Social Customer Service

Customer's demand that we service them where and when they want us.  Social media is no longer an option for businesses, it is a critical communications channel that your business must be servicing.

Take a look at my newest video, that will help your business understand why it is so important, and how to get started.

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

Growth Through Customer Service

So many businesses are always looking to sales to grow their business.  Forgetting about the amazing customers they already service and have more business for them.

Take a look at my newest video which may just help your business find the growth you need!

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

Follow Up To - Social Media Success Video

On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 I posted a short video about how to be more successful on social media (Social Media Success Video).  After the post I received a few emails asking for examples of things I have done that have impacted my network, and show that my theory of helping others is all you need to do to be successful online.

Well as luck would have it, I received the message below through my Linkedin account from a gentlemen in my network who just changed jobs, and that I sent a little note of congratulations to.  This small gesture I made, had a huge impact on him and his day, which I know also impacted his want and need to help others.  

As I said in my video, it is not the big things that matter to people.  It is the small things that have the greatest impact on your network.  It is saying congratulations on a job promotion, the annual birthday wish or pointing a person toward a possible opportunity.  These are things that people remember, and then make them want to pay it forward and help others, including you.

LinkedIn Shosei  has sent you a message. Date: 1/23/2013 Subject: RE: Congratulations on your new position! Michael, What a surprise, that's very generous of you. I could not resist myself a smile on my face with your message. My sincere gratitude. You've inspired me today with your praise, the importance of a simple message, has so much positive energy to it, I'm re-examining the substance of my email communication with clients and prospects. I hope you had a great start for 13, please forward my luck for you and your surroundings. Boy, that was some influence. There's good air in the room now. Thanks a million! Best, Shosei On 01/22/13 12:25 PM, Michael McMillan wrote: -------------------- Hi Shosei, I saw you're now Creative Director at Cardinal & Sevenfold and wanted to say congratulations!

Keeping helping others, and remember to treat others like you want to be treated, and the world will make sure to take care of you!

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

Social Media Success Video

A short film I created to help people view social media correctly, so they can make the most out of the time they spend online.

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

Learn Problem Solving With Chess

As you climb the corporate ladder, the one thing many people are not prepared for is the amount of complex puzzles they are faced with every minute of every day.  Those who can navigate their way through these puzzles are destine for great things, including a spot in the C-Suite.  But, those who are not able to, typically find them self lost in middle management limbo for the rest of their career, or till they can figure out how to navigate these puzzles better.

So how do you learn to navigate these puzzles better?

CHESS!

I was six years old the first time I can remember sitting down at a chess board.  It was so intimidating with all the different pieces and movement rules.  But, after the initial intimidation wore off, I began to become obsessed with the endless patterns you could create to change the game in your favor.

When I was taught to play the game I was told to break down the board into smaller patterns that then have specific responses.  It was the first time I began to learn how to break down massive complex issues, into small well defined patterns that have very specific outcomes and responses needed.  This skill has stuck with me, and it is how I approach any major project or business puzzle that is put in front of me.

Here is a good example of a common issue many executives face:

It is the end of a quarter and the sales figures came in 19% under forecast.  The senior team sees this and tells you that you need to figure out specifically why this happened, and propose options to make sure it does not happen again.

There are an infinite amount of ways to approach this huge task, so how do you do it.  If you apply the principles of chess you will know that you need to first break down the problem "board" into smaller, more manageable pieces:

1. Marketing
2. Advertising
3. Sales
4. Operations
5. Accounting

Now that the board is broken down, you then begin to place the results "pieces" for each of these departments "patterns" into their specific buckets.  Once this is broken down, you now have 5 very specific patterns taking shape.

From here we can compare these patterns against historical patterns to find what changed and what the outcomes where.  Once we know this we now can see what patterns we used in response with a positive outcome to fix it.  At that point you apply the next pattern "take your move" and repeat till all the patterns have had the correcting pattern applied and you have achieved check-mate!

At the end of the day, chess is simply a massive puzzle made up of  an almost infinite amount of outcomes, based on specific patterns and outcomes.  Learning chess and being a life long student not only will allow you to get better at the game, but also begin to break down complex puzzles in life into smaller, more manageable puzzles you can learn patterns to implement to be successful with.  It is a skill that every business needs to have, and should be ever sharpening with the game of chess.

"The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all occasions."
-Franklin, Benjamin (1779) "The Morals of Chess" [online] Historical Chess

To Your Success & Prosperity!!!

My New Speaker Intro Video

Public speaking is one of my all time favorite things to do.  There is nothing more energizing than teaching others about new topics and ideas and then hear them talk about it after your speech. 

One thing I have always wanted to do was put together a video that could help convey my passion for speaking, and social media at the same time.

Below is my first crack at it.  Please let me know what you think.

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

FTE Must = Frank, Tammy, & Edward

Call any contact center and get into a conversation about call center services and you will quickly find the person you are speaking to referring to their agents as "FTE" "Dedicated Staff" or my personal favorite "operators."  For years the BPO industry has worked hard at removing faces and names from our operations team, and without knowing it, or maybe on purpose, made the contact center space seem like a commodity to the outside world.

But, how can you make human beings be a commodity?

The answer is simple, YOU CANNOT!!  Agents are real people, they have real bills, and funny enough are typically the primary consumers or the products and services they are supporting at the contact center.  So, how does the BPO industry begin the long hard battle of removing the idea of "Commodity Call Center" and get back to the days of looking at agents as people rather than an "FTE"?

The first step is for all of us to agree that customer experience and employee experience must be #1, and that profits cannot come before people!

Yes, I know this may sound insane, lowering our profits to make peoples lives better, are you nuts?!?!?!  No, I am not nuts, just understand that when people who work for you are happy, they are willing to go the extra mile for your business, which in turn will help you grow even larger than you are today.  So yes, sacrifice a little profit today, for MUCH more profit tomorrow.

So this is step one, and it is a step that we are already seeing being implemented in the business world.  Just look to Zappo's, Amazon, and a long list of other very successful businesses putting people first and reaping the benefits from it.

So why not in the BPO contact center space?

Some will immediately say, "we do not have the margin needed to do that!" or "businesses will not pay the rate to make that happen!"

My response is "YOU ARE RIGHT AND WRONG!"  LOL!  Got to love the salesmen/politician response.  

What I mean by this is that yes, businesses out of the gate will not be willing to pay more for a service that most of the BPO space charges much less for.  But, they would be willing to pay more for a service that is at a different level than what your competitors have to offer when you can prove it.  The hard part is that one word, "PROOF!"  To do this right you must be willing to try it at the potential cost of your profitability on a program.  But, by doing this you will then build the proof needed to show other businesses why this approach not only works, but must become the new standard in the world.

It goes back to the oldest sales teaching there is, Quality Before Price!  If you can prove that your BPO sees agents as Frank, Tammy and Edward instead of "FTEs", and that this view of employees will help make your customer more money.  Then guess what, you can get the price needed to build an amazing new way of performing BPO support services!

Once these first steps are taken, you have to commit to stay the new path you have designed.  This way your employees do not see it a fluke, but the way things are and can become part of your new solution.

Forging a new path all begins with taking the first step.  Are you willing to see what lays beyond the well known beaten path?

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

How To Work Weekends, While Not "Really" Working

One of the biggest mistakes so many B2B sales people make is the idea you can punch out at 5pm (12pm for most) on Friday and be checked out till 9am 'ish on Monday morning.  The problem with this thinking is people like myself and other top performing sales people who know the reason both days of the weekend start with "S" is because they are SALES days!!!

Now, I am not saying you need to be putting in 10 hours days Saturday and Sunday, because I certainly am not.  But, you do need to make sure that you are still active with your network, especially on the weekends.

Below are three easy things you need to do to keep your business network engaged on the weekends, while not taking away from your personal and family life.

1. Schedule Your Email Times - 15 minutes, 3 times a day (mine times are: 8am, 12p, and 8pm) to check and respond to any emails you received.  Also use down time to do spot checks for important emails.  This way you can keep up on all emails, while not impacting personal time with family.

2. Automate Your Social Media - If your business network is engaged with you using social media, try using pre-loaded posts that are then schedule to be posted on your behalf over the weekend.  I use a combination of two products:

Buffer App (http://www.bufferapp.com) - This is a easy to use web and phone application that allows you to load up links and posts that are then posted on a set schedule.  If you go this route, make sure to get the pay for version.  It is inexpensive, but allows you to link unlimited accounts, and load up as many posts as your heart desires.

Tweet Deck (http://www.tweetdeck.com) - Far and beyond one of my all time favorite social media applications.  I use this application all the time for tracking all my social channels, and scheduling specific posts that I want to go out.  This is really good for high impact posts that you want sent out a a very specific time on very specific channels.

--> Two quick tips with both of these applications.-->
1. I schedule one hour every Friday to do nothing but load up my Buffer and Tweet Deck with posts for the following week, or longer if I am traveling.  This way I can set it and forget it, and not have to worry about it till the following week.  Makes things very easy, and forces me to do it each week.

2. Though both programs are great for posting, you still have to manage your social channels.  Though it may sound hard, I have a personal goal to respond to any post that mentions me, or asks me something within 2 - 3 minutes.  This is hard to manage, but I find it to be very impactful to my business network, and has led to a lot of business to come my way because of my responsiveness 24x7/365.

3.  Sunday Night Prospecting - Why wait till Monday, when no one wants to hear from you anyways.  Sunday allows you to get ahead of everyone and be the first thing your prospect sees and hears on Monday morning.  The quick trick here is to limit your time to 1 hour, and only do this after your kids are asleep (if you have kids).  In my hour, I dedicated my hour to calling because I do all my prep work on Friday so my time is as efficient as possible.

Here is what the whole thing looks like:

Friday:
- Create a list of prospects in our CRM that I need to call and leave a touch point voice mail for.
(I average 57 dials per hour with voice mail, so I know I need at least 60 numbers on my list)

- Schedule a reminder in my calendar for my 1 hour of calling

- Create a list of prospects I want to email

- Create a template email to send out to all the recipients

- Upload both the email list and email to Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) and schedule email to be sent out at 10pm, Sunday evening

Sunday:
- Sit down and close the door and run though my canned voice mail scripts in my head two - three times.

- Begin dialing and leaving voice mails.  (Though I have canned messages they are very personalized so they sound unique and engaging.)

- Take the last 10 minutes to update my CRM of my actions and what I left in voice and via email

All told you will only use up about 2 - 3 hours of your time on the weekend, but the results will be HUGE.  I am a big advocate of life work balance, and there is no reason in a sales role you can not have both.

Remember your family is who will support you and help you get through those bad quarters.  So always put their needs of you first.  But, also remember a sales role does not stop for weekends!  So if you schedule your time carefully, and be as efficient as possible you can work on the weekend, while not "really" working.

To Your Success & Prosperity!!!

Sales is from Venus...Marketing is from Mars!

Image Courtesy of Channel Marketer Report

The rarest thing to find is a great sales person who is also a great marketing person, or vice-versa.  This is because the skill sets for each position are polar opposites in most cases.

The best Marketing minds I have ever met in my life are also some of the most boring, analytical people you could ever imagine meeting.  They are in love with numbers, and obsessed with figuring out the mathematics behind everything.  Where sales on the other hand, though sometimes analytical, are more often your emotional creative types who also love problem solving, but rarely by the numbers.  Their focus is on making people happy and winning.

These differences in behavior is why I have emphasized to organizations to not group Sales and Marketing together under one flag, but to run them as separate teams that have leaders who work well together.  This way they can both be held to quotas and goals they both have the ability and resources to obtain:

Marketing - Generating "x" number of leads with "y" percent of those leads being qualified at an average cost per lead of "a" and a average cost per qualified lead of "b".

Sales - Convert "x" percent of the qualified leads with an average cost per acquisition of "y" and average revenue of "z".

The reason so many companies group these very different, but complimentary departments together is because the success of one can and most often is a direct result of the others success or failure.  But, by combining the two together what you typically see is a sales and marketing effort that is mediocre or that is more focused more on the sales end or marketing end, while the other, less focused on aspect suffers.

I believe all of you will agree that Marketing and Sales will always be tied at the hip.  But, it is important to also remember that for both to be successful, there must be a level of separation between the teams so both can focus on what they are the best at, Sales or Marketing, NOT BOTH!  This way the teams can both be successful, which in turn will make the overall organization that much more successful.

Because as any sales person will tell you, "Nothing happens till a sale is made!"


To Your Success & Prosperity!!!

An Academic Response To My 2013 Annual Letter

Yesterday I received the note below from my friend Professor Oscar Hauptman, who I met while speaking at the APOE annual conference in Wuhu, China last year.  Oscar is your quintessential Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies.  His vast knowledge of economics, marketing, and social behavior is nothing short of amazing.  

With that said, I always love his notes to me about communications I send out.  They are always stimulating and enlightening.  For this reason I thought it important to share his last note with all of you, as I really felt it to be one of the more fascinating notes he has sent.  As you will see, his note is focused on a quote I placed in my 2013 Annual Letter, which I have placed below.

"Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change."

- Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

_________________________________________________________________________________ 

Oscar Hauptman has sent you a message.

Date: 1/15/2013

Subject: RE: 2013 - Annual Letter

Thank you Michael and Happy New Year! 


I am enjoying this as your previous communiqués, keep it up!
 


Your quote stimulated the following stream of analysis and prescription. First, isn't it telling us something that most of the "Search of Excellence" companies "excellent" companies screwed up so bad that some went belly up in 5-10 years? My lessons are, repeated again and again: the moment you think you cracked the "code for success" you are sowing the seeds of your demise. 

Danny Miller wrote about it in the "architecture of simplicity" paper, suggesting that excellent companies, which are doing many things right to be excellent, reduce their complex repertoire to a "code"/"menu"/"recipe" of 5-10 rules, and this fucks them up badly, sometimes permanently. 
It is also about the very high cost of arrogance. 

So here is my list: 


1. You NEVER crack the code for success, as it changes daily; 


2. You NEVER know it all, as most there is to know lies beyond the horizon, which is impossible to observe; 


3. Motorcyclist's Rule: The moment you deem yourself an excellent driver, you should write your will and organ donation card. Applied to business: you are never a good enough "driver" (executive/decision-maker), as you are always driving beyond your capabilities and knowledge. 


4. Female corollary: Less testosterone reduces the risk of all the above, as women are on average less arrogant, less full of themselves, and more prudent in assessing risk in decision-making. 


5. Finally: Paranoia is good for you, as most businesses have real enemies. 


Oscar's 5 rules are things that so many of us businessmen and women forget to take into account when leading our organization.  We must remember that we don't know it all, and the moment we think we do, we need to fire our self, or prove to our self that we really don't.  This is the only way to continue to be successful as the world is ever changing, and our organizations must be just as changing to keep up. 

A great example of this is seen with Apple under the leadership of Tim Cook.  A great man, but maybe not as a great of leader for a company like Apple who has all of a sudden forgot that they are innovators not followers!  Tim's leadership style has been to rest on the greatness that was built for him by the late Steve Jobs.  We see this with the huge mess of up Apple Maps, the quick release of an unimpressive new iPad, and now the coming of a "Cheap" iPhone.

in closing I would like to share with you a little saying I tell myself each and everyday.  It is something that helps me get my mind focused on what I need to do each day.  "Push the boundaries of what is deemed impossible, as they are only there in your mind, not in reality!"

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

5 Steps To Building A Productive Linkedin Profile

To so many Linkedin is viewed as more in depth business card.  Which in some cases is true, but it is also so much more.  Used correctly, Linkedin can be the single best source for new job opportunities, expanding your network, finding mentors, getting cutting edge news and data, and even generating new business for your organization.

So how do you reap these benefits?

Below are six easy steps you need to take to make your profile not just another name on a list, but a profile that is productive for you and your organization.

1. Add or Update Your Profile Photo - Not having a photo on your profile is the fastest way to Linkedin Failure.  Having a "RECENT" photo shows that this profile is really you, and that you are engaged with your online network.  This is very important if you are looking for new business or job opportunities.

For those of you who do have a photo on your profile, you have taken a great first step.  But, you also must make sure to keep it updated!  One of the largest frustrations I have with profiles is meeting a person for the first time that looks nothing like their profile photo.  My issue with this is that it immediately raises red flags that this person may have self esteem issues, or may be hiding something.  It is always better to be upfront and honest with all the data on your profile, and your photo is no different.

2. Write an Engaging Bio - I am not saying you need to write Nobel Prize worthy bio, just something that can capture attention quickly, and make the person viewing your profile want to learn more.  Personally I find the use of carefully selected quotes (that I update annually) to be very useful.  The quote(s) I select are always relevant to the industry I work in, and reflect the image I wish to portray to my profile viewers.

A few other cleaver ideas I have seen are the use of jokes, personal mission statements, and great questions (i.e. - Do you need a person who can double your current sales in 12 months?).

The secret sauce is to be UNIQUE and CLEAVER and PERSONAL.  Make your bio reflect you, and make it standout so when someone reads it they will remember it and talk about it with others.  But, even more importantly make sure when you read it that is 100% YOU!

3. Keep Your Work Experience Up To Date! -  Not updating your work experience is by far one of the most common mistakes people make on Linkedin.  If something changes, it must be reflected on Linkedin ASAP.  It doesn't matter if it is something as small as your title changing from Sales Executive to Sr. Sales Executive, you need to memorialize it on Linkedin the day it happens.  This not only is important for future job opportunities, but it also sends out a note to your entire network, which can potentially jog their memory of a business opportunity they may need to talk to you about.

Remember, every opportunity to get in front of your network both digital and face-to-face is important not to waste.

--> As I was writing this post I received an email from Linkedin with the title "Who's Started Something New?"  Just proving my point that keeping your profile up to date is so important!

4. Beef Up Your Experience With Accomplishments - You don't have to win an official award to have accomplishments.  These can be as small as beating quota by 10% in a quarter, to as large as making the President's list at your company.  It is important to celebrate your professional accomplishments and share them with your network.  By doing this you do two things:

a) You show people that you celebrate all victories small and large, and take a positive view of everything going on.

A positive view of the world is a breath of fresh air to many employers, especially coming off the rocky economic times we all just went through.  People want to work with people that always see opportunity, even when no one else can.  This kind of attitude is what makes leaders, and that is what every company wants in their ranks, and as partners.

b) Accomplishments show prospects and your network that you are someone who strives to do more in your position that just hold a status quo.  When a potential employer or client sees this, it will help them view you as a resource, rather than another vendor or prospective employee.  Changing this view is so critical, as it then allows you to collaborate with a person, rather than just take orders from them.

--> It is important to note the importance of recommendations.  Many people will say that recommendations are the most important item for your profile.  Personally, I do agree they are important, but do not view them as mission critical.  Recommendations are things you do need to ask for, and will get when you have earned them from your network.  

One word of warning is that you need to make sure to only publish recommendations that is both impactful, and relevant to the image you are looking to portray on your profile.  So many times as I am reviewing a profile and reading peoples recommendation I begin to get confused by what the person actually did.  (i.e. - A VP of Sales received a recommendation from a co-worker in H.R. / Recruiting who mentioned that she always appreciated the help he would offer with recruiting efforts her team was working on.)  This raises two flags for me: Why is a Sales VP working on recruiting and not sales, and how does this tell me why this person was a good/great Sales VP?    

5. Stay Engaged and Active - Social media is not a set it and forget it environment.  It is communications channel that must be managed and supported on a regular basis.  Now I am not saying you need to be working on it 100% of your time.  What I am saying is that you do need to schedule 5 - 10 minutes a 2 - 3 times a day to check it and share some news about yourself or something going on in your professional environment (i.e. - News article, blog post, reactions to a new technology, etc...).

Though many do not believe it, people are curious about what you do, and what you think about.  Share it!  This will engage your network and help them become closer to you.  This way when an opportunity presents itself to them, that you could benefit from, they will come to you with it.

--> A great FREE resource I highly recommend to every busy professional is an online service called Buffer (https://bufferapp.com).  This service allows you to load up posts for all your Social Networking sites and then it will post them on a regular schedule throughout the day.  I have used this program with great success and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking to get more active, but can not be day-to-day.


If you follow these 5 easy steps you will be well on your way to building a GREAT network that your are engaged with, and can come to rely on for business opportunities for many years to come.

Feel free to visit my Linkedin page and add me to your network to see my profile in action!
http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcmcmillan/

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

2013 Annual Letter to Network

2013 is officially underway, and with this New Year beginning it is time for my annual letter to my network.

As in years past I first want to express my gratitude for including me as part of your network. I work hard every day to continue to grow my vast network so whenever you need assistance, I can have a resource available to you. In this way I look to not be another name in your vast Rolodex, but a trusted resource you can always rely on.

Looking forward to the year upon us, I am very excited to see so much business activity and growth is occurring in both of my focused market places, customer and patient experience. This continued focus to improve the way customer’s and patient’s react to our businesses products and services are vital to our ability to grow in these still uncertain economic times.

As your organization moves forward with any of your customer/patient experience projects, please feel free (as many of you do) to use my team, my network, and myself as a resource of knowledge and assistance. I am here to serve and help you, and your organization in anyway possible.  This way together we can both grow and be more successful.

So in closing I leave you with a quote that I am using to guide my thoughts and actions in this new year. I hope it will serve you, as it has me, to guide your teams to a very successful and prosperous 2013!

"Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change."

            - Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

To Your Success & Prosperity,

Michael C. McMillan