Repositionally Positioned

Back in 1995, I was sitting in my top floor corner office in Dearborn, MI. I remember it as a day of incredible entitlement. After all, I had 23 years with Ford Motor Company. A dozen people were working for me and we were very busy. I thought my job was invaluable. It has been a good year. Work just another 10 years, and retirement would arrive with a nice pension and full paid health benefits. I was amazed at how many of my friends moved into different careers and into different job avenues all the time. I could not understand that. Not me, Vogel was staying until they took the Ford keys out of his cold hands. A Ford guy is forever.

As you might imagine, 16 years later, I am not retiring any time soon and I am not at Ford any longer. The economy got me. It got me good. In less than five years after that eventful day, we left Michigan and moved to a little bedroom town of just under 9,800 people, Apex, North Carolina. After 25 years began again.

My next 10 years were spent in retail automotive with the Hendrick Automotive Group, eventually making it to the Director of Training and Recruiting for the Cary Auto Mall. Back in September, 2008, the car business fall off the economic ledge and every dealership in America was bleeding buckets of money. I was again sitting in my corner office at Cadillac, this time surrounded by cherry wood, marble, and sitting in a cushy leather chair. I had it good. I had just finished the week training a very large class of new salespeople. Hendrick was forever. I was invaluable. The only one in the entire complex that did what I did, there was that sense of security. Staying until they took the HUMMER Alpha keys out of my cold hands, I was a Hendrick guy forever. BUT, the economy got me good again.

I started VTR Consulting LLC the day after I left Hendrick and took my training and recruiting into microbusiness-ville.

I was confident; but the economic situation got very ugly. I soon found out that training retail sales in a bad economy is like selling Alaskan ice cubes in Juneau. There is still a market. Most of the time people can go scoop their own ice off their property.

Then came very long days going door to door for business. No one would buy the training. I was getting infrequent customers and inconsistent income. The economy got did it again.

In February 2010, I started over. I spent a year doing commercial insurance. It was a challenge to start a new endeavor without a great list of leads. Trying to blend training with insurance was tough. I went back to training full-time.

This past July, I decided to go back to a core passion. Half of my career at Ford involved publications; I was a division editor doing an array of writing. With 300 blogs out there in e-space over the past two years, I decided to throw all my marbles into content writing. I created a division of VTR Consulting LLC and called it I.M.U. Social Media.

I am now writing social media content for 16 clients plus Dale Carnegie in six states and the Netherlands. Money is finally coming into the house on a regular basis. I am writing until they take the Vibe keys out of my cold hands. I am an IMU guy.

There are multiple lessons from this insanity that we can call repositioning. The first is that "stuff happens". Always be ready. Keep your reputation, your sense of honesty, and your integrity sound. Your reputation is really all you have in life you can be assured is yours.. Get your education. No one can take college degrees away from you. Be flexible. Be positive. Find people who you can collaborate with as you grow. You cannot do it all alone. And finally, understand you have no clue where you will be ten years from now, a week from now, or even tomorrow. Be prepared to reinvent yourself at anytime. Remember when “stuff” happens, step forward and around it. And keep the faith. The economy is S L O W L Y changing for the better again. If it gets us this time, we all will be ready.

www.vtrconsultingllc
www.imusocialmedia.com
info@IMUSocialMedia.com
www.facebook.com/imusocialmedia.com
919 533 9069
Photo Credit: mybwithsbp.wordpress.com

Identity Message Understanding IMU

We are up and running! http://www.IMUSocialMedia.com

VTR Consulting LLC's newest division!

info@imusocialmedia.com

Social Media FUN!!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!

IMU Social Media is now a division of VTR Consulting.com and partners with three other companies to bring full-service business and personal social media to fruition for all organizations who want visibility and brand awareness!

info@imusocialmedia.com
919 533 9069

Idle Thoughts Return

Apex Command 7-8-11

My mind is racing idly… slow but sure… here are the current event thoughts of the day.

Saw a bumper sticker yesterday that read, "Stop Crime! Vote Politicians Out after the First Term."

The hybrid vehicles are just too quiet. Can't we put cow bells on their antennas?

Casey Anthony... WOW!!!! No wonder the jury never took notes.

Gas prices are tied directly to the economy. When one goes UP, the other goes DOWN and vice-versa.

Cottage Cheese this morning at Lowes... $3.99... Must be Angus Milk.

Consumer confidence is down. Unemployment up. This all started back in August 2007, and clobbered all of us in September, 2008. It is now 2011... Maybe we all should hose Congress and the White House down with Bactine. What? Bactine is pain relieving spray. Washington seems to thrive on the golf course though. Speaking of golf...

O.J. Simpson... WOW!!! No wonder the jury never took notes.

Our Ford Fusion Sport, anti-hybrid, 3.5 V-6 270 HP, got almost 31 mpg on the highway and it was stock full of people and stuff. Think about it. You do not have to drive a butter dish. At least those things look like a butter dish. Remember that Detroit hybrid sheet metal is good looking.

Pull your map out. The Republic of South Sudan is the newest world nation. Their favorite beverage of choice is White Bull Beer; I like that! Congrats Juba!

The News of the World, after it unofficially changed its name to BRUISE of the World, is a tabloid no more. Rumor is that it could become a coloring book. I have my box of 16 Crayolas ready!

Horrible Bosses looks like a great flick. Allegedly, it has to be a documentary :).

Groupon is mad at the Groupon Clones... Personally I love TWONGO!

Almost 20% of North Carolina is on food stamps. That is the population of Raleigh and Charlotte. Thought of that as I bought my Forever Stamps at the Apex PO this morning.

Have a great weekend! Buy some cottage cheese!!!

The Business Lessons of Weinergate

The Business Lessons of Weinergate
1.If you are not humble, you will tumble. Often our ego is the biggest enemy in our personal and professional decisions.
2.There is a big FAT OH-OH in the middle of Google. Everything you do in and on the Web and Social Media is non- erasable and can and will come back to haunt both you and your business.
3.Be kind and nice to everyone in every situation; you will need friends, fans, and family if you screw up big time.
4.Be competitive in everything you do; but being “in your face” never sheds a good light on you or your brand.
5.This is a visual world first, a written one second. Go to TMZ if you do not believe me. Put only G and PG videos on your site, Facebook page, Twitter account, and blog. Pictures do tell stories.
6.Take care of your best friend. We all have one. No surprises.
7.You are what you say, both good and bad.
8.You are what you do, both good and bad.
9.Reaping and sowing go hand-in-hand.
10.In an apology, never forget honesty. If you fib, it can get very complicated.
11.If you must lie to get out of a situation, walk away first. Keep your mouth shut second.
12.Henry Ford II once said, “never explain; never complain.” Believe his advice.

Living Large in Small Business

Double dip recession, consumer dissatisfaction, high gas prices, jittery Wall Street, job creation, lack of growth, real estate concerns, the federal debt ceiling; what is a small business to do with the challenges of 2011 all over the news and the web?

The answer that separates the wheat from the chaff is what is has always been, take care of your employees and have the best customer service in your industry. The best restaurants have the best service. The best retail stores have the most friendly and helpful staff. You can get a great burger in a number of restaurants in town, but how they serve it is incredibly important. A friendly smile is often better than fries.

It is that simple. Great service separates businesses in only two categories. Those businesses that get it and those businesses that do not.

Do an employee/ customer audit this week by simply watching people. Are your employees listening? Are they empowered? How is their attitude? How do they convert problems of any and every size into major opportunities? Now, how do your customers react? Are they enjoying the experience? How do your customers respond when your manager, or you the owner, visit with them for a minute and thank them for being there? How many of your customers know you by your first name?

Small business achieves large rewards when they put both the customer and the front-line first!

VTR Consulting LLC is on a mission. We want to make every business the largest it can be by focusing on the little things. In this thrifty economy, you want to say, “Be my guest!” and mean it.

Our customer service sessions start as low as $129.00; the classes, ranging from Listening to your Customer to our full menu of service ingredients with short sessions on Positive Attitude, Empowerment and Problem Solving, are upbeat and interactive. If you do not like the training, we will not take your money. That is the VTR Guarantee! Remember, we are after all, at your service!

Call us today at 919 533 9069. Mention you are small business and we will do your first one hour session for just $99!

Happy Service is Happy Selling!
Jim Vogel
www.vtrconsulting.com
info@vtrconsulting.com

The Customer Service Jekyll and Hyde

All of us are familiar with The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, the riveting, classic novella about split personality. It was wonderfully and vividly written by Robert Louis Stevenson in the 1880’s. It was THE read back then and by many estimations, his most famous work.

But this is a “blog-ella” about the Jekyll and Hyde of customer service. Last Thursday night, we went to a local restaurant where the employees must have been trained and nurtured by Hyde University. Crabby and ignoring, every employee shared the same common temperament, indifference with a touch of rudeness. They did not seem to want to be there, especially on a day filled with terribly heavy rains. There were not many patrons in the establishment because of the storms but we probably felt like most of their customers that day, we were more than willing to go outside without an umbrella for relief. It was our first visit and our last visit.

On Sunday, we went to another local restaurant; this one was also for the first time. This time the staff had to have been personally trained by Dr. Jekyll himself. Upbeat and engaging, not only did every employee exceed expectations, they all actually enjoyed their work. When they ran out of a beverage a customer had requested, they substituted another that was more expensive. We even received a free appetizer just to try it, and we truly enjoyed the experience from beginning to end. We certainly will be back. We are now raving verbal billboards of what the culture of this establishment is all about. It is a fairly new restaurant and is quickly building the reputation for excellence. It just took one visit to hook us forever.

How can one restaurant be so different from another? The answer is very simple. It is all about people. If you find upbeat, friendly people who love to put in a day’s work, you will attract the best customers as well. These customers are the ones who, in a thrifty economy, will be back time and again. People pay for a good time and they pay for outstanding service and entertainment. Major League Baseball tickets are not cheap, but raving fans go and spend money regardless of the economic times. Las Vegas is still an experience that is worth every dime; even if you lose a couple of heavies at the table.

Recruiting, interviewing, on-boarding, and training new employees are expensive payables. A bad employee, there for the money only, is a high cost to pay over and above the monies spent to hire.

Businesses who do not vet their perspective employees, or just hire numbers and take the losses as just part of business expense, are making a mistake that affects the future of the companies they run.

We have so many people out of work. We have much more than the public unemployment percentages. We do not include the under-employed and the people who just give up and stop looking for employment. These are good people. What a pool of talent to have in these times. Find the good ones and hire them.

The successful Jekyll business has no trouble finding good people. Word gets around. People stay and grow. When there is a single opening, it is filled quickly. When Jekyll employees need to attend to a personal issue, they can. And these employees never feel guilty, when they are working, the customers have fun; customers enjoy. Everyone shares in the avenue of success.

Jekyll Service is special. Here are some ingredients: active listening, reactivity, great attitude, problem-solving skills, positive focus, expertise and excellent solution finders.

The Hyde businesses operate with unhappy indentured workers who feel trapped, yet the fear of escape to the unknown is greater than the misery of the day-to-day grind. In a strong economy, the workers leave for better opportunity, but the times are still tough. Often too tough to leave.

Will Hyde companies eventually ”jekyll” themselves into the environment of empowerment and contribution? Some might, maybe, but not all transition to, or move to customer service excellence.

Customer Service is doing the right thing at the right time. Not everyone wants to do it.