"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy
HEADLINES:
My Apology for the Dire Subject Line -- hopefully you're getting this Weekly Insight. Given the increasingly large number of Insight subscribers (thank you), we had to upgrade our CRM system to handle the volume. FYI, we chose Infusion, recommended by Jim Cecil, the top Nurture Marketing guru, and funded by marketing guru and VC Geoffrey Moore (Crossing the Chasm fame). I'm hoping most of my readers open this Insight so I know it's reaching you - I'll monitor the statistics closely the next few insights. Please have your IT department white list emails coming from our new e-newsletter server: gazelles.infusionsoft.com.
NationLink's "Rock Wall" -- here's a link to photos Andy Bailey, President of NationLink Wireless (MyNationLink.com), sent me yesterday. Referencing our use of the term "rocks" to designate quarterly priorities, Bailey noted "we did something cool with ROCKS...we have done ROCKS for years and one thing we noticed is that others in the organization didn't really get a sense of the shear amount of accomplishment that was taking place. So, we took a wall in our "Bistro" break room and painted it with a ROCK WALL then we had some small ROCKS color copied and as people get their ROCKS completed they label a ROCK with their name, date and what they accomplished and post it to the ROCK WALL. This gives everyone a snapshot of what the overall organization is getting done - and frankly it surprised me when I saw it coming together. It is more than awesome to see the amount of achievement displayed there for everyone to see - and we take clients in there to show them as well; always impresses them." Making your goals, priorities, and metrics visual is key - congrats Andy!
Committed to XCS -- this was the tagline of Rudy Vidal's signature line in a recent email he sent to me. Of course I took the bait and had to ask him what it meant - Xtreme Customer Service. Notes Vidal, EVP and Chief Customer Officer for Utah-based UCN, a leading contact center operation, "In essence the philosophy holds that loyalty is an emotional reaction. As such, we should manage the emotional level of our customers at each touchpoint." And Vidal is both blogging about XCS and plans to write a book likely entitled "Xtreme Customer Service." This is an example of picking a word or two and controlling the ink within your industry - put the word(s) in your emails, blogs, and book title. Here's a link to Vidal's blog where he touches on aspects of XCS Wiltheybuyagain.wordpress.com.
Advice Needed by Woman-Owned Waste-Hauling Firm -- FORTUNE Small Business magazine has another "Makeover" posted online: click here to view. Please take a few minutes and post online your insights for this fellow business executive or email your thoughts to [email protected] and put in the Subject line "November Makeover Letter." Hopefully your thoughts will also make the printed copy of the magazine. Please take two minutes to read her story - there's always a lot to learn from the struggles of other business owners.