Mantra Design & Leadership Foundational Principles

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It’s safe to say that behind every effective business strategy are a series of underlying principles that provide for the foundation and guidance for its success and continuing prosperity. The four foundational business cornerstones I embrace and which I’ll speak to briefly are the following;

  • Commitment to business growth through organic innovation by funding research and development at investments of 10% or greater as a percentage of the company’s total revenues.
  • Develop and evolve your company’s product brands through your customer’s eyes.
  • Continuously improve your company’s products and technologies by focusing on the few truly strategic core platforms.
  • Hire smart, ambitious, get-it-done employees and lead them with emotionally intelligent innovation leadership skills.

Mantra DesignCommitment to growth

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About the Author

Dana A. OliverDana A. Oliver lives in Jacksonville, FL with his wife Linda and daughter “Lexi” Alexandra. He is the Senior Director of Research & Development at Medtronic’s Surgical Technologies ENT / NT division and has helped grow this business unit from $100 million to approximately $2 billion in annual revenues over fourteen years. He has approximately 30 years of experience in the field of medical devices, working for such companies as Medtronic, Genzyme, SIMS Level 1, Kirwan Surgical, and Strichman Medical. He has applied for over 30 patent applications and has been granted over 20 US patents to date.

Mantra Design – Innovate, Buy or Die!: Discover the Secrets for Profitable and Lasting Innovation reveals the secrets to identifying your customer’s unmet needs which in turn provide for premium priced, patent protected, market share leading products.

Mantra Leadership – Don’t Become the Emperor with No Clothes! highlights the emotionally intelligent leadership skills that can result in as much as 30% or greater in team productively.

5 Ways To Improve Your Delivery Service

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5 Ways To Improve Your Delivery ServiceDelivery is a core aspect of business. Whether you’re operating out of your bedroom or you’re a corporate giant, the delivery service matters. It all comes down to the final product you deliver to your customer. The delivery aspect is tricky when you’re a small business. Packaging and posting each item yourself takes time and dedication. But, it doesn’t get much easier when you start making more sales! Things become a great deal more complicated, and mistakes become easier. Whatever size your business, you could stand to improve the delivery service. Here’s how.

1. Automated software

Our first trick is to automate everything. From the moment an order comes into your system, it should automatically produce an address label. The software should track the delivery through your fulfillment process, checking off boxes as it goes along. This way, if something goes wrong or a parcel gets lost, you know where the problem is. That software should track the package all the way to delivery (more on that later). With software systems like this, you always know where things are.

2. Choose the right logistics company

As your business grows, you’ll begin to manage increasing order numbers. At a certain point, your small operation won’t be able to handle everything. When that happens, you’ll want to consider outsourcing your delivery system. The final part of your supply chain solutions should be a reliable delivery provider. Logistics companies have the resources to go abroad with ease, and they run their deliveries like clockwork.

3. Use GPS and telematics

The most crucial part of the delivery process is monitoring and measuring. You should track every single parcel that leaves your warehouse, and know where it is at all times. If there are any problems, you can spot exactly where the last check in was. It’s also worth fitting GPS trackers and telematics to the delivery trucks themselves. By doing that, you can monitor their performance. How fast are the deliveries? Could they be even faster or more reliable?

4. Keep customers updated

There’s nothing worse than keeping your customers in the dark when it comes to deliveries. Use the automated software, and the tracking facilities, to keep your customers updated. Let them know when the package is dispatched. Let them know when it’s out for delivery, and the best time to expect their driver. At the end of the day, your entire delivery process is shaped around customer satisfaction. Keep them happy!

5. Exceed expectations

Speaking of customer satisfaction, it’s your job to go above and beyond the typical delivery service. Your customers have a baseline of expectations. In other words, they expect the delivery on time. They expect the product to be safely packaged. All you have to do, is add a little extra flair. Good customer service on the doorstep will exceed their expectations. So will a creative or unique package. Or an extra note to say thank you for their service.

Your delivery system is the heart of your business. Execute it with precision, and always exceed your customer’s expectation!

Return to the Tactical Execution Forum

Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy – Make the Decision Your Own

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StrategyDriven Professional Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval AcademyNations entrust their military personnel with the responsibility of providing for the national defense and securing the rights and liberties of their people. This goal places many who serve in harms way, whether during peacetime or when at war.

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7 Reasons Your Former Supervisor Might Give You a Bad Reference

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Many of us are aware that a former employer is only supposed to offer limited information about previous employees – typically, employment dates and title. While the track record of corporate Human Resources is generally (but not always) consistent with this policy, it is a different story when considering former supervisors. While there are a number of reasons why your former supervisor might offer potentially damaging information about you, the bottom line is that you should never assume that your prior supervisor(s) is following company policy when they are contacted about offering you a reference.

What are the reasons why your supervisory references may be unfavorable? They include:

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About the Author

Jeff ShaneJeff Shane is President of Allison Taylor, Inc., a reference and background checking firm doing business since 1984. He oversees matters of product development, online integration of services and attorney interaction on behalf of the company’s many clients. Jeff is frequently interviewed about employment trends and his interviews appear globally in newspapers and magazines.

I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. Could you repeat that?

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“I didn’t hear you.”
No, you weren’t listening.

“Our people need to listen better.”
No, your people need to understand WHY they don’t listen.

REALITY: You quit paying attention for one reason or another, AND blame it on the person talking to you. Two rudes don’t make a right.

How do you listen? That’s both a question and an enigma. Listening is one of the BIG THREE in selling, the other two are asking (engaging), and being friendly.

If you ask most salespeople, they would admit that listening is their weakest quality. In part due to impatience, but mostly because they don’t know how. Or even deeper, they don’t know the components or factors that make up the ‘why’ of listening.

To complicate the listening process even further, there are manners in which people listen – no, not “please pass the salt” manners – attitude and mood manners. These manners can affect the listening competence level by more than half.

There are 3.5 opposite sets of manners of listening:
1. Active or passive.
2. Positive or negative.
3. Open or closed.
3.5 Distracted by other business or personal matters, or not distracted.

You can almost get the feeling and meaning of these manners without me explaining them.

Listening is also broken down into elements. Each representing a ‘why.’ I have added some additional description to clarify each element. And defined a few.

The good elements of listening are:
Listen with the intent to understand. A sermon. A movie. In a classroom.
Listen with the intent to take action. Someone giving instructions.
Listen with the intent to learn. A teacher. A trainer. A seminar leader.
Listen with the intent to enjoy. Music. Sounds of nature. Waterfalls. A crackling fire.
Listen with the intent to remember. Driving directions. A website address. A phone number.

WHO you’re listening to can have a huge impact on the quality of your listening. Your mother, your boss, your spouse, your kids, your best friend, your favorite celebrity, someone you like, or someone you dislike, can affect the outcome of your listening ability. It’s their words, your mood, and your level of respect, that make up the listening effectiveness model.

The bad elements of listening are:
Listen with the intent to respond. This is where interruptions occur. You have something to say, or think you already know the answer. You start responding BEFORE the other person has finished talking. The first ‘listen’ should be: listen with the intent to understand. THEN you can respond with the full knowledge of what has been communicated. CURE: Just ask the person if they have finished their thought BEFORE you respond.
Listen with the intent to figure out an angle (manipulate). Interacting with a customer during a selling situation.
Listen because you have to obey (or try to worm out of it). Parents, teachers, and bosses top the list.
Listen because you are forced to. Your boss, teacher, or parents yelling or disciplining you.
Listen with the intent not to pay attention. Tuned off because of your unhappiness or ill feeling towards the person speaking.
Listen with the intent to argue. Whenever you’re in an argument or fight, listening is overpowered by anger and negativity.

There is also the ever popular, pretending to listen, but in another world. You have other things on your mind that are more powerful than what is being said, so you tune out whoever is speaking.

Telltale signs of not listening? Asking people to repeat. Getting instructions wrong. Making mistakes on the job. Getting rejected.

Have you ever heard someone say, “Now everybody listen-up, this is important.” What does that mean? It means that without that preface to whatever is being said next, the odds are that very few, if any, are paying attention to the person speaking.

Think about it, does Bill Gates walk into the room and say, “OK everybody listen-up?” Billy Graham? Steven Jobs? Madonna? Michael Jordan? Ted Turner? No, they walk into a room and everyone says, “SShhhhhhhh, it’s…” A hush falls over the room like a magic spell, and everyone in the room is “all ears.”

The three best states to be in when listening are: the state of calm, the state of happy, and the state of willing. These are “ear opening” states. (The worst listening states are the state of New Jersey and the state of New York. Many people there already know everything.)

FINAL SECRET: I know all of you are looking for the silver bullet that will make you an instant better listener. I’ve got it for you. Two words, and they’re not ‘shut-up.’ The secret words and action of listening are: ‘take notes.’ When you take notes, you show respect, always ‘hear,’ and have a reference to help you remember what was said or promised.

I have a list of things that negatively affect the listening stream. A self-awareness list to help you understand WHY you’re a poor listener. Go to www.gitomer.com – register if you’re a first time visitor – and enter the word WHAT? in the GitBit box.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].