With all of the traveling and training I do with owners, managers and technicians, I’m always amazed at the difficulty some people have with being the “expert”. I can understand that we don’t want to be arrogant, egotistical, or come off as we’re the “know it all” type person. However, our customers are calling us based on the simple fact that we are experts in something that they are not.

People pay for expert advice and solutions!

If you can get your front line team to embrace three words while working with prospects and customers, I would implement into their vocabulary, “In my professional opinion…” then finish the sentence however you’d like. The challenge is that when I’m onsite with clients and riding with technicians they undermine their expertise FAR more than they share it.

Many of our technicians have a challenge with the word salesperson. This isn’t anything new for sure. It’s actually getting better all across the country, but still a few bad apples can spoil the whole bunch if we’re not managing our culture and what we represent. That’s an entirely different column, so today we’ll stick with the fact that we don’t appear as the expert near as much as our customer would like.

I see great things happen when technicians are confident enough to give their expert opinion when a customer asks for it. We also know that people, including customers, don’t always ask all the questions they may have. This is why it’s vitally important that we share our expert opinion about what might be in their best interest as an expert.

They’ve hired us to come into their home and make recommendations, educate them on their systems as it relates to our products and services, from our expert opinion. We are actually penalizing them if we don’t share what our thoughts are when it comes to repairs and/or upgrades that might be necessary today or coming in the future. It’s just good quality communication!

“But Kenny, if I position myself as an expert, does that mean I have to know everything??”

Of course not! I believe this is one area technicians short change themselves on what they know because they don’t know everything. How can you possibly know everything about your primary trade? Your team certainly knows a lot, but they can’t possibly know everything. That’s okay; it’s about effort and finding the right information for the customer if we don’t currently have an answer at our disposal. Customers are fine with this, as long as we communicate with them.

Answer questions directly from your perspective about what is best for them. I was recently on an HVAC maintenance call when a customer asked the technician what the average life span is for an air conditioner. The technician quickly answered, “Well, it depends, but I was on a call yesterday that had a 30 year old unit that was working fine!” WHAT THE…?

First of all, the customer didn’t ask about his calls yesterday, he asked what average life span is. We all know it’s NOT 30 years, and it was NOT working just fine if it was compared side by side with one of today’s high efficiency units. The technician made a judgment that the equipment was fine because he didn’t have to replace it. Was it fine for the customer based on their wants and needs? I don’t know because I wasn’t on that call with him, but I know these situations happen all the time. Train your front line to embrace the fact that they are experts. Create a company culture of experts that can be represented at every level for your customers and watch your average tickets and profits improve immediately.

Kenny

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. Let me train your team by video anytime you want at less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per day! You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

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All last week I was training my onsite sales and service program in the north woods of Wisconsin. I love when I'm onsite with clients and it’s always an honor to work with companies in the vastly different (and yet the same) markets around.

This particular company is located in a town called Rhinelander, the home of the Hodag. Most of you are certainly wondering the same thing I was when the word Hodag first came about to me last week.

When I'm training techs I find that they love to have information that I might not yet know and they have big fun when it's exposed that they know something I don't know. This is all good with me and I have fun with them in the process.

Since I was staying on my client’s property in their guest house, we all had dinner together after our first day of training last week. Once we sat at the big patio table to eat, my question had to be answered.

"What's the story of the Hodag", I quickly ask. I become informed of the story regarding the Rhinelander Hodag all the way back to 1893. I won't write about it here but I give you a cliff notes version in this week's video version you can watch.

In a nutshell, the Hodag is a huge myth that many people followed and believed in for many, many years. It wasn't true, it never was true, but some people believed it at different levels through the years.

This automatically makes me think about our companies.

What is your Hodag? Said differently, what is a myth you still believe when it comes to leading and managing your company?

We all have things that we still believe are true that have no relevance any longer regarding our businesses. My mentor Frank Blau helped me break through some of mine many years ago, but I see clients still holding to many false beliefs regarding what's possible, profits deserved, benefits for team members, client expectations, training ROI, market abundance, and so many more.

All I encourage you to do is ask questions. What are the things you've always believed that are no longer true? What myths exist in our businesses today that needs to be challenged and exposed? What process are you still following just because you've always done it that way?

What's your Hodag?

It is a great area up north and the Hodag story adds to the character of this beautiful part of the world. The Hodag is their high school mascot and many businesses have a tie to the Hodag in some way. That's all well and good for this town, but myths in your business are not serving you.

Question your myths this week and let go of the things that aren't driving growth and profitability in your business.

Kenny

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. Let me train your team by video anytime you want at less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per day! You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

In the Chapman household, we do our best to eat sensibly and healthy more often than not. One of the ways we accomplish this is by scrutinizing the ingredient labels on all the food we purchase (thanks Christy). As I've come to learn, one ingredient we do our best to avoid is high-fructose corn syrup.

I like my sauces when it comes to food. Salsa, ketchup, hot sauce, and various marinades usually show up in some form on our table. Up until I met Christy, I had used Heinz brand ketchup my entire life. Since I never inspected labels myself, I didn't know that Heinz ketchup contains high-fructose corn syrup.

Based on this fact, we switched ketchup brands many years ago to Annie's brand ketchup which has the ingredients we're after. We were a bit puzzled by Heinz when we travelled to Australia and Europe and found the same Heinz ketchup in those markets does not contain the high-fructose corn syrup (and it tasted the same to us). Why does it have it in the US? My guess…profitability!

It really doesn't matter why they put that ingredient in the product. All that matters is we're the customer. Therefore, it's about us, not them! Regardless of Heinz reason for their ingredient choice, we switched brands because they could not meet our needs. They could not provide us what we desired, so we found another company that could. It's simple, right?

Think about this in your business. Ketchup is an interchangeable product with all the services we all provide. It could be after hours service, on time appointments, well trained front line team members, great customer service agents, and many, many more. You probably know already what the "ketchup" could be for your company (and no, it's not always price!)

If your customer’s wants, needs, and desires are not being met effectively they will switch brands in an instant, just like we did. They have so many choices and options when it comes to companies that provide our services, we must always be improving our service delivery processes.

We were recently in a natural grocery store in Scottsdale and I noticed that Heinz has a new ketchup product called Simply Heinz.  I wasn't surprised when I picked up the bottle and looked through ingredients to find NO high-fructose corn syrup.

Now the big question: will we switch back? I grew up on Heinz. It's familiar. It's the only ketchup I knew. But now, after so many years with a brand that was always conscious of the same things my family is, will we switch back?

Truth is, I don't know. I don't do most of the grocery shopping for the Chapman household, so this will be a Christy decision. See, she's the one they're attempting to sway, not me. I would guess we won't see the new style Heinz in our fridge anytime soon. This is up to Christy, the target customer.

The same is true in your company. You need to know who your perfect customer is. Only once you identify them, can you begin to understand the key things important to them. The reality is that Christy is much more an Annie's target customer than Heinz. This is all good. Heinz does just fine without her.

You can't be all things to all people, so redefine who you want to be everything to, and build your process, training, and culture around this target. Ferrari could care less that Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai are going head to head for the top spot, because they know who their customer is. Then they put all their time, energy and investments to satisfy that target’s needs regarding Ferrari products.

What's your ketchup? Who's your Christy? Where do you need to improve to keep them happier and attract more just like them? It takes focus and discipline, but this clarity will set you free and greatly improve your bottom line!

Kenny

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. Let me train your team by video anytime you want at less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per day! You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

Performance tracking and accountability is a big part of our success in business, regardless of what trade you're in or what industry you serve. Most of us invest a substantial amount of both money and time in training, coaching, and profit tools to help our front line succeed. An effective training and communication program is a big commitment from you as a leader. It's also one that you can't ignore.

Our industries are getting more and more competitive. Education is a simple Google click away and the recession helped displace a lot of people that found themselves "hanging their shingle" and becoming our competition. We see this in our own market that we operate in, as well as every market we have clients. The landscape is what it is; the only thing we can truly control is what happens within that landscape that is in our control.

How our front line team impacts our customers has everything to do with our success. If you've been following me for any length of time, you know that I believe in training our front line team and providing the tools necessary for them to succeed.

We must make sure we're doing the same for our managers or front line coaches. There's been some buzz over the last few years in leadership circles about a concept called self coaching. I think this is an important topic we must pay attention to and utilize ourselves.

So how on earth do you go about coaching yourself?

Start with some effective questions to yourself on a daily or weekly basis. This frequency will depend on your schedule and scope of work, but I like the reflective questions to be put to use on a daily basis whenever at all possible.

How effective have I been this past ___________ ? (day, week, month, or whatever)

What specifically do I need to change in my behavior to increase my influence?

What does my team need from me that I'm not providing them?

Where has my time been spent that has made the biggest difference?

Where could I better invest my time to get the results I desire?

These are a few that I like, but you can ask whatever you want in whatever format you like. Self coaching is a phenomenal tool, but you must be able to remain objective with yourself and not use too many "softeners" about what's real.

For instance:

Q: How effective have I been this past week?

A: Well we're missing the sales goal, but one of my techs was out sick and we didn't get help from the weather that we needed to make the mark. Oh well, there's always next week....

No, there's not always next week. The only week we know we have is happening right now my friend! On the other hand, don't "kick your own butt" either. I've seen owners and managers answer this same question like this:

A: Man, I suck at this job. I knew I couldn't do this effectively. I should've listened to Mr. Ryan, my fourth grade teacher that reminded me I'd never amount to anything....

This response is just the beginning. You can kick your own butt for sentences on end! Don't do that either. Remain objective. Don't get over emotional. There's no such thing as failure, there are only results, so you either get a result you want, or you don't. Period.

However, all too often owners and managers don't take the time or responsibility to ask themselves some reflective questions regarding their performance. I see this as an opportunity for us all to become even more effective than we already are by inspecting our own performance on a daily basis.

We inspect our front line team all the time for behavior, effectiveness, results, attitude, appearance, etc.

Isn't it only right that we do the same with ourselves?

Have a better than fantastic weekend!

Kenny

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. Let me train your team by video anytime you want at less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per day! You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

Earlier this week Christy and I made a decision on a whim to spend a night at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Sure we live in Colorado and travel all over the place (literally), but we hadn't made the time to go to the Grand Canyon amidst our crazy travel schedule, until now.

In fact, we didn't even have this stop planned until we were on the road last Sunday headed toward the greater Phoenix area. One of the things I love about Christy and our lives together is willingness to be spontaneous. This fine Sunday we decided to take a little detour and stop off at this amazing wonder of the world. We didn't need to be in Scottsdale until 2pm on Monday, so we thought, why not?

We're living in Scottsdale this week working on some business development and content creation as well as spending time with fellow contractors in this area. As much as I love business, planning, and coaching people, I think I love passion in life more than anything else.

Passion shows up in many different ways regarding many different things. It can relate to hobbies, sports, business, as well as many other things. Most of us find some level of inspiration by the experiences we have in our lives. This is another reason I believe in living life on purpose and playing full out at whatever you do and wherever you are!

At the Grand Canyon you see people very passionate about the vast array of things the canyon represents. Some love the camping, hiking, photography, sunrise, sunset, mule rides, rafting, etc. For as many types of interest that people have, there are just about as many incredible things about this part of the world.

There are a lot of really cool things to do and see at the Grand Canyon for sure. You can bet on something for just about everyone, including me. With a quick overnight stay we were a bit limited on what we could see and do, but it was a deeper experience than that for me anyway.

I was inspired. I was blown away by the sheer amazement of what it took Mother Nature to create this place. To me, it's an incredible example of what can happen when calculated, consistent, methodical action takes place day after day after day.

Imagine what we can create in our businesses and our lives when we have laser focus on what we're creating? At times we might feel like the little stream on top of some dirt like the Colorado River once was to the Grand Canyon. Wherever we are today is simply a result of the choices and decisions we've made to this point in our lives. We have the ability to learn, grow, and create positive change.

Granted, we may not have thousands of years to create something like Mother Nature has, but we have the time we've been given, however long that could be. It is our responsibility as leaders to find our passion and help others live theirs as well.

The more we discover ourselves and what drives us, the more effective we become in all aspects of our businesses and lives. My most successful clients know exactly who they are and why they're playing the game every single day! What about you? It is time you revisit where you find your inspiration?

Have a better than fantastic weekend!

Kenny

(Click the picture below for quick video version)

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. Let me train your team by video anytime you want at less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per day! You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

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April is in full swing as Mother Nature does its annual cleansing and growth process with the rain, wind and sunshine mixtures all across the US and Canada. Christy and I returned back home a week ago after another month on the road and had forecasts such as "75 degrees and snow this week". (One of the cool things about living in Colorado).

As spring does what it needs to do in order to create growth for the summer season, it makes me think about our own businesses and our mindsets regarding what we need to do. Mother Nature is very busy with the changes it's bringing with the new season. But she is quite busy affecting change with the things that really make a difference for the upcoming season.

What about you? As the leader of your organization, regardless of size, I'm sure you're very busy at the moment, right? Sure you are. You're an owner, or a manager, or a leading front line team member if you're reading this today. Let's agree that we're all busy so we can take that argument off the table.

The real question is NOT about how busy you are. Rather the most effective question is regarding what you are busy doing. Are you busy doing a lot of things, or are you busy doing the right things?

It's not about how much you do or how many things you do in any given day or situation. It's completely about your level of effectiveness doing the right things. Challenge your to-do list from a priority standpoint. Challenge your comfort zone of what you're used to doing every day because it has become your routine.

In our Service Sales Success School, we invest time with the technicians helping them embrace the philosophy that "what got you here won't get you there." The choices, actions, and behaviors you utilized to accomplish whatever level of success you currently enjoy will most likely NOT carry you to the higher levels of success that you desire. This is why we must continuously change and improve ourselves and our business strategies.

It's about doing the right things.

What are the right things you ask? You probably already know what they are. Sometimes they're not the flashy and fun things. They're not the lunches with distributors or the complimentary game tickets from an advertising medium.

The right things are the tasks that drive growth and profit. These are the game changing things that must be done in order to get to the next level: Pricing, sales training, effective communication, leadership with vision, coaching, marketing, tracking, etc.

The big boulders that will change the game vary by company that we see. However, almost always, there are some fundamentals that can be re-focused on and improve the company more than adding some new bells and whistles

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers. What actions are you taking in April that will bring you a nice ROI in May? Don't just do things; focus on doing the right things

Have a better than fantastic weekend!

Kenny

(Click the picture below for quick video version)

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. Let me train your team by video anytime you want at less than a cup of Starbucks coffee per day! You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

Why are options so important? What's the point of creating this well put together Options Sheet to present to the customer when I can just verbally explain it? What if I don't have the time to fill out several options for the customer? What if I go to all this trouble and they just say "no" anyway?

These were just some of the questions last week in St. Louis where John and I were doing our onsite Service Sales Success School. These are all valid questions. As leaders and trainers, we sometimes feel as though we've answered the same questions over and over. It is our responsibility to help our front line understand the "why" behind what we're asking them to do.

Carrot or Stick?

If a team member isn't filling out Options Sheets with enough information, enough choices, or in the correct order, should you use a carrot or a stick? I'm a big believer that people will do certain things to certain level just because they have to, but they'll perform at a far higher level of effectiveness if they want to do something. All too often our conditioning tells us to penalize them, or force a behavior change at a stronger level. Remember detention in school? (Okay, maybe that was just me). How much did detention improve or change my behavior? Not one little bit!

Let's help our front line team want to do things like offering more options. We just need to help them understand we're implementing process and strategy like this for their benefit as well as the customer, not simply to make their job more difficult, or add more paperwork to the stacks we already have them fill out. A quality Options Sheet with good flow from each product or service will setup a presentation for success every single time!

When things are in writing, they make more sense to people. Think about when you go to a restaurant. The server might verbally explain a special or two, but then they hand you a menu. The menu is usually categorized by starters, salads, main course, desserts, and more. The category helps you navigate your way around and then you make a choice based on what YOU want at that time.

Earlier this week one of my clients took Christy and I to a fabulous lunch at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, Ca. I had a lobster roll, Christy had a salad and sandwich, and my client had them make him a salad with a piece of salmon on it that wasn't even on the menu. Why? Because we all want choices! Our customers are no different.

Educate and train your team on asking better questions to uncover what the customers wants and needs might be. Then train them on how you want those options to be in writing and what the flow from one choice to the next should look like. Then, get in the field and ride with them to help them see how it shows up in the real world. We do this with our clients all the time and it drives behavior changes. These behavior changes will improve close rates, average tickets, and customer satisfaction.

Simply put, give your customer more choices and a really crazy thing happens...they choose more things!

Have a better than fantastic weekend!

Kenny

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. I've dedicated my career to being a top notch trainer. Bring me into your service business for training your team NOW at a price you can afford. You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Click to find out more and take a free test drive. Check it out for yourself.

One of my all time favorite sushi bars was called Tuna Town located in Huntington Beach, CA. All of us have favorite places for various reasons and certainly Tuna Town had sentimental value for me as well as great fresh fish, awesome decor, and good music playing a few decibels too loud.

The lovely Christy and I had been going there several times a year since our very first trip together many years ago. During that time we took friends there from different parts of the country and always recommended it when people were traveling to Orange County, since we spend a fair bit of our time in the "OC".

Due to us being such fans, Christy has been in their "club" (think service agreement) for many years receiving updates, coupons, specials, and reminders. To our shock, a few months ago she received a message stating that the great Tuna Town was closing its doors.

What? Nooooo!!!!! How can it be? Not OUR Tuna Town! Please tell me it can't be!!!

Currently, we're back in Orange County for a few weeks at the place we stay a lot in Newport Beach (15 minutes south of the late Tuna Town). I knew the restaurant was closed, but seeing it in person hit me hard with the bigger questions for us all.

What went wrong? What really happened? Was it bad management? Was it poor pricing? (The happy hour was WAY too cheap by the way). Did the owners take their eye off of the ball? (The main partner is a drummer in a successful rock band.)

We've always received good service, a good product and a great environment. What changed?

Competition? Yes. A couple years ago a competitive national sushi bar chain opened up the street. Tuna Town always had a local competitor a couple blocks away and still did fine (or so we thought). Did the competition improve marketing, product, service?

Again I ponder, what happened??

What about you? What does some random restaurant closing in a town most of you don't frequent mean to you as a service business leader?

It means everything! This exact situation happens everyday in the US, Australia, and Canada where our clients reside. What can we learn from this misfortune of displacing the staff and the loyal clients?

The biggest thing we can learn is to look in the mirror! Are you doing everything you need to do to stay relevant and progressive as competition evolves?

More importantly, are you priced at a level to be profitable? Incorrect pricing (too low) is one of the biggest reasons service businesses fail! Beyond that, the training of the front line team is usually sub-par to encourage more sales at higher tickets.

Are you training your front line team in converting enhancements and upgrades? If not, WHY NOT?

We must integrate consistent training for our front line, market our companies effectively, and price the product and service to make a PROFIT! This is not a hobby my friends, this is business. If we don't do the things we need to do, we become a statistic just like our beloved Tuna Town...RIP.

Have a better than fantastic weekend!

Kenny

P.S. Don't reinvent the wheel. I've dedicated my career to being a top notch trainer. Bring me into your service business for training your team NOW at a price you can afford. You can't afford NOT to be one of our Done For You training members. Find out more information here. Check it out for yourself.