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.  

True Innovator.

True Innovator has a mantra they belief in...The enemy of best is good. They are constantly getting to make things better. What others call impossible they see as probable. They live out of their imaginations. They live to challenge the commonly accepted. They assume nothing. They see no limits. To them, everything is possible.

If you want to be a leader, I have a simple suggestion: Just keep innovating. Innovate at work. Innovate at home. Innovate in your relationships. Innovate in the way you see your life and innovate the way you see the world. To become stagnant is the beginning of death. Growth, Evolution and Reinvention sustain life. Sure it can be scary. But wouldn't you rather feel your fear than play small in life?

Of course, while you innovate and refuse to be bound by the chains of complacency, there will have chances that we will still fail. Not every risk we take and not everything will work out as planned. I mean that's just life. Failure is the essential to success and the more we stretch, the further we will growth. Failure is a gift. It has been so helpful to me. It took me closer to my dreams, equipped me with more knowledge and toughened me so much that i will be prepared. Success and Failure go hand in hand, like a business partner.

Companies that don't innovate wont survive, so the key is driving this innovation. The lesson is especially important when things are going well. Though it doesn't make sense but successfully company needs to me twice as innovative as their competitors to ensure they stays at the top. Leaders that don't innovate are displaced by those willing to take risks.

So go to work each day and refuse to do the same thing you did yesterday. Keep challenging yourself to think better, do better and be better. Shake things up a bit and confront your limitations. Refuse to in mediocre, stand up for whats best and commit to being great in all you do. And then you will realise how great you have become!  

Stay Productive. Are you?

The New York Times recently ran an article about how email can make people less productive. However, misuse of email is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Here are 10 actions that you can take today that can make you at least twice as productive as your colleagues.

1. Avoid meetings that lack an agenda.

Meetings can only be productive if people know why they're meeting in the first place. An agenda provides focus and purpose. The lack of an agenda guarantees meandering conversations that dive into rat holes. They're a waste of your (and everyone else's) time.

2. Never pick up on an unknown caller.

Unless you're working in telesales or product support, there's no reason why you should ever take a call from somebody you don't know. After all, when was the last time you took an unexpected call that was truly important? Days? Weeks? Months?

3. Permanently turn off your voice mail.

A voice-mail message consumes minutes of your time (more if you have to replay) to communicate information you could absorb from an email in seconds. Explain in your outgoing message that you don't use voice mail, and instead provide your email address.

4. Hone your email program's sorting rules.

It takes time and energy to change gear to sort through (and respond to) a long list of disconnected messages. Most email programs allow you to route different types of messages into folders, where you can review and respond en masse rather than piecemeal.

5. Periodically disable email and texting.

When you must do creative work or absorb complex information, the last thing you need is your computer and phone chirping and beeping for your attention. Whatever it is, it can wait until you've finished the task at hand. Trust me.

6. Give social butterflies short shrift.

For some people, a day at work means an endless coffee klatch. They wander the halls searching for somebody, ostensibly to discuss business but really just to chat. Don't let these time leeches hobble your success. Just say no. If necessary, get rude.

7. Reward your body with high-quality fuel.

What you eat determines your energy level, and your energy level determines how much you can get accomplished. Sugary treats provide a quick energy boost but then create an even deeper dip. Heavy foods take energy to digest, leaving you with less to use.

8. Take a five-minute walking break every hour.

The human body is not designed to sit for hours at a stretch. Attempting to do so inevitably creates aches and pains that leech your energy as your body tries to compensate and heal them. So get up and move! Use a timer if you have to.

9. Make your decisions more quickly.

Most people waste an extraordinary amount of time obsessing about (and second-guessing) their decision making. However, you're always better off making a good-enough decision quickly than waiting for an imaginary best decision.

10. Completely disconnect for 12 hours every day.

If you stop pretending to be productive when you're eating and sleeping, you'll be far more productive when you're actually working. Being always available is an unfailing recipe for stress, illness, and bad decision making. Give it rest.

Leadership

Leadership and success begins on the extra mile. Leadership is shown when a salesperson makes an extra calls at the end of the day, because it is the right thing to do. Leadership is shown by the manager who finishes a report that has taken the very best from him, then goes back to it a little later to polish and improve it even more.

Leadership is shown by a team that delivers on their value promise to a customer and then digs even deeper to wow them. Leadership is shown by human being who fights the urge to stay under the covers on a cold day and throws on her running shoes to pound the pavement.

Those among us who craft extraordinary careers and spectacular lives are those who spend most of their time giving their best out on the extra mile. Ordinary people don't spend much time on the extra mile. But who ever said you were ordinary?

Leadership

There is a statement which I think everyone should know. "Everyone needs to be a leader." I believe for a company to move into greatness, every person on the team needs to see himself or herself as a leader. The best companies on the planet grow leaders and develop leadership potential throughout the organisation faster than their competition. Making that happen is their number one focus. And they do it quickly.

But I am not saying everyone should run the company. That makes no sense. Everyone is a leader, but not everyone does the same thing. Imagine in a resturant, the chef role is to ensure the dishes are cook, the waiter to ensure the diners ordered are placed correctly and follow up with them. The cashier, to collect money. What if the chef takes on the role of the waiter, while the waiter become the cashier and the cashier become the chef. It would be chaotic!

Know your role. Everyone needs to behave like a leader-no matter what they do. Everyone needs to demonstrate leadership traits- regardless of their position. That means everyone needs to take responsibility for getting the results that they generate. Everyone needs to do their part to shape culture. Everyone needs to be positive and inspirational. Everyone needs to keep a customer happy and protect the  brand.

Everyone is a leader, but not everyone is the same. If you are appointed as leader in your life, see how you can make everyone a leader here.