RIPPLE EFFECTS

I remember as a child skipping rocks across a lake and watching the flat stones skip much farther than I thought possible. Another phenomenon that I discovered as a young guy was the ripple effect. WHen you dropped  a rock or anything in the water it created a wider swatch of circles from the source. Similarly, the consequences of our actions hold a much wider effect than we can possibly imagine.

Case in Point:  9-11  When that event smashed into our life, it created ripple effects of staggering purportions! In  a smaller way our actions, and particularly the way we interract with others causes very profound ripple effects. These can be very good  or not so good at all.  Mahmhat Ghandi started a movement in India that has very constructive effects to this day, He  was the primary reason why India has evolved into a growing democracy.

Othe effects:   Large churches such as the ones here in town; I.E  Brookwood and Redemption  in Greenville with started with strong intention and healthy faith. A handful of people with a strong belief has affected not only this community but large numbers of people around the country, and around the world! The ripple effects are deep and pervasive. For example Brookwood send missiionaries around the globe but it all started with a small group that broke off from Mauldin First Baptist.. they saw a niche that could be filled with broken and hurting people in the community and it mushroomed into a megachurch of 6,000 people!

Redemption Outreach started witht the vision of Ron Carpenter  and a handful of folks that rented out a building off Woodruff Rd just a few years back, today it has created one of the largest church in the southeast, with effects on many thousands of lives.

Personally, I attend  the church I do because of the way I was treated. Several people from a Sunday School class took time with me and showed me the love of God. THey reached out and invested in me their time and energy and it impressed me profoundly. Ripple effects: they are small causes that explode into bigger ones if properly nourished.

Conpanies distinquish themselves, by applying the golden rule of customer service. Treat another like you would like to be treated and then go one better. Be better at it than anyone else.

This article really brings it out:http://www.fastcompany.com/1762975/world-class-companies-create-compelling-customer-experiences

Every company whether it was Amazon or Fed Ex went out of their way to overdeliver on their promise. They spent just as much energy retaining a customer as they did purseing them initially! That is how you make meaningful connections and corral lifelong customer service.

This is the fulcrum of dynamic sales professionals. They know that their future income and the life of their company is based on how well they treat their customers! The wrong ripple effect creats a wrong impression that can last for years. Weve all had it. Lets make positive ripple effects, knowing that Solomon said it best in Ecc. 11:1              "Cast thy bread upon they waters for thou shall find it after many days."

This young man caught my attention as a shining example of putting relationship before profit. He personifies the spirit of what capitalism and Christianity should be, Get to know somebody first and build on a relationship before you go on to what you can "do for them"  Linkhttp://www.ripplecentral.com/

Are you creating ripple effects? Good ones..are you looking at the long term or more concerned about your bottom line?

A friend once told me her story in rural central KS of a ministry that challenged her thinking and patience. Many were the obstacles to sustain it, but so were the blessings: the ripple effects that she was creating in her community for long term and eternal good. When she leaves that ministry she will have "paid it forward" she will have created relationships that will change lives.. that is the ripple effect we are talking about.

Steve Harper has an approach that works very well. When going to a network, how many times has a business card been thrust in your face, and an elevator pitch been rolled out before you actually got to know tha person? Its often, and the difference, is small but very crucial. Steve recommends building a relationship first before trying to tell them your story!!  Again youve heard it before. "People dont  care about you know until they know how much you care"  So true, and so rare to see.. building a relationship with somebody and caring about them as a person shows up in the small things. Steve can tell you firsthand!
'
Its the kind of thing that builds life long sales and loyal clients.  Want to build a huge referral base and have business coming to you?  Start building a connection first.

The McDonalds Miracle!

Business are a lot like scienitific experiments. A lot of them do not work, but a few prized ones do. The facts remains  that more than 50 % of  businesses fail in their first couple years of operation. But for those that do.. ie Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, Oracle, Sara's Kitchen. among many others  that do  sometimes work beyond the wildest expectations!  McDonalds    started  by Ray Kroc more than 50 years ago has grown to serving more than 64 million customers daily. That is more than the population of most countries! It has been a model business  that has been improved and refined over the years; securing its place in the top most successful businesses  of all time.

While some may debate the health, ethical, or career issues with MCD's there is no debating their success.

All  successful businesses have a certain enviroment and product that makes it unique. McDonalds product by and large are not unique.  You can get a latte or a burger in a dozen places, however  MCD's  manages to sell more burgers and happy meals that anybody else. Why? Why does Mcdonalds reign king for over a half a century in a very hotly contested fast food market. Simple and yet not so simple.

I was there  the other day.. and no I actually wasnt eating. I was using their wi fi, and just watching the people flow in and out.  Upon reflection I have noticed several things that distingquish MCD's from any other fast food joint and that word is CONVENIENCE!!  McDonalds masters the only thing that really matters timing and customer service. . Rarely have I been in any McDonalds that I had to wait more than a few minutes for my food. However I have been in a plenty of other FFJ that they got my order wrong, they made me wait 5 minutes or longer, or worse yet acted like I interrupted something when I came to order!

McDonalds also has another a great System in place that can be duplicated in the world with the same predictable results. It has perfected a business plan over the decades of trial and error. There is no guess work when it comes training, design, and system implementation. Obviously they have the winning combination. In business, usually the best system is what is already in place by the top distributor or business owner. Incredibly, many smart people still want to tinker and reinvent the wheel!

McDonalds still has its finger on the pulse of American society, and adjusts to trends as needed, For instance when the coffee craze with Starbucks, and other franchises; it adjusted to and rolled its own decent brands. It didnt have to be the best brand only somewhat competitive. When the wifi craze has swept across the country, and many cafes with wi fi hotspots sprang up, McDonalds adjusted and remodeled its bldgs to accomdodate the student and  younger generation.

For all its faults, and high calorie meals, McDonalds stands alone in its apparent domination of the market for decades to come. The Mcdonalds brand  is one of the chief ways Americanism and its products are introduced to other countries.

Chief lesson here, sometimes success doesnt have to be invented it has to be only effectively copied. I doubt Ray Kroc with the Speedee logo back in 1940 would have imagined the juggernaut they had started, but I do know that McDonalds can serve as an inspiration to all of us. 

No one else does what they do as well consistently over the vast platform that they preform as Mcdonalds!  THat is the not so easy key to their success!

Some fun and not so fun facts about McDonalds:


Fun Facts about them

Handling Fear

I had the occassion to spend time with my little brother, Malaki. Malaki is my adopted brother who is taking part in the Big Brother program. I have had the unique privilege and joy of talking and sharing moments of joy with this precocious youngster. He is all of seven and bound and determined to explore all that life has to offer him. Once I took him out to the pool and he was like a young man possessed, He couldnt't get enough of it, I had to practically drag him out of the pool.

Hes not afraid to take a hit. Malaki plays football and is just learning what his body and mind can do. Sometimes though his body and mind get confused and fear rules. We've all had fears: I had fear of heights when I was young.. fear of public speaking (most of us do)... Malaki as it turns out had a morbid fear of dogs! I didnt know that until he practically did a 180 turned  and jumped  into my arms as we went into Petsmart!. For a second, I didnt know  what he was doing, until a little furry creature (dog) showed up just wanted to sniff him, youd think it was a crocodile lunging out of the lagoon, He was terrified.

All of a sudden he wanted to hold my hand tightly, so  we walked around the store and I calmed him down. Evidently Malaki has had a very bad experience with dogs. Funny, what other consider threatening others consider nonthreatening... The same boy that loved the water, and meeting new friends, felt threatened by a little dog.?

Fears are illogical, sometimes it doesnt make sense. When we assess our fears it stimulates the fight or flight response. Other times it is just new experiences that we resist. We get so comfortable with the routine. However this limits our future prospects. We cannot live solely  by our emotions, we have  to use our minds when confronting fear.

Fear is paralyzing. Just as Malaki had a mortal fear of dogs, we all have paralyzing fears. If we allow them to paralyze us, it is our trap built with our own hands. Instead of being the free and open youngster he was cowering behind my back in the store.  Fear will do that to any body.

Shakespeare once said, " Fear makes us cowards of us all."

Lastly, fear distorts reality. Malaki  had seen dogs before, but his sense of reality was distorted because he felt that a harmless old Muffi was going to get him. Only by desensitizing him, do we have a chance to cure him of this. Eventually hes going to have a couple of good experiences with dogs, and he will be fine.

In much the same way.. in life we all need good experiences to replace a fear of phobia. In many cases the fear of public speaking and a new job, is unfounded. With confidence  and conditioning, we can overcome many obstacles that thwarted us many times before. I once read a book by Susan Jeffers entitled, Feel the Fear and Do it anyway"     So true, many times the fear is what Zig Ziglar calls   False   Evidence Appearing Real.

And so it is, the same primal fear that stymied normally a happy go lucky kid stops many adults.  Face your fears head on and take action.