Podcasts about yanique

This episode features Yanique Williams, the Public Policy Manager for Uber Canada's Western region, who transitioned to the tech sector after eight years in Canadian politics. She shares insights on navigating that shift, leading policy initiatives across four provinces, and driving national safety efforts focused on road safety, personal safety, and women's safety. Yanique also discusses her leadership in Black at Uber ERGs and her commitment to equity and community impact. Tune in for an impactful conversation on navigating public policy in the private sector!Host: Iyanu Soyege------ Connect with the 1834 Foundation and its initiatives below:Instagram (1834 Fellowship): instagram.com/1834fellowshipTwitter (1834 Fellowship): twitter.com/1834FellowshipLinkedIn (1834 Fellowship): linkedin.com/1834-foundationInstagram (1834 Global): instagram.com/1834globalTwitter (1834 Global): twitter.com/1834global

Send us a textIn this solo episode of "Navigating the Customer Experience," host Yanique Grant reflects on her podcasting journey and offers encouragement to those considering starting their own. With 245 episodes under her belt and a recent transition to video podcasting, Yanique shares insights on overcoming fears and embracing new challenges.Yanique begins by discussing her mission through her company, Professional Training & Occupational Services, which aims to create a more caring world. Inspired by the cartoon "Care Bears," she emphasizes that customer experience is a vital part of life and encourages listeners to view their interactions as opportunities to serve others.As she dives into her podcasting experience, Yanique reveals her initial apprehensions about switching to video format. However, through research and conversations with fellow podcasters, she has begun to embrace this new medium, finding it a rewarding way to connect and share knowledge.She believes that customer experience is not just a professional focus but a lifestyle that requires commitment and passion. Yanique encourages those feeling timid about starting a podcast or business to take action, reminding them that success comes from trying, even in the face of fear and anxiety. She acknowledges that even successful individuals face challenges, but overcoming these obstacles can lead to personal growth.Yanique also emphasizes the importance of sharing knowledge and skills. With numerous platforms available today, everyone has the opportunity to showcase their unique talents—whether it's baking, crafting, or any other skill. She reassures listeners that they possess unique value that cannot be replicated, and encourages them to embrace their individuality.Continuing her message of empowerment, Yanique highlights the vast resources available online for learning and growth. She believes that anyone can learn new skills with a little effort and encourages listeners to leverage online platforms to their advantage.In closing, Yanique expresses her gratitude for the support of her audience, inviting them to share feedback and suggestions for future episodes. She hopes that listeners find the same passion in their pursuits as she does in teaching customer service. By surrounding themselves with positive influences and focusing on their goals, Yanique believes that anyone can achieve their dreams.Tune in to this inspiring episode for valuable insights on embracing your journey, whether in podcasting, business, or personal growth!

Send us a textIn this episode of Navigating the Customer Experience, host Yanique Grant interviews Rusty Rueff, a seasoned leader with a diverse career in entertainment, talent management, and philanthropy. Rusty shares insights from his journey, which includes significant roles at PepsiCo and Electronic Arts (EA), where he was instrumental in global human resources and talent management.Rusty discusses the core concepts from his latest book, The Faith Code, emphasizing the importance of building a life platform based on enduring values and relationships rather than transient interests. He highlights the need for balance among mind, body, and spirit to achieve personal fulfillment and professional success.The conversation also explores the relationship between personal wellness and delivering exceptional customer experiences, with both Rusty and Yanique stressing the significance of self-care. Rusty shares his mantra: "Fearlessly be yourself," underscoring authenticity as a key element of effective leadership.Additionally, Rusty addresses the impact of technology on society and encourages embracing innovations like generative AI to enhance productivity. He expresses excitement about future projects, including recording an audiobook version of The Faith Code and engaging in new ventures that foster meaningful connections among people.This episode is rich with practical advice and reflections on navigating life with purpose and intention, making it a valuable listen for anyone looking to improve their customer experience skills or integrate holistic wellness into their daily routine.

Marybeth Alexander has been the Knowledge Goddess and Chief Executive Owl at KnowledgeOwl since she co-founded the company with Pete in 2015. As KnowledgeOwl's CEO, she's responsible for embodying KnowledgeOwl's mission and values, which include using business as a force for good, cultivating a people-first company, giving excellent service to everyone, and creating awesome knowledge based software.   Questions  · We always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey. So, if you could share with our listeners just a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are today. · Could you share with our audience what exactly is KnowledgeOwl, and what do you do on a daily basis? · What are some of the successes that you've experienced as a CEO of an organization of this nature, and if you were to predict where you see customers experience going in another 3 to 5 years, based on where the technology is currently, what are some of your predictions where that's concerned? · Now, Marybeth, can you share with our listeners, what's the one online resource, tool, website or application that you absolutely can't live without in your business? · Can you also share with our listeners, maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently that had a great impact on you, and it could be an impact that affected you personally or professionally. · Now, 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? · Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share with us a quote. So, do you have a quote that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those?   Highlights Marybeth's Journey Me: Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey. So, if you could share with our listeners just a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are today.   Marybeth shared that she'll try to do the short version of this. So, she just loves helping people. All of her jobs are her favorite, her favorite jobs have always revolved around people. She loved being a camp counselor, she was a teacher. She also really loved working in hospitality. She loved working at restaurants and bartending and serving folks. And then she transitioned into software support, and she loved helping people there too.  So, she got into software. She was a teacher for a while, and then she transitioned into software, which was actually a pretty good transition, because a lot of the same skills that make you a good teacher for kids also makes you good at doing software support for adults.  So, she grew her leadership in that realm, and she went from being on the support team to being a team lead, to a manager, to a director, and then she got this little opportunity to head up a product, which was a knowledge based product, it was called Help Gizmo at the time.  And she took that opportunity. I was basically like the product owner or manager of that product, and they brought it to market, and then that company didn't want to continue that project, so they ended up giving them the opportunity to buy it, and that is how she accidentally ended up as the CEO of a software company.  She likes to call herself an accidental entrepreneur, because she didn't start out that way, but as luck would have it, she got the opportunity, and now it's been almost 10 years.   What is KnowledgeOwl? Me: Now, Marybeth, could you share with our audience what exactly is KnowledgeOwl, and what do you do on a daily basis?   Marybeth shared that KnowledgeOwl, they call it knowledge based software, but it was essentially, what knowledge based software is, is a specific type of software that allows you to create a website to share information with whoever your audience is, that is often times your customers.  So, a lot of people use them for their help center and documentation for their software products, but they also sometimes use it for their products for their customers, they have airlines who use them for their help and FAQs, for their customers on their website.  They have customer service teams that use them as a knowledge base for their call center agents. They have lots of companies that use them as their internal knowledge base for all of their playbooks and policies and procedures. So, pretty much what they do every day is help people with these knowledge based websites that help them help their customers, whoever they might be.   Me: I think knowledge base is an extremely good thing for customers, because I do find if a customer has an issue, they tend to do their own troubleshooting first before they actually pick up the phone and call a company or even reach out to a representative at a company. So, if you have a strong knowledge base, you're actually empowering the customer to fix the problem themselves.    Marybeth agreed totally yes, most people do not want to contact your support team, there are a small percentages of people that do, but most people want to be able to self-serve. And when we're talking about giving your customers a great experience and giving them great customer service, a big part of that is allowing them to get help the way they want to get help, and most people would prefer to do it themselves.    Me: So, walk me through, let's choose an industry, let's say, for example, an automotive industry. You sell motor vehicles, for example, and you are trying to create a knowledge base for your team members, so this would be internal with let's say product knowledge, or just general information that customers may call and ask about frequently. Is it that they have to document the information and then give it to you, and you feed it into the knowledge based software, or is that something that you provide for them as well, the research and the documentation that is fed into the knowledge based software?   Marybeth shared that they basically provide the software tool for them. So, their customers like, let's say this automotive, this car service company or automotive company, they would purchase KnowledgeOwl and then somebody on their team would be the one that would put all the content in. So, often times this could be a manager of a team, sometimes you have somebody whose job it is to do like documentation or training, but often times it is like the support team itself, like the people doing the work, they will go in there and document the answers to questions, because on many support teams, you know what team leads end up doing, or like the advanced folks on the team that have been there for a while, is they end up being the go to person and having to answer the same questions over and over again for the other teammates.  So, rather than just answering those same questions over and over again, those people will go to the knowledge based software create a document that says, here's information about this automotive vehicle, here's information like a frequent process that we use. And here's how to do this for the customer, and they'll write it down, so that way their teammates can then reference that or look for it in the knowledge base and get the answer without having to ask them.  So, it speeds up the process and the not just internally, but also it helps the customers get answers faster, because the teammates can find the information they need to help the customers faster.    Me: And your knowledge based software facilitates different formats, so, for example, it could be an audio file, it could be a video file, it could be just a document that the customer is reading.   Marybeth stated exactly. So, it's basically a website. She likes to tell people, pretty much anything you can put in a website, you can put it inside KnowledgeOwl.  So, a lot of times it's going to be text. So, a lot of times it's processes, it's procedures, it's information. But in terms of training in like a video format, you could have audio files in there. You could even like host files. So, if you need to have, like a PDF document or a forum that you need to print and give to a customer, you can store those in the knowledge base as well to make it easy for people to find, print, download it and use that information.  So, essentially, a knowledge base can become sort of the single source of truth for your team. So, rather than having to remember where this forum lives, or where that procedure lives, or where the information about like that car lives, it's all in the same place, so that people can search one place and go to one place to find all of the information they need to do their jobs.   Me: And if the organization already has their own website, Mary Beth, is it that knowledge base has some form of feature that integrates into what they have already, so you live on their server that exists? Or do they have to host their website now through your website?   Marybeth shared that it's not their whole website. So, a knowledge base is typically a separate website. So, you might have your website, which is like www.likemyamazingcompany.com and then you might have your knowledge base for your customers, and that might be on help.myamazingcompany.com or support.myamazingcompany.com so it's actually a separate website that people can go to that is either public or it could be behind a login, because sometimes you only want your logged in customers to access it, or especially if it's an internal knowledge base, you probably only want your employees accessing all of your internal company information.  So, it's often times a separate website. But there are ways you can integrate the knowledge base into your main website if you want to. They have an embeddable help widget, some people go a little bit more advanced with that, but generally it's a separate, standalone website that complements the information on your regular website.   Predictions for Customer Experience in the Next 3 to 5 Years Me: Now, since you've been in this operation for about 10 years you mentioned earlier, what are some of the successes that you've experienced as a CEO of an organization of this nature, and if you were to predict where you see customers experience going in another 3 to 5 years, based on where the technology is currently, what are some of your predictions where that's concerned?   Marybeth shared that in terms of successes, her successes are all going to be people based because I think, like you, she was looking at Yanique's website, it's for her, it's all about the people, and giving people a great experience and making sure that not only, like their customers are having a great experience and love working with them and love using their software, but also that the people that work with them, like their staff members are having a great experience working for KnowledgeOwl too and their vendors who are having a great experience working with them as a company.  So, for her, like the biggest success has been building a community of not just customers, but staff members and team members and other vendors and organizations, a really supportive community that cares about each other. But in terms of looking forward in the industry, it's a very interesting time; especially with the word that is on everybody's mind right now is AI. So, everyone is talking about chatbots, right? So, everybody wants to talk about how they can make a ChatGPT for their company and their customers, and they can automate more of your customer service and their customer experience. But for them and who knows what it's going to look like in 3 to 5 years, because the landscape is changing so fast. But what she does strongly feel like is having your company knowledge documented, like having your product, your services, everything in a knowledge base is now more important than ever, because especially with AI, the only way that AI learns is by getting trained.  And one of the best ways to train your AI is to have all of your policies, your procedures, your documentation about your company, your product and your services and your processes written down so that the AI can learn.  So, she thinks what we're going to see over the next 3 to 5 years is even more formal focus on creating and maintaining great documentation, which for many companies, that's always been really important.   So, like most business books you're going to read at the end of the day, the magic secret to like growing your business is to document everything right and to document all your policies and procedures and processes so that you can scale your company, and other people can do what you do.  And that's always sort of been the not very sexy, but honest truth about what great companies look like as they have their policies and procedures and everything well documented. But she thinks what we're going to start to see is that not only are people going to be creating like great documentation for customers and creating great documentation for their teams internally, but they're going to be creating documentation for AI tools as well.   Me: I think that's a very good point that you just brought across the fact that the knowledge base can train the AI, because a lot of times I find that even with chatbots that are attached to organizations, you may start the conversation to resolve an issue, but the bot can answer maybe just the very basic question. And so, a lot of times when I talk to people, they mention that they don't even entertain the bot because they know that they're not going to get the answer they're looking for so they automatically tell the bot they'd like to speak with a live representative, or an agent for the conversation to end with the bot and actually be talking to a live human being in the chat. But maybe that could mitigate the intervention of live agents or representatives if it is that the bot is, as you mentioned, trained fully by the policies that have been documented and simple questions that maybe is embedded in your website, or maybe the customer is not able to quickly identify, the bot can say, “Okay, this is the policy or this is the rate for this,” or whatever the information is as it relates to the organization, again, minimizing the customer having to reach out to someone and speak to them in person or live.   Marybeth agreed and shared that she thinks what's going to be the sort of people of this is we're going to get to a point, probably here in the next 3 to 5 to 10 years, where you might have trouble telling whether you're talking to a real human or a bot. So, think about like the chats on website. So, a lot of bots, you can tell they're a bot because they tell you that they're a bot and it's very simplistic, but the more conversational bots, like, if you've had a chat with ChatGPT, like it's conversational, it can go back and forth with you, you can have an ongoing conversation that builds upon what you were previously talking about.  So, she thinks there is going to be a lot, and it's already starting. There are a lot of AI customer enablement tools, customer service enablement tools that they've been testing, and they've seen other companies using that learn from your knowledge base and your past emails and conversations, what your tone is, how you usually respond, what the correct answer is most likely to be. And there are these tools out there that right now, if they're confident, they can actually reply as an agent would, versus having the agent actually do it. And there's a lot of companies that are very nervous about that with good measure, because we don't want people giving out bad information.  But the agents are suddenly becoming, they're just double checking before the bot sends their answer, but the bots actually writing everything and creating the response and then having that engagement. So, she thinks we might get to a point where sometimes it might be hard to tell whether it's a real person or not.   App, Website or Tool that Marybeth Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about an online resource that she can't live without in her business, Marybeth mentioned if it's cheating to say KnowledgeOwl?  KnowledgeOwl is interesting because that is where they document not just everything about their products. They have their customer facing knowledge base, which they use to understand how their product works and their customers do as well. But they have all of their internal company documentation in KnowledgeOwl as well. But as a team, they're a remote team, so they're 100% remote, they're distribute everywhere.  So, their team relies a lot on Slack to connect with each other and have like an online space where they all can all exist and not just talk about work but talk about life and interact with everybody. And it's that necessarily that Slack is that important, because if Slack wasn't there, they'd probably be using Microsoft Teams or some other tool to do that collaboration. But having collaborative, like a space for your team to collaborate together and help each other out and just sort of be together and care for each other as humans is really important, especially we move into an age where there's like less in person interactions and support teams and customer services teams are often going to be distributed. She thinks having that space is really important.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Marybeth When asked about books that have had a great impact, Marybeth shared that she's actually going to give you three. So, yes, she's got three for you. So, number one, it was Zingerman's Guide to Giving Great Service, and she probably first read this about 15 years ago, someone gave it to her, and she said, “What does this have to do? I'm running a software company support team. This is a food service book.” And she read it, and it was the first time that she actually saw someone be able to define the steps to actually giving great service and the steps to actually handle a complaint. And it might have seemed really simple at first, but she has been using the same framework for about 15 years now, and it really works. So, it was the first time she was able to take something that was very conceptional, like great service, and actually give someone a process to follow. So that's number one, is Zingerman's Guide to Great Service.   A compliment to that is Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, it's a series of books. There's one on building a great business, there's one on being a better leader, there's one on managing ourselves, and another one's about the power of beliefs in business. And these books and series of books have really influenced her whole philosophy about the type of company she wants to build, about the types of teams she wants to build and how she wants to treat people. So, those have been really important to me.  And then her third one, which is more for the business owners or the team leaders on here, but it is Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell, it came out last year or the year before, but it has been life changing for her, and sort of organizing her life and figuring out how to grow herself as a leader.    What Marybeth is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that she's excited about, Marybeth shared that she thought about this one a little bit, and this might sound a little bit wild, so she's like a customer service person at heart. Like, support is her jam, she loves customer service, but what she's really excited about right now is sales and marketing. The reason she's very excited about sales and marketing is because she's done a complete 180. When she first started KnowledgeOwl, she thought sales and marketing were bad words, she thought they were icky. They did not have anybody doing sales and marketing, a dedicated team, and they grew their company to this point without really focusing on sales and marketing, because they thought it was something sort of gross, like, she's a support person, she likes helping people, and she sort of see sales and marketing, or she used think about sales and marketing as sort of this other thing that businesses had to do, but it was sort of gross.   And what she's realized recently is that sales and marketing can be done good, or it can be done poorly like many things, it's just a tool, and if we think about it through the lens of customer experience and customer service, and how do we add more value for our customers, and how do we give them a better experience in the world?   And how do we do more good, then sales and marketing become a really interesting skill to learn and problem to figure out, because she thinks they can do it in a way that is true to their values. And it's very people centered and is very helpful and is very centered in service. And it's a totally new area for her. So, she's getting to learn, she's getting to apply all of her learnings and feelings about customer service and experiences to the realms of sales and marketing, and she's really excited to figure it all out with her team.   Where can listeners find Marybeth online? LinkedIn - Marybeth Alexander LinkedIn – KnowledgeOwl Website – www.knowledgeowl.com Email – marybeth@knowledgeowl.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Marybeth Uses When asked about a quote that she tends to revert to, Marybeth shared that she has many of those. She loves a good mantra. And she thinks her favorite one that she keeps returning to, and she writes it down a lot is….Enjoy yourself. And to her, it's a quote from a song that she really likes. But in times of adversity, when things seem to her not going well, when she feels like she's unmoored or a little bit lost, remembering that life is short and that it's shorter than we think, and to remember to enjoy ourselves, and it brings her back to her why. It brings her back to her purpose, and it really helps her to refocus things. So, it brings her back to that positive frame of mind. So, enjoy yourself.   Me: So, Marybeth, just want to extend our gratitude to you for taking time out of your very busy schedule and jumping on our podcast with us today. Conversation was amazing, just learning about Knowledge Owl, and just learning about the impact of a knowledge base and the future of customer experience as it relates to integrating the knowledge base into our different platforms and allowing the customer to be able to self-serve and resolve their issues that much quicker and get information at the tip of their fingers. So, I think it was really insightful, I hope that my listeners gained as much insight from it as I did. I thought it was wonderful, and I just want to thank you so much for sharing with us today.   Please connect with us on X @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •    Zingerman's Guide to Giving Great Service by Ari Weinzweig •    Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 1: A Lasped Anarchist's Approach to Building a Business by Ari Weinzweig •    Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstruck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire by Dan Martell   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Bob Carrothers has 29 years of experience, he facilitates peer-to-peer boards of CEOs and executives, creating environments conducive to skill enhancement, informed decision-making and superior results. Bob is certified as an Emergenetics advisor and Predictive Index practitioner, equipping him with a profound understanding of human behaviour and cognition.    Questions · So, we always like to ask our guests, in your own words, could you share a little bit about your journey? How you got from where you were to where you are today? · What would you say maybe if you could pick three overarching tenets or competencies that you believe CEOs need to practice or embrace in order to really achieve the three areas that just mentioned. · What are some of the key things that make an organization successful? · Now, Bob, can you also share with our audience, what's the one online resource, tool, website or application that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? · Now, can you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that you have read, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it had a great impact on you, whether it be personally or professionally. · Bob, can you share with our audience what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you are really excited about, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. · Where can listeners find you online? · Now, before we wrap our episodes up, Bob, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those?   Highlights Bob's Journey Me: So, we always like to ask our guests, in your own words, could you share a little bit about your journey? How you got from where you were to where you are today?   Bob shared that it's been a very interesting journey. He started out as an entrepreneur; he had companies involved in the meat trading business. So, they bought and sold animal parts, lungs, livers, kidneys, everything that was most people would consider waste from an animal, and then they would resell them to people we knew wanted them, mostly to pet food companies, that's where the tonnage went. And then others to went to Mexico. Others went into sausage making, Chorizo making on the West Coast. They just find a buyer and go do it. And they'd go into a packing house and buy their entire production of lungs or livers or whatever, and then resell it into the pet food canning business. So, it's been an interesting ride.  In 1996 he got out of that business. He sold it to his management team, and they took it over, and they're still running it. And then after that, he started another company that failed miserably. He lost a ton of money. He was crushed, and it was hard and then he looked around, and he'd been a Vistage member, and he loved it. And he knew that with all the ups and downs he's had in his life, he could help people from making mistakes and doing what he did and living that life. So, he reached out to his past business chair, and he hired him, and that was in 1996, so he's been doing this ever since, September of 1996, so it's been quite a ride.   Overarching Tenets or Competencies CEO's Need to Embrace to Unlock Their Potential, Enhance Performance and Achieve Their Goals Me: Now, you focus on empowering CEOs to unlock their full potential, enhance their performance and achieve their goals. Based on your many years of experience, Bob in this space, working, I'm sure with CEOs and entrepreneurs across different industries, what would you say maybe if you could pick three overarching tenets or competencies that you believe CEOs need to practice or embrace in order to really achieve the three areas that I just mentioned.   Bob shared that he thinks they need to establish a great culture in their company and mind it. Nurture it and protect it, because culture trumps everything, nothing else matters. Your people won't be happy, you won't keep people, you will make your customers angry, your suppliers angry, and you'll do a really bad job because your employees won't care. And so, that's the first thing he would say, is build a strong culture.  The second thing is to hire correctly, be slow to hire and fast to make them available to industry. So, that's really important. If the employee can't do the job they were hired to do, they need to move on and then hire the right people. Put a lot of effort in your hiring process. And the other one would be, watch the money. You've got to keep track of your cash flow, you got to predict what the cash is going to be down the road. Bigger companies have CFOs to do that, and then they'll report to the CEO. Smaller ones, often the CEO will do it themselves. But you have to do it, because if you run out of cash, you're out of business. It's just really simple, if you can't make payroll, then you're gone.   Key Things for an Organization Success Me: So, Bob, in working with these different organizations, right? We're trying to establish what are some of the key things that make an organization successful? And so, the customer experience is critical in all businesses regardless of whether or not you have a face-to-face type of interaction or you're just digital and people are communicating with you solely through the internet. But leadership is very important for a business, whether you're a solopreneur or you're a fortune 500 company, regardless of the size, it's driven by the leader in the organization. As it relates to customer experience, if you were to maybe give us an example of a use case, a good use case, example that you've observed over the years in working with these CEOs, what do you think are some of the key things that make them be able to have a successful customer experience, one in which their customers are their brand advocates, their evangelists, their word of mouth advertisers. If that company decided not to advertise for the next two, three years, they would still be doing great business because their customers view them as fans. What would you say are key things in that?   Bob shared that there's one company that comes to mind, and that CEO was brilliant, and the culture in the company was extremely strong. He would walk around his plant every day, and he knew everybody's name and met family members, and he'd walk up to him and just say, “Hey, Charlie, how you doing? How's the family? How's your wife? I heard your son Robbie is sick.” He would do that, and the employees felt that they were cared for.  He never stopped setting goals, he never stopped doing things that would make the work fun. He was trying to reduce shrinkage one day, and it kept bugging him, it was going on for months, and he decided he'd just do a little contest, and he went out and bought an old junker car and a whole bunch of sledgehammers, and every day the group, the employees reduced the amount of shrinkage, they could go out and beat up on the car. And it was just amazing how much fun they were having and how just beating a car, they hit their goal for sure, and it cost the CEO, like, what $500 to do that.  He had other contests like dunk the CFO, where he had one of those dunking tubs. Certain goals were reached, that was out in the parking lot. He saw him with his customers. One of their Vistage speakers impacted him so much that he invited his customers from around the country to come to his plant, see the plant, and hear this speaker present, and because it made such an impact on him, he wanted his customers to be better too, so he thought this speaker could really help him.  What else did he do? Whenever he'd walk up to somebody and they promised to do something for him, he recorded it on his phone, so he'd pull it out and before he saw them, pull up their name and say, “Hey, how are you coming on that project we talked about?” And the accountability went through the roof. Just little things like that, simple things. But he had one goal, that if the company reached so much in revenue sales, he knew that if it did, they'd make extra money, if it was over and above the regular goal, it was big….hairy….audacious goal, and he said, “If you guys hit this, I will take the entire company to Las Vegas.” Because he knew if they increased the revenue that much, the profits would go up enough to pay for the trip and then some. And he was legendary with his employees. Just things like that that are special.   Me: I think one of the things I took away from what you said just now that it's not the big things, it's like always the little things, the minor details, and they go very far away with another human being, because it shows them that you value them, you appreciate them, and they're just not there to milk, to get more money, money, money. But you value them as a person, and you recognize the fact that your success is just as important as their success.   Bob agreed, that's exactly right. That's what it takes to build a great company, is the culture you create. You want people waiting in line to go to work for you.   Me: I know right, that's awesome.   App, Website or Tool that Bob Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without, Bob shared that he hates it, but he can't live without it, it's called email. Buries him, but it's the communication is so fast, and we can send documents back and forth, and he doesn't think anybody could live without email now. We all curse it, but it's there.    Me: Agreed, because in the absence of email, we have to go back to posting a letter to your customer or to your friend or family member, and we all know the Postal Service takes forever for you to get that response. So, yeah, email is amazing.   Bob shared that he remembers those days and they'd send off a contract and wait and wait and wait to get it back, just because of the mail, or an invoice. It just was crazy. And then came fax machines, and they were huge. He bought one once and his accountant, and said, “Why do you want that thing? Nobody else has them.” And he said they will, even though they will. And that became huge, and then email took over for that.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Bob When asked about books that have had a great impact, Bob shared that Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don't was a book that had an effect on him. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant is another one. Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People.   Me: I'm actually looking at the book right now. It's sitting right in front of me.   Bob shared that that's one of the major ones. And another one he wrote was How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. So, there's several.    What Bob is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Bob shared that he's always excited about cheering, he sees so much, and he loves what he does. As far as he's not in any training right now, but Vistage offers trainings all the time, and he also does stuff outside of Vistage. But right now, he's getting ready to go on a holiday in a sprinter van, it's an RV, and that's kind of got his attention. Plus, he's got two Vistage meetings next week.   Me: So, those are your things that you're working on that you're really excited about. Fantastic.   Where can listeners find Bob online? LinkedIn - Bob Carrothers Website – www.vistage.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Bob Uses When asked about quotes that he tends to revert to, Bob shared he does, he's a big fan of Albert Einstein, and he had a quote that was, “The same level of thinking that caused a problem is not going to fix the problem.” That's not exact, but that's what it means. And that's so true. Another one is, “Everybody's a genius. But if you want to teach a fish to fly, they're going to fail and feel they're a loser from then on.” And some people just can't get it. And sometimes when things go wrong, you got to look at the people involved, or the thinking involved and reapproach it with a different level.   Me: Okay, so that second quote is more to say, maybe you need to take a few steps backward just to move forward, just to reevaluate and do it again.   Bob agreed. Reevaluate if it's an employee and they just can't get it. Maybe they're just not set up for it, and it's better to find another position for them, or another area of responsibility, or perhaps they're just not right for your company, like you got to have the right people on the bus as Jim Collins say.    Me: True. If you have the wrong people on the bus, it makes the journey that much harder.   Bob agreed, they got to be in the right seats.   Me: Well, thank you so much Bob for jumping on our podcast today and sharing all of these awesome insights as it relates to Vistage and your journey and just what are some of the key things that makes a leader successful and makes an organization successful as they navigate their customer experience through the journey of their customers lifetime. So, I think your conversation today was extremely insightful, and I just wanted to extend our deepest gratitude to you for taking time to share with us today.   Bob shared that he's really enjoyed this. Yanique ask great questions and make him think so, thank you.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest  Links • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don't by Jim Collins • Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim •    How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie •    How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Barbara Wardell and Ernesto Cullari run an agency that focuses on geofencing. This embraces a growth hacker mindset that strategically focuses on identifying and amplifying their clients' strengths while pinpointing weaknesses in the competition, utilizing GPS location data. This approach results in a significant and measurable impact on foot traffic and online engagement, making their efforts truly game changing and successful.  Questions · Now, we always like to ask our guests in their own words, if you could share a little bit about your journeys, how you got from where you were to where you are today. · Can you share with our listeners in the most simplest layman terms, what exactly is geofencing? · Organizations heavily invest in marketing, but then when the person comes to the organization to do business, case in point, let's say you visited Starbucks, and you had to wait for 20 minutes just to get a cup of coffee. You're extremely frustrated, because it's just a small item, you should be in and out in the shortest possible time. How do you tackle that with your clients? Is that something that you deal with as well? · Do you find that the behavior based on the geographic location or even the culture of the country, impacts how geofencing works? · Now we'd also like to hear from both of you, what's the one online resource, tool, website or application that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? · Can you also share with me maybe one or two books that you've read? It could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a great impact on you, whether personally or professionally. · Now, can you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that's going on in your lives right now that you are really excited about, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. · Where can listeners find you online? · Now, we always like to wrap our episodes up by asking 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 if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those? Highlights Barbara and Ernesto's Journey Me: Now, we always like to ask our guests in their own words, if you could share a little bit about your journeys, how you got from where you were to where you are today?    Barbara Wardell: Barbara shared that she and Ernesto met during Covid at a Halloween party, believe it or not, before they started their company together, they became friends. And her journey is she's a mom of two, and she was in the medical industry, specialty medicines for a long time, and then Covid hit, and then she and Ernesto met at a Halloween party, became friends, and then they started Cullari & Wardell, a geofencing ad agency, and a little over two years, they've been killing it, so growing small businesses. So, they're really lucky to do that.  Ernesto Cullari: Ernesto stated that as Barbara said, they met during Covid, they both have a medical background. For years, he was a Surgical OR Med Rep, so he would be working in the operating room with physicians utilizing novel technology to do abdominal body wall repair, post breast reconstruction after cancer and things like that. During the day, he moonlit as a professional songwriter, so he had songs on Disney radio, country radio, that he wrote for other artists. And along that journey, he became a songwriter. So, the mystery during his creative time was always wondering how to sort of growth hack, how to break an artist out into the mainstream. And they had a lot of success doing that. Paulie Litt from the show Hope & Faith, ended up having a number one song on Disney radio, which they wrote for him, and then had a top 100 song, and then top 15 country music song that he wrote for an artist named Bailey Grey.  And so, it does lead them up to Covid, because when Covid struck, part of their content, so he got more into advertising and marketing, and a lot of their clients just dropped off. And the problem that needed to be solved was how do you rebuild foot traffic, particularly in a market where the government won't let you open, when they do let you open, people are going to be slow to come back to retail. So, what do we do? So, putting that growth hacker hat back on to when he was a songwriter, he looked into geofencing, and that was about 4 years ago, and then 2 years into his journey of mastering, doing his 10,000 hours of studying geofencing technology, he and Barbara met, and it became a passion of theirs, and throughout their conversation, to help small businesses, to help them bring people back in.  People like the retail experience, people like the in-person experience, and geofencing is a powerful tool that uses satellite technology to draw virtual fences around locations of interest. It could be your competitors, and they use that to capture their devices to send ads to their devices when they come into one of their locations after seeing one of your ads, the satellite pings them and alerts them that a new GPS verified visit has taken place. And he and Barbara do about 5000 satellite verified visits in the US, Canada and Australia every month.    What is Geofencing? Me: Now, for those of our listeners that are tapping into this episode when it's broadcasted and they're getting a chance to listen into this awesome content, can you share with them in the most simplest layman terms, what exactly is geofencing?   Ernesto Cullari: stated that in the simplest terms, it is a form of advertising that uses your phone and when you walk into a location that they've identified with a satellite, he's drinking a cup of coffee at a coffee shop that he bought it at. And then in his surrounding areas, there's about 7 other coffee shops. Well, if he wants to show why he's better, he would use geofencing to draw a virtual fence around his competition. Once someone walks into a competing coffee shop with their mobile device, he can then capture their device and then send ads to their device. And the wonderful part is, is when after seeing his ad, come back to his coffee shop, he could say, “Wow, because of my ads, because I used geofencing to target their devices in my competition stores, I've therefore just measured 50 visits this month.”  So, it's critical because none of us are made of money, and advertising dollars for the small business is scarce, so we want to use our money wisely. And big companies like Chipotle, Chipotle, by the way, the CEO of Chipotle just got hired at Starbucks.   Me: I saw that yesterday.   Chipotle during Covid, utilized, he thinks it was one of their vice presidents came up with this idea, “Hey, let's use geofencing. I heard it works.” Well, during Covid, Chipotle was able to triple their curb side pickup from using geofencing. They saw where other people were picking up food, and then they decided to target those locations and let them know that, “Hey, Chipotle has curb side pickup.” So, Chipotle did so well that Starbucks needs to learn from them. As you know, a lot of Starbucks locations have been closing throughout the country, and they picked off talent from Chipotle, and he has no doubt that that talented team is going to be helping Starbucks turn around, but geofencing is part of that story.   Me: So, now our listeners have a good idea of what geofencing is and also what your organization does.   How Does Using GeoFencing as a Marketing/Advertising Tool Affect CX? Me: Now let's tie all of that back into the customer experience, right? Because we're all about navigating the customer's experience. So, you have marketed and advertised to the organizations to say, hey, you can come to this organization based on the geofencing marketing initiatives that you've put in place. Now, can you share with me how it is that the customer experience is addressed in this for example, like with your clients, because I find, for example, people spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising, not sure what the cost point is for geofencing compared to traditional media like the radio or newspaper, if it's significantly cheaper. But I find that a lot of times, organizations heavily invest in marketing, but then when the person comes to the organization to do business, case in point, let's say you visited Starbucks, and you had to wait for 20 minutes just to get a cup of coffee. You're extremely frustrated, because it's just a small item, you should be in and out in the shortest possible time. How do you tackle that with your clients? Is that something that you deal with as well?  Barbara Wardell: shared that for their end, it's the advertising end, they don't deal with the customers per se. The places that people go with their smartphones is indicative highly of the products that they buy. So, when they go into a geofence, what they see is they're open on an app, because they're on apps or on the wide-open web, they're not on Facebook, Instagram, Google. So, when they actually go into that geofence and they're on an app, they will see an ad for one of their customers, and from that, if they toggle it or click it, they will see a map how to get there. Once they go into that store, whether it's that day or 90 days later, the satellite will ping them. So, that part is their end. What they go into the store is on the customer itself of how they treat their customer. And Ernesto has some insight on that as well.  Ernesto Cullari: shared that when they do a consultation with a client, one of the first things they ask, they're one of the largest advertisers for laundromats in the world, so small business owners have discovered that owning a laundromat is a very good business, you're serving your community, you're providing a great service, but it's very important to set up realistic expectations. So, he and Barbara, when they consult a company, they want to find out even,  “What kind of doors you have?” “Do you have doors that are particularly when moms and dads are coming in with their kids, are the doors automatic? Are they wide doors?” “Are you operating new machines?”  Because they want to set up realistic expectations for the end consumer. So, when they work with one of their clients, they do ask them how their operations run. They've been very fortunate to attract top operators in communities across the US, but when it comes to restaurants and spirits companies and hotels and HVAC and doctors and things like that, service providers, they do want to make sure that the product that they say they're offering is the end user experience that the customer has. But as Barbara said, it's not their responsibility to make sure they do operations well, but they advise them, “Hey, get your operations down, and let's make sure the promise that we give is matched with the in-store experience.” Barbara Wardell: shared that that's something they think that is very important. So, that's why they do a lot of research before they take on a client. They ask them a lot of questions to make sure that they're doing what they're promising in their ads, because you don't want that customer to come in and say, “Okay, this is not what the promise was, right?” Then they won't come back.  Ernesto Cullari: shared that they're concerned about their numbers; in order to do well for you, they need to be telling the truth. There needs to be truth in advertising, and they don't want their numbers as a company to be impacted because they're committed to delivering as much as 5000 visits a month, and if their clients are not on their end, providing the proper customer experience, it does impact him and Barbara. So, they're very competitive, they want to make sure they uphold the things that they say they're going to do, and they tend to advise their clients 100% of the time to do the same to make sure they're matching the experience with their ad promise.   The Impact of Geofencing Me: So, in the feedback that you just provided, it got me thinking to the fact that, do you find geofencing it's most effective or impactful based on your geographical location. So, is it that you primarily operate in the United States, in North America? And do you find that geofencing would be different based on, let's say, a customer who is in Nigeria, in Africa, or a customer who is in Kingston, Jamaica, in the Caribbean? Do you find that the behaviour based on the geographic location or even the culture of the country, impacts how geofencing works? Is that data that you're able to provide as well to the clients?   Barbara Wardell: Yes. So, they're right now in Australia, Canada and the United States, and there is a culture difference when you advertise in a different country, they found that a lot has to do, they do a lot of studies before they break into another country, to make sure that they understand the behaviours and kind of they do a listening device that kind of listens to the area to see, because they track mobile foot traffic, right? So, that's one of the things that they do to work on their geofencing, so they already know when they go into that area, what the culture is like, and also talking to the customer as well to understand the area. And also, they do a listening device or a foot traffic study to understand the area that they're targeting.  Ernesto Cullari: Agreed, Barbara said it perfectly. They do set up listening campaigns, and it's basically a beacon to measure, he'll give you an example, Australia, for listeners that haven't been there, he and Barbara have not been there, but when they look at it via satellite, you have these communities that are densely populated, and then you have hundreds of 1000s of acres of wide open space. So, they really need to do due diligence and measure the amount of devices that are available in an area before they market to them. So now, they haven't tested yet whether this works in Africa or South Africa, but right now, they're for sure it works all throughout Asia and it's a matter of so say, Nigeria, for example, they would have to set up a listening campaign, they would have to measure the amount of devices that are available and then determine what kind of devices are they. Are they iPhones, Samsungs and Androids, or are they flip phones and some other mixture of devices and that will impact what kind of the ads they use.   Me: All right. So, that definitely answers my question, and I think it will help to guide the listeners as well in terms of if they're small business owners, or even working in organizations with small business owners that they can definitely identify if this is something that would benefit them and benefit creating more traffic for their organization, generating more customers and hopefully impacting their customer experience.   App, Website or Tool that Barbara and Ernesto Absolutely Can't Live Without in Their Business Barbara Wardell: When asked about online resource that they cannot live without in their business, Barbara stated that she thinks it's the foot traffic study only because it gives them a lot of information before they even launch a campaign for any one of their customers. It is something that they can see a half hour before and a half hour after the customers, where they go from that that area, or that specific customer, and also for a year, they can go back for a year to look at that traffic and see where those customers go. Ernesto Cullari: He thinks for himself, he has his hand in a lot of working on the creatives for clients. And even though there are wonderful platforms out there, like the whole Adobe Suite, which includes Premier, Photoshop, Lightroom and all that, and Adobe Illustrator, and he thinks they're all great. But he likes the prosumer which are applications that anybody off the street could use. So, if you're a small business owner or even a big business owner, and you want an application where you don't need to go to your team or your assistant, you want to be able to do something yourself, Canva is a wonderful platform that he has actually, when he works in Canva after working in something like Adobe, his turnaround time sometimes in Canva is so much quicker because it's made for dummies. Canva is made for dummies. So, he loves Canva, and also, they manage designers, and those designers, they work in Creatopy, again, so that's a prosumer, anybody off the street could use that website, it makes great looking html5 ads. And again, as someone who manages creatives, if he doesn't like something, can go into Creatopy, and he could fix it himself. So, he thinks no matter where you are in your journey as a business owner, whether you manage a fortune 100 company and you have to deal with your admin, your marketing men and women, or you own a small business and you have to do it yourself, or you're hiring an agency like them, Canva and Creatopy, in addition to the Adobe Creative Suite, are just wonderful platforms.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Barbara and Ernesto Ernesto Cullari: When asked about books that have had an impact, Ernesto shared that he read Confessions of an Advertising Man by Ogilvy, which he thinks is one of the greatest books on advertising you can read. But also, it's not just advertising, it's in general, if you're someone who needs to communicate to the masses or to discrete audiences, small audiences, learning the art of communication is important, and he thinks Confessions of an Advertising Man, he have found invaluable.  In addition to Sun Tzu's Art of War, sometimes you have to crush your competition, and you have to be able to have the stomach for it, and strategy is necessary. And Sun Tzu's The Art of War he would also say. And then the Bible.  Barbara Wardell: She has to say one of her favorite is Wabi Sabi Love, it's about being in the present and appreciating everything that's in your life at that moment, because it could be gone tomorrow, and she's had that experience, she's read a ton of marketing books, but that's one that's close to her heart.  Ernesto Cullari: He shared that Yanique asked earlier about cost effectiveness, and the cost per acquisition and things like that. How does this compare to other forms of advertising? So, he's sure a lot of listeners out there have for various reasons, could be for charity, could be for advertising, could be for marketing. They've engaged in Facebook, Google advertising to promote an event or product. So, he can tell you, doing the engagement using Facebook and then starting with other forms of advertising since then, and he can tell you that geofencing, pound per pound is the Mike Tyson, is the absolute Mike Tyson of advertising. Everyone else is a lightweight. There is no censorship.  So, if you run political ads, you will face no censorship of any sort on the geofencing side, unlike Facebook and Google, who will silence you if they don't agree with your viewpoints. And in terms of reach and measurement, dollar for dollar, there's just nothing as effective as geofencing.  So, on a $500, he doesn't recommend only spending this, but on a $500 budget per month, you can end up with 20 people coming through your door. I do recommend for five-mile radius that you spend at least $1,000 on your market, that way, if you know the cost per customer, meaning how much money your average customer spends, you have the opportunity to 10 to 30x your return on investment depending on what the value of a new customer is for you.  In some of their verticals that they work with, the value of a new customer is $40,000 so on the $1,000 ad spend, if you gain one new client a month, that's a quite impressive return on investment. For other clients they have in the laundry industry, some of their clients are worth 1200 to 2500 a year. So, if they send the 30, 40, 50 customers a month, then that again, is quite a handsome return on investment, agreed.    What Barbara and Ernesto is Really Excited About Now! Barbara Wardell: When asked about something that they are really excited about, Barbara shared that they just launched which they're really excited about, their dashboard for their clients so that they can go in and see the reporting instead of them emailing them their reports, so now that they can go into the system and actually on their time and actually look at and see their results of their campaign.  Ernesto Cullari: He shared that he's excited about he and Barbara just got finished running a fundraiser from his mother's orphanage in the Philippines. She operates what's called Street Kids Philippine Missions, and she's been there for 15 years with her husband, Matt, and they have rescued kids that were in danger of being sex trafficked, that were eating out of garbage cans, that were basically destitute. And it's their 15th year, they just successfully raised $20,000 and that was simply an online campaign where they used their podcasting studio to talk about what his mom does, and Matt does there. And they're pretty proud of being able to use their resources to help kids that face sex trafficking that would otherwise be destitute. And he would say he's most happy and proud about that development.   Where can listeners find you online? Website – www.cullarimedia.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Barbara and Ernesto Uses Ernesto Cullari: When asked about a quote to they tend to revert to, Ernesto shared from The Art of War, “He whose forces are of one mind will be victorious.”  Barabra Wardell: She shared that mainly, she always tells herself to be in the present moment and not get sidetracked by other things that are going on. But she can't think of a quote right now.   Me: Thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedules and hopping on our podcast and sharing all of these great insights as it relates to geofencing and the impact that it can have on 10x'ing your business, getting new clients, the advantage that it has over traditional media, advertising and just the opportunity for you to understand your customer base a little bit more, get an idea of where they're coming from and why they're coming to you, so you can continue to build on that and even exceed their expectations. So, I think it was a great conversation, and I just wanted to extend my deepest gratitude to you both.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •    Confessions of an Advertising Man by Dave Ogilvy •    The Art of War by Sun Tzu   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Alan Versteeg, an engineer turned sales management expert, initially approached the sales world with skepticism, but soon turned it into a thriving career by applying the engineering principles of cause and effect to sales and sales management. This success led him to co-founding Growth Matters, where Alan and his team have developed over 2,000 sales managers across 45+ countries and diverse industries.  Known for his candid and light-hearted approach, Alan's passion for the sales profession shines through in his insightful talks, leaving audiences engaged with his wisdom, expertise, and memorable one liners.  Questions · Now, could you start by sharing with our listeners a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today. · Can you share with us maybe two overarching themes that you try to help sales professionals master in terms of their mindset, to get them to where you need them to be in order to master their sales? · What are some barriers that you believe a lot of salespeople face, why it is you believe they're not successful? · Now, Alan, could you also share with our listeners, what's the one online resource, tool, website or application that you absolutely can't live without in your business? · Can you also share with our listeners maybe two books that you've read? It could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, 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 are really excited about, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. · Where can listeners find you online? · Just want to ask you as well, Alan, in your experience, in the journey of your lifetime, if you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, if for any reason, you got derailed. Do you have a quote or a saying that once repeated or just remembered it helps to get you back on track? Highlights Alan's Journey Me: Now, could you start by sharing with our listeners a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today.   Alan shared that he started as an electronic engineer, it wasn't his fault, he grew up watching Airwolf Night Rider and MacGyver, so he thought that's what he'd be doing. Unfortunately, he lost his dad when he was quite young, he was about 12 years old, but he was an engineer, so he thought that'd be a good thing to do. But he was doing it for about 3 years after graduating, and he read a book called You're Born an Original, Don't Die a Copy by John Mason, and he said, “If you passionately hate what you're doing for more than 2 weeks, you need to stop,” and he'd been doing it for two years. And a friend of his suggested he goes into sales, which he then tried and please if your listeners don't drop off now, but he got asked to leave his first sales jobs, but it was frustrating. As an engineer, he believed in cause and effect. He believes that there's things you do that get you certain outcomes. He was doing everything they told him to do, but he couldn't find a way to get through, he'd be good at his product, he was passionate to what he was doing, but he wasn't able to succeed.  And then he worked under a manager, he said to him, “Alan, is sales a job or a profession?” So, he knew the right answer, the right answer was, it's a profession. And he said, “Well, how hard did you study for this profession?”  And then the penny drops, and from there on out, been a passionate reader, 50 to 60 books a year, generally related to psychology, self-development and sales and over time, realized that the big change in sales is sales management, and that's a short view of his journey to where he was and how he got here.   Mindset Needed for Sales Professionals Me: Now you deal with a lot of sales professionals, and I can imagine it starts with their mindset. Can you share with us maybe two overarching themes that you try to help sales professionals master in terms of their mindset, to get them to where you need them to be in order to master their sales?   Alan stated that it's a great question, and it speaks to the tone of your podcast. So, the first mindset they have to own is that “Selling won't help, but helping will sell.” That the sale is the reward for an intent to create value. And that's the starting point when we realize that we are service orientated, that we're there to drive value into the client's business or life, that there's something specifically we're trying to do, that were truthfully customer centric it's not just a word, and we realize that selling won't help, but helping will sell.  You'll find that salespeople do really well. There's a wonderful book called Selling With Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud by Lisa Earle McLeod, and it shows the research behind the top performing sales professionals globally sell with that noble purpose, with an idea to serve. So, it's definitely one of them.  The second one is probably an extension, he said to sales professionals, “If you believe in the product you sell and you believe it can add value to the person you're serving, then it would be borderline negligent to avoid offering them that value.”  Many salespeople, specifically today are fearful of cold calling or proactive sales calling or reaching out or picking up a phone or speaking to someone, and they take on a very much non-human sales approach, as opposed to going, “I believe, with certainty and conviction that what I have to offer will make their lives or their business easier, and I'm here to help, and helping will sell. So, I'm going to depart from that point.”  And what you find is doing that, apart from that point, the skills, the body language, all the risks that start to develop quite naturally, but often we avoid that, we try to train the skill, but we avoid the mindset.   Barriers To Overcome as Salespeople Me: So, once you tackle their mindset, now you have to ensure that what they're selling, as you mentioned before, is actually helping the customer and adding value to the customer's life. What are some barriers that you believe a lot of salespeople face, why it is you believe they're not successful?   Alan shared that he thinks the big barrier specifically in professional selling is conviction of the value proposition, and before that is clarity. And he'll give a couple of examples.   When he speaks to business leaders, they often say to him, “You know what Alan, the challenge with our sales teams are they just don't understand our value proposition.”  And he says, okay, great. What is your value proposition? And they struggle to articulate it. Now, if you think about this, why is it that entrepreneurs can sell quite effectively without ever having been trained in that skill, and the reality is they have clarity and conviction of their value proposition. He thinks with many sales professionals, we're teaching them the product, we're not teaching them the impact it has on the customer's life.  Once we buy into the impact, once we have the conviction, selling is a natural part of how we are as humans and Dan Pink wrote that book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.  And his (Alan) example is we have a brand over there, it's called Woolworths, it's a high-quality brand, high quality food brand. And if you said to anyone, “But why shopping in Woolworths? They're so expensive.” They dive into a defense, without being paid by this company, they will sell very hard the value of doing that.  The same could be said for someone who's an Apple phone fan. And he can continue, once we have conviction of something, the ability and need to persuade is actually quite natural. So, he thinks what's missing from an individual's perspective is that conviction of the mindset.  From a corporate, it's the fact that we speak about customer centricity, but none of our measurement metrics or meetings actually align to that.   Me: Now, I found that in a lot of organizations, they're heavily sales driven, right? I find it as a customer service trainer when companies hire me to come in and train their team, especially the leadership teams in customer service, or even customer experience design or customer journey mapping, there's a lot of emphasis that I hear them talking that they have these exorbitant sales targets to meet on a month to month basis, and with these targets that they have to meet, they don't have as much time to give to customer centricity or to give to the experience, because it's all about meeting the target. How do you strike that balance as a salesperson? What would be your recommendation?    Alan shared that there'd be two components. The first would be at an organizational lens, speaking to what you're saying. He thinks organizations have forgotten that when you take care of the customers, the number takes care of itself. So, we are so focused on the month, on the quarter, on the year, we're not focused on the value, and that's a shift that needs to happen.  But practically, the way that shift happens is in the account planning process, when we start treating our customers and accounts and saying, what is the value we're delivering. Many companies go, what more can we sell them? What's the white space we can sell into? What does that look like? And that's the big organizational.  From a salesperson's perspective, the only thing you can do is you need to figure out how to allocate your effort. And the way he says that is you have to beat everyone equally but handle them differently. You have to segment your customers, otherwise you can't take care of the ones that need to be taken care of, and your competitor is going to snatch them up. And in any sales business, he's ever worked with, if you lose, and it's generally about 10%, if you lose about 10% of your customers, you lose about 90% of your revenue.  But organizations are just focused what's the next sale, what's the next sale, what's the next sale? And what happens is, we're putting two barrels on the truck, and three barrels are falling off the truck because we're not focused on the customer service.  And we almost see it as something separate, and it's not. The way he articulates this is there's a thing called the value gap, it's the gap between what customers expect and what they experience. And it is everybody's job in the organization to close that gap.   It's not, “Hey, sales go set the expectation. Hey, service go and deliver against that expectation.” It's an organizational mindset that we exist to close the gap between the customers expect and what they experience.  And he thinks their leadership needs to start realizing that taking care of customers, the numbers take care of themselves, and that talking to a spreadsheet or talking to a CRM system or talking to data doesn't change people's behaviour.  So, leadership needs to take a different perspective on this and going, what is it we do now that lays the soil in the seeds for the numbers we need?   App, Website or Tool that Alan Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he can't live without in his business, Alan shared that right now ChatGPT. He thinks that we are negating its value in sales if we're using it incorrectly. So, he'll give you a context.  As salespeople, we need to be creative and optimistic, and we're not fans of admin. So, the good news for sales professionals is a lot of our admin is going to be replaced by technology, but that's going to leave a lot of sales professionals wanting because what do you do with the time that you used to spend putting your data. But he really leverages the tool to shorten his learning curve, understanding a customer, understanding what the challenges are, understanding key things. It's a tool to summarize, it doesn't replace him as it shouldn't, it enhances him.  And he was listening to one of Yanique's earlier podcasts, you talk about the human-to-human connection, and there's this thing now where we talk about human-to-human selling. And he's like, well, if you think human to human selling is new, then you haven't been around for millennia, because that's what it is. It's a human-to-human task enhanced by technology. But right now, if he talks about probably 60% to 70% of his time is given back to him because he knows to leverage ChatGPT.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Alan When asked about books that have had an impact, Alan shared that that's a tough question with all the books he read, but he's going to give one that he always recommends. The first one is called The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness by Jeff Olson, and the premise of the book is that simple disciplines practiced consistently over time, lead to a life of greatness, and simple errors in judgment made consistently over time, lead to a life of blame. There's no Hollywood moment, there's not one big movement, they're just simple disciplines. Look at any leader, any sports hero, any person who succeeds in their profession, they practice the disciplines. So, there's definitely one that guides his life.  And then the other one is a book called The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller, and it's really about forgetting this construct of work life balance and finding out what's the one thing I can do such that by doing everything else is easier or unnecessary. And it talks about this work life counterbalance, and how you just keep the things that matter, you don't make them extreme fluctuations and the things that don't matter can be extreme. You can be heavily buried in a work project for three months, but during that time, don't forget your health, your family time, the things that matter. Just tone it down a bit, not all the way down. Those are two books, he'd say, personally, really drove him.  As a business professional, recently read that 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Dan Sullivan, wonderful resource for anyone that's listening, that is an entrepreneur or business owner, 10x Is Easier Than 2x.   What Alan is Really Excited About Now! Me: Now, Alan, could 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, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people.   When asked about something that he's excited about, Alan shared that he's recently moved to a smaller coastal towns that's been really good for him personally, but the big thing happening for him business wise, is there's a very large global brand that they've managed to secure that's 10x'ing our business, which is a plan they had based on that book that he's read, and starting to see how that effort, energy and focus is paying off, is really rewarding. When you read a lot of books, you can get sometimes caught up in the story and not in the action.  And what's really great to see, in a proud moment for their business, is now really starting to take on some recognized global brands who are looking at effectively three guys from South Africa and saying, “We want to partner with you to do this.” So, it's a proud moment that's come, your overnight success is the longest night of your life.  But really what it's been powerful is seeing the practices that they put in place now starting to bear fruit. And when you say, take care of the customers, the number takes care itself, it's actually quite prolific, how?  And you know this, he's preaching to the converted, but when you understand that the only thing that matters is how customers experience you, then everything else becomes a lot easier, because their ability to grow is because they just have a track record where they phone a customer, and they love what they've done with them. And that doesn't mean it's easy to scale, it's still hard to scale. But he thinks that'd be the big thing right now, is seeing how by applying certain principles, you can stretch your own mindset, stretch your own goals, stretch your own vision for your business, and really start to play where you always believed you can.   Where can listeners find Alan online? LinkedIn – Alan Versteeg   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Alan Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Alan shared that he has quite a few, but one of his favourites, because of its depth is, “How you do anything, is how you do everything.” And the reason that's so important is it's easy to be in a good mood when times are good, it's easy to be of a good character when times are good, it's easy to be a pleasant person when times are good, but when things are challenging, that's where your character gets tested.   And how you do anything, is how you do everything. And he says to leaders all the time, Richard Branson said it so well, “The best way to take care of your customers is to take care of your employees.” Because the minute you take care of the employees, the customers feel that. And it's because how you do anything, is how you do everything.  You can't be polite to your customers but rude to the person waiting at you at a restaurant or trying to help you at the airport. Airports are so fascinating because everyone complains to people who are really just trying to get you somewhere safely and within strict guidelines that people, they don't treat people well.  And he believes that how you do anything, is how you do everything. And in challenging times, that tests you, can I remain of good spirit? Can I remain a good demeanor? Can I remain patient as a person when things are difficult? Can I maintain my faith?  Because it's easy to maintain my faith when things are great, it's difficult when you're in the lion's den, and that's for him, a quote that just guides him and says, just remember, they still shape your character, this is a test of your character and a bad day for the ego, is a beautiful day for the soul. It's time to grow.   Me: Well, thank you, Alan, so much for hopping on this podcast and sharing all of these great insights with us. It was very insightful to understand your perspective as it relates to sales and customer service, and to reinforce a lot of what we do talk about on this podcast, Navigating the Customer Experience as it relates to ensuring that the customer experience is not just managed effectively on the outside, but it needs to start on the inside. And you said it beautifully when you gave Richard Branson's quote that if you take care of your people on the inside, and they'll definitely take care of your customers on the outside. So, I think it was a really great conversation and I just really wanted to extend our deepest gratitude for your participation in our conversation today.   Alan shared an extended thanks to Yanique and the work she's doing in this space. One of the things that he definitely picks up in everything Yanique shared, the customer experience is not a thing, it's a culture and when we actually realize this, everything becomes easier, because it seems obvious, it does take a lot of work, as you know, it's a profession. But when companies understand it, the only reason we exist is to create value for customers, then the customer experience is the report card. So, thank you so much for the work you're doing in this space and for having him on the show.   Please connect with us on X @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience.    Links •    You're Born an Original, Don't Die a Copy by John Mason •    Selling With Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud by Lisa Earle McLeod •    To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink •    The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness by Jeff Olson •    The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller •    10x Is Better Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Dan Sullivan   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Neil Leyland is a Chief Contact Center Strategist at InterVision, and he is an exceptional PMP and six Sigma black belt certified senior-level program leader and a proven problem-solver. A highly motivated achiever with a career history in sales and operations management for international multi-unit retail operations.  Possessing excellent interpersonal, presentation, written and verbal communication skills, which are used to solve problems, consult on technology projects and develop long-term collaborative relationships.  Questions · Could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today. · Could you tell our listeners a little bit about InterVision, what they do and what your role at InterVision is? · When you say holistic approach using AI and machine learning, can you explain to us what that means? Is it that robots are going to replace human beings? Or are you looking more from a support side, just tell us how it is that you actually see it working? · Could you share with our listeners, what's the one online resource, tool, website or application that you absolutely can't live without in your business? · Could you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that you've read that have had a great 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 impacted you either professionally or personally. · Can you also share with our listeners what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you are really excited about, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. · Where can listeners find you online? · Now, before we wrap our episodes up, Neil, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those? Highlights Neil's Journey Me: Neil, could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today.   Neil stated that you can probably tell, he's not from the US, although he's based there now. Finishing up from university, he went straight into working for enterprise, Rent a Car, did probably 20 or so years with them. Worked from the main counter at a rental office all the way through to leading an area. Then he moved countries during that time and started working more on the technology side and being far more strategic as opposed to tactical.   Then settled in St. Louis, got married, had kids, and then moved through several different companies, picking up good and bad practices along the way, and he's ended up at just coming up to 12 months now with InterVision.   About InterVision Me: Now, could you tell our listeners a little bit about InterVision, what they do and what your role at InterVision is?   Neil shared InterVision is an AWS premier tier partner. They specialize in transforming contact centers to their flagship product, Connective CX, powered by Amazon Connect. They also integrate AI to deliver seamless omnichannel engagements. They address common pain points for call centers, like reducing call volume and the costs associated, they do this through improve engaging efficiency and also enhance customer satisfaction. They can be found at www.intervision.com.  His role within InterVision, he would say is a Contact Center Evangelist. So, he works with clients and look at problems that they face, and then help them find what is either the best operational or technological solution to best satisfy customers' needs or solve problems that the companies have been satisfying those needs, so tying together his history working in retail, as well as time and technology, and sort of blending the two, to give what people consider to be a best in class solution for them.   Understanding the Approach in AI and Machine Learning in the Contact Centre Me: So, you are in the contact center space, and your strategy is to ensure that you have a holistic approach using AI and machine learning, two very popular words that are being used very frequently in the CX space. When you say holistic approach using AI and machine learning, can you explain to us what that means? Is it that robots are going to replace human beings? Or are you looking more from a support side, just tell us how it is that you actually see it working?   Neil stated that he thinks it's actually good to approach it from a journey perspective, if you will. So, if you think about somebody that has a transaction, whether that be online or in person, and then they need some level of support. So, they come through to a contact center, and at that point, contact centers have really embraced AI and machine learning to help customers come through and get a better level of experience. So, whether that be at the starting point when they answer the phone, you can have chatbots either on the website or on the IVR that are able to answer and interact with customers and provide them with quick hit answers and potentially resolve problems for them quickly and efficiently. Now that's one use of AI.  People say, well, is that going to replace people?  He doesn't think it does, because it solves the simple problems AI and ML doesn't have the ability to solve.  So, when people do get to an agent or somebody on the phone, or whether a chat or send an email and get a reply, the agents are able to spend that little bit more time to solve a problem, so it elevates the customer experience even though it's not necessarily AI based.  When you think about that side though, you get AI does weave its way in there and provide agents with the ability to serve customers or call us better. So, you get crazy things like, there are AI tools out there now that will listen to the conversation, will understand the context of it, understand the ask and serve up knowledge or information to the agent real time, so they can better solve the problem.  So, it will literally know this customer sounds like they have a question about x, here's the most common answers to x, is this the right thing to say and serve that up to the agent. So, the agents might not have any real experience of the problem, but they've got a proven history of other people being able to solve that question, or a very similar question, quickly and efficiently, and they can copy it. And then that really helps agents appear to be more efficient, more friendly, and for everybody that's listening, and everyone's been put on hold. No one likes to be put on hold, or “I don't know the answer to that, let me transfer you”, that can go away, which is really, really profound and gives a perception of quality well and above the norm.  And then the other side of it that's kind of cool, is you can have sentiment monitoring. So, if somebody's listening to this call, the AI or ML in the background will be monitoring it, and they can flag calls to supervisors or to other people to say, “Hey, Neil's really happy with this call. Neil's unhappy with this call. We might need some help. Somebody may need to join this call because Neil's struggling with it.”  So, it basically not only gives the ability to empower people and have them answer questions well, but it gives them monitoring so that people can actually get involved and engaged and help customers that have got problems and prevent issues, if that makes sense.   Me: Yes, it absolutely does. I attended a conference, I think it was the first and second of May, hosted by a company called CX Outsourcers Mindshare. They brought together, I believe, close to 80 persons from all over the world, from all different continents, that were in the contact center space. And my role at the event was, I sat on a podcast panel with a podcaster from Brazil and one from South Africa talking about the influence of podcasting on customer experience and the impact that it will have in the contact center space.  One of the things that I found fascinating at the conference, and this was predominantly I believe in, I know in the Caribbean for sure, and definitely in Africa, and you can let me know what your feedback is based on your exposure and experience that hiring, in terms of recruitment was a big issue that they were facing in the contact centers and trying to integrate AI and more importantly, as it relates to recruitment, ensuring that as they go forward and AI is more integrated into the whole process of solving customers problems, having AI do the more simplistic activities and tasks, and then having the agents do more complex tasks. Is that a trend that you've seen happening? Or is there anything else that you'd like to add to that conversation?    Neil shared that it definitely is. It's causing an upskilling, or an appearance of upskilling of people that answer the phone or answer the chats. Because when he started in the contact center space, companies would train an agent for 4, 6, 8 weeks, maybe even more to make sure that they have the skill set and the knowledge to be able to answer not just 80%. Neil shared that Yanique is absolutely correct that AI and machine learning is having a profound impact on the agents and upskilling, because the ability for machines to take away the simpler tasks means that agents can do things that are more interesting and rewarding for one. So, that makes the job more fun, that's an important component.   The other side is, years ago, as companies brought people on board, they'd spend weeks and weeks training them, and nowadays that's just not necessary, because most companies have invested, or are looking to invest in a single pain so all of the information is shared to them, and when that's augmented by machine learning to provide sensible text or answers or knowledge that's appropriate, agents appear to be more knowledgeable with less training, faster and that gives a great different for companies that are embracing it. It's a great differentiate. It really helps the agents feel valued, enjoy the job, and therefore more likely to be retained and that skill level is retained.  So, generally, companies that companies that retain the skill gets better over time, and it also the other piece is, he thinks it helps companies attract people, because the job is more fun and more rewarding. So, the benefits not only in the people that work there, it's about getting the better talent in the front door as well.   App, Website or Tool that Neil Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resources that he can't live without in his business, Neil shared that for him personally, and this is going to sound a little bit old school, he absolutely loves using YouTube, and he will go visit YouTube looking for how to build a presentation, looking for information, ways to do things, learnings, classes, he finds a great value with day to day, he's looking at YouTube and watching videos on lots and lots of topics continually, because he thinks it's a quick and easy way to learn how to do something new or refine what he's doing based on somebody else's best practices, whether that be consultants that have classes on how to do PowerPoint presentations, or even people that do public speaking regularly and share tips and trades on how they do it. So, he uses YouTube a lot, and slowly but surely, he thinks that's starting to be replaced a little bit by TikTok, because he likes 60 second bites as opposed to 20-minute videos.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Neil  When asked about books that have had an impact, Neil shared that books that he really enjoyed and got a lot out of is a book called Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don't by Jim Collins, it's an older book now, but it's been around for a good few years that definitely influenced his working life, because the ideology is all in the title. So, how can you be better, and how can you differentiate yourself or the company you work for, and make a difference, and then elevate to go from being a good company to a great company or a good employee to a great employee. So, that's one of the books that definitely influenced his career. And he really enjoyed the fact that it had case studies in there that you were able to look at, read and understand, and then it gives you that a little bit more of a practical application when there's case studies that you can look at.   What Neil is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's excited about, Neil shared that he's been with InterVision approximately 12 months, and in that time, they've had a tremendous amount of growth.  They are working a significant amount with Amazon, on Amazon Connect in the contact center space, and watching how that's changing the contact center space is really, really incredible. And with that, they have releases on a weekly or biweekly basis, and you see new technologies and new items come out, and it's actually an interesting challenge making sure that his team is not only at the cutting edge of technology, but what's new and modern today is, for want of a better description, a month old in a month's time.  And making sure that his team are kept current and up to date with all of these technology changes, specifically around AI and ML, that's really an interesting challenge, because the solutions of a year ago aren't solutions for today, and he finds that both interesting challenge from a business perspective, but it's also rewarding because you get the opportunity to have people do training classes and learnings to make sure that they're at the top of their skill game to be able to deliver the best in class products that they like to offer.   Where can listeners find Neil online? LinkedIn – Neil Leyland Website – www.intervision.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Neil Uses Me: Now, before we wrap our episodes up, Neil, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those?    When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Neil shared that it's not quite that, but there's a phrase that he often thinks about in challenges when he's working with his colleagues, or they're looking at a project and how to move forward, and it's directly related to customer service and it's, “The tolerance of poor behaviour is worse than the behaviour itself.”   Me: That's such a powerful statement.   Neil shared that he loves it because it's applicable everywhere. In your personal life, you can choose not to go to the gym, or you can go to the gym. In work, you can watch people do things and managers do things or accept things and that they shouldn't and as soon as a behaviour becomes ingrained, it's far more challenging to remove it.  Me: Yeah, agreed. Thank you so much for sharing. So, we just want to extend our deepest gratitude to you, Neil, for hopping on our podcast today, sharing about InterVision, about your journey, as well as what you're doing at InterVision, the impact of AI and machine learning, the opportunity that workers have in the centers as agents to upskill their competencies and behaviours so that they can better serve customers and solve problems quicker. It was really a rewarding and engaging conversation, and I want to just extend our deepest gratitude to you. So, thank you so much.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •    Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don't by Jim Collins   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Dr. Eric Recker is a dentist, husband, father, keynote speaker, Elite Success Coach, author, pilot, mountain climber and recovering triathlete. In his second half of life, he is committed to helping people shorten the distance to becoming their best version and learning to #WINtheNOW.  Questions ·      We'd love for you to share in your own words a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are today. ·      Could you share maybe two or three overarching themes that you believe have been the core values that have driven you to get to where you are today, and if other people were to embrace or embody those same core values, you believe they would achieve the same success. ·      What would you say are some of the success tools that have made both businesses thrive in a positive way, if you were to look at them and see if there are any overlapping behaviors or competencies that help to strengthen the customer experience in both areas. ·   Could you also share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or application that you absolutely can't live without in your business? ·      Now, could you also share with our listeners, Eric, maybe one or two books that have had a great 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 has impacted you, both professionally and even personally. ·      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, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. ·      Where can listeners find you online? ·      Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off course, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those? Highlights Eric's Journey  Me: Eric, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words a little bit about their own journey. So, your bio basically gave us a very short summary of all the wonderful things that you have and are still doing, but we'd love for you to share in your own words a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are today.   Eric shared that he really could give a short version of that, and it would take about 4 hours, but he'll try to really crunch it down together and say that he was bullied on the playground when he was growing up. He grew up in a small town in Iowa in the early 80s, and recess kickball was life, and he was told that he couldn't play because he wasn't good enough, and so unfortunately, that you are not good enough became a soundtrack for him, and he told himself on the sideline of that recess kickball field that he was going to be so good at everything he ever did that no one would ever not pick him. Well, fast forward into his professional career as a dentist, he truly believed that he wasn't good enough, so he overshot on everything, overcompensated on everything, always kept adding more and more and more because he was trying to prove to other people that he was good enough. That led to three significant rounds of burnout, including chest pain, heart palpitations, panic attacks, all of that to the point that he got very close to selling his dental practice and walking away.  When that all fell through, he needed to step back and decide what he really wanted to do with this life, and he knew that he had a powerful story. He'd been through a lot, and he wanted to be able to help other people on their journey.  So, what he does now is he has sold half of his dental practice to a partner. He sees patients three days a week, and the other days he speak and coach and write books and do content and all of those kinds of things, trying to help other people on their journey, so that they don't have to go as far down the burnout trail as he went.   Me: That is awesome. What a wonderful story.   Core Values for Success - Themes that Drive Achievement and Fulfillment Me: So, Eric, you speak a lot about burnout and mindset and just handling the different stresses of life, can you share with our listeners on your own personal journey, when you got to that point, when you realized that you needed to make a change? If you could share maybe two or three overarching themes that you believe have been the core values that have driven you to get to where you are today, and if other people were to embrace or embody those same core values, you believe they would achieve the same success.   Eric shared that first of all, where it all went wrong each time that he went through that terrible season of burnout, he noticed the same equation now that he looks back on it, kind of doing a forensic examination of it was over committed. He had too much on his plate, as a lot of us do, but even more importantly, he wasn't taking care of himself, he just kept going. He just kept adding more and more, and that's where the problem was.  So, one of the big core values that he has is taking care of himself. So, we have to be a little bit selfish so that we can be selfless. If we don't have anything to give, we won't be able to give anything to our people. We won't be able to have an impact on those that we are around, and we will definitely get burned out.  Another huge core value for him is relationships. He's a highly relational person, and it's extremely important to him that he has some good quality relationships in his life, and it's important for all of us. So, he has a mentor that he meets with, he has a coach that he works with, and he has 4 people that he would consider, 2:00 am friends, people that he could call in the middle of the night if his world fell apart. So, relationships and self-care would be two of the big things that he thinks we really need to be careful and make sure we embrace those.   Me: Absolutely love those two themes that you've shared with us.   Success Tools for Thriving Businesses - Overlapping Behaviors and Competencies that Enhance Customer Experience Me: Now, I love the fact that one of your themes was relationships, and a big part of customer experience, as this podcast is focused on navigating the customer experience is building strong relationships. All organizations aim to have customers for life, and a big part of that is building strong relationships with those customers, whether it be a B2B or a B2C. Since you pretty much managing two businesses, because you mentioned that you coach and you write books and you do speeches and stuff for organizations and people, and then you also have your practice where you're in office three days per week. What would you say are some of the success tools that have made both businesses thrive in a positive way, if you were to look at them and see if there are any overlapping behaviours or competencies that help to strengthen the customer experience in both areas.   Eric shared that one thing that he teaches his team is to be aware of the rest of the story, it's a huge thing for him. People are complicated, so, in his dental practice, people will come in and they'll maybe see them for an hour of their life, and they might be grumpy when they come in, they might be scared, they might be, however they present themselves to them is just a snapshot of how their life is going. They may not be taking very good care of themselves, they may be in a bad place, they may have gotten a diagnosis, they may have a family member that's really struggling, they may have any number of things that's going on. They may be crazy burned out, and they get to see a little snapshot of them.  So, when somebody comes in, they don't seem like themselves, or if they've just met them, and they're kind of off putting to them at the beginning, just understand that they're seeing a snapshot of a bigger picture of someone's life. And so, he thinks it's always important that they think about that, they don't always get the chance to know the whole person, but especially in someone that you've been in relationship with for a while, if they seem off, then there's something more going on, and it might be worth exploring that.   Me: So, you're lying in the dentist chair, right? And what would you call the person that's serving the client, a dental assistant? And the dental assistant picks up that the patient is agitated, walk us through that. What would you want he or she to do to kind of have the patient relax, maybe build some conversation. Do you just have casual talk? Do you pick a topic, maybe about the weather? Do you think about something that's maybe current affairs, like Donald Trump?  Eric shared that he definitely stays away from politics. Stay away from politics and hot button news things, that's for sure. People get pretty fired up about that. But exactly that scenario that you had. The great thing about his practice is a lot of the patients that he sees, he's been seeing for 20 years. And so, when they come in, if something doesn't seem right, then they'll ask them,  “Hey, is everything going okay today?”  “Well, I'm just really nervous about this procedure.”  “Okay, well, tell me more about that.”  And a lot of times, really all someone needs to do is voice what they're feeling or talk about the procedure before they do it, and then it becomes a lot easier. And if it doesn't, if they're still amped up, they say things like, “Hey, the good news is this is all the longer this procedure is going to be. So, in half the time it takes to watch a movie, you're going to be on your way.”  So, they try to break it into more manageable chunks if people are apprehensive, and sometimes they have to take a little break and just let everybody sit up and breathe. And then they get back into it. But they really try to meet the patient right where they are and help them work through the situation, because it doesn't do any good if they're escalated, and Eric's team is escalated, then they're going to have a hard time getting through the procedure.   App, Website or Tool that Eric Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about on online resource that he can't live without in his business, Eric shared that for him, he would just say that it's his own personal website, it's hugely important whenever he gets asked, “So, hey, where do we find you? How can we get in touch with you. How can we learn more about you?” He's very proud of his website, he had a great web designer, but through there, everything flows to his social media, to his blog, to his books, to the different opportunities that he has, some free online resources. It's something that he's very thankful that he spent some money on, because it's the way that a lot of people end up finding him.   Me: Perfect. And we will ask you the question for where our listeners can find you online, which I'm sure your website will be one of those resources later on in the episode.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Eric When asked about books that have had a great impact, Eric shared that two of them definitely come to mind. One is going to be, and a lot of people have probably heard of this one is Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear, just an incredible resource. We are the product of our habits and our routines. It is worth taking time to get good habits and routines in our lives, because everything else flows from those patterns that are in our life. So, that's a huge one.  Another one that many people probably have not heard of as much is called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars and that's by one of his favorite authors, Mark Batterson, and it describes what we do when adversity hits in our lives, because it's not a question of if, it's a question of when things are going to happen to us, and how do we react to those things.   What Eric is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's excited about, Eric stated that he mentioned the whole not good enough, and the paradigm that that presented him with. So, he used to do a lot of triathlons, mountain climbing, stuff like that, he went all the way through the Iron Man distance. He's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, all of that was pretty much done on a faulty operating system that he had in his mind that he wasn't good enough and he needed to prove himself to people.   So, it's really been about 7 years since he's done any kind of an endurance race or anything like that. He's climbed some smaller mountains and done some stuff like that. But there's an event that he's going to be doing the second week of August, and it's going to be at Snow Basin Resort in Utah, and it's called 29029, which is the vertical height of Mount Everest above sea level. So, the goal is, in 36 hours, he has to hike 29,000 vertical feet.   Me: Wow.   Eric shared that that's usually the first word that people say. So, what he will do is, he'll hike up this mountain, and each time he goes up, he will gain 2300 feet. So, he will hike the same mountain 13 times. So, hike up the mountain, and he will ride the gondola back down. And there's going to be 250 to 300 of them he believes that will be there doing this. And his goal for this is to one, he wanted to train for an event again, he really wanted to be focused and intentional about how he trained for it.  But the other thing that he wants to do is he wants to learn about mindset while he's doing it. He wants to learn what happens in his mind when he does a repetitive task for 36 hours. He wants to learn where does his mind goes on hikes number 7, 8 and 9, when he can't see the beginning of the hike and he can't see the end, and he's really in the grind, because he thinks a lot of this will translate into our lives and what we have going on personally. So, he hopes this will be something that he'll be able to give some talks and workshops about in the future. And so, just want to see at 47 years old, just want to see what his body's got in it, what his abilities are.   Me: That's amazing, Eric, wow. I'm going to have to follow you. Are you going to be posting this on your social media?    Eric confirmed, absolutely.    Me: This is fantastic. I would definitely follow you from a personal capacity, just to see, as you mentioned, how do you endure? What are your thoughts? Is it that you feel overcome? Does it impact you emotionally? Like there's so many questions running through my mind right now just listening to you.   Eric stated that he's excited. There's one time he knows as he's hiking up that for that whole, he expects it to take about an hour and 15 minutes, probably to hike each time, and at least one of those times he's just going to be completely quiet and he's just going to observe the world around me. His son has made him a couple playlists, so he'll listen to some music that he selected for him. One of the times, he's just going to pray for his family the entire time that he hikes up. So, he has a few of those things. And then, other than that, just going to see what happens. So, he's super excited about it.   Me: And I guess it's a time also for you to kind of be one with nature and God, because you don't have much distraction, and hopefully you have no injuries, I pray in the name of Jesus that you come out of this injury free. So, you could really meditate, talk to God, as you mentioned, pray for your family and that's something that we don't get to do every day, have moments of silence, because we're just always so busy doing busy work.   Eric agreed that Yanique is so correct. He thinks if people really want their life to change, start with 5 minutes of silence each day, “Well, Eric, why only 5 minutes?” because it's not easy and we're not used to it. Start with 5 minutes of silence and breathing each day and see what that does for you, it's so important, you know this.   Where can listeners find Eric online? Website – www.ericrecker.com    Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Eric Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Eric shared that his quote is a Bible verse, and it is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will keep your path straight.” God has been the constant for his journey all the way through, He's been there in the good times and bad times, in the other times, and he's trying his best to trust that He always knows what the next step is.   Me: I love that. Absolutely love that. Thank you so much for sharing. Eric.   Well, Eric, you have definitely practiced what you preach in this entire interaction that I've had with you. Thank you so very much for being a guest on our podcast, I believe that our listeners would have gained, when the episode is released, will gain a great amount of knowledge, expertise, advice, motivation. I got that from our conversation, and I can tell that you're not just speaking because it's something to do, but it's coming from your heart, and that touches people way more. I mean, people can tell if you're being authentic and genuine, if it's really coming from a place of authenticity, and I feel that in the conversation that I had with you today. So, I just want to express my deepest gratitude to you. Wish you all the best on your hike, I'm going to be there following and cheering you on and just want to say thank you again.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear •     In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars by Mark Batterson   Mastering Art of Service Excellence: Behavioural Tools and Competencies for CX Success Webinar – Tuesday, August 27, 2024 – 11:00 am (EST) Mastering Art of Service Excellence Webinar Details and Registration  

Richard Weylman was orphaned at age 6 and he lived in 19 foster homes and attended 11 different schools. Rather than becoming the victim of those circumstances, he overcame them and he has had remarkable business success, including as an award-winning General Sales Manager of Rolls Royce to Head Sales and Marketing for the Robb Report, a Magazine for the Luxury Lifestyle from its inception until its record liquidity event.  A Hall of Fame inducted Keynote Speaker, Richard has also been inducted into the Customer Experience Hall of Fame for his legendary work helping brands engage with their customers and retain them.   He is the author of two international bestsellers, the latest of which, The Power of Why: Breaking Out in a Competitive Marketplace is in seven languages and is also a CEO Reads best seller.  His next book 100 Proven Ways to Acquire and Keep Clients for Life was released on March 12th, and is available for pre-order on Amazon, or your favorite bookstore. Finally, he is a Horatio-Alger nominee for his philanthropic work on behalf of orphans and widows.    Questions  ·      Could you share with us in your own words a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are today? ·      This new book that was released almost 3 months now it's been out the book, 100 Proven Ways to Acquire and Keep Clients for Life. Could you share with our listeners maybe 3 overarching themes that the book covers? And who is the book really geared towards? ·     In your research, when you were talking to your different clients about the different ways that you can acquire and keep clients, did you find that there were some industries that were thriving with these four things that you've mentioned, based on the research and others? ·      Now Richard, could you share with our audience maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it had a great impact on you. ·      Now, Richard, could you share with our audience 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? Highlights  Richard's Journey Me: Now, we always like to give our guests a little opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. Could you share with us in your own words a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are today?    Richard shared that the key thing is when all of this stuff, he was an orphan, as mentioned in his introduction, and that was very kind. But he was orphaned, and he lived in 18 foster homes, went to 11 different schools. So, you learn just from life experiences, how to understand, how to adapt, how to connect, in his case with the people with whom he was living. But he thinks we all go through this similar journey in life, you learn how to connect or not with individuals. So, that really became the premise for all of his speaking and consulting.  And they are a research-based consulting firm, they do a great deal of research about what the consumers' looking for, why they're looking for it. And most importantly, how salespeople, marketing people, business people can connect with the expectations, let's use that word, expectations of the consumer. So, that's what prompted his first book, Opening Closed Doors, Keys to Reaching Hard to Reach People then The Power of Why: Breaking Out in a Competitive Marketplace, which was mentioned. And those are in seven languages.  And now his recent book, which really manifested itself after about October he would say in 2019, in the fall of 2019, it occurred to him that people were no longer talking about service anymore. They talked to people in their consulting projects, how would you rate the service of this company, and people didn't want to talk, they would say, “Well, the service is good. But let me tell you about the experience I had.” And it dawned on him that what people are really focused on good service is a minimum expectation today, what people really want, really want is an elevated experience, somebody who's thoughtful and kind and caring, and empathetic. So, that became the premise for the current book that's just come out, which is number one on Amazon hot new release. So, is that helpful?   About the Book – Who the Book is Geared Towards and it's Overarching Themes – 100 Proven Ways to Acquire and Keep Clients for Life Me: So, you have this new book that was released almost 3 months now it's been out. And you said it's number one on the hot new list for Amazon. Could you share with our listeners maybe 3 overarching themes that the book covers? And who is the book really geared towards?   Richard stated that that's it's a great question. The book itself is really geared, we'll start there, who reads this book? Anybody in sales, marketing, service, leadership, he's had over 2000 individuals that he knows of that are in either leadership roles or top advisors, top salespeople who have sent him emails because of the epiphany moments they've had in it and the reason he thinks that so many different types of people, it doesn't matter what industry, he's got people in real estate, he got a bunch of emails this morning, people in real estate, attorney, doctors, he had a dentist sent him an email, hairdresser.  So, it really doesn't matter what industry you're in. What really matters is do you want to acquire and keep your clients for life? And he guesses the obvious question is, “Why wouldn't you want to keep your clients for life, given the cost of acquisition?”  So, when he wrote the book, he didn't write it for any industry, he wrote it for individuals that really did want to, shall we say, connect with their customers or their clients in such a way that those individuals would never buy from anyone else in their space. And it really is the premise is to understand the lifetime value of a customer or a client.   And a lot of business owners, and certainly salespeople, we don't often think about the lifetime value, we sell somebody something and we see it as a transaction. When you sell someone, it's not the end of something, it's the beginning of what could very well become a lifetime relationship with that individual every single time they need something that you may offer, they can reach out to you, and they become a customer for life. So, the question is, how do you do it? So, that's where the premise of the book came from and who he wrote it for.   So, one of the overarching themes in interviewing literally hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of consumers. And the number really reaches over 1000 in all of their consulting work over the years from 2019 until now when he wrote the book, he would ask people, “What is something someone can do, or a company can do to get your attention and keep you as a client for life?”   And they would tell him that, and they began to write those down. And that's how he came up with the 100 Proven Ways. He didn't set out to do 100 proven ways, but what they found out is today, there are four things people look for, these are the overarching themes. They want an individual and company that is thoughtful. In other words, they'll go the extra mile, do the extra thing, take the extra moment.   Secondly, someone that's kind, will think about things from their perspective and do things that demonstrate kindness to them as an individual.  Thirdly, someone that cares, cares enough to find out what they really want, what they really need, and what is the right, shall we say, item for them? The right haircut, the right prescription, the right legal advice, the right advisory advice, whatever, they want somebody that cares about them.  And last but not least, they want someone in a company that's empathetic, someone that shall we say, demonstrates that even though I'm saying it's unique to me, my problem, and you've heard it 100 times as a salesperson, you know it's not unique. For me, it is unique. So, I appreciate your willingness to be empathetic. So, four things, thoughtful, caring, kind, empathetic, those are the overarching things.   Industry Insights and Best Practices Based on Research from Book Me: So, they need to be thoughtful, they need to be kind, they need to be caring, and they need to be empathetic. In your research, when you were talking to your different clients about the different ways that you can acquire and keep clients, did you find that there were some industries that were thriving with these four things that you've mentioned, based on the research and others?   Richard stated that it's really interesting Yanique mentioned that, and it's not so much industries, it's companies within that are doing well. Most industries are still in the transaction mode. Go to a restaurant, it's a transaction. If you order something online, it becomes a transaction. And as a result of that, people are looking for other options.   So, what's happened is a few companies have really jumped to the front. And he'll just give you a couple of example, in the United States; they have a company called Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A is a chicken sandwich is basically what it is. He knew the founder, his name is Truett Cathy and they did a lot of traveling together, meetings together. And he would often say him, “Richard, now remember, we got to remind the crew here that we're not in a chicken business, we're in a people business.”  So, they're closed every Sunday. So, that means if you want to put a characterize that differently, they're closed 52 days a year, that would mean they closed November 10 and re-open January 1, that's 52 days.  They have the highest revenue per store than any other food franchise in the world. And they're closed from November 10 to January 1, and they're not open 24/7.  So, the question is, why is that happening?  Yes, it's a great chicken sandwich granted, but you get a chicken sandwich pretty much anywhere. What they really are known for is please, thank you, and my pleasure. And people sit in long lines at their drive thru, which are two and three lanes wide because people there say please, thank you, my pleasure. That's one brilliant example of how they do it.  Give me another example, in the food industry, this company, for pets, and that company is called Chewy.  Now, how has Chewy done, this young kid had started he said, when manufacturers and sellers of food products and other products for pets, they need to realize pets are part of the family.  So, they need to take a family orientation and be kind, thoughtful, caring and empathetic with their customers about their pets.  Well, they've done that, and just a quick, he (Richard) was speaking, he speaks all over the world. He's spoken at the Pegasus Hotel there in Jamaica many times for various conferences, and he will tell you that he was speaking at a conference in Nashville, Tennessee, he told the story of a woman who had posted on LinkedIn.  She posted that she had a standing order with Chewy, this was in November when he was speaking, and her order for the cat food had just arrived.  She posted on LinkedIn, “The cat food came, I called Chewy and said my cat has died. And I want to return the cat food. They said absolutely not; donate it to the local shelter. And we'll give you 100% credit on the bill.” The audience goes wow. And he said but that's only half the story. The other half that she wrote about was 3 days later, she got a bouquet of flowers, and a condolence card from the Customer Service Rep at Chewy. At that instant, this woman stood up in the middle of this ballroom of about 1000 people and scream, “That was my cat.” and held up her phone. She said, “I posted that this morning. I've already got 147 likes.” And at that moment, he just stopped and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, what does this tell us about Chewy?”  And the whole room starts chanting, “We're switching to Chewy.”  So, there's a message here. And it's the undercurrent of what's going on in business around the world. And it's not just in the US. He'll be in France again in October speaking in a large conference there; he goes to Asia a lot. And everywhere you go, people are really interested in doing business with individuals that are kind, thoughtful, caring, and empathetic and once he realized that, and then people began to share these ideas, if you would do this, I would be a loyal customer, he just thought it'd be helpful to put that out in the marketplace for anybody, regardless the kind of business you're in. Because it makes a big difference in your life. He heard from a guy that sells hot water heaters to hotels, and he said this book changed his business completely. So, that's the difference.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Richard When asked about books that have had a great impact, Richard shared that one particularly, there's a series, his name is Bob Burg. And he's written a book, the original book, he was a co-author of a book called The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea that is international bestseller, sold a couple million copies, what a fabulous book for anybody to read. And that would be one he'd recommend.  And another one that he has co-authored with a guy named Jeff West is called Streetwise to Saleswise: Become ObjectionProofÔ and Beat the Sales Blues, it's really a great book, it just came out he would say a few months ago. And it's really a story, they write it in a story format and what he means by that is that it's like you're reading a novel, well, it is a novel. But as you're reading the novel, it's written in a way that allows you to understand various things you can do in shall we say in business to expand your influence, to make a significant impact and to really make a difference.  Now, The Go-Giver book that he wrote, he's done a series Go-Giver Leader, The Go-Giver Sell More, and those are really dynamite books. But The Go-Giver, the original book is just oh my God, what a great book and they've sold millions of copies all over the world.  And then the other one is Streetwise to Saleswise, another great book by he and a guy named Jeff West. That book has been out maybe a couple of months, but it's called Streetwise to Saleswise, and it's really written around the city of New Orleans and sales individual that went out there to shall we say, be in the sales business, it's a fabulous read, particularly people like novels that have read really great nuggets on how to be a better salesperson.   What Richard is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Richard shared that the book is doing extraordinarily well, he's been very grateful for that. It's been selected as the lead book for the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, which is a blessing. But what he's most excited about is he's getting in front of more and more audiences, he's in the Keynote Speaker Hall of Fame, and the Customer Experience Hall of Fame, and all of that is wonderful recognition. But what is really wonderful is when he has the privilege of being on the platform, and being able to share with audiences' ways in which they can elevate their client or customer experience, and stand apart from the competition, and that's what he's most excited about. He's got a lot of speaking engagements coming up this fall, and in places all over the world. And just to be a blessing to those people and to bring them some thoughts that perhaps they've never had, or to have reinforced that which is that they're doing so they really feel as though, “You know what, I'm on the right track, and we're going to continue to win more business.” So, those are the things that excites him.    Where can listeners find Richard online? LinkedIn - Richard Weylman Website - http://www.richardweylman.com/ Richard shared that on the website, there you can download a chapter of his book free, you can read it, you can also order the book there of course. There's also, he does a great deal of media, he guesses there's probably 25 or 30, ABC, CBS, NBC and, Fox, both TV and radio segments there, you just click on media and you can listen and watch those on various topics.   And then also under videos, you'll see a link there, you can go to learn services. And he puts up about he's going to guess 25 little video vignettes are a couple of minutes long that you can enjoy, they're all free, just wanted to plant those in your life. You can sign up for his performance tip that's the down at the bottom of every page but every 10 days he sends out researcher tips to about 20,000 people or subscribers, so it'd be wonderful if you subscribed.  So, you want to go to www.richardweylman.com if you want him to speak at your conference, or at your upcoming meeting, whatever the case might be, there's a form there, fill it out, he responds to those. He actually gets those himself, he'd be happy to partner with you, and find a way that they can bring some additional learning to your organization, to your people so that they can elevate their business performance as well.   Me: All right. Thank you so much for sharing, Richard. We just want to extend our deepest gratitude to for taking time out of your very busy schedule and hopping on this podcast. You shared some great insights and nuggets as it relates to some of the keys that you need to focus on in order to acquire and keep your clients for life especially based on the research that you did. And we love the examples that you gave, they were definitely relevant and something that I believe will motivate the audience to definitely go out and get a copy of your book, whether it be in soft or hard copy so they can try and elevate their own client experiences. So, thank you again.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest    Links •     The G0-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg •     Streetwise to Saleswise: Become ObjectionProofÔ and Beat the Sales Blues by Jeff West   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Welcome to the Financial Freedom & Wealth Trailblazers Podcast! In this episode, we explore how to see and fix your blind spots as a leader, inspire higher productivity within your teams, and focus on strategic growth to elevate your business to new heights. Have you ever felt like you're paying your team for no reason? Yanique Mpofu understands this frustration all too well. As an experienced leadership coach, Yanique specializes in helping entrepreneurial leaders transform their approach to team management, ensuring they get the best results without the constant need for oversight and micromanagement. People come to Yanique when they are fed up with taking on extra responsibility yet still feeling like they have to do it all themselves to see any results. They seek a way to have their team deliver tangible outcomes independently. Yanique's clients want to skip the ineffective delegation and trial-and-error methods, desiring a smooth-running business with a motivated and capable team quickly. Yanique works exclusively with entrepreneurial leaders who have built their own businesses and teams. Through her tailored coaching programs, she empowers leaders with the skills and strategies necessary to lead effectively, delegate with confidence, and inspire their teams to achieve higher productivity and innovation. Her ultimate goal is to free leaders to focus on strategic growth and elevate their businesses to new heights. Connect with Yanique here: https://www.youtube.com/@YaniqueMpofu https://www.instagram.com/yaniique/ https://www.facebook.com/yanique.parson/ Grab the freebie here: scorecard.yaniquempofu.com =================================== If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends. Thanks for watching the Financial Freedom & Wealth Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com. Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers. Request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators QUICK LINKS: APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-application GET MORE CLIENTS: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/client-acquisition-accelerator-pdf DIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/ JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators

Joel Passen is a proven technology entrepreneur and leader with 20+ years of success creating value and driving measurable results at the intersections of sales, business development, product strategy, operations and customer experience.   Before co-founding Sturdy, a next-gen customer experience solution that helps companies improve customer satisfaction. Joel co-founded Newton Software, a B2B SaaS company headquartered in San Francisco that was acquired by Paycor (2016). Prior to that, Joel co-founded Gravity Technologies, Inc., a company that owned and operated businesses in the talent acquisition industry, including the first recruitment processing outsourcing company focused on technical talent.    Questions · So, could you share with our listeners, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today? · Could you share maybe 1 to 3 top I would say areas that you believe as an organization, especially in your industry that you believe it's important for you to focus on or it drives your success in the space of ensuring that you're delivering a great or a fantastic customer experience. · If you want to maybe debunk maybe one of the biggest customer service myths that you see organizations still using as a driver in their business, when really and truly that shouldn't be anything that they should be guided by, what would you say that is based on your observation and experience? · Now, Joel, can you also share with us what's the one online tool, resource, website or application that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? · Can you also share with our listeners, maybe one or two books that you have read, it could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you've read a very long time ago, but it still has had a great and profound impact on you. And that can be either professional or even a personal impact. · Now, Joel, can you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you are really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. · Could you tell us a little bit about your organization Sturdy, exactly what it does. And if they wanted to connect with you, or Sturdy, how they could find you online? · Now, Joel, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to give our guests a chance to share with our listeners, 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 derail or you get off track or you get knock down and the quote kind of helps to just motivate you to get back up and to push forward and to complete whatever would have knocked you down. Do you have one those?   Highlights Joel's Journey Me: So, we like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about your journey. So, could you share with our listeners, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today?   Joel shared that he appreciates this question. So, he's always a commercial leader, meaning he's always had responsibility not only for net new growth, but also for responsibility for customers. And where he is today, in terms of having started a company that focuses on using AI to ultimately improve the customer experience by deeper listening to customers, he thinks for him, the journey was more of like, and this may sound a little off putting to some, but he was kind of like a frustrated engineer to a certain extent. He was a frustrated commercial person in many ways. So, he thinks the desire to sort of solve a problem that he had as an operator, a commercial operator for two decades, has led him to where he is today, which is trying to solve that problem at scale.   Areas Organizations Needs to Focus On to Ensure the Delivery of a Fantastic Customer Experience Me: So, could you share maybe 1 to 3 top I would say areas that you believe as an organization, especially in your industry that you believe it's important for you to focus on or it drives your success in the space of ensuring that you're delivering a great or a fantastic customer experience.    Joel shared that he likes everything in 3, so absolutely. But the first thing is, in many ways he thinks that removing the abstraction layers between our customers, and the level of leadership within organizations that can actually do something about the issues that we're hearing is really important. And what he means by that is, he thinks for the last 10 or 15 years, we've created not only technology driven abstraction layers like chatbots, and automated knowledge base stuff and it's all sort of addressing what he would think of as a symptom, but not necessarily is the root cause of perhaps customer frustrations in terms of customer experience.  So, an example would be like if we have to continue to build these really acute knowledge bases and what we're addressing is constant customer confusion, for example, wouldn't it make more sense to take the data that we're deriving about what's confusing the customer, take it back to our product teams or services organizations, and address the root cause. So, number one is, he thinks we've got too many abstraction layers between us and our customers.  Like number two is, the people that are responsible for customer experience, and ultimately, you're holding the bag and oftentimes, perhaps even the number for the board can only solve about 30% of the problems that we face around customer experience or challenges we face about customer experience within the organization. So, for example, going back to like a product or service, which ultimately, we deliver to an end user. If he's the customer experience person, and he's holding the bag for that number, whether it's some sort of arbitrary number like not arbitrary, but he guesses arbitrary, like NPS or CSAT, like something that we're being measured on, but even more importantly, a revenue number. He has to rely on his other teammates to ultimately contribute to the success of that experience. And that's a big challenge.  And he thinks the third one is kind of an expansion on that topic, which is, he thinks that we've lost sight as organizations at large that everybody's job is customer experience, providing the best customer experiences we can, whether it's the billing team that designs processes around auto renewing, and billing customers, to the product teams that are delivering product to the services teams that are delivering services, to the sales teams that are an account management teams that are being truthful and ethical and honest about what we actually can provide in terms of value.   Debunking Customer Service Myths Me: Now, in listening to you, I also wanted to know if you could share with us, you've been in the whole customer experience space, and you're noted as a top customer experience voice on LinkedIn. If you want to maybe debunk maybe one of the biggest customer service myths that you see organizations still using as a driver in their business, when really and truly that shouldn't be anything that they should be guided by, what would you say that is based on your observation and experience?    Joel stated that it's going make me unpopular. He's going to lose the popularity contest on this answer, and he's going to treat this less like a cable news show, so, he's not going to swear. But if you do follow him on LinkedIn, it's not just to be incendiary. But he really thinks health scores of customers are one of the most overused, underpowered abstraction layers that people use, he thinks they're garbage. And he's speaking from experience, not because he has something against them, or the companies that help us build them or anything like that. It's because too many times, he's been in executive leadership team meetings, and he takes the board slides in, and he's got all these green lights on maybe with their top revenue accounts, for example. And he goes back to team meetings two weeks later to go back through the account reviews, and so many times he's gone from green to gone with no leading indicators along the way that has ever given him any kind of indication that they were in trouble. So, that's his answer. And some people are in love with health scores, and they spent a lot of time building them, and quite frankly, he thinks they're full of telemetry data and opinions that just don't yield anything that he can use as an executive leader.   App, Website or Tool that Joel Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Joel shared GPT 4. As an early-stage entrepreneur, he feels like he spends a lot of time sifting through data, and crafting messaging. But to make a finer point, like, for example, he has a client, they're called Hawke Media, they're one of the largest independent ad agencies in the United States. And his outbound sales team, let's say, wants to find more companies that are similar to these folks. And there are hundreds of these types of agencies in the United States, not of the same magnitude of Hawke Media, but similar. And when you go into LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and all these other Apollo or ZoomInfo. With all the metadata tags that are in the systems, it's really hard to get a filtered list, for example.  So, last night, he was watching a hockey game, and he typed a simple query into GPT 4 and said, “Give me 300 companies that look and feel like this particular company that are based in the United States and then put their name in column A of a CSV and send it to me,” and it did it and it's super accurate. And it's that kind of stuff that it's just mind blowing. Some of the things you can do with it. So, GPT 4, probably for him, can't live without it.    Me: Amazing. It's fascinating when I heard the prompt that you just gave it now. It's very important that what you put in is what you get out almost like the quality of the question you asked determines the quality of the response that you get back. So, the fact that you are so specific in terms of what you were looking for, the teams, the column that you wanted it in, the fact that you wanted it to be for a specific geographic location, and not just to the world, and the fact that it gave you back that information, so specifically, the prompt that you put into it is so critical to the output that it gives you.   Joel stated that that's a good point, not to scratch his back at all. But he would tell people start with being ultra specific, if you haven't leaned into GPT.  First of all, it's worth the 20 bucks a month for GPT 4. It's really powerful and it can produce graphs and charts and statistical things you can enter, for example, he was working on some like a VC deck the other day for a friend of his, not for his company. But he was having a trouble with like, processing the information from his total addressable market into like a graphical form. Like he's not a designer, he's a spreadsheet person.  And so, he took his spreadsheet, uploaded it to his version of GPT 4 in Azure, so it's privatized without any kind of PII in it, he paid 20 bucks a month for it. And it spit out a graphical representation that with a little bit of tweaking and the coloring could be used in a deck, it's really great. So, there's just some really crazy things you can do with it. But start with being more specific and dial it back, rather than starting with broad requests and commands, because then you're going to get frustrated.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Joel When asked about books that have had a great impact, Joel stated that he's going to reveal that his dad is an Industrial Psychologist, PhD in Industrial Psychology. And he's written a bunch of papers on emotional intelligence, EQ and EI. And so, he's kind of a big fan of Dan Pink, or Daniel Pink. They are business books, so they might be a little cliche for some people. But in 2005, he wrote a book called A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Right Brain. It's kind of like the why right brain thinkers are the future. And he thinks there's a lot of interesting things in there that are pretty applicable today. Despite his little claim of using GPT, which might be more of a left brained example, he's probably a stronger right brained person with communication skills, specifically, rather than somebody that's going to put their head in a spreadsheet all day. And he thinks there's some really telling things and some really interesting things that people could use, both earlier in their career and even later in their career with the Daniel Pink book.  And then he thought one of the other books that he read recently, when he thought about this was “The Billion Dollar Loser : The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork”, written by Reeves Wiedeman, it's the Adam Neumann story about work, he doesn't know, if Yanique have read that. It's actually kind of a fiery read, like, it's a cool book. But he thinks for him, the story was really interesting, if you're interested in business, but it also is a really stark reminder that humility is really important in business, being honest, and being humble is a marathon play, but it's also the right play, it'll get you to the finish line. So, he thought that was a good reminder for him and anyone else that is in business and thinking about their own sort of virtue.   What Joel is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Joel shared that he's really excited about for me, he works at a company that builds applied AI products and essentially helping businesses listen to their customers more carefully, and actively for that matter.  And he thinks what he's most excited about is sort of the evolution of AI in an ethical way. So, one of the things if you read any of the business reports from the industry analysts and in the industry consulting firms, the Beans, you read any of the stuff from the Harvard Business Review, fairly objective sources, people are really scared about using AI in their businesses specifically, let alone personally, but he's thinking about it in a business light.  And he thinks what's starting to happen is that the hype is dying down a little bit and we're starting to see a more practical light in the application of AI where it's not so risky, and that it is truly not going to replace everybody's jobs, it's going to help us sift through larger and larger datasets together, so we can get to the root of very specific problems and solve for the root, going back to him at the top of the show when he talked about abstraction layer. So, for him, he's really excited about that, more and more companies are adopting AI and doing so in an ethical, responsible, privacy conscious way. And the wild, wild west is starting to fade into the background as quickly as it grew, and he thinks that's exciting to him, and he knows that sounds kind of nerdy, but that for him is progress.    About Joel's Organization Sturdy and How Can Listeners Find Joel Online Joel shared that Sturdy is very easy to find, he'll start there, but it's sturdy.ai. And he thinks for the relevancy of your listeners and our listeners today is, their our thesis was that ultimately, the customer experiences is really the responsibility of every team. Again, he mentioned operations services, product sales, marketing, leadership, everybody's responsible for customer satisfaction and customer experience. And ultimately, that leads to everybody being in charge of revenue and retention. And what they've realized over the years as being operators of businesses is that 75% of customers expect businesses to use some sort of technology to better their experiences, like the time is now yet we have all these silos in our business.  So, what their business does, what Sturdy does is plugs into all of your data hubs where you're collecting communications from your customers, those day-to-day interactions, those really rich meaningful, those emails, the tickets, the calls transcripts, even unstructured tests like text like surveys, they take all of that information in, privatize it. And they run language models on it to help find topics and trends to help improve the customer experience. And then make agents to deliver this data to the teams and the people and the systems that need it the most. So, that's basically what they do. And they find that the outcomes are their customers are improving their NPS and CSAT scores almost immediately, because they're more actively listening to their customers. But they're also seeing pretty strong lifts in customer retention and revenue as well. So, both expansion and retention revenue.  And he's easy to find, personally, Joel Passen as mentioned, he talks a lot about customer experience and satisfaction on LinkedIn. And you can find him on LinkedIn, he's pretty active there. And otherwise, he just joel@sturdy.ai.   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Joel Uses When asked about a quote that he tends to revert to, Joel shared that he's going to disappoint people, because this isn't like super profound. But he tells his kids this too and his dad used to tell him this like, “Every day is like the first day of school, you can reinvent yourself.” The ability for humans to reinvent themselves is surreal, it's crazy. And if he's having a bad day, or he's down or he's stuck, he literally thinks about the next day and say, tomorrow's my day, I can be whoever I want, I can solve whatever I want. He shared that he sounds like that guy on Saturday Night Live, Stuart Smalley. But reinventing, every day is an opportunity to reinvent yourself. And he thinks that's what keeps him going and he truly believes that even if you had a bad day or a bad interaction with your family or your team or what have you, tomorrow's a new day.    Me: Great. Thank you so much for sharing, Joel.   Thank you so much for hopping on our podcast and sharing all of these great insights as it relates to customer experience and debunking the myths in customer experience that a lot of organizations are still driven by. Also talking about your organization Sturdy and just where you see artificial intelligence going and how the adaptation is being taken more in a practical role now as all the fanfare and excitement is dying down and people are really seeing how they can integrate it in a very practical and useful way not just to eliminate human interaction but to add to the value that they are using the technology to enhance the quality of the experience that the customer is having. So, thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Rachel Stanley came to Banzai in 2019 with over 10 years of SaaS onboarding, training, implementation, consulting, e-Learning, customer success, adoption and support experience. When Rachel joined Banzai, Customer Success was the only customer-facing job function.  Since then, Rachel has added Onboarding, Support and Customer Marketing successfully creating a Customer Experience organization that has driven best-in-industry customer satisfaction and grown Banzai's Net Retention Rate (NRR) significantly. Rachel is passionate about building high functioning teams that consistently hit their objectives. Previously, Rachel has held roles at Amazon and ACS Technologies. Rachel lives in the Seattle area.   Questions · Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. So, could you share with our listeners, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today? · Now, could you tell our listeners a little bit about Banzai and what you guys do? · Banzai focus is really on events and your target is really your marketers are your customers. What would you say are some of your customers main pain points? How is it that you're able to overcome some of those and successfully have a high retention rate because ideally, that's what all organizations aim for, to keep the customers that they have for a lifetime. · Now, seeing that you've been in the Customer Success space for quite some time now, what are some of the emerging trends that you are seeing in the Customer Success space that you believe if that trend continues in a positive way will help to enhance customer experience? · Now, Rachel, can you also share with us what's the one online tool, resource, website or application that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? · Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a great impact on you, and maybe even your development and just your continued growth? · Could you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that is going on in your life right now that you are really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. · Now, our listeners would have tapped into this episode, and they're quite intrigued with you, Rachel and they'd like to know how they can reach out to you online where can they find you online? · Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests if you have a quote or a saying maybe something that you revert to or use if during times of adversity or challenge, this quote kind of helps to just get you back on track or get you back refocused. Do you have one of those? Highlights  Rachel's Journey Me: Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. So, could you share with our listeners, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today?   Rachel shared that beginning of her career, she was actually an office manager for many years and an Executive Assistant. So, her customer base was very internal. And then she took the opportunity at ACS Technologies to apply for, she was an Executive Assistant office manager and applied for a onboarding, like specialist or an onboarding role. And so, that was her introduction into customer facing. And from there, it just kind of took off. She went from onboarding to an actual, like implementation consultants, than she ended up leading that team. And so, they mainly focus on training and implementation professional services.  And then coming into Banzai, was really when she wanted to break into customer success, it was still kind of new back then, it's really developed over the years. But at Banzai in the last five years, she's just grown so much, thankfully, there's so many resources like this podcast out there that really explore all the areas of customer experience. So, at Banzai, like Yanique just said, it basically grew from customer success, and then added onboarding and adoption and support and customer marketing has been the latest addition.   About Rachel's Company – Banzai Me: Now, could you tell our listeners a little bit about Banzai and what you guys do?   Rachel shared that Banzai is a Mar Tech company. So, they're all about providing tools that give marketers data. And so, right now, their products are mostly event focused, they have a webinar platform, and then a platform/service that drives registrations to field marketing events. But they are this year is really exciting and they're looking at a bunch of different acquisitions that they're mainly focused on how to provide data to marketers. So, they have visions of becoming a platform that has a tonne of tools for marketers to become a Banzai customer. So, for her this year, cross sell is a big focus.    Strategies for Enhancing Customer Retention in Event Marketing Me: So, Banzai focus is really on events, as you said, and your target is really your marketers are your customers. What would you say are some of your customers main pain points? How is it that you're able to overcome some of those and as I mentioned when I was reading your bio, successfully have a high retention rate because ideally, that's what all organizations aim for, to keep the customers that they have for a lifetime.   Rachel shared that she'll specifically talk about their webinar platform customers, because that's the bulk of their business at the moment. So, the problem they often come to them, she would say most have already at least started a webinar programme, some customers are just starting but their main segment or ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) is mid-market, so most of them have done a webinar programme before but it's been clunky, they feel like their other platform wasn't engaging, and they didn't know how to prove the ROI of their webinar platform.  And so, what they really focus on is, thankfully, their platform is super easy, super clean, and all of that. So, they obviously want to make sure they use all of the features, all of the engaging features to help their audience engage more, but then they also point out all the data they have on the back end that helps them prove the ROI. And so, since their customers are marketers, they're obviously, most of their objectives are providing MQLs (Marketing Qualified Lead) and things like that.  And so, things like their focus rate, like being able to see who was the most engaged in a webinar really can provide like a lead score for them, and then push people over to sales and provide MQLs. And so, that's really where she thinks instead of just kind of letting them just get on the webinar platform and just run a webinar, they're really focused on how to improve the webinar, how to make it more engaging, and how to deliver the data that helps them move those prospects to the next stage of the opportunity.   Emerging Trends to Enhance Customer Success Now, seeing that you've been in the Customer Success space for quite some time now, what are some of the emerging trends that you are seeing in the Customer Success space that you believe if that trend continues in a positive way will help to enhance customer's experience…..generally speaking?   Rachel shared that that's a great question. She thinks internally, like the trend that we're all kind of looked at and focusing on is AI. And so, how can we utilize AI? And she thinks all of us, especially people that work in customer experience, we tend to all really care about people, like we have a lot of empathy, there's definitely like a persona.  And so, she thinks there's some concern in the AI space that like we don't want to be replaced by robots, or probably any function is worried about that. And so, she's trying to learn as much as she can about AI and explore different tools and how it's being implemented. And what she thinks is, we really need to lean into how AI can help us be more efficient, but not replace us, like how can AI free up more of our time to focus on our customers and make sure they're getting the most value out of our product or service?  And so, what she's seeing right now, like with support is, AI can help find an answer quicker, or kind of write a draft of a response to a customer, instead of just like, automatically sending a response to a customer like we've all had the experience of calling in, and they're like asking you to say and it's a robot, like asking you to say what your problem is, and you end up kind of screaming at the phone asking to talk to a representative. That's not the experience she wants for their customers.  And so, what they're leaning into is more like internal efficiencies and she thinks what that allows, it's good for morale, too, because freeing up time allows people to lean into their sweet spots and what they're passionate about, and what she's seeing with CSM (Customer Service Management) specifically is allowing them to spend more time on things like a QBR or just checking in on a customer or joining one of their webinars, things like that. And so, she thinks that's a positive that if we can keep freeing up more time, then that's a trend she wants to continue to lean into.   App, Website or Tool that Rachel Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about an online resource that she cannot live without, Rachel shared that Intercom for them, that's the tool they use for their Support Chat. It also allows them to do like in app pop ups, it could be anything from like a banner announcement to a survey, or announcing a feature release, things like that. It's what allows them to provide fast 24/7 support. For us a webinar, they have customers around the world, and they believe 24/7 support is essential because if something's wrong, it's super stressful in the moment, like, imagine if this podcast was live and there's a technical difficulty. So, Intercom is what allows them to do that and what allows their customer marketing to advertise things, but it's also like how they do like in app onboarding like a product tour when new customers initially joined. So, it's an essential tool for them.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Rachel  When asked about books that have had a great impact, Rachel shared that over like the Christmas and New Year's break, she read two books that have really kind of framed a theme for her this year. And it's Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown and The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi. And both of them aren't necessarily like business books. So, she likes books like that, that you can apply to your personal life and to work. And they kind of have a similar theme and actually though, she read The Lazy Genius Way first, and in that book, or maybe it's her podcast, but she recommended Essentialism.  She said, she reads it reads it once a year and basically Essentialism talks all about doing less but better. And The Lazy Genius Way, her tagline is “being a genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don't.” And so, going into this year with her team, she's just really been talking about like an essentialist mindset. And it goes back to even her original customer facing days of training where she talked a lot about first you focus on what's essential, then what's important, then what's helpful, like when training the customer, and she thinks they can apply that with their own workload, like her team's job is never done, there's always something they could be doing more and better and they get a lot thrown at them. And so, to help with overwhelm and burnout, then focus on okay, but what's essential, like what's essential today, what's essential this quarter for them to hit their objectives and their goals? And it's really been helpful for her personally, and for every member of her team.    What Rachel is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that she's really excited about, Rachel shared that at the risk of repeating herself, it really is essentialism, even in her personal life, she's trying to just shed doubt, like even parenting, it's kind of like a minimalist in a way but a little bit different. So, she's trying to simplify her life and really focus on the things that are going to make the biggest difference like personally, she's trying to exercise more and eat less sugar like things like that that are essential. And then at work, she's really been focused on like picking the three things that she has to do, like the most essential things in a day and trying to let go of creating a to do list that's 20 things long and feeling like she failed when she didn't do it at the end of the day.   Me: That's a good one. She shared that which is definitely her old way of operating and so ending the day feeling successful is way better.   Me: I agree, especially if psychologically you've conditioned your mind that if the list is smaller and definitely you've done in chunks and more manageable, then it makes it more realistic and provides you with a better transition from day to day, because as you said, you don't feel like you have failed and you feel successful going into the next day.    Where Can We Find Rachel Online  LinkedIn – Rachel Stanley Website – www.banzai.io   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Rachel Uses When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, Rachel shared that she's going to stick to kind of the theme of the last few questions and because she really does go back to the two quotes of the books she mentioned. Because her biggest weakness is more being a perfectionist and an overachiever. So, “Do less but better.” and basically, “Be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.” It's okay to be lazy.   Me: I love it. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for taking time and coming on our podcast and sharing all of these great insights, sharing about your company, Banzai and also about customer success, and some of the trends as it relates to AI that you believe should continue definitely to free up people's time. As well as what you're working on as you're going forward. So, we just want to extend our deepest gratitude to you.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown •     The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi    The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Steve Cockram is an inspirational communicator, serial entrepreneur, confidant to elite leaders around the world and co-creator of the world's premier “Leadership Toolkit”. He has co-authored The 100X Leader, 5 Voices and The 5 Gears with his business partner, Jeremie Kubicek. Their new book, The Communication Code, released in November of 2023.   Questions ·      So, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today? ·      Your book, The Communication Code, you wrote it with your business partner, Jeremie Kubicek, could you share with us a little bit about that book, maybe three overarching themes or tenets that the book focuses on? And kind of who is the book geared towards? ·      Now, you mentioned the five C's in terms of communication code, if I wanted to know or one of our listeners wanted to know what's my primary communication code? How do I know? Is there like a test that you can do?  ·      What do you think is critical in customer experience? If we were to look at the different code, channels that you spoke to us about the five C's, do you think they're all critical? Or do you think there may be one or two that definitely must occur in that interaction? ·  When you're explaining to me the five C's just now and you said in terms of communicating, you have to be really good at asking questions. How can you improve on the ability or the competence of asking the right types of questions? Because that's critical to the whole communication process, if you're not asking the right questions, then you're not going to get the right responses to get to the solution. ·    Now, Steve, could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your own business? ·     Now, could you share with our listeners as well, Steve, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. ·      Where can listeners find you online? ·     Now, before we wrap our episodes up, Steve, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed or you got off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those? Highlights Steve's Journey Me: So, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today?   Steve shared what an interesting question that is, nobody ever in their right mind have done all the things he's done in the last 30 years. So, he'll give the highlights. He was a school teacher, an entrepreneur, a nightclub owner, a pastor, a coach, consultant, and been running Giant really with Jeremie for the last 11 years. So, he always say if you were to meet his friends at the age of 30, and ask who would be the least likely guru on relational intelligence? Probably, he would be in everyone's top three.  So, everything they've learned usually has come out of their own personal failure and trying to work out why human beings behave the way they do. And also, how can they help people do relationships better in every area of their life? That's really been the heart and the joy of the last few years.    About Steve's Book – The Communication Code Me: So, your new book that was mentioned in reading your bio, The Communication Code, you wrote it with your business partner, Jeremie Kubicek, could you share with us a little bit about that book, maybe three overarching themes or tenets that the book focuses on? And kind of who is the book geared towards?    Steve shared that they kind of say the book is for anyone who is involved in any form of human interaction relationship, i.e., everyone. They write for leaders really, but he honestly believe all the resources they created, this is probably the one that leaders apply most in their home relationships as much as they do anywhere else.  So, the premise gives you a couple of things. One is that transmission of information is not the same as effective communication. So, just because you've sent information to someone does not mean that they've understood the intent with which you've sent it or your expectations as to how you would wish them to respond. So, they use the analogy of saying, if you think of a communication code for those sort of like the enigma machine or a codebreaker, if I could send to you a communication code in advance of the transmission of information, which shared with you how I would like you to respond, we are more likely to meet each other in the middle and communicate effectively.  So, the basic premise is there are five communication codes, each come with clues. If he said to Yanique, “I'm going to send this to you, I want you to critique it, I want you to tell me why it's not going to work, you won't hurt my feelings. It goes live in two hours. If there's mistakes, I want to know, full critique invited.”   Second one is Collaboration, where basically he says, “Yanique, I've been working on something, I think it's pretty good, but I think you can bring things that will make it better.” So, full collaboration, please help make this better, whatever that is.  Clarify, if he says to you, “Yanique, you know I've got something really important to share, I don't think it's going to come out perfectly first time. Would you ask great questions, don't try and critique or collaborate too soon. Help me get out what I'm really trying to say.”   Because clarification is usually the ability to ask questions before you launch into something else.   Care is the fourth communication code, which says, this is what I got wrong many, many times where just because someone is transmitting information to him, doesn't mean they want him to fix them, solve them or be their consultant. Care means, “Steve, I am struggling right now, what I'm going to say to you probably bears no resemblance to what the real issues are. I just need to know that somebody cares enough about me to be present, to listen, not trying to solve me, not trying to fix me.”  Then the last one was celebrate, which is, he might say, “Yanique, hey, before we go on, this is really important to me, I'd love us to take a moment to celebrate something really special, not move on too quickly and go.”  So, the idea being is you'd be amazed if you add five communication codes that you send in advance of the transmission of your information, you will find that basically, relationships that you struggle with at work, with the people you lead, even the people you have at home, you will be amazed what happens when you actually give them clues as to how you want to respond.  So, there you go, that's the quickest overview he's ever given of the communication code book, so apologies if that was longer than you were hoping, but he hopes it at least wet your appetite.   Me: It did. So, just run back through the five C's for me. You said Critique, Collaboration, and what was the third one?   Steve shared, Clarify, Care and Celebrate.   So, what happens is that all of us have default communication codes that are wired into our personality. So, when he doesn't think about it, he automatically tries and collaborate but it's experiences critique. His wife, for her care is number one, and clarify is number two. So, when people present to him things that they're struggling with, unless he's intentional, he will usually try and solve their problems.   And it's amazing how often that goes wrong because he's not actually able to meet the expectations, unspoken by the way of the person on the other side of him and just for every leader, every day when you're managing people in different contexts will almost always end up with miscommunication, this is just simple. Children can learn it and understand it, they use it at home the whole time. And it's been transformative, so that's why they share it.    Understanding Your Primary Communication Code Me: Now, you mentioned the five C's in terms of communication code, if someone wanted to know what was their primary code, right, because you said your primary one is collaboration, but it's received as critique. And your wife's care and clarify. So, if I wanted to know or one of our listeners wanted to know what's my primary communication code? How do I know? Is there like a test that you can do?   Steve shared that there is, if you go to www.giantworldwide.com, there's a free assessment there. Or it might be actually www.giantos.com.  So, there's a free assessment. But it's really interesting when actually you begin to think about the transmissions of the miscommunication. So, a lot of people either think by sending an email they've communicated effectively, and the reality is, the moment you grasp as a leader that transmission is not the same as effective communication, you also begin to think, how could I use this, now he'll even use it with people who haven't learned the communication code. He'll say to them, “Hey, before I respond to you this moment, you've asked me for this. Can I just be clear, what do you hope happens here? Are you asking me just to listen and be a good friend or a good boss? Are you asking me to celebrate with you? Do you want to ask good questions, you asked me to help make it better? Or do you want me to tell you why I think it will or won't work?”  So, if you think about it, you can become intentional immediately and amazingly when people believe that you are more relationally intelligent as a leader, you'll be amazed at how much your influence grows with the teams and the people you lead every day. It's amazing what people do when they feel that they're being listened to, heard and that you're committed to trying to really hear what they're trying to say, rather than what he guesses he used to do, which was just respond with whatever he thought was most appropriate in the moment, or whatever pressure he was dealing with.   The Importance of the Five C's in Customer Experience Me: Now, a big part of communication, Steve, and I'm kind of bringing this back to customer experience, right? Typically, a customer will reach out to an organization for primarily two reasons, to make a request, it could be for an existing service that they have with your company or product, or it could be for a new service that they're seeking to attain. Or they're calling because they have a problem and they would like it resolved. So, primarily those are like the two channels that customers will reach out to you for. What do you think is critical in customer experience? If we were to look at the different code, channels that you spoke to us about the five C's, do you think they're all critical? Or do you think there may be one or two that definitely must occur in that interaction?   Steve shared that it's a really good question. His instinct in EQ is to say that clarify is probably the place to start. Because in a sense, the clarification is what are they really wanting to happen? What are they really hoping happens? And he guess asking the right questions in the beginning, for those of us who are problem solvers, we tend to launch into problem solving quickly.  And he would say that really understanding, well, is somebody just wanting a rant, does somebody just want to have their pound of flesh and get that off there and he just needs to sit there and care and not try and solve it. Or do they have a specific problem that they really hope he can help them with?  He thinks it's unlikely that celebrate is going to be the agenda, but it would be nice if they were ringing up to say how amazing they think your product is. But he would say probably the clarify is where you start and making a judgement of whether what this person really wants is just you to listen, or whether they're actually more likely inviting you beyond the initial clarification into a collaborative process, how do I help bring a resolution to the reason that you are contacting customer service?  Now, he thinks the other one, he doesn't know what it's like in your part of the world, but you'd be amazed how many people will spend an awful long time waiting to get through to a customer service line. So, he thinks sometimes the disarming connection, the saying, “I'm so sorry. I'm aware you've had to wait a long time, I would love to be able to do everything I can to help you resolve whatever the issues are.” He always think that goes a long way with him when someone at least recognizes that he's probably been on the call longer than he was hoping he would be.   Improve on the Competence of Asking the Right Questions Me: Agreed. So, I'm happy you said clarify, because the question I really wanted to ask you, but I kind of wanted to hear what you would have said based on the customer experience approach is. When you're explaining to me the five C's just now and you said in terms of communicating, you have to be really good at asking questions. And it has been my experience as a customer service trainer and even as a podcaster, I must say I've gotten much better at doing it over the years, but I find a lot of people who are in customer service practitioner roles struggle with this, like how can you improve on the ability or the competence of asking the right types of questions? Because that's critical to the whole communication process, if you're not asking the right questions, then you're not going to get the right responses to get to the solution.   Steve shared that he thinks you actually master your content and the products of which you are going to be answering people's questions. There's a competency filter which means, “Do you know how to help somebody in that process?”  And he thinks it's different again, whether you're doing it online, or telephone or whether you're maybe in a physical place, like if he goes to the Apple store, the geeks helped him, there's different things he would say depending on whether it's face to face or whether more likely it's even just over a phone because he thinks you have to remember is that communication, only 10% of communication is the words that are used, 35% is the tone with which the words are offered. And then 55% is the nonverbal communication body language.  So, you're delivering customer service and all you have his tone of voice and words, you're already having to work hard to really understand what is it this person is seeking to communicate.  So, for him, he thinks that communication part is potentially really helpful, because it's almost taking the time to clarify and ask the question to really make sure you understand what the intent and the expectation.  So, there's the two things that he's always trying to understand when someone's speaking to him, what is their intent really? And what is their expectation of this engagement? Even if he knows they probably won't tell him, or they may be unaware of even knowing what it is in the first place is the reason communication is so difficult to train.  But it's also how people have tools, it becomes really significant when people are able to begin to decode what is the intent, what is the expectation, in his world, obviously, you alluded to something called five voices, he spent about the last 20-25 years trying to work out why humans behave the way they do and understanding that different personalities react very predictably to different interactions. Now, that's probably a high level of sales skills and customer service is a degree of sales if you think about it. But actually, there's another piece that if people want to add skills, begin to listen to the words that people use, whether that's in the way that neuro linguistic programme would, programming would start to think about, do they talk about what they see, what they hear? Or are they more kinesthetic and in our language of voices, he's listening for what type of personality is presenting themselves to him in the way that they engage, in the way they communicate.  So, he would argue that in any human interaction, the person communicating, transmitting to you is giving you lots of clues.  The question is, to your point, how much time do we really spend listening and trying to understand, discern who this person is, what their intent, what are the expectations before we launch into probably what they were expecting, which is a more collaborative approach to how do we help resolve their issue, bearing in mind that the presenting issue may not be the real issue. There's so much in there, here's the thing he'll encourage to anyone who's really interested in developing their skills in this area, he's your kind of Beacon of Hope, because he's like 24 years on now into this as one of the least relation intelligent people by nature, sadly, by personality. And actually, now many would say, I think really hard about it because I've really had to learn, the things that don't come naturally to you, you often end up being a better teacher and coach, because you've actually had to wrestle and struggle with your own inability at my time to listen.  They have a tool in their toolbox called the boomerang effect, learn to be interested before trying to be interesting. It's like relational intelligence 101. And he thinks it's amazing how often people want to talk to you about them and whatever you say, it reminds them of them or where they've been, that's another area that he's not sure where the customer experience particularly, but as a communication tip, it's amazing what happens when you meet people are interested in you, more than trying telling you how interesting they are.   Me: Yeah. Well, it's funny, you said that, because one of my very favorite books, and I try to read it at least once per year is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. And he talks about that in his book and I mean that book was published from 1933. So, it's amazing that that fundamentally is still the case today, because we are true and true human beings and as you mentioned before, some traits are just predictable.   Steve agreed that they are, and he think that's the bit which human behaviour is more predictable than any of us would ever give it credit for. And he thinks that's the bit where, he doesn't know whether you've watched the film called The Matrix. The moment you begin to understand why human beings behave the way they do, it's a little bit like the green letters and numbers coming down the screen, and you begin to watch a human interaction in different dynamics, in different ways, and you suddenly began to realize, actually is it's more predictable, and therefore if it's predictable, it can be learned.  And that actually, without it being manipulative, we can actually really work on being far more relationally intelligent and that will help us in every aspect of our leadership, whether we're working with our teams, or whether we're working at home, or whether we're ourselves engaging with clients and customers. But fundamentally, he would argue now that relational intelligence is now become even more important than classic IQ. AI does so much now. I don't know how much you play with it, but in our world is ridiculous how intelligent AI is becoming. But the one thing it doesn't do well, it doesn't do the relational intelligence piece as well as human beings do.  And he's not convinced that it will ever replace it. All he knows is it's becoming, he often says that basically, the ability to establish, maintain and develop long term relationships inside and outside your organization is the primary currency of wealth and influence in the new world.   App, Website or Tool that Steve Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Steve shared that the differences in the geeks who run his business are, he tries to think what for him, he thinks 1Password as a middle aged man is the app that he loves the most he looked in before, and he has 376 logins and very secure pieces of data in one app, which basically means I doesn't have to try and have 357 passwords identical. So, 1Password is the best. He doesn't know what it is USD $3.99 a month. But actually, that makes him feel more secure and safe online, that's him personally.  The business, he thinks if you were to speak to their team at the moment, they're building an app, they use a software called Framer, but it's a way in which you can see what technology in the app will be and do and look like before you actually have to actually engage in building the coding. So, he's a massive fan of Framer, even though he's not the person who actually runs it. There's some far younger, clever UI, UX developers who do all that work. But fundamentally, he's always massively impressive with what Framer does.   What Steve is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's excited about, Steve stated that that's a great question. Well, he thinks he probably alluded to it in the sense that they have worked for years to try and codify tools to help leaders do a better job in the visual world we live in. What they're working on at the moment and this is the thing which he smiles as he says it. They've run a B2B business up until this point, they've licensed kind of coaches and consultants to use their stuff.  But they're building a B2C app at the moment, which will take all of the Jedi mind tricks of the last 20 years about why people behave the way they do. They'll take the best of their tools, the best of what AI is able to do, and they will create a five voices out which will come your way later this year, which basically is your personalized coach in relation to, it will know your personality and your wiring. And it will basically customize content and learning for you and allow you to access it in the way that you most love to learn.  So, if you want podcasts, ebooks, audiobooks, but the idea really of actually rather than having to read one book, and we all read the same thing. He's watching the ability to customize content in form and style that is unique to you as an individual. And he's never seen that before.  So, he thinks communication code will be the last book they write in the late industrial format of a published book. He thinks they will customize content for individuals in formats and voices even and length of time, you'll be able to have your daily version of encouragement that will come straight to you when it comes, so that's what the team is working on at the moment. He gets to see all the progress week by week and minimum viable products is going to be ready for mid-May. So, watch this space for personality driven grows customized to you.   Where Can We Find Steve Online LinkedIn – Steve Cockram Email – steve@giantworldwide.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Steve Uses When asked about quote that he tends to revert to, Steve shared that he's got plenty of those. But probably the most common one is the Theodore Roosevelt quote when he talks about, “If he's going to fail, he would rather fail while daring greatly than be counted among those cold, timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” So, that's what he goes back to and just go, “If I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail while daring greatly, going after something big enough, that actually could make a dent and for good in the world.”   Me: Fantastic. So, we will have definitely have that quote in the show notes of this episode. So, just want to extend our deepest gratitude to you, Steve, for taking time out of your very busy schedule and coming on our podcast and sharing about your book, The Communication Code, the five C's that you mentioned, how it works, the inner workings of why it's important to listen, asking the right questions, understanding that relational communication is definitely the epitome of where we're moving forward to in this world. And just how as human beings, we can utilize a lot of the cues and clues that are given to us to improve on how it is that we transmit the communication with each other. So, it was really insightful, and I just want to say thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     The 100X Leader: How to Become Someone Worth Following by Steve Cockram and Jeremie Kubicek •     The 5 Voices: How to Communicate Effectively without Everyone You Lead by Steve Cockram and Jeremie Kubicek •     The 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time by Steve Cockram and Jeremie Kubicek •     How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie •     The Communication Code by Steve Cockram and Jeremie Kubicek   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience! 

In this special TOOST episode we had the opportunity to sit down for a conversation with Dr. Yanique Redwood, author, speaker, and facilitator, and Kate Schatz, now a three-time TOOST podcast guest, following an experimental event they held in Fall 2023 in Oakland, CA, with the goal of centering black female voices and experiences as well as a book talk on Dr. Redwood's book, White Women Cry and Call Me Angry, moderated by Kate.  We delve deeper into that experience, what takeaways came out of this event, and the further work that needs to be done to create safe spaces particularly for black women and women of color sharing their experiences. Dr. Yanique Redwood's website   Kate Schatz's website Work with Danielle: If you are ready to start working with a life coach or just want to learn more about the impact that coaching can have in your life, visit Danielle's website at www.daniellemccombs.com and schedule a complimentary exploratory session.  Work with Kristy: You can work with Kristy one-on-one or hire her to speak with your team to improve workplace communication. Visit Kristy's website at www.kristyolinger.com TALK BIG QUESTIONS Use these prompts to have the opposite of small talk in real life. Would you attend an experimental event like the one described by Dr. Redwood and Kate? Do you find yourself listening more to people who share experiences different than your own?  Or do you find it hard to listen without interjecting your own experience? What are some ways you try to create a safe space for others?  After this episode, are you more committed to safe spaces?  

Barry Klein is Vice president of Success and Enablement at Austin-Based Talroo, the data driven job and hiring event advertising platform that helps businesses reach the candidates they need to build their essential workforce. Barry provides leadership to Talroo's team of Customer Success Analysts who have both revenue and customer service responsibilities for multiple verticals.  Passionate about establishing “customers” as “partners”, he focuses on long-term relationships, lifetime value and establishing raving fans. With more than 30 years of experience in customer-facing and executive roles, including Vice President of Sales Engineering for Vignette Corp, Barry also spent several years running his own small business and consultancy. Barry holds a BS in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.   Questions ·    We always like to hear from our guests in their own words, how did you get from where you were to where you are today? · Can you share with our listeners a little bit about why you believe recruitment is so important as it relates to customer service delivery? · In terms of how do we hire well and focus on cultural alignment? And I imagine this begins in the interview process. What are three main things that you believe if you're tasked with that responsibility for an organization, where would you put your focus, maybe three top areas that you put your focus on if we're trying to get cultural alignment? · Now, 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 our listeners maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read recently, or one that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a great impact on you. · Can you share with us also, 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? ·  Before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed or there was an obstacle or hurdle that was presented to you and it caused you to not be on track but when you thought of that quote or when you recited that quote, it kind of got you back on track. Do you have one of those?   Highlights Barry's Journey  Me: Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words a little bit about their journey. So, I know we read your bio that gives us formally how it is that you got to where you are today, but we always like to hear from our guests in their own words, how did you get from where you were to where you are today?    Barry stated that he appreciates Yanique asking and thanked her for mentioning his alma mater, RPI. As he said, he was a Computer Science Major and he was in college in the late 80s. So, the world of programming was very different than it would be today. But he wrote a lot of codes, in fact, when he went to his parent's house years after he graduated, and he saw the Dot Matrix Paper printouts of the code he had written, he was like, who wrote this, he couldn't in a million years, he couldn't have recreated that code.   But by the time he graduated college, he knew that while he enjoyed coding very much, and it was why he went to get a computer science degree, he done enough. And what he became intrigued about was the intersection of the technology and people. And his first roles out of college were not really tech support per se but sort of high-end engineering support for customers who are developing with their platform and that led him closer to customers.  And what he found he really enjoy and what he imagines he's best that if he has to choose his best skill is, is explaining and painting a picture about technical topics for non-technical folks, that is very gratifying.  It's allowed him to have experience both with frontline decision makers, frontline influencers at any given customer, as well as executive suite folks who need these pictures drawn and need that insight. And he really enjoyed that, and he especially enjoy not only doing that himself, but enabling teams to do that with best practices, all the nuance that you need when you're in that customer facing role, whether it's pre sales or post sales, not just what you say, but how you say it. All of those things come together to create the kinds of roles that are always dynamic, and no two days are ever the same.    The Importance of Recruitment as it Relates to Customer Service Delivery Me: So, a big part of what you're doing at your current organization is recruitment, correct? So, can you share with our listeners a little bit about why you believe recruitment is so important as it relates to customer service delivery, maybe connect the dots so that our listeners can have a good understanding of why having good recruitment techniques is critical to ensuring that you are aligned properly to get the kind of deliverables that you're looking from as it relates to customer service.   Barry shared that it is an interesting intersection because the skills and mindset of customer success folks is something that would exist regardless of what the industry you happen to be in is, but in their case, because Talroo is a talent matching platform that strives to match opportunities, especially for frontline workers with having the frontline worker at the right job, in the right place, at the right time, for the right price, so that they get the happy connection between an employer who needs the talent and the person who has the talent, making that connection is very gratifying and their entire platform is aligned around that.  And it does create an interesting mindset for them because they're helping employers recruit and then you say, “Well, how does that affect our own recruitment? What are we looking for? What are the processes? Everything from how do we source our candidates to how do we interview them to how do we determine their cultural alignment with our organization?”  So, all things recruitment is really near and dear to their heart.  And the other thing that makes it fun is, what they do is at an intersection of such a huge part of the economy, he can't read a newspaper or put on CNBC or watch a business channel, and not have them talking about the unemployment rate and the impact. So, they are really in the forefront of all of that.   But one of the things that they've really been focusing on as they craft where Talroo is going is very personal to him in terms of how he recruits and who he hires and who he looks for. One of the things they're seizing on as sort of their mission is improving the lives of both employers and candidates, one person at a time. And he loves that tagline because it captures how personal it is, it's one person at a time.   And he believes in a leadership role, the single most important thing that you can do is hire well, that is absolutely the single most important thing, if you hire well, most things take care of themselves, you hire well, you train well and you correct hiring problems quickly, if you've made a mistake, if you don't have that proper connection, that's always very painful, if you have to do that.   And then really the role he believes of a leader is to create the environment in which these talented people who are motivated and intelligent, where they can succeed. So, he often says he doesn't do any real work, the thing that he's most proud of is creating an environment in which these folks can succeed, get the political stuff out of the way, and set them up for success. And if we found the right people who are customer success oriented, whether that service-oriented heart, they can then teach them what they need to know about their technology, their solution, but if they are the right cultural fit and the right kind of person, then they're 80% of the way there.   Areas to Focus On To Achieve Cultural Alignment Me: So, I like the fact that in your explanation just know, you spoke about cultural alignment, and I think I would love for you to go a little bit more granular as it relates to that in terms of how do we hire well and focus on cultural alignment? And I imagine this begins in the interview process. Are there some key questions that you think may need to be asked? Does it boil down to the advertisement that you put out in terms of who you're attracting to apply in the first place? Where do you start? And maybe what are three, I would say main things that you believe if you're tasked with that responsibility for an organization, where would you put your focus, maybe three top areas that you put your focus on if we're trying to get cultural alignment?    Barry stated that it is a huge topic for them and in fact, he was just speaking with her CEO and they were thinking back on some candidates who didn't work out, not his organization per se, but across the company.  And in every case, when they violated in a sense their own rules, not that there are hard and fast rules, but when they looked past a lack of cultural alignment, the candidate didn't work out.  And they have a very formal process whereby, typically, it's done by their HR Department as part of the interviewing cycle, where a series of questions that are available are asked, in theory, the same topics would have come up in the other interviews with you want a candidate to meet some peers, of course, he interviews them as the hiring manager, and then they meet with HR.  And he will tend to focus on interpersonal relationships and problem solving. When you look at their values and we've written them down and he thinks so many companies these days happily have their pillars of their culture on their website, whether they live by them, it's hard to say. He appreciates candidates who challenge them on those things and want to make sure that it's real. But they talk about things like being customer first, they talk about teamwork, they talk about accountability. He will and others, he will focus very much on the teamwork aspect of things and conflict resolution all with an eye toward, are we doing the right thing for their customer and for themselves, he can become a Johnnie one note around win-win scenarios. He has no interest in someone who is so accommodating of a customer that they might put his company at risk.  They look for partners and they don't say that in a glib fashion or as a soundbite, it's true. The nature of their business is such that if they have a customer who just wants them to service them and does not want to meet them at an appropriate point, in terms of communication and keeping data flowing and sharing reality, what's going on, if they're not a real partner, they don't do well with them.  And so, he needs customer success folks who understand that, who understand how to deal with conflict, who can navigate the complexities of those interpersonal relationships.  So, they'll ask questions around, of course, “Give him a scenario where you and a colleague were out of alignment and in disagreement, what did you do?” And you will hope that the candidate is honest and doesn't just tell you what you want to hear, normally you can figure out if they're telling you what you want to hear.  But that ultimately leads them to the single most important question in their values alignment survey when they take a candidate and they ask them to meet for half hour with their HR Department, the single most important question came out of a real life scenario with their CEO actually, where it led to the following question, “You go to a restaurant and you have your iPad on the front seat of your car, you park your car, and you don't lock the door, when you come back, the iPad is gone. Whose fault is it?”   And it's a fascinating question because what they are looking for is, “It's my fault.”  It doesn't mean the thief doesn't have some accountability.  And it doesn't mean that the restaurant might not have a more secure parking lot.   But in the end, you left a valuable item out in the open with an unlocked door, they didn't even have to smash the window, they just opened the door and took your very expensive piece of equipment. How do you not think that was my fault? I live in the real world, I have to have accountability for that kind of thing.  It leads to interesting discussions; they've had discussions around none of us ever want to blame a victim in the course of a crime being committed.  And the reason he liked that scenario so much is the car wasn't even violated. Were you a victim? Or were you just dumb? You invited someone you say, “Please rob me!”  If he leaves his front door unlocked, okay, you blame the thief, you shouldn't be robbed, society shouldn't allow that to happen. But you know what, he lives in the real world, he locked his door when he leaves.  So, those kinds of questions really matter. And that question in particular, and he will tell you, he's very pleased, their candidates are honest, and their HR folks take very good notes, offer their own opinions. He'll go into their ITS and read those notes. And that's the question he's looking for.   Are you personally accountable for your actions?  You can give 10% to the thief and you can give 10% to the to the restaurant, but if you're not thinking that you're 70% or 80% responsible for that, you might be looking for excuses as to when things don't go your way. And they're just too small a company too and they wear too many hats for anyone who has that opinion.   Me: Wow, I love that question. Thank you so much for sharing very, very good one.   App, Website or Tool that Barry Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he can't live without in his business, Barry shared that it's funny, he hates to have it be the technological death star of our industry that he's dealt with since he got into technology. But really it's their day to day tools with Microsoft, they are a Teams shop and they are finding more customers who are using Teams, of course you have Teams aficionados, and you have a lot of folks who are passionate about Slack. But they're using Teams and informally don't tell their IT Department they have some Slack channels going too. But that kind of real time communication with themselves because his team is fully remote. And so, their ability to stay in real time communication and in many cases in real time communication with their customers is proving ever, ever more valuable, they couldn't live without it at this point.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Barry When asked about books that have had a great impact, Barry shared that it's fun to think about, currently he's been enjoying reading history, the historian and he is a professor at Vanderbilt University, Jon Meacham is his name. He's the kind of fellow who when he's a guest on a news programme, and he finds him and he sees him, he's actually glad they're talking about it. He's hoping there's a way to sign up for when is Jon Meacham going to be on TV so he can go find him. He hangs on his every word and it's the kind of guy you kind of wish he was your grandfather telling you stories about the world in the past.  His biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson have been his latest readings. And he enjoys that because, a, he enjoys the break from technology and what they do every day, get his brain around something else. But it's the lessons from these great thinkers like a Thomas Jefferson as presented by a great thinker in the form of Jon Meacham where he finds himself reading his books with a highlighter, because it's not just the observations, the historical observations, but his observations when he ties these topics together. So, he always finds that fascinating, especially from a leadership standpoint.   And it's funny, the other thing that comes to mind is, it's again, he's so much older than probably many of the listeners, but when he was in high school, he read a book by a gentleman named Roger Kahn, he became famous for his book, The Boys of Summer, which was about the 1950s, 40s and 50s, Brooklyn Dodgers.  And he wrote a book called Good Enough to Dream. And it was about his ownership stake in a minor league baseball club in Utica, New York. And the opening line has stayed with him, “The first dream full of innocence and sunlight is to play the game.” which he always loved. But early in the book, he says to someone who's associated with the team, “Are these guys any good?” And the response was, “They're good enough to dream.” And that has always stayed with him. “Am I the best at something? Is my company the best at something?” He doesn't know, but they're good enough to give it a try and see where it leads them. And that's always stayed with him.   What Barry is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Barry shared that within his organization, he doesn't mind doing a commercial for the product Gainsight, which is the customer success platform. They recognized about 15 months ago as Talroo was growing both in terms of their customer base and their staff, that as a Salesforce shop and as a Microsoft shop, the needs for customer success weren't being met, in terms of what do they need to record? What do they need to predict? Do they have a sense around who will keep their contracts going, versus who is at risk of cancelling.  Just as a quick sidebar, Talroo, unlike a typical SaaS company does not have a long-term contract, they have to earn their customers business every month, they can cancel at will.   And so, it creates unique challenges and a real time need to know what's going on with each customer. And so, about 15 months ago, they embarked upon a project to implement a customer success platform. They ultimately chose Gainsight, he will say for anyone who is looking for a customer success platform, all of the players in the industry who they looked at were terrific, he doesn't think you could go wrong. ChurnZero to Tango, others, they were all first-class organizations, and they happened to choose Gainsight and that became an immediate game changer and continues to be.  And so, thank you for the question about what he's focused on? Where are they growing? How are they evolving?   When they first rolled out Gainsight, it was primarily to support their efforts to track and manage and deal with renewals and even upsells are very important for upsells with their direct customers, employers who come to them and say, “Talroo will work with you directly to please advertise our jobs out in the world.” And that's what they really started with for the majority of their first year with the product.  But he has other caliber of customers who his team has to look after, including advertising agencies, and including job boards who they've had relationships with for years, who send them their jobs to advertise. And the needs are different across those different caliber of customers, and getting Gainsight rolled out now for the other members of his team and candidly getting adoption of it.   One of the things they've done very well and that he would encourage anyone thinking about any large software purchases, the people can kill a project. If any given team refuses to use Salesforce, Salesforce will fail. If any team refuses to use Gainsight, Gainsight will fail, people can win, and really torpedo a project.  So, they've done a really good job of getting buy in, forming a user council, the gentleman who is Andy Trevino, who is their administrator and RCS Ops Manager, who looks after Gainsight is always open to feedback, he's always soliciting feedback, so that they can make the solution match the way they work. He doesn't like software solutions where they have to change their behaviour in order to accommodate the tool, he wants the tool to accommodate the workflow and the processes that they already know work. And as they roll out the usage of Gainsight to this extended team, their needs are very different than their counterparts who work with their direct customers. So, getting that right is important.  And that accountability is incredibly important, because he no longer could afford and one of the reasons they went with Gainsight and started this whole project was when he wants to ask the very simple or get an answer to what he hopes would be a simple question of what's going on with fill in the blank of the customer name, it shouldn't take him 20 minutes to figure it out.  He needs all the information in one place and they're doing a terrific job of that with Gainsight with their direct customers, and getting members of his team who aren't used to it and haven't had to use it in the past, he needs to bring them along and their feedback. And he needs to make sure the product gets built out in a way that makes their lives easier, and that they see the value of it and that it's not just busy work, it's not just bureaucracy, it's that they really are using the product to make their lives better and then he gets what he needs in a leadership role, their C suite gets what it needs when they have questions about what's going on with the customer.  Many folks may have thought of this or use this line, traditionally, it's with Salesforce, they would say, on the sales side, if something isn't recorded in Salesforce, it didn't happen. That's the source of truth and that's where he's going with Gainsight, if you don't have notes and details and specifics in Gainsight, then it didn't happen. And you don't want to do that for bureaucratic reasons, you want to do it because it makes the organization better and your customers more successful.   Me: Awesome. So, Gainsight is where you have most of your head wrapped around right now and just trying to build that out.   Where Can We Find Barry Online LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/klein-barry/   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Barry Uses When asked about a quote that he tends to revert to, Barry shared that he has two, one is more serious than the other but the other, the funny one was his high school yearbook quote, but he will say plainly, he's not a praying or religious person by nature, but he will go back to, “Dear God, grant me the strength to change the things I can, accept those that I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference.”   It really gets hard to know where you need to invest your time and energy. What should you care about? What do you need to back off of? What can't you change?  So, the wisdom to know the difference between what you can change and what you have to accept is something he thinks about a lot.  The more fun quote is from the old Mary Tyler Moore Show, in the episode in which the character Chuckles The Clown is tragically killed, because he is the master of ceremonies for a parade. And he gets run over by an elephant dressed as a peanut, which leads to a ridiculous number of jokes and things about a man dressed as a peanut killed by an elephant. But because he was a clown by nature, his quotes, and the things that he did become a big part of the show. And his (Barry) high school yearbook quote was, “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.” Moments of stress, you know what, how serious can life be? “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.”    Me: I love it. Okay, Barry, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule and hopping on our podcast today and sharing all of these great insights as it relates to cultural alignment and recruitment, ensuring that you're getting the right fit to ensure that you're able to meet the deliverables and as you mentioned, just mitigating against the wrong fit and mitigating against challenges and issues that could have been prevented had the recruitment been aligned and selected properly from day one. So, I thought it was a great conversation and I just want to say, thank you so much for taking time and sharing with us today.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham •     American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham •     The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn •     Good Enough to Dream by Roger Kahn    The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Yanique had an astounding episode offer at Eventist365 having David Stevens as her guest. David and his team at the Olympian Meeting, all experts in event planning all over the world, infuses innovative approach to booth design by integrating wellness and sustainability making their events an unforgettable experience.    During the episode, David proudly shared an impactful event that significantly boosted their business while leaving zero environmental footprint. Surprisingly, their standout booth, a replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, was crafted from just one pallet of flat cardboard sheets. The remarkable achievement showcases their commitment to both creativity and sustainability. Tune in until the very end of the episode to gain valuable insights into sustainable booth design. Highlights: 03:53 The 3 Ps that are crucial to sustainability in booth design  05:33 Explanation of the Cradle to Cradle principle on sustainability 09:06 Evolution of sustainability and booth design practices in the industry 15:28 David highlights the success of their booth drawing a lot of attention to their cardboard booth. 18:18 Common challenges faced by event planners and marketers when designing sustainable booths. 20:43 Sustainable strategies for event booth designs and partnerships that can double post-event open rates. 28:29 The Return to Wellness Podcast and why its primary focus is on the first P of sustainability - People? 32:47 The shift towards comfortable shoes at trade shows 35:13 David's recommended resource for valuable information towards sustainable booth design. RESOURCES:  Green Meeting Industry Council Northern California Chapter - https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-meeting-industry-council-northern-california-ch Sustainable Silicon Valley - https://www.sustainablesv.org/ Society for Sustainable events: http://www.societyforsustainableevents.com/  Https://www.butternmilk.com  CONNECT WITH DAVID T. STEVENS: Website - https://www.olympianmeeting.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidtstevens/ Podcast -  https://www.youtube.com/@ReturnOnWellness CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Podcast Social Media Accounts www.facebook.com/groups/eventist365/ https://twitter.com/eventist365 https://www.instagram.com/eventist365 https://www.facebook.com/MissYaniDoesStuff/ https://twitter.com/YaniDoesStuff https://www.instagram.com/YaniDoesStuff/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ydacosta/ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events: https://www.facebook.com/TheYKMD https://twitter.com/theYKMD https://instagram.com/theYKMD https://www.linkedin.com/company/ykmd/z Graphic Design Firm Websites: https://theykmd.com/ http://daily-designer.com/

Len Covello, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Engage People, leading the long-term technology vision of the company and is responsible for driving continued innovation in the loyalty sector. He is an innovator in the technology space and a thought leader in loyalty.  Len started his first technology company at the age of 18 and most recently was the Director and Chief Technology Officer with Access (formerly LRG Rewards). His passion is web-based application design and development across a wide variety of business applications, particularly in user interfaces and process automation.  He's an active member of Forbes Technology Council, a cornerstone of the Engage People executive team and member of the board of directors.   Questions ·     We always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey, could you tell our listeners how it is that you got to where you are today? ·      Now, could you tell our listeners just a little bit about what Engage People does? ·      What are your views, and you can tell me, since you're a loyalty expert in terms of like cross exchanges. So, let's say for example, you have loyalty points from an airline, but you're able to use those loyalty points from the airline at a hotel, or maybe for an attraction that you'd like to visit. Have you seen those kinds of activities happening, is that something you see happening in the future? ·      If you are to give our listeners maybe one or two trends that you see emerging in 2024 and beyond as it relates to loyalty and rewards and using it as a currency on its own, what would those be? ·      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? ·      And could you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a great impact on you. ·      Can you also share with our listeners what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. ·      Now, if you could choose one word or one attribute or characteristic that you believe a leader needs to have in order to have a team that is intrinsically motivated? ·      Where can listeners find you online? ·      Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Highlights Len's Journey  Me: We always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about their journey, could you tell our listeners how it is that you got to where you are today?   Len shared that it's one of those stories, he doesn't think it's a straight line to get here, when he was quite young, as mentioned that 18 he definitely enjoyed working with computers, building applications. But he was always tied to the user experience, he was always tied to that ability to make things run a little more efficiently. So, he started building just web applications, very crude back in the day, so, internet was still pretty young. And started building these solutions for different organizations and eventually met with a company that was in the loyalty space.  And they provided basically legacy loyalty, so, for those of us that remember you used to get a catalogue sent to your house, and it had some items that you could redeem from, and you'd either phone in or potentially fill out a form. And they talked with that organization about all the things they could bring there and that's what really started the precursor to engage was adding first solutions for the redemption and the fulfilment and then understanding more about the space and started as two of them and eventually, they ended up acquiring that company in the loyalty space that became their focus and turned into 150 plus people organization.    About Len's Company - Engage People Me: Now, could you tell our listeners just a little bit about what Engage People does? I know you mentioned that it's focused on loyalty but kind of give us a synopsis of what problem are you really solving for customers?   Len shared that they're a technology company at heart, loyalty just happens to be the discipline they play in. What they really like to do is innovate and impact an industry that they play in, and what they mean by that is in loyalty, it's been a pretty legacy solution based business he'd say where a lot of the advancements that they see in other industries didn't make its way to loyalty. So, what they do at Engage is they provide solutions to help organizations run loyalty programmes, and that can be on the earn side, so when you're a member of a programme and you swipe that credit card or tap that credit card, you earn some points.  They provide the solutions that a lot of financial institutions use to do that. But he thinks the really exciting thing about what they do is on the redemption side, so when a customer looks to use their points, and really a lot of advancements come there, and one of the things they do today is they're one of the leaders in the pay with point space. And what that means for their customer is, instead of ordering from that website, or that catalogue, you can now go on to your favourite ecommerce store or pull up to a BP station, tap that card and use your points as a form of currency, so Engage really services the loyalty industry in those two spaces. But again, the exciting part is the pay with points.   Me: And what companies and industries do you think should consider implementing loyalty points as an alternative payment choice?   Len shared that really anyone that's taking any form of payment today, over the past few years they've seen some alternative forms of payments, whether it's different cryptocurrencies or even the BNPL solutions that exist, a loyalty currency is a funded currency, there's no risk with it, it's got that value, it's funded.   So, any company running a loyalty programme, whether it be a bank, a hotel chain, an airline, they're funding that currency, so if you're looking to accept payments, what you're really doing is exposing your members or your customers to use what effectively is a $200 billion a year currency that gets issued each year, so significant amount of money. So, he doesn't think there's really a specific industry that should accept this, it's all industries that are accepting any form of payment.    Me: And based on your experience in this space Len, could you give our listeners an example of, let's say an industry that the loyalty points works in, and that you found it to be extremely successful and of high value?    Len shared that one of the things that surprised them, so they do this today for companies like Amazon, so the everyday item that you're looking to make that purchase, you can now use your points to check out.  What they were really surprised with and pleasantly surprised is they brought this to the gas space, or the petrol space, depending what area of the world you live in. So, you can go and fill up your vehicle and tap your points and it presents a real time offer to the customer to use their points and they were amazed at the uptake on that because loyalty typically, people think of it as an aspirational type usage of points.  But what they've seen with the pandemic and even the way the economy is looking these days is a lot of people are using this to help subsidise just the increased cost of living or those everyday expenses.  So, it's been a pleasant surprise that through their technology, they allow customers now to offset those everyday expenses that they have. So, he would say those small items, purchasing a coffee that you would every day, and now being able to use your points, that's where they've seen really an incredible impact.   Me: And just listening to you speak, I'm here thinking too with loyalty points, well, at least for the ones that I redeem, for example, at my supermarket, I feel like I patronise this business on a weekly basis, monthly basis consistently and if I'm able to even get two grocery bills paid for fully with loyalty, I almost feel like I'm getting back some investment from doing business with this company over extended and consistent period of time. Is that pretty much how they sell the whole loyalty experience? Because what I found as well is a lot of companies sign you up for loyalty rewards, but then if you don't remember to ask, okay, so can these rewards be redeemed? How does it work? Typically, it just sits there and you don't even know you have points and then you heard they expired.   Len stated that that's really what they're seeing a lot of change in is, especially the programmes you don't interact with every day, like you mentioned, you're visiting that grocery store frequently and that relationship is what loyalty is, it's really a relationship, to use your words, you're going to patronise them by continuously shopping there, and they're going to give you something in return for that.  And that's where the currency really comes into play, it's letting you know that they value you coming back to that location, time and time again, and they want to give you something back, and really treat you a little different than any other customer that would just walk through the door.    Loyalty Programmes – Cross Exchanges Me: What are your views, and you can tell me, since you're a loyalty expert in terms of like cross exchanges. So, let's say for example, you have loyalty points from an airline, but you're able to use those loyalty points from the airline at a hotel, or maybe for an attraction that you'd like to visit. Have you seen those kinds of activities happening, is that something you see happening in the future?   Len shared that it's already starting to pick up and so they're from Toronto, so Canadian organization, there was this thing that really only worked in the country for some reason, which were coalition programmes where a lot of different programmes came together, use a common currency.  And they're seeing a lot more of what you just mentioned, where companies are comfortable with themselves. So, they're saying, “We know you're going to keep interacting and shopping with us, and we're going to issue that currency, but we're going to let you spend it in other places, because you're still seeing the value in where you earn those points.”  So, if he's comfortable with the offer he's providing, and he's confident that he's got a relationship with you, then it really is advantageous to tell you, you know what, you can use those points to book a hotel, even though you earn those points from a grocery store or from an airline. And then when you stay at that hotel, you'll reflect back and say, you know, this trip was covered, either in part or the whole thing was covered, because I shopped with insert any company you want here, whether it was Sephora  or was Hilton, it doesn't matter.   Me: And you would remain loyal to the company that allowed you that affordability to have that vacation, as you mentioned, hotel room paid for because of your purchases with them.  Len agreed absolutely.   In Terms of Loyalty and Rewards – Trends Emerging in 2024 Me: So, in terms of future trends, I know AI I'm sure has some impact on the whole loyalty programmes that are implemented, but as a loyalty expert and seeing that you've been in the space for so long. If you were to give our listeners maybe one or two trends that you see emerging in 2024 and beyond as it relates to loyalty and rewards and using it as a currency on its own, what would those be?   Len shared that he thinks the first one is what Yanique mentioned, it's the ubiquitous nature of those points. So, they're going to be free for you to use and more and more locations and a lot more cross promotions with brands. So, they're going to be very comfortable in their partnerships, they're going to be very forthright with who they want to partner with and you'll be able to fly in on an airline, take a ride share to a restaurant, and that ecosystem will exist to use your points all together. So, he thinks that's the first thing we're really going to see a lot of.   And he thinks some of the things they've talked about in this industry for years, the personalization for a customer that really wants one experience. Although the technology has been there, it's been hard to manage and implement or just kind of onerous, and bringing tools like machine learning and AI into that space will assist with that. So, he doesn't think it'll be anything ground-breaking, like people tend to predict out there, but a lot of utilization of that technology to execute some strategies that have existed for some time.   App, Website or Tool that Len Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he can't live without in his business, Len shared that he thinks for them, it's Slack. Just that ability to message. So, personally, he uses a tool called Trello a lot and it helps him organize his thoughts, he's a pretty visualized person. But he would say the tool that's probably open the most on the screen on his devices is Slack and it's that ability to message people, especially as they move to a remote work environment, it's really kind of an invaluable tool for them.    Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Len When asked about books that have had a great impact, Len shared that they fall into two categories of things that really interests him. So, he likes a lot of documentaries, biographies, things of that nature. And like mentioned early on, he kind of fell into this space, it was something he enjoyed doing and eventually got into a leadership position. So, anything he can read about understanding how to be a better leader, how to run an organization is really big for him.  So, anytime he gets a chance, anything he can read or listen to from Simon Sinek is just helpful for him on how to be that that servant leader, there's a great book that really apply to their organization as they grew from Ben Horowitz, which was The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. And that taught him some great lessons and exposed the fact that growing a business isn't easy, it's not always a straight line and goes in a perfect direction. So, those are the types of books that really helped him on the leadership side.  And then on the flip side, the artistic side of things is he really admire people that have done some pretty incredible things in whether it's the user experience space, the artistic space, it could be music. So, just recently, he read a book about Jony Ive from Apple, who is the genius behind Apple's greatest products, and he found that to be really inspiring for him.    What Len is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Len stated that that's great question. They've been fortunate to work with some pretty large global organizations.  So, right now there's some things he can't share the details, but things that are transforming kind of the payment ecosystem with some of the largest brands in the world, that's really exciting.  It's that opportunity to be truly impactful and to do something differently. So, on the work side, that's something he looks forward to each day, and they've got a team, product and innovation team that really drives a lot of that change here. So, it's exciting for him to actually interact with their team day to day, they've got a fantastic team and working specifically on this project that he's mentioning, just inspires him.   One Attribute | Characteristic a Leader MUST HAVE to Motivate Their Team  Me: Now, if you could choose one word or one attribute or characteristic that you believe a leader needs to have in order to have a team that is intrinsically motivated? So, they're not inspired by money, you don't have to dangle things in front of them to get them to do the work it but they're intrinsically motivated because as a leader, you inspire them. What would be that one word or that one trait or characteristic?   Len shared that the word for him is Trust. The people they have at Engage really drive the organisation, he always say that on any of these podcasts or interviews to anyone that's listening is they're really driven by their people.  And he thinks the thing that they appreciate the most about the leadership and just others in the organization is that level of trust. So, that's not always the case, organizations have people that come and go that don't necessarily exude those characteristics or those traits. But he would say as a leader, if your team can trust you, they know you have their best interests at heart, and they know you're looking out for them, then they're willing to do the same for you.   Me: Alright, awesome. So, trust, I like it.   Where Can We Find Len Online Website - www.engagepeople.com LinkedIn – Len Covello Twitter/ X – Len Covello   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Len Uses  When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Len shared that he doesn't know that there's a quote, that's a positive quote, they have some funny ones, sometimes probably not appropriate. But he doesn't go to a quote, he tends to go to moments in time that he thought were really beneficial to him.  So, there's always a point in his career and he remembers it vividly to this day where now a mentor to him saw him at a point where he was still at he'll call it immature in his business acumen and sat him down and taught him how to be more measured.  And he thinks that's the best thing you can do that a lot of the leaders that he admires have the ability to not get too up on the highs and not get too low on the lows, and just be measured with things and have that opportunity to take a step back, really evaluate the situation and understand that you'll get through it.   Me: All right, awesome. Well, thank you so much Len for taking time out of your very busy day and hopping on this podcast with us and sharing all of the great insights as it relates to loyalty and having it as a viable currency that you can use in an organization. And also looking at some of the emerging trends that we can look forward to in terms of loyalty rewards and points being something that can be more acceptable across the board regardless of where you are, what part of the region you are in the world that customers can just have greater access to benefits from organizations that they love, organizations that they patronise consistently, organizations that have been a part of their lives for so many years, that they can actually have some value out of it through having it as a viable payment option and getting back something in return. It was a great conversation. Thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Pete Kusiak is the franchise guru who knows how to bring the fun into business. With a track record of success owning and coaching franchises for over 20 years, Pete's innovative strategies have transformed businesses, boosting revenue and workplace happiness. His passion lies in creating organisations that are not only exciting, but also irresistible. By using his Fun First Strategy, Pete motivates teams, improves company culture, and drive sales and operations to new heights.  When he's not busy making work lively, you can find Pete enjoying quality time with his amazing wife and four kids in Charlotte, North Carolina. Oh, and did I forget to mention he's a seasoned marathon runner and a connoisseur of Rum Punch and Mai Tais! Pete has certification in Happiness Coaching and Human Resources Consulting, making him your go-to-guy for all things fun and business.   Questions ·    Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity for them to share in their own words, a little bit about your journey. How did you get to connecting fun with business? How did that all come about? ·   So, can you tell our listeners a little bit about your book, Drop the F-Bomb in Your Business and maybe two to three overarching themes that the book focuses on, just like what can they expect from the book? ·    Are there any recommendations you could give to our listeners, like if they wanted to make fun part of their culture, what are some things like from a recruitment perspective you would need to kind of identify in the interview process to kind of pick those persons or at least be able to identify that those persons may have those qualities? ·     Could you share with our listeners what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? ·      Can you also share with our listeners maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a great impact on you. ·      Now, could you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. ·       Where can listeners find you online? ·     Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Highlights Pete's Journey Me: Now, we always like to give our guests Pete an opportunity for them to share in their own words, a little bit about your journey. How did you get to connecting fun with business? How did that all come about? Can you tell us?   Pete shared that his journey really started way back when he graduated college. And he linked up with a franchise, children's fitness franchise called The Little Gym and it is all about creating these great fun experiences with kids and teaching them how to enjoy being physically active. So, that really carried with him as he progressed through his years in corporate America, because he had eventually made a name for himself and got linked up with the corporate headquarters of that franchise, did some training and consulting, to eventually owning his own Little Gyms in the Charlotte market.  So, once they built a successful franchise platform in Charlotte, it was time for him to kind of step back from the day to day operations and got more involved in the coaching consulting realm with different brands, mainly in the service industry, but helped build operations, and trainings and coaching and all sorts of good things over the last few years that ultimately led him to sit back and really reflect about why businesses are successful? Why were his businesses successful? What was the commonalities between the businesses that didn't have success versus the ones that did?  And it came down to one thing, it was really easy, the businesses that had the most fun, were the most successful, and he felt that in my businesses, the days or months or years that they were focused on that grind, they were in that mentality of a grind, they weren't as successful as the years they were just enjoying what they were doing and celebrating with their customers, and just creating a culture that was really good. So, the mindset really made a big difference.  So, what he did was he decided, “Hey, if I could put all of these unique theories and these unique methods into a book, it would really make a great business strategy.” So, a couple years ago, he started writing, and came up with what he called the Fun First Strategy, it's really a way to prioritize making fun, the element in which or the catalyst in which you can have business success. So, kind of a long story there. But it's a wide range from his early beginnings of a teacher and working with kids all the way through working with multiple brands and coaching and consulting, but using those strategies to really propel fun as a catalyst.   Pete's Book – Drop the F-Bomb in Your Business Me: So, then you wrote a book called Drop the F-Bomb in Your Business: With The Fun First Strategy. F of course, standing for fun. So, that book was published on January 23 of 2024, correct?   Pete said yes, he was having fun with a wordplay there. Drop the F bomb and what's so neat is that coming from the children's fitness industry, they didn't use foul language, you're working with kids, you don't do that. So, he thought it would kind of be unique to position it as an eye catcher and you get people curious about what he's talking about. So, having a little fun with words. Me: It was, I will have you know that when your profile was presented to me via email, that's what caught my attention in the email. So, I was like drop the F bomb. I said, I wonder what he's talking about. And then I did some more research. And I was like, Oh, this sounds pretty interesting. I'd love to have him on our podcast as a guest. So, can you tell our listeners a little bit about your book, and maybe two to three overarching themes that the book focuses on, just like what can they expect from the book? Is it more like narratives in terms of examples of using fun in different businesses and you give like case studies and examples, or is it more so you talking more from a strategy perspective of using fun as that trigger that will help to navigate that experience   Pete shared that it's really all of the above, because they have to prove that there's a need for fun in business, because a lot of times when you throw that out there, so you need to have more fun in order to be successful in business, people not necessarily agree, everyone for the most part understands that it's important to celebrate the victories, have fun when you win, achieve goals. But his book is really about how you make fun part of the journey, not just the reward, that's a key element. But you really need to know and flip that mindset to, “If we could have fun along the way. If we could build that into our operations, if we could build that into our business environment, our customer service. If we could attract more like minded individuals that want to have fun, and be part of that process, what would that do for your business?”   So, the book really starts with changing the mindset and can convincing through the philosophy that fun does work, it can create opportunities for more, better problem solving, better creative thought, more work engagement, which is ultimately going to lead to higher profits, better customer service, etc. So, they kind of start there. And then as the book progresses, it takes you through what he calls the playbook.  The playbook, or the PLAY book is really important because that's the actual strategy sets, that's one of his theories is called The Principle of PLAY and that stands for Prioritize, Laughter and Youth, so when you can find a commonality amongst your people, your team, your culture, your business culture, you can start to employ these play principles so that you're having more unique experiences and getting to those points where everything else is a lot easier, because you're having fun along the way. And so then, toward the end of the book, they talk about the strategies in experiences. So, he actually have written some real life examples of how the first strategy actually worked in different businesses. So, those will be fun to read as well. Me: All right, that is awesome. So, PLAY you said stands for Prioritize, Laughter and Youth.   Pete stated that's right. So, if you make fun, obviously, the Fun First Strategy, right, prioritize, make it a priority in your business, to make fun part of your culture. And if you can make it number one, great. But laughter, who doesn't want to laugh when you have to work? So, they do that through gameplay in creating opportunities to be a little silly, and youth, youth comes in because he likes to say, consider the things you did as a child, what did you like to do? What games did you play? What activities did you enjoy? Because it's fun to revisit, it's fun to revisit and think about this as you're a child, you're taught through play, you're taught through music, you're taught through song or games and activities. But as we get older, at least here, the education he received was that they had less and less play, they had less and less singing and things like that.  But why? If we're hardwired to do that, if we're doing that from the beginning, what a neat thing that could potentially shape you as an adult as well if you are hardwired to play and be active and want to take that moment of joy, it's going to change your mindset and everything that you do, right. So, it was important for him that they addressed the grind culture, what he calls the grind culture, and the negativity that happens when you get into a grind culture.  So, this book really helps you to one, recognize if you're in that culture, but two, the real, true strategy on how to get out of that. Ultimately, his goal was to create more workplace happiness, the goal in the Fun First Strategy is to create environments that are very engaging and fun and create workplace happiness.   Me: Amazing, when I opened your bio this morning to prepare for the podcast interview, I had to do a TV interview this morning, I was helping out a friend who has a business that focuses on indoor playground experience [YG1]  . So, it's targeted towards children but because we live in a tropical country and a lot of times when you take the kids outside, you're so exhausted from the heat and sun, she decided that she was going to create this indoor playground experience with like, soft play and sensory activities, and ball pits and live characters like the ones you see in TV shows, so you have them right there dressed up in front of the kids. And we did a game with the hosts where they had two baskets and two sets of balls, one red, one green and each person had a balloon.    And the aim was to get as many of your colour balls into the basket without the balloon falling on the ground. But it was so much fun, they had so much fun. Like I was watching the video after I left the TV studio this morning and I was like, they had so much fun, they were like literally back as kids again. And I always say it. I mean, I believe that as adults, we are really big kids, but I find that we get so serious sometimes we take ourselves too seriously, we don't take time to do fun and exciting things that make us laugh, because I do believe that those are things that help to keep you youthful.  Pete agreed, absolutely. And just think about how that made you feel, right. And that's the principle of play at work, when you can put some silliness into your day, going to be a better problem solver, you're going to be more creative and finding your solutions. Because you're just thinking in that manner, thinking in a playful, creative way. Now, not to say that business is all fun, and not work because he believes that you do have to take business seriously and things that you have to do and reaching goals and measuring your business and all the things that make you financially successful, that's important.  But if there was a way to make it more fun, if there was a way to get to those goals that are less stressful, or are less of a grind, you would probably do it. So, that's what this is all about, it's about making sure that you're allowing yourself the opportunities to have some fun at work, because you're going to open the doors to like-minded individuals, people that want to come work for you, customers that want to do business with you because the experience is wonderful. Think about the amount of hours we spent working days, we don't want to be caught up in a lifestyle that just is beaten up. He wants to have more life experience.  Now the key really to this is the common interest, because what's fun for one person may not be fun for the next and in the book he wrote about that, that there are diverse perspectives on fun. And through the strategy and through the book, you can kind of find common interest in there through icebreaker games and different things that you can do at work to find common interest amongst your team, or even with your customers. And then you kind of start to theme things and make things more enjoyable because he likes to run, Yanique had mentioned in his bio that he's a marathon runner, but that's not fun for everybody. But for him, it's a good opportunity for him to express, move his body, express himself and all the good things that come along with running and staying healthy, to him it was fun. He likes to challenge himself but for the next person it may not be so you have to find those common interests and then build upon those interests as you find them.  And then one really big caveat is you have to remember the rule of grandma, so, the rule of grandma means if you wouldn't do it in front of your grandmother, you shouldn't do it at work because he's heard some interesting stories when it comes to fun at work, we don't want to any HR nightmares. So, if you wouldn't do it in front of grandma, don't do it at all.   Me: As you were talking about loving running, and just being able to express yourself, I'm going to tell you a little secret that unfortunately all of my listeners are going to hear now, but I love to dance, right, now, I'm not a good dancer according to some people who dance really well and see me dance, right? But I believe everybody can dance and everybody can sing. I just believe that maybe they're not doing it to the level or at the capacity or competence that Whitney Houston, or Celine Dion can sing, or Shakira can dance, but I believe I can dance. But I feel so good when I dance, even if it's foolishness I'm doing Pete, it feels good.   Pete stated that that is awesome. And he'll tell you that two things come to mind. One is he spent time in Jamaica when they get the chance to vacation and stuff with his family, they absolutely love the culture, because it is full of life and dancing and movement, joy and singing. And he just loves to be around that type of environment, but he doesn't dance. And what's funny is even in his book he wrote about that as a concept, is that t's okay to enjoy things even if you're not participating.  So, don't always judge a book by its cover when you're creating games or activities or experiences that involve fun at work. If somebody's just kind of standing by watching, don't jump to the assumption that they're not having fun because if you were to kind of outside looking in at him watching a group of people dance, you'll say, “Well, how come he is not dancing, he must not be having any fun” but he's having the time of his life just enjoying you expressing your love for dance, that's a great time, it's a lot of fun for him to be in part of that environment but he's just not going to dance.   How to Select the Right Candidates for a Company with a FUN Culture? Me: I get it. So, I have a question for you. The aim is to ensure that you have a fun culture, right? How do you attract people who like to have fun? Are there any recommendations you could give to our listeners, like if they wanted to make fun part of their culture, what are some things like from a recruitment perspective you would need to kind of identify in the interview process to kind of pick those persons or at least be able to identify that those persons may have those qualities?   Pete shared that it's kind of a lot goes into that because one, once you've established that you're a fun culture, it's one thing to write that on a job ad and he thinks that there's a lot of job ads that he's read recently that promote a fun culture. But again, there's diverse perspectives of fun and if it's a core value in your business, or you're promoting a fun culture, you need to live up to the hype, because he'll tell you, when somebody is bought into your job ad, because you wrote about the fun, talked about that as a core value, and then they show up for an interview or they're ready to start their work and they don't see that culture in play, they're not going to stay or they're not going to show up again for another interview.  So, he thinks that you have to kind have to one, establish the fact that you are going to commit to this type of a culture and you're going to live it, you're going to be an embodiment. And what that fun version is for you, as the leader of the organization, the owner of the organization, the managers of the organization, whatever that model of fun is, it's okay for you to own it, because you're going to have people that may be aligned with your version of fun and there may be some people that don't. So, when you write job ads and you promote the job that you're ready to hire, you want to give very specific reasons of what you're doing to provide that fun culture.  So, if you like to do a lot of outings or if you'd like to do a lot of silly themes during your week, there was one company he worked with, they love everything and any cats. So, they talked about, “Hey, we have a silly, fun culture at our business.” And they would talk about this in interviews because we are qyuirky they love everything cat, if you're a cat person, reach out because you'll fit right in. Now again, if he doesn't like cats, okay, but if he thinks that that's an interesting culture for him to want to be a part of, he can maybe align with that. So, he likes to say, one, establish what fun is for you. Give examples of that in your job ads. But embrace the uniqueness, embrace the uniqueness.   One of the biggest mistakes, especially small business owners make is they don't embrace the charm of small business, there's a uniqueness and a charm in small business that you can do things a little bit outside of work. And when people are interviewing, or people are applying for jobs, what they'll do is they'll apply for a lot of different reasons based on the title or the qualifications, things like that. So, as a hiring manager, he's competing with small business, medium business, large business, corporations and he doesn't want his interview, he doesn't want to his job ads, he doesn't want those things to be exactly like everybody else. And too many times he sees small businesses, especially write their job ads, and shake them like a large corporation and that's okay until the individual comes in to see the environment they're working, oh, well, this isn't the 10 story building they interviewed in last week. Instead, embrace what makes you different, embrace that small charm, because he thinks you're going to attract people that are looking for that type of opportunity, or they know what it is going into. Does that make sense?    Me: Yep, it does, perfect sense.    App, Website or Tool that Pete Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Pete stated that in his business, he loves QuickBooks. So, he can't live without QuickBooks, that's how he does all his bookkeeping, all his invoicing and all his administrative. So, QuickBooks is a great online resource for them.    Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Pete When asked about books that have had a great impact, Pete shared that he's been thinking about this a lot, because he's read a lot of business books. And one of the reasons he was so interested in writing a business strategy book was because he's had so many that were multiple steps, or the 50 laws or 100 steps to whatever and they're long and they're cumbersome. So, his book is a little bit more about keeping it short. There is a book though that he read a few years ago it's called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, it's by Malcolm Gladwell. And he thought he was picking up a spiritual book at first, spiritual books and different things as a man of faith, but he thought it was picking a spiritual book and it was to a degree, but it was about all these stories and all these examples of how the underdog isn't always necessarily the underdog, but we perceive the smaller, or the weaker, or whatever, as disadvantaged, sort of like David and Goliath.  But why is it that the underdog always excels? It's because sometimes what's perceived as a disadvantage, could actually be an advantage. And it was so compelling to him and the stories were so compelling that it really made him think about how he was raised, and some things because he wasn't raised very wealthy and things like that, and how he had to problem solve his way to get to things, whether it be to sporting events or practices, different things, and if he wanted new shoes, or different whatever, he had to problem solve that as a young child.  And so, as he became a business owner, a business person later on down the road, he started remembered, “Hey, I can figure out pretty much any problem that comes my way because I practice those skills so early on” and growing up, he thought it was a huge disadvantage, he didn't have the things his friends had, they didn't have as much money, but he used those skills every day of his life now. So, that book is a great example of perceived ideas on disadvantages, they actually may be the things that are strengthening. So, it was a really neat perspective.   What Pete is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something he's excited about, Pete shared like he said, the book is out so he's just celebrating his work, he call it his life's work, his big strategy. It's really taking up a lot of his time and he loves it, he loves being able to spread the word about adding fun into work and creating workplace happiness. He thinks it's a movement for sure and he loves being on the kind of the precipice of this new business ideology that if we can add more fun, engaging experiences we can create workplace happiness for everybody. So, he loves being a part of that, so, that's huge for him. So, spreading the word.    Where Can We Find Pete Online Website  - www.funfirststrategy.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Pete Uses  When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Pete shared that being a marathon runner, or being somebody that runs, his mantra ever has always been, “Never, never give up.” So, that echoes in his mind a lot as he start a new venture, start a run, especially a long run that he doesn't know if has the energy, just keep moving, keep moving, “And remember to have fun.”    Me: All right, perfect. So, never, never give up. And always remember to have fun. I had fun in this interview.   Pete shared he did as well, he couldn't pass up the chance to chat with somebody from Jamaica. So, love it.    Me: Warm my heart, warm my heart. Thank you so much, Pete, we really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. I know you're busy promoting the book and spreading the message. So, taking a good 30 minutes out of your day to sit with us and share all these great insights and nuggets about what you're doing and just how it can help to improve and increase on workplace happiness and just human happiness, to make people just enjoy life more and not take themselves so seriously. But all while getting the job done and achieving the goals that we're all working towards, it was really a fun and productive conversation. Thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest Links •     Drop the F-Bomb in Your Business: With The Fun First Strategy by Pete Kusiak •     David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!  

The recent shifts in trade show booth design reflect a significant influence from the post-COVID era, embracing a blend of comfort and informality, characterized by the emerging 'resimercial' aesthetic. This trend places a heightened emphasis on seamlessly merging residential and commercial elements within booth constructions. A compelling discussion on this transformation was the subject of this episode of Eventist365, featuring Yanique's conversation with Charles Pappas, Senior Writer at EXHIBITOR Magazine. The conversation revolved around sustainability, the phenomenon of greenwashing, and the adoption of inclusive language in booth designs. Notably, these innovations hold particular appeal for the upcoming generation of marketers, including Gen Z individuals destined for future roles as Vice Presidents or C-level executives. This shift favorably positions companies for a future where inclusivity and environmental consciousness play pivotal roles in shaping successful marketing strategies. Highlights: 00:26 Sneak peek of exciting trends that Charles predict 02:13 The casual thing in tradeshow and its relative budget 05:08 Sustainability vs Pretty of green walls 07:59 Biophilia exhibiting technique for sustainability and promoting green efforts 13:23 Gen Z to lead sustainable changes in events marketing over next decade. 15:39 Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the events industry with focus on social responsibility 21:27 The psychology of trade show booth design trends  23:06 The next big thing in trade show booth designs for Charles Pappas CONNECT WITH CHARLES PAPPAS:  LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-pappas-8a657b3/ CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Podcast Social Media Accounts www.facebook.com/groups/eventist365/ https://twitter.com/eventist365 https://www.instagram.com/eventist365 https://www.facebook.com/MissYaniDoesStuff/ https://twitter.com/YaniDoesStuff https://www.instagram.com/YaniDoesStuff/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ydacosta/ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events: https://www.facebook.com/TheYKMD https://twitter.com/theYKMD https://instagram.com/theYKMD https://www.linkedin.com/company/ykmd/z Graphic Design Firm Websites: https://theykmd.com/ http://daily-designer.com/

 Eric Williamson is the Chief Marketing Officer at CallMiner. As CallMiner's Chief Marketing Officer, Eric oversees all global marketing functions from brand and events to demand generation. Eric's marketing team works very closely with channel and sales to drive pipeline and CallMiner's explosive growth. Eric has over 20 years of experience in both technology and consumer products marketing from both the vendor and agency side.  Before joining CallMiner, Eric was VP Brand & Digital Marketing at Acquia - an open DXP platform built around Drupal - where he led brand, creative services, webops, editorial, and demand generation. Prior to Acquia, Eric was on the agency side of marketing working as SVP Digital & Social Media at MullenLowe, and before that as VP Digital Strategy at The Martin Agency.  During his career, Eric has worked with a variety of B2C and B2B brands including Google, Microsoft, Intel, GEICO, Walmart, P&G, Pizza Hut, Acura, Royal Caribbean, and Hyatt. He earned his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, and an MBA from The University of Texas at Dallas.    Questions ·      Could you share in your own, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today? ·      Now, could you share with our listeners what is CallMiner and what exactly do you do? ·      The CallMiner CX Landscape Report, could you share with our listeners, I would say maybe three to five of the top themes or insights that we were able to garner from that data and that report? ·      What are your views as it relates to how leaders are actually utilising the CX data? Are they supporting and using it to make data driven decisions? Or is it just one of those reports that's generated and is there as a KPI but you're not really doing anything with the information. ·      Now, 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 maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but to this day, it still has had a great impact on you. ·      Now, could you also share with our listeners, Eric, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. ·      Where can listeners find you online? ·      Now, Eric, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed or you got off track, this quote kind of helps to get you back on track.   Highlights Eric's Journey Me: Now, before we jump into the conversation, I always like to give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. So, could you share in your own words, how it is that you got from where you were to where you are today?   Eric shared that Yanique did a pretty good job of covering his bio and in her intro, so thank you for that. So, he started his career out as essentially a BDR or an SDR is what they're called, typically, at least in SaaS, which he thinks is one of the best first jobs you can have, especially if you have aspirations of doing something in either sales or marketing. So, you talk to a tonne of CMOs, who that was their first job as well, so that's where it started.  He spent a lot of time working in digital advertising and then ultimately integrated big agency advertising for a lot of big brands and then flipped over to the client side and worked at a tech company called Acquia, which was covered just briefly in that intro. It's an open DXP player, built on top of Drupal, which is an open source project. And essentially, think of it is an open source competitor to something like Adobe Experience Manager. So, spent three or four years at Acquia.  And after that was introduced to the CEO at CallMiner, and had a lot of great discussions and he has been at CallMiner as their Chief Marketing Officer since 2020. And they've had a really nice run so far, they've gone from about 40 million ARR to a little over 80. And they're still seeing some nice growth despite maybe some of like macroeconomic headwinds.   What is CallMiner? Eric shared that CallMiner, they are the leader in conversation intelligence, specifically focused in more on customer service. So, if you think of any large company that has one or more large customer service agents, contact centres. So, they'll utilize their platform to ingest, so record and analyze every single customer interaction, whether that be a phone call to a customer service agent, texts to and from an agent, chats with an agent, survey data, all of that gets analyzed, and it's able to then turn around in real time and provide that customer service agent with guidance on to how to be able to deliver a better customer experience, guidance on how to answer the questions or access resources better. And then ultimately, if you're able to mind through millions of customer interactions, there's extremely valuable insights that can be discovered. And so, through machine learning in their artificial intelligence, their platform delivers that which is the larger value proposition.   The CallMiner CX Lanscape Report and the Insigts Garner From That Data Me: Alright, thank you for sharing that information on CallMiner. In leading up to the interview with you, Eric, I was shared a copy of the report, The CallMiner CX Landscape Report, and I'm sure you're familiar with it right as the Chief. So, could you share with our listeners, I would say maybe three to five of the top themes or insights that we were able to garner from that data and that report?   Eric stated that first and foremost, the CX Landscape Report that Yanique's referencing, it's an annual report that they publish so, it's original research for them. So, they do a survey of 700 plus CX and contact centre leaders across the globe and then what they'll try to do is keep a lot of those questions the same year over year as new trends and topics tend to emerge, they'll introduce a few new questions, but that way they're able to ultimately keep a pulse on what is important, and what sort of trends they're seeing with CX and contact centre leaders across the globe.  In this particular one, so in the one that they published in late 2023, obviously, and this is not going to shock anyone but one of the biggest topics that was not new but he would say the focus on it was extremely heightened, is around artificial intelligence, you'd have to be living under a rock to not notice just the media firestorm around artificial intelligence, in particular generative AI in 2023 and even today.  A lot of the typical data that they'll look at in that report, and the findings have to do with, like he said, trends that contact centre professionals and CX professionals are seeing within their own organizations. But he would highlight a few specific findings around artificial intelligence since that seemed to be the dominant theme. What's interesting is couple of themes would be that nearly this is not going to shock anybody, but nearly all of them are looking to implement some aspect of artificial intelligence in the next 12 to 18 months. The interesting sub stat to that is of those, over half aren't really sure what they're supposed to do basically, they know they need it, whether they were told this or whether they inherently think they need artificial intelligence in some way. So, they're investigating it, but they are a little bit lost in terms of where exactly to apply it. So, that was one of the first overarching thematics is everybody wants it, but they're not sure what to do with it.  The next is, now that we've moved a little bit beyond, maybe like the hype cycle of all of this, where he thinks everybody is rushing to go do something, and you've got a little bit of fear of missing out. Now they've started moving into the stage where companies are actually starting to try and implement some of these things. And what they've moved into now is sort of the reality stage, which is they're starting to realize that there's some risk inherently with this, largely around compliance, around the protection of their brand. Because sometimes these generative AI models can have hallucinations, etc. So, he thinks they're getting into the reality stage of actually trying to implement it and realizing that you have to take a much more responsible approach to how we think about this, and that there is no AI silver bullet out there that's going to solve all of your CX problems.  The last one, and the underlying aspect of this is actually something that they have heard, even before they started digging deeper into AI trends for CX leaders, and that has to do with how CX is positioned among the entire company/organization. So, in many cases, CX is disconnected from the contact centre, which is never good. Or you've got CX that is its own central thing, your meeting, you've got CXO, you've got a team. And then in other cases, CX is sort of sprinkled in multiple departments. And so what this kind of leads to is a bit of a disconnect, in terms of how you can roll out properly something as expansive as artificial intelligence within a piece of software across all these different pieces that are somewhat disconnected within the organization.  The other thing it leads to is let's say you've got a contact centre, and you've got all this amazing data, because of the disconnections here, some of that incredible data coming out of all these customer interactions is never actually making it further than the contact centre because of those disconnects. So, the last theme has to do with how companies typically will measure CX or a voice of the customer programme. He thinks as everybody who might be listening to this podcast know CX when it all comes down to it is largely has grown up and is still inherently based on surveys. So, whether it be an NPS or CSAT survey, but these are solicited surveys, solicited answers from a survey which sometimes can be very polarizing.  The big opportunity and where he think the industry is going is to combine that survey data with unsolicited data. And so this would be the data that comes out of contact centres and customer service centres, actual conversations that have a motion that we can measure versus solicited questions and answers. So, he thinks the combination of those two is where CX in general is going. And what you'll find is companies that are a little bit more mature and have a better org structure are already tapping into some of that data out of their contact centre.   Me: Wow, that's amazing. I think that's a great idea to merge the data that is collected from people who are actually talking to customers on a daily basis. I mean, the reality is, in a contact centre, customers only call for two reasons, right, to make a complaint or to make a request, there is no other reason why they're calling.   Eric agreed, that's correct. So again, you think of like, put it in the consumer perspective, other than the major influencers, when you go put something on a review about a hotel you stayed at or about some restaurant you went to on Yelp, largely it's because it was either an amazing experience that you just can't help yourself, or it was such a bad experience that you just can't help yourself. So, it becomes polarizing, which is why using surveys only is flawed to truly measure CX.   How Leaders Utilize CX Data Me: Now, what do you think leaderships' role is? Being in the industry and also being in marketing with a lot of exposure working with different organizations, what are your views as it relates to how leaders are actually utilizing the CX data? Are they supporting and using it to make data driven decisions? Or is it just one of those reports that's generated and is there as a KPI but you're not really doing anything with the information.   Eric stated that if you look at their CX landscape report or talk to most large companies, for the most part, they're using CSAT score which is survey based, or an NPS score as kind of a one metric, if you got all the way up to the CEO level that they're looking at on a regular basis to measure sort of the barometer of where their customer experience offering is at this point.  He thinks to the question as a whatever a marketing leader in his case, one of the main things that they're responsible for is helping to better align the organization to where the right data is making its way up, helping to make sure that data is organized in a way that a CEO or a Chief Product Officer, which is another beneficiary of a lot of this unstructured data and the insights from it, or even in many cases, the CMO for him isn't able to get the insights, the root cause of understanding what some of these issues might be that they're trying to solve for.  So, he thinks aligning the organzsation so that the data can reach the right people, and then making sure that data is packaged up in the right way to where it is executive friendly in some of the things that a leader should be thinking about and trying to make this better.    Me: And I can imagine also not just spitting out scores in terms of X percent of this type of customer feels this way, but linking it to tangible things, especially for leaders who think in dollars and cents, if we have a decline in this particular area over x period of time, what will this mean for our bottom line? What does it mean for future initiatives and innovation that we may need to implement? So, I would imagine that would be the kind of mindset they'd have to have.   Eric agreed, absolutely, excellent point. And even if as a first step you're continuing to just use NPS and CSAT, you should have an understanding to your point, by looking at all of your forecasting and previous years financials, you should be able to point to an increase in one point is going to result in this much the bottom line. So, he definitely agree with that point.   App, Website or Tool that Eric Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he can't live without in his business, Eric shared that sadly, probably the calculator on his phone just because he's constantly needing to tally up the percentages in different stats as he's doing some of his own reporting at an executive level, he must open that thing up several times a day.  From a website standpoint, they utilize the analyst reports quite a bit. So Forrester, who is one of the top tier analysts and the one who issued out the Forrester Wave that they're a leader in, so, he utilize them quite a bit from a research standpoint so that they can get a better understanding of where they predict the industry is going. So, he definitely tap into Forrester and Gartner quite a bit for that.  And then from a marketing standpoint, and Demand Gen. So, they have several vendors that they work with, so 6sense for their ABM intent platform, Outreach for their BDR platform. And he finds that some of the best resources that they can utilize for training for those particular teams. So, he spent some time looking through their most recent thought leadership and training materials to try and identify how he can help his team get better.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Eric When asked about books that have had a great impact, Eric stated that he would say from a business standpoint, so separate out fiction from a business standpoint, he thinks some of the classics like Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins, probably some of the ones that resonated with him the most and still, you can go back and reference. When he flip over to that sort of pleasure reading fiction, Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has always been his favourite book. It's not a long read probably one of the reasons why, but he thinks he must have read that book 50 times.    What Eric is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's excited about, Eric stated just keeping it focused around CallMiner, his company and his team. He thinks one of the things that he's really excited about is all of them that are in tech SaaS, they really had a rough 2023, whether it be, layoffs in terms of correction on over hiring and 2021. But mostly, a lot of this is coming from just general macro conditions, macroeconomic conditions globally.  He thinks what he's excited about is towards the end of 2023, they started to see a light at the end of the tunnel and sent some positive signals that they're turning the corner a bit, which he thinks anyone who works in tech should be excited about. He'll be interested to see how Q1 and maybe Q2, go for 2024 to see if that continues to more positive signals, and they start to see their prospects and their customer base be a little less cautious with their budgets and a little less conservative and be willing to maybe do some expansion and some testing within the platforms that they offer. So, he's excited about that. And he thinks most tech companies are right now.   Where Can We Find Eric Online Website – www.callminer.com LinkedIn - CallMiner   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Eric Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Eric stated that he doesn't know if this would be adversity, but they're constantly he feels like they're in the midst of adversity when they're trying to roll new campaigns out, roll new products out to the market. And something that he and several of his other C level peers, “Perfection is the enemy of progress.” So, he thinks it's very easy to get in your own way, and try to make something so perfect that you know it's going to be success and that's just a fallacy. And it's much better to do all the due diligence, do all the work to make it as good as you can. But get it out there and then learn from it early and make some changes to it than it is to just be unrealistic that you're going to be able to perfect something before you launch it. Me: True. That's a very good quote. Excellent point. Eric stated that he doesn't know who to attribute that quote to, by the way, but somebody wrote it.   Me: Well, Eric, I just want to tell you, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule and hopping on our podcast, and sharing all of this great content as it relates to what CallMiner does, about the report that your company had published that you publish on an annual basis and the great insights that were able to be derived from it, as well as moving forward what organisations can look towards in terms of where they should be placing their energy in order to be yielding the greatest success as it relates to customer experience. So, just want to extend greatest level of gratitude. Thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins •     Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

In the Events Industry, it does not matter if your materials are top of the line or on a budget because what matters is if you can make that conversion. Current and future trends in materials and textures underscore the potential of integrating elements such as texture, font color, and more to create a booth that is both memorable and impactful. In this episode of Eventist365, Yanique engages in a conversation with industry expert Cindy Lo, the CEO of Red Velvet, delving into the materials and textures anticipated to dominate in 2024. The discussion also emphasizes the significance of collaborating with seasoned professionals who bring invaluable insights into impact, budget management, trade show booth strategies, and emerging technologies. Tune in to gain valuable insights from these two seasoned event-planning professionals. Highlights: 02:38 Brief overview of materials & textures' pivotal role in trade show design 04:44 The non-default groundbreaking materials that will dominate the trade show scene 10:50  Cost-effective budget tricks & tips in building booths 15:39 Sustainability in a Wasteful Industry 19:15 Cindy Lo shared a story of her team where the material used makes a learning experience  22:38 What Challenges do event planners face with the space or location given and what can be done about it? 29:00 What emerging material do you predict will gain popularity next year? 31:44 Go to material resources for event planners to explore how to be innovative with their materials. CONNECT WITH CINDY LO: Website - https://www.cindylo.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyknowsevents/ CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Podcast Social Media Accounts www.facebook.com/groups/eventist365/ https://twitter.com/eventist365 https://www.instagram.com/eventist365 https://www.facebook.com/MissYaniDoesStuff/ https://twitter.com/YaniDoesStuff https://www.instagram.com/YaniDoesStuff/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ydacosta/ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events: https://www.facebook.com/TheYKMD https://twitter.com/theYKMD https://instagram.com/theYKMD https://www.linkedin.com/company/ykmd/z Graphic Design Firm Websites: https://theykmd.com/ http://daily-designer.com/

As Season 3 kicks off for Eventist365 with its inaugural episode, Yanique da Costa, the show's host, will provide a preview of the upcoming episode topics for the season.   Throughout the season, there will be fresh perspectives into trade show and booth design, with a focus on advancing sustainability and integrating technology into trade show booth design. Highlights: [02:15] How does your booth stand in the sea of competition?  [02:40] What is a well-designed booth? [03:31] Sustainability and environment-friendly booth design [04:00] Making the most out of your trade show booth's budget  CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Podcast Social Media Accounts www.facebook.com/groups/eventist365/ https://twitter.com/eventist365 https://www.instagram.com/eventist365 https://www.facebook.com/MissYaniDoesStuff/ https://twitter.com/YaniDoesStuff https://www.instagram.com/YaniDoesStuff/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ydacosta/ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events: https://www.facebook.com/TheYKMD https://twitter.com/theYKMD https://instagram.com/theYKMD https://www.linkedin.com/company/ykmd/z Graphic Design Firm Websites: https://theykmd.com/ http://daily-designer.com/

Matt Abrahams is a leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, podcast host and coach. As a Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, he teaches popular classes in strategic communication and effective virtual presenting. He received Stanford GSB's Alumni Teaching Award in recognition of his teaching students around the world.  When he isn't teaching, Matt is a sought-after keynote speaker and communication consultant. He has helped countless presenters improve and hone their communication, including some who have delivered IPO road shows as well as TED, World Economic Forum, and Nobel Prize presentations.  His online talks garner millions of views and he hosts the popular award-winning podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast. He is the author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot. His previous book, Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting has helped thousands of people manage speaking anxiety and present more confidently and authentically.    Questions  • So, We always like to ask our guests in their own words, if you could share a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got to where you are today, in your own words. • In Entrepreneurs Magazine, your article, it was called How to Sound Smart and Memorable Anytime. So, I would love for you to share with our listeners a little bit about the technique that you talk about in the article. • Are there any other techniques that you encourage someone to practice in order to overcome that speaking anxiety? • A big part of communication outside of speaking is listening, what has been your experience as a coach trying to help people to become better listeners? • Can you share with our listeners what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? • We'd also like for you to share with our listeners, maybe one or two books that you've read, could be a book that you read recently, or even one you read a very long time ago, but the book has had a very big impact on you. • Can you also share with our listeners what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. • Where can listeners find you online? • Now, before we wrap our episodes up, Matt, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, this quote kind of helps to get you back on track.   Highlights Matt's Journey Matt shared that he's somebody who has always been passionate and curious about communication. He remembers as a young child, being fascinated with how people communicate. In fact, one day, his mother decided it was important for him and his brother to have a yard sale, a garage sale because they had so much stuff, she was frustrated and wanted to get rid of it.  And where he grew up, there were lots of garage sales all over the place. And his mother specifically said, misspell the word garage on the signs that they were putting up and he was surprised by this advice. But they did and they inserted the letter “B” in the word garage. So, they had a garbage sale while everybody else had a garage sale. And they sold more stuff than anybody that weekend. And at that moment, he realised wow, the way you speak, the language you use, the words you use can influence people.  So, ever since then he's been fascinated by it, he studied it in school in graduate school, he worked in the corporate world for over a decade and saw the impact of communication both good and bad. And to this day, he finds it fascinating and do a lot of work in the field.    Techniques Talked About in The Article from Entrepreneurs Magazine, How to Sound Smarter and Memorable Anytime Me: Now, I was lucky enough when travelling in October to purchase a copy of Entrepreneur Magazine. And I came upon your article, “How to Sound Smart and Memorable Anytime.” And I read the article and I was so intrigued, it caught my attention so much that I was like, “Oh my goodness, I have find this gentleman on LinkedIn and I have to invite him as guest on our podcast.” And so, I would just love for you to share the technique that you talked about in this article as it relates to communication and presenting and just share with our listeners a little bit about what that technique can do to improve on your presentations.   Matt shared that when it comes to communicating, especially communicating in the moment, it is critical that we are effective and we come off as confident, competent and clear. Many of us get very nervous when we have to speak in the moment and it can be very challenging for us. So, he has spent a lot of his last little bit of times trying to learn how to help people be better at speaking in the moment and that's what his whole new book is about. It's really about helping people feel better in the moment so that they can come off as confident and comfortable and help those better understand what it is they're talking about.  So, the article that you're referring to is really about one of the ways that we can go about sounding better and more intelligent when we speak, it's leveraging a specific structure. So, what's critical in our communication is that we package the information up in a way that is readily digestible by our audience. Many of us when we communicate spontaneously just itemize information, we share what we're thinking as we're thinking it. And that's not how people process information.  He talked to many neuroscientists and they say our brains are wired for story, something that has a beginning, a middle and an end, logical connections of ideas.  So, in the article and one of the things he teaches a lot is how do you put structure to communication? And he talked about one of his favourite structures, it's three questions. What?, So, what? Now, What?   What is the idea you're talking about? It's your product, your service, your offering your update, your feedback, it is the what?  So, what is why is it important and relevant to your audience? We have known for decades that content that is relevant and salient for an audience is what they pay attention to.  And then finally, now, what is what comes next? Maybe it's do you have questions for me, or let me show you a demonstration, or let's set up another meeting.  So, by simply following the structure, What, So, what, Now, what, answering those questions, you can package up your information nicely. In fact, he just used that structure to help explain the structure. He told you what it was, why it's important, and how you can use it. So, that article, and a lot of what he does is really about helping people learn different structures for different speaking situations.    Me: Amazing. And you also had some other structures that you mentioned in the article where you spoke about: ·      Problem, Solution, Benefit ·      Point, Reason, Example point ·      Comparison, Contrast, Conclusion ·      Situation, Task, Action and Result Could you just elaborate, maybe about 10 to 20 seconds on each for those just for our listeners, as well?   Matt shared that when it comes to speaking in the moment, there lots of different types of circumstances and situations that we find ourselves in. And different structures apply for different situations. So, when you're selling something, trying to persuade somebody of something, a very useful structure is problem, solution, benefit.  Many of us have found ourselves in circumstances where we need to persuade, so you articulate the problem, challenge or issue, you then explain your suggestion for how we go about solving it. And then you explain the benefits of doing so. So, that can be a very useful structure. In fact, any television advertisement you've ever seen has been in that structure.  There are other structures as well. In the article, he talked about another one, he recommends that people use a lot, which is comparison, contrast, conclusion, you compare two items together or three, or four. And then you talk about how they're different, that's the contrast. And then you give your conclusion. There are myriad structures out there, people are familiar with some, others not so familiar with. But the idea is to have a toolkit of structures that you can leverage to help you in those moments where you're struggling.   Techniques Encouraged to Practice in Order to Overcome Speaking Anxiety  Me: So, a big part of what you do as well, Matt is trying to help people get over the anxiety of presenting in front of a lot of people confidently, and I know structure, the methodology of the structure will definitely help you to have a little bit more focus, and you will have something in place versus just going up there and not knowing what to say. But are there any other techniques that you encourage someone to practice in order to overcome that speaking anxiety?   Matt shared that first and foremost, he doesn't think you can overcome anxiety, he thinks we can become more comfortable with it, we can learn to manage it. But would we even want to overcome it, anxiety is actually helpful to us, it is something that helps us focus, it allows us to be sure that what we're saying is important for ourselves and our audience, and it gives us energy. So, to him, it's all about managing anxiety, not overcoming anxiety.  And when it comes to that there are lots of things that people can do, we can manage both symptoms, as well as sources, symptoms are the things that we physiologically experience. And then sources are the things that initiate and exacerbate our anxiety.  So, it's important to attack both situations. So, symptoms are the things that we experienced, so many people get shaky, they feel their heart rate go up, so to help those with specific techniques, for example, deep belly breathing, you can breathe, take a slow inhale in and a longer exhale out and that will actually initiate a relaxation response that can help and it doesn't take very much to actually have that take effect. If you're shaky that's adrenaline trying to move you from threat towards safety and that means that we can do some movement in the beginning of a presentation stepping forward towards the audience, big broad gestures that gives the adrenaline a place to go and that way we can feel less anxious of our symptoms.  Now there are sources too, sources are the things that start our anxiety and continue it.  The biggest source of anxiety is people have a goal when they speak and it's good to have a goal when you speak. But we're afraid we won't achieve our goal and if you think about it, that means we're afraid that we won't achieve a future outcome.  So, the way to short circuit goal based anxiety is to become present, be focused in the moment, focus on what you're saying, focus on the audience and their needs, do something physical to get you in your body out of your head. These are all ways to manage the source of future thoughts.  So, there's a lot we can do to manage anxiety, the very first book he wrote was called Speaking Up without Freaking Out, it's a 50 techniques to help people feel better and more comfortable in the moment speaking. So, if we can manage our anxiety, we're going to do much better when it comes to our mission.   Communication: Apart from Speaking, How to Become a Better Listener Me: I believe a big part of communication outside of speaking, which I think the bigger part of communication that's way more important than speaking is listening. What has been your experience as a coach trying to help people to become better listeners, sometimes you're in a conversation, and I find that I have a challenge personally, with persons when I'm communicating, and they don't give you a moment to express your thought fully, and they start talking in the middle of your sentence. So, you're not even able to complete what you're actually saying and how do you get to that point where you can be present in the moment when the person is speaking so you can take in all that they're saying to you and process that information carefully, before actually making a response and get to the speaking part.   Matt shared that yes, listening is really important and many of us don't do it well. In fact, he heard somebody say, “Listening is really just what we do when we're waiting for our turn.”  You need to listen deeply, focused in a present oriented way to really not only show that you care about the person to connect, but also to understand what's needed in the moment.  Giving an example. Imagine you and him come out of a meeting and you say to him, “Matt, what do you think?” And he says, “Oh, good, she wants feedback. Let me give it. Well, this work, this didn't work, you could have done this better, we should have done this, etc.” But had he really listened, he might have noticed that your tone was a little quieter than usual. You came down to the back door instead of the front door, you were looking down when you asked him that question, what you really needed in that moment was not feedback, but it was support, and he missed the clues and cues. And he by jumping into giving you all this harsh feedback might have damaged the relationship.   So, we need to learn to listen well. How do you do that?  First and foremost, you listen for the bottom line, when we focus on what the person is saying in a deep way. What's the bottom line, we listen with a much more focused intensity than how we normally do it, which is just the top line, just the gist, what are they saying. And then as soon as we hear it, we begin rehearsing and evaluating and judging and that works against us really understanding.  So, the way to become a better listener is to listen for the bottom line, to give yourself permission to pay attention not just to what they're saying but how they're saying it, context in which you're saying it. This is hard work. Listening is challenging. He heard somebody once say, “You should listen until you sweat.” And he loves that idea, because it's implying that listening is an active activity, something that we really need to focus on. So, he loves that Yanique brought up that question, and he hopes everybody listening takes time to listen better.   App, Website or Tool that Matt Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resources that he can't live without in his business, Matt shared that he gets a tonne of email and he uses a tool called Superhuman to help him parse through his email. It is an amazing tool, it has probably saved him 30%....40% of his email processing time. He loves the tool. He met the founder of the company a number of years ago, when he explained to him what he was working on, he fell in love with it instantly. And it is the tool he uses the most and it is the most helpful tool to him.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Matt When asked about books that have had an impact, Matt shared that beyond the books that he's written, which has had a huge impact on him. He's learned a lot in writing those two books Think Faster, Talk Smarter and Speaking up Without Freaking Out.  There are two books that he recommends to everybody. The first book is called Improv Wisdom, Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan Madson. It is a very short book, but it is life changing. It has changed his life. It is a book that talks about the rules and ways that improvisation, improv can be applied to daily life. So, it's not about being funny, it's not about being up on a stage. It's about how to live your life in a more present oriented, connected, spontaneous way. Fantastic book!  The other book is a book he recommends to anybody looking to get better at their communication. It is an older book, as is Improv Wisdom. It is called Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Dan and Chip Heath, Chip Heath actually is a colleague of his at Stanford's Business School. It's all about how to make your ideas stand out and stick in people's minds in a world where there's a lot of things pulling at our attention. They give a six step methodology much like he does in his new book, that's all about how to make your ideas stick. He thinks everybody who wants to improve their communication, and they're lives should check out both of those books.   What Matt is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that's he's excited about, Matt shared that he's very, very excited about the podcast he host Think Fast, Talk Smart, he's dedicating a lot of his time and resources to expanding and extending the communication best practices and tips that they share through experts. He believes it helps him become a better person, a better communicator and he certainly thinks it helps everybody. So, he's excited in the new year to put a lot of effort into that.    Me: Perfect. Okay, thank you for sharing Matt. We'll also have a link to Matt's podcast in the episode show notes as well, for anyone that would like to tap into Matt's podcast and gain some more insight on being a better communicator.   Where Can We Find Matt Online LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maabrahams Website – www.mattabrahams.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Matt Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Matt shared that it's a quote that he heard first in a silly movie, a movie called Buckaroo Banzai. And then he says he's showing his age, because it's many, many, many years ago. He knows it didn't come from this movie, but the quote is simple, “No matter where you go, there you are.”  And he often can live in the future, he can be worried and thinking about future consequences, what comes next. And he has learned that something that can help ground him is simply to come back to the present and say, no matter where you go, there you are, deal with what's coming on in front of you and that's how we get things moving forward. So, that's one of his favourite quotes and one that helps him a lot.   Me: So, thank you so much, Matt, for taking time out of your very busy schedule, for hopping on this podcast and being so gracious in facilitating this interview when I reached out to you originally. I definitely have gotten your book, I've started reading it and I've definitely shared it. I think I've shared it with at least maybe two or three organizations that I've done training with between October and December when I was first introduced to you through that article, so I think you're doing great work. And I really appreciate the time that you've taken to hop on our podcast and just share some great insights that I believe as customer experience practitioners that we can definitely use to enhance the service delivery that we have if we improve on our communication skills.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot by Matt Abrahams •     Speaking Up without Freaking Out: 50 Techniques for Confident and Compelling Presenting by Matthew Abrahams •     Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan Madson •     Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Peter C. Yesawich is Chairman of Hospitable Healthcare Partners, LLC - a marketing consultancy serving hospitality and the healthcare industry clients - and Vice Chairman Emeritus of MMGY Global, one of the country's leading marketing communications companies renowned for its strategic thinking, breakthrough creativity, and innovation in marketing practice.  Yesawich has contributed to the development of marketing programs for some of the industry's most popular brands, destinations and organizations including: Fairmont Hotel & Resorts, Hilton International, Disney Parks & Resorts, Universal Studios, Atlantis, The Broadmoor, Sandals Resorts, Wynn Las Vegas, Marriott Vacation Club International, the Mexico Tourism Board, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, to name a few.  He is co-author of Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism, and the new book, Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!   Questions •  Could you share a little bit about your journey? •  Have you seen any common themes as it relates to customer service delivery on the part of the service provider that you think is universal to both areas? •  Now, could you also share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? •  Can you also share with our listeners, maybe one or two books that you have read, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it had a great impact on you. •     What's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. •  Where can listeners find you online? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to just get you back on track. Do you have one of those?   Highlights Impact on Online Sources But on that point, one of the things that they looked at in writing the book and their survey of 1200 adults is how they use online sources to help them think about healthcare and whether it's evaluating healthcare providers, or self-diagnosis, we all joke about Dr. Google, something happens and we quickly want to do a web search, whether it's Google or WebMD, or any of a number of site specific providers, specific sites, like Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic and so forth, to get that kind of information.  But that would be his answer. By the way, that is extremely helpful, but also generally very difficult for people to interpret. So, it's essential, they should absolutely do their homework, but they should also consult with a medical professional to make sure they've interpreted it correctly. So, it's a combination of those two, but that wouldn't be his answer, really, it's Google would be the certainly the go to source. Me: It's amazing you said that, we take it for granted when you think about how we used to do research prior to Google, Encyclopaedia Britannica, go to the library, it takes you so long to kind of get information. And I always tell my daughter, and even my mom, I tell her, there's nothing that you can type into Google that I'm sure someone else in the world has not asked that same exact question. No matter how stupid you think it is, somebody in the world has asked the question and there is an answer there for you, so it really is knowledge base.  Peter shared that what's interesting about that though is, in hospitality, online people go online to look at reviews. So, you look at reviews of restaurants, or hotels or destinations or what it may be. In their companies that have really built incredible databases like TripAdvisor and Expedia and so forth. And then you think about, “Well, why doesn't that exist in healthcare?”  So, if you wanted to learn a little bit more about, let's say, a particular hospital, where you might be thinking about scheduling some kind of elective procedure, or a specific clinician, a doctor or a practice, one of the things you discover very quickly is it's very difficult to get that kind of information online about healthcare providers, and people ask why and he'll share with the listeners that kind of interesting that came out of their research.  There are two reasons for that. Number one, most of these healthcare rating sites will not publish any ratings on providers unless they have a minimum number of what they consider to be objective ratings, typically, that's 3. So, for example, if you go into health grades, or any of the doctor sites, you'll notice a lot of the physicians don't have any rating or if they do have a rating, it might be one or two ratings.  And obviously, people are generally very, very suspect about that if they don't have a broader base of patient reviews. Now, the question is, why is that? And here's the interesting part of the answer. We discovered that most of us are very reluctant to criticize medical professionals. For example, the example you just gave about the paediatrician. Now, you're quick to maybe share that story with other friends but his suspicion is you probably didn't go online and write a review. Now, maybe you did.  Me: I did not. But I don't think it's because I was reluctant to share it online, I think at the time, that would have been like 2006, I don't think it was that popular at the time.   Peter stated that for most people today, they're reluctant to do that online publicly. And we think that there's a really good psychological reason for that and that is that we are all raised correctly, by the way, to respect the amount of training and the motivation of medical professionals that even if we find that their style to be a little abrupt, and so forth, the fact of the matter is, we absolutely respect their expertise.  And the other aspect of that is, we don't have the same vocabulary. So, it's very difficult for us to interpret many times their comments, or their assessment of our medical problem. So, it's just not possible for us to rate them because we don't know, we don't know if it's good or bad advice. And as a result of that, what happens, these ratings are few and far between, anyway, to your point is we like to say, if you have an anniversary dinner in a restaurant, where the restaurant blew it, well, you may go home that night and the internet will be blazing in terms of your negative response.  But if you had a bad experience at your physician's office, you just kind of shrug your shoulders and kind of move on. But more and more to your point, people are exercising choice and say, “I'm not going back to that office, or I'm not going back to that hospital, the experience was really bad.” And generally, most insurance programs provide some options for you to use other providers.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Peter When asked about books that have an impact, Peter stated that he'll give you just one. And it's a book that he thinks resides in the same space as their book, their most recent book. It's called Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference by Stephen Trzeciak and was authored by two medical doctors from the University of Pittsburgh. And it's fascinating examination of an idea similar to theirs about hospitality and healthcare. And the book, it really addresses the question, critical question that most people in healthcare ask and they say, well, we believe, we get the idea that compassion is important for patients as part of the customer experience and so forth. But it doesn't make financial sense. So, that's the point of view.  He'll give the best example. Most physicians today are under tremendous time pressure to see as many patients as quickly as possible, and that's a recurring theme of dissatisfaction for people in healthcare, where they say, “Well, I only saw the doctor for 10 minutes, and half the time he or she was looking at a computer screen. They didn't look at me.”  Well, the problem is that many of these practices, literally, they have performance criteria that says, you should not spend more than 15 or 20 minutes with a patient and you need to move on because the volume needs to be at, anyway.  So, the whole idea of being compassionate, and a big part of that is just listening, and that is listening until the patient has expressed everything he or she would like to express and also making sure they understand what the clinician has concluded and is recommending, that takes time.  And it's a big issue of this demonstrating compassion. And he lives through that because as he says, 10 years in cancer care business. And you talk about the importance of compassion in medical facilities, there's nothing more challenging and potentially difficult than fighting cancer, it's the worst disease that anyone can be diagnosed with. And it happens to be the most expensive disease.  And therefore, compassion is essential in terms of getting people through the process. But anyway, that's a long answer to a great question. But he would recommend that to anybody who is interested in the healthcare customer experience because, as it turns out, they make a case, very compelling case, this is compassion, the delivery of compassion, the demonstration of that makes great financial sense for a whole bunch of reasons. And they build the case for that.  Me: I can just imagine, because as I said to you at the beginning, the average person that goes to their doctor or hospital or clinic, they're in pain. So, when I do trainings for those persons in that type of industry, I genuinely say to them that listen, if you don't genuinely care about other human beings, and you're not genuinely there to help them, you're just in the profession for the financial gain, this is just not the area for you to be in because as you mentioned, compassion is one of those key skills that you need and sadly, a lot of patients and their relatives, they don't get that. Even COVID saw ot, I heard so many cases where I guess they got immune to the fact that people were dying from COVID, you are just another dead person to them. And that person was somebody's dad, was somebody's mom, was somebody's sister, was somebody's child.   Is Healthcare a Need or a Want Service? Peter agreed and shared that it's funny, because they talk to medical professionals about their book. Some of them say, well, all this is wonderful. But healthcare is what they call a need service. And hospitality is a want service, and they stopped them and say, wait a minute, think about what you just said.  The point they make is that, yes, many people pursue healthcare out of need, they're ill, they had an accident, whatever it might be. And they come to that experience with all kinds of anxiety, and all of a sudden, they have issues related to difficulty making an appointment, checking in, the time that it takes, understanding the cost of the service, all the things he just talked about.  And the point he makes is that, yes, it is a need service for many patients who seek emergency care. But that amplifies the importance of the hospitality elements in delivering the care, because the hospitality elements help manage down some of that anxiety.  We've all sat in an emergency room way too long and the anxiety is building and something as simple and a lot of hospitals now do this, which published the wait times in the emergency rooms, they say, okay, your wait time is 32 minutes, well, at least you know that you're going to be there for half an hour, if nobody told you it was 32 minutes, you'd be sitting there 20-25 and wondering what's going on anyway, you get the idea. So, even though it is a need service, and we acknowledge that, we think that it actually underscores the importance of hospitable healthcare.   What Peter is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something he's excited about, Peter shared that it is this book, took them 2 years to write this. And he said, they did a major piece of national research. And the reaction they've gotten to this book has been terrific from not just consumers because they know consumers, they say “Well, wouldn't you like a more hospitable experience?” Everybody says, absolutely. But from healthcare practitioners, they say, “Okay, that sounds really good. Tell me how.”  So, in this book, what they've done is in their model, the fact that PAEER model for each chapter, they've identified very specific action items like how to prepare, how to anticipate, how to engage for healthcare providers, it's almost like a checklist. And it's amazing how healthcare providers react. He'll give one example and it happens to be addressing that number one deficit, which is not knowing the cost of the healthcare service before it's provided.  He was sharing this with a CEO of a large healthcare system in New York couple of weeks ago. And he said, “Okay, smart guy, well tell me how we're supposed to address that.” So, we'll try this on for size. So, when he books, he's talking about non-emergency procedures. Now, emergency procedures are unique, but non-emergency and by the way, that represents a very substantial percentage of the procedures that any hospital system would do. So, you have to schedule the surgery, whatever it might be.  So, he said, “When I confirm my appointment for that particular service or procedure, I don't know the cost, but why don't you give me a pro forma estimate of the cost of that when you confirm my appointment?” It's the same that happens in most industry. So, next week, if you take your car to a car repair service or for service, they're going to give you an estimate, you have to approve that before they do the work, you want to book a hotel room or a vacation, you're going to know the cost of that before you take the trip.  So, why wouldn't the healthcare provider send me an estimate of the expected cost of annual physical, any surgical procedure, whatever it might be. And the reason he says that is the hospital, and the healthcare provider knows the cost of the service before they confirm your appointment. Now, most patients don't know that. But they know the cost because all of those services are already contracted with these insurance companies.  So, they have a very specific dollar amount, they're going to get reimbursed for that, even though that dollar amount as you know is substantially less than what you see in the bill. But his point is that they could give you a pro forma estimate that says, “Okay, this is likely to be between $600 and $800.” And they disclaim that by saying, “We may discover when we do your examination that more tests are required, and therefore, it's going to be a little more expensive.” And they disclose that at the time the appointment is confirmed.  But the point is that that gives people, patients then a general sense of what the cost might be, allows them to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to certain to pursue treatment there or someplace else. He's sure you (Yanique) read all the stories about people that say, “Well, I looked at the cost of an MRI at hospital A, and it was $2500. And I look at an MRI at hospital B and it was $3800. How could it be different? It's the same procedure?”  Well, the idea is that their margins are different, their reimbursement rates are different with insurance companies. They know that, you don't know that, but you could actually as a provider, begin to minimize a lot of that anxiety by simply giving a pro forma estimate.  So, the CEO said, “You know what, that's kind of interesting idea.” He said, you have all that information, but you just don't provide it. So, they're going to begin to explore the possibility of doing that.  By the way, just this week, he saw Amazon health. Amazon is now getting into the primary care business and one of the things, they just released a press from two days ago, press release on this, Amazon health will give you the cost of the service at the time you book the appointment. And he thought to himself, “Wow, somebody's paying attention here.”  Me: Yeah, they saw the need, they did their work. They did their research.  Peter agreed and stated there's an example of what he's talking about.   Where Can We Find Peter Online Website: www.hospitablehealthcare.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Peter Uses  When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Peter shared that he's not sure it's a quote, but it's more of a mantra and that is, “Tomorrow will be a better day.” And that is if you get consumed by negativity, by certainly today, all the things going on in the world. It's easy to get very dark, very quickly. But you have to awaken with the belief that things will get better and generally they do. And you as an individual will have to be a major catalyst to that, you have to pursue it and you have to be relentless. But yeah, if you ever lose hope in that then you're probably headed to a very dark place. But that would be tomorrow's always going to be a better day. Me: Perfect. Thank you so much for sharing. Now, Peter, we want to just extend our heartfelt gratitude to you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to share about your book, all the research that you did, giving us some real-life, practical examples that our listeners can take back. I think this book that you did is of great value, as you mentioned, not just to patients, but also to persons who are in the healthcare industry, who are service providers, there's clearly a lot of opportunities from a hospitable perspective that healthcare providers could be doing that they're not doing. And I really hope that this book gets to more people, and that they will look on it, not like the person mentioned, it's a need and not a want, but look on it that at the end of the day, in everything we're doing, there's always an opportunity to create that experience that people would want to come back to you, even if it's a need, even if you don't necessarily want to go back and see your GP or your ophthalmologist or your dermatologist, you want to be cured. But at the end of the day, when you walked away from that experience, you will be motivated to want to go back if something should happen to you and not feel demotivated not to go back, because the experience was not good. So, I do think that what you shared with us here today will be of great value, encourage all of the work that you're doing and thank you, thank you so much again.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered! By Peter Yesawich Ph. D and Stowe Shoemaker Ph.D •     Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caaring Makes a Difference by Stephen Trzeciak   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience  Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Peter C. Yesawich is Chairman of Hospitable Healthcare Partners, LLC - a marketing consultancy serving hospitality and the healthcare industry clients - and Vice Chairman Emeritus of MMGY Global, one of the country's leading marketing communications companies renowned for its strategic thinking, breakthrough creativity, and innovation in marketing practice.  Yesawich has contributed to the development of marketing programs for some of the industry's most popular brands, destinations and organizations including: Fairmont Hotel & Resorts, Hilton International, Disney Parks & Resorts, Universal Studios, Atlantis, The Broadmoor, Sandals Resorts, Wynn Las Vegas, Marriott Vacation Club International, the Mexico Tourism Board, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, to name a few.  He is co-author of Marketing Leadership in Hospitality and Tourism, and the new book, Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!   Questions •  Could you share a little bit about your journey? •  Have you seen any common themes as it relates to customer service delivery on the part of the service provider that you think is universal to both areas? •  Now, could you also share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? •  Can you also share with our listeners, maybe one or two books that you have read, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently, but it had a great impact on you. •     What's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. •  Where can listeners find you online? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you get derailed or you get off track, the quote kind of helps to just get you back on track. Do you have one of those?    Highlights Peter's Journey Me: Could you share a little bit about your journey? I know in your bio, it gives us a summary of the clients that you've worked with, some of the impact that you've had. But we always like to hear in the own words of our guests, their words of how their journey has been and how they got to where they are today.   Peter shared that most of his career has been spent in the hospitality field, as you mentioned in your introduction there. Actually, when he finished school, he has a PhD in Psychology, and he never practised clinically, but he always wanted to use the education to understand the influence of marketing communication. So, that's what he did for a period of roughly 35 years. And then, for a 10-year period, he took a sabbatical and he went into the healthcare business. And he did that for a bunch of reasons. But he joined a national oncology company by the name of Cancer Treatment Centres of America. They had 5 destination hospitals, 10 clinics served about 15,000 patients annually.  So, he had a unique perspective in hospitality, having worked with a number of the brands you mentioned, and in healthcare, and when I got to healthcare, it was very obvious to him that the health care experience for patients could be improved significantly if healthcare providers simply adopted many of the principles that have essentially led to the success of hospitality brands. So, that's the short version.  And then a couple of years ago, he was in Las Vegas making a speech and he was in the greenroom. And he bumped into a gentleman by the name Stowe Shoemaker and he's a gentleman he's known for probably 20-25 plus years. He's a gentleman who has a very distinguished career in academia.  And he at the time, was the Dean of the Hospitality Management Programme at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And prior to that, he was in Houston at the University of Houston, where he also had a joint appointment with the MD Anderson Cancer Centre. So, they're trading notes and he said, “So, it's amazing, your background is very similar to mine, because we both have experience in hospitality and healthcare. And we had the same kind of perspective, and that is that the healthcare experience could really be improved.” And that's what ultimately lead to them writing this book.   Universal Themes Across Hospitality and Healthcare Me: Awesome. So, hospitality and healthcare, those are two very important industries. Hospitality is more about fun and healthcare, of course, is about just living a healthy lifestyle, but seeing that you have exposure and experience in both industries, would you say there are some common themes in terms of customer service expectations that customers would have, because at the end of the day, if you go into a resort or a hotel you are going on vacation, 9 out of 10 times, people travel for business as well. But pretty much you're not in pain, whereas, 9 out of 10 times, if you're going to healthcare, you go for your check-ups, but most people a lot of times are already in pain why they're visiting their doctor, whether it be a clinic or hospital. So, have you seen any common themes as it relates to customer service delivery on the part of the service provider that you think is universal to both areas?   Peter stated that it's a great question. And the answer is there are many, in fact. But let him begin by asking the question of your listeners, which is the way he really like to start the conversation, and that is he asked, “Can you think of a healthcare experience that you've had that was either unsatisfactory or gone wrong?”  And the answer for everyone is absolutely, yes. Everybody has a story about a healthcare experience that went wrong. And then he stopped them. And he says, well think about the primary reason for that. And it's interesting to note that very rarely, is the reason is the clinical outcome the reason. Clinical outcome generally is very satisfactory for people in healthcare. But the reason primarily is the way the healthcare service was delivered.  So, to Yanique's question, they actually began writing this book by doing a survey of 1200 adults in the US. And what they did is they looked at 22 common points of customer engagement, that are unique to both healthcare and hospitality, for example, the very front end, how easy or difficult is to get an appointment? We all hear stories about someone who wants to make an appointment with a certain type of medical specialist, and they're disappointed because it takes weeks or months to do that, how does that experience compare with making a reservation, for example.  And then all the way through whether or not you know the cost of the service before it's provided, in the hospitality industry, you absolutely do, because when you book, at that point, typically the cost of the service is confirmed, unfortunately, in the healthcare business, after you confirm an appointment, it's very rare that you know the cost of the service before you receive it. And he's sure you've (Yanique) got a story, everybody has a story about a surprise medical bill and how disappointing and unnerving that is. All the way through whether or not the provider asks you for feedback on the experience.   Last night, for example, he had dinner with some friends, and they booked the reservation on Open Table. And true to form, this morning, 8 o'clock, he gets an email from Open Table says, “How was your experience?” He will also tell you, a couple of weeks ago, he had an executive physical at a very well-known healthcare provider, and he has yet to hear from them to ask him about his experience as a patient.  So, point is that there are 22 of these points of customer engagement that they measured in the survey with 1200 adults. And basically, what they did is they asked them to rate their experience in 5 categories to compare their reaction or their experience on the 22 points of service engagement for hospitals - number 1, for walking clinics - number 2, for doctors' offices - number 3, for lodging - number 4, that would be Hotels and Resorts. And the 5th was in dining and restaurants.  So, the way to think about this is they have kind of a 5 by 22 matrix. And in each cell, they have 1200 observations, so they have a really, really robust kind of basis analysis, in the punch line and all of that to your question about the common points of customer engagement.  What they then calculated is what they call the hospitality deficit and that is how much people felt the experience in healthcare was a deficit in terms of the service experience, versus hospitality. And out of that came 5 specific themes. He's happy to talk you through those. But that's a lot to kind of process. But the answer was, yeah, there are 22 common points of customer engagement that they identified, and they examined.   Me: Perfect. So, 22, that's a lot, you want to kind of just maybe run through, just maybe this list the 22 for us, and then maybe you could talk about some of the ones that are near and dear to your heart?   Peter shared that what they did is they actually collapsed these into 5 themes. So, he'll kind of just talk to those specifically. And then they can drill down on any of them that would be of interest.  So, the number one source of this deficit in service delivery between healthcare and hospitality is what he mentioned a moment ago, and that is for individuals not knowing or understanding the cost of the service before they receive it. And we've all had that experience in healthcare, whether if the bill is easy to understand or difficult to understand, whether or not if you know how much to pay for the service before you receive it. And then whether or not the cost of the service is consistent with your expectation. So, all of those kind of roll up into that first trend. And that is the primary source of dissatisfaction patients have with the healthcare experience. And you can probably think of an example for you personally, he has them, he's sure the listeners have them. The second theme that came out of this really interesting was the fact that patients and healthcare don't feel like their business, so to speak, is appreciated by the providers. Now in hospitality, you get many thank yous, you get a thank you when you check in, and thank you when you checkout, you get a thank you when the waiter takes the order, you get a thank you when the bills presented.  And if you think about the expressions of appreciation patients have in healthcare, that's very rare. It's almost like, in many respects, for some providers, you the patient should be thanking the provider for the provider delivering the service. But that's the second kind of source of this deficit.  The third is the whole arrival experience and reception. And we all have kind of stories about the clipboard, the dreaded clipboard, you show up at the doctor's office, and they hand you the clipboard and say, “Please fill this out.”  And the irony is, you may have filled out the same clipboard a couple of weeks prior, either at the same physician's office, or a similar, and maybe a referral that has been made. But how about the whole environment, a lot of doctors' offices and hospitals have worked hard on that in recent years, but it's still nothing like walking into a three or four star hotel or a restaurant where they've really given a lot of thought to things like colours, and textures, and aromas, and all the things that really do impact our sense of arrival and the way we're greeted, when we arrive too.  The fourth theme is what they call service logistics. And that's this ease or difficulty of making an appointment or getting a reservation. And then the other aspect of that is the check in process, is it easy. He suspects many of the listeners are members of frequency programs, like whether it's with hotels, or airlines or restaurants. And they've worked very hard to create these customer profiles, right, they understand your preferences, they know that maybe you like a certain type of pillow in a hotel, or a certain type of bedding, or a seat on an aeroplane, it's interesting in the healthcare business, that kind of information although it's readily available, is very rarely tracked and used.  So, what happens is the check in process becomes very cumbersome, go back to the idea of the dreaded clipboard, but it's providing the same information over and over again. Or the other thing in hospitality is that's been very effective in terms of recognising customers, is giving them a little special attention.  So, for example, if you're a member of a loyalty program for a hotel company, you might check in at a different location at the front desk, so they might have a little plaque there that says, “Reserved for our loyalty members” or whatever.  In the airline business, people scrambled to get loyalty status, so they can get an overhead bin when they get on the plane, or that maybe they have a chance to pick a seat ahead of time.  So, the whole idea is that there's some special recognition, doesn't happen in healthcare, right? You stand in the same line with everybody else, whether or not you are a repeat patient or first-time patient. And we can talk about that, because there are ways to solve that in healthcare, but they don't exist today.  And then the last theme here is they call service recovery. You know for example if you're off in a restaurant, and the entree comes in and you're unhappy and you mentioned that to the waiter or waitress, what happens is, they're very quick to remove it and replace it and they might even give you a complimentary dessert. They'd say the sorry that happened. Or if you're really unhappy, they just take it off your bill. Whatever happens when people contest a charge from a healthcare provider, have you ever tried to do that? You know what happens? It goes nowhere. And so, many times you're arguing with the insurance company, or you might even be arguing with the provider. But the point is that service recovery is very poor in healthcare, and it's very good in hospitality.  So, those are five themes, it's knowing the cost of the service, being appreciated as a customer, the whole arrival experience, the service logistics that is the check in process, and so forth. And then finally, service recovery. So, the 22, they kind of collapse into those 5.   Me: So, to be really honest, of all the themes that you mentioned just know, the one that you mentioned about loyalty from a healthcare perspective, that was like a BFO for me, a blinding flash of the obvious, because you're so right, like most industries have some form of reward that you get for being loyal to them. I don't have one doctor that I go to my ophthalmologist, my gynaecologist, my GP, none of them and I've been going to them for years. My dermatologist, I've been going to her from I was 16. Wouldn't they benefit from making their customers, their patients feel like they valid them? And because the reality is we can switch, I've switched doctors in the years I've been going for various reasons.  I remember when I just had my daughter, the paediatrician was extremely cold in some feedback he had given me when she was 6 months old, she had this really high temperature, I was a first time mom, I was 24 and I called the office to schedule an appointment, because I was doing all the things at home to get the fever down, and it wasn't working. And their response was, I should just bring her in later in the day. And when I spoke to him, finally, he said he was playing golf and that statement in itself made me switch. I've told that story to so many people, she's 18, she turned 18, two weeks ago, and that was when she was six months old. And I've never forgotten it. And I would never recommend anybody to go to him based on that experience.   Peter stated that Yanique hit the nail on the head with that, one of the things that they examined in the book is they actually created a service model for healthcare practitioners, that has five elements in it, it's called the PAEER Model, that's an abbreviation. The P is to Prepare the care for the patients. And that's the whole idea of learning more about them before they arrived. The next is A, which is to Anticipate, which gets into this whole issue of the anxiety that people feel when they're pursuing healthcare services, particularly if it's in kind of an emergency situation, we can come back to that in a second. The first E is the Engagement Process that's this check in or the arrival and how easy or difficult it is. The second E is Evaluation, that's asking for feedback. And the one the last is R, which is what you just mentioned, which is Reward. So, let's just take a second and explore that. And let him digress for a second because this is a little bit of humour. But he thinks it makes the point.  They open the book with a story about a fictitious patient. It's a guy who is in his mid 40s. And he lives in Ohio, and he's pretty concerned about his health, he goes for an annual physical, and his PCP says, “Okay, time for your first colonoscopy.” So, they chronicle this guy's experience, trying to get a hold of the gastroenterologist making an appointment, how difficult that was, the fact that he shows up, they don't really recognize him, have no background information. So, he's got to take a half an hour with the clipboard to fill all that out. The fact that he doesn't know the physician and the first time he sees the gastroenterologist is when he's lying on the gurney, and they roll them in. He has the colonoscopy, and he wakes up and says, “How did you do?” And they said, “Well, we can't tell you. But maybe a couple of days, we'll have some results.” So, the guy worries all the way home, finally gets some good news.   But a couple of days later, he gets a bill in the mail from the anaesthesiologist that he wasn't expecting, it was another $700.00. Nobody told him about that. And a week later, he gets another bill, which is the equivalent of a one month's mortgage payment that nobody told him about. So, the guy goes wow. Well, six weeks later, he and his wife decided to go to Vegas for a weekend. So, they go online, and they look at the options, they find a spectacular hotel on the Strip, the guy's a member of the hotel's loyalty program. So, when they show up, he goes to the Front Desk, they say, “Mr. Smith, we're delighted to let you know we've upgraded you to a suite.” And the guy goes, “Wow, that's terrific.” So, they go to the suite, they have a wonderful time dining and shows and so forth. He's ready to check out.  So, he looks at the app on his phone, it's exactly what he thought it was going to cost. And when he gets to the front to the exit, the doorman says, “Mr. Smith, we hope you had a wonderful time and we can't wait to see you again.” By the way, nobody said that to him when he left the gastro's office. And so, two weeks later gets his visa bill and it's exactly what he thought it was going to be. And he notices he gets 3000 reward points for his trip to Vegas.  And so, they asked the question, “Why didn't he get reward points for his colonoscopy?” Now, when he says that most people go, “What? what are you kidding?” “No, we're not kidding.” It's to your point, why do healthcare providers not have loyalty programs? And you think that that would make more sense in healthcare because the older we get the more healthcare we use? So, you'd think well, there'll be reasons to encourage people to come back. Well and the answer to that is, most people in healthcare have never thought about it, they didn't think it was appropriate. Now, there are certain legal restrictions if you have like Medicare, and Medicaid, where you can't have any kind of financial inducement for people to come for care.  But two thirds of the people in this country with a healthcare insurance, it's a commercial insurance, and that is absolutely appropriate. So anyway, they think that's a horizon that you're going to see a lot more of in healthcare, that more and more healthcare providers are going to start introducing these loyalty programs. Now, it doesn't have to be any kind of financial incentive, it could be maybe it's free cancer screenings, maybe it's free educational programs on nutritional foods, or maybe it's yoga classes, things that get you to live a healthier life. But it's absolutely a wonderful point and they think it's going to be more popular in the future.   Me: That's definitely a gap that they're missing out on, absolutely. Love that we dovetail nicely into that, and you're able to kind of give us a pretty good synopsis of what the book is about. I have started consuming it, I remember that story about the gentleman at the beginning, because I remember reading that at the beginning. I haven't completed the book fully yet, but I'm really enjoying the content and the comparisons, which is why I asked that first question at the beginning. So, I'm really appreciative of how you went into it and gave us some really good examples.   App, Website or Tool that Peter Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Peter shared that that's a great question. And he will tell say that he's sure like he's everybody else in that it's got to be Google. It's just a wealth of information, which ultimately leads to more specific sites and content that reflect the uniqueness of the search.   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Michelle McCarthy is Global Vice President of Customer Experience at Unit4. In her role, Michelle leads a talented team of professionals, is responsible for ensuring the maximum adoption of and customer satisfaction with Unit4's offerings and is accountable for leading the transformation of Unit4's customer experience strategy that enables the customer success evolution.  Michelle earned her B.S in Marketing from Miami University in Ohio, and her Executive MBA in Global Management from Fordham University in New York.   Questions •  We always give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. So, if you could take a few minutes to kind of just share with our audience a little bit about how you got to where you are today. •  So, Unit4, could you share with our audience a little bit about what Unit4is? What do you guys do? •  KPIs in terms of like NPS and customer satisfaction score. A lot of organisations also invest into market research, particularly like mystery shopping, and the mystery shopping sometimes will capture the NPS. What are your views on the frequency of doing these types of activities? And do you think it's critical to be doing it post transactional? Or should it be more so a conversation that you have with the client, maybe at the end of every quarter? What are some of your best practices that you'd recommend to clients? •  If you really want to focus on dominating, navigating that CX space in such a positive way, that your brand has an exceptionally positive reputation, what are some key indicators that you believe organisations need to focus on as we go into 2024? Where do they need to be giving their attention to? •  Now, 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 us maybe one or two books that you've read, it could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently that has had a great impact on 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 human capital that has that constant motivation, what's the one piece of advice that you'd give them to have a successful business having that consistent challenge that they're experiencing? •  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? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you 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, just reminding yourself about that quote will kind of help to get you back on track, help you to get more focused. Do you have one of those?  Highlights  Michelle's Journey Michelle stated that she started off her career and kind of more of the traditional marketing, b2c and b2b type roles on the client side. And started in the advertising agency space, worked for a number of different retailers and brands, and eventually had kind of rounded out her experience and wanted to move into more of the tech side of things.  She had some opportunities to go and work on the SaaS side of the business for a company called Vibes, which is a mobile marketing technology company. And through that experience, and kind of rounding out her mobile marketing experience, she was able to kind of continue her career path then into other SaaS organisations. And so, by herself, here today, very excited to be talking with you (Yanique).   Tell Us About Unit4 Me: So, Unit4, could you share with our audience a little bit about what Unit4is? What do you guys do? Michelle shared that Unit4 is a cloud leader, really in the enterprise software space for midmarket, people centred organisations. And so, their solutions span everything from enterprise resource planning to financial planning and analysis tools, as well as procurement, project management for professional services organizations and so forth, as well as human capital management.  So, their solutions really bring together all those various capabilities around financials, procurement, project management, HR, into one unified and cloud platform through their ERPX solution. So yeah, that's a little bit about Unit4. Me: Quite a mouthful. So, at Unit4, a big part of what you focus on, we kind of alluded to it a bit before we started the official recording, how is it that you are able to improve CX by embracing customer centricity as a core value? And of course, there are some KPIs that you need to measure, so that's your area of expertise. So, could you share a little bit about that with our audience? Michelle stated that she really believes that organizations need to always be looking how they stand out from the crowd, right. In order to do that, we have to find better ways to address customer needs, and make sure that we're providing value and attainable outcomes. We need business experience that extends past traditional customer touchpoints and make sure that we're always looking at ways that we can influence product innovation, we need to look at the employee experience, because employee experience really translates to that of the customer experience. And we need to make sure that also aligns with our customers organization serves their purpose and our values.  So, one of the first steps in improving customer experience is really looking for a top down buy in across customer centricity and putting that at the heart of everything that you do in your business. So, whatever role you serve in the organization, that some way touches the end customer.  And so, customer companies need to really be making sure that they're measuring customer centric KPIs in order to determine how are we doing? And how are our customers feeling about us? So, we always want to look at how well we're looking at gaining new customers into the business, how are we growing the existing base of customers that we have? And how are we ultimately retaining the customers that we have to make sure that they're becoming long term champions of our business through the success that they've achieved together in partnership with us?  To kind of delve a little bit more into some of the KPIs, a couple of the things that we might look at are things like Net Promoter Score. So, looking at that kind of scale of 0 to 10 on how likely a customer is to recommend your company to a peer or colleague, looking at things like Customer Satisfaction Scores and making sure that those are kind of sprinkled all throughout the key listening posts of our customers.   So, wherever they are engaging with us, whether that's post sales, or that's post implementation, or that's post a business review that we've had with them, we want to make sure that we're always facilitating, and asking for their feedback and making sure that we are taking that, capturing that feedback and looping back to set proper expectations with customers.   Recommended Frequency of Market Research Activities   Me: So, I'm glad you talked about KPIs in terms of like NPS and Customer Satisfaction Score. A lot of organisations also invest millions of dollars, sometimes even billions into market research, particularly like mystery shopping, and the mystery shopping sometimes will capture the NPS. What are your views on the frequency of doing these types of activities? And do you think it's critical to be doing it post transactional? Or should it be more so a conversation that you have with the client, maybe at the end of every quarter? What are some of your best practices that you'd recommend to clients?  Michelle stated that frequency and cadence is definitely key, depending on the types of engagements, you want to make sure that they're throughout the customer's journey at the appropriate time. So, if you have a new customer that's joined, one of the things she mentioned is post sale, you have a customer that's gone through potentially a lengthy sales process with you, how did they find working across the organization, that's a great time for you to kind of see how the beginning part of their journey into implementation will go.  Then you may also want to survey a customer as they're coming out of an implementation with you. So, after they've worked with the project management teams and met their CSM, how is that work stream going? It's also key to mention business reviews. We may do quarterly business reviews with some of our customers. And so, making sure to take stock coming out of those meetings, what was the expectation? Did they see, hear, feel everything that they were expecting to have?   And so, she thinks it's a real combination of both the quantitative surveys, but also those qualitative conversations to probe a bit deeper, where you may not have the opportunity, and just a quick plug in one question or two questions survey that sent via email. Having that face-to-face dialogue, or that phone call or that Zoom video just to meet with a customer and kind of ask some more of those probing questions is definitely key.  She thinks that that is just as important during the beginning and middle phases of the journey with a customer as it is when you're coming up on renewal, so you may be looking at certain health indicators and want to also probe a bit deeper on some of those with customers, “Hey, you know, I've seen that you're expanding in your licences, tell me about how your company is utilizing those?”  Or conversely, you might have a customer that's decided to move away from a portion of your product, “Tell me a bit more about why it is that you're leaving there, what you weren't adopting or finding useful, so that we can learn and bring that back into the business.”   It also helps us from a churn management perspective, make sure that we are thinking about that and building that back into our way that we look at risk and mitigating risks with our customers.    Key Indicators that Organizations Need to Focus On for 2024  Me: So, many different avenues and strategies that we can employ to ensure that we're doing the right kind of measurement. So, we are now in I would say, we're at the end of 2023. And we're embarking on 2024 and a lot has happened in the last couple of years, especially with a global pandemic and all, what are some key things that you found, trends that you've maybe seen just in your own business, as well as with your clients' businesses that you believe if you really want to focus on dominating, navigating that CX space in such a positive way, that your brand has an exceptionally positive reputation and you have so many brand advertisers and evangelists for your business. What are some key indicators that you believe organizations need to focus on as we go into 2024? Where do they need to be giving their attention to?  Michelle stated that she thinks that there's always a focus around personalization of an experience and how you can help customers throughout their journey to better smooth areas that potentially create bumps for them, can that happen through automation, Chat GPT? Can that help it happen through other self-service capabilities that you can serve up to them?  And she also thinks probably goes without being said but ensuring that expectations of customers are properly managed all throughout.  Making sure that you're always having dialogue with the customers' needs in mind, that you're addressing pain points and the more and more that you can address those pain points through self-service, automation, ways that they can just make sure that they are able to get a quick path to value is really key, that frictionless experience for customers.   App, Website or Tool that Michelle Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about online resource that she cannot live without in her business, Michelle stated that for her, obviously Microsoft Teams, they use day in and day out in their business to communicate with their customers, to communicate with their teams internally.  But one other, she would say tool that they use heavily within the customer success management space, is Gainsight. And that is a tool that allows them to bring so much knowledge and power into their organisation. It allows their CSMs to know what right move to make next in terms of how to engage both internally and externally with their customers.  And it's becoming really more and more of a theatre of having a true customer 360 within their organization, so really, that single pane of glass view, if you will, of what their customers are experiencing. And so, if she had to pick one tool, she guesses she'd picked Gainsight because they're using it day in and day out and it's been really paramount to their success.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Michelle When asked about books that has had an impact, Michelle shared that one book that she did read, it's been a very long time ago. But it was Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. She read that during her graduate school programme. And despite that, it's been around for ages, she thinks it really does a great job of cutting to the core of how you can set yourself up to best relate with others through the power of being able to build strong relationships, and making sure that those relationships are built on like a mutual trust and credibility. So, she thinks that that is always relevant, no matter what role you're in, how do you build relationships? How do you help drive influence? So, that's just been a really meaningful book to her throughout the course of her career.  One other thing she was going to add is that she listens to a number of different podcasts, perhaps different than books. But one podcast that she really enjoys is Mel Robbins Podcast, because she thinks she teaches a lot of both professional and personal habits that you can apply to everyday life, how you can really make sure that you're leading a productive and happy lifestyle and that you have that good work life balance. So, if you haven't checked Mel Robbins out, her podcast is great. Me: Two excellent recommendations, Michelle. I totally agree with you about Dale Carnegie's book, the book came out in 1933, literally, many, many years ago, almost 100 years old. But the principles and concepts in that book are still relevant today. And I do listen to Mel's podcasts, and I follow her on most of her social media platforms, love her content. So, excellent recommendations for audience.     Advice for Business Owners and Managers Who Have Great Products and Services but Lack the Constantly Motivated Human Capital  Me: Now, we have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who feel they have great products and services. But sometimes they feel like they have constantly demotivated human capital, they lack the human capital that has that constant motivation. And motivation is one of those behaviours or competencies that comes from within, you can encourage it, but you can't actually evoke it or make it happen. So, if you were sitting across the table from that person, those business owners or managers today, what's the one piece of advice that you'd give them to have a successful business having that consistent challenge that they're experiencing? When asked about advice she would give for the lack motivated human capital, Michelle shared that she thinks one of the most important things for her in terms of motivation is always trying to understand from a customer perspective, what it is that they're trying to achieve, because she thinks she gets a lot of motivation out of helping others. And she thinks when you feel like you have a true understanding of the problems that you're trying to solve, what tools you have at your disposal, and you feel like you can harness that power to find a way for those customers to excel and to drive outcomes in their business, that's extremely motivating to her.  Everybody and perhaps new business owners or business owners, she really likes the idea of kind of starting before you're ready, everything has a beginning, right. And it's not going to be perfect, but she thinks the more and more you practice, and the more and more you get into the rhythm, you find that you figure your way through, everything is kind of easy to figureoutable. So, she likes the idea of kind of just starting things before maybe you feel like you've got it completely figured out and reframing things kind of as you work through them. So, that's kind of how she works through times of adversity or new skill sets she needs to kind of build rapidly and that's worked well for her.   What Michelle is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that she's really excited about, Michelle shared that back over the beginning of the summer, they had a in person leadership seminar that they had done as a leadership team going through kind of the Clifton Strength Finders exercise. And she's done all sorts of disc assessments and different things throughout the course of her career, but she really found that particular assessment very valuable. And for those of the listeners that might not be familiar, it's basically an online assessment you can take, takes about 20-30 minutes. And when you go through it, it ranks your top 5, top 10 and kind of, they call them all 34 of them strengths.  And then you kind of understand where you can lean into a bit more as a leader. And by sharing it with your peers, you can really get a sense of how other people learn, how they like to communicate, how you give and receive feedback. And so, she actually liked that so much within their leadership conversations, she's cascaded that down with her direct reports. And they've had some very, very good conversations about that, she thinks she's just uncovered ways of working with people that she wouldn't have necessarily known.  And it also helps from a leadership perspective, and she thinks managing perspective, understand more the types of skills that people have, the types of things that are motivation factors for them, so that you can really make the most impact of your team. Her top strength coming out of that was individualization, which basically is your ability to kind of take a survey across the landscape and understand which individuals that are best suited for which areas and how to best pull out the different strengths of people you work with.  And so, it was eye opening to see some of the things she might have thought she would have scored higher on versus those that she perhaps has some developmental opportunities with. So, if people haven't taken that, she would highly encourage it, she found it extremely valuable. And she knows her team enjoyed the conversations that they had off the back of the exercise.   Where Can We Find Michelle Online LinkedIn: Michelle McCarthy   Website: https://www.unit4.com/   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Michelle Uses  When asked about a quote or saying that she tend to revert to during times of adversity or challenge, Michelle stated that she thinks one of the things from Mel Robbins and it's not necessarily a quote, but she has The 5 Second Rule and one of the things she has been trying to do whenever she feels like she's getting off track, or maybe you start to go down a negative path is just to say yourself, “5, 4, 3, 2, 1” and then launch yourself into doing what you next need to do. So, that's from her book The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage, Mel Robbins. But she's really been trying to use that to break habits and people use it to get themselves out of bed in the morning, from going down a negative path.  So, the other one that she would say she really like, and it's from John Maxwell is, “A leader knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” And she thinks that's so powerful to remember, it's not just about kind of saying the vision, but it's also about walking the talk. So, she'll leave us with that. Me: Amazing. Thank you so much, Michelle. Now, Michelle, we just want to express our deepest gratitude to you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to kind of hop on this podcast and share with our audience a little bit about your journey, how you got to where you are today, why it is important to ensure that you're measuring for the right things as it relates to improving CX in your business and of course embracing customer centricity as a core value. And then looking at also the frequency of how you do those measurements, and what kind of things you really need to be targeting and focused on at different periods of your business to ensure that you're really delivering on the expectations of your customers and of course, aiming to exceed those expectations to create that long lasting relationship. So, your insights today, your knowledge today, all that you shared with us today, we are extremely grateful. So, thank you so much.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie •     The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins    The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Adam Bryant is a Senior Managing Director and Partner at the ExCo Group, where he works with hundreds of senior leaders and high-potential executives. As the creator and former author of the iconic “Corner Office” column in The New York Times, Bryant has mastered the art of distilling real-world lessons from his hundreds of interviews and turning them into practical tools, presentations and exercises to help companies deepen their leadership benches and strengthen their teams.  He also works with executive leadership teams to help drive their transformation strategies based on a best practices framework he developed for his widely praised book, THE CEO TEST: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders.   Questions  •  We always like to ask our guests in their own words, could you share a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got to where you are today. •  What would you say the ratio was in terms of gender, and even generation in terms of the number of CEOs that you interviewed? Would you say you got a wide cross section of different generations? And would you say it's more of a male to female higher ratio, or vice versa? Or do you think it was balanced? And did you find any differences based on those considerations that I just mentioned? •  What would you say are three overarching themes that you'd have picked up or trends that you picked up from those interviews? •  What are some ways that you believe the leaders can help to reinforce at least to strengthen any doubts that employees may have to ensure that they recognise that the technology, that artificial intelligence is not there to get rid of them, but rather to make their jobs easier. •  Could you also share with our audience 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 you have read that have had a great impact on you? It could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently. •  Now, we have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who feel sometimes that their products and services, of course, are the best, but sometimes they lack the constantly motivated human capital. And so, 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? •  Now, could you also share with us what's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. •  Where can listeners find you online? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed, or you got off track, the quote kind of helps to get you back on track.   Highlights Adam's Journey  Adam shared that he was a journalist for 30 years, 18 years he was at the New York Times, spent a lot of years as a business reporter and interviewed a lot of CEOs. And he just found over time, the more he spent with CEOs, the more he wanted to set aside the usual questions people ask of CEOs about their company strategy and their products and services and things like that. And just ask them kind of how do you do what you do? And how did you learn to do what you do? So, he rolled that impulse up into this very simple “What if” in 2009 and it was what if I sat down with CEOs, and never asked them a single question about their companies? And instead just ask them about personal leadership lessons they've learned over the course of their lives and how they think about all the universal challenges of leadership, like hiring and building teams and culture and all those things. So, that was kind of the initial idea, and sort of brought him very much into the leadership space.  So, he did that for a decade, interviewed more than 525 CEOs, started writing books and teaching leadership and all that was a side project in addition to his day job managing teams of reporters at The Times. And he left The Times 6 years ago to join his current firm, the ExCo Group. And as said, their core business is kind of one on one mentoring and leadership development and he's got 4 interview series on LinkedIn, and continue writing books and interviewing leaders about leadership, not about company strategy. So, that's kind of the thumbnail.   Gender or Generation Influence on Leadership Me: So, leadership is your thing, Adam, and I heard that you interviewed 500 and odd people, that's a lot of people to be talking about. And I can imagine that, what would you say the ratio was in terms of gender, and even generation in terms of the number of CEOs that you interviewed? Would you say you got a wide cross section of different generations? And would you say it's more of a male to female higher ratio, or vice versa? Or do you think it was balanced? And did you find any differences based on those considerations that I just mentioned?  Adam stated that he appreciates the question. And it was the 500 plus for the New York Times, and with all the interviews that he's been doing on LinkedIn since, he's now passed the 1000 interview milestone, but to your question. So, he told the story of how he created the Corner Office column based on that simple “What if” and the other sort of guiding principle he set for himself from the very start was that he was going to embrace diversity in every sense of the word - race, gender, nationality, for profit, not for profit, size of company, really want to get as much of a cross section as he could. Interviewed a couple of leaders from Jamaica as well, a guy named Lloyd Carney, who ran Brocade Communications.  And so, his goal was very much to not just go down this sort of fortune 500 list of CEOs, because then it's going to be overwhelmingly white males, of course. And he really wanted to get a complete view of leadership.  And to your question about patterns that he was looking for, he thinks there are pretty clear patterns, like talking to young CEOs who run tech companies in Silicon Valley is a slightly different conversation than somebody who's running at Fortune 20 company, for example.  But on the specific question of gender and being in first couple of 100 interviews he did, he's always sort of looking for patterns and sometimes when he would give talks, people would say, “Have you noticed any differences between men and women leadership styles?” And he has to say, where he comes down is that he doesn't, there's just too many exceptions to the generalizations and stereotypes that people have about men and female leadership styles. So, to the point is like there's so many exceptions that for him, the generalizations and stereotypes do break down at the sort of CEO level.   People have written a lot about it and talk a lot about how one of the differences between men and women when they're coming up in their careers that women will sometimes feel like they need to be 100% qualified for a job before they go for it. Whereas men are much more willing to raise their hand even if they're not ready. And that may be true. And there's a lot of research around that. But for people in the CEO role and their leadership style, he really didn't see the difference, to be clear, not in terms of whether they were the same, they had different leadership styles, but just around EQ or IQ or extrovert, or introvert or different styles, it didn't break down along gender lines for him.   Three Themes/Trends Identified From Leadership Interviews Me: Now, you said you've way surpassed 1000 mark as it relates to CEO interviews, especially with your LinkedIn profile of interviews added to that. Across the many different interviews you've done, I imagine for CEOs across many different industries, what would you say are, let's say three overarching themes that you found that is critical for a leader to be successful, especially if the leader is trying to ensure that customer experience is one of the KPIs that they believe in, not just about operational of the business or making the profits, but having a culture where people value the internal customer experience and of course, there's some, I would say, measurement, or some assessment that's being done to ensure that it's been transcended to the external customers as well. What would you say are three overarching themes that you'd have picked up or trends that you picked up from those interviews? Adam stated that it's a great question about what are sort of the common themes that through lines from all the interviews. And he'll start with the idea of simplifying complexity, which he thinks is an art form, it's a skill. And he doesn't think you can be a CEO or an effective leader if you're not good at simplifying complexity, there's a lot going on in the world, in different industries, inside your company and he really feel like it is a leader's job to be able to stand in front of their entire team at an all hands meeting or on a zoom call, and just answer those really simple questions that frankly, little kids ask in the backseat of the car, like, “Where are we going? How are we going to get there? When are we going to get there? And not everybody does that.  We've all encountered people who actually seem to add more complexity to things, but you've got to be able to simplify complexity and boil it down to the 3 or 4 things that are really going to matter at your company. And he just thinks that's a really critical skill and depending on the nature of your business, but if you are in a customer service business, and that's crucial to your success, then you've got to be really clear about how that is going to drive your success and you can't be the leader who says we have 20 priorities and customer service is one of them. If it really is critical to driving your success, it has to be one of a hit handful of key priorities and there's got to be a way to measure it, you have to talk about it all the time, you have to role model it, and just keep shining that bright spotlight on why it's important. So, he thinks that's one.  In terms of a couple of other things, because people often wonder, like if I want to be a CEO? Like how do I get to the corner office?  And he finds people are often trying to think of like, well, what's the right path? And they wonder, you know, am I on the right path if I want to get that job. And based on all the interviews he's done, he's come down on the idea that there really is no right path per se, directionally, there's obvious things if you want to get to a certain place, you have to be moving in the broadly in the direction toward that. But in terms of the specific path, it's not about sort of checking boxes and getting certain titles, but the thing that has really struck him about all the leaders that he's interviewed is that they make the most of the path that they are on.   So, it's not like they're wondering, am I on the right path? It's whatever they are doing, they've realized that there are life lessons and leadership lessons everywhere, and you can always be learning. And to him, that's one of the skills that really sets people apart that whatever experience they're having, and the metaphor he likes to use is that your experience is like this sort of wet towel, like it absorbs all this experience. But then, what do you do with that, and he thinks the best leaders take that talent, they sort of twist it and wring it, and just get every last drop of insight and lesson around it, from it. Because, again, there are lessons everywhere, you can learn from a bad boss, you can learn from a good boss, you can learn from watching teams.  And so, the really high performers to him is they're always making time to process and reflect and say, “Okay, what did I experience? What did I see? What are the patterns? What are the lessons that I can learn from that?” And the final point he'll make in terms of how you succeeded, we could talk about this for hours, but just one of them that he thinks really sets people apart is the simple idea of being a good listener. Because he feels like it's one of those things it's not taught in business schools, he doesn't know of any business school that teaches a course on listening, but he feels like it's really an underappreciated superpower of good leaders.  Because whenever you start thinking, like, I've got all the answers, like, that's when you're dead in the water. And so, you have to just have a really great skills as listener to get everybody's best thinking out on the table so that you really know what's going on in your organization, because history is filled with stories of big companies that got into trouble because nobody wanted to tell the boss the bad news.  So, you've got to not only be a good listener, one on one and in team settings, but you've almost got to build an infrastructure at your companies so that you know what's really happening and so that there's not some like, bad news on the front lines or trouble spots that you're not hearing about. So, to him, those are the three things that jumped to mind when you asked that question.   Ways Leaders Can Help Reinforce to Employees the True Role of Artifical Intelligence Me: So, leadership is very important, as it relates to delivering a strong customer experience. And I always tell my clients that mud flows from the top of the stream, so meaning, if the leadership is poor, and customer service, or customer experience is not important to them, it really flows all the way down to the end user, which is the customer, whether it's digital experience or face to face.   In your experience, especially with so much technology happening out there nowadays, we have Chat GPT, there's a lot of artificial intelligence coming on board. And I mean up to last night, I was watching the local news, and they had a question poll that they were posing to Jamaicans stating did they feel that their jobs are in jeopardy as it relates to AI being so evolving and coming about.  And so, I wanted your views on as it relates to leadership, what are some ways as I don't think that people's jobs are going to become obsolete. I believe that human interaction is something that we will always need, regardless of the industry that you are in, and I believe the technology is there to definitely enhance the experience not to replace it.   But based on your research across the different industries, what are some ways that you believe the leaders can help to reinforce at least to strengthen any doubts that employees may have to ensure that they recognize that the technology, the artificial intelligence is not there to get rid of them, but rather to make their jobs easier? Adam stated that to him, what Yanique just said is the answer. The point of AI and technology is to take care of much more of the routine things so that we as human beings can add more value and let the machines take care of stuff. So, ideally, it will take care of just those rote aspects of our jobs so that we can figure out better ways to add value, because that's ultimately what's about, right, like, how are we individually and as teams creating value for the company.   And in terms of leadership's role in all this, he often comes back to the power of stories, which is a big part of communication, because he thinks there are some leaders who are good at saying the right words and phrases, and it's easy to stand on a stage and say customer service is really important. But he thinks telling and sharing stories is how you make that real. And whether that story is about how you as a leader, customer service is really important to you and your experience in your life and the success of the company, and then to sort of tell stories to highlight people on the team who have really gone above and beyond and make them the heroes.  Because he thinks company culture, maybe everybody talks about values, and a lot of culture is determined by who gets fired and who gets promoted and compensation structures. But he often thinks about culture is determined in large part by the hero narratives that the companies tell because if you think of companies like tribes, they are tribes in a sense, that it's really like who does the tribe hold up as a hero? And what did they do? And if customer service is really key to your success, then how do you as a leader tell the hero narratives, tell the stories, highlight the people that went above and beyond.  To him, that's one of the ways from a leadership point of view, you make people feel like, “Wow, this really is important.”  And it's not just the heroes within the company, but also telling the stories about your customers, and how you are helping them and having an impact on their businesses in their lives. So, he often come back to this idea that leaders in many ways are like the storytellers and chief and so they've got to tell those stories and share those narratives.   App, Website or Tool that Adam Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resources that he cannot live without in his business, Adam shared that he probably do spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. He mentioned that sounds like a really obvious answer, but just in the work that he does, and he's got 4 interview series, and he really believes that LinkedIn is emerged as kind of the Facebook for business, and everybody's on it.  And people have written about this before, but he also thinks it's just an important reminder that there's a lot of toxic stuff on different social media sites and he just stated the blindingly obvious, but he does find LinkedIn is a pretty positive place. Like people are generally pretty supportive of each other, and then they kind of put their best selves there. So, that's where he spends a lot of time.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Adam When asked about books that has had a great impact, Adam stated that in terms just in terms of fiction. He recently finished a book called Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner by Barbara Kingsolver, he thinks it won the Pulitzer Prize. It's been a long time since he's read a work of fiction that had as much insight about human nature and just packed with wisdom. So, he does recommend that.  Non-fiction, he really like adventure books, he has to say. So, stories about whaling adventures in the old days and how people survived, he's really drawn to stories about resilience and what people do when they're facing a really tough task. So, he's often drawn to that.   Advice for Business Owners and Managers Who Have Great Products and Services but Lack the Constantly Motivated Human Capital  Me: Now, we have a lot of listeners who are business owners and managers who feel sometimes that their products and services, of course, are the best, but sometimes they lack the constantly motivated human capital. And so, 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? Adam shared that to him, it's about constantly going back to the why. And people talk a lot about mission and purpose. And he'll be honest, he finds that conversation, especially happened after in the last few years, just companies have been talking a lot about their purpose and mission statements. And some of them he will confess does make him a little sceptical, because they are often very broad and general, and at such a high altitude, they feel kind of disconnected from the business. And very often they're just some version of make the world a better place.   But he thinks there is an art form to doing that, right, which is to constantly be communicating people and reminding people about the impact that you're having as a business. Because his prediction and not asking you to bet 20 bucks on his prediction, but he feels like this moment we're in where purpose discussions are so front and centre, he thinks those are going to be shifting more towards impact over time. And to him, the difference is that when you talk about purpose, that's really about your intent. And that's the very internal, you're basically saying, “When I get up in the morning, this is my purpose. Nobody can question that.” Because you say this is in my heart.  He thinks one of the things that special and unique about business, is that it's more about impact, which is how do you show that purpose in action? So, to him, that's much more about like almost proof, like we said, this is our purpose, but this is what we're doing. We want to show you, we want to be able to document and show you the impact that we're having.  And he thinks as a leader, we can all get kind of pulled down to just the day to day of the business. But you often have to sort of pick your head up and remind people and just sort of take stock and say, “Look at the difference we're making in people's lives.” And when you say those things, they should be tied directly to the business, it shouldn't feel disconnected. And you don't have to worry about being so lofty, and everybody's making the world a better place, you can be very much like look at the difference we're making for our customers and what we're doing. Because that helps bring out people's like, passion and pride. And then you're going to get that extra effort from them.   What Adam is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Adam stated that at a personal level be very mundane at the risk of oversharing, but he's really focused on ping pong these days. Me: Really? Are you trying to master it?  Adam stated hardly master it, but he's sort of living in New Orleans now. And they moved there a few years ago, their two daughters moved there, and so, they joined them. And as he recently passed a birthday with a number six in front of it, he sort of decided he wanted to get back in touch with his inner teenager and start taking up some sports and things. So, he actually has a ping pong coach. He stated that he knows that sounds pretty unusual. Me: That is brilliant. Adam stated that he trains with him a couple of days a week. And his metrics scoreboard about whether he's getting better or not, is he played his son-in-law once a week for a couple of hours, and what's cool is when you're 61, and you say, I want to get better at that, and you actually get better at it. That's pretty cool. So that's his very personal thing he's focused on right now.  But much more broadly, he's been in the leadership field and he's pretty passionate about it for a couple of reasons. He will say that if you give him a really big magic wand with three things to do it, he would get rid of racism, inequality and bad bosses because there are still too many bad bosses in the world.  And he thinks sometimes we under appreciate what a toxic effect they have on individuals and by extension their families. And that's not just to be negative about that but what also gets him out of bed is just trying to help people be better leaders for those who do want to be better managers and leaders. And he thinks there's a huge responsibility and privilege that comes with that.  His approach to leadership, he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night pretending he's come up with some new theory, he takes more of a journalistic approach to understanding leadership and interviewing people who are leading and have been leading for a long time. And then what he tries and do is sort of share the insights and the stories and the frameworks and really open up that conversation so that people could say, “Wow, that's a great tip, I can take that and use it with my own team.” So, if at the end of the day he could make a small contribution and help people become better as managers and leaders, that's pretty motivating.   Where Can We Find Adam Online LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adambryantleadership/   Personal: https://adambryantbooks.com/about-adam/ Book:https://www.amazon.com/Leap-Leader-Ambitious-Managers-Leadership/dp/1647824893/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GPHBI3CJH7I1&keywords=leap+to+leader+adam+bryant&qid=1682433550&sprefix=leap+to+leader+adam+bryant%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/adambbryant Website: https://www.excoleadership.com/   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Adam Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Adam shared that there's probably a couple that he always falls back on. And he's heard this from CEOs he's interviewed, but one of them is that “95% of the worst things that happen to you in your life very often turn out to be the best things that happened to you in your life.” And that's not to say all of them, right. And some things that happened to you there's nothing good about them. But when you think back on your life, and sort of those moments of adversity that you've faced, very often they did turn out to be like, really important pivot points that helped you grow and build character. And there's a lot of lessons and insights there. So even though when you're in the middle of something it feels pretty dark, sort of know that over time, you're going to learn a lot from that.  And there's a couple of other short answers. There's that expression, “You're either winning or learning. It's not about winning or losing, but it's about winning or learning.” So, there's always lessons that you can and should be taking from whatever adversity you're going through. If you feel like you've failed or disappointed yourself, it's like that happens to everybody. Right? But the question is, what do you do with it? What is that wet towel of experience that you can then take and ring and say, okay, “What are the insights here and keep squeezing it for that?”  Me: Thank you so much for sharing. We'll definitely have those two in the show notes of this episode. Well, Adam, we are at the end of our interview, I can't believe it feels like we just started talking but thank you so much for jumping on this podcast today and sharing all of these great insights and nuggets as it relates to leadership, all of the great information and experiences that you've garnered over the years talking to CEOs as you had mentioned from so many different industries from all different walks of life across the world. I am sure that anyone who listens to this episode will pick up at least one thing that they can run with to help them sharpen their leadership skills. So, thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner by Barbara Kingsolver   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!    

Tune in as Chanda Smith Baker engages in a candid conversation with Yanique Redwood, renowned for her work on racial equity and justice. Yanique is the author of White Women Cry and Call Me Angry: A Black Woman's Memoir on Racism in Philanthropy. Uncover compelling insights into the impact of race and trauma, the dynamics of sharing experiences, emotional labor in nonprofits, and the transformative power of self-care and community. www.smithbaker.co www.conversationswithchanda.com IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda Twitter: @chandasbaker https://voicevisionvalue.com/ IG @voice.vision.value FB @voicevisionvalue LinkedIn: voice-vision-value

CJ Stratte is a highly accomplished female entrepreneur, currently serving as a CEO and President of On The Move Trucks, a successful turn-key truck rental company catering to self-storage and real estate professionals. With substantial experience in the industry, CJ has been instrumental in driving the company's growth and expansion over the years.  As a sought-after speaker at various self-storage events, CJ has shared her extensive knowledge and expertise on topics such as business strategy, marketing and customer service, offering valuable insights to industry professionals.   CJ is a true marketing enthusiast and firmly believes in the power of effective marketing to drive business success. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a deep commitment to excellence, innovation and providing exceptional value to clients, helping On The Move Trucks establish a strong reputation as a leader in the truck rental industry.   Questions •  So, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. So, in your own words, how did you get from where you were then to where you are today? •  Could you share with our audience, maybe two or three, I would say lessons that you've learned along the way that you found has been influential in helping the business to become more customer centric. •  What are some ways in which the marketing aspect because I know you mentioned in your bio that you focus a lot on marketing, how have you been able to kind of marry what you're doing with marketing to kind of infuse that into the experience that the customer has. •  Could you share with our listeners, maybe two things that are of great importance to you when do business with an organisation. •  Now, could you also share with our listeners 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 listeners, maybe one or two books that have had a great 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 has had a great impact on you. •  We do have a lot of listeners that tap into this podcast who are business owners and managers, who they have great products and services, but sometimes they like to constantly motivated human capital, if one of those persons were sitting across the room from you right now and they asked you, what's the one piece of advice that you could give them to kind of turn that human capital motivation around, what would that be? •  Can you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people? •  Where can listeners find you online? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or 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. Do you have one of those?   Highlights CJ's Journey CJ shared that it's been an interesting journey, she originally went to college, she wanted to own a hotel. And so, she went to school to do that and she took a marketing class and changed her whole trajectory of her career and plans that she thought she had, how you do when you are 18 going to school, you think you know it all, but she really grasp into marketing and have enjoyed the career that she's had with it.  She's luckily worked for a family business and so, they had a marketing director when she began working there, but she quit, and her family never replaced her. So, she just kind of stepped in and did the work and taught herself how to do all the marketing for their company and have experimented in all. They didn't have Facebook marketing classes back when she was in school or social media for marketing purposes. So, it's been an interesting change over the years with the technology and all the creepy things we can do in marketing now.   Lessons Learned Helping Her Business Be Customer Centric Me: Could you share with our audience, maybe two or three, I would say lessons that you've learned along the way that you found has been influential in helping the business to become more customer centric.   CJ shared that she is very focused on the customers, we're here to make them great, her product is to make their product better, which is very fun, gives her a lot of passion about what she does. But her biggest thing is that she's trying to make it easier for their customers to do everything, they have a pretty basic product like truck rental, it's not very sexy, there's many things you can do to change it but the technology has changed where they can make it easier for her storage facility owners to make it easier for their customers to book it. Even with you just using simple technology that we have like Calendly and like using that as a tool to book trucks and make it easier for their customers to not have to be so involved with looking at calendars and going back and forth with dates. So, that's been very cool with their customers are a lot happier with the time that it takes to book a rental makes them look more professional.  And so, they provide the whole software for them to be able to do that and she's changed it a couple of times over the last couple years or actually over the last 20 years. So, their software now is it was very old school when she first got a hold of it then, it was like you had to drop down every number for like the time, so you'd have to go scroll down to a one and then go zero and am and all that, it was very time consuming.   So, they are about to launch their newest software that she's been working on for the last year, where they basically just send a link to their customer to rent their truck, and they don't have to worry about it. So, really excited about that. They also do a quarterly magazine for their customers, which they feature different tips and tricks that they've heard from other customers, they have their customers write articles for them for the magazine. So, she really liked the ability to share the success stories, and how the best way to use their truck.  She loves it when they use it for charity. So, they'll donate their truck usage of running their trucks out to maybe the women's shelter or other organizations within the community. So, she loves hearing those stories.   And another way they have really worked with their customers is she actually personally will get on a Zoom, they are a nationwide company, so Zoom has been a whole life changer with getting in front of her customers and being like, “Okay, why is your truck rental not working? How can you rent your truck out more?” And seeing what's going on, and so, she has Zoom calls with customers and like, “Okay, if you want to get your truck out more, maybe we should have a sign outside.” And she's created signs and printed them for customers and just the more successful they are with their products that she supplies, then the better off she is too, so she's just really working with their customers and their successes is what she believes is important to be successful.   Infuse Marketing Into the Experience That Customers Have Me: So, in addition to working with the customers and having that one on one touch point kind of interaction with them, as you mentioned just now, could you share with us, our listeners, what are some ways in which the marketing aspect because I know you mentioned in your bio that you focus a lot on marketing, how have you been able to kind of marry what you're doing with marketing to kind of infuse that into the experience that the customer has, you kind of touched on it a little bit when you mentioned the technology, and customer experience in terms of creating that frictionless, seamless experience. But are there any other things that you've been doing that kind of helps to enhance that?   CJ shared that the fun thing about what they do is they actually help their customers custom design the graphics for their truck, to be able to advertise their business. So, they definitely get asked their advice and make sure that the spelling is correct, that kind of thing. They've come up with helpful marketing phrases to use. And so, that's part of it, like just really working with their customers hand in hand to give them the product that they are looking for. But they also have the expertise to know what has been successful with their customers.  And so, if they see custom graphics that maybe don't look great, she's not afraid to say something to her customers and be like, “Maybe not use so many words, or let's use a different colour, you can't really see that far away,” and that kind of thing.   Aspects of Service Delivery that is Important to CJ as a Customer Me: So, you do get hands on, which is really great. Now, as a consumer yourself CJ, to kind of take yourself out to the situation where you are actually the service provider, but you are the person that the service is being provided to, could you share with our listeners, maybe two things that are of great importance to you when do business with an organiation.   CJ shared that she always believes follow up is always great. She gets super busy, but she really wants a product and she just have a couple more questions, but then she gets another product she wants. And then she has more questions about that and so she forgets about product one, so she just thinks having patience with our customers and realising that they're busy just as she is. And she really wants to buy something, but she forgets about it.  And so, she just thinks follow up is really great with a customer experience, it doesn't mean that they don't want it, it's just they have kids or emergency at work where it just gets put to the backburner. So, she just always like having people being patient with her but keeping in touch about different products that she's looking to buy and keeping it in her forefront with just a polite nudge with an email or a call or whatever. But just not to be forgotten just because she didn't call back doesn't mean she's not interested.    Me: All right, follow up. Very good. So, that's one thing you look out for is there another thing you'd like to share with us that you really look out for when you're doing business with an organization?   CJ shared that she really likes the customer experiences through the website and being able to find the information she needs, being able to check out if she's purchasing something online, and just having a great experience online and making sure that your websites up to date, the links are working, that your checkout process is easy to use still.   App, Website or Tool that CJ Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about online resources that she cannot live without in her business, CJ stated that there's a lot. She thinks Canva is one of her favourite things that has been invented in her tenure as a marketing director, she never had the design gene, she's always just been like the strategy. And so, having Canva has really made her able to show what she's picturing in her head a little bit easier, and help her with her campaigns and really simplify the process, she likes that.  And then she's just looking through her phone real quick, she's like what else does she use, Outlook, having that app and that kind of thing on my phone so she doesn't have to wait until the next day to answer a simple request. She feels like there's an app for everything, she met her husband on an app. She definitely likes Microsoft Teams and that's always great because having the Teams app for Microsoft 365 or whatever it is and being able to quickly answer her employees when they have questions, that's been a life changer.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on CJ When asked about books that have had a great impact, CJ shared that one of her favourite books, she likes to keep things simple and she likes a little bit of cheesiness and that kind of stuff. But she liked Rhinoceros Success: The Secret To Charging Full Speed Toward Every Opportunity by Scott Alexander, but it was a book written by a younger author, and he was just getting into the business world and he was just being like, “You got to be a Rhino, you've got to have thick skin.” And just blast through your career and don't take no for an answer type of mentality in that book.  And it was just a quick 100 page read, but she made all her sales team read it. And just, she got every little Rhinos, they got their first sale after reading that book. So, she kind of had that in here. And then she couldn't do what she does without reading the Bible, that's her go to for solving her issues and keeping strong in her career.   Advice for Business Owners and Managers Who Have Great Products and Services but Lack the Constantly Motivated Human Capital  Me: Now, could you also share with our listeners, CJ how many persons do you have in your organization in total?  CJ stated just about 20. Me: So, I would say it could be classified as a small organization. But regardless, we do have a lot of listeners that tap into this podcast who are business owners and managers, who they have great products and services, but sometimes they like to constantly motivated human capital, if one of those persons were sitting across the room from you right now and they asked you, what's the one piece of advice that you could give them to kind of turn that human capital motivation around, what would that be? CJ shared that she just feels like being kind and patient and understanding. There's so many things going on in the world and in people's lives, she's always had strict bosses that are like, “Okay, be here 9 am to 5 pm.” And then not getting projects done and that kind of stuff. But she feels like if she helps her teammates get to where they're lacking and show them how she would do it. And she gives them the space to do what they need to do. But she tries to be understanding like, “Okay, I can work from home, but my daughter is sick, so I want to be home.” And so, she's pretty lenient with that kind of stuff because she just feels like when you're happy at home, you're more productive at work. So, if she's worried about her daughter all day being sick, then she's not going to get any work done at the office or not.   Me: All right, so be kind and be patient.   What CJ is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that she's excited about, CJ shared that she's been really excited about listening to more podcasts and being part of them actually, that's been a lot of fun. She's learned a lot from different hosts like yourself (Yanique), and it's helping get her confidence better, like actually saying out loud what she does is very helpful with her growth, and in leadership, and that kind of thing too. So, she's really excited about that.  She's been really working with having more intimate meetings with her leadership team and going off campus she calls it and really just sit out there, sit together just talking like more in private, but they'll be like at a restaurant or something where they're not in front of the team. And they can just kind of say how they're feeling and what strategies they have. And they come up with great brainstorming sessions. And so, she's really enjoyed having some of those meetings and just working closely with her leadership team to nail out some great plans.   Where Can We Find CJ Online Linkedin – CJ Stratte Facebook – CJ Stratte Website – www.onthemovetrucks.com   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity CJ Uses  When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, CJ shared that yes, actually, she just texted it to one of her good friends, she's going through some personal issues. And she always just remembers, “Everything's temporary.” Every day goes by and if you survive to the next day, you did great. So, it's just like everything's temporary, it's not always going to be a bad day, it's not always going to be a good day. So, it's just temporary, and go to the next hurdle or the next success and be grateful for your successes and just don't harp too much on your failures.   Me: Thank you so much for sharing that quote, CJ, we will definitely have that in the show notes of this episode.   So, just want to extend our warmest gratitude and appreciation to you for jumping on this podcast with us today. I know you took time out of your very busy schedule, running a company must take up a lot of your time. And so, we want to thank you for your sharing some of the journeys that you've been on, the impact that you've had on the clients that you have as it relates to your trucking business. And just some of the benefits that customer experience can have to organizations across different industries. I do believe that what you shared today will be of great value to our listeners. So, thank you again.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links •     Rhinoceros Success: The Secret To Charging Full Speed Toward Every Opportunity by Scott Alexander   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

In this episode of The Eventist 365 Show, event planner Christina Zococoli, at the director level, shares valuable insights into the meticulous event process, her organizational skills and how she is able to boost the morale of her team. She emphasized the importance of effective communication by way of morning and closing meetings, as well as the challenges of managing multiple events at the same time. The dynamic nature of event planning, including frequent floor plan changes and meeting sponsor needs was also discussed. Christina also highlights the role of technology, such as interactive floor plans and mobile apps, in enhancing attendee experiences and providing valuable event statistics.  Tune in to this episode to gain valuable insights into event planning. Highlights: 00:33 How does Christina utilize technology to streamline operations in event management? (What are Christina's favorite tech tools or platforms?) 01:48 Why are Interactive Floor Plans important in facilitating event planning? 04:42 What is Christina's approach to ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion are infused into the entire event planning? 07:11 Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Graphic Artist Guild headed by Yanique.  10:19 Best practices and tips to ensure the financial process like profit and loss and budgeting is maximized. 12:42 Christina's thought process and strategies for handling logistics challenges.  15:09 Christina shared a challenging situation from one of her events and how she used her problem-solving skills to turn it around.   18:52 How does Christina ensure that customizations align with the brand and the objectives of the event?   21:54 Celebrating small wins and keeping the team positive to boost team morale. 26:45 Some tips on forging long lasting professional relationships with clients, stakeholders and the inter-departmental team. 30:52 What's one event you think every event professional should attend at least once in their life? CONNECT WITH CHRISTINA ZOCCOLI: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinazoccoli/ CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this riveting episode of the Chasing Happiness Podcast, host Ryan DeMent sits down with the vivacious Yanique DaCosta. Yanique, known for her fiery personality and unparalleled creativity, shares her story of turning everyday spaces into platforms for artistic expression. Yanique's tale is a testament to the power of passion and perseverance, from the challenges she faced to the triumphs she celebrated. Listen as she delves deep into her inspirations, the pivotal moments that shaped her career, and the invaluable lessons she's gathered. If Yanique's story resonates with you, don't forget to subscribe to the Chasing Happiness Podcast. Please leave us a review and share this episode with your friends and network. Let's spread the joy of chasing happiness together! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chasinghappiness/message

Hybrid events seamlessly blend the advantages of both physical and virtual gatherings. This innovative approach facilitates meaningful interactions between present exhibitors and attendees, while also accommodating those who can only participate remotely. Frequently, event coordinators simply incorporate a virtual component into their conventional layout. However, emerging technological solutions now enable event planners to integrate both in-person and virtual elements within a single floor plan. Interactive floor plans have proven effective at numerous hybrid events, as evidenced in this episode's conversation between Yanique and Kristina Bellanova, ExpoFP's VP of Business Development.  Take pleasure in the insights shared during this interview!  Highlights: 00:39 The most effective strategies and tactics for event professionals. 01:59 Specific technologies that Kristina thinks are needed in events 04:52 Best practices for incorporating DEI principles into corporate events 07:35 How can interactive floor plans make it easier or have the best experience for attendees at events? 10:52 What strategies or techniques are there to increase attendee engagement? 12:10 An event scenario that was challenging and how were they able to overcome it? 15:16 What's one event that Kristina thinks every event professional should attend? 17:34 After saying goodbyes, there is one more question Yanique forgot to ask - What are the price points to incorporate interactive floor plan technology into events? CONNECT WITH KRISTINA BELLANOVA: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-belenova-90223b212/  ExpoFP - https://expofp.com/ CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠

 Kat Kennan is the founder and CEO of Radical Customer Experience™️, a ground-breaking consulting firm that encourages brands to establish genuine connections with their customers by embracing strengths-based, trauma-informed, and inclusive marketing services.  With a passion for empowering individuals and driving positive change, her mission is to help brands speak up, speak out, and foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in their customer interactions. As a certified trauma-informed professional, Kat brings a crucial perspective to her work, infusing every aspect of her business ventures with a deep understanding of the human experience.   Questions •  We always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words a little bit about their journey. So, could you tell our listeners how did you get from where you were to where you are today? •  You are very good at encouraging your brands to establish genuine connections by embracing strength-based, trauma-informed and inclusive marketing services. Could you break that down for our listeners in a very layman terms that the average person listening could understand what all of that means? •  You embrace a framework called the three R's framework, which stands for Radical Vulnerability, Radical Empathy and Radical Transparency. So, could you first break down what each of those R's mean, what they represent, and then maybe give us an example of those in interjecting those into customer experiences. •  In your feedback just know that empathy is very, very, very different from sympathy. Have you come across persons who you find may lack the competencies or the behaviours that support empathy? And in cases like that, how do you overcome that, how do you strengthen that skill? •     Now Kat, can 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 our listeners, maybe one or two books that you've read? Either you've read a very long time ago, or even one you've read recently, but it 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? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. •  Where can listeners find you online? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests Do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this code? Let's say for instance, you're faced with a challenge and obstacle or hurdle. And just speaking this quote or kind of repeating it to yourself kind of just gets you back on track, and gets you refocused to achieve whatever you're working on. Do you have one of those?   Highlights Kat's Journey Kat shared that she's a marketer by trade. She has been building and rebuilding marketing organizations for brands of all shapes and sizes and industry sectors for a little over 20 years. But a huge part of her story is that she has complex PTSD. So, she's a trauma survivor herself. And a number of years ago, she realised she was perceiving marketing messages very differently.  So, during the pandemic, she went back, and she got certification of being trauma-informed and now she's sort of marrying her personal experiences with trauma, the certification, work and a career, lifeline time of running marketing and brands.   Establishing Connections by Embracing Strength-Based, Trauma-Informed and Inclusive Marketing Services Me: So, could you give us an example, when I read your bio, and it stated that you are very good at encouraging your brands to establish genuine connections by embracing strength-based, trauma-informed and inclusive marketing services. Now, that sounds very high level, could you break that down for our listeners in a very layman terms that the average person listening could understand what all of that means?   Kat shared that she thinks as marketers, we were all taught and are still taught fear-based marketing, right? So, we're creating urgency with our customers, there's limited time, there's limited quantity. And repeatedly putting out messages like that, while they do help in the short term can actually be very psychologically damaging in the long term when consumers are bombarded with those kinds of messages, literally, like every second of every day.  And so, what she encourages her clients to do is use that same data, and just flipping the message a bit. And so, for an example, instead of saying, “Hey, we're almost out of x, y product, limited quantities.” You can put out messaging that says, “We know this is one of your favourite products.” So, you're switching the positioning, but you're using the same data points.  And then in terms of trauma-informed and what that looks like, the fact is that all of us have experienced some kind of trauma in our lives, particularly if you look at it through the lens of COVID where 40% of us lost someone or know someone that died during a pandemic. But it really goes through all areas of marketing. A really easy tangible example on the creative campaign side would be a brand that says, say they do a Mother's or Father's Day campaign and then they send out a text or email that says, “Hey, we know this time of year might be tough for you, click here to opt out of our Mother's Day messaging.” And so, right there, you are showing a customer that they are seen and heard.  She knows this happened to her after her mom passed, getting bombarded with all those like Mother's Day, Mother's Day, what are you getting for your mom? What are your kids getting for you? Like all of those messages, it can be really overwhelming and triggering. But instead, putting out an empathy-based message like the example she just gave, you're still driving sales, at its most basic level, you are segmenting your customers, but you make them feel heard at the same time.   Embracing The 3 R's Framework – Radical Vulnerability, Radical Empathy and Radical Transparency  Me: Now, could you also share with our listeners, in doing research in terms of getting you on our podcast, one of the things that we found out was that you embrace a framework called the three R's framework, which stands for Radical Vulnerability, Radical Empathy and Radical Transparency. So, could you first break down what each of those R's mean, what they represent, and then maybe give us an example of those in interjecting those into customer experiences, and navigating the whole journey of the customer, ensuring that those three R's are included, what does that look like in real life for a customer?   Kat shared that the easiest way to think about it is really in terms of brand positioning. We're all humans, whether we are the customer or setting brand side, and we make mistakes, right? So, a radically vulnerable brand will own up to those mistakes, and just be really sincere about it. She thinks that it allows brands to connect on a personal level, even though they're a company.  In terms of radical empathy, it really is, it's not sympathy, that's something very different. It's at a very internal level, saying, hey, your customers are coming from all different ethnic backgrounds or size, shapes, ages, right. And embracing that they're just a whole person, and really putting their life experiences first, which then leads to sales, instead of putting sales first, which tend to make customers kind of feel not great.  And then in terms of radical transparency, she has now started saying radical transparent investment, because companies really should be investing in their communities. But it's not just putting a park bench or doing a street clean up, it is really authentically investing in their communities. Maybe it's like training the next generation of workers, maybe is like truly getting involved in the community versus, some sort of vanity metric. And so, the three of those all kind of come together to embrace what she sees as radical customer experience.   Empathy – How to Strengthen That Skill Me: Now, a big part of what you do is empathy. And I heard you mentioned in your feedback just know that empathy is very, very, very different from sympathy. Have you come across persons who you find may lack the competencies or the behaviours that support empathy? And in cases like that, how do you overcome that, how do you strengthen that skill?   Kat shared that she doesn't think that there are people sitting around a table thinking about how to hurt people. At least, we hope not, most of us that have been brand side are trying to think of what's best for our customers. She thinks the empathy perspective comes in is it's not really changing what you do, it's changing how you think about it. In customer experience, it's very frequently gets viewed as pure customer support, customer experience is so much more than that.  But a key element that she thinks has always been missing as someone's life experience. And being able to have empathy like whether it's where someone came from, whether it is the holiday example she just mentioned whether or not they may have lost a parent. We're all humans. Even if you're selling, for example, B2B, when you pick up the phone and talk to somebody, you're not talking to a company, you're talking to a person and so, you they deserve to be treated like a person. Me: Agreed, 100%.    App, Website or Tool that Kat Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about online resource that she cannot live without in her business, Kat shared that she would say her own tool or app, which is the Cancel Culture Check-Up. But beyond that, certainly, she tends to live and breathe by LinkedIn. And some of the other communities that she's involved in professionally. It can be really lonely being an entrepreneur and finding resources and communities wherever you can she thinks is very important.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Kat When asked about books that have a big impact, Kat shared that she thinks one of the first authors that sort of set her down this path was Brené Brown. She didn't even know it at the time when she first read her work. Brené Brown has been so influential to her. When she first read about her and globally watched the infamous TED talk, going on 10 years ago, she had no idea that it was going to start the wheels turning to where she ended up today. But, she showed her actually what vulnerability really look like, both at work and at home and put this whole thing into motion. Absolutely. Me: So, I know you've mentioned Brené Brown, but is there a particular book that you would want to give to our audience? Or is it all of her content you're saying just jump out there and buy them?  Kat shared that she thinks everyone needs to read absolutely everything she (Brené Brown) puts out. But she does have something that's just easy to get to. She has a couple of Netflix specials that are really easy to watch. She has a podcast where she is having really, really impactful conversations with folks. So, she highly recommends both of those.   What Kat is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that she's really excited about, Kat shared that it's somewhere in the middle. So, they are just moving out of beta for a software product that they've put together, it's called the Cancel Culture Check-Up. Basically, it's her answer to a net promoter score, which honestly gives you no real data other than how your customers feel on average at any given moment in time. But there's an assessment that's based around the three R's that she mentioned earlier. And it measures brand sensitivity, and we know that brands that are more sensitive and empathic and vulnerable, all of these things that we're talking about will have higher sales, will engage more deeply with their customers. So, she's totally geeking out on her own data product right now. She thinks it is a huge game changer and so, so important, particularly for consumer facing brands.   Me: So, this app or solution that you're working on, are you saying that it would be in direct competition to the NPS and give greater data insight on the clients' experience? Or how they feel about the brand? Kat stated yes, now, someone could certainly add a Net Promoter Question. At the end of the day, net promoter is just asking whether or not your customers would recommend your product to a friend. So, someone could add that question if they are really married to the NPS, although, as she said, she thinks it's fundamentally flawed as a metric. And, she thinks what they've put together with the brand sensitivity score far outweighs any kind of the insights that you could get otherwise.  Me: Okay. Is there a question that is attached to the app that your metric would be measuring? Like, what exactly are you pulling out from the customer from your application, if you can share any insight on it at all? Kat shared that certainly the three R's are their frame, it's what frames the assessment. But, the product rather than a net promoter score is a Brand Sensitivity Score. So, it really deep dials into everything we're talking about like empathy and vulnerability. And just how much customers trust a brand to do what's right. And we know even anecdotally that brands that are standing up for what's right, or embracing, even things like sustainability, and diversity and inclusion, all of those things, not only are they critical, but are really instrumental in growing their customer base and growing revenue.   Me: And when can our listeners expect for that product to be available to the world?  Kat shared that she's so glad Yanique asked because it is available today. You just have to head on over to her website, which is www.radicalcustomerexperience.com and you will see three or four tiers that are available to subscribe to.   Where Can We Find Kat Online Website – www.radicalcustomerexperience.com LinkedIn – Kat Kennan Instagram – Kat Kennan   Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Kat Uses When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, Kat shared that she certainly goes back to Brené Brown. And she bases it off of Teddy Roosevelt. But, “It's easy to be in the stands. It's easy to watch and poke and make fun of people and criticize them, but it's way harder to be in the arena.” And she always remember that on those particularly tough days where it just feels like she's getting bulldozed literally that she'd so much rather be in the arena and be facing those challenges than be just sitting in the audience watching.  Me: Perfect, I remember that one from her book The Gifts of Imperfection.  Thank you so much Kat for taking time out of your very busy schedule and hopping on this podcast with us today sharing about all of these great insights that your company and the initiatives that you're taking as it relates to empathy and transparency and authenticity and just really ensuring that your brands are not just about the outside of the customer experience or the vanity but more so the depth of it in terms of getting to know people, making people feel seen, making people feel heard, making people feel valued, because as you mentioned, those things will definitely lead to longer lasting customer relationships, customer loyalty and that's what I'm sure all brands are aspiring to, a high level of customer retention that your customers are with you for a lifetime. So, thank you so much.   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   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

On this episode, Dr. Ronald Love and Dr. Deonna Kitwna are joined by Yanique Love (@lov3s3cret) from Truth Carpet Podcast (@LoveLouddLLC) to discuss their thoughts about bell hooks' book "All About Love." Follow us on Social Media: Ron: @dr.ronlove Deonna: @dr.k_psyd Instagram and Facebook: @unpackedanddetangled Twitter: @uanddpodcast Email: unpackedanddetangled@gmail.com

In this episode, Yanique interviews Natasha Wright, a psychology degree holder, who shares her insightful perspective on the integration of psychology into event planning. Natasha strongly believes that events revolve around people, and since psychology is centered on understanding human behavior, it serves as a valuable tool for creating impactful and memorable event experiences.  By leveraging her expertise in human behavior, Natasha effectively enhances brand awareness and ensures that attendees have a clear understanding of what to expect from the event. This attention to detail and commitment to fulfilling the event promise are crucial for thriving in the industry.  Don't miss out on this episode, as it offers valuable insights and tips for successful event planning. Highlights: 00:03  Natasha's approach to create events through diversity, equity and inclusion. 06:53  Infusing  your value to create your event promise. 10:04  How does Natasha leverage her role as Chief Experience Curator to move brand awareness and create lasting impressions? 13:52  Being in the event industry which is still marketing, What part of marketing does Natasha move away from? 15:57  Natasha's biggest challenge so far in handling events and how did she overcome the challenge? 21:37  How does Natasha incorporate fun and other emotional temperaments in making a successful event? 25:44  What's one event, you think that every event professional should attend to sharpen their skills? 29:18  Why is it important to let people know what to expect from events or what is your event promise? 26:51  How has COVID changed both Natasha and Yanique being both of them are introverts? CONNECT WITH NATASHA WRIGHT: Website Instagram CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠

Josefine Campbell is a founder of Campbell Company, a top leadership consulting firm for multinational companies. Campbell inspires and coaches leaders, teams, and talents in large organisations such as McDonald's, Deloitte, Maersk, Novo Nordisk, and Carlsberg Group. Her approach combines the practical and the pragmatic. A four-time jiu-jitsu champion, she is particularly interested in developing personal leadership in difficult circumstances, such as is often the case in modern work life.   Questions •  Now Josefine, even though we read a short description about our guests, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey. So, could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey, how you got from where you were to where you are today? •  A big part of what you do focuses on the power barometer, right. So, can you share with our listeners a little bit about that, and how it is that you are able to implement? What is the power barometer? •  Could you share with us maybe two or three approaches, tactics, tools that you can use to manage energy in work and life? •  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? •  Can you also share with us maybe one or two books that you've read recently? Or even maybe a book that you read a very long time ago, but it has had a very big impact on you? •  Now, can you also share with us Josefine, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. •  Where can listeners find you online? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or a saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed or demotivated, this quote kind of helps to get you back on track. Do you have one of those?   Highlights  Josefine's Journey  Josefine shared that when she was a teenager, she was quadruple national champions in jiu-jitsu, it's Japanese martial arts. And for the last many years, she's been coaching and developing executives, individually and in groups. And at some point in her practice, she has a background in business practice, she's ran businesses herself, she's been in business for plus 25 years, she's also been teaching business school.  And at some point, quite early on actually, in her endeavour of supporting the executives that she was helping the best possible way, she realized that some of the techniques and practices that she brought with her from the jiu-jitsu practice actually had a huge effect when working with executives in modern work life, because being an executive is quite demanding, especially in modern work life, it takes a lot of energy, it requires for you to stay mentally clear under difficult circumstances, it's quite normal to be under a lot of pressure, just like as when you're in a battle, it's the same thing that happens to people when they feel threatened in a battle, and when they feel threatened at work. The circumstances might look different, but what happens inside people can be quite similar. And have you watched Karate Kid?  Me: I have, yes.  So, you remember the Mr. Miyagi? Wax on, wax off. So, he trains Karate Kid and how to be mentally agile, how to stay ready in a battle, right? So, one thing is he trains the techniques, but he also trains how he is with himself, that's a lot of the movie, remember, that's why he has to do the wax on, the wax off. And it's the same for executives, it takes a lot of personal capacity to do the work they do. So, that's how she came across the methods that she's written about, and that she's helped executives put into practice.   What is a Barometer? Me: In reading a little bit about your story, I noticed a big part of what you do focuses on the power barometer, right. So, can you share with our listeners a little bit about that, and how it is that you are able to implement? What is the power barometer? Let's start there.   Josefine shared that the power barometer is an imaginary tool that anyone can apply personally, alone, individually and in teams at work. So, it's a way of checking in on your personal energy level. And checking in on your personal energy level is important because energy is the fuel of the brain. Your brain uses 20% of your personal energy, it's quite a lot because it's only the size of 3% to 4% and if you're low on energy, your brain doesn't run very well. So, if you aren't aware that, you're not capable of performing in the same way as if you have the self-awareness of where your energy is right now.  And the same thing counts for what happens in teamwork. So, one thing is that each and every one of us should take responsibility for our own personal energy, the personal energy that we bring to the table but in a meeting, everybody should take responsibility for the energy at the meeting. So, tell me, have you ever been in a meeting where someone suddenly took out all the energy of the room?    Me: Yeah, that's happened quite a few times.   And what happens to productivity in such a case? It declines? And engagements? And retention? So, performance? Does people come up with creative, innovative ideas? Do they solve difficult task when the energy is out of the room?  Not so much. So, just being aware of personal energy, start to measure it even if it's a subjective quantification, it brings awareness to energy and everybody's responsibility on the energy level. And that kind of behaviour that would bring out energy of a room suddenly becomes unwanted and for many reasons, that is good.   Tactics and Tools Can Be Used to Manage Energy in Work and Life Me: So, it's about balancing, it's about energy, could you share with us maybe two or three approaches, tactics, tools that you can use to manage energy in work and life? Because we all have our personal life, but we also have our professional life and how do we balance having energy in both so that either area is not getting diminishing returns?   Josefine stated that if she may, because Yanique says personal and professional life, actually a point, a very important takeaway from her book is that business is personal. So, there's a difference between private and professional life, so, that's isn't opposition, there's things that happens in your weekend, within your family that's private, but and what happens at work, what do you have to do at work, it's professional, but all of it is personal because it's you as a person who goes to work. It's you as a person who is leading, collaborating, communicating, it's you and I, as people who are talking right now on this podcast, and we cannot take the personal aspect out of the equation.  So, you cannot just put away anything but personal. And that's a key point also, in you addressing the question like what can you do to keep a high personal energy level? And, first of all, and the most important thing is to be aware, to be aware of your own personal energy level. It starts noticing when your energy is high, when it is low, most people would start to care more about it and putting more attention into raising the energy, you will also have more insights about what drains you and try to do less of that, things that gives you energy and it could be work tasks, specific work task you discover, “Oh, I get energy from this type of tasks or this type of meetings, or working with these people, but they also drain me.”  And of course, at the workplace, you cannot always decide who you are meeting with and who you're not. But those relationships which are draining, can you do something about it? This is something you can bring to the table to improve their collaboration. She knows plenty of good examples on how people have addressed bad working relationships and taking them to another level where they can do great work together. There are also situations where you have to avoid, certain collaborations, or certain tasks.  If you're in a team, understand what type of task drains and gives different team members energy. Work division might going to seem more obvious. And then there are the physical aspects, such as getting enough sleep, having a few breaks once in a while, actually just even micro breaks, a few minutes of rest. And rest is not looking at your phone, or just answering email, rest is maybe closing your eyes or leaning backwards on your chair and letting go for a minute. Just these little micro breaks, they can have a huge impact on your energy level.  We're not designed to be productive all the time. The organism, the biological human organism is designed to perform in circles, in waves, the energy, our natural energy will move upwards and downwards in iterations. So, it would be normal that you have some downtime once in a while, at least, but normal, natural, that's the difference, the normal is that people don't have any downtime.   App, Website or Tool that Josefine Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about an online resource that she cannot live without in her business, Josefine shared that she will be reluctant to say, if you go on her website, www.josefinecampbell.com, there's a section with freebies, and go there and grab whatever you think can make a difference for you. There are a couple of tools there and you can try them out, you can write me if you have any questions. And that's plug and play, go check it out, there's no software there.  Josefine shared that Microsoft Teams because all her clients use, most of her clients uses Microsoft Teams. Very often that's where they meet and engage.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Josefine When asked about books that have had an impact, Josefine stated that that's a wonderful question. So, what to choose from? There're so many wonderful books. She really, really loves books. Well, Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, it's an old classic. And she thinks it was the first book on personal leadership that got really big. And it's from the 90s. So, she was pretty young back then. But she got really fascinated with the book and the content of the book, she also started her first business when she was really young. She was 21 when she started her first business.  So, she needed a lot of help, she needed guidance on how to manage herself, and she felt so much wisdom in that book. And she actually thinks it's still valid, it's old, but it still works. So, she often recommends that book, she still does.   And then she thinks Brené Brown's Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversation. Whole Hearts, that's another great book. It's just a few years old and she thinks she took leadership books in another direction, writing a book that is very personal and that has some really nice contributions to how leadership development is being perceived today. She really thinks she made a huge difference. Thank you, Brené Brown.   What Josefine is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that she's really excited about, Josefine shared that there's so much. So, obviously, there's the book which is just coming out now and she's excited about sharing that with the world. And she has written the next one too and they're still working on the title and she's excited about that one too. She's written another kind of book, she's been quite creative, and she's also excited about finishing that one and putting that one out. So, her books are part of her passion. She gets up 5 o'clock in the morning sometimes to write just because she really feels like writing. She loves it.   Where Can We Find Josefine Online Website – www.josefinecampbell.com LinkedIn – Josefine Campbell    Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Josefine Uses  When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, Josefine shared that she have not a quote, but an image. The myth of Sisyphus, it's an old Greek myth. It's this man who is being judged by the Gods to push a rock up a hill. And every time he's up the hill, the rock is falling down, he has to push it up again. Have you ever heard that tale? Can you imagine the picture? Me: I can imagine the picture.  So, that's that feeling of this never-ending work and that things just keeps on being tough. Just after the Second World War, there was a French philosopher Camus, who elaborated a little bit on that myth. And he pictured Sisyphus working at the stones on the mountain, as he was pushing the rock up the hill and he would see the sun sparkle in some of the stones, and it will be beautiful. And his attention and his energy, his mind, his being would direct towards the beauty of those sparkles. And that would make the rock and himself feel lighter.   And that's what she tries to do, she tries to find just that little spark, those times where it's really dark, and it's tough, and it feels like it's never going to end, though we know it's going to end, there's always light at the end of the tunnel. But sometimes it just doesn't feel like that. Then she tries to find these little sparks of light that beams in and just give a little more energy to get done whatever needs to get done.   Me: All right, perfect. Thank you so much. I guess another way to look at that is the quote, “This too shall pass.” but you've kind of transformed it into an image, which is way more impactful because then it really focuses on what can you really do to navigate that space and recognize that at the end of the day, you will overcome it, it may seem like it's going to last forever, but there is a solution somewhere down the line.   Josefine shared that, “This too shall pass.” it's a really beautiful quote. She likes that one. Another one comes to her mind, it is the quote saying, “Everything is as it's supposed to be.” Kind of give some kind of peace of mind if you don't try to fix anything, or if you don't try to struggle, if you say okay, things are as they're supposed to be, somehow, it's all going to make sense at the end of the day.   Me: It will, the puzzle will all fit. Thank you so much, Josefine, for taking time out of your very busy schedule and hopping on this podcast and sharing all of these great nuggets and insights with us, a little bit about your journey, your new book that's coming out, the importance of preserving your energy and doing things that will lead to a more productive life, a more balanced life. So, I think our listeners definitely would have gained great information, great value from what you shared with us today. So, we just want to express our appreciation for you joining us on this podcast today.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest    Links •     The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen Covey •     Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversation. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Shafel is a Events Coordinator and Administrative Professional and Yanique is a Entrepreneur, Career Coach and Author. With over 20 years of friendship, they both speak from experience and allow us into their personal and are vulnerable. What do you do when friendships no longer serve you? How do you know? https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unfilteredbygade/subscribe

Yanique's guest in this episode is Laura Hartmann, a seasoned event professional who has worked in various positions within the hotel industry across brands such as Marriott, Starwood, Hilton and Waldorf Astoria. Despite her extensive experience in event management, she found herself furloughed during the peak of the pandemic. In this episode, you'll be inspired by Laura's remarkable journey. Rather than accepting her circumstances passively, she took proactive steps by co-founding H&F Redefined with her best friend. This network provides support to colleagues and peers navigating their furlough experiences and embarking on new business ventures.  Now, when the doors opened up again for the hospitality and hotel industry, Laura chose to come back in the door and is now the Director of Group Events at Caribe Royale, Orlando. She chose to be back in the industry but on her own terms, and that is the difference.   Highlights: 03:34  Laura's Journey into the event industry 09:29  What are the three qualities that a corporate event planner or a marketer should possess in order to be sustainable and succeed?  14:07  With the ever-changing technology, what kind of new and innovative technologies can help elevate attendee experience in events? 18:34  How can planning for an event provide a welcoming, inclusive environment that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion? 23:41  What is H&F Redefined and what was the experience Laura had gone through to be inspired to co-found it with her best friend? 23:16  In doing this kind of initiative with H&F, what is the most exciting story or one that Laura finds very close to her heart? 31:14  How does Laura find the balance in her personal life while maintaining a career? (...What does setting boundaries for her and her team look like?) 39:48  What is one event that Laura thinks all event professionals should attend, at least once in their career? 43:39  Closing CONNECT WITH LAURA HARTMANN: Facebook LinkedIn CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, preserving genuine human interaction and infusing events with authentic emotions have become increasingly vital. Despite the pervasive influence of technology in our lives, there is a growing recognition of the irreplaceable value of human connection and the need to transcend the limitations of digital interfaces. In events, efforts should be made to cultivate meaningful interactions that transcend the digital realm.  In this episode of Eventist365, Yanique and Adler Marchand's conversation offers multiple perspectives in ensuring diverse voices are heard, understanding of human experiences and minimizing harmful biases when creating stereotypes. Highlights: 00:41  Integrating diversity, equity and inclusion in the event planning process. (...How to create stereotypes without being biased?) 07:46  What are some experiences of biases and inequality in being a black person trying to do events in South Florida? (...What steps can be taken to address inequality issues in the South Florida hospitality industry?) 17:12  How to build a strong relationship with vendors? 21:21  Being at the forefront of event planning, what tech tools are indispensable for Adler in the work that he does at the Broward Center of Innovation?  23:59  How do we preserve human interaction  and imbue events with emotions despite advancements in technology? 26:09  What are some practices Adler does to strike a balance between his passion for the event industry and avoid burnout? 29:16  How has his experience in student affairs and education influenced the way Adler handles corporate events? 32:06  What's one event every event planner should attend? CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠

Do you want to know how to create enriching and comprehensive brand experiences for event and trade show attendees that also promote diversity and inclusivity?In this episode of Yanique DaCosta's podcast "Eventist 365," Matt Kleinrock, CEO of Rockway Exhibits + Events, shares his insights and experience on the topic. Through Yanique's show, you can discover how professionals in the corporate event industry navigate the chaotic event world to transform their ideas into memorable experiences.                              Some of the things they discussed:- Matt's top brand activation projects and the creative process involved- How to encourage team members to step out of their comfort zones and achieve extraordinary results- Using leadership positions in the event industry to promote diversity and inclusivity among workforce and attendees- The must-attend event for every event marketing professional or plannerYanique was a previous guest on “Event Marketing: Redefined,” where she and Matt delved into the nuances of design in event marketing. Be sure to check out episode 23, titled "Biggest Mistakes to Avoid in Graphic Design for Tradeshows (And How to Do It Greatly)," if you haven't already listened to it.Connect with Yanique:On her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ydacosta/Connect with Me:On my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/On my Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

Joey Coleman helps companies keep their customers and employees. As an award-winning speaker, he shares his first 100 Days® methodology for improving customer and employee retention with organizations around the world, for example, Whirlpool, Volkswagen Australia and Zappos.   His Wall Street Journal #2 best-selling book, Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days, shows how to turn any sale into a lifelong customer. And his upcoming book, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Rention, details a framework companies around the world can use to reduce turnover and increase employee engagement.   Questions •  Could you tell us a little bit about that book – (Never Lose a Customer Again)? And then we can go into the new one that you recently launched. •  And your book (Never Lose an Employee Again) focuses on the phases that you should use to try and retain these employees. And those phases are Assess, Accept, Affirm, Activate, Acclimate, Accomplish, Adopt and Advocate. So, can you just give us maybe a brief summary on each of those and why it's relevant?  •  Could you share with us what are some of your favourite things you've seen brands do to create the kind of culture that you're talking about where employees are advocates? •  What is the one online resource, tool, website or app that you absolutely cannot live without in your business? •  Can you also share with us maybe one or two books that you have read, could be books that you read like a long time ago, or even ones that you've read recently, but they have had a great impact on you. •  Now 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? •  Now, Joey, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests, do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed or demotivated, it kind of helps to get you back on track.   Highlights   About Joey's Books – Never Lose a Customer Again & Never Lose an Employee Again  Me: So, let's start off with a little bit about your first book, Never Lose a Customer Again, for those of our listeners that may have just recently started listening to our podcasts and unfortunately weren't able to tap into that awesome episode. Could you tell us a little bit about that book? And then we can go into the new one that you recently launched.   Joey shared that so about 5 years ago, he wrote a book called Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days. And the premise of this book is that we spend so much time trying to find new customers that we forget to pay attention to the customers that we've already acquired, people who have already raised their hand and said, “I want to do business with you.” The premise of that book is based on some staggering research that they both did, and came across that showed that somewhere between 20% and 70% of new customers will decide to stop doing business with you before the 100 day anniversary of becoming a customer.  So, as quickly as you're bringing customers in the front door, they're running out the back door. And the book outlines a framework that's based on 20 plus years of his experience as a consultant and speaker and agency owner. And it outlines a framework for how do we navigate our customer through eight phases of a journey, where we're creating the kind of remarkable experiences that will keep them coming back for more.    Me: Alright, so before we actually started the official recording, you and I were kind of having an informal discussion as it relates to employee experience and your new book, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Rention, really focuses on what are some strategies, what are some tools, you've provided us with a great framework as to how it is that organizations can keep talent that is really impactful to the organization and they won't leave, because at the end of the day, the employees grow, the company grows. So, can you tell us a little bit about this book? And then I have some more specific questions I want to ask you based on my own reading as well.   Joey shared that he often thinks of customer experience and employee experience as being two sides of the same coin. We can't expect to have a remarkable experience for our customers if our employees aren't delivering that remarkable experience.  And the way our employees deliver remarkable experience is they have a context for what that is and they have a framework for how to continue to deliver that to the people they serve. Interestingly enough, when he set out to write this book, he had that first 100 days research from his first book in mind, and when he went and looked at the parallels in the world of employee experience, he found that they were shockingly similar, that same significant percentage of people who leave as a new customer in the first 100 days was mirrored in the world of employees who start a new job, and then quit that job before the 100 day anniversary.  In fact, depending on which research you looked at, it was again somewhere between 20% and 70%. And these numbers he found to be absolutely staggering. He thinks many organizations have felt the pain of an employee leaving, but very few organizations are paying attention to the speed at which employees are leaving, and the myriad reasons why employees are leaving so that we can hopefully develop frameworks and structures and philosophies and methodologies that will keep our employees engaged and retained for the long term.    Never Lose an Employee Again – Phases You Should Use to Try and Retain Employees Me: Yes, and your book (Never Lose an Employee Again) focuses on the phases that you should use to try and retain these employees. And those phases are Assess, Accept, Affirm, Activate, Acclimate, Accomplish, Adopt and Advocate. So, can you just give us maybe a brief summary on each of those and why it's relevant?    Joey stated absolutely. And he'll try to go through these quickly because there are 8 of them, we could spend an entire podcast talking about any one of these phases. But for context before he describes them, the reason they all start with the letter A is he wanted folks to kind of have this thought that if your employees felt you were succeeding in each of these 8 phases, it's like getting straight A's on your report card in school, you're doing a great job, and you're worthy of continuing to be advanced, because you're delivering a great experience.  So, the first phase is the Assess Phase. This is when a prospective employee is trying to decide whether or not they want to come work with you. They're looking at your job descriptions, your want ads, the about us page on your website, the careers page on your website. They're submitting an application, they're going through your interview process, they're sharing their resume, you're doing reference checks, all the things that lead up for an employer to decide whether or not they want to hire this specific person. And the time period where the potential employee is also assessing whether or not they want to join your enterprise.  We then come to phase two the Accept Phase. In this phase, the employer extends an offer, and if we're lucky, that desired candidate accepts our offer.  We then move to the Affirm Phase. Now, this phase occurs immediately after the new employee has decided to accept the job offer. And he's sure all of Yanique's amazing customer experience experts are very familiar with the concept of buyer's remorse. What they may not be as familiar with is the concept of new hires remorse. It's the same thing as buyer's remorse, it's scientifically proven that this happens anytime someone accepts a job offer, they begin to doubt the decision they just made. And in the affirm stage, we need to reaffirm their choice to counterbalance that fear and doubt and uncertainty they're naturally feeling and in their new hires remorse stage.  We then come to phase four, the Activate Phase. Now, of all the 8 phases, this is the only phase that is limited in its duration, first day, and that day is the first official day on the job.  What is it like you come to work for that first day?  And in the immortal words of country music legend Bonnie Raitt, “Have you given us something to talk about?” Because every employee is going to go home that night to their spouse, their significant other, their children, their parents, their roommate, whoever it is in their life, and that loved one, the first question they're going to ask when they come through the door is, how was your first day at work?   How are your employees going to answer that question? Have you created such a remarkable experience on that first day that they have something to talk about?  We then come to the Acclimate Phase, phase 5. Now, the acclimate phase starts on the second day on the job and can last for weeks or even months as the new employee gets used to your way of doing business. They learn the various roles and responsibilities they're going to have, they understand better the requirements of what they're supposed to do, they understand the relationships with their co-workers and colleagues, and how all those pieces fit together for them to be great at their job. They're also learning your tools and your cadence of communication, and the chain of command and the various things of how your business operates. We need to hold our employees hands while they acclimate to the job and too many employers just kind of push the employee into the deep end of the swimming pool and say, “Well, just go ahead and swim.” Instead of taking care of them and making sure they understand what's happening.  We then come to phase 6, the Accomplish Phase. This is when the new employee achieves the goal they had when they originally decided to accept your job offer. See, every employee has a vision of what this new career will be like. Whether that will be more responsibility, more autonomy, more opportunities to develop new skills, they have a vision of what they're hoping to accomplish. The challenge is most employers not only don't know what that vision is, but they're not paying attention to the employees progress as they track towards achieving those goals. If we don't do that as organizations, we can't celebrate with our team members when they accomplish their goals.  We then come to phase 7, the Adopt Phase, this is when the employee becomes loyal to you and only you, they're committed, they're not going to look for jobs elsewhere, they're not listening to those calls from head-hunters or recruiters that want to hire them away. Almost every business on the planet desires adopters. But what's fascinating is very few businesses do anything to acknowledge when an employee becomes an adopter. We have a tendency to take those employees for granted, even though they are the lifeblood of our enterprise. And if and only if, we've helped to hold our employees hands through those first 7 phases do we have the right, the privilege, the honour of having them transition to the eighth and final phase.  The Advocate Phase, where our employee becomes a raving fan for us, singing our praises far and wide. They're going on glass door and writing reviews. Anytime we have a new position open, they're recruiting their best colleagues, the people they've worked with in the past, the smartest humans they know to come apply for this job because they know it's a great place to work and they want amazing people to work there with them.  The way he always test with business owners who say to him, “Oh, Joey, a lot of our teammates are advocates. And so many of our people are advocates.” He'll say, “Great. Here's a little test to see if that's true or not. The last time you had an open position in your organisation, what percentage of the candidates you interviewed were direct referrals from your existing team members?”   What's interesting is those people who were previously saying, oh, everyone's an advocate….kind of go, well, actually, no one. So, he's like, well, then you really don't have as many advocates as you think you do.  So, those are the 8 phases and the last thing he'll say on this is that when an employee is promoted, they go back to the beginning, they go back to that assess phase, trying to decide, “Is this a promotion I want? What am I going to do? Okay, I'll accept the promotion. Oh, should I have accepted the promotion, I liked my old job. But this new job even though it maybe comes with more money or a better title, it also comes with a lot more responsibility and a new learning curve.” And then we've got to hold their hand and acclimate them. And what happens is the longer an employee is with the organization, the more they cycle through these phases, yet, most organizations aren't paying attention to the fact that the employee is going back to the beginning. And we have an opportunity to reengage and reconnect with them as they navigate through the 8 phases the next time.    Me: I love those phases and I love that question that you asked, like that really puts them on the spot and makes them practically say, “Okay, do we really have advocates in this organization?”   What Brands Joey Has Observed Creating a Culture Where Employees are Advocates  Me: Now, Joey, could you share with us what are some of your favourite things you've seen brands do to create the kind of culture that you're talking about where employees are advocates, especially in this remote driven world that we have, I mean, the pandemic and COVID has definitely changed how organizations are approaching their business models, many of them are taking on a more hybrid approach. I know, for example, in Kingston, Jamaica here, you do have some forward thinking organizations who genuinely recognize that their employees can still be just as productive or even more working from home but then you find you have some dinosaurs who still believe people need to physically sit in traffic and go to work from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, and they just need to see the people in the office to know that they're doing the work. But what are your thoughts on that?   Joey stated that Yanique is correct. There's still a lot of dinosaur era thinking going on in many organizations today, despite the fact that we have proven both statistically and across almost every industry on the planet, that remote work is just as effective, if not more effective than in person work. In fact, most of the research and the studies show that when employees work from home, they are more productive, they are more engaged, they are happier, and they feel a stronger connection to the fact that they are able to balance their work with their life.  So, if your organization isn't actively pursuing, at the very least hybrid, if not pure, remote work, he can set a stopwatch for how much longer you're going to be in business. It's just the reality that the landscape has changed. If we were to roll the clock back, and he was to say to you, “Yanique, you can still run your business, but you're not allowed to use the internet.” Most businesses would be like, “Oh, my God, how am I supposed to function?” This is a fundamental aspect of business, remote work, work from home, non-centralized, come to an office work. When we get about, he thinks 10 years down the road, it's going to feel like saying to someone, you can't use the internet, saying to someone you have to come to the office is going to be the equivalent of a shock to the system and a foolish statement as saying, you have to run your business without using electricity, or the internet or a phone. The ship has sailed, this is over.  Now, when you asked him about his favourites, it's kind of a tough question because there are over 50 case studies in the new book from all 7 continents. And so, asking him to pick a favourite is kind of tough, but here's what he will tell you is a common thread, especially amongst the organizations that are recognizing the benefits of hybrid and or remote work. And that is that in an increasingly digital era, the smartest companies in the planet are making sure to invest in analogue interactions to attach to and be compatible with their digital interactions. What does he mean by that?   Well, if you've got everyone working remotely, and you're not having that office water cooler time, and you're not having everybody come to the same office, while it is beneficial for your productivity and your engagement and your employee happiness, they're still humans. So we need to find ways to build additional connection with them, that transcends the digital sphere. So, that could be sending gifts to their house, it could be hosting in person events every once in a while maybe, a group gathering twice a year, most of the research shows that if you have a fully remote team, you should strive to get together in person at least twice per year with the whole team.  But here's the secret on that, it's not about getting together in person to have meetings and to do work, it's about getting together to create connection. So, one of the companies that he profiled in the book is LEGO Corporation. Most folks listening are familiar with LEGO the children's toy, or the adult toy in his case, he loves building, he was building LEGO sets this weekend. And his 2 boys who are younger came up and they were like, “Daddy, can we help build too?” To show you, he was building on his own and then they wanted to play and he included them, and it was great fun.  But LEGO does something where every year they have a play day. Now, LEGO is a company that makes toys. So, of course they believe strongly in the concept of play. And every year they shut down all of their offices globally, for a full day, all their stores, all their corporate headquarters, all of their factories, and everyone comes together and what do they do that day?  They play, that's all they do.  They don't have team meetings, they don't talk about the vision of the future, they just play. And in interviews with LEGO employees globally, when you ask them what one of their favourite kind of traditions or rituals within the organization, they say that the LEGO Play Day is something they think about all year leading up to it. Humans are not that complicated, we like the idea of social interaction, we like the idea of play, we like the idea of getting to know people personally so we can have a personal and emotional connection with them, not just a work connection.   Me: I agree. That kind of dovetails nicely into my next question, Joey because with your new book, Never Lose an Employee Again and I find a lot of times when I talk to some of my clients, especially not necessarily those who are in a HR function, but even the business owners themselves. They will grapple or struggle with the fact that if they're losing employees, they believe it's a lot of times monetary. And I have found that a lot of times when an employee has reached a point where they're resolute in their decision to say I want to leave this company and go somewhere else, even if they're offered more money, they still wouldn't stay, they'd still leave. So, I believe that a lot of them would look forward to more non-monetary benefits, like simple to the example you gave about LEGO, a simple play day something that people look forward to, it's our sense of community, you get to meet and connect with people. And to me, there is no dollar value that you can put on those types of experiences. So, I guess my question is do you agree with me?   Joey stated that only 100% does he agree with everything Yanique just said. It's really fascinating, if we look at the research that has been done on why employees leave, the typical study on why employees leave is based on a sample set of somewhere between 200 and 500 respondents. Now, if you know anything about statistics or anybody listening has experience with statistics, a sample set of 200 to 500 results is not nearly as robust, as if that number were larger, and arguably significantly larger.  In doing the research for the book, they came across some studies that had been done by the Work Institute, where they interviewed 234,000 employees who were quitting their jobs and asked them, “Why are you quitting?”   Now, many business owners around the world will say, “Well, my employee quit because they got more money somewhere else are someone's going to pay more money somewhere else.” They make it all about the dollars, all about the money. But the research doesn't show that to be true. Only 9% of employees globally, quit for more money.  So, then that led him to wonder what about the other 91%?  Why are those people quitting?  And what this research found from the Work Institute was that the number one reason, the greatest reason given 23% of the respondents, so almost two and a half times the number of people quit for this other reason. And that reason was, they didn't see a clear path forward for their career at that organization. They didn't know what their next job was going to be. So, when we as employers, an employee comes in, and they're like, “Oh, I'm going to leave” and we're like, “Oh, we'll pay you more, we'll give you more benefits, we'll give you a better title.” These are not the things they're looking for. So, it's kind of like we're offering them things that at this point in the game really don't matter as much. And it almost feels insulting, because we're not listening to why they're leaving.  Instead, we need to move the conversation forward. We need to have the conversation before they come to us saying, “I want to quit” and have a conversation around…. “What are your goals as an employee? We have goals for you as your employer, things we'd like you to do. But what are you hoping to accomplish in your life? Are you trying to get out of debt? Are you trying to be more fit? Are you trying to start a family? Are you trying to buy a house? Are you trying to take care of ageing parents? Are you trying to go on vacation? What are the things that are goal? Are you trying to run a marathon? What are your goals? What are the things you're hoping to achieve?"  And then as employers, we need to look for opportunities to support our people in those goals as well. See, for all too long, he thinks we've had this belief, “we” meaning most organizations globally, that well, there's business and there's personal. And when you're at work, we've just want you to focus on the business, don't bring your personal life to work. But what's interesting is almost every employer on the planet expects you to think about work when you're not at work. They expect you to answer emails, to have your phone on you, we need you to work a couple hours late or if you're going on vacation, we might need you to do one or two calls.  The business has no problem asking the employee to chip into their personal time to do business related work. But God forbid we ask the business to allow the employee to chip into their business time to do personal things. For some reason we think that's offensive or improper.   Humans are humans, he would posit this, the employer of choice in the future is going to be the employer who pays as much attention to what happens in their employee's life between 5:00 pm and 9:00 am as they do compared to what happens in that employee's life between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm.    Me: Agreed 100% Joey, I am there with you.   App, Website or Tool that Joey Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Joey shared that since the last time they had a podcast was about 5 years ago, he must confess he's not 100% sure of all the specific answers he gave then. But the one online tool that he's using right now that he finds increases efficiency and productivity, but also makes for he thinks a pretty great experience is the online scheduling tool Calendly.  And the reason why he loves it, because often, as he's sure you do, he has folks saying to him, “Joey, we'd like to arrange a time to connect, we want to have a call, we want to talk about a project, we want to talk about a future speech.” Because he spends most of his days giving speeches. “We want to interview you for a podcast.” Whatever it may be, when he can send them a link that allows them to see the days he's available and it syncs up beautifully with his calendar, it makes everybody's life faster, and more efficient, and more seamless. There isn't the back and forth of, “Well, what about next Tuesday at three?” “Oh, I can't do that.” “What about Thursday at nine?” “Nope, I can't do that.” “What about the following Tuesday?” And it makes things work better, so he's a big fan of Calendly.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Joey When asked about books that have had a great impact, Joey jokingly stated that this is a completely unfair question only because he loves reading books. He tries to read a book a week, there are so many wonderful, wonderful books out in the world that he absolutely loves. So, he'll give an example of a book that is in the customer experience space, because he knows a lot of listeners spend most of their time in the CX space. And then he'll give one that's in the employee experience space since that's what they've been talking about.  So, in terms of the customer experience, he absolutely loved the book Creating Superfans: How To Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates by Brittany Hodak. An amazing book, it's been out not even a year yet, it came out earlier this year in January of 2023. Fantastic book, incredibly well written, Brittney Hodak is very much an emerging but also a well-established voice in the CX space. She's smart as a whip, she's got an amazing story. She's incredibly talented. If you're not paying attention to Brittney Hodak and if you haven't read her book, Creating Superfans, go check it out, you will not be disappointed.  Now, on the employee experience side, he would look to the book, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships by Michael Bungay Stanier. Now, what he loves about Michael's book is it helps us with very practical tools for creating better connection, and better relationships with the people we work with. It's a fast read, but it's a powerful read, how to work with almost anyone.  Michael is smart as a whip, he's an amazing human being, he's been there, done that, got the T-Shirt. And he just has a really tactical, yet powerfully thoughtful premise in this book, that we need to be spending more time investing relationships we create with our colleagues and our co-workers and really diving into the relationship side instead of just, “Oh, well they work at the same place as I do. And so, we have to interact with each other.” He's about building the relationships. So, How to Work with (Almost) Anyone by Michael Bungay Stanier is absolutely fantastic.    What Joey is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Joey shared that there's so many. He's an excitable guy, you probably pick up on that and anybody who's listening to the conversation. There's so many things he's excited about, right now he would say the thing that he's most focused on is getting the word out about this new book. He's so excited about the response, the book debuted at number 5 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list. There is clearly a need for employee experience enhancement globally. And just the chance that he gets to speak at events, to do workshops for individual companies to help them get better at both engaging and retaining their people has him incredibly excited.  They're delving into exploring creating some customized workbooks that folks will be able to avail themselves of and purchase that are going to really bring the ideas in the book. He likes to think the book stands alone by itself and that it gives you as Gary Vaynerchuk would say, it gives a high picture strategy, but it's also tactical on the ground thing you can do. One of the challenges of writing the book is that you can't fit everything you want into the book because otherwise the book would be 10,000 pages long. So, he's excited to create more tactical tools that people can use on an almost weekly basis. Like what is the thing we're going to focus on making our employee experience better this week and give people those kinds of ideas and suggestions so that we can make it more fun to go to work. We can create more play, we can have more excitement with the things we do.  Yeah, you mentioned something about Gary Vaynerchuk just now, but you chipped out for a bit. So, could you repeat that part for me, please? Joey stated that he was going to say, Gary Vaynerchuk has this really interesting concept of dirt and clouds. This idea that we want things that are very tactical and practical that we can do down in the dirt, but we also want big picture strategy. We want things that are kind of in the clouds, kind of the 35,000 foot view and it's something that he really tried to create in the book, which is there is strategy in the book, but there are also really tactical things you can do. One of the things he's excited about is adding even more examples on the tactical side available as workbooks and downloads and things like that that people can access to continue to work at enhancing their employee experiences on an ongoing basis.    Where Can Listeners Find Joey Online? Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention – Hardcover – e-book – Audiobook Website – www.joeycoleman.com LinkedIn – Joey Coleman               Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Joey Uses When asked about a quote that he tends to revert to, Joey stated that he doesn't necessarily have a quote that he comes to, but in those scenarios, he likes to try to get very clear on what the situation is they're dealing with. Let him explain that a little bit. He used to be a Criminal Defense Lawyer, and so his job used to be to keep the wrongfully accused out of prison. And if he misspoke, now he's a full time professional speaker, but in those days, speaking in the courtroom, if he misspoke, someone went to prison. And that usually meant they went to prison for a long time. So, whenever he's faced with a challenging situation, he asked himself two questions. Number one, “Did anyone die in this scenario we're dealing with? Is there a death that has happened?” And thankfully it's very rare that he would ever answer that question yes, usually no one has died. The second question that he ask is, “Did anyone go to prison without the possibility of parole in the future?” Because if you go to prison without the possibility of parole, you've got a really big problem. If someone has died, you've got a really big problem. But if no one died and no one went to prison without the possibility for parole, you actually don't have that big of a problem. You've got a situation, you've got a circumstance, you've got something you maybe need to focus on or address.  But he finds that that criteria of evaluating the situation allows him to keep some perspective on how much he should be getting worked up or frustrated or angry about a scenario. And instead say, “This could be a lot worse. This is a challenging time to move through. But the consequences aren't that terrible and irrevocable that we're not going to be okay on the other side.”   Me: I like it. I've asked this question to over 150 guests because we're approaching close to 200 episodes for this podcast. And it's amazing that most guests would give maybe a motivational quote, not necessarily ask themselves a question. So, it's interesting the perspective that you take because then you're able as you identified to really recognize is this really an issue that we need to be raising our blood pressure and losing our mind, or can we just adjust our approach and decide, okay, we're going to tackle it this way, these are steps we're going to take and this is how we're going to approach it.  Joey stated that's definitely what he tries to do because he agrees with Yanique. There are very few things that we should be raising our blood pressure in a negative way. If your heart's beating faster because you're inspired, you're eager, you're in love, you're feeling those things, great. But if your heart rate is raising because of stress, because of worry, because of fear, he thinks there's an opportunity to approach the situation from a different perspective to kind of keep things a little more calm.   Me: Thank you so much for coming back on our podcast. I just want to express my greatest gratitude to you. And of course, congratulations again on your new book, Never Lose an Employee Again. I think it really will be a great complement to your original book, Never Lose a Customer Again. You brought up some excellent points, really practical stuff that employees and employers across different parts of the world in different industries can definitely think about, hope everyone that listens to this episode will go and grab a copy of your book as you mentioned in whatever version they like to listen to it in, whether it be audio or e-book or the physical book where they read. But it was really, really insightful. I love these types of conversations that get me excited, it doesn't even feel like I'm doing a podcast, it feels like I'm sitting down with a friend having a cup of coffee or a nice glass of lemonade and just having a great conversation. And these types of conversations really fulfil my soul, makes me feel good inside. So, I hope it was as fun for me as it was for you.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links ·  Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sales inot Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman ·  Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention by Joey Coleman ·  Creating Superfans: How To Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates by Brittany Hodak ·  How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships by Michael Bungay Stanier   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!  

In this episode, Yanique gets to talk to Andrea Babin, a seasoned event professional, who manages an entire marketing team at Corestack. This is a really fun episode with all the tips, insights, and really valuable information. Being in the heart of digital innovation and working for a tech company, Andrea still thinks that for now, especially when talking about AI and Chat GPT for that matter, it is a tool that can be used to people's advantage. We can embrace it, but we still need to put the human imprint into it. By the word itself, it is Artificial, meaning there is no personal touch and the world needs a personal touch to connect and interact with each other.   Highlights: 03:03  Andrea shares her journey into the event industry. 07:50 Some misconceptions about the job of an event planner vs the reality of it 13:12  One event oversight that stood out for Andrea and how she was able to put into action Plan ABCD to resolve the slip-up.  16:07  How does Andrea strike a balance between creativity and practicality when talking about large event budgets? 19:20  What are some strategies that would really do well in increasing event attendance? (...What is a Client Champion?) 23:26  Why it is important to incorporate and embrace new technology in corporate events. (...What does Andrea think about AI replacing people in event planning?)  23:37  Yanique's view on AI technology replacing graphic designers, especially the older ones. 24:08  Andrea and Yaniques thoughts on Chat GPT 30:20  Andrea's view and what she does in ensuring that their events are inclusive and welcoming to diverse backgrounds and identities. 34:47  What is one event that Andrea thinks all event professionals should attend, at least once in their career? 39:46  Closing RESOURCES MENTIONED: Catersource and The Special Event - https://schedule.catersource.com/ CONNECT WITH ANDREA BABIN:  Linkedin CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠

Peter Mullen brings more than two decades of marketing leadership to his role as Interactions' CMO. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Payactiv, where he led customer success marketing, lead-gen programming, customer acquisition, product marketing and more.  Prior, he held prominent marketing and communications roles at VXI Global Solutions, Comcast and Netflix.   Questions •  We always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words, a little bit about your journey, how it is that you got to where you are today. •  So, you are currently the CMO of Conversational AI at Interactions, correct? • Seeing that you work at an organisation that you're dealing with troubleshooting of customers challenges on a daily basis, could you share with us maybe one or two success stories that you've had with clients? And you know what the impact has been for their business as a result of your approach and methodology? •  How do you maintain the human touch even though you're using AI and how impactful has that been for your clients? •  What would be two to three things that you would recommend that they need to focus on for the latter part of 2023, preparing for 2024, in order to ensure that they stay relevant, and they're able to hopefully do a better job than their competition? •  Could you also share with our listeners 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 listeners maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you, it could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but still has had a great impact on you. •  Could you also share with our listeners what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about? Either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. •  Where can listeners find you online? • Now, before we wrap our episodes up, we always like to ask our guests in times of adversity or challenge, do you have a quote that you would use or revert back to, to kind of help you to get you back on track if for any reason you got derailed or you felt demotivated or you just got off the course of what you were doing? Do you have one of those?   Highlights Peter's Journey Peter shared that he lives in Silicon Valley. He's been doing marketing for more than 20 years, which means he had the opportunity to arrive in Silicon Valley just as the internet was becoming massively adopted across the world and began to change everything. His background is as a journalist, and more on the liberal arts side of things. So, for him, his journey was one of spending several years moving into the tech world, and really focusing on narratives, how do we tell the stories about the great things that we're building? How do we make it understandable, digestible? And ultimately, what type of impact can we bring to people in many cases who are seeing things for the first time? And Netflix was a defining moment where they reinvented how the world gains its entertainment, with all the beautiful personalization and customization.  Throughout the career, his journey has been sitting in that intersection of new ideas, new technology, making it explainable to people, and how the CX element has come in in the last decade is really simple.  What he discovered was that we could build the greatest things in the world, we could communicate in the best way. But if it was not embraced by CX, if CX was not leading how we presented that to the rest of the world, we would stall. So, for the past decade, his focus has been in the CX world, working in all elements from BPO's, from contact centres, and right now with a wonderful technology company that helps provide better digital experiences for customers around the world.    What is Interactions? Me: So, you are currently the CMO of Conversational AI at Interactions, correct?   Peter confirmed, correct. It's a really simple explanation of who they are and what they do. They are the digital front door for the brands around the world that care the most about that first front door experience. They lead with voice and what that means is that when millions of people call into any of these brands, they start their conversations with, “How may I help you today?” They have AI, plus human in the loop, it's unique, they're the only ones who do that. And it enables the customers to speak in their natural language, ask natural questions and all of their technology processes that really efficiently. The outcome and what that means for millions of call centre agents and businesses alike, is that they have customers that are more satisfied, they're having better experiences without the friction and when they ultimately have to talk to an agent in a human experience when that's necessary, they are further along the customer journey and it's a quicker resolution, so that adds to operational efficient in a significant way.   What Has Been the Impact for a Business as a Result of Your Approach and Methodology? Me: So, seeing that you work at an organization that you're dealing with troubleshooting of customers challenges on a daily basis, could you share with us maybe one or two success stories that you've had with clients? And what the impact has been for their business as a result of your approach and methodology?   Peter stated that it's a great question, he'll give two answers of examples. So, they work with one of the top five financial institutions in America, and a customer of that financial institution will call in with a lost credit card, they're able to process that fluidly and effectively without having to have a human agent engage on that.  And in this sequence, this customer journey, they can actually with their digital technology and their AI cover over 40 different requests that the customer may have just on that simple one call in. They can do it all in one call, leading to an overall better customer experience.  Another example, they work with one of the largest consumer technology companies in the world, they have outlets around the world, you can schedule an appointment at any one of them around the world, call up, talk to their automated assistant, reschedule it for any time, any date with different products that you want to come in and discuss and any different location in the world. Again, without ever having to talk to a human being that can be handled in mere minutes, with their solution, there's no hold time, no waiting in any way. And the processing is just effective and fluid for everybody.   Me: Wow, no wait time, goodness me. Sounds like we need your company here in Kingston, Jamaica.   Peter shared that they did a customer survey in the spring of US base consumers, what their biggest concerns and complaints were, this is no surprise, there are 77% of us who complain that wait times are the number one problem in customer service. If we could eliminate that one thing, let's even reduce it by half, the entire CX experience is transformational for the rest of the journey.   Maintaining the Human Touch While Using AI and How Impactful Has That Been for Clients Me: Could you also share with us that as an organization, I know you mentioned that you're heavily into AI, but you're one of the few companies that also has a human touch that's integrated with the AI in your methodology and approach. How do you maintain the human touch even though you're using AI and how impactful has that been for your clients?    Peter stated that first, he will just acknowledge this remarkable moment in time in the second half of 2023. We are all trying to figure out what to do with generative AI, the world truly changed in November of 2022 last year, when open AI debuted and everyone could see how powerful it was and it's only scratching the surface. So, he's had more than 100 customer conversations this year, he's been to more than a dozen events, walking the floors, talking to everybody. And AI is the number one word being spoken in all of those corridors.  Number two word, however, is human, and this is really important because as all as these businesses around the world and all these people around the world are trying to figure out what the New World Order is going to be. The aspect of having the human touch, the human empathy, the human brain is absolutely essential.  And we all have to acknowledge that the greatest computer for the foreseeable future is going to be the human brain, it is today, it will be over the next coming years. Let's see where it is in the next decade. But for now, let's use that as our baseline.  Now his company is a company that was one of the OG's, the original gangsters of Conversational AI with an emphasis on the artificial part of it, the AI. They started 18 years ago, when they started 18 years ago, AI was not that good. So, from day one, they had put a human in the loop. What that means very functionally is if the technology cannot understand what the customer or the client is looking for, they've always had a human in the background ready to nudge the conversation forward. That agent he or she is not engaged in the whole conversation, but rather, will catch a snippet of the voice conversation or the text or the chat and be able to say, “Aha, this is what Yanique is trying to do, this is where she wants to go next in her journey flow.”  And the agent will, as he said, nudge it forward. That's unique for what they do. So, they focus AI first, and about 90 plus percent of the time AI is all that's needed. But for that last 10,% it's essential that the human helps move it onward. And other companies today don't do it that way, other companies are typically starting with the human first and then augmenting AI on the back end for automation. Does that make sense?    Me: Right? So, basically, you're saying because the human comes in at the tail end of the experience, you're able to have the resolution done quicker. Because now it's moved up, it's escalated, especially if it's something that can't be fixed that first point of contact.   Peter stated that that's exactly right. If you think about the IVR, and the prompts that typically exist in many frontline solutions, the moment that we run into trouble, we get into a loop, or we can't move forward in a way we want, we start pressing zero, we start yelling for the agent, 33% of us swore at a robot last year, that just let you know just how peaked, he thinks that percentage is low, but it shows how peaked people are with their customer experience. And for what typically happens, as you know, as the first one or two engagements are okay, then it starts getting more complex, more layered, more nuanced, that's where a human can play this essential role of coming in and understanding what you want to do and then pushing it forward.   Recommendations Companies Need to Focus on to Ensure They Stay Relevant and Do a Better Job Than Their Competition Me: Now, you mentioned that we're like halfway through 2023 and it's so true, a lot of us are looking to what's next, what's the next innovative, creative, exciting thing that my organization can do that would set me apart from my competition? So, if you were to give advice to our listeners that are tapping into this episode that are in the customer experience space, what would be two to three things that you would recommend that they need to focus on for the latter part of 2023, preparing for 2024, in order to ensure that they stay relevant, and they're able to hopefully do a better job than their competition?  Peter stated so first, he wants to use the word he used earlier, which is baseline. He thinks it's really important to have a baseline understanding of what AI is doing, and what it's going to be doing over the next several years. His perspective and opinion is that it is much more significant than even any of us understand that this is truly a game changer that is going to impact every aspect of the customer contact centre world, customer experience itself, that's his baseline.  Now, on top of that, here's another trend that is not just for the rest of this year, but essential to understand how fast it has changed the world. Personalization, and customization is transformational. You and I have had all of our behaviours changed by that incredible computer that we hold in our hand, we expect instant resolution, we expect customed and tailored experiences, AI then offers the solution for that expectation.  Over time in the next several years, we're going to be able to automate, we're going to be able to speed up resolutions or experiences. And we're going to be able to customize and personalize those experiences, these are essential to understand as macro themes. And they're secular, which means they are long standing, it's not just going be a blip on our radar.  So, if he's a young person in a contact centre, moving his way up, ambitious, he leans forward, he's thinking about how rapidly this can potentially impact and change the ecosystem that he works in today. So, as an individual, he's thinking to himself, how am I going to evolve and ride the wave in a way that will be beneficial for me, for my family, and for those around, there's tremendous opportunities. But it's absolutely essential to understand how big this is.   If he's a business, so, now moving up the food chain a bit, he needs to be thinking about how AI can bring operational efficiency, improvement in Op X - operational expenses, and how we can truly automate and streamline my overall operations. And if he's that person, which many days he's talking to those people by the way, he's thinking to himself every day, how do I take the incredible human capital and the talent I have, and build solutions around them so that talent can be unlocked?  You and I both know how much processing takes place, how much wrote automation occurs right now with human beings. Think about what it's going to mean as we can start to unlock all of that talent, because AI can put in the automation, freeing us up to do a lot more important and essential things which ultimately reinforces at that whole personalization opportunity back to the clients.   App, Website or Tool that Peter Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Peter stated that this will probably not surprise many people, he believes that Slack is absolutely a game changer for businesses today. So, the challenge that we have is that in the past three years, our worlds have turned upside down and we've gone hybrid, we've gone remote, we've gone back to the office, typically kicking and screaming in that case. It is a true challenge for business leaders to understand how do you effectively communicate with your teams in this new disrupted world.  He'll give you one example. If you are a business that has veterans who have worked there for multiple years, they have a tonne of tribal knowledge, they also have positive relationships that they've formed over the years with each other, then you have now new people coming in who don't have any of those connections, they don't know where things even are. A tool like Slack has one beautiful element that he doesn't think is talked about enough. It enables you to process both business in real time, but it also enables you to process personality and more of the informality that used to take place in offices all the time, even a smiley face or a thumbs up is a different type of communication then you would have on email, you have on the phone. This type of connecting of the fabric is absolutely essential to be doing right now for business success.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Peter When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Peter shared that there's a book that is called Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. He's a Stanford Professor and this came out about a decade ago, Hooked is a very friendly, easy to read, B to C book, describing how to capture the curiosity of people online, typically using apps. It's simply how you build their confidence, which leads to trust, trust leads to engagement, engagement leads to loyalty and sales. And the reason that he's calling that out is because it is so darn simple. He keeps it on his bookshelf and reread it at least once a year simply to reinforce how important it is to build confidence and trust with a buyer no matter B2B, B2C, client, customer, anyone. Trust is the absolute currency of the next 20 years.   What Peter is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's excited about, Peter stated what a great question. So, he's going to speak about people and team for a second. It's been a rough 18 months for many of us, it's been a rough 3 or 4 years for many of us. He's really excited about how to think structurally about teams, think about this hybrid environment all of us are in and think about how to motivate groups of people to lift their heads above all of the different conflicting confusions and excitements and pressures that are hitting us to deliver good results. So, very specifically, he's using this year to think about how on a one to one and a one to few and a one to many, he can help the teams and the people around him optimize their own success.   Me: And do you have some tools that you have in mind in getting that done? Are you kind of just still in the strategy phase?   Peter stated that he believes that there is a tremendous power in having slogans and using those slogans repeatedly to help build momentum, build a movement, almost like a sports team. So, this year in 2023, from a team approach, which is one of the things that's very important to him, he has 3 of them.  One is a zero to one mentality. And what that means and what he share with the team is that there are massive things that they are trying to change but if they take a quote, unquote, one, zero to one mentality, what it means is that they constantly want to think about start-up and start-up innovation. Take small steps forward, look at everything you're doing as going from nothing to something. And what that does is it enables you to have small fast wins. It enables you to appreciate those wins. And when you have setbacks, and we all do, it puts those setbacks in a framework that says they're minor and the next day we can move forward, that's zero to one.  Second slogan is “Rungs on your ladder.” And he learned this by working at one of the top 20 largest BPO's in the world. It's incredible to him to think about nearshore, onshore and offshore, millions of folks who are moving up every day with their careers. And so, we focus a lot on rungs on your ladder, what's the right thing for you, wherever you are in your career stage to take the next step up. And they're very explicit with that on his team, every person knows what the rung on the ladder is for their teammate. That type of transparency means that they are a team all working together.  The third one, and the third slogan is lean forward, he has a very strong bias that people who are going to lean forward in their chair are going to be the ones who are going to move forward and be the most successful. But really importantly, because of those first two ideas, if he's getting his team to lean forward, it's in a cooperative, supportive way and that radiates around and their teammates start leaning forward as well.   Where Can We Find Peter Online LinkedIn – Peter Mullen LinkedIn – Interactions Website – www.interactions.com               Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Peter Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tend to revert to, Peter stated that that is a surprise question that he will answer very authentically. He's a cancer survivor. He has had setbacks at multiple times in his life in various ways and spaces. And he thinks many of us have, he thinks that there's a lot of hidden challenges but also triumphs that all of us have experienced. And so for him, a simple phrase that he often uses for himself is, “Always tomorrow.” And what that reflects and means for him is that no matter what setbacks we have, no matter what move forwards we have, there's always going to be the next day to do it again and do it a little better.    Me: Brilliant. Always tomorrow, I like it. Thank you so much, Peter, for taking time out of your very busy schedule and hopping on this podcast with us, sharing all these great insights as it relates to AI is wonderful, but the human touch is also very critical. I'm glad that you did reinforce that in your message and our conversation that the human element isn't going anywhere and it's still going to be the baseline of everything that we're doing, I think that was really critical to what you brought across. And also, some of the recommendations that you believe our listeners can focus on as we move towards closing off 2023 and tap into 2024, what are some of the areas that they need to really engage in. Whether from a as you mentioned, B2C approach, or B2B or even in just building your career. We really appreciate it and just want to say thank you so much.    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links ·  Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience! 

Eric Melchor is a mediocre tennis player, Texas, expat living in Romania and Partnerships & Evangelists for OptiMonk. With over 600 5-star review and powering more than 30,000 brands, our mission is to empower the average online business with Amazon-like personalization superpowers. How?  By giving brands the power to use AI to create better headlines, product descriptions and run A/B tests to tailor the product page and shopping experience - on autopilot. Thus, saving you hundreds of manual hours while your conversions increase in the process.   Questions •  Could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey, we always like to hear from our guests in their own words a little bit about how they got to where they are today. •  You are the Partnerships & Evangelists for OptiMonk. Could you share with our listeners what is OptiMonk? And what does OptiMonk do? •  Could you share with us why you think it's important to integrate AI? Do you think it will make the process a little bit more seamless? Is it giving the customer more steps to take? What have been some of your experiences with your customers? What has their feedback been? •  What are some ways that the AI can help to personalise that experience, or the shopping experience for the customer? •  So, in terms of an online shopping experience, what are some key things that you think is critical when you're trying to design that journey for the customer. What would be, let's say three or four things that you would say to them that needs to be critically engineered into that process to ensure the customer has a great experience? •  Now, Eric, could you share with our listeners what's 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've read recently. •  Can 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? •  Now, before we wrap our episodes up, could you share with us if you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote if for any reason at all you get derailed. Highlights Eric's Journey  Me: So, Eric, could you share with our listeners a little bit about your journey, we always like to hear from our guests in their own words a little bit about how they got to where they are today.   Eric shared that prior to moving to Romania, about 3 years ago, he held director level marketing and CX customer experience positions for publicly traded companies in Houston, Texas. And he really loved what he was doing. And he got to manage large teams and large budgets, but then when he decided to move to Romania with his family, he wanted to start in a new industry, and so he got into tech and SAAS, and complete shifts of big corporate America, moving into the start-up world where he was working with companies that had maybe around a dozen employees and he was wearing multiple hats.  So, completely different way of looking at marketing, and how you approach things from a customer experience perspective. So, he's enjoyed it, it's been a fantastic journey so far. But he's definitely a lot busier now than when he was working for the larger companies and he had bigger teams that can manage multiple things.   What is OptiMonk and What Your Company Does? Me: So, your bio says that you are the Partnerships & Evangelists for OptiMonk. Could you share with our listeners what is OptiMonk? And what does OptiMonk do?   Eric shared that OptiMonk is like an all in one conversion optimization platform. So, anything that you need. Well, just to take a step back, they have over 30,000 brands that use the platform and many of the brands use them to increase their AOV, which is their Average Order Value, because there's some pretty neat things that you can do to make that very simple. And there's other things that you can do as well, like grow your email subscriber list and redo cart abandons. But increasing your AOV is something that a lot of brands use them for.  Really excited that the past few months, they've been focused on AI and they've released a couple of features that allow sort of like a hands-off approach to doing conversion optimization. And so, they're really going that route after speaking with a lot of customers, it seems like the big hurdle to really trying to get the most out of conversion optimization is just time, time to learn how to use the platform, time to implement different campaigns. So, they're trying to automate this so that you don't really have to do much, and AI can do most of the work for you.  But OptiMonk, again, they've been around for about 8 years. They're integrated with many different CRMs, and platforms like Shopify and Klaviyo, and Active Campaign and HubSpot, among many others. And check them out, they're on G2, and you can look at their ratings and reviews. They have over 600 5-star reviews on G2 and Shopify.   The Importance of AI – Will it Make the Process More Seamless? Me: Now AI, that's a big thing that a lot of organizations are focused on now, especially with so many different options emerging, ChatGPT being probably the most recent in the last six to eight months. Could you share with us why you think it's important to integrate AI? Do you think it will make the process a little bit more seamless? Is it giving the customer more steps to take? What have been some of your experiences with your customers? What has their feedback been?   Eric stated that he thinks why they're implementing AI, first is because there's no human being that is smarter than a machine, than a computer, it's just not going to happen. He thinks even the greatest chess player in the world was beaten by the IBM supercomputer a few years ago and now pretty much any computer can beat any chess player in the world, it's just not going to happen, computers and AI are a lot smarter than then we humans.  So, we're just trying to take advantage of that and there's certain things that you can do like A/B testing, like A/B testing headlines, landing pages or the homepage or product page. And then rather than having the user, the customer come up with different headlines to test, their feature will come up with headlines that you can test automatically. And it could run different experiments automatically and automatically pick the winner once one has been statistically significant, proven to be the winner.  So, to answer your question, it's going to reduce the amount of time and the effort that is required to implement such conversion optimization campaigns. And then the second thing is that it's just a lot smarter than human beings, it's going to pick winners faster, and make those updates and changes on your website in real time faster than you could if you were doing it manually.   Ways that AI Can Help Personalize the Experience for the Customer Me: Now, personalization is also so important. I feel even as a consumer, when I do business with organizations, I want to know that I'm not just another transaction, and they see me for who I am, what my personal interests, requests or needs are, and I'm not being compared or grouped into a set of people, because we're all different. What are some ways that the AI can help to personalize that experience, or the shopping experience for the customer?   Eric shared that they haven't started using AI for that specific use case. However, one of the things that their platform allows is being able to collect zero party data in a very easy and friendly way. So, for those who don't know, zero party data is basically data that you would get directly from the visitor that comes to your website and you can usually get that in the form of asking a question.  So, here's a very simple use case, let's say you're shopping for Mother's Day, and Yanique, you go to a website, and you're looking for a gift for your mom, or maybe a godmother or maybe even a sister or something. And a simple question could appear that just says, “Hi, welcome to flowers.com. Are you shopping for yourself or for someone else?”  Very simple question, and then based on your answer, let's say you choose shopping for somebody else, then a response can be, “Fantastic, let me take you to the part of the website that's most valuable for you and show you our most popular items, giftable items this season.” So, that's a very simple way of collecting zero party data. But once you have that, that information, that data, then you can basically change the experience in real time for that visitor.  You're not really using any AI or anything, you're just basically doing different segmentation based on responses to the questions that you're answering. And that's what they recommend to a lot of their clients, a lot of clients who are able to collect more email subscribers, who are able to get a lot more repeat visitors, who are able to get a higher AOV, they're doing a lot of things, take into account collecting zero party data, in a very fun and engaging way. He likes to think of them as micro conversions.  Another example could be a pure health and wellness website. And let's say you primarily sell three products. One is weight loss, one is to increase muscle mass and another one is to help you sleep better.  Well, you can ask the person visiting, “Which of these three are you primarily interested in?” And then depending on their answer, let's say the person chose to increase muscle mass, then you could say, “Fantastic, here's our most popular blog posts that show you how to increase muscle mass. And by the way, here's our three most popular products for increasing muscle mass.”  And so, that's done in the form of zero party data once again, another example. But it's done in such a way that it keeps the person engaged for much longer, spending time on your website much longer into conversions as a result, the conversions increase because of the zero party data that's being collected and the ability to change the journey in real time for that end user.   In Terms of Online Shopping Experience, Key Things that Needs to be Critically Engineered to Ensure the Customer Has a Great Experience Me: Now what's interesting just listening to you speak just know, Eric, I was thinking about the whole journey of the customer, right? Because you're talking about how it is that they land on the page, what kind of experience do they have? What are some of the questions that you ask them in order to channel them down a particular road and that's kind of you orchestrating or engineering the journey you want them to have. So, in terms of an online shopping experience, what are some key things that you think is critical when you're trying to design that journey for the customer. If you had a client who came to you and they're looking to improve on their customer experience, improve on the journey that their customer is having through their online platforms, what would be, let's say three or four things that you would say to them that needs to be critically engineered into that process to ensure the customer has a great experience?   Eric stated that one example he would like to share is this brand called Obvi, have you ever heard of them Yanique?  Me: I have not.   Eric stated that they competed in a heavily saturated market. They a protein powder and they've been around about 3 years. But here's the interesting thing about them, when they started out, they started out with a $10,000 investment, bootstrap investment.  Three years later, they are a $3 Million Dollar brand and competing in a very saturated market among protein powders. What's so special is that when you see interviews of their CEO, Ronak Shah, he says they heavily focus on conversion optimization, particularly by the experience when somebody clicks on a Facebook Ad, that moment when they click on that ad, that's the moment that they are the most interested, and the most curious about a brand. Not two days later when they get the email in their inbox, not four days later when they get the SMS message. No, that time exactly when they click on that ad, that's when they're most curious and they want to learn more about the brand.  So, what they did was, is that all the landing pages that they created, they just created one landing page. But what was different about each landing page or experience was that the headline mimicked what was on the Facebook Ads, so if they had a Facebook ad that talked about grow healthy hair faster, then the headline on the landing page, said something like, are you losing your hair and you want to regrow it or something like that, it aligned with the ad that was clicked on.  Now, Obvi had a bunch of different value propositions, they had other ads that said something like the best tasting collagen protein, once that ad was clicked on, they went to the same landing page, but the website was able to recognize the Facebook ad because of the UTM parameters, he doesn't want to get too technical there. But because it recognized the ad, the headline on that landing page change to mimic what was the main copy on the Facebook Ad, even though it was the same landing page.  So, they were able to do this very easily without having to create duplicate landing pages, something he used to do as a marketer back in the day. And they were able to scale Facebook ads, which is really unheard of the past couple of years because of the iOS 14 upgrades and updates and things like that. But they were able to do it very efficiently and scale that way through Facebook, because they're able to mimic the headline on the landing pages with their advertising campaigns on Facebook.  So, that's one example he likes to share, something that all brands should be doing. Because when a person clicks on an ad, and they go to the page, the website, they want to make sure that what they clicked on is the thing that they're interested in and not some sort of bait and switch. Absolutely. So, he thinks that's one tactic.  Another tactic is Average Order Value, he thinks that's something that every brand should really focus on, especially if you're seeing cost per requisitions anywhere around $20 to $20. If you're seeing a high cost per acquisition, then definitely you should have an average order value somewhere of at least $70, $80 plus. And within the platform, they make it super easy to be able to increase your AOV, you can do things very easily, like add shipping thresholds. So, depending on the value that's in the shopping cart, let's say you provide free shipping for orders that are more than $75 and somebody puts something in there that equals $50, then there could be a little message that appears in a horizontal bar on the website, like on every page, and it just says something like, spend $25 more and you get free shipping. And that's a very easy tactic that works for a lot of brands and they're able to utilize that and get increased their AOV that way. So, that's a second tactic.  And then a third one he likes is around global visitors. So, the global visitors, he thinks Shopify released a study a few weeks ago, and the market was almost something outrageous. It was in a Billion Dollar market, it's going to continue to increase. And if you're a website that gets more than 20% of your visitors internationally, then you should be creating a personalized experience for those visitors.  Here's one example. If he goes to a retailer in the US by the name of Woodhouse Clothing, and he's based in Romania, and he goes to their website, there's a little message that will appear that says, “Hi, we ship to Romania, our prices include taxes, you can shop in your local currency, which is Romanian Leu. And our orders are free shipping if you spend more than like $200 Leu.” something like that. So, it's a very easy and a very fast way you given that international shopper assurance, and just kind of just made yourself more trustworthy by just letting them know, beforehand, before they even waste time looking around whether or not you shipped to them, just letting them know that hey, welcome we do ship to you and here's some of the other questions that you may be wondering around tax or the currency on our website. So, he thinks that's a pretty cool example.   App, Website or Tool that Eric Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business Eric shared that the one online tool that he uses a lot is Notion, and he's starting to use it more and more. First of all, it's free, or at least the one that he uses. And he's starting to use it as a CRM. He used to use Trello a lot as a project management tool. Are you familiar with Trello, Yanique?  Me: I am, yes. So, Eric used to be a big fan of Trello. And somebody pointed out that, “Hey, you can do everything you're doing in Notion, but it's actually more streamlined and easier to navigate.” And so, he believed him, because he does use Notion for other things, but he's just not too familiar with it. And he sent him a free template to use and he's been using it ever since. And it is more streamlined, it's just quicker, it can do everything that Trello can do but it's just faster to navigate, less clicks. You can see more things on one screen. And so, he's becoming a bigger, bigger fan of Notion, he would say.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Eric When asked about books that have had the biggest impact, Eric shared that one book that he read recently is called Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland. Have you ever heard of the agency called Ogilvy?  Me: I think so, yes. Eric shared that he's (Rory Sutherland) the vice Chairman of Ogilvy, really smart guy. He saw him speak live and he got his book and it's so fascinating, because the whole premise of the book is that there's a lot of answers to solutions that are unorthodox, they are a bit crazy. But we don't spend enough time trying to think of what those crazy solutions are because we've been programmed to think logically. And also, when you're in big companies, you can't show up to a meeting and like pitch this outrageous idea, because you're afraid of the repercussions and maybe being let go, right? So, you're always trying to think of what the logical solution is to problems.  But he has a number of good examples, for example, nobody was banging on the door asking for an expensive, sexy looking vacuum, but look at Dyson. There are a lot of examples like that that he gives. And it's just a really interesting book and it's helping him to think in different ways rather than trying to think of like what's the most logical solution.   What Eric is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's excited about, Eric shared that the one thing right now, obviously, for OptiMonk, they have the AI functionality features that are coming down the road, pretty excited about that, not just for their customers, but also future people who want to try their platform.  Personally, the other thing he's pretty excited about is on the side, he is launching a new service for companies that are based here in Europe, where they're having a tough time that are trying to reach their audience, especially if they're tech companies. And the past 3 years he's been building, you would say, an audience with the podcast that he hosts, and he interviews European start-up founders. And because of that, he's been able to grow his network among people in the start-up scene.  So, the service is basically combining sponsorship opportunities with his podcast, his newsletter, and then also in person events. And so, every now and then he likes to host in person cocktail party/networking events, and people that attend, they really enjoy them. They say that are a lot of fun, he likes to have a lot of fun with them, he has icebreakers, he likes to make sure that everybody has a great time. And so, in that in person event, the sponsor will have a chance to have a live short one to one interview with him in front of everybody there. So, it's another great way if their audience is also tech entrepreneurs, and tech start-ups, then it's a great way that they can get their brand in front of a live audience. So, that's what he's pretty excited about and he's been focused on he would say the past couple of weeks.   Where Can We Find Eric Online LinkedIn – Eric Melchor Innovators Can Laugh Podcast Me: So, I did remember reading a little bit about your podcast before when I was reading the bio, and I didn't get a chance to ask you about that. Could you share a little bit about your podcast? What it's about? Where does the podcast live? Is it available on most podcasts, if all platforms? And who are some of the insightful people you interview? Like I'm having this awesome interview with you now.  Eric shared that his podcast, it is available on all the major platforms like Spotify and Apple. He likes to think of the show as the Tonight Show, but for entrepreneurial related podcast, it's like a coffee, a casual coffee, like chat with the start-up founder, but the audience feels like they're just hanging out with the host and the guests. He tries to make just very light-hearted and witty. They share the ups and downs of the start-up founders, entrepreneurial journey, but they also like to have some laughs during the conversation. And so, he would say pretty recently, if he recorded an episode, and if he really listened to it and didn't think it was that funny, then he's just not airing it. So, that's how focused he is in trying for the show to live up to its name.   Some of the guests that have been so funny, a recent one not too long ago was Valentin Radu, it was episode 99. And that one almost had him crying because his story was just so funny. And all the crazy things he did just to hustle when he was younger and make $1. But there's a lot that anybody can learn from him. But he's just a good storyteller too, and quite funny.   Me: So, that's the Innovators Can Laugh Podcast, just want to reiterate that to our listeners. Feel free to tap into that as a free resource that Eric has been gracious like myself, to have a podcast and share all of these great insights with you as our listeners.    Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Eric Uses  When asked about a quote that he tends to revert to, Eric shared that the one quote that he always reverts to is, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.” by Anais Nin And whenever he's on frits about something or unsure about something, he always kind of revert to that quote. But that's his favourite quote. Have you ever heard that one before?    Me: I've never heard it, but I like it. It kind of reminds me of some of Brene Brown's quotes.   Me: Now, I just want to thank you again, Eric for taking time out of your very busy schedule. What time is it there in Romania?   Eric shared that it's 7:30 pm.  Me: Yeah, so, you're here with us at night, you could be with your family having dinner, playing cards, doing something way more fun, I'm sure and talking to me about customer experience. But we are truly grateful that you took the time out of your busy schedule to hop on this podcast and have this conversation with us. And we really learnt a lot about AI and of course your organization OptiMonk and different ways that we can look for opportunities to personalize the experience for the customers as well as engineering the customer journey in such a way that it makes it seamless and frictionless and just a better experience that at the end of it, the customer would want to do business with that organization again. So, thank you for sharing that, I'm sure listeners gained a great amount of knowledge and value from our conversation.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest    Links ·  Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland  The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!  

Attending an event as a visible minority can often be an uncomfortable experience, as the feeling of not belonging can permeate the atmosphere. The stark contrast between oneself and the majority can create an undeniable sense of awkwardness and unease. Such situations leave one questioning their place within the event, ultimately leading to discomfort and a sense of being unwelcome. This sentiment is further amplified when attending an event as a person with a disability, only to find that the event's management has overlooked essential accommodations such as ramps or wheelchair accessibility.  Recognizing the significance of inclusivity, diversity, and equality in event planning is of utmost importance. In this captivating episode of Eventist365, Yanique engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Mary Wang, delving into the crucial topics of diversity, equality, and inclusion within the realm of events planning. Highlights: 00:25  Mary's favorite tech tools and what features does she like most when using them? 04:51  How does Mary ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are incorporated in the event's designing process? 07:49  Why does Mary even think of the small nuances in planning events?  (Does it come from being a minority herself?) 10:01  The practice of inclusivity and creating a space for minorities where they are welcomed. 12:24  Breaking the barriers to gender equality especially in hardware technology. 14:28  Mary talks about a mentor who has impacted her career in meaningful ways. 16:23  How can Event Managers show empathy with their team? 20:11  What are the tangible metrics that every event manager need to share to their team so that they can do their job well? (...The balance of quantity versus quality.) 24:00  How can there be a balance between in-person events and virtual events? (...Is a mix of both a good thing?) 26:32  What are the benefits when you balance your personal passions with your professional responsibilities?   29:16  What is that one event that every Event Planner should attend to improve on their skills? RESOURCES MENTIONED: SplashThat - https://splashthat.com/ Eventbrite - https://www.eventbrite.com/ Livestorm - https://livestorm.co/ CONNECT WITH MARY WANG: Works at Chili Piper - https://www.chilipiper.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wangmary/ CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠

As the Co-Executive Director of Design Core Detroit, Kiana Wenzell co-leads several initiatives within the organization to bring about design that can create conditions for better quality of life and economic opportunity for Detroit. As stewards of Detroit's UNESCO City of Design designation, Design Core serves as the backbone organization for the Detroit City of Design initiatives. In this conversation of Yanique to Kiana, you will learn of her role in event planning and design-driven insights that help drive businesses and their role in strengthening Detroit's economy.  Highlights: 01:34  A standout corporate event Kiana Wenzell has worked on and what made it unique. 04:19   The difference between Kiana and Yanique's experience in their travel to Kaunas, Lithuania?  10:00  Kiana's insight on sound and the use of the senses when working with venue partners for events.  12:26  What are some of the things Kiana puts in to achieve the visual appeal at the events when working with venue partners? (...What happens in the monthly Drinks by Design events?) 18:59  Does Kian incorporate some innovative tech tools or platforms into the event planning process to enhance the overall attendees' experience? 21:11  How were Kiana's team able to have autonomy in their website to get their events updated as they migrated off from Eventbrite?  25:11  What are some strategies Kiana has implemented to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusivity are reflected in their events?  29:25  Kiana's advice to people wanting to enter the corporate event planning and marketing field. 32:09  Kiana shares a story of how she overcame a difficult situation during an event - not having the liquor license. 36:06  What's one event you feel like every event professional, or every event planning and marketing professional should attend at least once in their life?  38:20  Closing  RESOURCES MENTIONED: Splash - https://splashcreative.com/ Submittable - https://www.submittable.com/ Asana - https://asana.com/ CONNECT WITH  KIANA WENZELL: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiana-wenzell-7482147a/ Instagram - @kiana_designpro  Design Core Detroit - https://designcore.org/design-core/meet-the-team/ CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠

Creating meaningful and engaging brand experiences takes a great, widely diverse and incredibly talented team. At Rockway Exhibits and Events where Matt Kleinrock is the CEO, his team are able to craft exceptional experiences that empower companies to achieve their goals, but also promote diversity and inclusivity to event and trade show attendees.   In this episode, Yanique and Matt engage in a fantastic discussion that serves as a source of inspiration for those seeking to broaden their perspective on how to promote inclusivity and diversity in event activations, exhibits, and trade shows.  Highlights:  00:29  A standout corporate event Kiana Wenzell has worked on and what made it unique. 03:22  Matt's favorite brand activation projects and creative process behind it. 07:24  What kind of technology has impacted trade shows in the actual executions?  (...What is the future in using hologram technology?) 11:13  The event that Matt remembered having a unique experience. 14:38  What in Matt's conversation with TaChellle Lawson on diversity and inclusion got Matt to think differently about hiring?  19:45  How can you help your team members push past their comfort zone to achieve something extraordinary?  22:39  As a leader in the event industry, how do you utilize your power to shape and influence the profession in a way that promotes a broader perspective among both the workforce and attendees? 27:11  How do you ensure better access to shows and events activation from a compliance standpoint e.g. wheelchairs and Braille signage? 30:44  What is that one event every event marketing professional or planner should attend at least once in their life?  31:55  Closing RESOURCES MENTIONED: Cameo - Connect with your favorite celebrities CONNECT WITH MATT KLEINROCK:  LinkedIn Website Instagram - @rockwayexhibits CONNECT WITH YANIQUE DACOSTA: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://eventist365.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social Media: Host ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@MissYaniDoesStuff /facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@YaniDoesStuff / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@yanidoesstuff / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YDaCosta / LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Graphic Design Firm for Corporate Events ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@TheYKMD / Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theYKMD / Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@theykmd / Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YKMD Visual Communication / LinkedIn⁠⁠

Nathan Yeung is an experienced marketing strategist with over 10 plus years of expertise in advising B2B businesses. Throughout his career, Nathan has helped numerous companies build their marketing teams from scratch, delivering successful go-to-market deployments and launching new products into the market.   Nathan's diverse background brings a unique perspective to the marketing world. Trained in marketing, he has also worked in finance and management consulting, providing him with a comprehensive understanding of business operations and strategy. Nathan's ability to think outside the box has helped his clients to stand out in their industries, and his expertise has been recognized by numerous organizations over the years.    Questions  • Could you tell our audience a little bit about how you got to where you are today? • Could you share with our listeners kind of how you advise your clients to kind of close that gap and make it a more seamless and frictionless experience for the customer? • What are some things maybe three things that as a top marketer that you would advise your customers in terms of ensuring that they're able to keep their existing clientele, and of course, attract new customers and still maintain a quality experience? • Now let's say our audience, they're looking to build their marketing team from scratch, what are let's say three or four qualities that you believe your team in marketing needs to possess in order to be successful? • Could you share with our audience 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 you've read, it could be a book that you read very recently or one you read a very long time ago, but it has had a very big impact on you. • Can you also share with our listeners, what's the one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about, either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people. • Where can listeners find you online? • Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you'll tend to revert to this quote if for any reason you got derailed, or you got off track, and this quote kind of just helps to get you back on track. Highlights  Nathan's Journey Me: Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share a little bit about their journey in their own words. So, could you tell our audience a little bit about how you got to where you are today?   Nathan shared that it's a bit of a long journey. So, he originally went to school for entrepreneurship with a specialty in marketing. And afterwards, he actually ended up going into finance. So, it was a bit of a massive change. Managing conditions and kind of really making sure that the acquisition is transitioned, well, kind of synergies and managing sometimes moving the business model into completely different markets. And one of the things that I had fundamentally seen in almost every single one of his jobs and careers was how important marketing was, and also how he felt that he didn't feel like marketing was really getting as much attention as it really needed.   And he often felt like a lot of the people who had the money or had the authority to make decisions really kind of didn't appreciate marketing. And he thinks that came from a couple of different perspectives. One, he doesn't think they quite understood marketing. And two, he thinks just in the sense of the pool of practitioners, he thinks the pool of the practitioners are quite small. And so, he thinks there's a general under appreciation for marketing and that's kind of one of the things that drove him to it, obviously, being trained. And even while doing all these jobs, he was always doing kind of marketing things on the side.  So, he's always kind of enjoyed marketing, and kind of after his management consulting stint, he started Find Your Audience and really focusing on what he believes is what he calls it sustainable and practical marketing, and the very operational versus that of a typical creative shop.    Advise for a Seamless and Frictionless Experience for Customers Me: So, can you share with our audience, based on your experience, you've been in this area for quite some time. And I do believe marketing is very much directly related to customer experience. One of my greatest pet peeves is organizations invest so much in getting the name out there, the brand out there, the image, the product and then when you actually have to interface with them, whether it be on the phone, or through their app, or through a website or face to face, what they've advertised in terms of what you're getting and what was in the marketing, there is a totally different disconnect, there's no correlation. So, could you share with our listeners kind of how you advise your clients to kind of close that gap and make it a more seamless and frictionless experience for the customer?   Nathan stated that that's a great point. And he always talks about customer experience, because you're absolutely right, it's incredibly jarring for a lot of customers to go into a funnel, be sold on some particular benefits, then obviously purchase that product, and really not have a great way to experience those benefits in a seamless way. Therefore, really making that experience quite negative or some say you want things frictionless, this very having a lot of friction. He tells a lot of clients that when you sell something, the customer experience is directly correlated, obviously with retention and kind of the attrition rate of your customers. And it's incredibly important for you to be as aligned as possible, but also as self-serving as possible to the customer in the sense of those benefits and making sure that they know how to experience those benefits, how are they going to get access to those benefits and how they can essentially get what they need to drive a successful outcome from that purchase from whatever that expectation is. And a lot of clients tend to overlook that because he thinks a lot of clients are very, very focused on just gaining that acquisition of a customer versus really making sure that they nurture that customer.   Me: Agreed. So, it's all about the acquisition and not necessarily about the experience.   Nathan shared that the experience is an afterthought. And especially with newer companies, that's very much the case, he thinks with more mature companies, you'll see that they focus a little bit more on customer success teams. And those customer success teams, and product managers have an actual focus on that customer onboarding process to make sure that experience is great.   Keeping Existing Clientele and Attract New Customers and Still Maintain a Quality Experience Me: Now, let's say if you could give our listeners maybe three things, we're already halfway through 2023. And so, they're looking on ensuring that they can continue to sustain the business that they already have and they're looking to acquire new customers, what are some things maybe three things that as a top marketer that you would advise your customers in terms of ensuring that they're able to keep their existing clientele, and of course, attract new customers and still maintain a quality experience?   Nathan shared that he thinks the number one thing is it sounds so simple, but he finds that a lot of clients don't even do this is really in HR, there are these pulse surveys, and these pulse surveys are really to get a pulse of your employees. He thinks very much when you have customers, there should be a pulse survey for your customers. Some companies obviously, do this by annual NPS surveys, Net Promoter Score surveys, for those that don't know what NPS means. But it is really just important to have a kind of a quarterly checkpoint with your customer and saying, “Hey, how are you doing, I really just wanted to call you today, is there anything that I can do differently?”  And this needs to be very clear, you have to say differently, because you don't want to imply something negative or positive, you really actually just want to ask for their advice. And typically, if there's anything different, that means it's something that they probably want. So, he thinks really leading into that conversation with is anything that we can do differently is really, really important. And he thinks that's a great way just to maintain relationships with your current clients, but two, to constantly get a great level of feedback on your current business, to ensure that you're always keeping up that level of service or level quality that hopefully, you desire to have.  The second thing is you have to just respect that everyone is busy. That also means everyone's quite lazy. And he doesn't mean that in a negative way, he just means that in a kind of general human sense that humans tend to have a lazy factor to them, and you have to really handhold them through any activity. So, when you're doing these surveys, when you're doing these things, just know that it is not a priority for them. And that you have to be incredibly patient, and making sure that whether this is the survey you're asking them to do, or it's the onboarding process, don't assume that they actually know what they're doing. And be mindful to actually build out anything to help them understand what they need to do in order to get that outcome again.  And so, if it's that survey, make sure that that survey is incredibly easy to do. If it's a customer form, make sure that customer form has a loom video talking about how to answer the questions. If it's an NPS score, again, also send them another loom video just showing what an NPS score looks like because they also maybe don't want to go into a huge form, or survey and waste their time. So again, kind of have this humility in the sense that every one of your customers has a lot of things to do, they're naturally lazy, that the best way you can get their attention is by making sure that you do everything you can to make sure that that expected journey is visible, and they know exactly what they're getting into.   Qualities for Building a Marketing Team Me: Brilliant. Those are really, really good points. Thanks for sharing, Nathan. Now let's say our audience wanted to build out their own marketing team. They're looking to build their marketing team from scratch, what are let's say three or four qualities that you believe your team in marketing needs to possess in order to be successful?   Nathan stated that that is an incredibly difficult question. For anyone that's listening, he's going to preface this that marketing is incredibly complex right now. And they're a firm that firmly believes that they do not prescribe solutions. And why this is really important to those three or four qualities that Yanique is mentioning, is because those three-four qualities really are dependent on your organization. And he knows that's not a great answer, because he's sure you guys want a simple solution. So, he'll try to make it simple, but he'll still preface that it is really going to be dependent on your situation.  So, one of the number one things that he thinks is difficult for a lot of businesses is content generation. And so, he feels like if you were to be forced into decision where you have to hire someone, or you're really looking for someone to come in the organisation, find someone who actually has a lot of experience in content generation, and that can mean a lot of things. So, content generation could be social, content generation could be producing videos on Tiktok or reels on Instagram. Content generation could also mean the written form of content such as search engine optimization, and creating authority articles, authority blogs and things that really speak about your industry. He thinks that's one core skill set that no matter the company, you're going to get value from that.  The other thing that he thinks is really important is to find someone that maybe has some experience on brand. So, if you're a B2C company, you're really going to want someone who has a creative background with a bit of art direction, because when your B2C, creative plays a massive role and you standing out in the market.  Now, he will then take that back, that statement, saying that if you're in B2B, while he does think having a creative background is incredibly important, probably what's even more important than that in a B2B business is someone that's a product marketer. And so, a product marketer is really going to be that person that's going to help translate your services, solutions, packages, products into real tangible materials that are going to be benefit leading and can be brought to the market. So, they're the ones that are going to really create all the assets required for you to be successful in selling your product into that market and they're really hyper focused at doing that. They're also hyper focused on getting customer feedback, and making sure that that feedback loop is actively going into your marketing materials, and addressing any of those pain points and friction points that your customers are having.  So, it's a long-winded answer so he'll make it simple. Again, content, if you just want to be general, find someone with great content experience, that's going to pay you some dividends. And if you're a little bit more of a complex business, he would recommend first prioritising what you're doing, then kind of finding an individual who has those qualities.    Me: Okay, so your answer kind of piqued my interest a little. And I'd like to dig a little bit further as it relates to content generation. So, let's say I have somebody internally in the organization already who has some shown a little bit of potential as it relates to marketing. They don't have a lot of experience in content generation, but I see potential for them to be able to be strong in that area. Are there certain things that someone can do to become a better content generator?   Nathan shared that he thinks the best way for them to become the best content generator is really to focus on first, what form of content right. And the first question before you go down that route is you have to ask yourself is that form of content generation, the form that is going to be the most influential for your business. So, for a lot of people, they've jumped on the bandwagon of like search engine optimization, and search engine optimization in particular, businesses make sense, because the traffic numbers in the search numbers make sense.   If you're in a hyper focused niche type of product or service, you may not actually get a lot of benefit from doing SEO. So, you might be more interested in doing like videos, or reels or a podcast, for example. And so really, it's first, let's focus on what asset do we actually need to create content for and make sure that's first aligned. And if you think that person has the capabilities to do that particular type of content and asset, then let's go ahead and figure out what that looks like.  Now, for them to get better at that, it would be simply it's doing research into what the market is looking for, right? The reality is, is that he hates to say this, because he thinks it's like an overplayed thing, you want to go viral, like that's the ideal thing.  If you have a great article that goes viral, that's fantastic. If you have a great reel that goes viral, that's fantastic. If you have a great video on YouTube that goes viral, that's fantastic. We're all looking for that virality.   And so, the game plan for that content person is really, okay, so I'm good at this type of content, this type of asset for this type of channel, let's go find out what are people really interested in this space, and really just looking at those hashtags, looking at those influencers that are doing well and trying to identify trends in what they're doing, and creating a small framework to create that content.  There is no perfect former all for virality, there is to a certain extent, if you want to do really outlandish thing, like give out a million dollars to people randomly on the street, that's easy, but no one has that kind of money all the time.  So, he thinks having that person just do that research in the specific channel and understanding their market and then trying to copy that and he knows that sounds terrible, but they have to learn, so he would suggest just copying that content.   And then more importantly, he thinks the number one thing is getting efficient at content generation. He thinks content generation itself is easy, being incredibly efficient is actually the hard part.   So, can that person learn to create 12 to 15 pieces of assets in an hour? And if they can, that's amazing, that's fantastic, that's incredibly valuable. You don't want this person creating one piece of content a day, that's not going to be effective for any business.  So, one, figure out, does whatever the content match your market. Two, have them research whether or not you can actually create content efficiently and effectively for that market. And then three, optimize the living crap out of that operational process so that that person can produce as much content as possible.   App, Website or Tool that Nathan Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he can't live without in his business, Nathan shared that everyone's going to hate this but he's going to say ChatGPT. So, he's going to say that, he's going to stop there, because everyone's going to roll their eyes and say, “Good, great.” So, ChatGPT, obviously, please use it.  Now, he'll actually provide a much better source. I have Sunday Product Hunt Days. And people go well, what does that mean? It means every Sunday, he goes to www.producthunt.com and he looks at the latest listings. And the reason he looks at those latest listings is because these are all bootstrapped entrepreneurs creating mini SAAS products, solving mini problems. And it's a great way one, for you to find new SAAS products that could obviously benefit your business.  But two, it's also kind of an indication of the pain points in the market. Generally speaking, these entrepreneurs who are bootstrapped, who are producing these things are actually solving a pain point. There's another question of whether or not that pain point is large enough for it to be a lucrative business. But regardless, it's a pain point. So, going on product on every Sunday, reviewing the latest releases for the week, it's kind of a great way for you to get a feel of the market, but two, it's also a great way for you to find new SAAS tools that no one knows about that you can use to benefit your organisation.   Me: Okay, I've never heard of that strategy before. And I'm sure our listeners will be impacted in a positive way from that strategy, because I'm definitely going to try this Sunday for sure.   Nathan stated that it's lovely, you learn not only is it a bit of like a new centre, too, because a lot of these bootstrap entrepreneurs are using the latest API's, the latest generative AI things, the latest language models. And so, you'll end up learning just from reading the descriptions what they're doing, that will also keep you up to date with kind of the latest and greatest things too.    Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Nathan When asked about books that have had a big impact, Nathan shared that one of the his favourite books by far has been Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) by Verne Harnish. Scaling Up is really a beautiful book on how to scale your business. And for any of those listeners right now that are thinking about scaling up your business, he recommends it, like absolutely hands down. If you're looking to build your business, look and read at Scaling Up, the book fundamentally just changed how much he really thought about structure. And as much us entrepreneurs love the idea of having kind of a very flat and horizontal organization, the reality is that scale creates problems.  And when you have scale, you have to have structure. And if you don't have structure, you really can't scale particular parts of your function because the reality is that there's just a certain point where you actually really need to have somewhat hyper focus doing only a portion of that operational process.  So, that book really aligned his thinking on what is required to build and sustain a scalable business. And two, it just gave him a lot of frameworks to help build his own organization, they're at 25 employees, they grew from 14 employees in just like less than 6 to 7 months. And if you think that having more employees is going to be possible in a horizontal manner, he can say absolutely good on you. But you're going to have a lot of leaks. So, highly recommend that book, he's read it multiple times, he's shared it with his business friends. And so, he would recommend taking a look and lucky enough, you have a digital, you have audible, you have the paper book, you can get whatever version you want, it's got great exercises, and it's really going to broaden your perspective on thinking big.   What Nathan is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something that he's really excited about, Nathan shared that what he's really, really excited about right now is he's a little bit of a like coder in the back end. And he loves creating small little apps for himself. For those listeners, it has never been easier for you to create small tools for yourself. And if you haven't learned to code at all, that's okay, it's not that difficult, it is certainly a time investment. But he would really recommend taking a look at some Python courses, and utilizing ChatGPT, or any other generative AI tool to help you generate code because it's never been easier for you to automate random things that are kind of important to you.   For example, he has a little script that kind of does product research for him. And so, what he does is, if he's looking to buy maybe the latest camera, or the latest ring light, or the latest headphones or earbuds, he simply has ChatGPT just kind of go out into the internet and produce him a summary. So, think about it as on the call Coles notes for literally everything you want in life, you want to know the best baby bottle, it'll do the research for you, you want to know the best soda stream, it'll do the research for you.  And you can really do this for any part of your life, and you can do it now in a fraction of the time. So, he thinks that's the one really fun thing is actually creating these mini apps for himself, and getting a bit more proficient at that because it really is a time saving activity.   Where Can We Find Nathan Online Website – www.findyouraudience.online Instagram - @fya.marketingbytes LinkedIn – Nathan Yeung             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 he has so many quotes. One of the most recent ones, and he learned this from one of his clients who had faced an unfortunate event, he's a very, very smart man, he mentioned that his wife was going through something quite ill and he had no control over it. And he was very upset, and he dealt with that for many years.  And one of the things that is really important is, “You can't control outcome, you can only control process.” So, this idea of going into conversations with this negative feeling, this negative energies is really not required, you can only control what you're doing towards that conversation, you can't actually control the outcome of that conversation, you'd like to think you can, but you can't.  And so, letting go of that control, which is honestly a very much like an ego thing, it's almost, someone could say ego death is just realizing you can't control, can't control everything in the world and letting go of control is definitely one thing that he's certainly still learning but it's something that he has to kind of really lean into in tough times in the business.  The second one that he has also from the same dinner that he heard was, “The grass is greener only where you water it.” And so, there's a long folktale behind that. And you guys can probably find that online. But it's very much on the standpoint that we always like to think the grass is greener, but the reality is, is the grass is only greener where you water it. So, the grass is greener and the folktale behind that has two meanings. One is obviously sometimes you forget to see the grass that you have watered. But two, he thinks in the more nuanced new age perspective is it is only going to be greener if you focus on it. So, he thinks both of those things are really important and he thinks that's important just for your day-to-day activities, but also for your business.   Me: So, we just want to say thank you. Thank you so much, Nathan for taking time out of your very busy schedule to hop on this podcast with us and have this awesome conversation about marketing and how it's connected to customer experience and why it's important for us to ensure that we're looking at the entire process, the journey of the experience, not just selling or marketing the product or service, but also ensuring that our customers have a seamless experience, a frictionless experience. And of course, the qualities that you shared with us as it relates to ensuring that we have the right people on our marketing team, depending on our organization type. So, the conversation was great, the information was great and totally insightful. I know I gain a lot from it, and I'm sure our listeners will gain a lot from it when it is released. So, thank you so much.   Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest Links ·  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   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Webinar – New Date Register Here  

Saira Taneja is Chief Experience Officer at Cover Whale, a leading commercial trucking insurance provider and fast-growing insurtech.   Taneja brings over a decade of experience in the health insurance sector across various functional areas where she held multiple leadership roles. Her passion for innovative market offerings led her to Cover Whale. Leveraging her expertise in scaling businesses, while also achieving customer-centricity has been instrumental in the company's success. She currently oversees the Growth, Marketing and Customer Success organisations.  She holds a BA in International Business from Bentley University, and an MBA from Bentley's McCallum Graduate School of Business.   Questions   • Now, we always like to give our guests an opportunity to share in their own words a little bit about their journey. So, could you take a few minutes just to share with our listeners, how it is that you got to where you are today? • What is Cover Whale for those of our listeners that don't know what your company does, could you share with us? • One of the things that I think would be important for these kinds of experiences to have a more of an omni channel approach to your service experience or your service delivery, could you share with us maybe three things that your organisation is doing that creates that kind of experience? Or if you're not doing it, maybe something you're working towards doing. • Could you also share maybe two to three pain points that your end users pretty much complain about with your service that you're providing? What are some of your pain points that you're solving on a day to day basis? • 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 maybe one or two books that you have read that have had a great impact on you? It could be a book that you read a very long time ago, or even one that you've read recently. • From a leadership perspective, what are some things that you do to ensure that your team is motivated, and your team is doing all the best they can do to deliver that experience, not just for your end users, but also internally to each other? • Now, could you also share 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, if for any chance you got derailed, or you got distracted and you kind of use that quote to kind of just to get you back on track, get you back focused? Do you have one of those? Highlights  Saira's Journey  Saira shared that she likes to say that her career took a corporate path, albeit, not a linear one. And she tends to follow her passions for the next step. And so, without going into every twist and turn in her history, really it is that she started out, as mentioned, in sort of the International Business track, that's where she thought she wanted to go, worked in Embassy for a summer in DC, decided that was not for her and wanted to go into business.   And so, really work from sales and marketing, product, strategy, CX all with a common thread of strategy and CX throughout her career and ended up in the health insurance sector. It happened by chance and a lot of them that are in the insurance space, say they got here by chance, that they stayed here because of the opportunity and really have developed a passion for it.  And so, Cover Whale came knocking about a year ago at this point with this amazing opportunity that was really an amalgamation of all of her corporate experiences into one beautifully challenging job and she said yes. And so, that's what led her to her current post, as mentioned, overseeing the growth organization, marketing, customer success but really leading the charge on experience for Cover Whale.    About Cover Whale – What Does the Company Do? Saira shared that Cover Whale is an Insurtech, so that's shorthand for an Insurance Technology company, and MGA. And for those of the listeners that are not familiar with an MGA, that's an Managing General Agent. So, an MGA is really a go between between the carrier partners. So, they have relationships with a number of different insurance carriers, and the Managing General Agent have functions that allow them to really underwrite. And so, they've been granted underwriting authority by the insurance companies with which they partner to bind, to underwrite, to price, to settle claims, and to point in retail agents.  So, all that to say is they are an entity between their carrier partners, and then retail agents, that's really their primary distribution channel in the commercial trucking space. So, you think of truck drivers driving across America, they need insurance, that's what they're providing. And they're doing it in a digital user-friendly way that hasn't been seen before.   Me: So, your primary customer are your truck drivers, and when you said insurance, you're talking about like health insurance? Are you also referring to life insurance?   Saira shared that that's interesting, she came from the health insurance space. So, what they're really offering is Commercial Auto Insurance. So, for their box trucks, auto haulers, semis, those are different types of vehicles, and for the cargo that they carry.  So, they are offering Commercial Auto Insurance for the end users or the policy holders, which are the truck drivers or owner operators. And they're doing it through their retail agents. So, she's really excited for today's conversation because it's a pretty complicated space and they really have multiple stakeholders. So, when they think about experience, not only is it about the end users or drivers, it's about those that are distributing the insurance to them, which primarily for them is retail agents or wholesalers with whom they partner with.   Creating an Omni Channel Experience  Me: So, one of the things that I think would be important for these kinds of experience to have a more of an omni channel approach to your service experience or your service delivery, could you share with us maybe three things that your organization is doing that creates that kind of experience? Or if you're not doing it, maybe something you're working towards doing.   Saira stated that she loves that question, so, it's really interesting that Yanique said the word omni channel. And she thinks that means different things to different companies. But really, where most companies start is, you have service, so you have a place where people who might have questions or an issue can go to and call you as a company, right? They (Cover Whale) and others have a call line to be able to reach out to them, so that's one point in the experience.  And really, they also allow their partners to reach out to them via email, that's another point. But really where the majority of their experience is delivered is through their proprietary platform that they've built in house.  And that's where they go to bind coverage for policyholders. And so, what she'll say is, what she just described really is a multi-channel experience, right? You have various points in the interaction with Cover Whale and other companies where you can reach out, but multi-channel are siloed.   And so, she thinks you're asking about omni channel, which is how are you connecting all those points together, and that's something that they are working on internally that she knows every company is really after, because some of the best experienced companies in the world have figured out, you reach out to them one way, they know when you've reached out to them a different way and they're able to take the data that you've given them or information you've given them through those different channels and put it all in one place so that your experience is standardised across various channels.  So, that's something that they're working towards and getting better at every day. And really, it starts with centralization of data. And so, just with your questions of three different ways, she just described them. So, email, calling, as well as the platform as well as they have an app. And what she loves to say is that, in today's day and age, there are so many different channels from which customers can reach out and it's a matter of marrying all of them together into one omni channel experience.   Pain Points Cover Whale is Solving Me: Could you also share maybe two to three pain points that your end users pretty much complain about with your service that you're providing? What are some of your pain points that you're solving on a day to day basis?    Saira stated that that's a really great question. And she'll be very honest with you, Cover Whale grew really, really quickly. The company was founded in 2020 and they're sitting here almost midway through 2023, they did not realize they'd experienced this level of explosive growth.  And so, with that, obviously come service challenges. When customers used to reach out to them, they wouldn't hear back in really a very quick fashion. And so, what they've done over the last year is really work on their timeliness. What they done is, they stood up a number of self-service tools. So, a knowledge base, a chatbot. They've stood up internal service level requirements for their team to achieve on the service side for getting to first contact resolution of an 85%, for an email response time of four hours.  And so, she would say to the question, it's really about speed of service that they've worked on and done really well at and you know what, at the end of the day, it's leveraging technology to be able to help and anybody can staff with hundreds of people to get to the hundreds of inquiries that are coming in, but it's really about being smart and applying technology so that you can drive down inquiries and also make improvements. The questions that were coming in, it gave them real insight into the pain points that they should be solving, sort of at the top of the funnel, rather than staffing for on the other end.   App, Website or Tool that Saira Absolutely Can't Live Without in Her Business When asked about an online resource that she can't live without in her business, Saira stated that she loves this one. She likes to stick to and there are so many but for her, it's Miro. What she loves doing and if you ever visit their Cover Whale offices in New York and she welcomes you to do so. You're going to find post its everywhere. When they're in person, folks have known have visited the office when they're post its all around the room and more of the team is leveraging them now.  But she thinks it's really important to map the end to end journey for whatever it is that you're trying to solve for. Because sometimes one part of the company may be doing something that another part of the company may not be aware of. So, sitting and mapping step by step from a user's perspective is so important. And so, Miro is really the digital version of that. If you've ever used it, it's essentially a whiteboard with sticky notes, digitally, they can be any size, shape, colour, and you essentially do the same thing. And so, she uses that fairly often in a virtual setting.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Saira When asked about books that have had a great impact, Saira shared that one that she loves, if folks that are listening that have not read before, it's really old, it's probably from like the late 90s, but it had quite an impact on her life, it's called The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book). So, she loves that one. And not to steal the thunder of the book. But really, it's four agreements that you can apply to your life, starting with being impeccable with your word. To always doing your best and a lot of really good wisdom in the middle. And just to give credit where credit is due, that's by Don Miguel Ruiz, a Mexican author.  And the other one is by an Organizational Psychologist, Adam Grant, called Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know. And she found that one really enlightening and eye opening, because there are a lot of assumptions and biases and everybody's thinking that they may not even know that they have. And it's really about questioning everything that comes to mind and really encouraging others to question also, facts that we all may think are facts are likely have changed over time, the world is a dynamic place. And so, it's about thinking and thinking again, so she would encourage listeners to read that one if they haven't yet.   Ensuring the Team is Motivated to Deliver the Best Experience to the End Users and Internally Me: Now your role, Saira at Cover Whale is Chief Experience Officer and that's a very big role. I can imagine in terms of leadership, you have to have strong leadership, certain kinds of skills to ensure that you are leading a team that is not just doing things because you've told them to do it, but they are intrinsically motivated to do it. And so, from a leadership perspective, for those of our listeners, who are tapping into this episode, and they'd like to sharpen their leadership skills, especially with post COVID, lots of people are burnt out mentally, they might not necessarily like everything about what they do and sometimes that energy comes over in their drive and the work that they get done. What are some things that you do to ensure that your team is motivated, and your team is doing all the best they can do to deliver that experience, not just for your end users, but also internally to each other?   Saira stated that she loves that question. So, when you think about experience, it's not just the experience that you're delivering, it's the experience of the people with whom you're working with every single day. If the experience of the people you're working with is not good, more likely than not, your customers are not happy either. And so, it starts with the culture, it starts in the organization and for her, her leadership style is really one of being a servant leader. It's about listening to those that she leads in her organization and understanding what's working well, what isn't.  Saira shared that she is actually on a listening tour right now with their agent partners, she's trying to meet with one every single day, it might take her years to get through all of them because there are thousands but she offers this as a suggestion to other leaders who are listening to this podcast because leadership has a tendency, we want measurement, NPS, customer effort, customer satisfaction, what is the data telling us, and you will get insights from surveys, absolutely and that should be happening too.  But just pausing and calling your customer, reaching out to them, having a meeting, sitting down with them, asking for feedback is so powerful. She has learnt so much in the last x months of sitting down with partners every single day that she doesn't think she would have gotten the same colour from a PowerPoint presentation on sort of survey insights. And so, she just encourages listeners to reach out and have a conversation, you might learn something that your customers would not have offered in an online survey or other medium. So, just ask and listen, active listening is such an important part of what we can all do. They've hired the best of the best, really, and so it's about making sure they have everything that they need to do their best work. And what she can say to you is that in terms of their experience, they've purposely developed the culture internally at Cover Whale to be one that's employee centric. And in being employee centric also means that they have the power to do right by their customers and their stakeholders. And so, what she asked the team to do is in every interaction, or anything that they're standing up, whether it be at the product level, whether it be in communications, is this something that you would like to be on the receiving end of if you're in the shoes of their customer?  She thinks that's so important. They're not just going to a company everyday working and going home and turning off, they're actively building something and creating something that their customers are experiencing, that they experience, frankly, 1000s of times a day in their interactions with other companies. So, she thinks it's really about bringing that message home and empowering their people to be able to do right by their end users.   What Saira is Really Excited About Now! When asked what's one thing that's going on right now that she's excited about, Saira stated that that's a great question. She stated that it's figuring out how to harness technology for service. And when she says service, she doesn't just mean their service centre. When it comes to insurance, once somebody signs on the dotted line, everything that comes after over the next year is service, if they need to reach out, if they need to make a change, if something has happened unfortunately, that's service and so how do they harness technology to be able to help with that service and ChatGPT is such an interesting point in their life, and in society to figure out how to mindfully apply technology so that we can free up humans to do more value-add work, and really drive the empathy that all people want.  At the end of the day, people are looking for a connection at a certain point, they may not want to talk to a person for a common question that they can get responded to via Chatbot or that they can find a knowledge base. But she thinks that's one of the most interesting things that they're really thinking through right now of how do you apply technology to be able to free up people to be able to do more value-add work? And she thinks this is not just a question that she has internally with Cover Whale, she thinks this is a question that leaders are asking throughout. And really everybody's asking of what is this going to mean five years down the road?   Me: Agreed. It's interesting you mentioned ChatGPT because I don't believe that is going to replace people. And I totally agree with you that the question should be, how can we use the technology to answer more mundane, run of the mill kind of questions, and then the more complex tasks that require a high level of empathy, the emotions and the workings of a human being that chat or a bot or any form of artificial intelligence can't deliver, the humans can be freed up to deal with those kinds of scenarios.   Saira stated yes, she totally agrees with that.   Me: So, in continuation of that whole point, do you see ChatGPT evolving, and exploding, or even something that's being added on to that like in the next, I would say, 12 months? Because it's definitely a buzz thing that's happening, have you found ways in your organisation to make it work?   Saira stated that they have and it's interesting. So, what she would say is, she thinks that her inclination right now, based on what she's seen, is that she would not want to apply it just front and centre to their customers. She thinks from a service standpoint, it's really unpredictable. In terms of what you might get back, but she thinks it's really compelling to use as a tool, which is where she hopes we all end up going, if you think about a calculator being introduced to the world, and everybody's saying, “Oh, no, nobody's going to learn how to do math.” And it's like, well, you learn to use it as a tool for analysis, for research.  And so, that's really how they're trying to leverage it, of are there certain things that they might be able to input into it? Can it crunch massive amounts of data to be able to give them insights that otherwise would have taken them weeks to do?  For instance, are they able to take certain inputs and filter it through, of course, nothing proprietary or sensitive, and then understand what's working well from the proprietary technology they've stood up. What might be a production error that they're seeing or others. So, she thinks that if organizations can figure out how to optimise their back-end operations by using ChatGPT as a tool, she thinks it would just make us more efficient. But in terms of it being customer facing right now, she doesn't think we're there.   Where Can We Find Saira Online LinkedIn – Saira Taneja           Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Saira Uses When asked about a quote or saying that she tends to revert to, Saira shared that she does. The one that she always tends to go back to is Alice Walker, she's an American novelist. She has said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.” And she loves that because we all have the power, each and every day to drive change. No matter what aspect of life it is and this is what she shares with her teams as well, is that you have the power really to change something. Don't pass the buck, don't think somebody else will do it for you. If you can do it, you have the power to do it, do it.   Me: Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing, Saira. And I think if anything our listeners should take away from this interview is focusing on ensuring that we really pay attention to all of our stakeholders, our employees, our customers, and ensure that we really listen to them as she mentioned, active listening, it's something we take for granted, it's something that we have to do every day in order to communicate. But are we really designating that time and effort to the people who really need to be heard so the real change can be made?    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest    Links ·  The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Teoltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz ·  Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!   The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience Webinar – New Date Register Here