Do a Little More: The Secret to an Unforgettable Customer Experience, Part 6
- Marty Jalove
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
What a journey it’s been. For the past six months, my good friend Joe Janicki and I have been diving deep into the world of customer experience (CX) on the "Bacon Bits with Master Happiness" podcast. And what started as a conversation has turned into a journey for me, too. It’s put a spotlight on something every business owner, team leader, and entrepreneur needs to remember: your customer’s experience isn’t just a part of your business, it is your business.
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In our final episode, Joe and I found ourselves laughing about how much we repeated certain ideas over the series. But as we said, we repeated the important stuff. The fundamentals. Because in a world full of distractions, it’s the fundamentals that build a remarkable company. It all comes back to a simple, powerful idea we hit on again and again: just do a little bit more.
Years ago, my wife talked me into a multi-day bike ride. I am not a biker. I’m not built for it. I’d see these massive hills and my first thought was, I can’t do this. But I learned a trick. I’d tell myself, "Just make it 20 more feet." I’d pedal, hit that mark, and tell myself again, "Just a little bit further." And little by little, I did things I never thought possible.
Building an extraordinary customer experience is exactly like that. It’s not about a single, grand gesture. It’s about a thousand small moments where you choose to go just a little bit further than expected. It’s about being remarkable, not just reliable. This is how you go from being a company people use to a company people love.
The Journey So Far: A Quick Recap
Before we unpack the framework to make this happen, let's quickly retrace our steps from the first five parts of our series:
Intro to Customer Experience: We started with the basics, defining what CX truly means. It’s not just customer service; it's the sum of every interaction a customer has with your brand, from the first ad they see to the follow-up call they receive years later.
First Impressions: We talked about how critical that initial contact is. Whether online or in person, you have one chance to make a first impression, and it sets the tone for the entire relationship.
The Customer Journey: We mapped out the path a customer takes when doing business with you. Understanding this journey, with all its potential peaks and valleys, is the first step toward improving it.
A Human-Centric Approach: This was all about shifting your mindset from seeing customers as numbers on a spreadsheet to seeing them as people. We focused on redesigning every process with the human being, their needs, their feelings, and their time at the center.
Training Your Team: We emphasized that CX is a team sport. Your people are your brand, and they need the training, tools, and trust to deliver a consistently great experience.
Which brings us to our grand finale, where we tied it all together with a simple, memorable framework.
The BACON Framework:
A Recipe for Remarkable CX
As you know, the show is called "Bacon Bits" because everything bacon touches gets a little bit better. So, it’s only fitting that we wrap this series with a framework for doing, not just chewing.
B = Baseline & Benchmarks
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. But what should you measure? Most businesses focus on the end result, like sales. But sales already happened. Instead, you need to measure the activities that lead to sales.
Start by getting your team together and mapping out your entire customer journey, step-by-step. Be honest about the friction points. Where do things get clunky? Where do customers get frustrated? Then, bring in a few key customers and ask them for their perspective. It’s tough to see the label from inside the bottle.
Once you’ve identified the weak spots, pick just two or three key performance indicators (KPIs) to focus on. Don’t overcomplicate it. If your team can’t easily explain how they win, the plan is too complex. These KPIs should be about the process, not just the outcome.
A = Automate with Empathy
In our rush to be efficient, it’s easy to automate the humanity right out of our business. AI and automation are incredible tools, but they should be treated like an intern without a vision: extremely knowledgeable, but waiting for your direction.
Use automation to handle repetitive, behind-the-scenes tasks so you can free up your team to focus on high-touch, human connection. When you do automate customer-facing communication, like emails or texts, make it personal. Personalize the prompts you give an AI tool. Ditch the corporate jargon and emoji overload. The message should feel like it came from a person, not a program. The goal is to balance the convenience customers want with the connection they crave.
C = Close the Loop
A great customer experience requires seamless handoffs and clear communication, both internally and externally. Every department, and every person, is a customer of another. Is your purchasing department making life easier or harder for your operations team?
Document your processes. Create simple checklists for handoffs so anyone on the team can step in and know exactly what’s happening with a client. As Joe said, "God forbid you got hit by a truck today. Can I come in and figure out what you were doing?" If the answer is no, the process is broken.
Hold regular, structured meetings. Joe’s team has weekly one-on-ones and a Monday team huddle with a clear agenda. This isn’t about meeting for meeting’s sake; it’s about identifying what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to be done. Try creating a rotating "CX Champion" on your team; each week, one person is tasked with bringing one new idea to improve the customer experience.
O = Orchestrate an Omnichannel Experience
Your brand needs to feel the same everywhere. The way a customer experiences your company on LinkedIn should match the feeling they get when they walk into your store or speak to your team on the phone. Consistency builds trust.
This starts with documented processes and is reinforced through training. But most importantly, it’s modeled from the top down. If leadership answers the phone differently than the process dictates, you’ve given everyone else permission to do the same. Your brand is your promise, and that promise must be kept across every channel, every time.
N = Nurture Loyalty
Winning a customer is one thing; keeping them is another. If you win them on price, you will lose them on price. Loyalty isn't built on transactions; it's built on relationships and value.
This is where the "help-first" mindset becomes your superpower. Joe’s insurance agency is a masterclass in this. The process starts with a referral, and the team immediately sets expectations for a 13-minute intake call. They don't just sell a policy; they present options based on what’s important to the client’s family and assets.
Then they do the little things that make a huge difference. To remove friction, his team handles the cancellation of the old policies for the client. They proactively review every policy at renewal time before the client gets a notice in the mail, letting them know they are already on top of it. This isn't just service; it's security. It's nurturing.
Your 30/60/90-Day Action Plan
Feeling inspired? Good. But inspiration without action is just a daydream. Here’s a simple plan to get started:
First 30 Days: Map your customer journey and identify one friction point. Pick one repetitive task you can automate with empathy. Get your baseline.
Next 60 Days: Implement your automation and review its impact. Start holding brief weekly check-ins focused on your CX efforts. Share what’s working.
Next 90 Days: Take what you’ve learned and apply it to another area of the business. Take your new process and go just a little bit further with it.
Building a business that people want to rave about doesn't happen overnight. It happens one small step at a time. It happens when you decide to go just a little bit more, and then a little bit more after that.
You can do this.
Ready to make your business irresistible? Subscribe to the "Bacon Bits with Master Happiness" podcast for more insights. And be sure to grab your free copy of our simple 30/60/90-Day Customer Experience Action Checklist to start your journey today.
Do a Little More: The Secret to an Unforgettable Customer Experience, Part 6
To learn more about Do a Little More: The Secret to an Unforgettable Customer Experience, Part 6 go to: www.MasterHappiness.com/live or “Bacon Bits with Master Happiness” on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
See it on YouTube
Or catch us LIVE on "BACON BITS with Master Happiness" on 983thelife.com, Monday Night at 7:00 PM and start making your life SIZZLE!
Marty Jalove of Master Happiness is a Company Coach, Business Consultant, and Marketing Strategist that helps small businesses, teams, and individuals find focus, feel fulfilled, and have fun. He helps businesses struggling with communication issues between co-owners, staff, and customers grow a happier and healthier business.
Master Happiness stresses the importance of realistic goal setting, empowerment, and accountability in order to encourage employee engagement and retention. The winning concentration is simple: Happy Employees attract Happy Customers and Happy Customers come back with Friends.
Want to learn more about bringing more happiness into your workplace and life? Contact Master Happiness at www.MasterHappiness.com or www.WhatsYourBacon.com