Electronic House Call - June 15, 2007

ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - June 8, 2007

I am finally out of the not-so-friendly skies for a week or so and celebrated by ... having a tooth pulled? (What's wrong with this picture?) I now have a jaw packed with gauze, a severe change of diet for a few days and a dentist whose boat payments are covered for months! Life goes on ...

You may know that Joel Cohen and I facilitate a Mastermind Marketing Group. What you may not know is that I am also part of a similar group to help me get more effective at what I am doing. I just returned from a meeting of that group and among many other things, I came back with the realization of how much productive time I lose every day by not taking more control over my phones and e-mail. The Universe rewards action and it is time to take some.

While I get some long overdue administrative support in place, I will also set aside certain times of the day to check messages, return calls and respond to emails. Outside of those hours, you will not be able to reach me directly unless we have a specific appointment.

When I really stopped to look at it, I was shocked at how much of my time I was sacrificing to other people just because they sent an email. I felt that I had to respond to everything. I now realize that it is counterproductive to think that I can -- or have to -- answer every email I receive.

I will still read everything that comes in, but I won't necessarily answer unless the note comes from a client, potential client or paid subscriber. So if you want my advice or reaction to an idea, either engage me as a consultant or sign up for the Gold Group via my Best Free Offer Ever.

That sounds a bit harsh even to me at this point, but I can see that I have been hurting my business (and therefore my paying subscribers, my family and my ability to create) by thinking that I must be instantly available 24/7 to anyone who wants me.

I will also set office hours and not do business during what should be personal time. This will probably take awhile for me to fully implement because I really love what I am doing, but I can see that it is an important part of being in integrity with my message.

If you feel like you are caught in an endless game of reaction, you might want to look at something similar yourself. An Open Door Policy should just mean you are accessible, not that anyone can steal your time anytime they want it. Just be sure to truly be with your staff during those times when you are with them.

Richard Bach said, "You teach best what you most need to learn," and it looks like this is my next lesson. I appreciate your patience and understanding while I climb this latest learning curve. I'm sure there will be another one right behind it.

SURVIVAL SUCKS
Revisiting The Need for Change
Companies become successful by breaking the rules -- doing something radically different from what everyone else in the market is offering (and probably being told they were crazy!) FedEx and Domino's did it with a different model of delivery, Kinko's took a different approach to ownership and operating hours, Starbuck's re-invented the coffee shop ... and the list goes on.

There is also a lengthy list of companies that were once on top of their markets and are now long gone. I'm sure you can name at least a dozen independent restaurants in your market who did a big business and disappeared or chain operations that are no longer around. Large companies do it as well. Think of Packard, Studebaker (and perhaps Ford) in the auto industry. There are too many to count in the computer field.

It seems that once you become successful, you tend to resist the very sorts of changes that caused your success in the first place. In other words, you start out brave and then get timid when it works. I think that comes from fear -- being scared that change will somehow kill the concept. The truth is that the only thing that can kill the concept is LACK of change.

(NOTE: At the Super Summit in September, we will explore what changes to make and how to make them in order for a mature concept to stay at the top of its market. Gold Group members: watch your email for more details and the inside track on that program.

If you are not a member of the Gold Group, test drive it for nothing and decide for yourself. You get a complimentary 90-day trial subscription when you take me up on my Best Free Offer Ever.)

Since change sounds scary, perhaps it will help to use a different word. Think of change as evolution. The truth is that everything evolves. If you doubt that, try to do business the same way you did when you first started in the industry. Try to ignore the impact of the Internet. Try to pretend that you can deal with todays workers with the practices you were taught in 1985.

The market evolves, technology evolves, the labor force evolves -- everything changes. When you are focused on survival, you resist the evolution around you and cling to the status quo, insisting that your way is the only right way and dismissing any ideas that your staff may have to the contrary.

Embracing contrarian ideas is what made you successful in the first place and they are what will save you now. Is there a risk? Of course. There are no guarantees in life ... except perhaps that I can guarantee that if you don't evolve your odds of survival plummet. I know it seems like a paradox but get used to it.

So regularly ask your staff for their suggestions. Consider their "crazy ideas" and try a few out just to see what happens. But don't play it safe. If you never risk spectacular failure you will never have spectacular success. When you have the courage to listen to ideas other than your own and allow your staff to excel on their terms, they will. Best of all, they will bring you along on what will be the ride of your life!

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
"What did you learn from your staff today?"
From time to time I feel the need to offer a little course correction regarding my Perpetual Question. It is that time again.

The Perpetual Question is "What did you learn FROM your staff today?" I appreciate the comments about things you learned ABOUT your staff, but that is a different sort of learning in response to a different sort of question. Let me explain.

Learning FROM your staff is about keeping your mind open, asking good questions and being intensely interested in the answers you receive. In short it is about listening.

You will notice that I always remind you that the most critical -- and perhaps profitable -- management skill you can develop is your ability to truly listen. Learning FROM your staff is as important as learning from your children ... or learning from your mate (does that seem a little trickier?) The value is not only in what you learn but what the other person gets from it as well -- a feeling of respect, importance and competence.

At its best, learning ABOUT someone or something comes in moments of personal insight -- those "blinding flashes of the obvious" that totally change your frame of reference. Those insights move you forward and they always come when your mind is quiet, not when you are bearing down, struggling to resolve an issue. They can also come when you are open to ideas that never occurred to you before. The best way to shower yourself with new ideas is to improve your ability to listen to others without judgment.

At its worst -- and unfortunately, most commonly -- what passes for learning ABOUT someone or something is really just you deciding "how it is" based solely on your own thinking. The conclusion you reach may or may not have any relation to the actual facts of the situation and almost always comes across as disrespectful to the other parties involved. If you ever knew someone this judgmental, you would probably say that they don't listen.

You see how it always loops back to listening? That is why I put so much emphasis on something that sounds so simple. Listening really IS simple ... it is just not that easy to do. Your ego always seems to get in the way.

To see this idea in action, just review the comments from past attendees of the CEO Foundation Program. You will see that their personal breakthroughs -- and they are significant -- came from gaining a new level of appreciation for how people function and improving their ability to listen.

Every week I ask, "What did you learn from your staff today?" because if you can't answer that question every day, you are not listening. If you are not listening, you are not learning ... and if you are not learning, you are surely falling behind. Your staff has hundreds of great ideas that they will gladly share if only you will ask ... and listen ... and implement what you learn.

So tell me, what did you learn FROM your staff today?

I will continue to collect your answers to this important question until they put me in the ground. Just click on the link above and contribute your insights for the common good ... and your own as well!

THE JUNE SURVEY
Technology has opened new possibilities for operators at all levels. POS systems, once considered an expensive indulgence, are now common. The Internet, cell phones, wi-fi, digital cameras ... all have (or can be) adapted to make restaurants more responsive to guests and easier to manage ... or do they?

This month we look at how operators are using technology in the interests of improving operations, service and profitability ... and how satisfied they are with it.

As usual I will send a compilation of the responses to all who participate. In the meantime, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys -- including the massive WOW Ideas collections.

Add your thoughts to the monthly survey.

CREATING THE EFFORTLESS ORGANIZATION
The CEO Foundation Program
If you are ready to quiet your mind, relieve stress, restore balance in your life and discover how to tap your full potential, you owe it to yourself to take a look at the 2007 Foundation Program. It will be held in Granville, Ohio (just outside Columbus) on July 16-18.

I am not going to beat you over the head with hard sell sales letters -- you get enough of that from others. The Foundation Program is totally different from any other educational opportunity you have ever attended, so it should be presented differently as well.

Rather than try to describe the program to you, I will just let past graduates tell you what attending this session has meant to them. Either you will be drawn to the results they describe or you won't.

If you sense they may have discovered something that you would like to have for yourself, click here to find out more about the program. If not ... well, it is your life and your choice.

Andy Howery, a chef for the Washington Square Group in Huntsville, Alabama attended the program in New Orleans a few years ago. To hear what he had to say about his experience, go to http://www.effortless.org/video.html.

PS: Because I was out of the country for most of May, I extended the $500 Early Registration Scholarship for another week until June 15th. Gold Group members also get a $250 Scholarship and there is other financial aid available. If you are thinking about attending this program -- and you should be -- now is the time to get the details and register.