Are you delivering great customer experiences time and time again?
July 9th, 2011 // 4:25 pm @ John D. Laslavic
By John D. Laslavic, LPBC, Business Coach / President, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Common sense tells us that every business needs customers. The service your customers expect from you, your employees and your company in providing a consistent product or service that meets their requirements and fulfills their needs will determine if you gain repeat business and garner more referrals, right. Well almost right!
Your customer service might be underperforming if you answer YES to any of these questions:
- Are your employees underperforming and cast in the wrong jobs?
- Do your managers and employees have little or no feeling of real success?
- Does your team feel underappreciated?
- Is your training inconsistent or non-existent?
- Is your company void of industry or the adoption of business best practices?
Sad to say, customer service is not enough today to win a customer’s repeat business or their referrals for your business. For you and your business to earn a customer’s repeat business today, you must look beyond just delivering great products and services. Today, you must provide customers with a great customer experience.
According to the recent studies, 60% to 80% of customers who say they are satisfied with a company’s product or service find that alone is not enough to get them to return and to obtain their repeat business. So, in addition to offering a great product or service, you must build experiences that create loyal customers and that gain you loyal raving fans.
Where does it start? It starts with your leadership. Your leadership as an owner in creating a culture and the environment by setting a strong example that your employees can follow and your customers can understand. It starts with you, the leader, communicating a strong, compelling and exciting vision that serves all employees, stakeholders and customers. It involves you as the leader serving your employees well and each of them serving each other well. That’s right; it starts with employees serving each other well.
If you’re a manufacturer, professional firm, service company, not-for-profit, retailer or any other type of business, consider this carefully. Below is an article that was recently prepared for the Western PA Hospital News. This article talks about a customer experience of a recent, actual example of one medical practice with one patient.
Check out this article:
Is Good “CARE” Still Good Business?
Could this type of situation happen in your company? Could you or your team drop the ball and lose focus on actually why you are there? If so, what actions are you taking to prevent these types of situations from happening? Do you know where to start?
A customer base that builds and returns is build through great customer experiences. To have those experiences, you must be intentional. Have you established the environment and are you building the systems that will lead you to inspire and astound your customers time and time again?
If you want to work on or learn more about building a business system that delivers a great customer experience time and time again, we are here to assist you. Give ThistleSea Business Development, LLC a call at (724) 935-1930 or email us at info@thistlesea.com.
Pittsburgh Area Business Coaching Practice Moves to New Offices
April 18th, 2011 // 10:42 pm @ John D. Laslavic
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC is pleased to announce it has recently moved to a new location in Wexford, PA. The new professional business development office is located in Pine Center at the following address:
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Business Development Office
11269 Perry Highway, Ste. 350
Wexford, PA 15090.
John D. Laslavic, LPBC, president of ThistleSea Business Development commented, ” our new offices provide us with additional space to expand our services to the area businesses and to serve business owners and their businesses more effectively.”
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC has been serving area businesses since 2005. For more information, call John or Wendy at 724 935-1930.
Category : Featured
Great Client Testimonial For ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
March 6th, 2011 // 8:48 pm @ John D. Laslavic
Ultimate Defensive Driving School LLC.
www.ultimatedefensivedriving.us
25 February 2011
Mr. John Laslavic
Thistle Sea Business Development
7500 Brooktree Rd
Wexford, PA 15090
Dear John:
I just wanted to take a moment and express my sincere gratitude for your service. We have come a long way in a short period of time in putting systems in place. My business has evolved into a premiere driver safety training company. We have expanded our business solely on our discussions and implementation of solid rules and sticking with them. You have a good product and service and are easily accessible. Our discussions at 10pm on several occasions have paid dividends many times. Furthermore, you also continue to expand and provide top shelf service as well. Recently, you added an information technology person to help with state of the art web design. Alex Lau has brought a whole new facet to your company. I now have a state of the art website.
As for Ultimate Defensive Driving we have had explosive growth in the safe driver training arena. We have grown over 30 percent for the past 2 years, added 5 employees and instructed well over 300 young drivers and 250 drivers of companies in our region. You can rest assured that our growth can be attributed to your diligence in keeping us on track. Thanks again and continued success with your company!
Respectfully,
James A. Clair
President/ Founder
720 Hartland Drive
Cranberry Twp., PA 16066
724.321.5655
jclair@ultimatedefensivedriving.us
Category : Featured
GETTU or GOTTU
January 20th, 2011 // 9:13 pm @ John D. Laslavic
By: Wendy Lydon, LPBC
As we proceed during the year, we sometimes focus on all of the stuff we need to do to be successful. We establish goals and sometimes do stuff and sometimes don’t do the stuff we planned to for a whole variety of reasons. But we sometimes forget to look at our attitude to make sure we put ourselves in a position to succeed. Let me tell you a story that might help.
At a recent networking group, the speaker asked each of the members of the audience after he had passed out stickers for each of them to wear, “So what are you?” We all were wearing a sticker and one said Gottu and the other said Gettu. No one knew what the heck he was talking about and that’s what made his presentation even better. Of course, he had prepped the group with some ringers to make his point and that’s OK since he went on to make his point with incredible effectiveness.
He proceeded and asked a second series of questions. “What are you expecting to get out of today’s session? Who would like to go first?” Then he pointed to someone (a shill) and said, “Come on Joe, why don’t we start with you?” The expected response was, “Oh, man do I gotta go first.” The speaker stopped him and said “No, that’s OK Joe, not to worry,” turning to another, he asked, “How about Mary, why you don’t start?” Mary (the second shill), leaped to her feet and said with great enthusiasm, “Great, now, I gettu go first.” Can you see the difference, and allowing for the grammatical assault, his point was made.
Quite simply put, some of us are Gottu people and some of us are Gettu. Many of us are frequently thinking, “Oh boy, I’ve got to do this or I have to do that,” and it really colors the way we go about doing things and it makes us in almost all cases that much less effective. Others cannot wait to sink their teeth into new or even every day projects and frequently and conversely exclaim, “YES, I gettu start working with this client, or I gettu finish up this project.” Ask yourself, who would you want to spend any time with if given the choice? That’s right, the gettu people every time. Do you think anyone chooses to work with those Debbie Downers of the world? No way!!! This relates to our personal life also. I recently thought that I get to help my daughter clean her room (haha) and I get to drive my parents to the doctors. I shutter to think – what if I didn’t get to do these things?!!
As you can imagine when I write this, I can’t wait to get to it! Hopefully you’ll think about this the next time you need to do something because, here’s the beauty of all this, you GETTU choose who you are going to be each and every day in 2011. Why not make it the most effective choice you can make?
Wendy Lydon is a Licensed Professional Business Coach and Vice President of ThistleSea Business Development, LLC, located in Wexford, PA. You can contact her at 724.935.1930 or by email at wendyo@thistlesea.biz.
Wendy Lydon Receives Licensed Professional Business Coach Designation
January 5th, 2011 // 10:37 pm @ John D. Laslavic
Pittsburgh Area Woman Receives Licensed Professional Business Coach Designation
Wendy Lydon, LPBC
Wexford, PA – January 6, 2011 — Local business woman and business coach Wendy Lydon, LPBC, has completed advanced business coaching training with the Professional Business Coaches Alliance (PBCA), Canton, OH (www.pbca.com). She is vice president of ThistleSea Business Development, LLC, (www.thistlesea.com) a Pittsburgh, PA area business coaching firm where she has been assisting the firm’s clients since 2009.
The Licensed Professional Business Coaching designation requires over 50 hours of intensive classroom training covering all aspects of coaching and mentoring successful business owners in addition to nearly 100 hours of continuing education annually.
The PBCA is an alliance of the most highly trained professional business coaches across North America. Its members have helped hundreds of business owners to become more successful.
Ms. Lydon is no stranger to business. She has formal education and degrees in Business Management and Information Systems. Ms. Lydon has over twenty years of extensive background and expertise in business development, sales leadership and customer care in healthcare, group purchasing, association management, retail and distribution. She is a member of the Women’s Business Network and Pittsburgh Professional Women organizations.
“Joining forces with a group of successful and committed business coaches gives my clients not only the insights of my solid career experience, but also the expertise and talents of over 100 Licensed Professional Business Coaches across North America,” said Ms. Lydon. “In addition, I now have a range of tools and best business practices my clients can use to really enhance their business performance to move to the next level much more quickly.”
John D. Laslavic, LPBC , president of ThistleSea Business Development, commented, “We are extremely pleased to add the talents of Ms. Lydon to our ThistleSea Business Development team of licensed professional business coaches. She has a tremendous business background and the skills to help business owners reach their professional and business goals.”
Ms. Lydon’s offices are located at 7500 Brooktree Road in Wexford. She offers both one-on-one coaching and group coaching for business owners and a variety of training and business assessments. She and her family reside in Cranberry Township, PA.
###
About ThistleSea Business Development, LLC.
Established in 2006, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC is a business coaching, strategy development and training company based in the Pittsburgh area. It is the only service organization in the area comprised of a team of three Licensed Professional Business Coaches and also a certified Guerilla Marketing Firm. ThistleSea Business Development also includes the divisions of CNICUS Buying Group, providing services that help businesses increase revenue, reduce expenses and improve their performance and Ketchfire, which focuses on the design and implementation of internet, web development and social media tools and strategies.
“Because your business should lead to Abundance.”
For additional contact information:
Wendy O. Lydon, LPBC, Vice President
ThistleSea Business Development
Phone: (724) 935-1930
Cell: (724) 316-7027
Email: wendyo@thistlesea.com
Business Development Office
7500 Brooktree Rd., Suite 117
Wexford, PA 15090
Phone: 724.935.1930 Fax: 925.848.3266
thistlesea.com
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
John D. Laslavic, LPBC, President
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Phone: (724) 935-1930
Cell: (412) 559-3503
Email: jdl@thistlesea.com
Web Site: thistlesea.com
Marketing (Are you doing enough to stay in the game?)
October 25th, 2010 // 3:20 am @ John D. Laslavic
Have you or your staff ever complained that there is no business out there? Complained that the political landscape is not conducive for new business, the economy can’t support new clients, potential customers are difficult and have all but disappeared, and competitors have eroded your market share.
How important is marketing (finding qualified leads) for your business? Is marketing your business of primary focus or is your company primarily focused on the technical work. Do you produce high quality products or services, but can’t get the traction to fill your sales pipeline with great prospects?
If you are one of the many companies with the above mentioned symptoms and assuming that your products and services fill customers’ needs, you might want to consider a change in your perspective. If any of the above sounds familiar to you and your business colleagues, you might be interested in reading on.
I have had the pleasure of watching my three sons Jon, Tony & Nick play high and college school sports. Two focused their energies on football and one was a soccer and track athlete. Having watched them through their years of development, many of the lessons they learned on the field while actively participating in these sports can be applied to marketing a business.
So with that being said, let’s break it down.
Marketing your business, like team sports, requires:
- Knowledge of the game or sport rules you’re playing,
- Leadership abilities to communicate to inspire your team,
- The ability to apply best practices and techniques to devise winning plays,
- Learning and developing skills to use on the field of play,
- Devising a winning game plan or plan of attack.
But that still is not good enough. Like competitive sports, putting your marketing game plan into action is then required at game time. A game plan designed to score more points than your opponent to win the game. Then, after the action, the results are measured by a score to determine a winner. The results, game statistics, the play films are reviewed to ensure strategies and tactics are continually refined to produce an even improved result when playing the next game.
Are you focused on measuring and replicating successful result (s)? Do you communicate these results and look to make changes for continued improvement of your business?
The importance of capturing, organizing and reporting data and information on marketing performance is critical for success. By developing and refining your business systems that deliver the desired results more often, you too can have a great business and life. As marketing is an investment, do we strive for the biggest return on our marketing investment as possible?
ThistleSea Business Development, LLC can help you determine and evaluate your current situation and get you back on the field with an action plan to double the effectiveness of your marketing. It’s just part of the services we offer our clients. Call us today, (724) 935-1930 for more information on how we help our clients score big.
By: John D. Laslavic, LPBC
(c) 2010 ThistleSea Business Development, LLC, All Rights Reserved
26 Reasons Business Owners Seek Help
August 8th, 2010 // 7:46 pm @ John D. Laslavic
When Might You Want To Recommend Or Seek Assistance from A Licensed Professional Business Coach?
Many life events occur that impact business owners, business partners, business investors and business executives. When should you seek help from an experienced business coach or mentor? And why would you look for one?
ThistleSea Business Developments’ clients come from many different skills, educational backgrounds, careers, geographic locations and types of businesses. But are there some things they have in common? Yes, a few include:
- A strong desire to succeed!
- Knowledge that they might not know everything!
- Some degree of lacking a completely clear vision of the future!
- Experiencing some type of frustration, failure and/or pain!
- A gradual or a sudden change of circumstances in their business or personal life!
- An unending need or desire to learn more and get it right!
So what are some of the types of circumstances you might recognize in others or in your own business that could encourage you to recommend a business coach to another or seek assistance yourself?
Below are some reasons that we see at ThistleSea Business Development that might help you:
- Business is growing to fast for the owner to keep up with the changes needed,
- Owner losing control,
- Lack of business sales growth,
- Desire to sell and/or realizing the business has little value,
- Disputes within the business,
- Son (s) or Daughter (s) taking over the reins of the business,
- Family issues in the business,
- Junior partner takes over the business,
- Business begins to fail after 16, 32 or more years of a successful business,
- Owner ends up in the Emergency Room because of the business pressures,
- Not enough income to earn a profit,
- Bank loan requirements that suggest a higher success rate when owners hire a licensed professional business coach,
- Owner cannot find employees, who care,
- Owner 2 years in business and the business not working,
- A monumental mistake that puts their business at extreme risk,
- Owner failed in one business and not wanting to fail again,
- Looking for a new location to establish or re-establish the business,
- Retirement of a senior owner or partner,
- Co-owner not fulfilling their responsibilities,
- Theft of business assets by a co-owner or employee,
- Owner continues to self-sabotage,
- Competition from other businesses or individuals,
- Franchise model broken because of owner’s success,
- Added additional locations and owner (s) are out of control,
- Death of the owner or key employee,
- Lose of key customer (s) severely impacting revenue / cash flow.
If you are experiencing any of these situations in your business or others, be encouraged that there is help and these situations have answers and can be resolved for business improvement.
Our staff and allies at ThistleSea Business Development can help you identify the best way to start, resolve these issues and help you gain clarity and take action. We encourage contacting us at 724.935.1930 for a free initial consultation.
By John D. Laslavic, LPBC, President
© 2010 All Rights Reserved, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Selling Your Business
August 3rd, 2010 // 1:33 am @ John D. Laslavic
Exit Planning – Cost of Doing Nothing!
By: Tony McDaniel, CPA, CBI, BSN is the president of Allied Business Consultants
Most businesses simply do not sell. And for those business owners who successfully sell their company, to either an external third party buyer or internally to family members or key employees, most do so without proper exit planning. Under either exit scenario, the cost to the owner is often significant when compared to the benefits of implementing a successful exit strategy.
Without an exit strategy, the owner typically sells for too little…..by as much as 30% to 40% according to some industry statistics. Additionally, when selling the business internally to family members or key employees, the cash component to the owner at closing is substantially lower than when selling to a third party buyer.
Real costs to business owners who do not properly plan for the exit of their business include the following:
- Sale Price is often lower…..by as much as 30% to 40%
- Cash at closing to the owner is often substantially less
- Likelihood of actually selling is significantly reduced. Industry statistics show that only 10% to 30% of businesses on the market at any point in time actually sell.
- Pay more in income and estate taxes
- Owner does not control the exit process….the buyer does
- Personal and financial goals are not achieved
- Becomes a burden to the family if the owner dies
- Privacy and confidentiality can be difficult to maintain
The key to avoid or minimize the above costs is to be pro-active. Do not be a statistic. It is estimated that up to 70% of all privately held companies will transfer ownership over the next 5 – 10 years. If you are a business owner, then your business will probably fall into this statistic. If so, now is the time to take action!
Our business enhancement services are a key component to successful exit plans. Our experts are skilled in providing guidance on increasing your annual revenues and minimizing your annual expenses. The end result is an improved annual bottom line profit by as much as 100% – 200% and in turn, a substantially higher sale price for your company.
As a business owner, not only will you benefit, but your family will also benefit from your pro-active actions. You will also greatly diminish the likelihood of being a statistic of forfeiting substantial money when you exit your business. Please call us today to discuss your unique and individual objectives.
About the author: Tony McDaniel, CPA, CBI, BSN is the president of Allied Business Consultants serving Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. Tony is a Business Sales Expert focusing on assisting owners of small to medium sized privately owned companies exit their business. In addition to his 18 years of mergers and acquisitions experience, Tony previously practiced public accounting for 10 years, including prior employment with Ernst & Whinney, a Big 8 public accounting firm. Tony can be reached at 412-377-0500 or tmcdaniel@ABCbizsales.com. All discussions are kept strictly confidential.
(c) 2010 all rights reserved; ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Category : Blog &Featured &Uncategorized
Another ThistleSea Client Success Story: RoPro Design, Inc.
June 14th, 2010 // 5:38 pm @ John D. Laslavic
Business success is typically measured in terms we understand, “PROFIT” and sometimes it’s measured in new terms, that of RACING!
RAY RUSSELL, President, RoPro Design, Inc.
Ray Russel, President, RoPro Design
I met Mr. Ray Russell, President of RoPro Design, Inc. for the first time in October 2007. At the time Ray shared with me his love of engineering, designing robots, building robots and competitive bicycle racing. As a matter of fact, his love and passion for bike racing was the reason why he started his own firm in the first place. He could train during the day and work in the evening. This was a perfect combination to keep his competitive spirit alive and him in the physical shape to race at the top level in his age class.
However, Ray also shared with me that when he hired his first employee, things began to change. Why? Because he had to work the same hours as his employees! And, as the business grew and became more successful, more employees were hired, more work was added and his reason for starting the firm, his dream and what he personally wanted to achieve by starting the firm, to train and race, that dream began to die.
Below are some excerpts of a letter Ray wrote to me in October 2007:
“We (RoPro Design) are basically a design / fabrication company that specializes in robotic prototypes (for major universities) and other local robotic start-up firms.
I would like to talk about is my own role within RoPro. I have a clear understanding of both my strengths and weaknesses and know that I need specific help with my weaknesses in order to grow. In short, I’m an engineer – I like being an engineer – I’m good at being an engineer. I really enjoy a good engineering challenge. I enjoy meeting with customers – traveling to their locations and helping them bring to life whatever robotic creation they have in mind. So the engineering, design and customer interaction side of the business is solid.
I’ve been told, (by others), that the answer is to relinquish my engineering duties and hire an engineer. This would free me up to be the CEO I should be.
Unfortunately all the things I really like about the business are on the engineering side – and all the things I really detest about the business are on the management side. I know most business owners ultimately do this but in my particular situation I don’t see that as being an option.
The areas where I struggle are the day-to-day non-engineering aspects of running the business. I have hired a new bookkeeper who already has taken a large burden from me but I’m still stuck with reviewing contracts, writing proposals, managing the daily task list of others, and answering the cell phone which rings non-stop.
The obvious course then seems to be to hire a CEO and get on with it. I’m all for this except for the fact that a CEO would be an immediate huge expensive overhead hit to the company. We simply aren’t big enough yet to handle that sort of indirect cost. Which puts us in a chicken-egg sort of thing. Can’t grow w/o a CEO – aren’t big enough to afford a CEO. We make a good living – the bills get paid – but ultimately nothing changes. I think that needs to change or we are going to stagnate and die.”
RoPro Design began working with ThistleSea Business Development in late 2007 and remains an exceptional client today. With our help, Ray designed a strategic business action plan and has consistently worked on his action plan. By applying best business practices, Ray has not only continued to achieve success at RoPro Design, Inc. but also on the RACING CIRCUIT.
This month Ray wrote me the following on July 13th:
“John, since our company measures its success in bike racing terms rather than profit/loss – we had a very successful weekend.”
I rode in the Tour of the Valley stage race in Ohio. 4 races over 4 days. I was in 3rd place in the overall points going into the road race on Saturday. Won the race and took over the yellow jersey. Went to Youngstown, OH yesterday morning and raced the final criterium. In the sprint for the finish, a rider went down in the front of me. I managed to miss him but ended up 7th across the line. When they announced the final results, I had won the overall championship by 1 slim point. $225 into the racing account. Sweet…. Also got to kiss the pretty trophy girl…also sweet.”
Ray Russel receives first place and a kiss.
While Ray, after the kiss, works to restore his relationship with his wife! (Actually, his wife took the picture). His success in both RACING and his business is a testament to the power of coaching in sports as well as business. He loves his firm, his profession, his business and RACING. Oh, don’t forget his wife.
That’s true success and what ThistleSea’s Business Coaching is all about; the Abundance in the life of the business owner.
By: John D. Laslavic LPBC, Predisent, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC
Learn more about RoPro Design, Inc. at www.roprodesign.com.
© 2009, ThistleSea Business Development, All Rights Reserved