Transformative Insights AI Tech & Customer Experience feat Shep Hyken

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the companies that miss the opportunity to take  advantage of these Innovations are going to be   left behind mk's law is the fact that Innovation  and technology is changing today at such a rapid   Pace that it's difficult for companies to  keep up and if they don't try and keep up   a competitor will and then it's not even about  trying to catch up anymore it's having to start over [Music] super welcome to Super entrepreneurs  podcast I'm your host Shahid danani today we   have with us Shep hkin Shep is a customer service  and customer experience expert and the chief   amazement officer at Shephard presentations he's a  New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling   author of eight books and was inducted into the  National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for   Lifetime Achievement Welcome to our show Chef hey  I am excited to be here thank you very much for   that wonderfully nice introduction that would  make my mother very proud is she still around   unfortunately she's not she's looking down and  smiling at us though right now oh yeah oh yeah   mothers are amazing time that we spend with  them is just Priceless and we realize after   right how precious it was oh yeah and growing  up she because I I do what I do today probably   in part to a choice that I had to make back when  I was about 12 years old uh when I was a kid my   parents got divorced and my mom said hey you get  to do one thing outside of school you can do do   anything you want in school play all the sports  be in all the clubs you want whatever but outside   of school there were three of us my brother  sister and myself you each get to choose one   extracurricular activity that I have to drive you  around to just one my sister did figure skating   and horseback riding so she dropped figure skating  my brother did Ice Hockey oh younger brother and   karate he dropped ice hockey to do karate and I  was doing ice hockey and doing magic shows like   party magic shows where I would perform oh and  so I chose the magic shows over the ice hockey   and today I am a performer on stage more or less  as a speaker and I truly believe if I'd have made   the other decision I'd have been playing old man  pickup hockey like I still do but I wouldn't have   the career I have right now when you said when  I'm on stage right away I thought that you're   still doing the magic show on stage I still  do magic shows I do um I incorporate a little   bit of magic into my oh you do I do I I've been  talking about my very first speech back in 1983   when I got out of college that was 40 years ago  believe it or not I wrote a speech about creating   a moment of magic in the customer experience or  the customer service which is about a positive   experience versus creating a moment of misery and  I use that word magic and I had fun with it and I   actually did a couple of tricks in my speech when  I started my business my first Entre R preneurial   Venture at age 12 it was a birthday party magic  show business and I would perform and I was doing   on a good week I would do eight to 10 magic shows  a week think about that and there were some months   where I was making more than my school teachers  were and so I eventually graduated to work at   nightclubs comedy clubs and I did corporate events  and when I graduated college I said I don't want   to be a magician I want to do something that's  more interesting to me and somehow or another   I landed on the idea of speaking I saw a couple  of motivational speakers and I said yeah I can   do that and I love the idea of customer service  I was drawn to that topic uh when I went to the   bookstore I saw a few books bought them studied  them and realized this is what I've been doing   all my life and every job I've ever had every  interaction I had with a a client who hired   me for a magic show or when I was working at  a restaurant or a gas station when I had my   regular jobs too uh I knew I wanted to take care  of the customers that walk through those doors   and the Beautiful part about that story is the  fact that you learned that skill at such a young   age but now you Incorporated it into what you do  as an adult but the funny thing is that what you   do as an ad adult for example public speaking  or doing an event people need some kind of an   excitement when they're consuming that content is  that differentiating factor that they gain from a   presentation that when you walk out there and  I'll love to come to one of them but you come   out there and you do some kind of trig all their  attention is on you now you grab their attention   I refer to the entertainment side of what I do is  the sugar that makes the medicine go down and even   if I don't do any of the magic and every once in  a while I don't I'm still engaging I Am Naturally   I'd like to think I'm funny I I always say if you  don't laugh I don't get paid and everybody seems   to laugh so that's a good thing but seriously  I do I take my information as you mentioned in   the introduction I've written eight books we do  research projects every year I'm just getting   ready to roll out the 2024 project which has taken  me longer than usual because I've I'm actually   doing two research projects at once we're going  to have a lot of information that I get to share   with the world probably right around February or  so after I write the report so I'm excited about   that I take it really seriously but if I can't  make you laugh if I can't get you for lack of a   better term inspired or motivated by the style in  which I present my information they might as well   just read the book on their own right yeah so true  Shep are you going to do something small for us   that'll either make us laugh or excite us through  a magic trick I have a deck of cards let's see if   I can pull this off with you but this is audio and  video so it has to be something that the audience   on the audio side can hear as well they can you'll  have to explain what's I'll explain what's going   on and perhaps your reaction tell them I did it  right or wrong so if anybody's watching great if   not but I have a deck of cards in my hand and you  can see them on the screen they will not leave the   screen I want you to think of a card any card you  want not an easy one like an Ace of Spades or a   king make it a difficult card card do you have one  in your mind okay okay and what is it name it out   loud two the two of what and by the way I got a  joker here Joker doesn't count was it two of what   okay the two of spade two of spades now I'm gonna  again I'm not gonna Spades Spades we've got it and   I I think you could see all the cards are there  but you will notice that only one card in the   entire deck is upside down this is crazy you and  I didn't set this up this is not the two of spades   I'm going to give you $1,000 and I really this is  crazy that pick the one card that was upside down   wow yeah okay so now for the people who can't  you gonna share the secret nower his eyes just   got bigger moment he finally said wow yeah one  card in the enti yeah everybody picks the same   card it's really amazing so I'm just kidding I'm  just kidding just kid there is a trick to that   obviously there has to be seriously are you're not  GNA share right now just get to business you know   what you're not a magician I'm not telling you the  secret but seriously I have fun with that I still   practice as a hobby by the way my wife says you  have so many hobbies you will never be bored and   that is correct I do so many fun things but work  hard and I believe outside interest makes a person   more interesting and I do my magic I play hockey  still I play golf I play tennis I play pickle ball   like I do so many I like to read so play guitar  you can see the guitars in the background yep   so my office guitars I know that the maintenance  people pick them up and play them at night time so oh can you imagine you have a camera on there  and you're just seeing there is a camera I I don't   understand why they don't know that I can see  what they do oh they they actually do it you   catched them I really don't care they're not like  my most expensive guitars like I have at home but   they are there and it's funny when they pick  it up and look at it I can say somebody's been   sitting in my chair so anyway let's get into some  good stuff we talk about that's great yeah I want   to ask you in your experience working with these  top tier companies for example what key mindset   approaches that separate successful entrepreneurs  from the rest entrepreneurs in general are a   little different than the typical World um I am  an entrepreneur you're an entrepreneur and here's   the thing amongst many of my friends by the way  are entrepreneurs as and birds of a feather flock   together as the old saying but here's what's  interesting a lot of the guys I grew up with   and I see my classmates who on a semi-regular  basis the guys that I hung out out with most   of them work for other companies and the reason is  they're very comfortable getting a weekly or every   other week paycheck whereas an entrepreneur when  we start out we take a risk and there are times   when our butts are on the line when we are the  ones that have to make pay roll and wondering oh   my gosh I've had a rough month I'll just have  to pull it out of my personal account to make   sure people are getting paid we take risks and we  do things and we have a different mindset we also   have a tolerance for risk that others don't  have I know that I've been offered jobs to   work for companies that I've done business with  they've offered me really nice salaries and you   know what I love the independence I I don't mind  the risk because I'm comfortable and confident in   myself this is what entrepreneurs do as I look  at the leaders of some and and by the way there   are companies like I I did the research partner  I had this year was 59 okay you may not know who   they are they're a very large Cloud Communications  company recognized in their space as being one of   the top companies the guys uh that are running  it the guy started it he runs it I it's a big   company lots of employees worldwide I don't think  I would consider that anymore an entrepreneurial   venture I would consider it more of a a corporate  Venture however it's very entrepreneurial the guy   the guy that's run it he left he came back  it's the story whether it's a large company   or a small company and I just love working with  where the leadership understands what they need   to do they get down into the trenches with their  employees they're not in some Ivory Tower office   making decisions in a void that's I think a big  difference between the entrepreneurial leaders   and the corporate leaders by the way not all  corporate leaders are like that in in my recent   book I write about a CEO that decided to go down  and spend time in the customer support department   to learn what customers were asking about and  complaining about and one day A lady called   back and said I just talked to this wonderful  gentleman named Bill I'd like to talk to him   again he was so nice and he seemed to know what  he was talking about the company was Microsoft   and the CEO was Bill Gates and he spent time on  the front line and by the way you consider Bill   Gates an entrepreneur he started this business  pretty much while he was in college and look   what happened so how do you suggest high output  individuals strike a balance between Innovation   and consistent customer satisfaction with such  high speed of evolving business nowadays things   are changing so quickly right so I'm going to be  a little counterintuitive and share with you that   nothing has changed in the customer service  World hundreds of years ago somebody had a   problem a complaint as a matter of fact there  is a stone in a museum in I believe it might   be the British Museum of History where it's the  first customer complaint letter of all time and   it's etched in stone was delivered to somebody  here's the thing somebody has a problem and they   tell you about it and they want it fixed all  right a hundred years from now that's exactly   what's going to happen somebody has a problem  they're reaching out to the company they want   it fixed nothing has changed in thousands of  years and nothing will change in the future I   say that but how we get to the end resolution  is evolving changing and there's Innovation we   have new check Technologies and everybody thinks  chat GPT type Technologies are brand new in the   last year or so IBM Watson I went to my first  IBM Watson conference I think in around 2014   or 15 and that's when they were using artificial  intelligence to drive a better experience so it's   been around for a while the generative Ai and  conversational AI it's just getting better and   better and the public is starting to be more aware  of it as these Innovations take root and they're   accepted I think that we're going to have better  experiences we're going to have faster resolution   and the companies that missed the opportunity to  take advantage of these Innovations are going to   be left behind I believe I'm trying to remember  what the name of the law is like they have Moore's   law where the microchip doubles every so often  and it speeds up oh it's smex law I'm looking   over here because I had it written down at one  point okay MK law is the fact that Innovation   and technology is changing today at such a rapid  Pace that it's difficult for companies to keep   up and if they don't try and keep up a competitor  will and then it's not even about trying to catch   up anymore it's having to start over because  it's happening so fast you have to scrap go at   it again but if they keep up with the Innovation  the changes it will affect the customer service   aspect of the company as well how can they create  more of the balance there think about it you want   to keep up with it today the idea of a chat GPT  type technology is so inexpensive that even the   smallest companies can afford to implement so  that will benefit the actual technology te the   technology will benefit the actual okay got it  and realize this that we're doing surveys and   asking our customers is 247 customer support and  expectation that you have today and with chat the   answer is an easy yes because you don't have to  be there but you do have to implement the system   and make sure it's doing it right but here's the  key in all of Technology no matter how good that   technology is one day it's going to fail and there  better be somebody behind the scenes ready to back   it up and give that customer the experience that  they want so the best companies are finding the   balance between human to human interaction and  self-service digitally driven technology type interactions yeah like some of these AI tools and  programs that are coming out are very human and   they actually have a full-fledged conversation  with people and they're connected with apis with   different platforms and providing information  The Experience actually amplifies when you inject   AI into your business so that's a very good  example of bringing in technology that will   actually improve customer experience now you must  be seeing because this is your realm you must be   seeing some exciting things happen do you feel  there's still a percentage that is not jumping   on that change right now because you mentioned  if they don't they'll be falling short but it's   all over the news everybody's talking about it  but do you still find that some companies aren't   jumping on the AI yeah so I'm a member of a  of an organization called the entrepreneurs   organization it's worldwide that that used to  be Yeo now it's just EO there's YPO the young   president organization I have a small group of  people I get together with on a monthly basis   they're my board of directors we act as each  other's board of directors and I asked maybe   just three months ago so realize chat GPT became  introduced to the world back in November of last   year just about year or so ago in January I did  my research report and most people did not even   know what that was they hadn't heard it it only  been out for maybe a month and a half okay today   if we said have you ever heard of chat GPT most  people say yes but guess what my group of eight   very successful entrepreneurs owners of businesses  one guy does a couple billion a year in business   okay but two of them said I I heard what it is  I don't know what it is I go what do you mean   you're you don't know you're using it you don't  even know and this is what's amazing is that   they aren't using it for their own company but  they are interacting with other companies that   do and they don't realize you're doing it so  I still think there's a lot of companies a lot   of people lot of owners of businesses that have  no idea how to implement it into their business   let me make it real easy if I've got a product and  like a software manual okay if I sell software and   I created a software manual on how to do or and  and use my software and troubleshoot if there's   problems I can go to chat GPT type Technologies  okay and I could drop my software manual into this   it's called the data set okay I don't want to get  too complicated but I could tell the software say   it's chat gbt you are not allowed to go on the  internet and look for any information the only   information you're allowed to pull from is this  manual that I just load it in as a word file into   your system so if I've got a question about how  do I save a file and put it in wherever I as a   human being a customer just type in how do I do  this and the machine's going to not go anywhere   else other than the manual look for the words and  send them back to me and then I could say I don't   understand I'm not technical could you explain  it to me like I'm in sixth grade and it'll turn   right around and explain the exact same thing a  completely different way to help a guy like me   who doesn't get things to understand it that's  how powerful that is and uh so you can imagine   if you've got a if you're a car manufacturer and  you've got 10 different models therefore you've   got 10 different big thick user manuals on how to  program the garage door how to turn on the lights   and the windshield wipers and cruise control and  everything else you can have a data set for each   one of those cars and if I'm a customer I could  open the manual and look but if I have my phone   I could just log into the app and dictate  how do I program my garage door opener and   it's gonna give it right back to me it's pretty  amazing that's very simplistic but you can take   the most complicated processes and put it into  that type of format yeah there's for consumers   for example in the car World they would rather  communicate with a chat GPT for example they'll   get so much more information from the AI than  they could potentially get from the actual sales   rep rep at the location and that depend for  many products many services just so hard to   know everything and then to actually simplify it  the way that specific customer can understand is   a gift when it comes to AI for that consumer right  and maybe the salesperson or whoever it is at the   dealership or the auto manufacturer maybe they do  know everything but as a customer what does that   mean it means I've got to make a phone call I've  got to wait on hold I've got to identify who I am   and the kind of car I have and blah blah blah blah  blah and that takes time and time is friction and   we want to eliminate friction we want to eliminate  wasted time and we want to get the customer the   information they need as quickly as possible the  customer wants it that way so these Technologies   are able to do that fast-pace information as you  need it immediately yeah makes a big difference   people are just impatient already it's going to  make them even more impatient it's the Amazon   effect that that started before the software came  in because Amazon has taught us that we could have   things quickly so it used to be I remember back  back when I was a kid if somebody could deliver   it in six to8 weeks if I bought on mail order  that was exciting and and when it showed up like   in five or six weeks oh they're fast and then  somebody said two we delivery one week delivery   today delivery then overnight delivery and then  Amazon says depending on what you order you can   get it in an hour we have trained the human brain  to expect a quick response and get our needs taken   care of quickly and boy when we have to wait we  either have to show a whole level of patience   or we're going to go leave and go somewhere else  have you interviewed Jay Bear by any chance on the show no Jay let's see if I have it right here  Jay has I'm getting ready to do my top you can   recommend guests to us oh yeah this guy your  friends if you have anybody wants to come on   the show yeah look at this little book okay I'm  gonna show you how little it is this is a regular   siiz book this is Jay's newest book and Jay by  the way is WR that's tiny right and it's called   the time to win and it's all about time and it's  all about how when you save your customers time   they love you cuz anything less than that  is friction now that's my word but here's   the cool thing it takes under an hour to read  this book it's I don't know 50 60 Pages there's   not a lot of real small type there's even some  pictures and diagrams I love that I love books   with pictures anyway the point is if you're GNA  write a book about saving time you may as well   save time reading the book Jay's brilliant and  this guy's done some amazing work he's one of   my favorite speakers authors customer experience  experts marketing experts by the way do you like   tequila because he's one yeah number one tequila  expert in the world be an honored to interview   your recommendations so please do introduce us  that's what we do here is we help people spread   their message and build relationships so that'll  be great yep I will do that cheep can you share   what you feel your innermost superpower is that  got you to this point in life oh wow my innermost   superpower I've got a really good sense of humor  so even when the bad stuff happens there's got   to be something funny about it to to be able to  smile I also have a really big Drive I don't mind   working hard because to me it's not really working  a lot people have said I love this definition of   retirement you're doing what you love and somebody  who's reti playing golf every day and they love   playing golf they finally get to do what they love  by leaving their job let me tell you I love what I   do I've been loving it for the last 40 years so in  a sense I've been somewhat retired for the last 40   years so I have this really good mindset about  that and I think two other things I'm a people   pleaser which is why the whole customer service  experience thing really resonates with me and   I I I think that's so important is that you do  what is innately inside of you and I don't mind   I don't mind failure because I realize failure is  what you learn from and you move forward and get   better as a result yes oh so those are call  superpowers that's a very powerful make the   comp a very powerful mindset trait yeah make the  complicated simple and a unique way of looking   for good in everything law of polarity everything  has good and bad depends on where you're putting   the energy and for you naturally you're in a more  comic way you're looking for good in even the the   worst kind of situations and that mention about  uh failing to have a relationship with failure   and you understand that it will happen and it  doesn't Define you and you learn from it those are   great mindsets traits for being an entrepreneur  and you have that naturally so I can see where   that success is coming from as well thank you I  want to share with you a really cool thing that   happened to me a number of years ago I there was  a driver in Orlando Florida ala stagna who I would   use whenever I had a speech in any of the Orlando  hotels or the convention center and one day toward   the end of the year he said to me hey I I'm giving  out to my favorite clients a day planner it's a   little pocket planner calendar that fits in your  pocket and you open it up and you've got the whole   week in front of you little blocks for you to  write your whatever your plans are it's your   day planner and he goes would you like that and I  said nah I I probably wouldn't use that and then I   thought about it go you know what I want it and he  goes oh okay he gave it to me I said but I'm not   going to use it as a daily planner I'm going to  use it as a Daily Reflector and I decided starting   on January 1 and I did this for one solid year and  I still do a modified version of this every single   day I wrote down on the weekdays when I typically  would work I wrote down two things something good   that happened to me personally something good that  happened to me professionally and on the weekends   it was always something personal sometimes  professional great but every day I took a moment   probably two minutes to write down something that  was happening good within two or three weeks I   noticed a pattern in my attitude which by the way  I already had a pretty damn good attitude but I   noticed that even the worst day had good things  happening well you mentioned my mom passing away   sure that was sad but you want to know what looked  at that day I was there with my mom sitting next   to her by her bed with my brother my my wife  and my sister is from out of town she came in   she zoomed in and then my brother's wife was there  and I thought to myself this is a really sad day   but look who I'm with you know that's the kind  of attitude you start to have when you start to   become purposeful about noticing what good things  are happening around you and what happens is you   train your brain to become positive positively  aware of all the good and I think that was an   incredible exercise that I put myself through and  anybody that's struggling and not being happy this   might be something that could help maybe they're  under a lot of stress trying to make it work their   business there are good things happening around  you you just have to be able to become when you   you just become aware of it and also when you put  that in practice You're Expecting good to happen   and you start noticing more good things start to  happen that's just a beautiful connection that we   have as human beings so it was great speaking to  you Shep it was an honor your energy is wonderful   and what you're doing for businesses because  such an important aspect of a business customer   service customer experience and it's only going  to amplify even further so I continue to wish you   the best thank you for your time and definitely  keep in touch my pleasure I promise thank you [Music] super super super

2023-12-19

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