Chief Executive Boards Blog

Time off Trumps Cash with Gen-X/Gen-Y

2009-11-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Money isn't everything. In fact, you may be surprised to learn, additional money isn't anything at all to some employees. I know this because I've heard more than one Chief Executive Boards International member say, "I don't understand it, but a good bonus program just isn't getting the attention I'd hoped for." In many cases these are bonuses for hourly or skilled workers, and usually not trivial -- say, $500 for beating a project estimate or for great customer satisfaction ratings on a job.

In one of those conversations, a member suggested, "Why don't you try offering a paid day off instead?" The response was easy to anticipate, "But I can't do that -- I'd lose a day of production." "Well, what if this caught on -- couldn't you hire another guy to cover for those taking days off because they did what you wanted them to do?"

Then we did the math. In fact, in most companies the hourly or skilled labor costs maybe $25/hour fully loaded (a bit higher in Union markets, where you can't give rewards for performance, anyway). So a day off actually costs you only about $200. If it's actually an opportunity cost issue (lost billings or productivity), you could pay someone else overtime to cover, and it would still cost you only $300/day for the same work. Tip: When communicating the value of a day off, you may want to play the opportunity cost card -- "Your paid day off costs the company not only your salary, but also $400 in revenue (@ $50/hour)."

The interesting part is your workers probably won't do the math. And somehow a day off with pay sounds a whole lot better to some of them than a $500 bonus. Studies have shown this to be a generational bias -- that Gen-X and Gen-Y (20-somethings and 30-somethings) employees are far more interested in time off than additional money. And, of course, the same could be true with some of your older employees, as well.

So, consider your audience when offering rewards for performance or behavior. Think about what they might value vs. what you might value, and couch your incentive programs accordingly. While you're doing that, also consider "spot" reward programs for people you just catch doing something good -- here's an article on how far a car wash coupon or Target gift card will go, particularly with younger employees: "How Much Employee Motivation Can You Buy for $10?"

If you've had some successes or frustrations with incentive compensation of your employees, please click "Comments" below and share them with others.

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Terry Weaver

CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

Nothing to Tell Them? Ask Them Something

2009-11-01T06:24:00.000-08:00

You want to stay on your customers' and prospects' radar screens. You never know when they'll have a need for what you do, and you want to be the company at the front of their mind when that happens. Simply stated, you want your brand and logo in front of customers regularly, and email is the cheapest, fastest way to make that happen.

We've heard a lot about newsletters as a front-of-mind vehicle. Many business owners find themselves grasping for content, asking, "How can I come up with things my readers can use?"

Here's an idea -- Rather than telling or teaching your customers something, you can ask them something and get the same front-of-mind effect. And then you have a second excuse to communicate -- when you tell them what they and everyone else had to say on the subject. The key ingredient? Online surveys.

This idea surfaced in a Chief Executive Boards International meeting, and then several free or nearly free online survey tools were mentioned. Specifically, http://www.questionpro.com/ and http://www.surveymonkey.com/ . Either of these tools allow you to construct reasonably sophisticated online surveys. The huge benefit is they also roll up the results into either spreadsheets or graphical reports that you can immediately use.

And here's a bonus idea -- If you want to increase response to a customer survey, one member suggested offering a $5.00 donation to the respondent's charity of choice. Easy deal -- at the end of the survey, put a text box, asking them for their chosen charity (might not be a bad idea to ask for its address or URL as well).

Finally, you'll want to remind respondents that you'll give them the results in exchange for their input. Either post the results as a page on your website and send them the link by email or send them the results in the email itself.

A second use for online surveys, of course, is surveying customer satisfaction on a "per-transaction" basis -- each time you ship something or each time you pass a milestone. That way, you begin collecting a running scorecard of your company's performance. The same tools are useful for that purpose.

If you've had success with surveys as a front-of-mind tool, please click "Comments" below and share your experience with others.

Fail Fast, Fail Cheap

2009-10-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting business axiom. If you're looking at a new initiative within your business -- say, a new market segment, new product line, new territory, etc., adopt a "Fail fast, fail cheap" strategy. When I first heard this from a Chief Executive Boards International member, it sounded negative to me -- somewhat pessimistic.

On second thought, however, it meshed with another idea I'd heard years before from my friend Ravi Sastry, "You've got to play to win -- not play to decide."

Translated, both these ideas can be summarized in three words: "Go for it". If you're considering something new and non-traditional, go flat out. No reservations, no limitations, take no prisoners. And, at the same time, bound your risk. Determine in advance how much time, how much effort and how much money you're going to risk before making a "go/no-go" decision. Bet an amount that should be sufficient for success, but not enough to swamp the company if it doesn't work.

If you're going to fail, fail fast, and get it over with. Play to win -- go flat out with all guns blazing. And if you fail, fail cheap -- with as little capital at risk as possible -- with a bailout plan in mind. That way, you've ensured your ROI if it works, and you've limited your risk if it doesn't. Know what success looks like, and establish a hard deadline for making that call on whether the effort is successful or not.

If you've had experience with this type of decision (whether haven't yet made it or it just happened), please click "Comments" below and share it with others.

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Terry Weaver

CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

Don't Forget the "Why" When Initiating Change

2009-10-19T10:04:00.001-07:00

Are you trying to redirect your company, with limited success? Perhaps you see a strategically critical change in direction that would set you apart from your competitors. Maybe it's a company culture that you've decided just can't prevail. Whatever it might be, it requires a change to the hearts and minds of a number (sometimes a lot) of people.

A Chief Executive Boards International member brought up such a challenge at a recent meeting. He said, "I'm trying to get my employees to see that we have to make a change in the way we do business, and they seem to be working harder to keep it from happening than they are to make it happen." Frustrating, to be sure, but common. And built into the human condition. People don't like change, and if they think they can resist it, they will.

One member offered an interesting perspective, asking, "How much time have you spent on helping them understand why this change is essential?" Good question. Many of us spend most of our time communicating what we want. We presume the why is obvious -- it usually is to us. Yet most employees don't have the same tune playing in their head as you do, so it's difficult for them to clap along. Their tune is on radio station WIIFM -- "What's In It for Me?" That's where the why comes in.

When you're communicating ideas that require your employees (or spouse, or kids, for that matter), to make a change, be sure you include the why along with the what, and that the why connects to their self-interest. Even if not fully convinced to go along, they'll be far less likely to be pushing back, and they'll see your wisdom over time.

If you've either been particularly successful or had a lot of trouble with change management, click "Comment" below and share your experiences with others.

Your Bank may be Your Critical Relationship for 2010

2009-10-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, your banker, not your customers or suppliers, could be the critical success factor for your business in 2010. In the last two rounds of meetings with members of Chief Executive Boards International, I'm hearing some appalling stories of banks bailing out on small business customers. These are CEBI member companies whose banks have told them their credit lines, never late, never in default, will simply not be renewed in 2010 ("we're just not interested in that type of business").

One member quoted a banker as saying, "We'd rather have one $2 million line than ten $200,000 lines on our books". And similar nonsense abounds. These are rock-solid businesses owned and run by rock-solid people. Something is bad wrong with the underwriting criteria that's turning these customers away. I don't know what happened to the TARP money, but I can assure you it's not being loaned to small business customers.

In most cases the bank's excuses have nothing to do with you -- it's something that's changed on their side. Maybe your banker and former advocate left. One member cited a bank that had suffered a $3 million default the prior week -- suddenly they pulled back his already-committed loan and he's shopping again. Maybe their marketing strategy changed. Who knows?

Those members whose banks haven't flatly refused their business are tightening the loan covenants on renewals -- higher equity requirements, higher depository minimums, etc.

So, what can you do? Go wide. If you're under pressure from your own bank, you need to put a package together -- company overview, strategies, etc -- just like you'd do if you were selling the company. And, of course, the traditional 3 years of financials and tax returns. You might as well stack it into one huge PDF -- you'll be sending it a lot of places. Then, contact dozens of banks -- not two or three, and do it in parallel, not sequentially. Your "bank package" will limit your initial contact time investment to a phone call and an email.

If you're not under pressure from your own bank yet, get to know as many bankers as you can -- you may need an alternative quicker than you think. Somewhere out there is a sane banker looking for opportunity. They're apparently few and far between, so it's a numbers game to find them.

And something else you can do -- a defensive strategy. If you even suspect your bank may be getting ready to pull the plug on you, make sure you have a second depository account in another bank (that the bank holding your note or line can't get their hands on) set up and ready in case you need it. If they really get the claws out, you don't want your operating capital within their reach. There's probably a covenant that says you're not supposed to do this, but if your bank with whom you've been a good customer for years suddenly turns on you, fair is fair.

Don't lose your nerve. Keep in mind they probably won't shut you down. These guys are not fools. They know that if you're dead you can't pay them anything. So, it'll start with threats, escalate to "workout", where they step up the principal repayments, etc. You don't have to go along with every demand. Stall, balk and resist, therefore buying you time to keep shopping for a bank that wants your business. The first "go away" date they give you is just for talking purposes.

PS: If you're a banker and reading this, be aware that if you want to, you can own the small business market in your city. The opportunity is there to bank good companies who have had years of successful track records, temporarily impacted by a lousy economy. They're still good people and they're still good businesses. The mainstream banking industry has abandoned this market, and it's yours for the taking.

If you have some interesting or bizarre stories about your recent encounters with banks, please click on Comments below and share them with others.

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Terry Weaver

CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

The #1 Thing to Know About Addiction

2009-10-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have an alcoholic or drug user in your family or your company. Perhaps you've tried to help that person. If so, this article is for you.

I regularly marvel at the things I learn in meetings of Chief Executive Boards International. In a recent Board meeting, a member was looking for some help with a family situation. He had just learned from his daughter that his son-in-law had a serious drug problem, which she had discovered through some cash withdrawls from the household checking account.

He had already thought through many of the possible ramifications -- not only relative to his daughter and the survival of their relationship but also the son-in-law's employment, was he perhaps stealing on the job, and a host of other concerns. And he had formulated several ideas of how he might help with the situation. That's what he wanted to know -- what could or should he do to help this person?

One member brought up a somewhat relevant experience with a relative's addiction. Then the inevitable happened -- a second member said, "As an alcoholic who's been sober for 14 years, I can tell you there's absolutely nothing you can do to help him. In fact, almost anything you do is likely to hurt. Your only option is to get yourself, your wife and your daughter to an Al-Anon chapter."

He went on to teach the Board that the "wiring" of an addict's brain is different than that of the rest of us. We can't understand that person, his problem, or contribute at all to his recovery. It's a matter of something bad enough happening to him that he decides he has to find help for himself. Then he'll get cleaned up, and then he'll probably stumble again. And, hopefully, he'll come to realize that his only hope is total abstinence from drugs and alcohol.

The value of Al-Anon is the combined experience of millions of people spanning 5 decades learning to cope with the addiction of a loved one. People come to understand that they can become as addicted to the alcoholic or drug user as that person is to alcohol or drugs. And to understand how to find happiness for themselves whether the user quits or not.

If you have a friend, family member or loved one who is an alcoholic or drug user, consider the advice of a recovering alcoholic -- "get yourself to an Al-Anon meeting." This is similar to the advice they give you on the airplane, "Secure your own mask first before helping others."

If you have an alcoholic or drug user in your company there are a variety of resources available, including the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Handbook for Supervisors: http://www.opm.gov/Employment_and_Benefits/WorkLife/OfficialDocuments/HandbooksGuides/Alcohol/index.asp A key sentence from that publication is, "The most effective way to get an alcoholic to deal with the problem is to make the alcoholic aware that his or her job is on the line and that he or she must get help and improve performance and conduct, or face serious consequences, including the possibility of losing his or her job." That's part of the "realization that something bad enough can happen that he'll decide to find help for himself."

If you've had an experience with alcoholism or drug abuse in your family or your company, please click "Comments" below and share it with others.

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Terry Weaver

CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

Make Everyone's Emails Sell for You

2009-10-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

What if you could make a sales call on a customer, with no expense of either time or money?
One of the worst surprises to most sales people is when they discover that a customer has bought something they sell from someone else. This happens a lot more often than you'd think.

I've never quite understood the reason, but customers have a way of "boxing" their perception of your company around the initial products or services they bought from you. I think it's part of the general human tendency to want to remember things in the simplest of terms.

Overcoming this "box" the customers have drawn around you isn't easy. It requires not only reminding them of who you are, but also what else you do besides what they remember you once did for them. In that respect, they're almost like a new prospect that doesn't know you at all -- perhaps worse, since they already have a notion of what you do and, by exclusion, what they think you probably DON'T do.

So, you need a way to regularly remind customers of your full line of products and services. One member of Chief Executive Boards International suggested that you build into your automatic Email signature a short "commercial". Perhaps bulletizing your range of products and services or promoting something specific every month, rotating the email signature block message on a regular basis.

Not bad -- you'll be emailing customers and prospects anyway, why not let a bit of promotional material go along with it, including a hyperlink to that product or service on your web page? You could go as far as to institutionalize this, perhaps "rotating" that message across everyone in your company who emails customers or prospects. With a little practice, this could become second nature (of course, it has to be someone's job to get it done).

Give this a try, and let us know your experience with it -- just click "Comments" below.

7 Steps to Turn a Complaining Customer into a Raving Fan

2009-10-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Most organizations hate handling customer complaints, partially because they're not very good at it. In fact, customer complaints are an opportunity to do either of two things -- convince the customer that his complaint is justified, and that you're even worse at what you do than he already thought, or turn the customer into a raving fan. Unfortunately, poor training and human nature conspire so you rarely accomplish the latter.

This conversation surfaced in a meeting of Chief Executive Boards International members where we were talking about vendors of which we're raving fans. One member said, "You'll never believe what happened the last time I called one of our vendors about a problem -- I felt so important." Wow -- a complaining customer felt important. Then she explained how that happened -- including 7 critical steps for turning a customer complaint into a good customer experience.

Listen -- Humans have the ability to think, listen and talk -- but only 1 at a time. Most people, when first receiving a complaint call, are spending none of their time listening and all of their time thinking about what they're going to say next. Pay really close attention to what the customer says, and he'll tell you what needs to happen to make him happy.
Apologize -- Whether it's your fault or not, apologize. Most people who have been married very long know how to do this. Even if it's entirely the customer's fault, you can still apologize for the fact he's had a problem.
Let him you know you believe him -- You'll catch a complaining customer completely off-guard if you acknowledge the fact that they had a problem -- even if you're just acknowledging that they believe they had a problem.
Let him know you'll work it out -- You're not saying you're opening the company's checkbook to them -- just say,"I'm sure we can work this out to your satisfaction."
Ask a lot of questions -- Open ended questions are the best. "When did you discover the problem?" "What happened then?" "What have you tried?" "What can we do to help?" Again, taking an active interest in the problem and in a real solution path totally disarms most complaining customers. Make sure you have all the facts, and give the customer every opportunity to vent everything he's saved up before dialing the phone.
Outline the next steps -- If you can fix the problem right away to the customer's satisfaction, tell them how you'll do so. If it requires some lead time, be honest about how long it will take. And, if you need to, what other resources or analysis will be required to make sure the problem gets solved for good.

One vendor of whom I'm a raving fan, American Express, has a fascinating way of handling problem calls, usually in 1 pass, even though another person or department may be required. They say "I'm going to get the _____ department on the line and they'll take over from here." Then you find yourself in a 3-way "handoff" call, where the first Amex operator introduces you to the second, makes sure he understands why you're calling, and then excuses himself from the call.

Bank of America, on the other hand, sometimes offers to transfer your call elsewhere, during which 50% of the time your call is lost and the other 50% of the time you end up talking to the wrong person. Other times they just give you another 800 number ("you're in the wrong department" -- like it's your fault) and you're on your own through another voicemail purgatory.
Let them know you'll be following up on the problem with whomever needs to take the next steps. And then do it.

Reading through this formula, you might say "that makes a lot of sense", but precious few companies do anything like this. Why? Because they're populated by humans, and several millenia of conditioning turn on the "flight" or "fight" response to a complaint call -- they get defensive. And they start doing further damage.

Note in the above, nowhere does it say, "Tell the customer what he did wrong or who else's fault it was at your company (of course, it's not yours)." When you call Bank of America about a nuisance service charge that's not supposed to be on your account, they usually say "the computer does that sometimes." It's 2009 and they think you'll believe that computers just "do that sometimes"?? Actually, what they think is you won't notice, and you'll just pay the nuisance fee.

The key to this strategy is training -- it's not instinctive. You'll need to train your staff to walk through a customer complaint call "by the numbers", rather than rely on their own instincts, which will usually fail the average person.

If you have similar experiences where your complaint call turned into a good experience, please click "Comment" below and share them with us. If your company has an especially effective customer complaint management process, please click "Comment" and share that, as well.

Who's Getting the Most Return from Your 401(k) Plan?

2009-09-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

Who is getting the most return from your 401(k) plan --your participants or your plan fiduciary? Hidden fees are killing a surprising number of small companies' 401(k) returns -- by a haircut of 3% or more in annual fund performance. If your 401(k) plan is more than a few years old, or if your fiduciary is a bank or insurance company, your plan participants (including yourself) are probably paying huge hidden fees, resulting in below-par investment results.

Here's a CEBI Alert on how to find and fix that problem.....

As a business owner, you have a short window to make plan changes before your 2010 plan year starts. Most 401(k) plans operate on a calendar year basis. Changes in plan provisions or Safe Harbor elections need to be made at least 30 days before the plan year begins. You have some time to adjust your 401(k) strategy for 2010, but not a whole lot.

While you may have looked at Safe Harbor provisions before (which allow you and other highly-compensated people to max out your 401(k) contributions), you'll want to have a look at some ideas you might consider.....

Let us know what you find in reviewing your 401(k) plan. Please click Comments below and share your observations.

The Frugality Horse Has Left the Barn -- Time to Switch Horses

2009-09-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine regularly says, "You can't save your way to success." If your company is still standing and you're even slightly cash positive, you can stop nailing the cost reduction barn door shut -- that horse has left the barn. Frugality has its limitations. It's time to focus on investing (yes, spending) some money to take advantage of the economic recovery.

In case you're still wondering, the US economy is indeed recovering. Not at a rapid rate (thankfully, that would have been an inflation worry), but steadily, and on a broadening basis. Consider the number of broad economic indicators that have recently turned:

Industrial production is up (2 months running)
Capacity utilization is up (2 months running)
The housing market index is up (3 months running)
Consumer debt is flat (people are not paying down debt vs.spending as previously thought)
Rail carloadings are up - highest since December 2008 (Warren Buffet watches this key indicator)
Retail sales are up (August)
Monetary policy is keeping interest rates low (stimulative)
History suggests a "double-dip" recession is unlikely unless the Fed pushes us into one (by reducing money supply, thereby raising interest rates)

Yes, rising unemployment is still in the news (sells papers). In fact, you'll probably see unemployment in the news for a while longer. But unemployment is a lagging indicator, and doesn't generally turn until the final leg of most recoveries.

So, if you're still focused on reducing expenses, you're behind the curve. That horse has left the barn. Were you quick enough on the downturn with your cutbacks? No? Are you going to be late again in stepping up your investments to take advantage of the recovery?

Granted, the timing of economic recovery will be slightly different from sector to sector. Some have been improving for several months. Others will lag another few months -- perhaps another quarter.

The time to switch gears is now (if not now, it's really close). If you're anywhere near cash breakeven to cash positive, it's time to make a move. Refocus your attention from cutting expenses and saving money to making some strategic investments in growing your business -- grabbing some market share on the upturn while your competitors are still napping.

You might want to consider some scenario planning. What would it take, for example, to get the orders and step up your run rates by 10%? By 15%? By 25%? What would it be worth spending to accomplish each of those scenarios?

So, do you think I'm right or wrong? Please click Comments below and share your opinion.

Is Your Customer Saying, "Make Me Smarter"?

2009-09-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

Your customers have short memories. Your prospects' memories are even shorter. You spend a fortune finding prospects, making sales calls and presenting your products or services. Yet, two to four weeks later those same prospects have little recall of who you are or what you do. And worse yet, if a competitor happens to stop by a couple of months later, the prospect may have thought some more about the ideas you planted, despite having forgotten you, and the competitor gets the order! Bummer.

Customers ask themselves "What have you done for me -- lately?" And sometimes they can't answer the question on their own -- you and your products start looking to them like a familiar piece of old furniture.

What's the answer? Maintaining Front of Mind with your customers and clients -- overcoming the natural "decay curve" of human memory, as well as the obscurity bred by familiarity. If the idea of "Front of Mind" is new to you, click the icon for a video overview (turn up your sound).

A brilliant Front of Mind strategy surfaced in a recent Chief Executive Boards International meeting. One of our members summed up his customers' expectations as, "Make me smarter." Tell me something I don't know. Remind me of something I forgot. Expand my knowledge.

A tall order -- where are you going to get that kind of material? Here's what he does. He subscribes to a McKenzie newsletter, and reads it with his "customer hat" on. He combs each issue, looking for ideas that might be useful to any given customer, and then emails the info to them. After all, the customer didn't say he had to think up everything himself, did she?

I know a company that issues a well-read quarterly email newsletter, in which almost ALL the content is from other sources -- industry journals, business press, etc. It doesn't need to be original -- it needs to be relevant. And your value-added to that process is sorting through the blizzard of available info and sending your customers and prospects just the snippets they need. And, of course, a short footer plus your logo in the signature block is all it takes to remind them of who you are and what you do.

Every one of these "touches" renews your customers' or prospects' recall. And makes it a whole lot more likely that when they decide they need what you sell, you'll get the call. Isn't that worth a specific Front of Mind strategy?

If you have a Front of Mind strategy that's working for you, would you click "Comments" below and share it with others?

Own the High Ground in Your Prospect's Organization

2009-09-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

Every army wants to own the high ground on the battlefield. On the competitive battlefield, you want to own the high ground as well, don't you? How many times in your career have you lost an order because:

There was a surprise decision-maker lurking in the background?
Your competition got to a higher rung on the prospect's organizational ladder than you did?
Your champion in the prospect company got fired, and you were out in the cold?
Your champion in the prospect company got promoted or moved, and you were out in the cold?

In his presentation at a Chief Executive Boards International Summit, member Scott McMillian of Advanced Applications, advised, "Go Wide". You want to know and engage with as many people as possible at a prospect (or customer) company. And at as many levels as possible, right? So maybe it's "Go Deep", as well.

Yet working your way up the prospect's organization can be tough, especially if you have a longstanding relationship with a given contact. It's very awkward to make contacts above him without offending him -- he's likely to question your motives, and even perhaps undermine your efforts to do so. If he happens to have his own self-esteem issues, he may even see you as a threat.

So, what to do? The IBM selling playbook has a strategy for this -- "Meet the Boss". Here's how it works:

You plant this idea in your contact's head, saying, "Jack, we've been working together for awhile, and I think it would be good to make sure our companies are as well aligned as we are. How about if we have lunch and you bring your boss and I bring mine, so they can meet each other? And while we're at it, we'll have an opportunity to remind both of them what a great job we're doing for our respective companies." Who could resist?

Of course, you can play your way through variations on this theme. Say you're working with Plant Maintenance and you really need a contact in Manufacturing Engineering -- same thing -- "Jack, you bring your Manufacturing Engineer and I'll bring one of our Engineers. That way, we won't have either of those guys throwing rocks at our idea when it comes up for funding." etc. etc.

Meet the Boss can be played as many layers up as makes sense. Once the "bosses" get acquainted, then you can leverage it up one more notch.

And, of course, besides "Go Wide", be sure and "Go Deep". The more weblike the contact map between your company and the customer's or prospect's company is, the better. If any one of your champions on the other side bites the dust, you have multiple points of traction by which to rebuild a relationship with the successor. Time is of the essence, as well. The moment you sense a turnover situation with any of your contacts, swoop down to protect your turf on all fronts.

Here are some additional ideas on how to "Go Wide". If you have some of your own, please click "Comments" below and share them with others.

Customer Experience - Vol. 1

2009-09-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

Loyal customers come back. Raving Fans bring others with them. What's the difference? Perhaps it's the combination of the tangibles of the product or service you deliver (the outcome of the transaction) and the customer experience you deliver in the process.

In a discussion on raving fans in a meeting of Chief Executive Boards International, member Harry Loyle of Portrait Avenue said, "We're mostly about the experience -- lots of places can take great photos. And it turns out that a part of the customer experience any mom wants is a sparkling clean bathroom."

They really do believe in that experience part -- in fact, the headline on their "about" web page is," Fun, Interactive Experience".

Imagine that -- tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, years of training and experience by the photographer, and it's about the bathrooms! This is a great example of a company that's focused on customer experience, figured out at least one important component, and then propagated that to every location.

If you missed the earlier article on Creating Raving Fans, you might want to have a look.

If your company has an unusual customer experience insight, please click Comments below and share it with us. .

Creating Raving Fans

2009-09-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

In a recent series of local meetings of Chief Executive Boards International, we opened with a discussion of a Customer Satisfaction Matrix I was shown years ago by my friend Frank DeVita, founder and owner of DeVita & Associates.

Here's the premise: Most organizations focus most of their Customer Satisfaction time and metrics on the outcome of a transaction or project. Outcome is important -- measuring things like quality, on-time delivery, return rates, etc. has brought the world a long way, particularly in manufacturing. But services can be measured in terms of outcome, as well -- Did it get fixed? Did it get fixed on time? Did it stay fixed? Etc. etc.

Outcome alone will not ensure your long-term success with a customer. Rather, creating a "raving fan" is a more appropriate goal -- to create a customer who's out there advocating for you, recommending you, and bringing you up in conversation unprompted. This is the stuff "word of mouth" is all about. What else does it take besides a great outcome? A great customer experience. Customers are people, too, and they remember just how easy (or hard) it was to do business with you. They remember not only how it ended, but also how it felt during the process. Did they have to call you for updates, or did you provide them at the appropriate intervals? How many rings did it take for them to get an answer, or were they able to get around the "dial through Hell" inbound call menu (raving fans expect a hotline -- not to be treated like any other random phone call that rings into your business).

It's the combination of outcome and customer experience that creates a raving fan, and there are several gradations below that point:

Raving Fans -- They're out recommending you and mentioning your name unprompted

Loyal Customers -- They're solid with you, and would probably stiff-arm a competitor who called up and suggested he come over to "get acquainted." Their response, "I'm well-served by my current supplier."

At Risk Customers -- They're still on board, but would probably grant an appointment to a competitor who called up and suggested he come over to "get acquainted." And, left alone, may decide to try his product or service

Searching -- These customers have been poorly served in either outcome or experience, and had mediocre results on the other, as well. They're out actively seeking an alternative to your product or service

Gone -- Most of us have one or more of these -- when you look back, it's usually a "perfect storm" of not only marginal outcome, but also a bad customer experience, to boot.

I'm willing to presume that most companies today do something to measure, track and improve the outcome of whatever deliverable they provide. What is it that you're doing to measure, track and improve the experience your customers or clients have in their ongoing relationship with you? This is the "foreword" article of several in which we'll highlight things real CEBI member companies are doing to measure, track and improve customer experience. Stay tuned.

If you've developed some ways to measure, track and improve customer experience, please click "Comments" below and share them with others.

Windy City Fieldhouse Named to Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing

2009-08-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Windy City Fieldhouse, run by Chief Executive Boards International (CEBI) Member Murrel Karsh, has been listed by Inc. Magazine in its annual ranking of the 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. The Inc. 5000 list is comprised of U.S.-based and privately held companies with the best earnings growth from 2005 through 2008. This year’s list includes such companies as Visio, Zipcar and GoDaddy.

Windy City Fieldhouse (WCF) is the Midwest's largest Team Building and Entertainment Company. Their services range from Summer Picnics and Great Amazing Races to Deep Skills Team Building events.

Congratulations to Murrel and the Windy City Fieldhouse team for this prestigious recognition. Link to Press Release

It's interesting that WCF is one of several CEBI Member companies to be named to the Inc. 5000. Others have been finalists and winners of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Do you suppose that's coincidence, or might the advice and counsel of other business owners on a regular basis really make a difference? Our members think so.

SBA ARC Loan Program -- Interest Free

2009-08-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is not generally regarded as "helpful" by most business owners. It might, however, be worth giving the Agency another look. How about a $35,000 loan, regardless of your credit or current cash flow, interest free for 5 years, with no payments for 1 year? It's called the American Capital Recovery (ARC) loan program.

We sent an Alert on this program to members of Chief Executive Boards International in July. Since that time, Some members have looked into ARC loans through their own banks.

I've heard from more than one member that their banks stiff-armed them when inquiring about the ARC program. Bankers have been quoted as saying, "Not worth the trouble", "We don't know anything about that", "We've never done one of those", etc.

One of our members wasn't willing to take his bank's brushoff and, he says, "I got the paperwork and filled it out myself." He's expecting to be his bank's first ARC loan recipient -- sort of a poster child.

If you're presently having trouble borrowing, or are interested in improving your cash position at minimal cost, have a look at the CEBI Member Alert on the SBA's ARC Loan Program....

If you've had experience with the SBA ARC loan program, please click Comments below and share those experiences with others.

Process Mapping -- an Admin Process Improvement Strategy

2009-08-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Administrative processes have not only a sequence, but also a physical route through your business, as noted by a Chief Executive Boards International member during a recent meeting. He made those comments during a discussion on how much you can learn about your company by just stopping on occasion to look around.

He said he had been in the office for most of a day (unusual for him) and saw the person who scans documents into their electronic records system leave her desk and walk most of the way across the office to scan one of those documents. Then she did it again -- and again and again.

He finally stopped her and said, "Do you think it would work better if the scanner was on your desk instead of all the way across the office?" "Gee", she said, "Do you think we could move it?"

This seems like a simple, almost trivial observation, but it's not. I was taught this lesson years ago by Bob Gariepy, a GE-Trained guy who was once my VP of Manufacturing. Bob went into a poorly-performing plant and noticed that there was constant traffic in the aisleways, moving parts from one process to the next. A clever process analyst, he got a floor plan of the factory and had an engineer trace the physical movement of all the parts that went into a couple of products, then measure and add up all the distance traveled. For one product, it was almost seven thousand feet!

He then set about building manufacturing cells for high-volume products, putting all the necessary machines in a u-shaped cell where you could literally see the parts coming in on side and finished products in the boxes coming back out the other. One of the additional amazing benefits of manufacturing cells is the reduction of quality and rework problems. If you have a quality problem somewhere in a cell, you usually have only perhaps 8 or 10 total units in process, rather than a suddenly-discovered basket of 100 or 1000 defective parts that came from somewhere else in the factory. You stop, walk up the line, and find out what the problem is and what it will take to correct it before making dozens, hundreds or thousands of defective products.

If you apply this idea to your administrative processes, you'll find the same thing -- errors are caught more quickly, and items that would have slipped through the crack or gotten lost in a basket are out in plain sight for the next person in the workflow to notice.

Regardless of the nature of your business, take a look at this -- see if you can map the distance things travel in your business process. You'll be amazed -- as that distance stretches out, a lot of things degrade -- quality, productivity and throughput time are the usual victims. Consider moving things or people around to reduce travel distance of documents, information and products.

If you've done some process mapping and achieved some interesting results, please click Comments below and share those experiences with others.

Spouse Social Security -- 4 Facts You Should Know Now

2009-08-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

If you're a business owner and your spouse is on the payroll, this article will save you a lot of money, especially if you're several years away from retirement (you're probably throwing 15% of that salary down a rathole). If your spouse isn't on the payroll, there's a strategy worth knowing about -- years in advance of making your decisions about Social Security benefits.

A spouse of a Chief Executive Boards International member called me today with a question about Social Security. The topic had come up at a recent Board meeting, and he realized I had spent some time digging into how this system really works, and how one might optimize the available benefits.

Yes, optimize. For this is a system that's not just as simple as picking a retirement date and applying. That's an easy option, of course, but you may wish to take a closer look.

Disclaimer: This article is not tax, legal or financial advice. It is an invitation to examine the way the Social Security System actually works, so you can use your best judgment as a business owner in setting your spouse's compensation and optimizing Social Security benefits for both of you.

Her question was, "What happens if I start taking my own benefit now (at age 62) and my husband waits 'till he reaches his full benefit (at age 66)." "Well", I said, "That's a more complicated question than it sounds, if you really want this to work out the best for you."

Buried in that question were at least 4 important facts you should understand about how Social Security calculations work.

She made the point that, despite having stayed out of the workforce for years raising kids, she has enough qualifying years of income to be eligible for Social Security benefits on her own. For the purpose of this article, we'll use this case -- where the wife has the lower lifetime income.

Fact 1:

Actually, the lesser-earning spouse's eligibility is not likely significant, for this system provides a spouse the greater of either her own benefit calculation or one half of her husband's benefit. Many business owners believe their spouse being on the payroll is contributing to her social security benefit. That's likely true in only a few cases, because of the way the Social Security Benefit is calculated. It's based on an average of your best 35 years of income, inflation-adjusted. Those years include, in my wife's case, a handful of years of part-time work when we were first married, as well as some part-time work as a Welcome Wagon lady. A few years of income below $3,000 will really slam an average.

So, to beat the 50% minimum spouse's benefit, the spouse's income average, based on 35 years, would have to be more than 50% of the primary breadwinner's 35-year average. Unlikely, in most cases, but check the annual Social Security Statement you get in the mail to be sure. And, more importantly, a few more years of spouse income doesn't help much -- divide anything by 35 and there's not much impact. If the only reason you have your spouse on the payroll is to accrue Social Security benefits, it's time to do some serious math -- you may be completely throwing that 15% FICA/Medicare haircut away, since she will get 50% of your benefit, no matter what. If your spouse is on the payroll for some other reason, you may want to drop that salary to the bare minimum to satisfy whatever that other reason is.

Fact 2:

Then we get to this spouse's question of taking her benefit early, at age 62. Not a bad plan, except that her benefit (50% of her husband's) is derated actuarially since she will get more years of income. In her case, by about 25% to 30%. See: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/retirechart.htm
Even then, she gets the money for 4 more years, doesn't she? And when her husband takes his benefit at age 66, he'll still get his full benefit (although hers will continue at the discounted rate).

Fact 3:

But here's the most amazing part -- the Do Over (technically, the "Request for Withdrawal of Application"). There's a peculiarity in the Social Security System that allows you to totally restart your benefit calculation by paying back what you've received so far, interest free. At that point, your benefit steps up to what it would have been had you waited. So, there's no downside at all to taking the spouse's benefit early. Depending upon what happens in that 4 or 5 year period, you may decide to take the Do Over, refund the benefits received so far, and then begin receiving the stepped-up benefit. If you paid taxes on the earlier benefits, you get a credit for those, as well. Great article with more info....

Fact 4 :

And, you may ask, what happens if the higher-earning spouse (in this case the husband) dies? Then the game changes totally. That completely washes out the question of when she started taking benefits. She immediately begins receiving 100% of his then-current benefit, based on the age at which he originally started taking payments.

In summary, the Social Security system isn't simple, and many business owners are unknowingly paying FICA and Medicare taxes that will never help them. The reason for that is the little-understood quirks in the way the benefit calculations work. The Do Over is known by only a few people I've ever talked with. Your Social Security office may not be completely familiar with it.

Do consult a financial or tax advisor about your own individual situation. And if that person doesn't seem to be fully conversant with all these quirks, find one who is.

If you or your financial advisor have some views on this, please click Comments below and share them with others.

Scenario Planning -- What's Old is New

2009-07-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

I had lunch this week with a great friend and retired President, Ken Keller. He was President of Victory Life Insurance Company through the recession of the mid-1970s and the double-digit inflation of the early 1980s. Just before retiring, he was Executive VP of Insurance Operations for Liberty Life Insurance Company, the job that brought him to Greenville, SC, and the move that resulted in my good fortune of knowing him.

Ken is an extraordinarily disciplined planner, and he mentioned an article he'd recently seen on "Scenario Planning". I asked Ken to write a guest blog article on the subject, and here's what he had to say:

The headline, "Pendulum Is Swinging Back on ‘Scenario Planning’", from the July 6, 2009 issue of The Wall Street Journal in its “Managing” section was a timely reminder for planners and a call to action for all business executives. Pioneered by the U.S. military in the 1950’s, scenario planning gained a lot of advocates with proven results from some high-profile examples.
What is scenario planning? WSJ describes it as “preparing responses to imagined changes in conditions.” Actually that definition sounds more academic than the practical tool it really is. Operational planning normally takes a great deal of data gathering and careful analysis of sales by type, revenues, programs, projects and the budgets to support them.
Scenario planning is no substitute for that hard and essential work, but it can be an eye-opening supplement to that process. The operating plan details the actions the business is most likely to follow in the coming period, while scenario planning helps the business owner/manager to efficiently explore alternatives to better prepare for what might happen.
One memorable example is the scenario planning the New York Board of Trade did in the 1990’s that led them to build a second trading floor outside the World Trade Center, allowing the futures exchange to continue operating after the September 11 attacks. The WSJ article also cites that scenario planning helped Shell Oil weather the oil supply disruptions and price shocks of the 1970’s better than its competitors.
Scenario planning is particularly helpful when the future seems more uncertain than usual and when changes are likely to be severe and sudden. Such as now. You already have a plan for what you think is the most likely future for your company. The next step is to imagine alternative possible futures for your company that could happen. For example:
Revenues drop 25% in the next six months
Revenues drop by 50% in the next six months
Gradual declines let you adapt on the go but may also lull you into neglecting the preparation you would need to do to survive a major change. Scenario planning forces you to examine the essential steps you would need to take to survive and even prosper after dealing with the crisis.
For your business the issues might be different, just as for the World Trade Center the issue was creating duplicate facilities so they could operate in a disaster scenario.
What if the loss of a key customer through bankruptcy or critical issues of their own created a loss for you? What would result from the loss of key employees, the loss of a major funding source, or a disruption in deliveries from a major supplier? The idea is to identify the two or three most likely threats, given the current state of the economy, and then think through what you would do if one of them occurred.
In the late 1960’s I participated in a scenario planning session involving life insurance brought on by threats of changes in interest rates. We were given two scenarios to consider:
Interest rates go up by 3%
Interest rates go up by 6%
We weren’t to consider any rates higher than that because it was assumed the life insurance business simply couldn’t survive if rates went higher than that. However, within a couple of years, interest rates reached 15%.
The industry survived but what if the scenarios had been imagined more boldly to come closer to what actually happened? A couple of wasted years might have been salvaged, had the planners been challenged to prepare better answers.
Being overly optimistic is not a virtue in scenario planning because the unexpected does happen, and this tool could help give you extra days or months to think about what you would do if your business were threatened. The operating plan might fill a binder, but your scenario plan could be one page.
The important steps are:
Imagine potential threats
Think through the implications
Decide what steps you would take in response.
The effort will not be wasted. As one wise person said, “Plans are useless, but the planning process is indispensable.” Time spent thinking proactively about your business can only help you understand it better and prepare you for whatever might come.

If you have some good examples of how scenario planning has been useful to yourself or your compnay, please click Comments below and share those stories with others.

How Much Employee Motivation Can You Buy with a Car Wash?

2009-07-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

I heard an interesting story today from a member of Chief Executive Boards International. Her company had won an award that she wanted to celebrate with all the employees. A bonus wasn't the answer -- if you put $100 or even a few hundred dollars into a paycheck, it just gets lost in all the deductions and other "noise". And then in the checking account, completely forgotten, even when it's "spent".

On the other hand, gift cards and car wash coupons are a lot more tangible. At least when the employees use them, they have a brief recall of why they were awarded. See: "How Much Employee Motivation Can You Buy for $10?"

She took the car wash coupon idea and stepped it up to another level. She hired an on-site car wash service, designated a couple of spaces on the parking lot, and the employees rotated their cars through the temporary "wash bay". As one person's car was finished, he or she told the next office mate to head out and move her car into the wash area. While all this was happening, a sales rep from a vendor stopped by, and he got his car washed, too!

Now, that's an awards program they'll be talking about for awhile. Affordable, and not likely ever questioned as employee compensation -- it just finds its way into "services" on the income statement.

If you've come up with some creative ways to recognize and reward employees, please click "Comments" below and share them with others.

When is Your Independence Day?

2009-07-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

The July 4th weekend reminds us of the political, religious and economic freedoms we enjoy as Americans. As part of that economic freedom, we Americans enjoy the most fertile climate in the world for business formation and ownership. Yet many of us have created businesses that demand most of our time -- the exact inverse of freedom.

A great blog article by Bernadette Doyle, "When's Your Independence Day?" reminds me, in her words, "Chances are you started your business to enjoy more autonomy and freedom in your business. So, in the words of Dr. Phil, 'How's that working for ya?'"

It's an excellent article, and worth your time and reflection. In it, she raises several key points:

As Robert Kiyosaki explains in his book The Cash Flow Quadrant, there's a huge difference between business ownership and self-employment. If you own a business, it will run whether you're there or not. If that's not the case, you're actually self-employed -- you don't own a business -- you own a job.
If you believe you can't be away from the office for a day (or a week), she's talking about you
It doesn't have to be this way
You need a different plan
You probably need someone (or a group of someones) to help you with that plan. Not coincidentally, she suggests a coach or a Mastermind Group.
And, finally, she writes, "No matter where you are starting from, you could be experiencing business in a whole new way, making more than you ever dreamed possible and doing so in a way that is fun and enjoyable for you."

You can't believe the number of "business owners" I talk with about Chief Executive Boards International who tell me "I just don't have the time to do that." I can scarcely keep myself from challenging, "Are you serious? You don't have the time to spend eight of the 200 working days in the year away from the office, figuring out how you can spend most of the 200 working days of the year away from the office??"

CEBI Members, sometimes hearing this excuse from people they nominate for membership, tell me "That's a person who really needs this." In fact, CEBI members say the advice, counsel and support of their fellow members results in more enjoyment of their business, more income, and more free time to enjoy the money.

Are you a person who really needs a better plan? Who owns a job and would like to own a business? Who needs someone (or several someones) to help you with that?

If you don't choose CEBI, wouldn't it be helpful to choose some other resource, coach, advisor or Mastermind Group to help you create some freedom from your business? Think about it.

If you've successfully reduced the dependence of your business on yourself, please click Comments below and share with others how you did that.

It's Better to be Alone Than in Bad Company

2009-06-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

At a recent Chief Executive Boards International meeting, a member mentioned that one of his inside sales people had put up an online "store" site, selling products very similar to those his company sells.

The member didn't realize the cancerous implications of keeping such a person on the payroll, and his Board didn't waste any time mentoring him on the need for swift and sure action to get this employee out the door. There is no excuse or resolution for a breach of trust -- it's time to terminate the employee and get on with life.

One member quoted his immigrant mother, who has a 2nd grade education, saying, "It's better to be alone than in bad company." A profound observation worth remembering.

Bad company attracts people of bad character. And your company attracts people of bad character, if you either hire or retain people of bad (or even questionable) character. These are insidious forces, and have ways of propagating that's both subtle and cumulative:

Imitation -- People see others behaving unethically, and they copy that behavior
Reduced Inhibition -- People see others behaving unethically, and they conclude that the company doesn't care, or perhaps even condones such behavior, so they drop all boundaries of ethical behavior and assume "anything goes."
Self-Selection -- People tend to join up with those of like mind. Unethical employee behavior, believe it or not, tends to attract unethical employees. In this same conversation, another member cited his experience with having to completely shut down a remote office, after digging into problems of poor financial performance. Turns out most of the employees were drug users, and some were dealing drugs out of company trucks!! More on organizational cultures......
Self-Separation -- It's been said "bad money drives out good." It's equally true that people of bad character drive out people of good character -- they just don't want to be around people they don't trust or respect. You lose good people as a result of keeping bad ones.

So, when is it time to do something about a character problem? This week. More....

You may have acted to terminate a person of bad character, and then been totally surprised about what others told you after the fact. If you've had such an experience, please click "Comments" below and share it with others.

Get a Good Deal on a Lease -- Act Now

2009-06-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

A Chief Executive Boards International member asked his fellow members for some cost-reduction ideas to save his business from a severe cash crunch. In the next breath, he mentioned his lease was up for renewal within the next year. It happens that this member is in a specialized business in a specialized building in a severely depressed local economy.

The members unanimously advised him to run, not walk, to the landlord, requesting several things:

An immediate rent abatement, or rollback -- perhaps to or below the original base rent (before escalators) of the current lease.

A renegotiated renewal at an even lower lease rate -- asking also for an option to terminate in the case of sale, liquidation, or bankruptcy

At least 2 months' rent at $0, commencing with the start of the new lease

The members' rationale was straightforward. First, you don't get what you really need without asking. And, secondly, the lessee (CEBI member) is holding all the cards in this deal. It's highly unlikely the landlord could find a replacement tenant any time soon, and he probably knows that. The peace of mind that the lease is even renewed at all should be worth something in rent reduction. And, finally, the lessee knows that the landlord owns the building free and clear -- he's not in his own cash crunch trying to meet debt service demands of a mortgage holder.

Tough times call for tough actions. Have a look at your own lease, and if you see a renewal in the future perhaps now is the time to renegotiate that. You'll never have more bargaining power. Here's a recent article from Inc. Magazine with a multi-part strategy for getting your rent reduced: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090501/how-to-get-a-good-deal-on-a-lease.html This article makes the important point that you probably don't want to go this one on your own, and further that a good real estate Attorney might be more help than a Commercial Broker.

If you've had some success in reducing your lease expenses, please click "Comments" below and share that experience with others.

I Followed My Board's Advice -- And Focused on My Strengths

2009-06-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

I heard from a Chief Executive Boards International member that he had taken his Board's advice about an issue facing his company, and that the results far exceeded his expectations. I asked the member, David Dorn, founder of Red Oak Medical, a provider of specialty medical equipment, to write a guest article for Chief Executive Blog, which turned out to be half experience and half testimonial. Here's what David had to say:

"I was reminded at a recent CEBI board meeting of the singular importance of profitability to the survival of my business. It may seem obvious, but with the various challenges facing my company simultaneously, I see in retrospect that I lost focus. Our company had been through a difficult time of declining revenues, and in order to maintain profitability, expenses had to be cut. At previous Board meetings I heard members report on the benefits they experienced in their companies after confronting the difficult issue of letting employees go and taking action in this regard when necessary.
"This has always been a challenge for me. I made the decision to let our Director of Operations go, who was the highest paid employee on payroll and had at one time been a key employee in our organization. The reality in the moment was, however, that we could no longer afford her as a manager. I expected to save money, but what I was surprised to find was that our company actually became more efficient operationally without her in that role. Payroll expenses came more in line, and our internal operations became smoother.

"Another key piece of advice I got from my CEBI Board members was to focus on my strengths, or what I do best – and delegate all other tasks. I brought in a financial controller so I could focus on sales. This resulted in increased revenues in Chicago, our main market area. In addition, we have been able to move forward with our initiative to cultivate new satellite markets. I hired new sales reps to open our first two new territories: Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Both have gotten off to a strong start.

"The guidance and business intelligence I have gotten through my participation in CEBI have been instrumental in helping me to develop professionally and keep my company healthy and growing."

David is not alone. While his own experience may seem obvious to you as a reader, it's likely that something similarly obvious is getting in the way of your company's growth. If you're a CEBI member, bring that continuing obstacle up at your next Board meeting.

If you're not a CEBI member, Click here for information on how to become one.

About our guest author: David Dorn is founder & owner of Red Oak Medical, a provider of CPAP equipment, supplies and services to patients in Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.
Red Oak's dedicated team of professionals are committed to helping patients derive the maximum possible therapeutic benefit from their CPAP treatment.
Learn more about Red Oak Medical at http://www.redoakmedical.net/"

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Terry Weaver

CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

Front of Mind -- Maintaining Visibility with Prospects and Customers

2009-06-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

I made a presentation that was surprisingly well received at the 2009 Spring Summit of Chief Executive Boards International. The topic was, "Front-of-Mind -- Better, Faster, Cheaper." The point was that prospects, and even customers, forget about who you are, what you do, and how you might be able to help them. And they do so frighteningly quickly.

Click the icon on the right for a Video Blog Article on what Front of Mind is all about, and why you'll want to consider E-Marketing tools as part of your customer contact arsenal.

My own testimonial: This stuff works. CEBI has been sending an E-Newsletter to both members and prospects every month for the past 18 months, and the results are amazing. Here are a couple of typical email responses we've received lately, 1-2 days after sending a monthly newsletter.

From a prospect who first inquired in March of 2006: "I am ready to join your organization"
From a prospect who first inquired in January of 2006:

"Terry, I think it is time for me to join your organization"

We've had no other communication with these two people (both now members) for over 2 years. Our E-Newsletter alone kept CEBI on their radar until they each decided they had a need for a source of some new ideas.

If you've had some success with E-Marketing tools to keep your message in front of prospects and customers, please click "Comments" below and share them with others.