Technical Assistance Research Programs (TARP) of Washington DC ran some studies that are quite revealing.
• On average, twenty-six (26) customers will not complain for each customer who will.
• Yet each of the twenty-seven (27) unhappy customers WILL tell an average of sixteen (16) people about their bad experience with your company. – This means for every one complaint you hear, four hundred and thirty-two (432) negatives things are spoken about your business. By the time you hear a complaint three (3) times which is about the number of times a complaint is heard before it is perceived as a possible problem, 1,296 people have already heard about the problem.
• Ninety-one (91%) percent of your unhappy customers will never buy from you again.
• But if you make a focused effort to remedy your customers complaint, eighty two (82%) percent of them will stay with you.
• It costs about five (5) times as much to attract one new customer as it does to retain an old customer.

It is not hard to see the value of good customer service when you look at these numbers. But unfortunately, the real cost of customer service is often not seen until far too late because as you see above, you are generally one of the last to hear about your customer’s complaints. It is more than worth the effort to be proactive addressing customer concerns.

Another story about customer service comes from the story of Jan Carlzon of Swedish Airlines. In the late 1970’s he became president of the airline with a large initiative on customer service and discovered some basic human traits. Customers do understand that there are some problems that cannot be solved. Customers wish to be treated with respect and have a company representative advocate on their behalf regardless of the outcome. Even when the source of the customer’s complaint could not be changed, the customer was generally satisfied when the person from the company who they talked to became their advocate, listened to the problem and made an effort to resolve it. Carlzon empowered every employee for Swedish Airlines to address customer complaints. No matter if it is was a baggage handler or a customer service rep, whoever had contact with the customer was empowered to solve the customers problem. The customer satisfaction ratings and bottom line for Swedish Airlines skyrocketed.

Today, the difference between company “A” and company “B” is seldom in their products as the majority of products today work and are getting better all of the time. The difference between companies and hence the opportunity is in the way they interact with the customer. Consumers are not looking for unreasonable attention or spectacular results. As Jan Carlzon discovered, they just want to be treated fairly by the employee that is their connection to the company. Empowering your employees to use a common sense approach to serving the customers concerns may be the best investment you can make. It is one of those strategies that will not immediately show its value. It is doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. And when you do it. The TARP numbers above will not come back to haunt you.

During the Olympics a couple of years ago many of us witnessed extraordinary individual and team performances. Each one that captivated and inspired us was made possible by exceptional coaching. The best athletes in the world submitted themselves to the oversight of coaches, who in most cases are not and never were as gifted or skilled on the field of competition. The athletes found great coaches so they could win. And they know that great coaches are committed as much, or more, to achieving victory as are most athletes.

World and Olympic records are important, as they measure the development of mankind in a physical sense. But the discipline of business affects the lives of so many more. There is an almost universal obsession to play the “Lone Ranger” in the business world. Businesspeople feel they must “do it themselves.” Other than mentoring, a loose form of coaching, the bulk of businesspeople are left to perform without the benefit of coaching.

What would be possible if you and others in the business community not only accepted coaching, but embraced great coaching? What would you be capable of if someone held your performance to the standards you set for yourself? How good would you be if there was a coach who would not let you sell out on yourself when things get a little tough? How good could you be if someone pushed you at the very time you decided to rest, or when you felt you had given enough?

To get glimpse of what that might look like, you need to know what prevents effective coaching.

The first obstacle to effective coaching is when the performers believe they already know how to achieve the increased performance that both the coach and player are committed to. (Note: If they did know how, they would not have asked for or need the help of a coach). Coaching is almost exclusively action-results driven. Although many coaches may be knowledgeable, their knowledge is always in the background of their relationship with the performers and of whatever is the apparent moment of play or performance. In the foreground, the performer’s actions generate results. Actions, not knowledge, create results.

Coaching is not about knowledge. Coaching is about results. Knowledge without results is pretty much useless. Knowledge allows you to believe you could create the result if you tried. However, in business, without results not many care what you know.

The next impediment to effective coaching is circumstances, reasons and excuses that are used to explain away undesired results. Circumstances, reasons and excuses are the panacea that makes mediocrity acceptable for the masses.

Too often performers believe that missing the desired result is okay, if you have a good enough reason. To the effective coach, circumstances, reasons and excuses are just part of the conditions the performer is responsible for, and the best result is not negotiable in light of these conditions. When performers accept responsibility for everything, progress comes quickly. Results need not be dependent upon circumstances, reasons or excuses. True performers generate great results in spite of them.

No effective coaching can occur if the performer focuses more on scoring points with the coach instead of producing a result on the field. Coaches take on performers that want to improve. Mistakes only happen when pushing limits. If the player is not pushing limits, he’s playing on familiar ground and is more concerned with not making mistakes than with improving. Growth only exists on the other side of failure.

Effective coaching understands that failure fuels growth. Improvement comes through taking risks and making mistakes. Risk must be embraced, and failure never criticized; rather, it must be examined and overcome. For with failure comes growth and expertise, which is more valuable in the long term than the temporary set-back of a failed effort.

A final thing that prevents effective coaching is failure to surrender to coaching. Often coaches require a reorientation of actions that have become comfortable. Many times performers resist, wanting to remain with the usual or comfortable way they have done things in the past. This comes from what players know from personal experience, which may be limited; their fear of change is fear of the unknown. The coach’s job is to empower the performer to play beyond his personal limits. This is only possible by surrendering to the coach’s direction. Players must have blind trust in the coach’s commitment to the result, and the performer must be able to push through being uncomfortable to get there.

Add to this list a universal need for individuals to “look good” in a business setting. The understanding that true growth occurs only through “failure” is not embraced in the business arena. Because of this many businesspeople limit themselves to attempt only what they “know” in order to avoid the ramifications and consequences of the cost of genuine growth.

Accepting coaching in the business world is seen as a weakness. Businesspeople universally want to be seen as strong and knowledgeable. The fiction we know as the “Lone Ranger,” should be dressed in a business suit rather than wearing a mask and riding a white horse, for even in the Western version there is the trusty sidekick Tonto to make sure our Ranger is truly not alone.

Every four years I witness excellence in the summer Olympic Games – that excellence is result of extraordinary talent being guided by superb coaching in a variety of sports. I’m always awed by several performances, even though I expect to see the best. Unfortunately, during the intervening time, I cannot remember witnessing any businesses whose performances inspired me in any similar fashion.

My advice is to commit to setting your own world record with your business. Find a coach who will totally commit to the highest standard of results, and who will ruthlessly hold you to achieving the goals you set for yourself and your business. When all is said and done, you will be happy, no matter where you end up. For I can promise that your talent, plus great coaching, will make you achieve more than you could ever achieve by yourself.

As a sales manager, I continually teach my salespeople that talking is not selling. Selling involves a very specific sequence of steps that are necessary in order to persuade someone to adapt the stance you wish them to take. In short I not too gently let them know that “talking ain’t selling.” No story I know explains the difference any better than the one below.

There once was a devout young man who entered the monastery to face the challenge of dedicated life of a monk. He was always anxious to please and followed the rules to the letter. Late one day during evening vespers in the garden he observed an older monk smoking his pipe during the period of quiet prayer. The young monk thought that such actions were frowned upon so he made mental note of the occurrence, yet said nothing to anyone.

That very evening the younger monk again observed the older monk smoking his pipe during evening prayer. After his humiliating experience earlier in the day he could not contain himself and confronted the older monk after the period of reflection. He asked the older monk just how he could get away with such an affront to the lord. He told the older monk about his conversation with the monsignor and the monsignor’s response. The older monk nodded his head, smiled broadly and then he said, “It’s all about how you said what you did. You see, you asked the Monsignor if the lord would mind if you smoked while you prayed. I too, made the request of the Monsignor many years ago, when I asked the monsignor if the lord would mind if I prayed while I smoked. How you say it makes all of the difference.”

Relying on price to make your media buying decision is as dangerous as relying on price to decide which surgery you need to fix a failing heart. A tonsillectomy is much cheaper than triple bypass heart surgery, but when your life is at stake, you are not buying solely on price, you are paying for the perfect result. As a matter of fact, I am willing to bet that if the price of heart surgery is not as high as you expect, you will be looking for a second opinion. You see, your life is very important and you want the make sure you pay enough to get well. You will even be willing to pay a little too much in order to make sure you get well. Yet too many advertisers are only willing to pay what they want to pay, but rarely willing to pay what is needed to pay, in order to grow their businesses.

Many never consider the content of their message or how targeted is their media buy. What you say and how you say it is as important as to whom you say it. I often tell the story of the $15 Cadillac. A very rich man bought a new Cadillac and in the first week decided he didn’t like it. The dealership would not refund his money. They would only give him a “trade-in” value for a car less than a week old. In frustration he vowed to sell this new Cadillac in the local newspaper for just $15. The newspaper had a lot of readers. Yet nobody responded to the advertisement. The reason was that the offer was too good to be true. And because it seemed so unrealistic, nobody who read the ad bothered calling even though many of them were interested in buying a car. Your message must convey value for your product in balance with the price of your product. Our consuming public is far too wise to fall for bait and switch ads or other con jobs designed to fool them into acting. Again, a dollar is worth a dollar, as is the perception of a dollar.

When someone offers you a discount, you should ask yourself why. Nobody offers to cut their price without a solid reason. The only time I offer price concessions is for my convenience. When I want to increase the amount of booked revenue well in advance, when I want to increase my dominance in certain business categories, and sometimes when I am training sales people, I am likely to offer price breaks. I trade profitability in some cases for other strategic advantages. Want a discount from me? Offer me a strategic marketplace advantage and you will win my heart. I never discount for someone else’s convenience. Neither do my competitors. Be very wary of anyone who gives discounts because “they like you.” Either you are not getting a true discount, or you were paying too much in the first place.

Remember, too, that by increasing the response to your current advertising, you will reap big sales rewards without any additional investment. Spending time improving and perfecting your sales message will give you bigger payoffs than shopping advertising rates. Minor improvements in your offering can literally double your sales results. And I doubt if shopping advertising rates can ever impact your sales results in a positive way. Find an advertising representative who will invest their time and knowledge to help you create an ad that will work and you’ve spent your time very well. When the ad works well, differences in ad rates don’t seem to matter because advertising then becomes an investment and not an expense.

I love sports of all kinds. My sometimes less than understanding wife believes I would be happy sitting in front of the television watching “Collegiate Competitive Paint Drying,” if I could convince some obscure network to carry it during other sport’s off season. There is just something about competition that captures my attention. The drama of two or more opponents giving their all to overcome all obstacles and win the objective keeps me totally engrossed. The bigger the odds against the competitor, the more I am lured to become their fan. This seems to be human nature, to root for the underdog as long as they are not playing your hometown or favorite team. I am told by my lovely wife that my obsession with sports is not one of my more endearing traits as a husband. But it is part of my make-up.

The single facet of competitive sports that I do not enjoy is when a team through its daring, game strategy, and risk taking takes a commanding lead and looks to be the obvious winner, tries to run out the clock and maintain a victorious lead by forsaking the very daring, game strategy, and risk taking that got them the lead in the first place. They go from, a devil may care, leave it all on the field total commitment to “we WILL win because we absolutely know we will be victorious” attitude to “let’s just keep them scoring enough to take the lead in final moments.” When this happens, not only does the excitement go out of the game, but the commitment to winning changes to a commitment to not losing. And far too often, what we fear or try to avoid is exactly what we get. The game is lost because there is only one side remaining that is still committed to winning.

Playing not to lose, eliminates the opportunity for all of those nuances to appear in the heat of risking it all; the impossible catch, the improbably hit, the once in a lifetime effort that makes the evening news or the play of the week. Never do the highlight reels chronicle a “prevent defense,” because trying not to lose is not where the remarkable performance lives.

And so it is with our businesses. When we first began, we played the business game on the edge. We took risks. We challenged ourselves. Our fresh approach flew in the face of those established businesses in our market. It was not game as much as a war that we were determined to win. And, many were intent on changing their little corner of the world in doing so. Life, and business is exciting in times like that. The air is crisper, the sun a little brighter and every breath is sweet. Not everything worked, but we were so intent on winning that a variety specific tactics and strategies were tried until we found the right formula. Moving ahead every day was all that mattered.

But at some point in the life of nearly every business and most businesspeople a change happens. It very much resembles going into a “prevent defense.” We no longer take risks and accept total responsibility for where we are. We begin to blame our results on conditions outside of ourselves rather continue to take responsibility for winning in spite of conditions and circumstances. And our love of the game called “business” dwindles just as my pleasure does when watching a team that goes from winning because of determination to avoiding a loss by trying to keep others from scoring too quickly. It is the determination to win because we will it so that fuels our enjoyment of playing the game.

Get your spirit back. Get back to playing your game to win. Take a chance. Recommit to overcoming all of the odds just because you say so, even in the face of no evidence that you can. Well maybe because there is no evidence you can. Amaze yourself. Amaze your customers. Most of all, devastate your competition. Don’t shy away from playing to win. After all playing to win is what made getting into business all of that fun so many years ago. Playing the game to win is the surest way to do so and an even better way to make what you do more meaningful. Playing not to lose is just the slower route to total surrender.

We all know how to lose weight, consume fewer calories than you burn. It is a law of physics and cannot be circumvented short of surgery to remove a body part. We even know how to run a four minute mile, run 22 feet a second, 240 continuous times. But so very few people know how to be successful.

Many human beings act as if good fortune happens, then we begin doing those things that successful people do and we ultimately end up becoming successful. So we believe in “Have – Do – Be”. Yet we know intellectually that is not the path to where we wish to go. Why is it so many of us keep repeating a process that is proven not to work with hopes that it will be different this time? I think it is has to do with our own lack of confidence. We are looking for outside evidence of who we want to be before we have the courage to declare who we are.

In order to become something we must “Be” what we want to be. That is, our minds must accept that we are the image we desire to be. Once we accept it, then our actions will naturally flow from the perception of ourselves making us “Do” what that image would naturally do. By those naturally flowing actions we will realize the consequences of them and “Have” the result of being that person. If we decide we are lean and in-shape, we will do those things that lean and in-shape people do, which is eat responsibly and be physically active. As we do those things we realize the natural consequences of those actions which is becoming leaner and more in-shape. In a very short time our inner “being” and the outer characteristics we “have” coincide becoming the same, i.e. “Be – Do – Have”.

The same steps lead us to becoming anything else we want. Success? It is easy, just “be” successful and then “do” all of those things successful people do and you will realize the consequences of your actions and cannot escape “having” success. The key here is understanding that we must model exactly those successful traits, not our interpretations of those actions.

It must be true that the egg came before the chicken. As the chicken is the natural consequence of an egg, but an egg is not the natural consequence of a chicken (gender being the variable). So it is in becoming what you want to be. There is a definite starting place. Your existential step into a new reality causes new actions to flow naturally which lead to inevitable consequences of those actions. It all starts with your being. It is a perfect equation. If you want to know what you genuinely think of yourself look at where you are in life. You are not there by mistake or chance. You are there be design, your design. The only question left is if the design that molded your place in the world was an intentional design by you or by created by default of having no direct intention on your behalf.

Does this apply to advertising? By all means yes. Simply substitute your business for you throughout this message and see how it applies.

I’m one hell of a sales manager. I know it. I have the record and credentials that few can match and many would be proud to claim. I am not a playing coach. I would never want Bobby Knight playing guard on my basketball team, but I would kill to have him on my bench coaching. I am not much better player of my game than Knight was of his. But we are students of our individual games and have spent years observing, developing our motivational skills and practicing techniques designed to get the most out of the talent we’ve been able to recruit. We know the tactics, strategies and mechanics of achieving our goals and with a coach’s perspective can win much of the time through the efforts of others.

There are hundred of nuances to winning, but just a very few basics. The most important are having players willing to play and having opponents to challenge you. If a player’s heart in not in the “game,” there is virtually nothing you can do to engage him into the challenge of winning. And even if you are blessed with enthusiastic players they can only ascend to the level of competition with which they are presented. When you play against the worst, you can work hard and become the best of the worst. Or you find ways to play against the best and aspire for the obvious goal. But above all, you must “show up.”

I know that almost everyone will agree with these words because what I am about to describe has been seen by nearly everyone. The trouble is most of us fail to see it in ourselves. To a person we see when others make fatal errors of omission but choose to believe we are practicing caution by not moving too quickly.

It is a documented fact that a way to get rich is to buy low and sell high. This is the basis for being a retailer. If there is anyone who can show me how to get rich from buying high and selling low (the bigger truck theory), I am will listen but I am not willing to indulge.

So we agree that buying low is the first step, right? Then why…., why is it when we can buy low, we don’t do it? Is there ever going to be a better time to buy market share for your business? Right now, a majority of retailers are taking the “wait & see,” strategy of doing nothing creating a great opportunity to lure customers away from your competitor.

Answer the following two questions: 1) when will there be less competition going after the available customers? 2) If you are not going to aggressively promote and build your business today, who is going to do it and when? Yet, some of you will think this advice is so I can increase my business

You see we all practice the “herd mentality.” It is more comfortable to do what others are doing even if it is nothing so we can share the familiar complaints about our lack of results. We are following the herd wherever it goes. And right now in a soft economy that is edged with fear nobody is courageous about moving forward. Everyone is following someone who is following someone who is following someone and nobody is leading or moving forward. Doing nothing perpetuates the status quo, we wait and see.

History tells us that in every economic turn-down over the last 100 years, those companies who aggressively endeavored to build market share during the slow-down emerged stronger as the economy eventually improved. And intellectually we all know that strategy makes sense. But why do we cling to the mediocre that feels so familiar rather risk for the success about which we dream?

On a personal note, how many of you are investing less in the stock market right now? Again, I ask you, are you ever going to find a better time to buy low? Are you going to wait until the prices return to their high levels of a few years ago before you buy again? The “herd” is waiting to see what happens. Unfortunately, after it happens, it is too late to make much money.

“Buy fear and sell greed” is the motto of Warren Buffet. He certainly has a reputation for making money and if I were to totally surrender to another person’s strategy it would be his. Actually, I have done so to a certain degree and it was one of the most fearful decisions of my life. As the stock market bottomed out I dramatically increased my investing as much as I could and bought low for nearly a year. I now need to sell high and we’ll see how that works out in the future. I know I did the right thing because the majority (the herd selling from fear) is who I bought from.

What about you? Are you buying low? Are you investing in your market share today when customer loyalty is at such a low level? Are you investing to be one of the stronger businesses that emerge from this slow economy? Ball State Professor Michael Hicks spoke at this week’s Chamber of Commerce Luncheon. I cannot remember his exact words but his message was unmistakably clear: “this slow economy will eventually end and when it does there will be a period of growth when a lot of money will be made.” Are you preparing for that now or are you going to “wait & see?”

Advertising is a science but most of us must practice it as an art. You see, the result of advertising is absolutely predictable when you take into consideration all and I do mean all of the factors affecting the outcome. The result of advertising is an equation where every factor, weighted according to its actual influence perfectly affects the outcome to a certainty. The trouble is in the unbelievable number of factors that actually influence advertising outcomes.

People who take into consideration maybe three to seven factors have winning advertising strategies more than losing ones strategies. Those who consider a dozen or so factors, win even more of the time. But is becomes tedious and even self-limiting to begin to gauge everything that can impact the outcome of advertising. As an artist uses intuition in the artistic process, so must a good advertiser in interpreting what may and may not create the desired outcome from an advertising campaign.

Timing, competitive factors, weather, the economy, product/service characteristics and limitations are the most popular things that a majority of us consider. Psychological needs, alternative motivations, least objectionable offers and fear of loss are very few of the other things that can affect a buyer’s decisions.

Naturally, the extent of this conversation could get very deep and detailed. But the purpose of bringing it up is to make you aware that there is more to advertising than asking yourself if you like your advertising idea. The more common sense thought you put into what you are trying to accomplish, the better are your odds of getting what you want.

Time invested into figuring out how best to get the result you wish even if you make a poor decision is much better than not trying at all. You see there are three levels of effort. The first two will with common sense and persistence eventually yield success. The third never will. The three levels of effort are winning, losing and not trying.