In episode #129, your host, David Guerra, talks about Honing Your Craft.
When it comes to being your best and doing your best you must know that you cannot rest on your laurel. You must always be honing your craft. When you want to be the best you have to beat the best. To be the best, you cannot for one second slack off when it comes to your craft. Remember, the moment you slack off is the moment is going to beat you. Why? Because they have continuously been honing their craft. Now get to work!
Transcription:
And good evening everyone, it is Friday. Friday March 1st the first day of the third month of 2019. I’m your host David Guerra and welcome to LET’S HAVE A CHAT (the Friday edition). That’s right, the calendar says it’s Friday and that means it’s time for Forbes Friday so again
straight from Forbes.com, Forbes magazine, the website, the email newsletters. Hey, if you haven’t signed up for the newsletters, check them out and do so. I highly recommend it and that’s where this one comes from. It’s a little snippet of something but it’s something I saw yesterday and it kind of got me thinking, of well the shape of things to come. Well actually three things happened in the past 24 hours, my oldest my daughter she’s looking for a job so she’s thinking about applying at J.C. Penney and then I’m going like well if they’re
still around to hire you’re more than welcome to and the next was I drove by a Payless Shoe Store with 40 to 50% off discount right now because they’re going out of business everything must go. Now in the Forbes Daily Dozen I saw that they were talking about Victoria’s Secret since 2015, the stock value slipped 75 percent and Victoria’s Secret still has not come out of that. How do they get themselves
out of it? Folks, they need to recognize that things are happening in the retail industry, the anchor stores are going…the anchor stores are those stores, the big stories at the malls, they’re the big ones like Macy’s, JC Penney, Sears it was once Montgomery Ward remember that and Woolworth’s back in the day. Well, that’s what’s going on is those anchor stores. They are going and slowly all the other ones
that aren’t keeping up are going and why are they disappearing? Why is Payless disappearing? Shoes? Everybody needs shoes, we all need shoes and Payless whoa! Everybody wants to pay less for shoes but again they have good shoes there. Don’t get me wrong I purchased from
there before and as matter of fact I walked in there and purchased a pair of sneakers yesterday at a great price.
So, what’s going on? Well, it’s plain and simple, if you’ve been on this planet long enough you’ve seen the little cardboard boxes with the little smiley face on it. No, no it’s not the it’s not a box from Brazil because it says Amazon and just like that box was not from Italy because it said Fra-Gi-Le. Nope it’s Amazon.
That’s right, Amazon, Amazon.com they’ve got everything, anything you’ve ever wanted. They’ve got it there that you could find it and if
you don’t they can probably wait a bit and somebody will sell it. I know this because I also am an Amazon seller and I sell on Amazon so I sell my stuff there and again full disclosure.
But is it taken away from the local jobs! NO! It’s just taken away from those that don’t want to compete, don’t want to as the kids say
“POST UP”, they are not doing that. They are not stepping up their game and if those local businesses, those brick-and-mortar stores do not want to step up their game then where they’re gonna go? By the way of what was once Hastings Records and Books. Remember that bookstore Hastings records and books? There we go *BOOM* Barnes & Noble came wiped them off the face of the earth and
then remember that Blockbuster Video? Same thing, they had the opportunity to do what Netflix is doing.
They had the execs that chose not to they said oh that’s never gonna fly! You know who doesn’t fly anymore? That’s right, the CEO cuz he has no place to go. It’s just that simple folks. The times are changing and if you’re not changing with those times you’re gonna get exactly what you deserve. A couple years ago I wouldn’t have thought about sitting up here and standing up here in front of this doing live stream video. I would have thought about that but I resisted for the longest time I resisted joining Facebook but you know what, that’s where it was all going on. You’ve got to see the writing on the wall and you can resist it all you want or it’s like oh no they won’t change for me. You’re too late, you’ve already missed the boat the time is or the times already gone the ship has already sailed, that plane has already
taken off. That’s right so bon voyage, see we can’t even say bon voyage anymore now we have to say “bon voy” because someone’s changing with the times and we need also in business and leaders those that lead people, we have to be changing with the times.
I’m not saying be the next Elon Musk, I’m not saying be the next what’s his name, what’s his name, Zuckerberg! You know or anybody else no what I’m saying is be yourself but be yourself in an involving constantly evolving constantly changing state. You’re gonna find yourself you and your business are gonna find yourselves the way of the dinosaur, the way of Hastings, the way of Tower Records. Remember Tower Records? Yeah they have an online presence but it was nothing like Tower Records that was like the epitome of a record store. You look up
record store in the dictionary you saw Tower Records. That was it that was the place to go but where are they now it’s Amazon and iTunes and Apple. Where are they now? Where will Macy’s be in a little while, where’s JC Penney, where Sears, where’s Payless Shoes and unfortunately
Victoria’s Secret needs to ramp up their game. Sure they can one time a year do that that show or that risque show on on TV once a year but is that enough? No! It’s not enough. It’s not enough to bring in the money, to raise the stock value because again dropping 75% that’s a lot but if you’re delivering constantly and maintaining and working and improvising and innovating then guess what. You might just have a good thing on your hand and it’s worth the wait for it to grow back up. Now you know what four years later on the verge of five years later for Victoria’s Secret then what exactly nothing will happen. Only the bad stuff will happen, unemployment, layoffs. chapter 13, bankruptcy, courts it’s crazy but it’s true.
On that note, so something to think about continue innovating, continue changing, continue providing, continue to grow, continue to innovate, continue to be better than you were yesterday. If you’re not, someone’s going to have you for lunch and that is probably going to be Amazon.
Some say empowering your customers is the greatest gift you can give your customers. I agree.
I wholeheartedly agree when it comes to making your customers, your clients better. By empowering them, you also make them better clients and customers. Having better clients and customers you have greater success as a business and as a leader. However, what about your best customers? Don’t start segregating the best from the good from the mediocre from the bad.
Don’t Do It!
All your customers turn to you because you are the best.
All of them are your best customers/clients.
Whether they spend $10 a year or $10,000 a quarter, each and every customer is worth your best. Some businesses focus on the top tier $$$ based customers. Some focus solely on the top and mid tier customers. Too few focus on ALL customers from all tiers or levels of money spent on the company’s product or service. Unfortunate for those businesses that refuse to look beyond the top tier as they will never realize the power the mid and lower tiers bring.
Sure most people and organizations have every right to believe that the top 20% bring 80% of the wealth. However, at any moment any of the 80% that bring the 20% can suddenly jump into the top 20% and if your organization is not doing anything to empower that customer/client then rest assured that individual or group will go someplace else. Guaranteed!
If you can’t find time for them, then don’t be surprised when they don’t go looking for you. Do not be surprised when they give their money to someone else.
This is why empowering all your customers is best! That is why I empower ALL my customers and clients. It is not that I expect something in return. I empower them to make the right decisions based on the knowledge, wisdom and skills I share with them. That means I am not only make my customers smarter, I am giving them the tools to use my products or services to the best of their ability. I share with them all that I know about my products and services.
I do this in hopes that they can understand what I bring to their organization and with that understand they can communicate back to me about any ideas, changes, concerns, or questions that serve to ultimately make the products and services better.
You bring them into the fold. You bring the customer behind the counter. You make the client part of the team, part of the creative team. They are now empowered to be innovators of the next version of the product or service.
Being members of the team, your customers/clients are now a valuable component of the organization. This is a component that pays you. They pay you by buying the product or service. Then they continue to pay you by providing the feedback. While feedback is not guaranteed, it is something to expect from some or more of all your customers. Those that provide that feedback will provide feedback that will be most valuable to your and your organization.
Now be careful when you empower them by bringing them into the fold. Too much, too soon may be intimidating and cause the client/customer to withdraw. The same applies for the opposite: too little, too slow. When things move too slow you run the risk of the customer or client losing interest in what you are doing or trying to do.
It will be difficult but if you truly want ALL your customers and clients to be the best they can be then go ahead and empower them. The return on that investment may astound you.
As always, if you questions please feel free to reach out and contact me.
by David G. Guerra, MBA
Author of the Walking Leader and Great To Follow
twitter: @DaveGuerra
instagram: dave_guerra
In episode #129, your host, David Guerra, talks about Honing Your Craft.