Latest / Customer Service Revolution | Customer Experience & Employee Experience for Business Leaders / 204: Secret Service - The Power of Personalizing Service, Part 1

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204: Secret Service - The Power of Personalizing Service, Part 1 · Customer Service Revolution | Customer Experience & Employee Experience for Business Leaders

• 1:00
  Hello, revolutionaries.
• 1:01
  Welcome back to the customer service revolution podcast.
• 1:05
  I'm Denise Thompson and I am here with the chief Revolution officer of The DiJulius group, John DiJulius.
• 1:11
  How are you, John?
• 1:12
  Fantastic.
• 1:13
  Denise, tell me about your trip.
• 1:16
  it was great.
• 1:17
  It was great.
• 1:18
  If you want good customer service, lovely people, Scotland is a wonderful place to be.
• 1:23
  Really incredibly friendly.
• 1:26
  And like, is it just their nature?
• 1:30
  No.
• 1:30
  great sense of humor about them.
• 1:32
  Really nice folks.
• 1:33
  Yeah, I've been to Ireland and I was blown away about how nice everyone was and someone told me Scotland is the same if not better.
• 1:42
  Yeah, I have to agree.
• 1:43
  Yeah, it's beautiful.
• 1:45
  Beautiful.
• 1:46
  Yeah, well, we were really fortunate.
• 1:47
  We had good weather.
• 1:48
  We had one day of rain in the tent that we were over there.
• 1:51
  yeah, sunshine came out.
• 1:54
  It was better than the weather here.
• 1:55
  What's it this time of year there?
• 1:58
  60?
• 1:58
  Well, we had it was in the 50s pretty much most of the time.
• 2:02
  There's always a breeze.
• 2:04
  So you have to not mind the wind too much, but there wasn't snow, which is what we found when we landed when we came back.
• 2:11
  Well good, welcome back.
• 2:12
  Thank you.
• 2:13
  Thanks.
• 2:14
  So what have I missed here?
• 2:15
  What's happening at the DiJulius Group this week?
• 2:17
  This week is a great week.
• 2:19
  It's quarter two, the spring quarter of the Customer Experience Executive Academy.
• 2:25
  And I did day one yesterday and I just love it.
• 2:28
  It's just always my most favorite thing because you have 25 Chief Experience Officers in the room from all over and you know.
• 2:37
  all over the world, literally.
• 2:41
  We someone from Jamaica, they're all aligned with the same purpose, and they just become so close, and God, you learn so much from them, and they're already really good, and
• 2:56
  they're just so passionate about learning and taking it back.
• 3:01
  you know, changing their businesses and it's just fun.
• 3:04
  I just love the, academies because of the community it builds and the genius that's just in the room.
• 3:12
  Yeah, I've always enjoyed that too, the community and it lasts.
• 3:15
  It's not that they just come to class and that's the end.
• 3:18
  They continue to stay in touch with each other.
• 3:20
  Yeah, it's cool.
• 3:21
  Some of them like, you know, from 2015 have reunions and they, you they're just, you just see them on their, you know, groups on social media constantly sharing and, and yeah, it's
• 3:35
  really fun.
• 3:36
  It's really rewarding.
• 3:38
  Absolutely.
• 3:38
  And it's not just business changing for a of these people, but life changing as well.
• 3:45
  yeah, we have three graduating this quarter.
• 3:48
  They've done with their year course and so it's just amazing how much they've been able to accomplish in the past year.
• 3:55
  it's just, it's really, it's really a neat thing and how proud they are and the impact they're making on their company.
• 4:03
  You know, while we're talking about it, I want to let our listeners know if you're interested in more about the customer experience executive academy or the employee
• 4:12
  experience executive academy, the best person to reach out to is Claudia on our team.
• 4:17
  So you can email Claudia at Claudia at The DiJulius Group.com or you can schedule with her at tdg.click.Claudia.
• 4:28
  The other thing that's really cool about the group, and this always happens, but you have a law enforcement police in there, attending people from police department.
• 4:40
  You have a resort.
• 4:42
  You have a roofing company.
• 4:45
  mean, they're just all over the gamut of the industries.
• 4:50
  a couple financial institutions, insurance, and at first they just seem like, you and the one common thing is they all say is that we're all dealing with the exact same thing.
• 5:03
  Like we're all, you know, and they always say this when they first hear that there's law enforcement there or, and they just think, God, what am I gonna?
• 5:11
  you know, how's that gonna relate to me and stuff?
• 5:14
  But it's all the exact same thing and all businesses are trying to, you know, attract good people, make them great and make the experience they deliver their competitive advantage.
• 5:27
  Any difference right now with, it makes me think about it this week, in particular with the tariffs being introduced and a lot of CEOs saying that we're in a recession already.
• 5:38
  Any talk of that with them or what are they working on anything in particular?
• 5:42
  Just the, no one likes the uncertainty in that they think doubling down on the experience is the only thing that's gonna make them less impacted by these things or the potential
• 5:58
  things that are looming.
• 5:59
  Any other topics of interest with the Academy?
• 6:03
  No, no, this quarter the topics were the creating your signature experience, is journey mapping and that.
• 6:13
  then today Dave Murray is doing breaking down silos, departmental silos.
• 6:23
  better communication, understanding what each department's going through.
• 6:27
  people love that as well.
• 6:28
  I love that.
• 6:29
  Hey, when you talk about the journey mapping, you still add secret service in?
• 6:35
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:37
  I mean, that's its own day.
• 6:38
  That was the winter quarter, the relationship economy, secret servers, personalization, that's a full day.
• 6:45
  that's all, everything comes out in the journey mapping and we remind them to think about how at each touch point you can provide secret service and.
• 6:57
  forward family occupation, recreation and dreams.
• 6:59
  For listeners who haven't been with us for a long time, and they know this as the customer service revolution, officially, it started with our conferences being the Secret Service
• 7:11
  Summit.
• 7:12
  And the Secret Service came from your first book.
• 7:15
  So can you fill in people that aren't familiar with Secret Service, what it is, where it came from?
• 7:21
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:23
  So yeah, like you said, Secret Service was the title of my first book and the tagline, I believe, is hidden systems that create unforgettable customer service.
• 7:35
  which all came from my first business, John Robert Spa, and what we were doing and how we were.
• 7:42
  differentiating our experience.
• 7:44
  And so, and it's funny, you probably remember this, the original name of the book, when it was, you know, the first couple of drafts, was Mastering the Norm Factor.
• 7:54
  And so, which was from Cheers, if anyone's old enough that's watching, listening, when Norm walked into Cheers.
• 8:01
  you know, everyone knows his name, Norm!
• 8:04
  And they knew what he drank and he had his favorite seat.
• 8:07
  And you know, I always say, not only did everyone know Norm, but Norm knew everyone, which it has to be a two-way street.
• 8:14
  but anyway, they wouldn't respond to give me permission to use the title Mastering the Norm Factor, which I probably didn't need, but I thought I did, but I'm glad because it
• 8:27
  had a shelf life, right, and no one would know what Mastering the Norm Factor was.
• 8:31
  But anyway, the reason why we came up with Secret Service,
• 8:35
  as a skill was back then and hopefully still today, that was our obsession of make sure we make everyone feel like Norm.
• 8:45
  Make sure that, you know, when someone walks in we know them or we give them the impression that we know them.
• 8:52
  And the key here is obviously it's easy to do.
• 8:57
  when you come in twice a week and you're a regular or a VIP.
• 9:01
  But we wanted to make the clients guess that we'd come in once a year or every six months feel like norm.
• 9:11
  we had to create, we couldn't just, it wouldn't happen organically because.
• 9:15
  we had employees that were here so long that were familiar with them, right?
• 9:19
  Sometimes, you know, we might have hired an employee last week, last month, that's never, doesn't not only know the one that come in every six months, but don't know our regulars.
• 9:29
  And we would have problems where our VIPs would come in and not be greeted like a VIP or be asked if they were, if they've ever been here before.
• 9:39
  And, you know.
• 9:40
  they were insulted and they would get mad.
• 9:43
  So we had to start putting systems in place that, you know, whether you had worked here three years, three months or three days, you, the employee, could distinguish between who
• 9:55
  is a regular, returning, new, VIP.
• 9:59
  And so that's really where Secret Service came.
• 10:02
  So can you give me some examples of secret service or the systems that you put in place within the salons?
• 10:08
  Yeah, yeah, so, you know, one of my favorite taglines was, or to it, is show me you know me, right?
• 10:15
  And so, you know, I love this quote, just because you hired someone new, your customers shouldn't, you know, their experience shouldn't be less than, right?
• 10:24
  So, Secret Service, in a bunch of ways, is about silent cues and visual triggers.
• 10:29
  I like to say it's,
• 10:30
  It's like the employees having these night vision goggles on that they can see things that customers can't see.
• 10:41
  And so, you one of the best examples that has translated to every industry we've ever worked in is if you walk into our salons, you know, you're to see, you know, 10, 15, 20
• 10:56
  people getting haircuts.
• 10:58
  and the majority of them are probably in a black John Roberts hair cutting cape, but a couple might be in a white John Roberts hair cutting cape.
• 11:06
  So to our customers, we have black and white capes.
• 11:09
  But to our employees, anyone in white has never been to a John Roberts before, right?
• 11:16
  So not only the hairdresser or service provider, yeah, they should know.
• 11:22
  but it's also sending a signal to everyone else in the business.
• 11:26
  if, you know, back in the day when you were in the salons and you were an aesthetician doing facials and waxing, you might be walking by and you see someone in a white, you'd
• 11:36
  stop and say, hi, welcome to John Roberts.
• 11:38
  Hope your first experience is everything you hoped.
• 11:42
  I'm Denise, I actually work in the spa.
• 11:44
  Or, you know, you'd walk by people with black capes, say, hey, welcome back, great to see you again.
• 11:50
  And you know, people would say, is there a sign on my back?
• 11:53
  And say, no, no, we just pay attention.
• 11:55
  And I always would get the question whenever I shared this is like, you know, don't people realize?
• 12:00
  I've never had someone that realized that the cape, you know, it just looks like we have white and black capes.
• 12:06
  So I love that.
• 12:07
  I think that was such a great visual trigger in the salon.
• 12:12
  How do you make it work in another industry?
• 12:14
  Well, so, you know, that's, you know, when, you know, it was really the, you know, when we work with restaurants, might be a different color napkin or different color menu.
• 12:25
  So when the hostess would, you know, greet you and walk you to your table and she'd say, you know, is this anyone's first time here?
• 12:33
  And, you know, two people of the four would say, you know, we've never been here before.
• 12:39
  and she'd say, great, welcome.
• 12:40
  And then she'd look at the other two of the party of four and say, welcome back.
• 12:44
  And she might hand them, or put down in front of them, a different color napkin.
• 12:50
  So now anyone that goes to that table knows how to personalize that experience.
• 12:55
  And they look at the people with the red napkin in front of them and say, welcome to our steakhouse.
• 13:02
  We know it's your first experience and they're gonna explain more or less, know, more of their specialties and how they prepare their steak and what you need.
• 13:11
  And then, you know, with the people with the black napkin or the white napkin, whatever that may be, who have been here before, they don't have to go through that.
• 13:19
  Another really good one is Sudsy's Dry Cleaner in Miami, Florida.
• 13:23
  They...
• 13:24
  you know, had different color ones, and they would teach their customer service reps, was people behind the counter, that if someone walked in with a white dry cleaning bag, they
• 13:34
  have been a client customer for less than six months.
• 13:38
  So also mention to them that besides dry cleaning, we do tailoring.
• 13:43
  We store wedding garments and we do, what are those things on our, the windows, drapes, and all the other service and product.
• 13:53
  If someone walks in with a black bag, they've been a customer for more than six months.
• 13:59
  You don't need to tell them all about our services.
• 14:02
  then if someone has a gold yellow bag,
• 14:06
  They're one of our top VIPs that spend 10, $15,000, right?
• 14:12
  Treat them as such.
• 14:14
  If you see them pull in with that bag, you run out and carry the bag or carry them inside.
• 14:21
  But that's a really cool thing is, again, you don't have to have worked there for three years or three months to understand.
• 14:28
  the other big thing was white capes.
• 14:31
  don't get treated better than black capes, they get treated differently.
• 14:35
  More explanation, more tutorial, more thorough verses on old friends.
• 14:40
  All right, what about if it's not a face-to-face service?
• 14:43
  You know, so over the phone or that, know, and I actually think B2B, business to business, is easier.
• 14:51
  And I don't think, I know for a fact, because when you're in retail, and people just walk in, you don't have a lot of times the luxury of they have an appointment, and you can
• 15:03
  cheat and say,
• 15:04
  this woman walking in and I look and say, it's Denise.
• 15:07
  If you're just walking in, I have no idea who you are or what you're there for.
• 15:12
  But in the vast majority of the cases when you're dealing with clients over the phone or in an email, we have a database.
• 15:21
  So if I have a call with you or you call me and it doesn't automatically trigger,
• 15:27
  but I get your name and I pull up Denise Thompson, I have your database.
• 15:31
  know, Denise, know, what's the weather like in Cleveland?
• 15:35
  Is it warming up?
• 15:36
  I can look up your last purchase, the name of your company, anything that's, you know, that we've collected over the time.
• 15:44
  I mean, B2B, it's such an unfair advantage to provide secret service.
• 15:50
  So what are some systems that companies that are B2B can use?
• 15:54
  How do you utilize your database?
• 15:56
  You know, I'd love to always use the example of like, you know, that I've copied from, know, whenever I call like American Express, they always say two things after they help
• 16:07
  me.
• 16:07
  You know, is there anything else we could do for you today, Mr.
• 16:09
  DiJulius?
• 16:10
  No, thanks for asking.
• 16:12
  We just want to thank you for being a platinum member since 1998.
• 16:17
  And I always think, wow, they talk about me, right?
• 16:20
  They all know who I am, you know?
• 16:22
  And truth be told that it's just right there.
• 16:25
  It's on their screen.
• 16:27
  So, I mean, you know, 25 years ago, I brought that back to the salons, right?
• 16:32
  We have, you know, a few hundred thousand people in our database, but 500 or a thousand of them are silver, gold, or
• 16:42
  or platinum, know, depending on how much they spent.
• 16:45
  So that popped up, you know, when they call in and we type in their name, it would pop up that, you know, Susan Smith is a platinum.
• 16:55
  And we'd, you know, so whether you called up to make an appointment, we checked you in, checked you out, any interaction that would pop up and we could say, you know, Susan, we
• 17:04
  just want to thank you for being a platinum or a silver or gold.
• 17:08
  VIP of John Robert Spontan.
• 17:10
  We also want to let you know that I gave you your 5 % off your products that you rang up or you know, whatever, you know, thing.
• 17:17
  You're not, you don't feel like a VIP if you have to tell, the customer has to tell the person that's working there, by the way, I'm a VIP, I get 5 % off, right?
• 17:26
  That's not VIP.
• 17:27
  You know, so that's why, you know, stealing, know, recycling things like that.
• 17:33
  You know, so having a database that recognizes, you know, how long they've been a customer.
• 17:38
  Things that take literally seconds.
• 17:41
  I can easily see where your address is or your company's address or where you work or your last purchase or, you know, which is led, Secret Service led into like Ford, Family
• 17:53
  Occupation Recreation and Dreams, which is probably a whole other podcast, but that's.
• 17:57
  kind of a morph to that.
• 17:59
  But the important thing to know is secret service isn't another phrase for great customer service, right?
• 18:13
  It's a specific niche of customer service.
• 18:17
  we used to have Truer Falls, or we still have Truer Falls.
• 18:23
  on teaching people the difference between secret service.
• 18:26
  know, true or false, giving every woman that checks in at the spa today, let's say on Valentine's Day, a red rose, is that secret service?
• 18:36
  No.
• 18:37
  Because it's not personal to them.
• 18:39
  We're giving every woman that checks in.
• 18:43
  It's great, it's a great customer service.
• 18:46
  If you can do it, and if you can pull up, great.
• 18:47
  Having umbrellas at the salon, if it's storming outside that we either walk them to or give them the umbrella and tell them to bring it back the next time.
• 18:57
  Is that secret?
• 18:58
  No, that's not secret service.
• 18:59
  Unless it's only storming for you, which I know sometimes you think you are the only one with the cloud following you, right?
• 19:05
  But it's great customer service, do that.
• 19:09
  But it's not secret service.
• 19:11
  But asking you how your trip to Scotland and Ireland were last week, right?
• 19:17
  Asking someone how their job at Progressive Insurance, asking someone how if their son got accepted to UNC, that's secret service.
• 19:29
  Capturing information utilizing at the next time and to get them to say how they do that How they know that right and so we also had rules we have rules with Secret Service that
• 19:41
  Has to match for criteria one no cost right Be it has to be easy to do because everyone's job is tough enough And we don't we don't want to you know put more on someone
• 19:53
  Number three, which probably is most important to the company, is it has zero impact on productivity.
• 19:59
  Meaning, this shouldn't add 10 seconds to, you know, if you call up and I get your name, I can immediately see that you're from Cleveland, or you work for, or your last purchase.
• 20:13
  That should all be easily accessed.
• 20:15
  So it shouldn't add 10 seconds.
• 20:17
  We don't want slow...
• 20:19
  or efficiency down or need more staff.
• 20:22
  The fourth criteria, which is most important to the customer, is it's a wow to the customer, right?
• 20:29
  They're not getting that anywhere else.
• 20:31
  Love that.
• 20:32
  I did notice when we were on vacation, we are Marriott loyalists.
• 20:36
  And when you come to the desk right away, they recognize, thank you for being a titanium, titanium level member.
• 20:44
  Thank you.
• 20:47
  Yeah, yeah.
• 20:48
  Well, that's what happens when you work out of town.
• 20:51
  Yeah, yeah.
• 20:52
  Thank you for reserving your stay with us.
• 20:55
  And they automatically give you a late checkout.
• 20:58
  So you don't have to ask for it.
• 21:00
  They ask you if you want it.
• 21:01
  Would you like to extend your checkout until 4 p.m.?
• 21:05
  And then all the other little niceties that they provide and they make sure you know about.
• 21:10
  But you know what's something that you just brought up, having the information in the database, I'm kind of surprised.
• 21:15
  that they don't take advantage of that or maybe they don't have that for some reason.
• 21:21
  But to say, I see you were just at our Edinburgh property.
• 21:26
  How did you like it?
• 21:27
  How did, yeah.
• 21:28
  Yeah, something that the Ritz-Carlton I learned from them, secret service systems, is when you pull in, the valet would get your name, right?
• 21:39
  And for the valet, right?
• 21:41
  And then you'd walk in and you'd walk up to the front desk and they'd say, welcome, Ms.
• 21:46
  Thompson.
• 21:47
  And you never have to give your name again because the valet would wire and say the Thompson party is walking in and she is in a navy blue sweater or sport jacket or whatever
• 22:01
  it may be.
• 22:02
  that's constantly, they can stay 10 seconds ahead where they're constantly, and then the bellman comes.
• 22:11
  I don't want to have to give my name more than once.
• 22:15
  I don't want to, I hate when I go to a restaurant and the hostess says, you ever been here before?
• 22:21
  That's fine, the first time.
• 22:22
  Have you ever been here before?
• 22:23
  But then when the server comes up and says, is this anyone's first time?
• 22:27
  And then the manager comes up, is it table visit?
• 22:30
  is this anyone's first time?
• 22:31
  That's annoying.
• 22:33
  Ask once and then utilize that in a secret service system and there's plenty of ways.
• 22:39
  So AI must be impacting this.
• 22:42
  What ways have you heard about AI, people utilizing AI to provide Secret Service?
• 22:47
  So, you know, it's the Ford pads, right?
• 22:50
  And, you know, a lot of our clients use these Ford pads next to, you know, them besides it being in the database.
• 22:58
  And so, you know, if you're in tune and your antenna's up, which hopefully it is, I'm listening, hoping you give me something, hoping to hear your dog bark in the background or
• 23:07
  the baby crying, or if we're on Zoom and I can say, you know, Denise, what's...
• 23:12
  What's that picture behind you or see your diploma or whatever it may be, your fandom?
• 23:19
  But AI can then give you a report after of what you may have missed.
• 23:25
  And they can help you that she mentioned that why you can't have a call with her next week is because she's gonna be out of the country.
• 23:34
  And she's going, you now I can follow up and in our two week call say, Denise, how was Scotland?
• 23:41
  Or if she's a VIP, you know, God, where are you staying?
• 23:45
  I've always wanted to go to Scotland and you probably rattle off the hotel and we can have a bottle of wine and she's in fruit waiting for our CEO, platinum VIP client that forgets
• 23:58
  that they even told us.
• 23:59
  AI is great to help miss anything that we might have missed on that call.
• 24:05
  What if you've never had contact with them before.
• 24:08
  They're new, but they have a scheduled call so you know who they are.
• 24:12
  What are ways that you can provide secret service I said without necessarily being a stalker.
• 24:19
  right, right.
• 24:19
  So first, I think this goes with anyone that's on, you have a scheduled appointment with, whether it's last night before you wrap up your job, last night meaning five, six o'clock,
• 24:31
  or first thing this morning, right?
• 24:33
  We look and we say, I have a 10 o'clock with Zoom, I have an 11 o'clock with an existing client, I have a one o'clock with someone new.
• 24:42
  So you go and with your existing, you go to your CRM system and you look at the Ford, look at the Secret Service of what you've collected in the past.
• 24:53
  If you don't, where they're from, what city, what their fandom of anything that you may have.
• 24:58
  And then with new and existing, if you don't have enough is, know, LinkedIn.
• 25:03
  Right?
• 25:04
  LinkedIn is fantastic for this because, you know, I can find out, you know, where you're an alumni of.
• 25:11
  And people are huge fan.
• 25:15
  Oh, you know, you're alumni of Northwestern.
• 25:18
  How's their, you know, football team going to be this year?
• 25:21
  And just as important, if not more important, your mutual connections.
• 25:26
  That really is important because now
• 25:29
  You know, I see that you know so-and-so.
• 25:34
  How do you know him?
• 25:35
  I love him and he's such a good guy and so genuine and you like him too and you're asking me, oh, we've been working with him.
• 25:46
  He's been a client for three years.
• 25:47
  All that just establishes credibility that we, wow, he's worked with you for years.
• 25:54
  You must be good.
• 25:56
  There's just, it's so easy today.
• 25:57
  If, if you take the time.
• 26:00
  And then, you know, like I always say, there's a gift in every conversation, if you're paying attention to it.
• 26:06
  So that's why you want these, these sport pads.
• 26:09
  So, you know, she's going to, you know, Scotland, or she's running her first marathon, or, you know, whatever.
• 26:16
  She's, she's just.
• 26:18
  has taken up pickleball.
• 26:19
  She's just joined the novice pickleball league, right?
• 26:23
  You could do so many things with that.
• 26:25
  It could be as easy, and it takes 30 seconds, is sending, when you hang up, sending them a link to, all right, you told me you're a runner, a biker.
• 26:35
  Here's some great trails, paths in Scotland while you're there, because I know you love to ride or this, or an article or a book.
• 26:44
  pickleball or you know, whatever that may be.
• 26:47
  I mean this stuff takes literally, you know, less than 30 seconds.
• 26:51
  You you Google it chat GPT and they forget that they even shared that with you, but they end up receiving in an email or maybe it's a package, you know, a paddle ball and you
• 27:03
  know, a little pickleball set, you know, all depending on what level of customer or potential customer they are and what you want to spend.
• 27:11
  But
• 27:11
  You know, to me, just someone sending an email with a link to something that we talked about that isn't something they can benefit from, right?
• 27:21
  We're not selling paddles.
• 27:25
  But I care it enough to send you a link about how to run your first marathon, you know?
• 27:32
  I think that's really important that it's not something that benefits you.
• 27:35
  It's something that benefits them.
• 27:37
  Making it personal that way.
• 27:39
  Yeah.
• 27:40
  say that we should know our, more so probably in B2B world, business to business, is we should know our clients' top three goals, ideally personally, but professionally, if you
• 27:51
  really get to know them, yeah, personally, but professionally.
• 27:54
  The ones outside of what they're hiring us for.
• 27:57
  So, and then you can send them all these things, articles, books, resources, them achieving their goals, but it's nothing you can actually do for them, but you're really
• 28:07
  demonstrating that you care about their success in ways that can't come back to directly benefit you.
• 28:15
  You just brought up their goals and you were holding up the pad before, the Ford pad for listeners who aren't familiar.
• 28:23
  Can you explain what that is and what Ford stands for?
• 28:26
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, family, occupation, recreation, and dreams.
• 28:30
  And we just talked about this yesterday in the CXEA of that should be on each stage, each touch point of your customer journey of trying to collect and utilize Ford that anyone on
• 28:41
  your team has gotten from that person.
• 28:44
  it doesn't, most cases it doesn't have to be even asked.
• 28:48
  Now, if you're having a long meeting or discussion, yeah, there is the small talk, Denise, are you married?
• 28:53
  Do you have kids?
• 28:54
  Oh, what grades are they in?
• 28:56
  What are activities?
• 28:57
  And all that.
• 28:58
  But in a lot of cases, that wouldn't be appropriate if someone's calling the schedule an appointment or a contact center.
• 29:07
  But if we listen, right, and you do hear that dog barking in the background or the baby crying or
• 29:13
  I say, how about, you know, you want a manicure, you're asking for a manicure, how about Thursday, you you said evenings, Thursday evening we have one at five o'clock, and you
• 29:25
  say, no, no, no, my daughter's soccer team made it to districts, she has districts at night.
• 29:30
  Boom, catch that, record it, wish her luck, and maybe we schedule it for the following Tuesday, her manicure, but when she comes in, someone at that salon should be saying,
• 29:40
  how'd your daughter do?
• 29:41
  And you're like,
• 29:41
  At what?
• 29:42
  At soccer, district.
• 29:44
  my God, she won.
• 29:44
  How did you know?
• 29:45
  You're our favorite customer, right?
• 29:47
  And another question we get is, you know, doesn't that creep people out?
• 29:51
  No, I've never.
• 29:52
  Now, obviously we have to, you know, maybe coach people on, you know, where to draw the line.
• 29:58
  But on these things, no.
• 30:00
  mean, people are just blown away in the positivity of, you know, that you remembered that my daughter, you know, has, you know,
• 30:08
  play soccer or, you know, pets.
• 30:12
  Pets should be part of Ford.
• 30:13
  That should be part of family.
• 30:15
  I mean, people who have pets nine times out of 10 would probably grab their pet before their significant other if the house is burning down.
• 30:25
  So, you know, I'm all about, you know, if I hear a dog barking, what kind of dog is that, Denise?
• 30:32
  boy or girl, is that a good breed and just let them tell me all about their pet and you know, now I'm gonna ask them the next time or send them something from Chewie's.
• 30:41
  In the old days, I remember in the salons that there would be a printed sheet.
• 30:46
  So it would, you would look at your day and it would list out your clients and it would have the bits of secret service that were pulled from the system on the sheet.
• 30:55
  With the changes in technology, has that been updated?
• 30:58
  What kind of systems?
• 31:01
  We can see now to share them.
• 31:03
  ours, know, what's ours HubSpot, we used to use Salesforce, the salons that you just, know, everyone has an app today.
• 31:13
  So they can just scroll and say, you know, my calls with my next appointments with, and you know, all of these we've never, I don't believe we've ever come across a client in any
• 31:24
  industry banking.
• 31:25
  you know, to retail, anyone that has a CRM system that isn't, you you can't add a Secret Service slash Ford Field to that is accessible.
• 31:37
  But it could be as easily as, you know, just looking up their last visit, their last purchase, and saying, Denise, did anyone notice the highlights that you got last month?
• 31:47
  You know, yeah, I got so many compliments.
• 31:49
  That right there makes you feel like a VIP.
• 31:52
  I might have just started last week and just checking you in, but it's right there in front of me besides, or in the business.
• 31:59
  Did your leadership team enjoy the order of the employee experience revolution that I can see that you purchased a dozen or a case last month?
• 32:10
  It just demonstrates, that's such low-hanging fruit and it matches all the criteria, no cost, simple to do, zero impact on productivity.
• 32:19
  There's always a lag in a conversation face-to-face or especially over the phone.
• 32:25
  And so you can look at things like, but it also goes back to what you asked earlier, do a little homework and this homework is literally minutes.
• 32:33
  of looking up on their LinkedIn or looking in your CRM system to see where they're from, how long they've been a client, what their last purchase was, or any forward that you may
• 32:44
  have on.
• 32:45
  I know pushback can occasionally be, it takes time, not just to use the information once it's in there, but mainly putting the information in there.
• 32:53
  think that's probably the biggest struggle that companies have is making sure their people put the information into the system because you hear things all the time.
• 33:02
  Right?
• 33:02
  So, I mean, having a pad right there is nice, but the information still has to go into the system.
• 33:07
  And any tips, tricks that you've heard?
• 33:10
  companies use that work well or that ensure that people are including the information.
• 33:16
  time, right?
• 33:17
  And we're all so busy.
• 33:18
  But it really, mean, I'm really busy.
• 33:24
  But no, I mean, it's just a habit of as soon as you're done in that interaction, you just update it.
• 33:32
  I mean, unless you're in a retail environment and someone's literally waiting for you, that's understandable.
• 33:37
  then you wait to, you you're done for the day.
• 33:39
  none of this stuff should take, you know, more than a few minutes to update that she's going to Scotland, she's running her first marathon.
• 33:48
  You know, besides, because if you're not doing this, you suck at your job.
• 33:53
  Not what I'm talking about.
• 33:54
  What everyone should be doing is updating the professional side.
• 33:59
  Right?
• 34:00
  She's thinking about attending the customer experience executive.
• 34:04
  We talked about that.
• 34:05
  So, you I might have Claudia follow up with her.
• 34:08
  The next time I want to ask her if she got approval, right?
• 34:11
  We'd better be doing that.
• 34:13
  So if we're doing that, or in a salon, we're updating a formula or what we did this time, and that she's growing her hair out, so the next time you come in, you just don't assume
• 34:23
  it's the same old new whack off the, you know, the...
• 34:26
  know, inch, right?
• 34:28
  So, God, I hope if you're a good professional, you're updating the professional side.
• 34:33
  So to also add in there, she's going to Scotland, running her first marathon, has a dog named Trixie, you know, it literally has to be 10 seconds.
• 34:42
  What about huddles?
• 34:45
  Yeah, so that's another thing.
• 34:46
  you have hot holes, you can say, hey, we have a busy today today, and we have three VIPs coming in today.
• 34:58
  We have someone coming in celebrating their wedding anniversary, or her boss, because she just accomplished a big project, bought her a day of pampering.
• 35:09
  You know, now when you come in and you you as the esthetician say, congratulations, what a good boss, know, man, you know, great job on the project.
• 35:18
  She should hear that every person she comes in contact with.
• 35:22
  Same with us, you know, you're great at it, Lindsay's great at us, you know, saying that, you know, one of our clients won an award or, you know, whatever.
• 35:30
  And so not only the next time we communicate with them, but hopefully we're
• 35:34
  email him congratulations or ran the marathon.
• 35:39
  Anything that we find out, we are good at sharing that with our team members, so it's not just the relationship.
• 35:45
  So let's go back to mastering the norm factor.
• 35:49
  I always say, it goes two ways.
• 35:50
  Norm wasn't only loyal to Cheers because they knew his name.
• 35:55
  Norm was loyal to Cheers because he knew Sam.
• 35:58
  and Carla and Woody and Coach and all the people.
• 36:03
  And so that's why I always say the more people on our team that our clients know, no one fires, I'm sorry, it's easy to fire a company.
• 36:15
  I'm so sick of dealing with Comcast or
• 36:19
  Spirit Airlines, they're unreliable, they're blah, blah.
• 36:23
  They're a big company.
• 36:24
  They make too much money and charge too much.
• 36:28
  That's easy to do.
• 36:30
  But I don't want to fire Denise, right?
• 36:34
  Denise is so nice.
• 36:36
  I'm gonna give Denise the benefit of the doubt.
• 36:38
  Or Denise and Lindsay and Claudia.
• 36:40
  God, they've been so good to me.
• 36:42
  that, yeah, well, I'm not happy with what's happened lately or this one time.
• 36:48
  You don't fire people you like.
• 36:51
  And that's why I always reference that the norm, mastering the norm factor from Cheers went both ways.
• 36:58
  Everyone knew his name, but he was familiar.
• 37:00
  So the more people that your client, guests, customers can get to know, the less likely they are to fire you.
• 37:08
  because it's a community and we're all starving for communities these days.
• 37:12
  It's so true.
• 37:13
  even I noticed this on our trip, even in short visits places to stay at a hotel and the Bell, I can think of one in particular.
• 37:22
  There's a fabulous hotel in Dublin, the Shelbourne, and the Bell person who took our luggage to start with, started a conversation with me as we were waiting to be checked in.
• 37:34
  and found out little bits of information and it seemed like he was always at the door when we were coming in or out and always had something to say.
• 37:41
  And it could be as small as, are you off to today?
• 37:44
  Or what did you do in the city today?
• 37:47
  Little things like that where he always had more information.
• 37:49
  By the time you left, we were attached to him as much as the hotel itself.
• 37:54
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 37:55
  And direct our first impression, right?
• 37:57
  And last impression.
• 37:58
  Something that is probably one of the hardest industry to deliver Secret Service and Ford is like a retail environment, a coffee shop, a place that you're just running in and
• 38:10
  buying product because you don't have an appointment and in most cases they probably don't have a CRM system.
• 38:15
  They don't say what's your name.
• 38:17
  to pull it up.
• 38:18
  So some secret service, obviously if the regulars, you know, get and learn their orders, but that's only gonna be a fraction of who walks in the door.
• 38:29
  So something that I learned like with, you know, working with Starbucks and the Chick-fil-A's of the world is they would know if you're new to their business or if you're
• 38:40
  just sick of the same old.
• 38:42
  And that is when you'd walk in and you'd stare at the menu behind them.
• 38:47
  Because if I was going to Starbucks right now and you wanted me to get you something, what would your order be?
• 38:53
  My order would be terrible.
• 38:57
  I'm embarrassed to say how high I maintenance this my order is.
• 39:01
  right.
• 39:01
  They say your order shows what a diva you are, you know, whatever.
• 39:05
  But, but, rattle, rattle off.
• 39:07
  I order a grande flat white with an extra shot two thirds decaf and soy.
• 39:13
  so whether you're going through DriveThru or you walk inside, where on the menu is that?
• 39:19
  I know where it is on the app.
• 39:20
  Okay, but on the menu, you don't know, right?
• 39:23
  And that's why you walk in and rattle it off.
• 39:26
  I couldn't tell you, know, and it's not all there, but I couldn't even tell you where the lattes are versus the, because I know what I want.
• 39:33
  I walk in and I just went to Starbucks before this podcast and got my mango, venti mango dragon with a water base, not lemonade.
• 39:41
  You know, boom.
• 39:42
  I don't know where that's, you know, yeah, yeah, a lot less calories.
• 39:48
  Yeah.
• 39:48
  geographically on the menu.
• 39:50
  I don't know where that is.
• 39:51
  So if I walk in and I'm staring at the menu, that tells you the barista or the person working at Chick-fil-A that I'm not a regular, right?
• 40:02
  Or I am so sick of my same old and I need something new.
• 40:08
  So it's a different prompt.
• 40:10
  Is there something you're looking for?
• 40:11
  Do you want to know what my favorite is?
• 40:13
  you can just tell, and that's a silent cue or a visual trigger, right, of reading what the customer is doing.
• 40:20
  teaching employees the silent cues and visual triggers.
• 40:23
  that.
• 40:24
  That's a that's a podcast for another day too.
• 40:27
  There's Visual triggers.
• 40:29
  Yeah, I love, you know, I forget about Secret Service, you know, and it is like a cult-like following.
• 40:37
  I just spoke in Nashville recently to an ophthalmologist.
• 40:42
  And this, you know, this happens surprisingly more times.
• 40:46
  And a gentleman came up to me.
• 40:50
  and said, I read your Secret Service book over 20 years ago, and I've reread it.
• 40:56
  This is literally word for, because I've reread it three or four times since then, and every employee has to read it.
• 41:04
  And I always kind of cringe.
• 41:06
  I don't know why, but I'm like, God, like, you that book came out in 2003.
• 41:11
  I had no experience outside of the salon industry.
• 41:15
  It wasn't...
• 41:16
  really a speaker of, I was a speaker, but really only inside the salon industry back then, hadn't worked with any companies that we've worked with.
• 41:27
  And I always cringe and I'm like, God, like what could be, I don't even know what's in that book.
• 41:32
  What could I, God, no, you gotta read the customer service revolution or the relationship economy today that has come out more recently.
• 41:41
  That had, and you know.
• 41:43
  But people have like this just attraction.
• 41:46
  And so I forget about Secret Service and really it's what made our first business, John Robert Spah, what it is.
• 41:53
  And they're still using those same techniques today, 32 years later.
• 41:59
  The simplicity of it and the genius of it.
• 42:02
  And I didn't create it.
• 42:03
  I just learned it from other people.
• 42:05
  It's just so, so valuable that I love revisiting Secret Services and I real that shame on me.
• 42:12
  Like I've gotten away from, you know, some of it.
• 42:14
  You know, while you may not have created the systems that you wrote about, you did write about them in a way that makes it easy for people to understand and duplicate.
• 42:26
  And I think it is a great frontline book.
• 42:28
  It's also one of those, you read these things and it's this just simple, brilliant, aha, you're like, why aren't we doing that?
• 42:36
  Why haven't I thought of that?
• 42:38
  I had someone say, instead of a-ha, it's a da.
• 42:43
  Like a stupidity, you know, like Jesus, like why didn't I think of this?
• 42:49
  This is so obvious.
• 42:50
  And again, didn't, know, it was a-has and da's for me that I just codified and did put into a book, but it was the Ritz-Carlton experience or, you know, I think I heard this
• 43:02
  from David Wagner, you know, 30 years ago.
• 43:05
  and it's what led to a lot of these things, you know, but you know, when he arrived at a Four Seasons Hotel, the valet or bellman, he pulls up in his cab, you know, opens the
• 43:17
  trunk and pulls out the luggage and says, welcome back Mr.
• 43:20
  Wagner.
• 43:21
  And he said, how did you know?
• 43:22
  He's like, you know, we pay attention, on.
• 43:24
  He says, no, no, no, I'm not going, you know, until you tell me I'm a business owner and, you know, I wanna know.
• 43:30
  Well, we have a system, what's the system?
• 43:32
  Well, when I pulled your bags out of the trunk, I looked at the name tags.
• 43:37
  He goes, okay, okay, that's great.
• 43:39
  You knew I was David Wagner, but how did you said welcome back?
• 43:44
  We have a system for that.
• 43:45
  He says, yeah, every day, we have a report that prints out of all the guests coming in and there's a star next to the new ones and there's something else next to the returning ones,
• 43:54
  right?
• 43:54
  He's like, that's incredible.
• 43:56
  he goes in, goes up an escalator, and he gets to the front desk and the receptionist says, welcome back Mr.
• 44:02
  Wagner.
• 44:02
  He goes, wait, wait, hold on.
• 44:04
  How did you do that?
• 44:05
  I have my luggage in my hands.
• 44:07
  Oh, she goes, we just paid it.
• 44:08
  He goes, no, no, I want to know.
• 44:10
  Well, the bellman called me up and told me you were on the way up.
• 44:13
  Right?
• 44:13
  I mean, it's just such does, right, that why don't we do that?
• 44:19
  It's the warm transfer.
• 44:21
  you know, that kind of environment.
• 44:23
  Yes, yeah, beautiful things when service can run together that well.
• 44:27
  Before we wrap today, I want you to talk about one last thing, and that's Secret Service used to be when we had our conference, it was the Secret Service Summit, and Secret
• 44:37
  Service was the book, and we used Secret Service a lot more than Customer Service Revolution.
• 44:43
  But we changed it.
• 44:44
  Talk about why.
• 44:45
  Yeah, yeah, and I also forgot the, know, kind of the definition of secret service is the ability to collect customer intelligence and to use that to get them to say how'd they do
• 44:56
  that, how'd they know that.
• 44:57
  But yeah, so back then, secret service was bigger than myself, right?
• 45:02
  People knew more about secret service than they did about John because of the, the book.
• 45:07
  So that was our, you know, first 10 years, close to a decade, was, it was the Secret Service Summit.
• 45:14
  And the literal Secret Service contacted us, and they could have been more polite.
• 45:21
  They said, would you consider changing the name?
• 45:24
  And, you know, which was flattering that we had grown and gotten...
• 45:29
  you know, big enough that we were on anyone's radar.
• 45:32
  And it was that in conjunction with a conversation I had with one of my neighbors who's a really successful business person.
• 45:42
  And every year when the Secret Service was coming, I'd say, know, Jeff, I want you and you bring your leaders, I'll give you a couple of tickets to my Secret Service Summit.
• 45:53
  And the first couple years, he just can't go, can't go.
• 45:57
  And then finally one year he said, John, I gotta be honest with you.
• 46:00
  I don't understand what I can learn from the Secret Service.
• 46:03
  And I was blown away that he didn't understand what we meant by Secret Service.
• 46:10
  that really is what propelled me, or us.
• 46:14
  to, it was just, know, if you weren't familiar, if you hadn't read the book, if you weren't in our community already, Secret Service by itself didn't tell you what it was.
• 46:23
  So that's when we decided to change to the Customer Service Revolution because obviously if there's a Customer Service Revolution conference or whatever it is, you understand what
• 46:32
  the topic is, we're Secret Service by itself.
• 46:35
  But it's very near and dear to my heart because it is really what not only got
• 46:40
  you know, our first business off the ground and all this crazy exposure which then led me to my speaking career.
• 46:47
  But it's just, you know, it's just a great tool to use that, you know, can really differentiate yourself.
• 46:54
  And allow your employees, you know, it's not only about, you know, giving your employees another thing to do.
• 47:01
  It's the reward of the employees, what they get from it.
• 47:04
  when they see that reaction that a client, you made them feel like a VIP, or you made them, their first visit feel special, or you remembered that they work at Progressive
• 47:17
  Insurance.
• 47:18
  It's the daymaker dopamine is really what makes the employees enjoy what they do.
• 47:23
  So you're giving them tools to have more employee satisfaction.
• 47:28
  That is easy.
• 47:29
  For anyone that is curious about our conference, it has now morphed into the Experience Revolution.
• 47:36
  And I'll put information about that in our show notes, but the Experience Revolution is now a quarterly event that you can attend with your team and learn different pieces of
• 47:47
  The DiJulius Group methodology.
• 47:49
  The upcoming one is June 9th and it is on becoming a zero risk organization.
• 47:55
  Also in the show notes, I will include information on how to purchase the Secret Service book, which is still in print for anyone who is interested in reading it or passing it on
• 48:07
  to your frontline team.
• 48:10
  John, before we close here.
• 48:11
  What is the one time or most memorable time someone has used Secret Service on you?
• 48:17
  I've had a lot.
• 48:19
  But I'm going to say the two that come to mind saying business Nemecone Resorts out in Farmington, PA.
• 48:26
  the one time was when we showed up, me and Stacey and we checked in.
• 48:39
  They congratulated us on our anniversary, why we were there.
• 48:43
  And I don't remember telling them.
• 48:46
  And then when I walked, when we were escorted to our room by the bellman, and they opened it, there was rose petals all over the floor and a bubble bath and candles.
• 48:56
  and Stacey just looked at me and said, my God, you're the most amazing husband.
• 49:00
  And I'm like, yeah, I am.
• 49:03
  I honestly think I forgot that it was our anniversary.
• 49:06
  I didn't forget it was our anniversary.
• 49:08
  I don't think it was our anniversary week then.
• 49:11
  I think it was like, our anniversary was a month ago and we had said, all right, what are we gonna do for our anniversary?
• 49:16
  And that was the first weekend, which it have been four or six weeks later.
• 49:20
  So I forgot that that's why we were going.
• 49:22
  But they saved my ass and I looked like a champ and it worked out pretty well for me.
• 49:28
  So little things like that that didn't then make me look at the bill and when we checked out and said, my God, they charged us these outrageous fees, which they do, but it was
• 49:40
  well worth it.
• 49:41
  And yeah, cheers to Nemicole and Woodlands Resort.
• 49:43
  They do a fabulous job.
• 49:44
  Great service all the time.
• 49:46
  Yeah.
• 49:46
  thank you, John, for your time today.
• 49:49
  you.
• 49:49
  was fun reminiscing about Secret Service.
• 49:52
  Indeed, absolutely.
• 49:54
  Listeners, take a look at the show notes again for information on the upcoming experience revolution, as well as information on the customer experience and employee experience
• 50:03
  executive academies, and of course, the Secret Service book.
• 50:06
  Thanks, John.
• 50:07
  Thank you, Denise.