Remembering Walter Cronkite

Last night I found a two-hour TV special on the life of Walter Cronkite. Frankly, had he not recently passed away, I probably would have keep surfing. But with his passing, I wanted to watch this special.

[Note: This may not be as sentimental of a journey for those of you born after 1970.]

As someone who grew up watching him every night on TV (my dad watched him religiously if he was home from work in time), he was a mainstay in our family, just as he was for many hundred of thousands of other American families during the 60's and 70's. During the show, I recalled all the historical events that happened during his time as anchorman for the CBS evening news (I posted the above photo of him because this is exactly how I first remember him on our small black & white TV set with rabbit ears and the traditional tin-foil wrapped ends to help reception of the three channels we could receive). I recalled watching the first man-on-the-moon (40th anniversary this past Monday), the Watergate investigations, the Vietnam war and so much more that I learned through watching Walter Cronkite each night. As kids, we would imitate his "...and that's the way it is..." I never was big on Sesame Street or the like, but I don't recall hardly ever missing the evening news.

As a WWII historian, another thing that really stands out for me was his reporting of the war. In later life he did a WWII documentary that I also enjoy. He was right there in the fight during the war years and his reports were top notch.

Something closer to home for me now was his reputation as being known as the "most trusted man in America". Now that's what I call "personal branding"!! I believe he gained that title because of the incredible customer experience that he provided. He held his profession up to the highest standards and demanded that out of not only his team mates, but from his colleagues in the profession as well. You could truly consider him a SME and guru of what he did, because it was truly a passion of his. And he delivered that passion, that professionalism, that since of responsibility of what he was providing to his customers - the American public - who "bought" his product every night for two+ decades.

What a legacy of excellence he leaves us an example of, that we have the opportunity to mimic in our careers regardless of industry.

I'd love for you to share you story of what you remember about Walter Cronkite and how he influenced your life. Please post in the comments section below.

Thanks for allowing me a little walk down memory lane.

Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business.” ™

[Note: photo from http://sirenschronicles.com/]

Brand "You!"

What's the most important thing about you? Give up? It's YOU!

If you've been following my blog (see below and archieves), you'll see that it's a major theme of this site as well as my website.

Today, I found another blog that restated this in a fresh perspective that I thought you would enjoy. You can find it here.

[We use the "SMART" method at FairPoint Communications to track annual progress, so I was familiar with that when I read it.]

Until next time, remember “Your Success Is My Business."™

http://www.joeypeacock.com/

Loyalty

More specifically, customer loyalty. Another one of the recurring topics that we will touch on in these messages is about the world-class service we should all be providing our customers. And as we’ve discussed, it’s not about a satisfied customer…but a loyal customer.

One of my favorite motivational speakers and authors, Jeffrey Gitomer, wrote a great book with a great title called, “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless”. You need this on your “to read” list if you don’t already own it (available here).

How does a company or a salesperson know when they’ve created customer loyalty? One way is when a person elects to tattoo your logo on their body, I would say that’s the ultimate customer loyalty statement.

“But Joey, I can’t get the billing department to get the customer’s billing right.” “But Joey, the service techs didn’t install the system like the customer asked them too.” STOP POINTING FINGERS about why you can’t provide world-class service! You do everything you can and provide world-class service to the customer. How?

q Treat every customer like a celebrity.

If George Clooney called and needed service you’d go crazy in serving him and falling all over him to make sure he was happy. Act like every person you talk to is George Clooney.

q Give your customers face and serve them to death.

When was the last time your Top 100 customers saw you? How about your Top 10? Is every visit an attempt to sell them something and they only perceive you as a salesman? Do you provide them marketing ideas, growth suggestions that you’ve seen in other companies or provide them other business partners who can mutually benefit from doing business together in order for everyone to succeed?

q Professionally oversee all projects.

Have all necessary pre-call calls; clearly deliver all –detailed– documents concerning your project to all necessary parties; confirm all deadlines to all parties in writing; follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!

q “Call out the Cavalry!”

I can assure you that when your customer has problems, the last thing they want is excuses, technical mumbo-jumbo or anything else that doesn’t resolve their problem. The only words they want to hear from you are:

àEmpathy (“Oh, that’s horrible!”)
àTell them “That’s my favorite problem!” You’ll amaze them when you say this.
àTell them the cavalry is in route to resolve their problem, and then make it happen.

Once the problem is corrected: follow-up with the customer, resell them on your company, and then resell them on YOU.

q Send business to your customers.
Become a professional netweaver. Help your client’s grow their business by partnering them with mutually supporting businesses so that everyone grows! When you start helping your customer’s grow, they’ll happily return the favor.

Be 100% focused on creating customer loyalty (Raving Fans!) in everything you do when interacting with your customers.

“Your company's most valuable asset is how it is known to its customers.”
~Brian Tracy

Have a great week and until next time, remember:

“Your Success Is My Business."™

Brand Identity, or not?

Brand Identity, or not?

We all recognize the businesses above. They’ve worked for many years to create their brand identity. When you look at their logo, you know exactly who the business is and most likely what they do.

Do you realize that you have brand identity as an individual as well?

That’s right. Customers look at you and they identity you with a certain level of service, a certain level of support, with a certain company and certain products.

But, thinking with a world-class mind and thinking as the CEO, let’s take this to the ultimate level!

Brand identity simply means that people know you exist and a little (maybe) about your company. You know the companies in the list above, just like many of your customers know that you exist. I’m not oversimplifying this to the point that it’s not important, as it is. But this is just the first step.

The next step in this then is brand preference. Just like you shop at many of the companies in the list above, many of your customerss shop with you for their purchases. They allow you to bid on their Request for Proposal (RFP), they call you in when they’re asking for quotes on a new products and they contact you to compete for their business when their company is looking into new solutions. But this isn’t enough!

What you need to focus on and develop is the world-class category of being BRAND INSISTENCE.

You want to provide your clients such world-class service & support, such great products, such a deep & powerful relationship with them and complete understanding of their business so that they simple insist on doing business with you and no one else. Even if they have to wait!

Brand insistence is the ultimate relationship you can develop in partnership with your customers. As the CEO of your business and with a world-class mindset, you can achieve this. How? Give them faces, completely understand their business and serve them to death.

Have a great week and until next time, remember:

“Your Success Is My Business."™