21. October 2011 by Frank Goad.

Social media and the Internet has changed customers expectations of their relationship with you - they expect to have a good idea of who you are, what you do, and so on, before they step foot in your place of business - and they changed the level of knowledge customers are armed with when they decide to give you their money. What does this mean? That you can find that your customers know more about your products or services than your employees know.

A 2010 study by IBM found that 55% of retailers say that customers are more connected to data than are their workers. Not surprisingly, 87% of retailers said that customers are using online shopping and comparison tools to find the best deals. This is a huge problem for two reasons:
- Customers enter into your store expecting higher levels of expertise from your staff than ever and,
- With their price knowledge, you have to be more competitive, which shrinks margins, which makes freeing capital for employee education even harder.

We’ve all seen the ads where someone talks to a store employee (usually wearing a blue shirt with yellow lettering - guess who) and they bumble and fumble when trying to answer a product question. That’s a nightmare for anyone in business, especially retail, if that happens in your store.

All this means that you have to work even harder to draw the customer in, make them feel at home and believe that shopping with you is preferred even if your prices aren’t the best they can find. A 2009 study by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania reported five core aspects customers consider key to a great shopping experience:

1. Customer engagement: This means being polite, caring and genuinely interested in customers, and being available to help and listen at all times.

2. A Positive Brand Experience: Customers want to see an attractive store that is well laid out and filled with quality merchandise. This helps customers feel more special and feel greater value in shopping with you.

3. Execution: Patience, good advice, clear explanations, product availability, ample product knowledge - these are what customers expect every time.

4. Problem Recovery: Customers expect satisfaction when problems arise, to be treated fairly and compensated for their trouble, and to get satisfaction in the end.

5. Expeditious Transactions: Quick checkouts, easy shopping and other considerations of their time show that they matter … a lot. For some, this can be their sole measure considering how time compressed we are these days.

The big job that many businesses face is instilling these five aspects in employees, and then helping them reflect them in their interactions with customers. Properly applied, they will give customers’ a strong perception of the value you offer.

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6. December 2010 by Frank Goad.

While my wife and daughter were out of town this weekend, I “treated” myself to something seldom enjoyed: My own, personal “Band of Brothers” marathon. I spent Saturday watching all the disks, looking over the timelines (real history, not just the character’s time) and thinking about what those men went through.The story follows the men of the 101st Airborne, Company E, or “Easy Company.” Each company gets a designation from the phonetic alphabet. They were Easy, and there was Dog, Able, etc. – you get the idea. I’m explaining this so that Easy Company doesn’t get confused with an escort service (sorry, but this is important).

These men went through some of the worst experiences of WWII – literally, hell on earth. They were bombed, shot, burned and suffered exhaustion, freezing cold, hunger and mental trials beyond comprehension. There seem to be no words to adequately describe what they experienced. Still, they persevered largely because of the men leading them. Major Dick Winters is a first-class hero, yet remains humble about his role; Sergeant Carwood Lipton is another cut from that same cloth, and there were many others whose valor and compassion remain unmatched today.

Granted, not all soldiers made it through in that fashion. There were the weak, those who are predisposed to bad behavior or simply lacked character. There were officers who, once in the middle of pitched battles, cracked and became a liability. That happens in civilian life, too, and we all see it sometimes.

Even though their battles were over sixty years ago, their perseverance, courage and devotion stand today as models we should all emulate. There are countless stories like theirs throughout history and some are being written as I write this in battles a world away. The cloud that settled over us after Viet Nam distorted our view of what it means to be valiant and for many years robbed us of the realization that we owe much to our soldiers. To be clear, I did not serve, but know I would be a better man today if I had.

As a man, there are certain things many of us men are somewhat programmed to do. (Rather than start a fight over genetics, anthropology and so on, let me say this is my opinion and, if you don’t like it, keep it to yourself.) Men are meant to serve, and some to lead, but the best know the role of servant leader. Throughout history we men have fought, built, carried, dug and performed much (most?) of the heavy lifting required to carve a new or better life from whatever we are going through. That is our job, our lot and ours is to do so willingly and to the best of our ability.

On the other hand, I see our Congress and much of our government and it seems honor and service are words that have been erased from the majority. I see all around evidence that character and compassion do not carry the value they did. Even men leaving Congress or our state legislatures say that, compared to twenty or even ten years ago, the tone of those bodies is much darker and more about party politics than serving the public; more about winning personally that claiming a real victory for their constituents. They see winning for themselves or the party as the ultimate goal, rather than negotiating a better life for their constituents.

So, where are today’s heroes? Who can step forward and lead? I think we love our soldiers so much because they have a simple yet difficult task to do, and that is fight for a just cause. They demonstrate all the traits we value in human kind and do so selflessly knowing that the cause for which they fight could well take their life. They sacrifice daily for a salary that no elected official would consider worthy. Our police and firemen likewise go forth knowing that each morning they put on their uniform, it could be their last.

Wall Street showed us serious greed and cost the average person thousands of dollars - no honor there. The banking industry showed how slovenly a sector can be by foreclosing improperly on thousands of mortgages - workers scared to do right, managers scared to buck the higher-ups and the higher-ups scared of losing their bonuses. Time after time we hear of scandals; from Bill Clinton to “Dubya” to Charles Rangel to John Edwards to Larry Craig and on and on and on. It seems no one who is supposed to lead these days has the conviction or spine to do so in a manner that inspires the populace. What’s worse, some of those that are supposed to be on the “right” in many cases are sounding like the right wing German party that started around 1921 called the National Socialists, or Nazis. When you consider what I heard some people saying on the radio about gays recently (the debate over “Don’t ask, don’t tell” and the military survey), it was reminiscent of what the old newsreels sounded like; what’s being said about Jews, Muslims and others from the Middle East is no better.

So what am I saying? Look around at those in government whom you elected to office ask if you think you’re getting your money’s worth. Are their actions such that you’d point it out to your children in hopes they’d be inspired? The last post here was praising Chief Bastin, and he is an exemplary man dedicated to bringing the best out in his men and running the department in the most efficient manner possible while building confidence in Lexington’s citizens. He is indeed rare.

Look at the companies you buy from - are they good corporate citizens? What can YOU do to demonstrate character? If we don’t start valuing honor, character, honesty, square-dealing and courage again, Nikita Kruschev’s prophecy of many years ago will come true: “I once said, ‘We will bury you,’ and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.”  The choice is ours.

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2. December 2010 by Frank Goad.

Lexington, Kentucky, is truly blessed to have Ronnie Bastin as our police chief. I’ve know him for around twenty years and he has always been an outstanding man. We met not long after he was promoted to sergeant and, even then, you could tell that he was going to have a great career. Bastin is intelligent, thoughtful and a born leader.

He graciously agreed to be my subject for the Business Lexington “Quick Biz Bites” videos that I do. During the interview, he said something that I think crystallizes the attitude a true leader has. He said, “It kind of gets under my skin when I hear someone say that they ‘… have thirty people working for them.’ When people ask me how many I have working for me, I say that ‘I work for over four hundred people.’” He recognizes the responsibility he has to his staff, his managers and the city of Lexington and is quite humble about it.

He is working hard to train his squads to know what great leadership looks like and leads by example. The department’s progress is outstanding. We should all be grateful to have a man with such sterling character leading the people who guard our town. Thank you, chief.

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12. August 2010 by Frank Goad.

I’m the last person on Earth that should be talking to everyone about balance, which is precisely why I’m doing it. In a little over three weeks, I’ve worked on three benefits, one of which was the Almira Fawn Benefit concert at the Kentucky Theatre, August 3rd. (By the way, it was an amazing two hours of music by some who are legends - or nearly so around here - and by some who are legends-in-the-making.) I’m proud of the work I’ve done, but now I have to finish it. It’s 2:00AM, and I’m bug-eyed at everything that’s piled up.

Part of it is timing, meaning summer is when a lot of benefits happen. The trouble is, by doing so many in such a short time (I’m trying to wade through around 1,200 pictures alone and edit a two-hour video) has put me behind in everything, paying clients included. So, what’s my point?

Most of us have a benevolent streak in us and, whether we’re trying to help a family member, our church, a civic organization, a club, old folks, whatever, when we over-commit ourselves, we’re cheating everyone. This came home to roost in a harsh way with me this week, so this blog post is a bit of a cautionary tale. I was so distracted, I forgot something critical and caused my wife some genuine anguish. How? I was very tired and trying to keep way too many balls in the air, and I wasn’t doing anything well.

So, let my harsh experience be your wake-up call. Stop and look at how you’re scheduling yourself. That we in this country over-schedule ourselves is no secret; that we accept it is the problem. In our mad rush to be successful or respected or popular or simply feel that we’ve accomplished something, it’s easy to forget that we can try too hard and act without first reconciling the costs with the benefits. Again, I’m pointing the finger squarely at Frank.

What to do? Simply this: Schedule some time off for yourself. Of all the things we have in this life, time is the one commodity that cannot be replenished. Use it wisely. Use it with friends and family because their happiness and love are the only things that really matter.

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