I’m going to an International Conference of Business Advisors in May and this has me dreading the prospect of traveling across the country. Nothing about Business Travel is good. Airports and security, running through airports, airport food, airline food, strange time zones, strange beds, hotel food and on and on and on.

But the very worst part of this all the poor customer service I will have to put up with. Admittedly most of the service providers (TSA, Airports, Airlines and hotels) have a tough job. But what has happened to the friendly skies? Every time I travel I see example after example of poor customer service.

Especially in airports and airlines. Why is it that in the interest of expediency the airport and airline personnel can not take the extra 30 seconds to be reasonable, personable and customer oriented? Most airline personnel give us (me) the feeling that they are doing me a favor by allowing me on their aircraft. Huh? When did this become a high privilege?

Now it wouldn’t be so bad if it was one or two of the airlines but it seems to be every airline with few notable exceptions – Southwest and Virgin. What is differentiates these two from the others? I think it is a company culture of customer service.

One person I know has suggested that it is the unions. I’m not sure but I would hazard a guess that Southwest and Virgin are union shops also so that can’t be it.

So what is it? Why has customer service in the airlines gone down so drastically and other sectors of business has seen a marked increase in customer satisfaction?
 

It has been good to see so many bloggers, writers and speakers beginning to express more interest in “going back to the basics”. Why did we, as small business owners, ever get away from the basics? The solid foundation of any business is sound fundamentals.

Fundamentals, when they are executed brilliantly, with a strategic objective firmly in mind, will allow your company to out-think, out-maneuver, out-sell, out-ship and out-collect your competition every single time. Far too many companies are chasing the “flavor of the month” as expressed by its “guru”, at the expense of the basic fundamentals.

In my series on Systemization, I write extensively on stability. You can not improve a task, process or function without first attaining stability in that area. Every process has four distinct components – man, materials, machines and methods (the 4 M’s) and until you have attained stability in all four you have no chance of implementing improvements and making those improvements take hold. Stability is nothing more than applying the fundamentals in a consistent and constant manner.

When we seek out and engage strategic partners, no matter what their marketing copy says they are always practitioners of fundamental concepts and methods. Whether it’s Chet Holmes, Michael Mills or whoever, they are all fundamentally sound experts. We do not seek out the newest rage or the most recent flash-in-the-pan guru – for good reason as for the most part they are not fundamentally grounded nor do they practice and apply the basic business principles that will build any business into a powerhouse.

So go back to the basics, if you apply sound fundamental business principles to all things you do in business you will be able to scale up (or down) your enterprise to dominate your market.
 

With all the conflicting news on the economy lately – the mainstream press is Armageddon, doom and gloom, while the facts just don’t support this view. Survey after survey is showing that business, at least the small business sector, while being much more careful is planning on a flat year if not outright growth.

This has instigated many conversations among small business owners and their own business’ health. Many have stated that they may have to lay off some people as they won’t be able to afford them if things don’t pick up. This has me completely at as loss for words. People are not chattel to be discarded at the first sign of trouble.

I let them know that in my opinion too many business owners are taking a very short term and tactical view of the situation. Instead, I say if they don’t take the long term or strategic view now when things do turn around they will be slaughtered by their more astute competition who managed their business strategically. The strategic business owner will find a long term (important but not urgent) project for those people to do and when the up tick comes they will be ready to fire.

Then I came across an email from one of my favorite authors (James Womack of www.LEI.org) to back up my assertions, he stated:

Most organizations will face a different choice in this recession. They can either treat their employees as an expense to be pruned quickly to protect earnings in the short term. Or they can treat their employees as an asset to be protected for their ability to create value in the long term. And lean managers will do the latter. They will view their employees — with their accumulated knowledge of how to solve problems in order to continually reduce muda, mura, and muri (these are types of waste) — as their organization’s core advantage for success in the future even if there is cost to the organization in the short term.

Thank you Jim…
 

I came across this article on networking in one of my favorite newsletters – Early To Rise – and thought I would pass it along.

Networking Tip: Make First Impressions Count
By Michael Masterson
According to Nicholas Boothman, author of How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less, what you do in the first few minutes of every personal encounter determines how people will respond to you later on. First impressions do count, Boothman believes, more than most people realize.

I agree. And it’s not just the very first impression. It’s the first impression you give each and every time you greet someone. So each and every time you encounter a friend, family member, or business associate, do the following:
1. Make yourself feel positive and allow that feeling to be reflected in the way you hold yourself.
2. Make eye contact. Always look the other person directly in the eye, even if only for a moment.
3. Be the first to smile. Let your smile, as well as your body language, show that you’re happy to see him.
4. Make your "Hi!" or "Hello!" sound sincerely welcoming.
5. Take the lead. Extend your hand first.
6. Shake his hand strongly. Shake it like you mean it. Remember, your handshake provides an instant message about you. Are you an important person? A friendly person? Someone who can be trusted? Answers to these questions - and more - can be conveyed by your handshake. Ask a few trusted friends or colleagues to check out your handshake. Make sure the signals you are giving are those you intend. If they aren’t, make changes.
7. Lean toward him. An almost imperceptible forward tilt will very subtly indicate your interest in and openness to the other person.

[Ed. Note: Take advantage of Michael's advice whenever you meet people who could be important to your career - when, for example, you attend events like this year's Info Marketing Bootcamp. And for more of his tips on how to present yourself in a positive way, pick up a copy of Power and Persuasion.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

You know I hear a lot of gnashing of teeth over the state of small businesses today. It is all doom and gloom – mostly by the usual suspects on TV and in the press. Do you think there is a reason why they are on TV or are journalists – those who can, do – those who can’t, pontificate. If they were decent entrepreneurs wouldn’t they be running their own businesses?

Inflation, housing crisis, stagflation, woe is me. Stop it already.

You control your actions, you control your business, you control your destiny and your business’ destiny – no one else, only you. Don’t blame clients, vendors, employees, the Man, the establishment, Democrats, Republicans or the government. These are only influencers, not controllers.

You are in control – so what are you going to do about? What can you do better? What can you improve? What skill can you learn?

Why is it with all this doom and gloom that is surrounding us, Intuit just came out with a survey that showed 78% of all small businesses were planning on growing this year – huh? What do we as entrepreneurs know that the pundits don’t?

Are you going to be one of the 78% or one of the 22%?
 

Why do you need more?
Businesses growth issues are caused by a myriad of external and internal controllable and uncontrollable factors. Studies conducted by the Accredited Executive Associates by the Institute for Independent Business say that “not enough sales”, “not enough money” or “not enough time” are the three dominant constraints. However, those are symptoms. Our research points to six top growth constraints: Attitude, Skills, Knowledge, Access, Borders, and Automation/Technology (ASK ABA).

Attitude ▪ Attitude determines your altitude, drives behavior
Skills ▪ Skills separates an amateur from a master.
Knowledge ▪ Knowledge is power, timely and relevant information for decision-making.
Access ▪ Access to the right people, right solution set, right time, right place.
Borders ▪ Guard your backyard and turn competition irrelevant with geographical boundaries neutrality so you can attack theirs.
Automation/Technology. ▪ Affordable automation and technology levels the playing field.

Facilitated groups like Vistage (used to be known as TEC) professes to have average member revenues grow below 3 times the annual rate from before Vistage. Studies have shown across the board that when you set and measure objectives religiously, improvements are shown to be over three-fold, be it sales, time management, productivity or otherwise.

A “Guided Path” where you learn how your natural style of behavior helps or hinders you in critical facet of your business, and the gap between where you think your business is, where it should be and where it really is will help you distinguish causes and symptoms and set impactful objectives for business growth. This “Guided Path” needs to help you simultaneously grow skills, build infrastructure vital to business growth, set and achieve your goals and objectives, and problem solve on key issues with facilitated peer support at the same time, with a buddy or two to hold you accountable who also needs your nudge.

Where do I find mastermind or peer groups that help me break out of my business growth constraints?
Ask ABA. CoreAllianceTM is a CEO peer alliance formula created by AllBusinessAdvisors (http://www.allbusinessadvisors.com/) with proven “Guided Paths” to breakthrough your top growth constraints. Consistent with AllBusinessAdvisors’ motto of Power of Many In OneTM, CoreAllianceTM is backed by multiple layers of concentric circles all working for you:
 

We are Certified CoreAllianceTM Developers Board and Builders Board Facilitators. Contact us to inquire about a Board in South Orange County, California, SBS Associates for Board membership information in North County, San Diego, California or Contact AllBusinessAdvisors for information of other Boards in other cities in the United States.
 

Where did the business peer group for CEO & business owners concept come from?
The concept of peer-to-peer support groups was first discussed by Napoleon Hill when he rocked the entrepreneur world by his famous book, “Think And Grow Rich”. He found out from his research of the most successful people of his time that a key differentiating factor that made people successful was being involved in peer-to-peer support groups.

His studies have also shown that people from competing industries who are at the same stage of growth is the most effective group in order to reap peer-to-peer benefits. "Men take on the nature and the habits and the power of thought of those with whom they associate in a spirit of sympathy and harmony. Through his association with Edison, Burbank, Burroughs, and Firestone, Mr. Ford added to his own brain power the sum and substance of the intelligence, experience, knowledge, and spiritual forces of these four men. Moreover, he appropriated and made use of the mastermind principle."

Why is this important to you as a business owner, CEO or executive?
Common mastermind groups bring synergy of energy when peers with similar skills, interests and success levels come together. There is a sense of commitment and excitement when you challenge each other to reach and exceed goals. Fresh perspectives are shared when you brainstorm new ideas and borrow proven ideas from each other’s success.

Why peer groups with facilitators?
Studies of these mastermind groups showed that your experience could be enhanced exponentially with professional facilitators in the mix. While fresh ideas fuel all businesses and peer idea exchanges are empowering, free flow of random ideas without regard of true impact and outcomes could be dangerous.

With proven business success in their field, these most-often-retired business people turned business facilitators bring experience, best practices and resources they accumulated from their prior professional life. Some of them work under a franchise organization’s umbrella, thus bringing additional cumulative resources these organizations possess to guide, coach and facilitate the peer group experience.

Professionally facilitated peer groups or executive clubs sometimes also provide speakers on myriad of business or trend topics, allowing you to keep your thumb on the pulse of business trends and important issues, adding a third dimension to the experience.

The fourth core principle of effective training is – The training must be repetitive, remember to cement in change it takes repetition

To truly cement in the skill or to take the skill to the level you determine is necessary, repeat the same exact training – you may have to do this several times if the skill is complex or if you want to make a significant change – until the level of proficiency you want is reached.

Source: Chet Holmes, The Ultimate Sales Machine

Soon after each training module you should hold a workshop on the skill. This will help you know the level of comprehension and retention of your trainees. Take note of the individuals that are excelling and those who are not. Try to find out what the most proficient people are doing that the others are not. Then have the proficient one’s hold another workshop and impart their techniques.

Come at the trainees from as many directions and in as many manners as to can to keep up the momentum of the original training. Remember always if you want to make a skill permanent, it takes repetition, testing and reinforcement.
 

The third core principle of effective training is – The training must totally engage the audience.

Learning is not something most people do naturally, so they should look forward to the training. How do you do that? You do this by making the training interesting, fun and engaging. You do this by creating an open environment in which all individuals are equal and participation is encouraged.

The next step in conducting a totally engaging training session is to ensure that the training is just not some trainer droning on and on as the audience falls asleep. Expert trainers state that there are four levels of learning:
1. Telling It,
2. Showing It,
3. Involving Students,
4. Letting Students Teach

This is why visual aids are emphasized in training. Verbal communication is only about 10-15% of what we learn from (Telling It). We learn much better if there are visual examples or representations of what the trainer is talking about (Showing It). Visual communication increases learning at least four fold when used with verbal communication.

Involving the trainees in the training by workshoping ideas, having group discussions, demonstrating the concepts interactively, role playing, hot seating and having them do hands-on exercises will increase the absorption of the information even further. The combination of verbal, visual and involvement will heighten the leaning dramatically.

The second core principle of effective training is – The training has to be clear and concise.

For training to be absorbed, analyzed and retained well, it must have a logical beginning, middle and end. In addition, each of these three sections must be laid out well and flow from point to point and subject to subject.

When training is disjointed or lacks the necessary flow, the trainees spend much of their time trying to decipher the intent, direction and logic of the information, rather than concentrating on the meaning of the information.

Jumping from subject to subject and back again uselessly agitates the audience and forces them to mentally try and rearrange the subjects into a flow that makes sense to them instead of absorbing the information.

If you’re doing the training, do an outline of the material and have someone unfamiliar with the subject review the outline to see if it makes logical sense to them. If you’re having someone else do the training, you should review the outline with the trainer to make sure it makes sense to you. Either way, if it doesn’t make sense, rework the material flow until it does.