Building a Customer-Centric Business Model Ft Richard Elsey

In this conversation, Richard Elsey shares his entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the importance of self-belief, customer service, and the role of technology in enhancing customer experiences. He discusses the transition from corporate life to entrepreneurship, the significance of building a network, and the need for personalized service in the luxury sector. 


Richard also highlights the challenges of adopting technology like AI in customer service while maintaining the essential human touch. He concludes with valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

What is Visionary Voices Podcast?

Welcome to "Visionary Voices" the podcast where we dive into the minds of business owners, founders, executives, and everyone in between.

Each episode brings you face-to-face with the leading lights of industry and innovation.

Join us as we uncover the stories behind the success and the lessons learned along the way.

Whether you're climbing the corporate ladder or just starting your business journey, these are the conversations you need to hear - packed with visionary voices and insights.

Let's begin.

So Richard, thank you so much for taking the time today to join me on today's episode.

Could you give us a top level view about what it is that you're working on right now and
your journey so far?

Hi, well thanks so much for having me, Akhil.

It's great to be here.

So as you know, I'm Rich Delcey, the founder and director of the Thoughtful Learning
Company.

And the sorts of things that we're working on now is really helping businesses deliver
great levels of service to their customers, both face-to-face and online.

And we help create bespoke learning and development programmes.

that really just inspire team members across the business, both customer facing and
leaders, to deliver excellence.

Very, very cool.

talk to me about the journey that you went on to start this company and what did that look
like?

Because I know entrepreneurship is a scary thing for most people, especially when you're
starting the journey.

So what motivated you to start and how have you found the journey so far?

Well, my background and my journey has always been in the world of serving others and I
always knew from an early age that I wanted to work in the service industry from part-time

jobs and summer holiday jobs right the way through to work experience.

I knew I wanted to be in the hospitality sector and so that one thing led to another and I
ended up working for British Airways.

and I spent 15 years at BA, started as cabin crew and worked up through the ranks, being
in charge on the aircraft and delivering training courses for new entrant cabin crew.

And before I knew it, I was then designing and leading writing programmes that involved
completely transforming the first class cabin crew training.

and working on some really great initiatives like the set up of the London City to New
York business class only model and all the training around that.

So I really found my feet delivering learning experiences across the airline both in
customer and then later on in commercial learning.

And then after 15 years in the airline I thought...

maybe it's time to try something else.

And then I moved into hotels and I always had my eye on working in the hotel sector.

So I started working at the Dorchester Collection here in London and looking after the
performance improvement for the three UK properties at the Dorchester Collection.

And then...

After that, moved across to Hilton Hotels where I ran the sales learning function for
Europe, Middle East and Africa.

So whether it's been in customer or commercial and sales learning, I always knew that the
end customer and the customer experience is absolutely vital and getting that across to

learners was a key aim of mine.

Yeah, definitely.

mean, such an interesting journey.

And it's really cool that you managed to go through the different jobs to learn the skills
that you needed to learn to then start the company, if that makes sense.

I think a lot of entrepreneurs, right, they might start a company with no knowledge or no
industry experience or anything like that within the company that they're starting or the

industry that they're going into.

And so you kind of taken all that knowledge and experience that you've had for many years
and then applied it to the business which you've now started.

I mean, talk to me about that transition going from

Working a job and then going into starting your own company.

What was that like because I know for again a lot of people that's the most difficult
element right taking that first step across the line and Becoming self-employed and

working for yourself only.

So how have you found that transition?

What was that like?

Well, I always knew when I was in corporate, I would view freelance and business owners
and founders coming into the doors of those organisations and partnering, working with us.

I would always view them with envy, if I'm honest with you.

And I would think one day I'd like to be like you.

But I didn't really know how to go about it and the steps I needed to take and also the
self-belief, which was probably the biggest component out of it.

of all of this.

And so one thing led to another and during my corporate career I had a number of contacts
that worked freelance, worked as an associate within different training organisations and

I thought I would like to give that a go but in the back of my mind I'd also one day like
to have my own training business and consultancy where associates partner with me.

and represent the Thoughtful Learning Company and go off and deliver client-led contracts
and business.

I then decided, right, now's the time to do it.

Rather than go for another corporate job, I'm going to set something up on my own.

And I think, like any, I suppose, any founder, the first steps...

are exciting but also nerve-wracking, a little bit uncertain, perhaps a bit of naivety if
I'm honest with you around how difficult it can actually be and also how long it takes to

grow a business.

So I was very lucky in the first few years that I had a lot of supporters that would...

put me in contact with those that perhaps were looking for training and development but
also use me themselves and so my business was very reactive.

I had lot of clients coming to me because they knew me, booking training and so that's
what kind of gave it the legs in the first few years and propelled me and moved me forward

to where I am today.

So I guess you could say having your network there really helped in the early years of the
entrepreneurship journey, which is really interesting to know because again, for young

entrepreneurs, I mean, I know a lot of the peers that I have when we started out maybe
three, four years ago, right?

We had like no network and we're just trying to build something from essentially nothing.

And it was such a grind to even get any type of momentum.

And so think that's a really good lesson is sometimes you do need to.

have that network there to support the growth within the entrepreneurship journey itself,
if you to kind of get to that next step, then also, as you said, that self belief, you

know, it is very difficult going down this route.

How did you create that self belief within yourself to keep pushing in?

know that this is the path to stay on because I think, as you said, it's so turbulent in
the early years, so up and down that it's very easy and you get many opportunities to say,

is maybe this isn't for me.

This is too difficult.

Let me go back to what I was doing before.

But you kept

pushing through that.

So what inspired you to keep pushing through and where did that self-belief come from?

Well, I think the first thing is to take a little bit of own medicine because as a
trainer, facilitator and coach, my job predominantly is to help inspire others and promote

that self-belief within other people.

So if I don't have it, then it's probably, you know, I feel a bit of a fraud, you know,
trying to get others to believe in themselves and inspire and...

build on their own self-confidence.

taking your own medicine, thinking, well, you know, this is the industry I'm in.

And in those moments of doubt, who do I have to turn to to help get me back on track?

So I'm very fortunate.

I've got some wonderful friends and family around me.

But also, my biggest recommendation would be to get a business mentor and or a coach.

that can help you along the entrepreneurship journey.

And I've been very fortunate that I've had some really good inspiring people around me
that have guided and counseled me in setting up on my own and helping me resource myself

with the energy and motivation that I need when things get tough and invariably things...

will get tough, they do get tough and you know, I started my business just before the
pandemic hit.

But survived it, still here, still smiling, got through that and obviously now, you know,
in 2025 we are facing some other challenges as well globally.

So there's always going to be things that are going to

knock your motivation, there's always external factors to any new business.

you know, keeping yourself motivated is so important and growing.

I remember one business mentor saying to me, you know, don't grow the business, grow the
founder, and then the business will grow after that.

And so I've always had that growth mindset as much as I possibly could.

at the forefront of what I'm trying to do and the vision that I have.

Yeah, I think that's the important thing, as you said, is first you need to expect for the
unexpected, right?

Things are going to happen and you need to understand that.

I think if you go into it with just like blindness, like, it's all going to be easy and
it's going to be fine.

Then you kind of set yourself up for failure in a way, because when something does happen,
you're going to have such a big setback.

You're just not going to want to continue pushing on.

But then the second thing as well is having that vision, I guess, for not only for the
business is, but as you mentioned.

as a founder, what the vision for your life is as well, and how the business will take you
to that point.

I think that's the North Star that will keep you driving forward.

But if you don't have that, then your motivation is gonna be lacking, because you don't
have that end goal of where you're trying to actually get this thing to.

So, I talk to me about the business itself.

So what does a service delivery look like, and how have you managed to build out the
training and facilitating areas of the business?

Because...

I know from the marketing point of view, it's very difficult to change people's minds
about certain things sometimes, especially, you know, if they're business owners or teams,

for example, marketing teams, it's very difficult to create transformation within them.

So how do you guys go about that?

And how do you inspire that within, within teams that you work with?

Yeah, well, I think let's face it, as humans we all go about as consumers interacting with
other humans and businesses that employ large teams or small teams.

And we invariably we want and demand and need a certain level of behaviour and soft skills
in order to feel valued and feel respected and

feel okay with if I'm giving you my money, I feel that this transaction is meeting my
intrinsic human needs.

And so on a very basic level, a world with great customer service would be amazing,
wouldn't it?

And if we could all go about our daily businesses, transacting with others and getting
excellent service, wouldn't life be incredible?

In the real world that doesn't quite happen.

so my job is to try and convince businesses, well, if you are in the act of serving others
through selling your product or service, and I know I focus mainly on the luxury and

premium end, but this applies to every business, you know, have a duty, you have a duty to
ensure that you're meeting that customer expectation in a way that

delivers meets expectations, delivers value, gets them coming back, gets them talking
about your business to other people and gets that growth and loyalty and trust.

And so...

sorry, it's so interesting that you say that because one of the kind of golden rules in
marketing is you want to build a system where word of mouth is helping you grow because in

a world where you don't have that word of mouth or returning customers, the marketing
point of view and growing the business becomes so strenuous because you know, you have to

keep spending money to keep making money, whereas you want to be able to spend money once
and that money spent is going to keep generating that return.

for as many years as you can through the repeat purchase and people keep coming back.

So tying kind of those two areas of the business together from customer service to
marketing, like it all ties into one to create a really successful business.

And so it's interesting that you mentioned that point about customer service and the way
you guys go about it.

But I know you mentioned you work in the kind of luxury, like higher end businesses and
things like that.

So how does that differ a little bit from, I guess,

normal businesses that aren't quite up in that luxury category, is the customer service so
wildly different or is the principle the same, be honest, throughout both sides of it?

Well the principles should be the same really, but I would say that in the luxury end the
pressure is on a lot more to deliver on a certain set of principles and customer

expectations and what I've learned over the years and is the basis to my flagship training
program is that the customers are really looking for five key things and so our flagship

program is the five steps to five stars.

because what I've learned is there's five things really in luxury that customers are
really looking for.

And in a nutshell, it's around personalization, personalized service, simplistic level.

Name usage is very powerful, but it goes much deeper and beyond that.

And businesses spend a lot of time, great business spend a lot of time and energy trying
to get to know their customers and build some kind of intelligent data where they can.

personalise the conversation and ensure that things, you know, the conversation that
they're having is relevant and tailored to the unique circumstances that that customer may

have and high net worth individuals are all very, very different but they do have
similarities and things in common and that leads on to anticipatory service which is

another

hallmark of luxury service, to be able to anticipate your customers needs, goes above and
beyond what many transactional service providers offer.

If you can anticipate my need and do it and think ahead before I even ask, well you're
going to wow me and I'm going to pay a higher premium for that service than I would

anywhere else.

Yeah, very very cool.

Yeah, and so those sorts of things and then the other elements around attention to detail
and just handling challenges with elegance and flair.

And finally, just how you come across with your personal brand.

You we all have a personal brand, whether we like it or not, but how I carry myself and
how I present myself and if I wear a uniform, how I wear that.

All of these components, those five areas that I talked about.

come together to deliver a more polished service and that's how premium service providers
can set themselves apart.

But you don't have to be premium to, you don't have to consider yourself as a luxury brand
to do that.

And in fact a lot of businesses that perhaps you and I wouldn't necessarily think of
luxury try and emulate that and try and introduce that into their business because they

know.

that when they do that, they are a cut above their competition and actually they could
probably charge a little bit more.

Hmm.

Yeah, I think that's such a key point there is, you know, this doesn't just apply to those
luxury brands, but all businesses, because if you can, as we said, if you can mask the

customer service element, then everything else in the business becomes so much easier when
you want to grow it.

And I liked what you said about anticipating customers needs.

I think that's such an important element, which is definitely overlooked within my
industry, within like marketing agency space.

where anticipating what they're gonna need next to get the best result from the services
that we provide.

think thinking through my service right now is how can I actually apply this to the
service that I have and how can I anticipate what they're gonna need and when they're

gonna need that as well.

As you said, you can then come on higher prices, you get better retention rates, they're
gonna keep coming back or refer you to other people as well.

And these little tweaks, I guess you can call it, will just make such a huge impact.

And I guess when it comes down to the...

the hands-on training you do, how do you teach this to the customer service reps or the
management team as well?

Because as we said before, getting the message across, but also making sure it sticks and
that they continue to action this level of service, that's where the difficulty can lie.

So how does those workshops work and how do you lay those things out to create this
transformation, I say, within these people?

Well the first thing is we try and understand what the business actually needs.

So I spend a great deal of time really getting to know my client and the organisation that
they represent and also what the skill gaps are within those learners that are going to be

attending the workshop.

So a lot of time and effort goes in at the front end before the workshop even begins
around what it is that we need to...

include and the content that will be absolutely relevant and how we bridge those skill
gaps.

So it's always an outcome led conversation rather than just saying, you know, like a
catalogue, what courses do you offer?

And we offer many things at Thoughtful Learning Company, not just around luxury customer
service, but also sales and sales, learning and leadership development.

But it's around tailoring those and personalising.

those things to that business to make it truly five-star.

And of course we use a lot of real-life examples and industry best practice and tips.

And so for example, it's well known in the luxury world that Forbes Travel Guide are the
leading organisation that verify luxury hospitality.

And so there are a number of standards.

that they follow and adopt.

And they also have a number of case studies.

And so we reference a lot of these benchmarked organizations.

We talk about what some of the luxury brands, luxury operators currently do, whether it's
Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton, some of the examples that happen within their.

properties, but also my own personal experience.

I I've been very fortunate to have traveled quite extensively and experienced good, bad,
indifferent, quite frankly, outstanding service that gets you quite emotional and teary

when you think about, you know, that interaction went.

And so it's drawing on all of those examples and building some really engaging sessions.

both face to face and online so that learners stop and think and try and think about their
own thoughtful behaviours, the impact that they have on others.

And I always think about that lovely Maya Angelou quote that is quite inspiring and it's
essentially it's people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but

people will never forget how you made them feel.

yeah

and I love that.

Yeah, it's getting that emotion, emotional response, I guess, from the lessons and tying
into that.

And that's how you can create people who will absorb it, but then also remember as well.

Cause that is the, again, just taking it back to the marketing point of view from what it
is I do is again, it's the same thing, right?

How can we create that emotional response?

So people remember the messaging that we have.

I guess it's the same way when you're doing leadership training or any type of training
and you want to really create a transformation which sticks with them.

is how can you create a emotional response?

And that's how you're to get the longevity of the knowledge within them.

And they can keep actioning that as well.

I also want to talk about and changing topics a little bit, but talk about technology and
how this could be changing your industry as well.

As we know, AI automation is a huge topic for a lot of businesses and business owners.

How are you guys seeing AI come into the industry and how are you guys using it?

And what's your...

predictions of how things could move in the next few years, again, through industry.

Yeah, it's a really interesting one actually.

So I would say that adoption rates are quite slow when it comes to AI and using it across
a wide, you know, the entire customer journey, I think.

Having said that though, I am seeing people experiment and play around with it.

So for example, you know, guest concierges and...

front desk managers, front desk hosts can actually use AI to start to engage in
conversation around what could I do to personalize this guest experience or we've got a

guest that's coming to us that's celebrating a special occasion, what are the sorts of
things that we could do to really make a memorable guest stay.

Of course, the

you know, requires lots of different departments coming together.

So if you're a hotel, your invariably front office needs to talk to housekeeping, you need
to talk to food and beverage to ensure that the customer experience is all lined up.

So whilst I might be talking to an AI platform independently on ideas as to how to enhance
this guest experience, some of the ideas

would need to collaborate with other teams.

So I still think that there's work to be done around the implementation of that across
lots of operational areas.

But I think when it comes to perhaps the pre-arrival and getting as much information as
possible from the guests, I think there's some interesting stuff that's coming forward

around that.

And also perhaps the follow-up departure, so when guests leave the property or have
finished a transaction, or it could be in a banking example or a luxury bank, or it could

be in a high-end retail.

What are the sorts of things that you could do with the customer afterwards to keep that
conversation going, keep engaging with them?

And of course, AI can produce lots of great ideas.

that can be implemented quite easily.

Yeah, no, no, I think it's really interesting that implementation of these technologies
can be slow, but...

those little things that you start, I guess, implementing, as you said, a bit of guest
research here, some ideas here and there.

It's really great to get the, I guess, the creative juices flowing for these people.

But as you mentioned, the implementation of some of these things is like, okay, that's a
whole other thing we need to figure out when it comes down to using the technology.

So it's interesting that you've seen the adoption be not super quick, right?

They're starting to adopt it a little bit, but not, you know, 100 % all in.

But I guess from the customer service point of view,

that element is going to remain human to human, right?

Instead of outsourcing to tech, because again, you're in the luxury area, you know, people
are going to resonate with people more than people to an AI, right?

So is that what you're seeing as well?

Is that they're to maintain that customer service as a human to human interaction?

Yeah, I think absolutely.

So on the customer facing side of things, you know, I wouldn't, let's say, let's use
American Express for an example, who I've used for many, years, and I would say their

customer service is excellent.

You know, I personally wouldn't engage in a chat bot to solve something with MX.

I would phone them up because I know how brilliant they are and how they go to great
lengths to ensure that they're covering all bases.

they are personalising the conversation and they're exploring if there's anything else
that they need, that I need help with.

And I just enjoy that human interaction, you know, it's quite nice to have that over the
phone chit chat and that, you know, in an efficient way.

So I personally wouldn't anticipate using a chat bot for something like that.

That's not to say though that

There is a place for it in the world of luxury customer service.

But I do think that human interaction is absolutely key at that premium end.

Yeah, no, completely agree there.

So one of the final questions we always ask guests on the show is if you can go back to
your 18 year old self and only take three lessons with you, whether it's a mindset piece,

some philosophical, some technical knowledge, whatever, what would those three lessons be
and why would it be those three things?

I really struggled with this when I was thinking about it.

just think, you know, self-belief is so important and so powerful and, you know, the
lesson really is no matter what mental obstacles you think you are going on, actually,

probably isn't actually that bad.

So whilst we can...

dramatise and catastrophise in our mind and that's the human thing from time to time.

Find a way for others to hold the space for you to try and get over that and work through
that as best you can.

So, you know, a great coach, a mentor, just a friend is super important.

So, that's one.

My 18 year old self, Realise that money comes and goes, so don't get obsessed about, am I
going to make money with this?

I mean, of course, the commercial side of things are extremely important, but if you
believe in your business, you know you've got a market for it and you've got some

customers that are willing to pay you for it.

That should be a big enough test.

So...

you know, follow your dream and go and do it would be another lesson provided you've got a
bit of a backup there as well.

You do need some financial security also.

And then my last bit of advice would be explore, just explore the world.

I mean, I knew at the age of 18 that I just wanted to travel.

work abroad for a bit and meet exciting people, experience interesting cultures and learn
more than I was currently seeing at that time in my life and that took me on some

incredible journeys and to some wonderful countries that I lived in and

eventually got me a job with an airline where I continued traveling around the world for
many many years.

Yeah, so just explore and just be inquisitive, talk to people and you never know who
you're going to sit next to on a flight and I think a big one quick anecdotal story was

when I was thinking about trying to start my own business I remember sitting next to the
owner of a bank.

on board a flight and at the time I was still working for British Airways and so I was
explaining what I did and he was telling me what he did and I was just so fascinated and

we talked the whole flight and he, was like one of those magical moments where you get to
sit next to Richard Branson or someone like that.

I just, he didn't mind talking and sharing his ideas and stories but...

you know, a bit like my father who was very entrepreneurial, he gave so much knowledge
just because he wanted to and I just soaked it up like a sponge and I was very, very

thankful for those moments in life where I've been able to sit with some inspiring people
and then convert it into my own world and my own sense of direction and go...

actually I think I could do that and I'm going to take their advice or you know I might
not have the expertise to do this but you know if I pull in some friends and some of the

other experts in my life collectively we can move this idea forward and make it happen.

I think there's some great lessons there for everyone listening and I completely agree, is
you need to just speak to people and ask the questions you want to ask because as you

said, you never know who you're going to meet, who you might come in contact with, who can
inspire you, educate you in all these different areas and then again, help your business

grow as well or whatever vision you have for yourself.

So where can people find you if they want to connect with you and learn more about the
business that you have and what it is that you do as well?

Yeah, sure.

So LinkedIn is a good place.

So you can find me, Richard Elsie on LinkedIn.

You can find the Thoughtful Learning Company on Instagram.

we're thoughtful.learning.co.

And of course, are thoughtful-learning.com is the website.

Amazing.

Thank you so much for taking the time today.

Thank you so much.