Robert Stevenson

Biography

This program deals with the premise that if you are going to survive in this ever-changing, highly competitive business environment, you are going to have to make your company indispensable in the eyes of your customer; being adequate is unacceptable.

By exploring not only in the initial sell, but also addressing how to improve repeat and referral business, this program will provide concrete examples of ways to improve your selling and service techniques. The program has been designed for anyone who has customer contact, from Executives, Managers, and Supervisors to Hourly Personnel. Mr. Stevenson will be addressing the KEY drivers that cause customers to not only want to come back, but to also tell others about your great company. 

Foundation:

• Anyone who has customer contact is a salesperson 

• One dissatisfied customer can destroy months worth of positive work 

• Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth 

• The customer is right only if it is right for the business 

Participants will be able to:

• Identify the definition of Excellent Customer Service for your industry 

• Understand the power of customer perception 

• Consider alternative methods for improving customer satisfaction 

• Prioritize activities to more effectively address those customer needs and wants 

• Respond appropriately to customer complaints after reviewing customer feedback 

• Allocate customer service resources more profitably 

• Establish, implement and review Service Standards for better customer service 

• Analyze strategies for Optimum Customer Service - Building the culture from within

• Recognize problem areas 

• Accept and assign responsibility 

• Empower your frontline service people 

• Address the needs and wants of your customers 

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.

The program focus is on practical, insightful and useful skills that help to make relationships work and companies prosper. Designed with the goal of helping companies thrive in today's marketplace by retaining and motivating their most valuable asset; EMPLOYEES. Mr. Stevenson identifies how to start, maintain, and deepen working relationships by SHOWING the WAY. This program starts with the nine elements of the Leadership Formula then delves even deeper into the philosophy of relationships. Mr. Stevenson addresses courage and challenge, confidence and commitment, compassion and communication, change, cooperation, and control.

Foundation:

• People not Procedures 

• Action not Talk 

• Want To not Made To 

• Desired not Required 

• Showing not Shouting 

• Flexible not Fixed 

• Listening not Telling 

• Caring not Bottom Line 

• It’s a Process – Not an Event

Participants will be able to:

• Open two-way channels of communication 

• Establish rapport 

• Develop respect 

• Recognize effort 

• Provide effective encouragement 

• Deal with differing viewpoints 

• Improve listening skills 

• Encourage and solicit suggestions

• Master the skills to gain willing cooperation

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 industries, Mr. Stevenson has amassed an enormous data base on the subject of SUCCESS. He called upon his knowledge of what he has learned from some of the most innovative, resourceful, and powerful companies in the world, along with what he learned running his own companies … to compile what he feels are the Fifty-Two Essential Habits For Success.

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 program is designed  to not only help individuals become more talented, motivated, productive, and successful but help companies do the same.

Program Foundation:

• Bad habits are the core causes of failure 

• 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 

• Focus on developing one good habit at a time

Participants will be able to:

• Identify bad habits that damage them personally - their reputation, work and career

• Understand how to replace bad habits (poor acquired behavior patterns) with good ones 

• Identify the benefits of good habits and help them commit to them  

• Appreciate they can improve their habits all by themselves

• Understand the importance of sharing good habits with associates

• Recognize good habits…

reduces uncertainty, creates a culture of excellence, helps standardize proper procedures, generate feelings of happiness and security

• Understand how to acquire 52 powerful success habits

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 … then this program is for you.

Foundations:

• To understand, How to INNOVATE, you first should identify, Why to Innovate

• You cannot become what you need to be by remaining what you are

• Challenging points of views keep companies healthy

• Healthy companies constantly reinforce the reasons why it is critical to keep improving

Participants will be able to:

• Learn how to get a unified commitment from their department / team 

• Identify and understand the Essential Habits for Success for their company/industry         

• See the importance of asking and answering the “What If’s”                                               

• Get all employees involved in looking for ways to grow their business

• Look at their company through the “Eyes of Their Enemies” and identify weaknesses they might exploit           

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. Kodak, Sears, Borders, Blackberry, My Space, and JC Penney all went bankrupt … and ultimate reason for their demise was their inability to handle change. 

When a company increases the value offered to a customer by improving the product, enhancing service, offering better technology or increasing efficiencies, 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 their money. This program explores change ... the successes, the failures, the reasons behind both and how to capitalize on the opportunities that are created because of change.

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 

• Recognize the value and importance of change

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. The Peak Performance program was designed to be the catalyst to get things moving, and also teach techniques to keep it going.

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 necessary to keep growing professionally and as a company  

• Delve into revamping, removing, and limiting personal paradigms 

• Utilize multiple ways to deal with stress 

• Explain the most common trait of all successes 

The Leadership program focus is on practical, insightful and useful skills that help to make relationships work and companies prosper. Designed with the goal of helping companies thrive in today's marketplace, Mr. Stevenson identifies how to start, maintain, and deepen working relationships. This program starts with the nine elements of the Leadership Formula then delves even deeper into the philosophy of relationships. Mr. Stevenson addresses courage and challenge, confidence and commitment, compassion and communication, change, cooperation, and control.

Mr. Stevenson has developed this program to facilitate the Strategic Planning process. This program enables the organization to get a handle on what it is doing right, where it can improve, and what must be done to reach the goals being set. Some of the greatest experts on any business are a firm's own people. Utilizing various aspects of dynamic interaction, Mr. Stevenson will take full advantage of the brainpower sitting in the room. With Robert as the catalyst driving the audience, everyone will get involved and in no time be combining their collective brilliance to accomplish far more than previously thought possible.

At the end of the program there will be a detailed account of what is going right, and what needs improvement. Additionally, the group will produce a prioritized strategic action plan intended to improve the organization and better prepare it for today's highly competitive and ever-changing environment. This seminar will prove to be one of the best allocations of corporate resources ever authorized.

Foundations:

• Human resources are a company's most valuable asset 

• Collective problem identification can be very productive 

• Empowering employees results in more energized ideas

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

• Involving  your people in the problem-solving process is the most efficient way to produce multiple workable solutions 

Participants will be able to:

• Establish open, candid communication between team members 

• Have all team members addressing critical issues 

• Understand that each issue will result in written responses from each team 

• Share written responses with the entire audience 

• Get everyone involved, making it fun while creating a contagious level of high energy 

• Empower individuals to take action 

• Understand that with each new issue there will be... more interaction, new responses and a new team member addressing the audience 

For your company or organization to succeed in this highly competitive, ever-changing environment you need to be certain you are running at peak performance. All resources must be utilized to full potential. When considering the resources of an organization, its most valuable asset is always its human resources. To be able to maximize results, you need to be able to maximize Operations, Preparations, Motivations, and Expectations. Mr. Stevenson has developed a program that addresses the many aspects of teamwork and how to make it function at its optimum potential.

Foundation:

• “I’ve Got Your Back” mentality creates a winning culture  

• Cooperative teams are more productive 

• Teamwork improves the organization 

• How to foster at team mentality 

Participants will be able to:

• Incorporate the attitude of watching out for each  

• Change Reactive or Inactive to Proactive 

• See that conflict can be productive 

• Handle change as a unit 

• Strengthen the weakest link 

• Inspire individuals to accelerate the group 

• Develop REAL communication... 

• Listen with an unprejudiced mind 

• Understand dialogue - what it is AND what it is not

The art, discipline, techniques of selling have traveled many different paths over the centuries. Whether one is doing research or actually working in businesses it is obvious the path to selling effectively has gone from simple to highly sophisticated and back again. This program doesn't mean to oversimplify the process of selling something, 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.

Communication is an interactive event between two or more individuals; a give and take of thoughts, wants, or needs. Communication is a skill that must be learned and practiced regularly in order to be successful at it. The Communication program was designed using proven and powerful communication techniques intended to call the audience to action, calling them to examine their own skills, and then calling them to actively practice improving those skills.

This program deals with dispelling the theory that the customer is always right. Whether it was selling a Dixie cup of lemon-aid on the sidewalk or closing a multimillion-dollar deal, anyone who has ever dealt with a customer knows the customer is not always right. Many times the customer is wrong, very wrong; however they are still the customer. This Customer Service program addresses how to keep customers spending their money at your organization without giving away the farm. By exploring not only in the initial sell, but also addressing how to improve repeat and referral business, this program will provide concrete examples of ways to improve your selling techniques. This program has been designed as an educational, interactive seminar for anyone who has customer contact, from Executives, Managers, and Supervisors to Hourly Personnel.

Understanding that time is an organization's most valuable commodity is the first step, the easy part. Learning how to use this valuable commodity judiciously, with the reverence it deserves, is the hard part.

Effective time management is actively making things happen that will advance you toward your goal, rather than just letting things happen. No matter how efficient an individual or an organization is, productivity will increase exponentially with efficient use of time.