…the Love This Valentine’s Day

No matter how much they want to reward their employees, many leaders just don’t have the financial resources to give out much-deserved raises and bonuses. Fortunately, according to Todd Patkin, you don’t need to spend a cent to show your people beyond a shadow of a doubt that you care about them and appreciate their hard work. He suggests showering your employees with love this Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is usually reserved for showering love on your special someone. But if you’re in a leadership position at a company that’s been hit hard by the recession and its aftereffects, you probably already know that your employees could use some love too. In the battle for survival, your company may have developed a perpetually stressful atmosphere in which your employees have been asked to do more with less—often with little thanks. Of course, you don’t want to shortchange them (and in fact, the thought of doing so has probably worried you just as much as the economy!); you simply still can’t afford to reward them through the more traditional means of raises and bonuses.

Fortunately, says Todd Patkin, you don’t need a single dime to make your people happy at work or to show them just how much you care about them and appreciate their efforts. And what better time than Valentine’s Day to start showing them the love again.

“People will never admit it, but money is not the thing they desire most from their work. Instead, showing appreciation, respect, and, yes, even love are the three most important ways to make your people feel great about their work,” points out Patkin, author of Finding Happiness: One Man’s Quest to Beat Depression and Anxiety and—Finally—Let the Sunshine In“And happy, engaged employees are the single best way to impact your company’s bottom line.”

Patkin isn’t just a talking head—he speaks from experience. For nearly two decades, he was instrumental in leading his family’s auto parts business, Autopart International, to new heights until it was finally bought by Advance Auto Parts in 2006 for more money than he ever dreamed possible. During that time, Patkin made it his number-one priority to always put his people and their happiness first.

“As a leader, I quickly found that if my team was content and their work environment was a positive one, they would be more engaged and motivated, and they would truly care about our organization’s future,” he elaborates. “Plus, it was even more rewarding for me to see that my employees were happy—and often even ecstatic—than it was for me that we were making money.”

Patkin adds, “It’s more important now than ever before to show your employees love and appreciation, because you probably haven’t been able to give them big raises and bonuses since the recession hit. Let your employees know that this Valentine’s Day will be all about making sure they know how much you appreciate all of their hard work.”

Furthermore, Patkin adds that if your employees are perpetually stressed out, they’ll be less motivated and more disengaged. And when they’re unhappy, they’ll do only what they must to avoid chastisement…and you’ll lose money in the long term. Also, as the economy turns around, they’ll be more likely to start looking for a new job elsewhere.

“If there is one thing I would like to tell all leaders at all levels and in all industries, it’s that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain—including an improved bottom line—by making your organization as happy a place to work as possible.”

Read on for five of Patkin’s show-the-love strategies that you can use as soon as today to say “thanks for a job well done!” to any employee, any time…without spending a cent:

Send “love” notes. Writing and sending a thank-you note is standard practice when you receive a gift. And what is great, thorough work other than a gift from your people to you? When you notice that an individual has done an excellent job or has achieved an important goal, send a specific handwritten (not typed!) note conveying your most sincere appreciation and admiration. This will take only one sheet of paper and five minutes out of your day…but it’ll make a lasting impression on your employee.

“When you’re a leader, you’re busy and often overwhelmed,” Patkin acknowledges. “It’s understandable that you might overlook saying the words ‘thank you,’ much less writing them. Remember, though, that positive reinforcement and sincere gratitude will increase the respect your team has for you and will improve their opinion of your entire organization. Also, it will encourage them to likewise say ‘thank you’ more often to their own subordinates within your company. Think of writing what I call ‘love notes’ as a way to invest in your company’s atmosphere and future!”

Distribute inspiration. Our society tends to think of work as a place of drudgery, obligation, and boredom, as exemplified in the now-iconic movie Office Space. People certainly don’t think of receiving inspiration and rejuvenation between nine and five. According to Patkin, though, buoying your team’s spirits should be one of your daily goals. If you help them to see the world as a sunnier place and to improve their attitudes and ways of thinking about their entire lives, their professional and personal productivity will increase too.

“If you run across a quotation or story that inspires you, don’t keep it to yourself—pass it along to an employee, and perhaps, if appropriate, also mention that the quote or anecdote reminded you of him and his great attitude,” suggests Patkin. “Alternatively, you might consider sending out a quote or lesson of the day. Yes, the idea might sound hokey at first, but I firmly believe that most people vastly underestimate the power of feeding their minds with inspirational and educational material.”

Tell success stories. Even if they brush off praise or downplay their achievements, everybody loves to be recognized and complimented. When someone in your organization has done something great, tell her that you noticed her outstanding work, and tell the rest of the team, too! Whether correctly or incorrectly, many employees feel that their leaders take them for granted and only point out their mistakes, so make it your daily mission to prove that perception wrong.

“When I was at Autopart International and I saw that one of my people did something noteworthy, I made sure that everyone else knew about it by sending the story about her accomplishment around in an email to the entire chain,” Patkin recalls. “I could literally see the glow on the highlighted employee’s face for weeks, and I also noticed that many of the other team members now worked even harder too in order to earn a write-up themselves. Remember to always praise in public as ‘loudly as possible,’ and conversely, criticize only in private!”

Identify stars. According to Patkin, identifying stars is taking the concept behind telling success stories to the next level. Yes, recognize achievements whenever you see them, but also make celebrating your stars a regular event. Sure, some team members will roll their eyes at “Employee of the Week/Month” programs, but you can rest assured that no one is going to turn down this honor.

“Instead of singling out just one person, as a special treat for Valentine’s Day, you might even consider recognizing every member of your staff,” Patkin suggests. “For example, I always wrote about several store managers in our ‘Managers of the Month’ newsletter. Later, I included assistant managers, store supervisors, store salespeople, and our drivers in this letter of champions as well. My profiles for each star would often be a full page in length, lauding both their professional achievements and wonderful personal qualities. The newsletters themselves were often thirty pages in length when finished. But I know many within the team loved to read these personalized recognitions each month, and they motivated lots of the employees to work even harder to earn a spot on the pages themselves.

“Consider putting out a special edition of your company newsletter for Valentine’s Day or creating a newsletter for the occasion if you don’t already have one. If you have a small number of employees, include a write-up about each employee, what you love about them, and how proud you are of their accomplishments. If you have too many employees to thank them individually, include a heartfelt thank-you letter that points out what goals the company met because of all of your employees’ hard work.”

Make it a family affair. Whenever possible, engage your employees’ families when praising them. Having a leader validate all the hours each team member spends at work will be remembered far longer than a bonus (really!). Plus, when spouses and kids know what Mom or Dad does at work and are “on board” with it, your employee’s performance will be buoyed by support from the ones he or she loves the most.

“For example, if an employee did something really tremendous, I would call his home, generally trying to get the answering machine and not a person,” Patkin shares. “Then I’d leave a voicemail like this one:

“Hi, (name of spouse and kids), this is Todd Patkin from Autopart International where your husband and dad works. I just want to tell you that your husband and dad is the most incredible, wonderful, amazing person in the whole world. He just broke our Nashua, New Hampshire, store’s all-time sales record. Guys, that is incredible!! So, please, kids, do me a favor. When your dad comes home tonight, everyone run up and give him a huge hug and tell him how proud you are of him and how great he is. And, (name of spouse), I hope you too will give him a big hug and a wonderful kiss to make sure he knows how much you love him and how much he is appreciated for all he’s doing for our company. Thanks, guys.

“And in fact, years later, many employees whose families received these phone calls told me that although they didn’t remember how much their bonus checks were for that year, that extra-special homecoming was still clearly etched in their memories.”

“Trust me, showing people love, appreciation, and respect trump money just about every time when it comes to building long-term motivation and boosting employee morale and loyalty,” concludes Patkin. “If you haven’t been showing your employees appreciation, let Valentine’s Day be the time for you to get back on track, and if you have been, think of creative ways to step up your efforts. When you take the time to make your employees feel valued, they’ll know that you care about them on a more personal level, and they’ll be much happier at work. And in the end, when you’ve achieved a really positive atmosphere at work and the improved bottom line that will surely come from it, you’ll feel amazing too!”

About the Author: Todd Patkin grew up in Needham, Massachusetts. After graduating from Tufts University, he joined the family business and spent the next eighteen years helping to grow it to new heights. After it was purchased by Advance Auto Parts in 2005, he was free to focus on his main passions: philanthropy and giving back to the community, spending time with family and friends, and helping more people learn how to be happy. Todd lives with his wonderful wife, Yadira, their amazing son, Josh, and two great dogs, Tucker and Hunter.

Low Prices Have Killed Brand Loyalty

Darlene Quinn knows what it’s like to be loyal to a brand name.

Quinn, a former senior executive with the Bullocks Wilshire department store chain understands the inner workings of the fashion retail industry as well as she does consumer trends, and her conclusion based on what she’s seeing in the marketplace aren’t encouraging for some of America’s oldest brands.

“Some of our most recognized and best-loved brands are falling victim to an economy in which price is the paramount concern for consumers,” said Quinn, author of Webs of Fate, a novel about the retail fashion industry from Greenleaf Book Group (www.darlenequinn.net). “We’ve ended the era of the brand-loyal consumer, and entered the age of low prices.”

Quinn’s argument is that major national brands and some regional brands will soon watch their final sunsets as the hunt for low prices currently outweighs old-fashioned consumer brand loyalty.

“Brand loyalty used to mean something in the retail business,” Quinn said. “We are now hardwired to look at paying less than full price. The status symbol has become ‘how much did you save?’ Although there are many of us who are less than happy with the outcome and who are willing to pay more for quality and service, it will take a long time, if ever, for a reversal. I would love to see the return of brand loyalty, but with the economic outlook starting to dim again, I don’t see it happening.”

Brands recently targeted by the Wall Street Web site 24/7 for fading away include two great American traditions:

• A&W Grills – A&W Restaurants is owned by Yum! Brands, a fast food holding company that also owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver’s. A&W was originally founded in 1919, and the company helped introduce the “drive-in” fast food concept. It was so successful that they started selling their sodas in cans in 1971, a side of the business that was sold to Dr. Pepper/Snapple a decade later. After World War II, the chain had 450 franchised locations, which has since dwindled to 312 US stores by last year. In the era of the mega franchises, like Subway and McDonalds with about 35,000 locations each, A&W can’t survive. The brand has been for sale since January, and if a buyer isn’t found soon, the drive-in could be closed forever.

• Sears – Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century. As Wal-Mart became the dominant department store during the 1990s and 2000s, Sears began to struggle, so the company merged with Kmart in early 2005, creating the Sears Holdings Corporation. The problem is that joining forces strengthened market share, but not revenues. Two dying giants who merge only create one larger dying giant. The competition between the two brands continued, simply under the same roof, with Sears losing the battle. Kmart reported a 1.6 percent decline in sales in the first quarter of 2011, while Sears dipped 5.2 percent. The end result? Look for New CEO Lou D’Ambrosio to shutter the lesser performing brand, Sears, and use the additional resources to bolster Kmart.

Darlene Quinn is an author and journalist from Long Beach, California. Her novel, Webs of Fate is set in the mid-eighties before the greatest onset of LBO’s which ended up bring Wall Street to its knees. A time when the greatest completion for department stores was other department store merchants who drastic dropped the price on merchandise which just hit the sales floor in order to gain market share. A time when we still had regional department stores which were not named Macy’s and before the status symbol became how much did you save.

As part of a nine-member management team for the Bullocks Wilshire Specialty Department stores, Quinn has the insider’s perspective on the rise and fall of major department stores. She is currently embroiled in the battle for Macy’s to restore the Marshall Fields store brand stores that they purchased and turned into Macy’s locations in Chicago.

Five Tips You Don’t Want to Miss

Sometimes I cringe when I hear people talk about “the media.” It sounds as if everyone in TV, radio, print and online press is a member of one fraternity that thinks and acts the same. There is a vast gulf between the daily life of a print journalist and the daily life of a radio show host. And there are many differences between radio hosts and TV producers.

They really shouldn’t be treated the same. That’s why I’ve written a booklet called 50 Tips to Make You A Great Radio Guest and a similar piece for TV. Now I am compiling interview tips for working with print and online journalists (which in many cases can be the same thing). This will be the first of three articles, so stay tuned for the others over the next two weeks.

Here are the first five tips:

• Be Responsive – In TV and radio, interview times are pre-arranged. However, print and online journalists typically have daily and weekly deadlines. When they call you, they need you right then! In many cases, journalists will reach out to several experts on a news item and then choose the one who is the better interview or whoever responded quickest (or a combination of the two). The more reliably you respond, the more likely they will call on you again.

• It’s Not About You – Most journalists are not interested in you, but rather the expert commentary you can provide. The more you use the words “I” and “my” the less likely they will use you as a source. When speaking to a reporter, keep in mind you are speaking to their audience, so keep your remarks centered on what their audience cares about and you’ll be quoted early and often.

• Read Before You Talk – If you get a call from a publication, take five minutes to go online and read a few of their stories. Look for their tone and approach, so your tone and approach will match. Also look for articles they wrote on your topic, so you can avoid duplicating what someone else said. Finally, read articles written by the journalist you’ll be speaking with. There is no better way to prepare for a print or online interview than to read the writings of the reporter interviewing you. You can discover his or her focus, audience and philosophy. The reporter can tell if you’ve read his or her articles through your comments and will respect you for having made the effort to prepare for them.

• Don’t Empty Your Notebook – Beat reporters – journalists who cover a particular topic or industry – tend to be experts in that field from their time covering it for their respective publications. They don’t need, nor do they want, your soup-to-nuts take on that topic. They need only a few quotes and opinions to round out their stories. Answer direct questions with direct answers, and get to the point quickly. There’s no need to tell the reporter everything you know, emptying your notebook of all your collected knowledge, in order to have a good interview. Allowing an interview to devolve into you talking about your total philosophy on a particular topic or business will result in your interview landing in the discard pile, and the reporter will likely seek a comment from your competitor instead.

• Be Professional – Reporters don’t call you to talk about the weather, last night’s TV, your kids, etc. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve come across people who think a little friendly chit chat can “grease the wheels.” If they engage you, that’s one thing. It’s entirely another if you waste their time with unwanted “schmoozing.” Most have deadlines to meet and their time is valuable. Many outlets are working with significantly smaller writing staff than a year ago. Respect their time and they’ll respect you.

There’s more to a good print interview and in the next two weeks I will share more tips. If you follow this advice, you’ll discover your interviewers will respond better to you, use more of the interview in their actual articles and maybe even call you back for more quotes when they work on other stories. At the end of the day, these tips will help you be prepared so that when your name is mentioned in the media, readers will know they are getting advice from someone who truly knows what he or she is talking about.

About the Author: Marsha Friedman is a 21-year veteran of the public relations industry and a sought after national public speaker on the power of publicity. She is the founder and CEO of EMSI Public Relations (www.GuaranteedNationalPR.com), a national firm that provides PR strategy, promotion and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. Marsha is also the author of the book, Celebritize Yourself: The 3-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business. When she is not running her business, she has Cherish the Children, a non-profit foundation that helps under-privileged local foster children.

How are you and your business at keeping your promises?

Well, how you answered this questioned just defined your brand and your culture. Yes the two are connected, and this connection can be either:

Strong and reinforcing – they are in alignment

Strong but negatively reinforcing – they are competing or demonstrating dissonance

Weak because they have not been defined and developed

Creating the Promise – Your Brand

To grow your business, you must identify your target market. This is the market niche you want to focus on and the position you want to hold within that market. You need to know and understand exactly:

What products or services you want to provide to your market

What you can do and what you do not want to do

Your competition and why you are different

This provides the essential elements for branding your company.

Branding presents you to the marketplace. It defines you in the mind of your customers and prospects. It creates the promise: what your clients can expect from you when they do business with you. Think of Apple, Google, Zappos, Amazon.com, Nordstrom… We know what to expect from them, and we are rarely disappointed.

Branding expresses this promise in the:

· Logo

· Website concept and content

· Tag line

· Advertisements

· Marketing materials

· All forms of internal and external expression/communication about the company.

There is a consistency that should carry over to all methods of interacting with the customer and the prospect. Regardless of how your prospect and customers enter your sales cycle, they should see, feel, and interpret who you are, what you stand for and what they can expect based on your branding.

So, you’ve got their attention with relevant and compelling branding.

You’re done, right? No, not so quickly.

Creating the Culture to Deliver the Promise

Now it’s time to deliver: to keep the promise made in and through your branding.

Culture is the way work is done in your company. It’s how people work together, how you build your teams and processes to deliver on your promise. It represents how strongly you believe in your promise and builds your repute.

Culture is grounded in the understanding and practices around the Purpose/Mission, Vision and Guiding Values of the company. It drives how decisions are made, how responsibility is assumed and your behavior in front of customers and within your group. It should be reflected in the standards and consistency with which you deliver your product or service.

One quick point: Are organizations with a strong positive culture and good brand expression perfect? Far from it. They are just much better than their competition, as they know how to course correct when required, and they know why they exist as a business.

Brand + Culture = Market Growth

Without a strong base (your culture and brand) it is nearly impossible to deliver consistent and high quality products and services to your market. (In this case, what you end up delivering are excuses.)

Companies with a strong brand and a strong culture are leaders in their market, whether it’s a small local market or a large international market. It doesn’t matter. A positive brand and cultural alignment is a powerful competitive strategy!

The greatest opportunity for performance improvement and growth is to concentrate on building a strong brand expression (the promise) and focusing your culture in delivering on that promise.

Identifying your market and building a strong base (culture and brand) to deliver to that market is a competitive differentiator. Why? Because many of your competitors (and could be competitors) will not take the time to do this. And your clients and customers will notice and will reward your efforts.

About the Authors: Management Consultants and Business Performance Improvement Specialists Sara Laforest and Tony Kubica have 50+ years of combined experience in helping small and large businesses accelerate their business growth in record times. Failure to make and actually keep your promises is just one way to sabotage your business growth. Get the full report on Self-Sabotage in Business now at: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/resources.php

Cesar Millan “The Dog Whisperer,” Dog the Bounty Hunter and Bill Nye “The Science Guy.”

While dog training, bounty hunting and science might be worthy industries, few would have ever thought they might be the breeding grounds of some of today’s unlikeliest celebrities. But, such is the case when we live in a world where the popular media, indeed popular culture, is plugged in and turned on 24/7, 365 days a year.

Being an industry expert is easier than ever these days, but perhaps you feel a little “industry envy” when it comes to your field. Believe me, no field is too big or too small to brand yourself as the go-to expert.

Think New Hudson, Michigan is too isolated to be a hot spot for experts and celebrities? Think gardening is too insignificant a subject to own as the go-to expert and publish books and have your own radio show? Jerry Baker disagrees; known as “The Flower Expert,” Jerry has carved out an enviable niche for himself that stretches far beyond the Finger Lakes. His radio show, On the Garden Line, is syndicated nationwide and his gardening specials have been televised on PBS.”

So how did Jerry Baker, Cesar Millan, Dog the Bounty Hunter and Bill Nye “The Science Guy” do it?

Simple – they answered the following eight quick questions to determine whether or not their expertise could support the kind of career that celebrities are made of:

• Does what I do have value? We all like to think what we do is valuable, not just to us, but to the world at large. Every job has value; we just have to determine exactly what ours is.

• Do I love what I do? Celebrities, experts, pundits, gurus (call them what you will) the go-to people in ANY field absolutely love what they do. Chances are if you’re reading this article, you do too.

• Do I love talking to people about what I do? Celebrities are natural talkers, not because they like to hear themselves speak, but because they just can’t help but share their enthusiasm for what they do with other people.

• Do I wish more people could do what I do? Experts in every field naturally believe their field is THE field; they want everyone to share their love of gardening, dogs, accounting, flying, etc.

• Do I have an intense desire to reach a bigger audience? We all want to go a little farther, reach a little more and do it a little faster, but experts in their fields really do enjoy dominating a larger playing field each year they’re in the game.

• Do I know my passion inside and out? One thing that always amazes me about my clients is how well they know their business. Experts aren’t called that because they “kinda, sorta” know what they’re talking about. When you know your field backward and forward, you are ready, willing and most importantly able to Celebritize Yourself.

• Do I want more credibility through books, CDs, interviews and more? Modern experts recognize that they must become “celebrities” to get the recognition and credibility they deserve; they see this as a natural progression of their industry expertise.

• Do I want to learn more by teaching more? Lastly, every expert I’ve ever met, written about, helped publicize or interviewed for my radio show has been a natural-born teacher. People with expertise want to share that expertise and do so willingly; in teaching others about what it is they do (dog training, bounty hunting, science, flowers), they learn even more – about themselves, their audience and their industry.

So you see, becoming a world-recognized expert in your field – any field – doesn’t require a Ph.D., a 90210 zip code or a nationally-televised talk show. All you need to dominate your field, any field, is the confidence to Celebritize Yourself and the right answers to all of the above questions.

Marsha Friedman is a 21-year veteran of the public relations industry and a sought after national public speaker on the power of publicity. She is the founder and CEO of EMSI Public Relations (www.GuaranteedNationalPR.com), a national firm that provides PR strategy, promotion and publicity services to corporations, entertainers, authors and professional firms. Marsha is also the author of the book, Celebritize Yourself: The 3-Step Method to Increase Your Visibility and Explode Your Business. When she is not running her business, she has Cherish the Children, a non-profit foundation that helps under-privileged local foster children.

When the moment arrives and you finally decide to branch out to start your own business it becomes all too clear that there is more to having your own business than meets the eye. Not only do you underestimate the actual demands. The extra hours and constant decisions. You soon discover all too quickly that you turn into the ultimate go to person. Yikes!

What you can also underestimate are the many rewards. Sure you know you are in the driver’s seat. You know that are now free to set your own schedule and choose who you will work with. You like the idea that you are able to make as much or as little as you desire while spending each day focused on what you love to do. But one thing that really caught me by surprise is the pure sense of satisfaction you feel inside when you start seeing results. No, I’m not just talking about results within your business. I’m talking about the satisfaction you feel when you see your clients fly on their own. When you see that all the hard work, conferences, training, back and forth, mistakes and the ‘just getting to know’ one another phase finally comes together to create a flow. The moment when you see your client, who first came to you not knowing which direction they were headed or what to do next, has now morphed into a person who has a higher level of confidence and a true understanding of their abilities as they work within their own passion and expertise. You see traction. You see speed. You see flight. Now that’s true client satisfaction!

It is within moments like these that you feel validated by your your decision to strike out on your own. Mostly because you know you have made a difference in the life of another human being. You have brought your client closer to their aspirations. Closer then what they were able to do on their own. It is a feeling that is closely associated to seeing your child take their first steps and then move on to their first day of school. You feel proud and happy. You feel satisfied. Especially since you know you’ve been there every step of the way. You also know that one day graduation will come and so you decide to enjoy the moments while cultivating your ability to craft true ‘client satisfaction’ for both you and your client. Take a moment to reflect on your most satisfying client moments and share them below. ~De

De Harris brings over 17 years of expertise as a manager, business owner, and personal & business development coach. As the Founder & President of The WOWNetwork Alliance & CEO of AllBiz Web Support, she has worked with a wide variety of large & small businesses, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs to formulate their voice and presence through on/offline branding, organization and marketing systems that build better business. De is passionately dedicated to keeping the web/tech challenged expert ‘in the know’ by offering solid networking connections and support through educational opportunities with experts from around the world. Subscribe and learn more by visiting DeHarrisOnline.com

Boundaries are a key component of a successful day – they can simply make or break your day, as these three cases illustrate:

Lynn (not her real name) was a successful web designer, but she was working solid 60 hour days, had no time for her family, her boyfriend, or exercise, and was starting to feel the strain of it all: her family was inviting her to fewer family events, because they knew she wouldn’t be able to attend; she felt her boyfriend was slowly becoming more distant; and she had back problems because of her lack of exercise. This simply had to change, but she was worried about what would happen to her work as a result.

The largest source of her long hours was one single client. This retainer client was asking for urgent jobs at all times of day or night, with no thought to the fact that they were paying her for only 20 hours a week and that she had other clients to take care of. I asked her to put boundaries around this client, so that the time devoted to them would be clearly defined for both. It was the first time that she had spoken up, so she was very fearful of the client’s reaction, but, as I expected, the client was very amenable to change and she was able to negotiate an agreement where she would still be working the contractual number of hours, but solely during certain hours of the day; if a request came at another time, she would hold it until the next day. That one simple step reduced her work hours from 60 to 50, and a few other time management steps led her down to 40 hours a week – with no loss of income.

Another client, let’s call her Kathryn, had another issue: her clients were wonderful, but she kept being interrupted by family and friends who didn’t understand that her working from home still meant working. They assumed that she always had time for personal items, so almost daily she had someone calling to share a piece of gossip or vent, or stop by and ask for help or a favor. She would listen to the friend, help the family member, and get to the end of the day having worked less than 4 hours. I taught her to put strict boundaries around her work time, and she learned to tell her friends and family that she would be happy to listen and help… after work hours. Within two months, she had doubled the number of her clients, who were happier than ever – without any impact on her relationship with friends and family.

Sometimes, the boundaries that need to be set up are physical. When I started Daily Mastery, I was living in an apartment. There was no separate room for my office, and the only room big enough to host an office area was the living-room. So I set up my desk there, and lived a daily nightmare: I could see the living-room and everything that wasn’t in order; I could see the TV, who sometimes was irresistibly attractive, even turned off; and since I was in the living-room and he could see me, my then-4-year-old son felt that he could interrupt me whenever he wanted to. So I created an office space by strategically placing bookcases, and immediately saw a marked difference: I was no longer compelled to get up from my desk to straighten out; the TV, being out of sight, lost its power of attraction; and my son, since he didn’t see me every time he lifted his head from his games or books, wasn’t as inclined to interrupt me. In a few days, my productivity had doubled.

Your turn:

Boundaries can indeed make or break our days, depending on whether we have them, and how firmly we protect them. So take a look at the boundaries that you have with family, friends, co-workers, work and home, space, etc.

Are they meeting your needs? Are they allowing you to be fully productive at work, and fully engaged at home, or do you feel strain in some area? What can you do to create firmer boundaries where you need to?

Write down some ideas, practice what you will say from now on to gently but firmly enforce your boundaries, and see how you suddenly have more time, and enjoy your life better. And if those questions leave you stymied, anxious or with more questions, reach out for help. It is often easier to do this work with someone who can support you, offer you additional ideas on how to protect your boundaries or how to teach others a new way to interact with you, and hold you accountable and remind you why you are doing this work during those first times when it often feels uncomfortable to affirm your boundaries.

Do you want to learn how to truly master your day so that you can have the life you want and enjoy it? Visit www.DailyMastery.com to download your three gifts, The 5-Minute Time Management Solution, Daily Mastery’s 10 Top Time Management Mistakes and The Best-Kept Secret for Peak Productivity.

Karin Stewart, Ph.D., is a specialist in time, stress and energy management and work-life balance, and shows service professionals, solopreneurs and working moms how to get more done, in less time, and without the stress every day, so they can fully enjoy their lives. Working both in person and by phone, Karin’s clientele spans the country and the globe and includes individuals as well as organizations.

Five Affordable Ways to Boost Employee Happiness, Loyalty, and Motivation

No matter how much they want to reward their employees, many leaders just don’t have the financial resources to give out much-deserved raises and bonuses. Fortunately, according to Todd Patkin, you don’t need to spend a cent to show your people beyond a shadow of a doubt that you care about them and appreciate their hard work.

Foxboro, MA (July 2011)—To say the least, the past few years haven’t been the best for business. We’ve weathered a brutal recession, and most of us aren’t out of the woods yet. What’s more, it’s not only finances that have taken a hit—morale is suffering, too. In the battle for survival, many organizations have developed perpetually stressful atmospheres in which employees are asked to do more with less—often with little thanks. In many cases, it’s not that employers want to shaft their people; they simply can’t afford not to cut hours and positions, and they definitely don’t have the funds for raises and bonuses.

Fortunately, says Todd Patkin, you don’t need a single dime to make your people happy at work or to show them just how much you care about them and appreciate their efforts.

“People will never admit it, but money is not the thing they desire most from their work. Instead, showing appreciation, respect, and, yes, even love are the three most important ways to make your people feel great about their work,” points out Patkin, author of the new book Finding Happiness: One Man’s Quest to Beat Depression and Anxiety and—Finally—Let the Sunshine In (StepWise Press, 2011, ISBN: 978-0-9658261-9-8, $18.00, www.toddpatkin.com). “And happy, engaged employees are the single best way to impact your company’s bottom line.”

Patkin isn’t just a talking head—he speaks from experience. For nearly two decades, he was instrumental in leading his family’s auto parts business, Autopart International, to new heights until it was finally bought by Advance Auto Parts in 2006 for more money than he ever dreamed possible. During that time, Patkin made it his number-one priority to always put his people and their happiness first.

“As a leader, I quickly found that if my team was content and their work environment was a positive one, they would be more engaged and motivated, and they would truly care about our organization’s future,” he elaborates. “Plus, it was even more rewarding for me to see that my employees were happy—and often even ecstatic—than it was for me that we were making money.”

Patkin adds, “It’s more important now than ever before to show your employees love and appreciation, because we’re in the midst of an economic downturn, so you probably won’t have the money to give big raises and bonuses.”

Furthermore, Patkin adds that if your employees are perpetually stressed out, they’ll be less motivated and more disengaged. And when they’re unhappy, they’ll do only what they must to avoid chastisement…and you’ll lose money in the long term. Also, when the economy turns around, they’ll be more likely to look for a new job elsewhere.

“If there is one thing I would like to tell all leaders at all levels and in all industries, it’s that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain—including an improved bottom line—by making your organization as happy a place to work as possible.”

Read on for five of Patkin’s show-the-love strategies that you can use to say “thanks for a job well done!” to any employee, any time…without spending a cent:

Send “love” notes. Writing and sending a thank-you note is standard practice when you receive a gift. And what is great, thorough work other than a gift from your people to you? When you notice that an individual has done an excellent job or has achieved an important goal, send a specific handwritten (not typed!) note conveying your most sincere appreciation and admiration. This will take only one sheet of paper and five minutes out of your day…but it’ll make a lasting impression on your employee.

“When you’re a leader, you’re busy and often overwhelmed,” Patkin acknowledges. “It’s understandable that you might overlook saying the words ‘thank you,’ much less writing them. Remember, though, that positive reinforcement and sincere gratitude will increase the respect your team has for you and will improve their opinion of your entire organization. Also, it will encourage them to likewise say ‘thank you’ more often to their own subordinates within your company. Think of writing what I call ‘love notes’ as a way to invest in your company’s atmosphere and future!”

Distribute inspiration. Our society tends to think of work as a place of drudgery, obligation, and boredom, as exemplified in the now-iconic movie Office Space. People certainly don’t think of receiving inspiration and rejuvenation between nine and five. According to Patkin, though, buoying your team’s spirits should be one of your daily goals. If you help them to see the world as a sunnier place and to improve their attitudes and ways of thinking about their entire lives, their professional and personal productivity will increase too.

“If you run across a quotation or story that inspires you, don’t keep it to yourself—pass it along to an employee, and perhaps, if appropriate, also mention that the quote or anecdote reminded you of him and his great attitude,” suggests Patkin. “Alternatively, you might consider sending out a quote or lesson of the day. Yes, the idea might sound hokey at first, but I firmly believe that most people vastly underestimate the power of feeding their minds with inspirational and educational material.”

Tell success stories. Even if they brush off praise or downplay their achievements, everybody loves to be recognized and complimented. When someone in your organization has done something great, tell her that you noticed her outstanding work, and tell the rest of the team, too! Whether correctly or incorrectly, many employees feel that their leaders take them for granted and only point out their mistakes, so make it your daily mission to prove that perception wrong.

“When I was at Autopart International and I saw that one of my people did something noteworthy, I made sure that everyone else knew about it by sending the story about her accomplishment around in an email to the entire chain,” Patkin recalls. “I could literally see the glow on the highlighted employee’s face for weeks, and I also noticed that many of the other team members now worked even harder too in order to earn a write-up themselves. Remember to always praise in public as ‘loudly as possible,’ and conversely, criticize only in private!”

Identify stars. According to Patkin, identifying stars is taking the concept behind telling success stories to the next level. Yes, recognize achievements whenever you see them, but also make celebrating your stars a regular event. Sure, some team members will roll their eyes at “Employee of the Week/Month” programs, but you can rest assured that no one is going to turn down this honor.

“Instead of singling out just one person, you might even consider recognizing multiple individuals every month,” Patkin suggests. “For example, I always wrote about several store managers in our ‘Managers of the Month’ newsletter. Later, I included assistant managers, store supervisors, store salespeople, and our drivers in this letter of champions as well. My profiles for each star would often be a full page in length, lauding both their professional achievements and wonderful personal qualities. The newsletters themselves were often thirty pages in length when finished. But I know many within the team loved to read these personalized recognitions each month, and they motivated lots of the employees to work even harder to earn a spot on the pages themselves.”

Make it a family affair. Whenever possible, engage your employees’ families when praising them. Having a leader validate all the hours each team member spends at work will be remembered far longer than a bonus (really!). Plus, when spouses and kids know what Mom or Dad does at work and are “on board” with it, your employee’s performance will be buoyed by support from the ones he or she loves the most.

“For example, if an employee did something really tremendous, I would call his home, generally trying to get the answering machine and not a person,” Patkin shares. “Then I’d leave a voicemail like this one:

“Hi, (name of spouse and kids), this is Todd Patkin from Autopart International where your husband and dad works. I just want to tell you that your husband and dad is the most incredible, wonderful, amazing person in the whole world. He just broke our Nashua, New Hampshire, store’s all-time sales record. Guys, that is incredible!! So, please, kids, do me a favor. When your dad comes home tonight, everyone run up and give him a huge hug and tell him how proud you are of him and how great he is. And, (name of spouse), I hope you too will give him a big hug and a wonderful kiss to make sure he knows how much you love him and how much he is appreciated for all he’s doing for our company. Thanks, guys.

“And in fact, years later, many employees whose families received these phone calls told me that although they didn’t remember how much their bonus checks were for that year, that extra-special homecoming was still clearly etched in their memories.”

“Trust me, showing people love, appreciation, and respect trump money just about every time when it comes to building long-term motivation and boosting employee morale and loyalty,” concludes Patkin. “When you take the time to make your employees feel valued, they’ll know that you care about them on a more personal level, and they’ll be much happier at work. And in the end, when you’ve achieved a really positive atmosphere at work and the improved bottom line that will surely come from it, you’ll feel amazing too!”

About the Author: Todd Patkin grew up in Needham, Massachusetts. After graduating from Tufts University, he joined the family business and spent the next eighteen years helping to grow it to new heights. After it was purchased by Advance Auto Parts in 2005, he was free to focus on his main passions: philanthropy and giving back to the community, spending time with family and friends, and helping more people learn how to be happy. Todd lives with his wonderful wife, Yadira, their amazing son, Josh, and two great dogs, Tucker and Hunter.

by “Hugging” Your Customers

In today’s tough economy, small business owners are faced with the difficult task of doing much more with a lot less. Ed Hess reminds them that even though they might be making cuts to their prices and budgets, now is not the time to start cutting great customer service out of their business plans.

The U.S. economy is still in a deep funk, and for many small business owners that means business isn’t exactly booming. Forced to do more with much less, the small businesses that have managed to survive and even thrive during these tough times have recognized one important factor: You can’t always compete on price, but you can compete on service. And the best thing about great customer service is that providing it doesn’t cost you an extra penny. Ed Hess explains that when your competition is scrounging for customers, you have to hold yours close, and that starts with great customer service.

“Today’s small business owners need to understand that cutting costs will not save their business,” says Hess, author of the new book Growing an Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts & Cases and professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business.

“Remember, customers are concerned about their own financial security. When they walk into a business, they need to feel cherished and special. They need to be ‘hugged’ by great customer service. Customers don’t expect to get bottom-of-the-barrel prices everywhere they go, but they do expect to be treated with respect.”

Great customer service doesn’t just happen. It starts with employees who have been trained in the science of service.

“Your employees will treat your customers as they have been treated by their leaders,” explains Hess. “Treat employees in a respectful, caring manner, and that will be transferred to customers. The business research done at Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, and my research at Darden Business School all finds that happy employees make for happy customers.”

Hess notes that many major companies, such as Southwest Airlines, UPS, Chick-fil-A, Best Buy, Yum! Brands, Room & Board, Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, Levy Restaurants, Costco, Zappos, and Whole Foods, understand the importance of great employee relations. In the Best Buy culture, for example, customers are “kings and queens,” employees are “royalty,” and managers and leaders are “servant leaders” serving employees and customers. At Ritz-Carlton, employees are “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen.”

Today, not every business is getting customer service right, but not every business is getting it wrong, either. Fortunately, for any small business owner looking to improve his customer service, valuable lessons can be learned from both the good and the bad. Hess provides examples from his own experience and teaches what can be learned from the good and bad sides of customer service.

The Bad: The Local Coffee Shop

In tough economic times, small business owners should have a laser-sharp focus on great customer service, doing everything they can to ensure their customers feel respected and loved. After all, studies have shown that it costs much more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. So it is important that business owners do everything they can to keep their current customers happy. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

“I recently went into a local coffee shop to get my wife her favorite latte,” says Hess. “I ordered, paid, and waited for the drink to be made. When the employee gave it to me, she said she was sorry but they had run out of skim milk and as a result the cup was less than 2/3 full. And that was it. She turned and went on to the next customer. I stood there thinking, But I paid for a full cup! Instead of making her problem my problem, she should have offered to refund part of my money, or even better, she could have given me a coupon for a free drink on another day. Nope. Nothing. Pay for a full cup; get 2/3s of a cup…better luck next time. Needless to say, I have not been back to that coffee shop.”

Learning from the “Bad”:

Provide special training for frontline employees. The employees who interact directly with customers are essential for your business. “Their attitudes, communication skills, and style of service are what your customers are going to associate with your business,” explains Hess. “Make sure your employees are trained to handle the potentially stressful task of working with customers.”

Make sure a customer is happy before moving on to the next customer. At many small businesses, like the coffee shop in the example above, customers value quick service just as much as they value quality service. But you can’t sacrifice one for the other. “It’s important to make sure one customer is satisfied before you move on to the next guy,” notes Hess. “That can be as simple as asking, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you today?’ Remember, you’re not done serving the customer when you think you’re done. You’re done serving the customer when the customer is completely satisfied.”

Compensate for mistakes. Never, ever shortchange your customers. “If a mistake was made or some other circumstance is preventing you from providing the best level of customer service, find a way to make it up to your customer,” says Hess. “I would have gladly continued going to the coffee shop in the above example if the store’s employee had offered to make amends for the fact that I was getting less than what I had ordered. But the employee allowed me to feel shortchanged, and that isn’t a feeling that any customer is going to want to repeat.”

Provide solutions. Never make your business’s problem or an employee’s problem your customer’s problem. “At the coffee shop, the employee who served me probably isn’t the one who does the store’s inventory,” notes Hess. “So maybe she didn’t think there was anything she could do to remedy the situation. But that really isn’t the case. Allow your employees to have the latitude to provide your customers with solutions when they can’t satisfy a need. For example, as I mentioned above, she could have offered a coupon for a free drink or even a free pastry. She could have told me about the problem before making my order and asked if there was a beverage I would like to substitute. Any offer would have been better than simply having a better-luck-next-time attitude.”

The Good: Zappos.com

Companies that know great customer service do exist, and Zappos.com is one of them. “Recently I ordered some shoes from Zappos that ended up not fitting,” says Hess. “I sent them back using the provided prepaid shipping form. I immediately got an e-mail acknowledging that my shoes were being shipped back to Zappos, and I could follow their progress on the Internet. When they were received at Zappos, I got another e-mail telling me my refund was being processed and thanking me for shopping at Zappos. I sent them a response thanking them for the great service. Quickly thereafter, I got a personal e-mail from a customer service rep thanking me and telling me that Zappos loves its customers. She upgraded me to the Zappos VIP site. Wow! I felt cared about and appreciated. And guess what? I went online and ordered a different pair of shoes. Zappos truly gets it.”

Learning from the “Good”:

Happy employees = Happy customers. Zappos understands that employee satisfaction translates to great customer service. “I can’t say for sure if the customer service rep who upgraded me to the VIP site was completely satisfied with her job,” says Hess. “But I can say that she took the initiative to go the extra mile for a customer when she really didn’t have to. She cared enough to provide me with high-level service, which makes me think that she also cares about the company where she works. Creating that feeling in your employees will pay you back exponentially.”

Always respond quickly. Your customers are busy. They have big concerns of their own. They don’t deserve to be left wondering what kind of service they are going to receive or when they are going to receive it. “Address customer questions and problems as quickly as possible,” says Hess. “Even if it’s just a message to say, ‘I am looking into this for you,’ the customer will appreciate being told where they are in the process.”

Make it easy to do business with you. Never make your customers jump through hoops to do business with you. Have a return policy that is easy to understand and that puts the interests of the customer first. Provide refunds quickly and efficiently. “My experience with Zappos was great,” says Hess. “Sure, the shoes didn’t fit, but everything after that was so easy that it made me want to do more business with them. That is the kind of customer service that can keep you afloat during tough times.”

Keep customers informed of what’s happening. When customers know what’s happening with their order, it reduces their anxiety. And when they’re less anxious, they enjoy doing business with you. “Zappos has a great system for keeping customers informed online, but it’s also easy to do in face-to-face customer service,” says Hess. “For example, instead of just leaving the counter area, you might explain to a customer, ‘I am going to check to see if we have what you need in our stock room.’ Or if you’re handling a return and typing information into a computer, you might explain to the customer, ‘I’m just entering the date of purchase and the product number so that we can make sure we give you the maximum refund possible.’”

Use technology to provide quick, efficient customer service. It’s the twenty-first century, and email, message boards, and online stores provide us with the means to provide service more quickly than ever before. “Small business owners might sometimes make the assumption that customers don’t like to be communicated with online,” says Hess. “And for some older customers that might be the case. But by and large, I think people appreciate the ease that online shopping and communication provide. As long as you make sure your messaging is detailed and easy to understand, your customers will appreciate the quick service these technologies provide.”

Make your customers feel valued. Understand that each and every one of your customers is special. As the late business guru Peter Drucker said: The sole purpose of business is to serve customers. “Make sure your employees understand this, and that above all else they must focus on making your customers feel valued and appreciated,” advises Hess.

“Today’s small business owners must understand that their business is not about ‘me’; it’s about ‘them’: your employees and customers,” explains Hess. “Making cuts to employee perks or customer service perks is not a long-term plan for survival. It might buy you the opportunity to stay in the game a little bit longer, but it won’t make you a winner. In today’s economy, you have to do everything you can to hang on to your customers and to encourage them to keep coming back to your business. There’s no better way to do that than through consistently great customer service.

“You might not always be able to slash your prices lower than those of your competitors,” he concludes. “But you can make the experience of doing business with you superior to all others. Never be afraid to take your customer service up a notch!”

About the Author: Edward D. Hess is author of Growing an Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts & Cases and is a professor of business administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. He is the author of nine books, over 60 cases, and over 60 articles. His work has appeared in over 200 media outlets around the world including CNBC, Fox Business News, Dow Jones Radio, WSJ Radio, MSNBC Radio, NPRand Financial Times among others. His book Smart Growth: Building an Enduring Business by Managing the Risks of Growth was named a 2010 Top 25 Business Book for Business Owners by Inc. magazine.

By Micah Solomon

What are the true secrets to good customer service and how can businesses leverage them to increase profits? Micah Solomon – co-author of Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit and the brains behind ‘The College of the Customer’ shares 7 secrets excerpted from the book.

1. Did you shine that doorknob? Research shows that customers remember the first and last minutes of a service encounter much more vividly — and for much longer — than all the rest of it. Make sure that the first and final elements of your customer interactions are particularly well engineered, because they are going to stick in the customer’s memory.

2. Set your clocks forward: Modern customers expect speedier service than did any generation before them. In this age of Blackberrys and iPhones, of Amazon.com and Zappos, you might as well not be there if you’re going to be late. A perfect product delivered late equals a defective product.

3. Customers want to connect with a real person-online or off. For example, instead of a web-based chat window that blandly announces “you are now chatting with Jane,” try “you are now chatting with Jane Yang-Katzenberg.” The customers will treat your “Jane” better, they’ll take her advice more seriously — and they’ll be more likely to want a committed customer relationship with her company.

4. Remember each returning customer. Whatever your business-and no matter how large, work to achieve the computer-assisted effectiveness of a beloved bartender, doorman, or hairstylist — the kind who would know Bob’s preferences, the name of Bob’s pet, when Bob was there last … Superb client tracking systems can create that same “at home” feeling in your customers — regardless of the size and price point of your business, and whether it exists online or off.

5. Anticipate a customer’s wishes. When a customer’s wish is met before the wish has been expressed, it sends the message that you care about the customer as an individual. That cared-for feeling is where you generate the fiercest loyalty.

6. Don’t leave the language your team uses up to chance. Develop and rehearse a list of vocabulary words and expressions that fit your business brand perfectly. For example, the expression “no worries” sounds fine if a clerk at a Portland Bose® Audio Store says it, but would be exceedingly off-brand for the concierge at The Four Seasons in Milan. Equally important, search and destroy any vocabulary words that could hurt customer feelings. For example, your service team should never tell a customer “you owe us.” (Try instead: “our records seem to show a balance.”)

7. Be patient when filling positions. In a superb service organization, a single disagreeable or unresponsive team member can erode customer loyalty and team morale. That is why it can be better to leave a position unfilled rather than rushing to hire someone unsuitable. More generally speaking, customer excellence is most fully achieved once you become expert at recruiting, selecting, training, evaluating and reinforcing the efforts of service personnel.

Micah Solomon is known as “The New Customer Guru” he famously built a one-room entertainment company into a multi-million dollar business is a leading thinker on customer service. For more information, visit: www.micahsolomon.com