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What To Do When Your MOM Is SAD

By Business Coaching Coaching Skills No Comments

Something that is extremely important in creating a strong sense of customer satisfaction, loyalty and love for your business and brand is through doing things that are out of the ordinary; above and beyond what your client or customer expects of you.

Through these techniques, you etch an incredible impression on not only the minds of your clients, but also their hearts – creating a sense of wonder and joy when they think about you.

These two awesome acronyms will have you remarked on and scoring tonnes of brownie points from your clients, trust me.

SAD And MOM Are Basically One In The Same

 I’m sure that you’re a bit confused now: all of this shit about mom being sad and a sad mom, what am I even going on about?

Let me explain:

SAD stands for Surprise and Delight, while MOM stands for Moments of Magic. Both of these are basically one in the same and are methods to get your clients to fall in love with you, regardless of your USP.

As a matter of fact, acting on these methods become almost as important as the product or service that your business offers and I encourage all of my clients to make use of these techniques at any and all times.

What it basically refers to is creating exactly those things for your customers – moments of magic that they are attracted to and enamoured by that will have you win them over and spread your brand like warm butter to all who they are capable of influencing.

A moment of magic can come in many different shapes and forms, such as: sending hand-written notes, gifts, coupons, tickets; involving them in your social media through competitions, prizes, retweets, rewards; and even some personal interaction from on top through phone calls, emails, video messages all by the CEO, owner, or managers.

These moments of magic will end up creating a surprise and a sense of delight for your clients, which strengthens their bond, loyalty and trust in your business and the brand as a whole.

In this day and age, customer satisfaction is bigger than ever and creating a delightful or magical experience for them will ultimately shoot your business into stardom or have it dragged down into the fiery depths of hell to suffer for the rest of eternity. (Indeed a gross exaggeration, but some great hyperbole where it’s needed).

At the end of the day, your customer or client makes your business, well, a business, and without them you’d be left to struggle on your own. So plenty of emphasis needs to be placed on their value and how better to show them that you value them through these magic words.

 

Under promise And Overdeliver

This focus and intention on bringing amazing service that your customer or client doesn’t expect will only yield better results for you and your company.

You should be implementing these tactics from the beginning of your journey with the client, as well – being aware of trying to surprise them from the early exposure that they have of your business; from the Instagram ads, to the billboards, to the first time they spend money with you.

And bear in mind that these moments of magic shouldn’t be ad-hoc, either, but should be built into your customer-engagement process; they should be part of the customer journey, by creating magical moments at every stage to surprise and delight them.

Through my journey as a business coach, I’ve come across some amazing ways that entrepreneurs do this in the most remarkable and awe-inspiring methods you can think of – and they are all very simple.

At the very basic level, do what you say that you’re going to do and deliver the product or service to the best of your ability; do what they expect and then give them more than what they’re expecting (deliver more, or earlier, or under-budget, or anything that gives them a positive reaction toward that which they weren’t expecting).

Give them something that they didn’t know they needed and always thank them for being a client of yours.

Take the time to figure out what makes them excited, happy or brings them joy and be the first to act on it. You’ll end up becoming that much more remarkable in their eyes and they’ll absolutely adore you for it.

 

Almost Like A Fright, Make It Memorable

I sometimes like to give my daughter a small fright, waiting around the corner and surprising her with a tiny jolt of adrenaline. It’s not to be malicious or sadistic in any way, but after the small surge of adrenaline, the dopamine kicks in and we both have a good giggle.

There’s a small moment that the surprise has us both bonding and laughing at the outcome and I’m sure that she’s going to get me back very soon; in the end it becomes a memorable moment of surprise that we both look back at, laugh about and enjoy.

I’m not recommending spooking your clients or customers into moments of magic, but those surprises work in wonderful ways that are both memorable and impressionable.

It is often more important to surprise and delight or present moments of magic for your client than the actual product or service that you provide; as bad as that might sound, some clients don’t care that much about the work you’re doing, but will certainly care about being surprised and delighted at any given moment.

A huge part of winning loyalty, keeping yourself relevant to the market and building relationships with the client – using this tactic is so powerful in and of itself.

You can find loads of ways that this tactic is used by massive businesses that don’t even need to bother doing it, but it always ends up working in their favour. Most making use of social media campaigns like Mercedes-Benz sending branded gifts to clients; or Mastercard sending out concert tickets, coupons and celebrity meet and greets.

Steal this tactic and use it in your business, reap the benefits of unending loyalty from your clients – you can thank me later.

OR! You can thank me now, by considering me as your business coach.

I make great coffee, give good back rubs and the banter is always on point. Jokes aside, I will surprise and delight you in helping you develop your business and aid you in forming the greatest, most impactful entrepreneur you weren’t aware you could be.

Make a moment of magic for us both and get in touch with me:

 

+2783 253 3339

brent@spillly.com

STOP re-inventing the wheel.

By Coaching Entrepreneur Motivation Skills

Across all of my clients, all of whom are business owners, there are similar frustrations relating to their businesses and growth challenges. They have all adopted the “innovation “ hype and are desperately looking for new ways to re-invent their companies, products and systems.

 

There is nothing wrong with innovation but not a single company has checked all the basic boxes that every company, regardless of service or product, should have.

 

You see, every retailer, manufacturer, agency and professional needs to have accounts, measurement, sales and/or marketing, procedures and systems for themselves as well as legal compliance.

 

There is an unwritten law that states that 80% of every company is the same and the remaining 20% is made up of product, service and culture. 80% is the same. Eighty percent!

 

So why are you spending so much time on getting the 20% right when the 80% will keep you alive and thriving for longer? Getting your accounting in order, your sales in order and your internal communication sorted will allow you to sell an average product with B-class employees for a long time, freeing up cash to allow you to work on the 20% that matters in the long term.

 

Now I’m not saying you should employ B-team staff and sell second-class services but having an amazing product offering and the world’s greatest team won’t automatically mean you will have a successful business.

 

What you don’t know, you don’t know, but why are you spending so much time, energy and often money, trying to work out new systems which have been refined a million times over by a million other businesses? Stop trying to re-invent the wheel when all you should be doing is peddling faster and beating the opposition.

 

Your business has the following major functions in some respect regardless what you call the roles:

 

  • Finance and accounting

  • Reporting

  • Human resources and culture

  • Sales – New business and retention

  • Marketing

  • Public relations

  • Production

  • Procurement

  • Distribution

These make up the 80% I mentioned earlier. If you can get these running well for your business and best arrange the right people around this, you have a business that will make money often in spite of the product and related market. There are very few, truly unique businesses out there, yours included, and that is okay. I would rather back a “me-too” business that has great structure, concise reporting, a strategy that is implemented and staff that get things done than a business that has the smartest business model and service, that lacks the other 80%.

 

Take a look at your 80% and ask yourself:

“Why am I always trying to re-invent this wheel when I could ask someone to show me how to do it?”

8 Ways to Make Your New Staff Onboarding Process better.

By Coaching Entrepreneur Interviews Motivation Skills

Hiring is good–it means you’re growing. But when a company doubles or triples in size in a short timeframe, onboarding new hires can quickly derail the schedules of your managers and existing employees. How can you make sure you’re training hires to make the right decisions without slowing down the entire team?

 

1. Record your foundational materials and assign each employee a mentor.

The biggest thing is to record the foundational training that repeats for each new employee. There’s no reason to have your company’s trainer do live trainings one-on-one or even in small groups when a video can do just as well. Transcribe these video and audio recordings. Reading is still the fastest way to take in information, so organize your training library so that employees and contractors can go back through multiple times at their convenience. Repetition is the mother of all learning, but repetition has to be done right–otherwise, it’s a waste of your company’s resources.

Once the employee has gone through the foundational training material, assign them a mentor. They’ll address unique questions and give insights into the trainee’s specific role and how best to fill it.

2. Create a web-based one-stop shop for new hires.

A membership site is a great way to get new hires acclimated quickly. This should be a destination for new employees to find everything they need to know about working at your company, including standard operating procedures, what technology the company uses (e.g. performance tracking apps and communication tools), company values and even the most popular post-work hangouts among coworkers. You can also include quizzes for tracking progress.

The idea is to make the onboarding process as smooth as possible and set new employees up for success by giving them vital information before their start date. By the time they do get started, they should be able to hit the ground running.

3. Slow down and test before you hire.

Hiring is difficult. The best answer is to slow down. If you try to take on too many people too quickly, you will inevitably hire people who are not in sync with your organization’s mission and values. People are the life force of any organization, and if you make a mistake it can cost you far more than if you slow down the process to find the right people.

At my company, we rely on a best-in-class intern program that is operated in association with institutions such as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The interns have access to the executive team, the board and our partners. The program allows us to field test potential employees by offering each intern a real-world problem to solve.

4. Clearly articulate your vision on day one.

Be very explicit about your company’s vision, values and culture. By doing this you’ll know that new team members align with your vision, and they’ll be able to contribute more quickly. You need to give new employees a good foundation based on your vision and then empower them to make decisions about how to achieve that vision.

5. Train your employees to train others.

Time is the most important asset we have in our lives, and especially in the business world. Highly skilled employees can transfer their knowledge to new hires, expediting the process that it would normally take a new employee to get up to speed if they are only trained by management. Allowing new hires to “pick the brain” of senior employees is beneficial to both the employees and the company as a whole.

6. Hire multiple people at a time.

As an entrepreneur, there is nothing more important than your time. So whenever my company hires, we hire in multiples of at least two. By training multiples of the same position, you maximize your time and provide an environment that promotes sharing and learning together. We have found that these employees make a much quicker impact than hiring/training one at a time.

7. Don’t skimp on having a leader do some training too.

Your other team members can help a new hire get up to speed, especially with company culture and day-to-day basics. However, you or a manager should spend some time in the first week or two orientating the employee and drafting up the first order of business for the new hire.

While you don’t need to hand hold, it’s imperative that you invest a little time upfront to help them fit in. You’ll waste much more time and money with a high turnover rate, so it’s worth a little extra time at the beginning. In fact, many HR and retention research validates this point. After they’ve got some orientation, make sure to draft up some work they can get started on so they’re busy and feel like their work is meaningful.

8. Develop a comprehensive training program now.

Give every new employee a ramp-up period to get up to speed with your product, the market and the nuts and bolts of their specific role. You should also have comprehensive training materials ready for every employee you bring on. These materials should include information about the competition, functional learning and Q&A sessions with other relevant members of the team. Having a great training program also helps attract the best employees, as these are the ones who want to learn and grow along with your company.

 

This article originally appeared on http://www.inc.com/

The Law of Three: You should know this!

By Business Coaching Interviews Skills

When you start the process of interviewing for new staff members, you should always refer back to the Law of 3:

  • Interview at least three candidates for a job, comparing and contrasting their qualities and characteristics. Check their suitability against your stated requirements. You would be amazed at how often people forget to do this.

  • Interview the candidate you like three different times: the true person is revealed once you get beyond the initial interview.

  • Interview the person you like in three different places. Brian Tracy of the American Management Association says that people have a “chameleon complex.” They appear a certain way in your office in the first interview and then seem to act and react differently when you move them to different environments.

  • Have any candidate that impresses you interviewed by at least three other people on your team.

  • Check at least three references from the candidate. Ask specific questions around their strengths and weaknesses and whether the referee can tell you anything to help you make a better hiring decision. Ask them whether they would hire the person back. If the answer is not an unequivocal “yes,” be cautious.

  • Check references three deep. Ask the given reference for the names of other people the candidate has worked with and talk to those people, too. You may be surprised at what you learn.

Interviews are the start of the most important function in almost every business and should be taken seriously and never rushed.

Should you want more info on building a successful interview process, please contact me here