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Saying "Great Work" Isn't Recognition What separates a truly memorable experience from one that simply checks the boxes? According to Robert Reitknecht, it has nothing to do with thread count, amenities, or the finishes on the wall — it has everything to do with how you make a guest feel in the moments that matter most. In this episode of Customer Service Academy, Tony Johnson sits down with Robert Reitknecht for a candid conversation about the gap between what leadership intends and what guests actually experience — and why closing that gap starts not with technology or process, but with people. Robert brings a luxury hospitality lens to some of the most grounding truths in the business: that processes should make an employee's job easier, not harder; that managers who stay behind their desks lose touch with the reality of their operations; and that the smallest operational changes can sometimes produce the biggest impact on the guest experience. In this episode: Why luxury is defined by emotional connection, not amenities or finishes How the "concept to experience gap" forms and what leaders can do to close it The power of getting out from behind the desk and catching your team doing something right Why talking to your frontline team is one of the most underutilized leadership tools available How the human connection remains the greatest competitive advantage any business has About Robert Reitknecht Robert Reitknecht is an award-winning hospitality leader, speaker, and founder of Hospitality Renu. With more than 20 years in luxury hospitality operations, Robert helps boutique and independent hotels turn their brand promise into a consistent, revenue-producing guest experience. Having worked his way up through the ranks with brands like Montage Resorts and Marriott International, he has led front office and rooms operations, trained hundreds of hospitality professionals, and supported organizations ranging from independent properties to marquee luxury brands.    📌 Connect with Robert: https://hospitalityrenu.com/    Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth). Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l  📌 Get your restaurant healthcheck as mentioned in the show at https://www.4xi360.com/diagnostix    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice

Half Time Is Over: Finish 2026 Strong Time is ticking away on 2026 and it might feel like you have just over 4 months left in the year, you really only have 3. The whistle blew on June 30th, and now is the time to take action if you want to impact what remains of 2026. Most leaders spend August telling themselves there's plenty of time, but November and December already belong to holidays, budget season, and year-end close. That leaves August, September, and October as the window where the work actually happens. This is the halftime audit for anyone responsible for a team, a customer experience, or a budget. Special shout out to all the campuses opening this week in higher education - thanks for welcoming the student back and creating a place where they can feel like they belong. Let's talk about the halftime audit - customers, teams, strategy, and you. This is how you will crush the rest of the year. In this episode: • Why role clarity rather than motivation is the quiet drag on your team's performance right now • Prioritize quality recognition and coaching around your most important priorities • Focus on what matters most going into year end - you can't tackle everything, so focus on key priorities with impact • Decide what you'll focus on, what needs to be removed from your list, and what gets pushed to 2027   Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth). Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l  📌 Get your restaurant healthcheck as mentioned in the show at https://www.4xi360.com/diagnostix    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice

Saying "Great Work" Isn't Recognition "Great work." Two words, zero impact. Your team can tell the difference between recognition and reflex, and so can your turnover numbers. In this episode I sit down with Alex Grande, founder of Recognize, to talk about what actually moves the needle on employee experience. Alex brings a rare combination to this conversation - he's an entrepreneur building HR technology, but he came up through psychology with published research in unconscious bias and social cognition. So this isn't a pep talk about praise. It's a working conversation about how recognition gets designed, why peer-to-peer is the purest form of it, and what happens to a team when the winners start noticing each other without a manager in the room. Practitioner to practitioner. Real tools you can use Monday. In this episode: Why training managers on 1:1s, feedback, and recognition is the highest-leverage employee experience investment you can make Comfort as a prerequisite for engagement - people don't bring their best to a room they're guarded in Why peer-to-peer recognition is the purest and most impactful form there is Winners want to work with winners: how recognition snowballs into a performance culture The specificity rule. Why "great work" fails and what to say instead Gamifying recognition without gimmicks: if the points don't lead somewhere, they don't lead anywhere Think SAPS: status, access, power, and stuff. This motivates people intrinsically The remote team killer nobody names: decision velocity, and why empowerment fixes it Building organic connection at a distance with water cooler channels and open meeting chat Meeting fatigue is real — kill the whole-team status update and make standups goals-based Camera on or camera off?  Alex Grande is an entrepreneur and workplace innovation expert who combines gamification with HR technology to help organizations build stronger, more connected cultures. As founder of Recognize, a social employee engagement platform, he helps companies improve communication, recognition, and retention. With a degree in psychology and published research in unconscious bias and social cognition, Alex brings an evidence-based, human-centered approach to creating recognition programs that drive lasting cultural change.   📌 Connect with Alex: https://recognizeapp.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgrande/    Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth). Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l  📌 Get your restaurant healthcheck as mentioned in the show at https://www.4xi360.com/diagnostix    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice

Titans of Hospitality: What 250 Years of American Service Can Teach Us About What's Next America is about to turn 250, and the story of who we are as a country cannot be told without the story of how we serve. From the frontier to the drive through to the Apple Store, hospitality is one of the most American art forms we have. It is also one of the most misunderstood. On this Independence Day, let's celebrate the titans who created american hospitality. In this episode, I walk through the leaders who built the way we welcome, feed, host, and wow.  We have evolved from commodity to product to service to experience. Up next is transformation and impact. We start with Fred Harvey, the English immigrant who civilized the American West one white tablecloth at a time and put the first professional service workforce on the map.  We meet the woman behind the scenes, Mary Colter, whose Grand Canyon architecture proved that the room itself is part of the hospitality. Then we hit the road with Howard Johnson, whose orange roof became a national promise and go global with Conrad Hilton, who believed hotels could be consistent, clean, and outstanding at the same time. We spend time with Walt Disney, who engineered the immersrive experience and Truett Cathy, who anchored the whole thing in values + people. We look at Steve Jobs, the outsider who leaned into hospitality in his stores, and the man who built the third place, Howard Schultz.  We finish with Ray Kroc and his gift for standardization and scale.  This is a walk through our first 250 years of service, told from the perspective of how it impacted the customer. Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth).   Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l  📌 Get your restaurant healthcheck as mentioned in the show at https://www.4xi360.com/diagnostix    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

The Value Paradox: Why Guests Are Spending More and Forgiving Less Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low, yet people are still spending. The World Cup just kicked off on American soil. And right here in Polk County, Florida, a landmark healthcare partnership just opened its doors with a vision that every hospitality leader should study. In this episode, I unpacks the paradox reshaping restaurants, hotels, and every guest-facing business right now: guests are opening their wallets and they are less forgiving than ever when the experience falls short. The brands winning aren't the cheapest or the fanciest - they're the ones whose people make guests feel like the money was worth it. We talk about lessons from the Watson Clinic and Orlando Health ribbon cutting in Lakeland - a masterclass in designing for the future. We also talk about the FIFA World Cup as the ultimate high-stakes CX case study, with a practical playbook for host cities, hotels, restaurants, and stadium concessions operators facing surge volume, international guests, and a global spotlight. In this episode: Why value has less to do with price than you think - and the three layers that actually drive loyalty The K-shaped consumer market and what it means for your frontline team The World Cup CX playbook: cultural fluency, surge staffing, recovery, and finishing strong Three leadership moves to make this week -not next quarter Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth).   Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

The Superpower of Bringing People Together With Amy Wiggins | Lakeland Chamber of Commerce As the President + CEO of the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, Amy is dedicated to creating a climate where business can prosper. She and her team do this by advocating for pro-business policies and initiatives, connecting businesses to resources, and strengthening relationships. A native of Plant City, Amy graduated from Florida Southern College and was formerly the Executive Director at the Lakeland Symphony. On today's episode we discuss: • Why great customer experience is built on relationships and making people feel seen and heard • How chambers of commerce create value by connecting businesses, resources, leaders, and community partners • Why "nonprofit" is a tax status, not a business model, and how great teams still require investment, trust, and buy-in • The importance of collaboration, belonging, and gathering in building stronger businesses and stronger communities • How talent development, career pathways, education, infrastructure, and public policy all help create long-term business growth   This makes the case for how important local chambers of commerce are to communities and the impact they have on businesses of all sizes - and that is great customer service! Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua  📌 [email protected] & https://www.lakelandchamber.com/      Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

People Squared - Leading in an AI World With Nikki Barua For more than 25 years, Nikki Barua has helped global brands reinvent their culture, capabilities, and competitive edge.  In this episode, Nikki introduces the idea of "People Squared." Let AI do what machines do best, while humans double down on connection, empathy, and judgment. When leaders combine both, teams become exponentially more capable. We explore what leadership, customer experience, and human connection look like in a world where AI is reshaping how work gets done. In this episode: Why great service is about being seen, feeling understood, and knowing you belong. How leaders must shift from directing tasks to explaining the why and providing context. Why identifying your superpower and zone of genius matters more in the AI era. How to find and eliminate friction points that slow teams down. Why empathy, curiosity, and human judgment will matter even more as technology advances. AI will continue to transform how work happens. The leaders who thrive will be the ones who learn how to combine technology with what only people can do. Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkibarua  📌 https://www.nikkibarua.com/ & https://www.nikkibarua.com/newsletters/reinvention-roadmap/subscribe      Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

Why Experience Matters as Much (Or More) Than Product With Dan Thumberg, Swan Brewing Tony interviews Dan Thumberg, founder of Swan Brewing in Lakeland, Florida. Dan's background spans the carnival and amusement park industry, beer distribution, and leadership roles at American Express and Apple. He now combines enterprise-level service systems with small-business hospitality to build community-centered experiences. Plus, Dan shares insights from his journey across large customer service organizations and into entrepreneurship - and how those lessons shape the way he leads today. Key Takeaways: Design your service like a system. Customer service skills are more important than any of the hard skills you can teach. Customers have no patience for friction or hassles in today's market. There is a structural shift in hospitality expectations. Guests want an experience designed to be intentional, not accidental. It is crucial to hire people with service spirit, personality, and the ability to empathize because you cannot train for that. Be selective when you hire and continue to nurture them after you bring them onboard. The keys to building a customer-focused team are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Train and empower your team to solve problems and support decisions that are not detrimental to the business. Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Learn more about Dan and Swan Brewing: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielthumberg/ + https://www.swanbrewing.com/  📌 Visit Swan Brewing: 115 W. Pine St, Lakeland, FL  33815     Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

In this episode, I introduce 2026: The Year of Experiential Hospitality and why it's time to stop treating customer experience and hospitality as separate conversations. Customer experience is the strategy. Hospitality is how that strategy shows up in real moments, on the front line, every day. Experiential hospitality is about intentionally creating moments where people feel welcomed and understood, and using those moments to build trust, loyalty, and differentiation. In this episode, we cover: Why experience is the clear differentiator in a commoditized marketplace How hospitality becomes the front-line expression of customer experience What hospitality-rich organizations do differently, and what every industry can learn from them How tiered service levels (value through luxury) create clarity and intentional premiumization The role of leaders and frontline teams as the true multipliers of experience Where technology and AI enable experience, and why humans must stay in the loop This episode sets the foundation for how experience, hospitality, people, leadership, and technology come together in 2026, with hospitality leading the way. Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth) in 2026. If you are ready to start 2026 with clarity, confidence, and momentum, this episode is your launch point. Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

As we head into 2026, leaders are facing a familiar challenge in a new form. Expectations are higher. Attention spans are shorter. Technology is accelerating. And yet, the differentiator hasn't changed. In this episode I talk about what is needed to drive employee experience, customer experience, and hospitality to drive business results. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why leadership, hospitality, and CX are no longer separate conversations • How employee experience directly shapes customer behavior and loyalty • Why hospitality is a strategic growth lever, not a "soft" skill • The rise of premiumization and intentional moments that matter • How technology should enable humanity, not replace it • The leadership behaviors that will differentiate brands in 2026 • Practical questions every leader should be asking right now Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance (and sales growth) in 2026. If you are ready to start 2026 with clarity, confidence, and momentum, this episode is your launch point. Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

Host: Tony Johnson Guest: Geoffrey Reid Author: The Revenue Catalyst: Mastering the Art of Sales In this episode, I sit down with Geoffrey Reid, a globally recognized sales leader with a rare blend of academic depth and real-world execution. Geoffrey's journey from public policy and mediation to sales leadership gives him a unique lens on how selling really works and why so many organizations struggle to teach it well. We dig into why customers want to buy but hate being sold, how sales has become a full business discipline rather than a single function, and what leaders must do to build sales teams that last. Key Takeaways Customers want to buy, but they do not want to be sold Sales today requires an all-fronts, fifth-dimension approach across the business Intentional hiring matters if you want teams that stay through tough cycles Training, coaching, and development are not optional for sales excellence KPIs should be embedded across the entire sales journey, not just at the close This conversation is practical, grounded, and especially relevant for leaders who want sales to feel less transactional and more connected and intentional.   Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l 📌 Connect with Geoffrey Reid: https://geoffreymreid.com/    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.

As the year winds down and the holiday rush kicks into high gear, leaders face a critical question: Are you coasting… or closing? In this Thanksgiving-themed leadership check-in, I break down how to keep your team sharp, energized, and aligned during the toughest stretch of the year while positioning your organization to win in 2026. Whether you lead a frontline team, a regional operation, or an entire organization, this conversation gives you the tools to finish 2025 strong and start 2026 with purpose. You could be a CEO, VP, Owner, or Entrepreneur - there is something in here for everyone who leads teams or serves customers. In this episode, you'll learn: • Why the "last mile" of the year exposes the strengths and cracks in every organization • How to keep your team sharp, rested, and focused through the holiday crunch • How to deliver consistent customer experience when demand, emotions, and fatigue are highest • What leaders must prioritize to win customer experience, employee experience, and loyalty in the new year • Why execution, empathy, and presence will define the leaders who succeed in 2026 • How to leverage AI and technology to support planning and performance without losing the human touch Perfect for: hospitality leaders, business owners, CEOS, COOs, CX/EX professionals, operational managers, retail and service teams, training and development leaders, and anyone responsible for people and performance during the busiest season of the year. If you're ready to close the year with intention and launch into 2026 with clarity, confidence, and momentum, this episode is your Thanksgiving checkpoint.   Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Order my book Proof Positive: https://amzn.to/3LWtP5l    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

Artificial Intelligence is changing everything about customer service and leadership, but only if we use it wisely. In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Dean, Founder and CEO of ManoByte, who's been leading AI-driven business transformation since 2007. Kevin and I dig into what it really means to combine AI and humanity to create better experiences, not just faster ones. We explore how organizations can audit their data, prepare their people, and adapt their leadership playbooks to keep up with the accelerating rate of change. You'll walk away with practical ideas to strengthen your data foundation, keep humans in the loop, and lead your team through the AI revolution with confidence.   Key Takeaways: Great customer experiences balance needs, wants, and emotions. AI can't replace empathy. Good data is the foundation of any AI solution. Start by auditing what you have and where the gaps are. Always keep humans in the loop. AI should enable connection, not eliminate it. The real opportunity is using AI to solve problems faster, scale knowledge, and free up teams for deeper service. Leaders must reskill, adapt, and rewrite the playbook for a new era of service and speed. The pace of change isn't slowing down and those who adjust quickly will thrive. If you want to understand how to balance human empathy with AI efficiency and set your business up for consistent, scalable service, this episode will give you the playbook. 🎧 Tune in and discover how to align your people and process to serve customers with excellence.   Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Learn more about Kevin and ManoByte: https://kevinjdean.com/ + https://www.manobyte.com/    Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

Some hospitality experiences are so bad, they could star in their own horror movie. In this Halloween special, we pull back the cobwebs on the five scariest mistakes that haunt businesses everywhere - from ghosted guests and zombie employees to haunted processes and cursed consistency. Discover how to bring your hospitality back from the dead by re-engaging your team, simplifying your service, and designing customer journeys that delight instead of frighten. Whether you lead a restaurant, event venue, university department, call center, small business, or front-line service team, these lessons will help you keep your experiences alive - and your guests coming back for more. Key Takeaways: How to spot (and fix) "ghosted guest" moments in your business The real cost of zombie-level employee engagement Why friction is the true monster haunting your processes How to create consistency that builds trust Ways to redesign the customer journey from hell into something better Don't let your service become a horror story - tune in and learn how to keep your hospitality far from haunted.   Subscribe, drop 5 stars, and share this episode to help more leaders bring passion and purpose to their organizations.   Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits     Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience Expert, Keynote Speaker, and Author with a wide background including decades in retail and restaurants.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement.  Tony has spoken to government agencies and Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.     Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/

Great customer service should be helpful, proactive, and built to solve problems, not create new ones. In this episode, I sit down with John Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of Sendbird, the customer communications platform powering more than 4,000 of the world's most popular digital applications and connecting over 320 million people every month. John shares his perspective as both a successful entrepreneur and Korea's former number one pro gamer to unpack how AI, testing, and consistency are changing the techn-enabled service game. We dive into: Why great customer service is proactive, problem-solving, and built around the customer's needs How omnichannel experiences create consistency across platforms with seamless handoffs Why customers now default to AI, expecting instant responses, quick solutions, and personalized follow-ups The mindset shift businesses need to overcome fear of AI and start small with simple solutions like FAQs and password resets The critical role of testing technology, pushing systems until they break before launch to ensure smooth, reliable customer experiences How the future of AI agents will feel as personal as your local business, remembering preferences and following up on purchases If you want to understand how to balance human empathy with AI efficiency and set your business up for consistent, scalable service, this episode will give you the playbook. 🎧 Tune in and discover how to align your people and process to serve customers with excellence.   Book time with me to learn about our speaking, training, and consulting services: https://calendly.com/thetonyjohnson/strategy  Links & Resources: 📌 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-johnson-ccxp/ 📌 Order my book Together We Serve: https://amzn.to/4pwGvPL  📌 Book hospitality training for your team today: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/summits 📌 Learn more about John and Sendbird:  https://sendbird.com/ + [email protected]      Tony Johnson is a Customer Experience + Hospitality Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, and Author with a wide background including higher education, restaurants, retail, travel, city government, chambers of commerse, and leisure.  He regularly speaks and coaches organizations to IGNITE THEIR SERVICE using his common sense approach to Customer engagement and retentions.  Tony has spoken to government agencies, airlines, universities, and many Fortune 500 companies to unlock their amazing capacity for excellence.   Check out my FREE Resources and Training Tools: Web: https://www.igniteyourservice.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheTonyJohnson Twitter:  https://twitter.com/The_TonyJohnson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/THE_TONYJOHNSON/ Tik Tok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@igniteyourservice Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tonyjohnsoncx/