WHAT DO STEVE JOBS, SHAMROCK, RAVING FANS AND TECHNOLOGY HAVE IN COMMON?

I have an entrepreneur's admiration for Steve Jobs. Despite setbacks, despite illness, he is still among the most vivid and interesting entrepreneurs of our time.

While Shamrock's been around a lot longer than Job(s) (yeah, the pun's intended), I believe that, if he had taken a slightly different path, Jobs could've worked here as an intern, and been a major part of our cultural growth.

I'll even bet you that Steve, once upon a time, read Raving Fans by Blanchard and Bowles. The book, a brilliantly simple story, illustrates how to define a vision, learn what a customer really wants, institute effective systems, and make Raving Fan Service a constant feature in your everyday contact with customers, are the basis for how Shamrock does business.
When Jobs said, in a 1998 Fortune interview, "Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it," he seems to have swallowed Raving Fans, whole. (If you're interested, here are some more outstanding Jobs quotes: http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/03/70512)

Not unlike the above quote from Jobs, our teams live every day with the ideals of Raving Fans in mind. Shamrock utilizes an internal system that allows us to track how we exceed client expectations, identify areas for improvement and address and prevent problems before they impact our customers.

The foundation of Raving Fans is simple: (1) Decide what you want; (2) Discover what the Customer Wants; (3) Deliver, Plus One (i.e., exceed customer expectations). Jobs, too, would be proud of how we developed innovative technology and wedded it to the concept of Raving Fans.

For example, our company is driven by Baan, the third largest ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system in the world. It's a stable, all-in-one platform of information that replaces the silos of technology (including finance, manufacturing, etc.). Our flagship is a web-based marketing portal that attaches to Baan, which allows customers complete control over their brand, including the capability to initiate print, print on demand, variable printing, as well as order stationary, tweak a promotion or packaging, review warehousing distribution, review items sent out, down to discovering how much was spent on postage -- from one interface system. All this, based on each individual customer's needs, and developed, not by an IT programmer, but with marketing and design expertise.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT...
Shamrock does not use new technology for the sake of just using it. We apply it to help our customers monetize their brand with it – and to make their product or service even better than before.

HEADING TOWARDS A MANAGEMENT STYLE- Part One

A person's management style is driven by time, learning from others and what just feels right.

When I became CEO at Shamrock I had already learned what I thought was my best management style. Then, it was based on books I'd read, people I'd learned from, and people I had talked with. Now, I'm not sure if my management style has a "type", but I thought I'd check Wikipedia (because, if something exists, it will be in Wikipedia).

I searched management styles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_styles) and found the four basics, including Autocratic ("My way, or the highway"), Paternalistic ("Watch how I drive, and learn how I do it"), Democratic ("Business is a two-way street, so we all agree on where the stop signs go"), Laissez-Faire ("You drive your car; I drive mine, and let's hope we arrive in one piece").

Today, I think my management style changes based upon the business situation. But, overall, as a manager, I want what's best for my company, our employees and our customers.  For example, a customer once said to me, "I won't give my business to a company that has an automated receptionist." I know this is a trend that saves companies a lot of time and money, but I listened to this customer, and agreed with her. It just feels right to me that, when someone calls us at Shamrock, they will speak with our Director of First Impressions, a live person who takes an interest in each caller's needs.

I've actually lost count of the number of people who've told me how refreshing it is to get a real, live person on the other end of the telephone when they call Shamrock.

I'm not interested in changing management rules for the sake of change, unless there's a sound reason to do so. For years, when someone made a business call, they got a reassuring voice who helped them get answers to their questions. Why change something that's worked for years?

ONE FINAL THOUGHT...

The longer I manage, the more I believe in a Benevolent Dictator. Far from being feared by staff and customers, a benevolent dictator is driven by success  and passion for what is best for all concerned. It's likely this type of manager is also a person who encourages others to move forward and find their personal success. Let me know what you think makes for a benevolent dictator, and I'll include it in my next post.

MENTOR ME - Part Two

There's an old Mexican proverb that says, "One must learn how to lose before learning how to play." If I hadn't met Neil Bennett, the founder of Shamrock Companies, this proverb might have been nothing more to me than meaningless words. Neil taught me that losing was the first step in learning how to win in the game of my business life: sales.

You may not believe this, but I was a raw, shy kid when I started working at Shamrock. Neil helped me learn and develop a winning sales style. But not before I had racked up my share of losses.

Mainly, I was poor at sales because I was uncomfortable making face-to-face calls with potential customers. I was losing more sales than I was winning -- maybe, less than a .250 batting average in my early years. But, Neil showed me how to learn from my errors, and develop an inner confidence that got better with each success.

Neil said that first, I should learn everything about the products we sell. He taught me to know each product backwards and forwards -- what it does and what it's capable of doing, before selling it to a customer. Neil said, "Once you have personal confidence that you understand the product, you will have the confidence to go out and meet with customers. And once you meet with customers, you have to learn about each customer and his or her and problems and requirements."

Neil was like a benevolent dictator. He made me work hard, but encouraged me along the way. I learned to make sacrifices and promises that were sometimes hard for a shy kid to keep. But, his mentoring paid off. Once I knew everything there was to know about the product, and once I understood the needs of my customers, I was able to find my confidence, and gain the confidence of customers. I became a partner to each customer. Not just a salesman interested in making a sale, but a trusted business associate who would help solve my partner's problem.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT... I learned from Neil that a good salesperson, or a good leader / entrepreneur / business person /spouse (you name it, because in one way or another, we're all "in sales") is someone who understands that negotiation is all about win/win, and that a win/win strategy will create an unbreakable bond between a salesperson and a customer. Even today, I continue to apply Neil's instructions to help me understand and lead Shamrock, our employees, and our customers.

MENTOR ME - Part One

Zig Ziglar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zig_Ziglar) is one of the best salesmen our world has ever known. He's quoted often, but one of his quotes sticks with me as I go about each business day. Ziglar often said, "Rules are important, but example is the great stimulus."  I learned that observing by example is among the greatest teachers from my earliest mentors. My family.

My grandparents worked hard. My dad's father worked at two demanding jobs. During the day, he was an auto mechanic. In the evening he tended a working farm. My grandmother sold the fruits from the farm at a stand near their home. This grandfather taught me the discipline to work long and hard and enjoy the benefits of your labor.  My dad's parents benefited from their hard work by becoming world travelers throughout their lives. My grandfather was a strict disciplinarian, but a kind teacher.

My mom's dad was a true character. He so believed that work was salvation and reward that, if there were no chores to be done, he would create one. One day he mixed a huge can of roofing nails into his cinder driveway, and promised me a penny for each nail I found. I was 5 or 6 years old at the time, and with hard work, I earned a whopping dollar and 5 cents that day. This grandfather taught me that for every chore there must be a reward, or why bother?

The elders of my family were the first, and in some ways, most important mentors in my life. This  includes my dad. Dad was a very conservative, hard-working, blue collar factory man. He worked at Lincoln Electric. If you know anything about Lincoln Electric, you know the company was founded on hard work and was driven by profit as an incentive to perform. One summer, I worked with dad and got to see him in action on the company's production line. The line was solely dependent on teamwork. Your income was driven by the guy behind you and the guy in front of you. If they performed well,  you were paid well.  Needless to say, they all worked as a team to achieve a higher profit for the company, and for themselves. My dad taught me the importance of teamwork, productivity and managing with fewer, trusted employees for the long haul.  And making sure they're treated with respect and reward for a job done well.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT... A good mentor is generally a good leader. Good leadership starts with being willing to work hard yourself. That's a philosophy I learned from my early mentors, and something I believe I carry with me to Shamrock. No one will be asked to do something I wouldn't do myself. Including washing the dishes after a meeting.

POSITIVE YOUR ATTITUDE: 7 EASY WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DAY AT WORK

There have been days when I've wanted to chuck everything, call in sick, and play a slow round of 18 holes with just a flock of fairway birds cheering me on. And I'll admit, sometimes I've given in to this wishful thinking, and it helped me recharge my workday batteries. But, if I did this too often, my work ethic and my personal goals would suffer. Here are a few simple alternatives that may help ease the pain of getting out of bed on a workday morning:

7. Have a ridiculously comfortable desk chair: The nicer your chair, the longer you can stand to sit in it before having to get up because you're antsy. And of course if you're antsy and walking around the office with a general aimlessness, you're not working.

6. Make a To-Do List: Lists are great because the simple act of making the list gives you something to do in those moments of lost energy when you don't actually want to be working,  but, you'll find yourself doing something remotely work related, and you may simply motivate yourself to tackle on task on the list.

5. Set up Google Reader or Technorati: You can tell yourself that you're just taking a brief time out to keep up to date with the latest industry news, but what you're really doing is reading a few industry (non-industry?) blogs. You may actually learn something, and the industry stuff may stick, so you'll be able to rattle off interesting relevant factoids in meetings.

4. Use Supplies as a Self-Motivator: If you're running out of paper clips and staples, get some. If a certain program would increase your productivity, ask for it. It's much easier to do the job when you have everything necessary. Once you get into a position where there's not much else for you to ask for you'll be able to apply all these tools to hone your skills and do a better job.

3. Monetized Incentives: Money is still the primary objective of work. Don't be afraid to ask for a raise every year if you've seriously been rockin' at work. But first, make sure you've really been above par.

2. Respect for the Team: If you have a vested interest in the people around you, that comes with a vested interest in how work goes for them. This act of supporting the team is as contagious as a virus, so it's likely your coworkers will reciprocate by making something easier for you and it will become a productive cycle that makes work more productive and fun for everyone.

ONE LAST THOUGHT:

1. The 100/90 Rule: Give your job 100% effort 90% of the time. You'll do great. You'll feel good. About yourself, your job, and the people you work with. The other 10%? Take a break from the ordinary, and do something extraordinary; something that is really special to you.

IT'S GOOD FOR MY ID, BUT WHAT ABOUT MY EGO?

When I took Psych 101 in college I was fascinated with the id, ego, and superego. Long story short: id doesn't care about reality and is there for our pleasure; the ego's job is to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. 

So, why am I telling you this? When I see promotional products without a strategy to build brand, I always think, "That's just an id toy, it gives the user pleasure, but has no other purpose. It definitely doesn't position the company well."  This short video is an example of an id premium http://www.theneocube.com/. It's fun. It's an old school promotional item that will sit around and collect desk dust, and the owner will quickly forget where he got it or why he keeps it.

Rather than just find a fun promotional item, our promotional and premium products team delivers a brand strategy.  This strategy includes a unique promotional product solution, wrapped in a well-designed incentive program or campaign, packaged with a well-planned fulfillment service and our unique web development/ management program. In other words we integrate the fun with a solid strategy.

In fact, our integrated team of sales, marketing, promotional and premium strategists and IT delivers a Discovery Process for each customer, so we're right on the mark with your promotion. Our program can also store, stock and manage your promotional inventory, as well as document how much inventory you moved each month. And all the information's available for you, online. We've got this system down to a science, so we can actually show you how you are saving your company significant dollars. Which is actually great for your superego (that's the part of a developed personality that likes saving money!).  Here's a short case study about how we develop a promotion and premium strategy for a client: http://www.shamrockcompanies.net/pdfs/CS_Premiums.pdf

ONE LAST WORD...

...regarding promotional products. Shamrock works with a group of suppliers who recently formed a Quality Assurance Alliance to maintain the rights of workers overseas and environmental stewardship, with the aim to police their group and adhere to a code of social compliance.  If you're curious to know more, take your healthy ego to the phone and call Tim Berry at Shamrock, 440-250-4597. Tell him Troop sent you.

BEYOND THE PAYCHECK. WHAT BRINGS YOU TO WORK EACH DAY?

When I started my career, I worked for a very successful entrepreneur who always enjoyed the social side of the business. He would throw an office party to share success with the group and show his feelings of appreciation for his employees. One thing he said to me, though, struck me as a little off through my entire career. "Don't ever get too close to your employees," he warned me. "If you do,  it becomes harder to pull away if you have to." I presume he meant, it becomes harder to fire someone. Whatever his reason, that was one thing he and I didn't agree on. I believe, that in order to retain good people, you have to go beyond the paycheck.

A fairly recent survey on The Plain Dealer cleveland.com website asked respondents, What's the most important factor in your job satisfaction? Naturally, most (23.97%) said, "Pay that's fair for the work I do".  Well, sure... or as my kids will say, "well, duh"... the paycheck is what we all work for.

But, a close runner-up among respondents (20.79%)was "Knowing that I am appreciated by the people I work for."

So, my gut instinct was right, all along. Recognizing a good job and rewarding an employee with a that's the spirit congratulatory phone call, a stop by an employee's office for a personal chat, a one-on-one lunch, or, maybe, a surprise gift of a weekend getaway... goes a long way in retaining good people.  On a more personal level, if one among us is celebrating a special family anniversary, birthday, or a graduation, I like the idea of stopping by or calling to offer my personal congratulations.

We've all been through difficult times during the past few years. I've had to make some tough decisions that forced Shamrock to run hard and lean. But it helped us to remain healthy as an organization. These decisions affected my people; some more than others. But, these decisions also made us stronger as the Shamrock family, so that we're positioned to enjoy the days ahead.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT

Everyone of us, from clients to vendors to employees may, at some time, have problems at work or outside the workplace. Those who know me, know that my door is always open for a confidential discussion. I may not always have the right answer or solution for the problem, but I'll do everything I can to offer each of you honest advice and counsel.