Robert Stevenson

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” (Benjamin Franklin)

Change is a constant. You can either choose to embrace it or watch as your business disintegrates right before your eyes. Everyone is standing on shaky ground. Today’s King of the Mountain could be tomorrow’s case study on failure. Kmart, IBM, Kodak and American Express have all found out the power of change, from a position of power to a fight for survival. The ultimate cause for change is the customer. When a company increases the value offered to a customer by improving the product, enhancing service, or reducing price, the competition must follow. The customer wants it better … they want it easier to use … they want it cheaper … they want it now. Even now, in today’s tenuous economy, it is the customer who is driving the ship. No matter what else is happening, it is the customer who is choosing when and where to spend. This program explores change … the successes, the failures and the reasons behind both.

Foundation:

• Change is an inevitable part of life
• Before asking others to change, change yourself first
• By embracing the concept of change, one embraces the future

Participants will be able to:

• See change as an inevitable opportunity
• Examine personal beliefs about change
• Develop a positive attitude toward living in a constantly changing environment
• Understand that the idea receiving the most resistance is probably the best idea
• Capitalize on thinking ‘outside the box’
• Deal with the ever-changing needs of the customer
• Teach the process of stimulating ideas
• Realize that change is never final nor always right

One of the greatest strategic advantages a company can have is the ability to avoid business disruptors. The sources for business disruption are everywhere. Situational imposed business disruptors would include recessions, poor hiring practices, lack of technology, strong competition, new government regulations, changing consumer trends, or data breaches, to name a few. On top of the situational imposed business disruptors, are the self-imposed disruptions caused by poor leadership, lack of knowledge or data, arrogance, laziness, poor research, assumptions, disregarding trends, foolish judgement, bad employees and poor customer service. 

The average life expectancy of a multinational corporation-Fortune 500 or its equivalent is only 40 years. Over 420 U.S. companies with assets of more than $500 million have filed for bankruptcy since 1981 and over 74% of the Fortune 500 companies that existed in 1980 are no longer on the list. Business disruptions can be devastating but they don’t have to be. Mr. Stevenson’s program is designed to help business leaders and employees understand where business disruptions come from and how to deal with, and when possible, avoid them. 

The Foundations for the Program: 

►  Human resources are a company’s most valuable asset

►  Collective problem identification can be very productive

►  Empowered employees results in more energized ideas

►  An established Focused Action Plan aligns the organization towards common goals

►  Involving  your employees in the problem solving process is the most efficient way to  produce multiple workable solutions 

Participants Will be Able to See the Importance of: 

►  Establishing open, candid communication between team members

►  Having all team members addressing critical issues

►  Getting everyone involved and creating a contagious level of high energy

►  Recognizing problems and empowering individuals to correct them

►  Dealing with business disruptors as soon as they occur 

Technology is a tool, not an answer.  Getting information fast is an advantage, but only when combined with critical thinking, communication and collaboration. For companies to survive and thrive in this ever-changing business environment, they must know how to avoid BUSINESS DISRUPTORS.

“In life as in nature, today’s peak will be tomorrow’s foothill.”    Anon.

This double-edged sword cuts to the core of performance, both business and personal performance. Mandates from management throughout the country all seem to be singing the same song: If we are going to remain successful and be players in the marketplace both now and in the future, we must constantly strive to learn more, improve our quality of service, increase customer satisfaction, increase market share and do it in less time with fewer people.

To keep elements for success effective, to facilitate individuals performing at their Optimum Level, it sometimes takes a catalyst of rare ingredients to first ignite the fire and then keep it blazing. This Peak Performance program was designed to be the catalyst to get things moving, and also teach techniques to keep it going.

Foundation:

• Peak performance is a way of work, not a mad dash to a single goal.
• Both innovation and motivation must be present to excel.
• Doing it the way you have always done it will not get you what you have always gotten. In today’s highly competitive, ever-changing business environment, you can never become what you need to be by remaining what you are.

Participants will be able to:

• Renew past convictions
• Deal with handling and accepting change
• Identify optimum effort, from customer service to moping the floors
• Delve into revamping, removing, and limiting personal paradigms
• Utilize multiple ways to deal with stress
• Explain the most common trait of all successes

This program doesn’t mean to oversimplify the process of sales and service, but it will make it understandable and easy to implement by sticking to the basics. The program breaks down the Art and Science of Selling into a no-nonsense set of guidelines that will make even the most novice of salespeople a success.

Foundation:

• Selling is both an art and a science
• A good salesperson truly cares about their customer
• Successful sales arise from the feeling of responsibility to help the customer

Participants will be able to:

• Appreciate the power of being fully prepared
• Learn how to handle and overcome objections
• Ask better questions
• Listen what the customer is really saying
• Realize the importance or getting detailed information
• Close the sale
• Appreciate the importance of following up after the sale
• Understand and use the following successfully …

             SHOW the customer … don’t TELL THEM

             FEEL what the customer feels

             LOOK to see how and if you can HELP 

             HEAR what the customer says

Why is it that some people succeed while others fail? That answer seems to elude most people. With over two decades of research, having interviewed over 10,000 employees, managers and senior executives in over 250 different industries, Mr. Stevenson has amassed an enormous database on the subject of SUCCESS. Combine that research with countless hours of listening to some of the greatest trainers of this century, reading innumerable books, magazines, newspapers, and periodicals and preparing over 2,500 speeches customized for his client’s specific needs … he has been able to compile what he feels are the Fifty-Two Essential Habits For Success. These are habits he has learned from some of the most successful people who have ever lived.

More importantly, Mr. Stevenson has designed a study method so “simple” that he will be able to show your attendees how to master all the habits and make them a part of their daily life. A method that will only take a couple of minutes a day. The beauty of his study method is in its simplicity. If your goal is to make your company and people more successful than this program is a must for you.

The brilliance of the program he has designed is how it will not only help individuals become more talented, motivated, productive, and successful but how it will help companies do the same.

Program Foundation:

• Bad habits are the core causes of failure
• The subconscious mind works 30,000 faster than the conscious mind and you can tap that power
• 40% of the actions people perform each day aren’t from decisions, they are from habits
• Self-awareness, self-vigilance, and self-discipline are necessary to break bad habits
• Having good habits will reduce errors, complications, stress, and unnecessary costs
• Good habits increase effectiveness, profitability, efficiencies, and productivity

Throughout the world, technological change and global competition continue on their relentless and disruptive path of uncertainty and volatility. Compounded by the current economic external threats of weakening consumer demand, growing unemployment, tight credit and collapsing housing markets, it is no surprise that many companies today are facing critical decisions on how to survive. Mr. Stevenson has designed this program to help companies, organizations and associations not only survive … but thrive in these types of conditions.

“Corporate Culture” is the fundamental character or spirit of an organization that influences the loyalty and general behavior of its employees. When you learn how to combine The Right Corporate Culture with The Right Core Competencies, your organization will begin to thrive.

Foundation:

Having employees fixing problems after-the-fact costs more and results in upset customers. Identifying potential opportunities for the organization creates the possibility for higher profits. Mr. Stevenson’s program will help to show you how to get all your employees to think like an owner, proactively recognizing problems and opportunities.

Participants will be able to:

• Identify core competencies for success
• Recognize the true values and beliefs of your organization
• Learn how to establish and maintain the Right Corporate Culture
• Eliminate hindering, unnecessary, and delaying policies and procedures
• Appreciate the foundation of an enterprise is based on those you serve
• Stimulate the sharing of more ideas, suggestions, and recommendations

Simple words like “Why” or “What if” can save a company if asked at the right time. Great leaders see challenges as an invitation for the group to test, justify, explain, and prove ideas. They welcome vigorous dialogue and debate. They see argument and disagreement as catalysts to better solutions. Unfortunately, some managers / bosses / CEOs / companies have instilled such an environment of fear that they seldom, if ever, have anyone question their ideas, policies, procedures, or methods. In an environment where the Top 10 In-Demand Jobs today did not exist in 2004 and the amount of technical information in the world is doubling every 2 years, innovation has become one of the critical functions of survival for companies today. 

Great managers have no problem admitting a policy or procedure just doesn’t work anymore. They understand you cannot become what you need to be by remaining what you are.

This program will teach your participants how to:

Delve, inquire, forget the past, try a clean slate, rewrite the rulebook, involve other fields of expertise, look from a different angle, try to find a 2nd right answer, along with the importance of involving all departments and levels of experience.

It will show them how to:

Inspire, exchange ideas, share experiences, describe challenges, have a shared sense of purpose, and learn from each other. If you want to create an Innovative Environment where your people will understand the power and purpose of openly and candidly challenging the rules, understanding the genius of subtraction rather than addition, appreciate that the Hero is the one with ideas and how “not” to succumb to the destructive power of traditional mindsets