Be Different or be dead

December 26, 2011

The reason why you’re imperfect and should be happy to be flawed

Source: Unsplash

The reason why you’re imperfect and should be happy to be flawed.

The world has pressured us to be perfect.

School teaches us to follow rote and colour inside the lines. Fashion tells us to dress a certain way if you want to fit in.

Most of us walk away with the feeling that we’re flawed in some way since we find it difficult meeting the acceptable norms of the day.

The reality is, however, that no one is flawed.

Rather they are unique.

Different.

Special.

Distinctive.

Visible.

Uncommon... in some way.

Flawed in someone else’s context or frame of reference perhaps, but incredible in others.

Find your frame

Your challenge is to find a frame that allows you to express yourself.

To realize your potential.

To contribute.

To be happy.

To realize your dreams.

Your frame could be your social network. A skill. A competency. A hobby. A business. A belief. A physical challenge. A community. A profession. A neighbourhood. A family.

Channel your emotions and energy away from defending yourself in the wrong frame. Away from feeling bad that you’re not fitting in

Rather, discover a frame that is right for you. One that describes who you are.

Where you can standout.

Where you can make a difference.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.26.11 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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December 19, 2011

‘Putterers’ do these 7 simple things to be great leaders

Source: Unsplash

‘Putterers’ do these 7 simple things to be great leaders

Great leaders are are amazing putterers.

Leadership is about helping people. Making it easier for them to do their jobs. Bashing barriers so they can do what they want to do.

Remarkable leaders are also great putterers in terms of taking care of the basics for people.

What do putterers do?

▪️They pay attention to detail. Detail about what’s going on in their life. It’s about the “small picture” where things get done. Where people take individual actions to move the organization forward.

At the coal face. If a leader doesn’t know what’s going on where customer meets company, how can they help the people working there?

▪️They have an uncanny ability to remember stuff so they can take action later. Being able to remember what has been observed in the heat of the moment for future reference.

▪️They make the work environment comfortable for people. Clean. Tidy. Organized. A nice place to work. A Maslov factor I suppose.
A basic need that people have. If they are working in a pit, don’t expect them to deliver sterling results.

▪️They take action themselves based on what they observe. Putterers rarely delegate. They get on it. You can’t delegate small picture stuff that needs attention. No one other than you can deal with the situation as well because only you FEEL what needs to be done.
Furthermore, delegation of small picture issues sends the “I really don’t give a damn” message to all, and your currency with the troops takes a plunge.

▪️They are always on the move. Always looking for things to improve for people. Don’t forget The small picture has a high resolution and to be able to deal with issues requires a lot of movement on the Leader’s part. Keep your feet moving!

▪️They anticipate. Being able to apply what they’ve learned in other circumstances to a situation that is developing in front of them. And, as a result, either avoiding an unpleasant ending OR achieving something extraordinary.

▪️They smile a lot. Putterers love what they so. And it’s contagious. And it costs nothing. People around them catch the smile virus. It spreads. Imagine a workplace where everyone is smiling!

How many putter acts do you practice everyday?

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.19.11 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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December 15, 2011

4 easy ways to know if you have a great customer relationship

Source: Pexels

4 easy ways to know if you have a great customer relationship.

Building deep trusted relationships with business clients is critical to the long term success of your organization.

But how do you know if you are making any progress?

Here are 4 clues to tell you if you are on the right track or not.

1. You are always invited to your customers’s strategic planning meetings

They value your opinions on the issues facing their organization.
They know that you know their business. They trust your intentions. They honor your strategic skills and experience. They view you as a friendly ‘expert from afar’.
You are a valuable member of their direction-setting team.

2. You have ‘an office’ on their premises

A close presence exists between you and the client. It may be a physical presence where you actually have an office on the client’s premise or it could be a virtual presence where you are listed as one of their team members.

They want you accessible. Close at hand. To bounce ideas off. Test some ideas. The ultimate expression of trust and value is real estate owned by the customer; given to you.

3. Your customer never issues a Request for Proposal when they need a solution

Why bother? They have so much trust and faith in you that going out to get others to submit a bid on what they want is seen as a waste of time.
When your customer needs something, you are already on it.

There is no need to involve other suppliers. You take action. You deal with it seamlessly.

4. You are never referred to as a salesperson by the client

Your currency in their organization places you among their leadership team.
Labels are meaningless.
You are their trusted colleague. Their partner. Their friend.

It’s one thing to say that your objective is to develop deep relationships with your clients; it’s quite another to achieve it.

Observe how the client treats you and it will tell the whole story of the relationship.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.15.11 at 10:06 am by Roy Osing
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December 6, 2011

3 simple ways to make it incredibly easy to serve your customers

Source: Pexels

3 simple ways to make it incredibly easy to serve your customers.

Most organizations are on the hunt to exceed customer expectations and provide remarkable customer service.

If you had the energy and capacity to do only one thing to advance toward this goal it would be…

“MAKE IT EASY FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS TO ENGAGE WITH YOU”.

Sounds reasonable and straightforward doesn’t it?

The problem is it doesn’t always happen. Organizations often put their customers through hoops and inconvenience when they try and serve them.

— Ever stood in a lineup for 40 minutes before being served?
— Waited 60 minutes on the phone before a call center rep answered your call?
— Tried to navigate through a voice response system to get to the right person to talk to?
— Had to repeat your story to 4 different people after being transferred among several departments?

We’ve all been there.

When these things happen, it is impossible for any business to claim they care about wanting to serve us well, let alone exceed our expectations.

What is the root cause for this dysfunction? It boils down to operations planning — systems and processes.

And it’s also about trying to control costs.

The organization designs it’s operations to suit itself in a cost efficient way rather than serve the customer in an easy way.

Cost efficient systems and processes drive what the customer transaction looks like.

If you really want to take a giant step to BE EaSY follow these steps:

1. Involve the customer in process design

Ask a panel of your fans if the process is easy. Customer-driven re-engineering rather than having internal process management experts lead the way, would produce huge benefits.

Also as a major side benefit, your customers will appreciate that you invited them in to help you. They will tell others of your openness and willingness to let go of some control.

2. Simplify your business processes

Eliminate steps. Reduce the amount of work performed in each step. Minimize the number of times the customer is required to do something. Take the burden off the customer and place it on your organization.

3. Never pass a customer around

This is probably the greatest annoyance to any customer.

“Sorry, but this isn’t my area; I will transfer you to sales and they will help you.” NO! The employee with the customer should stay with the customer until they are satisfied. They should own the issue and work it through to a satisfactory ending for the customer.

4. Say ‘yes’

Create a service culture to ’say yes’ to customers. Do whatever you can to satisfy their needs and wants. Don’t let your internal rules and policies get in the way. Bend them or break them if they are preventing you from saying ‘yes’ to your most precious assets.

These steps won’t make you perfect overnight but they will put you on the right path.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 12.6.11 at 07:42 am by Roy Osing
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