Rick Delisi is a customer experience researcher, author, and thought leader who has spent over 20 years studying customer service from the rotary phone era to today's AI-powered solutions. As co-author of The Effortless Experience and Digital Customer Service, Rick has pioneered the understanding that reducing customer effort—not maximizing satisfaction—is the key to building loyalty.

In this episode, we explore how AI is finally making it possible to eliminate bad customer service interactions entirely. Rick breaks down the concept of "AI for All" at Glia, where AI handles routine inquiries while empowering human agents with supercharged tools for complex, emotional interactions. We discuss the balance between efficiency and experience, the dangers of AI dependency, and why the best creativity now comes from asking questions no one's thought to ask before.

🔑 Topics Covered:

• Why customer effort predicts loyalty better than satisfaction or NPS
• The dual role of AI: external automation + internal agent empowerment
• How AI can create both efficiency and exceptional experience simultaneously
• The "channelest platform" that seamlessly blends digital, voice, and AI
• Overcoming fears about AI replacing human connection in customer service
• Using AI as a journalist and creative professional without losing authenticity
• The importance of industry-specific AI vs. horizontal approaches
• Voice AI and meeting customers across all demographics

⏱️ Timestamps:
03:15 – Rick's 20-year journey researching customer service
05:45 – The singular passion: eliminating bad customer service
08:30 – Why AI is the hero of the customer service story
11:20 – The learning curve: Can AI really provide better service than humans?
14:40 – "AI for All" at Glia: External automation + internal empowerment
18:25 – How the channelest platform works in practice
22:10 – Customer effort: The best predictor of loyalty
26:35 – How journalists can use AI without losing their craft
30:50 – The danger of AI dependency stifling creativity
35:20 – The new creativity: Asking questions no one's thought to ask

🔗 Connect with Rick:

• Website: glia.com

• Books: The Effortless Experience & Digital Customer Service

📩 Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe and leave a 5-star review to stay updated with new episodes every week! - https://jayhunt.social

Nick Musica was running a CBD publisher when Google's May 2019 algorithm update wiped his traffic overnight—dropping from page 1 to oblivion. With four weeks until he'd need to fire his entire team, he made a decision that would never make it into a Harvard Business Review case study: quit with zero contracts lined up and figure it out as he went.

AEO vs SEO: The Numbers Don't LieWhen answer engines drive 1% of traffic and traditional search drives 16%, where should your budget actually go? Nick dismantles the AEO hype with real traffic data and marketing mix strategy.

The "Zero Contracts" Launch StrategyHow quitting his job with literally no clients lined up led to 60 billable hours per week within two weeks. His entire business plan: "I'm going to make this work."

When SEO Becomes Your Business Model (The Risk)Why affiliate sites and publishers live and die by algorithm updates, and how to build a more resilient business that uses SEO as a channel, not a crutch.

AI Content's Fatal FlawThe "vanilla problem" with AI-generated content and why it's creating a race to mediocrity in search results. Spoiler: Google can detect patterns.

From SEO Consultant to Executive CoachThe Harrison Assessment revelation that changed everything, and why most "SEO problems" are actually organizational dysfunction in disguise.

• Nick's Website: https://nickmusica.com

• Website: https://jayhunt.social
• Amplify Your Brand Community: https://www.skool.com/ayb
• Instagram: @jayhuntofficial
• LinkedIn: /socialmediaspeaker
• TikTok: @jayhuntofficial

💬 Drop your truth: What percentage of your marketing budget is going to AI hype versus proven channels like SEO? Be honest in the comments.

🎙️ Subscribe for unfiltered conversations with marketers who've survived algorithm apocalypses and lived to tell the tale.

00:00 — Intro: Google algorithm wipes CBD publisher overnight02:15 — The "I'm going to make it work" business plan (zero clients to 60 hours/week)03:35 — Digital marketing background since 2003, SEO agency journey04:22 — $6K/month SEO firm disaster & pivot to training06:28 — SEO career evolution & learning from Shari Thurow mentorship08:15 — Google algorithm changes & position sensitivity explained10:12 — Why using SEO as your business model is dangerous (affiliates/publishers)11:35 — AI overviews as billboard advertising vs click-generating funnels13:42 — Answer engines are just SERP extensions, not replacements15:15 — "Shitty SEO" reality check — the basics still haven't changed18:28 — The AEO vs SEO debate: structure for readers, not algorithms20:45 — Marketing mix truth bomb: 16% SEO traffic vs 1% ChatGPT traffic23:28 — AI-generated content's "vanilla problem" & detection patterns26:15 — Local SEO simplification: focus on Google Business Profile fundamentals29:42 — Marketing mix strategy: balancing short-term wins vs long-term growth32:15 — Direct response crisis mode for lawyers & real estate agents35:08 — SEO timeline expectations: process vs performance metrics38:22 — Coaching transition story via Harrison Assessment behavioral tool41:35 — Organizational dysfunction masking itself as "SEO problems"44:08 — Identity shift: from "SEO guy who coaches" to "coach who runs SEO"

Michael Walsh spent 30 years helping businesses scale to $50M+ and discovered something that contradicts everything you've been taught: treating your team like a "well-oiled machine" destroys the exact expertise your clients pay for. After burning out in 1996 with zero vacation days, he redesigned his entire approach. Now, he takes 18 weeks off annually while his consultancy thrives.

In this conversation, Michael breaks down why 20th-century industrial thinking fails in expertise-based businesses, the ecosystem approach that unlocks sustainable growth, and how AI is accelerating the shift from information work to creative work.

Key Insights:

• The hidden cost of the machine mindset: why systemizing people like interchangeable parts kills creativity and innovation in marketing, consulting, and service businesses
• The 3 Freedoms framework: Freedom IN your business (doing work you love), Freedom FROM your business (it runs without you), and Freedom BECAUSE OF your business (funds the life you want)—and why getting the sequence wrong keeps you trapped
• Michael's transformation story: from working 52 weeks straight to taking the last week of every month off, and how his income skyrocketed as a result
• The Phil Jackson approach: how championship coaches built winning teams by customizing systems around individual strengths instead of forcing uniformity
• Four elements of human behaviour that make employee motivation obvious: survive, thrive, connect, adapt and how understanding these removes the mystery from team performance
• The social contract that creates loyalty: why traditional command-and-control management fails with knowledge workers, and what replaces it
• AI's role in the creativity age: why the information age is ending, and how AI forces us back to authentic human storytelling and strategic thinking
• The hiring system that reveals complementary strengths: using tools like MBTI, Kolbe, and behavioural assessments to build teams where people's weaknesses become irrelevant

Resources mentioned:Get Michael's complete hiring system free at freedombydesignbook.com

Connect with Jay Hunt:Join Amplify Your Brand on Skool for AI tools, business strategies, and live audits: https://www.skool.com/aybWebsite: https://jayhunt.socialLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/socialmediaspeaker

Episode Timestamps:

0:00 - Machine mindset vs ecosystem approach introduction

1:00 - Freedom by Design book & strategic LinkedIn outreach

1:50 - 30-year transformation: from zero vacation to 18 weeks off

2:21 - The 1996 turning point: forced Mexico vacation

4:01 - 16-hour exhaustion crash

4:44 - Post-vacation revenue spike: $10K in one month

6:09 - Scaling to 18 weeks off annually

7:29 - The 3-week work, 1-week off rhythm

8:05 - How clients adapted to compressed schedule

10:19 - Managing guilt & forced disconnection

13:19 - Freedom by Design framework deep dive

13:55 - Machine mindset origins: assembly lines & industrial revolution

15:03 - How unions formed in response to cog-in-machine treatment

16:23 - Why information services require different management

17:28 - Machine built for owners vs ecosystem for everyone

18:19 - The illusion of control through systems

19:14 - Supporting people's strengths vs forcing compliance

21:06 - Sales team ecosystem: customizing for different personalities

22:37 - Building support structures around individual strengths

24:32 - Hiring assessment tools: MBTI, StrengthsFinder, Kolbe, Wonderlic

28:16 - The human element vs cheap offshore labor trap

29:24 - Four aspects of human behavior: survive, thrive, connect, adapt

33:28 - AI completing the information age, entering creativity age

36:21 - Why AI forces authentic human storytelling

38:26 - The 10%-80%-10% AI collaboration model

41:28 - AI efficiency example: presentations from 3-4 days to 1.5 hours

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