Learn Speak Teach Episode 50 w/ Stan Phelps!

Today, your brand is what customers see and feel when interacting with your product or service. Your brand is not what you tell people it is. It’s the differentiated experience your employees deliver, how your customers feel about it, and what your customers and employees tell others about their experience.

You can drive loyalty through word of mouth by differentiating what you do and the experience you provide. The differentiation aspect is all about the little things you do for your customers that make you stand out from your competitors. Doing something extra and going beyond the transaction creates a differentiating experience and honors the relationship with your customers.

Join this conversation with Stan Phelps and learn more about providing a superior differentiation experience for people will talk about.

Stan is an author, keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator focusing on loyalty and business growth. He works with organizations that want to increase loyalty, sales, and word-of-mouth affinity through branding, customer, and employee experience. His in-person and virtual programs stand out in a sea of sameness because he models his own message of differentiated experience (DX), after studying hundreds of case studies and writing 11 books.

Watch The Full Episode:

During this episode, you will learn about the following;

[00:00] Episode intro and a quick bio of our guest; Stan Phelps
[06:34] Stan’s rainbow of 11 colored goldfish.
[13:04] An example of a business that has the massive goldfish differentiation
[18:23] Stan’s background
[27:38] Value-based techniques to differentiate
[33:22] Purple, Green, and Gold Goldfish
[35:20] Case study on the impact of doing a little something extra on sales
[44:54] “The pick-end rule”
[46:25] Ben’s biggest takeaway from reading Pink Goldfish
[48:40] Flawesomeness
[52:01] What Stan is working on right now and how we can support him
[53:14] How to reach out, connect, and learn more about Stan
[52:43] Homework: How to start owning your flaws to be different and unique
[54:55] Final Thoughts

Notable Quotes

~ “No one has control over their market, their competition, let alone the economy. The only thing you can control is how you differentiate in what you do. It’s hard to differentiate with what you offer, but you can differentiate in how you do it and why you do it.” ~ [11:54]

“Referred customers are more valuable to you than the traditionally acquired customer. They stay longer. They spend more money, twice the amount of money as traditional customers, and since they have been referred themselves, they refer up to twice the number over their lifetime.” ~ [23:11]

“On time is a myth, people in life are either early or they are late. No one is ever just on time and the same thing applies to the customers we serve each and every day. No one has ever just exactly met the expectations of a customers they serve. We either exceed the expectations or fall short. This gives the choice of doing a little more or a little less.” ~ [26:58]

“70% of people buy based on experience, 30% buy solely buy based on price. Given a choice, never compete based on price. It’s a race to the bottom. Provide something that makes you different from all of your competition and give your people a reason to talk about you” ~ [32:33]

“People make a decision very quickly when visiting an establishment or starting a new job, whether or not they will come back and stay for the long term. How you manage that first impression is key, and before somebody walks out the door, logs off your sight, or hangs on the phone, how you manage that last impression is key.” ~ [44:20]

“Every weakness has a corresponding strength to it, but we tend to try to fit in and live by the norms of our industry or where we live. A lot of times, by conforming, we try to correct the things that are unique about us to fit in. What makes us weird, unique, and different is truly what makes us wonderful.” ~ [49:05]

“Your brand today is no longer what you tell people it’s. It’s the differentiated experience your employees deliver, it’s what you stand for, how your customers feel, and most importantly, your brand is what your customers and employees tell others about their experience.” ~ [52:41]