← The Difference Maker Revolution Podcast
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- [00:01]
A
Every touch point you have in your client's journey is intentionally designed to make them feel something.
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B
The mindset was making the client the hero and focusing on how you can elevate your clients experience.
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C
Every step is intentional throughout the studio. Everything is intentional all the way through into the design consultation room and the setup of the design consultation room.
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D
You can design and create and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes people to make the dream a reality.
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B
Hey, difference makers. Welcome back to the difference Maker Revolution podcast. And today we are joined by Janine McLeod over there in Tampa, Florida, by Steve Safarido over there in Melbourne, Australia with all his creatures, and by Ronan Royal in there in Clayan, Ireland with no creatures and myself, Jono. So we are here and today we're going to talk about Avada Kedavra.
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D
Oh, Jona, you're so funny.
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A
What Jonathan's really saying is we're going to build on the amazing podcast last week where we talked about building walls and rotten building walls have welcome mats for our clients. And this week we're going to say, well, let's now turn those welcome mats into something that's magical. Something that. Where every touch point you have in your client's journey is intentionally designed to make them feel something. It's important. Right.
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B
Kind of sucks. I thought we were going to kill Harry Potter.
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D
Nobody kills Harry Potter. What books are you reading
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C
with your abracadabra?
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A
So before we deep dive, let's, let's just go through last week just as a quick summary. Right. So we talked about your client journey and every interaction they have with you and your business and you have with them. We talked about when they first raised our hands as a potential client that you are a stranger to them and our job is to deliver them the most amazing experience. So they move from a stranger all the way to being an evangelist who recommends you, becomes an advocate for your business and sends all of their friends and family and business acquaintances to you to also experience what they experience with you. So we've got to go through that, know, like, trust, commit. They've got to then want to spend their money with you and then they become an advocate. So Janine, we need to talk about you, I think, in terms of this amazing trip that you are at and how it relates to this magic thing and how you have always, always, always, always, always had Disney as who you looked at to say, how can I bring some of that magic to my business? But you had a really special visit this time to Disney. Tell everyone about it.
- [03:06]
D
Yes. So I've always looked at Disney. I think it's because back in the day I wanted to be an imagineer. It was one of those things. But anyways, so I've always looked to Disney as, as inspiration on, on how to think creatively, how to always move forward, how to treat your guests and your clients and just in general, like how to bring a little bit of magic and a little bit of happiness to everyone around you, especially your clients in your business. And so every time I go to Disney, I always come back with inspiration, right? Always. From booking of the vacation to being at the park itself. I always have my eyes and my ears open for everything. Even just like this, like little quotes that they put up that Disney had said in the past that they put up and around the park. I'm like, oh, there's another one, you know. So I've just. I always have garnered inspiration from Disney in all aspects of things. And so. But this time we went on one of the behind the scenes tours, which I've always wanted to do, but kids can't go on the tour because for obvious reasons, for safety and things like that. So I've never been able to go because I always have my kids with me. But this time Tim and I did an adult trip to Disney. And so we decided to splurge a little and go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour, which is a six hour tour. I feel like Gilligan's Island. It's a six hour tour. It's a six hour tour and it's a lot of walking. But it was incredible, absolutely incredible from the very beginning where you check in and you get your little name badge and you're. They think of everything, right? You get. Because I was thinking like, how are you going on this tour? And actually hear this woman, you know, who was giving the tour. But they give you the little headset so that she's not having to speak loud and you can just hear her in your headset the whole time. And she looks the part. Oh my gosh, she's like. And actually she talked about her costume and how it's. Because she works generally up in the city hall area and client care and customer care. And so there are costumes. There were still the same ones with modern updates that Walt had picked out for that area of Disney back in the day. So she looks very true with her white shirt and her tailored skirt and her. And her shoes and her tights and everything. So perfect. So from the very beginning you're just struck. And it was funny because one of the girls that was on the tour, they give out bottles of water. And she was like, oh, look, they're giving us free bottles of water. And I'm like, oh, those aren't free. You do know you paid for this ticket, right? But she, the girl, it was just so funny. It was this like 20 something year old and she's like, look, they're giving us free bottles of water. I'm like, no, no, it's not free. But because they're including that at the beginning and they're passing them out to make sure you stay hydrated during the tour, it comes across as that little added bonus, you know, and so it's just little things like that. But the whole tour, Ronan, truly inspiring when you are looking at it from the viewpoint of how, how magical Disney is and how intentional everything that they do is behind the scenes, in front of the scenes, with the, the cast members, with the guest, even that language, right? They're not employees, they're cast members. We're not customers, we're guests, you know, and so every l. Every language, every item, they even make up their own words and they talk about that to describe things, which we do that as well, don't we, Steve?
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C
We do.
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D
So it is fascinating. Fascinating. I got so much out of it and it was fun to come bring it back to the inner circle the week after to be able to discuss it with some of those ideas and things with the members of the group. Just truly inspirational. I'd highly recommend anyone doing that tour if you want to get some inspiration for your own business. But that's what we're going to talk about here too, right?
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B
Can I just say for everyone listening, how important this is from a mindset perspective. So one thing that you didn't hear Janine talk about was that she was going to try and figure out how to make clients fall in love with her work. Or she wasn't exploring, you know, what new backdrop she could use that would make clients fall in love with her business and, and value her more. Or she wasn't talking about how she can, you know, convince clients to seeing, you know, how hard she works and the effort she puts in for them and that they should be buying and spending their money on her and her work as a result. The mindset was the same mindset of Disney is making the client the hero and focusing on how you can elevate your clients experience because this is their experience, it's not your experience. So as we're going through this, I think it's an Important mindset to be aware of and listen to. And it's a trap that many photographers who haven't, you know, exited the matrix yet fall into. And that is focusing on spending so much time focusing on improving the quality of their work, their lighting, their posing, their. Their backdrops and talking about themselves and their pricing and increasing their value. When in reality, all you need to do is elevate your client's experience and help your client see and elevate their value, and you will be rewarded. So this is an important mindset as we go through this.
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A
So, Steve, I know you weren't on the call when we did this with the members because you were unwell after your trip back from Europe after that amazing workshop. But our workshops, I should say, but I knew you'd love Janine's because Janine shared, Steve, three big takeaways, right? And the first one was that everything is intentional. And when she said that, I meant Steve is going to love this. So talk to us about intention, Steve.
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C
I think with both of the workshops, it was pretty much all about being intentional right from the very beginning. Even in your perception of when somebody is applying to have an experience with you, that perception and intention that this is a potential client instead of a lead, that mind shift, just that one mind shift of seeing something come, somebody applying for an experience with you, or rather than an inquiry, believing that this is a potential client and the difference that it makes in language and the assumptions that we make when we're talking to them. That shift caused one person to go from three bookings in two weeks to six bookings in two days. And it was purely because she now saw every one of those, what she used to think were leads as potential clients and people that were already excited to want to book. So I know I spend a lot of time going over and even at the workshop, we spent quite a bit of time because we went to Katinka studio looking at every part of the studio. We went out into the car park, we looked at the signage coming into the car park. We looked at the area was clean. The welcome mat that she had had out, stepping into, stepping into the studio. What is the first thing the client sees? Where are you standing as you greet the client in relation to. In relation to the client? Are you making them feel welcome? And at first, when I first went and visited Katinka, she was blocking the client since she's. She's made that adjustment. And, you know, this was probably eight months ago that I went and visited her. Clients are feeling more welcome they're coming in, sales are going up, and every step is intentional throughout the studio from there. Why do we have a table located where it is? The crockery that she uses, the displays are intentional. So really thinking about who is your avatar? What do they want now? What is that extra piece that will surprise and delight them? What is that? What is that? That extra thing you can sell them, that or that they would love to have that they haven't thought of yet. And where is that presented in your studio? And so everything is intentional all the way through into the design consultation room. And the setup of the design consultation room, I could talk about that for hours, really. And we've got videos on it in the inner circle for those of you in the inner circle about where to place products, type of products you need to place, the type of furniture, the type of lighting needs to be on the screen when the client walks in, how to bring the client in, how to intentionally seat your clients so that while you're sitting next to the decision maker, everything is intentional. Everything.
- [11:49]
A
So, Janine, bring this back to Disney's intention, because it sounds so similar, right?
- [11:55]
D
It is. I know. So, yeah. So, like, they talked about the big intention of the first walk into the park, right? And this, I think, is crucial. And I think all photographers need to really analyze and walk through their studios as a client would, because they talked about when you first. When. When Walt Disney and Walt Disney designed the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, it was intentional as if you're walking onto a movie set, right? The pavement is red. It's the red carpet. There is popcorn. Like the popcorn stands at the entrance so that you're smelling popcorn when you first walk into the park. And in fact, they actually pump in that scent even more than just what those popcorn makers make. But you're walking into a movie set, so obviously there's popcorn, and you're smelling the popcorn. And then up on the windows, there's the movie credits. And that's everybody who was responsible for the building of Disney from the beginning. And your eyes open up into Cinderella's castle, right? And it's a big moment. And when we presented this to our inner circle members, one of the. I can't remember who it was might have been Kate. She. She said that her. She remembers as a child, like, crying the first time she saw Cinderella's castle. And it is. It's such a moment, and it's such a magic moment, especially for people who have saved for so long to be able to go and to bring their kids or for kids who have dreamed about going and seeing Cinderella's castle, everything is intentional leading you into that moment. You don't just show up and, oops, there it is. You know, it's. It's intentionally designed. The music playing in the entrance to the park, too. Very intentional as well. And so you got to figure Disney's putting that much effort into the opening of the park. And you're first walking in because they know what, how that sets off your entire day. Your entire experience is set by that. And so when you actually pay attention to that, walking into other businesses, walking into your own business, what do they first see? I can tell you that's funny because I'll just give you one example. In our studio, our front door has been a bugaboo of mine. Now for six months, since the last hurricane that hit here, we had some wear and tear on the door. And I have put into our landlord to get it fixed. He keeps postponing it, keeps postponing it. It's been like this battle. And then after coming back from this, I'm like, what am I doing? Why am I struggling to get my landlord to pay for this at the studio? Screw it, I'm just gonna do it myself. This is the first thing people see when they walk into the studio. You know, why am I, why am I okay with a door that is not perfect? Disney would never have the front door to the Magic Kingdom not be perfect because they were squabbling with someone over who was going to pay for it, right? So it was just one of those things. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm such an idiot. Such an idiot. Why am I just not fixing this myself? So first thing, I mean, legit. The next day, I called our handyman, like, when can you get here to fix this door? So, you know, it's just one of the. Walk through your studio with those different eyes, and it's amazing what you'll see that needs to change.
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A
So, Steve, the one thing that stood out about intention for me, when you were doing the workshops at Katinka's and you brought everybody outside, right? And you could see Katinka's lights go off because you said, so tell me, all of your signage is on this side and the left side as you face the studio. What way do the cars go? Is it a one way system? And she goes, yeah. And the signage was all where you wouldn't see it as you drive your car by in the one way system, it should have been on the other
- [15:25]
C
side, you know, do you know why she admitted that? She comes in and sneaks in the wrong way around. And so she goes against the one way because she's only like two doors in. And so she sneaks in and that's the way she goes in. But when I was walking there, I was watching all the cars and I'm. Because, you know, you're trying to cross and they're coming into the complex and they're all going the other way and they're coming back around and parking pretty much in front of Katinka's. And I'm like, how come they went all the way around there and she's just ducked in here? And all the signage is facing the opposite way. So then as they come in, they never get to see it because I drive right past and it all they see is a blank wall. So I think it was set up because she sneaks in the wrong way. But there's no point in having signage that nobody sees. It's if it's on a wall that is sort of. Because it was angled in a way that as you drive past, you wouldn't see it. Amazing.
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A
So, Janine, that, you know, that sort of reflects what you were saying about looking at your business with your client's eyes. Right. You know, so looking at with their intention, you know, and is an example of, as Steve said, because Katinka doesn't go the way she's supposed to around the one way system and takes a shortcut. For her, this looked like in the right location. Right. So it's amazing how, you know, we have to look like Disney, look at everything that they do with the intention of how do our guests see this? You know, and we've got to do the same for our clients. Right. We gotta look at this as to what, you know, what is there, what do they see when they're there? And I think you gave a great example, Gene, when you came back. You've talked about the door, but talk to us about the paint. The paint in one location in the studio?
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D
Yeah, in our bathroom, a mom a few months ago had taken her stroller in and dinged the paint. Right. She scratched the stroller along the wall and it scratched the paint to the wall. We saw it the first day and we're like, oh, we really should fix that. And then we didn't. And then it's, you gotta get to the paint store and buy the paint to match. And it's like, ugh, we'll fix it another day. And then it's, oh, we'll Fix it another day. And then you just keep walking past it. Eventually you don't see it anymore because it just becomes part of your everyday. And so, same thing. So when I came back from Disney and I walked the studio, I walked in the bathroom with fresh eyes as if I was a client. I'm like, oh, there's a scratch on that bathroom wall and we still haven't fixed it. And it's just, ugh. You know, it's one of those things you just see when you see something every day, you forget to see what's actually there. And so you gotta take off those blinders that we put on every day and put back and put on the vision glass to see your space as a client would. But, yeah, that's another one added to the list of things that we have to fix.
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A
And what I love, Janine, was when you got back, you sat down with your team, right? And you had an open conversation with them to say, look, we're doing a really good job, but we need to add, we need to elevate further what we're doing. And you talked earlier about, as you go into Main street at Disney and there's the smell of popcorn.
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D
Right.
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A
Cause we've already talked about what you see. Right. But what you smell is equally as important. So I think you should tell everybody about what you realize as a team together, when you start talking about smell in the studio.
- [19:14]
D
Yeah. So before I do that, I'm gonna give you one of Disney's quotes, right? And they actually talked about this. And it's when you go on the tour, it's actually on one of their walls as well. And since they don't let you take cameras on the tour, I actually couldn't photograph it. I had to go look it up afterwards to remember what it was. But the quote is, and this was something that Walt Disney said is you can design and create and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it takes people to make the dream a reality. Right? And so, I mean, Walt and Roy Disney could have built the most perfect place on earth, but if the team to run it, if the cast members didn't also believe in that dream, it wouldn't happen. Right. I mean, you'd be hard pressed to walk into Disney and find a cast member that isn't of the Disney mind. It's not gonna happen. You could probably even try and trick somebody and it's still not gonna happen, you know? And like, you know, people go to Buckingham palace and try and trick the guards. But anyways, so When I came back, we were going through this and one of the girls mentioned the fact that occasionally when they heat up their lunches, I mean, we have a large enough studio, but it's not huge. So when someone makes lunch, the smell of their lunch permeates through the studio. Right. And so one of the girls tends to, like, smell your foods. She cooks with spices at home that. That are very aromatic, we'll just put it that way. And so her. The smell of her, like, nobody wants to watch. So if a client is coming in for that one o' clock appointment right after everyone ate, we don't need our studio smelling like a restaurant. You know, that's not what we are. We are not a restaurant. It should not be smelling like who's ever heated up their lunch. It needs to maintain our smell, which is. It's a fresh, crisp, citrus scent that we like here during most of the year. At Christmas time, we change it. But so it reinforced that, that that diffuser has to go on and especially after we eat, we need to freshen up that smell. And then they. I even pointed, I'm like, you know, I'm not going to tell you what to eat or not to eat, but if we could curtail the smelly food when on the days that we have clients coming in, that would be fantastic, you know, and it's. It's one of those things. They never really thought about it until I brought in that point. Right. You're not going to walk into Disney and smell someone else's food.
- [21:34]
A
Jonathan was at the workshop as well. And one of the things that Jonathan noticed was. And when you told a story about Disney, it relates to this. So I let Jonathan tell it first, Jeanine, and then you can relate it back to what you saw at Disney. But like in Katinka's, everything was. They worked really hard, Katinka, her husband Joost, and their whole team, that if there was anything out of place or, you know, there was 30 of us there, you know, so if anyone spilled a little bit of tea on the floor, it was instantly wiped and cleaned. So, Jonathan, that stood out to you, didn't it? The way that. How the whole team were focused at Katinkas to make sure the place, you know, looked good all the time and if anything was out of place, that it was fixed.
- [22:21]
B
Yeah, no, absolutely. The team were very attentive to. Everything had its place and if something was moved from its place, it was promptly put back in place. And I think another thing was in the bathrooms they had, like Janine was saying they had the scented smells. The bathrooms always smelled really, really good, even when there were like 30 plus people in the studio. So, yes, definitely. It's the attention to detail is so key when we're doing these things.
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A
So it wasn't a case of, like, even though they have cleaners who come in to clean and they have robots that hoover and clean, like, it wasn't left to them. It was everybody's job to make sure that the place looked well. And when you told us about your tour guide, Janine at Disney, you know, and what happened, I think you should share that with people because they're literally mirrors of each other in terms of attitude and what it's all about.
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D
Yeah. And so it's interesting. I was just gonna say, like, she talked to us, that Disney actually has five keys and is their five philosophies. And I don't need to go into all of them, but they rank them in a specific order. But number one for them was safety. Right. Everything at Disney has to adhere to safety first. And so she gave the example that they too, like, and this is why you never see mess at Disney. Right? Because they have that any cast member that sees anything out of place anywhere is empowered to fix it. Right. So even our little tour guide had a little. She had in her little bag, she could pick up popcorn and she like anything like that she sees, she would stop and she would pick it up and throw it in the trash can. But she said because safety is first. If she saw a child throwing up, for example. Right. She is not equipped to handle that. Right. She doesn't have gloves. She doesn't have things like that that she could take care of something that was of that nature, but she could on her, on her radio, she could call and have it taken care of like that. Right? So safety always first and then the other things that go afterwards. So they have them put in order, but you have to before you can ever set foot as a cast member working in the park. It's. It's a lengthy training process before you can do that. Right. So they don't just set you out on your first day of work and say, have fun. They. They. They have a training program before you can go out there. But yeah, they, I mean, they have entire systems. And I mean, I think Legend already knows, like, Legend is out there about Disney's trash system and all that kind of stuff to prevent. But it makes a huge difference if you've ever been to another theme park. Like, I've been to Six Flags Roller coaster parks and their, their trash cans are always overflowing. You go in places and there's bubble gum on the railings and it's just, you walk into a park like that and you're like, I wish I was at Disney. You know, I just wish I was where it was perfect. It makes a huge difference. So like even in our own studio, right? Like that was one of the things we talked about was like the trash can in the bathroom, it should never be full, it should never have a dirty diaper in it. From client to client, it has to be emptied every single session because no one wants to come in and experience someone else's garbage.
- [25:39]
C
Jonathan, the other thing that was pretty impressive going back to what you saw, Jonathan, taking it a little bit further. Nobody was made to feel guilty about spilling something. There wasn't a big reaction. There was virtually no reaction. Like if somebody did spill something or drop something, half the time they hadn't even realized that they'd spilled something or dropped something because nobody reacted. They just came in behind, swooped it up and it was as if it never happened. And I think that's, that was key because it was a team effort. It wasn't below anybody to be taking out garbage. It just happened. And you know, somebody did spill a cup of water and obviously the people around them react, but the first thing they did was not an issue, not a problem. You guys just move over here, continue conversation and they, it was attended to. So I think also not, you know, not making people not react, not having the big reaction and just coming in and where possible, not even letting them know that you're cleaning up after them. Also really important.
- [26:45]
A
So guys, we only got true, we only managed to talk about one of the three main takeaways that Janine had. So I guess in the next podcast we'll be going to do that. But Jonathan, before we do that, tell everybody how they can learn the magic that they can also implement into their studio.
- [27:05]
B
Well, if you're not there already, I honestly don't know why. So you really need to be in the inner circle because not only do you get access to the incredible training available in the inner circle to learn to teach you how to elevate your business, you not only get access to an incredible community of like minded difference maker photographers who are always working on elevating themselves, their business and their clients experience, not only do you get access to weekly coaching calls and Q and A calls and accountability calls with the community and the mentor team, not only do you get access to the community where you can ask questions anytime you want, but you also get access to your next best employee, kcb, who is our AI virtual coach, who is designed with the knowledge of Steve, Janine Ronan and myself to help you to get stuff done and get it done quickly and get it done very, very well. And she will become your next best employee. She will help you to elevate your business, to implement into your business, and to get results quickly. So all you need to do to get access is click the button below and apply to join Inner Circle. And we will reach out and have a conversation. And if we feel like we can help you, we will invite you to become a member of the Difference Maker Inner Circle.
- [28:26]
A
On that note, we'll see you in the next one. Bye for now.
- [28:29]
D
Bye for now.
- [28:30]
C
Bye, everyone.