Do People Skills Drive Business Results?

Meet Will.  Every Tuesday morning, I attend his spinning class at Tyson's Sport & Health.  His class starts at 6 am sharp and for me to get a spot, I frequently have to get there by around 5:30 cause people start to show up early. 

Recently Will had to take a 3 month break from teaching spinning.  Result?  People can now show up, even after 6, and there are plenty of bikes to choose from.  It's not that the substitute spinning instructors are not competent.  They are highly trained and very good for at Sport & Health, pretty much all the instructors are highly qualified. But these subs in spinning, while good technically, they are not Will.

Will pushes us hard, kicks our butts, makes us sweat 'till we can't take it any longer, and then he pushes yet harder.  And he does it all with a smile and a great attitude.  It's a pleasure to be in his presence.  I miss Will and I can hardly wait for him to return.  Sure the subs also give me a good work out, but it's just not the same. 

I have been a member of Sport & Health for many years and over the years I have noticed that classes which regularly fill up, those that develop a very loyal following, those classes tend to be lead by instructors who have great people skills.  Those who don't, even though they are equally, if not more technically qualified, just don't seem to develop any type of following and their classes always have plenty of spaces in them.  In fact, I have observed this not just in sports, but in numerous other settings too.

Therefore my strong belief is that given nearly equal technical competency, and perhaps even a bit on the lesser side, people choose to work with those who possess people skills over those who don't.  And they are more patient, more accommodating and more forgiving to those who have good people skills.  Therefore, with perhaps some rare exceptions such as highly qualified surgeon, I am a firm believer that there is a strong correlation between strong people skills and strong business results.

What are your experiences and thoughts on this?  Do people skills drive business results?

Isn't Everyone Gifted?

Meet Ngoc.  Her job is doing handwork in a lettershop, which often involves tasks like stuffing thousands of envelopes.  It is something I would not last doing for more then 30 seconds before my mind would go numb.  Yet she has the patients of a saint, manual dexterity of a surgeon, and can carry on such tasks for hours on end, all the while smiling and enjoying her work.

At another time at another place, I had the pleasure of talking with and closely observing software developers and engineer types.  While people skills as well as their comfort level in people dealings wasn't their primary gift from what I could observe, when it came to sitting in front of multiple computer screens for long periods of time coding software and solving very complex technical issues, they rocked. 

Then there is my good friend Samantha.  If she had to write and code software, I am sure that would drive her up the wall.  But when it comes to driving business deals, she has the tenacity and the drive like no one else I know. She is simply one of the best when it comes to making the sale, and she absolutely loves it. 

As I move around, I observe every single day that each and every person on this earth has their own unique blend of talents and abilities.  Each is special in their own unique way and each and everyone adds value in some shape and form.

So whenever I see a sign like the one above, or I hear talk of some gifted individuals, I am left wondering what exactly does being gifted mean.  Afterall, isn't everyone gifted?

What do you think?

What Business Are You Really In?

I have been reading this much talked about recently published book entitled Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.  In many conversations lately this book has come up and I hear that some are even making special visits to Zappos operations, to learn how they create happiness.

While Zappos is getting much attention since the release of this book, the more I think about it, are we not all ultimately in the business of delivering happiness?  While our products and services differ, ultimately, is not our success determined by how happy our customers are, by our offerings and our service?  And is this also not true for all of our various relationships, personal and professional?

Along this topic, in another recently book, Business of Happiness by Ted Leonsis, Ted states that while success does not lead to happiness, happiness surely leads to success.  Perhaps there is another point.  That it is if we are happy, then we are already truly successful.  So when all is said and done, are we not all in the business of delivering happiness for we all want to be successful and the ultimate success is being happy?

So I am wondering out loud: How do you create happiness, and create even more of it, for others, as well as for yourself?  

Remembering Dad

This year is the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan. In his celebration, this weekend Parade magazine is running a piece entitled "Remembering my Father", with a picture of President Reagan and his family on the cover.

As my dad was a strong Reagan supporter, today I am remembering (and missing) my dad, which I do often. When I look back, frequently I wonder where the time went and how I missed so many opportunities to spend more time with him and to be a better son. As I myself get older, face my own life's many trials and tribulations, I become increasingly appreciative of how much he (with my moms support) accomplished in life and how so many lives he touched in a very positive way. If I can achieve and do for others even 1% of what all he did, I would consider myself very fortunate and blessed.

So today, to all the dads and sons (and mothers and daughters too), I want to invite you to stop whatever you are doing and take just a few moments to listen to this very special song called Cats and the Cradel by Harry Chapin. Cats and Cradel is one my favorite songs and each time I hear it, it stops me in my tracks, bringing tears, reminding me what's truly important and meaningful. I think you'll feel the same.

To listen to it, go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH46SmVv8SU. Then do whatever you're moved to do. We don't have to wait for any specific days such as Father's and Mother's Day. Why not make today, this moment, special by reaching out to those in your lives and doing something special for them, even if it's just a quick call or email letting them know how much you love them and how much they mean to you. What a beautiful way to start a new year.

Have Your Sales Hit a Brick Wall?

In many businesses, a point comes when revenue flattens out. Team continues to work hard yet revenue increase is nowhere in sight. You feel like a gerbil on a wheel, running harder and faster, yet not making any significant progress.

What are you to do?

If this sounds like your situation, here are two solutions to consider, that may help you get unstuck and back on the growth path.

1. Refocus: Over time nearly every business picks up variety of customers who have various needs. While each provides revenue, not all revenue is the same. Some customers actually cost more to serve then the revenue they provide.

For example, for a printing company, a customer who continuously purchases only small print jobs that are not in line with their core offering, those projects can actually consume significant resources, using up valuable staff time and energy that could otherwise be spent on serving your core/best customers as well as acquiring more like them.

Therefore as you begin this new year and your sales have hit a wall, it may be time to reevaluate your customer base and projects you are taking on, and then make adjustments accordingly. In the short run this may cost you some revenue. Fear not. By refocusing, you will more then come out ahead. For more on this, check out my post "Sweet Spot" that I wrote back in January 2009.

This will help you work smarter, leading to much greater returns. Think of it as "sharpening your saw", as Steven Covey once said.

2. Reexamine: Ask "What business are you really in?". How you see your business determines your outlook which in turn impacts decisions, actions and ultimately outcomes. Therefore if you see your business in a new light, that inner shift may lead to expansion, identifying additional service opportunities, right within your existing customer base. After all one of the keys to growth and greater profitability is to do more for your existing clients, since it's much easier to sell more stuff to them then to get new ones. When you do that, it further strengthens the relationship and deepens the value you provide. Both win.

Let's look at some examples:

Say you're a marketing company. Are you in the business of helping your clients acquire new customers, or are you helping them drive revenue growth and helping get new customers is just one of the ways you help them grow revenue?

If you're a printing and mailing company, are you in the printing mailing business or are you in the business of helping your customers move information, move communications?

If you're a promotional products company, are you in the business of selling promotional products or are you in the business of helping your customers build & strengthen relationships, increase client acquisition, drive profits, and improve client retention?

If you're an association, are you in the business of serving the profession, the industry, or your members?

You get the idea.

If you have hit a wall, this is a great time to refocus as well as reexamine what business you're in with a fresh pair of eyes. You may be very pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Give it a try.

FOCUS!

The holiday festivities are over. It's time now to begin work that will lead to 2011 becoming a great year. But, where do you start? Where should resources be applied? What exactly needs to be done?

If you're unsure, a great starting point is asking, among your leadership team as well as with involvement of other key players, 5 key questions. It is through these critical conversations focus, alignment, direction and next steps will emerge. These questions are:

1. Who is that we serve? What does our ideal customer look like?

2. For our core customers, what problem do we solve, pain we take away, and value we deliver?

3. Why is solving this problem important to our clients, and to us?

4. What are the 3 critical "things" we must accomplish this year?

5. What work needs to be done to accomplish these, i.e. who will do what by when, and what resources are needed.

Best wishes!

Thank You & Happy New Year!

It was exactly one year ago that I started this blog, at the request and urging of many. Honestly, for the longest time I resisted the idea of blogging, thinking what in the world would I write about, fear of running out of topics, and so on.

I finally decided to give it a go, do it for a year and then revisit. Well, 89 posts later, topics continue to emerge and readership continues to rise. So today I wanted to say THANKS to all of you for being part of my community and for subscribing to my blog. I do hope you have gotten some value from it. I certainly have enjoyed writing each and every post and in each post I have tried to share something practical that will be of use. Atleast that was my intent.

Of course, if you have any feedback for me, I would love to hear. This is a new experience for me and I am learning as I go. So any and all feedback is much desired and welcomed. Please write to me at vinay.vk.kumar@gmail.com.

In the meantime, through these blog writings, 3 ebooks emerged this year. They are:

1. 51 Ways to Love Your Customers
2. Race Pace: The Winning Formula to Achieve Maximum Growth & Profits
3. Why Don't Some People Get Along? (This one was written with my good friend Kara Scanlon Mckinn

If you would like copies, send me an email and I'll be happy to forward them to you. It's another way for me to say thanks.

I am now in the process of writing my 4th ebook roughly entitled "Thrive", with my long-time close friend Joe Isaacs. Joe is an association executive so this one will be targeted specifically to associations. I'll post something here on that when it's ready.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks again for everything and wishing each and every one of you and your loved ones much success, good health and happiness in the year ahead, and beyond.