Don’t Worry About Criticism

I remember when I was recreation director for a small township in Michigan, and my department had been invited by four other recreation departments to participate in a regional winter festival. It was agreed that my small department, which was composed of a few part-time employees and myself, would organize and facilitate a fun run.

Much planning went into organizing this winter festival. Many of the activities were based on having a reasonable amount of snow on the ground. Usually in southeastern Michigan you can depend on having plenty of snow on the ground during the month of February, but this particular year was a different story. The weekend of the winter festival came and there wasn’t even a trace of snow on the ground. No, nada, nyet snow. Oh, it was very cold, but absolutely no snow. Most of the winter festival activities were cancelled due to the necessity of having snow, but not the fun run. As matter of fact, it was perfect for it. The dry roads were ideal for the runners. Our race was a huge success and actually made a profit for the festival.

A few weeks later, all of the regional recreational directors came together for our follow up meeting. The first person who spoke, was the director of the park where the entire event was held. This gentleman lashed out at my program because of some trite mistake we had made in conducting the fun run. Much to my surprise, the rest of the group spoke up and defended my event by saying it was the most successful, well attended event, and that I should be congratulated. My critic was soon silenced and the meeting continued.

What I learned that day, is that when you are doing anything that garners some success, you will have critics who will find something to criticize about it. It just comes with the territory. As Dale Carnegie once said, “”Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment.” Here is my point. Do your best at whatever you do, and don’t be surprised by the critics. Your benefit, you will be able to have fun and more fully appreciate the experience.

Tom Borg Consulting, LLC., is a consulting group that specializes in without the box strategic planning, leadership training, team building, and customer culture transformation, for public school systems in Michigan and the United States. For a free 30 minute consulting session or for more information please call 734-404-5909 or visit our website at www.TomBorgConsulting.com

How to Create the Right Brand for Your School District – Brand Insistence – Part 4 of 4

When you can consistently exceed the expectations of your parents and their children, (your clients) you can become the only school district they want to send their children to.  In other words, you create something called brand insistence.

In a business sense, Brand Insistence is where a customer will only buy from one company. For instance, when it comes to men’s dress shoes, I am insistent that I will only buy Johnston-Murphy dress shoes. I purchased my first pair over 25 years ago and have purchased four more pair since. I have come to believe that they are the best shoe company for me. The recommendation I received to buy them from a business colleague 25 years ago, plus the extremely high quality of these shoes, have made me a loyal lifetime client.

The goal for your school district and every school district should be to create brand insistence from your parents and their children. You must form the right kind of image in their minds.

In order for this to happen, you must have and consistently work a plan. To set yourself apart, you have to create a WOW experience for the people you serve. Promising a lot and delivering even more, will be mandatory. You cannot be just like your competitors. You’ve got to be the kind of school district  your parents and their children need and want. Somebody they just can’t do without.

Contact our office for more information on how we can help you develop your customer service culture and market your school district effectively. You can reach us at Tom Borg Consulting, LLC 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:
www.TomBorgConsulting.com

How to Create the Right Brand for Your School District – Brand Image – Part 2 of 4

Do your parents insist on keeping their children in your public school district? Are you creating the

right brand? Part of this is creating the right Brand Image.

Brand image is what people “think” about your organization. It is what comes to mind when they hear your school district’s name.

By creating the right brand image, you create something every superintendent wants: loyal parents that want to send their children to your school district. When you have this, you attract and retain more students in your public schools, which insure funding from the state for those students. By consistently providing excellent communication and the kind of customer service that meets your parent’s and their children’s expectations, you can create life-time clients.

Contact our office for more information on how we can help you develop your customer service culture and market your school district effectively. You can reach us at Tom Borg Consulting, LLC 734-404-5909 or visit our website at:
www.TomBorgConsulting.com

Making Service Count in Your School District

Watch this Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA) video/webinar presentation by Tom Borg and Keith Elliott of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC present their program entitled Making Service Count. This program is designed specifically for public school districts.

In this program you will learn the basics for what it takes to create service culture with your entire public school staff. Click on the link and learn.  http://vimeo.com/52823461

For more information on the services of Tom Borg Consulting,LLC
please contact our office at 734-404-5909 or email us at:
tom@tomborg.com