Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Digital is a demanding and competitive field. And women are still grossly underpaid & underrepresented. But we are not powerless; we have each other. Together Digital Power Lounge is your place to hear authentic conversations from women in digital who have power to share. Listen and learn from our amazing guests along with host Amy Vaughan, Owner and Chief Empowerment Officer of Together Digital. Together Digital is a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital who choose to share their knowledge, power, and connections. To learn more, visit www.togetherindigital.com.
Together Digital Power Lounge, Women in Digital with Power to Share
Hospitality as Your Marketing Superpower
Welcome to The Power Lounge. This week, host Amy Vaughan sits down with Holly Fisher, founder and CEO of Fisher Creative Marketing and a certified “Unreasonable Hospitality” coach. They explore how hospitality can become a key marketing strategy, even in an era dominated by automation and AI.
Holly shares her transition from traditional marketing to embracing hospitality as a core business approach. Through practical examples, Amy and Holly demonstrate how sincere, thoughtful gestures can drive word-of-mouth referrals, enhance client loyalty, and differentiate your business across various industries and sizes—all without significant costs or time investments.
If you’re aiming to convert customers into dedicated advocates or want to understand the impact of small, deliberate actions, this episode provides actionable insights. Join us in The Power Lounge to learn how hospitality can elevate your marketing efforts.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:30 - Value-Driven Marketing Conversation
05:18 - "Human-Centric Customer Experience Strategy"
07:52 - Accessible Hospitality for All Businesses
12:01 - Intentional Scheduling for Connection
13:58 - Glove Box Surprise Gesture
19:51 - Connecting Remotely Through Thoughtful Gestures
23:40 - Redefining Hospitality Beyond Service
24:57 - "Managing Project Touchpoints Post-Completion"
29:53 - Unreasonable Hospitality in Practice
30:53 - The Power of Listening in Business
36:44 - "Small Steps for Big Changes"
40:21 - "Effective Messaging Beats Viral Hype"
41:49 - "Collaborative Women, Sacred Space"
44:56 - Disney Map Mishap Resolution
47:38 - Everyone's in Hospitality
49:12 - Outro
Quotes:
"Hospitality isn’t about surprise and delight as a one-off tactic; it’s a mindset that consistently makes people feel valued."- Amy Vaughan
“We’re all in the hospitality business. No matter your industry, it’s the small, intentional gestures that turn customers into lifelong advocates.”- Holly Fisher
Key Takekaways:
Human Connection is Your Secret Weapon
Hospitality = Marketing
Small Gestures, Big Impact
Active Listening is Everything
Systematize Kindness Without Losing Heart
Digital Doesn’t Mean Distant
Hospitality is Everyone’s Business
Play the Long Game
Connect with Holly Fisher:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyannfisher/
Website:https://fisher-creative.com/
Connect with the host Amy Vaughan:
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/amypvaughan
Podcast:Power Lounge Podcast - Together Digital
Learn more about Together Digital and consider joining the movement by visitingHome - Together Digital
Hello everyone and welcome to our weekly Power Lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughn and I am the owner and Chief Empowerment Officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power and connections. You can join the movement at togetherindigitalcom and I want to say welcome to everyone today, to our listeners and our live listeners as well, as we begin to explore how hospitality can become one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal. In a world where automation and AI dominate our interactions, there's something magical that happens when we inject a genuine human connection into our business relationships. It's actually a two-way street, folks.
Speaker 1:Our guest, holly Fisher, is the founder and CEO of Fisher Creative Marketing and a Story Brand Certified Guide. With over a decade of experience, holly helps businesses simplify their message and enhance customer experience. As an unreasonable hospitality coach, she's passionate about helping brands build loyalty through care, clarity and a compelling story. Holly is here to share how small, intentional gestures can turn your clients into loyal advocates who can't stop talking about you, which is kind of something we all want, right? Not through bigger budgets or flashier campaigns, but through the timeless power of making people feel truly seen and valued. Welcome, holly, we're thrilled to have you here with us today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me Happy to be here. I'm excited for this conversation.
Speaker 1:Yes, me too. We are very much aligned in values and philosophy. We were just talking before we came on live. Even you know just about these passion points of ours and putting people at the front and center and how it's. You know it really is the way to create sustainable business and really kind of have a marketing strategy that's just out there in the wild doing the work for you, which is something I think all of us marketers dream of right, and business owners so excited to have our live listening audience with us here today.
Speaker 1:As always, folks, be sure to use the chat, say hi, but also drop your questions If you have something specific that you want to know from Holly at Together Digital, we want you to ask for what you need and to get used to asking the questions. There's no such thing as a bad or wrong question. So if you have something that you would like to know, please drop it in the chat and I will make sure it gets answered before we end and wrap today. So, holly, let's give our listeners a little bit more about you and your backstory. How did you go from a traditional marketer to becoming an unreasonable hospitality coach, which I would love for you to kind of give them some context of that as well and what that moment looked like for you when you made that pivot.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah. So I have been working in marketing for a number of years, almost 15 years. I was a journalist before that, so long time writer and storyteller and I've been a story brand certified guide since early 2018. So I'm certified in the StoryBrand marketing framework created by Donald Miller. I'm sure a lot of folks are familiar with that. That book and that framework has been out for a number of years. So I've been working in that space and really just helping folks with their messaging and their marketing for quite some time.
Speaker 2:And last year I actually read the book Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Godera and a lot it was. It had been on my to read list, you know, for a minute, right as we get our stacks get really tall and a lot of folks were really buzzing about this book. So I picked it up and read it and it's a. It's a great read. It's full of some really fantastic stories and actionable ideas and I just blew through that in just like a couple of weeks. Really great book, will. If you're not familiar with that book, he owned a restaurant and ran restaurants in New York City and really talks about how they were able to take a really high-end restaurant in New.
Speaker 2:York City to the number one restaurant in the world, and that was largely through the power of hospitality to the number one restaurant in the world, and that was largely through the power of hospitality. And so I was really just impressed with his story. Just, this concept, this idea, so something that even in my own business I always, you know, I'm striving to practice, and so I just really loved this idea of this hospitality as a marketing concept and this idea of unreasonable hospitality. So the opportunity presented itself last fall for a new certification to become an unreasonable hospitality certified coach, and so I jumped on that and I thought, well, this just aligns really well with marketing, right? This is just a really wonderful way for businesses to uplevel their marketing and really have those, those marketing and brand ambassadors out in the world who are talking about what a wonderful business you are so. So I've been doing now can do workshops and trainings with folks to help them figure out how they can infuse more hospitality into their business.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, because you say that basically hospitality is marketing, which is a pretty bold statement, because when you think about marketers and like their pillars and their themes and their topics and their channel strategies, you often don't hear those things put together. So it's a pretty bold statement. Could you break down for our listeners a little bit about what you mean by that and then why traditional marketing approaches might be falling short of hospitality?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, at the end of the day, our customers and clients.
Speaker 2:They really do want to do business with other people.
Speaker 2:They want to know that businesses are valuing them as customers and clients, that they're being seen, they're being heard. They want that relationship and you know, we do kind of live in this automated, now sort of AI driven world right, where sometimes it's hard to even just get like a live person on the phone to answer a question. And so being able to have this level of hospitality and think about how we can not just provide a nice level of service for people, but how we can really again make them see, make them feel seen and valued and make them feel really special as customers and clients, that is going to really impact your marketing Cause. Then you're going to have people who are out there talking about your business. They're going to be repeat customers, they're going to be sending you referrals, and so that's a great way to have this these brand ambassadors out in the marketplace sending you business that you know it's essentially free marketing for you, just because you took the time to really put the customer and the client experience front and center.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean for us as a membership organization, I couldn't agree more. I mean, women's time is limited, their finances might be limited and like even more since the pandemic, and so I think leaning in harder to understanding that the word of mouth. For us it's like 90% of our business, right, I think it is such a shortcut to a sale that we take it for granted. And it's funny because as you were speaking, holly, for some reason my brain went back to my agency days when it was just like the clients would always ask for surprise and delight. And why did that? It's one of those terms that would always rub me the wrong way. But as you were speaking, I think I finally figured out why. Because just good customer service shouldn't be a surprise and delight. It shouldn't be just a random, one-off instance. It's not like a strategy or a tactic. It is a consistent way of being right as a business, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I always wondered why that's so funny.
Speaker 1:All right, so I also know that our listeners, who are here with us and listening to the podcast after we publish it, they're probably thinking that hospitality sounds either expensive and or time consuming. Could you maybe paint a picture for them about what unreasonable hospitality looks like in practice?
Speaker 2:us? Yeah, that's a great question and that's something that I share with people a lot is that this doesn't have to be expensive, doesn't have to be time consuming you don't have to hire a whole new team of hospitality folks for your business that you can do this at any business, any size, any scale. So this is certainly not just for folks that might consider themselves to be in the traditional hospitality industry of restaurants and hotels. Right, we're all in the hospitality industry if we have customers and clients that we're serving. And so, thinking about just those little things that you can do, again, doesn't have to be expensive, doesn't have to be big, doesn't have to be big, can be, if you want, you can do something grandiose, but honestly, it might be things like thank you cards, just little notes that you're sending people. Just, you know, paying attention to what clients and customers are saying and how you can just like show up for them in a way that they know you were listening, you know.
Speaker 2:Let's say, for example, you were kind of in this back to school season right now. So let's say, you have a client whose first child is going off to college. Right, it's a big, that's a big deal, right, what if you just sent them a note. Hey, I know your son or daughter is going off to college this week. I'm just thinking about you. You know, here's a Starbucks gift card. You might need a little extra coffee to keep going this week. What did that cost you Right? Almost nothing, right. But your client is like wow one, somebody actually paid attention to what I said. Right, I took some time to build that relationship.
Speaker 2:um knew that I had an important life event going on, and so it's going back to that person going wow, I feel really seen and valued by this business, and so that's a just a you know, simple example of something you can do that's going to have a great impact, right, but doesn't cost really anything else A couple minutes of your time and you know a five or $10 Starbucks card maybe.
Speaker 1:Right, right, and it really just takes that action right. I think sometimes it's hard. We get caught up in all the day to day and I know for us, for example, I do member one-on-one onboardings with all of our new members. It really helps me understand. Why are women joining? What do they need? What are they looking for?
Speaker 1:Because it's a little different for everyone and while we can't be everything for everyone, we have a lot to offer as a community and I know their time is precious and limited because they don't get to prioritize themselves in their careers often, which is usually why they join.
Speaker 1:And so for me to open my door and say my time is for you, to help you go in the right direction and use this most effectively. I just really felt like we didn't use to do those and once we started doing those, it was really great to see the increased engagement, the loyalty, the renewals that came and they were more likely to use their membership as well, versus just kind of do it, pay for it and then resent it because they never got the chance to really dig in and figure it out and it's systematized. I was going to say I know we talked a little bit about automation, but I actually think automation can help with hospitality to a degree. Right, I talk to and onboard a lot of people every month, but I use Read AI for my notes and so if I can't remember or call something specific and I really want to go back and send like a note or thanks to somebody and make it meaningful, can go back to that and be like please help me remember, you know. So I think between like Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Or if you're talking to somebody, you know, maybe you have a monthly call with someone and you're like I know they told me about something that was happening with their kids or their family or their business or whatever. You know, we're all human, right, it's hard to remember everything. So absolutely you can go back and check that recording so that you can mention it in the next call, because you do want to know what's going on with them and you are interested and invested.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It's just the older I get I'm like, the less that fits up here in this head of mine.
Speaker 2:So I'm like I need all the help I can get. Yeah, I definitely need like the note taker following me around 24-7.
Speaker 1:It's amazing and if I think, if somebody mentioned something specific, I can start to like just search up a couple of phrases that I know maybe we shared, because I'm trying to remember the name of something you know and, like I said, I'm very much like driven by my calendar. So it's like making myself available at certain times is important so that people know that I'm always there for them. From a hospitality standpoint, it also helps keep me sane and in check, so I'm not all over the place at different times. And then, even with that workflow, I use Calendly personally. There's always follow-ups that I have set up and created to really just make sure they got what they needed out of it and to ask for feedback and things like that. So there's really a lot of ways you can do it that, like you said, aren't expensive and actually aren't time consuming, but are intentional and thoughtful and hopefully make people feel seen and heard as well.
Speaker 1:Awesome let's talk about little moments with big impact philosophy and if you could share like a specific example of a small gesture that created maybe a disproportionate loyalty or word of mouth situation.
Speaker 2:Mm. Hmm, I'm actually going to share an example that Will Gadeer gave in a talk last year when I was listening to him at a workshop. He was doing some consulting work with car dealerships and they were a little, you know, hesitant about all of this, like this whole concept of hospitality, and so he was really digging in with them and asking questions about the whole customer experience. Right, because the customer journey is fast. Right, there's things that people experience with your business before they ever even, you know, walk in the door or engage with you all the way up to post purchase. Right, that he was asking these car dealers was what happens the first time someone opens the glove box of their new car. Because we're all going to do it. Right, we got to put our insurance in there, registration, our Chick-fil-A napkins right, we got to have all that stuff in the glove box. So at some point we're opening the glove box. And he said you know what, if you put in there a note, maybe from the manager of the dealership, you know, thanks for buying the new car. If you need anything, here's my number. And then they put you know, a coffee gift card and have a coffee on us. So they did that and had just an amazing reaction from customers because that was just again not expensive. I mean, you're talking about what a car that could be 30, 40, 50, $60,000 and you're giving someone a 10 or $15 gift card like not a big deal, right. Quick note put that in the glove box Again. It's a system, right. So we know we're going to do that with everyone.
Speaker 2:Put that in the glove box again. It's a system, right. We know we're gonna do that with everyone. Put in the box. Wonderful surprise when I open the glove box and see that I have a note from the car dealership and a gift gift card to go grab a coffee. That's again, it's just a small thing but can have a really big impact and is going to just establish that business in my mind in a positive way. Yeah, I'm probably not going to buy another car next week, right, at some point I'm going to go buy another car purchase, yeah, right. And so those little touch points like that that just kind of make people go wow, there's that was really nice, Like I can't believe they did.
Speaker 2:That Is really going to make me think. Maybe I'll go back to that dealership Right.
Speaker 1:And I'll refer people Absolutely, or I tell someone.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, you're not going to believe what happened. I opened the glove box of my new car and guess what was there? Because it's not something that a lot of other people are doing right. So it is a real surprise, a real treat and something that can those little things like that can really have a big impact.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, one of my favorite examples is Chewy. If you guys are familiar with Chewy, they do like the pet food delivery and I think their intentionality within their business model is so wonderful. I mean a lot of us, you know we've got our fur babies and they're basically like family. So you know, when you're kind of getting that subscription order every week, every month, whatever you have it set up as Chewy has it set up, where it's like if you lose your pet, like they will send you like a card for grievance, they will take the pet food that you have left over and donate it to a shelter, and it's just like and they just built it into their business model from the start. And I think it's little things like that that actually made them kind of come out ahead of the race when it came to online pet food subscriptions.
Speaker 1:Right Cause, I mean, anybody could kind of jump in and do that. But to me, what has always made them stand out is like that little bit of understanding that our pets are family. Yes, and so making that whole experience, especially when you're suffering from like a loss, it's just, it's tremendous, and I've had so many people comment on it and recommend it and all of that good stuff. So yeah, even though it's like a little bit more expensive sometimes, we're like we're just going to do it, because then we know that it's a good business and we know that they care.
Speaker 2:It's a great example I've heard other people talk about that that as well after yeah, a pet passes away and then they'll get a little something from from Chewy about that, and that's a wonderful example of just going a little bit above and beyond. But again, just really. Now we're just like Chewy, yay.
Speaker 1:Right Like they really like.
Speaker 2:That's how you build that customer loyalty. Um, and you're right, Sometimes maybe it, maybe it is a couple of dollars more, but I'm like man, they, they care, so I'm going to stick with them, go out of my way.
Speaker 1:Another great example I had was the woman that I used to work with at an agency and it was kind of before Lululemon blew up, but she had been wearing it for years.
Speaker 1:And she was a woman that I used to work with at an agency and it was kind of before Lululemon blew up, but she had been wearing it for years and she was a runner and they had a pair of tights that were like her absolute favorites and you know, I think she paid like a hundred plus dollars for these pair of running tights and she had left them in the locker room at the gym at the office and somebody had stolen them and she was pretty devastated and I think that they weren't making these particular ones anymore maybe.
Speaker 1:And so she went to the store and was shopping for a new pair and when somebody came to ask to help her, she kind of told them what happened and they gave her a gift card to buy whatever pair that she felt was the next best thing to the one that they discontinued for her, because that was like the really thing that made her live it. She was obviously upsetting having a hundred dollar plus pants stolen, but also late stolen, but then also to know that, like those, that design is not around anymore and you can't buy them again.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yeah, I think that was really sweet and I think that's another great you know. Thought too is like empowering your employees and your team with the ability to provide those hospitable moments is really powerful as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's huge. You have to give your team the ability to make those decisions and to be able to do you know those kinds of things right, because that's not, it's not going to have the same impact. If you're like, I don't know, let me run it up the chain of command and go through a bunch of red tape and kind of figure it out, like you. Just your team just has to know that they have the freedom to make those decisions. And if it's going to, if it's going to really be a moment of hospitality, like, do it you know, yeah, yeah, empower them to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, because it's. It feels weird when it feels like the bureaucracy cause, then you, as the person and the customer, you're like I feel like I'm being a burden and I'm creating more work on somebody else's part, so that doesn't feel like hospitality at all.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, our community is, you know, vastly hybrid. We do in person, but we're also very much digital, and then our whole industry has become very much remote teams, online services, digital products. So I'm kind of curious for our listeners, especially like how do you create hospitality magic when you're not physically face-to-face with folks?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's definitely a little harder if you don't have kind of that like brick and mortar or kind of like face-to-face interaction.
Speaker 2:For sure, but just even some of the other things that we've talked about, whether it's just sending notes or sending people little gifts, or I know I work with a lot of folks remotely and usually when someone starts working with me I'll send them a little something in the mail. You know, maybe it's a copy of like the story brand book or the unreasonable hospitality book, or maybe it's a little um, I like to send people things. I'm based in Asheville, north Carolina, so sometimes I like to send people things from like local businesses, right, like little you know goodies or something like that. So even just putting together sort of a little you know, I'm excited to work with you kind of packet, a little gift, a little you know birthday card or you know just even little things like that that you can do that again are small, they're not super expensive, but they're just kind of letting people know that you care and that can be a good way to connect with folks when you're not like right in the same same space.
Speaker 1:I feel like it kind of goes a little bit farther too right when you're not in the same physical space, and then you send something that like tactile farther too right when you're not in the same physical space, and then you send something that like tactile. It's always kind of like, oh, that's so cool, like I wasn't expecting that. I mean, I've had calls with people that have done that, that have sent thank you, like handwritten thank you cards. After like a coffee chat, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so cool. And it's been a, it's been a minute, but I had oh my gosh, it's been more than a minute.
Speaker 1:So my memory is going to fail me here, but we had another podcast guest Gosh. I want to say it was like two years ago when we were talking about connection and actually it also came up in that podcast episode and the one with Nancy Harhut which talks about using behavioral psychology for marketing and it's that like rule of reciprocity, right, when somebody does something nice for us, we kind of want to do something nice in return, and so that's what I meant when we were talking through the opening is like you being more hospitable towards your customers, your clients, whomever it gives something back to you. Right, it makes us feel good to make other people feel good, right, it's not completely selfless.
Speaker 2:That's right, a hundred percent. Yeah, I mean we love like sending. I mean I love like kind of sending people things, or like putting together a little note or something like that for folks just to kind of, you know, just brighten people's day, right. Or again it kind of goes back to that paying attention to the things that people are talking about, right, so you can send something. You know you mentioned the, you know the pets, right, maybe somebody got a new pet or they lost their pet, or you know they love, you know they love dogs, so you send them a little something you know for their pet or that's pet themed, right. So so it, it goes even just a little bit step further than just kind of a more generic gift or note, but it shows that you actually paid attention to something that they told you about themselves.
Speaker 1:I love it. I mean I think that's a great note too to our job seekers who are listening as well, you know, because it's a tough market out there right now in the job world. So yeah, kind of thinking out of the box when you're reaching out, but also kind of with that follow up. I think people sometimes are like I feel like such a nag following up. So maybe just find fun, creative, interesting ways to kind of follow up to. One, it'll be more fun for you, and two, it'll probably be more fun for the recruiters too, cause I mean they're on the other side of things very overwhelmed, and so finding that opportunity and the ability to kind of make that connection stronger through a little bit of hospitality in that realm too, it was like why not?
Speaker 2:100%, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. So for our listeners who are working with and serving clients, I'm curious how do you begin to identify some of the key touch points where hospitality can make a big difference? Could you walk us through that process and what that might look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what that might look like. Yeah, so this is actually part of the workshop that I will do with folks is really kind of taking a minute to first kind of get our heads wrapped around.
Speaker 2:you know what is hospitality and how that how that is different from just providing people with a service, like the thing they're paying us for.
Speaker 2:So how can we start to go above and beyond? And then we'll really take some time to map out all of those customer touch points and you know some of them are going to come to you like really quickly. Right, they're obvious, but when you really start like digging deeper and really starting to think about it, I mean, you're just going to start to have 50, 60, you might even get into a hundred or more touch points that customers have with you and and I like to encourage people to think about those before um, you know, people buy from you. That might be consuming content on your social media, that might be going to your website. How easy is it for people to navigate around your website and schedule an appointment with you or make a purchase, right, that's a customer touch point. Then, of course, there's the actual, you know, purchase or working together, right, all the different ways. What are the email communications that people get, the meetings like, all the different ways that you're interacting with them. And then even you know beyond, right, the end of a engagement, right?
Speaker 2:Or you finish a project or something like what's happening after the fact. Are there some things built in that you can continue to kind of stay in touch with them? So, yeah, really taking some time to map all of those out, that can take a minute. You really start, start thinking about it and then you can start to look at the different impacts of those. Are there some of those that are naturally like positive and fun for people? Are there some that are a little more negative and I don't necessarily mean that negative in that you're doing a bad job but a really good example of that is when you go out to dinner. A quote negative touch point is getting your your bill. Yeah, right, cause you were just like oh, I didn't order that, I got to pay for this.
Speaker 2:So, it's not that they did anything wrong, it's just a negative um experience Cause we're like shoot, I've got to pay for it. Um same thing If we're sending clients invoices or things like that right.
Speaker 2:Again, they know they're going to have to pay for it, but it's not the most fun part of our time together. So what can I do to maybe make that a little better? Are there touch points along that journey that you're just not even paying that much attention to? They're just kind of happening and you're like you know what, actually, if we did this thing, that would that would actually really make that experience better for people.
Speaker 2:You know, a really common example is thinking about if you, if you have a brick and mortar business, you know the restrooms, right, that's one, that's one that sometimes gets overlooked. So what's the restroom in your business? Right? If it's virtual, the thing that you're just kind of like, yeah, people use this, but I didn't really I didn't really pay that much attention to it, like it's just okay. So how can I start to level up those touch points? And again, you know, if you have a hundred of them, you can't do them all at once. So start to prioritize and maybe you just pick. You know we're going to start with three, right, and we're going to do that, and then we're going to add like a couple more and we're just going to continue to work our way through this list of touch points and how can we just make that experience just a little bit better for clients? And again, it doesn't have to be huge, big, grandiose or expensive. It can be just really like even small stuff, really simple things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love your point. There too, I think we often disregard. You know, when a client is leaving, or a customer is canceling, or they're asking for a return or a refund, it's so easy, I think, especially as a business owner, sometimes to be like, fine, be gone, but it's like, no like. To me. The best thing you can do is actually me even making the the point like you're saying, the pain point of partying as pleasant as possible. Now, I'm not saying be a doormat, but I'm saying like for me, if somebody is like, hey, I need to cancel, for whatever reason, I'm always like listen, we're going to do what we can for you. That's totally fine, we understand. But please know that we are here for you, even if you're not within the community and a member right now. Because to me it's like you never want to burn a bridge, like unless they were just an awful customer and they need to go. That's maybe a different thing, right, that's right, and that does happen sometimes, right, right, right, and that's that's a whole nother story. But I think you know, really, looking at when that point of departure is like so for your car example, you know the car is sold, they didn't need to do anything extra, but by putting that gift card into the glove compartment it just, you know, again takes it that extra mile. Pun intended on, kind of emphasizing, you know, the desire to make sure that the relationship continues, I was going to say too.
Speaker 1:It also reminds me of even my, our realtor. I mean we bought our house 12 years ago. She's amazing. The reason why she's one of the top realtors in our area is because she invites us to her house for like get togethers and she sends a Christmas card and you know she sends like things for the birthdays and I mean she doesn't have to go out of her way and do all of that. But because she does that, I will always recommend her because she was a good realtor as well, obviously. But just that little extra, I mean this always keeps her top of mind and as a realtor, referrals number one in getting new business.
Speaker 2:We've had real estate agents that have done that before too, and we'll still sometimes send us things, even though we don't even live in the same city. We wouldn't be using them again, necessarily. They'll still send us a little something, or send me a little notes or something like that. And so just those and again small things. Right, We've really emphasized that this does not have to be bigger, expensive stuff, it just takes a little bit of thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So I guess that that leads perfectly into the next question. Or what are some low cost, high impact hospitality strategies that someone could implement Like yeah, I think, yeah, I think we've talked about a lot of things like that.
Speaker 2:I mean just even little small notes and reminders and gestures, things that you can do there. I think it again. I think one of the really important things is just paying attention to people.
Speaker 2:So I'll actually share a little story from the unreasonable hospitality book that um will has talked about a lot some people might have heard. But um again, he has a very high-end restaurant in new york city and he um just they were a little bit short-staffed, I believe, and he was just kind of helping pitch in and clear a couple of tables, do a few things Happens to hear a group of people who had been in New York city. They were big foodies. They had gone to all of the like really top-notch restaurants all around town. They were ending eating at his restaurant and then they were off, you know, back to wherever they came from. So he happens to overhear them talking about all the different places that they've been eating, but their one, um gosh, the one regret they had was they never actually got to have a hot dog from a New York city hot dog stand Right.
Speaker 2:And so he pops out, goes outside, gets the $2 hot dog from the hot dog cart outside the restaurant, takes it into the kitchen, convinces the the chef to cut it up into like three little pieces, put it on one of their fancy plates you know little fancy, you know dash of ketchup and take it out to the table and those people were like, oh my gosh, blown away right over the again this two dollar hot Um.
Speaker 2:But it wasn't so much about the hot dog, it was the gesture, it was the fact that he had slowed down enough to hear that conversation, and so I think that's where we can really have a lot of impact is going. Okay, let me listen to the things that my my clients and my customers are telling me. Um, especially when you work with, you know, if you're in like consulting or coaching and you have a lot of like one-on-one interactions with people, I think that can be a really wonderful opportunity to hear what people are saying here. You know, what can you do to make just either add a little fun right, a little hot dog to their life um or or something else that you can do for them that's really going to help them in their business as well.
Speaker 2:And again, that's a small, you know, low cost example, but it just requires you to be mindful and to always have this idea of hospitality at the forefront of your mind yeah, it sounds like a little bit of active listening and action, right, just kind of like don't even wait, just go outside.
Speaker 1:outside, buy the hot dog, bring it in. I love that story yeah.
Speaker 2:And same thing, you know. If that had been a staff member, you know, I think, letting the staff member again, like we talked about earlier, feel empowered they could have been like hey, no, I'm going to dash outside and grab this hot dog real quick, you know it'd be really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so all right. So you also mentioned that kindness scales, how and I kind of alluded to some of this earlier, but I'm sure you've probably got some other ways to share of how you systematize hospitality without losing its authentic and more personal feel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's huge because you you do want people to feel like they are special and like they're getting something really unique, but at the same time, as a business, you do have to have some systems in place so you can do this. So I think one of those is one of the ways that you can do that is look for what we call the recurring moments in your business. What are the things that happen with some regularities, and how can you build a system in place that says, okay, when this happens, we do this thing. So you know, for example, I work with a lot of folks that, um, I'm helping them, you know, build a new website. So an example of that could be like great, when a person's person's, when a client's website launches, they get.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe they get some kind of a gift, they get. You know, one time I sent a client some cupcakes, you know, just to kind of celebrate the launch of their new website because they had been working on it for such a long time, and it was a really big website and took, you know, took a minute, and so having those kinds of things go great. When we launch a new website for a client, they get this. Or when someone starts an engagement with us, they get a little kind of welcome gift or a welcome note or something like that. Again, just thinking about what are the things that happen on a regular basis.
Speaker 2:That also helps if you have a team, then they're going to know like, oh great, whenever this thing occurs, we do this or maybe you know you work with um, let's say you work with a lot of moms right and they have, and so you have a lot of moms maybe they're having. If they're young moms, they're having a baby, right. And so every time one of our clients has a baby, we send them this thing or whatever right Flowers or a onesie or whatever Right, but just having that system in place. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, systems and process, I think, make all of it easier, and then I make sure that it is always happening and it's staying top of mind.
Speaker 2:Because, again, being a business owner, oh my God, look what I got Right. It doesn't matter that everybody else you know is also getting that. They don't care, they're just thinking like wow this is awesome.
Speaker 1:I feel really special. No, I agree, I agree. So what would you say are the biggest mistakes you see businesses make when they try to implement hospitality driven marketing? Are there any pitfalls or traps they should be on the lookout for?
Speaker 2:I think one is making sure that it is genuine, right. I mean, we don't. Yes, at the end of the day, this will help us grow our business, it will help us get repeat customers and referrals and marketing and all of that. So there's certainly that benefit to us. But we also want to make sure that we're not just like, well, I just I need to do hospitality because I need to do it Right. We want that genuine connection and relationship with our customers and clients.
Speaker 2:So so, making sure that our motives are pure, I guess, um, and that you know this is something that we really believe in, um, and that's also how we're going to get our team you know, if you have a team really getting everybody on the same page with this, so that you know it really can come from top down and everybody has this buy-in, this sense of ownership, this culture of hospitality within your organization. So I think that's huge, that's huge. And then I think again, just like, as we mentioned earlier, just not making the assumption that this is going to be a big undertaking, right, that it can be something simple. You can just pick one thing right next month that you're going to do right, one little thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's the best way. When things feel big, right, what's the next little little step we need to take when maybe it feels overwhelming and kind of on that note, like I can imagine a lot of our listeners wanting to go back right and maybe talk to their bosses because you're a hundred percent right, it has to be bought in from the top down if it's going to be implemented and done well, and we're adding it to process, like we're talking about oftentimes as a marketing. You know we are constantly asked like what's the ROI? How do you measure the ROI? Constantly asked like what what's the ROI? How do you measure the ROI? Right, so you know what are some of the ways in which we can either be looking at, talking about tracking, you know the ways in which hospitality might truly be working to help the bottom line of a business, because sometimes that's just what people care about, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:For sure. Yeah, that's true, absolutely. And I think you can, I can use, I think you can use some of your traditional marketing metrics as well, right? So even looking at things like referrals, reviews, right, those kinds of things, maybe you have some stuff set up where people are more apt to share, like on social media things like that, right, so you can do some of those things.
Speaker 2:I also think that this falls into that long game concept, right, I mean, this is not necessarily the kind of thing that you're like great, we started sending thank you notes today and tomorrow we doubled our business. Right, with like, with a lot of our marketing. Yes, sometimes we do see immediate results, sometimes the results are over time. Right, right, and it's just. It's building the relationship, building the trust and the rapport with the customers and clients. That's going to take you through the long, long game. Right, I mean, it's like the car example we talked about. I'm not going to buy the car from you today and then buy another car from you tomorrow, but I may come back in seven, eight, nine years.
Speaker 1:Right, buying the car from you well, and I also would think that I might go to them. Now it might not go out of my way to like get oil change somewhere. I might go there to get the car service and oil change because I felt that much more taken care of when I was there versus doing like a jiffy lube. You know what I mean, where it's like I'm in and out and bam. Thank you, ma'am, now we're moving on, so yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think it's it's it's having that, that perspective of going. You know, I'm in this for the long haul and I will see the results. They may not necessarily be tomorrow, but I will see the results of this effort.
Speaker 1:Agree, agree. Yeah, it's like that long lead marketing nobody ever wants to talk about. We always want, like, the immediate results. We're all too overstimulated and too used to immediate gratification that it's kind of a bummer because you're leaving money on the table. You're literally leaving money on the table by not putting into place like hospitable practices within your business to make sure that you sustain the leads, the business, the relationships that you currently have, because those are going to be your best bet. Right, it's like marketing one-on-one. So it's like so funny that this these feel like revelations because they really shouldn't be right, I know, but we kind of live in this world of like let's go viral, Right, Like people just want to be like.
Speaker 2:I did this thing and I went viral and I'm like okay, well, sometimes that happens Right, but not very often.
Speaker 1:Right, not very often. And then what? Oh, that's another good podcast episode of ours too Y'all should go back and listen to, with Kenya Kelly talking about TikTok and that whole sense of like she had a law firm come to her and they were like we want to go viral. And she's like she had a law firm come to her and they were like we want to go viral. And she's like do you want to go viral or do you actually want leads you can close? They were like oh, we want leads, we can close. She's like then let me do what I need to do and I'm going to get you a hundred new leads. And they're like what? Nothing we've ever done has created a hundred leads. She's like well, going viral, that'll get you there. And so, yeah, she got them over a hundred leads and I think they got like 20 of those closed and it was like the biggest boom in their business they had seen.
Speaker 1:And you know again I think that flash in the pan notion for as long as I've been in this business. It's like is are we done with that? Yet it's been like 15, 20 years. Folks, can we not use the word viral anymore? Because I mean it doesn't have. And then it's funny because they put the pressure on ROI. But what's the ROI of viral?
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, right. I think it's always about. I think in 99.9% of cases it is quality over quantity. Yes, right, so I would much rather have a hundred like really solid leads than a million people that just saw it and just moved on. Yep, Right, I am with you, yeah. You're going to get much better results that way, so Absolutely Well.
Speaker 1:And then not only that, but you're just kind of working with the kinds of people that you want to be working with. I think that's like the philosophy I've taken on with Together Digital and our membership. It's like how are you going to grow? How are you going to scale? You're at 500. You're going to get to 2000.
Speaker 1:I'm like no dude. It's like I'm not trying to pack a room, I'm trying to make an impact on an individual level with women who don't feel seen and heard. And so I said I want quality over quantity. I want the kinds of women who are collaborative, who are open to listening and learning and helping others, and not power hoarding or shaming or blaming or any of that stuff that a lot of us get conditioned to do in most other environments. And so to me that's a very sacred space, you know. And so, yeah, I am I've said that so many times the quality over quantity and the sustain versus scale. And again, it just comes with the nature of our business and what we're trying to do, because we're trying to achieve a mission. So does it like really make the bottom line big? No, but it helps us keep going to achieve the goal that we're out to do so obviously I know my business is coming from a different place. No, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome, awesome, all right. Well, I'm going to check in with our live listening audience real quick. I just thought my phone was my mouse gosh. It's Friday. You guys, I went to go, click my phone. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the chat. But we're going to take a quick pivot over into our power round, which are like kind of our fun quick questions and then we'll wrap for the day if we don't have any questions from you all. But we appreciate you all listening in. All right, what is the smallest gesture that's created the biggest client reaction for you?
Speaker 2:I think for me it is I mentioned earlier like just sending people little gifts, sometimes when we start working together or sometimes at the holiday.
Speaker 2:If I did a big project for someone, I'll send something, and I usually will always try to send something from a local business because I like to support other local business and so I'll send, you know, maybe a gift basket or something like that and, um, you know, then I'll get like a text from someone with a picture of that. Oh my gosh, I can't believe you did this. This was so wonderful. You know how nice, what a great gesture. Or you know, last year someone did say, well, I loved everything that you sent. It was all from, from Asheville, you know, that was so great.
Speaker 2:And so, um, I think those kinds of things just as a little bit unexpected, um, surprises, or occasionally I'll send a client like maybe just a book that I thought they would be interested in, um, and people will text again, text me a picture and be like my gosh, thanks for sending this. You know, what a great little surprise. So, again, just kind of those little small things that just show you're thinking about people and committed to their success and the success of other businesses in your community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. I love it. All right. What's the unexpected place that you've seen? Amazing hospitality that inspired your business approach.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, that's a tough one. I was trying to think of an unexpected place. A little story came to mind. This is not an unexpected place, but I was thinking about this yesterday when we took a trip to Disney several years ago.
Speaker 2:So, again, not really an unexpected place, but just another example of kind of hospitality and action when, uh, we went to animal kingdom and my daughter was probably like maybe like nine or so. You know, they have those like scavenger hunt, map kind of things and, um, she always loved those as a kid, so she wanted to like check off all the things you were supposed to do, and then you were supposed to turn in your map or whatever the end of the day and you got some kind of little prize it was probably like a sticker or something. Yeah, something happened and we had gotten a little bit delayed and we ended up not getting the map back in time and, uh, she was quite upset, yeah, and there were tears, and we were with some friends of ours who, um, live in Orlando and they're Disney pass holders and so they go to Disney all the time, and so she went up and spoke to um, a staff member, and um explained what had happened, and so you know, there was a little bit of back and forth and then they actually ended up letting her pick out, um, like a stuffed animal from one of the gift shops, right? So tears are gone, she's happy, everybody's happy. But that was just another good example of like making sure that your staff is empowered to do that.
Speaker 2:Obviously that's, that's part of disney's culture, right? They want everybody to leave happy. They don't want tears, right? So that's a part of their thing. It's like you know what, if it, if that kid is going to be happy and that family is going to be happy, take the stuffed animal and off you go. I think she still has that stuffed animal. She's 17.
Speaker 1:So you know what we need to do. We I need to introduce you to Rita Richa, who is has another podcast as well, called Bippity Boppity Business. I loved her podcast so much it was just absolutely delightful. I am I am a Disney nerd. My family, like I, grew up podcast so much. It was just absolutely delightful.
Speaker 1:I am, I am a Disney nerd. My family, like I, grew up watching the movies. My mom is a great illustrator and you know, if she'd had her way, maybe been an animator with them at some point, but, um, life never got her there. Um, but because of that, like this, her approach on the podcast is really like what can we learn from? Like the Disney business model and a lot of it has to do with the hospitality you know and how it's absolutely deeply ingrained in everything that they do and the approach and it all stemmed from Walt's initial vision of what that world, he wanted that world to be like and it's such a fun and it really makes you look at and think about your business differently in the ways that she asks you questions and framing things up in like a Disney mindset. So if you're a Disney nerds, definitely tune in to Rita's podcast and Holly, I'll have to introduce the two of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll be doing a great job of that of just making sure that people feel really well cared for.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, and it's brilliant because it's like so many people and it's funny people have been like it feels childish, rita, that you're doing like a whole podcast. It's like so many people and it's funny People have been like it feels childish, rita, that you're doing like a whole podcast. It's like the philosophy of Disney and business and I'm like but tell me another business that is as successful as Disney is doing what they do. Yeah, you know, I'm like how is that not a good business case to study? Oh, all right, last power round question and then we'll wrap for the day One hospitality myth that you wish you could bust for marketers right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's reminding people that we're all in the hospitality business. Some people do say, well, this doesn't apply to me. I'm not a hotel, I'm not a restaurant, I'm not a tourist attraction Right, the things that we sort of typically think of as hospitality. But if you have people that you're serving, if you have customers, if you have clients, if you have people that you want to hire you or buy from you, you're in the hospitality business. And so I think that we just have to get into that mindset. I'm going all of us, our business, our clients, whatever, like they are all in the hospitality business and we can all have a hospitality mindset.
Speaker 1:Yeah, amen to that. Well, we will wrap it there. Thank you so much, holly. This has been such a thoughtful conversation about how transforming client relationships through genuine care and attention can really take your business farther and, honestly, be a genuine competitive advantage. So excited to share this more with our community For our listeners. Remember, this Power Lounge is being recorded live and it'll be available next week on YouTube and our podcast, so be sure to check those out and subscribe. Like and subscribe, as my kids would say. If you're inspired by conversations like this and want to be a part of our community that is navigating the future of what it means to be working together both digitally and in person, again go check out our website at togetherindigitalcom. Thank you all for joining us today and we hope to see you all next week. And be sure to connect with Holly on LinkedIn. Holly Fisher, thank you for joining us again today.
Speaker 2:Thanks, this was really a lot of fun. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right, everyone. We hope to see you all next week. Until then, keep asking, keep giving and keep growing. We'll see you all next week, until then keep asking, keep giving and keep growing.
Speaker 2:We'll see you soon. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la la. Produced by Heartcast Media.
