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Invest In Client Loyalty

March 22, 2011 by 1 Comment

Did you know that businesses spend 90% of their marketing budgets attracting new customers rather than engaging and customizing the experience of their current customers in an effort to keep them?  In this economy of shrinking resources the key to being successful is utilizing your limited resources to your best advantage.

Progressive companies are implementing the following strategies:

  1. Asking their current customers how they can better serve them and implementing the change
  2. Making their customer’s  interaction an unforgettable experience for them
  3. Develop staff focused on delivering a customized customer experience
  4. Invest in coaching of organization leaders and staff.

Why are these good strategies to implement?  Replacing a lost customer will cost your business ten times more than the expense of attracting a new customer.   On the other hand the value of a repeat customer is twenty times their annual revenue over the life of that customer.  This means that your limited resources are best spent in developing a focused customer service culture that highly values your current customers.  Providing your current customers with a customized experience that leads them to tell others about your business is the ultimate goal.

In this time of aster spending you may find that the best business investment that can be made is in the training and development of your leadership and staff.  An analysis of the processes and encounters customers experience by a process improvement expert can provide a clear and open prospective to areas for improvement and customization.  Businesses which focus on customizing their customer‘s experiences, will differentiate themselves from the competition.  When you stand out from the crowd you get noticed.  Consider these strategies when looking to improve client loyalty and the customer service culture in your business.  If you are looking for help to accelerate the implementations of these strategies please complete the contact form and we will schedule a meeting. Here is to your continued success.

Filed Under: Business, Client Loyalty, Customer Service Tagged With: , , , ,

Poor Communication Can Impact Work Culture and Performance

February 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Regardless of the industry or the type of job, finding someone who feels their boss does not communicate well with them is more common then you may think. Ask ten friends and I am confident that you will run across someone who feels that their boss is not responsive to their needs. Some feel like their boss does not listen to them, or does not value what they have to say. This can affect the bottom line of the department, business or organization. How? Well the employee who feels this way may feel disconnected and not put forth their best effort at work. They may feel that what they do at work does not matter or make a difference. This ultimately results in the employee not being as productive or motivated as one whose supervisor is interested.

If you are the boss and your staff feels this way, you are having an adverse impact on the revenue of the company. This can be a major problem especially if your business is in a highly competitive market. How do you make a course correction in your behavior? Slow down. A number of times there is a breakdown in communication between people because one is processing information faster than the other. Talking to the other person in passing may be perceived as rude or uncaring. I recommend that you stop and take the time to engage the other person. Do not interrupt them, let them complete their thought. Practice active listening by summarizing the conversation which will allow for better communication.

If you are the employee and you feel like your boss is not doing a good job of communicating with you, you have a few options. Set up an appointment to meet with your boss to discuss improving mutual communication. Remember communication is a two way street and works best when both people are willing to meet each other half way. If your boss is too busy to meet with you, write down the idea or issue and send it to them in an email with suggested times you are free. You never know when a meeting is cancelled and your boss, knowing your availability may ask you to come in at a moment’s notice. This way you are prepared because you previously sent the email.

Being aware of the other person’s needs, expressing the desire to improve communication and taking positive steps to improve communication are the signs of a good leader. Regardless of your position, boss or employee improving communication will be to your advantage and will have a positive impact in the workplace culture of your company.
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Filed Under: Business, communication, Leadership, Relationship Tagged With: , , ,

Can We Trust What You Say?

December 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When you tell someone that you are going to do something do you do it? Can you be trusted?

This might seem like a strange question to ask but it gets right to the heart of developing a good working relationship. When you work with someone else in your office, on a team or with a customer you want to establish a trusting relationship. One of the best ways to do this is by keeping your word.

When I was a little boy my Great Grand Mother, Lily Lace taught me the importance of doing what I said I would do. She said, “People will see that you do what you say and they will trust you.” These words of wisdom I have proven to be true throughout my life and I thought that it was important enough to share with you.

Too many times you will run across people that say, “I’ll call you later.” And never do. Or “I’d be happy to help you with that tomorrow” and they cannot be found when you need them. Some might argue with me that this is an issue of being dependable. I believe that they are only half right. Being honest and dependable is part of it but, it all begins with one word, trust.

Can we trust what you say?

If the answer is yes, you are on your way to establishing a trusted work relationships. If the answer is sometime, then we need to work on that. Why? Because people do business with people that they know, like and trust. If people do not trust you they will not do business with you. This means that if you only do what you say you will do sometimes that people will not trust you in the long run. Is this worth losing business? If your answer is no, then I would suggest that you consider coaching to help you in this process.

Why get coaching?

Just like with any behavior change, if you are serious about making a permanent change in a short period of time that you can sustain over the long haul then you need to have a coach. This person will keep you on track and provide the support and encouragement to be successful.

At Inspired Communications LLC we provide coaching and support for this and a number of leadership and management challenges. If you are looking for coaching in this or another area please complete our contact form with the best time to reach you and we will start the conversation.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Relationship, Team Work Tagged With: , , ,

Communicating To Your Team

December 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment



Effective communication among work team members is vital to the team’s success.  This is a well known fact, but what is not well known is how to be successful in communicating.  Too many times we get caught up in the task at hand or the aspect that we plan to play that we may miss opportunities to collaborate with the entire team.  Before we move forward lets address a few issues.

Who is in Charge?

The Team Leader holds the key and sets the tone of how team members will conduct themselves and communicate with each other. If you are the team leader it is recommended that you establish the ground rules in the beginning.  Setting expectations up front will minimize pit falls as the projects proceeds.

What Are The Rules?

Communication rules need to be set at the first meeting.  If you are a leader who values innovation and creativity then I would recommend that you tell team members what you are looking for from them.  It is recommended that you tell all team members that they need to respect each other’s opinions.  Too often there may be a team member with great suggestions but they might feel unsure that their ideas will be welcomed.  Telling team member what you expect and what are the limitations will help to frame the communication rules.

When Do You Obtain Feedback?

Touching base on a regular basis is suggested but what is regular.  Different people need more or less supervision depending upon their knowledge and behavior style.  As a team leader you are empowered to ensure you understand team members and what they need to be successful.  Regular conversations are the best way to accomplish this.  As you travel through the Storming, Forming, Norming stages of team development you can use communication to guide your steps to the Performing stage of team development.  Behavior styles are the key to knowing how best and how often to communicate with each team member.  Some people need a lot of information before they feel comfortable moving forward, others just want to know the ultimate goal.  Did I mention that your behavior style plays a role in how people respond as well?

We will discuss behavior centered communication in a future post. Communication is a key to developing an effective team.  Communicating in the way each individual prefers is the best way to ensure good communication.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Team Work Tagged With: , ,

Do Smart Phones Increase Your Intelligence

July 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Smart phone are the latest and greatest thing and a must have for every business owner, progressive leader, or professional speaker as a tool to stay in connected with clients and customers.  But how smart do you have to be to use one.  I just purchased a Palm Pre Plus smart phone and was so excited because it offers a 3G hot spot as part of the phone design.  This means that I can connect 5 different devices with my new phone at the same time.

Before I selected a smart phone I went to the store to examine the various phones and ask questions.   The salesman informed me that I needed a data plan which starts at $30 and an additional $30 for Wifi access.  This was an additional $60 a month that I was not expecting to spend. When I asked about the Palm Pre Plus I was told that I would still incur the $30 data plan cost but the Wifi and hotspot were free with the phone.  I figured it would be smart to save the additional $30 and selected the Palm Pre plus.

My service provider offers a new every two plan and this new phone which lists for over $500.00 was free, what a bargain.  My contract was up and all I had to do was sign up for two years.  This is where the fun begins.  I purchased a touchstone charger for my phone.  It looks like a hockey puck that was sliced on an angle so the phone can lay on it.  Connecting it to an electrical outlet allows makes it a magnetic electrical charger. You feel the magnetic pull between the phone and the charger as they approach each other.  Well to make a long story short, I thought I was charging the phone while it was on the touchstone. Conventional phones charge when they are off.  This smart phone needs to be on to charge. Who knew?  Not me. (smile)

Needless to say I charged it overnight and it did not do a thing.  I thought I did not know how to turn the phone on and had to take it to the store (I received the phone by fedex in an effort to save money in my mind.  This was the smartest thing for me to do.  I found that this phone had its own backup system and the transfer of data needed to be done in the store.  Who knew? No me.

Well it is day 3 of me using my new phone and I can say that I have learned to master it. I must tell you that calling the special number for help with the palm phone was very helpful.  I have connected my laptop computer to my new free hotspot phone and it works like magic.  I am preparing to go to a conference and need to have computer access.   Now I have the ability to do so without additional expense.  To answer the question, do smart phones make you more intelligent?  I have to say yes.  I am better educated about the use of my new smart phone and have saved the additional fees by selecting a phone with its own hotspot inside.

Filed Under: Business, Humor Tagged With: , , ,

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up

June 28, 2010 by 14 Comments

When we were little kids we had all kind of ideas of what we wanted to be but very few of us ended up being that person.  Some wanted to be a fireman, doctor, nurse, teacher why, because those were the people we came in contact with.   The truth is we should have looked at what we enjoyed doing to as children and pursued that.

Is it too late to do now?  Of course not but you need to be focused in the process.  It will take a little reflection and memory searching to find out what you enjoyed.  An easy way to speed up the process is to ask people who are old enough to remember what you enjoyed.  That person might have been an uncle, parent, or grandparent, make sure it is someone who spent a lot of time with you growing up.

Tap into that knowledge and use it to your best advantage.  After you discover what you enjoyed apply it to your current life and think of how that would apply.  One of the things that helped me in this process was the book Strength Finders 2.0.  Reading this book and taking the test in the back will reveal your top 5 strengths.  You want to make sure that you purchase the book new, because the test in the back of the book is only good to use once. With this information you can take an objective look at your life and discover how you can apply your strengths.

Working from a position of strength makes you more productive and confidant.  You feel empowered when you are using your strengths.  Do not spend time on your weaknesses.  You may have to develop a process to manage them but do not spend time trying to improve them.  You will get more leverage by spending time focused of developing your strengths.

I would be happy to help you in your strength finding journey.  I recommend that you purchase the book and give me a call after you have taken the test.  Send me an e mail or a message on my contact form to tell me what your top 5 strengths are.  I would be happy to work with you.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Your Talents Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Cover Letter That Fits You to a T

June 25, 2010 by 2 Comments

A cover letter is like a calling card for the job seeker. It is the first impression that the Human Resource professional will get about you.   This is why it is so very important that you ensure your cover letter presents you in the best way possible.

Let’s think about this for a moment.  If you were the Human Resource professional looking at cover letters what would you like to see?  I believe you would like to see a well organized, cover letter on a quality bonded paper, with no less than 12 point type.  I would recommend that the cover letter text be typed in a sans serif font which will make it easy to read.

How many cover letters do you think that a Human Resource professional will look at in a day?  40, 60, they can look at more than 100 letters and resumes in a day.  With so many cover letters passing through their fingers how do you increase the odds of your cover letter being chosen?  You make it easy for the reader to see that you have exactly what they are looking for to fill the vacant position.  Makes sense does it not.

The best way to do this is to include in the first sentence of your letter the name of the position with any reference numbers associated with the job posting.  The next step is to draw a two column table in your word document.  On the left hand side the table heading will be “Position Requirements” and the right hand column heading will read “My Qualifications”.

Under the “Position Requirements” heading you are going to review the job offer and review each job requirement in its own individual row (similar to a grocery list). In the “My Qualifications” column you are going to write how your experience meets the qualifications of each specific job requirement.  This format is commonly called the T letter, because of the headings of the two columns with a line between looks like the letter T.  It is the best way that I know relate your experience to the job and make it easy to read in a cover letter.

We are not finished yet.  To write a cover letter that will fit you to a T you must relate your value in it.  Your value is not the job but rather the result of you accomplishing the job.  For example, if the job requirement says, “handles phone call and greets customers” your qualifications may read, “excellent customer service skills, focused on exceeding customer’s expectations on the telephone and in person greeting everyone with a smile.”  This shows the result of you doing the job which is the benefit of hiring you over someone else. You do not want to answer, “Customer receptionist and greeter” because even though you are it does not relate to the experience the customer will receive from hiring you to do that job in this new company.

You want to communicate a message that relays the value and the experience the customer will have from the company hiring you.  Remember the company wants to hire you for the value you will bring to the organization.  Making it easier for the reader to see your qualification as they directly relate to the specific job requirements is the best way I know to get you to the next step in the hiring process.  Best of luck with your next cover letter and make sure that your cover letter fits you to a T.

Filed Under: Business, First Impression, Job Search, Resume Tagged With: , , , , ,

Food For Thought

June 24, 2010 by 4 Comments

Have you ever heard of a business allowing a competitor to come into their physical plant and run their business out of the same physical plant?  Well that is exactly what Mr. Lawrence Hackney owner of the Wood Pit BBQ restaurant did.  A fellow competitor, James Turner, who owned a restaurant and catering business in Newark, New Jersey, saw his business go up in smoke as a result of a fire which started next door to his restaurant.   Mr. Turner had clients like Prudential that he had contacted to serve and no place to do business.

Mr. Tuner first found refuge in a church kitchen in Newark, but it did not have a smoker and his specialty is smoked BBQ.  In stepped a retired municipal court judge, Ernest R. Booker who frequented both BBQ restaurants.  Mr. Booker informed Mr. Hackney of the fire that Mr. Turner had experienced and wondered if he would consider helping Mr. Turner out.  Mr. Hackney reached out to Mr. Turner and said “Listen, I have a barbecue pit and two smokers. You’re welcome to smoke your meats.”  This began an unlikely pairing of two competitors working together in harmony for the better good.  You can read more  about this story at New Jersey.com

Why share this story?  To illustrate a point that we all know about but rarely see in the business world today, genuine care and concern for one another even if that person is a competitor.  As leaders in the organizations and companies which we have responsibility for leading this would be considered counter intuitive, but I would like to challenge you to look at this from a different prospective.  Not the prospective of destroying your competitor but rather partnering and growing with your competitor.

Partnering with a competitor in today’s economy will not only help save jobs and reduce unemployment but it also says something about you as an individual and the mission of your company.  Having more competition in the market place makes our economy stronger and will ultimately result in a wider variety of products going to market.  I believe that we have to stop thinking about limitations as leaders of companies and organizations but rather look at the possibilities of alternatives never attempted before.

Following the example of The Wood Pit owner, Mr. Lawrence Hackney, we all would benefit if businesses looked for opportunities to partner with businesses which may suffer the loss of closing down permanently.  The fact that this is not usually done, but it feels right to do is the reason that we should.  This is why my mastermind group decided to meet at The Wood Pit BBQ Restaurant.   We learned about the story from one of our members Pat Ferdinandi and thought that this would be an excellent place for us to meet.  You see in our master mind group we are all speakers so you might think that we are in competition.  This could not be further from the truth.  We share information with each other in an effort to make us better in our own speaking businesses.

This may sound counter intuitive, but it really is not.  We believe there are a number of clients who can benefit from our individual services and topics.  We improve individually by providing the best information in our own unique styles to our clients.  So we are not really in competition, because we are all individuals with our own unique way of presenting.    The advantage of sharing information allows us to reduce our learning curve through our own unique experiences that we openly share with each other.  This is the same thing that Mr. Hackney did with Mr. Turner.

I would like to leave you with this food for thought.  What kind of city state or country would we have if every business realized that they would benefit from a collaborative working relationship with potentially faltering competitors?  Just take a moment to think about this question.  If you live anywhere near Montclair, NJ I would urge you to visit The Wood Pit BBQ Restaurant.   It is worth the trip, some of the best BBQ I have ever had, and the sauce is out of this world.  Besides, a leader who willingly would help competitor in the same line of business is running a business that we all should support.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Relationship, Speaking, Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do You Have A Mastermind Group

June 23, 2010 by 4 Comments

Do you have a mastermind group?  Not sure what it is? A master mind is a group of like minded individuals who share common interest.  They are willing to meet with each other on a regular basis and assist in supporting and holding each other accountable to reaching their goals.

The best thing is this can be a focused, high energy group that can provide insight that any one individual would not be able to obtain if they were just brain storming alone.  Having other people who share the same interest provides synergy and helps everyone benefit from various points of view on the same topic.

I am a member of a master mind group of speakers who are looking at expanding their impact in the various markets they speak.  We share a number of things in common, we are members of Toastmaster International, we have competed in speech competitions (even competed against one another), and we enjoy sharing information with each other.

The size of the mastermind group is important.  We started with a size of 5 and grew to 7 although we normally have around 5 people attend when we meet do to schedules and time constraints.  Our gender makeup is one female and six males.  One of the things that we enjoy is meeting over lunch and making it a working meeting.  We have selected restaurants which have free WIFI and bring our lap top computers.  This allows us to show our group members specific sites and tools on the internet we use and how they work.

Having a mastermind group is very similar to the study group I had in graduate school.  We want to ensure that the group is successful because our personal success is tied to the group.  We find that each of us has an area of expertise that we have to offer the group and benefit from the open sharing of this information.

Do you need a mastermind group? Only if you are looking to reduce your learning curve by leveraging the knowledge of like minded individuals who are focused on being successful.  And the best thing about the development of a mastermind group is that it is free.  Our payment to each other is our time and open sharing of information.  We like to meet over food because it allows us to develop our relationship with each other and make the work that we do together more enjoyable.

The most important part of development of a mastermind group is the outlook of the members.  Everyone must agree to respect each other’s opinion and be open to comments made by others.  Just like in the development of any group you may experience the various stages of forming, storming, norming and then performing.  If the group members are selected correctly the storming stage should be minimized by the desire for the group to be successful.  It is the need for the mutual exchange of ideas that drives the group.

If you are looking to reduce your errors, help others, open to new ideas, and have a true desire for success then a master mind group is for you.  I encourage you to find out more about it. Start a small group and meet.  If you have a question about how to start a mastermind group please feel free to contact me.  I would be happy to help you.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Relationship, Speaking Tagged With: , , , , ,

What is Your Brand Identity

June 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Have you considered what your brand identity is for your business?  What are you known for in the market place and how do your clients connect the fact that you offer what they need?  These are important questions that you need to answer and how you answer them can have a dramatic impact on the success of your business.

What would you say if I told you for less than $100 you can have the opportunity to find out the answer to these and a number of other questions on branding that can have a positive impact on your business?    My friend Lethia Ownes is travelling across the country conducting a 7 city tour to help you answer these questions in a seminar in a city near you.  In fact her tour will reach the half mark this weekend with her appearance in Baltimore.

Are you near or can you travel to the Baltimore area this weekend to hear her?  I highly recommend it. You can find out information at the Irresistible Brand 7 City Tour. For a limited time you may have the opportunity to bring a guest for free.  That is right, buy one ticket and bring a guest along at no additional cost.  If you have not had the pleasure of hearing Lethia speak here is a video of her discussing the Irresistible Brand 7 City Tour.

I hope that you enjoyed the video.  Take a look to find out more about this unique opportunity to listen to a certified Personal Brand and Social Media Strategist talk about developing Your Irresistible Brand.

Filed Under: Branding, Business, Relationship, Soical Media, Video Tagged With: , , , ,
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