Why AI-Only Customer Service Is Failing Customers | Danny Snow on Keep It Human

before on the Keep It Human podcast, Danny Snow. He's, he's one of the most amazing speakers out there right now, and we kind of, we intersect a lot on a lot of themes. But today we're especially, we're going to intersect really, really heavily because we're going to talk about how to keep it human in the customer experience with Danny Snow. We'll be right back. Well, like I said, you've seen him before. I met Danny through his dad, actually. And Danny Snow have been preaching the gospel of Disney for a long, long time. And in fact, if you go to Disney World or any of the Disney properties, including Japan, any time of the day or night or time of the year, you're likely to see Danny and his family there. I swear to God, I think they live there. But anyway, that's just part of his message. I saw a recent video that he posted. We're going to put a link to that. And Danny was talking about the importance of keeping it human in the customer experience. And that's something that he preaches a lot. And I think it's crucial. I think we've reached the crucial, the critical mass, haven't we, Danny? I mean, we're well past where this is important.

Absolutely. No, I appreciate you having me back on. I always love getting to talk with you and I love the work that you do. So, no, I'm excited to jump in. And yeah, I was watching that video again, and everywhere it's just robotic interactions. You're, you're dealing with, with AI, where we're losing that human element. And so I think right now this is one of the most important things out there, is trying to keep it human and not lose that aspect of our world.

No, it's so— like you were talking about— and go ahead, talk about it, because before the show we were getting into— we're getting kind of heated about, right, our frustrations. And I've been through the same thing. I just went This will be one of the first chapters in one of the books coming up is, and I'm gonna say the name because I hope it helps them. My Chase Marriott card, I left it at a restaurant somewhere when I was on the road. A few years ago, I did the same bonehead thing and I called up, I had somebody on the phone and in seconds they had a card on the way to me. Everything was smooth. I did the same thing just a few months ago and I ended up in this AI loop and you can't, I'm gonna shorten the story, but you can't even make this up. The end result was I was trying to track where the card was going because they had sent it to the wrong address and I was getting ready to hit the road. And this guy actually told me I had to call them to get the card, but he couldn't give me a number to call to find a human being. And I said, you're kidding me, you're telling me I have to talk to a human being, but you're telling me you can't tell me how to do that? And he said, yeah, that sounds kind of stupid, doesn't it? I mean, that's where we are today.

It is.

And it's funny because they all know it because they deal with this every single day. They're not set up for success in a lot of these, these areas too. Then these companies know it. They're trying to do this as a cost savings measure, but it screws everybody up. It frustrates us. Then these employees, they get extra frustrated too because they just deal with pissed off people all the time. You know, for, for me, it's airlines dealing through their chatbots and everything, and it's hours sometimes going back, texting back and forth with somebody that, you know, is a bot there, and you never get anywhere. And I'm dealing with some transactions recently too where I have to go through their website chat and they just keep turning me over. Oh, we can't help you. We got to forward you over to another human. Human. You can tell when you're dealing with it, this isn't human right here. This is just the AI here pretending again. But it's layer after layer of frustration and just screaming representative. Just give me somebody to talk to. And, and just, and, but every day, you know, I do see some of these, these news articles where it's come, well, you know, we're laying off all of our customer service staff to adopt AI. And 6 months later, now 8 months later, well, we're bringing back a lot of our customer service staff cuz we're realizing that our, our customers truly just appreciate being able to connect to somebody. And so you do see some that went really far one way that kind of realize, all right, we're not ready for that. Now we're, we're a little bit more to staffing more people to, to be able to handle those problems. So I do appreciate that, but I know it's only going to get worse with more layoffs as more and more companies adopt this.

Well, I hope not, you know. And that's, that's the point. I mean, we're at this intersection, right? We really don't know where we're going with this AI thing. We're not going to stop it. I mean, there's no— and I'm not crapping on it, believe me. I use AI every day. I think it's a very powerful tool. But here's the thing, I mean, it's what you're saying. It's We need that human interaction. We crave that human experience, especially when we want— one thing that AI can't do, it can fake it. And I know because I asked it. It can, right? It can fake empathy. It can speak as if it cares, but it's not capable of caring. And I think that's a big thing. But you hit a big one. I mean, I think the initial reaction was, oh my God, especially in customer service, it's just going to be replaced— customer service reps are going to be replaced by a flash. Now, I think a few enlightened companies are really seeing the light, and they're saying, well, instead of replacing people, first of all, uh, AI can be a very powerful tool behind us, right? If I'm talking to you about your situation and I'm using AI to find answers, but I'm communicating with you as a person, I think that's pretty powerful.

Yeah.

The other thing is— Bell was one of them, um, where they said instead of taking people off the line, they're shifting to a model where the people will be providing more personal service on the floor, right? And letting AI handle the automated stuff, right?

It's interesting you mentioned Taco Bell. I just went there the other night. You know, when you think about some of the employees where you want to replace them with something better, we kind of just had one of these robotic interactions with a team member there. I went with my son and we went inside to go eat and ordered a Pepsi with one of our meals and a Dr Pepper with one. And now they hand you the cup, you go fill it up. And I said to this guy, a Pepsi and a Dr Pepper. So we go to fill up our drinks, and the Pepsi could clearly tell it was like the syrup wasn't in the, in the area anymore, so it was coming out very flat. And same with the Dr Pepper. So I go over, the guy said, I think the syrup's out. He says, yeah, the Pepsi and the Dr Pepper, uh, they're out, they don't work anymore. We just told you what we wanted, you know, and you didn't say, well, those aren't working. And it's like, when you deal with some of these employees that don't care about their job, it's obviously very easy to tell. And you're thinking, this is where some of these people— you can understand why AI might take over.

But then, uh, Wendys, you, you just knocked something right out of the park, because when people talk to me about being worried that AI is going to replace them. And you see people like that. I just ran into it, you know, we still do a property management business, so I was in Home Depot the other day and I was in the plumbing section looking for something. There was a young man there who, he was friendly enough, he sort of the part I was looking for. But then I asked him, I said, how come you don't— this is a pretty common part— how come you don't know where it is? And he said, he actually said this, he said, well, I really don't care that much about this stuff. And I said, well, don't tell me that. But when you have people that have that attitude, you know, and it's like— and you were raised the same way, right? I mean, it doesn't matter what I was ever doing. I, I'll quote, because my story isn't as good as Martin Luther King's, right? Martin Luther King always said, you might sweep the streets, but you'll sweep the streets as, as if Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, right? Anything we do, if we put everything we've got going to get us ahead if, if that's where we want to go.

Exactly right. And, you know, and all those situations, you can tell when the people don't care about their job, but just there's a line where you don't need to say that.

You don't need to tell me. All right, it's pretty damn obvious. You don't need to tell me, right?

Yeah, right.

Yeah, I had a taxi driver that told me he was just recently out of house arrest, and like, these are things where you don't need to, to share. So, so find that line. Um, but yeah, that the talk about guy, and so I was with my son, and so I kind of always You know, my daughter, she's a little bit older, so she recognizes some of the customer service things. But so my son, I said, this is a perfect customer service example. So when you, when you get to work, just paying attention to these little things, you know, I understand things break, whatever. If you told me the Pepsi wasn't working, you know, that's fine. But it was just, right, it was such an annoying little thing that you heard what we were doing and decided you couldn't, you couldn't inform me of that.

Um, yeah.

And then I had a time at Wendy's, and I pulled up to order through the drive-through. And this was the first time I'd ever seen this, but they had an AI bot that was on the order screen. So it wasn't actually a person I was talking to, but it was going through. And that was new. I was kind of surprised to see that. And it took about 8 times to get my order right because we have a few customizations that we do. It's still frustrating, but thinking that even just ordering fast food now, maybe some of these companies are going to start going to that to eliminate some of the people that are working there. It's weird. It's kind of weird seeing it in different places where I wasn't ready for it just yet.

Well, and you're, and you know, you're right on the front lines of all this stuff, so it's going to be kind of opinion about this because one of the things that we're struggling with as we're trying to put these, you know, put these thoughts into some sort of organized fashion, um, you know, I've been challenging leaders with this idea. I said, if you put everybody on the street, you're not, you're not just cost cutting, you're putting the people in your community on the street, you're putting your customers Where are the customers going to be if nobody has any jobs? I mean, that's a huge question that I think— I don't know if people are just afraid to look at that question or they don't see the wave coming. And it's coming. I mean, one way or another, it's coming.

It is.

And it is scary.

Everything is short term. We're all looking at, okay, we got to improve profits. We got to show that right now without worrying about, yeah, 4 years from now, 5 years from now. And obviously, prices are rising. Crazy amounts of layoffs and everything right now too. So it is a, it is a scary time. And I think unfortunately it probably is going to get to the point where there's going to be some pain, companies do maybe back off of it a little bit. Um, but it is, it's, it's kind of a weird time right now. And, you know, we, we see it here and, you know, every day there's other news alerts, articles coming out, just, you know, another big layoffs at these companies as they adopt AI. And yeah, eventually What are they going to do? And so, yeah, I mean, yeah, you deal with these leaders all the time with some of these big companies. So I'm sure there's some that recognize it, but I'm sure a lot of them are thinking, well, we got to maximize this year's revenue, and that's all we're focused on.

I've heard a couple that now say, I just don't. And I understand that too. I understand that rationale because we've cried wolf so many times with these things. But it is happening. And I was listening to someone who was a pioneer in AI, and the thing that surprised him— and I asked him, when I asked him, I said, are the killer robots coming? You know, and he said, well, listen, that— he said, but I could be wrong. And he's— and he said, one of the— he said, one of the things that they, they haven't been able to anticipate with any degree of accuracy is how fast this is coming, the rate of acceleration. He said, we pretty much know what the steps, you know, the things that are going to be available to us. He said it's happening faster than we thought. So that's part of why your video inspired me and wanted to have you on again, because I know, you know, the Disney experience is so, so personal, right? It's so human, right? And it was purposely designed that way. And what's interesting is that all these— as these things change— and I was kind of disappointed because I thought I had a moment of brilliance and came up with— turns out it's been kicking around for a while. And what some— I kept thinking, well, what if, what if we're shifting? You know, we've shifted from the Industrial Age, the Technological Age, to the Information Age, to the Wisdom Age. And I'm thinking, well, maybe we need to shift and we have to think about the Experience Age, 'cause you can't, you can't, but I mean, we just did an event at the Grand Canyon. And I thought, I remember when the internet first came on, right? Everybody thought, oh, we don't have to go to the Grand Canyon anymore. We can dial it up. But it's not the same as being there, is it? I mean, there's just no way. And it turns out somewhere around 1995, a couple of guys came up with this whole thing about the experience economy. Disney a lot. And I think maybe there's an intersection happening. Do we have to shift to where we start to learn how to provide better experiences for one another? And maybe that's something to think about.

I believe absolutely. And not even just for the customer, but for employees also.

For everybody, right? Yeah.

Right. Shep Hyken just had an article out in Forbes yesterday where his customer service predictions and things like that for next year. And one of the top ones was really just employees now really expecting to have the same level of customer experience towards them as they're expected to give to the customers. And I mean, that is such a big thing. You are often treated like you don't matter. You're just another employee there. You're never set up for success. You get burned out. You don't now want to focus on delivering a great external experience. So we've got to treat everybody along the way, the paying customer and all those making it happen, with setting them up for success. And Disney does so well. And you mentioned even just Japan, Disneyland in Tokyo, where we visited last summer or this past summer. And now we love going to this. Been to all the parks before. But this one, DisneySea— You think, maybe?

It was beautiful. It was beautiful.

I wish we had a park.

I'm picking on you, but every time— I mean, you must have a record for Disney visits.

Uh, I, I wish.

There's people that are bigger fanatics than us out there.

I find that hard. I find that hard to believe.

There's a guy that just broke the record for the most times riding Radiator Springs out at Disneyland. Something— I don't know how many thousands of times he's ridden this one ride out there, but, but there are, there are big Disney fanatics out there. We love getting out when we can, but, but it's not nearly enough. But, you know, the one at Tokyo, just regardless of where you are in the world, you know you're at a Disney park, what kind of experience you're going to get. And it is different than you're going to go to where the focus is on the rides, you know, which anybody can do. Anybody can create a great thrill ride. And some of these parks have amazing thrill rides, but the team that are there that are surrounding them, they're not designed, they're not trained to deliver that experience. You know, they know how to operate the attraction, they know how to get somewhere in the park, but that's really about it. Nobody's on the lookout to do anything special. And that's really where like that Disney difference comes in, where they really do— and it's not every cast member, but it is the overwhelming majority of them are on the lookout to make a difference. And, you know, Dennis and Debbie took my, my 92-year-old grandmother out to, uh, Raglan Road. It's an Irish pub here Disney Springs. And, and she's Irish, and so it was Irish pub they're going to. So they just mentioned to the hostess that, uh, you know, she was Irish. And few minutes later, she had relayed that issue, or that, to the manager, and he came over and he starts talking as well. So they start just talking about their homeland. He brings out some Irish whiskeys for her to try, no extra charge. But it was just this, this human moment that, you know, most hostesses you think about, if you were to make a comment to they might just say something, they're off about their day, they're not thinking about it again. But here she made this effort to go tell the man, and he came over, spent a couple minutes, and it was something that made my grandma just incredibly happy. She tells everybody about this, and I just wish I could have been there taking shots of whiskey with her because that would have been incredible to be able to do that with her. Yeah, but it's, it's everybody kind of on the lookout to do that, and, and so that's that difference comes into play as they find the right people that are hardwired to deliver an experience. And that's where I think a lot of companies fall short.

No, and AI can help with that. It's interesting because one article I just saw was talking about particularly in hospitality and restaurant business where they've, they've used kind of an AI for a long time, right? They keep logs of customers, their regular customers, and what their preferences are. They look at that. Now you can access that instantly. And I think that's pretty cool. But again, we're back to the, to the idea that We still need a human being as the person who's standing in front of you. Now, having said that, not to open something really creepy, but I'm really interested in— well, in Japan now, and I'm sorry, I don't remember the term. I just spoke where there was a person from Japan who was talking about this. There's a term for these guys. It's, it's now young ladies as well, but these guys don't have to leave their apartments, right? They order their food and they work remote. They're having emotional relationships with chatbots. And original, as this started to unveil itself a couple of years ago, you know, people thought, well, they're going to be perfectly satisfied, but they're not. Now mental health issues are starting to pop up, right?

Right.

Right. Wired to be with one another, you know, and it's tempting. I know, I get it. I talk to my chatbot, Chad, right? Yeah. It's hard not to get, in fact, they respond better if you speak in more human terms, right? And yet keep remembering, look, Chad's not a person. Right, right. And I've actually asked him to remind me of that once in a while.

Oh really? Yeah, it could be, it could be easy, you know. We got all the Alexas around and everything. There was a movie 10 years ago or so, I think it was like Joaquin Phoenix, and I think it was called Her, where he was having a relationship with Siri, you know, on his phone there. And yeah, there's a lot of these where it is, it's, it's easy, and you can have for, I'm sure, the short term, it is exciting, engaging. But yeah, and like, you know, I'm home, so you don't get a whole lot of the human interaction a lot of times, like a lot of people at some of these other offices too. And after a long time working from home, you do start to kind of lose some of that, I think. And so I can understand how that might be appealing for the short term, but yeah, it's going to cause a lot of problems.

And we're already—

we're already now— yeah, you know, the level of innovation and creativity has dropped as people— we're fighting that battle. Between people who insist on working remotely and the insistence that there's some time in the office. I, you know, I always wondered about that. Um, and again, I think we're many, many generations, I think, in an evolutionary sense, from— to cope with, with a lack of human connection. If— and I hope it never happens. I mean, it's— that's the purpose of our existence, correct?

Absolutely. Yep. And we're really— so I think we, we did see such a big shift. So like, we've got our kids now, so, that are, that are 9 and 12, and, you know, so they've got their, their Tablets, things that, you know, as we said, you know, we're never going to give them tablets. We're going to be the best parents in the world, you know. And then here we are, we do some of these things, but you start to see where there starts to be some of these addictions towards it. And so sorry, we gotta, we gotta pull back from it. And, and our kids are very athletic, so they're in football, they're in cheer, they do all these things that we keep them out there. But we see a lot, their kids, that's just all they do. They're on the tablets all the time. They're talking with ChatGPT, they're talking with these, and the results can be catastrophic, where there was ones where ChatGPT almost was kind of compelling this kid to take his own life. And, or at least not reporting.

Yeah, that's what actually happened. And you— it's cool, there's, you know, your personal experience means a lot here because your kids are of exact— exactly the right age. You know, they're the generation, the first generation that, that grew up with the smartphone, not just the cell phone. People worried about the cell phone. —right, just trace the— and again, uh, the people that track it— I keep thinking it's— but I could be wrong— that tracks—

they're a popular one.

Yeah, yeah. Well, they track creativity and innovation K through 12, and it's dropped for the first time ever. And they traced it back to the day that those smartphones were introduced to kids, you know.

Really? Yeah. So, okay, there's enough data out to show this is what it is. And, and it's also important to recognize too that the people that created all of those things, that created the iPad, you know, they don't let their kids use them. You know, the social media creators, they don't let their kids on a lot of these sites because they know they are— that's what they're created to do, is to keep you on there. And so they make a ton of money with this, but it's also very damaging. So, so we recognize it. We talk to our kids and they, they realize that, you know, they get annoyed obviously if they, they can't use them But then they get over it.

They do.

And when they lose it for a week or whatever it is, we're reading books all the time, our friends, we're now coming up with games where we're playing again. And so it's like, it— they do lose that creativity. They get so sucked in and focused on it that when they don't have it in for a couple of days, it's like that imagination comes back. And, and so there's, there's got to be obviously incorporated with technology. It incredible tools that are at our disposal here. So making sure it enhances our lives, it enhances the customer experience. But I, I hate to see anybody try to put it in where we're just going to replace that human element with it, because it— we're, we're far, far from being ready to do that. And I don't think the killer robots are coming soon, but Elon or some of these guys have robots that are out there running around to things and, you know, it's— I don't know why they need to be able to run and chase people but they're there.

Well, you know, part of me thinks of it this way. It's like, you know, I know the scalded frog thing has been kind of debunked scientifically, right? We don't need the killer robots. We're using this stuff to kill ourselves and especially if we kill ourselves creatively. This is part of the reason I was so excited to have you on today because I'm really pushing hard on this. I think we do need— we need voices like yours. We need to speak together, to really— hesitate to, you know, I'm kind of an anarchist, but I hesitate to use the words tell people that this is what they have to do. This is what you've got to do. You've got to wake up. We've got the choice in our hands right now. Do we let this stuff take over our lives, or do we use it constructively? And I think, correct, um, you know, again, part of the reason I was so excited to have you on is because you're at the spearhead of the first— I think the first wave of folks that are employing this, which is customer service, customer experience, because it's very easy and efficient to employ it there, right? But correct. But I'm going to shout out, just say to leaders, to companies, don't do it. I mean, use those, but do not take your people off the line. Give them, give them more time to interact with other human beings.

Right, exactly. And, you know, give them the training, give them those tools. Again, yeah, have your AI here so you can serve it. We've got this so that way you can use it better to serve our customers. Yeah, hammering it over and over and over again is I think what we all have to do. And eventually, like I said, I do think we are at that point where some people have realized it, but it is, it's just, it's still so new, it's still so exciting. And the potential is amazing. So I know it's going to be a constant battle for this, but I love— I mean, obviously you're all over the world doing what you do, and, and you're in the room with a lot of these leaders. So keep hammering that message, you know, and then, and then tell them to come and see us, and then we'll train them how to do the Bright Customer Service there.

Well, you know, there's a, there's a good segue because let's, let's, uh, let's put the boots on the ground a little Why don't you just give, you know, a couple of pointers about, you know, how you create that deeply human experience in the customer experience relationship, right? How do you show people that you care authentically? And I'll preface it by saying, you know, there's something I say almost every time I present is, if you don't care, don't bother, right? I mean, yeah.

And a lot of times I understand that you as the employee probably don't care about me, you know, but, but you should care about my experience because again, if I'm not coming in, the customer's not coming in, there's no job, there's no money for you. So, so recognizing that we've got to be present and in the moment, you know, we've all got our lives. If you're bringing that into work and you're letting that impact the experience, it's going to cause a problem though. But, but just being engaged, having that a real smile, a real just, hey, thank you for coming in, it's great to see you, or, or if you're a regular customer, you remember my name, you remember my order, something about me, but just being in and being present, not just focused in on the, the processes that I have to go through, not going through— we've got all these tasks we've got to get through, so I'm focused solely on that. It's like, I've got you in front of me, I'm going to care about you for the moment while you're here in front of me, and then when you're gone, I'm going to go on to my next thing. But, but having that understanding, um, where even the, the small moments that you have— like, we were on a cruise recently on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and there was a bartender who I ordered my first drink with, and I went back hours later and she said, oh, hey Danny, you want another goombay smash that you had earlier? And you know how she remembered my name? No, it was fantastic. But her name was Mary and she was a great bartender. And I went back to her every single time, you know, it was out of my way usually, but I was like, I'm going to go back.

I'm going to go see her. Because she always had the smile on her face. You remember that?

But it was a tiny moment, but it was just really representative of— yeah, too, because I think every time we go on their ships, there's fantastic team members. And so we are very loyal to them. Like, when we know— obviously we love going on Disney cruises, but those are double, triple the cost of some of these other ones. So Royal Caribbean is like our, our go-to, and it's because Everybody is kind of on the lookout. So those small moments have this ability to really build big loyalty for the customers. And, and so that's where, I mean, training comes into play, but also just hiring the right people, right? Because you can, you can teach people how to make the drinks, right? You could teach people the, the processes that go into making a job to do, but the attitudes that people have, the behaviors that people have, you can't teach people that. If they're a jerk coming into you, you know, that's just who they are. If they're 30 years old, they've been a jerk their whole life. You sending them to a, a training class to, to try to improve their behavior, that's just— it's not going to happen. It's so much harder.

Yeah, it's very hard.

30 years, you know, it's unlikely they're gonna, they're gonna change or want to. So look at who are we bringing into the organization. There's people, you know, a lot of times in your interviews and, and hiring, you're focusing in on, all right, what, what— how can you do the test? How can you do the processes? The things that we can teach without focusing in on what kind of person is this. Yeah, because a lot of times people look fantastic on paper and now they're in there doing the job and you're like, "This person is kind of a jerk. This isn't the person I thought we were getting." So I think having that focus in on let's look at the people that are nice, that are good people, that are hardwired to want to deliver that experience and now we can teach them how to do the job. I think those elements right there are going to be fundamental for, for companies that want to really keep that human experience and deliver that experience to their customers.

I'm so glad, I'm so glad that's where you went with that too, because, um, to introduce just the other angle there, important for everyone, particularly if you're, you know, getting into your entry level, your first jobs, um, or you're trying to change careers or anything like that. I mean, this is what you have to think about. You have to think about how can I provide a good experience for for other human beings, right? Yeah. Because if that's what you're not thinking about, you're— you are the kind of person that's going to be easily replaced. Because AI can sound like it cares about us, and you can even— I've done it. I've gotten really pissed off at Chad because he makes mistakes, and I'll say, look, did you pay attention? And he never gets upset with me, right?

Yeah. So love that. Yeah, love when there's no, no attitude back or step back. But, uh, but no, that, that's exactly it, is, um, yeah, just, just building that connection, having that time. And, and you will, you will find those employees, those are going to be the ones that, that will be replaced, and they'll, they'll wonder what happened and think, well, you weren't doing anything to, to help matters. Actively seeking to, to make it worse almost, because I think you go in with this mindset of I'm not waking up saying I'm gonna go do a, a poor job today. I don't think most people wake up thinking that. But when you're just going through the motions, if it's just mediocre, we have too many options to, to go and search out other companies. Eventually I'm going to leave. I might not tell the company why. I'm going to get survey after survey, but I, I don't know how you are with those, but I pretty much ignore them unless something really bad happened or, or something really good happened. But if it's just mediocre I'm usually not sharing anything with them, just finding another company, and, and then they'll wonder. Now, and, and so I don't know, do you, do you find that now you're, you're just being over-surveyed too about everything? Yeah. Or, yeah, what's your, what's your response to the leaders? Do you ever bring that up when you're in the room with any of these guys?

No, in fact, it's kind of cool that you brought that up because it is something we should, we should be talking about. I understand the need to gather that information, but you're right, if there's a certain critical mass, right, where you're just not responding to it. And I'm kind of the same way. And of course, studies are pretty clear that we have to be careful about, you know, how many negative reviews there are, because people are more— people will tend to post a negative review more than the correct positive. So there's that factor. But yeah, I think most of the time it's just, oh, come on, another one. I don't know, I don't have— how can it ask you, do you mind, at the end of this call, would you mind spending 5 minutes taking Well, yes, I would actually.

I always wonder on those, like, should I get through to somebody faster maybe?

Do you think if like you, they filter it out that way? But no, I always decline it. But I always do think, maybe I should just to see if I get somebody on the phone here faster. But no, I do. I hate them. And you get bombarded from the same companies every single time. In my doctor's office too, who I love my doctor's office, they're great. Text and emails constantly after an appointment for something, and it just, it really does drive me crazy.

You know, the one I love to brag about, you know, I spent, you know, my passion throughout my whole life has been music, right? And I'm still, still involved for fun. And yeah, Alex was funny because, uh, she was— there's a call that came from Sweetwater Music, which Sweetwater is actually, they're the largest musical retailer in the world. They're bigger than Amazon. You'd never know um, they treat you better a lot of times than the local music store down the street. And she'll say, did they call you? What did you buy? She's afraid like I bought a $3,000 guitar or something. I said, I bought a cable. You kidding me? Yeah, yeah, $15. I bought a cable and they call personally to check and make sure everything's cool, right? I mean, that's amazing. So yeah, so yeah, $15 cable and they're calling to, to make sure everything's cool, it got there. And this is a funny one, this is a small one. Then I want, I want to make sure that you wrap it up by tell, you know, talking to— tell people how to get in touch with you. And because I think the work you're doing is so critical. But anyway, back to Sweetwater, just to give them a nod. They package a little, little tiny package of cheapo candy. And I don't care if you buy a cable for $10 or you spend $5,000 on electronic drum set, right? Whatever you— there's a little package of candy. And when you go on the forums, right, it's so funny because once in a while somebody forgets to put it in the box. That's what you hear on the music. Hey, I didn't get my candy!

And that one little thing over is what— yeah, people, people talk about it, remember. But it—

but it's fun because it's— they pick on it so fast. And a friend of mine just went through that, didn't get his candy, went on Facebook, said, I didn't get my candy from Sweetwater. They sent him two the next time.

Oh, see, there you go. I mean, so those are the things, right? Doesn't that make such a huge difference, right, when you have a company that, that does care about it? And yeah, I was at Costco, we ordered some pizzas that it wasn't ready on time, and they gave me a free drink and some, some free cookies, you know, just something that cost next to nothing. Yeah. And but it, it It makes such a big difference. And there are those few companies that truly do understand that. So, yeah, Sweetwater is a— I just love all those ones that they look for those opportunities to do what other companies are unwilling or really just unable to do. And those are kind of the ones that stand out. It's so simple. It is so simple to do. But again, we get caught up. I've got a million things I've got to do. And in our world, a lot of times you, you're on the road, you're like, all right, I just did this one presentation, now I gotta fly back across the country, I gotta go do another one, then I'm back home for 2 days packing up, leaving again. You know, life, life is crazy. But, but recognize I, I could take a moment out of my day to do that. And, and so that's really, that's really what it comes down to. And we're keeping it human too, and understanding that, that emotional component to it is absolutely crucial right now.

Well, Danny, you and your dad Dennis, you guys are at the tip of the spear, and I think the work that you're doing is so important and you're really helping people keep it human in this customer experience, which not only is it important, I think that's going to be the difference going forward. I really strongly believe that. So why don't we make sure people understand how to get to you and how to access your services? Of course, you can always call Alex. She'll, she'll get Danny booked for you. Yeah, I'm going to put in the plug for her.

Alex is amazing. Alex is amazing. Fantastic team. I mean, I can never speak highly enough for the two of you. Been two of the best people. And I think it was 2009 that I first met both of you and just fantastic people. So I just hope you know how much we all love you guys. Well, likewise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, so www.snowassociates.com. Find information on me, find information on Dennis, connect on LinkedIn, just @DannySnow. Um, but always putting out information. Our YouTube channel, it's @SnowDennis. But we've got— Dennis got a lot of videos out there. I've been putting more and more videos out there. So, so we'll keep, we'll keep pushing that out. And, and Jim Bouchard there too, and, and bringing me on to talk about this because it is very, very important right now. And I, I really hope that— and I know one of the videos there that, that you were talking about, that is the the flight attendant just walking up and down the aisle, just cookies, pretzels, chips, no emotions, no anything. So if we can be a little bit more human to it and just even if you can pretend to care about me as the customer, you're gonna set yourself apart from just about anybody else out there right now.

Hey, Danny, if it's okay with you, we'll actually, instead of just the link, we'll put the link, the link will be right here, but— I would appreciate that very much. Can we just put the video right at the end of this episode?

Absolutely. Yes, please.

Yeah, there we go. Hey, thank you so much. I can't wait to have you back on again. We've got important work to do together.

Sounds good.

Thank you, Jim. So today we're tackling a growing issue in customer service, and it is these robotic interactions and checked-out employees. And I'm going to show you why customers, we really just feel invisible. And then 3 simple mindset shifts that can bring back connection and the loyalty. So on a recent flight, I noticed something that perfectly captured what's wrong with customer service today. So we were sitting there, it was snack time, and as the flight attendant was walking down the aisle, this was all I heard: pretzels, cookies, chips, pretzels, cookies, chips, pretzels, cookies, chips, over and over and over again, 20 times in a row. There was no eye contact, there was no personality, there was no interaction. This was just a human vending machine. Reciting snack options, almost like we didn't even exist. And sadly, I have been seeing this everywhere. I mean, just today I was getting lunch at one of my favorite sandwich shops. It's a place I have gone to for years. And the sandwich artist made my sub, handed it to me, and then said, "Thank you," as she looked on at what she had to do. It wasn't a real thank you. There was no smile. There was no eye contact. There was really no presence. Whatsoever. Just a very flat monotone, thank you.

Again, as she's looking on to the next thing that she has to get through.

Now, believe me, okay, I am not asking for confetti or a standing ovation. I'm not asking for a meatball sub, okay. But a genuine look in the eyes, right? A smile. That's not extra. That should just be expected in a great customer experience.

Because without the customer now, Well, there's no paycheck, there's no job there, there's no business at all.

Now here's what's— Sandwich Shop, that used to be one of the most popular restaurant brands in America in the '90s and early 2000s, but now suffering from declining sales, they've got a failing reputation, and newer competitors are literally eating their lunch. So what happened here? I mean, why do so many businesses fail at such a It's because too many employees, too many leaders, they see customers as a checklist, not as people, not as human beings, right? Not as the reason that their business exists. So this is what is called task mentality, and it's everywhere in customer service today. Now, it's what happens when somebody gets so focused in on that they forget why the box even matters. Now, you might get the order right. But you get the experience completely wrong. So I want to share with you 3 simple shifts to really rehumanize customer service. All right, so shift number 1: presence over process. Script. Be present. Look up. Smile. Make eye contact. Or for that flight attendant, the pretzels, cookies, chips— now that was the process. But a warm greeting like, "Hi, would you like a snack? Here are our options." That's the presence. I know, I realize, have repetitive tasks that you have to get through, and that's especially true for frontline employees and flight attendants. But I've traveled enough to see the difference between those who genuinely care about the customer experience and those who are just going through the motions. And trust me on Customers feel the difference. When they begin to feel processed, they leave, and there are no shortage of options out there for customers to go to. So here's my recommendation, okay? Whether you are working the front lines or you are in leadership, replace that autopilot mode with awareness. I think about it like this: how often are you driving, and once you get there, you realize you really have no memory of the drive, right? You were just on autopilot. In your work, you might be saying the right words, but you're not really there. So take a breath, reset, reengage, and deliver the moment. Don't just complete the task. So shift number 2: serve the person, not just the task. Right? Your job isn't to just make a sandwich or hand out snacks. It's to serve a human being, right? That person is somebody's parent. Sibling or friend, right? They have a name, they've got a story, they've got a life. And now I'm not saying that you need to learn their life, but treating them with respect, treating them with kindness, now that should just be the standard. Now I have met plenty of sandwich artists and flight attendants who were incredible at this. Now they worked efficiently and they made the interaction feel personal. It was the way that they approached the moment that made all the difference. And that's shift number 3. Small moments can equal big loyalty. Now, a smile, a sincere thank you, a comment about their day, that those tiny actions, they cost nothing, but to the customer, they mean everything. Because companies now, they don't just lose customers over one giant failure, but 1,000 small missed opportunities. And now here's the pushback that I often hear. Oh, I hear things like, well, we're short-staffed, we can't deliver great service, or we don't get paid enough to care, or customers don't even notice anyways. Now, believe me, I hear you. All right. And I actually have covered these and several more of these stories that we tell ourselves. Can't give a great customer experience in a video that you can see right here. But presence and kindness and intention, now those don't cost more time. They cost a shift in your focus. Okay, you can't always control the staffing or the pay or even the customer's mood, but you can control the deliver. Now that's the part that follows you from job to job and company to company. Now customer service excellence isn't just about your title or your uniform. It's about the way that you show up. So the final challenge I have for you, task or experience. All right, next time you're on your job, simple question: am I doing the task or am I delivering the experience? Because one just checks the box, the other builds your brand, and customers can feel and tell the difference. So are you ready to deliver more than just a transaction? If you're tired of service that feels robotic and you want like this that really can help your team to deliver these moments, not just go through the motions and complete the transactions, then go ahead and hit that subscribe button. You can check out some of my other videos. I'm linking to a playlist down there in the video description below, and you can find additional customer service resources at www.associates.com. Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you in the next video.