For myself, who is a little further down the path of marriage, it reminded me of the importance of keeping focused on why I married my wife. All of the wonderful things she brings to my life that can easily get taken for granted in the day-to-day of our lives.

I myself have a good reminder of keeping focused on the wonder because of my children. Both of my sons tell me daily how excited they are for me to help them tie their shoes, tie a tie, ride a bike, and then the oldest (who is 8) hit me with a request to teach him how to drive. I guess he has long-term plans.

I came away though from the wedding with a thought that many of us start in our businesses as blissfully happy newlyweds. We are very excited about the future and the endless possibilities but may not recognize at first that the daily work we all have to do to make our work successful is not always glamorous or “fun.” We then get caught up in the day-to-day and we lose a little of that wonder we had in the beginning of our journey.

For managers of teams, the question is how do you keep that sense of wonder for yourself and your team? How do you build your days with endless possibilities instead of moving through routine checklists? How do you keep that “spark” going?

Employee retention and keeping your team engaged takes a few simple steps:

Communication

This is one of the most important things employees desire no matter what the size of the business. They want to know what is happening within the company, if progress being achieved (or not) as well as reinforcement of the company’s core values. Every time you speak with your team, express not only the company value but also their value to the company.

Potential for Advancement

Everyone likes to work in a business that is moving forward. Employees like to see others moving up into new roles or taking on more responsibility. This allows them to see it is possible for them as well.

Clear Expectations and Feedback

In my opinion, this is the biggest factor for having a company that is still “happy as newlyweds.” When you have employees who fully understand what is expected, taught how to execute the given tasks and then receive feedback to reinforce behavior, this leads to a successful and engaged workforce. Too many companies fall short investing in their employees with training and feedback. Too many just “tell and reprimand.”

Take time each day to reflect on why you started your company or the excitement you felt when you joined your company and make it a point to bring that enthusiasm to your team.

Successful businesses, just like marriages, work each day to share in their successes and are focus on working towards a common goal.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

So to all of you running a business, I say, “You are the message, stupid.”

We, as businesses and as people, must create our message to differentiate ourselves. One problem I see is that many people use technology to build walls around themselves and hide behind the technology instead of using technology to spread their message. For businesses, the question becomes: how do you use the technology at your disposal?

Technology has now brought us back to a time where we had to communicate with our customers. We had to appreciate each of our customers and could not take them for granted because our businesses were local and word would get out around town and affect your business one way or the other.

Today businesses deal with a consumer base that will consider traveling further to buy their product or can, with the touch of a mouse, buy their product online. That sense of local for many people is different today or may not exist. For businesses, this can be a dangerous audience to embrace. One potential pitfall is a feeling that you do not have to take care of each customer because the pool of customers is so large.

My caution to businesses is that not only do other businesses have the same technology to promote and reach out to this vast audience, but more importantly, these customers are using the same technology to reach out to their own large “social town” to share experiences, just as they did locally years ago.

Our customer service must change. It has to go back to the thought of being local where you never knew who would go talk about you well or not so you had to treat everyone well.

When I worked in hospitality in NYC, the owners were always waiting for the NY Times’s food critic to give you a positive review to help publicize your restaurant.  The owners would post pictures of the critic so the staff could be aware and let everyone know if the critic was there. Unfortunately the critic would dress up differently or send in friends so you would not be able to skew service differently than what regular customers would receive.

The reason why I focus on this was our owner was looking to find the important communicators to help spread the message. Today everyone who has a smart phone is a reporter, moviemaker and publisher.  You cannot decipher who has a lot of followers or is influential.  Even if you try to find out, many people hide online behind avatars or photos of objects so you will never know who is the influencer and who could go home and push out a message to their 1000 followers who read their opinions on food, customer service or business.

Anyone can take a quick video and post it online and link it to your businesses name for the next person who searches for you by name, service or location to view.

Technology is not the answer to your message.  It is a device or platform to share a message.

You are the message.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

It struck me that many companies use the wrong marketing “weapons” to get their message across.

I constantly receive questions from businesses on how to better communicate their message. The questions range from frequency to how to get it in front of as many people as possible, but here’s what they forget to focus on:

• ·What is the objective of the message?
• ·Who is the intended target?
• ·What is the “weapon” of choice to distribute?

Most marketing is still done in a mass media style push. It is trying to hit as many people as possible. Although it does hit its intended target, there is much collateral damage. Hitting people who do not want to hear from you with a message or attacking them with multiple messages from your marketing department can end up turning these people off to your brand even when they are in market for your products or services.

Let’s look at these three aspects of successful marketing

What is the objective?

Just like a military operation, you need to understand the objective. What are you trying to accomplish and what do you want your audience to do? Without a clear objective you are running marketing on hope. Be specific. Be clear on what you want to accomplish and it will be easier to achieve your goal. Small wins are better than a huge assault.

Who is the audience?

Too many times marketing is blasted to an entire database. I heard a quote the other day that people do not want email, they want “me”mail. So whom is the message designed for? Heads of a company? The marketing manager? The consumer? Each of these audiences need and deserve a different message designed for them. As consumers ourselves, we do not like being lumped into a group where all of us are treated as equals. We all like feeling special. Choose your special audience and send them a special message for best results.

What is the weapon of choice?

Not all means of communication are correct. Email blasts, TV commercials, radio and magazines each have their place, but many times the message is the same in all of these. In battle the sniper hones in on one target, follows them and, at the right time, delivers. The same thing should apply to your marketing. Choose the objective, locate the audience, design the message and choose the right delivery message for the audience. Small wins. One effective message is more impactful than 100 emails that have no effect. Remember that collateral damage has long-term implications

The beauty of the Internet and the availability of information at one time were wonderful, but we have gotten to a point where there is so much information at our fingertips and we are overwhelmed to the point of inaction. In order to stand out, you have to be that sniper, cutting through the cloud of information and deliver your message cleanly, and with impact.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

You are still marketing. You are still following a sales process. What has changed is that you now have a new medium to push out your message. I have previously discussed that if you do not have your message clearly defined you cannot craft an online message that ties into all of your traditional marketing. Your overall marketing becomes a patchwork of ads that do more to confuse your customers than add value each time they see your message.

I recommend that everyone who begins the digital journey should utilize someone to help guide him or her through the myriad of changes on the web. They need someone to help them understand the similarities and differences the web presents in terms of marketing or lead handling. One of the first things that new online marketers need to embrace is that we are using another company’s product (search engines) and there are inherent rules that need to be followed.

One of the questions we are constantly asked in terms of marketing your message is the age-old question of quality vs. quantity.

My answer has not changed. Context always is important. Marketing 101.

Here are the three things you need to ask yourself:

• What are you saying?
• Why are you saying it?
• What do you want your audience to do?

This seems simple, but it is even more important right now. There is such a glut of choices and options that people are looking for great content to engage with.

The answer of how much volume has changed since updates to Google for some because people gamed the system and just threw out volumes of content thinking this would work. It did to a degree. It may have gotten you to the top of Page One, but when someone read the content, was it impactful enough to get him or her to click or engage? Google has now forced the issue to make everyone focus is back on the basics of good quality content.

Your goal as a marketing manager is to create a message that can stand out because it is well thought out and fits with who you are as a company. Create as much great content that supports your message and, in turn, fill your sales pipeline with interested consumers.

One thing to remember is to utilize your social networks to amplify your message. Create a great message that people will want to share. If your content isn’t high quality, your network will tire of you asking them to put their reputation on the line by sharing substandard content.

Remember that quality content has always reigned supreme. It is even more necessary now.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

We live in an age of choice. We can go on the web and find multiple options for what we are looking for. As a consumer base, we have become more selective and demanding in what we are looking for or what we expect. Delivering just what we expect will not seal the deal for long-term loyalty; exceeding expectations keep people engaged.

In a previous article, Customer Service Is a Verb, we discussed ways to differentiate your business that sets you apart because so many companies are focused on just getting new business. What we will discuss now are a few small things that will stand out as HUGE to impact retention.

Four things to improve customer retention:

Be available.

I cannot tell you how many times I get frustrated by automated operators. “Press 2 for this” or “press 1 for that” and it takes you forever until you are just yelling at the phone “PLEASE LET ME SPEAK TO SOMEONE.”  When I called my new lawn person, I spoke to a person each time. Now I know you will say they are small so it does not apply to my business, but in reality, the majority of businesses are able to staff a person to answer phones.

Be knowledgeable.

Make sure that the person answering the phones has a working knowledge of what you do and, more importantly, who to channel the call to. I have been bounced around multiple times to different people at companies only to learn they cannot help me. This is a big miss step and poor impression of how you will take care of me in the future.

Be Responsible.

If something goes wrong, for whatever reason, take responsibility to make it right. Zappos has made a mark by not charging for return shipping. While other companies consider this a cost, Zappos looks at this as a way to retain customers. My lawn service made a mistake when trimming some ground cover and instead of waiting for us to find it (or maybe just hoping we didn’t), they went out and bought a new piece to replace it and let us know. That is reason enough for me to keep them.

Be appreciative.

Many businesses today get so caught up in the next sale that they forget to thank a new customer. I came home recently to a handwritten envelope with a thank you card inside to let me know how much they appreciated my business and, if I was satisfied, if I could recommend them. Nice touch asking for referral.

It seems so simple. Not one of these items seems hard to do, but I will tell you that by doing these four things, your company will stand out from your competitors.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

Why is this odd? New York is filled with actors. Let me explain.

I would ask them how often they auditioned or what was the last project they worked on and their response would be that they were taking classes or they were not ready yet or still working on their material. Now going to classes is important, as I had a vocal coach or an acting coach even though I was working, but their response was more of a reason why they were not working on getting a paying job or just getting out to perform.

The reason why I bring this up is that as you spoke more to this person, I came to realize that the person loved with the idea of being an actor versus the reality of what they had to do each and every day to become an actor.

I see the same thing today with businesses and their relationship with new media or new technology. They fall in love with the new hot service or idea at a conference or from an article they read and they rush back to their company saying, “We are now doing this,” or “This vendor is the best and our competition is using it so I just signed us up.”

While this may allow them to feel current or allow them to brag a bit at their next business or social gathering, in reality, they never take the time to examine if this service or product is right for their culture or business model. They fall in love with the idea, but not the reality of how this new service or product impacts their business.

Technology may be able to solve a lot of problems or make a business more effective, but not every piece of technology or service is right for everyone. You have to ask yourself if it fits in your culture, how it can help us, how will we implement it and at what cost.

The easy access to information and the ability for new trends to be pushed out to us, telling us we need it to maximize our potential can be detrimental if all we are doing is shopping to be in the “cool” club.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a business associate who told me, “Some of the best customers for our company were the ones we never took.” It took me a bit to understand that, but not all customers are right for your business. The same goes for new technology or services. Some of the best technology or services for your company will be the ones you don’t use.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

I have asked the question many times to audiences, “What do your potential customers see when they Google you?” Some of the audiences have done the research; others are unaware. I have also preached that businesses have an obligation to be involved with what they find and can actually impact what is written by customers.

The title of this article stems from a growing phenomenon in the industries I work in. What I am finding is that businesses are buying new technologies or signing up for the newest social media platform without understanding what to do with them. They think that showing up to the party is enough. They do not understand that getting to the party is just the beginning. It is the interaction you participate in at the party that creates the great experience. Do you remember being a wallflower and saying, “Wow that was a great time?” It’s just not the same as being an active participant.

The question is not how is Digital Marketing or Social Media selling more products or services, but it should be how are Digital Marketing and Social Media leveraging the experiences I am delivering for my customers. How are you guiding people through the cycle of Stimulus to Research to Interaction to the use of your product? Lastly, but really most importantly, how are you helping to encourage feedback?

I just finished reading Brian Solis’s sensational new book“What’s the Future of Business”in which he coins this point of impacting feedback as the “Ultimate” Moment of Truth. What your customers say about your service, product or experience of doing business with you will feed the Influence Pool for the next group doing research. I had always discussed this important step for businesses in my workshops but now, thanks to Brian, having a simple term helps convey the message.

There are some businesses that can alleviate the human factor, but still there will be feedback expressed. It is why we are fascinated by reviews. We desire feedback to make sure we are making the right decision. We have been trained to ask for comments from friends, family and now social circles. We don’t go to a movie without reading reviews so of course this is very important for bigger purchases.

One problem is that dealers and businesses join a review platform, get people to post and think that is enough. Maybe they respond to a review, but are they taking this information and going back to see how they can change the experience they delivered in the first place?

People will talk and there is nothing that you can do to prevent that. If you are invested in finding out not only what they are saying but, most importantly, how this feedback can improve your business, then you need to invest in tools so your team can inspect, review, plan actions and train so that you can continually refine the experience delivered.

Just having the technology is not enough. What is the experience you want them to have.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation.”

Although great customer service is a focus of every business, lack of focus in the execution of these activities will deliver something far below what management had planned. Most think of customer service as a thing but in reality it is, as listed above, a Series of Activities. Let’s see how you can improve your customer service training using this example.

Recently I had a bad customer service experience at a local restaurant chain when I was with my family.

Let me paint the picture: Saturday night and we wanted to try a new place to eat and Italian was the choice. Now I had been to this restaurant chain previously but not for a few years so I based my expectations on my previous experience.

The hostess was very pleasant and led us to our seats. The problem was the seats were way in the back of the restaurant and very dimly lit. My wife asked if we could move or turn the lights up but the hostess said she did not know. She never returned to tell us. As our waitress came up to greet us we asked if the lights could be turned up, she said she would go ask. She never came back either.

First point: Communication

No one is expecting everyone to be experts on all facets of your business but if there is a question or concern, ALL employees must be unified in helping to find a resolution. If your employees cannot answer a question that is fine but one must make sure that someone returns to explain a situation.

As we used my iPhone to read the menu, (and help the kids color with the crayons they gave them) a new waitress came up to get our orders. We told them our appetizers and the kids’ meals along with our drinks. A good 15 minutes went by and still no water, bread, etc. for the table. The first waitress returned but never addressed the lights, and asked if we were ready to order only for us to tell her our order was taken by another waitress. She said she would go find the order from the other waitress.

Second point: Teamwork

If you have your employees working as a team or you pass off a customer to another employee as they move through the sales process it is imperative that your team communicates with each other. If it were a pass through, then notes on the customer profile would help. If they are working as a front/back team there has to be a process of passing off information or else your team looks disorganized and the customer begins to lose faith that you will serve them properly.

Finally we got the food but the meal was mediocre at best. Some of it felt like it had been sitting and then reheated. The big mistake was that no one asked if anything was wrong when half full plates were cleared. As I asked for the check the second waitress said” no room for desert?” as if she was oblivious to the food not eaten. One would have expected a question about it. If you were confident your food is excellent, would it not seem odd that all plates were not finished?

Third point. Being Aware

Body language of customers, or tone of voice is very telling when dealing with your customers. Your team has to be aware of potential problems and bring them to the attention of management. Management has to create a culture where this is expected versus one where complaints are blamed on the messenger. I wonder how many problems could have been addressed while the customer was still on site versus letting them go and hope they were happy.

As we paid and left, all of the employees we passed smiled and thanked us as if everything was great. No one had any clue of what had happened or how we felt about our experience. So I posted a poor review and shame on me for not looking first but many others had the same experience.

Last point: Don’t Hide

Don’t assume all is well, get out and ask. If there is a problem fix it then, not after the fact. Today we are too connected to friends and others on line where a poor experience is posted online for all to see.

Customer service is an overused word but being aware of what you are trying to deliver and review each step for compliance by your team will help more positive reviews being broadcast instead of being checked off customers lists, never to return again.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Automotive Boot Camp in Philadelphia May 14-16th.

The answers were very pleasing.

• “You answer the phone.”
• “You are always available.”
• “You help me understand what you do.”
• “You never seemed satisfied with current results.”

As a service organization that is music to my ears.

We work very hard each day to achieve this customer satisfaction and I wanted to share how we are able to execute these results One of the first things we do when a client has signed on is to have a start-up call with their team. It is very important that you have the person who signs the check on the call because they do not have an understanding of what they are paying for or the value of what you are delivering, then later on you can fall prey to being seen as a line item that can easily be cut.

During this start-up call, we walk them through a shorter summary of our initial goals and recommendations for their company to outline our work to those who may not have been on the initial sales call. We want everyone to be clear of our starting point. We have the members of our team who have worked with the potential client from day one on the phones so our customers begin to understand right from the beginning that our whole team is available to help them achieve their results.

Steps for a great start-up call

Step 1: Conduct and present a formal assessment of the client.

Documenting and reviewing the initial assessment of the client is very important because it shows where you began. By doing so, you have clear tangible numbers that you can compare your progress to each month or quarter. Without it, your effectiveness is diluted and left to fading memories.

Step 2: Be specific in what will happen over next few months.

We discuss the workflow we will use as a framework for our monthly tasks for the next three months. Do not go further than that time period for now. People cannot remember or take in more that that timeframe. Explaining what is going to happen will give the customer comfort in a schedule.

By doing this you also leave nothing to the imagination. It removes the unwanted response, “I did not understand that is what you wanted.”

Step 3: Make sure you tell them what is expected from them.

Every successful service provider needs interaction from the client. In our case it is passwords and logins to accounts like Google Analytics, Social Media sites, business listing sites, etc. We also lay out items we will need from them each month such as events they may be doing, specials they are running, traditional ads they run, etc.

Step 4: Communications

This may be the most important step for long-term success. How often do you speak to your client? For our company we have implemented a weekly call strategy for most of our clients. This has been the end result of trying many different ways over the last 3 years.

My recommendation is to schedule the call. Do not leave it to just call the client when you have time. Everyone is busy but if you set a time each week, then it is on everyone’s calendar and is looked at as important.

I also recommend that the decision maker be on at least every quarterly call if they cannot make at least the monthly call.  Remember these are set times where the account is discussed but we stress to all of our clients that we are available at all times if they need us.

By focusing on making sure your clients understand what you do for them, but communicating at set intervals they will feel that you view the relationship as a partnership, not just a number.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Innovative Dealer Summit in Denver Colorado, March 19th and 20th.

Look at your team. Let me describe one of your members and see if you can spot them.

They are not the most vocal of the group. They are on time, they complete their work correctly they are self-managed and self-motivated. They seem to be well-grounded and well-liked amongst co-workers.

And now let me tell you what you do- you take them for granted.

I am pointing this out because it has happened to me.

For anyone who is managing a team of people, we tend to focus on two groups of people: the needy superstars as well as the low performers.

The first group, we need to continue to refocus or listen to the drama in order to keep them performing. Top performers are results driven and move through the world at a high level and need reassurance as well as someone to help keep them in their lane

The second group is where a lot of manager’s focus because they feel if they can get this group performing it will help the overall group. In my opinion this is a miscalculation of your time. You need to dedicate the correct time to retrain this group but many of these people will not be able to do the job and they must be dealt with according to your performance policy.

The one person who gets lost in this shuffle is the top performer who does not need constant handholding. They deliver results on time and correctly, they are process driven, organized, ask for things when relevant and usually fly under the radar.

In meetings they rarely offer opinions because the more vocal group always does.

If this person is familiar to you I want to stress that you need to adjust how you deal with them or else run the risk of losing performance.

All of us react at times like children. We like getting feedback when things are good, so we repeat that behavior, but also kids will end up doing something incorrectly just to have your attention. Remember any feedback in a child’s mind is attention and it registers as something they want more of in the future.

Same for this quiet performer. I am not saying they will tank their performance to get your attention but you run the risk of them not feeling appreciated or noticed and then results will slip a bit. It may not be a conscious decision.

These individuals are most likely your best trainers. They have a sense of how to break things down into simple pieces and can explain to others what they do.

Having these people sitting at the table when discussing process or the pulse of the organization is invaluable. But again, many times we look past them because they are not in our face demanding attention or their lack of performance is demanding attention.

Here are some tips for maximizing these employees:

• Create a monthly roundtable or lunch where this employee is included with other top employees to discuss what they see going on in the company.
• Rely on them to create processes for their department and then make sure to point out to the team their work.
• Put them in a position at team meetings to lead discussions.
• Discuss the possibility of them handling the training of new employees in their department.

All of these points will help maximize this team member’s involvement as well as showing them that you value their work and effort.

Efficiency is a great thing but can also lull you to sleep. Make sure you are not taking your most effective workers for granted.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Innovative Dealer Summit in Denver Colorado, March 19th and 20th.