A great place to start is with the full title of this book!

“Getting Naked: A Business Fable about shedding the three fears that sabotage client loyalty”

Like the title, this isn’t your typical business book.  Mr. Lencioni challenges all of us in the service industries to put our pride aside and replace it with the best interest of our customers.  And, he does it in the form of a novel, an interesting touch for a business book.

The Story…

…is about the acquisition of a boutique consulting firm by a big corporate firm.  Jack, is the man set up to manage integrating Lighthouse Partners into the prestigious, international, full-service management consulting firm of Kendrick and Black. Along the way he learns some of the secrets of Michael Casey, founder of Lighthouse Partners.  What Jack later terms “Getting Naked” with the client is the technique of putting aside corporate and personal pride to be more effective and build tremendous client loyalty.  I won’t spoil the end of the story for you, but will hit on the key business points – the “Three Fears”.

Fear of Losing the Business

The premise to this fear is that when we are afraid of losing the business, that becomes our focus and drives our actions.  Actions driven by keeping the account are often contrary to actions focused on helping the client.  An example is when we are tempted to tell customers what they want to hear rather than our true thoughts based on the experience and education for which they hired us.  Although this might help keep the account for the short term, when it doesn’t work out we become part of the problem and lose credibility.

Fear of Being Embarrassed

This fear is what causes us to walk away from meetings wondering.  Instead of speaking up and asking what might sound like a dumb question, or suggesting something that might be laughed at, we decide not to speak up.  Patrick’s take is that naked service providers are so busy putting the success of their client first, they are willing to speak up with ideas and questions even at the risk of being embarrassed.  Otherwise, you wonder what it was you didn’t understand or what would happen if they tried your idea.

Fear of Feeling Inferior

At one point in the book a group of executives are asked which of these fears are they most susceptible.  For me it was this one.  As a business management instructor and service provider at Sigma College of Small Business, it seems logical that if you aren’t continually demonstrating superiority, clients will start thinking you aren’t important and adding value.  However, the case is made that by purposely putting ourselves in a lower position than our clients (which equates to putting them on a higher level), the naked service provider will gain trust, respect and loyalty with their clients.

“Shedding the Three Fears”

Mr. Lencioni completes the book with a set of principles for overcoming the three fears.  Instead of working through those here, I highly recommend that you pick up and read the book.  It’s a very enjoyable read with a great message for anyone who provides services.  Caution: When reading in public, expect some strange looks and people avoiding you as they look at the title:-)

I was listening to the Tony Kornheiser show this morning and they read through a direct mail piece that Tony received from the Washington Kastles Tennis Team.  The letter was a form invitation from the owner of the Kastles to an upcoming event and seemed to be pretty well done for a direct mail piece.  Tony and the crew absolutely ripped the Kastle organization for it though.  The problem – the letter started out “Dear Anthony”.

Boy, if you could take back a direct mail piece!

Most of us understand the methods for gathering names and information for direct mail, and that there are many mistakes in the names, titles or even gender.  Where the Kastles really messed up though is that they didn’t use public relations to address the media audience separate from the direct mailing to the general population.

For those not familiar with the Tony Kornheiser show, it is a daily talk show on a local DC sports radio station.  They talk some sports, but it is more about entertainment and, well, just stuff.  The Kornheiser crew/posse/team (what exactly are they?) loves to latch on to a product or company, for good or bad, and use it as conversation fodder throughout the show.  At the end of the show there is an email pile-on where the audience sends in their take on the day’s topics, usually dominated by the product or company in the spot light.  You can imagine (or you can probably go listen) how much fun they had with a letter from a local sports group to a national sports celebrity and local sports icon that started out “Dear Anthony”.

When you are planning your marketing campaigns, especially for upcoming special events, do some public relations planning first.  How would this have been different if before Tony received this impersonal, promotional invitation he had received a personally signed invitation, or even a phone call, from the owner or a public relations person?  Do you know the ten or twenty media people in your industry who have the power to make or ruin your day because they have an audience?  You should be communicating with these folks through public relations.

Many small business owners mistakenly limit public relations to periodic press releases about their business.  PR is much more than that, and unless you are a company popular enough to be newsworthy, self reporting press releases are useless.  Public relations is about knowing and building relationships with the media and providing information and resources that help them provide more value to their audience.  Of course your hope is that the end result reflects positively on your business.

The Prince William Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Strategies conference in September and the focus this year is on Public Relations.  Wouldn’t it be great if Tony Kornheiser somehow found and read this obscure blog post and offered to come to the September 22nd as the keynote speaker!  “Mr. Anthony”, you can email me at jlgorman@sigmabizlearning.com if you’re interested.  It’s more likely that they read this post and publically humiliate me for my poor grammar and shameless use of their name to promote my blog and MAPS event!

A couple weeks ago, I finally purchased my new Droid phone.  This led to an increased frequency in my Foursquare posts – the posts you see on Facebook and Twitter stating that someone has just “checked-in”.  Now that my friends and followers are seeing these posts I’m getting more questions about Foursquare, so I decided to shed some light for those that are in the dark on this unique social media application.

It’s Good for Businesses

Quite frankly, if it didn’t show some value for my small business customers, I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about Foursquare.  It’s good for business because it has the potential to send out your brand from a trusted source to hundreds of people every time a customer enters with a cell phone!

Here’s How it Works

Let’s say I am sitting at the Sigma College of Small Business offices in Haymarket, VA and decide that I need a cup of coffee and something sweet.  I walk across the parking lot to Cupcake Heaven.  While I wait for my tall decaf coffee and afternoon treat, I turn on my Droid, open the Foursquare app, select Cupcake Heaven from the list of nearby venues, add a note about how great the service is and “check-in”.  This automatically sends a post to my Facebook and Twitter accounts and all my friends and followers see my comment and that I am at Cupcake Heaven.

So, do the math.  If 5 customers like me walk into the store and each of us has 200 friends and followers, the name of that store is promoted to 1,000 people that day.  Cost and effort to the store – ZERO!

Why Would a Customer Check In?

Just read your Facebook posts.  I get posts from people when they wake-up, go to bed, eat, stub their toe, etc… So people will check-in just to be social.  However, Foursquare offers tools for businesses to encourage customers to check-in.  As the manager of Sigma College of Small Business I “claimed” my venue and can now offer specific promotions to people who check-in.  Promotions can be based on number of check-ins or given to those who check-in the most – The Mayor.  That’s right, if you are the person who has checked in to an establishment the most, you are given the title of Mayor, which is announced to all your friends and followers.  People will definitely check-in for free stuff and a title!

There’s More!

As the registered owner of your venue, you have the capability to see who is checking in at your place and how often they are checking in – a great way to keep tabs on some of your most loyal and vocal customers.  If you are a retailer or restaurant and not using this free tool, you need to put it on your list of things to check out.  I’m still researching all the benefits, but this one seems to be a no-brainer, just set it up and let your customers promote your business!  Did I mention FREE?

I’ll certainly be adding a few slides on Foursquare to my “Leveraging the Online Social Network” class this coming Tuesday!

This weekend I traded emails with Becky O’Brien of Optimal Wellness about my Subscribe! blog posts that described the importance and steps to subscribing to a blog.  As part of the discussion I went to her blog, checked out the subscription setup and left a comment – nothing serious.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

I walked into Sigma College of Small Business yesterday afternoon and there on the desk was a little pink box with a great thank-you note from Becky.  The little pink box contained a Southern Red Velvet cupcake from one of my business neighbors in Haymarket, VA, Cupcake Heaven.  Now, 5 years ago I would have e-mailed or called Becky to thank her and probably told my wife and a few others what she had done and how wonderful the cupcake tasted.  In the end maybe 5 or 10 people would have known how thoughtful Becky had been, what a wonderful cupcake they have over at Cupcake Heaven and the fact that I took some time to help Becky out with her blog.

The Difference with Social Media

Instead of just e-mailing or calling, I posted my thank you on Becky’s Fan page and on my personal profile in Facebook, tagging her fan page.  I also mentioned Cupcake Heaven and the quality of their product.  The difference with social media is that the same message that went to 5 or 10 people a few years ago can now reach hundreds of people between my friends, my fans and Becky’s fans.  And it took no more effort on my part than if I had just sent an email.  If I could have quickly found the Cupcake Heaven Fan Page, (I have since found them on FB) the message would have been received by all their fans as well!  So the advantage is that in the simplest of transactions and communication, all three of us are promoted from trusted sources (people choose to fan, follow and like those that they trust) to a few hundred people.

And By the Way…

You may be asking the question “Why would Becky choose Cupcake Heaven, with its pink box and swirly frosting for a male business associate?”  Well, it is right next door and I look like I enjoy a good cupcake, but that’s not the case.  The fact is that I have been posting my visits to Cupcake Heaven for coffee through Foursquare, and commenting on how tempting the cupcakes (and ice cream) look, for several weeks!  In fact I’m the Mayor!  So Becky knew going in that this would the perfect thank-you gift, and it absolutely was!  I was wiping frosting off my face as I walked into my next meeting.

A Lot of Hype

There is certainly a lot of hype around social media.  And there are some who can fit the technology so well with their business and personality that it becomes a huge business driver.  But like any other marketing tool it takes time and consistency to build success.  Don’t get scared by the hype because even a simple presence and effort can become beneficial.  In fact, in many cases, like the one I described above, you just need to set up the presence and let your customers and network do the work for you through their social media channels!

Subscribe! Part 1 covered the importance of getting interesting blog content brought to you in a convenient, efficient manner.  Part 2 is a bit more hand’s on in showing you how to actually subscribe.

Decide where you want to see blog content

A great thing about RSS is that there are multiple ways to manage content.  You can set it up in your web browser, through email or even feed it to your personal or business home page.  I actually have some feeds that come up in my iGoogle home page, some that feed to a tab in Internet Explorer and some that go to an email folder in Outlook.

To determine which tool to use for feeding content you should ask yourself, “Do I want to see this post immediately, or have as a reference for later”  The posts I want to see immediately, the timely information I want to comment on, are fed to my iGoogle personal page through Google Reader.  Those I use for reference to search later feed to my browser or an email folder, and some feed to multiple places.

Don’t forget that following and commenting on other people’s blogs is an important part of social networking.  It is how you listen and interact in the discussion, building trust and credibility with each thought and comment.

For step-by-step on three basic RSS feed techniques, click the links below.  If you have any questions, suggestions or run into problems, drop me a comment.  Although the directions are specific to an application, most similar apps have the same functionality.

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

Google Reader is a great little tool that helps aggregate the blogs you are tracking to your Google account.  The reason I like it is that I have an iGoogle “portal” page (a page that I can personalize with info I want to see) and there is a “Gadget” that puts my feeds right onto my personal home page, the one that I see first every time I open Internet Explorer.  This is what I use for those blogs I want to see and review quickly and then comment, especially on blogs related to educating small business owners.

 1.  Sign into your Google Account.  If you don’t have a Google account:

1. Go to www.Google.com
2. Click “Sign In” at upper right
3. Click “Create an Account Now” under the Sign in box
4. Follow instructions for setting up an account

Click on Settings in the upper right to add new Google apps

2.  In the upper right of your Google page click on the “Settings” drop-down and select “Google Account Settings”.  You can do a lot here to personalize your page and account.

3.  If “Reader” isn’t listed under “My Products”, go to the “Try Something New” section and click on “More”

4.  Under the “Communicate, show & share” section, click on “Reader”.  This will place Reader into the “My Products” section where you can open and start using.

Open Google Reader by clicking the link

5.  Open Reader by clicking on the link and you should see your Google Reader Page

Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog you want to feed

Click on the "Add Subscription" Button

Click on the Subscription to see the latest posts from that source.

Add the Google Reader Gadget to Your iGoogle Home Page

Click on "iGoogle" at the top right to open your iGoogle page

1.  Go to www.Google.com and sign in if you aren’t already.  This should open your iGoogle page (if it doesn’t, click on the “iGoogle” link in the upper right) and you should see something like this.  Each of the little blocks is called a gadget and you can customize which gadgets you want on you page.

Click on the "Add Stuff" link in the upper right to get new gadgets!

2.  In the upper right click on the link for “Add stuff”.  In the search area type in “reader” and search.  This will show you the Google Reader gadget and clicking “Add It Now” will put it on your iGoogle home page.

Search for "Reader" to find the Reader Gadget and "Add it Now"

3.  Now, when you go to Google.com, your subscriptions will show up for a quick review.  If you click on the title a preview window pops up so you can take a quick look without even leaving the page.

Although I walked through the Google method for putting subscriptions on your home page, most other portal sites that let you customize a home page will have similar functionality.

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

In Subscribe! Part 1 I talked about the importance of tracking and commenting on relevant blogs and news feeds to building your online presence.  Internet Explorer and other browsers have the capability to help you manage your RSS feeds and this post will walk through how to send news and current blog posts to the “Feeds” tab in Internet Explorer 8.  Other browsers should have similar functionality.

If you are someone who routinely uses the “favorites” functionality in IE to manage the web sites you visit frequently, then this may be the best place to track important RSS Feeds that you want to comment on immediately.  I don’t routinely use the favorites part of IE so I use this method for sites that don’t update often, or for sites that I want to track for reference when I’m developing business curriculum.  Remember, in social networking it is important to follow and comment, so keep your “high interest” content where you will see it often through your normal work routine.

1.  Go to SigmaBizBlog.com or another blog or news site that you want to subscribe to.

Click on the RSS Icon in the upper right of the IE window

2.  In the upper right of the window, in the menu area is the little orange RSS icon.  If the icon isn’t orange, either you are already subscribed or the site doesn’t have RSS capability.  Click on the RSS button and a “feed” page will load.

3.  Click on “Subscribe to this feed” and then “Subscribe” in the window that pops up.  The subscription will be placed in the “Feed” Tab in Favorites.

Access your saved RSS feed through the Favorite window on the Feeds Tab

4.  To see your feeds, click the “Favorites” button in the upper left of the window and then the “Feeds” Tab.

5.  Click on the subscription to see the latest post!

Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others.  Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion! 

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

RSS Feeds in Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook allows you to use RSS technology to subscribe to blogs and news feeds and have updates come directly to your inbox.  This can be useful if your main communication technique is email and there is a feed that you don’t want to miss an update.  Or, you may use it to store feeds from an online resource for future reference.  I use the RSS functionality in MS Outlook for my Inc. Magazine RSS feeds.  There are a lot and it’s tough to keep up, but there is some great information that I can use when I am putting together my business management classes for small business owners.  Once again, if you don’t use Outlook, your email software probably has a similar function.

1.  Go to www.SigmaBizBlog.com or the blog that you want to subscribe to and click on the orange RSS button, either on the page or in your browser.  This will bring up the “Subscription” page for that site.

2.  Select and copy the web address or url from the subscription page.  For Outlook you must have the url from the subscription page, not the main blog page.

3.  In Outlook, go to the File menu and Folder>>Add a new RSS feed…

Open the "New RSS Feed" Box

4.  Paste the URL from the subscription page into the New RSS Feed box and click the “Add” Button.

5.  Your RSS feed is now ready to review in Outlook.

Remember that a big part of building credible online relationships is to listen and comment on the thoughts of others.  Subscribing to interesting blogs with RSS, reading them and consistently commenting is a great way to be part of the discussion!

See Related Blog Posts on RSS Feeds:

Subscribe! Part 1

Subscribe! Part 2

Using Google Reader and following blogs on your iGoogle home page

Tracking RSS Feeds as Internet Explorer Favorites

Tomorrow morning the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce is hosting a seminar “Doubling Your Profits” at the Warrenton Visitor Center.  Angela Smith from Fauquier Springs Country Club will be sharing her personal experience of doubling profits by following the guidance from Bob Fifer’s book, “Double Your Profits in 6 Months or Less”.  At Angela’s recommendation I read the book and am looking forward to hearing which of the 78 steps she used and found most useful.

Be Serious About Profitability!

There are some great ideas on how to both cut expenses and increase revenue in this book, but it is not for the faint of heart.  In the first “step” Mr. Fifer warns the unsuspecting that the book is written for those who are serious about profitability, and if you aren’t serious, many of the steps will seem harsh, especially the ones that deal with suppliers and employees.  However, I would recommend it for small business owners because it will seriously challenge many of the discretionary “needs” that we have.

A Teaser! Some of My Favorites

Step 4: What Does “The Best” Mean? – 1. Never settle for status quo  2. Be a Meritocracy, i.e reward based on performance, period.  3. We’re here to make a profit, don’t apologize (step 5)  These are culture changing definitions of being the best.

Step 7: Strategic vs. Non-Strategic Costs – He recommends categorizing every cost into “Strategic”, those that clearly bring in business and improve the bottom line, and “Non-Strategic”, the rest.  Once categorized, outspend your competition for strategic costs and ruthlessly cut non-strategic costs to the bone.  I love this attitude, and although Mr. Fifer later bashes accounting reports (for the sake of reporting), he might agree that using Quickbooks categories to help identify these would be useful.

Step 25: Go to Bid, Frequently – He uses frequent bids or the threat of frequent bids as a tactic for draining price concessions from suppliers, and it will work.  However, it also forces suppliers to review their own costs and helps identify the new techniques and technologies that may be available from the last bid.

Step 39: If You Never Fire an Employee, You Can’t Have an Excellent Business – This one may surprise those that know me, but if you are going to be the best and a meritocracy, you can’t tolerate poor performance and the reality is that it will happen.  Putting up with it is not fair to the top performers and it’s not fair to the poor performers who are probably in the wrong job – help push them to the right job. (See “Straight From the Gut” by Jack Welch of GE fame)

Step 75: Invest in Your Sales Force-No Investment Will Yield a Greater Return – Enough said.

This is only a teaser in comparison to what you can learn by reading the entire book.  I can’t wait to hear Angela’s direct experience of implementation and have the opportunity to ask questions tomorrow morning.  If you are local to Warrenton, VA don’t miss this opportunity!  See you there.

Another great week of weather and business.  If you are willing to listen and reflect there are always oppotunities to learn.

Who Cares?

A great tip came from Asha Sedalia Bruot of ASHA Public Relations during a MAPS committee meeting this week.  When preparing to write your next press release, ask yourself “Who Cares?”.  Her point was that choosing the right audience is a must in deciding what to write, how to write and which media channels might be interested.  The upcoming MAPS (Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Strategies) Conference on September 22^nd will be focused on developing a good public relations strategy – more to come!

“Customer Service” should always be top of mind

Kris Johnson of the PWCGM Chamber shared a story at Friday’s MB3 breakfast that we can all probably relate to.  She was calling a relatively new member to offer a sponsorship opportunity and was deep into her explanation of the benefits of this particular sponsorship.  The member gently interrupted and jokingly said, “Oh, you’re calling to sell a sponsorship, I thought you were calling to thank me for membership and see if all is well”.   Knowing Kris and her record of customer service, she surely recovered and impressed by the end of the call.  Her point was that we can all learn much more about customer service Wednesday at the Insight Series Luncheon “Customer Service” , with guest speaker Bobbie Walker, Partnership Marketing Education Director for Virginia Tourism Corporation, but this was a quick reminder for me.  Everyone says that repeat business is the most profitable, but make sure you have successfully delivered on the previous sale before launching into the next!

Gas Mileage, Gravity and Centrifugal Force

I learned this week that a late model Toyota Avalon can go from Warrenton, VA to the PWCGM office in Manassas, then to the Western Chamber Office in Gainesville and finally to the Sheetz in Haymarket with the orange gas light on.  In further news, on that same day I learned that a well placed gas cap wedged between the rear windshield and the trunk will last against wind and centrifugal force from the Sheetz in Haymarket to Warrenton and that 2 of 5 people on the road will take the time to slow down and try to point that out to a motorist on a cell phone.  And for those kind people – Ok, ok, I know now what you were trying to tell me!  Thank-you!

Shout Out!

News and events on the friends of SigmaBiz

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary to my little sis Kristy MacIntyre and her husband Jamie at MacIntyre Engineering!  Congratulations to the “Rev Man”, Scot Small of RevBuilders who hosted a wonderful Grand Opening at his new office in Gainesville this week.  I heard that Chow Now was featured in an article in an upcoming Flavor Magazine – looking forward to reading that.  My daughter Jessica Gorman finished a summer semester of classes in France this week, with flying colors I’m sure.  Way to go Jess!  And finally, a big Sigma Shout Out to all the recent graduates of Leadership Prince William “Third is Superb” class.   I hear nothing but great things about this program and they are currently recruiting for the next session.  Congratulations!