Podcasts about project distinct

No employee — or the organization they work for — starts a day thinking, “Another chance to deliver lousy service to our customers!” However, many do. Today’s PROJECT DISTINCT takes a look at several organizations in varied industries and examines the specific steps they take to deliver distinctive service. And, NONE of these are expensive — they’re all steps YOU can take, no matter what you do! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why is it that we accept “satisfaction” as success in customer relationships — yet, we find it so average in our personal ones? In part, Scott McKain suggests on today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, because we are unwilling to drill more deeply into the negative aspects that have eroded our customer’s enthusiasm. We must eliminate the points of friction that prevent our customers from receiving an Ultimate Customer Experience®! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After spending thirty nights in a Sydney hotel last year, a loyal customer assumed a problem would be addressed. He was wrong. Too often we overlook LTV — expressed as either Long-Term Value or Lifetime Value of a customer. On today’s new PROJECT DISTINCT recorded in Australia, Scott McKain talks about a critical aspect of business success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it really better to be different? Scott McKain says, “Maybe not.” The distinctive professional or organization finds unique approaches that creates more traction and higher engagement with customers. So, where do you find the best ideas on how you accomplish that difficult task? On today’s Project Distinct, Scott reveals that — as counterintuitive as it sounds — the way to be distinctive is to be derivative…and he shows you how. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain researched several resources looking for the answer to the question: “What is the single most important skill required to deliver excellent customer service?” While many experts offered complex answers, today’s episode will reveal one from a post on CustomerThink.com that captured the essence of service and the one skill that will never fail to enhance any touchpoint with a customer. Do you have it — use it — and provide to your customers? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a movie is presented to a test audience, directors then have choices to make before they finish the product for the potential audience. As Scott McKain reveals in today’s Project Distinct, those same three options can help you connected with your customers at a higher level. Perhaps you need to “re-shoot, re-cast, or re-edit” at your business! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Indianapolis sports radio celebrity Kent Sterling posted about his horrible experience at a local McDonald’s because of the local managers, it reminded Scott McKain of a recent Forbes.com blog about the “Five Customer Service Practices That Drive Consumers Crazy.” Today’s PROJECT DISTINCT will reveal those five errors so you don’t inadvertently create for your customers a bad experience like McDonald’s did for Sterling! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Salesforce reports that customer expectations are changing! That means the time is right for you to deliver what Scott McKain has trademarked as the “Ultimate Customer Experience.” In today’s Project Distinct, he’ll reveal the first step to the UCE —it’s just considering what one would be for YOUR customer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a recent episode, Scott McKain mentioned that half of Millennials are dissatisfied with the education and training they’re receiving to help them grow. In today’s Project Distinct, he reports from a new Harvard study that HALF of senior leaders believe they aren’t teaching the skills necessary for future leaders — even as they spend billions to do so. We’ll take a look at why training and development isn’t delivering in terms of leadership — and offer the specific prescription that research suggests to help you become the leader you want to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Product. Service. Experience. These are the “big 3” when it comes to the relationships you have with your customers. On today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain will outline the importance of all three and show how each plays an important role in the total customer experience — which can make or break repeat and referral business! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Emotion” is a word we don’t use nearly enough in business, according to Scott McKain. In today’s Project Distinct, he relates a story that brought that fact home to him — and shares the specific reasons why emotion is so important for EVERY business in today’s marketplace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While a consistent delivery of the customer experience might first be appreciated, over a period of time the sameness will bore and disengage your customers. In today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain makes the case for refreshing your customer experience — and provides the six questions you need to ask to make it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You cannot create distinction without an engaged team delivering an ultimate customer experience. On today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain reveals some shocking statistics about employee engagement — and gives you specific steps to take to enhance the involvement of your team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all experienced managers who were tough to work for — and, if that’s what you’re dealing with now, how can you handle it? In today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain shares his story of a difficult boss — and how you can avoid the mistake he made. And, he’ll reveal simple, practical steps to help you be more productive when you have to work with a difficult personality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Harvard, Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce. So, how is YOUR organization equipping them to be the leaders who will take you into the future? According to a recent study, probably not very well. Today’s Project Distinct looks at what Millennials want in training and development and Scott Mckain reveals the two steps you need to take NOW to ensure future growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard to imagine any band customizing their concert performances more than Metallica does. In today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain lists how the supergroup makes each show a special event for local fans — and relates it to the steps we need to take in business to make our customers feel more engaged. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A remarkable event created Scott McKain’s unique business philosophy: “ALL Business is Show Business.” In today’s Project Distinct, he relates the story of how it happened, and why it’s important to you and your efforts. (If you’d like to hear the entire audiobook of “ALL Business is STILL Show Business,” it’s available on Audible.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone seeks an advantage — however, we often fail to understand that what we perceive as a strength may not be compelling to customers in our market. In today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain offers three questions we should all be asking to make our competitive advantage enough to motivate our customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone seeks an advantage — however, we often fail to understand that what we perceive as a strength may not be compelling to customers in our market. In today’s Project Distinct, Scott McKain offers three questions we should all be asking to make our competitive advantage enough to motivate our customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Scott McKain was flying to a speech near Portland, Oregon today, he revisited an important lesson: no matter the size of your organization, it’s your people who deliver the customer experience. The important question becomes — especially for smaller organizations or entrepreneurs — how are you training and monitoring your team’s performance to ensure that they deliver as you desire? That’s the topic of today’s PROJECT DISTINCT! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Shaun Belding, writing on Entrepeneur.com, companies are losing $75 BILLION a year because of inferior customer service. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain will reveal the three aspects you need to fix — which is, in fact, three great places to start, as well — if you want to deliver the “Ultimate Customer Experience.®” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all desire higher levels of engagement with our customers and employees. Did you know there are three specific qualities that are required in order to make that happen? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain outlines for us these three qualities — and gives us the critical reasons why they are vital to our professional and organizational success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In any organization, EVERYONE is responsible for the customer experience. However, the latest evidence clearly shows that it is of such great importance that the CEO — even the Board of Directors — must consider it as “job #1.” On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain provides the evidence and reasoning behind why delivering an “Ultimate Customer Experience ®” is the single most important thing any business does, regardless of its size or number of employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With more ways than ever to connect with customers, we now have more ways to miscommunicate with them, as well! On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain takes a look at the most impactful — and memorable — form of distinctive business communication: narrative. Here’s why the stories you tell are more memorable than the statements you share — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a special episode of PROJECT DISTINCT, our guest host — author and marketing consultant, John Jantsch — will talk about entrepreneurial success. John’s forthcoming book, “The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur” is a guide for creating a deeper relationship with the entrepreneurial journey. Today’s episode is a deep and insightful look at an important topic — one that is a “must listen!” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all say we want happy customers — but, are we willing to make the effort to ensure we create happy employees who can deliver the type of customer experience that will help us achieve that goal? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain will review specific points that will help us create a culture of happy employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s so much talk about Artificial Intelligence and how it’s going to revolutionize everything from driving our cars to the experiences we have as customers. Yet, Scott McKain asks in today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, will it REALLY have a disruptive impact? Or, do we need to tap the brakes just a bit on what we think is the future of CX and AI? You’ll find out on this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one wants their business to be disrupted — yet, we see it happening around us almost every day. How do you make certain that YOU are staying connected to customers in a way that makes disruption unlikely? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain analyzes why disruption happens — and why distinction is the vaccine that prevents it from occurring to you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’d all like our customers to be joyful about doing business with us! But, what’s the difference between customer “joy” and customer “happiness”? And, how do we help our customers to be so joyful about our customer experience that they want to spend more, more often with us — and recommend us to their colleagues and friends? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT — a day after Apple introduced the new iPhones — Scott McKain relates his unique experience with Josh at the Apple Store as an example of creating customer joy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we read constant complaints about the preferential treatment and privilege that some receive — and how opposed to it that the general public seems to be — it begs an important question: Should some customers get preferential treatment over others? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, you’ll learn where Scott McKain stands on the issue, and why you should be teaching your team to treat customers wonderfully…but differently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott McKain’s blog post this week about challenges — and how we prepare and respond to them, both personally and professionally — received such terrific feedback that he decided to make it into today’s PROJECT DISTINCT podcast. Get ready for a thought provoking and inspiring few minutes that may help you with the challenges that CAN happen to us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You want to be certain your team or organization delivers on its promises — and that’s a good thing. But, what if — in your effort to succeed — you end up being too controlling of your team and micromanaging. Scott McKain knows the problem — he admits he has been guilty of it! On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott looks at what the dangers are of micromanagement — and how to break yourself of this habit for the benefit of you and your colleagues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine kickoff at one of this weekend’s NFL games with no yardage markers on the field or goal lines over which to score. How excited would you be to cheer your team if you didn’t know how they could win the game? So, why do we fail to onboard customers into our loyalty programs — then wonder why they aren’t more engaged when we haven’t taught them how to win at our game? Based on new and insightful research from Brierley + Partners, today’s PROJECT DISTINCT reveals why you need to consider developing a video game-like tutorial for your loyalty program. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are all pretty decent at saying “thank you” when someone buys our products or services. Yet, to stand out from the competition, we must take a unique approach. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain provides two specific times we can say thanks to customers that most organizations and professionals overlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Too often it seems with think of winning as some kind of Super Bowl-esque moment where we get to spike the ball, bask in the adoration of cheering customers and colleagues, and raise a trophy towards the heavens. However, we know in business that real life isn’t like that at all. That’s why significant leaders need to consider the importance of small wins to build the team’s momentum and grow the confidence of your team members. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain discusses the importance of the small win — and provides an example of how we can model and deliver that for ourselves and our organizations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s not personal, it’s business.” But, is that REALLY anyway to do business? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain argues that ALL business is personal…and he gives us a great story of how one business — the Taj Palace in New Delhi — made his visit memorable by making it personal! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A famous book tells us, “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.” Yet, for most businesses and professionals, sweating the details is an essential element in distinction. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain will tell us why we should pay attention to the small details, and offers a three-step plan to help us know how to “sweat the small stuff.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are coming from a good place: we want to get better, personally and professionally. Thus, we often fall for promises that cannot be delivered upon — and often feel that we have failed, not that the promise was ridiculous. In a recent post by Brad Stulberg, titled “The Problem with ‘Hack’ Culture,” it’s exposed that many of the career or life “hacks” we see around us are the 21st Century equivalent to snake oil sales. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain talks about overcoming this sad aspect to our culture — and what you REALLY need to do to improve in your personal life and professional efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday’s episode generated several questions about where soft skills are in relationship and importance to hard skills. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain takes a look at the question…asks if perhaps we need different names for those qualities…and expands on why both are critical to success, but one is more important in today’s hyper-competitive world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s an old business cliche that says, “You can only manage what you can measure.” On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain reveals why that saying is a blatant lie in today’s marketplace. Citing research from Harvard Business Review, this episode is how a focus on metrics can actually create significant problems for you and your organization! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything you want is currently controlled by someone else. The money for the future of your business is currently in the hands of customers and prospects. The promotion you desire is under the control of someone else in your organization. The college where your kids want to attend gets to choose whether they will be admitted or not. So, how do you get chosen for what you want in business and life? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain outlines four steps that will help move us toward the type of performance and achievement we need to attain to get chosen for what we want in business and in life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just curious — do you suppose that pushy salespeople like dealing with aggressive sales types when THEY are the customer? Probably not. Yet, it continues to happen. So, how do you make sales when no one wants to be “closed”? Today’s PROJECT DISTINCT agrees that sales is a numbers game. The problem is, most sales people don’t examine ALL of the numbers! You’ll learn what that means on today’s episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the recent Ultimate Business Summit, an important and insightful point was made: “Displaying your understanding of the customer’s problem is more important than presenting your solution.” This means that we all must be constantly learning and listening to ascertain the real problems that our customers — both external and internal — are facing. How can we accomplish that? It’s the topic on today’s PROJECT DISTINCT! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if you could ask three primary questions that would help you discover how to deliver an Ultimate Customer Experience ®? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain reveals these three simple — but fundamentally important — questions that you should ask yourself to help enhance your ability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you think exactly like everyone else in your industry, you won’t have the creative ideas required to create distinction. So, what if you started looking at what other iconic organizations do to serve their customers? Scott McKain noticed a recent blog post that used World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a model — and, believe it or not, it makes a great point! On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, you’ll discover three reasons that you should be taking concepts from the WWE and applying them to your business! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, “It’s All About CEX: The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience,” Jason Bradshaw — Chief Customer and Marketing Officer and Director of Customer Experience for Volkswagen Group Austraila — points out that we “must transcend the obvious” as we deal with our customers. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain reveals this viewpoint of his friend and client...and discusses what it means for you to go beyond what’s obvious to generate a higher level of experience for YOUR customers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a month of travel, Scott McKain is back with a NEW episode today — and it focuses on FOCUS. Not only was that the name of the conference for wealth managers of LPL Financial where he was a speaker, it’s also related to the First Cornerstone of Distinction: CLARITY. It’s one of the most important aspects any leader needs to understand in order to stand out and move up. And, it’s the topic of today’s PROJECT DISTINCT! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve been trained to think we must have a positive approach to business — sometimes to the point that we think anyone who brings us negative information must be a negative employee! Sadly, that means many organizations and managers create a “shoot the messenger” approach. This means we sometimes aren’t learning of friction we need to eliminate to deliver an Ultimate Customer Experience ®. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain discusses what he learned in his research for the book, ICONIC, and the importance of “positive negativity” to eliminate the points of customer irritation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We know that an Ultimate Customer Experience ® has to be consistently delivered — it cannot be a random occurrence. That’s one way that automation and AI can help a business of any size. However, we also know that customers want humanity and transparency. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain addresses that conundrum, and offers some thoughts on how we walk that fine line between efficiency and engagement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his recent book, ICONIC, Scott McKain revealed that organizations and professionals who achieve the highest level of distinction “play offense.” In other words, they take charge rather than focus on being reactive to situations in their respective marketplaces. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott relates six steps to an offensive mindset that will allow you to take charge and become iconic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices