Now more than ever, investing in and training your employees is key to future business success. Having said that, it’s always been key! Regardless of a global crisis, pandemics, or economic uncertainty, our employees and team members matter to our business! This graphic has circulated on the internet and social media for many years. While…
Dealing with difficult customers can be frustrating and challenging. But what you may not realize about these more challenging customers? How essential they are to the success of your business! As wild as it seems, difficult customers can actually be an asset to your business rather than solely a frustration or a liability. Whether customers…
We learned a lot from 2020, including how a pandemic has affected the workforce. As a result, the workplace will likely never be the same. We also faced another crisis as a social justice outcry forced us to examine issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion. It brought these to the forefront, ultimately sparking the start…
Can you think of BIG customer service or sales goals you would really like to achieve as a part of your organization? What’s your ultimate sales goal? Maybe it’s landing that dream client you’ve been pursuing. Perhaps it’s increasing your monthly or annual sales. How about improving your level of customer service by following up…
Most business owners have dealt with frustrated or upset customers at some point. If you’ve been in business long enough, it’s virtually unavoidable. But what isn’t unavoidable is taking important steps to manage these situations and resolve the conflict. Upset Customers Don’t Have to Remain Upset How do your team members or customer service reps…
Every business has a list of ideal customers and prospects that they would like to speak directly to, call upon, and ultimately secure a deal with. Sales and customer service reps may also wish to build stronger relationships with current customers but not know the best communication styles for working with them. Understanding Communication Styles…
Look around you – the workforce has changed in recent years. Now there are as many as four generations of people working together at any given workplace. And, “working together” doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is successfully collaborating and capitalizing on each other’s strengths. Without bridging the generational gap in the workplace, these differences are even…
As I have learned from leadership guru and best-selling author, John C. Maxwell, “Connecting is all about others.” Maxwell stated in his book, Everyone Communicates – Few Connect, “When you are trying to connect with people, it’s not about you – it’s about them. If you want to connect with others, you have to get…
The key to succeeding in any industry is to have productive and effective employees. You can hire the best people and create a compelling company vision and structure. But you still need to bring your employees on board to ensure they’re performing at their best level as individuals and as a team. Whether you’re selling…
The success of any group effort will always come down to team alignment in the end. Whether it is a company, a sports team, or some other form of group, the outcome will always depend on how well the individuals who make up the group function when working together. How well these individuals work together…
As a business, it’s no longer good enough to be considered “good.” That just doesn’t cut it anymore. Today, to successfully stand out from your competition and win new and existing customers’ loyalty, you must be extraordinary. Remarkable, even. Being successful in business all comes down to how you engage with your customers. The good…
Collaboration, teamwork, idea sharing, and prioritizing organizational initiatives seem like they would be foundations for business growth and success. All organizations have specific challenges and opportunities that require discussion and attention to move forward in a positive direction. However, very few growing organizations take the time to work “on” their business for planning and communicating…
Many customer service and sales teams do a lot of things very well. But sometimes, they lack specific ideas or skills in certain areas to reach their full potential. Do some members of your sales team spend the majority of their time making sales calls and lack the energy or time to service current customers…
When it comes to the ABMs (always be marketing) and ABCs of sales (always be closing), we see many different angles on this thought. Like most things in business, there are different approaches to sales. What works best for one company won’t always be the same for the next. But there are also some universal…
Entrepreneurs across all different industries tend to have certain traits in common. Often, it is these common traits of an entrepreneur that set them on the path to entrepreneurship and help them succeed on this path. In this post, we will explore the six recommended traits of an entrepreneur to help them achieve success, whatever…
As we begin 2021 with COVID-19 continuing to hold us tightly in its grip, it’s fair to say that ‘COVID Fatigue’ has set in and seriously begun to test our resilience. These unprecedented times have challenged us collectively like nothing else in recent memory and responses to the upheaval have been as numerous and varied…
Now is the Time to Deliver Remarkable Service (If you don’t do it, your competition will!) Considering the current realities of COVID-19 and the overall impact on the economy, it is critical that every business elevates their service levels and wows all customers that come in contact with their business. So why is it…
What’s in a team? A team brings together people with different skills to work both interdependently and cooperatively to accomplish various tasks and goals. A team needs to work collaboratively to achieve objectives that drive results and contribute to the growth of the organization. How well a team collaborates can determine an organization’s success or…
Ownership. We all know it in theory but in practice it can be much harder to live out. What is it that gets in the way of our ability to assume responsibility for our failures, both in life and in work? In his New York Times best-selling book, Extreme Ownership – How US Navy Seals…
With COVID-19 challenges impacting every person and business around the globe, now more than ever, Customer Service is critical to business survival and success. Organizations that build Remarkable Service demonstrate value to their customers, even before the ‘cheque is cut’, and do little things that make all the difference. Remarkable Service must be part of…
In many cultures throughout the world, there is a time of year when you fast. Depending on the culture and religion, the fast might be a literal fast without food, or it might be a time where you give up something you love. Whether it is figurative or literal, this fast is a set period…
In my opinion and belief, any business in any industry can create Remarkable Service! It’s a choice, but in order to do so, you must create the Vision of what a remarkable business would look like in your customer’s eyes. Now you need to Align your entire team to move in the same direction and…
All the time invested in building the customer relationship and trust, to learn you just LOST THE SALE! WHY? One of the many things I have learned from John Maxwell in his book “Sometimes You Win. Sometimes You Learn.” is the difference between people who learn from their losses and the people who do not….
Silos can happen in any business, in all industries. So, what exactly is a “silo”? Growing up a farm kid, I would refer to this as a grain bin, which is a place to store the crop after harvest and keep it dry before selling the grain. From a business perspective, it has a different…
Based on the best-selling book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni, the single most untapped competitive advantage is teamwork. To gain this advantage, teams must: Trust one another: When team members are genuinely transparent and honest with one another, they are able to build vulnerability-based trust. Engage in Conflict around ideas: When there is…
This is a very simple concept but may businesses struggle to consistently achieve it. In our Business Consulting practice we work with many clients who truly value service. What does “truly valuing service” really look like? I was speaking with a Business Associate of mine and he commented that he recently purchased a very high-end truck….
During a recent customer service training and development workshop, the X5 team facilitated a roundtable discussion on customer communication process and receiving customer feedback. It is concerning how many sales reps disappear after an initial sale is made and the product or service has been delivered. They mistakenly think that their work is done, but…
We all have things that we have done and we all have some things left undone. Ask yourself the question: Why have I started and completed certain goals, actions, or tasks in my life? Now ask the next question: Why have I not yet completed certain goals, actions, or tasks in my life? I remember…
Delivering Great Customer Service Through Social Media If your business isn’t using social media for customer service, you are missing out on crucial opportunities to communicate with your customers, improve their experiences and stand out from your competition. With an estimated 3.2 billion Internet users around the globe and new social media channels surfacing all…
As a business, it is no longer good enough to be considered “good”. Today, to successfully stand out from your competition and win the loyalty of new and existing customers, you must be extraordinary. Remarkable, even. Being successful in business all comes down to how you engage with your customers. And how well your business…
Over the past year the team at X5 Management has facilitated many strategic planning sessions for organizations and companies looking to reflect on the previous year, share information with their teams and plan for the upcoming quarter and year. Several themes exist for these sessions including strategic growth planning, team goal setting, succession planning and leadership…
Is your company going through major and necessary change? Or more importantly, are you in desperate need of challenging the status quo? Effective change management, cultural innovation and helping employees understand the change process is critical to building and maintaining growth and positive momentum in any organization. Those organizations that are quickly able to adapt…
Weekly Planning – Why it Matters What Next Week Looks Like Most companies will pay lip-service to the importance of planning ahead and staying on top of their game, but only the most successful companies make organization and time management habits a key focus of their company culture. The resulting increase in efficiency and productivity…
Drop a Pebble…Chase the Ripples I am at a stage in my life, at 82 years, where it is difficult to remember what was “original” with me, or something I picked up from someone else. I used the phrase, “drop a pebble” way back when I started in my business and sales activities. The words…
Are You on the Same Page? – How to Get Your Entire Business Aligned Most entrepreneurs understand on some level that they need to have a clear and succinct vision for their company. Who are we? What do we offer? Who are our customers? A business is largely defined by its vision, and its success…
It is easy for salespeople to lose hope when the sales pipeline looks bare, especially when hard economic times make every sale seem that much more difficult from open to close. However, effective sales practices are all about creating a solid system and sticking to it, no matter what the general economic climate is like….
Many businesses are plagued by a lack of employee engagement. Despite the best efforts of the management team to maintain morale and a positive team-mentality, employees continue to drift back into old patterns of avoiding responsibility and only doing the bare minimum. Not only does this negative culture affect traditional business metrics, such as productivity,…
Unlike many terms in business jargon that seem to come and go with little lasting impact, business silos are a persistent problem faced by modern businesses for decades now. Many experienced managers and management specialists believe that silos are a natural development as a business grows beyond its unified roots into a more complex departmental…
Year after year and decade after decade, customer service ranks among the most important factors when evaluating business success. In the end all businesses are human endeavors, which means people talking to people. Customers never forget how a business made them feel, for better or for worse, so it is extremely important that the customer…
There is nothing quite as frustrating and disheartening as operating a business during an economic downturn. Your customers are hesitant, your investors are nervous, your suppliers are under pressure, and everyone is uncertain what the future will bring. Trying to maintain business-driving sales in a downturn economy often feels like trying to empty the ocean…
Your customers are the foundation of your business, which is why every day should be customer appreciation day. When your customers feel appreciated, not only are they more likely to choose your business over your competitors, but they’ll also refer your business to their family and friends. Needless to say, showing your customers you appreciate…
X5 President, Mike Mack, had an opportunity to be interviewed by one of the leading Podcasters, in North America. Joel Boggess – ReLaunch Show (#1 podcast on iTunes *(Interview starts at the 7-minute mark of the podcast) Joel refers to Mike as his “Canadian correspondent” as Joel had Mike on this Podcast other times in…
The team at X5 Management has been supporting Stahl Peterbilt (a full service truck/parts & service dealership) to improve their sales and customer service processes and initiatives since 2012. At this time, Stahl Peterbilt had the desire to improve their overall customer service approach to secure and retain customers. The leadership team at Stahl aspired…
When the team at X5 Management provides business consulting services to leaders and executives, we often get asked the same question – what is the secret of success? In truth, there is no magic wand to ensure success. Success is a long, winding road that others aren’t even aware of. Much like an iceberg, others only…
