Feb. 22, 2024

Jamaican Purse Stands, Wobbly Tables & the Lost Art of Customer Service

Jamaican Purse Stands, Wobbly Tables & the Lost Art of Customer Service

Send us a text

Jenny has been home for about a week from Jamaica and is ready to “unpack” the customer experience that she received. But don’t get twisted she’s still not actually unpacked. Turns out life is in fact in the details, whether it’s specialized cube trays, a chilled glass, or somebody propping up a wobbly table. Join us as we zoom in on the details and then zoom out on the role this place in branding and marketing and ultimately leadership.

Curious to know where Jenny experienced such incredible customer service. Find out more about the resort she visited (Excellence Oyster Bay) here: https://bit.ly/3SI9mks


For more mayhem, be sure to follow us:

Insta @marketingandmayhem
YouTube @MarketingMayhemPod

And don't forget to leave us a 5 star review! Or message us to deep dive into your topic or just give us feedback!

Hosted by @raebecca.miller and @jennyfromthe843

00:04 - Exceptional Customer Service in Jamaica

06:27 - Customer Service and Attention to Detail

18:46 - Customer Service and Brand Integrity Importance

WEBVTT

00:00:04.229 --> 00:00:04.629
How are you?

00:00:04.629 --> 00:00:06.073
I'm good.

00:00:06.073 --> 00:00:16.829
I'm back from vacation and back to my normal non-tropical cocktail drinking from 10 am until 10 pm self.

00:00:16.829 --> 00:00:17.871
So it's lovely.

00:00:19.019 --> 00:00:21.609
We live in like a fairly semi-tropical place.

00:00:21.609 --> 00:00:23.786
It's just not we're out of season.

00:00:23.786 --> 00:00:25.914
But I can't wait till we get back to that here a little bit.

00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:28.065
Yeah, it's just been like a little rainy and dreary for me.

00:00:28.647 --> 00:00:33.005
No, I know I'm like pale, so I am like the snow white of this.

00:00:33.005 --> 00:00:40.087
Just actually my nail guy, Andy, when he did my pedicure last he told me that I need to go outside.

00:00:42.081 --> 00:00:43.686
Well, I mean exact words.

00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:45.146
He was like you need to get outside.

00:00:46.180 --> 00:00:55.075
I was like Andy you know what, Rebecca, that's a great segue into my expectation.

00:00:56.340 --> 00:00:57.307
You know, I love Andy.

00:00:57.951 --> 00:00:58.555
Oh God, Okay.

00:00:58.555 --> 00:01:01.283
So I was in Jamaica for five days.

00:01:02.125 --> 00:01:02.726
Still jealous.

00:01:02.726 --> 00:01:04.310
I'm still jealous, you're still tan.

00:01:05.212 --> 00:01:06.073
I know you should.

00:01:06.073 --> 00:01:06.441
It was.

00:01:06.441 --> 00:01:23.635
It was amazing, listen, we had not been on a vacation like that since our honeymoon, so it'd been a hot minute Like all inclusive, like you don't do anything, like you're forced to relax because my husband doesn't relax, so it was really good.

00:01:23.635 --> 00:01:25.707
It actually neither do I, to be quite honest.

00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:27.406
I was going to say did you see my face?

00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:31.813
I was like, just like foot to the gas, like time to be a little bit more honest.

00:01:32.295 --> 00:01:32.876
Yes, yeah.

00:01:33.100 --> 00:01:34.466
It's a little self reflection here.

00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:35.587
Where's your awareness?

00:01:35.587 --> 00:01:38.368
Yeah, how did we found it Exactly?

00:01:38.368 --> 00:01:39.384
Have you unpacked?

00:01:39.424 --> 00:01:39.605
yet?

00:01:39.605 --> 00:01:42.465
No, I haven't.

00:01:42.465 --> 00:01:50.170
I'm telling you I'm not leaving for another trip until end of March and I guarantee you that suitcase will be like I know.

00:01:50.170 --> 00:01:51.043
Judge me, listen.

00:01:51.043 --> 00:01:59.790
I have a lot of friends of mine who are the same way, so I don't, I don't feel too guilty, my husband, I'm only judging you because of who you are.

00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.691
I know it's your fault that I have a different concept.

00:02:04.710 --> 00:02:08.067
I know this, okay, I'm so type A, except when it comes to stuff, and I'm just like me.

00:02:08.067 --> 00:02:09.230
Whatever, it's fine.

00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:11.667
It is funny, though, the things that you choose.

00:02:11.667 --> 00:02:18.099
I can't even think of one right now for me, but there are times where people like I usually you point them out to me where I'll be like, but that's not.

00:02:18.099 --> 00:02:19.264
I'm like that one.

00:02:19.920 --> 00:02:21.647
It's just not on brand, right?

00:02:21.647 --> 00:02:26.280
It's like so, not like yeah, it's not on brand, Okay.

00:02:26.419 --> 00:02:31.151
So yeah, let me tell you about what I picked up in Jamaica besides a killer tan.

00:02:31.151 --> 00:02:42.405
So from the time you get there to the time you leave, they treat you like you aren't royalty.

00:02:42.405 --> 00:02:49.221
And I'm talking like people at the airport, people who drive people at your resort.

00:02:49.221 --> 00:03:06.270
Just from start to finish, their customer service is just off the charts, and so I had a few conversations with a bartender and, um, one of our drivers who took us back and forth to the airport, about why that is.

00:03:07.401 --> 00:03:31.616
And you know Jamaica is, it's a perversed place, and you know they really depend on us bringing our tourism and our money to Jamaica for them to to make a living, and so they need us, right, so they have that at the back of their minds the whole time.

00:03:31.616 --> 00:03:38.653
But they, although that may be their mentality, like they don't ever make you feel like it's because of money.

00:03:38.653 --> 00:03:40.679
So let me just give you a few examples.

00:03:40.679 --> 00:03:50.411
So we went to dinner one day and I had like a bag, like you know, like my purse or whatever, and I go to set it down on the ground.

00:03:50.411 --> 00:03:56.092
They come out and bring this like purse stand and hang it up on the purse stand.

00:03:56.092 --> 00:04:00.314
For me that happened to every meal that I went to.

00:04:00.314 --> 00:04:03.849
They would bring a purse stand out, so I wouldn't have to put my bag on the floor.

00:04:04.901 --> 00:04:08.032
There is some some sort of bad um.

00:04:08.032 --> 00:04:10.800
What is the rule about putting your bag on the floor too?

00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.084
There's something about that.

00:04:13.084 --> 00:04:17.713
That, if you are into, it's kind of like walking under a ladder.

00:04:17.713 --> 00:04:19.857
I will look it up.

00:04:19.956 --> 00:04:21.259
I've never heard this no no, no, there is.

00:04:22.023 --> 00:04:26.908
There's some kind of like bad juju or whatever that goes with putting your handbag on the floor.

00:04:26.928 --> 00:04:29.040
Okay, Well, I had no idea.

00:04:29.946 --> 00:04:31.819
Like lose money or something like that.

00:04:31.819 --> 00:04:35.199
So I wonder if there is this, but it doesn't mean like somebody will steal it.

00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.098
It's similar to like walking under a ladder.

00:04:37.098 --> 00:04:38.718
I'll look it up and link it, but I think there's.

00:04:39.161 --> 00:04:45.630
I can assure you there was more chance of me leaving it there after I drank, you know, pina Coladas and stuff, than it was.

00:04:47.182 --> 00:04:49.639
But I feel like they were doing it as like a nice thing, but also they totally were.

00:04:49.802 --> 00:04:51.240
So let me tell you some of the other things they did.

00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:58.920
So we sat down to lunch one day and I took pictures of these different things because, like I was so blown away.

00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:03.492
It's something that was so small but just made such an impact on me.

00:05:03.492 --> 00:05:19.625
We had a wobbly table and they set our table and then we sat down and then the sky came up and could see it was wobbling and so he like stuck stuff underneath it to make it not wobble, like that never happens.

00:05:19.625 --> 00:05:25.865
Like I'm usually the one crawling to the table to stick a sugar packet under there so it doesn't wobble.

00:05:25.865 --> 00:05:28.752
And I'm like the fact that he did this as soon as we sat down.

00:05:29.841 --> 00:05:37.346
It's just the littlest things that I just don't see in America anymore and I'm just wondering, like, why the difference?

00:05:37.346 --> 00:05:38.992
A chilled wine glass.

00:05:38.992 --> 00:05:46.468
I ordered a glass of Savignon Blanc, which is a white wine Typically serve cold, and he put it in a chilled glass.

00:05:46.468 --> 00:05:47.451
It had been in the fridge.

00:05:47.451 --> 00:05:52.290
I'm like this is just the smallest little things.

00:05:52.290 --> 00:06:05.019
My last story about incredible customer service we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and I'm not exaggerating, we ordered the entire menu because you're at all inclusive and it's like, why not?

00:06:05.019 --> 00:06:07.047
Right, you want to try a little bit of everything.

00:06:07.047 --> 00:06:09.416
If you've been to one, you know what I'm talking about.

00:06:09.497 --> 00:06:18.244
Italian anyway, I ordered this like a riba pasta, like a riba, I don't know what the hell it's called but spicy, right, I love spicy.

00:06:18.244 --> 00:06:18.766
Bring it on.

00:06:18.766 --> 00:06:27.019
This was the hottest I had ever put in my mouth like there's a joke there.

00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:31.610
But and so everybody the table was like oh, like you know, it's not that spicy.

00:06:31.610 --> 00:06:34.879
And they had a body with their like oh my gosh, it like yeah.

00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.259
So the girl, when the waitress came up, she's like oh, did you enjoy your lunch?

00:06:38.259 --> 00:06:39.963
I said yeah, it was just a little spicy.

00:06:39.983 --> 00:06:41.547
I have like maybe two bites.

00:06:41.547 --> 00:06:44.314
The freaking chef comes out.

00:06:44.314 --> 00:06:48.228
It was like, oh, and I wasn't complaining, she just asked.

00:06:48.228 --> 00:06:50.543
And it was just like yeah, it was just a comment.

00:06:50.543 --> 00:06:51.588
The chef comes out.

00:06:51.588 --> 00:06:53.875
I was like I heard your pasta was too spicy.

00:06:53.875 --> 00:06:55.439
That's typically how we serve it.

00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:56.283
I'm so sorry.

00:06:56.283 --> 00:07:02.762
I'm like, what, like, what, like we're.

00:07:02.762 --> 00:07:09.555
Where did we lose such basic small customer service thing like why is Jamaica to make it doing it so much better than us?

00:07:09.555 --> 00:07:11.403
Help me, help me understand.

00:07:11.403 --> 00:07:11.863
I don't know.

00:07:12.625 --> 00:07:15.170
I don't know the why, but I do have like three things to unpack.

00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:24.516
First of all, unpack Details have really become like I'm obsessed with details right now.

00:07:24.516 --> 00:07:31.040
I always have been, but I feel like I spent a real, a long time like really zoomed out.

00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:38.791
You know, like when your kids are a little you're in the weeds, but like you can't really be in the weeds so you can't like get hung up on little things.

00:07:38.791 --> 00:07:42.706
But like Recently I bought this ice cube tray.

00:07:42.706 --> 00:07:46.473
It's not a big deal, it was $19 on Amazon.

00:07:46.473 --> 00:07:49.730
It has brought us so much joy.

00:07:49.730 --> 00:07:52.459
They're like little perfect balls of ice.

00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:54.720
Mmm pilot is obsessed with it.

00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:00.980
And then I posted a few times in my stories just beverages, because I was trying this like non-alcoholic beverage in the evening.

00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:02.865
Everyone's like where did you get the ice?

00:08:02.865 --> 00:08:05.334
And it's so funny to me that people were.

00:08:05.334 --> 00:08:08.483
No one even questioned why.

00:08:08.483 --> 00:08:11.391
I was just like abstaining from wine, which I love.

00:08:12.201 --> 00:08:13.927
I have a question, just to be clear.

00:08:13.927 --> 00:08:18.369
Okay, I was on data rhyming in Jamaica, so I didn't want to bother you with it until just now.

00:08:18.389 --> 00:08:24.475
Okay, so, but everybody, I mean I would say upwards of 30 DMs about the ice.

00:08:24.475 --> 00:08:25.920
Where did you get the ice?

00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:27.687
Is it like Sonic ice?

00:08:27.687 --> 00:08:31.088
Nope, because you can get the ice machines.

00:08:31.088 --> 00:08:31.790
Okay.

00:08:31.790 --> 00:08:37.899
But I was like before I spend $297 on an ice machine, I would like to know if this is really going to change my lifestyle.

00:08:37.899 --> 00:08:41.789
So then I got this because I like love Sonic ice.

00:08:41.789 --> 00:08:42.831
I'm here for it, I get it.

00:08:42.831 --> 00:08:44.919
It's not crushed like that.

00:08:47.386 --> 00:08:47.928
I don't know, right yeah.

00:08:49.625 --> 00:08:51.919
And they're tiny but it's brought so many people joy.

00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:59.919
It's the detail of it, for whatever reason, like I just think like the extra thought really matters.

00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:04.820
Like the chilled wine glass is just like going just the tiniest bit further.

00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:11.919
It's not so much about just knowing your first and last name, it's just like show me a detail, like it could be a relationship.

00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:20.919
Like show me a way that you think of me, show me an observation that you've made about me, because that just shows me that you appreciate, like, my existence.

00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:22.953
I think it's really about that.

00:09:23.014 --> 00:09:31.899
I have really big on that, like I'm really big on like making people feel seen and appreciated, like I think that that's just something that we just don't do enough as people.

00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:40.769
But like, rebecca, and I'm not going to name the restaurant that you and I went to a couple of months ago and we sat down at the bar.

00:09:40.769 --> 00:09:43.860
We were the only people there and it was like what 430.

00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:47.919
They walked by us three times, did not even acknowledge us.

00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:49.919
Then it was like oh, can we get a drink?

00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.850
They don't answer us, they just pour the drink.

00:09:52.850 --> 00:09:54.585
It's like, how hard is it?

00:09:54.585 --> 00:09:56.481
Like, how hard is it Like I get?

00:09:56.481 --> 00:10:07.284
People are on their journey, they may be having a bad day, but if we really lost, like the ability to speak to someone when you're in a customer service Ford facing position, I mean.

00:10:09.964 --> 00:10:15.793
No, no, that was actually so the whole frame around that made it suck even more.

00:10:15.793 --> 00:10:28.291
So we had done this amazing thing and there was a fair amount of just not even hype, but like just we put a lot of time and effort into this thing that we did.

00:10:28.291 --> 00:10:30.746
And then it went amazing.

00:10:30.746 --> 00:10:50.331
And even if it had gone knowing who we are because we're in it together, whatever it is like once we buckle up in that car or we say we're going to do it, we're doing it even if it is a full on crash and burn, but even better, like we would have probably gone and had that drink if it had been a total disaster.

00:10:50.772 --> 00:10:57.322
For sure we were actually doing was celebrating something and we didn't like close a deal or anything like that.

00:10:57.322 --> 00:10:59.879
But there's still success to be had.

00:11:00.341 --> 00:11:01.504
We were proud of ourselves.

00:11:01.826 --> 00:11:04.767
Yes, and this is actually really important to me this year.

00:11:04.767 --> 00:11:14.919
I'm not going to like over hype us or over hype me, but I am absolutely not going to dismiss success when it happens, because I think it's really important in the manifestation process.

00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:15.861
So we go.

00:11:15.861 --> 00:11:23.529
This is a restaurant that we both love, so that made it suck even more.

00:11:23.529 --> 00:11:38.706
Yes, if we had been sitting in the dining room, that would have been a different experience, and I've actually never sat at the bar at this restaurant, and so now I don't know if that is the bar experience, because the dining room experience would never have looked like that.

00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:42.509
Actually, this is the second time I've sat at the bar there, and it was a similar experience.

00:11:43.400 --> 00:11:44.745
Well, that sucks.

00:11:44.804 --> 00:11:45.807
Yeah, I know.

00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:49.065
And again, if you're, going to be a bartender?

00:11:49.065 --> 00:11:50.288
Come on like come on.

00:11:50.288 --> 00:11:51.171
I know.

00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:57.068
Because I feel like we now live in a society and I'm probably going to catch some hate for this.

00:11:57.068 --> 00:11:58.532
I love tipping.

00:11:58.532 --> 00:11:59.533
It is my jam.

00:11:59.533 --> 00:12:07.788
I will give you 20, 25% all day long, but for the love of everything that is holy, at least be nice to me.

00:12:07.788 --> 00:12:10.894
Yeah, like, flip your screen around.

00:12:10.894 --> 00:12:13.809
Let me hit the button, because God knows, it's not an option anymore.

00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:18.706
You going to tip wherever you are, it doesn't matter, somebody hands you a fork.

00:12:18.706 --> 00:12:21.706
Is that 15, 20 or 25%?

00:12:22.668 --> 00:12:24.351
or other, which is not zero.

00:12:26.030 --> 00:12:26.919
Just give me something.

00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:31.730
Just give me something that makes me feel better about giving you my hard earned money.

00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:32.532
That's all I'm saying.

00:12:32.532 --> 00:12:42.710
So I feel like we've almost gotten away from the customer and it's like oh well, you need to do this just because this is what is expected of you as consumer.

00:12:42.710 --> 00:12:46.668
You need to tip 15, 20, 25% because somebody hands you something.

00:12:46.668 --> 00:12:48.753
And I love tipping.

00:12:48.753 --> 00:12:51.028
Again, I tip everywhere I go.

00:12:51.028 --> 00:12:54.823
I'm probably an overtipper, Me too, but at the same time, smile.

00:12:54.823 --> 00:12:58.423
Thank you, Please.

00:12:58.423 --> 00:12:59.186
What would you like?

00:12:59.186 --> 00:13:00.089
Do you need bread?

00:13:00.089 --> 00:13:01.032
How about an appkin?

00:13:01.032 --> 00:13:02.697
Like give me something.

00:13:02.957 --> 00:13:03.580
Give me something.

00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:11.951
So I worked for a long time, went to school for marketing, left, got recruited into retail, spent almost a decade in luxury retail.

00:13:11.951 --> 00:13:15.581
You know this, but I'm just giving the backstory because I don't know if we've talked about this here.

00:13:15.581 --> 00:13:24.629
There's no tipping in luxury retail and there actually wasn't commission for my entire team.

00:13:24.629 --> 00:13:34.724
The way it worked was if my teams did well, the top salesperson on the team for that month took a commission.

00:13:34.724 --> 00:13:37.039
That's it.

00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:51.928
So there was this if you weren't careful, as the leader there was, you could accidentally make like a predatory vibe Because there was obviously like a competition and then also, as a leader, you're responsible for this really big bottom line too.

00:13:51.928 --> 00:13:55.688
You have to hit it for even one person to earn commission.

00:13:55.688 --> 00:14:13.291
But it was a luxury handbag company and I was so, so, so sensitive to customer experience, down to things like at the time the brand's position on how you checked out was you would say your total is blank.

00:14:13.291 --> 00:14:16.687
And the first time I heard it I was like absolutely not.

00:14:16.687 --> 00:14:20.648
No, your total is on the screen.

00:14:20.648 --> 00:14:29.759
Because it was Like one person's $30,000 is the same as one person's $30,000 is the same as one person's $300.

00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:38.169
You need not get to decide which one you're going to whisper, because they would never say your total is $18,000, in no way.

00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:45.980
They would be like your total is on the screen, gently Like why would we be whispering one next to a person who spent $300?

00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:47.004
Like it's the same.

00:14:47.004 --> 00:14:53.669
It just feels different to you, like I was so sensitive to anything like that.

00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:58.447
If people sort of like the pretty woman syndrome, I like you don't get to decide how they're dressed.

00:14:58.447 --> 00:15:00.888
You don't get to decide, like based off their job.

00:15:00.888 --> 00:15:03.346
You do not get to decide who they are.

00:15:03.346 --> 00:15:06.028
Everyone gets the same experience period.

00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:15.524
Yeah Well, for me, like, I feel like your experience like starts when you walk in the door, like, yeah, get in, hello, how can I help you?

00:15:15.524 --> 00:15:17.626
Just basic stuff.

00:15:17.626 --> 00:15:18.705
And I just don't know.

00:15:18.705 --> 00:15:22.662
I mean people just walk by you these days and it's just.

00:15:22.662 --> 00:15:23.365
You know it.

00:15:23.365 --> 00:15:32.885
I mean more often than not I will buy because I'm there to get something specifically, but it does make a huge difference, like you know, how hard is it.

00:15:32.885 --> 00:15:33.869
How hard is it.

00:15:33.869 --> 00:15:37.971
I just don't know where we lost, where we lost it.

00:15:37.971 --> 00:15:38.451
I don't know.

00:15:38.451 --> 00:15:40.807
And you know people say, oh well, nobody wants to work anymore.

00:15:40.807 --> 00:15:42.706
It's like, eh, I don't know that.

00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:50.085
I feel like you know it's the same, just like social media, like the lack of regard for how what you say makes the other person feel.

00:15:50.085 --> 00:16:05.750
I don't know Like, I just feel like that's really trickled in to you know, customer service and again, don't forget customer service impacts your marketing so heavily because it doesn't matter if you are freaking the top brand delivering.

00:16:05.750 --> 00:16:12.426
You know, if you're not delivering a quality product or service, people will not come to you, you will have bad reviews.

00:16:12.426 --> 00:16:21.788
It doesn't matter how, what kind of marketing genius you hire, at the end of the day, you are the one, as a business owner, who has to deliver a quality product and a quality service.

00:16:21.788 --> 00:16:24.389
It does not matter how good your marketing is.

00:16:24.389 --> 00:16:26.466
I will stay about that all day.

00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:40.227
I think that also comes down to and we've actually we were in a meeting in the fall where we actually questioned this about a team, because this is who we are in our marketing company Like we're really careful about who we align ourselves with.

00:16:40.227 --> 00:16:48.909
Values and integrity are really important to us, but we also show up like that every day.

00:16:48.909 --> 00:16:56.886
So I was going to say to you when you were talking about these workers, like OK, so we go into this nice restaurant, we don't get anything, but we could walk into a Mo's right now.

00:16:56.886 --> 00:17:00.249
They would say like welcome to Mo's.

00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:05.190
And so a lot of that to me comes from leadership in the top.

00:17:05.190 --> 00:17:10.590
Yeah, so people will work really hard.

00:17:10.590 --> 00:17:16.848
I mean you have to be there anyways, right, Like you're at your job, you clock in, you clock out, Like you get to decide like how hard you work when you're there.

00:17:16.848 --> 00:17:24.084
But if you have a leader that's making it easy to work hard, you're naturally going to do that.

00:17:24.084 --> 00:17:27.714
I mean I don't think most people are afraid of a little bit of hard work.

00:17:27.714 --> 00:17:29.750
I mean maybe that's me, because I'm not.

00:17:29.750 --> 00:17:40.770
But if you have a leader that's lazy, that doesn't give you headspace, that doesn't check in with you, that doesn't take care for you.

00:17:40.770 --> 00:17:44.519
I mean, I have to imagine that's like what that cascade is.

00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:46.087
I don't know for sure.

00:17:46.087 --> 00:17:50.054
But my first diagnosis is I wonder what it's like to work for that leader.

00:17:50.494 --> 00:17:50.775
Yeah.

00:17:50.775 --> 00:17:51.997
Yeah, that's a good point.

00:17:51.997 --> 00:17:59.527
That's a good point, but I do think there is a level of genuinely like caring what you do Like I'm gonna be.

00:17:59.527 --> 00:18:01.173
So I have a story from high school.

00:18:01.173 --> 00:18:03.893
So I worked multiple jobs in high school.

00:18:03.893 --> 00:18:12.159
I did everything from work at the radio station to work at a lumberyard barbecue.

00:18:12.159 --> 00:18:14.011
They called me hot pants at the lumberyard.

00:18:14.011 --> 00:18:17.304
I was like true story, True story.

00:18:17.304 --> 00:18:21.269
I was like one of the only girls who weren't there they called me hot pants.

00:18:23.248 --> 00:18:36.417
Yeah, I had a multitude of jobs, but I'll never forget I was looking for a new job and I went into blockbuster one day with my brother it was like a weekend, friday night, I'm sure because I was babysitting and we walked around and we were looking for movies.

00:18:36.417 --> 00:18:39.494
Somebody who worked there came up to me and was like hey, can I help you?

00:18:39.494 --> 00:18:40.890
What are you looking for?

00:18:40.890 --> 00:18:43.424
Watch me through the store, help me find some movies.

00:18:43.424 --> 00:18:45.352
And I was like, oh, would you want popcorn and candy?

00:18:45.352 --> 00:18:46.405
Do you know?

00:18:46.405 --> 00:19:00.938
I was in there the next day applying for a job to work there, because I was 17 at this point, blown away at the customer service and how they treated people and, hands down, I'm way older now, but it was one of the best jobs I ever had.

00:19:00.938 --> 00:19:02.170
I was there for a year and a half.

00:19:02.170 --> 00:19:03.026
It was.

00:19:03.026 --> 00:19:05.012
They were so good to their people.

00:19:05.012 --> 00:19:06.470
They were so good to customers.

00:19:06.470 --> 00:19:09.050
Long live blockbuster.

00:19:09.050 --> 00:19:10.770
It was one of my favorite jobs ever.

00:19:11.505 --> 00:19:13.958
I love it, but it completely proves the point also.

00:19:13.958 --> 00:19:14.058
Yeah.

00:19:16.211 --> 00:19:19.587
I don't know if the manager was like that, though to be quite honest, I don't think they could.

00:19:19.708 --> 00:19:24.450
but if there wasn't a strong atmosphere of that commitment from everybody, it would never survive.

00:19:24.832 --> 00:19:25.493
Yeah, agree.

00:19:26.086 --> 00:19:31.147
Like I as a leader, I mean I did a couple of things Like I was really thoughtful about.

00:19:31.147 --> 00:19:38.045
I cleaned the toilets, yeah, where I would have friends who were like I get paid too much to clean the toilets.

00:19:38.045 --> 00:19:44.576
I'm like you don't get paid enough to clean the toilets, like if you're one of my associates, like I'm going to do that for you because that job sucks.

00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:48.255
And I'm a firm believer in that.

00:19:48.255 --> 00:19:49.490
You need to be as a leader.

00:19:49.490 --> 00:19:52.094
It doesn't matter what kind of role you're in, what kind of industry you're in.

00:19:52.094 --> 00:19:54.553
You need to be able to roll up your sleeves, get it done.

00:19:54.553 --> 00:19:57.250
That's the quickest way to earn your employees respect.

00:19:57.732 --> 00:20:05.909
Hands down 100% and I would say for like huge shipment things that we roll up in like I mean bless, so this obviously like luxury handbags.

00:20:05.909 --> 00:20:13.085
I would be the dead of August and I'd be in a faux fur poncho with like a high neck Bless.

00:20:13.085 --> 00:20:16.835
I'd be in Panera getting everybody's order and everything was black.

00:20:16.835 --> 00:20:19.791
I look like a creature.

00:20:19.791 --> 00:20:21.354
Like it's hot.

00:20:21.354 --> 00:20:26.013
You guys were in Charleston I know we've said this, but I need to just double tap on it in case you're new here.

00:20:26.013 --> 00:20:32.019
It is 110 degrees in August and it is thick, so thick One two and thick.

00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:38.897
Yeah, so to be in a full December faux fur poncho, because, of course, fashion the season has to go on.

00:20:39.365 --> 00:20:41.242
I was going to say why in the hell are you in a faux fur?

00:20:41.282 --> 00:20:42.848
poncho, because the season has to come before.

00:20:42.848 --> 00:20:45.134
You know like cruise wear comes out at the end of December.

00:20:46.086 --> 00:20:46.949
So I was in a full December.

00:20:48.785 --> 00:20:53.648
I just remember there being a moment where I was trying to get a diet coke in Panera and I looked like.

00:20:53.809 --> 00:21:03.452
I had come out of somewhere like some basement and my hair is like glued to the back of my neck and I have on like red lipstick and I just look like a creature.

00:21:03.452 --> 00:21:12.048
But I knew that I was also going to like and you had to wear like one of the four outfits they gave me Like.

00:21:12.048 --> 00:21:13.566
So it was what it was so.

00:21:13.566 --> 00:21:18.452
But I would rip that thing off as soon as I got back in there and we would get these huge, you know, prepping for Black Friday.

00:21:18.452 --> 00:21:28.305
I'd be in there in the sports but on leggings, hauling handbags, getting them all organized perfectly ready so that my girls could just waltz in, not sweat for a second.

00:21:28.846 --> 00:21:30.913
I had actually had a right hand man who was always back there.

00:21:30.913 --> 00:21:32.171
We still talk to this day.

00:21:32.171 --> 00:21:33.690
She has pictures of us in the back.

00:21:33.690 --> 00:21:35.026
It's disgusting, like.

00:21:35.026 --> 00:21:36.491
But what do you do?

00:21:36.491 --> 00:21:44.244
No one wants to haul 280 cases of handbags, 16 a case, like in the dead of August, uh-uh.

00:21:44.244 --> 00:21:47.734
And I just let them sell their little hearts out.

00:21:47.734 --> 00:21:51.816
And if I wasn't back there, I was at the very front of the store making sure everybody got a greeting.

00:21:52.833 --> 00:22:14.101
But I think that's my thing, like you don't want your customers to see your bad day, you don't want them to see that you've been, you know, back there schlepping boxes or dealing with you know whatever kind of headache, like I just feel like if you're going to be a forward facing company, you've just you've got to you got to just fake it till you make it.

00:22:14.101 --> 00:22:14.845
I'm going to be honest with you.

00:22:14.845 --> 00:22:19.376
You just got to, you got to do it and just you don't let your customer ever feel that.

00:22:19.376 --> 00:22:20.509
That's how I feel about that.

00:22:20.747 --> 00:22:22.785
No, no one wants to feel the behind the scenes either.

00:22:22.785 --> 00:22:25.674
They just want to see the pretty parts.

00:22:25.884 --> 00:22:39.115
Well, and it's just like Disney, right, they have under the ground tunnels, so you can't see people you know, snow White going from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, because that's out of context that Disney crushes the customer experience.

00:22:39.115 --> 00:22:40.391
That's why they do so well.

00:22:40.391 --> 00:22:44.027
Chick-fil-a crushes the customer experience, that's what.

00:22:44.027 --> 00:22:48.825
Well, in there have the lurch chicken, but anyway, chick-fil-a is another great example.

00:22:48.825 --> 00:22:52.335
So I mean, yeah, it's just like, think about the brands that you like.

00:22:52.335 --> 00:22:56.655
Chances are they're probably giving you a fairly solid customer experience.

00:22:57.444 --> 00:22:59.553
So I had a Disney experience the other day.

00:22:59.553 --> 00:23:04.126
I and I talked about this briefly in the last podcast, so you have to go back.

00:23:04.126 --> 00:23:04.909
A few of them listened.

00:23:04.909 --> 00:23:09.451
But I had a coffee with a friend who was a writer and an illustrator.

00:23:09.451 --> 00:23:15.211
Another friend that I don't know approached him while we were there and there was something about her.

00:23:15.211 --> 00:23:19.044
There was a little bit like I just made me think.

00:23:20.089 --> 00:23:22.625
So when she left he was like oh, she's amazing, you would love her, you should connect with her.

00:23:22.625 --> 00:23:29.904
He gave me her business card, um, and I was like I loved her, but like there's something else there and he laughed.

00:23:29.904 --> 00:23:31.721
He's like I knew you're going to say that.

00:23:31.721 --> 00:23:32.928
I'm like what is it Like?

00:23:32.928 --> 00:23:34.173
Unpack it for me.

00:23:34.173 --> 00:23:43.294
And he goes well, you're not allowed to really know this, but she used to be a Disney princess and I was like, wait a minute, he's like for 10 years.

00:23:43.294 --> 00:23:49.557
But I guess if you're a princess, you would not tell people that you were a princess or which one you were.

00:23:49.557 --> 00:24:00.737
So a friend of a friend figured it out from photographs, hmm, and they asked her and she confirmed it, but there was this like her presence.

00:24:00.737 --> 00:24:05.936
At first I actually thought she might be like a little bit unhinged which is totally fine.

00:24:06.465 --> 00:24:07.449
Yeah, I am.

00:24:07.449 --> 00:24:08.353
You love this.

00:24:08.353 --> 00:24:09.851
We are here for it.

00:24:10.405 --> 00:24:13.401
No, I'm not this express, I'm not unhinged Top mess express.

00:24:13.401 --> 00:24:14.065
I think there's a difference?

00:24:14.184 --> 00:24:15.969
Is this sort of like what is the difference?

00:24:17.211 --> 00:24:17.713
There just is.

00:24:17.713 --> 00:24:18.816
I don't know, I don't know how to explain it.

00:24:18.816 --> 00:24:19.377
There just is.

00:24:19.377 --> 00:24:25.290
I think I might be more unhinged than I feel like hot mess express is like southern, like that's a southern saying.

00:24:26.204 --> 00:24:28.713
I don't know if it is, but maybe I can't be a hot mess express.

00:24:28.713 --> 00:24:29.991
I think I might be more unhinged.

00:24:31.057 --> 00:24:34.510
Yeah, you, I'd stick with unhinged, I'll stick with hot mess express.

00:24:34.565 --> 00:24:35.689
Is that like the Yankee in me?

00:24:36.191 --> 00:24:37.354
I guess, I don't know.

00:24:38.345 --> 00:24:40.532
But she had this way of carrying herself.

00:24:40.532 --> 00:24:42.692
That was like is she like?

00:24:42.692 --> 00:24:43.938
All right, but it.

00:24:43.938 --> 00:24:45.364
Once he said Disney princess.

00:24:45.364 --> 00:24:47.394
I was like, oh, like.

00:24:47.394 --> 00:24:53.502
If you, I guess, if you're a Disney princess for a decade, you probably always are going to carry yourself with a certain amount of like.

00:24:53.502 --> 00:24:53.683
I'm sure.

00:24:54.488 --> 00:24:59.898
But again I think that just goes to show like it's kind of the wizard behind the curtain, like you know.

00:24:59.898 --> 00:25:03.296
Just it's special and yeah, I mean I think Disney.

00:25:03.296 --> 00:25:12.001
Just I think that I've read many books about Disney's marketing and customer experience and just studied it and and it's, I mean, yeah, it's phenomenal.

00:25:12.001 --> 00:25:12.404
I have a feedback.

00:25:13.170 --> 00:25:14.075
The last year I read about Disney.

00:25:14.075 --> 00:25:26.156
I should, because the last one I read was a romance novel and it was basically about Disney, yeah, but they called it something else, but it was a very clearly like a Disney version of like in the.

00:25:26.156 --> 00:25:29.596
It was actually amazing, Um huh.

00:25:32.076 --> 00:25:33.005
And on that note, folks, I'm an inch.

00:25:33.005 --> 00:25:35.674
I'm as express signing off for this week.

00:25:35.674 --> 00:25:41.444
Take care of your customers, cause it doesn't matter how good your marketing is.

00:25:41.444 --> 00:25:43.164
If you don't take care of your customers.

00:25:44.971 --> 00:25:48.104
Well, and I think at the end of the day, like you, it's your brand.

00:25:48.104 --> 00:26:02.845
So not taking care of the people who are purchasing it and who are going to talk about their experience, like that doesn't make any sense, like not hiring people who are going to uphold whatever your brand, integrity or your values are.

00:26:03.531 --> 00:26:20.964
I mean, I just think I know it's a lot Like you have worked in recruiting, like all of these pieces that you have worked in all of these pieces are a lot, but at the end of the day, it costs a lot more money to turn and burn people or to train people or to cycle through or to have people who don't want to return to your business.

00:26:20.964 --> 00:26:26.960
I mean, we know in general like if people have one great experience, they're usually going to share it with one or two friends.

00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:29.634
If they have a bad experience, they're going to share with upwards of 10 to 11.

00:26:29.634 --> 00:26:35.423
And now, because of social media, they're going to share it on social platforms.

00:26:35.443 --> 00:26:48.094
So yeah, a lot of people have Facebook groups that are very verbal about different businesses and things to avoid, and I know personally I usually listen to that.

00:26:48.655 --> 00:26:49.925
Absolutely so.

00:26:49.925 --> 00:27:01.875
If it matters to you at all, at all enough to start a company and then want people to consume whatever it is that you create or produce, then you've got to pay some mind to that brand experience for sure.

00:27:01.875 --> 00:27:05.453
I mean, I love, I think you just gave me a good reason to go to Montego Bay.

00:27:06.476 --> 00:27:08.631
I know People of Jamaica have it figured out.

00:27:08.631 --> 00:27:09.588
We could take notes from them.

00:27:10.204 --> 00:27:11.467
I'll go for research.

00:27:12.048 --> 00:27:12.729
No worries man.

00:27:15.291 --> 00:27:16.133
I'm going to go for research.

00:27:16.133 --> 00:27:16.934
I'm going tomorrow.

00:27:16.934 --> 00:27:19.137
I need to get out of here.

00:27:19.678 --> 00:27:20.480
All right guys.

00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:21.260
Thanks for tuning in.

00:27:21.260 --> 00:27:22.790
We will see you next week.

00:27:23.726 --> 00:27:24.146
Thank you.