INTRODUCTION:

There’s a magical phrase that can turn normal grown men into grumpy walking hat stands, “I just want to go try a few things on.” That was me many years ago on the night of our anniversary. My wife Daisey hung all of her Earthly belongings on my limbs and bolted off through clothing store Disneyland. As a professional grumpy walking hat stand, I knew the drill. I found a comfy spot outside the fitting room and, as per the terms and services agreement outlined in every marriage, I proceeded to give feedback on the outfits as she modeled them for me.
This wasn’t a new activity, but it was a new store, so being that this was in the ancient times before the iPhone, I’m sure in between Daisey’s fashion shows, I looked bored out of my mind. Then a question changed everything, “Hey man, you want a beer or something while you’re waiting?”

It took me by surprise. Here was a store employee that I hadn’t seen when we walked in and he suddenly appears offering me a beer? Maybe this was a euphemism of some sort, or a trick wives play on their husbands to see just how disinterested they are in their little jaunts to clothing store Disneyland. Whatever it was, it sounded too good to be true. All of those thoughts were articulated when I responded with “huh?” He smiled, “you look like you could use a beer. We’ve got Heinekin in the back, is that okay?”

Heineken? That was my beer of choice. “Sure!” I blurted out. When he returned it to me I was no longer a grumpy walking hat stand of a guy, I was a guy, reclining in a chair, holding a Heineken, while his wife was shopping. Not bad. It was ice cold and maybe it was the setting, or the compete turnaround of the scene, but it was the best Heineken I’ve ever had.

Based on the clothing, Daisey was falling in love with the store, based on the beer, I couldn’t blame her. Then my customer service beer angel comes by to check in on me. He offers me another beer and mentions, “you know, with your tall and lean build, our menswear would fit you really well.” When you have the arms of a basketball player, finding dress shirts that fit, and look good, is about as easy as Indiana Jones finding the Arc of the Covenant. That’s pretty hard. He continued, “what are you about a 36/37 sleeve?” “Exactly” came my stunned, yet impressed, response. “Then this is going to be your new favorite store” was his excited and incredibly prophetic response.
Shopping at that store became a regular tradition for us for almost a decade afterwards. As great as the clothes were, and they sure did fit great, we kept returning for the service that we received.

To this day, I look back on that beer moment and can appreciate it not just as the consumer, but as someone who has been training customer service professionals for over two decades.
I work in the ballroom dance industry where our service desk is the space between our elbows, where we are literally holding our clients in our arms, and faking the connection we create is impossible. It’s close range, high touch service, and it takes a lot of hard work to make what we do look easy. In the case of our beer guy, he was smooth, the conversation flow was natural, and his service skills were most certainly the byproduct of great training. He made it look easy and could have worked in our industry without question.

Whatever the company invested in the beer, and their training program, they definitely had a great return on their investment.

Unfortunately, for every one story like this, there are countless interactions where the service is forced, impersonal, or nonexistent. The type of service that makes you want to put the word service in air quotes. The kind that makes you wonder where the manager is, what the hiring standards are, or question the culture of the organization as a whole. Studies show that even before the pandemic, bad customer service was responsible for over 60 billion dollars in lost revenue and increasing every year. In a similar study, over 80% of participating company executives stated that customer service was their number one priority. You don’t have to be a customer service conspiracy theorist to see the irony here.

For years, great service was a way to differentiate a business from its competition. Today, with competition coming from all over the world and a pandemic changing the business landscape as we know it, customer service skills might be the difference between the business keeping their doors open and closing for good.

The bottom line is this: Customer Service has never been more important than it is today.

About This Book

As a business owner, I felt like every book on sales, communication, leadership, and human behavior was extending my education so I could better equip my staff. I wanted to write the kind of book I would love to find and read on a work trip, to use as a catalyst for staff training, and to create a competitive advantage for my business.

As a father of five, and someone who loves to read to his kids, I want to tell you that I know how quickly attention spans can shift and so every chapter of this book will include a story to keep you engaged, entertained, and to help drive home a clear example of the teaching.

As a teacher, I want you to know that information is only as valuable as the application you put behind it. Some of the best advice I ever received in my career came from my old boss, Bobby Gonzalez, “if you want to be great at this job you just need two things: Good health and an open mind.” This book could be the catalyst that improves your business, or it could be a waste of space on your bookshelf. Good health and an open mind will determine how you see this book.

The late Zig Ziglar sold cookware before he became an author and speaker. John Maxwell was a preacher before he became an expert on leadership. While their industries may be different from yours, there is one common denominator: People. I will tell you right away that this book will include some stories that include dancing, but at the heart of it all is what author Brene Brown says, “it’s just people, people, people.”

This book will go through three stages:
The Choreography: This is where I’ll introduce the primary concepts of high touch service. We’ll cover the “Service Ammo” which can transpose over to any product or service and equip you or your team beyond the do’s and don’ts of a basic training manual.
The Connection: In this stage, you’ll learn how to add more depth to your service choreography, take the guesswork out of how to create a great experience, and make a more lasting impression with your clients.
The Commitment: In this final stage, we’ll explore how the choreography works when there are objections, misunderstandings, and other pressurized situations.
Final Thought

Every great monument, bridge, or building began with a bold idea, a builder willing to take on the challenge, and a blueprint. Whether it’s the Wright Brothers or Elon Musk, history is filled with stories where the skeptics far outnumbered the visionaries. In the world of dance instruction, we know a lot about skeptics. Our product is something that people love the idea of but are convinced they’re incapable of doing it. We deal with fears and phobias that have become affixed to people’s identities, only to see that all wash away when they allow us to teach them.

Fixing customer service is no different. The divide between the service we deliver and the service we want might be wide, so wide that people believe that reaching the other side is a fool’s errand. Who’s to say that you can’t be the visionary, the engineer that constructs the bridge that can change your skills, your career, and your industry? This is your blueprint and I’m so grateful to have a chance to teach it to you.

CHAPTER 1: SERVICE AMMO

Chapter 1
The doorbell chimed. It was dark enough, and rainy enough, to make anyone wonder: Who would be here at a time like this? I flipped on the porch light, and in front of me was a young boy, about ten years old, drenched and holding a bucket. My heart went out to him immediately, “Hey, can I help you?”  Instead of responding, he reached into his pocket and produced a laminated card. 
“Hello” he read, “my name is Joey, and I’m raising money to improve the lives of disadvantaged youth in our city.” Then, he lifted the lid on his bucket .  As someone who sold everything from chocolate bars to cookbooks for school fundraisers in grade school, I was hoping it would be more of the former, and not the latter.  The heavy duty lid to his fundraising treasure lifted away and I’m sure I heaved a sigh of relief to see an assortment of candy, chocolate bars, and all manner of things that will destroy a diet, but then I saw something and tuned everything else out:  Red Vines, my movie-watching treat of choice—I could eat them by the tub. At that point, I was Joey’s captive audience.  The only problem?  I was Joey’s captive audience.
Joey continued his presentation, maybe it was chapter two  script, but I was stuck between the distraction of the candy I wanted and, let’s just say, a very thorough presentation by a polite kid.  I tried smiling, nodding, giving every socially acceptable sign that I anything really to communicate that I was on his side and ready to purchase.  He kept reading, as steady as the rain pouring down behind him.  all I was thinking was, Get to the pitch. Just ask me if I want to buy some. But he continued reading for TK, until I finally jumped in: “Hey buddy, how much for the Red Vines?” 
“Five dollars” he said. My internal price point was far, far lower, but my affinity for the licorice, and teaching, took over. the fact that I’d gone through the entire presentation, prompted me to take some corrective action. 
I grabbed a pen and a small notebook and handed them to Joey. Right there, on the porch on a rainy winter’s night, I gave a ten-year-old kid a lesson on how to improve his presentation. I assured him that I’d be purchasing something if he could deliver this new and improved pitch.  We edited down his presentation to the bare essentials.  I knew he could read from a script and that this new, leaner edition would be a breeze in comparison. At first, he eyed me the way you would if you were expecting a prank.  I kept assuring him, kept teaching him, and Joey diligently wrote everything down.  “Now I’m going to close the door again,” I said, “You knock, I’ll answer, and then you say what we covered.” He knocked on the door, and began. 
“Hi, I’m Joey, and I know it’s late,” he said. I nodded my approval, and he opened up the bucket: “But maybe this will help. I could read you this long message,” he held up his script, “or I could just tell you that everything I sell will help me go to college. So, can you help me with that?”  
After he’d recited the new and improved pitch, I bought all the Red Vines he had.  

Whether or not you’re selling candy door to door, there’s something about Joey’s story that anyone in customer service can benefit from: a new point of view.  Like so many others, he was probably doing everything that was asked of him: visiting houses, reading his script, opening his candy bucket, and hoping that added up to more candy sold. When people said no, I’m sure he was trained to accept the rejection, wave goodbye, and move on. But where’s the improvement in all of that? 
I taught Joey something I call The Secret Mission, and it’s exactly what you’re going to learn next. It’s also important to note that, though this book is about customer service, service without sales is like a movie without Red Vines, at least for me anyway. Whether it’s being of service or delivering a service, service and sales are symbiotic partners. 
The Secret Mission is the best place to start in our journey through Service Choreography, because it’s how everyone I’ve trained learns to present ideas with confidence, to clarify a better path to the product, and to take ownership in the idea, even if they aren’t owners of the company.  

What is The Secret Mission? 

A plan that challenges the status quo and will leads to better results.  

3 Secret Mission Types

1. 1. The Opportunity: 
   
2. Acknowledge the normal option,status quo option for your product or service, then replacing it with a better one. This was the approach I taught Joey: “I could read you this long message, or I could tell you that everything I sell will help me go to college.”
   
3. 2. The Challenge: Think of the expectations the public might have and how your idea will take them by surprise. Athletic coaches have an especially strong affinity for this one. “everyone out there doesn’t think you have what it takes to win, here’s how we’re going to shut them all up.” 
   

As we proceed, you’ll learn how secret menu items are sometimes hidden in plain sight, the correlation your family dinners have with Harry Potter, and how maybe the best thing to happen to a team is the willful destruction of company property.  

Secret Mission: The Opportunity
The Secret Menu

“No one knows that the best dessert we serve isn’t really even on the menu,” the waiter said to a pair of women in business attire seated a few feet away from me, with the confident grin of an infomercial host. It was Friday, and I was picking up “date night to go” from our favorite steak house, a fancy meal we’d eat after the kids went to bed. As soon as I overheard him, I became a professional eavesdropper. I needed to know what this dessert was. His audience took the cue, and he continued as if a paid studio audience member had just asked, “well how do you do it?”  He flipped over the menu and pointed out the secret dessert, which was actually hidden in plain sight. “We take our sweet potato casserole hot out of the oven and add a scoop of vanilla Häagen-Dazs on top” There were plenty of guttural responses of approval, myself included.  

It wasn’t just the mystery of it all, or my insatiable love for sweet potato casserole—it was the departure from the norm and the confidence of his delivery. This guy was a real pro. What made this a Secret Mission was that he took the status quo (the menu) and presented an exclusive option, a unique opportunity. Whether anyone ordered it, or not, feeling let in on the secret gives resonance to the experience. 
How often have you heard the phrase “Would you like to hear about our specials?” then listened with rapt attention to a waiter reading a list of food items with as much enthusiasm as a forced apology? Using this version of The Secret Mission, you’re sharing an exclusive opportunity, like a VIP afterparty.  

Think of the Opportunity as an alternate route to your customers’ destination. “There’s this sweet potato casserole with ice cream on top.” Where the sales-hungry can lose sight of their service foundation is when that alternate route is presented as the only detour available.  “I’m sorry, but this is the only dessert we have on the menu now and my boss says, we needed your order 15 minutes ago.” There’s a good chance that if you had a friend who was constantly putting you under immense pressure and was prone to sudden outbursts with slideshows and sales presentations, you probably wouldn’t hang out very often. That might seem a little unfair, but high-touch service requires that you are engaged in conversation with your customers, not just planning what you want to present next. With The Secret Mission, you should always sound like a friend having a conversation (sharing an opportunity, some breaking news, or a way to lend support, for example), not reading from a script (or laminated card, in Joey’s case). 

Key Takeaways 
* Present the typical approach to create contrast to your elevated opportunity.
* Your Opportunity is an alternate route, not the only option. 
* A conversational approach is the key to high-touch service. 

Secret Mission: Challenging Expectations 

The Scottish countryside is filled with murmurs of concern while English soldiers march into position. As the scene unfolds, we see Scottish soldiers disband from their disheveled ranks. “I didn’t come to fight so they can own more lands,” says one.  
“I’m not dying for these bastards. Let’s go home,” says another.  Then, someone spots him: a man on horseback with a calm demeanor but with intensity in his eyes.  Each soldier he passes seems to spark a hushed response: “William Wallace.”    

He faces the ragged band of soldiers: “I am William Wallace, and I see a whole army of my countrymen, here, in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men.” 
Someone from the crowd interrupts: “Fight?  Against that?” He motions to the imposing English army: “We will run, and we will live.” 
Wallace continues, “Aye. Fight and you may die. Run and you’ll live, at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days, for one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”

This scene in the movie Braveheart is one of the best examples of sharing the secret mission and challenging expectations. William Wallace was addressing a Scottish army that was inferior to the English in size, training, and equipment. The available information was daunting, but Wallace spoke to the advantages that they had beneath the surface, the motivation to protect their land, to fight and save their families, and to live a life afterward without regret.  

This version of the Secret Mission is powerful. It’s designed to rally your troops, acknowledge the challenge, amplify the purpose, and set the plan in motion.  Here’s another version of this “Braveheart Speech,” set in real life.  

Coach Lopez 

“We lost four of our best players to the varsity team. No one thinks you guys have what it takes to win.” Robert Lopez’s voice echoed throughout the breathless gymnasium. On the outside, this was a team with low expectations, but it wasn’t to coach Lopez. “So, we are going to outwork everyone.” As a member of his team, I can tell you that, when he said “everyone,” he wasn’t just referring to the other junior varsity teams in our league—he meant everyone, anywhere. Or at least it felt that way. I never worked as hard as we did on Coach Lopez’s team, in my second year of high school. What followed after was proof: we had an undefeated season.  

5 Keys to Challenging Expectations: “The Braveheart Speech” 

1. Acknowledge the Challenge: If you don’t respect your adversary or problem, you won’t feel the need to give extra effort. 
2. The Big Picture: What is the opportunity that is bigger than the fear?
3. What’s the Hidden Advantage? For Coach Lopez, it was our effort.  For William Wallace, it was fighting with a passion to defend their own land and eventually die without regret.  
4. Rally: Here’s what we’re going to do. This is where your problem and big picture combine to align your team with the message.  

Framing it Out: “I Know, and I also know.” 

Let’s take the challenge of #1 and combine it with the big picture of #2.  We’re going to swap them into a sentence using “I know, and I also know.”  

- “Mr Smith, I know that learning a new program can be tricky, but I also know that you’re closer to a breakthrough than you realize…” 
- “Kids, I know that attending school on Zoom is a little different, but the extra effort you make now will mean no summer school…”
- “Mrs. Johnson, I know you have some concerns but I also know that that’s my specialty, so let’s get things figured out together.” 

The Takeaway

It’s easy to shield someone from challenges. In the service industry, we want to make things as easy as possible, reduce any potential friction, and make sure that the customer leaves happy.  But what if that short term happiness plan leads to long term frustration and dissatisfaction?  Telling someone what they are capable of, even if it means it will require more effort, investment, or time is not for everyone. But anyone who trusts you as the professional deserves an opportunity to grow, learn, or achieve to their long-term fulfillment. 

Secret Mission:  The Forecast 

Proper Dosing for the Church Fishing Trip

What could go wrong when you mix deep sea fishing, a church congregation, and over the counter medication? I was a certified pre-teen, and my Mom had enlisted a friend of the family to take me to the father-son church deep sea fishing trip.  Chuck already had kids—two girls—so I was his rental son, and he was my rental dad. We were meeting the rest of the group at the docks just after sunrise, so I spent the night at his house. 
I was curled up in my sleeping bag when Chuck woke me. “Here, take this.”  
He handed me a small pill and a glass of water and delivered a secret mission for the ages. 
“Everyone takes Dramamine right before they get on the boat, but not us,” he said. Even in my bleary-eyed state, this got my attention. “The real trick is to get it in your system the night before, then take it again before you get on the boat.” We both took the pill, and as I folded back into my sleeping bag, he said, “Just watch tomorrow and you’ll see.” 
When we arrived at the dock, we greeted the rest of the group. The fathers and their sons made comments about catching dinner, playful bets on who would catch the most fish—and then something peculiar happened. Just before they stepped foot on the boat, I watched them all pop their Dramamine pill. It was like communion, but for motion sickness. Chuck looked over at me and nodded with eyes that said, You see what I mean? And I certainly did. Chuck wasn’t just my rental dad, he was a bona fide teller of the future.  
As part of our plan, Chuck and I took our second motion sickness pill as we boarded. I was very interested to see how well our plan would turn out. As we set off through the chilly air and choppy waters, I’d find out exactly the kind of expert my rental dad really was.  
I’ll spare you the explicit details, but let’s just say that he was right about it all. Every single member of the church fishing party, except the two of us, were, in his words, “feeding the fish.”  Each time it happened, it elevated Chuck’s plan, his expertise, and my respect for him, which is a little weird to say.  

Your forecast is communicating the confident expectation you have for your client with your product or service. Thinking these positive things is easy, sharing them is a little more challenging, but let’s look at some of the key takeaways from Chuck’s fishing trip forecast. 

* Typical Problem: What’s the average choice that leads to less than average results? 
* Unique Solution: What’s your tweak to the plan that makes it more effective? 
* Not Us: When comparing the typical problem to your unique one, a phrase like “not us” or “here’s what we are going to do different” clarifies the path and unifies the people taking it. 
* Forecast: Share the evidence of progress. What might they see, feel, hear or experience that would be a sign that this plan is working?  

Framing it Out: “Not Us”

The following are some ways you can take The Secret Mission: Forecasting and apply it to your work, social, or family life: 

* “Everyone looks at a messy house and gets overwhelmed, but not us. We’re going to start by piling everything on the couch to secure our first small cleaning victory.” 
* “A lot of people sign up for a seminar only to let all the information drift away as they go back to work, but not us. We’re going to create a follow-up group to keep the information fresh and relevant.”

Adding the Forecast: Providing Evidence of Progress
Think of this the same way we would have, in ancient times, given someone driving directions. How would they know if they took the right road? This final example should give you some tips on ways to provide that evidence for them to notice. 

* “Here’s how we’ll know this workout is effective, when you wake up tomorrow, if your legs feel like jelly, we’re on the right track.”
* “If, by this time tomorrow, we’ve doubled our outbound calls, we’ll know this new concept is working.” 
* “If they start rolling their eyes, sleeping in, and getting emotional, congratulations, you have a teenager.”

The Takeaway

Too often, we can withhold what’s possible. It’s as if, somewhere along the way, we’ve become convinced that the people we interact with most are just one card away from the full house of ego maniac, so we think of people’s potential, instead of sharing it. What we fail to realize is that we are missing an opportunity to create a stronger connection built around vision and not just current events. Imagine that someone’s confidence is like a tire. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never inflated a tire to the point that it exploded on me. It is, however, always in the back of my mind. Conversely, how often have you experienced a tire that is a little deflated, sluggish, or completely flattened? Plenty of times. Someone who has a heart for service won’t hesitate to fill up the tires around them; they’ll recognize that communicating belief is something that will rarely, if ever, backfire, and they’ll provide evidence and support so the plan doesn’t feel like a bunch of hot air either. 

Hogwarts and Other Places to Look

Your Secret Mission doesn’t need to revolutionize your product. In fact, your product may already be revolutionary. Your Secret Mission can be a simple adjustment to how the product is used, how to use it, where to keep it so it lasts longer, or the best way to see faster results. Need another example of how a minor adjustment can lead to a major improvement? Just ask Harry Potter.  

In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry comes into contact with a used book for his potions class. But potions really aren’t his thing. That is, until he reads the book. In it are hand-written notes and adjustments to certain potion recipes, which are so precise that Harry’s potion-making abilities skyrocket. While you may not be in the market to make the perfect potion, there are some great examples of slight modifications that are much closer to home. In fact, they might be in your pocket as you’re reading this. 

Every app on your smartphone is in a constant state of improvement. Your favorite game, social media hangout, or photo filter is the result of layers of Secret Missions. Most apps are meant to solve problems, even if the problem is as comical as “I really need something to make me look more like a puppy in my pictures, but there’s literally nothing out there.” At that point, the developers see the current app market as the status quo, and their new Puppy Licking Good Photo Filter app finds its audience.  

When the app runs into problems, or gets “buggy,” the current version is the status quo and the new update, or “patch,” is the Secret Mission. In your industry, consider how long it has been since there was a patch for how you deliver service. I like to look at it through the lens of tech and ask, “What kind of cell phone was available when this training was introduced?” If your answer is a brick cellular phone with an 80s Miami Vice suit, you might have a Secret Mission in your future.  

The pandemic of 2020 forced every business to rewire just about every business function. If 2020 were an app, it was as buggy as it could get. But just like in tech, it meant a lot of patches, updates, and tweaks. We may never have another chance to evaluate how we do business to that degree. In a way, 2020 was our Joey story, a chance to reset, recalibrate, and an excuse to mention Red Vines again.

• Update #11 - Launch Week! Feb. 17, 2022

  1.  The book is finally here and I wanted to let all of you know how grateful I am for your support.  I've been working …

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• Update #10 - Ramping Up: Book Cover, Release date, Other News Aug. 24, 2021

  Hi everyone!

  
  I know it’s been a while and there are a lot of exciting developments to share.   let’s get right to it:

  
  1.  Here’s the cover …

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• Update #9 - Some big time news! April 21, 2021

  Hi everyone! 

  I'm happy to share that: 

  1.  I've signed a book publishing deal with Post Hill Press. 

  2. My manuscript is 80% finished 

  3. …

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• Update #8 - Jan 25th 2021 Jan. 25, 2021

  Hi Everyone! 

  Here's a quick update to keep you in the loop on this incredible book adventure. 

  For anyone that participated in the campaign and …

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• Update #7 - Emerging from the cave... with ☕️ Dec. 2, 2020

  Hi everyone!

  
  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.   here’s the latest on the book!

  1. I officially have an editor!  

  The post-campaign days …

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• Update #6 - The Final Countdown! Some important updates & clarifications Nov. 12, 2020

  

  Hi everyone! 

  As I'm writing this I happened to glance over to see the time remaining on the campaign:  21 hours!!!! 

  My gut just had …

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• Update #5 - News, Notes, and Rainy Days Nov. 5, 2020

  Hi Everyone! 

  Thanks for following along on this book writing quest and wanted to share a few updates: 

  1.  The Framework for the book is …

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• Update #4 - The Bonuses, The Calendar, The Backstory (October 26th) Oct. 27, 2020

  Hi Everyone! 

  Update:  18 Days Left

  The Bonuses

  After a lot of consideration, I decided to blow up my bonus levels and reconsider my strategy.  …

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• Update #3 - New Video Preview! (From last week) Oct. 20, 2020

  Thank you again to everyone that has preordered or is following along on this journey!

  A couple of fun highlights & updates: 

  1.  There are …

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• Update #2 - Q&A: What Will I do with all the Extra Books? Oct. 17, 2020

  Thank you to everyone who has preordered their books so far!  117 preorders and I just found out that The Choreography of Customer Service has …

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• Update #1 - The 3 D's of Any Exciting Endeavor Oct. 15, 2020

  The 3 D's of Any Exciting Endeavor

  First off, thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered their copies already and is following along on this …

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