The Benefit Of Having Mentors
Why do we need mentors? Why are they called mentors? How do you become a mentor?
Why is it that we think we can just do life on our own and that we have all the answers? Why do we time and time again struggle with the same issues and not reach out for help?
I spent the majority of my life doing things on my own and finding the correct answer to my situation with tons of research and exploration. Hours and hours were spent to solve the issue I was facing. By doing this I ended up wasting a great deal of time and effort with little progress.
That is when I finally relented and started asking for help. That is when mentors stepped in to help me avoid many pitfalls, increase my speed and efficiency, and grow my success faster. I have had mentors in business, finance, faith, and in relationships. All key to my success today.
Mentors are people that have experience in the area that we are trying to walk through and have the scars from the battles we will face. They have experienced a majority of the similar trials that we will see on our journey. They have likely fallen into some of the traps that we will encounter.
Mentors are people with a servant heart that want to help the next generation succeed. These individuals do not do it for the notoriety either. They are just wanting to help others succeed.
Mentors have helped me greatly when I sat with them to share my situation, issues, and ramifications. They will usually share a story about how they were in that similar situation and what they did as well as the results. Some happy ending stories, some not so happy ending stories.
When I was going through my dad’s final year of life, I met with a mentor regularly to talk about what I was going through and the stresses involved. This mentor was able to help me with coping, the grieving curve, and understand all that I was going to be losing as this chapter closed in my life. This was a tough time and I am glad I had a mentor in my life to help me see through it while managing every day stressors..
I have also been mentoring a young man who is at the stage of his life where he is trying to figure out his career path. He is an intern at a very well-known local organization and trying to figure out what doors to walk through. The discussions we have had and stories I have shared have helped him rethink his possibilities.
He has a bright future and I look forward to seeing where he goes professionally as well as relationally. The hope is that he avoids some of the pitfalls that I have experienced in my life with the stories and insight that I have shared.
Mentors are great resources to help us with questions we have about what we are going through. They are people that want to help poor in and serve us with their knowledge. Finding a mentor for a particular area of life that we need help is going to benefit us more than we can ever imagine. Seek out a mentor today if you are struggling with a decision, or offer to be a mentor. You will feel a sense of purpose when you lend a hand, or a story to help someone else avoid the pitfalls of life.
One of my favorite quotes: “Do or do not. There is no try…” - Yoda
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Communication is Key for Success
It’s not what you’ve said, but how you’ve said it.” How about, “All you needed to do was communicate and we could have avoided this issue in the first place?”
No one is perfect with their communication, but we have to be good at communication when we are in a sales position or in a leadership position. Communication is a key ingredient in a successful business. It is actually the most important quality as a leader as well.
We may be the most brilliant leader, but if we can not communicate with those we lead, then we are not going to be able to go anywhere with anyone.
Leaders need to focus on building up their communication skills if they want to go far. There are many different ways we can grow our communication.
The first way we can become a better communicator is to check our posture. That is right, the majority of communication is nonverbal. That means what we say and how we say it are affected by our facial expressions and posture. If we are walking around like EOR (from whiney the pooh) and are trying to present good news, how does that land?
When we communicate to communicate a point, we can use stories. That’s right, stories are what we humans gravitate to when we are learn lessons. Stories allow the listeners to become a part of the story and learn the lesson that is being communicated with us. We love stories to learn lessons. We love to hear a good story and when we add the point to it, we grasp it better.
Another way we can become better communicators is to not use $100 words. That’s right too many people like to seem more intelligent by using large words that others may not understand in order to seem smarter. This is actually counterintuitive. The best leaders are able to take complex topics and communicate them in a way that a middle school child could understand them. Being able to break complex topics down into easy to understand language is essential.
There are many ways to improve our communication. We can record ourselves when we are practicing our speech, we can go to toastmasters to learn how to tell stories better, and we can go to acting / improv classes to learn how to present better. Using a little humor is like giving a little sugar to let the medicine go down smoother.
We need to become great communicators if we are going to lead organizations into the future. Without it we will lose engagement, influence, and profits.
For this year I would highly recommend making it a goal to get better at communicating if you want to excel in your career. It will pay off greatly when you reach the next level in your career and your future self will thank you.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Let's Not Make Excuses For Poor Performance Shall We
If so and so would have done this, or that then I would have we would have won. I could have done this if it weren’t for somone else…
I had a conversation with my son while teaching him to drive a car right after I screamed stop. We were in the left turn lane and he had an obstructed view. I could see that a car was coming and if we had turned in front of the car I would likely not be here typing today.
The car was traveling over 50 mph. His response was that he could not see around the car in the opposite turn lane. I informed him that if he had turned in front of that vehicle that vehicle would have likely would not have had time to react resulting in that person being injured and the result of the crash meaning that my son would not have a father.
We pulled over and had the discussion and a few tears were shed about the incident. It shook me and caused me to not trust his ability to drive for some time. I was more on edge when riding in the vehicle with him. Scrutinizing every mistake and pointing them out. This lowered the trust level with him and delayed his ability to obtain a license.
Now this was an extreme situation compared to most of our lives.
We all have done this from time to time. We learned this as children. When we did not do something that we were supposed to do, we made an excuse for why we were not able to do it. Sometimes the reasons that seemed logical in our minds made our parents laugh at our response that really did not make much sense.
We make excuses for underperforming at our jobs, fitness goals, financial goals, etc. We are constantly making up excuses for our underperformance. Unfortunately, when we do this, we actually give away our power.
That’s right when we make excuses, we actually give power over to something or someone else. We actually give our power to achieve away when we do this. That means that we can not actually look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we are in control of our lives.
We also affect our relationships with others when we give excuses for poor performance. We tell others that they can not trust us to perform and that we will need to be watched more closely when given a task. This puts more work and effort on their plates slowing them down on what they need to do.
Trust is the currency that relationships and businesses function on. Without trust we will affect the organization’s profitability. When trust is high, speed goes up and costs go down in the organization. When trust is low, speed is slow resulting in more effort and higher expenses for similar tasks.
This also affects stress on the organization’s most important resource. The people that work for the organization are it’s most important resource. Without high levels of trust then we will falter and lose money.
We need to stop making excuses for poor performance if we want to increase trust and profitability. Today make the agreement with yourself to stop making excuses for poor performance and own your setbacks.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Why Selfishness Affects Trust And Profits
When I teach organizations the trust equation and how to build influence, I run through the variables that affect trust. Why some people seem to be able to gain trust and influence better than others. It consistently comes back to one main variable in building trust.
it does not matter how competent, how reliable, or how vulnerable we are with others. If we are only out for our own gain, willing to step on others for our accolades, then we are going nowhere. That is right selfishness affects trust.
Selfishness is in the denominator of the trust equation and just like any fraction, the denominator has the most leverage. Now every individual is selfish to a point. It’s in our fight or flight mechanism that keeps us safe. We want to make sure our needs are met and that we are safe. Sometimes we take it a bit too far.
We all want to succeed at what we are doing and become successful in our careers, relationships, etc. We want that nice house, nice car, top of the line phone. No one wants to fail at their endeavors. Unfortunately, that fear of failure takes over and we start focusing how we can step on others to get to that next level then we are going to sacrifice trust.
If we are willing to sacrifice others for our gain then we are not going to be able to build trust with others. They will be able to see our intentions. We can hide our intentions for a short amount of time, but ultimately our selfishness will be like a light shining bright in the night sky.
When we act in selfish ways, people learn that they can not trust us to do what is right, just what is right for ourselves. Selfishness is a filter of how we see the world and how we function in it. We see our view of the as a means to an end for our own success.
Selfishness does not value others. It only values our gain. When others realize this, they understand that they need to interact in a way that protects them. Which means now they start acting in selfish ways as well. That means that others are affected and now trust really starts to erode in our organizations.
When we have low levels of trust, speed goes down, extra meetings happen, extra tracking files are needed, constant reporting, etc. Costs increase, from all of this excess tracking, resulting in lower profit margins.
When we have lower profit margins, organizations will then have to start cutting costs everywhere they can. That means layoffs, using lower quality materials in our of our products / services, making our offerings worth less. This then starts the downward spiral of lower revenues and accelerates the speed of bankruptcy.
We need to avoid this pattern if we want to stay in business for the long haul and we need to stop being selfish. We need to serve those around us and as a result we will be able to generate trust which will reverse this spiral and keep us profitable.
When speed goes up, costs go down. That means more profits. That all is affected by the trust and selfishness levels we have at our organizations.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Relationships who needs them...?”
Good morning everyone,
As we venture deeper into the 21st century, and AI is now becoming a crucial part of our businesses. People wonder if we really need to have relationships with customers anymore. Do they care about who they buy from? Do customers just think of our businesses as commodities? Why do we need to have focus on relationships?
Each person that we come in contact with has influence over 100 to 150 other people. That’s right when we have conversations, meetings, etc. we are affecting how we are talked about to other people. If we have a bad interaction with a customer, guess what can happen? They can tell everyone they know in a quick post on social media, tweets, live videos, etc.
We have to be at the top of our game when we engage people each and every day because their friends and family that they interact with will also know how we treated them. People no longer step in to help stop fights, they instead pull out their phones and hit record. I guess it’s easier…?
Having relationships with others is how we get things done. We have influence with those people and that influence carries over to all the people they too influence. If we have bad experiences with a sales professional, we will let everyone know. If we have a great experience, what do we do? We rave about the experience and why others need to do it to.
Putting on our sales hat when we engage others is how we start to set the stage in the correct order. It is almost an art form watching an old sales professional work the personal relationship and send birthday cards for the customer’s family, as well as celebrating wins that the customer has had. Meetings on the golf course have transacted in large business deals that cannot be instantaneously measured. Looking back on the sales process and building relationships will allow your business to grow with your customers. The transactions do happen, but after work on the personal side. People will not buy from you if they do not know, like, and trust you.
I encourage you to leverage the personal side of business along with the professional side. If learning about people was not important than why do Amazon, Facebook, and your smart phones listen in on your conversations as well as track your searches? Statistics have shown that when there is a relationship in place between organizations a great deal of growth has happened as well.
Send a card for your customer’s birthdays, kids’ birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, etc. It is a great feeling to celebrate with your customers and form lasting relationships.
Remember the first buying decision a potential customer makes is the us.
Grow that relationship!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Sales = Influence = Leadership
When I decided to become a professional salesperson, it was based on the sales pitch that if you want to be a better manager, more successful in any career, you need to know sales. I was an engineer at the time and wanted to climb the corporate ladder. I dreamed of leading groups of people and helping the team shatter goals while working together. It was not until I received my certification from John Maxwell to be a speaker, trainer, and coach that I understood that Leadership and Sales go hand in hand.
Throughout the certification training John Maxwell stated, “Leadership is Influence, nothing more, nothing less.” John states this over an over when he talks on leadership. One gauge that John uses to see if we are good leaders is to see how many people that volunteer look to us for leadership. When we are moving forward for a cause how many people are willing to follow us when we are not paying them.
People being paid by us are doing so because they are receiving payment for their services so just because they follow us, does not mean that they believe in us. If we are not paying these people and they are following us, then we know that they are following because of our leadership. This is done by our influence. The more influence we have, the more people will fight by our side for the cause.
What I learned through sales is that the more influence we have with our customers, the more they look to us for help and want to do business with us. The more we help them get what they want to go, the more we provide top notch service, and the value that we bring causes us to gain influence. They reach out to us for advice and help. It does not have to be the product that we sell either. I have had customers reaching out to me for advice in marketing, software packages, cars, digital cameras, etc. I was gaining influence with them and they were reaching out to me for help in other areas.
That is when I started really looking at this sales and leadership thing to see if there were common threads. The truth is that sales and leadership are based on influence. Great leaders are those that can sell a vision to their organization so much so that the people will “Charge the pits of Hell with a water pistol” – Dave Ramsey. The most influential people use sales practices to drive forward and get their teams engaged.
Steps in the sales process to get the customer engage translate right into the leaders process to gain influence with those around them. They both find the needs of the organization and people, verify those needs, and present the solution in a way to drive engagement to move forward together. The great thing is that it really is not that complicated. It’s following a process over and over again gaining influence. That is why I love working with leaders and sales professionals to help them move forward and grow. They are so similar that this one process I help with will enable sales professionals and leaders to gain their influence.
If you are someone looking to grow your influence reach out to me today and I would be happy to review where you are at, where you want to go, and how you can get there. It’s not complicated, and you can do it.
Reach out here if you would like to start the discussion.
Have a great weekend!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Why Leaders Know Sales
When I first started in sales it was on the premise that if I wanted to be a great manager, business owner, lawyer, president, I needed to know sales. That is what a successful business owner told me after I had told him that I wanted to be a manager. He was a great leader and still has people working for him that were with him since he opened his company in the mid 1980’s. I was not sure why I needed to know sales to be a good manager to be honest, but I knew I would figure it out.
At first, I was hesitant to change careers. Six months of hesitation and discussions to be exact. I did not want to be a salesperson because all life had taught me was that they were evil. All I had ever been told was bad and experiences were also proof to that same point.
When I did decide to try this sales thing out, I quickly learned that there was a key ingredient to being a successful sales professional. Once I figured out that ingredient, customers started opening up to me and sales increased. I was awarded the prize of top salesman for the United States and had taken the territory to where it had never been before.
I literally had customers asking me about what software would work best for their business and other things that had nothing to do with what I sold. They trusted me and were asking for my insight on various things that they were struggling with in their businesses. That key ingredient is Influence. In sales the more influence you have the more you sell. The same is said for leaders.
As influence increases, people trust us more and are willing to go deeper in relationships with us. This can be in business ventures, nonprofits, community support, etc. The more influence someone has the more they excel in whatever they are doing with others.
What I found is that the sales process that I keynote and perform trainings on helps people build amazing amounts of influence fast! That is right, selling correctly helps us build high levels of influence!
Keep in mind that selling is not just a product or service. It can be selling a vision, idea, or that we are going to lead those that report to us. Building influence using the sales process, leaders gain more engagement from those around them. Utilizing the sales process to sell our vision and our mission will grant us more influence and greater buy in from those around us.
As you look around your organization look at those relationships of those that go out of their way to help you and those that don’t. See how much influence you have with these relationships. Ask yourself, “Why do I have more influence with this person as opposed to another? What is different with each of these individuals?” What you’ll learn is that the level of our influence determines how much we can say and do with each individual.
The more influence you have the farther our organizations can go.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
The Question Our Employees Are Asking
Last week we talked about coaching others, this week we will have the discussion that those around us are asking.
Has anyone ever asked you the following question…Do you have my back?
Chances are if you have direct reports, they are asking this question about you. They were trying to figure this out the moment they start working for you.
Your direct reports want to know that when the chips are down that you will have their back as long as they are doing what is right and ethical. Far too often in big business employees feel they have to CYA because they do not trust their manager. CYA stands for Cover Your Assets. The A is sometimes shortened.
I have experienced in the issue of having to CYA myself in communications due to a lack of support from managers. It agitated me greatly because I believed I was left to fight for myself. It is a lonely position to be in as a report. Here’s the thing, relationships do not thrive in this kind of environment.
Employees want to know that their managers have their back when the chips are down and that they can reach out to their managers when they need help. Far too many managers are so busy themselves they forget to establish ground rules for trust and communication at the beginning of the relationship. There needs to be a set of ground rules of engagement set up from the beginning. Leaving it up to assumption is a recipe for a bad relationship. There are a few managers out there unfortunately that don’t really care about relationships with their reports and should look to either move on from their position or retire.
When trust and communication are not flowing it becomes like a body of water with no movement. It becomes toxic and everything in it dies. When trust and communication are absent fear also starts setting in. When Fear takes hold, trust and relationships do not flourish, they unfortunately die.
If reports don’t trust their manager, then where does the employee bounce ideas off of to move forward in the correct direction? Where do they expect to get mentorship? Where do these reports learn the correct way of operating for the organization?
Far too often employees have enough of this lack of trust and communication and elect to leave the department, or worse the organization. The intrinsic knowledge that the employee has is also following them right out the door. This then puts the team and management back to start the process over to onboard another employee. If the cycle keeps occurring the manager will be found out and their management will have to discuss options.
The cost of onboarding on average about $4000 per employee. Not to mention the training them on the software and teams that they will need to engage with often. It is also a good to note that it takes about three to six months for the employee to get comfortable in their new role. This means they are slower at the start in their position which also costs money to the organization. Why not work to make sure our reports know that we have their back, how to communicate with us, and build trust.
The answer is setting up guard rails with our direct reports from the beginning to make sure they understand how the trust and communication can work together. Setting these guard rails up will keep everything moving better and work life to improve. Employees need to know that they can trust their leaders. Having that trust and communication will allow the employees to excel and thrive in our organizations.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
How Is Your Coaching?
To carry on the discussion from last week about leadership and engagement, lets continue by talking about how as a leader we need the correct coaching with our teams. Spoiler alert” it’s not by yelling.”
How are you at coaching your team and your family?
Are you like a college football coach constantly sending in directions?
Business leaders think being a coach means constantly sending in orders like a coach on the sideline of a football game. They believe they should tell the team what to do and how to do everything and then the team will just execute. The issue is that these people just become “yes people” and do not learn to not think for themselves. Instead, these individuals constantly come to the coach for the answers for everything and anything essentially slowing the organization down.
This style of coaching does not promote effective thought in individuals and does not allow them to break through ceilings. What I learned in 2016 from John Maxwell about coaching is that coaching is not about telling people what to do. Coaching is instead asking questions for the individual to produce their best answer for the given situation. It’s encouraging them to look within for their best answer. Not telling people what to do, but allowing them to look deep inside to derive their answer.
Most of the time in business we are trying to answer questions and get to solutions fast. We are looked upon by our peers, or reports to provide the course that is needed so much that we get used to coming up with the answer all of the time. When we arrive home at the end of the day, we are still dictating what needs to happen, how it needs to happen, and when it needs to happen to our families if we are not careful. Will that help our families thrive?
We are getting things accomplished, but we need to grow others around us so that they can make decisions so if we were to be “hit by a bus” they could still move forward. If we are not coaching these individuals correctly, we are actually hurting them. We are not allowing them to grow their confidence in decision making, and growth from within.
As coaches, we can not be the sole source of answers. We need to help cultivate within those around us to find those answers if we want to move forward fast together.
Coaching is also the act of giving more and more trust to those around us as they exhibit those traits we are working to grow in them. We do not give a underaged child keys to a brand new Ferrari and say you’ll figure it out. We need to guide them and train them before they are free to make those decisions. We need to continually ask those thought provoking questions to help them come up with better and better decisions. Even if those decisions do not align with what we believe is best at the time, we still need to trust the process to help them grow.
Ultimately, we will expire and it is on us to grow those around us.
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Why Quiet Quitting and Quiet Firing Are Not New
Quiet Quitting is this new phrase for those employees that are trying to do the bare minimum to not get fired from their work and still collect their pay check. This can be claimed because people want to have a better work/life balance, quality of life improvement, or just pure mailing it in.
Quiet Firing on the other hand is where management does not want to have the tough discussions with employees about their lack of achievement. They keep cancelling meetings, not opening time up for one-on-one meetings, not responding to emails. The manager just makes themselves unavailable to the employees.
So why is this not new. It’s the same thing we have been talking about with those engagement surveys. That is right disengagement is the same thing as quiet quitting and quiet firing. Employees that are disengaged from their work will not be efficient and will not move the organization forward. Goals will be missed, profits will go down, costs will go up, and the mood from the team also suffers.
What we need to be focused on is not allowing quiet quitting and quiet firing to happen. We need to be intentional with our employees and managers. We have to take it upon ourselves to focus our efforts to stay engaged, or we need to find something else.
There is no quality of life improvement from being disengaged in an area of our lives. There is no improvement in relationships when we are not engaged. It is like a pool of water with no movement. Scum starts forming, and starts to smell bad.
We need to get our pride put aside and focus on doing our best even if those around us are not putting forth their best. People will take notice from us going the extra mile and challenge the status quo. They will start seeing the movement and want to also put forth the extra effort as well.
We need to make sure that our culture is one of growth and improvement. One that people will not give up and quit anything. We need to address issues if there are issues and find ways to give it one more shot. We need to put forth that effort so we can leave it all out on the field instead of have regrets.
It is on leadership to set the tone, but here is the thing. John Maxwell wrote a book called 360 degree leader. That means that leadership is not just from a title. Leadership belongs to the individual not the title. We have to put forth the effort and be the example. It will become contagious after we build the momentum to go the extra mile.
We can influence the rest of the organization by the way we show up and how we are engaged. We can either show up and put our best foot forward and be a shining light, or we can be disengaged and pull the organization down.
It is up to us to be engaged or not engaged. No new words, no new language, just get engaged and be the change.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
Are you Building Trust During This Season?
Christmas is here! This is the time of year where we are giving presents away to others and enjoying quality time with family and friends. Ever stop to think why we find more joy at this time of year than any other?
In the book Well Being from Gallop who do studies on people for just about everything, they write about how spending and focusing on others actually makes our mood better. That’s why we need to really think about our intentions when we are interacting with others.
If we are in a bad mood, are we just trying to bring others down, or are we trying to help them? Are we trying to build better relationships, or just help ourselves get to a better place? What is the motivator here? Are we being selfish, or are we being giving?
Ever wonder why some people just don’t trust us? No matter what we do, it just seems like they will not accept us as being honest and worthy of trust?
There are so many areas that can derail trust, but today I want to focus on one huge variable in building trust that most people have a blind spot to.
The main variable in trust that derails most people is Selfishness. That’s right, the level of selfishness that is in us determines how much others will trust us. If our actions in working with people is only to accomplish what we want to achieve and not caring about others then we will not get gain trust. Selfishness is the largest factor of trust.
We all have difficult people in our lives. We are all selfish to a degree. Just look at a toddler and how they play with others with the same toys. They don’t share. They want all the toys. We have our wants and dreams and we want to achieve them and that is okay. The issue is when we want others to help us achieve those wants and dreams and not care about helping them as well. We forget that others need help as well when we are in that selfish frame of mind.
Zig Ziglar has a quote that states, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Simply said, stop thinking about ourselves first and start looking to others on how we can help. Whether that is communicating effectively, lending a hand, or just listening to someone else we need to be focused on helping others. It’s just like farming. Planting one seed doesn’t net a huge crop, but planting millions of seeds, the harvest is plentiful.
That’s right if we truly want to others to trust us enough to help us, then we have to change our focus from one of receiving, to one of giving. We also need to do this for the right reasons.
We can be the most competent, consistent, vulnerable, people out there, but if we are only out for our own gain, well it will be an uphill battle to build trust. We must check out selfishness.
This Christmas when we are engaging others and attending Christmas parties stop and think about why we are engaging others. Look at our moods when we are exchanging gifts. Are we happier when we give or when we receive? Chances are when we watch other’s eyes light up with joy when they open that thoughtful gift we searched for we have that extra kick of energy and a larger smile.
Who is someone that you could build more trust with by changing the view from what can I get to how can I give this Christmas? It will help you build trust in the long term.
Merry Christmas!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Why This Questions Is Crucial With Others
Isn’t this a question we all ask? How can you help me?
All of us by nature are born with the innate desire to find out how we can be helped by associating with others. Call it selfishness, survival, whatever you want to call it. We are born with this desire to find out how we will benefit by the interaction with another.
Our customers want to know how they will get to a better place by doing business with us as well. Just like us, they want to know how their lives will improve. It’s up to us to answer that question each and every time we interact with them. If we chose not to, then we will find ourselves receiving price down requests instead of how can we help them innovate. No one wants to continually fight cost down requests. We want to have people coming to us for help and providing solid solutions for them.
The question we should be asking ourselves is what do we have in our capabilities to make the customer’s life better? How by doing business with us will we help them. This is a crucial change in our focus. Instead of focusing on how we can benefit, we need to shift that focus onto how we can help the customer. What is it that we, and our organization can do to help the customer get to a better place.
Do we have a software package that will allow for the customer to spend less time counting inventory with real time updates? Do we have interactive videos that will help the customer walk through and diagnose malfunctions with their equipment? How about an app that tells the customer when their robot they are using is not functioning as efficient and needs a service call before it breaks?
One thing that I have strived to do is add value in each interaction. It doesn’t have to be monetary all the time. It can be helping the customer with software that we are fluent in that they may be having issues with, ideas and local hot spots for a vacation location that the customer wants to travel to that we have also visited, life hacks, deals, helping them find toilet paper when the country is freaking out during a pandemic, connecting them with someone we know that can help them, etc.
The key is to take the focus off of wondering how we can capitalize from the exchange and how we can add value to the customer. I love the quote from Zig Zigler that says, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough people get what they want.” Read that one more time and marinate on that for a few minutes…
It doesn’t mean we just give away all of our profit if we are selling something, but it does say constantly add value with those we come in contact with and focus on how we can help them. Not for how we will benefit, but how that person will get to a better place. It is harder to accept something with a closed fist, but with an open hand more can be added.
I know we are all in stressful times right now with what is going on in the world, but we will get through this and we will become stronger because of it. Innovation is happening each day and we will be ready for the next challenge. If we open up our hands today and help those around us especially in this time of need, we will get to a better place ourselves.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
The Question To Ask For Trust With Others
Today we get into the second question that customers are asking themselves when speaking to sales people. Do I trust you?
That is a huge question that if answered No, can stop you from selling anything to that customer. If they do not trust you then you are stuck and you can’t get past the first of five buying decisions.
I have spent the majority of my sales career studying why people buy. Being that I was an engineer there had to be an equation and magic was not going to be the answer. What I found is that when people use humor, are upfront, and show empathy towards others. That is when people really start to open up and trust.
I’ve had a manager that had issues gaining trust. This manager would openly tell anyone he first met within the first few minutes about his Christianity, but his actions would contradict what he would say he stands for. He was explosive to be around and would demand you follow his view points on business. If you challenged his view points, watch out!
This kind of behavior erodes trust the same as lying to others. Trust is crucial for any kind of growth between sales organizations and their customers.
So how can we grow trust fast?
1. Social Proof
2. Heart of a teacher
3. Open and honest communication
4. Encourage customers to show you opportunities for improvement
Social proof is using a mutual connection between the customer and yourself. So many people like Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, music artists, etc would see huge followings after being on the Oprah show. Once they leveraged that connection, they were considered the go to expert. Now we can’t all get on the Oprah channel, but we can leverage anyone that we know who knows us well that could reach out on our behalf.
Having a heart of a teacher is offering help to the customer get them to a better place even if it does not benefit you. Teaching the customer to give them free knowledge for the heart of helping them is something that is lacking in today’s culture. People tend to only want to help if they will receive something in return. What I can tell you is that if you want to gain trust, you have to have a heart of a teacher to help the customer.
Open and honest communication means reaching out when you see something bad coming, but also making sure that the customer is not unsure about anything related to your products. Making sure that they are communicated to in a personal level is key. Pick up the phone when you can instead of just sending an email. This is something that I still struggle with sometimes when I am busy, but what I have learned is making sure I talk to the customer is key. Keep in mind the written word it taken negative most times when someone reads it. Most of communication is nonverbal, posture, tone of voice, etc. An email does not help with communication.
The last key thing to do is encouraging the customers to show you opportunities for improvement. Allowing the customer to feel like they are a part of the product design in the future makes them feel like they are a part of something more than just themselves. We all strive to feel like we are included in decisions, so encouraging them will allow for this to open up.
There you have it. Four ways to grow trust fast. Just put on your SHOE to walk with the customer… You need to have your shoes on if you plan to walk the talk.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
The First Question to Ask
Good morning everyone. Last week we discussed the three questions that customers ask when the meet with us on every interaction. If you missed it go back and read it as it will help you with this week’s post. it only takes three minutes to read.
The first question that we ask ourselves subconsciously when we interact with another person is “Do I like you?” Our brains are trying to figure out if this person standing in front of us is a threat or a potential ally. Should we stay, or run like…
Physically our bodies will change posture depending on how this question is answered. Our posture will literally change as much as leaning in to leaning back depending on engagement and trust. This is why sales professionals have been taught to always mirror your customer’s posture.
Did you know that depending on if you are male or female you tend to want to stand in different postures when interacting? Women prefer to stand at 90 degree angles to men when they are interacting in the personal space. They naturally want to keep a guard up to not feel vulnerable. Men typically like to stand face to face total body facing their counterpart.
Are you starting to see how this might be a problem getting someone to like you if you do something small like use the incorrect stance?
Here is something else that will impact the way someone answers that question. The color you wear on your clothing can also impact how you are judged. That’s right the color we wear actually has an impact on how others perceive us. We could start the discussion off on the wrong foot just by color. In Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence” he breaks down the colors and what they mean. It is a must read if you are working to sales! To make it easier for you, I tend to wear light blue and white shirts when I meet someone for the first time because those colors are associated with “Trust.” They are also calming colors. I want the customer calm and feeling like I am a trustworthy advocate for them.
I make sure to wear the right color tones for the meeting that I am about to have. The reason is I need the customer to feel at ease while meeting with me. They will be more relaxed and willing to hear me while we are discussing a topic. I also pay close attention to their posture as what I have learned is that 93% of communication is actually non-verbal.
Here are some other factors that can affect the first impression:
Scents you wear, voice tonality, pace of speech, jewelry, etc.
The old saying you only get one chance to make a first impression still is true today. Making sure we are paying attention to the person standing in front of us will help us greatly generate trust.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Three Questions To Help Us With Others
Do I like you?
Do I trust you?
How can you Help me?
These three questions are asked in our subconscious every time we interact with someone. Our bodies are hardwired to want to know if we like, trust, and can be helped by the other person. These questions have been embedded into our survival since the beginning of mankind. We also are programmed to know if we are safe in an environment, or if we need to run (fight or flight response). Think about that when you are in the grocery line and someone coughs…
In business, if we are not answering these questions for our customers then we are not helping our customers. It’s about answering these questions that gets us into meetings to discuss larger topics that the customer needs answers to. They need us to help them get to a better place. If they didn’t need us then we would not be in the conversation.
The great thing that we have going for us if they are interacting with us, then they are actively searching for solutions. Even if they don’t currently know it yet! That is right sometimes the customer does not know what they need before they meet with us. We need to study them and their needs so that we can support them with the best option available to them.
Have you ever been talking to someone about a topic and a great idea pops into your head? Most of the time though we forget about these ideas 15 minutes after we have thought about them. The same thing happens with our customers when we are talking with them. When they do this, we need to take notes and keep asking deeper questions. At the end of our time, we need to summarize the major topics and see which ones the customer really wants to dive deeper into for the next conversation?
Now for an exercise. I want you to sit back and think of an interaction with a recent customer that did not buy from you and ask the three questions from the customer’s point of view: Do I like you?, Do I trust you?, and how can you help me? During that interaction, where could you have done something more that would have likely resulted in an opportunity? What might you have missed answering for the customer out of the three questions? Chances are we get comfortable with customers and our sales process and we forget the most crucial buying decision “us” that the customer has to decide on.
In the coming weeks we will dive deeper into each of the three questions, but for this week I want you to ask those three questions at each interaction. You don’t have to be selling them something either. It could be a family member, neighbor, coworker, mail carrier, etc. Focus on answering each of those three questions to the best of your ability, even if you are talking to them while in quarantine via phone call, or web meetings.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
How Much Is Your Time Worth?
When do I hire something out rather than doing it myself?
Why would I pay someone else to do the work that I know I can do?
Have you ever asked these questions when you had a project that you needed to tackle?
Now that I am into my 40’s I am really having to weigh out how much work I should be doing and how much I should be hiring out. My father taught me quite a bit to be handy around the house. I can change out electrical outlets, switches, lights, ceiling fans, tiling, roofs, plumbing, do spreadsheets, sell, etc.
I can do even more now with all the experiences I have had with homes including flipping one while I did all of the work. Most of the time I would have extra experience as I would have to do it twice do to trying to short cut something. A good rule of thumb in my experience is that a well performed project should not reveal extra screws, bolts, or other retention components when are you finished.
What I have sometimes wondered is if I am at a deficit because I am capable of using my own hands and time to do quite a bit. I struggle with that I can do the project, but is it the most beneficial use of my time. I want to do it to show myself that I can, but is this approach worth it? This has been hard because small projects are very therapeutic for me. I can work on something that is completed in a small amount of time compared to most of my projects that take months upon months to work on. It’s nice to be able to step back and look at something that I have created with my own hands. The issue is that I am doing this at a cost that I have never previously rationalized.
My mentor when I first got into sales taught me that wealthy people put a value on TIME. When working on projects, thinking about investments, they calculate the cost of their time that will be invested in the project. Time is something that we have a limited supply of. When we are born time seems to be ticking away until we finally expire. We cannot add hours in the day, multiply our time, we can only invest our time into those areas that we feel most important.
Lately I have had to start hiring out the work on my house so I can keep moving my business and projects forward. I have had to put a value per hour that I would have to pay myself to perform the task. If the quotes from contractors come in lower, or even close to my cost, I typically hire them to perform the work even if I am capable of doing it. Most of the time they can actually do the work faster as well.
I had to have two foundation walls on my house dug up, pushed back straight, reinforced, sealed, and then back filled. Now I am fully capable in doing this work, but it would have taken me months to complete. I did not have the time to do this on top of everything I am working on. It took the contractor three weeks to complete and I was able to work on other projects. The cost for them to do all this work and in the time they did it was less than it would have taken me. Sure, I would have been able to use digging equipment which would have been fun, but they did it for cheaper than I could with all of the time that would have been involved from me to do the project.
When preparing for that next project, career change, purchase of a home, or moving dirt think about the cost of your time as a function of the investment. Think about the amount of work and hours that you will need to complete. Then think about how much it would cost for you to do the work compared to hiring it out so you can be freed up to do other things that are more important.
For those of you looking for a new job, this should definitely be part of your decision if you are going to change companies. If the new company that you are interviewing is for instance 15 minutes each way longer of a drive, you need to calculate that into your salary expectations? See 15 minutes each way is 30 minutes a day. Multiplied by five working days a week is 2 ½ hours a week more driving when you could be doing something else. Now assuming you have to only work 48 weeks a year that is 120 hours a hear you will be in the car more than in your current position. Say you make $25/ hour, that is $3000 a year that you are losing to driving. That is also not calculating the operating costs of your vehicle or fuel.
Next time you are figuring out a budget for a project you are about to take part in make sure you are also figuring in how much your time is worth. It may reveal that training someone else may be able to do the smaller items so that you can focus on the higher value items. If you are looking for a new career figure out the time investment and keep the focus on if it will get you closer to where you want to be in the time frame you are working with.
Time is a precious commodity and we need to protect it’s value!
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
How Do We Figure Out The Correct Leadership Program
How do organizations make the decision on what is the correct leadership program they need? How do they implement fast and impactful curriculums with all the options in the marketplace?
A great deal of organizations look for implementation of new educational training for those they want to groom in their succession plans. No off the shelf program seems to be the perfect fit for these organizations. Yes ,it’s easy to implement something off the shelf, but why do something that is generic compared to what we want our organization to focus on?
I have been asked this question a few times in recently and the first thing I ask is what does your organization think is most important, besides profits…. Sometimes I get a pretty decent answer, but most times I get a blank stare which quickly refers to the mission or vision statements.
Core values, mission statements, and vision statements, are all good starting points. The culture that the organization has is the main light for what the organization stands for. What is the culture of our organization is what leaders need to look at. What is the culture of the organization is the heartbeat.
We also need to know what goals the organization has for the next 1,3,10 years. Where are we and where are we going is another core to what the leadership needs to focus the messaging of their leadership training on.
The leadership needs to also look at the team members they want to groom to see where they need improvement on.
We need to think of leadership like a toolbox. We need to have tools for everyday use which off the shelf programs offer, but we also need specialty tools for those more complex jobs. A screwdriver will not work on a plumbing fix, and a wrench will likely not work on an electrical issue.
The same thought for our leadership programs is where we need to look in and see what our future leaders are going to need to take the organization farther than what we can. If we want to grow the organization what we know and what our future leaders know is crucial.
We need to look at ourselves and then grow ourselves. Bringing in multiple consultants to help with the specific tools that are needed will help the organization gain traction faster. Specialists are paid more in the medical field because they are higher trained in the specific area. The same can be said for leadership consultants.
This will take some time so don’t think that implementation will happen overnight. The leadership team will need to meet a few times to make this decision. It’s an important decision as we want the organization to grow and flourish in the future. Take time and plan accordingly with the leadership team before starting the search for the right program.
If we do this correctly, then we can look forward to long life for our organization even when we are relaxing in retirement rooting from the sidelines.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Light It Up!
Have you ever thought you can’t make a difference? The subject matter you are facing is just too big for you to make a dent? Your light is not bright enough to cast out the darkness ahead?
I was at CMA fest with my wife and friends this past summer in Nashville, TN. I’m not a huge country music person after say the early 2000’s. I mainly listen to other types of music. At the event I was not as knowledgeable of some songs as the rest of the group. I also didn’t know all of the musicians.
During one of the sets Luke Bryan was singing and asking people to pull out their phones and “light it up.” One by one we saw phones lighting up the stadium so much that when they turned the stadium lights it was like nothing had changed. Yes, there were over 60,000 people in attendance to do this.
These little cell phone lights work good for close up needs for an individual, but for one phone to try to cast out the darkness in a stadium it would be difficult. To do it together though, the darkness was cast right out. It was interesting to see thousands of lights making this place light up.
We need others to walk with us on our mission which means we need to reach out to them for help. This world of social media and movies make it seem like we need to be a lone wolf. If you know anything about wolves they only survive in their packs. On their own they die off quickly.
Just like wolves and cell phone lights we need others to come along side us to move forward. We need to be able to ask for help, use our leadership skills to gain engagement, and be vulnerable. That’s right we need to be vulnerable and ask for help. One of the key ingredients of influence is vulnerability. Yes, just like cooking, if we miss an ingredient the meal does not tast good and is tossed out.
It is scary, but we have to take the risk to let others see who we are and they will more than likely offer a hand to help. We need to be comfortable in the uncomfortable in order to move forward with others. Yes it’s messy sometimes, and there are different points of view that we need to work through on different topics. We need to push through the hard stuff to get to the place we want to go.
There is the quote that says, if we want to go fast go by ourselves, but if we want to go far, we need to go with others.
Just like scaling mount Everest, we need to have a group of people to reach the summit. Most of those that have tried to do it by themselves have failed, or paid the ultimate price.
Work with others and be vulnerable to be able to move forward is key.
If we do then we can light up the world!
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Not Customer Service, But Customer Experience
Have you ever had to wait an extremely long time for your food at a restaurant when you were starving? Asking the wait staff for an update on the food seemed to bother them from their already busy agenda. Meanwhile we believe that death is at our door.
Upon asking the wait staff for an update, they seem not to care sometimes. Sometimes we might get a part of the order taken off our bill. Maybe the manager has to get involved to resolve the issue. Tips are dwindled and the likelihood of returning to the establishment decreases by the second.
I was in Franklin Tennessee which is about 30 minutes south of Nashville this past summer. It’s a great city where a lot of country singers live and other wealthy individuals. It is a great little downtown filled with restaurants and shops. There is one establishment that people rave about so the group of us decided to stop in.
We weren’t starving, but we decided to venture in and check it out. I won’t give the name away, but they have these things called BONUTS that are delicious. We ordered a set to go as well as some sweet tea. You can’t go south without having sweet tea!
After we ordered the person taking the order advised us to wait at a table in the middle of the room. After about 15 minutes the waitress came by with a plate with BONUTS on them and we were confused because we asked for “to go”. She dropped these off and then said she would get us some to go.
Another 15 minutes went by and nothing. Now we had already paid so we were getting ready to just stand up and leave. Figuring we had gotten what we paid for so no really harm done just some time spent waiting.
We had asked someone working there to see if the order was coming soon and they went to check. When they came back, they gave us a refund, gave us the to go order, and then another order because we sat for so long. They also refused repeatedly to take the money back. I mean we got what we paid for, but they were insistent that we be refunded.
The running total now is three orders of BONUTS and a full refund because they were sorry for the wait. I mean that is over and above customer service. Not just here is your order, but here is your money back as well and oh let’s give you another order. That is exceptional service and that is what drives customer loyalty.
When we go back to the Nashville area again, where do you think we will be going. When I hear friends and family are traveling there, what do you think I will tell them when I mention places to stop?
When we are serving customers, we need to think about the customer experience. Not that others should perform the job that are supposed to, but if we come in contact with the customer and they express a need we need to serve them well also. We need to make sure we do our best to give the customer a great experience.
If we do serve the customer well and provide an exceptional experience then they will be like sales people for us. Just like I am writing about my story to share with all of you. Our customers will share with all of their friends and family about the exceptional experience.
Keep that in mind when serving customers and how we approach them. We need to give them an exceptional experience if we want to drive customer loyalty. Not just a punch card, but experience is what generates customer loyalty.
Now the flip side to that is if we underserve and provide a poor customer experience, what do you think they will say about our organization.
We reap what we sow. Plant seeds of exceptional experience and we will reap a great harvest in the future.
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training
Are You Using A Compass?
Naval Captains, and old explorers used these interesting yet simple tools called compasses to help navigate how to get where they wanted to go. Yes, they used other tools, but this one tool helped them stay on track for their headings. Even in storms they used these compasses to stay the course.
Today we use directions and a voice in our navigations tools to tell us turn by turn which way to go. The early days had us sometimes driving on unpaved roads and some stories of people driving right into water because they believed the navigation units solely.
In our everyday lives we need to use a tool that helps us stay on track. There are many names for the tool like mission statement, vision statement, goals, etc. I like to call it my compass. I have a compass that I have created to help me use what I know about myself and how I am wired to make planning for the year have the best chance of success with my goals.
Yes, it is something from church, but it’s a took the DISC assessment, a gifts assessment, and our passions to help us make a purpose statement. We need to live on purpose otherwise will just be drifting along with no direction. Those that are intentional and lean into their compass do move forward with great speed and intentionality.
By having a compass (purpose statement) we can eliminate detours that take away the most precious commodity we have available…TIME. Yes, time is something that we are not able to add, multiple, but only subtract and sometimes divide. We lose a lot of time and energy if we are doing tasks that don’t align with what fuels us forward.
Ever get to the end of day 30 and you are still worn out, tired, and with an empty tank? Sure, we did something, but did that something actually get us closer to where we want to go? Did it give us more tools to help us move faster in the future?
I have been in seasons where I was serving on countless non-profit activities, serving the community as a volunteer fire fighter, playing in adult flag football leagues, etc. These all seemed fun, but did they help me get to my end goal? I still support in some ways and have an active community, but I have chosen to put my energy in learning how to communicate better and help others through this blog, my Youtube channel, and my trainings to help businesses and leaders succeed.
I have been intentional over the past decade to make sure my family will be taken care of, preparing for my later years, and how to help impact others for the better. I have said no to good things in order to say yes to great things. It has and is still a charted course I am on, but I know the path I need to take to get there. Without my compass this would not be possible.
Having a compass to guide our path to the future selves we want to have, we need to be intentional and know what it is that we want to achieve. It can be monetary, but it can also be relationally. We should have a compass and a clear vision of where we want to go, before we just start moving because we only have a short period of time to get there before the sands of time run out for each one of us.
What does your compass look like?
Have a great week!
“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet
https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training
https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training