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Third Time’s a Charm

I did a new talk for the Monroe Chamber of Commerce’s Business Summit three weeks ago called “Better Your Business by Being Your Business Better”.    It is a mix of lessons and case studies of companies that are staying true to their Core Values and reaping the benefits.  Works well as a keynote or workshop.  Full of stories to make you laugh, make you cry, make you understand how Values play a key role in your success.

The audience loved it!  I have received multiple requests to do the same talk to other groups.  In fact, I’ve already done it twice more since then.

As much as I liked the first presentation and the positive feedback it received, there were a few rough spots the audience didn’t notice but I knew were there.  There were a few transitions that needed polishing, a couple slides that were unnecessary, and a few stories that needed tweaking.  I made some changes and the second presentation received equally strong praise.  But I knew it still wasn’t where it could be.  More tweaking followed.

The third time I knocked it out of the park!  The crowd was completely into it.  They were laughing out loud.  They were nodding in approval.  They were clapping and carrying on.  They were getting all the inside jokes.  They were in tears.  They were fully vested.  Every transition flowed perfectly.  Every story and lesson fit like a well-cut jigsaw puzzle.  Yes, the third time was the charm.

Don’t get me wrong.  The first two were pretty darned good.  One person told me after the first presentation that it was the best thing he had ever seen.  So unless his bar was really low…

I could have stopped there and left the presentation alone.  Good enough.  Both of the other groups would have been every bit as pleased seeing the first version.  But I didn’t.  I knew I could do better.

I think many business owners, myself included, are guilty of this.  We know we are already pretty darned good at what we do.  We know we are already doing a better job than our competition.  We know we are giving the customers a really good experience.  Why try harder? Where is the return on investment?  Will the customer even notice?

Here is the nugget of truth… Good enough is only good enough today.  Right now.  Tomorrow you have to be better.  Olympic Gold Medalist Mary Lou Retton reminded us “…the gold-medal performances of today are just the compulsory exercises next time.”  Yes, the customer will notice. So you better take notice, too.

What are you doing pretty darn good today that you can make better tomorrow?

I’m already working on how to make the fourth version of this presentation (which is already booked) even better.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS   Better Your Business by Being Your Business Better is now up on my website under Speaker for Hire.  If you are looking for a talk that will motivate, get people to take ownership, and teach everyone two lessons that they can take to the bank, this 50 minute presentation rocks!  Works for owners and employees.  Works as a keynote or as a workshop.  Works with twelve people or twelve hundred.  Get in touch.

What Would You Do With…?

What would you do with 60 copies of the book Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art?

  • Would you use them to prop up a table leg or two that is out of balance?  
  • Would you use them as a door stop to keep the front door open when the wind blows?
  • Would you try to sell them and make some money?
  • Would you give them out as favors at your next big gathering?
  • Would you wrap them and give them as thoughtful gifts to anyone you knew who did a lot of hiring?
  • Would you have a contest to see who could stack them in the most interesting way?
  • Would you create a wall covering with the book jackets?
  • Would you use them to start a bonfire on your next camping trip?
  • Would you use them to hold down the floor or hold up the dust?

What would you do with four hours of time with an award-winning, creative-thinking, trend-setting retailer whose store was named One of the 25 Best Independent Stores in America?

  • Would you use him to train your staff to take Customer Service to levels you never knew existed?
  • Would you use him to give you one-on-one advice on your marketing, your inventory management, your hiring & training, or your financials to help you find the extra $10,000-$20,000 you know is hidden in there somewhere?
  • Would you have him help you uncover your Character Diamond so you will have a blueprint and guide for every single business decision going forward?
  • Would you get him to write you new advertising copy that will drive more of your type of customer through the door?
  • Would you share his talents with other businesses in the form of a seminar or workshop that helps everyone become stronger, raising the tide for all the boats in your area?
  • Would you ask him to bring his guitar and harmonica for a little performance?

What if I told you that you could have both for only $1200?  That’s it. 


Twelve hundred dollars gets you:

  • Sixty copies (one case) of my book Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel for you to use as you please.
  • Four hours of my time and business knowledge to help you succeed.

I’ll pay my own way to travel to your location (Continental US only).  I’ll pay for my own room for one night.  I’ll bring the books, handouts, and whatever other resources available to me to help you meet your goals.


What are you waiting for?  Contact me.  (Or share this with someone who could use it.)


-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com


PS  In case you’re wondering if this is a good deal…  I typically charge $1000-$2000 plus travel expenses for a one hour presentation.  Books sold separately.  This deal is two-fold.  First, to help spread my book out to the world.  There is a lot of bad hiring going on right now that this book could remedy.  Second, I love to help others.  The more I get to do that, the more inspired I am to do more.

Excerpt from Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel

Here is another excerpt from my book Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art.

If you buy 60 books, one full carton, at the regular price of $1200, I will travel at my own expense to see you* and give you four hours of my business knowledge in the form of seminars, workshops, training, mentoring, coaching, or whatever you see fit.

Enjoy this lesson, one of the lessons I had to learn the hard way…

Chapter 14 Lesson #7 Smoothing the Rough Spots

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength.” – FrancesDe Sales
As Mary smoothed the rough edges of her bowl she pondered what lesson she could learn from this step in the process.  “If I’ve put them in a safe place to use their skills, what roughness will be left?” she thought.  A smile came to her face.  “Evaluations!  I’ve got to make sure there is time for evaluations during and after the safe zone period.  Even though they are using their skills, there will still be rough edges needing smoothing. 
“I know,” she thought, “I can take the training skills checklist and do follow-up evaluations on each skill just to make sure there are no bad habits, no rough spots.  Oh yes, and the evaluations must be completely positive – show them what to do right, rather than harp on what was done wrong.  They’re still fragile at this time.  Yes, fragile.  That’s what Peter meant.  The bowls, while dry, are still fragile and need to be safe.  The trainees, while trained, are still fragile and need to be in a safe environment where they can learn from their mistakes.  It all makes sense,” Mary concluded.
Peter wandered the room checking up on everyone’s bowls, looking for missed rough spots.  By the end of class he deemed every bowl to be ready.
“Okay, put the bowls safely on the rack.  On Wednesday we fire them for the first time.”
“The first time?” Mary asked. 
“Yes,” Peter replied.  “On Wednesday we are going to do what is called ‘bisque-firing’.  This will harden your bowls so that they won’t be so fragile. 
“By the way,” Peter continued.  “We will not be meeting here.  All of you are invited to my studio.  I’ve put the address and directions on these little slips of paper.  Unfortunately, the directors here at the YMCA will not let me build a kiln inside the Y, so we’ll use my kiln at the studio.  See you Wednesday.”

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

*PS Although my offer is good only for the continental United States, if you’re willing to pay the airfare, too, I’m willing to travel internationally.

Buy the Book, I’ll Speak for FREE

(I know you know someone who could use this.  Please share it with that person.)

My book, Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art comes packed 60 books to the carton.  What would you do if you had 60 of these books?  Do you know some businesses who could use help hiring and training a better staff?

60 books at $19.99 equals $1199.40.  I want to make you an offer.  Round it off to $1,200 even and I will throw in 4 FREE hours of me.

Yes, that’s right.  Buy one carton of books for $1200 and I will show up at your door anywhere in the continental USA and give you 4 hours of my business knowledge to use as you see fit.

If you are a Radio Station…
You will get 60 books to give to your clients that will help them hire and train a better workforce, thus ensuring they will be in business (and buying radio ads from you) for a long time.  If you think about it, that’s a far more memorable gift than the mug, candy or flowers you have been giving them.

Plus, you will get me teaching your sales staff how to sell your product more effectively, how to create killer campaigns for your clients, and how to craft powerful messages that drive serious traffic to their door.  Plus you can use me to help mentor your favorite clients, teaching them how to powerfully brand their business, and how to uncover their core message that will resonate strongest with your listening audience.

If you are a Chamber of Commerce, DDA, or Shop Local organization…
You will get 60 books to strengthen the quality of employees in your district, making your core businesses rock solid and recession-proof thus increasing your influence and the size of your district.

Plus, you get to choose from a vast array of training programs that will rock their worlds and make your businesses the envy of all the surrounding communities.  You can even ask me to show you how to plan Staff Meetings that people WANT to attend.

If you are a Trade Organization or Buying Group…
You get 60 books to help your members make hiring decisions and develop training programs that will turn them into the shining stars of your industry.  When they see how great your stores are doing, you will have other stores begging to join your proactive organization.

Plus, you get four hours of some of the best retail ideas on everything from Inventory Management to Customer Service to Pricing Strategies that put money in your members’ pockets (so that they can pay their dues on time.)

If you are an individual store…
You get 60 books to give away to all your business friends and family for Christmas.  You can even sell them in your store to get your money back if you want.

More importantly, you get four hours to pick my brain.  Use me to help train your staff on the kind of customer service that gets talked about.  Use me to help craft your marketing campaign into a traffic-driving force.  Use me to look over your financials and help you find lost profits and put them back in your pocket.  Use me to teach you how to make staff trainings fun again.

If you are a Nationally Syndicated Talk Show Host… (Stewart? Colbert? Kimmel? Dave? NPR?)
You get 60 business books that are soon to be the talk of the nation.  Heck, I’ll bring extra books so that you can hide one under every chair in the audience.

Plus, you will get a guest who is as comfortable behind a microphone as you are.  You get a savvy businessman who knows retail, has opinions, and is not afraid to share them.  Not only did I host my own radio show for three years, I have plenty of camera time sitting in the guest chair.  Plus, you will get top-notch ratings from the Jackson, Michigan market.

You buy 60 books and I’ll pay my own way to get there plus one night in a hotel*.  And you get to choose what business training you want for your purchase.

I have four full cartons of books ready and waiting to ship to the first four people/groups who contact me.  Send an email to phil@philsforum.com to set up your four hours of kick-ass, kick-starting presentations and trainings.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  If you want more than 60 books or more than 4 hours, I am more than willing to negotiate.  I will be happy to work with your schedule as much as possible.  Just remember that I have my own store to run, so we might both have to be flexible to schedule something.

*PPS This deal is good for USA travel only (unless you want to pay for the flight, too).

Trying Something New

I tried something new and I learned two things.

First, you should try something new more often.  It becomes less scary the more you do it and is rarely as hard as it seems.
Second, you can cut a sixty-minute presentation down to twenty minutes and still get the crowd fired up.

Let me explain…

The phone rang at 11:10am .  “Hi Phil, I got your name from Mindy at the Chamber.  I need a speaker for our luncheon at noon and she thought you might be flexible enough to make it.  Can you help me out?”


Sure.  What would you like me to talk about and how long do you want me to talk?


“Anything you would like.  You get twenty minutes. Lunch starts at noon.”

Give me twenty-four hours and that is a speaker’s dream.  Give me twenty four minutes and my obvious option was to drag out an old tried-but-true performance, dust it off and call it good.

Or I could try something new.

This group has heard me speak about the Toy House and about the importance of shopping local.  They didn’t need to be sold on me.  They needed to be sold on themselves.  Service organizations like this one have much more competition for membership than ever before.

What if I could give them a tool that would not only help them individually and with their own businesses, but could also help them as an organization?  What if I could do that in twenty minutes or less?

Why not?

All I was getting was a free lunch.  All they were expecting was a last-second speaker to fill 20 minutes of time, hopefully well.

I had just read Tim Miles’ post about the 6 Basic Questions to Build a Speech and knew I could only make one point.  I have always dreamed about being a TED presenter – they only get 20 minutes – so I figured this would be good training.

I printed a few handouts from my one to two hour Understanding Your Brand Workshop and headed out.

Surprisingly, when you take out all the extra stuff, you can get a single point across quite well in a short period of time.  Was it as effective as the full length workshop?  No.  In the full length workshop we all get to the finish line together.  Yesterday many of the participants did not finish.  But they all got a map that leads them to the finish.  For some people that is all they need.  And for this group, that was enough.

In some ways it was far more than they expected – short notice or not.

Yeah, trying new things can be fun.  Even in retail.  Do me a favor.  Try something new this coming week.  Even if it is something simple.  You’ll see two things immediately.

First, it won’t be as hard as you originally thought.
Second, your staff will be fired up with a new enthusiasm.

Gee, those two outcomes alone are worth it, don’t ya think?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  That something new could be a new service, a new product category, a new way to merchandise, a new social media, a new way of designing your ads, a new blog for your store, a new method of organizing your expense accounts, a new way to track gift cards, a new event for the store, a new sign, a new splash of paint on the wall, a new place for employees to take a break, a new blog to follow, a new form for charitable donations, a new uniform, a new phone message…  What else can you think of?

Being an Expert is Easy, Sharing is (not) Hard

You already are an expert.

According to the famous physicist, Neils Bohr, “An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.”

I take a more liberal approach.

An expert is someone who knows more than me on a given topic.

Most of your customers would agree. If you know more about a topic than they do, you are an expert to them. If it is a topic of which they would like to learn more, they will seek you out.

So accept the fact that you are an expert. The next step is to learn to share that expertise.

Here is a three-step process for learning how to share your expertise well:

  1. Boil down your ideas into two or three main points. Make them simple points that are easy to remember. Label each point with some catchy phrase or title.

  2. Find evidence to support each point. Reports, quotes, examples and especially anecdotes all work well for this.

  3. Choose products you sell to help make your points. Your products bring the points closer to home, help establish your position as the expert (you are walking the walk), and connect your expertise to your store.

Once you have done those three things, you can then choose the platform(s) you wish to use to share. Here are just some options you can use:

  • Facebook – The plus side is that you can use pictures, the downside is that you have to be brief and to the point.

  • Email Newsletters – A little more room to make your point.

  • Your Website – Give yourself a page on yor website just for sharing your expertise. It helps brand you as the expert in your field for your locals, and helps build trust with non-locals who have never heard of you till they clicked you in a search.

  • A Blog – WordPress and Google have blogs you can set up for free in seconds.

  • Youtube – Another free service, you can even post your videos to Facebook, your website and your blog.

  • Press Releases – Pass your information along to journalists and bloggers. Let them promote your expertise.

  • Speaking Engagements – Your local service groups (Lions Club, Rotary, Exchange Club, Kiwanis, etc) are always looking for speakers. Plus, most towns have women’s clubs, mother’s clubs, networking clubs, etc.

  • Classes in your store – Probably the easiest of all. Clear out a space in the store. Announce the topic and time. Share.

There are plenty of opportunities to share what you know. And share, you must. Sharing builds trust with your customers. Sharing makes your customers smarter and more loyal. Sharing creates opportunities to reach out to potential new customers.

Be the expert you already are. Be it willingly and generously. To paraphrase Carl Rogers, Who you are is good enough, if only you would be it openly.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Afraid to speak in public? Start simple. Practice your presentations by first giving them to your staff – a friendly crowd. First, you empower them with that knowledge so they can be experts, too. Second, they will be forgiving of your mistakes, but also quick to point them out, which will help you improve. Third, because of the familiarity, you will be less nervous.

Speaker for Hire

I was sitting next to my Pastor about to give my first ever sermon in front of the congregation and I had an entire butterfly garden enter my stomach.

It was a weird sensation.

I have stood up in front of 150 independent toy store owners – some with far more experience in the industry than me – to give a talk that was totally counter to anything they had ever heard.

I have stood up in a dining hall with 500 kids under the age of ten and got them to not only pay attention but learn a complicated song in under a minute.

I have picked up my guitar in a room full of amazing musicians and led people who had more talent in their left pinkie than I have in my whole body.

Never caused me more than a sickly moth or two.

The truth is, I am one of those people who loves to stand up and talk in front of crowds. Never been an issue or problem. None of those paralyzing fears that so many experience. And I don’t even have to picture anyone naked!

So you can imagine my surprise when a kaleidoscope of monarchs went crazy inside me. The hymns had been sung, the readings were done. All eyes were on me.

I stood at the pulpit, took a deep breath, looked around the sanctuary and realized I was back in my element. The garden closed, the monarchs went to sleep and the sermon went off without a hitch.

Some people find speaking to a group to be horribly distressful. For me it is one of my biggest eustresses. I love it. And according to those who have seen me, apparently I’m pretty good at it.

I just received my evaluation from Montcalm County. I gave two talks to a room of about 50 people, some who were coerced into attending. For each talk the Content was rated 4.75 out of 5 and the Delivery got a perfect 5!

At the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association my Pricing for Profit presentation in 2009 received a perfect 5.00 from the 135 people in that room. More importantly, many of those store owners are still thanking me for the info, telling me stories about how it has transformed their business and grown their profits.

Am I bragging? Sure.

But I do it with a point. I have found something at which I excel. It is something that fits my core values (Having Fun, Helping Others). And I want to do more of it.

I just revamped my Speaker for Hire page at www.PhilsForum.com with descriptions of all the talks I have previously given and would be happy to do again.

If you help organize speakers for your association or group, check out my list of topics and see if there is something there that fits. I promise you four things in every business talk I give.

  1. You will smile or laugh at least once

  2. You will learn something that you can apply to your business right away

  3. You will get professional handouts that remind you of everything I taught

  4. I will have the highest rated talk per dollar spent of any speaker you hire

Some people think I must not be very good because I do not charge the same rates as other professional speakers. I understand that. They charge what they charge because that is how they make a living. And they are worth every penny. I am worth just as much, too. But I am not doing this for the money. As cliche as it sounds, I do it for the fun. I do it because I know it will help.

Sure, you can simply download all the pdf’s from the Freebies section of my website and get all of my knowledge for free. But it is not quite the same as the live presentation.

Get in touch and tell me your time, date, topic and budget constraints. There is a pretty good chance we can work something out.

-Phil Wrzesinski

www.PhilsForum.com

Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!

Every business thinks they offer great customer service. Yet every one of you reading this has experienced lousy customer service, probably within the last week!

I think the problem is that we don’t have a definitive guide of what great customer service looks like.

Until now…

I also think great customer service isn’t enough. Just being great merely gets you a thanks from the customer (if that). It doesn’t move the needle towards referrals or word-of-mouth advertising. It doesn’t grow your business.

You give great customer service. She says Thanks. Transaction over.

We need to WOW her to get her to talk and get her to bring others to our store.

Check out my new eBook, Customer Service: From Weak to WOW! Like all of my eBooks, this download is FREE. The eBook takes you through 8 different interactions a customer has with your store and ranks the type of service she gets from Weak to WOW! so that you can see where you fit on the scale and where you need to improve.

Customer service in this country has been devalued because it has been so weak. We need to reverse that trend. Please download the eBook. Share it with your staff. Share it with your fellow business owners. Share it with your Chamber of Commerce, your DDA, your Shop Local program.

If we collectively raise the bar on what WOW customer service looks like, we make customer service an important element in the shopping equation once again.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you would like me to come to your town to do a one-hour presentation on this topic (or any other topic), send me an email. While I think the info looks good on paper, those who have seen the live presentation will tell you it is much more powerful in person.

Oops, My Fault

No, this is not a post about admitting your mistakes as a way of better customer service. I already covered that here.

This is about a mistake I made in marketing my marketing class.

Last night I gave a talk titled “Main Street Marketing on a Shoestring Budget” to a group in Ortonville, MI sponsored by the Ortonville DDA. The talk was marketed to the 90+ member DDA, the local Chamber, and every other business in town.

Ten people showed up.

Afterward the DDA Director came up to me and said, “Phil, you know a lot about marketing. Here is what I did… …What did I do wrong?”

And then the light bulb went off. Surprised that I didn’t get it before. But it was right there in my presentation, and it was something Roy Williams has said to me many times before.

It isn’t so much about who you reach as it is what you say.

Yes, she did a great job of getting the word out about my talk. The problem was, she used the wrong word.

No matter what type of marketing you are doing, the first, last, and most important element of your marketing effort is the MESSAGE.

And the most powerful message is one that speaks to the heart. Emotions. That’s what moves us to action. Raw, powerful emotions. Rarely do we act on pure logic. Rarely do we respond to facts and data. But when you speak to our heart, we can move mountains.

And if I’m going to be doing presentations on this stuff, I need to first teach it to the organizers so that they can use it to draw up the kind of crowds for which this info would be helpful.

So to those ten wonderful people who showed up last night – thank you! And to last night’s organizer, I’m sorry. That was my bad. I promise not to do it again.

-Phil

Help Me Choose A Workshop

At many conferences we have breakout sessions – three or four different topics and speakers from which you can choose.

I struggle with these because I usually want to attend more than one, and cloning has not reached the level to allow me that luxury. And trying to decide between one session and another is tough.

I need your feedback here…

I’m going to give you four options for sessions you could attend. For the sake of argument, let’s assume all the speakers are well-qualified to talk on their respective subjects and you can only attend one of those sessions.

Which session will you attend and why?

Session #1 – Marketing & Advertising on a Shoestring Budget
Learn the smartest ways to get the most out of your limited advertising resources. This class will show you how to use Social Media the right way, teach you new ways to market your business without spending a dime, how to get a guaranteed return on the money you do spend on advertising, and why you’re not getting the word-of-mouth you think you deserve (and how to change that). Every attendee will leave with at least four inexpensive ways to increase traffic and sales that they can implement right away.

Session #2 – Everyone has Customer Service, You Need Customer Delight
This session will show you how to train your staff to consistently give your customers far more than they expect. Topics covered include how to meet and greet your customers the right way, understanding the different customer temperaments, how to solve their problems, and how to finish each sale leaving the customer happier than when they came in. Each attendee will get a blueprint for training their staff including role-play examples and key phrases to avoid.

Session #3 – Knowing the Numbers, It’s Your Money After All
You can just hand over your financials to your accountant and hope for the best, or you can learn the numbers yourself and make them work for you. This class is for the financials novices who wish to learn simple ways to understand the financials behind their business. You will learn how to calculate important numbers like Cost of Goods Sold, Gross & Net Profit, and the many different ratios that banks use to determine if your business is growing or dying. When you finish this class, you’ll know exactly where your money is, what it is (or isn’t) doing for you and how to make it better.

Session #4 – Cash Flow Basics – How Smart Buyers Make More Money
When is a deal from your vendor too good to pass up? When is a discount not worth the loss of cash flow? How do you know when you have too much inventory? Too little? These and other questions will be answered in this buyer’s workshop including tools you can use to increase your cash flow and make you more money. You don’t need a point-of-sale system to be a better buyer. You just need to know these simple principles of buying that dramatically change your financial picture.

Which will you choose and why?

-Phil