April 2011 – Steve Pohlit

In a recent article I addressed The Strategy of Preeminence taught by Jay Abraham. Studying and coaching on this material has heightened my awareness of examples of people and companies who exemplify a preeminent mindset. Unfortunately there seems to be a dominance of examples opposite of a client success focused culture. Every example is an opportunity for business to improve. Every improvement will be met with a corresponding increase in business profits.

Recent Examples:

United Airlines automated systems called me to alert me a flight I had scheduled was cancelled. Being notified was good. Working on practical alternatives with United was a nightmare. It is true United Airlines booked me on a later flight. However, when you have plans beginning at noon, arriving at 6:30PM is not a viable option. In researching alternatives, I learned there was a flight that would have arrived only two hours late. That flight was on American which is a Star Alliance Partner of United. United didn’t book me on that flight, however United tried to call them and after a 45 minute wait there was not enough time to book it, confirm it and make the flight.

The logistics were one item. A deeper issue was communication. United Airlines customer support is located in India. While well intended, communication with people in a country where English is not their first language just does not work. It was so difficult that I went to the airport in Chicago and tried to resolve the situation there. I learned that I could book a flight back to my home town in Tampa for a price of nearly $500. On line earlier, the price of that flight was $181.00 The representative at the airport gave me some explanation about rates that didn’t make sense. Additionally I could tell he really was not trying to help me.

I finally found a flight back to Tampa on another airline at a reasonable price. It was clear I was not going to get to my original destination so I decided to fly home. When I got to the gate for that flight I found it was delayed and hour which would mean I would miss my connecting flight. However the gate agent said “wait a minute I can get you on a United Flight direct leaving in an hour” She demonstrated a sincere client focused mindset. Ultimately I made that flight and returned home not feeling very good about spending most of the day on these logistics.

The airline industry has people that do their job well with a “serve the client” attitude. However, many parts of this system are broken including pricing and phone support. There are airlines that get it more right than wrong. My favorite is Southwest which is why they have been consistently profitable. Yes there is a direct correlation between serving the client and profitability.

Recommended Action Steps

If you have an automated attended phone system, trash it and have a live person answer the phones.

If you use staff from a third world country for customer service, develop US based call centers for US and English speaking customer calls.

Be sure your business model on line is consistent with your physical business model.

Strategically evaluate how well you are doing implementing a Strategy of Preeminence.

Action Steps

Get A Business Coach! If you already have a business with more than 10 employees, Hire A Consultant who is able to work with you part of the time on-site.

Would you like to be in the next group of very successful companies and entrepreneurs?

Contact me now.

Steve Pohlit

Business Development Consulting
Executive Coach

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New Digital Media, Inc.

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About: Steve Pohlit CPA,MBA has been the CFO and COO of major domestic and international companies. Steve has extensive business ownership experience having purchased and started off line and on line businesses.

Steve offers his build business profits expertise to companies and entrepreneurs with business coaching and business consulting. His focus is on building business profits and net asset value at above average rates. Steve incorporates health and wellness plus relationship guidance in his work as they are at the foundation of achieving all goals.

All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.

Jay Abraham is a legendary coach and consultant guiding companies and entrepreneurs to making more money….alot more money. If you are not familiar with him, click here and I also recommend you Google Jay Abraham.

Jay developed a core value named The Strategy of Preeminence. I am a long time student of Jay’s and I am a coach with Top One Coaching We include the strategies of Jay Abraham with The Strategy of Preeminence being at the foundation.

The Strategy of Preeminence Summarized

The Strategy of Preeminence is:

1. A mindset
2. A Value System

where the focus is on your

1. Client
2. Employee
3. Vendors
4. Any business relationship that helps your business move forward.

Examples:

Two clients own body shops…a business that fix wrecked vehicles. There are two major stress points: first there is the emotion associated with damage and next there is the emotion of wanting this damage restored back to original or better than original condition. Both clients are totally passionate about how their client is treated and how the process of restoration is handled. My role is to help them develop additional marketing strategies so their markets know they are the trusted advisor and service provider in their niche. I also help them improve operations and systems for the strengthening of gross margin and net profit.

Real Estate Investors add tremendous value in the marketplace by helping their clients including sellers, buyers, contractors, realtors and the community. Those focused transactions where all win are the most successful investors long term. The have become the trusted investor in the marketplace. Top One Coaching goes way beyond coaching people on real estate transactions.

I measure my success as a business coach and consultant by the success of those I work with. I know when the direction we are working on is working and when it doesn’t. I take both outcomes very personally. My mindset is always on the success of the business owner I am coaching.

Notice the purposeful use of the word client. In one of Jay’s presentations focused on the Strategy of Preeminence he reminds of the following definitions:

Client: A person under the care of another

Customer: A person who purchases a product or service.

Companies who view themselves as sellers of products or services are essentially viewing themselves as a commodity merchant. Those who have established themselves as the “go to” expert/trusted advisor operate from a position of strategic preeminence.

The Top 5 Steps for Achieving Strategic Preeminence.

A reminder and a comment:

Remember..the Strategy of Preeminence applies to all constituents that are involved with your business – not just your clients.

Comment…Jay Abraham is legendary and brilliant. His creative thought process would likely offer 50 or 150 steps to implement the Strategy of Preeminence. I offer I feel will make the most immediate impact on building business profits. Undoubtedly this list can be expanded. Let’s jog before we go for the sub 4 minute mile.

Step 1 To The Strategy of Preeminence: Internal Congruence

This means you must be passionate about what you do. If you are not passionate about your business, do something else. If you are passionate about making money but you are not passionate about how you are making money, do something else.

It is virtually impossible to be in a sustainable position of preeminence without a passion for what you do because you will not be authentic.

Step 2: Clear Definition

Clearly define your business including strategic direction, what you want and what you bring to the table (what is in it for your clients) In the book Onward by Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks he writes about the rise, fall and near failure of the business. The number one item he identified as the reason in declining performance was the focus on growing the numbers to please Wall Street and the gradual disconnect with Starbuck’s customers.

The transformation agenda that Howard developed in connection with his return as CEO opens with “The Starbucks mission: To inspire and nurture the human spirit on person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” That agenda went on to address the product, the partners and shareholders. The transformation agenda was the first step to turning around the business. This book is a “page turner” I love it and recommend it highly.

Once the definition of what your business represents becomes part of you, it will make a huge difference in your business. If it is not part of your belief system then people will know you are not authentic and the status of preeminence will not be experienced.

Step 3: Develop A Strategy of Preeminence Communication Strategy

The goal of your communication strategy is to expand the awareness of clients, employees and all constituents as to how your business achieves the core values of your business. Everything you do as a business must reflect the passion of your business purpose. Every email, blog article, social media tweet, status update….all the content on your company media, website and more needs to be congruent with the passion of your business purpose.

The type of communication you use will be dependent on your target audience and distance from you. The more personal the communication the more effective you are likely to be. This is actually a subject of many books and seminars. For now just remember that all communication should be in alignment with your core values and business purpose.

Step 4: Develop Systems That Confirm Your Strategic Purpose Is On Track

It wasn’t that Starbucks didn’t have measurements, it was the fact the evolving direction was on same store revenue growth and continually higher quarterly performance. This was not the core value that would result in a preeminent market position.

Top One Coaching has a report card system for evaluating clients and for clients to evaluate coaches.

Clients who refer business to you is a great measurement.

Employees will tell you.

Pay attention to how well you are developing permanent relationships.

Here is the key…you must take the time to pay attention and develop specific feedback benchmarks that tell you you are on track. One action step I recommend is a brief weekly meeting for 30 minutes or so with employees and others to evaluate progress. Personally I always ask clients what else will help them the most even when based on my experience I am confident in the direction.

Givers Gain: That is the mantra of Business Network Institute and it is true. Remember to spread the word of those you work with who do a great job. Maybe it is a contractor, attorney, accountant, real estate agent or someone who cleans your office…..share.

Step 5: Strategic Performance

This is the financial performance model incorporating my Gold Formula. I have named this the Gold Formula because I have found the gold is in variance from plan. The gold formula is plan…actual…variance. With every business we develop a financial plan for near term business performance. Near term is generally a year. We detail that plan by month then begin tracking variances from plan. This process supports your evaluation of how well you are doing to implement the Strategy of Preeminence. If your variances are consistently negative to a valid plan something is not right.