Explore every episode of the podcast Your Customer, Your Success

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	Title	Pub. Date	Duration
	Century-Old Playbooks, Reinvention, and Building a Business That Lasts with Kenneth Kollasch	29 Jul 2026	00:42:08
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Kenneth Kollasch, a certified business coach, founder of Kenneth Coaches, and former operator of an Arthur Murray franchise, one of the oldest franchise systems in the country at 114 years. Kenneth is also a certified coach under Will Guidara, author of Unreasonable Hospitality. The conversation opens on the operator lens Kenneth built inside a business designed to last a century. He walks Gary through how a 114-year-old franchise weathers cultural cycles, market crashes, and shifts in relevance by pivoting its offer, its people, and its customer experience. That same operator instinct shapes the framework he uses with small business owners today. Kenneth's sharpest challenge is that most owners over-index on what they supply and under-invest in what the market actually demands. He argues that a business ready to double in 12 to 24 months has two things going for it: an owner in a real growth phase, and the willingness to bring in someone the owner will trust with the business the way they trust themselves. From there Kenneth walks Gary through the Customer Advantage Map, his applied version of the Will Guidara customer journey work. He explains why owners cannot read the label from inside the milk carton, how to map every touch point, and how ordinary businesses can create a premium customer experience at a fraction of the cost most owners assume. Kenneth also breaks down the six suites of his Small Business Flight Plan, leadership, marketing, sales, product, management, and cash flow, and closes with a direct answer for owners who feel stuck: stop being alone. Accountability is half the battle. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Reinvention is the mechanism. Demand research beats supply thinking. Accountability turns intention into execution. If you are a founder, operator, franchisee, or advisor thinking about how to build a business that lasts, this conversation will sharpen how you think about customer journeys, growth phases, and the operator discipline that keeps a business relevant across cycles. What You'll Learn How a 114-year-old franchise stays relevant through cultural and economic cycles Why most business owners over-invest in supply and under-invest in demand research The two conditions that have to be true for a business to double in 12 to 24 months Why the biggest cost of hiring a coach is not money, it is exposing what is actually happening in the business How the Customer Advantage Map identifies positive, neutral, and negative touch points How ordinary businesses can create a premium customer experience without a premium budget The six suites inside the Small Business Flight Plan and how they compound Why the five-meeting cadence moves owners from reactive to proactive leadership Why James Clear was right: owners fall to the level of their systems, not the height of their goals The one question Kenneth asks every client that resets their focus Chapters 00:00 Cold Open 00:59 Introduction 02:22 From a professional soccer contract to ballroom dancing and how it shaped Kenneth's decision framework 05:03 What a 114-year-old franchise reveals about durability, reinvention, and weathering cycles 08:29 Why most new business owners over-invest in supply and under-invest in demand research 11:32 The two conditions that have to be true for a small business to double in 12 to 24 months 15:43 Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality applied to ordinary everyday businesses 19:27 The Customer Advantage Map and finding the touch points owners cannot see 25:27 The Small Business Flight Plan from leadership to cash flow 32:11 The one thing owners can do differently this month when they feel stuck 35:14 Does It Hold Water? 36:52 Chip Shots Book Recommendation The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell Also referenced in this episode: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara and Atomic Habits by James Clear. Connect with Kenneth Kollasch Website: https://kennethcoaches.com/free Generate your first (or next) $100k in your business with these 12+ free resources! Things like: • Courses • Assessments • Softwares • Workbooks • ...and more! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethkollasch/ Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Website: https://www.schooleymitchell.com/gmarra YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Listen & Subscribe Subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more conversations on customer experience, leadership, and business growth. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 About Your Customer, Your Success Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast built on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership behavior, and operational discipline. With listeners in more than 70 countries, each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. About Gary Marra Gary Marra is a Schooley Mitchell Franchise Owner, business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on more than 25 years in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps business leaders think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. Through his Schooley Mitchell practice, he works with small and mid-sized businesses on vendor-neutral, performance-based expense optimization across telecom, wireless, merchant services, small package shipping, and waste removal. His perspective combines client-centric strategy with practical operator discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, fractional executives, and business leaders responsible for long-term growth and margin. #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #CustomerExperience #Franchise #Reinvention #SmallBusiness #Founders #OperationalDiscipline #Podcast
	Mid-Year Review: The Best of Does It Hold Water and Chips Year to Date 2026	15 Jul 2026	00:29:54
In this special mid-year episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary looks back at the first half of 2026 and revisits the ten best moments from two of the show's signature segments: Does It Hold Water and Chip Shots. Does It Hold Water is the segment where Gary tests a piece of thought leadership against a guest who has never seen it in advance. The setup produces some of the most honest conversations on the show, and it delivered again this year on feedback, structure, empathy, business modeling, and the difference between joy and happiness. Chip Shots is the shorter form segment, a rotating set of professional questions with a personal edge. The answers this year covered the book that changed how one guest communicates, the line between a real risk and a terrible idea, an underrated travel destination, the risk of putting your ideas into the world, and the one question that changes the tone of any meeting. Nine guests. Ten clips. One question running through all of it: What actually holds up when leaders make decisions about their people, their clients, and their businesses? This episode reinforces the core principles of the show: Client focus is a growth strategy. Leadership behavior drives revenue. Operational clarity drives scale. If you have been listening this year, this is a compressed dose of what the best guests have said. If you are new to the show, this is the best possible entry point. What You'll Learn Whether leaders really want honest feedback, and what that means for culture Why structure and documentation create the freedom to deliver great experiences Where empathy gets misused, and how it connects to accountability What business lessons hide inside how a global artist runs her enterprise The difference between joy and happiness, and why it matters for leaders Why saying less is often the harder discipline How to tell a real risk apart from a terrible idea An underrated travel destination worth putting on the list Why putting your ideas into the world is a professional risk worth taking The one question that changes the tone of any meeting Segments Introduction Does It Hold Water, 5th Place Does It Hold Water, 4th Place Does It Hold Water, 3rd Place Does It Hold Water, 2nd Place Does It Hold Water, 1st Place Chip Shots, 5th Place Chip Shots, 4th Place Chip Shots, 3rd Place Chip Shots, 2nd Place Chip Shots, 1st Place Closing Thoughts Featured Guests (alphabetical) Laurie Fainer, Alex Grant, Sid Meadows, Jessica Millhiser, Ali Ramer, John Sampogna, Katie Stabler, Dannah Vaughan, Kris Wauters 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Schooley Mitchell: https://www.schooleymitchell.com/gmarra · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. Now heard in 70 countries. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a Schooley Mitchell Franchise Owner and the host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #MidYearReview #Leadership #CustomerExperience #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #Feedback #Risk #Empathy #Gratitude #PodMatch
	Why Client Outcomes Start With Hiring with Alex Grant	13 May 2026	01:01:33
Your Customer, Your Success — Episode 52Why Client Outcomes Start With Hiring with Alex GrantSummary In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Alex Grant — Senior Vice President of Direct Field Sales at North, one of the country's leading payments and merchant services companies. Before North, Alex spent years at Heartland in senior sales leadership, recruiting, coaching, and scaling sales talent across the payments industry. Across two of the most respected names in the space, Alex has earned a reputation as a leader who develops people, drives performance, and is not afraid to say the things most operators only think privately. This conversation explores a foundational operating reality: How a company hires is the most honest signal of how it actually runs. Alex breaks down why hiring is "intelligent guessing" rather than pure data analysis, why the interview process functions as the first phase of training, and why a jumbled hiring cycle quietly erodes customer trust and conversion before a single client is onboarded. He explains why most leaders chase a fictional "perfect candidate" — what he and Gary call Tom Brady hunting — and how that pattern often masks weak internal training. Gary and Alex connect interview behavior to client experience — from candidate communication and onboarding to retention, redirection, and feedback discipline. The conversation reinforces that hiring is not separate from customer outcomes. It is a leading indicator of them. They also examine the "doesn't hold water" practice of asking candidates to deliver free consulting in interviews, why most leaders avoid giving real-time feedback, and why redirecting talent is often more disciplined than terminating it. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Client outcomes start with hiring. Operating discipline drives client trust. How a company treats candidates is how it eventually treats clients. If you're a founder, operator, fractional executive, or sales leader trying to strengthen hiring as a growth lever — not just an HR function — this conversation will sharpen your thinking around operating discipline, talent decisions, and the link between internal behavior and external outcomes. What You'll Learn Why hiring is "intelligent guessing" — and how disciplined leaders make it work What a 45-day hiring process looks like, and why 90+ days is a red flag Why the interview process is the beginning of training, not a precursor to it How "Tom Brady hunting" stalls growth and masks weak internal training Why redirecting talent is often more disciplined than terminating it The feedback discipline that determines whether new hires succeed or fail Why asking candidates to do free consulting is a red flag for both sides How interview behavior translates directly into customer trust and conversion CHAPTERS1:01 Introduction2:24 Why hiring is intelligent guessing5:03 What a hiring process reveals about how a company treats customers8:45 How long a hiring process should actually take10:03 The real cost of a 90-plus day interview cycle12:03 Why hiring processes drag on16:04 Tom Brady hunting and the perfect candidate trap28:20 Linking candidate experience to client experience30:25 Why most companies miss the connection33:39 Redirecting talent before terminating it37:17 Advice for leaders sitting on a hiring decision42:06 Does It Hold Water?46:56 Chip ShotsBook Recommendation Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz Connect with Alex LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralexgrant/ North Careers: https://north.com/careers 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra About Your Customer, Your Success Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy — it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. About Gary Marra Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #GrowthStrategy #Leadership #Hiring #CustomerExperience #SalesLeadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #OperationalDiscipline #Founders #Podcast
	Vision, Vibes, Value: What Separates Great Agency Relationships from Average Ones	06 May 2026	00:37:49
E51 Guest: John Sampogna, Co-Founder & CEO, WondersauceSUMMARY How do agency relationships compound over a decade instead of dying after a year? John Sampogna, co-founder and CEO of Wondersauce, joins Gary Marra to break down the difference between agencies that sell activity and the ones that sell outcomes, and why most service businesses get the trade-off wrong. John has spent more than fifteen years scaling Wondersauce from two people to over a hundred. Business Insider named him one of the 30 Most Creative People in Advertising Under 30. Five years ago, he made the painful pivot from project-based revenue to long-term client relationships, and that single decision reshaped how the business runs today. In this conversation, John explains why most agencies default to selling activity, how outcome-based pricing actually works in practice, and why founders should not scale away from the work that made their business valuable in the first place. He also shares how he measures client health, what he looks for in every hire, and what the best clients do that allows better work to happen. Gary and John connect agency operations to the larger conversation about retention, client trust, and the difference between transactional vendors and true long-term partners. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN What "business acceleration" actually means for a modern marketing agency How outcome-based pricing works in practice and where it breaks down Why customer experience functions as brand building rather than a separate function How John measures agency client health across delivery, relationship, and X-factor Why moving from project work to retainers is painful but rebuilds the business What founders should keep building themselves versus hire around Why John hires for excitement above almost any other signal What the best clients do that lets better work happen on both sides How to separate a smart professional risk from a bad idea CHAPTERS 01:02 Introduction 02:14 What business acceleration actually means for an agency 04:01 Outcome-based pricing in practice 07:30 Where things break down inside client organizations 11:33 Customer experience as brand building 17:30 How to measure agency client health 20:47 The pivot from project work to retainers 23:18 Scaling lessons most founders miss 27:58 What the best clients do differently 35:35 Does It Hold Water? 37:53 Chip Shots DOES IT HOLD WATER? The defense: "We hire for hard skills. We fire for soft skills." CHIP SHOTS Book recommendation, the leader John would shadow for a day, an early-career lesson he still uses, and the professional risk that built Wondersauce. BOOK RECOMMENDATION Setting the Table by Danny Meyer CONNECT WITH JOHN Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsampogna/ Company Website: https://wondersauce.com/ Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wondersauce Personal Website: https://www.jsamps.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH GARY MARRA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional: https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #GrowthStrategy #Leadership #CustomerExperience #ClientRetention #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #AgencyGrowth #Founders #Hiring #Podcast #PodMatch
	Setting a Seat at the Table: How CX Earns Real Authority with Katie Stabler	29 Apr 2026	00:48:22
Setting a Seat at the Table: How CX Earns Real Authority with Katie Stabler *It's Episode 50 of Your Customer, Your Success!!!* Thank you all for listening/watching! A fitting milestone for a conversation on how customer experience earns real authority inside the organizations that need it most. In this return visit, Katie Stabler joins Gary Marra to examine why customer experience continues to sit downstream of major business decisions in most organizations, even as the data consistently shows CX leaders outperform the market. Katie is the founder and director of Cultivate Customer Experience by Design, globally ranked the number three CX leader, author of CX-ism, host of Everyday CXism, and the returning host of the International Customer Experience Awards. The conversation is built around three questions Katie posed to her LinkedIn Inner Circle community: Why does CX still struggle to influence strategic decisions? Why do CX teams feel responsible for outcomes they don't fully control? Why do businesses claim to care about customers while designing systems that make good experiences difficult to deliver? Katie and Gary work through the structural contradictions inside most CX functions, the difference between ownership and authority, and how influence without authority can still drive meaningful organizational change. Katie also revisits her Three S's framework, Success, Satisfaction, and Sentiment, and explains why emotion is the mechanism that turns interactions into memory, perception, and loyalty. CHAPTERS 01:05 Introduction 02:43 Katie's "The Inner Circle" on LinkedIn 04:34 Why does CX still struggle to influence strategic decisions? 09:34 Why do CX teams feel responsible for outcomes they don't fully control? 15:43 Why do businesses say they care about customers but design systems that make CX hard to deliver? 20:37 A reminder of the Three S's framework 26:04 What Katie is building with the Everyday CXism podcast 28:02 Wow or No Wow 31:31 Does It Hold Water? 38:37 Chip Shots Book Recommendations CX-ism by Katie Stabler Being You by Anil Seth Connect with Katie Website: Cultivate Customer Experience by Design LinkedIn: Katie Stabler Podcast: Everyday CX-ism 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy — it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #CustomerExperience #Leadership #GrowthStrategy #ClientRetention #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #OperationalDiscipline #FractionalLeadership #Founders #Podcast #PodMatch
	Growth, Margin, and Chaos: How to Scale Without Eroding Profit with Rion Westfall	22 Apr 2026	00:49:26
Growth, Margin, and Chaos: How to Scale Without Eroding Profit \| Rion Westfall In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Rion Westfall, founder of 537 Business Development and creator of the Own Your Revenue program. Rion has built nine companies across family businesses, solo ventures, joint ventures, and private equity-backed disruptors. He now helps small to mid-sized businesses grow with healthier margins and less operational chaos. The conversation confronts a hard truth that most founders learn too late: growth does not automatically improve a business. Rion explains why scaling revenue without scaling your people, processes, and accountability structures almost always results in shrinking margins. He's heard it firsthand, owners who hit $20 million and wish they were back at $10. Bigger isn't always better when chaos scales faster than profit. Gary and Rion connect the dots between internal execution and customer experience. Operational confusion, unclear ownership, and weak handoffs don't stay hidden inside the business. They surface in slow response times, poor follow-through, and inconsistent service. As Rion puts it, the customer feels the potholes even if they can't see the road. They also dig into Rion's concept of hunting revenue patterns, the power of mapping a customer roadmap, and why clarity is often a bigger obstacle than execution. The episode closes with a sharp take on AI: use it to solve a specific, identified problem, not as a strategy in itself. What You'll Learn Why growing revenue shrinks margins when people and process don't scale alongside it How internal chaos inevitably shows up in the customer experience Why writing down your customer roadmap is one of the highest-leverage moves a business can make How accountability builds confidence inside your team and with your customers What leaders need to fix operationally before reaching for AI tools Chapters 01:18 Introduction 02:43 Why businesses scale chaos before they scale profit 05:47 The growth levers owners miss and why margin gets squeezed 09:05 Where margins are most often damaged inside growing companies 11:42 How internal chaos shows up in the customer experience 14:47 The customer roadmap and why writing the process down matters 21:08 Building accountability and ownership thinking into company culture 26:15 Why lack of clarity is often a bigger problem than poor execution 29:28 What leaders should fix before reaching for AI 32:58 Does It Hold Water? 37:48 Chip Shots Book Recommendation The Missing Secret by John Mitchell Connect with Rion Website: app.ownyourrevenue.com LinkedIn: Rion Westfall 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy. It is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #GrowthStrategy #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #OperationalDiscipline #Profitability #RevenueGrowth #CustomerExperience #Founders #Podcast
	Risk, Trust, and Passive Real Estate Investing for Business Owners with Ian Noble	15 Apr 2026	00:37:05
Risk, Trust, and Passive Real Estate Investing for Business Owners with Ian Noble Today’s conversation is for educational and informational purposes only. Our guest insights are based on their professional experience and do not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice. Because everyone’s financial situation is unique, please consult with your own licensed advisors before making any investment decisions. In Episode 48, Gary welcomes Ian Noble, founder of Run Steady Investments, for a conversation on passive real estate investing through the lens of a former operator. Before shifting into this work, Ian spent 14 years building and operating a 14-location dry cleaning business in Austin, Texas, before exiting in 2023. Ian explains how that experience changed the way he thinks about wealth outside the business, why many entrepreneurs delay building income beyond the company they run, and why passive investing is often less about the asset itself and more about trust, vetting, and the people operating the deal. The conversation also covers risk, underwriting discipline, red flags, private lending, mobile home parks, and why so many founders struggle to hand over control even when they know they need to diversify. This is a practical episode for business owners, founders, and operators thinking more intentionally about income, time, and long-term stability beyond the business. Chapters 01:43 Introduction 03:35 From Business Exit to a New Wealth Mindset 05:01 Active vs. Passive: What Real Estate Ownership Really Looks Like 07:10 Why Founders Delay Building Income Beyond the Business 09:37 Why the Operator Matters More Than the Asset 11:55 Reading the Numbers Without Getting Burned 15:18 Red Flags That Smart Investors Watch For 17:40 Trust as the Real Investment Strategy 19:34 Why Private Lending and Mobile Home Parks 22:21 Why Passive Investing Feels Hard for Entrepreneurs 24:49 The First Step Toward Passive Income 26:11 Does It Hold Water? 29:23 Chip Shots Book Recommendation Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki Connect with Ian: Website: https://runsteadyinvestments.com Free Passive Investing in Real Estate Cheat Sheet: https://go.runsteadyinvestments.com/your-customer-your-success-podcast Join Our Passive Investor Mailing List: https://runsteadyinvestments.com/investor-club LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iannoble1/ Instagram: @ian_invests 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy — it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #Founders #Entrepreneurship #PassiveIncome #RealEstateInvesting #RiskManagement #Trust #OperationalDiscipline #Podcast
	Expectations, Personalization, and the Trip Before the Trip: Where Great Travel Experiences Begin with Ali Raymer	08 Apr 2026	00:47:18
Expectations, Personalization, and the Trip Before the Trip: Where Great Travel Experiences Begin with Ali RaymerEpisode Overview In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra sits down with Ali Raymer, Senior Travel Advisor at Picture This Travel, for a conversation that goes well beyond travel logistics. Ali came into the industry in a nontraditional way, built her business through the disruption of COVID, and then had to scale quickly when demand came roaring back. What emerges from this conversation is not a travel-tips episode. It is a business conversation about experience creation, trust, personalization, and operational discipline in a high-touch service business. At the center of this episode is a simple but important idea: Great experiences do not scale through effort alone. They scale through expectation-setting, personalization, process, communication, and trust. Ali explains why so much of the travel experience is created before a traveler ever leaves home, how reducing anxiety is part of the service itself, and why clients often need guidance more than they need booking help. Ali also breaks down how she uses systems and automation without losing the human touch, why specialization has helped her business grow, and how repeat and referral business come from creating experiences people remember and talk about. From Europe and river cruises to post-trip follow-up and relationship maintenance, this episode is a strong example of how thoughtful service becomes business value. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Client experience starts before delivery. Personalization earns loyalty. Operational discipline protects the human touch. If you are a founder, advisor, operator, or service leader trying to grow without becoming generic, this conversation will sharpen your thinking around experience design, trust-based growth, and what it really takes to scale a relationship business. What You Will Learn • Why Ali believes most of the client experience is created before the trip even begins • How expectation-setting helps clients get the experience they actually want • Why a travel advisor’s role is guidance, not just booking • How automation can support personalization instead of replacing it • Why repeat and referral growth depend on memorable service • How specialization in Europe and river cruising helped Ali grow her business • Why river cruises create a more immersive and authentic travel experience • How Ali maintains long-term relationships even when clients do not travel every year Chapters 01:11 Introduction 03:12 From teaching to travel and surviving the COVID collapse 06:15 What broke first when demand came roaring back 08:10 What clients are really buying 10:30 Where the travel experience really begins 15:46 Personalization and process in a high-touch business 17:58 Repeat business, referrals, and long-term relationship building 22:35 Europe, specialization, and river cruising 23:32 Why river cruises create a different kind of experience 27:03 Mompreneur lessons, confidence, and entrepreneurship 31:11 Does It Hold Water? 36:28 Chip Shots Book Mentioned: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Connect with Ali Website: https://www.alipicturethistravel.com/ Picture This Travel Profile: https://www.picturethistravel.com/picture-this-travel-about-us/ali-raymer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alipicturethistravel/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alipicturethistravel/ Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ Podcast Home: https://marracxhub.com/podcasts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJeoEKY3n0cOwlJWl4AdWhBkXzLTEikqq Please Listen & Subscribe Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business growth. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra #YourCustomerYourSuccess #ClientExperience #CustomerExperience #ExperienceDesign #Personalization #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #OperationalDiscipline #TravelAdvisor #Entrepreneurship #podmatch
	Growth, Complexity, and the Slow Erosion of Client Trust	02 Apr 2026	00:23:25
Growth, Complexity, and the Slow Erosion of Client Trust Episode Overview In this solo episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra breaks down a pattern many leaders recognize before they can fully explain it: the moment when complexity starts to outpace structure, and client trust begins to weaken. The numbers may still look fine. Revenue may still be holding. KPIs may not yet be flashing red. But underneath the surface, something has shifted. Escalations multiply. Ownership gets blurry. Communication becomes inconsistent. Teams work harder, yet the business feels less steady. Gary explores why this is not a soft issue. It is a business risk. When client trust starts to erode, the impact eventually shows up in retention, referrals, expansion, executive attention, and sales momentum. By the time the damage is obvious in the numbers, the instability has usually been building for a while. This episode is a practical look at what founders, operators, and client-facing leaders should watch for during periods of growth, restructuring, transition, or operational change and why stronger structure, clearer ownership, and steadier communication often matter more than more pressure, more meetings, or more reporting. What You’ll Learn Why client trust often weakens before the financial impact becomes obvious How complexity quietly creates friction inside growing organizations The early warning signs of relationship instability Why unclear ownership and weak handoffs put retention at risk What leaders should ask when things start to feel harder than they should Why clients do not need perfection, but they do need steadiness How stronger client-facing leadership protects revenue, retention, and trust Chapters 00:26 Introduction 05:13 What are leaders missing? 08:07 How does trust erosion show up? 15:41 When does this tend to happen? 18:04 What can leaders do about it? 22:28 So what does this all mean? 24:46 Why client leaders matter 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: Gary Marra Marra CX Hub: Marra CX Hub Apple Podcasts: Your Customer, Your Success on Apple Podcasts Spotify: Your Customer, Your Success on Spotify YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch Looking for fractional support? Go Fractional About Your Customer, Your Success Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy. It is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations and insights on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. #ClientTrust #CustomerExperience #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #GrowthStrategy #ClientExperience #OperationalExcellence #BusinessGrowth #FractionalLeadership #Podcast
	How to Talk to the C-Suite About ROI, Risk, and Outcomes with Eleni Vorvis	25 Mar 2026	00:53:22
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Eleni Vorvis — a fractional customer success leader, executive advisor, and coach with more than 20 years of experience across sales, customer success, leadership, and go-to-market teams. This conversation explores a foundational leadership reality: Executive conversations do not succeed because you know the product best. They succeed because you know how to connect the product to business value. And the professionals who can translate customer success into ROI, risk reduction, and measurable outcomes are the ones who earn trust at the highest levels. Eleni breaks down why customer success managers often miss the mark when speaking with senior executives, why too much focus on features weakens the conversation, and why business outcomes have to lead. She explains how CSMs can build confidence, establish authority regardless of title, and prepare for executive business reviews in a way that creates credibility instead of wasting time. Gary and Eleni also explore what founders often misunderstand about churn, retention, and customer fit, and why alignment between sales, product, and customer success so often breaks down. The conversation reinforces that strong customer relationships are not maintained through activity alone. They are built through clarity, preparation, communication, and operational discipline. They also discuss empathy in leadership, how it helps and where it can go too far, the importance of understanding what matters most to executive stakeholders, and what customer-facing leaders can learn from failure, feedback, and better cross-functional collaboration. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Client focus must be expressed in business language. Retention is a growth strategy. Executive trust is earned through preparation, clarity, and outcomes. If you’re a founder, operator, customer success leader, or advisor trying to strengthen executive communication and turn customer relationships into long-term business value, this conversation will sharpen your thinking around leadership, retention, and strategic customer growth. What You’ll Learn Why Eleni says CSMs often focus on the wrong things with executives Why ROI, risk, and outcomes matter more than product features How customer success professionals can build confidence with the C-suite What makes an executive value review effective instead of performative Why preparation, role clarity, and time management shape executive meetings How founders often misunderstand churn, retention, and customer fit Why alignment breaks down between sales, product, and customer success How empathy helps leaders and where it can become counterproductive What early-career failure can teach about leadership and fit How stronger executive communication can deepen customer trust Chapters 01:14 Introduction 02:07 The NE February 2026 Blizzard Chat 03:59 The biggest mistake CSMs make with executives 06:38 How often executive meetings should happen 08:14 Coaching CSMs to speak with confidence 11:33 How to run an executive value review that works 22:10 A client meeting that changed the relationship 28:48 What founders misunderstand about retention and churn 34:11 Where sales, product, and customer success lose alignment 38:36 Does It Hold Water? 44:07 Chip Shots Books Mentioned Ego Free Leadership - Brandon Black and Shane Hughes Connect with Eleni LinkedIn: [Insert Eleni Vorvis LinkedIn URL] 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy — it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #ExecutiveCommunication #ClientRetention #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #OperationalDiscipline #Founders #Podcast #podmatch
	Sustainable Growth, the Metrics That Matter, and Being Awesome at Boring with Jon Morris	11 Mar 2026	00:47:11
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Jon Morris — founder and CEO of Fiscal Advocate, former founder of Rise Interactive, and a fractional CFO and advisor focused on helping businesses use financial data to grow faster and more profitably. This conversation explores a foundational growth reality: Sustainable growth does not come from tracking more metrics. It comes from focusing on the few numbers that actually matter, building the discipline to act on them, and getting really good at the unglamorous work that makes a business stronger over time. Jon breaks down why revenue growth alone can be misleading, why cash is more than a safety net, and how simplifying performance measurement can help leaders make better decisions. He explains why most founders overcomplicate their dashboards, how churn quietly erodes growth, and why the businesses that scale well are often the ones that get “awesome at boring.” Gary and Jon also connect financial discipline to customer experience — from onboarding and offboarding to billing accuracy, retention, and service design. The conversation reinforces that customer trust is not separate from business performance. It is part of it. They also explore what holds leaders back from getting help, why embarrassment can delay needed decisions, and what founders should understand about building — and eventually exiting — a company. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Client retention is a growth strategy. Operational discipline protects margin. Sustainable businesses are built through consistent execution. If you’re a founder, operator, or advisor trying to simplify growth and build a stronger business without adding noise, this conversation will sharpen your thinking around metrics, discipline, and long-term value creation. What You’ll Learn Why Jon believes most leaders track too many KPIs The three numbers he says matter most: growth, profit, and cash Why cash reserves create both protection and strategic opportunity How churn and poor retention quietly undermine growth Why onboarding and offboarding both shape the client experience What “being awesome at boring” really means in business Why many founders wait too long to get financial help How to think about exiting a business before the decline begins Chapters 01:03 Introduction 01:56 How Jon turned a $10,000 business plan prize into a $40M company 03:10 Why long-term thinking matters when building a business 05:36 Why customer experience matters even from a CFO perspective 07:03 The four goals every annual business plan should include 09:08 The three KPIs leaders should actually focus on 11:54 Why cash matters more than most leaders think 13:24 Why too many metrics create confusion, not clarity 15:16 The CPR Score and simplifying business health into one number 17:43 Why logic and emotion often collide in leadership decisions 20:27 How service complexity can hurt the customer experience 21:57 Investing in onboarding, offboarding, and operational process improvement 25:27 Why founders often wait too long to seek financial help 27:07 How the income statement reveals why a business is stuck 30:04 What “being awesome at boring” looks like in practice 33:26 What founders should know about exiting a business 36:32 Does It Hold Water? 40:40 Chip Shots Books Mentioned Product-Led Onboarding - Ramli John and Wes Bush The Checklist Manifesto – Atul Gawande Connect with Jon Website: https://fiscaladvocate.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmorrisramsayinnovations/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy — it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #GrowthStrategy #Leadership #CustomerExperience #ClientRetention #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #OperationalDiscipline #FractionalCFO #Founders #Podcast
	Customer Depth, Strategic Focus, and Swifties: The Real Small Business Advantage	04 Mar 2026	00:58:33
Episode Overview In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Sid Meadows — fractional advisor, founder of Embark CCT, co-founder of The Collaborative Network, and host of The Trend Report. This conversation explores a foundational growth reality: Small businesses don’t win by acting big. They win by going deeper with customers, staying strategically focused, and empowering their people. Sid breaks down why competing on price is a reflex — not a strategy. He explains how shiny object syndrome quietly derails growth, why most SMB challenges are leadership or communication failures, and how “being the easy button” can become a real competitive advantage — even in manufacturing. They also explore what leaders can learn from Taylor Swift. Not celebrity — loyalty. The kind of loyalty that compounds over time and creates community. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Customer depth is a growth strategy. Strategic focus protects margin. Empowered leadership drives scale. If you’re a founder, operator, or fractional leader trying to grow without adding complexity, this conversation will sharpen your thinking around discipline, trust, and retention. What You’ll Learn Why small businesses shouldn’t default to price competition How to identify the real problem you solve for customers The danger of expanding offerings too quickly Why depth with existing customers beats constant prospecting The difference between command-and-control and trust-and-inspire leadership Three no-cost actions you can take in the next 30 days to improve growth and retention Chapters 01:03 Introduction 02:44 How can small businesses compete with big giants? 04:27 Why is competing on price the default instinct? 09:16 Where do small businesses misdiagnose the real problem? 11:33 How does community accelerate leadership growth? 12:30 Customer Depth vs Width 13:33 The Collaborative Network 21:26 Ensuring a Seamless Transition Post-Sale 30:07 Trust-and-inspire vs. command-and-control leadership 34:36 Three no-cost moves to improve growth and retention 38:52 Does It Hold Water? 44:44 Chip Shots Book MentionedUnreasonable Hospitality – Will Guidara Connect with Sid Website: https://sidmeadows.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sidmeadows/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachsidmeadows/ Podcast: The Trend Report 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra #CX #CustomerSuccess #Leadership #SmallBusiness #SMBGrowth #FractionalLeadership #ClientExperience #GrowthStrategy #TeamLeadership #Podcast
	Leadership Alignment, the Right Seat, and Customer Trust with Bryant Richardson	08 Jul 2026	00:39:39
Leadership Alignment, the Right Seat, and Customer Trust with Bryant Richardson In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Bryant Richardson, founder of Real Blue Sky and author of the forthcoming book The Next CX Economy, a customer experience advisor who helps leaders turn client focus into a growth strategy. This conversation explores a claim most operators feel but rarely name: customer experience is rarely broken at the front line. What breaks is leadership alignment, and the front line only reveals it first. Bryant walks through his CRAFT Agilities Framework, a diagnostic for the organizational conditions that build customer trust, then focuses on the F. Fitment, a term he borrowed from shipbuilding, asks whether the right people are aligned to the right purpose in the right roles for the stage the business is in now. He shows why a skilled but misaligned person can look like competence while quietly creating drag that customers eventually feel. Gary and Bryant spend real time on the difference between someone in the wrong seat and someone who is the wrong fit, why the fit that carried a company to one stage may not carry it to the next, and why hiring in a hurry costs more on the back end than it saves. They get into hiring discipline, employee development, and telling yourself the truth about a mismatch you have been avoiding. The conversation also covers a wealth management turnaround, where aligning a front line team to the organization's deeper purpose produced a sixfold improvement in prospective client meetings, and closes with a ninety day plan any leader can run. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: client focus is a growth strategy, leadership alignment drives customer trust, and the right people in the right seats are what let a business scale. If you are a founder, operator, or growth-stage leader who senses that capable people are still creating drag, this conversation will sharpen how you think about alignment, hiring, and the trust that drives growth. What You'll Learn Why customer experience usually breaks downstream from leadership decisions Where misalignment shows up first, and why the front line reveals it rather than causes it The CRAFT Agilities Framework, from Culture through Tactic What Fitment means, and why Bryant borrowed it from shipbuilding Why a skilled but misaligned person can look like competence while creating drag How to tell the difference between someone in the wrong seat and the wrong fit Why the fit that got a company here may not be the fit that gets it to the next stage Why hiring in a hurry costs more to fix later than it saves How self-awareness and bias shape people decisions, and how loyalty gets confused with fit A ninety day plan to strengthen fitment, starting with the customer promise Chapters 0:00 Cold Open 1:00 Introduction 2:45 Where misalignment shows up first 4:00 The CRAFT Agilities Framework, start to finish 5:15 Fitment, and why it comes from shipbuilding 7:00 When a skilled hire quietly creates drag 8:45 Wrong seat or wrong fit 15:45 Fit, development, and smaller firms 17:00 A wealth management turnaround 22:15 Self-awareness and telling yourself the truth 27:30 A ninety day fitment plan 29:20 Does It Hold Water? 32:37 Chip Shots Book Recommendation The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey Connect with Bryant Website: https://thenextcxeconomy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryantrichardson Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Please Listen & Subscribe Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a small business owner and the award-winning host of Your Customer, Your Success. Through his Schooley Mitchell of Weymouth practice, he helps organizations cut costs and improve profitability across telecom, merchant services, shipping, and other operating expenses, a vendor-neutral model built entirely on client results. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps leaders think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #LeadershipAlignment #CustomerExperience #CustomerTrust #SMBGrowth #CX #Leadership #CostReduction #Profitability #OperationalEfficiency #podmatch
	Inside the Entrepreneurial Garage: Marketing and Customer Success Alignment	25 Feb 2026	00:47:38
Summary In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Tim Hines — fractional CMO, four-time founder, keynote speaker, and author of The Marketing Starter. This conversation explores a critical leadership reality: Marketing does not stop at lead generation. Customer success does not begin at onboarding. Alignment between the two is what protects retention and enables growth. They discuss churn as a marketing metric, customer success enablement, intrapreneurship inside larger organizations, and how leaders can build innovation without breaking operational discipline. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Client focus is a growth strategy. Alignment drives retention. Retention drives scale. If you lead a team, manage client relationships, or are building something of your own, this conversation will challenge how you think about ownership, accountability, and growth. The question isn’t who owns the customer. The question is whether your organization is aligned enough to keep them. CHAPTERS CHAPTERS 01:10 Introduction 02:38 What’s the first sign that marketing and customer reality are misaligned? 06:32 Where does marketing trip up and increase customer effort? 11:55 What does it mean to think like an entrepreneur inside a company? 14:19 The Entrepreneurial Garage and creating space to innovate 20:43 Do leaders hit a wall on implementation? 23:29 Delivering hard truths to leadership and letting the data prove it 26:28 Which metrics should marketing obsess over to support Customer Success? 29:20 One operating principle that would save founders frustration 31:52 Does It Hold Water? 38:10 Chip Shots Tim's Book The Marketing Starter Tim’s Books Mentioned The Referable Speaker (Michael Port) Start With Why (Simon Sinek) Connect with Tim: tnhines.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tnhines/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #FractionalLeadership #GrowthStrategy #TeamAlignment #Podcast #BusinessLeadership #CustomerExperience
	CX, EX, and Dancing With The Dragon: The Human Side of True Leadership with Kris Wauters	11 Feb 2026	00:58:59
What if Customer Experience and Employee Experience aren’t separate initiatives at all, but direct reflections of leadership behavior? In this return visit to Your Customer, Your Success, Kris Wauters joins Gary Marra to explore the deeper truth behind CX, EX, and leadership through the lens of his new book, The Human Experience: Dancing with the Dragon, Climbing Beyond the Tower. This conversation moves beyond slogans and frameworks and into the real work of leading humans. Kris draws from more than 30 years of leadership experience to explain why customer centricity isn’t a goal you achieve, why most CX programs collapse when leadership changes, and why incompetence, not malice, is often the real enemy inside organizations. Gary and Kris dig into practical CX discipline, including why too many metrics destroy accountability, how listening to the Voice of Customer, Voice of Employee, and Voice of Process together changes everything, and why the most mature organizations stop apologizing for problems and start preventing them. The episode then shifts into leadership and culture, where Kris challenges the idea that culture can be “reinvented,” explains the difference between managing and truly leading, and makes a simple but powerful case for care, trust, and accountability as the foundation of sustainable performance. This is not a conversation about quick wins or transformation theater. It’s about building organizations where CX and EX are outcomes of conscious leadership, not side projects owned by a department. If you lead people, serve customers, or are responsible for experience, trust, and performance at scale, this episode will challenge how you think about all three. CHAPTERS 00:54 Introduction 04:23 What breaks the human experience loop inside organizations? 07:18 Why customer centricity is not a goal 09:59 Incompetence vs malice in leadership 10:16 Learning to be a Leader 14:27 How leaders create trust and real feedback cultures 21:13 VOC, VOE, and VOP explained 27:42 Why too many CX metrics kill progress 34:04 The Museum of Retired Apologies 36:47 When culture works against the customer 40:22 Leadership vs management and “show me you care” 42:12 Does It Hold Water? 47:21 Chip Shots Kris's Book https://a.co/d/0cmLbvD2 Connect with Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwauters/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #FractionalLeadership #GrowthStrategy #TeamAlignment #Podcast #BusinessLeadership #CustomerExperience
	Customer Success, Automation, and the Cost of Losing the Human Touch with Dannah Vaughan	21 Jan 2026	00:54:57
In this episode, Dannah Vaughan joins me for a grounded conversation about customer success, post-sales execution, and the real cost of losing the human touch in an increasingly automated world. We explore why onboarding has improved while support continues to fail customers, how health scores should guide curiosity rather than dictate decisions, and why legacy customers demand real relationships, not automation. We also talk candidly about short CS leadership tenures, layoffs in tech, and the resilience required to keep building when the rules keep changing. This is a practical, human-first look at what actually drives retention and expansion when tools, dashboards, and AI can only take you so far. Episode Chapters 01:08 — Introduction 03:35 — Where post-sales promises meet reality 05:46 — Telecom lessons and the disappearing human 07:34 — The reality of AI, Automation, and the human element 13:37 — Where we really are with AI, is it a "toddler?" 17:56 — Dashboards, health scores, and seeing risk sooner 29:21 — Customer Success under CROs and what gets undervalued 35:59 — The avocado rotary phone and technology that still works! 39:54 — Career myth debunking 41:31 — Does It Hold Water? 45:54 — Chip Shots Book Recommendation Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It―Unlock Your Persuasion Potential in Professional and Personal Life by Chris Voss Connect with Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannahvaughan/ Website: https://rebelsofSaaS.com Also mentioned on the show: Podcast: Rebels of SaaS 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #FractionalLeadership #GrowthStrategy #TeamAlignment #Podcast #BusinessLeadership #CustomerExperience
	Building Growth That Lasts: Alignment, Fractional Leadership, and Customer Success Execution with Chelsey Reynolds	14 Jan 2026	00:52:41
Building Growth That Lasts: Alignment, Fractional Leadership, and Customer Success Execution with Chelsey Reynolds Chelsey Reynolds joins Your Customer, Your Success for a practical conversation about what it really takes to build growth that lasts. Drawing on her experience leading sales, marketing, and customer success teams through rapid scale, Chelsey breaks down why growth stalls when teams operate in silos, how fear-based leadership quietly undermines execution, and where sales handoffs most often go wrong. We talk candidly about fractional leadership, setting expectations that survive the sale, capturing why customers actually buy, and why alignment matters more than any single metric or tool. This episode is for founders and leaders who want clarity instead of chaos and results that don’t come at the expense of their teams or their customers. Episode Timestamps 01:11 — Intro and welcome to the show 03:07 — What it’s really like leaving a W2 role to go fractional 04:45 — Why sales, marketing, and customer success struggle to work together 05:54 — Growth targets, alignment, and what leaders overlook 07:17 — How Sales (unintentionally) can make Customer Success harder 08:50 — When customer success should be pulled into the sales process 12:38 — Setting expectations that survive the handoff 16:49 — Why teams struggle with basic handoff discipline 18:13 — Capturing why customers buy and why it gets lost post-sale 19:53 — CRM realities and why tools don’t solve misalignment 21:28 — The real danger of organizational silos 23:58 — Fear-based leadership and internal competition 29:15 — How leaders unintentionally spread fear during change 31:58 — Recognizing fear-based leadership in yourself and change management 33:15 — Burnout as the wake-up call 35:01 —Where do you look first when growth feels harder than it should? 38:17 — Does It Hold Water? 41:36 — Chip Shots Book Recommendation: The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler Connect with Chelsey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsey-reynolds-growth-expert/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heychelseyhere/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@heychelseyhere Threads: https://www.threads.com/@heychelseyhere Substack: https://chelseyreynolds.substack.com/ Website: https://growthdepartment.com 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #FractionalLeadership #GrowthStrategy #TeamAlignment #Podcast #BusinessLeadership #CustomerExperience
	YCYS Year One Retrospective (Part 2): The Best of CX, Customer Success, and Leadership Interviews	07 Jan 2026	00:50:41
This episode is Part 2 of the 1-Year Anniversary Retrospective for Your Customer, Your Success. Part 1 focused on the fun, signature segments of the show. This episode highlights the best conversations and lessonsfrom year one — featuring Customer Experience leaders, Customer Success leaders, and leadership experts who shared thoughtful, practical perspectives. It’s a reflective, easy listen designed for the holiday break — and a look ahead to year two. ⏱️ What You’ll Hear in This Episode🎧 Best of Customer Experience (CX) Highlights and perspectives from CX leaders on trust, metrics, storytelling, technology, and where CX is headed next. Featured guests: Rick Denton Sean Albertson Katie Stabler Stacy Sherman Dave Seaton Natasha Evans Andrew Carothers Chris Hood Jean Pierre Dumas 🎧 Best of Customer Success Practical lessons from Customer Success leaders on customer behavior, health scores, expansion, internal alignment, and supporting CSMs. Featured guests: Kristi Faltorusso Alon Ahronberg Amber Munroe Rachel Provan Josh Nutter Alison Dixon Alyssa Nolte 🎧 Best of Leadership Leadership reflections on change, culture, decision-making, accountability, balance, and what effective leadership looks like today. Featured guests: Tim McCleary Caroline Baird Matt Feiner Chris Gillen Shruti Joshi Bill Kasko Samanda Morales Francie Jain Kelly Schucknecht Mark Stern Simona Costantini 🙏 Thank You Thank you to every guest who shared their perspective and every listener who supported the show this past year. If this episode made you pause, smile, or rethink something, consider sharing it with someone who might appreciate it too! 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence
	YCYS Year One Retrospective (Part 1): The Best of Chip Shots & Does It Hold Water!	31 Dec 2025	00:40:44
Episode Description This episode is Part 1 of our 1-Year Anniversary Retrospective for Your Customer, Your Success. Designed as a lighter, holiday-friendly listen, this episode highlights two of the show’s most popular and revealing segments: Chip Shots and Does It Hold Water? While informal by design, these segments consistently delivered some of the most honest, thoughtful, and memorable moments of the past year. This episode is about reflection, clarity, and having a little fun while looking back. ⭐ Best of Chip Shots We kick off the retrospective with highlights from Chip Shots, where quick questions led to some of the most revealing insights of the year. Featured moments include: Early career failures that still shape leadership today Unconventional lessons learned the hard way A standout answer to “Which leader would you shadow?” Two memorable “call an audible” moments that paid off A clear winner from the book recommendation question that sparked one of the show’s most popular resources Guests featured in this segment include: Kristi Faltorusso, Katie Stabler, Alyssa Nolte, Tim McCleary, Chris Gillen, Matt Feiner, Andrew Carothers, Jean Pierre Dumas, Rick Denton, and Kris Wauters. ⭐ Best of Does It Hold Water? Inspired by the famous courtroom scene in My Cousin Vinny, Does It Hold Water? became the show’s way of slowing down and pressure-testing ideas that sound good but deserve a closer look. In this retrospective: We revisit the strongest runner-up answers that helped define the segment Then crown two co-winners, whose responses were head and shoulders above the rest! Featured voices include: Rick Denton, Kristi Faltorusso, Kris Wauters, Andrew Carothers, Dave Seaton, Chris Hood, Alyssa Nolte and Simona Costantini. Why This Episode Matters This episode captures what made the first year of the show special: Honest conversations Willingness to challenge assumptions Humor, humility, and clarity And ideas that don’t just sound good...they hold water :) 🔜 Coming Up Next In Part 2 of the retrospective, we revisit highlights from the traditional interview portions of the show, with: CX leaders Customer Success leaders Leadership experts 🙏 Thank You Thank you to every guest who shared their perspective and every listener who supported the show this past year. If this episode made you pause, smile, or rethink something, consider sharing it with someone who might appreciate it too! 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence
	Job Security, AI, and What Job Candidates Need to Understand Now with Justin Dixon	17 Dec 2025	00:56:18
Episode 36: Job Security, AI, and What Job Candidates Need to Understand Now with Justin Dixon For years, job seekers were told the same story: big companies are safe, startups are risky, and loyalty will protect you. That story no longer holds up. In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, I’m joined by Justin Dixon, founder of Hire Tomorrow and host of the Growth Capital Podcast, to talk about what’s really happening in today’s job market. We break down why layoffs at large corporations are happening with little warning, why smaller companies and PE-backed firms can actually offer more visibility and career stability, and how candidates need to rethink job security in 2026. We discuss the realities of modern job search strategy, including how applicant tracking systems (ATS) filter resumes, why most resumes never reach a hiring manager, and how to build an ATS-friendly resume that still tells your story. Justin shares why every candidate should have two resumes — one for online applications and one for networking and interviews — and how recruiters actually scan resumes in seconds, not minutes. We also get into how AI in recruiting is reshaping hiring, from resume screening and candidate scoring to AI-driven interviews and automated applications. We talk honestly about what AI is really doing in hiring, where it helps, where it creates friction, and why candidates need to focus more on networking, referrals, and direct outreach than mass-applying online. If you’re preparing for job interviews, navigating a layoff, considering a move from a large company to a startup, or trying to understand how private equity, return-to-office mandates, and AI are changing the hiring landscape, this episode is a practical guide. No hype. No shortcuts. Just clear thinking about how to search for a job smarter, position yourself better, and avoid the black hole of modern hiring. Topics Covered: Job search strategy in today’s market Corporate layoffs vs startups and job security ATS resumes and applicant tracking systems AI in recruiting and AI interviews Networking vs mass applying Hiring manager mistakes and candidate experience Job searching through the holidays Audio Chapters 01:21 – Who Is Justin Dixon 03:23 – Why Big Companies Are No Longer “Safe” 05:44 – Are Layoffs Really Because of AI 07:36 – Is AI Actually Replacing Jobs 09:24 – Return to Office and Shrinking the Talent Pool 12:43 – Why Smaller Companies Can Be Safer 17:43 – How Job Search Has Changed 18:52 – The ATS Resume Reality 21:51 – How Recruiters Really Read Resumes 23:58 – Bots, Fake Applicants, and Resume Flooding 25:41 – Why Networking Beats Applying Online 29:29 – Building Visibility Without Forcing It 32:48 – What Hiring Managers Get Wrong 38:25 – AI Interviews and Candidate Experience 40:22 – Job Searching Through the Holidays 42:06 – Does It Hold Water? 45:44 – Chip Shots Book Recommendation Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki Connect with Justin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmdixon15/ Email: jdixon@hiretomorrow.com Website www.HireTomorrow.com 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #JobSearch #Recruiting #TalentAcquistion #JobSearchTips
	Corporate Social Responsibility Today: How CSR Drives Loyalty, Talent, and Trust with Suzanne Smith	10 Dec 2025	00:46:47
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Suzanne Smith, a nationally recognized voice on social impact and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Suzanne is the founder and CEO of Social Impact Architects, creator of the Social Trendspotter blog, a TEDx speaker, and a professor of social entrepreneurship, CSR, and ethical leadership at UT Austin and Duke. Her world lives at the intersection of government, policy, and business, and she spends her days helping organizations design solutions that balance purpose and performance. Gary and Suzanne breakdown: Why CSR isn’t just a big-company game How small businesses can start with low-cost, high-impact community initiatives The evolution from “checkbook philanthropy” to embedded, strategy-level CSR What happens when brands get CSR spectacularly wrong How CSR ties directly to customer loyalty, employee engagement, and talent attraction Why Gen Z is forcing companies to move from “pretty words” to “receipts” In this episode, you’ll learn: A practical 4C framework for CSR How a franchise oil-change shop turned in-kind support for an after-school van into: Why silence on key issues can be as damaging as tone-deaf campaigns How CSR is increasingly being owned by HR and impact leaders, not just marketing Why Gen Z will sometimes trade a bit of pay for purpose and what that tells us about employer brand They wrap with Gary’s classic “Does It Hold Water?” segment on whether CSR is “too risky” in today’s polarized climate, plus Chip Shots on behavioral psychology, Oprah, LinkedIn vs. Facebook, and the professional risks that pay off! Check it out! Chapters 01:15 Intro 03:01 Why Small Businesses Misunderstand CSR 04:31 A Great Small Business Story That Changed Everything 09:36 Suzanne's Four C's 12:32 CSR Across Every Size of Organization 14:52 Where CSR Initiatives Start to Go Wrong 19:58 How CSR Shapes Customer and Employee Experience 22:14 CSR and Employee Retention 24:48 Why Gen Z employee say they will take a pay cut 26:58 Consistency and CSR 30:32 How Any Business Can Start Small and Make an Impact 33:04 Does It Hold Water? 35:45 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Suzanne: Website: www.meetsuzanne.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialImpactArchitects X: https://x.com/socialtrendspot Substack: https://socialtrendspot.substack.com LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/social-impact-architects and https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannesmithtx TEDx “Everyone is a Changemaker”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJOonQUXL0E Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialtrendspot 🏷️ Tags Social Customer Care, Social Media ROI, CX Strategy, Customer Experience, Social Listening, Tagging & Labeling, AI in CX, Emotional Marketing, B2B Voice, Brooke Sellas, PodMatch 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerExperience #CustomerSuccess #ContactCenter #EX #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #EmployeeExperience #SocialMediaCustomerCare
	What Kitchens Teach Us About CX: The Power of Mise en Place	26 Nov 2025	00:14:11
In this Thanksgiving solo episode, Gary breaks down one of the most fundamental concepts in the culinary world — mise en place (“everything in its place”) — and shows how it offers a powerful operating principle for customer experience, client success, and leadership. Using stories from busy kitchens, real-world onboarding challenges, and decades of experience working with complex institutional clients, Gary explores why: preparation is a key to CX strategy inconsistency comes from lack of readiness teams are overwhelmed because processes are underprepared customers can feel your chaos even if they never see it Whether you’re a CX leader, a founder, a client-facing professional, or simply trying to bring more order to the chaos in your work, this episode gives you a practical and memorable framework. 🍽️ What You’ll Learn • Why mise en place is a key CX discipline How a restaurant’s prep work translates directly to onboarding, handoffs, and client communication. • The real causes of inconsistent customer experience It’s (almost) never talent. It’s almost always preparation. • Why great CX is built before the customer ever shows up Preparation reduces chaos, risk, and escalations as it multiplies trust. 🔗 Connect with Gary LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garymarra Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pTZksMmQPwZJSeryfK5Xm
	Social Media Customer Care: Conversations That Drive CX ROI with Brooke B. Sellas	19 Nov 2025	00:51:52
Social Media Customer Care: Conversations That Drive CX ROI — with Brooke B. Sellas Guest: Brooke B. Sellas — Founder & CEO of B Squared Media, author of Conversations That Connect, LinkedIn Learning instructor, adjunct lecturer, keynote speaker, and host of the Social Media CX Podcast. Episode Summary In this episode, Gary sits down with Brooke B. Sellas to discuss how conversation-led social media customer care drives real CX outcomes—retention, loyalty, and revenue. Brooke explains why most brands are stuck in “content factory mode,” how to shift toward talk-worthy content that evokes emotion, and how social conversations can uncover frustration, intent, and purchase signals long before customers enter a sales funnel. You’ll learn why silence is the true churn indicator, what brands get wrong about AI and automation, and how B Squared Media uses social listening, tagging, labeling, and promo codes to attribute real dollars to social customer care. 💬 What We Cover Why content is the vehicle but emotion is the destination Conversation-led social care vs. reactive contact center support How enterprise brands use social listening to catch “in the wild” buying signals Tagging & labeling: gain/retain, sentiment, product issues, and intent How promo codes tie sales directly to social care Why silence—not complaints—is the biggest churn risk Where AI actually helps (sorting, tagging, FAQs) vs. where it hurts (EQ moments) Why personality in B2B is a differentiator, not unprofessional The metrics that matter most: response time, response rate, and conversation volume 📈 Three Practical Takeaways Start tagging all conversations as acquisition (gain) or retention (retain). Shift content strategy from posting to sparking emotional, talk-worthy reactions. Use AI for IQ tasks (sorting, workflows) but keep humans front and center for real connection. CHAPTERS: 00:50 Intro 03:12 Conversations > Content 04:30 Feeding The Content Monster 05:55 Content is the Vehicle, Emotion is the Destination 07:42 Being Heard 10:36 What B-Squared Media Actually Does 11:54. Why Contact Centers Struggle with Social 14:48 Social Listening in the Wild 17:03 Tools: Tagging, Labeling & Intent Signals 20:58 The "ROI Question" 24:07 Fixing KPIs & Conversation Metrics 28:52 How AI Fits into Social Media Customer Care 32:26 Automation Fails & Hype Cycles 38:48 Main Segment Closer: How to be more Conversational 39:43 Does It Hold Water? 43:42 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Brooke LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookebsellas/ B Squared Media: https://bsquared.media Book: Conversations That Connect Social Media CX Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/social-media-cx-podcast 🏷️ Tags Social Customer Care, Social Media ROI, CX Strategy, Customer Experience, Social Listening, Tagging & Labeling, AI in CX, Emotional Marketing, B2B Voice, Brooke Sellas, PodMatch 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerExperience #CustomerSuccess #ContactCenter #EX #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #EmployeeExperience #SocialMediaCustomerCare
	The Client Journey, Documenting Your Processes, and a Business That Runs Without You with Jessica Millhiser	01 Jul 2026	00:39:22
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Jessica Millhiser, founder of JMills Consulting and a business operations consultant who helps service-based business owners build the internal structure their business needs to grow. This conversation explores a simple but often overlooked idea: structure creates freedom. Jessica explains why so many owners look successful from the outside while the back end runs entirely on them, and how an intentional client journey changes that. She walks through the full journey she maps for clients, from entry points and the consultation to onboarding, deliverables, and offboarding, and shows how the operational back end and the client-facing experience move in parallel. Gary and Jessica spend real time on the stage most owners skip, offboarding, and why a strong finish protects referrals, reviews, and the boomerang clients who come back. They get into finding the gaps and redundancies in a process, getting the work out of the owner's head and into documentation, and creating the memorable moments that turn satisfied clients into referrals. The conversation also covers why owners resist structure until the chaos forces their hand, how staying the bottleneck limits both growth and the employee experience, and what an ongoing rhythm of review and adjustment looks like for a small team. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: client focus is a growth strategy, operational structure creates capacity, and a business that can run without its owner is one that can grow. If you are a founder, operator, or service-based business owner who knows the back end is held together by you alone, this conversation will sharpen how you think about structure, the client journey, and building something that runs without you. What You'll Learn Why structure creates freedom instead of confining you Why owners focus on the deliverable and miss the experience around it The full client journey, from entry points and consultation to onboarding, deliverables, and offboarding Why offboarding matters and what most owners get wrong about it How to find the gaps and redundancies in your client process Why getting your processes out of your head and into documentation is what lets you scale How to build memorable moments that lead to referrals and repeat business Why owners resist structure, and how to know you have outgrown your current setup How staying the bottleneck limits growth and the employee experience What a healthy rhythm of review and adjustment looks like for a small team Chapters 0:00 Cold Open 0:59 Introduction 2:34 What founders misunderstand about structure and growth 4:05 Why owners focus on the deliverable and not the experience 5:05 Walking through the client journey, back end and client facing 6:45 The stages: entry points, consultation, onboarding, deliverables, offboarding 8:23 Offboarding and why most owners skip it 10:45 How to find the gaps and redundancies in your process 12:19 Getting your processes out of your head and documented 14:49 Creating memorable moments that lead to referrals 18:34 Why owners resist structure and how to break through 21:41 Employee experience and removing yourself as the bottleneck 24:30 The rhythm of review and adjustment 27:26 Where to start this week 29:41 Does It Hold Water? 32:40 Chip Shots Book Recommendations Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani Connect with Jessica Website: https://jmillsconsulting.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicamillhiser Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Please Listen & Subscribe Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #ClientJourney #ClientExperience #ClientOnboarding #SMBGrowth #BusinessSystems #Delegation #OperationalDiscipline #ServiceBusiness #Founders #Podcast
	Pulling CX Off the Rocks: Fixes, Fundies, and the Future with JP Dumas	12 Nov 2025	00:47:41
🎙️ Your Customer, Your Success — Episode 32Pulling CX Off the Rocks: Fixes, Fundies, and the Future Guest: JP Dumas, CX & Retention Strategist, Founder of CX & Growth Strategies LLC, and Partner at CX on the Rocks Most companies don’t lose customers in one big splash...they lose them in many small, inconsistent ones. In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra sits down with JP Dumas to talk about what’s really broken in customer experience and how to fix it without turning your business upside down. From AI hype vs. human truth to retention as a day-one discipline, this is a straight-up, practical conversation about making CX a real economic engine for your business and your success! 🧩 In This Episode Why CX isn’t just support—it’s your brand’s reputation when you’re not in the room. The true role of the contact center as the front porch and dashboard of your company. How pragmatic AI can help—but not replace—the human connection. Why retention starts on day one, not at renewal. What happens when you chase metrics instead of meaning (hello, NPS addiction). How employee enthusiasm sets the ceiling for customer experience. Why “fine” customers are more dangerous than the haters. What happens when companies actually make it right—and how that drives loyalty. The power of culture, pride, and authenticity in the customer journey. The future of CX: predictive analytics, sentiment, and simplicity that serves people first. 🧠 JP’s 10 Fixes for Pulling CX Off the Rocks Defining CX correctly Valuing the Contact Center Balancing AI and Humanity Retention as a Continuous Process From Vanity Metrics to Business Outcomes EX Before CX Handoffs and Context Survey Overreliance Owning Issues (and Using Them Well) Culture as Brand BONUS: It's Gotta Be The Shoes 🎧 Episode Chapters 01:06 – 🎬 Intro: Welcome to Your Customer, Your Success with JP Dumas 02:18 – 💡 Why does CX matter? 03:47 – ☎️ Why do contact centers still matter in the age of AI? 09:47 – 💰 Viewing CX as an economic engine, not a soft skill 11:51 – 🔁 What retention really means 14:15 – 👥 Why is the employee experience so critical to customer experience? 18:44 – 🧭 What distinguishes a CX-minded company from one that’s just customer- friendly? 20:17 Metrics Myopia, Virtuos Flywheel 21:34 – 🧠 What are you and the CX on the Rocks collective doing to help fix these issues? 33:54 - Do They Really Get CX? 34:23 – ⚖️ Segment: Does It Hold Water? 38:16 – 👟 Segment: Chip Shots 👟 Chip Shots Book: Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell Leader to Shadow: Nike CEO Elliot Hill — “Sometimes your manager gives you the title, but the people give you the leadership.” Sneaker Rotation: Air Jordan 1 “Chicago” Air Jordan 3 “Black Cement” Air Jordan 3 “White Cement” Air Jordan 4 “Bred/Black Cement” Air Jordan 11 Presentation-day / suit picks: Air Jordan 11 “72–10” Air Jordan 11 “Bred” Air Jordan 11 “Jubilee” Air Jordan 11 “Cap and Gown” JP’s CONTACT INFORMATION: EMAIL: jdumas@cxgrowthstrategies.com WEBSITE: www.cxgrowthstrategies.com LINKEDIN: www.linkedin.com/in/jpdumas1 SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.instagram.com/j.p.dumas?igsh=MTJ3NmJpMDd3dW5wdg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerExperience #CustomerSuccess #ContactCenter #EX #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #EmployeeExperience
	The Human Side of AI in Customer Success: Efficiency, Adoption & the Human Touch with Alon Ahronberg	29 Oct 2025	00:43:42
🎙️ Episode 31: The Human Side of AI in Customer Success \| Efficiency, Adoption & the Human Touch Guest: Alon Ahronberg, Vice President of Customer Success at Atera In this episode, Gary Marra talks with Alon Ahronberg about how he is applying artificial intelligence to help reshape Customer Success at Atera. Alon explains why his team treats AI not as a cost-cutting tool but as a way to create time for deeper client work. He outlines a six-pillar framework for applying AI across efficiency, data, adoption, and personalization, and describes the operational and security challenges of building what he calls the “CSM cockpit.” The discussion covers practical ways to measure efficiency gains, avoid automating for its own sake, and use AI to strengthen, not replace, human judgment. They also examine health-score complexity, the balance between automation and empathy, and how to define clear goals before implementing AI projects. Takeaways AI should not be implemented without a clear vision. Customer success teams must focus on efficiency and strategic planning. Improvisation is a key skill for customer success managers. AI can free up time for CSMs to focus on client relationships. Measuring customer relationships is crucial for success. 🎧 Episode Chapters – The Human Side of AI in Customer Success 00:00 Introduction 10:59 Building a Customer Success Team That Works 15:21 What Does a Clear AI Vision Look Like for CS Leaders? 18:16 How AI Is Changing the CSM Role 21:55 The Six-Pillar Framework for AI in Customer Success 30:06 The CSM Cockpit Challenge 32:22 Measuring Efficiency and Time Savings 35:06 The Health Score Debate 39:07 Balancing Short-Term Wins and Long-Term Strategy 41:01 Measuring AI’s Impact on Customer Relationships 42:33 Advice for CS Leaders Starting Their AI Journey 43:56 Does It Hold Water? 46:23 Chip Shots 51:52 Wrap-Up 📚 Book Recommendation: Alon’s Pick: Infinite Game, by Simon Sinek 🔗 Connect with Alon: LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alon-ahronberg/ website: https://www.atera.com/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #AI #ArtificialIntelligence
	YOLO Solo III: Managing Relationships by Decoding Behavior, Defusing Conflict, and Leading with Clarity	22 Oct 2025	00:38:37
In this solo episode, Gary shares his insights on Managing Relationships — the mindset and models behind working more effectively with people, especially those who are challenging. Whether you're in Customer Success, leading a team, or navigating cross-functional relationships, understanding human behavior is essential to leading more effectively. Gary walks you through the OCEAN personality model (also known as the Big Five) and compares it to the more widely used DISC framework. Why is DISC so common in corporate training? Why is OCEAN more powerful for long-term leadership success? And how can understanding these traits make you better at reading the room, adapting your approach, and building trust? You'll walk away with a modern, practical lens to assess personalities and a call to lead with the Platinum Rule — treating people how they want to be treated. 🔑 In This Episode: Why relationship management = behavior management The difference between DISC and OCEAN models — and how to apply both Full breakdown of the OCEAN traits: Openness – Visionaries vs. Stabilizers Conscientiousness – Planners vs. Flexers Extraversion – Drop-in Energizers vs. Prep-First Thinkers Agreeableness – People-Pleasers vs. Analytical Challengers Neuroticism – Worriers vs. Rock-Steady Resolvers How to spot these traits in clients, coworkers, and even yourself Why you should lead with the Platinum Rule, not the Golden Rule Tips for managing high-stress situations with different personality types and how to deal with difficult people and situations. 🛠️ Frameworks Mentioned: OCEAN / Big Five Personality Model DISC Personality Model The Platinum Rule – Treat others how they want to be treated 🎯 Action Challenge: Pick a difficult interaction from this week. Guess the other person’s dominant OCEAN trait(s). Adjust your approach using what you learned. Reflect on what changed — and how it impacted the outcome. 🧠 Ideal For: CS & CX Managers People Leaders ICs managing complex stakeholder relationships Anyone trying to decode human behavior in high-stakes environments 📌 Resources: Want to learn more about OCEAN? Check out Science of People by Vanessa Van Edwards. Big hat tip to Vanessa and her work which helped inspire me and my approach! DISC Personality Overview: DISCprofile.com 📣 Stay Connected: Like this episode? Subscribe, share it with your team, and leave a review. Follow Gary on LinkedIn and check out the Your Customer, Your Success YouTube channel for full interviews. 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #leadership #corporateculture #CustomerExperience #CustomerSuccess #CXLeadership #Podmatch #CX
	Manifesting Better CX: From Cybersecurity to Customer Loyalty with Alison Dixon	08 Oct 2025	00:42:02
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, host Gary Marra sits down with Alison Dixon, Chief Customer Officer at Portnox, to explore what customer experience looks like in one of the world’s most high-stakes industries — cybersecurity. Alison shares how she built Portnox’s CX organization from the ground up, why time-to-value matters more than ticket counts, and how to keep customers engaged when your product works best in silence. From building health scores that actually mean something to fostering multi-year loyalty, Alison explains how she’s redefining customer experience for a “set it and forget it” world. It’s a conversation about mindset, measurement, and making the invisible value visible — a must-listen for CX and CS leaders navigating complex, technical spaces. 🔑 Key Takeaways Cyber CX Is High Stakes – In cybersecurity, silence often means success. The challenge is showing ongoing value when customers only notice you if something breaks. Mindset Shapes Outcomes – Alison believes your “brain creates reality before you see it.” Approach every customer interaction with the expectation of partnership, not conflict. Health Scores Need Heart – Metrics only matter if they drive action. Portnox ties health scores to multi-year contracts, relationships, and proactive outreach. Time-to-Value Over Tickets – Don’t obsess over support volumes; focus on how quickly customers feel protected, confident, and empowered. Executive Buy-In Is Everything – Get leadership involved early, not just when churn risk surfaces. True CX success is a company-wide sport. Visit First, Build Second – Processes and dashboards evolve forever; customer connection must come first. Face-to-face insight beats any CRM metric. Timestamps: 01:22 – Intro – Gary opens the show (Manifesting Better CX) with Alison Dixon, CCO at Portnox 01:50 – From Cybersecurity to CX – What customer experience means when the stakes are high 03:15 – Building CX From the Ground Up – How Alison built Portnox’s CX function from scratch 05:38 – Metrics That Matter – Time-to-value, renewals, and why multi-year deals tell the real story 08:00 – The Umpire Problem – CX in cybersecurity: customers only notice when something breaks 11:32 – The “Aha” Moment – A customer story that defines Portnox’s value 14:15– Health Scores That Hold Water – Turning data into meaningful action 18:50 – Executive Buy-In – Connecting leadership to CX and customer outcomes 21:52 – Hiring for the right reasons – Why traditional or conventional hiring might not work 25:51 – Lessons in Leadership – What Alison would tell her past self 29:22 – Does It Hold Water? 34:21 – Chip Shots 📚 Book Recommendation: Alison's Picks: Anything by Cal Newport! Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World ... and more! 🔗 Connect with Alison: LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-dixon-msod/ Website : https://www.portnox.com/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CustomerExperience #CustomerSuccess #Cybersecurity #CXLeadership #Podmatch #CX
	Agentic AI, What's Hype and What's Reality: Chris Hood on What It All Really Means	24 Sep 2025	00:41:47
Summary In this episode, Gary Marra and Chris Hood delve into the concept of Agentic AI, exploring its definitions, misconceptions, and the reality versus the hype surrounding it. They discuss the importance of prompts in AI functionality, the distinction between agentic AI and automation, and the current state of AI applications. The conversation emphasizes the need for realistic expectations regarding AI's capabilities and the future of technology in this space. Takeaways Agentic AI is often misunderstood and misrepresented. Claims about agentic AI are often exaggerated. Agentic AI is more about facilitating actions than true intelligence. Current AI applications are largely automation, not agentic AI. The hype surrounding agentic AI is ahead of its actual capabilities. AI should not replace human empathy in customer interactions. Real-world applications of agentic AI are still in development. The future of agentic AI is promising but requires technological advancements. Understanding the difference between automation and agentic AI is crucial. Chapters 01:07 Introduction to Chris Hood and Agentic AI 03:52 Basic Background and seeing through the hype 05:31 Definitions and Confusions Agentic AI vs. Automation vs Autonomy 11:02 Agentic AI vs. Automation vs Autonomy: Prompts & What's the Difference? 11:21 Debating the usefulness of Real-World Applications of Agentic AI 20:39 Customer First, Technology Last, AI Maybe 25:10 Current Real World Examples, Do they exist? 28:38 The Difference Between Automation, Agents, and Agentic 31:45 Current State and The Outlook for the near future 🔗 Connect with Chris Hood 📖 Book: Infailible: Harnessing the Power of Failure in Digital Business 🌐 Website: https://chrishood.com/ 📱 LinkedIn: chrishood 🐦 Twitter: @ChrisHood 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #customerexperience #AI #AgenticAI #CustomerSuccess #Podmatch
	Customer Success Beyond SaaS: Amber Monroe on Healthcare CX	10 Sep 2025	00:42:59
Summary In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra sits down with Amber Monroe, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at Paradigm Senior Services. With two decades of leadership in healthcare, Amber has mastered the art of turning complex systems into meaningful relationships that deliver measurable impact. From revenue cycle management and compliance to building high-performing teams, Amber shares what makes healthcare customer success fundamentally different from SaaS — and why trust may be the most important business driver of all. She also highlights success stories that show how great customer experience can literally keep small businesses afloat while expanding care for veterans and communities across the country. Whether you work in healthcare, SaaS, or any customer-facing industry, Amber’s perspective offers fresh lessons on strategy, empathy, and building customer partnerships that last. Chapters 01:08 Introduction to Amber Monroe and Paradigm Senior Services 03:49 Understanding the Role of Customer Success in Healthcare beyond SaaS 06:58 Defining Success in Healthcare Customer Experience 10:05 Communication Strategies for Client Engagement 12:40 Anticipating Customer’s Needs 15:00 Measuring Success: Metrics in Healthcare Customer Success 20:44 The Role of Account Managers vs. Customer Success Managers 27:14 Success Story – Servicing Veterans 28:26 Collecting Outstanding Claims for Clients 30:54 Advice for New Healthcare Customer Success Leaders 31:25 “Does it Hold Water?” 35:49 Chip Shots 📚 Book Recommendation: Amber’s Pick: Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses into Results, by Cy Wakeman 🔗 Connect with Amber: LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambermonroe/ E-mail : info@ambermonroecx.com 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #ClientExperience #Leadership #HealthcareAdministration
	CX, EX, and Everybody on the Bus: Driving Real Change in Organizations with Kris Wauters	27 Aug 2025	00:59:51
CX, EX, and Everybody on the Bus: Driving Real Change in Organizations with Kris WautersWhy real change starts with people, not technology — and how leaders can bring everyone on board. In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra speaks with Kris Wauters, founder and Managing Director of Gung-Ho Management, about the real drivers of transformation: people, culture, and leadership. With over 30 years of senior leadership experience at global companies and deep expertise in Customer & Employee Experience, Kris shares powerful stories and frameworks for creating lasting change. From “everybody on the bus” to coaching leaders with horses, Kris brings practical wisdom and surprising analogies that highlight why CX and EX must go hand-in-hand. Kris shares his insights on customer experience, employee experience, and leadership development. He emphasizes the importance of people in transformation, the need to connect CX goals to business objectives, and the common misconceptions leaders have about change. Kris discusses strategies for overcoming change fatigue, coaching leaders, and delivering tough truths. He also touches on the impact of AI on jobs and shares valuable book recommendations and personal growth habits. Takeaways Transformation starts with understanding the maturity level of the organization. People are at the center of any successful transformation. CX and EX strategies must be integrated for effectiveness. Leaders often overlook the importance of connecting CX goals to business objectives. Change fatigue arises from poorly implemented changes. Effective coaching involves bridging the gap between leaders and their teams. Listening without the intent to answer is a crucial skill for leaders. AI will impact jobs, but it will also create new opportunities. Understanding the 'why' behind change is essential for buy-in. Failure is not an option; it's about learning and adapting. Chapters 01:13 Introduction to Transformation and Change 02:52 People First: The Core of Transformation 04:39 Building Integrated CX and EX Strategies 09:50 Aha Moments in Customer Experience Transformation 13:45 Common Misconceptions in Experience Transformation 16:55 Overcoming Change Fatigue in Organizations 26:00 Coaching Leaders in Customer Experience 33:21 Delivering Tough Truths to Leadership 41:08 “Does it Hold Water?” 45:23 Chip Shots 📚 Book Recommendation: Kris’s Picks: Gung Ho!, by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles : working as a team towards a common goal Start with Why, by Simon Sinek : What and How subsequent to the purpose of your business Find Your Why, by Simon Sinek : find your own purpose in life JUNG, Four Archetypes brought by Routledge publishing : the basic starting point of what founded modern psychology Surrounded by Idiots, by dr. Thomas Erikson : inventor of the Insights model, who am I and how can I recognize others and adapt my communication to have impact Maps of Meaning, by dr. Jordan B. Peterson : the connection between modern neuropsychology and ancient stories, insight into human motivation and emotion throughout the millennia. 🔗 Connect with Kris: LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/kwauters Website : https://www.gung-ho.be E-mail : info@gung-ho.be Or just call him, which he prefers! : + 32 495 55 95 75 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4
	Turning Culture into Customer Success: CEO Insights from Matt Feiner	13 Aug 2025	00:41:20
Summary In this conversation, Matt Feiner, a transformational CEO with over 30 years of experience, shares insights on leadership, corporate culture, and the importance of listening to employees during times of change. He discusses his journey of taking over a company after a long-standing CEO, the challenges of evolving corporate culture, and the significance of hiring for cultural fit. Matt emphasizes the role of a strong culture in enhancing customer experience and the necessity of fostering an environment where healthy debate is encouraged. He also provides valuable advice for new CEOs on navigating culture transformation and the importance of psychological safety in the workplace. Takeaways Matt emphasizes the importance of listening to employees during leadership transitions. Cultural transformation requires involving key employees in the process. A strong corporate culture can significantly enhance customer experience. Healthy debate among team members is a sign of a strong culture. Hiring for cultural fit is crucial, but diversity in skills is also important. Psychological safety allows employees to provide honest feedback. Change management involves addressing fears and resistance from employees. Leaders should create a safe space for open discussions. Silence can be a powerful tool in meetings to encourage deeper insights. Chapters 01:11 Introduction to Matt Feiner and His Journey 03:00 Navigating a Huge Leadership Transition 06:04 Cultural Evolution and Employee Empowerment 07:39 Understanding the Business and Its Clients 10:49 Addressing Change and Resistance 14:29 Hiring for Cultural Fit 17:32 The Impact of Culture on Customer Experience 20:50 Lessons on Healthy Debate in Culture 25:55 Advice for New CEOs on Culture Transformation 28:01 Does It Hold Water? 31:15 Chip Shots: Quickfire Questions 📚 Book Recommendation: Matt’s Pick: The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, by Patrick Lencioni 🔗 Connect with Matt: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-feiner-8b243b4/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #CX #CustomerSuccess #leadership #corporateculture #podmatch
	Coaching for Success and Reduced Turnover with Francie Jain	30 Jul 2025	00:41:22
Summary In this conversation, Gary Marra speaks with Francie Jain, the founder and CEO of Terrawatt, about the critical role of coaching in organizations. They discuss how Terrawatt operates as a B2B coaching marketplace, emphasizing the importance of psychological safety in fostering employee engagement and reducing turnover. Francie shares insights on the measurable outcomes of coaching programs, the necessity of a culture of learning, and practical starting points for organizations looking to implement coaching. The conversation highlights the interconnectedness of employee experience and customer experience, and the need for consistent client experiences across coaching networks. Takeaways Psychological safety is essential for team success. Coaching should be viewed as a business necessity, not a perk. High turnover rates can be significantly reduced through effective coaching. Customization in coaching programs enhances their effectiveness. Measuring the impact of coaching is crucial for understanding ROI. A culture of learning fosters growth and innovation. Leadership should prioritize psychological safety to encourage open communication. Having a clear North Star simplifies decision-making in organizations. Chapters 01:00 Introduction to Terrawatt and Coaching Marketplace 02:24 Understanding the Terrawatt Model 04:43 Under-investing in Coaching 07:20 The Costs of Low Psychological Safety 10:42 Reframing Coaching as a Business Necessity 13:12 Measurable Outcomes of Coaching-$32MM Example! 21:12 Starting with Coaching in Organizations 22:40 Understanding Client Needs and Feedback 26:00 Making the Case for Coaching to the C-Suite 27:20 “Does it Hold Water?” 31:42 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Francie: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franciejain/ · Website: https://terawatt.co/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4
	YOLO Solo II: Agentic AI, Savannah Bananas, and Aerated Putting Greens	23 Jul 2025	00:28:53
Summary In this solo episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra discusses various topics, including the misconceptions surrounding agentic AI, the innovative customer experience strategies of the Savannah Bananas, and a unique approach to golf course management. He emphasizes the importance of understanding AI's limitations, the need for engaging customer experiences, and how to turn potential negative situations into positive outcomes. Takeaways AI is a hot topic, but many projects are overhyped and may fail. The Savannah Bananas provide a unique customer experience that keeps fans engaged. Customer experience should be prioritized over simply adopting new technologies. Golf courses can enhance customer satisfaction by offering creative solutions during maintenance periods. Emotional connections with fans are crucial for sports teams. It's important to define problems clearly before seeking technological solutions. The concept of agentic AI is often misunderstood and misapplied. Successful customer experiences often involve a triple win for all parties involved. Chapters 00:43 Introduction to YOLO Gary Goes Solo 03:27 Recap of Recent Guest Episodes, check 'em out!!! 07:43 Trying to Understand AI and Agentic AI 14:51 How the Savannah Bananas Create an AMAZING experience! 22:26 Wow or No Wow: Creative Solution involing Golf Course Maintenance 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be aguest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4
	AI Search, Digital Authority, and the Proof Gap with Ashley Smith	24 Jun 2026	00:55:14
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra talks with Ashley Smith, a digital authority strategist and the creator of the Proof Gap. Ashley spent nearly two decades in real estate, including serving as board chair and media spokesperson for Greater Vancouver Realtors, before turning her focus to a problem she watched play out across that industry and well beyond it. Her core argument is simple and uncomfortable: most experienced professionals do not have an expertise problem. They have a visibility problem. As consumers vet everyone online and AI search reshapes how people find and choose specialists, real-world reputation no longer travels the way it used to. The depth a professional has built over years often fails to show up where decisions now get made. Ashley calls that disconnect the Proof Gap, the distance between how good someone is and how visible that quality is online. Ashley explains how to tell whether you have a gap, starting with a simple exercise: search your own name, title, and market in Google and in an AI tool, then look honestly at what comes back and whether it reflects the work you do today. From there she lays out a practical path that does not require chasing a large audience or adopting a content-creator identity. The work is making real expertise discoverable. That means clarifying the few things you want to be known for, publishing your thinking in public and searchable places, and using recorded conversations, articles, and an RSS-distributed podcast to put your judgment on the record. Gary and Ashley also get into why being cited by an AI tool is only part of the chain, why human judgment and trust still decide who actually gets hired, and how Google's shift toward AI overviews and search agents changes what professionals need to do to stay findable. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Visibility is now part of how trust gets built. Real expertise still wins, but only when it can be found.Discoverability is a growth strategy, not a marketing afterthought. If you are a founder, operator, or advisor whose reputation is stronger in the real world than it is online, this conversation will sharpen how you think about getting found, trusted, and chosen. What You'll Learn What the Proof Gap is, and why experienced professionals are the most exposed to it A simple way to test your own visibility in both Google and AI search Why referrals and real-world reputation no longer carry the weight they once did How to clarify the few things you actually want to be known for How to make expertise discoverable without building a large audience Why recorded conversations, articles, and an unpodcast put your judgment on the record How getting cited by AI tools works, and why a citation is only part of the decision What Google's move to AI overviews and search agents means for professionals Where polish and aesthetics earn their keep, and where they do not Chapters 00:00 Cold Open 01:09 Introduction 02:39 Why experienced professionals are becoming invisible online 06:08 How to know whether you have a Proof Gap 10:22 What to do when you are not showing up in search 14:37 Building visibility without chasing an audience 19:45 The unpodcast: putting expertise on the record 24:53 Getting cited by AI: what separates being surfaced from being skipped 29:18 Where professionals waste time and where to focus 33:36 The 30-day starting point 37:54 Does It Hold Water? 44:18 Chip Shots Book Recommendation Fast Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz Connect with Ashley Website: https://ashleysmith.now LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleysmithnow Show Your Proof (newsletter): https://showyourproof.beehiiv.com Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Please Listen and Subscribe. Don't forget to leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #DigitalAuthority #AISearch #Discoverability #ProofGap #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #Founders #CustomerExperience #Podcast
	How Trust Fails When Blame Leads — Escaping the Villain Trap with Chris Gillen	09 Jul 2025	00:51:25
Summary In this conversation, Chris Gillen, CEO of Caller Base AI and author of The Villain Trap, discusses the dynamics of leadership accountability, the impact of blame culture on organizations, and the importance of employee experience in delivering great customer experience. He introduces the concept of the 'Villain Trap,' where leaders often blame others for failures instead of taking accountability. Chris emphasizes the need for leaders to foster a positive work environment and to embrace AI as a tool for enhancement rather than replacement. The discussion also touches on personal growth, the importance of self-reflection, and the need for servant leadership in today's world. Takeaways Victims often need villains to avoid accountability. Blame culture can be addictive and detrimental to leadership. Great customer experience starts with a positive employee experience. The villain trap can silently erode trust within organizations. Leaders must take ownership of their role in employee success. AI should be viewed as a tool for enhancement, not replacement. Self-reflection is crucial for personal and professional growth. Worrying about trivial matters can hinder effective leadership. Servant leadership is essential for fostering a supportive work environment. Building trust is key to maintaining healthy relationships in business. Chapters 01:00 Introduction 02:00 Understanding the Villain Trap 06:25 The Allure of Blame in Leadership 11:48 Impact of Blame on Trust and Employee Experience 18:03 Breaking Free from the Villain Trap 25:21 Empowering Employees for Success 28:54 The Essence of Servant Leadership 29:14 Navigating the AI Landscape 34:39 The Impact of Blame on Change 35:36 Key Takeaways from The Villain Trap 40:43 Personal Routines for Success 45:40 Lessons from Worrying Less 📚 Book Recommendation: Chris’s Pick: TBD 🔗 Connect with Chris: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgillen/ Website: https://www.thevillaintrap.com https://callerbaseai.com 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be aguest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4
	Fixing the Job Search Experience with Bill Kasko: Real Talk from a National Recruiting CEO	25 Jun 2025	00:55:25
Summary In this conversation, Gary Marra speaks with Bill Kasko, President and CEO of Frontline Source Group, about the current state of the job market, the impact of technology on employment, and effective job search strategies. Bill shares insights on the importance of a strong professional network, the unique People.Process.Service. ™ framework his company employs, and the innovative five-year placement guarantee that sets them apart in the staffing industry. They also discuss the evolving nature of work, including the balance between remote and in-office environments, and the necessity for job seekers to adapt their strategies in a rapidly changing landscape. Takeaways · The job market is currently chaotic but still vibrant. · Technology, especially AI, is reshaping employment dynamics. · Job seekers need to adapt their strategies to the changing landscape. · A simple, scannable resume is crucial for job applications. · LinkedIn is an essential tool for networking and job searching. · Communication and follow-up are key in the job search process. · The People Process Service framework emphasizes treating candidates with respect. · The five-year placement guarantee offers clients peace of mind. · Flexibility in work arrangements is becoming increasingly important. · Building a strong professional network is vital for career success. Chapters 01:20 Introduction 02:26 Bill’s Take on the Current Job Market 09:40 The Evolution of Job Search & Current Tips 17:25 The People.Process.Service. ™ Framework 25:44 Innovative Hiring Solutions and the Five-Year Warranty 35:44 Creating Positive Customer Experiences 39:23 The Future of Work: Remote vs. In-Office 45:54 “Does It Hold Water?” 48:39 Chip Shots 📚 Book Recommendations: Bill’s Pick: · In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters 🔗 Connect with Bill: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billkasko/ · Website: https://www.frontlinesourcegroup.com 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4
	CX and Democratizing Financial Planning: Shruti Joshi’s Triple Win Approach at Facet	11 Jun 2025	00:43:38
Summary In this conversation, Shruti Joshi, President and COO of Facet Wealth, discusses the transformative approach to financial planning that focuses on accessibility and member-centricity. She highlights the challenges faced by millions of Americans who lack access to quality financial services and explains how Facet Wealth's flat fee model builds trust and encourages meaningful client relationships. The discussion also delves into the importance of customer-centric practices in business, the role of transparency in pricing, and the metrics that matter for success. In this conversation, Shruti and Gary discuss the importance of metrics in customer experience, emphasizing retention and feedback mechanisms. Shruti highlights common mistakes companies make when trying to be customer-centric and the significance of understanding customer needs deeply. The discussion also covers the connection between employee and customer experiences, the evaluation of subscription models in financial services, and valuable lessons learned from career experiences. Takeaways • Money is a leading cause of stress in America. • 50 to 70 million Americans lack access to quality financial planning. • Facet Wealth offers a transparent flat fee model for financial planning. • The traditional AUM model excludes many potential clients. • Financial planning should address all aspects of a person's life, not just retirement. • Building trust starts with transparency in pricing and services. • Customer-centric companies prioritize hiring individuals with a customer-first mentality. • Processes should involve customer feedback in problem-solving. • Metrics should balance revenue and customer retention. • Retention is a key metric in subscription models. • Subscription models should focus on holistic value, not just investments. • Mistakes often stem from not knowing the true customer problem. • Choosing the right challenges to tackle is important for growth. Chapters 01:05 Introduction 02:27 The Need for Accessible Financial Planning 07:03 Building Trust Through a Flat Fee Model 08:16 The Impact of Pricing on Client Behavior 10:40 Defining Customer-Centricity in Business 14:59 Leading Change in Customer Experience 19:04 Making Decisions with Member Trust in Mind 22:03 Understanding Metrics in Customer Experience 24:33 Common Mistakes in Customer-Centric Approaches 27:32 Connecting Employee and Customer Experiences 31:19 “Does it Hold Water?” 35:18 Chip Shots 📚 Book Recommendations: Shruti’s Pick: · Catchter in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 🔗 Connect with Shruti: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shruti-joshi1/ · Website: http://www.facet.com/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy.
	From Imposter Syndrome to Influencer: Rachel Provan’s Leadership Playbook for First-Time Managers	28 May 2025	00:55:08
Episode 19: From Imposter Syndrome to Influencer: Rachel Provan’s Leadership Playbook for First-Time ManagersSUMMARY In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra sits down with Rachel Provan, founder of Provan Success and host of The Psychology of Customer Success. Rachel shares her journey from a high-performing individual contributor to an overwhelmed first-time manager—and how she leveraged the power of leadership psychology to transform herself and now coach others. In this conversation, Gary Marra and Rachel Provan delve into the intricacies of customer success and leadership. They discuss the importance of human-first, emotionally intelligent leadership, the evolution of customer success, and the need for effective coaching in the field. Rachel emphasizes the significance of understanding human psychology in leadership and the detrimental effects of toxic work environments. The conversation also touches on the challenges of selling the value of customer success and the necessity of continuous value delivery to clients. In this engaging conversation, Rachel Provan shares her insights on management, customer success, and the importance of authenticity in leadership. She emphasizes the need for managers to be themselves and care for their teams, while also discussing the challenges faced by customer success teams in aligning with revenue goals. The conversation touches on mental health issues within the industry, the value of influential books, and the benefits of coaching. Rachel also shares her thoughts on podcasting and the importance of being authentic in communication. Takeaways: · Rachel Provan emphasizes the importance of understanding human psychology in leadership. · New managers often struggle with imposter syndrome and lack of training. · Leadership can be learned and is not solely based on natural ability. · Toxic work environments stem from poor leadership and fear-based management. · Customer success is often undervalued and requires ongoing effort to demonstrate its importance. · Effective coaching can help bridge the gap in leadership training. · Human-first leadership leads to higher employee engagement and better business outcomes. · Rachel's coaching business was born out of a need for structured leadership training · Customer success should focus on customer goals, not just revenue. Timeline: 01:24 Introduction 02:37 Rachel's Initial Management Journey 09:27 Transitioning to Coaching and Business Ownership 20:20 Philosophy of Human-First, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership 24:54 Breaking the Cycle of Toxic Leadership 28:58 The Challenges of Understanding Customer Success 35:35 “Does it Hold Water?” 42:33 Chip Shots 📚 Book Recommendations: Rachel’s Picks: · Dare to Lead by Brené Brown · The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle · Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler 🔗 Connect with Rachel: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhprovan/ · Website: https://provansuccess.com/ · Podcast: The Psychology of Customer Success: https://www.psychologyofcustomersuccess.com/ 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra: · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: YCYS YouTube Page 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy.
	The Psychology Behind Retention: Building Customer Success by Design with Alyssa Nolte	13 May 2025	00:35:28
In this engaging conversation, Gary Marra is joined by Alyssa Nolte who shares her unique journey from a startup founder to leading TruVue, a customer intelligence platform. She discusses the importance of understanding customer psychology, common mistakes companies make in their approach to customer experience, and the significance of building trust and relationships with customers. Alyssa emphasizes the need for a team-oriented approach to customer relationship management and offers valuable insights into effective leadership and change management. The discussion also touches on her current projects and the lessons learned throughout her career, culminating in practical advice for aspiring podcasters. Takeaways: Understanding customer psychology is crucial for effective marketing and retention strategies. Companies often design products based on their own perspectives rather than their customers'. The customer journey should extend beyond the sale to include renewals and ongoing relationships. Building trust with customers is essential for long-term loyalty and retention. Customer relationship management should be a collaborative effort across teams. Effective communication is key to successful change management in organizations. Leaders must earn the right to lead by fostering trust and collaboration. Podcasting should focus on delivering value rather than vanity metrics. CHAPTERS 01:12 Introduction to Alyssa Nolte 02:41 Alyssa's Career Journey and Early Choices 06:19 Common Mistakes Companies Make 09:00 Brain Processing and Cognitive Analysis 14:11 Reimagining the Funnel 15:34 Building Trust and Retention with Customers 19:23 Team Dynamics in Customer Relationship Management 22:00 Current Projects and Future Aspirations 23:42 Does It Hold Water? 27:50 Chip Shots Book Recommendation: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni Connect with Alyssa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssanolte/ https://truvuex.com/ 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub YouTube
	Analyze First, Map Later: Dave Seaton's Approach to Effective Journey Mapping	29 Apr 2025	00:51:49
In this conversation, Gary Marra and Dave Seaton delve into the intricacies of journey mapping, focusing on the Dave’s DARMA method ™. They discuss the importance of understanding customer experiences, common pitfalls in journey mapping, and the steps involved in the DARMA method, and then purposely focus on the FIRST A or the “Analyze” phase. The conversation emphasizes the need for thorough research, stakeholder engagement, and the development of actionable insights to drive meaningful change in customer experience. They discuss real-world examples of how understanding customer journeys can significantly reduce churn and improve onboarding experiences. The dialogue also touches on the relevance of CX maturity assessments and the necessity for independent consultants to specialize in their fields. Dave shares personal anecdotes about his career growth and the lessons learned from failures, emphasizing the importance of taking risks and finding one's niche in the consulting world. Takeaways: Effective journey mapping requires customer insights, not just internal opinions. Half of journey maps created fail to drive change. Align journey mapping projects with strategic business goals. The DARMA method ™ consists of five steps: Define, Analyze, Research, Map, Act. Stakeholder engagement is crucial throughout the journey mapping process. Data analysis should include customer behavior, operational, financial, and sentiment data. Develop a journey hypothesis to test against real customer experiences. Journey mapping is not a quick exercise; it requires thorough analysis and research. Change management is an essential component of journey mapping. Journey mapping reveals critical moments that impact customer behavior. Maturity assessments may not resonate with business leaders. Specialization in consulting leads to greater clarity and success. Taking risks can lead to significant career advancements. Chapters 01:22 Introduction 02:53 Understanding Journey Mapping 07:16 The DARMA Method™ Overview 13:43 Analyzing the Current State 22:52 Journey Mapping Done Right, Analyzing Customer Churn 29:00 Another Example: Onboarding Challenges 32:11 “Does it Hold Water?” 35:53 Chip Shots For more on Dave's approach to Journey Mapping, please check out our friend Rick Denton's CX Passport episode with Dave! Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1736603/episodes/17423417 Video: https://youtu.be/jCLFa_tZj1A?si=0U1_wP_vESoZ7NjB Reply Book Recommendation: Primal Leadership by Daniel Goldman et al Connect with Dave: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveseaton/ https://www.seatoncx.com 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub YouTube
	YOLO Gary Goes Solo	22 Apr 2025	00:37:32
In this solo episode, Gary Marra reflects on his journey in podcasting, the importance of client experience, and the distinction between transactional and relationship-based business models. He emphasizes the need for businesses to manage relationships effectively, regardless of whether they operate in B2B or B2C spaces. The episode also touches on the implications of AI in customer interactions and the importance of maintaining a human touch in business. In this episode, Gary Marra discusses the controversial hiring policy of AI at Shopify, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing human employees over technology. He also introduces engaging podcast segments, including 'Does it Hold Water' and 'Wow or No Wow,' which aim to provide insightful discussions and highlight customer experiences. The episode features a comparison of the Urban Grape's innovative approach to wine retail against the disorganized shoe shopping experience at Dick's Sporting Goods, showcasing the significance of customer service in business success. Chapters Introduction to YOLO: Gary Goes Solo 02:00 The Importance of Client Experience 11:37 B2B vs B2C: Relationships Over Transactions 24:55 Transforming Transactions into Relationships 26:04 AI vs Human Interaction: A Growing Concern 26:47 The AI Hiring Controversy 30:27 Podcast Segments: Engaging Formats 37:04 Introducing New Segments: Wow or No Wow 45:42 Customer Experience Highlights: Urban Grape vs. Dick's Sporting Goods 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub
	From Soft Skill to Superpower: Strengthening Your Storytelling Muscle with Andrew Carothers	08 Apr 2025	00:45:33
In this conversation, Andrew Carothers shares his insights on the art of storytelling, emphasizing its importance in business communication with award-winning host Gary Marra. He discusses the role of storytelling in customer experience (CX) and how it can be used to inform and influence audiences. Andrew outlines a structured approach to storytelling, starting with understanding the purpose of communication, building a compelling argument, and effectively structuring the story to create impact. He also provides practical examples, including how to apply these techniques in job interviews and business presentations. Gary digs a little deeper and we hear about the importance of storytelling in business and personal relationships, emphasizing how emotional appeal and vision can influence people. Andrew shares personal anecdotes and examples from various fields, illustrating how effective storytelling can motivate teams and create lasting connections. The discussion takes a fun, light-hearted turn as the conversation moves to great comedians, sitcoms, and a particularly interesting quote from Game of Thrones in the “Does it Hold Water?” segment. Takeaways: Storytelling is a powerful skill across all professions, not just creative fields Effective communication requires understanding your purpose: informing versus influencing Building a clear, structured argument forms the foundation of compelling storytelling Emotional appeal dramatically increases your ability to influence and connect with audiences Research your audience thoroughly to tailor your message effectively Visual elements and storyboarding enhance comprehension and impact Personal stories and experiences create authentic connections with listeners Digital customer experience relies on narrative elements that resonate emotionally Great storytellers appear in diverse fields - from comedy and politics to education Well-crafted stories create lasting impressions that persist after the presentation ends Chapters 1:23 Introduction 2:15 Andrew’s storytelling background 6:51 Define your purpose 11:00 Next Level of Purpose-Think, Feel, or Do 19:15 Framing the house, storyboard 28:00 Great Storytellers 31:00 Gary talks “Cheers!” 33:52 Does it Hold Water? 36:13 Chip Shots Book Recommendation: Digital Hesitation by Thomas Lah and JB Wood Honorable Mention: Frankenstein, Mary Shelley Connect with Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-carothers/ 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub YouTube
	Outside the Box, Inside the Experience: How Mark Stern Unlocks CX	01 Apr 2025	00:53:03
In this episode, Gary Marra interviews Mark Stern, founder and CEO of the Custom Box Agency, to discuss how his company optimizes customer journeys through innovative physical box experiences. They dig into the power of packaging experience, the art of standing out in a crowded market, and how thinking outside the box—literally and figuratively—can revolutionize customer engagement. From the psychology behind unboxing to creating immersive brand experiences, Mark shares invaluable insights on transforming passive customers into active brand advocates. Mark explains the importance of defining success for customers, the role of gamification in enhancing engagement, and the tangible benefits of physical products in a digital age. He shares insights on ROI, customer retention, and his personal journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship, offering amazing advice for aspiring business owners. In this conversation, Mark Stern and Gary Marra explore innovative strategies for enhancing customer experiences, the importance of niching down in business, and the interconnectedness of personal health and professional success. They discuss gamification in client onboarding, the dangers of customer indifference, and the value of learning from industry leaders. Mark shares insights on how focusing on the right partnerships and personal well-being can lead to significant business growth. Takeaways: · How custom boxes serve as a vehicle for optimizing customer journeys. · Defining success for customers is crucial for business growth. · Gamification & collection can enhance customer engagement and retention. · Physical experiences create a lasting impact in a digital world. · Replayability in experiences encourages customer loyalty. · Businesses often overlook the importance of clear success markers. · Mark's keys on his transition from corporate to entrepreneurship · Understanding the rules of entrepreneurship is key to success. · Physical products can significantly improve customer retention rates. · Niching down allows for deeper focus and greater success. · The 'who' in business is more important than the 'how'. Chapters 01:33 Introduction 02:40 Optimizing Customer Journeys 04:35 Gamification in Customer Experience 08:40 The Power of Physical Experiences 14:18 What’s Old is New Again? 16:20 ROI and Retention 21:32 Defining Success in Customer Journeys 23:24 Mark's Entrepreneurial Journey 26:58 Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs 28:55 Gamifying the Client Experience 31:57 Does It Hold Water? 37:25 Chip Shots Book Recommendation: Who Not How, The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy Honorable Mention: Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman 🔗 Connect with Mark 📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marustern/ 🌐 Website: https://customboxagency.com 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub VIDEOS ON THE PODCAST AND CLIPS CAN BE FOUND HERE! YouTube
	BPO Evolution: How OP360 Delivers 5-Star CX Globally	18 Mar 2025	00:39:31
Summary In this episode of 'Your Customer Your Success', host Gary Marra speaks with Josh Nutter, Vice President of Business Development at OP360. They discuss the mission of OP360 in enhancing customer experience through outsourcing, the challenges faced in the industry, and the importance of training and managing outsourced teams. Josh shares insights on the role of AI in customer service, the metrics used to measure performance, and the significance of communication between sales and operations. The conversation also highlights success stories in outsourcing, the importance of customer feedback, and personal insights from Josh on professional growth and outreach. About OP360 · Global business process outsourcing (BPO) company · Focus on world-class customer experience through people, technology, and thought leadership · Operates as an extension of clients' in-house teams in locations including the Philippines and Colombia · Specializes in both customer support and back-office operations Outsourcing Misconceptions · Outsourcing has evolved significantly over the past five years with increased investment in employee experience · OP360's philosophy: they won't work with organizations that aren't as passionate about their customers as OP360 is about their employees · Outsourcing benefits extend beyond cost savings to include scalability, increased service levels, and 24/7 operations Managing Exceptional Service Levels · OP360 boasts an impressive attrition rate of less than 4% · Complete managed service offering: recruiting, training, and managing to SLA outcomes · Each team is built specifically to client needs rather than fitting clients into a standardized approach · Training process includes certifying trainers on client culture, values, and product knowledge AI Integration in Contact Centers · Strategic partnerships with multiple AI technologies · Client-focused approach: OP360 doesn't drive AI investment for direct consumer interactions · AI applications in recruitment (better talent matching), training (sandbox environment with realistic scenarios), and performance management · 30% increase in ramp to proficiency using AI-enhanced training Performance Metrics · Core metrics typically include quality metrics (NPS, CSAT) and productivity measures · Analysis of survey feedback categorized as "controllable" vs. "non-controllable" factors · Internal client satisfaction monitoring through ENPS scoring twice yearly Success Stories · Legal sector: Started with a 10 FTE pilot, now supports 28 different lines of business with 500+ FTEs · Healthcare: Improved patient experience for a multi-location clinic with 60+ offices by centralizing patient engagement functions Audio Chapters 01:17 Introduction to OP360 and Its Mission 03:59 Addressing Customer Experience Challenges 05:24 Misconceptions About Outsourcing and how it can help 07:30 Training and Managing Outsourced Teams 10:32 The Role of AI in the Organization 12:46 Metrics and Performance Management 15:06 Ensuring Communication Between Sales and Operations 17:28 Success Stories in Outsourcing 22:25 Gathering and Acting on Customer Feedback 24:14 “Does It Hold Water?” 30: 35 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Josh 📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshnutter/ 🌐 Website: https://www.op360.com Email: josh@op360.com 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub VIDEOS ON THE PODCAST AND CLIPS CAN BE FOUND HERE! YouTube
	AI as a Practice, Augmentation Over Replacement, and Net New Value with Dr. Patrick Lynch	17 Jun 2026	00:51:26
In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Dr. Patrick Lynch, AI faculty lead at Hult International Business School, a Thinkers50 Radar 2026 honoree, and author of How to Outsmart AI and Thrive(Routledge, July). An industrial organizational psychologist and former Accenture Research Fellow, Patrick has trained leaders at companies including American Express, Boeing, and ExxonMobil. The conversation centers on a single reframe: AI is not a project. It is a practice. Patrick places AI in the long arc of foundational technologies, from the industrial revolutions through the computer and the internet, and explains why this shift is different. Earlier waves took aim at physical labor. This one takes aim at cognitive work, the way we think and make decisions. That changes what leaders should actually be doing about it. He draws a line between Vanity AI, adopting a tool to replicate something you already do, and Viable AI, using it to add value you could not deliver before. The math on pure replacement does not pencil out, because the workers being automated hold specialized knowledge that does not disappear with the routine tasks. The real work sits with people and process, not the technology, and Patrick uses the BCG 70/20/10 split to make the point. Gary and Patrick also get into why data quality decides whether AI works at all, the AI wall that keeps a tool from bridging gaps in real expertise, and the AI Quartet, four ways people come to relate to these tools once they start treating them like teammates. They close on the layoffs narrative, what it means for a small to mid-sized business without a chief AI officer or a six-figure budget, and the one move a leader can make Monday morning. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Leadership behavior drives how technology lands. People and process come before the tool. New value, not replacement, is where the return lives. If you are a founder, operator, or leader trying to think clearly about AI without the hype or the fear, this conversation will sharpen how you decide where the tool belongs and where your own expertise still has to carry the work. What You'll Learn Why Patrick frames AI as a practice rather than a project, and what that changes for leaders How earlier technology shifts targeted physical labor, and why this one targets cognitive work The difference between Vanity AI and Viable AI Why replacing workers with automation rarely pencils out The 70/20/10 split, and why most of the work is people and process How data quality determines whether AI delivers or fails The AI wall, and why foundational expertise still decides the outcome The AI Quartet: Champion, Castaway, Cog, and Charmer What is really behind the AI and layoffs headlines Where the small to mid-sized business advantage actually sits The first move a leader should make Monday morning Chapters 0:58 Introduction 2:28 The arc of technology from the industrial revolution to AI 3:47 What makes this shift different 6:15 Why AI becomes the problem when you treat it as the only solution 11:26 What an effective AI strategy looks like, and the biggest mistake companies make 14:57 Why data quality decides the outcome 17:50 The AI wall and why expertise still matters 19:18 The THRIVE model 21:58 The AI Quartet 27:58 The AI and layoffs narrative 32:09 What this means for a small to mid-sized business 35:29 The first move a leader should make Monday morning 37:33 Does It Hold Water? 41:27 Chip Shots Book Recommendation Influence by Robert Cialdini Connect with Patrick Website: Patrick Lynch Book: How to Outsmart AI and Thrive (Routledge, July), available for pre-order on Amazon 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more on customer experience, leadership, and business growth. Want to be a guest? Message Gary on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #AILeadership #ChangeManagement #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #SMBGrowth #FutureOfWork #CustomerExperience #OperationalDiscipline #Founders
	Managing Your Customer Journey Right with Stacy Sherman	11 Mar 2025	00:40:52
Summary In this episode, Gary Marra welcomes Stacy Sherman, a renowned Customer Experience (CX) leader, speaker, and author, to explore how businesses can create impactful customer journeys by aligning CX with business goals. Stacy shares her thoughts on what it means to 'do CX right’, emphasizing the importance of understanding the customer journey, empowering employees, and maintaining consistency across all touchpoints. The discussion also highlights the challenges of breaking down silos within organizations and creating a culture that encourages feedback. Stacy introduces her journey management framework, which focuses on the entire ecosystem of customer interactions, and discusses effective metrics for measuring success. Stacy shares insights from her new book, Transformative Experience Journey Management, and breaks down the critical components of humanizing businesses, emotional intelligence in CX, employee experience, and the role of AI in shaping the future of CX. Takeaways · “Doing CX Right” is about the managing entire customer journey. · Empowerment of staff leads to exceptional customer service. · Consistency is key in delivering a reliable customer experience. · Breaking down silos enhances collaboration and improves CX. · Creating a safe environment for feedback is essential for growth. · Journey Management is more than mapping; it's about the entire ecosystem. · Feedback from customers should be celebrated and shared. · Starting a podcast doesn't require fancy tech, so take the mic outta the box! · Another Seinfeld Reference :) Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 02:40 What is “Doing CX Right”? 03:40 Who’s Doing it Right? 07:02 The Importance of Consistency 09:10 Designing Journey Management 11:05 Breaking Down Silos for Better CX 16:04 Creating a Safe Environment for Feedback 18:33 Journey Management Framework in Action 24:30 Measuring Customer Experience Success 27:03 Does It Hold Water? 30:47 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Stacy 🌐 Website: https://doingcxright.com 📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacysherman/ 📕Book: Transformative Experience Journey Management 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub VIDEOS ON THE PODCAST AND CLIPS CAN BE FOUND HERE! YouTube
	Bridging the Trust Gap with Involvement Culture with Tim McCleary	04 Mar 2025	00:54:27
Bridging the Trust with Involvement Culture - Tim McCleary, Episode 11 In this conversation, Tim McCleary discusses the critical role of company culture and employee engagement in driving organizational success. He introduces the concept of 'involvement culture,' which emphasizes trust, empowerment, and connection among employees. Tim highlights the alarming statistics of employee disengagement and the importance of building high-trust environments to enhance productivity. The discussion also delves into the significance of human connection in customer experiences and the challenges organizations face in navigating change. Tim shares insights on the "7 Stages of Change" and how they relate to the emotional responses employees experience during transitions. In this conversation, Tim and Gary also explore the dynamics of change management within organizations, emphasizing the importance of trust, creativity, and employee involvement. They discuss the challenges of downsizing, the need for a cultural shift, and the innovative methods used at GE to foster creativity and simplify operations. The conversation also delves into measuring the ROI of trust in organizations and the significance of effective communication in leadership. Tim shares personal insights on influential books and the lessons learned from his career, culminating in practical advice for leaders seeking to initiate change. Takeaways Companies with an involvement culture grow 3x faster. 68% of employees are disengaged, with 17% actively disengaged. High trust cultures lead to 50% more productivity. Organizations should slow down change to allow employees to adapt. "Freedom within a framework" empowers employees while maintaining consistency. Understanding the essence of company values is crucial for engagement. Authenticity and vulnerability foster trust in the workplace. Customer experience is impacted by employee engagement and trust. Resistance to change is a natural human response that needs to be managed. Activation is an invitation to change, not just management. Downsizing creates a trust gap among employees. Involvement of employees leads to better change outcomes. AUDIO Chapters 01:08 Introduction 02:15 Understanding Involvement Culture and Its Impact 08:44 The Trust Gap & Importance of Trust in Organizations 12:20 Confirmation of the Nordstrom Tire Story 15:25 Human Connection and Customer Experience 19:48 Navigating Resistance to Change 24:00 The 7 Stages of Change and the 5 Stages of Grief 28:00 Creativity and Culture Shift at GE 32:35 Measuring ROI: The Importance of Trust Using…Science! 35:15 Does It Hold Water? 43:04 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Tim McCleary 🌐 Website: The Involvement Practice 📱 LinkedIn: Tim McCleary 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub VIDEOS ON THE PODCAST AND CLIPS CAN BE FOUND HERE! YouTube
	Artificial Intelligence Ideology - Moving Past The AI Hype with Chris Hood	18 Feb 2025	00:39:26
In this conversation, Gary Marra and guest Chris Hood delve into the complexities of AI in customer experience. They discuss the hype surrounding AI technologies, the importance of critical thinking, and the need for businesses to prioritize customer needs over technology. They explore the historical context of AI, the risks of blindly following trends, and the gap between expectations and reality in AI capabilities. The discussion also touches on the implications of AI in healthcare and the importance of mindful implementation in business practices. *Takeaways* AI is often overhyped, creating unrealistic expectations. Critical thinking is becoming a lost art and skill Customer needs should drive technology adoption, not the other way around. There is a significant gap between AI's perceived and actual capabilities. Education about AI is crucial for both consumers and leaders. The risks of relying on AI without understanding its limitations are high. Historical context shows that AI is not a new concept but has evolved. Mindful use of AI can enhance customer experience if done correctly. Healthcare applications of AI show promise but require careful consideration. Leaders must ask customers how they want to engage with technology. 00:00 Introduction 03:00 The Hype vs. Reality of AI 07:12 Critical Thinking in the Age of AI 09:49 Customer Obsession vs. Technology 13:08 The Risks of Blindly Following AI Trends 19:05 The Gap Between AI Expectations and Reality 22:20 Mindful Uses of AI in Business 25:40 Does It Hold Water? AI in Medicine/Healthcare 31:30 Chip Shots 🔗 Connect with Chris Hood 📖 Book: Infailible - The Artificial Intelligence Ideology Reshaping Consumer Behavior 🌐 Website: https://chrishood.com/ 📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrishood 🐦 Twitter: @ChrisHood1 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on CX, AI, and business strategy. Marra CX Hub YouTube
	Straight Talk, No Chaser: CX on the Rocks with Sean Albertson	11 Feb 2025	00:36:00
🎙 Guest: Sean Albertson – CX Consultant & Strategist, Keynote Speaker, and Author In this conversation, Sean Albertson, Founder and CEO of CX4Rocks Consulting, Speaker, and Author, discusses the evolving landscape of customer experience (CX) and the challenges organizations face today. He emphasizes the growing expectations of customers, the decentralization of CX roles, and the importance of integrating technology effectively. Sean discusses the concept of combining personalization and customization to enhance customer service. He also shares insights on the future of contact centers with AI, the value of diverse experiences in career development, and lessons learned from past failures. In the "Does it Hold Water?" Gary challenges Sean with a quote about the impact of AI in 2025. Takeaways Decentralization in CX can lead to a lack of accountability and silos within organizations. Technology should enhance human capabilities, not replace them. AI can significantly improve efficiency in contact centers by assisting agents. Situationalization allows for real-time, personalized customer support. Diverse experiences across departments enhance understanding and effectiveness in CX roles. High effort in customer interactions leads to disloyalty. Episode Timestamps 00:03 - Introduction and welcome 00:53 - Guest introduction and background 01:24 - Discussion on why "being a customer today sucks" 03:21 - Analysis of decentralized CX approach challenges 05:07 - Discussion of silos in financial services 06:09 - Solutions and technology's role in improving CX 13:49 - Deep dive into effective technology use and "situationalization" 26:31 - "Does it Hold Water" segment: 2025 CX predictions 30:05 - "Chip Shots" segment: Book recommendations and career insights 🔗 Connect with Sean Albertson: LinkedIn: Sean Albertson Website: Sean’s Website 📌 Stay Connected with Gary Marra & Your Customer, Your Success Blog: Marra CX Hub Podcast: Your Customer, Your Success LinkedIn: Gary Marra YouTube: Your Customer, Your Success YouTube

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