Fix, Offer, Change, Improve, Focus on What

I’m doing a program next week on “Embracing Change.” One of my slides asks: Fix What - Offer What - Change What - Improve What - Focus on What? For many companies defining the “WHAT” is a big problem. I have always believed EVERYTHING … decisions, products, services, policies and procedures revolve around the customer. Years ago, I made the statement, “The day we forget we are in business for the customer, is the day we start going out of business.” I believe that statement as strongly today as I did then.

The Importance of “What’s Next”

We have all had a lot of “Firsts” in our lives; our first step, first day of school, first kiss, first dance, first car and our first job. The list can go on and on with the things we have done for the first time. Some were really hard, some we thought were going to be hard but turned out a lot simpler than we feared and some just happened by accident … but we got through them all. Then we all have had some pretty neat “Lasts” in our lives as well: the last time you had to ask your parent’s permission, the last time you had a curfew on a date, the last time you had to study for a French, trigonometry, or chemistry final …or whatever courses you hated. Life is full of lots of great “First and Lasts”.

Rubbing-Off

A while back I had the opportunity to work for a company that, in my opinion, is doing it right. They understand the importance of teamwork, camaraderie, and creating a sense of pride for everyone working at their organization. One thing they are doing that is helping to create their “One For All” culture is having a mentoring program for every new employee. Now, some people would assume that the older, more experienced person is mentoring the younger, less experienced person; if that is what you are thinking, you are half right.

Chalk Up a "6"

Andrew Carnegie hired Charles M. Schwab to run US Steel in 1921 and paid him $1 million per year. That was $3,000 per day, when people who made $50 per week, were considered well off. He was not hired because he knew more about steel than anyone else. Carnegie hired him because he was a genius at dealing with people. There was a book written about Mr. Schwab back in 1912 entitled Succeeding with What You Have. I would like to pull a short excerpt from the book that gives a great example of how Mr. Schwab was able to motivate his people to accomplish more without threats, condemnation, fear, criticism, intimidation, or pressure.

Attention Getter

I recently did a program on How to GRAB the Attention of Clients and Prospects. Here are a few points from that talk. According to the top advertising agencies in the world you’ve got 3 seconds to grab their attention. You scroll through your… Emails, Facebook feed, Today’s news, Tweets, Pins, Ads, Pics, and Videos … drowning in a sea of soundbites and thumbnails and headline after headline, page after page of information and ideas, until… suddenly, YOU stop scrolling. WHY! You hit that headline, that image, that quote that really speaks to YOU. You’re drawn into this piece of content and before you know it, you've consumed an entire email, article, blog, or post.

Beware of Opinions

A while back I read an article about a person that I had recently met and worked with several months prior. This individual is at the top of his profession, and everyone wants to know “The Secret”, “The Magic”, or “The Formula” to his success. He is inundated with requests for interviews, but unfortunately, he has very little time for them. He relented to a request for a feature article that allowed the writer access to him over several weeks.