In this special episode of The Leaders' Lounge, Marianne Rutz sits down with none other than Kevin Wilkinson - Founder of Ethical Maintenance and her husband! Together, they share an in-depth conversation about Kevin’s inspiring journey from a successful corporate career to building a Community Interest Company (CIC) that’s revolutionising property…

In this very special episode of the Leaders’ Lounge, I’m taking you on a personal journey—a story of resilience, transformation, and leadership. I often get asked, “How did you move from the corporate world to leading a property maintenance company?” Today, I’m opening up about that journey, reflecting on pivotal moments that shaped my path. 💡 High…

In this episode, I’m joined by digital marketing guru and LinkedIn strategist Mike Roberts, the mastermind behind Making Digital Real. Mike’s also the talented producer and editor of OUR podcast! 🎙️ We dive deep into the evolving digital landscape, LinkedIn strategies, and the importance of staying human in an increasingly digital world. Mike share…

In this final instalment of the CEO Playbook series, I explore the final set of powerful lessons that shaped my journey as CEO of Ethical Maintenance. In this episode, I discuss the importance of embracing unexpected changes, finding peace at your own pace, and understanding that professional growth often means leaving behind those who don't align …

Perseverance, Pivots, and Personal Growth - The CEO Playbook (Part 2) In this second part of the CEO Playbook series, I dive deeper into the realities of leadership. From understanding that pivoting is perfectly okay, to managing self-doubt, and even resisting the temptation to quit, I share candid lessons from my first year as CEO of Ethical Maint…

In this episode of the Leaders Lounge, I dive into the first part of my CEO playbook - a series of practical tips and insights that I’ve gathered from my first year leading Ethical Maintenance. As someone who’s passionate about customer experience, stepping into the property maintenance management world was a significant shift. I share my journey, …

As I record this episode on 22 May 2023 - Dave D’Arcy who is well known in the employee engagement & leadership world is launching his own business. We discuss the aspects of leadership beyond Net Promoter Scores, Trust Pilot or Google reviews! With his experience in the Corporate World, Dave is bringing Leadership Skills and Fun at work, putting y…

Monday, 24th April marked the 5th anniversary of Rutz Consulting limited! Yeah - We made it to 5 years in business! We registered our limited company 5 years ago! In this episode we look at some of the reasons why 20% of businesses fail in their first year and 60% of businesses go bust in the first 3 years of trading! What are the pitfalls to avoid…

Today's podcast is of a rather personal nature! This is for two reasons: You might be a new listener to the operational excellence show and wondering who I am, where I came from and what we do at Rutz consulting Over the past 6/7 months I have been doing some deep work for myself and for the business - today I’m sharing this with you. Join me as I …

In today's bonus episode of the foundation series "Customer Service Delivery Made Easy" I’m talking you through how you can become a better leader in 9 simple steps! Resources: We have created an amazing downloadable workbook for you - covering the content of this foundational series! Go and DOWNLOAD IT HERE… Links: Contact us at info@rutzconsultin…

Today it’s all about cash! Show me the money in your customer service delivery! Resources: We have created an amazing downloadable workbook for you - covering the content of this foundational series! Go and DOWNLOAD IT HERE… Links: Contact us at info@rutzconsulting.com or email me directly marianne@rutzconsulting.com Website: https://rutzconsulting…

Today's teaching is well and truly focused around your customers! And remember - we are customers of each other! We are not designed to operate in silos! Resources: We have created an amazing downloadable workbook for you - covering the content of this foundational series! Go and DOWNLOAD IT HERE… Links: Contact us at info@rutzconsulting.com or ema…

Today we are discussing the importance of recording why you and your team are doing what your doing! Most of our clients struggle to produce an operational manual or ensure they have systems in place that allow the business to run, even if some key stakeholders are not available! Resources: We have created an amazing downloadable workbook for you -…

Today is the first instalment of our foundational series "Customer Service Delivery Made Easy" Over the next four episodes I will be looking at some of the basics & will be sharing insights, tips & tricks to help set up your Customer Service Delivery for success. In this episode I’m going to lay out a powerful 3 step approach to ensure your People …

Becoming and remaining an Employer of choice - that’s a tough order nowadays! I’m discussing this topic with Wendy Sellers, the HR Lady, who boldly claims… Your People are My Business! Topics such as Retention, the importance or nuisance of employee surveys, the silent resignation and so many more hot potatoes in the HR world are discussed and asse…

My Guest today is Marybeth Gregg, the Founder and President of The International Centre for Women’s Leadership and Author of Bestseller “How to soar with a broken Wing”. International consultant, coach, author, entrepreneur, mother, great friend, fun seeker, and adventurer. Marybeth Gregg is the President and Founder of The International Center for…

When was the last time you experienced excellent customer service? In this episode I discuss how customer experience is evolving, changing, the possible reasons behind this & whether or not it is for the better of the customer. In my research, I stumbled upon a Forbes article that was released in December 2022, discussing 10 Customer Service Predic…

We all have difficult times in service delivery! And guess what, delivering a service is inconvenient! But what when your vision is clouded, when you feel lost, a fraud, hurt, joyless or simply just had enough? In this episode we talk about perspective gained from looking back with a grateful heart. I share with you why applying the listening ear i…

My guest today is the co-founder of Tango! Not the Dance! Or a Dance Studio…. But an amazing tool to map out & write out processes in your organisation! In our Contact Centre Industry we live and breath processes and process improvements! We love it, I love it! Yet when it comes to documentation of said processes; the “How to” - then I often times …

Happy 2023 listeners! After the festive holidays & as everyone around the world starts to think of their new years resolutions it got me thinking about & the daily 15 minute fix to success. Today I revisit & recap on an earlier episode where I discussed how there should be ONE hack we must all do every single day! If there is one hack for success t…

In early December I held our very first boutique planning workshop - “Fix your Crown”! A completely different approach to Planning for Success in 2023! We looked at Our Financial Performance of 2021 and 2022 Deeply rooted, honest truth bombs about what we love and hate in our businesses What really matters to us - and it’s not the One Million Dolla…

There is a lot of noise around Diversity, Inclusion, Equality and Belonging out there! And rightly so! Yet - very often women are invited to change! To look at themselves and “fix themselves” - where in fact Harriet talks to us about the root cause of systemic bullying, abuse, career suppression etc. - She demonstrates how some of the issues are de…

Cesar Hassemann started his first business when he was just thirteen years old! - He built the small DJ Business up until at the age of 16 his friend and business partner got very ill - and died at the age of 18! Cesar made a lot of money in his home country Brasil. He arrived in Australia - wondering how on earth could be be successful over there!…

The connection between contact centre operations and a family-run Scottish Whisky Business is certainly not that obvious. However - My guest Karen Somerville shares how she had to change and pivot in her business pretty fast, as the world market place changed with Covid-19.She explains candidly how difficult it was at times, but she also shares her…

Nikki is a brand strategist and authentic messaging experts who work with brilliant leaders of leaders…. So people like me coaches, consultants, experts, service based business owners… who are hiding - sometimes in plain sight! Nikki had a high-flying career…. Until THAT very scary moment happened in her life at the age of 34! Countless 18 hours da…

Today I'm welcoming Paul McCarthy, CEO of Snapfix and yes, it's Snapfix not SnapChat, as you will hear me calling it! There is a story to this - which Paul will tell himself! Snapfix is one of the most amazing innovations I have recently seen in technology! There are industries notoriously failing from a maintenance perspective. I give you an examp…

Peak Season is approaching and with that can come stress, anticipation but also success. This year perhaps brings an extra and great pressure, as the world is dealing with high inflation costs, a war with no end in sight, staff shortages and increasing disruption of services. So how do we prepare? In this episode we delve in to what you can do to b…

Sales…. Arghh - for so many heart centred service providers, Sales is a hot potato topic! We - I include myself - don’t want to sell! We want to serve! Yet how can you truly serve if you don’t sell? My guest today is Kristin Zhivago, President of Zhivago Partners, a digital marketing agency. Krisitn knows her stuff, having spent decades as a revenu…

We all know somebody, that knows somebody who suffered from burnout in our very busy and pressurised industry! The 10th October is World Mental Health Day so in homage we decided to re-visit a popular interview that had a big impact upon our listeners. B J Kennedy - spoke with us, so very candidly, about his mental exhaustion in 2010. He was workin…

I love a good conversation! And talking to a fellow podcaster who made celebrating good conversations his bread and butter by creating a podcast agency was no different! Ryan and I share a passion - talking with people and keep them entertained, offer learnings and very practical engagement! In today’s episode we discuss the importance of truly lis…

In today’s episode - the fireworks are cracking! My guest Don Markland is an accomplished Sales Trainer - he ranks under the top 3 US online Sales Trainers. Forbes ranks him Number 1 Business Coach, he is an Author of a number of books and he calls himself The Sales Evangelist! As we record this podcast, the UK woke up to a quite difficult economic…

On the 29 September 2016, I got very very angry! I realised that my cancerversary will always be 3 days before my wedding anniversary! Fast forward 7 years - I’m reflecting on the journey. As a cancer traveller, a wife, a mother (and Oma) as well as a business owner. I’m honoured to be sharing a very personal podcast with you today. Links: Course W…

We don’t speak about money and customer service! Nor do we focus on money and customer experience. Whether that’s a British or Swiss or even worldwide phenomenon is really by the by. My guest today talks, lives and breathes money and wealth! Christine is under no illusion - money is a sensitive topic - but she believes in her company, M1, and put t…

My guest today is David Baer of Baer on Marketing! We all know how often marketing strategies and activities are out of sync with the actual customer experience post sales or service delivery! We discuss the importance of brand alignment across the entire customer journey. But also how and why email marketing is so important! Full disclosure - we a…

Welcome to Customer Service Delivery made Easy! Inside Customer Service Delivery made Easy you will gain clarity where your operation is doing really well! And where it does need some work! You will be clear on what your CS Job description needs to look like! You will have a check-list to ensure your CS role is clearly defined, your benefits are ex…

My guest today is Andrew Wrobel, Founding Partner of Emerging Europe, a London based growth hub for Eastern European countries! Andrew trained as a journalist, he specialises in location strategy and nation branding, foreign direct investment, technology and innovation, sourcing, technology and innovation, and cross-cultural communications. Andrew …

My guest today is Jeremy Snape, former England Cricketer scoring for England, winning man of the match for England - but now running his own Business called Sporting Edge. Jeremy works with the worlds top performance experts and business organisations, hosting leadership programmes targeted to improve the efficiency workspaces. Leaving the professi…

In this episode we take a look back over the past 2 years & the many highlights of the OPEX show. Observing & discussing various topics & re-visiting certain interviews & episodes that were popular with our listeners. Over the last 109 episodes we've had an extraordinary calibre of guests; sharing their knowledge, expertise & personal journeys. Mys…

First Impression Training is a people development organisation, specialising within the call and contact centre environment, wholly focused on creating positive and lasting change in the way a company's people interact with their prospects, customers and each other to encourage the win-win! This is a BIG promise! In today’s interview Marie shares c…

This interview with the amazing Eleanor brought me massively outside my comfort zone! I am very much a process driven leader, firmly believing in following due process moves the needle and gets stuff done. But what about our intuition? What about the heart? Do I give myself room to think “outside the box” - and maybe do something completely differe…

In this episode we look at the different types of Hybrid working models, a term that has become well known in not just in the CX sectors but across all industries. We examine the various factors to take in to account when searching what is right for your business & your people. It's an important topic that we all need to pay attention to. Today I’m…

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could supercharge your customer experience by deploying a multilingual Chatbot or live chat across all service channels you have got in your business! Yes - it would but….. - Stop right there! Andy Wilkins and his team thought about this Chatbot and Chat technology long and hard. He calls this experience Democratizing …

This interview couldn’t come any timelier! CEO’s are tired and exhausted after the Covid Pandemic, now they face the economic downturn, the increasing costs of serving their customers, shrinking budgets and the list goes on! What a CEO needs is resilience! But ironically resilience needs building and it’s not enough if you, as the CEO, demonstrate …

We are manoeuvring through difficult economic times! Geopolitical challenges we can’t impact directly are making our service delivery difficult. So many Ops leaders have been asking me - what can we do for our teams? How do we lead? How do we show up (Remember Episode 100?) Today I’m taking you through 9 Ways to be a better Team Leader! You can Dow…

I’m joined today by Founder and CEO of Hollywood Browzer Beauty - Amy Anzel! You might wonder what Dermaplaning, hair removal and exfoliation tools have got to do with operational excellence! Let me tell you - Hollywood Browzer’s Trust Pilot Rating in Summer 2021 was bad - just very bad, 1 star reviews consistently complaining about goods not recei…

Finances and financial viability of a business are hugely important and yet we seen to be reluctant to speak about the ins and outs of staying on top of your financial performance! Very often this starts with simply not knowing or not having clarity of your offering! Your service! Now that’s pretty fundamental! Paul shares with us what he sees in h…

Imagine being told by your dad - “you go and help your mother”. Normal, no big deal! Well - it is if your mum is the CEO of a distruper BPO in Rumania. Alexandra fell into the contact centre industry…. 15 years on she is going strong! She learned to manage operational delivery and excellence through a number of roles in the Ops space starting off a…

This is Episode 100 of the Operational Excellence Show - and I couldn’t be any prouder of myself and my guests for having it made thus far! I recorded this podcast just before my birthday - reflecting on yet another year on this earth and another year in business. What did I do to get this far? Actually, I don’t have a highly organized marketing ma…

I love data! I love Data Analytics - and if all of this comes in an App - Happy days! My guest today is the Founder and CEO of OpsAnalitica, Tommy Yionoulis! His big promise: You can measure everything, real time in a meaningful way! What’s on paper should be on Ops Analitica! We discuss how Tommy started his business, but also what his clients get…

You have to practice for success - a strong statement from Interview Coach Carrie-Lynn Hotson! My guest today is on a mission to help people to be more confident in their next interview and land the role of their dreams! With the great resignation leading to an employee driven recruitment market post pandemic - getting the right job or (for employe…