Arjun Sen, "Brand Yoda" of Zen Mango

This is our 100th episode in this series. Such a great milestone deserves a great guest, and today we have Arjun Sen, who is a former Fortune 500 executive for well-known brands like Papa Johns, Chipotle and Chili's, Quiznos, Einstein Bros, & Pizza Hut.

He is a celebrated author of the book Customer Karma, a branding guru & customer journey expert through Zen Mango, and a highly sought-after international keynote speaker.

In his book, Customer Karma, Arjun uncovers the blindspots of many well-intentioned companies in the customer dating game. From his experience, he tells us that Karma is about building relationships with the customer from that first experience that you're not just looking for that transaction but rather, you are trying to build a relationship.

He categorizes customers into 2: customers who are in control (Butterflies) and self-paced customers (Terminators).   By giving customers a positive feeling in your business, they will be the ones who give. positive word of mouth which becomes a lifetime referral. 

One of the key concepts to remember is that customers are powerful in the restaurant business or any business. And to give your customers those positive feeling you must do 4 things: 

• be human, 
• think human, 
• feel human,
• And act human. 

Additionally, when dealing with customers, remember

• You cannot have a long-term connection with customers by making customers feel stupid at any point in time
• You make your own Karma: When you have an opportunity, you must do the best you can, putting the best effort is paramount.
• first impression with a customer is everything. you either land the customer for life or lose them for life.

Lessons Learn when collaborating with others

• To lead a team, you must understand their mindset
• Hurting someone’s feelings isn’t a way to build a team
• it's not about what you do, but, how we do together as a team.

Arjun's Website: Arjuns personal branding site

Branding website: Zen Mango

Podcast: Secrets to win big

Amazon link: Customer Karma

Barnes and Noble link: Customer Karma

Summary.

When working on any project, ensure you have fun, you look beyond just connecting the dots. Remember to always ask yourself how can I make this bigger?  Because the bigger ideas pay exponentially more.