18 months ago, they launched their service promise of “making every customer feel great.” In tandem with this, they established a “customer delight” fund in two of their stores.
The idea of the Fund is to delight customers unexpectedly.

Most recently a local celebrity visited their Canton Road Store. Angela, the assistant manager aware of her presence in addition to the fact that that day was actually the customer’s birthday, set the wheels in motion to surprise her.
She quickly got her hands on some Lemon Cake – the customer’s favourite, and tried to find her in the store! However, the celebrity was nowhere to be found!
Finally, she reappeared and was leaving the store through the main entrance.
Angela and some team members were waiting outside the store to wish her Happy Birthday with the lemon cake. The customer was delighted and moved!

Knowing your customer is at the heart of this strategy – remember the closer you bring customers to friendship status; the more sustainable and profitable your business. Customers leave – friends don’t!
To facilitate this progression, you need to look at all the contact points between your customer and organization and try to exceed their expectations.
It may just have been a Lemon Cake, but without doubt the whole experience strengthened this relationship!
As an aside in recent research in the Journal of Positive Psychology , Psychologists have found that buying life experiences makes people happier than buying possessions.
Are LC bridging the gap between the two?

How can you delight your customers?

When the door opens, your eyes are drawn to a huge cappuccino machine on the reception counter. Simultaneously the smell of freshly baked buns drowns your senses. One of the friendly team leads you to the waiting room, more specifically to your own personalised waiting room. As you relax in the comfy sofas you are invited to enjoy a cuppa. If you would like to read, you can choose from the selection of recent magazines on the coffee table.

After a while the sense of calm is broken by a knock on the door. Who is it? Where are you? What if I told you that this is one of the most highly paid professionals in his niche? Yes you would be attending Paddi Lund, one of the most successful dentists in Australia. Lund’s reception area is a fantastic example of exceptional execution of an ordinary idea.

In 2006, a team at Columbia University did research on breakthrough companies in the US over the previous decade. They found that 88% of the companies in the US were the result of exceptional execution of an ordinary idea. In essence, waiting for the satori (the awakening) or the Eureka moment isn’t to be advised. Instead all companies should be focused on how they can ‘Xceptionalise’ their ordinary ideas.

When you Xceptionalise, you exceed people’s expectations, bringing them further along the spectrum from customer to friend. The starting point is a forensic review of your processes in the context of interactions between the customer, the internal customer and the organisation. Standards should be set and documented for each interaction with Xceptional standards being the goal.

For example, your aim is to answer the phone in three rings. The challenge must be to exceed these standards on an ongoing basis. Where the standards aren’t met, the organisation should acknowledge and vow to do better. Thus in the context of the phone answering example, an Xceptional receptionist would apologise for the delay in answering, then deal with the call.

Complaints are a fantastic opportunity to develop a relationship with your client. Standards should be put in place to empower front line staff to own and solve any complaint at source. Indeed companies should not just focus on solving complaints; equal focus should be spent on soliciting them. Most people expect trouble when they complain so when someone solves the problem their expectations are exceeded. The majority of dissatisfied clients leave without complaining, so get them complaining or watch them leave!

Standard setting should have input from each employee, from the receptionist to the managing director. In the context of creating the desired culture, recruitment strategy is critical. An Xceptional example of how to execute this strategy is provided by Zappos, the online shoe retailer recently taken over by Amazon. After a set induction period, the new employee is ‘invited to leave’ with a $2,000 cheque plus payment for time spent in training, if they believe the company culture isn’t a fit for them.

The standards are transmitted top down only after a bottom up consultation. The Xceptional business is everybody’s business and everybody is required to sell, excel and innovate in the current challenging times.
(Published in the Business Plus Magazine.)

Born into a small family retail business and with experience of selling and negotiating from a young age, one of motivational speaker Kevin Kelly’s main messages to owner-managers in the current climate is to focus on what they can control.
“My focus is on being proactive during this recession and not listening to the doom and gloom merchants,” he stresses. “There’s a huge emphasis on the latter in this country and that’s not doing any service to SMEs. They should be only looking at what they can do.
“Company personnel need to focus on what they can control and not spend their time and energy on something they cannot change. The thing is to remain focused and committed. Perseverance will pay off in the long-term – I recently got a contract that took 10 years to land.”
It is the notion of being exceptional that Kelly touches on a lot when he is speaking to his clients.
“In 2006 Columbia University did some groundbreaking research on all the breakthrough companies in the US over the previous decade. What they found was the 88pc were the result of exceptional execution of an ordinary idea and 12pc were the result of new inventions,” he explains.
“From this research I came up with the idea that companies should be ‘exceptionalising’ their business. To exceptionalise requires work on three fronts. It’s about developing the promoter – ie the owner-manager, developing the people and developing the processes.”
To develop the people and processes, Kelly suggests detailing all interactions with the client, setting standards for them and aiming to exceed.
Developing the promoter is even more critical, he says, particularly in an SME because the promoter is the culture creator, the leader, the person who sets the vibe.
“There is an intimate link between our physiology and psychology – in essence a positive attitude transmits into a positive presence and vice versa. So in a small business where the leader has even more impact – if he or she is negative it’s going to affect everyone. This person will not be a motivational force in their own company.”
Here is the where the concept of self-awareness comes in, something that Kelly notes is vital for anyone running a business – while you need to understand your customer, you also need to understand yourself in order to disempower limiting beliefs and unlock innate potential.
“Self-awareness is critical for any owner-manager. In 2007 a Stanford Business Advisory Committee stated that self-awareness was the most important attribute a leader should develop.
“Let’s say the promoter is a purveyor of doom and gloom – do you think they have the material to inspire their team to fight harder and smarter? I don’t think so. If they don’t believe it, I can’t see how they think anyone else will,” he says.

Principles of good selling
Moving away from the leader of the organsiation, Kelly strongly believes that everybody should see themselves as selling its products and services.
“It is not just the domain of the salespeople, regardless of whether the market is boom or bust. If you have a fantastic project, tell the world.”
And this can be done via the internet for a surprisingly low amount of money, he continues.
“For less than €750 now, you can have a world-class website. But people shouldn’t be talking about getting businesses online anymore – it’s about getting your site on the first page of Google. You can be online and do this within six months – again at minimal cost. I know as I have been there.”
To excel in sales and marketing you need to keep learning as well, he adds.
“Again, because of the internet it is possible to have your own free virtual research team that will keep you ahead of the game. So turn off the radio and TV and focus on working hard, learning and devising a smart strategy. This will build your business in the long and short-term.”
When it comes to selling, Kelly is of the opinion that having a background or talent in the area can help, but there are other important elements to consider.
“Selling is something that can be learned without any doubt, however to be a great salesperson you need to be passionate about your project.
“If you are doing what you love, this passion comes automatically and transfers across industries. I have been involved in selling in many industries but the rules remain the same, the whole strategy stays unchanged. It’s all about energy, passion and enthusiasm.

Give people attention
“You are dealing with people, and people buy from people in the main. The building block of most people is their DNA and in the selling world this equates to ‘Do Need Attention’. Humans by their nature are very predictable and they crave attention – that is indisputable. Giving this attention is the rapport skill in an attention deficit society.
“On this point, however, I find it ironic that so many businesses spend fortunes on getting customers through their doors and then totally underwhelm them with their customer service. Customer service is so important and actually I would say it is so poor in this country that it could soon become a company’s unique selling point.
“What people need to concentrate on is creating a memorable experience for their customers. They must focus on each interaction between their customer and organisation and exceed that. It’s about exceptional execution of their business.”

Been there and done that
As a motivational speaker across a wide range of areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, business strategy and entrepreneurship, Kelly believes he is qualified for his job because he has been there and done that.
Graduating with a commerce degree in 1987, his work experience spans a variety of industries including construction, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and financial services.
“There’s a Chinese proverb that says that teachers open the door but you must enter by yourself,” he says. “This is true for motivational speaking. All you can do is create an environment in which people choose to take action. You’re just the facilitator in which they choose to change.
“But the better teachers are the authentic ones, people who have truly walked the path of their own philosophies. So in my instance the fact that I set and reached the goal of writing a best selling book though challenged by a D in English in both my Junior and Leaving Cert; the fact that I remortgaged my house to follow my dream; the fact that I set the goal of developing an international market on a shoestring – all these stories work with an audience.”
Written by Karina Corbett, Owner/Manager magazine

You can expect a new look and feel multilingual website within the next month with some new exciting features – enjoy it!

I have just launched our new Facebook Business Page – full of videos, pics, book excerpts, comment and more – please visit, like and share
www.facebook.com/kevinkellyspeaker

All our videos including MDRT Closing Keynote in Korea – Alcatel Lucent Sales Kickoff in EuroDisney – UTV Live and more are now on www.youtube.com/kevinkellyspeaker

Finally my new graphic novel CODE Y is with agents – desperately seeking worldwide deals – I believe the book will help to redefine how we communicate with the 13 – 20 market.

Thats all for now – I trust you are enjoying the summer.

Kevin

Why the confidence?
1. The campaign was different, imaginative, emotional, succinct and authentic.
- Nobody has done this before or so I thought.
- It showed that this Paddy has indeed imagination and possessed an important gift for any workspace – creativity.
- Emotional: Of course it pulled on the heart strings – nobody likes seeing anyone having to emigrate.
- Succinct: Within seconds as you passed the billboard you had got the message.
- Authentic – last but by no means least, it was authentic. Feilim is very creative and is looking for a space in the sales/marketing field so this “advertisement” was a fantastic showcase of his talent. No CV could have told his story better. This wouldnt have worked as well if someone was going for a job in a different field.

I of course knew Feilim from his participation at one of my courses and was delighted to be cited as the source of inspiration that propelled him outside his comfort zone. Therein lies two other attributes that the jobseeker needs:
- Willingness to learn. Sometimes an outside voice may just inspire you on the right road. Regardless willingness to learn is a very marketable asset in a job interview situation.
- Perseverance: Never throw in the towel – sooner or later talent will find a way.
If you have talent – TELL THE WORLD!
Don’t wait to find a job – create one!
Congrats Feilim and enjoy the next chapter as it unfolds.

2. Realise that all is not lost – the majority of people cannot answer the following question at an interview “why do you want the job?”
Mastery of this question will put you in the top ten per cent.

3. Go for a job in your industry of choice  don`t just go for any job. Energetically interviewers will know that you don`t really want it, and will wait for someone who truly does. Be prepared to work at a junior level to follow your dream – it is easier getting up the ladder, than in the door.

4. Build a compelling book of evidence that will prove you truly want the job this should include highlighting past experience and Web presence on the topic.

5. Become an expert in your area – follow the 10,000 hour rule. Invest three hours a day on researching your passion – open your mind to creating, not just finding a job.

6. Leverage power of the net to develop expert status -set up google alerts on your topics of interest- develop your own virtual research team for free. So you want to become a motivational speaker why not set up a google alert for œmotivational speaker.

7. Imagine attending an interview with expert status in your field? This opens up subcontract possibilities – at minimum you have differentiated yourself from the competition.

8. Develop interpersonal skills – simply open your eyes and be led by interviewer’s body language not your notes. Remember awareness is key – if they are asleep they are asleep! So change strategy or choose to travel the insanity loop where you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

9. Too often interviewers recruit those that mirror their own inadequacies or brilliance -so talent doesn’t always win the day. Be aware and mirror where they are at.
10. Differentiation is key – here are the facts:
Most people are hit with 34g of information daily, approx 100,000 words and generally are interrupted from their task every 3m 11 seconds. Bottom line – you need to think and do differently to get their attention. The Jobless Paddy was a fantastic example of someone thinking outside the box. Well done Feilim – delighted to have been a source of inspiration.
11. Have faith -true talent will always find a way.

Just launched a new business page on Facebook – if you have enjoyed this article please visit www.facebook.com/KevinKellySpeaker and “like” – thanks a million we are aiming at getting 1000 likes in three weeks.

What are the implications for our strategy – well the communication must be unique, passionate, emotional, authentic, focused, interactive, meaningful……

….you must truly provide a unique experience that will engage your client.

www.youtube.com/kevinkellyspeaker

Please be patient with us but we hope to have all in the one location within the month.

Already posted is the keynote from The Great Place to Work Conference in Ireland and just a few days ago an excerpt from the Closing Address to MDRT in Korea last year.

In addition to the Youtube Channel, we are in the process of redesigning and upgrading the site – we hope you will like the new look and feel – again this project should be complete within the month.
If you have any suggestions on what should feature on the new site, I would love to hear them on kevin@kevinkellyunlimited.com

On other news we have just finished our new book “CODE Y” a graphic novel which we hope and expect will redefine how information is presented to tomorrow’s leaders.

For now thanks for visiting and chat soon.

Would you be surprised if I told you ten years?

The speaker business is like most – a relationship business. It takes alot of time and persistence to shape opportunities for yourself and when they arrive you must exceed the customers expectations….exceptionalise your offering as I have highlighted on many times on this blog.

Understanding this you will understand how I was a little surprised by the following sales statistics ( apologies to the source but I have mislaid it.)

49% sales people give up after one rejection

95% after 3 rejections

8.4 rejections to get an appointment

One could argue that in the current times these stats become even more challenging.

What is the learning point? I believe if you have talent, if you have a product that can add value to your customers, you need to model off your early years – when every failure was bringing you closer to success, when indeed failure didnt enter your vocabulary, it was feedback -when perseverance paid off!
Embrace the child today!

Teaching English to foreign students – there has to be scope to grow this segment more – teaching english in the friendliest nation in the world!

Friendly warm people of course are very marketable to Multinationals who want to locate their customer service HQ here.
………..any other ideas please share….