We Messed Up FAR TOO OFTEN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But what happened?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Would Walt Do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What would Walt do
with your business or practice?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Have the PAY Discussion

How to Have the PAY Discussion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Pay is Determined

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

This is a discussion of how pay is determined:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Lois Lane

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Performance Reviews Suck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What You Accept You Get

What You Accept You Get

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dan’s article is here in blue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Law of Reciprocity and Your STAFF

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Law of Reciprocity from BrianTracy.com

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

Law Of Reciprocity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith Lee
Keith@KeithLee.com

If Walt Disney were an NFL Owner

What Would Walt Disney Do,

If He Were An NFL Owner Today?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IT’S THE CUSTOMER.

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

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

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

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

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

In chapter one of The Happy Customer Handbook I write,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Live Your Bucket List Now

One of the things that I’ve added to my “Live Your Bucket List Now” presentation is to make sure you have items on your bucket list that require you to stay in shape as you get older.  That way, instead of working out and eat right just to stay in shape you’ve eating right and working out to LIVE YOUR BUCKET LIST

Follow this link to discover how you can Live Your Bucket List Now

If you have items on your Bucket List that require you to stay in shape you won’t be working out and watching what you eat to just stay in shape, you’ll be doing those things to Live Your Bucket List.

My bucket list included back country skiing with my daughter Jenny. That’s where you hike up the mountain and ski down.  I’ve skied to 49 years and I’ll continue to ride the chair lift and ski in bounds, but AT skiing looked pretty darned awesome.

So, about a year ago I checked, “Become an AT skier” off my Bucket List by taking a 3-day avalanche class with Jenny.

They say a picture say a thousand words, so I’ll share some with you as I go

The Make-You-Happy Management System is about YOU
Living Your Bucket List Now… are you!

I took a 3-day avalanche training class with my daughter Jenny.  In the class we learned how to be safe in the back country and how to find someone should they become buried in an avalanche.  After the class I’m confident that I can travel in the back-country safely and have a great time skiing.

Jenny’s friend Christy joined Jenny and me in the class.

Day 1

We drove up a windy private dirt road to about the 4,000 foot level of Downing Mountain outside of Hamilton Montana.  From there we skinned up the road to Downing Mountain Lodge at 5,500 feet.  (Skinning – You attach a synthetic ‘skin’ to the bottom of your skies so you can walk up the mountain without sliding back).

We didn’t know what to expect for accommodations but it turned out great.

We got our gear settled in and started our first classroom session.  We learned how to use our rescue beacons to find someone buried in the snow.  About 2pm we went outside, skinned up about 1,000 feet and practiced finding buried beacons.  As the sun was setting we skied back to the lodge, had dinner (great lasagna) and another class room session.  We started learning how to read the terrain, weather, and other things so we could have fun and STAY OUT OF AN AVALANCHE.

Day 2

Got up, had a great breakfast and another classroom session.  Then it was time to head up the mountain, learn how to read the terrain, snow pack weather, dig our avalanche pit, test the snow and ski!

We skinned from 5,500 feet to the summit of Downing Mountain at 8,000 feet.  Oh my GOD!  I don’t know if Jenny keeps me young or not, but I was sucking air and feeling every bit of my 61 years.

But… I felt absolutely incredible as I ate lunch with Jenny at the summit.  Here I am with Jenny eating lunch at 8,000 feet.  I’m the black blob leaning on the tree to the left of Jenny.

Here is most of the group getting ready to ski down and dig our avalanche pits to test the snow.

Jenny – Taking a measurement in our pit.

After a great run down to the lodge, it was time for a little relaxation, and a shot-ski.  Get it, doing shots with holes drilled into the ski to hold the shot glasses.  Daddy-daughter bonding at its best.

Day 3

This was our (the students) day to plan the ascent and the path to ski down.  The previous day got us to the summit quickly and safely so we decided to take the same route up.  On day two we skied down the same way we went up.  Today, we wanted to see if we could safely ski the huge bowl to the south of our ascent line.

Our plan was to test the snow at the top near the bowl and if it was as stable as day 2, or better, we would go to bowl, measure the inclination of the slope, and if it was 35 degrees or less, we would ski down that way.

We found that the snow was actually more stable than the previous day and the slope was about 30 degrees.  So  YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Remember, one of the main reasons to implement the Make-You-Happy Management System is so you can Live Your Bucket List NOW!

Follow this link to discover how you can Live Your Bucket List Now

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.

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

Keith Lee
www.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

Keep Failing and Start Succeeding

The sign off on my email for years was, “Keep thinking, keep trying, keep failing, keep succeeding, keep growing.”  I want to emphasize Keep Failing today.

Fear of failure is one of the biggest detriments to the growth of both people and businesses.

  • Let’s look at just a few historical failures.
    JFK failed the bar exam twice.
  • Mark Twain, Henry Ford, P.T. Barnum, Milton Hershey, and Henry Heinz all went bankrupt.
  • Walt Disney was fired because of a lack of new ideas.
  • Winston Churchill flunked 8th grade.

Perhaps, one of the most famous failures that directly relates to business is Thomas Edison’s statement while attempting to create the light bulb, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.

One of the most important concepts in the Make-You-Happy Management System is getting lots of input and ideas on how to improve from your team.  It’s really important that in coming up with ideas and input that they not be afraid to fail. That they not be afraid to suggest lots of things – things that may not be implemented. If people are afraid to fail in your business the ideas will dry up.

The following is excerpted from Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win by Ryan Babineaux, PhD., and John Krumboltz, PhD.

“There’s something to notice about successful people: they act quickly, even if they may fail.

In the book Art and Fear, the artists Ted Orland and David Waylon share a story about a ceramics teacher who tried an experiment with his class.

The teacher divided the students into two groups.  Those sitting on the left side of the studio were to be graded solely on the quantity of their work, while those on the right, solely on the quality.  The instructor informed the students in the quantity group that a simple rule would be applied to evaluate their grades: those who produced fifty pounds of pots would get an A, those who produced forty pounds a B, and so on.

For the quality group, the instructor told the students that he would assign a course grade based on the single best piece produced over the duration of the course.  So if a student created a first-rate pot on day one of the course and did nothing else for the term, he would still get an A.

When the end of the quarter arrived and it came to grading time, the instructor made an interesting discovery: the students who created the best work, as judged by technical and artistic sophistication, were the quantity group.  While they were busy producing pot after pot, they were experimenting, becoming more adept at working with the clay, and learning from the mistakes on each progressive piece.

In contrast, the students in the quality group carefully planned out each pot and tried to produce refined, flawless work, and so they only worked on a few pieces over the length of the course.  Because of their limited practice, they showed little improvement.

I like this story because it points out an important principle: successful people take action as quickly as possible, even though they may perform badly.

Instead of trying to avoid making mistakes and failing, they actively seek opportunities where they can face the limits of their skills and knowledge so that they can learn quickly.  They understand that feeling afraid or under prepared is a sign of being in the space for optimal growth and is all the more reason to press ahead.  In contrast, when unsuccessful people feel unprepared or afraid, they interpret it as a sign that it is time to stop, readdress their plans, question their motives, or spend more time preparing and planning.”

It is also critical that you not be afraid of failure in marketing and sales. In fact, one of the characteristics of good marketing businesses is that they fail fast!  The faster you fail and get on to the next idea, the faster you’ll find something that works. Even the best marketers have more failures than successes.  If you are interested in this kind of marketing, you can get a FREE Gift at: www.3dMailResults.com.

Do what you do so well
that people can’t help telling others about you

Keith Lee
www.keithlee.com