Creating Superfans Podcast Episode 317: Brittany Hodak

Brittany Hodak [00:00:02]:
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Creating Superfans podcast. I’m Brittany Hodak, an author, speaker, and entrepreneur obsessed with all things customer experience. Regardless of the industry you’re in, I know one thing for sure. If your customers aren’t telling their friends about you, you’re in trouble. But don’t worry. By the end of this podcast, you’ll have some brand new ideas for getting more of those customers to sing your praises. This is a special solo episode, so let’s dive in. I’m recording this episode a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday, which will kick off all of the shopping holidays that we know so well in the United States beginning with Black Friday, then small business Saturday, then we’ll go into cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.

Brittany Hodak [00:00:50]:
And if we’re honest, it feels like it’s a month or more of just shopping holiday, trying to separate as much of our money from us as consumers as possible. And today, I wanna focus on something that so often goes awry during Black Friday, and, you know, cyber week and and all of the ensuing pandemonium between now and the end of the year. And that’s the golden opportunity to create connections that turn those holiday shoppers into superfans because, if we’re honest, a lot of retailers, overlook all of the opportunity that they have to do this during the season. Now part of it is because it’s it’s craziness. Right? It’s mayhem. There are so many people shopping. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, more than 20% of the shopping that happens every year, all of the retail spending, happens in that period between Black Friday and Christmas. So there’s a lot of activity packed into a very small period of time.

Brittany Hodak [00:02:03]:
This year, the National Retail Federation is projecting that about 183,000,000 Americans will be shopping between just Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So that’s, what, over half the country shopping just in those few days. And 65% of those 183,000,000 people will be shopping in the store. So we’re talking about 1,000,000,000 of dollars in spending and 1,000,000,000 of individual interactions that retailers and their teams will be having with customers. Now if you’ve listened to a podcast episode from me before, if you’ve seen me speak, you know that I believe that every single touch point matters because it’s the chance to create a positive lasting impression that’s going to turn a customer into a superfan. So what are we doing in today’s episode? Well, I’m gonna be covering some common pitfalls, that you can avoid if you are talking to customers, whether it’s a b to b company, a b to c company, a b to b to c company, whether you’re selling anything, in person or over the Internet over the holiday season or really anytime, you’re gonna pick up some great tips. I’m also gonna talk to you about how you can prepare your team. If you are somebody who is not selling anything over the holidays, I’m going to share some tips and some stats that I hope that you find interesting as a consumer because there’s a good chance that if you’re not selling, you’re consuming.

Brittany Hodak [00:03:33]:
And then finally, because what would a Black Friday episode be without a Black Friday offer, I am going to share a deal for my 6 weeks to superfans masterclass that you don’t wanna miss. Now I sort of quietly launched this masterclass program earlier this year. It was a request that I kept getting from clients to put something together to help their teams. And up until now, it’s only been available for large teams at enterprise level pricing. And when I started to talk about it a little bit, the number one request I got was please make it available for me as a solopreneur or me as a leader of a small team or me as somebody who’s got 8 or 9 people working for me. And I am thrilled to announce that we are doing that. So stay tuned, and I will give you the details at the end. But don’t worry.

Brittany Hodak [00:04:21]:
The rest of the episode is not a sales pitch. It is me telling you all of the things that you need to know to win on Black Friday. So let’s jump in. Alright. Let’s start by covering some common pitfalls. I’m gonna give you what I think are 3 easy pitfalls to avoid that so many people fall victim to during the holidays. Common pitfall number 1, focusing solely on customer acquisition before you have a customer retention plan. And this is a big one, and it doesn’t just happen during the Q4.

Brittany Hodak [00:04:58]:
This is something that I see businesses making, missteps on all year long. But let’s talk about black Friday and the few days after. Many businesses know that they are gonna see a surge of new customers, either people who have never shopped with your brand before or who are coming in for the first time in a long time. If you don’t have a clear plan to help not just sell them something once, but to continue to engage those customers, you’re gonna lose a lot of them. In fact, you can lose them just as quickly as you gain them. And I know if you’re listening to this podcast, you aren’t just trying to sell one thing to a customer one time. You wanna create that loyal customer. So think about what you need to do to create a journey for them post purchase.

Brittany Hodak [00:05:51]:
Now let’s say you’re a SaaS company, right? It’s not just about that irresistible black Friday deal that’s gonna get them, you know, to to give you their credit card number. It’s about the onboarding process. It’s about what you’re going to do over the next 30 or 60 or 90 days to support them after that sale, to reinforce that they made their right decision. Now, if you’re a retail company, the same is true. What are you doing to provide post purchase support? How can you quickly get the information that you need from your customers to follow-up in a way that’s gonna provide value, not annoy them? You’ve gotta set your customers up for long term success so that they come back again and again and again. Now if you’re doing things in person, that retention strategy would be as simple as giving them an offer to get them back into the store, whether it’s part of the receipt, whether it’s something that somebody is handing them or saying to them, think about your retention strategy even before you think about that acquisition strategy, because it’s always easier to sell something else to a satisfied customer who knows you already than it is to sell something for the first time to somebody who has never opened up their wallet or more importantly, their heart to you and your brand. Alright. Common pitfall number 2, overwhelming using marketing.

Brittany Hodak [00:07:18]:
Now if you ask any retailer who, is selling a lot of things to a lot of different people, so think like department stores who have tons of different things that that they’re targeting people across lots of different demographics, they usually subscribe to this, like, more is better idea. Let me just send a 1,000,000 emails and 70,000 text messages and postcards and catalogs and all of the things by bombarding customers to get the message out. And here’s the deal. This might work if you are a department store who has locations everywhere, and you just need people to know, like, come shop at Kohl’s or Macy’s or, you know, whatever the case may be on Black Friday. Right? Like, here’s our target hours. Here’s our best buy hours. But if you are not one of those very few specific stores that are just trying to say like, don’t spend your money with us before you spend it to everybody else. This type of overwhelming marketing can really be counterproductive because instead of creating excitement, you’re going to create frustration and fatigue.

Brittany Hodak [00:08:22]:
And what’s going to happen is your customers or even your prospective customers are going to unsubscribe from and tune out of your marketing. So at best, they’re going to be apathetic and at worst, they’re going to develop a negative perception of your brand. Right? I’m sure if you’re listening to this, you in the past few weeks have regretted giving your cell phone number to some brand. Right? Like I know I got 3 texts over the weekend from a hair care brand. Three texts. I’m like, come on. It’s not even Black Friday yet. Leave me alone.

Brittany Hodak [00:08:56]:
Unsubscribe. Right? So to stand out without overwhelming your potential customer base or even your current customer base, you really need to focus on quality over quantity. So before you hit send on that message, whatever it is, whether it’s a text, an email, a post, a postcard in the mail, we want you to ask, is this truly adding value? Now maybe it’s a unique deal, maybe it’s helpful tips, maybe it’s personalized recommendations, but ask yourself, will your customer understand what you’re trying to communicate? Don’t let your discount structure be too complicated and, you know, don’t try to stack too many things on top of each other. And this should go without saying, but clearly it doesn’t because we see this all the time. Don’t try to trick people either. Don’t offer something that on the surface looks like an amazing value or discount. And then in the small print, you say, like, you know, has have to spend a zillion dollars or have to, you know, jump through 75 hoops that are on fire. Remember, it’s not just about grabbing somebody’s attention.

Brittany Hodak [00:10:01]:
It’s about delivering what you promise in that attention that you earn. That is how you’re gonna foster trust and build relationships. Alright. Here’s the 3rd common pitfall to avoid. Now I see this one again all year long, but, specifically during Black Friday and that’s ignoring the people who have been loyal to you all year long. One of the fastest ways to alienate super bands and loyal customers is to offer really great deals to new customers while giving absolutely nothing to those that have been loyal to you. Some of the worst offenders of this are cell phone companies and utility companies who are constantly sending the message that loyalty doesn’t mean anything, that they would rather have brand new customers than continue to keep people. And so you see that reflected in the deal structure and the perks that they are trying to use to incentivize people to move over.

Brittany Hodak [00:11:02]:
And I should probably do an entire podcast episode about this one of these games because it is a huge pet peeve of mine. And usually it’s driven by the fact that those are publicly traded companies that are trying to make their numbers for the quarter because, you know, they have shareholders that they’re accountable to. But it is never ever, ever a good long term strategy. It may do a little bit for your short term term sales, but it’s going to erode trust and goodwill among the customers that you’re making feel like they don’t matter. Right? Like, not only why should I advocate for your business, forget about that. Why should I continue to be a customer of your business? If you’re offering somebody who’s coming to you for the first time, something way better than is available to me. So make sure you’re rewarding your superfans and you’re not overlooking them. Again, during Black Friday, Cyber Monday period, but really for, like, all year long, this needs to be something that you’re thinking about with your messaging and your marketing ongoing.

Brittany Hodak [00:12:05]:
Alright. So those are some pitfalls. Now, how about some of the things that you can do to really stand out and make a splash this holiday season? I wanna offer a few tips for you. Number 1, again, this will not come as a surprise if you’ve listened to many episodes of this podcast before, but you want to make sure you’re sharing your story, not just for sales. I always say that superfans are created at the intersection of your story and every customer. Take some time to audit the storytelling in your touch points, your website, your social media handles, those order confirmation emails, those help emails, even the scripts that your teammates are using. If you know that you’re going to have an influx of first time customers, ask yourself, what can you do to make sure your story is being clearly and concisely communicated in a way that isn’t just, you know, like chaotic because it’s the holiday season, but is in alignment with who your brand is and what you’re all about. So ask yourself, is that story clear and consistent? Is your voice going through in a way that really resonates with that ideal audience member, whether it’s somebody who’s shopping with you for the first time or the 500th time? When a customer discovers you, it should be effortless for them to understand who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you different from everybody else.

Brittany Hodak [00:13:34]:
Remember, customers respond to stories and they value authenticity. So you want to make sure you’re giving them the opportunity to discover those things about you without much work. Getting this kind of clarity is not going to just help you attract the right customer. It’s also going to lay the foundation for a relationship that lasts beyond that first sale. A strong story accelerates the path of connection, which turns those simple transactions into the start of something meaningful. Now, speaking of sharing stories, the story of recording and releasing my 16th Super Friends Masterclass is something that I’ve shared a little bit before, to my email list audience, which if you haven’t signed up, I would love to have you. You can sign up at britneyhoddak.com. I send out an email every other Tuesday, totally free.

Brittany Hodak [00:14:24]:
And I’ve shared a little bit about the story of recording the masterclass. To be totally transparent, it was not in my business plan at all. Like, I released my book, Creating Superfans, at the beginning of 2023. And almost immediately, I was getting asked by CEOs that I was on stage speaking to their teams, like, what are you gonna do next? And I would kinda laugh. I was like, what do you mean? Like, I spent years writing this book. What I’m gonna do next is try to sell a whole bunch of copies of it and get up on stages like this and share my message. And three times in the period of about a month, I had CEOs or senior leaders at companies say you need to record a video training program because while it was incredible to have a 1,000 of my sales members or my managers or leaders or whatever the case was, hear your message. We have many more employees who aren’t here, and we want them to hear this message, and we want them to be able to create superfans.

Brittany Hodak [00:15:24]:
And so last year, I went back to the drawing board. I took all of the things that I loved about my book, creating superfans. I took all of the requests and suggestions that I’d gotten from these leaders of large companies and franchise organizations and developed a program to try to help every employee be what I like to call the acting chief of experience. And I use that acronym again and again saying you’re the acting chief of experience. How can you ace every interaction? What are the things that we’re gonna do? Because the reality is when you interact with somebody on a team, it doesn’t matter if it’s their 1st day or if they founded the company. To you, that is the brand. I don’t know about you, but a lot of times I have an experience that makes me think I’m not gonna be back here. And it’s because of one individual.

Brittany Hodak [00:16:13]:
That’s how important it is. Everybody on a team is the acting chief of experience and it doesn’t matter if it’s black Friday. We have our expectations and they are what they are for brands. So I created this course and again, I’m being incredibly transparent here. When I created the course, I was really thinking about big companies because those were the requests that I got. I didn’t sit down with, like, a master plan to put together a course for people, a training program. I just looked at you know, the gaps that I thought existed and and the feedback that I heard from these clients who had asked me to build something. So we recorded this program, around this time last year or a little bit later.

Brittany Hodak [00:16:56]:
I think it was in December of, of last year that we recorded it. For the 2nd time, that’s a whole other story. The first time we recorded it, I wasn’t happy with how it looked. I didn’t like the background. I didn’t like the colors. I didn’t like the haircut that I got, like, a week before, which was a big mistake. So, anyway, we rerecorded it in December, and then we did all of the editing. We created all of the curriculum.

Brittany Hodak [00:17:19]:
We launched it in February, and I did not anticipate how many people were gonna ask to buy it that had 3 people on their team or 7 people on their team or one person on their team. That, again, was just like a total blind spot I had because I was creating what I had been asked to create by a few larger companies. I didn’t think about small business owners, and I felt so terrible. A, because, you know, it’s never a good feeling to be on your list as, you know, I want this, and and you have to say to them, you know, it’s it’s not available for you or or you’re welcome to buy it, but it’s, you know, $15,000. And then they say, oh, I well, yeah. I don’t I don’t have $15,000. I was hoping you would say it was, like, a few $100. So, anyway, and it’s been a crazy year.

Brittany Hodak [00:18:07]:
I’ve been so fortunate to speak to dozens and dozens of companies this year. I think I’ve had, like, 41 or 42 live events at this point. So it it took a while for my team and I, which is a very small team, to figure out how to how to do this and how to make it available in a way that was affordably priced on a platform that would still have a great experience and to reimagine some of the content so that it would be all to a small business rather than somebody who was working for, you know, a huge company or or a franchise. So, anyway, I share all of that to say, that you shouldn’t be afraid to share your story. And I don’t wanna pretend that the story of the 6 weeks to superfans masterclass is something that I, you know, had a brilliant, like, master plan for and said, here’s exactly what it is. This is something that evolved out of a need, out of a question that I was getting. And I hope that as you think about your own Black Friday, promotions or, again, really any any time of the year, this is this is relevant. Listen to your customers because just like I made the mistake of not offering something that it turns out a lot of people could benefit from, you may have a gap as well.

Brittany Hodak [00:19:19]:
And so listening to your your shoppers, not just sharing your story, but understanding theirs as well might help you identify a gap where, like me, with this, now available to everybody version of 6 weeks to superfans, you can fit a need that that may be really meaningful to your customers. Alright. So number 2, a tip to stand out this holiday season, and this is so important, make sure you prepare your team because it’s gonna feel chaotic. Whether they’re in store or online, there is going to be some chaos, right? But that chaos doesn’t have to translate into chaos for your customers. Preparing your team ahead of time, not just talking about the fact that, you know, they’re going to need to employ empathy and efficiency, but letting them know what to expect can go a long way. So what are some of the things that you can do? Well, at the beginning, you want to make sure that you’re totally briefing your team, communicating exactly what the expectations are, what is happening. Like, if you’re offering new promotions or you have new policies or things like that, you really want to make sure that they’re clear on them because few things are more frustrating as a customer than having an employee who doesn’t understand what you as a customer know to be true because you read it in, you know, a newspaper or an email or anywhere else. So you want to make sure that you’re training them for everything they need to know.

Brittany Hodak [00:20:53]:
The next thing you want to train them on is conflict resolution because let’s face it, tensions are high always, but especially at the holidays. So train employees on, you know, the ask de escalation techniques and tactics for handling frustrated customers calmly. You can role play potential scenarios that they might encounter and build confidence and make sure that they know that you have their back, that you’re empowering them to make decisions, to do what they think is right in the moment. One of my favorite resources in the 6 60 superfans masterclass is a simple swaps guide of teaching your employees. Okay. When you really wanna say this, say this instead. And all of those are, sort of based in de escalation and using positive language instead of negative language. Another thing that you’re gonna wanna talk to them about is what my customer experience should be like and what might need to happen that’s out of the norm during this period of time to say like, okay, for the next 5 or 6 weeks, here are the things that we’re gonna be doing differently.

Brittany Hodak [00:21:59]:
It could be that you have extra staff. It could be that you have people in different roles than they haven’t been in before. So, like, in a retail environment, a physical retail environment, you may have dedicated runners who are going to grab stuff, either restocking from the back or other stores or something else to just help avoid the congestion that could happen without that either in the aisles or as people are waiting to pay, Things like, you know, express checkouts or, other things that are helping reduce the wait times. And just make sure you’re being really proactive with information, both from the management to the frontline employees and then also frontline employees to the customers. Like, what are some of the things that you can do? I think one of the biggest things that you really have to make sure that you’re doing to set yourself up to have great experiences during this period is everything that you’re doing to support your team. Because again, every single employee is the acting chief of experience. So looking at things like, you know, how are you rotating people through those most stressful positions? How are you making your employees feel really, really supported, whether that’s through making sure they’re getting regular breaks, make sure they’re staying nourished and hydrated, and, you know, that their morale is high, that they have the opportunity to engage with either a leader or a colleague when they need to just say, like, oh, this thing happened and it’s really stressful or, you know, this was really hard. Make sure you’re taking time, not just daily, but throughout the day to celebrate the small wins.

Brittany Hodak [00:23:36]:
Make sure you’re actively cheering on everybody on your team, making sure that you notice their hard work and their resilience, and make sure that you as a leader are visible. So whether you know, again, if you’re in a retail situation, that can mean being on floor, like, they can actually see you, whether you’re answering questions or ringing people up or, you know, helping customers with things that they need or in, a virtual setting. Like, maybe it’s that you’re in the Slack channel, maybe it’s that they can see that you’re in there, that you’re looking at the help tickets, that you’re doing all of the things to show that when you say we’re all in this together, you don’t mean, like, they are all in it together. You mean everyone including yourself. And then as you’re, you know, throughout the holiday reminding people, like, we’re gonna be at the end soon. This is not forever. This is just the season that we’re in, and we’re all, you know, doing all of the things that we can. Make you take some time to debrief.

Brittany Hodak [00:24:32]:
So you can have debrief through the period. So whether it’s at the end of the day, the end of the weekend, the end of the week, but then definitely at the end of the season. Talking about, you know, what went really well, acknowledging and rewarding team members for their efforts, what whatever you were able to do, you know, tokens of appreciation or recognition or or shout outs, and then also bringing in your customer feedback. So when you do a debrief, you wanna make sure that you’re incorporating everything that you heard from customers either through, surveys, either through things that you read online, things that you hear anecdotally. All of those things are gonna not just feel good to your team to hear especially the good feedback, but are also gonna make them even more prepared the next time you go into a crazy season. And then finally, you wanna make sure that both with your team and your customers, you’re finding ways to follow-up thoughtfully. So the sale doesn’t end when the transaction is complete. We know that.

Brittany Hodak [00:25:38]:
And post purchase communication is a really powerful opportunity to leave a lasting impression. Talk about turning those customers into superfans or turning those part time holiday teammates that you’re bringing onto your team for, you know, a period of weeks or months to superfans. So think about the things that you can do, whether it’s a simple thank you email, whether it’s, a VIP event invite, whether it’s giving them early access to a new product or some sort of bonus. Think about the ways that you’re following up thoughtfully to continue that relationship, to help someone be even more engaged with your brand. All right. So if you are ready to turn your customers into superfans, not just during November December, but all year long, then I invite you to check out the 6 weeks to superfans masterclass. As I told you, I’ve got you covered regardless of the size of your team. This is a video program that’s designed for leaders and teams who are serious about differentiating themselves with world class customer experience.

Brittany Hodak [00:26:44]:
It’s 6 weeks of bite sized lessons. They don’t take more than a few minutes a week. There are hands on activities and a lot of bonus resources that will equip you or your team with everything that you need to elevate every customer interaction. And right now through December 8th, you can save 30% off every individual course that you buy. So it’s normally $497 You can save a $150 on each license by using the code supersale, s u p e r s a l e. We will put the, URL in the stow notes, but it’s masterclass.brittanyhodak.com/courses. When you go to that page, you’ll see that there are 2 versions of the course. One is just called 6 weeks to see performance masterclass.

Brittany Hodak [00:27:35]:
The second is a real estate edition, and that’s because I’ve had the privilege of working with so many amazing real estate companies over the past few years that I did a course with a bonus lesson that’s just about all of the things that you can do if you’re in that field. So choose either of those courses. And once you get inside, you’ll see all of the lessons, including special bonus lessons for people on your team who are in leadership roles. So if you have any questions about the masterclass, you can send me a note at brittany@brittanyhodak.com or hit me up on social media. I’ll answer all of your questions, but I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. I hope you have a fantastic holiday shopping period. I can’t wait to hear what you buy. I will be sharing on social media some of the things that I am excited to check out in order this holiday season.

Brittany Hodak [00:28:25]:
And most of all, for everybody listening within the United States, I hope you have an incredible Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that you listened to this podcast episode. It is an enormous privilege to be able to join you in your life, or in your AirPods. And I wanna thank you for listening to this episode. I wanna thank you for all the things that you do to create Superfans to make this world a better place for your customers, your employees, and your communities. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Creating Superfans podcast. If you do, please do me a favor and leave a review or rate it or send it to a friend who needs to hear it. Thanks again and remember until next time, don’t just choose the standard thing, choose the super thing.