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/

Stop Gambling when you Hire

On Tuesday, I told you that I used to absolutely hate hiring. All the time and effort and it was still just a crap shoot. It was such a crap shoot that we would keep under performing employees because the chances of getting a better one we’re less than playing craps. That all changed about 15 years ago when I meet Grant Robinson and started using him to hire properly.

I asked Grant to share some on his expertise on hiring with you. Here is his third of four articles.

In addition to reading this article and getting his free gift at the end I suggest you follow this link and watch Grant’s one minute video. www.HiringBestPractices.com.

The Final ½ a Secret (of 3 ½) to Hire the People You Need to Accomplish Your Business Goals

I hope you’ve read the past three articles and if so, here is a review of what you’ve learned:

Article 1 – Why you continue to recruit and hire poor performers even after all the things you have implemented into your selection process.

Article 2 – The #1 “talent” of the most productive individuals, teams & organizations… the talent of developing clear, written goals and objectives for not only your business and departments, but every position.

Article 3 – The advantage that virtually every small and large market leader shares (and is keeping a secret from you)… the secret of Job Matching that quadruples your odds of hiring a TOP Performer the first time.

And now, I’m going to help you discover…

Exactly What to Do if Your Employees are Currently Holding You Back

But first, let’s look at the ways that employees hold us back. At People Values, we’ve designated them into three categories: Unreliable, Unmotivated and Unproductive.

Your unreliable people are those that have attendance issues and are always tardy. Their lack of reliability leads to other members of their team having to fill in for them or work their shift.

Your unmotivated people are the lazy employees, who always seem to be complaining about something or someone. Their lack of motivation hinders their team from accomplishing goals.

Your unproductive people are the ones you spend your days micro-managing, continue to train and re-train and have to adjust their job responsibilities just to get some sort of benefit of having them on your payroll.

But here’s the thing: When you retain these unreliable, unmotivated and unproductive people and allow them to hold back your business… THEY ARE NOT the ones that are holding you back.

You are the one who has settled for the mediocrity that they bring to your business. You are the one who has continued to pay their salary robbing from your revenue and profitability.

Which leads me to…

The Final ½ a Secret of Hiring & Developing a TOP Performing Team (& Why it’s Only ½ a Secret):

When something is holding your business back and you know what it is, you must do something about it.

“Taking Action” is the final secret of TOP Performance. But you already know this and this is why it’s only ½ a secret…

The leaders of the most successful and profitable businesses continually Take Action and this is how they’ve become and how they’ll remain their market’s leader.

Making any excuse and blaming the economy, changes in your industry, the high expectations of your clients, your vendor’s quality control, the IRS and the government, your pricing, etc. is only going to detract from taking the action you must to improve. And these are all excuses the owners of struggling businesses have given me in the last week (I actually make a list and have heard 22 of them).

And these same owners have ALL also blamed their employees for their lack of success too. Even though they are the ones who fail to lead by example. They are the ones who haven’t established clear, written performance standards that their employees must meet. They are the ones who have settled for mediocrity in their business without taking action.

What is Going to Happen to Your Business (& You) if You Don’t Take Action ASAP…

You’ve had these problems for a while. They are not going to magically disappear. They never do… and usually only get worse.

Here are some of the things that will happen if you continue on with “business as usual”…

  • You’ll only find more excuses on what is holding your business back
  • Being surrounded by unreliable, unmotivated and unproductive people, your TOP Performers will eventually lose their desire to fill in for others, deal with the conflict surrounding them and stop performing too
  • Your best people will eventually lose the remaining faith they have in you, quit and go to work for your competitor
  • You’ll have to scramble and recruit / hire an employee… but without an effective recruiting or selection system, you’ll probably just pick another non-producer
  • Without the systems to develop your leaders or employees, you’ll become even less profitable
  • You’re going to lose the will to continue on and accomplish the dreams you once had (whether 2 or 20 years ago) when you started your business

If any of the trends have already started, today is the day to take action. In 17-years of helping good (and even bad) businesses become great, I’ve learned it’s never too late to take action.

I know… Sometimes You Don’t Even Know Where to Start, Right?

96% of the clients we partner with have come to us through referrals from industry experts, business coaches and our clients (though our clients never tell their direct competitors about us). Job Matching is their secret weapon.

Most of these new partners never knew there was a step-by-step, do it yourself service like ours to create a “People System” to recruit, hire, train, develop and retain TOP Performers.

But it’s exactly what they needed. And by developing one process at a time, they’ve become market leaders… and so can you. Even though right now, there are so many things you need to implement you don’t even know where to start.

If after reading these articles the past two weeks you believe that your business has more potential and it’s time to take action, let us provide some guidance on what to start with.

We usually charge $149 for our TOP Performance Consultation (up to an hour-long phone conversation) where we help you develop a three-step action plan to start moving in the right direction.

The Gift for Reading this Entire Article…

As I promised Keith, I’d give a gift just for reading each article to the end.

The gift this time is for a complimentary TOP Performance Consultation where we can talk about anything that you’d like. Whether that is how to improve your “people system” or any other aspect holding your business back from reaching it’s potential.

Here is where you can schedule your consultation right now: https://peoplevalues.com/tpconsultation/.

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

Keith Lee
Keith@KeithLee.com

Checking it Off My Bucket List Today!

The picture above shows my ride for the next two days.

This is a big one for me… Heli-skiing with my daughter Jenny, and son Travis.

Living your bucket list now, and not waiting, is one of the best reasons to implement The Make-You-Happy Management System in your business. The system is called the Make-You-Happy Management System because it makes your customers happy, your employees happy, your managers happy, your vendors happy and most importantly, you and your family happy.

Every once in a while when I’m on an interview in podcast, coaches call tele-seminar or webinar, I’m asked, “What accomplishment are you most proud of?” My response is, “My 42 year marriage to my high school sweat heart Patty.” Then I ask, “Can I share one more with you?” The answer, of course in always, “Yes.”

Here’s my second accomplishment that I’m most proud of. “Skiing has always been huge in our family. My wife Patty and I met on the ski bus in high school. The kids started really young and we skied a lot. Now both of our grand kids started skiing when they were two – actually Whitney was 22 months. We skied in the Cascades, about an hour from our house, and took another ski vacation most every year. Today we have a vacation home that’s 16 miles from our favorite ski area.

While it may not be an accomplishment, this represents what is most important to me. When Travis was a senior in college he asked if he and I could go on a ski vacation for his last spring break. While his friends were partying in Hawaii or Florida he wanted to go skiing with me. Then two years later when Jenny was graduating from college she also asked to go skiing with me. I knew when they both asked me to go skiing with them on their last spring break that I did it right by making sure my businesses ran properly so that I could live my bucket list while they were growing up and not miss out at being a dad.”

If you want to discover how to create a business that gets better whether you’re there or not, so you can live your bucket list now go to https://keithlee.com/freedom-for-business-owners and watch the video.

P.S. Today I own three businesses. Travis runs the biggest of the three and all of the businesses run so well that were going skiing together for three days this week; and then our entire family Travis his wife Jen, their kids Carson and Whitney, Patty my wife, and Jenny our daughter, are going to Mexico for the first week in April, and all three businesses will continue to improve while were gone.

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

Keith Lee
Keith@KeithLee.com

Email Sucks

In many cases, email is an absolutely terrible way to communicate effectively.  In the The Happy Customer Handbook I discuss “Putting You into Every Client Contact”. 

I discuss the fact that communication experts say that body language and intonation account for 90% of effective communication.  How does email fit into body language and intonation?  It doesn’t.  Often, email communication should be called email miscommunication.

I’ve actually had people tell me they didn’t like the tone of an email they received from someone.  I asked them to send me that email.  As someone not involved in the issue I saw no tone what-so-ever.

Sure, a great writer can put tone into their writings, but to expect that a particular email, that may or may not have been hugely important to the sender, that may have been composed in a matter of seconds was sent with a particular tone is, at best, a guess. 

I often remind our team at that “Email Sucks”.  If you have something important to say and it could be taken incorrectly, “Email Sucks!”

Also, unless you’re willing to upset the recipient much more than you can imagine, you should never send an email that is negative or critical.

Another, rule of thumb that we’ve found that works is, “If you go back and forth about something with email quit typing and get on the phone, or go see the person.”

 You can get my hard copy book (not an e-book), The Happy Customer Handbook, 59 Secrets to Creating Happy Customers Who Come Back Time and Time Again and Enthusiastically Tell Others About You for free at www.HowToControlYourBusiness.com.  I just ask that you pay $2.97 to help cover shipping and handling.

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

 Keith Lee
www.keithlee.com

What Goes Around Comes Around Especially When Disaster Strikes

“How the Make-You-Happy Management System Will Help You and Your Business When Disaster Strikes”

What Goes Around Comes Around is one of my wife – Patty’s – favorite sayings, and since we’ve been together since 1970 I’ve heard her say it thousands and thousands of times.

The Make-You-Happy Management System (MYHMS) puts a huge emphasis on respect for clients and customers.  Remember, in the MYHMS clients are the people that most businesses call customers, and customers are your internal customers; team members, vendors, the FedEX guy, the mail man, etc.  This leads to treating all of these internal customers like… CUSTOMERS, and you know, what goes around comes around.

On July 20, 2003 we had a fire at our distribution center in Denver that destroyed everything.  Twenty thousand square feet of inventory, office supplies and fixtures, computer, everything gone, overnight.  I remember the date, because it happened on my 29th wedding anniversary.  Little did I know how much one of Patty’s favorite sayings would affect us over the next few months.

Let’s look at just a few aspects of the MYHMS and how they helped us during this disaster in Denver:

  • The MYHMS with its Z-theory management and emphasis on not only listening to your team members but empowering them creates team members who know they are incredibly valuable, feel appreciated. This, along with the philosophy that all of us who work in a MYHMS business are customers to each other leads to people who truly enjoy their jobs. The way the team in Denver, and our other locations pulled together to get the job done through this was amazing.
  • At the very heart of the MYHMS is a fanatical devotion to Make-You-Happy Client Service. This created loyal clients who rallied around us.
  • The idea that your vendors are your customers creates vendors who help you when you need it.

When you have all of this going for you and have a disaster you’ll truly find out that, “What Goes Around Comes Around.”

Team Members Come To The Rescue

On the sales end, we were fortunate in that we had a show room at the Denver Merchandise Mart.  We added another phone line and were up and going there right away.

Our warehouse staff was concerned that they may not be able to work while the Denver distribution center was out of commission.  I assured them that we would keep paying them.  They could have easily just sat back and collected the money over what ended up being about a month, but each of them offered to take their vacation at that time.

In addition, as soon as anything came up that they could do they went at it full speed.  They shopped for warehouse racking, found storage units, and shopped for new office furniture.

When the time came to start putting things back together the entire staff in Denver came through like gang busters to get us up and going, working weekends and extended hours.

In addition, our staff in Kent came to the rescue also.  We shipped most of the orders that would have come from our Denver distribution center out of Kent.  Like Denver, when needed, our staff in Kent worked long hours, with a great attitude to get the job done.

In addition, our entire staff, in all of our divisions, did an incredible job keeping up with all of the different shipping arrangements that needed to be arranged to take care of clients and get product to them.

I will forever be grateful to our team members… What goes around comes around.

Vendors Come To The Rescue

Our vendors were absolutely incredible!

As a distributor, we buy product in huge quantities, often truckloads.  We store these and ship them in smaller quantities when our clients need them.  Some of our vendors will allow us to drop ship smaller quantities, but they have extra charges to do this.

While we shipped a lot of orders for the mountain states and east out of Kent and charged our clients what the freight would have been from Denver, with the loss of the entire Denver inventory we didn’t have enough inventory in Kent to do this all of the time.

Our vendors came to the rescue and, every one of them, agreed to waive their minimum order quantities and extra charges and ship to our clients directly when needed.  This was a huge commitment from them and their teams as they are simply not set up to do this in the quantities that they did for us.

I will forever be grateful to our vendors… What goes around comes around.

Clients Come To The Rescue

What a time to find out how loyal our clients were!  Things took longer.  For the most part things ran well, but some things simply took longer.  It took longer for us to let them know when the order would ship because we had to be sure whether we were shipping it from Kent or the vendor, whether it was something that could drop ship from the vendor or not, and lots of other new questions.

And then it still took longer, to get the product from Kent rather than Denver.  Most often the vendor simply couldn’t get it shipped the same day like we do.

We were amazed and thankful that our clients (Continued P5 – Disaster Strikes)

stood by us.  In fact, we got letter after letter thanking us for taking such good care of them under the circumstances.

I will forever be grateful to our clients… What goes around comes around.

What Goes Around Comes Around Negatively Also

Over the years I had been approached numerous times by a business associate to buy his business.  He gave me an idea of the price he was looking for and I always told I didn’t think it would fit at the time.

One day he called me and said he wanted to sell the business.  I again told him I again that I really didn’t think it would fit.  He replied, “I’m going to make you a deal you can’t refuse.”  So, I listened.  It was a deal I couldn’t refuse.

The other owner and I had the same supplier for one of our product lines.  In our case they were a significant and good supplier.  For the other company this supplier represented the huge majority of his business.

Over the years the other owner talked to me about all of the problems he had with the supplier and in fact showed me some of their correspondence.  I couldn’t believe the derogatory tone of the letters from the owner of the business who wanted to sell to the supplier.

He certainly had no idea that he and the supplier were in fact on the same team.  He had no comprehension that he should treat a supplier like an internal customer

I found out during the negotiations to buy the business that after years of this derogatory treatment the supplier decided he simply wasn’t going to sell to the other business anymore.

And, in this case the guy who wanted to sell the business did not have an alternative supplier and it was going to take a good deal of time to find one.  The seller knew I had a good relationship with the supplier and that the supplier would sell to me if I bought the business.  The seller also knew that his list of potential buyers was very small, because the seller would not have had a relationship with the new buyer and would see it as still dealing with the old owner.  What goes around comes around.

So yes,

I got the company in a deal I couldn’t refuse

It didn’t surprise me as we trained our new team in this newly acquired business that our Make-You-Happy Management with its emphasis in respect for everyone was a foreign concept.  And it didn’t surprise me at all to learn that the old owner was very much an X-theory manager with the attitude of I’m the boss, I’m the manager, I’m the owner.  I built this business with my blood sweat and tears do what I tell you to do and that’s that!

The new team was thrilled to hear about the new management system.  What goes around comes around.

You can get my hardcopy book (not an e-book), How to Control Your Business and your Life, Proven Secrets to Creating Highly Productive Teams at www.HowToControlYourBusiness.com.  Your cost is $2.97 and that includes shipping and handling.

That Complainer May Be Your Next Great Leader

Here’s an excerpt from John C. Maxwell’s book, The 360 Degree Leader.

 

“Have you ever found yourself saying something like, “You know, if I were in charge, we wouldn’t have done this, and we wouldn’t have done that. Things sure would be different around here if I were the boss”? If so, let me tell you that there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the desire to improve an organization and the belief that you’re capable of doing it are often the marks of a leader. 

 

Andy Stanley said, “If you’re a leader and leaders work for you, they think they can do a better job than you. They just do (just like you do). And that’s not wrong; that’s just leadership.” The desires to innovate, to improve, to create, and to find a better way are all leadership characteristics.

 

So next time you’re complaining about that complainer, you might want to consider that she may just be what you need as a leader.

I tell our mangers in our divisions away from the home office that they, at times, need to be a pain in the butt for me.  It’s easy to tell who is and who is not really trying to improve things and grow.  They are the people who tell you things you don’t always want to hear.

 

Here’s an excerpt from an email I sent to one of our division managers who, in a previous email had apologized for “causing a problem”.

 

“Remember I told you a good division manager would be a pain in the butt at times.  You do that well. 

 

Seriously, thanks for the great comments.  I don’t need a yes lady and I certainly don’t want the responsibility for coming up with all the good ideas or fixing everything myself.”

 

Now, I wouldn’t say it like that to a newer person who didn’t know me, but I could with this division manager.

 

With The Make-You-Happy Management System you don’t just allow someone to complain, you require them to help with a solution when they see a problem.  If they are constantly coming up with problems but don’t have solutions, they just may be an immature complainer and not a true helper.  If that’s the case, you need to quickly train them to have a solution when they see a problem or fire them.   

 

But if it is someone who is uncovering true problems and opportunities to improve, that’s what the Make-You-Happy Management System is all about.  With these people, do not always require them to come up with a solution.  A huge principle in the Make-You-Happy Management System is that a few heads are better than one in solving problems and taking advantage of opportunities. 

 

But does that complainer have what it takes to be a leader?  Sure you want a leader that can recognize problems and opportunities, but they also need to be tactful.  So keep your eyes open (or maybe better yet, your ears) for that person who thinks they can do the job better than you.  You just might have a great leader.

 

Follow the link below and discover How to Control Your Business and your Life with Proven Secrets to Creating Highly Productive Teams

 

https://americanretailsupply.wistia.com/medias/jl3pr8dbpk

 

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

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 revealed 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 intrepid reporter, 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.”

You can get Keith’s hardcopy book (not an e-book), How to Control Your Business and your Life, Proven Secrets to Creating Highly Productive Teams at www.HowToControlYourBusiness.com.  Your cost is $2.97 and that includes shipping and handling.

Leading & Motivating by Brian Tracy

*Note from Keith:

Brian Tracy is an absolute living legend.  Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined.  His exciting talks and seminars on Leadership, Selling, Self-Esteem, Goals, Strategy, Creativity and Success Psychology bring about immediate changes and long-term results, and you can bet his articles will inspire the same in YOU to bring about huge, long-term success.

Here is an article from Brian Tracy that reinforces the principles in the Make-You-Happy Management System.

Leading and Motivating

By Brian Tracy

It’s been said that Leadership is not what you do, but who you are.  This, however, is only partially true.  Leadership is very much who you are, but it cannot be divorced from what you do.  Who you are represents the inner person, and what you do represents the outer person.  Each is dependent on the other for maximum effectiveness.

The starting point of motivational leadership is to begin seeing yourself as a role model, seeing yourself as an example to others.  A key characteristic of leaders is that they set high standards of accountability for themselves and for their behaviors.  They assume that other are watching them and then setting their own standards by what they do.  In business, there are several kinds of power.  Two of these are position power and ascribed power.

Position power is the power that comes with a job title or position in any organization. If you become a manager in a company, you automatically have certain powers and privileges that go along with your rank.  You can order people about and make certain decisions.  You can be a leader whether or not anyone likes you.

Ascribed power is the power you gain because of the kind of person you are.  In every organization, there are people who are inordinately influential and looked up to by others, even though their positions may not be high up on the organizational chart.  These are the men and women who are genuine leaders because of the quality of the people they have become, because of their characters and their personalities.

Over the years, we have been led to believe that leaders are those who stride boldly about, exude power and confidence, tive orders for others to carry out.  However, that is old school.  The leader of today is the one who asks questions, listens carefully, plans diligently and then builds consensus among all those who are necessary for achieving the goals.  The leader does not try to do it by himself or herself.  The leader gets things done by helping others to do them.

This brings us to five of the qualities that you already have to a certain degree and that you can develop further to stand out from the people around you in a very short period of time.

The first quality is vision.

This is the one single quality that, more than anything separates leaders from followers.  Leaders have vision.  Followers do not. Leaders have the ability to stand back and see the big picture.  Followers are caught up in day-to-day activities.  Leaders have developed the ability to fix their eyes on the horizon and see greater possibilities.  Followers are those whose eyes are fixed on the ground in front of them and who are so busy that they seldom look at themselves and their activities in a larger context.

The most motivational vision you can have for yourself and others is to “Be the best!”  Many people don’t yet realize that excellent performance in serving other people is an absolute basic essential for survival in the economy of the future.  Many individuals and companies still adhere to the idea that as long as they are no worse than anyone else, they can remain in business.  That is just plain silly!  It is prehistoric thinking.  We are now in the age of excellence.  Customers assume that they will get excellent quality, and if they don’t, they will go to your competitors so fast, people’s heads will spin.

The second quality, which is perhaps the single most respected quality of leaders, is integrity.

Integrity is complete, unflinching honesty with regard to everything that you say and do.  Integrity underlies all the other qualities.  Your measure of integrity is determined by how honest you are in the critical areas of your life.

Integrity means this: When someone asks you at the end of the day, “Did you do your very best?” you can look him in the eye and say, “Yes!”  Integrity means this: When someone asks you if you could’ve done better, you can honestly say, “No, I did everything I possibly could.”

Integrity means that you, as a leader, admit your shortcomings.  It means that you work to develop your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.  Integrity means that you tell the truth, and that you live the truth in everything that you do and in all your relationships.  Integrity means that you deal straightforwardly with people and situations and that you do not compromise what you believe to be true.

The third quality is courage.

It is the chief distinguishing characteristic of the true leader.  It is almost always visible in the leader’s words and actions.  It is absolutely indispensable to success, happiness and the ability to motivate other people to be the best they can be.

In a way, it is easy to develop a big vision for yourself and for the person you want to be.  It is easy to commit yourself to living with complete integrity.  But it requires incredible courage to follow through on your vision and on your commitments.  You see, as soon as you set a high goal or standard for yourself, you will run into all kinds of difficulties and setbacks.  You will be surrounded by temptations to compromise your values and your vision.  You will feel an almost irresistible urge to “get along by going along.”  Your desire to earn the respect and cooperation of others can easily lead to the abandonment of your principles, and here is where courage comes in.

The forth quality of motivational leadership is realism.

Realism is a form of intellectual honesty.  The realist insists upon seeing the world as it really is, not as he wishes it were.  This objectivity, this refusal to engage in self-delusion, is a mark of the true leader.

Those who exhibit the quality of realism do not trust to luck, hope for miracles, pray for exceptions to basic business principles, expect rewards without working or hope that problems will go away by themselves.  These all are examples of self-delusion, of living in a fantasyland.

The motivational leader insists on seeing things exactly as they are and encourages others to look at life the same way. As a motivational leader, you get the facts, whatever they are.  You deal with people honestly and tell them exactly what you perceive to be the truth.  This doesn’t mean that you will always be right, but you will always be expressing the truth in the best way you know how.

The fifth quality of motivational leadership is responsibility.

This is perhaps the hardest of all to develop.  The acceptance of responsibility means that, as Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.”

The game of life is very competitive.  Sometimes, great success and great failure are separated by a very small distance.  In watching the playoffs in basketball, baseball, and football, we see htat the winner can be decided by a single point, and that single point can rest on a single action or inaction, on that part of a single team member at a critical part of the game.

Life is very much like competitive sports.  Very small things that you do, or don’t do, can either give you the edge that leads to victory or take away your edge at the critical moment.  This principle is especially true with regard to accepting responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens to you.

You become a motivational leader by motivating yourself.  And you motivate yourself by striving toward excellence, by committing yourself to becoming everything you are capable of becoming.  You motivate yourself by throwing your whole heart into doing your job in an excellent fashion.  You motivate yourself and others by continually looking for ways to help others to improve their lives and achieve their goals.  You become a motivational leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and support in every way.

Your main job is to take complete control of your personal evolution and become a leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and support in every way.

Brian Tracy is legendary in the fields of Management, Leadership, and Sales.  He has produced more than 300 audio/video programs and has written over 40 books.  www.BrianTracy.com

Ya Sure…George S. Patton Was a Make-You-Happy Leader

Ya Sure…George S. Patton Was a Make-You-Happy Leader

by Keith Lee

Managers in the Make-You-Happy Management System are coaches, cheerleaders, facilitators, and nurturers of champions, rather than cops, referees, and nay-sayers.

This leadership principle is from the magazine “Armchair General” available from Armchair General, LLC 386-246-3456.  Let’s learn about management from Old Blood & Guts, George S. Patton, America’s greatest World War II battle commander.

General George S. Patton Jr. studied – and practiced – leadership all his life.  What “Old Blood & Guts” left behind is a priceless leadership legacy containing a wealth of material for today’s military and business executives.

Providing “Mission-Type” Orders

An organization benefits from both the individual and collective intelligence and experience of its members.  Too often, leaders attempt to provide a solution without tapping into the wisdom and abilities of those in the command structure.  Patton’s rapid, slashing, war of maneuver campaigns in World War II were propelled by issuing “mission-type” orders – assigning broad objectives and letting subordinates work out the details.

He advised, “Never tell people how to do things.  Tell them what to do and they will astonish you with their ingenuity.”

The Make-You-Happy Management System was created out of my frustration in having no time for myself, no time to work on the important things in my business because I was babysitting employees and making every King Solomon decision in the company.

In order to alleviate this you need to issue “mission-type” orders:  Assign broad objectives and let subordinates work out the details.  You’ll be amazed at the results and the freedom you achieve.

Demand Discipline

Discipline is the bedrock characteristic of any successful military unit or corporation.  Commanders and executives who want to win must teach it to subordinates and then demand that they act accordingly.  The fiery and headstrong Patton may have suffered lapses in regulating his own behavior from time to time, but he always understood that the controlled actions of his units remained the key to battlefield success.  “You cannot be disciplined in great things and undisciplined in small things,” said Patton.  “There is only one sort of discipline – perfect discipline.”

As this article suggests Patton may have suffered lapses in his own behavior in this regard, but we can still learn from this principle.

While I’m not suggesting peeling potatoes or forcing your Team to run miles when they don’t perform, I think that it is absolutely imperative that your Team understands your core beliefs and they understand that those core beliefs are unwavering.

Here’s an example.  Everyone in our company understands that the minimum level of Customer Service that is acceptable is “truly appreciative service.”  And while we may fail at this at times in the eyes of our Client, everyone understands that indifferent, or heaven forbid anything approaching rude service means immediate termination of employment.

Another example is seen in our company values.  Again, everyone understands that one of our values is, “We will do nothing illegal or unethical.”  If someone decides to consciously do something illegal or unethical they will be dismissed.

Take Timely Action

Perhaps because they fear failure, commanders and business leaders often become timid in their decision making, delaying final orders until the plan in “perfect.”  Patton, however, recognized that seizing the unforgiving moment is vastly more important to success than postponing an action until the ideal plan is devised – too late to produce positive results.  Remember Patton’s admonition, “A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

One of the basic tenants of Make-You-Happy Management is empowering your Team to make decisions.  You’ll obviously want to give some guidelines concerning those decisions, but as you and your Team understands the system and each other, those guidelines can be very broad.

For instance, while using our L.E.A.R system to take care of upset Customers, after finding out what the Customer wants to make them happy, the guideline for our front line Team member is unless it’s NUTS, do it!”

Instill Self-Confidence

Self-confidence on the battlefield of in the boardroom is crucial for success.  Patton created within his Third US Army a tradition of winning and a corresponding leadership climate that let his Soldiers know they were second to none.  The proudly exclaimed, oft-heard cry of the Third Army Vets, “I fought with Patton!” testifies to his ability to encourage and instill faith in oneself.  Patton wrote, “The most vital quality a Soldier can possess is self-confidence; utter complete and bumptious.”

When you empower your Team to make decisions and take care of Customers, they will have the confidence they need to create Happy Customers.

But what happens when your Team Member makes a bad decision?  In the Make-You-Happy Management System the first thing to do is look at your systems to make sure they are not getting in the way of making a better decision.

Once you find the system is OK, then you need to RETRAIN and not beat up the Team Member.  The first thing you need to do is thank the Team Member for making a decision.  Then and only then, discuss how a better decision might have been achieved.

Motivate Subordinates to Excel

The notion that Patton merely drove his men to excel through fear and intimidation is a gross misinterpretation of both his motives and his methods.  Few contemporaries understood as well as Patton how to motivate and get the most out of the American Soldiers.  His leadership philosophy regarding this point is best summed up in his characteristically blunt saying, “We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people.  Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.”

Remember, managers in the Make-You-Happy Management System are coaches, facilitators, cheerleaders, and nurturers of Champions; not cops, referees or nay-sayers.

L’audace, L’audace, Toujours L’audace!

Finding and adhering to a core belief, as Patton certainly did, will help guide leaders both professionally and personally.  One of Patton’s favorite French sayings, ” L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace!” translates to “audacity, audacity, always – audacity!”  Both military and business leaders would be well-advised to follow Patton’s guidance and never fear to act promptly and decisively on reasoned, calculated risks.

The Make-You-Happy Management System starts with your Company Vision which is the combination of your values and Beliefs.  Whatever those Values and Beliefs are it is critical that they are strong enough to carry you through tough decisions.  Often, when I have a hard time with a decision that answer is clear when I review our Company Vision.

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?