Posts Tagged ‘Success’
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
The very word “success” conjures up different images and different feelings for different people and rightfully so. It is a highly personal concept. Success for one person is very different than success for someone else. Any study examining successful salespeople will conclude that they come from different backgrounds, have various levels of education. However, those same studies show that there are some qualities that successful salespeople have in common. One of those qualities is their need to achieve excellence.
Successful salespeople have high expectations of themselves and they set high goals. Goals help you to identify what is important to you. They help establish priorities and balance. Goals provide you with a process to most effectively plan the realization of your life’s dreams. They enhance achievement, add meaning to life, and often provide much needed reminders about things you should be doing. Another success quality is positive self-image. Though you may be unaware of it, you possess a mental picture of yourself. Further, you think and perform exactly like the type of person you visualize yourself to be. A positive self-image, a positive picture of you, is a critical and necessary ingredient to success in sales.
If your image of yourself is positive, skilled, knowledgeable, and able to communicate in terms that make people want to do business with you, then chances are good that your behaviors will be consistent with success. If you doubt your ability or lack confidence, then chances are that your behavior will create doubt in the minds of potential customers. If you want to improve your level of success, begin by improving the way you think. Simply put: to have you must become. You cannot perform consistently when you have a conflict with your basic self-image.
Knowledge will also be an important cornerstone of your success. You will want to be able to position your product or service for maximum competitive advantage. You must be informed and knowledgeable in numerous areas: product knowledge, general knowledge, industry knowledge, competition, skills knowledge, and self-knowledge.
Another quality of successful salespeople is their exceptional ability to communicate. Effective sales interactions focus on the customer’s needs. Sales are made because the customer clearly understands how his or her needs are going to be met. Your ability to understand what the customer’s needs are and how and why they feel the way they do, will enable you to tailor your process to your customer. The ability to ask the right questions is also very important. Listening skills are critical. Knowing when and how to respond to the questions and needs of each customer will directly affect your success. Your ability to understand and apply the basic principles of effective communication will directly influence your sales performance.
Preparation and attention to detail can also help you to achieve higher levels of success in today’s competitive environment. Proper planning prevents poor performance. Be proactive rather than reactive. Most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. If you want to maximize your efforts, develop a strategy for every sales call. Thorough and precise planning makes prospects feel like they are dealing with a professional. Generally, successful salespeople have many more failures than unsuccessful salespeople. The difference is that successful salespeople refuse to give up. They keep trying. They know why they are good and they are committed to getting better!
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/ or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: communication, planning, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Sales, self-image, Success
Posted in Sales | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
“Success is determined by our willingness to achieve and the spirit upon which we assume risk and responsibility.” Jan DeLory
If you read this quote and focus on the words that were selected, it packs quite a powerful punch. Success is defined in very individual and personal ways. Some people define success financially, some by the success of their children, some by professional title and status, and some by material items such as the size of the house or the brand of the car sitting in the driveway. How you define success is important to you and to you alone.
However, success by whatever definition is often elusive because of our ‘willingness to achieve.’ How many times have you heard a team member, an employee, family member, or friend say they wanted to achieve something: make more money, buy a new car, earn a promotion, etc., and in subsequent conversations they share their unending frustrations about why they are not accomplishing what they want. Sometimes our desire to achieve something far out weighs our willingness to achieve it. Willingness to achieve means doing what is necessary and having the appropriate attitudes to drive the required activity. Developing and maintaining appropriate attitudes takes courage, the courage to think and behave differently in order to achieve different results. Creating new habits of thought that link directly to desired results takes commitment that can’t waiver when challenges present themselves. Achievement worth having will take extra effort and dedication to the outcome—true success is never easy.
Do you have the spirit to assume the risk and responsibility for your success? Are you confident enough in what you want to achieve that you can say with confidence that you will take personal responsibility and face the risks of success head on? When working with people, one of my biggest frustrations is what I call the “success shell game.” Just like the street game where the shells are moved around in a random pattern for the person to identify which shell the pea is under, many individuals who find success elusive, are just moving the shells of their life around and around. In this case, each shell represents an outside force or circumstance which they believe is the reason for lack of results.
I couldn’t do it because …
It didn’t happen because …
It would have happened if only …
The truth of matter is that most times the obstacle lies deep within us. In the equation of success the only variable you can control with 100% certainty is you.
Most people know Oprah as one of the most iconic faces on TV as well as one of the richest and most successful women in the world. Oprah faced a hard road to get to that position. She endured a rough and often abusive childhood as well as numerous career setbacks including being fired from her job as a television reporter because she was “unfit for TV.” Stephen Spielberg’s name is synonymous with big budget. He was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film, and Television three times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to become a director before finishing. Thirty-five years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and earn his BA. Finally, Winston Churchill, a Nobel Prize winner, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasn’t always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school, he faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62.
These are just three examples of individuals who wanted to achieve success and they had the courage, the willingness, and the spirit to do what it takes to make it happen. They did not let outside circumstances or obstacles stop them, and they refused to let their own attitude be the biggest obstacles of all.
Your success is linked to your attitude. Do you have the courage to do what is necessary to succeed?
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/ or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: attitude, courage, oprah, resource associates corp, stephen spielberg, succeed, Success, winston churchill
Posted in Attitudes, Succession | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Change in recent years has created far-reaching implications for anyone in the sales field. Globalization, technology, universal access to information, and the recent economy have changed everything. If you want to succeed in this turbulent arena, you will have to be more knowledgeable, more responsive, and easier to do business with than ever before.
You will have to do some of the things you already do, but you’ll have to do them better. You’ll have to do some things differently. You may even have to learn some new skills and techniques. Whether you are selling a product or service; whether you represent a well-known, established company or a brand new start-up; one fact remains clear: it is unlikely that you will maintain a competitive advantage unless you continue to improve your ability to attract and keep customers. Chances are if you continue doing things the way you have always done them, you will lose market share instead of gaining it. You are the catalyst for improving your results. Your success and the success of your company depend upon your ability to reinvent yourself and your processes and apply them for improved results.
The key to everything is action. All the knowledge in the world is of little value unless it is put to use. Knowledge is not power, applied knowledge is power. Excelling in a sales profession means never accepting less than the best … from life and from you. Excellence is not a position. Excellence in sales means being the best you can be. It’s a continuous process of stretching yourself, your abilities and your skills. You are the critical factor in reaching higher levels of success. The road to success is always under construction. There are always improvements to be made.
In today’s competitive environment, sales represent the critical cog in the success of any operation: revenue generation. Sales is the lubricant for the wheels of all business. It is the link between the production of all products and services and the consumption of all products and services. All business is sales driven.
Whether you call customers “accounts, clients, patients or members,” in sales terms they are customers. Regardless of what your organizational term is, you need them to keep you in business. In the book, Thriving on Chaos, Tom Peters suggests that professional salespeople are at the heart of business and that for a business to survive and succeed, extensive development of salespeople is essential.
A top IBM sales executive once said it very simply, “If they don’t buy you, they sure aren’t going to buy whatever else you’re selling.” There is a great deal of wisdom expressed in that opinion. Truly successful salespeople are never satisfied. They are constantly striving to improve their prospecting skills, their presentation and their customer base. Success belongs to those who refuse to be satisfied with the status quo. “I am doing okay,” may well be the four most dangerous words in a salesperson’s vocabulary. Satisfaction with the status quo is one of the greatest deterrents to achieving success. Preparation for success begins with your commitment to learning what you need to learn and doing what you need to do.
You are the cornerstone of your success. Innovative ideas and finely developed skills are required to realize that success. You must continuously strive to develop skills that are effective in today’s complex environment. Focus on improvement and excellence. Satisfaction with the status quo has no place in the world of sales today. Remember, it is better to dare mighty deeds than to live a life of quiet desperation and wonder what might have been.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses accelerate results through sales development and sales coaching. For information go to www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: applied knowledge, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Sales, status quo, Success, thriving on chaos, Tom Peters
Posted in Sales | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
Innovation has become a popular topic in business over the last several years. However many companies confuse improvement with innovation and they are not one in the same.
Improvement is evolutionary where innovation is revolutionary. “Innovation is about creating breakaway differentiation, it’s about creating superior economic returns and it’s about creating what author Geoffrey Moore describes, as ‘an outcome competitors are either unable or unwilling to match’.” (Peter Lefler founder of The Spruance Group)
In order for a company to achieve innovative ideas the company needs to foster a culture of personal innovation. Every employee, team member, or contributor within your organization can enable innovation. They are living every process, talking with every customer, working on every production line, so they know very clearly what works well and what does not work. And, if asked they can tell the organization how it can be done better! The question becomes what process does your management team have in place to ask your employees what they believe the organization can do better?
Innovative opportunities are constantly squelched by poor organizational goal definition, poor alignment of actions to goals, poor participation in teams, poor monitoring of results, and poor communication as well as access to information. Help your people be part of the solution and contribute to a higher level of organizational success.
In a recent project with an insurance company, a cross functional team was brought together to evaluate, rework and present a low cost, no cost solution to shorten their policy approval process which was currently 13 days. They knew the industry average was 12 days. The team worked together for five days. By Friday afternoon the team was presenting to management a no-cost, reworked process taking the existing process of 13 days down to three days. Once the team was given the objectives they went to work and as a team saved the organization 10 days and a significant amount of money. They did not just present improvement … they innovated the process.
Allowing your employees to contribute means they are participating and taking responsibility for accomplishing goals. It’s important for each team member to have a clear understanding of his/her part in helping the team accomplish its goals. Utilizing employees with different strengths creates high performing and innovative teams. The key to employee contribution and innovation is in creating a culture in which people are encouraged to challenge, question, and try new things.
Creating an innovative culture is not a switch that can be flipped overnight. There may be resistance at first because changing a culture is never easy. However, in this case the change and the results are worth it. Communicate the organization’s goal and objectives and communicate the details of those goals frequently. Put a process in place that offers a safe way for employees to share ideas for improvement and innovation and always provide feedback. Establish cross-functional teams to evaluate important business processes and listen intently to what they have to say. If management stays committed to the cultural change, you will see the insecurity and resistance dissipate fostering some of the best innovate and revolutionary ideas your company may ever have seen.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve sustainable results through management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For information on creating a leadership succession plan visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: communication, contribution, improvement, innovation, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, revolutionary, Success
Posted in Business Management, Communications | No Comments »
Friday, August 20th, 2010
If you Google the word entrepreneur, you will find a number of definitions which will include some version of the phrase “a person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.” Albeit this definition is tactically accurate, I believe the true essence of an entrepreneur is much more. An entrepreneur is an individual who has a dream, a vision, a purpose, and is committed to make it happen!
It all starts with a dream and an intense desire to build something of value. Many people dream about inventing something, seeing the world change based on their efforts, or building a successful business around their craft, talent, or expertise. These dreams are vital to the strength and success of the United States. Over 90% of businesses in the United States are defined as small businesses and employ less than 99 people. Many of these small businesses started with a tiny seed planted by an emerging entrepreneur. What have you dreamt would be your gift to the world? What inspires you the most? What are you naturally (skills, abilities, and gifts) good at? Could your dream become a viable business? What action have you taken?
In addition to the dream, an entrepreneur needs to have a clear and concise vision of what the business will look like. What service or product will it provide and to what customer base? Equally as important as identifying the product or service is identifying the measurable value the product or service will bring to the customers served. Knowing that RAC strives to “be the world class leader in the learning and development field, help organizations develop a competitive edge, improve the quality of lives and create a better today and tomorrow” keeps our company focused on success and growth for the right reasons.
A successful entrepreneur must also have a purpose. Being in business for the sake of being in business, for the sake of making money, or for the sake of “getting out of corporate” is not enough. Purpose fuels the drive necessary to make success happen and to make it meaningful. What are you passionate about? What do you strongly believe in? Are your passions and beliefs being met in your current role, and are you truly satisfied? Be honest with yourself! Now is the time to really identify your purpose and assess whether or not you are settling or thriving. As British author, Rose Tremain said, “Life is not a dress rehearsal.” We only get one shot to fulfill our dreams, vision, and purpose. What is currently standing in the way of you having your own successful business? Given your talents, passions, and values how could you become a viable resource and contribute to others?
80% of people who say they want to be in their own business are daydreaming. Only 20% actually take action and do what is necessary to make it happen. Your level of success is entirely your choice. As Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, says “It is every individual’s choice. You can choose to live at a level of survival, a level of success, or a level of significance.” Will your significance be achieved by serving others through your own business? Are you one of the 20% who will actually take action and accomplish success through entrepreneurship?
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses and individuals achieve high levels of excellence and success. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: contribution, entrepreneur, Google, Purpose, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Success, United States
Posted in Entrepreneurial Leadership | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
There continues to be a great deal of focus on organizational culture and environment. Whether you are focusing on that issue for the first time or whether you are looking at changing or improving an existing culture, it may be wise to remember that, like the long journey which begins with one step, an organizational culture is the cumulative effect of individual attitudes, values, and standards. Changing or improving the culture begins with a focus on the individual.
 How you genuinely feel about yourself, your worth, and the worth of others greatly influences everything you do and the results you achieve. How the people in your organization feel about themselves, their worth, and the worth of others will affect their achievements and the culture of the organization. Goal setting is a process that creates an environment in which people want to succeed and are recognized and rewarded for achievement. Another tool that can positively influence growth is affirmations. An affirmation is a statement that reinforces what you believe to be true. You use affirmations every day, both in thought and conversation. These are often ideas you have taken from some other source—quotations, scripture, and family sayings—which reinforce your values.
Such borrowed expressions only become effective affirmations when they correspond with your value system and internal beliefs. Once accepted and internalized, they lose their borrowed qualities and become part of you. The power of affirmations can be best recognized when we realize that the mind doesn’t know the difference between real and imagined. For example, suppose late at night, you imagine there is a prowler in your home. Are you less frightened than if you knew there was a prowler in your home? Certainly not. You are afraid because you imagine a fearful situation.
The use of affirmations to reinforce growth and improve conditions is an application of the same principle. Through the use of affirmations, you begin to imagine that you possess those qualities and skills that you want to develop more. You begin to visualize yourself acting and behaving in a manner consistent with your goals. As your new image becomes clearer, the behavior is easier. The use of affirmations is also an effective management tool. By affirming certain characteristics and behaviors and helping others to develop affirmations, you can enhance growth and development throughout the organization.
Affirmations should have the following qualities: they should be positive, stated in the first person singular, should be within the realm of capacity to believe, and should be directly related to your goals. Affirmations should also employ the power of spaced repetition. By repeating affirmations over and over, day after day, these positive thoughts begin to affect the subconscious mind and influence behavior. If, at first, affirmations seem difficult to compose and use daily, remember that you are developing a new habit. Once you see and feel the results that follow the repeated use of affirmations, you will want to use the tool with others. Affirmations help use to see others and ourselves not as we are but as we can become.
Create a culture in your organization in which failure is viewed as an opportunity to learn and critical to innovation and discovery. Recognize and reward new ideas, attempts to improve something, and even failure when it results in trying something new or an attempt to improve a process. Encourage innovation and utilize the goal setting process to get people to set stretch goals and brainstorm innovative solutions. It stimulates creativity, broadens options, and produces better decisions by looking at many alternatives and selecting the best.
Goethe said, “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and help them to become what they’re capable of being.”
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/ or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: affirmations, culture, goal setting, Goethe, Leadership, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Success
Posted in Leadership | No Comments »
Monday, July 26th, 2010
He went to war as a Captain and returned as a Private. Afterward, he failed in business. As a lawyer in Springfield he was too impracticable and temperamental to be a success. As he turned to politics, he was defeated for the legislature in 1832. In 1833, he ventured into the business world again, and again he did not succeed. 1834, he was elected to the state legislature. In 1838, he was defeated for Speaker, in 1840, he was defeated for Elector. In 1844, he lost a race for a congressional seat. In 1846, he gained a seat in Congress, only to lose it in 1848. He ran for the Senate in 1854, but lost. In 1856, he ran for Vice President but lost again. In 1858, he ran for the Senate again and again was defeated. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.
Certainly, Lincoln’s life was a bit unusual. Not many of us are born in a log cabin and rise to be the leader of one of the greatest nations in the world. But there are lessons to be learned from Lincoln’s journey to success. The road to outstanding goal achievement is filled with adversity. If you expect your road to success to be a smooth highway, you will be frustrated and disappointed. The journey is a process of trying, failing, adjusting, and choosing to continually move forward. Along the way you will make mistakes, but without mistakes there is never progress.
Often people fear making mistakes, but fear of mistakes inhibits your personal development. Rather than risk making another mistake, you might tend to play it safe. Fear of failure breeds mediocrity and the accomplishment of very little.
If you suffer from a fear of mistakes, you can conquer it by changing your attitude. Recognize that past errors, mistakes, and negative experiences do not inhibit your development. In fact, they contribute to the learning process. Use them as feedback for personal and professional growth. If you make a mistake, admit it, learn from it, adjust your thinking, and redirect the necessary efforts toward your goal. Focus on the positive. Consciously forget the error and dwell upon the successful aspects of the attempt. No one likes to make mistakes, but the fact is everybody does. You can choose to view a mistake either as a failure or as a lesson learned. If you continue to criticize yourself for past errors, you will perpetuate the very behavior you want to change. The moment you change your mindset and stop giving power to past mistakes, you will be released from the power that past mistakes have over you.
Errors are road signs to direct you on your journey to personal success and achievement. They are necessary steps in the learning process, but they are a means not an end. When they have served their purpose for learning, move past them. You are responsible for your own success. Take responsibility for your mistakes and failures and don’t try to shift blame to other people or circumstances. Remember, by taking responsibility in life you will also gain power and influence.
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.” George Bernard Shaw
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses and individuals achieve high levels of excellence and success. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, accomplishment, failure, George Bernard Shaw, learning process, mistakes, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Success
Posted in Personal Development | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
Attitudes determine the way we treat people. They affect the way we perceive change. They influence our ability to set and reach goals. Attitudes affect our ability to realize and progress through Maslow’s levels of need satisfaction (http://www.abraham-maslow.com/). The following sequence may help you see the significance of attitudes.
Results: Each of us as goal seekers want to achieve certain results from our lives.
Behavior: The results we get depend upon our behavior, how we react to situations.
Attitude: The results we get depend upon our behavior and attitudes toward the people or events involved, and toward ourselves.
If attitudes are basically negative, goals will be set low, and it will be difficult to progress. Growth and promotion will be all but impossible until a positive mindset is developed.
You can identify people with negative attitudes by their actions and by their reactions. When presented with a challenge their focus will be on problems: what can’t be done, and why things won’t work. Their discussions will often revolve around negative issues and blame. They do not respond well to compliments and will even discount them. However, they remember every one of their failures and mistakes, and this memory stifles much of their activity. They are usually part of the problem not part of the solution.
If attitudes are basically positive, individuals will focus on possibilities and ideas for improvement. This will be evident in the way they treat people. They will be very comfortable giving others credit, and their transactions will be directed at making others feel better about themselves. They accept both constructive criticism and compliments with open consideration and appreciation. They are regularly part of the solution and rarely part of the problem.
It is important to understand that attitudes are developed very early in life. Years and years of early conditioning helped to develop the attitudes that many people carry with them throughout life. Much of early conditioning was negative, what you can’t do, where not to go, etc. For the most part, negative attitudes are far more prevalent than positive attitudes. Too many people think more often of what’s wrong, how they might fail, and why it won’t work rather than what’s good, what’s right, and how it can work.
On the positive side, since attitudes are developed, they can be changed. In fact, as a leader, you will frequently find yourself in a position to help people develop positive attitudes. The first step is understanding that what took years to develop will also require some time and effort to change. Daily encouragement is important. Positive input on a daily basis will help to replace some of the negative attitudes with positive ones. Audio books, articles, brainstorming sessions, affirmations, and seminars are some techniques you can employ to create positive input.
There are many ways and opportunities to create a learning organization with a focus on positive attitudes and possibility thinkers. Recognition programs, leadership opportunities, personal mentoring, and corporate coaching (http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com/whatwedo/lifebuscoach) are but a few ways to help your team develop the appropriate attitudes focused on goal achievement. One of the vital contributions a leader can make is instilling the desire and creating the opportunity for continuous improvement.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses achieve sustainable results through leadership development and executive coaching. For information on creating a leadership succession plan visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: Attitudes, Behavior, Coaching, goal achievement, Leadership, Maslow, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, results, Success
Posted in Attitudes | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
Perceived value as defined by customers creates loyal customer relationships, and customer loyalty is the best predictor of your future strength and growth potential.
The value you provide to your customers is always compared to the value your competitors provide: therefore, value is your customers’ perception relative to similar products or services in the marketplace—your competitors.
Perceived value occurs at the intersection of what customers want and what they get from you versus what they could get from your competition. You can only sustain customer loyalty by continually meeting your customers’ product/service qualifications, specifications, or expectations. You also need to meet their needs in the order that customers deem important while maintaining a favorable comparison between you and your competition. In your marketplace, your competitors are the alternative suppliers your customers use to form their comparative value perceptions. How would your customer define perceived value?
For example if your customers expect your product to perform error free, to be delivered on time, to be supported by timely and personal technical support, and to be properly billed at a fair price, you must be good in all categories to get an “A,” and you must be at least as good as your competitors. If you deliver a product that meets all of their design specifications but are unable to provide personal technical support, you failed in meeting an important criteria; therefore, the perceived value will decrease. For every mark you miss, the value as defined by your customers decreases and you slowly lose the ability to develop a loyal customer relationship. To create and sustain loyal customers it is necessary to consider every contact with each customer as an opportunity for you to provide value—every time. Every service point is critical and every service point has a level of expectation from the customer that must be understood and managed. We call these contact points—points of connection.
Every point of connection gives your organization the opportunity to emotionally connect with your customers. Your customers will judge your value and their emotional tie at every point. Developing and implementing a strategy of creating a consistent emotional connection with your customer creates value, which creates loyal customer relationships.
We know that loyal customers will always return to purchase your product or service, which create a long-term stream of revenue. Another advantage of loyal customers is that they will consistently boast about your product or service creating the most effective and least expensive form of advertising for your organization. Additional advantages of developing a loyal customer base is their willingness to pay more for your product or service, and they are also more forgiving when your organization makes a mistake. Why? As loyal customers, they trust your organization and have faith that you are fair.
Making the strategic decision to create a loyal customer base is one of the most important commitments you can make to the success of your organization. Your individual contribution is also a large part of that success.
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: competition, Customer Loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, customer value, perceptions, points of connection, RAC, Resource Associates Corporation, Success, supplies
Posted in Customer Loyalty | No Comments »
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