193: From UPS Driver to CX Authority Part 2

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Episode Transcript:

Denise (00:03.49)
Hey, revolutionaries, welcome back to the customer service revolution podcast. This episode is a continuation of last week’s, episode 192. If you haven’t listened to that one yet, we recommend you head there before starting this one.

John DiJulius

The DiJulius Group has been a customer service consulting business based on those 10 commandments, really was born in 2008.

And those were those commandments came from what you created in the salons, what you learned speaking.

John DiJulius (36:27.042)
Everything. You know, and so, you know, another thing, so I want go back to why we opened John Roberts was because there was, there was something wrong in the industry. Not good business, well-run businesses, didn’t take care of the hairdresser, didn’t take care of the customer, you know, all that. So we, said, Hey, we could be different here. And we were probably naive, but we did. And we did it. Right. And, and, and we have, you know, a, a lot of people that have

25, 30 years experience still with us and it’s grown and it’s really, really successful salon operation without me, thanks to you and Eric and all the other great managers we have. But back when I was trying to figure out how to grow John Roberts, it was easy when we just had four employees because 50 % of that was me and Stacey.

So whether you, the new employee got it or you didn’t, you didn’t have a choice. Cause you had to work with us all day and all night and you know, we were right next to you. And if you, know, if the new employee or the employee wasn’t speaking well to the client or was running late and not being empathetic and apologetic and making it right. I mean, you just, you know, you, couldn’t have done that working in the trenches with me and Stacey. But then as we started opening a second salon and the third salon and

both of us weren’t everywhere. And I was starting to branch off into the speaking and consulting business. Our customer service went backwards because we weren’t everywhere. And we took a hit. And that’s when I really was starting to try to investigate how do systemize customer service? It was easy when it was a small team of 10.

and we were all under the same roof and all worked the same hours. But now when we have different shifts and different locations and we had employee roulette, we had location roulette. And if the manager wasn’t there, if the manager wasn’t good or the owner wasn’t there or you were new employee, the level of experience varied. People would come up to me and say, you own John Roberts. I was at your, know, Solon salon. And I’d say, who’d you get in that? Hold my breath.

John DiJulius (38:51.222)
Right? Saying, God, please don’t say, you know, so-and-so, you know, because I know that probably wouldn’t be a good experience. So that’s when, you so that’s when, you know, I’m speaking, but I didn’t understand the systems yet. And so I start studying and reading every book that I can get my hands on, customer service, and reading. This is before I wrote a book and reading and watching every speaker I could. There wasn’t much. The internet wasn’t.

you know, what it is today. So was just a few conferences that I would attend or we would attend. But every book and every customer service speaker I listened to or read, I was disappointed because they’d always talk about how, you know, go above and beyond. They tell you the great Nordstrom story about you’d come in for the shoes. They didn’t have them in your size. They’d run down to Macy’s or Dillard’s.

buy them for you without you knowing, coming back, sell them to you, and you’d walk out of there happy. And I love the story, but they would only tell the story, but they would, what I wanna know is how did you get that employee to do that? And was that employee roulette that she did it, but if that customer came back tomorrow and got a different employee,

or the general manager wasn’t there to inspire, initiate, would that happen? And that became my biggest frustration. So that’s when I really started researching on my own. I never felt like there was a good customer service book or content out there that told you the how. They told you the warm and fuzzy story, but not the how. And so that’s when I studied at Disney and…

you know, I just started becoming obsessed with the experience. And over time, found that there was, you know, a commonality that the best companies back then, Southwest, Disney, Nordstrom’s, then she became Amazon, Zappos, know, Virgin, know, Missin’ Starbucks, all those that they had in common. piece by piece, I started putting together

John DiJulius (41:08.954)
these, these principles, which was the customer experience action statement, you know, and, and non-negotiable in the, in the customer experience cycle and, know, the signature experience and being zero risk of, you know, if we dropped the ball, we’re going to make it right. And all those things. that became the methodology. And that’s what the 10 commandments were born from. It was more out of a necessity as a business owner of I couldn’t, initially get

my salons to be consistent. We had employee roulette, we had location roulette, we had all those things that people now hire us for that today I think in the salons are so much better because we learn the hard way.

Now this is something that I’ve seen time and again with our clients that we have so many that are multi-unit franchise that need that consistency. And that’s what this methodology helps provide to them. Something I don’t know that you really touched on is how big were the salons at this time? mean, how many locations are there? And how many employees do you have at John Roberts?

What are we talking about here to give people an idea? Now you’ve stepped away and Eric is running.

Eric and his team, Ashley, and they’re all so good. And that goes back to a previous article, a previous podcast that we’ve done, that I talked about, that soul of a startup article from HBR, right? And it goes back to, you know, being in the trenches with me, you, Denise, Marie, you know, you guys would do anything, but now I’m gone. We lost Stacey.

John DiJulius (42:58.294)
So you got to think about John Roberts lost both their owners, right? I’m not active and unfortunately we lost Stacey. And so, but we had to make you and Eric and Ashley and Lindsay and the next generation of leaders, the people that those employees would walk through a fire for and have the same obsession.

But we have four locations all in Northeast Ohio. We stopped growing them from a footprint when I kinda, both me and Stacey left. We’re no longer involved in the salons, but they do great. They do between five and $6 million a year. And I think they’re just really, run really, really well, maybe better than they’ve ever been right now.

And that attributes to Eric and Ashley and all his salon leaders. And they are obsessed with the customer experience. I mean, they kind of don’t have a choice, you know, A, working for me, but also there’s so many people that read the book, hear me speak, you know, that it kind of puts this bullseye on them that people want to come in and see if we’re that good.

So talk about your leadership development program with the salons, because obviously there is something there that works really well, that you have a bench of people that, you know, that are really strong leaders and that people walk through a fire for.

Yeah, I think, I know we’re guilty of it, but in the newest book, The Employee Experience Revolution that came out last year by myself and Dave Murray, there’s a big chapter about developing leaders and it says 82 % of managers are accidental. we’re all, every business is guilty of that.

John DiJulius (45:06.242)
But I’ve always tried to create a, like you said, a bench of future leaders. So from the moment, first I wanted people to realize it could be Denise back when you were starting off, but anyone, that this doesn’t have to be a temporary transitional job, right? You can be a service provider here.

And if you like that, great. You could be the head of the department. If you help us grow and we open a new location, you can go open that. You want to be the salon coordinator. want to be, there’s places for you to go. even after an employee’s 90 days, if they show that they have promise interests, that they’re raising their hand for more, we start giving them

putting me on teams, steering committees, projects, not saying, hey, you’re promoted and we have done that. And where we have Ag on our face and all those things, but we try to start, you know, easing someone in and giving them some little things to do to see how they do. Are they serious? Do they do it? Do they take it seriously? You know, if leadership is something you’re interested in, I want you to attend this class, watch this video, read this book and

and present to the team or your department on how that applies. And then obviously how they’re modeling the behavior of customer experience and all the other things that are critically important, professional development, all that. yeah, I think that, again, with your help, with Eric’s help, we’ve created this feeder system of future generation of employees. And like I was in the salon yesterday, I my hair cut.

And I was just looking at Monica, Monica is this girl that for the rest of us, she was in high school. was speaking, Brush High School brought their cosmetology to John Roberts, the first salon. And I spoke to them. And,

John DiJulius (47:21.038)
They, I knew I had them. I knew they were mesmerized, right? I knew, you know, they’re, you know, 16, 17 and 18 year old girls, but I knew I was a good speaker and I knew they were like, you know, like, wow, this is really a cool place and I’d want to work here. But they were all too shy and nervous. And so when, you know, the teacher said, all right, everyone, the bus is here, time to go, you know, 19 of 20 got up and started walking out back door and there’s one little blonde.

knocks all these people down comes up to me and she says I’m gonna work for you. And I said okay and it was this little girl Monica and she comes and she starts washing hair at high school then she graduates high school cosmetology and she starts working for us and she was the sweetest thing and just rough around the edges and she I believe has I don’t think if you ever dyslexia.

You know, she had, you know, a reading thing. And I remember she struggled with things and, know, but she was just so good. Well, I’m getting my haircut by her yesterday and she’s telling me about how her twins are graduating in May. And I’m like, Monica, that was what you were when you came working for us, you know, 25 years ago. And, and she’s, she’s one of our lead educators. And it was so cool.

was I found out the hard way that Monica had a learning disability. Because back then when we hired her, with the interview, with the new employee orientation, we’d say, all right, I want everyone to read the policy handbook. Denise, you read the first paragraph. And Patty, you read the second paragraph. And Monica, you read the third paragraph. And then when it got to Monica, she struggled. And it was really awkward. And I was like, god, I felt so bad. And so you know.

And so, what was really cool was last year I went to a new employee orientation and I asked the employees, what made you pick John Roberts? And one girl says, I’ve been going to Monica for, you know, since I was a little girl and I dream of being her and how articulate she is and how she can talk to clients. And like, it made me cry. Like that was little Monica who couldn’t, you know,

John DiJulius (49:43.168)
articulate a sentence and now she’s this polished educator for us and mom and just a great thing. So it’s so cool. And just looking around yesterday of all these people that are in the salon that take care of education and run the place. And it’s just so cool. mean, it’s just a whole new generation of employees, but they’re so good. And sometimes they can make me feel guilty for how passionate they are and like,

Yeah, yeah, I feel the same. Like they are so into it. It’s really cool.

You’ve created a lot of opportunities for people over the years, and you have people who have graduated to their own businesses. So there’s a, mean, there have been a lot of, of those, know. in fact, I saw, just today, I’m not on Facebook very often. I opened it up and I saw one past employee who started their own, acknowledging another past employee who started their own.

Yeah.

Denise (50:46.542)
for help along the way. And I thought it was so cool to see that there’s still that spirit of John Roberts, I think, that still holds, binds a lot of these people together. It’s really cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s something special about, you know, earlier generations and whether they’ve stayed or they’ve moved on for whatever reason, there’s a bond. like, you know, even with me, they’ll reach out to me and just, you know, really nice and, you know, supportive.

You always gave people reasons to stay beyond the education of a hairdresser also. I remember you offering classes on how to buy your first home, financial things that because these were young people who were suddenly making really good money for their age and to help, you you taught them a lot of things in that regard too. It was really, it still is. It’s, I think it’s something unique.

not just to the salon industry, but to businesses in general.

Well, listen, people ask me all the time, how do you get employees to show up for work? I say, have them buy a house. There was some selfishness to it too. But yeah, I mean, if you can get people to, you know, buy a house or, you know, be more wise with their money or live a healthier lifestyle, those are the things that they talk about more than anything else.

John DiJulius (52:21.774)
at the holidays with their family of why they, you know, they work there or they brag about, you know, those kind of soft benefits of like, where’d you learn that? Oh, it’s actually a class that we had at the slum. Why did you, you know, don’t you do hair? Why did you learn how to eat better or, you know, balance your checkbook or whatever? You know, those are the things that, you know, I, I, I’ve probably said this to you on podcasts before, but, um,

I always view a competition for employees to be their family members, right? And family members get angry with your significant other’s job at times. Why do you have to work? I gotta take care of that. I gotta pick up the kids again. Why aren’t you gonna be home for dinner? Why can’t we go out? I’ve been on that side of the fence.

you know, and then they meet other people who own a salon or making, you know, 2000 % commission and they start talking. So it was always really important to, you know, get the family members bought in and feel appreciate appreciated for, cause they’re making sacrifices. Our busy time. So, you know, when we have those, like our, our, our, our big events and they bring their

Right.

John DiJulius (53:51.522)
their family members, recognizing the family members, having them stand up and us applaud them because they, at times of years, they have to make sacrifices so their employee can work their tail off and do what they have to do. And let’s see that’s more than just this salon or consulting company or whatever it is.

you know, that it’s really rewarding. Something I love to show in my presentations in the employee, retaining employees is about recognizing employees. And my favorite thing that I’ve ever been a part of in the salons is when we put someone on the floor, right? You’ve been there and it’s probably happened to you.

you know, for those of you in the salon industry, you know, you might have to train six months to a year as an assistant doing, you know, it’s, it’s like a doctor’s residency. It’s, it’s not a great job. And then you finally get promoted. when, we promote someone in the salon, they don’t know exactly when they know it’s they’re coming up, it’s going to be soon. They, might have to, you know, test out, you know, and so we don’t kind of let them know, but

you know, what we’ll do is, you know, someone will say, hey, you know, Trisha go in the back, I need more foils. And she goes in the back and I have a picture that I just got sent from the last one that went on the floor. The whole family, grandparents, boyfriend, dad, mom, you know, and it’s just so cool. And it’s just such a, you know, they’re there and it’s a surprise.

But anytime you can get family members involved in milestones in the employees with the company, obviously gets them more emotionally connected with the company. you man, you got a pretty good job. I wish my company treated me as well. I always remember, I think it was Kelly Ferrara. What’s her name? that her name now? Pinchot? Pinchot. Is that her name? I always forget. always call her. She’s been working at our spa. She probably almost replaced you 20-some years ago.

John DiJulius (56:08.878)
She used to say that when her husband Mike would get the mail, he would tell when she got a caught you doing some right card from someone. That’s something that we send out, managers send out. And he’d get mad because she’d get these caught you doing some right cards and he didn’t get them. And at work and like, know, those are a good way he’d get mad.

that is a little bit for for listeners who aren’t familiar with

Yeah, so we have caught you doing some write cards that anyone, any employee can give to each other, know, you can give up to each other. And they do, but our managers are supposed to catch people doing something right constantly. And we track that and we will look at it and say, all right, Denise, you have 10 people that report to you, you know, your spreadsheet says, you know,

who, you know, last time you caught them doing something, it means you sent them a card, you mailed them a card, whatever that may mean. But, know, hey, Denise, you haven’t caught, you know, Patty doing something right in 90 days. I mean, the girl shows up to work every day and brings it. So it just puts pressure in an authentic way to catch people doing something right.

Beautiful.

John DiJulius (57:30.99)
Yeah. That’s it. So back to my one thing, talking to college kids or my sons, is I just say go do shit. I mean, it’s so hard to say, and look at you, you change careers a couple of times and thought, I’m sure change it. And to ask an 18 year old or a 22 year old, what do they want to do for the next 40 years? And I’m pretty sure.

I don’t know, this would be a good chat GPT thing is, you know, people 50 and older, you know, how many, what’s the percentage there are on to a second or third or fourth career, right. And

Well, now with technology moving as fast as it is, kids coming out of college, I mean, you could guarantee they’re going to have multiple careers in their life. Things are going to change so fast you better start thinking about your next one. What’s your next?

I got a little more, 30 more years of this. I don’t want nothing, I love this, I love this. mean, I can’t believe I get to do this. But that’s my point is, you know, just go do shit and you’ll find something that you’re really, really good at that you could make a lot of money for that makes a positive impact. And that’s what you’ll gravitate for. If I would have gotten what I wanted, I would open a sporting goods store. And I’m sure that probably wouldn’t have been a great business model. I mean, obviously it’s, you know,

Let me know if there’s too many left other than Dick’s Sporting Good Store, right? so, you know, but I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I fell into the salon totally by accident and it took off with, you know, the partnership of what me and Stacey brought and then fell into the speaking and that took off. And, you know, today I can’t believe I get paid to do, you know, any of it.

Denise (59:26.732)
When did you know you made it?

I’ll tell you when that happens.

You haven’t had that big moment yet.

I don’t know if you ever do. You know, being an entrepreneur, just, you’re, you, obviously you’ve heard of,

John DiJulius (59:52.93)
my God. Impostor syndrome? Yeah. I have the opposite. I don’t know what that says about me, but like I’m mad that I’m not, you know, somewhere like I have so much I still have to do. you know, I lose sleep at night that, you know, I’m wasting time and I need to, you know, I’m not accomplishing what I was put on the planet to do. No regrets and no, I mean, I love everything, but.

I don’t have imposter syndrome, I have the opposite of like, you know, I’m running out of time and I got, you know, 30 to 40 years left to get the shit done.

Denise (01:00:34.888)
What else do I want to ask you about? I’m trying to think of some of the other questions people have sent in about best advice that you’ve been given, that you’ve given someone else. Have you ever given advice that you regretted?

I’m sure, not that I can think of, but I’m sure. Entrepreneur is just a different animal. If we’re talking about being an entrepreneur, there relates to a lot of things of just perseverance, but entrepreneur, I do have a quote here about an entrepreneur by Andy Presella. He’s a podcaster and blogger, and I love this quote that he has. Most people aren’t built,

for entrepreneurship because they can’t handle the ups and downs. They can’t emotionally take it. They can’t live with the what ifs and unknowns. And your success is going to be in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty that you’re able to live with. So if you’re not able to live with uncertainty, you’re not able to tolerate the ups and flows and you can’t figure out how to get better, you can’t do it. It’s impossible because it’s such a hard road, like the road to building something real.

I’m talking about building a real company, talking about building something sustainable, talking about building something that you can take care of your family with that’s hard. And there’s a reason why most people can’t do it. And it’s because they don’t have the emotional resiliency to deal with it. Andy Fasila said that. And that’s where entrepreneurship is. It’s just kind of state of panic and uncertainty. I don’t like

I think sometimes I’m better in that. When, you know, I just, I have that temperament of when things are not going well, it kind of slows down and I get more focused. I think when things are going really well is when I have a hard time, you know, because I’m not needed.

John DiJulius (01:02:43.342)
You know what mean? Like I’m needed when things aren’t going well and you know, we feel like the ship is sinking and it’s like, all right, all right, I’ll figure it out. But when the ship is moving and stuff, it’s like no one needs me and everyone’s doing just fine. I like, you know, want to put a hole in the boat. Like, you know, I like, hey, doesn’t anyone need something from me? So yeah, I just think that’s, know, it’s definitely a life of uncertainty and things that come at you and it’s not for everyone.

You are someone that puts a hole in the boat, pokes the bear, figures out, you know, breaks it, even if it’s working to see how we can make it better. What, where does it come from?

I don’t know. It might be the need to be needed. I don’t know. I don’t know. But I’m always worried about getting Ubered, right? I’m always worried about being the next blockbuster and the next Radio Shack, the next Circuit City, next, you know, Kodak. And it’s like, when things are going well, I get really nervous that we’re taking our eye off what is around the next corner.

So for an entrepreneur, it’s easier when things aren’t going well. For our, my ADD or, you know, I know what I have to focus on, know, having enough oxygen to make it to the end of the week or whatever that means. But it’s when things are going well, I feel like we could be getting content.

in thinking that, you know, and I’m like, man, we don’t see what’s coming out. So there’s a paranoia too, which,

Denise (01:04:28.78)
What makes you paranoid right now about the future?

The unknown. There’s just so much going on. And there probably always is, but from all the different things happening in the world politically, not saying it’s bad or good, it’s just a lot of change and we don’t know what the fallout is and the unintended consequences. AI and the impact that’s gonna have.

The thing that really just concerns me is the decline in people skills, the younger generation that went to, had to go to school during COVID, lost out on those opportunities. Then they’re getting jobs out of school, working from home, which is horrible for their development years and they just, you know, the…

the 20 year olds have the highest depression ever. Excuse me. And that’s just really scary. I just was reading an article that I’m writing an article on about how employers and corporate people are firing Gen Z’s left and right and everything that’s wrong with them. And

You know, I don’t know if, know, it’s the same old that you hear they’re not motivated at this. And I don’t know, I guarantee you that was said about us when we were entering the workforce or whatever. But the thing that is concerned is that they don’t have the people skills. They don’t know how to communicate. And that is that, you know, no fault of their own, relationship disadvantage. you know, really making sure businesses, you know, they’re not going to find the

John DiJulius (01:06:18.412)
the younger employees with the people skills, there’s not enough out them, they’re going to have to train them on.

Denise (01:06:26.798)
What were you training your younger people? Because you have a lot of younger people coming into the salon on the people skills. It’s a heavy people demand job.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it’s what the dejulish group teaches, right? it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, uh, you know, teaching what empathy looks like and empathy is a learned skill. I mean, didn’t have empathy when I was, you know, probably not till I was in my mid to late thirties, right? I just, you know, had, you know, I didn’t know without life experiences, you just look at someone and say, you know, they’re f’d up and you know, when, you know, it’s their fault and you know, they should be

you know, getting off their ass or why are they, you know, you know, drink too much or, know, all these things that you just don’t understand until you have life experiences or, you know, she comes in late to work, you know, she’s, she’s unmotivated. There might be some serious reasons why she’s coming in late where maybe she can’t, you know, her car won’t make it to work because, you know, she’s, you know, cannot, you know, save enough money to get ahead and all those things. So,

you know, compassion, empathy, rapport building, how to focus on someone else, be curious, I think that’s a superpower. You know, asking, you know, you should have a four to one ratio of questions asked versus answered. Keeping it off yourself, not asking a question because you’re dying to answer it yourself, right? Like probably like I did, asking if you’re in Florida.

just because I wanted to talk about my trips to the Caribbean coming up, right? I mean, we’re all guilty of that, of asking, how was your weekend? Good, you wanna know what I did? And couldn’t repeat what the other person said. Just good listening skills, good empathy skills, good curiosity, focusing on the other person’s Ford, family, occupation, recreation and dream.

Denise (01:08:27.406)
Do you have a favorite book you recommend for getting to the Gen Zers?

John DiJulius (01:08:39.202)
Hmm. I mean, I did a lot of reading for the our most recent book, The Employee Experience Revolution. I don’t have one in particular. I’m sure they’re out there, but I did a lot of really reading to try to put that in our book of how to motivate the different generations, but not necessarily. I just think, you know, caring and not thinking that they should be like

you know, their parents and trade hours for dollars. Listen, you know, they had a front row seat. It’s like, like they, canceled hustle, the word hustle, right? I was like, what are you? Okay. You know, that’s the greatest word ever. And, know, that’s what everyone should be doing. But, you know, then when I researched why I could see where they’re coming from, it’s not necessarily I agree with them, but

They had a front row seat to see their parents work their tails off two jobs that a lot of them had never paid off financially, right? Maybe they worked long after they should have, retirement years to the day they died. And financially it never paid off. And then you go to the flip side of where it does pay off financially. That came at a cost.

And usually the cost is relationships at home, divorce, not great relationships with their kids. Who’s to say there we were right and they were wrong or that they’re wrong? So finding the ground that gives them what they want and work should be fulfilling. We can’t avoid that.

Yep.

John DiJulius (01:10:35.874)
Most people can’t in their lifetime.

I’m looking at your books behind you. You have six books now. Yes. Which is your favorite?

Huh.

John DiJulius (01:10:54.538)
I think the customer service revolution. I think that’s probably my favorite. They all have a special part. Secret Service was the first. I had no idea if I was just telling people what everyone knew and it was just new to me. And so I was like, and it just, it had a really big impact. And people still tell me today, 22, three years later that

It’s the favorite book. They make every employee read it. I’m like, my God, like, you know, don’t like that book is so out of date and like, I’m embarrassed, but like, it was just cool. Right. So that has a special, a place in my heart. What’s the secret was our consulting business launch, but the customer service revolution seemed to kind of put those all into one thing that that’s our highest selling book of all time.

And the newest one, the Employee Experience Revolution.

is all about internal culture, taking care of your employees, onboarding, recruiting, retaining, developing leaders. Yeah.

and the relationship economy.

John DiJulius (01:12:04.98)
is similar to the customer service revolution, but it’s really timely. It’s about building relationships in a digital world. I think it’s great for B2B and salespeople and people, it came out a month before COVID and it was perfect timing.

for COVID, because it’s about how to build relationships in a digital age, via Zoom, over the phone, via email, with technology, but not replacing the human person.

Okay, six books, consulting, keynote speaker, the customer experience academy, the employee experience academy, live stream workshops. What’s next for John and the DeJulius group? I’m asking because I want to know.

Yeah, I was gonna tell you to tell him. I have to be. Yeah, that’s your job. You’re the managing partner. Someone just asked on a call with Patrick Thean. Did say it right? Thean. And he asked me what I do. And I said, know, Denise runs a business. I’m just out there, you know, kind of the face of it. But, I don’t know, you tell me what’s the next thing.

Prepare.

Denise (01:13:31.372)
Come on, you still have a very good handle on everything and know everything that’s happening and you are the idea generator. I always say you’re like that popcorn machine is like with ideas.

Yeah, I just think it’s trying to streamline soft skills to help businesses develop, hire and develop people and bridge the gap between what they didn’t get that our generations were forced to get and help them take on a workforce that

you know, is relationship disadvantaged and give them the people skills, give them the soft skills, give them the service aptitude so that they can execute a world-class customer experience. so many people, leaders are so frustrated with, you know, this generation. And, you know, I think that’s a cop-out. Maybe they need the tools. Not maybe the generation needs a tool. Maybe the leaders need the tools for the generation.

But I always go back to the Chick-fil-A and Ritz Carlton’s and John Robert’s spa hiring from the exact same labor pool that our competition is. Not paying any better, paying about the same. And our results, Chick-fil-A’s results, Ritz Carlton’s results, they got the same 21-year-old who’s executing it.

You know, so it’s not the generation. It’s what we invest in them, you know, after we hire them and train them and continue. 90 % of an employee’s professional development, the average company comes within the first six months. So if you’re going to work at a company for 10, 20 years, 10 % of your professional development comes from six months to, yeah, I mean, that’s scary.

John DiJulius (01:15:44.578)
That’s scary.

10 %

Yeah. I mean, I’m sure that factors in turnover and all those other things, but, know, and I bet you that 10 % is more for the people who go into leadership roles. But once people get them up, trained operationally, they kind of, you know, forget about them.

Denise (01:16:11.938)
Well, thank you for answering so many things. Anything else you want to add?

No, thank you for helping me build some really cool businesses.

Thanks for allowing me to be along for the ride. It’s been pretty amazing. Coming up, we have live stream workshops. So this episode will air in about a week and people will still have time to join the full live stream live. mean, there’s always an opportunity to join the live stream workshops and get the replays.

But if you sign up now, you can be on all of them live. start on March 9. I’ll put in a link in the show notes.

Did you want to touch on two hours every quarter?

Denise (01:17:03.854)
Two hours every quarter. It’s a great way to get together with your management team and actually work on some of these systems that John’s been talking about with the salons that he implemented and that our clients are using as well.

Denise (01:17:19.982)
All right, I know you have to pack for another.

Yeah.

Another trip to warm weather.

Yeah. Thanks, Denise.

Thanks, John. See you when I get back.