Looking Back with Gratitude, Stepping Forward with the Power of Possibility

Happy New Year! We begin 2005 with the intention of putting the abundant learnings with which we were blessed last year to good use this year. We feel tremendous gratitude for our customers, colleagues, suppliers, friends, and even well-meaning strangers who popped into our lives in 2004, all of whom enlightened us in their own unique ways as they shared their comments, congratulations & occasional words of comfort.

We're grateful for each member of our small staff who has worked diligently to accomplish big dreams. We've grown together as people as we've grown as a business team.

We feel tremendous appreciation for so many opportunities to learn each day, as well as for the unique opportunities we have to learn from some of the world's most renowned customer care masters who lead the life- and business-changing conferences we attend. In fact, in this first tip of 2005 I'm going to share some of the most remarkable learning moments I experienced at the North American Conference on Customer Management in Orlando last November.

Most thrilling were the teachings of Benjamin Zander. Ben is author of The Art of Possibility, a book I read (and loved) some time ago. He's also the conductor for the Boston Philharmonic. Ben, who has a unique way of working with his music students, spoke directly to my heart when he revealed that he 'transforms' his relationships with his students by giving them each an "A" from the start.

The grade is automatic on one condition - they must write a letter in the first two weeks of the semester that begins with: "I got my 'A' because..." Then Ben instructs them to "fall passionately in love with the person they describe in that letter."

Wow! I think Ben has created an actual, sustainable shortcut to success by immediately and deeply tapping into - and believing in - each student's highest potential. He refers to that potential as "a power available to every human being called possibility...everyone should lead their lives in possibility." (You can see why he has affected me deeply.)

As he enables students to connect with the best in themselves they also connect with him as a leader. In talking about the character of leaders he says "He (the leader) doesn't doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he is leading to realize his dream." When there is a breakdown in the relationship between him and his students or with anyone he's leading, "someone's not giving someone an 'A.'" Wow again!

Ben's approach echoes one of the Customer Care Coach® Foundation Principles of Exquisite Customer Care: Everyone on your team is smart, talented and has something to contribute. In order to bring out the brilliance in everyone in your organization, you must believe this (or 'act as if' you do until you realize it's true). In holding open the possibility that people will shine they usually do. People live up (or down) to our expectations of them. If we expect and empower them to be competent, creative, innovative problem solvers who create Exquisite Experiences for customers, they're more likely to do so.

Oh, the possibility!

Gary Hamel, one of the world's greatest strategic thinkers, talked about staying ahead of accelerating commoditization - an ongoing passion of ours here at the Coach. As we often ask, how can you distinguish yourself from competitors who offer similar products or services at similar prices? According to Gary, it's going to take a "radical overhaul" in how our businesses are structured. He suggests we start to, "Build the business from the customer backward."

The acceleration is made possible because knowledge (and the changes it brings) is shared and applied more rapidly than ever due to increased connectivity and processing power. As Gary put it: "Momentum is not what it used to be...In our world of accelerating change all of us are getting stupider by the minute...Success is becoming more fragile; we have to 're-earn' it by the hour."

He's so right! Gary suggests that organizations that want to stay relevant calibrate their priorities and spend more time learning (We're all for that here at the Customer Care Coach®). They must become capable of redefining customer's expectations - proactively, dramatically and repeatedly. Who's setting the bar in your industry? Is it you? Could it be you? What are the possibilities...?

My hero Fred Reicheld (his first book, The Loyalty Effect, put loyalty on the map and gave me the hard evidence I needed to teach more effectively) shocked us as he began his speech. He said, "In today's culture loyalty's a joke - for most customers and for most employees. But when you understand the breakthrough economics - an extra 25%-100% on the bottom line - you are more apt to take a closer look at what it takes to earn it. Cultivating loyalty can yield a 5-6 percentage point advantage, which compounded grows your business with less cost. Loyal customers can create more profit for you."

Yay, Fred! He's a master at linking 'soft' skills with 'hard,' bankable results and he continued to do so throughout his talk, noting:

• Accounting departments still ignore loyalty metrics in their primary set of measures. (Probably why most companies think loyalty is a joke - they are responsible to a whole other set of numbers.) Meanwhile, in companies with loyalty there is more predictable cash flow (Hear that accounting?). They know how much more their long term customers buy from them (Do you know how much more your long term customers buy from you?). They know how many new customers their long-term customers refer to them. They realize that their customers actually do the "heavy lifting" for them, says Fred.

• These companies benefit from cost-savings in the millions each year, less employee turnover and smarter employees (they stay around long enough to really understand the customers and their businesses.)

• "Loyalty drives growth." He shared a simple formula for getting your brain around that concept: Customer Strategy x Loyal Employees x Tools = Loyal Customers. I like it. It's simple and elegant.

• "Abusing customer trust" creates "bad profits" that destroy company growth. Think 'nuisance fees' like the telephone charges on your hotel bill, return check fees, cellular discounts for new customers only, $100 change fees on airlines and gas refills at $5.25 a gallon.

• Questions on customer sat surveys must be linked to customer behavior. And be sure to include the question, "What's the likelihood you'd recommend us to a friend or a colleague?" After all, he says, businesses should be running customers into "promoters" (Ooh, are you listening out there? Common sense strikes again!). The way to sustain growth is to have more customers who are promoters and less who are "detractors."

In short, Fred says, "Loyalty is a joke UNTIL you understand what a huge economic advantage it gives you." In other words, until you understand the profitable possibilities!

Based on teachings from these masterful, successful customer care teachers, I have a couple of questions to help you kick off 2005 with a renewed openness to possibility:

• Is this the year you give yourself an 'A?'

• Is this the year you give your team an 'A?'

• Is this the year you get in front of the curve by looking at your business from the customer backwards?

• Is this the year you do the math and get the religion? (I'm telling you this 'caring stuff really works when you embrace it with your heart like Ben does, and do the math like Gary and Fred do. It's all a balance of IQ and EQ - intelligence plus emotion.)

Warm wishes for a year blessed with radiant good health, abundant happiness, overflowing prosperity and the presence of possibility.

Copyright 2005 by JoAnna Brandi. Used with permission.