#208 - The Art of Creating Customer Superfans: Insights from an Award-Winning Entrepreneur

Speaker A: But things just happen in business, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, things just happen. And like I said, people don't expect you to be perfect. Most people don't expect you to be perfect. They expect you to do your best and to be transparent, um, and to be upfront. So communication is very important. I give some really specific examples in the book about the different amounts of time and how you should reach out to people. I also talk about the right and the wrong way to apologize. When it should happen, how it should happen, the five components of a proper apology. Um, because so many people have this, like, weird perception that you should never apologize, which in fact, like, the opposite is true. Right? Like, would you want to be in a relationship with a person who never apologized, even when they were at fault? Of course not. So, like, why would you want to work with a company that refuses to take responsibility or own up to something that has failed to meet a customer's expectations?

Speaker A: All right.

Speaker C: For me, success is continuing to fulfill my potential.

Speaker A: So it's always something I'm looking toward, not something I've achieved.

Speaker C: To me, success, uh, is doing something that you love to do that allows you to be of service to others and it gives you a sense of

Speaker A: fulfillment in your heart. I think I chased success so much

Speaker C: that I put happiness on hold for 20 years.

Speaker B: And now I realize if I put

Speaker C: happiness first, the success chases me. Success is being able to have the control of your day to day, of

Speaker A: your life, of, uh, having a freedom, financial independence. If you're doing it on your own schedule, that's success.

Speaker C: Essence. The fulfillment of knowing that you've done your best is my definition of success.

Speaker A: This is the Alden Report.

Speaker C: I'm, um, super excited about our latest program. Look, we've been on television for close to 20 years, literally selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth products and services that have had a positive impact on people's lives. We've created millionaires. If you've ever watched television, you've most likely seen me on television, not dressed like this, but in a suit and a tie. Listen, we've re engineered the process. We're allowing people, a small group of people, whether you're an author, whether you're a business coach, whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you have a program or service that you feel as though that can have a positive impact on people's lives and you want to uplevel your game. You know, you're tired of what's going on on social media. You're tired of AI is not kicking in. You're tired of all the money that you're spent and you're not seeing any return. You're tired of all these fraudsters out there that tell you they're going to put you in Huffington Post or USA Today or Forbes and it's nothing just but a joke. You want to be in front of millions of people every single day all over the country. Folks, we've been doing it for 20 years. We've re engineered the process. We've made it possible for the average

Speaker A: everyday person to, to participate in this.

Speaker C: If you want to up level your game, if you truly want to build your profile, if you truly want to get in front of millions of people every single day, send me a direct message at Mike Alden. See it on the bottom of the screen at Mike Alden. Put TV in the message and I will get back to you personally and see if you're a good fit for us. Again, send me a direct message at. Ah, Mike Alden. Send me the message TV and we'll see if you're a good fit foreign.

Speaker A: This is the Alden Report. All right, uh, my name is Mike Alden. We are here in Blue Bay Studios. Of course I have my 99 cent glasses. I don't have a hat on today. It's a little bit warm up today, uh, compared to what it was a few days ago. A few days? A few days ago it was like minus 11, uh, here in Massachusetts. But things are warming up. I am super excited for my next guest. My next guest is a motivational speaker. She's a keynote speaker. She's also the best selling author of a book by the way. If you know anything about me, I'm into books, I'm into selling books, I'm into promoting authors. Uh, her book is called Creating Super Fans. Now look, if you're on social media because you probably are watching this and listening to this, everybody wants to know how do we create super fans? Especially if you're not like already famous. Well, my next guest is Brittany Hodak. She is written the book. She shows you how to do it. She's doing it. She helps other people do it. And by the way, if you've also followed me on social media, I talk a little bit about her book, just how awesome it is. And I'm super excited to have her today because she's going to show us how you can create super fans. Brittany, thanks so much for being here. Yay.

Speaker B: Thanks so much for having me, Mike. I'm thrilled to be having this conversation.

Speaker A: So I don't know if you saw the video that I did with you. Uh, and it was funny.

Speaker C: I had a.

Speaker A: A senior moment and I was like, I was going. I was going through your book and I was like, going through the stuff and I was holding this thing up and I was like. And then she's got one of these things. It's like, it's a kind of. It's kind of cool. Like, what? Oh, a bookmark. That's what this is. Um, so, uh, tell us a little bit about yourself. Like, how'd you get involved in this whole, you know, kind of branding world and, and, you know, helping people, uh, you know, kind of build their brands and create, you know, what I call, you know, fanatics?

Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I grew up working in the music industry, and I got my first job at a radio station when I was 16 years old. I worked for record labels and music magazines and entertainment agencies. And I was always fascinated by fandom. What it was that made some artists have these, like, enormous followings, while others would have small, smaller, like, cult followings, but still super loyal. And then others would just fail to launch. Like, a label could spend a ton of money and they could have all the best producers, all the best marketing, everything, but the artists would just sort of never, never take off. And, you know, like many people in the music industry who try to figure that out, um, I was looking. I was looking at the numbers, I was looking at, you know, what I knew to be true. And what I found happening again and again and again was that the artists who had not only the fastest ascent, but also who had the most loyal fans over time were the ones who connected to their fans, the ones who tried to invite fans into their story, who made it a mission to get to know their fans as much as they were hoping that their fans would get to know them, so they connected their story to their fans. And I saw this to be true over and over and over again. And it makes sense on a human level, right? Like, of course, fandom is a two way street. Of course we want to feel like we matter to the people and the things that matter to us. And as I progressed to my career, I started doing more and more brand deals where I would work with, you know, like a big CPG brand or a big retailer or a big tech company to sponsor a tour or an album launch or a product release. And I started to see that the exact same markers for fandom and pop culture are true in nearly every other vertical. So. So we want to work with companies, we want to promote, and, you know, Support products that we feel like care about us and are aligned with the things that we want and the things that we care about. So this sort of two way street, this two way directional exchange of information, I started to see it again and again and again and everywhere. So I went back, uh, to grad school. I got a master's degree in marketing and consumer behavior and I just started studying and reading everything I could to try to understand fandom in a way that I could create a framework that anyone could use, whether they were a solopreneur or somebody running, you know, a hundred year old brand. Like, what is it that you need to do? What are those steps that you need to take? What are the boxes that you need to check to go from being a potential commodity provider in the minds of your prospects and customers to a category of one to that partner that they trust and they love and they want to work with again and again. So this book is that effort for me to say, like, if you want to create super fans, here's what you got to do.

Speaker A: You know, as a marketing guy, I'm, uh, just fascinated by this topic. And again, people listening right now. They are, you know, they fall into that, you know, entrepreneur, business. People listen to the podcast. It's pretty much, you know, kind of who we cater to. And one of the first, uh, instances for me were I, uh, I saw fanaticism, uh, with a brand was nascar. Uh, I'm not even a NASCAR guy. Ah. And for my first book I actually wrapped, uh, a nascar. Not in some just obscure like dirt track, like it was actually the Sprint Cup Series. And I did it a dozen times. And I was just so blown away by um, the fans in NASCAR and their, their fanaticism and their loyalty to the brand of nascar. And then you see all these people that are buying sweatshirts and hats and all this other gear, wearing brands, major brands tied and you know, and uh, you know, that's the first one I can think of in Winston back in the day and Sprint and all this other stuff. And they're just wearing these, they're just wearing brands and they're walking billboards and the, and the cars themselves are walking billboards. Do you talk a little bit about that? Did you study nascar? I don't know if you did, but for me that was the first time and I was like, wow. And I, and I, I do, I do, I feel like I understand it, but what are your thoughts on nascar?

Speaker B: Yeah, well, I, NASCAR is a great example and it is something that I've Studied. I've worked with several NASCAR brands over the years, um, teams and drivers. And you're right in that people, they want to be a part of it. And when I talk about super fandom in the book, I talk about the fact that the number one threat that everybody has to be overcome, like whether you're a brand new business, whether you've been doing it for decades, the number one threat that your business needs to be aware of and have a plan for is apathy. People who just don't care. Like, they don't care enough to care. They could be apathetic to your category, they could be apathetic to your brand, but we are all so busy. There are so many messages coming at all of us all the time. And what NASCAR has done a really great job of over, you know, the past several decades, and what there's this halo effect for all of the brands, uh, and all of the properties that are associated with NASCAR because of this fanaticism, because of this fandom, um, is they have connected their story and rooted it in the lives of their fans. It's become a lifestyle, as you said. People want to wear those brands. They want to, you know, they talk about the drivers as if they know them, as if they're family. You know, they name their kids after them. They, you know, write songs about them like it's become part of the culture. And it's a really great example that regardless of what it is that you do, regardless of what you're, you're selling or you're marketing, you can make it relevant and you can make it come alive to people if you focus on the experience. Because people don't buy products or services anymore. They buy the experience that they're wrapped in. We're living in an experience economy. And as, uh, somebody who's been to NASCAR events, you know, like, it is an experience. You go there with your family, with your kids, you know, you're going to have a great time, you're going to meet drivers, you're going to get to, you know, see crashes, you're going to get to, you know, have all of these experiences. So, yes, they're an example of an entity that really understand making their brand come alive and be relevant to the people, um, that, you know, are, are experiencing and interacting with the NASCAR brand.

Speaker A: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up that experience part too, because I had never even been to a NASCAR race. Like I said it wasn't. I'm from New England. It's, you know, I mean, there is a Racetrack up here in New Hampshire. Uh, but it's not a thing really up here. And when I went to my first race, uh, in Daytona, my first, my first ever NASCAR race was the Daytona 500, you know, so the super bowl of, of of, uh, nascar. And the experience, yeah, like you said, you know, granted, you know, we were sponsoring a car, so it was a little bit of a special experience. But the access that, that fans actually did get to the drivers and, and the pit crews and the cars themselves, I found it really, really interesting that, that a lot of people, almost all of the fans had that, some sort of that access and. Yeah, and they could feel like they're a part of or they're like you talked about earlier, they were connected to those people that, that's so important right in, in that, in that, in that kind of real life scenario. But now we're in this world of social media and Instagram and Tick Tock and who knows what's going to be the next one, right? Um, and you mentioned earlier about getting people's attention and that part really is also, uh, something that I study. So how does one really connect? And the, in the world that we're living in with their fans? Uh, and then also I will get into like, you know, people that aren't famous, that aren't, you know, NASCAR drivers. But how do you really connect with people on social media? Like, what are the kind of the key elements to truly trying to connect with your fans?

Speaker B: Well, the good news is that it's the same whether you're famous or not. And it really comes back to, to that connection. So in the supermodel, which we can go through it, it's sort of a five part framework. But the S is super is an acronym. The S is start with your story. And when I say start with your story, I don't mean lead with your story, like, try to tell your story to everybody. I mean, you've got to get very clear on what it is that you are the best in the world, uh, at. Like, what is your superpower? Who do you exist to serve? How are you making their lives better? Because, you know, everybody wants superfans, right? Like, if you think about it on the surface, like, do you want superfans? Of course you do. Like, everybody wants loyal, enthusiastic, uh, advocates who are going to come back and tell their friends. So why do you deserve them? Um, like, what is it that you are the best in the world at? What can you do better than everyone else out there in your space? And why does that matter to the prospects and the customers you're serving. And if you don't know the answer to that, then you're gonna have less than optimal results in everything that you do because you don't have that foundation. You don't have that framework.

Speaker A: Sorry. So what if I don't. What if. What if I'm not super at one particular skill set? Am I. Am I dead in the water? Or do I develop those skills? Or what if I'm just, like, okay at stuff? Can I still build the brand? Can I still build fans? Or. Or do I have to really figure out, uh, you know, what I. What I'm really great at? I mean, uh, there are.

Speaker C: I mean, look.

Speaker A: I mean, there's. I don't know, 7 billion people on the planet, and everybody can't be great at something.

Speaker B: I would beg to differ. I think. 7 billion people.

Speaker C: Let's go.

Speaker A: Let's hear it.

Speaker B: Have a uniqueness that no one else has, right? Like, you know, uh, you are the absolute best at being Mike, right? You're. You're the one and only Mike Alden. Like, I'm the one and only Brittany Hodak. So we all have this uniqueness that gives us a lens through which we look through things that's different from anyone else. So I talk about customer experience. Thousands of people talk about customer experience. There are, you know, so many people who can. Can get up on stage and talk to you about why customer experience is important and why it matters. But the lens that I talk about customer experience through is this idea of creating superfans and drawing parallels between the entertainment industry and every other industry on. On the planet. And that makes me, talking about customer experience, different than somebody like Shep Hyken, who I love and adore, who wrote the forward to my book. When he talks about customer experience, he's talking about creating moments of magic because he's a magician. So, you know, everybody has a uniqueness. Everybody has something to offer and something to give. And so when I say what you're the best at or what you're great at, it doesn't have to be, um, like something that's measured with stats. Like, it doesn't have to be like your LeBron James, right? It can be. You're the best at helping people find the right place to live in your neighborhood because you've lived in this neighborhood your entire life. You love it. You know it better than anybody. You're so passionate about it. You know the names of all of the business owners and everybody who's like, you Know, doing cool stuff. Like, you're the one who's going to help people get connected. Everybody has a gift. Everybody has a purpose. And if you get clear on what it is that makes you unique and special, you will attract people who want and need that versus just trying to, like, chase trends and like, follow what you see everybody else doing. Because, you know, having a thousand, like, super loyal fans who adore you is more valuable and more fulfilling than having like a hundred thousand followers who sort of, like, know who you are, but also sort of don't care.

Speaker A: Man, you are what we would say here in Boston, wicked smart. No, no, no.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: Uh, again, we're on with Brittany, uh, Hodick. She is the author of the book creating superfans, how to turn your customers into lifelong advocates. The book is available everywhere, but you can also just go to our website. It's Brittany and then it's. Her last name is Hodak and she's doing something special. When you do go there, um, there's gonna be a little link somewhere on our page where you can actually download a couple chapters absolutely free just for listening to the Alden report. So make, uh, sure when you do that, you maybe send a little note on social media. She's pretty active on inst.

Speaker C: As well.

Speaker A: And give her a nice little thank you and you know, maybe let her know that you heard her, uh, on the other port. Again, you can just go to our website. It'll be in the notes as well. It's Brittany Hodak. H O - A K.com um, so, you know, you know, you said that everybody, you said you big. And I loved your response. You know, everybody's, you know, I'm, I'm only. I'm the best version of me. Like, nobody can be me. Although the guy behind me is laughing. He thinks he might be better than. He bet you a better version of me.

Speaker C: But.

Speaker A: So nobody can be me. I get that part. Um, and then when I was listening to you, I think of, uh, I thought, I think of a scenario. I'm, um, a big fan of just talent, like any sort of talent. I don't care what I love. Like, I'm like watching America's get talent and, and you know, and I love, you know, watching these videos on Tick Tock and Instagram and it's just amazing the talent that people have now and then, they, how they can display this to people. But what I've also realized in having, you know, uh, worked with musicians actually as well myself, we didn't talk about that. Before, uh, early on in my career, talent, uh, isn't enough, right? So that connection you're talking about is important. But talk about the importance of talent or.

Speaker C: Or. Or the. Or the.

Speaker A: The not so important part of town, like, because when I. Some of the musicians I've been around, you know, to me and, uh, others, they're like the greatest you've ever. You've ever heard or seen. And there's so many of them like that, and they never break through. Is that just because they're not connecting or is there a certain element of luck in there? Like, what's really going on?

Speaker B: There's a certain element of luck of, um, of luck. There's also a certain element of uniqueness, right? Like, you know, you watch America's Got Talent and you see somebody and they. They go up and they sing an Adele song, and it's beautiful, and it sounds just like Adele. Like, we don't need another Adele, right? We don't need somebody who is going to be, like, the fifth best cover singer of Whitney Houston songs that season. And that's why with, you know, all of those sort of America's Got Talent and the Voice idol, so many of those people, like, win the season, and then they go away. And the reason they win the season and go away is because they haven't connected their story. They haven't done a great job of showing you why they matter to you beyond that, like, hour of entertainment on a, uh, Tuesday night. So you're like, yeah, this is filler. This is great. This is, like, something fun to watch, and maybe I'll even vote. But, like, you don't care after the show ends because then the next season has, you know, all of the other people coming up behind them. So if you want to find success, you've got to make people care about you beyond the confines of that show. That's that apathy that I talk about. People will care just enough to, like, watch you for an hour, but then they're not going to buy tickets to see your show in Vegas. They're not going to download your album. They're not going to say, like, yeah, I'm going to go out of my way to find. Find out when this person is on tour in my city. So you've got to give people a reason to care. You've got to, like, hit them in the face with a reason to care. And I always say, and I've said it a couple times already in this episode, that super fans are created at the intersection of your story and every Customer story. Like when those two halves of the Venn diagram become a circle, what is that overlap? Why is what you do relevant to the lives of your prospects and customers? How can you give them a better existence on this planet by giving their time or attention or money to you? And when you can figure that out, that's when you become relevant. That's what you're like, oh yeah, like you're going to watch me beyond this show I'm competing on or like, you know, beyond the like, three minute filler that, you know, you're hearing my song on the radio while you're driving from point A to point B.

Speaker A: You know, uh, it was interesting too, as I'm listening to you, when I think about, uh, well, the statement you said earlier about, you know, it's, it's, it's greater to have a thousand people who are super fans versus, you know, 150,000 that just kind of know about you. And I, years ago, when I first, uh, launched, uh, my first book, um, I wasn't that active on social media. I was just busy building businesses. But I felt like I had to, uh, and I, I uh, bought followers. I've talked about this before. I bought followers for this. Not, not because I was trying to look cool, but I needed followers in order to post a link on Instagram. And this was, I don't know, 10 years ago, right? And, um, um, now my followers are going down. I've had a few of my friends who are Instagram experts, like, Mike, what's going on? There's 2,000 people dropped off in one day. I go, well, no, no, I'm deleting them on purpose because, because, because they're not real, right? And I don't want them there. And my ego is big enough as it is. I don't really care. But, but spend a little bit more time on, on that statement because I think so many of us, and by the way, and I, uh, know a bazillion of them, they get the blue check mark that's made up. They got a million fans. That's all made up. Their, their, their comments are fake, their likes are fake. Like everything about them is fake. And I wonder what they think about at night when they put their head down the pillow. Like, does that, is it serving them? Does it make any sense? Those ones will go down that rabbit hole in a second. But talk about real, the real importance of having that small group of people. Because I think people want to be famous too, right? And so if you have a thousand fanatics or super fans. You could have a great life, build a great business, and you don't necessarily have to be, you know, uh, Britney Spears or something. Right?

Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, fame. Fame is an interesting. Is an interesting beast. And you and I have both worked with plenty of celebrities. I mean, we. We've seen sort of the upsides, the downsides, everything between, um, there's a quote that I love from Albert Einstein, and I'm pretty sure Albert Einstein was talking about Instagram when he said this. I think this was like a blue check mark conversation that he was having. Um, and he said, not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. And I think.

Speaker A: Hold on.

Speaker B: In a world, let's say my Instagram, right? Let's say.

Speaker A: Just say that one more time. I want to not, uh, everything counts

Speaker B: can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: And I think on social media, it's easy to fall into the trap of caring about the things that can be counted, caring about those metrics. And like you said, people want to game the system. And, like, everybody out there can, you know, buy likes, can buy followers, can buy engagement. And you're right. Like, what purpose does it. Does it. Does it serve? And if you're doing it because you just want to look cooler and you want to, like, trick other people into thinking you're cool enough to follow because 50,000 other people follow you, even if they're not real people, then I think a. That says something about the character and integrity and motives of the person. But also it tells me that you don't. You're not giving a lot of credit to the people that you're trying to attract, and you're thinking about the numbers and not the humans behind those numbers. So social media has made it very easy to, like, look at numbers. Not because those numbers are good for creators, but because those numbers are good for advertisers. Right. They're not good necessarily good for the creators. They're certainly of no impact or interest to the actual customers that you're trying to attract or followers that you're trying to attract. Um, so, yeah, I think that quote from Einstein is, Is one to keep in mind is like, don't. Don't fall victim to, like, following the numbers to the detriment of, like, forgetting what matters. Right? Like, don't see the trees and not the forest or vice versa.

Speaker A: You know, when you talk about connecting, um, my next book, the title of, is called Connection Capital. And, and there's. There's a lot to. And the true human element, even from the biology of connection. Um, and when I think about connecting with people, uh, there's this word that everybody likes to throw around, especially on social media, uh, which is authenticity. Everybody tries to say that they're authentic, and most of those people that are saying they're authentic are liars. Um, but talk about the importance of authenticity as it relates to connecting with people.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think you're right that authenticity is one of those things that has. Has become very manufactured. Um, but again, like, people see through that. Right? And so it's. I was just having breakfast with a friend a couple days ago, and we were talking about this mutual friend, um, from our past. And she was like, yeah, you know, I had to unfollow her and block her because, like, I was just like, what? Who is this person you're pretending to be online? Like, this is not, not your real life. Like, I was with you this morning. This is not how that went. And I think eventually, um, people figure out and they lose interest because again, that apathy kicks in. And apathy is the number one thing that you have to fight at every single stage of your relationship with a customer. You've got to force them to care over and over and over again. You've got to prove that you are deserving of whether it's their attention, their time, their money, whatever it is, you've got to continually connect your thing to theirs in a way that resonates. And if you're not being authentic, that, like, at some point apathy is going to just kick in because people are going to be like, either I'm confused because your authentic. The authentic version of you this month is different than the authentic person of you last month. Um, or it just feels. It. It feels confusing or irrelevant. So, um, yes, authenticity matters. But I think understanding your customers, which that's actually the you in super is understand your customer story, getting clear on who are you best positioned to serve? What are they struggling with? What's the transformation that they're looking for? You know, how can you help them? If you have that as like your North Star, then you're going to always find that it's easy to connect your story to theirs because you're super clear on what makes you unique. You're super clear on what it is that you can do to help them. And then that helps you create experiences that matter, that helps you create content and moments that are going to connect. Because you know what it is that you can do to improve the lives of someone else.

Speaker A: All right, in a second, I want to get to what the P is because, uh, Super Fans, uh, is the title of Brittany's book, Creating superfans, how to turn your customers into lifelong advocates. As somebody who's been in business, uh, for close to 20 years now, I think. Yeah, something like that. Uh, it's always been a struggle for us.

Speaker C: We've.

Speaker A: We've had millions of customers and generated hundreds of millions of sales. And I've always struggled. We always struggle to try and, to try and keep our customers and keep our customers engaged and, and turn them into what I call zealous advocates. And, you know, she's talking about the same thing. Super, uh, fans. We're talking about what the P means, uh, in a second. So if you'd like some more information about Brittany, if you want to pick up her book, first of book is available everywhere. You know, I actually haven't, I skimmed through it. I haven't read it. And I talked about, talked to her a little bit about this, and people know that, so. Because I'm honest and authentic. But the book itself, first of all, is like a work of art. Okay, so there's. There, there's that part of it. So it's, it's available where books are sold everywhere. But you can also just go to our website, which is Brittany, and then her last name is Hodak. On her website, she is actually giving away, uh, several chapters or a couple chapters of a book just for listening to, uh, the other report. If you don't want to do that, if you don't want to get some, uh, you know, some free chapters, you don't have to. You can, you can just pick up the book everywhere. But if you are in business and as somebody who has been in business and has had and has millions of customers, um, turning them into advocates, uh, is one of the greatest things you can do in business. Because then when you shut off the media, which people don't talk about a lot, when you stop spending money attracting new customers, those customers can create a lifelong business. So again, if you want some more information about Britney, check her out at her website. There'll be a link down below. And also, of course, uh, pick up her book. All right, so what's the picture?

Speaker B: And Super P stands for personalize. And you know, we're living in a world not even just social media, but, but, but everything else, where we no longer accept generalized information. Everybody wants to be treated like an individual. Everybody wants to feel like the only customer, that whoever they are giving Their money to cares about. And you know, uh, that's no longer like a nice to have. It's just the cost of entry if you want to play the game. So P is personalized. The best way to personalize your offerings, your experiences, your interactions is by doing exactly what I talked about before, connecting your story to your customer story. Because when you do that, when you're clear on who you're serving and how, then it becomes very easy to serve up the right content to the right person at the right time, which is the P. Personalize.

Speaker A: Um, is that scalable? I mean, can we scale personalization?

Speaker B: It absolutely is scalable. And there's so much technology that exists and you know, oftentimes people think it's one or the other. It's like high tech or high touch, like everything's got to be automated or everything's got to be, you know, you doing something. And in the book, what I talk about are the systems that you can put into place to, to use both of those things to scale, um, to scale things where technology is involved. Um, you know, some examples that, that I love that a couple that I mentioned in the book is, uh, when I get my, my fitness report every week from Fitbit, and Fitbit is personalizing that entire email to me, right? How many steps did I take? What did my sleep look like, how many days did I exercise, what was my resting heart rate? But it's a template. Like they're personalizing it to everybody else, uh, as well. So on, on one end it's, it's, it's that. And on the other end, um, you know, I got a postcard in the mail about a year ago that said, um, nine out of ten people who believe they have penicillin allergies do not. And you can come take a 10 minute test and find out if you're allergic to penicillin. And the reason it's important is because penicillin is one of the cheapest, most highly effective, most widely available prescriptions on the planet, or antibiotics on the planet. And if you're allergic to penicillin, it knocks out like this whole category of drugs. Um, and I know that that was a personalized message to me because it was from an allergy clinic that is affiliated with the hospital system where I had had both of my sons. And I, you know, was always like trying to remember how to spell pen to write it on every single intake form. Um, so if I had gotten a postcard in the mail that was like, hey, we do allergy shots, I would have like immediately thrown it away. But they didn't send me something that said, hey, we do allergy shots and also allergy testing. They said nine out of 10 people who think they have a penicillin allergy do not come. Find out in 10 minutes. If you do so using the information you have about people, whether it's first party data, whether it's, you know, not first party data, personalizing and contextualizing what you share to land in a way that's relevant with them. And you can do this at every stage of your customer's journey, right? Like, you can do it before, during, and after they've actually interacted with you. And it doesn't have to be, you know, it doesn't have to be crazy stuff. It can be like, you know, I, I live in Tennessee and like we have Walmarts everywhere. And so I have Walmart plus. And every time I open the Walmart plus app on my phone, it tells me how many hours that I've saved by having Walmart deliver all my stuff to me and how much money that I've saved saved and how long I've been a member. It says, you know, like, hello, Brittany, thanks for being a member since whenever. Like, you've saved 483 hours and however many dollars by being a customer. So reminding people of that value that you add to their lives in a personalized way, thanking them for being a part of what it is that you're doing to help them feel like they're part of this bigger thing is something that's always going to land, always going to work. And again, helps you go from that potential trap of being a commodity provider where they're like, yeah, I care about you just as long as you're the fastest or you're the cheapest or you're the most convenient. And going into that category of one of like, well, I would never even think to price shop or rate shop this person or this company, because I already have like the best in the world. Like, why would I be looking for another solution when I've already solved this problem,

Speaker A: you know, uh, again, you, again I said earlier you are wicked smart. I just love, I feel like I'm getting my PhD in marketing right here just listening to you. Um, but here's the thing about, well, the guest that we bring on the other port, for those of you who have listened to us for, for years, we bring real people doing real things and building real businesses and, and also helping out people. But the other thing about Brittany in particular is she actually subscribes to her own stuff. Sometimes I even forget about the stuff that I've written about my own books. I have sometimes to check myself, uh, uh, because when I got her book, which is again, right here, again, I think it's like a work of art. Look what I had here. I had a personalized handwritten note. She subscribes to her own methods. But I want to ask Brittany a question about this. We're talking about technology, um, and uh, and you know, and kind of innovation and everybody wants automation. Everybody wants to be able to just automate everything and nobody really even wants that. I mean, what I'm seeing for a lot of the, the, the younger generation, like nobody wants to get on the phone anymore and talk to anybody. Nobody wants to do a zoom. Um, they just want everything to be automated. But talk about the importance of what you did for me and, and what others can do with their brands as well. You know, like real, like just not like non technical stuff. The stuff that, that, that, that, that has worked since the beginning of time. Like a handwritten note. Uh, now in schools they don't even teach cursive. I don't even know if my daughter can even write in curse. I mean they're not even teaching anymore. So, so talk about what you did here for me and, and also, and what you've done for your book for others and why that really works. Because it worked for me. And you told me you were sending me the book and it was sitting on a desk for a couple days and I honestly, I forgot about it and I opened it and it made me feel special. I'm just, you know, I'm just being honest. Right? Talk about that and spending that little bit of extra time and why that's important for, for businesses and, and also just creating, like I said, these advocates that you talk about in your book.

Speaker B: Well, thank you for, for all of those kind words. And you know, I think the thing that all of the best business owners know and have known since the beginning of, of time is there's no such thing as a small thing. Right? The thing we think of as the small things are the big things. And when you have the ability you care to show someone that they matter, that you're taking the time to interact with them as another human, like that is worth more than anything else. Like, you can't buy super fans. You can't pay people to love you. Like, nobody ever became closer to someone by like paying for an ad or spending money on something because it's about Human connection. It's about human emotion. So there are no small things. Like the small things are sometimes like the biggest, biggest things. And using automation to clear up more of your schedule or free up more of your time to focus on those things that can't yet be automated is like the number one tip that I hope people take away from this book is how you can work with technology. Because I, I firmly believe that like within our, I won't say within our lifetimes, within like the next 30 to 40 years. Automation is not going to replace most entrepreneurs and knowledge workers, but those who embrace automation have already and will continue to replace those who do not. So you're not going to lose your job to CHAT GPT, but, uh, I

Speaker A: don't know

Speaker B: to other people who are smart about the way they're utilizing ChatGPT to free up more time that they were spending on tasks that now they don't have to do to use their same 40 or 50 hours a week that they're working on other things that CHAT GPT and Dolly and everything else like, can't do yet.

Speaker A: Yeah, for those who don't know what Chat GPT is, we're talking about AI, uh, artificial intelligence. I, I still think it, uh, should be as, uh, artificial stupidity on some stuff because I don't, I'm not necessarily, uh, fully sold on it, although. So like you said, we're paying attention, we are using it. We do use it and stuff. Uh, we use it in a lot of the stuff, our emails, our text messages and, and um. And uh, you know, we play with it a little bit because we're paying attention to it. So regardless, and you just basically said this, you need to make sure you're paying attention to this stuff because you will in fact get left behind. Whether or not you get replaced, uh, is a whole nother story. All right, Uh, I know you don't have a ton of time. I want to get to the E and the R are. What's uh, the E in?

Speaker B: In super E is exceed expectations. And in the book I talk about the fact that, you know, in this experience economy we're living in, everyone has an experience with you. Every customer, whether you're selling them something, whether they're following your content online, there is an experience. It's not will there be one or not. It's is it an intentional one that you have architected with purpose, or is it a haphazard one that's going to just sort of be like, left to chance? So in the book I talk about this Idea of intentional experience design. And this becomes more and more important as your team grows, as you have, um, maybe not just employees, but also like vendor partners and outside parties who are helping you do things. You've got to create an environment to where the experience with you is predictable and everyone is in alignment and on the same page about what it means to do business with your brand. Because your brand is not your logo. Your brand is not what you say it is. It's not the content that you're creating. Your brand is what your customers tell their friends about you. Or maybe they don't tell their friends about you. And that's also a problem, right? Like, that goes back to the whole apathy thing. Um, but creating an intentional experience, architecting a, um, plan that everyone can follow. Because, you know, a couple of things I talk about in the book. One is the fact that like, there are very few three star reviews, right? Like nobody, like takes their time to be like, yeah, this was okay. Like, meh, all right. It was, it was fine, right? We don't do it online and we also don't do it in real life. We're not like, yeah, like I ate at this new restaurant. It was okay, right? Like, unless somebody specifically ask you about that restaurant. Because there's too many restaurants, there's too much time. There are too many things. And if you go to, let's just keep with that analogy, a restaurant. If you go to a restaurant and it is amazing and then you go back three days later and it's just okay, or maybe it's bad. Are you gonna roll the dice and go a third time? Or are you gonna be like, yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't know which one of those was the exception and which was the rule, right? Maybe you'll try it a third time. Or maybe you'll be like, yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't know if it's because like a different chef was there. I don't know if it's because, like the food was, you know, like not delivered as fresh. Like, you just don't want to go back. So consistency is so important because your brand is what you repeatedly do. So finding ways to exceed your customers expectations to be consistent in doing that is a really, really key thing. That as especially solopreneurs or new entrepreneurs grow and scale, you've got to create the systems and processes to make sure that you're going to exceed your customer's expectations every time.

Speaker A: Yeah, you know, I love, I love all of them so Far I think I can guess the R. I don't know what the hours but I want to guess the arena Sega, but, but you know it um, you know you always hear about you know the uh, you know, you uh, want to under promise and over perform. Uh, and when I you know, get things or the things that I buy, uh, or the services that I engage in, um, maybe it's just because I'm a marketer, but I really pay attention to when um, you know, uh, like you know one of my credit cards, right? Uh, they every year they send me like a really nice gift. It's you know, it's one of those credit cards you have to pay to be in and whatever. But I'm always excited. I'm like, I wonder what they're going to send me this year, you know. And uh, in fact I got a pair of aviator glasses, not 99 cent ones. I don't even wear them because uh, they're too expensive. Uh, and I, and it makes me feel good. And guess what? I'll probably be a lifelong advocate uh, of that credit card and run up my balances and pay interest and do all that other stuff. It's exactly what they want me to do, do. But they made me feel good. They gave me, they gave me that experience and, and um, they exceeded my expectations. Let me ask you this though, about the expectations. I know, I know we're running bump it up against the time but um, what happens? Because this just does happen in business. I was just talking about this with somebody earlier when unfortunately, because life happens, those expectations are not met. What do we do? Can we fix it? Can we repair which I think is the R. Well it's not R, but I think the R. I think I know what the R. But can we repair the relationship? Uh, if the expectations are not uh, met?

Speaker B: You absolutely can, but you have to do it in the right way. So all of the chapters in my book are named after songs. And there's a chapter called Back to Good which of course is Matchbox 20 reference, uh, that talks about something called the Service Recovery Paradox, which is exactly what you just said. And how do you get it back to good when things have gone and things have gone a little bit sideways? And what this Service Recovery paradox, which is something that has been studied and proven to be true again and again going back 30 or 40 years since, since it was first written about, is that when someone's expectations are not met, if you can come in and correct it quickly enough and in the right way over time they become an even more loyal customer than customers who never had their expectations unmet, who never had something that falls short. And it's called the service recovery paradox. And, um, people have asked me, like, oh, does that mean I should try to, like, mess something up to fix it? Very interesting. I would love to see studies around that. I do not suggest that, but what it means is people most of the time, in most situations, and of course they're outliers. But, like, if you are not a brain surgeon or a pilot or, you know, an air traffic controller, people are not expecting you to be perfect 100% of the time. They're expecting you to do your best, to do everything within your power to have things go the way they should and when they don't, to have their back to fix it, to apologize, to look for a solution, and to get things back on track. And when you do that, when you show, like, the humanity, um, and the people behind the processes, you have the opportunity to create a more loyal customer because they're like, oh, oh, I saw how they acted when the shit hit the fan. And like, they had my back and they took care of things. So the service recovery paradox is very fascinating. Where I thought you were going to go with this question, is everybody taking ownership of all of the things and saying, like, well, that's not my problem? M. Like, that's a different department. Like, it's not up to me. And there's a story that I love that I actually have in the book. Um, I talk about when we went to Legoland for the first time. I've got two little boys. We went on vacation last year to Legoland and we stayed at the hotel in Florida. And my kids were obsessed with this elevator. And, like, there were two elevators that would take you up to your guest rooms. They had floor to ceiling LEGO decals, and there was a mirror ball and disco lights. And when you would close the door to the elevator, like the Bee Gees and ABBA would play, like, it was so fun. It was like a legit disco dance party. Tiny little elevators, one family at a time. My kids would just, like, lose their minds dancing, even though they'd, like, never heard any of these disco songs. I didn't realize until our third or fourth day at the resort that that was the slowest elevator I had ever been on in my life. And not, like, metaphorically speaking, because of, like, the dancing. Like, literally it took like two minutes to get from the lobby to the fifth floor. And it took me three or four days to notice because they had taken something that would have been annoying, which was like, this very small, slow elevator, and they, they had created an experience around it. They had turned it into something that my kids looked forward to and, like, wanted to be on for a long time. So right now, every single business, especially solopreneurs and small business owners, have, um, slow elevators. Right? There's things that it would be very easy for you to throw your hands up and be like, well, I can't replace the elevator, or I can't make it go faster. And maybe not. But when you empower every single person on your team to become an experienced architect, to look at things through the eyes of your customers and find creative ways to solve problems, you can turn those slow elevators into disco dance parties. Like, you can take something that would be a negative experience for your customer and turn it into a neutral one and maybe even a positive one with a little bit of creativity and a little bit of attention to experience, design.

Speaker A: I mean, I think you kind of said this, but, um, how important is communication in that scenario where the expectations aren't met? Um, how quickly do you need to reach out and let the customer know? So, um, I've always been a proponent of it. I just, you know, when things don't go the way they should, nobody, um, likes it. Nobody wants to have the conversation, especially if you're the one who's providing the service or the product and things just like you said, the ship just hits the fan. Uh, we always, we do our best to try and be proactive, try and get ahead of it, uh, and just let them know, hey, this is what's going on. Um, uh, how important is. Is that in trying to get ahead of it and also just being honest. Honest, uh, with. With the situation. Because I think sometimes to businesses, uh, especially individuals, they'll look at it like it's some sort of weakness, like they're inadequate or what have you. But things just happen in business, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, things just happen. And like I said, people don't expect you to be perfect. Most people don't expect you to be perfect. They expect you to do your best and to be transparent, um, and to be upfront. So communication is very important. I give some really specific examples in the book about the different amounts of time and how you should reach out to people. I also talk about the right and the wrong way to apologize. When it should happen, how it should happen, the five components of a proper apology. Um, because so many people have this, like, weird perception that you should never apologize, which, in fact like, the opposite is true. Right? Like, would you want to be in a relationship with a person who never apologized, even when they were at fault? Of course not. So, like, why would you want to work with a company that referred to refuses to take responsibility or own up to something that has failed to meet a customer's expectations?

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker A: You know, um, thank you for being here. Thank you for spending so much time. We're actually not going to get to the R. Look, if you want to know what the R is, it's real simple. What you can do is you go to brittanyhodic.com.

Speaker B: no, I can tell you the R. No, we know. We don't.

Speaker A: I don't want to let them know about the er. We don't want them to know. They can listen. I'm a director.

Speaker B: You just got soup. You can create soup fans if you listen to this podcast, but if you want to turn them into super fans,

Speaker A: listen, it's up to you. You're the marketing expert. You. You want to tell them what the hour is. Let's go. Let's sell them off. The R. I wanted to leave them hanging.

Speaker B: Well, here's the deal. For anybody who was like, wow, five things. That's a lot to remember. It's actually 20 easier than that because the R is repeat.

Speaker A: I was wrong. I was wrong. I thought it was gonna be relationships, but we were kind of talking about relationships. But yeah, so. So. So the whole thing is about relationships.

Speaker B: You can think of these as, like, nesting dolls. Like, every single one builds on the one before. So the five together, it's, start with your story, understand your customer story, personalize, exceed expectations, and repeat. And the reason that the fifth and final one is our repeat customer experience is not a set it and forget it. It's not a one and done. You can't, like, design something one time and be like, I did it. I figured out the customer experience. It's amazing because your customers are constantly forming their opinion of you. They're constantly forming, you know, the. The. The experiences that they're going to tell people about. Based on these interactions. Everyone on your team is in the experience department. Every interaction is the most important interaction. Um, I love this quote by Elizabeth Arden. Repetition makes reputation, and reputation makes customers. So R is repeat. In the book, I go into all of the systems and processes that you can use to automate some of the things, delegate some of the things to create these consistent, consistently remarkable customer experiences. But that's it. That's the R. Repeat.

Speaker A: Well, um, hey, listen, you are a branding Marketing expert. So I left it up to you. So, again, I want to thank you for being here. We've had Brittany Hodak on if you've made it this far, which I hope you have. Uh, uh, look, she knows her stuff, and. And we haven't. I wanted to spend some time about the book and how she designed the book. Maybe we'll have to do that on another episode or maybe we'll do some sort of bonus stuff later.

Speaker C: Later.

Speaker A: Um, but look, if you're in business, if you're starting a business, if you're. If you're thinking about growing your business, uh, this book, if you've heard, if you. Again, if you've listened up into this point, is. Is super, super important. I do know the importance of having lifelong, uh, customers. You know, people talk about the lifetime value of a customer, and how do you increase that lifetime value? How do you maintain that lifetime value? What are the things you need to do? In Brittany's book, Creating superfans, how to turn your customers into lifelong advocates. Um, she talked about it again. I haven't read it yet. I tell you this, but I'm being straight up honest right now. I can't wait to actually read your book. I don't actually read a lot of books. And, you know, I sell a ton of books. It's what we do. I don't even read a lot of books, but I'm so excited to actually read your book. One, because I'm a marketer. Uh, two, because I'm an author, and. And three, because it's just a pretty book. So I'm really excited. So listen, if you like some more information about Brittany, you can just go to our website, which is Brittany, and it's Hodak dot com. You check her out on Instagram as well. You just Google her. But also, her book is available where all books are sold.

Speaker B: Old.

Speaker A: Um, here it is right here. If you're watching right now. Creating super fans. How to turn your customers into lifelong advocates. It's a book that I'm really, super excited, uh, to read. Notice I use the word super, uh, at the end. My name is Michael Albany.

Speaker B: Well done.

Speaker A: That's Brittany. And we'll see you soon.

Speaker C: Um, I'm super excited about our latest program. Look, we've been on television for close to 20 years, literally selling hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products and services that have had a positive impact on people's lives. We've created millionaires. If you've ever watched television, you've most likely seen me on television. Not dressed like this, but in a suit and a tie. Listen, we've re engineered the process. We're allowing people, a small group of people, whether you're an author, whether you're a business coach, whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you have a program or service that you feel as though that can have a positive impact on people's lives and you want to up level your game. You know, you're tired of what's going on on social media. You're tired of AI is not kicking in. You're tired of all the money that you're spent and you're not seeing any return. You're tired of all these fraudsters out

Speaker A: there that tell you they're going to

Speaker C: put you in Huffington Post or USA Today or Orbs and it's nothing just but a joke. You want to be in front of millions of people every single day all over the country. Folks, we've been doing it for 20 years. We've re engineered the process. We've made it possible for the average

Speaker A: everyday person to participate in this.

Speaker C: If you want to uplevel your game, if you truly want to build your profile, if you truly want to get in front of millions of people every single day, send me a direct message at Mike Alden. See it on the bottom of the screen. Screen at Michael. Put TV in the message and I will get back to you personally and see if you're a good fit for um, us again. Send me a direct message at Mike Alden. Send me the message tv and we'll see if you're a good fit.