Weekly Review July 10–16, 2022
Just like an experience at your local café, I’ve planned for Acceler8Success Cafe to be conveniently located when and where you desire or need to relax, enjoy a cup of coffee, and catch up on some time for you. My goal is for Acceler8Success Cafe to be your virtual café, a place where you may frequently visit to enjoy a few minutes of leisure time to read, think and reflect about ways to improve and succeed in today’s crazy business world.
I strive for your experience to be memorable by providing learning opportunities, by presenting different perspective & insight, by spurring thought & reflection, by encouraging interaction, and by spotlighting topics that, quite frankly, may not be as front and center as they should or need to be.
Acceler8Success Cafe is open for business seven days a week. For the benefit of current & aspiring entrepreneurs, this daily newsletter is delivered each morning. As a way to jumpstart the week ahead, a weekly review is delivered each Sunday morning listing and linking to the articles you might have missed during the previous week. My objective is to provide an opportunity for you to begin your day and the week ahead informed and with ideas that possibly could accelerate your success.
So, before we jump into this week’s review, how about starting today with a smile? A positive thought? Your happy place? A tug at the child in you? And what better way than doing so than with the Peanuts gang enjoying a day at the beach. After all, it is Summer!
Today’s Weekly Review
Recession Prep Question: How important is the WOW factor?
Monday saw us jump right into the ‘Preparing for War: You vs. Recession’ series as we ended the previous week in full swing beginning the important series. Instead of focusing on the financial side of business, an extremely important part of the business, but mostly well-taken care of by professionals, we focused on positive experiences as part of the action plan to survive and remain standing after the dust settles.
We know that creating and delivering positively memorable experiences are dependent upon more than just customer-focused efforts. Certainly, the customer experience is key to business survival and growth but so are the experiences shared by staff, partners, vendors and all who “participate” in the daily activities of your business.
The definition of positively memorable experiences was broken down in order to better understand the ‘WOW’ factor. We fully understand that is necessary and paramount if we’re to expect customers to return again and again.
Recession Prep Question: Is the employee experience a factor in the customer experience?
Tuesday saw us shift from the customer experience to the employee experience. We realize that creating an environment where a positive experience is created at all times for employees is essential to business success, and especially at a time when employee loyalty is becoming harder and harder to find.
As employees are instrumental in creating and delivering the customer experience, we asked, what would happen if an employee were unhappy, dissatisfied or disgruntled? Would they be capable of delivering a positively memorable experience? Could their attitude be detrimental to the business? Of course, we know the answers to both questions but sadly, these employees are on the front line of many businesses today. Even more so is that they most likely didn’t have a bad attitude when they were first hired.
Recession Prep Question: How important is the right culture to business survival?
Hump day seemed to appear out of nowhere as the series heated up. For Wednesday’s article we focused our attention to culture within an organization knowing that in order for positive experiences to be achieved, the right culture within an organization is paramount.
Culture lives and breathes in all organizations. It must be nurtured — fed and taken care of. If sick, the virus causing the sickness must be addressed. In the case of cancer, it must be identified, isolated and removed — making sure to properly treat closely affected areas to be sure of total elimination. If healthy, it must continue to be fortified — an immune system built, and new well-being programs developed.
Recession Prep Question: Should the ‘Experience Factor’ be treated like a line item?
On Thursday we took a deep dive into the ‘Experience Journey’ to see how customer experience, employee experience, and culture all ties together. We discussed how the simple ‘Experience Journey’ graphic introduced the day before is a priceless point of reference for organizations of any size.
The ‘Experience Journey’, which I also refer to as an ‘Emotion Circle’ is a simple way to gauge and improve any type of relationship. Keep in mind, all relationships have an experience factor. All interactions have an experience factor. Every touchpoint also has an experience factor. Even digital touchpoints have an experience factor. And especially, culture within an organization has an ‘Experience Factor’.
We know that in today’s era of economic uncertainty, it’s critical that processes and procedures be in a constant state of evaluation and improvement. The experience factor should be treated like a line item much like anything else that costs and can cost the business money AND can cost the business its customers and employees. Only by treating it like a line item will it be front and center and treated accordingly no different than costs that may be spinning out of control.
Recession Prep Question: Do you have an unbeatable strategy of loving customers… and employees?
With the ‘Preparing for War: You vs. Recession’ series continuing all week, Friday was no different. On this day, we addressed how to best evaluate the experience factor and use the information to improve business AND its culture. That led us to introducing the Net ‘Promoter System’.
To me, it’s the best and most effective way to monitor and evaluate customer experience is to utilize the Net Promoter System. I’m a firm believer in this system. As you read through this day’s article, you’ll quickly realize how it can also be used to monitor and evaluate the employee experience, and ultimately the culture of an organization or brand.
Wrapping up the article, I shared a final thought, and question — Imagine your Net Promoter Score listed on your profit & loss statement right below the bottom line. Would that get stakeholders’ attention? My sentiment — You bet it would!
Each One of Us Can Make a Difference!
Saturdays are a lighter day at Acceler8Success Cafe so we shifted away from the series. I shared a remarkable story about a remarkable man, Abdul Sattar Edhi, one of the best people ever to walk the earth. He helped more people in his lifetime than almost another human being in history. But you’ve probably never heard of him. I know I had not.
Personally, I was blown away by the response to this article, especially for a Saturday as we realized a 20% increase in article views this day. I was excited to read many thoughts of thanks for sharing the article. Actually, it’s really me that must thank all of you. You truly made my day!
On the Lighter Side
Son, Father, and the Well
Once there was a man who was running a business. He faced severe losses and had to sell his properties and cars to continue running the business. Seeing the situation, the son asked his father, “Why are you still running the business when you are at a loss? Why don’t you shut the business?
Father smiled and replied, “My son, life can bring us many challenges and even can push us down. But we have to hope that we can overcome any challenges.” Son, “How can hope help us?” Father, “Ok, I will show you! Father took his son to a big well and asked him to jump.
Son, in shock, “Father, I don’t know how to swim, so I cannot jump. But his father pushed his son to the well and went into a hiding place. Son struggled and kept on trying to float for close to 5 minutes. Then when he was about to get drowned, the father jumped and pulled his son out of the well.
The next day, the father again took his son to the well and asked him to jump again. First, he hesitated, then he jumped into the well. Father again went into hiding. The boy again struggled to keep floating, and he pushed harder. Time kept on running. Even after 15 minutes, he managed himself. Then Father came and pulled his son out of the well.
Father asked his son, “Why were you pushing harder than yesterday?”. Son replied, “Yesterday, I did not know what to do when you pushed me into the well. With fear, I drowned. But today, I know that you will come and save me if I am about to get drowned”.
Moral of the story: Life can bring us many challenges. When we push ourselves with the hope of overcoming it and trusting people around us, we can overcome it.
Have a great day (and week ahead). Make it happen. Make it count!
