John Reid of JMReid Group: 5 Ways To Create a Wow! Customer Experience

An Interview With Vicky Colas

Play a head taller. Take risks, be vulnerable, be bold. Customers want to see passion and are willing to be challenged. They will be their authentic self if you are willing to be yours.

As part of my series about the five things a business should do to create a Wow! customer experience, I had the pleasure of interviewing John Reid.

John Reid is Founder, President and lead designer of JMReid Group, a global behavior change organization specializing in leadership, development, sales effectiveness and skill enhancement. John is unique in the training development space, having spent much of his career within industry. After John survived three bouts of cancer, he decided to pursue his passion for learning and development. John pursued this passion with a belief that people could get better and wanted to get better, but it was often the manner of which traditional training is designed and delivered that made this desire for growth difficult. As the lead designer for JMReid Group, John shifts the design emphasis from models and intellectual property to a learning experience that is relevant to the learner’s real world, taps into participants wisdom and is engaging and sustainable.

John has built a reputation for providing cutting-edge, client-focused solutions that deliver business results. He spearheaded the design of a breakthrough program on building relationships, leveraging both neuro and social science. He also created and implemented a learning strategy for a major pharmaceutical company, as well as designed and delivered a comprehensive sales effectiveness program for a leading packaging firm.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I spent almost half my career in industry working for a variety of companies. While in industry, I contracted a rare type of cancer. When you get cancer the first question you ask yourself is, “What do I want to do with my life and why am I here?” I had a real passion around this belief that people could get better and wanted to get better — but were poorly served by traditional training and development. So there I was with a family, a wife and four children, and a desire to change industries from sales to training and development. I took the risk and worked for a variety of training firms which ended up strengthening my belief that a different approach to training was needed. So, I created JMReid Group with a couple of driving principles. First, context — not content — is key. Second, learning design matters — it should engage the whole learner and be geared for medium to high performers. Finally, there is real wisdom in and out of the room, meaning we should tap into the learner’s experience as well as stay current with the latest thinking.

My journey, both in industry and working for training other people’s companies, has really informed the way I work, making what we do truly unique.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

One of the more recent stories involves a high level meeting with a partner at EY. We were being considered for, and eventually were awarded, a program for EY’s top 100 GCSP’s in North America. The meeting with the partner, Mark Manoff, was a part of the vetting process. So, practicing what I preach, I went to the internet machine and looked him up. The purpose being to look for areas of rapport to use early in the meeting.

I found a website that said in his past Mark was a news reporter for a local paper that was near me. I thought, wow what a cool career he has had — what a fascinating potential topic. I also noticed that we both attended the University of Maryland.

So, there I am at the dinner early, nervous and hoping to show up well. Mark comes in, introduce ourselves and I hit him with, “I gotta ask you a question. In doing my research, I noticed you were a writer for a local newspaper, how was that?” He looked at me blankly and said, “What are you talking about?” I said, “I did some research and saw you were a writer for a Philadelphia newspaper.” He said, “I wasn’t, are you sure you looked me up correctly?” I then said, “Please tell me you went to the University of Maryland, because that’s I all I have left.”

He smiled the smile of a fellow Terp and became animated. It turns out he loves the U of M. Order and some of my dignity was restored.

The lesson is, while you want to prepare, you have to be willing to be in the moment and adjust.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I have been blessed with a number of leaders who modeled great behaviors and who saw something in me that made them want to invest in my development. An early manager at Dow Chemical, Ken Koza, was this polished gentleman — he had real class — which I admired. He made two observations about me that were true, so this is not quite a story.

The first observation was that I was like a high-performance tractor on a field. He was confident that would get the job done — so his role was more to help me stay in rows, helping me work smart versus hard. He also asked once if I wanted one million dollars, or my name over a garage, meaning something tangible that had my name on it. He already knew the answer — my name on a garage. He understood me and I learned from him how to coach people as individuals, learning about them before providing insight.

Thank you for that. Let’s now pivot to the main focus of our interview. This might be intuitive, but I think it’s helpful to specifically articulate it. In your words, can you share a few reasons why great customer service and a great customer experience is essential for success in business?

Great customer service and great customer experience are within the context of the business, what they are trying to do and the customer’s the business is targeting. It’s essential because the cost of new acquisition is relatively high compared to maintaining and driving loyalty within your current portfolio.

We have had the same clients for over 10 years, which is unusual for a training company since typically after three years customers move to the newest/latest idea. Our longevity comes from our business model to compete on great design and relevance, rather than intellectual property and models. This longevity via customer retention based on awesome customer experiences allows us to better manage the business.

Do you think that more competition helps force companies to improve the customer experience they offer? Are there other external pressures that can force a company to improve the customer experience?

Of course. One only has to be old enough to remember the old ATT, or young enough for Comcast, to see the poor customer service behaviors and attitudes that exist without real competition.

Beyond competition, there is the fast changing environment we live in to account for that drives us improving customer service. Customers are busy and rely on the suppliers to make the process of engaging and doing business simpler. This requires suppliers to stay current on the latest thinking.

Can you share with us a story from your experience about a customer who was “Wowed” by the experience you provided?

EY, a large professional services firm, was interested in having us design a program on Relationship Building for their top 100 partners. Their immediate recommendation was that we a partner with a well known guru in neuroscience on the design.

I told them I would not do this since it suggests, I think quite wrongly, that one person has the answer. Well, after meeting the guru, it turns out he had the same philosophy about learning and development that we do. We ended up partnering and our client had the following to say about us.

“Each station was staffed with a facilitator, and display walls were covered with graphics that described the neuroscience findings that corresponded to the relationship context. Participants chose from a menu of stations and were issued a ticket. At each station, discovery and experiential learning methods were supported by neuroscience findings. The facilitators described these findings to participants so they understood the reasoning behind these non-traditional materials and methods.

The five stations focused on the following actions:

• Remain fully present through mindfulness. Explore the efficiency and relationship costs of multitasking and lack of focus.
• Be interested in feelings. Understand the biological mechanism of emotion and the evolutionary advantages of feelings.
• Build credibility through humility. Delve into the ways in which openness can be a strength.
• Manage self-defeating thoughts in relationships. Look into the research that proves the mind can rewire the brain.
• Manage the downside of expertise. Study the two systems of thinking, and how one system can manage the speed and assumption risks of the other.

Each station also included a set of succinct tactics provided as a slim pamphlet.

Overall, the partners have demonstrated their willingness to embrace this innovative approach. Feedback has been positive, with each program being highly rated. Specific comments include:

• “Very inciteful topics. Forces us to look deeper into who we are, how we experience and are experienced.”
• “Good data to support — logical and easily can see the ROI.”
• “Really challenges us on the way we work. It was an excellent session that I can apply to improve my productivity.”
• “Good program for shifting the way we think. Introducing scientific data helps analytical people ‘get it.’”

EY is testing the effectiveness of The Edge using its Audit Service Quality (ASQ) program and executive coaching sessions. ASQ is an annual client-satisfaction process in which an independent reviewer visits with a client to assess the strength and weaknesses of the relationship. These personal interviews with C-suite executives provide detailed feedback on the partner’s relationship skills. Post-training measures are compared to those gathered prior to participation in the program. EY’s target is a five percent increase in customer satisfaction ratings. These measures will help shape and refine the content for future programs.

Did that Wow! experience have any long term ripple effects? Can you share the story?

Big ripples. What we learned there we could apply to other situations — the power of choice, creating discomfort and power of visuals.

Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a founder or CEO should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience. Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Its about them — but who is them? This seems too simple — but its about the customer. In our case, that is the learner. We keep them in mind in everything that we do. Our competitors believe the customer is the training department department of a company. We think this is misguided. You have to be clear who your customer is at all times.
2. Treat your people right. This has been around awhile, and the data is clear. If you treat your people right, they most likely treat the customer right.
3. Segment, segment, segment. Know your target, know those customers that are most attractive to you, and treat them differently. Have a standard level for all customers, but provide the best service to the best customers.
4. Be flexible. Figure it out, particularly early on. Embrace the processes, but only for those that enable the experience, or help you run the business. Avoid processes that create distance or friction for the customer.
5. Play a head taller. Take risks, be vulnerable, be bold. Customers want to see passion and are willing to be challenged. They will be their authentic self if you are willing to be yours.

Are there a few things that can be done so that when a customer or client has a Wow! experience, they inspire others to reach out to you as well?

Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals! If you know you’ve created a “Wow” experience (you should know. If you don’t know, then you didn’t create one), they will be more than ready to help and recommend you.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

It would be that we all need to realize we are just people with a point of view and to fall in love with being wrong. We all reached a conclusion or have a perspective, but that doesn’t make it “the truth.” With this mindset, we can be curious about others perspectives. It is this falling in love with our own perspective, and believing it is the ultimate truth, that is so damaging. It stems from a basic desire to be “right and certain,” two troubling and seductive traps in this fast changing world. We need to all get wildly curious!

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Look for JMReid Group of Facebook

Sign up for our news letters here ( I am working on this)

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

About The Interviewer: Vicky Colas, Chef Vicky, is an award-winning chef in the Caribbean food arena. In 2012, Chef Vicky was awarded a silver medal for Caribbean Chef of The Year at the Taste of the Islands completion hosted by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. She was called to represent her country and be a part of the Culinary Team Haiti as a Culinary Chef Ambassador competing with 10 other Caribbean nations. The team was also awarded a silver medal for the Caribbean Team of the Year and received an Award for “Best Team for Taste of the Islands”. A published nutrition researcher, her study was selected in 2013 in the International Journal of Child Nutrition. Her recipe and interview have been featured in Essence Magazine online, Island Origin, and most recently the cookbook Toques in Black: A Celebration of 101 Black Chefs in America. In 2019, she was nominated in the “40 under 40” class of Legacy Magazine as one of South Florida’s “Black Leaders of Today and Tomorrow”.

Most recently, Chef Vicky was selected as one of twenty women candidates awarded for the 2019 James Beard Foundation Women Entrepreneurial Leadership (WEL) fellowship and is also part of a selective group of talented Chefs in the James Beard Foundation local food advocacy training programs. She is a wife, a proud mother of 3 boys, a business, and a food influencer in her community. Chef Vicky has been featured in her local news stations such as WSVN CH 7, Deco Drive, WPLG Local 10 News, 6 on the mix CH 6 and Good Morning Miramar.

Vicky is also a subject matter expert in the Hospitality, Culinary Arts, Restaurant Management, and Public Health (Dietetics and Nutrition) arena. She is a graduate of Florida International University (FIU) and Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.