Have you ever walked into a place and got the vibe that nobody wanted to be there? Not the customers or even the employees? That’s how I felt the first time I walked into this dealership, and each time afterwards. First, I noticed that there was no music playing, then I noticed only scowls, no smiling faces.The vibe was all wrong.

Everybody, employees included, had their arms crossed in front of their chests, their body language saying, “Don’t approach me, I’m standoffish!” Even the expressions on their faces said I didn’t want to be there, there was contempt written all over the faces of the salespeople, anger and fear on the customers. Is this your dealership?

Just walking in the front door, past the unsmiling, unwelcoming receptionist was enough to put me in a bad mood. I didn’t WANT to be there, after 60 seconds I was ready to leave. What vibe is your dealership putting off?

The decor was all off as well, plastic plants trying to lend to a home like look came off as fake and slightly annoying. No pictures of family, or even happy customers for that matter (probably because they’re aren’t any), adorned offices or desks. The first salesperson I saw I walked up to him, put my hand out and said, “My name is David, and you are?”

I received a limp fish of a handshake in turn, a slight frown and then, “Are you here to buy a car?” There was no emotion behind the words, his gaze somewhere behind me, it was all I can do not to turn around to see what he was looking at.

“No,” I said. “I’m here to to help you, and the rest of the salespeople generate your own leads. How’s you’re day going?”

“So you’re not here to buy a car,” he said, his gaze still behind me. ” That’s how my day is going.” No smile, no nothing.

“I know how that is! What’s your name by the way?”

For the first he looked at me and seamed to see me for the first time, he said “Mark?” Almost as if he wasn’t sure that was his own name, almost as if it were a question instead of a definitive statement. His gaze shifting, once again, to behind me.

“Well, I gotta run Mark. It was a pleasure. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Mmmhmm,” was all I got in return.

To one degree or another this is how everybody acted, as if they didn’t want to be there. I didn’t either. They sold plenty of cars but had horrible online reviews, no repeat traffic and hardly any referrals. In effect they had reduced car shopping into a commodity, where they raced to the bottom, sacrificed profit, and concentrated on units sold instead of gross.

Bottom line? People came because they were the cheapest. They sold below invoice, were completely void of any customer service, and hated the fact that they were alive. At least it seemed that way.

The morning meeting was more of a whipping sessions. A don’t do this or your fired session, one devoid of any direction or motivation. Yes, even the manager hated his job. Do you?

Is your dealership throwing off the don’t buy from me signals like this one was? Are you curious as to the name of this dealership? I’ll give it to you if you ask nicely? The answer? It’s your dealership. Take a closer look and you will see that I’m right. If not, tell me what makes your dealership different in the comment section below. I don’t mind being wrong. So, is it you?

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Remarkable: re·mark·a·ble/riˈmärkəbəl/ Adjective – Worthy of attention; striking.

Synonyms: notable, noteworthy, extraordinary, outstanding

Be remarkable. Don’t be average. Look to see what your customers want and give them more. Being remarkable means being remembered. Being remembered means more word-of-mouth and increased customer loyalty. Everything you do should be remarkable, from your customer service to your content creation.

Give more than you think you should, do more than what’s expected. Be hot, stay away from lukewarm and avoid cold as if it were the plague.

Being hot means being remarkable, being lukewarm means your meeting expectations, being cold means you’re out of business, stay hot. Always remember to be remarkable, it means growth and increased profit.

If you want to be notable then you have to do things that others will not, that others dare not. Don’t look to your competitors and think, “Hmm, if I do what their doing I’ll get as much business as their getting.” or ‘Hmm, if I beat their price then I’ll get all the business.”

Stop racing to the bottom, race to the top by being unique, by giving your customers something they can’t get anywhere else, a world class experience. Once you’re on top you will lean just how lonely it is. Loneliness can be a good thing though, it means that your so called competitors can’t compete with you… all because you’re remarkable.

Create outstanding content. Create videos that teach, posts that inspire and status updates that beg for engagement. If you want to generate more leads, then create content that draws people in. Think pull marketing instead of push. Be a magnet. Be static cling.

If you’re content isn’t noteworthy people wont talk about it or share, people wont be drawn to it, it wont influence. Everything you do online should be remarkable. Everything you do at the point of the sale should be remarkable. Remarkable businesses flourish, unremarkable business struggle. Be remarkable.

What are you doing that it’s remarkable?

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Too many businesses react more to what their competitors are doing than what their customers want. Stop it. I get that you don’t want to be one-upped by your competitors but just because they did something or added a service, doesn’t mean it was the right thing for them to do.

Your only litmus test should be what your customers want. Do you want to know the best way to find out what they want? ASK! If you don’t have a strong enough relationship that you feel as if you can’t ask or wont get a good enough response, then it’s time to make a change (but that’s for another post).

Never stray from who you are, always keep in mind what your core essence is and always ask yourself, “Is this what my customers want, am I staying true to the essence of my brand?”

It’s old hat now but I think it’s worth bringing up here: New Coke. Coca-Cola first introduced New Coke in 1985 in response to Pepsi-Cola (a competitor) eating into their market share. As we all know the response to New Coke was overwhelmingly negative causing Coke to go back to their original formula, calling it Coca-Cola Classic.

With new Coke, Coca-Cola went to a sweeter formula with the idea of competing with Pepsi-Cola on sweetness. They even went against a previous marketing campaign where spokesman Bill Cosby touted the less sweeter taste as the reason for drinking Coke over Pepsi.

What happened? Coke-Cola reacted to their competitor, not to what their customers wanted and moved away from their core essence.  They attempted, and ultimately failed at, reinventing themselves, when all along they were what their customers already wanted.

Staying on the subject of Coca-Cola, think of Cherry Coke and the huge hit that it was. With Cherry Coke, Coca-Cola stayed true to their essence and gave their customers what they wanted. In fact I think they waited too long, just take a look at how long Cherry Cokes have been served in restaurants and at soda fountains?

Bottom line: Stay true to who you are, ask your customers what they want and if you see something that your competitor is doing, before you do the same, ask your customer if it’s okay and check it against your current identity, or essence. If your customers don’t want it and you lose who you are in the process, it might be a good idea to scrap it.

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I decided to write this post after a comment I left on my Facebook Profile. it stated:

The Law Of Profitable Returns: As long as the value of your goods and services exceeds what was paid for them, then the profit received will always exceed your expectations.

The idea behind this law came from a comment that Bob Burg left on LinkedIn, it was a link to a blog post he had written that said: “Business is mainly about two things; providing truly exceptional value to those you serve…and making a profit.”

I responded to it by saying, “As long as the value given exceeds your profits, your profits will exceed your expectations. There is some kind of law we can create out of that I’m sure!“

He agreed and that’s when the idea of The Law Of Profitable Returns was born.

As I’m writing this I’m reminded of something I was told long, long ago, while selling Fords in Florida. I honestly don’t remember who said it but I remember the words very well, “David, selling cars is easy, all you have to do is show your customers why the car you’re trying to sell them is more valuable than their big stack of money.”

In other words, build so much value around your product or service that your customer desires or needs it more than the actual money it costs. Seems simple enough doesn’t it? That’s because it is! Value can be built in the product, yourself and the company, you should do whatever you can to build it in all three.

Always keep in mind that it’s one thing to build value and another one to exceed all expectations by building untold amounts of perceived value. I’ll give you a great example, Maggiano’s Little Italy in Denver. I’ve never been to a Maggiano’s before when my wife and I, along with our two children, were driving back home to Colorado Springs from Denver. We saw the building, and decided that we would take a detour and have some Italian for dinner. At first glance, you would think the prices would be insane because the restaurant’s exterior is absolutely beautiful. In fact, the picture doesn’t do it justice… you’ll just have to take my word for it!

In fact, my wife asked me, “you okay with taking the kids to an expensive restaurant?” I said yes and as we walked through the doors I noted that the inside was every bit as beautiful as the outside, for those of you that have been to this particular Maggiano’s, you know what I’m talking about. I remember walking in the bathroom, seeing the bathroom attendant and wiping my hands on hand towels that had the restaurants name on them and thinking, I wonder how much the lasagna is going be? After opening the menu I was shocked, not only was the the lasagna just $12.95 they would even give me another piece to take home!

That’s the kind of perceived value that I’m talking about. I was expecting to pay at least $20 for the lasagna and was blown away when I got two pieces for $12.95. You better believe that the next day, while I was eating some yummy lasagna, I couldn’t help but feel that I ripped Maggiano’s off.

What kind of perceived value are your customers leaving with? Are you following up after the sale as well to give them even more value? Are you giving them ample reasons to keep coming back and to tell others about you? Just look at what I just did, I wrote a blog post about Maggiano’s Little Italy, would your customers do the same? If not, why not? What can you do to build value, what can you do to make YOUR customers feel that they have ripped you off?

Always remember: As long as the value of your goods and services exceeds what was paid for them, then the profit received will always exceed your expectations.

Where are you building value?

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There’s a moment, in most generations, where an event comes along that is so important that it forever etches a memory in the collective conscious of that generation, defining both who they are, and what they stand for. September 11th, 2001 was no different. I remember that day vividly, as most will say. I was working for a medical equipment company at the time and I had just pulled up to Sacred Heart Hospital, in Pensacola, Florida, to deliver oxygen to a patient that was about to be released, when the news of the first plane was announced on the radio. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it, I just remember thinking, “That’s horrible, I hope everybody gets out okay. “

As I was getting back into the company van there was news of a second plan hitting the towers and the possibility of it being an attack. I remember sitting there, in the parking lot of the hospital, listening to a  frantic deejay trying to explain what he was seeing on the news. That day I must have spoken to every family member and friend that I’ve ever known, each one as frantic as the deejay.

As I sit here writing this, reflecting on my feelings of that day and all the days between then and now, I can’t help but to think about my family. It reminds me that there are evils in the world and that no matter how safe you feel, you should always be vigilant. I’m not talking about being paranoid but about being ready for the worst, while at the same time expecting the best.

I think back about all the people that were killed, the thousands upon thousands of family members that, to this day and forever, feel an emptiness that will never be filled, a sadness that will never abate and an anger that will never subside. I can’t imagine the pain a son must be feeling because the last words to his father were harsh, or the last words of a mother to her daughter was about a bad choice in men, when they should have been… I love you.

Mothers, Fathers, tell your children how much you love them, how much they brighten your day. Children, hug your parents, let them know how much you appreciate them. Husbands, wives, love one another, know that times will get tough, that’s a given, but promise each other that instead of pushing each other way that you will instead embrace the love that brought you two together. Never go to sleep or leave the house without saying I love you, you may not have a second chance.

Live your life with no regrets, work hard, play hard and love hard. Life is short, often times too short but if you pay particular attention to what is going on between the beginning and end, you can make the most of it.

To all those that lost loved ones on that day my thoughts and prayers go out to you, I will never forget!

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Take the time today to examine your customer touch points, from the time they walk on the lot, to the time they drive off in their new car and ask yourself one question, “Was that exceptional?” If the answer is no then reevaluate and make a change. By taking the time to ensure that each and every touch point is exceptional you go a long way to influencing word of mouth. (More on Social Collaboration)

A touch point is each step in your business process that the customer touches, it could be your website, the receptionist who answers the phone, the person who sets the appointment, the sales person or service adviser who greets them, the waiting room or even the bathroom, “Are they exceptional?”

If you continually delight your customers during every step of the decision, buying and ownership process then you not only go a long way to creating a customer for life but also the all too important brand ambassador, or in other words the guy or gal who tells everybody to come and buy from you.

Designing The Exceptional Experience

Once you have walked through the whole process of buying a car or obtaining service at your dealership, all the way from the marketing to the follow-up, make  change an integral part of your business operations and ensure that EVERY employee is aligned with creating an exceptional customer experience, no exceptions.

Like clockwork, every month, run through the process again to ensure that things are moving smoothly but above all else listen to your customer, ask them how you can make the process even better and then adapt. With the onset of social media customers have a way to get their voices heard and if you want your customers to talk about you in a positive light then you must delight, surprise and delight some more, 100% of the time.

Final thoughts

While doing a walk through of your business process, if you find something that doesn’t fit or takes too much time or doesn’t lend to the exceptional experience, get rid of it, change it or make it better. In the end its the difference in what was expected and the level of service received that will dictate whether or not the word of mouth is positive or negative.

In closing it doesn’t matter if you do what I laid out in this short post or not, people will talk, people are talking and people will continue to talk about you and your dealership whether you’re listening or not. But, if you want what they are talking about to be positive and equal referrals then you had better get started.

I’d Love To Hear What You Think:

What touch points can you think of, right now, that need to be addressed so that they delight and become exceptional?

Leave Your Comments Below

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As I write this it’s 1:57am January 1st 2010. Not really sure where I’m heading with this post but I felt compelled to write so here I am. 2010, like most new years, starts off with hope. Hope for a better year, hope for better money and better health. I’m no exception, I have big goals, I have big hopes, and I see big things in 2010 for my family and myself.

Sometimes we are too quick to write off the previous year, to shed it’s unwanted weight and boldly step into the new year telling ourselves that things will be different, that things will be better. While that may be true and I wish it for you, I mean that, you have to take a look at 2009 and think on what went right and what went wrong.

What went right for you in 2009? Not just in business but in your personal life as well, how were your relationships? How did you grow? Who influenced you to be better, who did you influence? Write them down. Write down what went right. Not only that write down how it made you feel.

Now write down what went wrong. Be as honest with yourself as possible and list everything that went wrong in 2009. Don’t just give what went wrong but how it went wrong and how it affected you. Be personal, don’t blame anybody else, you’re an adult and should take responsibility.

Now I want you to compare the two lists, what do you see? Is there a reoccurring theme? Which one is longer? Go back to list number one and add to it, make it at least as long as the second.

While one of these lists may seem negative they are both quite positive. Both lists are a series of lessons that you can choose to ignore or choose to learn from. I encourage you take the lessons learned  into 2010 and use them to shape your own future. Take charge in 2010, hit the ground running and always remember the lessons from 2009.

The Real Currency Of 2010 Will Be Relationships

The more positive, win-win relationships that you can create in 2010 the better off you will be and the more successful you will become. Social networking is a great way to connect with people and if used correctly will propel you into the upper stratospheres of success. Stop trying to get the most followers on Twitter or the most friends on Facebook, we all know that quantity doesn’t matter when it comes to relationships, it’s the quality that matters most.

Use social media to engage with the people in your market and in your field of business. Give more than you take and add value to peoples lives. Do this and you will start to see your influence grow, not just with your clients/patients/customers but with your friends, family and others in your industry.

Not trying to preach to anybody here, like I said in the beginning I had no idea where this post was going, but I do know one thing, I probably needed to hear this more than you did.

I wish you the best year of your life, so far, and it’s my desire that you obtain the level of success you’ve always dreamed about. Go forth and make it a reality!

If you would like to be alerted of future posts just put in your email address below, don’t worry I HATE spam too.

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Simple enough. I could end this blog post right here because the title says it all, ‘Trust is Earned, So Go Earn It!’ but I wont because I have plenty to say on the topic and besides I can’t leave too much white space just laying around now can I?

Merrium-Webster.com defines trust as: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.

Trust is a powerful word, it can make or break your business.

Again, over simplification but you get the idea. Always keep in mind that gaining trust isn’t easy while losing it is.

Below are the Top 10 Ways to Build Trust:

1. Follow Through- If you say your going to do something, do it. If your talking on the phone with a client and you tell them that as soon as you hang up you will email or fax over a brochure, get it done.
2. Be Truthful- Going beyond just building trust, being truthful is a best practice that you should ALWAYS be doing. Without trust you have no friends, without trust you have no business, be truthful with everything you do, with everything you say.
3. Be Consistent- Stop redefining who you are all the time, be consistent in your actions. People like consistency, we don’t like change.
4. Bring Value Beyond The Product- People aren’t just doing business with your product or service, they are doing business with you. Give the value of your time by going above what is expected, remember that your clients success is your success; make it known.
5. Be Sincere- Believe in what you do, do what you say and care for the people you work with.
6. Be Genuine and Give Praise- Say thank you and mean it. Give praise and mean it. Be real, show appreciation and praise others for their contributions.
7. Focus on Their Needs-  Stop thinking about what you want and need and start thinking about what THEY want and need. Put others first.
8. Take Blame- If its your fault, own up to it.
9. Fix Your Mistakes- We all make mistakes and we all know it. In business clients know that mistakes can and will happen but its HOW you handle the mistake that people will judge you on.
10. Be a Good Listener and Ask Question- Stop waiting for somebody else to stop talking just so you can throw your two cents in. Listen to what they have to say with your full attention and ask well though out questions, show that you are interested.

There will always be a time when your integrity will be questioned. Not that it’s true or holds any water but each one of us has our own perspective and no matter how hard we try to show people that we do have integrity others may not receive what we are putting out there the way that we intended it.

By following the Top 10 Ways to Build Trust you are assured of building a strong foundation of trust in yourself and in your business. If you want to weather the storm then be prepared for it when it hits.

While at first blush this post may not seam to be about social media, which is usually what I write about, but if  you look a little closer and you will see a formula for how to interact with the people in your social networks. Keep in mind that just because you aren’t sitting right there in front of the people on Facebook doesn’t mean they aren’t real.

If you would like to be alerted of future posts just put in your email address below, don’t worry I HATE spam too.

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Take The High Road

In business and in life, always take the high road. Recently my partner and I were flamed on a blog post by somebody who spoke half truths and bent the truth to fit his own agenda. I wont mention who and I wont mention where because it does not matter, I have moved on.

I debated writing this post and almost didn’t but I thought it would allow you an opportunity to see how I conduct myself. After finding out about the post I pulled it up on my phone, read it and decided NOT to react right away. I have learned long ago that if you react right away when somebody does something against you, you will lose.

Instead of lashing out and getting my revenge I decided that it would be best if I just let it go. I did comment on the blog post but ignored his ramblings and gave some advice to another commenter.

Be Slow to Anger

Always keep your anger in check. It’s in our nature to want to defend ourselves when somebody lashes out against us but in some cases, most actually, you will do yourself more harm than good if you seek revenge. Keep in mind that this is the internet, everything is recorded for others to pull up in the future and the last thing you want is a potential client to come across words that were said in anger.

In my case the person who lashed out against me was a competitor, and if a client were to come across what he said and how I reacted, and based their decision with who to go with solely on who was more professional, I feel that I would come out on top.

Never react hastily, always remember what image you are trying to convey, be slow to anger.

He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Proverbs 14:29

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Not Me! LOL

I don’t know, maybe it’s just the way my mind works but for some reason I am able to find marketing knowledge in just about everything I do, ripping a phone book in half with my bare hands was no different.

I’ve been trying it for years. Every 6 month or so I would pick up a phone book and after much heaving, ripping and twisting I’d having nothing to show for it except sore fingers and a bruised ego. Yesterday was no different, I picked up the Portland Oregon Metro Area Yellow Pages with the intention of ripping it in half but it just wasn’t happening.

I’m a big guy, I’ve always been strong (and Stubborn, my wife would say) and thought that I had enough strength to get it done, after all I’ve seen it done many times on TV. Were these “strong” men really that much stronger than me? After about 20 minutes of trying I put the phone book down, looking worse for the ware but still very much in one piece.

What was I doing wrong? Why couldn’t I rip the phone book in half, was I just not strong enough? That’s when Einsteins definition of insanity popped into my head, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So many times that’s how we run our businesses, online and off. We continue doing the same thing day in and day out expecting our revenue to sky rocket. “Today is the day!” We will tell ourselves, “That billboard/newspaper ad/PPC campaign is going to pay off!” Only to find that, yet again, our sales stay stagnant.

So what did I do different to finally rip that phone book in half? Easy, I quit relying on my strength so much and used my mind. No, I’m not some Jedi warrior! But I did think about it. I thought about my grip, I thought about the actual twisting motion I made while ripping. You see, the biggest issue with trying to rip a phone book in half is the number of pages it has. Of course its not too difficult to rip one page, two pages, or even 20 or 30 but when you try to rip a few thousand it becomes almost impossible.

I thought, what if I could rip 20 or so pages at a time, while ripping the whole phone book at once. That may be difficult to follow but I had a phone book in my hand at the time and if I folded it into a “V” at the top I could see that there was space between the pages. The problem then was the grip, how could I keep the space between the pages while ripping the book in half?

I found that if I put my thumbs on either side of the bend and pulled apart, instead of trying to rip, it came apart rather easy. I was pumped! My heart began to pound and with a grunt I pulled the book apart, tore off my shirt and pounded on my chest, “I am Man!!” I bellowed.

Okay, Okay, that last part didn’t happen but I felt so good! I conquered because I stopped relying on what wasn’t working and that was brute strength. I implore you to do the same thing with your business. Stop whatever it is you are doing right now and think.

When it came to ripping the phone book I asked myself what I would do differently if I didn’t have the strength to do it (which I didn’t) and I started thinking around the problem. I succeeded because I thought differently and because of it I conquered.

What problems are you having in your business? What if you take away everything you are doing now, take away everything that is out of your control and put it out of mind, along with all negative thoughts and just think about solutions. Don’t focus on the problem of falling profits, slow economy or shrinking market just think solutions, what can you come up with?

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