New experiences are learning and growing opportunities. You never know what new thoughts will be sparked when you are exposed to something different.
An inspiring speaker, an interesting facility tour, or a new book are just a few ways to gain knowledge. I particularly love exposing my clients to industries outside of their own. I find lots of new ideas bubble up.
As a lifelong learner, I am at most energized when I am stretched and challenged. So, I happily agreed to serve as a mentor for The Works, a startup accelerator developed by the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center.
Do I have any technical knowledge to help these five startups further develop their software? No. Do I feel like a fish out of water when they talk technical jargon? Yes.
Yet, as I always say, “No matter what product or service you are selling, the business of the business remains the same.” And, when we are talking about business challenges, I feel a sense of pride knowing that my journey may be just the thing someone needs to hear in order to clear the hurdle in front of them.
The Works is meant to expose its entrepreneurs to endless opportunities with subject matter experts, mentors and facility tours. These experiences will drive different thinking, allowing the entrepreneurs to improve on their business model.
One such experience was a facility tour hosted by Cirrus, a personal aircraft manufacturer and service provider. As I listened to Matthew Park, Cirrus’ director of IT and the customer experience team, he said something that stuck with me. “Cirrus is an old-school manufacturing company scaled through the use of technology.”
Wow! What if all manufacturers could envision growing their companies using technology?
As I pondered this thought, I realized it was actually the intersection of a human-centric culture and the use of technology that makes Cirrus special.
Our day at Cirrus was centered around the Knoxville Vision Center Campus, the company’s customer experience hub and a central location for service and flight training. Stephen Deucker, vice president and general manager of the Vision Center, came to Cirrus from Ritz-Carlton. So, it should come as no surprise that Cirrus’ customer experience is designed to be world-class. As Deucker explained, Cirrus’ goal is to create a “big memory” when they deliver a client’s plane, on the scale of a wedding day or another happy milestone.
How do you create such a memory? It’s all in the details. From the Audi the Cirrus team picks you up in at your hotel, to your favorite song playing in the car that is on repeat as the doors open to the hangar, followed by the way your new plane is all lit up the first time you see it. As the Cirrus team recreated this customer journey for The Works group, I had chill bumps, and it wasn’t even my plane.
Every step of the way, the goal is to create a warm welcome, anticipate and fulfill clients’ needs and wish them a fond farewell.
What if we created this same experience for each client that visited our manufacturing facilities?
When I was part of the leadership team at Onex, an industrial furnace manufacturer, our clients were always greeted with a friendly smile and warm welcome. Their company and individual names were on the board in the lobby. Clients were offered a drink, shown the restrooms and escorted to the conference room where they could get comfortable. And, when we said farewell, we ensured to thank them for coming and said we hope to see you again soon. If everyone was made to feel as special and important as they are, I bet they would become clients, and maybe even fans, of our company for life.
So, while technology may have helped Cirrus scale, their focus on people both internally and externally is the secret sauce, in my opinion.
Where are you focusing your efforts to scale your business?
