Is Business Like Baseball?

I've often compared business leadership to coaching baseball. They both have rules, each player has specific skills, everyone has personal goals and team goals. All players know what it takes to win and they all support each other. Plus hopefully they practice regularly. Just for the heck of it, let's compare the way a business operates to the way that you would run a baseball game. I would assume everyone reading this has a fairly good understanding of the rules in baseball. Imagine if the baseball game was similar to some folks who run a business with no goals, no specific rules and no basic plan for success. Let's say we decided to start a game the way this business was run and we had several individuals playing who are totally unfamiliar with the rules of how to play. So I'm at bat with no one on base. I happen to hit a ground ball to the third baseman. He catches it and instead of trying to throw me out at first, he instead throws it to the pitcher. I get to first and I believe I'm safe. One of the people playing who doesn't know the rules wants to argue that I am out because the third baseman did catch the ball. I argue that he has to throw it to first to get me out, and that I only would have been out if he caught it as a fly ball and not a ground ball. A third person wants to argue that I was out because the third baseman threw the ball to the pitcher and the pitcher caught it before I arrived at first base. We all get into an argument and the whole game never continues because there are too many opinions on what the real rules really are. This was just from one base hit, imagine what it would be like when we decide to keep score! I've been to some businesses where it seems like they are playing a game with no defined rules, no goals, no measurement and no one ever knows if they are winning or not. In baseball, everyone understands the rules of play. Every player knows the ultimate goal is to get the most runs to win while also trying to keep the other team from scoring. Each player has a specific role to play in order for that to happen. Everyone also knows how to handle their own role and objectives in most every possible scenario that could occur. Just so there is no misunderstanding, the scenarios are practiced on a regular basis in order to make sure there are minimum errors during actual play. The team that is most successful in accomplishing all of this wins the most games. Why can't you do the same in business? Business leaders need to make sure everyone on the team completely understands the rules of play and what it takes to win. This begins with making sure there are actually rules of play, like an employee handbook, business objectives, workplace guidelines and also an understanding of possible ramifications if the rules are broken. It may seem difficult sometimes to get everyone playing the same game and playing by the same rules, but if you don't start with communicating the fundamentals, you'll never win. Setting individual goals and overall business goals to win is essential also, every person must know how they could affect the outcome. More about this in future newsletters.

It's Time for Spring Cleaning in Your Business

While helping prepare dinner a few nights ago, I asked my wife, Brenda, what I should write about in my next newsletter. As usual, she responds to my question with another question. She says; "Aren't you doing something like spring cleaning your business right now? Write about that!" It was a wonderful suggestion, so I decided to write about it. I actually do spring clean my business every year. It's something I recommend everyone does. So here are 12 Spring cleaning ideas:
1. Look for things that waste time, energy and money and stop doing them.
2. Evaluate services and products offered to make sure it is consistent with what customers will spend money on.
3. Evaluate and eliminate any products or services that are not producing great margins.
4. Set new goals and guidelines that will get you closer to your final objectives in your life.
5. Look for any possible cost cutting ideas or productivity improvements.
6. Talk to vendors and suppliers who may be able to negotiate better pricing and rates.
7. Re-evaluate my marketing strategy including the website, advertising, trade shows, etc.
8. Research any new ventures or possible investments.
9. Get rid of clutter, not only off the desk, but clutter in business processes. Research any technology that could help.
10. Find something that makes your organization significantly better than the competition and make sure you make a big deal about it.
11. Look at your pricing strategy, is it time for an increase? (Most likely . . . YES!)
12. Ask others for ideas, input and recommendations and reward them! Remember, you don't know everything!

Franks 10 Rules on Keeping Customers Loyal

1. Never let personal needs, self-pride or prejudices get in the way of doing what is right for the customer

2. Appreciate the customers’ business – and tell them through your work, your attitude and communication

3. Pay attention to detail

4. Support your products, your team members, your company and your industry

5. Always look for ways to make it easier and more pleasant to do business with you (be compared to a five star restaurant)

6. Listen to your customers, get the details right

7. Script out and practice what you are going to say and how you are going to do it

8. You don’t know everything

9. Remember, nobody is perfect. Sometimes people screw up

10.Don’t ever be afraid to say “I’m sorry”, even if it isn’t your fault

Do You Do Business With People You Don't Like?

Recently I presented a Customer Satisfaction workshop in Las Vegas at the ACCA "Raise the Stakes" Annual Conference. There was probably 150 - 200 people in my class.

That evening at one of the social events one of the participants came up to me and said; "I was in your class today. You know I saw you speak on the same subject once before and didn't realize it was going to be the same material. I was considering getting up and going to one of the others, but I stayed till the end". I asked him why he stayed, and he said; "I like you and I like what you have to say".

After thinking about this, I realized that I need to add one more essential ingredient to the customer satisfaction pyramid. THE CUSTOMER MUST LIKE YOU.

Think about it, no matter how efficient the service or competitive the price, if you don't like someone, you won't do business with them. Just yesterday morning I called my new accountant's office and asked for a document to help me organize my taxes. The rep on the phone informed me that I am not in the system and she does not provide these documents if you are not in the system. . . leaving me no option for anything else. So naturally I just sat quietly on the phone waiting and she said "hello, are you there? I said yes. She said "Is there anything I can help you with?" I responded, "I don't know, I am not sure what I am allowed to do or say since I am not in your system." Then she asked my name again and now found me in the system. No apology, nothing. At this point, I am debating whether to do business with these people because, I do not like the lady that answered the phone. This doesn't have to happen.

Want to grow your business? Make friends and be nice. Get people to like you. Doesn't seem that difficult to me.

What Makes YOU So Special?

Why Would Someone Do Business With You Rather than Your Competition?

Your answer better not be lower price. You know better than that! My good friend Alex Walter keeps reminding me to tell you that you need to raise your price anyway!

What makes you better, is a question you need to ask yourself on regular basis. Why? If your answer sounds like a good to you and your friends, than you can expect your customers to believe it too!

At a recent workshop of mine I invited Thomas Jackson, CEO of Jackson systems and Duane Shover of Momentum Business Results to speak about their businesses. Tom Jackson immediately began speaking about how his organization can help the contractor improve his business, increase profitability and add value-added services to their customer base. Duane Shover spent a little bit over an hour discussing how small incremental improvements in your business will turn into momentum results with minimal effort.

Both speakers main topics revolved around the idea that you must offer services and experiences for your customer that your competition does not offer or is not willing to offer. A simple promise like "Satisfaction Guarantee", "Drug-Free Workplace" or "We Promise to Arrive When Promised or Your Service Call is Free" will make all of the difference in the world!

You're not in the business of selling boxes of equipment off of some shelf. Realize that what you offer is a great service experience and you commit to deliver as promised, and that they will be thrilled with what you did, no matter what.

If you have not already done so, take a moment to review my schedule below and sign up for a class that will change the way you do business forever. There is plenty of room to move upward. There are more than enough contractors going broke, Don't be one of them.

How Are Your New Years Resolutions Holding Up?

It's 2012 and I'm sure everyone has already started to follow through on some of our resolutions, ideas and objectives that we had meticulously worked on back in the fall or winter of 2011. By now everyone should be getting used to writing 2012 instead of 2011. Or . . . maybe not.

As professionals, we have every intention of making the appropriate changes and improvements that we've been thinking about for months or maybe years. Then, a repeat of 2011 happens. We get too busy once again to do anything differently than we've been doing. We get so overwhelmed with the day to day challenges that we cannot find time, not even one hour a week to devote to our new ideas. Eventually our excitement and motivations of making these great changes eventually fades away, just like they have every prior year. And nothing is implemented.

I remember watching a program on television a few years ago where the guest speaker was discussing the importance of daily exercise. He mentioned that we have to set aside the time to exercise just as we set aside time to eat and use the bathroom. This comment really hit home for me and got me started on a regular exercise routine. I also realized that the same applies in my business. It is essential that specific time is dedicated to work on projects or resolutions just in the same way that time is set aside to eat lunch or breakfast. It is way too easy to just put off change if we look at the process as an additional task or workload. A determination and priority to make it part of the daily routine must be established and followed through on.

When the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great.

An economics professor made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class "... All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work and sit around protesting because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.