March 2015 Archives

In a society where poor customer service is rampant, a well-trained company staff can shine if everyone adopts and commits to some simple service approaches.

The result can mean not only keeping your customers happy, but also keeping them period!

What is the biggest and most costly customer service mistake in business today?

My answer is simple - "We're just not friendly enough."

Customers should be treated as welcome guests when they call your office. Instead, they're often treated like an interruption or, even worse, an annoyance. More than 90 percent of all customer service starts with a telephone call. That said, customer service mistakes happen anytime and in many ways.

Customers can communicate with your company through any one of the six touch points of communication and any one of these touch points can damage a relationship, often permanently.

• Email

• Voice Mail

• Snail Mail

• Phone

• Fax

• Face-to-Face

(We left off texting on purpose. Let's leave that out for now. More on that later.)

Two of these communication tools are what is known as "synchronous;" the other four are "asynchronous."

Synchronous is instant communication, when two or more people are able to communicate immediately between each other, i.e., the telephone and in person.

Asynchronous is one-way information, with a lapse of time between initial contact and the response, i.e., email, snail mail, fax and voice mail.

With synchronous communications, you can easily signal your friendliness because you either have facial expressions or a tone of voice with which to befriend a member. With asynchronous, these relationship-building signals are not available, except perhaps for voice mail, when you can hear a smile. Thus, in written communications you must be an obviously friendly communicator. I'll focus on the telephone for now, but these tips and techniques are for all six modes of communication.

Over the years, Telephone Doctor customer service training programs have been presented to many conferences. It doesn't matter where I speak, someone from the audience, a member of the corporation, comes up to me afterwards and asks if I can bring a program to their company.

After a few needs analysis questions it pretty obvious training is needed. Read on.

Personal Note: I was a longtime member of an association and eventually became its president. Several years later, I decided not to renew. When I called to cancel my membership, all I heard was the perfunctory, "Okay, thanks." No one called. No one wrote to ask, "Why?" I figured no one cared - at least that's what I perceived.

Ya know what? It is NOT "okay" for a customer to be unhappy; to leave you without finding out WHY or what happened.

HINT: When someone calls to cancel an order or complain or not renew a membership, it is not "okay." It's often a failure attributable to disinterested treatment, rudeness, or generally poor customer service. I'm not saying the entire staff is bad, rude, or unfriendly, but what I hear most is that the little things - the things that customers expect (and rightfully should get) are missing.

We need to feel a cancellation, non-renewal or a complaint is like a death in the family.

Another common thread is the lack of an organized employee orientation program on customer service and telephone skills.

The usual scenario is: interview, hire, then train using trial by error - or worse, on-the-job training from someone else who may not have had any customer service training.

Let's dust off the Welcome Mat.

Here are some helpful customer service tips to help you start, or benchmark, your own customer service training program.

Bring your staff together at a time when everyone can attend and talk about any frustrating customer events. Discuss how they handled them versus how it could have been done. The meeting can be (and should be) short, maybe 15-20 minutes, and it doesn't need to be daily - but it does need to be done!

Not having a customer service training program in place can cost your company revenue and obviously customers. Also, poor service creates a negative image for the entire organization, no matter how wonderful the programs, products, or publications are that you offer.

Consider taking the serviceskills.com Tour. The 2:20 min Explainer Video.

And if staff has the attitude that no competition exists for the customer to go to, tell them that may be right, but if one customer tells another about a negative experience and so on down the line, you'll probably lose more customers. Then staff jobs will be lost, and eventually, bang - no company.

Take heed, it doesn't matter if the staff is large or small, they still need to be trained.

Here are three of the biggest mistakes in customer service:

MISTAKE 1: NOT SMILING

Solution: Smile! It sounds insanely simplistic, doesn't it? We're taught early on, that a smile can get us a lot. This is true even as adults, especially on the telephone. Since the telephone is the most commonly used mode of communication, your staff needs to understand why a smile works - because you can hear a smile. I recommend keeping a mirror by your desk, so when you pick up the receiver, you remember to smile and you can see yourself smiling.

Sometimes we don't feel like smiling. Smile anyway. The caller doesn't care if you feel like smiling or not. At Telephone Doctor, smiling before you pick up the phone is a condition of employment; not smiling is grounds for termination, and, yes, I have exercised that option. With customer service as our top priority, we simply don't tolerate not smiling before you pick up the phone. Frankly, I'd rather have the caller think your office is closed than to have you answer the phone in a negative mood. (YES, the caller CAN HEAR the smile.)

MISTAKE 2: NOT ACKNOWLEDGING A CALLER'S REQUEST

Solution: Rapid responses - RR. Use what we have called our 'mental stamp.' That means 'this request or piece of information needs an immediate and rapid response.' When we receive an email, fax or note, we immediately send that back to whoever sent it with the words, "Received and will handle." That way the person who asked for the information knows you got the request and everything is moving in the right direction. And it's good communication.

Another very good habit to get into is to ask the caller when they ask for something is: "And when would you be needing this information Mr. Jones?"

Our surveys found that when a caller is asked when he or she would like to receive the needed information, 80 percent of time they did not automatically respond, "I need it now," as you might expect. Thus, you don't have to promise, "I'll get that to you right away." Often, callers won't need something until tomorrow or next week. Asking for a timetable of delivery is good customer service. And remember, "as soon as possible" is not a time. Confirm a date.

MISTAKE 3: IMMEDIATE REJECTION OF A REQUEST

Solution: Be a "double-checker." It's so easy to tell people, "It's too late," or "We ran out of that report" or "we're out of widgets."

Instead, try: "Let me double-check on that for you." It's a wonderful way to defuse any disappointment about you not having what they called for in the first place. This simple statement of double checking immediately defuses some of the tension of not being able to fulfill a request completely. And often when we do double-check, we find a way to get what the person wanted after all.

You now have three techniques (simple as they are) to kick-start your customer service training program.

Remember, the entire staff, from president to maintenance needs to embrace the customer service program or it won't work. Be firm. The company's entire image is at stake since it is unlikely to get a second chance.

Don't have time? Make time. What or who is more important than customers? You'll be surprised at how much fun it is to hear a caller say, "Thanks, you've been super."

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

For a complimentary copy of Nancy's eBook, Hidden Gems of Customer Service, please click here.

Nancy Friedman, president of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, St. Louis, MO, is a popular KEYNOTE speaker at franchise, association and corporate conferences.

For a DEMO of Nancy in action, call 314-291-1012 or log on to: www.nancyfriedman.com or email her at [email protected].

Pet services have been the fastest growing product segment for the Pet Stores industry over the past five years.* Pet services include full service grooming, haircuts, baths, toenail trimming and tooth.

As the demand climbs and the need to fulfill customer demand grows, a feisty mobile pet grooming business, Aussie Pet Mobile Canada, who was voted #1 in Pet Services category by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2012, came looking for a territory answer.

Why they came to us?

They came to us looking for a better way to manage territories for their mobile franchisee's. They wanted to talk to a person who could listen and strive to fill the need they had. They were frustrated with the current solutions which required a dedicated computer running Microsoft.

What they needed?

1. They wanted to build territories for their franchisee's from any computer.

2. They wanted a way to share and collaborate this information with their franchisee's live.

3. They wanted to add their own list of data to visualize what was important.

4. They wanted something with flexible pricing options and they wanted it to be used for all their franchisee's.

(More information on what Franchisor's have recently been looking for can be found here; What Benefits and Features Franchisor's are looking for)

What we did for them?

We built them a system that is based in the cloud. A true software as a service option that can be run from anywhere and shared with anyone.

For collaborating, they can now have a franchisee watch live as both parties collaborate on the territory definition. They can give the franchisee edit rights and they can build what they think is a rough draft.

We gave them a "master" territory project that could prevent encroachment automatically. We gave them the ability to share each individual territory to its prospective owner.

For sharing, each project can be shared internally or externally with view/edit rights so they had control on who gets do do what.

Does it pay for itself?

A thousand times over in just time alone. The goal was to have a central repository of all their existing and potential territories, something that they can share instantly vs taking screen shots and emailing them.

This is a dynamic system so as time goes by, the franchisee can grow into more territories if needed and see what is available in the surrounding area and make decisions quicker.

It gives that sex appeal that you're using the latest cutting edge tools to your franchisee's. There are easier solutions, but these don't give the answers they needed, aren't collaborative, only run on PC's or roughly on the web, don't update with new data automatically and are overly complicated.

Is there something you need for a better territory solution?

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

* SOURCE: WWW.IBISWORLD.COM/2014

When it comes to I-9 forms (you know, the federally required employment eligibility verification forms required whenever you hire someone) a few lucky employers will deal with common circumstances 99% of the time and won't be overly fazed by compliance issues if they are meticulous and well-educated on the law.

But there are a surprising number of nuances that even experienced employers may not be aware of.

For superb guidance, the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provides an easy to read, 69-page brochure.

Don't be put off by the number of pages. This color brochure, replete with photos, is an excellent reference guide, addressing just about anything you might encounter, including re-hires and the hiring of minors, individuals with disabilities, lawful permanent residents and refugees. The format is well laid out, uses clear language, and provides samples and Q&As.

All employers, but especially those new to human resources, small businesses just starting out, and employers with more unusual hiring and documentation situations, are encouraged to review it thoroughly. Because of its friendly format, it's well worth the read.

We don't want to replicate such comprehensive USCIS guidance here; but the following are a few basic tips to help you avoid compliance trouble:

• I-9 forms must be completed for all new employees, hired after November 6, 1986, even if just for one day of work. The form is never to be completed by applicants, only new hires or those who've received an offer of employment. Also, don't use the form with bona fide independent contractors.
• As soon as a candidate accepts your offer of employment, let him or her know the I-9 form is a requirement of employment. Send the form with the list of acceptable documents in advance if there's time. The law says the form needs to be completed within three days of hire but get it done on the new employee's first day. The employee may fill out Section 1 at any time after they receive an offer of employment until their first day of work.
• Remind new hires, through email or by phone, a day or two before their start date to bring their ID-one from List A will suffice OR they may bring one from List B and one from List C.
• Acceptable documents must be original, not copies. If the employee has lost a document, such as an original Social Security card, you may accept as documentation a receipt of their application for a one. The receipt is good for just 90 days; after that the person has to show you the newly issued document.
• Providing a Social Security number on Form I-9 is voluntary for all employees unless you are an employer participating in the USCIS E-Verify program, which requires an employee's Social Security number for employment eligibility verification.
• According to the law, you don't have to photocopy the documents the person provides but it's a good idea and may demonstrate your good faith effort to comply. What you do for one employee, however, you must do for all. Always apply your policies and practices across the board to avoid any appearance of discrimination. Also, if you retain photocopies, keep them in the employee's file or with their I-9 form.
• Keep I-9s separate from the employee's personnel file. I-9s can be retained either on paper, microform, microfiche or electronically. See pages 23-25 of the USCIS brochure for the specifics of these various retention formats.
• If you rehire someone within three years of the date the employee's original verification, the original I-9 may be used by completing Section 3. Otherwise be sure to use a new form.
• You must retain an employee's completed I-9 for as long as the individual works for you. Once s(he) terminates, the form is to be kept for either three years after the date of hire, or for one year after the date employment is terminated, whichever is later. It's a good idea to weed out I-9s you are no longer required to retain. As long as you remain methodical and meticulous about destroying only those no longer needed, your risk exposure will be reduced in the event of an audit. Fewer forms, fewer mistakes.

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Why is Defining Territories so Brutal?

Building territories is an undertaking that is part science, part art, and mostly psychology. It's typically a collaboration between two parties whose interests are not necessarily aligned to the same goal, but they have to meet in the middle. Defining territories is similar to signing a prenuptial agreement because it involves a lot of passion and stress, yet requires a delicate balance to place the right restrictions on the one you love. Both parties pursue their own interests, but ultimately they want the relationship to work out and last a long time.

Let's look at the issues around a franchisor-to-franchisee relationship.

The franchisor wants to create the smallest territory possible for the franchisee. If the territory is too large, the franchisor may lose lots of potential customers, lots of potential revenue, and open the doors to a competitor capitalizing on what the franchisee can't fulfill, especially when contracts can last a decade. If the franchisor makes the territory too small, they can pinch a franchisee's potential income, or worse, put them out of business. When a franchisee can't make a decent living it's bad PR, looks bad on the franchisor's books, and makes it harder to entice more potential franchisees to join the company.

The franchisee, on the other hand, usually wants the largest territory possible because they truly believe they can sell to and support a customer base of that size. If the franchisee gets too much, they may potentially take on too many customers and fail to take care of the ones they have. Or, the franchisee might have to pass on new customers leaving the market ripe for a competitor takeover. Failure by success, so to speak. If the franchisee gets too little, they may go broke and may need to extend their boundaries. The franchisee may be angry with the franchisor for misleading them or they might feel cheated. None of these situations are good.

Take these four steps to lessen the difficulties associated with defining territories.There are several key issues to consider when defining territories. We'll give a quick summary and go into more detail on each item in separate posts.

1. Understand the demographic and trade area needs of your business model.

Each business has a unique demographic profile for their existing customer base. Doing a simple exit survey can put a physical location to a customer as well as provide insights into customer characteristic (e.g., gender, age, race) without being intrusive in the process. Even an online business has great location data. Match this data to the demographics that the customers live in and search for correlations against sales. It sounds complicated, but it's easier than you think and highly beneficial for finding out who your customers really are. This step also serves up a huge bonus for defining your territory.

2. Determine the minimum performance requirements relevant to the business.

Based on pro-formas, gut feelings, analogous stores, each business has a minimum performance requirement that must be met.

3. Decide on what rights, if any, a franchisee has for marketing and providing services outside their territory.

This can include a temporary territory assignment agreement. It is especially useful for allowing a franchisee the ability to cover a new market while the franchisor brings on new franchisees to the area.

Keep the territory structure simple.

It is easy to slip and overcomplicate the territory structure, which may lead to confusion by both parties, lost prospects, or drawn out negotiations while competition blankets the market place.

Defining territories is brutal, but with a little forethought and planning, both parties can be transparent and negotiate their "prenuptial" agreement in a calm and loving manner.

What examples do you have about creating territories?

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Recently, we've been talking about the different types of buyers we work with and how the buyer market has changed during the past few years; some good and some "to be determined".

In this article, we talk about the private equity group (aka PEG) of buyers and what that means to sellers of smaller privately owned businesses like yours.

There's been a lot of news recently about PEGs, mostly in a political and tax related context (e.g., Mitt Romney's success as a partner with Bain Capital and the income tax rate he pays). We'll stay away from that. That's a whole other discussion!

What is a PEG?

They've been around since the 70s starting as larger, "mega" buyout firms (Bain, etc.)

They are investors who have private funds (a combination of personal funds and investor funds) to invest and are seeking alternative investment opportunities (i.e., privately owned businesses) where financial returns can "beat the market"

They buy companies across all industries and usually want a 100% ownership, or at least a majority ownership (51%) in the companies they buy.

They typically buy mature, established companies - not early-stage or startup businesses.

The goal of the PEG is to improve and grow the company with a goal to "exit" their investment in the next 5-10 years, at which time they return the gains to their investors and "close the fund".

What's this mean to you?

Here's the change that's going on. In the last 3 years, we've talked with numerous nationally based PEGs who are investing in smaller privately owned businesses. A typical investment opportunity is a company with:

• gross revenues of $2-$20M
• a stable management team
• a growing industry and
• an opportunity to either grow or combine a new opportunity with a similar business they already own.

Specifically, the PEGs we've talked to and met with are interested in businesses we represent in the following markets:

• Health care services
• Distribution
• Food Service.

If you are considering selling your business, especially in one of these industries, we believe that, in the right circumstances, PEGs are a legitimate pool of potential buyers that should be considered.

As we've pointed out, the buyer pool is constantly changing and much more diverse than it was 3 years ago.

Today's business seller needs to be more aware than ever of how the pool is changing and what impact this has on potential sales opportunities.

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

Franchise selling is competitive.

And it's getting more competitive as more franchisors come online offering franchises for their concepts. It doesn't matter whether these nascent franchise offerings are investment worthy or not.

What's important they are selling franchises to candidates that you could have recruited for your brand.

So here's what you can do, right now to increase your sales.

You won't need to hire a consultant, buy a new CRM or re-invent your franchise landing pages, etc... although those longer term fixes may be smart to implement as well, but not today.

1. Franchise sales supervisors are the key to your new franchise recruitment success.

In my experience you should give your attention and support to improving sales supervision. Focus your attention on your VPs and Directors of Franchising.

Improved results are more dependent on franchise sales supervisors than on franchise salespeople.

2. Stop your franchise salespeople's habit of simply spewing information at your leads and candidates.

Instead train front-line franchise salespeople to ask the right questions of candidates so they can help qualified franchise-buyers see how your franchise concept fits into their lives or for professional multi-brand & multi-unit franchisees how your brand fits in their brand portfolio.

3. Stop paying lip service to coaching.

Franchise salespeople despite what they may say, want you to help them and manage them. Make coaching part of your franchise sales team's daily routine and give your salespeople the opportunity to bring their candidate sales problems to you for help.

A great sales supervisor who coaches daily can guide salespeople through difficult sales negotiations.

4. Fewer leads mean more sales.

This at first seems counterintuitive but we all know franchise salespeople keep leads and candidates far past their expiration dates.

These expired leads are like soured milk and you need to eliminate them. If you do your salespeople can focus on the candidates that are "raising their hands" and moving forward.

Warning - salespeople won't like this since everyone loves a big pipeline, but they'll thank you later when their commissions are paid.

Now get up from behind your desk right now and start making these fixes happen with your franchise sales team. You'll love the results you'll get. Thanks for listening.

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

The costs associated with slow franchisee ramp-up are many.

A slow ramp-up puts your your franchisee at risk.

Slow ramp-ups affect not only the franchisee in question, but the entire network & your own staff are also influenced by those under-performing franchisees.

The costs of franchisees' slow ramp-ups include:

1. Unplanned Expenses. When franchisees struggle, more unplanned training and support resources are necessary to remedy their situation. The money franchisors spend in this effort is often syphoned away from resources the franchisor would have invested in strengthening the system, hiring key people, introducing innovation, and improving the long-term stability of the brand.
2. Poor Morale. As the franchisor's support staff appear to take one distressed call after another from a steady stream of "problem" franchisees, their own morale suffers. They begin to doubt that the system works. They become more detached and frustrated, which impacts the entire system.
3. Fractured Franchisee Relationships. Struggling franchisees get frustrated and discouraged, and they share their disappointment with other franchisees, bringing down the morale of the entire system and fracturing the franchisee-franchisor relationship.
4. Halted Momentum. The enthusiasm that franchisees experience during training is thwarted if they can't produce results when they get back home. Once lost, this momentum can't be recovered and a new drive must be created, which is not easy to do.
5. Poor Validation. As frustration levels go up, validation starts to suffer as under-producing and unsatisfied franchisees share their frustration with prospects. Negative franchisee validation destroys franchise sales, halts growth, eliminates future royalty streams, and decreases the dollars franchisors can spend on tools and support systems to avoid the problem.
6. Brand Deterioration. Under-producing, unhappy franchisees create negative customer experiences. If the unit or territory fails, customers will remember, and it will be difficult and, in some cases, perhaps even impossible to regain lost traction.
7. Breakdown in Leadership. Struggling franchisees rally other franchisees or franchisor's support staff to their plight affecting the franchisor's ability to effectively lead the larger franchisee body. In many systems, the frustration engendered by this breakdown in leadership creates a culture of compliance and top-down authority, rather than a participatory culture focused on positive relationships and results.

Unfortunately, some franchisors actually add to the ramp-up problem!

And the the delays are all visible to the world, the Item 20 will show all the sold but not open franchise units. You need to make sure your Grand Opening process works, even if that mean hiring outside professionals to assist.

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

The post Is the Slow Ramp-up of your Franchisees Costing You too Much? Is It Risking the Success of your Franchisees? appeared first on InFraSu.

EPLI covers businesses against claims by workers that their legal rights as employees of the company have been violated.

The number of lawsuits filed by employees against their employers has been rising. While most suits are filed against large corporations, no company is immune to such lawsuits.

Recognizing that smaller companies now need this kind of protection, some insurers provide this coverage as an endorsement to their Businessowners Policy (BOP). An endorsement changes the terms and conditions of the policy.

Other companies offer EPLI as a stand-alone coverage.

EPLI provides protection against many kinds of employee lawsuits, including claims of:

• Sexual harassment
• Discrimination
• Wrongful termination
• Breach of employment contract
• Negligent evaluation
• Failure to employ or promote
• Wrongful discipline
• Deprivation of career opportunity
• Wrongful infliction of emotional distress
• Mismanagement of employee benefit plans

The cost of EPLI coverage depends on your type of business, the number of employees you have and various risk factors such as whether your company has been sued over employment practices in the past.

The policies will reimburse your company against the costs of defending a lawsuit in court and for judgments and settlements.

The policy covers legal costs, whether your company wins or loses the suit. Policies also typically do not pay for punitive damages or civil or criminal fines. Liabilities covered by other insurance policies such as workers compensation are excluded from EPLI policies.

• To prevent employee lawsuits, educate your managers and employees so that you minimize problems in the first place:
• Document everything that occurs and the steps your company is taking to prevent and solve employee disputes.
• Create effective hiring and screening programs to avoid discrimination in hiring.
• Post corporate policies throughout the workplace and place them in employee handbooks so policies are clear to everyone.
• Show employees what steps to take if they are the object of sexual harassment or discrimination by a supervisor. Make sure supervisors know where the company stands on what behaviors are not permissible.

Lawsuits against Employers: Some Sobering Statistics

• Employee lawsuits have risen approximately 400% over the last 20 years.
• Of these, wrongful termination suits have risen more than 260%.
• 41.5% of these lawsuits were brought against private employers with fewer than 100 employees.
• When employee lawsuits go to trial, the employee wins more than 63% of the time.
• The average cost to settle an employee lawsuit out of court is $75,000.
• The average amount awarded to employees in jury trials is $217,000.

Consider the Costs of Defending Employee Lawsuits

• Average court costs and legal fees when settled out of court: $15,000.
• Average court costs and legal fees when the case is dismissed: $50,000 to $75,000.
• Average court costs and legal fees when the case goes to trial: $125,000.

You need to review your current risks/liabilities in light of these facts.

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

Do you ever wonder how and why some folks are successful, natural born leaders and some aren't?

How some folks learn to deal with the ups and downs of life & find ways to make things better while others are so down and find the smallest thing to complain about? And keep complaining. They don't deal or play well with others.

Successful leaders seem to have a trait, or several traits as a matter of fact, traits which allows them to move forward in a more positive mode.

There are many traits successful leaders have. Here are seven we believe in and want to share.

1.Your Attitude is Your Choice - Successful leaders have great attitudes. No one else can make you have a great attitude but you. So you are totally in control of this factor. You can wake up, smile, and feel this is gonna be a great day. That's your choice.

Or, you can wake up and decide it's gonna be a crappy day. Again, your choice. Which would you rather have? And let's not forget, there is a difference between an attitude and a mood. Know what it is?

Attitudes are permanent; moods are temporary. Big difference. Those with a better attitude get out of bad moods quicker. Why? Because those of us with a great attitude do not want to wallow in the manure of a bad mood. (And yes, I cleaned that up.)

2. Visualize Success - Successful leaders visualize success. They see a positive outcome. If you watch American Idol (as I do), you know each and every one of those kids sees themselves as the winner. They visualize it.

Any political candidate running for office sees themselves winning. Whether they do or don't isn't part of visualization. It is, however, the key to how they got where they are. Seeing yourself winning is critical in having a great attitude. You know that old saying "whether you say you can, or you can't...you're right." (Henry Ford I'm told.)

3. Humor, Energy and Enthusiasm - A huge part of being a successful leader are these 3 magic ingredients. Successful leaders, laugh more, walk and work with energy, and they keep their enthusiasm up in all areas.

My dad told me years ago: "Enthusiasm is contagious; let's start an epidemic."

4. Resist Negative Tendencies - Successful leaders don't want to participate with those folks who want to bring you down. They keep away from them. They're downers. "It's too hot. It's too cold. I'm too fat. I'm too thin. I hate my hair." the list goes on.

No one wants to be with people who are constantly down and complaining. Keeping that positive mental attitude is very important. Successful leaders resist negative tendencies.

5. Be a Whatever It Takes Person - There's a wonderful poem I memorized years ago and while it's too long to print here, it's called "Somebody Said It Couldn't Be Done." Bottom line, it mean to be a double checker. Successful leaders take the time to double check.

Be a 'whatever it takes' person. It's a thrill to make it happen when someone else doesn't think it can.

6. Embrace Change - Difficult we know. However, those successful leaders realizing when and where there is change, it's normally for the better. And worse case, if it's not better, accepting and embracing change, will help the attitude.

My dad had a fun saying. He would say, "Nancy, the next time you change your mind, get a good one." The key to embracing change is to accept it. Successful leaders work with it. They make it work.

7. Be Grateful for What You Have - Successful leaders have no room for jealously. We can be envious of something or someone, that's a normal trait. Example, I'm envious of those who can sing. I'm not jealous; just envious. When you're jealous you can hold grudges.

(Successful leaders don't normally hold grudges.) Why wait for a life-altering experience to be thankful for what you do have. It might be too late.

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nancy Friedman, president of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, St. Louis, MO, is a popular KEYNOTE speaker at franchise, association and corporate conferences.

For a DEMO of Nancy in action, call 314-291-1012 or log on to: www.nancyfriedman.com or email her at [email protected].