Hola amigos

I’m writing this training newsletter to you from Medellin, Colombia.

It’s a cool city, I would maybe live here part-time, I couldn’t see myself doing full-time though, not boujee enough for my tastes.

Anyways, our goal today is not to talk about my travel, rather to share a very important insight I gained from this trip that I want to share with you.

Let’s start here:

(It’s story time so the insight will come after the story by the way - worth the read, but I’m biased)

I’m a huge foodie. It probably comes from my mom, she was always made us the fanciest dinners for all holidays. She would be in the kitchen all day and the night before preparing those meals.

This is why I love experiencing new restaurants, trying new dishes, different drinks, all from different cultures. So when I arrived to Colombia with my friend, one of the main focuses was, “let’s eat some crazy good food.”

We’ve gone to about 6 or so restaurants in the past 2 days, and you know what the golden thread was that was consistent throughout everything?

It’s not the quality of the ingredients, although that was great.

It’s not the ambiance/vibe of the restaurants, although that also fantastic.

And it’s definitely not the selection of dishes, which go figure, was tremendous.

It was the service.

Here's the average experience:

First of all, every restaurant has 1-2 hostesses OUTSIDE the restaurant who greet you on the street, “Hola! Como Estas? Tienes Hambre?” they’re all very pretty and greet you with a beautiful smile and a smooth voice.

You enter the restaurant and are kindly greeted right away, the staff is smiling, excited to see you join them.

You are seated and immediately asked what beverages you would liked, handed menus, and given recommendations on all the best food.

When the food comes out, the presentation is stellar. Every time you say thank you, the waiter responds with “con gusto” which means “with pleasure” - (side note: did the Chick-fil-A guy get that from here? Lol)

As you’re eating, the waiter only comes by once or twice to check on you, allowing you to have conversation at the table.

They never pressure dessert on you, only if you want it. But always offer coffee after your meal which is quite odd to have at 6 pm at night, but hey seems like a lot of people do it.

When you ask for the bill, they get to it right away. The price is ridiculously cheap. The tip is already included, you just tap to pay at a hand-held POS system, and you’re done.

It’s not uncommon for you to shake your waiters hand and have him thank you for joining you, as you thank him for serving you.

Now, let’s compare that to the average restaurant in America…

I walk up to the restaurant and am greeted by a 17-year-old covered in acne who asks you how many people without even saying hello.

It is almost as if the fact that you are asking for a table is a burden.

The hostess grabs a menu and takes you inside. You’re seated, but with no “con gusto” when you say thank you, just an “Mhhm” and a subtle grin.

The waiter walks up after 5 minutes to ask you what you want to drink.  She brings back your drink after about 8 minutes unless you asked for water.

You order your dish. It comes out. The waiter interrupts your meal 5 times to ask if you need anything, breaking the flow of conversation each time.

You ask for the bill, are asked if you want desert, when you say no, they make some joke trying to make you change your mind.

You payed $34 for a sandwich, not including a tip, and the waiter never talks to you again, they’re off helping the other tables.

(Notice how I said, average American restaurant, this is obviously not all American restaurants)

Now, you might say that I’m being snobby, but this is just objective truth. The experience in Latin America and the customer service in Latin America is better than in the states.

Why is this?

In Latin America, businesses know that they cannot afford to lose a single customer.

Their economy is not as strong as America's, so every customer is precious to them. This mindset translates into their exceptional customer service. They go above and beyond to make sure that each customer feels valued, appreciated, and eager to return.

Now, imagine if we applied this same mindset to our own businesses. What if we treated every customer/client as if they were our only one? What if we put in the extra effort to make them feel special, to exceed their expectations, and to create an experience that they can't wait to tell others about?

When you orient your business around providing outstanding customer service, you not only win more clients/customers, but you also keep them for longer.

Happy clients/customers become loyal AF, and they also become your biggest advocates. They'll refer others to you, leave positive reviews, and continue to do business with you for years to come.

In the case of Colombia, I saw firsthand how prioritizing customer service can make a huge impact on a business's success.

Despite the challenges of a weaker economy, these restaurants are thriving because they understand the value of each and every customer.

So my challenge to you is this: take a look at your own business and ask yourself how you can elevate your customer service.

How can you make each client or customer feel like they are your top priority?

How can you create an experience that they'll rave about to others?

It doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Sometimes, it's the small touches that make the biggest difference.

A warm greeting, a personalized recommendation, fast response time - these are the things that stick with people and make them want to come back for more.

When you make exceptional customer service a core part of your business strategy, you'll not only win more business, but you'll also build a loyal following that will support you for years to come.

Take this lesson to heart, I certainly have.

Upon returning to the states, one of the main priorities for Community 4Creators is going to be implementing better customer service so we can respond faster to questions surrounding billing, support, and general questions.

Right now, I think what makes 4Creators stand out is the quality of everything, and without a doubt the support/response time is the weakest link, primarily because there’s only one of me and about 160 of you.

I have some ideas that I’m going to be implementing and will keep you posted on any updates we ship.

One last quick note…

I think being able to get out of your day to day bubble and go and see the world is one of the best ways to make connections like this.

The main question is, how quickly can you connect the dots and then go into implementation?

If you want an exercise to perform for this weeks newsletter, here’s a good one:

1. Be caffeinated
2. Blank notepad
3. Good pen
4. Timer set for 30 minutes
5. Write down as many ideas as you can that would help you improve the quality of your service
6. Make a voice note of you reading all of them, transcribe it, feed it to Claude or GPT-o and follow this prompt: “ this is a list of potential improvements that I can make to my business, I want you to rank these in order of importance based on the customers perspective, and help create a strategy for me to implement 3 to 5 of the most important improvements”
7. Let it roll and get to work

Alright my friends, that’s all for this week.