I've read Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba's Church of the Customer Blog for a long time. Last night I had the chance to talk to and hear Ben speak. As expected his comments were very thought provoking. He was also a genuinely a nice guy!

He talked about a number of things regarding creating Customer evangelists, and while I took copious notes, one thing hit me the hardest - create Customer Advisory Boards.

My mind clicked - "Of course!" People don't think twice about have boards of advisors who are peers or colleagues, but to turn to Customers is much less common. While it may not be common, it sure does make sense!

- Who better to give you feedback about future direction?
- Who better to help you find your blind spots?

And to Ben's point,

- What better way to turn Customer's into true fans (evangelists) than to value them enough to truly ask them for more than feedback, but for advice?

I'm already thinking about how I am going to do that and what it will look like for me, with Customers spread all over.

Thanks Ben. If you haven't visited their blog, signed up for their newsletter, or bought their book, I urge you to do one.. or all three.

Also posted in Customer Service and Leadership

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A colleague and creativity master, Robert Alan Black (cre8ng.com) sent me his holday card the other day. Typical of a great creative mind, it is a very creative card. It lists holidays to celebrate for nearly every day in December (and the end of November too - today is Square Dance Day).

It is a very creative and interesting card, and educational too.

I encourage you to take a look.

I wish you a month of celebrations and happy Square Dance Day!


Also posted in Creativity.

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If you love business books, you've got to check it out.
If you enjoy exploring new marketing ideas, you've got to go.
If you like things for "free," you can't miss it.
Or, if you just like bubble wrap, take a look.

In Bubble Wrap is the newest venture of Jack Covert and his 800-CEO-Read team.

Each business day a new book (today it is a magazine) is featured. And each day some number of people will receive a copy for free, "in bubble wrap". Drawings are random, but to have a chance, you must sign up and then go to the site that day and click on the "I want One!" graphic.

I've already won once (Spark, by John Windsor), and hope to win again.

You can even sign up to get an email reminder of the newest items available, "in bubble wrap."

Check it out!

Also posted in Creativity, Leadership, Learning, and Training

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Here is this week's article from Unleash Your Potential, entitled the Power of the Pen. I hope you will read it all, and take me up on my challenge. I am already receiving some great comments from people who are doing just that!


Every leader, supervisor, coach, team member and parent has been told of the value of giving positive feedback. We've heard reasons why. We've heard we don't do it enough. We've learned all of the basics about giving positive feedback successfully: make it timely, make it specific, and when giving positive feedback consider sharing it publicly.

All of this is good advice, but it falls short of the mark if we want to make a long term lasting difference in the self-image, confidence, and performance of others. In short, if you want to give positive feedback, consider doing more than telling people how you feel, consider writing it down.

Learn the whys and the hows ... and read my challenge

Also posted in Leadership, Teamwork and Training.

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Recently Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame and Steve Salerno, critic and author of Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless went head to head on CNN with Anderson Cooper.

If you are a fan of self help materials, don't like them at all, or just like debate style interviews, this clip is worth a view.

Also posted in Learning and Training.

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One of the things that is true online is that there is a quiz/survey/assessment for everything! The people at the CareerBuilder.com Worklife Blog has five (click HERE to see them all), including one that asks, "Do you love your job?"

It is a quick ten question assessment. While it didn't fit perfectly for me because I own my company, it is worth a click if you want some insight into your work, or some confirmation of how you are feeling about your work.

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A few weeks ago when doing a workshop, an existing client who I know pretty well, came up at the break to ask me about journaling. She mentioned that she saw me using mine earlier in the day and asked some questions about my experience, how I use it and more.

The journals I use are ones that we had made and occasionally give them to Clients and friends as a special thanks.

As we discussed my experience and her growing plan to start using one, I walked over to one of my boxes, pulled one out and handed it to her. After she realized I wasn't just showing her a sample, but giving it to her, she smiled and giggled with little-girl-on-Christmas-Morning glee.

At the end of the session she brought me a note, written in crayon (hey I was leading a creativity workshop!). The note read:

Lesson of the Day:

If someone tells you their:
- hope
- dream
- something they want to try

and

you can show immediate support . . . do it!

They will:

- be surprised
- be grateful
- be more likely to do it

and

they will:

- see you as their Champion
- think you are a really nice guy
- be inspired to do the same for someone else
- recognize that one person can have a big impact

She closed the note by saying that this would be the first entry in her new journal.

While this is a gratifying note to me, that isn't why I share it. I share it because Nancy speaks the truth, and that truth should speak to us as coaches and leaders. The simple act of showing support in even small ways at just the right moment can have a huge impact on others - far more perhaps than we will ever realize.

Too often leaders tell me they don't have time to coach. That in heavy task loads and endless meetings there isn't time to give people feedback on how they are doing.

The conversation between Nancy and I took maybe three minutes. It required that I listen, empathize, and take action.

All of us can do these things, and all of us can make a difference.

Also posted in Leadership and Learning

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In the Toy Hall of Fame I'm guessing you would expect to see Lincoln Logs, Legos, Mr. Potato Head and Barbie. But would you have expected the cardboard box to be the newest inductee?

When I read this it made me smile because we have all seen kids spend more time "playing with the box" than with the toy that came inside.

As I thought about it a bit more it reminded me of our innate creativity and that our children, when "playing with the box" are exercising that creativity. Yes the gift inside the box may be marvelous, but the box can be anything from a fort, to a house, to a spaceship... to whatever they want it to be.

Our kids know that because they hear their inner creativity calling.

Let that be a reminder to you the next time you see a cardboard box. Let it remind to you exercise your creativity!

You can read the full announcement HERE.

Also posted in Creativity and Learning.

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After a couple of weeks of heavy travel and the initial release of my new book Vantagepoints on Learning and Life, I've got a lot of thoughts and things to catch up on here on the blog.

I hope to make at least a couple of posts today, and a regular stream over the next few days.

I hope you've missed the posts, because I've missed making them!

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Here is this week's article from Unleash Your Potential. I hope you enjoy it...

As I write this there are 50 days until January 1. By the time you read it there will 47 (or perhaps many less). In a very real sense this shouldn't matter. But as humans we think in days, weeks, months, and seasons. We attach significance to the turning of the calendar, and when the calendar turns to a new year, it means more than learning to change a digit when we write a check – we've started a new chapter.

So while 47 more days might be a bit arbitrary, it is instructive for us to think about how we can get the most from the end of chapter 2005. Here are my ten recommendations for you:

Click HERE to read my ten recommendations of things to do before the end of the year.

Also posted in Learning.

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I've been flying regularly for a long time - long enough to remember the hub-bub caused by the introduction of e-tickets. Remember? You felt naked without your ticket and itinerary to hand to the person at the ticket counter. Slowly, starting in the 90's, e-tickets started to appear, and slowly people got used to them (when was the last time you had a paper ticket?)

Next we had terminals to check us in - we swipe a card and the machine checks us in and prints our boarding pass. This is becoming so prevalent that the new mid-field terminal being designed in Indianapolis is being redesigned before construction to take these ticketing machines into account in the terminal layout. My guess is that the by the time my son flies regularly on his own (he's 13) he'll rarely interact with a ticket agent, unless he's checking bags. By then though, the next trend of checking in over the internet will even reduce the value of these machines.

Why am I writing about this today? Because I flew Alaska Airlines yesterday for the first time in several years. And when I checked in at San Francisco airport, I got one boarding pass, for two flights. Just one.

This struck me as a nice improvement, seemingly small, but actually quite important.

Our paradigm has always been one event one ticket - whether for a movie, sporting event or a flight. And in all of these cases, you handed your ticket to someone and they ripped part of it off, returning to you the rest so you could still find your seat. But this isn't the way it is on a plane anymore.

Increasingly, you keep the ticket, as your boarding is confirmed when your ticket is scanned at the gate - and the airline doesn't need the paper (and I'm sure gate agents are thrilled that they don't have to deal with that paper anymore).

This change allows the paradigm to change. 1 boarding pass, 2 flights. Alaska saves paper and costs and I only have to carry one piece of paper. Everyone wins.

More important than these advantages though is the lesson it illustrates. We can look for new improvement opportunities and new ideas anytime, but when the system or circumstances have changed is an exceptionally good time to look.

Ask yourself what has changed, and what other advances can happen because of those changes.

Also posted in Creativity and Customer Service.

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Here is the article from this week's Unleash Your Potential newsletter...

Two important pre-reading notes: Before you chose to read or not read this article, let make two things clear. Everyone has Customers. Even if you work in an internal staff department in a large firm, you have Customers. They are the people you provide work to. And second, don't be put off by the term Customer. Maybe you call them Clients, Students, Patients, or (heaven forbid!) Users. If one of those words works better for you, read that word every time you read Customer. Now that I have eliminated your reasons for not reading, please continue . . .

We can read lots of books and articles about Customer Service strategies and how to build processes that will serve Customers more successfully. All of these things are valuable, but if we put all of our focus on processes, systems, strategies and procedures we may lose track of something very important.

Customers are people first.

This means that each of your Customers, like everyone else, wants to feel important. It a universal truth - we all want that feeling, and will gravitate towards those that make us feel that way.

Hint: Having Customers gravitate towards you is a very good thing.

Here are seven ways that you as an individual, regardless of any corporate policies or systems, can make Customers feel more important, written from the Customer's perspective:

Read seven ways you can make your Customers feel important.

Also posted in Customer Service, Learning, and Training

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... is the title of my new book. And we'll have copies yet this week.

It is the culmination of a long and very exciting process. While I have seen the final "insides" of the book, and have seen the cover, nothing will replace holding a book in my hands.

If you haven't heard about it yet, check out the Vantagepoints on Learning and Life blog.


Also posted in Learning.

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