What’s
your initial, gut-level reaction to this question: Are your employees primarily an asset…or an expense…to your business?
The
critically important aspect is this: If you see your people as primarily
an expense — then, that expenditure becomes something we need to minimize.
In other words, we’re taught in business that profit comes from, in part,
reducing expenses. The more we keep our expenses in check, this basic
theory of business goes, the greater the likelihood we will become more
profitable.
However, the more we think about it, that’s simply not the total
picture.
Assets are vital points in our business that we seek to amplify
and make more valuable. When you see your employees as assets to
be cultivated and enhanced — as opposed to expenses you need to reduce and
minimize — you discover those assets becoming more productive…and,
therefore, more profitable for your
business.
Treat
your colleagues like the assets they are, and they’ll provide Ultimate Customer
Experiences ® for your customers and prospects and maximize sales opportunities
that will help you create distinction and grow your business.
For
more information on employee training and development options designed for
custom outcomes, contact our office at 800-838-6980 x2, or email shelley@scottmckain.com.
As I’m writing this on my flight to Sydney for a series of
meetings there and in Tasmania, this is also preparation time for a new program
I’m launching at a large event for financial service professionals next month.
After talking with them about some of my past experiences, they asked, “Would
you do a program to teach us how to be better storytellers?”
When I launched my speeches on
the concept I created — “ALL Business is Show Business” — a significant
aspect of my work was teaching the power that a compelling story had to connect
you with your audience/customer.
It has shocked me a bit to recall that this was in 1982!
As I was building my speaking business, I was also working
as a movie critic and entertainment reporter with my commentaries syndicated to
about 100 television stations around the world. As I would review the movies, I
would study why some worked — and many others failed. The vast majority of the
time, it was because of the script.
I was also afforded the tremendous opportunity to meet and
interview some of the great storytellers of our time: James Cameron to the
Farrelly Brothers, from Tom Hanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger, from Meryl Streep
to Faye Dunaway.
What I learned was striking: most of the organizations and
professionals with whom I was working needed to learn the lessons of the
entertainment industry.
For example, show business is — in the final analysis —
about only one thing: making a compelling emotional connection with the
intended audience. The deeper the connection, the greater the success.
It became my viewpoint that
business should be — in the final analysis — about only one thing: profitably
making a compelling emotional connection with your target customers. The deeper the connection, the greater the
success.
Any business that can create these strong bonds with their
customers — in a manner that is fiscally responsible for the organization,
naturally — is going to succeed. When we accomplish this task, we have
customers that want to repeat their purchases and refer our products and
services.
Is it that simple? Well, it bears repeating here something I
wrote many years ago: just because something is simple does not mean that it is
easy to do. In fact, one of the points I consistently make is this: “Perhaps
the hardest thing in the world to do is to make something look easy.”
Put your fingers on a keyboard and press the keys — that’s
what you have to do to play a piano. That’s simple. But, try sounding like a
distinguished concert pianist, who undoubtably seeks quite at ease on the stage,
and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
One of the challenges is that we adopt excuses such as, “I’m
not a natural storyteller.” Here’s a clue: neither are most of the great
storytellers. On a recent episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” with
Jerry Seinfeld, the great Eddie Murphy relates a story of bombing so badly on
the stage, the owner of the club refused to pay him. This meant Murphy didn’t
have enough money to get cab fare home. He had to call his father to come pick
him up (at 2AM!). Murphy’s dad demanded that he quit comedy and get a “real
job.”
At this point, Eddie Murphy could’ve said, “I guess I’m not
a natural comedian or storyteller.” Instead, he worked harder at his craft. He
has put in thousands of hours to make his performances seem effortless.
Most professionals won’t make a similar commitment — even as
we know that the ability to relate stories to our team members and customers is
one of the most important aspects of leadership and professionalism.
YOUR business is, in fact, “show
business.” And, if you want to be relevant in today — and tomorrow’s —
marketplace, it’s both an attitude and a skill that you must be willing to work
on.
As I write this, I’m on an airplane flying from Sydney to Hong Kong. And, as I follow our journey, I see from the map from the screen in front of my seat that we are about to cross the Equator.
When I was a kid in Crothersville, Indiana in our grade school geography class, the Equator seemed about as far away to me as the moon. In our small classroom, we studied tropical climates, the Equator’s global positioning, the countries above and below it, and the differences in weather and seasons between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Yet, I have to admit, it never occurred to me there in my wonderful rural hometown, and with the circumstances that surrounded me, that I would ever actually cross the Equator in person, as I have now done many times.
The first time was when I was invited to be a part of the Indiana Trade Mission to Brazil. I had just left office as the State President of the Indiana FFA (then the Future Farmers of America), and our Lt. Governor Robert Orr thought that the trade mission he was leading to Indiana’s sister state in the southernmost region of Brazil would be well served to have a student representing young Hoosiers. And, thankfully, he selected me. It was a life-changing experience — not in the least because I was the only teenager as a part of an adult group of businessmen.
I grew up on that trip in many ways. It was my first experience in being a part of serious business meetings. It gave me the opportunity to see how economic leaders and governmental authorities conducted business. I even had a short conversation with the President of Brazil.
Many years later, I’ve lost count of how many times that I’ve crossed the Equator for business —and even a small number of times for pleasure and vacation.
The main point is this: what seemed so unreachable for me at one point in my life later became achievable…then, somewhat normal.
What’s YOUR version of the Equator? What seems unattainable for you in life right now, given your current circumstances?
My message to you is that what seems so far away now truly is possible to achieve. It might take a while — it was a decade between the young dream of travel and the crossing into a new hemisphere for me.
However, I would be willing to wager that if you take the dream…and add hard work, planning, and execution…you, too, will find the reality is superior to the fantasy. I truly hope you do.
I spent much of this past week in San Diego at my first Social Media Marketing World conference. Thousands of professionals ranging from entrepreneurs attempting to build a business to executives with the world’s most formidible brands joined together to hear speakers (including me!) and dialog with one another about the future of marketing.
The common theme was a basic and impactful one: connect with customers through emotion and humanity.
If you’ve followed my work, you know I was writing about this over fifteen years ago in my first book, “ALL Business is Show Business!” Any effort in show business succeeds only when it creates the desired emotional connection with the audience. A drama makes you sad, mad, or scared…a comedy makes you laugh and joyful.
I’d strongly suggest to you that the same is true in your business. You’ll succeed when you create the desired emotional connection with your “audience” (in business, we call them “customers” and “prospects”) in a compelling manner.
The significant problem is that few have really examined how they want their customers to FEEL. We know we want them to BUY. We hope they’ll REPEAT their business. We pray they’ll REFER their friends.
However — in most cases — we haven’t really focused specifically on how we want customers to FEEL…which is the major determinating factor in whether or not they’ll BUY, REPEAT, and REFER.
Start today.
Ask yourself — and your team:
how we make our customers feel today,
how we want them to feel,
and how we close the gap between our current reality and our desired outcome.
When you create the emotional bonding that you desire and customers crave, you’ll probably find that everything else will work out just fine for you and your organization.
Still not convinced that ALL business is “show business”?
Indulge me for a moment and think of your business as a movie studio.
Are you Columbia, 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros., or Paramount Pictures?
Do you have a smaller budget and stick to mostly independent movies?
Or are you writing, producing, editing, and directing everything by yourself?
Regardless of whether you’re producing blockbusters that don’t scrimp on CGI — or quirky indie films — there are some incredible lessons to be learned from how show business create their products and why you could adopt the same business model.
Customer Service vs. Customer Experience
Imagine a theatre that has reclining seats and footrests, freshly popped popcorn, and state-of-the-art 3D glasses. Now, what do you think will happen if, despite all the perks and comfort, an absolutely terrible movie is played?
The thing is, audiences are willing to forgive lousy service as long as the movie is awesome. However, they’re not willing to forget how terrible a movie experience was simply because their feet were comfortable and elevated during the screening.
An executive once bragged to me before a recent presentation that they had improved their “service” levels. To prove his point, he stated they were now answering the phone before the third ring and delivered product orders within 48 hours.
So why weren’t his customers becoming more loyal?
Perhaps it’s because it didn’t matter to the customer how quickly their call was answered or how soon they got their order. What mattered was the quality of the actual call and how the product made them feel.
What’s the point of answering the call by the second ring if the person on the other line isn’t able to serve the customer with a memorable, personalized experience?
What’s the point of delivering an order the very next day if the product isn’t all that it was hyped up to be?
Your customer’s measuring stick for efficiency may be entirely different from yours.
And if you’re not aligned with your customer’s expectations, then you’re never going to meet their needs. Customer service and customer experience should not be confused.
Creativity Despite Limited Resources
“The power of ideas can often compensate for the lack of size.”
The 1978 slasher flick Halloween had a $325,000 budget but went on to make $47 million at the box office.
2004’s Saw’s budget was only $1.2 million, and yet it earned $103 million.
Napoleon Dynamite’s budget was only $400,000, and it made an impressive $46 million.
Who could forget the phenomenon that was The Blair Witch Project that had a $60,000 budget but ultimately earned $140.5 million?
It doesn’t matter how large or well-funded your business is, adopting the show business philosophy can impact your future success in a major way.
The point here is that you can go a long way with superior creativity when its matched with strategic execution.
For more information, check out the book, “ALL Business is STILL Show Business!” (also in audiobook format).
