By Jim Cathcart

In day to day business dealings we have many “Touch Points” of contact with our customers. If you are like the Four Seasons Hotels and have 500 or so employees serving guests in around 270 rooms then you will experience nearly 5,000 direct contacts with your customers each day. The better you manage each of those touch points, the better and more profitable your customer relations will be.

Don’t let the large numbers intimidate you. Out of the 5,000 touch points mentioned above there are many fewer critical contacts that we might isolate into the category of “Trust Points.”
Trust Points are the customer interactions where the quality and outcome have greater implications than other points of contact. For example: the processing of someone’s bill is a trust point, whereas the handling of their luggage is a touch point.

Here’s another way to think of it. A typical golf ball has about 336 impressions on its surface. Each of these is near perfect if the ball is to be accepted for retail sale. (Otherwise it is rejected and used as a practice ball.) Of those 336 impressions only a few of them are in the strike zone where a golf club impacts the ball. Which impressions depends on how you place the ball on the tee.

Once the ball has been teed up there is a special section of the ball, known as “the sweet spot”, where the club must hit the ball in order to send it where you want it to go. If you strike any other portion of the ball it will go astray.

The same dynamic is true with business. Of all the many touch points with your customers there are a few in each of your dealings with them that become “trust points”. In these moments of contact trust is either built or reduced. Consider the service call touch point where a customer is telling you what his problem is. If he feels you are listening to him and genuinely seeking to understand his concerns, then trust increases. If he gets the impression that you aren’t listening fully then trust erodes.

Last week I took my wife’s car to the dealer for service. When the rep told me about an expensive repair that was needed I asked if there was a less expensive way to deal with it. He simply said, “It’s an expensive car.” Trust dropped in that moment. He didn’t listen to and care about my concerns, he simply reasserted his price. Next time, I’ll be going to another dealer for service. It doesn’t take many experiences like this before you start to feel the financial loss from poorly handled touch points.

To address this issue and increase the High Value Relationships for your own business here is where to start:

1. Identify all of the touch points where your business makes contact with the customers.
2. Isolate the ones that are potential “trust points”.
3. Develop a standard procedure for assuring that the trust points are always handled with care.
4. Hold yourself to high standards of quality on all touch points.
5. Teach your people that all relationships are assets and should be managed as such.
6. Measure, monitor and evaluate your customer contact experiences constantly.
7. Remember, things that are measured tend to improve. But only if you analyze and discuss what you have measured.

Check my other blog http://relationshipintelligenceblog.com for frequent articles on this topic.
If you need help, please give me a call or email.
Jim Cathcart 805 777 3477 or jim @ cathcart dot com.

by Jim Cathcart

Every relationship has a value. Some low, some high. Some financial, some emotional, some social, etc.
When you operate with a high level of “Relationship Intelligence” ™, you look at all of your relationships as assets and treat them as valuable items.

The value of a relationship is defined by your Desired Outcomes. Once you determine what you want to achieve then your relationships take on new meaning. Some relate to the Desired Outcome and some do not. Those that contribute to your cause need to be nurtured and managed in the ways that optimize their value. The others can be addressed based upon their importance in other areas.

Step one in creating and growing High-Value Relationships ™ is: Become Conscious of your existing relationships and re-examine them with respect to your Desired Outcomes (Goals.)
Step two is: Be more intentional in how you cultivate each relationship. Keep your goals in mind and guide the relationships toward that Desired Outcome.
Step three is: Be relentless in staying the course toward your goals. Keep cultivating more and better connections with everyone in your circle of acquaintances.
Finally, Step four is: Be yourself. Don’t try to make your life a series of manipulations of others. Instead build genuine, trust filled connections with people you enjoy and respect.

The payoff from all of this will be an amazing matrix of powerful friendships that increase your success potential in unexpected ways.

For more on this read the earlier posts here on Relationship Intelligence ™.
Jim Cathcart www.cathcart.com

by Jim Cathcart

This morning I was invited to speak on the subject of “working hard and still having a balanced life.”
Now there’s a subject I could speak and write about all day long!

Consider for a moment this question: How Fully Are You Living?

You and I have the capacity to live in many ways: mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, socially, professionally and with our family. Each of these areas requires its own time and attention.

When we neglect or ignore any aspect of our life, after a while it will interrupt the rest of our life to get its needed attention. For example: if you don’t take care of your body, it will break down in injury or illness until it gets the attention required. The same applies to your relationships, your finances and even your intellectual development. When you don’t live fully in that part of your life, it tends to interfere with the other parts of your life.

So our “job” in life is to live as fully as we are reasonably capable of in all life areas.
A way that I’m fond of keeping this on my radar screen is by doing an occasional review of each area and measuring how fully I’ve been living in that area lately. I ask “how fully have I been living in this part of my life lately?” I look at each area and then reflect on recent weeks to determine the appropriate rating. I use a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being highest.

Here’s how it looks:
Mental- 7, I’ve been reading, viewing historical and philosophical shows on TV, discussing important ideas and concepts with respected friends, and journaling my ideas plus reviewing former notes.
Physical- 9, I work out six days a week and two of the workouts are trail running uphill in the mountains near my home with a group of competitive hiker friends. I eat healthy food and don’t smoke.
Family- 8, I’ve spent quality time with my wife each week and with my son’s family and grandchildren. I’ve called Mom every few days and communicated with all of them regularly.
Social- 8, We have been active in community events, spent quality time with friends and entertained in our home often.
Spiritual- 4, I have not attended church recently nor read scriptures or had faith related discussions with many others. (Needs work now.)
Financial- 6, Though I keep good records and manage my money carefully, I have not done any active planning and research in recent weeks. (Plan for a comprehensive review and take action.)
Career- 10, I’ve attended seminars and speeches, collaborated with colleagues, written many articles, done new research, delivered speeches and seminars in several states and explored new opportunities almost daily.
Emotional- 9, I’ve played guitar and sang for 1/2 hour daily, learned a dozen new songs, been to movies and concerts, lectures and plays, told jokes and laughed with friends, relaxed and savored the beauty of Spring all around me and attended my grandson’s ball game. There is much joy in my life.

Now it may be obvious to you that I have much room for improvement but I hope it is also obvious that I’m conscious and intentional in the way that I live my life. I don’t let much time pass before I address each area of life to assure that I’m living with balance and variety. How about you? What numbers would you place in each area and why?

That was step one; the evaluation of your current reality. How you are living right now. For step two you will need to make plans and prepare to take actions. This begins with a new question:
What do you want?

Until you know what your Desired Outcomes are you won’t be ready to begin. Take some time right now and ask yourself what results you’d like to see in each of these life areas. What can you reasonably expect yourself to do to address each area more effectively? Describe in writing what you can do to expand your numbers for the better.

When you know what you want in each area the best way to begin is by selecting the first steps. Commit to step one and your journey is underway! I call these your “Minimum Daily Actions.”
You determine the least you could do to begin building momentum toward ideal actions and results.
For Mental improvement you might simply read one page of a book each day. That should get you started and you’ll likely read much more once you’ve begun.
For Physical, you might simply commit to putting on your workout clothes daily. Once dressed your chances of exercising will increase a hundredfold.
For Family, you could commit to asking each family member one question today and then fully listen to their answers.
You get the picture. Which ever area you are focusing on, focus fully and commit to begin action.
The reason most people live unbalanced lives is because they don’t manage their attention and then their actions intentionally.
Be more intentional in everything you do. Start by becoming more conscious of what you currently do or don’t do, then select your Desired Outcomes and commit to taking Minimum Daily Actions to get things rolling. What you will find is that your life becomes immensely more satisfying and your sense of control over your life will grow.
You were put here with a world of potential, please use all of it so that the rest of us can benefit from your contributions as you do from ours.
In the Spirit of Growth,
Jim

PS if you’d like more on this topic, check out my book The Acorn Principle in print or audio CD.

by Jim Cathcart

The Acorn E-Letter is my weekly message that goes out to thousands worldwide who have signed up for the free subscription via my website Cathcart.com. In it I share a simple thought for the week along with some comments or a short story.

But for those that want access to more of my insights and discoveries, my Blogs are the best place to go. I currently have three Blogs, each with a different purpose.

• This Blog (Jim Cathcart’s Blog on Blogspot.com) is my “Personal” Blog. In it I share my news and views and interests and more. It contains a mixture of information on everything from Leadership to Motorcycling to Mountain Hiking to Motivation to California Wild Fires. Please subscribe to the RSS or Atom feed if you are interested in this and leave me your comments from time to time. I like staying connected with you.

• My Relationship Intelligence Blog (on WordPress.com) is the Blog for information on my books, research, professional development tips, motivational ideas and sales techniques. I’m writing a new book on this topic and much of it will be posted here for your review. I’d love your feedback.

• Blog number three is my High-Value Relationships Blog (on blogspot.com). This one overlaps a bit with my Relationship Intelligence Blog mentioned above but it differs in that it focuses specifically on How to create and grow High Value Relationships. I’d like for it to be a forum for all of us to explore the best ways to turn our relationships into personal and financial assets.

• I’ve created an obscure fourth Blog on political topics at TownHall.com, the title of that Blog is “Thinking it Through“.

All of these are simply my attempts to offer you as much value as I can. I’m listed on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, SynergyStreet, Plaxo, YouTube and much more. Where practical I’ve added resources you can access via those networks.
When you like what you see, just sign up for the RSS feed to “subscribe” to future posts and anytime you feel it’s too much for your inbox, just unsubscribe with a couple of easy clicks.
My goal is to have a large community of eager learners and active thinkers who would like to make the world a better place. Let’s get and stay connnected. Please let me know how to be of the most value to you.

And watch my posts for occasional freebies like the current $9.95 ebooks that are free through my recent post on my Relationship Intelligence Blog.

Why Is It So Important For Audience Members To Get A Book?
By Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE

In 31 years of full-time speaking, I’ve accumulated hundreds of hats, T-shirts, vinyl folders, carry bags, pens, and luggage tags. Like many convention goers, I often give these to friends, coworkers, charities and relatives as they accumulate.
Meeting planners spend thousands of dollars at each meeting on these specialty items in hopes of:

• Pleasing the recipients
• Driving home their theme (“team work”, “quality”, “doing fine in 2009”, etc…)
• Building loyalty and gratitude among the recipients

Trouble is … it rarely works.

Out of over 2,600 conventions I’ve attended, I’ve received a book or recording of the featured speaker on less than 20 occasions (that’s under 1% of the time). Yet in each case I have read and kept the book or listened to the recording. On some occasions I’ve played the recording for my family! In other words, I continued to learn from the author/speaker on my own time, long after the meeting was over. So, which message reached me better and influenced my performance more: the giveaway items or the learning materials?

If you are paying thousands dollars to bring in a speaker, let’s make sure the message hits home. Encourage all your colleagues to acquire a book or audio tape for every attendee, every time!

The benefits of books, instead of hats, carry bags or T-shirts, etc. are many:

1. Audience members love to get autographed books (and speakers love to sign them!).
2. The meeting chair is a hero for getting them all a book.
3. Books build celebrity value for your speakers and audiences listen better.
4. The learning continues (for about the same price as the other giveaways).
5. Quantity discounts save you a lot of money.
6. The speech goes better from the start and the announcement of the free books builds enthusiasm in the audience.
7. People keep the book for years and often share them with their family.
8. Fewer notes need be taken.
9. You can honor your sponsors or host organization with a sticker or custom cover on the book.

You can easily do a special sticker for the book, “Courtesy of XYZ Company”, which the author can sign in advance, or even print a special edition if you wish with a foreword from your Chairman or President.

Tell all your colleagues about this. Let’s make it a standard part of every convention! Conventions ought to be the beginning of a learning process, not just a one-time celebration or gathering.
Just ask, “What are we giving attendees as a reminder of this meeting? How about an autographed book or CD?”

For more ideas like this, drop us a line at jim@cathcart.com.
To see Jim Cathcart in action visit this website http://www.Cathcart.com or contact your favorite Speakers Bureau.