Memorial Day

“Many Americans have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At cemeteries across the country, the graves of the fallen are sadly ignored, and worse, neglected.”  ~ Col. Allen West

In my weekly blog I normally do what I can to write something that is both work related and inspiring. This week is not necessarily work related, but I do hope it may inspire a few readers. Next Monday is Memorial Day; a day that all Americans should hold sacred, but sadly has become at best, a misunderstood Holiday and at worst the official start of summer vacation, barbecue cookouts and summer mattress sales across the nation.

Many people confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day, a day to honor all who have served their country. Memorial Day is about much more than service, it is about sacrifice. Memorial Day is the official day of remembrance of all who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives so that those of us remaining may enjoy freedom. It is not about honoring veterans. That’s what Veteran’s Day is for. Memorial Day is about honoring those who gave their lives in service to their country. Those who died on battlefields defending freedom.

Although its exact origin is unknown, Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was officially observed on May 30, 1868. Flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. After World War I, all states officially recognized the Holiday.

One of the traditions observed on Memorial Day is the wearing of a red poppy. This tradition was derived from what is the most famous poem of World War I, Flander’s Fields, written in 1915 by John McCrae. The poem begins; “On Flander’s fields the poppies blow, between the crosses row to row…” Over the years, many civic minded organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America have taken up the tradition of placing an American flag at the headstone of fallen veterans, Each year soldiers of the 3^rd Infantry Division place flags on each of the more than a quarter of a million military gravestones at Arlington, but at far too many cemeteries across the country, these graves go unattended and forgotten.

Memorial Day is about reflecting back on the price of the freedom we enjoy. It is about remembering our forefathers who fought and died for American independence. It is about remembering those who fought for the cause they believed in, although on different sides during the Civil War. It is about remembering the men of a young nation that made its mark on the world when it helped save Europe as it sacrificed its sons at places with long forgotten names like Amiens and Mont Blanc. It is about remembering those who died a torturous death in the bowels of a ship on an ocean floor in the Pacific and who turned the sea red with their blood at Normandy and who faced insurmountable odds at Bastogne. It is about remembering those who defended South Korea from communist takeover and the 58,000 plus of my own generation of friends and brothers who sacrificed their lives in the mountains, jungles and deltas of Viet Nam. Sadly today, the list of remembered soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines grows as young men, and now young women, defend us against the Islamic extremists who seek our destruction.

I hope everyone will take a little time this Memorial Day to remember the heavy cost that has been paid by so many, for our freedom. Never take that freedom for granted. It came at a heavy cost. Remember the lives left unlived and pray for their souls. They died for yours.

 

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You’ve Graduated, Now Your Education Begins!

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” ~ Peter Drucker

It is the time of year when our future leaders are graduating from college or high school and are preparing to enter the working world and stake a claim on their future. At least some of them are. Others are just going to let whatever happens, happen. It’s sad when you think about it; just how ill-prepared we are for what the future holds whenever we set out on our journey to conquer giants. The main message I want to get across is this – the public school system or even major university has not prepared you for success, it has merely taught you how to learn. It has provided you with a very basic set of tools with which you are to build your future. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking now that you’ve completed twelve years in the public school system and maybe even four years at a university, that your education is complete. If you are willing to leave your future to chance, then you can accept that, but if your goal is to create the future you really want, then your education is just beginning.

We have a concept we call “continuing education” that can be as major as going back to school to attain an advanced degree or as minor as spending a few evenings getting better at scrap-booking. Either one is certainly a worthy undertaking but there is another form of continuing education that will produce far more results that either of these ventures, even pursuing your master’s or doctorate degree.

I’m talking of course about self-education. What you learned in school was good stuff and certainly has value but as Mr. Drucker (as a side note, I’ve also seen this quote attributed to Buckminster Fuller) said, “If you want to predict your future, you have to create it” and to do that you’re going to need more than just what you learned in school. One of the wisest quotes I’ve ever heard and one that has become one of my favorites is from the late Louis L’Amour in his autobiography when he wrote, “I left school so I could continue my education.” There is far more truth and value in that statement than most of this year’s graduates will ever know.

So the question becomes, “What is the best way to continue my self-education?” They say the first 3 years of life are our formative years and direct who and what kind of person we will be for the rest of our lives. I believe there is a second period of formative years and that is when we reach maturity – when we transition from student to adult. I had first written from child to adult but that isn’t accurate. The difficulty is, going from child to adult is not necessarily based on age. Some are far more mature in their early teens than others are in their forties. I’m talking specifically about those few years after we complete our formal education and begin our working lives. The habits we develop during those years are extremely important to our success. This is the time to create those self-educating study habits that will propel you far beyond your peers and allow you to create the future you desire.

It is a sad reality that many people finish high school, or even college, and never open another book. They will never attend a seminar. They will never take another step towards their own self-education. Their excuse will be that they simply don’t have time and yet, they will have ample time to keep abreast of who gets voted off the island. They will have plenty of time to spend countless hours playing video games. They will even find time to complain to their friends on the phone about how unfair life is and that they just can’t seem to catch a break. But they will never seem to have the time to invest in themselves.

With technology today, self-education is becoming easier and easier. Books on CD are often even less expensive that print books and can be listened to while driving or exercising. With cable and satellite television, we have hundreds of channels to choose from; many of which offer historical, educational and documentary material. The internet has a vast universe of information at our fingertips – or it has an endless supply of garbage. The choice is yours.

We have a choice to make. We can take our diplomas and call it a day. Job well done, now let’s let life happen and just deal with it – come what may. Or we can be proactive in our futures and take control of our lives rather than leaving it to chance. We can invest time in our futures. That time is going to pass whether you spend it reading a good book with valuable information that will further your career or spend it keeping up with the Karcrashians. Don’t just predict your future, create it.

 

Related articles

• Ten Tips for a New Graduate Student (mediterraneanworld.wordpress.com)
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Why Motivate When You Can Inspire?

“Energy motivates but charisma inspires.” ~ Simon Shinek

Having high energy certainly motives people. The problem with that is, when he energy is removed, so is the motivation. The late Zig Ziglar may have described motivation best when he said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” But you probably don’t get the chance to interact with your customers on a daily basis. That’s why charisma is the better choice. As Shinek says in his quote, charisma inspires. Isn’t that really what we are after – to inspire our customers?

A perfect example of what I’m talking about can be seen by taking a look at Microsoft. The current CEO, who replaced Bill Gates, is a man named Steve Ballmer. When Steve takes the stage, he is definitely a very motivating guy. He is high volume, high energy, constantly moving and will break into a sweat after just a few minutes on stage. Take a look at one of Steve’s many videos on Youtube and you will see what I mean. The guy is definitely a motivator.

Contrast that to Bill Gates who, for the most part, is an introvert. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bill Gates yelling on a stage or bouncing from one side of the stage to the other. He’s just not that guy – but still Bill Gates inspired millions with his charisma.

Charisma is defined as, “a spiritual virtue or personal quality that gives a person influence over another.” Isn’t that ultimately what we want with our customers – to have influence? Maybe at this point we should delve into the meaning of influence. Webster defines influence as, “The action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior and opinions of others.” So if our goal is to influence the actions, behavior and opinions of our customers, we need to have more charisma. So how do we develop the personal quality that gives us influence over another?

The internet is filled with articles and studies on developing charisma and having greater influence. Each writer adds and adjusts their own variations, but the jest is pretty much the same. To develop charisma you must:

1. Be confident. You build confidence by knowing your subject matter. The more you know, the more comfortable you become. If you know inside that if your customer should ask you a question, you will not know the answer, it will show immediately in a nervous presentation with a total lack of confidence. Roll play, read, roll play some more, learn everything you can and then go learn some more. If you give a presentation that does not go well, take some time afterwards to analyze what went wrong or what you could have done differently.  Always be learning. As your knowledge grows, so will your confidence.
2. Be committed. You have to know why you do what you do. In the storage business, we are there to help solve problems for our customers. If you are there for any other reason, you are probably in the wrong line of work. Our customers are experiencing some sort of problem in their lives. Either they just relocated or are about to, they just had a death in the family, they just lost their job or they just need more room. If you’re not there to genuinely help them solve their problem, you’re never going to inspire them.
3. Remember the Golden Rule. Every faith on earth, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, you name it, have as a basic precept, some derivative of the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Ask yourself, “Would I buy from me?” If the answer is “No!” then you are not treating your customers the way you would want to be treated. You’re not answering their questions properly. You’re not engaging them. And you’re definitely not inspiring them to do business with you!
4. Body language. In many ways, this aspect of charisma ties into being confident, but where confidence is built through practice and knowledge, the body language I’m talking about mostly comes from grooming. It’s just a proven fact – when you look good, you feel good. And trust me, you don’t look good when your hair isn’t combed, you have on no make-up – or too much make-up, your shirt looks like you slept in it and your shoes should have been thrown in the trash six months ago. Take the time to look your best and you will stand a little straighter and be more prone to make eye contact with your customers. This will have a huge impact on your ability to inspire.

I do want to be very clear on one thing – I’m not knocking being motivated. To the contrary. I love motivation and consider myself to be a very motivated person and it is that inner motivation I’ve been blessed with that drives me to do things I may not want to do because I know the payoff will be well worth the effort, but I also know motivation pales in comparison to inspiration. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t “motivate” people into getting behind the civil rights movement; he “inspired” them to. That makes all the difference.

 

Related articles

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Follow Me on Twitter

Okay, I finally did it. I joined the Twitterverse. If you want to follow me, I promise never to tweet about going to get a snack, lounging around the house doing nothing or needing to go to the restroom. I will talk about leadership, motivation, customer service, self storage, team building and the books I’m reading on a regular basis. On occasion, I will likely get political, maybe even spiritual. I am a Christian and not ashamed to express my faith. I may even bring up other topics of interest such as guns, football, bull riding, working in the garden, blues music and anything else that may interest me at that moment.

I hope you will follow me. I promise to keep it real.

Oh yes, … I’m @MontyRainey

Book Review: HUNDRED PERCENTERS

The first thing I read by Mark Murphy was called Hiring For Attitude and I really learned a lot from his book and wanted to read more of what he has to say. So my second Mark Murphy book was this one – HUNDRED PERCENTERS: Challenge Your Employees to Give it Their All and They’ll Give You Even More. Yes, I know it’s a long subtitle, but aptly describes the subject matter. This book was designed to help get the very best performance out of your employees.

This book begins with an extensive 21-page introduction which begins with a trickle-down effect of leadership – to get 100% performance requires 100% leadership. This is followed by an easy to use tool to determine exactly what type of leader you are and what kind of corrections and adjustments you may need to make in order to develop 100 percenters. Then the introduction goes to give a brief summary of the chapters that await. Even the introduction contains several pearls of wisdom.

The 1^st Chapter introduces the concept of HARD goal setting. We’re all familiar with the SMART goal concept. Here Murphy discusses the flaws associated with Setting SMART goals and recommends instead that goals must be Heartfelt (they exist to serve a purpose greater than ourselves), Animated (they’re so vividly described and presented that to not reach them would leave us wanting), Required (they’re critical to our existence to the point we must examine the repercussions of NOT pursuing this goal) and Difficult (they must test our limits – we can achieve more when challenged to do so – think of a sports team that performs at its best when facing its strongest opponent).

For me personally, chapter 2 was the most valuable portion of the book. Here Murphy introduces the IDEALS script for delivering constructive feedback:

I.     Invite them to partner – “Would you be willing to have a conversation with me about ____?

D.    Disarm yourself – “No weapons of communication will be used against you in this conversation.”

E.    Eliminate blame – “If we find we have different perspectives we can discuss those and develop a plan to move forward.

A.    Affirm their control – “Does that sound okay?”

L.     List correct feedback – Feedback must make sense, hold up to scrutiny, be understandable and sufficiently teach.

S.    Synchronize your understanding – “Tell me how you think we can work together to improve on this situation?”

Now of course, Murphy goes into much greater detail than what I have covered in a paragraph here, but you get the idea behind the IDEALS script.

The next chapter begins by pointing out why some employees are hesitant to become 100%ers. They see the star performers in your organization as always being the one extra work falls upon. The top performers get all of the difficult tasks, are asked to work the longer hours and are often dramatically underpaid for what they do. So why would anyone aspire to become a 100%er? This chapter exposes how most companies even exacerbate the situation by failing to recognize the difference between a 50% performer and a 100% performer.

Stop Demotivating and Start Motivating. That’s the title and subject matter of chapter 4. It is a crash course in servant leadership, but it goes beyond that by examining what Murphy refers to as “Shoves and Tugs”. These are the things that push employees down and the things that pull them up. Murphy defines 7 different types of employee personalities and the shoves and tugs or motivators and demotivators for each personality.

We’ve all experienced employees who were very good at their craft; very highly skilled, but also are a royal pain for their bosses and co-workers. Don’t you just love trying to deal with those people? Murphy has penned an entire chapter on how to deal with what he terms “talented terrors”. These are people who possess the skillsets of a superstar, but also have an attitude that is like a cancer in the workforce. They destroy morale, reduce leadership effectiveness and even get good leaders fired. They must either change or be removed and Murphy walks the reader through the entire process.

This is followed by the book’s Conclusion where Murphy recaps ten of the best take-a-ways from the book, then an in-depth appendix that will have you re-thinking your company evaluation forms.

Simply stated, if you are in a position of leadership, you need to read this book. And all I’ve done here is skim the surface of the book, I haven’t even mentioned the vast wealth of leadership resources you will find on Murphy’s website. Are you employees giving 100 percent?

Monty Rainey

 

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First Dates With Your Customers

“Sometimes one can create a favorable impression by saying something but often the more favorable impression is created in how they say it.” ~ Dalai Lama

In many ways, whenever you deal with customers, it is like going on a first date – what you say is not nearly as important as how you say it. To illustrate this point, let’s look at two different first date conversations that each says basically the same things but in much different ways.

Tom is on a first date with a woman he has never met. They arranged to meet at a restaurant for lunch. Upon meeting and being seated, the conversation goes like this – Tom tells her, “I make lots of money, am a big shot where I work and drive a very expensive car. I’m really an important person.” Tom probably isn’t going to get a second date with this girl, and if he does, then she is probably after the wrong things. He is focused on giving his date the WHAT of who he is, but the WHAT of a person, or a business, is not what draws people in, it is the WHY that wins people and customers.

Now contrast that with this conversation – After Tom spends several minutes listening to her introduction and asking questions, the time is finally right for Tom to tell a little about himself. “I’ve been very blessed in life. Because I had great parents who pushed me to do well in school, I’ve been able to work my way up to a very lucrative and fulfilling position where I work, which has allowed me to live a very comfortable lifestyle, but best of all, in my position I have the opportunity to help other people be successful and this makes my life very rewarding.” You can see where this conversation would greatly enhance Tom’s chances at a second date. Here Tom is expressing the WHY of who he is.

To translate this to the business world and interacting with customers, Tom is talking about features and allowing his date to tie those features to her benefits. In business it’s easy to have conversation #1 with customers when it comes to features. “We have a state of the art surveillance system. We offer insurance. We sell moving supplies. You can pay your bill online.” Basically all you are doing is naming off features hoping something you say catches your customer’s interest and that they will connect your features with their benefits. Here you are only telling the customer WHAT you do.

Now let’s look at saying the exact same things but in a much better delivery. “To help protect you and your family as well as your precious belongings, we have a state of the art surveillance system that records all activity on the property 24/7. For your protection and peace of mind we offer affordable insurance that has zero deductible and protects your home owners’ insurance premiums from ever being increased. For your convenience we offer a full line of packing and moving supplies all right here in one location. We want to make it easy for you to make no hassle payments so we’ve made it easy for you to pay online, set up an auto payment or we will be happy to take your payment over the phone. Whichever is most convenient for you, and yes, of course, we even accept cash or checks.” Now you are informing your customer of WHY you do WHAT you do.

With the second conversation, you greatly increase the chance of turning this first date with the customer into a long term relationship. People are people and the biology of decision making is the same no matter whether it is a personal decision or a business decision. It’s obvious that in the dating scenario it was a bad date, so why would we expect it to be any different in the business scenario?

Like on a date, it is extremely difficult to build a trusting relationship with a potential customer or client by trying to convince them of all the rational features and benefits. These things are important, but they serve only to give credibility to a sales pitch and allow buyers to rationalize their purchase decision. As with all decisions people don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it and WHAT you do serves as the tangible proof of WHY you do it. But unless you begin with WHY, all people have to go on are the rational benefits. And chances are, you won’t be going on a second date.

Related articles

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Customer Service Hero: Heather ~ Enterprise Love Field

“I didn’t start out wanting to get rich. Making a huge amount of money was never high on my list. Ensuring that customers were well taken care of and that employees were happy – those were the most important things. I figured if I did those two things well, I’d make money, because I would attract customers willing to pay a fair and decent price for what I was offering.” ~ Jack Taylor ~ founder, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

When it gets right down to it, giving exceptional customer service is not that difficult; be pleasant and courteous, smile, listen, solve problems if needed, and try to do a little bit more than the customer expects you to do. But from the customer’s perspective, finding all of those attributes rolled into one customer experience is rare. So rare, in fact, when it does happen it leaves an indelible impression on us. In a case of exceptional customer service which I experienced last week, I want to share the story of Heather from Enterprise Rental Car of Love Field in Dallas.

My story begins in Oklahoma City. I’m trying to do the impossible and complete store visits in 2 different markets in one week. By noon on Wednesday I have finished my store visits at the three OKC locations and am ready to hop down to Dallas on a 2:00 flight. I’m a bit rushed and know it’s going to be tight as I rush through my final store visit, when I receive a message from Southwest that my 2:00 flight has been delayed until 2:40. Actually, that’s not a bad thing as it gives me time to really wrap up the things I need to finish. So I finish my store visit and leave at 1:00 to turn in my rental car and get to the Will Rogers Airport.

As I’m turning in my rental car in OKC my phone goes off again, this time informing me my flight is pushed back to 4:30. This is not good news. Not only is it starting to affect what I need to do in Dallas, but there is bad weather predicted for the central Oklahoma area and I’d like to get out of here before the storms hit. It’s not looking good as the skies are already darkening over the Southern Plains of Oklahoma.

I get to the airport and check in just in time to get another update that my flight is now scheduled for 5:30. One thing is for certain, I’m not going to arrive in Dallas in time to get anything done today. There’s nothing I can do about it so I might as well have a good meal while I wait, but my meal is soon interrupted by yet another flight delay, this time to 7:30. This is when I learn about the blizzard they are having in Denver. You see, my flight to Dallas is coming into Oklahoma City from Denver and they have yet to be able to get off the ground due to the Colorado April snow storm. By now the clouds are even darker and it looks like rain any minute.

As I’ve settled in to the current book I’ve been reading, I hear an announcement that our plane is finally in the air and leaving Denver. My phone soon blasts out the update that my flight is advanced and now scheduled for 6:30. The day is looking a little better. This is just about the time the heavens opened and anxious passengers began noticing the torrential rains and strong winds outside. The weather channel being viewed by many began speaking of thunderstorm warnings, large hail, possible flooding and a litany of other doomsday scenarios.

As we near the 6:00 hour, the potential arrival time for my connection out of Denver, it looks outside like the apocalypse is upon us. There is no way an airplane is going to land in this mess. It is so bad, onlookers are starting to feel uncomfortable standing by the windows and begin moving back. Suddenly the announcement comes that our flight has gone on to Dallas and will not be landing in OKC to pick us up. A few minutes later my phone informs me my flight is delayed until 10:00 p.m.  Keeping an eye on the weather channel, you can see there is no way this storm system is going to be gone by then, but what can you do? At this point, the automated update system for Southwest is basically telling me, “Good luck!” After a few more updates and delays, flight 1288 from OKC to Dallas Love Field is cancelled and the mad rush to the ticket counter begins. I’ve also learned from an airport attendant that the last restaurant, Schlotzsky’s, is closing in about 10 minutes. I’m not really hungry at this point, but it’s looking like it may be a while before the opportunity comes along for another meal so I go have a sandwich.

It’s about this time that it occurs to me that even if I do make it to Dallas tonight, I’ll be stranded. My phone blasts out another update, this time for just past midnight. I decide to call Enterprise and reach Ruby at the call center. I tell Ruby my situation, she confirms the flight delay on her computer and says she will do what she can to monitor Southwest flights from OKC to Dallas and will try to accommodate me. I don’t hold out much hope at this point.

At 2:05 in the morning, a group of very weary travelers finally board the little 737 to Dallas. Who knows where this plane came from but hopefully it was ready to make the short hop. Throughout my life I’ve probably been on a thousand flights including military hops, but don’t remember a single one as rough as the 43 minute ride to Dallas. It was like a 43 minute roller coaster ride with 100’ elevation drops through this massive storm system. The old Bette Davis line kept coming to mind, “Hang on boys, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

Just before 3:00 a.m., I deplane at the new Love Field terminal that just opened yesterday. Any other time this would have been somewhat of an experience, but right now it was just disorienting. I just wanted the old terminal I was familiar with, but I finally did find my way to the baggage claim area and retrieved my suitcase. At this point, I’m planning on taking a taxi to the airport hotel and calling it a day. I’ll deal with getting a rental car in a few hours when they open.

When I walk out of baggage claim to get a taxi, that’s when my exceptional customer service experience began. Right near the exit stands an attractive young lady in an Enterprise uniform holding up a sign that reads, “Monty Rainey”. Even in my exhausted state, I recognized my name. She introduced herself as Heather and was here to get my rental car set up. (The picture to the right is not really her).  Ruby had called the store right before they closed at 11:30 (3 ½ hours earlier) and explained my delay. Heather volunteered to wait around for as long as it took for me to arrive and take care of things so I wouldn’t be stranded.

Heather got me through the rental process and on my way in about 10 minutes for the 45 minute drive to my hotel in Mansfield and at 4:15 Carol at the Fairfield Inn got me into my room. What a day it had been, but it would have been a lot worse had it not been for the extraordinary commitment of Heather who sacrificed her time to make it as painless as possible. Heather is definitely a customer service hero in my book.

Related articles

• No News is NOT Good News in Customer Service (blogs.salesforce.com)