Our culture is upside down. We take a traditional organization and reverse the thinking. The folks on the top of the page? Customers. The employee.  Who is at the bottom? The leaders. Our culture is upside down because the old way does not work here any longer.  Its too slow. Leaders too far away from the action and ill-equipped to make all of the decisions.

So this is crazy talk right? Who makes the decisions? Who has the responsibility? Who is in charge? Who is the leader?  Well everyone is around here. We all have the best chance to blow away our customers if we are empowered and if we act like we own the place.

We feel like we own the place because of the trust, respect, and authority that is bestowed upon us. This is a sacred bond and trust. We are honored to take up the mantle, and we never want to let ourselves, our customers, our peers down. We do things because we want to; because we are allowed to think, not just do the task we are assigned! This is what being valued and living the culture of Everyone is a Leader is all about.

So here is the interesting part: We can all act like leaders, even if we don’t have the title.  But if you have the “title”, leaders are on the bottom because we serve the organizational needs.  Our role is to provide for the success of others.  Our job is to plan for, provide the tools, environment, training, and spiritual support so that folks can really let go and perform at a high level!

I think it starts with a simple premise. The phone is ringing, so I answer it.“Thank you for calling CBI Group, Chris Burkhard speaking, I can help you!” However, everyday someone – a vendor, an applicant, a customer – seems so surprised when I answer the phone. 

To be specific, this is when the phone rings into my company. We want to get the caller picked up in three, ideally two, or even one ring.  We get busy like any other company and this job is bigger than anyone person who is primarily picking up the phone. We always have someone who does this most of their day. So where does the leadership thing show up in all of this?  One of the hardest things for a leader to do is to show a balance of leading, directing, and doing.  Trust is built when leaders do as they preach. Even if your company (mine) would prefer I stayed off the phones because I am not quite as good at it as some…

I have chosen a leadership model and organizational culture that is one of servant leadership while the business is organized in a flat, matrixed fashion. My goal is to squeeze the middle, empower my customer-facing staff, and force my leaders to work for them. Let that soak in. Empower the front line staff. Leaders work for them. So why should it come as a surprise when everyone in the company answers the phone? Habits. Experiences. Other places we work. All of these gained insights make it so much harder to buy-in.

However, how can an environment of equality exist unless the leaders do their best to be equal? Yes, roles are designed differently. Yes, some roles are critical to business success and very important to the success of a business.  This does NOT mean that there is not a place for a team mentality.

Some environments are siloed – don’t dare talk to someone in another department without having department heads do the talking! Some environments promote hierarchy and fear. Leaders do this by being ominous and scary or by forcing conformity to a practiced culture that all dare not bend or break from tradition.

My tradition and hierarchy are such that people are people and they perform best when they feel valued and they can be themselves – and where teamwork is sacred.  Teamwork is not an “opt-in” or “when and if I want to” kind of behavior. You’re either committed to the team or your not.  NOT just on your favorite tasks or to help your office friend out. So leaders step in and out of what needs to be done for the team.

Stepping in and out can be hard. Do I roll up my sleeves everyday? When will I plan? When will I work on business problems and opportunities?  How do I give feedback and do my leadership job? The answer lies within. But I can assure you if you never step in and help. Or worse yet, if you always dive in and help, you have a real opportunity to improve your leadership persona and have more impact!

So as ridiculous it is for you to think of someone’s President answering the phone because of their corporate culture, as a leader in an Outside-In company, not answering the phone is even more absurd to me!

At our company we examine every customer interaction and decide how we could take that experience as far as we can. We call this our Service to the N^th degree value. Can we take every moment of interaction to an extreme? How could we make it better for that person? For example, how can we answer a phone call with N^th degree thinking? Try getting to the caller quickly and eliminating voice mail. Or perhaps, always answer in three rings – or better yet, two. (Maybe even one!) Why keep that customer waiting? Create the best Outside-In experience you can.

However, today’s blog is about extending that service impression to the process of sales. In fact to put a fine point to it, for those of us that have to introduce ourselves and our companies to prospects, this is about the first 30 seconds of an interaction! Sales people struggle with the first introduction. Most of us spend hours preparing and researching our target. We know about their last annual report, we have read the press releases, we know about our competitors. My guess is that you’re loaded up with marketing materials. You have brochures, white papers, and case studies coming out of your ears.

So what do you need to focus on during the first 30 seconds? First off, your words.

1.  Be crystal clear with your purpose.  Sales people of the world… face it – we’re not crystal clear with our purpose in the first 30 seconds! We wander in these early conversations. We try to connect and “build relationships”. We try to impress with our knowledge of our offerings. We ask for the “order” when our prospect barely knows us. Be direct without being pushy. Be authentic.

2.  Don’t ask for a relationship right out of the gate. It is weird to ask to build a relationship in the first call. It did not work in the hallways of high school, and it is just as well, creepy when selling. This is just too much of a leap of faith for an audience that really is still paying attention to their email or the project they were working on when you called them and interrupted them.

3.  Differentiate yourself. Oftentimes, we act like and conduct business like everyone else. You could insert any product into your introduction and you would sound like the other ten voice mail messages your prospect deleted this week. Make yourself stand out. Think about how your company differentiates itself and how you can communicate it. Don’t let your introduction be “one size fits all”.

4.  Make sure to speak in terms of customer benefit.  As sales people, if we’re not careful our opening conversation sounds something like this to our prospect, “I am Chris Burkhard, I work for my company, I am interested in getting to know you so I can sell you my product so that I can meet my monthly quota, because I am falling behind on my bills, and I really need this sale now, you see.  Truth is, I need a a quick hit to stay on track, and keep my sales manager off my back.” Does your introduction sound like me, me, me?  It is subtle but true.  Until we learn to speak in an Outside-In way and in terms of the customers benefit, we will always sound selfish. Who wants to build a relationship, ever, with someone that is all about themselves?

Sales people of the world, if you’re on plan then you can ignore me.  If you’re falling behind, I bet I know why, and I have the answer – it starts with your first 30 seconds.  How good are you and your company at first impressions?

Today’s companies operate differently than a decade or two ago. Globalization, technology, cultural and social change, demographic trends and shifts have all impacted the way business is conducted. This structural shift has impacted the worker too. Today’s worker must be focused on knowledge building and embracing change skills to maximize themselves.

However, I think this structural shift has impacted the way leaders need to lead. One of my personal pet peeves is when leaders don’t take the time to admit fault. There is this funny thing called “leadership pride” that keeps our lips shut.  We may act like we did something wrong, we may make amends or attempt to fix a mistake, however, we don’t often vocally admit mistakes enough. When we don’t admit our mistakes, we damage trust on our teams and in our company. Trust is a funny thing. Easy to lose. Hard to get back.  Must be built through your actions and of course, your words.  They better be close to one and the same.

By not admitting mistakes we look fake and disingenuous. Today’s worker must do their job on the edge of their seat and take risks in their job to create some wow (or do something Nth degree in Outside-In® language). But the risk is the key.  If you won’t show vulnerability as a leader and expose yourself how do you expect others to do so?  And if you expect creativity or new thinking from your people, then celebrating mistakes is a requirement.

Making mistakes makes you real.  By making mistakes you are human. By admitting them, you allow others to admit them and creates an open channel for improved communication to blossom. A problem said out loud, is a problem half solved! Openly addressing mistakes you’ve made as a leader allows trust to grow and build between you and your employees. It’s about being Open Book — being honest, vulnerable, and transparent – and living Outside-In® leadership, where accessibility and trust are key components of a strong leader.

We all need a culture of admission, right?

Sales is not an easy profession. By the very nature of the role you have to be able to deal with a lot of negativity and rejection. Most buyers say no. This is simply a fact. The job requires so much hard work – busy work, really – research, preparation, meeting planning, detail follow-up with emails and phone calls, all for brief “performances” with your prospect and customer.  Sales is 99% hard work, planning and preparation, and 1% actually selling.

There is so much we can do to be better sales people.  Reading about sales and going to workshops on sales technique is a must. Being prepared and planned everyday is critical. Many sales people sometimes wing it; they count on their strengths too much, and they don’t prepare to to maximize their time. They do too little in the way of the activities that are necessary to produce the volume of output their quota probably requires!

However, I have come to grasp that sales people can’t do it alone! Your company has to work hard on your behalf.  I believe a company must work hard on its brand, and that the brand must be an honest representation of what the company stands for, whats it personality and character are like, and what promise you can make to your prospects.

This is always a brand challenge for any business. Every business has a brand.  Sometimes the brand is intentional; sometimes it is the absence of a plan. In all cases your company gives the marketplace an impression of what it is all about and what it stands for.

In my experience, I have found that being an Outside-In® company matters. Our brand is about being all about the customer. Our brand is our culture, and our culture is how we view ourselves. You can call this our overall personality! This personality is how we help our sales staff add value and clearly how we stand out in a world that is terribly the same! We are definitely not the same. However, we are not different for the sake of being different.  Our difference is because we chose to turn ourselves inside out. We are what our customers need and want us to be!

Our culture and our values? 100% a reflection of employee behaviors that will best enable each employee to be the best they can be in the unique business landscape we all operate in today. Our brand is our culture.  Our culture is our values.

Remember, good marketing helps you amplify the truth, not pitch something that you wish exists. That is the difference!

Watch our video for our truth!

Guest blog spot by Kelly Hocutt, Marketing Team Lead

Back in January we kicked off our company-wide annual theme, The Outside-In® Happiness Project, inspired by the best-selling book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. As followers of the business practices outlined in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish, we choose to establish a theme to motivate our company to accomplish its quarterly and yearly goals. Our company’s goal this year? To promote internal happiness and in doing so, optimize our company culture, Outside-In®.

Another business practice outlined in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is working in a rhythm. At CBI Group, we have built in some of those best practices into our team’s routine: Annual Theme, Quarterly Kick Offs, monthly leadership meetings, weekly team meetings, daily huddles and so on. All of these things are about communication and being a part of something. All of these things keep us as individuals aligned with our co-workers, leaders, teams, business lines and our company.

Today, I realized that all of these things, each of which may seem like just another meeting are much, much more than that. They make me feel a part of something. And that feeling contributes to my happiness. When I did my job search and found CBI Group, I was looking for that feeling. I wanted to wake up in the morning and be excited about the energy, atmosphere, vibe of what a company stood for. I can manage projects, be part of task forces and committees, design collateral and write at any company. But not every company offers that feeling that you are a part of something.

So today, I recognized one of my “commandments” or “secrets of adulthood”as Gretchen would call it: Be a part of something.

Being a part of something, in any aspect of my life makes me feel happier. I have a close family but sometimes I take them for granted. When I focus on daily texts, weekly dinners or outings and don’t let holidays come and go without focusing on traditions, I truly feel a part of my family – and that makes me happy. I’ve signed up for team sports, shown up for happy hours with friends and RSVP’d to party invites that come my way – but when I truly focus on the rhythm of my time with friends, I recognize the value of my friends and feel a part of something – and that makes me happy.

In the office, maintaining rhythm and recognizing its value makes a huge difference. It can transform a job from being “work” to being a part of something. And the cultural aspect? The culture reinforces that feeling of something greater. With The Outside-In® Happiness Project, we hope that our team’s personal happiness will reflect within our culture, and in doing so, improve our customer’s experience; and in being a customer-centric culture, that is what Outside-In® is all about.

What are you a part of? Does it make you happy?

We Are Customer Centric

Being Customer Centric is an attitude, a way of life, and our business philosophy. We are guided by our customers – thinking through the eyes of the customers at all times. For us, customers are at the center of it all, deciding what priorities we focus on and driving the change as we adapt and evolve.  -Outside-In® Pocket Guide

The original Placers did anything and everything it could to make service the #1 priority for customers. That has carried over to CBI Group today. The root of being Customer Centric is really about putting the customer at the forefront of your daily thoughts. We all have so much to do each day, but is it with intention towards the one who pays the bills – the customer?

I like the idea of being competitive around service. Imagine if we all try to “one up” each other in our efforts to blow a customers mind. That kind of service is contagious. When you see others smile and practice it, Customer Centric thinking just becomes second nature. Service becomes easier, not harder. Imagine a world where every day you can make your company better. Imagine right now that you are 100% empowered to fix things around you. And that we want to really hone in on the fixes and hassles that can make us more and more Customer Centric.

I am always asked about the big stories of Customer Centric thinking, and I have one in mind to share. Many years ago, I was attending a sporting event that ended very late into the evening. In fact, as I was making the ride home some time after midnight my phone rang. This was a new customer who admitted to me that they had chosen to go with a competitor of ours. That competitor had promised them a recruiter to start that day (since it was after midnight) and they had just received an email that the company was unable to fulfill their initial promise. (You might think that I was being Customer Centric to even pick up, but all I did was answer the phone. The Customer Centric stuff comes next.) I started calling all of my leaders to ask if they might be able to help me help our prospect. Then it happened, Jamie O’Neill offered to go in that day.  Now this was no small feat! She had a team, a business plan, a full day, week, month of stuff to do. But we knew this really mattered, and we did it.

My memories around being Customer Centric involve the really big things in CBI Group’s history. But the best examples are the day-to-day ones. Seeing staff pick up a piece of paper off the floor. Watching a team member grab a phone call when someone is not available.  Customer Centric is really about executing the little things well. Customer Centric is our recruiters driving candidates around the weekends to show them schools, and nice neighborhoods and where the shopping mall is located. Customer Centric is when folks step forward to do volunteer work (recruitment or not) on their own time because they know it is the right thing to do and full of good karma!

I sure would love to gather more and different Customer Centric stories all of the time.  Get some new ones, and commit to getting this sort of thing in orientation and training for others.  We all want to know how to fit in.

Imagine a world where all of us wakes up and plans to be Customer Centric? That is how we will get better all of the time!

I am a fourth generation entrepreneur.  My family has worked for themselves for so long that it is all I can even remember.  My father always taught that it is best to control ones own destiny, to have your problems and opportunities be your own.  It sure makes sense to me.  The last thing I want is to have someone else make decisions that determine my fate.  By “being my own boss” I at least get to determine my own path.

When I started my company over ten years ago, I wanted my employees to get a taste of being an entrepreneur and set out to make entrepreneurial traits and qualities a part of the culture. In fact, we set out to select our values by trying to figure out what our customers needed us to be in order to serve them best.  This is the very nature of what Outside-In® is all about.  Do what is best for the customer all of the time.  Even when choosing values.  After all, values are the true personality of the company.  And this represents what I hoped would be the ongoing actions and behaviors of my people!

One of our values became Intrapreneurship.  I certainly didn’t invent the term; however,  the word seems to represent what I wanted from employees.  Be an entrepreneur.  Act like an entrepreneur.  Experience what it is like to be one.  Sell, Lead, Serve. Exist as an entrepreneur.  I felt then (and still believe) that if all employees embrace this then they can have a better day-to-day job.

You see, being an intrapreneur is about working day-to-day like you own the place.  To care like your name is on the door, and to have the kind of work experience and day-to-day role where anything is possible.  If you see a problem, prioritize and fix it.  If you want to more responsibility, go get more knowledge.  Perhaps you want and need more financial reward, well, find away to create equal or greater value for the organization.  Intrapreneurs look to create value.  They look for new market opportunities.  They figure out how and when to innovate new products and services that make our customer’s world a better place.

Without intrapreneurs we would not be in the contingent staffing business, which represents so much of our growth in customers, revenues, and of course opportunities for future intrapreneurs. Without intrapreneurs we would not be in the search business.  We would still be politely saying no to prospect and customer alike. Without intrapreneurs we could not help our relationships with services that support their job search with resume work, career coaching, and outplacement.

All of these seem big to me.  And they are.  Intrapreneurs help us change and evolve during turbulent and changing times.  But I promise you that the best thing about being intrapreneur is the growth and learning that one receives in exchange for their ideas, innovation and hard work. At CBI Group, our real challenge is that we are a flat, matrixed organization.  We don’t think much about titles, unless they make it more clear for our customers to deal with us.  We will always be adding talent to the business.  Everyone here is equal; we just play different roles!

Where else can someone do so much without taking on the financial risk themselves?  Sure, some alumni have left to do their own thing.  But, if you ask me, there is no greater compliment!

How will you apply your own intrapreneurialism to your company?

Outside-In® is our culture and our operating philosophy. Outside-In® is made up of our employees and a work environment that encourages individualism, innovation, and focus on creating a unique customer experience.  We want customers to be happy with great service.  We want employees to be happy with great culture.  And shareholders can be happy with the good profits that ultimately follow. These great employees are hired, recognized, and rewarded against our core values. Our core values guide us where others use policy manuals and mandates. The world is too complex and dynamic and the business world too fluid to not put the information, knowledge, authority and gumption in the hands of all employees equally.

With all this said, I’d like to take some credit for its creation, but I am not its “Founding Father”.  That credit goes to another Burkhard — Alan Burkhard. Over our lifetimes, we have worked together to refine the concept of Outside-In®. The focus of putting the customer first in business thinking. The notion of a culturally led business.  Alan did it first, and this Outside-In® brand, this Outside-In® philosophy can and is used in all kinds of businesses and industries.

Many years ago, I gave Alan the registered trademark as a gift that we share. We went first in using it in business, and the ™ symbol is our proof.  However, our goal was to encourage the world to use Outside-In® as a way of describing customer-oriented behavior and thinking.  This is my personal 10 year goal.  Make Outside-In® a household name.  Look it up.  It is more mainstream in business than you realize…

But this post is about how we think our Outside-In® philosophy gives us an edge in business. It helps us run better waste companies like Independent Disposal. We run better staffing, recruiting, and outplacement firms.  We run great restaurants.  And now we make Outside-In® movies.No one can say that we are not diverse right?  Find a market.  Look for a service gap.  Treat the customer better than they expected.  Create a customer-centered culture.  Focus on and make your company Outside-In®.

Do that enough, and opportunities present themselves.  Do that enough and you want to help people. Have enough success in life and there are opportunities to share what you know in new fields and you get quite a rush and ride along the way. That is where my Dad is in life.  He backed and helped make a independent movie, Yes, Your Tide Is Cold and Dark, Sir, written and directed by local filmmaker and friend, Chris Malinowski. My Dad makes a cameo as a bartender. He taught a group of talented actors, producers, directors, sound, key grips, and a whole lot more about Outside-In® and he got to help a friend fulfill a lifelong goal of getting a script to the big screen. When I spoke with Chris about his experience working with Alan on the project he said,

“Alan, empowered me to run the [film] company and believed in the exuberance of the project. He knew it was a challenging narrative. Producers tend to lean at times on the creative parties and stick their necks into the creative process. Alan didn’t do that. He empowered me completely.”

Empowerment and creative freedom on a movie set? That is the ultimate Outside-In® experience. I am proud.

Ultimately, what matters is that they took the risk. Through that risk, the Outside-In® brand and legend grows.  So, if you are in Delaware and are into independent films, watch the trailer, come to the premier, and most importantly help me celebrate the success of our Outside-In® brand and what can do for any business.  For Yes, Your Tide Is Cold and Dark, Sir trailer, click here. For showtimes and ticket information for this weekend’s premiere, you can visit the film’s Facebook page.

What do you say to new employees about your culture?

I hope it involves stories, fables, and anecdotes.  Stories stay in the mind long after the first day on the job. After all the introductions, product overviews, and orientation meetings, people remember the stories in the end. What’s more, the messages in the stories are what really stick. I have some favorite stories that I use to bring our cultural values to life. I’ll share one powerful story with you today.

I often start by saying that there will be No Strings here.  I am not a Puppet Master, and you are not a puppet. The strings are a metaphor for tangible tools that managers use to yank us around as employee puppets.  Strings are threats, one-time contests, or traditional leader behaviors that create the typical reward for the right kind of behavior.  This management style is not evil or wrong. This style is just not our culture. No Strings describes freedom of expression. No Strings  means that your motivation is within.  You’re responsible for your own career and development. You’re driven by our set of 20 Outside-In® values.  Your actions and behaviors are congruent with who you want to be and how you want to live your life.

All in all, No Strings is the difference between internal or intrinsic motivation (things like learning, challenging work, respect, fun, growth) and alignment or extrinsic motivation (money, title, power, benefits, company perks, or fancy trips).  Don’t get me wrong,  all of us are motivated to some degree by financial needs.  But, all things considered, they don’t stay that way for long . Given the choice, most of us will choose the learning and fun over some short term performance based threat or bonus to hit a production number.

So, if you’re a leader are you a Puppet Master? If you’re an employee, are you a puppet with strings?

What stories do you tell your employees in their first week? Share them, I dare you! I have told this story three times this week, and hundreds of times in my leadership career. I know that No Strings empowers and creates equality in our flat, ever evolving set of companies.