Elevating the Agency Client Experience with Neen James

Danyel McLellan [00:00:01]: 

Welcome to the Agency Management Institute community where you’ll learn how to grow and scale your business, attract and retain the best talent, make more money, and keep more of the money you make. The Build a Better Agency podcast, presented by White Label iq, is packed with insights on how small to mid size agencies are getting things done. Bringing his 25 years of experience as both an agency owner and agency consultant, please welcome your host, Drew McLellan. 

Drew McLellan [00:00:38]: 

Drew McLellan here, back with you with another episode of Build a Better Agency. Super excited to introduce you to our guest today. So, you know, sometimes there are people that are kind of in your periphery. A lot of your people know them, you know of them, you sort of admire them, but for some reason you just never kind of bump into them at a conference or things like that. That’s how I feel about today’s guest. So I’ve been following Neen James for a long time. A decade or longer, probably longer than that. She’s a prolific speaker, writer, thought leader, and she thinks about the world from a very interesting lens, a lens of a different way of viewing excellence. And I think you’re going to find that our conversation today, which is around her new book and some research she’s done, is really going to get you thinking differently about your agency and how you can be perceived by your clients as like, it’s like it’s that it’s a treat or it’s like a bonus to be able to work with you. And Nina is brilliant at helping businesses sort of understand how they can show up in a way that their clients and their prospects feel that way about them. But before I turn over the mic to Neen and we dig into the conversation, I just want to remind you that our friends at White Label IQ are the presenting sponsor of this podcast. And you know what? They do that for their clients too. They go out of their way to really partner with their clients and to give them more perhaps than what their clients expect. So one of the things I really value about them is they understand the reality of your life. Why? Because they’re an agency just like you. They know you’re not going to win every pitch. And they know that it gets expensive to scope and quote work when you may or may not win the work. And so that’s why they partner with agencies. If you’re doing a new business pitch, they’ll help you scope and quote the work for free, no nickel and diming, no extra barrier. Because they work exclusively with US agencies doing design, dev and paid media. They know exactly how critical getting those numbers right are. And in terms of walking into a client conversation both prepared and confident that your numbers are spot on. They just see that as part of their partnership with their agency partners, making sure you’ve got all the tools you need without adding any friction to that process. And that’s the difference that a lot of people say when they’re a partner, but these guys actually act like one. And I think that that sentiment is going to align really well with what Neen’s going to talk to us about today. So without further ado, I am super exc spend the next hour with her, and I think you’re going to be too. So let’s get to it. Neen, welcome to the podcast. I’ve been waiting for this. I’m excited to have this time with you today. 

Neen James [00:03:30]: 

G’. Day. Are you kidding? It’s my privilege. With all the people that we share in common, that we love, I knew we would be fast friends. And you confirmed that as soon as we met. 

Drew McLellan [00:03:38]: 

Yes. This is going to be a great conversation and we are going to get together soon. But in the meantime, tell everybody a little bit about your background, how you came to write the latest book, and sort of what your passion is around work. 

Neen James [00:03:52]: 

Drew, I grew up in corporate business in Australia. I worked in retail, banking, telecommunications, and the oil industry. There was not a lot of chicks in oil when I was there. Drew. I bet as a client experience expert, I’m obsessed with this whole idea of how do we really pay attention. I think when we pay attention, companies make more money, our relationships are deeper, we take care of the planet on which we live. I’m literally so obsessed with this. I’ve written multiple books on this topic because I think that when it comes to the challenges, for example, that agency owners might have, they’ll say things like, there’s never enough hours in the day, or there’s so much to do, I don’t know where to focus first or the business is just not growing how I want it to grow. And what I realized is when, if you look at my body of work, I’ve always been focused on how do you get more done? How do you? And I’ve always said, you can’t manage time, but you can manage your attention. 

Drew McLellan [00:04:43]: 

Yeah, right. 

Neen James [00:04:43]: 

And then I realized, attention, management’s important. Attention’s about connection. And then I realized, okay, the best brands I get to work with, luxury brands, legacy brands, they have these things in common. And I realized, if attention is about connection, luxury is about the human connection. And now More than ever before. There’s a stealth message in this book, Drew, and that is my secret mission. What really drives me, why I do what I do, why I wrote the book I wrote, is because ultimately, I want everyone to feel seen, heard, and valued. That’s the stealth message. And I think that if you look at my body of work, you’ll see that consistency. And think of our agency owners, that’s what they want. They want people to feel seen and heard and valued. They happen to amplify the brands and the individuals. So they do it maybe differently. I do it as a keynote speaker and a confidant to CEOs. And sure, I’ve written some books, so we all share our message in the world differently, but that’s why I wrote the book. 

Drew McLellan [00:05:42]: 

So, you know, I’ve read everything that you’ve written. But as I was reading this latest book, I was thinking that really your message is sort of that luxury is the sense of belonging. That real luxury is that I feel like I belong and that I matter. Right? 

Neen James [00:06:01]: 

Yes. Because think about it, Drew. If you’ve ever. And to all of our listeners, if you’ve ever experienced that greeting you get when you walk into a luxury hotel lobby and the personalization and customization, they’re good at, the fact that they stop what they’re doing to give you the gift of their undivided attention. You’re the most important guest who has visited their lobby today. And so what I love about luxury brands and working with these legacy leaders is that they understand that when someone comes into their environment is part of what it is that they offer, whether it’s luxury retail, luxury hotels, whether it’s a luxury travel advisor, is they want that person to feel like the most important person in that moment. And if we did that with the clients we served, we would have an unending amount of business. But you’re right. And one of the things we talk about in the book is how do you create that sense of belonging as well? 

Drew McLellan [00:06:56]: 

Yeah. And we’re going to dig into that for sure. But part of this book was doing some research on sort of the idea of luxury mindsets. Tell us a little bit about a. What made you decide that you wanted to put some research behind all of this? Because this is not the first time you’ve thought about attention or luxury or client service. You’ve been doing this your whole career. So what made you think, I want to do some research? And what were the AHAs from that? 

Neen James [00:07:25]: 

I love this question. So I am very fortunate to be the Confidant of a lot of luxury and legacy CEOs. And so I spend my time in board rooms and talking to them one on one and with their senior leadership team. And I’ve always believed luxury is a mindset. I had this my, you know, basically I’ve had this since I was really little. And I just assumed that there were research studies to support my theory that luxury is a mindset. It’s the way you think about how you’re going to deliver that experience. And so I googled it. You know, luxury is a mindset. Well, wouldn’t you know, Drew, there are thousands of studies on how luxury makes us feel. They didn’t want that. I wanted to know, how does luxury make us think? How does it, how do we think differently? How do people think about luxury? How long does it take to make a decision, to make a luxury purchase? Who influences the decision? Who are the influences? Where do we get our sources of information? How does luxury affect our confidence, our professional development, our focus? And because there was no research study like that, I commissioned the Great Mind of Susan Baer and Audience Audit. And I went to Susan and I said to her, so luxury is the mindset. Just make sure I’m right. And knowing Susan as you do, she sat back and laughed at me. And she said, nin, that’s not how research works. And she said, I will do a research study and let’s see what it uncovers. What was fascinating was when Susan did the readout to me of the study that she conducted a very deep dive into how we think about luxury. She said, nina’s not one luxury mindset, there’s four. And that’s what really surprised me, Drew. And because I needed to have evidence and data to support the consulting and coaching and the keynoting that I do, and anyone who’s in a thought leadership practice needs to have, I believe, their own intellectual property. And I wanted to be able to have a research study that I knew was true and correct. And so why not commission your own? And so what Susan did in the readout is she helped me understand that we don’t all look at luxury the same way. But once we understand the luxury mindset, then what I took that a step further to say is, huh, we could speak the luxury language of the clients we want to attract. Therefore, if we think about this as agency owners from a business development strategy, you need to understand your own luxury mindset. Part one, we have a self assessment for that. We can put it in the show notes. It’ll take people Less than five minutes. It’s free. You can all do that. That’s always fun to identify. But the second thing is, what about your clients luxury mindset and how does that influence the way they make decisions? And we can share all of that research with you, Drew, as an executive summary. You’re welcome. Point to that in the show notes as well. But here’s what was really interesting. Yes, I was blown away that there was four. But here’s what fascinated me, Drew. Despite people’s luxury mindset, there were two things they all agreed on, and they were this. Luxury is a reward for hard work. That’s fascinating to me. But the thing that blew my mind, that I was super excited about because it’s what I’ve believed my whole life, and that is this. Everyone agreed on this statement. Luxury is about experiences, not things. And we can all control that. We can all control that experience. We give our clients, our guests, our patients, students, members, community. And so I love that what Susan and the audience audit team were able to do for me is give me actual evidence to support this theory. And what’s been fascinating is true luxury as a word is quite divisive. And so when you think about it, even people listening to that, there’s some of you listening to this, going, luxury unnecessary. That’s not for me. I don’t need that. There’s a mindset associated with that. But what you can agree is that we can all create a luxury experience for people. And that’s what also helped drive the way that I wrote the book. 

Drew McLellan [00:11:16]: 

So I suspect there’s some people listening who are saying, I personally am all about luxury. I like nice hotels, I like nice cars, fill in the blank of whatever it is. But I’m an agency, so I’m a. I’m a B2B service provider. Is that. Can I be luxurious? 

Neen James [00:11:35]: 

100%. But also understand, Drew, what’s your definition of luxury? So what we discovered in the luxury study is that the characteristics, true luxury is defined with five words. High quality, long lasting, authentic, unique, and indulgent. Now, as an agency owner, maybe indulgent is not one that you resonate with. Maybe you do, but I want you to be high quality. The services you provide, long lasting, to show that you have been around and you know what you’re talking about. Unique in that you have a unique perspective to offer your clients and authentic in the way you deliver. So surely luxury truly is something that you offer. But perhaps you just haven’t used that language before. Now, I have a friend and I remember When I first shared my research with him, he said to me, luxury is unnecessary. Now, he’s very wealthy. He’s a philanthropist. You name the airlines or the hotel status, he has it right. Drives fancy cars, all things. But he says to me, luxury is unnecessary. And I said, well, do you like those particular membership organizations you’re part of that get you to the front of the line? Yes. Do you use the fast lanes when you’re in traffic and pay the premium no matter what the fee is so that you can get there faster? He said, yes. And I said, so for you, luxury is time. So for some of our agency owners, it could be the luxury of time. And our clients want that, too. They want to know that we’re respecting and honoring their time, especially if we’re an available hour model. And so what I want us to think about is everybody deserves luxury, our clients and ourselves. It just might look different to you. If you love luxury, chances are you pay special attention to the office environment you’ve created, the type of coffee or cold brew that you serve to your clients into your team. And so you might find little luxury touches in the way that you have the environment set up for you. The quality of paper stock that you print things on might be different. Your business cards might feel a little bit heavier. Paper stock. There’s all kinds of ways that luxury might show up on a daily basis for you if you’re a luxury lover. 

Drew McLellan [00:13:40]: 

Well, and in fact, in a lot of ways, it shows up just by how we as agency people show up for our clients. You know, are we. Are we three minutes early for a meeting? Are. I’m like, as you’re talking, I’m thinking, like, we have to translate this. We, the agency owners, listening to this. We have to translate this, what luxury means to us, to our team, so that they. Because I would. I suspect part of what’s important when you deliver luxury is the consistency in which you deliver it. And so if. If I deliver it, really great, but bad, you know, my junior account executive, not so much that inconsistency. Now, my client doesn’t know what to expect. And I think part of luxury is that you sort of can kind of ease and you kind of relax because you know you’re going to be taken care of. Right? 

Neen James [00:14:33]: 

Yeah. And, Drew, you don’t have to have a luxury product to provide luxury service. 

Drew McLellan [00:14:38]: 

Right? 

Neen James [00:14:38]: 

Right. But we know when something’s not luxury, when we have to fill out the form for the 10th time, when the chat bots are not working, when the line is too Long. When we’re dragging our suitcase through the airport, we know what is not ease to use. Your point. We know when things don’t feel easy to us. Right? 

Drew McLellan [00:14:55]: 

Yeah. 

Neen James [00:14:56]: 

And so we know what luxury is not. And so perhaps as an agency owner, you could quickly do an audit of what doesn’t feel like luxury to your clients. The wait times, where’s the friction? Exactly. Those friction points. And like, just as a reminder, when’s the last time you listened to your voicemail? When’s the last time you received your out of office message? When’s the last time you received your proposal? To look at it really in a detailed way that makes it feel like an experience, because there’s opportunities to elevate every experience, every touch point. The fun out of office message that you design, the fun voicemail that you leave, that’s on brand for you. The collaterals you create, the digital and the analog ways we communicate. And so in the book, there’s even a table of all the different communication methodology for analog versus digital. And in our digital AI world right now, Drew, people are craving human connection. So what can you do to put more of yourself as an agency owner in that human connection? So that, yes, to your point, there’s consistency, but it starts with you because it’s going to have a ripple effect across your team. In the hotel, we have this. In hotels that I work with, we have this concept. Front of house, back of house. Right front of house is what all of the guests see. The beautiful lobby and the great service and the outfits and everything’s beautifully clean. But does it match back of house? Do we also give that same experience to our team members? Because when we think about our team, Drew, they’re the ones delivering the client experience for us. So do we take as good a care of our team and give them a luxury experience in the office, in the setup, in the tools and resources and training we give them so they can provide that front of house experience? 

Drew McLellan [00:16:33]: 

Yeah. Walt Disney said you take care of your team first. In his words, cast members first, and then the guest, and then, then the guests get taken care of, and then the money after that is just fine. 

Neen James [00:16:42]: 

Absolutely. The money will flow. And the nice thing, when I was designing the experience elevation model in the book, one of the things that was really important to me is to take all of the lessons I’d learned from working with so many different brands about creating advocates in your business. So the advocates are not just clients who go out and tell the world about you. They’re satisfied team members who Help recruit the talent you need and tell others that they’re really proud to work with your agency. So when you think about it, it’s really about not just being top of mind, having mind share of your clients and your team, but it’s also being top of market, having market share. So you can drive the revenue, but you need to have an engaged team to do that. 

Drew McLellan [00:17:23]: 

So let’s talk about the four mindsets, because I suspect. I suspect when you can. So AMI and Audience Audit have partnered together for, I think we’re on our 13th annual study. 

Neen James [00:17:36]: 

Amazing. 

Drew McLellan [00:17:37]: 

And so our whole thing is whatever we’re studying, we extract that data and then we tell agency owners, okay, here’s how you recognize whatever the segment is, and here’s how you would treat them differently or do whatever depends on the study. So I’m assuming that you are also thinking on our behalf. All right, there are four mindsets. Number one, some are better suited for your business than others. Number two, here’s how you recognize them and how you attract them. So give us. Give us an overview of the four mindsets, if you will. 

Neen James [00:18:10]: 

Yes. And I want you to listen to this in two ways. I want you to listen for which one resonates the most with you as a listener. Which of the mindsets do you think you. Because we’ll talk a little bit about that, and then I want you to think about what kind of clients you want to attract. So if that’s okay with you, Drew, I’m going to speak in those ways. 

Drew McLellan [00:18:26]: 

Let’s do it. 

Neen James [00:18:27]: 

Let’s talk about the mindsets. So the first is what we call the reluctant and removed. Now, this is about 28% of the study. And what was interesting about this mindset is they feel guilty when it comes to luxury. They think luxury is too hard. They say, brands don’t understand me. I am busy and overwhelmed. I don’t have time for that. And so if you want to speak their luxury language, the way to attract this client, to make this client feel safe in working with you and your team and your agency is show them how you’re offering your products, services is going to help save them time and hassle. And so they want ease. That’s something you want to think about if you want to attract this kind of person and you already have them in your clientele, maybe you’re listening and you are this person like my friend who’s a reluctant move, but his luxury is time. Right. So that’s the reluctant and the removed. The second of the luxury mindsets is The Pro prioritizer. We call them the Pro prioritizer because they use luxury as power. But here’s what they use it for. They use it to advance their career and reputation. To the Pro prioritizer mindset, this is the person who values brands that have been around for a while. They want to know leadership, knows what they’re doing. They want authentic experiences. But something that’s really important to them is the environmental or societal impact that your brand has. So if you want to speak the luxury language of the pro, prioritize that one of the most influential of the four is this person wants to know about your sustainability initiatives. They want to know how long your business has been around. You want to share your origin story and the kinds of clientele and testimonials that you have because they’re looking for a relationship because it’s aligned with your, their brand. So they also focus on professional development a lot. They love mentoring others, so they want to be able to recommend you. So that’s our pro prioritizer. Okay. Then we have the competent and the content. This is the person who says luxury really need this. I got this. I’m good. But here’s what is important to them. They believe in creating memories with people they love. So if you want to create a relationship or want to spend, speak the luxury language of the confident and content. You want to share how what you’re doing will help create memories with their, their clients, their family, their friends. So if, for example, I’m working with a luxury travel advisor who happens to be a confident and content and is trying to work with that particular level of clientele, they might say something practical like imagine taking a photo of you and your family inside the Four Seasons Paris with the Jeff Latham flower display display behind you. He only has flowers in the Philadelphia Four Seasons and Paris is world renowned. And he’s they’re going to share those little tiny moments. Okay, makes sense. So that’s what I want you to think about as an agency owner and the fourth of the luxury mindsets, the most influential of all four is what we call the luxury lover. Now, the luxury lover says luxury item worth it. Not only am I worth it, luxury for everyone, every day. This is a person who loves to share luxury. Now how you identify them is they’re often seen in luxury. They enjoy luxury. They talk luxury. Now, why it’s important to understand this mindset if you really want to attract them is because they love the language you need to speak with them is behind the scenes exclusive access. They want to Know they’re the first to be part of the focus group your agency is having. They want to meet the head of the agency and share their feedback. They want to know that they’re the first to see your website or the PR program that you’ve built for them. So this is the person who loves to hear words like bespoke, curated, right, Exclusive. That’s really important to them. They love a little bit of indulgence as well. Now, the luxury lover, here’s the most important thing I want all our agency owners to understand. Drew, they have a big mouth. They are truly the best advocates for your brand. These are the people you want to attract because they also have the most influence over all four mindsets. They can convince a reluctant and removed. It’s a good investment. They can work beside the confident and content to show them why this is valuable. And they’re very aligned with the pro prioritizer because both of them believe in luxury to advance something. And so with the luxury Lover, what you want to know is they will talk about you on social media. They will write testimonials and blogs about you. They will tell their friends they need to hire you. So in your recruiting strategy and attracting clients, and potentially in your team strategy, look for the luxury lovers not because they’re brats of brands. They’re not wearing brands or using brands to show off. It’s because they believe in the craftsmanship, the thoughtfulness, the origin story of those brands. That’s what they align to. So give them those opportunities and your luxury lovers will be a really great addition to your clientele. 

Drew McLellan [00:23:28]: 

That’s funny. As you’re talking about each of these, I’m, I’m thinking I’m doing exactly what you suggested. Like, I’m, I’m analyzing which one I am, but I’m also identifying clients in each of the categories. Right. So you can see it. Yeah, yeah. 

Neen James [00:23:43]: 

And think about it. Your luxury lover is going to notice the quality of the paper stock in the collaterals that you share with them, the folder that you push your proposal across. If you’re still printing an actual printed proposal. But if you’re not, they’re going to notice the color palette that you’ve chosen for the digital proposal you’re having them sign. They’re going to notice those type of details. Now, with the reluctant and the removed, they don’t want a 15 page digital proposal. They want to know at the beginning of the proposal, how much is it, how long is it for, and what are the deliverables. So what you can start to think about is knowing what you know about the clients that you want to attract or that you have. How do you tailor, customize, and personalize things for them? Now, here’s the other thing I want people to think about. Knowing your own luxury mindset means you probably communicate from the place you are most comfortable. 

Drew McLellan [00:24:32]: 

Sure. 

Neen James [00:24:33]: 

If you are reluctant and removed, you might have trouble actually saying some of the fee structure that you want to be able to charge for people, because it sounds so crazy to you who would spend this kind of money on something? But you know what? I’m going to put it out there. But we also have to understand that when there are multiple people involved in a decision, Drew, we have to speak their luxury language at multiple levels. Let’s go back to my luxury travel advisor example for let’s say we have an advisor who’s trying to create a destination wedding. Say two husbands are getting married. One husband is a reluctant and a removed. One husband is a luxury lover. Okay, so the luxury lover says, I want to go all of these things. I want all the things. But what the luxury travel advisor has to do is speak to the reluctant and the removed first and say, you know what, I understand how much you have on your plate. Let me make this really easy for you. We’re going to have meet and greets at the airport. The itinerary is going to be completely done. Insurance has covered everything. We’re flying you first class. So the reluctant move goes. Great. The luxury lover goes first class. Did you say first class? That’s exactly what we want. Yes. We want to see our name on a sign as we walk down the elevator to make sure there’s someone there to greet us and take our bags. So what we think need to think about as agency owners is are we speaking the luxury language of the clients we want to attract and the clients that we already have? Yeah. 

Drew McLellan [00:25:53]: 

Oh, this is fascinating. All right, so I have a million more questions, but let’s take a quick break and then we’re going to come back and I want to talk about how we as agency owners, what lens we need to look at our business through to start really baking some of this into our business. So let’s take a quick break and then be right back. Are you tired of juggling multiple tools to manage your agency? Meet Dell Tech workbook, the all in one solution for marketing and communications agencies. Streamline your projects, resources and finances all in one place. With real time dashboards and reporting, you’ll have full project visibility. You can plan team capacity weeks ahead to avoid bottlenecks and keep your budgets on track to maximize profitability. It’s perfect for both agencies and in house marketing teams looking to work more efficiently. PCI is a certified Dell Tech Partner offering expert implementation and support to ensure your success. If you’re ready to transform your operations, visit PCI US Podcast for a free consultation today. Hey everybody. Just want to remind you before we get back to the show that we have a very engaged Facebook group. It’s a private group just for podcast listeners and agency owners that are in the AMI community. And to find it, if you’re not a member, head over to facebook.com groups B, a bapodcast. So again, facebook.com groups Bab podcast. All you have to do is answer a few questions to make sure that you are an actual agency owner or leader and we will let you right in. And you can join over 1700 other agency owners and leaders. And I’m telling you, there’s probably 10 or 15 conversations that are started every day that are going to be of value to you. So come join us. All right, we are back with Nean James and we are talking about luxury, which I suspect for many of you is not necessarily a word that you would associate with your business. You associate it with many of you travel well, many of you drive nice cars. And I think we often associate it with experiences and things, but we probably don’t associate it so much in a business context. And so that’s really the focus for today is how can we, how can we elevate what we do so that our clients feel like not only are they getting great results and ROI and we’re hitting the KPIs, but it’s also an amazing experience for them. You know, I, one of the things I think we often forget is our clients live in this corporate world where they don’t always feel safe or seen. And, and many times for them, the experience, the creative experience, the conversations they get to have with us are some of the best parts of their day. So how do we elevate that to be a luxurious experience so that they talk about us to others? It makes us stickier, they stick around longer and that they value a deeper connection that they have with us again, that sense of being seen and heard and understood. All right, so Nina, how do we think about, how do we think about our agencies? How do we begin to dissect how we interact both with our own team and our own clients? And I know you have a lot of this in the book, so let’s steal From. From the book a little bit. What are some things? Agency owners, you know, I want them thinking about that this week. Like, I want this banging around in the back of their head going, oh, I could do that. Or, oh, we could think about doing that. So give us some. Give us some really tangible things we can. We can ponder. 

Neen James [00:29:32]: 

First thing I want all of our agency owners to do is to think like a concierge, not a bellhop. Now, Drew, a bellhop. Oh, they are so vital. We need those people to move our bags through the lobby so fast so they can get us up to our room very quickly. They’re about efficiency. But too often I see managers act like a bellhop. They’re crossing things off their to do list. They’re trying to get through their inbox. They’re running from one meeting to the next. They’re just trying to get proposals out the door. It’s transactional. And what I need our agency owners to do is to think like a concierge. Because the concierge, oh, they are the most revered position in a hotel. They are the go to person. They are the person who can get you those exclusive seats, that restaurant reservation. And you know what they do? They anticipate needs you didn’t even know you had. 

Drew McLellan [00:30:20]: 

Yeah. 

Neen James [00:30:20]: 

As an agency owner, we need to think like a concierge, not a bellhop. And what that does, it takes our relationships from being transactional like a bellhop, to transformational like a concierge. So our mindset, let’s start there. Let’s think like a concierge, not a bell hop. 

Drew McLellan [00:30:40]: 

Yeah. You know, you’re so right. I mean, when you think about the amazing. The other thing that concierge does, which I think agency owners don’t do enough of, is concierge. Know everybody in town, right. And they can make connections. And yeah, you’re right. Sometimes they do it to get you tickets or a seat or something, but sometimes it’s just an introduction or they tell you about some secret that nobody knows about. And to be the person that can make those connections and knows those secrets, that’s a power position. 

Neen James [00:31:10]: 

My goodness, think about that and think about people we all admire. Michael Barber, who is a phenomenal chief marketing officer, who is always connecting people and making sure that people get the best out of the relationships. The lovely Pam Slim, one of the best coaches. She’s phenomenal in the work that she does with agencies. So you and I have these people in our lives. We’re so, so fortunate. But one of the things that I notice in working with so many luxury brands, and especially my luxury hoteliers, let’s start with them, is personalization and customization. They’re exceptional at personalization requires information. We need data points on our clients so that we can truly personalize things for them. A concierge does. But then customization is about connection. And so if we can customize things for our clients in a better way, we connect at a deeper level so we become more top of mind for them. But the third thing that I think hoteliers and their team do really well is fascination. And fascination requires anticipation. They’re constantly looking, how do I surprise this guest? How do I do this in a way that is unusual? Urv Amler, who is one of the co founders of the Ritz, I’ve had the privilege of spending time with him and we spent some time talking about the way that he had founded so many amazing things in the Ritz. Now, for any of you listening to this, what you may not know is the Ritz has empowered their team members that they have a budget of up to $2,000 per guest to spend on elevating the guest experience. Now, I’m not suggesting as agency owners, you go out there and give Your team members $2,000 for every client, but what I’m suggesting to you is that through the empowerment of team members, they can be more fascinated with when they’re listening to a client say something. They can, you can be more creative in the solutions. You might organize a different ideation session and bring in alternative people. It might be about doing it in person rather than virtual. Like there’s so many things. If you’re fascinated with your clients, you anticipate needs they didn’t even know they had. And so you might say, I know you asked for this publicity program, but have you thought about this opportunity to speak on a panel in this trade particular association? Because I think you would be able to do a great job of that. So what it’s about, as an agency owner is thinking beyond what’s really just in front of us and anticipating needs our clients didn’t even know they had. Therefore thinking like a concierge, not a. 

Drew McLellan [00:33:32]: 

Bellhop, you know, over and over I probably have said this sentence a million times is, you know, we have to stop being order takers. And that’s exactly what you’re talking about, right? So rather, rather than, rather than just fulfilling the request that the client has, what you’re talking about again is that anticipation, that thinking three steps ahead and saying to the client, you know, I was thinking about you, which I think is such a powerful sentence. Right. I was thinking about. And I, I was. And I wonder if this would help or I wonder if this would work or I wonder if we should experiment with even. That is such a luxury gift, right? 

Neen James [00:34:11]: 

It is, but we have a system for that. In the book we talk about systems of elevation, right? Which is just a really fancy way of systemizing thoughtfulness. Right? So we have a system. It is. And we have a system called systemized thoughtfulness. I know, so clever. And what we do is, and I’ve been doing this with clients for many, many, many years, is we can systemize our thoughtfulness. We hear this term all the time, Drew. Random acts of kindness. No, no, no. I want deliberate acts of kindness. And here’s how you can do it. Think about, say, the top 10 to 20 clients that could be advocates for you. I want you to open an old fashioned spreadsheet, Google sheets, whatever you like to use. And I want you to put their names in a column. And then across the top of the spreadsheet, I want you to put the months of the year, January through December, and I want you to make an appointment with yourself, say maybe it’s the first Monday of every month for half an hour. And here’s what I’m going to invite you to do. I would like you to reach out to those advocates. I want you to be proactive. Now, every month I do this. I’ve been doing this for a bajillion years, technically a bajillion years. And here’s how I do it. Every month I think to myself, let’s say Drew is on my list. I say, okay, what would be interesting to Drew, Oh, I saw this TED Talk the other day. I’m going to send it to him and say, I saw this and I thought of you. And for every one of those 20 people on my advocate list, I’m going to find something interesting. So, for example, Chris Ducker published a book called the Long Haul Lead Out. Right? Great book. Brilliant. Fantastic agency owners. I highly recommend it to you. I bought 25 copies of Chris’s book, of course, and I’m going to send it to all my advocates and say, this is compulsory reading for any leader of an agency or any client I work with. It’s another touch point. So every month I do something different. The systemized thoughtfulness is several things. A spreadsheet to capture it, you can have index cards for all I care. But some way to capture it, that is the customization. The second thing is Making an appointment with yourself in your calendar and prioritizing business development, a reach out strategy. So you’re being proactive, not reactive. And then the third component of this is being so fascinated with your clients that you think, oh, I saw this when I was shopping and I thought of you and pop it in a, in a mailer. But being able to take an opportunity to touch those clients regularly. Now, practically, we carry these supercomputers in our hands all the time. This is the best way to connect very regularly. I will pull out my cell phone, shoot a video message and say, drew, oh my gosh, I was in Denver Airport. I cannot believe that I missed you this time. But I was thinking about you. I hope you and your wife are doing fabulously well. Send. And what you can do is shoot video messages that are personalized, customized, and so, so quick. And the reason I say video text messages is because we are fascinated when someone sends us a text message. And it is the priority in the communication methodology. So you can send an email, sure, but you’re going to be one of 200 emails that that person got. But a text message with your face, your voice, your tone, your energy, that will make an impact. So pull out your cell phone. Be practical. It’s always with you. Why don’t you use it? 

Drew McLellan [00:37:20]: 

Yeah. And I mean, such a simple way to make someone feel special and feel like of all, you know, you’re running through the airport and you thought of me, of all the people, like, I know you know a lot of people and that you thought of me. That’s a big deal. And we don’t. I think a lot of times clients feel like we only think about them when we want to put our hand in their pocket and take some more money out of it. 

Neen James [00:37:43]: 

Right? Oh, my gosh, it’s so true. But, Drew, I think we need to make time in time. That’s another system. So for me, I have the privilege like a friend. Michael Barber. I find myself on a lot of planes. Some people drive to work, I fly. It’s the same thing. It’s just a different form of commute. And so what I always do is, you know, there’s that time from when you sit in your seat until the plane takes off. I take that moment instead of scrolling social media or answering yet another email. What I will do is I will take out my cell phone and I will shoot video messages. Hey, Drew, I’m on my way to speak to for this organization, but I was thinking about our conversation we had when we recorded the podcast. Here’s an extra tool I want to send you. Keep an eye out for an email send. So I’m constantly making sure that I’m making time in time of things I already know I need to do multiple times a week is sit on a plane seat. That’s just part of my reality. So think about it. As an agency owner, what are you doing regularly? I like to walk every day. And what I use is, I use Siri to send text messages to the executives that I coach. And I’m personalizing every single one, but I’m doing it while I’m walking. I’m out and about in Tampa, Florida, in the humidity, and it’s beautiful. But I’m also making the most of that hour walk by sending messages to people who are important to me. So make time and time. Find systems of thoughtfulness that are part of your existing routine so that your clients constantly know you’re thinking of them. 

Drew McLellan [00:39:02]: 

How do we get our employees excited about this? So, you know, just like you were saying, everyone’s like, oh, I’m so busy. You know, we hear that from our team members all the time. Like, I. I can’t possibly do another thing. You know, I’ll have agency owners say to me, we landed a new client. And instead of everyone being excited, everyone was like, oh, who’s gonna do the work? And so how do we get our employees to find this fun and to find this a privilege to get to do I. To me, treating someone this way, it’s kind of. It is a luxury for ourselves, really, that we get to make someone feel special is pretty cool, right? That we get to do that for a living. So how do we get. How do we fire up our employees to participate? Because really, the agency owners can’t do this by themselves, and they do want to infuse it through the entire organization. So how do we. How do we fire them up? 

Neen James [00:39:55]: 

Ask them. Ask them how they want to be part of the client experience. Don’t tell them too often. As agency owners, we’re prescribing what works for us, and perhaps that doesn’t work for them. I am as extroverted as you can imagine. You can measure it. 2412 on the scale. Hello, Neen. James. But I also am surrounded by people who are the extreme opposite of me. Some of my dearest loves in my life are extreme introverts. You don’t need to be an extrovert to achieve these type of things. But what you need to know as an agency owner is how your team is wired. Some People will be able to write handwritten notes and it’ll be thoughtful and impactful. Some people will be able to write, create video messages. Some people will be able to be part of the onboarding and welcoming committee because they love acting like the host or the hostess. Some people will be able to provide reporting at next level accuracy. What we need to do as agency owners is to leverage the talents of the team that we have recruited. And then we have to identify if there are gaps. Where and how do we bridge those gaps? Is there temporary help that we can get? Is AI one of our alternative solutions to provide and complement what we’re doing? We need to get really creative because these days when someone says to me, I’m too busy, you know what I hear? Oh, I’m too busy for you, Nene. So whenever you say to someone, I don’t have time, what you’re saying is, I don’t have time for you. When you say to someone, I’m too busy, you’re saying, I’m too busy for you. That is not how we want to make people feel. So stop saying these stupid phrases. Right? You’re not too busy. 

Drew McLellan [00:41:29]: 

And we probably don’t mean it, right? It’s not what we mean. 

Neen James [00:41:32]: 

You don’t mean it, but how it’s interpreted. Right? And talk about it. Drew, you and I and every agency owner that is listening to this gets 1,440 minutes in a day. Doesn’t care how long you’ve been an agency owner. Just doesn’t care what’s on you to do list time. Doesn’t care what’s in your inbox or the clients you serve. Time is going to happen whether you like it or not is the great equalizer. So what we need to do is make the most of each of those moments. And I would encourage agency owners to stop trying to do it all yourself. You’re going to burn out. You’re definitely going to need to read Chris Book long haul leader but what you need to think about is how do I make the most of the best of the team that I have? What do they love to do? Ask them how do we elevate the client experience? And then here’s the other thing I would recommend. Get them to mystery shop. Go out and assign them mystery shopping. For example, I tell all my hoteliers to sleep in their own hotel beds. I tell my insurance advisors to make an insurance claim. I tell my realtors to go to an open house. Why? Because I want them to mystery shop the experiences they’re being exposed to and then I invite you to get the team to really report back at your team meeting, what did you see? What did you learn? Get them to go into a competitor or into a business they admire and share the learnings because we can all benefit from looking outside of our business and take the best practices. Perhaps you give them a budget to go sit in a luxury hotel lobby, order a coffee or a cocktail and watch what happens around them and then get them to report back. What a small investment and marketing research that is so valuable for us all to take back. 

Drew McLellan [00:43:07]: 

Can your team pull this off if they don’t feel it internally? 

Neen James [00:43:13]: 

What a great question. Your team will work in spurts. When they’re motivated and they feel valued, you’re going to get more performance out of them. But if they feel like it’s all transactional, that they’re just there filling a box in an org chart for you, they’re not going to have that deep desire to serve the clients and elevate the experience like you want. So one of the quick things that every agency owner can do is just to do a quick check in with each team member and just ask them in their one on one. So tell me what motivates you and you might be, you might be shocked by their answers. I used to do this in my corporate life and I managed hundreds and hundreds of people. And I look back then I had a fancy system. It was a post it note in their file. But what I would do is I would ask them and for some they’d say I would love to get to watch my kid play soccer at 3 o’ clock 1 afternoon. I’d be like, great, let’s make that happen. And one particular person said, I’d love to take my wife out. I don’t have the budget for that. And so I knew that given an opportunity, I could give them a restaurant voucher or a gift certificate. So what we want to think about is not everyone’s motivated by money. Some people are motivated by having time out or being able to work off site or being able to attend a conference. Or maybe they want to learn from you. Maybe they want to have lunch with you and they want to understand your journey. Maybe they want to shadow you in a meeting. Maybe they want to report to the board and give them some information. I mean, let’s really get clear on what motivates each of our team because it’s not the same for everyone. So one size does not feel fit all. And that’s where personalization and customization is. What Our hotel is a luxury travel. Financial advisors, they know this to be true. And as agency owners, I think deep down we do too. 

Drew McLellan [00:44:54]: 

Yeah, and when you, when you describe it like that, it doesn’t. It’s not. You’re not asking for the moon. You’re not knowing everyone’s not getting a company car. You’re. You’re just. You’re just paying attention, which ultimately is what we’re asking them to do for clients. Right? Just pay. Pay attention, be curious and, and look for opportunities to create something mundane and turn it into something memorable. I mean, that’s really what we’re talking about, right? 

Neen James [00:45:24]: 

We have a phrase for that. We call that a champagne moment. So in the book, you will see that I believe a champagne moment is taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary. It’s something that brings you joy or makes you smile and think of it like a glass of champagne. And all of those bubbles that bubble up, think of them as like joy bubbles. And how many of these can you find in a day? And so it could be about looking for those champagne moments for yourself and your team. It might be the simplicity of putting your coffee in a fabulous mug. I love a Tiffany teacup. And I know that sounds pretentious, but I only have that one teacup. And that is my choice because I feel like that is a really special thing I love to do. And so what I want you to think about is the champagne moments look very different for each of us. Maybe it’s taking a little longer of a walk or meditating. Maybe it’s shortening the team meeting so that people can actually go out and do their work. Right? But think about finding these champagne moments in the day. Maybe it’s about putting fresh flowers in the reception area of your office as opposed to those dusty old things that people have, those fake flowers. But thinking about, what are those little investments in time, attention, and energy that can create these champagne moments? Now, when you have a champagne moment as an agency owner, take a photo, hashtag champagne moments, tag me in it. I would love to share it with the world. But I want to challenge you to look for these opportunities have to literally involve champagne. I mean, great, if it does, maybe it’s sparkling water. If you’re listening to this, but what’s your champagne moment today? 

Drew McLellan [00:46:54]: 

That’s a really great. That’s really great. This has been a great conversation. I still have, like five hours of questions, so we’ll have to have you. 

Neen James [00:47:01]: 

Come back, but we need to do it again then. 

Drew McLellan [00:47:03]: 

We do, for sure. But in the meantime, I know that you have other folks you need to talk to, so tell everybody how to find you, how to follow you, where to get the books, all the things. If they want 365 days of neen. How do they get that? 

Neen James [00:47:21]: 

That’s a lot. I would recommend you go to neenjames.com n e e n j a m e s dot com and I’ll tell you why. Because that’s where you can also find out about the new book, Exceptional Experiences. And there’s links to order from your favorite locations around the world. And so I would love you to get your copy of Exceptional Experiences. Not just because as an agency owner, I think you’ll benefit from it, but it makes a beautiful client gift as well, because it’s been thoughtfully designed for you to be able to gift to other people. If you like to follow my adventures on Instagram, that’s where I play every single day. Ningames. Or please reach out to me on LinkedIn and let me know that it’s because of Drew that we met, and I would love to be connected in that way. 

Drew McLellan [00:48:02]: 

That’s awesome. Thank. Thank you so much for being on the show and thank you for. Thank you for helping us think about, with no extra dollars at all, how we can elevate the client relationship and experience, which is ultimately what everybody listening wants to do, is they. They want to have a better relationship with their team, with their clients. Because we know that longevity matters. But I think even more so as human beings, I think when you make someone else feel seen and heard, there’s something magic that happens to you, too, and to your heart. 

Neen James [00:48:36]: 

And I. 

Drew McLellan [00:48:36]: 

And, you know, we can talk about the business, we can talk about profitability and all of that, but I just. I just think it makes you feel like a big better human being and it makes you a little happier. Even. Even helping someone feel seen and heard can be your champagne moment. Right. 

Neen James [00:48:51]: 

Yes. 

Drew McLellan [00:48:52]: 

When you create that magic for someone else. So thank you for helping us sort of open our eyes to that. 

Neen James [00:48:57]: 

It’s an absolute privilege. And thank you for seeing. That’s why I wrote the book. My mission is to help people create these significant champagne moments so they feel like they matter. 

Drew McLellan [00:49:06]: 

Yeah, I love that. I love that. All right, so, listeners, as you know, I like to give homework. So, number one, go get the book. If you haven’t already ordered it while you were listening, go grab the book. It’s really great content. It is so much fodder for you and your team to talk about. I can See lunch and learns for a year based on this book about all the things you can do internally. So to me, leadership team has a conversation, reads the book and has a conversation about how can we create, how can we be a luxury employer brand, right? How can we create this sense of luxury for our team members? Because honestly, I think people who are treated that way want to treat other people that way. And if you want to extend this to your clients, then what you cannot do is be ordinary with your own employees and then expect them to be extraordinary. That, I mean, you, you have some employees who are going to be extraordinary no matter what, but the lion’s share of them need some examples. They need to be nurtured in that a lot of people aren’t raised to think this way or raised to professionally to think this way, or they maybe they don’t think they have permission to be this way with your clients. And the best way for you, it’s like parenting, right? The best way to teach is to model. And so why not model it with them? It’s also good practice for you because odds are you haven’t been thinking this way all the time either. So that’s your homework, leadership team. Think about how to do it with the team and then start doing some exercises with your team to think about where are little tiny little places that you could sort of surprise and delight your clients and give them a little moment of luxury. And how do you begin to assess your clients and think about which version, which mindset they have around this idea of luxury? I think, I think you’re going to find it’s fun. I think you’re going to find it profitable, and I think you’re going to find that it’s differentiating you from everybody else out there. And in a world of AI, we need this more than ever before. Okay. All right. Huge shout out before I let you go. To our friends at White Label iq. As you know, they’re the presenting sponsor of the podcast. We’re super grateful for them. Head over to whitelabeliq.comami to find out how they help agencies with white label design. Dev and pull tpc. And if nothing else, shoot them a quick email and just say, love the podcast. So grateful that you continue to support it because I want them to know that we’re grateful for them. Okay. All right. I will be back next week. I love that I get to hang out with you and hang out with people like me. And if, if you weren’t here, I wouldn’t get to do this. So I am super grateful for you. Thanks for coming back every week. And I guess what, I’ll be back next week. And I hope we will, too. All right, talk to you then. 

Drew McLellan [00:51:47]: 

That’s a wrap for this week’s episode of Build a better agency. Visit agencymanagementinstitute.com to check out our workshops, coaching and consulting packages and all the other ways we serve agencies just like yours. Thanks for listening.