March 30, 2026 • 33 mins
Your next level of growth might not require more marketing - it might require a better customer experience.
In this episode, I’m joined by Customer Experience and Messaging Strategist Dani Whitestone to talk about a growth strategy most entrepreneurs overlook: how people actually feel every step of the way when working with you.
Because referrals, renewals, and repeat sales don’t happen by accident.
They happen by design.
We break down what the “customer journey” really is (in normal human language), where trust quietly erodes in your process, and how small, intentional upgrades can increase revenue without adding more work.
We also discuss:
• The four R’s of business growth: Revenue, Retention, Referrals, and Relationships
• How to create meaningful connection points in your customer experience (and why even the little things matter!)
• How to balance automation with real human touch
• Simple first steps to audit and improve your client journey
If you want clients who stay longer, refer you more often, and genuinely enjoy working with you, this conversation will shift how you think about growth.
Links & References:
Come network with us! CLICK HERE to attend your first PWR Connection Network virtual speed networking event at no cost!
Get Dani's free "People First, Profits Follow" guide: https://www.daniwhitestone.com/people
Watch the Unreasonable Hospitality TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwcyXcOpWVs&t=362s
Join one of Dani's 1-1 Virtual Networking Events: https://www.daniwhitestone.com/networking
Connect with Dani on LinkedIn or Instagram
Connect with Your Host!
Melissa Snow is a Business Relationship Strategist and the founder of Powerful Women Rising - a business growth ecosystem for female entreprenuers who want to create real momentum through real relationships.
Inside the PWR Connect Network and the PWR Business Growth Mastermind, Melissa helps women in business get build relationships, increase visibility and get more referrals without pressure, perfection or performative networking.
She's on a mission to change the way women grow their businesses - proving that you can be authentic, values-driven and profitable at the same time.
Melissa lives in Colorado with two dogs (Peyton and Ally), three cats (Giorgio, Karma and Betty) and any number of foster kittens. She hates winter, seafood and feet. She loves iced coffee, Taylor Swift, and buying books she'll never read.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Hi Danny.
Welcome to the Powerful WomenRising Podcast.
Hi, Melissa.
SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
Yes, I'm so excited to chat with you.
Well, we've been chatting for awhile before we even started
recording because that's how weare.
So I hope everyone has had atleast one cup of coffee before
they listen to this podcast.
I want to talk first.
I'm going to have you introduceyourself, but I want to talk a
little bit first about how youand I met.
And I don't even remember how wemet.
Do you?
(00:27):
No, no, but that's the nature ofso many great connections.
I'm like, okay, well, greatstory.
Nobody knows how we met.
But the point is, I feel likeyou're somebody that has just
always kind of been in my circleand I don't even know where I
found you.
I did a networking challengeseveral years ago when I went to
a networking event every day inJanuary.
It was horrible.
Zero out of five stars, do notrecommend.
(00:48):
But I think that might be when Ifound you.
And one of the reasons that Iwanted to have you on the
podcast, I wanted you to talkabout your customer journey and
hospitality and all the thingsthat you love to talk about.
But I also wanted to just touchon before we started into all of
that, our relationship.
Because I think it's sointeresting that you run a
(01:08):
networking event forentrepreneurs.
I run a networking event forentrepreneurs.
I know I've told you and thelisteners before the story about
the networking event that Isigned up for.
It was$15.
And a couple of days before theevent, the lady refunded my$15
and sent me an email and said, Irefunded your$15 because you are
my direct competition.
And basically, like, you can'tcome to my networking event.
(01:31):
And you and I have arelationship that is so on the
opposite end of that spectrum.
Like people who are on my emaillist have seen me talk about
your event like probably moretimes than they've seen me talk
about my own.
So I want to hear from you whatis your philosophy like when it
comes to your relationship withme or with other people who have
(01:53):
similar offers to you?
Why are you like you are and notmore like the like you can't
come to my event because you'remy competition lady?
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
That's a great qu it's a great question.
And I think it's just because,like, even if you do the same
thing, you're always gonna do itin a slightly different way
because we're completelydifferent people.
And someone might resonate withone person's style versus
another person's style.
And really at the end of theday, I don't think that anything
bad can happen when you getcarrying smart people in a room
(02:25):
together.
Like sometimes you don't knowexactly what's gonna happen.
Like, like if and and I and thennever look at it like that in
terms of like you're awesome,great, let's meet and let's
support each let's support eachother.
And uh so it's it's almostbaffled.
It's it's such a foreign conceptto me, which I'm grateful for, I
guess, in terms of like yousaying that, I'm like, oh my
gosh, I wouldn't it that wouldbe that would be to me, that
(02:49):
would be a difficult way to gothrough life.
SPEAKER_00 (02:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
Um because and you'd miss out on a lot of
opportunities, you know, inmeeting amazing, amazing people.
Uh so yeah, I think so, yeah, interms of summarizing on that
point, when you have two, youknow, caring, awesome people
that are smart or anybody,that's why like the networking
event.
You bring amazing, smart,awesome people together, like
great things are gonna happen.
(03:13):
So I just kind of, and for therest of it, I just kind of leave
it up to the universe of what'sgonna, you know, of what comes
up for that.
And that's kind of how I goafter, you know, look at
everything.
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I totally agree.
I think part of it too is anabundance thing, right?
Like when we have that idea, andthis is something I talk a lot
about in networking, becausewhen you have that scarcity
mindset, you are gonna show upas a salesy weirdo when you're
networking.
Like it's just inevitable.
When you have the mindset ofthere's enough for everybody,
there's enough clients, there'senough money, there's enough
(03:42):
business, there's enoughfriendship for everybody, you're
gonna show up in a verydifferent energy.
And I think that's a lot of whatit comes back to too.
Like, I'm not an I'm not soegotistical that I think like my
community is the only communityanyone ever needs, right?
Like, or my networking eventsare the only ones you need to go
to.
Like, that's literally not hownetworking works.
(04:03):
And so I don't know.
I just think like the more themerrier.
And I go to yours and I neverfeel weird coming to yours.
When you come to mine, I'm neverlike, oh, what's she doing here?
Like, it's just yeah, I don'tknow.
I would rather be us than them.
That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
I yeah, I I I love being this way.
It's a really nice way to, it'sa really nice way to go through
go through life and all youknow, growth and just goodness
come from it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:28):
Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
And that's how you ended up on this podcast.
Yeah, our connection here.
And if I do my and I and I lovebringing you into my world, and
if I do my videos again, likeyou'll be the first person that
I bring on to to explain, youknow, to help share your journey
and how you grew the amazingorganizations and the skill set
that you bring to the table.
Because it's one of the it's inhere's the thing, in terms of
(04:50):
also when you step out intocoaching, I've kind of found
basically how am I going to dosomething different?
Because a lot of these lessonsare the same, but we all know it
in terms of like you kind ofknow it, but then you hear it
from somebody else, freezed injust a different way.
And it's those aha moments.
And and I and I love that withpeople with all, you know, even
(05:10):
if they do similar things, they,you know, there's always that
like different take, thatdifferent twist on it.
And and and it's just and itjust benefits, it just benefits
everybody.
Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_00 (05:19):
Okay, I just wanted to touch on that really quick
because it was something reallyimportant that I wanted the
listeners to hear, just in termsof like when they're out
networking and they're outmeeting people, if they meet
somebody who does the same thingthat they do or something
similar to what they do.
I want them to think about thisconversation and be like, gosh,
look at all the opportunitiesand the goodness and the
friendship and everything that'scome out of us being the way
(05:42):
that we are, instead of beinglike, oh, you're my competition.
I'm not telling anybody aboutyour event or you can't come to
mine.
And I just wanted everybody tohear that.
I love that.
Okay, so let's talk about younow.
Tell everybody who you are andwhat you do.
SPEAKER_01 (05:56):
So um, I'm Danny Whitestone and I am a customer
experience and growthstrategist.
And I'm certified in thisawesome platform, this awesome
framework called UnreasonableHospitality.
And we're going to be talkingabout that all set today.
But basically, what I do is Ihelp businesses grow by having
you intentionally map yourcustomer journey.
Because I have found throughgrowing my own, growing my own
(06:17):
businesses, that this is afantastic way to grow and also
to make sure that your everyonethat you work for, all your
clients, become salespeople foryou.
And they are actively referringyou all the time so that you
don't have to do these massivelike marketing pushes of feast
and famine.
Your referral source and peopleare inspired to talk about you.
(06:39):
It just creates a naturalecosystem for you.
And we'll talk about how I gotthere, but like my first um, my
one of my first largercompanies, my software company,
like when we started that, wewere broke.
So like I couldn't affordsalespeople.
So I'm like, how do I, how do Iget my clients to sell for me?
And that's how I found my wayinto customer experience.
(07:01):
And then I just put the twist onit once I saw the the
unreasonable hospitalityframework, which somebody
listens may have may have read.
And if you haven't, it's anamazing book.
So that's how I ended up.
It's that's what I do.
That's how I kind of in a littlebit of a preview of how I ended
up here.
SPEAKER_00 (07:15):
Love it.
Okay, so let's talk about thecustomer journey because I think
some people have heard, somepeople may have never heard that
phrase.
Some people have heard thatphrase and think it means
something specific.
And I think some people havedifferent ideas of what it
means.
So for someone who has neverreally looked at their work this
way, what is the customerjourney and why does it matter?
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
I'm gonna answer it in two parts.
The high level one is howsomeone feels working with your
business at every single touchpoint, with a touch point being
an email or a phone call textthe first time they hit your
landing page.
So top level is how people feelworking with with you in your
(07:58):
brand.
And there's that awesome quoteby Mile Angela's like, people
will forget, you know, peopleforget what you said, people
forget what you did, but peoplewill never forget the way you
made them feel.
So that that is the like, eventhough I said top level, it's
like that is like the bedrockfoundation of customer
experience.
Sometimes also customerexperience, customer journey are
used interchangeably.
(08:18):
And then like from there, youget down to like the you get
down to the structural part ofit is be is a lot of business
owners, they, you know, theycould they start, we do the best
we can, but the customer, thecustomer experience and the
customer journey is notsomething that has been
intentionally put together.
Like maybe you intentionally puttogether like, oh, I need a
(08:41):
follow-up email sequence here,or I, you know what, they there
probably should be some sort oflike onboarding.
But it's a it's kind of like ahaphazard thing that's been put
together.
And you don't really, you'venever really like fully mapped
it out and looked at the gaps,saying, oh wow, there might be a
bit of time, you know, thismight be too far from people to
not hear from us and trust mightbe dropped.
(09:02):
So when really customerexperience, customer journey,
the structural part of it is howyou know, making sure making
making sure people feel awesome.
And I have lots of cool storiesregarding that.
And then the structural map ofintentionally crafting this,
because in terms of why itmatters, if you do not do this,
(09:22):
you are just losing money for noreason.
It's just, and it drives mecrazy because as a lot of us
small business owners, likeevery dollar and every hour is
so precious.
And I look at it in terms of ifyou have not, if you're not,
have you not intentionally andstrategically mapped that out to
see where you might be where youmight be losing people along the
(09:45):
customer journey?
It's like having a bucket withholes in it, and you're just
pouring, if you're especially ifyou're doing any kind of paid
ads, you're just pouring moneyinto this bucket, but you
haven't looked to see where theleaks are.
So it's just you keep pouring,pouring, pouring, and it just
keeps leaking out.
So by intentionally craftingthat customer journey, customer
experience, it's making sureyour bucket doesn't have holes
(10:08):
so that the money and the effortyou're putting into your
business is paying you back asmuch as it possibly can.
Is in that's why I am fairlynuts about this because like
everyone just works too hard tojust be leaking to be leaking
money um in their business.
SPEAKER_00 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So it sounds like part of it isabout customer retention, right?
And even if you don't have asubscription model or a
membership model, you still wantcustomers to consistently want
to keep working with you.
Maybe they start out at onelevel and then you want them to
go to the next level with you.
And so the customer journey isreally important when they're at
that first level because theexperience they have, the way
(10:46):
that they feel, that's gonnadetermine if they're like, yes,
I want to buy whatever this ladysells next, or if they're like,
get me out of here, right?
And also you mentioned earlier,it's a big part of getting
referrals without even having toask for referrals sometimes,
right?
Like we want people to have thebest experience with us so that
when they are talking to otherpeople about their experience
(11:07):
with us, they are, like yousaid, our best salespeople.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
It really kind of hits what I say, like the four
R's, it's revenue.
Because if you take a look atthe be you know, the top of your
funnel and you find ways toimprove it there, you're gonna
be increasing your revenuebecause more leads are gonna be
coming into prospects to becoming to convert.
So we have revenue.
And then, like you said, we haveretention.
So this goes beyond, you know,the customer journey goes beyond
(11:33):
just that beginning part of yourfunnel when people are starting
to interact with you, of course,which is crucially important,
but we have retention.
So it, you know, we're gonna bewant to retain them in our
journey, but we also want toretain them after, you know,
after purchase.
So we need to keep, you know,keep that relationship alive in
any way, like you said, in termsof whether or not they are going
(11:55):
to be moving through, you know,moving to another product, or if
they're just one, or if it's acontinuation.
Like I work with a lot offinancial planners and insurance
companies.
And the goal, you know, the goalthere is to keep these customers
because if you're an insurance,I have like I have an insurance
client and on their street,there's probably 10 different
insurance companies that theycould go and switch to.
(12:17):
Well, what's gonna keep themfrom switching to one of the one
of the insurance companies downthe street?
It's gonna be how it's gonna bethem feeling seen and cared for.
So to mapping that out in termsof retention, but also
referrals.
I was on I was on one podcastand did simply like, what's the
best way to get referrals?
(12:39):
And and I just said ask forthem.
However, we're all busy andsometimes we drop the ball.
So, in terms of revenueretention and referrals,
referrals are kind of is twofoldis people feeling making sure
they feel inspired to refer andalso making them making it easy
for them to do it and also justkind of reminding them.
We're all busy to remind them torefer, like reminding the
(13:02):
reminding them to refer.
So that's why we grow ourrevenue, that's how we keep our
retention and we build ourreferral network in because we
all like you know, and mostbusinesses know the the absolute
best converting lead we couldever get was someone who's
referred to us.
SPEAKER_00 (13:15):
Yes, absolutely.
So, what do you see in your workwith business owners when they
start to look at their businessthrough this lens of the
customer journey?
What are they usually seeing?
What surprises them?
What are the things that standout to them that they're like,
oh, I didn't even realize Ineeded to make a change here?
SPEAKER_01 (13:34):
It's really, it's really fun to watch those aha
moments because it's almost likewhen in when I have um, if I'm
doing a talk or a sh or like apodcast like this, it's uh it's
a bit of a paradigm shift interms of like once you see it,
you can't unsee it.
I had one customer that was aservice provider, but they also
had some people that would cometo their facility and I'm like,
(13:54):
okay, tell me, you know, let'swalk through it from their
perspective.
What happens when like they theypark their car?
I'm like, okay, they come in thedoor.
I'm like, okay.
What is the first thing theysee?
They're like, okay, the person'ssitting there.
I'm like, okay, what's aroundthem?
Fax machine, copiers.
And I'm like, okay, now let'slike, let's pause there.
(14:16):
Tell me about the last timeyou're in a really nice salon or
a really nice spa or somethinglike that.
What happens when you come inthe door?
Like, oh, there's it smellsgood.
There's relaxing music.
And and I get this, I got eyecontact with the person.
They immediately greeted meversus where we are, we have
this, you know, we have thisobstruction.
I'm like, okay, in terms of inthis was um, and this was
(14:38):
financial services, and mightnot, you know, that might be a
little bit stressful, but like,what can we do to for when you
walk to set the tone from themoment they step through the
door that this is going to be apeaceful, wonderful experience
for them where they feel caredfor, versus like walking into
someone who can't really seethem and into you know great
copiers and fax machines, whichis behind, which is probably
(15:01):
like normal and is somethingthat just became part of the
day.
But how do we look at it throughthe lens of what is the
experience in the emotionalexperience of someone walking
through that door for the firsttime?
So that's just a visual that Ican that I can let you know.
And in terms of like a digitalexperience, some of the things
that they recognize is ifsomeone does, you know, someone
(15:22):
gets a purchase.
Um, and this is when when I workwith people in workshops or my
mastermind, we map this wholething out and they can see it.
And I and I and I you call it wecall it interrogating the
customer journey.
And they say, like, oh, they geta thank you email.
I'm like, okay, tell me aboutthe thank thank you email.
Like, oh, like, thank you forbuying from us, thank you for
purchasing, thank you for buyingthis package.
(15:43):
I'm like, okay, right now that'skind of like a nothing burger.
It's not exactly a negativeexperience, it's not exactly a
positive experience.
But what could we do with thisemail to get some emotion in
there and make it positive?
And they'll come up in my myclients will come up with a
bunch of ideas, and it's like,oh, and like, well, like what
about a video?
It's like, like, oh, that willtake a lot of time.
(16:03):
I'm like, what if we just did?
It doesn't have to be a customvideo to this client, it could
be, but what if you just, youknow, instead of them, instead
of them getting a thank youemail, what if it's you saying,
like, hey, I'm so glad you're,you know, I'm so glad.
Welcome to the family.
We're great, you know, so gladto have you here.
And something warm and personal,and it's just a link or
something you put in an email interms of taking, you know, a you
(16:26):
know, a little sentence and thenmaking the experience up in the
experience, even if it's on youriPhone in like 10 minutes.
Right.
So yeah, those are a couple ofexamples.
SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Yeah, I love those examples.
And I I love what you're sayingtoo, because one of the things
that I talk about withnetworking and especially with
follow-up is there's so manydifferent ways to do it, right?
There's no recipe.
You're not gonna meet withsomebody and tell them, like,
okay, the first step when theydo this, you want to send them
an email that says this, this,here's a template.
Well, next step, you're gonna dothis, and here's a template for
(16:56):
that, right?
Because everybody has adifferent personality, everybody
has a different style, everybodyhas a different business,
everybody has different clients.
They're trying to createdifferent feelings for different
clients, right?
Like, obviously, I'm not goingto respond to someone who has
asked me to plan a wedding thesame way I'm going to respond to
someone who has asked me to plana funeral.
Like, we're not sending the sameemail, I hope.
(17:19):
Um, and so I love that too, thatit's very customized, and
there's so many different waysto create those touch points
along the way with people.
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
Something you just said jogged my memory in terms
of a great story about a companywho did this incredibly well.
Um, I was, I had an amazing cat.
I love my cat.
She was elderly, and I got herfood through Chewy.
And her food would comeroutinely every single month.
And they the the week came wheremy cat passed away.
(17:50):
And, you know, sad.
And then what you know, whathappens then, you know, in the
next couple of days.
I I forgot to call, you know,stopped the delivery.
And I open up my door and thebox, you know, is there, you
know, it's like Natasha's catfood.
And and I'm like, and and and Istart to cry.
And in other words, like there'sa huge negative here.
(18:12):
So Chewie recognized this andsaid, okay, this is you know,
this is something that reoccurs.
And it's now their company in mymind, now they made my their
company just made me sob on myfront porch.
Like that is not what we want asbusiness owners.
Right.
Like bad, bad, bad.
However, when I when I caughtwhen I called them, I said, hey,
(18:34):
you know, look at my cat died.
I can't, you know, I can't onlycat food anymore.
You know, she's dead.
Um, oh my gosh.
So I called them up and theysaid, Um, you know what, don't,
you know, we're so sorry.
You know, take the cat food andum, you know, find someone else
who can use it or donate tolocal cat shelter.
You know, we're gonna completelyrefund you.
(18:55):
And I said, All right, thankyou.
So great.
That so they um that'swonderful.
The next day I got a knock on mydoor and I have someone standing
there and is a guy trying togive me flowers, like deliver
flowers to my house.
I'm like, who the heck is givingme flowers?
It's chewy.
You know, you know, saying, youknow, thank you for being with
us, and you're like, I'm we'reso sorry for the loss of you
(19:16):
know your cat.
So that is how, like, in termsof analyzing the customer
journey experience, recognizingthat this is a thing that
happens, and instead of it justbeing uh it just being an
inconvenient thing, like how dowe make this so we have
connection and comfort and carewith our customer experience?
So that's a great example interms of you said, not, you
(19:39):
know, how do we, you know, we'regonna be treating a wedding
versus a different a funeral.
That's true, but meeting peoplewhere they're at, you know,
meeting people where they're atthere, with you know, given that
it's a death and a sadexperience, how to still
approach it with caring andconnection as a as a business
owner and as a business andbringing basically the heart of
everything that I do is bringinghuman connection to uh business.
(20:02):
Yeah.
Because I I just want to reducejoy, I want to increase joy and
reduce suffering.
Because, you know, we're on thispodcast, people listen to this
podcast, and behind the scenes,it's through different seasons
of life.
It is hard.
It is hard.
So maybe that little um, youknow, text message that comes
into check on you, maybe thatlittle, you know, note you get
(20:25):
in the mail could I got it, Igot one from a client.
I was having a day yesterday,and I got the nicest little
email from a, you know, for oneof my clients.
And it's just it, it has such animpact that I want to make sure
that in having a wide having ahaving a wider, a wider touch
point of how I can bring this toother people to really just
uplift everybody is kind of theheart of what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00 (20:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
And that, yeah, Chewy is a greatexample of that.
They they do a very good job.
You mentioned earlier in ourconversation the book and your
certification throughunreasonable hospitality.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that and what it is and
how it's impacted how you teachpeople the customer journey?
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
I was at so the this is the book for those of you who
um either um have read it orwould like to read it.
And it was an aha moment for mewhen I went and I and I saw this
and I was inspired to getcertified because I looked at it
and went, because I was as acoach kind of struggling to find
my home.
And I'm like, I like I can youknow help with messaging and do
this.
But when I saw that, I said itwas the it was that electric
(21:31):
light bulb moment that we getevery once in a while.
I'm like, oh, this is what I do.
I'm able to see where we can putcaring into the business in into
business and have people reallybe advocates for your business.
So you actually don't have towork as hard.
And so I I went and I becamecertified in this framework.
The book is incrediblyinspiring.
And it is the story.
Um, Will Gadera wrote the book,and it's the story about how he
(21:53):
took 11 Madison Park asrestaurant from being the to
being the number one restaurantin the world, and he did it.
And he he was their restaurantwas number 50.
And he's like, ah, how do Ibegin to be number one?
So he wrote in a burst ofinspiration, wrote down on a
napkin like unreasonablehospitality, because he looked
at all the other restaurants andhe said, Everyone has great food
(22:15):
at this level, everyone hasgreat service at this level, but
what could we do differently?
And he and he coined this phraseunreasonable hospitality, which
was being incredibly intentionalabout the customer experience
and bringing and lifting up thesad, you know, the negative
moments like getting a giantbill.
How do we, how do we soften thisand how do we make this into a
win?
(22:35):
But also how do we create pointsof magic in our business?
And and it has a frame and ithas a structured framework
behind it.
And I'm like, yep, that soundsgood.
Sign me up.
I want to bring this to otherpeople.
I am uh, I am a giant fan.
So that's that's how I ended up,that's how I ended up in um
working with in becoming anunreasonable hospitality coach
(22:58):
and working with people in thiscapacity.
Is it's inspiration and alsopracticality because I've done
this in my businesses.
I didn't really have a name forit, and I know it works.
SPEAKER_00 (23:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so if people are listeningto this podcast and they are
like starting to have the wheelsturning about their customer
experience and the connectionthat they're creating with
customers and their thedifferent touch points that they
have, or maybe they're like,God, I don't even know if I have
any touch points.
What is the best place for themto start um without feeling
(23:30):
like, okay, I gotta like tear itdown and start everything over?
SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
That sounds good.
They can go to if they want toget a little um kind of a launch
guide, you can go to my websiteat www.dannywhitestone.com.
I have a um people first profitsfollow guide that they can
download.
And also they can um small thingyou can do is you can watch the
Unreasable Hospitality TED Talk.
(23:54):
You can read the book.
But if you be if you if youbecome into my ecosystem, you
will get these things.
So and you'll get links too, sothat you can learn a bit, a
little bit more about theframework and how to apply it
and how to apply it to yourbusiness because it creates a
win-win-win for everyone.
You have happier clients,they're happy, you're their
clients are happier, you'rehappier, and you're making more
(24:16):
money.
So it's really it's a win-win,it's a win-win-win to apply to
your business.
SPEAKER_00 (24:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
I feel like it makes businessmore fun and more rewarding too,
right?
Because you do have thatpersonal connection and you have
those opportunities with people.
You know, this has changed kindof how I approach people who
join um the Powerful WomenRising Connection Network or the
masterminds, because I willreach out to somebody now after
they've been in the mastermindfor a certain amount of time and
(24:42):
say, Hey, how's it going?
What's missing?
What's working for you?
Have you been to the calls?
If you haven't been to thecalls, why not?
And it's interesting.
I I used to have those emailsautomated.
And I got an email from somebodywho was newer in the community,
and she got that follow-upemail.
I think it was like three monthsinto her membership.
And she wrote me back and shewas like, I don't, I hope you're
(25:04):
okay with me telling you this,but this email just hit very
weird because you are all aboutlike authenticity and personal
connection and, you know, beinghuman.
And it's very clear that thisemail is automated because it
said, you know, if you've beento any of the calls, blah, blah,
blah.
Well, she'd been to every singleone of them, right?
(25:24):
Like I knew that she'd been toevery single one of them, but
she was still getting thisautomated email.
And I was really so glad shetold me that because that's one
of those things that like youdon't really think about.
I don't want to be sending outan email that's making people
feel gross three months intotheir membership, right?
And so now I've changed the waythat I do that.
And it's it feels better to metoo, because I'm getting more
(25:48):
responses to those emails.
So I'm getting the opportunityto hear like what's working for
people, what's not working forpeople.
I'm getting positive feedback,I'm getting ideas of how I can
change things.
And so that really, like, likeyou said, I think it's better
for them, but it's been betterfor me too.
SPEAKER_01 (26:04):
Absolutely.
It's there's nothing like thathuman connection and weaving in
like where can we have thepersonal touches like that, and
where can we systematize?
Um, because thing, you know, asa business owner is like we have
to be able to scale things.
Like um, when my dog goes to thevet, I get an automated text the
next day saying, just checkingin to see how Holland's doing
going, you know, how he's doing,hope all is well.
(26:26):
And like, I know that.
So that's an example of like, Iknow that's automated, but it's
still like a point of caring.
Yeah.
So just and just picking andchoosing and creating this
beauty, you know, this magicaljourney for your clients, so
that, like you said, like youknow problems before you know
about problems before theybecome problems, before they
become cancellations, and youhave the chance to address them.
(26:47):
Because at the end of the day,like we all want to be seen and
we all want to be heard.
So just building, you know, justbuilding that into our building
that into our business so thatwe can.
So we're again, so everybody, soeverybody wins.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
Yeah, brilliant.
I love it.
Okay, so I'm gonna put the linkin the show notes for people to
get your people first profitsfollow.
I think that's amazing.
I'll put the link in the shownotes for people to watch the
TED Talk on unreasonablehospitality.
Of course, I will put the linkto your networking events in the
show notes in case anyonesomehow has missed that in my
5,000 emails.
(27:22):
Um, where else can they connectwith you or learn more about
what you do?
SPEAKER_01 (27:26):
Let's see.
I really the um I think the bestis just to hop on the networking
in the website in my website,because through the website you
can find everywhere.
Of course, connect with me ifyou're on LinkedIn, connect with
me there.
I'm Danny Whitestone, Instagram,Danny Whitestone, depending on
your social, you know, yoursocial media of of of choice.
That would be that would belovely.
I would again, you get twoawesome people in a room and you
(27:50):
share, you know, shareconnections.
It, you know, only good things,only good things come from that.
So yeah, I would love Ianybody's listening, I would
love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
Yeah, awesome.
And if you are listening and youhaven't been to one of Danny's
networking events, the reasonthat I'm always talking about
it, first of all, I think it'svery hard to find virtual
networking events that are highquality and worth your time.
And yours are amazing.
But I also was telling youbefore we started recording, I
love the format because whereasmine is more breakout rooms,
(28:19):
you're with four or five peoplefor 10 minutes at a time, yours
is one-on-one with somebody for10 minutes at a time.
And the cool thing about it isyou get to know who's gonna be
there ahead of time.
So you get to choose, I want tomeet this person, I don't want
to meet this person, I'mindifferent about this person,
and they do the same thing.
Plus, it's kind of like speeddating, where afterwards it asks
(28:40):
you, like, do you want to shareyour contact information with
this person?
And sometimes you're like, No, Idon't.
And sometimes you do.
And I just think the format ofit is brilliant and it's such a
great way to um, you know, Italk a lot about networking
authentically and like a human,but also being intentional and
strategic about it.
And I think your events balanceboth of those things so well.
(29:02):
So if you're listening andyou've not been to one,
definitely check it out.
And Danny, thank you so much forbeing a guest on the podcast.
This has been great.
Thank you.
This has been awesome.
This is thank you so much.
Hi Danny.
Welcome to the Powerful WomenRising Podcast.
Hi, Melissa.
SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (00:07):
Yes, I'm so excited to chat with you.
Well, we've been chatting for awhile before we even started
recording because that's how weare.
So I hope everyone has had atleast one cup of coffee before
they listen to this podcast.
I want to talk first.
I'm going to have you introduceyourself, but I want to talk a
little bit first about how youand I met.
And I don't even remember how wemet.
Do you?
(00:27):
No, no, but that's the nature ofso many great connections.
I'm like, okay, well, greatstory.
Nobody knows how we met.
But the point is, I feel likeyou're somebody that has just
always kind of been in my circleand I don't even know where I
found you.
I did a networking challengeseveral years ago when I went to
a networking event every day inJanuary.
It was horrible.
Zero out of five stars, do notrecommend.
(00:48):
But I think that might be when Ifound you.
And one of the reasons that Iwanted to have you on the
podcast, I wanted you to talkabout your customer journey and
hospitality and all the thingsthat you love to talk about.
But I also wanted to just touchon before we started into all of
that, our relationship.
Because I think it's sointeresting that you run a
(01:08):
networking event forentrepreneurs.
I run a networking event forentrepreneurs.
I know I've told you and thelisteners before the story about
the networking event that Isigned up for.
It was$15.
And a couple of days before theevent, the lady refunded my$15
and sent me an email and said, Irefunded your$15 because you are
my direct competition.
And basically, like, you can'tcome to my networking event.
(01:31):
And you and I have arelationship that is so on the
opposite end of that spectrum.
Like people who are on my emaillist have seen me talk about
your event like probably moretimes than they've seen me talk
about my own.
So I want to hear from you whatis your philosophy like when it
comes to your relationship withme or with other people who have
(01:53):
similar offers to you?
Why are you like you are and notmore like the like you can't
come to my event because you'remy competition lady?
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
That's a great qu it's a great question.
And I think it's just because,like, even if you do the same
thing, you're always gonna do itin a slightly different way
because we're completelydifferent people.
And someone might resonate withone person's style versus
another person's style.
And really at the end of theday, I don't think that anything
bad can happen when you getcarrying smart people in a room
(02:25):
together.
Like sometimes you don't knowexactly what's gonna happen.
Like, like if and and I and thennever look at it like that in
terms of like you're awesome,great, let's meet and let's
support each let's support eachother.
And uh so it's it's almostbaffled.
It's it's such a foreign conceptto me, which I'm grateful for, I
guess, in terms of like yousaying that, I'm like, oh my
gosh, I wouldn't it that wouldbe that would be to me, that
(02:49):
would be a difficult way to gothrough life.
SPEAKER_00 (02:51):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
Um because and you'd miss out on a lot of
opportunities, you know, inmeeting amazing, amazing people.
Uh so yeah, I think so, yeah, interms of summarizing on that
point, when you have two, youknow, caring, awesome people
that are smart or anybody,that's why like the networking
event.
You bring amazing, smart,awesome people together, like
great things are gonna happen.
(03:13):
So I just kind of, and for therest of it, I just kind of leave
it up to the universe of what'sgonna, you know, of what comes
up for that.
And that's kind of how I goafter, you know, look at
everything.
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I totally agree.
I think part of it too is anabundance thing, right?
Like when we have that idea, andthis is something I talk a lot
about in networking, becausewhen you have that scarcity
mindset, you are gonna show upas a salesy weirdo when you're
networking.
Like it's just inevitable.
When you have the mindset ofthere's enough for everybody,
there's enough clients, there'senough money, there's enough
(03:42):
business, there's enoughfriendship for everybody, you're
gonna show up in a verydifferent energy.
And I think that's a lot of whatit comes back to too.
Like, I'm not an I'm not soegotistical that I think like my
community is the only communityanyone ever needs, right?
Like, or my networking eventsare the only ones you need to go
to.
Like, that's literally not hownetworking works.
(04:03):
And so I don't know.
I just think like the more themerrier.
And I go to yours and I neverfeel weird coming to yours.
When you come to mine, I'm neverlike, oh, what's she doing here?
Like, it's just yeah, I don'tknow.
I would rather be us than them.
That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
I yeah, I I I love being this way.
It's a really nice way to, it'sa really nice way to go through
go through life and all youknow, growth and just goodness
come from it.
SPEAKER_00 (04:28):
Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
And that's how you ended up on this podcast.
Yeah, our connection here.
And if I do my and I and I lovebringing you into my world, and
if I do my videos again, likeyou'll be the first person that
I bring on to to explain, youknow, to help share your journey
and how you grew the amazingorganizations and the skill set
that you bring to the table.
Because it's one of the it's inhere's the thing, in terms of
(04:50):
also when you step out intocoaching, I've kind of found
basically how am I going to dosomething different?
Because a lot of these lessonsare the same, but we all know it
in terms of like you kind ofknow it, but then you hear it
from somebody else, freezed injust a different way.
And it's those aha moments.
And and I and I love that withpeople with all, you know, even
(05:10):
if they do similar things, they,you know, there's always that
like different take, thatdifferent twist on it.
And and and it's just and itjust benefits, it just benefits
everybody.
Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_00 (05:19):
Okay, I just wanted to touch on that really quick
because it was something reallyimportant that I wanted the
listeners to hear, just in termsof like when they're out
networking and they're outmeeting people, if they meet
somebody who does the same thingthat they do or something
similar to what they do.
I want them to think about thisconversation and be like, gosh,
look at all the opportunitiesand the goodness and the
friendship and everything that'scome out of us being the way
(05:42):
that we are, instead of beinglike, oh, you're my competition.
I'm not telling anybody aboutyour event or you can't come to
mine.
And I just wanted everybody tohear that.
I love that.
Okay, so let's talk about younow.
Tell everybody who you are andwhat you do.
SPEAKER_01 (05:56):
So um, I'm Danny Whitestone and I am a customer
experience and growthstrategist.
And I'm certified in thisawesome platform, this awesome
framework called UnreasonableHospitality.
And we're going to be talkingabout that all set today.
But basically, what I do is Ihelp businesses grow by having
you intentionally map yourcustomer journey.
Because I have found throughgrowing my own, growing my own
(06:17):
businesses, that this is afantastic way to grow and also
to make sure that your everyonethat you work for, all your
clients, become salespeople foryou.
And they are actively referringyou all the time so that you
don't have to do these massivelike marketing pushes of feast
and famine.
Your referral source and peopleare inspired to talk about you.
(06:39):
It just creates a naturalecosystem for you.
And we'll talk about how I gotthere, but like my first um, my
one of my first largercompanies, my software company,
like when we started that, wewere broke.
So like I couldn't affordsalespeople.
So I'm like, how do I, how do Iget my clients to sell for me?
And that's how I found my wayinto customer experience.
(07:01):
And then I just put the twist onit once I saw the the
unreasonable hospitalityframework, which somebody
listens may have may have read.
And if you haven't, it's anamazing book.
So that's how I ended up.
It's that's what I do.
That's how I kind of in a littlebit of a preview of how I ended
up here.
SPEAKER_00 (07:15):
Love it.
Okay, so let's talk about thecustomer journey because I think
some people have heard, somepeople may have never heard that
phrase.
Some people have heard thatphrase and think it means
something specific.
And I think some people havedifferent ideas of what it
means.
So for someone who has neverreally looked at their work this
way, what is the customerjourney and why does it matter?
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
I'm gonna answer it in two parts.
The high level one is howsomeone feels working with your
business at every single touchpoint, with a touch point being
an email or a phone call textthe first time they hit your
landing page.
So top level is how people feelworking with with you in your
(07:58):
brand.
And there's that awesome quoteby Mile Angela's like, people
will forget, you know, peopleforget what you said, people
forget what you did, but peoplewill never forget the way you
made them feel.
So that that is the like, eventhough I said top level, it's
like that is like the bedrockfoundation of customer
experience.
Sometimes also customerexperience, customer journey are
used interchangeably.
(08:18):
And then like from there, youget down to like the you get
down to the structural part ofit is be is a lot of business
owners, they, you know, theycould they start, we do the best
we can, but the customer, thecustomer experience and the
customer journey is notsomething that has been
intentionally put together.
Like maybe you intentionally puttogether like, oh, I need a
(08:41):
follow-up email sequence here,or I, you know what, they there
probably should be some sort oflike onboarding.
But it's a it's kind of like ahaphazard thing that's been put
together.
And you don't really, you'venever really like fully mapped
it out and looked at the gaps,saying, oh wow, there might be a
bit of time, you know, thismight be too far from people to
not hear from us and trust mightbe dropped.
(09:02):
So when really customerexperience, customer journey,
the structural part of it is howyou know, making sure making
making sure people feel awesome.
And I have lots of cool storiesregarding that.
And then the structural map ofintentionally crafting this,
because in terms of why itmatters, if you do not do this,
(09:22):
you are just losing money for noreason.
It's just, and it drives mecrazy because as a lot of us
small business owners, likeevery dollar and every hour is
so precious.
And I look at it in terms of ifyou have not, if you're not,
have you not intentionally andstrategically mapped that out to
see where you might be where youmight be losing people along the
(09:45):
customer journey?
It's like having a bucket withholes in it, and you're just
pouring, if you're especially ifyou're doing any kind of paid
ads, you're just pouring moneyinto this bucket, but you
haven't looked to see where theleaks are.
So it's just you keep pouring,pouring, pouring, and it just
keeps leaking out.
So by intentionally craftingthat customer journey, customer
experience, it's making sureyour bucket doesn't have holes
(10:08):
so that the money and the effortyou're putting into your
business is paying you back asmuch as it possibly can.
Is in that's why I am fairlynuts about this because like
everyone just works too hard tojust be leaking to be leaking
money um in their business.
SPEAKER_00 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So it sounds like part of it isabout customer retention, right?
And even if you don't have asubscription model or a
membership model, you still wantcustomers to consistently want
to keep working with you.
Maybe they start out at onelevel and then you want them to
go to the next level with you.
And so the customer journey isreally important when they're at
that first level because theexperience they have, the way
(10:46):
that they feel, that's gonnadetermine if they're like, yes,
I want to buy whatever this ladysells next, or if they're like,
get me out of here, right?
And also you mentioned earlier,it's a big part of getting
referrals without even having toask for referrals sometimes,
right?
Like we want people to have thebest experience with us so that
when they are talking to otherpeople about their experience
(11:07):
with us, they are, like yousaid, our best salespeople.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
It really kind of hits what I say, like the four
R's, it's revenue.
Because if you take a look atthe be you know, the top of your
funnel and you find ways toimprove it there, you're gonna
be increasing your revenuebecause more leads are gonna be
coming into prospects to becoming to convert.
So we have revenue.
And then, like you said, we haveretention.
So this goes beyond, you know,the customer journey goes beyond
(11:33):
just that beginning part of yourfunnel when people are starting
to interact with you, of course,which is crucially important,
but we have retention.
So it, you know, we're gonna bewant to retain them in our
journey, but we also want toretain them after, you know,
after purchase.
So we need to keep, you know,keep that relationship alive in
any way, like you said, in termsof whether or not they are going
(11:55):
to be moving through, you know,moving to another product, or if
they're just one, or if it's acontinuation.
Like I work with a lot offinancial planners and insurance
companies.
And the goal, you know, the goalthere is to keep these customers
because if you're an insurance,I have like I have an insurance
client and on their street,there's probably 10 different
insurance companies that theycould go and switch to.
(12:17):
Well, what's gonna keep themfrom switching to one of the one
of the insurance companies downthe street?
It's gonna be how it's gonna bethem feeling seen and cared for.
So to mapping that out in termsof retention, but also
referrals.
I was on I was on one podcastand did simply like, what's the
best way to get referrals?
(12:39):
And and I just said ask forthem.
However, we're all busy andsometimes we drop the ball.
So, in terms of revenueretention and referrals,
referrals are kind of is twofoldis people feeling making sure
they feel inspired to refer andalso making them making it easy
for them to do it and also justkind of reminding them.
We're all busy to remind them torefer, like reminding the
(13:02):
reminding them to refer.
So that's why we grow ourrevenue, that's how we keep our
retention and we build ourreferral network in because we
all like you know, and mostbusinesses know the the absolute
best converting lead we couldever get was someone who's
referred to us.
SPEAKER_00 (13:15):
Yes, absolutely.
So, what do you see in your workwith business owners when they
start to look at their businessthrough this lens of the
customer journey?
What are they usually seeing?
What surprises them?
What are the things that standout to them that they're like,
oh, I didn't even realize Ineeded to make a change here?
SPEAKER_01 (13:34):
It's really, it's really fun to watch those aha
moments because it's almost likewhen in when I have um, if I'm
doing a talk or a sh or like apodcast like this, it's uh it's
a bit of a paradigm shift interms of like once you see it,
you can't unsee it.
I had one customer that was aservice provider, but they also
had some people that would cometo their facility and I'm like,
(13:54):
okay, tell me, you know, let'swalk through it from their
perspective.
What happens when like they theypark their car?
I'm like, okay, they come in thedoor.
I'm like, okay.
What is the first thing theysee?
They're like, okay, the person'ssitting there.
I'm like, okay, what's aroundthem?
Fax machine, copiers.
And I'm like, okay, now let'slike, let's pause there.
(14:16):
Tell me about the last timeyou're in a really nice salon or
a really nice spa or somethinglike that.
What happens when you come inthe door?
Like, oh, there's it smellsgood.
There's relaxing music.
And and I get this, I got eyecontact with the person.
They immediately greeted meversus where we are, we have
this, you know, we have thisobstruction.
I'm like, okay, in terms of inthis was um, and this was
(14:38):
financial services, and mightnot, you know, that might be a
little bit stressful, but like,what can we do to for when you
walk to set the tone from themoment they step through the
door that this is going to be apeaceful, wonderful experience
for them where they feel caredfor, versus like walking into
someone who can't really seethem and into you know great
copiers and fax machines, whichis behind, which is probably
(15:01):
like normal and is somethingthat just became part of the
day.
But how do we look at it throughthe lens of what is the
experience in the emotionalexperience of someone walking
through that door for the firsttime?
So that's just a visual that Ican that I can let you know.
And in terms of like a digitalexperience, some of the things
that they recognize is ifsomeone does, you know, someone
(15:22):
gets a purchase.
Um, and this is when when I workwith people in workshops or my
mastermind, we map this wholething out and they can see it.
And I and I and I you call it wecall it interrogating the
customer journey.
And they say, like, oh, they geta thank you email.
I'm like, okay, tell me aboutthe thank thank you email.
Like, oh, like, thank you forbuying from us, thank you for
purchasing, thank you for buyingthis package.
(15:43):
I'm like, okay, right now that'skind of like a nothing burger.
It's not exactly a negativeexperience, it's not exactly a
positive experience.
But what could we do with thisemail to get some emotion in
there and make it positive?
And they'll come up in my myclients will come up with a
bunch of ideas, and it's like,oh, and like, well, like what
about a video?
It's like, like, oh, that willtake a lot of time.
(16:03):
I'm like, what if we just did?
It doesn't have to be a customvideo to this client, it could
be, but what if you just, youknow, instead of them, instead
of them getting a thank youemail, what if it's you saying,
like, hey, I'm so glad you're,you know, I'm so glad.
Welcome to the family.
We're great, you know, so gladto have you here.
And something warm and personal,and it's just a link or
something you put in an email interms of taking, you know, a you
(16:26):
know, a little sentence and thenmaking the experience up in the
experience, even if it's on youriPhone in like 10 minutes.
Right.
So yeah, those are a couple ofexamples.
SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Yeah, I love those examples.
And I I love what you're sayingtoo, because one of the things
that I talk about withnetworking and especially with
follow-up is there's so manydifferent ways to do it, right?
There's no recipe.
You're not gonna meet withsomebody and tell them, like,
okay, the first step when theydo this, you want to send them
an email that says this, this,here's a template.
Well, next step, you're gonna dothis, and here's a template for
(16:56):
that, right?
Because everybody has adifferent personality, everybody
has a different style, everybodyhas a different business,
everybody has different clients.
They're trying to createdifferent feelings for different
clients, right?
Like, obviously, I'm not goingto respond to someone who has
asked me to plan a wedding thesame way I'm going to respond to
someone who has asked me to plana funeral.
Like, we're not sending the sameemail, I hope.
(17:19):
Um, and so I love that too, thatit's very customized, and
there's so many different waysto create those touch points
along the way with people.
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
Something you just said jogged my memory in terms
of a great story about a companywho did this incredibly well.
Um, I was, I had an amazing cat.
I love my cat.
She was elderly, and I got herfood through Chewy.
And her food would comeroutinely every single month.
And they the the week came wheremy cat passed away.
(17:50):
And, you know, sad.
And then what you know, whathappens then, you know, in the
next couple of days.
I I forgot to call, you know,stopped the delivery.
And I open up my door and thebox, you know, is there, you
know, it's like Natasha's catfood.
And and I'm like, and and and Istart to cry.
And in other words, like there'sa huge negative here.
(18:12):
So Chewie recognized this andsaid, okay, this is you know,
this is something that reoccurs.
And it's now their company in mymind, now they made my their
company just made me sob on myfront porch.
Like that is not what we want asbusiness owners.
Right.
Like bad, bad, bad.
However, when I when I caughtwhen I called them, I said, hey,
(18:34):
you know, look at my cat died.
I can't, you know, I can't onlycat food anymore.
You know, she's dead.
Um, oh my gosh.
So I called them up and theysaid, Um, you know what, don't,
you know, we're so sorry.
You know, take the cat food andum, you know, find someone else
who can use it or donate tolocal cat shelter.
You know, we're gonna completelyrefund you.
(18:55):
And I said, All right, thankyou.
So great.
That so they um that'swonderful.
The next day I got a knock on mydoor and I have someone standing
there and is a guy trying togive me flowers, like deliver
flowers to my house.
I'm like, who the heck is givingme flowers?
It's chewy.
You know, you know, saying, youknow, thank you for being with
us, and you're like, I'm we'reso sorry for the loss of you
(19:16):
know your cat.
So that is how, like, in termsof analyzing the customer
journey experience, recognizingthat this is a thing that
happens, and instead of it justbeing uh it just being an
inconvenient thing, like how dowe make this so we have
connection and comfort and carewith our customer experience?
So that's a great example interms of you said, not, you
(19:39):
know, how do we, you know, we'regonna be treating a wedding
versus a different a funeral.
That's true, but meeting peoplewhere they're at, you know,
meeting people where they're atthere, with you know, given that
it's a death and a sadexperience, how to still
approach it with caring andconnection as a as a business
owner and as a business andbringing basically the heart of
everything that I do is bringinghuman connection to uh business.
(20:02):
Yeah.
Because I I just want to reducejoy, I want to increase joy and
reduce suffering.
Because, you know, we're on thispodcast, people listen to this
podcast, and behind the scenes,it's through different seasons
of life.
It is hard.
It is hard.
So maybe that little um, youknow, text message that comes
into check on you, maybe thatlittle, you know, note you get
(20:25):
in the mail could I got it, Igot one from a client.
I was having a day yesterday,and I got the nicest little
email from a, you know, for oneof my clients.
And it's just it, it has such animpact that I want to make sure
that in having a wide having ahaving a wider, a wider touch
point of how I can bring this toother people to really just
uplift everybody is kind of theheart of what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00 (20:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
And that, yeah, Chewy is a greatexample of that.
They they do a very good job.
You mentioned earlier in ourconversation the book and your
certification throughunreasonable hospitality.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that and what it is and
how it's impacted how you teachpeople the customer journey?
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
I was at so the this is the book for those of you who
um either um have read it orwould like to read it.
And it was an aha moment for mewhen I went and I and I saw this
and I was inspired to getcertified because I looked at it
and went, because I was as acoach kind of struggling to find
my home.
And I'm like, I like I can youknow help with messaging and do
this.
But when I saw that, I said itwas the it was that electric
(21:31):
light bulb moment that we getevery once in a while.
I'm like, oh, this is what I do.
I'm able to see where we can putcaring into the business in into
business and have people reallybe advocates for your business.
So you actually don't have towork as hard.
And so I I went and I becamecertified in this framework.
The book is incrediblyinspiring.
And it is the story.
Um, Will Gadera wrote the book,and it's the story about how he
(21:53):
took 11 Madison Park asrestaurant from being the to
being the number one restaurantin the world, and he did it.
And he he was their restaurantwas number 50.
And he's like, ah, how do Ibegin to be number one?
So he wrote in a burst ofinspiration, wrote down on a
napkin like unreasonablehospitality, because he looked
at all the other restaurants andhe said, Everyone has great food
(22:15):
at this level, everyone hasgreat service at this level, but
what could we do differently?
And he and he coined this phraseunreasonable hospitality, which
was being incredibly intentionalabout the customer experience
and bringing and lifting up thesad, you know, the negative
moments like getting a giantbill.
How do we, how do we soften thisand how do we make this into a
win?
(22:35):
But also how do we create pointsof magic in our business?
And and it has a frame and ithas a structured framework
behind it.
And I'm like, yep, that soundsgood.
Sign me up.
I want to bring this to otherpeople.
I am uh, I am a giant fan.
So that's that's how I ended up,that's how I ended up in um
working with in becoming anunreasonable hospitality coach
(22:58):
and working with people in thiscapacity.
Is it's inspiration and alsopracticality because I've done
this in my businesses.
I didn't really have a name forit, and I know it works.
SPEAKER_00 (23:08):
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, so if people are listeningto this podcast and they are
like starting to have the wheelsturning about their customer
experience and the connectionthat they're creating with
customers and their thedifferent touch points that they
have, or maybe they're like,God, I don't even know if I have
any touch points.
What is the best place for themto start um without feeling
(23:30):
like, okay, I gotta like tear itdown and start everything over?
SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
That sounds good.
They can go to if they want toget a little um kind of a launch
guide, you can go to my websiteat www.dannywhitestone.com.
I have a um people first profitsfollow guide that they can
download.
And also they can um small thingyou can do is you can watch the
Unreasable Hospitality TED Talk.
(23:54):
You can read the book.
But if you be if you if youbecome into my ecosystem, you
will get these things.
So and you'll get links too, sothat you can learn a bit, a
little bit more about theframework and how to apply it
and how to apply it to yourbusiness because it creates a
win-win-win for everyone.
You have happier clients,they're happy, you're their
clients are happier, you'rehappier, and you're making more
(24:16):
money.
So it's really it's a win-win,it's a win-win-win to apply to
your business.
SPEAKER_00 (24:20):
Yeah, absolutely.
I feel like it makes businessmore fun and more rewarding too,
right?
Because you do have thatpersonal connection and you have
those opportunities with people.
You know, this has changed kindof how I approach people who
join um the Powerful WomenRising Connection Network or the
masterminds, because I willreach out to somebody now after
they've been in the mastermindfor a certain amount of time and
(24:42):
say, Hey, how's it going?
What's missing?
What's working for you?
Have you been to the calls?
If you haven't been to thecalls, why not?
And it's interesting.
I I used to have those emailsautomated.
And I got an email from somebodywho was newer in the community,
and she got that follow-upemail.
I think it was like three monthsinto her membership.
And she wrote me back and shewas like, I don't, I hope you're
(25:04):
okay with me telling you this,but this email just hit very
weird because you are all aboutlike authenticity and personal
connection and, you know, beinghuman.
And it's very clear that thisemail is automated because it
said, you know, if you've beento any of the calls, blah, blah,
blah.
Well, she'd been to every singleone of them, right?
(25:24):
Like I knew that she'd been toevery single one of them, but
she was still getting thisautomated email.
And I was really so glad shetold me that because that's one
of those things that like youdon't really think about.
I don't want to be sending outan email that's making people
feel gross three months intotheir membership, right?
And so now I've changed the waythat I do that.
And it's it feels better to metoo, because I'm getting more
(25:48):
responses to those emails.
So I'm getting the opportunityto hear like what's working for
people, what's not working forpeople.
I'm getting positive feedback,I'm getting ideas of how I can
change things.
And so that really, like, likeyou said, I think it's better
for them, but it's been betterfor me too.
SPEAKER_01 (26:04):
Absolutely.
It's there's nothing like thathuman connection and weaving in
like where can we have thepersonal touches like that, and
where can we systematize?
Um, because thing, you know, asa business owner is like we have
to be able to scale things.
Like um, when my dog goes to thevet, I get an automated text the
next day saying, just checkingin to see how Holland's doing
going, you know, how he's doing,hope all is well.
(26:26):
And like, I know that.
So that's an example of like, Iknow that's automated, but it's
still like a point of caring.
Yeah.
So just and just picking andchoosing and creating this
beauty, you know, this magicaljourney for your clients, so
that, like you said, like youknow problems before you know
about problems before theybecome problems, before they
become cancellations, and youhave the chance to address them.
(26:47):
Because at the end of the day,like we all want to be seen and
we all want to be heard.
So just building, you know, justbuilding that into our building
that into our business so thatwe can.
So we're again, so everybody, soeverybody wins.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
Yeah, brilliant.
I love it.
Okay, so I'm gonna put the linkin the show notes for people to
get your people first profitsfollow.
I think that's amazing.
I'll put the link in the shownotes for people to watch the
TED Talk on unreasonablehospitality.
Of course, I will put the linkto your networking events in the
show notes in case anyonesomehow has missed that in my
5,000 emails.
(27:22):
Um, where else can they connectwith you or learn more about
what you do?
SPEAKER_01 (27:26):
Let's see.
I really the um I think the bestis just to hop on the networking
in the website in my website,because through the website you
can find everywhere.
Of course, connect with me ifyou're on LinkedIn, connect with
me there.
I'm Danny Whitestone, Instagram,Danny Whitestone, depending on
your social, you know, yoursocial media of of of choice.
That would be that would belovely.
I would again, you get twoawesome people in a room and you
(27:50):
share, you know, shareconnections.
It, you know, only good things,only good things come from that.
So yeah, I would love Ianybody's listening, I would
love to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
Yeah, awesome.
And if you are listening and youhaven't been to one of Danny's
networking events, the reasonthat I'm always talking about
it, first of all, I think it'svery hard to find virtual
networking events that are highquality and worth your time.
And yours are amazing.
But I also was telling youbefore we started recording, I
love the format because whereasmine is more breakout rooms,
(28:19):
you're with four or five peoplefor 10 minutes at a time, yours
is one-on-one with somebody for10 minutes at a time.
And the cool thing about it isyou get to know who's gonna be
there ahead of time.
So you get to choose, I want tomeet this person, I don't want
to meet this person, I'mindifferent about this person,
and they do the same thing.
Plus, it's kind of like speeddating, where afterwards it asks
(28:40):
you, like, do you want to shareyour contact information with
this person?
And sometimes you're like, No, Idon't.
And sometimes you do.
And I just think the format ofit is brilliant and it's such a
great way to um, you know, Italk a lot about networking
authentically and like a human,but also being intentional and
strategic about it.
And I think your events balanceboth of those things so well.
(29:02):
So if you're listening andyou've not been to one,
definitely check it out.
And Danny, thank you so much forbeing a guest on the podcast.
This has been great.
Thank you.
This has been awesome.
This is thank you so much.
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