Your Customer, Your Success

Gary Marra
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Your Customer, Your Success is an entrepreneurial business podcast focused on how client-centric strategy drives sustainable business growth. Hosted by Gary Marra of Schooley Mitchell, the show features candid conversations with founders, executives, and operators who understand that leadership behavior, operational discipline, and client focus are part of the same growth engine. Each episode explores the connection between customer experience, employee experience, growth, and financial performance. Guests share practical lessons on building durable client relationships, scaling with clarity, and leading organizations that grow through trust rather than transaction. This podcast is for business leaders who believe that client strategy is not a department. It is a competitive advantage. If you are an entrepreneur, lead a team, advise clients, or build businesses that rely on long-term relationships, this show is designed for you and your success.

  1. 13h ago

    Leadership, Ownership, and the Discipline to Let Go with Jennifer Staats

    Leadership, Ownership, and the Discipline to Let Go with Jennifer Staats In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Jennifer Staats, owner of Staats Solutions and Chief of Staff at Sure Send CRM and ez Home Search. Jennifer has built her career inside the operations of real estate firms, mortgage teams, and service businesses, helping owners turn the systems in their heads into processes their teams can follow. The conversation opens on one of the most common barriers to small business growth: the founder becoming the bottleneck. Jennifer explains why the habits that work for a solopreneur stop working as the company adds employees, clients, and complexity. Growth requires the owner to evolve alongside the business. Jennifer’s strongest proof point comes from her own company. Before accepting a full-time Chief of Staff role, she had to redesign Staats Solutions so it could operate with only a few hours of her attention each week. She documented responsibilities, promoted team members into focused leadership roles, and transferred ownership of business development, marketing, and client relationships. Within 90 days, the team had taken the company to a waitlist. From there, Jennifer walks Gary through the role technology should play in a growing business. Her view is straightforward: the best CRM is the one the team will actually use. When client information remains inside the founder’s phone, inbox, or memory, the business cannot scale. A useful CRM creates visibility across sales, service, billing, follow-up, and the customer journey without turning leadership into micromanagement. Jennifer also explains how she leads through concise, highly focused meetings. Her leadership team uses segmented 15- to 30-minute conversations to make decisions rather than repeat information everyone should already know. She connects that discipline to respect for employee time, client time, and the operating capacity of the business. The conversation closes on the personal discipline behind operational leadership. Jennifer discusses learning to give herself more grace, deciding what genuinely needs to happen today, and looking at her own behavior before assuming an employee or system is the problem. She also shares an early leadership failure that continues to influence how she shows up for her team. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Systems create clarity. Ownership creates capacity. Letting go makes growth possible. If you are a founder, operator, franchisee, or business leader trying to grow without remaining at the center of every task and decision, this conversation will sharpen how you think about delegation, operating rhythm, technology, and leadership accountability. What You’ll LearnWhy founders often become the bottleneck as their businesses grow How the owner’s role must evolve as the company adds employees What a productive daily operating rhythm looks like How Jennifer prepared Staats Solutions to operate without her daily involvement Why focused team members can outperform a founder who is wearing every hat Why the best CRM is the one employees will consistently use How shared client information improves leadership and service decisions Why information stored inside the founder’s phone cannot support scale How short, focused meetings protect employee and client time Why leaders should examine their training and behavior before blaming an employee How Jennifer decides what genuinely needs to be completed today Why learning to let go is a leadership discipline, not simply a delegation tactic Chapters00:00 Cold Open 00:12 Introduction 01:28 Owning a business while taking on a full-time Chief of Staff role 02:12 The most common operational mistake when growing past five or ten people 03:20 What a strong daily operating rhythm looks like 06:32 How Jennifer built Staats Solutions to operate without her 09:02 What most businesses get wrong about the role of a CRM 12:48 Building a CRM that can work across service industries 13:44 Why new real estate agents struggle and how better systems can help 17:06 What leaders overlook in client tracking and management visibility 18:48 Leading a company without managing every daily activity 21:05 Building a culture of focused, efficient meetings 23:47 What balancing ownership and a full-time role taught Jennifer about priorities 25:42 What leaders should do when the operating rhythm feels wrong 27:40 Why outside coaching and support can still matter 29:07 Does It Hold Water? 31:50 Chip Shots Book RecommendationTraction Jennifer has read the book three times and applied its lessons from two different perspectives: first as the visionary and owner of her business, and later as an operator and integrator. Connect with Jennifer StaatsSure Send CRM: https://sure.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifernstaats/ Instagram: Jennifer the Realtor Connect with Gary MarraLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Website: https://www.schooleymitchell.com/gmarra YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Listen & SubscribeSubscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more conversations on customer experience, leadership, and business growth. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 About Your Customer, Your SuccessYour Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast built on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership behavior, and operational discipline. With listeners in more than 70 countries, each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. About Gary MarraGary Marra is a Schooley Mitchell Franchise Owner, business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on more than 25 years in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps business leaders think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. Through his Schooley Mitchell practice, he works with small and mid-sized businesses on vendor-neutral, performance-based expense optimization across telecom, wireless, merchant services, small package shipping, and waste removal. His perspective combines client-centric strategy with practical operator discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, fractional executives, and business leaders responsible for long-term growth and margin. #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #FounderLeadership #Delegation #CRM #CustomerExperience #OperationalDiscipline #SmallBusiness #Podcast

    Leadership, Ownership, and the Discipline to Let Go with Jennifer Staats

  2. Jul 29

    Century-Old Playbooks, Reinvention, and Building a Business That Lasts with Kenneth Kollasch

    In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Kenneth Kollasch, a certified business coach, founder of Kenneth Coaches, and former operator of an Arthur Murray franchise, one of the oldest franchise systems in the country at 114 years. Kenneth is also a certified coach under Will Guidara, author of Unreasonable Hospitality. The conversation opens on the operator lens Kenneth built inside a business designed to last a century. He walks Gary through how a 114-year-old franchise weathers cultural cycles, market crashes, and shifts in relevance by pivoting its offer, its people, and its customer experience. That same operator instinct shapes the framework he uses with small business owners today. Kenneth's sharpest challenge is that most owners over-index on what they supply and under-invest in what the market actually demands. He argues that a business ready to double in 12 to 24 months has two things going for it: an owner in a real growth phase, and the willingness to bring in someone the owner will trust with the business the way they trust themselves. From there Kenneth walks Gary through the Customer Advantage Map, his applied version of the Will Guidara customer journey work. He explains why owners cannot read the label from inside the milk carton, how to map every touch point, and how ordinary businesses can create a premium customer experience at a fraction of the cost most owners assume. Kenneth also breaks down the six suites of his Small Business Flight Plan, leadership, marketing, sales, product, management, and cash flow, and closes with a direct answer for owners who feel stuck: stop being alone. Accountability is half the battle. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Reinvention is the mechanism. Demand research beats supply thinking. Accountability turns intention into execution. If you are a founder, operator, franchisee, or advisor thinking about how to build a business that lasts, this conversation will sharpen how you think about customer journeys, growth phases, and the operator discipline that keeps a business relevant across cycles. What You'll Learn How a 114-year-old franchise stays relevant through cultural and economic cyclesWhy most business owners over-invest in supply and under-invest in demand researchThe two conditions that have to be true for a business to double in 12 to 24 monthsWhy the biggest cost of hiring a coach is not money, it is exposing what is actually happening in the businessHow the Customer Advantage Map identifies positive, neutral, and negative touch pointsHow ordinary businesses can create a premium customer experience without a premium budgetThe six suites inside the Small Business Flight Plan and how they compoundWhy the five-meeting cadence moves owners from reactive to proactive leadershipWhy James Clear was right: owners fall to the level of their systems, not the height of their goalsThe one question Kenneth asks every client that resets their focus Chapters 00:00 Cold Open 00:59 Introduction 02:22 From a professional soccer contract to ballroom dancing and how it shaped Kenneth's decision framework 05:03 What a 114-year-old franchise reveals about durability, reinvention, and weathering cycles 08:29 Why most new business owners over-invest in supply and under-invest in demand research 11:32 The two conditions that have to be true for a small business to double in 12 to 24 months 15:43 Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality applied to ordinary everyday businesses 19:27 The Customer Advantage Map and finding the touch points owners cannot see 25:27 The Small Business Flight Plan from leadership to cash flow 32:11 The one thing owners can do differently this month when they feel stuck 35:14 Does It Hold Water? 36:52 Chip Shots Book Recommendation The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell Also referenced in this episode: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara and Atomic Habits by James Clear. Connect with Kenneth Kollasch Website: https://kennethcoaches.com/free Generate your first (or next) $100k in your business with these 12+ free resources! Things like: • Courses • Assessments • Softwares • Workbooks • ...and more! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethkollasch/ Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Website: https://www.schooleymitchell.com/gmarra YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Listen & Subscribe Subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more conversations on customer experience, leadership, and business growth. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 About Your Customer, Your Success Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast built on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership behavior, and operational discipline. With listeners in more than 70 countries, each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. About Gary Marra Gary Marra is a Schooley Mitchell Franchise Owner, business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on more than 25 years in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps business leaders think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. Through his Schooley Mitchell practice, he works with small and mid-sized businesses on vendor-neutral, performance-based expense optimization across telecom, wireless, merchant services, small package shipping, and waste removal. His perspective combines client-centric strategy with practical operator discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, fractional executives, and business leaders responsible for long-term growth and margin. #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #CustomerExperience #Franchise #Reinvention #SmallBusiness #Founders #OperationalDiscipline #Podcast

    Century-Old Playbooks, Reinvention, and Building a Business That Lasts with Kenneth Kollasch

  3. Jul 15

    Mid-Year Review: The Best of Does It Hold Water and Chips Year to Date 2026

    In this special mid-year episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary looks back at the first half of 2026 and revisits the ten best moments from two of the show's signature segments: Does It Hold Water and Chip Shots. Does It Hold Water is the segment where Gary tests a piece of thought leadership against a guest who has never seen it in advance. The setup produces some of the most honest conversations on the show, and it delivered again this year on feedback, structure, empathy, business modeling, and the difference between joy and happiness. Chip Shots is the shorter form segment, a rotating set of professional questions with a personal edge. The answers this year covered the book that changed how one guest communicates, the line between a real risk and a terrible idea, an underrated travel destination, the risk of putting your ideas into the world, and the one question that changes the tone of any meeting. Nine guests. Ten clips. One question running through all of it: What actually holds up when leaders make decisions about their people, their clients, and their businesses? This episode reinforces the core principles of the show: Client focus is a growth strategy. Leadership behavior drives revenue. Operational clarity drives scale. If you have been listening this year, this is a compressed dose of what the best guests have said. If you are new to the show, this is the best possible entry point. What You'll Learn Whether leaders really want honest feedback, and what that means for cultureWhy structure and documentation create the freedom to deliver great experiencesWhere empathy gets misused, and how it connects to accountabilityWhat business lessons hide inside how a global artist runs her enterpriseThe difference between joy and happiness, and why it matters for leadersWhy saying less is often the harder disciplineHow to tell a real risk apart from a terrible ideaAn underrated travel destination worth putting on the listWhy putting your ideas into the world is a professional risk worth takingThe one question that changes the tone of any meeting Segments Introduction Does It Hold Water, 5th Place Does It Hold Water, 4th Place Does It Hold Water, 3rd Place Does It Hold Water, 2nd Place Does It Hold Water, 1st Place Chip Shots, 5th Place Chip Shots, 4th Place Chip Shots, 3rd Place Chip Shots, 2nd Place Chip Shots, 1st Place Closing Thoughts Featured Guests (alphabetical) Laurie Fainer, Alex Grant, Sid Meadows, Jessica Millhiser, Ali Ramer, John Sampogna, Katie Stabler, Dannah Vaughan, Kris Wauters 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Schooley Mitchell: https://www.schooleymitchell.com/gmarra · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. Now heard in 70 countries. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a Schooley Mitchell Franchise Owner and the host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #MidYearReview #Leadership #CustomerExperience #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #Feedback #Risk #Empathy #Gratitude #PodMatch

    Mid-Year Review: The Best of Does It Hold Water and Chips Year to Date 2026

  4. Jul 8

    Leadership Alignment, the Right Seat, and Customer Trust with Bryant Richardson

    Leadership Alignment, the Right Seat, and Customer Trust with Bryant Richardson In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Bryant Richardson, founder of Real Blue Sky and author of the forthcoming book The Next CX Economy, a customer experience advisor who helps leaders turn client focus into a growth strategy. This conversation explores a claim most operators feel but rarely name: customer experience is rarely broken at the front line. What breaks is leadership alignment, and the front line only reveals it first. Bryant walks through his CRAFT Agilities Framework, a diagnostic for the organizational conditions that build customer trust, then focuses on the F. Fitment, a term he borrowed from shipbuilding, asks whether the right people are aligned to the right purpose in the right roles for the stage the business is in now. He shows why a skilled but misaligned person can look like competence while quietly creating drag that customers eventually feel. Gary and Bryant spend real time on the difference between someone in the wrong seat and someone who is the wrong fit, why the fit that carried a company to one stage may not carry it to the next, and why hiring in a hurry costs more on the back end than it saves. They get into hiring discipline, employee development, and telling yourself the truth about a mismatch you have been avoiding. The conversation also covers a wealth management turnaround, where aligning a front line team to the organization's deeper purpose produced a sixfold improvement in prospective client meetings, and closes with a ninety day plan any leader can run. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: client focus is a growth strategy, leadership alignment drives customer trust, and the right people in the right seats are what let a business scale. If you are a founder, operator, or growth-stage leader who senses that capable people are still creating drag, this conversation will sharpen how you think about alignment, hiring, and the trust that drives growth. What You'll Learn Why customer experience usually breaks downstream from leadership decisions Where misalignment shows up first, and why the front line reveals it rather than causes it The CRAFT Agilities Framework, from Culture through Tactic What Fitment means, and why Bryant borrowed it from shipbuilding Why a skilled but misaligned person can look like competence while creating drag How to tell the difference between someone in the wrong seat and the wrong fit Why the fit that got a company here may not be the fit that gets it to the next stage Why hiring in a hurry costs more to fix later than it saves How self-awareness and bias shape people decisions, and how loyalty gets confused with fit A ninety day plan to strengthen fitment, starting with the customer promise Chapters 0:00 Cold Open 1:00 Introduction 2:45 Where misalignment shows up first 4:00 The CRAFT Agilities Framework, start to finish 5:15 Fitment, and why it comes from shipbuilding 7:00 When a skilled hire quietly creates drag 8:45 Wrong seat or wrong fit 15:45 Fit, development, and smaller firms 17:00 A wealth management turnaround 22:15 Self-awareness and telling yourself the truth 27:30 A ninety day fitment plan 29:20 Does It Hold Water? 32:37 Chip Shots Book Recommendation The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey Connect with Bryant Website: https://thenextcxeconomy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryantrichardson Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Please Listen & Subscribe Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a small business owner and the award-winning host of Your Customer, Your Success. Through his Schooley Mitchell of Weymouth practice, he helps organizations cut costs and improve profitability across telecom, merchant services, shipping, and other operating expenses, a vendor-neutral model built entirely on client results. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps leaders think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #LeadershipAlignment #CustomerExperience #CustomerTrust #SMBGrowth #CX #Leadership #CostReduction #Profitability #OperationalEfficiency #podmatch

    Leadership Alignment, the Right Seat, and Customer Trust with Bryant Richardson

  5. Jul 1

    The Client Journey, Documenting Your Processes, and a Business That Runs Without You with Jessica Millhiser

    In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Jessica Millhiser, founder of JMills Consulting and a business operations consultant who helps service-based business owners build the internal structure their business needs to grow. This conversation explores a simple but often overlooked idea: structure creates freedom. Jessica explains why so many owners look successful from the outside while the back end runs entirely on them, and how an intentional client journey changes that. She walks through the full journey she maps for clients, from entry points and the consultation to onboarding, deliverables, and offboarding, and shows how the operational back end and the client-facing experience move in parallel. Gary and Jessica spend real time on the stage most owners skip, offboarding, and why a strong finish protects referrals, reviews, and the boomerang clients who come back. They get into finding the gaps and redundancies in a process, getting the work out of the owner's head and into documentation, and creating the memorable moments that turn satisfied clients into referrals. The conversation also covers why owners resist structure until the chaos forces their hand, how staying the bottleneck limits both growth and the employee experience, and what an ongoing rhythm of review and adjustment looks like for a small team. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: client focus is a growth strategy, operational structure creates capacity, and a business that can run without its owner is one that can grow. If you are a founder, operator, or service-based business owner who knows the back end is held together by you alone, this conversation will sharpen how you think about structure, the client journey, and building something that runs without you. What You'll Learn Why structure creates freedom instead of confining youWhy owners focus on the deliverable and miss the experience around itThe full client journey, from entry points and consultation to onboarding, deliverables, and offboardingWhy offboarding matters and what most owners get wrong about itHow to find the gaps and redundancies in your client processWhy getting your processes out of your head and into documentation is what lets you scaleHow to build memorable moments that lead to referrals and repeat businessWhy owners resist structure, and how to know you have outgrown your current setupHow staying the bottleneck limits growth and the employee experienceWhat a healthy rhythm of review and adjustment looks like for a small team Chapters 0:00 Cold Open 0:59 Introduction 2:34 What founders misunderstand about structure and growth 4:05 Why owners focus on the deliverable and not the experience 5:05 Walking through the client journey, back end and client facing 6:45 The stages: entry points, consultation, onboarding, deliverables, offboarding 8:23 Offboarding and why most owners skip it 10:45 How to find the gaps and redundancies in your process 12:19 Getting your processes out of your head and documented 14:49 Creating memorable moments that lead to referrals 18:34 Why owners resist structure and how to break through 21:41 Employee experience and removing yourself as the bottleneck 24:30 The rhythm of review and adjustment 27:26 Where to start this week 29:41 Does It Hold Water? 32:40 Chip Shots Book Recommendations Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani Connect with Jessica Website: https://jmillsconsulting.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicamillhiser Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Please Listen & Subscribe Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 Looking for Fractional Support? Go Fractional! https://www.gofractional.com/r/gary-marra ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #ClientJourney #ClientExperience #ClientOnboarding #SMBGrowth #BusinessSystems #Delegation #OperationalDiscipline #ServiceBusiness #Founders #Podcast

    The Client Journey, Documenting Your Processes, and a Business That Runs Without You with Jessica Millhiser

  6. Jun 24

    AI Search, Digital Authority, and the Proof Gap with Ashley Smith

    In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary Marra talks with Ashley Smith, a digital authority strategist and the creator of the Proof Gap. Ashley spent nearly two decades in real estate, including serving as board chair and media spokesperson for Greater Vancouver Realtors, before turning her focus to a problem she watched play out across that industry and well beyond it. Her core argument is simple and uncomfortable: most experienced professionals do not have an expertise problem. They have a visibility problem. As consumers vet everyone online and AI search reshapes how people find and choose specialists, real-world reputation no longer travels the way it used to. The depth a professional has built over years often fails to show up where decisions now get made. Ashley calls that disconnect the Proof Gap, the distance between how good someone is and how visible that quality is online. Ashley explains how to tell whether you have a gap, starting with a simple exercise: search your own name, title, and market in Google and in an AI tool, then look honestly at what comes back and whether it reflects the work you do today. From there she lays out a practical path that does not require chasing a large audience or adopting a content-creator identity. The work is making real expertise discoverable. That means clarifying the few things you want to be known for, publishing your thinking in public and searchable places, and using recorded conversations, articles, and an RSS-distributed podcast to put your judgment on the record. Gary and Ashley also get into why being cited by an AI tool is only part of the chain, why human judgment and trust still decide who actually gets hired, and how Google's shift toward AI overviews and search agents changes what professionals need to do to stay findable. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Visibility is now part of how trust gets built. Real expertise still wins, but only when it can be found.Discoverability is a growth strategy, not a marketing afterthought. If you are a founder, operator, or advisor whose reputation is stronger in the real world than it is online, this conversation will sharpen how you think about getting found, trusted, and chosen. What You'll Learn What the Proof Gap is, and why experienced professionals are the most exposed to itA simple way to test your own visibility in both Google and AI searchWhy referrals and real-world reputation no longer carry the weight they once didHow to clarify the few things you actually want to be known forHow to make expertise discoverable without building a large audienceWhy recorded conversations, articles, and an unpodcast put your judgment on the recordHow getting cited by AI tools works, and why a citation is only part of the decisionWhat Google's move to AI overviews and search agents means for professionalsWhere polish and aesthetics earn their keep, and where they do not Chapters 00:00 Cold Open 01:09 Introduction 02:39 Why experienced professionals are becoming invisible online 06:08 How to know whether you have a Proof Gap 10:22 What to do when you are not showing up in search 14:37 Building visibility without chasing an audience 19:45 The unpodcast: putting expertise on the record 24:53 Getting cited by AI: what separates being surfaced from being skipped 29:18 Where professionals waste time and where to focus 33:36 The 30-day starting point 37:54 Does It Hold Water? 44:18 Chip Shots Book Recommendation Fast Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz Connect with Ashley Website: https://ashleysmith.now LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleysmithnow Show Your Proof (newsletter): https://showyourproof.beehiiv.com Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast Please Listen and Subscribe. Don't forget to leave a review if you enjoyed the episode. Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy. Want to be a guest on Your Customer, Your Success? Send Gary Marra a message on PodMatch here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMER, YOUR SUCCESS Your Customer, Your Success is a leadership and business growth podcast focused on the idea that client focus is not just a service philosophy, it is a growth strategy. Hosted by Gary Marra, the show sits at the intersection of customer experience, employee experience, leadership, and operational discipline. Each episode features practical conversations with executives, advisors, and business leaders on how better experiences drive loyalty, trust, retention, and sustainable business growth. ABOUT GARY MARRA Gary Marra is a business advisor, customer experience leader, and host of Your Customer, Your Success. Drawing on deep experience in financial services, client management, operations, and cross-functional leadership, Gary helps organizations think more clearly about how service, trust, and execution shape growth. His perspective combines customer-centric strategy with practical business discipline, making the show especially relevant for founders, operators, and leaders responsible for long-term client relationships. #DigitalAuthority #AISearch #Discoverability #ProofGap #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #SMBGrowth #Founders #CustomerExperience #Podcast

    AI Search, Digital Authority, and the Proof Gap with Ashley Smith

  7. Jun 17

    AI as a Practice, Augmentation Over Replacement, and Net New Value with Dr. Patrick Lynch

    In this episode of Your Customer, Your Success, Gary sits down with Dr. Patrick Lynch, AI faculty lead at Hult International Business School, a Thinkers50 Radar 2026 honoree, and author of How to Outsmart AI and Thrive(Routledge, July). An industrial organizational psychologist and former Accenture Research Fellow, Patrick has trained leaders at companies including American Express, Boeing, and ExxonMobil. The conversation centers on a single reframe: AI is not a project. It is a practice. Patrick places AI in the long arc of foundational technologies, from the industrial revolutions through the computer and the internet, and explains why this shift is different. Earlier waves took aim at physical labor. This one takes aim at cognitive work, the way we think and make decisions. That changes what leaders should actually be doing about it. He draws a line between Vanity AI, adopting a tool to replicate something you already do, and Viable AI, using it to add value you could not deliver before. The math on pure replacement does not pencil out, because the workers being automated hold specialized knowledge that does not disappear with the routine tasks. The real work sits with people and process, not the technology, and Patrick uses the BCG 70/20/10 split to make the point. Gary and Patrick also get into why data quality decides whether AI works at all, the AI wall that keeps a tool from bridging gaps in real expertise, and the AI Quartet, four ways people come to relate to these tools once they start treating them like teammates. They close on the layoffs narrative, what it means for a small to mid-sized business without a chief AI officer or a six-figure budget, and the one move a leader can make Monday morning. This episode reinforces a core principle of the show: Leadership behavior drives how technology lands. People and process come before the tool. New value, not replacement, is where the return lives. If you are a founder, operator, or leader trying to think clearly about AI without the hype or the fear, this conversation will sharpen how you decide where the tool belongs and where your own expertise still has to carry the work. What You'll Learn Why Patrick frames AI as a practice rather than a project, and what that changes for leadersHow earlier technology shifts targeted physical labor, and why this one targets cognitive workThe difference between Vanity AI and Viable AIWhy replacing workers with automation rarely pencils outThe 70/20/10 split, and why most of the work is people and processHow data quality determines whether AI delivers or failsThe AI wall, and why foundational expertise still decides the outcomeThe AI Quartet: Champion, Castaway, Cog, and CharmerWhat is really behind the AI and layoffs headlinesWhere the small to mid-sized business advantage actually sitsThe first move a leader should make Monday morning Chapters 0:58 Introduction2:28 The arc of technology from the industrial revolution to AI3:47 What makes this shift different6:15 Why AI becomes the problem when you treat it as the only solution11:26 What an effective AI strategy looks like, and the biggest mistake companies make14:57 Why data quality decides the outcome17:50 The AI wall and why expertise still matters19:18 The THRIVE model21:58 The AI Quartet27:58 The AI and layoffs narrative32:09 What this means for a small to mid-sized business35:29 The first move a leader should make Monday morning37:33 Does It Hold Water?41:27 Chip Shots Book Recommendation Influence by Robert Cialdini Connect with Patrick Website: Patrick Lynch Book: How to Outsmart AI and Thrive (Routledge, July), available for pre-order on Amazon 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more on customer experience, leadership, and business growth. Want to be a guest? Message Gary on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1726154102094403cb5558fc4 #AILeadership #ChangeManagement #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #SMBGrowth #FutureOfWork #CustomerExperience #OperationalDiscipline #Founders

    AI as a Practice, Augmentation Over Replacement, and Net New Value with Dr. Patrick Lynch

  8. Jun 10

    Getting Out of Your Own Way: Delegation and Finding Your Zone of Genius with Anna Brambilla

    Most founders don't scale because they refuse to hand off the work that's holding them back. Anna Brambilla spent nearly 25 years in career transition, recruiting, coaching, and franchise leadership before facing the exact transition she helped others navigate, learning to get out of the way of her own growth. As founder and CEO of Virtually Aligned, she works with founders who keep doing the work they should have handed off long ago. In this conversation, Anna and Gary work through why capable founders hold on too long, how the Zone of Genius reframes what to keep and what to release, and what actually changes for a business once a leader clears that space. The discussion moves past productivity tactics into the leadership behavior that drives growth: knowing where your strengths live, building a team you can trust, and refusing to stunt your own company by doing work that someone else should own. If you're a founder, operator, or fractional leader who senses you're the bottleneck in your own business, this episode sharpens how you think about delegation, self-awareness, and sustainable growth. What You'll Learn Why founders keep doing work they should have handed off long agoHow the Zone of Genius reframes what to keep and what to releaseWhat reclaiming 10 to 15 hours a week did for Anna's revenue and her relationship with her businessWhere the real resistance to delegation comes fromHow personality and self-awareness change what you should and shouldn't ownWhy "get out of your comfort zone" is incomplete adviceWhat changes for a team and its clients when a founder steps into their strengthsThe warning signs of a delegation hire that won't workThe first real step for a founder ready to let go Chapters 00:00 Cold open 00:56 Introduction 02:14 Why founders hold onto work they should delegate 03:53 How delegation reclaimed 10 to 15 hours a week 05:16 Zone of Genius: what to keep and what to hand off 07:35 Why founders resist delegating 10:12 Self-awareness and knowing what to delegate 13:44 The Zone of Genius lesson from an MBA project 16:10 Delegation lessons for employees and managers 17:40 What changes for your team when founders delegate 20:26 Why delegation fails and how to avoid it 25:22 The first step to delegating as a founder 28:10 Does It Hold Water? 33:00 Chip Shots Book Recommendation You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero Connect with Anna Website: https://virtuallyaligned.com/podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabrambilla/ Your Franchise Pros: https://yourfranchisepros.com 🔗 Connect with Gary Marra LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-marra/ · Marra CX Hub: https://marracxhub.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourcustomeryoursuccesspodcast 📣 🎧 Please Listen & Subscribe 💡 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode! 👉 Follow Your Customer, Your Success for more insights on customer experience, leadership, and business strategy.

    Getting Out of Your Own Way: Delegation and Finding Your Zone of Genius with Anna Brambilla
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Your Customer, Your Success is an entrepreneurial business podcast focused on how client-centric strategy drives sustainable business growth. Hosted by Gary Marra of Schooley Mitchell, the show features candid conversations with founders, executives, and operators who understand that leadership behavior, operational discipline, and client focus are part of the same growth engine. Each episode explores the connection between customer experience, employee experience, growth, and financial performance. Guests share practical lessons on building durable client relationships, scaling with clarity, and leading organizations that grow through trust rather than transaction. This podcast is for business leaders who believe that client strategy is not a department. It is a competitive advantage. If you are an entrepreneur, lead a team, advise clients, or build businesses that rely on long-term relationships, this show is designed for you and your success.

Information

  • Creator
    Gary Marra
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    64
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Gary Marra
  • Show Website
    Your Customer, Your Success