Category: Business Commentary

Doing The Right Thing

Mandela Prison Cell 
  
I read once that Nelson Mandela could have been released from that South African prison a lot earlier, if he would have sworn not to speak out about the evils of apartiheid once released.

Got me thinking…

Doing the right thing was never meant to be easy because of the following:

  1. Greatness only allows those who can do the right thing to enter.
  2. If it were easy, then…
  3. Like the fields, tilling is essential and it hurts.
  4. It needs to be built, and building implies pain.
  5. Life and order depend on it.

What would you add to the list?

It’s Almost Never About You

We're self-preservationists at heart.  This works well if shipwrecked or lost in the jungle.  In general, though, it's a dangerous mindset.

Where this really shows up is when we are trying use clients to get us to where we want to go, which is unethical.  But it also shows up when we're honestly trying to help.  Either way you need to stop and realize what's number one.  As in, your client.  No talking points, no radio spots, just authentic love.

If you've built your career/business model around "you first," then it will be painful to change.  You may have already tuned me off if that last sentence applies.

The following outlines some ideas to consider as you seek to get it right with existing clients, and prospective one's too:

  1. Just like God, a client's time-frame may not be the same as yours.  And if you're in the "service" business (we all are), then you don't get to make this call.  You can be polite in persistence, but ultimately you're a servant.
  2. Stop marketing that you care, when your actions communicate something different.  Washington, D.C. may have made us think that everyone has a price, but most clients desire authenticity.
  3. Be willing to risk loss.  Those who have lost, even though they did there best, change the world and are wildly successful.
  4. Stand your ground in the face of critics and conformists.  If memory serves, the word is courage.
  5. Your work is truly a motion picture.  Make it the kind that people want to see over and over again.

Emotional Control

Regardless of the business you're in, or a owner of, it's vital that you control your emotions.  Specifcially, around how you treat your customers.  Way too many organizations are led and operated by those who allow emotions to rule the day.

For example, if you're a retailer and a customer returns a shirt because the quality and fit are not up to their expectations, don't frown with disgust because their at the return desk/department.  It's an opportunity to grow the relationship.  Maybe there's a problem with QC at the factory where the shirts are sourced.  Don't wait until there's three boxes of returned shirts to get clued into a problem.  Customers do want to engage about your product-if you let them.

Sadly, most employees forget (if their thinking about the customer at all) that the customer comes in expecting to be treated…less than warm.  When you or an employee confirm that expectation, the customer convinces themselves that another store is there better option.  If the employee taking the return would have been prepared (or been trained/developed) in the art of restraint and vision, the result might be radically different.  Controlling our emotional urges requires practice.

A friend once told me that you'll know how much a service/product provider really cares about you when a problem arises.

Maybe you should start a program around training/developing emotional control (EC).  Yes, your manager/leaders will have to engage with the staff.  But that's what they should be doing anyway.  Think of what you might discover?  Your customers might discover something remarkable in a landscape full of the "unremarkable."

Don’t Make Excuses

A few thoughts ruminating through my head tonight:

  1. Is your organization bureaucratic?
  2. Is your organization run like a cult?
  3. Is your organization bloated?
  4. Is your organization relying on cutting expenses to give the appearance of growth?
  5. Is your organization paying you for your time or your results?

If the answer is yes to any of the above, then summon the courage and be creatively discontent.  Point out what's wrong and be outspoken (in a professional/respectful manner) about how to create a new paradigm.

By the way, this only works if you're an asset.  Mediocrity earns you no rights.

What Marketing Can’t Fix

Here are some things marketing can't fix:

  1. Leaders who wear masks
  2. Followers that have lost faith
  3. A culture broken from the start
  4. Unwillingness to change
  5. Organizations that don't put the customer first-really
  6. A salesforce only focused on sales
  7. An organization that doesn't aspire to something greater than last years results
  8. Apathy
  9. Wounded clients
  10. Exhausted faux-marketing techniques

The Problem With Small Getting Large

One of my favorite merchants in the town I live in, is not one of my favorites anymore.

They once were small and engaging, but now world domination seems to be the order of the day.  No more "we'll search and see if we can get it" or "haven't seen you in the store lately."  I miss being Eric to them. 

The problem with some entrepreneurs is they are trying to fill a void by being "uber-successful."  What is forgotten is what get's left behind-the customer.

By the way, the void above is rarely filled by getting large. 

I'm appreciating small these days.

How Perception Can Lead To Reality

The above is a speech from Rory Sutherland.  He gives some veiled (pay close attention)advice on how to take what you are and do to a new level.

Have you thought about the implications of how you or your service/products are perceived today?  Have you asked anyone (customer, employee, vendor)?

The speech is about 20 minutes in length, but it will feel like 10.  The quote from G.K. Chesterton is powerful too.

Hidden Costs

One thing that drove me crazy when I was paying for my sins in corporate America was all of the hidden costs inside the organization.  As a corporate manager I was always asked to cut expenses.  However, I was rarely asked to look at those hidden costs.  The costs that were silent killers.  For example:

  • Meetings.  Need I say more?
  • Training events that were the equivalent of a U2 concert.  Entertainment versus learning here.  Feels good in the moment, but forgotten when it counts.
  • Employees and their organizations who don't fully understand the difference between time and results.
  • Outdated policies and procedures written 20 years ago that are as relevant as a powder blue tuxedo.
  • Hiring practices that are driven by HR.  The hiring of talent is not a legal process.

If your organization really wants to be efficient and lean, then take a look at the hidden costs. It could lead to a new curve.  Failure to look always leads to atrophy.  And as we know atrophy lives next door to extinction.

How Social Media Can Save Customer Service Training

Was doing some research for a friend/client on customer service training materials this week.  I decided to use Twitter (my top choice for social media portals) as a tool to do some research on the matter.  A simple search on the term "customer service training" is all it took to create a hmmm moment.  And though my research was not very scientific, it did reveal some things I knew instinctively.

First, customer service is a very popular discipline for a number of companies/consultants.  Must mean that bad customer service is more the norm than the exception.  I agree with that on its face.

Second, I don't think the customers (organizations) of the customer service training product are fully aware of what's going on inside their own walls. 

Here's what brought me to the above conclusions:

  1. My typed search "customer service training" revealed that for every two consultants offering training, there were an equal number of employees who were referring to customer service training as a boring event, a cure for insomnia, or a pain in the rear.  Again, this wasn't a scientific result, but it seems that many employees are nodding yes, but thinking and feeling no.
  2. Employees, especially those in larger entities, feel like their targets for cost cutting and lay-offs.  Creates a jaded, if not callused view of things.  Wonder how these folks treat customers who have legitimate needs/issues?
  3. Why the disconnect?  Leadership.  Some managers may think they're leading well, but have yet to look behind them to find no one following.
  4. Fixing conclusion #3 creates a bridge for change.
  5. Employers are missing out on the power of social media.  See this article for more on that.  But I'm speaking of finding out what's REALLY going on with the employee base.  Might save them some money and go a long way in reinventing how they serve-employees and customers.