The Competitive Advantage Gap - Lisa McCleod

If you are a sales person, what is your mindset as you go into a sales call?

If you are a sales manager, how do you train your sales people to think?

A revolutionary new study might cause you to re-think your answers!

The Single Biggest Challenge Facing Your Sales Force - Lisa McLeod

I'm starting a series of video shorts from Lisa McLeod. This is a person that "gets it".

Selling With Noble Purpose

Lisa Earle McLeod has written a new book titled, "Selling with Noble Purpose". If you'd like to get terrific summary go to:

http://changethis.com/manifesto/101.02.NoblePurpose/pdf/101.02.NoblePurpose.pdf


McLeod says, "You don’t need to look any further than the auto industry to see what happens when salespeople lack a noble sales purpose. The auto industry has genius engineers. They do extensive consumer research to identify exactly what we might want or need in a car. Their marketing people create compelling ads. But what happens when you go to the dealership? The only thing the salesperson wants to know is, “How much a month can you pay?” and, “Do you have good credit?” Years of work, thousands of hours researching the consumer, millions of dollars spent, and it all falls apart on the showroom floor. As anyone who has done it can attest, buying a car can be an absolutely soul-sucking experience. Car salespeople don’t care about making a difference in your life. All they care about is closing the deal—because closing the deal is the only thing their sales manager has told them to care about. The conversations managers have with salespeople drives the conversation salespeople have with customers. The internal conversation becomes the external conversation. So if the internal conversations are only about price, volume, and targets, with no mention of a larger purpose, that’s exactly what your salespeople will discuss with customers."

A lifetime of experience with sales, sales management and sales training tells me Lisa Earle McLeod is on to something big.

Servant Selling at Macys

This is one of my favorite movies of all time and the beautiful thing is it has a wonderful clip that communicates my message about Servant Selling! How many of us are so dedidcated to our customers we would send them to a competitor if they could better serve a particular need?

"Validation"

I pause my Starbucks "Love Fest" posts because I came across this film short featured as a motivational minute by the good folks over at Umpqua Bank. It's a powerful film apparently posted at YouTube in 2008. I don't know how I missed it...

Enjoy!

#4. Why I Love Starbucks? – Energy

Life is full of potential energy suckers. Not many things actually add energy.

I guess caffeine is an obvious ingredient to the energy Starbucks provides. I find I have to monitor my caffeine intake closely to optimize the energy effect. I usually grind my own beans at home and start the day with a home brewed cup. If I get to Starbucks in the morning, it’s usually for a green tea. Mid morning is prime time for me, so more coffee would be overkill. 2pm – 4pm is where the big energy gap comes. And that often means a Starbucks Coffee drink to fill the gap.

But really, Starbucks adds energy in dozens of the other ways I’ve listed. The friendliness of the staff, the design, the music, the ubiquitous nature and even the clean restrooms all in their own way add to the energy.

Are you an energy plus or minus for your customers?
Do you add energy or suck it out?

Why I Love Starbucks #4 Refreshment and Rest

Again, I come from the place working on the road. For me, driving was hard work. The fun part of my job was being in front of a customer giving a presentation. But 1000 miles a week wasn’t that uncommon and it’s not like having an office job. I can’t walk down to the water cooler or the cafeteria.

I don’t work at Google where they provide napping rooms. I don’t work at Nike where apparently the latest word on a short mid-afternoon nap is “Just Do It”. I don’t work at HP or Cisco where they provide the pictured “Energy Pod”, encouraging employees to actually sleep on the job.

So Starbucks it is. Most are a very good place for a short 20 minute nap. The whir of the machines in the background actually provides some white noise. I can sleep fast! Short of going back to the hotel, there is no other place where you can consistently do this.

Are you a safe place of rest for customers?
Not just your location… Are you personally a place of rest and recovery?

Why I Love Starbucks #3: Temperature Pleasure

I live in supposedly 77 and Sunny California where according to the TV Commercials, even our cows are happier. But even in California, most parts of most 24 hour periods are either too warm or too cold. Starbucks seems to have found a way to get me through this discomfort with temperature balancing beverages.

There is nothing like a hot carmel macchiato or the seasonally offered hot pumpkin spice latte on a cold day. Conversely, there is nothing like a Green Tea Frapp or Iced Vanilla Latte on a hot day. And, on those mild 77 and Sunny California days you really can go either way with a hot or cold beverage.

Also, the cafe’s themselves also seem to do a wonderful job keeping each individual store at about the right temperature. It’s odd to me how many other food places screw up this basic fundamental. Many restaurants are too cold inside, I assume either to make the employees more comfortable or to turn tables quicker. Whatever the reason, I tend not to return.


Who sets the thermostat at your place?
Is it set with the customer in mind?

Why I Love Starbucks #2: Palettal Pleasure

Let’s face it. Coffee and Beer are both bitter. Some people love bitter. Some people don’t. I don’t hate bitter, but I don’t really love it either. I do love bitter-sweet. I love the tension of both together or one, then the other.

Whatever pleases you particular palette, I find it hard to believe Starbucks doesn’t have something for you. I love many of the flavors and flavor combinations offered at Starbucks. My favorites include:

Carmel Macchiato
Pumpkin Spice
Vanilla
Mocha
Chai
Green Tea
Green Tea Frap

Truthfully, I find myself craving these confections. I tend to go in spurts. Some are offered seasonally like the pumpkin spice. It generally ends before I am ready. Our intrinsic potential for pleasure is one reason I believe in God. And my theology makes plenty of room for Starbucks in Heaven.


How can you add a tasty treat to your customer’s experience?
Hint: You don’t have to be in the food business to delight them in this way!

Why I Love Starbucks #1 - Clean Restrooms

For most of the last 20 years, my work life has been on the road. When I started this streak in 1991 I learned something pretty quickly. “Mark Out The Clean Restrooms”.

In the early 90’s Starbucks was just beginning to pick up steam. They weren’t yet common in the areas I worked. In those days I had to plot out where the great restrooms were from town to town.

On my way to Coalinga I could trust the Harris Ranch Restaurant. Costco…always stellar. Target was usually better than Wal-Mart. In and Out Burger was usually better than McDonalds and so on. That’s too bad… I am reasonably certain Ray Kroc insisted on cleaner restrooms while he was in charge.

Today it’s usually pretty easy. On the whole, I can depend on Starbucks to deliver consistently clean restrooms with its now famous coffee.

I know this brings them extra business. In my case, I feel guilty using the restroom without buying something. Usually I do, even if I’m not thirsty or hungry. But even if everyone doesn’t suffer the same guilt pangs I do, a clean restroom still brings in business. And maybe just as important, a dirty one drives business away. I marked those out to.

Tom Peters, in his book The Little Big Things puts clean restrooms as number 1 on his list of 163 things a business should pay attention to. Tom writes:

“I usually fly to my next seminar in the Great City of Wherever from Logan Airport. The trip form Tinmouth, Vermont, to Boston passes through Gill, Massachusetts. It’s exactly halfway, the 87 mile mark on my odometer – hence, the perfect place for a pit stop. With choices aplenty, I am nonetheless firm in my habit of stopping at the Wagon Wheel Country Drive-In. It’s in fact, a smallish coffee shop-diner. The food, including the fresh muffins that are about a foot away as you enter (typically at dawn’s early light, in my case) is boffo. The attitude is boffo, too. But make no mistake, my custom is well and truly earned, three or four times a month by…

the restroom!

It’s clean-to-sparkling. (Come to think of it, despite the invariably crowded shop, I have never seen even the tiniest scrap of paper on the bathroom floor.) Fresh flowers are the norm. And best of all, there is a great multi-generational collection of family pictures that cover all the walls; rushed though I typically am, I invariably spend an extra minute examining one or another, smiling at a group photo from a local company dinner, or some such, circa 1930 I’d guess.

To me, a clean and attractive and even imaginative loo is the best…

“We Care”

sign in a retail shop or professional office- and (Attention! Attention! Attention!) it goes double when it comes to employee restrooms!
So…

Step #1: Mind the restrooms!”

Tom does such a great job noticing and writing about the nuances of what makes a business great. And I’m totally with him on this. A great business starts with clean restrooms. My dad got this as a 19 year old. Dad was an entrepreneur straight out of the shoot. He was a gas station owner at age 19 before he entered the building game at the ripe old age of 23. My first days on the job as a teenager growing up in the family construction business began with Dad waxing eloquently on “the art” of digging a footing for concrete. Dad saw art in the most menial tasks. When he had the gas station, he cleaned the restroom every hour whether it needed it or not!

So in conclusion… thank you Starbucks! You’ve made my life better in dozens of ways over the last decade. But one of the most meaningful for this road warrior, is dependably clean restrooms.

How is your business doing in the restroom department?

Why I Love Starbucks and How That Can Help You Improve Your Business

I love Starbucks! I love pretty much everything about it. And I thought a lot about why over the past year. Eventually I began jotting down some notes hoping that they might come together in a form that I could use in my own work. Maybe you can use these ideas to improve your business. I will list them here and then elaborate over the next few weeks. They aren't in any particular order. I just wrote them down as they came to me... Here's my list of "How Starbucks Serves Me":

1. Clean Restrooms
2. Palette Pleasure
3. Temperature Pleasure
4. Refreshment and Rest
5. Energy
6. Inspiration
7. Sounds
8. Office on the Road
9. Consistency
10. Creativity
11. Opportunities to Contribute
12. A Place To Connect
13. A Date With Susy (Romance)
14. A Place To Gather Myself
15. Great Newspapers
16. Design
17. Friendliness
18. "Yes" in my world of "No's"
19. A Place to Read and Reflect
20. Mascot-Teddy Bear Baristas
21. Treat Receipt
22. Free Samples
23. 9 Day 1/2 Price Fraps
24. Celebrates Christmas
25. Everywhere Access
26. "Barista Advice" If You Order With Light Ice You Get More Tea
27. Good Internet Access
28. "Cool Stuff"
29. Pick of the Week
30. "If Not Perfect Let Me Know and I'll Re-Make It"
31. Making Amends for Long Waits and Other Poor Service Recovery
32. Gold Card - "Frequent Drinker" Program
33. Gifts
34. Healthy Choices
35. Cake Pops
36. Coffee Tastings

Servant Selling At Macys

This is one of my favorite movies of all time and the beautiful thing is it has a wonderful clip that communicates my message about Servant Selling! How many of us are so dedidcated to our customers we would send them to a competitor if they could better serve a particular need?

Zappos...Powered By Service

Everybody is writing about Zappos lately and I hate to be left out. If you've been marooned on a desert island somewhere in the south pacific, Zappos is an on line only shoe retailer. The Zappos Zeal for selling by serving has become legendary among their customers. If you'd like an inside view of what makes them tick, I'll offer 4 suggestions:

1. Check out Zappos leader Tony Hsieh's book "Delivering Happiness"
2. Check out the Zappos resource center called "Zappos Insights" at www.zapposinsights.com
This insider view of the company normally is subscription based (39.95 per month) but as of this post date you can get 3 months free while they are renovating the site.
3. Company Tours and Classes are offered at the Las Vegas Headquarters. Here's my advice... while you are in Vegas to take your wife to the Celine Dion show, head over to Zappos Headquarters...but make your reservation ahead of time. It books up pretty fast!
4. Order a pair of shoes and talk to one of their highly customer oriented servant sales people.

U2, Bono, and Servant Selling

Long on my personal "Bucket List" has been the attending of a U2 Concert who by almost any measure are the world's leading band. So I purchased tickets for my wife Susy and I to attend almost a year ago. The 360 Tour Event in Anaheim was an awesome experience for both of us. And apparently we weren't alone in our opinions. The tour was the most expensive ever staged and it blew away a previous mark set by the Rolling Stones for gross sales.

"Sales" There's that word again... As much as I enjoyed the concert on a music/entertainment level, I couldn't help thinking about all the selling going on... and at this particular concert, the serving.

You might be surprised to know that lead singer Bono sees himself as a "Salesman" first and foremost. He talks about this candidly in an authorized Book/Interview/Conversation with Michka Assayas.

Bono says, "A lot of our family are traveling salesman. And of course that is what I have become! I am very much a traveling salesman. And that, if you really want to know, is how I see myself. I sell songs from door to door, from town to town. I sell melodies and words. And for me, in my political work, I sell ideas. In the commercial world that I'm entering into, I'm also selling ideas. So I see myself in a long line of family sales people. I really do. Thank God for my uncle Jack!"

But uniquely, Bono and the U2 Band see themselves as serving the world's hurting,poor, and underprivileged. A lot of bands play Live Aid and Band Aid concerts but U2 takes service to a whole new level. They are without question the world's leading "philanthropy performers" and been called the face of "fusion philanthropy" combining their roles as entertainers and musicians with the spearheading of new organizational networks blending global humanitarian relief, geopolitical activism, and corporate commercial enterprise.

Their work for Amnesty International, One, Red, and Third World Debt Relief is so well integrated into their music and shows it is almost seamless. A U2 album or concert is a celebration of serving, helping, and doing the right thing.

U2 is the most successful band of all-time. Why? They are great musicians and song writers...absolutely. You must be competent, even great at what you do. But if while selling whatever you sell, and serving whatever you serve, and producing whatever result you produce, you can also involve your customers in significantly serving the needs of the world at large you will magnify your success beyond anything you could have done with just competence alone.

Look for ways you can partner with your customers in serving people and solving problems... That's what Servant Selling is all about!

A Vacuum Salesman Named Jaime

I don't know what comes to your mind when you hear the phrase "vacuum cleaner salesman" but even as someone who has been in the world of selling for over 30 years I don't get a warm fuzzy. But Joel Osteen in his great book "It's Your Time" tells a story that epitomizes what great salespeople do.

Jaime was out cold calling and knocking on doors in Twin Falls, Idaho. He came to a door and a woman named Andi answered explaining that her husband Paul had major medical problems and was out on disability. The woman shared that his kidneys had been failing for over a year and was very low on a list of around 500 people waiting for a transplant. Further, Paul had type O-positive blood and the any donor had to match. None of their family or friends had this blood type.

If you were Jaime what would you have done? Most of my sales training would have told me to knock on the next door.

But Jaime blurted out, "I'm O-positive!"

Andi asked if he would be willing to be tested to see if he were a match for Paul.

Jaime went back to his car and prayed about it and then returned to the front door. As Joel tells it, "This time he wasn't selling he was giving". After months of testing, Jaime did donate the kidney that saved Paul's life.

There are a lot of great lessons in this true story. But the one I want to zero in on is for "Servant Salespeople". Keep an eye open for opportunities to contribute beyond what you sell and the chance for immediate profits. Make up your mind to bless and help your potential customers whenever you can. There is a sales manager more powerful than the one above you in your organization. He will make sure you are properly compensated at some point down the road!
And...you'll enjoy yourself and have more fun today.

Elevator Presentations and Your Yankee Stadium Presentation

Most of us have heard of the "Elevator Presentation" which is usually a 15 second overview of the benefits we provide for our clients when they work with us. A good 15 second elevator presentation is designed to arouse curiousity and lead to what Chet Holmes calls a "Stadium Presentation".

Chet sets up the Stadium Presentation idea pretty well:

"Imagine I could put you in a giant stadium right now as the presenter, and the entire audience is completely comprised of your most perfect prospects. Are you ready right now? Could you walk out on that stage and present to every one of them and do it perfectly? Now before you say yes, let me make the stakes higher. Before you walk out there, the audience is told: “You had to come, but you don't have to stay. If this person (you) fails to keep your interest, you can simply get up and leave.”

Chet continues:

So you need to open your stadium pitch (as I call it), with what I call “wow's.” This means that all great presentations start off with information that makes your prospects say: “wow, I didn't know that.” The focus must be on THEM and things of interest to THEM, not you. So rule number one of a great presentation is that it must be focused on the prospect and not on you (at least not initially).

In my language... that means every presentation we make should serve our clients in some unique way.

More on this in my next post...

Describing Your Unique Serve-Haggar Slacks

Why would you buy one brand of casual slack (or as Haggar calls them "Premium Dress Khaki's") over another? The Haggar Brand has done a great job creating an environment in the men's section of department stores with their "Quality for Life" display pictured above. The picture is a bit small so I will do some explaining.

First of all, they do a great job of what marketing expert Jay Abraham describes as "Risk Reversal". These slacks are guaranteed for the life of the owner.

Secondly, the Haggar people go to great lengths to explain what makes this particular slack line of such great quality. Not only do they list the specifics on a poster, they have turned the slacks inside out and placed little explanations at all the appropriate places. Here are the advantages described by Haggar:

A. Buttons - Guaranteed Unbreakable

B. Seams - Guaranteed Unrippable

C. Zippers - Guaranteed Unbreakable

D. Pockets - Guaranteed Unrippable... and they are extra deep and large

E. Waste Band - Expandable for your comfort after that big steak at the Outback


This is great selling!!! Most companies are content to say we have "Quality" this or that and leave it there.

Whatever you sell, it serves the client when you show and tell them what sets you apart or what unique advantage you offer. Figure out how to turn your product or service inside out so they can easily see what's not obvious.

Thanks Haggar... You showed us how to "Make Things Right" in the video from my last post... You are also showing us how to "Sell Things Right".

Making Things Right

Haggar Clothing has a cute series of ads on You Tube that strikes a chord with me. We moved into a new home recently and my interactions with both the cable company and satellite tv were anything but pleasant. Just watching the above ad reminded me of the basic premise of their "service" which is basically you have to sacrifice a day of your life if you want to do business with us. This is sort of understandable given the fact that they have no real way of knowing how complex any individual installation and set up will be. What seems inexcuseable is the lack of communication when they are running late and outside the 4 or 5 hour time window given. It's then over-the-top when they show up past the time window and without the necessary material... but wait there's more... do they put you to the top of the list... Nope... you have to wait another week to 10 days for a new appointment.

...getting them to bill you for what their representative agrees to by phone has been another challenge. My wife has spent unbelievable amounts of time on the phone trying to get the billing correct.

All companies give poor service from time to time. The difference is that the great ones... as the Haggar ad suggests, "Make It Right". Making it right may mean a heart felt apology. But it also may mean providing a more tangible recognition or compensation for the value of the customers time. A few years ago I totally blew off an appointment. I was so embarrassed that I caused 5 people to lose an hour of their valuable time that I went out and bought each a $20.00 gift certificate to a local restautant. I paid for it out of my own pocket.

I have blogged on Service Recovery before. Starbucks has given me gift certificates on more than one occassion for blowing it. They clearly get it and empower their people to make things right. Meryn's Department Stores sadly went out of business last year after the founder sold it to a group who didn't have the same attention to service and detail. I still vividly remember the Christmas when the Mervyns clerk gave me 15% off my purchase for waiting in a line he decided was unreasonably lengthy. That gesture bought my business for several years.

Go "Make It Right" in your business... and if you get a creative impulse from the You Tube next time you have problems with your cable service provider, so be it.

Fix The Product/Service!

Dilbert is a comic strip that runs in most local newspapers. I often read it with a nervous chuckle because the scenarios strip author Scott Adams depicts are way too close to reality in some organizations I've had experience with. Some days I think Dilbert would more aptly be referred to as a "Tragedy Strip". The 3 panel above is suggestive of the all too common strategy of trying to fix core problems with the basic product and service with intensified or clever sales efforts. I can't tell you how many sales meetings I've been in where it was suggested that the way to fix an essentially flawed but fixable problem was slicker sales language or as Dilbert would say "Jargon".

If you're a "Servant Salesperson" and not just a regular sales person it must become a central part of your job description to fix the product or service you sell. Your job is not only to represent the company to the customer/client but also to represent the client/customer to the company. You are a salesperson or influencer on both occassions. This often involves speaking truth to power and may on occassion even put your job in jeopardy.

One of my favorite authors is Harry Beckwith. I think all three of his books can be found in the Servant Selling Bookstore. His first one, Selling the Invisible, starts right in with this topic in the very first chapter titled, The Greatest Misconception About Marketing.

Beckwith begins: "In a free association test, most people - including most people in business - will equate the word "marketing" with selling and advertising: pushing the goods.

In this popular view, marketing means taking what you have and shoving it down buyers' throats. 'We need better marketing' invariably means 'We need to get our name out' -with ads, publicity, and maybe some direct mail.

Unfortunately , this focus on getting the word outside distracts companies from the inside, and from the first rule of marketing. The core of marketing is the service itself.

I am not suggesting that if you build a better service, the world will beat a path to your door. Many "better services" are foundering because of rotten marketing. Nor am I suggesting that getting the word out is enough. Getting the word out and attracting people to a flawed service is the preferred strategy for killing a service company.

The first step to marketing is your service.

Why Are Some Businesses (And Salespeople) More Successful Than Others?

I have been going back through some old cassette tape programs. (For those of you that are scratching your head on term "cassette tape"... I'm sure Wikipedia must have some elaborate explanation)... but I digress...

I cued up one called "Your Secret Wealth" developed by marketing guru Jay Abraham. I think people often listen to these programs hoping to find ways to be more clever and psychologically manipulative in belief that those are the "qualities" that lead to big success. I believe in solid technique and great tools when it comes to sales and marketing, but all my 50 plus years of experience points toward offering value, stellar customer experience, and an effective way of getting the word out.

Jay posed the question on tape 3, "Why are some businesses far more successful than others? and then proceeded to answer it this way:

"Without being protracted, let me give you the answer.

They have identified and understand better than their competition exactly what their customers want and need and they furnish it and they provide it.

As a paying proposition, as a business of which you are the captain, you have to understand what your customer.... whoever he or she or it may be wants and needs and you've got to be able to render or supply or provide it better, more advantageously, and this is a key... more evidently so they recognize what you are doing for them...

And that basically is what drives businesses to great success and will drive you to great success in all aspects of your life and financial well-being through the secret wealth principle."

Jay continues after giving 3 outstanding examples:

"One of the biggest philosophical breakthroughs we have established in the business arena is teaching people how to adopt an attitude of what I'll call a super-servant... because what your goal in life, in business, in jobs must be is to identify how many more and better and continuous ways you can help or serve or fulfill or clarify the non-verbalized needs and desires of your customer or marketplace.

The moment you switch your focus from internal to external, from self-serving to self-less, from what's in it for me to how can I be a super-servant....

How can I enrich the life, the business, the profitability, the satisfaction, or the happiness of the other side, your own situation starts improving massively!"

Some run on sentences.... but beautifully put.

Access" As A Way To Serve Your Customers and Clients

I was doing a coaching session with a Realtor yesterday talking about ways he could more effectively promote his business. I coach that great selling always begins with great service and one way or another my early sessions usually end up with some discussion of access. I knew this particular realtor offered stellar service on this point always either picking up or returning his calls very promptly.

My favorite image of "Access" is a very young John Kennedy Jr. or "John John" as he was called then, under his father's desk. He had access. We all give special access to those we love most. When my cell phone rings and I see it's my wife, I always pick up. She has access.

My father built several successful businesses from scratch. One was a temporary personnel business that catered to manufacturing companies that often ran shifts 24 hours a day. His "Unique Service Proposition" was taking a pager or cell phone to bed with him everynight. He also had "Minutemen" temporaries that could be ready to walk out the door in the middle of the night to take a temporary assignment on a minutes notice. When a night shift foreman called because a worker called in sick, didn't show, or they had to do an extra run of something, dad could be reached immediately. That's Access!!! And he built his business on this unprecedented willingness to be inconvenienced.

How can you give your customers better access? It seems like we live in a sea of businesses all to willingly to allow their customers to dangle on hold or spend an eternity navigating the phone tree in voice mail.


In one of my favorite books, You, Inc - The Art of Selling Yourself by Harry and Christine Beckwith they tell the story of a professional association that commissioned a study poling over 300 clients. They asked one simple question: “As a client, what do you value most?” They assumed that answers like fees and technical skills or competence would rise to the top.

When the study came back, fees ranked 9th and technical skills ranked 8th. What ranked first? “The individual’s demonstrated interest in developing a long-term relationship with my company.” The Beckwith couple thought the answer that came in 2nd was equally interesting: “The speed with which my phone calls are returned”.

Accessibility is square one in customer service. I heard about a customer the other day who was on hold for 1 1/2 Hours. That customer will go to another vendor when she has a chance.

Expectations of accessibility have skyrocketed in recent years for salespeople in the field. When I went to work as a field marketing rep expectations of a returned phone call within 24-48 hours was the norm. Today as a manager I actually get calls from irritated customers who placed a call to one of my reps 2-3 hours earlier and are upset because they “still” haven’t heard from them. The reason can be summed up in two words… cell phones. The expectation is that a marketing rep can return phone calls immediately.

Part of the solution may be to educate your customers about your work day and realities that include 2 hour meetings and long drives through territory with out cell coverage. Beyond that it’s critical to be in your voice mail at 8 am, 12 noon, and 5 pm without fail and block out 20—30 minutes after each check in to return phone calls.

Back to the Beckwith Story. In a follow up survey, the people who placed “speed of response” toward the top of their list were asked, “Does the person need to answer your questions when they return your call?” Those surveyed answered “No”. As it turned out all anyone wanted was a prompt call back. No one expected questions to be answered or problems solved immediately.

The Beckwith Story concluded that callers only wanted what most people yearn for everyday: They want to feel important to another person. People desire a quick response because it communicates, You are important to me.

Adapted from You, Inc by Harry and Christine Beckwith, Warner Business Books, New York, New York