The Power Of Now

My very good friend in Sydney Australia, Mr Andrew Todd, recently secured a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a musician called Francis Dunnery play a gig in his house.

If you’re unfamiliar with Francis, he was the guitarist and creative genius in the band It Bites (their 1988 album ‘Once Around The World’ is one of my all time favourite albums ever.) He has gone on to produce some truly sublime solo material

Andy offered me an invitation to attend the gig (it’s next Friday) and I politely declined for lots of rational reasons - cost, distance, work obligations etc. I then got a talking to by my partner Nicola  and my lovely sister Katy about living life, taking chances like this when they’re unlikely to happen again and other stuff.

As a result I changed my mind and booked the flights. All of this happened before I heard the terrible news this week that a former colleague of mine from Mercedes-Benz days (Paul Bullas) had died as a result of a recent tragic accident - he was younger than me.

So, tomorrow I’m heading off to Sydney - and I’ll be heading back exactly a week later. This week has shown in stark detail how fragile and precious life is, and, if you’re able to, you really should just live life and be adventurous because the only real thing happening to you is what’s happening right now. RIP Paul - you’ll be sadly missed by everyone who had the pleasure of knowing you.

What Difference Does It Make?

I’m currently running a programme for a client that has been (so far) really well received in the business and that has been adding tangible value to the bottom line. I was copied in on this e-mail that a delegate had sent to the HR Director after he had attended:

Good Afternoon Graham

 I have just completed a two day training course which took place in Derby.

 Following your request, I have felt it necessary to offer you some personal feedback regarding the course which was titled ‘Maximising Opportunities in Aftersales’.

 Before the training course took place I am not afraid in telling you that it was something that I was not looking forward to. The thought of role play with an actor present who does not understand the service environment made me think – ‘Waste Of Time’.

 Both during and certainly at the end of the course  I am pleased to tell you that I was totally wrong with my initial thoughts.

The whole course was handled and delivered with the upmost professionalism keeping all pupils interested which encouraged permanent classroom participation.

The actor used (Rob) had a fantastic understanding of how a service department operates from a customer’s point of view. Any response from the customer (Actor) during the role play sessions were not answered in a derogatory way, but in a style that kept the pupil engaged during the whole process.

The trainer (Matt) also had a superb gift in keeping the whole room engaged and involved during the two day process.

I previously attended a manufacturer training course which included role play with an actor who had very little knowledge of a service department which to me made the whole process very difficult and pointless.

 The process that you have set up for our Aftersales team will allow confidence throughout and hopefully help us get through what is a very difficult period. All team members will be encouraged to use the coaching that has been passed on during the coming weeks and beyond.

Thank you again.

As stated in a previous blog, feedback is the breakfast of champions!

Feedback Is The Breakfast Of Champions

For the majority of people I think that achieving fulfilment in their job role is really important and I’m no different – the days I love the best are the ones where I know I’ve made a positive difference to an individual’s professional life by enhancing their knowledge/skills/behaviour. Sometimes I can see the difference through encouraging them to participate in practice sessions or simply through a change in the individual’s demeanour and attitude.

The American author Ken Blanchard first heard the phrase “feedback is the breakfast of champions” from a former colleague of his, Rick Tate. And isn’t it the truth? However, many people in the world of Learning & Development rely heavily on the post-course ‘happy sheet’ to gauge the effectiveness of the learning that has taken place. There’s nothing wrong with immediate post-course delegate feedback – it can be very insightful and useful but it only gives you a snapshot.

I wanted to share with you some feedback that I had recently about a 2-day programme that I ran for Service Advisors. One thing you never know as a trainer when you’re facilitating group training is the mind-set that your delegates arrive with. Unknown to me at the beginning of the programme, one of the delegates who was attending the training had had enough of their job, the significant challenges of meeting and exceeding customer expectations, the ever-increasing levels of change, the relentless focus on converting ‘red’ items into sold work and so on. He had informed his manager that he’d ‘lost his mojo’ and wanted to begin the process of reducing his hours to make the pain go away – it was probably inevitable that at some point he was going to resign.

The Group Aftersales Manager rang me during the week following the training. He told me that the individual concerned had gone back to his dealership the next day and retracted his request. He was energised, enthused and the learning intervention had equipped him with new skills and coping strategies that he wanted to put into practice straight away. In reality, it also saved the business the significant financial burden in having to recruit a replacement for him and all of the associated costs involved.

It is feedback like this that helps me to know that I’m making a positive difference to business performance. If you feel that you or your business could benefit from my help please contact me for an obligation-free chat.

“Yeah…But In The Real World…”

If there is one delegate comment that is sure to stir a reaction in me it would be “…But in the real world…” It doesn’t happen often but when it does I always seek to understand why (whichever learning tool we’re using) the delegate feels this way and why there is a perceived disconnect between what we’re doing and what happens in their everyday business life.

Speaking to some delegates recently I’ve been truly appalled at some of their previous experiences attending training where actors have been used. Examples cited have been the ‘customer’ walking in and physically throwing their keys at the Advisor/Consultant and other grotesque caricatures that really don’t represent ‘the real world’ in any way, shape or form. One participant told me that after attending training to gain the appropriate accreditation for their role as Service Advisor the experience of having to endure this kind of extreme behaviour by the ‘customer’ resulted in him being physically sick on the journey home.

Last week I was running a 2-day programme that I’ve developed called ‘Maximising Opportunities in Aftersales’. Every relevant member of the team in the business from Directors, Heads of Business, Aftersales Managers through to Service Consultants is participating in the programme. This is important because the success of the training will depend on the leaders’ abilities to reinforce the behaviour on a day-to-day basis back in the business.

Day 1 is concerned with the theory (brought to life with lots of active learning and participation) and we cover process, mind-set, how to earn a genuinely positive CSi score (and not cynically manipulate it), how we can sell the benefits of our business over the fast fit and independent competitors and confidently answer customers’ concerns over price differences.

Day 2 is all about practice. I work with a wonderfully talented actor who is able to re-create real characters that are exactly that – real. Because of the poor training practices described above many delegates absolutely dread the second day, despite reassurances that it will be engaging, interactive and that no one is being judged or scored. ‘Time Outs’ are actively encouraged so that we can discuss what is happening.

And finally to the point of my blog; at several times throughout the day I looked around room to find the participants and observers totally immersed in the moment – in their minds they were at their place of work with this customer and totally oblivious to the environment they were actually in. And that’s how you create ‘the real world' in a training environment. 

Ticket To Ride?

I’m enjoying myself professionally at the moment - I’m currently in the process of rolling out 3 separate stand-alone leadership development programmes for one business. I developed these programmes for the senior and middle management teams and also the emerging talent from within the business.

The development work was carried out in close consultation with both the MD and HR Director who wanted to ensure that the training intervention was going to have the maximum ROI for the business. I love working with businesses who have a people focus; by investing in this type of learning and development they are growing their talent pool whilst at the same time strengthening the capability of their middle and senior management teams. The programme concludes in November when the delegates will then present back to the key stakeholders with the aim of demonstrating how the training has enhanced their abilities. In the meantime I have regular update meetings with the MD because he’s passionately focussed on improving the capability of his people; he is relatively new to his role and really wants to cultivate and encourage a culture of personal development.

Lets compare this forward thinking and people-focused organisation with one that an acquaintance of mine is unfortunate enough to be associated with. This person had an issue relating to the behaviour of their manager (a person in dire need of some self-awareness training) – having tried unsuccessfully to resolve this issue with the manager in question they then tried to contact HR. Except they couldn’t. Apparently, in order to speak to someone in HR they had to ‘raise a ticket’ in very much the same way that you would if your printer was broken or you’d forgotten a password.

Eventually they got to communicate with someone in HR (however this could only be done via email and not in person). The outcome of this is largely irrelevant (in fact it remains unresolved and unsurprisingly the person involved is disengaged, demotivated and actively seeking employment elsewhere) but lets compare and contrast – One business has a people-focused leader who embodies Covey’s Leadership Model (more on this in another blog). The other? Well I did some research on the leader of this business and apparently they believe that the important things at the heart of their business are design, engineering and technical ability. I didn’t see anything in that sentence about people.

I wish them luck; because when their products and services begin to age in the marketplace and fall behind their competitors the only thing that will remain is the culture. If they want to change the culture perhaps the staff will need to raise a ticket?

Born Free... But Scared To Be

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how modern retail businesses have evolved. This year I’m celebrating (!) 30 years of working in the automotive industry. When I joined my first dealership as an 87 on the ‘E’ plate newbie the world looked very different. The workplace was exactly that – you turned up at that location at the required time and worked your contracted hours. Increasingly today there is a welcome shift towards flexible working hours and allowing working practices that take into account the needs of employees as well as the business, including giving people the opportunity to work from home.

One of the things about running your own business is that you are completely in control of your own time. When I’m not facilitating or coaching, the rest of my paid client time is taken up with writing and developing new programmes. It’s a simple enough concept – I meet with my client, we agree demonstrable learning outcomes and I work out how much time it will take me to develop the material to a standard that I’m not just happy but delighted with. My unpaid time is the bit centred on keeping control of expenditure, invoicing, prospecting for new business and networking.

And this is where being an 87 on the ‘E’ plate model becomes challenging. I began my voyage into self-employment realising that I was bit institutionalised – I felt guilty if I wasn’t at my desk at 8.30. The thought of taking a couple of hours out of the day to benefit myself (by going to a PT session in the park or gym, reading up on self-development material or just practice playing bass guitar) was an anathema and 2 years down the line although I’m much more relaxed I still have my moments of anxiety!

One of the psychometric tools that I’m qualified to use is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI as its better known. I love the MBTI tool because, like FIRO-B (we’ll cover that one another time) it was developed as a tool that amongst other things helps to try to resolve conflict and to recognise diversity in thought and behaviour as a positive thing. I’m developing a programme at the moment, which I’m starting in February, and I’ll be covering an MBTI session with senior managers with the goal of enlightening them on embracing this diversity of thought and behaviour within their own teams.

One of the really important things that I’ve learned from working with MBTI is I have a very clear ‘J’ preference – I deal with the world around me by working with clear structure, milestones and understanding fully what the goal is. By taking time out of my day occasionally to aid my physical and/or mental wellbeing I’m pushing my ‘P’ by being spontaneous and adaptable. Its not my natural default but I have to try to exercise it. And here’s the punch line – in the same way that businesses have evolved and adapted in the last 30 years we have to adopt the same approach towards our own behaviour and preferences in dealing with others. Please get in touch if you think I could help!

Burn Baby, Burn...

2016 was a year of challenges for many people and Nicola and myself were no different; in many ways 2016 was probably the most difficult year we have had to contend with. I read somewhere that there is no such thing as a bad year and that our reactions to events determines whether it becomes one or not but I can’t agree with this view. I won’t burden you with the details of what made 2016 such a bad year for us but suffice to say a seemingly never-ending sequence of negativity gave us a fairly robust pasting – I hasten to add this isn’t a diatribe of self-pity and I thought you’d be interested in how we came to terms with it.

We started to keep a book that listed our ‘to dos’; after purchasing an old property in June the book began to rapidly fill with things that needed to be done urgently - none of it was fun and most of it was costly.

This became known throughout the year as The Book Of Doom. Each page listed the chronology of the year, detailing the never ending list of work that needed to be done on the cottage along with sad personal events that needed to be dealt with and culminated in us being burgled – the crime reference number in the book was frequently required.

We added to the book events, individuals and organisations that had saddened and/or disappointed us personally and professionally.

Anyone who has attended any of my programmes will know how much focus I put on mindset and attitude being the bedrock to success in whatever you wish to achieve and I found myself, as a person who teaches (and normally embodies) positivity sadly lacking in this respect by the time 2016 had finished with me. So we decided on New Year’s Eve to burn it; literally throw it in the fire to be forgotten and never occupy any more space in our heads.

I approach 2017 with a conscious mental reboot.

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

One of the consequences of returning to run my business after a brief hiatus as a salaried employee was that I needed to buy a car. I decided a change would be good and sought out a brand that I’d not owned or considered before.

I decided to investigate the options open to me and visited a Premium German brand’s retailer not far from where I live and was absolutely staggered at what happened. So staggered in fact that I wrote to both the retailer and the manufacturer with this feedback:

“I was in the market and ready to buy a new vehicle but sadly none of your staff were remotely interested in talking to me. From the two managers who sat in the office in the far corner of the showroom staring at myself and my partner to the 'sales' man who was enthusiastically passing wind and then wafting it towards his colleague, they were all totally disinterested.

I did hope that maybe I could find some information on the cars in the showroom but they were dirty and the model plates were missing along with basic legal point of sale material. Sadly the configurator in the showroom was no help either as it was switched off.

I run my own business providing skills training in the automotive sector - including sales process and enquiry management - and (this isn't a pitch for business) this visit was amongst the worst I've ever experienced in automotive retail.

I've since bought a car (I travelled to another retailer and had an entirely different and very Premium experience) but if you care about the longevity of your business I'd urge you to take note of this. 

I'm more than happy to discuss this with you in more detail.”

The retailer ignored me; the manufacturer did come back to me 3 days later apologizing and promising that I would receive a call from the Head of Sales at the retailer. From the date of posting I’m still waiting for the call.

It gets better; the retailer also locally represents two other brands that were on my list to consider. I faired slightly better in one of them (although the sales exec did smell faintly of last night’s ale) and we got a test drive; I also loved the car but my expectations were firmly aligned in terms of lack of availability within my required timeframe. I would have considered a used car if the specification and payments were right but he only dealt with new car customers so I’ll never know. Nearly two weeks later I’m still awaiting the follow-up call.

Sadly, at the last of the three retailers (or the Axis of Antipathy as I prefer to remember them) all owned by the same Group, I was bang out of luck; entirely my fault for visiting at 3.30 on a Sunday afternoon so there was no chance of a test drive. We were shown inside a demonstrator (full of personal effects and smelling like the perfume counter at John Lewis) but no chance of being taken through any kind of sales experience. The sales executive tried very hard to get us to commit to re-appoint during the week (I explained that we both work during the week so weekends were preferable) – “But we’re here until 6.30 during the week” was her response. A follow up never happened, mainly because she failed to take my name or any contact details.

As a postscript one of the other brands I was considering was Mini (not represented by the same retailer as above) and I will say for the record that the treatment I received from them was first class; the sales executive was attentive, professional, took an interest in me and my needs and was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the brand; I just made a ‘head rules heart’ decision in the end.

Eventually I bought a more practical car from a retailer that delivered an exceptional experience. Why was it exceptional? Well, I’m a big advocate of feedback, both developmental and motivational so I wrote to the CEO of the Retailer Group to explain:

“I wanted to share some of my personal feedback with you now that I have become a customer of yours. I have decided to return to running my own business after a short spell in a salaried role and I needed a vehicle.

The service and treatment I received at your dealership was first class. The Head of Business, the General Sales Manager and the Business Manager made the whole thing effortless.

What was remarkable was the handover experience. The atmosphere within the Centre was warm and welcoming; presentation of the cars was of a very high standard but the most striking thing was that both the staff and customers were enjoying being there – and that’s something you can’t stage or manufacture. The handover gifts I received were very thoughtful, personalised and will have longevity and be genuinely useful in my work.

If you compare this to the dismal experience I had at the retailer closer to my home, it couldn’t have been more different. Lots of customers are very quick to launch a complaint at the highest level when things have gone wrong but I think its only fair that you also hear about the ‘good guys’. I am a very proud owner of a car that makes me smile every time I get in it.”

Some conclusions here: firstly when Managers take an active interest in the customer’s experience it makes you feel hugely valued. Secondly because the management team are engaged and involved with sales enquiries it drives activity. Lastly, here’s the really interesting bit – I received a personalised email from the CEO of the Group that I bought from thanking me for taking the time to write to him. I’m still waiting for contact from the Axis of Antipathy. Its not that hard to say sorry is it?

You Gotta Go There In Order To Come Back

Life is all about decisions; you try to adopt an objective and rational approach in order to reach an educated and informed conclusion. I went through exactly this approach when I decided to park up Matt Molland Training and join JLR - there were compelling reasons for doing so, all of which I listed in my last blog.

JLR are a great company; all of my colleagues have been warm and welcoming and the business has an exciting growth strategy aligned with really good products but within the space of eight weeks I knew I’d made an error in turning away from my business. Why?

A few years ago when I was with Mercedes-Benz we ran a 2-day off-site management development programme and we invited Steve Black as the afternoon speaker (Steve has coached Jonny Wilkinson amongst many others). He spoke that day about identifying your strengths and weaknesses and focusing on your strengths – your weaknesses can only be taken to a certain point but your strengths can be developed much further.

I came to realise very quickly that I wasn’t going to able to utilise my strengths in my new role. I write and develop innovative and creative training material and I deliver training with a genuine fire in my belly because I care about driving business improvement through the development of people. Spending four days participating in a Trainer Accreditation programme 2 weeks ago brought this into sharp focus – working with my peer group and seeing what can be created and delivered.

And so it comes to pass that only 12 weeks into my role I’ve realised that the objective and rational approach to decision making is flawed because sometimes you have to listen to your heart… And I’ve done that.

So, I’m going to return to doing what I do best and pick Matt Molland Training up where I left off in the summer. Because for all of the stresses, strains and worries that having your own business brings, nothing compensates for that feeling at the end of a training programme when you know you’ve inspired people to improve on what they currently do and given them the skills and knowledge to actually go and do it.

…Is All Your Life Will Ever Be

My first blog was entitled ‘All You Touch & All You See’ so its important to close the loop with this one, which will be the last (fans of Pink Floyd will get the reference!)

I began Matt Molland Training Limited not as a reckless ego trip but to make a difference; I certainly didn’t embark on the challenge for financial reasons. Ironically, my turnover in the first year exceeded what I thought it would take me 3 years to achieve and this year was on track to have further increased on that figure.

The last 2 years have been amazing – I decided to start MMT back in May 2014 and the planning and implementation of a new business start up has taught me so much and given me an incredible sense of achievement. However, it has not been without its sacrifices as (particularly towards the end of 2015) I came very close to meeting myself coming up a down staircase. Somewhere in the region of 30 plus flights and delivering training all over the world sounds on the surface to be hugely glamorous but is in fact gruelling and (in the long term) unsustainable.

I have been presented with an opportunity that is simply too good to turn down. It’s the chance firstly and most importantly to continue to make a positive difference to business performance. However it also provides some other compelling reasons to make a change:

·      I will be living and working in the same city/area for the first time in 17 years

·      I get the chance to address my work/life balance and enjoy the new home which I’ve bought together with Nicola and keep work entirely separate from it

·      It’s the opportunity to shape the learner journeys for a global audience who represent iconic and ascending automotive brands

·      I’ll be able to go away on holiday and leave my phone behind!

So, its with a mixture of great excitement (tinged with a hint of sadness) that I’ve decided to park up MMT Limited from August and take on the role of Global Customer Experience Training Manager at Jaguar Land Rover. I’ve done a significant amount of work on behalf of JLR and taken one of the learner journeys right through from development, delivery of the pilot and (in June 2016) the Train The Trainer programme ahead of the global implementation. The brands excite me enormously and I’m looking forward to working for a business that is UK based and manufactures in the Midlands.

Finally, I’m proud of the fact I’ll be leaving a business that has no debt (and hopefully by August no debtors!) and in rude overall financial health. And that’s not a bad achievement!

Blogging All Over The World

A little over a year ago I visited my accountant for the first time and embarked on the first steps towards launching my own business – registering for VAT, setting up a Limited Company and a registered office and various other things that were utterly alien to me and quietly terrifying. Yesterday I visited him again clutching the fruits of my first year in business so that my accounts can be filed at Companies House for the financial year.

The new year is traditionally time for reflection and it is easy to forget the significant milestones from last year both professionally and personally – delivering my first training course in the Far East, extensive travel in Europe working with dealers to understand their training needs and then writing and delivering that training to a pan-European audience for a luxury automotive brand. In addition I wrote a global training programme for Service Advisors working for a premium brand that will be piloted in early 2016, and delivered successful programmes for emerging management talent for a global car, van, truck and bus manufacturer.

Other highlights included delivering management development programmes for dealer groups and importers and getting back to the grass roots of selling.

From a personal perspective I embarked on some fairly hard-core but vital personal improvement plans; as if the stress of starting a business wasn’t high enough I also decided (along with my long-suffering partner Nicola) to quit smoking in December 2014 with the help of the remarkable David Kilmurry (http://davidkilmurry.com). Following on from this we decided a few months later to improve our personal fitness levels and signed up with the equally remarkable Lee Stuart and joined www.gocommandobootcamp.co.uk which has proved to be a life-changing (and enhancing) experience. In October we decided to abstain from alcohol for one month in order to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support (a big ‘Thank You’ to everyone who donated).

So what relevance does this have to my business? Well, pretty much all of my work and teaching (whether the subject is managing people, customer expectations or sales) centres around the importance of achieving and maintaining high standards from both a business and personal perspective – It would be poor form to receive this message from someone who talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.

Are these objectives all now achieved? As with anything that’s worthwhile they all require hard work and constant focus – I’m still working towards my fitness goals and this will be a long-term commitment (you can’t magically drink a slimming drink and eat dust for 6 weeks and sustain weight loss or maintain fitness).

Reading this, you may have noticed that I’ve provided links to some of the people I’ve worked with this year. David Kilmurry is the man to go to for cognitive behavioural therapy, Nick and Jamie at Caralot ‘deliver the most enjoyable car buying experience you’ll ever have’ and Lee at Go Commando Bootcamp will get you fit (and do it with integrity and not try to sell you diet supplements.) In other words, they are specialists. It’s the same with the service that I offer; I specialise in developing and delivering training that improves personal behaviour, skills and business performance and, like getting and staying fit, is an on-going process. My long-term clients recognise that it isn’t a magic fix; it’s a commitment to continuous improvement. Have a great 2016!

Customer Service: Department or Mindset?

I’ve recently been carrying out some training in mainland Europe that has necessitated the use of a hire car in order for me to expediently and economically carry out my work. In this month’s blog I wanted to give you the benefit of my first-hand experience of some truly awful ‘customer service’ that I received from a global car rental company.

Firstly, some background. I chose the company because they are the preferred partners of the airline that I had booked my flight with and it was easier for me to book the hire car at the same time as the flight. I didn’t choose them because they were the cheapest; I chose them because of the convenience of booking.

I had an early morning flight from Birmingham, which arrived in Munich at 10 a.m. My plan was to collect the car and drive the 2 hours or so to my hotel, which would give me the opportunity to work at the hotel & prepare for my following day. I had contacted the hotel in advance of my arrival to ensure I was able to have an early check-in.

Forward-wind to my arrival in Munich. There were unbelievable queues at the hire car check in desks that appeared to be unique to this specific company. Competitor rental companies’ customers on the stations adjacent were being dealt with speedily and efficiently and turned around within minutes. I joined one of three queues being dealt by only three personnel.

In the interests of brevity I’ll cut to the chase – I waited 2 hours to been seen by a check-in agent (longer than the flight that had brought me from the UK). A totally inefficient staff member made their way between the ever-increasing queues offering insincere platitudes and luke-warm water to try to placate the furious customers.  I asked some simple questions amongst which was “If you know you have a high number of rentals why do you not have the resource to deal with them?” More mock empathy followed including “I know how you feel”. Trust me, you didn’t!

During my 2-hour wait I tweeted my dissatisfaction to the company and (some time later) received another insincere message via the medium of social media. Having eventually been served (?), I collected the keys, walked to the other side of the terminal building, located the car, plugged in the Garmin sat nav, figured out how to work it and proceeded to the exit barrier to discover the rental agent had given me an invalid ticket. I buzzed the operator on the barrier who informed me that I would have to go back to the main terminal because (and I quote) “This is not possible for me to open the barrier”. I then had to reverse the car, (with traffic queuing to get out behind me) abandon it in a space and walk back to the terminal. The queue was still huge. Needless to say, I wasn’t in the mood to queue any more.

Sometime later the company tweeted again asking how my rental was going after the delay. I told them about the hassle that I had had (in less than 140 characters), to which they replied: “We’re very sorry for all the trouble. Please let us know if we can assist during your rental”. Assist?! In which way, exactly? I tweeted back, informing them that I travel extensively and would never use them again. Their response? Nothing. Yep, nothing!

Now, I spent many years working in a customer-facing role and I’ve made mistakes. I’ve not ever deliberately done it but in the past I’ve upset customers and/or delivered a less than stellar customer experience. However, when it has happened I’ve recognised it, apologised (genuinely) and where possible ensured that processes and systems have been reviewed, changed or enhanced to eliminate or at least reduce the possibility of the same thing happening again. I was also taught to ask the customer what they wanted me (or the organisation) to do in order to remedy the situation.

Customer service is a mind-set, not a department. This rental company have ensured that I will never, ever give them my custom again because of their insincerity, dismal processes and superficial ‘customer care’. The ironic postscript to this story is I paid to rent an Opel Astra but was actually given a Mini Cooper S - extraordinary fun to drive and quick. In normal circumstances I would have been raving about the experience… But we all know the power of social media & blogs and my negative experience dwarfed the unintentional upgrade.

Any business that is serious about customer service invests in it. It invests in processes, training and the leadership of the business displays role-model customer-centric behaviour. I wish this company luck, because they have strong competition and believe me, the competition do it better. Ask any of the competitor’s customers at Munich airport on the morning of August 12th 2015.

Your People: Expense or Asset?

June 2015 was a really diverse and interesting month; I completed projects ranging from writing & developing a global Service Advisor programme, management & leadership training, in-dealership coaching through to formal sales training for teams. The topic I’m focussing on for today’s blog is management & leadership.

I conducted several courses in June on this subject and the delegates were really diverse in terms of their individual backgrounds and levels of experience; however, one thing bound them all together in terms of a common theme. I asked all of them a simple question: ‘How many of you had a conversation with your line manager prior to this course to discuss your learning goals and how these goals can be translated into the workplace when you return?’ The answer was none.

So, in summary, every manager who lost a member of their team for 2 or 3 days during the week to attend the training had no idea what the outputs of the learning looked like. Making the assumption that most managers understand that the definition of a manager is to ‘achieve organisational objectives with and through the efforts of other people’, that is astonishing. Put simply, those managers are being paid to deliver results in their business area without having any real idea about how the skills and knowledge of their team members are being developed.

Part of the course content looks at what makes a great leader. We explored lots of areas including integrity, inspiring trust, clear communication of corporate strategy etc. The topic area that really interested me was the one relating to consistency. Many businesses make bold proclamations about how much they value their people above everything else and that their staff are their greatest asset whilst at the same time referring to them as an ‘expense’ or a ‘cost centre’. Well, they can’t be both!

If you are a manager and leader of people and you’ve read up to this point then promise me one thing: that you will take a genuine and proactive interest in the learning and development of your team from this point onwards because this will unlock the acceleration of the business performance which you will ultimately be rewarded for.

As a final point, I’ll also reveal another facet of what makes a great leader – they are instrumental in unleashing the talent within their teams and that can’t be done unless they take joint ownership of their people’s personal development.

Lessons Learned So Far

Today’s blog is written on the eve of completion of my first trimester in business. The first 4 months have been an amazing range of experiences and emotions, from the terror/hysteria of setting off for my first training assignment under my own steam, the excitement and deep satisfaction of working in Germany & the UK with some really high-potential individuals helping to develop their careers to developing a global training solution for an ascending manufacturer that I’m really, really proud of.

So what have I learned so far? Firstly, keep your nerve and believe in yourself and the reasons why you made to move in the first place. It is truly horrifying when the safety net of a magic payment into your bank account at the end of every month disappears immediately and even more so when you realise that (as standard business practise) some of your clients will pay you 2 months after the work is completed. However, when the ball finally starts to roll it is an incredible feeling knowing that it’s your business and your revenue. My advice to anyone who wants to embark on the same journey is to ensure that you have enough cash flow to endure the first few months.

I’ve also learned that when you work for a business as an employee in a Training & Development role and organisational plans and timings change, it’s not a big deal. When you run your own business as a supplier and those plans change you have to be flexible, resilient and most importantly not worry about the holes that appear unexpectedly in your diary. If you network, prospect and keep lines of communication open then the work will be there to replace it.

I’m about to take 2-week holiday that will give me some time to reflect on what I’ve achieved and learned and also clearly establish my goals for the future. Whilst I’m away, aside from the mandatory lightweight sunbed reading, I’m also going to be reacquainting myself with Stephen Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ and a new book, recommended by a client; James Borg’s ‘Mind Power’. I have very little time to invest in my own personal development so I need to take the opportunities where I can.

So what does the rest of 2015 hold in store? Some exciting irons are currently warming in the fire (whilst being mindful of organisational plans changing!) that hopefully will involve some really interesting, challenging and culturally diverse work along with my existing portfolio of clients. I regularly tweet (@MattMolland) and update my business Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/mattmollandtraining) with developments so please follow me or ‘Like’ if you wish.

A couple of final points on what I’ve learned so far: As a facilitator whose primary function is to challenge, inspire, motivate others and demonstrate role-model behaviour, you have to walk the walk. Since starting the business I enlisted the help of the amazing David Kilmurry (http://davidkilmurry.com) and ended my relationship with tobacco and recently joined Bootcamp and committed to doing 3 hours hard-core physical exercise per week during evenings and weekends with a group run by an ex Royal Marine Commando with a target of losing two stone in weight by Q4. Anyone who knows me will know that is a big challenge for me but one that I fully intend on succeeding at.

Lastly, all of this has been done with the help and rock solid support of my partner, Nicola Green, who has been instrumental in the success of the business so far. So a big ‘thank you’ from me; the first cocktails are on me on holiday!

Leadership Lessons – How Training Made The World Safer

Jon Proctor - http://www.airlinefan.com/airline-photos/1345298/Eastern-Air-Lines/Lockheed/L-1011-TriStar/N310EA/

Despite recent well-publicised tragedies, air travel still remains by far the safest mode of transport. Air safety is no happy fluke; it exists in a large part due to rigid processes that are reviewed and improved regularly and on-going training of all of those employed within the industry. It is this type of training that today’s blog focuses on.

At 11.42 p.m. on December 29th 1972, an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed Tristar jet Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 101 people. 75 people survived the crash. The circumstances that surrounded this disaster centre on the leadership qualities of Captain Robert Albin 'Bob' Loft, 55, who was in charge of the aircraft.

On approaching Miami International Airport, the crew lowered the landing gear. After lowering the gear, the First Officer noticed that the landing gear indicator, a green light identifying that the nose gear is properly locked in the "down" position, did not illuminate. This was later discovered to be due to a burned out light bulb.

What then occurred on the flight deck caused the crash; the Captain became obsessed with the reasons why the bulb had not illuminated and drew the rest of the flight crew into the investigation, becoming pre-occupied with the failure of a £2.50 bulb. During this time, the autopilot had inadvertently been switched off and none of the crew had noticed the fact that the aircraft was slowly descending.

The ‘black box’ flight recorders enabled accident investigators to piece together what had happened. The National Transportation Safety Board’s report concluded that pilot error was the cause of the accident, specifically: "the failure of the flight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final four minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed."

This accident was the first that provided the catalyst for change in the airline industry. Following a similar accident involving a United Airlines DC8 in late 1978, the industry began to implement ‘CRM’ training (Crew Resource Management or Cockpit Resource Management). The training focused on culture change (moving away from the traditional autocratic, authoritarian Captain’s role), communication, assertiveness and teamwork. In addition, topics such as problem solving, and interpersonal skills were integrated into the training. United Airlines then included cabin crew staff into the training and by 1990 it had become a global standard.

It is of course tragic that it takes an event that causes a loss of life to drive change. In most modern businesses, because the stakes aren’t as high, poor leadership decisions and behaviour often take place because the leader has no awareness of the impact of their behaviour on other people and has not undertaken enough (or any) personal development in the sort of topics covered in CRM training. How many employees still have to endure a leadership style that equates to obsessing about a £2.50 light bulb? The airline industry has in recent years been at the forefront of human behavioural training; because of this incidents like Flight 401 are happily very uncommon. Wouldn’t it be amazing if all businesses adopted the same approach to developing their employees and managers?

When Prospecting Goes Wrong

One of the most common objections raised by business leaders when considering making a commitment to any type of training is cost. Careful analysis of historical cost cutting in times of austerity will almost always show the training budget was the first to suffer (along with marketing) and even when the economic ‘feel-good factor’ returns, many are nervous about spending money on the development of their most precious asset – People.

In many of my training programmes we discuss the ‘P’s: Process, Premises, Product and People. The reality of today’s market place is that an ever-increasing number of companies are jostling for space in an already crowded arena. Assuming that they can’t influence the products they sell or where their business trades from, the ONLY discernable competitive advantage that these businesses have control over is the knowledge, skill and attitude of their people and their ability to deliver a world-class experience for their customers. 

Incredibly some businesses, despite record sales volumes and profit, will still hesitate to invest in their people. Why is that? Well, when times are good and the orders are rolling in many salespeople’s bad habits, a lack of management control of the process and delivery of an inconsistent customer experience go unnoticed or ignored; only when the market contracts and times get tough are these weaknesses exposed and its often too late to do something to stop the inevitable from happening.

All of this brings me onto the subject of today’s blog: Prospecting.  I wanted to share this example of prospecting with you. To give you the background into it, the recipient visited a dealership and enquired on a vehicle. Depressingly (yet unsurprisingly), the prospect was never followed up until now, over 18 months later. I’ve hidden the name of the dealer, the brand and the sales executive because those details aren’t relevant but I haven’t altered the grammar or structure of the email. It is also worth noting was that is was sent in Arial Bold 16 font in a fetching shade of Doom Blue. The content of the email that the prospect received is below:

Hello Ms *****, you made an enquiry on a new ***** last year, as we are now the new ***** dealer in Milton Keynes. The email is to update our records did you purchase a car, and did you visit a showroom? Could you please email or call on 01908xxxxxxxxx

Kind Regards

*******

Customer support assistant

Milton Keynes ***********

A lack of training, process and management control is plainly apparent in this piece of misguided customer communication. Before we all leap to condemn our hapless ‘Customer support assistant’ (sic) we must first ask what the manager is doing. A Sales Manager’s responsibility is, amongst many other things, to manage enquiries and this should apply equally to prospecting.  Therefore, in approximately 50 ill-constructed and grammatically inept words, this retailer has resolutely failed to re-engage with the customer and in all probability just confirmed to the customer that it was the right decision not to choose that particular brand or retailer. But at least they made some good savings from the training budget.

31st January 2015: “There’s No Such Thing As Bad Profit”

I’m a big fan of BBC TV’s ‘The Apprentice’. Although not everyone’s cup of tea, Lord Sugar is hugely charismatic and really does appear to have a passion for developing raw business talent. During the last series one of the contestants, James Hill, proclaimed that there was “no such thing as bad profit”. Which brings me onto the subject of this blog.

I currently have a small number of clients that I work with directly. They tell me what the learning outcomes and business improvements required are and I will produce and deliver a measurable training solution. So far, so simple; however these business relationships are finite and although I try to make sure I’m the first on their list when they are thinking about training and development of people there will naturally be periods of inactivity and that’s when I need to be ‘doing other stuff’.

‘Other stuff’ in my world is delivering training on behalf of another business that has won the work from a client and will, from time to time, require associate partners to work for them when their capability is stretched. The golden rules are to respect that the client is not yours and to represent the company you are working for with the utmost professionalism (the same as if the client was your own). Secondly, you must accept that the material that you are asked to deliver is not yours, therefore regardless of your personal opinion about how it could be enhanced, improved or changed you must respect the fact that it isn’t yours and you need to deliver what has been asked.

Which leads to my current dilemma. I have been asked to complete some work as an associate therefore I spent some time studying the material I have to deliver in detail. The upshot is I’m not comfortable. I’m not comfortable with the quality of the material and I’m not comfortable with the depth of knowledge required of the brand and it’s strategic direction because I don’t currently have it.

So there’s my dilemma: Is there such thing as bad profit? I could simply deliver the training on a wing and a prayer and take payment, knowing that I’ve produced work that is way, way below my personal, professional and ethical standards. Or, I could politely decline the business leaving me with my integrity intact but a reduced cash-flow. It’s also important to acknowledge my business is new; can I afford to turn down work so early into its existence?

My conclusion is that I’ve written to the company that I’ll be working for asking for some in-depth ‘T3’ (Train the Trainer) time before I’m happy to commit. I’ll let you know what the outcome is. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you would do in this situation?

"All You Touch & All You See" - January 2015

After leaving the cosy familiarity of a business and a brand that I was truly enchanted with, my first month of trading was always going to be a very different experience. As January draws to a close I feel that this is a good time to reflect on my journey so far and introduce my first blog. I use the word 'journey' quite deliberately because I don't think there will ever be a destination!

I made the decision to start my own business based on many factors; the loss of my Dad back in May 2014 brought a very sharp focus on the fact that despite what we tell ourselves, we aren't going to be here forever and I had the overwhelming need to challenge and push myself and venture way, way outside of my comfort zone. In the words of Roger Waters: "All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be". Other forces were also in effect - a change in business strategy meant that rather than being out in the retailers every day and enjoying the variety of different training challenges I instead had a daily return journey from Coventry to Milton Keynes (enduring 104 miles of misery on the A45 and M1) that began to make my soul weep. I also realised that there were no immediate opportunities available for me to develop my career. So, in June 2014 I resigned. Mercedes-Benz were fantastic and allowed me to stay until the end of the year (working part-time from September onwards) and I began to realise the enormity of the task.

I need to start by saying that up until now I have never been anything other than an employee, therefore everything I've done thus far regarding the set-up of the business has been by either intuition, trial & error or relying on counsel from those around me that I trust implicitly. So I began the list and between September and December 2014 I had to build it all from scratch:

• Design & build a website, organise domain names & email addresses.
• Employ the services of a professional accountancy business to enable me to trade in the most cost effective way (and to look after my accounts, which I have no aptitude in!)
• Draw up a list of prospects and relentlessly pursue (in a very customer-focused way!) each one until I achieved face-to-face meetings so that I could talk about my unique proposition.
• Organise a multitude of insurance to cover my potential liabilities.
• Invest significantly in I.T hardware and software in order to be efficient and credible with my clients (I can't overstate the joy that using a MacBook Pro has brought me rather than enduring a joyless Windows machine that regularly rewarded me with prolonged periods of 'the spinning blue circle of neg', countless updates and 20 minute login/logoff procedure)
• Get myself mobile (and I couldn't scrimp or compromise - I needed a comfortable, economical and reliable solution). Anyone out there who enjoys the benefit of a company ECO car scheme should never take it for granted. Having to buy and run your own car brings an appreciation of the things you used to have!

There were many other things that needed to be put in place but you get the picture. When I returned my car and all of my equipment to Mercedes-Benz on December 30th it was with mixed feelings but an overriding sense of excitement and pending adventure. There are many people that I should thank for helping me thus far; Jon Harrison at the One Black Bear Agency  for his kindness and generosity in building an amazing (and user-friendly) website, Andy Todd for providing great I.T advice and support from the other side of the world, Andy Ludford, Lauren Twigg & the team at Mercedes-Benz Tamworth for making my car purchase painless, my former colleagues in HR & the People Development Team at Mercedes-Benz UK Rachael Edwards, Becky Roberts and Anna Snelling for their support, encouragement and (significant) help with my venture and not least my long-suffering partner Nicola Green for limitless amounts of support, encouragement and patience.

In addition, I should also thank my very first clients who had enough belief in me to employ my services.

How has the first month been? I've enjoyed two separate (and massively rewarding) visits to Stuttgart to deliver training for emerging talent, I have written and delivered a General Managers' Sales Process Workshop and been involved in consulting with a manufacturer regarding their global aftersales training offering. I have also written an 8-day talent development programme for a Dealer Group that has had approval to commence in April. There are lots of other projects, plans and meetings scheduled for the coming months that I will update via this blog as and when I can.

It has been daunting to have to make the financial investment that I have done without seeing any real return so far (although January has been an amazing month in terms of revenue for a new-start business, you have to relax into the fact that with some clients there is naturally a significant time lag between delivering the work and being paid for it). However, the projections for the rest of the year are very, very positive and will only improve further once the plans mentioned earlier come to fruition.

In summary, the journey has just started. This decision was never about money and despite my earlier comment regarding the lack of opportunity for me to progress my career as an employee, I was never unhappy; I was very well looked after and will always hold Mercedes-Benz in the very highest regard as an employer (I now own and drive their product and am looking forward to continuing our working relationship). Moreover, this was about me embarking on a journey that would help me to get back to doing what I do best: writing and delivering thought-provoking, impactful and motivational training that makes a tangible and positive difference to behaviour and business performance. So far, it has gone to plan!