In the Know

Customer Service: not just for customers

Written by Cori Burns, Marketing Director for the WT Enterprise Center. For more information about the WT Enterprise Center visit www.IncubationWorks.com.

When you are growing a business, the critical and key element for that growth always comes back to people. The people on your team and the culture you develop can make or break your growth. The people determine the rate of growth and to what level. So many owners and managers think that a product or service can sell itself. But even if it can virtually sell itself, a product can’t support all that it takes to run a business. We are in the process of hiring a key member of our team. One of the most critical wheels that keeps our machine running is our client service coordinator. Without this person to support our coaches, to support our stakeholders and to ultimately make it easy for people to do business with us, incubation would not work. This process brought up a good question today and that is the question “What does Customer Service mean to you?”

Now that seems like a simple question, especially for a customer service position. But I was really amazed at the perspectives and meanings that the term customer service has for different people. When discussed among our team members, the answers were as diverse as those given by the people wanting to join our team.

If you lead a business or own a business, ask your customers, ask your team, and ask your colleagues what customer service really means to them. To grow a business, you have to serve people inside your organization and outside of your organization. What does your understanding of customer service mean in the context of your business?  I don’t think I have come up with a new magic concept. What I was reminded of is a need to consistently recheck how we define customer service, how we communicate within our team and support what we have defined our customer service to be. Most importantly, we have to check how we educate our community of entrepreneurs, service providers, and future team members what customer service means to us and our clients. What does customer service mean to you?

I Love Local Commercials

Written by Brian Whipple, Program Coordinator of the WT Enterprise Center. For more information about the WT Enterprise Center visit www.IncubationWorks.com.

I have a strange confession to make. . .

I love local commercials.

It is kinda a guilty pleasure of mine. I especially love cheesy car commercials. And yes, I can say that Bobby Duby sold it to me. There are many reasons why I like them, but the main one is simple. I like them because they accomplish their goal. They are memorable.

One day I stumbled across a couple of guys that take local commercials to the next level. Rhett & Link.
Below is my personal favorite. I highly recommend going to their website. www.ilovelocalcommercials.com

About Reserves. . .

I drive differently on 1/4 tank of gas. I consider spending differently when my bank account is running low. I act differently on fewer hours of sleep. I perform differently when a deadline is looming. When I’m in survival mode, creativity goes out the window.

Having reserves in every area of our lives offers us less stress, less worry; the ability to be present with the people that are important to us; the opportunity to live life according to our priorities, using time for what is important rather than what is urgent.

What will it take for you to operate from “reserves” rather than on “empty”?

The Innovation Pattern

Written by Brian Whipple, Program Coordinator of the WT Enterprise Center. For more information about the WT Enterprise Center visit www.IncubationWorks.com.

There are probably thousands of blog posts claiming that there are indeed steps to innovation. And I, by no means, can verify the accuracy of any of them. Nor do I want to claim that I know the steps. But I have been in a unique position to see lots of innovative ideas while working at the Enterprise Center. It seems like ideas flock to this place. And I, personally, have seen a pattern with the truly innovative ideas. And I can usually (not always) spot the difference between an average idea and a truly innovative idea. It usually happens in three steps.

1. Chance favors the prepared mind – Usually innovation happens around people that are very well educated in a particular area. Whether it is their profession, passion, or hobby, it almost always seems like innovation happens around folks that know their stuff.

2. Communicate the idea – It seems like to me that the truly innovative ideas are the ones that can be communicated well. If an entrepreneur can make a 3rd grader understand, then it has the makings of a good idea. If the idea is too complicated for the average joe to understand, then that person is a scientist, not an innovative entrepreneur.

3. Make it happen – An idea is pretty useless unless someone can make it happen. It becomes innovative when it is implemented and it comes to fruition.

The reality is that everyone understands these three points. They are not hard to get. But they are extremely hard to do. The exciting thing is that all of our clients are doing these three things, and we get to help. It is my personal opinion that we get to work with the most innovative companies in the region. And that is awesome.

What Does Success Look Like to You?

Written by Cori Burns, Marketing Director of the WT Enterprise Center. For more information about the WT Enterprise Center visit www.IncubationWorks.com.

Being an entrepreneur means moving fast, being passionate about moving faster than others, and for most entrepreneurs, success. What is success exactly? I think most entrepreneurs and even clients of mine would say that success is not easily defined and that it changes.

As an entrepreneur, I am constantly looking for improvement and more efficient ways of doing things. Do what I do better, do what I do faster, do what I do MORE. How do you live an entrepreneurial lifestyle and still have a life? I think the answer lies in passion- not passion for a product or a service, but passion for Life, People, and Growth.

I recently read an article about “10 Questions That Create Success” (By Geoffrey James | @Sales_Source | Jan 23, 2012). As I read the article, I thought (and I know some of my clients and fellow entrepreneurs also think) “who can realistically ask themselves these 10 questions daily, I don’t even have time to read the article much less consider the questions.” But something I realized in asking myself this question is that I, like most entrepreneurs, don’t take time to celebrate success or even acknowledge success. I am an optimist at heart and I will always see opportunity, but something I do struggle with is acknowledging how I personally take advantage of (and help others take advantage of) all the opportunities for success that are presented me every day.

The first key to being able to define success for your future is being able to acknowledge and recognize success in your present.

I challenge every entrepreneur that reads this to take 10 minutes every day to consider these 10 questions and to recognize the success they achieve daily. Success builds upon itself and I truly believe that if you focus on the success you have in the present, you will have life long success in your future.

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

Do You Have the Stuff of an Entrepreneur?

Written by Jeff Reid, Associate Director of the WT Enterprise Center. For more information about the WT Enterprise Center visit www.IncubationWorks.com.

A while back I read an article entitled, “What is The Stuff of an Entrepreneur?” by Jim Hatch and Jeffrey Zweig.  The article outlined five characteristics that seem to be common with successful entrepreneurs.  Interviews were conducted and data collected from 50 rapidly growing firms in the greater Chicago area. It was observed that the majority came from middle to upper middle class families.  Although some of those interviewed became entrepreneurial at an early age others pursued their business ideas at various other life stages.  Many of the entrepreneurs interviewed were somewhat average in other aspects of their life such as sports and academics.  Most, if not all, exhibited the following five personal traits which motivated them to incur personal risk in order to start their own business.

1. Risk Tolerance – The founders were not adverse to risk as many of them “maxed-out” their credit cards and incurred other personal debt in order to start the business.  In some cases the founders appeared to enjoy the risk they were taking and somewhat lost interest when things were stable.

2. Desire for Control – The desire to control their own destiny and be the decision maker appeared to motivate many of those interviewed.  Many had worked for other companies and were not happy when having to answer to others.  In general they had strong personalities and a high degree of self-confidence.

3. Ambition/Desire to Succeed – This trait was present in most of the founders but did not appear to be important to all of the entrepreneurs.  The success of their business was taken very personally.  Many were relentless in the pursuit of success and were constantly thinking of ways to improve the business.

4. Perseverance – In the face of setbacks most displayed a strong will to succeed.  This may be best illustrated by those that started businesses that either failed or were not very successful, but started again.

5. Decisiveness – A willingness to make decisions was exhibited, even when they needed to be made quickly and often times alone.  Mistakes when made were not dwelt upon but rather energies were spent on moving on.

Do you have the Stuff of an Entrepreneur?  Possession of these five characteristics is not a guarantee for a successful venture but the lack of them will make success very difficult to achieve.

Would You Hire Tim Tebow?

If you are a football fan, then you probably have heard of the recent hype around the Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow. Even if you aren’t a football fan, then the subject has probably been brought up around the water cooler.  The attention he has gotten over his faith has made national news for some time now. There has been a lot of discussion and debate surrounding whether or not he should be expressing his faith through his career of professional football.

This attention has me thinking about how this relates to the business world, and how companies should handle employees with strong personal beliefs. In my opinion, there are two factors that weigh into this decision.

1. Is the employee performing? In the case of Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, the answer is undoubtedly “Yes!” As of yesterday, Tim Tebow has beaten out the Pittsburg Steelers in the first round of the NFL playoffs. And you better believe that the Denver Broncos franchise and the NFL are not upset by all of the attention and boosted ratings. Needless to say, he is performing in more ways than one.

Isn’t that what we want out of an employee? For them to perform? You get the picture.

2. Most Important! Do the employee’s values line up with the company’s values? Every company hires employees because they determine that the employee’s values line up with the company’s values. And sometimes religion does play a factor whether it is directly or indirectly.

In the case of Tim Tebow, it seems to be hard for people to find anything negative about this NFL “employee.” His values don’t seem to be damaging the NFL’s image at all. Odds are that he is actually helping the NFL’s image since the league’s players usually have negative publicity involving drugs, alcohol, or the occasional dog fighting scandal.

I think business owners can learn something from the recent news behind Tim Tebow. As you go out and make your next hiring decision, remember to look at your prospects performance and values. If the prospect’s performance and values line up with your company’s values, then go for it. Because even though he/she might be a rookie, he/she might be a real winner.

So the question is. . . Would you hire Tim Tebow?

Written by Brian Whipple, Program Coordinator of the WT Enterprise Center. For more information about the WT Enterprise Center visit www.IncubationWorks.com.

The Golden Rule of Customer Service

My wife and I were talking the other night about how she was having a hard time connecting with one of her clients.  She said that this lady always treats her as a salesperson. (She Is)  So I popped off that maybe she wasn’t giving the customer what she wanted, and I don’t mean product.  So with that she made me come up with what I want from a person when I do business with them.  So, after a little thought, here is what I came up with.

First, I want that person to have a positive attitude.  Second, I want the person working with me to focus on me.  If you’re having a conversation with someone else in the office, texting your kid and reading your e-mail while we are trying to do business, you lost me.  Finally I want that person to listen to what I have to say.  You can’t solve my problem if you did not hear what the problem is.

To this my bride asked if I tried to give my clients these three things.  Absolutely…ummm most of the time…actually I haven’t thought that much about it.  But I will now.  If you want to improve your business, give your customers what they want.  It sounds so simple but it’s easy to lose sight of.

Enterprising Ideas with Amy Keuper

As entrepreneurs, we all understand the difficulties associated with generating leads and closing sales in a competitive market. With many businesses fighting for the same dollar it can be easy to get lost in the crowd and become unsuccessful in sales efforts.

This Enterprising Ideas training was with Amy Keuper, a sales expert from a company called Initial Call. She gave a powerful presentation with applicable best practices that will develop a companies sales approach, and help entrepreneurs in navigating sales in 2012. Some of the main “take aways” include the following:

1. Value Proposition Workshop
2. 4 Things You Need to Do Differently in 2012
3. Define Your Sales Cycle

We have provided links to download the powerpoint and handouts that were used during the training.

Enterprising Ideas PowerPoint

Session 1 Worksheet

Session 2 Worksheet

Session 3 Worksheet

CRM Comparison Guide

Information Sheet on SalesForce.com

Enterprising Ideas Quarterly Training is a program with half-day, hands-on facilitated workshops. The workshops are designed to provide entrepreneurs and established businesses’ managers with the critical evaluation tools and action steps needed to maximize the growth and profitability of their businesses.

Be sure to find out when our next Enterprising Ideas training is at incubationworks.com/ideas/

10 Techniques to Help You Become A Better Listener

I would like to share some information I learned at a recent International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) monthly meeting.  This program has been pre-developed by IAAP for educational use by their individual chapters.

According to Diana Bonet, author of The Business of Listening, most of us spend about 80% of the workday communicating.  Listening occupies almost half that time (45%); the other half is devoted to speaking (30%), reading (16%), and writing (9%).  But even though we do more listening than speaking, listening is rarely viewed as a top priority. I bet most of you would swear that you’re a good listener.   But the truth is – most of us are not. Most of us listen at 50% efficiency, meaning we remember half of what we just heard.  According to Diana Bonet, we listen at only about 25% of our potential.  That means that we ignore, forget, distort, or misunderstand 75% of what we hear.

IAAP included a quick quiz taken from the book, Managers As Facilitators: A Practical Guide To Getting Work Done In A Changing Workplace, written by Richard Weaver and John Farrell.  Take a moment to take your listening quiz and be honest in your answers.

Click Here to Take the Listening Self Assessment

If this quiz were given to significant others in your life, how do you think they would rate you?  Your boss?  Your children?  Your Mother?  It might be very different from how you rated yourself.  You might also get different ratings if you scored your listening skills at work, at home, in church, or with friends.  This tells you that we all listen differently when we’re with different people and in different places.  But, how many of you, regardless of your score would like to become a better listener?

Below are ten listening techniques to help you become a better listener.

1. Be empathetic.
2. Listen to body language and nonverbal cues.
3. Listen precisely.  It helps to take good notes as you listen.
4. Reflect, rephrasing what has been said.  To be sure you got the message straight; repeat what you thought you heard.
5. Clarify.  If you’re not sure that you understand something, ask for clarification.
6. Probe.  Ask for additional information.
7. Acknowledge.  Provide some response that encourages the speaker to continue and lets him know you are following his story.
8. Use silence. We’ve all heard that silence is golden, especially in selling, servicing, or negotiating.
9. Restate.  Restatement is saying back what the speaker just said to you.
10. Summarize.  This is an excellent technique to end a conversation.  It describes your understanding of the interaction.