Leadership

There is no question that everyone in your company should know the importance of building deep, authentic customer connections. There's a delicate balance between messaging financials, metrics, dashboards, and the customer experience. If you're spending too much time on the business, and not enough time on the experience, danger may loom. My recommendation is to develop an "elevator speech" for everyone in the company to make sure they get it. To develop the speech, ask yourself the following questions: Where are we going?  Paint an inspiring vision that includes the ideal relationship with the customer. Write it from the customer’s point of view. What do you do that matters to them? Why are we going there?  It has to be [...]

We are all aware of the Robin Hood effect—taking from the rich and giving to the poor, but in business, let's be sure we are giving our best to the best. Typically in most businesses, 80% of the results are done by 20% of the people or customers. We call them the Top 20 Club. Where you have to be careful is not to spend too much of your time with the 80% of people who produce only 20%. As leaders we need to invest our time where we will receive the best ROI on our time. Invest your time by listening to your Top 20. How can you better serve them? What could you and/or the company do more of, less [...]

What I know to be true is, if we want better performance from our people, we must deliver feedback on their performance quickly, honestly, and consistently. The GOOD: psychologists tell us behaviors that are reinforced are often repeated. Positive reinforcement is like oxygen. I actually had a business leader tell me “Why should I reinforce a compliment to someone I am paying to get the job done?” You gotta be kidding? Actually, he was serious. He is “old school” I’m the boss, do what I say etc. He dismissed the advice as “too soft." He continued with the sentiment that only when his employees knock it out of the park does he compliment them. What a missed opportunity. His head was [...]