An Experience of a Life Time

My wife Patty and I spent almost all of April on a vacation in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. Eighteen days were spent on board The Crystal Symphony cruise ship. Crystal is and up-scale, up-service and up-priced cruise line. Fares are at least double Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, etc.

If you’re smart, you’re NOT trying to be the lowest priced alternative in your business in your market. That’s a great way to go out-of-business.

While you don’t necessarily need to be the most expensive choice, you should be offering a premium product or service and giving exceptional customer service that warrants a premium price.

When you deliver a premium product or service
to your customer it’s hard for them to go back to ordinary

Note that word experience in the title of this article.

I’ve been on about eight cruises and I’ve enjoyed them all, but NONE was close to the emotional experience of Crystal.

Can you make what you do an emotional experience?

Go to the internet. Google Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World”and start playing it now.

Picture this. You grew up in a lower income family. Vacations were great. You loved them. You got to see your cousins, every year.

I certainly never pictured myself on a luxury cruise ship in Bali, Indonesia.

You’ve been aboard for seven days now. You’ve been served by wonderful people from all over the globe. People who learn your name, find out something special about you, know when it’s time for you to switch from iced tea to a martini, ask where your brother and his wife are when they don’t see them with you, people who give you a sincere smile that shines from their entire face.

You’ve just had a wonderful time ashore discovering a exotic new land. You’re dressing for a casual dinner. You realize you’re leaving port so you step out onto your balcony as the sun sets and you hear Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World” playing over the ships speakers.

“I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world”

Now you hear a winsome single cry from the ships fog horn.

By the time we left our last port, everyone was outside to hear Louis Armstrong and wiping away tears. No one on that cruise will ever hear that song again and not think of their Crystal Cruise.

The ship’s captain said it well on the last night with an old Irish toast.

Here’s to tall ships.
Here’s to small ships.
Here’s to all the ships on the sea.
But the best ships are friendships so
Here’s to you and ME!
Until we meet again.

And yes, we made new friends. With only 850 passengers, verses up to 6,680 on the biggest ships it was easy to meet people. We plan to visit Willie and Elaine Montgomery in Ireland in two years.

Yes, Crystal does some BIG things that help build that emotional experience. Their ships are smaller. Their food is 5 star every night. You can dine in the main dining room, or four specialty restaurants, and not pay extra (OK, you paid thousands EXTRA up front – but don’t miss the free specialty restaurants). You get free premium alcohol (free?).

But the reality is, it’s the little things that made the emotional difference. The waiters in the restaurants. The servers by the pool and lounges. The maids! The maître d’ who knew your name by day two, knew waiter and table you wanted, and then joked with you when he saw you at specialty restaurant rather than his main dining room.

What did it cost to play Louis Armstrong over the ships intercom – nothing?

What did it cost for the captain to give his wonderful toast – nothing?

What does it cost to hire and train staff the delivers Make-You-Happy Customer Service? Yep, there is a cost for this, but I contend hiring and training to deliver exceptional customer service has the biggest cost benefit ratio of anything you can do.

Click here and discover how to create customer service so good that people come back time and time again and enthusiastically tell other about you.

An Experience of a Life Time

My wife Patty and I spent almost all of April on a vacation in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.  Eighteen days were spent on board The Crystal Symphony cruise ship.  Crystal is and up-scale, up-service and up-priced cruise line.  Fares are at least double Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, etc.

If you’re smart, you’re NOT trying to be the lowest priced alternative in your business in your market.  That’s a great way to go out-of-business.

While you don’t necessarily need to be the most expensive choice, you should be offering a premium product or service and giving exceptional customer service that warrants a premium price.

When you deliver a premium product or service to your customer
it’s hard for them to go back to ordinary

Note that word experience in the title of this article.

I’ve been on about eight cruises and I’ve enjoyed them all, but NONE was close to the emotional experience of Crystal.

Can you make what you do an emotional experience?

Go to the internet.  Google Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World” and start playing it now.

Picture this.  You grew up in a lower income family.  Vacations were great.  You loved them.  You got to see your cousins, every year.

I certainly never pictured myself on a luxury cruise ship in Bali, Indonesia.

You’ve been aboard for seven days now.  You’ve been served by wonderful people from all over the globe.  People who learn your name, find out something special about you, know when it’s time for you to switch from iced tea to a martini, ask where your brother and his wife are when they don’t see them with you, people who give you a sincere smile that shines from their entire face.

You’ve just had a wonderful time ashore discovering a exotic new land.  You’re dressing for a casual dinner.  You realize you’re leaving port so you step out onto your balcony as the sun sets and you hear Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World” playing over the ships speakers.

“I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world”

Now you hear a winsome single cry from the ships fog horn.

By the time we left our last port, everyone was outside to hear Louis Armstrong and wiping away tears.  No one on that cruise will ever hear that song again and not think of their Crystal Cruise.

The ship’s captain said it well on the last night with an old Irish toast.

Here’s to tall ships.
Here’s to small ships.
Here’s to all the ships on the sea.
But the best ships are friendships so
Here’s to you and ME!
Until we meet again.

And yes, we made new friends.  With only 850 passengers, verses up to 6,680 on the biggest ships it was easy to meet people.  We plan to visit Willie and Elaine Montgomery in Ireland in two years.

Yes, Crystal does some BIG things that help build that emotional experience.  Their ships are smaller.  Their food is 5 star every night.  You can dine in the main dining room, or four specialty restaurants, and not pay extra (OK, you paid thousands EXTRA up front – but don’t miss the free specialty restaurants).  You get free premium alcohol (free?).

But the reality is, it’s the little things that made the emotional difference.  The waiters in the restaurants.  The servers by the pool and lounges.  The maids!  The maître d’ who knew your name by day two, knew waiter and table you wanted, and then joked with you when he saw you at specialty restaurant rather than his main dining room.

What did it cost to play Louis Armstrong over the ship’s intercom – nothing?

What did it cost for the captain to give his wonderful toast – nothing?

What does it cost to hire and train staff the delivers Make-You-Happy Customer Service?  Yep, there is a cost for this, but I contend hiring and training to deliver exceptional customer service has the biggest cost benefit ratio of anything you can do.

Go here and discover how to create customer service so good that people come back time and time again and enthusiastically tell other about you https://tinyurl.com/KLcustomer

 

We Messed Up FAR TOO OFTEN

I became a customer service GEEK in 1981 when I read Tom Peters and Robert Waterman’s book, In Search of Excellence.  I was then thrilled to hear they made a documentary on the book and it was going to be shown on PBS.  I recorded the show onto my VHS.

Every employee I’ve had (that’s well over 300) since then has watches the customer service sections of that documentary.  Since I wore out my recording, I eventually bought the VHS and then the DVD.

From 1981 on, we were REALLY GOOD at listening to our clients, putting ourselves into every client interaction and make things right when we messed up.

By 1991, we had grown dramatically, and while we did a great job of making things right when we messed up, we messed up far too often.  We wasted a bunch of time and money fixing things and I was totally burned out being the know- it-all King Solomon.

I had become a slave to my business.  It seemed like I was always responding to things and taking care of problems.  I had no time for myself.  It was not fun.

I decided I didn’t want my business to grow anymore.  It seemed like the only things that grew as fast as my business were my headaches, and I sure as heck didn’t want any more employees… talk about headaches.  I might as well have been a babysitter.  I in fact, considered throwing in the towel and going back into sales.

Happily, that wasn’t the end of the story.

By 2005 I owned 5 profitable businesses and loved what I did.

But what happened?

How did I go from a guy who didn’t want to expand his business, who had more headaches than he could handle, to a guy whose business has grown dramatically, added four more businesses, loves his work, has the time he wants to spend with his wife, kids, and grandkids, has time for his many hobbies, and recently sold that original business for millions more than like businesses?

Now, since 1995, when I go on vacation, I never get interrupted.  I come back refreshed and excited to get back to work.  Instead of problems, I come back to a business running as well, or better, than when I left.

Before I sold my big business, I went on a 3-week Mediterranean cruise, with no cell phone and no email.  I told my Vice President of Operations the ship I was on, and I told her “You’ll have to figure out how to get in touch with me if you need me.”  I knew she wouldn’t need me.  Like I said, since around 1995 when I go on vacation, I never get interrupted.

How does the business get better while you’re gone?

It’s the system.  The entire system is designed for continuous improvement whether you’re there or not.

I invented THE small business management system that made me more money, made my job infinitely easier and more enjoyable… a system that our employees love and in fact led to us being named “The Best Small Business to Work for in Washington State” by Washington CEO Magazine.

It’s a system that creates great clients who love doing business with you.  At the same time it gives you, the owner, more time to work on the important things in your business: more time for your family, more time for your friends, more time for yourself and it is simply a lot more fun.

What they teach in business school doesn’t work for small businesses – I know, I’m and business school graduate.  I was using that crap when I was burned out!

Do you think this system just might work for you?  Frankly, it’s not right for everyone, so why don’t you schedule a free 30 minute consultation with me to see if it will work for you.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to sell you anything.  We’ll simply have a conversation.  If it’s not right for you, it’s not right.  I’ll learn about you.  You’ll learn about me.  We’ll still stay in touch and remain friends.

Go here to pick a time to schedule our 30 minute consultation https://keith12.youcanbook.me/

What Would Walt Do?

You may have seen that I’m leading a Customer Service Expedition to Disney World with my friend Vance Morris in February.

I’ve, mostly, been discussing it in my Customer Service tips and newsletters, but it’s critical to understand that ALL GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE STARTS WITH GREAT LEADERSHIP.

While at Disney World, you’ll discover the secrets Disney leadership uses to get minimum wages employees (cast members) delivering, what is considered by many to be, THE MODEL for The World Best Customer Service.

My friend and mentor Dan Kennedy is a self described curmudgeon (a bad-tempered or surly person), yet he seldom goes on vacation anywhere other than Disney World. He says, “One of the reasons I go to Disney World is that I am never told no.”

Vance Morris, my co-host on our Disney Business Accelerator Service Boot Camp is a past ten year executive with Disney. I’ll be asking this question to Vance and other current Disney execs we meet with at the boot camp. “My friend says he comes to Disney World because he’s never to no. How do you train your team to not say no when the answer is no?”

What question will you ask the current
Disney execs when we meet with them?

P.S. February in Orlando sounds pretty nice eh?

What would Walt do
with your business or practice?

There is an insidious decline in customer and client service in America with many customer service departments focused on neither service nor customers. This gradual, seemingly harmless, decline may not be easily noticed, but it is having a grave effect on the profits of businesses across America. And if Walt Disney were to rescue some these laggards of customer service, here is what he would do…

The first thing Walt would do with your business is to infuse some magic into it. But not the magic that you may be thinking of… A different sort of magic.

You generally do not hear or use the word magic in business, unless of course you are a magician. You won’t find magic on a balance sheet or in a financial statement of any business. Most bean counters will probably not be able to measure the return on investment (ROI) for magic, nor is it depreciated or amortized over the next 20 years. How then, does the Disney company, a multi-billion dollar global enterprise manage to generate so much money around magic?

We all know that there really is no magic. Only the illusion thereof. To the audience the magic show is something that can be completely amazing, filled with wonderment and joy. Not knowing how the trick or illusion is performed is all part of the fun of a magic show. However, to the magician performing the show, the perspective is the polar opposite.

A magic show is merely a very systematic event, a series of repeatable steps designed to create a specific outcome; the delight and amazement of the audience. Now to answer the question posed above… Disney really has practical magic all figured out. I hate to burst your bubble, but contrary to popular legend, Disney does not have a mine where pixie dust is extracted and then showered on the cast members (Disney speak for employee) before every working shift. They just have a REPEATABLE, replicable system to perform their show.

It is practiced.
It is updated.
It is practiced again, and again and again.

Then it is performed. Whether it be at a restaurant at one of the resorts, an attraction at a park or the route the buses take, all the magic at Disney is created with repeatable, replicable, practiced systems.

The next thing Walt would do with your business would be to implement some WOW components to how you serve your clients. The question Walt would ask you is “how can you create an experience out of the mundane”

The Wow Component means not only to meet the expectations of your clients or guests, but to exceed them, on a repeatable and consistent basis. To be sure, there are many companies that may WOW their clients occasionally. Maybe the occasional “above the call of duty” experience. Getting upgraded for free on a flight, extra whipped cream on a sundae, or an employee just did everything possible to make an unhappy client, happier.

But to truly Disnify your business, you need to make exceeding your clients’ expectations your standard operating procedure. In order to consistently exceed your clients’ expectations, you must be dogmatic, strict and unyielding in your pursuit. Analyzing your clients’ experience (from their perspective, not yours), understanding your Client Compass (Needs, Wants, Stereotypes and Emotions) and committing every part of your business (Processes, Infrastructure, Design and Training) to creating a magical experience.

The next thing, Walt would introduce to your business is to have an obsession with details. Walt Disney was famous for his attention to every detail and he dictated that everyone had the same attention that he did.

Every business should be about the details. One small oversight of the smallest of details is the beginning of the end for you. You must be unwavering in your demand for adherence to every detail in your business.

One of the chief causes of failure today is the striving for unearned success. Doing just the bare minimum in providing service and then wondering why your client never calls you back. I recently had an appliance repair company come to the house to fix a noise in the drier. When they arrived the technician was in a clean uniform (it was already 2 oclock and he had been working), placed a mat on my porch to wipe his feet, placed a towel under his tool bag and used special mat to slide out the drier so he would not scratch the floor. Now mind you, the drier is in my basement on a concrete floor and he still used the special mat. Deciding on the right “level” for each thing we do is important.

Walt once said: even if I’m the only one that notices, some things are still worth doing, because I need to be prideful to be motivated. I’m paraphrasing, but I’m close. I have to be proud of what I do, at least comfortable with it, regardless of others’ appreciation. And if I lived on others’ appreciation, my service would be nowhere as powerful as it is. Few clients can appreciate every nuance, my reasoning and the psychology behind the service I provide, many take it for granted, hardly anybody faints from awe or gives my technicians standing ovation.

Walt would then create a Service Theme and Service Standards for your business. Disney’s Service Theme is “To create happiness for people of all ages everywhere.” Vaguely sounds like a USP, doesn’t it? This Theme is the foundation and prerequisite for all undertakings at Disney. Every decision made by the cast and management is measured against it.

Service Standards are then set to create the specific actions that are necessary to achieve the Service Theme. Disney has ONLY FOUR Service Standards. Here they are in order of importance: Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency.

This is cut in stone.
It is immovable.
There is no questioning it.
This is the guiding principle for everything that happens at Disney.

Safety: Safety is built into everything they do. It is the first consideration when they are designing Rides and Resorts, Emergency Services, Environmental Protection, Prevention, Training and Policies & Procedures.

Courtesy: Courtesy is taught from day 1. The fundamentals include Treating every Guest as a VIP, knowing the answers to questions (or finding the answers), giving the personal touch, using friendly phrases and gestures and being aggressively friendly.

Show: Show is integrated into every element of setting and theme. This includes Cast Appearance, Costumes, Documentation, Show Quality reviews, Standards Manuals, and of course, Cast Members are performers as well as service providers.

Efficiency: Efficiency involves both the utilization of facilities and systems and the cast members who operate them. Points that are considered include: Capacity of Facility, Guest Flow Patterns, Sales, Speed of Service, Space Utilization and Operational Readiness.

In order to have over 75,000 employees providing a seamless, exciting and memorable experience to millions upon millions of people 365 days a year, you must have a systematic process to avoid the utter chaos that would ensue.

There are processes for every little thing that occurs at Disney. From putting air in bus tires, to the bus drivers’ greeting to guests, from how many lanes are needed at the entrance to the park to how the parking lots are filled up, there is a step-by-step, exacting procedure for each.

And as with any good plan, process or system, there are clog or combustion points, and breakdowns can occur. And instead of creating a happy memory for a guest, that clog point can turn a good day into a bad one rapidly. One example we worked on was the “Lost Car” problem.

Imagine if you will that you have rented a car, (Continued P10 – What Would Walt Do?)
that by the way looks like just about all the other rental cars in Orlando, and you parked it in a veritable ocean of other cars early in the morning. Then after 8, 10, twelve hours at the Magic Kingdom, they emerge only to forget where they parked. Was it Goofy 5, Pluto 4 or Daisy 9? (Disney names and numbers its’ lots after their characters). The tram drivers also announce those locations as guests board the trams, but still, cars are lost.

Now instead of leaving those sunburned, exhausted and weary tourists wandering will-nilly through the acres of parking lots, the cast came up with a fix of sorts. Since the parking lots are filled in a specific order, the tram drivers began keeping track of what lot and row they were in at the time the cars were parked in the morning. That list was then distributed to the next shift of parking attendants. So if the guest could remember at least an approximate time they arrived, they could narrow down where the car was.

Examining your processes and choke points could reveal some serious client and guest pain points.

Finally, and this really is the bottom line point: You are running a business. Disney, at the end of the day is a BUSINESS. And the whole point of running a business is to generate PROFIT. As of this writing, Disney has just increased it park entry tickets by another 5%, and NO ONE is complaining. If they are, they are doing so quietly, as the theme parks are having record attendance. Also, as of this writing, Disney announced that they have raised their stock dividends a whopping 34% after a year of record results.

IF that’s not a reason to Disnify your business, I don’t know what is.

Join Vance Morris, ten year Disney exec and me at Disney World Ferbruary 27 – March 2 and discover how to Disnify Your Business.

Get your Invitation and complete details at https://keithlee.com/disney-info.

How to Have the PAY Discussion

How to Have the PAY Discussion

There is no discussion that creates more anxiety for a business owner or manager than that of talking pay with a team member.  It doesn’t need to be like that.

When you have guiding principles, and a written document, that everyone understands, the discussion simply become another business discussion.  It simply, is not a big deal.

I was talking with a Kyle, a private client, last week and we got on the topic of pay, and raises.

He had previously done Performance Reviews in his business and like most business owners he hated them.  He admitted that he was, in fact, months overdue in getting them done because he hated them.

He was also feeling guilty because the Performance Review was the time they discussed pay, which meant he was behind in giving raises.  Then he confessed that one of the main reasons he hated Performance Reviews was the pay discussion.

Everyone was used to get a raise at their review, and he had a lot of people that didn’t warrant a raise right now.

I pointed out to Kyle that his experience with Performance Reviews and pay is the same as everyone’s.  It’s a NO-WIN for both parties.

I told him the experience of my brother-in-law at Boeing who hated Performance Reviews and why the discussion of pay during Performance Reviews was a NO-WIN for both parties.

When my brother-in-law had a Performance Review and was told he did everything great and got a dollar raise, he left saying to himself, “I did everything great and I got a measly dollar.”

But, seldom would he leave being told that he did everything right because the manager knew he had to limit raises, so he had to find something that was lacking.

So he would be told that he was lacking in some area, and then the next time we saw him he complained about how he wasn’t appreciated at Boeing.

Performance Reviews are stupid to start with.  Managing one’s performance in REVIEW is idiotic!  Adding pay into the discussion is BEYOND IDIOTIC!

Kyle’s question was, how do you address pay in The Make-You-Happy Management System?

My answer – “Pay needs to be transparent.  I don’t mean everyone needs to know everyone else’s pay.  In fact discussing your pay with others in our business if forbidden.”

“What I mean by transparent is, they need to know what is taken into consideration in determining pay.”

We then talked about the pay document included in The Make-You-Happy Management System.  It’s entitled, “How Pay is Determined.”

I told him this needs to be shared with every team member on their first day of employment.  It will make pay transparent for that individual, and it will motivate them to continually look for ways to improve the business.

I also told him he needs to distribute the, How Pay is Determined document to his entire team right away.

How Pay is Determined has eight bullet points that spell out exactly how each person’s pay is determined.  Kyle and I discussed the preamble to the document and the first bullet point.

How Pay is Determined

It is the manager’s responsibility to review the pay of each of their team members, at least, once a year (more often if the manager sees fit).  Whenever the manager thinks it is necessary (s)he should review the team member’s pay with the president of the company, and make recommendations for adjustments.

This is a discussion of how pay is determined:

If you are on commission you should expect that your pay will rise and fall with your commission and that you will create your own pay raise.

While many of the issues discussed below may apply to commission positions, this statement deals primarily with salaried and hourly positions.

A number of issues are involved in determining wages at <Business Name>.
Here are a few:

  • Prevailing wage – The reality is no manager, including the President of the company, sets the pay at <Business Name>. The biggest factor in setting a pay range is the market.

It is very simple.  If our wages are too low, we won’t attract or keep quality employees.  If our wages are too high, we won’t make money and we will be out of business.

Just because someone is here for a matter of time it doesn’t mean they automatically get a cost-of-living raise.  It is very possible, in fact likely, that we currently have positions in which the job being done simply is not worth any more money to the company.  At this point, regardless of how well the job is being done, a wage increase would be very small and possible nothing.

A huge problem with mature businesses is that over time their payroll can get out of line with the rest of the industry and the company can no longer be competitive (think United Airlines, Trans World Airlines, Pan American Airlines, General Motors, Ford).

When we as a company are more efficient and productive than others in our market place our team members can be at the top of the pay scale for a particular job.  In fact, we can create a NEW top above what the market pays for a particular job.

This is why it is so important that you are an active participant in our continuous improvement.  You are needed to insure that our MJRs service both our internal customers and clients in the most efficient and effective way possible.  You need to speak up when you see an opportunity to improve a MJR.

In every Personal Development Interview you will be asked, “Since we last met, what did you find that was broken, or could be improved; and what did you do to fix, or improve it?”  It is critical that you always look for ways to improve our deliverable to our clients.

The How Pay is Determined document then goes on to discuss the other seven factors in determining an individual’s pay in a Make-You-Happy Management System business.

There is no reason for a pay discussion to cause the anxiety it does.  Discover how to truly take control of every part of your business in my book, “How to Control Your Business and Your Life.”  It’s free for you.  All I ask is your help with shipping and handling with a $2.97 fee.

Click here to get “How to Control Your Business and Your Life.” 

Exposed! Owner of Company Named ”Best Business To Work For In Washington State” is a “Ruthless Manager”

By Lois Lane

It was reported today that Keith Lee, the owner of American Retail Supply, which was named the Best Small Business to Work for in Washington State by Washington CEO Magazine is a Ruthless Manager.

How is that? How can the owner of the company named “The Best Small Business to Work for in Washington State” now be revealed as the co-author of the New Edition of No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits?

It was reported today that Dan Kennedy, the author of numerous No B.S. books, chose Keith Lee as the co-author for his newest edition of No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits.

Our Lois Lane caught up with Mr. Lee as he was sneaking into his office today and asked him how he could head the Best Business to Work for in Washington State and be a Ruthless Manager.

Mr. Lee replied… “I don’t choose the names for Mr. Kennedy’s books, and Dan and I don’t
agree on everything, but when it comes to managing a business and the people in it; we agree much more than we disagree.”

Keith pointed to page 14 in the No B.S. book where Dan Kennedy writes about business owners, “And one thing they all have in common: gripes, complaints, disappointments, frustrations, pain and agony with regard to their employees. Much of this has to do with unreasonable expectations and a misunderstanding of the actual nature of employer-employee relationships. Some of it lies squarely at the fault of the business owner for failing in one or more of the Three Requirements for Having Employees: Leadership, Management, Supervision.”

Mr. Lee continued, “While I don’t think the nature of the employer-employee relationship need be as adversarial as Dan, the expectations and the nature of the relationship needs to be addressed during the employees’ first day of employment. With our DVD training business owners who use our Make-You-Happy Management System set those expectations during the first hour of employment.”

Mr. Lee agrees wholeheartedly with Mr. Kennedy’s statement that business owners failing in one or more of the Three Requirements For Having Employees is the cause of many of their headaches.

Mr. Lee says, “Business owners usually lead, manage and supervise as they were led, managed and supervised, or how they learned in business school; neither of which work very well.”

Performance Reviews Suck

Mr. Lee pointed to Performance Management. Every business owner knows that they need a Performance Management System but the only type of system they know about is Performance Reviews and they know that Performance Reviews Suck. With this the business owner continues with Performance Reviews knowing that they suck, or they stop them altogether, and are left with no Performance Management System.

Mr. Lee informed this reporter than Dan Kennedy agrees that Performance Reviews are “like looking in your rearview mirror to drive your car.” Mr. Kennedy’s tells the story of how the late Mike Vance, who worked personally with Walt Disney on the original Disney University and other projects, laughed and scoffed at standardized annual or quarterly ‘performance reviews.”

Mr. Lee’s management system replaces Performance Reviews with Personal Development Interviews.

Mr. Lee went on to explain. “Just listen to what they’re called. Which would you rather give… a Performance Review or a Personal Development Interview? Would you rather review someone’s performance, or develop someone?

What if you’re on the receiving end? Would you like your performance reviewed or would you rather have someone work proactively to develop you?

Which do you think gets better results, developing people and coaching them or reviewing their performance after the fact?

Traditional management focuses on catching people doing things wrong. If every time I do something wrong the boss catches me, but he doesn’t catch me when I do things right, my creativity is stymied and I stop using my creativity, stop stepping out front, and stop helping the organization grow by using my creativity.

Conversely, when we start catching people doing things right, we encourage empowerment. People start to do things in the organization. Productivity improves on an ongoing basis. Improvement doesn’t just come from management but from the whole organization interacting with each other and picking each other up. The organization is permeated with a motivating environment.

Another benefit of this type of management is you create a learning organization. Researchers tell us that as we move forward, people are going to stay with organizations where they have an opportunity to grow and learn. There are going to be many more skilled positions than there are people to fill them. And if there are a lot of skilled positions and not enough people to fill them, money isn’t going to make the difference. Money is going to be a given. You’re going to have to pay in the competitive market to get good people.

But they want to work in a place where they can grow, where they can enjoy themselves, where they can use their creativity to help the organization grow, and that happens in a learning organization. That’s exactly why my company, American Retail Supply was named the Best Company to Work for in Washington, by Washington CEO Magazine.”

What You Accept You Get

What You Accept You Get

Dan Kennedy asked me to write three chapters in his book, NO B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits.

My Make-You-Happy Management Systems clients think it’s very odd that I contributed three chapters to a book with the words Ruthless Management in the title. They point out that my system is anything but Ruthless.

I won’t go into details as to why Dan wanted me in his book, but you’ll get a taste of why I’m in his book in this article.

In the article Dan talks about Donald Trump ripping the towel dispenser off the wall and toss it down the hall. I’m not that kind of guy.

But I can sure as heck see myself, like Eisner, firing a group of employees, at a Disney Park, for not smiling.

No one, in any of my businesses, would expect to have a job if they were ever found to give rude customer service, and yes, I’ve set that example by firing someone on the spot, even when we were short handed.

I’m told businesses write people up THREE TIMES for consciously and deliberately doing something wrong.

Are you kidding me??? As Donald Trump says, You’re Fired!

And yes, and I’ve done that on the spot when I found someone consciously and deliberately doing something wrong.

You need to create a culture in which NO ONE would consider doing something consciously and deliberately wrong… and if they do, they’ll start walking out the door on their own.

You can get Dan’s Ruthless Management Book at Amazon.

Dan’s article is here in blue.

Here’s a secret I’ve discovered about million-aire and multi-millionaire entrepreneurs: they want what they do and their companies do to be right. Not 80% right. Not 90% right. Right, period. They are, therefore, very much disliked by a lot of people, and if they are “big” enough, by the media. Jobs. Bezos. Trump. Working for them, many ex-employees say, was hell. But maybe it was being incompetent in their employ that was hell.

Winning isn’t just a statistic on a spreadsheet or a bank account balance. It is the customer, Mrs. Matilda Smith, in Rockford, Illinois, getting what she asked for on her pizza or the right product in the delivered package or a human answering her call in fewer than four rings. Customer appreciation is not a once a year sale or an automated thank you e-mail. It is an authentic attitude, top-down, permeated throughout an organization, actually occurring – and measured, policed and enforced – every day. I don’t care how big your company, if you don’t actually care about the people, the individuals, giving you money, they will drift off in search of a place where they feel valued and appreciated.

Another secret about rich entrepreneurs: they don’t just seek success. They HATE failure. They often react to it violently. Martha Stewart was known to drop into a K-Mart store, find her branded goods sloppily stocked and throw the entire inventory from shelves onto the floor. Eisner instantly fired a group of Disney Park employees caught not smiling. Walt had a fit over one’s lousy delivery of The Jungle Cruise script. I saw Trump tear an empty towel dispenser from a restroom wall in a Trump hotel and throw it 20 yards down a hall.

These people are said to terrorize their employees, their associates, their vendors. But how calmly should you accept failure? Should you “stay calm and carry on”? Only if you want more of the failure you calmly accept. If your blood doesn’t boil and offenders see fire shoot from your eyeballs, your lesser response will be taken as permission. If there is failure and new training, new controls, new supervision is not installed as remedy, then “let’s TRY and do better” will be taken as permission.

There are places where incompetence as failure has dire and instant consequences. The jailer who forgets to lock the inmate’s cell or misses the razor blade in the body search may wind up quickly dead. It’s a fine object lesson for other jailers. The cruise ship captain who is busy texting and gets into too-shallow water and capsizes and sinks the whole thing, and injures and drowns passengers, goes to prison. As it should be.

Creating dire and instant consequences for incompetence and failure is a good thing in any and every business. I’ve told of Chuck Sekeres’ “3 strikes and you’re out” for his in-bound telemarketers: three calls in a row without a set appointment, you’re out. Next batter up. No quarterly performance evaluations. Don’t even wait to be told. After 3, get up and slink out. Minute by minute.

Drop three passes in a game, butt on bench. If possible, traded. Fail at managing the V.A., the IRS and Benghazi, shouldn’t three strikes be enough? They tried to impeach Clinton over one intern. I used the word RUTHLESS in my book title “No BS Management of People and Profits” because, damn it, we desperately need a lot more ruthlessness in a lot more places. In homes, in neighborhoods, in small businesses, in big companies, in government. You can start with you.

Here’s some reality. Dan doesn’t like employees. He tells everyone to have none, or as few as possible. I guess I can’t disagree with that. You certainly shouldn’t have more employees than you need.

With that said, I think employees (team members) are the ultimate leverage tool in your business. Every additional employee should send more to the bottom line FOR YOU!

And no, in my system, we don’t get performance at a high level by being Ruthless. We get them performing at a high level by setting high standards, creating systems that allow them to produce at a high level, getting buy in from them, and conducting Personal Development Interviews that make every individual feel important and appreciated.

Schedule a 30 minute free consultation with me to discover exactly how to do all of that. Go to https://keith12.youcanbook.me/

The Law of Reciprocity and Your STAFF

The more I coach business owners the more I’m convinced, the teacher learns more than the student.

A few days ago I told you Dave Coyle, the owner of a very successful chain of dry cleaning stores, In The Bag Cleaners, in Wichita, KS, told me that everyone wants to feel important and appreciated and Personal Development Interviews give Dave, and his managers, a specific time to sit down with each team member and show them they are important and appreciated.

I posted this video on YouTube to tell you about that.

Then in the comments section below the video on YouTube Dave added.

“The hidden truth (or maybe not so hidden truth) behind this video is that when you learn to make team members in your organization FEEL important and appreciated, the law of reciprocity kicks in, and your team works much harder, and more autonomously, because they FEEL invested in. When they work harder, they are empowered, and the business owner has more freedom to enjoy the rewards of business ownership. And you see a business owner like Keith who is able to do videos from his boat!! This video is a result of Keith becoming a master at Personal Development Interviews – which inspire and motivate team members! “

Thanks, Dave, for the wish words on The Law of Reciprocity.

The Law of Reciprocity from BrianTracy.com

“Have you ever felt the need to help someone who has helped you in the past? This is known as the law of reciprocity. It is one of the many different persuasion techniques that you can use to influence others.

Law Of Reciprocity

Persuasion by reciprocation is based on the law of reciprocity. It’s considered by many to be the most powerful law of human nature. Basically, it states that,

“If you do something nice for me I’ll do something nice for you. I feel obligated to reciprocate.”

For example, if we go out to lunch and I pick up the bill, you almost always offer to pay for it next time. Next time we go out to lunch, you insist on paying for the bill.”

How are you using The Law of Reciprocity with your staff? What are you doing, other than giving them a pay check, to have your staff feel the need to help you and your business?

Do you have my newest book, Performance Review Suck, How to Replace Demotivating and Counterproductive Performance Review with Motivating, Inspirational, and most Importantly Productive Personal?

You can get it here.
https://www.performancereviewssuck.com

When you implement Personal Development Interviews you initiate one of the most powerful laws of human nature with your staff.

Do What You Do So Well
That People Can’t Help Telling Others About You

Keith Lee
Keith@KeithLee.com

Hiring a Millennial? Are You NUTS!

I don’t want to get a bunch of hate mail, so if you’re not a spoiled millennial who thinks
you should get something for nothing and the beer’s free, THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU!  In fact, during the FREE tele-seminar I’m hosting, I’m going to show business owners how to identify YOU and how to hire a millennial who will give them a good day’s work for a good day’s pay.  In fact the title of the tele-seminar is, How to Hire a Millennial Who Will Give You a Good Day’s Work For a Good Day’s Pay.

I do a lot of one-on-one consulting with business owners and every single one has a horror story of hiring a millennial.  It’s not an exaggeration when I say, some have given up on the entire generation.

You don’t need to give up on hiring millennials and you don’t need to change your business to accommodate them.  The articles I see about changing your business to accommodate millennials drive me NUTS!!!  They’re telling you to spoil the brats more?  As United States Army, General Anthony McAuliffe said to the German’s when they asked him to surrender at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.

“NUTS!!!!”
Don’t Surrender to that B.S.

The solution is simple, you need to hire millennials who will put in a good day’s work for their good day’s pay.

Believe it or not, millennials who will put in a good day’s work for their good day’s pay are out there, but you need to know how to identify them – AND you need to know how to identify, and not consider, the spoiled brats who think they’re entitled.

You’ll discover exactly how to do that during the FREE 45 minute tele-seminar I’m hosting with Grant Robinson.

Click here to register

Do you have friends, clients, members, vendors or other business associates who might want to attend?  Feel free to invite them, but be sure to register yourself right now because we have a limited number of phone lines.

Grant wants to make sure he answers all of your questions and concerns during our time together, so enter a comment below with any questions you want Grant to answer, and share any millennial horror stories or successes.

Click here to register

If Walt Disney were an NFL Owner

What Would Walt Disney Do,

If He Were An NFL Owner Today?

NFL owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place with players kneeing for the national anthem, entire teams deciding to stand together, or kneel together, or deciding to not participate and stay in the locker room.  Players protesting, displaying their political beliefs both before the game and during the game.  Fans are being turned off, rating are down and ticket sales will be next.  And the owners have no one to blame but themselves.

As a management and customer service consultant, I often look to Walt Disney for inspiration and guidance.  In fact the name of my management and customer service system comes directly from Disney training.  In Traditions 1, new cast members (Disney speak for employees) at Disney are asked, “What business are we in?  Everybody knows that McDonalds makes hamburgers, General Motors makes automobiles, Sony makes TVs, what does Disney make?”  The answer, “Disney Makes People Happy.”

My Management System is called The Make-You-Happy Management System and my customer service system is called The Make-You-Happy Customer Service System because in both cases the focus is on a system that makes customers happy, team-members happy, management happy, and business owners happy.

But yikes! What would Walt Disney do if he were an NFL owner today?

If Walt were an NFL owner today he would have no issue at all, because every player, coach, and all support staff would have gone through Traditional 1, and each and every one of them would know that they are in the entertainment business.  That they are all players in a performance, and their job is to entertain the fan – the people in the stadium.  They would understand that at no time are they to break character and do anything that is not focused on providing the best entertainment value for the fan.

On the very first day of employment, every player, coach and staff member would have gone through training focused on the history of the franchise, and its value of putting the fan first.  The first time Colin Kaepernick took a knee, Walt would have instructed the staff to repeat Traditions 1 and remind the team of the basic values of the organization, and make it clear to every team member that their duty is to the team and that they must always respect the fan.  The general manager might even ask the team if they could imagine George Harrison in Indiana Jones stopping while fighting the Germans and making a comment on a political issue.

Then when Donald Trump made his statement, Walt himself, would have addressed the team and reminded them that their obligation is to the fan and the values of the team.

It’s clear to me that the NFL, and most team owners, don’t know who they work for, and they certainly have not passed it on to the players.

They don’t know that there is only one boss, and whether a person shines shoes for a living or heads up the biggest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same.

IT’S THE CUSTOMER.

He is the person who pays everyone’s salary and who decides whether a business is going to succeed or fail. And he doesn’t care if a business has been around for 100 years.  The minute it starts treating him badly or taking him for granted, he’ll put it out of business.

The boss, THE CUSTOMER, has bought and will buy everything you have or will have.  He’s bought all of your clothes, your home, your car, pays for your children’s education and your vacations.  He pays all of your bills, and he pays in exact proportion to the way you treat him. 

The man who works inside a big office building or plant might think he works for the company that writes his paychecks, but he doesn’t.  He is working for the person who buys the product at the end of the line.

In fact, THE CUSTOMER can fire everybody in the company from the president on down.  And he can do it simply by spending his money somewhere else. 

Some of the largest companies that had flourishing businesses a few years ago no longer in existence.  They couldn’t or didn’t satisfy THE CUSTOMER.  They forgot who the boss really is.

In chapter one of The Happy Customer Handbook I write,

“The starting place for Make-You-Happy Customer Service isn’t exciting or fancy, but it is critical.  Your core values, your vision, your mission statement, what-ever is at the heart of your company, needs to put a huge emphasis on the customer.  If it doesn’t, it’s going to be apparent on a daily basis.  Your team members simply won’t believe you when you tell them that customer service is all-important, and it’s going to be reflected in the service they give your customers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like making money as much as the next guy.  In fact, the best reason to implement Make-You-Happy Customer Service is to maximize your income.  But if your core value is only making the most amount of money in the least amount of time, then you might as well stop reading!”

Giving a lot of thought to your core values is critical when it comes to making tough decisions in your business.  Often the right decision is easy when you refer to your core values.

I’ve been a season ticket hold of the Seahawks since 1977, their second year as a team.  Today I have six season tickets.  I go to football games to escape reality, not have it thrown in my face.  Every time I walk in the stadium I’m spending close to $1,000 and yet the players, and now coaches and management think it’s OK to both take and make me feel uncomfortable.  I don’t know how long I’ll keep my tickets.  I used to proudly wear my Seahawk apparel, now I’ll only wear it on game day when I go to the stadium.  I don’t want to walk around and have someone ask me what I think of their protests.

It was apparent to me, when the NFL implemented instant replay that they didn’t understand what business they are in, The Entertainment Business.  With instant replay they took excitement from the game.  They think “the game” is more important than the entertainment.

Prior to instant replay, on a close play in the end zone, you looked to the official and if he signaled touchdown you “went nuts.”  Now you look to the official and if he signals touchdown you “start to go nuts” and then you come back to reality and think, “I hope it stands.”  Then after a five minute wait for the official you see it was a touchdown and no “half nuts.”  They don’t know what business they are in.

As a side note.  Disney, especially ESPN, has forgotten who the boss is also, which is why they are in a tail spin.

You can get my book, The Happy Customer Handbook for free.  Go to www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook. I simple ask that you pay $2.97 to help cover shipping and handling.