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Category: Personal Development

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Best Practices Management Marketing Personal Development

You’ve Decided to Be Customer Focused. Now What?

You’ve read the literature; you’ve bought into the rewards. You want a customer centric organization. A lot of leaders with the same aspirations get stuck at this point, asking “so what does Customer Centric look like”? More importantly, they want to know how do I implement it? While it’s relatively easy to develop a sophisticated customer satisfaction measurement capability, that doesn’t illuminate the predictive behaviors your company needs to move those ratings. As most executives have learned, there’s a lot that goes into being customer focused.

Customer focus is not just a sales thing…

While you need to customer-focus your sales organization, this isn’t even close to being the whole solution. Everyone in the company plays a part in gathering customer insights, and delivering value to customers. Sales methodology and sales skills help, because sellers have a lot of customer contact. Especially in today’s business-to-business complex selling world, sales represent only one element of the solution.

…but great sales tools are a great start.

Let’s examine an effort to transform your organization’s culture into one of continuous customer-value improvement. Every organization must develop a few levels of capability.

First, you must address the area of sales. “Sales process” often refers to a seller-centric process: progressive seller actions required during the course of a sale.  There is another kind of “process”.  For clarity, I’ll use the word methodology: “tools a seller uses to align themselves with a customer buying process“. Methodology and process are linked and parallel. “Process” currently enjoys increasing emphasis in CRM systems (and in a lot of other sales enablement investments), while methodology remains a relatively dark art.

Many companies hire and pray.  Others think they are in the vanguard when they test for a certain personality type, then hire and pray.  In contrast, there are providers who can help install a methodology (as defined here — the word is used more loosely by a lot of sales training organizations) into a sales organization. If you would like to discuss methodology and what it can do for customer focus, contact me.

The business of business: basic commercial literacy

Second, your people need broad “Customer Acumen”.  You can’t be a trusted advisor to a customer/prospect/client until you become expert in their business.  And, you can’t become expert in their business unless you know business.  That is, sellers must come to the client with some basic business acumen, and should walk in the door having a strong feel for that company’s operational health. In my upcoming book, I describe what “business acumen for sellers” looks like (example:  analyzing financial statements for operational health instead of the usual: financial health). If you’d like to preview a chapter on this topic, let me know.

With business acumen, your people understand how they can most effectively impact and grow your customers’ businesses. This will move your company beyond simple customer focus to a sharper focus on customer value.

Customer focus to align with marketing and product groups.

At a third level–maybe a combination of the first two — you align your offer (products and/or services) to the customer’s operation.  There are many facets to understanding your differentiation and connecting that to each prospect’s unique situation:  Augment product training with persona-based differentiation/value tools. Align marketing messages with these differentiators and their likely value. To execute fully on customer value focus, implement a selling methodology to help build consensus among all personas (I’m partial to those of the Miler Heiman Group).  Bonus points for a methodology that drives the customer/prospect to engage the full value of your offer, not just “enough value to win the deal” (I’m partial to mine).

Implementing a culture of continuous value improvement.

In today’s (especially business-to-business) world, we have splintered customer touches among far more roles than sales:  marketing, bizdev, sales, technical sales/sales engineering/application engineering, customer success, implementation/delivery, logistics, underwriting, customer service, tech support, billing, channel partners, you get the idea.  Every one of these touch points has access to a different facet of the customer, and can gain unique insights.

Fourth, engage your entire customer-facing organization with the entire buying organization.  The challenge is to have tools that are easy for all of your employees to learn and adopt, which dovetail well with your sales methodology, and which can be easily disseminated throughout your company.

Using these tools, every employee can contribute to a more holistic view of the customer. A closed loop system which integrates all of these levels is the result.

Simple tools for a complex job

Finally, your company must adopt a language of customer value, importantly, these tools must efficiently describe and communicate customer value throughout your company. To enable smooth adoption, make these tools simple to learn and use.

I’ve been refining such tools for decades. I am passionate about helping clients adopt them. I’ll be discussing them in more detail in my upcoming book… Feel free to contact me to learn more…. about either the tools or the book.

To your success!

#value, #valuefocus. #valueselling, #sales, #salesprocess, #salesmethodology, #salesperformance, #customerfocus, #strategy, #millerheiman, #millerheimangroup, #valueculture, #businesacumen, #challengersale, #strategicselling

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Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development Technology

The CISO… Who?

I was interviewed for a podcast recently for a new show that is all about the business of information/cyber security, and the hosts asked me what I thought was the number one thing that should change in the industry. My answer had nothing to do with more secure software, better security awareness training, better patching schedules, anti-virus, or bigger security budgets. It had to do with the role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Since cybersecurity strategy is one of the hats I wear, this was an easy question to answer. Until the CISO has the same seat at the table with the CEO and the board just like the CIO and CFO do, security within an organization will never be a priority. As I mentioned in my article The Culture of Security, security culture, like all culture, lives or dies from the top down.

Most people I talk to outside the security industry have never heard of a CISO, but they can tell me what the CEO, CFO, COO, and CIO are. When I tell people that I am a virtual CISO, I often get blank stares or the question about what’s a CISO.  What this tells me is that security is still taking back stage in the landscape of business strategy and priority.

I talk to a lot of CISOs and hear their stories, more often than not they tell me they report to the CIO, and that rarely if ever do they get in front of the board. When the CISO does not actually sit at the table with the decision makers, whether that’s the CEO and CFO or the board and their message is filtered through another level or two before ever getting to the decision makers, the importance and context of their message gets lost. Moreover, if those decision makers have questions, there is no one at the table to answer them.

When the CISO reports to the CIO, which is the most common reporting structure there is a real issue that needs to be discussed. The CIO and CISO have different priorities and even conflicting priorities. The CIO is responsible for making data and assets available to support business functions. Funding is generally tied to performance of those assets in support of business needs. Conversely, the CISO is responsible for managing business risk, risk that extends to all responsibilities of business and not just technology. The CISO may also recommend a level of protection for data and technology in such a way that negatively impacts the performance of those assets, a metric that is very important to the CIO. Reporting to the CIO will mean security decisions align with the protection of information assets versus protection of the business and only to the degree that does not too badly impact the numbers the CIO is responsible for.

I’ve also seen where the CISO reports to the CIO who reports to the CFO, which has an even bigger impact on their contact with the board. Now the CISO is two layers removed from the top decision makers and strategists, and the person responsible for reporting the information is someone who does not have the background to properly communicate the message or answer important questions. The CFO is interested in budgets and return on investment, which is hard to see with security. The work of the security professional is often invisible and is very hard to prove ROI when the result of doing a good job, having the right people, and the right tools is no breach or no loss of data. It is very hard to tie the effect of no breach to the cause of a good security department.

Here are my recommendations for leaders who don’t want their brand on the front page of the paper because of a breach or security issue:

If you are the CEO or sit on the board of an organization and you believe that security is a priority, ensure your CISO reports to you or another independent executive that is looking at the organization as a whole. For example the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Risk Officer, or General Counsel could be good for reporting structure as long as the CISO has the opportunity to directly brief the board at least quarterly.

If you are the CIO and you have a CISO reporting to you and you believe your organization should take security more seriously, talk to your CEO about moving the CISO out of your reporting chain. Even if you can be unbiased, It’s the right thing to do for your organization.

If you are a CISO or aspiring CISO for your organization, and you report to anyone other than the COO, General Counsel, Chief Risk Officer, or CEO, I would consider having this conversation with the executive team as a whole. Not because you don’t trust your CIO or whomever you report to, but because security is a real current threat and they hired you to help create the strategy to stay secure. You can’t provide real time direction if you are not riding in the same car as everyone else.

If you are looking to take a job as a CISO for a new organization, when you negotiate terms for the position, ensure that you report to the CEO, COO, or General Council. If they say no, it’s a sign that they might not take security as seriously as you want them to, and you might not be happy working there for long.

If security was just a simple part of an IT organization, it would make sense for a security executive to report to the CIO, and they wouldn’t need the “chief” in their title. However since every part of the organization is reliant on security, and not just within IT, it is incredibly important for the CISO to sit outside of IT where they can have a view of and help the organization at large.

The intent is for the CISO to have an unbiased chain of command and access to brief the decision makers and an opportunity to answer their questions. If security is important to your organization this one change could be a real lasting impact that you are looking for.

If you have questions or want to discuss the challenges of the CISO, email sharon@c-suiteresults.com. If you don’t have a CISO, but want more information on how Virtual CISO services work, which are designed to help small and medium size organizations maintain their security posture reach out so we can talk in more detail.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Personal Development Technology

Don’t Go Into a Proxy Fight with One Hand Tied Behind Your Back

After investing in their stock last summer, activist investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square went after human resource services provider ADP.  He proposed replacing the CEO and asked for Board seats. What ensued was a nasty proxy fight that played out on CNBC.  Both sides peppered shareholders with webinars, letters to shareholders, highly targeted advertising, and more.

Ackman, who reportedly boasted that he “gets more clicks on that internet that anyone except Donald Trump”, also took to social media.  He promoted his cause on his personal Twitter account to his 15k+ followers and created the ADP Ascending account specifically for the proxy fight.  Some of ADP Ascending’s few followers were large shareholders of ADP.  In addition, Pershing Square promoted the content on the account to targeted investors.

ADP ceded the social media battlefield to Mr. Ackman, despite the fact that the majority of Americans get their news from social media.  Increasingly proxy fights play out on the social media stage. Investment professionals use social media to keep tabs on current and prospective investments.

Other than a few business-as-usual tweets on its September Analyst Day, ADP did not mention any investor topics on its Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn presences during the proxy fight.  Their content remained customer focused, which is understandable.  Why upset happy customers with board room drama that may never affect them?

Like Mr. Ackman, ADP could have created social media accounts specifically for the proxy fight.  While short term issue-specific accounts rarely garner many followers, content on the account can easily be promoted to key investor stakeholders.  Lastly, ADP CEO Carlos Rodriguez could have taken this on personally.  Investors expect to hear from the company and the CEO.  Unfortunately, Mr. Rodriguez does not appear to have any public facing social media profiles, so he was absent from the social media discussion as well.

While ADP and Mr. Rodriguez were prepared in many channels, they were not in social media.  Unwilling to use their branded social media account to reach shareholders, they should have had alternatives in place well before the crisis hit.  One might have been a dedicated “news” oriented social media account that was geared towards investors and the news media.  Bank of America News is a good example on Twitter.

Another alternative is CEO Carlos Rodriguez.  CEO social media accounts, if well managed, are a great way to communicate with shareholders who expect to hear from the CEO.  But as PR Week notes “a crisis is not the time to test whether the CEO is up to the task.  Advance preparation is critical.”

Of course, ADP and Mr. Rodriguez came out victorious in the proxy fight.   But there are still lessons to be learned for others who may not be so lucky.  Here are three tips.

1)   Build Relationships with Current Investors.    Investor satisfaction is a resource you can tap into when things get ugly.  

2)   Prepare for Activist Investor Scenarios.  While it’s impossible to identify every threat, consulting firms and other resources are available to help. Demands for social responsibility are increasingly common.  Whenever possible, threats should be mitigated in advance.    

3)   Develop Draft Messaging and Communications Plans.  Every attack varies slightly, so you will never get it 100% right…but you will be so much further along than if you had to start from scratch.

4)   Ensure that you Have the Right Tools in Place.  Do you have the right Communications and Marketing resources (internal or external) to execute your draft plan?  Do you have the right communications platforms in place?  Of course, this includes social media.  Have you established well followed social media accounts that can be employed during an attack.  If this includes leadership, make sure that the CEO’s account is well established with consistent content, well in advance of any attack.  

Activist investors and proxy fights can be huge distractions from the business.  But with planning and the development of foundational tools, you can be better prepared to take on the challenge.

Categories
Best Practices Marketing Personal Development

Craig Duswalt Interview: The Importance of Having a Book and How to Market It

As part of my nationally syndicated radio show, Take the Lead, I interview top leaders and successful individuals who share their success stories.  I recently had the chance to interview the always-entertaining Craig Duswalt, who is a bestselling author and marketing rock star.  In this interview, Craig gives some high-energy insight regarding the importance of having a book and how to market it.

To check out the interview, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdPNdTRdJYA

The following are highlights of what he discussed in our interview:

  • Six examples of books that can be written easily
  • Why it is important to have a book instead of a business card
  • Anyone can create a quote book
  • Why smaller books can be more effective
  • Six examples of outside the box thinking of getting exposure for your book
  • Outside the box marketing
  • How to market yourself fast
  • How to network with famous people
  • Rockstar Marketing Bootcamp – March 22-24 in Las Angeles Rockstarmarketingbootcamp.com (craigduswalt.com/guest to get his discounted price $97 saves thousands of dollars)
  • How to become an expert
  • How to set up membership sites
  • How to do affiliate marketing
  • How to market your business
Categories
Accounting Best Practices Economics Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Human Resources Industries Investing Management Marketing News and Politics Skills Taxes Technology Women In Business

Don’t Play With Your Emotions

“Exerting greater control over your emotions will allow you to exercise greater control of your life.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

 When you engage in life, don’t play with your emotions. Anytime you’re unsure of which path you should take, don’t play with your emotions. That doesn’t mean that you should consider options devoid of your emotions, it means, attempt to think of your options without the emotional attachment that might saddle itself to those options.

By eliminating the emotional aspect that might go into your decision-making process, you allow your thought process to be driven by logic. After you’ve assessed a situation from a purely logical perspective, you can test your sense of direction by considering the emotions that might be the co-pilot of your decision.

Sometimes people allow their emotions to lead their actions. They toss logic aside. Allowing your actions to be driven by emotions alone can lead you into dangerous situations; “I don’t know why I did it; I must have been temporarily insane.” Those may be the afterthoughts you have if you don’t control your emotions before delving into a situation.

To maintain greater control of your life and those that surround you, always seek to control your emotions. Don’t play with them! Once you learn to have greater control of your emotions, you’ll have greater control of the environments you engage in. You’ll also find that your emotions serve you better. So, always seek to keep your emotions in check … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In every negotiation (you’re always negotiating), emotions dictate how you’ll engage in the negotiation. Thus, your emotions will drive your actions if you don’t curb them. It may not be very easy to control your emotions at times when negotiating, but if the opposing negotiator senses that he can control you by controlling your emotions, he’ll play you like a drum. You’ll dance to any tune he decides to play.

Before entering into a negotiation, know the hot points that may cause you to lose control of your emotions; your hot points are also called triggers. Being aware of the triggers that may provoke different emotional reactions in you, allows you to prepare the demeanor you wish to display, versus one that would hijack your real-time display of emotions. Such displays can cause you to lose control of the negotiation. By not displaying a demeanor the other negotiator expected, you’ll initiate doubt within him about the strategy he’s employing in invoking such triggers to maneuver you.

Suffice it to say, controlling your emotions allows you to have greater control of yourself and the other negotiator, and everyone knows, he who controls the negotiation has a greater chance of controlling the outcome of the negotiation.

 

What are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free 5-minute video on reading body language or to sign up for the “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

Remember, you’re always negotiating.

#HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #Psychology

Categories
Economics Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Human Resources Management News and Politics

Thank You Generation Z

I work with “younger” people all the time. My interaction with them comes from work as a business coach / consultant, being involved with several entrepreneurial development programs and in doing interviews for a regional business show I host called Tec Bridge Radio, www.tecbridgepa.org.

Why did I title this article “Thank You Generation Z?”. First reason is, I read a great article in Time Magazine (December 25, 2017 / January 1, 2018 edition) by Katy Steinmetz. Some of the comments were that Gen Z – individuals now in their teens and early 20s – have “grown up during mass disruption” and “now they are entering adulthood with a willingness to experiment.” The article also stated, according to a survey that was part of the research for the article, that 78% of Gen Z-ers say getting a four-year degree no longer makes economic sense, and hundreds of programs, from apprenticeships to boot camps, have cropped up to offer an alternative path.”

Is this good or bad for business in the U.S. around the world? That depends on what we learned from the past and what we do today.

If most of us feel a moral imperative to do what is best for our (all of us on the planet) well-being, in the long run, then everything will be OK! What I mean is, if we can at least spend SOME time on what is healthy for someone other than ourselves and if we are willing to listen to all points of view – and maybe Gen Z and Gen Y are the most important voices to listen to, we can act today to help create healthy people, healthy communities, and healthy businesses.

WE created the disruption, WE created the environment where Gen Zers want to experiment, and WE created the environment that has Gen Zers and many others questioning the value of a four-year college degree. Therefore, WE can be pro-active in our approach to the future.

Some thoughts. Read a hard cover book. Read and listen to different points of view on all topics – especially political topics since they tend to deal with immediate gratification (pleasing constituents NOW, instead of a healthy future). Spend time with your children and grandchildren so you can positively impact their view of their surroundings, and finally CARE about the world the Gen Zers are building – we will be living in it!

FOR BUSINESS OWNERS: get 5 people under 25 and 5 people over 40 in a room together. Have them sit across the table from each other. Then ask them, one at a time “what’s going on in the world today?” Have no specific agenda, other than conversation. Might be interesting! Let me know how that went!

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development Women In Business

Ignore the Trolls – Pay Attention to Opinions That Really Matter

Trolling – A fishing term for trailing bait and hoping for a bite. In today’s world? The idea of trolls frequently conjures up ugly and distasteful online comments, often left by anonymous sources. These sources are looking for a bite as well, and an opportunity to engage.

When I think of the word troll? I think of the big ugly monster covered in warts and grumpy that sits under the bridge.  Or in modern society – a mean bully behind a computer screen, eager to inflame, incite, and get under someone’s skin. So, what can you do about the modern-day troll? I’ve got six strategies to share:

  1. Don’t feed them. This is my favorite way to handle their nonsense. Don’t give them the attention they crave. Trolling is really only sport for people when they get the bite they are looking for. Without it? The troll becomes bored and goes away.
  2. Set policy and safeguards. If you have an organization that has an online presence and an opportunity for trolls to stumble across your “bridge” and bait your team, set a standard policy in place for how to handle it and let every team member understand that policy. Your blog and online forums can also be locked so that comments need approval before going “live”. Or shut down commentary altogether on your site. A Psychology Today article on the topic shared, “Reuters, Popular Science, ESPN, Huffington Post, The Week, USA Today, The Chicago Sun-Times, and National Public Radio have eliminated reader commentary in the past few years, in favor of moving commentaries to platforms like Facebook and Twitter where users are less anonymous and more accountable for their words.
  3. Use your principles as a guide. A self-proclaimed “former troll”, Paul Jun, shared this in an enlightened post, “The reason why abiding to principles is so helpful is because they tell us how to act. ‘Do this, not this.’ It focuses on the long-term outcome, whereas acting on our impulses creates many possible—and unfavorable—results. If there is one thing I learned both in psychology and philosophy, it’s this: No one can hurt you. It is what we tell ourselves about the specific event or person that creates the feeling. In the words of Marcus Aurelius, ‘It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise trolls cannot harm you — inside or out.’
  4. Create a community. When you’ve got a great name and reputation going for yourself and your business, and you’ve got the support of the community members around you – they’ll help take care of the problem. It’s wonderful to see those stories that come out where communities rise up in defense of someone who has taken an online hit.
  5. Laugh. Consider the source and keep your sense of humor. The bottom line is that bullies are often attention seekers who have too much time on their hands and too much ill will in their lives. As long as you have systems in place to protect your reputation and shut down unprovoked and unkind commentary and you know that your integrity and character are above reproach? Just laugh it off and walk away. Take the high road and leave them to their low one.
  6. Make corrections. Sometimes, commentary is based in a legitimate complaint or issue. If that’s the case, take the advice of renowned author, speaker and TV personality Jeffrey Hayzlett, who said in an interview for Forbes, “Let the person who wrote the complaint know you have corrected an error and explain what you did. Most times you’ll never hear from the person again, but I can guarantee the individual will appreciate that he heard directly from a company representative and didn’t have to navigate an endless phone tree.” Everyone makes mistakes. Every company can find areas of improvement. If someone points something out, and it’s a concern – fix it, and move on.

In a world that sometimes hosts trolls and bullies of both the cyber variety and in real life (that’s IRL in troll-speak), it’s good to pay attention to what matters. Your word. Your reality. Your integrity. Your character. What someone says to bait a person for bullying purposes is almost always not based in reality. Protect your reputation – but let those words roll off. In the end, they are not worth your valuable ATTENTION.

Categories
Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

5 Traits of Authenticity that Diversify Your Brand

When your brand is seen as authentic, your competition pales, your customer loyalty skyrockets, and your sales grow. According to Wikipedia, authenticity is “truthfulness of origins, attributes, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intention.” In other words, it’s the real deal! Over time, authentic brands become reliable, consistent, and reputable. Not only are they first to market, they are also first to a specific market. In most cases, they’ve withstood the test of time—they are the real thing. They are leaders in their category, looked up to by their pretenders, and put on a pedestal.

So, how can your brand become “authentic?” Here’s our list:

  1. Principal.Your brand signifies high standards of quality, dependability, customer service, craftsmanship, and community support. You have the reputation of treating associates, employees, neighbors, and the environment with compassion and respect. You protect this reputation devotedly.
  2. Original. Your brand was first to satisfy a necessity. Other brands in your niche are considered knock-offs. But that can only be true if your brand consistently delivers superior quality. Knock-offs will try to see how little quality the market will accept (thus undercutting your price) in order to take advantage of the market you defined. Being first has a feeling of authenticity, especially in applied technology, but your brand must consistently please an unstable, unpredictable market.
  3. Classic. Your brand’s actual image carries classic conventions, not just a popular trend at the time (eventually outdone by yet another glitzy fad). From its logo to its packaging to its signage to its trade dress, your brand image sticks to classic representation. It’s easy to read and pronounce, easy to recognize and remember, and it respects tried-and-true graphic relationships for color, spacing, and quality queues.
  4. Pedigree. Your brand’s name is synonymous with quality. But unless your brand is Rolex, Tiffany, or Chanel, you must wait until your brand has a history of superior performance before you can get those privileges. Your brand’s story diversifies your brand, and can give it a unique quality identical to pedigree.
  5. Persona. Like Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook, Henry Ford for Ford Motor Company, and Steve Jobs for Apple, your brand has an actual person behind it. They represent the brand, as though they’d say, “I guarantee it!” as former president of Men’s Wearhouse George Zimmer said. A real live person behind the brand, rather than an impersonal logo, adds the integrity that authentic brands truly need.

These are our top 5 traits of authenticity, but there are many more! It’s fascinating that “authentic” brands risk losing one or more of these traits for efficiency, standardization, or profitability. Their authenticity could be exploited without appreciation for the details these traits convey to the market. Authenticity is difficult to earn, and must be carefully protected.

Your faithful customers will demand authenticity once your brand earns that reputation. This is an exceptional advantage in keeping your brand stocked and on the front page.

Retailers understand the influence an authentic brand has. If they want to appeal to the brand’s faithful following, they have to carry it. They must keep it stocked to satisfy their customers and maintain their reputation as a retailer.

After all, there’s nothing like “the real McCoy.” So why not enhance your brand with some authenticity?

For more, read on: http://csnetworkadvis.staging.wpengine.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development Women In Business

The Value of Paying Attention

ATTENTION is defined as the act of applying the mind to something.

Every day it seems more difficult to do.  With work, family, the world and multiple electronic devices feeding us information at the same time, it’s a wonder we get anything done well.  The value of paying attention though shows up in increased productivity, safer working conditions and higher profitability.  The simple act of paying attention creates higher quality work, whether in services or products. Having fewer failures, errors, quality defects, and accidents leads to an increase in the bottom line and the overall morale of a workplace environment. On an interpersonal level, truly paying attention to a colleague creates a bond that transcends every interaction you have together. In a world where we see millions of bits of information every day, paying attention has become a skill that needs to be reintroduced and retooled.

How can you do this?  Simply take the time to pay more attention to what is going on around you. Deliberately make a choice to create space in your day to notice a colleague doing something well. Acknowledge what you observe directly to them and explain exactly what they did. Instead of a nondescript “Good job”, be specific: “You handled the interaction with Mr. Smith well.” Timely and personal attention is appreciated deeply.

How many times a day do you stop to notice what those around you are doing? How often do you express an encouraging word?

“The quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention.”

—Cheri Huber

Excerpt from Blueprint for Employee Engagement – 37 Essential Elements to Influence, Innovate & Inspire.

Julie Ann Sullivan has the cure for retaining good talent and increasing productivity. Want a free copy of her book, Talk to Julie Ann @724-942-0486.  Julie Ann hosts the Mere Mortals Unite and Businesses that Care podcasts on C-Suite Radio .  For more information go to http://julieannsullivan.com/

Categories
Growth Management Operations Personal Development

Customers Ask Questions. Make Sure You Have the Answers!

There are some experiences in life you just never forget. Having dinner with my good friends Kim Tucci and the late John Ferrara is one of those experiences. This was over 30 years ago. But like I said, some things you just never forget.

We were in Phoenix, Arizona and this dining establishment was a very nice one. John’s son Ben was with us. At the time, he was only 12 years old. When the server came along to take our drink order, we were curious to know what the daily specials were. When he mentioned a seafood dish, my friend Kim asked, “Is the fish fresh?”

This is the part that has stuck with me after all these years. He told her, “The fish is so fresh it hasn’t even thawed out.”

He was saying two different things, and I was a bit lost. The fish was fresh. But it was also still frozen? What could he possibly have meant? I wasn’t the only one who thought this was odd. Ben, although just 12 years old, was also looking at the server in complete confusion. It turned out that when he said fresh, he was simply implying that the fish hadn’t come from a freezer aisle in a grocery store.

In this case, our server gave the wrong answer to the question. That is the whole point. In every business, there are simple questions that customers are going to ask over and over again. Great employees will know the answers to these questions, because great employers will train them to.

Think about your business and your industry. What are the common questions that get asked time and time again? In a restaurant, a few of them might be about pricing, ingredients in the dishes, side items offered, or substitutions. As a frequent restaurant patron, here are some of the top questions that I regularly ask:

  • What’s the soup of the day?
  • Does this entrée come with a salad or side dish?
  • How is the fish prepared?

That first question, the one about the soup of the day, is one that always puzzles me. It’s amazing to me (in a bad way) how often the server doesn’t know the answer to this. Their response is almost always, “Let me go back to the kitchen and ask the chef.” What blows my mind is how could they not know? What’s just as bad is, how could the manager have someone on the floor who doesn’t know the answers to these simple questions.

So, here is a little homework. There are three main steps to the assignment:

  1. Come up with the top three questions your customers ask your employees.
  2. Create the best responses.
  3. Train your people to know the correct answers.

Once this is done, everyone in your company should be able to answer these questions, from the newest hire to the person who has been there the longest, from the lowest paid employee to the highest paid. Once all of your employees know the answer to these questions, train them on three more. Continually do this, as often as you see fit.

When your customers realize that your employees have the answers to their frequently asked questions, this will instill trust in your company. Trust turns into loyalty to your business.