Peak Performance

GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND

2010-05-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Mailman (well Mail-lady actually) used to arrive every-day with a dog biscuit for the Black Lab that My Mother had for 9 years.

I think it's safe to say that she didn't receive any financial benefit as a result of taking this extra initiative, however, she sure had fans in my Mother and my Mother's dog.

Had she went into business for herself after all those years of going above and beyond, and had my Mother discovered this, isn't it safe to say that my Mother would be a major supporter in helping her business grow?

Want to know why more people don't go this far? Check back later this week for my opinion on this.

Until that time, perhaps you might like to think of a way that you can create fans for your personal brand like this Mail-Lady did with my Mother and my Mother's dog, and also like this lady, without expecting anything in return.

Until that time, onwards and upwards,
cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

GIMMIE MY FRIGGIN CHANGE

2010-05-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of traveling as a result of my Speaking Career and the Newspaper we publish on a monthly basis.

I go through a BIG coffee shop enterprise on a regular basis and 9 times out of 10 the employee at the drive-through keeps my change without asking if I want it back.

Ironically, I don't want the change back but I also don't want anyone assuming that they can keep it.

I sometimes wonder when this will be addressed - I've spoken up and asked individual managers who said "wow, that should not happen" but on each successive trip through the exact same establishment it continues to....and I haven't had time to bring it to the attention of the executive team (i.e. CEO) within the organization....sometime soon I'm sure.

hmmm...Should I still care? Should I bring my business somewhere else? So many options to consider....don't even get me started about the fact that I have to ask for ketchup if I want some (sad....so sad)

In the meantime - Onward and Upward

cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

CUSTOMER SERVICE - WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?

2010-05-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have been conducting interviews like crazy lately and in a couple of interviews in discussions on Customer Service, the question was raised as to whether or not technology has been helping or hindering our ability to deliver exceptional customer service - the common answer has been that it is the person and how they use the technology.

My question is do you agree with this and if so, whose responsibility do you feel it is to take steps to correct this? Managers, Staff themselves, External Speakers / Trainers / Technology Providers (i.e. corporate training sessions provided by technology suppliers).

Just curious.

cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

MOST COMMON SUCCESS TRAIT AMONG PEAK PERFORMERS

2010-05-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

The past few years I have been interviewing Business Leaders and High Achievers from all walks of life (Arlene Dickinson of CBC's Dragon's Den, Managers at PEI Mutual, Mike Bullard of Open Mic Fame, The Publisher of Motivated Magazine, Doug Hall of TV's Inventor, Emmy Winner Mark Goffeney, Bruce MacNaughton of PEI Preserves, Star Search Winner Tracey MacDonald, Alan Frew of Glass Tiger, Jeannette Arsenault of Cavendish Figurines, Best Selling Author Stephen Patrick Clare, and so on) for our Island Business News Publication, and the most common success trait among these leaders and other leaders they have worked with 4 times out of 5 is "Passion"

A passion for their career, a passion for their business, and a passion for life.

What's the message here? It will be very difficult for you to reach the pinnacle of your career without having a passion for "almost" everything you do each day.

Onward and Upward,
cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

UPCOMING INSPIRATIONAL EVENT BY AN ASSOCIATE

2010-04-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone:

I'm traveling like crazy this week but I'm hoping to attend this great event next week featuring Olympic Gold Medalist Heather Moyse -
http://www.ladyinred.ca/event.html

As a speaker and trainer myself, these are the type of events that I believe are truly needed in each market and so I try to support them whenever I can.

If you want to be inspired, you could do worse than attend a great event like this one.

Cheers,
cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

PASSIONATE CUSTOMER SERVICE

2010-04-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

In a quick break from the discussion we just launched in our last blog (which will continue with our next blog update), I just wanted to pass along an interesting finding.

I have recently interviewed many Canadian Peak Performers, including Alan Frew (Glass Tiger), Mike Bullard, Arlene Dickinson, Jimmy Flynn and Star Search Winner Tracey MacDaonld and the one trait they all seem to have in common with those who deliver expectional customer service (and exceptional Customer Experiences) is that they have a passion for life and their career.

If you want to serve with a smile, make sure you're also serving with passion.

Until next time, here's to your greater success.

cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

Customer Service - Better or Worse Today than Years Gone By?

2010-04-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've spent probably in the neighborhood of 15,000-20,000 hours researching Customer Service (whether it be interviewing business leaders who have excelled at building exceptional customer service programs, reading books by the best of the best award winning customer service gurus, conducting customer service panels, gathering surveys on customer service, reading or writing customer service articles, and/or applying and teaching strategies for Creating A+ Customer Experiences personally).

I guess it's safe to say that I'm passionate about the importance of customers receiving better than sub-par levels of customer satisfaction.

Actually, this week I'll be releasing my first Customer Service CD Program (which is actually a condensed version of the program I bring to my clients) because I'm wanting to do whatever I can to raise awareness to the importance of Serving OUR Customers in a way that makes them say WOW because of a great experience more than they say WOW because of a poor one.

By the way, the stats above are not meant to impress you, I just simply want you to know that I have spent some time in the trenches. It's also not to say that the companies we operate are perfect either, but it is to say that we are often very conscious of the times when we make mistakes, we do spend time surveying our customers to determine satisfaction level, and we know that our delivering a lot of exceptional experiences to our customers could be the difference between our company's long term growth (and my long term personal fulfillment).

As such, I plan to dedicate the next few blogs to this topic. The topic of not only how one goes about delivering an exceptional customer experience but also what is standing in our way and why I feel we (as a society) are currently going in the wrong direction.

HINT: It's much bigger, in my opinion, than simply having the wrong staff or being the wrong person for the job (although that will certainly be a factor).

SECOND HINT: Technology plays a part, attitude and upbringing plays a part, happiness or lack thereof plays a part and so on. In fact, these elements play such a big part that we'll touch on these before we start talking ways you can turn the tables and have your clients saying WOW for the right reasons.

These elements also play such a big part that I have dedicated a Chapter to them in my upcoming book on Customer Service / Creating Exceptional Customer Experiences.

Until next time,
cpoirier
www.coreypoirier.com

How do you Rank in Customer Service?

2010-02-15T07:44:00.001-08:00

We recently (as in roughly a year ago) conducted a study with our Publication Island Business News that indicated the number one success factor that determined a business or individual's overall success was the level of customer service they offered / provided to clients.

Ironically, in separate studies, customers indicated that they feel the level of customer service overall is very poor in today's ever evolving market.

My question today is: Do you "truly" know how your customer's view the level of service you provide? If not, do you know how to find out?

Corey Poirier
www.coreypoirier.com

COMMUNICATION SECRET

2010-02-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

The best action I ever took for my Speaking Career was to join Toastmaster's International.

I believe that Toastmaster's (along with my performances at Comedy Clubs)truly gave me more insight into what effective communication is, than any other action I took before or since.

All I can say is don't overlook this great organization if you are considering an enhancement of (or improvement in) your communication skills.

It has prepared me for interviews with some of our countries greatest success leaders (Arlene Dickinson from The Dragon's Den, Inventor Doug Hall, Lennie Gallant, Progress 101 Business Leaders, Nubody's Fitness Founder Dean Hartman and more) and also prepared me to share the bill with some world class comics like Star Search Winner Tracey MacDonald, This Hour's Shaun Majumder, Irwin Barker and writers for such shows as The Colbert Report and The John Stewart Show.

Had it not been for my sales, business, and performance career, and perhaps most important, Toastmaster's International, I'm not sure I would have had these opportunities, or more importantly, whether I would have been ready for them in the first place.

And one thing is for certain - if you want to be all you can be in your career, you have to have an understanding of the importance of and effectiveness of good communication.

Until next time, here's to your Greater Success.

Corey Poirier
www.coreypoirier.com

Stage Frighting Your Way to Success - Failure IS an option

2010-02-05T13:42:00.001-08:00

As someone who studies Success on a daily basis, I can confirm that I often learn as much from my failures (and the failures of others) as I do from my successes - perhaps more.

Below you will find a recent example that proved this to me once again - but before I begin this new blog, I wanted to mention this - don't forgot to watch for our upcoming interviews (in upcoming issues of Island Business News) with Musical Comedian Jimmy Flynn, Star Search Winner Tracey MacDonald and Leading Organization PEI Mutual.

So, back to the task at hand.

In 2006 I found myself competing in the Yuk Yuks Great Canadian Laugh Off Competition.

With about a week's notice, I found myself booked in this year's (2010) Laugh Off Competition with little time to prepare and a whole lot to prove. Not to mention the fact that I had to conduct 5 Business Interviews, release our latest issue of Island Business News, and facilitate 3 speaking engagements the very same week.

Now, last time around Mr. Lahey from the Trailer Park Boys was one of the judges and despite the fact that he seemed to enjoy my performance, overall my set left something to be desired.

This year's competition (which actually took place two weeks ago now) was my chance to prove that I could deliver (with short notice) if booked again to compete in this prestigious competition.

Add this to the fact that a fellow Haligonian (Mark Little from Picnicface) won the entire competition last year and you can see why I was excited about the opportunity.

I arrived the night of the competition with my material in hand (well, in pocket and head actually).

I had tested it (my material that is) recently at Joker's Comedy Club and Yuk Yuks with a pretty solid response and therefore despite carrying around a bunch of little butterflies as I walked around the club chatting it up with other comics, I was slightly more confident than last time.

Turned out one of my fellow Halifax Comedy Connection Troupe Members (Halifax Comedy Connection is long extinct by the way) was one of the judges.

To make a very long story very short, my time to perform came near the end of the show and I quickly made my way to the stage.

Despite getting several laughs from the audience I personally felt my timing was off as I plowed through my material at faster than normal speed.

An hour later, as my buddy (and emcee for the evening) Andrew Albert was announcing the winners I wasn't surprised that my name wasn't announced. For some reason my timing was off and I didn't deliver it as I had planned.

Now, what is the point of this blog?

A lot of people would see this as a failure and a reason not to try in the first place. Others would just say I failed that night.

I mean my goal was to make my previous performance in the competition look stale by comparison.

But here's the thing - I learned more from this less than perfect performance than I would have by delivering at the level I did in the two previous test performances.

For starters, it proved to me once again that I don't have to win everytime to be a winner.

I mean for the 7 minutes I was on stage that night I managed to put smiles on the faces of some of the audience members (and as they say laughter is the best medicine), I learned more about the areas I need to work on with this newer material going forward, and just by showing up, I'm one of perhaps just 100 people (of a population of close to 1,000,000) who has performed comedy on a regular basis in Halifax in the last 5 years.

That's a pretty small group of people who have experienced this major life experience on multiple occasions - despite the potential for failure (to get a laugh) every time I take the stage.

Why is this signifgant?

In interviewing more than 500 Business Leaders in the past 3 years alone and in working with hundreds of companies as a trainer and speaker, I can confidently say that the top 3-4% of achievers I have worked with had to face many (so called) failures or steps backward before achieving great success, and had they not, most noted they would have never been able to reach success in the first place.

So the question I have for you is this? Are you ready to join the top 3-4% by making failure an option on your path to success?

A quote from my recent Island Business News column says' it best:
"Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm." Publilius Syrus

As a complete side-note, we're getting ready to update all of our websites so feel free to take a look at our main one before it goes through a major change to be more specific to my core focuses as a speaker / trainer - feel free to copy and paste the following website link below or click on the right side of this blog on the link called Speaking Related Website.

Website URL: http://www.coreypoirier.com

"what I'm reading right now?" - The Action Sandwhich by Alan Frew (Glass Tiger)

Customer Service In Review

2009-06-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

As I prepare to write a new blog on some of my recent Customer Experiences, please feel free to watch the video interview I conducted recently with a Business Leader who has been on the forefront of Customer Service (and Creating Customer Experiences) for years.

Enjoy....

Tough Economy?

2009-03-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN A TOUGH ECONOMY

This past week I had the opportunity to present at Halifax Club on the topic of Surviving and Thriving in a Tough economy; which seemed very timely for obvious reasons.

Eastlink was on hand to film the Presentation and I'm hoping to be able to provide air dates soon.

As most of you know, I have the opportunity to present to (and train) organizations throughout the Country: but this session was different.

Different, in that it gave me a unique opportunity to see (first hand) just how much fear people have been experiencing as a result of what they’ve heard, rather than by what they are experiencing.

As you know, we publish the Island Business News publication monthly and what I notice about the Business Leaders we interview, is that they have chosen not to participate in this fear....and in most cases they are thriving as a result.

In fact, I'm curious, do you think this "often-times" media driven fear is a big reason the current situation is what it is?

I interviewed Bruce MacNaughton (from PEI Preserves) recently and his comment was (and I’m paraphrasing at best) “If you live in fear you’re going to operate your business (and life) out of fear.”

This comment sums up my feeling exactly.

Actually, if you are so inclined, you can see his exact comments by visiting http://www.youtube.com/user/zinicore and clicking on the video called “Economy.”

Which brings me to my point: I have personally never seen more people making decisions (or not making decisions as it were) based on fear, and yet, more opportunity (in my opinion) exists than any time before.

A business leader named Allan Andrew (whose hockey school was partially responsible for training Sidney Crosby) is featured in our publication this month and he summed it up in a recent newsletter when he paraphrased US Marine Commander Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller by saying...The Opportunities; they are on our left, they are on our right. They are in front of us, they are behind us. They can't get away from us now!

The irony is, I’m probably already preaching to the choir, as most of you reading this may in fact be Business Leaders who have also chosen not to participate in any "recession".

Just in case though, here is some of what I covered during my presentation:

1) Build a Mentorship Program - If you (and/or your staff) can learn from the experiences of Peak Performers, and make use of that experience, you can probably shave many years of your junior staff’s learning cure and therefore become stronger more quickly
2) Maintain your focus (ie. don’t eliminate budgets simply because “it seems like you should” – just find a better more efficient way to allocate)
3) Find and decrease your deficiencies while increasing your efficiencies (you may want to implement a short-term time tracking system to see where things are at today)
4) Decrease the amount of negative news you take in and increase the amount of positive news
5) Increase your skill set by taking part in more professional development activities

As many a wiser man than me has said before, if we simply “choose not to participate in any supposed recession, than it won’t matter what the world say’s, we will still find the opportunities.”

Yours in Success, and in Health
Corey Poirier
www.coreypoirier.com

ps. Some of the Peak Performers we interviewed this past month include:
Award Winning Songwriter Lenny Gallant
PEI Preserves Founder Bruce MacNaughton
Popular Sketch Troupe Sketch 22
Nubody's Fitness Founder Dean Hartman

Video Blogs Here We Come

2009-02-10T15:46:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone in Blog-Land....while I do enjoy typing my blogs because I'll always be a person who loves the written word first, I find that my time commitments lately make it easier to video-blog...plus it makes me feel like I am actually moving forward in techno-land.

On that note some of my future blogs (and other related video content) will now be video-ized and found at my youtube page by pasting the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/zinicore

DO YOU TRULY LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS?

2008-12-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

The snow is here, the cold weather is here, the ice is here, new tires are not here (thanks Quebec)….and, of course, winter is here.

But guess what, so is 2009….which means for so many of us this is also an opportunity for a fresh new start.

Including a chance to review Customer Service strategies.

I recently facilitated a Customer Service workshop at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and I feel that I have to applaud them for holding this session right before the start of a New Year. I also applaud them because the participants in the room for that session really got it, and therefore I personally feel that Dalhousie really gets it.

As do a lot of other organizations I work with in a training and/or speaking capacity throughout Canada….which is why I feel my customer experience program has been getting more popular recently.

Still, not all organizations get it….unfortunately.

For instance:
The date? November 6th, 2008
The location? My neighborhood gas station
The situation? Christmas Music playing in the gas station (In November).
The set-up? Customers are complaining to store staff about Christmas Music being played more than a month before the holidays actually hit.

The employee response to customers?
“You think I haven’t heard that all day? Well, it doesn’t matter because ‘I’ love Christmas music.”

Here's a thought….if all of your customers are complaining that it’s too early for Christmas Music, shouldn’t you pay attention? The only way to truly learn how to serve your customers more effectively is to listen to their feedback and what they have to say about your business (and adjust accordingly).

As an example, I recently performed stand-up comedy at the ComedyWorx in Montreal and a fellow comic warned me not to perform a certain joke. I decided to make a decision during the performance based on audience feedback and I could tell within minutes that was right (that the joke wouldn’t go over with this audience).

I listened to my customers (the audience) and skipped the joke completely.

The result? I was invited back to perform at the ComedyWorx and I was also asked to perform at another club later that week in Montreal. Not saying it’s soley because I skipped the joke, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt.

"Side-Note: Pictured above at Yuk Yuks in 2008"

So, here’s my question. Should you listen when you’re customers provide feedback or ignore them completely?

If you answered ignore them completely, maybe we should talk.

Until then….Onward and Upward,
Corey Poirier
www.coreypoirier.com

GEORGE FORMAN - ONE OF THE SECRETS TO HIS SUCCESS?

2008-11-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

Just last month I had the opportunity to hear former World Champion George foreman talk about his amazing boxing career and during his talk he discussed some of the major highlights of his career including winning the world championship from Joe Frazier and losing it to Muhammad Ali (at the Rumble in the Jungle) and then winning it back at the age of 45...becoming the oldest fighter ever to win the world heavyweight crown in the process.

He also discussed personal parts of his life like going broke just 10 years after retiring from boxing and the decision to hit the boxing circuit again at the age of 40...Boxing in some cases for just $2,500 per night.

Upon listening to Foreman talk I realized that aside from the fact that he obviously didn't believe in the word "defeat", I also realized that Mr. Foreman possesses one of the most important traits an individual can possess if he wants to become a Peak Performer.

And that trait is persistence.

Persistence is a trait I discuss in detail in more than half of my current seminars because I firmly believe that this one trait alone can do more for a sales or business professionals' success than the majority of other traits she or he can possess, or develop for that matter.

It's also a trait that I credit for a large part of any success I've enjoyed over the years.

Why? Because if I would have given up on the many prospects that told me over the years they weren't ready for my product or service then I might in fact be ten dollars less than broke today.

Now, just to clarify, when I talk about being persistent I'm not talking about being pushy or aggressive, I'm talking about continuing to call on a prospect even after they have long given up on the idea of doing business with you.

I believe this act of continuing to call on a prospect even when they are not ready is so important partly because requirements and personnels' change, partly because new needs develop, and partly because it takes time to earn a prospect's trust.

In fact, I have found in my experience that over time if you do enough of the little things right in your continued communication with each prospect, and never give up on that prospect unless it is truly merited, they will eventually gain enough trust in you to at least give you an opportunity.

This is also assuming that you are treating the prospect with respect and not overstepping any lines or boundaries, of course.

And if that prospect eventually gives you an opportunity to bid for their business...isn't that is all you can really ask for?

Of course, there are many variables in the world of sales so an opportunity doesn't necessarily mean an order, but it's certainly better than the dreaded "I'm sorry, we already have a supplier that we are extremely happy with"

.....He say's with a smile.

CP