Show Summary: I picked out this title for a very special reason. This is a short and sweet show about customer service but I'll dive into more detail about customer service in another show. But today, I want to talk about something very specific which is literally about when anyone from your company is "engaged with the customer." What do you mean by "engaged?" Anything you do that affects or interacts with your customer is really engagement Answering your phones Tech support Email messages Face-to-face communication Branding or your website The experience they get when they interact with you and your company Rules of Engagement for Customer Service: Always be polite. Answer the phone with a smile. When you're smiling, they will feel the energy. Always show empathy. This depends on the type of business you're in. This is often when you hear an issue from customers. Be empathetic about their problem and challenges, regardless of how silly it is, to make sure you're listening to them and that you don't offend them and don't diminish their need or issue they have with you. Never engage in an argument with a customer. Always take the high road. This is really tough but getting fired up, vulgar, or rude is never the answer. Nor would you allow them to get rude or mean with you. Dictate how people treat you. Do your best to give them options. One of the best ways to win a customer for life is to solve a problem they have or hear out the issues they have and that can turn them into ambassadors pretty quickly. Be accountable to your word. When talking to a customer on the phone or send them an email, or make a commitment on behalf of you or your company, be accountable for it. Be sincere and genuine. This could be hard especially if they call up to complain about your customer service but being sincere and genuine is really important. As a business owner, it's your job to make sure that your customer service team and the culture of your business are dialed into these rules. Unfortunately, some people are not really sincere and genuine. They don't care about the customers and they really don't have an empathetic heart. They could care less if the customer is happy. If this is your company, DO NOT put up with that. “One single bad customer service representative can cause a tremendous amount of damage.” How ironic is it that oftentimes they're one of the least paid people in the organization but they can have the biggest impact. Remember, your customers pay your bills. They are your biggest ambassadors. They pay your employees. They put food on the table. So they deserve your respect and the best treatment possible. With not too many new ideas out there in the world today, an easy way for you to stick out is to provide the best service possible! Let's close on with a couple thoughts for you to marinate in: What are you doing to ensure that anything your customer engages with the organization is only of the highest quality? Do you value your customers? Are you sure all of your people that engage with customers value them? Lastly, remember that a happy, loyal customer base could be the most lethal sales force around.   Books, People, & Resources: Download the 15 Most Popular Tools Business Owners Should Be Using

F53-021: Rules of Engagement for Customer Service

The Focus 53 Podcast in your one-stop shop for all things related to business operations. We focus on the systems, people, and processes needed to run a successful small business. If you’re looking to improve your business and need practical help, this is the show for you. Ryan is a business coach and strategist that has had the privilege of working with companies of all sizes from Microsoft, Sports Illustrated and Time Inc. to hundreds of small businesses in the last 20 years.  We focus on Business Operations and helping business owners identify and solve opportunities and roadblocks with the people and processes in their company.

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A few weeks ago, I took my 7-year old son to the Colorado Avalanche game and though we've been there before, this was for a school function so they weren't the best seats in town although frankly, I don't think there are bad seats at an Avalanche game especially if you're a student at a game where you could sit up high and see how things develop. We were up high but it changes your perspective. As we were sitting up there, little Ryan was asking about things in the sky and as I looked up, he pointed to the jerseys in the ceiling and asked these questions: What are they doing there? Are they special? How come there are hockey and basketball ones? How come there are some with no names on but say Champions? As I sat there and asked those questions, it just dawned on me how significant and how much work went into those banners and what they signify. As a former athlete, I worked my tail off to get my name on the rafters. I don't think there's a kid that played sports that didn't dream about playing on the Super Bowl or on the NBA Championships or winning a home run or getting your name on the rafter. It's all about winning championships. So I explained to my son that those were the leaders and champions who were fortunate enough to get their name raised and be recognized because of their hardwork. They were recognized that they were the best of the best. My son sat there a little puzzled and further asked what the best of the best means. I didn't have a good 7-year-old-answer to him except for this: When you play basketball and there's 20 different teams and you know who the best guys are on that team. Then you take those best guys and stick them on another team and then you take those best guys and you stick them on another team and then you get to the very end where there's nothing left but guys that are the BEST. They're the best of those guys or girls. Those are the ones who get their names on the rafters.   What does it take to get up there? Work hard. Have fun. Do your best. I thought about this relating to business and questioned myself if this what I'm doing and the things I go after. Am I working so hard to get to the rafters where I want to be the best? I played sports and I fell short of it as a lot of people do too. But it's the journey that matters. And as I questioned that, it became so surreal to me. Then my son asked me this question I knew it was coming, "Dad, are you retired and in the rafters like them?" I told him I was on the Hall of Fame in high school although nothing like these guys.   Lessons to be Learned: We all aspire to work as hard as we could to get our names in the rafter and to be a champion or to get our team in the rafters and retire. But you won't get there if you don't work like a champion, if you don't have fun, or if you don't lead. You will get close and you will earn legacy status if you do those things even if you don't get into the rafters. There's a lot of great people in business and in the sports world that are not in the rafters but still live epic lives. Are you working hard to get into the rafters? Or are you just going with the flow and drifting? Are you fulfilling your destiny and using your God-given skills to better yourself and the world, to better your family, to better your life, and to better your circumstances? Are you getting up everyday letting your feet up the ground, getting fired up to be the best you can be?  Books, People, & Resources: I'm researching former professional athletes and how they transition from being an athlete or a new lead athlete into the "real world." I'm interested in hearing about their struggles, their challenges, roadblocks, successes, and everything in between. Sports has always been a big part of my life. I love them. I have a special interest in athletes and specifically the ones that have competed at the highest levels. Do you know anyone like that? If so, I'd love to hear from them or maybe it's even you. Shoot me an email at ryan@Focus53.com.

F53-083: Put Me In The Rafters | Strive To Be A Champion

My guest today is Cameron Herold, the mastermind behind the exponential growth of hundreds of companies. Cameron built a dynamic consultancy and his current clients include a Big Four wireless carrier and a monarchy. His clients say what they like the most about him is that he isn't a "theory" guy. And this is what I like the most about him as well. He speaks from experience. He's actually done the things he talks about doing. He has a reputation for growing businesses and he's the guru behind them in doubling their profit and doubling their revenue in just three years or less.  Topics We Discuss: Major challenges of organizations: Vision & Alignment and Quality level of people Cameron's concept of the Vivid Vision: A 5-paged written document that describes your company in vivid detail three years from today The challenge to get A players and working hard at getting rid of the wrong people Is business difficult? Hiring for greatness: Finding people who have done it before + Reference checks The power of having a daily accountability partner Focusing on the critical few things versus the important many Hiring A players: Giving them a better place to work + Core values Stop making excuses, fix your excuses! Metrics for success: Net promoter score + SWOT Analysis Factors for profitability: Employees first, customers second How to grow your business from zero to 60: Customer satisfaction Balancing systems: Family first, personal stuff second, then work The importance of unplugging yourself from work Building fun activities and building your business around that   Books, People, & Resources: Double Double by Cameron Herold The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs by Cameron Herold Good to Great by Jim Collins The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard Endurance by Alfred Lansing Toronto Sport and Social Club  

F53-082: Stop Making Excuses, Fix Your Excuses & Grow Your Business - Cameron Herold

Today's show is a bit of a rift but this seems appropriate to dive into. The topic is called Unconscious Bias. Here are a couple of definitions to set the stage as well as some of the narrative around it before I dive into what my beef is with it.  Bias versus Intuition Bias is defined as an inclination of temperament or outlook, especially a person, and sometimes unreasoned judgment. The flip side of it is something I consider one of the most powerful things that business people or anyone for that matter have, which is their intuition. For me, I've found that when I do some of my worst work is when I don't follow my intuition. Intuition is defined as the ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reason. So it sounds an awful lot like a bias. However, a bias is obviously with negative connotation. You look down on something or somebody or have some type of prejudice.   Unconscious Bias You may have heard of this term and there is a massive narrative going on with this. I see it extensively in large organizations and on media outlets, especially the Fortune 500 companies I'm in or around. With training, communications, meetings, forced training, forced action, and questioning - basically everything you do is some form of unconscious bias. It's a question of the people you work with, with their race, gender, sex, nationality, etc., the people you hire and fire - it's all being shaped or molded by this concept of unconscious bias.   A Mask on Discrimination, Stripping Away Intuition To me, this is a new mask put on the word, discrimination. (This might make your feathers ruffle a bit) Instead of focusing on the people or the circumstances that are discriminatory, the narrative is that you have to question every decision you make about any person, any situation, any organization and vetted against some sort of bias. Therein lies the problem. I believe this strips us away of some of our natural intuition and the biases we have in our life are the things that have built our intuition. Especially for those people that are intuitive (which I consider myself), it strips away your power. For example, if you have walked by a house that has type of dog that's ferocious and vicious (pitbull for instance) and it bites you, maybe you'll be scared of dogs. However, if you walk by five houses and this dog is ferocious and vicious and it bites you, you're going to establish an intuition about that type of dog. So when you run across that dog in the future, you will now have this natural thought process about that type of dog. That's normal and natural. That's what you call a defense mechanism. That's what you call experience. People that are experienced in the field see things, feel things, hear things, and sense things. That's what makes them awesome at their job. This unconscious bias strips that away. So when you run across another pitbull and you automatically associate it as dangerous, you could be wrong but you could also be right. And you could be right far more times than you are wrong for that one bias that you have. This is the challenge in the business world, in corporate America, or in your small business. What does that unconscious bias look like?   It’s About Being Smart There is a fine line between a bias that's on the negative side and intuition. Let's face it, this is where people may not agree with but your intuition is not only for good things but also for the bad things. If it's going to be labeled as a bias that your intuition tells you to stay away from a certain person or business profile that's treated you wrong, if those are the things you stay away from because you've learned from them in the past, then I don't consider you a racist or that you're discriminatory. Instead, I consider you smart that you're taking action.   Labeling Based on Perceived Unconscious Bias I am not naive, in the slightest, to believe that there is no discrimination out there. My wife's family is from Mexico and my kids are half-Mexican. I am a mentor of underprivileged youth so I am very aware of the discrimination for race, gender, sexuality, nationality, etc. But the narrative of not putting people in a box and then later put them in a box because they're part of the box or that you hire or fire them because they're not in the box is the same thing with what they're trying to teach about not having unconscious bias. When I was a kid, we had a mixture of nationalities - Hispanics, African-American, Asian kids. I really didn't know the difference between races or what that meant. In fact, one of my best friends at that time was Jewish. I had no idea he was different than anyone else because he really was not. They just had a different holiday celebration but that was it. They're the same people. Unfortunately, we've lost some of that. My intuition now is that we lose some of that by labeling and forcing actions based on this perceived unconscious bias. I was talking with my business coach, Mark Silverman, and brought up this concept of unconscious bias to him and how it charred me a bit. He brought up a good point though that people do have unconscious bias. I get that.. I wouldn't even call it an unconscious bias. I think some people are just flat out discriminatory. I don't even consider it unconscious.  Intuition versus Reality You have to have a level of awareness inside of you to acknowledge what your intuition tells you versus reality. People that are aware of that can handle it. So if I see a pit bull and it comes up nice and wagging its tail and excited to see me, I should be aware enough to change my perception about that. And you can apply this methodology to whatever business scenario you want.  I’d Love to Know Your Opinion Unconscious bias is a hot topic right now and I'd love to know your take on this. It's a massive hot topic in the Fortune 500 companies. As a side note, anything that becomes a massive hot topic in the Fortune 500 space is because they're afraid of getting sued. They don't do anything without some type of consequence so they're doing risk mediation. Like I said, I consider unconscious bias as just another painted picture for discrimination and the things that come with it. This is a disturbing topic for me because it strips away intuition and again, for me, intuition is built through experiences and experiences create really good professionals and really good business people. Stripping that away and throwing a wet rag over that does the business person and the employee a bit of a disservice.  Some hard core examples from a business standpoint: Facial or neck tattoos When somebody comes in and I'm interviewing them and they have facial or neck tattoos or piercings, you can bet that I have some intuition about whether this person is a good fit for my company. And I may be wrong and they may be the best person in town. But they don't fit what I'm looking for and I know that. They will have impact on my customer base if they're doing physical interactions with them that I don't want. Call that bias. Call that intuition. Call that experience. But if you've got a neck tattoo, you can't be helping me sell or deliver high quality services and it's just how it is.   Communication I think that scenario happens all the time. And sometimes it is wrong. You hear it all the time in the development or programming space. Like you don't want an Indian person answering the phone because you can't understand them. And I find that to be crap. That said, if their communication is not good, regardless if they're Indian, Chinese, Mexican, American, etc, if they can't communicate well then that's the problem. It has nothing to do with them being Indian.  What are you trying to accomplish and what are you trying to solve? How does your intuition work? Mine doesn't work in "Wow! They're Indians so they automatically don't speak good English." But, "I wonder how well they communicate." I'm obviously going to wonder if they have a thick Indian accent that would be hard for people to understand. Of course, that has to go through your thought process and has nothing to do with being racist or bias because they're Indians but it has to do with whether they're communicating well. And you need to vet that out.  Books, People, & Resources: I'm researching former professional athletes and how they transition from being an athlete or a new lead athlete into the "real world." I'm interested in hearing about their struggles, their challenges, roadblocks, successes, and everything in between. Sports has always been a big part of my life. I love them. I have a special interest in athletes and specifically the ones that have competed at the highest levels. Do you know anyone like that? If so, I'd love to hear from them or maybe it's even you. Shoot me an email at ryan@Focus53.com.

F53-081: Unconscious Bias - Be Careful Not To Desensitize Your Intuition

Guest Name: Coach Dayne Guest Intro: Today's guest is the distinguished and honorable Coach Dayne. He's a former professional athlete turned mental performance coach. He's focused on elevating our belief, what we're capable of, and achieving and aligning our mindset with those new expectations. I've been following Dayne for some time and I love his style. I love his message. He's an athlete and I'm a big fan of athletes being a former athlete myself. I love his "no excuse, no BS" kind of way. Topics We Discuss: Coach Dayne's background growing up in a family of athletes A missing piece in what people or trainers are teaching: Mental performance His struggles and how he got into mental performance coaching The other side of struggle: Greatness Aligning your mentality as an athlete with your business or career How to harness your greatness when you keep on making excuses: Going from macro to micro The power of visualization: Having a mental picture of what you're working toward Goal versus vision: How do you differentiate them? The secret sauce: Get committed to your belief! Hiring for greatness: Identifying the barriers that are holding you back Redefining failure as a success: Failure is your trampoline where you will be launched to new levels. Failure isn't just inevitable, it's mandatory. Putting yourself in situations where you can fail to train you for greatness How do you know you're on the path: An inextinguishable passion Coach Dayne's vision of making an impact and how he defines it Reshaping your expectations and raising them to insanity Monitoring progress: Journal entries and progress report on video The power of taking risks: Stop playing it safe!  Books, People, & Resources: Learn more about Coach Dayne on www.coachdayne.com and connect with him. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

F53-080: The Power of Mental Performance Coaching - Coach Dayne

Do you have any certificates? OR What awards do you have? OR What certifications do you have in your arsenal of skills? Let's break down what this actually means.  An External Validation It's really a validation. They're asking for external validation, which is some form of insurance of who you are or what you are. This is an indication that you haven't served them. Over the last 25 years, I've worked for companies like Microsoft, Ford, Dell, Sports Illustrated, and with small businesses (hundreds of them at this point in time). And when someone that you've already worked with ask you for these types of things, you haven't served them initially right out of gate. Or they're looking for some form of "insurance" about who they're talking to. They also use that as a quick way to discard organizations or people they're working with. And they make decisions based on other people's perceptions. So it's an external validation.  Are you certified? Do you go for awards? I'm a lifelong IT person and I've been in all sorts of positions from the very bottom to the very top in an IT organization. Along the way, I've held all sorts of certifications which have got me jobs and have got me in the door. I've learned a lot of "booksmarts" trying to obtain these certifications. Some employers or people really value them. They will love them. And they do sound good. I was one of the very first people to get my Microsoft certification back in 1999 and back then, I was a big deal. Nowadays? Who gives a squat? It doesn't really matter in that realm. But back then, it was a big deal and I used it to my advantage. I actually had my company pay for me to go to a bootcamp where I spent 13 days just hammering, learning, and taking test to get the certification. And the company tried to pin me into their organization because they paid for this $5,000 bootcamp where I went and got certified. They wanted to make me a prisoner of their organization because they paid for it. I had other job offers because I now had the certification which really meant a lot back then and they were going to pay me a lot more. So I basically paid my company their money and for the certifications, I paid for myself and went on. That was a great decision for me. But it's a good example of how the certificate benefited me. It made a lot of sense since I also learned a lot. Plus, I met someone who later turned into my future boss twice that brought me into great organizations.   Do I still pursue certifications and/or awards? No. As a business owner and an employer, I would actually even put college degrees in this bucket now as well. I really don't care that someone has a certificate in web design to work in my company or care for business coaches that only have to have a business certification from some place. I've worked with some that have certifications who are fantastic but I've also worked with many that don't have certifications and they're just as fantastic. So for me, this is something I don't make decisions on. I believe the best employees, producers, companies are the people that are just actually doing great stuff. I want to see real results. I don't care about scholastic achievements or awards. It's not always the best who wins the award. So you have to look no further than our pool of presidential candidates. That doesn't mean they're the best in the country or at anything to run it. If you work your butt off, produce great results, and get an award, that's awesome! You should be proud that you did something so powerful that other people noticed. Your goal should always be to win, to be productive, and to serve your customer.  Getting a certificate or a certification This may ruffle a few feathers but this reminds me of the movie, Tommy Boy, about guarantees. I'm not certified in a lot of the things I do but I don't care. I'm not guaranteeing something that I have. I would throw caution at the wind that there are a lot of people that use a certification as their business model. So instead of building a business, they go and get a certification and use that as a way to attract business even when they're not really qualified to deliver their product/service. And that's scary! Getting a certification is not like walking in and spending two weeks at a bootcamp You have to be up for it. Tradesmen and apprentices don't just follow a plumber around for two weeks and become a full-blown licensed, professional plumber and expected to do good work. Especially with doctors and lawyers, it takes time to gain that skill in your craft.  Winning an award If your goal is to win an award just so that you can attract prospects, it may work. But it's going to catch up with you sooner or later. Your business model isn't going to work.  The Products of Running a Great Business Wrapping up, there's nothing wrong with awards, certifications, and certificates. Many are well-received and very valuable, and most of them are great learning experiences. But as a consumer, I'm always aware that these certificates or awards just don't mean much to me. As a business owner, certifications and awards are benefits of running a great business. If you win an award because you're recognized in your industry or community, that's awesome. But that's a product of you doing a great job. If your people who work for you want to get certified because they want to pursue it to deepen their knowledge and you're able to provide that for them so they can get certified, then that’s awesome. But those are products of running a great business. They are not business plans to get certified and get a job or business after that. So you don't want to be the guy or gal who sold a guaranteed piece of crap just because you have a fancy certificate or won an award. It won't work.  Books, People, & Resources: I'm researching former professional athletes and how they transition from being an athlete or a new lead athlete into the "real world." I'm interested in hearing about their struggles, their challenges, roadblocks, successes, and everything in between. Sports has always been a big part of my life. I love them. I have a special interest in athletes and specifically the ones that have competed at the highest levels. Do you know anyone like that? If so, I'd love to hear from them or maybe it's even you. Shoot me an email at ryan@Focus53.com.

F53-021: Rules of Engagement for Customer Service

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