October 20, 2010 - Are You a Success?

Main Idea

What are the qualities of a great leader?  What are the qualities of a great employee?  How do you know if you are successful?  How do you define success? 

Expansion of Idea

About two months ago, I was having dinner with a family friend and one of my sons.  We were discussing one of the weekly ideas that I had just sent out.  I explained to him that this series of ideas was based on John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.  I told him that I thought that this was the single best model for success that I have seen in the business or sports world.  John Wooden defined success as “self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.”  Success is not measured by how many national championships you win or how many competitive sales processes that you win. 

This definition of success is contrary to what most people think.  Yet, this approach to personal success allowed John Wooden to become the best collegiate coach of all time.  One of my biggest failures in life is the failure to apply these ideas earlier in my career.  I knew about the Pyramid of Success.  I just did not realize the gold that was buried there.  I probably exhibited some of the characteristics but not as consistently as was required.  (As a side note, during the dinner noted above, my friend mentioned that through a friend of his when he was in his 20’s, he was introduced to John Wooden and had a personal signed copy of the Pyramid of Success.  I asked him what he did with it.  He pitched it when he moved a year ago.  I almost cried.)  

Over the last couple of months, I have introduced the core concepts of the Pyramid of Success.  If you follow those concepts you will achieve competitive greatness and that will translate to success.  I would strongly encourage you to go to www.coachwooden.com .  There is a printable version of the Pyramid of Success.  I would suggest printing the pyramid and using it as a character check every day.  Everyone will be successful if they follow the pyramid guidelines. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Are you successful as defined by John Wooden? 

2. Would those around you define you as successful? 

3. If there are differences, what are they and how do you bridge any gap in definitions of success?

4. What is one characteristic on the Pyramid that I can work on? 

September 22, 2010 - How Confident Are You?

Main Idea

When a customer calls with an unexpected problem, do you shrink from it or lean into the problem?  When you have an important sales call, is your stomach in knots before the call?  When your boss wants to discuss your performance, are you eager to hear the results or are you tempted to call in sick that day? 

Expansion of Idea

One of the cornerstones of success is confidence.  This includes success as a leader, as a manager, as an employee, as a teammate, and as a service provider.  If we do not acquire confidence it will break us.  It is critical for our service delivery.  If we are unsure of what we are doing, nothing will ever get done.  When we are unsure of what we are doing, work tends to be delayed because we are afraid of making a mistake.  We can only be confident in ourselves if we have properly prepared for the event or transaction.  I am talking about real confidence as opposed to arrogance.  A lack of confidence shows clearly when you go to a restaurant and have a waiter who is doing their first shift alone. 

One of the areas that I have worked on over the last ten years was my overriding fear of public speaking.  This was caused by an incident when I was in sixth grade.  In an effort to improve my public speaking, it was suggested by a teacher that I participate in the Bellarmine Speech Club.  In preparation for the speech meet, I had to memorize a famous speech.  I prepared and memorized the speech but not to the point where I was confident.  As I was waiting to give the speech, the kid before me started his speech and it was the exact one I had memorized.  AND HE NAILED IT.  My confidence went through the floor.  I made it through the speech but it was awful.  There was no difference in my knowledge or skills before and after I heard the kid before me speak.  The only real difference was my confidence.  That determined my success or, in this case, my failure.  That lack of confidence held me back for 30 years because I did not have confidence that I could speak in public.  I did not gain that confidence back until I was 44 years old. 

While it is unlikely that I will be world renowned for my public speaking, I have improved to the point that it is no longer a liability.  Most of that improvement was directly related to preparation.  This applies to every one of us in our interactions with customers and coworkers.  Every one of us can improve our customer service, our knowledge, our use of technology, or we can at a minimum get to know our customers better.  All of these will give us confidence to do our job. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Are you confident in how you handle your job?

2. If not, where are you unsure of your job?

3. What do you need to prepare to improve your job performance?

4. How can I encourage a team member with their confidence?

September 16, 2010 - How Do You Handle Pressure?

Main Idea

What do you do when good or bad things start happening?  How do you handle unforeseen events?  Do you panic, or do you engage?  Are you the “go-to” person or are you running down the street in a panic? 

Expansion of Idea

I was watching a documentary the other night about 9/11.  The poise and heroism that people exhibited are unbelievable.  As I was watching the stories, I started asking myself whether or not I would react the same way.  I can handle a fair amount of pressure.  I would like to think I would react positively, but I don’t know for sure how I would react unless I was in the exact situation. 

At a less extreme level, how we react on a daily basis to the challenges and struggles in our businesses can determine our future.  A critical piece of success is maintaining poise while under pressure.  This can be extreme pressure like 9/11 or just an upset customer or coworker that catches you off guard.  Some people naturally handle themselves better than others in critical situations. 

However, this is a skill that can be improved.  First, you need to know how you handle pressure.  You need to get feedback.  You might be good under certain types of pressure and bad under other types.  Get a baseline so that you know what you need to improve.  Then you have to develop a training program.  This might be doing skits with other customer service representatives.  It might be learning your products and services or your customer’s applications.    Sometimes it is just a matter of practice.  You might have to get very creative to improve in this area.  The point is that you can improve.  There are certain people that think quicker than I.  If I have something critical that needs to be discussed with them, I rehearse it.  I can eliminate some problems by prior rehearsal.  In addition, another big thing that can be introduced to help you with your poise is the core values of the business and your own core values.  If those are clearly defined, communicated, lived and in general are real, then those determine your actions. Deciding what to do when something blows up is a lot easier in those situations.  

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. How do I handle pressure?

2. Do I react negatively when confronted with problems?

3. Can I get feedback on my poise under pressure?

4. What am I going to do to improve?

5. What are the core values of the business?

6. What are my core values?

7. Are there conflicts?

September 9, 2010 - Are You a Team Player?

Main Idea

What do you think of when you hear team spirit?  Does the old Saturday Night Live skit come to mind?  Do you care about the team or do you care about you?  What is more important, you winning or your team winning?

Expansion of Idea

One of my core principles is that the team has to win in order for you to win.  If you read any interview with Albert Pujols, you will find that he is not happy with this year because the Cardinals do not look like they are going to go very far, even though individually he is having a great year.  The same is true in business.  You may be at the absolute top of your game and yet, if the business fails, you will be out of a job.  Most every successful company or team has its unsung heroes.  A classic unsung hero is Radar O’Reilly on Mash.  He made sure the camp ran smoothly and was deeply embarrassed when he was praised.  The real key to his character was his eagerness to make sure everyone else was able to do their jobs.    

What does this look like in a small business? 

• It is the employee who checks on another employee who was sick at work. 

• It is the leader who gives credit to his team. 

• It is the team member who acknowledges his teammate. 

• It is cleaning up someone else’s mess that they did not realize that they made. 

• It is taking out the trash when it is not your job. 

• It is doing that one extra step for a boss who doesn’t realize the amount of extra work it took. 

• It is spending the extra 10 minutes explaining a new process to a team member so that they truly understand what they are doing. 

• It is encouraging each other in good times and especially in bad times. 

• It is collectively taking responsibility for a problem even if one person created it. 

Team Spirit can be a lot of things.  Mainly, it is wanting to help each other succeed. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. How would you assess your team spirit?

2. Are you eager to help your team succeed?

3. How would you assess your team’s spirit?

4. How can you help someone else succeed?

5. What do you need to stop doing that is creating roadblocks for someone else?

6. Are you working to serve or to be served?

September 2, 2010 - What Skills Do You Have?

Main Idea

When you think of someone with great skills, who do you think of?  Are you jealous of the skills that person was given?  Do you think that there is no way you could have those skills?

Expansion of Idea

When you look at great athletes or musicians or business people, most of us admire their skills.  We think that we could never be like them.  And we probably can’t be like them.  I can’t swing a bat like Albert Pujols.  I know I can’t sing.  (My wife would second that.)  I have no musical rhythm.  Yet, I do have skills.  Each of us has skills to do our job.  The main point, that is overlooked when you look at the great athletes, is how much time they put into maintaining and sharpening their skills.  Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called Outliers in which he looked at some of these extreme success stories.  One of his conclusions is that 10,000 hours is a very magic number.  Once someone puts that much time in his skills, really good things happen.  The really great athletes put that much time in earlier than the average athletes.  This unrelenting push to improve is a big part of what makes the truly great athletes what they are. 

The same is true in business.  When we invest, push, train, work and do everything we can to sharpen our skills, good things happen.  For those people who don’t do this, they are completely dependent on the economy, their company, their boss and life in general.  There is one other thing that most of us tend to forget.  I was discussing this with a client the other day.  We look at the stock market or our house and we can easily get depressed because our investments may be falling off a cliff.  That can be really depressing. 

However, our single most important financial asset is our own earning power.  If you add up what you are going to make from now until you retire, it will probably dwarf your savings or the equity in your house.  We need to focus on improving our skills to maximize the value of that asset.  We can’t control the stock market or our investments, but we can control where we invest our time.  From a financial planning standpoint and from a general success standpoint, this should be our number one priority.

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. How would you rate your skills to do your job?

2. Are my skills the best that they could be?

3. How would your coworkers rate your skills?

4. What needs to be improved?

5. How can I expand my skills?

6. Are there new skills that I need to learn?

August 25, 2010 - Are You In Good Shape?

Main Idea

Does the word “Conditioning” ever come up in connection with doing your job?  Is this something that you used to do when you played high school sports?  Should it be used in connection with business? 

Expansion of Idea

One of my clients was talking about putting a gym in his business the other day.  While this may have been in jest, it actually is good business.  Dupont reported a 47.5% reduction in absenteeism over a six-year period for employees in a corporate fitness program.  There was a study in the journal, Ergonomics, that concluded that mental performance was better for people who are fit.  They committed 27% fewer errors than those who are not fit. 

This idea of conditioning goes beyond just physical conditioning.  We also need to focus on mental and moral conditioning.  This is especially true for the leaders but is also critical for team members.  We need to make sure that we have balance in our lives.  We need to take rests.  We need to take time off from work and focus on play.  The moral conditioning comes into play with making wise choices.  How many young professional athletes are in great physical condition and are at the top of their game and then do something stupid at 1am that costs them their careers or maybe even their lives?  At a less extreme level, we may go out at night during the work week and we do not get the sleep that we need.  All of this is part of making sure that we are in a good condition to succeed at work.  Ultimately, success is a choice.  We can prepare for success or we can decide it is not important.

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Am I physically fit?

2. If not, can I start going for walks instead of watching TV?

3. Am I tired all of the time?

4. Do I eat a healthy diet?

5. Do I schedule time off and vacations?

6. Am I making wise choices in my off hours?

August 18, 2010 - Does Your Team Show Initiative? Do You?

Main Idea

Are you afraid of failure?  Do you hesitate to take a risk?  When was the last time you tried something just because you wanted to do it even though in the back of your mind, failure was a real possibility?  When did you follow up on something just because you were curious? 

Expansion of Idea

One major difference between great team members and good team members is the amount of initiative that they have.  Great team members are trying something new to help the team.  Yes, there has to be boundaries.   However, team members who are looking for something new to help their customers or other team members are invaluable.  Maybe they are not looking to do something new for the customers but instead they are trying something that their boss normally does.  They are asking for more work and more difficult work.  They want to be challenged.  This may be something as simple as asking an extra follow up question to a customer.  Or it may be something more complicated like realizing that your systems could be simplified and taking the time to design a newer system.  They take a few minutes to follow up on a problem to make sure that the problem was resolved.  They send a thank you note to a coworker who helped them. 

A couple of weeks ago, I heard Terri Kelly, the CEO of Gore-Tex, speak about the culture at their company.  Basically, anyone could take an idea and try to develop a team to spearhead the project.  If they were able to sell enough people to join them then the idea would go forward.  While this may be an extreme case of initiative, it shows the benefits to a business organization.  In roughly 50 years they have become a $2,500,000,000 company.  Initiative can be good for business.  

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Is there something that I know I should do but just have not done it because it isn’t required?  (DO IT!!!!)

2. Is there something that I could do that is completely unexpected by a coworker or customer but would be deeply appreciated?  (DO IT!!!!)

3. Is there a technical piece of our business that I do not know enough about but which would help me in my job? (LEARN IT!!!!)

4. Is there something that your boss is doing that you could do and free up your boss to do even more important work? (ASK ABOUT IT!!!!)

5. Is there something that you could add to your service that would make your customer’s lives so much better?  (EXPLORE IT!!!!)

6. Make a list of better questions to ask yourself and then go do it.

August 11, 2010 - Are You Alert?

Main Idea

Do you know what the common refrain was from the CEO’s of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers in 2008?  This was also the common refrain from most of our government and business leaders.  I DID NOT SEE IT COMING!!!

Expansion of Idea

Alertness is one of the most critical attributes of success that we need.  If we are not engaged and alert and looking for new opportunities or for new ways to serve our existing customers and coworkers, then we are ultimately going to fail. 

When I used to coach grade school basketball, one of the drills that we focused on was dribbling the basketball and keeping our heads up.  I occasionally had the team read posters on the gym wall while dribbling.  I would do whatever I could to get them used to dribbling the basketball without looking at it.  The main reason is that if they are looking at the basketball, they cannot see the rest of the court.  If they cannot see the rest of the court, then it is only a matter of time before they lose the basketball.  

The same is true of business.  We always have to keep our heads up.  We have to be paying attention to our customers, to our employees, to our systems, to our vendors, to our financials and key performance indicators.  We must constantly look to improve our services and to determine if there is anything new that we need to do. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Have I been keeping my head up?

2. Can I learn two new things about my co-workers?

3. Is there an industry publication that I receive but don’t read?

4. Have I done anything to improve my skills, attitude or performance in the last month?

August 4, 2010 - Where is Your Focus?

Main Idea

Do you stay with a problem or client issue until it is finished?  Do you focus on finishing with excellence or do you focus on just finishing?  Do you ever give up? 

Expansion of Idea

Do you remember the Columbo television show from the 70’s?  For those of you who are too young, Peter Falk played a detective who, on the surface, was a clown.  He drove a beat up old car, wore a beat up coat and frequently had his pet basset hound with him.  Whenever he was tracking down a murderer, he seemed gullible and naïve.  The criminals kept giving him false or misleading information and he kept coming back to follow up.  He would always have just one more question.  I am amazed that he always caught the criminal.  In sports, you can look at Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Albert Pujols.  The word intensity barely describes those guys.  In business, you can look at Jack Welch, the retired president of General Electric.  He has his share of faults, but he was intense.  He was focused on getting the job done. 

Intentness is a critical component of personal success as well as your organization’s success.  Intentness can manifest itself in different ways.  We don’t have to be rude or humorless to be intent.  We do have to be focused on getting the job done.  We have to decide that we are going to succeed and then go out there and do it.  You are handed a lot of setbacks and problems every day.  How you react to those problems determines your ultimate success.

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Am I focused on getting the job done?

2. Do I worry about obstacles?

3. Do I get easily distracted?

4. Do I know exactly what to do in my job, how to do it and am I on track in completing it?

July 30, 2010 - Are You Out of Control?

Main Idea

Have you ever worked for someone who loses her temper?  Or is there a coworker who has no control over his spending habits?  Do you have an office meeting scheduled at 10am and one or two people show up 10 minutes late?

Expansion of Idea

Most of us have a general idea of who Rod Blagojevich is.  I suspect that he is guilty of most of what he has been charged with.  However, the part that I want to focus on is his complete lack of self-control.  It was pretty humorous when the press interviewed him during his trial and his only real comment is that he learned that he needs to keep his mouth closed more.  This is after he acted like a complete buffoon on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice and the rest of the circus that is called Chicago politics.  He achieved some level of success making it to be governor of Illinois.  (I would argue that is not very prestigious considering how many of them have been convicted of crimes.)  But he could not maintain that success because of his lack of self-control. 

To be successful in the long term, self-control is a requisite.  This includes having the discipline to show up for work or meetings on time.  It means keeping control of your emotions.  This is critically important.  All of us have things thrown at us on a daily basis that if we don’t control our emotions, we will lose the confidence of our team or our customers.  Last year, I lost a major account (which is a good thing in this case).  If I started moaning and worrying about it, I would probably have lost my team.  They might look at the situation and say it is all over.  Instead, this loss opened up some other opportunities that allowed us to focus on the clients that we serve best. 

Self-control allows us to learn from situations and to constantly improve.  If you are the leader, it gives your team the confidence to go out and do what is necessary.  This may include learning about mistakes.  If you have no self-control, how likely is it that your team is going to tell you about a mistake?  The answer is pretty close to zero because no one wants to get their head chopped off.  Yet, when a mistake has been made, it is critical that you learn about it as soon as possible and that may give you some alternatives. 

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Do I have self-control?

2. Do I make decisions impulsively?

3. When confronted by bad news, do I overreact?

4. Do I need to work on this area of my life?

July 23, 2010 - Does Your Office Work Well?

Main Idea

What is the impression when someone walks into your office?  Is it closer to a circus where everyone is having fun or a morgue?  Do people like working with each other?  Do they trust each other to do their jobs and respect them for that?

Expansion of Idea

One of the all time classic business movies is “Office Space”.  The main character’s name is Peter.  Peter goes to work, shows up late, sits and stares at computer screens and printouts, avoids any semblance of work and then goes home.  His life is completely devoid of meaning.  He has eight bosses who constantly remind him when he does not attach the cover sheet to the TPS report.  The only friends he has at work have the same negative attitude that he does and they spiral downward to the point where they steal from the company.  It is a very funny but extremely weird and disturbing movie because we have all been there at some time in our life.  Chances are there is someone in your organization that isn’t very far from being like Peter. 

What is the effect on your business when your people don’t like working with others?  When I was with my previous employer, we had seven support team members who did not function as a team.  It was a real life version of the reality TV show “Survivor”.  It was destroying productivity and just wasn’t much fun to go to work.  With the partner’s approval, another manager and I put them together in a room.  We told them that they could either figure out how to work with each other or they could leave.  At that point, we honestly did not care.  They chose to stay and productivity rose significantly. 

In our business organizations, there needs to be a level of camaraderie and respect for each other and for our bosses.  We have to enjoy working with each other and we have to trust each other to do their part.  There will be mistakes, but when you work together, you can fix and overcome the mistakes.  When the team is dysfunctional, the level of mistakes will rise in geometric progression as the level of dysfunction rises.   This can cripple our businesses.

Questions to Ask Yourself           

1. Do I like working with my team? 

2. Do I trust my coworkers to do their job?

3. Are there things we can do to improve the camaraderie?

4. Are there things we can do to improve the trust and respect?

July 15, 2010 - How Loyal Are You?

Main Idea

Are the days gone where people work for one employer for life?  Is this good or bad?  Will Albert Pujols retire as a Cardinal or will he make a larger fortune going to the Cubs? 

Expansion of Idea

In the last week if you turn on the news, it is hard to get away from LeBron James.  For those of you who don’t follow professional sports, he is theoretically the best basketball player in the world and he just switched teams from his hometown Cleveland team to the Miami Heat.  I personally do not care about professional basketball, but it is a great example of how loyalty comes into play in building great organizations.  It appears that he decided before the playoffs that he wanted to play with his friends in Miami and as a result, he gave up on his team, even though his team had the best record in the league.  Some may say he had loyalty, but I would say that the only loyalty shown was to himself.  I would instead call that egocentric.  He had an opportunity to build a great team and instead he focused on his own goals. 

To build a truly great organization, loyalty to the team and to customers is a critical building block.  The key to building loyalty in an organization is for the leader to have solid core values and live by them.  When the leader shows loyalty to his team, then it is much easier for the team to show loyalty back.  This does take time but building trust based on loyalty is a step that cannot be overlooked.  By putting others interests ahead of yours, you are cementing a bond that cannot easily be broken.  One other thing to consider – per Frederick Reichheld*, an increase in customer retention of as little as 5% can amount to an increase in profits of 20%.  Loyalty is a very sound business strategy to improve your profits.

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Am I loyal to my team and to the customers?

2. Do I expect loyalty even though I am not always loyal?

3. How can I improve my loyalty to my team?

4. How can I help my team with their loyalty? 

5. Read a book by Frederick Reichheld called the Loyalty Effect.

*Frederick Reichheld is an author and consultant with Bain & Company and is one of the world’s foremost experts on loyalty and the effect on business.

July 8, 2010 - Do You Like Working with People?

Main Idea

Do you like to build puzzles?  Have you ever put together a puzzle with someone who took a piece and saved it without you knowing it so he could put in the last piece?  Have you ever thought that this job would be easy if I did not have to deal with coworkers, customers, vendors or bosses?  Do you have co-workers who are only concerned with who gets the credit? 

Expansion of Idea

Work would be real easy if we did not have to deal with customers, employees, vendors and co-workers.  The reason is that there would not be a business.  We have to work with people.  This can be a challenge but it is the reason we are here.  We have to learn to cooperate and work together.   You may think I am warped but I think it is fun to help others look good.  It is fun working together to find the best answer to a complex problem.   Even though the Lone Ranger was the star of the show, he would have died at least once in each show without Tonto.   When we work together, we come up with answers that we would not have discovered by ourselves.  This can only happen when we are open to input from others.  We need to be actively searching for the right path.  To do this requires that we are not focused on being right.  Instead, we have to be focused on finding right. 

Is the better leader one who tells his employees what to do or one who asks his employees if there is a better way?  In each of our businesses, the person that has the most customer interaction knows things about the customer that the president of the company does not know.  The really smart leaders will look for input from the customer service people.  Ultimately, the leader has to make the decision.  But the wise leader keeps his ego and emotion out of the decision and instead focuses on the wisest decision.  This helps the rest of the company work together to achieve results that they could not achieve independently.  This creates a culture of cooperation which is a very powerful business advantage.  There is an ancient proverb that says that a cord of three strands will not break quickly.  Is your business a cord of three strands? 

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Am I more concerned about being right or finding the right answer?

2. Do I look for input from others for improving myself and the systems that I work with?

3. Do I help create a culture of cooperation? 

4. Have I contributed to a culture of “ME,ME,ME”?  How do I fix that?

July 1, 2010 - Do I Like Going To Work?

Main Idea

Why did everyone like Woody on “Cheers”?  Do you get up in the morning and look forward to work?  Did you ever?  What is the difference in the productivity when you did look forward to work versus the times where you dreaded going to work? 

Expansion of Idea

All of us have a choice every day.  We can cheerfully go to work and look forward to helping our team, our customers and ourselves.  Or, we can go to work with an attitude that life sucks, work sucks and in general have a pity party for ourselves.  We have all had days where we lean towards the pity party.  And, in general, we get what we expect on those days.  The day drags on, our team members treat us like garbage, and you just hope that you do not talk to too many customers or else you will be losing a bunch of business. 

A much better approach is to look forward to the day.  How can we help others?  What can we learn?  How can we improve our business and ourselves?  What new friends can we make?  When we approach life with enthusiasm, it becomes contagious.  Our coworkers catch it.  Our customers catch it.  Work becomes a much better place to be.  When you go into a business, you can normally tell in the first 10 minutes if there is energy and enthusiasm or if life has been completely sucked out of it.  Who would you rather deal with, a business with energy or one that is depressing?  What do your customers think of your business?  Enthusiasm is one of the cornerstones to building a great business and a great life.   Without it, we will not succeed.  With it, the sky’s the limit.  PASS IT ON!!!!

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Do I look forward to going to work? 

2. How can I bring more enthusiasm and energy to work?

3. If I am lacking enthusiasm, do I know why?  What can I do to fix it?

4. Are there coworkers that I can help?

June 24, 2010 - Are You Out Working Your Competition?

Main Idea

What is the difference in take home pay between a great waiter and one who satisfies his customers?  What caused that difference?  What is the difference between a sales person who is setting his appointments for the next week on Friday afternoon and one who is playing golf?  What separates the truly great athletes such as Albert Pujols or Michael Jordan and the athletes that have a lot of potential but never seem to reach that potential?

Expansion of Idea

Each of us has been given different gifts.  We may have been created equal, but we are not identical.  There is always someone better than you in your chosen field.  There are people who have been given more talent than you.  The big secret is that industriousness or hard work is a great equalizer.  No matter how much talent you have been given, without hard work, you will be a failure.  If you have not been given quite as much talent as your competitors, then hard work is even more important.  The funny thing is that the truly great competitors such as Albert Pujols, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird all outworked their opponents.  They were given talent that we would all love to have.  Yet, they spent more time developing that talent than almost anyone else. 

If you go into a restaurant, you can tell which waiters are making the most money.  They are the ones working the hardest.  The same is true in every business, large or small.  Other people may have been given a better starting point than you.  They may have better talents than you.  They may have better finances than you.  However, there is no reason that anyone should outwork you.  This is one of the cornerstones of success. 

Questions to Ask Yourself

1. Are you working hard?

2. If yes, what do you need to do to continue to work hard? 

3. If no, what is holding you back from working hard?

4. Are you being a positive role model for your team members or a negative role model?

June 16, 2010 - Are You Charging the Right Prices?

Main Idea

Have you ever picked out something to buy, taken it to the cash register, and been told by the sales clerk that the price is less than what was marked on the shelf?

Expansion of Idea

Yesterday, I went into Office Depot to pick up some thank you cards.  The cost on the shelf was $7.00.  When I went to pay for the cards, the cost was $4.50.  This says a couple of things.  First, I don’t have a clue what I should be paying for these cards.  Beyond that, the store lost $2.50 on my sale.  Third, how many sales did they miss because they marked it at $7.00 when it possibly should have been marked at $4.50.  I don’t really know what price it should have been marked at.  I liked the cards at $7.00 because it wasn’t that much money and the cards were what I was looking for.  Either way, the store was probably either losing sales or losing profits because of a system issue.  By itself this is not the big of a deal.  However, I have had this happen to me a fair amount over the last year. 

• How much money have you left on the table because of a system issue in billing customers? 

• How many customers have you turned into ex-customers because they think your prices are too high as a result of a coding error? 

• Are you maximizing your revenue by not allowing true sales to be properly charged and collected? 

• Are you doing something for free that you should be charging for? 

• Are your systems too lax and money is literally walking out the door? 

• Do you truly know what fair market value is for your products? 

• Have you compared them with your competition? 

• Do you know what your costs are and whether or not you are making money on all of your products? 

Even if you think that this is not a problem, it is a good idea to periodically check your systems.  Most of the problems I see are with major companies and they have whole teams of people checking this stuff.  Small businesses think that they don’t have the time to double check this.  But then they wonder why they are having cash flow problems.  In the last two weeks I have learned about two different small businesses near my home that have gone out of business.  I have been in both of these in the past and their customer service was very good in one business and in the other business was good.  Is it possible that they had sales that they did not collect for? 

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Evaluate your sales pricing

2. Evaluate your sales systems

3. Evaluate your return policies

4. Look for unexpected events such as pricing issues.  Are there bigger systems issues?

June 9, 2010 - Who Do You Get Advice From?

Main Idea

How close are you to your best friend?  What relationships can not be broken?  When relationships are broken, what is the real cause?

Expansion of Idea

If you think about your best friend and the years of your relationship, what is one constant in the relationship?  Generally, it is contact.  You talk once a week or exchange emails.  You understand each other and there is constant interaction.  There is probably less interaction than when you were a teenager but there is still some consistent interaction.  If you have a problem you know who to call. 

Why would your business be any different?  Do you have your business relationships set up so that you know who to call if you have a problem?   If your copier fails, you have someone who you trust to fix it.  If you have a legal issue, hopefully you have a good attorney to call.  If you have an insurance claim, you should have a good insurance agent to help you through the problem.   Do your customers view you as the go to person to help them with not just your products and services but to be a resource for their business? 

Most of us have not developed that level of relationship with our customers.  However, when we do, we are developing loyalty, referrals, and friendships.  We are also making our workplaces a better place to work.  It is not necessarily hard to develop that level of relationship.    It is extremely hard to develop the discipline to stay in touch with our customers and continue to stay in touch with them even if there is no immediate benefit. 

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Call a customer for no apparent reason.

2. Thank a customer for no apparent reason.

3. Send a newspaper or magazine article that would be of interest to the customer. 

4. Show them you care!!!

June 3, 2010 - Are You Staying in Touch with Your Customers?

Main Idea

How close are you to your best friend?  What relationships can not be broken?  When relationships are broken, what is the real cause?

Expansion of Idea

If you think about your best friend and the years of your relationship, what is one constant in the relationship?  Generally, it is contact.  You talk once a week or exchange emails.  You understand each other and there is constant interaction.  There is probably less interaction than when you were a teenager but there is still some consistent interaction.  If you have a problem you know who to call. 

Why would your business be any different?  Do you have your business relationships set up so that you know who to call if you have a problem?   If your copier fails, you have someone who you trust to fix it.  If you have a legal issue, hopefully you have a good attorney to call.  If you have an insurance claim, you should have a good insurance agent to help you through the problem.   Do your customers view you as the go to person to help them with not just your products and services but to be a resource for their business? 

Most of us have not developed that level of relationship with our customers.  However, when we do, we are developing loyalty, referrals, and friendships.  We are also making our workplaces a better place to work.  It is not necessarily hard to develop that level of relationship.    It is extremely hard to develop the discipline to stay in touch with our customers and continue to stay in touch with them even if there is no immediate benefit. 

Suggested Areas to Start

1. Call a customer for no apparent reason.

2. Thank a customer for no apparent reason.

3. Send a newspaper or magazine article that would be of interest to the customer. 

4. Show them you care!!!

May 21, 2010 - Does Your Business Create a Buzz?

Main Idea

Are there businesses or stores that you can’t stop talking about?  Do your friends get tired of hearing about them?  Do you have customers that talk about your business like that?

Expansion of Idea

Word of mouth advertising is the best way to generate new customers.  Every sales guru in the world will say the same thing.  Yet most of us do not focus on this as a way to get business.  We spend our time and resources on direct mail, cold sales calls, websites and email blasts.  We absolutely need to do these marketing steps and there are definitely benefits of these methods. 

However, generating a buzz by creating raving fans can do more for our businesses than any other marketing campaign.  For one thing, it solidifies our relationships with our customers.  That, by itself, is enough of a reason to work on this.  This buzz also provides a secondary benefit because people talk.  And when people talk and are excited about something, it catches on.  Word spreads and you start getting referrals.  Does Apple really need to promote the I-phone any more?  There is a third and largely ignored benefit of creating a company with a buzz.  It energizes your team.  When you are doing great work for customers, it can fire up your whole team.  It can transform a normal business into a place where people love to work.

The real issue for most of us is to focus on creating the buzz.  Do you show up at work trying to figure out how to create a buzz for your customers?  Are you intentional about adding value to the customer and also about improving the systems and processes in your business?  How can you take a boring business (like a CPA firm) and turn it into a business that has raving fans in the marketplace?  For my firm and for most of my clients, our long-term success is directly tied to how well we handle these issues by creating advocates for our firm. Satisfaction is not an option.  We have failed if we just satisfied our customers.    

Points to ponder:

1. Are your clients satisfied?  Or, are they raving fans?

2. What could you do to raise the service levels?

3. What could you do to add value?

4. Read the book “Raving Fans” to get some ideas on raising customer service.

May 13, 2010 - Do Mistakes Breed More Mistakes?

Main Idea

Have you ever made a mistake and when you tried to fix it you actually compounded the mistake?  Why are certain clients or projects jinxed? 

Expansion of Idea

My son and I had lunch yesterday at a new restaurant near my office.  His sandwich came without hot sauce which it was supposed to have.  We mentioned it to the waitress who told the manager.  He brought out the sauce about five minutes later.  He apologized and said that the sandwich was on the restaurant.  The food was good, the waitress was friendly and the restaurant will be out of business in 6 months.  The manager did not come back and check on the food.  In addition, he failed to take the charge off the bill.  It wasn’t a big deal but it shows the lack of follow through. 

When we make mistakes and all of us make them, it seems to me that those mistakes seem to attract more mistakes as we are trying to fix the first mistake.  Mistakes give us a chance to raise our service and instead we tend to go further in the hole.  Toyota’s service recovery with the floor mats is a great example.  If they had owned up to the problems right away, the whole issue would have gone away in a matter of days or maybe weeks.  Instead, it became a discussion for way too long and ended up costing them a lot of money. 

I recently read a book called “Integrity” by Henry Cloud.  In it, he says that one of the characteristics of successful people is that they embrace negative issues.  He talks about one executive who leans into the negative problems.  When we actually lean into problems and address them completely and quickly, our businesses can grow.  People respect us and choose to do business with firms that deal with issues.  When we dismiss the problems or do not focus on them, then our businesses will die.  Do you want to grow or do you want to die?

Points to ponder:

1. How does my firm handle problems?

2. Do I know what to do when there is a problem?

3. Do I need additional training?

4. Do I lean into problems or do I run away?