Sixteen years ago this week I left the comfort and security of a great corporate job at Chevron Corporation to begin my company, the company that is now known as the Kevin Eikenberry Group. A few weeks ago, when I shared the fact that it was about to be 16 years, someone commented, "16 years in business and married 23 years - and happy with both. Not everyone can say that."

I smiled.

I'm truly blessed.

I've been thinking about the 16 years, the challenges, the surprises, the mistakes, the wins and the lessons. And as a result of that I will be writing blog posts for the next 16 days - posts of lessons learned that can be applied to all of our lives. Those 16 posts are just one of the ways we will be celbrating - but I'll tell you more abou thtat tomorrow.

I grew up on a family farm. We raised crops and hogs, did custom fieldwork and a fertilizer business. While the lessons from all of that experience are many, one of the most important things I learned from a very young age was about how to relate to, treat and revere Customers.

That Customer mindset served me very well during my Chevron career, and has served me even better as an entrepreneur. The first name of my company - Performance Partners - defined that perspective. My goal then, and now, was to become Partners with our Customers to solve their Performance problems.

While we say it differently today - we want to be Your Leadership Help Button - the point is the same. We are here to serve you - our Customers. Any of the success we have had to this point rests firmly on this founding principle.

My challenge for you today, as an individual performer and a leader is to
think about how you think about your Customers - to carefully consider how those thoughts translate into actions - and how successfully you are meeting or
exceeding the needs of those most important people.

Because without our Customers, past and present, I wouldn't be celebrating 16 years in business next month, we are going to make our celebration all about YOU. Tomorrow I will announcing some very cool, very fun, and very valuable activities that will be a part of our month-long anniversary celebration - and all of it is about helping, encouraging, inspiring and thanking you.

Stay tuned for the announcement. . .

and in the meantime, thank one of your Customers today.

Also posted in Customer Service

Labels: customer mindset, customer relationships, customer service

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Want to keep your organization out of recession? Consider these thoughts about the Six Cancers of Customer Care and how to overcome them.



Also posted in Customer Service.

Labels: customer relationships, customer service, recession, relationships

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While reviewing a new program from Charthouse Learning called Leader Fish! (a program for leaders based on the Fish! philosophy, I heard a phrase used by Southwest Airlines people on the DVD. They talked about leaning towards the Customer.

This comment was made talking about encouraging people to try new things and not to be afraid of making mistakes. The comment was that no one will ever get in trouble for a decision if they are leaning towards the Customer.

Which led me to some questions . . .

Did I lean towards my Customers today?
Did I encourage my team to lean towards a Customer?
How can we lean tomorrow?
How can we lean next week?

Leaning towards Customers. It obviously works for Southwest. There is every reason it can work for you too.

Go ahead...

lean towards your Customer.

Also posted in Customer Service, Leadership, Learning and Teamwork.

Labels: customer service

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I had the distinct pleasure of reading a pre publication copy of Chip Bell and John Patterson's new book entitled Customer Loyalty Guaranteed. This book comes out this fall and I encourage you to put it on Amazon wish list today. The book delivers on its promise on helping you to create, maintain and lead for Customer Service and it's a book that you want when it is published by Adams Media in September.

How did I get to read a draft of the book? I was asked to give a testimonial for it, and here is what I wrote:

"Read this book, and put the ideas into action and you will do exactly as the title suggests, you'll guarantee customer loyalty. If you have customers, read this book."

Also posted in Customer Service and Leadership

Labels: customer loyalty, customer service

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