Episode #182: NOTHING BUT NET!

Basketball players love the sweet sound of a clean “swoosh” as a three-point shot rips the net with precision. Can we replicate that precision each time we deliver a customer experience?

The answer to that question is probably not! But why not have some fun trying. This “3 Biz Tips in 5 Minutes” episode looks at a productive three-point shot that we can all aim for. Who knows, with enough practice, we just might be able to hit “nothing but net” most of the time.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey guys, I gotta apologize front. I I, this is a little bit over six minutes. I know I shot for five, I just didn't make it today. I'm so sorry. Stick with us.

Speaker 2: 0:15

Alright, Mr. Show.

Speaker 1: 0:18

Hello everybody. Jeff Mason, your host of this Simple Biz 360 podcast. We are so excited you're here today. Uh, we are on I G T V Gab tv, YouTube, and 28 listening platforms. We'd love a follow alike or a five star rating if you, uh, if you'd be so kind. And we are just excited that you're here today. We're gonna shoot an experience Economy three pointer today. So we're in the throngs of this, what we call the three business tips in five minutes. So it's only gonna be a five minute show or less. And we're gonna really hone in on this three pointer. There's tons of of little stuff we could talk about that can make you more successful in the experience economy. Uh, but today we're just gonna feature three of them. So what is the experience economy? Uh, you know, let's define it. I've been watching this happen since, uh, 1988 when I read the results of a TARP study and it's the, the impetus for what's in my book called The Silent Business Killers. And, and really the argument comes down to there are so many buyers now and customers that are the metrics for evaluating, uh, your company and how you do business with them begins, has begun to shift and it's now how you do business with them versus in many cases what you provide for them. So we're in this zone. Um, you know, perfect example. Um, there's plenty of studios, right, where you could go tape a podcast and probably plenty of'em in St. Louis, but you know, the Hatco studios where I work with here, you know, they focus on the, how they do what they do. There's plenty of places that have soundproof abilities and microphones and, and cameras and lights. But these guys really focus on all the, the perimeter issues and, and, you know, services that make the experience a pleasurable one and one that I want to come back for. Same thing in business. The experience economy makes that argument and says, you know, people are looking at you and your businesses and they're saying, Hmm, how do I feel about that product or service I've gotten from that company? How did they make me feel? What was the overall experience? So that's what we hone in on. So here's the three pointers. Boom, right? Right. You know, real quick, get to the customers before they get to you. And it's one of the most simple things is just, you know, if you know there's something needs to be changed, for instance, you, your customer service department, the phone system is breaking and you can't get the phone system repaired for another month. So rather than deal with upset customers who keep calling in and their messages are just left to cyberspace in a black hole, nobody ever answers it. You wanna let them know upfront that, hey, just wanna send you this constant contact to let everyone know we're having difficulties with our customer service phones. It's gonna take about four weeks to get a team in here to fix it. So we're gonna have some service disruption in the meantime. So there's a couple suggestions you could call your sales rep and ask them to directly follow up for you, or you could use our B2B portal and go in and look up things yourself. So those are some ways to mitigate your unpleasant experience and, and, you know, get through this four a week period with us. But we have to get to that customer first before they get to us and call and complain. And you heard, uh, a message if you listen to a couple weeks ago of a customer complaint. So that's number one. Number two, what weight bearing loads can you transfer from customers to yourself or your company? Now you see this mannequin in front of me with these, um, lanyards on it and the lanyards are wbl l those are weightbearing loads. Now I, I just want you to park here and think about this as a company owner, yourself or operator or business professional or leader or manager or executive or c e o, ask yourself, how many lanyards are we putting around the necks of our customers asking them to absorb the workload that we might be able to absorb ourselves. And in that process, make the customer experience that much better. So, you know, I say examine this. So, you know, put the lanyards around a mannequin like this and you can measure, cuz if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. You count the la you count the lanyards up, you figure out how many weightbearing loads you've got around a customer neck, and then I guarantee you, you can figure out a lot of ways to take those off, make that customer wear less weightbearing, load lanyards and have them have a better experience. Number three is ask yourself, how can you make their job easier? I had on, um, a young lady, and I think it was episode 71 a while ago, and she said she was one of my customers for many, many years. She said, Jeff, one of the things we like about you is you make our job easier. Ding ding, ding, ding, ding. Guys, hone in on this. These buyers, these customers of yours, they want you to make their job easier. So I say park, think about it. How can you make their job easier? It, it's just, there's the trifecta. There's the three pointer right there today. So get to your customers before they get to you. What weight bearing loads can you absorb? And then just how can you make their job easier? So today we're gonna end with a cool rock and roll talent. So I'm gonna give you a session where this young lady, Ellen McElwain, okay, born in Nashville, uh, adopted by missionaries raised in, uh, Japan, uh, schooled in a Canadian school. And she is a slide guitarist like no other. You're gonna get a little glimpse of this and then we're gonna give you a bonus track, uh, in the notes and that's gonna be, um, hire Stevie Wonder's higher Ground. She's gonna play the guitar and sing on that. But you're gonna love Ellen McElwain. Enjoy this slide, guitar little snippet, and uh, folks, we will see you in 168 hours.