Roy's Blog: January 2011
January 27, 2011
“YES” Rules Should Drive Your Customer Service Strategy
Back to School for Sales
Five Great Ways to Destroy Creativity
Secrets to ReMARKABILITY and UnFORGETTABILITY
I have written past Articles on Dumb Rules, and the impact they have on your customers and your brand. Dumb Rules are internally focused , serve an internal purpose and make no sense to customers. They infuriate customers and make them leave. And when they go they don’t go quietly. They scream to their friends about the terrible customer service they have witnessed.
Rules, Policies and Procedures are necessary in any organization. The question is for what purpose? The fact of the matter is that most Rule Systems in organizations today exist for management control purposes. The need to ensure consistent behavior. The need to satisfy Internal Audit that costs are being controlled. The need to ensure that the “standards” are being observed. The need to create Cogs in an organization.
The problem is, people don’t really care about The Rules. They just want to be served in an effective manner to get their wants satisfied. The Rules are the organization’s problem.
What if we created YES Rules? Rules that are built to allow customers to get what they want in the manner they want. Rules that empower frontline employees to Say Yes to whatever reasonable request the customer makes. Rules to create a Dazzling service experience. Rules that recognize that every person is different and unique in some special way. Rules that recognize that your brand is ultimately controlled by customers and the conversation they have about an organization.
Sure, Rules to control are necessary to ensure the business is run effectively. Financial reporting and Cost management require a degree of oversight to meet specific external requirements. But I think they are so prevalent in organizations today that they have drowned the customer experience. Neutered it. Destroyed it. The Rule has precedent over the customer. The Rule has sucked the humanity from organizations. The Internal Rule dominates. The Customer Rule is the loser.
Why not engage the customer in designing The Rule? Ask them if your approach would dazzle them or annoy them. Ask for their input. Open your organization to them. Expose your humanity.
Get to YES. Your customers will return the favor.
Cheers,
Roy
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January 24, 2011
ONLY Thought Leadership for Your Fans
Businesses recently have jumped on the idea of using my half day ONLY Workshop as an opportunity to both say “THANK YOU!” to their loyal customers for their continuing business and to provide them with a Learning Experience that will help them improve their business performance.
On March 7, 2011 I am holding an ONLY Workshop in Richmond, and I would invite you to consider offering it as your personal Gift to people who have treated you well. Thanks. Here are the details of the Workshop…
“His formula for the ONLY Statement is the simplest branding principle I’ve ever run across”. “He has convinced me the most important word in your business is ONLY because if you’re not using it everyday, you’re missing a golden opportunity to rise above the competition”— Rick Spence, Writer for The National Post, Consultant and Speaker, Toronto, Ontario
Are you:
- Trying to create your competitive position in the market?
- Finding it difficult to avoid descriptions like “better” or “best” to declare your unique capabilities?
- Having difficulty explaining to people why they should do business with you and not someone else?
- Unable to answer the question “What makes your organization Different than your competitors?”
- Eager to grow your business and increase market share?
If you have answered “Yes” to these questions this Workshop is for you!
This half-day Workshop is based on the book Be Different or Be Dead, by local author Roy Osing. The seminar is presented by Soft Skills for Success and Brilliance for Business; the speaker will be Roy Osing himself. The Event Organizer and Emcee is Sandy Chernoff of Soft Skills for Success. The Host is The Richmond Country Club.
“Roy is an exceptional speaker who drills down to the core of what a business has to do in order to be sustainable into the future. His workshop will get you thinking to the beat of a different drummer.”—Jordan Stevens, London
Cost of the Workshop:
The fee for registration in this Workshop is only $69.00 plus applicable tax. Each attendee will receive a copy of Be Different or Be Dead, signed by Roy and a take-away Learning Guide.
In addition each attendee will have the opportunity to work on The ONLY Statement for their organization and create a distinctive competitive position.
Date & Time: Monday, March 7, 2011, 8:30am -12:00pm.
Location: Richmond Country Club, 9100 Steveston Highway, Richmond, BC
Pre-Registration (mandatory) and all inquiries regarding the seminar:
Call: 604-290-5549, or email: roy.osing@telus.net
For additional detail on the Workshop, please click here
I hope to see you and your team of customers there!
Cheers,
Roy
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January 24, 2011
The Customer Report Card for Sales
Secrets to ReMARKABILITY and UnFORGETTABILITY
Bonding is In; Flogging is Out
Three Elements of BE DiFFERENT Marketing
Long term success is based on intimate relationships you have with your customers. Its not about transactions based on pushing products and services. You have heard this rant from me before.
So, how does an organization move from a Flogger to one that believes in a healthy dose of humanity to take itself to the next level of performance? It’s all very well to SAY that sales should be focused on developing deep customer relationships; it’s another thing to put the tools in place to ensure that it happens.
Sales is driven by their Compensation Plan, so we need to re-vector the plan to measure Relationship-Building Behaviors.
What does the measurement tool look like? I have had amazing success introducing what I call The Customer Report Card (CRC) as the vehicle to determine the extent to which Sales exhibited the behavior necessary to bond the customer to the company.
The CRC consists of not more than six relationship-building behaviors that you consider critical. The rating scale for each behavior is ‘A’ - Excellent (exceeds expectations); ‘B’ - Good (meets expectations) and ‘D’ - Poor, Unacceptable (falls below expectations). You can also include a Comments Section to get added information from the customer to explain their rating.
The Customer does the rating of the salesperson every month. Active engagement of the customer quite often sends the sales individual into therapy when they are suddenly confronted with the truth about their ability to get intimate with their Fans.
To get you started, here are twelve potential Relationship-Building Behaviors to consider in developing your CRC:
- listens actively to what I say; asks questions to clarify her understanding of what I have said;
- is genuinely interested in my problems and issues I am dealing with;
- always returns my calls or e-mails promptly;
- takes the time to get to know me personally;
- never breaks a promise made to me;
- talks to me in common language rather than using internal jargon;
- actively participates in helping to solve the problems in my organization;
- pro-actively send me unsolicited information on solutions that I should consider to my problems;
- says “I’m sorry” when he screws up;
- acts like my partner in business;
- takes ownership of me inside her organization. There is no question that she is my Champion inside her company;
- is a Service Recovery Addict. When his organization has made a Service blunder with me, he takes total responsibility for the matter and will stop at nothing to get the matter resolved FAST and to my satisfaction.
One other benefit of the CRC: the act of having your customer engaged will bring them closer to you. They will love you for asking them to be involved and they will tell others how HUMANE you are.
Give it a shot. You have everything to gain.
Cheers,
Roy
January 23, 2011
Investment Advisors Speak Out About The ONLY
Leadership remarks are telling. Mike Nott launched the morning with this remark…. “I think this is a real launching pad to lift off from…and as mentioned, the “Status Quo” is no longer acceptable, Best of Class is the new “minimum” and Being Different…IS possible!”
WOW! Now there is a leader who understands the need to BE DiFFERENT. Love it.
As you know, I am ‘over the top’ when it comes to executing on what you learn. Understanding something is nice, but is unproductive unless it degenerates into Action.
To this end, Mike asked for this feedback from everyone… What one or two things will you ‘DO’ differently going forward?
- “Approach every client meeting with my ONLY Statement at the top of my mind.”
- “Focus, focus, focus on three things each day, week, month.”
- “I will have an Only Statement. I will no longer second guess the ‘odd’ things that I do which clients appreciate.”
- “To be more open with my existing clients about the value package that I provide to them. I will be pro-active in asking them questions about how they feel about their experience with me as their advisor. I will ask them if there is anything that I could do differently to improve the level of service to them.”
- “I am going to plan more ‘on the run’. I tend to be very analytical with a strong focus on downside risk, therefore I sometimes do not execute on marketing or sales strategies that could work for me. It is time to just execute, stumble, adjust, and execute again!!”
- “Really heighten my front of mind effort to cultivate, create, support and express appreciation to SNEEZERS.”
- “Actively pursue my goals. Set goals in months, rather than years. Brainstorm ways of being unique. Cut the Crap and encourage sneezing!”
- “I will take more actions and try to create the “Ultimate Investment Experience” for the clients.”
- “I’ll LISTEN even more intently for the secrets of my top clients, to hear what they truly covet. THIS is what I’ll help them attain.”
- “I will talk to my clients more about their personal lives and I will put presentations together more quickly and not worry about being too complete....that has kept me from making any presentations in the past year.”
- “I am going to road test my ONLY Statement with both clients and prospects over the next week. “I am the only advisor who will help you make sense of your money”.
- “I do the hiring of lawyers at our firm - and while I think the people we have hired by and large are very much ‘people lovers’ rather than ‘people haters’, I think Roy made an excellent point on this and I think in the future the question as to whether a candidate is a people lover or people hater will be front and center.”
- “I see the need to try to separate myself from the herd and avoid ‘undifferentiation’.
- “Ensure all seminar material, new client processes and financial plan has my Only Statement as inspiration.”
- The most currently relevent point for me that Roy mentioned was regarding procrastination… I think more “action” is in order. I think planning in months is a great idea.”
- “Focus more on my top clients by creating barriers for them to leave - Barriers to Client Exit.”.
- “We just launched a new CRM system. I will be diligent in reviewing the system to ensure that we have captured sufficient information (secrets) on our top clients to be able to provide relevant and dazzling Value Paks.”
- “I’m going to create an experience for all of my clients/prospects that will leave a loyal lasting relationship. I will be a Financial Advisor that will look past the finances.”
- “I have already noticed a difference in the way that I am focusing on my “onlyness” with clients.”
My takeaway: BE DiFFERENT ideas and concepts resonated with these folks. And I think they will take action. That’s all I can ask. That’s all I can hope for.
Cheers,
Roy
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