The Right Way Works! - jeff korhan

Is Done Better Than Perfect? - You Decide

A friend of mine is well-known in our industry for saying that 'done is better than perfect.'  He recognizes that there are perfectionists out there --- moi?!!  - that get so caught up in doing things right that they don't get things done at all. 

Regardless, I still applaud Starbucks recent ads, no doubt inspired by founder Howard Schultz stepping in to resurrect the brand he created - which of late has been tarnished by a series of missteps that have eroded the culture that made for such an exceptional - dare I say - PERFECT experience during the chains formative years.  The new slogan is simply...."Make it perfect, please."  No apologies.  If it isn't to your satisfaction, it will be.  All you have to do is ask.

In a world where quality has become a punchline, I am encouraged by Starbucks attention to getting back on track - to...well, as my friend Mark had implied...to just get it done.  Done doesn't have to be perfect, but these days, getting it done usually suggests getting it done right.  Why?  We have the resources in front of us.  All we have to do is discern, discriminate, and decide!

I Hear You AT&T, and I Like It!

AT&T recently announced their 4th quarter earnings are up 62%.  I'm not surprised because my recent experience with them was quite favorable.  I'm impressed with the new AT&T.  They've shown me they care! Best of all, AT&T seems to understand that customers do indeed take into account the OVERALL experience of working with a company. 

I was restructuring our land-line service and the representative went out of his way to show me ways to save money and simplify our package.  When I didn't opt-in to the recommended package, he still continued to work with me to accommodate my needs so that when the time comes and we're ready, we'll make the right changes for us.  It was all about me, the customer - and we all know that when we work to understand the needs of our customers we will serve them better - and retain them.   Simple, isn't it?  That's how to increase your sales - which is always good business.

So, I ask you, do you think its too late to change your sales and marketing  approach to rebuild your reputation in the marketplace?  Think again.  If mega-corporations like AT&T can pull it off with a simple, customer-centric approach, then it can also work for your business and mine.  I wish I could say I had a similar experience with my cellular service.  They don't seem to get it, but maybe they will when competitors step in and take a better approach.  Maybe that competitor will be AT@T.

Values - Start Here and The Rest is Easy

Yesterday I had the pleasure of playing golf with Ken Blanchard and several members of his team from The Ken Blanchard Companies right here in Naperville at The White Eagle Golf Club.  In addition to being a great storyteller and an all-around good guy, Ken is also a darn good golfer.  He certainly humbled some of us youngsters!  I don't believe I've seen many players hit the ball straight down the middle - time after time - with such apparent ease.  I guess that's just his style; because he engages with people in the same way.

After dinner, Ken shared some thoughts on leadership, business, and relationships.  Here's the one comment that struck a chord with me -  "Why would you want to let someone in your company that doesn't share your value system?"  I shared this with a couple folks from my staff at Treemendous® today, as we've been enjoying some recent successes and obviously are being prudent in assessing the nature of that success.  How did we get here.  I really believe it is because we are learning more about each other and discovering we share similar values, which enables us to spend more time focusing on the technical stuff that needs to get done to take care of our customers and make a profit.

What's interesting is what works is not new - just good common sense principles that we sometimes forget in our search for business growth.   It's funny that just about a year after grad school when I joined the workforce there was new "must read" on the market called The One Minute Manager.  It's 25 years later and the principles still apply.  In a time when we seem to be moving to a higher level to find the secrets of life and business, we have to remind ourselves that the values that sustain us are the starting point - and presumably end point - in all of our endeavors. 

Customer Service - It's the Heart of Your Business

After speaking this past weekend at the Summer Symposium of The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), I've been contemplating the fact that great customer service is nothing more than consistently performing  to the expectations of your clients.  Too often we stop doing what works to try the latest idea.  Companies need new ideas to grow, but not at the expense of what helped them develop their unique position in their marketplace.  As simple as it may seem, one of the greatest challenges in business is to perform consistently - every day - without exception.  It's a nice goal to consider.  Maybe this goal with a backup plan or two could enable you to transform your industry -- ? 

Leaders from green industry companies across the U.S. shared some of their secrets during our 90 minutes together - my favorite?  -- "its the little things that make a big difference."  There is no magic bullet.  A complimentary rose bush is remembered for as long as it continues to flourish - its fragrance and color reminding the client of a favorable experience.  Too often we try to be bigger and better, when all we need to be is different.  In our society of constant change, different is a little extra at the right time - combined with consistent service - friendly, cheerful, caring, appreciative....you name the descriptor, because it only matters to you and your customer.  Only you know why your customers favor you over your competitors.  Maybe they just like you better - and there is nothing at all difficult about being likable if you truly love your work and the people you serve.  I doubt customer service is secondary to you, or you wouldn't have read through this far.  No, I suspect customer service is the heart of your business. Its that one thing that means something to you and your customer - that thing that connects you and your customer in a way that changes both of you -- forever.  Great customer service is the right way to do business - which is why it works!

Blindfolded Cliff Diver Service - It Hurts!

I've heard it said that great customer service is sometimes invisible - you don't even notice it.  While this is occasionally true, it's not always the case.  For example, why do you go to your favorite restaurant?  It's probably because you like it.  Duh?  Well, why do you like it so well?  You know what to expect. 

Now, what happens when you go to a restaurant for the first time - maybe one where you have heard good reports from friends.  You have expectations, but they may not be clear.  So, what happens first?  The waiter or waitress approaches and there is a conversation?  But is it a meaningful one?   It's up to you as the customer to let those serving you know what you want.  Conversely, it's up to you as the service professional to clearly determine what the success criteria are.   If you are serving your customers and just guessing about their needs, then you deserve those issues that inevitably arise.

Serving your customers is a challenge predominantly because you are not clear about how to please them.  Let's face it, some customers play a game where they want you to figure it out - offering only fragments of information and then complaining when they don't get what they want.  In my business I've always found it's best to keep asking until you are perfectly clear.  Here's my simple formula -- 1. Ask what your customer wants from you in a way that has them imagine the perfect project, the perfect transaction - IN THE FUTURE.  Then, all you have to do is deliver that future.  Yes, you have to get them to say it.  Of course, this can be difficult because some folks really don't know what they want.  What can you do?  2. Keep asking!  3. If that doesn't work, give your professional opinion.  Whether they like it or not, it moves them one step closer to defining what they want so you can serve it up.   Would you dive off a cliff not knowing what's on the other side?  I thought so.  So stop practicing 'blindfolded cliff diver customer service.'  You know it's gonna hurt!

Right Way Selling

One of the most valuable tools in selling is knowing your customer.  When you engage with your customer on a regular basis, you learn their habits, mannerisms, and generally what they are like as a person.  Yesterday I gave a presentation to the Snow and Ice Management Association.  One of many excellent questions I was asked was how you know how to make the right response with a customer.  For an instant, I thought of Bill Murray - aka Carl Spackler in the film Caddyshack when he makes a decision to kill the gophers on the golf course - he says - "My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one"  --  Of course, it does help if we learn to think like our customers, but we certainly don't have to look like them! - which was one of the old school tricks.

In my corporate days, I was taught to 'mirror' your customer.  If he leans forward, so do you.  If he sits back, so do you.  It often became this hilarious game where I'm sure my customer was wondering what the heck I was doing.  Don't do this!  Sales isn't a game - unless you consider relationship a game.  That's manipulation.  People see through this because it becomes apparent that you aren't being yourself.  Today, we are surrounded by reality television.  What's that telling you?  That you need to be real!  You need to be open and honest with your customer.  To the best of your abilities, you need to always try to do the right thing - the right thing for your customer, for you, and for the company you represent.  There's nothing difficult about this.  All that's required is a preparation, full attention and awareness on the verbal and non-verbal communication used by the customer, and the natural response will likely follow.  If you don't make the right response, no problem, your customer will usually give you the opportunity to make it right -- if you have built up trust with them.

Sales is dealing with people on the most human level you know.  This is how most of us want to be sold - this is right way selling!

When Something's Not Right its Wrong

It occurred to me today that when you work on fixing what is not rightfully your responsibility, you are doing the wrong thing.  Why?  Because your time and talent and energy should be focused on doing the right thing.  It reminded me of the verse from Bob Dylan's You're Gonna Make Lonesome When You Go - "when something is not right its wrong!"

So what's wrong?  It's wrong, for example, to expect others to clean up your mess.   While we can't possibly finish the job, we baby boomers have a responsibility to leave this planet in a better condition than it appears to be presently heading.  It would be wrong to expect our children to fix what's already broken.  We have to do the right thing for them.

This brings me to the genesis of my thought.  Today a customer asked me to fix a condition that pre-existed my company's work on a project.  I used to do this - and at no charge.  Why not, I reasoned, I'm already there and it's not worth debating.  This all saved me from confronting the reality that I was cleaning up someone else's mess in the name of "customer service."  It was a convenient lie I fed myself.  Unfortunately, I've come to realize this isn't how the universe works.  It only creates a low state of consciousness. It's not the proper resolution, unless you're in the charity business, which I'm not.  And even charities work for a specific purpose or reason.

When you take on responsibilities that aren't rightfully yours, you feel compromised.  You owe it to yourself, your company, and your customer to do the right thing.  When we all do this, responsibility and accountability all fall into the right places and then the whole system is lifted up because now we are all working for the right reasons - we're all being true to ourselves and not feeling that low state of making the wrong choice.  Right choices are grounded in the right reasons - which is why they deliver the right results!

Grow Your Business The Right Way

A few nights ago I was sitting in my screened porch enjoying the scents and sounds of the evening rain storm.  When I wandered inside to the pantry for a snack, I was struck with how many products today are labeled 'organic' - from chips to raisins to even wine and more!  I wondered if organic really means something or if it's the latest 'flavor' that is being marketed to us consumers. 

When I think of organic I think of things that happen naturally - almost without effort.  Organic growth, whether in nature - or in business, such as internet search engine optimization (SEO) - implies that organic is a better way because it's more sustainable in the long term.  I'm an educated consumer, so I know, for example, that wild salmon is better than salmon raised in farms where cholorinated products are used to control the undesirable growth of pathogens.  For some reason wild salmon doesn't even cost more.  At least that has been my experience.  I do know that organic SEO is cheaper and more effective than pay per click.  Organic is really taking a natural approach.  I suppose natural has connotations that don't work as well in commerce today and we need a descriptor that does.  Enter Organic.

What we are really after is results.  If you want to get the right results, you can achieve them in many ways.  But if your approach is the right one - the natural way - then you are most likely in harmony with what sustains that result.  This applies in nature as well as commerce.  Interesting, isn't it?  This takes me right back to my rainstorm.  You can't replicate that.  Something is lost when we don't follow the right or natural path for obtaining desired results.  I'm suggesting that organic is more about "the way" and less about the product."  If you want to acheive the right results in your business - sustainable sales, service and customers -  you need to think about "growing" your business organically - which simply means doing the right things in the right way.  Your value system will give you clues to the right way - then you just have to 'grow from what you know.'

What Matters is What's Right

The Dalai Lama recently visited the Chicago area and suggested that we all let go of anger, hatred, and all of those things that don't matter.  I couldn't agree more.  Destructive emotions and the pursuit of things that don't matter get in the way of living in a way that works for us.  This morning I remembered his words and averted a melt-down while trying unsuccessfully to register online for a conference because the system wouldn't accept my user ID and password.  "Why can't they just keep things simple, I thought!"  Then I realized it didn't matter that I register today and I'll do it another day when I have more time. 

What does matter?  What matters is what's right.  This is important in life and in business.  If you aren't clear about your personal mission in life, how can you work congruently for the mission of your employer?  I am, of course,  presuming your company has a clear mission - you know, what they believe in and promise their customers.  If you don't give much thought to what matters to you, it's difficult for you to attract the right customers.  This is vital if you are going to "make that cash register ring."  The marketplace rewards clear purpose becauses customers align themselves with those companies and their people that will take them where they want to go - help them have what they want to have - and do what they want to do.

The right thing - what matters - is what's right for everyone involved in any transaction, whether that transaction is personal or commercial.  We engage and build relationships with people that understand us and share our views and beliefs with how things should be.  We can't expect to align ourselves with everyone, only those that share our views and beliefs about what's right.  Taking this concept a step further, the Dalai Lama also points out that all religions matter because "just as we all need different medicines to be healthy, we need different views."  It seems clear that what matters most is first what's right for you, then what's right for everyone you live and work with, including your customers.  We all know that when everything works it has to be right! 

Do Your Customers Know They Are Special?

How special are your customers to you? That’s exactly what they want to know. Recently I received a communication from the financial service I use to make my online investment trades. They explained that I am now an Apex™ customer and will be receiving a multitude of privileges.  I wondered why I have been gifted with this honor.  I’m not sure if I’m a high roller or not, but I do feel special – simply because I have told that I am special!

Do you have customers that you view as ideal? You know, the ones that use your services frequently, pay you easily and on time, refer you to others, and are simply a pleasure to work with. How do you attract more customers like them?  Start with this core group and recognize them.  Make sure your entire staff knows to treat them with white glove care – no questions asked. Then work to elevate others into that group. Soon the buzz will travel though your office. Now when an ideal prospect contacts your business, you can use this as a selling tool. “Mr. Johnson, what you seem to be looking for is our Apex™ service package."   Can you imagine Mr. Johnson's delight in finding a company that not only appreciates his business, but actually cares enough about customers like him to have set aside a special level of service - just for him? 

Now all you have to do is deliver. This can sometimes be challenging, especially if you are in a seasonal business like we are.  However, the key is your staff now clearly understands what to do because you’ve built a system that recognizes your desire to attract the ideal clients that will help to grow your business, enhance your marketplace identity, and reinforce what your brand is all about.