If you’ve read some of the interviews of top-notch consultants that we have distributed to you by emails like this, you may have noticed our aggravated lack of concern with the customer experience. This month’s guest, Jennifer Ramirez of CX Ventures, has earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology and behavioral psychology, logged over 20 years’ experience in customer satisfaction consulting and leadership training, and opened our eyes to our own glaring deficiency. She may also rescue you from a looming disaster.

If you’re like me, you don’t need to be reminded to put your clients and their needs first. But there’s a giant, cavernous gap between being client-focused and giving each client a delightful, can’t wait to do that again experience. “When was the last time you walked through your product or service experience as if you were a customer?” Jennifer asks. “Do you know what it’s really like to buy from yourself?” She forthrightly encourages, “Go try your product – use it and see what it’s like. Go through and understand your product or service experience as if you are a customer.”

It’s easy to guess why business owners might not know whether their customers absolutely love the experience they’re receiving. We all have to worry about financial performance and results, recruiting and hiring, vendor performance and turnover, complying with government regulations, cash flow, insurance – the list seems endless. Somewhere along the way, and even though we have told ourselves that we put the client or customer first, the problems we confront every day have sucked up all our attention and we don’t have any left to pay to the customer.

Jennifer shared that her typical client intuitively knows that something’s not right but can’t pinpoint what’s wrong. “About half of my clients first approached me with concerns about client retention or losing customers to competitors,” Jennifer recalled. “Most of the others were concerned about the other side of that coin – getting new customers.”

To borrow a familiar parable, Jennifer helps her clients by teaching them how to fish. Jennifer and her team create strategies to improve the client’s customer experience and satisfaction. “We help clients design winning strategies and winning approaches to get and keep customers,” she explains. Not only do Jennifer and her team create strategies, but they also help implement the strategy and they coach the leadership team and the front-line staff to implement the strategy. Finally, to help the client move quickly toward a “best in class” result, they develop the metrics the client uses to measure and drive top-flight performance.

When helping craft a high-performance customer experience team, Jennifer looks for a person who has rotated through multiple and divergent roles within a business or industry similar to that of the client. Having this kind of experience helps a leader understand how each part of the business may contribute to or detract from the customer’s experience in its own, unique way and how all the parts work together to shape the overall customer experience. Jennifer explained, “Clients have usually been surprised when they learn that some of the parts of their ‘the customer comes first’ practices actually create negative customer experiences.”

Jennifer’s approach to helping each client can vary as widely as do her clients’ individual circumstances, which include Fortune 1000 companies and local, closely held companies. However, she typically begins each engagement using an established process. Her process, coupled with her wealth of experience and expertise, guides her and her team to create a custom strategy with tactics and metrics that help her clients measure progress toward and attain their goals.

In one example that Jennifer shared with us, she helped a tire and auto repair and maintenance shop with ties to its community dating back 47 years get to the root of its inability to timely deal with customer calls. Using the client’s existing point-of-sale software, Jennifer created a communication strategy that included a process to communicate with customers by text message. The text messages are used to remind and confirm the appointment with the customer; give them periodic status updates about the status of the service, give them cost estimates, and answer their questions almost instantly. This single piece of the improved communications strategy generates thousands of communications between the shop’s employees and their customers each month, but it has allowed the shop to take on more customers by communicating with them efficiently and almost instantly. Not only are the customers happier, but the shop’s employees are happier too.

In another case involving a multi-national client with thousands of customers, Jennifer described how she helped her client reduce its single largest expense – commission payments to third party agents – by improving the customer’s experience. Calling on her own innovation skills, which in this case were needed because mobile apps were not then commonly available, Jennifer and her team developed and implemented an online platform that allowed the client’s customer to “stage” a transaction before interacting with the client’s employees or third-party agents. This allowed the client and the customer to more quickly and easily review and process the transaction, reduce the time required for each transaction, and reduce the number of transactions handled by the third-party service providers.

You may have noticed that I’ve described only parts of the overall communications strategies that Jennifer and her team created for each of these clients. The analysis of the customer experience may include a process for deciding which client pain points to focus on first, a five-year road map for the company to execute, or identifying a customer experience leader. The client that is the subject of the second example identified above also established, with Jennifer’s help, a client experience steering committee whose members included senior directors of the company and that was charged with implementing the customer experience strategy designed by Jennifer and her team. Jennifer also shared that this client is well on its way to exceeding their customer experience goals.

If she was looking to consult with someone offering customer satisfaction and experience improvement services, Jennifer says that the most important consideration would be the consultant’s methodology. Next, she wants to know how well the consultant understands the client’s business and industry. Finally, she would explore the depth of the consultant’s experience, whether they have a proven track record, and the network of contributing resources they’ve established.

If you’re interested in learning more about Jennifer and her work, or if you or someone you know would benefit by consulting with her, please reach out to me. I’d be honored to connect you.

Do you know your insurance policy inside and out? Do you count reviewing and renewing your insurance policy among your favorite pastimes? Do you regularly find yourself saying, “Gee, I love shopping for insurance!”? If you answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, read on, and get to know my friend Troy Sibelius, CIC, who is also the 2021 Professional Independent Insurance Agents of Colorado (PIIAC) Agent of the Year and Executive Vice President of The Buckner Company.

Unless you’re an insurance professional, you may not know, as I did not, that “CIC means Certified Insurance Counselor. This means Troy helps people buy insurance. “The Buckner Company is an independent agent,” Troy says. “That means we don’t represent any one particular insurance carrier. We work for the client and help them find the best insurance program for their needs and their business.” Buckner has connections with dozens of insurance carriers and employs over 50 independent insurance agents that have experience with every industry and every type of coverage.

“The thing that energizes me every day is helping people,” Troy says, his passion for his clients is evident in his voice. “Nobody likes insurance, but I love helping people understand insurance better.” Insurance is different than most goods or services that you shop for and buy because it isn’t delivered in a box and isn’t performed while you watch. “We’re not selling a new house or a car wash that you can see and appreciate right away,” Troy explains. “An insurance policy is a contract that says, ‘if you have a claim, you’re going to get paid’ – so the trust factor is crucial.”

When clients first call Troy, most often it’s because one of their insurance policies is up for renewal and the client is looking for alternatives. Most new clients are interested primarily in lower premiums, but in some cases the existing agent isn’t providing the service the client needs. When taking on a new prospect, Troy and his team typically ask the client to provide claim history dating back at least three years, and they will ask lots of questions to learn the client’s business and evaluate the level of risk. It’s only when Troy and his team fully understand the client’s business and risk tolerance that they approach an insurance company to ask for coverage and premium quotes.

This may all sound like lots of busy work, but Troy shared that this investment pays dividends. In one notable case, Troy’s client had traditionally provided erosion control construction services – slope stabilization and other big projects that carry with them lots of risk – but had, within just a few years before meeting Troy, changed its business model to focus on commercial landscape design and installation services that are far less risky. Even though, at the time the insurance company’s underwriters were evaluating the client’s application the client’s website listed reclamation and stabilization services as the company’s primary service offerings. By thoroughly presenting and explaining the company’s history and change of focus to the underwriters, Troy got the underwriters to agree to classify the business as a landscape contractor, rather than a reclamation contractor which lowered their premium significantly. Troy says. “We have to paint a picture for our underwriters so they understand what the business is doing.”

As a result of the recent Covid shut-down of our entire economy, many of Troy’s restaurant and hospitality clients, among other industries, were forced to implement cost-saving measures to match sharp revenue declines. These measures frequently included reducing payroll, but few business owners considered a reduction in their insurance premiums. Troy actively reached out to the insurance carriers to ask them to re-evaluate premiums and help his clients survive the difficult circumstances.

In a related situation brought about by the need to drastically cut costs, Troy worked with his client and the insurance carriers to split two coverages from a single policy into two separate policies to take advantage of the best pricing for each coverage offered by different carriers. Troy shared that this wasn’t an original idea – it was based on his experience separating automobile coverage policies from general liability coverage policies for his contractor clients who operate large truck fleets. “This is one advantage of having access to many different carriers,” Troy said. “Sometimes we have to get really creative to find the right coverage, and it’s where our expertise and market knowledge really help.”

While he shared that he is pleased to work with any client when it’s a good time for the client, Troy also explained he prefers to have 120 days or more before a policy expiration date so he and his team can learn the client’s business, explore the market, and prepare a detailed submission for the underwriters. By giving Troy this lead time, it allows his team to find policies and prices that best fit the client’s needs. Following up on their standard application and approval process, Troy’s team customizes the information collection and presentation process for each client and the unique risk profile that the business faces.

Troy provided your author (who usually needs over-simplified examples) with the following hypothetical example to illustrate how he might work with a poor claims history. “Maybe a contractor’s employees were involved in lots of traffic accidents where they rear-ended other cars. We would ask: ‘Why is this happening?’ What are the drivers doing out there?’ If it turned out, in this hypothetical example, that the drivers were using mobile devices while driving, we might suggest that the company provide hands-free devices and train the employees about their use or eliminate the use of these devices in their vehicles altogether. We’d then go to the carriers and explain, ‘Look, the contractor implemented a hands-free device use policy, and here’s how it’s affected and lowered the number of accidents.’” Using strategies like this, Troy gives underwriters a complete and realistic picture of the risks each client is facing and, in many cases, negotiates better premiums for appropriate coverages.

Just as some people are more risk-tolerant than others, some clients and prospects need more of Troy’s hand-holding. We all have some clients and contacts who prefer to talk with us only when they call. For most clients, however, Troy and his team employ processes to ensure that they reach out to the client to, among other things, checkup on safety measures, policy renewal needs, potential claims, and general well-being of their business.

Troy shared that he hopes his clients think of him at the same level as they think of their accountant or their doctor. Troy wants each client to tell him everything, with confidence that he’s not trying to sell them the highest-priced policy or is “just out to make a buck.” Troy and his team work hard to provide exceptional service – like returning phone calls and emails quickly and maintaining a thorough understanding of the client, their industry, and the insurance market. And, by the way, if the client or prospect already has in place a great policy and a great premium, Troy will tell them.

When you might be looking for a broker, Troy recommends looking for someone who thrives by studying and learning. Diligence and willingness to work hard are also common qualities of exceptional brokers, and the best brokers can talk insurance with you in plain English. When you find the right broker, Troy recommends you let that person do all the “shopping” for you. Many Large insurance brokers have access to most of the same carriers, and a carrier will quote only the first application they receive on behalf of a client. Lastly, says Troy, “share openly with the broker. Even though the insurance company pays the commission, the broker works for you.” You can only be certain that you’re covered for all the risks you might face only if you’re willing to share openly and unreservedly with the broker.

If it’s near the expiration date of your current policies or you’re considering changing agents and would like to get to know Troy, please reach out to me. I’d be honored to connect you.

Where does business success begin?  With a killer app? With a great culture? With a better mousetrap? You do everything else right, but your business will still struggle if you’re not bringing in enough money. Is revenue declining or stagnant? Do salespeople perform the way they should? Does the sales team produce consistent results? Even if you’re not struggling in any of these basic areas, do you have the right talent leading your sales team or are you ready to ramp up to the next level but don’t know how to go about it? If the answers to any of these questions concern you, I’d like to introduce you to my friend Dennis Clouse of Mile High Sales Solutions, a Sales Xceleration consultant. Sales Xceleration is the country’s largest fractional sales leadership company.

As many readers of these whitepapers know, there are entire industries built around different kinds of fractional engagement services. You may even be delivering services with this model – an expert works part time to provide right-sized consultation for a client with limited needs or resources. Dennis offers, among other things, fractional sales leadership and helps clients achieve breakthrough, scalable sales growth and a more balanced, enjoyable life.

Dennis’s clients consult with him to help with challenges like:

• Sales are growing but need to achieve new levels of success.
• Sales are stagnant, declining, or simply not growing the way the client wants.
• Hiring and retaining the right talent and helping them perform consistently.
• Sales leadership is ineffective or inexperienced.
• The sales function lacks processes, tools, metrics, or compensation plans to drive the desired behavior and results.

Dennis begins the process of helping his clients by meeting them where they are. Some clients, he says, don’t have a sales team or may only have one salesperson. If that single salesperson happens to be the owner, deciding whether the owner should continue selling and hand off some other tasks or should bring in a new person to tackle sales is likely to be the next growth strategy. With his sales leadership perspective, Dennis can help create or develop a high-performing sales team, improve sales infrastructure, and much more.

Dennis calls himself “industry agnostic,” explaining that since sales skills are transferable he gets to enjoy working with lots of different businesses, ranging from surgical device suppliers and manufacturers to estate and probate lawyers. When I asked Dennis what he likes most about his consulting, he cited the wide range of businesses, industries, and clients with whom he works. He clearly loves applying his sales and sales leadership skills to help all these different clients and circumstances with their unique challenges and opportunities.

One such client, a design engineering firm, more than tripled revenue within two years after engaging Dennis, and it’s on track to enjoy a five-fold increase within the year. Dennis shared that one of his tasks in this engagement it to help the owner, who is currently the company’s top salesperson, step out of his sales role so he can provide sales leadership, improve operations and human resources, and develop his own CEO role.

Another of Dennis’ clients, also experiencing rapid growth, more than doubled revenue within a few short years and, with Dennis’ help, is tracking to quadruple revenue within a few more short years and exponentially grow revenue within ten years. To do this, Dennis helped the client clarify that the time had come to replace the company’s director of sales, who had been awarded the leadership position after a history of being the company’s best sales person. Dennis explained that, while Michael Jordon may have been the best basketball player, success on the court doesn’t automatically lead to success on the sidelines. To help this client with the transition, Dennis will provide sales leadership on a fractional basis, restructure the sales team, and recruit his own replacement.

While each business and situation are different, Dennis and his team rely on a tried and tested process to help their clients. The first phase typically takes thirty to sixty days and is designed to allow Dennis and his team to learn the client and its business, including the client’s strategy, team, culture, plans, and goals. While learning the client and the business, Dennis also assesses and analyzes these areas to get ready for the next phase. The second phase takes three to four months and its focus is on sales infrastructure, processes, tools, metrics, information systems, compensation plans, and incentives. A final, optional phase is designed to evaluate and improve sales leadership. The final phase may involve a fractional sales leader role, identifying and developing a leader, or even recruiting a leader.

To add to his arsenal of tools, Dennis has developed and maintains strong relationships with other professionals who also act as trusted advisors, sometimes helping with business and marketing strategy. “You owe it to the sales team to have a good business and marketing strategy,” Dennis advised. “If the client has a clear and sound business strategy – the ‘Ready’ – and marketing strategy – the ‘Aim’ – they are in position to execute sales effectively – the ‘Fire.’ Then we just get out of the way, let the sales team do their thing and support them.”

To help him become familiar with the client, Dennis starts by asking for historical sales numbers. “Chances are, the owner has been too busy or hasn’t taken time to analyze sales or break them down by year and customer or even rank customers by revenue,” he shared. Dennis and his team help the client analyze who are their biggest customers, who are repeat customers, and who bought from them and then stopped and why. Next, Dennis and his team identify these as action items – clients to reach out to. Dennis coaches clients to focus on current clients first and then, when sales to current clients are happening as they should, start to work on attracting new clients.

“Business owners are great people,” Dennis says. “There’s a reason they’re running a company. They are drivers and doers. They like being in charge. They’re focused on their teams and on creating a good culture. I can come in and make a difference quickly.” Dennis helps clients gain freedom to do what they love – running their company. By helping the client gain focus and clarity on their goals, creating an action plan, and providing coaching to help reach the goals, Dennis helps his clients work fewer hours and spend more time with family or doing other things they enjoy. The delighted spouse of one Sales Xceleration client even thanked the consultant for “giving me my husband back.”

If you may be thinking of engaging with a sales consultant, Dennis suggests looking for someone who fits and complements your company’s culture and is of good character – someone you can count on. He points out that, “in a small business, sales affect everybody.”  He also recommends reading good books about business and leadership. He shares, “The best business people always continue learning and keep an open mind about learning.” Dennis also encourages his clients to participate in professional groups or to engage a personal coach or consultant. “Invest in yourself through books, coaching, or peer groups.”

If you might want to explore how Dennis can improve sales and sales leadership, please reach out to me. I’d be honored to connect you.

Running your business is challenging, complex, and hopefully rewarding. Among the most complex and rewarding aspects of business are the people. Employee matters, especially compensation, can be frustrating and challenging for both employer and employee, particularly in the competitive hiring market we see today. Most of the people we’ve interviewed recently have told us that finding and retaining employees is especially difficult. Might you be worried that you’re not doing enough to keep your own employees happy in this market where they’re being wooed by lots of other companies? If your company is providing employee benefits like health insurance, which can be a critical component of overall compensation and employee satisfaction, have benefit costs gone up?

My friend Paul Rizzo, Vice President of Employee Benefits at Moody Insurance Agency, specializes in helping small and mid-sized companies control their benefit program costs, streamline employee enrollment and onboarding, and engage employees more in their benefit offerings.  He recently shared with me some of his insights on thesematters. He said that businesses work with Moody Insurance Agency because they want to take good care of their employees and provide competitive benefit offerings.

Typically, the biggest piece of employee benefit packages is health insurance, which Paul believes is all about people. The inputs, processes, and outcomes all involve meeting with, gathering information from, considering and evaluating, and creating outcomes for the employee and the client. There’s no scale or ruler to measure these inputs, activities, and outcomes other than whether the client and the employee are happy. By maintaining his “people first” approach, Paul shared that he’s “gotten thanked a million times over” by happy clients and their employees.

Paul’s approach starts with assessing the client’s existing benefits, plans, and policies, finding out what are their goals, and implementing solutions to get them there. This process allows his team to find opportunities, identify gaps, and design improvements. By bringing the value of both improvement and innovation to his clients, Paul and his team provide custom benefit plans that usually enhance the benefit offerings and lower benefits costs.

As part of this unique approach, the Moody Insurance Agency provides its clients with tools to save time and make their lives easier. Moody offers clients the ability to switch from their existing manual, paper-based onboarding and enrollment processes to automated, electronic systems that not only reduce costs and errors, but also make benefit enrollment a better experience for employees. Moody Insurance Agency also has the resources to bring Fortune 500-style benefit programs and solutions to employers in the small to mid-size market.

“Insurance is confusing,” Paul says, and “we strive to be a trusted advisor on whom our clients and their employees can rely for clear, easy-to-understand explanations and guidance.”

One example of providing innovative and improved solutions that saved a client money is when Paul proposed a new and different type of health insurance plan. By just changing the funding of the benefits plan and implementing integrated cost management solutions to control claims costs, Paul and his team enabled the client to offer a more robust package at a much lower cost.

For another client, Paul and his team helped upload the client’s employee information to the Moody Insurance Agency online benefits administration platform, allowing the client to automate its employee onboarding process and benefits enrollment. This improved the client’s systems and processes, improved its communication with the employees, and allowed the employees to be more engaged in their benefit program offerings.

Paul recommends that the owners of small and mid-sized businesses look for an employee benefits partner who has access to the resources the client will need to meet their goals and for someone who has the client’s interests at heart. He also recommends finding an insurance partner who is well-connected and makes looking out for their clients’ businesses a priority.

Paul suggests performing an assessment of your company’s employee benefits offerings and costs every two or three years. “Things change fast in our industry,” he says. Paul also recommends benchmarking your business’ employee benefits offerings against similar companies in your industry and region to make sure your benefit programs are in line with the market. The assessment should include a compliance review. Much of what Paul does includes helping educate clients and their employees about new legislation, changing reporting requirements, and other compliance issues. Paul and his team enjoy the benefit of extra help with compliance questions because Moody Insurance Agency retains a lawyer (everyone’s favorite professionals) to help them stay on top of these changes. The Moody Insurance Agency also provides educational resources to its clients, including newsletters and webinars about insurance laws that have a direct impact on how you operate your employee benefits offerings.

If you think a relationship with Paul would benefit your business, please reach out to me. I’d be honored to connect you.

According to a survey by Wave, a bookkeeping and financial software provider to small businesses, most small businesses have less than $5,000 cash on hand. For these businesses, we’re still in a period of cash conservation. Where might we look to reduce expense and keep some of those dollars from leaving home? Perhaps you should consider reviewing the monthly check you’re writing (OK, admittedly old-school) to your landlord.

Whether you rent or own the space you’re using, the dollars you’re devoting to real estate are probably, behind payroll and benefits, your third largest outlay. My friend and colleague, Justin Rayburn of Fountainhead Commercial, a leading commercial real estate brokerage in the Denver metro area, points out that business owners looking to conserve cash or to simply reduce expense often overlook the cost of owning or using real estate – at least until it becomes a real problem.

Add to this expense some uncertainty of whether employees might continue to work remotely, and whether new employees may even be available, and the long-term commercial real estate solution is even more challenging.

Justin describes his service as “allowing our clients to not have to be an expert in my business in order to run theirs.” This may sound like an extravagant luxury to most small business owners, but Justin says he’s proud to offer “big firm” experience to small business clients. His goal is to look for the best lease terms, including termination and renewal rights, expansion or contraction options, and rent abatement deferral, and he says the small and middle market is under-represented in these areas.

With each new client and engagement, Justin and his team perform a deep diagnostic of the business’s goals and objectives and a financial analysis on the company’s real estate commitments. This helps both them and the client create a suitable real estate strategy and understand what the financial obligations are going to be moving forward. From there Justin and his team identify suitable building/space options for the client’s requirement and commence the tour and negotiation process. During deal term negotiations, Justin’s team identifies comparable properties that have recently either sold or leased to understand the market dynamics and to be able to better negotiate either a lower purchase price or the lowest possible rental rate. Justin shared that understanding what the market is doing and observing how properties are moving is one of the most important tools Justin and his team use to help their clients negotiate the best deal.

Justin shared that his favorite projects are those that have a lot of moving pieces and that allow him and his team to leverage their networks and market knowledge to find – or create – good results for the client. For example, Justin is working with a client that is in a building that is far, far too big. Justin is helping them downsize by selling the existing building and moving into a new space that is suitable for their newly projected growth. Justin is helping his client downsize from 400,000 square feet to approximately 32,000, and as a result the client will substantially reduce their real estate expenses while at the same time improving their manufacturing, logistics, and distribution processes.

In another example, Justin helped a developer assemble 3 separate retail parcels that together made up 1/2 a city block. Justin worked the town council to become actively involved in planning the project with his client, and the city participated in the project by contributing the other ½ of the city block and in return the client provided over 200 new parking stalls for visitors to the town. Justin was successful in securing purchase and sale contracts with three separate businesses and, even though several other developers and their brokers had previously attempted to assemble and develop the lots, Justin and his team were able to succeed where the others had failed.

Justin helps clients primarily with real estate needs between downtown Denver and Castle Rock and along the Boulder Turnpike between Denver and Boulder. He and his team have experience in the technology, financial, and bioscience arenas, but he shared that he’s most excited to help small and medium sized business owners, regardless of industry.

While our real estate market is improving, the office segment is still struggling to recover from COVID and the recent shift to remote working. The highest vacancy rate is in downtown office space, largely due to the slowdown in the oil and gas industry, companies going out of business, and downsizing due to the dynamics created as a result of COVID. Justin and his team help their clients figure out the best way to innovate their work environment to accommodate the challenges of tight labor markets, changing regulations, and employee demands for remote work options and flexibility.

As for what you can do for your own business right now, Justin says, “Start real estate planning early. Pay attention to your real estate holdings because they’re a costly part of your business and can sometimes make or break your company’s success. Put the right people on the bus as far as who can help you achieve your goals. Find a real estate professional who can recommend quality industry professionals and make sure you’re getting quality representation in all parts of the transaction. What you miss at the beginning will cost you in the end.”

Justin shared that the most important qualities a broker can bring to the table are integrity, market knowledge, and experience. “Our industry is one in which it’s easy for people to take advantage of a client in order to make the most money on a single transaction,” he says. “I’d rather do right for the client in all circumstances, maybe making less money today but ensuring I’m in a position to work with that client again in the future.”

If this sounds like a relationship you’d be interested in cultivating, please reach out to me. I’d be honored to connect you.