Five years ago I recorded this video. It was primarily for people in the retailing or online selling space, but the message is true no matter what space you’re in, and no matter what you’re selling. Customer experience is still at the heart of the matter.
Some thing never change. Namely, my philosophy that outstanding customer experience is the path to remark-ability! And it doesn’t matter what you’re selling.
Is it possible to create loyalty even when you haven’t sold anything?
Yes, absolutely. It can happen if you’re committed to being remarkable.
People talk about a “loyalty ladder” but I’ve always thought of it as a circle. It starts with a “suspect” (anybody who is breathing), moves to prospects (anybody who might be interested in what you’ve got to sell), then goes to shoppers (somebody who has a higher interest in what you’re selling), then a customer (those are prospects we’ve converted into buyers, but they’ve just bought from us once), then to clients (those are the folks who buy from us more than once) and ultimately ADVOCATES (the people who wouldn’t dare buy from anybody else, or recommend anybody else). We can create advocates from folks who don’t even buy from us though.
If you use a pen to do a crossword puzzle, you’re deliberate. Or stupid.
If you use ink to complete a crossword puzzle – you’re a deliberate person. How can you be a pen user instead of a pencil user…with a fat eraser handy?
Frequently I’m engaged in a conversation with people who are on a quest to make an improvement. Maybe they’re trying to elevate their sales or revenues. Maybe they’re working to upgrade the people on their team. Or maybe they’re trying to launch a brand new enterprise.
Invariably somebody will utter something – usually a cliche – about commitment to the goal. I’ll hear things like:
“We need to go all in on this project.”
“This is our primary objective. We’re committed to seeing it through.”
“We’re at the point of no return on this.”
People express this in a variety of ways. Here’s one of the more popular ways I hear it…
It’s time to burn the boats.”
Many people cite the incident in the 1500’s during the Spanish conquest of Mexico when Cortes gave the order to burn the boats in order to force his troops to conquer the land. I don’t even know if that really happened, but if you Google “burn the boats” it’s not the only example of it. And doesn’t it sound good? I mean, how much more deliberate do you want to be?
We value that level of commitment. We even romanticize it. But I don’t agree with it because it presupposes that you – or we, or anybody else – can be more deliberate if we’re desperate. For quite a few years I’ve given the following advice to clients…
“Don’t presuppose that you’re not able to chase it hard enough unless you’re desperate. Thoughtful intent can often beat desperate. Embrace thoughtful intent as you chase your goals.”
Being deliberate isn’t desperation. It’s not intention. It’s not just being thoughtful. It’s thoughtful intention. More technically correct, it’s action taken with thoughtful intention to move closer to the goal.
Too many people are chasing dreams. They hop from thing, to thing, to another thing. Mostly in their mind.
I suspect a few other people actually do something. They take some action. They don’t think much about it, confusing motion with action. It’s a common myth to think that because we’re moving, we’re taking meaningful action.
Then there are the people who think about it ’til the cows come home, then they take an action. But they’re so slow to act they don’t get much done. And their rate of speed is so slow there’s rarely any momentum.
And then there are the desperate. You’ve been desperate before. Burned boats foster desperation. It may not foster deliberate action though. Well, to be fair, it may not foster positive deliberate behavior. Thieves, murderers and other criminals often act out of desperation. And quite often they’re very deliberate, but only in committing more crimes.
That proverbial point of no return is a poor method for incorporating deliberate behavior into your life. Or more deliberate behavior.
There’s a scene in an old Al Pacino movie, And Justice For All…where Pacino’s character, an attorney, takes a helicopter ride with a judge, the pilot. Unbeknownst to the attorney, the judge likes to play a little game where he goes beyond the halfway point.
“We’re NOT alright, land!” That’s not just a great movie line, it’s wise advice. By the way, the judge crash lands the helicopter in shallow water just 90 feet from the landing pad.
Desperation can create panic. Not exactly the ideal inspiration for wise action. Or thoughtful intentions.
Deliberate action is best taken when we’ve considered our options and figured out our “next best step.” It’s what we do when we put a puzzle together, or work a cross word puzzle, or work a math problem. Truth is, it’s pretty much what we do no matter the problem we’re facing. Solutions are worked out because we’ve got a special skills as humans. We can run scenarios in our head. We can answer a problem with a hypothetical and theorize (quite often with great accuracy) how it MIGHT turn out. Then, based on those mental models we’ve run in our head, we can take deliberate action to do what we think is best.
We can avoid being stupid by avoiding putting ourselves, or letting ourselves, be put in desperate situations. Stupidity happens when we neglect to pre-think what we’re doing. Don’t believe me? Then you’ve never raised teenagers.
the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid”
My first blush take on the word deals with careers and organizations. Today’s video is based on using the word as it relates to interpersonal relationships at work.
The CEO was describing a person – a leader in his organization. “He’s got pixie dust,” said the CEO.
I inquired, “What does that mean?” Thinking I knew, I still wanted to hear this chief executive verbalize it. And he did.
“He just handles things more remarkably than anybody else on my team. It’s almost as if he’s clairvoyant.”
That’s pixie dust power and effective leaders have it. Poor leaders don’t. And it makes all the difference in the world in their work…and in their careers.
1. I’ve got to figure out how to serve clients without being face-to-face because it’s growing increasingly impractical and too expensive. How can I learn it and maybe more importantly, how can I transition clients to embrace it?
Let’s start with the last part, transitioning clients to a new way of interaction. I’m going to have be somewhat generic because I don’t know how your clients are wired or what their current expectations are. My first concern would be their demographic and technical abilities. For example, if you’re going to connect with them via Skype or Google Hangouts On Air or some other online video conferencing technology, your clients are going to have feel comfortable with that technology. Even though it’s easy for those of us who use it regularly, it can be like flying a spaceship for people who aren’t familiar with it. Additionally, do your clients have the technology. I’m assuming a two-way (perhaps more) interaction since you’ve said “face-to-face.” Delivering content to clients in a passive manner is easy enough as long as they’ve got computers that can access the Internet. But it can grow increasingly complicated if we’re now asking clients to get online and interact with us live.
You may also find it difficult to transition clients from a higher touch experience to one that’s lower touch. I’ve seen this with clients who spoiled clients with a level of responsiveness that simply is impractical or unsustainable. For example, some service professionals who don’t know how to properly manage their time, or client experience, can unexpectedly train clients to expect them to answer the phone directly every time they call. When these clients aren’t able to get “the boss” on the phone they feel slighted. Through the years they’ve grown accustomed to getting him on the phone anytime they want. It can be tough weening them off that expectation, but it’s important to devise a process that will better serve the clients and the business.
It depends on a few things I’d like you to consider: scope, scale, context and content. When I say scope I mean the breadth of it. That is, how broad is this in your business? Let’s use a software company as an example. An enterprise software company may have 100 clients. An end-user software company could have millions of users. Two very different scopes. When I say scale I mean the depth of it. That is, how deep is this in your business. The enterprise client may have a dozen critical users even though there are 100 clients. Now we’ve got 1200 potential individual people representing those 100 enterprise clients. The end-user software company is serving individuals so it’s a one-to-one ratio when we think of scope and scale. Still, it’s millions. Context is the level of interaction necessary. The enterprise software company needs to provide more hand holding than the end-user software company. It requires much higher interaction. Content is the actual information exchange needed in the interaction. For the enterprise software company it’s customized to suit each client. For the end-user software company it’s one-size-fits-all.
As you can see, these four factors help us establish the methodology. If you’re a customer of an end-user software company like Skype, or WordPress…then you realize you’re not going to get high touch interaction. There are millions of users and it’s impractical for us to be able to experience that with such software companies. Over the years, we’ve been trained to submit support tickets. That helps the company manage the customers and their own product better. We’re mostly satisfied with that unless the response times are too slow. Additionally, these kinds of companies have knowledge-bases that answer all the most frequently asked questions or address the most frequently encountered problems. For the enterprise software company with far fewer customers, and customers who are likely paying much larger sums of money, the expectation is different. A support ticket system may still be useful for both the company and the client, but what happens next is likely going to be very different. It may be a phone call. It may be a 15-minute guaranteed response time. And it may have a support fee attached. Again, the four factors impact the client’s expectation and the company’s business model to handle these things.
Many service professionals, such as coaches and consultants, do business virtually. I do. Again, I’d challenge you to incorporate the four factors and think of how they apply to what you’re doing. Technology is getting more widespread and usable. Things that were once rare are commonplace now. Skype for instance. It may be that you’ll have to teach and train your clients in the proper use of technology. I even know some who provide their clients with a webcam and USB microphone, plus training in how to use them. That way, they’re insured of a good experience for their purposes and for the client.
The bottom line is you must do what’s in the best interest of serving your clients so your business can be sustainable. Face-to-face interactions are sometimes necessary, but many times a virtual session is just as good. Here in DFW I could easily spend an hour in traffic. Additionally, face-to-face time is more costly for a client. When it’s needed, I can make it available, but at a premium price warranted by the high touch nature of it. Or, I can conduct a virtual session for a much lower price because I don’t have to factor in the wasted time required when face-to-face sessions are in play. I’d suggest thinking about making both offers, but put a premium on the highest touch offer so when people do select it…you’re happy to say, “Yes.” What I see too much of are businesses that will make that offer, then bemoan the fact that clients select it. Resentment toward clients is a bad habit afflicting too many business owners. Avoid that by putting pricing in place that makes you happy when clients select it. If you can’t do that, then don’t make the offer. As with all of these things an honest, upfront sales story should be crafted so clients know exactly what you’re doing and why. Tell the truth and I’m betting you’ll be able to transition clients to your new process. Expect to have a few clients who may be more difficult. That’s okay, just do enough hand holding with them to get them to better understand how this is going to benefit them by keeping costs down and giving them improved service.
2. I’ve heard you talk about the “Knowing-Doing Gap” so I read the book. Thanks for talking about it. My question is about how I can make sure people are doing what they know. Sometimes we have people failing to perform as well as we’d expect, but sometimes it’s as though they honestly don’t get it. We want to hold people accountable, but we also want to make sure we’re fair.
Willingness is a big factor in accountability. The simplest way to approach this is to make sure that every employee has proven they “get it” and they can properly perform. [coaching kids in hockey story]
Training, training, training. Don’t overlook the “show me” step. It’s a frequent trap employers get into. They simply assume employees know what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Until the employee has proven they know, assume they still need training.
If a person can’t show you, after sufficient training, then you either have a competence issue or a willingness issue. Either way, the employee has to go. You need people who can and will do what’s needed.
The minute a person shows you they can do the work, expect it to be done properly every time. If they fail, you should assume that you’ve now got an issue of willingness. They’re just unwilling – for some reason – to do what they know they must.
Address that directly and quickly. Follow the HR guidelines of your company and make sure you’re obeying all the appropriate laws governing proper employee discipline. Put it in writing and be clear. Provide additional time and support to help the employee get back to a place of willingness. Sometimes it’ll succeed. Sometimes it won’t. The employee must be in a position to control his own destiny. Do the work properly, keep your job. Don’t, and lose your job.
Don’t be a coward and hope things will improve on their own. They won’t. Besides, it’s unfair to the rest of team who is performing.
3. Podcasting seems to be going crazy. I’m a longtime listener, but have never really considered using podcasting in my business. I’m an attorney focused mainly on helping fathers who want to be part of their children’s lives post divorce. How would I be able to use podcasting in my practice?
Content marketing gurus will urge you answer the questions your clients are asking. A few years ago that would have been good advice, but today there are millions of businesses attempting to do the exact same thing. You need to do something different. I’m a big believer in zig zag — that is, if everybody is zigging, you need to zag. Now that doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel. It just means you’ve got to do something to set yourself apart.
If you’re a person comfortable speaking in front of people and if you’ve got a conversational style of communication with your clients I say give it a go at podcasting. But many attorneys are so steeped in the language of the law, which is what law school has properly taught them, they find it hard to talk like a regular person. If you’re not able to talk like a regular person I’d encourage you to avoid podcasting. Ask your non-attorney friends for feedback.
Assuming you want to move forward – and I’m not going to discourage you, even if you love attorney-speak. Practice can help. And it will help provided you stay with it and devote yourself to learning.
Let me just give you some ideas about content. Address the fears and concerns of potential clients. I’d assume a dad you serve has a lot of trepidation. Do a series of podcasts talking about that. Talk about how you work, and what the client can expect in that first meeting. I’d imagine most of these men have never had to go through this process before. Help guide them, through the podcast, in how you work. Hearing your voice in a friendly, conversational tone can help you stand out from other attorneys doing exactly what you’re doing…but prospects have no way to getting a sense of who they are because they don’t have a podcast.
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Focus is a constant activity necessary for clarity.
Skilled photographers prefer manual focus over auto-focus. It’s because they trust their eyes more than they trust a microchip. It’s also because they have better control over the quality of the picture, or the outcome.
The thing about focus is that it changes with even the slightest movement. Move one inch in any direction and the focus needs to be adjusted. You’ve got to be constantly monitoring things with your eyes. It demands careful attention.
Focus isn’t merely an art for photographers. Or creatives. Or business people. We all need it.
The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done. It is not a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.
Notice the ones getting most of the focus
It’s about focusing on the things that really matter. It’s like this photograph of a pile of screws. The focus is primarily on just a few screws in the pile. They’re in clear focus. The others are out of focus. Some are more out of focus than others. That’s the price paid for focusing on just a few.
I’m sitting with an executive the other day and repeating advice that I distilled years ago when I found myself with an organization confused about the priorities. If employees had been asked, “What’s important?” they’d have answered, “Everything.” We think that may be the correct answer, but it’s not. It’s terribly wrong. And impossible.
If Everything Is Important, Then Nothing Is Important
If there are two pieces of wisdom I have sought to pass onto others this is right at the top. The other one is, “The quality of our questions determines the quality of our work.” Admittedly, that last one presupposes that we’re not just asking the questions, but we’re answering them. And with equal or superior quality. But today it’s about focus and figuring out what really matters. That second piece of wisdom enters into it because I don’t know how we can do that without asking questions. Tough questions.
When I consult or coach an executive or business owner I often find myself asking them, “Which of the 5 W’s and 1 H best describe your organization?”
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
I’ll ask them to just pick one. Usually, they quickly make their selection. I’m prone to only ask this question once I feel I’ve gained enough insight to think I know the answer.
The answer is important. If the leader sees things for how they really are, then the answer in my head usually matches the one they give. If the leader is trying to give the “right” answer and not being fully honest, then it shows. Either way, I gain some insight that may be useful in our work moving forward. I’d say mostly I hear the truth. Most leaders that I work with are honest, truthful and not deluded. It’s why they’ve engaged me. I don’t find deluded leaders often reaching out for any assistance. So I doubt my sampling is very scientific, but even so it’s helpful when we’re working on focus issues.
Organizations tend to concentrate more on one of these one word questions than the others. Top leadership determines which is most important. And they can change over time, but mostly I think a culture gravitates to whatever the CEO or top leader pushes hardest. In spite of all the talk about “anybody can be a leader” I’ve not found it to be the case in a practical matter when it comes to an organization’s culture. Not all leaders are created equally. The person at the top has far more to do with organizational focus than anybody else.
However, there is a practical daily routine that each of us can lead. To a point. It’s answered by the question, “What are going to work on today? Right now?”
The senior vice-president may answer with some things the CEO has mandated. The COO may answer with some things the board has mandated. The shift supervisor may answer with some things the plant manager has ordained. So it goes. We all answer to somebody. Even the CEO/founder of a privately held company must answer to financial partners, suppliers and others. None of us are in full command of our agenda or focus.
But let’s drive this down to where we all live and see if we can’t learn some things, or at the very least, get the wheels turning so we can elevate our own performance (and hopefully the people around us).
The One-Word Question That Trumps All The Others
I confess that I’m naturally wired to ask one question more than all the rest, “Why?” The reason or outcome of a thing has always been my natural focus. Not everybody sees the world that way and I’ve learned to appreciate that. It wasn’t easy, but I worked at it.
In my mind the “Why?” connects quite easily to helping answer the others. For example, I enter a company steeped in paperwork forms. As I assemble the stack of these I’m asking, “Why?” all along the way. An explanation is given on some. For others, nobody remembers why that form was created in the beginning, but it’s been in use for so long everybody assumed somebody needed it. Turns out there’s a lot of crossover work being done, meaning there’s a ridiculous amount of redundancy in the work. Rather than capturing information once, in some centralized location, the company is making multiple people gather the same information at multiple points along the way. The why answers the who, what, when, where and how. Who is gathering this information? Who benefits from this information? What are we doing with this information? When is this information being gathered and when is it being put to use? Where in the process are we gathering this and where does this information end up? How is this useful?
So while I admit my own inclination toward, “Why?” that’s not why I suggest it trumps all others when we’re talking about focus…I think it trumps the others because more than any of the others, it direct connects all of the others. It’s the reason for things. And isn’t that what focus is about. Isn’t that the reason for the lens being focused on just a few screws in that photograph instead of being focused on all of them? The photographer seemed to be focusing on the rusty screw and the head of the top screw. By doing that, a couple of other screws got some focus, too. But the others just didn’t matter as much. We see them. We know they’re screws. They’re just not as important as the ones getting most of the focus. Just a few screws were the reason for the focus.
What’s your reason? Simon Sinek wrote the book, Start With Why. Simon is a lot smarter than me so I’m happy to know somebody who confirms what I’ve long practiced.
Why is focus so hard? I guess there are millions of reasons but today I’m focused (see what I did there?) on one, distraction. Distraction isn’t merely the kind you think about when you consider texting while driving (watch this video and urge your kids to watch it, too). Distraction happens when we try to do too many things at one time because they’re all important. Again, if everything is important then nothing is important. That is, if we’re focused on everything and everything is vying for equal attention, then we’re going to end up disjointed and focused on nothing.
Career Application
No matter what your career path, focus is important, if not urgent. We all need to be able to answer the one-word question about our own career. What one-word question best describes your career and your approach to your career?
Much of my work involves helping executives learn who they serve. Particularly lower level executives who wear titles like “deputy” or “vice” or “assistant.” Often these people are in the trenches, albeit at a higher level. They’re more involved in the daily grind than their bosses. As a result they can tend to view things from a much lower altitude, and they must. But as they’re flying close to the ground they’re often unable to appreciate the higher view held by their boss and sometimes they can resent things they don’t clearly see. It’s just one reason some lower level executives struggle with second guessing their bosses instructions, or why they may find it difficult to salute the mandates they get from their boss.
It’s all about knowing who your number one customer is. Answer: It’s always your boss.
Sometimes the biggest career benefit I can give somebody is helping them better understand the value proposition of their career. Provide value for your boss and you’ll benefit. Provide higher value for your boss and you’ll greatly benefit. I see it everywhere I go. The person who can properly read and correctly anticipate the needs of their boss is the superstar. The person who can’t or won’t do those things is a burden and will soon be displaced. I can’t offer many guarantees, but I’ve seen this one play out many time through the years. I guarantee it.
It’s hard to focus on the needs or wants of your boss when you don’t agree though. That’s where you have to decide what you want to do, and what you can do. If you can’t do it where you are, then my best advice is to get somewhere working for somebody where you can. Because things will eventually disintegrate if you keep resenting the mandates from above.
Focus on yourself by focusing on your number one customer, your boss. It’s a concentration will demand you avoid the distractions of the office gossip parties and all the other noise that happens as organizations second guess the boss.
Business Application
In a recent episode of CNBC’s The Profit, Marcus Lemonis walked into a beauty salon and found all manner of merchandise. There were hair care products, knick knacks, jewelry and even apparel for sale in the first few feet of the store. He told the owner of his confusion when he first walked in. As is often the case on that show, Marcus hones in on the focus of the business. Turns out this salon owner had her own line of hair care products. The margins on those were in excess of 70% while all that other stuff had a margin, at best, of about 30%. From a business perspective it was a no-brainer. Devote more space to your own products, which are congruent with the salon business, and get rid of the rest. That speaks to how many people are distracted though. And the phrase leaps to my mind, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” So does texting while we’re driving, but it’s dangerous.
Once again, I’m drawn to ask, “Why?” Marcus asks the salon owner that question. She didn’t have a good answer. It’s likely that somebody suggested, or came by selling their wares, and she made an emotional decision without thinking it through. Now here’s Marcus walking into her struggling business and it’s apparent to the most novice business among us. But she can’t see it because like all those forms I talked about, it’s been this way for so long she long ago forget why she did it.
Lack of focus in business – or any organization – happens when we get up today and repeat what we did yesterday. And we know tomorrow won’t be much different. We’re just pushing to keep our feet moving. But in what direction? Movement doesn’t equal meaningful, or positive action. Hamsters move quickly on a wheel, but they’re going nowhere. That’s exactly where some of our businesses and organizations are going, too.
Right Now Is The Time
Whether it’s your personal life, your career or your business…now is the time to focus. Or re-focus. When the slightest movement can put a camera out of focus what makes us think that all the movement happening in our lives won’t do the same for us? This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it kind of a thing. And our lives don’t have an autofocus setting. We’ve got to keep our hand on the focus ring of our own lives and make sure we’re concentrating on the things that matter most.
Like that picture of the screws, we don’t have to focus on just one, but we can’t focus on everything either. Focus on your family. Focus on your career. Focus on your friends. There’s 3…and maybe your three look very differently. Mine are pretty simple to state, but crazy hard to remain true to with the intensity they deserve: faith, family and career. Like my favorite one-word question, “Why?” it’s likely because for me all 3 are so closely intertwined. I find that a loss of focus on one can quickly lead to a loss of focus on the others, too.
