HEADLINE NEWS - ANYWHERE, USA
Gas prices reach record highs! Real estate prices sink to record lows! Banks and credit markets in crisis - again! Dollar drops - again! Trade deficit disadvantage. Debt ceiling exceeded. Economy signals potential for double-dip recession!
OK, does any of that sound familiar to you? The headline news in your town or city or country likely contains one, if not all of those subjects in the very recent past. WHY? To sell newspapers? YES. To scare consumers? YES. To create reality? YES. It is a strange reality today that "bad news" sells in the newspaper, TV, magazine, and social media. On the contrary, bad word-of-mouth, which is essentially the same thing as a negative headline, is the kiss of death for you, and your business. What do we mean by bad word-of-mouth? Good question!
Consider the last time you dined out at a restaurant that did not meet your expectations. What did you do about it? If you're like most people, you are still talking about it! You've told everyone within shouting distance, and on your social media pages, that this restaurant and the experience were not acceptable. The _____ (insert your own)______ was terrible. You can insert service, food, cost, atmosphere, server, wait time or etc. into the blank, as there were likely all part of the conversation.
Conversely, let's take a look at the last time you dined out at a restaurant that exceeded your expectations. What did you do about it? Nothing, other than to tell one person, maybe two about the service, food, cost, atmosphere, server, wait time or etc.
WOW. Bad experience? Tell everyone everything! Good or great experience? Tell one someone about one thing - maybe. How can this be? Good question!
Because word-of-mouth is always working, it is vital to make sure it is working for you and your business, and not against you. How? ASK! Ask others what their experience was in working with you, buying from you, learning from you, flying with you, or just being served by you. Ask if they are getting what they expected, more-than they expected, or less-than they expected - they being your customers both internal and external. You'll get great answers, and if you listen, and take action, you'll grow your opportunities to serve, and likely your business and your profits, too!
The great litmus test of whether word-of-mouth is working for you (or against you) is to reflect upon the number of times people refer you, prefer you, and/or go out of their way for you. Another test is to measure how many times in a day, week, or month you hear the following when the phone rings: "hi, my name is _____, and I was referred to you by ________ and they said you are the best. When can we meet?"
If you are not hearing this 8 or more times per/month, then take greater control of your word-of-mouth marketing (a/k/a networking) efforts by working harder to ensure that word-of-mouth is working for you! HOW? Good question!
Please contact us if you'd like to know more about how our clients are using word-of-mouth, to grow their relationships, grow their referrals, and grow their revenues, too.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
"PLAN 4" SUCCESS!
“PLAN 4” SUCCESS!
So it’s already April 4th, the 2nd Quarter of 2011, and the obvious is that January, February, and March have now come, and gone. If you are like some, you’ve been planning to put your plan together so that your year is planned and yet your life is still on the non-plan plan – so now what? Stop planning, and start doing!
While there are many fundamentals to a successful plan, the consulting team at STAYSUCCESSFUL has identified four vital elements which must be included in any business or organization’s annual plan in order to be effective. We hope you will agree after reading this article that People, Leadership, Action and Numbers are vital to any plan, and for your consideration, we’ve provided some of the reasons why.
P – EOPLE
We hear it all the time, and especially from those in the human resources or senior executive functions of organizations large and small. Your organization can be for profit, non-profit, and government alike where people make (or break) the success of a business. People are customers, people are consumers – and they hear, see, smell, touch and feel your business – in whatever way you create. It is the “experience” of experiencing your business that matters most, as you get one chance to create that first last(ing) impression. People are the human capital of any business or organization, and the more professionally educated, trained, coached, managed and led they are, generally speaking, the more successful they (and their organization) will become.
Compare the “experience” you have at your favorite fine dining establishment to the experience of visiting your local drivers’ license bureau, tag agency, or county clerk office. Reflect upon your visit to any FEDEX store or office, as opposed to your last visit to the doctor, or the hospital, or any medical services provider. Examine your most recent visit to any cellular services provider, as compared to the check-in process at a Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons or similar scale hospitality venue. I believe we have just illustrated our point that people make (or break) your business, and if you do not understand what we are saying, then you are in the vast minority, we assure you.
In addition to education, training, coaching, managing, and leading – people within any organization must first have a success plan, and we at STAYSUCCESSFUL recommend that it include a shared vision, a common mission, s.m.a.r.t. goals and meaningful objectives from which to work the plan into success for you, and for the organization. A vision statement is the starting point of every plan. One of many methods used to create one includes asking yourself and/or your team, what your organization or company could/should look like five years from now? As Stephen Covey says, “begin with the end in mind”, and we believe the destination becomes the journey.
L – EADERSHIP
Leadership is vital to the process of any successful plan. While there are many definitions of leadership, and little agreement to which one is the right one, we’ll posit that leadership is at all times situational, and best defined for our purposes as a noun as follows: the action of leading a group of people or an organization; the state or position of being a leader. (Source: www.google.com, leadership definition)
To our point that leadership is at all times, situational consider these different types of leadership, and the unique skills, opportunities, and challenges each will bring to bear on the leader: personal leadership, corporate leadership, religious leadership, social leadership, economic leadership, political leadership, academic leadership, non-profit leadership, volunteer leadership, military leadership, sports leadership, medical leadership, and the list goes on – literally – without end.
One thing we can all agree upon is that in business, your plan must include the topic of leadership. Developing leaders within any organization is critical to the delivery of goods and services which ultimately lead to your company or organization being considered best-in-class, world-class, market-leader, or market maker.
A – CTION
One of our favorite quotes is “leadership is action, not position.” (Source: Donald H. Mc Gannon, former Chairman of the Board and President of Westinghouse Broadcasting Corporation, and former President of the National Urban League.) A success plan is a great tool, and yet, without execution, a plan is only as good as the people creating it, and the paper (or server) it is printed upon. This is where the objectives of a success plan become so important, as they are the actions you/your team will take to create momentum, sales, change, interest, desire, and ultimately – revenue!
N – UMBERS
Ah, yes! Get out your balance sheet & income statement, and/or your profit & loss, and/or your receipts and/or your budget and get handle on your numbers. Numbers are everything in business, for they tell you a story, and while never the whole story, certainly enough to shape how you tell your story. Notice how we did not say that your story is necessarily positive, or good news, because numbers when utilized properly, are tracked monthly, reviewed quarterly, and planned annually become fundamental to the decision-making process which ultimately leads to your success. Good numbers allow for great questions, such as: What do you anticipate your sales increase or decrease to be this year and why? What extraordinary expenses do you foresee impacting the business this year? What legislation changes might alter your tax position this year? How does your debt to income ratio compare to others in your industry? What will your payroll look like for the coming year given the outstanding performance of your staff last year? Have you projected your insurance expenses given the climate of the marketplace in your geographic area? A variety of numbers exist in your (in every) business, whether you have 1 employee, or 1,000 employees, and the numbers matter – in fact – they are everything. Get to know them, learn to project them, master a budgeting process for them, demand understanding and open conversations from your team about them, share them openly if/when/where appropriate, lead your people to manage your operations to beat them – and you’ll do beat them more often than not.
Knowing your numbers gets easier when you select the right team of people and procure the appropriate assistance from your professional advisors. Your internal staff should be given the tools, resources, training and expectations about numbers. Your external staff should be hired in accordance with strict agreements which include firm quotes for their services, detailed engagement agreements detailing the scope of their services, and means for regular and effective communication between you, them, and your respective teams. A successful business has financial, accounting, expense, and payment systems which are in sync, under management, within budget, and measured monthly, quarterly, and/or annually. At minimum, your business success plan should be shared with your CPA, your Bookkeeper, your Banker, and your Financial Advisors. They can be very helpful advocates, and strategic consultants to you and your business if/when properly engaged.
We hope this article about People, Leadership, Action and Numbers helps you “PLAN 4 SUCCESS”, and so why wait – get started! If you don’t know how, ASK! We’re here to help.
So it’s already April 4th, the 2nd Quarter of 2011, and the obvious is that January, February, and March have now come, and gone. If you are like some, you’ve been planning to put your plan together so that your year is planned and yet your life is still on the non-plan plan – so now what? Stop planning, and start doing!
While there are many fundamentals to a successful plan, the consulting team at STAYSUCCESSFUL has identified four vital elements which must be included in any business or organization’s annual plan in order to be effective. We hope you will agree after reading this article that People, Leadership, Action and Numbers are vital to any plan, and for your consideration, we’ve provided some of the reasons why.
P – EOPLE
We hear it all the time, and especially from those in the human resources or senior executive functions of organizations large and small. Your organization can be for profit, non-profit, and government alike where people make (or break) the success of a business. People are customers, people are consumers – and they hear, see, smell, touch and feel your business – in whatever way you create. It is the “experience” of experiencing your business that matters most, as you get one chance to create that first last(ing) impression. People are the human capital of any business or organization, and the more professionally educated, trained, coached, managed and led they are, generally speaking, the more successful they (and their organization) will become.
Compare the “experience” you have at your favorite fine dining establishment to the experience of visiting your local drivers’ license bureau, tag agency, or county clerk office. Reflect upon your visit to any FEDEX store or office, as opposed to your last visit to the doctor, or the hospital, or any medical services provider. Examine your most recent visit to any cellular services provider, as compared to the check-in process at a Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons or similar scale hospitality venue. I believe we have just illustrated our point that people make (or break) your business, and if you do not understand what we are saying, then you are in the vast minority, we assure you.
In addition to education, training, coaching, managing, and leading – people within any organization must first have a success plan, and we at STAYSUCCESSFUL recommend that it include a shared vision, a common mission, s.m.a.r.t. goals and meaningful objectives from which to work the plan into success for you, and for the organization. A vision statement is the starting point of every plan. One of many methods used to create one includes asking yourself and/or your team, what your organization or company could/should look like five years from now? As Stephen Covey says, “begin with the end in mind”, and we believe the destination becomes the journey.
L – EADERSHIP
Leadership is vital to the process of any successful plan. While there are many definitions of leadership, and little agreement to which one is the right one, we’ll posit that leadership is at all times situational, and best defined for our purposes as a noun as follows: the action of leading a group of people or an organization; the state or position of being a leader. (Source: www.google.com, leadership definition)
To our point that leadership is at all times, situational consider these different types of leadership, and the unique skills, opportunities, and challenges each will bring to bear on the leader: personal leadership, corporate leadership, religious leadership, social leadership, economic leadership, political leadership, academic leadership, non-profit leadership, volunteer leadership, military leadership, sports leadership, medical leadership, and the list goes on – literally – without end.
One thing we can all agree upon is that in business, your plan must include the topic of leadership. Developing leaders within any organization is critical to the delivery of goods and services which ultimately lead to your company or organization being considered best-in-class, world-class, market-leader, or market maker.
A – CTION
One of our favorite quotes is “leadership is action, not position.” (Source: Donald H. Mc Gannon, former Chairman of the Board and President of Westinghouse Broadcasting Corporation, and former President of the National Urban League.) A success plan is a great tool, and yet, without execution, a plan is only as good as the people creating it, and the paper (or server) it is printed upon. This is where the objectives of a success plan become so important, as they are the actions you/your team will take to create momentum, sales, change, interest, desire, and ultimately – revenue!
N – UMBERS
Ah, yes! Get out your balance sheet & income statement, and/or your profit & loss, and/or your receipts and/or your budget and get handle on your numbers. Numbers are everything in business, for they tell you a story, and while never the whole story, certainly enough to shape how you tell your story. Notice how we did not say that your story is necessarily positive, or good news, because numbers when utilized properly, are tracked monthly, reviewed quarterly, and planned annually become fundamental to the decision-making process which ultimately leads to your success. Good numbers allow for great questions, such as: What do you anticipate your sales increase or decrease to be this year and why? What extraordinary expenses do you foresee impacting the business this year? What legislation changes might alter your tax position this year? How does your debt to income ratio compare to others in your industry? What will your payroll look like for the coming year given the outstanding performance of your staff last year? Have you projected your insurance expenses given the climate of the marketplace in your geographic area? A variety of numbers exist in your (in every) business, whether you have 1 employee, or 1,000 employees, and the numbers matter – in fact – they are everything. Get to know them, learn to project them, master a budgeting process for them, demand understanding and open conversations from your team about them, share them openly if/when/where appropriate, lead your people to manage your operations to beat them – and you’ll do beat them more often than not.
Knowing your numbers gets easier when you select the right team of people and procure the appropriate assistance from your professional advisors. Your internal staff should be given the tools, resources, training and expectations about numbers. Your external staff should be hired in accordance with strict agreements which include firm quotes for their services, detailed engagement agreements detailing the scope of their services, and means for regular and effective communication between you, them, and your respective teams. A successful business has financial, accounting, expense, and payment systems which are in sync, under management, within budget, and measured monthly, quarterly, and/or annually. At minimum, your business success plan should be shared with your CPA, your Bookkeeper, your Banker, and your Financial Advisors. They can be very helpful advocates, and strategic consultants to you and your business if/when properly engaged.
We hope this article about People, Leadership, Action and Numbers helps you “PLAN 4 SUCCESS”, and so why wait – get started! If you don’t know how, ASK! We’re here to help.
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