Inside Strategic Coach Podcast: Creating a First Class Experience
Hosts: Shannon Waller and Dan Sullivan
Key Topics Covered
- Definition and Importance of a First Class Experience
- Personal Anecdotes and Historical Background
- Implementing First Class Experiences in Business
- Consistency from Front Stage to Backstage
- Actionable Steps for Entrepreneurs
What is a First Class Experience?
- Special thought given to how you feel during the experience.
- Often had in restaurants, hotels, theatrical performances, or outdoor experiences.
- Feels extraordinarily special and memorable.
- For Dan, it started young with an experience at a grand hotel in Cleveland.
Personal Anecdote: Cleveland Hotel Experience
- Age 10: First encounter with a grand hotel.
- Impact: Defined his desire for first-class experiences in life.
- Experience: Luxury, uniformed staff, wealthy clientele – profoundly influential.
Embedding First Class Experience in Strategic Coach
- Client Interaction: Making each touchpoint first class from start to finish.
- Employee Treatment: Ensuring team at Strategic Coach enjoys a first-class work environment.
- Experience Consistency: Clients feel extremely well-treated throughout their engagement.
Treating Clients Well
- Example: Dealing with late arrivals at workshops.
- Method: Welcome warmly, provide necessities like coffee or breakfast, brief them without making them feel guilty.
- Principle: Treat others as you would want to be treated.
Key Attributes of a First Class Business Experience
- No Need for Explicit Statements: Quality should be evident without the need for stating it.
- Example: Four Seasons hotel – no explicit standards but exceptional implicit service.
- Authenticity: True first-class experiences don’t need to advertise their standards repeatedly.
Relevance to Entrepreneurs
- Personal Preference: Dan creates environments he enjoys, thus making it consistent with his personal values.
- High Standards: Ensuring top dollar value by comparing with experiences where clients spend similarly large amounts.
- Goal: Making the client’s experience as positive as top restaurants, hotels, etc.
Benefits of First Class Experience
- Attracts and Retains Talent: First class environments attract and keep first-class people.
- Differentiation: A key differentiating point in the market.
- Consistency: Important to have a consistent front stage (client experience) and backstage (employee experience).
Front Stage vs. Backstage
- Consistency in Quality: No disparity between how clients and employees are treated.
- Simplicity: Make overall experience easy to remember and consistent.
- Example: Negative experience at a renowned restaurant due to mistreatment of staff.
Action Steps for Entrepreneurs
- Customer Experience: Ensure that you see every part of the experience from the client’s point of view.
- Walkthroughs: Experience your service as a customer would from entry to exit.
- Building Backwards: Design the ideal customer experience and then work backwards to ensure all steps align.
- Consistency: Ensure every interaction and touchpoint reflects first-class quality.
Noteworthy Insights and Anecdotes
- Steve Jobs' Philosophy: Designing from the customer’s experience backward; importance of the whole experience including packaging.
- Personal Story: Steve and the iPod box – the importance of even the non-visible parts being first class.
- Dan’s Experience: Keeping old Apple product boxes because of their high-quality design and thoughtfulness.
Conclusion
Creating and maintaining a first-class experience is not just aspirational but also practical for business success. It demands thoughtful design and consistency, ensuring both clients and teams are treated exceptionally well, providing a memorable, high-quality experience at every touchpoint.