How would you like your business to perform 259% better than your competitors?  What if there was one thing (albeit a major thing) that you, as a business owner, could do that would create this huge competitive advantage?  Would you do it?

Surprisingly, you probably wouldn’t.  Most business owners don’t view this approach as a real ‘competitive advantage’ – instead writing it off as touchy feely and not important.

The advantage I’m talking about is employee engagement…or being a great place to work and it’s illustrated by the performance of Fortune’s Top 100 Great Places to Work business versus their peers in the Russell 3000 stock index.  Granted small businesses don’t trade on a stock exchange, but it’s not a stretch to assume those results reflect the underlying performance of the companies.  Check out the performance comparisons below:

Equally impressive, Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For experience less than 50% of turnover compared to their peers…across all industries!

Of course it’s one thing to appreciate how engaged employees…and being a Great Place to Work could  make a difference in results, but the real challenge is figuring how to build that kind of environment for your own business.

One place to look might be what’s going on at Zappos – a hugely successful company built around a company culture of service and delivering ‘wow!’.  Zappos went from almost going under after the Dot-Com bust in 2001 / 2002 to generating over a $1 Billion in revenue less than 8 years later.  Since that time, they’ve been purchased by Amazon for $1.2 Billion – primarily as a model on how to really implement an amazing company culture.

According to Tony Hsieh – the CEO of Zappos and the author of the best selling Delivering Happiness, the essence of what it takes to be happy in general boils down to 4 things:

• Perceived Control (ability to make things happen)
• Perceived Progress (ability to get better)
• Connectedness (the number and depth of your relationships)
• Being part of something bigger than yourself

This ties in well with Daniel Pink’s Motivation 3.0 Model that he outlines in the book ‘Drive’.  The Motivation 3.0 model uses 3 key components as the drivers for motivation:

• Autonomy (ability to make things happen, decision making control)
• Mastery (ability to get better, develop skills that are important to me)
• Purpose (opportunity to work on something exciting that’s bigger than just me)

The underlying assumption here is that happy employees are motivated employees are engaged employees who have a great place to work.  In other words, all of these things tie together.

How do you apply this to your business?

For most business owners, adopting this new motivation model or building a strong company culture around things that will make employees happy seems almost impossible.  It’s definitely hard to make major changes, but the good news is that you don’t have to change everything at once, you can make incremental changes at your own pace.

Here are few things you should consider doing to get started:

Get to know your employees!

Do an employee survey that will help you learn more about what your employees think, what makes them tick, where they want to go and what kinds of things would motivate them.  In a smaller business you have the ability to really get to know everyone on a more personal basis – you still need to keep a professional distance, but the more you build a real relationship the more you will be able to engage them and find out what makes them go.

Delegate authority!

This is something you have to do anyway if you want to grow your business, but for the purposes of motivating your employees, you should brainstorm decisions that your employees should be making without you.  In a call center environment that might mean giving your call center representatives the ability to ‘make the customer happy’ with whatever means are necessary…up to a certain dollar amount. 

For other employees, identify ongoing decisions that have historically been escalated to management and ownership and figure out how to push those decisions down to the working level as much as possible.  Obviously you can’t just hope everything works out, so you’ll want controls and reporting in place, but your employees can and want to own more responsibility (and if they don’t you should get rid of them).

Involve employees in planning!

A big part of engagement is having everyone buy into where the company is going and how they’re going to get there.  As the owner you have the responsibility to lead the way, but that shouldn’t translate to a command and control approach, rather you should be leveraging your employees skills and experience to help you come up with great ideas.  Hold regular planning and status meetings with employees – done right these are very empowering and productive…and critical to keeping everyone engaged.

Consider flexible work arrangements!

If you’re like most business owners I know, you work a ton of hours but you would be very unlikely to go back to taking a job…even for good money.  Why?  A big part of the reason is the flexibility you have as the owner.  You work a lot of hours, but you (generally) have complete control over what hours you work.  Guess what – your employees would love that kind of flexibility as well!  Obviously different industries and different businesses will require different hours of operations, but there’s likely a lot more flexibility that’s possible than what you’re currently doing.  Brainstorm how you could pass along some of that to your employees.

It’s not easy, but it’s worth it!

Clearly rolling out significant changes on how you operate your business is not an easy thing to do, but the upside is clearly there.  If you have a business where every employee is engaged, on the same page and helping to make things happen, you will routinely be blowing your competitors out of the water…which will translate directly to the bottom line!

What changes could you roll out in your business in the next few months?  Which of these ideas resonated with you and made you think ‘hmmm…’?  What ideas did I miss?  I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback – share them in the comments below.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

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How important is it to keep a positive perspective?  It’s a popular topic on the self-help and self development circuit as one of the keys to long term happiness (or at least contentment).  There have also been a lot of scientific studies – in this article on the benefits of positive thinking from the Mayo Clinic it’s pretty key, a positive outlook will help reduce stress, help you live longer and be healthier overall…all in all not a bad deal!

As a business owner, staying positive is even more important…especially considering the alternative.  You’ve got plenty of things to worry about – starting with finances, people, competition…overall it’s a long list.  Now picture the difference of approaching these issues with a positive perspective and outlook versus a negative outlook?  With a positive approach, anything is possible and problems can be solved.  With a negative approach, everything is an issue and soon it all feels very overwhelming – it would be much easier to throw in the towel if you’re approaching things negatively. 

It might sound a little touchy feely, but I can tell you that it impacts a lot of business owners that I talk to.  The idea is summarized nicely in one of my favorite songs from The Shins – Young Pilgrims:

“But I learned fast how to keep my head up ’cause I
Know there is this side of me that
Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot and just
Fly the whole mess into the sea.” – The Shins

I think we all fight our own demons from time to time, but there is a real upside to keeping your head up – when you can open up and look at the possibilities you’ll be surprised at the great ideas and solutions you can come up with.

So positive thinking can impact your results (as I’ve written before)…it’s a wonderful, important thing to do, but what if you’re just not wired that way?  It’s not like you can just flip a switch and start thinking positively.  How you think /  your approach to things is a habit and it will require some changes if you’re going to be able to make being positive stick. 

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

Be aware of your thoughts

A good place to start would be to simply start raising your awareness of what your thoughts are…how often are you thinking and talking to yourself in a negative way?  This is especially important because it turns our your brain is physically wired to reinforce whatever you’re thinking on a regular basis – check out points #2 and #3 from this great list of 30 Amazing Facts About Your Brain from Tim Brownson.  You tend to get more of whatever you think, so if you’re being negative, it’s easier to be negative the next time around.

Question? When you talk to yourself (in your head) are you positive or negative?

Give some serious thought to who you spend time with

Jim Rohn has a famous quote:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

If you’re hanging out with people who are inherently negative, you’re going to be negative as well.  Attitudes (along with success or failure) are contagious – it may be time to consider cleaning up your tribe (easier said than done, but it could have a huge impact on you).

Question?  Are the people you spend the most time with challenging you and helping you get better…or are they holding you back?

Start reframing when you notice potentially negative situations

Reframing is simply the conscious act of changing your perspective on something (an event, an outcome, a person, etc.).  Typically what ever we’re looking at or talking about isn’t inherently good or bad, it depends on how we frame our perception…and you can choose that frame.  Tim Brownson also has a good article on Reframing and how to use it.

Question?  Do you consciously look at a situation or an outcome and find a way to reframe it in a more positive light?  Could you?

There are a lot of other ways to impact your outlook – exercise can be a great way to lift your mood…a lot of people recommend some form of meditation…listen to positive music, read positive books or magazines, watch uplifting movies or shows.

How important is positive thinking to you?  When you’re trying to stay (or get) positive, what works best for you?  I’d love to hear your thoughts – share them in the comments below.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

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Bon Appétit!

This week kicks off Restaurant Week in several cities across the country, including Kansas City. It is a great opportunity for restaurants to showcase their cuisine and entice food lovers to get out of the house and try a new establishment or revisit an old favorite.

In the KC metro, this also serves as a fund raiser for Harvesters as participating restaurants donate a portion of their profits at weeks end. The growth in popularity of this event over the last couple years has been impressive. So I encourage you to participate at least once.

Now for your “food” for thought…Some friends of ours recently returned from a trip to the Northwest. One of their stops was a hotel on the Oregon coast. They said it was possibly the nicest place they ever stayed. As we learned about the actual hotel, it became clear that it wasn’t the product (hotel), but the experience that catapulted this place to the top of their list. They showed us pictures of the rooms, the view of the Pacific, flowers, and more; all were impressive, but certainly not unique in that area. So what was it?

“The best things in life aren’t things.”

- Art Buchwald

Products and services are things. Creating “the experience”, was more about the details than the actual hotel or its location. One of the examples they shared was that one of them has very specific food allergies. During the reservation process the hotel captured that information. Upon their arrival, the chef had created not one, but several options to choose from for every meal during their stay. The combination of unexpected, appreciated and generous makes it the kind of thing that people will talk about!

“The Experience” creates an emotional connection, the actual hotel is just a thing; it simply can’t compete with human emotions. Combine a quality product or service with an emotional connection and you’ve struck gold.

Restaurants spend countless hours coming up with the perfect adjectives to describe the dishes they offer. As you read them, sometimes you can actually taste the food they are describing! But what happens if when you get there, your table isn’t ready, the restaurant staff is rude, it is too loud, too cold, or something else that effects your emotions? I think you already know the answer.

As you make your way to your favorite eateries this week, I encourage you to think about two things.

#1) What is it that attracted me to this restaurant?

#2) What is it that will bring me back? (Repeat Customer)

No matter how long or short your answer; #1 will be more about “the product” and #2 will be more about “the experience”. And, what is really amazing about this, is that no amount of bricks and mortar or investment can impact “the experience” more than the people in the business. I am not saying there isn’t a cost, because it takes training and commitment to consistently deliver a high level experience, but for the most part it is free, it won’t require a large bank loan to attain. All businesses, including yours, have an equal opportunity to deliver a great experience – but it has to be a clear focus and priority if you want to pull it off.

So get out and enjoy some great food this week! You are helping the economy and you are helping Harvesters. And while you are doing so, ask those two questions. Then take the answers and the inspiration back to your business and put them to work.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this – feel free to share any great dining experiences you had this week and why they resonated with you.  Leave us a comment below.

Chris Steinlage Kansas City Business Coach

Photo by Scott SmithSimilar Posts:

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Is your DSI super?  Wait…let’s step back first.  A DSI is a Dominant Selling Idea – think of it as the modern day version of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP).  Basically it’s THE big idea inside a marketing brand – it’s the selling idea that establishes you as the #1 choice within your category and specialty.  You can learn all about the DSI concept from the book “Why Johnny Can’t Brand” by Bill Schley and Carl Nichols.

When they talk about a DSI, they’re not talking about marketing fluff and being super funny or creative (although that’s not excluded from a DSI).  A DSI is about having a simple (sentence or two) way to communicate the value you bring to your customers that makes you the top of your specialty and category. 

An example of DSIs? 

There are lots of car brands…cars are the category.  A specialty within the car category is safety.  What do you think of when you’re looking for a safe car?  Volvo established their Dominant Selling Idea a long time ago as the safest car brand – they pretty much own that specialty.  Here are some others:

M&Ms – the candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hand.

Enterprise Car Rental – “We’ll pick you up”!  (They created their own specialty of rental cars not at airports).

Halls – with ‘Vapor Action’ (lots of throat lozenges, but only one with ‘vapor action’)

The beauty of an effective Dominant Selling Idea is that it automatically makes you the top choice within your selected specialty (assuming you can live up to your claim).

The Test for a Super DSI

In Why Johnny Can’t Brand, the authors go through a lot of ideas and a process to help you figure out what your DSI should be.  It’s not easy…and not every business is going to be able to legitimately have a DSI, but here’s a test to help you figure out if you’re onto something.

Is your product or business idea:

1. Superlative

Are you as good or better than everyone else within your specialty?  Can you claim #1 in something?  Best in class within your boundaries? (i.e. best pizza in Kansas City).

2. Important

Does your differentiator – your DSI – address something that’s important for decision makers? You may sell cars that have top and bottom windshield wipers…but that’s not likely to sway many decisions.

3. Believable

Is it clear why we should believe your claims?  Do you have credible and important testimonials?  Does it logically follow that you would be good at this product or service? (Think about your favorite steak restaurant offering up an enchilada…probably not believable).

4. Memorable

Does your idea stand out from the crowd?  Does it link to an emotional feeling?  What would cause me to remember your idea if I looked at a dozen similar ideas within your category or specialty?

5. Tangible

This is where the rubber meets the road.  You might have created a great idea that establishes you as a believable #1 within your specialty in a memorable way, but if you don’t actually deliver on that promise you won’t last.  To have a Super DSI, it has to actually perform (and be more than just an idea on paper).

What I really like about the concept of having a DSI is that it’s not just clever marketing and it’s not just for big national players.  Any business or idea will benefit by positioning as a Dominant Selling Idea…and any business or idea will suffer without that positioning.

Think about the last time you told some friends about a great restaurant in your area.  Maybe you said something like; “They have the best fries…you’ve got try them!”  or “I was amazed at their service, I’ve never had an experience like that before!”.  That’s potentially their DSI…something they should build around.

Now think about how your customers describe your business…would they consistently isolate on your important strength?  Are you consistently positioning yourself as #1 in a specialty?

These are tough questions and they take a lot of time and soul searching to answer honestly, but if you can figure this out you will be successful.  A valid DSI can take you to new heights in your business.

What do you think about Dominant Selling Ideas?  Are you comfortable that you know what yours is?  We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Shawn Kinkade   Kansas City Business Coach

Photo by aka Kath

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One of the things we work on with our clients and business owners is developing systems for their business.  It’s critical to build a systematic approach, figuring out the best way to do something and making sure it’s done that same way consistently…regardless of who’s doing the work.  Often the easiest way to rollout that kind of systematic thinking is to develop a checklist.

I just finished reading The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. It’s a great read and a lot more entertaining that I thought it would be.  Gawande is a medical doctor who decided to investigate the effectiveness of Checklists and how if they could be applied to the medical profession.

My experience with doctors is that they traditionally aren’t great writers or story tellers (although to be fair, I would much rather they be great doctors first…).  Having said that, Dr. Gawande writes in a way that makes it very easy to read, telling several stories to help illustrate his points.

He begins by clarifying the difference between errors of ignorance (when we don’t know enough) and errors of ineptitude (when we don’t use what we know properly) Then he leads you through the findings of his research he accumulated while writing the book.

He started with the aviation industry and Boeing…where they have championed the idea of effective checklists for over 75 years.  It’s not by accident the chance of dying in a plane crash is 1 in 25 Million. If there is the potential for something to happen in the air, chances are pretty good there is a checklist nearby the pilots will be able to refer to.

What his book points out is that it isn’t that people don’t know what to do. It is that it’s almost impossible to be prepared on your own…to know what to do under any circumstance without a framework to refer to. He isn’t discounting anyone’s knowledge; it is having a guideline that keeps you from missing the obvious.

If you are a fan of Van Halen, you will learn the real reason that David Lee Roth requested all the brown M & M’s be removed from their candy dishes back stage. It had nothing to do with his ego. Another great story is Walmart’s ability to respond after Katrina flooded New Orleans.  Both stories driven by the power of using checklists in creative ways.

Building a checklist doesn’t have to be overly complex – here are the 3 high level steps:

Development => Drafting => Validation

A couple of the take-a-ways on building a checklist is to keep it simple and talk in the language of the people who will be reading it. He even provides a Checklist for Checklists to help guide you through the process.  Obviously he’s a pretty methodical thinker…but he’s also an interesting guy – check out this interview he did with Stephen Colbert to get a better feel for why he’s so interested in this topic (and why it makes sense for you as well).

Could you implement some checklists?

The challenge with implementing Checklist with professionals in any industry is that you risk insulting their intelligence because they feel they already know all “the stuff”. Why do they need a list? I guess, that may be a question to ask the 155 people of Flight 1549 who landed safely on the Hudson River on Jan. 14^th, 2009.

As you start the New Year are there areas in your business where using a simple Checklist could reduce the chance for errors?  If you need some help, don’t be afraid to ask. If you already use Checklists in your business, I would love to hear some success stories – share them below.

Happy New Year!

Chris Steinlage, Kansas City Business Coach.

Photo by The U.S. Army

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