Are You VIP?

I had to ride in coach class this week to Chicago! Can you believe it?  My friend Rick and my daughter Leslie never hesitate to refer to the status of my flight and I as, “the princess”. Apparently there were enough other princes and princesses that I got bumped to peasant.  And for this week it was a good thing.

Service is not the same in the back.  They have a lot more people to deal with and the perks are few. Oh, let me not forget to mention that the seats aren’t as wide.  I was in the exit row so that helps, but I did have a giant man in the seat next to me.  The flight attendants were not attentive and it seemed to me as if they were just going through the motions of doing just enough to get the job done.

This got me thinking. At a baseball or a football game, the suite is way better than the stands when it comes to comfort. I also notice that the staff is better. They dress different, they are more attentive, they seem kinder, and more interested in taking care of the customer.

This is also true of the flight attendant. I don’t know what it takes to work the first class cabin but I’m going to ask.  I started wondering who qualifies as a first class guest in a family entertainment facility.  Do we even have first class accommodations?  I think the boutique or VIP lanes in a bowling based FEC certainly have that first class feel.  Disney has a pass that you can pay more for that lets you bypass the line. If we decide to deliver first class accommodations, do we have staff that is trained to deliver first class service?

In our guest service training I often suggested that we learn to have a limo mindset. What I mean is, if someone drives up to the center in a limo we all have a different attitude about how to treat that celebrity. Of course my thinking is that WOW what a cool business we would have if everyone were treated like a VIP.

But for today it seems like the team member who is qualified to handle VIP customer is the key. Do we have staff or are we grooming our employees to handle the VIPs who come into the Center?  Maybe this is the place to start. There’s an entry level position where you get to work coach and then when you get good enough you work the first class section. What kind of employee do you want to be? What kind of employees do you want on your team?

Okay, here’s an update: As I’m writing this article I had the opportunity to ask my wonderful flight attendant, named Brooke (must be in the name), how they decide who gets to work the first class cabin.

Amazing information. She said it depends on seniority.  They have a bid process and with enough experience and desire they may bid on working the first class cabin. Brooke also said most flight attendants want to work in the back because there is less to do. I thought just the opposite because there are so many more passengers in the back.

She also let me know that she prefers to work up front because a lot of the attendants in the back are very negative and she just doesn’t enjoy having to apologize for someone’s behavior. WOW WOW WOW.  That’s not different than our day-to-day experience is it? It’s hard to work along someone who is not pulling their weight or has a bad attitude!

Our employees depend on one another to be positive. I think when everyone embraces the job at hand rather than trying to find a way to do as little as possible that service moves to a VIP level.

I’m curious to know if you have a first class training program. I do believe we know who we value as first class service minded team members. Wouldn’t it be cool to create a program for our staff and maybe even our guests that put them in that VIP role?  What do you think?

Face to Face

We have a friend that we call Adwiser this Adviser.  He’s a business owner just like many of you.  Often times we receive wonderful advice and encouragement from this friend and this week’s message is full of wonderful insight. Enjoy!

I still Believe the FACE to FACE conversation is the best form of exchanging information and LEARNING WHAT IS IMPORTANT to OTHERS.
It provides instant “feedback.” For most of human history, face-to-face communication was the core of our interaction.

But not today. We text, we email, we blog, we friend each other on social networks. In the new age of electronic media, family and friends converse less than ever. As a result, we miss out on one of life’s singular pleasures: a relaxed, civilized exchange of views.

Conversation offers infinite possibilities. It is great for polishing thoughts and generating new ones. It is unbeatable for beating the blues or forging friendships. The ultimate bond of all personal relationships – whether in business, friendship or marriage – is conversation.

Conversation is not meant to be a performance art or a competition, but an opportunity for mutual appreciation. And the best conversationalists are not the best talkers. They are the best listeners. Society rewards those who express themselves well. (Studies show that no single factor better predicts your future income than the size of your vocabulary.) Good talkers routinely ace the interview, get the contract, close the deal, win the girl. Get on with others and you will get on in life – and enjoy it more.

Yet two opposing attitudes pull us away from it. The first is the mistaken belief that it is unnecessary. Why bother making the call or the visit when you can fire off an email? Unfortunately, text has difficulty conveying tone – the most important aspect of any communication. As well, think how much is conveyed with a smile, a glance, a wink, an eye roll or an arched eyebrow.

You really can’t compare it with FACE to FACE  can you?

Will Rogers, perhaps one of the most beloved person in the 20th century, DREW listeners as his wit and humor about every day life, WAS of INTEREST and some IMPORTANCE to the MASSES. He was easy to listen too.

His “conversations” to his listeners was through radio, newsreels, and the good ‘ol newspaper. Although WILL ROGERS was THE ONLY ONE to TALK, (to hundreds of thousands), his audience “felt” as if WILL ROGERS was talking to them and their interests personally. WILL ROGERS was sincere.

So was the great TV news anchor Walter Cronkite, once labeled “THE MOST BELIEVABLE MAN in AMERICA.” Cronkite was warm and sincere. Few Boomers will never forget Cronkite taking off his glasses and announcing to the world that President Kennedy had died.

The value of “VISUAL MEETINGS and CONVERSATIONS” has not been ignored by the “WEBVERSATION” innovators. Many tools have been developed that recognize the value of “visual contact” and “response” – and have been in use for over 50 years. The Webinar, Video presentation, Go To Meeting.com, Skype, You Tube and hundreds of other technologies are a result of the importance of FACE to FACE conversation. While the “Baby Boomer” generation has adapted easily to using technology, MOST PREFER the personal conversation, than an email or text.

One more “casualty” of the “World Wide Web” has been the “BIG CITY” newspapers. HOWEVER the LOCALLY focused NEWSPAPER has EMERGED with the growth “Beyond the Suburbs.” THE NUMBER ONE REASON:  PICTURES and NAMES. Dale Carnegie explained clearly: the Sound of Ones name is of most importance. THE “LOCAL” is all about “LOCAL” people. The more pictures, names and stories of local interest – results in widespread readership.

There are many examples of effective FACE to FACE conversation. I have listed a couple of them here:

1. As a local merchant, you discover that a local business owner has made a purchase of your “merchandise” whether it be taking HIS/HER employees to use your VENUE for a leisure time activity, or anything else you offer. GET IN YOUR transportation device and PAY a sincere visit. Stop by and personally say THANK YOU.

2. You read about an accomplishment of a local resident, (including stories about kids-and teens, and Seniors). Cut the item out of the “local paper” and mail them a handwritten note about “the importance” of their accomplishment. With the note, send a special invitation to use your facility, as a “personal VIP guest” (keys to the City type treatment).

THE SIMPLE STATEMENT about “dusting” off that good old practice of personal conversation is made by Alex Green in the following paragraphs:
That doesn’t mean your conversation needs to be sparkling and original. Nor does it need to have a purpose or a point. Quite the opposite, in fact. The best conversations ramble. They have no pre-destination. It is all about the rhythm and flow. Good conversation is one of life’s most accessible pleasures.
It connects us to one another, forges friendships, increases social esteem, raises our mood, generates goodwill, enhances our information and completes our education. And while prices rise and time shrinks, conversation is a luxury that remains free to us all. (Not exactly: The price is time)

True, conversation won’t make you richer, thinner, or save your life. (Great personal conversation can help you learn something you were not aware of, and enable you to turn that information into a “PAYCHECK.” Or MANY PAYCHECKS)

As Charles Dickens said, “Never close your lips to those whom you have opened your heart.”

Be Sincere:

The ADWISER

Know Your Value So People Can Respect Your Worth

I saw the title of this article on Twitter. Someone had posted it as their “statement” of the day. It was one of those “YES!” moments because lately I’ve been stuck on the word value … or maybe it’s been stuck on me.

In my job, I’m constantly perusing Facebook and Twitter pages, websites and newsletters, and other such things looking for ways the client, or brand, can stand out. It’s hard to stand out when we’re faced with millions of messages everyday. Every morning I get up, check my mail and delete five to ten unwanted emails from my personal account.

Sure, I signed up to receive those emails because I love the brand. But eventually I realized (at least for the ones I delete each morning) that they were missing the one key component … VALUE.

My time is too precious to take 30 seconds, open up an email, skim it (let’s be honest, we hardly read things fully anymore) and decide what to do next; times five to ten if I were to read all of those emails. It doesn’t matter how “pretty” it is, or how amazing I think the products are, if you’re not giving me something THAT day, at THAT exact moment in time – delete!

Everyone’s time is precious – especially to them. The emails I keep are emails giving value every, single time they send something out. Maybe I’m not looking to buy, but I open it because I know I’m going to come away with some nugget of information … maybe it’s a how-to, or a tip, or recipe. Whatever the case, there’s perceived value there and I seek it out continuously. These people, brands and companies have showed their worth –  it goes waaaaay beyond their brick and mortar, and I respect them for that.

The brands I follow on Facebook and Twitter do the same thing.

One of my KPIs (key performance indicators) is to watch no less than three webinars a week. I usually pick topics on social media, marketing and SEO. And man, have I gotten a tremendous amount of value out of them!

Yes, some were awful, made no sense, were disorganized and had no point or takeaway. But the smart ones gave me more value than I could imagine. I found myself with pages and pages of notes.

And guess what? I want to share that VALUE with YOU.

I took my pages and pages of webinar notes and wrote the curriculum for the Smarketing Summit, a day and a half seminar on SMART Marketing. It’s power packed more with tips, ideas and creative genius than you can imagine. I think I’m up to 35 now, and I’ll keep adding terrific tidbits from my webinar watching up until the event takes place in June.

Most of these value-add items are absolutely FREE to implement, while some have a very low cost. In any case, I know they’re valuable and I know you’ll walk away with heads buzzing from new ideas to implement at your facility. Interested? Email me for more information: brooke@trainertainment.net

In the meantime, look at your own emails, signage, phone calls, newsletters, website, tweets, posts and ask yourself this: “If I were the customer, what VALUE would I get from this?”

~ Brooke Ballard

What’s To Learn?

It’s not a trick question. I know the older I get the more I realize I don’t know; and I forget stuff that I’m sure I knew at one time. Unbelievable!

I think “Everything” is a pretty great answer to the question, “What’s to Learn?” Last week Thad, our sales guy, and I attended a wonderful sales training workshop. I have been a huge fan of a process referred to as Action Selling for a long time. I read the book with that title 8 years ago; and it made a big difference in how I approached the sales process. It made sense to me then and last week I took the process to a very cool new level.  You can find the book and take an assessment to see how you line up with you own selling skills at www.actionselling.com.

Thad and I are doing 12 weeks of “Skill Drills” or follow up on the 2-day workshop, and I thought I would share this week’s homework with you. I think it is so relevant and has helped me be more laser focused on handling my own sales calls this week.

The primary job of a sales person is to gain agreement from a customer. That agreement might come in the form of agreeing to set an appointment, come to your center for a tour, give you a deposit for a birthday, review a proposal or set a time for you to demonstrate your product.

Dropping off materials and making a note to call them back is not an agreement for anything. Having a  “next step” is the only way to know where you are in the selling process.  The Action Selling folks have a GREAT definition for the agreement process.

Their verbiage says we must first set a commitment objective for every sales call. This process is necessary for incoming or outreach calls. Their definition of a commitment objective is a goal that salespeople set for themselves in order to gain an agreement from a potential customer, and moves the sales process forward.

I love that. Intuitively I know an encounter with a guest that has no “next steps” is a waste of time for them and for me. I love that I know have a better way of understanding and explaining the “next steps” process. I hope this helps.

I know I have no interesting story about the trip. We did not go to the Mall of America; we drove right past it. I’m barely a real woman, right? We did almost have a wreck in the MN traffic!

I’ll close today with a couple of questions:

When’s the last time you invested in training?

What would make you raise your hand and say, “I need help?”

I certainly had to think twice before spending the money to go to the training we went to last week. However, I know I can’t know it all. As a great training company it is one of our core beliefs that we better be great learners. I’m super pumped about our training trip last week. AND, if we can come and get your team pumped by providing great training for your team, I hope you’ll raise your hand and say, “Hey, we’ve got a lot to learn!”

What Am I Doin’?

Do you ever ask yourself this question? I know I do sometimes. Sometimes, I do have a clue as to how to answer that question … and other times I’m just running to catch the next plane or call and have no idea how to respond to, “WHAT AM I DOING?”

This morning I’m really thinking about the most important thing I can share with you this week and I can’t shake the thought of “What am I doing?” So here goes.  I guess this is the message for the week.

If I look strictly at business, I know that for 7 years I and others have worked diligently to grow this wacky training company I call TrainerTainment. In the last 18 months or so I think I’ve really been able to zoom in and focus on what we are doing.

Today I’m able to clearly articulate to new team members and to our existing and potential customers why we are here.  In my head I see a big circle and in the middle is what I think we believe the most.  That central belief is that “WE HELP.”  When it comes to business and probably to my life I think I have a deep-rooted vision that says my life is about helping others. It sounds so simple and it makes sense. I think most entrepreneurs want to make a difference in the world; and I think making that difference means you have to do something for someone.

OK, I’ll move on. Once I got my head wrapped around that central belief of helping others, it was easy to get clear about the values surrounding that core concept. Interestingly enough, I think those values really answer the question of how we do the things we do.

If helping is the center circle then the following 4 values surround that core. In order, those values are:

  1. Fun Training
  2. Serious Results
  3. Relevance
  4. Learning

So what all that means is, anytime we, as a company, plan to work with you, we have to be sure we are in line with what we mean to do for you. The first and most important question is can we help? If the answer is yes, then we proceed with energy, strategy, and a firm plan to win. That win must include fun training that produces serious results. We commit to remaining relevant by staying in the market place and paying close attention to what’s going on day-to-day. Finally, I believe that we can’t be a strong training company if we are not steeped in learning. Reading, attending webinars, and workshops is a key performance indicator with every core team member at TrainerTainment.

So there you are. That’s what I’m doing. Working a little or a lot, every day, on how to best serve others. If you think about what you are doing-what do you come up with? I’d love to hear from you.

TIP: I’d start with why you are doing it first!

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