SOPA? PIPA? What They Are and Why You Should Be Very Afraid
Yesterday was crazy…
Wikipedia went dark, Reddit went dark, Google launched a petition, protestors packed city blocks, and Senators were bombarded with emails.
The craziest thing was….
It worked! We made a difference, we made history, we stood up and let our voices be heard and they listened. We got President Obama to make a statement saying he would not support SOPA.
But it’s not over…
The forces behind SOPA & PIPA (the entertainment industry and GoDaddy) will continue to lobby and make small changes to the bill. They will continue to fight to get it to pass, so we must continue to fight to make sure that never happens.
This is our freedom we are talking about. Please watch this great video from Fight For The Future which does a fantastic job of explaining what SOPA and PIPA are, who is behind them, and the devastating effects it would have for you and me and everyone if it passed.
About Me
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter connect with me on LinkedIn or Email me.
Why SOPA Is So Dangerous – You Can Help Stop It
Could you imagine a world without free knowledge? I can’t and I won’t. With 1 Billion google searches every day, online information is a beautiful thing for all of us. I love my freedom to access and share information, do you?
Right now, the US Congress is considering legislation that could be disastrous especially if you have a business. For more on what this is, why it’s so scary, and what you can do about it, I turn it over to my friend Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing.
“Maybe you already know about SOPA. Maybe you’ve read about it on Copyblogger, or any number of the other places who are outraged by the horror that Hollywood is trying to inflict on the internet. Or maybe you tried to browse over to Firepole Marketing today, and found that our site is down as part of the day of global online protest.
I don’t usually get involved in politics (particularly American politics, seeing as I’m Canadian), but SOPA is an absolute disaster in the making, and I felt that it was important enough to shut down the site for a day, and disrupt our Marketing That Works Ideas contest to help spread the word.
In case you’re wondering, by the way, SOPA “is the Stop Online Piracy Act, written with the intent of more vigorously protecting copyright around the web. The entertainment industry wants to come down harder on file sharing and the theft of copyrighted material, so it lobbied for a draconian law to add to the many anti-piracy laws that are already on the books.” (quoting Sonia Simone at Copyblogger)
SOPA basically means that anyone (read: Hollywood) can accuse anyone else (read: small businesses like yours and mine) of copyright violation, and punitive action will be taken (read: our sites will be taken down indefinitely) with no recourse, no chance for appeal, and with a “guilty until proven innocent” mentality that is completely antithetical to Western democracy.
Here’s an easy example: Eugene over at ContentStrategyHub made a joke about me being like Freddy Krueger. I ran with it, wrote a blog post about the experience, and have continued to make use of the moniker. Well, Freddy Krueger is probably copyrighted, and that would be enough for Firepole Marketing to be taken down indefinitely.
(Although, to be fair, the “guilty until proven innocent with no recourse” legislation would mean that the same could be done by an irate reader, without any real justification needed.)
Lots of people have talked about why SOPA is bad news for small business, and why it’s toothless to enforce actual copyright infringement by internet pirates, but I want to mention why it’s particularly bad for American business:
1. The minute that SOPA passes (heaven forbid), there will be an exodus of businesses moving their websites off of American servers, to avoid the risk of arbitrary shutdown (that’s what I’ll do).
2. To enforce this, the United States would have to take lessons from China about controlling what their citizens do or don’t have access to. That’s a recipe for innovation to go offshore.
And that’s just the start. SOPA is bad news. Bad for small businesses, bad for Americans… it’s just BAD.
And it’s going to happen unless you take action to help stop it.
If you’re fine with censorship, arbitrary shutdowns of websites, and the government basically deputizing Hollywood into online law enforcement, then that’s fine – I respect your choice.
If you don’t want to let this happen, though, then please visit AmericanCensorship.org, and take one of the quick and easy actions described on the page (there’s stuff that you can do even if you aren’t American, like me): http://AmericanCensorship.org/
Seriously, this is important.
Please take a moment to make your voice heard and help avoid online disaster.
Thank you.
Danny Iny
Firepole Marketing”
About Me
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter connect with me on LinkedIn or Email me.
How To Set & Achieve Goals That Will Change Your Life
It’s no surprise that January is a popular time for goal setting, it’s a new year, it’s a fresh start, it’s an opportunity to make this year better than last year. Even so it surprises me how many people don’t have any goals, or if they do how many of them are vague without any real passion to drive them. I happen to love goals, I love setting them, I love working hard, and I love the feeling I get when I accomplish a goal. January of 2009 I set a goal to get back to a high-level of physical fitness so that I could begin training for and competing in Triathlons. January of 2011 Christy and I set goals to complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon, which we both accomplished that Summer. During the last kilometer of my run I was so overwhelmed by the feeling of achieving a goal 2.5 years in the making that I was shedding tears of joy. That feeling stoked my internal fire and is propelling me to achieve my 2012 goal of a Half-Ironman. I want to share that feeling with you, so I’m going to share with you how to set and achieve goals that will change your life.
Why Are Goals Important?
In the classical tale of Alice In Wonderland, Alice comes to a fork in the road on her journey. As she is contemplating which path to take the Cheshire Cat appears. Alice asks the Cheshire Cat “Which road should I take?” The Cheshire Cat ask her “Where do you want to go?” Alice says “I don’t know” to which the Cheshire Cat replies “Well then it doesn’t matter”. If we don’t know where we want to go, than the choices we make don’t matter. A year from now you will arrive at your destination, goals can define exactly what that destination will be. Goals allow you to control your own destiny.
Make Sure You Aim High
“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it.” ~ Michelangelo
Well said, Michelangelo! When setting your goals it is important that you do not limit yourself. Goals should propel you towards something better than what your current reality is. If we impose today’s limitations on our goals, than we will never grow and improve. Imagine if money, time, fitness, location, age, etc… didn’t matter and figure out what it is that you really really want to do.
But What If I Fail?
Success may be the accomplishment of a goal, but you do not grow by accomplishing a goal, you do not learn by accomplishing a goal, you do not change by accomplishing a goal. All of the knowledge, growth and change comes out of all the hard work and effort put in on the road towards your goal. Goal setting is much more about the journey than it is the destination.
Shout It From The Rooftops
Studies have shown that the simple act of writing a goal down makes it twelve times more likely that it will be accomplished. So write your goals down, put them in a place you’ll regularly see them (I like my bathroom mirror).
In the book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells of a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. Only 3 percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all. Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the 3 percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent put together.
Reward Yourself, You Deserve It
Step 1 is to remove limitations and set inspiring goals that will challenge you. Step 2 is to write those goals down, and create a plan of action. If you’ve done Step 1 correctly the plan you create here is going to require sacrifice on your part and the support of family and friends, so make sure you share your goals with them. Step 3 is to attach rewards to your goals, the bigger the goal is the bigger the reward should be.
Goals can be extremely powerful, they can be the agent of change creating a better life for yourself. The best time to set a goal is right now, so what are you waiting for? Go change your life!
About Me
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
15 Pieces of Flair, Why Your Employees Won’t Wear More
I recently watched the cult classic “Office Space” again. It had been quit some time since I last saw it so I watched with a different viewpoint and I would like to share with you a critical lesson I learned from it regarding the infamous “15 pieces of flair”. I will show you what was right with it, what was wrong with it, why your employees won’t wear more than the minimum requirement of 15 pieces, and what you should be doing to get the results you are seeking from your employees. If you want to have a great company (not just a good company) and a great corporate culture you must recognize this lesson and make the appropriate changes inside your company.
In the movie, Jennifer Aniston’s character Joanna works at Chotchkie’s, a theme style restaurant. At Chotchkie’s the employees are required to wear a minimum of 15 pieces of flair, which are basically buttons on their suspenders and uniforms. The buttons have different pictures and captions like “we’re not in kansas anymore”. Joanna’s manager is constantly having chats with her throughout the movie regarding her flair. She believes she has done nothing wrong to deserve these unpleasant chats because she is meeting the minimum requirement of 15 pieces of flair. Her boss however will not stop annoying her in his attempt to get her to wear more flair. He says things like: “15 is the minimum and we strongly encourage our employees to wear more than 15” and “The flair allows you to express yourself, you do want to express yourself, don’t you?” and “Look at Brian, he has 37 pieces of flair, why can’t you be more like Brian?” The result of which is Joanna expressing herself using her middle finger and going to work for the competition next door.
First of all let’s discuss what is right with the 15 pieces of flair. Chotchkie’s wants to have a fun atmosphere for the customers. It wants the customers to enjoy their interactions with the employees. It want’s it’s employees to express themselves, show off their individuality, and be able to build quick relationships with the customers, based on common likes and interests. All of this is good, and would lead to a fun atmosphere, a great culture, and a great place to work. But this is not the case at Chotchkie’s as they made a mess in their execution. It is great to want your employees to express themselves but if you tell them HOW to express themselves, than they aren’t really expressing themselves, are they? Chotchkie’s wanted it’s employees to express themselves but it placed restrictions and requirements on it. What they should have done is created a culture where individualism and self-expression is celebrated and encouraged. They should have established guidelines and let their employees choose how to express themselves.
A phenomenal example of this is Zappos where they are world renowned for celebrating and encouraging individualism and self-expression. Zappos employees are encouraged to decorate their workspaces, and their employees go above and beyond. CEO Tony Hsieh most certainly does not walk around having “office space style chats” with his employees about how they are not expressing themselves the way he wants them to.
If you are a business owner, a C-level executive, a manager or in any type of leadership position I would highly recommend watching or re-watching Office Space to learn what not to do. It is imperative that you understand and implement the following: Leaders and Managers should be deciding on WHAT should be done and WHY it should be done, but you must must must let your employees figure out HOW it should be done. If you make a consistent dedicated effort to do this, I promise you that you will get a massive shift in your corporate culture, with happier & more productive employees.
ABOUT ME
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
The Treadmill of Social Media for Business
With the recent launch and rapid growth of Google+ I’m sure that as a business owner you are probably overwhelmed, frustrated, confused, and anxious about Social Media. All the whys, hows and whats of Social Media can be clarified and your decision to dive into Social Media or your decision to add Google+ to your existing Social Media can be made by asking yourself the following question: “Should I buy a Treadmill in the New Year?”
With Thanksgiving just behind us and Christmas just ahead of us and lots of yummy food, snacks and desserts tempting us Treadmill manufacturers and retailers are getting ready for that “Hap, Happiest Season of All”. I’m talking about New Years Day when the remorse of holiday season indulgences spur New Years Resolutions of shedding pounds followed by the mass purchasing of hundreds of thousands of Treadmills. Excitement is high, Motivation is high and Intentions are of the best as your Treadmill is proudly mounted for the first time in your new lululemon outfit. 10 minutes later Intentions are being cursed, Motivation is low, and Excitement has left the building, but you’re not gonna give up that easily…. or are you?
It goes without saying that the only way you are going to achieve the results this Treadmill can produce is through dedication to a continuous effort day after day, month after month. 10 minutes once a week isn’t going to do much, and cramming a marathon’s worth of miles into one day so you can take the rest of the month off isn’t a good strategy either.
If your business is not using social media than it is old, fat and slow. But just like the act of buying a Treadmill isn’t going to get you in shape and burn those extra pounds off, simply creating a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a Google+ page for your company isn’t going to do anything. In order to maximize the full potential of Social Media you must be dedicated to a continuous effort day after day, month after month. One tweet, Facebook post, or Google+ post a week isn’t going to do much, and cramming 100 tweets and posts into one day isn’t a good strategy either. I guarantee that the proper and dedicated use of Social Media will make your business younger, leaner, and faster.
How Often Should I Post?
The best Social Media strategy is one of continuous ongoing engagement. The half-life of social media is very short so you need to be engaging in it regularly. According to Chris Brogan, New York Times Best-Selling Author and 11 year Social Media Pro, you must be engaging in social media at least 4 times a day. Now that’s not 4 times in one day, that is 4 times throughout the day. If you a local or national company that would be at least once every 3 hours, if you are an international company that would be at least once every 6 hours.
What Should I Post?
Remember the best Social Media Strategy is one of engagement, so you need to be engaging your customers and this means listening. Social Media is a great tool that allows you to learn about your customers and potential future customers. When someone likes your page on Facebook or circles you on Google+ or follows you on Twitter they are saying: “Hi, I like you, let’s share”. They are sharing with you who they are, and what they like. So get to know them. Social Media is a dialogue not a monologue so don’t just “fire and forget” your posts, but respond to comments, ask and answer questions, and listen for people talking about your industry or your type of products. In doing so you will learn how to communicate with your target demographic and that will teach you what to post.
Where Should I Post?
With the recent launch of Google+ the Social Media landscape is becoming overwhelming and confusing. The current debate is Google+ vs Facebook, will Google+ kill Facebook, and which network should I join. The answer is join them all. While the end consumer who you are targeting may chose only one network, for whatever reasons they have, why would you limit your reach to only people who like Facebook or only people who like Google+? So while you should join all of them, it is imperative that you don’t just post the same thing to all of them. Think of it this way: If you went to the Super Bowl, when you got home you would tell the same story in a slightly different way to your wife, your mom, and your best friend. Why? Because they are different people who each have their own individual relationship with you who would be interested in different aspects of your story. The same is true for the different Social Media networks.
In Summary
The usage stats and growth figures of Social Media are astounding, it truly is an incredibly powerful tool which if used properly can enable you to learn about your customers, and engage with them in a way that has never before been possible. So the questions now is this: By June will your Treadmill be collecting dust or will you be a lean and fast and strong?
About Me
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
ps The Treadmill in that picture is a real treadmill made by TechnoGym which utilizes Visioweb – an integrated touch screen display that allows you to connect to the internet while you work out.
What are You and Your Employees Thankful for?
25 Nov 2011 – As millions of Americans stuffed turkeys and then stuffed their stomachs yesterday, their minds and hearts turned to thoughts of gratitude. Among many other important things to be grateful for, I’m sure the fortunate employed gave thanks for their employment.
Today, in the midst of your turkey and pie hangover I would encourage you to ask yourself the following questions:
1) Am I grateful that I have people who work for me or am I grateful for the people who work for me?
2) Are my employees grateful they have work or are they grateful they work for my company?
The answer to both of these questions hinges on one thing: The strength of your Company’s Culture. According to Mark Wardell “Your Corporate Culture is the way your people relate to each other and to their jobs. It is the environment inside your company.” What is your Company’s Culture? Do you even have a Culture? If Yes – does it mean something to you and to your employees and does it empower everyone and inspire everyone? If No – then despite your great product or service, your great ideas and your hard work your company will only ever be good and will not ever be great.
In “Good to Great” by Jim Collins he expounds on his findings of a 5 year study of almost 1500 companies to determine why the majority of companies got stuck at good, and what happened to the companies who made the leap from good to great. He expected to be able to pinpoint specific events that triggered the leap, but in every single great company there was no specific event at all, but rather, years of continual improvement. He says “Making the transition from good to great doesn’t require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner.”
Cameron Herold’s book “Double Double” is packed full of advice given with the goal of helping you double your profit in 3 years. Chapter 3 of this book is entitled “Creating a World-Class Culture” wherein he says “By focusing on culture, you will improve all aspects of your business, from productivity and hiring to customer relations and employee satisfaction.” One of the best quotes I have ever heard on Culture is quoted by Cameron in this chapter as it is from one of his mentors: Greig Clark, founder of College Pro Painters. He said “Building a great company means creating something that is slightly more than a business and slightly less than a religion. It has to be in that zone of cult. Cult-ure.”
Culture gives what you do meaning. Culture gives what you do purpose. Culture defines both how and why you do things, and sets both the course and destination of your future. Culture attracts the right people. Culture empowers those people to achieve your goals. Culture inspires those people to continuously improve themselves and your company.
While Jim Collins set out to study great companies, the fact of the matter is that there are no great companies, but only great people. So, do you want your company to be great? If so you need great people. You need a culture that inspires greatness in your current employees and that attracts great people to be your future employees. If you don’t have a great culture and great people than you need to make some changes. But remember that just like any sort of meaningful change it doesn’t happen overnight. If you have neglected your health and fitness for 10 years, than eating an apple & going to the gym for 1 day isn’t going to make an impact. But it is the first step, and the first step makes the second step easier, and the third even easier and so on.
Implementing change follows Newton’s law of inertia which states: “An object at rest stays at rest and an object at motion stays in motion with the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” So if your business is at rest or has stagnated it will stay that way until an unbalanced force acts upon it. If your business is moving along at a set pace with the same results year after year it will stay that way until an unbalanced force acts upon it. The greater the strength of that unbalanced force & the longer that force is applied the greater the results in change of speed and direction.
So yes you could send your sales team off to a motivational seminar or entice employees with bonuses for working harder but these have very little force and will change speed and direction for a short period of time. The greatest unbalanced force you could apply on the speed and direction of your company is through creating a great culture, but ONLY if it is implemented and lived by YOU first.
“Employees must see for themselves that you truly mean what you say, so “walk your talk” and make sure your managers do too. You can’t change a corporate culture overnight, but if you persist, it can be done.” ~ Mark Wardell
Every new day is a new opportunity for you to apply an unbalanced force on your company, and if you continue to apply that force every day your results will be exponential. Momentum is what we seek. Getting the ball rolling is the hardest part, but once the ball is rolling the same amount of effort creates bigger results and the ball rolls faster and faster and faster.
The best time to start is now, so take that first step and start applying an unbalanced force on your company and your people by creating a “World-Class Culture”. If you are dedicated and committed and truly “walk the talk” I promise you that next thanksgiving you will be thankful for the people you have working for you and your people will be thankful for where they work, who they work with, and who they work for.
ABOUT ME
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
If Time is Money, It’s Better to Invest it than to Spend it
17 Nov 2011 – Christy and I recently saw the new Justin Timberlake Movie “In Time” in which time has literally become currency. Due to advancements in the medical field humans no longer age after 25 years and no longer die. To control the population “The Man” has genetically modified the humans to have 1 year from the moment they turn 25 to live which shows up as a glowing digital clock on your wrist. This time is what you have as currency to buy things and you get paid with time and you can sell things for time. It really personifies the phrase “living from paycheck to paycheck” as at one point in the movie Justin’s character says “for once I’d like to wake up with more time on my wrist than hours in the day”.
While I enjoyed the premise of the movie and the movie itself it was a great illustration for me of Time Management. As a Business Advisor with Wardell Professional Development one of the first things I do with a new client is get them to track their time and help them understand the concept of invested vs. spent time. Benjamin Franklin is credited with coining the phrase “Time is Money” which we have all heard many times. Perhaps you’ve said the following to an employee or heard the following from your boss: “get to work, time is money and we can’t afford to waste either”. In the movie “In Time” time is actually money, but such is not the case in the world we live in.
“Time is infinitely more valuable than money, because you can always get more money, but you can never get more time.” ~ Mark Wardell
Phrases like “time stood still” or “time flies” are not real as time goes by at the same speed regardless of what we do. We cannot control time. Despite how much we want to; we cannot speed up, slow down or stop time. One phrase that is real is that we are all “running out of time”. Every tick of the clock is a second that is gone which you will never get back.
So it’s not how much time you have, since we all have the same amount of time: 1440 minutes each day, but rather what you do with your time that matters. Just like you wouldn’t waste your money, don’t waste your time. Just like it’s better to invest your money rather than spend it, it’s better to invest your time rather than spend it.
When you spend your money you exchange it for a product or service. If you spend $10 you get $10 worth of that product or service in exchange. When you invest your money you expect to receive a ROI (Return on Investment) that is greater than your investment. So if you invest $10 you get $100 or $1000 or $100,000 depending on how wisely you invested it. Your time works the same way. When you waste your time you get nothing in return. When you invest your time wisely your time becomes more valuable.
Business owners typically spend too much of their time and don’t invest enough of their time in their business. This is due to the “if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself” mindset or the belief that doing it yourself will save a few bucks. This will drastically limit your growth potential and profitability. A good example of this is the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford decided to invest his time developing a better, faster way to build cars rather than spending his time building cars.
So how than do you make the switch and start investing more of your time? While Time Management is a hot topic among professional speakers, authors and consultants this is an impossible task. As we have previously discussed we cannot control time, we cannot manage time, the only thing we can manage is ourselves. As such it is Self Management that we need to master. The first thing you should do is track your time to see how much of it you are spending vs. investing. Then look at all the things that are spent time and get a manager or an employee to do it, hire someone to do it, or outsource it. This will free up your time and give you more time to invest.
“The rewards from invested time take longer to manifest themselves than do the rewards from spent time, but they are always much more substantial.” ~ Mark Wardell
Not only will investing more of your time pay off in big dividends for the growth, success and profitability of your company, but a continual effort now will free up more of your time in the future for your family and for yourself.
ABOUT ME
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
A Tale of Two Bike Shops – 3 Critical Business Lessons I Learned From 2 Bike Shops
Growth and success in business are a direct result of doing things well, but you can’t just do one thing well, or even some things well, you must do ALL things well in order to maximize your growth and create unlimited potential. A business is a combination of independent systems and just like the systems in our body those systems are interdependent upon each other. The 6 business systems of Leadership, Management, Marketing, Finance, Operations & Sales must run just like a V6 engine in a car where all 6 cylinders must fire in synchronization for the car to run smoothly. This past summer I dealt with two bike shops in town to fulfill 3 of my needs and the vastly different experiences I had clearly illustrated the aforementioned points.
For the sake of anonymity I will refer to the two bike shops as East Side Bike Shop and West Side Bike Shop. Christy and I belong to the local cycling club which is sponsored by East Side Bike Shop, who also sponsors the annual 100 Mile Bike Ride for Charity. In this regard East Side Bike Shop’s Leadership & Marketing Systems were doing things right and as such they had won my business. West Side Bike Shop had a reputation for being more expensive and so this choice made sense for me.
Lesson #1 Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Ears
We needed a new lock for one of our kids bikes so I went to East Side Bike Shop to buy one, the sales rep on the floor took me over to the bike locks and took the biggest lock off the wall and proceeded to tell me all about how amazing this lock was. I looked at the price tag of $180 and explained to him that I didn’t need a $180 lock for a bike I got on sale at Canadian Tire for $140. I then asked him to show me his least expensive bike lock which I purchased. There is a reason we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth, it’s because listening is more important than speaking, especially in sales. In order to serve your customers you must understand their needs, you do this by shutting your mouth and opening your ears. Then when you do finally open your mouth it should be to ask questions to further understand their needs and to clarify what they have said. Say things like: “So what is important to you in Product X?” and “It seems to me like Feature Y is important to you, is that correct?” In doing so the Customer will feel like their needs are important to you and that you understand their needs which builds trust and gives them confidence in following your recommendations. Things which I certainly did not feel in my experience.
Lesson #2 Writing Cheques You Can’t Cash
It was Thursday and Christy and I were riding in the Annual 100 Mile Bike Ride for Charity on Saturday so I wanted to get our bikes tuned up. I took them down to East Side Bike Shop, explained to the salesman at the counter what I needed, when I needed it and why. He told me that they usually need more time but since it was for the Charity Bike Ride (which they sponsor) he would squeeze it in as long as I could bring the bikes back to the repair shop tomorrow morning as soon as they opened. So Friday morning I am waiting outside for the repair shop to open at 8 am. I take my bikes inside explain to the repair guy my conversation yesterday with the sales guy and his reply is a very rude and blunt: “The earliest I can have them done by is Wednesday” I went back and forth with him about why I need them for Saturday, what the sales guy had told me, etc… After 3 more very rude and blunt “The earliest I can have them done by is Wednesday” he finally shouted: “Listen I don’t care what sales said, they don’t run the bike shop, I run the bike shop, and they don’t tell me what to do” After I gave him a crash course in Customer Service I left fuming. I got back in my vehicle and called West Side Bike Shop and spoke to one of their sales guys who answered the phone, I explained my situation and what had happened at East Side Bike Shop and asked if there was any way they could squeeze two tune-ups in. His reply: “Bring them over and we’ll take care of you” It was less than a five minute drive, and when I arrived at West Side’s repair shop I started to explain myself to the repair man who said: “Yah I know my boss just came down and told me all about it.” I picked the bikes up later that afternoon and Christy and I completed the 100 Mile Charity Ride the next morning in 4 hrs and 26 mins.
East Side Bike Shop’s problems with Culture, Communication, Dynamics and Operations not only lost a customer, but it created an angry customer. Treat a customer well and they will tell one person, treat a customer poorly and they will tell 11 people, treat a Business Advisor poorly and they will blog about it!
West Side Bike Shop on the other hand had a great Culture, great Communication and a great Dynamic between departments. They also had great Leadership, Management and Operations because the sales guy on the phone had the authority to make me a promise because he knew that his boss would support him and that operations would carry it out. He did not tell me to hold while he talked to his boss for permission and then talked to the repair department to convince them to do it. He knew what to do and was empowered to do it. Then during my 5 minute drive he told his boss what he had done, his boss supported him and immediately went over to the repair shop to let them know what needed to be done and they executed.
Note: How many times do business owners talk about price and that the only way to beat the competition is to be cheaper than the competition. Well guess what? I never even asked West Side Bike Shop how much it was going to cost!
Lesson #3
Treat Small Customers Like Big Customers for Big ROI
My previous vow to never go back to East Side Bike Shop was compromised when I won a prize at the Provincial Road Race later that Summer which was a $25 gift certificate to their store. It sat in my desk drawer for a couple of weeks with no plan to ever use it. Then my right arm pad on my aero bars broke. With a sour taste in my mouth I called East Side Bike Shop fully prepared to swallow the sour taste and give them some of my business (albeit at $25 off). I explained to the salesman on the phone what had happened, gave him the model number and asked him for a price. He told me they didn’t stock the part only the full aero bar it so he would have to call the supplier to get a price and would call me back within the hour. Well he never called back, so I called again the next morning. He gave me a price which was three times what I could order it online for. I asked him how long it would take to get in, he said “5 days”, I said “OK so it will be here next Tuesday”, he said “no we have to wait until we have a minimum order and then it’s 5 days after that:, I said nevermind, hung up the phone and called West Side Bike Shop. After explaining what I needed he said: “We have never seen one of those break, bring it down and I’ll swap it off one of my in stock aero bars for you” At East Side Bike Shop even with $25 off I would have paid $75 with an unknown arrival date, at West Side Bike Shop I got it for free the very same day. West Side Bike Shop was a champion at every level of Customer Service and they had also established a good enough relationship with their suppliers that they could do what they did for me.
This goes without saying, but West Side Bike Shop won my business and I will never go near East Side Bike Shop again. In fact I framed my $25 Gift Certificate from East Side Bike Shop and hung it up in my office as a reminder of these 3 valuable lessons.
What is happening inside your business? Are all of your systems working together firing in synchronization? Have you created a culture which breeds excellent customer service? If not figure out what changes need to be made and start making those changes today! Remember: When the Customer comes first, the Customer comes back.
ABOUT ME
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
Why You Should Love Sean Payton – Even if You Don’t Love Football
Even if you don’t like Football and don’t watch the Super Bowl you have to LOVE Sean Payton. I myself LOVE football and thoroughly enjoyed what ended up being an amazing Super Bowl. I have been thinking all week about Sean Payton and the fact that he in my opinion is the biggest reason the New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV (44). The saints went down 10-0 early to the Colts. This is the biggest deficit ever overcome in Super Bowl History. Only my beloved Redskins have ever done it by coming back to defeat the Denver Broncos 42-10 in Super Bowl XXII (22).
With 2 minutes to go in the first half they are down 10-3 and it is 4th and goal on the 1. Conventional Wisdom says kick the field goal and put points on the board. Sean Payton though tells his team to go for it. They follow their fearless leader and get stuffed by the Colts defence. No points and a huge moral victory for the Colts. Disaster… right??
The saints come out of half time down 10-6 and according to the commentators the colts have all the momentum. The saints are kicking off. Conventional Wisdom says kick it deep and give Peyton Manning (one of the best QBs to ever play) a long field to work with. Sean Payton however decides to go for an onside kick. This is a massive risk because onside kicks are only successful 26% of the time which means Peyton Manning would have a great chance at a short field and an even better chance of scoring another touchdown and the Saints going down 17-6. The team follows their fearless leader and they get the ball!
The second half is an epic battle and the Saints win their first Super Bowl 31-17 you can watch the highlights here: Super Bowl XLIV Highlights
Sean Payton is only in his 4th year as head coach and he is leading a team in their very first Super Bowl appearance. Rather than worry about what the media will say he goes against conventional wisdom and ends up winning the game. But the thing that stands out to me the most is how great a leader he is. When Sean Payton made the decision to go for it on 4th and Goal his team followed, when he made the decision to do the first every onside kick in a Super Bowl before the 4th Quarter his team followed. They did not follow him because on that day Sean Payton decided to be a leader, they followed him because of who he has been and what he has done every day at every practice, meeting, and game. He created a great team, a team which followed him to a Super Bowl Victory!
Are you a great leader, do you lead every day in everything you do? Will your team follow you when you decide to go against conventional wisdom and take a risk?
If you want to know what makes Sean Payton a great leader watch this video: Sean Payton Coaching Masterpiece
ABOUT ME
I am an Innovative Entrepreneur who turned my startup into the 4th fastest growing company in Alberta winning local, Provincial and National awards along the way. Now I am living my dream as a Professional Speaker and a Business Advisor, using my experience and knowledge coupled with the Wardell System to work directly with great companies all around the World to help them build more structured, profitable, and self-reliant organizations.
If you want to learn about me, hire me as an Advisor, book me as a Speaker, or engage with me you can circle me on Google+ follow me on Twitter or Email me.
