December 12, 2023 • 39 mins
Former Disney guest service manager, Christos Provistalis, reveals the key to Disney's exceptional customer service lies in selling not just a product, but an emotion. Drawing from his experience at Disney and his subsequent role as a speaker and thought leader, Christos emphasizes the transformative potential of genuine connections and kindness in the service industry. He recounts a magical moment at Disney where technology facilitated a connection between a little girl and Cinderella, illustrating the profound impact of emotional engagement. The discussion extends to family-run businesses, like the speaker's restaurant, emphasizing the sale of a sense of family over mere food. The core lesson revolves around understanding what a company truly sells and how to evoke the desired emotion, a critical factor in determining success. The conversation concludes by exploring strategies to create unforgettable customer experiences through emotional connections, highlighting the importance of making customers feel valued, fostering loyalty through personal touches, and unleashing the power of emotional connections in business.
Guest Information:
Christos Provistalis - www.christosspeaks.com
Phone: (860) 428-9314
Email: info@ChristosSpeaks.com
Linked In - Christos Speaks
Host Information
Bill Butler – Contact Information
Direct – 952-208-7220
https://butlervetinsurance.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/billbutler-cic/
Schedule a Strategy Session with Bill – Strategy Session
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What makes Disney Disney Us, the people.
And we only sell one thing wesell an emotion that people
desire is the only thing that wesell.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint podcast
brought to you by Butler VetInsurance.
Hosted by Bill Butler, theVeterinary Blueprint podcast is
for veterinarians and practicemanagers who are looking to
learn about working on theirpractice instead of in their
practice.
Each episode we will bring yousuccessful, proven blueprints
from others, both inside andoutside the veterinary industry.
(00:38):
Welcome to today's episode.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to this episode of the Veterinary
Blueprint podcast.
My name is Bill Butler and I'myour host for this episode.
And again, veterinary Blueprintpodcast is a podcast where we
bring business entrepreneurshipto the veterinary community and
business insights, and I couldnot be more excited for this
episode of the podcast to bringour guests to you.
(01:04):
I happened to meet thisgentleman at industry mastermind
event.
I was out working on myself inself improvement and I was
meeting with a number ofinsurance agents earlier this
year and I had the privilege ofhearing our guests speak and uh
had the opportunity to hear himagain this weekend.
(01:25):
We're coming to you from a liveremote in San Diego, so if you
hear some background noise inthis episode, we are close to
the uh naval air station onCoronado, so you might hear some
jets in the background, but weare in sunny San Diego and I
just um, our guest actually justgot off the stage as a keynote
for the event I was attendingand I knew that I had to bring
(01:47):
him to the veterinary community.
Um, I would like to call this,uh, this gentleman, my friend
now.
Um, we've had the opportunityto connect on a number of
occasions and and he is just areally genuine great guy, um,
and I'll let him tell his story,cause he's got a great one, and
share some of his insights.
But his name is Christosprovistilis and he is just, uh,
(02:09):
really genuine and kind-heartedperson.
So welcome to the episode,christos.
Thank you for having me, bill,awesome.
So for those of our guests, uh,for those of our listeners
today, why don't you just kindof share a little bit about who
you are and what you're doingnow and then what you how you
came to to be a speaker and athought leader for business
(02:30):
owners and industry leaders?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So, bill, I'm a former guest service manager for
the Walt Disney company and Ihad the pleasure of working at
their flagship resort, uh, forsome years in Orlando, florida,
and there was one day that mademe really realize what my
purpose there was and helped mecreate, uh, my future.
(02:55):
I had an executive come into myrestaurant that was a
restaurant guest service managerand looked at me and said,
christos, what do you sell?
And and I really thought I waslike, man, you can't read the
menu.
So I just, I just turned aroundand I started firing off
everything that we sold.
And he said, christos, I canread the menu.
(03:16):
What do we sell as a company?
And I still didn't get them.
And I just tried to say themepark tickets, hotel rooms and
shirts.
And he's like, christos, that'snot what we sell.
And then he asked me what doesNike sell?
I go to sell sneakers, becausethat's not what they sell, but
this Rolex sell.
And I said watch this.
(03:37):
He's like that's not what theysell.
He goes, christos, anybody canduplicate Disney.
Granted, you would need a lotof money in Orlando, though
they're 46 square miles, butanybody could.
So you need a lot of money inland and land, you know, but
he's like in all reality he goes.
We don't have the best themeparks, we don't have the best
(03:57):
resorts, we don't have the bestrestaurants.
He goes.
What makes Disney Disney?
And I was like he goes us, thepeople.
And we only sell one thing wesell an emotion.
That people desire is the onlything that we sell, and he goes.
Everything you see around this,those are our props that we use
(04:18):
, and he goes.
I asked you what Nike sells, yousaid sneakers.
He goes.
They sell motivation andinspiration is what they sell.
I asked you what Rolex sells?
You don't see.
Uh, their commercials say wehave the best metal.
Check out this.
Our watches keep time likenobody else's business.
Our time is more accurate thananyone's.
You see a well-dressed personcoming out of a very expensive
(04:41):
car.
They sell status and success,but he goes.
We're lucky.
We sell the most desired humanemotion that there actually is.
We sell the emotion ofhappiness.
And when you know andunderstand what your company
sells, your whole businessactually changes.
And when you know andunderstand what you actually
(05:02):
sell, your job is to evoke theemotion you want your client to
feel.
And that bill made me realizethat a lot of companies focus on
stuff they don't actually sell,because it's an emotion that a
company sells through theirproduct.
Yeah, you know, you just gotdone speaking to a room full
business profile.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I really appreciate that you started with that and
shared that.
You know your family was in therestaurant business, is in the
restaurant business and you talkabout that and you say, look,
we don't sell people that.
You say we look, we don't sellpizzas.
What do you sell at therestaurant?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
We ended up finding out after years that we actually
sell.
A sense of family is what wesell at our restaurant.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And you know, it's going to be different for every
restaurant, right?
Correct?
Hey, we sell a party in a goodtime if you're a bar, correct,
so the best party and good timein a bar.
But you know, it's thatinteresting, um, that piece that
I wanted to share today withour, our veterinary blueprints
community, was it's it's notjust pet services that they sell
, or animal health, it's it'syou have to figure out what you
(06:07):
sell.
In the message that you broughtto um the professionals that you
spoke with today, that I hadthe privilege of of sitting in
for the second time, hearing um,hearing you speak was that
connection is energy and thatthat you know, as an insurance
professional, somebody in awhite collar business, right,
(06:27):
like, I don't sell insuranceproducts, I sell safety and
security, or I sell peace ofmind.
If I think I just sell a pieceof paper that talks about all
the things and all the benefitsand features that insurance
policy is, you know, yeah, I canmake some money doing that, but
I'm not going to have thatconnection.
So why don't you talk about theconnection as the energy is
peace?
Because that was, I think thatwas.
(06:48):
It was very interesting for meto hear.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
A lot of people need to understand how we connect as
human beings, and the definitionof human connection is that
it's an energy, and that energyis formed between people when
they feel seen, when they feelheard, when they feel valued and
when they feel understood.
And when those things happen,you create a bond, whether you
(07:16):
know it or don't know it, and alot of companies need to create
a better connection with theircustomers and their employees.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, the employee piece, I think, for the
veterinary community is reallykey and that was that was why I
wanted to talk about theconnection and energy is, and
connection is energy, peace.
Because when you, when you talktoday, you mentioned that when
you have a bond or emotionalconnection with someone, you're
willing to overlook issues orproblems.
(07:48):
Right, you talked about atDisney.
Right, you tell a story aboutCinderella.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So I was working at one of their restaurants and it
was a table service restaurantat the Grand Floridian, directly
right next to Magic Kingdom,and there was a couple from
Michigan.
They came in with a little girland the little girl was maybe
six or seven years old.
She was wearing Cinderella'sdress.
It was eight in the morning.
(08:13):
She ordered chocolate milk.
She spilled the chocolate milkall over herself and she was
devastated that Cinderella's notgonna want to see her.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I mean, why would Cinderella want to see a little
girl covered in chocolate milk,right I?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
mean that was her mind.
My day at Disney is ruined.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I've been thinking about this day for months, of
course.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So I you know.
When in my office I sent a textmessage to all my friends that
are leaders and I said who'swith Cinderella right now?
I need some help?
I, you know.
And one of my friends said I'mwith her.
I said can you please, you know, have her handler, you know say
have her help me 30 seconds.
I went to Emily's table, I slitmy cell phone, my cell phone
(08:53):
right in front of her, and herecomes a FaceTime call from
Cinderella, and Emily was alittle girl's name answered it
and and I said Emily, do youknow Cinderella?
And she's like no, here'sCinderella.
And Cinderella's like hi, emily, it's Cinderella.
I just want to let you knowthat I spilled chocolate milk
all over myself today as well.
(09:14):
You know what?
Just go upstairs, change andI'll see you tonight for dinner.
And then Emily said well, okay,you just hung up on her, you
know it completely changed theconversation.
Emily was back to Emily's fineand their parents started crying
.
And you know I can't just pullMickey and Minnie out of my
pockets for everybody.
I'm like, oh man, one party'sthis and I gotta take care of
(09:37):
them.
But the point that I was makingis so if Emily and her parents
left my restaurant and went tothe ticket and transportation
center and somebody there givethem less than perfect service
when they got their tickets,they wouldn't have noticed.
And when they went next door,they went inside the park and
purchased a bottle of water andsomebody give them less than
perfect service, they wouldn'thave noticed.
(09:59):
Because the more someone isemotionally invested in you, the
less critical and lessobjectively observant they
become about you.
And the perfect example and Iuse that some people like oh,
and I said, when you get marriedor I'm not married when you
fall in love.
When you fall in love, you haveblinders on till.
(10:19):
Somebody says, hey, listen,this person you're dating is
wacko.
And then you go what, yeah,what are you talking about?
She's amazing.
It's the same thing personallyas is professionally.
And I use this example.
Let's just say you send a textmessage or an email to your
client.
That could be misconstrued, youknow, because text and emails.
(10:39):
They lack emotion.
Doesn't matter if you put alittle smiley face or anything
like that, they still lackemotion and they have no tone in
there.
So if they're emotionallyinvested in you and you send
them something like that, thatwould be misconstrued.
They won't.
They'll accept that assomething positive.
They really won't, becausethey're emotionally invested in
you.
So you, you, you, you, you.
(12:42):
So the 738, 55 it's a rule ofcommunication is what it is and
(13:15):
basically states that only 7% ofour communication between human
beings is Verbal.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
So only 7% of what our communication with everyone
else in the world is what we'resaying and you would think it's
like 60, 70 or 80 the words thatwe're saying.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, you know, when years ago and I learned this I
Was like there's no way.
I'm like I thought allcommunication is us talking and
the 38% is tone and pitch of ourvoice and Then 55% is our
you're doing a great job, chrisso exactly your tone is
everything you know and yep, theusually the Higher pitch your
(13:53):
tone is and pitch, the betterthe service that you're giving.
We do that naturally right.
We do that without wanting to.
I know there's some people thatI know we don't sing happy
birthday in a low correct.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
We don't do that right.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
You get all excited we sing it high and happy,
absolutely so.
But One thing that we need topay attention to is the 38, and
the 55% has to alwaysSubstantiate the seven so what
was the fifth?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
so we didn't talk about 55, so 50 body language.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yes, so you know our body.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
We're visual people right as humans and our body
reacts immediately.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Right, so our body, so we're in the subconscious,
right there.
You just do things withoutknowing because our subconscious
lives in the now.
It doesn't think so if you'vegot a terrible poker face, you
just yeah, you're your, yourfacial tone, your facial
reaction.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
You talked about smiling if you, if you're,
you're, you're.
You told the story aboutspeaking at a conference and,
and if you're, if it's a naturalsmile, you've got crow's feet
now.
Usually record the episodes onvideo as well as, but because
we're doing a remote, you can'tsee what we're doing right now.
But if you have a genuinenatural smile, it should show
crow's feet.
And you were talking about.
(15:15):
You were speaking at aConvention where everyone had.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
90% of the people had Botox interface.
And while I was talking,everybody just looked at each
other and I was like can you seeme?
Can you see it?
Can you see it?
Am I smiling?
And I was like what are theytalking about?
And then everyone just startedlaughing, having a great time,
and I had no idea.
And then, with some, someonesaid almost everyone in this
room has had Botox, so we can'tdo any of those things see the
crow's feet.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
But the point is, if, if you're giving away what your
, your tone and pitch of yourvoice and and your body language
and what your body language isconveying needs to match that 7%
of the words You're saying, andif there's incongruence, if the
if the words you're sayingdoesn't match the tone and pitch
of your voice and the bodylanguage, people are gonna catch
(16:02):
that right away.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Absolutely.
Sometimes we do that withoutwanting to.
We contradict the seven insteadof substantiate.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
This is so hard for me, people walk around.
I Was in the military for 12years.
Some of our listeners know thatVery serious all the time and I
look serious all the time andpeople say what's the matter,
bill?
Is everything okay?
I have this very scowl, like ifI furl my brow and I scowl and
I'm looking and say,everything's fine.
(16:30):
Why, what are you asking me?
My tone and pitch are low andangry.
Everything's fine and what I'msaying is everything's fine, but
my tone and pitch and my bodylanguage are not showing that,
and so when we're talking withour team and we're talking with
our clients, our tone and pitchand our body language need to
match the words we're sayingabsolutely it does, because a
(16:54):
lot of times we naturally dothat, we naturally Do that and
even though we're sayingsomething, our tone and pitch is
not telling you that that'sright.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
And especially if it's over the phone.
You know all you have is your38% in your seven.
You don't have the 55, so makesure that's why the tone and
pitch is even more important.
And then so important Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So important.
So you talked about Customersat Disney and that was a very
interesting piece as well, andyou talked, it told a story
about customers and guests, andguests can be Any host of things
.
You know, if you think about aveteran practice of your clients
they're also your team membersand Just give the difference
(17:33):
between a customer and a guestat Disney.
That was fascinating when.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I first started working at Disney as a leader.
You know, the facilitator askedme in my class, said, chris,
how do you treat a guest?
And I said a guest like a guestin my house.
So I'm like, yeah, just a guest.
And I go.
Well, if I have a guest at home,I want to make sure they have
their favorite beers or theirfavorite drinks, their favorite
snacks, their favorite food.
I want to make sure they'recomfortable.
(17:57):
I want to make sure they'rehappy there.
I'm going to make sure they'rejust, they need anything
possible.
And I gave just a whole bunchof lists of stuff and he's like,
oh so, um, how would you tocarry a customer?
And I was like, well, I justwant to make sure that you know
the customer you know is happyand just gets what they need.
And he's like you just gave mea list of six things that you
(18:18):
would do for your guest and acouple of things for your
customer.
And he goes here at Disney.
Our customers are our guests.
So the way you just describedyour guest and what you would do
for them, that's what we do forour guests and it just made
that alone just made me justshift my mindset a little bit as
to just how to think.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
You know well and and when we convey that back to
Emily.
And you kind of relayed thisduring the story of Emily, right
, like all you did was send atext out to six people saying,
hey, who's with?
Who's with Cinderella right now?
Now, number one, being in a jobwhere you get to send a text
with who's with Cinderella rightnow, I mean I don't get to do
that, so, but who's withCinderella?
(19:02):
And you get a text message backand you set up the FaceTime and
then Cinderella's in the thing.
Now, emily, as you kind of tellthe longer version of this
story, emily couldn't havereally cared much after she saw
Cinderella and, like she's onwith her day, I'm going to go
change and we'll do them atDisney.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
She hung up on her.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That's right.
Literally she hung up onCinderella and but the parents?
That was where you developedthe emotional connection and you
said over the course of yourcareer at Disney you've had
people write letters up toexecutive level and connection
and thanking you and trying totip you at different spots
because of just the very small,simple things you did, and a lot
(19:41):
of these are not.
So it's about being present inwhat we're doing to see and
identify the opportunity,because the smallest things
sometimes matter the most.
Just be thoughtful andintentional.
That's right.
You did mention that.
As well as being intentionaland not just being so focused
with blinders that we're worriedabout ourselves and I think,
into a society it's so easy justto focus on us.
(20:05):
The sessions that we were inyou've been here for the whole
conference.
Everyone's listening to thatradio station, wii FM.
What's in it for me?
And our team is listening tothat radio station.
What's in it for me, our guests.
If you're at Disney or thinkingabout what's in it for me, how
is this going to impact me andas leaders in our role, what
(20:27):
we're doing?
We have to not listen to that.
We have to purposely turn this.
We're always going to listen tothat radio station, but
probably turn the volume down onthat radio station and be
intentional about what we'relistening to and think about how
we can impact other people'slives and build connection,
because that connection, as youtalked about well, people will
let some things slide that theymight not let slide, but also
(20:49):
build deeper connections.
So you've got really a tribe ofpeople who are all working the
same path and passionate clients.
I mean, how loyal are thecustomers at Disney?
They're very loyal.
I mean they come back yearafter year after year.
Absolutely, cruises.
We're in San Diego and we had aDisney cruise ship come in.
(21:09):
Did you see the magic?
Yeah, the magic, and it blewthe horn.
It blew the Disney theme as itgoes.
I've never heard that, um, buteveryone sees Mickey Mouse and
they've.
They know what that is and itevokes happiness.
So you know, kind of tying itinto your overall message, that
that you presented to the groupwas what do you sell?
You know you ended with whatyou sold and I'm going to read
(21:33):
the quote that you ended with.
And so you know, I think, as aveterinary practice number one,
you have to figure out what yousell to your clients.
You have to figure out what yousell to your team.
But I'd like you to explainwhat you mean by this, because
you really, you really hit thishome.
You said touch your customerson such a level that your
(21:53):
competition has no understandingof it.
They don't even speak the samelanguage.
What does that mean to you?
You know, that's your quote.
But when you say that from thestage and you say, and you, you
know you're teaching on thiswhat do you mean by that?
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So it's really.
It's not necessarily about theproduct or the service that you
sell.
It has to do with how you makeyour customers feel.
It doesn't matter if you'reselling bricks, if you're
selling cars, if you're sellingtables, if you're selling
veterinary services.
It's how you make yourcustomers feel and everything.
(22:34):
We go to certain places, yourfavorite restaurant or your
favorite, this, your favoritefor a certain reason.
So when I said that, be sointentional and thoughtful with
your customers, do things forthem, understand their personal
life.
If you can be involved in theirpersonal life meaning knowing
what's going on, sending a card,doing something for them,
(23:00):
especially in their time of need, touching them on on such a
deep level like not just hey,listen, uh, here's a free soda
while you sit here waiting forthat's.
That's not service, right,that's not service.
How are you going to touch themthat they don't know what's
going on?
How are you going to touch themthat they tell their friends
right, one of the purposes of abusiness is to create a customer
(23:22):
that creates customers one ofyour purposes Because they your
customer talking about you.
they have no skin in the game.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
They're just that can also go for team members, right
, Like you want your teammembers so loyal and passionate
about working for you that they,their friends, are coming to
like hey, I work for the bestveteran practice in the Twin
cities metro area or the stateof Minnesota the state of
Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
So your number one customer Is your employee.
Yeah, you know, that's yournumber one customer.
So everything that I talked onstage, everything that I talk
about, you remove the wordcustomer and you put employee.
It's the same values, it's thesame points, it's the same
intentionality rightintentionality.
You know how do you make yourown people that work for you
(24:11):
feel yes, salary is great.
You can ask him a little whatcould be better here?
Oh, I could get paid more.
Everyone says that.
But do they feel important?
Do they feel special?
Like I mentioned to you, one ofthe six human needs we all have
is the need to feel significant.
That's right.
Whether you can admit it or youcan't, it is who doesn't want
(24:32):
to feel.
You asked me to be on thispodcast.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You said feeling seen , feeling heard, feeling loved
and feeling significant, and I'mkind of glumping some things
together there, but I thinkthat's.
That's a theme of People justwant to feel like they belong
somewhere, of course, and aspart of that tribe right, like
we're tribal people, I meanthat's.
It goes way back.
We're not a solitary no deal.
(24:55):
We, I mean the last three daystogether.
I mean we've shared some meals,it's all this to.
People aren't walking aroundalone at this conference.
There's always a group of three, four or five people.
I think the smallest dinner Ihad was the first night here
with my wife.
Otherwise it's like a group ofeight people going to dinner.
And how much fun are we havingdoing that.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It's a great culture.
So you know, back to thesignificance.
You know, like you asked me tobe on this podcast.
I'm excited to be on this.
You know like it makes me feelgreat, it makes me feel special
to be on it.
You know I love it.
No, don't take it for granted.
You know I was telling a coupleof my friends.
I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna be onthis vet podcast.
(25:35):
I'm like this is I've neverdone this before.
I mean even walking into theroom.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Right, we're recording this in my hotel room
and I got the whole set up andthe microphones.
I think, and you walked in youkind of stuff.
He said, holy cow, you got thewhole professional setup here
and it's like we do but.
But that's the but.
That's how can you translatethat to your team?
How can you translate that toyour customers?
How can you translate that Towhat you're doing?
And I mean what you're doing inyour personal life, at your
(26:01):
home, at home?
If you don't, if your spousedoesn't feel significant,
they're gonna identify everyissue and problem.
But if they feel significantand they feel loved and Bill
doesn't throw his you know hisdirty clothes down the laundry
chute, or you know Shannondoesn't park her car in the
garage the right way, I canoverlook that.
(26:22):
Because she's such a greatperson, I love her so much,
right?
And so how do you translatethat to your professional life,
to your personal life, to yourteam?
You got very emotional on stagea couple times because this is
a very emotional.
I don't think there's a dry inthe room we were going down.
Actually, I know one personlike I didn't cry, but there's
(26:43):
always one who doesn't cry.
But for those people who hadheard you speak before, they
were prepared and I told Shannon, my wife, because she's here on
this trip, and and I said youshould bring some tissues down,
make sure you have some.
She's a why, why, why do I needto teach?
I'm gonna, but this.
But that's the part of emotion,right, we're evoking emotion
versus just giving roteinformation, facts and figures.
(27:06):
And the one, the one story thatyou told that I think really
had a lot of impact with withthe audience was the story of
your restaurant.
I'm just gonna share a littlebit of this.
But you, your restaurant you didFor bursts and funerals.
You would show up at somebody'shouse.
You, you were, you were kind ofrespond.
(27:26):
Your brother was the backoffice of the back of house, he
was responsible for therestaurant stuff and you were
kind of the community engagementguy.
How can we, how can we beinvolved in the community?
What?
How can we be involved inpeople's lives?
Taking that experience atDisney, right, and and the, the
funeral piece, why don't youjust describe what you did as a
rest, so as a restaurant?
(27:47):
It was easy for you to do thisbecause it was just what you did
every day, but the impact ithad and if you wouldn't mind
sharing that story.
I think we'll kind of you know,wrap up with this.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
In the course of your daily service, it may feel
normal to you to do something inthe normal course of service,
but how it impacts people'slives is so unique and special
so one thing that we would doand it's tough to do it for
everyone because I wouldn't beable to pay attention to
everyone, but you know I wouldfollow, you know our Social
(28:17):
media, all the people that wereconnected to to our restaurant.
We love every single one of ourcustomers because without them,
we, we have a space withrestaurant equipment and a phone
that doesn't ring and a lot ofpizza dough, and so one thing
that I'd like to do is like, andwhen times of like Just really
(28:39):
big emotion, emotional parts ofpeople's lives, that like having
a baby right like, I would loveto try to always Call either
their parents or their brotherand be like, hey, listen, when
are they coming home?
I'd love to meet them at yourhouse with their favorite pizza
and a couple days worth of food,Just so they can have, you know
, some food to eat the nextcouple days, instead of having
(29:02):
to eat junk food or whatever thecase may be.
And when somebody would passaway, we would and we would pay
attention.
Like I said, I couldn't get toeveryone.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
If I saw it, you know , I would call you were
intentional and you did what youcall it.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, that's intentional and you know I'd
call somebody and I'd say, hey,listen, I'm sorry to hear that
your partner or your sister orsomeone passed.
You're expecting people at yourhouse.
Um, can I, can we stop buyingpair respects?
Yeah, how many people are youexpecting?
30, 40, 50?
Well, we're gonna bring foodfor everyone, just so you can be
(29:36):
with them, and you know I'll,my family will feed them.
And I never really thoughtanything of it, right, I really
didn't.
We're just cooking pizza andyeah, there's this.
We do this every day.
It's nothing.
And these people just lostsomeone in their family.
I'm just cooking food for 40people to drop it off.
It's literally nothing right.
(29:56):
And Then, a few days before myparents were planning on
retiring and moving down to downsouth, my dad unexpectedly
passed away.
Um, and we had to close ourrestaurant For the first time,
without like it being a vacationand what our neighbors or
(30:18):
customers or friends, what theydid?
They filled our house with foodand drinks and gifts and cards.
I mean a lot, a lot of stuff.
And for the first time, Ilooked at my mom, my brother and
I go.
Is that how they feel?
(30:40):
Mm-hmm, is that?
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Cuz we thought we were just delivering pizzas and
food.
That's all.
That's not, and that's to us.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah, you're just.
And then I was like, oh my god,now I know the impact we have
on them and that's why ourlittle pizzerias so busy.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I mean you told the story about they had the best
pizza.
Is in Connecticut Best?
Like a contest, yeah, and youcame out top three.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah, absolutely In the entire state of Connecticut.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Mm-hmm, you had people all over the place.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, just voting for us.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Voting for you guys because you had such raving fans
, because you had built suchdeep, meaningful emotional
connections to the community, toyour customers, to the
community and this happenedafter your father passed away.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yes, it happened this year.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
It happened this year and then you had the.
When you were in the top fourit was like the sweet 16.
They started at 800 and thenthey were down, and when you got
to the top four the TV stationcame and interviewed your mom.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And it was like she was so joyful and it was really
yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
It was the happiest we saw her since our dad passed
away.
Like she was, you know, havinga camera crew and these anchors
that you normally see at sixo'clock on the TV hanging out
with us and eating some goodfood.
I mean it was amazing.
Like, do we have, like, thebest pizza in Connecticut?
Maybe, I don't know, I don't,and then, but it really has
(32:11):
nothing to do with the pizzaBill.
Yeah, and that's the point,right.
Like it almost has nothing todo with the product.
You know, I can't tell you howmany people when they come in,
when my mom was working in thefront of the restaurant how
they'd call her momTen-year-olds, 30-year-olds,
80-year-olds.
Why are they calling her mom?
(32:32):
Do they not have one?
Do they have a bad relationshipwith one?
Do they miss them?
We don't know, right.
So we sell a sense of family atour place.
We threw food, sure, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It's the vehicle, but that's not yeah we don't sell
food, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
We sell a sense of family through food and a lot of
companies need to know andunderstand what they actually
sell.
That's what they think theysell.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And I think you know for my industry.
You're out here.
You know this is for aninsurance event.
That's the industry I'm in, butyou spoke to three other groups
out here prior to the meetingthat you were at, because I
think there's such a hunger intoday's society to figure out
how we can connect with peopleand we're so isolated on our
devices and we're in our ownsilos and our team members show
(33:23):
up and they're on their device.
I mean, it's just, it's theworld we're in right now.
Talking down the street, zonedout, looking at their phone, and
building a deep emotionalconnections with people is
something that I think was donea lot in the past probably, and
we've gotten away from and it'ssomehow unique.
But you know, there's othertheme parks, there's Six Flags,
(33:47):
there's all these things.
But when you talk about themeparks, I mean Disney's the top
of the list, because Six Flagsdoesn't sell happiness.
Disney sells happiness.
And so how do you set yourselfapart as a business in figuring
out what you sell?
And I think figuring out, as aveterinary practice, what's your
(34:08):
product or service it's notveterinary services, it's what,
and that was the question youleft us with is what do you sell
?
And so if you were going to saysomething to a veterinary
practice right now or trying tofigure that out what would you
say to them?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I would say you need to really look within, deep in
your company, and understand whyare people coming to you?
Because other companies offerthe same service, but why are
they really coming to you?
What emotion do you evoke fromyour customers?
Figure out what you actuallysell, and every vet practice
(34:49):
might sell something different.
Might sell confidence in theirservices, might sell a sense of
family, might sell somethingelse, but you don't sell
veterinary services.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yeah, just like Nike doesn't sell shoes and Rolex
doesn't sell watches, correct,they don't.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
They sell something through that product or service.
So it's really important forany company you know, especially
vet, you're dealing with youknow, especially the people that
don't have children, that havepets.
Their pets are their everything, absolutely Right, so they're
everything I mean.
So I think it's really, reallyimportant to know and understand
(35:30):
what emotion you want to evokefrom your customers that are
bringing in their children.
Basically, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
They're family.
I mean they're, they'rebringing their family to you
100%.
Yeah, I know, my little buddyLouie is my cat at home and
whenever we bring him to the vetI mean he's my little buddy
Louie I'm bringing my, my wifeand I don't have kids.
So we, you know, we're bringingLouie to the vet.
Well, christos, I've reallybeen looking forward to having
you on this podcast.
I logged my microphones andeverything all the way out here
(36:00):
to San Diego and I was soexcited to have you on for those
people who want to connect withyou After this podcast, after
this hearing this podcast, wherecan they find Christos?
Speaker 1 (36:12):
online?
Oh, you can.
They can follow me on Facebookand Instagram on just my name,
just Christos Provestilis, andif they want to contact me for
anything, my website isChristosSpeakscom.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
That's pretty complicated ChristosSpeakscom,
so we'll have all that in theshow notes for you.
Man, I just since meeting youin Utah earlier this year, we've
connected.
It's been so much fun.
I was looking forward to seeingyou again here out in San Diego
and I'm so grateful to have youon the podcast.
Nice Well, thank you very muchfor having me.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
This was this was a lot of fun.
We have a.
We're looking forward to seeingyou again here out in San Diego
.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
We have a.
We're looking out the balconyat the beautiful view of
beautiful view of San Diego.
Well, as always.
Thanks for listening.
Make sure to like, click andreview this episode.
Share it with your friends.
It helps with all thealgorithms and we just love to
get this message of business,entrepreneurship and business
ideas out to the veterinarycommunity.
(37:09):
Thanks so much for tuning in tothis episode of the Veterinary
Blueprints podcast.
I'm your host, bill Butler, andI look forward to connecting
with you soon.
Thank you Next time.
What makes Disney Disney Us, the people.
And we only sell one thing wesell an emotion that people
desire is the only thing that wesell.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint podcast
brought to you by Butler VetInsurance.
Hosted by Bill Butler, theVeterinary Blueprint podcast is
for veterinarians and practicemanagers who are looking to
learn about working on theirpractice instead of in their
practice.
Each episode we will bring yousuccessful, proven blueprints
from others, both inside andoutside the veterinary industry.
(00:38):
Welcome to today's episode.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Welcome to this episode of the Veterinary
Blueprint podcast.
My name is Bill Butler and I'myour host for this episode.
And again, veterinary Blueprintpodcast is a podcast where we
bring business entrepreneurshipto the veterinary community and
business insights, and I couldnot be more excited for this
episode of the podcast to bringour guests to you.
(01:04):
I happened to meet thisgentleman at industry mastermind
event.
I was out working on myself inself improvement and I was
meeting with a number ofinsurance agents earlier this
year and I had the privilege ofhearing our guests speak and uh
had the opportunity to hear himagain this weekend.
(01:25):
We're coming to you from a liveremote in San Diego, so if you
hear some background noise inthis episode, we are close to
the uh naval air station onCoronado, so you might hear some
jets in the background, but weare in sunny San Diego and I
just um, our guest actually justgot off the stage as a keynote
for the event I was attendingand I knew that I had to bring
(01:47):
him to the veterinary community.
Um, I would like to call this,uh, this gentleman, my friend
now.
Um, we've had the opportunityto connect on a number of
occasions and and he is just areally genuine great guy, um,
and I'll let him tell his story,cause he's got a great one, and
share some of his insights.
But his name is Christosprovistilis and he is just, uh,
(02:09):
really genuine and kind-heartedperson.
So welcome to the episode,christos.
Thank you for having me, bill,awesome.
So for those of our guests, uh,for those of our listeners
today, why don't you just kindof share a little bit about who
you are and what you're doingnow and then what you how you
came to to be a speaker and athought leader for business
(02:30):
owners and industry leaders?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So, bill, I'm a former guest service manager for
the Walt Disney company and Ihad the pleasure of working at
their flagship resort, uh, forsome years in Orlando, florida,
and there was one day that mademe really realize what my
purpose there was and helped mecreate, uh, my future.
(02:55):
I had an executive come into myrestaurant that was a
restaurant guest service managerand looked at me and said,
christos, what do you sell?
And and I really thought I waslike, man, you can't read the
menu.
So I just, I just turned aroundand I started firing off
everything that we sold.
And he said, christos, I canread the menu.
(03:16):
What do we sell as a company?
And I still didn't get them.
And I just tried to say themepark tickets, hotel rooms and
shirts.
And he's like, christos, that'snot what we sell.
And then he asked me what doesNike sell?
I go to sell sneakers, becausethat's not what they sell, but
this Rolex sell.
And I said watch this.
(03:37):
He's like that's not what theysell.
He goes, christos, anybody canduplicate Disney.
Granted, you would need a lotof money in Orlando, though
they're 46 square miles, butanybody could.
So you need a lot of money inland and land, you know, but
he's like in all reality he goes.
We don't have the best themeparks, we don't have the best
(03:57):
resorts, we don't have the bestrestaurants.
He goes.
What makes Disney Disney?
And I was like he goes us, thepeople.
And we only sell one thing wesell an emotion.
That people desire is the onlything that we sell, and he goes.
Everything you see around this,those are our props that we use
(04:18):
, and he goes.
I asked you what Nike sells, yousaid sneakers.
He goes.
They sell motivation andinspiration is what they sell.
I asked you what Rolex sells?
You don't see.
Uh, their commercials say wehave the best metal.
Check out this.
Our watches keep time likenobody else's business.
Our time is more accurate thananyone's.
You see a well-dressed personcoming out of a very expensive
(04:41):
car.
They sell status and success,but he goes.
We're lucky.
We sell the most desired humanemotion that there actually is.
We sell the emotion ofhappiness.
And when you know andunderstand what your company
sells, your whole businessactually changes.
And when you know andunderstand what you actually
(05:02):
sell, your job is to evoke theemotion you want your client to
feel.
And that bill made me realizethat a lot of companies focus on
stuff they don't actually sell,because it's an emotion that a
company sells through theirproduct.
Yeah, you know, you just gotdone speaking to a room full
business profile.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I really appreciate that you started with that and
shared that.
You know your family was in therestaurant business, is in the
restaurant business and you talkabout that and you say, look,
we don't sell people that.
You say we look, we don't sellpizzas.
What do you sell at therestaurant?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
We ended up finding out after years that we actually
sell.
A sense of family is what wesell at our restaurant.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And you know, it's going to be different for every
restaurant, right?
Correct?
Hey, we sell a party in a goodtime if you're a bar, correct,
so the best party and good timein a bar.
But you know, it's thatinteresting, um, that piece that
I wanted to share today withour, our veterinary blueprints
community, was it's it's notjust pet services that they sell
, or animal health, it's it'syou have to figure out what you
(06:07):
sell.
In the message that you broughtto um the professionals that you
spoke with today, that I hadthe privilege of of sitting in
for the second time, hearing um,hearing you speak was that
connection is energy and thatthat you know, as an insurance
professional, somebody in awhite collar business, right,
(06:27):
like, I don't sell insuranceproducts, I sell safety and
security, or I sell peace ofmind.
If I think I just sell a pieceof paper that talks about all
the things and all the benefitsand features that insurance
policy is, you know, yeah, I canmake some money doing that, but
I'm not going to have thatconnection.
So why don't you talk about theconnection as the energy is
peace?
Because that was, I think thatwas.
(06:48):
It was very interesting for meto hear.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
A lot of people need to understand how we connect as
human beings, and the definitionof human connection is that
it's an energy, and that energyis formed between people when
they feel seen, when they feelheard, when they feel valued and
when they feel understood.
And when those things happen,you create a bond, whether you
(07:16):
know it or don't know it, and alot of companies need to create
a better connection with theircustomers and their employees.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, the employee piece, I think, for the
veterinary community is reallykey and that was that was why I
wanted to talk about theconnection and energy is, and
connection is energy, peace.
Because when you, when you talktoday, you mentioned that when
you have a bond or emotionalconnection with someone, you're
willing to overlook issues orproblems.
(07:48):
Right, you talked about atDisney.
Right, you tell a story aboutCinderella.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
So I was working at one of their restaurants and it
was a table service restaurantat the Grand Floridian, directly
right next to Magic Kingdom,and there was a couple from
Michigan.
They came in with a little girland the little girl was maybe
six or seven years old.
She was wearing Cinderella'sdress.
It was eight in the morning.
(08:13):
She ordered chocolate milk.
She spilled the chocolate milkall over herself and she was
devastated that Cinderella's notgonna want to see her.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
I mean, why would Cinderella want to see a little
girl covered in chocolate milk,right I?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
mean that was her mind.
My day at Disney is ruined.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I've been thinking about this day for months, of
course.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So I you know.
When in my office I sent a textmessage to all my friends that
are leaders and I said who'swith Cinderella right now?
I need some help?
I, you know.
And one of my friends said I'mwith her.
I said can you please, you know, have her handler, you know say
have her help me 30 seconds.
I went to Emily's table, I slitmy cell phone, my cell phone
(08:53):
right in front of her, and herecomes a FaceTime call from
Cinderella, and Emily was alittle girl's name answered it
and and I said Emily, do youknow Cinderella?
And she's like no, here'sCinderella.
And Cinderella's like hi, emily, it's Cinderella.
I just want to let you knowthat I spilled chocolate milk
all over myself today as well.
(09:14):
You know what?
Just go upstairs, change andI'll see you tonight for dinner.
And then Emily said well, okay,you just hung up on her, you
know it completely changed theconversation.
Emily was back to Emily's fineand their parents started crying
.
And you know I can't just pullMickey and Minnie out of my
pockets for everybody.
I'm like, oh man, one party'sthis and I gotta take care of
(09:37):
them.
But the point that I was makingis so if Emily and her parents
left my restaurant and went tothe ticket and transportation
center and somebody there givethem less than perfect service
when they got their tickets,they wouldn't have noticed.
And when they went next door,they went inside the park and
purchased a bottle of water andsomebody give them less than
perfect service, they wouldn'thave noticed.
(09:59):
Because the more someone isemotionally invested in you, the
less critical and lessobjectively observant they
become about you.
And the perfect example and Iuse that some people like oh,
and I said, when you get marriedor I'm not married when you
fall in love.
When you fall in love, you haveblinders on till.
(10:19):
Somebody says, hey, listen,this person you're dating is
wacko.
And then you go what, yeah,what are you talking about?
She's amazing.
It's the same thing personallyas is professionally.
And I use this example.
Let's just say you send a textmessage or an email to your
client.
That could be misconstrued, youknow, because text and emails.
(10:39):
They lack emotion.
Doesn't matter if you put alittle smiley face or anything
like that, they still lackemotion and they have no tone in
there.
So if they're emotionallyinvested in you and you send
them something like that, thatwould be misconstrued.
They won't.
They'll accept that assomething positive.
They really won't, becausethey're emotionally invested in
you.
So you, you, you, you, you.
(12:42):
So the 738, 55 it's a rule ofcommunication is what it is and
(13:15):
basically states that only 7% ofour communication between human
beings is Verbal.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
So only 7% of what our communication with everyone
else in the world is what we'resaying and you would think it's
like 60, 70 or 80 the words thatwe're saying.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, you know, when years ago and I learned this I
Was like there's no way.
I'm like I thought allcommunication is us talking and
the 38% is tone and pitch of ourvoice and Then 55% is our
you're doing a great job, chrisso exactly your tone is
everything you know and yep, theusually the Higher pitch your
(13:53):
tone is and pitch, the betterthe service that you're giving.
We do that naturally right.
We do that without wanting to.
I know there's some people thatI know we don't sing happy
birthday in a low correct.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
We don't do that right.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
You get all excited we sing it high and happy,
absolutely so.
But One thing that we need topay attention to is the 38, and
the 55% has to alwaysSubstantiate the seven so what
was the fifth?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
so we didn't talk about 55, so 50 body language.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yes, so you know our body.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
We're visual people right as humans and our body
reacts immediately.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Right, so our body, so we're in the subconscious,
right there.
You just do things withoutknowing because our subconscious
lives in the now.
It doesn't think so if you'vegot a terrible poker face, you
just yeah, you're your, yourfacial tone, your facial
reaction.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
You talked about smiling if you, if you're,
you're, you're.
You told the story aboutspeaking at a conference and,
and if you're, if it's a naturalsmile, you've got crow's feet
now.
Usually record the episodes onvideo as well as, but because
we're doing a remote, you can'tsee what we're doing right now.
But if you have a genuinenatural smile, it should show
crow's feet.
And you were talking about.
(15:15):
You were speaking at aConvention where everyone had.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
90% of the people had Botox interface.
And while I was talking,everybody just looked at each
other and I was like can you seeme?
Can you see it?
Can you see it?
Am I smiling?
And I was like what are theytalking about?
And then everyone just startedlaughing, having a great time,
and I had no idea.
And then, with some, someonesaid almost everyone in this
room has had Botox, so we can'tdo any of those things see the
crow's feet.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
But the point is, if, if you're giving away what your
, your tone and pitch of yourvoice and and your body language
and what your body language isconveying needs to match that 7%
of the words You're saying, andif there's incongruence, if the
if the words you're sayingdoesn't match the tone and pitch
of your voice and the bodylanguage, people are gonna catch
(16:02):
that right away.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Absolutely.
Sometimes we do that withoutwanting to.
We contradict the seven insteadof substantiate.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
This is so hard for me, people walk around.
I Was in the military for 12years.
Some of our listeners know thatVery serious all the time and I
look serious all the time andpeople say what's the matter,
bill?
Is everything okay?
I have this very scowl, like ifI furl my brow and I scowl and
I'm looking and say,everything's fine.
(16:30):
Why, what are you asking me?
My tone and pitch are low andangry.
Everything's fine and what I'msaying is everything's fine, but
my tone and pitch and my bodylanguage are not showing that,
and so when we're talking withour team and we're talking with
our clients, our tone and pitchand our body language need to
match the words we're sayingabsolutely it does, because a
(16:54):
lot of times we naturally dothat, we naturally Do that and
even though we're sayingsomething, our tone and pitch is
not telling you that that'sright.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
And especially if it's over the phone.
You know all you have is your38% in your seven.
You don't have the 55, so makesure that's why the tone and
pitch is even more important.
And then so important Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
So important.
So you talked about Customersat Disney and that was a very
interesting piece as well, andyou talked, it told a story
about customers and guests, andguests can be Any host of things
.
You know, if you think about aveteran practice of your clients
they're also your team membersand Just give the difference
(17:33):
between a customer and a guestat Disney.
That was fascinating when.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I first started working at Disney as a leader.
You know, the facilitator askedme in my class, said, chris,
how do you treat a guest?
And I said a guest like a guestin my house.
So I'm like, yeah, just a guest.
And I go.
Well, if I have a guest at home,I want to make sure they have
their favorite beers or theirfavorite drinks, their favorite
snacks, their favorite food.
I want to make sure they'recomfortable.
(17:57):
I want to make sure they'rehappy there.
I'm going to make sure they'rejust, they need anything
possible.
And I gave just a whole bunchof lists of stuff and he's like,
oh so, um, how would you tocarry a customer?
And I was like, well, I justwant to make sure that you know
the customer you know is happyand just gets what they need.
And he's like you just gave mea list of six things that you
(18:18):
would do for your guest and acouple of things for your
customer.
And he goes here at Disney.
Our customers are our guests.
So the way you just describedyour guest and what you would do
for them, that's what we do forour guests and it just made
that alone just made me justshift my mindset a little bit as
to just how to think.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
You know well and and when we convey that back to
Emily.
And you kind of relayed thisduring the story of Emily, right
, like all you did was send atext out to six people saying,
hey, who's with?
Who's with Cinderella right now?
Now, number one, being in a jobwhere you get to send a text
with who's with Cinderella rightnow, I mean I don't get to do
that, so, but who's withCinderella?
(19:02):
And you get a text message backand you set up the FaceTime and
then Cinderella's in the thing.
Now, emily, as you kind of tellthe longer version of this
story, emily couldn't havereally cared much after she saw
Cinderella and, like she's onwith her day, I'm going to go
change and we'll do them atDisney.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
She hung up on her.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
That's right.
Literally she hung up onCinderella and but the parents?
That was where you developedthe emotional connection and you
said over the course of yourcareer at Disney you've had
people write letters up toexecutive level and connection
and thanking you and trying totip you at different spots
because of just the very small,simple things you did, and a lot
(19:41):
of these are not.
So it's about being present inwhat we're doing to see and
identify the opportunity,because the smallest things
sometimes matter the most.
Just be thoughtful andintentional.
That's right.
You did mention that.
As well as being intentionaland not just being so focused
with blinders that we're worriedabout ourselves and I think,
into a society it's so easy justto focus on us.
(20:05):
The sessions that we were inyou've been here for the whole
conference.
Everyone's listening to thatradio station, wii FM.
What's in it for me?
And our team is listening tothat radio station.
What's in it for me, our guests.
If you're at Disney or thinkingabout what's in it for me, how
is this going to impact me andas leaders in our role, what
(20:27):
we're doing?
We have to not listen to that.
We have to purposely turn this.
We're always going to listen tothat radio station, but
probably turn the volume down onthat radio station and be
intentional about what we'relistening to and think about how
we can impact other people'slives and build connection,
because that connection, as youtalked about well, people will
let some things slide that theymight not let slide, but also
(20:49):
build deeper connections.
So you've got really a tribe ofpeople who are all working the
same path and passionate clients.
I mean, how loyal are thecustomers at Disney?
They're very loyal.
I mean they come back yearafter year after year.
Absolutely, cruises.
We're in San Diego and we had aDisney cruise ship come in.
(21:09):
Did you see the magic?
Yeah, the magic, and it blewthe horn.
It blew the Disney theme as itgoes.
I've never heard that, um, buteveryone sees Mickey Mouse and
they've.
They know what that is and itevokes happiness.
So you know, kind of tying itinto your overall message, that
that you presented to the groupwas what do you sell?
You know you ended with whatyou sold and I'm going to read
(21:33):
the quote that you ended with.
And so you know, I think, as aveterinary practice number one,
you have to figure out what yousell to your clients.
You have to figure out what yousell to your team.
But I'd like you to explainwhat you mean by this, because
you really, you really hit thishome.
You said touch your customerson such a level that your
(21:53):
competition has no understandingof it.
They don't even speak the samelanguage.
What does that mean to you?
You know, that's your quote.
But when you say that from thestage and you say, and you, you
know you're teaching on thiswhat do you mean by that?
Speaker 1 (22:09):
So it's really.
It's not necessarily about theproduct or the service that you
sell.
It has to do with how you makeyour customers feel.
It doesn't matter if you'reselling bricks, if you're
selling cars, if you're sellingtables, if you're selling
veterinary services.
It's how you make yourcustomers feel and everything.
(22:34):
We go to certain places, yourfavorite restaurant or your
favorite, this, your favoritefor a certain reason.
So when I said that, be sointentional and thoughtful with
your customers, do things forthem, understand their personal
life.
If you can be involved in theirpersonal life meaning knowing
what's going on, sending a card,doing something for them,
(23:00):
especially in their time of need, touching them on on such a
deep level like not just hey,listen, uh, here's a free soda
while you sit here waiting forthat's.
That's not service, right,that's not service.
How are you going to touch themthat they don't know what's
going on?
How are you going to touch themthat they tell their friends
right, one of the purposes of abusiness is to create a customer
(23:22):
that creates customers one ofyour purposes Because they your
customer talking about you.
they have no skin in the game.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
They're just that can also go for team members, right
, Like you want your teammembers so loyal and passionate
about working for you that they,their friends, are coming to
like hey, I work for the bestveteran practice in the Twin
cities metro area or the stateof Minnesota the state of
Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
So your number one customer Is your employee.
Yeah, you know, that's yournumber one customer.
So everything that I talked onstage, everything that I talk
about, you remove the wordcustomer and you put employee.
It's the same values, it's thesame points, it's the same
intentionality rightintentionality.
You know how do you make yourown people that work for you
(24:11):
feel yes, salary is great.
You can ask him a little whatcould be better here?
Oh, I could get paid more.
Everyone says that.
But do they feel important?
Do they feel special?
Like I mentioned to you, one ofthe six human needs we all have
is the need to feel significant.
That's right.
Whether you can admit it or youcan't, it is who doesn't want
(24:32):
to feel.
You asked me to be on thispodcast.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
You said feeling seen , feeling heard, feeling loved
and feeling significant, and I'mkind of glumping some things
together there, but I thinkthat's.
That's a theme of People justwant to feel like they belong
somewhere, of course, and aspart of that tribe right, like
we're tribal people, I meanthat's.
It goes way back.
We're not a solitary no deal.
(24:55):
We, I mean the last three daystogether.
I mean we've shared some meals,it's all this to.
People aren't walking aroundalone at this conference.
There's always a group of three, four or five people.
I think the smallest dinner Ihad was the first night here
with my wife.
Otherwise it's like a group ofeight people going to dinner.
And how much fun are we havingdoing that.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
It's a great culture.
So you know, back to thesignificance.
You know, like you asked me tobe on this podcast.
I'm excited to be on this.
You know like it makes me feelgreat, it makes me feel special
to be on it.
You know I love it.
No, don't take it for granted.
You know I was telling a coupleof my friends.
I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna be onthis vet podcast.
(25:35):
I'm like this is I've neverdone this before.
I mean even walking into theroom.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Right, we're recording this in my hotel room
and I got the whole set up andthe microphones.
I think, and you walked in youkind of stuff.
He said, holy cow, you got thewhole professional setup here
and it's like we do but.
But that's the but.
That's how can you translatethat to your team?
How can you translate that toyour customers?
How can you translate that Towhat you're doing?
And I mean what you're doing inyour personal life, at your
(26:01):
home, at home?
If you don't, if your spousedoesn't feel significant,
they're gonna identify everyissue and problem.
But if they feel significantand they feel loved and Bill
doesn't throw his you know hisdirty clothes down the laundry
chute, or you know Shannondoesn't park her car in the
garage the right way, I canoverlook that.
(26:22):
Because she's such a greatperson, I love her so much,
right?
And so how do you translatethat to your professional life,
to your personal life, to yourteam?
You got very emotional on stagea couple times because this is
a very emotional.
I don't think there's a dry inthe room we were going down.
Actually, I know one personlike I didn't cry, but there's
(26:43):
always one who doesn't cry.
But for those people who hadheard you speak before, they
were prepared and I told Shannon, my wife, because she's here on
this trip, and and I said youshould bring some tissues down,
make sure you have some.
She's a why, why, why do I needto teach?
I'm gonna, but this.
But that's the part of emotion,right, we're evoking emotion
versus just giving roteinformation, facts and figures.
(27:06):
And the one, the one story thatyou told that I think really
had a lot of impact with withthe audience was the story of
your restaurant.
I'm just gonna share a littlebit of this.
But you, your restaurant you didFor bursts and funerals.
You would show up at somebody'shouse.
You, you were, you were kind ofrespond.
(27:26):
Your brother was the backoffice of the back of house, he
was responsible for therestaurant stuff and you were
kind of the community engagementguy.
How can we, how can we beinvolved in the community?
What?
How can we be involved inpeople's lives?
Taking that experience atDisney, right, and and the, the
funeral piece, why don't youjust describe what you did as a
rest, so as a restaurant?
(27:47):
It was easy for you to do thisbecause it was just what you did
every day, but the impact ithad and if you wouldn't mind
sharing that story.
I think we'll kind of you know,wrap up with this.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
In the course of your daily service, it may feel
normal to you to do something inthe normal course of service,
but how it impacts people'slives is so unique and special
so one thing that we would doand it's tough to do it for
everyone because I wouldn't beable to pay attention to
everyone, but you know I wouldfollow, you know our Social
(28:17):
media, all the people that wereconnected to to our restaurant.
We love every single one of ourcustomers because without them,
we, we have a space withrestaurant equipment and a phone
that doesn't ring and a lot ofpizza dough, and so one thing
that I'd like to do is like, andwhen times of like Just really
(28:39):
big emotion, emotional parts ofpeople's lives, that like having
a baby right like, I would loveto try to always Call either
their parents or their brotherand be like, hey, listen, when
are they coming home?
I'd love to meet them at yourhouse with their favorite pizza
and a couple days worth of food,Just so they can have, you know
, some food to eat the nextcouple days, instead of having
(29:02):
to eat junk food or whatever thecase may be.
And when somebody would passaway, we would and we would pay
attention.
Like I said, I couldn't get toeveryone.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
If I saw it, you know , I would call you were
intentional and you did what youcall it.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, that's intentional and you know I'd
call somebody and I'd say, hey,listen, I'm sorry to hear that
your partner or your sister orsomeone passed.
You're expecting people at yourhouse.
Um, can I, can we stop buyingpair respects?
Yeah, how many people are youexpecting?
30, 40, 50?
Well, we're gonna bring foodfor everyone, just so you can be
(29:36):
with them, and you know I'll,my family will feed them.
And I never really thoughtanything of it, right, I really
didn't.
We're just cooking pizza andyeah, there's this.
We do this every day.
It's nothing.
And these people just lostsomeone in their family.
I'm just cooking food for 40people to drop it off.
It's literally nothing right.
(29:56):
And Then, a few days before myparents were planning on
retiring and moving down to downsouth, my dad unexpectedly
passed away.
Um, and we had to close ourrestaurant For the first time,
without like it being a vacationand what our neighbors or
(30:18):
customers or friends, what theydid?
They filled our house with foodand drinks and gifts and cards.
I mean a lot, a lot of stuff.
And for the first time, Ilooked at my mom, my brother and
I go.
Is that how they feel?
(30:40):
Mm-hmm, is that?
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Cuz we thought we were just delivering pizzas and
food.
That's all.
That's not, and that's to us.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah, you're just.
And then I was like, oh my god,now I know the impact we have
on them and that's why ourlittle pizzerias so busy.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
I mean you told the story about they had the best
pizza.
Is in Connecticut Best?
Like a contest, yeah, and youcame out top three.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah, absolutely In the entire state of Connecticut.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Mm-hmm, you had people all over the place.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
Yeah, just voting for us.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Voting for you guys because you had such raving fans
, because you had built suchdeep, meaningful emotional
connections to the community, toyour customers, to the
community and this happenedafter your father passed away.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yes, it happened this year.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
It happened this year and then you had the.
When you were in the top fourit was like the sweet 16.
They started at 800 and thenthey were down, and when you got
to the top four the TV stationcame and interviewed your mom.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
And it was like she was so joyful and it was really
yeah, it was nice.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
It was the happiest we saw her since our dad passed
away.
Like she was, you know, havinga camera crew and these anchors
that you normally see at sixo'clock on the TV hanging out
with us and eating some goodfood.
I mean it was amazing.
Like, do we have, like, thebest pizza in Connecticut?
Maybe, I don't know, I don't,and then, but it really has
(32:11):
nothing to do with the pizzaBill.
Yeah, and that's the point,right.
Like it almost has nothing todo with the product.
You know, I can't tell you howmany people when they come in,
when my mom was working in thefront of the restaurant how
they'd call her momTen-year-olds, 30-year-olds,
80-year-olds.
Why are they calling her mom?
(32:32):
Do they not have one?
Do they have a bad relationshipwith one?
Do they miss them?
We don't know, right.
So we sell a sense of family atour place.
We threw food, sure, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
It's the vehicle, but that's not yeah we don't sell
food, you know.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
We sell a sense of family through food and a lot of
companies need to know andunderstand what they actually
sell.
That's what they think theysell.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And I think you know for my industry.
You're out here.
You know this is for aninsurance event.
That's the industry I'm in, butyou spoke to three other groups
out here prior to the meetingthat you were at, because I
think there's such a hunger intoday's society to figure out
how we can connect with peopleand we're so isolated on our
devices and we're in our ownsilos and our team members show
(33:23):
up and they're on their device.
I mean, it's just, it's theworld we're in right now.
Talking down the street, zonedout, looking at their phone, and
building a deep emotionalconnections with people is
something that I think was donea lot in the past probably, and
we've gotten away from and it'ssomehow unique.
But you know, there's othertheme parks, there's Six Flags,
(33:47):
there's all these things.
But when you talk about themeparks, I mean Disney's the top
of the list, because Six Flagsdoesn't sell happiness.
Disney sells happiness.
And so how do you set yourselfapart as a business in figuring
out what you sell?
And I think figuring out, as aveterinary practice, what's your
(34:08):
product or service it's notveterinary services, it's what,
and that was the question youleft us with is what do you sell
?
And so if you were going to saysomething to a veterinary
practice right now or trying tofigure that out what would you
say to them?
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I would say you need to really look within, deep in
your company, and understand whyare people coming to you?
Because other companies offerthe same service, but why are
they really coming to you?
What emotion do you evoke fromyour customers?
Figure out what you actuallysell, and every vet practice
(34:49):
might sell something different.
Might sell confidence in theirservices, might sell a sense of
family, might sell somethingelse, but you don't sell
veterinary services.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yeah, just like Nike doesn't sell shoes and Rolex
doesn't sell watches, correct,they don't.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
They sell something through that product or service.
So it's really important forany company you know, especially
vet, you're dealing with youknow, especially the people that
don't have children, that havepets.
Their pets are their everything, absolutely Right, so they're
everything I mean.
So I think it's really, reallyimportant to know and understand
(35:30):
what emotion you want to evokefrom your customers that are
bringing in their children.
Basically, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
They're family.
I mean they're, they'rebringing their family to you
100%.
Yeah, I know, my little buddyLouie is my cat at home and
whenever we bring him to the vetI mean he's my little buddy
Louie I'm bringing my, my wifeand I don't have kids.
So we, you know, we're bringingLouie to the vet.
Well, christos, I've reallybeen looking forward to having
you on this podcast.
I logged my microphones andeverything all the way out here
(36:00):
to San Diego and I was soexcited to have you on for those
people who want to connect withyou After this podcast, after
this hearing this podcast, wherecan they find Christos?
Speaker 1 (36:12):
online?
Oh, you can.
They can follow me on Facebookand Instagram on just my name,
just Christos Provestilis, andif they want to contact me for
anything, my website isChristosSpeakscom.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
That's pretty complicated ChristosSpeakscom,
so we'll have all that in theshow notes for you.
Man, I just since meeting youin Utah earlier this year, we've
connected.
It's been so much fun.
I was looking forward to seeingyou again here out in San Diego
and I'm so grateful to have youon the podcast.
Nice Well, thank you very muchfor having me.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
This was this was a lot of fun.
We have a.
We're looking forward to seeingyou again here out in San Diego
.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
We have a.
We're looking out the balconyat the beautiful view of
beautiful view of San Diego.
Well, as always.
Thanks for listening.
Make sure to like, click andreview this episode.
Share it with your friends.
It helps with all thealgorithms and we just love to
get this message of business,entrepreneurship and business
ideas out to the veterinarycommunity.
(37:09):
Thanks so much for tuning in tothis episode of the Veterinary
Blueprints podcast.
I'm your host, bill Butler, andI look forward to connecting
with you soon.
Thank you Next time.
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