In a down market, most CEO’s focus on the impact to themselves and their business. As detailed in this article I tweeted this morning, Starbuck’s CEO focus is on what really matters instead..
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
There was a time when Sears was considered America’s greatest retailer. Sadly, that time has long since passed and today the company is in state of serious distress and, short of a complete overhaul, inevitable collapse.
As I wrote about Radio Shack’s failing back in December, it would be easy to point blame on the changing retail landscape but there are just too many retailers doing well (in the same conditions) to justify that case.
From my standpoint, and countless thousands of disgruntled past customers, the problem is painfully clear; Sears has long lost its customer focus and anything resembling a customer service culture.
According to Consumer Affairs, an astonishing 86 percent of customers are unsatisfied with Sears’ customer service. That puts them at the bottom of the rankings under their primary competitors Macy’s, JC Penny, and Kohl’s.
Here’s the Consumer Affairs link to over 1250 bad reviews of Sears Customer Service
Here’s a couple of my recent personal (painful) customer experiences:
How To Lose Friends and Alienate Customers
Incident 1:
On a recent business trip to Indiana, I ripped the seam on my garment bag while attempting to unzip it in my hotel room. Although the timing was terrible for this wardrobe holder malfunction, that bag serviced me well over several years and many thousands of miles of travel. Normally, I would have just ordered a new one on Amazon.com and waited the 2 days for my trusty Prime membership delivery. But, being on the road, and faced with a bag that would no longer close properly, I decided to stop in the Sears in Terra Haute the night before my departure to secure a new one.
The first thing I noticed was how empty the place was. Only a handful of cars out front and only a few people noticeable on my walk through the store to the small luggage section. As I perused the bags for the 8 minutes or so, not one employee was seen but I could hear what sounded like two girls laughing not too far away.
The only customers I could see were in the mattress section directly next to mine, a middle-aged woman pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair. About 2 minutes after I arrived, the woman asked me “Do you work here?” When I advised I was “just a shopper” she apologized and said, “I can’t find any employees”. A few minutes later I heard her call out to a quickly passing by employee, “Excuse me… do you work here?” The employee, who looked like he was being verbally assaulted, replied “Yes, but I’m leaving now.” “We’ve already been here 15 minutes”, the woman interjected”. “I’ll call someone to help you” he replied, barely breaking stride as he rushed away (I assume for his vehicle). Several more minutes passed and, when nothing materialized, the woman sat on one of the mattresses holding the arm of the wheelchair… “this is crazy Ma, nobody will help us… GUESS THEY DON’T WANT OUR BUSINESS” she just about shouted in a very frustrated tone as she wheeled out of sight. Another one bites the dust.
When I located a suitable garment bag, I made my way towards laughing sounds just around the bend not 15 feet away from where I and the mattress shoppers were. There I found two twenty-something female employees behind a cash register, one standing the other sitting, both on their phones enjoying something far more interesting (to them) then their job.
It was painfully evident that they could care less about any shopper’s experience as the one standing appeared visibly annoyed with the recess interruption as I approached to help fund their paychecks.
Incident 2:
As a customer service/customer experience consultant, I am always on the look-out for how businesses and their employees perform in these areas. This is especially important when it comes to managing problems because, as I wrote about here, the true test of a business’s customer service fitness is not when things are going right – but rather what is done when things go wrong.
With that in mind, here’s the unedited message I sent to Sears customer service last week:
I’m writing to let you know about the terrible experience and utter disappointment we have had with the Kenmore dishwasher we purchased at Sears nearly 2 years ago.
The dishwasher never performed as advertised when brand new and internal (plastic) parts broke within months of ownership. I tried to comment on my disappointment back then, but my review was considered “too negative” and was never posted.
The situation only worsened afterwards…
We have had a professional appliance repairman in twice to replace broken parts and the top rack still hangs down to the point of hitting stacked plates on the bottom preventing proper washing.
Even after pre-rinsing only 50% of the dishes are ever clean and we’re constantly re-washing everything. Despite using several recommended products, the washing liquid never dispenses properly and the entire inside door is a constant mess of soap gunk.
I’m happy to send pics of the inside of the unit along with our should be clean dishes.
In a nutshell, this is not only the worse dishwasher we’ve ever had but the worst appliance of any kind.
As we’ve given up investing any more money into this machine and must replace, I’m wondering how Sears will respond to this situation and, at this time, a Very Unhappy Customer?
Steve
The next day I received this reply:
Dear Steve Ferrante,
Thank you for contacting Sears. I am sorry to hear that your Dishwasher is not cleaning the dishes completely. After reviewing your account, I have scheduled a service for your Dishwasher on 08/14/15 between 1 PM to 5 PM. The technician will call prior to his arrival.
We value your relationship with Sears. Please feel free to contact us back if you have any further questions through email or calling the below provided number.
Sincerely,
Oggy D.
Realizing the dishwasher was now out of warranty, I must admit at this point I was surprised and impressed that not only did Oggy express proper empathy, but he also took action and, on behalf of Sears, scheduled a service technician to come out and ‘take care’ of the customer (me).
Seeing as this not-scheduled-with-me service was now scheduled for that afternoon, I replied:
Oggy,
Appreciate the scheduling of a technician to assess/service dishwasher but today is not ideal… can we move to Monday afternoon?
Nothing. No reply. Oggy over and out evidently.
At approximately 3PM, I received a call from the Sears tech who told me he was a half hour away. Apparently unaware of my earlier request to reschedule, I let him know I would be there to meet him.
When the tech arrived, he dug right in to the machine, taking the top rack out… pulling the bottom drain thingy out… spinning the lower spray arm. It sure looked like progress! Then he commented on how the plastic pieces that hold the top rack up were broken and needed to be replaced. Being well aware of this I inquired, “what exactly did Sears tell you?” “What do you mean?” he responded with a bewildered expression on his face. I let him know that I didn’t request service and that his visit was something Sears scheduled, not me, and that I assumed this was a courtesy call.
The tech was quick to tell me that he wasn’t aware of any of that, I would “have to pay for it”, and that even if I didn’t want the machine fixed there would still be a $75 fee for the visit.
Isn’t that special?
So, I grabbed my iPad and pulled up the email I originally sent to Sears and reviewed with him. I pointed out the “I’m done investing into this machine” part and asked him what he thought. He admitted to being perplexed as to why he was sent but that, as far as he was concerned, this was just another service call.
It really wasn’t the serviceman’s fault, so I called Sears Customer Service and attempted to get Oggy on the line. No can do said the representative, but she could help me. I explained the situation and let her know that I was now standing next to the technician who expects to be paid for a service call I did not ask for or, at this point, want.
She let me know that they don’t schedule courtesy service calls and I would indeed need to pay for the visit. I asked if she had access to my original email and she replied they do not have access to email (evidently still telegraphing in her department). I politely asked to speak with her manager. She let me know that she had “manager responsibilities'” and there was no one else there that could help me. I asked for her name. Maria said she could not provide her full name, instead offering me a 7-digit ID number. I asked if the call was being recorded and, if so, how I could obtain a copy. Maria at first denied then admitted the call may be recorded but there was “no way” I could receive.
Ultimately, Sears turned my request for feedback into a sales call and stuck me with the bill. Adding insult to injury, their customer service representative, in a manner befitting a bill collector, made me feel like I had stolen something from them.
Sadly, Sears has clearly lost its way and sight of its two most important assets: it’s employees and customers. Suffering from a poor corporate culture and no signs of an effective customer service training in place, Sears is left with disengaged employees alienating existing and would-be customers on a daily basis.
At this rate of rapid decline, it likely will not be long before Sears joins the list of once-great failed retailers.
—
This article is also on LinkedIn > SEARS: A Case Study On How Terrible Customer Service Can Ruin A Brand
Monday Motivation: Push Yourself & Hustle!
August 17, 2015
Got the Monday blues? Having a difficult time re-focusing on work after a weekend of summer recreational activities?
Well you’re certainly not alone. Countless sales and service professionals have trouble getting out of first gear on Monday mornings, summertime or not.
That slow start often results in a weak finish and, in any event, is not the best way to position yourself for a winning week.
So let’s put the kibosh on that right here and now!
PUSH YOURSELF..
& HUSTLE!
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
It’s fair to say that when most business people think of competition, they think of real people and not robots. But what if there were a robot that could do your job as well or, brace yourself, better than you? If I were the owner of a business that had that employee option, I would certainly want to know about it.
It has been said that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so one need only look at the rise of the machines revolution that is well underway.
Where there were once human bank tellers now there are ATMs that can handle the average transaction with ease. At grocery stores everywhere, the explosion of self-checkout machines has taken on the role once reserved solely for human cashiers.
If you’re old enough you’ll recall there was once a time before Expedia, Travelocity and similar online sites when you had to visit a real human “travel agent” to find the best deal on a flight or vacation package.
And don’t get me started with ‘Drone Delivery’!
These examples are only the beginning of the revolution. One view of this excellent “Humans Need Not Apply” video and you’ll get a real sense of where we are and where we’re going.
So how can mere mortals compete against machines? How can brick and mortar retailers compete against the big (and getting bigger) online dot-com companies?
This question is very popular with my many clients in the tire/auto service industry who find their independent dealer status threatened by the increasingly popular dot-com companies that are gaining market-share from many of the same customers that used to buy from them.
The answer, in a nutshell, is to excel at something they don’t do.
By design, online businesses rely on an automated (non-human) customer experience. As an example, Amazon.com, by far the largest online retailer, does the vast majority of its multi-billion dollar business without any human contact.
That’s not to say they’re not good at providing human customer service. On the contrary, its world-class customer service has received many awards. It’s just that these human inter-actions, what Amazon.com considers “customer service,” is their Plan B.
Of course, many other online retailers don’t do nearly as well at human relations as Amazon.com and depend on customer’s online experience to fuel their sales engine.
This situation presents a clear opportunity to capitalize on the weak or missing element of the automated business model – the human connection. In essence, brick and mortar retailers that rely on face-to-face and/or on-the-phone business must maximize what the online companies minimize – the ability to humanize interactions.
Getting Emotional
Buying is primarily an emotional experience. Emotional engagement is a major driver of customer loyalty and advocacy for your brand.
A Forrester Research survey revealed that 89% of consumers felt no personal connection to the brands they buy. Without that personal positive emotional connection, loyalty suffers as customers can be easily persuaded to try a competitor for the same products and services you offer.
While a given automated system may do a good job at engaging the mind intellectually, even the best automated systems fail to engage the heart emotionally.
Zappos.com, the popular online shoe seller, credits their focus on making a personal emotional connection with customers as a key ingredient to their success. , said
Every call is perceived as a way to make a positive emotional connection with a customer. Tony Hsieh – CEO, Zappos.com
Like Amazon, Zappos does the vast majority of its business without a human interface. So while less than 5% of customers will engage with a Zappos customer service representative, they still view those interactions as critical opportunities to making personal emotional connections.
If you call the average shoe retailer seeking running shoes, as an example, the customer service representative will likely ask you all the functional questions required to find the proper product: What size? What style? Foot arch? etc.
If you call Zappos, a friendly customer service representative will very likely connect with you emotionally by asking you about you and, here’s a surprise, running! What kind of running do you primarily do? Indoor, outdoor, track, field? Where’s a good place to run around there?
Compared to humans, robots and automated interfaces are pretty poor at this type of personalizing of the customer experience.
As an integral part of measuring training effectiveness, my team and I at Sale Away have evaluated over 50,000 interactions between customers (and prospective customers) and the frontline sales and customer service staff of retail and service businesses all over North America. Our findings are conclusive that, before training and a true customer-focused process is institutionalized, the vast majority of representatives are functioning closer to robots than anything approaching real emotional connections with customers.
Humanize With Balance
We’ve all heard the popular sales expression “People Buy From People,” yet so many customer/employee interactions lack this “people” element.
Whether face-to-face or on the phone, every customer-employee interaction has two elements: a functional element and an emotional element. The functional elements represent the business/transaction side of our customer interactions. The emotional elements are the people/relationship side. When you don’t effectively humanize your interactions this emotional connection is missing or poor and the customer’s decision naturally defaults to price.
To effectively humanize your business, you should maintain a proper 50/50 balance between functional and emotional elements in every customer interaction.
Putting on the Ritz
The Ritz-Carlton is a great example of a business that humanizes its customer interactions to avoid commoditization and create raving fans for their brand.
Instead of striking a simple 50/50 balance between functional and emotional elements, the Ritz Carlton institutionalized a 33% functional/67% emotional guest engagement model. According the Ritz, this is the proper alignment of what reinforces the best outcomes for customers and, ultimately, the business.
In a 2006 interview for the Gallup Business Journal, former chief operations officer and president of the Ritz-Carlton Simon Cooper said, “When I’m talking to a group of employees about how to open a hotel, I ask them what guests can buy. Then I write down their answers. I write down things such as a room, or food and beverage service, or a spa treatment, and the like. Then I ask, “Now tell me what they can’t buy.” Obviously, guests can’t buy things like smiles or relationships or caring service.”
If your business name includes what you sell and/or you’re advertising your products or services, then it’s pretty clear to customers that they can buy them from you. That’s the functional part where humans need not apply. As Cooper pointed out, focus on what customers can’t buy and you’ll humanize your business and maximize emotional engagement with customers.
Put the People In
Remember, no matter what you sell you are in a people business first so be sure to emphasize the people part.
The basic needs of customers – being recognized and remembered, valued, appreciated, respected and understood – are all emotional areas that should be incorporated into customer interactions to maximize the competitive advantage of interfacing with your employees versus a purely automated system.
Competing against automated adversaries boils down to paying and providing real personalized attention to your customers at the point-of-sale and all the way through the relationship they have with your business.
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
—
Steve Ferrante is the CEO & Trainer of Champions of Sale Away LLC., providing Pinnacle Performance Sales, Customer Service and Winning Team Culture training, speaking and professional development services to success-driven businesses throughout North America. For more information on Steve and Pinnacle Performance services for your team visit saleawayllc.com
On your path to success, you will inevitably encounter those negative Ned’s and Nelly’s who will freely offer their opinion as to why you will not be successful. Sadly, these naysayers may even be your friends and relatives. These defeatist types will discourage your success and, if not dealt with effectively, can prevent you from achieving all that you are capable of achieving.
Here’s my Top 3 Rules For Dealing With Naysayers Who Discourage Your Success:
1) Assess Them
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
Often the naysayers simply don’t have all the facts. They haven’t done your due-diligence and put in the time and effort it takes to succeed in your position.
You have done all that, right? Good, you have the upper-hand then and should have supreme confidence in your pursuit to succeed at whatever it is your pursuing.
When someone is discouraging your goal, there’s a couple important questions you should ask yourself of them:
- Is the person successful in the goal that I’m striving to achieve?
- Does this person have real experience and expertise in what he/she is advising me on?
If the answers to these two telling questions are “No” then it would most likely be beneficial to not heed their advice. For instance, if your buddy Larry, who’s a plumber (not that there’s anything wrong with that) is discouraging your goal of being the best salesperson at your company well then;
- What is Larry’s track record in sales? Has he achieved the type of sales success I’m striving to achieve?
- Does Larry have real experience in my role and/or expertise in my profession/business?
If the answers are “No” then Larry is most likely not your best source of guidance, support and inspiration. Instead, ignore the naysayers like Larry and seek the advice of those who are already successful in what your trying to achieve.
2) Protect Your Blocks
If people are trying to bring you down, it only means that you are above them.
Remember when you were a preschooler.. or maybe you have one of those little people now? Either way, you or yours probably used building blocks among other tots in some sort of “play group”. If so, then this should sound familiar..
Building blocks.. cool.. what can I build? I know.. a skyscraper.. big and tall and cool.. the biggest best skyscraper in the city!
And so it begins.. you start building.. focused on the goal.. 1 block, 2 blocks, 20, 40.. getting higher.. this is going to be AWESOME! Then bratty Bobby (every play group has one) comes and knocks over your blocks.. dreams demolished.. Game Over.
Naysayer’s are just like that. They can’t have you building something brilliant while their blocks are a big disorganized pile of poo. They’ll look to knock down your blocks and level the playing field as it were.
Don’t let that happen.. Protect Your Blocks! Be selective and share your goals only with those you know to be encouraging and supportive. Share your goals with everyone with ears (or a Facebook account) and you set yourself up for discouragement as you dramatically increase your exposure to the naysayers who would relish the opportunity to knock over your blocks.
3) Don’t Engage
Some people are like clouds. When they disappear, it’s a brighter day.
One of the worst things you can do is actively engage a naysayer. As I referenced in my previous rule, you invite this when you carelessly share your goals with everybody.
When you actively engage with a naysayer you actively engage in unproductive behavior. Given a naysayer’s lack of belief, you may feel the overwhelming urge to set the record straight and make your case as to why you will indeed succeed. Don’t bother.. you’ll end up wasting an awful lot of time and risk shaking your confidence in the process.
Naysayers can always find reasons why your goals won’t work. What you tell (and believe) yourself is all that really matters. You don’t need a naysayers belief or commitment to succeed, you only need your own. So avoid engaging the naysayers, stay focused and keep moving forward towards your goal.
There will always be naysayers that discourage and won’t join you on your path to success. That’s okay.. they need not come along. You’re going anyway.
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
Top 3 Reasons Champions Don’t Have Time To Procrastinate
June 17, 2015
If you’re a procrastinator, there’s a really good chance you’ll book-mark this article to read later. That would defeat the purpose, sort of like that book on “how to improve your memory” I can’t seem to find.
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today. – Ben Franklin
It’s been over a couple hundred years since Benjamin Franklin shared that success tip with the world and one would think that’s ample time to catch on with the human race.
The reality is that many (if not most) folks function closer to what Mark Twain later said in his comical paraphrase of Franklin:
Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow – Mark Twain
Knowing that procrastination is likely the single biggest killer of productivity, why are so many people (perhaps you) plagued by it? There are many reasons and much has been written about them over the years.
Here’s my Top 3 Reasons Champions Don’t Have Time To Procrastinate:
1) Champions Don’t Wait For Success, They Go To It
Are you postponing important tasks, waiting until you have more time so you can really focus and get the job done perfectly? After all, who wants to rush in and get a task done poorly now when you can wait and get it accomplished perfectly later? No doubt later you’ll have more time and energy too.
Or, if you’re like most people, you won’t. You’ll just take up more valuable time procrastinating and putting off what’s most important to your success.
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. – George S. Patton
As General Patton pointed out, in warfare it is a strategic advantage to execute a course of action rapidly. Procrastination in action and agonizing over the ‘perfect’ solution can (and often does) lead to a foe gaining the upper hand. So, while you don’t want to make hasty decisions, you also can’t afford to lose ground and risk failure due to your inability to act quickly.
2) Champions Face Challenges Head On
As I wrote in my previous post, high-achievers typically excel at overcoming challenges to reach their goals.
It’s human nature to want to avoid difficulties. When we face difficult tasks, our brains are hard-wired to side-step them, especially when there are so many easier things we could do with that same time. Would you rather write that sales letter or check out the latest funny cat video on YouTube? Without discipline, most folks are easily distracted by such less demanding activities.
Behavioral psychologist’s refer to this behavior as negative reinforcement. We avoid a difficult task by replacing with an easier one (like that cat video) and we’re rewarded (with entertainment) making us feel better. Ultimately, these types of rewards for avoiding the more difficult tasks reinforces the behavior and we establish a habit of repeating the act over and over, killing our productivity.
One of my favorite success tips for overcoming procrastination is from Brian Tracy who literally wrote the book on stopping procrastination, Eat That Frog! As described in this short video, the title of the book refers to doing the most difficult task on your to-do list, eating that frog, first so you get it done and avoid the likelihood of procrastinating and avoiding it later. Good stuff!
3) Champions Are 100% Committed
A popular psychological definition of procrastination is “the gap between intention and action”. When we’re truly committed to something we’re focused and motivated to take action and fill that gap by completing the required tasks in a responsive fashion. When we’re not truly committed, we’re not focused or motivated and it’s easy to get side-tracked find other things to fill the gap.
As I wrote about in Passion Powers Performance, a big deterrent to performance is a lack of passion and engagement with the work and/or workplace. Very few folks are eager to do anything when they lack enjoyment or fulfillment from doing so.
Some of this lack of motivation is often attributed to a poor corporate culture where nobody is motivated to do much of anything, fostering procrastination. As Newton’s First Law of Motion states a body at rest will remain at rest until an outside force acts on it. Effective leadership and a ‘winning team culture‘ are tremendous forces to get people motivated and moving and progressing, minimizing procrastination.
Of course, none of this should be a substitute for personal accountability and taking responsibility for your own actions and ultimate success. Whereas weak and average performers typically waste precious time and make excuses, high-achievers maximize their time and create results!
In other words.. Champions Don’t Have Time To Procrastinate!
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
This article is on LinkedIn Pulse here > Top 3 Reasons Champions Don’t Have Time To Procrastinate
Nothing Is Impossible
June 3, 2015
Time for some Wednesday Wisdom..
Every single day people face challenges at work and life in general. If today is not your day, perhaps it will be tomorrow.
Some folks are better dealing with and overcoming these challenges. While the average person is often stopped by a difficult challenge, a high-achiever typically views the same challenge as an obstacle they must (and will) overcome to reach their goal and succeed.
As I have said many times to my Pinnacle Performance students, either the obstacle wins or you do.
Enter the Armless Archer..
Mark Stutzman is a remarkable human being and a true Pinnacle Performer. Born without arms, he has never let his ‘disability’ hinder his ability to succeed.
As Mark wrote on his website, impossible is a state of mind.
Have a look at Mark in action on the video below and then give some serious thought to those obstacles you’ve considered too great to conquer.
So.. what’s your excuse?
Make a Great Day!
Steve
Memorial Day Leadership Lessons
May 25, 2015
Often confused with National Barbecue Day, Memorial Day is the day we honor the military heroes who paid the ultimate price for our country.
While leaders in business do not typically risk their lives for the mission of their organizations, there is much we can all learn about leadership from those in the military that did.
Here are the top leadership traits possessed by military leaders accompanied by a relevant image quote:
- Work Ethic / Preparing To Win
- Commitment / Discipline
- Honor / Integrity
- Self-less Service
- Perseverance / Overcoming Adversity
- Responsibility / Accountability / Lead by Example
- Execution with Precision / Attention to Detail
Whether you’re a manager in your organization or not, adhering to the traits of our military heroes can help you achieve greater levels of success!
Saluting those who gave all for our country.
Steve
You can have the best business plan and build the finest facility but, at the end of the day, none of that matters without a winning team of employees that are committed to the business and its success.
Of course, it helps to hire the right people to begin with – those with a winning personality and mindset that best fit your ‘winning team’ culture.
Beyond hiring winners, however, creating (and sustaining) a true Winning Team corporate culture is not something that magically appears. It must be cultivated and will flourish or flounder depending on how it is managed.
To help you with that, here are my great eight practices for creating a Winning Team corporate culture that support world-class sales and customer service objectives:
- Unengaged Employees Don’t Create Engaged Customers
While this is more of an affirmation than a practice, it’s really important you keep this fact at the forefront of your creating a winning team corporate culture efforts. If employees are displeased at work you can bet some of that displeasure is spilling over into their customer interactions and, ultimately, costing the business substantial dollars in lost revenue. All of the following practices foster and build employee engagement.
- Set The Bar
Do you have documented values and best practices that set of standards of performance and state clearly what your organization stands for and what is expected of employees to achieve it? Remember, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Communicating your organizations’ commitment to excellence through values and best practices ensures everyone is on the same page and there is no confusion with your Winning Team Culture mission.
Establishing values and best practices is an integral part of my exclusive training tool-kit/portal program for clients. Visit Your Training Portal for details.
- Demonstrate Care
A Winning Team Culture can only survive and thrive in a caring and supportive environment. When employees feel like machines, not human beings, they become emotionally detached from the business and tend to go through the motions to get through the day.
To build a winning team culture, managers should always treat their team employees exceedingly well. Do you treat your employees in a manner that is consistent with the way you want them to treat customers? Many managers do not, yet they expect their personnel to excel when it comes to positive customer interactions.
Managers should initiate contact with team members on a regular basis, both formally and informally. Taking time with employees to show an interest in their work, listening to their issues and experiences demonstrates that you value their contribution and builds morale and motivation.
- Communicate Well
Can you hear me now? Too often employees don’t feel like they have a true voice in the company, that no one is really listening and their opinion doesn’t matter. Winning Team cultures encourage information sharing and promote an environment of open communication where employees are comfortable contributing their feedback and ideas.
- Live “Winning Team” Every Day
Creating a winning team culture is not something that happens at the corporate headquarters behind closed doors. It’s in the stores, the service areas, the warehouse, and everywhere else employees interact with customers and each other.
Managers need to be physically (and mentally) present in the workplace to consistently communicate the winning team message with employees, reinforce a commitment to excellence and promote continuous improvement for individuals and the company as a whole.
- Be a Champion Cheerleader
Perhaps nothing builds a Winning Team corporate culture better than recognition. It’s amazing what can be achieved when people feel appreciated! Recognition and praise goes a long way towards building positive team spirit and morale. Managers should always seek out opportunities to acknowledge both individual and team efforts and celebrate jobs well done.
Make saying ‘thank you’ a habit and always let employees know when they have performed well. This reinforces and encourages proper behaviors, builds trust and strengthens the culture.
- Promote Progress
The old adage fits here, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying”. It’s the same with employees and corporate cultures, they must move forward or they will deteriorate over time. Managers need to make progress a priority and not settle for status quo. Whenever possible, take the opportunity to encourage the next phase of employee and team growth. Engagement and productivity improve when employees know how they are doing now and what they can expect in the future.
- Have Fun
Okay, I admit it, this is my favorite one. As I discuss in my Pinnacle Performance training, having fun at work is a business strategy. It gets back to practice # 1, unengaged employees don’t create engaged customers. There’s a reason so many market-leading companies are also considered to be the best places to work. They know happiness matters and they create a culture of fun in the workplace that improves employee morale and productivity.
See my YouTube video, Workplace FUN Tips! for some fun inspiration.
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
—
Steve Ferrante is the CEO & Trainer of Champions of Sale Away LLC., providing Pinnacle Performance Sales, Customer Service and Winning Team Culture training, speaking and professional development services to success-driven businesses throughout North America. For more information on Steve and Pinnacle Performance services for your team visit saleawayllc.com
As I train all my Pinnacle Performance clients, effectively improving an organizations sales and customer service effort should begin with an honest evaluation of the organizations current performance to establish a baseline from which improvements can be addressed.
One of the best ways to to gain a clear understanding of how your organization is currently performing is to conduct a SWOT analysis.
As a strategic-planning management tool, a SWOT analysis evaluates the 4 areas represented by the letters of the name:
S = Strengths
W = Weaknesses
O = Opportunities
T = Threats
Who Should Participate?
Many businesses will only have the senior executives participate in a SWOT analysis process. While that can be worthwhile for an operational analysis, a SWOT that focuses on sales and customer service should absolutely involve all employees that regularly interface with customers. These staff members have first-hand knowledge of the company’s strengths and weaknesses and can provide valuable insight as to what is happening at the critical point-of-sale on a day-to-day basis.
The SWOT analysis process is straight-forward – objectively consider each of those four key areas. In addition, think about what the customer’s perspective might be in each of those areas, and consider how what you do aligns with that outlook.
Strengths:
What sales/customer service strengths exist in your business now?
To help determine this, focus on the perspective of what customers and the market (competitors, the industry) consider as your organizations primary sales/customer service strengths.
In addition, you should determine what competitive differentiators exist? These are areas that your organization is unique (faster, better, more cost-effective) than the competing business’s your potential customers may also shop.
Top strengths typically include:
- People/Staff
- Reputation (Longevity in Market)
- Customer service
- Product Availability
- Speedy Service
- Knowledge of products and services
- Trustworthy
Customer Perspective:
I am the greatest strength in your organization for without me there is no business to be had. If you take really good care of me I will help your business thrive and grow. If you don’t, I’ll be more than willing to take my business to one of your competitors that will.
Weaknesses:
What sales/customer service weaknesses exist in your business now?
It’s critical to be honest in assessing this area. Again, focus should be from the viewpoint of what customers and the market consider as your organizations primary customer service short-comings. These are your competitive disadvantages.
Top weaknesses typically include:
- Some employees (weak performers)
- Employee turnover
- Communication and Phone Skills
- ‘Winging It’ – lack of professional systems and processes
- Communication between service and sales teams
- Too quick to discount to save sale
- Inconsistency
Customer Perspective:
I can be the greatest weakness in your organization. I prefer to do business with a strong organization and your weaknesses are damaging my confidence. It only takes one weak performance for me to consider alternatives for my future needs. If I’m merely satisfied by your service, I’ll swiftly depart as soon as I find someone who exceeds them.
Opportunities:
What sales/customer service opportunities exist in your business now?
Opportunities are potential future strengths. What opportunities does your company have to use its strengths to increase sales and market share? How does your strategy address capturing these opportunities?
Top opportunities typically include:
- Recruiting/Attracting quality employees (replacing weak performers)
- Training; Improving Sales/Customer Service Skills
- Exceeding customer expectations
- Improving corporate culture
- Institutionalizing processes to create consistency
Customer Perspective:
I can be the greatest opportunity in your organization. I cost far less to keep than it does for you to secure a new customer. But you must truly value me and consistently demonstrate your value to me through your actions. If you’re effective, your opportunity extends beyond just me and I’ll be sure to tell my friends and family how well I’ve been treated. If you fail, I will become one of your competitors opportunities.
Threats:
What sales/customer service threats exist?
Threats are potential future weaknesses. What threats imposed by competitors and/or the market does your organization face? What are the consequences if your customer service effort does not effectively combat these threats?
Top threats typically include:
- Increased competition (online, national chains, etc.)
- Poor Customer Service (Wait times, etc.)
- Losing good employees
- Losing customers
- Social Media
- Complacency
Customer Perspective:
I can be the greatest threat in your organization. I have plenty of alternatives for your products and services. If I feel undervalued, I will leave for somewhere I feel valued. If you’re trying to sell me with your best interest in mind, I’ll take my business to someone who helps me buy with my best interest in mind. If you cannot resolve a concern/problem to my satisfaction not only will you lose my business but I will tell my friends and family not to do business with you.
Action Plan
There’s a popular quote, a goal without a plan is just a wish. This view certainly applies here and there’s no sense in conducting a SWOT analysis unless you plan to take deliberate action with your findings. Many SWOT analysis end up being nothing more than a bunch of ‘findings’ as the partaking business fails at this last critical step of creating a clear action plan.
The ‘Big Picture’ objectives:
- Strengths need to be effectively maintained, built upon and maximized.
- Weaknesses need to be effectively remedied or eliminated.
- Opportunities need to be effectively prioritized and optimized.
- Threats need to be effectively countered or minimized.
As a strategic meeting facilitator, I recommend these steps to successfully develop your action plan:
1) Review each area of your SWOT matrix and prioritize your findings into two lists: one that is short-term with issues you plan to address within the next 6 months and one that is longer term of 6 months and beyond.
2) Set the specific actions you will take to achieve the objectives. This will take some brain-storming and strategic thinking and should be the longest part of your planning process. Remember the ‘action’ part of the action plan matters most so don’t rush this step!
3) Attach a time-frame to each of the objectives with ‘benchmark’ dates to check on your progress along the way. Shorter, ’round-table’ meetings should be planned in accordance with these dates.
4) Assign an employee or employees to be in charge of each action area. This is another major reasons SWOT analysis fail; everyone has good intentions but no one ‘owns’ anything so ultimately little gets accomplished.
Follow these steps, and keep the customers perspective in mind at all times, and you will have a successful action plan to increase your sales and customer service efforts!
Make a Great Day!
Steve 🙂
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Steve Ferrante is the CEO & Trainer of Champions of Sale Away LLC., providing Pinnacle Performance Sales, Customer Service and Winning Team Culture training, speaking and professional development services to success-driven businesses throughout North America. For more information on Steve and Pinnacle Performance services visit Sale Away LLC. Steve can be reached @ steve@saleawayllc.com
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