Posted: July 12, 2024 | Categories: Customer service, Leadership, Management, Sales

World War II hero Eddie Rickenbacker became CEO of Eastern Airlines in the early 50’s.  He believed that a critical factor in managing customer relationships and motivating staff was the way we manage ‘moments of truth”.  He defined such moments as, “any opportunity a customer (or potential customer) has to form an impression about a company, product, or service”.

A couple   weeks ago I had such a moment as a customer.  I had purchased a pair of casual pants from a well-known retailer in the area.  One day, when putting on my pants my toe caught an adjustor strap right at the cuff.  The cuff tightened, and when I tried to loosen it, I couldn’t.

A couple days later we took the garment to the service desk of the store where we made the purchase.  We explained the problem to the person behind the desk.  We could quickly see that she had no idea of how to help us, and she went to the back room and brought the store manager back with her.  As soon as the manager saw us, she smiled and quickly diagnosed our problem.  There was a special button that needs to be pressed and she demonstrated it to us as she released the tension on the strap.  The problem was solved!  We had a good laugh and before we left we spent over $100 on additional items.  We had just experienced a moment of truth that was managed successfully with tangible results.  Take the number of employees you have times the customer interactions each one has per day, and you have the moments of truth.  If you learn to consistently manage these instances well, your efforts will pay off royally.

Posted: June 17, 2024 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Self-Improvement, Team Building

Two weeks I was talking with a client (we’ll call him Sam) who was struggling with a dip in his confidence as a leader.  A couple months ago Sam had made a serious error of omission, and the result was going to be a heavy fine for his company.  Sam takes pride in his work and he took this “ding” in his record personally.  Rather than brood, Sam decided to take action to help get himself ouf of his “funk”.

The action Sam took was to conduct “Stay Interviews” with all his direct reports.  Management consultant Richard Finnigan defines a “Stay Interview” as “A structured discussion a leader conducts with an individual employee to learn specific actions the leader can take to strengthen the employee’s engagement and retention in an organization.”

As a result of the interviews, Sam found himself well on his way to regaining his confidence and momentum.  His people were positive and affirmed how much they enjoyed working for him.  The team members also gave helpful and consistent feedback on what Sam could do to make their jobs easier.  (What do you need from me?)

Sam’s decision to conduct “Stay Interviews” proved to be just the right action to give both Sam and his staff a boost.  It is important to note that Sam had already built a high level of trust with his team and he also had a very supportive boss.  Sam had put together the right team atmosphere to make the “Stay Interview” effective.  If you are proud of your team and committed to continued professional growth, I recommend you consider the “Stay Interview”.

Posted: June 6, 2024 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Self-Improvement

Being a loyal team member is a virtue.  So is maintaining our personal integrity.  What if you run into a situation where you have to choose between the two?  The following true story illustrates this scenario as good as any I know:

In 1914 at age 27, Herm Krannert was hired by the Sefton Corporation.  Sefton made corrugated boxes, and they were at the top of their field.  Herm was eager and worked hard.  At age 30, he was rewarded by being promoted to VP and director.  There was one condition:  He would be required to vote as the president wanted him to.  This offended Herm and he saw it as an affront to his integrity.  He immediately quit.  Imagine being promoted to Vice President and director of a major company and unemployed in one day!

Herm came home and shared the news with his wife, Ellnora.  She comforted him, and assured him things would work out fine.  They did!  A group of co-workers heard what had happened and they quit also.  They said they wanted to pool their cash together and start their own company, and they wanted Herm to be president.  That was the beginning of the Inland Container Corporation, which would end up to be the 2nd largest container manufacturing corporation in the country.

If you walk the campus of Purdue University, you will find Herm’s name in many places.  Most noticeable, there is the Herman Krannert School of Management.

Herm was a man of rock-solid integrity.  We respect people with such a quality.  We also respect one of the most important ingredients we need to achieve and sustain our integrity…COURAGE!

Posted: May 17, 2024 | Categories: Management, Self-Improvement

“Success in business is a series of steps”

– Rodger Ford: Founder of Alpha Graphics

Would you care to guess what percentage of multi-million dollar lottery winners go bankrupt in the first 3-5 years?  If you guessed 40%, you are correct!  How could that be?  People who have and keep money have developed the habits and discipline of being good managers of money.  Those who win the big jackpot are often not the best stewards of their resources.  If we want to succeed, we need to “crawl before we can walk”.  For any worthwhile achievement there are steps involved and we must work through each one.

When I was an infant, I never went through the crawling stage.  I just went right to walking.  Who wants to crawl when you can walk?  It turns out that jumping the gun was a bad move.  When a baby crawls, he or she gets used to putting one hand in front of another.  That is important, because when we do walk we will have many a fall, and we need to instinctively put our hands out to protect ourselves from bashing our head.  I had to wear a football helmet for nearly a year.  I had leap-frogged over in important step in development and I suffered.

As Americans, we want what we want and we want it fast! Before we can succeed we need to painstakingly go through each important phase.  A good plumber was once an apprentice.  A major-leaguer was once in the low-paying minors.  Whatever we want, there are stages and steps involved.  We must be patient and focused to thoroughly complete each step.  If we do, we can look back with pride about all the grit we put in along the way.  What is your next step?

Posted: March 12, 2024 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

“My name is Lisl, I’m 16, and I don’t need a governess!”

Movie:  “Sound of Music”

Have you ever tried to help someone, and the person you are trying to help totally rejected you?  Did you think you were wasting your time?  In some cases, maybe you weren’t.

Many years ago I learned a lesson that I have never forgotten.  I was facilitating a 12-week leadership class, and it was session one.  We started by putting the spotlight on one class member at a time.  The goal was for each person to introduce themselves and explain what they wanted to gain from the training. Things were going fine until Gordon came up.  He said, “My name is Gordon Evans.  I was ordered by my boss to be here, and my goal is to get this class over with so I can keep my job.”  Hmmm…, I thought.  I like to meet people where they are at and Gordon was giving me ample opportunity to do that.

I decided to give Gordon his space for the first 3 weeks.  To his credit, he showed up for each class prepared.  Gradually, I began to break the ice…patiently.  I felt I was making incremental progress.  Then came week six, and he had a major breakthrough.  From that point on in the training, he was locked in, learning and growing as much as anyone in the class.

Six months after graduation, I received a call from Gordon.  He had received a promotion and was now in New Jersey.  He called to tell me a great success story he had that was a direct result of applying something he had learned in class.  I asked, “So you did enjoy the class after all?”  He replied, “No, I hated it.  I just thought you would want to hear this story.”  A smile came to my face.  Lesson learned:  If you really care and try to help someone, stay in there with them.  Your persistence can pay off in a wonderful way.