Here’s a statistic that’s a bit difficult for me to wrap my head around: in July, 4,000,000 people quit their jobs! By the end of July, there were almost 11,000,000 jobs open — an all-time record, according to Harvard Business Review.
As I talk with entrepreneurs and leaders of large corporations, all are singing a similar tune: “It’s tough — almost impossible — to find and keep great people.”
Since the Great Recession of 2008, you have likely been hearing about the “skills gap.” That is, “there aren’t enough trained workers with skills needed to fill open jobs at a time when a record number of them are going unfilled.” But it does not stop there. We hear from constant news reports and analysis about the “Great Resignation” — a tsunami of employees walking away from their employment. It’s a critical challenge for every business, regardless of size.
In the book “Why People Resign: The Great Resignation and What to Do About It,” author Robert Bacal states that his research found eight principal reasons why people quit their jobs. A few of the reasons he discovered were that employees were resigning due to:
lack of appreciation
being under-challenged or overly challenged at work
being paid less than their colleagues.
Bacal’s research discovered that when employees quit, it has much more to do with the overall employment experience than simple matters like salary.
For many years, I’ve been writing and speaking about the customer experience — always pointing out that we need to be equally concerned about the experiences that our internal customers (often called “employees” or “team members”) are having and not focus solely on external customers who buy our products and services.
In my first business book, “ALL Business is Show Business!” over twenty years ago, I wrote:
“The purpose of any business is to profitably create experiences so compelling that loyalty becomes assured.”
Many would read that sentence as advocating an Ultimate Customer Experience® for those who purchase from us — and it does!
However, it’s also to state the superior importance of delivering an extraordinary experience for internal customers, as well — so their loyalty becomes the result of our efforts.
It’s amazing to me that if an employee quits, walks out of the building, and tries to leave with the company computer she has used during her employment, the manager would call the cops and have her arrested for theft. That same employee, however, can walk out with customer relationships, knowledge of the business, and recipient of an extensive investment in training and education from the company…and most managers just shrug and say, “That’s the way business works today!”
I promise you that it’s more likely their knowledge and relationships are significantly more important to your business than their company laptop!
Yet, you would never know that, because the vast majority of managers are blind to this. Some even think all employees are interchangeable. If they can’t find a good replacement from within, then they just hire from the outside without much thought or consideration for what is really going on.
(By the way — do you know your turnover rate? Do you know the primary reasons that people are leaving your employment? Have you done a bit of research to discover why great candidates aren’t accepting your job offers? Until you take these steps, you probably aren’t going to solve your employment problems.)
The reasons for this are many, but several sources report that the most common reasons people quit their jobs are:
The work is not engaging.
Leadership doesn’t care about employees.
There are no opportunities to advance or grow.
I don’t feel valued by my employer.
(You can probably think of more. But, please note, salary is not among the primary reasons that people quit.)
You probably have an acquisition strategy for customers — in other words, you’ve planned out how you are going to attract new customers for your business.
You have one for external customers…how you’re going to get paying customers away from your competition and over to your side; and you probably have a recruitment approach for new employees, as well.
The problem is that today’s marketplace requires a retention strategy that is engineered with as much passion and precision as your acquisition strategy. What is your detailed plan to keep the customers you have — both internal and external?
In this time where people feel little reticence about quitting a job, planning a distinctive retention strategy for your internal customers may be one of the most profitable steps you make this year.
Want to obtain and retain your customers — both internal and external? You’ll discover how when you join the Iconic Inner Circle. There’s zero risk — your first month is free and you can cancel anytime. Check it out: https://IconicInnercircle.com
No matter the size of the business, every entrepreneur seeks to build a foundation that will allow growth to happen. All entrepreneurs dream of success for themselves and their families, and hope to attract employees who will help them grow.
However, there are three common mistakes entrepreneurs make with their businesses. Certainly, all three can be corrected — if you know what those mistakes are. And the entrepreneur who understands these common mistakes will be ahead of the game — hopefully she or he will not make them in the first place!
First Mistake: Not building a solid foundation for growth
All entrepreneurs start small businesses and frequently use their personal credit cards and bank accounts to finance their operations in the beginning. But when capital begins to run low, the entrepreneur either must figure out how to raise more money — or cut back on their growth plans. Often, cash flow challenges are the entrepreneur’s worst nightmare.
Desperation is never something you want your customers or employees to perceive about your business. Businesses that are not capitalized correctly do not grow past the entrepreneur’s four walls. An entrepreneur who does not build a solid foundation early on is doomed to stay small — and often they merely hope to remain afloat.
Second Mistake: The entrepreneur’s attention is divided
When too many responsibilities are given to one person, there is no longer an entrepreneur at all! The entrepreneur can and should make the primary decisions. However, there are only so many hours in a day and only so much attention one entrepreneur can give to their business.
The entrepreneur must develop a team of professionals with strengths that complement his or her weaknesses. This doesn’t mean you must have a cadre of full-time employees!
Acquire people for your team who are better at the aspects where you need help. For some, that means you hire a part-time or freelance bookkeeper. For others, you may need accomplished sales professionals. Whatever it is for your individual situation, your business gets better when your team gets better. You cannot do it all.
Third Mistake: The entrepreneur is too isolated
Many times, entrepreneurs are guilty of not doing sufficient market research. This mistake often results in the entrepreneur starting a business with little or no customer interest — resulting in wasted time, money, and effort.
It is extremely important for entrepreneurs to have knowledge of their potential customers before they put substantial work into making their product or service available for purchase. It means you put people (customers and team members) ahead of products and services — and you listen to those who work for you and purchase from you.
It is vital to be flexible. There are few things more frustrating for consumers than the entrepreneur who refuses to adapt the product or service after receiving valid customer input. This may mean temporarily shelving a pet project that isn’t moving forward, or adjusting your business model so it better fits your customers’ needs. And remember, what people say matters to you and your business.
However, a word of warning here: the entrepreneur must be careful not to let a customer’s suggestion change a product or service into something it was never intended to be!
It is vital that entrepreneurs stay focused on what they are trying to accomplish, while also considering what their customers are saying. You should embrace constructive criticism from customers and employees.
However, be careful not to let it take the place of your original vision. There’s likely a compelling reason you chose to do what you’re doing. Most often, feedback helps us make mid-course corrections — but it usually shouldn’t move us to change our destination.
When you take care of these three mistakes, you are well on your way to entrepreneurial success — and creating distinction in a hyper-competitive marketplace!
We discuss this entrepreneurial success in detail – and provide specific strategies for you to enhance your ability to obtain and retain customers – in our Iconic Inner Circle.
No one would suggest that innovation isn’t important. Yet we often get so busy doing that we spend little time thinking. Here are six quick ideas on how to become more creative.
– Read a nonfiction book outside your usual genre.
It’s remarkable how a biography or autobiography of a successful person can not only provide examples, but also inspire creative and critical thinking. If all you’re reading is the latest business book, you might miss some insights of extraordinary value. Don’t get me wrong, you should be reading important business books — however, just as your diet should not consist of only one food, your reading consumption shouldn’t be exclusive to a single genre.
– Get out of your comfort zone.
One way to do this is to take a new route home from work that you’re not familiar with, or trying out a restaurant in an area where you wouldn’t normally go for lunch. This will expand your geographic horizons and improve your creative thinking skills.
– Take an improv class or go to the theater more often.
The paramount aspect of an improv class is that you are put on the spot and forced to do something creative in the moment. It’s superb training to learn how to think differently.
Being around creative people will inspire you to be more creative, too. It’s a natural phenomenon that happens when we are around people who have different ideas than us and take an interest in what they do.
– Meditate or practice mindfulness daily.
Studies show a strong correlation between creativity and meditation, because the process of mediation allows for greater focus, which eliminates the noise and distractions that surround us.
– Place a random object on your desk to see what connections you can make.
This is an idea from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who said one way to use creativity is by deliberately seeking new connections and making unexpected combinations of objects–what he called “convergent thinking.” This helps because it forces us to create unique associations — something that can generate highly profitable ideas.
When I was a high school student preparing for a contest in impromptu speaking, I would stand in my bedroom, pick out an object (like a keychain or coat hanger) and discipline myself to deliver a five-minute speech on how that object was a metaphor for leadership. It was perhaps the greatest training for “convergent thinking” I could have practiced.
– Take a break.
I know how hard it can be to do this when you have deadlines and responsibilities but taking short breaks throughout the day is important for your creativity. I find that if I give myself an hour or two of downtime in the middle of my workday, things are so much easier to think through later!
While these ideas might not make you into Picasso overnight, they can help boost creativity and broaden your perspective in a rapidly changing world.
The former CEO of Best Buy, Hubert Joly, made a recent comment that everyone in business should heed:
“Status quo is not an option.”
As reported by Fortune, Joly said the pandemic presented all businesses with, “a health crisis, an economic crisis, a societal crisis, a racial crisis, an environmental crisis.” This means that none of us – from those selling electronics from big box stores to one-person entrepreneurial start-ups – can justify “we’ve always done it that way” anymore.
My friend, Joe Calloway, has what I think is the all-time best definition of “success.” It means, he says: “You know what used to work.”
You may have read in one of my previous books that I question an entire generation of management training and thinking. Right now, you can graduate from a prestigious institution with a Masters in Business Administration– yet not have completed a single course on customers (for example, how to deliver a customer experience, the value of customer retention, steps to leading higher levels of customer service, etc.) – much less be thoroughly educated on customer lifetime value’s impact on the bottom line.
Joly echoes my concern when he said, “So much of what I learned in business school is either wrong, dated, or at best incomplete.”
Some people are calling it the “new normal.” My pal, Randy Pennington, has a better terminology: “The New Next.” Whatever you decide to name it, we are in a different marketplace than ever before.
Stop trying to circle the wagons around the way you’ve always done it. The status quo is no longer an option.
If you’d like to create distinction and break free from the status quo, consider membership in our Iconic Inner Circle. There’s no risk – your first month is free and you can cancel at any time. Check out all the benefits at: https://IconicInnerCircle.com
Somewhere along the way, we seem to have lost the perspective that what we do impacts the lives of others.
It seems we live in a time of character assassination for mere sport. Anonymous online haters who don’t know the facts – or don’t care – irresponsibly attack others to draw attention to themselves. They connect imaginary “dots” that exist only in their own minds, without concern about the consequences to the victims of their venom.
And, it becomes so common that many of us just shrug our shoulders and say, “Haters gonna hate!” and move on – never imagining that we could someday be an unfortunate target.
Maybe we would all be better off if we remember the wisdom that my grandmother used to share with me:
“It doesn’t make you a bigger person to make someone else smaller. It just makes certain you stay less than they are.”
It’s impossible for me to describe how popular my father was back home. Suffice it to say that if I were elected President, my hometown news would proclaim, “Dallas McKain’s Son Wins!”
Our family owned a grocery in Crothersville, Indiana. The way my Dad treated people and served customers not only helped us survive when a supermarket came to town – we thrived to the point that the larger retailer closed.
The McKain’s had a country music band — Dad sang and played lead guitar, with brothers on bass and rhythm. (And, for several years in my teens – me on drums!) We played just about every local dance, wedding, and event you could imagine. We opened concerts for Hall of Fame performers – and in some of the worst clubs you could imagine.
Regardless of the size of the venue, status of the audience, or condition of the crowd, I saw Dad engage every person with respect, giving attention to anyone who wanted his time.
When Dad passed, his obituary was the front page of the local newspaper.
Dallas McKain’s best advice was that his life taught me that the highest calling is to serve – and demonstrate that you care about – others.
