How to Succeed at Creating an Encore Experience with Your Team

Why It Matters

An encore‑focused culture turns routine work into a compelling experience, driving higher engagement, lower turnover, and stronger revenue performance.

Key Takeaways

• Create daily 'encore experiences' to boost employee engagement and retention.
• Identify audience types: keepers, leapers, and sleepers for tailored interactions.
• Add unique, personal value to each interaction for an 11/10 experience.
• Reflect weekly on successes to replicate high‑impact encore moments.
• Treat every work task as a performance, focusing on dialogue over monologue.

Summary

The podcast explores the concept of an "encore experience"—a daily, repeatable moment that makes employees eager to return to work. Host Jim Marshall and keynote speaker Greg Offner argue that true performance problems stem from a lack of meaningful experience, not just incentives or pressure.

Key insights include startling engagement data: roughly 70% of workers are disengaged, with a subset actively disengaged. Offner introduces a simple framework: understand your audience, meet them where they are, add something uniquely yours, and then reflect to refine. He categorizes audiences as keepers, leapers, and sleepers, each requiring different tactics to convert routine interactions into memorable, 11‑out‑of‑10 moments.

Illustrative anecdotes range from concert-goers demanding an encore to a toddler discovering joy by making Dad bend over for chalk. Offner likens every work task to a performance, emphasizing dialogue over monologue and the importance of post‑call or weekly reviews to replicate successes. The piano‑bar analogy underscores how repeatable, high‑energy experiences drive loyalty.

For leaders, the takeaway is actionable: map audience types, embed unique value in each touchpoint, and institutionalize reflection. Doing so can transform a disengaged workforce into a culture of repeatable enthusiasm, directly impacting retention, sales productivity, and overall profitability.

Original Description

Gregory Offner is an award-winning keynote speaker and author who focuses on helping organizations improve performance by redesigning the experience of work. Greg was a keynote speaker at the 2026 Sandler Summit, and he introduced the concept of the Encore Experience—a powerful shift in how we think about engagement, culture, and sustainable high performance.

In this conversation, we break down:

The real driver of most employee performance problems —even when numbers look strong

How true ownership (versus compliance) impacts long-term performance.

Why incentives and pressure stop working over time

Who your internal, and external, audience is; and why it matters.

When disengagement starts, and the two questions that can stop it in its tracks.

What leaders can do, right now, to create an "Encore Experience" for their audience.

If you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or sales leader looking to build a high-performing team that’s energized, engaged, and sustainable, this episode will give you a new framework to lead by.

To learn more about Greg's work, or to inquire about bringing him in to speak at one of your events:

Website: https://www.gregoryoffner.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregoryoffnerjr

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryoffnerjr