Frontline Magic Podcast

Basic #1: Want to lead? Start by serving...

Ever heard the saying “We rise by lifting others?” Servant leadership is a management philosophy founded by Robert Greenleaf who teaches that a leader’s role is to serve. This is vastly different from traditional leadership where the main focus is the success of the company. A servant leader shares power; puts the needs of the employees first and develops their people for success.

Servant leadership is a philosophy Jerry believes in strongly.

“It means understanding what employees need and want to achieve, and then giving them tools and resources to meet (their own) performance expectations,” he explains.

Another pillar of the philosophy is sharing power. Jerry shares that when starting out in any new role, he would take frontline staff or team leaders into his exec level meetings.

“It’s about sharing opportunities for creating and implementing new ideas across the business. This creates a culture where every voice is valued…”

Basic #2: Want great customer experience? Work on your employee experience

To Jerry, the most important thing a manager can focus on is their team.

“Imagine you’ve had a bad day. And now you have to get on the phone and talk to a customer – and they’re mad. You're not feeling good. How are you going to deliver in that kind of mindset? Now imagine your manager supports you and says ‘I understand, take a couple of minutes, get some coffee, just relax’...”

Making sure they have the answers they need by the end of each day is Jerry’s highest priority because at the end of the day, customer experience begins and ends with employee experience...

“I know there will be emails from business partners and clients, but I make sure that I answer any kind of questions from my frontline employees, my supervisors, or my leaders – every day, no matter what.”

Basic #3: Want to hold on tight to quality? You’ll need to know when to let go!

“When your new manager tells you that your team has a case backlog of four months – or over 40,000 cases – you might want to turn around and run…but there is another way. It’s a big call, and some people in the business might question your tactics, but sometimes you just gotta let it go!” explains Jerry.

And that’s exactly what he did, announcing to his discouraged teams that “We're just going to forget those. We're going to refine our processes and we’re going to get the right technology in place. We’re not going to win any customer service points by bringing up old service complaints anyway!”

Today, the team responds to most cases in the moment, in real time, something that wouldn’t have happened if Jerry hadn’t cleared a four month backlog for a fresh start.

Basic #4: Want to build connections? Digital isn’t (always) the answer...

Jerry considers the most important attributes for frontline teams to be compassion, empathy and an ability to listen. “One of the industry’s biggest challenges is how technology is being incorporated into customer experience,” believes Jerry, cautioning that companies who rely on technology alone are doomed to fail.

“We all love to throw technology out there as the answer. But at the end of the day, customer experience is about humanity. It's about communication and connecting. It doesn't matter how we connect – through an email or text, or on the phone – it’s about how you create real connection in the digital space and outside of it...”

One of Jerry’s favourite ‘connections’ was how 7-eleven supported babies born on July 11th; or even 11 minutes past 7. Every year, the company would send packages to random families of babies born on that day; as well as core supplies to hospitals to keep new mums and nurses going – like onesies, gifts and a coffee bar for the nurses. “On one occasion, the company even pledged a college fund for one of those babies!”

Basic #5: Want brand loyalty? Focus on quality, not quantity!

To Jerry, building brand loyalty is simple: “You have to provide a service and meet the customer’s expectations.”

The complication comes when you consider that not all customers have the same expectation. So how do you set a bar – and how do you raise it so high that customers would have a 7-eleven themed wedding, for example? (Hint: Be sure to tune in to the podcast to hear the full story.)

“It's got to be tailored to the individual. And that's what's hard about customer experience because everybody's expectations are different. You have to find the line between what’s acceptable and not acceptable, and then make sure the experience you provide is always above the ‘acceptable’ range.”

Jerry also shares the infamous ‘2 hour 35 minute’ call to Zappos story which exemplifies how using the right metrics can drive the right behaviours that build customer loyalty. In this case, tracking call quality, not quantity, but it’s a great reminder of how frontline experience can be hindered without the right focus…

“You need to cut through the red tape of financial gains metrics to prioritise customer experience. That builds loyalty and that's where you're going to build profitability.”

Let’s recap Jerry’s top five customer service basics:

• Put your ego aside and practice ‘servant leadership’
• Work on providing an awesome employee experience
• Know when to start afresh with systems and processes
• Make building lasting connections on and offline a top priority
• Keep your focus on customers; not metrics

Seeing mistakes as opportunity

The story: Ish started his career with Les Mills by mistake, ending up with a sales role after heading into the wrong door for his first chef’s job. He could have turned around and walked out - yet this serendipitous event introduced Ish to a new, exciting industry and 27 years later, he’s never looked back. “I'd never been to a gym before but went on to retrain as a fitness instructor – it was a big change!”

The lesson: We need to start reframing ‘mistakes’ as opportunities. When we do that, our greatest successes just might follow.

Thriving through new normals

The story: “When it feels like you have a handle on life and everything it throws at you… there’s often one more thing you have to learn how to cope with…” For Ish, during lockdown, this was open heart surgery for a loved one in the middle of an epidemic. “I went into a space where I thought ‘this isn't fair.’ I didn’t see it differently until a friend asked ‘when did you ever think life was fair?’ And isn’t that the same with business? This is the best time to work together – look at the problems and work things out as a team. These are the times that show us how strong we are. Some things will be out of our control, but we can still control how we react.”

The lesson: While we’re looking out for the unexpected and new normals, it’s critical to ask: what can we stay in control of and adapt to?

The power of reinvention

The story: Les Mills prides itself on personal connection, but during Covid, that connection was abruptly taken away. “For us, that meant a re-think of ‘the way we’ve always done it’. We landed on creating a great experience no matter where the customer wants to work out - including in the privacy of their home. The key for us was to make that experience as consistent as possible.”

The lesson: There is always opportunity to rethink; to reangle. Awesome customer experience comes down to exceeding customer expectations - and there isn’t only one way to do that.

Leveraging the human touch

The story: “Unlike many businesses, our NPS improved through lockdown and it comes down to the connection between clubs and their members. Many of our club’s managers took it upon themselves to ring up each and every club member personally to simply ‘check-in’. Some of the members were older members who told us we were the only ones to have rung them over that time just to ask: ‘Are you ok?’ There’s power in connection.”

The lesson: Customer experience comes down to the teams operating at the frontline - this is where success is created and where customers will quickly suss out whether ‘head office vision’ has made its way down to every member of staff.

As Ish concludes our interview, he tells us that “We can figure things out through life experience, resilience and connection.“ Wise words from a man who has truly lived them.

Mitchell (Mitch) Watkins, Chief Experience Officer at Greenix, is a people person – you can see it in his smile when he talks about leading the team of people he truly cares about. He’s had years of experience of frontline sales and spent a career putting his communication strengths and passion for helping people together to become the leader he is today.

Greenix is a company that cares about its customers and the team loves what it does. But...Mitch acknowledges that pest control might not be everyone’s first job choice and that frontline roles aren’t always the easiest roles. He believes that as a leader, you can’t apologise for that, but he does have plenty of ideas around how to keep yourself and your team motivated…

“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job...”

Jim Rohn said this, one of Mitch’s favourite authors, and it’s a philosophy he takes very literally. Mitch’s routine starts in the morning by prioritising what’s important to him personally – a workout and time with the family helps him set up his day feeling accomplished and in control.

“We all know how easily a day can slip away when you ‘react’ to whatever comes up,” says Mitch, who also believes in being deliberate about carving out business time daily for two things that help him avoid ‘firefighter mode’:

Time on the frontline/with customer – “You have to listen to calls every day. So I always have an hour every single day that includes listening to calls, and spending as much time out on the road as I can.”

Moving the business forward – “This is the stuff that isn’t immediately urgent… but moves the business forward and improves KPIs and customer experience.”

“Jim Rohn also writes about why you should strive for, but not expect, perfection, which often means digging a little deeper than what’s comfortable,” says Mitch.

That’s someone else fault… isn’t it?

“You have to be willing to self-confront. It can be so easy to want to place the blame somewhere else when things aren’t going the way we want, but as the biggest influence on your team and their work, it’s always worth taking the time to see if there’s anything you can change. This is leading by example – having a growth mindset and creating an environment where it's okay for your team to make mistakes. No-one should feel like they have to be perfect. Nobody needs that type of stress.”

A constant at Greenix is the one-to-one sessions that everyone has with their leader each week, and this time is used for three-to-one feedback: three things that were done really well, and one opportunity to improve. Mitch uses this same process on himself to continue working on personal development and those self-confronting issues.

Communication is the key to success

A large proportion of Greenix’s frontline employees are college students – high energy, super smart and ambitious.

“They want to be something other than a customer service agent at a regional pest control company, right? This isn’t their dream job. And I totally get that. So we have set the Greenix experience up as a stepping stone to whatever you want to do next.”

Mitch uses an example of a tech developer (with typically not much skill when it comes to communication) vs a CTO (who will typically have great communication skills) to demonstrate how valuable working in a call centre can be. “The number one best place to learn how to be a great communicator is on the phones. 60% of communication in non-verbal, so you're already down 40% of your toolbox. If you can be a great communicator on the phone, you can be a great communicator in any situation..and that will set you up for success in future!”

Be like Bob

Turning to the subject of team motivation, Mitch recalls a time when he received praise from Bob – his senior leader at the time – and how that one phone call left him feeling on top of the world, validated for the good work he was doing and motivated to do even more.

“Where we often think of bigger, company-wide reward programs as the key to recognising high performers, it’s good to remember how much a quick call can mean to someone.”

Going from good to great…‍

At Greenix, customer feedback data is also leveraged as a team motivator. “Getting that information to our frontline is key. To do that, we’ve gamified the data into a leaderboard which is a good way of letting individuals know where they’re at, but not using feedback and data as a weapon.”

There’s enough for everyone!

‍Finally, Mitch has some words of wisdom from Zig Ziglar that have helped him avoid picking up traits of a ‘scarcity mindset’.

“You can have everything in life you want, if you'll just help other people get what they want.”

This quote has helped Mitch create a mindset of abundance. “If we can help someone else now, that’s going to open doors down the road when we need it…”

Powerful advice from a servant leader; and the evidence of his approach speaks for itself....

Leaders set the tone…

Christine starts our chat with a powerful example of an unsuccessful Starbucks store that made a 180 degree turnaround based on just one thing: a new manager! Her belief is that leaders set the tone - for the team, the store environment, and customers.

“If you take care of your employees, they'll take care of the customers. If employees are happy, customers are happy. And how do you make your employees happy? You make sure they have really great managers…”

A service culture doesn’t simply ‘happen’; it’s created by strong leaders who set the tone for those around them.

Make it right, by making it simple...

Beyond great leadership, Christine is a huge advocate of keeping things simple…

Research by Gallup shows that only half of all employees know what’s expected of them at work. This could be because of a 10-point mission and vision statement, or because a binder of rules isn’t always applicable on the ground.

“The service standard you set should be easy to understand, and even easier to follow. At Starbucks, that standard was: Make every moment right. It wasn’t about pumping out lattes, it was about enjoying the mission of human connection over a cup of coffee.”

Building buy-in

She adds that at the frontline, employees want to make their customers happy, but if business philosophies and procedures are making it hard, then you’re in a lose-lose situation.

“At Starbucks, empowerment - which is central to buy-in - looks like talking about what can be done, not what can’t because interactions that build relationships can’t be mandated…”

She’s always encouraged her teams to do what feels right in the moment because most of the time, empowered employees make a better decision for the customer than if they had been asked to follow a rule book… and if not, it offers coaching opportunities around creating even better experiences in future.

Christine shares how at one Starbucks store, there was a board at the back of the shop featuring staff names and anyone could recognise a colleague by placing a card featuring one of the company’s values (which supported the service standard) under a colleague’s name. It was spontaneous, powerful, peer-to-peer and a great way of building buy-in through positive reinforcement.

Don’t assume what matters most

The Starbucks service standard is a direct reflection of what really matters to the customer and its strategy has been shaped around these expectations.

“Doing things any other way is a waste of time for your business, your frontline teams and your customers,” believes Christine.

She adds, “It’s really important to design metrics and priorities through the lens of the customer, based on what you know they value and what they have told you they want… not what you think they think…”

Coaching and feedback in the moment‍

Christine also talks about the importance of regular coaching from managers which combines more formal metrics with on-the-job learning.

“Starbucks has taken this to a whole new level by asking customers for feedback on the spot and using that feedback in coaching and recognition conversations. This can be a scary prospect, but more often than not, customers are delighted to be asked to provide input and in most cases, they want their barista to know that they're doing a great job.”

Christine’s final tips for nailing that perfect cuppa (or when it comes to Starbucks, delivering that all important ‘more…’) ?

• Use your customer’s name - it’s a powerful way of communicating warmth and belonging.

• Give them something ‘more’ - even if it’s just an extra napkin for their sugary pastry (listen to the full episode to hear this story…)

• Make conversation! - if they’re carrying five coffees, ask them if they’re going to an office party. It’s all about noticing them!

• Prescribe the ‘what’, but not the ‘how’ - By all means, make greeting a customer mandatory, but not what that greeting should be. Empower and encourage the frontline worker to do this in a way that feels right to them.

• Huddles aren’t only for agile software teams - Don’t underestimate the power of a pre-shift huddle to get everyone on the same page!

Leadership is never about you!

Having started his career at Disney parking cars, Dan knows that the bright lights of success aren’t ever achieved alone and is refreshingly realistic about leadership and the privilege that comes with position.

It’s all about role-modelling

“At Disney, everyone is expected to pick up trash. It doesn't matter what your role is. As a leader, I couldn't tell everyone to do all this and not do it myself…”

Control vs influence

“A lot of people think that once you get into an executive role, you have this authority to just tell people what to do and you can control everything. That's not true. You really don't control a lot of things, but you can influence everything. Hire great people and be there to support them...let them know how important their jobs are and give them a purpose.”

Focus your feedback on behaviour

“You aren’t here to judge people personally - your job is to judge their behaviors, because that's what you can observe and manage. In sports, the coach gives feedback all the time – ‘Put your foot back, stand up straight, turn more to the side, hold the racket like this’. They're always giving constructive feedback, and we don’t take that to mean they don’t like us...you know it’s because they’re trying to make you better.”

Success is all in the detail!

If we take a ‘close up’ of how a Disney park runs day-to-day and how every customer interaction should look, Dan explains that it comes down to just four key values:

Safety – every employee is empowered to step in and act on a customer or colleague’s behalf… because when done right, customers probably won’t notice, but gone wrong, your brand could suffer exponentially.

Courtesy – always a non-negotiable for frontline teams! Disney is particularly famous for their friendly employees. Never underestimate the power of a smile and a chat.

The show – add your own element of ‘pizazz’/magic/wow factor...whatever you want to call it – go the extra mile and make the customer feel really special.

Efficiency – always important, but deliberately in last place… and never at the expense of the first three values!

“Building a culture that lives these values daily comes down to a very ‘Disney’ way of doing things – storytelling and sharing great examples that reinforce these values. This storytelling creates an environment where people feel good, and confident, about what they’re doing and feeds their inner purpose. They know their work makes a meaningful difference to someone else’s day because we haven’t just told them how - we’ve given them actual, tangible examples. ” (Make sure you listen to the full podcast to hear about the magic wishing rock and a last dance in front of the Disney castle!)

It’s all about the team...

When it comes to hitting the ground and getting things done, we rely on no one else more than our frontline teams. So first and foremost, make sure you have the right people on your team, advises Dan.

“If you don't have the right person for the job, it doesn't matter how much you pay them, or how much you train them, or how much you recognise them - they’ll only be capable of doing the job a certain way. The people who have a great attitude are the ones who are going to create those magical moments for guests.”

Dan thinks about service this way - the goal is not the creation of exceptional service; it’s to have customers return to and recommend The Magic Kingdom. But while service is not the goal, it is the mechanism for creating the memories that build brand trust, consistency and ultimately loyalty, and the people who connect with customers daily take on that responsibility.

SHOWTIME! (again, and again, and again...)

The cast is ready, the team and culture in place – and it’s time to put on a show… and put it on consistently well for every customer.

“Consistency is a challenge. Hospitality can be repetitive, so when you’re doing things over and over again, you have to be careful to keep that energy and excitement high. Our customers could have saved their whole life to come to Walt Disney World for one of the most memorable days of their life. And we get to be part of that!”

“To achieve this, you have to give your people room to be creative and create moments that are exceptional and memorable. Their actions are why people come back again and again… and they keep building your brand. Empowering them is key.”

Every day gives a new opportunity

And finally – even when you’re feeling like the ball and not the Louisville Slugger, Dan believes that every day is a new day to learn:

“Get up and do your best, and at the end of the day, forgive yourself. You're going to fail, get things wrong and make bad decisions. The only thing we can do is learn and do better next time.”

Dan’s final top tip for making a positive change to how you serve your customers is to step into their shoes and try out your product. “Admittedly, a day at Disney World isn’t a hardship, but the principle of ‘stepping back’ from what you know and just enjoying what you have to sell can give you a new perspective and even a few new focuses on your to-do list!”

“Our customers trust us with their vulnerabilities, the things that make them the most self-conscious and they haven't even told anyone else about, until they come into a clinic,” says Fran.

How, when the customer calling or visiting, isn’t even confident that they are doing the right thing, do you make immediate connections to put them at ease and work your way towards magic?

Keep reading to find out...

All about NPS

To Caci, NPS and customer feedback is key. “Even after a negative response, we aim to turn around what the customer experienced by reaching out immediately to say we’re so sorry to have received that feedback today and then we ask – ‘how can we help?’ It’s really important to ensure the customer feels heard.”

Caci utilises online platforms (such as Ask Nicely) to collect and analyse customer feedback data and they share this information right across the business.

“This customer feedback helps to identify where the biggest opportunities for change are, and where training and coaching are needed,” says Fran, adding that this focus isn’t just ‘lip service’ - the company’s annual awards conference is also based on customer satisfaction, with the most coveted prize being that of ‘highest customer metrics’ amongst almost 600 employees.

Holy moly – I would never do that… would I?

Fran believes that because customer expectations are so high, an ‘OK’ or even ‘good’ experience can be underwhelming – and that feeling can be massively damaging for a brand – resulting in customer churn and lost revenues.

“The key to beating that feeling, is consistency - ensuring that a customer knows they will receive an exceptional experience every time they visit.”

But how can that level of service be assured in a growing company with a growing number of employees? Fran believes that clear frameworks and processes are the foundation to ensuring everyone knows the minimum expectations around customer interaction, and encouraging them to go above and beyond.

“A lot of people who join us are really experienced in the industry and provide a great customer experience. But regardless, everyone receives training. It’s great that we’re building on a really strong foundation, but training is how we create consistency.”

Caci uses lots of video content and activity-based learning to help instill key messages. “Just as important as highlighting the right things to say; is highlighting what doesn’t make for a consistent customer experience. Often, when watching the videos, people will laugh and think ‘holy moly that’s funny, of course I wouldn’t do that’, but it really helps to land the message.”

Coaching teams for success

The customers and unique situations that Caci deals with everyday can be extremely complex, so looking after the people who look after these customers is more important than ever. “All support offices, franchisee partners and their teams have constant and immediate access to customer feedback data. This has helped us identify where to invest training and coaching resources, including focusing on clinics or staff who need specific support along with scheduled and ongoing coaching sessions.”

Fran’s final thoughts on creating a ‘beautiful’ customer experiences include:

‘Good’ vs ‘Awesome’ is an intangible thing – It can be hard to put your finger on what the difference is, but you can just feel it – the energy and the magic behind it.

“Think about all of the little things you can do – they might be easy to overlook when it’s busy, but done properly, that’s what makes an experience special.”

Passionate people from the start – The magic begins when you recruit people who really find joy in what they do, so take the time to get to the crux of what makes them tick. With all the skills in the world, you still can’t train someone to be passionate about caring for customers.

“You can have the best marketing and strategy in the world, but at the end of the day, it's the team that connects with customers every day.”

Put yourself in the customers’ shoes – Never underestimate the power of relationships and building empathy for your customer.

“As cliche as it sounds, I truly believe it’s about listening to your customer, being humble, and having the ability to empathise.”

Live your core purpose every day – It's one thing to have core values, but it's another to make sure that everyone in the business lives and breathes those values every day, for every customer. At Caci, the ‘Simon Sinek method’ (start with ‘why’) resonates with the team and helps drive every decision made.

“How many customers' lives are we going to change today? We keep that front of mind and don't ever take for granted the trust that customers put in our teams.”

How the ‘toilet paper wars’ played out at our largest supermarket chains

Accelerated by Covid and the response to lightning-speed changes to customer shopping habits, there’s a growing trend in retail to build business success through doing what’s right for the customer. But is it counterintuitive to do the right thing instead of managing the bottom line? And how can we make sure that following an ethical North Star, won’t take customer experience south?

We talked to Wadim Schreiner, Head of Customer Insights & Customer 1st, to delve into how the infamous ‘toilet paper wars’ played out at Australia/New Zealand’s largest supermarket chains.

Wadim’s obsession with customers started well before ‘CX’ (customer experience) and ‘UX’ (user experience) became common acronyms and he’s turned his deep understanding of consumer behaviour and data into his passion and profession, leading cross-functional teams at Woolworths NZ (Countdown), the country’s largest food retailer (and subsidiary of the Australian Woolworths Group).

Amazing customer experience when everything else is less than amazing

2020 saw the retail giant thrust into a ‘new normal’ when people from across the businesses suddenly became ‘frontline workers’. “We all had a role to play, not only to keep the business running, but to care for our most vulnerable and anxious or even just plain upset people in the community. There was no recipe around how to operate in that kind of environment, but we worked fast and found new ways to create amazing customer experiences, when everything else seemed anything but amazing…” says Wadim.

Countdown may not have had a recipe… but Wadim thinks they did already have the ingredients...

All Covid did was underline the essentials…

“None of this is new. A lot of people are saying that Covid is going to change the world (of customer experience). It isn't. A few things have been accelerated, but the fundamentals of great customer engagement haven't changed in thousands of years...”

Customer feedback as the fuel of a healthy business

An average experience is one that the customer expects to happen; for the right product to arrive at the right time, in the right condition. An awesome experience goes one step further and does something the customer doesn’t expect.

“That sounds easy enough…but so many still get the basics of an average experience wrong. Being awesome is hard work; and then the problem with being awesome is that the more awesome you become, the harder you have to work to be more awesome. All the time!”

Luckily these days there are tools and platforms that make understanding customer expectations easier than ever before. These are critical in helping you take that one step beyond, and ensuring a consistent focus on what the customer is saying.

“At Countdown, we run regular customer panels, bringing customers into the business so that leaders, marketers and the sales teams can hear what customers think, ask questions and discuss ideas. The conversations do not always go in the direction we want, but without that feedback, there is no way to improve what we do from the customer’s perspective, rather than the business,” says Wadim.

His belief around the importance of these sessions is pretty uncompromising: If you're not open to feedback, and don't have mechanisms in place to get feedback; if you don't know how to deal with that feedback - you don't stand a chance of succeeding with customers.

Throw away the customer experience handbook!

He goes on to say that Countdown doesn’t have an official handbook for staff – and that the concept of ‘The Handbook’ will often have the opposite effect than intended.

“The problem with handbooks is that once people read them; they think ‘that's what I've got to go and do and nothing else.’ But if you also give people access to regular customer feedback, irrespective of their role, then everyone sees what customers think and uses that as a point for improvement. That's the best handbook!”

Frontline magic, with no rules!

The now widely publicised “Quiet Hour” at Countdown supermarkets for vulnerable customers began at the request of just one customer who thought it would make shopping for her child with a learning disability easier. Listening to that one customer, one staff member was able to create a viral wave of support and positive media – a win-win for everyone!

Similarly, during those early weeks of Covid lockdown, the customer voice was more important than ever. Talking to customers who were scared, screaming or crying was a wake up call to do things differently.

“At Countdown, without a definitive ‘recipe card’ for success, but knowing we all had the ingredients, we trusted our people to take the lead – even if that meant giving orders for free to keep people safe.”

It’s in those moments that Wadim says you’ll find the magic...

“People need to throw off the shackles of defined responsibility. This means they can actually focus on just doing what is right for the customer; without fear that there's going to be any repercussions.”

That’s a tough leap to take, and Wadim admits that they didn’t always get it right, but every mis-step was an opportunity to learn and make it right for the customer.

Don’t judge by success, but by learnings

Wadim loves this quote from the late President and iconic humanitarian Nelson Mandela: “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

He wishes that the team could always hit that magic note, but acknowledges that we have to fail to learn to progress.

“Countdown talks about ‘The power of 18,000’ – that’s 18,000 members of the team, every one of them knowing that they have a role to play in helping to make customer lives better every day. Giving them the autonomy to work on ideas and put them into action will unlock that potential in our business.”

CX secrets

Wadim’s final advice for creating memorable experiences is remarkably simple:

“Keep focusing on it. In a world where there's so many things that you need to go and do - remember to focus on what your customers experience.”

“Seek feedback; and allow negative feedback to motivate you to do better”

“Don’t accept the average. Push harder to achieve much more than average! Make awesome experiences your new average…”

“Everyone should be exposed to customers. No exceptions. If you don't do this, you run the risk of making business decisions from the ivory tower and they're usually wrong.”

To hear the full interview, head over to our Podcast.

Jim is intensely passionate about his role in the business which includes mentoring franchise owners and their teams for success and making sure every customer is amazed by the service from their local Jim’s team. So when he says that nothing is ever good enough – we know it's tough love coming from a leader who just wants the best for his people and customers.

“The only thing that matters when you're in service is, is the customer happy. If you can wow them, they're going to give you upsells and referrals – a happy customer is the real road to success.”

But living continuous improvement and innovation isn’t always easy – so how can you be sure that your team wants to create that wow experience for customers?

The advice Jim shares relates to what he believes are the three key pillars for building a successful frontline service culture:

Great leadership and a sense of community

A shared passion for service and success; and

Mechanisms for growth - personally and professionally

Relationships are the key

‍“In the beginning, what we offer is work. But people stay because of the relationships – a sense of community that our people often talk about as being a family.”

Jim talks a lot about building a community that genuinely cares about each other. Building relationships and proactive communication between leaders and teams, divisions and peers, should be a key focus for anyone wanting to build a healthy team culture.

A shared belief in what matters most

“Research shows that successful companies have one consistent thing in common – they’ve held on tight to a core value or purpose.”

Jim is adamant that a shared passion for service and success is the backbone of the company’s operations. Almost everything else within their business could change or be improved – processes, products and systems, but this core value or purpose is what holds the team, the family, together.

It's amazing what people are capable of - trust them!

‍“It's very important to motivate, and let people know they're okay. It's okay to fail. What's not okay is to not try.”

Jim’s approach to innovation is non-apologetic. He believes that being open to new ideas is only half the challenge. The real key to success is in your response and how you act on that same feedback. “A really quick risk assessment will weed out the potential for creating a customer WOW moment; versus wasted $$$. What matters is giving it a go! Encourage your people to innovate; respect new ideas and new ways of thinking. It's amazing what people are capable of in the right situation and what could happen if you decide to trust them.

Jim’s final thoughts on culture and continuous improvement? Listen, Listen, Listen. Read, Read, Read.

Act on feedback

“Keep channels of feedback open – surveys, stats, a chat with a colleague or reading complaints – every piece of feedback is a chance to make a positive change, and not only for your business, but more importantly for your community. Always be ready to listen, listen, listen.”

Keep improving… not just the business, but yourself

“Look to the people around you for inspiration and surround yourself with people you can learn from. There is always an opportunity to learn something new, and books by great leaders and coaches are worth the time they take to read.”

Know your purpose‍

GreenPal employees live out the company virtues every day through company routines and habits – the most important of which is interacting with their customers and vendors.

“Values are written on a whiteboard. Virtues are things that you do. Firsthand experience closes the gap between customer logic and company logic - what the customer wants vs what the company thinks they want.”

Yes, the operational processes and routines are important in getting the job done – but Bryan says “all of that almost doesn't matter if you're not embodying the purpose and virtues and constantly reiterating them,” – because without that focus and buy-in, how can you expect the team to be invested in innovation and improvements to support vendor achievements, and the success of the business?

Use feedback as your R&D department

‍“The customer's voice is like our R&D department. It's how we know if what we're doing is effective or not, and what we should work on.”

By making it super easy for people to talk to you, and giving them clear company guardrails, you are giving them the opportunity to create wow moments – and you’ll be surprised where those ideas can take you… and how effective a $5 dog bone can be!

“GreenPal offers value and convenience to homeowners – connecting the buyer to the seller. But our why is the success of our vendors. If homeowners get a high five, then the vendors get a hug.”

Creating value… for discontent customers‍

Brian shares a quote from Jeff Bezos:

“One thing I love about customers is that they are divinely discontent. Their expectations are never static – they go up. It’s human nature.”

Innovation is key for success – because change is constant, including customer expectations for how you can add value to their life. Not delivering enough value will be picked up in metrics pretty quickly!

“We make it really simple for anybody that uses our products to talk to us, so we’re always very certain what the next three or four things we need to work on are. A constant focus on innovation means we’ve never been at a loss as to what to do next.”

Every day is a school day

‍So many established, great leaders acknowledge the mistakes they made along the way and what they learned to get to where they are now – so why not take the time to learn from them too?

“If you're doing business well, you're growing, and should completely evolve every three to five years. That's one of the beautiful things about business - it makes you want to level up and grow.”

Brian encourages leaders to allocate time in the week to invest in becoming a good leader and tells us that he has “Probably watched a million hours of YouTube over the years, learning from hundreds of mentors.”

“Your living room must become a classroom, or your car a mobile classroom because you're always listening and trying to learn from leaders to understand your leadership style and how are you going to implement that into your business.”

The final cut on creating frontline magic:

Make it as easy as possible for your customer to communicate with you.

Remember that feedback is a gift - it's not happening to you, it's happening for you.‍

Align your company purpose and incentives

Success is based on everyone wanting to provide great value and service for the customer.

Your brand is nothing more than a promise

Think of your brand as a bank account – all the planning and strategy that deposits into the account won’t stop the brand equity withdrawals made by the customer who you didn’t look after…