As a long suffering Tiger fan, it’s an almost surreal situation that I’m trying to enjoy while waiting to see who’s going to pull the ball away from us while we’re trying to kick…!  I was at the 5th down game (he didn’t make it in even with the extra down!) and I saw every play of the ‘Kick’ and the Tyus Edney games, so my skepticism has firm roots.

Whether they win or lose tomorrow, it’s been a lot of fun.  I would love to see them get past the Sooners – here’s hoping they do!!!

Shawn Kinkade   www.aspirekc.comSimilar Posts:

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Overall it was extremely impressive and I think everyone should be really excited about the potential for downtown Kansas City.  They are truly building a top notch destination that everyone is going to enjoy and be proud of.  There’s going to be a really interesting mix of events, venues and destinations that should make it a fun place to visit often.

The event was setup through the American Club Association - a networking group that I’m in, and it was well done, with over 200 members and guests checking out the scene.

After the tour we went next door to the Sports Bar McFadden’s for a late dinner.  This is another good concept that is going to be extremely popular, especially during events like the Big 12 tournament! 

During dinner, the one thing that stood out – not as a big deal, but enough to generate some discussion, was the somewhat sullen attitude of our server for dinner.  She was professional and did the minimum of what she needed to do but she never smiled and never engaged us in any way.

Contrast that to a fantastic, new, high energy venue that already had everyone talking and ready to enjoy themselves.

Customer Service is hard.  It’s hard to do well and it’s even harder to instill and manage in people that work for you.

Customer Service is critical.  We saw a lot of amazing things, but what did we talk about for several minutes on the ride home?  Our glum server that really didn’t want to be working tonight.

As a business owner – assuming you have customers (if not you have other issues) you have several chances to make that interaction memorable…or several chances to make it forgettable or even unpleasant.

Happy customers tell other people good things about you.

Unhappy customers tell even more people bad things about you.

Here are some thoughts on things you can do to improve your Customer’s Experience and make it memorable – for the right reasons!

1. Identify and script your customer touch points.  If you want to set a consistent impression for customers calling your business, write down what you want people to say and make sure that anyone that answers the phone knows the drill.  Keep it simple, sincere and congruent to your companies values.
2. Brainstorm potential occurrences or events ahead of time and draft up policies to handle those situations.  If you’re temporarily out of widgets, make sure there’s a consistent and clear message delivered to those customers that want widgets.
3. Hire for attitude, train for aptitude.  If you have someone whose job is to interact regularly with customers, make sure they like to talk to people and enjoy being around people.  It takes time and more extensive interviewing techniques to figure that sort of thing out, but it’s well worth it in the long run.
4. Compensate for customer satisfaction.  In food service operations this is generally taken care of by customer tipping, but the same type of approach can be implemented in any operation if you can find a way to reasonably measure customer satisfaction (or dis-satisfaction).

It was a memorable evening, but once the shiny newness wears off, customers will need a reason to come back and visit and that’s where the interactions with employees can make a huge difference.

Do you have any stories or thoughts on great Customer Service?  Share them here.

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With that in mind, as a business owner I’ve got a different perspective than I would have had in previous years.  Here are some of the things I’m thankful for now:

1. My clients:  I really enjoy and appreciate working with people that are smart, interested in learning new things and trying to accomplish big things.  My clients all have these characteristics and more!  This was why I wanted to get into this business and it’s been great.  The next step is to get more great clients like the ones I’ve got now…!
2. Freedom:  I’m probably working as many or more hours than I’ve worked in the past (and in consulting you work some long hours) but I’ve got the flexibility to set my schedule and my priorities.  If I need to coach Connor’s soccer team at 4:30 on Thursday – that’s up to me…and only me!  I love being able to go to the gym on a regular basis during the day just because I can fit it into my schedule.
3. Challenges and creativity:  There’s a lot of things you have to do when you’re the only one wearing all the hats.  Although I’m not a big fan of the bookkeeping and accounting, I have found out that I enjoy the marketing side of things.  I enjoy writing this blog.  I enjoy creating flyers or web pages and although I’ve got a long, long way to go before I’m really good at it, it’s been a blast to learn new things!  I’ll make mistakes along the way, but they are my mistakes and I learn from them and move on.
4. My Family:  I’m extremely lucky to have a great wife with a successful career that allows me the time and the financial means to get a start-up business off the ground.  It hasn’t been easy, but she has really stepped up and made it work.
5. To Live here and now:  There are lots of terrible things going on in the world today (just watch the news – which seems to revel in fear and bad news).  But this is also the most amazing time in terms of great things that are achieved almost every day.  Look at the advances in technology, medicine, education…the list goes on and on.  We are living things that people couldn’t even imagine 30 years ago.  Yes these are ‘interesting times’, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything!

What are you thankful for?  What do you love about your business?  About your life?  Share it here or share it with your loved ones, but make sure you spend at least a little post-turkey time thinking about it!

So with that, I’d like to leave you with Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  I know this isn’t a turkey, but it is a funny bird…!

Shawn Kinkade  www.aspirekc.comSimilar Posts:

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In the E-Myth Revisted, Michael Gerber starts out his book with the following:

The E-myth is the myth of the entrepreneur.  It runs deep in this county and rings of the heroic.

Picture the typical entrepreneur and Herculean pictures come to mind: a man or woman standing alone, wind-blown against the elements, bravely defying insurmountable odds, climbing sheer faces of treacherous rock – all to realize the dream of creating a business of one’s own.

…Well, while there are such people, my experience tells me they are rare.

Gerber originally wrote this well before the dot.com boom (and bust), but the Silicon Valley mystique only adds to the myth.

The thing is…it’s not true.  There are definitely people out there that fit the descriptions above, but 95% or more of business owners and entrepreneurs are down to earth, regular people that like what they do and want to make a business out of it.

Another pervasive myth that’s in the same ballpark, especially since the dot.com era is that all you need to make untold $$$ Millions is a “Great Idea”. 

The problem with this Myth (besides not being true) is that it puts a huge amount of pressure on anyone that wants to start a business (or even an existing business owner that wants to create a new product or market).

I just started reading a book by Rob Adams called:  A good hard kick in the ass  Eye catching title aside, so far it’s a good read addressed to Technology Start-up entrepreneurs clarifying what it takes to create a successful business.

Rob runs a Venture Capital incubation firm in Austin Texas and in his qualified opinion, a “Great Idea” isn’t the key to next great business.  In fact his opinion is that if you’re too focused on your idea you are doomed to fail.

The title of the first chapter is:  “Good ideas are a dime a dozen” and he explains in very clear terms that it’s unlikely that you have a unique idea (just do a search on the internet for almost anything) and that being first to market isn’t really important either.

What is important?  A strong team executing against sound fundamental business practices.

This came up in discussion at a meeting I was at this morning.  A business broker in the group had a great example of a guy that had invented a Tree Straightener – a device or process to straighten trees that presumably are bent in unseemly ways.  The inventor wanted to cash in on his idea, but over the course of several years had only managed a few thousand dollars in revenue.  There was no execution and no strong fundamentals for the product.  The idea as a business is currently not worth anything.

So if you’re thinking of starting a business, or adding something new to your product line, don’t worry about the idea, instead worry about the value proposition. 

• Does this solve something the marketplace needs? 
• Does this supercede existing solutions that are currently being used (i.e. low tech or otherwise)?  (hint – if the answer is no, then there probably isn’t a burning need for the solution).
• Is the market for this solution large enough to make it worthwhile to pursue?
• Do you have the skills or a team with the skills to properly pursue the idea?

Despite the vision of the IDEA and the ENTREPRENEUR success still primarily boils down to hard work and fundamentals.

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

Thomas Jefferson

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Anyway, we were there to see Avenue Q.  It’s a Tony winning Broadway musical that mixes puppets with live action actors…somewhat similar to Sesame Street – for adults!

It’s a little unusual, especially during the puppet on puppet scenes…but it’s really funny!

From the Broadway website:

AVENUE Q is the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. He soon discovers that the only neighborhood in his price range is Avenue Q; still, the neighbors seem nice. There’s Brian the out-of-work comedian and his therapist fianceé Christmas Eve; Nicky the good-hearted slacker and his roommate Rod — a Republican investment banker who seems to have some sort of secret; an Internet addict called Trekkie Monster; and a very cute kindergarten teaching assistant named Kate. And would you believe the building’s superintendent is Gary Coleman?!? (Yes, that Gary Coleman.) Together, Princeton and his newfound friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life.

There are a lot of life lessons covered in this fairly short show, here are a few that I thought were especially good!

1. The opening song is “What do you do with a BA in English”.  The lead character is a very bright and idealistic young puppet that soon realizes that academics don’t exactly prepare you for the real world.

2. It’s very important to find your purpose…or the purpose of your business.  You will drift, not be productive and generally be unhappy without knowing what your doing or why.

3. Everyone at some point in time really wishes they could go back to when they were in college.

4. When you give something to someone in need, you will feel great about yourself and gain much, much more than you gave.

5. Even though life can be difficult, it’s best not to get too hung up on it, it’s only ‘For Now’ and you can always change it later…!

Great show and I would highly recommend it to anyone that hasn’t seen it.

 Shawn Kinkade   www.aspirekc.com

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