A (0:02)

Welcome to Business Bourbon and Cigars, the podcast for ambitious leaders who want a backstage pass to the top. Every episode, we're going to sit down with ultra successful industry leaders who have a proven track record and a deep understanding of how to grow a business. And we're going to learn the secrets and strategies that took them to the top. On this show, you'll gain access to exclusive insights and resources that'll give you what you need to achieve your most audacious goals. And of course, we may even sip on some fine bourbon and light up one of our favorite cigars while we chat. My name is Scott Joseph. I'm your host and this is Business Bourbon and Cigars. You know, most leaders, they're in the wrong race. They think growth is about features. Things like, you know, hey, let's ship faster, or maybe we'll shout a little louder, discount harder. And then they wonder why competitors copy that feature right, or undercut the price, or maybe they start outspending them on ads. You have to understand that a product can be copied. Price can get undercut, processes get cloned, but a relationship that's yours to keep. So if you took a really hard, honest look at your business, you know, are you playing the feature game or are you playing the relationship game? In this episode, you're going to learn the seven client centric strategies no competitor can steal. Not only why they matter, but how you can put them into action right now to build loyalty that compounds like interest. I'm Scott Joseph, host of Business Bourbon and Cigars and the founder of Me Plus Ultra. Through my journey building companies in hyper competitive industries and in my work with elite entrepreneurs inside our mastermind group, I've seen this playbook. Separate businesses that get copied from those that become untouchable. So here's what we're going to do today. I'm going to walk you through these seven strategies one by one. I'll make this simple. Not as theory, but as practical steps that you could actually use this week. And at the end, I'm going to give you a challenge that will change the tone of your client relationships in just seven days. You know, I remember in my early days when I was running J and L Marketing, I was so obsessed with building out service packages that our competitors couldn't match. Not because they were flashy features, but because they solved problems in ways that mattered to the client. Competitors tried to copy what they saw on the surface, but they couldn't copy the relationship. They couldn't copy the trust that we built. When a client felt like we knew their business inside and out. When they felt seen, that's when I realized something. The real moat, it wasn't the service that we, that we created. It was the relationship we engineered around the service. So I want to fast forward to today. What kind of companies are out there thriving? They're not just faster or cheaper. They're the ones who listen, personalize. They map journeys and empower their people to lead from the client backwards. That's what creates loyalty competitors can never steal. Now let's break this down. And remember, don't just hear the what, pay attention to the how. Because the gap between knowing and doing is where most leaders get stuck. First step, listen like your future depends on it. Because it does. Most companies collect feedback. Few actually act on it. Real listening is when you hear, translate, and act. And then you circle back and say, you know, this is critical. We heard you. Here's what we changed. Take Ritz Carlton. Every employee logs guest preferences. You can be in a different city, different staff, same pillow you love. That's not data collection. That's loyally engineering. So here's what I want you to do this week. Call five clients and I want you to ask, what was harder than it should have been working with us? Then act on it. And then make sure you go back and tell them what you changed. Feedback sitting in a folder is trivia. Feedback acted on is transformation. The second set, you got to personalize beyond the first name. Personalization isn't high. Insert their name, you know it's memory. Amazon didn't win because of two days shipping. They won because every click feels like we remember you. So here's how you do it. Track client patterns, anticipate what they'll need next, and proactively save them time. In our ebook, the Client Centric Leader, I call this moving from transactional to relational. I want you to think about one high impact touch point. Whether it's your kickoff call, your onboarding, your renewal. I want you to add one detail that proves you remember them. The third step, you gotta map the journey, not just the sale. Most leaders stop at the purchase, but the sale is the middle of the movie, not the climax. Apple gets this probably better than anyone. You know, the packaging, it feels like a gift. You know the genius bar, it turns problems into learning. The Apple Store isn't retail, it's theater. Grab a sheet of paper and sketch your client's journey. You know, how they first hear about you, how they decide, how they buy, how you onboard them, how they renew. Write down who on Your team owns each stage. Then ask where does it feel, you know, clunky or frustrating for the client? And just pick one of those spots and fix it. This week Loyally doesn't live in grand gestures. It lives in the small frictions that you fix. The fourth step. I want you to train empathy into muscle memory. You can't outsource empathy, you have to engineer it. When your team role plays as the client, they feel the frustrations that reports are never going to show. The confusion of unclear contracts, the pain of waiting for days you know for a response. Build a 10 minute empathy drill into your next team meeting. Have them play the client. Let them feel it. That changes how they make decisions. Are you exhausted trying to grow your business alone, juggling every decision and feeling stuck no matter how hard you push? You know what if you could step into a circle where every challenge you face has already been solved by a top tier entrepreneur? Me plus Ultra is an exclusive invitation only community where high performing entrepreneurs solve real problems, share strategies and build relationships that accelerate growth. Membership comes by referral or nomination from an active member. This protects the quality and the impact of the group. Even if you don't know a member yet, you can learn about the group and express interest, putting yourself on the radar of current members for nomination. This is your first step towards becoming part of a circle that can transform how you grow your lead and connect. Visit me+Ultra.com to learn more and express your interest. Take the first step towards visibility and potential nomination into this elite mastermind group. The fifth step. Share the insight. Don't hoard it. Too many companies treat feedback like it's some kind of classified intel. You know, it dies in meetings. Starbucks scale personalization because every barista, manager, regional director, they all had access to the same insight. Pick one insight you learned about your client experience this week and share it across your whole team. Make it a ritual you know you can call it inside of the week. The sixth step. You got to empower the front line. Zappos became legendary because they trusted their reps to solve problems without approvals. You know we did this the same same thing at J and L Marketing. If we had a client issue, our reps told me about it. But at the same time they told me what they did to resolve it and make the client happy. I've always said to our reps, anytime an issue came up, embrace when we make a client facing mistake. It's easy to look like a great partner to your client when everything goes the way it should. But when a Mistake is made and you're able to offer a solution that exceeds the client's expectations. You know what they probably thought was going to happen, and then you handle it immediately. When that moment comes, it gives you an opportunity to prove why you're the best. It strengthens your client relationship. So contrast that with companies you know where it takes three signatures to issue a refund. By the time the client gets a solution, they've already decided not to return to you. So ask yourself, where do your frontline people need your sign off today? I want you to remove one bottleneck this week. If your people closest to the client can't solve problems, you're not client centric, you're bureaucracy centric. And then seven step lead from the client backwards. This is the unlock. Stop asking, what do we want to build? You want to start asking, what problem does the client need solved? Client centric leadership isn't a department, it's a culture. You know, it's your incentives, your systems, your metrics, they're all flowing backwards from the client. So I want you to do this tomorrow. Open your leadership meeting with one client story, not a revenue report. And I want you to ask, what does this client need from us this week? Watch how it reframes the room. So here's the bottom line. When you organize around the client, trust compounds people. Stop price shopping. Innovation speeds up because your backlog is full of real use cases. When things go wrong, the relationship holds because you've made deposits of trust. This isn't just about business. It's about legacy. And legacy isn't whether your name is remembered. Legacy is whether people you served are better off because you built with them in mind. So here's your challenge. Take the seven day sprint I recommended. Go back and listen. Or watch this again if you have to. But here's a quick summary. Talk to five clients, map the journey, pick one friction, close the loop, personalize one touch point, share the change, and set a scoreboard. I want you to do this for seven days. Momentum will take care of the rest. And if you're ready to stop chasing features and start building loyalty that no competitor can ever steal, then me plus Ultra is where you belong. This isn't just another mastermind group. It is a room full of elite entrepreneurs who think differently. Leaders who sharpen each other with real strategies, not surface level advice. You know, together we solve problems. We scale smarter and build businesses that thrive because of the relationships behind them. And here's the unlock. The conversations and connections in this room will compound faster than any marketing campaign ever could. Strategic partners, new clients, breakthrough insights. They don't happen by chance. They happen here. So I want you to visit me+Ultra.com and apply. Now. Step into the room where loyalty, growth and opportunity collide. If you want a deeper playbook on what we discussed today, I've put it in our e book, the Client Centric Leader. It's battle tested and it will show you how to build loyalty no rival can steal. You can find that also@me/rainra.com on our ebook page. So go there now. And until then, remember this. Real leaders don't chase attention. They earn trust. That's the work, that's the edge. That's how you scale beyond expectations. Cheers everyone. Thank you so much for listening to Business Bourbon and Cigars. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with other business owners and friends. And if you you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to the show on YouTube and your favorite podcast player. My goal is to bring you conversations each week that challenge you and give you a no nonsense approach to growing your business. Make sure to join me next week on Business Bourbon and Cigars. And for more information on our latest episodes, masterminds and events, head to business bourbon cigars podcast.com Again, that's business bourbon cigarspodcast. Com.