Archive for the ‘Advancing Your Career / Building Your Business’ Category

This is an excerpt from the book, Customer Astonishment: 10 Secrets to World-Class Customer Care.

Secret #3 is “Get It Together.” As you set out to create a “Culture of Service Excellence” where you work, it is vital that you address the Systemic and Cultural (S&C) Factors that help or hinder progress. Systemic factors have to do with the processes and technologies you use to run your business. Cultural factors are about the principles that guide you (what you stand for) and how you interact with each other as teammates, which sets the pattern for how you are likely to treat your customers. 

Getting it together means your work team is committed to these two outcomes…

1. Process Simplicity: You are both efficient and effective. They say that efficient is “doing it right” while effective is “doing the right it.” 

2. Effective Communication: You communicate openly and constructively with each other to be sure that all members of the team are “in the know” so that customers (a) hear a consistent message from you and (b) see you as a unified team ready to serve them.

It is a great compliment when someone says to your team, “Wow, you’ve got your act together.”

Invitation: Tell us how you help your team “get it together.”

In a landmark book written by Tom Peters at the turn of our new century, he issued this challenge: “Every person a business person; every person a Michelangelo.” What did he mean? 

At this time when we all seek to rekindle our prosperity, we will do so more readily as we enlarge the spirit of ownership where the economy and our individual careers are concerned. I love the word “stakeholders” to express the idea that we all have a stake in the outcome of things. We are all involved in business—the “business of life” for starters. We each manage a budget and make investments. 

As employees, we will experience greater job security and satisfaction as we see ourselves also “in business” to care for the customers who are the source of our livelihoods. As we do, we discover the Michelangelo inside each of us—that creative force that can help to make each enterprise better. 

Invitation: As you head to work, rather than focus on the “job” you must do, consider “the business” you help to operate. Ask: “What can I create for our business that will bring greater prosperity to all the stakeholders who are involved in it—owners, employees, customers, suppliers, and communities?”

In business, we often hear of a “chain of command.” By contrast, let me discuss the “Chain of Customers” wherein, as members of an organization, we are all linked as internal customers who are then linked to external customers. It is said, “If you are not now serving the end customer, you are serving someone who is.” As with links in any chain, if we are to prove useful to each other, we must be connected. 

How does this connection come about? In the most fundamental sense, it comes about through the genuine conversations we have about who we are as a team, what’s especially important, our plan to accomplish the mission, and how we’ll deal with any challenges along the way. As your team has such conversations, it is possible to achieve “agreement in principle” to assure follow through and mutual support. There is a distinction between meetings and conversations. Conversations are less formal and more inclusive.  

The other key factor in keeping the team connected in purpose and in practice is that the team leader serves as the “Team Linkage Protector.” It is essential that there be clarity about the responsibilities and the interdependencies of team members so that those all-important conversations can occur. The team leader facilitates such clarity and assures a shared commitment to your shared objectives. 

Here’s a clever and important reminder: Great teams learn to talk about what they may need to talk about before they have to talk about it.

Question: How does your team assure that essential conversations occur?

This is a true story. I was leading a “Customer Astonishment” workshop. One individual raised her hand and said, “I know customers are important, but I just wish they wouldn’t keep calling up all the time.” I went on to tell the audience how much I love it when customers call me. I explained that those who may not “love” their customers or love hearing from them have never started their own business. When Sharon and I began Cornerstone in 1985, I remember the longing of our hearts that our very first customer would show up so we could send them an invoice. I realized that, until we had someone to invoice, we didn’t have a business. 

What do you need to start a business and succeed? Here’s my “Top 5” answer:

VISION – PLAN – PRODUCT – PROMISE – CUSTOMER

The VISION captures the passion you have for the goals that your business represents. The PLAN is the key to your credibility as a “make it happen” person. A PRODUCT is what you’ll exchange for the money you expect to receive. The PROMISE is what captures the attention of your potential customers. It says that your product is what they want and will be a reliable solution to meet their needs. Of course, the CUSTOMER is the key to everything. One of my mentors said, “You can have a talent, but it’s not of much real value until someone gives you the opportunity to use it.” You can have a product to sell, but until someone believes your promise and buys your product, you don’t have a business.

Invitation: What would you add to my “Top 5” list?

Certainly, a critical element of The New American Prosperity is to raise the bar for customer care. An important part of my life’s work is to help organizations develop a ”Culture of Service Excellence.” As I support the leaders of these organizations, we follow the principles found in my book, Customer Astonishment: 10 Secrets to World-Class Customer Care. In this online conversation, I will periodically share the essence of one of the 10 Secrets. 

Secret Number One: “Be Customer Champions.” When we think of champions, we think of individuals who perform at high levels of excellence. The particular definition I have used with many client organizations over the years is…

Customer Champion: “An individual who works with a clear sense of purpose to satisfy the needs and exceed the expectations of his or her customers. As a true professional, this individual performs to recognized standards of excellence and puts the needs of his/her external and internal customers first in order to produce results that are mutually beneficial.”

Being a Customer Champion is about a high level of commitment to your customers or others whom you serve. It means you truly understand the interdependency that exists between you and your customers. They value your services. You value their business. Therefore, you “champion” their needs to be sure you earn their loyalty. Customer loyalty is the crowning achievement in any business.

Invitation: Tell us what you do to positively astonish those whom you serve.

This Website is about your prosperity. We are focused on redefining success as Smart and Happy and on creating your world. Our conversation will regularly include tips for Leadership in Business. We will examine principles and practices that will help you enjoy your work, get along with teammates, positively astonish your customers, advance your career, and build your business…if you happen to be an entrepreneur in fact or in spirit. The ideas will come from my work with over 300 client organizations and many individual coaching clients. We will build on the information found in my new book and my earlier books on Leverage, Customer Astonishment, and Positive Conflict.

Here is an important place to begin reinventing your approach to advancing your career and building your business. Start with three profound questions…

1. See the Big Picture. What is theoretically possible for my career and our business? Be fearless and optimistic as you consider the possibilities. What could you accomplish if barriers were removed and you unleashed your finest creative talents? By the way, nothing is impossible with the right partners. Who are the new partners you need to engage?

2. Acknowledge the Truth. What’s missing from my/our current day-to-day operations and longer-term strategies? Don’t get caught up in the negativity of “what’s wrong.” This question is about what’s missing that you need to create? Be candid. Be constructive. Be fearless in facing the fact that something is usually missing in terms of your level of commitment, your strategy, key resources, and needed actions.  

3. Begin the Work of Creation. What do we need to boldly create now? At this point, I invite you to read Essay #21 in The New American Prosperity.

Invitation: Ask me (Darby) a question about these questions.