The core product your service business has is the core skills of your people. You sell expertise and create extra value by continually uncovering your customer’s wants, studying your customer trends and presenting your offering in such a way that it helps your customers with their problems and business success. The total experience with your firm has to be very impactful. In order to do all of that, your people need to be skilled ambassadors of your offering. They can understand it, articulate it, and can carry it out in every customer interaction. Our research indicates that few individuals, let alone technical associates who aren’t wired to be people influencers, can do it effectively.

In earlier Mentors, we revealed that those service firms that are seen by their customers as trusted advisors are grabbing share, improving margins and holding on to their client base much better than the average service company. How does any firm or leader create an environment and organization around being trusted advisors when the organization is designed and structured to be about technical competence and what the owners want (which is usually financial growth)? There is nothing wrong with doing that, except we get what we design… which are policies that support that design and are incongruent, and people who are technically competent but not necessarily people oriented.

Being a trusted advisor, studying a client’s business trends, offering a service that nails the real issues a client has, and being an impactful, skilled ambassador of the offering, means you need to be people and client oriented.

Too many technical employees are job focused, not people oriented. They’re not engaged (only 37% are engaged), nor are they success oriented. Eventually, success oriented people learn that it isn’t about what life is dishing out but what they’re doing to cope, adapt, learn and get better. They take responsibility for their success. They keep refining all parts of their character to become attractive to the marketplace. Success is something they attract by continually working on personal and business development.

When you are NOT success oriented, you are NOT:
• capable of growing
• adapting to change
• seeing others point of view
• listening well
• communicating in an engaging way
• focused on managing your own attitude
• building a success philosophy that shapes your life and your actions and behaviour every day

This shows up with apparent indifference to client needs and a focus on working for the weekends. Successful trusted advisors make a few practical, client oriented choices every day, they feel good about themselves, and have enough self-worth to hide their technical arrogance when dealing with others. They seek out ways to build their self confidence, courage, and creativity to be enterprising enough to relate to and assist their customers. They study the industry and become prepared and resourceful for their marketplace. Their earnings reflect their value in the marketplace.

Big Questions:

• What are you doing to create an environment of success? Are you encouraging and providing personal development for your people? If you aren’t, it tells you that your business design is about technical competence and improving productivity and winning growth in this demanding market is going to be very difficult.
• What are you doing to expand your people’s comfort zone? If you are seeking out bigger deals and higher value projects, want to go deeper into your customer’s organization, then unless you expand your people’s growth, including their personal growth it isn’t going to happen easily, if at all. Building skills in others can’t be just lip service. Make it a priority in 2016.
• What are you doing to reward :client satisfaction levels, marketing to existing to clients, developing business development (sales) skills, and training and coaching your team in communications and human (not just technical) relations skills?

Your company can make as much money through sharing and development of skills as easily as living off them. It doesn’t happen naturally – you must manage it.

Have a great week!

Kevin D. Crone
Chairman
Dale Carnegie Business Group
kdcrone@dalecarnegie.ca
(905) 826-7300 / 1-800-361-2032
www.dalecarnegie.ca

Differentiate yourself and your business by becoming a trusted advisor to your clients.

Program Objectives:

• Build trust and rapport with clients in your initial conversations.
• Have essential business conversations with clients to position you as a Trusted Business Advisor.
• Create high value collaborative relationships with internal and external clients.
• Position yourself as a trusted advisor who creates value.

COMPLIMENTARY MEETING!

Become a Trusted Advisor (9:00 am – 11:00 am)

Cambridge/Kitchener: Wednesday, January 27th – Four Points by Sheraton – Cambridge Kitchener, 210 Preston Parkway

Burlington: Tuesday, February 23rd – Halton Hive, 901 Guelph Line

Questions? Please Contact Karin Batev: 905-617-7542 or Troy Treleaven: 1-888-850-1849 ext. 101