Interview With Customer Experience Expert

Speaker 1 0:02

What's up Zach Oates here ? Author , entrepreneur and customer relationship guru . Welcome to Give an Ovation growth strategies for restaurants and retailers , where we find industry leaders to share their secrets to grow your business . This podcast is sponsored by Ovation , the actionable guest feedback tool that works on or off premise and is easy , real time and actually drives revenue . Learn more at ovationupcom . Welcome to another edition of Give an Ovation . I am joined today by Danny Snow . Here's the reason I wanted to have Danny on is he's a customer experience expert . He leads marketing at Snow Associates , where he travels the country keynoting about how to improve the guest experience . We were both speaking at the same event . I was super impressed with Danny and his message and I needed to have him on the podcast . So grateful that you're joining us , danny .

Speaker 2 0:56

Yeah , thank you so much for having me here . I appreciate it . It was great meeting you recently .

Speaker 1 1:00

So tell me a little bit first before we jump in about Snow Associates , Like what do you guys do ? How did you start ?

Speaker 2 1:06

Sure . So yeah , family consulting company . So everybody in our family worked out at Disney World . We're here in Orlando and started off with my parents . I spent 20 years working out there and then eventually left to start their own training company , focusing in on the entire experience that any company is delivering to their company . I was a big customer and so it was in 1999 . I was just starting high school at the time , but my parents started this company and it would be my father . He'd be traveling around the world speaking to companies and when I graduated from college , he asked me to come and do the sales and marketing for him and the goal eventually to take over for him when he wanted to retire . And I said absolutely not . I couldn't imagine anything worse than being in front of a group of speaking public .

Speaker 1 1:53

It was just .

Speaker 2 1:54

I hated doing it and school never wanted to do it .

Speaker 2 1:57

And so I spent about seven or eight years doing this the sales and marketing Just being behind the scenes for him , booking him to go and speak at these engagements . And then one day somebody called , wanted to book him , couldn't afford him , and I got something that just said , what if I came and did it ? I had never done it before but kind of hit me in that moment , went and delivered what was a 75 minute presentation to a small group here in Florida and absolutely loved it . It was so much more enjoyable than I ever thought it would be . So then I started getting on the road , really delivering what are kind of the main Disney principles to delivering a loyalty driving experience to whoever it is you're serving . So we've been fortunate to work with a number of different industries across the restaurant . Banking and healthcare are two of the biggest ones that we work with , but law firms , funeral directors , you name it . We have been around working with any industry that wants to improve that experience and find ways to keep their customers coming back .

Speaker 1 2:57

So I will accept for the funeral industry , right , but would love for you to kind of tell us a story . I mean , you have such a wealth of experience . Would love to hear a story that kind of illustrates the main points of what you believe to be a great guest experience .

Speaker 2 3:14

Yeah , one that I always love , and it's not from Disney , but it was actually the Walkings Company . You know a chain shoe store , and was on a trip one time where I needed a suit and I needed dress shoes . I got to my hotel I realized I'd forgotten to pack the pair of dress shoes . I just had the suit that I was going to wear , and so this was years and years ago , before we all had a smartphone . So again , I went running down to the front desk of my hotel to say you know where can I get a pair of dress shoes right away ? And they recommended this store called the Walking Company . So went and checked them out .

Speaker 2 3:49

The store was packed . There was so many people out there that I almost left , but I really I needed to get the shoes . So I went in and decided to browse around and there was one salesperson who she originally , when I first walked in the store , I mean she looked up and she made eye contact with me and she was helping somebody else , but she acknowledged my presence there . Yeah , it's kind of that eye contact that said I see you , you know , I know you're there . Please , please , don't leave . So after a few minutes of me browsing . She came up to me and said , oh , let's get you a pair of shoes , and I said , all right , well , I found one that I liked . I said I like to try these on in a size 14 . She asked well , let me measure .

Speaker 1 4:23

By the way , for our listeners , danny is not a short guy , yeah .

Speaker 2 4:28

About six foot four , yeah , yeah so . So it's basically it's usually hard to find , usually 14 and up , or always a little bit challenging to find , but they had one . And you know she told me well , that's Tyler's shoe . You know , what she first said is like I want to measure your foot , I want to make sure that we can get you the right pair of shoes . And I was telling her you know , I know I wear a size 14 , but she was really insistent , like so we were kind of moving into what we call the partnership phase . Yeah , she , she cared and wanted to make sure that she got the right thing for me . So I said , okay , I went and saw another pair of shoes that she thought would be more fitting to my foot , because what she found when she measured my foot was that I had a very Rubinesque foot , which I learned shortly after . That means I have a fat foot .

Speaker 2 5:11

But in the moment when that was happening it sounded pretty good . So I went over . I tried this other style of shoes that she recommended and I was assuming they were going to cost more money . You know , my thought was that she's just trying to upsell here , uh huh . So now they were the same price . So I said , all right , let me try them on . And so she went back , she got the shoes , she came back out and I put them on and you know they really felt like the most comfortable pair of shoes I'd ever worn in my entire life . You know , it really it felt like I was just walking on air , and so I said I'll take them .

Speaker 2 5:43

And then it continued on to advice , because that she was ringing me up .

Speaker 2 5:47

She said now , if you ever buy another pair of shoes somewhere else though I don't know why you would be sure to tell a salesperson that the arches in your feet have fallen and you need to get shoes with extra arch support like these .

Speaker 2 5:59

You know and in this moment , after everything's going on here , you know I was ready to marry this girl , you know , which eventually caused me to ask okay , where can I get another pair ? From the walking company in Orlando , florida , because at that point I was not familiar with them . And she looked it up and says well , there's one at the millennia mall there in Orlando , and over the years I would go back to buy shoes , I would send countless friends there , and it became a staple in the presentations that we delivered to , of really bringing that whole experience from the time somebody enters into your store , your restaurant , wherever it is the little moments that go into delivering that experience that oftentimes don't have anything really to do with the product itself , but just makes you feel warm and welcoming and want to look for ways to go back and do business with them again , and so that was always one of my favorites , and I think it makes so much sense because when you can create a relationship , create a connection people are .

Speaker 1 6:56

That's how you create true loyalty , that's how you create the five star review leaving catering ordering office party , let's go hearing . That's how you create those kinds of fans is by that connection and the fact that she was able to do that with a shoe in you .

Speaker 1 7:17

I had a similar experience with Johnson and Murphy . I was that guy who bought a pair of shoes in the airport because I forgot my shoes and then , after using them for a little while , the lip of the shoe started to come up a little bit . So I go back into the store every single week I'm in the airport . So I go back into the store at the airport and I'm like , hey , it's flipping up a little bit . They said , oh , all right , no worries , here they gave me . They went to the back , they got the exact same pair of shoes , put it on me and they took the box . They took the shoes and they said , okay , have a great day . And , like , in a matter of like five minutes , they like swapped out this brand new pair of shoes for me . And those are the kinds of things that create true loyalty and that connection and when you're looking at the guest experience , danny , what would you think is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays ?

Speaker 2 8:13

Thank you , it's really an all-encompassing thing . It's hard to necessarily pinpoint just one thing , but when I think about , obviously , the restaurant world there , I mean you're driving into the parking lot , you're walking up to it , the cleanliness of the surroundings , making sure there's no light bulbs that are burned out on any of the signs , that there's good signage that is around the restaurant , no handwritten notes that have been up , probably a response to something that happened there . Walking inside , being greeted , a friendly smile , I mean there's just so many little details that go into it . And then , of course , the food it has to be good . The product , service , whatever it is . But all those little extras , just in the back of somebody's mind , even if they don't really consciously recognize it , that really is conveying clues as to what the experience is going to be like dealing with .

Speaker 2 9:05

Whatever organization I'm here with . We take pictures like outside of hospitals that there's trash strewn all around there , or you get inside and there's a fish tank with a dead fish inside of it . Is that going to convey trust that you're going to be able to help me or do whatever I need to do ? So that's where I think it really .

Attention to Detail in Guest Experiences

Speaker 2 9:26

It comes down to all those tiny little details that most people really don't pay attention to . That's what I think Disney does so well . As they know every cast member out there , their job is to pick up trash . If they're walking through the park there's a piece of trash on the ground , they need to go over , pick it up and throw it away . And 99 times out of 100 at our speaking engagements , we ask people what impressed you about Disney World , and , without fail , the number one response that we get first is how clean the place is , and that's because everybody's involved in doing it . So that's really what I think it comes down to .

Speaker 1 10:02

I think that that makes so much sense because you know , we , if you look on what really matters , the little things matter because they're the little things . You could fake the big things . But I was reading a book recently that talked about how somebody was . Is that Disney ? And they were creating . Oh , it was the oh , what's the ? What's the room with all the birds in it ? Oh , yeah , the Tiki bird .

Speaker 2 10:28

The Tiki , the Tiki room whatever .

Speaker 1 10:31

And they said you know something around like the eyes blinking , and they were like , well , no one's going to notice it . And Disney's Walt said they'll feel it Right . And we had Ed Bacchelor on who who did a guest experience training at Disney and one of the things he said that in his training program there at Disney he would have everyone . He'd ask everyone who hears in maintenance and the maintenance . People would raise their hand and he's like let me ask you again , who hears in maintenance and the maintenance ? People would sheepishly raise their hand and then he'd be like everybody , raise your hand , right , because everyone was in cleaning and maintenance and and and I remember so some people may not know this company there's a company called Qualtrics . They were sold to SAP for $9 billion and very successful company , obviously .

Speaker 1 11:23

Well , the founder , the father who invented this , who started this company , was a college professor at Brigham Young University and I happened to to know him pretty well and we actually shared an office together at one point when Qualtrics was just getting started and we were walking into the , I had just parked my car and I was finishing up a phone call .

Speaker 1 11:44

So I was in my car still and I saw him walking into our office building and he took two steps up the stairs to go in , look down and at the bushes and I was like , what's he doing ? He walked back down the stairs , walks around , picks up a piece of trash and then walks back into the building . I was the only one to see him do that , but this is the founder of a company that would soon be worth $9 billion and he picked up that piece of trash because it sends a message when people , when , when his employees walk in that office , there's a piece of trash , there is the broken window syndrome , what happens , you know . And so I think that's it was such a good lesson to see that and I think you're absolutely right which is it's ? It's those little things , it's a compilation of a lot of things .

Speaker 2 12:34

It's because the big things , the big things people expect , the little things , are what people , what people intuitively just feel right , right , and having the leadership doing that , yeah , and there's not a better training out there than being able to see the founder , the leaders , doing the things that they're preaching , because a lot of companies they say , hey , go out and do this , that's what you got to do . They don't walk the talk though . Yeah , that was another one there is . There's a classic picture of Walt Disney out in the parks picking up trash . It's every single cast member that works out there .

Speaker 2 13:07

If Walt's gonna do it , I can . I need to be able to do it too . Yeah , so it really it doesn't get Any better than that . And and , yeah , that's just what I love . I love finding the companies that that do those things and and understanding that those little moments they add up . You know , the little tiny people can do that . Don't take any time really outside . Okay , a couple seconds to go pick something up Don't cost any money , but just makes that experience that much better and it gets you .

Speaker 1 13:34

I mean , you're a lifelong fan now , probably as a result of just seeing that one moment you know , absolutely super impactful and the respect that I have for for him and and the desire to be that kind of a of a leader , right , it really impacted my life . And it was a guy picking up a piece of trash Yep , yeah , and it was the part of the thing that was that was shocking about it was that nobody else was around . You know , it literally was just him and I there and he didn't even know I was in my car . Yeah , but I loved to dive into a couple of you know , a successful tactic or two that you have learned or that you like to teach to improve the guest experience .

Speaker 2 14:17

Yeah , really , finding ways to remember people . You know when you can remember somebody , especially when it's coming into the restaurant , remembering their order . We kind of have this whole pyramid and it's kind of what that whole shoe story was based off of . But you know things where you are Obviously accurate . You know transactions are going to be what they're supposed to be . You're available when you need to be available . You're partnering with people . You are you remembering their names , remembering a detail about them , providing advice whenever you can . You know what it's a recommendation on on . You know you've been coming in for a while . Here's a recommendation on some other food that I think you might enjoy . Our recommendation on how to get a gadget to do something new that I never knew it could do before .

Speaker 2 14:59

Looking for ways where that that's being built in is Is the things that we love , and again they're . They're all things that don't take any extra time , don't take any extra money . That that's our big thing is . We're going to move from the task mentality of going through the , the motions and move it to being about an experience where every single interaction we have we there , whether it's internal or externally , with the customers or the people that help us . You know , I got a Disney . There's a I don't know how many there actually are that are behind the scenes that never interact with a guest ever , but if they had a poor internal structure , there's no way they're ever going to be able to deliver the kind of service that they do to those guests that are out there . Yeah , so it comes down to making sure that everybody in the company , regardless of the role , from from , you know , ceo on down , they're all focusing in on on that one idea of knowing that I'm involved in making this experience happen for the people we're serving .

Speaker 1 15:54

Love that I mean . It makes so much sense and who deserves an ovation . Who's someone that we should be following , that's doing some great stuff with the guest experience .

Speaker 2 16:02

So restaurant here that we always love to . It's a sushi restaurant . It's called bonsai sushi and the sushi is very , very good there . But the thing that we fell in love with it is the , the server , michelle , who she was there the very first time we went in and I'm not super adventurous , I , I I have a few things I like and I like it in a specific way , and I Went through the menu , ordered it and then , like a month and a half later , we went back to that same restaurant and for the life , and I could not remember what I had . And I'm just kind of wondering out loud and she was oh , last time you had , you know , whatever the role it was with , exactly how I ordered it .

Speaker 2 16:36

No way , it was Incredible . I tell you . This was the only the second time we had ever seen her before and from that point on , anytime we would go back , she would be able to recall what we had the last time , the different options we had tried . Once I was calling a Order just to be picked up to go , and I asked , I said , hey , this is , this , is dana . You're the one that always helps me figure out what I , what I had there and she was able to do that over the phone for me too . So always love that , always love that . So anytime we have a chance that we're gonna go out for sushi , bonsai sushi is usually the place that we go to well .

Speaker 1 17:10

So if you're in Orlando , give bonsai sushi a try . It's just on the west side there and they have 4.8 stars on google with 235 reviews , so they are doing something right .

Speaker 2 17:22

They are doing something right , yeah , and I'm happy to happy to hear that the reviews are are that high too . I hadn't seen that part , so that's very cool to know . That's awesome .

Speaker 1 17:30

Yeah , and now , danny , how do people find and follow you and stone associates ?

Speaker 2 17:34

Yeah , so you can find us at wwwsnowassociatescom . You could find me linked in Under dany snow and then on instagram at dany snow speaks .

Speaker 1 17:48

Awesome

Ovation Podcast

Speaker 1 17:49

. Well , for bringing us a bit of disney magic here on the ovation podcast . Today's ovation goes to you . Thanks for joining us and giving ovation , danny .

Speaker 2 17:57

Oh , thank you very much for having me . This was , this was wonderful . Appreciate your time today .

Speaker 1 18:03

Glad you're with us today and thank you . Thank you to the risk takers , the trouble makers , the crazies who are keeping this world clothed and fed . You're the ones who deserve an ovation . Again , this podcast was sponsored by ovation to see how we can help you grow your business . Go to ovation upcom , don't forget to subscribe and , as always , remember to give someone in your life an ovation today .