November 30, 2023 • 36 mins
From the bustling streets of Ghana to the grandeur of the American dream, we're thrilled to turn the mic over to Francis Flair, a business consultant with a story that defies the odds.
Francis is a firm believer in the power of customer service, but he also recognizes that many companies fail to grasp what that entails. Tune in as we dissect the dangers of vague customer service directives and highlight the need for precise definitions of 'excellent service'. We'll share some real-life examples of how enabling employees to make decisions can significantly improve customer experiences. Francis also shares his valuable perspective on the importance of creating an unwavering culture of service, even if it means navigating through tough times.
We're not stopping at surface-level insights. Join us as Francis delves into the significance of owning decisions and admitting to mistakes in the customer service industry. Learn from his own experiences, and discover how leadership plays a fundamental role in establishing a culture that prioritizes customer service. We'll also explore the joy of learning from others and the importance of context in understanding one's journey. So, buckle up for a rollercoaster ride of insights, wisdom, and meaningful conversation, all bundled into one riveting episode. You won't want to miss it!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
And so, whether you are actively working on your
culture or not, culture ishappening.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey there, it's Casey Farmer here with the Build With
BBB podcast.
Today we have a very specialguest, Francis Flair.
Francis, welcome to the podcast.
We're going to talk a littlebit about your business in
consulting.
Let's go from there.
Tell us about your business.
What do our listeners need toknow about you?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, that is a very broad question and I think, for
the sake of your audience and tounderstand context, I think we
need to start from the beginning.
And I think for any businessowner, any business leader, I
think sometimes we just tend tofocus on the work they do, but I
think understanding where theycome from and who they are truly
(01:04):
makes an impact and makespeople understand why it's
important for what they do.
So, if you can tell from myexotic accent, of course I'm
from Houston.
Well, I am from Ghana, westAfrica, originally, and growing
up in an orphanage, I only hadone dream, one dream, and that
(01:27):
was to go to school in the US.
I had no idea how that wasgoing to be possible, no idea
how that was going to be.
But then there was a missionaryat the orphanage at the time
who was like well, obviously youknow we can't afford this and
so if you do your part, thenwe'll see what God can do.
And that was literally it.
And so in elementary school,did what I had to do, got good
(01:49):
grades, you know you go toschool, you do what you have to
do.
I got a scholarship to go tohigh school in Ghana, and high
school in Ghana.
It's like college here, whereyou live home to go to school.
And so I got to do that.
And then, when I got to highschool, I started doing what I
had to do in terms of going toschool, getting good grades.
I bought a book for the SAT,started studying for that and
(02:14):
then, god being so good, I got ascholarship to come to school
in the US.
And so when I came again, Ijust stayed full course,
graduated, but then I had tomove over to Florida.
So I came to school in Oklahoma.
So Oklahoma is like home to mebecause that's all I've known
when I came.
And so when I graduated I movedover to Jacksonville, florida,
(02:37):
because at the time mygirlfriend now wife lived there.
And so when I got toJacksonville I had to start all
over again because I had nocontact, nothing, and as an
international student, if youcan relate, you have so many
roadblocks in terms of red tapes, of what you can do, what you
can do when, how, and so after Igot a permit to be able to work
(03:02):
, I started working at aconvenience store in
Jacksonville, florida, a verypopular convenience store, very
big in the South, and it wasworking.
It was something to do.
You came with a dream of doingbig things.
And then you graduate with acollege degree working at a
convenience store for $9.50.
And it's like that's what it isright.
(03:25):
We all had to go through, weall had to do what we have to do
.
And so one Thanksgiving break Iworked 16 hours.
That was because I had themorning shift from 7 to 3, but
then the afternoon guy, ofcourse, don't show up, and so I
worked from 7 to 11.
I wasn't working at 7-eleveneven though.
(03:47):
So after that I thought, well,I can't do this anymore, I need
to find something else to do.
And there was a dry cleaningcompany next block dry cleaning,
literally work to where duringlunches breaks, the RT members
would come to the gas station toget hot dogs, quick lunch
(04:10):
drinks, whatever that was.
And so one time the assistantmanager was like hey, we think
you should come and give us atry.
We are always hiring.
We feel this would be a goodfit for you.
I mean, what have I got to lose?
So I really took theopportunity, jam-shipped.
(04:32):
I went there, and when I gotthere, what I noticed was the
owners.
And if you know anything aboutdry cleaning.
It's really a luxury.
People don't have to do drycleaning.
Those who do it, it's becausethey have some discretionary
income.
They can afford it.
It's all about the convenience.
And so to really differentiateyourself, you have to focus on
the service and experience.
(04:53):
And the owners understood that,and so every year he would send
about three to five members ofhis team to the conference a
customer service conference sohoping that they will come back
and learn something and comeback and implement it in the
company.
And in my first year there I gotthe opportunity to go.
(05:14):
So when we came back, weimplemented some of the stuff.
And it's the typical you go toa conference and you have this
motivational short and you feellike, yeah, you're going to take
on the world.
Where you come back and yourealize, oh, shoot, I still have
my work, I need to catch upfrom last week.
Then you get in the weeds andthen it's all lost and you do
your best to implement some ofthe stuff, but you have no idea
(05:36):
whether you're doing the rightthing, and so you still throw in
spaghetti at the world, hopingsomething sticks.
So we did what we could.
Then we went back.
The second year I went again andthen when I came back, I went
to the owner and I said you know, I think this is great, but to
really get a real impact, reallymake a difference, like take
this to the next level I thinkyou should invest in me going to
(06:00):
learn the secret, the systemsof what makes a great service
company, like what is a secretto Chick-fil-A, starbucks, the
rail's counting, disney, likewhat's their secret, you know.
And so it took me up on Alphaand my promise to him was, if
you did that, you wouldn't haveto take your team back to the
conference.
And so he took me up on thatoffer, went steady, came back
(06:24):
you know, learning from the bestlike Disney, like the road
scouting companies who haveworked with Chick-fil-A,
starbucks and Co.
And came back.
We implemented the staff and wesaw tremendous results and I
think I thought I was helpingthem.
But it was actually for me.
(06:44):
I went through thattransformation in the sense that
I realized that I enjoy solvingproblems.
You know I enjoy helpingorganizations learn how to
improve employees or create attheir best, and love their jobs.
And so we I mean for a smallcompany where people come in and
go because they're looking fora job and not a career.
(07:06):
Considering the industry, wewere able to reduce turnover
from 35% to less than 5%.
We were charging over 30% morethan the nearest competitor at
the time.
We were growing revenue atleast 5% each year, and I was
like, wait, wait a second Ifthis works in dry cleaning,
(07:27):
service transcends everyindustry.
We are all in one industry,which is the people industries.
We sell commodities.
However, it's all about theservice and experience.
And so I went back to him again.
I said Mike, I think I'm goingto go around my own.
Would you be my first client?
And he was gracious enough togive me his blessings and turn
(07:48):
him into my first client.
He's still a client and westarted Flick Consulting Group
from there, and now we arefortunate enough to have clients
in higher education, medical asthe third living, technology,
of course, dry cleaning all overthe US and in Canada.
And so that's how I learned thecustomer experience systems and
(08:10):
all the secrets.
But to really deliver aconsistently great customer
service, great customerexperience, it really comes out
to three things, and threethings only, and I think most
leaders focus on the outcome ofdelivering a great service and
experience, but the two piecesare employee engagement,
(08:32):
employee experience andleadership.
Every world-class company youknow of or you love to do
business with, it's world-classto work for.
Without having the rightsystems in place in ensuring
that all these pieces fit andalign, it's really impossible to
deliver a consistently greatcustomer experience.
(08:53):
So it's really it always startsat the top until you have to
have that leadership commitment,you have to have that executive
sponsorship where the leadersbuy into the why service and
experience is important and thentranslate down over to the
employees.
Because, at the end of the day,if you want the outcome, it's
(09:15):
great, but people deliver theoutcome.
And if your people are nothappy, if they are not motivated
, if they don't feel valued andappreciated, it's really
impossible to deliver thatservice and experience.
And so for all these things toalign, that's when you actually
begin to start on this journeyof delivering consistency when
(09:35):
it comes to the experience.
So the pieces, it's simple.
Across all industries theformula is the same have
leadership, commit to it, ensurethat your people are in the
right space, right frame,improving their employee
experience.
And I think with the pandemic itkind of exposed the lack of
(09:56):
employee experience, becauseit's harder now for companies to
get employees to come back.
And so we went through thegreat resignation and then we
went through that conundrum, thework from home.
It's like it just became a mess, because I think during the
pandemic, employees realizedwait, I have so much more to
give, and if you're not willingto give me what I'm looking for,
(10:18):
you're not willing to make mefeel important, then I'm not
going to work.
And so we had done massexcellence of people living
their roles and their jobs, andthat was just a clear indication
that leadership or leaders hadnot done a good job making your
people understand the roles theyplay and the importance they
have in the organization,because with other people you
(10:42):
don't get the outcome you'relooking for, which is service
and the experience.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Wow, what I'll say.
What a beautiful story of howyou landed where you're at,
where your business came from,the heart behind it, your
passion behind what you do.
Thank you for sharing that, mythe one thing that was going in
the back of my mind.
It's obvious that leadership isimportant to you, that people
(11:09):
are important to you and thevalue that people bring to an
organization.
But then you say I loveOklahoma, it's my home.
So what made you bring all ofthat love and the love for what
you do, and say I want to takewhat I know and invest it in
Oklahoma companies that broughtyou back here.
Can you take me down that line?
(11:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I mean they said to whom much is given, much is
expected.
And I was in Florida and I wasdoing my graduate work.
So like how I came back, so tokind of connect the dots there,
I was doing my graduate work atOklahoma State whilst I was in
Florida, online, and so that wasa and like an internship
(11:55):
capstone portion of it, and so Iwas going to come over for a
semester and I was like, well,let's just make it into a move.
And so we moved here and weactually Incorporated.
I remember vividly I was intoss at the time, incorporated
February 3rd, I guess what 2020,a week before the shutdown and
(12:19):
and it was like wow, okay, nowwe've taken this huge risk when
we are completely new states andno connections again because
we're in in toss at the time.
But I mean it, it's beenincredible.
Yeah, the value and and theimportance of relationships.
I can count the people who havebeen very Integral in my life
(12:46):
and it just goes on to show thevalue and importance of
relationships, like everyoneI've come in contact with or met
with, built a meaningfulrelationship with, have really
been tremendous In how we gotwhere we are, and so Moving back
to the city, just made sense.
It just made sense Going tolook at my question in Edmond
(13:09):
and I'm having all myConnections and I mean the
people here who are my supportsystem it just made sense to
come over here and that's how wegot here.
It just made sense.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Wonderful.
Yeah, we have talked a lotabout well.
Now You've teased a little bitabout the importance of the
customer experience.
Now, when I dug around a littlebit because before we hop on a
podcast, I like to do a littlebit of research to be homework a
lot of things on your websitetalked about your particular
customer experience system.
(13:44):
Do you want to share a littlebit about that?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, I mean the system.
It's really understanding thethree pieces we talked about
earlier leadership, employeeexperience and actually the
standard or quality in service.
But that is broad, right, andso you have to break it down and
actually systematize it.
(14:09):
So, when you hire someone andyou say, well, just take great
care of the customer, well, whatdo you mean and how?
And so and I think that's whenmost companies Forget or they
get it wrong they just say, oh,just take care of the customer.
However, same Take care of thecustomer is very vague and and
(14:33):
so it's extremely Important as aleader, you recognize that you
systematize the processes, andthis I mean this used to be I
think I think for some people itstill is that the golden rule
of customer service is what isit?
Treat a customer how you wantto be treated.
(14:54):
That is dangerous.
Agree you don't treat a customerhow you want to be treated.
To avoid that, because thecustomer is coming to you
because of value, not notbecause of price or because of
Anything else.
It's just because you candeliver on the value.
Whatever that is consistency,convenience, productivity,
(15:16):
quality, whatever that is.
And until you have to be ableto systematize the processes of
how you want them to treat thecustomer, and that's where the
processes comes in.
And so do you have consistencyacross your brand?
If you have multiple locations,am I going to a different
(15:36):
location?
I haven't, completely adifferent experience as composed
to the other location, and soConsistency is a big one.
Convenience, you know.
Do you make it easy for me toget in touch with you?
Do you make it easy for me to?
I'll give you a review,whatever that might be.
And so those are the systemskind of looking into okay, are
you able to build meaningfulrelationships with your
(15:58):
customers?
It goes a long way, but it'sreally breaking out those three
pieces and then actuallyDefining what that looks like
for you as an organization.
Again, it's not going to her,because then people are going to
leave, morale is going to below, and so it's about Looking
at things from the customer'sperspective, through the
(16:20):
customer's lens, starting withyour team, starting with your
employees, and then after thatit's really looking at okay, how
can we serve the customer?
But if your people are good, ifyour people understand the
importance rose the play and whyit's so important when it comes
to the overall Experience, theywill be willing to go above and
(16:40):
beyond for the customer anytime.
And so it really starts again.
It may sound like a deadbeat,but that that that's really the
secret.
You have to focus on yourpeople, because If your people
are not aligned, it's extremelyhard, and this is just human
nature.
Human nature.
If you are not happy at yourjob, if you don't feel like your
(17:03):
boss cares about you personally, professionally, you know, want
you to succeed and it's willingto do whatever it takes to
ensure that you are happy,there's absolutely no way you
will go out there and smile to atotal stranger that service and
experience right.
There's absolutely no way you'llbe able to go out there and say
you know, I want to grab andrun beyond for this customer.
(17:25):
There's no way you want to makea good customer service, a good
customer experience decision,because training is important
and all but your people need tobe educated as well, because at
some point they will have tomake a customer service decision
, which does not come anywhereclose to the training that they
need, but they have to be ableto Make an informed decision
(17:48):
that aligns with your brand,what your brand promise is.
And so I mean it's all startswith leadership, defining who
they are as an organization, asa company, and what they promise
to deliver to their customers.
And then how can we Work thatbackwards to see, okay, how can
(18:09):
we bring that to life in termsof getting our team to deliver
that consistently?
And that starts by ensuringthat your team it's actually
aligned and in the right frame,right mindset.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So, going back to the successes you saw in
implementing some of thesethings in the dry cleaning
business, can you give anexample of what that looked like
for Imp?
I'll say empowering your teamto make those decisions?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah.
So you, some leaders, say, well, I wish my people could make
decisions.
I know someone's listening andis thinking, yeah, I wish my
people could do that.
But then I have a question haveyou allowed them to make those
decisions?
Are you on them if they make amistake?
Have you empowered them?
Have you elevated them thatthey feel empowered to make a
(19:00):
decision?
And so that's where it started.
Again, it comes back to theleader.
As an organization, yourleaders have to be OK.
Regardless of whether you wantthe outcome or not, you are
making a decision, you arechoosing a path, and that's how
culture is built.
So this is really about aculture change.
(19:20):
It's about you building aculture that is obsessed about
delivering great experience andgreat service, and so the
systems will vary, but it'sleaders understanding that to
give your people what they needand to empower them to go on and
(19:41):
make decisions.
You are going to take somelosses along the way, but it's
understanding that that's OK andthat's part of the process.
And so, say, in our case, usingthe dry cleaning for my employer
as an example we allow peopleto reimburse our clients if
someone came and said, hey, myshirt was ruined in your care,
(20:06):
our team were empowered to say,yes, we'll replace it, or to say
we'll redo it at no cost.
But that's a culture we builtMaking them understand you own
the experience, you own it asthe individual.
You make the best decision forthe customer and in that moment
(20:28):
it's not based on training, isthey looking at it and saying,
ok, based on what you're tellingme, this is probably the best
course of action, but for everycustomer.
Some customers don't even wantyou to pay for it.
They want you to justacknowledge it, that you messed
up.
And that's what some companiesdon't even understand, like they
(20:49):
try to fight or they try to getinto this engagement with a
customer, making them trying tounderstand or know who is right,
who is wrong.
And it's not about that.
If the customer come to you andthey are not happy about
something, admit it and try tofind a solution that works for
both.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That's also pretty tough.
I just think me personally.
I think about some of the firstlike I don't know 10 years.
I was working, it was incustomer service and it's
difficult to own those decisions.
Albeit, I was a little immatureat the time and didn't realize
(21:27):
that, wow, and I maybe didn'thave the leaders as well in
place to say, to feel empoweredto make those choices, but then
also to feel like I need toadmit when I'm wrong, because
it's so easy to just say, ohwell, here's a solution.
If you don't take the solution,that's your problem.
That's not mine, but it was alot about the culture.
So I appreciate you saying that,because I led by the example of
(21:51):
the leaders that I had in placeI mean, it's what I had seen
and so, thinking about that alittle bit further, like here at
BBB and it wasn't until Istarted working here in 2017
where I was like, wow, everybodyowns their stuff.
It's not always fun and work canbe messy sometimes and it's not
(22:11):
easy to say I screwed up and Ineed to fix it.
But yeah, I applaud you forowning that and then picking
that as your niche for customerexperience, because I can agree,
small businesses can grow andI've seen them grow so much when
they at the forefront of theirmind, they are champions for the
clients that they have and theywant them to leave saying, wow,
(22:32):
I've never had a roofingexperience like that or I've
never had a consultant come inand really change the way my
business works.
But because they really focusedon me, it became a part, it
transitioned me.
You had mentioned that earlier.
It wasn't until I had my owntransition that I realized
that's where I wanted to focuson.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, and I mean you hit on a lot of notes there in
terms of your experience fromyour previous jobs.
It wasn't your fault.
The company failed to teach youwhat was required.
So not to bash on them, and Idon't know them.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Sure, they're not a leading company I would say you
mentioned some big players inthe game.
You weren't mentioning that oneI worked for.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But, in terms of organizations, have built the
wrong cultures and they continueto add to the wrong cultures,
whether good people or badpeople, and they realize they
forget that at the end of theday, they made a choice to bring
those people on board.
And so, whether you areactively working on your culture
(23:46):
or not, culture is happening,intentionally or not.
And so it all comes back toleadership to say who are we as
an organization, who are we as abrand?
And then how does thattranslate over to the customer
and how can we bring our team onboard along that journey to
(24:08):
ensure that we are alwayshonoring our brand promise?
Your brand is not your logo.
Your brand is something youhave promised to deliver to your
customers.
That's what your brand promiseis.
So, whatever that is, you needpeople to deliver it.
But you have to ensure that youare hiring the right people to
begin with, and so that's why,in our system, we actually help
(24:31):
you develop a system to reallyhelp you define the employee
experience you wanted to deliver.
Looking at it from, say, fromthe talent acquisition stage to,
say, 10, 20 years, defining theentire employee experience,
career with you and saying, ok,how do we want to stand out.
(24:51):
What are the people?
Who are the people we want toattract and what do they look
like?
And once we have them on board,how can we give them a great
experience, that they want tostay and then tell their friends
and families about it?
Because we are the employer ofchoice and so it's simple, but
(25:13):
it's a mindset that leadershipneeds to have in order to start
building a culture that isobsessed about the service and
experience.
Anytime I go to a place and theservice is terrible, I don't
blame the employer.
I actually feel sorry for thembecause they have no clue what
they are doing.
In fact, they are doing theirbest because their leaders never
(25:34):
give them a chance to succeed.
They just hire them and say,take care of the customer, not
defining clearly what that lookslike.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
When I think about the work that you're doing, I
see like two paths.
One I could see where, if youwere starting a brand new
business, I would want to workwith you immediately to make
sure that I have those processesin place.
Right, yeah, but for a businessowner who's already established
, what does it look like whenthey've built a completely
different culture than one basedon the success of the customer?
(26:10):
Maybe they need to hire newteammates?
What does that look like whenthey reach out to you and say
Francis, please help me get mybusiness in order?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, first, and I tell all the CEOs, the
presidents, this we can do it,but it's going to be hard work.
But you have to be willing tostick it out, because we don't
want to take on projects orpartnerships, or partnerships
(26:42):
with companies who are justfocused on the outcome, that
they don't want to do the workit takes, so they are not
willing to look at the employeeexperience, they are not willing
to look at their leadershipstyle and communication style
and look at how they can make itbetter, because all those
pieces are live and so it ispossible.
But the leader have to acceptthat it's going to be some hard
(27:07):
work and if they the CEO, thepresident, the owner is not
willing to be part of thistransformation, we don't take,
we don't do it.
We don't do it because one wedon't want you to destroy what
you already have, because if westart this and, like I said,
(27:27):
this is a program, this is ajourney, you know, it's not a
flavor of demand, this is aculture change.
Okay, so if we start this andthree months down the line,
you're like, well, this is toohard, I'm stopping.
What did we just do?
We just killed the morale ofyour team.
You just lost trust and,ultimately, loyalty with your
team.
They are not going to trust youever again.
(27:47):
They didn't even trust us whenwe started because they are
thinking well, that's anotherthing Casey wants us to do.
Just give it six months, it'sgoing to go away anyway, but
that's what you've been doing.
So you build this culture wherepeople think oh yeah, it's
another thing you know, let'sjust give it six months, right,
but this is supposed to help youbuild something that is
(28:09):
perpetual.
You know, you just kind of keepupdating it, right, and so it
starts with a mindset that youare willing to stick it out and
do the work is required toactually get you there.
I mean, anything can be changedand that's why we look at the
experience holistically, notjust looking at it from the
(28:31):
external viewpoint of what theend user gets or it's delivered
with, but actually the wholepackage of the experience.
Because if you have peopleleaving, people are not happy,
your culture is bad, it'sprobably because you have poor
communication internally or youhave a bad employee experience.
(28:52):
You know employees don't feellike you care about them.
Employees don't feelappreciated.
Employees don't feel like theywork for a company that truly
cares about them.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So, francis, we've talked a lot about the customer
experience.
We've talked about what I wouldcall, you know, like Fortune
500 brands.
Let's talk about Francis Brands, flare Brands, brands that
you've given Flare to.
What is your favorite customerjourney that you've been on so
far?
Speaker 1 (29:18):
That's a tough one.
That's really tough.
That is really, really tough.
I think to go back to myprevious employer, that would be
easy.
So, to be fair, I would sayit's a higher education client
(29:43):
we are working with, not goingto mention who, but that in
itself is innovative.
Higher education does not lookat students, guardians and
parents as customers.
They rarely do.
They look at them as money.
(30:06):
You know, how many students canwe get on board?
How many students can we reallyget to come to school with us?
You know, because the morestudents you get, the more money
you make eventually.
That's how it's always been andI think for a higher education
to consider the fact that weneed to look at our people, the
(30:32):
people we serve, internally asour employees and externally for
our students, for the apparentand the guardians, that's
innovative in itself and I wouldsay that the best clients in
the sense that they get it andthey understand it's not easy.
(30:54):
They didn't know it's a journey,but they are committed to it.
You know they are committed toit.
And to be thinking about peopleoutside their individuals that
are on campus, that they get tointeract with every day, that's
next level in terms of to bethinking about a student, parent
(31:16):
, you know, grandparent,guardian, whatever they are as a
client, because most of thetimes is a parent and guardian's
grandparents paying for theireducation, all right, and so if
they are calling your admissionsteam and your admissions team
is kind of all over, don't knowwhat they are doing, or they are
calling to kind of set up forclasses and it's like you're
(31:36):
making it difficult they maywant to look for an alternative
and what the student prefersmost likely, what is going to go
, and so it's really all aboutthe experience for them, and
that has been an interestingproject that I would say one for
us to also learn from it andalso get to see how we can help
(31:58):
them improve the experience ofour robot.
That is extremely innovative,to really have a higher
education.
Look at experience that I don'tthink I mean it's not happening
in most of the colleges aroundthe nation.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Changing gears.
You said what I like about thisis that we're learning from it.
So I think that maybe abusiness owner who comes to a
consulting company might sayconsultants have all the answers
.
But I think what we've had inthis whole conversation is
you're always learning andgrowing your business too.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
All consulting firms are paid to learn.
Essentially, that's what we do.
We are great at coming up withsolutions, but in order to
provide solutions, you firsthave to learn to go in there,
because at the end of the day,we are not trying to make anyone
Disney 2.2 or Chick-fil-A 2.2.
(32:53):
That's not what it's about.
This is completely customizedto you, based on your needs,
where you are, where you findyourself, and, like we say, we
bring the toolkit.
We help you define theexperience you want to deliver,
but we don't know who you are,we don't know what your brand
promise is.
But once we partner together,then we begin to learn about
(33:16):
each other so we can betterguide you and say, okay, if this
is what you're trying to do,then this is perhaps the good
approach to go about it.
And so we also learn on the job,and it's about learning.
You have to always be a student.
You have to always be a student, and that's one of our core
principles.
You have to keep learning,because we don't want to be
(33:39):
giving solutions to things thathave worked in one industry
thinking that it will work inthe other industry.
They are completely differentindustries.
However, the formula remainsthe same, and so how can we
model the formula to fit yourneeds?
And it's all customization.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
For any of our businesses that are listening
today.
Is there anything we haven'tcovered in the podcast that you
think they should know aboutyour business?
Where can they connect with you?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Well, you can connect with me on social media at
Francis Flair anywhere YouTube,tiktok, instagram, linkedin.
On Francis Flair.
You can find more informationat our website at
flerconsortinggroupcom.
And I don't know for a give.
(34:30):
I have a free six stepchecklist that you can also find
on the website, but I'm morethan happy to give that to you.
Maybe you can add it to yourshow notes.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
We'll link it in the description.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, yeah, for people to download.
But yeah, you can find meeverywhere on our social media
at Francis Flair.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And maybe at a BBB event.
You attended our happy hourlast week.
I'm not gonna.
I'm not gonna promise you'regonna be at other events, but
you might catch Francis at someof those other events.
Francis, thank you so much forcoming on the podcast today to
talk about the customerexperience and so much more than
that talking about servingOklahoma business owners.
(35:09):
I think the heart behind whatyou do is amazing and you know,
what I really love is when youcame on and said I want to
provide context for why Istarted this business, because
there's this whole backstory forwhy I love what I do and that's
my favorite part about workinghere at BBB is that I get to
have conversations like this andI get to learn so much about
people.
I'm not in consulting, though Ifeel like I get to learn every
(35:33):
day when I do a podcast likethis because I get such a wide
variety of people on the showwith way different skill sets
than I have, so I've so enjoyedour chat today.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Oh, thank you, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
So for our podcast listeners, thank you for
listening today.
You can connect with Francis atFrancis Flair and, of course,
we'll be sharing this on all ofour social media channels at BBB
Central.
Okay, be sure to give thisepisode a like, share it on
YouTube and anywhere else youlisten to your podcasts, and we
will see you in the next episode.
Bye.
And so, whether you are actively working on your
culture or not, culture ishappening.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey there, it's Casey Farmer here with the Build With
BBB podcast.
Today we have a very specialguest, Francis Flair.
Francis, welcome to the podcast.
We're going to talk a littlebit about your business in
consulting.
Let's go from there.
Tell us about your business.
What do our listeners need toknow about you?
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, that is a very broad question and I think, for
the sake of your audience and tounderstand context, I think we
need to start from the beginning.
And I think for any businessowner, any business leader, I
think sometimes we just tend tofocus on the work they do, but I
think understanding where theycome from and who they are truly
(01:04):
makes an impact and makespeople understand why it's
important for what they do.
So, if you can tell from myexotic accent, of course I'm
from Houston.
Well, I am from Ghana, westAfrica, originally, and growing
up in an orphanage, I only hadone dream, one dream, and that
(01:27):
was to go to school in the US.
I had no idea how that wasgoing to be possible, no idea
how that was going to be.
But then there was a missionaryat the orphanage at the time
who was like well, obviously youknow we can't afford this and
so if you do your part, thenwe'll see what God can do.
And that was literally it.
And so in elementary school,did what I had to do, got good
(01:49):
grades, you know you go toschool, you do what you have to
do.
I got a scholarship to go tohigh school in Ghana, and high
school in Ghana.
It's like college here, whereyou live home to go to school.
And so I got to do that.
And then, when I got to highschool, I started doing what I
had to do in terms of going toschool, getting good grades.
I bought a book for the SAT,started studying for that and
(02:14):
then, god being so good, I got ascholarship to come to school
in the US.
And so when I came again, Ijust stayed full course,
graduated, but then I had tomove over to Florida.
So I came to school in Oklahoma.
So Oklahoma is like home to mebecause that's all I've known
when I came.
And so when I graduated I movedover to Jacksonville, florida,
(02:37):
because at the time mygirlfriend now wife lived there.
And so when I got toJacksonville I had to start all
over again because I had nocontact, nothing, and as an
international student, if youcan relate, you have so many
roadblocks in terms of red tapes, of what you can do, what you
can do when, how, and so after Igot a permit to be able to work
(03:02):
, I started working at aconvenience store in
Jacksonville, florida, a verypopular convenience store, very
big in the South, and it wasworking.
It was something to do.
You came with a dream of doingbig things.
And then you graduate with acollege degree working at a
convenience store for $9.50.
And it's like that's what it isright.
(03:25):
We all had to go through, weall had to do what we have to do
.
And so one Thanksgiving break Iworked 16 hours.
That was because I had themorning shift from 7 to 3, but
then the afternoon guy, ofcourse, don't show up, and so I
worked from 7 to 11.
I wasn't working at 7-eleveneven though.
(03:47):
So after that I thought, well,I can't do this anymore, I need
to find something else to do.
And there was a dry cleaningcompany next block dry cleaning,
literally work to where duringlunches breaks, the RT members
would come to the gas station toget hot dogs, quick lunch
(04:10):
drinks, whatever that was.
And so one time the assistantmanager was like hey, we think
you should come and give us atry.
We are always hiring.
We feel this would be a goodfit for you.
I mean, what have I got to lose?
So I really took theopportunity, jam-shipped.
(04:32):
I went there, and when I gotthere, what I noticed was the
owners.
And if you know anything aboutdry cleaning.
It's really a luxury.
People don't have to do drycleaning.
Those who do it, it's becausethey have some discretionary
income.
They can afford it.
It's all about the convenience.
And so to really differentiateyourself, you have to focus on
the service and experience.
(04:53):
And the owners understood that,and so every year he would send
about three to five members ofhis team to the conference a
customer service conference sohoping that they will come back
and learn something and comeback and implement it in the
company.
And in my first year there I gotthe opportunity to go.
(05:14):
So when we came back, weimplemented some of the stuff.
And it's the typical you go toa conference and you have this
motivational short and you feellike, yeah, you're going to take
on the world.
Where you come back and yourealize, oh, shoot, I still have
my work, I need to catch upfrom last week.
Then you get in the weeds andthen it's all lost and you do
your best to implement some ofthe stuff, but you have no idea
(05:36):
whether you're doing the rightthing, and so you still throw in
spaghetti at the world, hopingsomething sticks.
So we did what we could.
Then we went back.
The second year I went again andthen when I came back, I went
to the owner and I said you know, I think this is great, but to
really get a real impact, reallymake a difference, like take
this to the next level I thinkyou should invest in me going to
(06:00):
learn the secret, the systemsof what makes a great service
company, like what is a secretto Chick-fil-A, starbucks, the
rail's counting, disney, likewhat's their secret, you know.
And so it took me up on Alphaand my promise to him was, if
you did that, you wouldn't haveto take your team back to the
conference.
And so he took me up on thatoffer, went steady, came back
(06:24):
you know, learning from the bestlike Disney, like the road
scouting companies who haveworked with Chick-fil-A,
starbucks and Co.
And came back.
We implemented the staff and wesaw tremendous results and I
think I thought I was helpingthem.
But it was actually for me.
(06:44):
I went through thattransformation in the sense that
I realized that I enjoy solvingproblems.
You know I enjoy helpingorganizations learn how to
improve employees or create attheir best, and love their jobs.
And so we I mean for a smallcompany where people come in and
go because they're looking fora job and not a career.
(07:06):
Considering the industry, wewere able to reduce turnover
from 35% to less than 5%.
We were charging over 30% morethan the nearest competitor at
the time.
We were growing revenue atleast 5% each year, and I was
like, wait, wait a second Ifthis works in dry cleaning,
(07:27):
service transcends everyindustry.
We are all in one industry,which is the people industries.
We sell commodities.
However, it's all about theservice and experience.
And so I went back to him again.
I said Mike, I think I'm goingto go around my own.
Would you be my first client?
And he was gracious enough togive me his blessings and turn
(07:48):
him into my first client.
He's still a client and westarted Flick Consulting Group
from there, and now we arefortunate enough to have clients
in higher education, medical asthe third living, technology,
of course, dry cleaning all overthe US and in Canada.
And so that's how I learned thecustomer experience systems and
(08:10):
all the secrets.
But to really deliver aconsistently great customer
service, great customerexperience, it really comes out
to three things, and threethings only, and I think most
leaders focus on the outcome ofdelivering a great service and
experience, but the two piecesare employee engagement,
(08:32):
employee experience andleadership.
Every world-class company youknow of or you love to do
business with, it's world-classto work for.
Without having the rightsystems in place in ensuring
that all these pieces fit andalign, it's really impossible to
deliver a consistently greatcustomer experience.
(08:53):
So it's really it always startsat the top until you have to
have that leadership commitment,you have to have that executive
sponsorship where the leadersbuy into the why service and
experience is important and thentranslate down over to the
employees.
Because, at the end of the day,if you want the outcome, it's
(09:15):
great, but people deliver theoutcome.
And if your people are nothappy, if they are not motivated
, if they don't feel valued andappreciated, it's really
impossible to deliver thatservice and experience.
And so for all these things toalign, that's when you actually
begin to start on this journeyof delivering consistency when
(09:35):
it comes to the experience.
So the pieces, it's simple.
Across all industries theformula is the same have
leadership, commit to it, ensurethat your people are in the
right space, right frame,improving their employee
experience.
And I think with the pandemic itkind of exposed the lack of
(09:56):
employee experience, becauseit's harder now for companies to
get employees to come back.
And so we went through thegreat resignation and then we
went through that conundrum, thework from home.
It's like it just became a mess, because I think during the
pandemic, employees realizedwait, I have so much more to
give, and if you're not willingto give me what I'm looking for,
(10:18):
you're not willing to make mefeel important, then I'm not
going to work.
And so we had done massexcellence of people living
their roles and their jobs, andthat was just a clear indication
that leadership or leaders hadnot done a good job making your
people understand the roles theyplay and the importance they
have in the organization,because with other people you
(10:42):
don't get the outcome you'relooking for, which is service
and the experience.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Wow, what I'll say.
What a beautiful story of howyou landed where you're at,
where your business came from,the heart behind it, your
passion behind what you do.
Thank you for sharing that, mythe one thing that was going in
the back of my mind.
It's obvious that leadership isimportant to you, that people
(11:09):
are important to you and thevalue that people bring to an
organization.
But then you say I loveOklahoma, it's my home.
So what made you bring all ofthat love and the love for what
you do, and say I want to takewhat I know and invest it in
Oklahoma companies that broughtyou back here.
Can you take me down that line?
(11:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I mean they said to whom much is given, much is
expected.
And I was in Florida and I wasdoing my graduate work.
So like how I came back, so tokind of connect the dots there,
I was doing my graduate work atOklahoma State whilst I was in
Florida, online, and so that wasa and like an internship
(11:55):
capstone portion of it, and so Iwas going to come over for a
semester and I was like, well,let's just make it into a move.
And so we moved here and weactually Incorporated.
I remember vividly I was intoss at the time, incorporated
February 3rd, I guess what 2020,a week before the shutdown and
(12:19):
and it was like wow, okay, nowwe've taken this huge risk when
we are completely new states andno connections again because
we're in in toss at the time.
But I mean it, it's beenincredible.
Yeah, the value and and theimportance of relationships.
I can count the people who havebeen very Integral in my life
(12:46):
and it just goes on to show thevalue and importance of
relationships, like everyoneI've come in contact with or met
with, built a meaningfulrelationship with, have really
been tremendous In how we gotwhere we are, and so Moving back
to the city, just made sense.
It just made sense Going tolook at my question in Edmond
(13:09):
and I'm having all myConnections and I mean the
people here who are my supportsystem it just made sense to
come over here and that's how wegot here.
It just made sense.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Wonderful.
Yeah, we have talked a lotabout well.
Now You've teased a little bitabout the importance of the
customer experience.
Now, when I dug around a littlebit because before we hop on a
podcast, I like to do a littlebit of research to be homework a
lot of things on your websitetalked about your particular
customer experience system.
(13:44):
Do you want to share a littlebit about that?
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, I mean the system.
It's really understanding thethree pieces we talked about
earlier leadership, employeeexperience and actually the
standard or quality in service.
But that is broad, right, andso you have to break it down and
actually systematize it.
(14:09):
So, when you hire someone andyou say, well, just take great
care of the customer, well, whatdo you mean and how?
And so and I think that's whenmost companies Forget or they
get it wrong they just say, oh,just take care of the customer.
However, same Take care of thecustomer is very vague and and
(14:33):
so it's extremely Important as aleader, you recognize that you
systematize the processes, andthis I mean this used to be I
think I think for some people itstill is that the golden rule
of customer service is what isit?
Treat a customer how you wantto be treated.
(14:54):
That is dangerous.
Agree you don't treat a customerhow you want to be treated.
To avoid that, because thecustomer is coming to you
because of value, not notbecause of price or because of
Anything else.
It's just because you candeliver on the value.
Whatever that is consistency,convenience, productivity,
(15:16):
quality, whatever that is.
And until you have to be ableto systematize the processes of
how you want them to treat thecustomer, and that's where the
processes comes in.
And so do you have consistencyacross your brand?
If you have multiple locations,am I going to a different
(15:36):
location?
I haven't, completely adifferent experience as composed
to the other location, and soConsistency is a big one.
Convenience, you know.
Do you make it easy for me toget in touch with you?
Do you make it easy for me to?
I'll give you a review,whatever that might be.
And so those are the systemskind of looking into okay, are
you able to build meaningfulrelationships with your
(15:58):
customers?
It goes a long way, but it'sreally breaking out those three
pieces and then actuallyDefining what that looks like
for you as an organization.
Again, it's not going to her,because then people are going to
leave, morale is going to below, and so it's about Looking
at things from the customer'sperspective, through the
(16:20):
customer's lens, starting withyour team, starting with your
employees, and then after thatit's really looking at okay, how
can we serve the customer?
But if your people are good, ifyour people understand the
importance rose the play and whyit's so important when it comes
to the overall Experience, theywill be willing to go above and
(16:40):
beyond for the customer anytime.
And so it really starts again.
It may sound like a deadbeat,but that that that's really the
secret.
You have to focus on yourpeople, because If your people
are not aligned, it's extremelyhard, and this is just human
nature.
Human nature.
If you are not happy at yourjob, if you don't feel like your
(17:03):
boss cares about you personally, professionally, you know, want
you to succeed and it's willingto do whatever it takes to
ensure that you are happy,there's absolutely no way you
will go out there and smile to atotal stranger that service and
experience right.
There's absolutely no way you'llbe able to go out there and say
you know, I want to grab andrun beyond for this customer.
(17:25):
There's no way you want to makea good customer service, a good
customer experience decision,because training is important
and all but your people need tobe educated as well, because at
some point they will have tomake a customer service decision
, which does not come anywhereclose to the training that they
need, but they have to be ableto Make an informed decision
(17:48):
that aligns with your brand,what your brand promise is.
And so I mean it's all startswith leadership, defining who
they are as an organization, asa company, and what they promise
to deliver to their customers.
And then how can we Work thatbackwards to see, okay, how can
(18:09):
we bring that to life in termsof getting our team to deliver
that consistently?
And that starts by ensuringthat your team it's actually
aligned and in the right frame,right mindset.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So, going back to the successes you saw in
implementing some of thesethings in the dry cleaning
business, can you give anexample of what that looked like
for Imp?
I'll say empowering your teamto make those decisions?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah.
So you, some leaders, say, well, I wish my people could make
decisions.
I know someone's listening andis thinking, yeah, I wish my
people could do that.
But then I have a question haveyou allowed them to make those
decisions?
Are you on them if they make amistake?
Have you empowered them?
Have you elevated them thatthey feel empowered to make a
(19:00):
decision?
And so that's where it started.
Again, it comes back to theleader.
As an organization, yourleaders have to be OK.
Regardless of whether you wantthe outcome or not, you are
making a decision, you arechoosing a path, and that's how
culture is built.
So this is really about aculture change.
(19:20):
It's about you building aculture that is obsessed about
delivering great experience andgreat service, and so the
systems will vary, but it'sleaders understanding that to
give your people what they needand to empower them to go on and
(19:41):
make decisions.
You are going to take somelosses along the way, but it's
understanding that that's OK andthat's part of the process.
And so, say, in our case, usingthe dry cleaning for my employer
as an example we allow peopleto reimburse our clients if
someone came and said, hey, myshirt was ruined in your care,
(20:06):
our team were empowered to say,yes, we'll replace it, or to say
we'll redo it at no cost.
But that's a culture we builtMaking them understand you own
the experience, you own it asthe individual.
You make the best decision forthe customer and in that moment
(20:28):
it's not based on training, isthey looking at it and saying,
ok, based on what you're tellingme, this is probably the best
course of action, but for everycustomer.
Some customers don't even wantyou to pay for it.
They want you to justacknowledge it, that you messed
up.
And that's what some companiesdon't even understand, like they
(20:49):
try to fight or they try to getinto this engagement with a
customer, making them trying tounderstand or know who is right,
who is wrong.
And it's not about that.
If the customer come to you andthey are not happy about
something, admit it and try tofind a solution that works for
both.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That's also pretty tough.
I just think me personally.
I think about some of the firstlike I don't know 10 years.
I was working, it was incustomer service and it's
difficult to own those decisions.
Albeit, I was a little immatureat the time and didn't realize
(21:27):
that, wow, and I maybe didn'thave the leaders as well in
place to say, to feel empoweredto make those choices, but then
also to feel like I need toadmit when I'm wrong, because
it's so easy to just say, ohwell, here's a solution.
If you don't take the solution,that's your problem.
That's not mine, but it was alot about the culture.
So I appreciate you saying that,because I led by the example of
(21:51):
the leaders that I had in placeI mean, it's what I had seen
and so, thinking about that alittle bit further, like here at
BBB and it wasn't until Istarted working here in 2017
where I was like, wow, everybodyowns their stuff.
It's not always fun and work canbe messy sometimes and it's not
(22:11):
easy to say I screwed up and Ineed to fix it.
But yeah, I applaud you forowning that and then picking
that as your niche for customerexperience, because I can agree,
small businesses can grow andI've seen them grow so much when
they at the forefront of theirmind, they are champions for the
clients that they have and theywant them to leave saying, wow,
(22:32):
I've never had a roofingexperience like that or I've
never had a consultant come inand really change the way my
business works.
But because they really focusedon me, it became a part, it
transitioned me.
You had mentioned that earlier.
It wasn't until I had my owntransition that I realized
that's where I wanted to focuson.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, and I mean you hit on a lot of notes there in
terms of your experience fromyour previous jobs.
It wasn't your fault.
The company failed to teach youwhat was required.
So not to bash on them, and Idon't know them.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Sure, they're not a leading company I would say you
mentioned some big players inthe game.
You weren't mentioning that oneI worked for.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But, in terms of organizations, have built the
wrong cultures and they continueto add to the wrong cultures,
whether good people or badpeople, and they realize they
forget that at the end of theday, they made a choice to bring
those people on board.
And so, whether you areactively working on your culture
(23:46):
or not, culture is happening,intentionally or not.
And so it all comes back toleadership to say who are we as
an organization, who are we as abrand?
And then how does thattranslate over to the customer
and how can we bring our team onboard along that journey to
(24:08):
ensure that we are alwayshonoring our brand promise?
Your brand is not your logo.
Your brand is something youhave promised to deliver to your
customers.
That's what your brand promiseis.
So, whatever that is, you needpeople to deliver it.
But you have to ensure that youare hiring the right people to
begin with, and so that's why,in our system, we actually help
(24:31):
you develop a system to reallyhelp you define the employee
experience you wanted to deliver.
Looking at it from, say, fromthe talent acquisition stage to,
say, 10, 20 years, defining theentire employee experience,
career with you and saying, ok,how do we want to stand out.
(24:51):
What are the people?
Who are the people we want toattract and what do they look
like?
And once we have them on board,how can we give them a great
experience, that they want tostay and then tell their friends
and families about it?
Because we are the employer ofchoice and so it's simple, but
(25:13):
it's a mindset that leadershipneeds to have in order to start
building a culture that isobsessed about the service and
experience.
Anytime I go to a place and theservice is terrible, I don't
blame the employer.
I actually feel sorry for thembecause they have no clue what
they are doing.
In fact, they are doing theirbest because their leaders never
(25:34):
give them a chance to succeed.
They just hire them and say,take care of the customer, not
defining clearly what that lookslike.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
When I think about the work that you're doing, I
see like two paths.
One I could see where, if youwere starting a brand new
business, I would want to workwith you immediately to make
sure that I have those processesin place.
Right, yeah, but for a businessowner who's already established
, what does it look like whenthey've built a completely
different culture than one basedon the success of the customer?
(26:10):
Maybe they need to hire newteammates?
What does that look like whenthey reach out to you and say
Francis, please help me get mybusiness in order?
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, first, and I tell all the CEOs, the
presidents, this we can do it,but it's going to be hard work.
But you have to be willing tostick it out, because we don't
want to take on projects orpartnerships, or partnerships
(26:42):
with companies who are justfocused on the outcome, that
they don't want to do the workit takes, so they are not
willing to look at the employeeexperience, they are not willing
to look at their leadershipstyle and communication style
and look at how they can make itbetter, because all those
pieces are live and so it ispossible.
But the leader have to acceptthat it's going to be some hard
(27:07):
work and if they the CEO, thepresident, the owner is not
willing to be part of thistransformation, we don't take,
we don't do it.
We don't do it because one wedon't want you to destroy what
you already have, because if westart this and, like I said,
(27:27):
this is a program, this is ajourney, you know, it's not a
flavor of demand, this is aculture change.
Okay, so if we start this andthree months down the line,
you're like, well, this is toohard, I'm stopping.
What did we just do?
We just killed the morale ofyour team.
You just lost trust and,ultimately, loyalty with your
team.
They are not going to trust youever again.
(27:47):
They didn't even trust us whenwe started because they are
thinking well, that's anotherthing Casey wants us to do.
Just give it six months, it'sgoing to go away anyway, but
that's what you've been doing.
So you build this culture wherepeople think oh yeah, it's
another thing you know, let'sjust give it six months, right,
but this is supposed to help youbuild something that is
(28:09):
perpetual.
You know, you just kind of keepupdating it, right, and so it
starts with a mindset that youare willing to stick it out and
do the work is required toactually get you there.
I mean, anything can be changedand that's why we look at the
experience holistically, notjust looking at it from the
(28:31):
external viewpoint of what theend user gets or it's delivered
with, but actually the wholepackage of the experience.
Because if you have peopleleaving, people are not happy,
your culture is bad, it'sprobably because you have poor
communication internally or youhave a bad employee experience.
(28:52):
You know employees don't feellike you care about them.
Employees don't feelappreciated.
Employees don't feel like theywork for a company that truly
cares about them.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So, francis, we've talked a lot about the customer
experience.
We've talked about what I wouldcall, you know, like Fortune
500 brands.
Let's talk about Francis Brands, flare Brands, brands that
you've given Flare to.
What is your favorite customerjourney that you've been on so
far?
Speaker 1 (29:18):
That's a tough one.
That's really tough.
That is really, really tough.
I think to go back to myprevious employer, that would be
easy.
So, to be fair, I would sayit's a higher education client
(29:43):
we are working with, not goingto mention who, but that in
itself is innovative.
Higher education does not lookat students, guardians and
parents as customers.
They rarely do.
They look at them as money.
(30:06):
You know, how many students canwe get on board?
How many students can we reallyget to come to school with us?
You know, because the morestudents you get, the more money
you make eventually.
That's how it's always been andI think for a higher education
to consider the fact that weneed to look at our people, the
(30:32):
people we serve, internally asour employees and externally for
our students, for the apparentand the guardians, that's
innovative in itself and I wouldsay that the best clients in
the sense that they get it andthey understand it's not easy.
(30:54):
They didn't know it's a journey,but they are committed to it.
You know they are committed toit.
And to be thinking about peopleoutside their individuals that
are on campus, that they get tointeract with every day, that's
next level in terms of to bethinking about a student, parent
(31:16):
, you know, grandparent,guardian, whatever they are as a
client, because most of thetimes is a parent and guardian's
grandparents paying for theireducation, all right, and so if
they are calling your admissionsteam and your admissions team
is kind of all over, don't knowwhat they are doing, or they are
calling to kind of set up forclasses and it's like you're
(31:36):
making it difficult they maywant to look for an alternative
and what the student prefersmost likely, what is going to go
, and so it's really all aboutthe experience for them, and
that has been an interestingproject that I would say one for
us to also learn from it andalso get to see how we can help
(31:58):
them improve the experience ofour robot.
That is extremely innovative,to really have a higher
education.
Look at experience that I don'tthink I mean it's not happening
in most of the colleges aroundthe nation.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Changing gears.
You said what I like about thisis that we're learning from it.
So I think that maybe abusiness owner who comes to a
consulting company might sayconsultants have all the answers
.
But I think what we've had inthis whole conversation is
you're always learning andgrowing your business too.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
All consulting firms are paid to learn.
Essentially, that's what we do.
We are great at coming up withsolutions, but in order to
provide solutions, you firsthave to learn to go in there,
because at the end of the day,we are not trying to make anyone
Disney 2.2 or Chick-fil-A 2.2.
(32:53):
That's not what it's about.
This is completely customizedto you, based on your needs,
where you are, where you findyourself, and, like we say, we
bring the toolkit.
We help you define theexperience you want to deliver,
but we don't know who you are,we don't know what your brand
promise is.
But once we partner together,then we begin to learn about
(33:16):
each other so we can betterguide you and say, okay, if this
is what you're trying to do,then this is perhaps the good
approach to go about it.
And so we also learn on the job,and it's about learning.
You have to always be a student.
You have to always be a student, and that's one of our core
principles.
You have to keep learning,because we don't want to be
(33:39):
giving solutions to things thathave worked in one industry
thinking that it will work inthe other industry.
They are completely differentindustries.
However, the formula remainsthe same, and so how can we
model the formula to fit yourneeds?
And it's all customization.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
For any of our businesses that are listening
today.
Is there anything we haven'tcovered in the podcast that you
think they should know aboutyour business?
Where can they connect with you?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Well, you can connect with me on social media at
Francis Flair anywhere YouTube,tiktok, instagram, linkedin.
On Francis Flair.
You can find more informationat our website at
flerconsortinggroupcom.
And I don't know for a give.
(34:30):
I have a free six stepchecklist that you can also find
on the website, but I'm morethan happy to give that to you.
Maybe you can add it to yourshow notes.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
We'll link it in the description.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, yeah, for people to download.
But yeah, you can find meeverywhere on our social media
at Francis Flair.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
And maybe at a BBB event.
You attended our happy hourlast week.
I'm not gonna.
I'm not gonna promise you'regonna be at other events, but
you might catch Francis at someof those other events.
Francis, thank you so much forcoming on the podcast today to
talk about the customerexperience and so much more than
that talking about servingOklahoma business owners.
(35:09):
I think the heart behind whatyou do is amazing and you know,
what I really love is when youcame on and said I want to
provide context for why Istarted this business, because
there's this whole backstory forwhy I love what I do and that's
my favorite part about workinghere at BBB is that I get to
have conversations like this andI get to learn so much about
people.
I'm not in consulting, though Ifeel like I get to learn every
(35:33):
day when I do a podcast likethis because I get such a wide
variety of people on the showwith way different skill sets
than I have, so I've so enjoyedour chat today.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Oh, thank you, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
So for our podcast listeners, thank you for
listening today.
You can connect with Francis atFrancis Flair and, of course,
we'll be sharing this on all ofour social media channels at BBB
Central.
Okay, be sure to give thisepisode a like, share it on
YouTube and anywhere else youlisten to your podcasts, and we
will see you in the next episode.
Bye.
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