A Customer Centric Mindset to Grow your Sales

Guest: Antoine Masi, hospitality veteran and later general manager across coffee, food safety, and jewelry businesses.

Background
Antoine chose hospitality management over geology or acting, studying in Toulouse and Paris. He believes if you don’t love people, you won’t succeed in hospitality — loving people attracts more beautiful people around you and a beautiful way of running your business.

Career path
Starting at the Prince de Galles palace hotel in Paris, then the Grosvenor House in London, back to Lebanon for the Holiday Inn Martinez opening, then chosen by Radisson SAS to be a “Yes I Can” spirit trainer during rebranding, then openings at Four Points by Sheraton Beirut and the Sheraton Aleppo in Syria.

Building a “Yes I Can” culture
One of the most beautiful things was empowering people — a maintenance worker overhearing a couple wishing for champagne or a beach trip could act on it without needing approval, empowered up to a certain financial level. They created a grid of gifts and services anyone could offer without heavy bureaucracy — empowering staff makes them feel they own the property.

Teaching at university
Antoine taught hospitality management at 25 to students only a few years younger, staying close with many of them for decades. Teaching something “alive” like hospitality means constantly getting fresh real-world examples, since many students also worked in the industry and shared their own stories, making classes dynamic.

The power of storytelling
Telling a story engages multiple parts of the brain — auditory cortex, visual cortex, imagined movement — keeping the brain from deciding it’s bored. A story of struggle leading to success builds oxytocin (the empathy hormone) and closeness with the listener.

Smile has a deep impact
It takes seven muscles to smile versus far more to frown. A smile secretes happy hormones for both the giver and receiver. In one story, Antoine noticed a Dubai taxi driver visibly upset, asked to pull over, offered to pay and leave if he was intruding, and simply offered to listen — the driver opened up about sad news from home, and they became friends.

Beyond the smile: noticing the environment
Noticing surroundings and people, offering help even when it’s not your job to ask, opens up a whole new level of connection — this builds empathy without sacrificing target achievement.

Advice for sales professionals
Be genuine — your clients are your network, and whatever you’re selling today, you might be selling something else tomorrow. If you sell the right way and are genuine, clients will recommend you afterward regardless of the product.

Being convinced about your product
You have to be genuinely convinced about what you’re selling — it shows through your eyes and face. In hospitality, they required every employee to sleep at least one night per year in a hotel room, so they understood what it’s like waiting for room service or a slow shower fix.

Stop assuming, start listening
Most of the time, you don’t know what customers actually want — and often they need more than you think, which can be great for you too. This is where the reluctance to be called a “salesman” comes from — the fear of seeming pushy, when really it’s about suspending assumptions and clarifying.

Being on time and following through
Showing up late signals disrespect and unreliability — if you’re running late, communicate it. Following through on your word, respecting your clients’ time, shows you can be trusted to deliver.

Building ambassadors
Once you build the right bond with a client, they become your ambassador for whatever you sell next — whether it’s bird cages, jewelry, or hotel rooms. Your network is your net worth; many clients today are relationships built well before starting a new venture.

Never over-promise
This applies whether you’re a teacher, salesperson, manager, or father — walk the talk. Never over-promise; instead, promise a little and deliver more, exceeding expectations.

A leadership mistake: lone wolves
Some great salespeople close a big deal and then disappear to celebrate, leaving operations and admin teams out of sync — they act as lone wolves rather than as part of a team. Selling isn’t just about getting the deal — it’s the beginning of a relationship that requires teamwork and collaboration to deliver.

Under-promise, over-deliver
Deliver on the deal through greater communication, checking with the client, and supporting the team — that’s what creates the “wow factor.”

Turning around a company with delayed salaries
Taking over a company with financial issues and delayed salaries, Antoine found the smallest salary was 1,200 AED. He described the company as a wall of bricks, each brick a salary, and made securing salaries the top priority before anything else — salaries were paid on time within six months and stayed that way afterward.

Pushing people for their own good
If you’re going to push people, let them know in advance you’re pushing them for their own good — it changes how the pressure is received.

Customer centricity
To deliver a service, you need to listen to your customers fully — a story of a clinic assuming what Antoine needed instead of listening led to a booking mistake. Being customer-centric has to be embedded through all levels of employees, no matter what you sell.

Reducing friction, stealth-mode excellence
A great customer experience looks effortless on the surface, like a duck gliding while paddling furiously underneath — hotels keep the “beehive” of operations invisible to guests. Consistency and perseverance have to go hand in hand with that stealth-mode excellence.

Will AI replace human relationships?
For at least the next 50 years, nothing replaces human relations — AI can’t shake hands, sit with you, listen, and show empathy. Many clients become friends over time. That said, technology and data (like Six Sigma analysis) can help identify the right products and the right customers, reducing wasted time on leads that were never a good fit.

Ethical considerations with data and AI
Salespeople have always tried to find personal connection points (cigars, cars, kids’ ages) even before technology. Using facial recognition or social profiles to accelerate that process raises privacy questions that are becoming more regulated — something the industry will have to watch closely.

Believe in your product, know it thoroughly
Some customers today research more about a product than the salesperson does — a car dealership once invited Antoine back because he pointed out features about the car they didn’t know themselves. The more you know, the more your customer trusts your opinion.

Closing thought
It's all about empathy, being proactive, and providing unexpected service that excites people enough to come back and tell others about their experience.

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