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Who Is That (Not Masked) Man?! A #MondayBlogs Guest Post

For this week’s contribution to #MondayBlogs and our very own #SocratesSays, it seemed appropriate for someone other than Ron to write the post.  So, you are stuck with me, Caroline A. Slee, for this blog post this week.

At this point, I’m certain that you all know that I am Ron’s daughter.  I am also a part of Learning Without Scars, as the Director of Sales and Marketing.  Dad likes to say that I dragged him, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century.  Part of that dragging process is getting his message out.

Our industry has new faces, and even some people who have never worked with Dad before.  So, we figured we should show the “softer side” of Ron with the video I am sharing this week.  Not only will you learn more about why we do what we do, you will see all of us from “behind the scenes”: my Mom, my spouse, my children, and I.

I hope you enjoy this more personal video this week.

Remember, the time is now, as Dad would say.

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The Unveiling! #MondayBlogs

Last week, I mentioned that we have been working with Xfinigen Media Productions here, and filming numerous videos to add into our classes.

Today, I’m thrilled to present to you our very first video: the Learning Without Scars Promo Trailer.

The video below will tell you a little more about who we are and what we do, along with my own background.

Please enjoy the following trailer, and feel free to contact me with any feedback.

The time is now.

 

LWS Promo Trailer

 

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Multi-Media #MondayBlogs #marketing

For the past eight days, we have been in front of the camera. That is a scary thought, isn’t it?

Let’s go back to some history. When we offered webinars to the market we did things quite differently. We followed the usual format of a slide and discussion about the slide. Where we were different is that we projected the slide onto an eight by eight screen and used an HD camera to project the image used for the webinar. This meant we had the opportunity to stop the projection and have me walk into the image. I would do that six to seven times per hour so that there was some dynamism in the webinar. It got rave reviews.

With our Internet Based programs, we are now doing the same thing – with the exception that we are using film clips to create the dynamism.

I am really excited about this. We worked with a company called XFinigen. The company founder is Paul Baumann and along with his production crew led by Leanna Crumpler we have been recording film clips for the past seven days. It is quite a chore. We have created nearly fifteen minutes of film clips for each of our fifty-five Learning On Demand Programs. Caroline will be selecting the clips to use and where to insert them so that there is some excitement injected into the online learning.

So each of the Learning Programs we have currently available will be updated over the next few months. We will also include Socrates on each of the slides.

We have also added to the learning offerings.

You are aware that several clients asked that we create specific programs for specific jobs. We call these programs PSP’s. That stands for Planned Special Programs and we are setting these programs up to offer four course segments which will run for about eight hours each. We now have three such offerings and are expanding this all the time. The offerings now are for the Parts Telephone and Counter personnel, the Service Foremen and the Service Writers. We are working on a program for Product Support Sales which will be the Fundamentals of Selling.

Finally, with all of the films we will have available we will be creating a Vimeo channel and offer a wide array of easily accessible information for you to be able to see more of the Learning Without Scars programs.

Of course, we don’t want to leave out Socrates so we will be starting a “Socrates Says” blog so keep your eyes open as that will start soon.

That’s it from here for now. Aloha.

Now it is your turn. What have you folks been up to? Drop us a line and keep us posted on your needs and wants in the world of parts and service training. Remember we are here for you. Our goal is to provide the most content rich, cost-effective learning offerings in the Industry. It requires your input and help. Thanks for all you have done to date and we look forward to hearing from you more.

 

The time is now.

Marketing Monday v2015.1

We haven’t done one of these in a long time.  For Marketing Monday v2015.1 we are catching up.

With the flurry of activity this past year it has been a little difficult to get ahead of the curve. Some of the recent activities:

We have launched learning Without Scars. This has been a very nice step in the progression of our offering learning products and services to the capital goods industries. We have updated all of our classroom seminars: there are eight. We have added to our list of webinars: there are now sixty one. We have started down the road of converting all learning products to a web based platform: we will have seventy five of them. We are moving toward the translations of our offerings first into French and Spanish.

We have developed an internet based replacement for the twenty group business we ran called insight (M&R) Institute. We have created, in a partnership, The Capital Goods Sages. This is going to be an internet business modelling business. This will be available for use in late 2015.

And finally, we have re-purposed our consulting website to bring it in line with our other businesses.

Have a look and let us know your thoughts. We are here to serve you.

www.rjslee.com

www.learningwithoutscars.org

www.thecapitalgoodssages.com

The time is now.

 

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Management Musings 2.7 (Reprised) #MondayBlogs

We are in the process of updating the business page for our consulting, and I wanted to give you a reminder. What follows is our statement of where we are as a group and where we are going. I am as excited now, and as motivated today, as I have been at any previous time in my forty five years working in the Industry. I am truly blessed.

Our consulting business is winding down. I am not aggressively soliciting business like I once did, but will be dealing with requests on a one to one basis. As long as there is interest in my skills and experience I will be more than happy to assist.  Our website, rjslee.com, is still live and active, with ongoing updates to our articles and our recommended reading.  With our reading lists, you can find selections from Business Teachers, or Business Management Tools, and many more.  I like to direct avid learners to that resource, as it can provide foundational texts to motivate you in pursuing your goals.

The Learning business is becoming a much more prominent focus for my time. We are excited about our new venture, Learning Without Scars, and using all the current technology to bring our learning products to the market worldwide. We will be offering ten classroom seminars, forty webinars and ten internet based self-study programs in fifteen different languages. We will be moving to having a YouTube channel and developing a series of streamed products for use by everyone in fifteen languages as well. All of this is being done with a new web page as well. We are working with a terrific partner on this project. Brian Shanahan of “shanahandesign” is the gentleman we have selected to do this work. I am extremely pleased to have found Brian as he does wonderful work. Thank you, Brian.

Our Company Insight (M&R) Institute which has been the platform for the traditional Twenty Group business is being replaced with a new and improved technology driven product. I suspect this new model will become the new standard for twenty group operations in the coming years. This new product is being developed in conjunction with Foresight Intelligence. Dale Hanna, the CEO of Foresight Intelligence, and I are putting the finishing touches on what we believe will produce strong value to dealers in assisting them to be all that they can be. The new product offering will be complimentary and confidential. The dealer will be able to sign on to a model and either identify who they are on not, their choice, enter their information into a “FITNESS” model and receive a “FIRST” results response on key management measures for each of the five major departments within a dealer. The FIRST will show each management measure and a traffic light type graphic with a color code to recognize their performance as out Insight standards. These standards have been developed in our consulting business over the past forty five years in working with well over 1,000 different dealers around the world. The dealer then can go and make the necessary changes in their business without anything further. If however, they want assistance with the click of a button they will be directed to the “FAIR” page will is a series of “TIPS.” Each TIP leads to an implementation process. Each one of the TIPS is a tried and true example of the consulting work I have been doing for the past thirty five years. If the dealer wants further assistance we have developed a network of “ACES.” Each ACE is a retired senior executive from a dealership who still has the interest and energy to continue working in the Industry just not on a full time basis. Dale and I are very excited about this new offering, which we are presenting as the Capital Goods Sages.

I hope that you will find this news as exciting as I do in providing you with it and look forward to continuing to be a part of your team in Product Support.

The time is now

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Management vs. Leadership #MondayBlogs

Management vs. leadership is a topic that comes up in many of the programs I teach.  It is often easy to miss the difference.  When we are managers, we see ourselves as managers of people.

You manage processes, not people.

You lead people.

It is not enough to manage the process: you must have clearly defined goals and procedures that everyone has agreed upon.  The days of the “invisible” employee should be behind us.

Remember Patrick Lencioni’s 3 signs of a miserable job –

  • anonymity
  • irrelevance
  • immeasurability

None of your employees need to be anonymous in your workplace.  We spend so much time at work, we all know each other quite well.  The same applies to irrelevance – with a leader in place who has sought and received feedback, each staff member has a voice and is entirely relevant to the work at hand and the future success of the department and company.

Immeasurability.

How do your employees know when they are doing a good job?  It’s important to ask this question, as both praise and constructive criticism play a key role.

Just some food for thought for you this evening.

The time is now.

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Product Support Marketing: A Guide…#MarketingMonday

Let me introduce you to#MarketingMonday.  With the arrival of Learning Without Scars and our embedding the blog in the www.learningwithoutscars.org web site we are kicking off a fresh series of activities. You are by now quite familiar with my Friday Filosophy. Well this is the first of our #MarketingMondays. We will post a new blog each Monday on Marketing.

How many people understand marketing in the Product Support world?

Let me start with a definition of marketing. Marketing is “the selling of products or services – the business activity of presenting products and services in such a way as to make them the primary choice of the customer.” Marketing is basically the selling of products or services.

We should start with the basics of marketing – the 4 Ps:

 

  • Product
  • Place
  • Price
  • Promotion

These are the ABC’s, the fundamentals, the foundation of most of the marketing class work done today. As with most everything in our world the 4 Ps have evolved. Today there is a new approach called SIVA:

 

  • Solution
  • Information
  • Value
  • Access

SIVA is much more customer focused. More recently, there has been an addition to the 4 Ps and now there are 7 Ps as  process, physical environment and people have been included. We will discuss these in more detail over the coming weeks and months.

I want to also address market share. This is the ultimate measure of success in the parts and service world. I will provide you with methods to be able to calculate the market share for parts and service. Not with the precision of capital goods market share, i.e. Boeing plane share, or Freightliner Class 8 share or Chrysler 300 market share, but very accurately.

We will discuss the significance of customer retention, and how we can influence that in our operating world. What influences customer defections, recovery methods, and the strong influence that retention has on the profitability of your business.

We will also cover market coverage methods. The “how to” manuals for setting up personal and telephonic territories. This will also cover compensation methods and options to consider.

In other words, this blog is intended to be able to cover everything and anything about marketing parts and service. I hope you will join me on this voyage.

The time is now.