Project Distinct Podcast

In this episode, Scott McKain addresses the difference between being “distinctive” and becoming “iconic.” And, he reveals the starting point for separating yourself from the competition — whether it’s for an organization…or, even an individual hoping for professional success or promotions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are massive changes in today’s world — everyone knows that. So, why aren’t some personal and professional practices keeping pace? In today’s episode, Scott McKain explains why we might not be keeping up with the times, and suggests the first step we should take to do something distinctive about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 In today’s episode, Scott talks about the importance of leaders and discusses five leadership styles that fail to create the kind of iconic cultures that distinctive leaders should be developing.  Based on a LinkedIn post by Suchitra Mishra, (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140716071001-16121309-five-management-or-leadership-styles-that-should-be-banned-from-the-work-place/) Scott reveals the five specific behaviors — and discusses why you need to get rid of these approaches to achieve success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Scott McKain was flying to a speech near Portland, Oregon today, he revisited an important lesson: no matter the size of your organization, it’s your people who deliver the customer experience. The important question becomes — especially for smaller organizations or entrepreneurs — how are you training and monitoring your team’s performance to ensure that they deliver as you desire? That’s the topic of today’s PROJECT DISTINCT! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Shaun Belding, writing on Entrepeneur.com, companies are losing $75 BILLION a year because of inferior customer service. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain will reveal the three aspects you need to fix — which is, in fact, three great places to start, as well — if you want to deliver the “Ultimate Customer Experience.®”   Here’s the link to Shaun Belding’s post: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/339557 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all desire higher levels of engagement with our customers and employees. Did you know there are three specific qualities that are required in order to make that happen? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain outlines for us these three qualities — and gives us the critical reasons why they are vital to our professional and organizational success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In any organization, EVERYONE is responsible for the customer experience.  However, the latest evidence clearly shows that it is of such great importance that the CEO — even the Board of Directors — must consider it as “job #1.” On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain provides the evidence and reasoning behind why delivering an “Ultimate Customer Experience ®” is the single most important thing any business does, regardless of its size or number of employees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With more ways than ever to connect with customers, we now have more ways to miscommunicate with them, as well! On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain takes a look at the most impactful — and memorable — form of distinctive business communication: narrative. Here’s why the stories you tell are more memorable than the statements you share — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a special episode of PROJECT DISTINCT, our guest host — author and marketing consultant, John Jantsch — will talk about entrepreneurial success. John’s forthcoming book, “The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur” is a guide for creating a deeper relationship with the entrepreneurial journey. Today’s episode is a deep and insightful look at an important topic — one that is a “must listen!” For more information on John’s forthcoming book: https://ducttapemarketing.com/the-self-reliant-entrepreneur/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all say we want happy customers — but, are we willing to make the effort to ensure we create happy employees who can deliver the type of customer experience that will help us achieve that goal? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain will review specific points that will help us create a culture of happy employees. Here’s the link to the post Scott discusses today: https://supportyourcustomer.com/happy-employees-make-happy-customers-how-to-achieve-this Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s so much talk about Artificial Intelligence and how it’s going to revolutionize everything from driving our cars to the experiences we have as customers. Yet, Scott McKain asks in today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, will it REALLY have a disruptive impact? Or, do we need to tap the brakes just a bit on what we think is the future of CX and AI? You’ll find out on this episode! Here are the posts that Scott references during today’s show: "How AI will -- and won't -- dominate customer service in 2019":  https://betanews.com/2019/01/07/how-ai-will-and-wont-dominate-customer-service-in-2019/ "How AI Will Make Customer Service Reps Better At Their Jobs”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/12/14/how-ai-will-make-customer-service-reps-better-at-their-jobs/#46ffbbf53be8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one wants their business to be disrupted — yet, we see it happening around us almost every day. How do you make certain that YOU are staying connected to customers in a way that makes disruption unlikely? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain analyzes why disruption happens — and why distinction is the vaccine that prevents it from occurring to you. Here is the link to the article in MarTechSeries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’d all like our customers to be joyful about doing business with us! But, what’s the difference between customer “joy” and customer “happiness”? And, how do we help our customers to be so joyful about our customer experience that they want to spend more, more often with us — and recommend us to their colleagues and friends? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT — a day after Apple introduced the new iPhones — Scott McKain relates his unique experience with Josh at the Apple Store as an example of creating customer joy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we read constant complaints about the preferential treatment and privilege that some receive — and how opposed to it that the general public seems to be — it begs an important question: Should some customers get preferential treatment over others? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, you’ll learn where Scott McKain stands on the issue, and why you should be teaching your team to treat customers wonderfully…but differently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott McKain’s blog post this week about challenges — and how we prepare and respond to them, both personally and professionally — received such terrific feedback that he decided to make it into today’s PROJECT DISTINCT podcast. Get ready for a thought provoking and inspiring few minutes that may help you with the challenges that CAN happen to us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You want to be certain your team or organization delivers on its promises — and that’s a good thing.  But, what if — in your effort to succeed — you end up being too controlling of your team and micromanaging.  Scott McKain knows the problem — he admits he has been guilty of it! On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott looks at what the dangers are of micromanagement — and how to break yourself of this habit for the benefit of you and your colleagues.   Here’s the link to the blog post that Scott references in today’s program: https://www.feedough.com/micromanagement/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine kickoff at one of this weekend’s NFL games with no yardage markers on the field or goal lines over which to score. How excited would you be to cheer your team if you didn’t know how they could win the game? So, why do we fail to onboard customers into our loyalty programs — then wonder why they aren’t more engaged when we haven’t taught them how to win at our game? Based on new and insightful research from Brierley + Partners, today’s PROJECT DISTINCT reveals why you need to consider developing a video game-like tutorial for your loyalty program. Here is the link to the post cited in the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are all pretty decent at saying “thank you” when someone buys our products or services. Yet, to stand out from the competition, we must take a unique approach.  On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain provides two specific times we can say thanks to customers that most organizations and professionals overlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Too often it seems with think of winning as some kind of Super Bowl-esque moment where we get to spike the ball, bask in the adoration of cheering customers and colleagues, and raise a trophy towards the heavens. However, we know in business that real life isn’t like that at all. That’s why significant leaders need to consider the importance of small wins to build the team’s momentum and grow the confidence of your team members. On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain discusses the importance of the small win — and provides an example of how we can model and deliver that for ourselves and our organizations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It’s not personal, it’s business.” But, is that REALLY anyway to do business? On today’s PROJECT DISTINCT, Scott McKain argues that ALL business is personal…and he gives us a great story of how one business — the Taj Palace in New Delhi — made his visit memorable by making it personal! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices