Are You In The People Business, Or A Commodity

Customer service is a mindset. It takes thinking of your customers first and really, truly caring about people. It's easy to spot companies that are not in the "people" business.
A few weeks ago I had such an encounter with a car rental company. I don't want to name them (although the name rhymes with Avis), but here is the story:
About a week before my rental I reserved the car for a $100 rate (for two days, picking up the car at 9am). I was actually running early the day I picked up the car and arrived at 8:30am, 30 minutes before my reservation time. I asked to pick up my car.
I was told I could not pick up the car at 8:30am at the $100 rate. If I wanted the car a 1/2 hour early it would cost an additional $90 (for the 1/2 hour). I was a bit taken back. I offered to bring the car in a 1/2 early if that helped. No, I was told. You need to have a seat in the corner and wait 30 minutes. I wasn't alone in the corner. One guy was sitting there for two hours.
So, here is a company that instead of taking care of their customer, tells me to sit in a corner for 30 minutes. Now, I was certainly a 1/2 hour early and I'm sure Avis doesn't want people showing up hours before arrival. However, I am a paying customer and this was an opportunity to become a hero.
Avis took that opportunity and blew it up.
Some rental car companies are in the "serving people" business, while others are in the renting car business. Take, Enterprise, for example. It's slogan says it all, "We'll pick you up." Enterprise employees will take time out of their busy day to pick you up and return you when you return. Is it profitable to be shuttling customers around? No. But they want to take care of their customers. That company is in the "people" business.
When you are not in the "people" business, you've become a commodity. At that point, who cares what business you are in!
--Ron Ameln, SBM

How Thinking Differently Can Lead To Sales

I've always believed that business, like sports, is a game of inches. What separates one successful entrepreneur from one that fails isn't much. In fact, the entrepreneurs that are willing to go against the grain and embrace new ideas are usually the ones standing at the end of the day.
Today I met with entrepreneur Mike Wilcox, president of Vivid Cleaning, a commercial cleaning company.
Mike just recently began his company and is going through the hard work of building clients. An entrepreneurial friend had an interesting idea for Mike: "Why not contact the biggest competitor in the marketplace and ask for a meeting. Maybe he can help you or you can help him." Mike's first thought was, "that is totally ridiculous. Why would I contact my biggest competitor?"
After some hedging, Mike finally took his friend's advice and called the largest competitor in the market. The owner agreed to meet Mike for breakfast and the two had a very nice conversation. The Big Company owner liked Mike so much he began mentoring him and sending him clients. Yes, sending him clients. You see, there are certain smaller jobs the larger firm just can't make profitable. Instead of saying no, the company now sends the prospects to Mike.
Mike is not only getting some mentoring, he's also gaining some clients. The large company owner is getting the satisfaction of helping a local entrepreneur, and he no longer has to say NO to prospects that have jobs too small to handle. A win-win for everyone.
Business: It's a game of inches.
--Ron Ameln, SBM

What Good Are Social Media Friends, Anyway?

In the last week of the mid-term elections, I thought it was interesting to see one of the local politicians touting how many Facebook friends he had collected. In fact, he was quick to point out how many more friends he had than his opponent, like that somehow proved his political ability.
What good are social media friends? Apparently when it comes to being elected for public office, not much.
That candidate lost, and he wasn't alone.
Take, for example, Christine O'Donnell (R) from Delaware and her opponent, Chris Coons (D). O'Donnell had almost three times the Facebook friends (25,809 vs. 9,523). She ended up losing the real race by 16%, a huge political landslide.
This wasn't the only case. The races were littered with similar stories, like Brad Ellsworth (D) from Indiana, who had twice as many Facebook Likes than his opponent, Dan Coats (R). Coats won the election by 15%, yet another landslide.
There is a clear lesson here for businesses, many of which are racing (like Titanic guests searching for rescue boats) to build their Likes and Friends. The lesson: these so-called friends mean nothing to your ultimate success or failure.
I'm not saying don't utilize social media, and I'm not saying it is not a valuable tool. What I am saying is that business is about personal relationships. The businesses and politicians that succeed (in the real world, not the social world) build those personal relationships and actually connect with people in a very personal way. Just because you are on my Facebook list doesn't create a personal relationship. It's no different than being on my mailing list or email list. Many businesses these days are focused on getting as many Likes (friends) as possible, whether they are customers in their target market or not. How smart is that strategy?
With many businesses spending resources and lots of time building these networks, I hope they all took a look at the midterm elections. There were more messages sent than just political.
--Ron Ameln, SBM

Can You Turn Your Business Into An Experience

Author and management guru Harvey Mackey frequently tells a story about a basic cab ride from Manhattan, N.Y., to LaGuardia Airport. Mackey gets into a cab and the driver says, "Hi, my name is Walter. I'm your driver, and I'm going to get you there safely, on time and in a courteous fashion." The driver then holds up a New York Times and a USA Today and asks if Mackey would like them. Then he offers Mackey a fruit basket, complete with snack foods, juices, soft drinks, etc. He then asks, "would you prefer hard rock or classical music?"
This cab driver is turning an average ride into an experience. He's taken the most mundane experience imaginable--a cab ride--and transformed it into a special experience for riders.
Customers love riding in Walter's cab. His cab ride hits their emotions, and emotions are something that no competitor can copy.
This cabby thinks differently. He stopped thinking like every other cab driver in town, and discovered what it would take to turn his boring, mundane occupation into an experience customers would always remember.
You can do that with your company. Not with mirrors, magic or miracles. Just by thinking differently. As yourself, "How can I turn my business into an experience?"
-Ron Ameln, SBM

The Reports Of Our Death...

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Mark Twain
The same could be said about our magazine. It is amazing the number of people I meet on a weekly basis that are convinced I'm lying when I tell them things are going well with our publication. They read the web stories about the death of print and they assume print publications can't exist in the new era of web advertising, social media, etc.
That just isn't the case, as many of my colleagues will tell you from around the country, especially for niche publications.
But the environment has certainly changed. The web, especially, has brought about new competition in the marketplace. Publishers need to be flexible, agile and willing to diversify to succeed. We're certainly not alone. The growth of the Internet has changed the playing field in numerous industries. Here are just a few:
-Travel. Remember a day when travel agents booked airline tickets and took a commission to do so. Not anymore. The travel agent our company used to use is now out of business, as is many of its cohorts.
-Insurance. Why use a neighborhood agent when you can use an online agent or company for a discounted price.
-Books. amazon.com--enough said. Have you been to your local, independent book store lately? Didn't think so.
-Couriers. Remember when you actually needed a human being to send a letter across town in 30 minutes. Now, with email, it's about three seconds.
These are just a few that come to mind. Each industry has to adapt and find a way to become successful in this new environment. It's really nothing new. Challenges are part of running a successful business. And really, what fun would it be without some challenges.
--Ron Ameln, SBM

The Dreaded Meeting....Making Them Productive

The business events I remember most from my brief experience working in corporate America are the endless daily and weekly meetings. Most were not productive. So when I became an entrepreneur, I vowed not to have them. Then I realized that was impossible.
Meetings are crucial, but how can you make them as effective as possible.
Author Patrick Lencioni, in his book, "Death by Meeting," says business owners should inject drama into their meetings to make the events more productive. For example, he believes the key to injecting drama into a meeting is being as direct as possible during the first 10 minutes of a meeting so everyone understands what is at stake.
Try injecting some drama into your next meeting and see if the results change.
--Ron Ameln, SBM

Building Value Into Your Sales

It's a story most know by now. Wal-Mart discovered that a large percentage of its purchasing agents' time was spent researching and purchasing products, which contributed only a small percentage to profits. The solution: use the Internet exclusively to purchase goods.
It became Wal-Mart's new purchasing protocol and the company was able to reduce the size of its purchasing staff dramatically.
What did this mean for the many salespeople that called on Wal-Mart? Log onto the computer and answer the questions and good luck.
If you sell commodities, or anything these days, and don't offer something of real value, buyers will need you less and less. And that's not a good thing for sales professionals out there.
No matter what your business, you need to differentiate yourself from the competition and provide the real (I can't live without it) value.
--Ron Ameln, SBM