That magical day finally came yesterday when we got our hands on an actual, real printed copy of Trucker Management!!
It was a great feeling to see everything come to fruition, and we want to thank all of our friends, family and colleagues for their continued support - it has been great having all of you ask us regularly about the progress of the book, and we're thrilled to now be able to share it with you!
The order function on our website at www.truckermanagement.com is now live, and you can place your credit card order there on our secure site. Our main shipment of books is coming in about 10 days, and so orders will begin to ship immediately after that. Our official launch will be here in Kingston on October 23rd - more details to follow soon.
As always, we are still looking for more opportunities for speaking and training gigs related to the book, and are looking forward to those we already have lined up for the coming months. Watch our website for updates on where we'll be, and please contact us if you wish to inquire about having us come and visit you.
And, at the risk of sounding like we spent too much time in Calgary last week....yeehaw!!
Colored Pics from the Book
In our book (Trucker Management) we showcase some photos and businesses but the photos are in black and white. To get a real sense what we're talking about, it's best to seem them in color, so here they are.
A Day in the Life....in Calgary!
We had a very enthusiastic group at our "Day in the Life" training session at the JCI National Convention in Calgary last Friday....and talk about dedication to their characters! Our "Sick Employee" actually was sick, and our "Banker" was actually a banker!
Here are a few pics of our cast in action - thanks to all those who attended!
Pet Peeve - Take my Money!
One of the things that drives me batty is having to wait for an extended period of time at the end of a meal for the waitstaff to finally bring a bill so I can pay and leave - no matter how good the service had been to that point, and how tasty the meal was, a bad taste can remain in my mouth if the final part of my experience is a disappointing one.
Lindsey talked about this a few weeks ago with our "Hotel California Complex" experience in Atlanta, and we experienced it again twice last week with one of the restaurants in the Toronto airport. We ate there on both legs of our trip to and from the JCI Canada National Convention in Calgary. Both times, the initial service was very fast, from bringing menus to bringing the meals.
But, both times, we had an extended wait to receive the bill. Of all the things any business could be slack about in serving their customers, I am continually amazed by the number who don't seem in any hurry to take my money!
The lesson for any small business is to ensure that the experience you provide your customers is a consistent one from start to finish. They should feel as important and appreciated at the end of their experience as they did at the start. If you are quick to bring me a menu and take my order, but then slow or negligent in letting me pay and get on with my day, it feels as though somehow while I was there I became less important to you.
In your business, are your customers attended to the same way throughout their experience, or do you leave a bad taste in their mouth by letting your attention dwindle?
Lindsey talked about this a few weeks ago with our "Hotel California Complex" experience in Atlanta, and we experienced it again twice last week with one of the restaurants in the Toronto airport. We ate there on both legs of our trip to and from the JCI Canada National Convention in Calgary. Both times, the initial service was very fast, from bringing menus to bringing the meals.
But, both times, we had an extended wait to receive the bill. Of all the things any business could be slack about in serving their customers, I am continually amazed by the number who don't seem in any hurry to take my money!
The lesson for any small business is to ensure that the experience you provide your customers is a consistent one from start to finish. They should feel as important and appreciated at the end of their experience as they did at the start. If you are quick to bring me a menu and take my order, but then slow or negligent in letting me pay and get on with my day, it feels as though somehow while I was there I became less important to you.
In your business, are your customers attended to the same way throughout their experience, or do you leave a bad taste in their mouth by letting your attention dwindle?
Not a Podium Performance!
Yesterday, here in Calgary a group of us headed out to Calgary Olympic Stadium. We were all excited for the tour and the zipline. Upon arrival we got a brief introduction to the park while sitting on the bus, then handed a headset and sent out on our way for the self guided tour. The word guided should be used very lightly. We got to the top where the ski jumping happens and wandered around looking for something to look at. We didn't have a map, the headsets didn't work and none of us had ever been there before. When we asked a staff person what to see and do up there, he said that he only worked on the zipline and knew nothing else about the park. There wasn't a single sign or map to be found. The most exciting thing we saw at the top was the room where the current athletes in training kept their wetsuits - woohoo!
So, down to the bottom we went. Again not much to do, the museum was neat but nothing really to write home about (maybe just to write a blog about). The podium and flags out front where everyone wants their picture, was also a sad case of affairs with most of the flags being ripped and torn.
As we went to get back on the bus, the guide (well - not really a guide, more like just a staff member) asked us to pay inside - $14! I think since it was self-guided I should have paid myself for the tour, it definitely wasn't worth paying anyone else for it.
The only value I got from the day was a story, and for those of you that know me, know that I do like stories, I just wish this one had had a gold place finish.
So, down to the bottom we went. Again not much to do, the museum was neat but nothing really to write home about (maybe just to write a blog about). The podium and flags out front where everyone wants their picture, was also a sad case of affairs with most of the flags being ripped and torn.
As we went to get back on the bus, the guide (well - not really a guide, more like just a staff member) asked us to pay inside - $14! I think since it was self-guided I should have paid myself for the tour, it definitely wasn't worth paying anyone else for it.
The only value I got from the day was a story, and for those of you that know me, know that I do like stories, I just wish this one had had a gold place finish.
YeeHaw! We're in Calgary
Stop number 3 on the world tour! We arrived Tuesday in Calgary to a balmy 5 degrees and light flurries - much different then the 25 degrees and smog advisory in Kingston.
Tomorrow we're doing the Day in the Life of an Entrepreneur training session at the JCI Canada National Convention. There are over 125 dynamic young leaders registered from across Canada. Wonder what they'll think when they see the costumes they have to wear - not your typical conference training session!
Check back in a few days for some pics and stories about our trip.
Tomorrow we're doing the Day in the Life of an Entrepreneur training session at the JCI Canada National Convention. There are over 125 dynamic young leaders registered from across Canada. Wonder what they'll think when they see the costumes they have to wear - not your typical conference training session!
Check back in a few days for some pics and stories about our trip.
Over planning can be Overkill
We always talk about (and even write about in Trucker Management) that planning, from business planning to contingency planning, is key to small business success - and it is. At the same time however, there comes a time when enough is enough and it's time to stop planning and start doing.
A Junior Chamber chapter this year experienced how over planning can be overkill. JCI provides tools and templates for the individual chapter to complete a yearly business plan. The challenge is that the organization has a pretty diverse mission and a vague target market (only defined by age). In one city, the JC's may look like a business networking association, in another a community club and in another a social group. The other challenge is that the Board of Directors completely changes over every year, so the plan starts from scratch every year. Every chapter struggles with trying to be everything to everyone. So, this chapter we're talking about, spent many months planning who they were, who their target market was and what programming would occur. Then when the President had to leave half way through the year, the new board had to go back into planning mode before the first plan was complete. For 7 months the chapter was planning what it would be doing for the year, even though the year was almost over.
In September, the chapter realized enough is enough and that the planning phase had actually deterred members from attending and joining. So in September they DID something, not just talked about it. The talk on the town the last few weeks had much and improved.
A good quote to sum this up is:
Ready. Fire. Aim.
is better than
Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim...
A Junior Chamber chapter this year experienced how over planning can be overkill. JCI provides tools and templates for the individual chapter to complete a yearly business plan. The challenge is that the organization has a pretty diverse mission and a vague target market (only defined by age). In one city, the JC's may look like a business networking association, in another a community club and in another a social group. The other challenge is that the Board of Directors completely changes over every year, so the plan starts from scratch every year. Every chapter struggles with trying to be everything to everyone. So, this chapter we're talking about, spent many months planning who they were, who their target market was and what programming would occur. Then when the President had to leave half way through the year, the new board had to go back into planning mode before the first plan was complete. For 7 months the chapter was planning what it would be doing for the year, even though the year was almost over.
In September, the chapter realized enough is enough and that the planning phase had actually deterred members from attending and joining. So in September they DID something, not just talked about it. The talk on the town the last few weeks had much and improved.
A good quote to sum this up is:
Ready. Fire. Aim.
is better than
Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim...
Silent but deadly
Sometimes "quiet" communications in your small business can actually be quite "loud" or deadly in their effectiveness, and I recently saw two great examples of this.
The first was a home daycare in Whitby, who kept a giant scoreboard out front of the home, with large two-foot letters that looked like this:
Infants 0
Juniors 2
Seniors 0
What a simple, but powerful, way to let everyone passing by how many available spots you had! Imagine the administrative time they save by not having to answer endless phone calls about if they have any free spaces!
The second is something I noticed recently here in Kingston. For a while now, there has been a 1-800-Got-Junk truck parked in the very front corner of a strip-mall parking lot at a very busy residential intersection. The first time I saw it, I thought maybe it had been left there for the night for convenience. But, having seen it there now every time since, it must be deliberately being parked there for visibility. Because their branding and other communications strategies are so effective (including having the phone number so clearly plastered down both sides of the truck), simply parking the truck and leaving it there in a high-traffic area shouts a loud reminder to hundreds of people a day about their services.
Does your business's silent communications shout as loudly as these examples?
The first was a home daycare in Whitby, who kept a giant scoreboard out front of the home, with large two-foot letters that looked like this:
Infants 0
Juniors 2
Seniors 0
What a simple, but powerful, way to let everyone passing by how many available spots you had! Imagine the administrative time they save by not having to answer endless phone calls about if they have any free spaces!
The second is something I noticed recently here in Kingston. For a while now, there has been a 1-800-Got-Junk truck parked in the very front corner of a strip-mall parking lot at a very busy residential intersection. The first time I saw it, I thought maybe it had been left there for the night for convenience. But, having seen it there now every time since, it must be deliberately being parked there for visibility. Because their branding and other communications strategies are so effective (including having the phone number so clearly plastered down both sides of the truck), simply parking the truck and leaving it there in a high-traffic area shouts a loud reminder to hundreds of people a day about their services.
Does your business's silent communications shout as loudly as these examples?
Pet Peeve - Things I Shouldn't Know
In Trucker Management, we talk about how your staff, not only their appearance but also their behaviour, are a big aspect within the interior of your business space, just like your decor, displays, etc.. One of my biggest pet peeves in business is having to endure listening to employees talk about things that I shouldn't know or have to hear about - crappy schedules, bitchy co-workers, or other gripes that reflect negatively on the business they are working for.
I was in a coffee shop in Manotick the other day, and while waiting for a bagel, learned about how two managers were hammered beyond comprehension the first time these two staff people met them (presumably not at work but at some non-work event). I learned, in far too much detail, about the way they slurred their words and vomitted on a lawn.
But perhaps even more importantly, because these two obviously have no regard for these managers in the way they spoke about them, neither then did I. My senses became immediately more acute for finding faults in the business operation, because I expected there to be some given the negative perceptions I had of the management without even seeing them. All of the sudden, the toaster was taking too long, the lobby floor was too dirty, and I was convinced somehow my order would be wrong when I got it.
This is an experience I have to endure far too often in many businesses. Watch and listen to your staff carefully. If they are having inappropriate conversations in from of customers, correct it immediately. You never know what I might learn about you that I don't want to know!!
I was in a coffee shop in Manotick the other day, and while waiting for a bagel, learned about how two managers were hammered beyond comprehension the first time these two staff people met them (presumably not at work but at some non-work event). I learned, in far too much detail, about the way they slurred their words and vomitted on a lawn.
But perhaps even more importantly, because these two obviously have no regard for these managers in the way they spoke about them, neither then did I. My senses became immediately more acute for finding faults in the business operation, because I expected there to be some given the negative perceptions I had of the management without even seeing them. All of the sudden, the toaster was taking too long, the lobby floor was too dirty, and I was convinced somehow my order would be wrong when I got it.
This is an experience I have to endure far too often in many businesses. Watch and listen to your staff carefully. If they are having inappropriate conversations in from of customers, correct it immediately. You never know what I might learn about you that I don't want to know!!
Little Things, Big Difference
In Ottawa yesterday I saw another few examples of businesses doing small, easy things that made a big difference.
When we arrived at the hotel we were staying at, one I had been to before, I noticed a New Zealand flag flying outside, next to the Canadian ones over the entrance. I thought maybe the owners were from New Zealand, and proudly flying their colours. When we got inside, we discovered that in fact the New Zealand Rifle Team were headquartered there, in town for some sort of competition. Imagine travelling around the world, and being greeted with your flag outside your hotel! Talk about being exceptional in your business!!
The second example was at the restaurant we had dinner at last night. Shortly after we ordered, the waiter came over to inform the two people I was with that they had run out of the type of bun they ordered for their burgers, and to find out what other option they wanted. Within a few minutes of that, the manager was at our table to give them a coupon for a free shake. Not a big thing, but impressive that they were so eager to compensate for something we hadn't even given a second thought to as a problem.
Some more examples of easy, simple ways to be exceptional in your business, and in the experiences you create for your customers. What little things are you doing in your business to be exceptional??
When we arrived at the hotel we were staying at, one I had been to before, I noticed a New Zealand flag flying outside, next to the Canadian ones over the entrance. I thought maybe the owners were from New Zealand, and proudly flying their colours. When we got inside, we discovered that in fact the New Zealand Rifle Team were headquartered there, in town for some sort of competition. Imagine travelling around the world, and being greeted with your flag outside your hotel! Talk about being exceptional in your business!!
The second example was at the restaurant we had dinner at last night. Shortly after we ordered, the waiter came over to inform the two people I was with that they had run out of the type of bun they ordered for their burgers, and to find out what other option they wanted. Within a few minutes of that, the manager was at our table to give them a coupon for a free shake. Not a big thing, but impressive that they were so eager to compensate for something we hadn't even given a second thought to as a problem.
Some more examples of easy, simple ways to be exceptional in your business, and in the experiences you create for your customers. What little things are you doing in your business to be exceptional??
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