The Moment of Truth

Freezeframe: A regular mid-level customer, Bob Smith, has just complained to one of your employees. Bob's brow is furrowed, and his right hip is thrust out a bit. He's just run his left hand through his thinning hair, and his right hand is waving slightly out to the side, palm up.

If we looked at your employee, representing you, what would we see? Eye contact? Looking down at the desk/counter? Body language?

...annnnnd "Action!"

What will your employee say? What will he or she do? Will the customer's issue be addressed? Will the customer want to continue doing business with your company?

Feeling confident? Let's up the ante. New research shows that customers fall into discrete categories:

• 43% are shouters - people who tell as many people as possible when they experience bad service.
• 27% are switchers - people who switch to another company and don't tell anyone.
• 15% are seekers - people who try and find a better way to get good service.
• 11% are sulkers - who just put up with the bad service and sulk.
• A full 20 percent will rant to more than 10 friends about their bad experience.

Source: SunGard Availability Services, UK.

And the common wisdom:

• 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers.
• It costs less to keep customers than to find new ones.

A recent McKinsey Quarterly article demonstrates how critical "moments of truth" are in profitability. Customers who experience a high rate of positive outcomes in "moments of truth" broaden their connection with the company, consuming more services. Those who experience negative outcomes tend to leave, or stay but "sulk" by seeking any additional services elsewhere. That's why it's vital that emotion-laden moments when a customer has a problem result in an employee's empathetic, appropriate, and helpful response. That response can either cement relationships or break them. Companies spend fortunes creating and enhancing brands, but without frontline follow-through, customers don't return.

While recruiting employees with high commitment and high emotional intelligence is a good approach, companies must go further. McKinsey suggests that companies can hard-wire excellent customer service by engaging employees in certain ways. It stands to reason that those who have their needs met are more motivated and enabled to meet the needs of others. Companies can best foster that culture of excellence by:

• Stressing a deeper meaning, and clear sense of purpose within frontline work, to integrate work with the values, beliefs, psychological needs, thoughts and feelings of workers.
• Influencing mind-sets of employees to both increase their abilities and help them acquire the right emotional skills.
• Aligning compensation, processes and structures with the goal of customer service, clearly placing value on customer-retaining behaviors.
• Mobilizing frontline mentors to model and teach emotionally intelligent behavior.

You know better than anyone: Is Bob going to leave with a smile on his face?

If you're not sure, call Krissi Barr at 513-470-8980 or e-mail krissi@barrcorporatesuccess.com

Competition tops challenges list

Study: Senior executives of companies with revenues of $1 billion to $10 billion report that the major business challenges of the next two years are:

• Increased competitive pressures (83 percent)
• Responding rapidly to changing market conditions (67 percent)
• Failure to innovate (60 percent)
• Satisfying customer expectations (52 percent)

Source: Mercer Delta Executive Learning Center and the Economist Intelligence Unit poll of 233 senior execs, as published in USA Today business section.

So that means....

... we should watch what the other guys are doing...?

Yes and no. Yes, watch what other companies are doing. Yes, keep your ear to the ground for what's happening in your industry. But no, you're not going to win by chasing the competition. Your company needs to find its unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in order to find the greatest potential for growth.

...we don't have time for strategic planning, since It's all moving so fast...?

No! Strategic planning is more important than ever! Market change is the "sea of business." If you're trying to stay in one spot, you'll get pounded by the waves, sputter, and eventually go under. Those waves can be seen coming: prepare your board, begin paddling in front of them, and your company will ride those waves, right in the curl! That's what strategic planning, done right, can do for you and your business. We can help you spot current and coming business trends based on your knowledge of your industry, find the sweet spots in those waves, and paddle right into them. You also build your "surfing" skills in the process.

We must pressure our workforce to innovate, innovate, innovate!

Nope. As a matter of fact, if you approach it like that, you will shut down innovation completely, and probably cost yourself some big turnover expenses in the process. You know, innately, that innovation is borne out of atmospheres of trust, openness, and risk-taking, and all studies back up your "gut instinct" on that. Imagine a far-fetched example: If someone put you in a room with 10 straws, 16 pins, 6 LifeSavers, and a pair of scissors, you could devise a primitive car in no time. Reading this, relaxed, you're probably generating ideas right now. But if someone were standing over you, threatening physical harm if you failed, you'd be far more likely to poke yourself with a pin than produce workable, much less innovative, model. Great teamwork produces great innovation. If you don't have the former, you're not likely to get the latter.

... satisfy our customers? We are, aren't we?

Is there a note of uncertainty there? Don't just sit there! If you're not sure, find out! The best practice is for everyone in your organization who interacts with customers on a regular basis stay close to the customer, ask questions, learn customer needs, and meet them.

Barr Corporate Success helps businesses meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

To learn how Barr Corporate Success can help your business meet the challenges of today and tomorrow, call Krissi Barr at 513-470-8980 or e-mail krissi@barrcorporatesuccess.com.

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You May Need a Consultant If...

Unless you've been on a deserted island for the past 10 or so years, you're likely familiar with Jeff Foxworthy's "... you might be a redneck" stand-up routine. Granted: The one sure way to make humor unfunny is to overanalyze it, so I'll keep my academic musing to a minimum! The key to Foxworthy's successful and universal humor is we have all known, seen, or been what he describes. You may not identify yourself as a redneck, but at some time or another, you may have done some of what he describes, to some degree, and those are the jokes that get the biggest laughs out of us.

Now, switch gears with me, and consider the performance of your company, your team, yourself.

We all face business challenges, both personally and as an organization. Sometimes a business is just not growing as fast as it could and should, is in a rut, or worse -- is shrinking. Sometimes the most difficult part of running a company, division or team is leading the it in the right direction and ultimately putting it on the right path to grow and prosper.

"But we don't need any help, certainly not a consultant!"

That would mean something is badly wrong, right? Not necessarily. Your car runs fine, but might not if you skip regular maintenance and tune-ups. You change the weight of oil in your car for cold/hot weather. Put on snow tires for different road conditions. It's no weakness of your car that you consult a mechanic. Using a consultant to take your business to the next level is no different. Want a Maserati, or a beater?

Go in for a tune-up!

Listen to the watercooler conversation. Look at the numbers. Consider the morale of your teams. Listen to your own thoughts.

If any of the following rings true… you need a consultant!

(May we suggest Barr Corporate Success?)

• “We could seriously use a new $1 million.”
• “Our organization feels stuck.”
• “Revenues and growth are flat or falling.”
• “Sales are sluggish and costs are rising.”
• “Our competitors are gaining market share.”
• “Oh, it’s a bad economy, everyone’s off.”
• “The business just isn’t profitable.”
• “Customer demands are changing constantly – how do we know what they want?”
• “How can we find new customers and markets?”
• “Vendors demand more and more from us all the time.”
• “I'm not sure the right people are in the right positions.”
• “People are burned out, unmotivated, and turnover's on the rise.”
• “No one around here makes decisions.”
• “Does our compensation plan reward good performance?”
• “There goes the rumor mill again. These office politics are wasting time.”
• “Most of my team is -- at best -- 'C' players.”
• “How do we get more out of our partner relationships?”
• “We'd love to be more efficient, but how?”
• “What advantages could we get out of new technology?”
• “Sales are giving away the store!”
• “Our product quality and service is weak.”
• “Product development is taking longer than expected. The market’s not waiting.”
• “We’re considering a merger or an acquisition.”
• “New industry regulations are seriously hindering growth.”
• “Industry rules are changing. Our operations aren't aligned to those changes.”
• “No one seems focused on the bottom line.”
• “We spend more time putting our fires than planning for the future.”
• “Well, this is the way we’ve always done it.”
• “We need some solid strategic alliances.”
• “Succession plan? There is no succession plan.”
• “Strategic vision just isn't there. We need some new ideas to grow the business.”
• “We need more innovative leadership.”
• “We need a business, sales and marketing plan with teeth.”
• “How do I develop leaders from within my company?”
• “How can I get my teammates to be as passionate about the business as I am?”

Sound familiar? We can help.

Call 513-470-8980 or e-mail krissi@barrcorporatesuccess.com

"So What Exactly Do You Do?"

For most of us, casual social situations sometimes bring the questions, "What line of work are you in?" The most succinct answers, in our case, are "business consultancy," or "strategic planning and implementation." But that's a little pat, and doesn't really answer the question, now does it?

It depends on what a business or organization needs.

With 20+ years of experience in high-level business, an incredible educational pedigree, a deep personal commitment to ongoing learning, and a personal track record of outstanding results, our founder (and chief!) Krissi Barr dives in, takes stock, and gets busy!

What Barr Corporate Success Does

The one constant in business, as in life, is change. Ability to adapt to an ever-changing world is always a basis for success. And since the greatest assets of your company are its people, corporate success reflects your people’s success. BCS works with a team of your key players who are capable of raising company-wide performance to levels colleagues, customers, and competitors would consider the new standard.

The process to getting there is highly customized for your people and organization.

With a bottom-line focus, Barr helps your team:

• Increase net profits – Break the routine and change the rules. Improve the selling process, generate more customers at greater margins, cultivate advantageous vendor partnerships, evaluate and actively work with key performance financial measurements.
• Heighten competitive awareness and advantages – Stand out from the rest. Put into practice the skills, focus, and structure of businesses at the next echelon to capture new opportunities.
• Communicate better internally and externally – Foster creativity. Understand individual behavior, attitudes, values, and communication and how these impact team dynamics, sales, and customer relations. Improve company interactions, supplier relationships, and customer satisfaction.
• Create enthusiasm and excitement – Put fun back into the business. It’s phenomenal to be a winner on a winning team. The team proactively moves forward, not just putting out fires.
• Achieve tactical brilliance in strategic planning and operations – Aim high. Think big. Look for profitability in problems. Goals are specific, relevant, aggressively implemented, and actively tracked.
• Grow yourself, and your people... and reduce costly turnover – Be a star. Live up to your potential. Leadership, individual and team skills are sharpened with a vision for success.
• Cut costs – Leverage your supply chain and purchasing to drive down costs. Optimize operations efficiencies. Implement cost saving processes that cut costs without cutting corners.

The Big Picture

The Barr Corporate Success process is not just about strategic planning. It’s about setting exceptional goals and implementing actionable, measurable, timely actions to facilitate taking ownership for performing at much higher levels. By considering the big picture, business challenges, corporate culture, and personal concerns, Barr pulls all facets (and potential obstacles) together.

Barr helps teams get all oars in the water, pulling in the right direction, in perfect synchrony, to achieve amazing results. To learn more about how, please check us out at www.barrcorporatesuccess.com, or for personal attention, just call us! 513-470-8980. Or e-mail Krissi today! Krissi@barrcorporatesuccess.com