Using positive reinforcement to win customer loyalty

We respond positively to positive feedback, recognition, and reinforcement of our behaviour and activities at work or home.

We get angry or lose interest in an activity, goal or organization if we don’t receive this “pat on the head” or “cheer-leading” on a continual basis.

Our customers also need reinforcement and recognition in order to maintain their motivation and good feelings toward your company or products.

What are you doing to make sure they get it?

Does the customer feel like you are just “going through the motions”?

Does it feel real?

Are you really showing that you care?

What sets you apart from your competitors AFTER the sale?

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What defines an exceptional leader

Lessons in international business – negotiations

Observations on how to create trust, effective meetings and excellent negotiations with overseas customers, suppliers and partners.

• Whenever you are involved in international negotiations or global meetings keep in mind that you might be working with the same person for the next 10 – 20 years.

• Negotiations should be open and straightforward.  Hidden agendas will eventually be discovered and make the next meeting very difficult.

• Negotiations should involve creating value for both parties.

• Meetings are important moments where trust is being built and confirmed.  Be honest and clear about your desires.

• Never agree to something you cannot deliver or perform.

• Listen, understand and evaluate what your partner is requesting.   What are they saying, and what does it mean.

• Be certain of what you are negotiating and agreeing to.  If not 100% sure, stop and request clarification.

• Prepare for the meeting several weeks before it happens.  Refresh and add information weekly.  When you reach the meeting, you will be in control of the information and feel comfortable during the talks.

• At the end of the meeting, write down the most important points or agreements, with names and dates, and have it signed by those present.  This little tip will save lots of time and trouble for everyone involved.

• Any agreement must have 100% follow-through.  If for any reason problems arise in the follow-through, immediately contact and communicate the situation to your partner.

Related Links

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

Great international business trip results

Great International Business Trip Results

In any international relationship communication and understanding are critical for success.

Problems created by; language, stereotypes, misinformation, lack of information, and cultural misunderstandings combine with normal business problems to create a complicated scenario for anyone involved in international relationships and global business.

Prepare your international meetings and business presentations using the following questions as a guide to organize your ideas and focus on actions that will produce positive results for everyone involved.

6 Questions – Create Great International Business Trip Results

1. What does this organization know about me, my company and my country?
2. What do they think they know about me?
3. What can I tell them that they do not know?
4. What do I know about my international partner, culture and country?
5. What do I think I know about this business, culture and country?
6. What can they tell me that I do not know?

1. What does this organization know about me and my company. When you walk in the room an opinion has already been formed about you, your organization, and your ability to perform in the future. These ideas are based upon facts, information and past experience.

• What has been the history of our relationship in their country?
• Who has been involved in our mutual business, and why?
• What promises have been made and kept by both?
• What promises have been made and not delivered upon?
• What have the major problems and success been in the past?
• Press and media, our organizations promotional material.

2. What do they think they know about me. Clarifying the unknowns or presumed realities in a relationship is crucial to success. These ideas may be very damaging and limit your ability to trust one another. What stereotypical behaviour can you avoid or prevent? What can you clarify or refute through information or actions?

• Behaviour and reacts based upon past experience with your organization.
• Rumour and innuendo, press and media reports.
• Negotiation styles.
• Business objectives.
• Behaviour, goals and methods of doing business based upon country and cultural stereotypes.

3. What can I tell them that they do not know. Today’s business world requires trust, information and solutions. Reinforcing your need to work with your international partner, providing important information or solutions, and clarifying misunderstandings can only help the relationship.

• Clarify or destroy cultural stereotypes.
• Clarify business objectives and why they are important in order to reach these objectives.
• Provide solutions and alternatives to existing situations and challenges.
• Provide information of value for their business and strategy.
• Clearly identify current or potential business problems.
• Predict and have answers ready for their questions.

4. What do I know about my International partner, culture and country? What do I know is true and not innuendo or interpretation? The numbers, facts, information, agreements and past performance history of the business. Information about the country and the business culture.

5. What do I think I know about this business, culture and country? What preconceived ideas and stereotypes are you working with? What are you assuming and what has been proven?

6. What can they tell me that I do not know? What questions do you need to ask in order to verify information or create plans. What pieces of your information puzzle are missing? This is the time to get your questions answered, what are they?

Related Links

Cultural misunderstanding it can happen to you

Stereotypes and global business

Create great international business relationships

16 Essential questions – the international business traveller’s quiz

Lessons in international business

What can we learn from the piracy business model

Here is a interesting way to view, prepare for and compete against businesses copying and pirating your content or products.

Piracy is a business model. Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, announced during a keynote address at MIPCOM. While her focus was on the pirating of media content, the same message applies for manufactured goods.

“It exists to serve a need in the market….. Pirates compete the same way we do – through quality, price and availability. We don’t like the model but we realize it’s competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward.”

What’s so amazing about this?

Taking the piracy is a business model approach allows us to analyze the business model and how it is acting or reacting to the economic fundamentals in the market.

Instead of locking up our company secrets and seeking punishments for the pirates, we can analyze why and where our “competition” is taking advantage of us in order to strengthen and modify our business model.

None of this changes the actual situation. But it might change business strategies and planning when you realize they are competitors and they are here to stay.

What are the advantages of being a pirate, and the disadvantages?

Why are there opportunities for them? What should I be doing that I’m not?

How can I change my organization to take back the market from the pirates?

Once weaknesses in the piracy business model are identified they can be exploited. When strengths are discovered, they can be integrated into our own business model.

The fight against piracy should begin with a focused analysis of the market environment, existing business models and new strategies on how to adapt to the changing market conditions and exploit them to your advantage.

We can stop focusing on the individual “pirates” and their control or capture, and move toward competing intelligently against them.

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The easy way

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Netribution – Disney Co-Chair recognizes ‘piracy is a business model’

Boing Boing – Disney exec: Piracy is just a business model

@MIPCOM Piracy is a business model

 

The power of something extra

“Here is a simple but powerful rule – always give people more that what they expect to get.” – Nelson Boswell

What defines an exceptional leader, a great manager, a super business, or remarkable experience? Something extra.

There are two words (one French and the other Spanish) that convey and represent the concept of something extra, lagniappe and pilon.

Lagniappe (hear it) is the word commonly used in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi. It’s defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as an extra or unexpected gift or benefit.

Pilon is the Spanish word used in the southern US and Mexico to describe a gratuity given by tradesmen to customers settling their accounts, it’s something extra, and not expected.

Incorporating something extra in our actions, results and as a business philosophy can be incredibly powerful.

Something extra:

• forces creativity and innovation.
• demands clear understanding what is expected of us by others.
• focuses our attention of adding value, and not on cutting costs.
• is positive.
• is rewarded with good will and positive reactions.
• will lead to continual improvement.
• is fundamental to continued success.

Something extra is all about the little things and details.

Something extra is not just something “free”, it must arrive without anticipation, unexpectedly in order for it to be special and make an impact.

Something extra allows you to surprise the customer.

Something extra will make think about your results and expectations. It will make the difference between simple compliance and outstanding results.

Something extra will make you and your results different from all the others.

Embracing something extra and applying it on a daily basis, will make you great.

Giving something extra is not a difficult task. It’s all about applying small acts of innovation and creativity to your results, especially for routine and day-to-day tasks.

The power of something extra can change your life, your products, your processes and how others perceive you.

“If you want to be creative in your company, your career, your life, all it takes is one easy step… the extra one. When you encounter a familiar plan, you just ask one question: What ELSE could we do?” – Dale Dauten

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Analyze and Plan using 7 simple questions

Who – What – When – Where – Why – How – How much

Project management, organizing a team, writing a business plan, creating strategies, planning meetings, running day to day operations, general analysis and problem solving can be facilitated and improved by using a simple application of 7 basic questions.

The application of the standard reporters’ questions of who, what, when, where, how and how much to a specific situation will help organize the process of analysis and planning.

In order for this system to work, all the questions and answers should be written down. You’ll be building a visual map while defining the objectives, tools, resources, bottlenecks, time limits and chronologies of the problem. It will become clear what the real goals are, what is required, what is missing, who should be involved and when the tasks should be accomplished.

Who – Who is or will be affected by the decision or process? Who are the participants? Who will be involved or affected in some way by the project?

What – What are the objectives and desired results? What is the problem or challenge? What are the options available? What tools are required?

When – When is this supposed to happen? Define the deadlines, time limits and chronologies.

Where – Where is it going to happen? The physical place or space should be defined and examined.

Why – Why are we doing this? Why are we doing it this way or by this procedure? Why is it occurring?

How – How are we going to do it? The mechanisms, requirements, and processes needed in order to achieve the goal.

How much – How much is it going to cost?

Example – You are asked to give a speech on the sales results in Mexico for the last quarter for the upcoming Board of Directors meeting on January 10.

Who – The audience is the Board of Directors. The sales department, marketing, logistics and finance departments have the numbers and explanations of the results. Who is responsible for the agenda, audiovisual set up, room reservations? Are any other members of the company required to attend the presentation? You are the project leader and responsible party for the presentation.

What – The presentation is directed at the Board of Directors, they want to hear about results, expectations and strategies of the sales in Mexico. What questions will they ask, what aspects of the business will be of interest or concern? What information is important?

When – The meeting is January 10. You’ll need all the pertinent sales information by what date? It has be polished into a concise presentation by what date?

Where – The meeting will be held where? How big is the room, what equipment will be required for the presentation.

Why – Why do they want to review this information, is there a problem, is it routine? Why me?

How – Will you give a visual media presentation along with documents? What graphics will you show? Will you be the only speaker? Will the presentation style be serious, upbeat, creative or different from other presentations?

How much – Do you have a budget for the presentation and required materials? Do you have to fly in the Mexican sales representative to be present at the meeting? Do you have to rent equipment, hire caterers or provide refreshments or coffee service?

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How to motivate yourself on Monday

Here we go again, Monday morning, back to work. Need some ideas on how to get pumped up for the week ahead?

1. The survivor approach. Challenge yourself to attack the most difficult work problems first thing today. Admit that it has to be done and might be the most uncomfortable or unpleasant activity you will encounter during the week. Once this is out of the way you’ll be surprised how much easier the rest of the week will be.

2. Send out positive energy. Be cheerful, upbeat and responsive to customers and coworkers. Say hello to everyone, acknowledge their presence. If you encounter grumpy, sad or depressed individuals smile at them and move on. Leave everyone you meet with the impression that you’re happy, full of enthusiasm and motivated today. Sound completely out of character for you? Good.

3. Monday is list execution day. List makers should prepare their weekly to-do lists on Friday afternoon or Sunday evening. When you walk into the office on Monday the plan is waiting for you to dig in and execute it.

4. You are working for you. Remember that you are working in order to achieve your personal goals. The work is part of that process. You are not working for XYZ corporation, you truly are working for yourself. It’s your decision to stay or to leave the company, your future is in your hands. Try that attitude on and see what happens.

5. Make someone proud of you. Everyone has a person or persons in their lives that they love and respect. Who are these people in your life? What could you do today at work to make them proud of you? Do it.

6. Act like an invincible leader. Feeling miserable and trying to spread that misery, gloom, doom and depression to others is a pretty pathetic way to live. Do you like to be around people with this attitude? Why would others want to be around you if you are a walking “cloud of misery and darkness”? You are a victim if you agree to be one.

7. Give yourself prizes. Set some work goals and create rewards for their completion that can be enjoyed on the weekend.

8. Motivation through memories. On the way to work think about the times in your life when you were the most enthusiastic, excited, motivated and happy. Remember the way you felt, identify why you felt so good, relive those experiences.

9. Go to work with a specific mission and deadlines. Make specific commitments for goal completion to others.

10. Decide to take a vacation. Burned out, stressed out, unable to focus, unable to get excited? Take time off, disconnect from work (that means no email, no telephone calls). Recharge your batteries. Figure out when you are going, for how long, with who and where.

11. Let cosmic forces and your subconscious decide. Sit down in a quiet spot, turn off the cellular phone, lock the door and try to clear your mind. In a matter of minutes you will begin to be bombarded with ideas or things you should be doing, and their priorities. Open your eyes, and get started.

12.  Music.  You know the tunes that start your feet tapping or set your soul soaring.  Record them, put them in your I-pod, burn a disk for the car.

13.  Change.  Setting a routine is quite normal, and comforting, but not motivating.  Change something.  Maybe it’s breakfast, the way to work, your clothes…who knows.  Fiddle around with your patterns and routines.

14.  Altruism.  Do something for someone else, without seeking anything in return.  Random acts of kindness.

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Leadership – who do you want to lead?

One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you. ~Dennis A. Peer

The semi-mystical mix of qualities, attitudes and behaviours that make or define a leader will provide plenty of material for business writers for years to come. The focus is often on what makes the person a leader or what actions define a leader.

How about looking at the situation from another point of view.

What kind of followers or team do you want to lead?

Are you seeking a group that can be easily manipulated and accept your commands without questioning your authority?

Do you want to lead a team of highly independent people who might question the goals and direction of the group at any time?

Do your followers believe you are the smartest, toughest or most courageous in the group?

What kind of people, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours would your “ideal” followers have, and why?

Determining the qualities of the group you desire to lead, can provide insights into your leadership style and goals. It will give some definition of what leadership qualities you expect to project to others, and what qualities or responses you expect to see reflected in your team, and their behaviours.

Not many of us will be leaders; and even those who are leaders must also be followers much of the time. This is the crucial role. Followers judge leaders. Only if the leaders pass that test do they have any impact. The potential followers, if their judgment is poor, have judged themselves. If the leader takes his or her followers to the goal, to great achievements, it is because the followers were capable of that kind of response.” –Garry Wills in Certain Trumpets: The Nature of Leadership

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Managers choice, rules or limits?

I found myself in strong disagreement to this post on Lifehack.org, Reining in the Rule Breakers.

I understand the need for policies and rules to insure employee safety. This post might be appropriate for those situations. It also might be justified when attempting to standardize jobs and activities that require no creativity or individual decision making in order to function correctly. I sense the post was geared to managers dealing with these type of positions.

This approach toward strict adherence to the “rules”, just smacks of a 1930’s factory or grade school, and is the exact opposite of what I feel a workplace in 2006 requires to remain creative, enthusiastic and productive.

I do think it’s important to define limits. Very different from rules. Limits give maximum or minimum boundaries, but do not bind individuals into procedures and don’t stifle creativity.

It is important to define goals and objectives, basic coordinated procedures and time limits. Allow the team, organization or individual to find the best path to the goal. Before you scream chaos and anarchy, understand that standard operating procedures and existing policies will normally be the jumping off point for most of the organization. Any changes that occur to those procedures will often be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Focus your energy and your people on objectives and not on blindly following the rules.

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Successful managers should be breaking the rules

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10 Things you should never do on a Friday afternoon

To complement my list of 10 things you should do on a Friday afternoon (Link), here are some of the activities that should be avoided on Friday afternoons.

Things you should never do on a Friday afternoon

1. Initiate a major project
2. Schedule any type of meeting or seminar with customers or employees
3. Give an employee review
4. Make important strategic business decisions
5. Ask people to work extra hours
6. Give bad news to the office, your team or co-workers
7. Raise your rates or product prices
8. Obsess about or relive any failures that occurred during the week
9. Go out for a 3 martini lunch and come back to the office complaining
10. Give the boss an ultimatum or try and force a decision

Related Link

10 things you should do on Friday afternoon

The 6 Fundamental Concepts Behind Every Successful Business

1. Supply and Demand. The fundamental idea behind business and a market economy. Want to determine where to sell or buy, or predict if prices will be going up or down? Understand the concept of supply and demand.

2. Cause and Effect. Physics applied to the business environment. What you do will affect your competitor and the market and vice versa.

3. People like to feel important and special. Learn this and you’ve discovered one of the fundamental qualities of a great salesperson or marketer.

4. Simple clear communication, on-time. Don’t make it technical, keep it easy to understand. Answer all questions when asked, and never forget to call back and follow-up.

5. Get the work done, on time, and with the highest degree of quality possible.

6. Ask lots of questions and get all the answers.

10 things you should do on Friday afternoon

Friday afternoons are not known as the most productive times in an organization. Why not take advantage of Friday afternoon, and do the following:

10 things to do on Friday afternoon

1. Clean up your desk, file the important documents, throw out the rest. Make your desktop visible again.

2. De-fragment and tidy up your computer and files, backup important information. Boring, but has to be done right?

3. Make a list of the projects and tasks you wish to deal with on Monday morning. Make Monday easier.

4. Review your calendar and schedule for the coming week, confirm appointments and make sure you’re prepared for meetings and presentations. Be on time and prepared.

5. Return all pending phone calls that have accumulated during the week. Follow-up.

6. Clean up your email inbox. Follow-up, follow-through, keep the communication moving.

7. Smile a lot, get excited about the weekend. Think of the future, not the past.

8. Call your spouse, significant other or best friend. Tell them to get dressed up and go out to a casual relaxing place that you have not been to in a while. It should remind you why you worked so hard all week. Give yourself a reward. Enjoy it.

9. If you are in a leadership or management position. Get out of your office and walk around, talk to people about anything but work. Ask if they have something special or exciting planned for the weekend. Listen and learn.

10. Do small random acts of kindness for subordinates and co-workers, these might include; give out Milk Duds and Lemonheads, buy a lottery ticket for everyone, take the “front line” workers out for a drink. Random acts of kindness. No ulterior motives.

Related Link

10 things you should never do on Friday afternoon 

20 challenges faced by a family owned business

Every business organization has a unique set of challenges and problems. The family business is no different. Many of these problems exist in corporate business environments, but can be exaggerated in a family business.

Family business go through various stages of growth and development over time. Many of these challenges will be found once the second and subsequent generations enter the business.

A famous saying about family owned business in Mexico is “Father, founder of the company, son rich, and grandson poor” (Padre noble, hijo rico, nieto pobre). The founder works and builds a business, the son takes it over and is poorly prepared to manage and make it grow but enjoys the wealth, and the grandson inherits a dead business and and empty bank account.

Prepare now and help your grandson avoid the poorhouse.

20 challenges for the family business

1. Emotions. Family problems will affect the business. Divorce, separations, health or financial problems also create difficult political situations for the family members.
2. Informality. Absence of clear policies and business norms for family members
3. Tunnel vision. Lack of outside opinions and diversity on how to operate the business.
4. Lack of written strategy. No documented plan or long term planning.
5. Compensation problems for family members. Dividends, salaries, benefits and compensation for non-participating family members are not clearly defined and justified.
6. Role confusion. Roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined.
7. Lack of talent. Hiring family members who are not qualified or lack the skills and abilities for the organization. Inability to fire them when it is clear they are not working out.
8. High turnover of non-family members. When employees feel that the family “mafia” will always advance over outsiders and when employees realize that management is incompetent.
9. Succession Planning. Most family organizations do not have a plan for handing the power to the next generation, leading to great political conflicts and divisions.
10. Retirement and estate planning. Long term planning to cover the necessities and realities of older members when they leave the company.
11. Training. There should be a specific training program when you integrate family members into the company. This should provide specific information that related to the goals, expectations and obligations of the position.
12. Paternalistic. Control is centralized and influenced by tradition instead of good management practices.
13. Overly Conservative. Older family members try to preserve the status quo and resist change. Especially resistance to ideas and change proposed by the younger generation.
14. Communication problems. Provoked by role confusion, emotions (envy, fear, anger), political divisions or other relationship problems.
15. Systematic thinking. Decisions are made day-to-day in response to problems. No long-term planning or strategic planning.
16. Exit strategy. No clear plan on how to sell, close or walk away from the business.
17. Business valuation. No knowledge of the worth of the business, and the factors that make it valuable or decrease its value.
18. Growth. Problems due to lack of capital and new investment or resistance to re-investment in the business.
19. Vision. Each family member has a different vision of the business and different goals.
20. Control of operations. Difficult to control other members of the family. Lack of participation in the day-to-day work and supervision required.