Science of CX

Shane Mahoney is the founder and CEO of Lugos Travel - a travel agency built around exceptional service, knowledge, style, and sophistication.

Shane started Lugos Travel to pursue his passion for interesting vacations. He felt that people were complacent about their vacations, and often opted for cruising and all-inclusive vacations because they offered little hassle, and almost no planning. Who has the time to plan an amazing vacation in a foreign land after all?

That's when Lugos Travel was born.

Shane and his team specialize in getting to know their clients and offer experiences that make sense from an individual and budget standpoint. Each trip is tailored, with surprises included along the way, so their clients come home feeling refreshed.

The goal at Lugos Travel is to always ensure that the company’s clients don't have to worry about quality, planning, logistics, or anything else - just settle down, enjoy the scenery and be a traveler, not a tourist.

Key Takeaways

• Shane shares with us the kind of experiences, luxuries, and perks that people can expect when traveling via their agency
• The steps and procedures that Shane and his team take in order to create value in their customized luxury travel package
• How Lugos travels has revolutionized the modern travel industry
• The pros and cons of a private tour versus a group tour
• The methods Lugos Travels implements to ensure the best possible experience for a customer. For example, they offer photography services where there's a professional photographer to capture the client’s memorable moments
• Shane explains why you can't put a price on the value of a good international travel experience. Because ultimately, it's the little details that make the biggest differences
• What constitutes a good travel experience? (and why selecting the right custom travel tour concierge services goes a long way in guaranteeing a stress-free and relaxing experience)
• The regions and countries where Shane and his company Lugos Travels is specialized in
• What's Shane's number one travel hack?

Connect with Shane

Website (Personal)- https://shanemahoney360.com/ 

Website (Company) - https://lugostravel.com/ 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-mahoney-lakeland/ 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/LugosTravel

Jamie Barlett founded PolyPay in 2013 to provide businesses with a partner who offers them honesty, transparency, customer support, and savings for merchant processing. She draws on her experience in consulting, finance, HR, technology, and leadership development every day at PolyPay.

She is originally from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and attended Wellesley College earning a degree in English and Economics. She also received an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Jamie loves interacting with customers and learning more about how they started their businesses and what is important to them.

She lives in Arroyo Grande, California, and Columbus, Ohio with her fifteen-year-old rescued Silky Terrier Spike.

Key Takeaways

• Jamie shares with us the story behind PolyPay. She discusses the motivation and drives behind her start up, alongside the problem she was looking to solve
• The defining moment that led Jamie into the merchant services niche
• The life lessons Jamie took from her father in regard to business, relationships, and customer service
• What is it that Jamie’s team does differently to ensure tremendous customer experience?
• Surcharging and how it affects customer experience in small businesses
• Get to hear Jamie’s thoughts on binding contracts, and why avoiding them can lead to a better customer experience for your business

Connect with Jamie

Website - https://polypay.com/ 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-barlett-0b8a4116/ 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/polypayprocessing/ 

Phone - 8055922700

Simon Severino helps business owners in SaaS and Services run their companies more effectively which results in sales that soar. 

Trusted by Google, Roche, Consilience Ventures, Amgen, and AbbVie, Simon is the creator of the Strategy Sprints™ Method, a blueprint to run an agile company. 

Simon is also a TEDx speaker, a Contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, and a member of the SVBS Silicon Valley Blockchain Society.

His global team of certified Strategy Sprints™ Coaches doubles revenue in 90 days.

Key Takeaways

• Simon shares with us his secret formulae for doubling his clients’ revenue in just 90 days
• Strategies from Simon’s book (Strategy Sprints), and how these guidelines can help business leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors in simplifying their decision-making process
• The three areas in Simon’s Strategy Sprint Blueprint (Frequency, Price & Conversion), alongside tips on how anyone can execute in these three areas as a way of making sure they stay ahead of the competition
• The dos and don'ts of Marketing in the current competitive environment
• Why it’s important for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and company executives to be authentic in their marketing strategy 
• Feedback as a key element for any business looking to scale 
• How Simon and his team help their clients break down and simplify their message and core values into much easier terms that can easily be conveyed to their employees and customers

Connect with Simon

Website - https://www.strategysprints.com/ 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonseverino/?locale=en_US 

Email - [email protected] 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/simonseverino 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/strategysprints/ 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/strategysprints/ 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnSFgJd0CrsEdQdO21txR2A 

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1299008831 

Dr. Vic is a Business Mindset Coach, Certified Pediatric Chiropractor, 3x Author, Podcaster, and Speaker.

He has been a practicing Chiropractor for the past 12 years and a Business Mindset Coach for the past three and a half years.

He is the author of 3 books, the most recent, "Decoding The Matrix," which came out in May 2022.

His other two books are Rediscover Your Greatness (2018) and A Walk in the Dark (2019).

He has a podcast called, “The Mindful Experiment,” which is ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally with 30,000 downloads a month.

In his business, Dr. Vic has helped 100s of entrepreneurs learn how to create their dream life effortlessly through sharing principles of living in the Quantum world.

He shares many concepts that relate to spiritual truths, Universal Laws, Quantum Physics, Neuroscience, Limiting Beliefs, Leveraging One’s Mindset, Reconditioning of the Subconscious Mind, and much more to achieve these concepts.

Today he joins me on the show to share his incredible journey and some golden nuggets on mindset and belief. Listen in to learn more.

Key Takeaways

• Dr. Vic Manzo tells us how he started out as a pediatric chiropractor and evolved to now helping people at the mindset level too
• The sequence of events  that drove Vic to the point of wanting to change the way he did things business-wise and life-wise
• In the current economy, many people are quitting their jobs in search of change and life purpose. Leading us to explore the question; What does it really mean to have a work-life balance? 
• The real benefactors of the American Dream, and why we should challenge the traditional way of thinking and the many things that we've been conditioned to do 
• Why some people are very resistant to changing their mindset because of their existing limiting belief systems 
• What goes into the thinking process? And what does Vic teach in his coaching about limiting beliefs, the power of vision, and quantum physics?

Connect with Dr. Vic

Website - http://www.empoweryourreality.com/ 

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/drmanzo 

YouTube - http://www.YouTube.com/drvicmanzo 

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/drvicmanzo 

Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/drvicmanzo 

TikTok - www.TikTok.com/@drvicmanzo 

Podcast - www.TheMindfulExperiment.com  

Karl Yaacoub is a former private equity and investment banking professional. 

He is the author of The Game of Value Creation, in which he explains how blue chip companies and private equity investors approach value creation through governance, strategy, and finance. 

He is also the creator of The Game of Value Creation Training, an immersive digital transformation that leverages strategies used by private equity funds to enhance the valuation of the businesses they acquire and meet their target returns. 

Karl advises private businesses on ways to enhance their valuation by deploying, and implementing, the same strategies used by public companies and active investors. He has worked on deals and assignments in excess of USD 1bn around the world. 

He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) and holds a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Key Takeaways

• Key indicators that a business owner can take note of as a measure of his ability to offer true value to his customer’s needs
• The 4-step path to creating value in companies, i.e right governance, a solid corporate strategy, proper allocation of resources, and a scalable leadership model
• Strategies that a company can make use of to capture and store knowledge; thus making it possible for businesses to run flawlessly even after great talent has left
• How Value creation plays into the equation of balancing the interests of the customers vs the interests of the investors
• Inspecting value creation from two different lenses; companies that develop a product versus companies that sell services
• How and why value creation perfectly fits into a company’s customer experience strategy

Connect with Karl

Website - https://www.ky-vc.com/ 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-yaacoub-cfa/ 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0_LAsxtgkdE8NXiunwVgIA 

Brandon Neely is an entrepreneur, Profit First, and Bank On Yourself Professional, and the co-host of Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast with his wife Amanda Neely.

They founded and managed Overflow Coffee Bar, L3C from 2008 through 2018. Now, they share their experiential knowledge through podcasting and through developing personalized financial strategies for individuals and couples and profitability strategies for businesses.

Key Takeaways

• The expectations that business owners have when starting a new business vs reality
• Brandon takes us back to his experiencing starting and owning a brick-and-mortar coffee shop
• How Brandon handled his financial challenges when he was starting his business
• The epiphany that led Brandon into making major changes in his personal life and business 
• Life-changing business principles that can help you manage your business better; Bank on yourself, Profit first, and infinite banking

Connect with Brandon

Website - https://www.wealthwisdomfp.com/ 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-neely/ 

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wealth-wisdom-financial-podcast/id1430092759 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/wealthwisdomfinancial 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wealthwisdomfp/ 

Twitter - https://twitter.com/WealthWisdomFP 

Mark ‘Mr. Loyalty’ Ross-Smith, is an award-winning global airline loyalty industry leader, and the CEO & Co-founder at Loyalty Data Co, the parent brand of StatusMatch.com. 

Mark’s experience in airlines runs deep as he previously headed up the Malaysia Airlines Enrich Loyalty Program, delivering consecutive year record financial success to the airline.

Mark has also held roles in several high-tech start-ups, including the largest Australian-owned mobile social network, where he was CEO for 7 years, spearheaded big-data opportunities with Optus, Vodafone, and Telstra, and also generated an incremental $35M annually for the telcos through data-driven loyalty initiatives

Mark is a highly sought-after speaker at airline and loyalty industry events, known for cutting through the noise and delivering content that isn’t seen or spoken about in public forums.

As the Founder of Travel Data Daily – Mark has published dozen of papers and articles on airline loyalty, which dives deep into airline economics and thought leadership.

Key Takeaways

• The story of what got Mark interested in the business of travel and airlines 
• Why Mark created his website statusmatch.com (A website designed to help airlines find high-level customers on a higher scale and help travelers find an airline that's more suitable to their needs)
• Mark gives us an insight into what happens when people sign up on his site. Everything from changing airlines, status matching, and flight
• What are the reasons that a customer might feel the need to change his airline?
• Discovering the perks that loyalty programs play in ensuring your esteemed customers remain hooked to your products and services. 
• Employee participation. Find out the level of empowerment a cabin crew has, and how this plays a role in how creative and responsive they are. 
• Mark shares his thoughts on how we can bring back the fun and great experience that was once associated with the travel industry. 

Connect with Mark

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrosssmith/?originalSubdomain=sg 

Website - https://www.statusmatch.com/ 

Portfolio - https://www.traveldatadaily.com/

Brandi is a passionate and positive leader focused on optimal customer experience. A true cx guru, she has extensive knowledge in building and maintaining relationships, process improvement, and customer satisfaction. 

Brandi oversees a committed team who supports hundreds of businesses across the US to improve workplace operations, including JetBlue, Royal Caribbean Group, Tommy Bahama, and La-Z-Boy. 

With over 10 years of SaaS experience, she is passionate about delivering the best possible experience to customers, and with the power of innovative tech, her team helps to give workers a voice, and leaders visibility, and unite teams to improve.

Key Takeaways

• Brandi shares her experience growing up on a farm and how it influenced her work ethic and her views on what good customer experience is all about
• Is the customer success team more of an organization’s employees or are they more of an advocate for the customer?
• The traits that business leaders should be looking for when bringing in new members into their customer success team,
• Different ways to keep your team motivated and aligned with the company culture
• How creating a pro-active culture in a company leads to your staff feeling appreciated, needed, and valued
• What does safety culture do? What does it develop and what is its market?
• The interrelation between the customer on boarding process and the ultimate customer experience
• Relationship building and why it’s important to have off-book conversations as a way to better understand your customer
• Giving the customer what they need vs customer seat retention or expansion
• How Brandi and her team ensure all touch points are smooth, alongside tips on how they map out their customer journey as a way to identify and correct friction points

Connect with Brandi

Website - https://safetyculture.com/ 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandi-bennett-8964296a/ 

Ilenia Vidili is a passionate customer-centricity advisor, author, and keynote speaker. 

She’s conducted corporate marketing for NEC, Bayer, ARM, and a broad range of start-ups, and today she is the founder of a consultancy and training company helping businesses think differently, combat inefficient processes, turn product mentalities into people mentalities, and improve customer focus.

Ilenia gives enthusiastic global keynotes in multiple languages on embracing customer-centricity as the key to unlocking the future. 

She has been inspiring leaders and C-level executives of the likes of Coca Cola, L’Oreal, Savills, Harrods, and many more. She also contributes as an opinion columnist for the CEOWORLD and Entrepreneur Media magazines. 

Driven by bringing humanity to business, her mission is to see a brighter future—where companies embrace a higher purpose, create value for all stakeholders, connect their minds and hearts, and contribute positively to society. 

Ilenia is also the author of Journey to Centricity: A customer-centric framework for the era of stakeholder capitalism. 

Key Takeaways

• Ilenia’s career journey; how she began to think differently about cx, thus deciding to leave her corporate job and start a cx consultancy agency
• How companies recognize that they have a cx-related problem that requires Ilenia’s intervention and (or) consultancy
• The value of customer centricity and why it’s important to always structure an organization’s blueprint based on customer needs
• Why it’s essential for businesses to make a mindset shift from product-centric thinking to customer-centric approaches; (alongside the important duty that leaders have in ensuring a culture based on adding value to the customers)
• Ilenia’s European perspective on how CX has changed over the last five years; both pre and post-pandemic eras
• Personally engaging  with your customers to create more successful, long-term relationships
• A look into Illenia’s book, and her three pillars of cx success, i.e humanity, technology, and culture 

Connect with Ilenia

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ileniavidili/ 

Website - https://www.ileniavidili.com/ 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ilenia_vidili/   

Email - [email protected] 

Jonathan Shroyer is the Chief Customer Experience Innovation Officer of Arise Virtual Solutions, a customer service outsourcing, and offshoring consulting firm. Arise acquired Officium Labs, a company he co-founded, last November 2021 and is now known as Arise Gaming.

Jonathan has been involved with customer service as a professional and a leader for more than two decades, leading large teams at established companies such as Microsoft, Monster, Autodesk, and startups like Postmates, Kabam, and Forte Labs. 

Recognized as a renowned thought leader in the industry through multiple mentions, Jonathan is a sought-after speaker at CX conferences, a guest in podcasts, and a writer about his passion—the future of customer service and the CS marketplace.

Key Takeaways

• The current state of CX in a ‘post’ pandemic world
• A mindset-shift tip to take from the video gaming world - Jonathan explains how and why it's more valuable to retain players than to acquire new ones
• Setting organizational core values that focus not just on the business side of things, but on the people side as well
• Why it’s important to always keep your customer in mind when designing new products or services
• Jonathan digs into the two core pillars for ensuring success in the gaming industry; retaining and engaging players on a daily basis
• The early warning signals of potential churning in your business; and the systems you can put in place to prevent this from happening
• Giving your employees a level of experience where they feel valued enough to provide even higher levels of productivity

Connect with Jonathan

Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryleisure/  

Website - http://truecustomersuccess.com/  

Twitter - https://mobile.twitter.com/chiefcxofficer