Small Businesses Smarts

Have you ever seen a deal or an offer that was for "new customers only" at a large company?  Does that make any sense?  How much money do you think it cost that company to generate the marketing for that event, and how many of their loyal customers do you think they made angry enough to go somewhere else?

Most small business owners are at least fairly conciencious about their customers' loyalty.  Some better than others.  We would argue though, that if any small business is putting more effort into getting new customers than they are in keeping their current customers happy, (even just a little more) than they're missing out big time.

Let's examine.

Which of these two transactions would you say generates more profit: a new customer buying product X once, or an existing customer buying product X once.  Easy, right?  The answer is that both transactions generate the exact same amount of profit.  

Which of these two initiatives costs more and takes more effort: talking to current customers and making sure you're they're in a position to likely continue buying from you, or trying to get the attention of new ones that don't hate being bothered by ads and salesman, and that don't know you from Adam?

I probably don't need to mention how much advertisement we're force-fed every day.

Our current customers are already paying attention.  Send them the right message, and they'll not only keep your doors open, but they'll cut down your need for marketing by doing ot for you.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is the lesson.

Values, Purpose & Communication (Inspirational Coaching continued)

Values

Inspiration comes from meaning. Meaning comes from values. Dov Seidman put it like this: “Values are at the root of Inspiration. Values are efficient…They are timeless…They are enduring…Values elevate us to act beyond what we can do, to embrace what we should do.”

Purpose

Discussing what separates the Best 100 Companies to Work for from all the rest , Geoff Colvin – editor of Fortune Magazine said this:  “How do "Best" companies do it? Partly it's skill at finding staff-friendly ideas that don't cost much...But those are tactics anyone can match. Winning requires something more: a sense of purpose. Employees get deep satisfaction, and become devoted to their employer, from a feeling that what they do is good and right."

Communication

In addition to demonstrating the above characteristics, an Inspirational Coach must be able to communicate these ideas clearly and simply.

Faith & Love (Inspirational Coaching continued)

Faith

Inspiration has an undeniable spiritual element. An individual that has faith in themselves, their mission, their team, in a Higher Power, and in others can inspire them.

Love

Someone who loves what they do, love who they serve and loves who they serve beside can be a strong source of inspiration. What stronger power in the universe is there?

Character & Passion (Inspirational Coaching continued)

Character

Being a person of integrity – someone who means what they say and says what they mean along with behaviors that match their values – is essential. This is the beginning of earning trust. You can’t inspire someone if you can’t be trusted.

Passion

One description of inspiration is the ability to blow on someone’s light flame – an action that will cause that person’s flame to burn more brightly.  We can’t build someone’s flame if there is no fire inside of us.

Management Training Minutes - Inspirational Coaching

I am working with a client that manages a team of coaches. These coaches spend about a month at a business unit getting to know the senior leaders of the facility and working with them to create a leadership performance improvement plan.

These coaches are very successful so they do not need help in the coaching process. My challenge is to help them raise their influence and motivation skills to the level of “inspiration.” If you would like to begin an engaging and meaningful conversation, ask someone what is the difference between motivation and inspiration.

Some outstanding books have been written on the subject of what strategies help move people beyond traditional motivation – carrots and sticks – to inspiration. Dov Seidman’s  “HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life) is an excellent resource. Daniel H. Pink’s “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” is also outstanding.

Inspiration has a spiritual and an emotional element that is frequently missing from the traditional motivation to avoid pain and get pleasure.

We specialize in leadership training seminars on Transformational Leadership. The characteristics and competencies that make someone a Transformational Leader are the same things that make someone an Inspirational Coach. Over my next few posts, I’ll be touching briefly on what many believe to be the important ones.

Sunrise, Sunset

Recently, before conducting a leadership training seminar in Mumbai, I watched the sun come up.  I had just checked into my hotel and I had a large window so I watched the sun first appear and then rise until it was a full circle over the horizon. I always find it interesting that my wife, Karen, can be watching the sun set in Texas as I watch it rise in Mumbai. The sun’s not really setting or rising, of course. We are rotating. That’s an accepted scientific fact now.

It wasn’t accepted in Galileo’s time and his defense of the idea that the sun was the center of the universe brought intense criticism from clerics and philosophers. This ultimately resulted in Galileo being tried, found guilty of heresy and spending the rest of his life under house arrest.

Does it make you wonder what we believe now that will be proven false in the future? Is there a leadership lesson here? How do we respond when confronted with a belief diametrically opposed to one we hold? Will we treat that person the way Galileo was treated? Or will we sincerely say these powerful words: “You may be right.”  Of all of the leadership skills a manager needs to develop, the ability to show respect for a contrary opinion may be near the top of the list.

With a Little Help From My Friends

More than one research project has reported that friendships are a critical component to a long life. Now, a 20-year research project out of the University of Tel Aviv in Israel reveals that good relationships at work improve longevity. The report was published in the journal Health Psychology and the article I read appeared in The Times Of India, Mumbai on Thursday, June 19.

I was in Mumbai doing a leadership seminar and we  regularly discuss the twelve things the world’s best mangers do to create an environment that motivates, inspires and leads to outstanding performance by a team. If you have not yet read First, Break All the Rules, I would highly recommend it.

One of the 12 motivators that great managers do is encourage friendship. Number 10 on the “Q-12” relates to having a “best friend” at work.

Now we know that making this a strategic priority as a motivator not only leads to helping people turn talent into performance, we will be helping them to live longer!

Leader, Manager, or Bad Boss?

At a leadership seminar in Houston this week I had the participants fill out our usual survey that allows them to put each person they have worked for into one of the three categories listed above. Of the 114 managers they have worked for, they ranked 40 (35%) as leaders, 32 (28%) as managers, and 42 (37%) as bad bosses. It's interesting (and a little scary) that these 19 people worked for more "bad bosses" than "leaders."

Management Training Minutes - Measuring Leadership Ability

Last week when I had the opportunity to speak about Transformational Leadership for the American Society for Quality in Fort Worth I asked the audience to participate in a survey. I asked them to put their current supervisor and their three previous supervisors into one of three categories: leader, manager, or bad boss. I do this in almost every speaking engagement and management workshop or leadership class.

In the last four years I have had the opportunity to do surveys like this in ten countries on four continents and the results are strikingly similar around the world. I told that audience after their survey that our global surveys reveal that approximately 25% of supervisors are considered leaders; 50% are considered managers, and 25% are considered bad bosses.

The results that evening: leaders - 24%; managers - 48%; bad bosses - 28%. These results  should lead anyone that supervises people to ask themselves a few simple questions: Which category would my team put me in? How many of the supervisors under me are considered managers only - or worse - a bad boss? Do I even know which ones fall into which categories?

I once asked a manager this question: If your CEO asked you for one suggestion that would make your company better, what suggestion would you give him? He didn't hesitate one instant.

He said "We need to measure our managers. We have too many managers that shouldn't be managing people. And we can't help them or replace them if we don’t know who they are. We need to measure their management and leadership ability."

It's certainly something to think about.

| Management Training Minutes | 12/22/2010

Management Training Minutes - Deepak's seventh law

7. The Law of Dharma

This strategy aligns closely with the strength-based management research done by the Gallop organization. Recognize your divinity, identify your unique talents, focus on serving others, and abundance will result. Managers and leaders must help people get into the right roles and create opportunities for people to do more of what they do best. We are responsible for helping people turn talent into performance. Helping people do this in their personal and professional lives is one of the greatest services we can provide for others.
 
I hope you benefit from this weeks series of Leadership minute classes, I hope this motivates you to read the book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, and that it may help you as much as it has helped me.

| Management Training Minutes | 12/18/2010