Consider Virgin Atlantic for a moment. Richard Branson took on some of the very biggest companies to build this airline into one of the biggest in the world. In the year up to February 2009, they carried 5.77 million passengers, with revenues of £2,580 million and over £68 million profit. The rate of growth in the early years was astounding and they are still doing incredibly well.
Many people read the exciting story of the airline’s early days in Branson’s “Losing My Virginity”. The level of leadership he demonstrated was powerful and clearly part of the firm’s success.
Even today the leadership message is clear. Virgin’s team has defined the customer experience they wish to deliver to their customers and make sure they meet those standards. They have even pre designed how to respond to the event of problems.
For example, friends of mine were told they had been downgraded on a Virgin flight. Needless to say- they were not happy. The Virgin team apologized effusively, handing them a signed note from Mr. Branson himself saying how very sorry he was. Then they were offered a choice: to make up for it, would they prefer 1 million free air miles or a free flight to S. Africa? Not only did Virgin really seem to mean they were sorry, they were prepared to “pay for the inconvenience” AND they gave my friends the feeling they had choice. Now they go around telling people how impressed they are with Virgin!
1st Element- of the 11 that drive fast sales
This type of leadership is spectacularly effective in increasing building sales. Leaders do not need to be media stars like Branson. The style of leadership which empowers businesses to develop unstoppable sales growth involves:
- working out which customers the company most wish to win (most profitable and the best fit for the company’s strengths, weaknesses and preferences)
- understanding what value those customers want/ need (which no one else is providing)
- ensuring that those customers receive not only the tangible product/ service (e.g. flights) but also the emotional value (in this case feeling valued and special)
- making sure that every interaction (including problems) makes it clear the company is committed to providing that value promise- every single time
Jack Welch took GE to become the largest company in the world using this approach. Google are achieving outstanding success in the same way. I could list dozens more.
In fact, in Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great” the 11 companies which attained their “Great” status all used this fundamental business approach. As a result, they set the standards for others to follow; broke through boundaries and limitations which had undermined other firms and achieved unusual levels of staff alignment. In this way they achieved outstanding financial results.
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For the next few weeks I’ll be telling you about the other key elements which deliver powerful business growth. I look forward to “speaking” with you.