This episode is another excerpt from one of Swoz's monthly webinars - this time diving into the side of the business that drives profit and productivity: your people.

Customer experience drives revenue. Employee experience drives profit. Most leaders know this, but few have a systematic engine for actually building it. Scott and Matt walk through the three gears that separate companies with genuinely engaged teams from those just going through the motions - starting with the foundational question every employee is silently asking: can I trust you?

Along the way, Scott makes the case for ditching the annual survey in favor of something far more effective, explains why paying above market rate can actually backfire, and shares why building real community doesn't conflict with holding high standards - it enables them.

The closing story might be the most honest thing Scott's shared on this podcast yet: even the perfect leader doesn't get perfect results from his people. And that's actually freeing.

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This episode is an excerpt from one of Swoz's monthly webinars - a format we're bringing to the podcast to share more of what we're teaching live.

"More businesses die of indigestion than starvation." That's Jim Collins' way of saying what many businesses learn the hard way: doing more doesn't get you more. It gets you inconsistency.

Operational Excellence doesn't come from motivational speeches or hype. It comes from building the right system. And the right system almost always requires doing less. We walk through the practical tactics we use personally and with clients: how to identify what actually matters, how to plan under your capacity on purpose, and five specific ways to say no without burning bridges.

If you've ever struggled to focus on what matters most, this one's for you.

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If you want people to put in effort to win, show them the score. But the opposite is also true - don't give people a score to look at, and watch their performance drop.

Scott in particular shares many personal and historical examples, from a Chick-Fil-A bowling experiment that had people leaving the bowling lanes early, to Andrew Carnegie's famous way of increasing team performance. Also, it's not just enough for leaders to know the score. Just like a basketball team needs to see the score during the game, the people on your team also need to know, "what's the score of the 'game'?"

Scott and Matt also discuss:

• How often should leaders share the score? Is there ever a point where it's too much?
• What kind of data should be on your scorecard? Simple, or detailed?
• How do you connect scoreboard data to your "why," to ensure it's not just arbitrary metrics on a screen?

This episode will give you valuable insight into how transformational sharing the score can really be. Tap into that innate drive we have as humans to win, and watch your team performance reach new heights!

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Scott and Matt discuss relaunching their online program - and the important lessons about Customer Insight and Personalized Service they learned and applied through this process.

High-end consulting serves one type of client, but the online program had to be tailored to people in different situations. Same core concepts, but everything from communication style to how they celebrate wins had to change.

Listen to a real example of applying the principles they teach to their own business - and how making small adjustments based on who you're actually serving can create massive impact. Similarly, you might find your own business initiatives need different approaches depending on whom you're serving: C-suite executives or frontline teams; established companies or up-and-coming startups.

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You can check out Legendary Brands Academy here: www.LegendaryBrandsAcademy.com

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You mapped out your customer journey. But now what?

Scott and Matt pick up where they left off, digging into what you actually do with all those post-it notes stuck to the wall. The goal is finding the friction points, gaps, and missed opportunities quietly killing your customer experience.

Real examples:

• A luxury installer who disappeared for 8 weeks between order and delivery (customers kept calling to make sure their order was still happening).
• A company that realized their retiree customers wanted to hang out and chat, while their "go-getter" customers literally asked "do I have to be here for this?" Same product, totally different needs.

Most gaps aren't about having a bad product...they're about the "curse of knowledge." Turn your insights into tangible action items with today's episode.

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Find more info on how we are building legendary brands at: www.SwozConsulting.com 

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Season 2 kicks off with a new co-host! Scott welcomes Matt Sprague (Swoz Consulting's COO) as Caitlin pursues an exciting international opportunity. In this episode, we're jumping straight into Customer Journey Mapping: what it actually is, why it matters -- and how to do it without making your team want to kill each other!

Key Topics:

• Why Customer Journey Mapping matters for every department, not just sales
• The post-it note workshop method for collaborative journey mapping
• How to prevent finger-pointing and create psychological safety in the process
• The Google Maps analogy for strategic planning
• Why most team conflicts stem from different views of "current state"

Whether you're rounding out the year or kicking off Q1 planning, a Customer Journey Map will give you a clear path forward that your entire team can be aligned on.

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Sign up for our newsletter: https://swozconsulting.com/about/the-newsletter/

Find more info on how we are building legendary brands at: www.SwozConsulting.com 

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What if your greatest opportunities are hiding in plain sight?

In this episode, Scott and Caitlin wrap up their mini-series on assessments by unpacking the power of benchmarking - not just as a way to compare, but as a tool to unlock potential.

They explore how legendary brands don’t just ask, “how are we doing?” They ask, “What’s possible?” From Chick-fil-A borrowing Ritz-Carlton’s service language to leaders swapping morning routines over dinner, benchmarking can come from unlikely places (even a Pixar storyboard or a lean manufacturing floor).

You’ll also hear why “we’re different” can be a cop-out, how excellence beats success, and why knowing your industry standard is just the beginning of building something legendary.

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When a third party shows up, everyone sits up straighter. In today's episode, Scott and Caitlin dive into the psychology behind why outside perspective is so powerful in assessments.

And there's a surprising part to all of this -- while teams easily spot their weaknesses, they're often blind to their biggest strengths. Scott shares how one assessment led to 500% growth when they helped a client realize they had a massive advantage they were treating as "ordinary." Plus, Scott and Caitlin share the subtle importance of why they use letter grades instead of percentages (nobody wants to argue about 84 versus 85!)

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Find more info on how we are building legendary brands at: www.SwozConsulting.com 

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Get ready for this new 3-part Mini Series on what is often a crucial missing step during the consulting process: Assessments.

Ever wonder why leadership teams can devolve into brutal fights over strategy? It's usually not because they disagree on solutions - it's because they're all seeing different parts of the business. Like blind men around an elephant, one person knows about the margin buffer while another just sees risk everywhere.

Get everyone looking at the same facts first, and the "impossible" strategic disagreements can often become obvious next steps.

As we kick off this mini series, you'll realize why that 10-20% you don't know about a company might be the difference maker.

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Some conversations just stick with you. A couple weeks after the interview with Howard Behar (Episode 39), Scott and Caitlin are still talking about his insights. In today's episode, they discuss more about how Howard's insights can revolutionize the way you think about building relationships and driving results.

Howard's approach to generosity works like venture capital. Invest in ten people knowing most won't return much, but one relationship will pay off massively and make everything worthwhile. You'll learn about the genius contact trick everyone's stealing, why words like "training" versus "developing" actually matter more than you think, and why most people need to be reminded more than instructed.

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Sign up for our newsletter: https://swozconsulting.com/about/the-newsletter/

Find more info on how we are building legendary brands at: www.SwozConsulting.com 

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