-code does is it changes the paradigm so that by reducing the technical bar to build new solutions, you're shortening the distance between the person who actually knows the problem, and most likely even knows what the solution would be. And that solution getting built.   So, low-code exists in just about any category, any industry, he'll think of some brand names he has no affiliation with but, whether it's GoDaddy or Squarespace, or any website builder, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, you had to learn HTML, you had to learn how to code a website.   Now, you can go on to a low-code solution where you're dragging and dropping and building something that is professional grade, that looks amazing, that works on any device, that's low-code transforming, who can build websites. And when you think about the experience realm, whether that's digital experiences, the employee experiences for someone that works in a branch, the tools that are going to make your call centre more effective, any area that typically was relying on a service like an integrator or an SI, or a technology team within their own organization, they were waiting in the queue, depending on the size of their budget to get work done, they might have to wait months and months, they get something done eventually, but it's not what they wanted.   Low-code really changes that because now that person that is on the front line, who knows this is where it's always problematic with a customer, “I wish that I could just automatically do these couple of tasks or I wish I knew what to do when they said that they want to purchase this product or change their account in this way.”They understand that problem and low-code empowers them to build if not 100%, 80%, 90% of their solution directly, and keep changing it when they actually use it in the field. And so, it just means the iteration, the time to value and the bar or the barrier to making these better experiences is dropping. And that means you're going to continue to see improved experiences that are really meeting the needs of employees and customers across all kinds of organizations.   Me: All right, so basically making things more accessible to the average person. And I guess it really boils down to as you were saying, as I was listening to you, it really boils down to, I believe, also ensuring that everybody can have access to do the exact thing. When you were speaking just now, I was thinking of Canva. And I was thinking of back in the day, if you wanted to do a flyer or some form of publication for marketing or advertising, you typically get a graphic artist or even an advertising agency who have the talent in house to get it done. But I mean, you can become your own designer with Canva, they've made it so easy. And I thought of that when you're talking about making the design process and the coding process so easy.   Art stated that that's a perfect example. And he'll tie it back, again, he spends a lot of his time talking to these large enterprises that literally have 10s of 1000s of processes that are happening across the organization and insurance company has all different types of claims and policies and managements and call centres and issues that they're dealing with. The bank has branches and wealth products and everything else, they have so many. And going back to that TurboTax analogy, a lot of them are stressful. Like doing your taxes is inherently a stressful thing. You're worried if I do it wrong, am I going to get audited? Am I going to make a mistake? You kind of feel adversarial, like the person that I'm providing this information to doesn't actually have my best interests at heart.   When you can take all of those processes and reduce the cost to actually make something that's more intuitive, more delightful, you're enabling the people on the business side who know that we can improve the experience, our satisfaction scores, to make that improvement. You're improving the lives of the people that need to provide the information in.   As he said, often stressful experiences, it's like taking a test, you're really changing the dynamic of what can be addressed, how easily, how cost effectively it can be and then dramatically changing the types of experiences that can be built, you can take something like taxes, and turn that into something where it's more conversational. “Hey, did you change jobs this year?” “Great. Tell me about your new job.” “Did you get married?” “Great, there might be a tax benefit for you.” You took something that was previously just here, fill out box 66 and made it into something that now feels like, “Hey, this is working with me, this is a very different emotion, a very different experience that I'm interacting with this organization or this business process.”   In the CX Space and Design Space, What Are Things That Have Emerged in the Last Few Months that Will be an Ongoing Trend in 2023?   Me: So, we're approaching pretty much the end of 2022, I can't believe that we're almost in the final quarter of the year, like it just started. And you're in the CX space, as well as the design space, could you share with us maybe one or two things that you've seen emerge in the last few months that you will see as an ongoing trend, at least for 2023 in this space.   Art shared that for him, and he's only one perspective and as he says to his own clients, the clients of Daylight, he's in the vendors mindset. So, as much as he works hard to stay neutral or to be very open and really help people find the best solution for them, regardless of his organization, he still only sees it from his perspective, so always a grain of salt. But what we are seeing, not just in the last couple of quarters, but really for the last few years, particularly during the pandemic, it's escalated, and it continues to grow, no one is stopping work on the customer experience. But some of the same teams and technologies and approaches that people have really heavily invested in to improve customer experience is shifting to include a lot more on employee experience.   As we've all been remote as we have, as consumers, we are seeing these better experiences, it's really hard to have an amazing experience shopping online or interacting with your Robo Advisor account for your investments, and then going to work and using the worst technology or being stuck to deal with terrible processes, terrible communication channels. So, we're seeing a really increasing push on the need to improve employee experiences to do their job, whether they're directly supporting customers, or whether they're doing internal things, HR, anywhere else.   Because it's becoming essential to retain the teams that you have, people just don't want to, they have the flexibility to work anywhere, because the barriers of geography are kind of breaking down. So, the importance of improving the quote, unquote, customer experience of your employees seems to be always increasing and we're really seeing some exciting changes to how people are supporting their teams across the board.   App, Website or Tool that Art Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resources that he cannot live without in his business, Art shared that that is a tough one, he would say it's not a glamorous tool by any means but for him, it is probably, he would say any video conferencing. For him, he spent so much time just talking to people, understanding what their objectives are, what their goals are, whether that's his team, whether that's their customers, whether it's just peers in the industry. And if they didn't have access to that, and the ability to still make connections, even when they're geographically dispersed or kind of on locked down with a pandemic.   He feels like this last couple of years would have felt really isolating, he wouldn't have made the connections and the growth that he's made personally, professionally with his team. So, there's a lot of other way cooler tools that he uses kind of in with his marketing brand, or his technology brand. But if you took away his ability to just connect with people, see their faces and still build meaningful connections, he doesn't know what he would do. So, he thinks that still to him is the most valuable app.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Art   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Art shared that he's going to give a weird one here and it's just because he consumes a lot of information. A lot of it is articles and long form. But there's a book, when you asked him that there's a book, a professor recommended when he was young, and this is not for everyone to read. But it made a big impact on him just opening his eyes in the numbers way.   So, it's not about CX or UX, but there's a book called the One Two Three…Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science (Dove Books on Mathematics) by George Gamow. And it was a computer science professor that at the time basically said, “If you can read this and understand this, then I want to work with you on some side projects.” So, it became a motivation for him to just expand what does infinity even mean? And for him, the keener in him to want to get in the good graces of that professor. So, that just had a big impact on him. And his wife actually recently purchased that one for him, because he had talked about it. Something that I had read in my university days.   Then the other book that comes to mind, and he's just beginning it right now. And he's had it on his shelf for a long time, someone handed it to him before, it's called The Book of Business Awesome/The Book of Business Unawesome by Scott Stratten. So, that's another book, he can't see the impact it's made on him yet but that's next up that someone has recommended, and he's going to be reading next.   What Art is Really Excited About Now!   When asked about something that he's excited about, Art stated that one of the things he's really excited about, well, he's always excited about his family. He's got two kids that are going through transitions of kind of where they are in life. They did their first year away at a sleepaway camp this year, they're in middle school, one of them is in middle school. So, the keeping up with them, his son actually recommended a podcast to him, a business podcast, he's 11 years old, that he's actually loving.   He's really excited about the changes of, they're giving him interesting things that are stretching his mind now. So, that's pretty cool. And one of the things, he's excited about, it's a little cheesy, but they made a big investment at their organization in a communication framework. It's kind of under a selling framework. It's a little plug for the group there called The Value Selling. What he really likes about it is it really gives a framework for how to have conversations, to understand where people want to go, what's stopping them from getting there? And then what they believe the solution would be and how to attach to that.   Now, usually that's used to sell or to do better by your clients and be aligned, he's really excited about what it's been doing for his organization, for the one on ones. Something he's wanted to get better at is how does he mentor and provide one on ones and coaching to the team? And using that same framework of them saying, where do I want to go? You want to be promoted? You want to get to this point in your career? Well, what's stopping you? And what do you think you could do to further that, and then being able to have them know where they want to go and support them is putting a lot more direction to the one on ones he's having.   And he's really excited about how that's going to make him a better manager, a better leader, and how he's going to help the people on the team that he directly interacts with get where they are ultimately wanting to be in their lives, because that's what breeds a great culture, a great team, and just great people across the board, whether they stay with them or not. So, he's really excited about that.   Where Can We Find Art Online   Website – www.daylight.io LinkedIn – Art Harrison   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Art Uses   When asked if he has a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Art shared that he does and he's going to overshare a little bit. It's not a famous quote, it just comes from his dad, and he's the third Art or Arthur, the third, his son is now the fourth. They've been the Harrison family line, they've kept that tradition going and just from an early age, his dad would just kind of like no matter what adversity they were in, no matter what they're going through, he's like, “Don't worry, it would either be intermix, you're either a Harrison or you're an Art, it's going to work out, and it's going to be fine.”   And it's not that he was some wild success, it's just that he really managed stress well, and just knew that life would work out the way that it was supposed to. And it really just embedded in his DNA. And so, whether it's the hardest day, professionally or personally, whether he's struggling with something, whether he's excited about something, it's just in there, and it's kind of repeating in his brain all the time that like, it doesn't matter if it's going to work out, he's going to prevail.   And he would say just to anyone listening, like that was the same philosophy even when he had the new-born babies, he and his wife were stressing about they're not sleeping, he just had that same mantra, it's going to work out, he's going to figure out what it is that's making this baby upset and he's going to prevail. And so, that simple phrase of like it's going to work out is what drives him and it makes you be willing to take on any challenge, knowing that at the end of this, there's a solution. It's going to work out even when it seems like it didn't work out, that is it working out, it's still leading you where you needed to be. So, that is the kind of quote or mantra that is always with him.   Me: I love that, amazing. And I think at some point in our lives, we all need to kind of give ourselves those kinds of affirmations. Because life can become overwhelming and daunting and sometimes it does feel like all the doors are closing around us. But if you do have that mindset, as Rhonda Byrne from The Secret says, “Thoughts become things,” then if you believe it's going to work out, it will work out.   Art agreed that it will and it really lets you look differently at the things that seem to be the roadblock or seem to be the setback is that it's still going to work out, he doesn't know how yet, but he then tends to look back at all of those negative points and know that he wouldn't be where he is today if he hadn't been there. So, you change your perspective on everything when you just know that it's working out the way it ideally can. To him it is his superpower because it really does make everything seem possible.   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   One Two Three…Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science (Dove Books on Mathematics) by George Gamow The Book of Business Awesome/The Book of Business Unawesome by Scott Stratten   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!   Big RYG Customer Success Leadership Summit October 12-13, 2022 Washington DC Sign Up

Dr. Fred Moss is a holistic Physician, Restorative Coach, Podcaster, Psychiatrist Expert, Witness at Welcome to Humanity with Dr. Fred Moss. Dr. Moss arrived on Earth on March 01, 1958 and from that very second has been earmarked to be a healer. The family he was born into, was in chaos, and in many ways was counting on his arrival to bring health and wellness back into balance. Little Freddy had his hands full and over the next 6 decades, he has made it his business to bring healing to the world around him, not only to his family and friends, but to the community and world at large, what a journey it has been.   Questions Could tell us in your own words a little bit about your journey? Could you share with us as an organization, maybe one or two things that you can do as leadership in an organization or putting in place some form of programme to support team members where mental health is concerned in order to strengthen the customer experience? If there was one thing to do immediately to assist ourselves when we're feeling out of balance. What would you suggest that one thing would be? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with us and I'm sure you've read many, many books across your lifespan, especially in the field that you are in, but maybe one or two that have had a great impact on you, it could be a one that you read a very long time ago, or even one you've read recently, that you'd like to share with our listeners? Could you also share our listeners what's 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? 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 get derailed or get off track. Do you have one of those?   Highlights   Dr. Moss' Journey   Me: I know we read a little bit about your journey. And I didn't read your entire bio. But if you could tell us in your own words a little bit about your journey, I know your bio, the part that I did read did indicate that you have been doing quite a bit of work since you landed on Earth. And so, could you just share with our listeners a little bit about how you got to where you are today?   Dr. Moss shared that it has been a long strange trip. It's been a little over 64 years now and young at heart for sure. And there's lots of work to do. He arrived on that March 01, 1958 with the whole idea of being counted on to bring joy and pleasure and love and reconnection to that family. And for the first couple years, he probably did pretty good until his brothers got annoyed and irritated with him, he had two brothers, still do who 10 and 14 years older than him. And they taught him how to be precocious. They taught him how to read and write and do math, even before he arrived in kindergarten. Because when he arrived there, he was ahead of the class, he was doing things that most of the kindergarteners didn't want to do, he was like interested in flashcards and books and stuff like that.   He was also bored, so he became a class clown, there's nobody in elementary school, no teacher he ever had who certainly ever forgot him as a student. Because what he was really interested in more than anything, he thought school was going to show him how to communicate, he loved the way that his parents and his brothers communicated with each other, he could just watch him from the playpen. And he knew that there was something special in the world of sharing ideas with each other and he really wanted to learn how to do that become a master of communication. But low and behold, elementary school was not a place to learn that and he thought, “Oh, maybe the bigger kids, Junior High.” And when he got there, it was even worse. He thought, “Okay, High School.” and then that would be even worse, all you had to do is sit down and regurgitate what the teacher said, and that they would call you a good student and move you ahead. And he just thought that was so absurd.   Eventually, he went to college and with the whole idea again, he went to the best college he could possibly think because he loved their football helmets and that was a University of Michigan. And he went there and again, was kind of disillusioned with the idea that what he really had to do was just follow what the professor said and say whatever they wanted him to say and then pass, that wasn't open discourse and that's what I really wanted. So, he dropped out of college and he did what any self-respecting American dropout would do in the late 70s. He had boarded a Greyhound bus and went all the way to Berkeley, California so that he could learn, just figuring out who he was. He had a great summer in Berkeley, but realized he didn't have a job and not much of a future.   So, his mom convinced him to come back and try school one more time. He came back, there was a new field that was just growing, you might have heard of it, it's called Computer Science and the only computer that was there in Michigan was happened to be at the University of Michigan. So, it was a two-acre facility, he spent his day and night there, pulling up batch cards like punch cards and then hoping that the batch would run and he did that for a little while until he realized that wasn't going to work, so he dropped out again. This is when the story starts getting interesting because in 1980 when he dropped out, his mom, again convinced him that she should probably get a job. And I thought, yeah, making some money so he could buy a car so he could go around the country and figure out what his life is about made some sense.   So, he started working at a state hospital for adolescent psychiatry, State House Psychiatric Hospital for adolescent boys. And that's where really his journey in some ways with this whole idea of mental health began.   On January 05, 1980, he began that job and he was a communicator, he knew that he could communicate with these kids and then when they communicated and connected as human beings, well, healing took place in all directions, not just for them but for him as well and maybe even for the people around them. Like treating these people like they were just people and not sick kids who are defective or afflicted but just people just like him who don't really know what to do next, and aren't really sure what their next step was, and really just acknowledging them for being human.   He really, really strongly learned that communication and connection was at the heart of all healing of all conditions. The thing he really disrespected though, was the way psychiatry was dealing with these kids. He hated psychiatry, he hated that they would call the psychiatrist and they would come by and interview the child for three seconds. So, they'd say like, “Johnny's up too late.” or “Timmy and Tony got in a fight.” They'd interview the kid for 3 seconds, and then interview them for like 5 seconds and then take out their pen and write an order. And then they have to go haul the kid into the quiet room and hold them down against his will and then fill his hip up with adult grade anti-psychotic injectable medication. And if this puts him out of his misery for the next 12 or 24 hours, they'd somehow call that a success. He found that to be so barbaric and it's still going on in our world today, if you need to know. It's going on every single day in many different hospitals around the world.   But he just decided that communication and connection really were what he wanted to be a stand for. And he went back to school solely to become a psychiatrist so that he could bring communication back to that field because he saw the opportunity that psychiatry had to really make a difference in the world that they did that.   Over the next 13 years, he completed his degree and completed his residency and completed his fellowship. And low and behold, he graduated as a psychiatrist from a great medical school and a great residency. And there he was, the truth is that psychiatry had gone through a significant change at that time and began medicating people. This whole idea of diagnosing and medicating and Biological Psychiatry falls on the heels of a drug called Prozac. And Prozac had been introduced in 1987 while he was in training, and now he too was becoming a psycho pharmacologist. Now, you can guess that there was some soul sacrifice there, there was a massive heart ache because he didn't want to prescribe medicine, he didn't want to diagnose people, he went into the field so he wouldn't have to do that.   But there he was actually living a life that was inconsistent to who he was. And over the next 15 years, he did his best to bring communication there but more and more, he was being contracted and constricted away from the psychiatric field. In 2006, he decided that he would finally start taking people off of medicine, he took some of his low risk people off of medicine, and they just got way better, reliably better. As soon as he took the medicine away, their diagnosis often disappeared. And he thought he was onto something like maybe the medicines actually perpetuate to conditions. Maybe in fact the medicines actually worsen or cause the conditions at times. Now, this made him really angry, and he didn't know exactly how to manage it, but over time, and it's been, what, 15, 16 years since 2006, he's really learned how to really get respect for not medicating, not diagnosing and then they call him the un-doctor, un-medicated, un-diagnosing, and then un-doctornating people. Really getting that if you're having a miserable time as a human, if you're uncomfortable, anxious, fearful, depressed, sad, confused, scattered, any of those things, it's entirely okay.   And it's part of being a human, to be highly uncomfortable at times, to be miserable at times is okay. That doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. We don't blame a log for burning in the fire, if you put a log into fire, it's going to burn, if you put a human on this world, we're going to be uncomfortable. And we start really looking at that and he's back to getting the connection is at the heart of all healing.   So, he created a company called Welcome to Humanity in 2015. And that was self-explanatory, all things human are okay. The possibility of seeing all people for who they are and who they're not is okay. The possibility of accepting and even having some compassion and forgiveness for the misery that we all feel is all okay. And they started really communicating and connecting as a healer, instead of as a doctor that he had been prior to that.   After Welcome to Humanity, several other different things have sprouted, there was global madness where he was going to go around the world like Anthony Bourdain, and really see that psychiatry is different and the whole idea of mental health is different in Jamaica. And it's different everywhere. It's like what's sick in Jamaica isn't the same as what's sick in California. And so, it can't really be if you have a broken arm in Jamaica, you're going to have that same broken arm if you fly to California, but that's not true of mental health and mental illness.   And so, the idea that it's variable, meaning that it's transformable, meaning that we can alter this whole idea of what mental health and mental illnesses through conversation. Meaning that we can actually make a difference with people without having to put them on a couch 4 times a week or send them to Tibet or India. Or even give them a bunch of ganja, those aren't the only ways to find peace and we can find peace by recognizing that each of us are in this together.   The true voice technology is his most recent finding, after doing the creative eight, the creative eight really took advantage of the art, music, dancing, singing, drama, cooking, writing, gardening, all the creative acts in life can really lead to a reduction of the symptomology. And the Find Your True Voice technology, his most recent book, which he can offer to listeners, actually, is a technology that takes a deep dive into finding our authenticity in the face of any world experience and then speaking our exact truth, like what's really important to us, because you've probably noticed, a lot of people are no longer speaking their truth and they're just saying things that they don't even mean, or not saying things at all, because they're afraid they're going to be dismissed or discounted or censored or cancelled or hurt.   And he thinks in these difficult times in the world, more than anything, we really have to count on people to speak their true voice, because we're not going to be taking care of any of the very major problems in the world like COVID or like climate change, or racism or sex trafficking, or war, or all the many things that have really come forth in the last few years as super problems. Unless we have a conversation going, we're not going to be able to deal with those but the future looks pretty grim if we're not going to be able to deal with those things, it looks like pretty calamitous. And the only way we're going to get there is by really finding a way to communicate together. And that's what he's a stand for now, as he's been since the moment he arrived on Earth March 01, 1958.   As an Organization, Programmes that Can Be Put in Place to Support Team Members Where Mental Health is Concerned to Strengthen Customer Experience   Me: Thank you so much for sharing Dr. Moss. Now, mental health is a real thing, I don't think a lot of companies or even countries for that matter, really gives it the attention that it needs and dedication that it requires. Could you share with us as an organization, maybe one or two things that you can do as leadership in an organization or putting in place some form of programme to support team members where mental health is concerned in order to strengthen the customer experience?   Dr. Moss thinks if you're really up to having a healthy workforce, a healthy payroll, people who are really able to stand up for what's important in a customer experience, he thinks the number one thing to really get is that all people really want more than anything is to be heard, to be heard, and to be listened to, to actually be cared for, to be appreciated, to be acknowledged.   So, if you're going to do anything, he thinks to create an atmosphere in your company, or in your corporation or in your small groups, or even in your experience with the customers were the primary goal is to listen intently to what's being said. And not only what's being said with words, but what's being called for, how can you move the needle forward in a progressive way? What is the environment or the circumstances calling on you to present or you to be with including the possibility of saying nothing?   Can you listen for what's being called for to move that conversation forward and provide that creatively? We're all super creative, every one of us, including those of us who think we're not, that's just an old injury when you think you're not. The truth is we're all very creative and we are all listening at our own pace and our own level, and more than delivering what we think is right. And what he's saying is that more than anything, it's not a matter of speaking, it's a matter of listening to those people who are struggling to say that which is really important to them, whatever way they're doing it. So, he believes that more than anything, the secret ingredient here is definitely listening.   Me: So, we need to listen more because everybody wants to be seen, they want to be felt, they want to be heard. I think it's a process for sure.   Dr. Moss shared that when people disagree with us, we think it's okay to disregard them and dismiss them and unfriend them and never talk to them even if they are our siblings or best friends beforehand. So, these days we're cancelling people out of our worlds because they disagree with us on some certain issues and that's happened to him and it's happened to most people. He's lost friends in the last couple years and it's really quite painful. What's really here or there then is, listening is an act of occupation, it's not just what you do in between the time you talked and the time you're going to talk next, it's actually having those ears open and being super curious about what that person is saying, or what they're trying to get across in a way that really acknowledges and respects and accepts and maybe even forgives that person for being as confused as they are when they're confused. Because after all, if you haven't noticed, each and every one of us is thoroughly confused, some of us pretend like we're not and going to get it done. But each and every human on this planet is totally confused. Of course, how could you not be, there's some crap going on out there. Let's be fair about it, those of us who pretend that we're not confused, are almost more confused, they're more confused, they actually think that it's possible not to be confused.   Me: The ones who think they're not confused, they're deluding themselves.   Dr. Moss agreed, exactly. Come on. Let's be real about it.   Suggestion to Assist Ourselves When We're Feeling Out of Balance   Me: Now, Dr. Moss, if there was one thing to do immediately to assist ourselves when we're feeling out of balance. What would you suggest that one thing would be?   Dr. Moss thinks it's pause. Hold on a second, re configure yourself. Allow yourself to make a mistake, allow yourself to learn, allow yourself to regroup and get curious again, give yourself compassion, forgiveness, acceptance. He guesses you only asked for one thing, and he sees this as one thing. It's like, pause and reset. You can do that multiple times per day, if you want. Pause, reset, pause, reset, it doesn't take very much work.   Me: And I guess the average person is just going and going and going and going and it's like they don't actually take time. I think generally people feel like if they stop, and they're not doing something that their productivity will decrease. But in order for you to be more productive, you really do we need those pauses, don't you?   Dr. Moss agreed yes, you do. He knows how to run like the devil, he's a doctor. So, they trained him in medical school to be up 24 hours in emergency rooms, and in psychiatry to deal with suicide, and with homicide, and with alcoholism and drug addiction and overdoses and all those things. He knows how to run hard. But the truth is, in those moments where he can get maybe even 5 minutes, let alone 20 minutes. So, just stop and sit or stop and appreciate. No one ever told him he'd be alive forever. And no one definitely ever told him that this life was not without any misery. So, the truth is, there's massive misery, massive overwhelming misery all over the world. There are great reasons for it, it's not in your head, it's very real.   There's nothing wrong with you for being miserable in a miserable world when it's going on, for some reason, we have the capacity to recuperate or to reset ourselves because, have you noticed that some days when you're just so totally spent, like you don't have another ounce of energy left, that later in that same day you might have blissful moments, you might just realize the absolute beauty of life on the same day. That is a gift that came from us on creation and it's extraordinary that this too shall pass still works. Even in this world where calamities are just happenstance, they're just every day, there's shit going on that is just thoroughly and totally unacceptable.   App, Website or Tool that Dr. Moss Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resource that cannot live without in his business, Dr. Moss shared that he saw that question coming down the pike and he was thinking like, “Where am I right now with that particular question?” And he thinks the cheapest way would be to say something like email or messaging, but we'll go past that. He thinks that Slack is really interesting, although it has flaws. And he thinks that all of the apps, they have significant flaws. He thinks that Google Docs and Dropbox are super interesting, he has no idea what he would do without those two in particular. How would he handle life without Google and Dropbox? There's a lot of his stuff locked up in there, he doesn't even know how to find it.   But he thinks some of the more interesting, newer apps, as he learns about them, he's 64, so he's sort of on the back edge, he's not as quite as savvy as some of the 30 somethings like his son whose birthday is today (July 20th). But he thinks that some of those new apps are so extraordinary as they come off the press and the things they do. Some of these apps, they just do amazing things. But he thinks ultimately, the one he can't live without is he'd have to say, unfortunately, is through Google Suite.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Dr. Moss   When asked about books that have an impact, Dr. Moss shared that he likes spiritual books. He can't go very far without saying sort of like The Torah, The Talmud, The Mission, or the basic Old Testament Jewish texts, he loves those. He's not reading them this very moment, but the truth is, when he does, his whole life gets re-centered. So, it's hard to not pay attention to those books.   The books recently that he's really been enjoying, he's so excited about are by Alan Watts. He thinks Alan Watts is so brilliant, and just re centers all of this nonsense so easily in 10 and 15 minutes snippets. So, you can read little chapters, it's generally readable. And he just takes on this whole idea that time is just an illusion, or space is just an illusion, or that all we really have is now and he does it in a way that he finds to be so entertaining and refreshing.   Now, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, he's sure other people have answered that question, has answered it with that book. He thinks it's a fine book and everything, he doesn't know that it's life changing book in his life. For some people, it really is. But once he gets past the Torah, then he has to get to what he's reading now. He's got so many books open in his living room. He has like 40 books that are open in his living room right now that he's like almost done with or partially through and he just keeps reading. He just pulled off “To Kill a Mockingbird,” he's like, “Oh, yeah, someday I'm going to read To Kill a Mockingbird, because I understand that that's going to really change my life.” But he's got like 23 books to read before he gets to that one. And then life goes on.   What Dr. Moss is Really Excited About Now!   When asked about something that he's excited about, Dr. Moss stated that that's a great question. He's working on both with himself and with his people and the new course that he's developed is called The True Voice Course. And it's about your voice mattering. Basically, it's an online course but it's mixed in with a mastermind, you get his two books, you get access to him, and you get access to a community of like-minded individuals who are really out to bring their true voice forward.   He's graduated over 50 people in his courses to move them from zero to podcasters. So, that's one group of people you get, but you also get people who are really interested in bringing their voice forward. The technology he's developed is comprehensive and he's super excited about rolling out that course, you can find it at www.truevoicepodcasting.com and the first 10 people who come into that course are actually going to get it at half price. And that's a significant savings. And they really just want those people to come in, take the course, let them know what works and if there's parts of it that are vague, or maybe they overlook so that they can make this course spectacular for everyone. This course is running out, starting this week and next week, so by the time that this airs, it should have a number of people that are in it. He's super excited about it because it really incorporates his books and his experience right there into a course where he can source people to find that true voice and bring it over to a world that's waiting.   When he says that there's a personal aspect to this, he's doing the same thing with his wife. He has a wife, a gorgeous, unbelievable, amazing human being who he calls his wife. And they have 3 cats, and they live in a pretty cool house and they're just kind of trying to figure out how to create a relationship every single day. And that's the same thing, using the same technology, because if you're not speaking your true voice, and no one is ever going to know you. And that's the way he is with Alexandra (his wife) as well on the way she is with him, and they bring forth art and communication and creativity like the Creative 8 asked for as well as The True Voice, as well as her own special style, which is through dance and art to really create a relationship that's never been done before. So, those are the two things and they're kind of related and these are special times to be able to have come through this life and still be banging away on things that truly do matter, like human connection.   Me: Now, for those of our listeners that would want to tap into this programme, is it that it is geared towards a particular type of person? Or is it open to anyone regardless of where they are in their life?   Dr. Moss shared that it really is open to anyone. But he thinks what they're really looking for, what they're finding are the people who have felt muted, who feel muffled, who feel fearful, who feel that their voices are not being heard, or that they're not speaking their true voice, and they're eager to do so. Maybe there's a new level of urgency given up all the world issues that we're now experiencing. And these often turn out to be mothers, this often turned out to be mothers on the other side of an empty nest perhaps, or a divorce, or maybe even just mothers who want their children to have the voices. They start realizing that up until now, they've been caring for so many people, but, “What about me? Like, what about the things that really matter to me?” It's the what about me people who are really taking this course by storm, who are like, “Yeah, I forgot how to speak my truth. I want to find my truth. I want to refine my truth. And then I want to deliver that truth.” And podcasting is one spectacular way to do that, it's not the only way, they help people find their voice and then naturally they find when to deliver it and how they're going to deliver it, even if it's just in their family, or if it's on a stage in front of 1000s of people. Either way, it's the same general criteria, they help you take a deep dive to finding that authentic self of yours, rediscovering it, refining it, and then delivering it to the world that really is ready and willing to listen to you.   Where Can We Find Dr. Moss Online   Instagram - @drfredmoss Facebook - @drfredmoss LinkedIn – Fred R. Moss, MD Email – drfred@welcometohumanity.net   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Dr. Moss Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Dr. Moss stated that there's a couple that come to mind. He used to answer this question with a Rolling Stones, “You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need.” He thinks that's a sweet quote. He thinks there's something else, there's, “This too shall pass.” That is a beautiful quote. And that we are spiritual beings living a human experience, there's something very beautiful about that too. He thinks that we are spiritual beings living a human experience can be very helpful as well, getting us centered into the here and now and getting that calamities and disasters and all those things that we hate, no one ever said that wasn't going to be part of this live. So, this idea of really listening in order to learn seems like it comes very easily from this notion that we are spiritual beings living a human experience.   Me: So, we'll have those two, the Rolling Stones, and this too shall pass. Really appreciate that. Now, thank you, again, Dr. Moss, for taking time out of your very busy day to hop on this podcast with us and share all of this awesome content on what you are doing, how you are trying to help people to have more real conversations to really get their message out there and just to be their most authentic and true self, it really was a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much.   Dr. Moss shared that it's his pleasure. And thanks for working through all the all the technological challenges, it really was a beautiful conversation, and he appreciates Yanique and really to Yanique and her listeners. This isn't a pitch for his product, he has a product, it's true. But it's not about that, these are difficult, urgent, real times. And what he really wants people to get is, if you don't speak, no one will ever hear you and if you don't speak your true voice, no one will ever know you. He has a capacity to source people to actually find that true voice and whether you use him or someone else, he's just really, really, really is interested in people who are ready to put their foot down and get that yeah, in what's left of this short life, even if it's 10, 20, 40, 60 years from now, you want to get heard, you want to be loved, you want to be appreciated. Okay, then let's start really getting with who you really are and making that happen. And whatever it takes to do that he implores the listeners and yourself to really step up because that's all that's left to do as far as he sees.   Me: Dr. Moss, so you have a gift for our listeners, please go ahead and share.   Dr. Moss shared that he has a gift, he wrote a book this year that he's really proud of and it takes a deeper dive into this whole notion of how this technology works. He knows the title of the book will surprise the audience, it's called Find Your True Voice and he's going to send the actual book to the listeners if they just sign up for the book, and you can find that at www.findyourtruevoicebook.com. And he'll send you a copy. And after that, he just want to hear what did you think of that book? Is there something there that can move you forward? Or where is it that this book or his talk is valuable? Because he's super interested in delivering talks, and having people really get that if we don't speak well….the future looks pretty grim.   And if we do speak, we can end all wars. And that's what that book is about really finding a true voice and it's simple to read, fun to read, fun to write, and he invites listeners to sign up for a free copy.   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   Find Your True Voice by Dr. Fred Moss Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill   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!

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Perverse Independence Incentives, published by jefftk on July 31, 2022 on LessWrong. In writing about parenting, I don't write enough about what didn't work: this might give the impression that everything I try works, which is not the case! Here's an example of something that didn't, and which I might have caught before trying if I'd thought a bit more. Brief recap: I see one of my main roles as a parent being building independence: I want to let my kids be as independent as possible, as early as possible. Not only does it make their lives better, because they can meet their own needs how they want, but it makes my life easier, because they can handle more on their own. Sometimes this involves a bit more effort up front, but I think it's substantially less effort in total. For a while I had an approach which was essentially, "if you can do it yourself I'm not going to do it for you." For example, soon after Lily learned how to get her own cereal, we had some conversations like: Lily: Papa, can I have some cereal? Me: You know how to do that! Lily: I don't want to, and you used to get it for me. Me: Now that you can do it I'm not going to do it for you. Lily: [unhappy] After a few weeks I realized this was counterproductive. Yes, it did mean more practice at new skills, and it is where I want us to end up eventually, but the incentives are all wrong. Instead of her former excitement at learning new things and expanding what she was capable of, each new skill now made her life harder because I was less helpful. You can sort of think of this as too high a marginal tax rate: I was claiming too much of the surplus from her investments in her abilities. After I realized it wasn't working I toned this down a lot. I will still sometimes refuse to do things they know how to do themselves, but most of the time they're happy enough to do the thing on their own, whenever they want, at their own speed, and in they way they prefer, that I don't need to push them along. One place where I'll still consistently refuse is when I wouldn't have done it for them even before they learned how. For example, if they don't like dinner and ask me to heat up something else I'll do that, but then if they don't like that I won't just keep getting them additional things. Now that she can use the microwave, however, Lily has an additional option, which is that she can go heat herself something up on her own. Comment via: facebook Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Perverse Independence Incentives, published by jefftk on July 31, 2022 on LessWrong. In writing about parenting, I don't write enough about what didn't work: this might give the impression that everything I try works, which is not the case! Here's an example of something that didn't, and which I might have caught before trying if I'd thought a bit more. Brief recap: I see one of my main roles as a parent being building independence: I want to let my kids be as independent as possible, as early as possible. Not only does it make their lives better, because they can meet their own needs how they want, but it makes my life easier, because they can handle more on their own. Sometimes this involves a bit more effort up front, but I think it's substantially less effort in total. For a while I had an approach which was essentially, "if you can do it yourself I'm not going to do it for you." For example, soon after Lily learned how to get her own cereal, we had some conversations like: Lily: Papa, can I have some cereal? Me: You know how to do that! Lily: I don't want to, and you used to get it for me. Me: Now that you can do it I'm not going to do it for you. Lily: [unhappy] After a few weeks I realized this was counterproductive. Yes, it did mean more practice at new skills, and it is where I want us to end up eventually, but the incentives are all wrong. Instead of her former excitement at learning new things and expanding what she was capable of, each new skill now made her life harder because I was less helpful. You can sort of think of this as too high a marginal tax rate: I was claiming too much of the surplus from her investments in her abilities. After I realized it wasn't working I toned this down a lot. I will still sometimes refuse to do things they know how to do themselves, but most of the time they're happy enough to do the thing on their own, whenever they want, at their own speed, and in they way they prefer, that I don't need to push them along. One place where I'll still consistently refuse is when I wouldn't have done it for them even before they learned how. For example, if they don't like dinner and ask me to heat up something else I'll do that, but then if they don't like that I won't just keep getting them additional things. Now that she can use the microwave, however, Lily has an additional option, which is that she can go heat herself something up on her own. Comment via: facebook Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

Laura Stewart is the Vice President of Canada's Top Real Estate firm, REC Canada. Having spent the last 8 years helping over 1,200 investors build out their real estate portfolios, Laura has turned her attention to helping other Real Estate Agents achieve top tier success through content creation. Now the owner and operator of From the Ground up Media (FTGU). Her company helps realtors produce, edit, and post content on social media with the objective of helping them build a community to do more deals.   Questions   We always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words a little bit about their journey and how they got to where they are today. Could you tell us a little bit about what your company From the Ground up Media does? And how is it that you're able to help real estate agents in this capacity? Could you share with our listeners, maybe I would say two to three things or, let's say, activities, or maybe characteristics that are critical for you to be successful as a real estate agent on social media. Now, could you also share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you read recently, but it still has a great impact on you. Could you share with us maybe one or two things that you do personally to keep yourself motivated that may spiral a little bit of spark or thought-provoking things in someone's mind as to how maybe they could tweak or even modify their skills in motivation? Now, could you also share with us maybe 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? 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?   Highlights   Laura's Journey   Me: So, Laura, even though we do read your bio, which kind of gives a little synopsis of who you are, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words a little bit about their journey and how they got to where they are today. So, could you share that with our audience?   Laura shared that she'll try and keep it as short as she can because she thinks she has a fairly unique kind of background, in that she didn't know she was wanting to be a salesperson. She didn't know she wanted to get into real estate when she was a younger person. She really kind of took the lead of a Guidance Counsellor who said to her if she wanted to be successful in life, she needs to get into science. Why was that the narrative at the time, she's not sure.   But she was like, of course, she wants to be successful. So, you're an adult, and she's going to take your word for it. So, she went to school for nutrition, and learned pretty quickly on that that was just not going to be her lifelong journey. She did complete the programme and after that she kind of dabbled in the fashion world. She loves fashion, she loves helping her friends and family put together outfits. And she thought, well, this might be something that's interesting.   So, she started working at one of Canada's luxury retailers in their buying department, as a junior buyer, like intern at the time just to kind of get her feet wet. So, started right at the bottom from there. She was cleaning the kitchen and doing all the nitty gritty work that no one else wanted to do. It was pretty quickly on there that she realized, you know what she'd rather be able to buy clothes at these stores than actually be a buyer for these stores. And she's doing air quotes right now, which you can't of course see. But because, at some point, you kind of realize like, if she's going to be going up the corporate chain, she's still not going to amount to the type of success that she's looking for.   So, she went back to school to do her MBA and it was then that she kind of had this concept of, okay, well, Real Estate Agents are quasi entrepreneurs, particularly the good ones, they get to do everything from running their own finances, their own marketing, and really building their own team and business the way they wanted it. And so that's kind of how she got her foot in the door from a eal estate perspective.   What Your Company From the Ground up Media does – How is it That You're Able to Help Real Estate Agents in This Capacity   Me: Now, your company that you're currently operating for 8 years as your bio had indicated, is called From the Ground Up Media. Could you tell us a little bit about what your company does? And how is it that you're able to help Real Estate Agents in this capacity?   Laura clarified that she's been a real estate agent with a company called REC Canada for 8 years. So, she's been actively selling real estate for 8 years, the media company kind of came out of the real estate company only 14 or 15 months ago. How that kind of came about was in 2017, one of the owners of the real estate company, unfortunately passed away fairly tragically. And he was really the face of the company. He was the personal brand that at the top of the funnel, kind of bringing in all the leads and the rest of them were kind of working those deals.   So, at that point, without him they were kind of looking to each other like, “Uh-Oh, what are we going to do now? Like, we have no one to really run this thing.” It was then when the group of them kind of went all in on her business partner, his name is Jas Takhar, and said, “Look, we want you to be the face of the company. And let's help bring us into, this would have been 2018 now. There's these things called podcasts going around, why don't we start a podcast where we are essentially answering all of the frequently asked questions that we get from buyers, sellers or investors.” And that's really where the content began just with an audio only podcast, similar to what you're doing here today. And that kind of spiralled over time.   So, they had some pretty heavy hitters on the podcast just out of sheer luck and tenacity of following up with the right people enough times. So, Ryan Serhant, who is on Million Dollar Listing, he said yes to doing their podcast and that's when they realized, “Oh shoot, I think we need to put this on camera.”   That was when the light bulb really went off because they realize okay, now that they have video footage of the podcast, they can now put that on YouTube, they can put the audio on all the audio platforms. And then what they can do with the full YouTube video is really slice and dice it to add micro content to all of their social media channels. And that kind of became their easy and quick and dirty way of being omnipresent everywhere without doing additional work, because they were full time real estate agents.   And when you when you do that enough, they run a fairly successful business in Canada that other Real Estate Agents are looking to them saying, “Well, what are these guys doing that's allowing them to be successful?” And so, they would meet with a lot of real estate agents who would say, “I want to do what you're doing, how did you do it?” And they come from the notion of, the pie is big enough, there's more than enough business to go around and they would explain to everybody, “Well, this is how we're doing the media. And this is who you could hire, if you wanted to do it on your own, this is how you could do it on your own.”   And they would follow up with some of those agents in a couple months. And they really hadn't executed on anything. And so, that kind of starts to make you look at maybe there's an opportunity here where they could be the service provider for these people. And that is what sparked the idea From the Ground up Media where they predominantly help real estate agents, small business owners work toward building an online personal presence through things like podcasts and webinars and things like that.   Characteristics That are Critical for you to be Successful as a Real Estate Agent on Social Media   Me: Now, I like the idea and definitely the practical strategy that you have employed for From the Ground Up Media, could you share with our listeners, maybe I would say two to three things or, let's say, activities, or maybe characteristics that are critical for you to be successful as a Real Estate Agent on social media.   Laura shared that first and foremost, the one characteristic that you really need to deploy is the utmost Patience. So, they've been doing this since 2018, very, very consistently, particularly for her business partner as she was helping him, they use him as the guinea pig and then they filter it all out and kind of all borrow the same tactics for themselves. And the reason why she says patience is because now that she's sat with a number of real estate agents who come to her and say, “I want to be on Tik Tok, and I want to be on Instagram.” They'll do it for a couple months, and their motivation will kind of get them there. But when they start to see that there's really not much traction, or that it's difficult, or that a client came to them and she was taking all their time. The first thing to kind of drop is the media and the content creation. And that's really the last thing that should be dropping, she thinks right now they're seeing it particularly with this, again, air quotes recession that we're seeing, a lot of people are saying, well, I'm taking off now, I'm going to go on vacation, there's no business to be done.   Now is when you need to double down, this is the time where you can actually gain that market share that you've been looking for, simply by being the educator. And so, she thinks patience is very, very important. She's been doing social media now for quite some time, consistently, every single day and it's a grind. There are some days where you think you're going to promote a piece of content, and it's going to go viral, and it's crickets. And there's sometimes where you're asking for feedback from people and you're asking them to comment, and there's no engagement. And that's kind of the name of the game. So, she thinks patience is super important.   She also thinks Consistency is very important. So, she's learned this the hard way, where she hasn't set up like a schedule for herself and she kind of do a post here and a post there. It really helps, particularly if you're like her to see it on a piece of paper like, “Okay, how many pieces of content should I be filming this week?” And really just hit that goal. Don't worry about the, “Oh, my gosh, this seems so overwhelming, because I need to do 400 posts a year.”   And in fact, it should be more than that. Just focus day by day, “Did I do my one post today?” And being consistent is more important than any perfect post. And she says that because she hears people say, “Well, my hair doesn't look good. The lighting is not good. My camera's not good. The angles, not good. I'm sick today and my nose is a bit nasally.” It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're putting in the reps, you're doing it every day because you really have no idea what the algorithm or what people are going to enjoy and like about you.   So, if you spend an entire week just to make one 60 second video for Instagram reels, and it flops, you're going to be so disheartened. But if you take only five minutes every day to do one and it's okay content, and you get enough of those reps and eventually you're going to hit somebody and you're going to start to build that community over time. So definitely, consistency is a major one.   Lastly and perhaps most importantly, people need to kind of Check Their Ego at the Door. It is overwhelming and it can be nerve wracking to put yourself out there. And that is the name of the game, like you're doing something that a lot of people are just simply not willing to do. We can't all be the most beautiful people in the world, we can't all have the best voice. Or maybe some of us don't even have the knack for writing simple captions in our Instagram feed.   So, understand that no one expects to be perfect. No one expects you to come out of the gates being perfect or professional content creator like all the influencers that you see online, they expect you to kind of hack your way through it and say ums and ahs. How many times have she said, um, or had to start her conversation a little bit differently with today? She never said let's stop the recording and start over, she just kept moving with it.   And so, once people kind of get over their insecurities, and recognizing that it truly is an insecurity, people will say, “Well, I want it to be perfect.” Your desire for it to be perfect is really just you saying, “I'm scared of being judged by people.” And she thinks once you kind of understand where it's coming from, that it is coming from fear, that's when you can say, “Okay, now how am I going to work around this? How am I going to get through this?”   And sometimes it's as simple as like posting it and then turning it off and not going back for a little bit just so you don't feel disheartened, because it is disheartening. You're not going to get all the traction that you want right off the bat and it can hurt, we're all human. She totally understands it. She gets hurt but she still does it anyways. And she thinks that's super, super important.   Me: Love it. All right. So, Patience, Consistency and Check that Ego at the Door. I love it. All right, awesome. Thank you for sharing, Laura.   App, Website or Tool that Laura Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business   When asked about online resource that she cannot live without in her business, Laura shared that right now she actually uses a great online resource, which is called Answer Socrates. And that allows you to go in and really type in any type of industry or topic that you want and what it will generate for you is the list of frequently asked questions in around that topic. So again, a lot of real estate agents will say, “Okay, look, I know I have to be consistent, I got the right camera, or I got my phone, or I finally created a Tik Tok account. But now what am I supposed to talk about?” And just knowing that all the topics are there on Answer Socrates.   So, let's say you type in real estate, you're going to get a list of 100 topics that people are asking. So, it really kind of pulls from like Google and what people are looking for on Google, when they say like, is the bubble going to burst? Is there a crash coming? Should I sell all my property during a recession? And now it's up to you to answer those questions.   Ultimately, she does feel that most of those questions will come from simply phone calls and checking your email like anytime you're working with a client, you're going to get a question, “Well, how much of a deposit should I put down? What should I make the irrevocable date around, for example, on the contract, what should be my marketing strategy for selling my home?” All those questions that you get and you answer so you do know the answers to them, you should just turn the camera on, turn it on selfie mode, and record your answer to those people. She thinks that's a great, great place to get started.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Laura   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Laura stated that that's a great question. She's a pretty avid reader, she probably read 15 to 20 books every single year. And sometimes she'll read the same book over. Just recently she finished reading for the second time, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear, people talk about this book all the time, it's a great book. She really thinks it just resonates with her because at the end of the day, everything comes down to just you doing again, something consistently. And she really try to use that in all facets of her life, not just business, but her workouts. Like today, she didn't work out as hard as she did yesterday, but she still got her ass there. And so, she thinks that's super important and if you really look at life from that lens, you're going to recognize that it's about like small incremental growth.   So, being 1% better today than perhaps you were yesterday. And it doesn't look like much, right? It's kind of like, “Well, that doesn't sound fun. I want 20% growth in a day." But that's just not the way it works. And she thinks when people start to look for those big, big gross, that's where they get burnt out, that's where they get excited and their motivation gets them through the first couple months to do something but then it falls by the wayside because they've gone too hard at the gates. She would rather you let's say we're talking about content creation. She would rather you promise yourself to do one video a week versus saying you're going to do something three times a day when you've done zero previously, like let's build up those reps and build toward it.   The second book and probably the most influential book is by Jack Canfield The Success Principles™ - 10th Anniversary Edition: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, that was the kind of the first book that she read that was really about mindset. And it kind of got her into the personal development, self-help space of books. It's a big, big read and it's pretty thick. But the book starts off at the beginning was saying, everything's your fault and once you kind of recognize that it's on you, everything that's wrong in your life, all the problems that you're having are all your fault. And once you kind of accept that that's the case, it really puts the power in your hands to change it. She thinks where a lot of anxiety particularly for herself comes from is when she feels helpless, and she feels hopeless about making any change. And trust, she don't do this like every time something goes wrong in her life, this isn't her automatic response. But if she eventually do get to a place where she says, “Okay, I can make a change, it might be a small change, and might be, it might even just be thinking, look, I can't change that person, but I can change how I react to that person.” That's certainly very, very well in the last couple years. So, she would say those two books are a must, must read.   How Laura Keeps Motivated   Me: Now, a big part of what you've been talking about Laura as we've started this podcast, we've covered quite a few different characteristics or traits in order for you to be successful. I think it's important also, like, I liked the fact that you mentioned consistency as it related to the different characteristics that you would need to employ in order to be successful as a real estate agent, especially from a social media perspective. But sometimes it's hard to find the motivation, as you had mentioned, to be consistent. So, could you share with us maybe one or two things that you do personally to keep yourself motivated that may spiral a little bit of spark or thought-provoking things in someone's mind as to how maybe they could tweak or even modify their skills in motivation?   Laura shared that we're all human, life is hard and it gets tough. And when markets change, and things shift, that's when you start to say, “Oh, my gosh, maybe I wasn't built for this. Or maybe I've lost my touch.” whatever it is. And she thinks real estate agents have it pretty hard, because they're always living pay check to pay check, you're only as good as your next deal, right? It's a very competitive market, particularly in the GTA, there's over 70,000 real estate agents that they're competing with on a daily basis. For her, what's really helped get over those tough times, is the fact that she joined a team and a team is what held her accountable.   So, there are days where she doesn't feel like getting out of bed, there are days where she sees an email from a client, and she can hardly emotionally deal with it because there's so much pressure and so much stretch, and we're talking about people's biggest purchases of their lifetime. So, understandably, they're emotional. But that emotion sometimes is displaced and it's put on you. And it's up to you as a real estate agent to calm the waters and calm everybody. And so, she thinks having a team of people who are there to support you when you're down, it's rare. So, they have 54 agents on their team, but the core, core group on their team is six of them, it's rare that all six of them are going to be in a really low place at the same time, don't think that's actually ever happened. And they actually went through, again, a tragic death on the team. One person came in and they were in a good mood, and then the other person came in and they weren't in a good mood, but it's the good mood people to help bring up the other people.   And she thinks if you surround yourself with people like that, particularly like minded positive people, you're going to get out of that rut a little bit quicker. The worst thing she thinks you could do as a real estate agent is stay home on those days where you don't feel like it because that one day becomes two days, becomes three days.   And before you know it, you've let a whole month go by and you haven't transacted anything, you haven't even made a single phone call. There's something about being in an environment that's competitive, seeing other people make phone calls, and seeing other people do deals and not to take it personally or emotionally on yourself saying, “Well, what's wrong with me?”   But instead to use them to fuel your fire, use other people to give you that strength and that courage to just pick up the phone and even if it's just you saying, “I'm going to make one phone call today.” , you're doing 1% better than you were doing yesterday, when made zero phone calls. And so, surrounding yourself with like-minded people and people who want to see you win and everyone's in it together, she thinks is super, super helpful. So that would be her tip, particularly for new agents who have never been in the business before and who aren't sure how to navigate all the cycles of the market, being on a team can certainly help with that.   What Laura is Really Excited About Now!   When asked about something that she's excited about, Laura shared that they have an incredible product that they're putting out for From the Ground up Media. And she thinks in entrepreneurship, it's interesting, she thought they would take everything that they had learned on the real estate side, they were doing well on that side. And so, it would be easy for them to kind of transition and start a new company and do well on that side. She was certainly wrong in that regard. They've made so many mistakes at times, because they're learning a new role. And not all skills are necessarily transferable. But they've now come up with a great product that she thinks will help a lot.   They're calling it The Immersion Programme. They haven't even started it yet, the first one is starting in August. So really, what it's about is having real estate agents. Because again, they hear this a lot saying, “Oh, man, I wish I could be a fly on the wall in your office.” So, they have a fairly big space in their office and real estate agents will come back by and say like, “How is it that you guys are doing deals, or there's always an energy back there.” And so, they're going to actually have them come in and sit with them and watch what they do. They're going to show them what their scripts are to people, they're going to show them that. They just recently came up with the idea of making 3000 phone calls in the next 30 days. Because they know with the market the way it is, they're going to have to make that many more phone calls just to get a single deal.   And so, they're hoping that those 3000 phone calls turn into something, of course, but understand that it's not the same market that they're talking about, like people used to make one phone call and be able to do a deal. Maybe not one phone call, but 100 phone calls and do a deal. Now we're talking about 3000 phone calls just to do a handful of deals. And they want people to really see what it takes and to give them the okay in between phone calls, someone asked her a great question on that phone call and she's going to do some social media content around it. So, she's also simultaneously building her social media presence.   And so, she thinks when people really get to see how they kind of organize and schedule their days, organize their phone calls, organize their mindsets all around it, she thinks that will be really valuable and hopefully, it's valuable enough that people can actually take that information with them and then do something about it. Nothing's more disheartening than having conversations like this one, like on a podcast and people listening to it saying, “Oh, that's a great idea. I'm going to use that for myself.” But guess what happens Yanique, no one does anything, they go home and life happens, they get an email, they get tired, they go on vacation, whatever it is, and then they forget the very thing that they were super, super excited about. And so, they're actually hoping that by being with them for two, three weeks at a time, that they're really going to take on the persona and not just kind of be lip service. So, that's what she's super excited about.   Where Can We Find Laura Online   Me: Now, Laura, we would have had quite a few persons that would have listened to this episode once it's published and so they would have listened to it, tapped into all of this awesome content that we've just discussed, and they would like to connect with you online. Where can they find you online?   Instagram - @laurastewartto TikTok – @laurastewartto LinkedIn - @laurastewartto Twitter - @laurastewartto Website – www.ftgumedia.com Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/ftgumedia   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Laura Uses   Me: Now, Laura, before we wrap our interviews 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.   When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, Laura shared that something she'd seem to tell herself again and again and again, it changes in times, you see a good quote and then in the email and you think about that for a while, but she would say the one that continuously usually comes back to her, quote wise is, “She believed she could, so she did.” She believes so much in the power of the mind, in positive thinking. And again, she's not saying this because she's positive all the time. In fact, her and her team right now they have a funny little game that they're playing where anytime someone complains, they put $10 in a jar. So, they just started it this morning, and guess who's already complained once today? Her, so she's already losing the battle.   So, it's not to say that she has it all figured out but whenever she's tapped into the belief that she's capable of doing something, and she's known that from the time she was a little kid, she was always the shortest, smallest kid and she was overlooked often in sports. And for some reason, she was actually really, really good at running and sprinting, even high jump. And people would always say like, “How are you so fast?” She would say, “Well, I just keep telling myself to run faster.” It's a choice. Sometimes things are choices that we make and it's about recognizing all the programming that's happened in our lives to put us in these positions, and then try to out think that and try to take those barriers down over time. So, if she believes she can, she will, and every day she has to kind of keep telling herself that because she gets down like everybody else. And like she said, whenever she truly feels it in her gut that she can do something, she's usually succeeded. So, it's done well for her.   Me: Very good. Very good. I like that. It's funny that you mentioned you believe you could, and you would, and you did. And the mindset, the mind is so, so powerful, and you are so true and correct in terms of surrounding yourself with people who will believe in you and people who will cheer you on, and vote for your success. And people who are positive minded and don't necessarily always say woe is me and they're always thinking negatively, because everything starts in the mind. So, I am 150%, behind everything you just said. And I hope our listeners really got some value out of what you shared today. I surely did. And I really appreciate you taking the time out of your very busy day, because I can imagine that you're trying to make 3000 telephone calls for the month, this obviously is not helping you towards that goal.   Laura shared that she will always work a little bit longer. But at the end of the day, she believes in this so much, she believes in women in business, getting their voice out there so much. So, it's actually an absolute pleasure for her to be on the show. She really appreciate Yanique taking the time to have her here today. It's just her point of view, she might be right, she might be wrong and it might resonate with some. But that's okay. This is her story, this is her journey and this is kind of where she's at right now. And so, she really appreciates Yanique allowing her to share it with the listeners.   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 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear The Success Principles™ - 10TH Anniversary Edition: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield   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!

During the months of June and July, the Unit3d team is taking a break.  We have asked people close to the podcast to choose their favorite episode to air as a "ReUnit3d" during this time.  What Do You Think of Me Now? is Mark Hilinski's pick.  We all care what others think of us, that is a normal part of life as a social creature.  However, caring what other's think is different than having fear around what others think and that distinction is important.  When we fear judgment from others we can change our behavior to be less true to ourselves, censoring our true thoughts and actions.  We also are vulnerable to internalizing what we believe other's think of us, which can negatively impact our mental health.  Dr. Brad Foltz discusses how to navigate the natural tendency to fear judgment from others and balance it with being our full authentic selves on this episode of Unit3d.

Matt Swain is a recognized Customer Communications Industry Thought Leader. From delivering keynotes around the world to defining best practices, hundreds of well-known companies have relied on Matt's expertise and research for their current and future omni-channel communication initiatives.   As Managing Director and Practice Lead for a Broadridge Communications Consulting, Matt brings in valuable market research and consulting expertise to clients relative to benchmarking, as well as for communication strategy, design and execution across print and digital channels.   Prior to joining Broadridge, Matt spent more than a decade at Keypoint Intelligence - InfoTrends, where he was a member of the senior management team with global responsibility for business development and customer communications advisory services. Matt is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology and holds a Master's degree in print media.   Questions   We always like to give our guests the opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey. How did you get to where you are today? The fourth annual CX and communication survey that your company had done, where you studied 3000 North American consumers, highlighting some of the major points and gaps in the customer experience two years into the pandemic. Could you tell us a little bit about the survey and some of the results that that survey created? What are some of the most interesting research that you have seen are conducted in the customer experience space, and could you share with us also maybe what are some of the things that have surprised you the most in that research? Now as it relates to personalization, the report says 65% of consumers would prefer to receive fewer, more tailored communications through their preferred channel. What has your research shown in terms of, do you still find companies all over the place? So, you said that consumers were looking for a more engaging digital experience, could you share with us maybe one or two things that you think a company could employ or put in place to make their digital experience more engaging? What are your thoughts on organizations, because digital, it's been accelerated because organizations who weren't even fully digital or were looking to put digital as part of their strategy definitely had to do some quick acceleration because of the fact that we're all stuck at home. How do they bridge that gap? Because people I think still want human interaction? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Can you also share with us 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? How can listeners find you online? Do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get overwhelmed or challenge? And the quote kind of helps to get you back on track or just get you back refocused.   Highlights   Matt's Journey   Matt stated that he was listening to that bio and he was thinking, he actually didn't realize Yanique read the whole thing. So, thank you for doing that. As where you ended was that he holds a Master's in print media and that's a very specific degree, especially for a master's degree. And many of the people that went through that programme, were going back to run print operations, they might have had a family business or otherwise.   And he was actually interested in print as one of the media channels that we now use to communicate. And so, actually, he did his Master's Thesis on the shifting spend of companies across different media. So, print was a starting point for him but he spends a lot of time now helping clients transition from print to digital communications and look specifically at how to create better experiences with the communications that they send.   The fourth annual CX and Communication Survey Results Highlighting Major Points and Gaps in the Customer Experience 2 Years into the Pandemic   Me: Now, in preparing for this interview, I was looking at the fourth annual CX and communications survey that your company had done, where you studied 3000 North American consumers, highlighting some of the major points and gaps in the customer experience two years into the pandemic. Could you tell us a little bit about the survey and some of the results that the survey created?   Matt shared that this was a passion project of his when he first started it, which was in 2019 and he has a really strong marketing and support team that helps execute on it. And what's really been interesting watching the data over the last four years of conducting the research is, there have been some notable shifts, specifically relative to customer experience. So, for instance, in 2019, they found that 35% of consumers thought that most of the companies they did business with needed to improve the experiences they provide. So, let's say you know, roughly one in three had that position.   In 2022 now that we've gone through, we're well into a pandemic, depending on which way you look at it, they now find that 65% of consumers, so an increase of 30 percentage points, 65% of consumers think that most of the companies they do business with need to improve the experiences they provide. And that is quite a jarring shift from his perspective.   And he thinks it speaks to the increased expectation that we as consumers have on the companies that we do business with, but also it shows a separation of the leaders from the rest of the pack when it comes to customer service and customer experience.   Research Done in the Customer Experience Space   Me: Very true. And so, a big part, we're all going through the pandemic, as you said, I guess it depends on how people want to look on it. But what are some of the most interesting research that you have seen are conducted in the customer experience space, and could you share with us also maybe what are some of the things that have surprised you the most in that research?   Matt shared that the research covers customer experience, but then also goes into specifics around what consumers are looking for from the companies they do business with. So, they found a lot of trending data around customer service, wanting better experiences when they needed that service experience. And at the same time, they're also asking for the use of technology, AI, chatbots to be a first line of defence to answer easy questions. And he thinks this is actually tripping a lot of companies up because there's technology out there that can reduce the cost to service a customer.   But the challenge is that companies are becoming too reliant on the technology, and it's resulting in reduced customer satisfaction, because they're not getting flipped to a live agent when they should be in that process.   So, a lot of the negative feedback that they see in the research is that people are looking for a sense of humanity or empathy, or “Let me speak to the Operator or make sure that I can understand the person that I speak to.”   And he thinks that that component is so critical, when you think about where somebody is in the journey when they need to contact you, there's usually some challenge in the communications that you've sent, or they're dealing with something very personal, and they need to be serviced in a more personal way. And so, it's a really delicate balance.   So, they look at the impact from a customer service perspective of new technology it being incorporated into that journey. But then they're also stepping back and saying, “Well, why did that person had to have to reach out in the first place?”   So again, through his lens, from a communication standpoint, it is, “Well, if you sent a bill or a statement to your customer….. Was it summarized? Was it easy to understand? Was it written in plain language? Did it have relevant content?”   Because ultimately, what they're hoping that they can help their clients get to is a very seamless experience and that they send a communication whether it's in print, or digitally, and the recipient can quickly digest the information and understand what action they need to take, review my account, pay a bill, sign a waiver, whatever that next step is, that's what they're hoping that they're going to be able to do efficiently and hopefully reduce that aspect of call centre volume.   Personalization – Consumers Prefer Fewer, More Tailored Communication Through Their Preferred Channel   Me: Agreed. Now, in the survey that was done, you focused on customer experience omni-channel approach personalization. Now as it relates to personalization, the report says 65% of consumers would prefer to receive fewer, more tailored communications through their preferred channel. What has your research shown in terms of, do you still find companies all over the place? Or are they more taking a more centralized approach?   Because I do agree, I think it's really great if you could generally get everything in one place instead of you're looking up information here but that information that's located on that platform is not located on this one, is just like you're all over the place.   Matt stated that there's another aspect to that, which is who are the 30 something percent of people that don't want that right?   From a personalization standpoint, actually specific to that, they do find people that want to remain somewhat anonymous digitally and they don't want companies to use their personal data in any other way than they should be using. And they actually asked a separate question around sharing of personal data, so additional data that you as a company don't need, but would the consumer provide it to you if it enhance their experience, created a better experience?   And they found that about half of Gen Z and Millennial respondents said that they would be willing to provide that and that dropped off for a Gen X and baby boomer audience that was less willing to provide incremental information.   Going back to Yanique's original question around centralization. He thinks they find one of the biggest challenges in a lot of their clients, especially their larger clients is they've grown through acquisitions, they have different lines, each line of business has its own underlying systems. And each head of the business might kind of operate their own fiefdom to some extent, which from a business owner perspective, can be advantageous or easier.   But from a consumer or investor or recipient perspective, that can be really painful because he's having to log into different systems, or he doesn't have a total view of his relationship with that company in one centralized location.   And he thinks that is an area that really needs to be addressed. But it comes back to the underlying systems that the people, the processes and the technology supporting that ecosystem that needs to be simplified and addressed before you can deliver on that better experience that the consumer is asking for.   Me: Agreed. Sometimes I think organizations take simple and make it complex when it really should just be so easy. And I'll give you an example. I'm currently doing some market research for a client and in the midst in the market research training that we did with persons yesterday, we forgot to ask them if any of them were existing customers of that particular company. So, I kind of just wanted to send out a quick google form to capture that information so we had it on file. And so, we jump on Google Forms simply asking one question, and I literally spent like probably about 15 minutes, just trying to Google, how do you get multiple responses in a Google form?   And there was like, no clear answer, because it has multiple choice, but then when we did the test, and we clicked on it, we realized that the respondent would only be able to select one answer. And there may be cases where they are a customer of the company, but they're not a customer of all business lines.   And so, there are three business lines that we're doing the market research for, and we just wanted to find out if these persons were one customer of a business line, or no customer, or multiple customers have a business line. And it took me so long to find it.   And I said to myself, Google usually makes things so simple. Why in their form did I have to do so much digging to figure out that instead of selecting multiple choice, I should have selected checkbox, because checkbox acts like a multiple choice, but it allows you to select multiple responses or answers. And that came to mind a while ago, just because of what you said.   I find that sometimes we think the technology is there to help us, it's not supposed to be rocket science, I'm not supposed to be trying to figure out, okay, where do I find this information.   It should be there, quick and easy, either in settings or as a drop down so that you can know that that's an option that you can exercise on us. Would you not agree?   Matt shared that we would and he thinks the irony, there is part of ensuring that you've delivered on that better experience is doing that voice of customer that surveying much like you would use the Google Form to do surveying of your audience, right?   So, they find that often where, again, through his lens they'll work with a client and say, let's conduct some voice of customer research and they use a platform where they'll enable a customer of theirs to go in and navigate their online account. And they'll say one of the common prompts is navigate to your most recent statement.   And it's really interesting to watch people try to find that statement and it's usually in a drop down, the third or fourth drop down over which isn't really that intuitive to know that a statement is going to be the eighth line on the drop down. And it's one of those where for those people that were building it, they know exactly where it is because that's how they built it and that's the approach they took. But for the consumer to navigate to it, that helps expose may be an opportunity to improve or streamline that experience for consumers that are looking to get access to that document.   Me: Yeah, I agreed. Totally agree. I guess as you said, that's why it's important to test it because then you get to see multiple approaches as to how different people will navigate on that platform. In customer service, we have this thing, this example that we use that we normally say, a school or a university, they basically wanted to see what the path was of the students as they were walking on the campus. And so, they waited until it snowed, and then they kind of watched people's pattern to see where they walked and that's what they use as a guide to make that the actual pathway.   Because you might create a situation or a building where you've created a pathway for people to walk but maybe that's not where they naturally gravitate to walk. And so, if you look on it from an online perspective, if someone goes on a site, maybe because of how they're trained, because of other platforms that they've used, or just genuine human interaction or intuition, they may go to the right of the page, or to the top of the page thinking that's where they're going to find that particular item. But maybe that's not where it's supposed to be. And if you look at the pattern of how people operate, it would indicate to you if the structure that you're putting in place is really the best place to place that.   Are people going to be able to find it easily? Is it going to be frustrating for them? Are they going to have to be reaching out to your support team to find out how to get that information?   How easy is it for them to find this information, and it should be easy enough that I think a five or six year old should be able to find it.   Matt shared that he loves the analogy with the snow on the surface, he immediately goes to that visual that we've all seen where you see the trampled trodden and dirt path that cuts the corner, the concrete path, or whatever it is the cobblestone. But he also thinks there's also a component of this, that when we think about what the company is trying to achieve, and then looking at what the experience is, so he uses that statement navigation as an example.   These are the same companies that are very aggressively asking their customer base to go paperless. So, take the paper out of the process, because it saves us money, we don't have to print and mail it. But then when you look at the value proposition for the consumer, it's not there, right?   Like what's in it for me to go paperless?   Now I have to go to your website and navigate and try to find this and the experience is no better, usually it's a static. And he's generically saying this, not all of their clients are this way. But it points you to a static document, not an interactive digital experience that provides more value than he would have gotten in paper.   And that was actually a really interesting takeaway from the research, which was 71% of consumers that had not gone paperless said that they would do so if the company provided a more engaging digital experience. And that's like the “big aha,” which is if we're creating better experiences, we're improving customer experience, but we're also achieving these operational goals of reducing print and mail and otherwise.   Consumers Looking for a More Engaging Digital Experience   Me: Amazing. So, you said that consumers were looking for a more engaging digital experience, could you share with us maybe one or two things that you think a company could employ or put in place to make their digital experience more engaging?   Matt shared that one of the weakest links of many companies' communication strategy, and again, through his lens, right, so those that are sending a bill or a statement, is that bill ready or statement ready notification.   So, think of the banks, the insurance companies, the telecommunications companies, utilities that you work with, they'll send you that note that just says, “Your statement's ready, click here to view and access.”   And sometimes it doesn't look anything like the rest of the brand that they've invested heavily in, it's a monthly communication. So sometimes it's the most frequent touchpoint that I have with that company, is this this generic email.   And one of the things that they do with clients, there are two approaches. One is an enhanced email where they're able to deliver more content directly within the email. So, instead of just saying it's ready, let me provide some value that directionally shows you how you did this month versus last or things to think about or other actions they're hoping you'll take.   Or they can redirect you to a microsite. So, instead of having to go back to the portal and log into the website, that way, you can authenticate through the email and get the full details in a microsite or a personalized experience that's specific to that statement or bill that he's asking you to look at.   Organizations Looking to Put Digital as part of Their Strategy – How do They Bridge That Gap as People Still Want Human Interaction   Me: And what are your thoughts on organizations, because digital is definitely I know it's been accelerated, I would say 10 times since the pandemic because organizations who weren't even fully digital or were looking to put digital as part of their strategy definitely had to do some quick acceleration because of the fact that we were all stuck at home. And of course, this was the only way that they could ensure that there was some continuity of business with their clients. But let's say you use digital, I'm all for digital, I believe that it's really important, technology is great.   But I do also believe that you should make yourself accessible if I do need to speak to a live human being. And I find that sometimes, the companies, they take on these technology tools, and when they take the technology tools on, and hopefully the technology should help you. So, for example, let's say I wanted to reach out to my utility company, and they have this chatbot on your website. And the chatbots name is let's say, Ella, I say, “Hi, Ella.” And Ella is able to answer very standard questions. But of course, because I know Ella can't answer me, I'm going to say to Ella, automatically, please connect me to a representative. So, she can transfer the call to somebody, the conversation to somebody who can actually help me. But that in itself doesn't work very well, because nobody actually is able to be connected to. And when you try to call them on the phone, you're not able to get through to them, because you're on hold for very long periods of time, 53 minutes, 60 odd minutes.   How do they bridge that gap? Because people I think still want human interaction!   Matt sated absolutely. And that's the challenge that he's seeing now. It's coming through in the research that they're doing and some of the client discussions, which is that the jump to embrace the technology from you could say it's customer experience led, oftentimes it's cost cutting led, there's an operational savings to implementing that chatbot.   Hopefully, that there is a balance that there is the improved customer experience of getting something answered quickly, like, “Where should I mail my bill to or what are your hours of operation?” Or those types of things that somebody might get value out of the chatbot.   But your comment about that hold time, where you then go on the phone, and you have to listen to a rotating one minute message that keeps telling you go online, you can conduct everything there yet, that's where you started, and you weren't able to achieve what you needed so you came to the phone, but you still have that hour wait.   He thinks it does speak to the need to have the capability of flexing the staff. So, you might have your full-time utility staff, and then you can tap into a third party that might charge you a bit of a premium, but they can help you during those surge times as well.   App, Website or Tool that Matt Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resources that he cannot live without in his business, Matt stated that he would say it is the Voice of Customer Research Tool that they use. And it is so efficient to be able to go in and get, he wouldn't call it real time feedback, actually, he can do real time if he sets it up that way.   But if he's looking to that, a new concept, or go into a client meeting prepared with feedback from their customer base, so it's not just, “Here's what we're hearing from generic surveys but here's what some of your customers said about you. And I know that you know a lot of this already, but we just wanted to come prepared to the meeting.”   It's such a valuable tool in that way. So, whether it's AB testing, or a quick poll or survey, or getting feedback on a new concept or design, it can be a really valuable way of bringing data and analytics to the discussion with the client or to make a more robust solution if they're building something on their own.   What Matt is Really Excited About Now!   Matt shared that Broadridge is a pretty large company, they have 14,000 Associates across 21 countries, they also support a lot of clients. So, they have actually sent 7 billion communications a year on behalf of their clients. So, that results in a little bit of practicing what you preach.   So, they have a client success team at Broadridge and he's a member of the client satisfaction and engagement work stream and in that work stream, they're gathering perspective from their clients about what Broadridge does well, where they can be a better partner, how they should be thinking about their products or services, their technology offerings going forward. And that's all in the hopes of best positioning themselves as their partners of the future.   So, they encourage their clients to do that voice of customer research to make sure that they're taking a design thinking approach and a customer first approach to the way that they support their clients and consumer.   In many cases, they're doing the same within their organization, he thinks it's incredibly important to always keep that in perspective that you need to have your finger on the pulse of what's happening within your organization, the trends that are influencing outside forces, and then ultimately, how that can help better position you to be a better partner going forward.   Where Can We Find Matt Online   Website – www.broadridge.com LinkedIn – Broadridge Communications Consulting Twitter - @Broadridge Twitter - @AskMattSwain LinkedIn – Matt Swain Podcast – Reimagining Communications with Matt Swain   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Matt Uses   When asked about quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Matt stated that it's funny, as Yanique was asking the question, he had all these quotes just going through his head and the one that kept kind of pushing its way to the front was, “Do no harm.” And he thinks the do no harm approach is a really critical one, especially when you're thinking with a customer service lens or a customer experience lens, that if you can live by do no harm mantra, he thinks you're going be in a good position.   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   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!

Music and Motivation with Chris Davis: Episode #161wi/ Special Guest: DeeBoy Santana Chris hangs out with you on Wednesday, June 1st 2022 with Special Guest: DeeBoy Santana DeeBoy Santana hails from St. Louis, and is currently living in the Phoenix area! He just released his latest two singles "Lookin' at Me Now" and "Huh?" and is gearing up to release a mixtape under the same name as the title track "Lookin' at Me Now". He is a phenomenal Rapper and is blending St. Louis Style with West Coast Vibe and Mentality. We sit down and have an awesome interview talking whats new with DeeBoy, This latest release, tips for surviving the week/tips for musicians, and way more! Check out his latest releases and all his music under DeeBoy Santana on all streaming platforms and Social media! DeeBoy Santana Links: Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLJtDw_SOs20GgnfSF-ElBQ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/deeboysantana/?hl=en Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/19glCMkXIGNoTL9NjipooG Apple Music:https://music.apple.com/us/artist/deeboy-santana/1444374662 Music and Motivation is a podcast all about #goodvibes, #positivity and #motivation. Hope you all have a tremendous week! If you need some new #music, #positivity, or #motivation to get you through the work week this is the podcast for you! Chris likes to have casual conversations with our listeners giving you tips for surviving the week, tips for musicians and tips on how to be a savage and lead a happy lifestyle! Keep pushing and being a savage. Get some practice in and hit the ground running! #podcast #podcasts #musicpodcast #motivational #motivationalpodcast #podcastsaboutlife #independentmusicians Also check out The Forgiving Tree Band on all Social Media and my other podcast: Comedy By Coincidence with Chris Davis and Ty Young Voicemail Link: https://anchor.fm/christopher-r-davis/message Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/chrishippiedavis Twitter: @DavisHippie Instagram: @chrisdavismusic.pro Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpVxfbU_g_eXHfq2QAhlYkg Thanks for the Love and Support! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/christopher-r-davis/support

Andrew Ou is an award-winning UX strategist, designer and author based in Vancouver, BC. He helps SaaS companies increase their revenue and profitability by reducing cost of support and while building a better customer experience. His past clients include HSBC, Rosetta Stone, and Asurion.   Questions   Can you share in your owns words, a little bit about your journey, how did you get to where you are today? Now, customer experience, SaaS products, support services, can you share with us maybe some trends that you see emerging or have emerged since 2022 as it relates to this part of service delivery or customer experience? From a UX strategy point of view if you're building a product, how does the client or the customer travel through the journey that you are taking them through in a digital way, while still holding all of the same principles and values that you would if it was a face to face interaction, or even over the phone? So, how can we translate that in a positive way? And if it's not done positively? Why would it impact our revenue and profitability? One of the other things that we do get asked a lot is, how can we reduce the cost of customer support? So, what's one way? Would the strategy, putting something in place that eradicates that complaint from coming forward again be one way to reduce customer support? And are there any other ways? Could you also share with our audience maybe I would say 1 to 3 tips that you believe will help organizations build a better customer experience? Could you also share with our audience what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that you have read, it could be a book that you read recently, or maybe one that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a big impact on you. Could you also share with us what's 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? Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will 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.   Highlights   Andrew's Journey   Me: So, we always like to give our guests the opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journeys. So, how did you get to where you are today? I know we read like a brief bio, but it's always good to get in guests own words, a little bit about their own journey.   Andrew shared that he started off in UX design, he's been doing that for he thinks over around 8 to 10 years now. And like Yanique mentioned, he used to work for companies like HSBC, Asurion and fit brains Rosetta Stone. And now he's just sort of running his own consultancy where he helps SaaS founders build beautiful products that impact the world. And a lot of that has to do with creating an excellent customer journey and a good customer experience.   Customer Experience, SaaS Products, Support Service – Trends Emerging Since 2022 as it Relates to Service Delivery and Customer Experience   Me: Now, customer experience, SaaS products, support services, can you share with us maybe some trends that you see emerging or have emerged since 2022 as it relates to this part of service delivery or customer experience?   Andrew shared that he thinks there's a very interesting intersection between customer experience and user experience, mainly that, both of the words and with experience and so it's a very interesting intersection, because they sort of do affect each other. And a lot of the overarching trend is that we're always moving towards a better user experience and what he noticed is that when there's a customer experience issue, it typically always comes back to something related to sort of the design of the product and that's where users get stuck.   So, one of the things he noticed is that when there's a support issue, and you can actually fix it and make the product better from a user experience standpoint, and by getting to the root cause, it actually improves the product by a lot and there are a lot of benefits to it.   UX Strategy – How Does the Customer Travel Through the Journey and its Impact on Revenue and Profitability   Me: A lot of our listeners are also interested in the direct correlation between revenue profitability and customer experience. From a UX strategy point of view, how are you going to use an experience? Because whereas customer experience probably talks to the more tangible, user experience is probably more talking about the digital experience? Like, if you're building a product, how does the client or the customer travel through the journey that you are taking them through in a digital way, while still holding all of the same principles and values that you would if it was a face to face interaction, or even over the phone? So, how can we translate that in a positive way? And if it's not done positively? Why would it impact our revenue and profitability?   Andrew shared that the thing you have to realize is that, like, when a user is using your product, they sort of have an idea of how to use the product and that's sort of like a customer's intuition on how the product should work. So, when you're designing a product, you should always keep that in mind and also set the expectations so that the users know where they are in the journey.   Now, a big part of where customer experience comes into play is that, with a good product experience, for example, like Google, and most of the time he thinks like, if you never had like most of those users never probably have to contact Google because their product, they're just so easy to use.   Now, the opposite of that is you're contacting a product for support, because experience is bad, and that's what happens, right? That's because somewhere along the way, you were trying to do something, and you couldn't do what you needed to do so then you need to contact support to get it done. So that's primarily what happens and that means there's a cost to support associated with that, that means you got to spend the resource into fixing that issue.   So that's how like a bad customer experience makes a direct impact, or has a direct impact on the revenue and profitability. Because you shouldn't rely on customer support to help your users navigate the product. And if you're seeing a really high cost of support in that aspect, that means there's a really sort of like a gap in the user experience.   Me: So, dovetailing off of what you just said Andrew, what about those companies or products that don't have an avenue for you to get through to customer support. So, I've bought products already and as you mentioned, I've bucked up on a roadblock, and I need to get some assistance, and I go to their website, and the only avenue that they have for me to get through to someone is to send an email, they have no live chat with live agents, there is no telephone number there for me to actually call a number and get through. And sending an email, of course, is clearly not going to have my issue resolved in the next 5 or 10 minutes. What are your thoughts on companies that take that approach?   Andrew shared that well, that means they definitely have a gap in the product experience, because you're in a situation where you need to contact support, but it's not there. So that means you must feel kind of frustrated, or you wanted to get your problem solved, but it's not available, right? Is that how you're feeling at that moment?   And he would always like to say that it's really crucial that a company focuses on building a good customer experience, because that's how you get loyal users to come back to you and raving fans that love your product. So, if you sort of like have that cut off for customer support, and people are having trouble reaching the company where they actually needed, he doesn't think that's a really good strategy and users like you will get frustrated and that might negatively impact your relationship with that company.   Me: So, then your recommendation is they should have an avenue by which you can actually get through to someone, a live human being who can answer your question, correct?   Andrew stated that that's actually one of two strategies. So, yes, like talking to a human helps, but on the other hand, you can also look at when these problems occur, like why did they happen, and from a company strategy point of view, if you're having these issues come up pretty often, they should look into solving that so that it doesn't happen again and that will actually be a better strategy for improving the user experience.   Reducing the Cost of Customer Support and Eradicate Complaints From Coming Forward   Me: One of the other things that we do get asked a lot is, how can we reduce the cost of customer support? So, what's one way? Would the strategy, putting something in place that eradicates that complaint from coming forward again be one way to reduce customer support? And are there any other ways?   Andrew stated absolutely. And that's coming from like a UX strategy point of view. So, he'll sort of tell you like a lot of what companies do when they have these issues, because he's experienced it himself.   Andrew shares a story, he was using this product, it was like a LinkedIn outreach tool. And he was having trouble using it because he was expecting the software to function a certain way, but it didn't. So, then he had to contact support and then support was explaining to him like, “Oh, no, that's not how our product works. You got to use it this way, or do this and that. And then then you won't run into this issue.” And he's thinking like, if he's having this issue, there must be a lot of users who are also having it because the way that he had envisioned it to work was actually really, really different.   So then, what's happening is these companies are training their customer experience reps to explain the product should function a certain way. And they have to do that over and over again, and it's not solving the root of the problem.   So, what companies should actually do is, when they encounter these issues, and these issues, they're likely frequent, they should actually look at it from a design point of view and see how they can solve that because once they do, it leads to a lot of benefits downstream, like when you eliminate the root of the problem, you eliminate the cost of training and the cost of support and documentation for that problem, because they no longer exist.   So, he thinks companies, when they face a situation where they're seeing the same support issues over and over again, they should look into solving that and getting to the root of that problem and solving that directly. And that will actually ease up the support volume, and also reduce the cost of support.   Tips that Will Help Organizations Build a Better Customer Experience   Andrew shared that he thinks number one, is you got to be really customer centric and that means doing your best to make sure that you give the customers the best experience in whatever avenue. So, if they're having troubles, become human and try to help them solve that problem directly, instead of being so strict or so robotic, and your policies.   And he'll give you one example. He was using a software a while ago, and he had forgotten to turn off my billing, and they just billed him without even telling me and they didn't even send out emails or anything. So, he sort of felt like a complaint because he was not happy with the way they were doing things.   And they actually responded and there's two ways that they could have gone, one is they just say, “Well, sorry, according to our policy, we don't actually offer any refunds.” But the support rep was really, really human and sort of talked to him in a way that was human and really nice and she actually helped him solve that problem. And he actually appreciated that, that gave him so much more like hope and happiness, because he really appreciated the fact that they were customer centric. And being that, it makes him want to become more of their customer. So, he thinks that's definitely the most important tip.   Because if you focus on just giving value to your customers, he thinks your customers will really appreciate that. And he thinks the second thing is, again, sort of similar. But again, it's focusing on the user experience side of things because if you really focus on building a great customer experience, you'll have like an amazing product and the benchmark of a really amazing product is that it doesn't require so much support for the user to navigate the product and learn how to use it.   App, Website or Tool that Andrew Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Andrew stated that that's a sort of interesting one. He thinks from like a business owner's perspective, he thinks tools that helped him eliminate time, like, count Calendly, for example, definitely helps just clean things up. He definitely thinks he can't live without that, because organizing all his meetings and becoming aware of them. Getting like a good email is also good because, again, it helps him organize his time and everything. He guesses that's coming from more of like a business owner perspective. Getting all your tools done, the main idea is to cut out all the little things, all the little distractions, and any tools that will help you do that, it's something that you want to look into.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Andrew   When asked about books that have had an impact, Andrew shared stated that this is going to sound interesting, because this book isn't really like a design book, it's actually a martial arts book from Bruce Lee called the Toa of Jeet Kune Do. But what he really appreciated from this book was just the philosophies in there were just so eye opening, it talks a lot about like, simplicity and everything. So, it talks about like a lot of principles of simplicity, economy and efficiency when it comes to martial arts and it's totally different, he gets it. But he's adapted a lot of that principles in his design. So, that means, like a lot of his design principles actually come from that, simplifying things when it comes to designing interfaces, so on and so forth. And it's really just mind opening.   What Andrew is Really Excited About Now!   Andrew shared that right now he's helping tech founders build amazing products. And he thinks just the whole idea of, he's the kind of person where he really likes to improve things. So, when he's working on these projects, he thinks about how much they can impact users in the world. And so, he's also making it efficient for himself to help other tech founders do that. And that to him is really exciting to help a lot of tech founders build amazing products, and really seeing a lot of their ideas and then talking about ideas, working through them and then coming up with solutions that really help other people.   Where Can We Find Andrew Online   Website – www.andrewou.com   Andrew also shared that he has a gift for all the listeners here, it's an 8 page like super easy to read PDF that you can consume in 8 minutes or less. And it's about the 5 ways UX can help SaaS companies increase revenue and profitability. And that's on www.andrewou.com/guide   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Andrew Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Andrew shared that through his challenging times, there's one quote that keeps coming back to him and it's by Winston Churchill, and he thinks it goes something like this, it's like, “Out of immense complexities, immense simplicities emerge.” And for some reason, that just sticks with him, like if you're going through a really complicated process, or a part in your life, there's always going to be some light at the end of the tunnel and the answer to that is going to be fairly simple.   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 Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee   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!

We have a return guest Jason Ten-Pow. Jason was on our podcast last year September and he has returned. Jason is the son of immigrants, moved to Canada with his family when he was seven years old. His passion for customer experience was sparked as a teenager while working behind the meat counter of a carnival-themed grocery store in Toronto, Ontario. From there, Ten-Pow co-ran a niche computer technology company, Visionary Enterprises, that built and installed computers and networks.   This venture taught him the basics of running a business and his commitment to customer service sparked the confidence to found ONR, his CX consulting firm in 2001. As the founder and president of ONR, Ten-Pow has expanded his lifelong passion for creating unbreakable customer relationships into an organization with more than 20 years of experience helping renowned brands evolve their customer success stories.   Questions   What is Blockchain? what are you talking about? So, could you share with us a little bit about what Blockchain is and how that even can impact customer experience? Could you give me in real life terms like, I'm a business; let's say, for example, I own a retail outlet, how does Blockchain affect me, I'm selling stuff online, I have a retail store where customers can come in face to face. What does that mean for my customers? Who do you see adopting Blockchain in terms of customer? Could you expound for us as it relates to data transparency and consumer loyalty? Could give them maybe one or two CX tips that you think will allow them to really connect with their customers, build better and stronger and deeper relationships. What would those two tips be for 2022? Could you 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? 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 get derailed? Do you have one of those?   Highlights   What is Blockchain?   Me: So, we're having Jason back on our podcast. As I mentioned, he was here with us last year September talking about his book Unbreakable: A proven process for building unbreakable relationships with customers. And today he's here to share with us a little bit about his release that was released earlier this month. The title of the article was Wider Blockchain Adoption Will Impact Customer Experience. And so, my question to you Jason is for those persons that are listening to me are probably saying to themselves, what is Blockchain? what are you talking about? So, could you share with us a little bit about what Blockchain is and how that even can impact customer experience?   Jason stated that Blockchain can be many things, but at its core, it's the ability of information to be transferred either by the customer or by a product. So, information is tagged and carried along a pathway that can be picked up and shared, but it's also a very secure way of sharing information. And at its core, the value or the benefit for businesses is that it allows them to acquire a lot more information about their customers and more holistic information about the customer. And for the customer, the benefit is they can have a much better understanding of the product itself, where it was created and where it was manufactured and how it ended up in their hands.   So, Blockchain is really about a safe way of transmitting information back and forth amongst various sources. And the benefit for CX is that it allows businesses to have to acquire much deeper knowledge about its customers. And for the customer, it allows the customer to understand the product they're purchasing, and where it came from in a much more deep and meaningful way.   And this is exceptionally important today because, well, you think of movements such as ESG, which is Environmental Impact, Social Responsibility and Governance, which is very important considerations for customers that are purchasing a product, it's good to have an understanding of who's manufacturing, where this product is from, and if it was manufactured in an environmentally, with minimally environmental impact, and in a socially responsible manner. And so, these are very important bits of information that are being transformed.   How Does Blockchain Affect a Retail Outlet Owner?   Me: All right, now, you kind of gave us the book definition just now of Blockchain. Could you give me in real life terms like, I'm a business; let's say, for example, I own a retail outlet, how does Blockchain affect me, I'm selling stuff online, I have a retail store where customers can come in face to face. What does that mean for my customers?   Jason stated that what that means for your customers is that you have a lot more information about your customers when they make a purchase. And you'd mean, not just simply their transaction information, but you can have depending on what's in that Blockchain, you can have much deeper information like their age, if they share that with you, like a whole host of very important demographic information that is now connected to the actual purchase of the product, which allows you to know the customer in a much deeper way, in a much easier manner than you've ever been able to before.   Me: Now, what are some of the industries that you see adopting this new method of payment?   Jason stated that it's funny, he thinks any industry that is transacting online, this will be huge for, financial institutions are going to be right on top of this, retailers are going to really care about this. Why? Because it's an easier way to acquire knowledge, and to know your customer. Now, for example, the types of customers that will care about this, especially customers that are trying to be socially responsible, making sure that their products that they're purchasing are having minimal negative impact on the environment, or that the company that's building this product is being inclusive in their hiring practices, all this type of information can be shared across this Blockchain.   And so, at the end of the day, that's the overall sort of long-term benefit. Now, we're right in the infancy of this new technology so that's what's very exciting. But at the same time, we're seeing a lot of changes in how customers make decisions, where price used to be the primary drivers, and even for companies, revenue used to be their sort of main goal that they wanted to achieve. Now you're seeing much wider, sort of the range of metrics that companies measure themselves against for success, including things like environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance, which the short term for that is ESG, which is a really hot topic right now, because customers are very interested in understanding the impact their products are having, both socially and on the environment.   Customers Who Are Adopting Blockchain   Me: Now, in your release, you had mentioned that Blockchain Adoption has highlighted some customers, how some customers are looking for new different offerings, it's new, and you know for example, as it relates to the different types of buying personas, if that's the best way to describe it, you will have like the millennials, you have the Gen z's, who do you see adopting in terms of customer base because for example, I don't see my mom engaging in this.   Jason stated no, absolutely. This is definitely for the next generation. We know the up-and-coming generation, the young folks, they are much more cognizant of the environment, and of social justice and equality and those are the customers and the ability to have this information will really benefit, not only because they're more likely to purchase online, but also because they care about these things when they're making the purchase decision much more so than previous generations have.   Me: Okay, and when you say they care, is that kind of tying back into where you said, emotion will now take an even larger role in decision making all because of the fact that they're concerned about equality, justice, fairness, those are things that are high on reasons why they buy from a company?   Jason agreed. You better believe it. You're absolutely right. And what we're seeing more and more today is that it's not simply a price comparison, a lot of the products that the younger generation are purchasing, there's deep reasons behind why they're purchasing that's very different than previous generations. And so, absolutely, that's a huge selling point. And that's just literally where the marketplace is going in the future, because at the end of the day, why do companies care about ESG? It's because the customers are demanding that brands be socially responsible, take care of the environment and that has to be taken into account when you're looking at whether your brand is profitable or not.   Data Transparency and Consumer Loyalty   Me: Now, you also mentioned in your article that there in this whole process, it's important for the companies to adhere to industry regulation and improve supply chain management and there are three things that you touched on industry regulation, data transparency, and consumer loyalty. Could you expound for us as it relates to data transparency and consumer loyalty?   Jason shared that this is where you intersect a lot of different new trends that we're seeing. So for example, if you want to be considered environmentally friendly, the government has set up regulations and standards of which to measure your level of environmental impact the company's having, and in the USA, it's now starting to roll out and become more adhered to. However, other standards around for example, social responsibilities really haven't been set. So, how you measure a brand's level of social responsibility is really up in the air.   And so, right now you're having different ways of measuring it. But what is going to happen eventually, is that there's going to be a standardized way of measuring it and this is where it comes back to customer loyalty. Because if these customers care about these things, they'll be looking at these indicators to understand how the brand they want to purchase from measures up across these very important dimensions.   Me: I get you. So, it's all connected. And then the general supply chain, how does that tie back in?   Jason stated that supply chain exactly, where are your products coming from? Is it being manufactured in a place that is not setting socially responsible markers for how they treat employees, there's in terms of wages, in terms of environmental protection in all of these different areas. So in the past, a company could afford to just measure where they're going to manufacture a product simply on which is the cheapest location - that is going to change as well. Because if that information becomes freely available, customers will be thinking, “You know what, I don't want to purchase this shirt that's made in this part of the world where they're using child labour. I would prefer to pay a few dollars more to purchase it from a brand that's socially responsible.” Does that make sense?   Me: Yes, it does, it totally does. But it also, I think, will require a lot of research on the part of the consumer or the way how the Blockchain system is set up now, they will be able to delve and capture that information readily when they're making the purchase.   Jason stated that that's the future and that's the sort of Holy Grail is to be able to look at the product, scan this code, be able to understand exactly where all this information about the product and it's all at your fingertips. So, the customer can make a much more informed decision than they ever have been able to do before.   Me: Over the years I've definitely seen customer experience evolve, at one point, if you look back at how customers made decisions before, it was heavily driven by what the organization told them, especially before the age of the internet where you could do your own research. And it's like the tables have totally turned Jason where I mean, the ball is fully and even more so as you mentioned, this new technology, this new way of decision making, as we go forward, it's even more in the court of the customer, because the customers are given so much more ammunition now and they should be, because at the end of the day, they're the ones that are opening their wallets, and spending to create these astronomical profits for these organizations globally. So why not put the decision-making capability in their hands, so they can really make a choice for the product or service that they want to purchase holistically.   Jason agreed, absolutely. And what it's going to put a lot of pressure on companies to really deliver a bespoke customer experience that's unique to the needs of every customer, so it will be slightly different. Why? Because that's what customers are going to demand, “You're going to care about the things I care about, right? And you're going to tell me exactly how you are manufacturing these things, and you're going to deliver a shopping experience the way I want a shopping experience to be delivered.”   And what that allows companies is to actually be able to build a more customized experience, because they will have that information readily available. And so, the transparency that will be possible will benefit both the brands if they take advantage of it. But it's definitely going to put a lot more power in the hands of the customer especially because it's exactly you said, knowledge is power and the more knowledge the customer has, the more informed decision they can make.   CX Tips That Will Allow Businesses to Connect and Build Better and Deeper Relationships with Their Customers   Me: Now, Jason, I know the first quarter of the year has passed, but we're in the beginning of the second quarter. But could you give our listeners maybe one or two CX tips that you think, outside of this new technology, because as you mentioned, it's still in its infancy stages, but let's say where they are currently in their business, they're just not there yet clearly. But they're looking to ensure that they employ maybe the best, if you could give them maybe one or two tips that you think will allow them to really connect with their customers, build better and stronger and deeper relationships, what would those two tips be for 2022?   Jason stated that 2022 is the year of Listening and here's why, the marketplace has changed coming out of the pandemic, customers have different expectations for shopping and purchasing experiences and it's different than ever before. And the customers are really going to dictate how they want to shop and how they're going to purchase moving forward. There's a lot of companies out there that are just thinking to themselves, “Oh, I'm just going to hold out until we get back to how things were before.” And the truth of the matter is, things are not going to go back to how they were before, things have changed, and they are different.   And unless you start listening more closely to your customers in every interaction, whether you're a restaurant listening to your patrons and their feedback in terms of what they want, and how they want it delivered, to major brands who are selling investments in ESG, stocks and ETFs, all and everywhere in between.   If you're not listening to your customers and understanding how their wants, needs and desires have evolved, you are going to be left behind and that is really his encouragement to companies coming out at the pandemic to start listening to your customers more closely than you ever have before. Because their opinions and their values have changed.   Me: I've heard some organizations say that they think customers are way more sensitive, they complain about the least little thing since the pandemic, what are your thoughts on organizations that view their customer feedback as customers being too sensitive and it's almost like they're not open to being flexible or being adaptable to take the feedback that the customer is giving them.   Jason shared that it's funny, the brands that they work with that they hear this from are brands that are stuck in the past. And he often hears, “This is the way we've always done it.”   And so, those are the brands that that may have been the way you've done it in the past, but if you don't change your focus from short term financial, quarter over quarter goals, to a longer-term view of what success really means beyond just simply your short-term financial metrics, you're going to be in big trouble. And this is really the tug of war that's going on, it's the old sort of dynamic of, okay, near term profits at any cost versus taking a longer view of your brand, and your brand's health. And let's be honest, public corporations are the ones that have been most guilty of that and those are the ones that he believes are going to be at biggest risk if they don't adapt themselves to the evolving customer.   What Jason is Really Excited About Now!   Jason shared that they're working to develop a better understanding of the impact ESG is going to have on decision making over the next 12 to 24 months. So, over that time, they'll be speaking to investors and customers, as well as business leaders to understand who is driving from an organizational point of view, interest in ESG. And what measures companies are taking to implement tactics that address customers ESG concerns? And how important is ESG becoming in the decision making of customers? So, those are the three angles they're looking at. And so, it's going to be quite interesting, because he thinks what we're talking about Blockchain is just one aspect of the bigger evolution that's taking place.   And so, it's going to be interesting to see how these things evolve together, because there's still many that think that this is a fad, it's going away. They're betting against that, they're saying no, these things are here to stay, and these are the changes in evolution and how business is being conducted. So, it'll be interesting to see what business leaders are thinking in terms of these new and various approaches to thinking about the company's success.   Where Can We Find Jason Online   LinkedIn – Jason Ten-Pow Website – www.onrcx.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 stated yes. First thing is, “Stop” whatever you're doing stop, take a deep breath. If you have a big problem, the first thing you want to do is you want to cut that problem into smaller chunks that are manageable, that are solvable, and then create a pathway ahead, don't just see a problem and dive in and try to solve it. Because that's the biggest issue that companies and that's why they hit the wall, “Oh, I want to improve customer experience. Great. I want this metric up 10%. Let's throw money at the wall and see what sticks.” No, that's never the right approach. You have to take a very strategic approach to these types of problems and these types of challenges, and you have to always have a plan. So, make sure you stop and take the time to plan.   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 Unbreakable: A proven process for building unbreakable relationships with customers by Jason Ten-Pow   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!

Matt Young is the CEO of UserVoice, the first (and we think best!) product feedback and research tool for software companies around the world. Matt started his professional career as a software developer, right when web browsers were released. He developed innovative solutions on the web well before SaaS and Product Management were the ubiquitous terms that they are today.   Over his career, he has pushed for better ways to build software. And through all the changes in development methodologies, he has put the customer at the centre of everything his teams have built. This is what attracted him to UserVoice - an opportunity to make sure that teams building complex software solutions have direct access to the intended users - to make sure that the problems any company or development team are solving are actually worth solving.   Questions   Could you share a little bit about your journey with our listeners, in your own words? Could you tell us a little bit about UserVoice? To the average listener that's listening to this podcast, a little bit about the company, what does the company do? And what types of businesses do you primarily service? What about tips for improving feature request responses? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Can you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently that has really impacted you in a great way. If you could choose the best customer service or customer experience tip to give to our listeners who are business owners, what would be the most important tip that you would give them to ensure that their business is successful? Could you also share with us 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 they find you online? 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 whatever reason you got derailed or you got off track.   Highlights   Matt's Journey   Matt shared that he had a pretty ordinary software development career starting off as an individual software developer, and then moving into management. The thing that he had experienced while doing all that was that he would notice that product teams would ask engineering teams, which are big and expensive and complicated to build things and didn't really have a good way to justify the reasoning behind that. He was really interested in hearing why customers thought what they were being asked to build was important, why it was an important problem to solve, why the solution they had in mind was a good one for them. And he just was really passionate about companies being connected to the users that they serve.   So, that's kind of what brought him to UserVoice. He started out as the VP of Engineering at UserVoice but over the years, they've spun out a couple of other products and other companies, so the original founder is now the CEO of a sister company of theirs, it's working on some parallel products, and UserVoice is his to run and build and all the responsibility and fun that comes with that.   What is UserVoice and What Does the Company Do?   Me: Could you tell us a little bit about UserVoice? To the average listener that's listening to this podcast, a little bit about the company, what does the company do? And what types of businesses do you primarily service?   Matt shared that UserVoice is a software as a service product and it's all oriented around making sure that you can gather any feedback that comes your way about your product, and that that feedback is available to the entire organization and can be analyzed and used to make products better. So, you guys have probably seen somewhere in your professional lives, a place where you had the opportunity to tell a team how they could make their product better, and that's evolved over the years and the way that that happens. There are annoying ways to do it, like with pop-up windows and there're really common ways to do it, like with surveys. But whether you've got a system in place or not, like people are providing feedback all the time, they're doing that in the middle of a sales demo, for example, they're saying what they do and don't like about the product, they're showing. They're doing that through support tickets, by asking about a thing they want to try to accomplish that may not be supported yet.   So, UserVoice the product makes it really easy for anyone who's in any position to hear customer feedback, either an employee of the company and support sales or success, or the customers themselves, have the ability to send whatever it is that's worrying them to the company and then gives the product team the ability to aggregate what is usually a pretty big mountain of data into something that helps them relate their product development plans to the goals that the company currently has. So, the short story is they're a software as a service product, but it's a business analysis tool that's built around product feedback.   Me: One of the things I was intrigued in getting your feedback on is, do you think customers should be driving the product roadmap?   Matt stated that that's a question that they get asked quite a bit and the funny thing about that is that a lot of the traditional like stereotypical personality type of a product manager is a very creative type person and he thinks they can feel a little bit threatened by saying, “Hey, your customers should drive your roadmap.”   And they think, “Well, what about me? What about the innovation and creativity that we have to bring to bear?”   He thinks it's a mistake to think of it as a black and white question like, should customers be driving a roadmap? “No.”   Should companies be creating a roadmap without customer input? “No, neither one is quite right.”   They need to use each other to really understand each other and meet to find common ground about the real problems that they're trying to solve. So, he basically views customer feedback as research inputs into a roadmap that's getting created. Not customers, like actually prioritizing things and steering the ship directly but they do have a lot of really valuable information for companies that can help them go to market with much greater success.   Tips for Improving Feature Request Responses   Matt stated that the typical product manager is getting asked to do a lot of things, they're getting asked by their co-workers to change the product to close a deal, for example, customers obviously have a lot of input. One thing that really makes a lot of product managers nervous is the fact that they know that they need to say no to a lot of these things just because of resource constraints, or that what they're being asked for doesn't necessarily fit the vision of the company. But getting comfortable saying no to people, he thinks it's just a matter of being more transparent with them. The customers of software, especially these days are getting more sophisticated and understanding how software is developed, how hard it is to make it perfect and do all the things that you want it to do.   So, he thinks transparency goes a really long way so when you do get feedback about your product, acknowledging the people that you're listening, making sure that they feel valued, and that the time they took to give you that feedback is something that you take seriously and find value in yourself, acknowledging that is important.   But then being very frank with what's the process, what's going to happen next. He doesn't think most customers would expect, “Okay, great, we're going to get to work on this right away.” That's not the way that software gets developed. But if you can explain to people like, “Hey, cool, thanks. I've made a note of this. We're going to talk about it with the team; we're going to keep our ears out for other customers like you who might need a similar kind of thing. And is it okay if we come back to you and have a conversation about this topic later when we decide to dig into it some more and get some more specific feedback from you about how your point of view has changed, about different solutions we're considering and all those things.” So, using customer feedback as an invitation to engage with a customer base, he thinks is a really good way to look at it.   Me: Now, as it relates to product development, a lot of a lot of customers I believe have challenges sometimes trying to identify what's the right type of product that they may need for their business. The customer feedback, it's definitely something you should get ongoing once you actually sold a product, or you've had an idea of what the design is going to look like and how it's going to affect the customer's life. But let's say you're at a developmental stage where you're not sure exactly what the market needs, how do you gather feedback at that point?   Matt stated that the best way to do that is through one on one interviews. And he thinks them being a one on one, he'd say in person, but more often than not, it's something like a Zoom call or a Skype call or something like that, where you're talking to people.   You want to get as high fidelity information as you possibly can from people and that usually requires a conversation, asking people to fill in a form, it's kind of a boring activity. You can't ask follow on questions, etc. And when you're just in that early stage of developing your product, you want to be able to interact with that customer and maybe observe how excited or indifferent they are about what you're building. Are they just eager and jumping out of their seat at the opportunity to use something like what you're describing to them? Or are they more middle of the road.   Most people are very polite, so they're not going to tell you that it's a bad idea or anything like that but they might not be excited about it and that's a pretty good sign that you might not be on to something that's truly differentiated in the market for you. So, they always say like, until you have 100 or so customers, doing interviews in person and not getting software systems in the middle of that connection between you and a customer is really important to do, where once you cross a threshold of a 100 or so customers, you need to have systems that can scale because your time is limited, and you couldn't possibly have conversations with every single one of them.   Me: Agreed. So feedback, your whole solution is built around feedback. And I think feedback is so important. How is it that you handle dealing with some of your clients? For example, here in Jamaica, I found that sometimes when organizations get feedback, whether it's in like in an electronic format, or it is submitted to them in a verbal conversation, sometimes the organizations get defensive and it comes over in their tone and their language.   Matt agreed and stated that if you think about feedback, when was the last time you went out of your way to go tell someone they were doing a great job? “Everything that you are doing, and your product is awesome, and I love it, don't change a thing.” That just doesn't happen. You might occasionally get a compliment about something they do like, but it's always going to come with something that people want to be different.   So, as a company who provides a product to people, get into the mindset that they're not judging you, they're not trying to tell you you've done a bad job, they're trying to express to you what problems they think you might be a partner to them and help solve are and if you view it that way, then it's a whole lot less threatening, you're less likely to get defensive.   It's never going to be all good news, it's mostly like, “Here are deficiencies that I think you have in your product and ways that it could be better.” But don't take it that way, take it to mean like, “Okay, these are opportunities that we have, that are potential improvements that could not only benefit our business, but really benefit these customers and what they're trying to do in their lives.”   They get a lot of people who come to them who are pretty nervous about opening up the door to get feedback about their products, because it does seem like a little bit of a bad news train that's going to come your way. But they always try to coach them that like, “Okay, well, would you feel better just doing this blind, fumbling around, building software hoping that you're right. Or would you rather have actionable real information from people, even if it is a little bit tough to take at times?” And inevitably, when you think about it like, “Yeah, I know need the information, it's just we've been working so hard, and everyone's poured their hearts into it and I don't know if I can take hearing all the ways that people don't like it.” But it's okay, you'll get through it, we're all tough human beings. So it'll serve you well in the long run.   Me: That's really, really good advice. And it's good to know that even though you're an organization that's focused on feedback, you do offer some form of coaching with your clients, to kind of get them in that mindset to change your perspective, because you are correct. If you change your perspective and look at it as an opportunity, which generally speaking, I don't think the customer would come back to give you feedback if they didn't want to continue using your product.   Matt agreed. They wouldn't bother, the fact that they spared some time for you is a really good sign. It shows a degree of passion. As he's thinking about this, he's thinking about the world's most successful companies and you might in your mind, say, “Well, they've got it made, they've got these huge customer bases that are rolling in money.” But if you think about their world, they have even more feedback coming their way that's even more critical coming from all different directions in the world, because they are so popular. So it never ends, you're always going to get advice either unsolicited or solicited about how it could be better. So use it, use it to your advantage, make it a tool, not a threat.   App, Website or Tool that Matt Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resource that he cannot live without, Matt shared that the app for him, it's Superhuman, the email client. They, like a lot of companies when the pandemic started shifted to working remotely and so even more than ever, his world is driven by email. So having a very efficient system in place that drives the mountain of email that shows up in his inbox every day, you can pry Superhuman out of his cold dead hands. And one of the things he likes about Superhuman also is that they're very public about the way that they do assess its value and build it. And Rahul Vohra who runs Superhuman, is a really interesting resource to look at from a product management perspective. So on two fronts, it's a great product and the way that they work on it is really interesting.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Matt   When asked about books that have impacted him, Matt stated that he'll share two because there's just one very old one that he read a long time ago and there's one relatively newer one that he thinks is really important. The older one is an old favourite that he's sure you've all heard of, How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. And the reason he likes it so much is that he's an introvert. And introverts are not shy, they're not afraid of social interactions or anything like that but it drains energy to have a lot of interactions with people.   And How to Win Friends & Influence People was really to him the beginning of understanding behavioral psychology and learning how to do that on a person to person basis really set the foundation for thinking about how to build software products that speak to the psychological motivations behind what people do and don't do. So to him, it was kind of like the impetus to get started with what turned into a much bigger thing so they study psychology to try to make sure that their products are really good too. And it's a very approachable thing, especially if you listen to the audio book, whoever they got to narrate; it just feels like a warm blanket on a cold day, that guy's voice is great.   The other one he'd recommend, it's along the same lines, there's a book by Yuval Noah Harari called Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and it's this very interesting discussion about the evolution of mankind and the various phases that it's gone through, even going back to like cavemen. But looking at the Iron Age, the Stone Age, all the different ages that we've gone through, and even more recent history. It even looks at things like religion through the lens of all the different eras. There was a time in history where multiple Gods was the norm. And the days we live in today, one God is the norm. And by looking at things way zoomed out like this, and humankind, you start to see the patterns of what changes and what stays the same with all of us over time and it's just this fascinating, very unusual perspective on humankind that he thought was really interesting.   Important Customer Experience Tips for Business Owners to Ensure That Their Business is Successful   Me: Now, Matt, could you also share with us and this is a bonus question. It wasn't in the conversation flow, but I feel like you give us an amazing answer. So the question is, if you could choose the best customer service or customer experience tip to give to our listeners who are business owners, what would be the most important tip that you would give them to ensure that their business is successful?   Matt stated that he's going to say something that is a variation of like, make sure people aren't just the numbers to you and to put that into very tactical terms, call people by their name, and view them as an actual human being. If you're answering a support ticket, it's very easy to view things as an email that's coming through without a person behind it, who's having an actual problem, or having a good day or a bad day or frustration or excitement about what you're doing.   But if you can always be visualizing the person behind it, and the fact that they go beyond this relationship that you have with them about your product, and they are a human being that is just like you in terms of their hopes and dreams and fears and the lives that they lead, it's going to make you a much more empathetic provider of services and that goes a really, really long way in the success of businesses.   What Matt is Really Excited About Now!   Matt stated that this is actually something he's really, really excited about. They just switched to a four day workweek, UserVoice did. And he thinks it's common in some areas of Europe, Scandinavia, in particular is kind of leading the way on it. But not a lot of American companies have tried this out and he thinks that's born of a few things and it's conjecture on his part but he thinks it's just lack of trust that a lot of companies have in their workforce, which he thinks is a huge mistake. But they're a relatively small company, and they try to be very experimental in what they do. And in doing so, they started a four day workweek experiment about six weeks ago. And they laid out what their goals were, their goals were concrete, they wanted to make sure that their output was just as good as it is with a five day work week. But they wanted to make sure that people had more time to pursue their lives outside of work.   And it's been an epically good experience across the board, he's sent out a survey every two weeks since they started asking people if they would continue if they had to decide today, and then asking about what some of the pros and cons have been. And people will tell you, like, “My days are busy, but they're very engaging. And I feel like this scarcity of time makes me choose my battles really carefully.”   And then, the one thing as an example, a guy named Tori, who's a product manager on their team, he has date morning with his wife every Friday morning, because the kids are at school, and his wife's favourite thing to do is to go have breakfast at a restaurant. And so, they just do this every Friday, it's like, “My marriage is better, my connection to my wife is better, and I enjoy my job more.” So this is something he thinks more companies should look into. It's been great for them.   Me: I totally agree. Lovely, I love that. I really, really love that, I'm sure your employees must be totally excited that the organization is taking this leap forward. And you're doing it in a country or territory where it's not widely adopted as yet, hopefully, it will be eventually, as you had mentioned.   Matt shared that he has a hard time imagining going back to I five day workweek, it's only been a month and a half after working professionally for 35 years.   Me: I've spoken to so many people that said that they don't know what it would be like to go back into the office. And like here in Jamaica, we were kind of emerging out of the pandemic like a lot of other countries are, but there are a lot of organizations who they just can't see and I think it's because they don't have the systems and tools in place, really but they just can't see their business operating with their team members, majority of them operating from home, and some of them in all honesty, really don't need to be in a physical space, in a building, in a business district area to come and get the job done. I think if they had the right productivity tools to kind of measure and as you said, they were able to clearly identify what their goals are, and are still able to achieve those goals with their team members working from home, it's very doable.   Matt stated that it does take trust on the part of the leadership of the organization, that you've hired the right people and that a lot of companies say this, but he thinks a lot of companies, it's lip service that, “I don't care what you do, as long as you get your work done.” There are other companies that if they find out, “I took an hour long walk at lunch, because I wanted to, they might get judgy about that,” which is why if you're getting good stuff done, it doesn't make any sense. So, he agrees. It's very similar to the remote versus office problem, and he doesn't need to watch someone work to know that they're doing a good job; he wants to see the results of what they do.   Where Can We Find Matt Online   LinkedIn – Matt Young Email – matt@uservoice.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Matt Uses   When asked about quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Matt stated that he doesn't have a quote; his mind just doesn't work that way. If people ask him about like people that he follows and all that stuff, he tends not to do that, he tends to just assimilate his worldview into something that is influenced in small and big ways by all the different things he's read or all the different people that he interacts with. But he thinks that the most important thing that he tries to keep in mind, especially these days, it was highlighted by the pandemic happening is that your life is not your job.   To him, the most important thing is the positive impact that you have on the earth in the time that you're here. Most specifically, the people around you. He grew up outside New York City so sometimes his language can be colourful, so he won't say it; don't be a you know, what is, the thing that drives him all the time, other people are just as stressed as you are, they're less privileged than you are, just have a bit of empathy for them.   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 How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari   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!

Hope isn't perpetual optimism. It's an inherent part of being human that requires determination for things to change for the better. We're back this May with ten new stories from climbers about what hope means to them. Because life can be full of sucker punches, but that doesn't mean you stop breathing. In fact, the whole point is that you get up, learn something, pass on whatever slice of happiness or nugget of wisdom to others, and move forward. Because there's always hope on the other side.This is not a climbing podcast. It's a funny, sad, and mostly uncomfortable podcast about the healing that takes place when we talk openly about our pain and being the most human we can be, which doesn't always mean our best (or shiniest).Producer's notes: we got a 2022 glow-up and Alex Johnson partially sings Celine Dion's “It's All Coming Back to Me Now”.For the Love of Climbing is presented by Patagonia. Additional support is from Deuter USA, Gnarly Nutrition, Allez Outdoors, and Ocún.Music is licensed by Music Bed.Cover art by Kika MacFarlane.Read the transcript here.Catch up on podcast (pod-Kath?) updates and general life things: @inheadlights.Therapy is for everyone: BetterHelpFLC is public media which means we're supported by listeners like you. Donate or become a patron in exchange for a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Ernie Harker is a creative branding mastermind. He recently published “Your Brand Sucks,” a book that reveals why most companies get branding wrong and reveals the step by step formula he has used to assist dozens of companies define a clear image and personality for their brands. One of his greatest successes was to help revitalize an old-western retail chain into a $3 billion high-energy adventure brand. He leads workshops, gives presentations, and offers an online masterclass to help organizations define and develop remarkable brands.   Self-diagnosed with Hyperactive Productivity Disorder, Ernie loves to draw, trail run, compete in triathlons, wake board, do yoga, lift weights, camp, mountain bike, watch movies, eat junk food, and spend time with his family and 7 brothers. Asked him what his real life allergies to exercise on the TV travel show he hosted.   Buckle up because his dynamic personality and passion for brand development will have you racing to build your brand. His friends call him Ernburn, so call him Ernburn!   Questions   Could you share little bit about their journey and how you got to where you are today. Could you share that? Could you maybe share with us three important things you think our company needs to have in order to really have, at least gives off the impression of being a brand that is for their customer? Are there maybe two or three personality traits that you think an employee or a leader needs to have in an organization in order to really develop a brand that is highly associated in a positive way? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you read recently, but it has a great impact on you. We have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who feel sometimes that they have great products and services, but they lack the constantly motivated human capital. If you're sitting across the table from that person, what's the one piece of advice that you would give them to have a successful business? Could you share with us what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something that you're working on to develop yourself or your people. Where can listeners find you online? 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 or get you back focus if for any reason you get derailed.   Highlights   Ernie's Journey   Ernie shared that like most of our guests, they always start on the path that never seems to be like, if I were to rewind my life; I never would have thought I would have ended up where I'm at. He wanted to be an illustrator or an animator when he was a kid. And so, he was an illustration, he drew all the time, and studied illustration at the university. And when he got out of university, he got a job for an Ad agency. And he was doing concept development and that's just pre visualization of either TV commercials or print ads, or online ads or whatever. He would sketch out what a creative director or an art director would have in mind and then they would show those drafts, those pieces of art to the client.   And what he learned is that he learned to become really good at visualizing language. He wasn't a writer and so he had to clearly communicate and very quickly communicate an idea visually. And so illustration led to storyboards, which led to TV commercials, radio commercials, interactive design, then print design. And so, now he was all over the place doing all kinds of creative development stuff. But that led him into brand development because branding is such a visual experience, we often think of branding as like colours, and logos and graphic design and things like that. But it's also a lot more personality conveyed through language, visual language, and verbal language, tone, vocabulary and things like that. And so, that's kind of how he started as an illustrator, and developed into a branding guy. So it took a while.   Three Important Things a Company Needs to Have That Gives the Impression a Brand is For Their Customer   Me: Now, branding is very important to customer experience and your brand as you said, it's not just from a marketing perspective, the image that comes out in your advertisements, or any form of posts that you put up on any social media platform, but could you maybe share with us three important things you think a company needs to have in order to really have, at least give off the impression of being a brand that is for their customer?   Ernie shared that he's so grateful that Yanique is championing the customer experience because so many businesses focus on their business and not the customer experience, their business will be fine if they just focus on the customer experience. And so, congratulations and thank you for doing that.   There's a singular lens. Every brand should have a singular lens that they use to focus the customer experience and those are all the touch points that a customer would see, hear, read, notice, anything like that. So, those are all touch points. Well, the customer experience is a conscious decision to filter all those touch points to reinforce a specific personality of the company.   So really, we're trying, with all these customer experiences, we're trying to engage and attract a customer, make them fall in love with a business, you can't make anybody fall in love with the business unless there's a personality associated with that business. And so, defining what your brand lens or personality is really about, will then help you choose the visual elements, the pictures, colours, textures, all those kinds of things.   And the verbal elements, the language, vocabulary, the tone to give that customer the glimpse into the organization's personality, they go, “Oh, my gosh, I love this company,” not just “Oh, I recognize the company.” which is a lot of branding oftentimes, as he can differentiate between one company and another company, visually, but it needs to be more than that, it needs to be more of a personal, emotional connection, like “I really am attracted to this company.” And that's done like for a convenience store chain.   He was in involved a convenience store chain business for a long time. And what's neat about the convenience store business is that it's one of the very few businesses that have customers come in on a daily or multiple times per week. Like banks don't do that, retail locations don't do that. Even McDonald's, well, maybe some people that go every day, but convenience stores like they're buying fuel, customers are buying fuel, they're buying snacks, they're buying drinks, whatever.   And so the environment needs to be inviting. What is it about the walls, the floors, the interior design, the extra design that reinforces the personality of the business? And then of course, you have the person behind the counter, that Maverik, the convenience store that he was developing a brand for. They called them adventure guides because they had an adventurous personality; they wanted to make it feel like people were going to the great outdoors when they would come to a store. And so, they'd call them adventure guides.   So titles, the way customers were greeted. So you have this visual experience when people come in and then you have the vocabulary of like a greeting and you meet somebody who is an adventure guide instead of a clerk, or a teller, or a whatever. And then of course, all the marketing and advertising goes on top of that customer experience. I hope that answers the question in a roundabout way.   Three Personality Traits an Employee or Leader Needs to Have in an Organization in Order to Develop a Brand   Me: Oh, definitely it does. So there are quite a few things that you mentioned that I am definitely 100% on board with. I think sometimes also when people hear the word brand, it's like brand is highly associated with marketing, not necessarily customer experience. Are there maybe two or three personality traits that you think an employee or a leader needs to have in an organization in order to really develop a brand that is highly associated in a positive way? Because your brand can have a negative image and your brand can have a positive image. But what are some key things that you would need to ensure or would you say it should be linked to your core values? And if that's the case, what should be your strategy where recruitment is concerned?   Ernie stated that there are 3 things he's going to say off the top of his head. One is Humility. And what he means by humility is oftentimes organizational leaders or employees think they know best. They have their own personal opinion and they think their personal opinion is stronger than anybody else's opinion or research. So, humility.   Curiosity is the second one. Like he wants to know what their customers really think. He wants to learn as much as he can. So, humility gives us opening in our brains and our hearts for change and curiosity leads us to find the material to fill in that empty space that's relative, that's applicable.   And then the third thing is, he thinks Passion. There's so much boringness going on in the world today. He wants to be surrounded by people who are enthusiastic about what they do. It doesn't matter what they do, he could care less, but he cares about the enthusiasm and the passion by which they're engaged. So, there's too many retail locations or retailers, with employees who are completely disengaged, they are there counting the minutes between breaks, can't wait to get home and so the customer experience is a huge, like empty space in those locations, those businesses. So enthusiasm, he just wants to feel some love, some passion. He doesn't care if he's ordering a Big Mac, he wants someone to be excited about it for him. So those are the three things humility, curiosity, and passion or enthusiasm.   App, Website or Tool that Ernie Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Ernie stated that Photoshop. He's learning to use HubSpot because he's been terrible as a CRM guy. He needs to do a better job with that. But he does so many things in Photoshop, because he's image oriented, whether it's illustration or even graphic define online, banners, video thumbnails, and all those. If he didn't have Photoshop, he'd be a stick in the mud.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Ernie   Ernie shared that the book that has had one of the most profound impacts on him is The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss, and he has referenced it so much that his wife gives him a hard time about it. On his nightstand, he has a set of Scriptures, the Bible, this is his go to, that's his big go to book. So, he got his scriptures, and he's a faith based person, very religious. But next to that for years was Tim Ferriss' book, The 4-Hour Workweek and so he would wreck ideas from The 4-Hour Workweek and his wife would say, “Oh, are you quoting brother Ferriss again?” Because it's like he's almost like a prophet. But some of the things that he talked about that are profound to him is the Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule, becoming more efficient with your time.   He also talked a lot about multiple careers instead of retirement, and working for the future, we're designed to be very creative people. So, why do we work like crazy in one career, and then hope one day we'll retire and not have to work, that's crazy. He doesn't ever want to stop working; he wants to keep doing fun, cool stuff. And so, the idea of multiple careers and mini retirements. Well, he could talk for a whole hour about Tim Ferriss and his teachings. But that was the most profound book.   Advice for Business Owners and Managers to Have a Successful Business   When asked about advice he would give to business owner or manager to have a successful business, Ernie shared that he would love to be able to incorporate employee compensation with customer experience so that the employees are rewarded, their compensation is structured on  how much the customers enjoy their interaction, how much they appreciate the interaction. So that instead of like sales based, like always commissioned based, play the long game of, “I want to hire people that are compensated when customers or potential customers have a really good experience with them.” And then also provide that employee with the resources to wow their customers. Like being able to send a note, being able to send a very small inexpensive gift, things like that. So they're empowered and they're compensated based on their customer experience, because he knows that there will be people, that the customers will always come back to a really good experience.   What Ernie is Really Excited About Now!   Ernie shared that he has been going bonkers over a YouTube channel that teaches kids to draw. So he created a YouTube channel, he spends way too much time on it. But he gets to produce, he gets to do the drawing, he does the lesson. And then he edits the video. And so all the fun things and creative production that he enjoys, as well as kind of inspiring and igniting the excitement of drawing which is affordable to everybody. It's within the reach of the poorest of poor people, get a piece of charcoal and a log, and you can draw. Pencil and paper, it's super, super inexpensive. But the ability to express creativity with pencil and paper, and an iPad and procreate or whatever is just so empowering for him. And so, he's done 100 episodes in the past 2 years and the channel, it's like 4000 subscribers, it's not very big but it has been so much fun to make these videos and just have fun being creative in the YouTube world.   Where Can We Find Ernie Online   LinkedIn – Ernie Harker   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Ernie Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Ernie shared that he was writing his book, Your Brand Sucks, which was very, very hard for him, he has ADD and so kind of staying focused on that was really, really challenging. And he'd often want to give up. He'd been involved in multiple businesses, a lot of entrepreneurial businesses, and none of them met the financial goals that he had, like he wanted to build these businesses and have it sell millions of dollars worth of product or whatever, but most of the time, they just kind of broke even.   And while sharing his disappointment, his frustration with a co-worker of his, an executive with him. He was listening to him (Ernie) talk about like his TV series didn't work out; he took longer to run his iron man than he thought he should, his children's book didn't sell very well. He like looked at him like, “Dude, you get credit for trying.” “You get credit for trying.” And what he thinks is impactful to him about that little mantra is that it kind of reshapes his definition of success, of not relying on success of things he can't control.   Like, for example, if he wrote a book, he has very little control whether or not it sells a million copies, if it gets popular, if Oprah loves it. But he has 100% control whether or not he finishes writing the book. So, if he were to focus his success, his definition of success on things that he can control, then he could be very productive, he can write the book. Because the temptation is he's going to give up because nothing that he's done so far has met his definition of success so why even try? Instead, he did that. And so, he can do it again. Even though the sales or whatever, the financial numbers aren't spectacular, he can look back on his life and go, “I did a lot of really great stuff that I was passionate about whether or not it made money or not.” So, you get credit for trying.   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 Your Brand Sucks: How to ignite a brand that doesn't by Ernie Harker The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss   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!

Polar - SoberKertscher, Robbe, DJSM, Citycreed - Do It To ItEva Shaw, DillanPonders - JUICEImanbek, salem ilese - Married to Your MelodyHenri Pfr & Solar State - Stay with Me Now (feat. Jason Walker)Otilia - Lucky No. 7Hades, Nadia Gattas - SuperficialCalvo, Steve Modana, Carlprit - What Thenbryska, Skytech - mam kogoś lepszego (Skytech Remix)Disco Gurls - Only U (Extended Mix)nari - No Scrub (Original Mix)DJ Jedy - GoodbyeSyn Cole feat. Carla Monroe - OverdriveKiLLTEQ, D.HASH - About YouHayden James, SIDEPIECE - Lights Go DownR3HAB - My PonyDavid Guetta & Becky Hill & Ella Henderson - Crazy What Love Can DoMerk & Kremont feat. Reve & Tim North - U&UMason, The Melody Men - Better On My OwnAlex Gaudino, Tobtok & jayover - Talk TalkGaullin, Dan Port, Lacey - AliveDJ Dark, Mentol - Thank You (Radio Edit)Kimotion - Jolene (feat. Angie Robba)Armin van Buuren, Billen Ted, JC Stewart - Come Around AgainFROZT & SIIK - Well Wisher (Original Mix)Slater Manzo - Ride With MeAngemi, D-wayne, Kess Ross - Hate YouNALYRO, Deepierro - MonsterNICKY ØDESSA - Tell Me You Love MeJonas Blue - SientoKuu, Alex Metric & Riton - Dance With Me (Edit)Flakkë - Body TalkWestend & Millean - Feel (feat. MarynCharlie)Alle Farben & Keanu Silva - Music Sounds Better with You (Original Mix)San Holo - bb u ok_ (LP Giobbi Remix)Cid - Carnaval de ParisUnklfnkl - Karma KarmaIgor Gonya - Manu ElleNoga Erez - Industry Baby

It's that time of year again! Welcome to the 5th Annual Return to the '80s March Madness Tournament. If you are new to this site, each year one artist is chosen for the March Madness Tournament. We pit their own hit songs against each other. As with last year, voting will be done right here on the site, Twitter – @Returntothe80s,  And the Return to the '80s group page on Facebook. Previous winners have been: 2018 – “Out of Touch” in the Hall & Oates March Madness 2019 – “Purple Rain” in the Prince March Madness 2020 – “Crazy For You” in the Madonna March Madness 2021 – “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” in Whitney Houston March Madness This year we are going t=with the legendary Phil Collins. This will be his solo hits, and not Genesis songs, as he had enough to make the Sweet Sixteen on his own. This Tournament is in collaboration with RealWeegieMidget Reviews as Gilll from that site reviews the Phil Collins film, Buster. Collins had a couple of hit songs from that movie. It was not widely seen in the U.S., so you may be interested in reading the review. So go check it out! First, check out the podcast episode as we review each song in the tournament. Now, let's get going with the Sweet Sixteen! Voting will be open for this round until Sunday, April 3. The Elite 8 will be posted on Monday, April 4. In addition to voting on Twitter – @Returntothe80s and the Return to the '80s group page on Facebook, feel free to comment your picks below. 1 vote per battle please. You can click on the song titles to see each music video. Bracket 1 “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” vs. “I Don't Care Anymore“ “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” vs. “Take Me Home“ Bracket 2 “One More Night” vs. “In the Air Tonight” “Another Day in Paradise” vs “Easy Lover” (with Philip Bailey) Bracket 3 “A Groovy Kind of Love” vs. “You Can't Hurry Love“ “Sussudio” vs. “Don't Lose My Number“ Bracket 4 “Separate Lives” (with Marilyn Martin) vs. “I Missed Again“ “Two Hearts” vs. “I Wish It Would Rain Down“ Del can be found on the show 80s at 8 on 91.1 WEDM FM as well the 80s at 8 Facebook page where he posts 80s news. And you can follow Return to the 80s at: rtt80s.com Find Return to the '80s on Facebook Twitter:  @returntothe80s Email: returntothe80s@gmail.com Also, you can subscribe to the Return to the '80s podcast on Apple Podcasts Stitcher Spotify iHeartRadio Podbean PlayerFM

Gadi Shamia is the CEO and Co-Founder of Replicant, a conversational AI platform founded on the belief that machines are ready to have useful, complex conversations that will transform the way they interact with the world. Prior to Replicant, Gadi helped take Talkdesk, a $10B contact centre software market leader from a seed-stage company to a Unicorn startup as its COO, and played a key role in architecting and executing its 20X growth in people and revenue.   Questions   Could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey? Can you share with us a little bit about how organizations are using AI to enhance customer experience? And have you seen that change more drastically, especially in the last 2 to 3 years? Could you also share with us how the intelligent voice automation is helping to improve business outcomes for companies who don't have enough manpower to keep up with demand? What's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago or even listened to, or one that you have engaged with recently, but has really left a big mark on you. Could you also share with us 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? Do you have a quote are saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track if for any reason you got off track, or you got derailed? Do you have one of those?   Highlights   Gadi's Journey   Gadi shared that he likes this question because it gives him an opportunity to share with people that a lot of one's journey is luck, and maybe early smart decisions. But some of them in some cases no way to predict how one decision will lead to the next opportunity.   He got into tech as an accident actually, he studied accounting and economics. The tech industry at the time in the 90s was not really evolved actually even studying computer science was one of the easiest degrees to get to. And accounting economics management type degrees were really hard to get to at the time, really reverse from what is today.   And he got into tech because his university was on strike, because their tuition was increased. So, all the students went on an almost a semester long strike. And back in Tel Aviv, and a friend of his said, “Hey, you seem bored. Somebody's looking for a quality assurance person, a tech company.” He said, “I don't know what quality assurance is, don't know exactly what tech is but let me give it a try.”   And he jumped in, he really liked it and they really liked him and his journey in technology really started because he was bored during a strike in university, he could have been an accountant by now.   And then from there one thing led to the other, joining a tech company was great, it later on split into two. I stayed was one of the two sides is a Co-Founder and build an ERP and accounting software that is still used today. It's called SAP Business One it was acquired by SAP back in 2002. Had a chance because of its acquisition to spend 6 years as senior executive at SAP. And really one thing led to the other in a way that eventually led him to do what he does today. So, some luck, some hard choices, some easy choices, and you can find yourself in a great career.   Organizations Using AI to Enhance Customer Experience   Me: Now you have a lot of experience working with AI. And of course, there's a growing demand for it globally. Can you share with us a little bit about how organizations are using AI to enhance customer experience? And have you seen that change more drastically, especially in the last 2 to 3 years?   Gadi stated that yes, they actually at very beginning of wider adoption of AI in organizations, AI has been here as an option for several years, but we're just seeing it become more mainstream because in any area, any new technology, the first generation tend to not be great.   If you've compared Google Maps to some of the older versions of navigation software, in almost all cases, the first generation paves the way to better products that are using more advanced technology and some of the learnings of the previous generation. So he thinks we're in the first era of wide adoption of AI because it finally works.   And we see AI used across multiple use cases. The first adoption of AI was actually for quality assurance and call analytics. Traditionally in contact centres, calls were this black box and you record them for quality assurance and training purposes but really no one ever listens to them because the time it takes to listen to a phone call, the time the call takes. So it's pretty hard to listen to call especially on mass.   So what we see is more and more companies were adopting call analytics as a way to listen quote unquote, to many calls at the same time and derive insights but also training materials back to the agents. And this is really helpful because it allows us to train agents and help them learn faster. But it actually doesn't solve the fundamental issue we see today in the customer service space, which is lack of agents.   So it's great that we can train agents better but over the last couple of years, we've seen a problem, it used to be pretty bad becoming almost catastrophical. Agent availability was always an issue in the contact centre space and the pandemic made it much worse. We all heard about the great resignation, where more and more people choose not to participate in this type of job, tends to be entry level, mundane and repetitive. So the available pool of agents decreased quite dramatically.   And an added disruption that the pandemic added was childcare, was people becoming sick themselves, people caring for maybe older parents, and agent availability dropped even further.   So if you talk with customers today, the question they're asking is not how we train agents is how we hire more agents if it's even possible. And then can we train them and onboard them faster, but more importantly, can we start using AI to automate some of the most mundane and repetitive work of those agents, so we can free up these agents to do more meaningful work.   And the reason he's so excited about this change is that it's a triple win to everyone. If you can take away from the agents the most menial, repetitive tasks, their work is going to be more rewarding, companies are going to be inclined to pay them more, they're more likely to stay longer in their jobs, and customers are less likely to wait hours to speak with an agent. So it's a pretty interesting intersection where AI can really create a relief for the first time in a meaningful way. Intelligent Voice Automation Helping to Improve Business Outcomes for Companies   Gadi shared that this is the core of what Replicant does. And they have many, many examples of what the impact of that and he'll give a couple of examples. As he said, they hear constantly from their customers that hiring became their biggest challenge. And they hear quotes like, “I now try hiring 9 people for every five roles because I know that in the first two months, 4 will leave.” So you have to hire more people for the same exact number of openings. People stay for a shorter period of time, it used to be a year to year and a half. Now agents will call it quits after 6, 7 months. So that's an ongoing problem.   And couple of interesting examples. One of them was one of their customers ECSI in a financial service area. So they deal with student loans and other payment products and their hot season is somewhere between January and tax time, which last year was May, this year, hopefully will stay April.   And the first four months of the year, they get the majority of their calls around student loans, tax forms, and so on. So every year the ritual was similar, you have to go and hire extra 20, 25, 30 agents to just help with the seasonal increase and this is a very hard task. Everybody high season agent knows that you have to hire people for a short period of time, they're less committed to the business, they come there to plug a hole, if you train them but then the whole thing goes away at the end of the season and you have to repeat the whole thing every time you have a predicted increase in call volume.   So, for ECSI, this is the first year when they don't have to hire seasonal agents to deal with the tax issues because they're able to automate a majority of their simple calls and repeatable calls around tax and tax forms, “I didn't get the form, please send it again to me.” And so on.   It's created a really interesting experience, for the callers, it used to be or this is the hot season, I have to wait more to speak with an agent just to get the form I probably lost in the mail. Now they get an answer within seconds and the solution was in 2, 3 minutes.   For the company, they don't have to go through the rigmarole of starting somewhere in October to identify, interview agents, hire them in December, train them over the holidays, and make sure they are ready to take calls in January, just to let them go in April.   So, the win here is both on the customer side where the calls don't have to wait on hold anymore. But also on the company side that doesn't have to go through this process which takes a lot of time, effort and energy from management, instead of focusing on continuous improving of customer service. So, that's one example where it's really helpful.   Another one, which he really likes is one of their customers in the roadside assistance space, they are serving large areas of Canada, Canada has a pretty hard winter this year and literally they told them they could not have answered all the emergency roadside service calls they got in some of the coldest days.   Because as you can imagine, a cool day and people try to start that car and they can't and they need roadside assistance and when a day like this happen, all of a sudden, instead of getting X number of calls, 100 calls, you get 300 calls and it's really hard to summon up enough agents in a day like this. Also, because the agent might be stuck at home with a dead battery.   So, the ability to answer any number of calls that came their way and be able to help all their customers in the coldest, hardest days was a big, big change from previous years for them, where some calls had to wait for 20, 30 minutes on hold, sometimes stuck out of the car in 5 degrees weather.   App, Website or Tool that Gadi Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Gadi shared that he thinks for everyone it would be Google. He really forgets how he looks for information and either way, Google became this notepad that allows you to really get quick answers for questions. But then also got kind of deepen your research. This is one that comes to mind first, but he will say that it's so much easier to consume information today that he can't really name one tool, he thinks if he had to, it's Google.   But he learned a lot from Twitter because of the randomness of that. He follows an interesting selection of people that covers a lot of areas of his interest. And it helps you learn from a less structured way, in Google, you go and seek an answer to a question, in Twitter in a way, you stumble upon topics you may have not thought of often and kind of open a new way of thinking for you. So, he likes the randomness of Twitter, but also a huge fan of audiobooks and podcasts.   And he constantly listened to at least one audiobook and maybe a couple of podcasts that he's excited about and it's interesting. His style of doing that, he likes to walk the dog and listen to a podcast and it helped him think freely about some other areas which may not be directly related to what he does, but can lead to interesting thoughts and solutions at work. So, just a way to provoke thinking much more than maybe learn something new. So if you look at what he's using every day is Twitter, Audible, Google and whatever his favourite podcast platform. Currently, he's using Spotify, but it changes over time.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Gadi   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Gadi shared that he wants to give credit to Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey Moore, which was one of the first technology books he's ever read. And he's not sure that if the impact of this book, the book is amazing and impactful, he will explain why. But also it was one of the first books that he read so it may have been the transformation he went through was more impactful because it was just one of the first books like the first call you may have had on cell phone in the middle of the desert, it's always more impactful than the new version of the iPhone that seems a little bit more of the same.   But he read the Crossing the Chasm, he worked on his first ever product that eventually is the one that was acquired by SAP and now turned to BSAP Business One. And they had this classic crossing the chasm problem. They launched this product and the first day they launch it, it literally was on DVDs, this is this was mid 90s and literally, they couldn't print enough DVDs to deal with the demand they had. And 30 days later, everybody returned the product, not everybody but 80% of the customers use the 30 days money back guarantee and return the product. And it became much, much harder to sell to mainstream customers and it took them 3 years to kind of crack the code of what a robust ERP product needed to look like until they're able to get to the mainstream and start getting wide adoption that eventually led to SAP acquiring a company and taking this product globally.   And he thinks the reason the book was so impactful was one, it came at exactly the right time, he was in a chasm was his company unable to move from early adopters to more mainstream buyers. The second is, it provide reusable useful tools that he use actually across his career. There's a concept of nine point checklist of product launch that he's still using today even as Replicant, one of the first exercise they've done as a leadership team is use the nine point checklist from this book that he read in 1995 to define the target market, the focus customer, the problem they're trying to solve. So having a reusable tool in the book that you can use 25 years after you read it, is just unique. There are so many books that just talk about small specific topic and they're really no more impactful than an article. And he thinks this book having this long lasting impact on him, is very unique. Now, he has read hundreds of books after that, each one of them left a small mark but this is definitely the most impactful book he has ever read in a business sense.   What Gadi is Really Excited About Now!   Gadi shared that it's a really interesting time when it comes to people development; it's something that he cares about greatly. So, as you said at the beginning, people can start calculating his age just by his years of experience and work in different companies. And his perspective, not shifted but evolved to really believe that the most important thing we can do as business leaders is be accountable and responsible to help our own team develop and grow. When you work in technology, especially when you're young, at least his perspective was that was really cared about the product he built and technology he built and he got a lot of traction from building a product that sold a lot of customers, like he still gets a lot of traction from it. But when you look in retrospect, he doesn't miss the products and now own and run by other people, he misses the people he works with and he feels most rewarded by seeing their career.   The intern that worked with him at ASAP and now CEO of a company that is probably going to be lasting for generations. Or the product manager that he hired 20 years ago and now is a Senior VP in a large public company running their entire product line and she's now by the way, a consultant and helping Replicant as kind of part of the give back programme in the Silicon Valley. So, if this is the most rewarding thing for him, he wants to make sure they as a company, continue to help their team launching their careers and make their stay at Replicant maybe 5 years or 10 years or 20 years a meaningful stop in their career.   So a lot of what he's focused on right now as they kick off 2022 is how do they provide this type of support to their team, being a remote company having people in Canada, in the U.S, some people in Europe. How do they create a platform that allows everybody to launch and improve their career and find Replicant to be a learning and growing experience.   Another area where he's really excited about is finding ways to support people in a more personal way. Companies traditionally stayed away from anything mental health or too personal especially in the U.S culture, we supposed to kind of keep things separated, you only work here, let's not talk about your emotions. And he thinks now, and maybe the pandemic helped with that, it became more normal to talk about mental health in the workplace and the impact of the pandemic and the impact of isolation and the impact of working remotely. So, he's excited to kind of tackle this relatively new problem and find ways to define a new SAT score between companies and its employees, about how might they support people also in their mental health journey and in their mental well being, maybe better than mental health, but their mental well being.   Me: All right, sounds good, very good, very forward thinking of an organization because you really have to take care of the person as a whole.   Where Can We Find Gadi Online   Twitter – @gadishamia LinkedIn – Gadi Shamia Website – http://www.replicant.ai   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Gadi Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Gadi shared that he doesn't have a quote, but he has a story. Early on in his life, he served in the military and he was in several situations that were really complicated, it's not necessarily a matter of life and death, as much as they were just complicated, where it looks like everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, and then another time over and another time over and another time over. And the stress was real, and impactful and physical.   He used to remind myself a story a lot when he was younger, and just the fate memory of the story is very helpful by just remembering being stuck in the mud without being able to move at night far away and having series of issues happening one after the other. And then after a couple of days of intense work being able to get out of this mess. And he just reminds himself that, “Most of the issues he faced today are not at the scale.” And they're not really life and death and they could be resolved in different ways.   So, when he feels like he's overwhelmed mainly, he remembers the feeling of being overwhelmed when he was 22, much less experienced with much more severe consequences of a mistake. And he just says, you know what, we can just go through it and just having this peace of mind that he will be able to navigate it because it's not going to be as bad as that helped him a lot, especially early in his career.   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 Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey Moore   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!

Stuart Leo is the founder and CEO of Waymaker.io – an intelligent business management platform that helps leaders build a better business in 30 days.   Stuart is a global thinker in strategy, systems and leadership development. As a founder of Waymaker.io, he has led the creation of Waymaker's Leadership Curve - a revolutionary way of building clarity, alignment and remarkable results for any organization.   Questions Could you take maybe one or two minutes just to kind of share with us a little bit about your journey, even though I did read a very short piece on you, it's good when we ask our guests to express in their own words, how they got to where they are today. What are three keys to growth for any organization? Now, strategy is very important for business. Why do you think for some businesses strategy tends to be confusing? And how can leaders become more strategic in their decision making? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read or listen to many years ago or even one that you've engaged with recently. Could you share with us 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? Do you have a quote are saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will 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.   Highlights   Stuart's Journey   Stuart shared that the journey is much like many other startup founders. He loves business, he loves working with people. He loves serving others in business, that's why we all do what we do. And for a very long time, he worked in corporate life and jumped out of corporate life to get out and do his own thing as you always are inspired to do.   And then for about 10 years he ran a consulting company, working in strategy and brand and sales tech and mar tech. And obviously, customer experience was a huge component of that. And then, along the way, they started seeing and observing problems that their clients would have, that they realized could be best solved with some software, as opposed to just some advisory services.   And so, they ended up pivoting which is always a fun journey, and developing a platform they call Waymaker.io, which at the end of the day is there to help you build a better business, and they help people get unstuck in their business, they help people find breakthrough and they help leaders put the leadership and management operating systems in place so that they can step back from their business and enjoy all the things that their business should provide them in terms of lifestyle and freedom.   So, a very traditional way of doing a startup, the more he listened to other startup founders, everybody comes from another business, you see a problem and you jump in, and you want to get in there and solve it. And that's really his journey.   Three Keys for the Growth of any Organization   When asked what are the three keys to growth to any organization, Stuart shared that number one, you must, must be clear on the problem you're solving and if you're not, then you would have lost focus. So number one, what is the problem we're solving, and that is the ultimate underlying purpose of the organization.   There is no other purpose outside that organization but to solve the problem, you exist to solve for your customer. It's very easy for organizations to get lost when they lose focus on their purpose and their purpose is their problem, we exist to solve X problem for a customer. And that's number one.   Number two, you must build people by building skills. Fundamentally there are two things you must build in every organization. The first is skills and the second is systems.   So number three, the third key to growth is the implementation, development of systems. There's a bit of a myth sometimes out there in business world that he thinks exists and that is that you must systemize everything. And he thinks that's actually a fallacy, you're only telling half the story.   You must build people who can be supported with systems and as we build people through skills and leadership development, and then support them with great systems and process then they can do amazing things.   So three keys to growth, number one, must, must, must be really clear on the problem solving, never navigate away from that. Number two, build people. Number three; build the systems to support those people.   Me: Do you think one is more important than the other, people versus systems?   Stuart shared that he always thinks people are more important than systems when it comes down to an organization and he thinks that's a philosophical answer versus a practical answer.   We should value a system for the return it makes on a business and we should value a human because they're human. And he thinks often we get that bit round the other way and systems become more important than humans. And so, that's when he thinks humans feel like they're cogs in a machine, whether they be a customer or an employee.   And he thinks that's that the underlying secret. He's a big believer that that skills, which is ultimately building people far more important than the systems. Because the systems won't work if you don't have people with the skills. He always say this, there's no point putting in amazing systems, they're like Ferraris in your organization and sticking learner drivers in them, all they're going to do is crash on the first corner.   Leaders Becoming More Strategic in Their Decision Making   Me: Now, strategy is very important for a business. Why do you think for some businesses strategy tends to be confusing? And how can leaders become more strategic in their decision making?   Stuart stated that that is such a good question. He actually wants to step back and really challenge this idea of strategy. And he's a big fan of big thinkers and one of the biggest thinkers in the world in this space is Michael Porter from Harvard, who wrote the book on it.   And he loves his statement that everybody in the world thinks that strategy is a set of actions. In fact, if you Google the word strategy, Google's going to tell you, it's a set of actions. And that's in a business context, that's actually wrong, that's not what strategy is.   And strategy is a position that we hold in the marketplace. And it's psychological first, and practical second, and he thinks that's the big mistake we all get wrong in business.   If we get the strategy right, i.e., the position we hold in the market, this is why the customer aspires to buy from us, and to experience our product. If we get that right, then the practical actions fall into gear.   So, strategy is first and foremost, a psychological moment, it's a position in the mind of the customer, in the mind of the marketplace that we pursue or hold and defend.   And then it's a set of actions to either build it, hold it, defend it, or grow it. And that's what strategy is, strategy isn't an action plan and we've got to get that thinking out of our heads in the business world, and go, our strategy is to be this kind of business, for this kind of customer, for these reasons, that's strategy.   And when that's really clear in an organization, you can be strategic at every level of the organization; a frontline customer service person can go, yeah, I get it. I know that this is who I'm meant to be, because this is what the customer expects of us, the brand. Boom, great. They're now strategic. Does that make sense?   Me: It does definitely. So there's a book as you were talking about strategic thinkers, because there's a book, it talks about what kind of thinker you are. I'm trying to remember, the book is actually called What kind of thinker Are you? Have you ever heard of that book before?   Stuart stated that he's going to plead ignorance. He's not exactly sure but give him some more information.   Me: In the book it talks about like strategic thinkers, bottom line thinkers, possibility thinkers, it's a really, really popular book, but he has a workbook for that book that you would do with leaders to kind of figure out their thinking style. I use it a lot sometimes, especially when I'm training leaders because I find some people think that everybody thinks the same way. And I think in an organization, we all can't be thinking strategically, right?   Stuart shared that if we put it in that context, of course, yes.   Me: So I just wanted to know what your thoughts were on the different thinking styles. I can't remember the name of the book, it's going to come to me before I finish this conversation with you but it popped in my head just now when you said it. The book is by John Maxwell How Successful People Think.   Stuart shared that he loves John Maxwell. He has inspired him in so many occasions, wonderful guy. To answer your question, can everybody be a strategic thinker?   Well, it comes down to the context of the roles and responsibilities. But everybody thinks differently and that's a good thing. If we're not thinking well together, then we're not working well together.   And in fact, if he's remembering rightly, one of the great things that John Maxwell says about thinking is that when we think we connect facts and feelings, and we pursue the truth out of that process. And he actually love that statement coming from John Maxwell. And he thinks if we just dwell on that for a moment, we can't do that as teams, if we don't have a diversity of thinking styles and that's just really obvious, if we're all thinking in the same way, the same thoughts, from the same context, and not critically challenging each other around what is the objective truth in the situation, then, groupthink will set in and groupthink is cancerous to any strategic thinking. And we've got to get that out of our organizations.   And so, he thinks, absolutely, they want that constructive thinking. It reminds him actually of an old CEO he had when he was in corporate life, which he's talked about on podcasts before.   As a very young guy growing up in business in the corporate world, a big urban renewal, an urban development company and the kind of work they did was very complex, redeveloping town centres or master plan communities and neighborhoods. And so, around the table, you had engineers and planners and finance people and social community development people and marketers and sales people and lots of different types of thinkers. Engineers are very analytical, logical, rational, marketers, crazy, conceptual, off the wall, community people are touchy feely, social kind of minded, there's a catalyst of different types of thinkings in that room, and you've got to come together, and you've got to agree on a plan, what's this neighborhood going to look like? What's the urban design, what's the layout? What's the look and the feel?   And he remembers he embedded into that organization, this wonderful principle of working together, which he called “Arguing gracefully.” He's carried it with him for 20 years ever since. And the big idea he was really trying to get into the culture of the business was that when you get into that boardroom and you're a bunch of people sitting around a table, you want to fight for the best outcome, you want to create a place that's worth living in, something that's special.   And to do that, you've really got to let the sparks fly, nothing great happens without a little bit of friction. And you can either walk out of that boardroom hating each other, which is not conducive to great teamwork. Or you could walk out of that boardroom after a really challenging workshop, still friends and colleagues.   And so, he instilled this wonderful principle of culture of arguing gracefully, which meant, go for it, when it comes to the debate, die in a ditch and go for a challenge, bring new ideas to the table, argue your point, debate. But do it with a measure of grace so that you argue the point, not the person, and so that when you walk out of that room, you're still a team, and that team can execute.   And that's always stuck with him. And he thinks that really hits on your point. People with different thinking styles, can they think strategically? Absolutely. Because when we think strategically together, it requires those different thinking styles to come together and argue what matters most, to come up with the best plan, walk out of the room and still be a team and be better for the argument. And he thinks that's a skill lost, not just in business but in society, that's a very precious skill to hold on to in building teams in today's world.   App, Website or Tool that Stuart Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Stuart shared that he would be wrong if I didn't mention Waymaker.io right now. It is a daily tool in their business because it not only helps them think strategically, but execute on a daily basis towards the goals that they're going to hit. But hey, enough of the shameless plug.   The other number one software tool that he can't live without, gosh, man, there's so many. He doesn't know if it's a device. He couldn't live without his iPhone and iPad, that kind of runs his world. But on top of that, he thinks the number one thing he just could not live without, he's going to be really, really boring now. And he's going to say Apple Notes because that is where everything goes. And it's the most simple, practical note taking tool you're expecting, that is where everything goes, and everything lives. And it's so practical and helpful.   Me: I use Apple notes a lot too. And it has really come out far away over the years. You can literally dump anything into it and then because the Apple ecosystem is also integrated and connected, it doesn't matter which device you're on, you can pull up the note wherever you are and kind of just continue that conversation.   Stuart shared that he used to be a prolific user of Evernote, and because he didn't think Apple notes was that great when it first came out. And so, for about six or seven years, everything went into Evernote. And it just got bloated; it just got too big and too complex. And he loves the simplicity. So, it's one of those classic things, he and his wife, they run their renovation at their home through it, they captured notes in his work account. With some activities if they go camping, they're going to put up a camping list and organize, they will share stuff with friends and families and colleagues. Beautiful, simple and powerful.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Stuart   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Stuart shared he will give two. He was given a book by a really good friend of his when he first went into business by a guy called Guy Kawasaki called The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. And he just loved that book. He loved it because it was at a time in his life when he was starting something and you've got to start it, you got to pitch it, you got to grow it. And so, that book, he thinks was just one of the best books of the last 10 or 15 years for anybody starting something, it's a great inspirational book, gives you some really good practical tools. And Guy Kawasaki is just one of those really simple but very insightful business leaders. Have you have you read that?   Me: I haven't heard of it. But I know Guy Kawasaki. But that's definitely one I'll be putting on my list to check out.   Stuart stated that it's an oldie but a goodie. More recently, his favourites has been Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink, which is the story on how U.S. Navy SEALs work together with discipline and achieve amazing results or whatever the subline is, but Extreme Ownership is the idea of owning your team, owning your outcomes, being accountable and responsible and leading others effectively through this discipline of extreme ownership. He has given that to almost every person in his world, he thinks it's a great book.   What Stuart is Really Excited About Now!   Stuart shared that they're a classic startup, so they're in a startup journey. What's the one thing going on that he's super excited about first them and their people; it's the foundational steps they're taking as a business as they put in place the things that he knows are going to be here for years to come.   They spent about 12 to 18 months working on their product and business, doing some testing and pilot work and MVPs. And they really only launched their product six to nine months ago, they're very young. And so now they're securing their first customers around the world and working with them and seeing the company come alive.   And so, the most exciting thing that's happening for them right now is learning how to deliver excellence to their customers. They don't always do it perfectly and when they don't, they want to learn and they want to know we want to get it right. And secondly, how do they develop that employee experience well, and how do they build team well. So those two things are the two really exciting things going on in their world right now, growing customers and growing team members.   Where Can We Find Stuart Online   LinkedIn – Stuart Leo   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Stuart Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Stuart shared that might give two. One in business is the realization or the saying is that, “The business you start is never the business you run.” And he thinks that's a really healthy thing to remember because businesses grow and mature and adapt and tweak and sometimes we have an idea of the business we're building and we get frustrated sometimes because it's not what we wanted originally. But it's not what we want in a business; it's what our customers need. And so, more often than not, the business we start is never the business we run and that's a really healthy thing to remember if we're feeling frustrated, or have some kind of dissonance or friction going on in the business. And we've always got to come back to:   What's the problem we're solving? Are we solving effectively? Are our customers getting value from the way we're solving it? What do we have to think about changing in ourselves and in our business to make that more effective?   And that's a really healthy thing to come back to.   The other is one he and his wife always say to each other which is, “Life is an adventure.” And life is an adventure and it's just that recognition that in an adventure, you have a lot of fun, you have a lot of challenges, you get a bit muddy, you get a bit wet, sometimes you fall down the hillside, you get to have great campfires, and look at the starry nights.   And life is an adventure it. It has some surprises around the corner. And when you kind of just step back a little bit, not try and control the world, but kind of fall in line with God's good design and order, you realize that life is a wonderful adventure and it's there to be enjoyed. And we're tatting but life is an adventure and it's a wonderful thing to be a part of.   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 Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink   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!

"I grew up in a very abusive family and I promised myself that I would be a very DIFFERENT mother. I got my masters in Child and Health Nursing, but everything I learnt in theory, I couldn't put into practice.... I was prepared to leave my family to Save THEM from ME" Now, this mum of 4 has a thriving business that has her 'financially very comfortable' - only working school hours, where she doesn't have to advertise - when she finishes with one client, they've already referred her another! If Amal can do it, so can you! The Creatrix® Transformology® program for coaches and therapists to break women through deep blocks, fast, painlessly and for good so they can get on with the life of their potential. We offer a whole business in a box solution for a therapy business helping women to be able to move forward beyond limitations. We are global and in search of women with a dynamice work ethic who wants to work on her own, but not BY herself, as we have all thesupport you'll ever need. To find out how you can work with Amal for your own success, visit https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013262052635 To find out more visit https://www.transformatrix.global/transformologist-program-package-landing-page

Adele Spraggon is an award winning author, a thought leader and an international speaker and trainer. She has been awarded 2020, Woman of Inspiration Award and in 2021, she was recognized as a Top Behavioural Expert of the Year. Her book Shift: 4 Steps to Personal Empowerment has won three awards and is sweeping the globe, transforming how people are setting and achieving their goals. After decades of feeling stuck in patterns of procrastination, avoidance and quitting, all of which had her living her life below her fullest potential.   Adele set out on a journey of discovery and learning. Her inquiry? Why the personal and professional methodologies she was following did not work for her. The result is a creation of her proprietary 4 Step Repatterning Technique, which she delivers through a member portal called the Pattern Maker Hub. Today, she supports thousands globally to achieve extraordinary levels of happiness, peace of mind, prosperity, goal-achievement, and life fulfilment.   Questions Could you share a little bit about your journey? Could you share with us how your brain is making decisions on your behalf and how to change your underlying decision-making patterns so that you can achieve any goal that you set for yourself. How do you change your brain to kind of just reallocate how it is that you approach that activity? What do you think is the root cause for stress, anxiety and overwhelm? And if you're looking at your situations, and you're looking in the wrong place, could the solution be found in our brain patterns? And how do we tap into that? Could you share with us what is the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? What are maybe one or two books that you could recommend? It could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you've read a very long time ago, but it's definitely still had a very big impact on you. Now, we have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who feel they have great products and services, but they lack the constantly motivated human capital. And if the people aren't motivated, of course, you know the quality of service is going to be diminished. If you were sitting across the table from that person, what's the one piece of advice that you would give them to have a successful business? Can you also share with us what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you are 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 a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to maybe get you back on track or get you refocused if for any reason you got derailed.   Highlights   Adele's Journey   Adele shared that her background is Personal Development. She has been in that field for over 35 years now. But an interesting thing was happening in the first 15 or so years of those. She was a lead coach at one of the leading top personal development industry corporations. And at the same time, she was really, really struggling to achieve her goals, she had a terrible pattern of quitting. So, she would quit things each and every time. And she also had a very high level of anxiety. And despite following all the personal development methodologies that she was teaching and had been taught, she stayed inside myself. So, she really felt like an imposter, which many people feel. And so after she tried a whole bunch of stuff, and she tried everything from meditation to proper goal setting to everything under the sun, she finally woke up and she went, “Wait a minute, is this me? Am I the problem? Or is the problem the methodologies that we're being taught?”   So she enrolled in university, and she wanted to study how the human brain makes decisions, and how the human equation works in comparison to what we're being taught. And sure enough, she discovered that much of the methodologies she was trying to follow went against how her brain was actually working. And it was causing a real conflict internally. So, she created new operating instructions and that's what she now teaches. She teaches how to change the brains patterning, which is giving rise to our actions, behaviours, beliefs. And the results are tremendous 87% of the people that she works with achieve their goals, and at the same time achieve extraordinary levels of happiness and peace of mind as well. So when we work with the brain, as it's designed, it works beautifully to advance us in the direction we want to go.   Me: Totally agree and peace of mind is so important.   Your Brain Making Decisions on Your Behalf   Adele shared that it's an interesting development in neuroscience in the last 20/30 years, so before that we really lacked the modern brain scanners to peek inside the human brain in a non-invasive way. And so, we didn't know much about our own brain and how it was working and the findings are absolutely extraordinary.   One recent study by John Dolan Haynes that was done in the early 2000s, he discovered that a brain scanner can see the decisions we're about to make a fraction of a second before we consciously know we are going to make that decision. Now that's extraordinary when you think about it, so the subconscious regions of our brain are actually driving our decisions, not our choices in life.   So, she likes to say to people, do you want to know why your hand is in the cookie jar, it's not because you're choosing to take the cookie, it's because your brain has a pattern which is moving you in the direction of that cookie. And when we try and work with willpower and goal achievement and control, it really goes against the way that brain is working.   So, she likes to say, so the train's left the station, and now you're holding on to that Caboose, trying to pull it back rather than reflecting on what you're doing? And asking yourself, okay, does this work for me? And does it work that my hands in the cookie jar? And if the answer is no, then let's change the pattern, let's change where the decision is originating, instead of fighting ourselves.   Changing Your Brain to Reallocate How You Approach an Activity   Me: Amazing, truly amazing. Now, lots of people procrastinate. So for example, even in school, you'd have an assignment to do and you literally wait until two days, a day before to start the assignment because some people believe they work best under pressure, they push out their best work under pressure. But then, let's say you got this assignment, three, four, six weeks in advance, and instead of kind of just pressuring yourself like that, you could literally pace yourself in terms of the chunks of work that you do towards completing that assignment in a more manageable, structured way rather than pressuring yourself within 24 hours, how do you change your brain to kind of just reallocate how it is that you approach that activity?   Adele shared that she loves this idea of procrastination because the brain doesn't actually procrastinate, it avoids, so there's a big difference.   And what it is avoiding is actually the uncomfortable internal experience that comes about when we think about doing that assignment.   So, let's take that example that you just gave of a student in school, and they're trying to write an essay. If they tune in and look at their own personal experience, they'll see that internally, there is a lot of uncomfortable feelings going on, uncomfortable thoughts going on, such as “I'm not good enough”, or “I don't know what to write”, or “I'm confused” and all of that stuff.   And so, it's that that we actually avoid, and we keep putting it off, putting it off, putting it off, because we don't want to actually experience that.   What we need to know is that, that negative experience is driven by a pattern in our brain. And when we think about it, the human brain isn't born with patterns, as we enter this world, pretty much a blank slate and we very quickly have to form patterns.   And when we first form a pattern, it works to get us through the situation, but then the brain simply stores it and holds on to it. So, when you were five, six years old, and you first start school, highly likely that you weren't good enough at certain things, right? Highly likely that you did feel uncomfortable when you went to write an essay, you wouldn't be writing one at six. But when you went to write your name on a piece of paper, you'd probably feel a little bit uncomfortable.   And so, it's that that pattern that just keeps presenting itself every time we go through school and that's why we keep avoiding.   So, what we do is we change the pattern, once you change the pattern and upgrade it, then all of that avoidance, that need for avoidance just melts away and you'll actually start to enjoy the process of writing the essay, you start to enjoy the process of learning and studying.   Because every part of the human brain is actually trying to guide you to success, it's just a misunderstanding of how our brain works. So, the only question we need to ask ourselves is when I'm suffering internally, if you know that, that suffering is the result of a pattern that needs upgrading, then all you have to do is change the pattern and boom, you're no longer procrastinating, you no longer suffer, you're just at ease doing what you need to do.   Me: That is so true, so true. And that's kind of where I think most people want to get to at some point, right?   Adele agreed and shared and the brain is designed to do that. The brain has what is called plasticity, it is constantly attempting to rewire itself. It gets trapped in those old patterns, just simply because that action to the brain feels safe.   So, even though it doesn't work for you to be procrastinating, even though it causes suffering, causes misery to be procrastinating, because that was the same action that the brain took yesterday it will continue to rely on it thinking that it is safe because it is the unknown that the brain fears. So, it would rather you suffer than be in the unknown, that's a funny little blip in our brain maybe. But once we change the pattern and create a new known, then the pattern in the brain just readily goes along with that new action.   How the Solution of Stress, Anxiety and Overwhelm can be Found in Our Brain Patterns   Me: Now, of course, our podcast is about navigating the customer experience. And we found over the years, just different persons that we've interviewed at different levels, as well, from my own training sessions that we have. You can't deliver an amazing experience if it is that you are stressed. And I mean, the number one, I believe cause why people have so many chronic illnesses globally is because of stress. Stress leads to hypertension, stress leads to diabetes, stress leads to people getting a stroke, I mean, so many different things that stress can lead to, so what do you think is the root cause for stress, anxiety and overwhelm? And if you're looking at your situations, and you're looking in the wrong place, could the solution be found in our brain patterns? And how do we tap into that?   Adele shared that she would say that the number one cause of stress is this. And when we think about how the brain works, this makes total sense. A long time ago, when the world was more simple than it is today, more predictable than it is today, the patterns that a brain created in its youth. So patterns are created primarily throughout our childhood and adolescence is a massive other stage of pattern creation, and then it slows down into adulthood.   In a world which is predictable and dependable, those patterns created when you're little would continue to work quite effectively, all the way through your adulthood. Today though, the world has sped up, and it's sped up to the point where those patterns created even five years ago, even last year, let's just think about this pandemic.   And patterns that you created before the pandemic no longer navigate you through the pandemic because the situations required by the pandemic are totally, totally different than who you were before.   And so, it's adaptability today that is absolutely essential. But when the brain is locked into those old patterns that it created in its youth, and doesn't know how to change those patterns, like we haven't given it the tools to upgrade those patterns, then, of course, it's going to be stressful, because there's a misalignment between what action your brain is taking and the action that you need to be taking today. Make sense?   It's not that there's anything wrong with you, it's not that you can't function properly, it's not that you yourself is stressed, it's the pattern that is trying to take the action on your behalf is not actually in alignment with the action that needs to be taken and hence the disconnect, and hence conflict.   Me: A whole lot of stuff to really take into consideration as it relates to stress.   App, Website or Tool that Aaron Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business   When asked about an online resource that she cannot live without in her business, Adele shared that today, you'd have to say Zoom. She used to do all live events, that was the only way that she would work. So, kind of do some online content but mostly, she would run full year live events and they would rent rooms and do these big, huge events, she would sell from the stage, she did everything from the stage primarily. And then the pandemic hit, and boom, all of those live events went away overnight, and you talk about need to be adaptable pretty quick, that was like, “Whoa, things are changing now.” So, she had to embrace them. So, that's one of her one must have. The other one is Kajabi. So for her, when she puts all her training onto an online platform, she uses the Kajabi app, which is a training source, she can hold everything in there. So, those are the two that she totally rely on today.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Adele   When asked about books that have a big impact, Adele shared that for her, some of the latest findings in neuroscience are very exciting. So, if people really like to read and they're really interested in how the brain works. Then Iain McGilchrist book, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World is excellent. It dives into the difference between the brain hemispheres and how the right hemisphere is functioning different from the left hemisphere. For her, that's super exciting. Another one is Jill Bolte Taylor. She is a neuroscientist who actually had a stroke in her left hemisphere, and came back from that to talk about the difference between the hemispheres and she's got a brand new book out too, think it's called Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life. So, those two books, she highly recommends if people geek out on the brain like she does. Another great researcher for brain research is Dr. Andrew Newberg, and he looks at the brain and enlightenment from the perspective of neuroscience. So again, anybody who likes to geek out on that, great author.   What Advice Would You Give a Business Owner or Manager who Lacks the Constantly Motivated Human Capital to have a Successful Business?   Adele shared that that's a great question. So, motivation, let's just look at these new operating instructions as she was saying at the beginning of this podcast. The old operating instructions with this, set a goal, and then determine the steps that you need to take to get to that goal. And it's all inside of striving, it's all inside of trying to figure out what is right, what you shouldn't do, what is wrong and it creates a lot of stress and a lot of demotivation because internally, it's creating so much conflict. So, here are the new operating instructions, set a goal, instead of determining the steps to get there, ask yourself, “What is preventing me from being there now?”   You will notice as you ask that question, that a whole bunch of actions, behaviours, and beliefs bubble up to your mind. So you might say, “Oh, yeah, I should be picking up the phone and calling clients but I'm not.” So that's an action you're not taking, you want to write that down. You might notice “Oh, yeah, like, I really feel nervous when I talk to new clients.” Great, write that down. Your belief might be, “Oh, gosh, I'm really bugging people like sales is slimy.” She's just making all of this up, but write down all of those things that are preventing you from being at that goal today. Imposter syndrome, that was one of her big ones. She was a big people pleaser, that was a big one for her that was stopping her. So, you'll start to see yourself in a whole different light. Under every single one of those actions, behaviours and beliefs know that there lies a brain pattern, which is giving rise to that action, behaviour, belief.   Your next step is not to try to fix that brain pattern, it is instead to remove it. And, she'd love to gift to all of anybody listening her book, they can get a free copy, all she ask is that they pay for shipping. In that book is the four steps to remove that brain pattern. Once that brain pattern is removed, your brain will do what every brain does, it will create a pattern, it will create a brand new pattern.   And that brand new pattern is going to take you automatically in the direction of that goal. That new banner is going to take the action needed to take why?   Because like she said before, your brain is always striving to always trying to get you into alignment with what is going on in this present moment. And if the success of your business depends on you taking that step, then your brain is going to create the pattern to take that step. You don't have to worry about that. Your job is to remove what doesn't work. She cannot tell you how effective this method is, it truly is something that every person needs to experience for themselves, it is not based inside of knowledge, it's based inside of experience. Once you experience that though, it's like night and day, it's like oh my gosh, bring it on world. I don't care what the problem is. I know I can solve it because you've got a brilliant brain that can solve it on your behalf.   One Thing Going on In Your Life to Develop Yourself or Your People   When asked about something that she is excited about, Adele shared that she just started when the pandemic hit, she moved everything to an online platform, and she started a membership site. And it is very exciting what's happening in that membership site. So there's a lot of activity there and she keeps adding new content. So, that's her primary focus at the moment. She's building out all the content that she used to teach in live events into an online platform like Kajabi and supporting those members.    Me: So, you said you started a membership site?     Adele shared that she's putting all the content in there. So, there's lots of classes in there which is really exciting all around the brain and different things. So, she has leadership classes in there, relationships. So people who are in conflict, she's finding that a lot of people probably because of the pandemic trapped inside of addiction patterns. So, she's working with people with addictions now, so there'll be a class on that. Peace of mind and stress, as you were saying before, that's a massive thing. So all of this content is going in there and people, they're just loving it, like the members in there, they're just really eating it up and really gaining valuable information and valuable tools and resources for today's very complex planet.   Where Can We Find Adele Online   Website – https://www.adelespraggon.com/   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Adele Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, Adele shared that she would say her quote is always, “I created that.” And she'll have to explain that one more. So, as she was saying before, patterns are created in our youth then they continue to inform us about the world today. But everything that we see about ourselves and about the world, about the situation is driven by our pattern that was created in our youth. So when she finds myself in a situation that doesn't work for her, she just gently reminds herself of that, “Oh, yeah, that's a pattern. I created that.” And that just helps her to position it and then she can apply the four step technique that she teaches in her book and remove the pattern.   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   Shift: 4 Steps to Personal Empowerment by Adele Spraggon The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life by Jill Bolte Taylor   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!

Cesaria Evora - Angola (Get Down Dub By Pepe Bradock) Coeo - Nigerian Affair (@coeo) Tanzania Soundsystem - Mdomo Vagabundo Club Social - Ella No Fue (@vagabundoclubsocial) Folamour - These Are Just Places to Me Now (@folamour) Fred again.. feat. Henry Wu - Homies (@fredagain) LION BABE, Busta Rhymes - Harder (@lionbabe) Tyler, The Creator - EARFQUAKE (Channel Tres Remix) (@channeltres) Of Norway - 1 4 Messi (Luna City Express Rework) (@of-norway) Rae & Christian - Favourite Game (Mang Dynasty Remix) (@ray-mang) Sartorial - Know The Times (@mr-v-sartorial) Phonk D - Let's Shake (Exploited) (@phonk-d) Etienne De Crecy - Am I Wrong (Extended Mix) (@etienne-de-crecy) Joe Litherland - A Taste Suprême (@joe-litherland) Quim Manuel O Espirito Santo - Eme Lelu (Adam Port Edit) (@adam-port) Cesaria Evora - Nutridinha (Kerri Chandler mix) (@kerri-chandler) Teddy Pendergrass - The More I Get, the More I Want (The Martinez Brothers Remix) (@themartinezbros)

Atlanta singer/songwriter Mali Ama talks about her latest release “Not You” streaming on all major platforms plus her EP “How the Cookie Crumbles” along with her singles “Oh My”, “Lost Love”, “Think Again”, “Look at Me Now” ,etc. plus how she began her amazing career in music, along with her major influences and upcoming plans for 2022 and beyond! Check out the amazing Mali Ama on all streaming platforms today! #maliama #singer #songwriter #atlanta #georgia #notyou #howthecookiecrumbles #ohmy #lostlove #thinkagain #lookatmenow #amazon #audible #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #itunes #googleplay #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnermaliama #themikewagnershowmaliama --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/support

Atlanta singer/songwriter Mali Ama talks about her latest release “Not You” streaming on all major platforms plus her EP “How the Cookie Crumbles” along with her singles “Oh My”, “Lost Love”, “Think Again”, “Look at Me Now” ,etc. plus how she began her amazing career in music, along with her major influences and upcoming plans for 2022 and beyond! Check out the amazing Mali Ama on all streaming platforms today! #maliama #singer #songwriter #atlanta #georgia #notyou #howthecookiecrumbles #ohmy #lostlove #thinkagain #lookatmenow #amazon #audible #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #itunes #googleplay #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnermaliama #themikewagnershowmaliama

Atlanta singer/songwriter Mali Ama talks about her latest release “Not You” streaming on all major platforms plus her EP “How the Cookie Crumbles” along with her singles “Oh My”, “Lost Love”, “Think Again”, “Look at Me Now” ,etc. plus how she began her amazing career in music, along with her major influences and upcoming plans for 2022 and beyond! Check out the amazing Mali Ama on all streaming platforms today! #maliama #singer #songwriter #atlanta #georgia #notyou #howthecookiecrumbles #ohmy #lostlove #thinkagain #lookatmenow #amazon #audible #iheartradio #spreaker #spotify #itunes #googleplay #applemusic #youtube #anchorfm #mikewagner #themikewagnershow #mikewagnermaliama #themikewagnershowmaliama --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/themikewagnershow/support

New Madam Webb for the Spider Verse, Eddie Vedder Beef , Top 5 Grunge guitar player and much more. Hosted by: Dee Rotten Music By: 1. Murdock & Jack Blerry - Look at Me Now 4:51 2. Wrath of Gods - Collapse 13:11 3. Bug Lover - Pensive 22:18 4. Skarhead - Hardcore (BOTW)31:24 5. Atoma Fox - Echo 40:59 6. Last Minet- Don't Hold Back 54:10 7. One Missing - Fucken Banned (Live)1:06:29 Dee Rotten Social Media........................... https://www.instagram.com/dee_rotten/ Pateron.................. https://www.patreon.com/fromthedungeonpodcast From The Dungeon Social Media Web Pages ........................................................................... https://www.instagram.com/fromthedungeonpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/fromthedungeonpodcast/ https://twitter.com/FTDPodcast FTD T- Shirts...................................... https://tonethreads.com/fromthedungeonpodcast Famcast Media T-Shirts.......................................... https://www.tonethreads.com/famcastmedia/ Famcast Media Social page…………………. https://www.instagram.com/famcastmedia/ All music is owned by the artist, and played with the artist consent. Recorded and edited by Dee Rotten.

QUESTIONS + TIME STAMPS1. How's The Body Feeling After Playing Winterball? (0:01)2. Have I ever Considered Playing Baseball Overseas in Europe, Africa, Asia, or Australia? (2:01)3. I'm Striding Out Farther and it Helped Command But I'm Not Bringing My Back Leg Thru (3:52)4. Counter Rotation is Helping Me Get Separation but Making it Hard to See Target. Tips? (6:36)5. Could Hips Not Being Rotated at Landing Cause Poor Lead Leg Block? (9:41)6. I Bought an Analysis From You, Could I Send you a Video of Me Now and Tell Me How it Looks? (11:24)7. What's The Most Difficult Pitch to Throw (12:06)8. Have you Found That Backfoot Sliders to LHB's are as Lethal as a CH These Days? (12:26)9. Are You Trying To Get to The Big Leagues? (14:05)10. What's a Good Way To Not Open So Early? (14:42)11. I Need Tips For Sliders, I Feel Like I Lost Mine Recently + Can't Find it. (16:22)12. What is The Key To Throwing Hard? (18:59)THE ROBBY ROW SHOW WEBSITEWho is Robby Rowland?https://therobbyrowshow.com/about/Robby Rowland's Social Channelshttps://therobbyrowshow.com/follow-me/The Robby Row Show VLOGhttps://therobbyrowshow.com/vlog/Ask Robby Row Pagehttps://therobbyrowshow.com/ask/ Website Search Enginehttps://therobbyrowshow.com/search/ Partnerships + Discounts on Products I Usehttps://therobbyrowshow.com/productdiscounts/ Robby Row's Content Library https://therobbyrowshow.com/content-library/ The Robby Row Show Baseball Podcasthttps://therobbyrowshow.com/podcast/ Content Creation Products + Podcast Equipmenthttps://therobbyrowshow.com/content-creation/ WHERE YOU CAN FIND ROBBY ROWRobby Row's Social Mediahttps://therobbyrowshow.com/follow-me/ Websitehttps://therobbyrowshow.com YouTube https://youtube.com/c/RobbyRowland Instagram https://www.instagram.com/robbyrow12/ Twitter https://twitter.com/RobbyRow_12 TikTok www.tiktok.com/@robbyrow12Facebook https://www.facebook.com/robbyrow12/ Podcasthttps://therobbyrowshow.com/podcast/ LinkedInwww.linkedin.com/in/robbyrow12 SUBSCRIBE TO MY PODCASTApple Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-robby-row-show/id1341507777?mt=2 Spotify Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/2AEEhbkL1P4YUS4yzpNXOK?si=Qyc6K0JgTO-_LmGX19mwtg iHeart Radio Podcast https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-the-robby-row-show-30930836/ Stitcherhttps://www.stitcher.com/podcast/robby-rowland/the-robby-row-show DONATIONSPayPalhttps://paypal.me/robbyrow VenmoRobbyrow12

Pop's greatest heartbreak song, covered by an extraordinary singer and a band not fit to be her backup dancers. Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now), originally by Phil Collins, covered by Mariah Carey with Westlife. Outro music is the unnamed breakup song by Starlee Kine, from This American Life #339. Give the episode a listen if you want some good songwriting advice from Uncle Phil.

You are now listening to Sipping on the Rocks "Altered Orbits"I Just Want To Show A Little Appreciation To this amazing band.Hosted By WhoKilldKenny Follow us on Instagram: @Whokilldkenny88 @passmycupradio @passmycup @passmycupusaFollow us on Twitter: @passmycupradioFollow us on Facebook: Pass My Cup RadioTrack List1. Altered Orbits- Smile2. Chris Duarte Group- Cleopatra 3. X Ambassadors- Boom4. Red Hot Chili Peppers- Dark Necessities 5. Hero the Band- Back to Myself6. Maneskin- Beggin7. 4 Non Blondes- Whats Up8. Altered Orbits- What Do You Think of Me Now?

During the Iranian Revolution of 1978, Shaahin's family had to escape to survive and ended up finally migrating to Los Angeles, California. At 15 years old Shaahin left home with nothing but the clothes on his back and created over a BILLION dollars in revenue by inventing the legendary smart drug known as Herbal Ecstacy. These childhood experiences had a major impact on his perspective of freedom, hard work and entrepreneurship. Later Shaahin went on to invent Digital Vaporization (the forerunner to today's vapes) and start a number of successful businesses with a couple of notable failures.   Today, he is the Founder and CEO of Accelerated intelligence Inc, a major Amazon FBA seller with millions in sales, the lead coach at Amazon Mastery where he teaches entrepreneurs how to CRUSH IT! on the Amazon platform and an active YouTube creator.   Shaahin is considered one of the leading global minds on what's next in e-commerce, Amazon and the internet. He is described as the “Willy Wonka of Generation X” by the London Observer and Newsweek and is one of the most forward thinkers in business - with his Amazon Mastery Course he acutely recognizes trends and patterns early on the Amazon platform to help others understand how these shifts impact markets and consumer behaviour.   Questions   Could you share in your own words, a little bit about your journey and how it is that you got to where you are today? Could you share with our listeners for those persons who may be new to this whole Amazon reselling? What are some key things that need to be present for you to be successful in this channel? So, tell us a little bit about the book Billion. What are some things maybe that you've experienced that has helped to kind of manage the customer experience because that does form parts of the customer journey when their expectation is x, but the actual experience is y, how do you go around that? How do you navigate that to kind of come up with still a very good experience? Could you also share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with us what are one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read a very long time ago or even one that you read recently that has left impressionable mark on you. Could you share with us what's 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? 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 or get you refocused if for any reason you got derailed. Do you have one of those?     Highlights   Shaahin's Journey   Shaahin shared that they moved to the United States as refugees, political refugees in the 1980s. By the time he was 15, he had started his first business, he left home, left family, no friends, basically sleeping in abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, trying to figure out what to do with himself. He got involved in the electronic music scene, he found a mentor and he invented an alternative to a drug that was very popular at that time called Ecstasy. It became a global phenomenon and by the time he was still in his teens with a grade school education, he had 200 employees, and it created over a billion dollars in revenue.   And so, he had 200 employees working for him, he had a lot of customer service people, he knows it's a show about customer service, he knows a lot about that. And from there, he went on to inventing Digital Vaporization technology, all the vapes and eCigs that you see came from technology that he developed and invented and patented. And from there, he went on to master the Amazon landscape. And so, now he teaches people how to create recurring revenue streams by starting Amazon seller accounts, and selling products through the Amazon platform through his Amazon Mastery Course.   Keys that Needs to be Present for You to Be Successful in this Channel – Amazon Reselling   Shaahin shared that interestingly enough, he thinks one of the things that's important when you're selling on the Amazon platform, is that you have to know how to tell the right story. One of the things that they learned from platforms like Amazon, is that the form of marketing as it was known in the past as disruption marketing, changed dramatically. And whereas in the past, marketers were disrupting you to get your attention, Amazon changed that game.   So now, instead of being disruption marketing, we are permission marketing. And not only that, when you sell something on Amazon, when you're a seller, you have to know how to speak the language of conversion for that platform and it's very different.   And so, the work they do is based on the work of a guy named Professor Robert Cialdini, who wrote the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion and another book called Persuasion. And what they do is they teach people how to use influence in creating their listing, how to become Decision Architects so that when people arrive at your listing, they're already sold. He likes to say often that the sale is made before the person even lands on your listing. And that's so true. So more true today than ever.   Me: Amazing. I like the phrase or the coin that you just term decision architects. It sounds so eloquent.   About Shaahin's Book – Billion: How I Became King Of The Thrill Pill Cult   Me: So you have a book out or is it out yet, Billion?   Shaahin shared that the book just dropped called Billion: How I Became King Of The Thrill Cult, it's available on Amazon Kindle, Apple, and you can get the audio book now. The audio book just dropped too. So it's called Billion: How I Became King Of The Thrill Pill Cult, he's super excited about that, they just got to film deal for that.   And then anybody that's interested, he has an Amazon course where he teaches people how to start Amazon businesses from anywhere in the world. He's got people in Africa, people in Saudi Arabia, people in the United States, Canada.   And for any of your listeners, if you guys mentioned Yanique, he will give you that program for free. It's a $200 program, it's a one hour course A to Z, how do you get reviews? How do you do great customer service? How do you do all those things that go along with finding a product and selling it on the Amazon platform? How do you start a seller account? And anybody that wants to can reach out to him, his email is darkzess@gmail.com.   Me: Amazing. So tell us a little bit about the book.   Shaahin shared that the book basically just goes through his journey and his story that he told you now that was basically going from being broke and sleeping where he could lay his head to creating over a billion dollars in revenue. And there were some very exciting times during that period of time, but he was a kid and he didn't know much about business. And all the lessons he learned he kept in a journal and he has those in the book, so it's very interesting. The book is part autobiography and part personal development, where he teaches and coaches people how to become the best versions of themselves, using lessons that were hard fought for him.     Things That Helped to Manage Customer Experience That Forms the Customer Journey with Their Expectation   Me: Now as you mentioned, our show is about navigating the customer experience and I know Amazon is a brilliant platform, really, really great. Of course, I'm sure everybody in the world uses it. But a lot of industries that maybe tapping into the Amazon platform I'm sure are affected by let's say, the shipping and logistics issue that has been impacted by the world globally because of the pandemic. What are some things maybe that you've experienced that has helped to kind of manage the customer experience because that does form parts of the customer journey when their expectation is x, but the actual experience is y, how do you go around that? How do you navigate that to kind of come up with still a very good experience?   Shaahin stated that this is really interesting. And he's glad Yanique brought that up. So, he'll say this, he thinks there's a couple things that have happened. So Amazon, this company that was started by this little guy, Jeff Bezos, little at the time, now he's huge, disrupted the industry of commerce. And he did this very similar, he (Shaahin) likes to use the example of Piggly Wiggly. Piggly Wiggly was a disrupter.   Why?   Well, back in the turn of the century, if you wanted to buy something in America, you'd go into a store and the man would say, “What do you need today Mr. Jones?” You'd say, “Well, I need some bread. I need some beer. I need some sundries. I need some rubber bands, whatever.” He'd put them in a bag, he tells you how much it was and you would leave, you would have no choice.   So this guy comes around Piggly Wiggly, he goes, we're going to disrupt this entire industry. How are you going to disrupt it?   Well, we're going to build these things. What are these things, they're called aisles. They're going to allow us to have more than one brand, allowing competition in the marketplace.   And we're going to allow customers to come in and pick whatever they want and bring it up to the front and check out. It'll give them an opportunity to see touch and feel the product. Not only that, we're going to have these things called carts where people can go through the aisles, put stuff in carts, and then check them out. It changed commerce forever.   Similarly, Jeff Bezos has done the same thing with his marketplace. Now what's the important thing from a customer service standpoint that he's done is that he's taken the friction out of the sale.   In the old days of the internet, we tend to forget, especially people who are his age, he's 46 now and he remembers the first days of the internet, younger people might not remember it. You didn't know who to trust, you felt more secure going to a brick and mortar store where you could touch and feel the product and buy it. You didn't know if you bought it on a website, if they would take your credit card number, if you'd never see the product, if you'd see it in three weeks, all those variables have been taken out.   So again, Jeff Bezos is being proactive with his customer service, the best customer service is done before the consumer ever even buys the product. He made sure that the products on the site were of high enough quality, he made sure that there was plenty of selection, and most importantly, the lowest most competitive prices, which he realized was very important, people wanted to save money. Now, from a customer service standpoint, what Jeff Bezos did was he said, “You know what, we're going to let the customer handle their own returns.” Insane, nobody had ever done that before.   He said, “Yeah, we believe that customers can handle most of their issues, and they don't need us. And besides, the cost for us to pay a representative, whatever it is $5, $10 an hour on the end of the other phone to deal with a customer for an hour or two may be more than the cost of the goods.” So what he did is he created easy returns. If you go on to Amazon to this day, you'll see easy returns. If you buy something and you don't like it, you go into the app, or you go into the back end, and you click return, it says what's your reason, you say other, you're good to go, they refunded right back to your card. In many instances, you don't even need to send it back. So it's a form of efficiency.   Now, it's a dual edged sword because it has also created greed within customers. People are needlessly returning things, and people are more expectant now for the silliest reasons. Somebody might order a can of a food product, eat the food product, and then return the tin because it has a dent in it, half empty and this is much more commonplace.   Now Amazon, interestingly enough, doesn't care, unless it's their own product and even then they don't care because they've got such higher margins. But if it's a third party product, Amazon just builds the third party company, it becomes the sellers issue that their product was returned and they handled the customer service from that end.   And nowadays, when they do customer service, he has a policy where they just refund people's money. But every once in a while, every occasion, when they get a ridiculous customer, somebody who is absolutely ridiculous, he will personally call them up himself and they're always shocked that the President of the company is on the phone. And not only will he get them on the phone himself, he will let them know how silly they are being, in a very polite way and this goes against everything in customer service. And then he will sell them something else, he will make it a point not to leave the phone call without having sold them something.   And it always leaves a great experience, a great story that they're going to tell people. And, he doesn't do this with reasonable customers. So if you get a product that's bad, or you have a bad service experience, or there's an employee that maybe treated you unfairly, then of course, they just refund your money and they take care of you the best that they can, always.   But occasionally, you will get somebody who's being unreasonable and the best way to approach somebody who's being unreasonable is to confront them with their unreasonableness and to just call them up and have a real adult conversation. And more and more he's finding that that's a very effective tool because people who are trying to cheat the system, people who are trying to take advantage are generally cowards.   So when confronted, you can come across that. Another issue that they have is reviews. So this is one of the big things, Amazon has one of the largest blog networks in the universe. Why? Because they've got you and me buying things on there and writing content for them in the form of reviews, making videos in the form of reviews. That's all searchable content, though you're producing for free and giving to Amazon as their property. They own that work that you just created and put on their site and for it, they give you back nothing.   Now, reviews are a dual edged sword. So, you get some people leaving honest reviews, and you get some people leaving fake reviews, some competitors may leave reviews for your product because they don't like you and they want people to think that your product is bad. They've had competitors leave reviews saying, “Hey, there's a fly in the product. Literally, there's a fly in the product, there's a this or that.” They had one guy putting magnets inside some tea and being like, hey, look, it sticks. We're like, static electricity, it's a thing. So, there's a lot of that going on. But at the same time, consumers are now learning that they can use their reviews, their social proof against the companies as a tool for them to get free things.   So what they will do is they will leave a bad review, and then sit back and wait. People do this on Twitter, they do it on Facebook, that's why they take to social media. And they'll just sit back, maybe they'll do something weird. He heard of a guy who tore his shoe laces or tore the soles off his Nikes and posted it on social media and was waited for Nike to call him back and give him a new pair. But it's this ecommerce 3.0 that has spoiled the consumer at the end of the day. And it's for those ridiculous types of things where he feels compelled to call those people back. Now, he doesn't encourage anybody to do that because you'll never get what you want if you're trying to cheat them. And it's unfair to other people that have legitimate grievances. But there's a whole faction of people that leave negative reviews for other people just so they can engage them, and then get a free thing or get a refund or not have to pay for their product.   And as any business, especially a small business, you have to have a way to address that in your business. And his way is just have the CEO call them, you won't get very much of those kinds of calls, but you got to call them. And sometimes you just have to reason with people because people are unreasonable in general with their expectations.   So, they have another brand of glasses that they make of sunglasses, and it's a special type of lens that you wear at night, and it blocks the blue lights, and it's one of the best in the marketplace. And with that product, they offer an unlimited money back guarantee, they're called Sleep Doctor Glasses. And the website is sleepdoctorglasses.com and they offer an unlimited warranty. And the reason why they did this, and it's not just a defect warranty, it's a run your car over warranty, it's a grab a hammer and drill holes through it warranty, whatever you do, run over it with your truck warranty.   And the reason they do this is that most people don't want to damage their personal property, most people love the product so much that they don't want to damage it. But if you're one of those people who does, they're going to use that as a story and they're going to tell that story. And not only are they going to tell that story, you're going to tell that story to everybody that you know, you're going to go, “Man, I bought these glasses for $40 bucks, $50 bucks, from sleep doctor glasses, and my 400 pound gorilla that I keep as a pet sat on them and smashed them. And they just sent me a new pair. And they said as many times as he sits on them, I'm going to get new pairs.” And that creates more marketing, more promotion, more social proof than any marketing that they could do.   So you can't do that for every product, especially if you have a product that's not as high quality, but it's a great hack to offer that to them. When he was in the vaporizer business, they offered extended warranties, electronics, a lot of companies make a lot of money on the extended warranties, and they actually made more money on the extended warranties than we did selling the product because what's your cost on an extended warranty zero, and you get $100, $125 bucks on a $400 product is 25% pure profit that you're making with the product.   Yeah, you're selling it for $400 but you got parts, you got to manufacture. So warranties are beautiful, and rarely, by the way for you guys who are watching this work in the favor of consumers. So if you just always say no to any extended warranty, and at the end of the day, you use that money to fix the thing that breaks, once you'll be in a better place. So the rule of thumb is do not buy the extended warranties, they don't work in the favour of the consumers.   But they had these vaporizers and they had this guy who and remember these are the first vaporizers, they were huge, they were not the eCigs that we see today, this was the original stone age vaporizers.   And they had this guy who bought the extended warranty and then he bought the additional, he wants to say slip and fall, he bought the original water damage, they had different levels of the warranty. So one level was just protects you against defects and other one was drop it in the pool and they cover it. And he bought the extended warranty and he would do crazy things, he would drag it behind a car, he would light like all kinds of objects inside of it, and make them explode. And he would call without fail every month and be like, “Hey, I broke my device, time to send me the new one.”   And finally, he called him personally, he was shocked, again that the CEO was calling him, he said, “I love this. Thank you for making these videos, people love them on our website, here's what I'm going to do for you. Anytime you want a new device, just call me. I've refunded your money, I've refunded you for the extended warranty, you no longer have an extended warranty but here's what you have. Call me anytime, here's my cell phone and anytime you break your device, for whatever reason, I'll just send you a new one. You don't even have to send it back.”   And he was so pleased, he did it maybe three more times after that. They never heard from him again but he continued to make videos about how great their device was.   And so, it's another great practice he thinks that people don't do specially CEOs of companies or people that are running companies, even if you're a mom and pop is that we lose touch with our customers, we lose touch with the people that are paying our salaries, people that are paying for our livelihoods.   And he thinks it's great to reach out and get to know them. He knows it's taboo and if you're a hothead, you probably shouldn't be the one doing that, somebody else on your team should be doing that. But if you're cool and you like people, you like humans, what a great thing to do, not everybody likes humans, depends on the day he's talking to people, his patience runs thin.   App, Website or Tool that Shaahin Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   Shaahin shared that he uses lots of great tools. So, he loves Evernote, which he thinks is fantastic, he uses Evernote. He loves 1Password, they use that company wide to maintain passwords, which he thinks is really useful. They're big fans of Asana as far as task management for his managers that he does. He loves the website Upwork and Fiverr, they're big fans of that, and they use that in their FBA seller course. So if you guys go to www.fbasellercourse.com or if you email him, darkzess@gmail.com, he'll give you the Amazon Mastery Course for free the one hour crash course.   So, those would be probably his top tools as far as like personal productivity. He loves a VR app called Tripp, it's awesome. It works on the Oculus ecosphere. So if you use the Oculus VR headset, it's a fantastic app that gets you in a flow state in under 10 minutes. And it's one of the most beautiful meditative apps; he thinks out there, it's really a game changer. So, he really recommends the Tripp app, he thinks it's really fantastic. And he also loves the Muse Headband for meditation as well; those two things are really great.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Shaahin   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Shaahin shared that he's going to say his own book Billion: How I Became King Of The Thrill Pill Cult. Again, available on Amazon and audible check it out if you guys liked his story, if anything he said here inspired you or rang true with you, check out his book and leave him a review. But he's a big fan of David Allen Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, he thinks he's an amazing, probably the best person in personal productivity if you're in customer service, that'll be a great book. I like Richard Koch, The 80/20 Manager: The Secret to Working Less and Achieving More, which would be great for anybody who's managing customer service people or managing any people of any kind. Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It: Unlocking the Nine Secrets of People Who Changed the World by Richard Koch as well. And always the books by Robert Cialdini Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.   What Jeff is Really Excited About Now!   Shaahin shared that he wants to come to Jamaica. He has been many times. He's been to Negril, he's been to Montego Bay, he's been all over Jamaica, actually. He loves the island, loves the people, and loves the culture. Such an amazing place, he's been to Kingston, he's been up in Strawberry Hill.   Me: You are a Jamaican veteran. Well, the next time you come to Jamaica, make sure you hit me up. I am in Kingston.   Shaahin stated that he loves that, they can drive up to Blue Mountains, get some of that coffee. It's such an amazing place right now.   Right now he's busy teaching people, inspiring people how to get out of the grind. The greatest crime that has been done to the average person in the last 100 years is this concept that you have to sell your hours for money. And they're changing that now, they're changing that paradigm with the work that they're doing on Amazon, anybody can start an Amazon business for little or low cash, very little money, and to grow that business to a seven figure business in a couple of years by following some very simple paint by number recipes that they teach you. So, his goal for the next year is to inspire 1000 people to start 1000 Amazon companies, becoming a seller on the platform, creating great products and selling them and then creating amazing companies in the next two years and selling those to create recurring revenue.   Where Can We Find Shaahin Online   Shaahin shared that if you guys are interested in this content, and by the way, they'll rebroadcast this on their channel, they're up to about 67,000 subscribers now. So they'll share this and they'll try to send some subscribers to Yanique's show. He knows they have a lot of customer service people who watch their show, who would be very interested in the content Yanique is putting out. So with your permission, they'll do that as well.   So they have a show called Hack and Grow Rich, it's available on Stitcher, Spotify, Apple podcasts, wherever podcasts are found, and also on YouTube if you prefer video content. So make sure to check them out on those channels like subscribe, dislike, put rude comments in the comment section whatever you want to do.   Also, his book once again Billion: How I Became King Of The Thrill Pill Cult is available wherever books are found and on Audible. And additionally, if you're interested in that course, reach out to him by email, that email is going to be darkzess@gmail.com and to learn more about his course, you can go to www.fbasellercourse.com FBA of course standing for Fulfillment by Amazon.   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Shaahin Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Shaahin shared that he's got two going through his head. His intuition tells me go this one.   Why do angels fly? Because they take themselves lightly. “Seriousness is a disease.” And he's noticed Yanique laughed a lot during this show and you laugh and you smile, and that's great.   Well, we all have to remember, this is not serious and business is not serious. Customer service is not serious, none of this is serious. Seriousness is a disease of the ego, so when you get that angry customer on the other end of the phone, when you get that disgruntled employee, when you get that person who you have to deal with, remember to smile. And remember why angels fly.   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   Billion: How I Became King Of The Thrill Pill Cult by Shaahin Cheyene Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen The 80/20 Manager: The Secret to Working Less and Achieving More by Richard Koch Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It: Unlocking the Nine Secrets of People Who Changed the World by Richard Koch Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini   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!

Does your favorite sci-fi show have an episode where characters struggle with the immense weight of familial friction? For Stella Cheeks, it's the Star Trek TOS episode "Journey To Babel" and for Erin Cline, it's the X-Files episode "Beyond The Sea".   Sad dads, mad lads, assassins and ghosts, egads! Join Erin and Stell as they untangle intergalactic espionage and ethereal investigations all sung to the tune of "Are You Proud of Me Now, Parents?" and just in time for the holiday weekend!  --- About the podcast: Erin Cline and Stella Cheeks have been friends for over a decade but have never seen each other's favorite TV show. Seeking to rectify that grievous error (seriously, they used to live together), X-Treks was born! Each week the duo choose one episode from Star Trek: The Original Series and one episode from The X-Files that fits a previously chosen cinematic theme, watch them together, and share their feelings! Alongside producer Bobby Hoffman, they discuss their first impressions, how the episodes fit into the larger fan lore, and fascinating behind-the-scenes facts.  --- Follow The X-Treks Crew Twitter: @nydproductions #xtrekspod @Stella_Cheeks @Haberdasher9k  Instagram: @NYDErnGenC

Dena and Melissa welcome Clara (@colormeloverly) to the podcast this week! Clara went viral on TikTok with her PR-style videos. She embodies the role of the PR rep of troubled celebrities or public figures, starting with Buckingham Palace and the Kardashians. Clara now does a variety of comedy TikToks and funny videos about corporate America. We learn more about why she loves TikTok, how her content has evolved, and what's on her FYP.  We discuss new trends including an audio clip from Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model, and users bonding over their love of Celine Dion's “It's All Coming Back to Me Now.” We find out some of Clara's favorite creators including Delaney Rowe @delaneysayshello, Clare Brown @clarabellecwb, Emily Uribe @emilyuuribe, and @thecorporatemama. Follow Clara at @colormeloverly on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.  Check out all the videos mentioned on this week's episode and more on our blog (2old4tiktok.com), Instagram (@2old4tiktokpod), and TikTok (@2old4tiktok_podcast).  

Jeff Rosenblum is a co founder of Questus, a digital advertising agency that has worked with many of the world's most influential brands, including American Express, Apple, Capital One, Disney, The NFL, Samsung, Starbucks, Universal, Wyndham and Verizon. Jeff created a groundbreaking documentary about the advertising revolution called The Naked Brand and the book Friction which explained how passion brands are built.   Jeff has lectured at some of the top universities in the world, including Yale, Cornell, Columbia, and the London Business School. He has won some of advertising's most prestigious awards, and presented at many of the industry's largest conferences.   Questions   Could you share with us a little bit about your journey? Your Book Exponential, could you tell us a little bit about what the book is about? Who is the book geared towards helping and what do you mean by empowering? And what do you mean by interrupting? What does empowerment really mean in practical steps or practical implementation? When you say you employ your team members, what does that look like? Could you give us maybe one or two examples? How do factors like culture and transparency help companies to build exponential growth? You mentioned that there are multiple channels that exist nowadays. Let's say a brand is looking to be present on all channels, but they just don't have the resources to be active on all channels. What would your recommendation be to them? Could you share with our listeners what is the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? Could you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you read recently. But it definitely has left an impressionable mark on you. What's 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 if they wanted to follow your journey or even to get in contact with you? Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote; it kind of helps to get you refocused or get you back on track if for any reason you get derailed.   Highlights   Jeff's Journey   Jeff shared that he took a pretty unique path to where he's at, he didn't necessarily go to some of the finest educational institutions in the world, he was a pretty crappy college student, to be honest with you. And when he graduated school, he had to beg his way into an internship at a research company and they gave him a three month shot and he applied a philosophy that he continued to apply every single day now three decades later, which is “First one in, last one out, every day.” First one in, last one out.   So eventually, that internship turned into a full time job and this was around the birth of the internet. And as a researcher, his job was to collect data and they had very traditional ways of collecting that data, it was through the mail and through the mall surveys and phone surveys, in focus groups. And his job was to figure out how he can collect the highest quality data possible at the lowest price. And then when the internet came along, he had this crazy idea, which was why can't we start collecting all of that data through the internet, which seems grossly obvious now. But really, nobody was doing it at that time, or very few people were doing it at that time.   So, he was lucky enough to be one of the few people pioneering the field of internet research. So, he's still like a 25 year old zit faced kid, and next thing you know, he's got Microsoft, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Walt Disney, Levi Strauss, all as his clients, because he was one of the very few people who knew how to collect data via the internet. But what was interesting is they didn't just want data, what they wanted was to understand the implications of the internet for their business. And what he quickly realized is that everything about business strategy was about to be revolutionized. And perhaps even more importantly, from his point of view, everything about advertising was about was about to go through a complete and total revolution.   So at that point, he realized he no longer wanted to simply collect the data and tell brands what to do with the Internet, what he wanted to do is actually do something about it, he wanted to blend the world of data and creativity under one roof and create the next generation of advertising agency. So, his college roommate was a world class artist, he had art gallery openings, celebrities, like Johnny Depp were buying his paintings and he had shifted a lot of his focus into the world of digital design. So the whole idea was to take a team of outsiders, him (Jeff) from the data and analytics background, ‘he' from the creative background, and start an agency that's focused less on interrupting people through traditional media and more about empowering people through digital media.   Jeff's Book Exponential: Transform Your Brand by Empowering Instead of Interrupting – What the Book is About – Who is the Book Geared Towards Helping   Me: Amazing. So, you really got into it. And you've been in it even before a lot of the organizations that are currently trying to tap into that feature, have been into it. Now you have a new book, Jeff. That's the things that really, really sparked my interest, your book and it is entitled, Exponential. I love the name. So, could you tell us a little bit about that book? I know subtitle for the book is Transform Your Brand by Empowering Instead of Interrupting. Could you tell us a little bit about what the book is about? Who is the book geared towards helping and what do you mean by empowering? And what do you mean by interrupting?   Jeff shared that he's always been fascinated by brands that absolutely dominate the competition, brands that grow exponentially in size, in influence, in financial performance. Brands like Warby Parker and Sweetgreen, and Apple, and Google, and Amazon. So, really what he's done is focused in on how advertising has gone through a revolution and we can no longer rely upon interruptions, meaning buying 30 seconds spots on TV ads, buying full page print ads in magazines, buying pop up ads, and banner ads, in pre rolls.   All of those tools are fine, there's nothing wrong with them, the data and the mathematic show that they work. And as an agency, they leverage the hell out of those techniques, those are very powerful techniques.   But what they drive are good results, they don't drive exponential results and what they realized is brands that move beyond just interrupting and expand into empowering people, improving their lives one small step at a time, giving them the content and the tools to move their lives forward, those are the brands that drive the exponential results. So, that's what the book is about is how data and creativity, how content and technology can be used to empower an audience and dominate the competition.   What Does Empowerment Mean in Practical Steps or Practical Implementation   Me: Now, you also have in the book that empowerment drives exponential bottom line results. For a business, empowerment, it embodies a lot of different things and I would just like for you to break down to our listeners, what does empowerment really mean in practical steps or practical implementation? When you say you empower your team members, what does that look like? Could you give us maybe one or two examples?   Jeff stated that that's a great question. Because empowerment really comes in two sides of the equation, how do you empower your customers in your target audience? How do you give them the content and the tools to make sure that they're getting more out of the products and the services that you create?   But also to the question, empowerment comes in the form of culture, how do we help people on our teams do the best work possible? And he thinks a lot of people have confused culture to mean fun. In Silicon Valley, where their headquarters are out in San Francisco, there was the trend of foosball tables and ping pong tables and bars and right in the office and there's nothing wrong with those ideas. Having music and some beers and some games is certainly fun. But that's not culture. And that's not empowerment.   And what they've realized is great culture is really just about putting people in position to do their best work, that's what people want. If you hire the right people on your team, what they really care about is how can they advance their career as effectively as possible? How can they advance their entire team as effectively as possible? So, great culture is really about giving people those tools, giving people the tools to do their best work.   Me: Amazing. So, we're giving our employees the tools to ensure that they're doing their best to work.   How Factors Like Culture and Transparency Help Companies Build Exponential Growth   Me: Now, you spoke a little bit about culture, and you made reference to the fact that a lot of organizations mistake the whole process of culture as being fun and as you said, pool tables and lots of other things that they may attach to the whole vibe of culture. How do factors like culture and transparency help companies to build exponential growth?   Jeff shared that the world is just much more complicated than it's ever been before, at one point you could get by by having some really good TV ads to drive awareness and interest and then you can have a good retail store with some good retail staff members to turn those people who are interested into customers. But the world just really exploded. Now, you don't have just those two critical channels and maybe a couple other channels, the world has literally dozens and dozens of channels where you need to not only communicate with your audience, but actually transact with your audience.   So think about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, your desktop website, your mobile website, your mobile apps, your retail stores, which should be connected to all those digital touch points, as well as all those traditional tools like TV, radio and print, and that's just a few. By the time we're done with this podcast, there's going to be three or four emerging new, great tools and channels.   So, for brands to really succeed, they need to be able to break down the silos that exist internally. You can't just have great creativity sitting in one silo to create a great 30 second spot. And then great salespeople in another silo who are converting folks.   You need technology and creativity and data and analytics, and project management and finance, all to work together seamlessly. And the only way to do that is build great culture, which is based upon safety of communication, which is built upon process with communication, which is built upon tools for communication, ultimately, breaking down those silos that exist, recognizing that the world is just so much more complex than it's ever been before.   And the target audience is more demanding than it's ever been before because although things get really complex in the way that we want to tell our brand story, in the ways that we can tell our brand story, the target audience ultimately, really wants simplicity, they will not stand for any friction in that purchase journey.   Recommendations for a Brand to be Active on Multiple Channels   Me: Now, you mentioned that there are multiple channels that exist nowadays. Let's say a brand is looking to be present on all channels, but they just don't have the resources to be active on all channels. What would your recommendation be to them? Because I find that a lot of brands are everywhere, but they're not responsive everywhere and of course, that will impact the whole journey if it is I'm trying to get in touch with you and it's just a dead end.   Jeff shared that that is a really great question. And that is the question that all marketers are going to be faced with in perpetuity. And it's why we also see this addiction to TV in other traditional forms of advertising, because it's just so much easier to say, “Look, all we need to do is be great at TV, and then maybe great at retail, and we're done.” But that's not consistent with the way that people shop nowadays, the way people conduct research, the way they interact with brands and obviously, much more so with a younger audience.   So to answer your question, it really does come back to that culture question, which is, are you breaking down silos so that you can communicate internally, share the data that you have internally, and ultimately, leverage the channels that are most effective for you.   So, the beautiful part of everything that we're doing right now is we've got more data than ever before, unprecedented and unparalleled levels of data.   The problem with data is you can really have information overload, you can really have paralysis by analysis.   So the key is to really streamline your data down to the key performance indicators, there's probably only one, two or three really critical KPIs that you need to track and through that have honest conversations about where you want to be and what's most important for your brand and your target audience.   There's really no reason to be mediocre at Facebook, mediocre at Instagram, mediocre at Twitter, mediocre at LinkedIn, when you can be really great at one or two of those channels.   So data is going to be the answer and understanding that target audience from not just a data standpoint, but also a qualitative standpoint so you understand what is your target audience really value and then couple that with the data to show what's driving your business results.   App, Website or Tool that Jeff Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without, Jeff shared that he doesn't know if he has one. But he'll tell you he thinks the key to their success is based upon a few things and one of them is education, they really preach collaboration, celebration in education.   So, he thinks the apps that enable them to get educated are probably the most important. And there are just a few content sources that he thinks are really powerful. He's just a huge believer in reading the Wall Street Journal from cover to cover every single day, particularly in the world of advertising, where it's too easy for us to get caught up in Ad age, in Ad week and other stuff that really just talks about their own industry.   But he thinks as advertisers and marketers for them to be most effective, they need to step back and look at the overall business experience and the overall business strategy because that's what marketing really is. So, he thinks reading the Wall Street Journal cover to cover is one of the most important things that anybody can do. But there's also some great newsletters out there, he's a huge believer in Allen Murray, from Time Inc., from Fortune, he has a world class, daily newsletter. But he thinks for anyone who's listening, you got to find two or three resources that you can go to, not occasionally, but virtually every single day so you can watch how these stories unfold and how these trends and metrics unfold. But you can never be too educated in a world that's as dynamic as it is today.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Jeff   When asked about books that have had an impact, Jeff shared that that's also a great question. He's a pretty voracious reader, if he's honest with business books, he very often will just hammer the first three chapters and find that books often get redundant so he doesn't make it all the way through. And that's one of the things they tried to do with Exponential, is treat it like the layers of an onion and make a key point, but have every chapter deal with a new topic as it relates to leveraging the consumer journey or leveraging culture so that the book continues to unfold.   And he thinks a couple of books that have been really influential for him is one of them, which was written by Bill Walsh, posthumously, meaning after he passed away, his family took his notes and the name of the book is, The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership. And he's one of the greatest football coaches ever; he was the single greatest coach ever until Bill Belichick came along. And his idea was really based upon the concept of putting the ball where the other team isn't, which really is a great business strategy, meaning don't follow what everybody else is doing, find that whitespace and let that dictate where your business strategy goes.   But the bigger thing about The Score Takes Care of Itself that you can get from the title is, he really focused in on culture and when he first took over the 40 Niners, before he won a bunch of Super Bowls, he was focused on all these little things like how do secretaries answer the phone? And everyone was like, “What are you doing your football coach? And why are you worried about how people answer the phone, that has nothing to do with what we're trying to accomplish here.” And he almost didn't make it, they almost fired him. But his point was like, “We're going to take care of all the little things, we're going to take care of the culture. And when we do that, per the title, the score will take care of itself.” And that's just an absolutely amazing book.   Another great book is a Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart, which has been really influential for him. And really what he gets down to is this point about culture. But culture really starts with one thing, which is hiring the absolute best human beings possible.   You can't really build culture, unless you first build a team of A+ players. And the point of the book is, if you want to get A+ players, there's a process that you can follow, it's not just a goal, it's not just a philosophy, there's a methodical process that can be used to find those A+ players. And to be honest with you, they don't always nail the process and you can never be too process oriented for things like that. But it was a real game changer for them in regard to how they approach recruiting and bringing on world class talent.    What Jeff is Really Excited About Now!   When asked what is one thing that he's really excited about, Jeff stated that that's a great question. There's probably two things, the obvious and maybe the less obvious, but much more important, which is, from a business standpoint, this idea of marrying together data and creativity, this idea of building brands through empowerment, instead of interruptions, they started their agency 23 years ago based upon this principle, and now the whole world, the whole business world is really waking up to this is it, this is the model, this is how great brands are going to be built now and in perpetuity. In a lot of ways COVID didn't change business, he thinks in a lot of ways COVID expedited business and advanced it about seven years forward.   So one of the really exciting things for them is that tons of amazing brands are reaching out to them and they're in conversations with some of the biggest and the best brands in the world who are really excited about this concept of looking at the entire consumer journey, creating content and tools and empower people rather than just building brands through interruptions. But really, the less obvious, and perhaps even more exciting thing is, as their business grows and they take advantage of these opportunities, the exposure on getting to world class team members and the opportunities they're creating for their team members is probably the most rewarding and exciting experience he's ever had in business, just watching young folks on their team take on bigger challenges, get promotions, do some of the best work he's ever seen in his career, fundamentally and completely outperform him in every way, shape, or form, and then recruiting in new incredible team members who are starting that journey also, that to him is so incredibly rewarding, fulfilling and exciting.    Where Can We Find Jeff Online   Website – https://www.questus.com Instagram - @thejeffrosenblum Twitter - @JRQuestus   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Jeff Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Jeff shared that that's a great question. But no, not really, he doesn't think there's any quote that he rely upon that becomes a mantra for life in general. It's, “If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.”   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   Exponential: Transform Your Brand by Empowering Instead of Interrupting by Jeff Rosenblum The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart   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!

For our seasonal Hanksgiving show, this year we pay tribute to Hank Jones, both as a saxophonist and a composer, by playing music from his albums as a leader and sideman, and renditions of his music by musicians that came after him. The collaboration with Malian master musician Cheick Tidian Seck kicks off a playlist which includes albums ranging from leader projects and solo work, to collaborations with some of the top Miles Davis alumni or with an avant-gardist with deep standard roots like Anthony Braxton. Happy listening and belated happy Hanksgiving, what may very well become your new favorite holiday, the jazz equivalent of Festivus for the rest of us jazz loving freaks! The playlist also features The Jones Brothers; Dave Holland; Billy Higgins; Joe Lovano, George Mraz, Paul Motian; Warne Marsh; The Great Jazz Trio; John Coltrane; Bill Evans; Howard Roberts. Detailed playlist https://spinitron.com/RFB/pl/14681763/Mondo-Jazz (up to "Oh Look at Me Now").

Fred Reichheld is the creator of the Net Promoter system of management, the founder of Bain & Company's Loyalty practice and the author of five books including The New York Times bestseller, The Ultimate Question 2.0. He is currently a Fellow and Senior Advisory Partner at Bain, where he has worked since 1977. Fred is a frequent speaker at major business forums and his work on customer loyalty has been widely covered in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Fortune, Businessweek and The Economist.   His upcoming article to be published in November marks his 15th contribution to the Harvard Business Review. In 2012, he became one of the original LinkedIn influencers, an invitation only group of corporate leaders and public figures who are thought leaders in their respective fields. In 2003, Consulting Magazine named Fred as one of the world's 25 Most Influential Consultants.   According to The New York Times, he put loyalty economics on the map. The Economist refers to him as the “high priest” of loyalty. Reichheld graduated with honors both from Harvard College (B.A., 1974) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., 1978). He's based in Cape Cod and Miami.   Questions   Could you share a little bit about your own journey? How is it that you got to where you are today? Could you explain to us what the Net Promoter system is and how companies should really be using it to yield the best results? Could you share with us maybe two or three things that you believe are contributing drivers of loyalty? What are some things that companies should look at in trying to enrich the lives of your customers? Do they need to understand what type of customer they're serving and does the generation matter? Could you share with us what is Customer Capitalism exactly? And how does that impact the consumer? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? Could you share with us 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 our listeners find you online? 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 keep you on track, or at least get you back on track if for any reason you get derailed. Do you have one of those?   Highlights   Fred's Journey   Fred shared that early in his career at Bain & Company, he noticed companies similar to us all, some brand new, some quite mature, but they were all outperforming all of the things he learned at the Harvard. Some were crushing it and a good example was enterprise Rent-A-Car, who started out as a tiny little rental leasing agency in St. Louis, and has grown now to become the largest car rental company on Earth without ever having to tap public equity markets, it's still a private company. And you think, Gosh, what I learned at Harvard was a capital intensive business, low growth industry, low margins, there's no way that you could grow on internally generated cash.   So, when he went to meet with Andy Taylor, their CEO, he said, “Fred, there's no secret, there's only one way to grow a successful business sustainably.” And so, he was listening for this great secret. And he said, “You treat your customers so they come back for more and bring their friends.”   And that basic idea changed his world because that's what he now understands is the key to success. If your customers are coming back for more and bringing their friends, your economic flywheel will crush the competition.   What is the Net Promoter System and How Companies Can Use it to Yield the Best Results   Me: Amazing. So I had an opportunity to get an advanced copy of your book Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customer. I really, really love it. I haven't finished reading it as yet, but I've gotten quite far in it. And so, I just wanted you to share with us.   Fred, in the book, especially in the preface and the foreword, you kind of mentioned that you have this net promoter system, but people are not actually using it the way how you created it to be used. Could you explain to us what the Net Promoter system is and how companies should really be using it to yield the best results?   Fred shared that he's long been troubled by the fact that financial accounting is how we run our businesses. And while financial accounting is very good at telling us when we've extracted a million dollars from our customers wallets, it does nothing in helping us understand when we've enriched a million customers lives or when our teams have done work that's meaningful and toward an important purpose.   And Net Promoter was his attempt at helping companies measure that important idea of all the lives you touch, how many are enriched? How many diminished? And that evolved into Net Promoter Score is based on one question, how likely you'd recommend us to a friend, 0 through 10.   And it turns out that when someone gives you a 9, and especially a 10, you've enriched their life, you've lived up to the golden rule of loving your neighbor.   And 0 through 6, you failed, you diminish their life. And so, this notion of Net Promoter Score is just keeping track of all the lives touched, how many enriched, how many diminished, and how many promoters, how many detractors, it's very practical for running a business because your promoters are your assets, who come back for more and bring their friends. But also, it's a little bit inspirational because putting your teams to work, and enriching lives and measuring that outcome and helping them learn how to do better, that's really helping them live the right kind of life.   The Contributing Drivers of Loyalty   Me: So, at the end of the day, we're all trying to build better relationships with our customers. Now, in your book, you also said that loyalty means investing time and resources in relationships.   Do you know maybe could you share with us maybe based on your experience and your research, you've definitely been in the thing way longer than I have; maybe two or three drivers that you think contribute to loyalty.   And this is loyalty in general, which I'm sure impacts business relationships, because I mean, loyalty is something that as human beings, we do link it to a person. For example, if you have an animal, your dog is loyal to you as the owner, in a relationship; you're loyal to the other person that you're in the relationship with, whether it's a personal or professional relationship. So could you share with us maybe two or three things that you believe are contributing drivers of loyalty?   Fred shared that he thinks it's quite poorly understood in this day and age when people are demanding loyalty and trying to get loyalty through gimmicks and marketing, so called loyalty programs. So, he thinks it does make sense to get back to basics.   He thinks loyalty is an investment from you and another person in a relationship. And you think, “Why would I invest in someone else?” Well, it's because they stand for what you believe in you.   You believe that they'll reciprocate and treat you reasonably and not abuse your trust and that you're in a position to actually do something to make their life better. Otherwise, you're just wasting your time.   A lot of people think about loyalty as, “Oh, I want them to be loyal to me.” He thinks the way to start is, “How can I invest in this relationship and love them, make their lives better?”   And that's what great companies' do, that's what great leaders do, they inspire their troops to find ways to enrich the lives of customers sustainably, of course, profitably. But the whole goal in a business is making your customers lives better. Because when you do that, you're investing in the right relationships, they come back for more, they bring their friends, they say great things about you, they become your public relations force, that's how great business works.   And he thinks we get drawn off center a little bit because the larger our company is, the more it's run through financial mindset. It's our accounting numbers that we seem to view as the framework of success, when in fact, no, it's this golden rule ideas, it's love thy neighbor as thyself. And when you do it, you'll see the results because when customers feel the love, they are loyal and that's at the core of loyalty, it's earning loyalty by enriching customers lives. And loyalty from employees, by putting them in a position to earn lives of meaning and purpose, by enriching the lives of customers that they touch.   Me: I like the fact that you mentioned that it's not just about loyalty in terms of you getting the person to be loyal to you, but it has to be earned and it's not something that can be bought. So I'm glad that you mentioned at the beginning that a lot of these loyalty programs and marketing initiatives that organizations have that they dub as loyalty programs are not actually programs that will make or even influence your customers to be loyal to you. So it's good that you identified for us that loyalty is something that is earned.   What Companies Should Look for to Enrich the Lives of Customers   Me: Now, in terms of showing your customers or enriching their lives regardless of the industry that you're in, whether you're a financial company, you sell insurance or you have credit cards, or you're a retail company, what are some things that companies should look at in trying to enrich the lives of your customers? Do they need to understand what type of customer they're serving and does the generation matter?   Fred shared that of course it does. And yet, he finds that the most successful businesses, whether dealing with teenagers today or octogenarians, it's understanding how to communicate effectively, how to always act in your customers best interest, to listen very carefully to how you're doing and what they need. Because at the core, a business is trying to solve the customer's problem, it's trying to turn a frown, into a smile, and the human process of understanding that, he doesn't think that's changed in thousands and thousands of years. Of course, the technologies we use, the innovative approaches, those open up wonderful new opportunities, but the basics, they haven't changed.   One of his colleagues at Bain, they joined about the same year, Scott Cook, who's the founder of Intuit, who has built TurboTax, and other very successful business, huge, huge success.   And he said, “Fred, you want a big business, solve a big problem for your customers.” And that's the right way to think about it, “I am going to be a reliable resource that is going to make a real difference in your life by turning that frown into a smile, and I'm going to measure my success that way.”   Obviously, profits are necessary but those who think of profits as the true objective, they're not going to grow a very big business very long because that's very selfish, “How much money can I extract from your wallet, get away from me, I'm not going to tell you anything about myself for what I need.” If he has someone who actually acts in a loving, caring way, they're a mutually beneficial relationship affair. But that's the kind of person he's willing to actually share his information with and give constructive feedback to because he wants them to succeed, he wants them to succeed in helping him solve problems.   What is Customer Capitalism and How it Impacts the Consumer?   Me: So, while I was reading part of your book as well, I bucked up on a term, Customer Capitalism. Could you share with us what is that exactly? And how does that impact the consumer?   Fred shared that he thinks people have a framework in their heads about capitalism that's just dead wrong, that maximize shareholder value as the underlying concept. Through the years, whether it's Milton Friedman, or Adam Smith, there's an ancient and an out of date framework that people call capitalism, that without giving it this name, it's financial capitalism, because it's based on this idea of profits and shareholder and investor is the king. He thinks that has changed over the last few decades, at least, to where now, there's so much capital in the world; you can raise millions and millions if you have a good idea.   What there's not infinite amounts of are good people with good ideas who are willing to work together in a team framework to serve others.   And the real capital in that system, our customers, all the cash flow comes out of customers' wallets.   So let's keep track of how many customers you have, how many are coming back for more, how many referrals you're getting, that was the basic, those are the keystone metrics in customer capitalism.   And more than anything, it's being clear about the purpose. If the purpose in the old school capitalism was maximizing profits and shareholder value, in customer capitalism, the purpose is to enrich the lives of your customers.   Bain did a survey of a couple 100 Senior Executives around the world, C suite executives and they found that only 10% believe that the primary purpose their business existed was to make customers lives better. They thought it was about profits or great place to work or balance duties to shareholders, stakeholders. He just thinks that is dead wrong. A good business, a sustainable business has to have a primary purpose of making their customers lives better.   Me: Amazing. One of the companies that you mentioned in your book when I was reading was Chick-fil-A and I absolutely love Chick-fil-A, both me and my daughter. But one of the things that I really love about Chick-fil-A was the fact that I remember I traveled a few years ago and my daughter wanted to get something from them on a Sunday and they're actually closed on Sundays and I thought that was awesome, from what I read that was a principle that their organization had and they've lived it up to this day and they've still been very successful even though they're closed on a day when they could be making more profit, as you mentioned.   Fred stated that the purpose of Chick-fil-A is certainly to enrich the lives that it touches. It's interesting, the founder, Truett Cathy was one of his early teachers in his business career, and they're totally different people. He's a Southern, he was a Southern Baptist, very, very conservative point of view. He (Fred) lives up in New England, Unitarian Universalist, you couldn't be more liberal in your religious thinking. And yet they had enormous overlap at the core, he picked a proverb from the Bible, that essentially, it says, “A good name is worth more than silver or gold.” Or in other words, your reputation is everything, which he thinks is so true.   And this notion of net lives enrich and Net Promoter Score, you think about when you enrich a life, you're living up to the golden rule, you're loving a neighbor, when you diminish your life, you're failing.   And so, the reason Chick-fil-A has been very interested and supportive of Net Promoter is because we're trying to achieve the same mission, this is back to Truett Cathy's words, he was inspired to turn frowns into smiles on his customers' faces and that is the purpose of the business.   So, then you mentioned Sunday, he asked him why he closed on Sundays and he said, “It's not a religious thing, Fred.” He's a very religious guy but he's not preachy, their business does not put biblical quotes at the bottom of their cups, and they're not proselytizing in the parking lot. They try to be models; they try to help their people live up to this standard of loving your neighbor. And closing on Sundays, he just knew that you could not run a restaurant and have the manager there 7 days a week, you'll kill yourself. And he said, “Given that, and I definitely want my store operator there running the place not delegating to an assistant.” He said, “We have to close a day and closing Sundays gives this signal that we care about our people, and we care about golden rule.”   As he said, “But you know, Fred, I go to other restaurants on Sunday, it's not like it's wrong to go out and eat at a restaurant on Sunday. It's just wrong for us to try and have our managers running a business 7 days a week.” And he thinks it's brilliant. And it is a signal. He thinks it reminds people that they're different. And you're right, their productivity, they have far higher sales per unit than any of the competitors. And those competitors are open 7 days a week. And it shows you when you get the purpose right; your business can crush the competition.   App, Website or Tool that Fred Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Fred shared that it's a new one for him, he discovered a company through one of his Bain partners, it's called BILT. The reason they were intriguing to him was their goal is to help their customers, their customers tend to be consumer brands, like Weber, who makes grills and place at manufacturers and so on. They try to help them build promoters among their customers, to create more promoters.   And what they've done is just taken one of the most painful steps in every customer's journey episode, which is assembly and first use, using paper instructions, which these paper instructions are horrible, let's be serious, they're written by engineers whose English is certainly their second language and they're just totally unintuitive.   So, BILT takes the 3D CAD drawing from the manufacturer, and then turns it into great little 3D instructions on how to assemble and use your product effectively and it's free to the consumer. So you go to a Home Depot or Costco and you'll start to see BILT on the packaging, and you know that you're going to get that home and you'll be able to put this thing together quickly and you'll feel great about yourself or Home Depot will have their faucets or ceiling fans, things that are really tricky to install, or garage door openers, and you go to BILT and you put the product in it and it downloads up to date information about how to put it together in a very intuitive way where you can zoom in and pinch out and rotate upside down and voice activated to help you guide you through your journey, it's just brilliant.   Me: Nice, very good. They obviously saw a need in the market, as you said, a problem that people were having challenges with and complaining about and created a product that would be applicable to make people's lives easier.   Fred stated that try ordering a bicycle online, you get it back to your driveway and then you try to put it together using paper instructions and he thinks you'll see why BILT is so successful.   Me: Yes, I can just imagine and my coordination of doing things like that are extremely poor, so I'm sure I'd benefit from using BILT.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Fred   Me: Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? I'm sure you have many because you've been around for quite some time and I'm sure you've had to read and engage with a lot of authors over the years that have definitely helped enrich your life and the lives of others. But is there maybe one or two that have definitely had a great impact on you over the years, maybe something you read a long time ago, or even something you read recently?   When asked about books that have had biggest impact, Fred shared that he read a lot of books. Actually, he listens to them now; his eyes are so strained from working at his computer and writing a book, he can't read in a relaxed way so he listens to Audible. Probably the most impactful book in the last 10 years was written by a guy who passed away, Clayton Christensen was a business school professor, who he got to know, he worked briefly at Bain and then worked at an entrepreneurial thing and ended up at Harvard.   He wrote a book called How Will You Measure Your Life? And he (Fred) thinks he's just absolutely right. And the reason that helped him is, he thinks you do need to measure a life carefully, that's what a Net Promoter Score is, of all the lives he touched, how many enriched, how many diminished?   That's how you measure a life. And he thinks Clayton put this in very human terms, and thinking about that, not just in a business sense, but all of your relationships in life, how do you think about investing in those relationships and being loving and loyal in a way that's not just correct in your mind, but you know the other party felt the love, you have to get feedback on how you enrich their life. So, How Will You Measure Your Life is a big one.   There's a recent book by Adam Grant called Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, that he thinks is quite good. Adam is a guy that they must think along the same lines, because it was an earlier book that he wrote about it's called Give and Take. And he just makes the case that the world is full of people; there are some people who are givers, there are people who are matchers, they want a relationship to be in balance and then there are takers. And he said, one of the keys to life is avoid those takers, they're sociopaths, you can try and change them, but good luck.   And he thinks this is important and living a golden rule existence. Not all people want to be part of a community where people are treated with love and care, they'll abuse that community and he thinks if they can't be fixed, they have to be excluded. And then Think Again, Grant just says, we have these mindsets that are fixed, and he thinks of financial capitalism as a fixed mindset for 90% of the world and he needs to change the way people think about the purpose of business and how to enrich a life.    What Fred is Really Excited About Now!   Fred shared that he got the paperback galley of Winning on Purpose just a week ago and he can't take it off on his desk, but very pleased with the way it's come out. And that's going to be every day of his life for the next probably 90 days is how to get people to see the relevance of this book to their personal lives, not just their business lives because the subtitle of Winning on Purpose is “The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers.” And loving customers, it doesn't sound like it's a business book, he doesn't know what it sounds, just a little flaky but it's not because this notion of loving thy neighbor as thyself is the core, it's the highest standard in human affairs. And what he's arguing and Winning on Purpose is that, that is how you win.   When you enrich lives, you have to do it sustainably, and you have to do it profitably, but that's not the magic, accountants can do the profits for you. The magic is figuring out how using your energy and ingenuity to love your customers and have them come to trust you and come back for more and bring their friends but it goes so far beyond business.   So, the great challenge he's got is getting people to recognize, he wrote this book for his granddaughters, infants who he wants them to see how you live the right life. And it sets out a way of measuring progress that he thinks is consistent with what Truett Cathy had in mind of building a reputation that you'll be proud of, and investing in relationships where you can earn people's loyalty.   It's probably a good rule of thumb anywhere to just don't spend time with a person unless you can figure out a way to make their life better. And by the way, the good news, chapter two and five of the book, demonstrate that companies that do this, they're the ones that get rich.   It's not clear from reading the Wall Street Journal, but every company, every industry, where they look at the Net Promoter Score, versus the competition, measured carefully, correctly, not just some self reported vanity metric, but real apples to apples.   It's the company with the highest Net Promoter Score who is growing faster and delivering better total shareholder value. And that's really good news.   But people are the mindset is fixed, they just don't get it. They say, “Oh, that's just some industries.” No, every time they're finding it, how did Andy Taylor grow to be the biggest car rental company on earth? How did Apple become one of the biggest companies on earth? Because they built a set of customers who are Promoters who are out there buying more stuff, and referring their friends and giving good feedback because they trust you, and making your employees feel special and loved, that's the flywheel that's going on. So, he's trying to convince the world that business works in a very different way than they probably learned in business school, or if they read the Wall Street Journal and The Economist.   Me: And you know, one of the things that kind of came in my head just now when you're speaking in terms of what we were taught in school versus what is reality, the reality is, a business isn't a static thing, it's made up of people and without people in the business, there is no business and people are human beings with feelings and emotions. And you get more out of people when they feel loved, when they feel listened to, when they feel heard, as you said, when you enrich their lives. So, if you really do live that principle, I'm sure you'll win in all aspects of your life.   Fred shared that he's worked at Bain & Company since 1977. So what is that 43 going on 44 years now. And they've been through good and bad times. For the last 10 or 20 years, it's been good times. If you look on Glassdoor, the place that rates businesses as great places to work, Bain, this year, it's the best in the world according to Glassdoor, it's always been one of the top several since Glassdoor started. And Bain hires lots of different kinds of people. But these are really ambitious, talented people. And even with that slice of ambitious people, when you look at what makes a person happy at work at Bain, they want to feel loved; they want to feel like they're a valued member of a team that wins with its customers. So it's an act of service and if you ask, remember he said the typical business person in the world, 10% of them think the reason their business exists is to enrich customer lives, at Bain, if you just ask everybody through the company, you find 60% to 70% of the people think the reason Bain exists is to make their clients more successful.   It's a servant culture where love is at the core, helping people succeed and putting smiles on faces and that's what makes it a great place to work.   And the irony is, he knows what makes, at least he thinks he knows what makes Bain a great place to work, it's that they are dedicated to helping their teams make a difference in their clients success, and be recognized and rewarded and part of a team that helps achieve that.   And it's financially successful but that's not the purpose, the purpose is making their customers lives better. And he thinks most great places to work lists, completely ignore that. They think it's refrigerators full of beer in the break room, pool tables and ping pong and cool fringe benefits, that's the fringe, the core is being on a team where you're playing a valued role at really making a difference in a customer's life.   Where Can We Find Fred Online   Website - https://www.netpromotersystem.com/ LinkedIn – Fred Reichheld   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Fred Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Fred shared that he wished he did. When he's preaching to whether it's at the dinner table or elsewhere, he goes back to this idea of how important loyalty is. You got to understand what your life stands for, what is your purpose as an individual and then the way you live that purpose is to invest in relationships with other people who share that purpose. And it's how you can invest and help those people succeed that he thinks helps you achieve your mission. So, “Choose your loyalties wisely, they guide your life and they define your legacy.”   Me: Love it, choose your loyalties wisely, they guide your life and define your legacy. Amazing. Love it, absolutely love it. And I'm sure every person on the face of this earth that wants to do good, wants to leave a good legacy behind. So the only way to do that, I believe, as you had said was to try and live by doing those actions on a daily basis, do it consistently because that's the only way when you leave this world you'll be able to leave that legacy.   Fred stated that and measure, so many people would say, “Oh, I can't measure love.” And he would say, actually you can, you can get feedback from your customers in a systematic Net Promoter framework and understand how many lives you've enriched and that is your legacy. And then you should be measuring your way toward the kind of life you want to lead.   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 Ultimate Question 2.0 (Revised and Expanded Edition): How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World by Fred Reichheld Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers by Fred Reichheld How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant   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!

Nathan Foy is founder and CEO of Fortis, nine-time Inc. Magazine honoree as one of America's fastest-growing companies. Fortis provides over 25,000 private, secure trips in 114 countries per year to clientele worth more than half a trillion dollars. These clients routinely ranked Fortis on Gallup surveys as the best in the industry. With offices in Greenville, South Carolina, and Hong Kong, Fortis offers ground transportation to more private jet owners than any other service in the world.   Nathan's first book, What Rich Clients Want: (But Won't Tell You), translates the Fortis experience into a replicable, scalable business model any service provider can recreate. Nathan lives in Greenville with his wife, Pam and their four children.   Questions   Could you share with our guests a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got to where you are today? Could you tell us a little bit about that book? Is there a particular strategy or approach that you take to serve rich clients versus clients who are not rich, you want to share with us how it is this book can be applied to everybody in business? Can you share with us maybe what are maybe two or three things that you've seen emerge as needs that customers are looking to be even more fulfilled since the pandemic? What are some of the approaches that organizations need to take maybe leaders, in order to ensure that your team members are practicing these behaviors or competencies, especially if it doesn't come naturally? Let's start maybe with the first two, professionalism and problem solving. How can you build strengths or strengthen the competencies of your team to ensure that they're demonstrating these behaviors with the customers? How do you stay motivated every day? Could you also share with our audience what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with our audience, maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you, it could be a read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it really has impacted you. Could you share with us what'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 quote; it kind of helps to get you back on track or get you refocused if for any reason you get derailed?   Highlights   Nathan's Journey   Nathan shared that it was not intentional in its original conception. So, Fortis as a company began as a prepaid taxi cab card for college students. That was his original idea, was to create a card that students could use for transportation, this was in 2000 and this was the era when prepaid phone cards or prepaid meal cards were all the rage.   And so, he raised money from friends and family, he went up and down the East Coast, he built a network of taxicab companies. And their launch was for the Fall moving season of 2001, almost exactly 20 years ago. And it was going pretty well and then, unfortunately, 911 happened and everything changed. They ran out of money, people weren't visiting their kids for college anymore. And so, they started to adapt.   They sold their cab cards to companies. And then shortly after that, they found their first private jet company and they said they wanted chauffeured cars. And then they adapted into that really in the beginning of 2002. And that's really been their niche ever since.   Your Book, What Rich Clients Want - Strategy or Approach That You Take to Serve Rich Clients Versus Clients Who Are Not Rich   Me: So, in your bio, I read that you have this amazing book called What Rich Clients Want: (But Won't Tell You). So, could you tell us a little bit about that book? Is there a particular strategy or approach that you take to serve rich clients versus clients who are not rich, you want to share with us how it is this book can be applied to everybody in business?   Nathan shared that it's really the result of 20 years of doing this and understanding that the most discerning clients that spend the most never actually tell you what they want, it's on you as a customer service person to discern that. And he thinks while this is a book that could be used to serve rich clients, he thinks the lessons here could apply to anybody in the service business.   So, what the book does is, it outlines basically that there's five steps that one has to proceed two, and two has to precede three. And if those are all there, then you can have a system of service that really leads clients into more than they expected they could get. And he thinks when you have that, then you can really create loyalty that lasts.   Me: Alright, you want to share with us what those steps are?   Nathan shared that the first step is “Professionalism.” And so, just kind of owning the introduction, owning the beginning of a relationship, the first impression is super important. And they give a lot of practical tips to that.   And then the second step is “Problem Solving.” So, actually taking a problem that they have, seizing it and acting as if it was your own and solving it so that they can see that you have competence in what you're doing.   The third step is “Concierge.” So, that's actually not just solving the problem, but anticipating even unspoken needs, so that you can see around a corner and make something happen proactively.   The fourth step is “Security.” So, having a layer of security that complements all of those things, but not at the expense of all of those things is very, very important. And these days, it's more about information, reputation, security, those kinds of things than it is physical security in most instances.   And then the fifth level, the highest level is really “Elite.” And that's when you start to begin to push out the boundaries on what's even possible. You'll know you're at this level when the client starts to refer to your company as a verb, they have clients that call them and say, “Can you just “Fortis” this, whatever that is that you do, can you just do that to this?” And that's a really good sign, they don't know the secret sauce, but they just want you to apply it to what's in front of them.   Me: I like that. I like the fact that you gave that analogy just now that they coined it as a verb. It's almost like Google, like before the age of the internet; Google wasn't even a word, let alone a verb. And now, when people want to find anything out there, like just Google it. I mean, it's just so amazing that 10 - 15 years ago, that word, it just didn't exist, it's just not something people would say.   Needs of Customers That Have Emerge That Customers Are Looking to be Even More Fulfilled Since the Pandemic   Me: Now customer service has been really impacted, customer experiences across different industries, across the entire world, all seven continents have definitely been impacted by the pandemic, can you share with us maybe what are maybe two or three things that you've seen emerge as needs that customers are looking to be even more fulfilled since the pandemic?   Nathan stated that the original environment of it, he thinks really led to us creating not just the standard things, masks and things like that, sanitization of surfaces. But we really tried to say, “Okay, what is kind of a level above that that might be unspoken, but that our clients might desire?”   And the thing that they arrived at was, particularly in the pre-vaccine environment, having a chauffeur contacted two or three days after the trip, for a principal, just to make sure that in the intervening time the chauffeur hadn't experienced any symptoms.   And so, the clients, there are many clients that said, I love that you do that, everybody's got testing, and everything, we've got temperature checks, and all those things. But the one thing is that the person could be asymptomatic and a day or two later get symptoms. And that's kind of next level.   And they had a lot of clients that really, really complimented them on doing that. Practically, another thing that they've implemented as partitions are just a much bigger thing in vehicles now than they used to be. And so, they wanted not only to provide that, but they had to kind of stand up, how do we do this so it doesn't look like you just ran to Home Depot and put it together and make that standard across the 1000 cities that they serve. So that was a fun challenge as well.   Professionalism and Problem Solving, How Can You Build Strengths or Strengthen the Competencies of Your Team to Ensure That They're Demonstrating These Behaviours with the Customers   Me: Now, Nathan, one of the things that your book mentions as it relates to professionalism, you had mentioned the five tiers that are required for you to really deliver that supreme or extraordinary level of service. What are some of the, I would say approaches that organizations need to take maybe leaders, in order to ensure that your team members are practicing these behaviors or competencies, especially if it doesn't come naturally? Let's start maybe with the first two, professionalism and problem solving. How can you build strengths or strengthen the competencies of your team to ensure that they're demonstrating these behaviors with the customers?   Nathan shared that it's a great question. So, he would say before we get into the behaviours, it first begins with mindset. And the mindset has to be that you are honing your craft and not doing a job. And what he means by that is that if you want to make customer service into a career, then you have to make it uniquely yours and be a student of it so that the service Yanique offers is completely one of a kind over time, and only you can be you. But you also have to do that in concert with an overall brand that you're continuing to hone and refine to.   So, they have chauffer partners and they have conferences twice a year, they host them and go over kind of just aligning and making their services better. And that's one of the first things he does is just say, “Are you doing a job? Or are you doing a craft?”   Because, quite frankly, if someone's just doing the job, and this is just here to pay my school bills or this is just something I'm doing in between gigs, they don't really spend a lot of time with them. They don't really seek them out because they're not really going to want to ascend to elite status. So, he thinks that's a pretty important thing, just to begin with.   So, really practically professionalism, there's a lot of basics of how someone presents themselves with posture, appearance, confidence, handshake, eye contact, not just being early to do the job, but actually being early and ready to do the job early. Those are things that he would just say, they don't presume that people know and scold them if they don't know; they kind of assume that they don't know those things, and start training them on it. And that involves extensive use of checklists. And again, they're looking for people that are not offended by checklists, it's not saying you're incompetent, or you don't know what you're doing, it's just if you have the basics completely nailed down, that gives you the freedom to move up to higher levels and a checklists, especially the first level is essentially great for that.   If a client, especially a rich client doesn't like you, they're not going to tell you why they don't like you, they're just going to text their assistant and say, “I don't want to use this person again.” And you'll never know why. And so, the idea that you're going to be assessed on professionalism or clients going to give you input on how to be more professional, they don't have the time, they don't have the desire and it's really got to be on you to own that initial bit so that you can kind of get permission to move up to higher steps.   On problem solving, a real quick and easy way to begin with that is to just look for the most common problems that your clients encounter, and build systems for that so that you can be really ready when they have that. A quick example of that, they have a five star chauffeur for them in Miami.   And over the years, he's noticed people enter the airport, they want to go to a drugstore and then there's a core list of things that they're getting at CVS or Walgreens. And he's created what he calls his magic toolbox, but it's basically in his consoles. So, now when somebody lands and they say, “I just need to go to CVS.” He says, “Well, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you need because I may just have it here.” And then they asked for one or two items, he has it. And he's immediately established competence with them that goes to a deeper level of trust. And now the whole world of what's open to the client, and what this person's capable of doing has really opened up.   Me: That's brilliant. I love that. That's like giving them what they need before they even know they need it.   How Nathan Stay Motivated Every Day   Me: So, could you share with our audience, how do you stay motivated every day? I can imagine that dealing in a business that is catering to clients who are rich, because of course, rich people clearly, yes, they have choices. But I'm sure their choice of business is a little bit different than a person who is probably on a budget. And so, with that in mind, maybe their demands are higher, their standards are higher and it can be frustrating sometimes I can imagine, especially when you're dealing with somebody who the average person would deem as difficult. So, in managing this business and running it for the many years that you've been in it, how is it that you stay motivated every day and you don't get discouraged by comments or just things that customers may see that makes you even wonder, I don't know if it crosses your mind. But do you ever get to the point where you say, “Why? Why am I doing this? Why am I serving all these spoiled, rich people?”   Nathan shared that a mentor of his once told him that if you're hard on yourself, the world is easy. And if you're easy on yourself, the world is hard. So, he would say it begins with the mindset of he's his own biggest critic. And then they as Fortis are their own biggest critics. And they really lean into those challenges that clients give to them. And then every week they have a company meeting, and they gossip good news about each other, they do recognitions and they're saying not just good things that each of them has done, but really, they're kind of taking the time to go through each thing that's been done that they want to congratulate, and tie it to one of their five core values. And then that just helps to recenter them and “Oh yeah, we do value that. And that's an example of that. And I can learn from that. And if I did something like that, then I'm going to be recognized for that too.”   The second bit, he would just say is that he's a firm believer in making your goals for the year, they actually break them up into six month periods, and making them known because every week or two weeks as a leadership team, they're going over their goals for the semester, it's a great way to just recenter you on, it's not about how he feels, or about this one service issue that they had. Overall, there are these big things that they're gunning for and they're doing that as a team.   App, Website or Tool that Nathan Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Nathan stated that it's a good question. He would say for them LinkedIn has been extraordinarily valuable to connect with their partner chauffeurs and to their clients. And so, particularly when there was just recently the COVID outbreak, that was a terrific way to communicate up to date information and then vice versa for them to get up to date information. And one thing they learned through that, which, he kind of already knew, but they found that it was even more true than he thought was their global network of service providers are some of the most important people in each location. So, people were like maybe thinking about travelling to Paris, and a phone call to a chauffeur security person in Paris would tell them way more than you could just get on the internet. So, staying connected through LinkedIn was really helpful for that.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Nathan   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Nathan shared that the summer after 10th, grade, he had knee surgery and he loved to play sports, he played a lot of basketball during the summers. And he had surgery right after school was out. And everybody told him, “Oh, it's going to be three to four weeks, and you'll be back on your feet.” And it more or less put him out for eight weeks or most of the summer. And so, he's laid up in bed, this is pre internet and he's getting tired of watching TV and just being lazy and thinking about all the things he's missing out. And so, he got a book that's called Made in USA and it was by Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. And he just devoured that book. And he thinks that was the book that kind of sparked in him an interest in being an entrepreneur and actually understanding what that could look like and what that can be. And because he had a lot of time to think, set his mind racing that summer when he had nothing to do.   What Nathan is Really Excited About Now!   Nathan shared that he's really excited about the book in the sense that he's not pretending that any of the foundational things that he has in What Rich Clients Want are novel. In fact, he gave a huge amount of credit to Horst Schulze, who is essentially the founder of a lot of these concepts for Ritz Carlton he would say, especially level one and level two things. They lean a lot on the Ritz Carlton experience to learn from that. But then he thinks the neat thing is, is that over 20 years, having learned and distilled these things, and now being able to talk with them, with audiences like yours, he just find that really rewarding, really gratifying.   And in fact, tomorrow night, at their headquarters, they're having their book launch party and he's got old team members driving in from other locations to come in and celebrate. So, it's fun to share the information and also celebrate the hard work that kind of went into making the book happen.   Where Can We Find Nathan Online   Website – www.fortis.co Website – www.nathanfoy.com LinkedIn – Nathan W. Foy Twitter - @nfoyal   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Nathan Uses   When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Nathan shared that there's a famous quote from Teddy Roosevelt that he will try to quote, but it says basically, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who even if he fails, he fails while daring greatly, so that his place is not among those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”   Me: Lovely, I love it. And how does that quote help you?   Nathan shared that it tells him it's not about only winning; it's just being in the arena and if you're in the arena, you're going to get bloodied; you're going to have discouragements, you're going to have disappointments, but you are daring greatly. And that's something that he thinks is worth doing in our professional lives and in our lives in general.   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   What Rich Clients Want: (But Won't Tell You) by Nathan Foy Sam Walton: Made in USA: My Story by Sam Walton   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!

Darin Dawson is the Co-Founder and President of BombBomb, a Human-Centered Communication Platform that enables users to use simple, personal video messages to leverage their best asset – themselves!   Darren leads all sales, marketing, customer success and product development at BombBomb, a fast-growing, Colorado-based software company. He's on a mission to re-humanize the planet and he wants to start with your business communication. He believes that human beings have intrinsic value and that every person deserves to be seen, heard and understood. That's why he co-founded BombBomb.   Questions   Could you share with us a little bit about your journey in your own words and how you got to where you are today, could you share that with us? Could you share with our audience for those who may not have listened to Ethan's episode last year or never heard of BombBomb, what is it that BombBomb does and how can that help a business? Why video, why should we use video to connect and communicate daily with people? What is customer experience and why do you think it matters? Could you share with us maybe some of the values that BombBomb is built on that has helped BombBomb to really be able to realize fulfilling those needs for your customers? And why do you think an internal culture needs to be very impactful in order to execute a strong external culture? Could you explain to us in very layman terms, what does it mean to re humanize people? What are we lacking that we need re humanization? Could you share with us what does that really mean? Could you also share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it still has had a great impact on you. Could you also share with us what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? It could be something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. Where can listeners find you online? Do you have a quote or saying that you use in times of adversity or challenge? This quote kind of helps to get you back on track and get you refocused if for any chance you got derailed.   Highlights   Darin's Journey   When asked about his journey, Darin shared that he feels like it may be a little bit non typical, so for instance, he never graduated the university, so he didn't go to college, he did but he didn't graduated as his father said very good advice to him at that age, “Maybe college isn't for you.”   He was always entrepreneurial, he saw that in him and thought that he should pursue that and kind of get after doing his own thing. He grew up on a farm, hard working all his life, got given a good what they call there a Midwestern work ethic and ended up moving to Colorado in 1995 when he was 21 years old and have been there ever since.   So, then graduated school but then started this kind of painting business out in Colorado when he was young, he grew that business, it was actually successful. But then in the late 90s, early 2000s he started being interested in all things to do with internet marketing, Pay Per Click strategies, On Demand strategies, things like that and he got involved in the marketing business, was lucky enough to get ownership in that business, to sell that business and then do that again with another marketing company and then ended up working at a TV station actually running online, marketing the website salespeople for that, also content creators for that and he learned a lot about mass media marketing and really led him to think about what he didn't like about that led him to create BombBomb which he does today.   What BombBomb Does and How Can That Help a Business   Me: Now, we had the awesome pleasure of interviewing one of your employees, Ethan Beaute last year, we had him on our podcast as well as on a Facebook Live and I was supremely blown away by how he responded to my messages through video, I thought it was just brilliant. And so, of course when you reached out to me and I was like, “Oh my goodness, another person from BombBomb but even the person who created it, this is amazing.” So, could you share with our audience for those who may not have listened to Ethan's episode last year or never heard of BombBomb, what is it that BombBomb does and how can that help a business?   Darin shared that first of all, he loves that guy (Ethan). And actually Ethan is a dear friend and he convinced him to leave that TV station where they worked together and come to BombBomb with him.   And so, he's been there over 10 years, he couldn't have done it without him, he's fantastic, he's their Chief Evangelist, he's a good friend and a valued, valued person to him. He believes and we at BombBomb believe that all human beings has an intrinsic value, that we are special, that we are unique, how we communicate with each other is unique.   And the software that they enable you to use is sending video messages to the people who matter in your life, which could be the people in your life, personal life, it could be colleagues that you work with, it could be your prospects, it could be your existing customers.   So, you can send yourself video messages so they can see you, know you, and understand you in that way, so it's very simple to do, takes no time at all and they allow you to do in every message platform that you may be using.   So that could be your email, that could be in social media messenger systems, it could be in LinkedIn for example, so anywhere you're saying a message, they allow you to use a video as well.   Why We Should Use Video to Connect and Communicate Daily with People   Darin stated that if you believe, like he just mentioned that we are unique human beings, the way we talk is unique, then you should be considering video. And here's a very good example, if he was to ask 10 business owners:   “What is your most valuable asset in your business?”   He believes at least 9 out of 10, maybe 10 out of 10 would tell him that their people are their most valuable asset. But more often, what we're doing is we're hiding these best assets, the ones that we spent a long time interviewing, if you're interviewing a salesperson, you're trying to say, “Are they good with people? Are they good at presenting passion and enthusiasm for your product?” You're trying to assess all these things about people, and then we hire them and then we make them look like and feel like everyone else with text email, texting, phones, all that stuff, phone's better.   But behind these technologies that we have chat, we're just like everyone else. He thinks we're removing the most uniqueness that we can bring in our people, our diversity, how they interact, and all the things that we want in our culture, in our business, we're withholding from our customers in a lot of ways when we don't put people in front of people more often.   What is Customer Experience and Why it Matters   Me: Now, as we talk about video, and connecting with people daily, and really seeing the intrinsic value in a human being, in your view, Darin, what is customer experience and why do you think it matters?   Darin shared that he believes the customer experience is every touch point that you have with either potential customers or existing customers, anything that could be an in person event, it could be a podcast, it could be a webinar, it could be when he calls your business, and what's the experience he gets when that phone is picked up by someone who works there, that's it.   So, let him frame it this way. If there were two businesses that did the exact same thing, they sell the exact same service, for the exact same price, how do you decide which one to choose if they're very much the same?   He believes you choose the one you like and that could be for a lot of different reasons. But the experience that you bring ultimately becomes your unique selling proposition that is what makes us unique in a business.    He has a software business, he competes against people who do similar things to what he does, he has some features they don't have, they have some features that he doesn't have, but they are basically the same and at the end of the day, people are going to choose who they know, like and trust, he still believes that that's what they do.   So, in that case, his customer experience has to be better, he wants to deliver on that more over than anything else. It matters in the product, it matters in all these motions that we look at in a business, but to him, again, customer experience is your unique identifier. Values that BombBomb is Built On    Me: I totally support everything that you just said. And I think a lot of businesses lose focus of that. Now, in trying to deliver that customer experience as you mentioned, is your unique proposition. I think it's important; the organization has to have a really good culture, because customer experience starts from within, how you deal with your employees, how responsive you are to them, how you support them in whatever initiatives they're trying to accomplish. And of course, all businesses came into existence because we're all trying to solve some problem for customers that have a need. And so, could you share with us maybe some of the values that BombBomb is built on that has helped BombBomb to really be able to realize fulfilling those needs for your customers? And why do you think an internal culture needs to be very impactful in order to execute a strong external culture?   Darin shared that they have five core values at BombBomb, they are Relationships, Humility, Flexibility, Service, and Fun.   So, those are five core values and he thinks that really, businesses need to give the people that work there a reason to work there, that's beyond money, that's beyond the work necessarily. Because you can go answer the phone anywhere, you can go do customer success service anywhere, you can do sales anywhere, you can run these teams anywhere now and from anywhere for that matter.   He believes that we want to give people a purpose behind why they do what they do at BombBomb. So, they do that in a few different ways. First of all, their book is called Re humanize Your Business and that's what they want to do with their product but their mission at BombBomb is to humanize the planet.   And this is what he means by it has to matter more than the word. And locally, they support a few organizations, one is called Dream Centers in Colorado Springs, it actually provides free health care for women and also it provides homeless families off of the streets of their city and into a safe place where they can thrive, where they can go to school, where the mothers can get an education.   They have the women's clinic and they have a thing called Mary's Home and they're fantastic. And those are two organizations they support and they support them financially, but they also support them with their time. So, every year they do a trunk or treat for the children at Mary's Home.   And another organization they support is called the Springs Rescue Mission and it's in Colorado Springs, and they support the homeless population, helping them to get out of homelessness, a cycle of homelessness, help them to get food to eat. Just last week, he took about 30 BombBomb folks down there and they did a barbecue where they cooked burgers, he smelled like Burger King when he got back.   They grilled like 300 burgers and hotdogs and they serve those people. So, it's beyond money, why do they do what they do?   Because they're humanizing your business but they're also trying to humanize the planet and that planet starts right their own backyard in Colorado Springs, Colorado.   What is Means to Re Humanize People   Me: You spoke a little bit just now about rehumanizing your business. And when we read your bio, a big part of BombBomb's mission is to re humanize the planet. And so, could you explain to us in very layman terms, what does it mean to re humanize people? What are we lacking that we need re humanization? Could you share with us what does that really mean?   Darin shared that he thinks its two things in your business it may exist that he thinks participating right now in this insanely, it's like nuclear proliferation but it's different, it's this digital pollution.   So, after he gets off of this call, he will have no less than 30 unsolicited emails in his inbox, LinkedIn will have a few and people are just being bombarded. And so, we need to get back to building know, like and trust with the people that we want to work with.   We need to communicate in a way that solves problems for people we know that we can solve problems for. He thinks the problem right now in marketing and sales is that we're just holistically blasting everyone to kingdom come with unwanted, unsolicited messaging. And frankly, he doesn't even believe it's from real people anymore. So, all we're doing is we're desensitizing people, nobody believes that you actually wrote the email anymore, actually wrote the LinkedIn messenge, they thing it was written for you, sent by some sort of system and what that does is it takes away the idea of reciprocity on his part.   Five years ago, even three years ago, if you sent him an email even if he wasn't interested, the reciprocity effect says, “I'm going to respond to you even if I'm not interested.”   Now, we've made it so very easy to ignore everyone, everyone is complicit in this digital pollution that we're all participating in, we send too much of stuff that doesn't matter.   Therefore, the stuff that does goes by the wayside. So, he believes using personal video, personal messaging to people succinctly for them, to them, from human to human, to solve the problem that you very well solved for this type of business. So, you have to have that figured out. What's the problem I solve?   How do we succinctly solve it in 20 seconds, deliver a video for that person? Or in the customer experience, side, if it's retention. Don't make him feel like just another number of your business. How many customers do you have? Don't make him feel like number 569, make him feel like the only one.   And so, how do you do that, you do that by taking time and sending personalized communications whenever possible, doesn't have to be every time but he calls them “Moments That Matter.”   What are the very important moments that matter when he knows? Easy way to do this is to say to yourself, “Would this be better said face to face? If so, send a video.”   So, that's re humanizing your business. We're re humanizing the planet or humanizing these things, he believes people have intrinsic value, he believes all over the world people are being dehumanized right now probably more than they ever have been, ever.   We have more slavery, we have more sex trafficking, we have more abuse, we need to get in front of that. And to him, we need to do our part here and so that's why, as he mentioned, they support these local organizations.   They actually even support a community in Africa, where some kids in Africa got to adopt BombBombers, it was amazing. So, the kids got to look at pictures of people who work here, choose them to be someone they want to communicate with and then, of course, they help the organization but they help with food and medical care and things like that. But he's got to tell you, some of the best joy happens from these kids sending letters to people who work here. And that's a connection that they build.   So, they're now we're re humanizing the people of BombBomb by doing that, just as much as they are those kids in Africa. So, that's a big part of their mission. He just believes that the world we live in, if we just want to turn a blind eye to it, that's not responsible as a business owner.   App, Website or Tool that Darin Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Darin shared that it's a pretty generic one, but it's Spotify. What couldn't he live without; he can't live without a podcast. He listens to podcasts like crazy, he got a bit of a commute, and he enjoys it. His kids play soccer 4 days a week, so when he's waiting for them to be done; he's on the podcast. So, he's trying to build himself up to that. So, he's going to say Spotify.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Darin   When asked about books that have the biggest impact, Darin shared that Seth Godin was a very much a part of the foundation of this business in early 2000s. He has read every Seth Godin book he's ever written. And so, he's just going say Seth Godin. So, Seth Godin Podcast, Seth Godin Books. The early ones, he thinks it was even Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable it was really transformational. Just about being unique and how you stand out. And I believe the book, he might get this wrong is 1000 true fans, it might have been one of his earlier books is the idea if you have 1000 fans, that you'll never have to work again. He thinks we're seeing this, he was an early projector of this, this influencer movement that we see very common today and that's exactly what he was talking about in that book. And that's how they thought about sending video messaging that you could be this influencer.   And then he's going to say, Verne Harnish wrote a book called Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) and then Scaling Up 2.0 and it's about mastering the Rockefeller habits as he calls it. And these are just these business motions that has made them very successful at BombBomb, how to run the business, how to plan for the business, how to do stand ups in the morning, all these things are very fundamentally ingrained in who they are at BombBomb. So, Seth Godin and Scaling Up 2.0, those are his two recommendations.   What Darin is Really Excited About Now!   Darin shared that he's really excited about this growth team that they have put together, he gets to lead, it's fantastic, it's a cross functional team many people coming from lots of different parts of the organization are focused on how do they get after better growth for the business? So, that means acquiring new customers, better keeping the customers that they have, making the product more aligned towards those things. So, it's been a lot of fun and he loves that team.   Where Can We Find Darin Online   Website – www.bombbomb.com LinkedIn – Darin Dawson   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Darin Uses   When asked about quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Darin shared that it's Peter Drucker and the quote is, “Focus is the key to all economic success.” So, if he needs to get refocused, if his team does, he brings that out. Focus is the key. So, are we focused? Do we need to get more focused? Are there things that we should stop doing so we can start doing the right things?   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   Seth Godin Books Seth Godin Podcasts Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) by Verne Harnish    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!

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!

Shep Hyken is a Customer Service and Experience Expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepherd Presentations. He is a New York Times bestselling author and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for a lifetime achievement in the speaking profession. Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His articles have been read in hundreds of publications, and he is the author of five books. He is also the creator of The Customer Focus™, a customer service training program which helps clients develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset.   Questions   Your new book is called I'll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again & Again. And so, could you share a little bit about the book, what inspired you to write this book? How can this book help organizations? What are the core pillars or themes that the book is built on? Just give us in your own words what it's all about? You mentioned in the book, the concept of being nice. The behavior or personality of a customer service employee versus the technical side, I wanted you to expand on that for us on what is the importance of that? And what does it really mean to be nice? In the book you also mentioned to create real customer loyalty, we first need to understand the difference between loyalty programs and marketing programs. Can you explain to our audience what you mean by that? A lot of organizations clearly having to pivot over the last year and a half since the pandemic, trying to look at their customer journey, trying to incorporate digital even more, even those organizations that didn't have a digital as part of their whole process. What are your thoughts on organizations looking to do all those things, but still create that amazing experience? Can you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? Can you also share with us 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? 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 or get you refocused?   Highlights   Shep's Journey   Me: So, I'm going to piggyback off of your last statement, “It's great to be back” because your new book is called “I'll be back.” And so, could you share a little bit about the book, what inspired you to write this book? How can this book help organizations? What are the core pillars or themes that the book is built on? Just give us in your own words what it's all about?   Shep shared that the full title is, I'll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again & Again. And he joked about the accent, but whenever people say I'll be back, they kind of tried to do that Terminator, Arnold Schwarzengger impression.   And originally, when he started writing the book, he hadn't even thought about that, the tie into the Terminator movie and then about three hours in the starting his outline, he's going “Yeah, I'll be back. I bet I can play off of that.” So, while it really doesn't have anything to do with the Terminator, he does mention it a few times and the goal is to get your customers to say, I'll be back and you want them to not only say it, you want them to actually do it.   So, there's all kinds of tips, tactics, ideas, and strategies just for the idea of getting your customers to come back and understanding the difference between repeat customers, loyal customers, how to create a more customer focused culture that delivers that experience that gets customers to come back, so it's really about that. And the really cool thing is, he believes, even with this crazy COVID variant going around, the Delta, he gets the feeling that a lot of the world is starting to feel like they're coming back. So, there's a double message in there that he didn't even anticipate was going to happen.   The Concept of Being Nice: The Behavior or Personality of a Customer Service Employee Versus the Technical Side   Me: Now you mentioned in the book, the concept of being nice. The behaviour or personality of a customer service employee versus the technical side, I wanted you to expand on that for us on what is the importance of that? And what does it really mean to be nice?   Shep stated that being nice is a foundational concept and there's a story behind it that's pretty funny. The idea behind it was, he was asked to do a speech and he was the closing keynote speaker, the last speaker of the day, he had to end exactly on time, because these people had to go to another event and they were all being picked up by buses. So, his client said, no matter what happens, you finish on time.   And ultimately, the speakers ahead of him went longer and longer and longer, and by the time it was his time to speak, there was two minutes left, not the 40 minutes that he was supposed to do. So, he said to the client, “Don't worry, I've got this.” And he gave him this weird look but he walked on stage and the first thing he said was, “Thank you for that wonderful round of applause. I realized that we have to be out of here in less than two minutes. And I promised everybody, the client especially that that would happen. So, we're going to start over and I'm going to give you the shortest customer service speech in the world.”   So, he's introduced quickly, the applause is here, he's now standing center stage. Are you ready? Here it goes. Be nice. Then he started to walk off stage and the audience, he stopped halfway through and he goes, “I know it's pretty easy, isn't it.” But think about it for just a moment, he's still got about a minute or so left.   So let me tell you about being nice. Being nice is foundational, it's fundamental. If you're in a restaurant and they have great food, but the server is so mean to you, you're never coming back, it's that simple. But I want you to realize that being nice isn't always easy, it's simple, but it's not easy.   And you need to think about it because there's going to be times that you're going to be distracted that you're going to be busy that a customer or an internal customer, one of your own team members is going to come and talk to you and you're going to be interrupted, and you're going to be a little snappy, you can't do that.   Foundationally, you must be nice. Now, nothing's changed. He always joked about nothing's changed in customer service and they talked about that in the book. But really, that's a fundamental, people don't want to be treated the wrong way, they want to feel appreciated, they want to feel like it's a place that wants to do business with them.And if you aren't at least nice, well, think about you don't want to put yourself behind just because you weren't doing something as simple as being friendly and nice.   And by the way, they surveyed over 1000 consumers, and one of the most important top three qualities they want in dealing with somebody related to the areas of customer service, sales, whatever, is that they want somebody number one that's knowledgeable and number two, that's nice.   Me: So nice is like, good morning. Nice is, how are you doing today? Nice is the softer side of your personality.   Shep agreed and stated that it's just a soft skill and it is exactly that it is a skill. And sometimes you need to work on that skill, you need to be remembered, and it's a little bit of a smile, it's a little bit of a friendly attitude. And when you combine those together, that's what your customers want and expect from you. Doesn't that sound so simple. And by the way, they don't spend a lot of time on this in the book, but it's important, he talked about foundation and really what is the underpinning of all the experience you want your customers to have. And even if you're in the business of an eCommerce company that it's almost all automated, you still have to create this feeling that you're friendly, it's the images, it's the simplicity of how the website works and if they ever do, in fact, call you, if the customer ever does call you, it's how they're treated. In a B2B environment, maybe business to business, they say is different than B2C and the reality of it is, it's not much different today, because your B2B customers are comparing you to the best service experiences they've ever had. And that could include a retail store, it could include Amazon, it could include a restaurant, it doesn't matter, it's the best service they've had and that's what they expect from everybody.   Me: What if you have an organization where it's just not in the character of the person that's interfacing with the customers to be nice. Generally speaking, in their own personal lives, they're just not nice people, they have a very unpleasant countenance, they're not very welcoming, or approachable, and you feel very uncomfortable around them because of their demeanour and your facial expressions. How do you get that person to be nice?   Shep stated that first of all, he wouldn't have hired that person. So, part of creating a culture that's customer focus is making sure the right people are on the bus and that means you've got to hire right. Now, there are some people, they can still be nice, but they're not cut out for being on the front line, great. Put them in another job somewhere else in the organization, they still have to be nice. But again, being introverted may be awkward for somebody, and we don't want to put anybody in that situation.   But he'll also add that if you've got somebody in the warehouse and their job is to pack boxes with product based on what the customer orders, and by the way, this is a little bit off of the concept of being nice, but that person has a great responsibility to the customer. Because if they receive that box, and it wasn't packed properly and the items inside are broken, or whatever, that's going to reflect on the entire company.   Now back to this employee that never sees the customer in the warehouse, in the accounting department, whatever. If you are going to create a culture that's focused on the customer, there has to be a personality to that culture and the people who are hired have to be in alignment with that personality.   Now, again, being nice means friendly, it doesn't mean overly friendly or overly gregarious, it is really about the fundamental concept of just being friendly and nice to your colleagues and your customers, not overly so that's why even behind the scenes, they still have to have a little bit of something going on there, they just don't have to be quite as dedicated to it as perhaps somebody on the true front line.   The Difference Between Loyalty Programs and Marketing Programs   Me: Now in the book you also mentioned to create real customer loyalty, we first need to understand the difference between loyalty programs and marketing programs. Can you explain to our audience what you mean by that?   Shep stated that let's just take frequent flyer miles for a moment, they call that a loyalty program, the airlines do and the reality is it's a miles program, it's a points program. In other words, it's a marketing program. In a sense, it's kind of a discount, you buy enough airline tickets, and you fly in the airline long enough, you get a free flight, just like if you go to a restaurant and they punch your card five times, the sixth sandwich might be free. So, his question is, and he doesn't know if Yanique fly a lot or not, but I talked to people all the time he goes, if the entire airline industry were to take away the miles program, would you still fly on the same airline that you're currently spending most of your time on? Because most people will try to accumulate miles on one particular airline and he's surprised it's split. He hasn't done a formal survey, but he's going to say it's approximately 50/50 from the people that say, “Oh, I'd stay here.” or “You know what, I'd fly a different airline.” And it's that simple. The reason they're staying on the airline is because of the points, not because of the airline itself, take that away, and it's gone.   Now, the other thing they talked a little bit about related to repeat business versus loyal business, is that sometimes-repeat business is due to maybe it's a better price.   “Why do you love doing business with them? They have the lowest prices?”   “What if you found somebody with a lower price? Well, then I'd go do business with them.”   So, the customers loyal to the price, not the company. And the same thing with convenience.   “Why do you go to them? Well, they're the closest one.”   “What happens if a competitor moves closer? Well, I'll probably do business with them.”   So, what you need to do in those situations, if price is how you're competing, or convenience is how you're competing, make sure you deliver a level of service. And when given the opportunity, try to connect with that customer on some kind of an emotional level, make them want to not only do business with you, because of whatever reason they have in their mind, but also make them like doing business with you.   Me: Yeah, I totally agree. So, you're saying then that most loyalty programs or that they dub as loyalty programs are actually marketing programs. So, what really makes a customer loyal, as you said, is that emotional connection.    Shep shared that it often is, he will add that there are certain programs, like Nike has a loyalty program, it's actually a membership program, it has really nothing to do with points, it has to do with, “Hey, you're a customer and we're going to give you great information about what you're interested in.” So, if he just bought some golf shoes from Nike, and he's never bought golf shoes from them and since that time, he's received a couple of really interesting emails, not just about product, but about how he can improve his golf game, and what the new technology and the shoes are. And so, he learned about these things and he thinks to himself, they know who he is. But what they don't send him is they don't send him information on soccer shoes or football as you might call it in other parts of the world, because they know that's not something he's ever bought from them and he's never indicated in the interest. So, he considers that type of program more focused on gaining the customer in other ways than just giving them true incentives to buy. So, he thinks that's an important delineation between membership programs and marketing. Now, one other thought before we jump off of this is that some people refer to the Amazon Prime program as a loyalty program and he even thinks Amazon refers to it as the Prime membership program, not a loyalty program and if they do, it's okay. But here's what happens when you're willing to spend $120 a year and it might be $129 a year, you want to get your money's worth out of it so you're going to try to use them as often as possible. That's the idea is give them, the customer, a reason to come back and that's because you spent money with them and you want to make sure you get good value for that.   Organizations Looking to Incorporate Digital Even More But Still Create An Amazing Experience   Me: Now, the book also mentions, it piggybacks a little bit on some of your principles from your previous book, The Convenience Revolution, that was such an awesome book. And it talks about self-service, technology, subscription delivery, access and reducing friction. And I've seen a lot of organizations clearly having to pivot over the last year and a half since the pandemic, trying to look at their customer journey, trying to incorporate digital even more, even those organizations that didn't have digital as part of their whole process. And sometimes in doing that, it actually creates a lot of confusion and friction for the customer because there are so many steps that you have to take, and you're so frustrated and a lot of times you'd want to serve yourself but you can't, you have to end up reaching out to somebody either through their contact center, or even physically visiting their location. What are your thoughts on organizations looking to do all those things, but still create that amazing experience?   Shep shared that there's a lot going on there, he wrote an entire book on the concept of convenience and there's no way he couldn't reference this in the new book, because this is what drives repeat business is frictionless, easy, the company that's often easiest to do business with is the one that wins that means it makes price a little less relevant, so that may not be as important to the customer when they say, it's so easy, it's worth paying for.   And he'll give a quick example of this. Prior to the pandemic, when he wrote the book, by the way, The Convenience Revolution, in his mind it was somewhat of a breakthrough in the thought process, nobody had ever written a book about this. There was an author, actually two authors together wrote a book titled The Effortless Experience, but it was all about the getting customer support and making that easy. This is about everything related to your business, now back then it was breakthrough, then it became trendy and now it's become an expectation, especially with COVID.   So, he's thinking, well, that's the big change that's happened in this, so we've got to be more convenient. He doesn't spend a ton of time on it, he has two short chapters on number one, the self-service route, because that's what you're talking about is going digital and getting your customers to think digital first. How can I get the information that I need to have without having to talk to somebody, without having to wait on hold? And for the company, it's how can I make sure that our people are handling customer issues that are of a higher level rather than dealing with things that are so simple like, can you check on my order? Can you see if it was shipped? Can you see if the payment went through?   Insurance companies and banks, financial institutions are really making it easy for you to check balances and make claims and that type of thing. So by going digital first, if you do it right, you create this great, easy frictionless experience and when there's a problem, you need to make it seamless for the customer to transition to the human to human connection to get their help. And that's where a lot of companies fail, they actually fail in two areas.   Number one, they create a process that's not always intuitive to the customer and the good news is the design, the user experience, or the UX as they call it today. And that design is getting better and better and people are recognizing how easy it is.   Think about when you go on Netflix once you register and you're in how easy it is for you to find the different movies genres that you want okay. When you go to Amazon, the entire buying process, you have total control over and they make it so easy. So, they become like the poster children of what convenience and easy is about. And so, when you do that the right way, you create really a little bit more distance between you and your competition but he digress.   Back to what happened in the pandemic and why people are willing to pay for it. If you think about it, delivery is a great convenience. He used to have his food delivered from different restaurants, they never charge for it, once we got into the pandemic, they started charging. And he's not saying we're completely out of it, but we're out of it enough that everybody's back to somewhat business is normal like it used to be. And guess what, they're still charging, and nobody is complaining, they're willing to pay for convenience.   Last year, they did a study and they looked at over 1000 consumers and they found that, he believes it was 60%, this year was just a titch different, but it was around 60% of people were willing to pay more, they want a great service experience but they'll pay even more for convenience. And that number goes up to almost 90% when delivery is actually part of that convenience.   Me: I think a big part of it also, well at least for me personally is safety, with the pandemic and people are so concerned about being exposed, especially as we're clearly going through another wave a lot of countries are going to another wave now, people want to be safe. So if that means I can stay in the convenience of my home and place an order and it can be delivered and the only exposure I'm having is to physically come to the door and just exchange money or if I paid through the app and it's just to get the bag from the delivery person, then I'll definitely rate you higher because I feel safer and I think safety has been definitely something that customers look for that is included in the whole convenience, all because of the pandemic, at least I view it as important. If I don't feel safe in an environment, it's highly unlikely that I'm going to return to the business unless I absolutely have no choice.   Shep shared that 100% safety is of the utmost concern of some people, and you know what it's like, “I'm going to order it, set it at the front door and leave. I'll pick it up when they're gone and they're not there anymore.” But you're right and the digital experience that companies are creating that are making customers feel better about doing business with them, he thinks is a really important piece of building that trust and creating a connection. He might have been doing business the old way with somebody and they knock on the door, and they'd say, “Hello” but if the new way requires or his desire is to have that door stay closed, yet they create a system that allows him to still get everything done easily, he's still going to be appreciative that that company took the effort to make that happen.   Now, long term, you can't automate or digitize a personal relationship, you still need to create some type of connection. Just before they came on together and they're recording this, he got a call, he won't tell you the name of the airlines, but their initials are American Airlines, AA. And you know what they were doing, they were just calling to number one, say, “We saw that you flew last week and you've been flying a little bit more regular, we just want to thank you for that.” Every one of his flights is booked online, he put his boarding pass on his mobile phone. And other than dealing with flight attendants and people at the gate, he doesn't ever talk to anybody from American, they're losing that connection with him. So, what did they do? They picked up the phone and they made an outbound call just to check and say thanks for business, that's how you humanize the automated relationship.   Me: Amazing. And I'm happy you touched on that because that was actually a question I was going to ask because I get asked that question quite often, with technology and automation and artificial intelligence and chatbots and all of these things that companies are doing to enhance the customer experience. Do you feel that the human interaction is going to fade away?   And I always think, no, I think at the end of the day, human beings like to deal with human beings because at some point, that robot or automation can't answer your question. I've had the personal experience myself, it's like they're automated, they ask you a question, you log on, and they say, what's your name, and you put in your name, you put in your account number, and you tell him the issue that you're having and it seems like the robot is just regurgitating the same information to the point where I have to say, “I would like to speak with a representative.” Then it says, “I don't understand what you are saying.” then I change up how I say it, I say, “I would like to have an Agent.” And then it gets what I'm saying.   Shep shared that he gets it. And that's so frustrating and it should seamlessly take you there, there should be an easy way to get there. But that to your point, it's very difficult if all you are is a digital last company, you're not going to be able to compete with the people to figure out how to create the balance. And the magic happens in the balance and it's different from one industry to the next. And even from one company to the next but they figure it out.   App, Website or Tool that Shep Absolutely Can't Live Without in Him Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Shep shared that that is a great question. He loves his travel apps, he travels so much, so it's very difficult. So, he's looking at his phone going, what is it that he can't live without? He loves the communication apps, he's on WhatsApp a lot and they do a Zoom. How about LastPass. LastPass, which is so important, he has a virtual workforce, and they all have access to different websites, yet they have no idea what his password is, he loves that.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Shep   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Shep shared that one of the books that is probably his favorite aside from I'll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again & Again by Shep Hyken and other books that he's written. He loves The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage by Joe Pine and James Gilmore, it's one of the greatest books written on customer experience. And even though it was written over 20 years ago, and they did come out with an updated version, he believes that it is as relevant today as it ever was. So, love that book. He loves the Tom Peters book from the 1980s In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies. And even though many of those companies aren't around, which is by the way is one of the reasons he likes it, it shows how the most excellent companies, some of them are out of business, some of them were bought out, you cannot ever rest on your laurels but he loves the lessons that it teaches. That's a great book. So, he loves The Experience Economy, probably number one business book in his choice.    What Shep is Really Excited About Now!   Shep stated that he knows he sounds like a broken record but the book just came out, I'll Be Back. So very excited about that. But you know what else? He has a report, it's called the 2021 ACA Report Achieving Customer Amazement.   He did the 2020 last year. So, the 2021 he was going to put out earlier this year, but he felt they were still so deep in the COVID dealings that he thought you know what? He wanted to wait. So, he waited until June to do the research and they just came out with the report. So, just go to his website, www.hyken.com and you'll see the link to get the report.   Me: Awesome. I will definitely be accessing that. I thought the content that you put out last year from the 2020 report and I shared it with a few of my clients, I thought it was really, really great. So, I'm happy that you have an updated one this year.   Shep shared that his favorite stat is, again, by the way, he mentioned a couple of these stats before where they interviewed the consumers. They asked, “Would you rather go to the dentist or call customer support?” 48% of the people said, “I'd rather go to the dentist.” So, it's a great report, it's free. And he thinks there's a lot of great information that would compel a company or an individual to say, you know what, if I don't deliver service, I'm going to lose my customers. This is a reason that I need to keep at the top of my game.   Where Can We Find Shep Online   Me: So, our guests, our listeners would have tapped into this episode when it's released and they are super pumped about your book, I'll Be Back. How to get customers to come back again and again, because I think that's what every business wants, not just to do a one-time sale, but to actually have their customers come back over and over again for their lifetime of that product or service that they're using. And so where can they find you online, they want to download this report, they want to tap into the book, they want to tap into your journey, see what you're up to? And just really be in touch with you. Where can they find you online?   Website – www.hyken.com YouTube – ShepTV   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Shep Uses   When asked about a quote that he tends to revert to, Shep shared that this is one that he have come up with on his own. And he doesn't know if he's ever shared this but “Bad days only last 24 hours.” And here's what happened. He took a daily pocket planner where you write out like what your plans are, it's a calendar. And instead of planning, he reflected at the end of each day, what happened today that was good, and on a weekday, it was business and personal and the weekend, it was pretty much just personal because he tries not to do too much business on the weekends. And he found that within a very short period of time, he realized that even on the worst days, good things happen. So, it was very, very motivational, inspirational, if you will. But it was really inspiring to realize that as bad as the bad day is, it's really not all that bad.   Me: True, very true. I do something very similar as well. But it's more like a gratitude journal, it's digital actually. I just like have a note, I use the Notes app on my devices a lot, it's so amazing. And you can lock the note if you don't want other people to access it if they're on your phone. But I'll type out 10 things that I'm grateful for that happened in that day. And sometimes I have more than 10, I'll end up writing like 15 or 18, or 20. But then there are other times that I really have to like dig deep and things that I think are simple, I really have to give thanks for and it makes me just realize that, as you said, even if things didn't go your way, or you didn't get the contract you were looking for, maybe you weren't feeling well, or you weren't able to accomplish certain goals that you had set for yourself, there are other things that happened that makes you feel good, especially when you give thanks for them, or show gratitude for them because it really goes a very far away.   Shep agreed and stated that he likes that. It's an attitude of gratitude and that's part of what his little journaling does and you've experienced that same thing.   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   I'll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again & Again by Shep Hyken The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage by Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies by Tom Peters 2021 Achieving Customer Amazement Survey Report by Shep Hyken   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!

Jason Ten-Pow's passion for customer experience was sparked as a teenager working behind the meat counter of a carnival-themed grocery store in Toronto. Today, Jason is the CEO and President of ONR, the CX consulting firm he founded in 2009. He has a B.A. in political science from the University of Toronto and an M.A. in Quantitative Methods from York University. Jason lives in Toronto with his son Ronin.   Questions   Could you just tell us how it is that you ended up in the whole realm of customer experience? How did you get where you are today? Could you share with our listeners a little bit about the book Unbreakable? What are maybe the key themes that are in the book? And how do you think this book can help a manager or a leader in an organization? Could you share with us based on your research what are some of the things that influences customer's expectations? And then maybe also just touch on why do you think emotions plays such an integral role in somebody making a decision? And are there other factors that come into play? And if other factors come into play, do emotions out-weigh those other factors? Or do emotions always take the greater portion of the decision-making process? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Could you also share with us what is maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be that you read maybe a very long time ago or one that you read recently, that has had the biggest impact on you? Could you also share with us maybe one thing that's going on in your life right now, either something that you're working on to develop yourself, or you're working on to develop your people, but you're really excited about it. 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 quote, it kind of helps to get you back on track, or just get you refocus if you feel derailed for any reason. Do you have one of those?   Highlights   Jason's Journey Jason shared that it's interesting, it's been a long and sort of winding road to get here but it's been fascinating nonetheless and he's learned a lot. It started out just being in customer experience and working customer experience in retail positions at a number of different companies early in my career, even in High School, he'd be looking and as he'd worked at these retail locations, he'd be seeing how different customers were treated and look at how customers responded to different treatment.   And you'd see certain customers that come in every week, and you wanted to know, what was it that got them there? Was it just force of habit? Was it all these other sort of things about their actual experience in the store that brought them back again, and again. And when he went into University, started to study public opinion, voting and decision-making theory and looking at how people made decisions. And it was really interesting to see, you'd always think that people are rational decision makers, that they would think, look at all the options and then choose the best option.   But as he went through a lot of these studies, what stood out for him was that there are just too many options out there and too many options available for individuals when making a decision. So many times, shoppers, or people who are making decisions are forced to take shortcuts. And what he found, what was fascinating is the shortcuts that most people take are ones that are steeped in emotion and it's these emotions that drive through decision making.   And as he did more and more research around that, he just found that that seemed to provide the key explanation as to how people make choices and how they make decisions, especially in today's very fast-moving world. And so, as he started working, he started working after graduate school, he did his graduate work in quantitative methods, which is a really cool name for math basically, and he tried to measure how people make decisions and trying to actually create an algorithm around how to measure the influence of decision making.   And so, his natural progression into the workplace was to actually follow in those footsteps. At first, he worked for a company that did a lot of market research, digital market research, and over time that evolved into really focusing on “Okay, what are the influences of this decision making that customers are making?” And then that naturally came back around 360 degrees and started looking at people's emotions, and what drives people emotions, and what drives them to make the decisions that they do.   And so, founded the company that really was focused on understanding the emotional underpinnings and how to establish and grow and deepen these relationships by delivering on the expectations of these customers. And a lot of these expectations were not sort of just the delivery of a product or service, but actually to make a connection and to deepen a relationship with them was through understanding their wants, needs and desires, and what are the emotional triggers that are associated with these things. And then how to capture their emotion and how to capture their attention, not just their awareness and to be able to build a relationship and to strengthen relationship and how to grow a brand and increase revenue and profits because most people think, falsely so that having good customer experience is just a feel-good movement, it doesn't actually have any sort of impact on the business, but that couldn't be further from the truth.   Great customer experience, actually, is what builds deeper relationships that drive revenue and profit. So, these are the things that they think about, and they talk about, and they help brands as they drive their strategy to deepen relationships with their customers.   The Book Unbreakable – What are the Key Themes and How Can the Book Help a Manager or a Leader in an Organization     Me: Amazing. So, I was lucky enough to get a copy of your book Unbreakable. I am in the process of reading it but I love it, it's been so intriguing since I started reading it last week, it's really, really got some great nuggets in there. So, could you share with our listeners a little bit about the book? What are maybe the key themes that are in the book? And how do you think this book can help a manager or a leader in an organization?   Jason shared that he'll talk a little bit about why he wrote the book and it's really interesting. There's this misconception as he just mentioned that customer experience is a feel-good investment, it has and it's not just a field, but what this book sort of walks through is the fact that it's not a feel-good investment, it's more than that. Only 6% of brands have actually reached the highest level of CX transformation, which means they're building unbreakable relationships with their customers. So, he really wrote this book for the other 94% of organizations out there that are really looking to build these unbreakable relationships with their customers, and aspiring to crack the code of how to link these relationships with increase revenue, profits, efficiency, and employee satisfaction. And finally, how to create a playbook to transform your organization from one that has in its interest, the prioritization of the customer to one that actually lives and breeds prioritization of the customer, and actually is able to see real dividends from deepening their relationships with customers.   Factors that Play an Integral Role in Making Decisions   Me: So, you spoke earlier when you were talking about your journey and how you got to where you are today, that emotions play a very integral role in customers making decisions. And you also mentioned expectations, which I think is so important. Could you share with us based on your research what are some of the things that influences customer's expectations? And then maybe also just touch on why do you think emotions plays such an integral role in somebody making a decision? And are there other factors that come into play? And if other factors come into play, do emotions out-weigh those other factors? Or do emotions always take the greater portion of the decision-making process? Jason shared that that's a really complex question. And he can give you a very logical and very easy to follow example. We go to the store every weekend to buy groceries and we make decisions all the time when we look at the shelf, about things that we want to purchase, things that we need to purchase and things we would like to purchase. What makes us take that extra step of actually going and picking up a product and putting it in the cart.   When we think about that entire process, a lot of it is steeped in emotion, it's like, “Oh, wow, this package looks a little bit more appealing than the next package.” Or “This is something I need today because I need to pick me up.” It's all about our state, we're human creatures, and human creatures, we have wants, needs and desires, but these wants, needs and desires are governed by our emotional state.   So yes, there are real practical implications around the decisions we make, “Hey, I need to buy mustard today but what brand of mustard I will purchase or what type I will purchase?” It's going to be influenced by something above and beyond that. So what is it? Is it I'm looking at all the different options on the shelf, there may be an entire shelf or row of different brands of mustards. Does my past experience play into it? Absolutely. But there's also that immediacy of, “Hey, this looks like an interesting product, this looks more visually appealing.” Those are all aspects of our motion.   Now, when we take that one step further, and think about when we go into a store to shop, if we're greeted at the front by a friendly face, now all of a sudden, you as an individual respond to that, you may be more open to buying. When you're at the checkout, and somebody asks you, how's your day going? How do you feel? Why do companies insist on doing that? Because they know that it plays into our emotional state. And if we're in a happy place, if we're in a good mood, we're more likely to make a splurge purchase. And so also, if we're hitting the right tone, our tonality, if we're talking to people in a certain way, if we're reassuring them, if we're making them feel wanted, needed and desired, then people respond positively to that.   Can you imagine someone makes you feel wanted, needed and desired? How many times will you dismiss them without even having a conversation with them or being thankful about it, it's very seldom that that happens. So as emotional creatures, we are bound, and influenced subconsciously by these sorts of feelings and emotions.   And we try to wrestle against sort of this rational state of being where we want to sort of look at all our options on the table and making sure we're making the right choice. But inherently, in today's day and age, with so many options available to us, we have to have shortcuts, or we could be spending hours, days, weeks, months, before we can actually do the research necessary to make the decision. And as with the way how fast the world is moving, we just don't have that time, time is our enemy. So, we're always trying to figure out faster ways to do things, better ways to do things, more efficient ways to doing. And you know what, at the end of the day, because we're emotional creatures, those are the things that bubble up to the surface and help us create those shortcuts for decision making. Me: Now, as it relates to us being emotional creatures, do you think gender plays our role, or better yet, even our culture? So, for example, Caribbean people versus people who are from North America versus people who live in the Middle East? Do you think those things contribute to people's decision making?   Jasons stated absolutely. Your tribe you belong to has a huge influence on not only what decisions you make, but what emotion govern your decision making. So, he thinks Yanique's hitting on a conversation they can spend hours discussing how Caribbean people are different. They have different emotional triggers versus someone that's North America, South American, European, absolutely, those things absolutely are vitally important, that's what makes us special, that's what makes us unique. If you want to build a relationship with a customer, you have to understand what culture they belong to, what tribe they belong to, because today, more and more, those are the things that are having important impact on our decision making. Me: Well, I've definitely seen it. As you know, as we were talking pre to the actual recording, you mentioned that you're from Guyana, and of course, I'm from Jamaica. But I've definitely seen that in Jamaica specifically, how we make our decisions is based on how we're cultured and how we're socialized. And I find that it's different when I travel to other parts of the world. So, I can imagine how hard it can be for a business, who has customers that are multicultural, because it would mean then that their approaches have to be multifaceted, it can't be one size fits all, because everybody's going to have their unique approach and their unique preferences and set of wanting how something is done, versus just having one thing that's rolled out to everybody.   Jason agreed that Yanique is right. And that's why the approach to customer experience is so important. Many brands see customer experience as a problem that needs to be solved, again, very, very wrong approach. Relationships are not a problem that needs to be solved, they're organic, they need to be nurtured and deepened by understanding the complexity of your customers, understanding who they are, where they come from, what their wants, needs and desires and then using that understanding to actually shape the way what you do and how you do it in order to better bring these folks into the fold, and that's a fundamental mistake that brands make today, because soon as you start with customer experience is a problem that needs to be solved, it takes you down a completely different road, around what matters and what's important and what you need to do to build relationships that are strong, unbreakable relationships with your customer.   App, Website or Tool that Jason Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Jason stated that he's a little bit biased with this because their company has this product, the solution called Bespoke, and it's absolutely imperative in today's day and age, that you have a product like this, a solution like this, and what it does, it amalgamate, brings together all your different customer experience data into one location, helps you analyze it, and then helps you internally as an organization to build activities and things you can do to train your organization to be more a team to your customers wants, needs and desires. There are so many different tools, there's Eloqua, there's Adobe, you have your voice of customer over here data, but all of these things are in silos.   What Bespoke does, it brings pieces, or elements of all this data together to tell a complete story about the entire customer experience so that you can understand very quickly, and on an ongoing basis how your customer relationships are developing, what are the problems they're experiencing, and how for example, you can train certain types of behaviours amongst your customer service representatives, or how you need to change the journey the customer is taking through the website to make a purchase. All these things are encapsulated into one place so your team doesn't have to go and hunt for all this information around their organization, it's all in one place and it provides not only the data, but it provides recommendations about the actions you need to take in order to build these deeper customer relationships.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Jason   When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Jason stated that there's been so many. Paul Snyderman, he's a UCLA, Berkeley, he's written a number of books on decision making, and how people take shortcuts from a sociological and psychological perspective to their decision making. And those have been obviously very influential. We look around today, and we look at how culture plays such an important role and some of the people he spoke to are such great influencers for him in terms of this area as well, he doesn't want to start rattling off names of people. But those writers out there right now that are sort of talking about culture, and the influence of culture and how important it is not only to help us self-identify, but how to help us find our place in the world. Those are really some of the great writings he thinks that are coming out today that are really sort of helping us to move away from this concept that one size fits all solution, as Yanique mentioned earlier, is not the way forward, it's actually a deeper understanding of that complexity that helps you to make better decision making.   What Jason is Really Excited About Now!   Jason shared that the thing that really excites him is helping people understand how important every word they say, every action they make has a greater cascading influence on the overall assessment of a brand than ever before. And one of the things as their company is doing right now is really spending a lot of time training and helping people to understand how important it is to develop deep relationships with their clients that they have in order to not only build firmer relationships, but to understand how unique each individual is, and understanding how each individual is, and taking the time to understand each person not as a sale, or as an opportunity to grow your business but as a human being, how important that is, you'll get to the end, you'll get to the end of that sale, but it's not the sale that you're really after, you're after that relationship.   And the more time you take to understand the other person before you start to talk about what you have, what solutions you bring to the table, you need to start spending time listening and understanding what the other party, what their wants, needs and desires are. Too many times today because we're inundated with so many advertisements that's pushing, you need this, you need this, you need this, nobody is stopping to take the time to actually listen to what people are saying about their wants and needs and desires and just the fact that you take the time to listen, immediately as a brand starts to set you apart.   And these are the things that are really going to allow you to be successful, to build those relationships and even internally, their organization is constantly working to nurture that type of learning, and to share that type of learning across their organization.   Me: All right, that sounds like an adventurous journey. And it can be super challenging because people are such complex characters for sure.   Jason agreed, it is very complex. They're not saying it's easy, but they're saying the ROI for your investment does pay off.   Where Can We Find Jason Online   Me: Our listeners would have tapped into this episode, and they're quite intrigued with you, they're going to buy your book Unbreakable: A proven process for building unbreakable relationships with customers, guy's head on over to Amazon, make sure you get a copy of this book. But more importantly, they want to follow you on your journey, they'd like to connect with you further, where can they find you online?   LinkedIn – Jason Ten-Pow Twitter – @JasonTenPow   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 that in the book he mentioned CSA (Collect, Share and Act). When you are unsure about the right decision you need to make, what you need to do is, first of all, make sure especially around customer experience, “Make sure you're collecting the right data, you're sharing that data across your organisation, and ensuring that you're taking actions that align with the knowledge you've gained from the data that you've collected.”   If you do those three things, you will guaranteed be better at building deep customer relationships. Why? Because this is the code that the top 6% of brands that lead the way in building unbreakable relationships, this is the code that they have cracked, it comes down to how well they do at collecting customer data, sharing that across their organisation not keeping it in one little silo but sharing it so everyone has this knowledge about who their customers are and what their wants, needs and desires are and make sure that when they're making important decisions and taking actions, they're actually using that knowledge to influence the decisions and the actions they take.   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   UNBREAKABLE: A proven process for building unbreakable relationships with customers by Jason Ten-Pow   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 it comes to sweeping romance, earnest lyrics and – let's face it, songs that last six minutes MINIMUM – there really is no topping Ms. Céline Marie Claudette Dion.From humble beginnings in Charlemagne, Quebec (which is queer) to becoming the best-selling Canadian recording artist in history, Queen Céline has dominated the music industry for over three decades. In 1996, her star was in full ascendence when she unleashed Falling Into You on the unsuspecting masses. Playing host to career-defining tracks such as "Because You Loved Me", "All By Myself" and, importantly, the first single Drew ever bought ("It's All Coming Back to Me Now"), the album went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time, with sales of over 32 million copies worldwide.We did not have to think twice when recruiting our guest for this episode. The enigmatic and addictive Gwynne is not only a pop historian (and soon to be doctor in his field!) but a Céline stan of titanic proportions.Are you ready to learn of the power of Falling Into You? Well you're in luck – because a new day has come. Get ready for an episode that is all beauty, no beast, and guaranteed to make you feel... alive.Visit our online home at auralfixationpodcast.com, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook or go old school and email us at auralfixationpodcast@gmail.com. You can follow Andy on @andrewdoyouthinkyouare, Drew on @with.all.drew.respect, and Gwynne... nowhere! He's off-grid. Ooh, and don't forget to check out this episode's playlist, which slaps all night.As always, our big gay thanks to Anthony Garvin and the team at Forbes Street Studios in Sydney.Finally, we would like to acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land this podcast episode was recorded on, and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

KONGOS – Come with Me Now => Metallica – Nothing Else Matters

Brad Dude has over 40 years and he has been in more than 30 territories and countries around the world. He has provided leadership training, organizational development, program evaluation, workforce training, coaching and project management services to US Government agencies, public and non-profit organizations and private sector enterprises. He specializes in training, group facilitation, process improvement, team building and strategic planning, especially for newly promoted team leaders, supervisors, managers and executives.   Brad brings a leadership and management background to his consulting having served as a senior staff member for the Peace Corps in Micronesia and Samoa. He has also worked in similar positions for other organizations in the Washington, DC area as well as New Orleans, where he now makes his home with his wife Sue. He has one son and three grandsons.   Questions   Could you tell us a little bit about your journey? It's a long journey, because your bio said over 40 years. Maybe you could condense it a little bit for us. But just tell us how it is that you got to where you are today in your own words. Your most recent book that you have published called Quick!, could you share with our listeners a little bit about that book and what is it all about? How as a leader, as a manager, as a business owner over the past couple of decades have you been able to get those leaders on board to recognize that customer experience is so important? Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? Do you have maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could have been a book that you read a very long time ago, or even a book that you read recently, but it really has resonated with you. We have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who feel they have great products and services, but they lack the constantly motivated human capital. If you're sitting across the table from that person, what's the one piece of advice that you would give them to have a successful business? Could you share with us 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 a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, they will tend to revert to it kind of helps to refocus them or get them back on track? Do you have one of those?   Highlights   Brad's Journey   Brad shared that it is kind of a long journey, it gets longer every day, it seems like. He started out doing a management planning for the Peace Corps overseas in a variety of countries, mostly in the Pacific and then in the Middle East. And that got him into working for Westinghouse that brought him more into the middle East doing some project management for USAID projects and West Bank and Gaza. And that got him into the training more in the project management and coaching and counselling and they were doing a lot of executive coaching on management and leadership kinds of issues. Some colleagues of his started their own consulting firm in the DC area and that's where he got to go to Jamaica for the first time in kind of the middle to late 80s doing a management analyst course.   Ministry of Planning and they met that time and it was great. And so he got four different trips down to Jamaica and participants were some of the best he's ever had all over the world. So as he got older and wanted to jot down some of the things that he would do that seem to be fairly successful with his participants and clients, he started to write books. And so he has now got six books, they're up on Amazon, mostly dealing with leadership and temperament and how new leaders view their world and try to help them out that way.   Brad's Book “Quick!” What is it About?     Brad shared that his book, it's called Quick!: I Need to Be a Leader in 30 Days!. And it's a title that is focused on newly promoted or newly hired managers, supervisors and leaders. What he found, for example, the last 9 years, he has been teaching a leadership class for NASA, just outside of Washington, DC.   And he found that although when you're in the classroom, face to face, it's great and people seem to get things. But with training, training with organizations, even in government is often the first thing that's cut.   And so, participants might go through one 12-day course or something, and then don't hear from them again, and they maybe come back or write or ask for coaching and they felt there was a need to encapsulate in a handy guide of what somebody can do every day, because a lot of the questions are, “I have the title of leader or manager or supervisor, but what do I do?”   And so, he focused on what to do over a 30-day period and the idea was to help newly promoted folks hit the ground running so they can have some success. And I had Scott Blanchard, who is the now the President of the Ken Blanchard company. He wrote the foreword to their book, and he mentioned that over 50 million millennials are working in North America alone with 10 million in management, he estimates about 2 million new managers every year.   But the first year is very important and people usually don't get trained during their first year. So there's a lot of failure, failure by not meeting their own goals, expectations of their company aren't met. And they thought that's the time to really help them and have a guide to help them be successful. So they put together this book and basically said, how do you be a leader in 30 days?   Well, he has got four steps. First was to understand some of the basic principles of leadership and he subjectively picked the ones that he felt have been most successful for new managers and leaders. And then step two was to look at their followers, learn about who are those folks that are looking to you for guidance. Third step practical applications, you can't just read a book, put it on a shelf and say, “I'm a leader”, you got to go out and do something, and practice. So in his book, he has practical readings and exercises, and especially the fourth step, which is have some reflection and support time. And that means identifying a coach, whether it be your supervisor, or mentor, or a friend, or a colleague, or your minister, whoever that is that you can bounce some ideas off of. And ultimately, they can give you some feedback as well on how you're doing.   Me: Now, as it relates to who are your followers, if this is an employee in an organization, is it persons that look up to that person who now is the manager or leader? Is that what you mean?   Brad agreed. But it's more than that. Ken Blanchard says it the best, he says, “Lead from wherever you are in the organization.” So you don't necessarily have to have a title of manager, supervisor, leader to exhibit leadership behaviours. And so, whoever that is, and so, in the book, they are considering clients, people that report to you, people that you report to as well are all potential followers.   Me: Okay, so those are some really, really good strategies that you can employ for persons, as you mentioned, who are transitioning into that management/leadership role.   The Importance of Customer Experience   Me: Now, leadership is so critical to customer experience and there's a saying that I have “That mud flows from the top of the stream.” When you find something that's going awry in an organization, a lot of times, it's not at the tip of where you're looking at that the problem probably evolved from, but more so, you need to look at the leader and the structure of the organization and what's happening at the top.   And so I wanted to speak a little bit about that for us, what if we have an organization where the leader doesn't see the importance of customer experience, they're not able to connect the two, they're not able to connect the financial, because a lot of leaders, I think, still believe to this day that customer experience is just about making the customer feel good and they're just not able to see that translate into a very tangible and financial way. How as a leader, as a manager, as a business owner over the past couple of decades have you been able to get those leaders on board to recognize that customer experience is so important?   Brad shared that it's a challenge and there are many, many examples where leaders just don't get it, because they are trapped into the idea that their position power is what's important, and not so much their customers or their followers.   So they've done a lot of different ways, it depends on the openness of the leader. He worked with Department of Energy, their nuclear division for a while and they had a leader and oftentimes, these are political types who get in for whatever reason, not necessarily their leadership abilities. And they just don't see it, it's checking the box, “Oh, well, I've had a training. Check. I've had a meeting with a customer. Check.”   And things don't go the way they should. What he typically does is do a series of interviews with the direct reports of such a leader to start to identify what are the true challenges in the organization. He really likes the idea about modelling the way and trying to talk to the leader about trying to be more of an exemplary leader. But also he likes the idea about challenging the process.   They have in the book, this is the Kouzes and Posner five practices of exemplary leadership - Modelling the way, Inspiring a shared vision, Challenging the process, Enabling others to Act and Courage the heart.   He likes to do a lot of process improvement with folks and they get a whiteboard and actually start to draw a schematic of the customer service process and who's supposed to do what to whom. And he doesn't do it as a group, he usually brings in parts because people, oftentimes in such a process are doing it, if they say it's a five-part process, he brings in the folks who are doing part three, and let them do some drawings and say, “Oh, this is supposed to happen, that's supposed to happen.”   And they go away and they bring in people from the first group, for example. So they end up with kind of this gigantic map done by different groups. And what they find is they're in consistencies, expectations are off, somebody expects this group to be able to give them this kind of information, and it's not happening. So then you kind of try to bring that leader in to show him or her what kind of mess they're in and have some ideas, some strategies for helping them improve that process.   App, Website or Tool that Brad Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business   When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Brad shared that the website he likes the most it's called www.life-changingworkshops.com. And this is out of Chapala Institute. It's based on a new book come out by Ken Nelson and some others, a variety of authors on it called Designing and Leading Transformational Workshops. He thinks for a new leader, outside of his own books, he thinks that's a really good one and that's a great website that they have as well. Another one is called www.ascenddevelopmentgroup.com. And this is run by a friend of his, Jeff Whitehead, they both did training at NASA together. He does outdoor experiential leadership workshops and it's a very interesting website to show videos of how he interjects leadership into rope climbing and things like that.   Books That Have Had the Greatest Impact on Brad    When asked about books that have the biggest impact, Brad shared that there are several, one was called Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love by Dr. Helen Fisher. Brad is the co-author of a new model on looking at temperament called The Basic Elements of Temperament. And a lot of their work, his late partner, Jim harden, they did that together. And Dr. Fisher kind of did similar kind of research, but on a larger scale dealing with some of the dating websites to look at how temperament influences the way we look at other people, the behaviours of others. Now, he and Jim, they're not looking at dating, they're looking at how leaders look at their employees and their managers and their customers. So that book, Why Him? Why Her? is a really good one by Dr. Fisher to kind of give some basics as well. He also likes John Kotter's work out of Harvard, “What Leaders Really Do.” He's written a number of books on leadership and he just loves those books that really gets him thinking about leadership more.   Advice for Business Owner to Have a Successful Business   Brad stated that the one piece of advice, it's hard to have one, but trust is a big issue and in his leadership courses that he has done in the past, trust is a big issue and that gets into a variety of things, including how to model the way and not making promises that you can't keep and being consistent and things like that.   But he probably would spend time with a leader talking about temperament. His experience has been the difficulties that folks have with being professional, being productive, has a lot to do with their experience with their manager or their supervisor when they're not getting along, when they feel they're not being listened to, that is a de-motivator.   And people leave organizations, they don't leave them because of the job or the work, it's usually because of the relationship with their manager or supervisor. But he would spend some time trying to talk about how they are viewing the world, how they look at their position power. There's three kinds of power, they have it in the book as well.   The lowest level of leadership is the position power; it's having that title. And it seems that's where everybody wants to be, “If I was only the boss, then I would solve all the problems.”   And then they get to be the boss and they realize, “Oh, it's not as easy as I thought.” But they'd say, now I'm there, now they've got to do what I'm telling them to do. So that means your followers are following you because of the negative consequences if they don't, that they could be fired, they could be assigned to lousy jobs, what have you. So it's the lowest level, and that's a power that doesn't stay with you, when that manager leaves the organization, that power doesn't go with him or her, it stays for the next person that's coming. So it's not even a power that you take with you.   So that's the lowest level. The second one is that power of competence. That's where followers follow you because of what you've done for the organization, because of what you've done for them. So that gets you into a mindset of “Gee, if I want to be competent, I need to be really sharp and look for opportunities to help my employees.”   And the third, the best kind of power that a leader can get is the power of positive reputation. And that's why no matter what your title is, people follow you because of who you are. They'll do whatever needs to be done if you ask them because of who you are, and what you stand for, and the values that you bring to the organization.   What Brad is Really Excited About Now!   Brad shared that during this pandemic, not a lot of training was going on, especially not a lot of leadership training, he has done a few zoom workshops over Zoom with 50/60 people. And there's just not as many as there used to be. So he has had a lot of time and so he's writing a novel called “Finding Eden.” And it's based on kind of his travels throughout the Middle East and the issue about asylum seekers trying to find a better life. So he's writing a novel, just about done. So he's very excited about that right now.   Where Can We Find Brad Online   Website – www.braddude.com LinkedIn – Brad Dude   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Brad Uses   Brad stated that he does have a quote, the one he kind of refers to now and then, not every day, but sometimes. It's says, “Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.” And that was written by Will Rogers. So the idea is, don't get bogged down with what you've done in the past. Today's a new day and we need to go head on into the future.   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 Quick! I Need to Be a Leader in 30 Days! by Brad Dude Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love by Dr. Helen Fisher   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!

Laurie Huston from News the Heart is talking with Tracy McBurney on Decrees. Tracy explains that Decrees are an expression that comes from the Light and is immediately answered by the Divine. Statements like: Anxiety Leave Me NOW or Anger Leave Me NOW or Abundance Flow to Me NOW. We don't have to know how or when but that there is almost like a circle of energy that flows from these statements that removes the fear and stuck energy and makes room for the Light to create space for New Loving Energy. Both Tracy and I offered some experiences and Healings around pain, menopause discomfort and money during this show. Join us for this fascinating discussion! We're Getting to the Heart of what Matters!

Selección de las mejores baladas de los 80s. TRACKLIST: 01 - George Michae - Kissing a Fool 02 - Gino Vannelli - Hurts To Be In Love 03 - Culture Club - Love Is Love 04 - Duran Duran - Save A Prayer (US Single Version) 05 - Phil Collin - Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) 06 - Lionel Richie - Hello 07 - Berlin - Take My Breath Away 08 - Level 42 - Leaving Me Now 09 - Richard Marx - Endless Summer Nights 10 - The Honeydrippers - Sea Of Love 11 - Toto - I`ll Be Over You 12 - U2 - With or Without You 13 - Kenny Loggins - Meet Me Half Way 14 - REO Speedwagon - Can't Fight This Feeling' 15 - Tina Turner - Private Dancer 16 - Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love (12" Remix)

On Friday's show at RadioWilderLive.com, we finish the show with some 'Get Cozy' music from Enya. Folks who like to listen on Friday and Saturday nights might want to finish up the week or start the weekend with a little 'Get Cozy' and snuggle music. That doesn't mean we aren't going to rock n'roll it! We open the show with two blasters from The Smithereens doing 'Behind wall of Sleep' and The Kongos with their big gold record smash 'Come with Me Now!'Great Deuces with Leem Lubany from the movie 'Rock the Kasbah' covering Cat Stephen's Wild World.New music from Counting Crows and a couple of female giants in Aretha and Anne Murray.'Baby Ruth' is gearing up for her annual trek to the mountains for the summer and says after a nice, scrambled eggs and hash browns, she will have the show up by 3:00 Eastern.Shout outs this week to Southern Self Storage and TPP's new RV deductible reimbursement product.Also to Bob Hayworth from Toy Storage Nation and Ashley Scarbrough one of the winners in the Tenant Property Protections big Presidents club for Managers! Harry and the Wilder Crew!

Follow me on my socials:   Soundcloud Spotify Apple Music Instagram Facebook     Just a few Beats #17     Exis                        -          The Count Jaf B                        -          Drop without Limit Coopex, TwoWorlsApart & Mary Jensen-          Strangers CamelPhat                        -          Easier (feat. LOWES) Felguk & NUZB            -          Blazin Nora En Pure            -          Cognitive Fadings (Club Mix) Duke Dumont-           Red Light Green Light (feat. Shaun Ross) (Extended Edit) Saint Punk            -          Closer Tonight Gabry Ponte            -          Give My All (Martin Jensen Edit) FISHER             -          Wanna Go Dancin' Leony            -          Faded Love (NOON Remix) Jordan Jay-           Look at Me Now (feat. Tungevaag)(Tungevaag Edit) Lotus, Salt-N-Pepa & El Profesor -           Push It! (feat. SPYZR)(El Profesor RMX) Julian Jordan & Will K -          The Box (Extended Mix) Midres            -          The Business (Remix) Marshmello & Imanbek-          Too Much (feat Usher)(Alle Farben RMX) VIZE & ALOTT            -          Away Tony Junior & Reggio -          Burnin' Up (Extended Mix) Jannis Block, Blaze & Relu-          Dance with Me VIZE & ALOTT-           End of Slaphouse Jax Jones, Aura & VIZE-          I miss u (VIZE Remix) Bassjackers-          Show Me Your Love VIZE & Alan Walker-          Space Melody (Edward Artemyev)(feat. Leony & Edward Artemyev) VIZE & Tokio Hotel-          White Lies ILLENIUM, Dabin & Lights-          Hearts on Fire (Timmy Trumpet Remix) KYANU & H3ARTACHE-          Sleepwalking Tempo Giusto-          In Another Life Topmodelz & Chris Deelay-          Keep on Movin ‘ (Uwaukh Remix) Klaas                                    -          How Far Can We Go (Averro Remix) Harris & Ford & Neptunica-          Bye Bye

Follow me on my socials:   Soundcloud Spotify Apple Music Instagram Facebook     Just a few Beats #17     Exis                        -          The Count Jaf B                        -          Drop without Limit Coopex, TwoWorlsApart & Mary Jensen-          Strangers CamelPhat                        -          Easier (feat. LOWES) Felguk & NUZB            -          Blazin Nora En Pure            -          Cognitive Fadings (Club Mix) Duke Dumont-           Red Light Green Light (feat. Shaun Ross) (Extended Edit) Saint Punk            -          Closer Tonight Gabry Ponte            -          Give My All (Martin Jensen Edit) FISHER             -          Wanna Go Dancin’ Leony            -          Faded Love (NOON Remix) Jordan Jay-           Look at Me Now (feat. Tungevaag)(Tungevaag Edit) Lotus, Salt-N-Pepa & El Profesor -           Push It! (feat. SPYZR)(El Profesor RMX) Julian Jordan & Will K -          The Box (Extended Mix) Midres            -          The Business (Remix) Marshmello & Imanbek-          Too Much (feat Usher)(Alle Farben RMX) VIZE & ALOTT            -          Away Tony Junior & Reggio -          Burnin’ Up (Extended Mix) Jannis Block, Blaze & Relu-          Dance with Me VIZE & ALOTT-           End of Slaphouse Jax Jones, Aura & VIZE-          I miss u (VIZE Remix) Bassjackers-          Show Me Your Love VIZE & Alan Walker-          Space Melody (Edward Artemyev)(feat. Leony & Edward Artemyev) VIZE & Tokio Hotel-          White Lies ILLENIUM, Dabin & Lights-          Hearts on Fire (Timmy Trumpet Remix) KYANU & H3ARTACHE-          Sleepwalking Tempo Giusto-          In Another Life Topmodelz & Chris Deelay-          Keep on Movin ‘ (Uwaukh Remix) Klaas                                    -          How Far Can We Go (Averro Remix) Harris & Ford & Neptunica-          Bye Bye

Happy 2021! No MATTER WHAT is going on right now? You have access to YOUR particular power - you can become HER. NOW. Click your heels together and decide that you are your FABULOUS YOU, NOW! I do this every day - I become my future ME NOW.  I embody her by walking as her, dressing as her and consciously being her for sections of my day. It doesn't matter how you're feeling - this power, this alchemy - this option is yours now if you want to take it. THIS is how we MOVE into 2021, THIS is how we transform this year to move to our highest timeline, quickly. Become HER and let's become her in 2021 - NOW. xxxFor more love and support, head to https://marinaj.net/

Season 1 Episode 4 features an interview with Chanel Porchia Albert. We discuss how she became a doula, why she started Ancient Song Doula Services, the role of doulas in and beyond birthwork, and how Ancient Song is pivoting during this pandemic moment. We also chat about intergenerational hope and birthwork as political work for both the birthing person and the doula supporting them.Chanel Porchia Albert Bio:Commissioner Chanel L. Porchia Albert CD, CPD, CLC, CHHC is the Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Ancient Song Doula Services: a reproductive health organization of over 70 full-spectrum community-based doulas focused on providing resources and full-spectrum doula services to women of color and marginalized communities throughout NYC and Northern New Jersey. She is a certified lactation counselor, midwifery assistant, and vegan chef who has served on various advisory boards throughout the country. When she is not working on legislative policy or facilitating workshops, you can find her spending time with her six children.References During the Episode:Follow Chanel (@chanel_porchia) and Ancient Song Doula Services (@ancientsong) on InstagramLearn more about the Listen to Me Now! CampaignIf you live in NYC and need a care package/box from Ancient Song, email info@ancientsongdoulaservices.comDonate to Ancient Song via PayPal or via their Amazon wishlistStay tuned for announcements from Ancient Song about the Virtual Decolonizing Birth Conference in Fall 2020 and recipients of the Juneteenth Birthworker Seed FundYoung Lords takeover of Lincoln Hospital in 1970 on WNYCQuestions to consider after the episode:How can we center intergenerational hope in birthwork and community organizing?How to engage people who experience oppression and marginalization in political organizing and policy work? In world building work? How do we meet folks where they are so they too can bring their voices and experiences into the processes that shape our world? Birthwork is political work. For birthworkers: what is the work you can do to address unequal birth outcomes and experiences?Hosted by Taja LindleyProduced by Colored Girls HustleMusic, Soundscape and Audio Engineering by Emma AlabasterSupport our work on Patreon or make a one-time payment via PayPalFor more information visit BirthJustice.nyc This podcast is made possible, in part, by the Narrative Power Stipend - a grant funded by Forward Together for members of&Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/TajaLindley)