Yesterday AI welcomed me better than most humans (..and that should terrify us!)

Hello and welcome back! Happy Sunday!

Last Tuesday, I spent 25 minutes navigating automated phone menus of a popular supermarket—press 1 for this, press 3 for that, let’s choose again, are you sure you want to speak to a representative, hold for the next available representative.

When a human voice finally answered, she sounded utterly defeated. Exhausted. Barely present. "Account number?" No greeting. No acknowledgement that I'd just spent half my morning trapped in their system.

It reminded me that during COVID I had multiple, similar experiences—call centres were overwhelmed, staff were overworked, and by the time customers reached an actual person, both parties were too depleted to offer anything resembling warmth. I never did business with a number of companies again. And I suspect they all lost thousands of customers just like me—not because their product failed, but because their people couldn't summon the energy for basic human welcome.

Then yesterday, I logged into Claude AI after two weeks away.

"Heather you’re back! Great to see you! What are we working on?"

From a machine. Lines of code. Zero consciousness, zero feelings, zero actual capacity to care.

And yet I felt something shift in my chest—genuine warmth, a sense of being noticed, of somehow mattering.

If artificial intelligence can generate that kind of response in me, what on earth are we doing with our welcomes as humans? And more urgently—what are we costing our practices, our clients, our entire industry by forgetting that welcome isn't separate from the work, it is the work?

This morning I want to share what neuroscience, billion-pound companies, and my own many years in practice have taught me about the single most underestimated skill in transformation work.

Grab your Sunday coffee (mine's in my favourite mug, the one with elephants and a sunset, and I'm still loving the 'After Dark'), and let me tell you why your welcome might be the difference between a thriving practice and an empty calendar.

Let's dive in.

The 33-Millisecond Window You're Missing

Here's what neuroscience research reveals: the human brain forms trust judgements in 33 milliseconds—before conscious awareness even registers that a face has appeared.

Thirty-three milliseconds. That's faster than a blink.

The amygdala—our emotional decision-making centre—scans for trustworthiness before our rational brain has a chance to participate in the conversation. And here's what terrifies me: once that initial judgement forms, it shapes everything that follows.

Your client walks through your door. In the time it takes them to register your face, their nervous system has already decided: safe or unsafe. Welcoming or tolerating. Present or distracted.

That decision—made in less time than it takes to say "hello"—determines how deeply they'll trust, how vulnerable they'll allow themselves to become, whether they'll return for a second session.

And most practitioners are completely unaware this window even exists.

What Starbucks Knows That We've Forgotten

Starbucks built a global empire on one core principle: welcome creates loyalty.

Their training programmes obsess over what they call "a welcoming presence"—the specific combination of greeting, body language, and energetic quality that makes customers feel recognised and valued.

They teach baristas that greetings "make first and lasting impressions that allow the customer to enjoy their stay and entice them to return again."

Notice that language: not just "enjoy their coffee." Enjoy their stay. The welcome creates the container for the entire experience.

Here's the business truth behind this: effective welcome increases customer retention by up to 50%.

Fifty per cent. That's not marginal—that's the difference between struggling and thriving.

Yet I watch highly credentialed practitioners greet clients whilst checking their phone, finishing notes from the previous session, or offering a distracted "come in" without eye contact. Then they wonder why retention is poor and referrals have dried up.

The technical work you do is essential. But if your welcome doesn't create safety in those first 33 milliseconds, your client's nervous system never fully settles enough to access the depth your skills could facilitate.

The Cost of the Hollow Hello

Let me tell you about a moment I'm not proud of.

Three years ago, I was caring for my parents while still running my practice. I had my parents on speed dial and their messages set as an alert. I had a new client arriving for their first ‘exploratory’ appointment. I greeted her whilst checking a message from my parents on my phone. I am sure you’ve experienced this. It didn’t hit well.
The reason and excuses don’t matter.

I said all the right words: "Welcome, lovely to see you, please come through." But I wasn't actually there. My energy was scattered, my presence fragmented.

She didn’t sign-up.

I'll never know for certain why she left. But I do know this: I failed her before we even began. Not because my skills were inadequate, but because my welcome didn't create the energetic foundation for trust.

That hollow hello cost me a client, yes. But more importantly, it cost her the transformation she'd been seeking—because I couldn't pull myself together for 33 milliseconds.

Welcome and the Nervous System

Here's what makes this critical for transformational practitioners specifically: trauma, anxiety, and deep pattern work require nervous system regulation.

When a client arrives for therapy, coaching, or healing work, their system is already scanning for safety. If your welcome doesn't signal "you're safe here, I'm genuinely present to you," their nervous system remains in protection mode.

In protection mode, the prefrontal cortex—needed for insight, integration, and change—has limited access. The client may go through the session, but real transformation requires a regulated nervous system that feels safe enough to venture into vulnerable territory.

Your welcome isn't a nicety before the real work begins. Your welcome is the neurological doorway that allows the real work to become possible.

The AI Paradox

Back to that moment with Claude that started this entire reflection.

If AI—which has zero consciousness, zero genuine care, zero actual emotional capacity—can be programmed to create welcome that generates human warmth response, what does that reveal?

It reveals that welcome is a learnable system. A set of replicable components: acknowledgement, presence cues, specific language, energetic quality.

Which means practitioners can intentionally cultivate it. We're not talking about personality or natural charisma—we're talking about a skill that directly impacts clinical outcomes and business sustainability.

The profound irony? As we worry about AI replacing transformational work, we're neglecting the one thing that makes us irreplaceable: our capacity for genuine human warmth.

AI can simulate welcome. But only humans can offer welcome infused with real presence, authentic care, and the energetic quality that one nervous system recognises in another.

That's our competitive advantage—but only if we actually cultivate it.

The Starbucks-Level Welcome Audit

Here's what you're practising this week: the 60-Second Welcome Audit.

Before your next client arrives, check these five elements:

1. Eye contact first - Make eye contact before speaking. Let them register being seen.

2. Full-body orientation - Turn your entire body toward them, not just your head. This signals full attention.

3. Genuine delight - Find something real in yourself that's glad they're here. They'll feel the difference between authentic and performed.

4. Spaciousness held - Take a breath before greeting. Rushing destroys presence.

5. Energy match - Meet them where they are energetically, then gently invite regulation. Don't demand they match your state.

Print this list. Screenshot it. Put it where you'll see it before sessions.

Then extend this audit beyond your practice: notice how you welcome the postal delivery, the person who interrupts your work, your partner when they come home. Notice what happens when you bring conscious welcome to every human interaction for seven days.

This Week's Practitioner Challenge

For the next week, become obsessed with welcome—yours and everyone else's.

Track these questions:

• What does my internal state feel like in the moment before I greet someone?
• Am I genuinely present, or performing presence?
• How does my body feel when I receive authentic welcome versus hollow greeting?
• What shifts in my client work when I give the first 60 seconds my complete attention?

Keep notes. You're gathering data about the single variable that might be determining 50% of your retention rate.

The Business Case You Can't Ignore

Let's talk numbers, because warm feelings don't pay the bills—but welcome apparently does.

Studies show that effective welcome and onboarding increase customer retention by up to 50%.

The average customer retention rate across industries is 75%, but professional services—which includes coaching, therapy, and consulting—hits 84% when done well.

What's the difference between average and excellent retention? Often, it's the quality of welcome and the ongoing sense that clients matter.

Here's what this means in practical terms: if you see 20 clients monthly and have 60% retention versus 80% retention, that's the difference between 12 returning clients and 16 returning clients. Month after month. Compounding over years.

Welcome isn't soft skills—it's the foundation of practice sustainability.

This Week's Takeaway

The transformation industry is saturated with technique-obsessed practitioners offering similar credentials. In this landscape, your warmth becomes your differentiation.

But warmth without presence is performance. Clients can feel the difference between "I'm glad you're here because you're paying me" and "I'm genuinely present to who you are and what you're bringing."

That difference—cultivated in 33 milliseconds—shapes everything. Trust. Depth. Vulnerability. Outcomes. Retention. Referrals. Revenue.

In an AI-driven world, your humanity is your competitive advantage. But only if you actually bring it to every interaction, starting with welcome.

Major Announcement: Start With AI

It's time I told you what's been lighting me up this year.

I'm launching an AI Toolkit Service and Consultancy specifically designed for transformational practitioners—therapists, coaches, NLP trainers, hypnotherapists, and healing professionals navigating this rapidly changing landscape.

Here's what I've discovered: AI isn't the threat. Practitioners who don't understand how to integrate AI whilst preserving the irreplaceable human elements of transformation work—they're the ones who'll struggle.

I'm creating the first comprehensive framework that helps you leverage AI for efficiency, marketing, admin, Practice and Client support and content creation whilst doubling down on the human capacities that AI will never replicate: presence, intuition, energetic attunement, and authentic welcome.

This isn't about replacing what you do. It's about amplifying your reach and impact whilst protecting the depth that makes transformation possible.

The toolkit launches in the coming weeks. If something shifted as you read this—if you felt that internal "yes, this is for me"—trust that. Your intuition is recognising alignment.

More details coming very soon.

For now, know this: the future belongs to practitioners who understand how to blend technological efficiency with irreplaceable human depth.

Choosing Happy Podcast Update

This week's episodes explore the intelligence in apparent failure:

• Monday: Monday Myth
• Wednesday: Real Stories -
• Friday: Fail Forward -

All episodes are available at www.choosinghappypodcast.com or on your favourite podcast platform/app.

Thank you so much for listening and supporting the podcast.

Start With AI Update

Remember to check out the LinkedIn Newsletter for updates and details of my latest Power prompts and training.

The 5-day email course is helping transformational practitioners integrate AI into their businesses without losing their human touch.

Join us at www.startwithai.online

That's it for this week, beautiful human.

Before you close this email, answer honestly: If your clients secretly rated the welcome they receive from you on a scale of 1-10, what number would appear?

And more importantly—what would that number reveal about the work itself?

The coffee offer remains open, always. And the welcome is genuine.

With so much love and gratitude,

Heather

Heather V Masters
Chief Coach, Writer, Trainer and Facilitator of Magic

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

P.S. That AI toolkit and consultancy service I mentioned? If you're feeling the pull toward it, drop me an email. I'm assembling a small founding group of practitioners who'll get first access and special pricing. Your intuition knows if this is for you.

P.P.S. This week, notice how you welcome yourself—to your morning, to your mistakes, to your uncertainty. That relationship sets the template for how you welcome everyone.