Engaging our Customers

I was reading the book, Strength Based Selling, and I came across this particular chapter on Engaging your customers.

We know how important customers are for business. Some says customers are "King" while others say they are the real boss of the business. There is no right or wrong to this but more importantly is the organisation end to end process align with what they see their customer as?

The key message for this chapter falls on 2 groups of customer.

1. Emotionally Satisfied Customers
2. Rational Satisfied Customers

Emotionally satisfied customers usually have strong connection to the company. They are the number 1 die hard fan and believe in the company. They are also the key reason for the growth of the company.

Rationally satisfied customers on the contrary usually behave almost the same way as customers who are dissatisfied.

How many of you knows what I talking about? 


It further note customer engagement are build on 4 emotional needs:

1. Confidence - the company can be trusted to deliver on their promises


2. Integrity - Customers trust that you treat them fairly and resolve their problem


3. Pride - Proud to be associated with this company. Customer like to feel good about the decision they made and see themselves as capable and competent.


4. Passion - Customers who are passionate about your company offering. Their describe their relationship as irreplaceable and perfect fits for their needs.

When customers feels their emotional needs are met everytime they are more likely to become emotionally engaged with you.

So, how do we know where we are? 

We all gonna start somewhere right? There are a set of questions which we can engaged our customers for status check and us to work on the shortfall.

1. Overall what things are working well as a result of our partnership


2. What elements of this relationship are helping us build solid results together


3. Is there anything that is not going well as it should be?


4. What could we change to correct this?


5. Are you dealing with any issues right now that I could help you work through to improve the business?


6. Is there any information or education you need that you are not able to get?


7. If you could change one thing about how we are working together, what would it be?


8. What would you never change about the way we work together?


9. Is there anything else that would help us build an even stronger working relationship?

The above questions I find them to be useful as a customer relationship status check amidst our hectic schedule. Try them out next time and let me know how well it works for you!


Side notes: Some of the information were extract from the chapter from the book of Strength Based Selling.

Convert Your Staff

How many of you agrees in order for an organisation to grow fast, they need to be able to grow their leaders as fast? How many of you experienced working in an organisation that wants to grow but their leaders are still staying stagnate?

I believe one of the competitive advantage of any organisations is the ability to grow and develop their faster than their competition. The more quickly you can develop the leadership in every single staff the more quickly the organisation will be able to lead the field. I mean every single staff regardless of position.

A leadership culture is one where everyone thinks like an owner, CEO or Managing Director. Everyone if proactive and entrepreneurial. This will means they focus on getting to solutions rather than on the problems This leads to doing whatever it takes and keep a group of happy customers. In turn, they are concern about sales and the bottom line which they will do their part to reduce cost. Taking personal responsibility for achieving results.

Think about this culture, positive staff who lead by examples. I am not saying everyone needs to do a job of the CEO, everyone starts "leading" instead of doing. I meant the mindset of a leader. Thinking from a leader perspective, acting and working from that personal responsibility mentality. And soon, how big the organisation will get? Your mind, the limit.  

Let's Get Up Early?

I was reading on the internet when I bump into this article. This is an awesome article about waking up early and how it impacts productivity, thus success.  

For 15 years, Starbucks President Michelle Gaas has set her alarm for 4:30 a.m. to go running. Gretchen Ruben, popular author of The Happiness Project (Harper Perennial, 2011) wakes up at 6 a.m. and works for an hour before her family rises. Time-management expert Laura Vanderkam highlights what makes mornings special and how we can use them more efficiently in her book What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. Here are a few benefits to getting out of bed earlier. 

You are less likely to get distracted in the morning. An entrepreneur's day fills up fast. If you wait until the afternoon or evening to do something meaningful for yourself such as exercising or reading, you’re likely to push it off the to-do list altogether. “There are going to be reasons why you can't tackle a personal priority at 4 p.m. -- things have a lot less likelihood of coming up at 6 a.m.," says Vanderkam.

You have more willpower early in the day. Even if you aren't a morning person, you may have more willpower in the early hours than later in the day. "Willpower is like a muscle [that] becomes fatigued with over-use," says Vanderkam. During the course of the day as you're dealing with difficult people, making decisions and battling traffic, you use up your willpower, leaving you feeling depleted toward the end of the day.

Mornings give you the opportunity to set a positive tone for the day. If you've ever slept in past your alarm clock or forgotten your kids' lunches on the counter, you know that starting off the day with a failure can bring down your mood and affect your productivity at work. Vanderkam says waking up earlier allows you to start the day with a victory and set the tone for a happier and more productive day.

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If the thought of waking up at sunrise makes you cringe, Vanderkam recommends these four steps to transform even a habitual night owl into a morning person.

1. Keep a time journal. Vanderkam says one of the reasons people say they don't like mornings is that they stay up too late. She recommends keeping a time journal for a week to show where you may be using your time inefficiently. Vanderkam finds when many self-professed night owls look at their time journals, they often find they aren't spending their evening hours productively or doing anything particularly enjoyable.

2. Imagine your perfect morning. Imagine what you would do if you had an extra hour in the day. Would you exercise? Read the newspaper rather than simply skimming the headlines? "[Getting up earlier] isn't about punishing yourself. You will not get out of bed if you don’t have a good reason to do it," says Vanderkam.

3. Plan your morning. Once you have decided what you want to do with your extra time, plan how to execute it, and set as much up as possible the night before. For example, if you want to exercise in the morning, lay out your clothes the night before, or gather the ingredients for your breakfast.

4. Build the habit slowly. Vanderkam says you will likely hit the snooze button and sleep in if you try to switch your habits drastically. So instead of setting your alarm for 5 a.m. when you normally get up at 7: 30 a.m. set the alarm for 10 minutes earlier each day. To make sure you don't lose sleep, go to bed 10 minutes earlier each night. If you have trouble hitting the sack on time, set a bedtime alarm.

Having seen all this, Let's get ourselves to wake up early now!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

It has been a very eventful year and that's what makes life more exciting isn't it? During this time of the year, many will start doing their end of the year reflection. I believe everyone need to be accountable in one way or another and reflection is the best way of accountability.

The year started tough and solid. Its like an uphill straight in my face even before it start. Looking back on the last few years, I felt those are just training for days like this. I take a turn in perspective and choose to feel blessed instead. It is only in those times, when I become more vigilant and focus. It is like a mental workout and yes I am right!

The beginning of the year, my team mates ain't around, some were on leave. Those who was supposed to be around tender their resignation and were gone while the other gotten into MC. Just when I thought everything was against me it was actually a blessing in disguise. My fellow colleagues literally treat me like 'King'. They make sure I never go hungry and those unimportant things they will settled themselves so I can focus on running my core work and get the events delivered.

I finally did it! I went to Macchu Picchu, the world famous UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the seven wonders of the world! It was a last minute decision as Tibet was suddenly closed off from foreigners, hence the switch. The best part, I am able to pull off the change one week before flying off! Talking about lucky!

I always wanted to learn speed reading. Even though I know the technique, but I couldnt understand how to digest the information by reading so fast? Is it lasting? The opportunity comes when Nicole arranged a photo reading session the coaches. The best take away from this course ~ What is the objective you want from reading this book? This is the first thing the instructor taught us. Always know why you want to read this book. I realise, this is so important in every aspect of our life! What we expect is what we get!

Next year is going to be so different! So much blessing, so much abundance and the wonderful things will start blooming. This time of the week, is usually where I start penning down my goals for the next year! Share with me your goals for next year and in the meantime, Merry Christmas to you and your family!