Behind the Mike

GUEST COLUMN <> FOREWORD “IT’S THE CUSTOMER, STUPID!”
By: Jeffrey Gitomer, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame
Author of The Little Red Book of Selling

In today’s “What’s in it for me right now?” world, Michael Aun stands as a successful person who recognized that “right now” is not as powerful as “day-by-day.” Consistency wins the race. And consistency is only one of Michael’s success attributes. Family man, high ethics, and dogmatic to achieve and be positive from the first minute of the morning until his head hits the pillow at night, are some others.

His engaging online publication, “Behind the Mike,” is a misnomer. Michael Aun is always out in front. It’s the reason he has achieved so much in his career, and it’s the reason he will continue to achieve. I always read it from beginning to end. It’s loaded with his insight, humor, and wisdom.

In this book, It’s The Customer, Stupid!, Michael goes to great lengths to explain the validity and the monetary value of customers, repeat customers, loyal customers, and referred customers. Because everyone is looking to make sales, build business, increase profits, and become successful NOW, this book addresses the gold in your own back yard that you are not mining. Your customers. Better stated, your loyal customers.

Michael has succeeded in the insurance business, which in my opinion is the most difficult business to achieve over the long term. In a market segment where no one wants to meet with the seller, Michael was always able to meet with the buyer, and he didn’t just make sales, he established relationships and over the years has kept a fiercely loyal customer base. Not just renewals, but also referrals.

In this book Michael explains the why, the how, and the how much.

Think about your own customer base or your own client base.

How do they feel about you?
How do they talk about you?
What do they mean to you? (But more important, what do you mean to them?)
How valuable are you?
How believable are you?
How available are you?
And how trustworthy are you perceived to be?

All of these qualities ensure success, but not one without the other. And all of these qualities are Michael Aun qualities.

Everyone – including you – is looking for TODAY’S answers. An idea, a direction, a plan. This book is loaded with them. He’s not saying, “Go back to basics.” He’s saying, “Here are the fundamentals. Here’s how I handled them, here’s how I mastered them, and here’s what you need to do. Now!”

We’re living in a time of doubt, a time of uncertainty, and a time of distrust. This book provides a road map for gaining these critical fundamental attributes while others are losing them.

NOTE WELL: As you read this book you would be well advised to grab a highlighter, read slowly, and make notes in the margins. And if you are persistent enough, and consistent enough, to turn those notes into actions – then you will have maximized the value of this book.

It’s funny, when I first saw the title of this book, I immediately thought about how many companies I have talked to, and how many people, especially salespeople and service people, I have spoken with. When they talk about customers they say, “It’s the stupid customer!”

Blaming is so easy in this world at this time. Taking responsibility is so much harder. But believe it or not it’s safer, and more rewarding, for both the customer and for you.

Everyone has an idea, philosophy, or strategy about what customers are all about. Michael Aun has a passion for what customers are all about. And as you look through the table of contents you will find that he also has an understanding of what customers are all about.

It is from his lifetime of experience that you will gain new insights about the critical customer service topics in today’s markets including: word-of-mouth marketing, word-of-mouth advertising, finding out what the customer really thinks, giving the customer more than they were expecting, having a service heart, problem resolution, and the all important skills of communication.

As a high-level Toastmaster, Michael has mastered the art and the science of communicating to a group and an individual, as husband and wife or a thousand husbands and wives.

This book also tackles the sensitive subjects of taking responsibility, advocacy, time management, speed of response, and bad news.

The cool part about bad news is that Michael shows you how to turn it into great news and provides insight that will help you understand how bad news occurs, how fast it travels, and the magic of converting it to good news.

As if all this weren’t enough, there is the sensitive topic of results (or should I say measuring results). Michael’s leadership both demands results and commands results. Michael’s style and leadership assures results and does it using the voice of his customer, included with his own it is those collaborative qualities.

He doesn’t “have” customers, he has fiercely loyal customers. They are an integral part of his success and Michael shows you how to make them an integral part of your success.

This book delivers Michael’s experience as a salesman, a manager, a speaker, a businessman, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a person of character. It’s authentic. And Michael’s authenticity is transferable – to you.

I’ve known Michael for nearly 20 years. We are fellow members of the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame. In fact, he was the one that nominated me. In order to respect someone’s words and honor someone’s deeds, you have to respect the person, and Michael Aun is the shining example of what to do in business, in family, and in life.

I wonder how you say “It’s the Customer, Stupid!” in Russian or Portuguese. I should ask my brother-in-law, Richard Cox. He has spent tons of time in Russia and other parts of the world building plants for Fluor-Daniel Construction.

I recently learned that the publishing rights for my new book were just purchased in Russia and in Brazil (Portuguese). I found it interesting that the Russians were the first non-English speaking country to step up and acquire the rights from John Wiley & Sons, my publisher. I didn;t even know Wiley was shopping the book.

I recall an earlier book that I co-authored with Jeff Slutsky, “The Toastmasters International Guide to Successful Speaking” (Dearborn Publishing/1996), was reproduced without permission in China. One of my colleagues actually mailed me a pirated copy. She tells me they translated it word for word.

I investigated taking legal action but found it would cost more to protect the copyright than I could ever expect to get. Go figure. Today, the number one language spoken in China is English as it is now taught in all the schools. It would not surprise me to see the new book get pirated as well.

Richard Cox once told me that when he was building a plant in China, the Chinese were replicating it board-for-board, brick-for-brick right down the street from the plant he was building. I guess it’s easier to help yourself to other’s creativity than it is to pay for that engineering on your own. That, in fact, could be the very undoing for societies that find it more convenient to steal than to create.

The economy of Russia is the tenth-largest in the world by nominal value and they boast of the sixth largest purchasing power. Brazil’s is just as competitive, eighth in gross domestic product and seventh in purchasing power.

Russia’s abundance of natural gas, oil, coal and precious metals coupled with their agricultural prowess make them a power to be dealt with in the world economy. The country is 1.8 times the size of the United States and boasts an economy of $1.231 trillion (State Department/2009). Some 142 million people in Russia descend from more than 100 ethnic groups.

Russia has undergone significant changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union, moving from a centrally planned economy to a more market-focused and globally-integrated economy. Capitalism seems to be catching on!

I guess that’s why some entrepreneurial ventures thought it profitable to acquire the publishing rights for “It’s the Customer, Stupid!” I’m hoping other countries will follow to give the book a truly global presence.

It will be interesting to see how the Russians and Brazilians will translate all my red-neck colloquialisms that appear in the book along with all the tongue-in-cheek, in-your-face humor. I guess the customer service is just as lousy everywhere as it is in North America.

As prodigious as the legitimate Russian economy is today, I suspect the hidden variable is the huge underground economy. The size of the so-called underground economy began to show an upward trend in 1996 and has profoundly affected tax revenues as a share of the GDP.

If you want to know what is happening in the underground Russian economy, one needs to only think about something as simple as bread consumption. The government’s own statistics show that people are eating more bread but bakeries are selling less.

Or you could consider another Russian staple, vodka. Distillers are able to produce far more vodka than is officially being sold. However, given the Russian’s love of the latter, there is every reason to believe that the stills are cranking out the product 24/7.

Richard Cox is currently building a plant in Azerbaijan, the largest country in the region of Europe and Asia, commonly referred to as “Eurasia.” Located in the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia (the other one) to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south.

Muslim represents over 93% of the population across the country and, according the State Department, the country enjoys a 99.5% literacy rate. Baku is the capital and Azerbaijani and Russian is predominantly spoken. I wonder how you say “It’s the Customer, Stupid!” in Azerbaijani.

“Way too many talk about customer service and way too few deliver it. Maybe that’s because they don’t know the tangible actions to take. That just changed. Buy this book and do what it says.” – Larry Winget, television personality and author of five bestsellers, including Your Kids Are Your Own Fault.

“In his simple, direct, and irreverent style, Michael Aun uses humor to tell it like it is: you had better care for your customers, stupid, or they’ll find someone else who will!” – Barbara Glanz, speaker and author of CARE PACKAGES FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS.

“Michael Aun is a highly successful businessperson and excellent communicator. Not only does he know what it takes to get and keep customers, he’s able to communicate his wisdom in an engaging and entertaining way.” – Mark Sanborn, author of THE FRED FACTOR.

“This book will teach you how to turn customer relationships into perpetual assets. Michael Aun is so far in the lead on this, he’s doing something else- he’s unbeatable with customers.” – Alan Weiss, PhD, author of MILLION DOLLAR CONSULTING, MILLION DOLLARS SPEAKING and MILLION DOLLAR COACHING.

“Michael offers profound insights around a single, powerful theme: that profitable organizations understand their business is customer service no matter the product.” – Howard Putnam, former CEO, Southwest Airlines and author of THE WINDS OF TURBULANCE.

“There’s no need to buy a dozen books on customer service. Just buy one- this one! Michael Aun gets to the heart of what it takes to win and keep today’s demanding customer.” – Joe Calloway, author of BECOMING A CATEGORY OF ONEstrong>em>.

“Michael Aun is terrific on and off the platform… entertaining and educating! He’s excelled himself in this magnificent book.” – Ed Foreman, U. S. Congressman (Retired) Texas and Mexico

“Success in business is all about loyal and happy customers. Michael Aun is a genius when it comes to customer relationships. Use his ideas and you will find success.” – Jeff Slutsky, author of STREET FIGHTER MARKETING SOLUTIONS.

“Michael Aun is right aun with this ausome book, and the one thing aul businesses forget- to auways focus aun the customer. Right aun, Aun!” – Ronald P. Culberson, MSW, CSP, Humorist and author of IS YOUR GLASS LAUGH FULL and MY KNEE CAP SEEMS TOO LOOSE.

“Michael Aun describes why your most important goals are your customers’ goals; how sold customers can become your most abused customers; and why keeping current customers is easier than developing new ones.” – Dr. Larry Baker, CSP, Internationally Known Management Consultant, Coach, Speaker Author and Publisher.

“Michael Aun is the king of customer service! Master the fine art of impeccable customer service that leads to loyalty and trust through his masterful ideas. This book is packed with ideas, concepts, and testaments that will transform the way you operate your business.” – Dr. Nido Qubein, President, High Point University; Chairman Great Harvest Bread Company.

“Astounding customer service is the best strategy for competing in today’s marketplace. Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game; astounding customer service wins the game. ‘It’s the Customer Stupid‘ is the blueprint for exceeding customer expectations and creating lifetime customers who are raving fans.” – Dr. Tony Alessandra, author of The NEW Art of Managing People and The Platinum Rule.

“Michael Aun’s newest book gets to the point very quickly: Focus on your customer’s needs. Listen, listen, listen and then listen some more. Great wisdom can be mined in 34 chapters. Buy this book! Read this book! And apply the time-valued rules. It’s a winner!” – Dr. Peter Legge, OBC, CSP, CPAE; Author, Businessman, and Professional Speaker.

“Michael Aun’s ‘It’s the Customer, Stupid!‘ will inspire you to find opportunities to build your business with the wisdom from a man who knows how to do it. Be smart and read this book!” – Giovanni Livera, President, TimeCompass, Inc.; author of Live a Thousand Years.

“Michael Aun provides extraordinarily wise counsel for everyone smart enough to follow his advice for positively impacting customers. Anyone who desires to remove the ‘bag filled with stupid customer activities‘ will be wise enough to embrace Michael Aun’s proven strategies of providing lifetime service to all customers and clients. Based on his successful career of attracting, serving and keeping customers, Michael Aun offers 34 profound ways to engage his customer based success. As we say, ‘Listening Pays in Many Ways!‘ and the wise will listen to Michael Aun.” – Dr. Lyman K “Manny” Steil, CEO, International Listening Leadership Institute; author of Listening Leaders: The Ten Golden Rules of Listen, Lead and Succeed

Once in a while something good happens to you for no apparent reason. Call it karma. Call it luck. Call it “your turn.” Whatever you call it, it feels nice to be wanted.

I got a phone call on Thursday, April 1, 2010 from Richard Narramore, Senior Editor with publishing giant, John Wiley & Sons. I had never approached Wiley so I have no previous history with the company.

For those not familiar with the book publishing world, Senior Editors don’t just pick up the phone and call you to ask if you want to write a book for them. This courting process is a lot like the one between a man and a woman, which requires a lot of dating, courting and in general getting to know one another. This is followed by a proposal for marriage and a walk down the aisle. Like successful courting, the process can take months and like many courtships, it can easily fall apart before the stroll down the aisle.

I have been involved with five other books, three of which were self-published. The fifth was a book I co-authored with Jeff Slutsky, “The Toastmasters International Guide to Successful Speaking” (Dearborn Financial Publishing/1996).

Most books with major publishing houses are brokered through publishing agents. It is unheard of when a publishing house the size of Wiley picks up the phone and calls a potential author to ask if he or she is interested in doing a book.

John Wiley and Sons have been around since 1807 and are award-winning publishers with an impeccable reputation. It’s safe to say this isn’t their first rodeo. So it follows that since they knew what they wanted to accomplish, it was easier to find the right author to help them accomplish it. Thus the phone call to yours truly.

Through the 20^th century, John Wiley expanded its publishing activities to the business world, the sciences and higher education. They have published the works for over 350 Nobel Laureates in every category in with the prize is awarded. Today they operate worldwide with headquarters in Hoboken, New Jersey near the shores of the Hudson River.

So when Richard Narramore called, I had to ask the question, “Why me?” I’m inquisitive like that because stuff like this doesn’t happen. Color me skeptical, if you will. Richard tells me he found me in the National Speakers Association database. In the publishing world, it’s a given the author has to sell the book. Naturally, professional speakers have the benefit of being in front of large audiences who can purchase their books on the spot.

Richard also tells me that he was searching for speakers with certain credentials and awards. The speaker’s fee level and topics made it even easier to narrow the field to the candidates he wanted.

Senior Editors don’t just pick up the phone and call someone they don’t know and never heard of and ask if you would like to write a book for them titled “It’s the Customer, Stupid!” It just doesn’t happen. Well it happened to me.

I got the call on a Thursday. By the following Monday, I had e-mailed my speaking schedule, my previous book sales activity, a proposed table of contents, a marketing plan and copies of articles I had written on the subject of customer service. By April 27, 2010, I signed a deal memo to publish “It’s the Customer, Stupid!” with a March 2011 targeted release date.

While this all happened relatively quickly, I submit to you that this has been in the works since 1974 when I first began speaking professionally in conjunction with my other business interests.

While I speak over a hundred times a year, half of which are within my industry of life insurance, I have never considered myself a full time professional speaker because I do have other business interests.

However, it’s those very business interests that give me the right to climb up on a platform and wax eloquently. The great baseball pitcher Dizzy Dean once said, “When you done done it, it ain’t braggin’.”

You say you’re interested in writing a book? Go forth and live the message. The book will follow.