Customer Experience Superheroes - Series 8 Episode 4 - The start up's perfect CX mindset - Kelly Mukhida

As we close series 8, what better way than with a first! In this episode of the Customer Experience Superheroes podcast, host, Christopher Brooks is in conversation with Kelly Mukhida, CX lead at start up https://delli.market/

Having spotted a gap in the 'tasting/catering/delivery' market (it is such as good spot its not properly defined yet), Kelly explains how Delli's 'customer first' strategy is authentic, because they are building up from scratch. Unlike competitors who have to understand how long it will take to migrate, or which of their cash cows will need to be sacrificed to be customer led, Delli does not have this distraction. 

As you listen to Kelly, you will be envious of her 'no compromise' approach to putting customers, and their enjoyment of Delli, ahead of everything. From the world of corporate CX, Kelly explains how the freedom of a start up has allowed her to be creative and courageous. 

The sound of the business being literally built in the background adds to the fever pitch atmosphere which Kelly clearly thrives in. 

If you would like to connect with Kelly, she's happy to do so on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-mukhida-8288a816/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to the latest episode of Customer Experience Superheroes. My name is Christopher Brooks, and I'm your host throughout this series. A series in which we explore the customer experience superpowers needed to be a leader and to help take organizations forward in modern day. In this episode, we catch up with Kelly McKeda, the CX lead for Delhi, an incredibly exciting new proposition in the food and eatery sector. Perhaps it's a little less defined, and you'll understand why when Kelly shares the story. But what I would say about this interview is it's a salient reminder that startups think a customer first naturally. Invariably, this gives them an immediate advantage over the more conventional, traditional organizations. You'll understand exactly what I mean when you hear the way Kelly talks about how the customer is at the heart of every decision they make. I will point out you can hear some background noise on this recording. That is because this is a startup, it is a catering business, and what you can hear are the cogs of commerce whirring away. Kelly, hello, and welcome to the Superheroes Podcast Series.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Hi, thank you, Christopher. It's great to be here. Nervous but excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

You know, you're in the Mavericks chair, so it's gonna be very exciting to hear what you're talking about. But um uh Kelly, we came across each other uh on on LinkedIn and I was really impressed with the uh comments you were you were putting up against people's posts, and I found them quite inspiring and just felt it was really good to connect with you and I was grateful I did because I think this story people are gonna hear is is one that um they can take a lot of heart and inspiration from. But perhaps there are a few people out there under a rock somewhere who haven't heard of you. So would you mind giving us a bit of appreciation of you and your your kind of your place in customer experience?

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Of course, yeah. I I've had a kind of run-of-the-mill journey. I I kind of fell into customer service as a 16-year-old going, oh, I need a job. What do I do? And it started off with face-to-face customer service, which is now known as retail, um, working for a ironically food company. Um and it just kind of progressed from there. I found that I really enjoyed helping people, being the person that they turned to when they needed something. And ultimately, my pride and my pleasure came from the satisfaction that people would get of, oh, you fixed it for me. This is great, thank you very much. It kind of evolved over the years as I honed those skills and had more experiences, not just as a customer, because we are customers of life and we go through every experience every day when and having different expectations and needs for them. Um, so we're taking those experiences and building them into my work environment as well. So we've have progressed across a multitude of industries. I've worked in the car industry, I've worked in the food industry, I've worked in in finance, I've worked for civil service, so I worked for the MOD for a while, um, I've worked for um food delivery companies, so it's it's been very, very transferable, but each one's been quite unique and it's culminated in my in my current position as customer experience support lead, uh, which is me now building our customer experience team and environment for our community of buyers and sellers in our new startup.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Wow, so you say new startup then. So tell me a little bit about this startup. Tell me kind of how it came about, its philosophy, and why you chose to get involved.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Delhi Market is the name of our company, and it started very recently in June, and it's the brainchild of Simon Beckerman, who was the previous owner of Deepop, which is the clothes exchange app. He saw a hole in the market for people being able to bring good quality food to others that they may not always experience. We associate good food with expensive restaurants or very exclusive dining experiences or pop-ups which aren't around for very long. Delhi is a format and a platform that allows people to share those good values and those good food experiences on a wider platform. Uh, and it's beneficial for both buyers and sellers. So it gives sellers a platform to have a further reach and it's good exposure for buyers because it gives them an opportunity to buy limited edition one-off exclusive drops, as we call them, uh, which could be a meal pack, it could be uh pre-packaged, it could be raw ingredients. Um, and they get to try all these different things without having to go and indulge in something rather expensive that maybe you have to sit on a waiting list for two and a half years. So Salt Bay isn't an issue for us. We don't do exclusivity, we want inclusivity, we want everyone to come and enjoy it, we want everyone to share in those good food emotions.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Excellent. And and what what attracted you to the organization?

SPEAKER_03 5:08

What really fascinated me about Delhi was the experience that they want to give to their community. They're all about building a community, it's about having shared values. The evocative reaction that you have with good food, but also with bad food, is a core fundamental of what it is that we're trying to do. So it's making sure that we keep it on the good end of things, giving people exposure to things that they may not have otherwise tried, but also giving sellers the opportunity to do limited edition runs to see if something's going to be successful. And that was a value that really stuck with me because it gives me the opportunity to build what do you need, what do you want, how can I improve on this, how can we take this a step further? How can I make sure that everything is tailored for you end-to-end? So from the seller to the exchange with deli to the exchange with buyer and vice versa. And ultimately it comes down to can we get our sellers on board to bring on more buyers? Can our buyers then be converted into sellers who will in turn bring more buyers? And we go in this constant loop of everyone having the same experience, that same enjoyment, that same pleasure, and an all-round good time, which should promote a discussion around food and drink as well as the uh sharing and the enjoyment of it.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Obviously, for Simon and for yourself, you know, the food is a very important part of it, but it sounds as if it's the experience of enjoying the food that's going to be key for you here. It's making it easy for me, making it enjoyable, make it a pleasurable experience, so that I can actually indulge in the foods and worry about those sorts of things rather than the mechanics of how I get there.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Yes, the logistics, the delivery, all of that is made very seamless. It's it's pretty much, you know, in terms of being a seller, listing a drop is a case of taking a picture, adding your description, adding your price, adding how long it's going to be available for, and then it's out there for everybody to enjoy. Um, we do generate some excitement around having future drops so you can put something up in advance and people can follow it. And when it does go live, so if we were to put something on for midday tomorrow at midday, everyone would get a notification to go hi, this this exciting new drop is now available. You can go and buy it. And um we also put watch notifications on to sellers as well. So if you find that there's something in particular that they've done that you really like, you can watch all their other things that they're doing so that you get the announcements for that that when those exciting bits and pieces turn up, you can go and enjoy those too.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Brilliant. Now I'm thinking about some of the challenges that organizations face at the moment with the logistics and supply, I can see how actually this when you say you found a gap, there is a gap here because you know, if it's clothing, then you might have stock that's no longer available, but it's visible on the app to say it's available because you don't really want to drop stock if you've got it in your warehouse. So I can see how that happens. But in your spaces are perishable, so have a very finite shelf life. So when you say two days, there's good reason because it's not going to be a good experience after two days. So does that give you an advantage in being able to have a very clean user experience?

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Yeah, it definitely gives us the upper hand in the exclusivity of it's only here for a a short time, a fun time, if you like, here for not for a long time, here for a fun time. Um, and one of our sellers is a farm drop. So he collects various different vegetables that are all homegrown, some by homegrowers, some by farms, and he puts a veg box together for you. Now that has a very quick turnaround because it is exactly that, it's perishable. They don't always travel so well. So it's really important to make sure that you know, for people that order those, that they get them in a good quality and a useful experience. It works in a similar sort of concept as you get with the Gusto and the Abel and Coles, where he'll make suggestions on what you can use them for, but it's also sustainability because these are the leftovers that wouldn't necessarily go to supermarkets because they don't quite fit, but that doesn't mean that they can't be used. Some somebody at home can then go and turn that into a really fabulous meal. Another seller that we have looks for people like that because she will then go and make a menu and then she's selling a pre-packaged menu. So it keeps things going that sustainability and then the experience of that continuity as well, is that you can trace it through, you can find the provenance of it, and then you can enjoy knowing that actually this is very well looked after, and these come from reputable individuals who are doing it as a passion, they're not necessarily doing it for the for the commercialism, and they take pride and pleasure knowing what the end result is. So whether that's someone's buying it so that they've got their veggies for the week, or someone's buying it to then remake it into a menu, sell onto others in different ways to enjoy, it builds on that initial passion and those values, and then that forms our the basis of our community.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

You're talking as if you know you're a few years into this, the business has been established, you've got all your insights and everything, but you only just started in the summer. So uh you're starting now from scratch, I guess. You have no customer base. How on earth do you build a customer experience strategy without customers? I mean, where do you start?

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Yeah, it's a really it's a really good one, it's a really interesting one. Um, I knew this when I when I accepted the role, knowing that there wasn't going to be a customer base, there wasn't going to be a team I could lean on. There wasn't anyone that's done my job before me, so in some ways it's good. I can't go wrong. Um, but in in other ways, it is very risky. Is there is a lot of exposure. It's it's my voice alone that stands on behalf of customers and what we feel should be the best for them in terms of what they need, on what they'll require, what they're going to expect from us. So it is very much a blank canvas. It's quite a large risk, as with any risk with a startup, um, in that what I think customers are going to need and what I think would be good for them may not actually be what it is that they're looking for. But this is where I'm able to flip it around and say we're in a position where I can listen to what it is that you think you need, and I can look at building that around our customer base. But our customer base is chances that it's the sellers and the buyers, and those are two very different experiences as well. But they're an experience that are very, very much connected. So it's it's understanding how we find that balance, and that's looking at what do our what do our sellers stand for? What are their values? What is it they want to achieve? And we're finding as we're as we're going out looking for people that they're recommending to other people that are also in a similar sort of situation where they've recently started up and they're they're doing it as a love or a passion because many people started cooking in lockdown, and it was more than just you know your sourdough loads, people had a creative side because they needed something to fill their time. Uh, and we all have more time to cook, right? So if there was more opportunity to invest in looking for good ingredients, looking for something that had a shared value, looking for something that was a bit more sustainable, looking for something that had a bit more provenance, and really making something personal, getting all of that in food and then getting that out to people is okay. So, what do we look from it? When we think of food, we think of it as an energy source. Some people eat because they enjoy it, some people eat because they only have to. Where can we then elevate that and bring it into the next level? Where do we make it so that you're looking at this food item going, oh my god, this is the most amazing thing ever, and I really want it. We have a seller on board at the moment, and he does he does Ruben sandwiches, and they are phenomenal. Yet to experience one, but the artwork that he puts up is just stunning. You look at it and you go, you just start dribbling. And it's it's that kind of experience that we want every drop on deli and every seller to convey and every buyer to experience and keep that cycle going. So the process for me at the moment is very much a case of understanding those seller values, understanding what they're looking for and how they want to deliver it, capitalizing on that love and that passion to go right, it's for me to now translate this in a way that is effective, that is enjoyable, um, that still keeps with that transaction of buying and selling, but making it more pleasurable, but also buying into the loyalty as well. The loyalty is a really key thing because if we do get it wrong, and it will, because it's a perishable item and has a short shelf life, is what we can do to then recover it. So a lot of my strategy has gone into thinking about okay, let's go. Worst case scenario, where can an orgasm wrong? Where can I work to improve it? Where can I look at building that trust and that loyalty back in?

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Excellent. We'll come on to that because I'm very conscious that you have a product which you don't own, and you have an experience which supports that product. And normally, you know, kind of when you are one of the same, you have this healthy tension between marketing, selling the promise and the business trying to fulfill it, and the business saying, look, just sell what we can deliver. That's a good enough thing to kind of promise people. So and you don't have that, and we'll we'll come on to that in a little bit. But I'm interested to understand, I've worked with with startups previously, and one of the challenges when you don't have that that insight, when you are representing the customer as you as you are, is the designers, the app designers, because they're very persuasive and also they they don't only kind of well, they hold all the the keys because they're the ones typing, they're the ones creating the the app. So, how do you ensure that you get basic functionality requirements in the things that trip us over and still without you know understanding where what the brand is going to be, really? I guess you've got an idea, but not not fully, get some of that uniqueness so that you know I use your your app before the next company comes along and goes, Oh, we're going to try and do the same. So, how have you found working with the the UX team, the user experience team?

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Um, I found the design team at Delhi to be very unique in that they are very collaborative, they are very much, what do you want this experience to look like? We can design it to look how you want it to be felt. Um, and they're they're very tuned into my okay, I want it to look like at this point, at this stage, with this many sellers, with this many buyers, and then the future, and then when we expand nationally, and then when we go international, and then they're very much on board with that, which is great. But yes, to your point, in my in my previous company working with the design team, they held all of the keys, they held all of the power and responsibility. It was uh, this is what we're designing, and you will fit your customer services around this. If we cannot physically do something within the app or on the website, then it's not happening, and you will go and tell customers that Delhi is the complete reverse. It's very much a case of if customers say to us, Well, we really feel that actually you need to have a tab in here that shows me my entire order history and everything I've ever sold so that I can be both seller and buyer, then we've looked at that and gone, brilliant, that's something that we can work on and we can make from scratch. And that feedback has gone back to our design team. I was just this moment sat with one of our lead product designers, actually, and he was helping me with the customer experience support forum in terms of does it look right? Does it feel like it's on brand with Delhi? Does it have the right colours? Does it have the right questions? Are they in the right places? Are they logical in terms of when a customer goes, oh my god, this has all gone horribly wrong, I need this fixed, can they do it self-help? The customer base that we're looking after and that we're looking to market towards is very much a case of instant gratification and convenience. They're all about everything at the finger's tips, everything being readily available. So that has to translate into that customer experience. And whilst text is very flat in that support function, it's very flat, it's that feeling of okay, well, I can look for this information myself. Oh, brilliant, I found the answer. I can now go back into my app. This isn't such a terrible journey. I had to do a little bit of work, but it's a valuable time investment, it's a valuable effort investment as far as that customer is concerned, because the return is that they have a smooth, seamless experience and a smooth, seamless journey in the deli app, which puts us above and beyond any competitors that are more than likely to follow because we are fortunate to be market leaders and not market followers. Um, but it will it will elevate us.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Well, it's rewarding to hear, it sounds as if you're not someone who would settle somewhere with those around you who don't kind of don't get the purpose and the passion. It seems to be it's an important thing for you. Is that is that true?

SPEAKER_03 17:15

Very much so, yeah. I've I've had lots of conversations with the teams around why the passion is important. Passion can often come across as aggression, which I think people then confuse with you know being demanding and being fussy and being arrogant. And actually, it's it's giving voice to the people that are our most fundamental element of what we're doing. Every business is no business if they don't have customers, nothing exists without a customer anywhere, anytime and on the face of the planet. So we we don't just say we put our customers at the heart of what we're doing, our customers are the heart of what we're doing because we need them to tell us what it is that we're making for them that works, that makes them want it more. Um, and the great thing about starting in London is that it comes with a lot of diversity as well. So the future plans of going international means that we can try out the food cuisines that we're looking at and the buyer market that follow those. So if we're looking potentially at the American um cuisine, we're looking at potentially Southeastern cuisine, um, African cuisines, all of those are readily available in London currently, and they all have their own communities that follow. So we can into those and then test it in a controlled environment before we go and launch elsewhere because diversity is key as well, right? Food again brings brings people together, so it's getting it right.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Right. And and I guess you know, you you said at the start there, this is a community setup. So understanding your it's a community rather than a transactional customer base puts you in a very different position. But you mentioned earlier, we'll come back to this now, the the fact that you know you are creating a platform for other people's products and and goods to be exchanged. And despite you providing a seamless experience, sometimes those products will go wrong, you know, might turn up cold, not what you ordered, wrong location, etc. So give us an appreciation of how you've worked in this space to you know not recover necessarily, maybe it is recover, but to to recognize where it can go wrong and how you then bring that back to to get back to the deli experience you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Yeah, I think it would be very foolish and short-sighted if working with a product with such a short-shelf life, if we didn't look at the realistic nature of things are going to go wrong, it's inevitable. Food is not meant to travel far, let alone national or international. So there's a very real perspective around yes, it is going to go wrong. And that was something that I took into my strategy from the very beginning when building my customer experience department and strategy was when it goes wrong, what can I do to make things better? What can I do to improve this? What can I do to recognize that yes, you have been inconvenienced? People put a lot of reliance on food again. Going back to the time of instant gratification and convenience, you know, you look at how well just eat delivery, etc., etc. did in the pandemic. Whilst we want to make it as good as that, it's it's got to be next level better. So it's the okay, it has gone wrong. Is it just about giving you the money back? No, there's a reliance on food. Food means I'm gonna be fed, it means I'm gonna be looked after, it means I'm gonna be nourished, it means I'm gonna be warm, it means I'm gonna be happy, it means I'm gonna enjoy it, it means I'm gonna share it with other people, it means I'm gonna go on and tell other people about it, and they're gonna feel all the same things that I did. Um, and that which is great for us because as humans we all have a fear of missing out, and we all want to share one thing, is capitalizing on that and going, okay, hands up, this is completely on us. Let me recognise that we've done wrong, but give me the opportunity to fix it for you. Give me the opportunity to make it better. And as I was writing some of my um templated response, because I'm finding writing out emails from scratch old school, like I used to do 20 years ago, is now very laborious and time consuming. Putting the final sentence at the end, like, thank you for giving me the opportunity to fix this for you. I'm glad that we could help. Let's make it better. Please don't let this be the only time that you use Delhi because we will work with you and work with our seller community to get this right, to get this consistent and to make it more improved and more enjoyable. So that is it's is I'm never gonna say guaranteed, but it is much more reliable, a lot more consistent in it's gonna go right. And when it doesn't go right, you can know at the bottom of your heart that you can come to Delhi Experience and that Delhi will fix it for you one way or another.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

You and I were talking before we went on air about previous podcasts I've recorded for Ashley Jones as a charity, Love Not Lost. And she has this philosophy around if things go wrong, it's you know, how can we love you better? So uh I it sounds as if you've got the spirit of that there at Delhi as well, this idea of every Complaints or every issue is an opportunity to progress and go forward. Would that be fair?

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Absolutely. No, no, there's no negative experience that can't be turned around. And what's important for me and what will eventually be my team when I can get one in the new year, um, and subsequently for Delhi as a whole community and as a whole um startup, is that those recoveries form part of that experience, but the memory of that experience will last a lot longer than the bad delivery or the bad food. So if we don't give that good memory, which comes from the good experience, it doesn't have a positive association. So yeah, it is how can we love that customer better? How can we love them up front? How can we love them enough to know what they need so that we can then give it to them and go, I don't need to be chased to give you this. We're just gonna give it to you up front. We're just gonna make sure that you have it, we're just gonna make sure that you're satisfied and that you're looked after and that you're accommodated and that you're feeling that love. We've got you, we've got your back. We want to look after you, we want you to come back, and we want to make sure that you know, despite how bad it was, and we're really sorry for that, we can still get this right. So come back and try again.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Brilliant. You mentioned earlier as we were talking, not just about a UK launch, you mentioned international aspirations as well. Now, as someone who's who's worked on another global transformations, I know you could you can't cookie cut these things, even with a kind of you know, even with some of the biggest brands above the door, with people like PlayStation, and you go from country to country, and it's different. The market dynamics are different, you know, the competitors, the what people perceive to be important, not important, and and also culture. So, so how what is your approach or consideration for kind of culturally adapting to support different countries or even within certain countries, I guess towns and you know, things change as well, don't they?

SPEAKER_03 23:56

Yeah, it's it's it's firmly a goal um of Delhi's to to go international. This this is a concept that we believe we can take a really long way. There's lots of untapped cuisines across the globe that we can look at providing to all manner of people. And yes, the ultimate goal would be international cuisines with international delivery. You know, you wouldn't then be limited to a rather expensive city like London or New York or Johannesburg to go and enjoy those types of experiences. But yeah, it's it's it's understanding the culture, it's understanding the market. Fortunate enough that we've been starting in London, um, and that has a lot of diversity in it, so we can do control tests in those communities. So where our office is, there's a really strong Vietnamese community, and it's not just for Vietnamese people, it's for the lovers of Vietnamese food, myself included. I could eat it all the time. Ironic, never been to Vietnam, but I know I love the food. So we can we can look at giving those, um, giving those experiences to people that may never have experienced it. So looking at someone in the Midlands or maybe potentially someone in Wales, and a friend of mine has never left Wales, and I was telling him about the virtues and and the pleasures of all of the varieties of food that are available. Let's look at getting those out. The cultural aspect for him as a buyer, which would be key for Delhi, is that he had quite a limited palate in terms of what he'd be willing to experience. But what was universal in that is soups. Vietnamese do amazing soups, they do noodle soups, and obviously they then add additional ingredients into that. And I was trying to say to them that you know, okay, I know you like your Heinz tin tomato soup, and that's very tasty, but this is a soup of different variety. This is this is you know, soup that's made from beef prones, so it comes with a really indulgent flavour. And then you add foods like spring onions, like tomatoes, like herbs and spices into it to then elevate that flavour in the same way that we add salt and pepper and bread and butter rolls into your soup. You're adding those extra dimensions, and he suddenly went from no, no, no, I'd never try this to actually I'd be tempted to consider it. And I said, Well, this is where deli would be amazing because look, we can give you a one-off opportunity to try this, and if it's not for you, then you've experienced it. Good or bad experience. We can we can look at providing nonetheless. Um, so it's understanding that and then doing the research around it and knowing where those differences lie. You know, we want to look at America and we're going sort of straight down the line. We want to do New York, we want to do Los Angeles, we want to do Texas. Texas is a massive food industry, but Texan food is very different to New York food, it's very different to Los Angeles. Los Angeles are looking at the super healthy side of things, Texas are all about their meat, you know, not so great for vegans, absolutely phenomenal for meat lovers. It brings a whole variety to people's awareness that they may not have had before. Food brings people together, it creates those bonds, it creates those happy memories. Going back to what we were saying, those positive associations of oh, I remember when we sat down with the family and we had this meal together and it was amazing, or all the cousins got together and we hadn't seen them for so long, and it was centered around this particular food. And the memory of that food is what brings it back together. So that experience is then cemented in your mind as a really good one. And then hopefully you're gonna want to look at going, okay, well, I remember that food as a child or in my previous experience, and this is now available on Delhi, and I want to repeat that, I want to keep living that happiness, I want to keep having that that experience lived over because the memory is fun, but actually I'm doing it for real now, so um I'm gonna enjoy it even more.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

So, one of the CX superpowers that we we talk about is experimenting. And you know, the whole premise of what you're talking about there is getting customers to to experiment with with foods and combinations they've not tried before, even if it's a small bridge from an English soup to a Vietnamese soup, which may be a bridge to Vietnamese food and then on to other things. Has the spirit of experimentation kind of permeated through Delhi as well? Are you are you are you breaking boundaries and doing things slightly differently, writing your own rule book, or have you kind of got a template that is a proven success model that you're following?

SPEAKER_03 27:57

My CEO is very much a uh a rule breaker. He just kind of went, rules, bye. Um given the opportunity, probably would have stood on the roof of the office building and launched them across London kind of thing. So yeah, it's very liberating in terms of we want it to be right, we want it to feel good. He's not he's not saying, you know, let's focus on making money. We need to make sure that our investors are happy and that they can see that their money's going in the right environment. Um, it's a case of if this if this person looked at it and said, I want this food, how good can we make it? What does that experience entail? What do those transactions involve? Where can we make that an enjoyable, pleasurable experience where the end goal is that happy, smiley, mm-hat was so good face, and that so good memory. So it's about being open to different opportunities, looking at all the different avenues that are available. Um, and that and that can be drawn from anything. A couple of people in our in our team have mentioned about the Disney experience, and it's that feel-good factor, and that's very good. But Disney have also got very strict parameters, and Simon is very much a case of well, let's not be linear, let's let's move outside of that. That's a guideline, we can use that as a base, and we'll give it a go. And you know what? If that doesn't work, then that's fine, we're gonna try something else by experience these products. I know I can feel good going back to our customer experience team, going to the Delhi customer experience team, going, Do you know what this wasn't right? Because customers will often raise query or complaint, not just for themselves. Yes, they want the immediate solution, they want their issue to be fixed, but they're thinking of others, they want to make sure that other people aren't going to experience the same inconvenience, the same problems, the same drama in some respects that they've had. They they do it with good intentions. And and if I had a penny for every time a customer said, Well, you know, this has happened to me, but I don't want it to happen to others, I'd probably be a multimillionaire by now. So people have good intentions around making sure that it doesn't happen again. And the best way that we can do that is is to take the learnings of any experience, good, bad, and otherwise. So throw the rule book completely out the windows, tailor it, bespoke it, make it individual.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

I did a piece a couple of weeks ago on hyperpersonalization and talking about the industries where you find that when it really is I'm the only one who has this combination working for me. And I can see that that will be interesting for you to see those patterns develop as you go forward. It's really interesting to hear you talk about Simon. I mean Jeannie Walters, who says, you know, don't bother unless you're working for an enlightened leader, because it's just going to be kind of a very short, frustrating experience. But it sounds as if you you've got an enlightened leader there. So this is a great story, and uh it just sounds as if you've got all the dots kind of connected up. I think it's given give a lot of people inspiration around recognizing to plan for when things don't go well, but also to not be limited by the rules, to get in the design team on board, to be clearly passionate about the products. I think it's very interesting how passionate you are about the food, and then you admit you haven't even tasted some of it, you know. So you buy into the Delhi brand, it's wonderful. But you know, there's a lot of people out there probably who will be thinking about if they're looking for their next move to go safe, to go to a big institution, a big organization where the roadmap, they're just joining the roadmap. You've done, as I say, I called you a maverick because you've done something very different here. You've taken a chance. And it sounds just by the kind of the tonality in your voice, like you're thriving on it. What would you say to people who are sitting there thinking, should I? Do I just go for conformity? How would you you know inspire them to say, no, no, take a chance, go for it?

SPEAKER_03 31:26

I'd say first and foremost, come speak to me.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Okay. So you know, so people can get hold of you on LinkedIn, can they?

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Yeah, okay. I'm on LinkedIn. It's literally just my name, Kelly Makeda. Can't miss me. I've got bright silver hair.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

We'll put we'll put a link in the uh intro so people can connect through to you. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

Um and for those that are, you know, the they're doubting themselves, going, oh gosh, I'm I'm caught up in the in the cogs of a big machine and I'm I'm not making the impact and I'm not having a value, and I'm not feeling not just recognized, but even feeling like I'm a part of something. I think that's probably a really key bit, is go, yeah, definitely have a look and and try something. If you have that belief of you can do better, you want to do better, you want to stand up and be counted for for all its faults and for for how tragic and terrible the pandemic has has been. It's put some really amazing opportunities out there. I'm certainly getting a lot of satisfaction and a lot of delight in what I'm doing because I know that I'm making a positive impact and I'm making a positive change. I'm setting the path for our customers, both sellers and buyers, and that will come back to me and that will come back to my team in recognition and in feedback, in something as simple as that was a really great purchase that I made on Delhi. I'd never thought to try it before. Or do you know what's the easiest app I've ever downloaded and used in my life? It's brilliant. So that's what we're looking for. It's those those kinds of feedbacks that feel good for us, is what's going to make us want to make others feel good.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Brilliant. I mean, that taps into another couple of the uh the points there, which is you've got to make a meaningful difference, otherwise, just don't bother. And also, you know, your reward is the success of others. That's another really important one of the superpowers, is to recognize that you're always in service of other people. That's our role in customer experience. And you know, it's a it's a very it's a privilege to be able to delight and excite people. So, Kelly, look, it's been a real pleasure. I'm just so glad we've had a chance to catch up. I was having a good day, but you know, you've really lifted it, you've got to fill me full of energy now. I think your words of wisdom will inspire people sitting there thinking, should I could I to think, yeah, yeah, the learning I'll get well, you know, so wonderful. And I truly, you know, I hope perhaps maybe in a year's time we can catch up and have another podcast and just find out what have been the the trials and the triumphs you've come across in in terms of customer experience with Delhi. That'd be really interesting to find out.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Yeah, absolutely. I'd love that because this is such a blank canvas for me as well. And I think it's such uncharted territory that to be able to be stood on the other side of it going, wow, looking back, we were so naive.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

I've no doubt it's going to be really positive. And I'm going to take a lot from this and I'll be able to utilize that for the benefit of our customer base and on a purely selfish note as well. Like we said, the satisfaction of doing shit with others.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

You know, most grown-ups, most normal people go and have children. I chose not to have children, I go to satisfy people in the service environment and make sure that they feel wanted and needed and cared for and looked after in in that respect. So I'm looking forward to standing on the opposite side going, wow, that was really good.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

It's a path which suits you well. And I think Simon is a very lucky chat to have you kind of spearheading the uh experience strategy. And I look forward to uh perhaps indulging myself. Thank you very much for your time. I'll let you get back to what no doubt is a very busy start-up and uh look forward to speaking again in the future. Thank you, Kelly.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Thank you very much for having me. It's been really fun, and yeah, I'm very much into doing the podcast, so thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Cool.