Differentiation is arguably the most important source of growth for service businesses. That said, when it’s difficult to differentiate the outcome of your service, it’s essential to focus your attention on differentiating the process by which you deliver your service. Continue reading “Customer Service: How to move from ordinary to extraordinary”
Category: Your Clients
What every business can learn from Gordon Ramsay
If you can tolerate the language you can learn a lot from Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. In fact you can learn something from virtually everything that goes on around you. Back to the kitchen ….. there is a common theme that runs through practically all of the restaurants he works with. This is ….
The menu is way too broad – there are so many dishes it’s hard for people to choose and harder for chefs to get any good at any of them. In their attempt to appeal to a wide range of people they end up appealing to very few.
The owners start by being so appreciative of Ramsay’s help but very quickly push back on virtually every suggestion he makes because they “know better.” Ah, hello, the business is failing!
The team members who work at the restaurant know EXACTLY what is wrong and they are, for the most part, incredibly loyal to and tolerant of the idiot owner they work for. But if or when they try to suggest a way to improve the process or offer suggestions based on direct or indirect customer feedback to the owner they are totally ignored.
Does this give you any ideas for your firm or any of your clients businesses? Perhaps you could invite some clients to a breakfast meeting, show one of his episodes and discuss the lessons learned and how they could apply to any business….. just an idea.
When No means Not Yet: A Principa Alliance Member’s Experience
In a presentation I do on professional selling I try to make the point that if a prospect says “no” it never means “never”. People make decisions based on “where they are at” at the time of making the decision and their natural inclination is to resort to the status quo because that’s the way we humans are wired. Continue reading “When No means Not Yet: A Principa Alliance Member’s Experience”
How to create a world class firm: The Dip Decision
In April 2013 I wrote a blog post called What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Lessons for New Leaders. That post is worth taking a look at if you’re interested in really developing your practice but I’m mentioning it because in it I refer to a book written by Seth Godin called The Dip that contains a message that is the subject of this post. Continue reading “How to create a world class firm: The Dip Decision”
The $50k Question
You’ve got to be in it to win it. By that I mean if you want to grow your business you must, I repeat must, get out from behind your desk and talk to people. And one great way to do that is to have conversations with clients about things that are not directly associated with the typical stuff that accountants do. Continue reading “The $50k Question”
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Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
In Principa I talk a lot about the the centrality of 3 P’s — People, Positioning and Process — to the Delta4 business system we have created, so my antenna was alerted when I heard the the 7 P’s mentioned! Continue reading “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”
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No Low Clients – An Eavesdropping Video
While I was fiddling around in my office on a Saturday afternoon preparing to create a training video the phone rang. It was from a Principa Insider Member – who therefore holds a Saturday-afternoon-interrupt-Ric pass. She wanted an answer to the question: why should I refuse to do work for a small tax client when I can still make some reasonable money from it?
I did not realize it at the time but the camera was rolling and the entire conversation was caught on video. Nothing of a confidential nature was discussed so I thought I’d share the views I expressed because this is certainly not the first time this question has been put on the table and I doubt that it will be the last.
The Walk & Talk Client Retention and Growth Strategy
I was listening to an interview with Jon Ferrara, the founder of Goldmine, one of the first CRM systems and was so impressed with his observation that professionals need to get out of their office and connect with their clients that I recorded this part of the interview. Listen to Jon’s insights.
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Interestingly (to me anyway) this was exactly what I was saying at A Day with The Disrupters Conference I presented at in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. I thought you might be interested in what I had to say because it may apply to you as well …
Ric Payne – A Day With The Disrupters.
How do you price jobs that have unknown dimensions without timesheets?
I get asked this question quite often and I’m fully aware of the motivation behind it. By that I mean those people who do not want to let go of time-sheets ask it because it is a really tough situation to deal with as a practical matter and therefore they feel that it’s too hard so let’s stay Continue reading “How do you price jobs that have unknown dimensions without timesheets?”
Critical issues that surface in nearly every business
I was recently chatting with a member of the Principa Alliance and he shared with me the fear he had about conducting a planning session with a client and being asked a question he could not answer. I’m sure this is a common fear but it’s unfounded for two reasons. First, the purpose of a planning session is NOT to answer questions, it’s Continue reading “Critical issues that surface in nearly every business”