9 Ways to Treat Your Customers Like Celebrities

How you treat your customers is crucial to the success of your organization. They really really matter! 

It's important you treat your customers, your tribe, your clients, those you do business with like celebrities and VIP's. What do I mean by this?

If Tom Hanks, or Denzel Washington, or Will Ferrell, or Beyonce or Oprah showed up at your office, what would you do? How would you talk to them? What would be your body language? Would you be too busy with other things to say hi to them???....

A few thoughts:

1. Make your customers feel important. Shower them with encouragement and act like they are the only person in the room. Listen to them, and look them in the eye.

2. Show an amazing attention to details. Remember their names, their kids names, their favorite color, where they went to college, favorite movies, favorite snack, etc. And when they request something, even if very small, make it happen and execute.

3. Create a "customer rider." Celebrities have riders, that provide demands on quirky stuff. Same with customers. Allow your best customers to create a "rider," thus providing a way for you to get to know them better. A form they can fill out that will allow you to serve them well.

4. Truly be interested in what they are interested in. If they like the ballet, then learn about ballet. If they like sports, take them to a game. If they like art, give them a painting for their birthday.

5. Be eager to serve them. Your mindset should be to drop everything you are doing to take care of them. If Denzel or Beyonce walked in your house or your office, you would get them a diet coke and not be worried about the spreadsheet you are working on.....

6. Provide them swag. Celebrities get swag all the time. So should your customers.

7. Refer them to your friends and make connections for them that are win/win. Celebrities get tons of opportunities many times because people are always willing to introduce them to their friends. Make those same connections for your customers.

8. Respond immediately. Call them back the same day, return their emails in 24 hours, those kinds of things.

9. Make yourself available and accessible. Provide them with your cell #, email address, Twitter DM, Facebook friend message access, home #, and whatever else might make sense. Accessibility reveals trust, and trust is what keeps customers around for the long term. 

Young Influencers List November edition

Here you go, the November edition of the Young Influencers List. You can see all the past editions here. 

1. Jon Chu - producer, director and LA based filmmaker, best known for movie Step Up 2. 

2.  Gawvi - DJ, artist, and music producer, part of Reach Records. 

3. Anthony Oneal - speaker and former youth pastor, now part of the Dave Ramsey personality team focused on Students. 

4. Amy Brown - communications director for IF Gathering, and a proud Oklahoman! 

5.  Josue Urrutia - founding pastor of Mizpu just outside of DC, and board member of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. 

6.  Paul Sohn - award winning blogger, speaker and author of upcoming book on 20 somethings. 

7. Samantha Ponder - sports broadcaster with ESPN. 

15 New Books to Check Out

1. The Comeback- by Louie Giglio

2. #struggles- by Craig Groeschel 

3. Sandcastle Kings - by Rich Wilkerson, Jr

4. Live Love Lead - by Brian Houston

5. Lasting Impact - by Carey Nieuwhof

6. Intentional Living - by John C Maxwell

7. IF - by Mark Batterson

8. School of Greatness - by Lewis Howes 

9. 5 Gears- by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram

10. Unlikely- by Kevin Palau

11. Through the Eyes of a Lion- by Levi Lusko

12. The High Definition Leader- by Derwin Gray

13. The Truth About Lies- by Tim Chaddick

14. Never Say No- by Mark Foreman

15. The Better Life- by Claire Diaz-Ortiz.

*** and of course I should mention my own new book H3 Leadership! 

You Might Have a Dysfunctional Team If....

So why is your team dysfunctional?

Here are a few key indicators and signs of a dysfunctional team/organization. A team that needs to reimagine, re-engage, and recommit.

Look for these, and if they exist, be committed to change the culture.

1. Lack of communication- no one is talking, emailing, calling, texting, or dm'ing, unless they truly HAVE to, but never because they WANT to. 

2. Lack of empowering. Power is being held at the top, and not being passed down to leaders throughout the organization. 

3. No one values each other. Everyone has quickly shifted towards "individual survival" and only thinking about themselves and how they can personally win. 

4. Vacations are not possible because the urgency is constant and contagious, like a bad virus. 

5. Everything is last minute, and everything is late. Nothing goes out on time, or gets scheduled on time.

6. Silos exist everywhere. Cliques and gossip is rampant.

7. The work and environment is mundane. It's boring.

8. Entitlement has taken over.

9. Lack of a clear mission, vision and core values. When asked where the team is headed, everyone has a different answer. 

10. There is no accountability. People on your team just feel like they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. This will drive your best team members crazy.

11. Everyone is moving offices, just to have something to actually feel good about. 

12. Most of the team is spending more time on Linkedin and Facebook compared to improving the product or service your organization offers. 

13. Updating your resume is a requirement, because you just never know. 

14. Regular staff meetings keep getting cancelled. 

15. Key people are spending more time on new head shots for the website update, compared to working on or in the business. 

16. There is a tremendous loss of reality. No one can or is willing to confront the brutal facts.

17. Lots of hype and very little true hope exists. Celebrations and "atta boys" are being passed out for meaningless tasks getting done, which further frustrates the best players on the team. 

18. More energy in scheduling lunches than in bringing in new revenue. 

19. No one knows where anyone is; you can't find anyone. 

20. Blame is getting passed from person to person, from team to team, and from silo to silo, and ultimately lands nowhere. 

21. The only voices that end up being heard are the loudest and the most annoying, like a clanky wheel on a shopping cart. 

22. Everyone is cordial but behind closed doors there is deep distrust. 

23. The buck stops here doesn't exist. No one is ultimately responsible. The responsibility tree has been chopped and split up so many times you can't really figure out who is driving what and who has responsibility for what.

24. Meetings have no focus, and most meetings end up in a longer than needed conversation about things like toilet paper, dishwasher rules, and the upcoming Christmas party, all the while pondering theoretical questions with no goal in mind. 

25. Key people are leaving. The "A" players can see the writing on the wall, and usually get out way before things become bad.

26. Decision making has left the building, at every level. The lack of decisiveness is stifling, frustrating, and confusing, leading to increased lack of clarity and a strong desire for someone to take charge. 

Stay Hungry my Friends

I love the 2nd H of my new book H3 Leadership. The idea of HUNGRY.

Staying HUNGRY as a leader.

Realizing you haven't "arrived" yet, and you never will.

Realizing that true H3 leaders are learners, and learners turn into leaders.

Realizing that true H3 leaders are readers, and readers make better leaders.

Realizing that true H3 leaders constantly have a posture of getting better. 

Realizing that true H3 leaders are consistently curious.

Realizing that true H3 leaders develop a healthy ambition that pushes you and creates an appetite for what's next. 

Realizing that true H3 leaders actually embrace change and innovation, because out of true innovation true change occurs, and change leads to growth, and growth leads to fruit, and fruit leads to transformation. 

A HUNGRY leader always has the posture of being the humble 2nd, compared to the arrogant 1st, even when you are the 1st. 

Commit today to being a leader who always Stays HUNGRY.