Does Your Customer Experience Have A Heartbeat?
August 15, 2008
Answer these simple questions and you can determine for the most part what kind of customer experience is being delivered: Read more
Separating From Your Competition
May 27, 2008
Phil is sitting in my office with complete determination that he is going to do whatever it takes to grow his business. We have the typical conversation. He believes he brings a lot of value to his customers. I agree with him. People need the service he has to offer. I ask him a simple question, “So how much would you like to make in a year?”
He pauses, looks down, then answers, “I would be happy with $200,000.”
“Great. Now how much would you spend to make $200,000?” I ask.
He answers, “I don’t know. Maybe $5,000” Read more
How Are You Playing?
April 28, 2008
There was a class of MBA students that was once asked by their professor, “What is risk?” The answers that came back were conventional:
“To start a business,” and “To become an entrepreneur,” and “To invest in the stock market.”
The professor let the class name several and then he named it, “To have only one source of income. This is what you have when you are an employee. When you own a business, you have multiple streams of income by the number of customers you have. If you lose one, it does not proportionately affect your income as being an employee.”
Context for Service
May 3, 2006
I was reminded by a professional friend how the concept of employment is a modern day novelty. 100 years ago and beyond, people built their lives by their abilities and bootstraps. The farmer built his lot. He planned, worked hard and ran his business. He went through discouragement, faith and wins based on his output.
Today, it is hard to measure your result as it gets diluted in the context of corporate life. However, you do have immense value. Realizing this is only a few steps away. The biggest one is context. You do not know what conversations you will be in this week or even today. Todd Skinner states in his book, Beyond the Summit, “Opportunity is often a matter of both preparation and chance.” Or as the famed scientist Louis Pasteur states, “In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind.”
The question is, are you prepared? Are you prepared to have that conversation that explores your value beyond an employee? Do you have a context to talk within? A business set up? A structure? A business card? Context drives conversations that may be missing you every day.
In the new economy, your employer is your customer. Are you acting with an owner mindset?
Free Agency
May 2, 2006
Do you remember Jerry McGuire? It was a cold hard look at how athletes were depicted as commodities.
Now think about yourself. You don’t necessarily have a fast-talking agent out there selling you like a commodity. You are most likely in possession of some talents which have been exchanged for a market value - your salary, benefits, stock options or other forms of compensation. What if you thought more like the free agent athlete? The football player who knows his contract is finite and conditions can change?
Perhaps you do need some agency to supplement your lack of salesmanship. Think of your employer as one of your customers and develop more along the way. You may want to start by simply reading Bill Jensen’s Work 2.0 which captures the spirit and essence of aligning as a knowledge worker in this rapid economy.
Break the illusion and step into reality. Stephen Covey said, “Security is not a job to me. Security is in my ability to produce.”
Get truly secure in your mind.
