December 17, 2008 - What Are Your Default Systems?

Main Idea

Why does your new computer come with software preloaded?  And why do they have a duplicate of the software on the hard drive?  Why does Southwest Airlines fly only one kind of airplane?  Why does the food selection decrease when you go into a higher priced restaurant?

Expansion of Idea

Last week I heard about a loan officer in Pennsylvania, who, when standing on a hill, can honestly say that he finances every farm within sight.  He also has zero loan delinquencies.  Not only that, he has only had one late payment in 20 years.  Is this unbelievable?  Not really if you consider that he finances farms in an Amish community and it is against their culture to borrow very much and on top of that it is extremely humiliating if you do not pay your bills.  This loan officer picked his customers very well.  The only thing different about his servicing of the customers is that he had to create a default system.  He had to go to his customers every month to collect their monthly payments.  This is very unusual for a loan officer but it did two things.  First, it kept him close to his customers and second, it collected the monthly payments.  I am sure he serviced these customers very well.  I would also bet that these loans are not as sensitive to rate changes as normal loans.  (These loans are a little different because they could not be sold on the secondary markets because the houses do not have electricity.) 

In hindsight this default system is obvious.  So are many other genius ideas. Do you have default systems in place?  Are they working for you?  One of the main changes I have made in the last 4 to 5 years is that I will not take a new client that will not allow us to look at his interim financial data for his business.  If clients are not that proactive, then I do not want them.  Some of these potential clients keep good books and it would normally not be a problem.  But if, in a given year, they do not have good records, then my office has to make up the difference during tax season and that creates problems for me and for other clients.  This is a default system that is good for clients and for me. 

Action Items

1. Where are you having problems in your customer service delivery?

2. Are there adjustments in how you approach the sale and service delivery that would benefit you?  (Remember these are probably small adjustments.)

3. Are you trying to be all things to all people just to make the sale?

4. Have you set up systems to protect against the 1% of customers who create problems?

December 10, 2008 - Are You Willing to Refer Your Customers to Your Competitors?

Main Idea

Have you gone into a retail store looking for a particular brand or item and they did not have it?  And the store sales clerk showed you something that should be as good but is just a little different.  When you got home it worked okay, but not as well as it should have. 

Expansion of Idea

Most of us love the Christmas season.  There is activity and food and getting together with friends.  One of my favorite movies of all time is Miracle on 34th Street.  I try to watch it almost every year.  (Yes, I am a purist and I watch it in black and white.)  If you have not watched this, go rent it and enjoy it with your family.  I just love the part where Kris Kringle, who works as the Macy’s Santa Claus, refers customers to Gimbels.  The reason he referred the customers to a competitor is that they had a better brand of skates for kid’s ankles.  This created a furor within Macy’s because it is crazy to refer a customer to a competitor.  The sales manager was livid when he heard about the referral.  Yet, when customers started sending telegrams and showing up in person to thank the sales manager, he had to rethink the whole approach.  The team at Macy’s had stumbled upon one of the greatest secrets of customer service that can ever be identified. 

PUT THE CUSTOMER’S NEEDS AHEAD OF OURS AND YOU WILL HAVE A CUSTOMER FOR LIFE.

Too often we will do whatever we can to make a sale instead of focusing on what the customers need.  We need to put our customers first and then we will be taken care of.  We can only cultivate true customer loyalty by putting the customer’s interests ahead of our own.  Sustained profitability can only come from customer loyalty. 

Action Items

1. Watch Miracle on 34th Street.

2. Read a book called “The Go-Giver” (It is a 2 hour read.)

3. Ask your team if you are selling or serving.

4. Ask your customers how you can serve them better.

December 3, 2008 - What are Your Company's Inconsistencies?

Main Idea

How often have you gone into a supposedly nice restaurant that has paper placemats?  Or have you gone into a home improvement store that does not have some basic things like normal light bulbs?  Or you call a company that allegedly has great customer service and you have to wait 15 minutes on hold?

Expansion of Idea

All of us have seen instances where there is a huge disconnect between the business’ stated policies or marketing brand and the reality of the business.  You have probably gone into businesses that have a formal mission statement on the wall in the entrance area.  It says that the purpose is to serve the customer and then you have to wait 25 minutes for your appointment.  (At least you have plenty of time to read the mission statement.) 

I recently decided to clean up my own firm by eliminating audit services. This was a remnant of being a compliance-oriented CPA firm.  The core of my business is to help clients with financial statements, tax returns, and information systems for decision making. The audits were inconsistent with providing the consulting and advisory services that compose the majority of my business.    It sent the wrong messages to my team and to my customers.  I want my team to focus on helping small business clients. 

Only when we truly specialize can we really serve our clients.  The problem is that we tend to hold onto the past.  This prevents us from embracing the future.  Spend some time looking for inconsistencies in your business.  Decide what you can change and then do it.

Action Items

1. Ask your spouse.  You will get an honest answer.

2. Ask your team.

3. Ask your customers.

4. Observe how you do business.

November 20, 2008 - Activity Brings Results

Main Idea

How often does business just appear on your doorstep? Do people come looking for your services? Do your clients pay you before you bill them? When is the last time you contacted your clients, just to check in? Do you think touching base might create the result of more business?

Expansion of Idea

Activity brings results. Depending on the activity, the results may or may not be what you had intended. In 1982, a man named Larry strapped himself to a lawn chair with 45 weather balloons attached with the intent of floating 30 feet above ground, whereupon, his plan was to use his pellet gun to deflate the balloons to slowly descent back to Earth. After his buddies untied the lawn chair, Larry shot up to 16,000 feet, beer and sandwiches in hand, right in the line of planes landing at Los Angeles airport. Larry was stuck for 14 hours before he gained the courage to shoot the balloons. On his way down he was tangled in power lines. He eventually made it back down safely, at which point, he was arrested. Probably not the result he was aiming for, but his activity sure brought forth a consequence. In all of his stupidity, Larry was correct about one thing, “A man can’t just sit around.”

Could your business be accused of being stagnant? Put forth the effort of a positive business activity and you will reap the benefits of positive consumer results. We recently hosted a seminar at our office for our personal tax clients on Estate Planning. The day after the seminar, our phones (which are usually quiet once tax season is over), were ringing off the hook. What sort of things could your business do to create a wave of interest from customers?

Action Items

1. Call a customer

2. Call a supplier

3. Brainstorm with your team

4. Try something

November 13, 2008 - How Do You Implement Changes?

Main Idea

You have changes in your mind that need to happen.  You have the know-how to implement them.  You have the determination and guts to face the problems.  However, no one else in your organization thinks that they need to change.  What do you do?  Where do you start?  Have you tried to implement changes and after a couple of years, you are back to where you started?

Expansion of Idea

As Peter Drucker said “To thrive in the new millennium, managers must do more than adapt to change: they have to lead it.”  The job of a leader is to facilitate change before it is too late.  The question is how to do it.  The first thing you must do is to establish a sense of urgency.  Sometimes that is easy, such as our nation’s financial crisis.  It is more difficult when your organization is having a good year.  Complacency is a real tough enemy of change.  Sometimes you have to find problems inside your organization.  Some leaders have had to manufacture the problems so that the importance is felt by all.  When life is running smoothly, what incentive do you have to change?

A perfect example of this most everyone can relate to is weight loss. What motivates you to lose 20 pounds? What if your doctor told you that you would eventually die if you didn’t lose those 20 pounds? What if the time period was shortened from eventually to 6 months from now? That need would create inspiration to exercise and make more nutritious food choices.

Without the urgency to make a change, your business may drop a little in revenue.  It may not even be a noticeable difference at first, but you are no longer growing and improving.  The following year it slides a little more.  Then the downward spiral hits and you can’t stop it.  You need to figure out what needs to change, set a timetable, communicate the changes and timetable and then implement the changes, before it is too late.  And when the changes work, you need to celebrate all wins, no matter how big or small (20 pounds, or just 2).  Your team needs to know that they are on the right track.

Action Items

1. Evaluate the necessary changes and determine if a crisis is present.

2. If a crisis is not present, then determine if one should be manufactured.

3. Communicate the changes and the urgency for making changes.

4. Celebrate the wins.

November 6, 2008 - What Do You Need to Change?

Main Idea

Does your organization suffer from the same issues time and time again? How do you handle these problems? As Benjamin Franklin put it, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Are you insane? Are you ready to change the way you handle issues? Are you ready for a different outcome?

Expansion of Idea

Over the past few months, you’ve been drowning in political propaganda. Via your television, radio, newspaper, yard signs, and bumper stickers, politics have been the main topic surrounding our nation. Regardless of your political persuasion, or which circle you darkened at the voting poll, it is undeniable that Barack Obama was elected to office because the majority of America longs for change.

Several years ago, a client of ours had a pretty nice business that was suffering because they kept doing what was successful in the past.  They were no longer successful and were starting to get into some severe financial conditions.  The owners still would not adjust what they were doing.  They kept thinking that they could continue doing what they used to do.  They thought that they could do it a little better and that would fix the problems.  We walked away from the client because it was obvious that the end was coming and would be painful. 

Sometimes you need to break what is working so you can be better.  A perfect example of this is what Tiger Woods did in 2004.  He was at the top of the golf kingdom.  And then he completely wrecks his swing and starts over so that he can be better.  That takes guts to bet it all like that.  Do you have the guts to change what needs to be changed?  

Action Items

1. Ask yourself if you are achieving your goals?

2. Do it again and don’t lie about it.

3. What is holding you back?

October 30, 2008 - Celebrate!!!

Main Idea

How often does your organization do fun things for the employees? Does your team under-estimate the value of “service with a smile”? Ever wonder how you could add a little spice to your boring meetings to keep your co-workers from snoring? Having fun at work doesn’t mean sacrificing productivity, in fact, quite the opposite is true. Enabling your employees to be creative and allowing laughter in the office is the perfect way to boost morale, which in turn, will positively affect your company’s productivity, not to mention employee retention! But how, you may be wondering?

Expansion of Idea

Celebrate anything and everything that is important to you, your company, or the employees that work so hard for you. Birthdays, anniversaries, company-wide achievements, personal goals met, and new employees are all great reasons (excuses…) to eat cake! Company parties and gatherings don’t have to be dreaded, and they certainly don’t have to pertain to business. Getting your team to have fun together is a perfect team-building activity and what better way to get everyone to relax than to have a party together? If a celebratory bash is just too much for busy employer to handle, start small. Hang balloons around your office before a meeting, add a colorful tablecloth to the break room, or simply use quirky visuals or toys in your training sessions. Implement a funny-quote-of-the-day e-mail, or pass out candy randomly to your top customer service champs. It doesn’t take much to entice a little competition to provide the best service or the highest productivity. Even Charles Schwab understood this concept when he said,

“The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor find much fun in life.”

If a laid-back atmosphere makes you feel a little uneasy at first, think of it this way:

If clients see your employees having a good time and enjoying their job, they will want more interaction with your company.

Where to begin?

1. LIGHTEN UP! Make a priority of smiling and laughing, even if you are stressed on the inside. Set the example for everyone.

2. Appreciation – Give employees positive re-enforcements to keep up the good work.

3. Get to know the people you’re surrounded by daily. What will get them fired up about coming to work each day?

October 23, 2008 - Are You Easy to Do Business With?

Main Idea

How open are you to new business?  Are you really open?  Is it a pain to deal with your organization?  Are you making policies based on you looking out to the world?  How often do you make policies based on the world looking into your organization?

Expansion of Idea

I recently had to open some trust bank accounts for two clients at three different banks in order to spread the deposits.  Do you want to guess the differences in times?  The quickest time was about 20 minutes.  The longest was 75 minutes which made me late for a meeting.  The middle one was 30 minutes.  I had never dealt with the one that only took 20 minutes.  They were very efficient and I moved in and out easily.  The middle bank was very professional, but I think their computer program was not as user friendly.  The bank that took 75 minutes had an inexperienced person opening the accounts and we had to redo the paperwork a couple of times.  She was very nice and apologized for being slow.  The problem is that I did not have unlimited amounts of time.  Other people in the bank could have helped the situation.  This created a barrier in my mind about using this bank in the future.  Even though this bank has had great service in the past, I will think twice about opening a new account there. 

Are there barriers that you have created in your business?  Your job is to remove the barriers and make it easy for customers to do business with you.  These barriers could be time as noted above or hours of operation.  It could be credit or shipping policies.  It could be that people have to learn a secret handshake. 

In my office one of the barriers that we have to constantly work on is the fact that because we understand accounting and taxes, we assume clients understand our language.  Each client has a different level of understanding.  When we are not communicating properly with our clients, it is very frustrating for our clients.  We need to always monitor their level of understanding and then fill in the gaps.  Sometimes we do that well and other times we don’t. The point is you have to constantly look for ways to make it easy to do business with you. 

Action Items

1. Talk to your team about the barriers. 

2. Talk to your customers about any barriers.

3. Identify one barrier that you and your team are going to work on.

October 16, 2008 - What Are the Little Things that You Can Do?

Main Idea

What is your view of the stock market?  How is your business?  Do you have friends who have lost their job, their house, or are having trouble getting loans?  Do you read about people committing suicide?  How bad is it out there?

Expansion of Idea

Right now, a lot of people are afraid to even turn on the television or look at a newspaper or internet.  Some people don’t face reality.  Others still don’t see the problems because it hasn’t hit them hard.  One of the key truths that Jim Collins wrote about in the book “Good to Great” is that truly great companies all faced adversity during the transition from being good to becoming great.  The difference between them and merely good companies or even bad companies is that they were completely honest with themselves in their analysis of whatever adversity they faced.  They also had unwavering faith in their ability to survive the situation.  Only by truly understanding their situation could they determine how to fix their problems. 

Obviously, we are in a pretty severe economic period.  All of us know people who have either lost jobs or homes or businesses.  There is no easy fix.  However, this is a great opportunity for creating relationships.  You can improve your relationships by doing positive things for your customers and employees.  Look for synergies with vendors, other businesses, and maybe even competitors. 

Action Items

1. Put a smile on your face.  You cannot provide great service with a frown.

2. Look for opportunities to get closer to your customers. 

3. Brainstorm with your team about how to add value to your customers.  Sometimes you can add value with minimal cost.  For a great example, go to http://www.stservicemovie.com/ and watch the 5 minute movie on Johnny the Bagger.

October 8, 2008 - Have You Developed Your Teamwork?

Main Idea

When you were a kid did you like to play by yourself or with others?  When you see a small group of people accomplish something incredible, are you jealous?   Do you see the beauty in synchronized swimming or diving?  Or have you watched the Blue Angels flying in formation?  How do they do it?

Expansion of the Idea

Almost everyone knows who Michael Jordan is.  He is probably the greatest athlete that we have ever known.  He is super competitive, fiercely independent and one of the best basketball players I have ever seen.  When he came out of college, he played for 6 years with the Chicago Bulls rapidly developing into the best player ever.  However, he could not win a championship.  He could score 30, 40 or 50 points a game yet they did not have a chance in winning the championship.  Not until the Chicago Bulls acquired Scottie Pippen, and a few role players that really do not belong on the same court as Michael Jordan, did the Bulls win a NBA championship.  And then they won 6 championships over the next 6 years that Michael Jordan played. 

What was the secret?

Michael Jordan discovered a critical key for success.  TEAMWORK!!!!!  When Michael Jordan and his teammates discovered, embraced and lived by this core value their success was probably guaranteed.  Everyone on that team knew their role.  And when they acquired the ultimate free spirit, Dennis Rodman, a lot of people thought that the Bulls could not handle him on the team.  But he fit in almost perfectly because he knew his role and his teammates could count on him.  Yes, the team was a collection of individuals, but they played as a team. 

Most businesses do not function as a team and the result is that they do not achieve the success that they should have.  Team members do not know what is expected of them.  They do not know what everyone else is doing or what is planned.  Their compensation package is designed in isolation and there is no emphasis on team results.  Our systems are all geared towards individual attention.  Does your team celebrate the victories together and learn from the losses together? 

Action Items

1. Decide if teamwork is or should be a core value for your organization.

2. Make a list of your team and what their duties are.

3. Make sure that people know what is expected of them.

4. Share your plans.

5. Encourage the team.

6. Celebrate all victories as a team.

October 2, 2008 - Do You Know Your Core Values?

Main Idea

Have you considered what your core values are for you and for your business?  What would be the core value for a “Wall Street” firm?  What would it be for your church?  What would it be for the St. Louis Rams?  Is this even important?

Expansion of the Idea

You cannot turn on the television, look at the internet, or read a paper without reading about the financial crisis and how it is George Bush’s problem and how he created it.  This is garbage.  Yes, government could have done some things differently.  However, the real problem is the culture of the Wall Street firms.  The movie Wall Street was filmed 20 years ago and the film clearly pointed out the underlying concept of Wall Street.  Obviously, greed has been and will probably be a fixture there.  It is a core value whether they want it or not.  Risk management is given lip service but they obviously do not give it the same level of respect as greed. 

Core values are the boundaries that define our businesses.   They are who we are.  They may or may not be who we want to be.  Problems occur when our core values are not aligned with our customer or team member expectations.  Problems also occur when we stray from the core values.  George Merck said “Medicine is for people, and not for profits.  If you remember that, profits will follow.”  What has happened in the last 10 years is that Merck started managing the business for profits.  They strayed from their core and have created a lot of problems. 

Identifying core values is not just for minimizing problems.  Once they are identified, clearly expressed and all systems are aligned, then the business can run full steam ahead.   Core values can be a lot of things.  They can be innovative service delivery.  They could be integrity in products and services.  Others could be service, teamwork, respect, technological innovations.  There are no right or wrong answers.  My core values may not work for you.  But it is critical that you identify them and own them.

Action Items

1. Make a list of what you think are your core values

2. Ask your team to make a list.

3. Ask some customers what your core values are.

4. Follow up on differences.

September 25, 2008 - Do You Have the Passion?

Main Idea

When was the last time you went into a business and you felt the buzz in the building?  Were people happy and genuinely looking to serve you?  Or have you received a telemarketing call from someone who obviously was just going through the motions?  What is it like for someone to call your office?  Do they wade through the voice mail jungle and then when they get a live person the person barely acknowledges them?

Expansion of Idea

We have all been in businesses where it felt like someone died, the body was decomposing and they were ready for an autopsy.  If you worked there you knew you wanted to be somewhere else.  There is no possibility of providing outstanding customer service. 

One of the real keys to building a thriving organization is the passion of the leader.  The leader has to be passionate about the business, organization or cause.  The passion can’t be about himself or herself.  You know when you see a business that has this passion.  The leader is involved.  He is committed.  She sacrificed to make sure things work.  He goes the extra step for his employees.   

Passion does not have to be “in your face” emotion.  It can be the quiet strength of someone who is going to do whatever is necessary to get the job done.  Sometimes, it is just a matter of smiling and forcing yourself to do the job.  You may just reacquire the passion and love of your job that you have lost.

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Do you enjoy going to work?

2. Do your employees enjoy going to work?

3. If the answer is no to either of those questions, start asking questions?  Why or why not?  What can we change?

4. Consider taking some time off or taking a period of time to just think about the business and recharge your batteries.

September 18, 2008 - Failure is a Necessity

Main Idea

What is your view of someone who has declared bankruptcy?  Or someone who has flunked a test?  Have you tried selling a great idea to one person and then another and then another and no one wants to buy?  How many sports teams go into a prevent defense when they are winning and go on to lose because they are afraid to take any risks?  On the other hand, do you know people who never fail because they are safe in their own world?

Expansion of Idea

I heard a speaker recently comment that failure is a necessity.  This guy has built a large multi-site church and is tremendously successful.  I thought the comments were a little odd.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I agreed.  I thought about my own public speaking which does not come naturally to me.  In the sixth grade my parents pushed me to join the speech club.  I was reluctant but I memorized the speech and went to the meet.  Suffice it to say, I had a bad experience. 

That stuck with me until about 8 years ago.  I was making some changes in my accounting practice and had an opportunity to do a seminar that I really thought would help clients.  Suffice it to say that I was terrified of doing the seminar.  Yet I was excited because I knew I needed to do it and it provided some great business opportunities.  Because of the failure when I was 11, which I will not forgive my parents for, I knew I needed to really prepare for the seminar.  The seminar was a turn key program that did not need a lot of preparation.  I prepared anyway.  I focused on areas that I was passionate about.  The failure drove my actions in a way to ensure that the future public speaking was successful.  This is an area that I will always have to work on, but I know how to overcome those limitations and succeed. 

We are all afraid of failure but we should be more afraid of never trying anything new.  As Thomas Edison said after failing 10,000 times to invent the light bulb, “I did not fail, I just learned 10,000 ways not to design the light bulb.”

Suggested Areas to Start

1. List a few failures in your business or life

2. Make a note about what you learned

3. List one thing that you are currently afraid to do but you know you should do

4. Discuss this with your boss, coworker, spouse or other adviser and determine how to approach the problem

September 11, 2008 - What are the Positives in Your Business?

Main Idea

Do you see the glass as half full or half empty?  Is your business doing well right now?  What is the status of your customers?  Are they doing well?  Is it all doom and gloom?  Or, are you just planning on riding the storm out (to use a song from the 70’s)?

Expansion of Idea

I had to think twice about whether or not to send this idea out today.  But the more I thought about it, the more important it is.  Today is 9/11 and for most of us it is a very sobering day as we remember where we were when we heard that the planes hit the twin towers.  We are facing a global financial crisis.  We are in the middle of a war that is going to last a while.  Unemployment is looming for our nation.  Most of my clients have seen competitors that either have closed or will close.  And we are going to get some changes in Washington that may not be good (both candidates have some problems with their tax proposals). 

Enough with the bad!!!

We are living in the United States which is based on a fundamental premise of opportunity.  Just because there are a few negative economic indicators, doesn’t mean that we can’t have a positive attitude.  We will get through this period and when we do, there is no reason that your organization can’t thrive.  With all of the bad things out there, I see tremendous opportunities for small businesses that are proactive.  Customer service is at an all time low because businesses are cutting back.  You can pick up current sales and market share by focusing on the positives and helping people.  People may not be buying stuff right now, but that does not mean you can’t acquire them as customers. 

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Say thank you to a policeman, a firefighter or soldier.

2. Pray for the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

3. Talk(Listen) to a customer that you don’t normally interact with. 

4. Ask your team if there have been any positive surprises this month. 

5. Follow up on all positive surprises. 

September 5, 2008 - What is Your Contribution?

Main Idea              

Do you know what you should be doing on a daily basis? Are there duties that only you can do?  What can you do that will push the organization to the next level? 

Expansion of Idea

When I was 8, the Cardinals made it to the World Series.  It was exciting for St. Louis.  We would sneak a radio with ear pieces into school so that we could listen to the World Series games.  Most people would say that we had a couple of key players such as Bob Gibson, or Lou Brock, that made the difference.  They definitely went out and did their part. 

But what about a reserve catcher named Bob Uecker?  No one would mistake him for a professional baseball player.  What could he contribute to the team?  He was a lifetime 200 hitter and a not so good catcher.  But he focused on the one thing that could help. He was so funny that he kept the locker room loose.  The team did not get uptight. They went out there and won games.  I would maintain that he was as critical to the team winning as Bob Gibson.  

The same is true in all of our organizations.  Some have high profile jobs.  Others have lower profile jobs.  All of the jobs are important.  Have we figured out what we need to contribute?  Most of us get so caught up in the daily grind, that we lose focus of the special things that we need to do for our organizations to thrive.  It doesn’t matter what we do for our businesses.  It does matter that we do the critical things that only we can do.

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Identify the one or two things that you are uniquely qualified to help push your organizations goals.

2. Meet with your team and help them identify their unique contribution

3. Work on your unique contribution this week

4. Celebrate when your team has focused on their contributions.

August 29, 2008 - What are Your Fundamentals?

Main Idea              

When was the last time you went into a restaurant and you were not greeted promptly, you sat at the table for 10 minutes before the waiter came, you had to wait to place your order, you can’t find your waiter for 15 minutes at a time, it took forever (1 hour) to get your order, or the food was not very good? 

Expansion of Idea

All of these happened to my family in one evening a couple of weeks ago, except for the not so good food.  (We paid our bill and left before we got to that point.)  The only complicated part of the night is the preparation of the food and frankly that is not the number one reason I don’t go back to restaurants.  If they can’t get the simple things right, I really don’t care how good the food may or may not be. 

Are there fundamental things that you positively have to get right?  These things may or may not be related to your core part of the business.  I realize that I have to get your tax returns right.  But I can lose clients really fast if I decide not to return your phone calls for a few weeks or if I give your financial statements to another client by mistake.  At the core of my business is a fundamental focus on customer service.  And I would suggest that it is not much different from your business.  As a follow up to last week’s coaching suggestion, this would be a good place to start.  You could work with your team and discuss some fundamentals of your business.  Are you clear on what is expected?  Have you communicated that with your team?

Suggested Areas to Start

1. List out 3-5 fundamental things that you must get right in your business

2. Post them on a bulletin board at your offices

3. Discuss them with your team

4. CATCH YOUR PEOPLE DOING THEM RIGHT (VERRRRRY IMPORTANT)

August 22, 2008 - Is Coaching Part of Your Culture?

Main Idea

Have you been watching the Olympics?  Do you wonder why certain athletes rise to the top?  What is the difference between those athletes that make it to the Olympics and those who just dream about it?  How often do you hear about not just the athlete but also their coach?  Is the coach critical to excellence? 

Expansion of Idea

Coaches are an integral part of all high performing teams.  Between 1964 and 1975, UCLA won 10 national championships in basketball.  This is the best extended performance in college basketball and probably in all sports ever.  I can’t imagine that this record will ever be broken.  Why?  The key is a humble man named John Wooden.  In my opinion, he is the greatest coach ever.  The number one thing that I focus on when I think about John Wooden is that he rarely called timeouts during the game to discuss strategy or execution with his team.  They were ready before the game and he trusted them to do the right things.  His teams were prepared and as a result they won. 

We do not fully realize the impact that coaching in all aspects of our lives can have.  This is as true for businesses as it is for elite sports teams.  If you want to perform at your highest level, do you have a coach?  What about your team?  Have you been coaching them?  Or do you practice mental telepathy?  How is that working for you?

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Read a book about John Wooden. (A great book outlining his philosophy is “Be Quick But Don’t Hurry“)

2. Evaluate the culture in your business.  Is coaching part of the culture?

3. Develop a coaching plan for the people that report to you.

4. Evaluate your performance and decide if you need a coach. 

5. Find someone to hold you accountable for following through.

August 15, 2008 - Are You Constantly Working on Improving Your Business?

Main Idea

Do you have ideas for improvement?  How dusty are they in your brain or on your desk?  Or are they so buried on your desk that it would take six months to rescue them?  Are you stuck in a rut and just can’t get enough energy to change ruts?  Ideas are worthless unless you act on them.  

Expansion of Idea

Best quoted by the late Christian author, Vance Havner, "The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs." At best, an idea is a launching pad - a take off point, the bottom of the stairs.  Most of us know how to improve our companies.  The problem is that we are afraid to do what we know we should do.  We think that we can incrementally improve the services.  On the other end, we don’t change anything until we get it absolutely perfect.  We just don’t want to change anything because we are comfortable. 

All of these approaches end up with us continuing to do the same thing over and over and then we wonder why our businesses go into a slow and steady decline.  A banker called me yesterday and asked if I could help one of his clients with a business workout.  The company had been in business for a long time and now is selling or liquidating.  There isn’t much to do when it is in that stage.  The time to act is when the business is going well or at a minimum when you still have resources to make changes. 

These weekly business ideas were in my brain for almost a year.  I knew that I needed to get started because I thought they may be able to help clients.  I would never know unless I tried them. 

Areas to Start

1. Make a list of things that you think will help your business

2. Plan for the implementation. (Include your team!!!!)

3. As Nike says “Just Do It”

August 8, 2008 - Are You a Control Freak?

Main Idea

Are you a control freak?  Are you the only one who can do something right?  When you think about someone working for you doing something critical, do you get visibly sick?  Is there anyone in your organization that has a clue about what you are trying to accomplish?

Expansion of Idea

Most of us are so busy trying to survive that we just try to get our work done as fast as possible so that we can move on to the next project.  The thought of having someone else in your organization doing something critical is a hopeful wish and is just not practical.  Yet we are so overwhelmed that we end up working too much and we make more errors by ourselves.  Sometimes those are errors of omission, but there is opportunity cost.  We don’t follow up on a lead or we don’t fix a nagging problem or we don’t do the planning that we should be doing.  The solution is to create a team that works well together. 

Once I realized that I don’t have to do everything and that it is okay for my team to make errors, it was incredibly freeing.  No, I don’t want errors going out of the office on tax returns. So, I need to improve my systems and training.  But after I delegated skill appropriate tasks, the error rates actually dropped because I focused on training and systems.  And we have had a marked improvement in service.  We still aren’t exactly where I want to be, but we are headed in the right direction.  And I have time to help us get there because I am not doing everything.  I can take the time that I save on one thing and invest it in another area.   But the most important benefit is that I have empowered and trained and elevated my team.  They are having more fun and understand the purpose of what they are doing.  Whenever you can invest in your team, you improve your odds of succeeding.  This is the purpose of a leader – to take your team to the next level. 

Just so that you know I am serious about this, go back and read the weekly business idea from last week.  You may have assumed that I wrote it.  I had input but I did not write it.  I asked Heather in my office if she wanted to write it.   She thought about it for a few seconds and then said she would try it.  I probably would have used different examples and different words.  But she did a great job and the main idea was communicated.  And that is what is important.

Areas to Start

1. List 5 things that you could delegate

2. Review the list and determine who you could delegate them to.

3. If training is needed, determine the training schedule and set a deadline for the training.

4. Go for it!!! 

July 31, 2008 - Is Your Product the Best It Can Be?

Main Idea

Why do your customers choose you? How are you different from your competitors? Do you charge less money? Do you have superior customer service? Do you add value to your products and services? What areas should you focus on when trying to differentiate? In the past 5 years, what have your competitors done to increase their game? What has your company done in the same period?

Expansion of Idea

Regardless of what product or service that you sell, there are more than likely ten or more competitors in the same industry. Consumers in today’s market are overwhelmed with propaganda tactics and cheaper alternatives.

Perhaps instead of over spending in areas such as advertising, a better solution to set your company apart would be to continually invest in innovating your products and/or services. Invite everyone in your organization to join you in developing a better company, and gladly welcome great ideas from anywhere.

One of the leading search engines, Google, uses an “idea mailing list,” which is a company-wide suggestion box allowing associates to post and rate ideas. To sum up the teachings of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, “use the minds of every worker and make sure the person with the best idea wins.” Once you figure out what puts you ahead of your competitor, don’t hesitate to tell everyone about it. In the business world, sincerity is the key, modesty is not.

Areas to Start

1. The mind of your customers- What do they want?

2. The mind of your competition- What are they doing?

3. The mind of your staff- Are they encouraged to share ideas?

4. Set and stick to your goals – Strive to be the industry leader.