Re:Focus

How To Know If A Company REALLY Cares About Its Customers

On a recent visit to the Southwest Airlines corporate headquarters in Dallas, I saw first hand why their customers love them so much. It's because Southwest loves its employees.

Nearly every single company on the planet will say publicly that they care about their customers, but most only "care" because their customers are the ones with the money. To REALLY care about customers means you care about them as human beings, not as walking cash dispensers.

The best way to see if a company REALLY cares about their customers is to look inside to see if they care about their employees first.

100% of customers are people and 100% of employees are people. A company either cares about people or they don't. It can't care about some and not others. That's like being half pregnant.

There is no such thing as a company that loves its employees that doesn't also love its customers.  And it's impossible for a company to claim it cares about its customers if it doesn't care about its employees first. And "to care," I don't mean to care about them as robots paid to do a job, I mean care about them as human beings.

All the "best companies to work for" are also the best companies to do business with.  Container Store, Zappos and Whole Foods, are just three examples of companies known to care about their people and, as a result, are also loved by their customers. It is that combination that makes these companies and others like them more innovative, able to charge a premium if they want to and more financially successful.  They don't treat their people well because they are leaders, they are leaders because they treat their people well.

The picture above is one of the pictures I took at the Southwest HQ (click to see a bigger version). EVERY hallway there is filled with pictures of their people. It's not the pictures on the wall that make the culture strong. The culture is strong because they go to great lengths to hire people who "belong." They go out of their way to care about their employees as human beings. The pictures on the wall are just one of the things they do to prove how much they love their people.

Southwest is a great place to work and their people get along. As a result, their people REALLY care about the customers and their customers repay them with undying loyalty.

I wish there were more companies who REALLY cared about their employees as much as Southwest, because then we'd all enjoy doing business with more companies and more companies would enjoy doing business with us.

Here are some more pictures - click on them to see the bigger versions.

Download a PDF of this blog post and share it with someone

No One Misses the Things They Like

We don't miss the things we like, we miss the things we love. Pets. Family. That girlfriend or boyfriend that got away. Believe it or not, the same is true for companies.

Love is an emotional bond, and emotional bonds come in all shapes and sizes. We can form an emotional bond with things that remind us of the past. I LOVE the Jungle Book, for example, because it was the first feature length film I saw in the movies.  I remember my mother taking me to see it. It was such an exciting day.

We can form an emotional bond with things that remind us of someone we love. I LOVE the smell of this one kind of factory lubricant because it reminds me of my Grandfather who worked at a factory and always smelled like work.

And we can form emotional bonds with things that reinforce our world view and reflect our own values and beliefs. I LOVE Lady GaGa because she exists to encourage all the misfits in the world to find their own style, their own voice and embrace it.

Like is different. Like is rational. Even if you like something a lot, you don't have an emotional bond with it.  In other words, you won't go out of your way to get it, you won't be loyal to it and you won't miss it if it's taken away

There are some products and brands that many of us would miss if they were taken away.  Harley-Davidson was going out of business until the employees rallied to keep the company going.  I am not sure if the folks at GM are going out of their way to preserve that brand.  Harley was not just liked, it was loved. 

The way to create a company or product that people love is to infuse it with a belief, a point of view.  Something people can relate to.  No one will fall in love with your product because it's the highest quality.  They may like it a lot, but they won't love it.  No one will love your company because your company is the biggest.  Size alone doesn't command loyalty. 

People love Southwest Airlines because their brand, their people, their service and their marketing reflect the belief in the common man.  People love Disney because everything they say and do is about good clean family fun.  Other companies make age-appropriate cartoons for kids, but Disney movies "feel" different. People love Patagonia because their brand, their people, their products and their marketing reflect that genuine outdoor spirit.  It's not faked.  It's real.

Your quality, service, features and price may get people to like you...they may even like you a lot. But if you want people to LOVE your products, brand or company, then what you do has to stand for something. Everything has to reflect the purpose, cause or belief upon which the company was founded in the first place.  And if everything you do brings that founding belief to life, you can enjoy a lifetime of loyalty form the people who work for you and the people who buy your products.  Don't you just love that?

Download a PDF of this blog post 

Don't Strive To Be A Leading Company, Strive to Lead

Dell is a leading company but Apple leads.  American Airlines is a leading company but Southwest Airlines leads. Kroger's is a leading company with over 2,400 supermarkets, but with only 270 stores both in the US and UK combined, Whole Foods leads.

There is a difference between being a leading company and being a company that leads.  A leading company may have the biggest market share or have the most revenues, but they don't lead the industry.  A company that leads sets the tone for all others to follow.  Though leading companies may be bigger, companies that lead are more innovative, more profitable and command greater loyalty.  

Companies that lead always know WHY.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What The U.S. Special Forces Know That You Should Also

Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you.  He is training with minimum food or water, in austere conditions.  He doesn’t worry about what workout to do – his rucksack weighs what it weighs and he runs until the enemy stops chasing him.  The True Believer doesn’t care “how hard it is”; he knows he either wins or he dies.  He doesn’t go home at 1700; he is home. He knows only the cause.

  Now, who wants to quit?   

These are  the words that hang on a nondescript door, in a nondescript hallway, in a nondescript building on a military base somewhere in the United States.  There is a small plaque next to the door with a room number embossed and the word: SOCom – military speak for Special Operations Command.   What the leadership of SOCom understands so well is that belief is more powerful than resources. Devotion is more potent than technology. And “the cause” is what inspires people to take extraordinary risks or suffer awful conditions for no other reason than to advance the cause.  

Business is no different. 

Apple, Southwest, Disney, Harley-Davidson, Container Store and the handful of other companies that seem to have mystical powers and unbalanced success all have something in common.  They are defined by their cause, not their products or technology. More importantly, they only want to hire “True Believers,” those who believe what they believe.  And for good reason. People who believe what you believe will work for you with blood and sweat and tears.  People who don’t believe what you believe work for your money. Customers who believe what you believe will pay you a premium, suffer inconvenience and give you a lifetime of loyalty.  Customers who don’t believe what you believe will demand that you offer them a cheaper price and even if you do, they’ll still never be satisfied.

A company of True Believers will always frustrate the competition, regardless of how well resourced the competition is.  Apple frustrates Microsoft.  Lexus frustrates GM. Google frustrates pretty much everyone.  And Obama’s grassroots $5 and $10 fund raising frustrated both the Clinton and McCain campaigns.

Being flush with resources does not guarantee success.  In fact, it seems the better resourced an organization is, the more its people seem to stop caring about the cause.  They become more concerned with how many hours they’ve worked, the size of their offices and the benefits they will get.  The huge advantage companies with a cause have over even much bigger competitors is that everyone who comes to work is there for the same reason - to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They have no resources.  They have no expense accounts.  They play the hand they are dealt and they will fight on for no other reason than because they believe. 

People who go to work to be a part of the cause don’t go home.  They are home.

Now - who wants to quit?

Do You Want To Be A Leading Company or A Leader?

There's a difference between being a leading company and a leader.  Leading companies sell more than everyone else.  Those who lead set the direction for the rest of the industry.  Here's what it takes to be a company that leads.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

To read more about what it takes to lead, read Start With Why.

And to be one who leads, give your copy away to someone you want to inspire...

Start With Why

Read an excerpt - http://bit.ly/L26zk

Twitter - @simonsinek

Do You Know Why?

  Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over?

 People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

 Three and a half years ago I made a discovery. I discovered that all the most inspiring and successful leaders, regardless if they are individuals or organizations, regardless of their size or industry, all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it’s the complete opposite of what everyone else does. I called this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. Why does your organization exist? Why does it do the things it does? Why do customers really buy from one company or another? Why are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Start With Why is a book for those who want to learn to inspire others and for those who want to find someone to inspire them.  Start with Why is available now at your favorite book seller.

Special Promotion: Buy two copies, give one away and we can inspire even more people...

Why People With A Sense of Humor Love Southwest

As for companies who aspire to be loved as much as Southwest, the trick is to know what your personality is first and then hire people who represent it.  Don't just hire anyone, no matter how great their resume and try to force them to be something they are not. Herb Kelleher, Southwest's founder and former president, said, "you shouldn't  hire people for their skills you should hire them for their attitude, you can always teach them the skills later."  The problem is which attitude? It has to be the attitude that fits your company. When your employees belong in your company, when they fit your culture, then their ability to properly represent you will come naturally.