Ross Shafer didn't start out to be the world's funniest motivational speaker and customer empathy expert. Awarded a scholarship to play linebacker for the University of Puget Sound, a small NCAA II school where he was often the player voted "most likely to be shaken up on the play," he obtained a Business Marketing BA degree.
After college, Ross worked hard writing a copy for carpet companies and invested (and lost) everything he had on what he was sure would be the next big thing - "Sounds OK, America's Only Stereo and Pet Shop."
Business failures aside, he started getting laughs at various comedy "open mic" nights and won the 1983 "Showtime Comedy Laugh Off." Soon Ross began to open shows for Dionne Warwick, Eddie Rabbitt, Crystal Gayle, Neil Sedaka and other famous people with good voices.
In the summer of 1984, Ross was approached by the Seattle NBC affiliate (KING-TV) to write and produce a weekly comedy/talk show. The concept took off, and in the five seasons Ross was at the helm of "Almost Live," the show collected 36 Emmy Awards - six going to Ross for his work as Host, Actor and Writer as well as the prestigious IRIS award for the Best Local Entertainment Series in the United States. In fact, it was at "Almost Live" that Ross actually created Bill Nye, The Science Guy!
Ross also became a regular contributor to "Dick Clark's TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" and appeared with Dick as a guest when he led a campaign to change the Official Washington State Song to "Louie, Louie." The "Louie, Louie Campaign" became an Esquire Magazine "Dubious Achievement of the Year."
By now, Ross was getting a lot of national attention. He hosted the game show, "Love Me, Love Me Not" on the USA Network, he had a recurring role on Fox Television's "21 Jump Street," he replaced Joan Rivers as the host of FOX's late night program, "The Late Show" and he was the host of ABC-TV's "New Match Game." Ross continued to hone his stand-up act and was a frequent guest star on "Evening at the Improv," "Comic Strip Live" and "The A List." Next came "Days End," a nightly ABC entertainment magazine co-hosted by Ross, Matt Lauer and Spencer Christian.
Ross reinvented himself and went from comedian to "expert" while playing to his humor strengths. He started writing and producing funny human resources films on the subjects of customer service and motivation - 14 to date - which are now distributed in 9 languages. Corporate audiences were fascinated by Ross' story of the "Pet Shop Manager turned Network TV Host," so Ross developed a career as a keynote speaker and seminar leader.
In 2003, Ross wrote the uncompromising book, Nobody Moved Your Cheese! to encourage people to trust their own gut and be accountable for their own success. Ross' latest books focus on the rapidly changing customer and younger workforce. The Customer Shouts Back! and Customer Empathy are a result of 11 years of customer response research.
Ross recently formed The Customer Empathy Institute because he is convinced the reason customer service hasn't improved is because we fail to realize the importance of understanding the customer's emotional state before during and after the transaction.
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Speech Topics
Nobody Moved Your Cheese!
Ross says, “Success is your own fault. We shouldn’t look outside ourselves for quick answers or easy motivational formulas.” This is a program about Accountability and taking Personal Responsibility for your own success. Ross was a small town pet store manager whose dream was to become a network talk show host like his idol, Johnny Carson. In less than 6 years of focused effort, his dream came true when he was named host of the Fox Late Show – where he competed head-to-head in the late night wars against Johnny Carson and David Letterman. In this program you’ll learn:
- Why the world needs focused experts like you.
- How to exploit your hidden talents.
- How to tap into the enthusiasm of your coworkers.
- How to get your customers to accelerate your career, for you.
- How to Self-Motivate by example.
The Customer Empathy™ Solution Part I
Ross says, “Ordinary customer service doesn’t work in a Post 911 economy. It’s Customer Empathy™ – the art of understanding the customer’s emotional state before, during, and after the transaction that will insure long term growth and loyalty.” After dissecting 1,000 random customer complaints in 2004 and 2005, Ross wrote the books, “The Customer Shouts Back!” and “Customer Empathy™” to depict how dramatically the customer’s expectations have changed in recent years. Ross discovered that the customer isn’t always right. But, they are always vulnerable. According to Ross, “Emotions drive every purchase transaction – not price or location.” In this program, you’ll learn exactly how to implement Customer Empathy™; as well as the Top Changes you need to make to win your customer’s long term loyalty. You’ll also see numerous examples of organizations that are experiencing record profits by using these principles.
The Customer Empathy™ Solution Part II
This is a great follow up to Part I - Same point of view but with - New Stories - New Case Studies - More Inside Customer Psychology. Funny and plenty of audience Interaction.
Customer Experience
Is Your Business Staying Relevant?
This is the most important question that should keep your business up at night. They used to call it "Change" but that is too slow a word in this new global E-Driven economy.
Because Ross speaks to over 100 organizations each year, he has a front row seat to both the best practices...and the worst. He sees who's failing and who's succeeding. The organizations who constantly respond to their relevance...and keep reinventing themselves...spend a lot less time worrying about the competition and more time counting their profits. You'll leave this session with the answers and directives you’ll need to stay relevant in your marketplace....today and tomorrow. Key Points:
- What if you've been in business 30 years? Does that matter?
- Why is business "off?" and we can't seem to pinpoint it?
- Case studies of organizations who lived in denial about a changing market.
- Where do we start reinventing ourselves?
- How to stay relevant to your customers
- How to stay relevant to your employees
- How to know if you're prepared for future changes?
Masterful MC
Ross is available for a limited number of multi-day conference hosting duties. Because of his talk and game show experience, Ross is the perfect moderator for events that feature A-List Celebrity guests…or your top level executive panel discussions. Ross is comfortable asking the tough questions in a way that is disarming, funny, and insightful. He has led interviews and Q & A for such luminaries as Jack Welch, Senator Bob Dole, Queen Noor of Jordan, Rev. Al Sharpton, James Carville, Henry Winkler, Super Execs. Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan, Rap Mogul Russell Simmons, George Will, Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman…and dozens of others. You can trust your event will be on time, on target, and energized with Ross at the helm.
