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253: More Than a Keynote: How Great Speakers Help Companies Change · Customer Service Revolution | Customer Experience & Employee Experience for Business Leaders

• 0:47
  Welcome to the customer service revolution podcast where we challenge leaders to stop competing on price and start competing on experience.
• 0:55
  Today's episode is a little bit different.
• 0:57
  We're going to go behind the scenes with John DeGiulius to talk about the life of a conference speaker, but not in the way people usually think about it.
• 1:05
  Yes, there's travel, there are stages, audiences, green rooms, early flights, delayed flights, and probably more hotel coffee than anyone should admit to drinking.
• 1:15
  But for John, speaking is not just about delivering a great keynote.
• 1:19
  It's about helping companies create a moment of clarity, a moment where leaders see what's possible, recognize what needs to change, and leave with the energy to do something about
• 1:29
  it.
• 1:29
  So today, we're talking about what it really takes to change a room, why a keynote should never end when the applause does, and how great speakers can help companies create lasting
• 1:41
  transformation.
• 1:42
  Welcome, John.
• 1:43
  Thank you, Denise.
• 1:44
  And we've got to cover a couple topical things.
• 1:46
  Number one, you just had a big birthday.
• 1:49
  I did.
• 1:50
  I did.
• 1:50
  They're all big anymore.
• 1:52
  I'm saying.
• 1:53
  They're all big that you made it to another one.
• 1:55
  Something that I want to bring to your attention that you may not know that may depress you even more.
• 2:00
  You are in your seventh decade.
• 2:03
  Well that just doesn't feel right.
• 2:05
  That does not mean she's 70.
• 2:08
  Yeah.
• 2:09
  Because when you're three, eight, you're in your first decade.
• 2:13
  Yeah.
• 2:15
  So you're in your seventh decade.
• 2:17
  You know, I remember somebody telling me a long time ago, they used to tell people they were 10 years older than they really are.
• 2:23
  She said, and then everyone goes, my God, you look great.
• 2:26
  But I could never bring myself to do that.
• 2:29
  If someone asks how old you are, could you say you're in your 70s?
• 2:33
  I always, when I was at like 58, 59, I started rounding up just to get used to it.
• 2:40
  Yeah.
• 2:41
  I said I was 60.
• 2:42
  And what's really sad, I don't know if you get this anymore, this is really sad.
• 2:46
  I get less people surprised at my age.
• 2:49
  Like I'm waiting for them to say, no way, really what you're in.
• 2:53
  And everyone's like, oh yeah.
• 2:54
  And it's like, it tracks.
• 2:55
  Like I'm like, the hell?
• 2:58
  Like my other selfish thing I do is if I see someone who's fit, a guy, I'll be like, man, you're in good shape, what do you do?
• 3:06
  I do crossfit, I do da da da.
• 3:07
  And I keep asking questions.
• 3:09
  And then they'll say, and it really, it's all just for it to come back to me, right?
• 3:13
  I really don't care what they do.
• 3:15
  I just want to hear them tell me that I'm fit too.
• 3:18
  And instead of that, they say, do you work out?
• 3:21
  And I'm like, what the fuck?
• 3:23
  I'm like, totally backfired.
• 3:25
  Oh, all right, so besides it was your birthday, another thing that I'll never forget that happened in your birthday is the day Spirit Airlines went out of business officially.
• 3:37
  And I know this is probably bad, but I think it's a win.
• 3:40
  I think it's a win for customers, the customer service revolution.
• 3:45
  I mean, I'm going to lose my...
• 3:46
  a lot of content that I've always used with Spirit Airlines.
• 3:50
  I just think, and I feel bad that, yeah, I guess a company and employees lost their jobs, but they've always been the worst.
• 4:00
  They're the most hated company for decades and that they survived as long as they did was really worse.
• 4:07
  So it's kind of an opposite way, making price irrelevant.
• 4:11
  Doesn't matter how cheap you are, people won't use you.
• 4:14
  So it's the opposite of making price irrelevant.
• 4:17
  Like you could give it away if you're horrible.
• 4:21
  their employees were bad probably because they were treated bad themselves, but I would rarely ever flew on Spirit and everyone has a bad story.
• 4:31
  And I'd rather take a layover than a direct flight on Spirit.
• 4:35
  Well, I'm just wondering who your next target is going to be.
• 4:42
  I know, I know.
• 4:44
  were such, they just gave me so much good content of just horrible, horrible stuff.
• 4:50
  examples of,
• 4:51
  Yeah.
• 4:53
  All right, well that makes.
• 4:55
  they won't be missed with all the traveling you do as a speaker.
• 4:58
  Yeah, I don't think they'll be missed by anyone.
• 5:00
  Yeah.
• 5:01
  And I think Frontier has stepped up em the fee things.
• 5:08
  I flew them recently because I love getting a direct flight anywhere.
• 5:14
  If I can get a direct flight, that means a lot.
• 5:16
  don't decline either.
• 5:17
  So if it's a four or five hour trip to the West Coast, that's...
• 5:23
  And you and me are little people and those seats are tight.
• 5:27
  Like I don't know how normal size or larger people sit in those seats when I'm uncomfortable and I'm, you know, I'm well, I'm really tall if you're listening.
• 5:37
  Ha ha!
• 5:37
  If you're listening and you're single.
• 5:39
  I'm really tall.
• 5:40
  No, but I feel that...
• 5:42
  It's average, right?
• 5:43
  It's average?
• 5:44
  There's a great TikTok of a young kid saying, it snowed three, four inches last night.
• 5:50
  That's a lot, is it?
• 5:51
  That's a lot?
• 5:52
  No, it's not that much.
• 5:53
  Is that average?
• 5:54
  Is that average?
• 5:55
  No, that's not a lot.
• 5:56
  I mean, it's just a great schnick.
• 5:58
  Okay.
• 5:59
  What are we talking about today?
• 6:00
  Today we're talking about being a conference speaker and what it takes to actually change the room.
• 6:06
  So you're on stage a lot and you have a great impact on the people that you speak to.
• 6:12
  So we want to talk about that today.
• 6:14
  um Listeners want to know how you do it, what's different, what it takes to actually make that change for people.
• 6:21
  um
• 6:25
  There's three ways we, four ways we...
• 6:28
  work with our clients, right?
• 6:30
  There is a keynote that's a 60 or 90 minutes, which I think you're probably focusing on today.
• 6:36
  And I do the majority of that for the De Julius group.
• 6:41
  There's a workshop, which could be a half day or all day, and that could be in a keynote or a breakout.
• 6:48
  And that adds a little.
• 6:48
  And then we do consulting, which is us coming on their property and working with a smaller.
• 6:53
  intimate group all day, eight hours.
• 6:56
  It's, you know, so just, I don't know if we have to, and then there's people that come to us for like our academy.
• 7:02
  But I don't know, just for context, we're really focused on, you know, event speaking.
• 7:10
  Yeah.
• 7:11
  So the
• 7:12
  Could be a private, and I think that's what you're focused on, more of a private one company, is that correct, versus an association?
• 7:19
  This could be association, this could be a conference, this could be, uh Bigger mission, John, when most people think about conference speakers, they probably think about someone
• 7:30
  who shows up, gives a great talk, gets the applause, and then moves on to the next city.
• 7:35
  But I know you see it very differently.
• 7:37
  When you step on a stage, what are you really trying to help a company do, or an organization, an association, the attendees in the audience?
• 7:45
  So me, personally, transformation, move the needle, something.
• 7:50
  And Keynote is the hardest of those three I was talking about.
• 7:54
  You got your Keynotes, which is usually anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes, traditionally.
• 8:01
  And then you get your workshops that could be three, four, eight hours.
• 8:05
  And then consulting is totally different.
• 8:07
  um Keynote's hard because in 45 to 90 minutes, you could just be one of six speakers they have.
• 8:20
  Like last week I spoke in Kentucky to a franchise group and then in New Orleans to an association.
• 8:28
  And I was just, they're 10 a.m.
• 8:32
  to 11.
• 8:33
  AM speaker.
• 8:33
  They had one at nine, they had one at 11, and that's how a lot of conferences can be.
• 8:38
  So, you know, you got to be realistic leading up to it.
• 8:42
  But to answer your question, I want to provide transformation, which is harder to do in a keynote, and I want them to have something that they can take back and that they're doing
• 8:52
  things differently six months, 12 months, 18 months from now.
• 8:56
  And that's a big ask on both sides.
• 8:58
  Like you really have to be clear with the people hiring you.
• 9:02
  If you get to speak to the CEO, if it's a private company on what they need to do, otherwise it's just deodorant and it wears off.
• 9:10
  Like a great keynote on anything, on health, on motivation, on customer experience, on leadership.
• 9:17
  The greatest keynote is gonna get you to...
• 9:21
  maybe have that top of mind for three days, and then in a week, two weeks, you're back to your minutia and putting out fires and that the odor comes back.
• 9:32
  Whatever level you were at any of those topics, you're gonna return if you don't help them have an action plan of how to take this and do something with it.
• 9:42
  You brought up motivation in there and motivation is something that a lot of associations look for when they're hiring somebody to bring in.
• 9:53
  And we'll have people asking, you know, is John a motivational speaker?
• 9:57
  And I always say that you are very motivational.
• 10:00
  but you have so much more than that.
• 10:02
  You bring change within customer experience.
• 10:05
  So more than motivation, there are a lot of speakers who can motivate a room.
• 10:09
  We know that.
• 10:09
  They can tell a great story, get people laughing, leave everyone feeling good.
• 10:14
  And I'm sure that's part of your goal as well, but feeling good is not the same as changing behavior.
• 10:19
  What separates a motivational keynote from a keynote that actually helps a company change?
• 10:26
  Yeah, and people out there who, more people that know me personally, haven't used me as a client, friends, neighbors, they say, you're a motivational speaker, right?
• 10:38
  I don't know why I've always kind of taken offense to that.
• 10:41
  Like, no, I'm a subject matter expert.
• 10:45
  But I believe in anything you're teaching,
• 10:49
  there has to be motivation, otherwise what's going to get you to get up from your seat and go do something about it.
• 10:55
  So I always say there's three types of speakers, good speakers, right?
• 10:59
  There's entertainers, which could be motivational, who make you laugh and you're not looking at your watch.
• 11:04
  And then there could be educators who are teaching you content.
• 11:09
  a methodology, a prescription, their expertise.
• 11:12
  And then there's the ones that do both.
• 11:14
  And what do you think people would prefer if they had to choose between an entertaining speaker or someone who's gonna educate them on something?
• 11:24
  think people love to learn something, but I think most of the time they want to be entertained.
• 11:29
  Yeah, which at the end of the day, you have nothing to go back and do.
• 11:33
  Nothing's going to be different if it's only entertaining.
• 11:36
  You know, they say some great jokes.
• 11:38
  Maybe they made you cry or tear up.
• 11:40
  You know, all that's part of entertaining.
• 11:42
  But yeah, but if they're looking at their watch and saying, my God, I got 45 more minutes, 30 more minutes, or I should have been in breakout, another breakout, or, you know, I
• 11:52
  should be cleaning up my emails or, you know.
• 11:55
  I shouldn't be away from work or my kids, all that.
• 11:57
  That sometimes occurs if it's just educating.
• 12:00
  And we think about college professors back in the day.
• 12:03
  So I think entertaining, I actually say there's three E's.
• 12:07
  You got entertain, you got educate, and you got evoke.
• 12:10
  Evoke is the motivation.
• 12:11
  Evoke is the call to action.
• 12:13
  Evoke is the pit in your stomach of what's wrong that
• 12:17
  you're providing how it could be so much better and that you're thinking there, my God, I didn't realize how much money we're losing.
• 12:26
  And if we don't correct this right away with a prescriptive, you know, one of the reasons, and you know this, but one of the reasons why I got into speaking was my frustration that
• 12:38
  when we were trying to build our first
• 12:41
  businesses around customer service.
• 12:44
  Every book I read and every speaker I saw, which wasn't a lot back in the day, because it was pre-internet, never gave, they gave the warm and fuzzy story.
• 12:53
  I always say of the Nordstrom girl that ran down to Macy's and got you the pair of shoes that they were out of.
• 13:00
  That's a great story, but it never told me how you got her to do it and would.
• 13:05
  if I got a different associate, would she have done that?
• 13:08
  And so that's really why I got into speaking and writing by accident because I was so frustrated with the prescriptive parts.
• 13:17
  Treat people the way you want to be treated, right?
• 13:19
  The golden rule, all these things.
• 13:21
  But it didn't tell me, what does that mean?
• 13:23
  What am I going back tomorrow and doing with my new employees or my existing employees?
• 13:28
  So that take backable.
• 13:30
  which isn't a word, but that was always my big thing.
• 13:34
  And why I kind of got into it was because I didn't feel, felt like no one was teaching the how.
• 13:40
  How do you create your message so that it is actionable, not just inspiring?
• 13:44
  So I go by the villain, victim, and hero.
• 13:50
  And so the villain is what's wrong in customer experience, what's wrong, the spirit airlines of the place.
• 13:55
  If you have a horrible experience, you have to pay more for advertising, you're not going to retain clients, and you better be the cheapest.
• 14:06
  Those are just some examples.
• 14:08
  And then you're going to have higher turnover of employees.
• 14:11
  because they're getting their ass kicked on a regular basis by the customer and they have to hide behind policy because that's our rule.
• 14:20
  We don't let people take advantage of us, whatever all that is.
• 14:24
  So you start with what's wrong and then obviously doing research on the industry and company you're speaking to and what their bottlenecks can be.
• 14:35
  And then the victim is,
• 14:38
  your customers, it's your employees, it's opportunities we won't grow, we're going to be the next Spirit Airlines or Blockbuster or Kodak or Blackberry, right?
• 14:49
  All those that didn't evolve and change and so they're all out of business today.
• 14:56
  So, but even if it's not that detrimental to your business, but if you're not growing,
• 15:00
  and you have to chase price to be competitive, I always say discounting is the tax you pay for delivering an average experience.
• 15:10
  Yeah, so that's the victim.
• 15:12
  And the hero is, follow this method.
• 15:14
  This is a proven methodology that the Chick-fil-A's of the world and Sandals Resorts of the world, were plenty of...
• 15:22
  uh business to business, law firms and accounting firms and manufacturers have used, depending on what industry we're speaking to, that has allowed them to go from 80 million
• 15:35
  in sales to 120 million.
• 15:37
  The uh Jim Bennett worldwide expressed case study that we have.
• 15:42
  The Vu case study of New Day.
• 15:46
  reducing their veteran opt-outs from 15 % a month to 8 % a month.
• 15:53
  That 7 % reduction in their customers opting out of the mortgage before it closed was over a million dollars in sales a month.
• 16:03
  So that's the hero is see what happens when you follow this methodology and do that, you could have results like that.
• 16:13
  So it must, you speak to all these different industries, the villain must be different in all of them, so you're creating something, a different presentation for each group that
• 16:22
  you speak for then.
• 16:23
  Yes and no, a lot of, like we find this out in CXEA, our customer experience executive academy that people come quarterly to Cleveland for a 12 month schedule.
• 16:36
  there is literally, there's someone, roofing company, there's someone from Sandals Resort, law firms, banks, I mean just.
• 16:45
  all over everyone in that room is so different.
• 16:48
  And what they always say is we all have the exact same problems, right?
• 16:52
  Finding good people, training them to be good, know, not, you know, having something that create a system that could be done by average employees.
• 17:02
  And what we mean by that is we don't want to help you create such a sophisticated customer experience that you only Harvard.
• 17:10
  know, PhD graduates to execute, right?
• 17:13
  I always say, you know, you can transform the experience you're delivering to your customers with probably the same group of people you have working.
• 17:22
  It's, you know, it's not their fault.
• 17:24
  It's the lack of systems and, you know, but it can't be, you know, too complicated.
• 17:30
  So yeah, there are industry nuances.
• 17:33
  So I just spoke to a winery group in Napa Valley.
• 17:37
  And so their nuances is the wineries are dying.
• 17:41
  They said 1,400 wineries closed, I don't know if this was in the past year or a couple of years, in France, which is the hub of wineries.
• 17:51
  And that their customer base or the younger customers that they're trying to attract,
• 17:57
  which is probably more millennials right now.
• 17:59
  I wouldn't think it's Gen Zs yet, right?
• 18:01
  It's the 30s, if you will.
• 18:03
  Think of wineries as their parents thing.
• 18:06
  Now on the flip side in today, the younger generation chooses experiences over the house, the car, that stuff.
• 18:16
  So that's an advantage to wineries.
• 18:19
  but they have to rebrand themselves that this wasn't just your parents or grandparents thing to do.
• 18:24
  So yeah, you definitely get, you gotta find out what the Uber is, that's their threat in all industries, but 80, 90 % of it is gonna be similar.
• 18:36
  You've spoken to so many different industries, hospitality, healthcare, wineries, financial services, manufacturing, professional services, and more, government.
• 18:46
  How do you think about the responsibility that comes with being invited to a company's most important meeting or event?
• 18:53
  I this is something you have just one time a year or someone every two years.
• 18:58
  Yeah, that it's enormous responsibility.
• 19:02
  It's so uh big.
• 19:04
  And I was talking to someone else yesterday about this, that, you know, it might be my third keynote this week, right?
• 19:12
  Yesterday I was in Kentucky doing a keynote for a franchise group.
• 19:16
  This is last week, but, you last week when I'm thinking about today, I'm in New Orleans doing a, you know, a keynote to, you know, uh
• 19:25
  property management owners, and then tomorrow I might be here.
• 19:29
  And you can get wrapped up in the transactional side, but these people, like you said, chose you over 20 other options and might be paying more for you.
• 19:41
  And then audiences, like there was someone that, and I don't believe this happens that often, that I'm a headliner that
• 19:49
  fills the room, right?
• 19:51
  I think, I don't know, think I'm more of a surprise that, you know, they went in, you know, and maybe they didn't know who I was.
• 19:59
  I'm not, I don't think I'm a household name.
• 20:01
  And they walk away saying that was great.
• 20:05
  That was better than I thought.
• 20:06
  But someone did come up to me in, I think New Orleans saying they came because I was the speaker, right?
• 20:15
  But so.
• 20:16
  Yeah, so that was nice.
• 20:17
  But the thing is that, you know, I heard Mickey Mantle say this a long time ago, that the reason why he played so hard at every game, even though he has, you know, 162 games a
• 20:31
  year, and it's just another night.
• 20:33
  And I heard Hugh Jackman say this when he does, you know, plays Broadway.
• 20:38
  Yeah.
• 20:38
  that there's one person that traveled five, six hours, put it on their credit card when they couldn't afford it, whatever the case for that, even though it's the fifth time or
• 20:51
  50th time you're doing that speech or it's another city and you don't know what day or city you're in, you gotta bring it.
• 20:59
  You gotta bring the research, you gotta bring, and a lot of people are like,
• 21:04
  You you charge $25,000 for an hour keynote.
• 21:09
  And it's so much more than that, right?
• 21:10
  It's all the years of prepping and becoming, you know, an expert.
• 21:16
  And, you know, then what goes into the prep for that speech, it's not the hour on stage that you're getting paid for.
• 21:26
  It's, you know, what it took for you to be the experts and be able to customize it.
• 21:31
  to that audience.
• 21:32
  That's a lot.
• 21:33
  Well, every keynote presentation requires quite a bit on its own, the slides and everything else that goes into it.
• 21:41
  Do you feel pressure knowing leaders?
• 21:43
  it's great though.
• 21:44
  It goes back to if I didn't, I would just be like, all right, I have a keynote in New Orleans today and then tomorrow I have, you but it's, yeah, you feel pressure.
• 21:54
  And then we also have additional pressure that we say our fees aren't negotiable, but what you pay is.
• 22:01
  And on the final invoice, it says, please pay what you think is fair.
• 22:05
  Like that, I'm sure.
• 22:07
  has taken years off my life and is why I have to take something for my whatever heartburn issues.
• 22:14
  Cause it's scary, know, know, if, you know, if they don't think you are worth it, they can, you know, send a buck tomorrow.
• 22:22
  So that makes us, I think all of us, but me very paranoid in a good way that I better customize this, it better not sound like, you know, something I, you know,
• 22:32
  do every day and it's not customized to them.
• 22:35
  So that makes sure, you know, when I'm in a good place, people will ask for the presentation two weeks ahead of time.
• 22:46
  And, you know, so they can load it, whatever, prove it.
• 22:50
  And I always say, you know, I always say no, and I try not to come across that I'm trying to be a diva.
• 22:56
  But you don't want my present.
• 22:59
  Yeah.
• 23:00
  You don't want my presentation two weeks early because then I'll have other presentations I'm doing after it before I go live to that event, right?
• 23:11
  That I emailed my slide deck.
• 23:13
  Well, if I can't change it, I won't even remember the slide deck.
• 23:17
  And do they call their...
• 23:19
  customers, clients, guests, patients, tenants, like all the nuances.
• 23:23
  And so I always say, listen, want the last thing I'm doing 48 hours before is working on your presentation.
• 23:30
  I'm not a procrastinator, but it has to be the freshest thing in my mind.
• 23:34
  And when I'm in my sweet spot, not only am I tweaking the slide on the flight,
• 23:40
  but I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me.
• 23:43
  I'm so in that space that then I go into my hotel and I go to bed and then at like two or three, I wake up thinking about another, and I have to write it down.
• 23:54
  So when I literally get up, I can add that slide or that context or whatever.
• 23:59
  But then I'm in, I I am so in that presentation and that's where you want me.
• 24:05
  And I can't speak for any other keynote speaker.
• 24:07
  I just know what works for me.
• 24:09
  And so I tell them that, and they're usually understanding.
• 24:13
  I said, could send you a draft so you could see it, but it's gonna change.
• 24:17
  just so our listeners understand too, before you walk on stage and you have all these tweaks and changes that you're making, are the things that you're customizing?
• 24:28
  What are you looking at or what causes you to create those?
• 24:33
  No matter who I'm speaking to, what industry I'm speaking to, I will always go external on how Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Pricewaterhouse, whomever does this really, really well.
• 24:47
  And then I want to land it back in their world.
• 24:50
  And so I got to understand their world.
• 24:52
  But then I'm also listening, I love listening to the...
• 24:55
  uh CEO open up status.
• 24:58
  Now, as Edward pointed out, tying it back in and knowing their theme and, you know, and then all the pre-calls that we had with the CEO and whoever to find out the nuances of
• 25:14
  their business, their struggles.
• 25:16
  I want to know what the most cynical person in the audience is thinking.
• 25:20
  It might be like, you know, what's this guy know anything about?
• 25:23
  nursing or medical field or I want to know that so I can address it and speak to it somewhat that helps take that chip off their shoulder.
• 25:34
  So, but it's KPIs, you what is their KPIs?
• 25:38
  know, we're a big fan of earned sales growth, which is the percentage of your sales that comes from repeat and referrals.
• 25:47
  Well, that doesn't apply to every industry.
• 25:50
  um So you gotta know if that can apply and if that can even be, you don't wanna tell the audience you should use earned sales growth and now you just pissed off the CEO and CFO
• 26:00
  because their software doesn't track it or, so you don't wanna promise anything that why aren't we doing that?
• 26:07
  So you wanna make sure things are, so it's all that, it's listening, it's, last week was a perfect example, it have been a great documentary.
• 26:17
  Like I was sitting back in the AV behind the stage and just editing my slides literally up to the point they introduced me.
• 26:27
  And it wasn't because I was procrastinating, it was just because I was getting more and more ideas and say, my God, what they just said, that is a great example of this.
• 26:35
  need, and, you know, so that's again, when I'm in my sweet spot is when, you know, that's all eat, sleeping and drinking that presentation.
• 26:44
  There are times we've done webinars and they're pre-recorded and we put them out there.
• 26:49
  In fact, listeners, if you're ever looking for good content with John and Dave, we have webinars that are completely free to download on our website, thedjuliasgroup.com.
• 27:00
  But a keynote's live.
• 27:02
  You can prepare, but once you're in the room, you have to feel what's happening too, right?
• 27:07
  Because you don't, maybe you know who was on stage before you, maybe you don't, or what happened the day before.
• 27:13
  How do you read an audience in real time?
• 27:15
  And how does that change how you deliver the message?
• 27:18
  Yeah, I always say an audience makes a great speaker.
• 27:22
  So when an audience is there because they want to be there and it's a great culture, which the majority of our clients have, they wouldn't be working with us.
• 27:31
  And they're
• 27:32
  And I sprinkle a lot of humor in my presentation.
• 27:35
  It has to be relevant humor.
• 27:37
  can't just be a priest and a rabbi walking into a bar just to tell a good joke, right?
• 27:42
  It has to apply to the point.
• 27:45
  And one of my favorite quotes is, with humor, is you want to say something that makes them laugh for 10 seconds and think for 30.
• 27:53
  And that's when it's a good, like the Snow White story or something like that.
• 27:57
  But I sprinkle in humor more for me than it is for the audience, because it gives me a gauge that they're with me.
• 28:05
  So if they're laughing as I'm coming out with the punchline, I'm fired up.
• 28:09
  Like, you think that's funny, wait till I deliver the next line.
• 28:12
  Or I know I have them in the palm of my hands in a good way that they are engaged and they're on cue.
• 28:20
  If you say something,
• 28:21
  and you get crickets, then you start getting a pit in your stomach and you're like, they're not listening, they've checked out.
• 28:27
  Or if I didn't have those jokes, again, relevant jokes along the way, when I first started, I would just, like right now, you're staring at me.
• 28:37
  And then I would start to panic.
• 28:39
  Is she staring at me because she thinks I'm smart or she thinks she can't believe I'm teacher 101?
• 28:46
  customer service that she's heard a million times.
• 28:49
  You know, like, you and you can't read a stare sometimes.
• 28:52
  And so, so that's why, you know, I have humor, but an audience is just great.
• 28:57
  And if you have, you know, if you're doing well, they're going to make you, you know, just so much more engaged in the energy and all that.
• 29:05
  Listeners, before we continue, if your organization is planning a leadership event, annual conference, or any type of customer experience initiative, culture meeting, this is
• 29:15
  exactly where the DiJulius group can help.
• 29:18
  John?
• 29:18
  works with organizations.
• 29:20
  They want more than a great keynote.
• 29:22
  He helps companies create a customer experience revolution, practical tools, leadership alignment, proven methodology that turns inspiration into action.
• 29:32
  If you want to learn about how to bring John into your next events or meeting, give us a shout.
• 29:38
  You can schedule a call at tdg.click forward slash call or visit thedejuliusgroup.com.
• 29:44
  Because the right message at the right time is something that can change a company forever.
• 29:50
  John, back to the topic.
• 29:51
  What companies often misunderstand?
• 29:54
  There's a lot of companies that hire speakers because they want energy, they want inspiration, a memorable event, they want entertainment maybe.
• 30:02
  But if they want real change, there has to be more intentionality.
• 30:06
  What do companies sometimes misunderstand about getting the most out of a keynote speaker?
• 30:12
  Yeah, I mean, it just goes back to, know, if you're choosing a speaker who is entertaining, funny, motivational, but there's a lack of take backable content, if they
• 30:23
  just get up there and treat people really, really well, treat your employees really, really well.
• 30:28
  I mean, that's, you know, a great speaker helps a great company remove personal interpretation.
• 30:34
  So in our world, you know, we just don't say make emotional connection.
• 30:40
  We get into it about here's how you teach your employees to make an emotional connection.
• 30:44
  Have them focus on Ford, learning the other person's Ford, family, occupation, recreation, and we break it down very prescriptive.
• 30:52
  That's an easy thing.
• 30:53
  And everyone runs back and implements that.
• 30:54
  And that's a good example.
• 30:56
  yeah, just the leader companies should make sure the speaker has, it's not just hypervelease that it's what...
• 31:04
  is going to be the take, and the speaker should learn this from the objectives of why he or she's being hired.
• 31:11
  what's the objectives we're trying to cure here that you're going to be doing differently in six months, 12 months, 18 months?
• 31:19
  And then the CEO leaders need to tee it up properly.
• 31:27
  And then there needs to be an action plan, whether they use the speaker after.
• 31:31
  But what are you gonna do as a result of my keynote today that, are you gonna get a CX ambassador team where people can apply from each department and help roll these things
• 31:42
  out, decide what that John shared is realistic today and what's maybe something we can't do until we get a better CRM system or AI or whatever.
• 31:53
  And then a rollout of that stuff.
• 31:57
  instead of just thinking that, you know, that speech is gonna be transformational.
• 32:01
  No, I don't think there's a speaker in the world that's gonna be transformational on their own.
• 32:07
  And you just, you know, it's gonna wear off.
• 32:09
  You're gonna get back to it.
• 32:10
  And then, I don't know if this might be a future question you're asking, but what I try to set up for is, and I try to have a call with the CEO or whoever opening.
• 32:20
  a lot of times at these annual events.
• 32:22
  It's the only time they get all their GMs, their franchisees, their leaders together.
• 32:26
  And so they do a state of the union.
• 32:30
  Hey, you know, and last year in 2025, we grew 12%.
• 32:36
  We added, you know, 32 locations.
• 32:39
  We did this, we did this, and they're pumping them up.
• 32:42
  But that doesn't set up well for now introducing, you know, a customer experience.
• 32:48
  know, expert who's gonna challenge you to do things differently.
• 32:52
  Why?
• 32:53
  You just, the CEO just told us that we're crushing it, we're growing, and you know, why do I have to do anything that's uncomfortable?
• 33:02
  Like, you know, so they're, you know, the best CEO just organically is this, is paranoid.
• 33:09
  And sets up, you know, me to say, listen, you know, we got a lot.
• 33:15
  of competition, we got Ubers, whatever your Uber is coming in and the threat and a lot of people doing it cheaper and sometimes the customer can't tell the difference and all these
• 33:28
  things and that if we don't listen to someone like a John D.
• 33:32
  Julius or whoever you're having, we could be the next blockbuster Kodak, Spirit Airlines.
• 33:38
  you know, whatever you wanna say it.
• 33:39
  So that's a really important thing of, and then someone coming on after saying, you know, tying, you know, how they feel it.
• 33:48
  Love that.
• 33:48
  You've spent a huge part of your career traveling, speaking, and working with leaders around the world.
• 33:54
  Is there a moment, do you have story you can share from the road that reminds you of why this work really matters and why you continue to do it?
• 34:02
  Yeah, something happened last week that was really cool.
• 34:05
  I think it was in New Orleans.
• 34:07
  I ran early, which I don't know if I've ever done that.
• 34:11
  They said you're on from nine to 10.
• 34:14
  I was opening keynote speaker that day, but there will be housekeeping.
• 34:19
  So figure 915 to 10.
• 34:21
  So I made my presentation 45 minutes long and they introduced me by 904.
• 34:28
  So I had some time left, which this is, as you know, really unusual for me.
• 34:34
  Usually I'm trying to get the last 10 slides in in the last 30 seconds and that's not a good formula.
• 34:41
  So it's kind of nice because as you start realizing it, you go a little deeper and explain more.
• 34:46
  But I did pull out something
• 34:48
  that wasn't gonna be in this presentation.
• 34:52
  but because I had time and it was appropriate, I say, listen, you I'm on a mission to revolutionize not only just how businesses serve customers, but in employees, but how they
• 35:03
  treat one another.
• 35:04
  you know, I get into that and I talk about how, you know, I really want my presentation not only help you professionally, but help you in your personal life.
• 35:14
  and how you treat others and all this stuff.
• 35:16
  So I ended with the two things that come up on my phone, one at 6 a.m.
• 35:22
  and one at 10 p.m.
• 35:23
  One at 6 a.m.
• 35:24
  is when act as if today's the day you'll remember for how you treat others.
• 35:28
  Act as if today's the day you'll remember how you treat others.
• 35:30
  And then at 10 p.m., a thing that pops up is how many people had a better day today as a result of coming in contact with me.
• 35:38
  And I say, I try not to just check that I think about it.
• 35:42
  And sometimes I don't like the answer.
• 35:43
  Sometimes it could be more people closer to me than strangers or stuff.
• 35:48
  It could be my employees, it could be my kids, where I maybe was shorter than at all.
• 35:53
  So I ended with that.
• 35:55
  And as I was leaving, a guy chased me down and he said, I just want to tell you, my day was better as a result of coming in contact with you.
• 36:02
  So that's really good.
• 36:03
  But it's just different things that people send me messages saying, impactful and at home with their son or daughter or their spouse, that's really rewarding to me.
• 36:19
  Because I don't think we have a work life and a personal life.
• 36:22
  We have one life.
• 36:24
  And you want to have an impact in both areas.
• 36:27
  Have leaders ever contacted you after, maybe months after even?
• 36:33
  Yeah, I we get that all the time.
• 36:35
  That's fortunate.
• 36:35
  mean, so for the listeners, the keynote.
• 36:39
  So consulting is the biggest revenue stream for the DiJulius Group.
• 36:44
  Keynotes is the biggest lead gen to consulting.
• 36:49
  So after I get done speaking, whether it's through association where we'll get two or three people that wanna engage with us for consulting.
• 36:58
  or that company that originally thought they were hiring me or us just for a keynote, and it's not a sales job, you know that, it's almost to a you know, a fault, I don't believe
• 37:10
  in selling from stage.
• 37:11
  But I know if you do a really good job, they're gonna want, you know, more.
• 37:16
  So yeah, that's the best thing is when they're like, they wanna call next week because they know what you just shared won't have the, uh
• 37:24
  the legs and longevity without some help.
• 37:27
  And again, that's, you I say in my speech, you can do this.
• 37:31
  You don't need us to create a day in the life of a customer video or to implement Ford or whatever we're talking about.
• 37:38
  But yeah, that's probably the highest praise is when a CEO is like, you know, sees the ROI that could come from this.
• 37:47
  What other things have you found to be universally true across companies no matter the industry?
• 37:53
  The biggest thing is, the mistake that leaders make is that they think it's customer experience, customer service is innate, and it's common sense.
• 38:04
  it goes back to probably our basic foundation that employee service aptitude is not any of those things.
• 38:12
  has to be taught and it only gets taught in...
• 38:15
  previous life experience, previous work experience, and then what you're doing with that employee, not only in the first 90 days, but ongoing.
• 38:25
  And that's really all we can control as leaders.
• 38:27
  We can't control how you grew up and what your life experiences were up to this point.
• 38:32
  And we can't control where you worked previously.
• 38:36
  It'd be nice to only hire from Chick-fil-A, Ritz-Carlton, Disney, but that's just not, you know.
• 38:42
  you know, the only thing we can control is the number three is what we're doing.
• 38:47
  And so that's universal.
• 38:49
  The other thing that's universal is employee roulette, department roulette, location roulette, team roulette.
• 38:56
  And that's just, you know, the experiences cannot be based on which employee, which location, which team, department you're dealing with.
• 39:06
  And I don't know of any company that...
• 39:08
  will say they don't suffer from that.
• 39:11
  We suffer from that in all our companies, hopefully less, but we still suffer from it.
• 39:17
  It's not only a slam on, let's say you get Lindsay, I know you're gonna have a great experience, but you get Denise, I hope she's in a good mood this week.
• 39:26
  That could be one thing, right?
• 39:28
  I think a lot of it we use as a crutch, oh, you got Sally who's new.
• 39:33
  So I'm sure you didn't, well, that's not, know, the customer shouldn't suffer because, you have to make sure Sally is prepared, trained to give the experience you're charging for.
• 39:44
  Unless you're giving discounts, oh, you worked with Sally this week, all right, we're probably gonna give you 50 % off.
• 39:48
  No one does that, no one wants to do that.
• 39:51
  So employee roulette, you know, a lot of times,
• 39:53
  We use it as a crutch because they're new.
• 39:55
  Well, mean, the customer shouldn't pay for it.
• 39:58
  Yeah, there's a lot of things that are universal employee related.
• 40:02
  Removing personal interpretation.
• 40:04
  World-class customer experience brands remove personal interpretation.
• 40:08
  So the example I like to always give is if I tell 100 employees to go out and deliver genuine hospitality, you're going to get 100 personal interpretations.
• 40:18
  One person might think genuine hospitality is,
• 40:20
  A head nod, another person might think it's jumping in the customer's arms and hugging them.
• 40:25
  Well, what's yours?
• 40:26
  Ours is the five E's.
• 40:27
  Eye contact, enthusiastic greet, ear to ear smile, engage and educate.
• 40:31
  And there's prescriptive things underneath that of what that looks like, but that's measurable, it's actionable, it's trainable, it's observable.
• 40:39
  We can watch you greet someone or whatever the business model is and say if you did it or you didn't do it.
• 40:46
  know, world-class company, Chick-fil-A's, the Ritz Carlton's, know, uh Amazon's of the world, they remove personal interpretation.
• 40:53
  you know, they have actionable, I always say this word wrong, not tactfully, tactically, right?
• 41:00
  Is that the right, yeah.
• 41:02
  That,
• 41:02
  Alright, I have another question when it comes to conferences.
• 41:05
  I know this is something I've been guilty of and I'm sure a lot of our listeners have too.
• 41:09
  You go, you hear a great message, you're writing things down, you probably have binders, notebooks full of notes, whether it's on your laptop, your phone, or on paper.
• 41:19
  But you go back to work, emails pile up, old habits return.
• 41:23
  How can companies make sure the keynote becomes the beginning of change and not just a memory?
• 41:30
  What can leaders do to keep the message alive?
• 41:34
  Yeah, so it goes back to our early question and answer is, number one, that should be part of the subject matter expert that you're bringing in.
• 41:45
  And that should be one of the criteria's of if we hire you to speak, A, how are you going to customize this?
• 41:52
  B, you you can have a pre-call to understand our objectives, our nuances, our bottlenecks, and C, what are you going to leave us with?
• 42:00
  that we can then take and make sure that there's transformation that's gonna happen.
• 42:06
  What are you gonna share those?
• 42:09
  And then the leaders have to be prepared for that.
• 42:12
  And from setting it up prior at the conference, the paranoia, if we don't do things like this, we'll be the next Kodak.
• 42:20
  And then the post, they should already have a call scheduled with the...
• 42:25
  the key people, stakeholders, that are gonna champion this experience and say, all right, what'd you get from John's speech?
• 42:32
  What'd you get?
• 42:32
  He gave us a list.
• 42:33
  I end with a list of the 10 things you should be doing as soon as you leave here.
• 42:37
  Otherwise, you're gonna find that notebook in a bag or a trunk six months later, say, remember that conference we had?
• 42:46
  Yeah, that guy was funny, whatever, but it's collecting dust.
• 42:50
  So there has to be an action plan immediately.
• 42:52
  You know, I remember years ago, I don't know if you'll recall this, but there were a group of company leaders.
• 42:59
  We were at an event, and I think it was in Cincinnati because it was something we drove to.
• 43:04
  And a group of us drove together, and the valet lost the car keys.
• 43:08
  And we were going to have to stay another night till a new car key could be made or whatever was happening.
• 43:15
  Because we stayed an extra night, it gave us the time to go through our notes and create an accountability plan and decide what we were going to actually implement when we got
• 43:25
  back, who was going to be responsible for it, what we were going to do.
• 43:29
  And it turned out to be the best error that, you know, ever.
• 43:32
  And after that, we started adding time on.
• 43:35
  And I think it was it was a remarkable thing to do because it was instant.
• 43:40
  rather than waiting till your comeback and try to schedule a meeting.
• 43:44
  Yeah, yeah.
• 43:45
  And some, you know, we worked with Alcon and so I did the, you know, the big keynote in the morning and then they had breakouts without me, which totally fine in the afternoon
• 43:55
  that you'd rotate to that was all about how do you implement the things John just shared.
• 44:01
  And that was brilliant.
• 44:02
  You know, yeah, yeah.
• 44:05
  And that's why I love, you know, I think the pandemic probably is as...
• 44:10
  I don't know if the world is fully back with going back to conferences like it was pre-pandemic.
• 44:16
  But I think when you get on a plane with people from your same company, the conference starts the moment you meet them at the airport.
• 44:26
  And we're looking at the agenda.
• 44:27
  Who'd you pick to go speak?
• 44:29
  I want to hear him.
• 44:30
  and then you're meeting at lunch, you're going out to dinner that night.
• 44:34
  And that's just awesome versus if you just watch a webinar, then we get off and we go to our next Zoom call or our next meeting and we may never circle back with each other on
• 44:46
  what your takeaways was from that webinar or what my take, and you might not have watched it live and you're gonna watch it over the weekend and you don't have that synergy and
• 44:56
  energy of what you're gonna take back and do differently.
• 45:00
  Such great team bonding building time.
• 45:02
  Yeah.
• 45:02
  then I always recommend, and what I've tried to do as a leader who sent people is, all right, you have to come back within seven to 10 days and present it to the people that
• 45:13
  didn't go, what you learned and how it applies.
• 45:16
  And that forces the people that go to the conference, it puts the pressure on them that they got to pay attention, they got to listen, they got to apply it versus again, finding
• 45:26
  that notebook in six months in some duffel bag or trunk.
• 45:30
  And you didn't really do anything.
• 45:33
  There is a side to speaking that people think is very glamorous.
• 45:37
  You travel all over the world.
• 45:39
  You're speaking on different stages.
• 45:41
  oh
• 45:42
  is some, no, no, I mean, I'm sorry.
• 45:44
  The side to it is great.
• 45:46
  Like you're in front of, know, 3,500 people and it's usually in beautiful cities or countries.
• 45:53
  that's, you know, and then there's the long line, if you did a good job of people that want to come up and say, that story you said connected.
• 46:03
  But the funny thing I always tell people who are getting into speaking is, I know this isn't where you're going with it, but don't kid yourself.
• 46:10
  If you have 500 people in the audience and 15 of them come up and wait in line, that's a lot.
• 46:17
  That's pretty good.
• 46:18
  Usually they're all positive, that story you said, and that really connected and all that good stuff.
• 46:24
  So we leave there saying, we're the greatest.
• 46:27
  But what I always say and I tell speakers is, if 15 out of 500 came up, 485 weren't inspired to come up.
• 46:35
  I'm thinking about why they didn't come up after and be willing to wait in line and tell me how good I was.
• 46:40
  So, you know, don't get intoxicated, because I don't care.
• 46:43
  The worst speaker's gonna connect with someone in that room and they're gonna come up and say something nice, but it's the ones that don't that you gotta be paranoid.
• 46:51
  But I know you're going somewhere else with this.
• 46:53
  Well, no, that's good.
• 46:54
  That's good.
• 46:54
  yeah, I am going somewhere else only because I want to know you get that the high from the applause.
• 47:00
  There is, you know, the interesting people that you meet, but there's also the grind, you know, airports, which we know how fun those are these days.
• 47:08
  Missed family time, missed time with friends, constant preparation.
• 47:12
  a.m.
• 47:13
  AV checks when you don't speak till 11, but you gotta be there at 7 a.m.
• 47:20
  Different time zone.
• 47:23
  It's funny, last week...
• 47:24
  you've only got four hours of sleep.
• 47:26
  Right, last week in Kentucky, I spoke with Dan Gingiss another great speaker, and then he was on the circuit.
• 47:35
  And then on Wednesday, I spoke with a conference that Joey Coleman, another great speaker, spoke at.
• 47:40
  So both days, I went out with them.
• 47:44
  Dan for dinner, think, you know, yeah.
• 47:46
  And it's fun, and we're talking about exactly what you're talking about, what people think, and like, and it is.
• 47:51
  That's why I don't want to take away.
• 47:53
  You know, to me it's like when you hear these world famous actors complain about celebrity, being a celebrity, and that they can't go anywhere.
• 48:02
  Come on.
• 48:03
  I mean, you you get, you know, you get a lot of perks, right?
• 48:07
  And the drawback isn't.
• 48:09
  So we were talking about it, but, and this happened to me last week.
• 48:12
  So I was going from Kentucky to uh New Orleans, and I had a layover in Houston.
• 48:18
  And then I'm on the Houston flight and we're taking off and just before it takes off, literally, it stops and they come back and one of the wheels on the plane is flat and we
• 48:29
  all have to get off and they have to change a tire.
• 48:32
  And it was a lot longer than they suggested and I probably got in at one, two in the morning when I was supposed to get in at 10 or 11.
• 48:39
  And I don't complain about those things.
• 48:41
  Because the travel, 7 a.m.
• 48:45
  AV check, whatever the unfund part of it is because like 30 years ago or 28 years ago, whenever me and you kind of started this business, if you would have told me or if anyone
• 48:58
  would told us that it would have grown to be what it's become and that I'd be complaining about delays, I said, no, I won't.
• 49:07
  I'll take the delays.
• 49:08
  Like, you know, it's funny that we complain about the things that we dreamt of.
• 49:15
  You know what mean?
• 49:16
  Like, you know, I want to be a business owner.
• 49:18
  Now I'm a business owner, but I don't like that there's turnover and that, you know, I get 3 a.m.
• 49:24
  calls from the security alarm company or that comes with being a business owner.
• 49:29
  So I never complain about what's the hard part, because that comes with it.
• 49:34
  I mean, thank God I have those challenges.
• 49:36
  Otherwise,
• 49:37
  I wouldn't get the other part of the big stages and maybe an occasional standing ovation or whatever the good stuff that comes with it.
• 49:46
  I think what has to be hard though, and maybe this is just from my perspective, is that you need to show up at your best every day.
• 49:54
  always have to be on, because people are looking at you, people are watching.
• 50:01
  If you're working remote, if I was in a crummy mood, you wouldn't see it, you wouldn't know it.
• 50:08
  Snow White always has to be on stage.
• 50:10
  Snow White can't have a bad day.
• 50:12
  You know, the hairdresser can't be shitty to her 10.30 because her 9.30 was a bitch from hell or whatever, or she got a flat tire in the way.
• 50:24
  But I agree with you, and that's why I'm very protective of my energy, and maybe this applies to everyone's world.
• 50:31
  So, I think you know this.
• 50:33
  I think, what would you call me, an extrovert?
• 50:36
  Am I an extrovert?
• 50:37
  don't know.
• 50:38
  I would say you definitely appear to be an extrovert.
• 50:40
  Not everyone loves to be on stage in front of 500 people.
• 50:44
  Yeah, yeah.
• 50:47
  So when I go into an event the night before or the day before and I don't speak, obviously I have to get there the day before, I don't mind going down to the restaurant or bar to
• 50:57
  order a steak.
• 50:58
  And I have no problem with that because no one knows me then.
• 51:02
  No one's coming up to me, no one recognizes me.
• 51:04
  I'm not a household name.
• 51:06
  What I won't do is if I have to be there the night I have spoken, and let's say I can't get a flight out till the next morning, I won't go out, at least at that hotel.
• 51:16
  I'll probably order room service.
• 51:19
  Because of what you said, and it's a dream to have people come up to you, but you can't, it's so exhausting in a good way.
• 51:26
  of when you're on stage.
• 51:28
  And then there's the after and people coming up to you, which is a dream come true.
• 51:32
  And I don't ever want that to change.
• 51:34
  But then I don't relax well when I go to dinner that night or I go to their events.
• 51:39
  I feel like I'm still on stage.
• 51:41
  Now people recognize me.
• 51:43
  feel like, you know, I just can't, you know, I don't know, do whatever.
• 51:47
  And I'm very protective of my energy that way.
• 51:51
  of I'd rather go to the room, put the game on, order room service and download.
• 51:56
  I just have known when I've tried to do the other thing and in a way I should be doing it, it's good for business, it's good for all that.
• 52:05
  Then I have a really hard time, it's like jet lag or something, I have a really hard time bouncing back.
• 52:12
  So I'm protective of the energy.
• 52:14
  I have.
• 52:15
  Or I use.
• 52:17
  so that's just some me time, some, yeah, after.
• 52:23
  just can't, you know, I'll just hit a wall.
• 52:26
  And I'm self-conscious.
• 52:27
  I don't know, that goes to whatever.
• 52:29
  I don't know, it's like, I'm self-conscious that I can't, like the night before I could say and do whatever I want, not that I'm doing anything stupid, but you know, I don't have
• 52:39
  to worry about my...
• 52:40
  session.
• 52:40
  Right, right.
• 52:42
  I have to worry about the conversation with the bartender and if we're a little bit off color.
• 52:47
  But I do the next night, and so I'm a little prim and proper to make sure because I'm still on stage, right?
• 52:54
  But that just adds a little bit of anxiety because when you're on stage all day and night, it's exhausting.
• 53:05
  Oh, that's me.
• 53:06
  I know, maybe other speakers don't have that problem.
• 53:08
  It's just, I just know
• 53:09
  from trial and error to protect my energy in certain ways.
• 53:13
  When you leave the stage, what do you hope most that people are still thinking about days or weeks later?
• 53:18
  The key messages, the transformation that they want to take back.
• 53:22
  I had another good compliment.
• 53:24
  Someone came up to me last week and they didn't see my keynote.
• 53:31
  It was too early for them.
• 53:32
  They went out partying on Bourbon Street.
• 53:35
  And that's okay.
• 53:36
  But they were like, I got to tell you, my number two is in here.
• 53:40
  said it was so good and when I got there after, he says, I gotta go up to the room.
• 53:45
  I have so many notes and I gotta transform it.
• 53:48
  so it was a compliment, but it was also, that's what you want someone to do.
• 53:51
  That it's like, they are just rushing to wherever they have to get to, to do the download of your information because they think it's so important.
• 54:01
  That's awesome.
• 54:02
  For a leader who's listening, maybe an event planner even, trying to create change inside their organization, what should they know about the real power of a keynote?
• 54:13
  Well.
• 54:13
  Why don't you choose just anyone?
• 54:15
  Why don't you go for the, you know, whoever fits your budget and.
• 54:19
  Well, like we always say, you we'll get, you know, calls and, you know, someone will ask, you know, how much does John charge?
• 54:25
  And 25,000, like, oh my God, the other speakers we're looking at is 15 or 10.
• 54:31
  Oh, those are great.
• 54:32
  That sounds like a great deal.
• 54:33
  Let me ask you some questions.
• 54:35
  You know, how often do you have this conference?
• 54:37
  once a year, every February.
• 54:39
  All right.
• 54:40
  And tell me the object.
• 54:41
  we bring all our franchisees, all our GMs, all our...
• 54:44
  whoever in and it's kind of the theme for the year.
• 54:48
  This is what we're working on in 2026 and we're customer experience upset.
• 54:53
  I said, okay, that's really good.
• 54:55
  And so how important is the success of a conference to the speaker you hire?
• 55:00
  Well, that's almost everything, right?
• 55:02
  mean, the food, this, the party at night, but.
• 55:05
  the speaker is probably a significant part.
• 55:10
  And so let me ask you this, if you bring in one of those $15,000 speakers or 10,000 or any speaker you bring in and they don't do a good job, can you get everyone back next month
• 55:21
  and do it again?
• 55:22
  No.
• 55:23
  Like that's a stupid, no, we only do, oh, so you, and so now all sudden you're making them realize that
• 55:30
  they can't afford maybe to go and get a $15,000 speaker because how much it'll cost them.
• 55:37
  then the other thing is, no one wants to come next year because last year stunk.
• 55:42
  And so you have less attendance and pulling teeth to get people to come because last year wasn't that good.
• 55:47
  We've done that where we're members and we're just like, I don't see the value anymore.
• 55:52
  And we don't come back for the second.
• 55:55
  know, events.
• 55:56
  So yeah, it's all that.
• 55:58
  It's that, you know, making sure that, and I'm not dissing anyone that charges 10 or 15, that they're, you know, they're great.
• 56:06
  I was, you know, at that for a long time and hopefully it's providing value.
• 56:09
  You just got to make sure it's a right fit and that you're interviewing them and that they're bringing and they're not just, it's not just a sales job where they're just, you
• 56:18
  know, giving you a little bit to try to get you to hire them or sign up for there or anything like that, that they're going to give.
• 56:25
  your employees, leaders, audience, stuff that will work and a recipe for what they should do next.
• 56:35
  And they should have a call, oh be willing to do a post-call to offer recommendations on what they should do now that doesn't just include, well, hire us.
• 56:45
  You know, I think you always bring an interesting perspective to having run your own conference for 15 years, having that experience and knowledge of everything that happens
• 56:57
  behind the scenes and what it takes to put on a great conference and what's riding on it.
• 57:04
  Yeah, and that helps being a speaker so when you're bringing other speakers in, you know a day in the life and you know what their nuances, so you try to make it easier.
• 57:13
  And that's why like all of us, you know, our support staff at the DiJulius Group, Lindsay, Claudia, you, know, whomever that may be, you know, we want them all to experience going
• 57:25
  to a conference.
• 57:26
  with me, seeing the 6 a.m.
• 57:28
  AV check, seeing when things go wrong or they don't have what I needed for an AV check, and the day in the life.
• 57:37
  So it makes everyone on the DeJuillus Group understand the attention to detail, making sure that you just don't send, when they signed the contract eight months ago, you send
• 57:47
  John's AV list and
• 57:49
  check a box.
• 57:50
  No, you got to follow up the week before saying, there any questions with John's AV checklist?
• 57:56
  This is why it's important, you know, because they've seen what happens when, you know, they don't have what I need or, and we can't get it connected and it's getting close to
• 58:06
  going on stage time.
• 58:08
  So all those things, you know, handouts, all those things, you know, being a day in the life of a speaker or a day in the life of a conference,
• 58:17
  event planner, they need to know that.
• 58:19
  And how difficult we can make their job if we aren't responsive or hopefully, I always say, if an event planner has to call us for a bio and introduction, handouts, whatever,
• 58:32
  AV, we aren't doing our job.
• 58:34
  No one should be reaching out to us for things we know what they need.
• 58:38
  So that helps.
• 58:39
  When a Lindsay has experienced and is at a conference, we put together a conference so we really know what it's like.
• 58:47
  if you just hire someone and they're doing logistics and they don't really know why they're doing the logistics, they don't understand why someone's really irritable that we
• 58:56
  haven't sent them the bio or introduction or handouts and all those John's flight information because they want to create transportation.
• 59:03
  They don't understand, they just think, man, this person's a diva.
• 59:08
  Well, no, you have no idea.
• 59:09
  She's trying to line this up for 12 other speakers and set up AVs with the AV company and production and transportation and printing and blah, blah.
• 59:21
  Yeah, we always want to be the easiest to work with.
• 59:24
  And I think having that experience keeps you from being a diva as well.
• 59:28
  I can remember some of the experiences we had.
• 59:33
  No, I was going to say with speakers, we had amazing speakers that would present at our conferences.
• 59:39
  I mean, I can remember having to call some, chase them in their room that we need them down to get mic'd up and things like that.
• 59:47
  that just seemed impossible to have happen, but yeah, they do.
• 59:52
  And speakers don't realize that that's gonna hurt them in the long run.
• 59:59
  I finally did something after, I don't 25, 30 years right on a stage last week when this happens.
• 1:00:09
  So I always talk about don't forget you're on stage and don't show frustration publicly.
• 1:00:16
  So I'm speaking, 3,500 people, I'm towards the end, last thing, and the screens with my slides went out.
• 1:00:24
  And that's probably happened two dozen, three, four dozen times in 25 years.
• 1:00:30
  And every time I would say, hey, what's going on here?
• 1:00:34
  AV guy, know, something.
• 1:00:37
  they know, right?
• 1:00:38
  They know.
• 1:00:38
  And so I always give advice, know, just, know the presentation.
• 1:00:43
  I, you know, I've done this, you know, I know what to say.
• 1:00:46
  I really don't need to slide.
• 1:00:48
  It was the first time I actually did it in practice.
• 1:00:51
  It went out and I just, you know, kept on going.
• 1:00:54
  It seemed like it was out, you know, five minutes.
• 1:00:56
  It was probably out 50 seconds, which is a long time.
• 1:00:59
  But I just, I knew.
• 1:01:02
  what was on the slides and I just kept on talking, it went back on.
• 1:01:05
  But it was so cool that the AV guy came up to me after and said, that was the most professional, you did not blink, you didn't throw us under the bus.
• 1:01:14
  I was like, yeah, I do that all the time.
• 1:01:16
  it wasn't, I was like, yeah.
• 1:01:18
  Yeah, that is being the consummate professional up there.
• 1:01:22
  Yeah, it's hard.
• 1:01:23
  You forget.
• 1:01:24
  You just hit, panic and be like, what's going on?
• 1:01:27
  And it's so bad.
• 1:01:29
  being on stage, right?
• 1:01:30
  Being the duck.
• 1:01:31
  yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:32
  Well, the other thing is being on stage, I got criticized for, rightfully so, is we tell people, don't forget you're on stage at work, right?
• 1:01:40
  If a customer can see you or hear you, you're still on stage.
• 1:01:44
  so, know, something to the, know, someone wrote, they probably didn't do it as mean as I'm gonna do it, but John's a hypocrite.
• 1:01:51
  And it's because after I got off stage,
• 1:01:54
  and I got out of the room, it's break, I run to the restroom like everyone else, and I grab my phone and look at what I've missed in the past 90 minutes, and I'm looking down
• 1:02:06
  and I'm reading my phone on my way.
• 1:02:08
  And what I don't realize is I'm still on stage, even though I'm not on stage.
• 1:02:12
  If you can still see me and hear me, I'm on stage.
• 1:02:15
  And so all these people see me coming and they're like, and they wanna smile and.
• 1:02:20
  say great presentation and I'm like this.
• 1:02:22
  And I was a hypocrite, they were right.
• 1:02:25
  So now I have to, know, have my, you cause I'm also saying beat to greet, you know, yeah, John doesn't beat to greet yet.
• 1:02:32
  I have to, you know, smile and say hi and stop and talk.
• 1:02:36
  And then when I get in a stall, I can take my phone out.
• 1:02:40
  I'm finally not on stage when I'm in a stall.
• 1:02:43
  So if John texts you, you know where he's going.
• 1:02:48
  I respond to your slack messages.
• 1:02:51
  but really I love this conversation because it reframes what a keynote can be.
• 1:02:55
  It's not just to speak around stage.
• 1:02:58
  It's not just high energy moment at an event at its best.
• 1:03:03
  It's a turning point, a moment where companies, they hear the truth.
• 1:03:07
  Yeah, they see what's possible.
• 1:03:09
  They decide to raise their standard.
• 1:03:12
  So for everyone listening, if your organization's planning an event, leadership meeting, again, customer experience initiative, you want a culture transformation, don't think of
• 1:03:22
  the keynote as the entertainment portion of the agenda.
• 1:03:26
  Think of it as a spark.
• 1:03:27
  The question is, what will your company do with that spark after the room clears?
• 1:03:33
  To learn more about John and his keynote speaking and how the DiJulius Group
• 1:03:37
  helps organizations create world-class customer and employee experiences, visit thedjuliusgroup.com or schedule a call with us.
• 1:03:45
  Go to tdg.click forward slash call.
• 1:03:50
  Thanks for listening to the Customer Service Revolution podcast.
• 1:03:53
  Thank you, John.
• 1:03:54
  We're glad to have you in from the road for this chat and we'll see everybody next time.
• 1:03:58
  Thank you.