Customer Service Expectations

Remember, Your Customers Need To Know Your Customer Service Expectations

by Keith Lee

I get a few phone calls each year from customers who think they are not getting Make-You-Happy Customer Service from us.  Almost all of these calls start with, “I read in your newsletter that customer service is important to you, and I just wanted you to know…” or “A few months ago when I was on hold I heard that you wanted me to call you if I had a problem that wasn’t being taken care of.”

Sure, nobody likes getting calls like this, but in another way I LOVE GETTING THEM!

What’s the alternative?  For most businesses it’s a customer who really doesn’t want the hassle of complaining.  A customer who doesn’t care enough about you to say anything.  The customer who goes to the competition and not only doesn’t recommend you to others, but maybe even bad mouths you.  I love customers who give us the opportunity to MAKE THEM HAPPY.

Another thing you need to be sure to understand is that even though I consistently and persistently tell my clients over and over again to call us if they are ever disappointed and call ME if they are still not happy, just about every one of the people who call me to tell me that we’ve failed them, apologizes for calling.  That’s critical to understand.  You can’t just say this once and expect them to actually let you know when they’re disappointed; you need to tell them over and over and over again.

Find as many ways as you can to tell your customers that you want to know if they are not happy.

I stole an idea from Stu Leonard’s Dairy (which is a supermarket) in Connecticut.  He has a big sign with his picture that says, “What do you like?  What don’t you like?  I’d like to know!”  Every invoice we send out at American Retail Supply has a flyer that asks the same questions Stu Leonard asks: What do you like?  What don’t you like?  I’d like to know!  While it is redundant to send it out with every invoice, we do.  I want to be sure that every customer knows that they should expect Make-You-Happy Customer Service and that I want to know if they don’t get it.

But then, if you’re going to ask for input from customers, you need to act when you get it.  Every customer who writes to us at American Retail Supply, whether it’s a good comment or a complaint, gets a response.

Again, every chance you have, tell your customer you want to hear from them if they’re not totally happy.  Tell them when they are on hold.  Tell them with signs in your store.  Tell them in your advertising. Tell them any way you can think of.

Of course another reason you want to ask for those complaints is so you can fix the things that went wrong in the first place…

But there’s yet another great reason.  Your team members aren’t likely to forget your customer service expectations when they know that your customers know them and that you want your customers to tell you when they don’t get exceptional customer service.

Click here to see more about how we meet and exceed customer service expectations in our businesses.

Bury Your Ego

Bury Your Ego

by Keith Lee

 

I recently invested in myself and my company by attending a Glazer Kennedy Inner Circle event. While there, I went to lunch at an independent fast food style Mexican restaurant. The food was so good, I ate there 2 of the 4 days I was at the event.

While I was waiting for my order, a lady came up and said, “I ordered beans and got rice instead.” The clerk replied, “You ordered #1 with rice and salad, and two #3s beans and rice.” The lady replied, “Well, I wanted beans.” To which the clerk said, “I can give you a side of beans.”

In this exchange, it was obvious the cost of the beans was totally irrelevant – it was a tiny cup of refried beans for crying out loud! The clerk’s EGO was the issue. Why did she need to tell the client that she was wrong?… EGO.

A more timid client would have likely turned around without reiterating that she wanted beans, ate, left, and never come back. Who knows, in fact this client may not come back after being “put in her place” by the clerk. Remember, 68% of clients who leave one business and take their business somewhere else do so because they were treated with indifference.

There is a huge chance that this client will go somewhere else after being treated rudely. Anyone who works with your clients needs to be trained to put their ego aside. In this case, just say, “Oh, I’m sorry, let me get you a side of beans.” No EGO, no “putting someone in their place”, no chance for an upset client, no blame, just fix the problem.   Most client problems are just this simple. It just doesn’t matter. And it sure as heck is not worth embarrassing a client or making a client look bad.

So what was I doing at the Glazer Kennedy Inner Circle Event I talked about at the beginning of this article? I was practicing the quotation  from Jim Rohn, “Rich People Have Big Libraries, Poor People Have Big TVs.” Let me tell you how true that was for me at this event, and how true it can be for you when you spend your time and money increasing the size of your library.

While attending the seminar itself didn’t physically increase the size of my library, just attending the event and taking notes was a huge addition to my Mental Library and extensive library of notes and ideas. The tuition for this conference was $1497. Airfare, hotel, and food added well over $1000 to the cost. So my total investment for the conference was at least $2,500 plus a few days away from work.

One of the many incredibly exciting results of these three days happened at breakfast the first morning. I ran into a guy I had met at a previous conference so we had breakfast together. While talking with him at breakfast, before the conference even began, I got one idea that returned me at least 10 times the $2500 investment I made to go to the conference.

This newsletter is an example of investing in your library. The act of reading this blog post alone shows your team members that you are serious about client service.

I suggest you share this, “Bury Your Ego”, article with your team. It’s likely that teaching your team to do something to stop just one customer from leaving you and going to your competition will pay you big dividends.

If you want to find more great tips like these, then click the link below to request my free book The Happy Customer Handbook. It’s chock full of secrets to creating happy clients who come back time and time again. Not only that, they tell others about you. Just click the link below to get the hard copy delivered to your front door:

I want a FREE copy of The Happy Customer Handbook.

Honest Abe and “Reason Why” Advertising

Honest Abe and Reason Why Advertising

By Keith Lee

Even if some of the stories were fiction, two of our greatest presidents were known for their honesty – Honest Abe and “Yes I chopped down the cherry tree” George Washington.

This month we’re going to tie honesty into “reason why” advertising.  People like to know why.  This applies to a lot of things and certainly applies to your advertising and 3D Mail advertising.  Also, while there may not be any real reason your customer saves more at an “Anniversary Sale” or “Back to School Sale” or “End of Season Sale” or etc, etc, we all know that an “Anniversary” or “Back to School” sale is more effective than just “Sale”.

The NOT SO OBVIOUS Part of Reason Why Advertising

The “reason whys” I use above are pretty obvious and are used a lot, but I want to talk about some not so obvious “reason why” advertising and the power in using them.  I send a marketing tip of the week each week (actually twice a week) to my American Retail Supply clients (you can sign up to get the tip at www.AmericanRetailSupply.com by clicking on “Free Retail Store Marketing Newsletter.”  With each tip I send a ‘special of the week’.  Here’s a special I recently went with a reason why.

Let’s look at difference between using ‘reason why’ advertising verses ‘just telling you it’s on Sale’.

I could have simply said “Sale ½ Price” and included the details of the product itself.

Instead I told a story.  Here’s the story with the reason why:

‘I won’t go into details but our client received the wrong OPEN sign so we have this one here in our warehouse, and since it’s not in our catalog, or on our web site, it will just sit here unless I tell YOU about it.  Sale Price One Only $151.93

Now I don’t know how many orders we would have gotten had I simply offered the same product at ½ of its normal price, but I know that the Sale sign in the tip, with reason why advertising, was sold before 10AM on the morning that the Marketing Tip was sent.

So what does this have to do with Honest Abe?  Often a great reason why is simply telling the truth of why you’re having a sale or something in particular is on sale.

Here’s another example of reason why advertising that I used in a marketing tip of the week special:

We just got done with our twice yearly inventory and we found a few things that are going to just sit here taking up room unless we tell you about them.  So, over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing these items with you.  Now remember, these are here due to some mistake so the supplies are very limited at these prices.

Here’s an example of our sales rep using reason why advertising and making lemonade out of lemons.  BTW – this was a huge success!

The picture shown is of a refrigerator magnet.  The middle of the magnet can be removed after the event and used by the recipient for other pictures.  The American Retail Supply logo shown is the picture below is a label that Ariane used to cover up the RSVP phone numbers, email and the like.

Here’s the letter Ariane sent.

“You’re Invited…”

OK, I admit, you’re not actually invited to my wedding. To be perfectly honest the wedding was called off before I could even send out the invitations, and now I’m stuck with 200 of these magnet invitations! But I am inviting you to take a couple minutes to look at the enclosed magnet and flyer and see if they’d be right for your store.

I’ve always been one to make lemonade from lemons, and after holding these things for over a year wondering what the heck to do with them, I finally had an idea. I’ll send them to my top clients, like you, to show you the great BIC products especially magnets you can get from me at American Retail Supply.

I’ve enclosed the flyer so you can see some of the shapes, sizes and colors you can get for your store. I realize budgets are tight right now, but you’ve still got to advertise your business and get the word out. Promotional products and magnets in particular are a great way to do that. You can give them away as gifts to your best clients, give them to people who make a qualifying purchase, or you can even sell them in your store and make a profit while you advertise yourself!

Hopefully you know by now when you purchase your packaging and fixtures from me you’ll always get my “Make-You-Happy” customer service. The same goes for any promotional products including:

  • Magnets
  • Pens
  • Cups & Mugs
  • Key Chains
  • And 1,000’s of other great products!

As an added bonus, I’ll give you 20% off your first order of any promotional product, you purchase in the next 30 days. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience to talk this over. I look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

Ariane Caruso Ariane (AmericanRetailSupply.com

800-XXX-XXXX ext. XXXX

P.S. Remember, no matter what you order from me you’re always guaranteed to get my “Make¬You-Happy” service. If you’re not over-the-top, grinning from ear to ear happy when you receive your order, just give me a call at XXX-XXX-XXXX and I’ll do what it takes to make YOU happy.

(End letter… con’t on next page…)

 

How can you use ‘reason why’ advertising in your business?  You know, I think it’s next to impossible (and very risky for your business) to have one way to get 100 new clients each month.  I think it’s much more secure and achievable to have 100 ways to get one new client each month.

The same is true of keeping existing clients and getting them to buy more from you.  You need 100 different ways of doing that.  But how do you find time to do that?

If you’re going to do the marketing for your business (and I suggest you do) you better have systems in place to see that everything else runs very well.

That’s what I do.  I spend the huge majority of my time doing the marketing for American Retail Supply.

How do you get 100 things done?  Our Management System creates consistently great client service but also allows for a lot of personal initiative.  So in the case of Ariane’s letter, Ariane had the idea.  She took the idea to Travis, and Travis created the letter.  Then our receptionist Megan stuffed the envelopes to complete the mailing.

So the point is, I don’t personally complete all the 100 ways we have of getting or keeping a client.  I can’t get 100 things done and I don’t have the ideas to get 100 things done.  We have systems that encourage individual initiative and that means I’m not the only person getting 100 things done.

How can you tie in transparent honesty with your “reason why” advertising?

 

Beating The Odds – Part 2

Beating The Odds – Part 2

We’re picking up our conversation on one of our great clients at American Retail Supply, McLendon’s Hardware, which has seven locations throughout the Seattle area.  To review part one, refer to the last blog post (Beating The Odds).

Competition Makes Them Better

I’ve done a lot of research over the years on how to compete with the national chains.  I’ve been sharing that information with my clients in my monthly newsletter for 21 years and my bi-weekly email retail tip since 2004.  In my research I found that those companies that survive and thrive look at the new competition as a challenge to get better themselves.  McLendon’s has done this also.

For years McLendon’s knew they should be looking into better automating their inventory and point-of-sale computer system.  When the retail giants came to town they made the investment in their future but also were sure to invest in new software that really helped them stay focused on their customers and not allowing the software to take away from their exceptional customer service.

Other areas in which McLendon feels the competition has made them better are display, advertising and pricing.  McLendon says, “We never really concentrated on end caps other than to put things on them.  Now we have a person in every store hire just to do that.”

McLendon’s realizes that with the big guys right down the street they need to be much more aware of price competition so they can be seen as having “good” prices.  Their advertising person consistently pushes to have “hot buys” in their ads.

What can you learn from the competition to make you better?

Variable Pricing Structure

McLendon refers to his variable pricing structure as A item, B item, C item pricing.  “A” items are very competitive, commodity items, that everyone uses and everyone knows the price.  McLendon knows his prices must be “good” on these items.  They don’t need to be the same or lower than the retail giants, but they need to be very close.  “B” and “C” items are not as competitively priced and the company can get better markups.  Sadly, too many independent retailers refuse to accept this type of pricing strategy.

Buy Right

McLendon’s, like many who compete well with the mass merchandisers, is a member of a buying group.  They buy a lot of their product though True Value.  With the exception of direct import items, McLendon feels their costs are in line with the retail giants.  But he believes the retail giants often get advertising allowances that he does not get.

Don’t Compete Directly With the Retail Giants

McLendon’s knows their niche-huge selection and great service.  In addition, McLendon’s now very carefully considers location as a niche when opening a new store.  When opening a new store McLendon asks, “Is it their market?”

The retail giants in the hardware business like to be near freeways and locations that attract large number of people.  McLendon’s looks for a niche that is not close to freeways, has a good population base, but isn’t a place that the retail giants are likely to put a store that requires a huge population to support.

This is huge.  How can you position your product and/or services to go where the competition ain’t?

Brand Names

A strategy retailers like to use to compete with the retail giants is to carry brands that the giants don’t carry.  In the past, McLendon’s tried to carry brands that the big guy didn’t carry.  With the number of competitors now in the market, and the huge popularity of a few brands in the hardware business, that strategy doesn’t really work.  As a whole, McLendon’s tends to carry quality brand products.

Hours of Operation

Historically hours of operation for McLendon’s shows the company’s long roots and reflect the work ethic in the community – early to bed, early to rise. The company has always opened early and closed early.  Today they’re finding they need to extend those hours.

Store used to close on Sundays.  Today, Sunday is the company’s second busiest day of the week.  McLendon’s stores used to close at 6:00 PM.  Now they close at 8:00.

Temporary Sales Decline

McLendon’s has found that retail giants moving into their market is a cause for concern and an opportunity to improve, but it is not a cause for panic.

Like retailers across the country, McLendon’s has found that stores sales drop somewhat when a retail giant opens a store close to McLendon’s.  but like many independents, McLendon finds that within nine months sales are back to where they were before and growing… maybe not growing as fast as they did before the big guys moved in, but growing.

You Can Thrive

Mike McLendon and McLendon’s Hardware have proven that yes, you can thrive in the shadow of the retail giants and compete with them, but not directly against them.  McLendon’s focuses on a broad product line, great customer service, and a niche location to not only survive, but thrive in the shadow of retail giants.

Discover more ways to improve your business by requesting one of my free books: How to Control Your Business and Your Life and The Happy Customer Handbook

by Keith Lee

Beating The Odds

No matter what business you’re in, you likely have competition from a discounter, national chain, huge franchise, or something along those lines.  Regardless of the competition or the industry we can all learn from those who survive and are thriving in the face of this competition.  This article is about one of those businesses who are beating the odds and what you can learn from them.

You might know that I own American Retail Supply (www.AmericanRetailSupply.com) We provide independent retailers with the things they need to run their stores – the bags they give you, displays, fixtures, marking equipment, point-of-sale computer system, etc.

Let me ask you a few questions. Think back 20 years, or even 10.  How many independent drug stores do you see now versus 20 years ago?  Pet stores?  Department Stores?  Office supply stores?  Hardware stores?  The list goes on and on, and the answer is the same:  NOT MANY.

In those 20 years, while the market has shrunk dramatically, our sales at American Retail Supply have grown more than 10 times.  But this month’s article is not about my business, it’s about one of our clients who has beaten the odds and huge competition from the “BIG GUYS” and not only survived, but thrived.

McLendon Hardware opened in 1926.  Today they have 7 stores and continue to grow while Home Depot and Lowes blanket the market area with new stores.  At the same time that the entry of these retail giants forced the biggest regional hardware chain into bankruptcy, McLendon’s continues to thrive and open new stores.

How do they do it?  How does McLendon’s Hardware continue to grow, survive, and thrive while the old leader in the market has gone bankrupt?  I interviewed the president of McLendon Hardware, Mike McLendon, a few years ago to find their secrets, and you can use these same secrets to thrive in your market place.  Throughout this article I’ll use italics to ask you questions about using the ideas previously discussed in your business.

Find a Niche and Fill It

McLendon’s niche hasn’t changed in 87 years… Their niche – SERVICE, SELECTION, and LOCATION.

McLendon says they see themselves as being more family oriented than their competition.  That makes sense coming from an 87 year-old family business.  McLendon says, “People come to a hardware store because they have a problem, and they want to be able to go home and fix the problem themselves.  And they want to be able to understand something about the problem.  That’s one of the reasons we stay in business.  People think we can help them with their problem, they get the solution, go home and fix it, and they’re happy.”

Seems kind of simple, right?  Give your niche what they want.  McLendon’s wide breadth of products and friendly, helpful staff, insures that customers go home with solutions that make them happy!

What makes you different?  As my mentor Dan Kennedy says, “Why should someone do business with you versus every other option in your business category?” 

I shop at McLendon’s Hardware.  Here are just a few examples of their selection and great service.

I had a chip in my bathroom sink that I wanted to repair.  I went to the national chain about a half mile from my house.  They had one color – white.  My sink is cream.  I drove 5 more miles to McLendon’s.  They had the exact color match and 50 other colors!

What do you offer that your clients can’t get from the competition?

I needed a Philips head screw driver bit for my power drill.  I went down to McLendon’s, and like always quickly found someone to help me.  She suggested a bit and then said, “Here, try this one also.  We just got them in.  You can have it for free.  Let me know what you think of it.” Are you kidding me?!?!

It really is the little things.  What can you do to surprise and delight your clients with the little things?

I traced a leak in my hot water tank to the flexible copper tubing water inlet hose.  I took the old hose to McLendon’s where again someone was ready to help me.  Instead of just handing me the hose and letting me go, the sales person took an extra 30 seconds to tell me exactly how to install the hose.  His information made the job much easier and the repair will last longer.

What information, education, expert advice can you give to you clients that your competition doesn’t?

I’ve learned my lesson.  I now drive right past the national chain and go a few more miles to McLendon every time.  For me, McLendon is right on the mark.  When I go to other hardware stores, because it’s convenient, I often leave discouraged.  When I go to McLendon’s I go home with the solution to my problem.  McLendon tells me he often hears customers saying, “I should have just come here in the first place.”

What can you do to create loyal customers who, even if more convenient, don’t even think about going somewhere else?

Finding Good People

With the national chains coming into town, finding and keeping god employees has become a bigger challenge.  The big guys can often afford to pay more.  But McLendon’s relies on great help to send customers home with solutions.  How do they do that?

McLendon’s attracts employees who want to be more than just a clerk.  Trades people are attracted to McLendon’s.  They have a tool guy who was a contractor and didn’t want to be a contractor anymore.  He likes his job, he likes the people, and he gets the regular hours he wanted.

A journeyman electrician hurt his back and couldn’t work as an electrician, so now he works at McLendon’s.

The new store manager at the Kent store started at McLendon’s when he was in high school.  McLendon finds that people may leave the company to go to work for a new competitor, but they often come back to McLendon’s.

What can you do to attract the kind of employees you want, and will give your customers Out-Nordstrom Nordstrom Customer Service, without having to pay premium wages?

There’s more to this article, but you’re going to have to wait until part 2 of this series next month when I reveal the six core strategies McLendon’s is using to not only survive in the shadow of the retail giants, but thrive.  Stay tuned!

See how the Out-Nordstrom Nordstrom Customer Service System can help you

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Find out more about the Make-You-Happy Management System

Temptations by Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy

Intro given by Keith Lee

Dan Kennedy is not only the leading expert in Marketing; he is the highest paid Copywriter in the world and is my personal mentor.  Everything Dan says to do, I do because I know what an impact it has had and will continue to have on my businesses.  If you are a small business owner looking to grow your business you’d be wrong to NOT listen to Dan.

Temptations by Dan Kennedy

Success and productivity are not the same things nor does maximum productivity necessarily translated to success. You might, for example, achieve a very high level of productivity at cold-calling prospecting and pushing through CEO’s doors in order to sell your services, but come to understand that you do not feel at all successful as a result; instead, perpetually stressed and anxious, demeaned by the ‘numbers game’ and the rejection; burnt-out…and come to realize you would have been better served devoting productive energy to building a marketing system that brought interested prospects to you.

As you set out to get a far stronger grip on your time, to enhance your performance, it’s important to be constantly assessing your reasons for doing so and the validity of the objectives you are pursuing and achieving.

Entrepreneurs tend to be under more constant assault than executives or others, so it is easier to lose grip on the thread that leads through the muddle to the prize. Prizes you don’t really want to get set up in front of you by others, and you race to get to them while losing the critical thinking that questions the appropriateness of the prize. This takes your time and invests it where it can’t get a desirable return. Entrepreneurs are, by conditioned habit, often by ingrained compulsion, perhaps even by nature Problem Solvers and Mountain Climbers. It’s what we do. But not every problem is one you need to solve or should care about solving. Not every mountain you are led to needs conquered by you.

My racehorses are incapable of critical thinking. They are bred and trained and conditioned nearly from birth to race. They are notable and fierce and automatic competitors. When I climb into the sulky and drive the horse to the track, get him moving behind the starting gate amongst the other horses, never, never, never does he stop and think—gee, maybe this is a race I don’t need to run. But you and I are capable of such critical thinking. We can reign ourselves in. As entrepreneurs, we are automatic competitors, automatic problem-solvers, automatic mountain climbers—but we are capable of overriding our automatic inclinations.

If you put a business problem or opportunity in front of a true entrepreneur, he automatically leaps upon it and begins solving it or capitalizing on it. He reacts as if a lion is thrown a hunk of raw, red meat. The lion will respond even if he has just had a big meal and is not hungry.

The entrepreneur will respond even if he has more on his plate than he can handle, no need to respond, no time to respond. In this way, entrepreneurs are dangerous to themselves.

You can reduce that danger with more disciplined time management. With entire weeks scheduled and scripted in advance, the new and unexpected must take a place in line, patiently wait, and instead of reacting impulsively, you can attend to it more calmly and thoughtfully. One of my principles is that nothing is ever as bad or as good as it initially appears. Before acting hastily based on first impressions, each new thing—problem or opportunity—must be carefully inspected.

Temptations by Dan Kennedy

Click here to find out what Dan Kennedy is giving away!

Nine Things More Important Than Money by Jim Rohn

*Note from Keith:

I have been a huge fan of Jim Rohn’s for years.  When I think about the heavy-hitters when it comes to business and life success Jim Rohn always comes to mind along with Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie, Brian Tracy, Earl Nightingale, and Napoleon Hill.  Whenever I read or listen to Jim I get extremely motivated and feel as though I can take on the world, and that’s a great feeling!

 

Nine Things More Important Than Money

Jim Rohn

When starting any enterprise or business, whether it’s full time or part time, we all know the value of having plenty of capital (money).  But I bet we both know or at least have heard of people who started with no capital who went on to make fortunes.  How, you may ask?

Well, I believe there are actually some things that are more valuable than capital that can lead to your entrepreneurial success.  Let me give you the list.

Time

time is more valuable than capital.  The time you set aside not to be wasted, not to be given away.  Time you set aside to be invested in an enterprise that bring value to the marketplace with the hope of making a profit.  Now we have capital time.

How valuable is time?  Time properly invested is worth a fortune.  Time wasted can be devastation.  Time invested can perform miracles, so you invest your time.

Desperation

I have a friend Lydia, whose first major investment in her new enterprise was desperation.  She said, “My kids are hungry, I gotta make this work.  If this doesn’t work, what will I do?”  So she invested $1 in her enterprise selling a product she believed in.  the $1 was to buy a few fliers so she could make a sale at retail, collect the money and then buy the product wholesale to deliver back to the customer.

My friend Bill Bailey went to Chicago as a teenager after he got out of high school.  And the first job he got was a night janitor.  Someone said, “Bill, why would you settle for night janitor?”  He said, “Malnutrition.”  You work at whatever you can possibly get when you get hungry.  You go to work somewhere – night janitor, it doesn’t matter where it is.  Years later, Bill is a recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, rich and powerful and one of the great examples of life style that I know.  But his first job – night janitor.  Desperation can be a powerful incentive.  When you say – I must.

Determination

determination says I will.  First Lydia said, “I must find a customer.”  Desperation.  Second, she said, “I will find someone before this day is over.”  Sure enough, she found someone.  She said, “If it works once, it will work again.”  But then the next person said, “No.”  Now what must you invest?

Courage

Courage is more valuable than capital.  If you’ve only got $1 and a lot of courage, I’m telling you, you’ve got a good fortune ahead of you.  Courage in spite of the circumstances.  Humans can do the most incredible things no matter what happens.  Haven’t we heard those stories?  It’s humans.  You can’t sell humans short.  Courage in spite of, not because of, but in spite of.  Now once Lydia has made 3 or 4 sales and gotten going, here’s what now takes over.

Ambition

“Wow!  If I can sell 3, I can sell 33.  If I can sell 33, I can sell 103.”  Wow.  Lydia is no dazzled by her own dreams of the future.

Faith

now she begins to believe she’s got a good product.  This is probably a good company.  And she then starts to believe in herself.  Lydia, single mother, 2 kids, no job.  “My gosh, I’m going to pull it off!”  Her self-esteem starts to soar.  These are investments that are unmatched.  Money can’t touch it.  What if you had a million dollars and no faith?  You’d be poor.  You wouldn’t be rich.  Now here is the next one, the reason why she’s a millionaire today.

Ingenuity

Putting your brains to work.  Probably up until now, you’ve put about 1/10 of your brainpower to work.  What if you employed the other 9/10?   You can’t believe what can happen.  Huans can come up with the most intriguing things to do.  Ingenuity.  What’s ingenuity worth?  A fortune.  It is more valuable than money.  All you need is a $1 and plenty of ingenuity.  Figuring out a way to make it work, make it work, make it work.

Heart and Soul

what is a substitute for heart and soul?  It’s not money.  Money can’t buy heart and soul.  Heart and soul is more valuable than a million dollars.  A million dollars without heart and soul, you have no life.  You are ineffective.  But, heart and soul is like the unseen magic that moves people, moves people to buy, move people to make decisions, move people to act, moves people to respond.

Personality

You’ve just got to spruce up and sharpen up your own personality.  You’ve got plenty of personality.  Just get it developed to where it is effective every day, it’s effective no matter who you talk to – whether it’s a child or a business person – whether it’s a rich person or a poor person.  A unique personality that is at home anywhere.  My mentor Bill Bailey taught me, “You’ve got to learn to be just as comfortable, Mr. Rohn, whether it is in a little shack in Kentucky having a beer and watching the fights with Winfred, my old friend or in a Georgian mansion in Washington, DC as the Senator’s guest.”  Move with ease whether it is with the rich or whether it is with the poor.  And it makes no difference to you who is rich or who is poor.  A chance to have a unique relationship with whomever.  The kind of personality that’s comfortable.  The kind of personality that’s not bent out of shape.

And lastly, let’s not forget charisma and sophistication.  Charisma with a touch of humility.  This entire list is more valuable than money.  With one dollar and this list I just gave you, the world is yours.  It belongs to you, whatever piece of it you desire whatever development you wish for in your life.  I’ve given you the secret.  Capital.  The kind of capital that is more valuable than money and that can secure your future and fortune.  Remember that you lack not the resources.

Jim Rohn is considered to be America’s Foremost Business Philosopher. 

How Saving 208 Dollars Can Cost You $250,000

By Keith Lee

Here’s a true customer dis-service story that happened to me a number of years ago.  This highlights the value of making sure each of your Team Members know how to take care of customers.  The airline’s name has been changed to Bungle Airline to protect the not-so-innocent.

The day after the big earthquake here in Seattle about 12 years ago, I had a trip planned with another person to the east coast.  It was an important trip that I didn’t want to cancel so I looked on the web and found that due to damage at the airport, my flight had been cancelled.

I called the airline to see if they could get me on another flight.  They couldn’t.  but, as I was on hold, I was also on the internet and found that I could fly America West (name not changed – their service throughout was great!) and make it to my meetings. 

I told the agent at Bungle that I was going to book on America West and keep the second part of my ticket open with Bungle to come home.  This last minute ticket on America West was much more expensive but it was important, so I made the trip anyhow.

I confirmed with the agent at Bungle that I would be able to get a credit on the first part of my ticket.  She offered to transfer me to someone who could do it right them, but I was in a hurry to book my other flight and get some things done before I left.  She assured me I could get the credit later.

The next night, while in my hotel room in Massachusetts, I called Bungle to get my credit for the cancelled flight.  Since I had not used the first part of my ticket the return reservation had been cancelled. 

I assured the agent that I was indeed in Massachusetts and that an agent the previous day had told me that I could use the return portion of the ticket and that I needed to go home on the flight that I was reserved on.  The agent would need to talk to her supervisor…

Ten minutes later we found that luckily I had the credit card that the flight was charged on so they could see that I had not fabricated this story.  Again, luckily there was room on the flight and yes, they would break the rules and accommodate me.  Not bad.  A bit of a hassle, but I’m going to get home!

I asked them about the credit on the unused cancelled flight – $208.  I was told, “That’s a nonrefundable ticket.”  Even though the flight never took off they told me it was nonrefundable!  You can imagine where it went from there.  I was told that the supervisor had already gone out of her way to get me on the return flight and that I should be grateful.  I was told they would gladly refund my entire unused ticket for the full price of $416 and I could then book a one-way back to Seattle for $1800!

I asked to talk to the supervisor.  I just as soon could have talked to a brick wall.  She pointed out that they could not control earthquakes, but seemed appalled when I told her I couldn’t either.

I asked to talk with her supervisor.  She was the top person there at 9pm eastern time.  When I asked for a supervisors’ name to talk to in the morning I was told, “Just talk to anyone.”

As I got ready to hand up I mentioned to this supervisor that I owned a company that took about 50 round trip flights a year and Bungle Airlines was probably not going to see any more of our business.  I was told, “Well, we can’t have special rules for everyone.”  I replied that I didn’t want anything special, just a refund on a flight that was cancelled by them!

To make a long story short, I decided not to call until I got back to Seattle.  When I called I decided to act like I had never talked to anyone about the refund.  I really didn’t want to get into a long drawn out discussion again.  I simply wanted a $208 refund on a flight that had been cancelled.

I called Bungle and told them my story.  Within two minutes I had my refund applied to my credit card.

What Customer Service Lessons Can We Learn From This?

  • Be sure your front line customer service people (heck, make sure EVERYONE is) are trained to truly take care of customers.  Review common problems and complaints and be sure your Team is trained to handle them quickly and efficiently.  Remember, Only Happy Clients Come Back!
  • Supervisors and managers must be able to think, act, and do.  Maybe Bungle Airlines couldn’t get the message to all of their customer service agents to take care of people whose flights were cancelled due to the earthquake (I haven’t got the foggiest idea why they couldn’t, but who knows?)  Regardless, if they couldn’t get the word to all the customer service agents at least the supervisors should have been trained to understand that the customers can’t control earthquakes, either, and that “nonrefundable” doesn’t apply to cancelled flights.
  • Be sure everyone in your company understands the “Lifetime Value” of a customer.  In this case, Bungle was looking at losing the opportunity to compete for at least $250,000 of business.  Our company takes about 50 round trip flights a year.  At the time this happened I planned to be around here for at least 20 more years.  I would have very likely told everyone here to use Bungle only as a last resort if I had not received my refund.  They would have missed out on the opportunity to get their share of at least $250,000 in airline travel over saving 208 dollars.  What is the Lifetime Value of your Customers?
  • Be sure everyone in your company knows that word-of-mouth can be your best advertising or your worst advertising.  The cumulative effect of word-of-mouth is absolutely amazing, and with social media as popular as it is, it costs too much to have poor customer service!  You have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, blogs… you name it, if you create a bad customer service experience you and everyone else on the interweb will hear about it!

 

Do your people know that a happy customer will tell 1-2 other people about their experience and your great service?  Do your people know that a dissatisfied customer tell an average of 16 people about your poor service?!?!  OUCH!

 

And what about word-of-mouth in this instance?  At the time when this story happened I was sending out my newsletter to 25,000 customers (this is through my main business, American Retail Supply).  If I had not received my refund I would have not changed Bungle’s name.  I would have told every one of you about their incredibly poor service.          

  • Check yourself out.  Do your policies, procedures, and practices allow your people to use their good judgment to take care of customers?  Do you put your customers through the wringer in order for them to get their request fulfilled, or do you empower your Team to make the best choice possible to make the customer happy?

 

Remember, Only Happy Customers Come Back!

How To Get Rich in Un-Rich Times

Dan Kennedy

A note from Keith:  Dan Kennedy is not only the leading expert in Marketing; he is the highest paid Copywriter in the world and is my personal mentor.  Everything Dan says to do, I do because I know what an impact it has had and will continue to have on my businesses.  If you are a small business owner looking to grow your business you’d be wrong to NOT listen to Dan.

How to Get Rich in Un-Rich Times
by Dan Kennedy

In the Renegade Millionaire System, I dispense this advice: #1: BE the Wizard, #2: BEWARE the Wizard. Wizards are very powerful, so it is better to be one than to be influenced by one.

Everybody welcomes the convincing Mystic. People so desperately wish to Believe. That there is a long lost, ancient or a revolutionary new Something: cure, elixir, formula for easy riches or happy relationships or better sex or children that mind or growing 12 foot high tomato plants; a gizmo that turns corn into fuel or tree bark into gold doubloons; an Answer Man, Seer, Keeper of Secrets. And in dark times, this desire intensifies. In dark times even kings subjugate themselves to the Mystics – which you know if you’ve studied history. People really don’t want rational explanations for how you do what you do, they prefer Believing that you possess Mystical Powers and Magical Secrets that you will use for their benefit. To underestimate the power of secrets and secret powers is to ignore how humanity has been manipulated, controlled and ruled since its beginnings.

 In these times, you can rise to greater heights of influence and power than at any other time, by turning up the wattage on your mysticism. In the dark, you glow. Doesn’t matter if you dispense investment advice or lawn care advice, are a dog whisperer or a presidential candidate, or a tax attorney or a mattress manufacturer – now, more than ever, is the time to speak of secret techniques and magic ingredients and unique abilities.

To offer absolute certainty in an uncertain world. To declare unique and profound importance.

I’m speaking now about how you present yourself to the world.

If you sell a particular kind of mattress, you must present it as THE – emphasis on key word: THE – first, best, only “magic,” based on top secret technology invented for NASA and Olympic athletes – that relieves all back pain, delivers 10,000 more REMs per night, lets cellular structure rejuvenate thus slowing aging, helps you lose weight while you sleep; is THE secret to eternal youth and vitality. It must be THE GREATEST discovery in medical science of this century. And you, as its spokesperson, must be the Grand Mystic of Sleep Science. You need an arsenal of Amazing Facts at your disposal. You need practiced language and Profound Statements. You must convincingly promise THE Cure. For whatever ails them, economically, emotionally, physically. To advance your education, I strongly suggest getting and reading the book CHARLATAN. It reads like a novel but is non-fiction. Not that you should be a charlatan; I presume you deliver legitimate value in whatever you sell or do. But that you should use the techniques of the master-charlatans of the ages. Nothing less will do.

When a group becomes lost and frightened in a dark cave, the man with the only flashlight automatically becomes their leader. Key word: only. It’s time to present yourself as the person with THE ONLY flashlight.

Learn more about Dan Kennedy and GKIC

Take Back Your True Power

We are delighted here at Keith Lee Business Systems to work with Lee Milteer, a productivity and human potential expert with whom I’ve had the privilege of knowing for many, many years. Members of my Live Your Bucket List NOW Insider Circle receive reports from Lee and her faculty, as well as a Celebrity Guest interview audio every month as part of their membership.

Lee has been a huge inspiration for me as well as thousands of other business professionals and entrepreneurs.

You can find out more about her at www.Milteer.com

Remember when you were a kid and you used to dream about a time that you would be in charge of your destiny and nothing could stop you from being exactly what you wanted to be?

Now as an adult, you have the authority you wished for as a child, but things aren’t going the way you had planned.  Does your life seem to be all work and no play? Do you feel uneasy about your future? Do you ever start to doubt yourself? Do you get stuck wanting to move ahead in life but aren’t sure if now is the right time, or you aren’t exactly sure how to proceed? Have you been waiting for the right time to do something and are now realizing there is never a perfect time?

Childhood Woes

From childhood, we’ve been taught to do what authority figures told us to do. We have been programmed that other people are smarter, wiser, and have more experience. We’ve been warned about the disastrous results that might happen if the rules aren’t followed. The bottom line is that we’ve been taught to give our power away and not trust our own judgment or truly believe in ourselves.

Perhaps you’ve forgotten your power to listen to the deepest part of yourself – your real needs, your desires, your gut instincts – and you’ve begun to make choices that are no longer satisfying. The good news is that your point of power is this minute in time. It’s the decisions you will make and act on from this day forward that will determine your destiny.

This month I am going to give you some new perspectives, motivation, and strategies for taking action so you can take back your true power and start Believing in Yourself and abilities again.

You Program YOUR Future

One of the first things you must do is start to be aware of how YOU are programming your future. How are you labeling yourself? Are you programming yourself to fail and allowing past habits and events rule your future?

The way you label yourself and think about yourself with yourself talk will determine how you make good decisions about critical issues in business.

We all have unproductive behaviors or habits that keep us from using our potential effectively. If your self-talk reinforces those unproductive behaviors or habits you are actually programming those unproductive behaviors to be more powerful and harder to get rid of in your life and self-image.

By Lee Milteer, Author, Speaker, Coach, Publisher, TV Personality
Milteer.com