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Steve:
I think we can all agree to the advantages of having a positive attitude, especially when it comes to interacting with customers.

Christine:
We are programed genetically to go towards that no, negative mindset. We're programed for that, so it takes practice to go to the positive to be that yes person.

Steve:
Helping your employees adopt a yes mindset on this episode of The CX Leader Podcast.

Announcer:
The CX Leader Podcast with Steve Walker is produced by Walker, an experience management firm that helps our clients accelerate their XM success. You can find out more at walkerinfo.com.

Steve:
Hello, everyone, I'm Steve Walker hosted the The CX Leader Podcast and thank you for listening. You know, I like to say it's never been a better time to be a CX leader and this podcast explores topics and themes to help leaders like you leverage all the benefits of your customer experience and help your customers and prospects want to do more business with you. Customer experience includes so many aspects of how we interact with our customers. One common aspect is the hospitality we afford to them. Some companies will have more opportunities to demonstrate hospitality than others, like hotels, restaurants, theaters, et cetera. So how can other companies take cues from these markets by putting a yes mentality in their customer interactions? I'm really excited about my guest on the episode this week. I can't believe it's taken us this long to get her on. Christine Trippi is an award winning hospitality leader and has worked with companies such as Marriott and Hilton and is the author of "Yes Is the Answer: How Positivity, Passion and Pineapples Will Transform Your Leadership and Your Life." Christine, thanks for being a guest on The CX Leader Podcast.

Christine:
Steve, it is my honor. I can't believe I haven't been on your podcast either. I'm so excited to be here and energize your listeners on the ride today.

Steve:
Well, I'm excited, too, but we were talking before. You know, I'm a I consider myself to be an optimist. It helps me cope. But I can just tell you you're going to bring it today and that if our listeners do tune in, they are going to be pumped up and I'm going to be pumped up after we record this thing. For those of my listeners who don't know who you are, but they should, why don't you just give us a little background on your career and what got you to this place. And and then we'll we'll get into your book and sort of your whole philosophy.

Christine:
Absolutely. Well, I'll make a quick for all of you, but I've been in hospitality in the hotel business for thirty four years now, and I've been a general manager of the year, hotel of the Year, award winning general manager and I absolutely love what I do. I'm so lucky that I get to do this every day and throughout my career, I discovered and stumbled upon my process, my four step process, to always be able to say yes to our customers and to each other. And because we have two guests in our in our world, our customer who pays us and the customer we pay. And so I have this four step process and throughout training throughout across the country, I knew I had to write a book, so I wrote the book, published it in 2019 and then in 2020, I went off on my own to be able to serve any company, any provider, customer service provider out there. And that's kind of where I'm at right now.

Steve:
Well, I got to ask you because I know everybody's what's up with the pineapples.

Christine:
I love it. Well, if you're in hospitality, you know that the pineapple, first and foremost for centuries, has been the symbol of hospitality. And that's kind of a fun story as it is. But on top of that, everything I do is to help leaders and organizations to be confident, be empowered and to lead from the heart. And when you think about that pineapple, I want to help people stand tall like a pineapple and be confident when you're a pineapple, you always have a crown on and I want you to be empowered. And a pineapple is sweet on the inside, and I really want to inspire people to lead from the heart. So that's where I decided I'm going to name the company The Wise Pineapple, because we've got a lot of smart hospitality people out there.

Steve:
That's awesome. I love that analogy. And it was just really the culmination of your career that led you to write the book?

Christine:
One hundred percent. I really have always said if I could give one gift to all service providers across the world, it would be this gift to be able to stand tall, be empowered and deliver those yes answers. And if you're leading from the heart, you want to deliver those yes answers for people. And I just I just had this burning need to give this gift to whoever would listen. And so I'm just like, I'm going to write the book. And I did.

Steve:
Well, congratulations on all your success. So let's talk about the attitude and customer experience pros, we're a little bit of a picky bunch. Because of the business we're in, we we tend to be pretty picky about our own customer experiences. But when you're staying on a hotel, particularly like if it's a vacation or you know you're doing something special with your family attending an event, you know you, you are pretty particular about that experience. And obviously, you know, the hospitality industry has to do this really, really well. It's just part of what they do. But how can you train people to have that Yes, mindset?

Christine:
Well, the couple of things I want to say on that is for first of all, it's teaching them the four steps. So anybody can do it. It's a simple process. It's not easy, but it's very simple. And the reason why I say it's not easy is because we're programed scientifically, genetically, biology to to go towards that no, negative mindset. We're programed for that. So it takes practice to go to the positive to be that yes, person. But once you know the four steps, you can turn any no, and I'll challenge you on this, into a yes. I can give you an example about that. I know a lot of people are like, No, I don't know about that, but yes, you really can't, because there's always something you can do for people. And that's where that's where that, yes, comes from.

Steve:
So can you lay out the four steps for us?

Christine:
Absolutely. So first and foremost, the four steps are to make friends first, to tell them what you can do, offer options, and be creative. So let me give you. Can I give you a simple example?

Steve:
Sure. Please.

Christine:
Ok. So as I'm going into a region or to a hotel or to a school district, even if I'm going to go and provide my workshop, my training, I always want to test them out a little bit. See how they respond. See if this training is needed. It's always needed. And so I'll call an area. And let's just say, for example, this happened recently. I called in Phoenix, a hotel in Phoenix, and I said, Hey, I'm coming into Phoenix for the first time. By any chance, do you have a shuttle from the airport? What do you think is the answer every single time I've ever asked that?

Steve:
No.

Christine:
Yeah, you were correct. It's one form of No, I'm sorry. Unfortunately, we don't.

Steve:
Yeah.

Christine:
And sometimes it's all three. One time I even had someone said, "No, ma'am, not they're not back." And I was "wow. there's some hot no you got there." [laughing] So, so every single time now, you know, let me let me back up for one second. You know who? Horst Shultz's

Steve:
Horst Schultz?

Christine:
He is the first co-founder of the Ritz Carlton.

Steve:
Ok, yeah.

Christine:
Horst said that to be extraordinary, all you need to do is to be 10 percent better than ordinary. But all the time it's about consistency.

Steve:
Right.

Christine:
So if you want to take your service up 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 percent, this is the way to do it. Now, again, going back to that example, every single provider or a customer service representative I've talked to when I asked that question, unless they do have a shuttle from the airport, has said No, I'm sorry. Unfortunately, we don't and left it there. And sometimes I'll even just leave the conversation empty, silent and see if they'll they'll add something. And then sometimes I get a well, but you can take a taxi or you can take and then they'll add a little extra. So here's the four steps in action. When I said to you, Hey, I'm coming to Phoenix for the first time. Do you happen to have an airport shuttle? Can I put you on the spot? Can I ask you? Yeah, sure. Ok. So how could I take a breath? And instead of responding, make friends first.

Steve:
What's bringing you to Phoenix?

Christine:
Ding, ding, ding, ding! However, we're so caught up in the anxiety of the confrontation. We just want you to know I'm sorry, unfortunately, but if we can pause, take that breath and make friends first and start to build a relationship. Now everything changes. Your brain gets out of that fight or flight, and now you're thinking creatively of what you do have what you can do, which is step two. Make sense?

Steve:
Yeah.

Christine:
Thank you so much for choosing our hotel for your first trip to Phoenix, you're going to love it here. Then maybe find out where they're coming. Let's just say they're coming to climb Camelback Mountain. Now I'm putting in my comments, my my secret comments in their reservation, guest is coming for the first time to climb Camelback Mountain. Now, when they arrive, I can maybe have a card waiting in their room. I can maybe talk to them about it when they check in. You're taking your service level up four hundred percent and all you did was make friends first. Yeah. And every single person, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of service providers. I've asked that question to miss that opportunity. And that's just one simple, simple, simple example. So, so then the third step is offer options. So again, we have a negotiated rate with Flash limo. They'll get you to and from Phoenix Airport for only forty nine dollars. I can make you that reservation or we have a light rail in our airport is also rideshare app friendly. Which works best for you? So now, as a service provider, let's switch from being the customer to being the service provider. How often are we every day all day getting beat up? Because we have to say, No, I'm sorry. Unfortunately, I don't have any upgrades available. No, I'm sorry. Unfortunately, we don't have any late checkout available and you're getting beat up. When you have to respond to everything you do all day, you hate your job, you hate your job. But when you're ready and when you get to stand tall and always give yes answers, you love your day. You can own your day. Does that make sense?

Steve:
Oh, it makes perfect sense, you know, and I always feel sorry for the people, particularly like the people at the airport counter when it's not their fault. And actually we do that in business a lot. We we put the front line customer facing people in the worst possible situations. And you're right, you know, the attitude is everything, isn't it?

Christine:
It's everything. Or again, if you're leading from the heart and you're you're in it to change the world one, yes, at a time, you really want to give those yes answers. So the real strategy behind yes is the answer is that four step, which is be creative if you know your hard "no's," now you can plan for them. What is yes, what is making friends first look like here? What what are our can do's? What our options do we have? And let's get creative. Does that make sense? I give you one. I'm going to give all the listeners in case we have some hotel people out there. The one of the hardest ones is I'm titanium. Can I get an upgrade? And you know, it's really hard. Most associates ever, as a matter of fact, every associate I've asked while doing consulting and when I asked them what is an upgrade of your hotel, they'll tell me a suite. But my friends, an upgrade can be anything. An upgrade is added value. So if you articulate what added value you have for your guest or your customer, then you, you, you can upgrade them. So at my one of my hotels where what we did was we created an upgraded amenity kit. It has upgraded bath amenities, a Kind bar, a bottle of water, a postcard from Chicago with a stamp on it. So any time my associates just didn't have any room upgrade, they can say Thank you so much for being a titanium elite member with us. We appreciate you so much. Today, what I have available is this amazing upgrade amenity Kit, you are going to love it. There is. I was going to say never, but let's change that to positive. There's always an upgrade you can give. We should always be able to say, absolutely, I appreciate, you

Steve:
Know, this. Will this work with your family members too?

Christine:
I'm glad you asked, and I'm going to be honest with all the listeners. I am not as good at home. I am really good at this at work. But I recognize this and I talk about this actually in the book. I even have some family examples, and it's so much more emotional at home. And oftentimes, I'll give you an example. This is my daughter, Samantha, when she was a teenager and she she said, "Can I get the car on Saturday?" And immediately I went into fight or flight reaction. Why? Where are you going? Who are you going with? How are you? And immediately then that teenager doesn't feel respected and trusted.

Steve:
Oh yeah.

Christine:
And we started off in this, you know, this toxic conversation instead. Thank you so much for asking me for Samantha. I need the car till six and then you can have it, but I'd like you to be home by noon. Does that work for you? Mutual respect I made friends first and we started off diffuse and working together. Does that make sense?

Steve:
Yeah, I actually I was thinking about my kids. They're grown, but you know, every once in a while, I still got to get involved a little bit. But. I think it would work great with with kids, it's just such a nice little framework that you have there.

Steve:
We're all CX pros, right? So, you know, it's important we hear from you about what topics you think would be most helpful. Let us know how we're doing by going to cxleaderpodcast.com/feedback and complete a short survey. You'll even have a chance to score some free CX Leader podcast swag. That's cxleaderpodcast.com/feedback.

Steve:
Hey, my guest on the podcast this week is delightful, it's Christine Trippi. She's an award winning author and hospitality leader, and she's written this great book called "Yes is the Answer." And she just has a great mindset that I think can be appropriate for all of us as CX leaders. I imagine it would, you know, sometimes our frustrations aren't just with the customer, but it's the internal folks that we have to deal with to deliver the value, you know? Does this work with your coworkers too?

Christine:
One hundred percent. And let me just even say this, it's about relationships.

Steve:
Yeah

Christine:
That every everything you do, from sales to service to to running, everything we do is about relationships and this is building relationships. So even if you've got department to department, you know, hey, I need to give a guest late checkout and housekeeping saying no way. How do you work together and say, I really appreciate where you're situation? Let's see how we can work together, you know, that kind of a thing. It gets everybody in the team working together. And let's just say you have an associate, and if you're in a service world, you know how difficult this might be, especially in hotels that says, You know what? I just don't want to work weekends anymore. Can I just get weekends off? You know, in the hotel, we're all you know, that's that's how I get out of my office. Are you kidding me? Get out of there. And that's how we sometimes respond. And often, just like family versus friends, we take for granted our associates and we might let our guard down our hospitality guard down. However, they're the ones delivering the hospitality to our guests, so they are number one. If you're a leader, your associates are number one first. Yeah. And so again, in that situation, you know, thank you so much for coming and seeing me, Samantha. So let's sit down. Let's talk about this. You're such a valued member of our team and we want you here. And then then you can go into what we can do. And I actually have that example in the book, too, so I debrief that. But but absolutely,

Steve:
I'm just thinking, you can't say yes all the time. I mean, there's probably situations where people will ask for stuff that's unethical or maybe even illegal, or, you know, certainly things that would be against company policies. Or, you know, how do you handle those really, really tricky situations?

Christine:
Well, I love that you asked that. Anything that's unethical. I want you to be very direct. And even Marriott has after the last 18 months we've had, it's been very challenging, has even put out some training and whatnot. I'm sure other brands have to, but I just more tapped into Marriott right now, and I know they've put out training on how to respond and whatnot. And if it's unethical and inappropriate, I want you to be very direct, OK? At this point, you know that there are still ways to use those four steps, you know, depending on the severity of my mind. From what you said, my mind is going to different places, right? Yeah, no. I mean, so I'll give you an example of a really hard no when I worked for Keylime Cove Water Resort. We had parents that wanted their small children to go down the toilet bowl slide. And you know, that was very disappointing for them if they couldn't and they wanted them to go through and but they weren't reaching the height requirement. All right. So that was a challenging one. So we taught our lifeguards, you know, make friends first. Oh, I know this is a really fun one. I'm glad you're having fun and Keylime Cove once you reach this height. But right now you can do this slide this light so what they can do. Then you know, sometimes you have parents that were very adamant. No, my son's fine. He's tough, he can go down. So we did have that ultimate yes, absolutely. If you want to sign a waiver, you can go to our aquatic office, sign a waiver that that your son can go down. Now on the waiver, we had a little boy crying in a cast, but we did. We were able to have somebody sign away that waiver and let them go down. So we we got creative. What are those yeses? What a house. How can I deliver that Yes? So there's something that's a really hard no, but not unethical, if you will. But again, there's always something that you can do. Even if even if we decided not to go with the waiver route, it's here are the slides you can ride. And on top of that, you have empowered associates. Maybe they're going to send them a free trip or a discount. On a trip when they hit, they hit forty two inches, you know, how do you take it to that next level? You know, here's something to look forward to.

Steve:
I love it. That's great. You know, these aren't these aren't just for our CX pros, but these are just really good kind of life skills that you teach here so congratulations. Christine, we've reached that point of the podcast where I ask every guest to give our listeners their best tip that we call it take home value. The idea is that you're going to give them something that they can take right back to the office later today or tomorrow or next week, and immediately put into place to improve their program. So Christine Trippi, please give us your take home value.

Christine:
Awesome. Well, I always love to do a little extra. Well, I got to take home values for you.

Steve:
Yeah, I'm not surprised.

Christine:
So I guess I could sit here all day if you take home values, but I know I'll limit it to two. All right. So one that directly relates to what we talked about today in building teams. And we know that right now, building associate teams is the most challenging it's been in my thirty four year career, finding talent. So to create amazing cultures, the number one thing you can do every day all day long is to have your huddles and by huddle. You might call it stand up. You might call it morning meeting, afternoon meeting, whatever you call it, this is the most important thing you do. Nothing will drive more results in your business than having those huddles. And let me just give you a quick little example of why that is because the four top reasons people leave a job are number one. Do you think you know it? Number one is

Steve:
The front line manager probably right or not being empowered?

Christine:
You all of that is absolutely correct. And what that front line manager is not doing is recognizing you. So the number one reason people leave a job is because they don't feel valued and recognized. Then the next three, where I don't get information to do my job well, I don't get trained to learn and grow and I don't have goals. And that might sound kind of funny like that, but happiness happens on the road to fulfillment. So as you're achieving little things that creates that happiness and satisfaction in what you do every day, and that's what you do in huddle. If you shape your huddle in these four areas recognition, information, training and goals 15 minutes a day, I promise you, I am not smarter than any person in any room. I'm your average girl from the mean streets of Hanover Park, Illinois, and I have been an award winning leader my entire career because of the culture I bring and its author huddle. So that's the tip for you. I'm going to give you one more super quick. I have a little acronym and it's called love. We need to love our customers. And here is my acronym for loving your customers. L is look for those golden nuggets. What can you find out about your customers to be able to delight them and surprise them and personalize? Look for golden nuggets and then do something with it. Then O, is the oh by the way. Oh, by the way, I have to take homes today. What's that? One little extra thing you can add to every interaction and then V, VIP. If you've ever traveled in a hotel and maybe ever heard, Oh sorry, you're just a basic, nobody wants to feel like they're just basic. Everybody is a VIP. Every status matters. All right. And E end with a wish or a thank you. Have a great day. Enjoy your meal. Make it an awesome week and with a wish or a thank you.

Steve:
Christine Trippi is an award winning hospitality leader and author of the book Yes is the Answer, and she's a delightful guest on the podcast, and she's just giving us a lot of really good common sense that our all of our listeners I know will enjoy. Christine, thanks for being on the show.

Christine:
Oh, Steve, thank you so much. I just enjoyed being here so much. Thank you.

Steve:
Now, if people want to get the book, can you tell us how we can find that?

Christine:
Absolutely. It is on Amazon and many other places, but Amazon is the best place to go. It's just the easiest place to go. And as well, my website is thewisepineapple.com. You can get a link right off there as well if you get on my list for juicy tidbits every Wednesday. It's called Wise Wednesday, then you are going to immediately get a free source with about 30 ways to recognize and appreciate your teams, because that's a number one reason people leave a job, so you really want to get that. And that's at the wise pineapple dot com. And also, if you would like a signed copy just message me, I'm on all the platforms, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and I would love to sign your copy.

Steve:
Excellent. I'm going to go on your website right after we're done here. It's thewisepineapple.com and juicy – what did you call it? Juicy tidbits on Wednesday's

Christine:
It's Wise Wednesday.

Steve:
Wise Wednesday's? Yeah, The Wise Pineapple? That's great. Hey, thanks again, Christine. I really enjoyed having you on the podcast, and I know our listeners are going to get a lot of value out of your the the information you shared.

Christine:
So thank you. I enjoyed this so much, and I always appreciate any opportunity to share my love, for passion, for customer experience.

Steve:
And if you want to talk about anything else you heard on the podcast or about how Walker can help your business's customer experience, feel free to email me at podcast at walkerinfo.com. Be sure to check out our website cxleaderpodcast.com to subscribe to the show and find all of our previous episodes. We list them by series and topics, and we have our contact information. You can even drop us a note. Tell us how we're doing. The CX Leader podcast is a production of Walker. We're an experienced management firm that helps companies accelerate their experience management success. You can read more about us at walkerinfo.com. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time and remember, it is a great time to be a CX leader. So keep doing your work. Thank you, and we'll see you again next time.

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