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The Champions of Extreme Customer Service!
The
search for the Extreme Customer Service® Champion™ for the second
quarter of 2010 is underway.
If
you witness or experience an example of Extreme Customer Service®
document the story and send it our way. They just might join Edith
Mungovan who was the first quarter champion! Five independent judges
will select the winner who will receive $200 in cash and will
automatically be entered into the Championship for 2010.
Both
the person and the company will be recognized for their great work!
Email
Us
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Innovative Business
Partners Inc.
1-877-521-2580
PO Box 60523
Worcester, MA 01606
www.contactibp.com
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New IBP
Cue Cards
I noticed that after I conducted my Extreme Customer Service® workshops, people would take my quotes and use them as
screen savers, place them on their bulletin boards and even use
posted notes at their desks.
They use them as a constant reminder of how important it
is to provide Extreme Customer
Service® to both their
internal customers (their co-workers) and their external customers
(their clients).
So I decided to take quotes from my workshops and create
a set of 52 Extreme Customer
Service® Cue Cards®, one for each
week of the year. As you can see they come with a desk top holder so
they are easy to display.
We have also created cue card sets from my Team Building for Success™ and my Creative
Sales and Marketing™workshops.
If you would like a brochure and order form, you can
contact me below.
For Brochure and Order Form
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IBP on the road!
If you would like to catch IBP on the road, Joe will be
speaking at the following events:
WCAC Annual Meeting
June 4, 2010
Worcester State College
Worcester, MA
If you have any interest in our coaching services,
workshops or seminars, contact us at www.contactibp.com
or contact Joe
clouatrej@contactibp.com
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How many men have walked on the moon 4,8 or 12?
For a chance to win a $30.00 Dunkin Donuts
Card submit your entry below:
Congratulations
John Gilligan
Yale University
John correctly
identified John Lennon's middle name as
"Winston" which was later changed to "Ono".
Enjoy your Dunkin Donuts gift card!
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Dear Joseph Clouatre,
It was
1am and we were in a SCCA Road Rally in the mountains of northern
Vermont. Although the rally car was running great, we were totally
lost and off course. Just imagine the time being 1am and you are
lost and in subzero temperatures. I was driving our rally car with
my trusty navigator, Andrew, strapped into the seat next to me. We
were flying along the dirt roads, not knowing where we were or
where we were going, but I was determined to get there in a hurry.
It was only a few minutes earlier that we had run into three other
rally cars that were stopped. They were as lost and confused as we
were. After a brief exchange of words expressing our vexation, we
were on our way.
As I
was driving along at a brisk speed, out of the corner of my left
eye, I thought I noticed the marker we had been looking for.
Knowing that we had to make up time, without hesitation, I turned
the wheel to the left and never lifted off the gas pedal. All I had
to do is cross this short snow covered area and we would be home
free. Well, it turned out that the snow covered area was a six foot
ditch in disguise.
With the
sound of a cannon going off, the car slammed into the ditch and the
front end of the race car bounced straight up in the air like a
shuttle leaving the launch pad. The car stalled and the silence was
deafening. I asked Andrew if he was ok and he said yes. I restarted
the car and checked all the instruments. To my surprise,
mechanically the car was fine but it took us a while to get out of
the ditch.
I
couldn't help thinking about my philosophy of 90% planning and 10%
implementation. I teach workshops and drill home the importance of
planning. There I was with my navigator and his instruments to my
right, but do you think that I would take a minute to stop, evaluate
the next move and plan the execution? No, I just implemented my
move with 0% planning. If I had only taken a minute to plan, we
would not have to spend the following weeks replacing the front end
of the race car.
We
finished the rally at about 2:30am. The good news is that we did
not come in last. The bad news is that we have a lot of work to do
because of my lack of planning. So the next time you have an idea
or new project, make sure you take the appropriate time to think it
through and plan for your success.
Email Me
Until next time,
Joe
Joseph E. Clouatre
Chief Creativity Officer
clouatrej@contactibp.com
IBP
Website
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Extreme
Customer Service Workshops
Creative Sales and Marketing Workshops
Team Building for Success Workshops
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I was
speaking with a client recently about incentives and the topic of
gross profits came up. It was a few years ago that I convinced my
client to base incentives and bonuses on gross profits. Previously
the bonuses were based on gross sales. He was very thankful that he
had made the switch. This story is not unique to this client. Over
the past three years, I have convinced most of my clients to
implement this concept.
Too
many business owners are focused on the top line and lose sight of
the bottom line. If you ask them what their goals are, they will
reply 5 million, 15 million, 20 million or 100 million in sales. At
one point in my career, I fell into the same trap. There were many
breakeven years because the sales were going up, but the profits
were not following the same trend. I often said to myself that this
will be another investment year because we are getting ready to
move to the next level.
One
day, as dawn broke over the horizon, I abandoned the top line
philosophy to focus on the bottom line. I found that if I focused
on the gross profit and my operating expenses, I could make a lot
more money without doing any additional work. When I changed the
sales staff's commissions and incentives so that they were based on
gross profit the results were wonderful. The gross profits went up
and the bottom line profit followed.
This
meant that we sold less and made more money. Because we had less
work to perform, it allowed us to do a better job for our customers
because our resources were not stretched as much as they once were.
Some owners have a policy of targeting low bids and then it becomes
quantity vs. quality. That is not an arena in which I chose to
compete.
When
everyone in the company is aware and focused on gross profit it
becomes very powerful. If you are focused on gross profit,
congratulations. If you are not, this might be a good time to
review your compensation and bonus plans.
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Team
Building for Success
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Building
your team - locating the hidden talent!
Do you
know what the talent level and expertise is for each of your
employees? Too often, managers and business owners do not
have any idea. In many cases, they have talented employees within
their organizations that remain un-noticed.
When
was the last time you sat down with your employees and talked about
their ambitions and their past experiences with other
companies? I was working with a company recently and we tried hiring
sales staff outside the company with little success. I happened to
be conducting in-house training for this client, when I stumbled
upon some great employees that could fit the sales role like a
glove. Based on their previous experience and their current
experience within the company, they would make an ideal candidate.
So,
before you go out and spend $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 with head
hunters and recruiters, take an employee to lunch. It might be the
best move you could ever make!
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Learn From Your
Customers
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Listen to your customers - it will be priceless!
How
many hours are spent in meetings developing new products,
applications and services for customers? You assemble a team or
group and they start the brainstorming process. It can take several
months, but you are finally ready to launch the new service or
product. After all the hype and fanfare you determine that it
is not selling or meeting your projections. To try and unravel the
mystery, you talk with a few customers to see why they are not
buying the product or service. Many times the answer is quite
simple. It is a very nice feature or product to have, but they are
not willing to pay for it. I have seen this situation time and time
again. Companies spend thousands of hours and boat loads of
money bringing a new product or service to market and it fails.
Because
of my Total Quality Management and Quality Circle background, I
have always made a point to listen to my customers. In fact, many
of my customers served on my President's Advisory Council and we
went away for two days per year and they helped us become a better
company. Instead of it being the last step in the process, reaching
out to the customers was the first step. When we had a new idea, I
wanted to know if customers would actually buy it before we
invested time and money into developing the new product and
service. The council was priceless in many areas. If you
listen to your customers, they will make you a stronger and more
profitable company. One of the services I offer to clients today is
quality survey calls to their customers. There is gold in almost
every call. Companies are just not listening to their customers. So
don't wait, set up an advisory council or somehow reach out to your
customers. You will be glad you did.
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Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter.
We value your input and suggestions. If there are any topics
that you would like covered, just let us know. Please feel free to
pass our newsletter along to anyone you feel might enjoy it.
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Joseph E. Clouatre
Innovative Business Partners, Inc.
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