Corporate Survival

The problem with most companies today is their employees see the people walking into their place of business or ordering on-line as JUST ANOTHER CUSTOMER. Companies forget how excited they were the day they had their first customer. After years of success, customers are taken for granted. Most of the people working for them weren’t around when they had their first customer. Most employees don’t really give much thought to the fact that customers pay their salaries along with paying for everything else.

One Word You Need to Ensure Your Success

In between the business methodologies of Total Quality Management to Business Process Reengineering (BPR), from Six Sigma to Lean Sigma, don't lose sight of some good “Old Words;” service, trust, respect, loyalty, diligence, fairness, and integrity will serve you well in your career. Those “Old Words” should never be overlooked in our quest for the latest and greatest technological business tool or management book.

See Them as an Invited Guest

Your customers are invited guests to your party and everyone they encounter in your company needs to assume the position of being “their host.” Customer service excellence has always been and will always be the most critical competitive advantage for any business. Your competitor can copy your store, warehouse, or facility design, your product mix and even your pricing … but you can make it where they will never be able to copy your incredible customer service.

Never Discount the Power of MOTIVATION

Recently, I heard a prominent speaker declare: “I think motivation is garbage.” She went on to say, “Motivation is never there when you need it. Ever, Ever, Ever!” She even said that we have all bought into this big lie that motivation really works. The speaker went on to explain her statement, but nothing she said changed my opinion of how TOTALLY wrong I think she is.

The Source of Knowledge is Experience

According to the Small Business Administration, there are 543,000 new businesses started every month, but only roughly 18 percent of them will ever succeed. The leading causes of small business failure are:

Time to Decide

I am of the opinion, that one of the most powerful words in the English language is “DECIDE.” You’ve heard the saying, “Life is not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice.” If you don’t like the way things are going, if you want to change your future, then you need to change your habits. You can either choose to do or not to do anything … YOU DECIDE. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it so profoundly: “The only person you are destined to become, is the person you DECIDE to be.”