Sandra Coker: 00:00:00

Everything is really built on the employees.

We do a lot of leadership, but we focus so much on what the employee experience is because in my opinion, that's who really drives the success of your business, because they're dealing with your customers and your vendors, as you said earlier.

But I am the world's biggest super fan.

Intro/Outro: 00:00:21

You're like a super fan.

Welcome to the Business Superfans podcast.

We will discuss how establishing business superfans from customers, employees and business partners can can elevate your success exponentially.

Learn why these advocates are a key factor to achieving excellence in the world of commerce.

We discuss the invaluable insights of business owners who have successfully implemented the strategies in the book to build their own team of devoted superfans.

Gain insightful knowledge from the experts who create applications that help you create passionate superfans.

This is the Business Superfans Podcast with your host, Freddie D. Freddie, Freddie.

Freddy D: 00:01:13

Hey, super fans.

Freddy D: 00:01:14

Freddy D. Here.

Welcome to episode 223 of the Business Super Fans Advantage podcast.

Your team interacts with your customers every day, but if you're holding on to every decision or overlooking their ideas, you could be weakening the very relationships your business depends upon.

In this episode, we're joined by Sandra Kocher, who helps organizations develop leaders who support their people and give them the skills and confidence to succeed.

Her perspective is particular.

Better customer experiences begin with how you treat the people delivering them.

We explore why delegation sends a message of trust, how frontline employees can spot improvements leaders miss, and why recognition matters beyond a paycheck.

Superfans.

You'll hear how to shift from simply managing people to helping them succeed and build a team that gives customers, colleagues and partners reason to recommend your business.

Freddy D: 00:02:16

Welcome, Sandra, to the Business Superfans Advantage, all the way from Massachusetts.

Great having you on the show.

Great conversation we had before we started recording.

Let's continue that conversation.

Sandra Coker: 00:02:27

That sounds great.

Thanks for having me, Freddie.

I appreciate it.

I'm looking forward to it.

Freddy D: 00:02:31

Yeah.

So as we were talking, I spent, as I mentioned, a lot of time back in Massachusetts in the tech space when it first kind of got started.

And so I have a nice appreciation of Boston and some of these surrounding areas, Cambridge and such, but also there's no beating the seafood there.

And the seafood in Boston is just killer.

Sandra Coker: 00:02:52

The oysters are so good.

Intro/Outro: 00:02:55

Yes.

Sandra Coker: 00:02:55

Yeah, I agree with you completely.

Freddy D: 00:02:57

Yeah, I missed that.

So, yeah, need to go back there again.

Sandra Coker: 00:03:00

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:03:02

So you've got an interesting background that we talked a little bit about and share with.

How did you come about and started Your company here called Human Power Solutions, I mean, there's a backstory of how that came about.

So what is that backstory, Sandra?

Sandra Coker: 00:03:17

I think the backstory I started early in my career in hospitality and worked in restaurant management and just kind of worked my way through that arena.

And what I found was I really got the best results out of people when I treated them well.

And we had this really great the shifts would go well because we were all just working together.

And as a manager, I wasn't working against the employees.

I was working with them and for them really.

And I kind of got out of that.

I had my first child and restaurant life is not, in my opinion, not for someone that's trying to raise kids, because it's a really harsh lifestyle.

I stayed home for a little bit and ended up buying a fitness Center.

Back in: 2008

And again, just working with employees and making sure that the employees were well developed, professionally developed.

Got the different workshops and different skill sets that they needed in order for us to run that business and sold that after seven years.

Went to work for a leadership, more of a training company.

I make that distinction, Freddie, because there are training companies out there that train, that check a box and do a very structured thing.

We're not that, we just, we do professional development.

So I went to go work for a training company and I learned a lot in that space.

Got my degree, master's in organizational leadership, and five days before Christmas I got fired after getting the company to a million dollars from selling.

So I started my own thing in: 2019

So things custom built, everything is really built on the employees.

We do a lot of leadership, but we focus so much on what the employee experience is because in my opinion, that's who really drives the success of your business because they're dealing with your customers and your vendors.

As you said earlier, that's the front line.

Freddy D: 00:05:24

I had a guest on my show that called them and said most businesses should look at their team as directors of first impressions.

And it's burned into my brain because it just makes so much sense because that's the person that's interacting with a prospective customer.

That's a person with an existing customer, a vendor, a supplier, a complimentary business or a contractor, et cetera.

That's the relationship right there.

Because the person that owns the company, who started a company or the manager in a company, they're only brought in when there's an issue.

And the other thing that I want to really emphasize, Sandra, that you said for our listeners is your approach as a manager is you worked for your team, not your team works for you.

And that's something I learned in Dale Carnegie management was.

That was exactly it.

I'm a facilitator.

My job as a manager or a leader in an organization is to help you be successful and be the communication bridge between executive management.

If I'm in a middle management role or if I'm in an executive, I'm still got the same job, is making sure that I got the teams back.

Sandra Coker: 00:06:35

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I couldn't agree more with that.

I actually was facilitating this morning at a financial institution with the front line, the tellers of that institution.

And I pointed upstairs and I said, they're not the reputation of the company.

You are.

And you are stewards.

You're the professionals.

You are stewarding your clients money.

And it was just kind of one of those light bulb moments for I saw the light bulb kind of go off and I said, you are the most important people in this institution because you're giving the advice, you're making the referrals, you're getting this customer to where they need to be and with something that is so important.

And I just wish, as I said in our conversation earlier, I wish that managers, leaders, business owners would really look at that and not look at their employees as being an expense or a bother or when they're stressed out.

What's this person saying again?

It's because the person cares and it's because the person wants to do a good job.

And that's for your company.

Freddy D: 00:07:37

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:07:38

I had one guest on a show is that Johnny or Sally don't wake up and says, I'm going to go to the office and do a horrible job.

Sandra Coker: 00:07:44

The mindset, yeah, everybody wants to have a good day.

Everyone wants to do a good job and feel like they've served.

Freddy D: 00:07:51

And in my book, Creating Business super fans, one of my quotes is people will crawl through broken glass for appreciation and recognition.

And that's really what we're talking about, is empowering people, appreciating them and recognizing them for helping grow the company, for solving a customer's challenge, everything else, because that gives them energy.

And that energy is contagious throughout the whole company.

Sandra Coker: 00:08:18

Yeah.

And I think I would agree with that.

And I think that managers and supervisors who aren't delegating, who aren't giving things to people are basically sending a message to others that hey, I don't trust you, I don't trust you to do this work.

And that lowers people confidence.

It really kind of defeats them in their day to day job.

So I really encourage people to delegate.

If they make mistakes, don't worry about it.

I mean fix it and obviously make sure they have the skills that doesn't happen again.

But people learn by trying and by making mistakes and they thrive when they're trusted.

Freddy D: 00:08:55

Absolutely.

Couldn't agree with that more.

And I'm going to expand upon that Sandra, because yes, we all make face plants in some way, shape or form.

Doing the job, whatever it is, you're still learning it or you just, your mind's not where it's supposed to be because you got some things going on at home.

I mean it's called life.

But good management will pull you aside and say hey Sandra or hey Frederick, let's talk, we got to talk about something.

And here's what took place and here's what we suggest we do forward.

And you don't chastise them.

Bad management, and I'm sure you've seen this, will chastise somebody in front of the entire team.

Sandra Coker: 00:09:38

Yep.

Freddy D: 00:09:39

And that negativity spreads like a wildfire because everybody's now going to be watching their P's and Q's and they're going to go, well geez, if that happened to Mike, well that can happen to me and I'm going to check up on my resume and everything else because it could be me.

Sandra Coker: 00:09:57

Yeah.

And you, we hear the term all the time psychologically.

Safety, psychological safety in the workplace.

And that's really, it's just really key to watch what your tone is, how you're interacting with people, your body language, all those things.

As a leader, as a manager, that's really important.

And our job as leaders is to, like you said earlier, help people be successful.

But it's also to help our people streamline their jobs and make sure that there's not a lot of bottlenecks or red tape or all the things that kind of go into these big corporations.

And I think our Gen Z generation is really looking at that and they don't love the red tape.

They want decisions to be made.

They want clarity, transparency.

And I think the Gen X generation who, that's my generation and everything was behind closed doors and no one really understood the decisions.

So there's a disparity about the expectations in a workplace and we all come in with expectations and one is not right or wrong.

But you've got to come together and have those conversations about what the expectations are.

Freddy D: 00:11:04

Absolutely.

And a big thing is, as you mentioned, the working with the team to help streamline stuff.

A lot of times, if you would just let them suggest what should be streamlined, they'll probably come up with a much better idea than you ever will because they're doing the job every day.

Sandra Coker: 00:11:27

Yeah.

When we do a lot of work in that continuous improvement, that process improvement, and it's not building a clock and it's not looking at a white.

Here's what you do.

It's hands on, where the facilitator is just in there working with the employees to say, how are we going to make this easier?

And like you said, they know more than anyone else.

And there's a lot of times where executives will make a decision, they'll sit in a room and they will hear from the next line down, which is so still far removed from the actual.

And then, oh, this is how it's going to be.

And it's like I encourage our CEOs and our business owners and our executives, it is to take a walk, have a huddle, do something where you are talking to the people actually doing the job and not necessarily listening to that second line because it's not always accurate.

Freddy D: 00:12:15

Correct.

And the other thing that I want to emphasize on that, Sandra, is the people that are actually doing the work and they're coming up with their ideas and suggestions for improvement and you acknowledge that and then you actually implement that and you give that person recognition for this process.

That's how you start creating a fan within that company of the company that you work for.

Because you're going to go, wow, I'm the person that came up with that.

And you're going to be proud and you're going to tell all your friends and family that, hey, look, this is what happened at work.

And that's already starting to create a positive pr.

Because we can all go to Glass Door all day long and see all the negative comments made about jobs and there's not enough positive comments because nobody looks at, as you mentioned earlier, your people are your profit versus your people should be thankful that they're getting a job.

Sandra Coker: 00:13:12

Right?

Yes.

And I think that's a really good distinction, is that you've got to be grateful for the people who walk through your door.

Every day they walk through your door, they're helping to build your vision and your mission, your culture, all of that.

And that is so valuable.

There's a video, it's an older one, it's called the Crisis in leadership on YouTube and it talks about how that CEO of a 450 person company measured the success of his company on the divorce rate.

Freddy D: 00:13:44

Wow.

Sandra Coker: 00:13:44

Yeah, it's a powerful video because basically what he's saying is if you treat your people with respect and you treat them well and you get their ideas and all of that, they're going to go home and exactly like you said, be raving fans of your business.

They will be their superfans.

On the flip side, if they are treated poorly, if it's disorganized, if there's a lot of redundancies and all the toxicity that goes on in today's workplace, well, then maybe someone is going home and they're saying, I'm going to go to the basement or I'm going to.

Freddy D: 00:14:20

Go out or take it out under partner, whatever.

Sandra Coker: 00:14:23

And maybe that child doesn't get a bedtime story.

Maybe they're eating dinner in front of the TV instead of as a family talking.

There's so many ripple effects that go on in organizations that affect what's going on in people's personal lives.

Freddy D: 00:14:39

100% Agree.

I've seen it happen.

We both seen it happen.

Sandra Coker: 00:14:43

Yes.

Freddy D: 00:14:44

And I think the other thing that people need to look at is, especially if you've got teams and the teams are not just employees, the teams are everybody, the whole business ecosystem.

So that includes your vendors and suppliers, that includes contractors, if you're working with them, that includes VAs.

If you're working with a distribution channel that's part of the business ecosystem, complimentary businesses is a very important partner.

And then of course, you've got the ancillary businesses.

I think where a lot of people fall short is they don't get everybody into the racing rowing boat together.

The racing rowing boat.

I'm sure you've seen it in Mass and I've seen it in Chicago.

They got one oar and you got the coxswan which is leading the thing and everybody's rowing and if they're not in synchronization, they're not even going in a circle.

They're just waddling right in place.

But once you get that whole team in sync, it's magical to watch that boat just sail through that water and everybody is just like a machine.

And yet they're all individuals and they're not interconnected.

There's no rope between all the oars and any of that stuff.

But they're operating Like a machine.

And the companies that bring everybody into this is our mission.

This is who we want to be.

Now that supplier goes, okay, I understand where Sandra's going.

How can we help them make that?

Because that's going to help our business.

The contractor goes, oh, wow, okay.

That's where they want to go.

That helps me position myself better.

And of course, then you recognize the contractor on the same level as a teammate member, not be grateful that we're giving you work.

Sandra Coker: 00:16:23

Right.

Freddy D: 00:16:24

Then again, when they choose, okay, these two companies are bidding on me.

This guy sent me a birthday card.

I'm going to do my project with them.

Sandra Coker: 00:16:34

Yeah, I think that's.

We practice that we have 50, 10, 99 facilitators who are experts in that field.

Every single one of them has their own businesses.

But we make sure they get a birthday browning.

They get quarterly.

They get quarterly cards.

We have a community where they're all engaged in, a community where they can share resources with each other.

And I do think that that's super important.

They're a huge part of our business, and we appreciate everything that they do for us and for the company.

And I wish other people would think about those kinds of things as well.

Freddy D: 00:17:07

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:17:08

Because those little things.

My other.

One of my other quotes is the little things are really the big things.

And sending.

Recognizing somebody on a life event.

So be a birthday, be a marriage, be a divor, be an addition to the family, a loss in the family, whatever, it is an accomplishment.

Their kid got an award or et cetera, that separates you from everybody else.

They're going to be telling all their friends.

And now you've created a sales team that want to be happily doing it on your behalf.

And that's why I call them business superfans versus a sports team superfan.

Because if you look at a sports team superfan, they're going to defend their team.

They're going to be getting arguments for their team.

They're going to be behind their team.

Rain, shine, snow, whatever.

And if you can create that same aspect to your business ecosystem, where your team is behind your success, you can only go one way.

Yeah, skyrocket.

Sandra Coker: 00:18:10

Yeah, exactly.

I love that.

Absolutely.

And I think.

I think people really need to understand that a little bit.

It's not only the people within the.

Within the four walls or the digital four walls, however you want to do that, but it's everyone else that provides those different.

Those different services.

I completely agree with you.

And I think we get so focused on what's happening every single day.

You're tackling problems.

You come into a slew of emails or employees come in and having problems.

I think to your point, you've got to be very intentional about this kind of recognition because it can get lost pretty quickly in the day to day.

Freddy D: 00:18:52

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:18:53

I mean, one of the things as an example I share is, okay, you've got a team and there are hourly people.

Okay.

And I've seen this happen.

This is why I kind of paraphrase the story.

I just tweak it a little bit.

But.

And I'll just say, aunt Lucille's in the hospital, not doing too well.

And the employee wants to go to the hospital to see Aunt Lucille.

Well, there's companies that will say, we'll dock your pay.

You can't go, blah, blah, it's against company policy.

You only got so many days off, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Freddy D: 00:19:25

Okay.

Freddy D: 00:19:27

That is like looking this far because if you turned around and said, sally, go see Aunt Lucille.

And by the way, don't worry about it, we're paying you for the rest of the day.

That person is going to feel, oh my God.

And they're going to be so grateful.

And it's cheap money.

It's cheap money.

And you just created a super fan out of Sally and she's going to tell everybody, hey, the company bent the rules and allowed me because they, blah.

I love this company I work for.

That's what's going to be coming out of her mouth.

Sandra Coker: 00:20:05

Yep.

Creates loyalty, creates people telling each other it actually recruitment becomes less of a problem for these types of companies where hearing about the shortage of good talent.

There's a lot of talent out there and there's some good talent out there.

Freddy D: 00:20:21

Sure.

Sandra Coker: 00:20:22

You've got to be worthy of that talent and have that reputation where people want to go to your company and that's no better.

Freddy D: 00:20:31

Right.

And there's no better sales team than your own people selling people that they know why they should join the company.

Sandra Coker: 00:20:37

Yeah, exactly.

And my daughter works for a large financial institution and they treat their employees really well.

I mean, she has probably brought five or six different people into that organization in different capacities because she absolutely loves the culture, what they do.

And it's a really large company.

So I think a lot of times people think these large companies, you get lost in these large companies.

Some do it really well and some don't.

Freddy D: 00:21:06

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:21:07

I mean, my wife's in the other room over there and she's been with the company eight years.

Been working remote boat from them since day one.

They do bring in everybody Every year and then they go out.

And last year she won the prize because they have gifts and contests and all that stuff regularly.

She got the prize to hang out with the CEO going deep sea fishing off of Miami.

Now she's not a deep sea fishing fan because that's not her thing, but she enjoyed hanging out with the CEO and one of the founders of the company.

I mean she got three hours of time with that person.

I mean that's magical.

And they pay for all the trip of bringing everybody in so that everybody feels like they're part of the family because at the end of the day they are.

She wins more contests.

We traveled a couple years ago from Hawaii all the way down to Australia via cruise ship and stuff.

We spent most of the time was in Airbnbs and it was all because of all the Airbnb's gift cards that she won.

Paid for a good part of the trip up.

Sandra Coker: 00:22:11

That's awesome.

That's great.

And for that CEO, because I'm sure that CEO got a lot of information from your wife by having those conversations and understanding where what's kind of happening on those front lines and spend more time with the employees.

I just can't say that.

Freddy D: 00:22:29

And she's brought a couple people of some of her friends into the company because of the culture, because of the recognition.

They're always training, they're always empowering people and then they don't worry about the little stuff like she's had something go wrong.

A monitor, whatever, it's here the next day.

It's cheap.

Money is the way to look at it versus having someone frustrated not being working because a monitor's not working or whatever device is messed up.

They handle it boom.

Sandra Coker: 00:23:00

Right the bright way.

Yeah.

I think that's very so important to not let things go and to listen.

You're going to have the people that are complainers, you're going to have those that you're going to have those.

But I think you should be able to discern between someone who's just a chronic complainer and a negative Nelly or negative Ned versus someone that's just really trying to make things better for the company and getting that feedback.

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:23:24

So let's talk a little bit about what it is that you do with businesses.

How do you help them and how do you leverage that people profit part of the conversation.

Sandra Coker: 00:23:33

So thank you.

So you know our company professional development and on everything.

So we work with companies from the top all the way to the front line and beyond and work with things like English as A second language, AI training, leadership, communication, client experience, sales.

And really the way that we work, we act as a fractional chief learning officer.

So kind of diving into what's happening in the company, what the culture is, where the bottlenecks are, where some of the gaps are for people just to try to make it so much easier for customers to get a better experience through a better culture, better processes and things like that.

So when we think about people profit, the book is really about helping people streamline their work, make it easier for people so they can provide the service that you would expect them to want to provide for your clients.

So everything is workshop based, everything's custom built, everything's interactive, no death by PowerPoint and thinking things like that.

So it's.

We laugh a lot.

I was facilitating this morning and we was at a bank and the FDIC was there doing whatever they were doing.

And we were in the room next to them and I went to them and I said, listen, we're going to be loud and we're going to be laughing.

So sorry.

That's kind of because people really learn.

We really talk about collective wisdom and people learning from each other.

There's so much wisdom in a room with employees that if you are just talking at them and I'm teaching you, it just doesn't, it just doesn't work.

So we have a very much that philosophy.

So it's a lot of fun.

We're kind of a general contractor of professional development.

Freddy D: 00:25:10

Wow, guys, do some cool stuff.

And you, you bring me back.

I brought the story up, but I'm going to bring it up again because you opened the door.

So I'm going to walk through it.

And you're right about getting people involved in training and everything else.

When I just got started in the computer aided design and computer manufacturing industry, known as CAD Cam, many years ago, I was an engineer and I got the job and they taught us how to use the software.

And then my job was to go and install software and train because my presentation skills sucked.

You know, I was an engineer.

I didn't get trained on presentation.

Intro/Outro: 00:25:44

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:25:45

And that's why I knew how to figure out how to install software, you know, So I went, just speed up.

I'm going to this one company and it's a pretty large company and I'm doing the training really out of the manual, so it'll be all right.

Sandra Etc.

We're going to go through this command and that command and over here, I mean, it was that bad.

Total face plant.

And it left a Mark and the manager at the end of the day pulled me aside at the end of the first day and said, that was the worst effing training I've ever seen in my entire life.

He goes, I'm going to give you till tomorrow to figure it out or I'm going to call your boss and have your dumb effing rear end terminated.

I slept well that night.

And I look at it as I kind of created what I call engagement training, which is really what you're talking about, which was.

And I did this in: 1981

Mike, I designed this 3D box and I used this to do that.

Do you agree with the way that's done?

Well, I think so.

Steve, do you agree with Mike?

Well, no, it's missing that.

John, do you agree with what Steve is saying?

And I got everybody talking and part of it.

And so now everybody's part of the learning process.

And the reason I bring that up is because I wasn't talking at them or reading out of a book we were learning together because I ended up learning how to use the damn thing myself.

And because as a teacher you're stuck figuring it out.

Sandra Coker: 00:27:18

Right.

Freddy D: 00:27:18

And.

But the bottom line is everybody got engaged.

That manager actually wrote me a recommendation at the end of the training.

He changed my life for the better because I became the most sought after installer and trainer throughout the whole Midwest.

Sandra Coker: 00:27:34

Wow.

Yeah, it's huge.

I, we're the same client I'm working with.

We're doing another sales program with them.

And I was always talking about what the needs were and how we were going to mix up the groups.

I was just like, if you've got people that don't really want to do this and people that are really strong, we want to make sure that we mix those groups up so that they're going to get advice and they're going to get best practices from the people that are doing well in that role.

And it was really interesting.

Talking to this executive was just like, oh, they were just going to split them down the middle.

Like, we've got to be mindful about how we're putting these groups together.

And I think it's having somebody else think about that because I think we're, like I said, we're pretty stuck in our day to day as executives and as leaders.

We're just, just trying to get it done and get it scheduled, but having that person to kind of think about it in a little bit of a less check the box way in a more of a collaborative way.

Makes it much better for everybody involved.

Freddy D: 00:28:30

Sure, sure.

So share a story with our listeners of how you landed a company and what their situation was, what was their transformation and the outcome and how they became a super fan of you, where they're actually promoting your services to the circ of people that they know.

Sandra Coker: 00:28:50

There's a few.

I think one of our biggest wins that I think we've had is large utility company here in the northeast.

And yeah, I was called in because of my hospitality background and that was recommended by a former colleague of mine who they had asked her to do and she's like, I don't have the bandwidth, but you need to talk to Sandy.

Which was in and of itself was amazing.

When somebody mentions your name and they trust you enough even when you're not in the room, which is crazy.

So they wanted the field techs to get more training on customer service.

And I hate the word customer service because I really feel like we're just serving our clients and we're giving them an experience regardless of what you're doing.

So we spent months with a pilot program.

I said, let's get people from all over the organization, let's pull everybody in from the organization, including some of the field teams, techs to talk about what the issues are.

Of course, we've been covering lots of other issues, stayed focused on this one, but uncovered other issues and what it brought to them was higher satisfaction scores from clients, a better understanding of these field techs about what it is that they were providing for these customers, and a sense of pride for them that, oh, I'm not just checking a meter or rewiring something or turning power back on.

I'm actually serving my community.

And that just was huge for everybody.

And it was a program that they had kind of like four people in the organization were like, we want to do this and we just all designed it.

And I found that it was a big win for us.

It was a huge win for the field techs.

Huge.

Freddy D: 00:30:33

Sure.

Freddy D: 00:30:33

So those field techs are super fans of you.

Sandra Coker: 00:30:36

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:30:36

And more importantly, the person that recommended you is obviously super fan of you to recommend you when you're not in a row room.

Sandra Coker: 00:30:44

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:30:44

Because your reputation is really what people think about you when you're not in the room.

And so there you have it.

Is that because of the things that you've done and helped, people want to recommend you and you can't buy that kind of piece.

Sandra Coker: 00:31:00

No.

I mean, we built a seven figure business, 98% referrals.

So we're just Starting organic marketing.

I mean, you went to my website and it's got bad links and I know that, that.

But it hasn't affected the growth of our business.

It's crazy.

It's fun.

It's crazy.

Freddy D: 00:31:17

Yeah.

Because again, people aren't doing business with people that they like and trust.

And more importantly, I always look at it as a referral is still a business card that I gotta go chase where an introduction is much more powerful and it completely collapses a sales cycle because you get an introduction.

And some of my fastest sales in the CAD cam space was because I got an introduction to somebody else in a tool and die shop that was looking for newer, better technology.

And this guy would say, you need to call Frederick or Freddie D. And boom, I get the phone call and the guy who says, jack says I need to buy it.

How much, how fast can you get it in here?

I don't need to see a presentation and love that.

Sandra Coker: 00:32:04

And I also think I want to go back to what you were saying earlier about the ancillary complimentary partners that you have.

And I think that's really big thing.

I look for complimentary partners.

I look for people who offer very things similar to what we offer.

Because I'm not a big competition person.

I believe in collaboration and I believe that we all give.

We all can provide companies with what they need and how they need it.

And I think that that's a huge piece of advice maybe to give to business owners that when you're looking at at all the complimentary services that could come to your clients, why wouldn't you recommend them to your clients?

Why wouldn't you?

Because you're just providing them with more trusted providers and then you're one of their trusted providers.

It's a win, win, win, win, win situation for everybody.

Freddy D: 00:32:57

Absolutely.

1,000% Correct.

Because I think people overlook and I'm going to use the contractor as an example because those are ones that I think get marginalized most often.

But at the end of the day, if you're in home improvement or commercial construction, etc.

You're working with contractors.

Freddy D: 00:33:16

Okay.

Freddy D: 00:33:17

That's just the reality of it.

That contractor is now the front line to your customer.

Sandra Coker: 00:33:24

Yes.

Freddy D: 00:33:24

Not you.

You're not there.

They're the ones that doing the work.

Hello, McFly.

And so the bottom line is that that is your most important asset because that's your director of first impressions.

We talked before of what your company's all about.

Because if that contractor comes in there and he's begrudgingly just doing the job a, the job's not going to be done in the best way and fashion.

It's just going to be done to get it done.

That's going to come across, however, if it's energized or positive.

Oh, man.

I love the company we're working with.

And you've made a great choice.

People have buyer's remorse.

So your contractor neutralizes that right off the bat.

And all of a sudden, sudden, you've just created a super fan out of that homeowner or that other business and that PR just starts rolling because it's social proof.

And Susie, who got her kitchen remodeled, is going to tell everybody about the work you did.

The key is you got to follow up and maintain those relationships with those people, because a lot of people, and I'm sure you've seen it, done the work, done a great job job, and then disappear.

Sandra Coker: 00:34:34

Yeah.

And I think that's why we have.

Because we work with all contractors for the most part, and we built an online community for them to interact.

We have quarterly meetings with everybody.

At the end of the year, I throw a huge holiday party at a bowling alley.

Like, we rent a private room and we have dinner and we're all together.

And it's just my way of saying thank you.

Because I know that they're contracting for other companies and I want them to say, no.

First choice, we're going to go to hps.

And that's, I think, really important to keep that contact and keep that connect.

That connection.

Freddy D: 00:35:08

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:35:08

I mean, that's.

When I was in charge of global sales in the late 90s, we didn't have Zoom or any of that stuff existed.

So I had to fly out and go to Australia, Germany, wherever.

And some of the trade shows I'd attend in Germany especially were 10 days long.

Sandra Coker: 00:35:23

Wow.

Freddy D: 00:35:24

Through the weekend and everything else.

But what I did different was not only did I spend time with the owners, owner of the agency that was representing my software product, I would have the beers with the sales team and the tech guys that was marketing my product because that was my front line.

Sandra Coker: 00:35:42

Right.

Yeah.

Love it.

Yeah.

Freddy D: 00:35:44

And I still have relationships 20 plus years later with these people because some of them invited me into their houses, some have turned into lifetime friendships.

And it goes back to little things are really the big things things.

Sandra Coker: 00:35:57

And it's.

And it's a great byproduct.

I mean, you put yourself in these situations where you meet some people and they're just part of your lives, which I think is wonderful.

I think that's Great.

Freddy D: 00:36:07

Yeah, yeah.

Freddy D: 00:36:08

Great conversation that we've had, Sandra.

Sandra Coker: 00:36:10

Yeah.

Thank you.

Freddy D: 00:36:11

How can people find your book and how can people find you?

Sandra Coker: 00:36:14

LinkedIn is the best place.

Obviously I just said my website's not the best place.

LinkedIn @SANDRA COKER and our book is People prophesied.

So it's peopleprofitbook.com and you can find us on Amazon.

Thank you so much for having me today.

Freddy D: 00:36:28

Yeah, great conversation.

Definitely would love to have you back on the show down the road.

Sandra Coker: 00:36:32

Thank you.

Vice versa.

Freddy D: 00:36:35

Thank you.

What I keep coming back from my.

Freddy D: 00:36:38

Conversation with Sandra is this.

Your customer experience starts with how you treat the people delivering them.

When employees and contractors feel heard and support, they're better equipped to take care of your customers.

This week, ask one person on your front line what's getting in the way of doing your best work.

Listen, then help remove that obstacle.

That's how you show someone you've got their back and give them a reason to become a superfan of your business.

And if you haven't already, subscribe to.

Freddy D: 00:37:12

The show so you don't miss another episode.

Freddy D: 00:37:15

Until next time, Superfans fans.

Remember, every relationship you strengthen brings you one super fan closer.

Keep cultivating relationships.

Keep creating super fans.

Keep growing predictable revenue.

I'm Freddie D. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you in the next episode.

Intro/Outro: 00:37:33

We hope you took away some useful knowledge from today's episode of the Business Superfans podcast.

Join us on the next episode as we continue continue guiding you on your journey to achieve flourishing success in business.