Putring our Celebration in a Customer Context

Sixteen years ago this week I left the comfort and security of a great corporate job at Chevron Corporation to begin my company, the company that is now known as the Kevin Eikenberry Group. A few weeks ago, when I shared the fact that it was about to be 16 years, someone commented, "16 years in business and married 23 years - and happy with both. Not everyone can say that."

I smiled.

I'm truly blessed.

I've been thinking about the 16 years, the challenges, the surprises, the mistakes, the wins and the lessons. And as a result of that I will be writing blog posts for the next 16 days - posts of lessons learned that can be applied to all of our lives. Those 16 posts are just one of the ways we will be celbrating - but I'll tell you more abou thtat tomorrow.

I grew up on a family farm. We raised crops and hogs, did custom fieldwork and a fertilizer business. While the lessons from all of that experience are many, one of the most important things I learned from a very young age was about how to relate to, treat and revere Customers.

That Customer mindset served me very well during my Chevron career, and has served me even better as an entrepreneur. The first name of my company - Performance Partners - defined that perspective. My goal then, and now, was to become Partners with our Customers to solve their Performance problems.

While we say it differently today - we want to be Your Leadership Help Button - the point is the same. We are here to serve you - our Customers. Any of the success we have had to this point rests firmly on this founding principle.

My challenge for you today, as an individual performer and a leader is to
think about how you think about your Customers - to carefully consider how those thoughts translate into actions - and how successfully you are meeting or
exceeding the needs of those most important people.

Because without our Customers, past and present, I wouldn't be celebrating 16 years in business next month, we are going to make our celebration all about YOU. Tomorrow I will announcing some very cool, very fun, and very valuable activities that will be a part of our month-long anniversary celebration - and all of it is about helping, encouraging, inspiring and thanking you.

Stay tuned for the announcement. . .

and in the meantime, thank one of your Customers today.

A Three Step Success Formula

I just opened an email that told me I have been named a Distinguished Author by Best Management Articles.

I don't share that to brag or make some sort of pronouncement. I share it here for the lesson it gives to all of us.

If you want something, you must take action.

I've been writing articles for several years - well over 300 of them at this point (not counting over 700 blog posts). In that time I have gotten better (I hope), I have had some great things happen and met some wonderful people. But none of it would have happened - including receiving the email today - if I hadn't:

1. Decided to write.
2. Write.
3. Keep writing.

If I stop at 1 (which many people do) or at 2 (because "I wrote an article and nothing happened"), the results I am receiving and will continue to receive wouldn't have come to me.

By the way, this article isn't about writing unless that is your action too. This article is about deciding to do the things that will help you become more successful and reach your goals.

Maybe you want to be better with Customers. Maybe you want to be more creative. Maybe you want to be a better team member or team leader. Or maybe you want to learn something new.

It doesn't matter what your "what" it; the formula remains the same.

1. Decide
2. Do
3. Keep doing

Chances are you know what your what is. You may have even taken step 1 by deciding to do it.

Now it is time for action and discipline.

This is a very simple success formula. It's time to get going.

The Six Cancers of Customer Care

Want to keep your organization out of recession? Consider these thoughts about the Six Cancers of Customer Care and how to overcome them.

Learning as a Relationship Building Opportunity

Here I am combining my love or learning and of beer to share a lesson relevant to us as leaders and marketers:

Learning and education is a tremendous relationship building opportunity.

When we help people learn new things, we are deepening our relationship with them.

Staying Connected

Staying connected is important for us in any number of roles in our lives: as leaders, as friends, as businesspeople, as marketers, as parents, as family members, as people.

And while there are many ways for us to stay and get connected (including millions that don't include electronics, screens, or the internet), tools for building and strengthening relationships using the electronic/internet world abound and are growing daily.

One of the reasons I haven't been posting as frequently here lately is because I have been learning about and using a couple of these tools - and I added another new one today. As I sit here this morning, I am struck by the options and working/playing hard to find the right balance for me (in all of the roles above!) between the various media, and tools.

As I find answers, I'll let you know. In the meantime, here are some ways you can stay more closely connected to me - using some of the tools I am using the most right now. I hope you choose to connect to me with as many of these tools as you use.

Facebook

Twitter

FriendFeed

LinkedIn

Blog RSS

Remarkable Leadership Blog RSS

Whether you connect with me, consider how you will connect with others today - whether online, offline, or both. Connections are the start of relationships, and relationships make every part of our lives more rich, valuable, meaningful and fun.

Customer Relationships are Recession Busters

This post is about two things: recessions and a solution to them.

Don't worry this is not an economic treatise about the definitions and causes of economic downturns sometimes called recessions. Rather, it is an explanation of how we can think about these events differently and, when these circumstances surround us, how we can improve our results regardless of what the media tells us.

While regional, national or global level economic indicators can show that an economy is slowing down, that people are losing their jobs and the like, I believe that for individuals, a recession is little more than a change in circumstances that we can choose to participate in or not. I would argue that recessions don't even exist for us as individuals, unless we allow them to.

Recessions and Our Response

First, if you are reading this and have lost your job or are facing significant changes in your situation due to the events being labeled "recession", please don't get angry with my comments, but continue reading with an open mind. Use these ideas to be proactive in dealing with the opportunity you are now facing.

The media and/or politicians may say we are in a recession. And yet, businesses are still buying products and services (though perhaps a bit less than 'normal') and businesses are still hiring employees and moving forward.

The key for you and your business is to be the one who gets a larger percentage of the orders or the interviews or job offers that are available. In this proactive way you can choose to recognize that recessions are macro not micro events. You have a choice about how you will view the event the media calls "recession."

What I'm saying is that times might be a little tougher and that it might not be as easy as it used to be (or will be again), but so what? You can succeed through a better plan and a bit of persistence. When things are a little tougher, it simply separates out those who are prepared to work harder and more creatively.

Our Best Response

After you have readjusted your views on what a recession is, and how you can most proactively view those circumstances, your next actions should be focused on the source of your income and profits: Your Customers.

You may call them something else: Clients, Patients, Students, Participants, Users, or Participants. Or you may be thinking, "Kevin I work inside the organization, I don't deal with our paying Customers." That’s fine, you still have Customers. Other departments, the people who you give your work to, the people who give you work, all of these people are your internal Customers. (If you "only" have internal Customers, read on, apply the points and wait for a special message for you before I close.)

Whatever you call them and whoever they are, your Customers are your personal recession buster - but only if you focus on them more completely, deeply and consistently than ever. Think about it this way - your Customers are the source of all revenue for your organization; your Customers write your paycheck. It makes sense to build and deepen your relationships with them always, but that is never more true than in times where they are buying less and probably distracted by the economy themselves.

Your Customers are looking for new solutions. Your Customers want help. Your Customers need you.

Five Ideas

Here are five ways you can focus on deepening your relationships with your Customers, starting right now.

Get in touch. Stop by, make a call, send a handwritten note, send an email (in that order of priority - the further up this list the more valuable the contact will be). Let them know you care, take the effort to be connected.

Stay in touch. Don't make this contact a one-time event but part of an ongoing process of staying in touch, connected and at the top of the mind for your Customer.

Ask how you can help them. No strings and no qualifiers. Do you appreciate it when someone offers to help you with something? So will your Customers, even if they don't take you up on the offer.

Educate them. Send an article, share an idea. After you know how you can help or what their challenges are, it will be easier to determine the best things to share based on their interests and needs.

Focus on serving not selling. People buy from those they like, trust and respect. Sales will come. Focus on the person, building the relationship and serving them.

These are just five ideas - you probably can come up with fifty-five more. Your challenge is to find ways to be relevant, helpful and available to your Customers.

A Final Thought

Before I close, I promised those with internal Customers a final thought. If you will do the things above, you will help your internal Customer better serve the paying Customer. When you sparkle in these efforts, they may even get ideas from your actions to apply with their Customers.

Regardless of where you sit in the organization you can have a direct impact on business success by your actions. Focus those actions on improving relationships with your Customers, whoever they are.

What Do You Believe?

I woke up this morning with the words from a Brooks and Dunn song in my head. I didn't know the title, but I assumed it was "I Believe". So, a bit later to iTunes I went to spend my $.99. After doing the search, I didn't find it, but I found 150 results, including an old Don Williams song that was popular on country radio when I was in high school. Yes, I dropped $.99 on it, and did another search.

The song I had been singing in my head is simply titled Believe.

As I worked on email and cleaning my office I listened to my two new purchases. The Brooks and Dunn song has a very gospel message and sound, and the Don Williams tune is a love ballad.

Both have me thinking about believing.

The Don Williams song is a series of statements of things he doesn't believe (right is right and left wrong, that north and south can get along is one lyrical pair), then he closes with a chorus of things he does believe in (including love, babies, Mom and Dad, and eventually the person he is singing to).

All of this has me thinking about what we believe in, and how impacts us as professionals and leaders.

What are the things you believe in most deeply?

How do those beliefs impact your daily actions and behaviors?

Are you living in alignment with those beliefs? (If not, can you be surprised if there is significant stress in your life?)

Yesterday when completing a proposal, I wrote about some of our beliefs and philosophies as a company. Communicating them was important - it will help the potential Client decide if we are the right fit for them or not.

What do you believe?

And how are you putting those beliefs into action each day?

These are powerful questions for all of us.