Strength

John Maxwell has an inspirational Word of the Day video that he sends via email daily and one of the words that he has yet to discuss is STRENGTH.  I've sent him an email asking him for his thoughts on this word, but while we wait to see where John takes it I thought I'd give it a shot.

Webster's defines Strength, when used as a noun as "The state or quality of being strong; force; power."  They go on to list toughness, durability, potency, concentration, intensity and force.

Webster's Thesaurus gives us Synonyms for Strength such as: vigor, brawn, energy, vitality, stoutness, toughness, sturdiness, soundness, and tenacity.  The Antonyms include: Weakness, feebleness, loss or lack of energy.

Now many of those positive qualities impress upon me the correct thoughts when I hear the word Strength, but I really like that Tenacity term.  Tenacity and perseverance are both favorites of mine whenever I think about finishing something in a strong manner.  Starting strong is always important, but unless you finish strong you may never get noticed.

At work, USG, we are revising a marketing slogan and a full marketing plan around the tag line that USG has used for years with our Durock Cement Backer Board - i.e., "STRENGTH BENEATH THE SURFACE!"  While working on this campaign I've become even more of a fan of that work STRENGTH and the many ways you can express it.  How about the level of support behind the product in the research, marketing, production, sales, service, and other support services that make not only a product but also a company a leader!  It's often been said that you can have a fantastic product but if nobody knows about it or can purchase it, then you've wasted your time creating it.  Opposite side of that coin is the hype marketing you see so often on late night TV pushing a truly terrible product in such a great marketing campaign that you throw your money away on it.

I believe that STRENGTH is one of those multi-faceted words that opens the imagination and allows you vast space to attach meanings. 

These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve

What is YOUR Job #1?

Remember the old Ford media campaign about "Quality is Job 1?"  Ford ran that when times were the toughest for the American Auto Industry and it seemed to work.  Maybe you should think right now (since times still aren't so great) about how you are viewing quality in everything you do.

When I was VP of Sales for a large flooring distributor we had a banner hanging across our customer service area that read: "If you don't have the time to do the job right currently, where will you find the time to redo it and correct your mistakes?"  I loved that banner and just seeing it boldly on the wall our customer service folks lowered their mistake level significantly. 

I currently involved in bringing a new product to market for USG.  Everyone on the team wanted this new product to be introduced by early LAST spring - didn't happen.  By Mid-year - didn't happen!  Why? Because we all care about quality, and without meeting the quality standards that we set for this product during our planning of the product we just don't feel we want to bring it out until it is right.  I my opinion, it is far worse to delay an introduction than it is to introduce a product and then have to pull it off the market and rework it and then try to again convince those same customers that THIS TIME we've gotten it right!!

Yes it does take a little more time, and a lot more effort, to comply with your stated goals and standards, whether they are for Quality or anything else, but in the long term relationship of supplier/customer I believe it pays huge dividends to do it correctly the first time.

On my computer monitor, right on top of my list of activities that are shown, is the warning "KEEP THE MAIN THING AS THE MAIN THING!" under that I have another list of: CHOICES, INFLUENCES, HABITS, QUESTIONS.  Those 4 items help me to focus on the important items for my role.  Nothing original, but necessary for me to insure that I keep my #1 job as my #1 job every day. 

One final hint, under the QUESTIONS headline I have the old standby of: WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? and SO WHAT?   Those qualifiers help me really understand more deeply the issues that I'm dealing with so that I can produce Quality as MY JOB 1 in whatever I'm doing that day.

These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve

Customer Service or Lack thereof.....

Many articles have been written about how to do great customer service no matter what segment of business you are engaged in, however, last Saturday I experienced a service provider that completely missed all the articles and yet believe they have fantastic customer service.  Allow me to explain and hopefully keep someone else from losing a customer.

We have a dog and visit a vet on an annual basis, nothing unusual so far, but our vet finally decided to retire and he sold his practice to a group of two new, just out of school, vet's.  They completely disregarded all the principles and everything our Doctor had built his practice around.  They quickly got rid of the long time office staff, who made the visits more pleasant as well as ran the office quickly and efficiently.  Then when those two failed (about 8 months) they again sold the practice to several new doctors, who again are recently out of vet school, and they not only didn't return to the standards of before but actually made the practice much more user friendly - for themselves - forgetting completely about the customers and our needs, like Saturday visits for those of us who both work.

As I usually preach to everyone else, I chose to vote with my feet and we got our record from the past 6 years of visits and found a new vet.  During this search process we decided since we spend so many weekends up at our Lake house we would use a vet up in that area.  We asked several local friends who they used and it turns out they most all recommended the same vet clinic.  In fact, one of our friends are very close neighbors to the vet and we've even had dinner together once. Seems like a perfect choice doesn't it.

Here's where the story gets sticky. My wife called not only this clinic but 3 others up in that general area just to check out the prices and levels of service, plus be sure that they in fact did have Saturday hours - and all did. We went to the highly recommended clinic and we were impressed when we walked in that only 3 other clients were ahead of us. Our old vet in Norcross, on a Saturday morning, usually had 20 + waiting and it took him about an hour and a half to get to us.  We were thrilled!   Our joy turned sour after the first hour passed and only 1 person in the waiting room was seen.  At about the 2 hour point I stood up and announced that I'd had enough of this rudeness and was ready to leave and go somewhere else. At that point in time the person behind the counter quickly found a way to get us into the exam room.  Where we waited another 30+ minutes. 

How does this all tie into customer service?  Well while we were sitting there waiting at least 5 others, obviously friends of the staff of the clinic, walked right in, never sat down, just walked back into the back and had their pets taken care of and then left.  No, the clinic doesn't take appointments. No these weren't emergencies (unless you consider trimming nails an emergency) and finally, no the vet who has the great reputation wasn't the one in the clinic.  It seems he too has decided that to better improve his practice he brings in a young, recent vet school grad, do you notice a pattern developing here,  to work on Saturdays so he can enjoy his weekend.

So here is my punchline - we will continue our search for a more consumer friendly vet clinic where the customers are treated well, but that "SPECIAL" customers are treated the same as the rest of the customers. It's not much money involved, we only spent about $200 but rest assured someone else will be the recipients of my money on the next visit. What if they are treating 100 other clients this same way?   Is this happening in your business?  Are you forgetting about keeping the new customer pipeline filled while pampering your existing customers? Maybe on day, just for fun, you stop what you are doing and walk out into your waiting room to ask the customers you haven't yet seen how they feel about your customer service rating!!!!  Maybe provide a feedback card like the fast food places do so your customers can tell you without disclosing who they are.  I assure you any cost is cheaper than losing a customer you should have had for life.

These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve

Happy Birthday Christy

Today is my lovely, wonderful wife, Christy's birthday. She is alway reminding me that she is much younger than I am, by 15 months, however she doesn't seem to respect her elders when it comes to that small amount of time! Birthdays are unusual events in themselves. When you are a young child they are wonderful, very special, events that result in presents and ice cream/cake treats. That seems to slowly go away as you reach your teen years when the event seems to take forever to arrive because you KNOW that you are ready to be a full adult with all of those privilege's. The 20's and 30's seem to go by quickly and birthdays for YOU get lost in the activities of getting married and having a family. Yep, I remember that milestone 21st birthday, mine took place in the Army in Germany after I already had the privilege of visiting exotic Vietnam, but after 21 I hardly remember another birthday until I hit 40! I wonder now if those 19 actually should count! 40 starts an entirely new phase of life. You are considered by the young to be old, and by the old to be young. What's up with that? At 50 you've actually made it to "OLD" and yet you still believe you're young, even on those few days you don't feel so young anymore as things start hurting the day after certain activities. Then suddenly, very quickly, much faster tan desired, 60 arrives. Now you're absolutely locked into old but still mentally in "just middle aged"! Who lives to be 120 these days? Maybe Bibilical times weren't so bad after all if you could live to 400+ years! After pondering this subject for some time now, and with my perspective of over 60, I've come to the absolute conclusion that God has it worked out right. These "Birthday year" phases are exactly right for us. Our eyes grow dimmer yet our clarity of vision on life and important issues seems to grow much stronger to balance those things out. After all, it does seem like life is mostly about balance doesn't it? Well, anyway, Happy 59th birthday to my wife Christy. Enjoy this LAST short year before your "OLD age" is securely locked in. Now please honey, get my walker and help me up from this chair so I can eat my fiber and prunes! These are my thoughts, what are yours? Steve

Thank you Stephen Covey

The news just came across the computer, Stephen Covey has passed away at age 79.  What a remarkable life he had on this earth, and I'm certain will continue in Heaven. 
As most folks know him he was an author - many can tell you the name of at least one of his books - The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (can YOU name ANY or ALL of those 7 habits?)  - but his real contribution to this world was far greater than most folks realize.  He is responsible for creating thousands of jobs, responsible for creating thousands of possibility thinking minds by changing the way people think and react. He also lived his life as a great example for others to see and follow, without having to shout or scream about how great he was - others will say that for him - Stephen Covey just quietly went about living his moral, ethical, life as a quiet example of what to say and do plus MOST IMPORTANTLY,  how to think and how to live a meaningful life being a Blessing to others.
  In honor of the memory of Stephen Covey please take a few minutes and research the story of his life.
What better epitath could anyone ask for? 
Steve

TWO SET'S OF EYES

It has always amazed me how two people can look at the same thing and see it so differently.  I was again reminded of this earlier this week as another person and I were driving past the skyline of the city of Atlanta.  Whenever I see this beautiful sight I get excited and think about all the opportunities that either exist or are about to be created in this city.  My friend, seeing the exact same view as I did, thought about all the crime, poverty, and all the awful things you hear about in big cities.  WOW!!

Aren't the annual political races exactly the same way? We have multiple parties running for office because folks see things differently.  We have one candidate, usually the officeholder, claiming everything is great and wonderful and he/she deserves another term, while the other candidate tells everyone just how awful and dreadful everything is and how it must be improved or the world will end in disaster quickly. Usually when the dust of the race settles we the public find out both sides slightly exaggerated their viewpoints and things continue forward, maybe not to the liking of everyone, but certainly to the pleasure of some. I become amused when someone claims to be TOTALLY COMMITTED to one party or another - in my findings I seem to see a lot of good and awful in both sides of most political issues, after all, that is part of the nature of politic's. Compromise.

Think about businesses that you know, some accommodate all the changes we face daily in life and make new opportunites, while the other seems to oppose all change and continue to want to do business as it always has. One company is aggressive, fast, and opportunistic; while the other is time-bound, filled with archaic systems and structures, and is either blind to, or refuses to, accept or reconize new opportunites for growth.

I'm certainly not avocating that ALL change is good, but change certainly is a part of our daily lives and we all must learn to accept change and adapt to newer and mostly better ways of accomplishing the same tasks we were before.  Typewriters gave way to desktop computers, which have evolved to laptops, which now are moving towards tablets.  It seem constant, yet is actually driven by our own demands. All the social media in the world can't take the place of a personal visit with a friend. Some things seemingly won't change, and I believe it is because the good things don't need changing.

Yesterday I watched a video of my old high school being torn down earlier this year - sadness filled my heart as I remembered all the good times of my life in that building, yet I also saw pictures of the new school built next door and am thrilled for all the young folks who will have a much better facility in which to learn their education. 

Yep, two set's of eyes, sometimes even within one person.  All will be well with the world.........

How to Handle Stress

How to Handle Stress

     I did not write this story, just received it from a friend and thought it worthy to pass along to everyone reading my blog.  I had intended on writing about vacations, seems like many are interested in that subject right now, but my take was going to be on those who avoid vacations and seem to wear that like a badge of honor - that they don't take a vacation.  Well, it just isn't healthy and it is really not good for your company!  They provide vacation time for a reason - I believe this below story very well points out that exact reason! 
A young lady confidently walked around the room while explaining stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone was sure she was going to ask the ultimate question: 'Half empty or half full?' However, she fooled them all.

"How heavy is this glass of water?" she inquired with a smile.

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. To 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "That's the way it is with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on."

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden -- holding stress longer and better each time. So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't carry them through the evening and into the night.... Pick them up tomorrow.

"Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it and the now 'supposed' stress that you've conquered!"

Relax today - stop and smell the roses and other flowers you pass so often without notice.
Steve