Posts Tagged ‘customer’

Franchise Players

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

I was talking with a friend of mine, today.  While he might disavow this, he embodies EXCELLENCE.  He executes well, is supremely competent, operates from impeccable integrity, is well-known and well-respected in his field, and – I say this with all sincerity - is amazingly humble. 

In less than 9 months, he has had significant positive impact on the growth of his company’s bottom line – in a down economy.

He is a “franchise” player.

We love the ”franchise” player.  They work longer and harder, need less attention, solve more problems, and raise the bar for everyone (who wants to play in their league).

The problem?   “Franchise” players present a different leadership/management challenge.  While we don’t have to discipline them, we do have to discipline ourselves. 

Give them all they can handle, but not all we want them to handle.

Otherwise, we risk losing them – to our competition, or to burn out.  In either case, our organization will be worse off.

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Everyone’s Got a Story

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

I was at a Dale Carnegie Course graduation this week.

One of the graduates was talking about what he gained from his twelve weeks in the program.  His realization – everyone’s got a story.

We often (usually?) make judgements about others based solely upon what we see.  It’s like looking through a keyhole in the front door of a mansion and claiming to know where everything – rooms, paintings, tapestries, furniture, silverware, closets, beds, linen, etc. – is inside.  We can’t even see the entire front hallway.

Dale Carnegie said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested you.”  It’s amazing, when we strive to “Become genuinely interested in other people” (principle #4), they do become genuinely interesting to us.

The hard part is getting past our own initial judgement, so we can at least open the door and see the hallway.

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End Construction

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

Recently, I came to one of the many US highway areas “under construction.”

At 1:00 am, the maze of orange cones, orange barrels, flashing lights, concrete barriers and reflective tape was very noticeable in the pitch black.  What was not noticeable?  The entrance to the labyrinth.  I’m sure the traffic engineer who designed this knew exactly how traffic was supposed to navigate through it.  But, it’s not intuitively obvious at 75…. errrr at 65 miles per hour.

I slowed to a crawl, found the entrance, and breathed a sigh of relief when I finally saw the “end construction” sign several miles later.

What’s it like for your prospect navigating through your company’s sales process; or your customer navigating your customer service process; or maybe one of your employees navigating some new software or procedure?

Just because it’s obvious to you (the builder) doesn’t mean it’s obvious, friendly, or easy to anyone else.  While we can rush right through it, they need to slow down, get their bearings and at least see the entrance.

When your sales, customer service, and human resource professionals try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view, they’ll be more able to reassure, guide, and build trust with with your prospects, customers, and employees

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Posted in Dale Carnegie Training, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Bigger crops

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Have you noticed that most fruits and vegetables have less flavor than they used to?  Why do fruits and vegetables grown in your own garden taste so much better than store-bought?  Why are fruits and vegetables eaten in other countries so much more tasty?

Farmers are paid by the bushel – by the size of their crop.  They aren’t paid by the nutritional value.  So, they work to increase the size of their land’s yield.

Replenishing just a few elements in the soil produces larger and larger yields – at least for a while.  So, US farmers fertilize to replace only the needed nutrients – not all the nutrients. The result?  Bigger crops of less tasty and less nutritious foods – from poorly nourished fields.

Eventually, the field burns out, stops producing, and has to lie fallow for a time before it can produce again – often a different crop.

How do you nourish your current field of customers?

Are you feeding them properly or just fertilizing them enough to get the largest crop before burning them out?

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Posted in Dale Carnegie Training | 1 Comment »