Getting Results from New Year’s ReVolutions, not ReSolutions: The Value Creation Conversation
Revolutions are typically associated with anarchy, but I want you to look at this literally – as something that moves in a cycle. This type of revolution is practical, actionable, and sustainable, because it becomes as automatic as doing your email every day – you don’t even have to think about it, schedule it, or put it on your well-intentioned to-do list. A Value Creation Conversation is easier to achieve than you think. With practice, it just happens as part of the way you work.
Most business leaders spend a minimum of 90 minutes every day doing email… many spend much longer. That’s almost 400 hours per year, or 10 valuable weeks of your time, assuming you work a 40-hour work week (are you laughing at the thought?).
No, I’m not going to tell you that you should be doing less email, because email, voice mail, texts and more are all a part of doing business in our always-on world. However, doing email NEVER moves the needle in your business unless you’re in order entry. All I’m going to suggest is that you will really move the needle in your business by committing just 90 minutes once per week to getting out from behind your desk and having a Value Creation Conversation (VCC) with a customer – a fraction of the time that you spend on email. Next month, I’ll share a case study that shows you just how valuable they can be. Ready?
There’s only one little problem. When I speak to thousands of business leaders across the country each year, most tell me that they know they should be getting out in front of their customers more often… and most say they don’t make the time to do it. Others tell me that they are pretty good at getting out there, but that the ride-alongs and meet-and-greets really don’t seem to be a valuable use of their time. What I see is a lot of good intentions… being totally derailed by busy work. And yet, all the fun in your business is on the OTHER side of your desk, not in your chair!
One of the easiest ways to almost effortlessly increase revenues, identify costly sludge in your systems, and increase loyalty and retention is simply to pay attention to your customers in a way that has nothing to do with pitching product and everything to do with building trust and credibility. It starts with getting out from behind your desk and meeting with them 1-1 at an executive level. I’ve never seen this fail to increase goodwill and generate more business almost immediately. There’s a right way to do it – i.e. a structured yet interactive Value Creation Conversation – and a wrong way to do it – winging it as a meet and greet or even worse, sending out a survey. VCCs deliver results. The others are a waste of your time AND your customers’ time. Which will you choose this year?
