R&B F.A.Peabody Insurance Spring 2015

RISK& BUSINESS F. A. Peabody Insurance

SPRING 2015

MAGAZINE

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RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETM SPRING 2015

RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETMSPRING 2015

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RISK& BUSINESS

MAGAZINE

PUBLISHER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

GRAPHIC DESIGN CONTENT COORDINATOR

Carle Publishing Inc. Andy Buyting John Christenson Stacey Cowperthwaite

CONTRIBUTORS

Andy Buyting Tom Clowes Greg Crabtree John DiJulius III Steven Fitzpatrick Eric Fry Verne Harnish Dave Kerpen Jon A. McLaughlin Joe Pulizzi Dr Brad Smart Neil Wadhwa Ken White

ADVERTISING (National) ADVERTISING (Local)

Keith Keane Gregg Swallow

PHOTOGRAPHY All images sourced from Carle Publishing Inc. or Thinkstockphotos.ca unless otherwise identified.

29 North Street Houlton, Maine 04730 Ph: 207-532-2291 • Fax: 207-532-4474 Toll Free: 1-877-764-4297 www.fapeabody.com F. A. Peabody Insurance Risk & Business MagazineTM is published by Carle Publishing Inc. All content, copyright © 2015, Carle Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

Risk & Business MagazineTM is a valued and recognized trademark of Carle Publishing Inc. This publication may not be reproduced, all or in part, without written consent from the publisher. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all content in this publication, however, neither the publisher nor F. A. Peabody Company will be held responsible for errors or omissions.

Please address all editorial and advertising inquiries to Carle Publishing Inc., Email: andy@carleventures.com.

Carle Publishing Inc. is not held responsible for the loss, damage or any other injury to unsolicited material (including but not limited to manuscripts, artwork, photographs and advertisements). Unsolicited material must be included with a self-addressed, overnightdelivery return envelope, postage prepaid.

Carle Publishing Inc. and F.A. Peabody Company will not give or rent your name, mailing address, or other contact information to third parties. Subscriptions are complimentary for qualified individuals.

Carle Publishing Toll Free: (877) 719-8919, Fax: (866) 609-5674 Email: info@carlepublishing.com Website: www.carlepublishing.com

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RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETM SPRING 2015

16 From Waitress to President:

The Rise of a Business Superstar

Kat Cole’s Sweet Success

Greetings fellow Mainers,

CONTENTS Letter from the Owner

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Cyber Security

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Transportation Insurance Issues

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No More Problems, Please!

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Don’t Let Security Issues Sneak Up on You! How to Stay in for the Long Haul

A Different Approach to Strategy for all Companies

7 Social Media Strategies

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Hiring is a Risky Business

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Creating Inspired Moments

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Right Questions, Right Time

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Equal or Equitable Pay?

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The Northern Maine Business Environment

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Steps to the Next Level

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Put Your Agent to Work

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Have Social Media Work for Your Company Topgrading Steps to Hiring Better

The Importance of a Customer Service Vision Statement The Importance and True Relevance of a Question How to Get Top Team Performance

How Does It Measure Up

Take Your Content Marketing Strategy to the Next Level Are High Workers Compensation Costs Bringing Your Business Down?

www.fapeabody.com

welcome to R&B Welcome to our first edition of Risk & Business MagazineTM! When our marketing director, Gregg Swallow, proposed having FAPCO publish a quality magazine on real paper featuring timely articles about insurance, risk and current regional business information about Maine and then distributing it all for free to the state’s business community, I honestly thought he had been smoking the latest crop of dried broccoli tops fresh from Aroostook County. Did he not know that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of news outlets that can be found inside these so called ‘smart’ phones? Did he not get the memo that people can and are now taking numerous pictures and writing endlessly about themselves, distributing their personal information continuously and without cost electronically to the free world? Why would we want to spend the money, time and effort to print and mail such a thing, I asked?

Gregg thought featuring a few photos of our great clients and our staff in addition to informing the business community on interesting topics in a genuine corporeal format would help bridge the overload of information we all receive in today’s society. He argued that there’s nothing physical and timeless in this world anymore. Heck, all of our personal information has gone completely virtual giving rise to new creative ways to steal it! No one carries cash or valuables anymore; just plastic.

The back alley muggers must be having a bad year. They’re all taking computer classes, apparently.

After his pitch and thinking on it, I reluctantly agreed but I’m glad that I did. I’d like to thank Gregg for helping me see the light and I am extremely pleased with this first edition.

A big thank you goes out to our customers willing to be photographed in permanency for the magazine and for their kind words. I’d also like to thank our contributing writers for providing their insight. And last but certainly not least, a shout-out to our fantastic staff here at F. A. Peabody Company for making my job enjoyable every single day!

Best regards,

Christopher B. Anderson CPCU, CIC, WCP President RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETMSPRING 2015

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Cyber Security

Don’t Let Security Issues Sneak Up on You! INTERVIEW WITH TOM CLOWES, CIC, WCP, F. A. PEABODY INSURANCE

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yber crime, cyber crime, cyber crime! From the Heart Bleed Bug to stolen social security numbers, this recurring headline makes the news on a regular basis. These data breaches affect national retailers, government agencies, healthcare providers, and global manufacturers. Commercially sensitive data has been compromised by someone… somewhere.

A North American study conducted in 2014 shows that the average claim as a result of a cyber loss is over $700,000.

More surprising, this study also found that smaller companies were breached more often than larger companies. Twothirds of all businesses will experience some type of cyber loss or breach of data attack.

Risk and Business MagazineTM recently sat down with Tom Clowes, CIC of F.A. Peabody to discuss how cyber breaches can affect small business and what small business owners can do to protect them from an ever-increasing category of risk.

R & B: What exactly is cyber crime?

TC: Cyber crime is a broad term. It could likely be categorized into two distinct areas. Firstly, the use of technology as the weapon; this would include such things as cyber bullying, illegal distribution of pornography, the drug trade, etc.

Basically, cyber crime is any criminal act where the use of a computer or Smartphone is the vehicle.

The second category, and the one we are dealing with in the insurance industry, is where technology is the target. Databases containing personal and financial data of thousands or millions of clients are being compromised and used for financial gain.

R & B: Why are smaller businesses possibly more prone to a cyber attack?

TC: It’s a common misconception that cyber crime only happens to big companies. Large corporations have entire IT departments, monitored firewalls, and the most up to date virus software available. The small business is focused on running their operation and takes great pride at being the expert in their field, not in cyber protection. Safeguarding their internal technology is far down on the priority list. This makes them an easier target for the cyber criminal.

R & B: So how does a cyber crime affect a small business owner financially?

TC: A cyber loss can be devastating.

These businesses are crippled when their network is shut down due to a privacy breach, and this leads to a loss of income.

They lose accessibility, market share, and the long-term loss of credibility amongst clients. When breaches of security happen, clients view your

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TM RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETM SPRING 2015

company in a skewed way. They trusted you with their business and confidential information. Now that this element of trust is compromised, they typically don’t feel comfortable and may end up switching companies completely. There is also the liability issue regarding how this stolen information is used. If this information leads to a financial loss, the business owner could be held liable. A cyber liability policy provides coverage for the majority of these costs.

R & B: What about a Commercial General Liability policy? Doesn’t that cover cyber crime?

TC: Definitely not. A Commercial General Liability only covers body injury or property damage. There is no coverage for claims due to a loss of data or breach of privacy.

R & B: Give us an example of a cyber liability claim.

TC: We have a good example that could happen virtually anywhere. An employee’s company laptop is stolen from a vehicle, and on that laptop is a customer database containing physical and virtual addresses, phone numbers, and personal financial information. In fact, it does not need to be stolen physically. Info could be stolen by being hacked by the employee signing on to an unsecured or ‘imposter’ WiFi network by accident. The information taken was then used in an identity theft crime. If traced back to your employee’s breech, the victims of the identity theft could sue for recovery of their costs in restoring their identities.

In addition to providing coverage for claims made against the business, cyber coverage could also respond for the costs incurred by the business itself. This could include restoring and securing data, business interruption, customer notification, and credit monitoring to name a few.

R & B: So how much is this coverage and what limit of coverage is available?

TC: Some insurers now offer limited cyber coverage in their package policies or can provide an extension of coverage with a limit of $25,000 or $50,000. However depending on your business, this may not be adequate. F.A. Peabody has a range of companies that not only provide cyber coverage as an extension of their policies, but will offer this coverage on a standalone basis as well. Premiums are based on the type of business and the limit of coverage you require. Limits of coverage are available from $25,000 to $5,000,000 and prices range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.

victim, it does cover the expenses that you’ll incur when dealing with the problem. Often this coverage can be added to your homeowner’s policy. You may already have the protection you need and not be aware. As always, having a conversation with your broker about your insurance needs and concerns is the best way to ensure you are covered for potential losses. Remember if it is worth protecting, it is worth talking about.

Thomas Clowes is the branch manager and senior sales executive for FAPCO’s Presque Isle, Maine office. He is a Certified Insurance Counselor by the National Alliance of Insurance Education & Research.

R & B: How do I know if I have a cyber exposure?

TC: Chances are if you are dealing with customers, you have an exposure.

Simply losing a Smartphone can lead to a substantial breach depending on your business and clientele. Contact your broker today and find a plan that fits your needs.

R & B: What does this protection mean to the business owner’s clients?

TC: When a cyber breach occurs the business is not the only victim. Normally the compromised information is stolen with malicious intentions. Victims of identity theft now spend an average of 600 hours (normally over the course of years) recovering from this crime. The time spent would equal somewhere in the range of $16,000 in unrealized or lost income for the average person. By purchasing proper cyber protection it indicates to your customers that you care about them and are willing to protect them from something that is normally outside their control.

Along with exploring cyber protection for your business, F.A. Peabody also recommends looking at personal identity theft coverage. While the insurance doesn’t protect you from becoming a

TM RISK&&BUSINESS BUSINESSMAGAZINE MAGAZINETM SPRING 2015 RISK

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Transportation Insurance Issues How to Stay in for the Long Haul

STEVEN FITZPATRICK, TRANSPORTATION SPECIALIST, F. A. PEABODY INSURANCE

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rucking companies and owner operators have so many things to keep track of these days compared to just a few years ago. In addition to finding loads, maintaining the rigs, dealing with state DOTs, managing drivers, dispatch and fuel, insurance has become one the biggest costs for a trucker. Truck insurance has taken a hard turn in the past few years with the marketplace tightening up; underwriting requirements are more stringent, premiums are rising. and some insurers have even left the market. There are many factors that each insurance company analyzes when they are evaluating a trucking risk, but the factors that seem to be playing out the greatest in these hard times are claimed losses, years in business, financial strength, lack of qualified drivers and the trucking companies’ Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores. Because of this, carriers and owner operators are scrambling to keep their insurance costs down.

The biggest change that the truck insurance companies are using to evaluate and set a rate for a trucking

company is the reporting by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) under the SMS. Electronic data has rapidly taken over, and trucking companies and owner operators can’t hide from problems that previously may not have been caught. Under this system, each state’s truck enforcement division reports every violation a company has to the FMCSA, who then assigns a weighted value to the violation depending on its severity. These values are available to the insurance companies and do make a difference when they are evaluating the risk. Every trucker needs to be aware of their SMS score to make sure that it is accurate. Most trucking companies now have a safety director that monitors these scores to make sure the information is accurate. This monitoring falls to the owner operator solely making it hard to monitor accuracy. Our agency has helped many of my trucking clients set up their SMS accounts so that they can access their own data and make changes. It’s important that every trucker set up with DATA-Q, an agency that investigates wrongful reporting, to change their data to make sure information is correct.

This recently occurred when a client had a ‘Following Too Closely’ on his Unsafe Driving category, but it was actually someone else’s truck licensed in Wisconsin and the violation happened in Illinois. On the trucker’s insurance renewal policy, the insurance company picked up this violation and wanted to know the details before renewing. It has taken months to get these violations removed from the FMCSA record, so the earlier you catch these discrepancies, the better.

Other factors affecting the cost of truck insurance are losses and qualification of drivers. Keeping your claimed losses to a minimum is very important. Insurance carriers believe that past history will predict future losses therefore, any way of keeping losses low will benefit your company in the long run. Another way to keep losses and premium costs down is to hire drivers with good qualifications and have few incidents on their Motor Vehicle Reports. Driver shortages have been another hurdle that trucking companies have been trying to overcome, and these shortages have made trucking companies want to hire drivers with lower experience so that their freight will be delivered. Most insurance companies want at least three years experience and a minimum age of 23. Trucking firms that have drivers that don’t meet the above guidelines can be insured but it comes a high premium cost.

If you’re looking to insure your truck or fleet for the long haul, you need to stay on top of the many issues above that directly affect how you are evaluated by insurance companies. Knowing how to make your firm look favorable versus what docks you points is the key to keeping your insurance cost down and your wheels spinning down the highway.

Steven Fitzpatrick is the transportation insurance specialist for the F. A. Peabody Company.

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No More Problems, Please!

A Different Approach to Strategy for all Companies BY: VERNE HARNISH AND ANDY BUYTING

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irst, my public apology to all the companies I’ve misguided over the past two decades, as well as an apology to my employees. And while I’m at it, let me add a public apology to my family and friends.

I just didn’t know any better until I read a thin 70 page book called the Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry

I apologize for dredging up all their problems, for focusing on what is wrong instead of on what is right. I apologize for focusing on the F’s instead of the A’s.

I just didn’t know any better until I read a thin 70 page book called the Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry.

me, as his new consultant, to some of the people in his accounting department.

One of the women quipped “I suppose you’re here to point out everything we’re doing wrong.” Ouch! But an accurate description of the role of most consultants.

Quick summary – Focus on what’s working instead of on what’s not working. Period.

As a leader of my own firm, I’ve fallen into this same “problem analysis” focus of solving my growth company challenges.

And as a father, during a recent teacherparent conference, I caught myself focusing more on the “B’s” than the “A’s”, even though I now know better – these are difficult habits to break.

Here’s the rub. During quarterly planning and consulting sessions the tendency is to make a list of problems and then spend the bulk of the time discussing these problems and trying to solve them. No wonder people dread the process.

This was brought home to me recently when a client introduced

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DRIVING REVENUES So what’s the alternative? Let me go back to my latest planning session with the client mentioned above. Their main challenge was driving revenue.

Rather than analyze all the reasons why revenues were NOT growing as rapidly as they would like, we took a different tack. Instead, we explored a time when revenues were exploding i.e. when things were going great.

Rather than analyze all the reasons why revenues were NOT growing as rapidly as they would like... we explored a time when revenues were exploding i.e. when things were going great.

Back a number of years ago, one of their divisions had driven revenues from $2 million to just over $9 million in the span of twelve months. Since then, that division’s revenues have gone flat. So we brought in the head of that division and rather than spend an hour analyzing why revenues had gone flat, instead we asked “what were you doing right back then that caused revenues to explode?”

First, the head of the division was getting to re-live a positive time, rather than hash through a bunch of negatives. More importantly, about an hour into the conversation, as we continued to explore what worked for them in the past, the head of the division had a major insight.

Back a few years ago, he was spending about a week a month out in the field visiting with his main distributors and customers. However, after experiencing the sharp jump in revenues, he was sucked into all the challenges of running a much larger operation which had reduced his field time to less than a week every quarter. The minute he said it, the CEO looked at his head of operations, he looked at me, and we all looked at the division head and we knew our answer had been found. We then spent the next hour figuring out how to get some

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activities off the division head’s plate so he could get back out in the field.

the company was doing then that they aren’t doing now.

Results? When I checked back three months later, though the division head had not yet achieved a week/month of field time, he had managed to get out a lot more than he had been and in the process found a new product that may likely add $10 million in revenue next year! Now the company is faced with finding the cash to support the added inventory and again, when explored how they had successfully accomplished this in the past.

In one recent turnaround, he found seven distinct activities the firm was doing during the boom times that they weren’t doing now and he simply focused the firm on doing those activities again, even though the market and products had shifted over time. Results? Another successful turnaround.

DEFINING AND FOCUSING ON THE CORE CUSTOMER While discussing the downturn of company profitability over the past few years, Certified Gazelles Coach Andy Buyting brought a new client in the security guard industry through a core customer exercise. After analyzing the hard numbers and the gradual shift in customer profile in recent years, it was found that approximately 76% of their customers made up less than 5% of their revenues.

What they concluded was they were wasting far too much (76%) of their time, attention and resources servicing clients that were simply not profitable. This was taking them away from their larger clients, clients they were better equipped to service well, and would most likely contribute to larger and more profitable growth in the future.

Result? Within a three week period, they essentially fired (transferred out) three quarters of their customer list. This freed up their operations and admin people to focus on their large profitable clients. It also provided their sales team with clarity on their core customer, and has allowed them to grow larger, faster and with much stronger profitability.

FOCUS ON STRENGTHS Marcus Buckingham, the strengths movement guru (Go Put Your Strengths to Work), notes that if you want to help your children with their F’s, ask them about their A’s – what did they do to get their A’s, why they like that subject more than the other, what the teacher does, etc. You don’t ignore F’s, but you must study the A’s, not dwell on the F’s, if you have any hope of supporting your child in a positive way.

You don’t ignore your problems, but it’s far more productive to study what’s working...

The same with your company. You don’t ignore your problems, but it’s far more productive to study what’s working, in your own company or others, as the best way to solve the challenges facing your growing firm.

TURNAROUND STRATEGIES

Verne Harnish is founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company, Verne has spent the past 30 years educating entrepreneurial teams. He’s the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits which is endorsed by over 100 CEOs of mid-size companies and is published in ten languages.

Another friend who turns around business said he uses a similar process.

He simply asks for a graph of the company’s financial performance for the past decade or so, looks for a point where the performance was stellar, and then brings together leaders and employees who were around during that period and spends a couple days inquiring into what

As a Certified Gazelles International Strategic Advisor, Andy Buyting provides strategic direction for high growth companies and their management teams as they grow their organizations to the next level. Learn more at www.

AndyBuyting.com

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7 Social Media Strategies Have Social Media Work for your Company BY: DAVE KERPEN, FOUNDER AND CEO, LIKEABLE LOCAL

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one are the days of strictly using traditional marketing vehicles.

Today, savvy SMB’s use search marketing, search engine optimization and various social media platforms to market their companies online.

And, today is as good a time as any to look at your social media strategy.

More than 1.3 billion people in the world are on Facebook, including over 180 million Americans. Twitter recently surpassed 400 million accounts.

LinkedIn boasts over 300 million users. Many SMB’s are trying to take advantage of these trends, by using social networks to promote themselves and broadcast their messages, but few are fully reaping the rewards.

If you stop thinking like a marketer and start thinking like a customer, you’ll understand the secret to social media is in the “social” more than in the “media”. It’s in being human, and being the sort of person at a cocktail party who listens attentively, tells great stories, shows interest in others and is authentic and honest. To put it simply, the secret is to be likeable.

Here are seven tips to be more likeable and ensure great success using social media:

1. Listen first and never stop listening

Before your first tweet, search Twitter for people talking about your company and your competitors. Search using words that your prospective

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customers would say as well. For example, real estate agents should use Twitter and Facebook to search for people using the words “looking for a realtor” in your town. You’ll be surprised how many people are already looking for you.

2. Don’t tell your customers to “Like” you and “Follow” you, tell them why and how they should

Everywhere you turn, you see “Like us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter”. Huh? Why? How? Give your customers a reason to connect with you on social networks, answering the question “What’s in it for me?” and then make it incredibly easy to do so.

Note the difference between these two calls to action: “Like our page on Facebook” vs. “Get answers to your questions on our Facebook page.”

3. Be authentic

Your customers don’t want to read impersonal posts and sales offers all day. Instead, be human and be yourself.

Are you sponsoring a Little League team in your town? Share it with your fans! Know a few jokes related to your industry? Tell them! Show your company’s personality and watch your online community to engage and grow.

4. Why ask questions?

Wondering why nobody’s responding to your posts on Facebook? It’s probably because you’re

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not asking questions. Social media is about engagement and having a conversation, not about self-promotion.

If a store posts on Facebook, “Come in and see what’s on the sale today,” nobody will comment and nobody will come. If that same store posts a question as simple as “What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever bought?” and attaches a great picture, people will be more likely to comment online and engage with the company.

5. Surprise and delight your customers

Want to bring more attention to your company’s social media pages and become more likeable overall? Figure out ways to surprise and delight your customers on a regular basis. Offer contests and raffles or encourage your community to join the conversation for a chance to win local gift cards that show off a town’s personality.

Remember, free is like magic and a delighted customer will share their experience with friends and family.

6. Share pictures and videos to tell stories

People love photos. The biggest reason Facebook went from zero to 1 billion users in just 10 is photos. Photos and videos tell stories about you in ways a text alone cannot.

You don’t need a big production budget, either. Use your smartphone to take pictures and short videos of customers and cool things around town. Then upload them directly to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A picture of happy, attractive customers is social media gold. Try a video featuring testimonials from your happy customers! A picture really is worth a thousand words – and a video is worth a thousand pictures.

7. Spend at least 30 minutes a day and use tools to help Likeable Local offers a software that makes social media fun, easy, and effective for small businesses. With advertising, analytics and idea suggestions, Likeable Local gives you the tools to be successful on social. If you bought a newspaper ad or radio ad, you wouldn’t spend five minutes on it or relegate it to interns, so don’t do it with social media. Spend real time each day reading and learning, listening and responding, and truly joining the conversation. The more time and effort you put in to social media, the more benefits you’ll see.

The strategies listed above are critical to maintain and grow an online community, but before you even consider social media – I tell Likeable customers – consider this: Social media will help magnify and multiply the conversations about your company. Will you be happy about the nature of those conversations?

Before you get involved with external communications – online marketing, advertising and social media – look internally at your company. The secret to the most effective marketing is so simple – just be likeable.

Dave Kerpen is the the founder and CEO of Likeable Local, the cofounder and Chairman of Likeable Media, the NY Times Bestselling author of 3 books, the #1 LinkedIn Influencer of all time in pageviews, ahead of Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Mark Cuban and Barack Obama, and the proud father of Charlotte and Kate Kerpen.

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Hiring is a Risky Business Topgrading Steps to Hiring Better BY: DR. BRAD SMART, AUTHOR AND PRESIDENT AND CEO OF TOPGRADING, INC.

“The ability to make good decisions about people represents one of the last reliable sources of competitive advantage, since very few organizations are very good at it.”

Peter Drucker

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hich managers among us have not suffered from too many costly mis-hires? Dr. Brad Smart, widely respected as a hiring expert, offers three common sense steps to help us hire better. He coined the term Topgrading to mean achieving 90% success hiring and promoting people.

and the average number of hours “wasted” sweeping up after a mis-hire is more than 250 hours. The cost of keeping low performers gets bigger over time because they suck the energy and productivity of high performers who must work harder to prevent mistakes and later correct them.

R&B: Brad, let’s get straight into it. Why is hiring very risky?

R&B: OK, so what are the steps managers can take to hire better?

Brad: Because almost all managers suffer from poor hiring results. I met with the number one Human Resources executives from the largest 100 companies in the world. Across the board, they said that 75% of the people they hire turn out to be disappointments.

Brad: Step 1: Use the Topgrading “truth serum” which is simple: Tell candidates that a final step in hiring is for them, not the company, but for them to arrange reference calls with their former managers and others.

The low performers, those with hyped resumes, drop out because they know there is no way that they could get their former managers to talk with the hiring company – nor would they want you to.

R&B: Why is the success rate so low for most companies?

Brad: Most companies mis-hire people because of three things: One, candidates get away with lying on their resume and in interviews; two, interviewing methods are so shallow Forrest Gump could pass them; and three, companies don’t verify what candidates told them because the reference calls they conduct are generally ineffective.

R&B: I know Topgrading has ways to overcome problems, but first let’s talk more about risk. What are the risks when there is a mis-hire?

Brad: For three decades we’ve asked managers to estimate what it costs in money and time when they mis-hire someone. Bottom line, the average estimated cost of mis-hiring a $100,000 per year manager is over $400,000,

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Step 2: Conduct a Topgrading interview.

Remember, all the remaining candidates are motivated to tell the truth. The Topgrading Interview walks them through their career so you can really understand how they evolved and what their abilities and competencies are today.

Start with their first job and come up to the present and ask: What were your successes? What were your failures? What were any additional key decisions or any important people interactions you had?

Appraise your boss. (It’s very important to see what sort of bosses they liked, or not.)

And here is the single most important and revealing question of all: If we were to ask you to arrange a reference call with your managers, what is your best guess as to what they would list as your strengths

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and your weaker points and how would they rate your overall performance?

The Topgrading interview reveals how people they performed and improved, and how they learned from mistakes. Values are revealed and over time, clearly defined patterns uncover their strengths and weaker points today.

Step 3: Ask candidates to arrange reference calls with their former managers —and then make those calls. This assures solid verification of everything the candidate said. Ask candidates to arrange the calls with not just their bosses, but anyone you want to talk with. It might be a couple of sharp subordinates or peers.

Or for a sales rep candidate, maybe you want to talk to a couple of customers and so forth. Candidates arrange the calls so there’s no telephone tag.

R&B: That’s brilliant. With regard to the Topgrading Interview, would you recommend one person or a panel do them?

Brad: That is a terrific question. Definitely use two interviewers, the hiring manager and another manager, perhaps Human Resources. General Electric started with 25% success and with solo Topgrading Interviews improved to 50%. Jack Welch, GE CEO at the time, asked how they could improve and I suggested two interviewers. He implemented it and GE achieved an over 90% hiring success rate. Soon after, GE became the most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization.

The cool thing is that thousands of managers have been trained in Topgrading and when they use these three basic steps and conduct tandem Topgrading Interviews, they too achieve 80% and even 90% hiring success. And many managers prefer to have a Certified Topgrading Coach as the main interviewer and they serve as the tandem partner.

R&B: Is Topgrading just for large companies?

Brad: No! A single mis-hire in a small company could be devastating.

Thousands of small- and mid-sized companies have successfully Topgraded.

R&B: What proof is there that Topgrading really works so well?

Brad: Go to www.topgradingcasestudies. com to read 40 case studies. On the first page is a master chart showing the average hiring success rate improved from 26% to 85%. And every CEO is quoted saying the company is more profitable because of Topgrading.

R&B: Tell us a little how our readers can learn more.

Brad: They can go to www.topgrading.com to download a free 70-page e-Book, Topgrading 201.

Dr. Brad Smart is an internationally renowned management psychologist and is generally regarded as the world’s leading expert on hiring best practices. Topgrading methods have helped leading companies such General Electric, Honeywell, Barclays, and American Heart Association plus hundreds of small and mid-sized companies improve their hiring methods.

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From Waitress to President:

The Rise of a Business Superstar

Kat Cole’s Sweet Success BY: NEIL WADHWA

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he cinnamon roll shouldn’t be here. The story of the cinnamon roll only knowing the confines and comfort of mall foodcourts, remaining resilient against the glass-half empty nutritionists that called for its downfall, and then becoming the staple item in a billion dollar business, runs parallel to Cole’s own rise and the challenges she faced along the way. Cole went from “waitress” to “President” by thinking bigger, doing more, embracing change, and welcoming all challenges.

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Walk through most mall food-courts around the world and you’ll be sure to smell that magical aroma of sweet cinnamon, brown sugar, gooey icing, melting margarine, and pillow-soft pastry dough, calling your name. Follow your nose and you’ll end up at Cinnabon, the cinnamon roll brand with a cult following.

10 years later, at the age of 19, Cole started working at Hooters, selling beer and chicken wings.

As Cole’s mom was still raising three kids on a low salary, Cole spent her time outside of Hooters (when not at school) working a second job at a local mall.

The cinnamon roll’s popularity hasn’t diminished at a time when fast-food chains and restaurant menus worldwide are adopting healthier options. In fact, Cinnabon has hit $1 billion in sales every year since 2012, and its licensed products can now be found everywhere from supermarket shelves, in packaged-foods by Kellogg and Pillsbury, to fastfood restaurants, including Taco Bell and Burger King.

While Cinnabon’s success can be traced to Makara cinnamon—Cinnabon’s proprietary cinnamon from Indonesia that can be found in all of Cinnabon’s licensed products—and loyal customers willing to indulge in a little guilty pleasure every once in a while, the company can also take comfort in knowing it’s in the safe hands of Kat Cole.

Cinnabon’s classic roll is 880 calories—330 more than a Big Mac. It goes against all the trends of the “make it healthier” and “make it artisanal” discussions that surround food in 2015. Yet it manages to survive, thrive, and expand. In many ways, the story of the classic roll echoes the story of Cole, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cinnabon, who is in a position that might have been unimaginable to her 9-year-old self.

“I had worked my buns off to be known as someone who could get the job done.”

“I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. Our father, who was a Vietnam veteran, had come back a troubled guy, and was making bad decisions. He wouldn’t be around for family events, or my mom was left to do things on her own, or he was out drinking and wouldn’t come home till late,” said Cole, during her recent appearance on Undercover Boss.

“So, when I was nine years old, my mom had the courage to leave him and take me and my two younger sisters to a different city so that we could start a new life. She fed our little family of three girls on $10 a week.”

It’s in these early stages of life where Cole learned to take charge and be responsible—traits not typically asked of a 9-year-old. But it’s these very traits developed by Cole at an early age that still help guide her throughout her professional career.

Cole watched as her mom became the leader of the family. More importantly, seeing her mom feed three growing girls on $10 a week instilled in her the drive to be successful, a drive that can only be understood by those who have grown up in situations similar to Cole.

Her time at Hooters wasn’t one of working for tips, but rather embracing any opportunity that came her way, gladly accepting challenges that others would turn away from.

“I was in the right place at the right time with a company that was growing, but at the same time, I had worked my buns off to be known as someone who could get the job done. When the cooks quit, I went in the back and learned how to cook, when the managers needed help, I helped, when the other servers or people needed help, I was there to help, because I was curious and I genuinely wanted to help,” Said Cole, in a recent interview with NextShark.

“Fast forward a year of doing that, I was one of the few people that had worked every job in the building. So when someone called and said ‘hey, we want you to go overseas and open restaurants,’ it wasn’t just that I was chosen, it wasn’t just that I was lucky, it’s that I had happened to put myself in a position— unknowingly—to be one of the top candidates.”

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For Cole, every challenge and every new opportunity was a new chance to learn and grow.

For Cole, every challenge and every new opportunity was a new chance to learn and grow. She was willing to put herself in new situations, ones that she may not have had the skills or training for at the time, in order become a well rounded, knowledgeable employee—rather than one that had only very narrow, replaceable skillsets.

Nothing encapsulates Cole’s willingness more than when Hooters asked her to help open a restaurant in Australia.

Although she had run every aspect of the Jacksonville’s Hooters location, what Cole had never done at that point in her life was step on soil outside of her home state of Florida—never mind stepping on an airplane. She asked management for a day to decide, and after consulting her mom, flew to Miami to stand in line and get a passport, which could be completed within the day. She got the passport, and was soon in Australia, where she spent 40 days helping with the opening of the restaurant.

Management never knew about her day trip to Miami in order to get the passport.

At the time, Cole thought of Hooters as just a pit stop, as she was pursuing an engineering degree at the University of Northern Florida, with plans on enrolling in law school afterwards. But Cole’s experience in Australia was life changing. Not only was it her first trip outside of Florida, but also management saw how successful she was and started sending Cole to more countries to open more restaurants.

As a result, she made the decision to drop out of school. A big decision, considering Cole was the first of her family to go to college—and a decision she would revisit less than 10 years down the line. This continued the trend of embracing opportunity and change, rather than question and resist change in order to follow a path seemingly set in stone.

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After opening restaurant locations for less than two years, a Vice President at Hooters asked the then 20-year-old Cole to apply for a management job based in Hooters’ Atlanta headquarters. Cole applied—even dressing up for the phone interview—and got the job. Six short years later, Cole became a VP of Hooters herself. To make up for the fact that didn’t have a university degree— revisiting her decision to leave the University of Northern Florida 10 years earlier—Cole completed her Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and then enrolled in Georgia State University’s Executive MBA Program.

In 2010, still a student in her early 30s, FOCUS Brands, the Atlanta-based franchisor and operator of six food-

service chains with over 4,500 locations in the United States and 63 other countries, hired her as the CEO of Cinnabon. Two short months after she was hired, Cole finished her MBA. One month after finishing her MBA, she was promoted to president of Cinnabon.

At 32, Cole was responsible for over 1,000 Cinnabon locations in over 50 countries, which, at the time, was approaching $1 billion in annual sales.

Kat Cole promoted to President of FOCUS Brands In February 2015—during the very week of this article’s initial drafts—Kat Cole, now 36, was promoted to president of FOCUS Brands, putting her in charge of Carvel, Schlotzsky’s, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, McAlister’s Deli, in addition to Cinnabon. A short 17 years ago, Cole was just in charge of wings and beer at the Jacksonville Hooters.

“I was the daughter of an alcoholic and a single parent, I worked at Hooters most of my life, and I dropped out of college,” Cole explained to Charlotte Alter for an interview with Time Magazine.

“You tell me if that inspires you to want to have me run your company.”

We think FOCUS made the right decision.

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Creating Inspired Moments The Importance of a Customer Service Vision Statement BY: JOHN DiJULIUS, PRESIDENT, THE DiJULIUS GROUP

“Putting our feet in the shoes of the Customers, [we understood] what they were dealing with and [their] anxiety . . .We were growing the company with such speed and aggression that we lost sight of the Customer experience.”

-Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ CEO, Wall Street Journal 2011

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n 2010, I had one of the highlights of my consulting career: Starbucks asked me to help it re-create its Customer service vision statement. I have worked with Starbucks in the past, but this was different. I knew this was going to be something that would live for a long, long time in Starbucks. Starbucks has always been one of my favorite companies, both as a Customer and as a Customer service consultant. I was so excited! I knew that no one helped create better Customer service vision statements than The DiJulius Group. I knew we were perfect for this project. I was so excited about taking on this project, until I asked them what their current vision statement was that they wanted to change: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”

I thought to myself, Wow, that’s pretty good. I honestly didn’t know if we could improve on that. I asked Craig Russell, senior vice president of global coffee, why he felt that statement didn’t work for Starbucks. He replied, “We love the statement; those are Howard’s [Schultz’s] words. It is more of our purpose. As far as a Customer service vision, it is too big, too aspirational. We want something that’s actionable, trainable, measurable.” As I thought about it, he was right. If someone comes in and orders a venti soy latte, and the barista gives

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it to them exactly how they ordered it, in ninety seconds, did the barista inspire or nurture their human spirit?

Probably not. That is something that takes dozens and dozens of positive experiences. I believe Starbucks does that. But it doesn’t happen one time.

So we did what we do with all our consulting clients when making a Customer service vision statement; we started with scripting a day in the life of a Starbucks Customer (see chapter 5 for the day-in-the-life discussion). A Starbucks Customer is easy to relate to.

Virtually anyone reading this book can relate, whether you actually frequent Starbucks or not. Starbucks customers are people with discretionary income who are battling the hustle and bustle of their busy lives, trying to balance everything they have going on personally and professionally—people dealing with the daily grind that can wear us all down from time to time.

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Inspired moments One of the biggest takeaways from this workshop that the group of executives from Starbucks shared was that Starbucks can’t change what’s going to happen today to its Customers. Whether they get a flat tire on their way to work or they are irate because their package didn’t arrive next-day air, as promised, what Starbucks can provide (and does provide very well) is an escape—if only for a few seconds in the Customer’s day. Starbucks allows its Customers to step inside, collect themselves, see some friendly faces—whether it be the workers, friends, or neighbors from the community—and take a break, enjoy a beverage, regroup, and then go back and take on the world again.

There it was. The team had it: the Starbucks’ Customer service vision statement. One of my proudest trophies as a consultant is the Starbucks green apron. The next time you walk into a Starbucks, anywhere in the world, and you see a Starbucks employee wearing that signature green apron, politely ask them to turn the inside top of the apron over for you. There is where you will see the Starbucks Customer service vision statement and pillars printed. It reads:

Why is the service vision statement printed on the inside of the green apron?

It isn’t for the Customers or public to see; it is for the Starbucks employees to see. And every time they put that apron over their head, they are reminded of their job for every Customer with whom they come in contact with.

Personalize—This means customization.

With over eighty thousand ways someone can order a Starbucks beverage, you truly can have it your way.

Pillars to the service vision statement The four pillars to the Starbucks service vision statement have to do with the company’s key drivers of Customer satisfaction:

Each of the pillars is critical, but only in conjunction with each other. Customers want their drinks made exactly how they ordered it, quickly—but not by someone with an attitude. Just the same, a

Anticipate—This might mean that if a barista notices a Customer in a business suit, at 6:05 a.m., ordering his coffee, while barely looking up from his smartphone, he probably has some place to be. Get him his drink and help him get on his way. On the other hand, it can be a completely different pace at 9:05 a.m., when a barista encounters a few mothers who just dropped their children off at school and seem to be in no rush.

Customer does not want someone to greet them by name and have their drink ready for them before they order it, only to have their drink made incorrectly.

Connect—A connection could be recognizing regulars and having their drinks ready for them, or it could just be a smile or a kind word.

Own—Starbucks trusts its employees.

They can own the experience. If a little girl drops her hot chocolate, a Starbucks employee can give her a new one for free.

John R. DiJulius III is considered the authority on world-class Customer service and is the author of three books on Customer experience. He is the president of The DiJulius Group—a Customer service consulting fi rm that works with companies like Starbucks, Chick-fi l-A, The Ritz-Carlton, Nestle, PwC, Lexus, and many more.

John is also the founder and owner of John Robert’s Spa—named one of the Top 20 Salons in America

The content for this article was taken from The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow convention Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World, (January 2015 Greenleaf Books)

by John R. DiJulius III

Big Impact The Starbucks service vision statement contributed to the company’s turnaround in 2010 and 2011. Earnings rose 44 percent, Customer visits rose by 5 percent, and more Customers were paying for higher-priced items.

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Right Questions, Right Time The Importance and True Relevance of a Question BY: ERIC FRY, MANAGING PARTNER, SANDLER TRAINING

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takes place once you leave the building... All forward motion stops.

was: “Will you be able to handle a 4-province distribution schedule?”

Then prospect poses an innocent sounding question, “So, how big is your company?”

The prospect no longer returns your calls. Your emails receive ambiguous replies and weeks pass by. You’re off the prospect’s radar screen. You find that no one else in the company seems willing to acknowledge your attempts to reach out. It’s like the prospect has ordered everyone in the enterprise to deny your company’s existence.

As it happens, you can handle a 4-province distribution schedule.

But the answer your company taught you to repeat only mentions one province. And that was enough (non)information for this prospect to tune you out... without telling you why.

ou are in the middle of your second or third good discussion with a prospect and everything seems to be going great. The prospect seems engaged and happy to work with you.

Without hesitation, you answer that question. You recite, more or less verbatim, the standard reply you were trained to recite when people ask you about the size of your company.

The answer laid out for you in your orientation workshops, promotion materials, and brochures: 85 employees, a headquarters location, and 3 other regional offices across Atlantic.

The prospect nods and the conversation continues.

Although there are plenty of smiles, pleasantries, and earnest promises to be in touch as you wrap up your meeting, the oddest thing

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What happened?!? You answered all the prospect’s questions!

My belief system states you should only answer your prospects’ questions if doing so can help you... or at least it can’t hurt you.

Since prospects tend to “smokescreen” their questions - meaning that they tend to ask questions whose true purposes aren’t likely to be clear to you at first you must make sure, first and foremost, that you’re answering the real question.

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Guess what? When that prospect so innocently asked, “How big is your company?” the real question

In most cases, and especially in the early going, you have to assume that every question you hear from a prospect is a smokescreen question.

So the question, “How soon can you get shipment to us?” may mean, “Can you get shipment to us by 10:30 Thursday morning?” The question, “How strict are you with quantity discounts?” may mean, “Can I take advantage of the quantity discount and arrange for a 14-day split-shipment?”.

If you make a habit of answering the first question you hear, you’ll never understand the real question!

You must discover why the prospect asked you the question you just heard.

You must identify the underlying intent.

Intent: The importance and true relevance of the question to the topic of discussion.

If you don’t know the intent you cannot respond intelligently.

How do you identify the intent? By Reversing.

Reversing is the strategy of responding to your prospect’s questions and statements with a question.

It puts the verbal ball back in the prospect’s court.

Reversing prevents you from attempting to mind-read. It adds clarity and completeness to the prospect’s smokescreen questions and statements. It helps you uncover the underlying intent of those questions and statements.

Some reversing questions include: Why do you ask?

Why is that important?

Why did you bring that up just now?

What are you really asking?

What are you really saying?

Reversing must be done with caution. Firing back with questions in response to the prospect’s questions may sound harsh. So in most cases, you will want to precede your questions with softening statements.

That’s a good question. And you’re asking me that because...?

Many people ask me that. And that’s important to you because...?

That’s an interesting question. Why do you ask? (What brought that up?)

Good point. And you brought that up now because...?

I appreciate you sharing that. I can’t help wondering, what are you really saying?

Often it takes three or more reverses to get the prospect’s real question.

In this case, if you had asked effective Reversing questions, you could have gotten to the prospect’s true question and confirmed that a 4-province roll-out was no problem.

And you would still be in the game.

Eric Fry is Managing Partner with Sandler Training.

Prior to Sandler Training, Eric worked for a number of well-known, international organizations including Xerox and Staples Advantage while honing his skills in sales and leadership throughout his career.

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Equal or Equitable Pay? How to Get Top Team Performance

BY: GREG CRABTREE, PARTNER, CRABTREE, ROWE & BERGER, PC

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ver since I identified Labor Productivity as the #1 key to profitability in my book “Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits!”, I have continued to research how the best teams produce more than their peers.

Professional sports teams offer a good laboratory for this discussion. The NFL presents the best picture since they have a labor agreement that imposes a “salary cap” that prevents any team from spending more than the cap amount any one year. I offer up the New England Patriots as the best example of this. They have made it to the playoffs 12 out the last 14 years and won 3 Super Bowls. During that same time period, the Oakland Raiders have not even come close to the playoffs.

Clearly, the Patriots have produced more output for every dollar they spent than the Raiders. This requires every dollar spent to be productive. Every position player, every coach, and every front office person has to do their job to select the right players, negotiate a fair pay for performance, develop a successful game strategy, coach the players to be ready, and execute to their best ability during game time.

Your business is no different. I contend that every business has a natural salary cap that they must live under.

For every level of revenue, in every industry, businesses have a common cost structure they must live by. The only thing that changes the non-labor costs in business is the actions of exceptional team members. If you have exceptional managers who select, lead, and manage their team, only then will you be able to beat the competition.

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Sounds great, but it is hard to do. I have come to believe that the missing element is compensating your team “equitably” not “equally.” As I have been able to study my clients’ data, it has become evident to me that productive people want to work around other productive people. They also want to be recognized with reasonable differences in pay based on their measurable (or perceived) performance. This is what we refer to as “Market Based Pay for Market Based Performance.”

Whether you try to keep wages confidential or are open book like my company is, your team has a way to find out (or guess) what their peers make. I do not recommend it for every business, but if you do not hide compensation, it causes fewer headaches if you truly strive for no inequities in pay of your team.

Internet sources for comparable pay like Glassdoor.com and Salary.com make readily available data for pay comparison. What you need to do is establish your process to coach your team through where they stand to how they can make more by producing more.

In Adam Grant’s blog from giveandtake. com, I read a quote that really struck me:

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“Equity matters more than equality.

Differences in pay aren’t a problem as long as they’re fair. When players are paid less than teammates who aren’t performing any better, jealousy, resentful, and discouragement often follow. When they’re paid less than teammates who deliver more value, they understand.”

I could not agree more. Your team knows who is productive and who is not. Your job is to take action before the productive ones leave you for a more equitable position. Why would you be the Oakland Raiders when you could be the New England Patriots?

Greg Crabtree, Author of Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits, is a partner at Crabtree, Rowe & Berger, PC, an accounting firm focused solely on the needs of entrepreneurs, helping them build the economic engine of their businesses.

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The Northern Maine Business Environment How Does It Measure Up

BY: JON A. McLAUGHLIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SOUTHERN AROOSTOOK DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

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ach year the Maine Economic Growth Council, administered by the Maine Development Foundation, publishes its Measure of Growth report.

This is one of the foremost reports describing how Maine’s economy is fairing over several benchmarked areas; measures that have been determined to be necessary to “achieve a vibrant and sustainable economy for Maine.”1

How is Northern Maine doing in these respective benchmarks?

Measures of Growth reports that for Maine as a whole, Health Care and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, and Finance and Insurance are among the largest performing sectors. Evidence of employment in these sectors is prominent with our fine health care and social service institutions creating employment anchors in our small local communities, however one does not need to look too far to see how success in the finance and insurance field is affecting northern Maine’s economy. Presque Isle

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is headquarters to MMG, a property and casualty insurance company celebrating its 115th anniversary. It now writes over $150 million in premiums, employs nearly 200, and has over 2500 agents operating in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Employment opportunities are available in northern Maine. Recently, a leading

county-wide economic development organization, Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP), created an in-house survey of business needs for the next few years proving the potential for 3,000 jobs. The biggest challenge they surmise to fulfilling northern Maine’s job growth is making sure the youth are aware of the potential that exists locally to stem outmigration.

Consequently, discussions, strategies, and actions are now being taken in the region to meaningfully integrate workforce issues with industry needs.

This is particularly the case with a new emphasis on “industry partnerships” that

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will link specific sector training needs to training resources. APP consequently has launched an “Education to Industry”2 initiative for northern Maine’s K-12 school system. It seeks to engage middle and high school students in a variety of programs- giving them more direct work experiences with local firms.

School superintendents are working with regional business leaders to change how students connect to and become aware of the availability of good jobs.

An important educational benchmark cited in Measures of Growth is the fourth grade reading scores of Maine students. Research has shown that investment in early childhood education has a high return on investment over the long term. One of the indicators of how this is progressing is the overall test score result of the fourth grade reading tests. The report showed Maine scoring slightly above the U.S. but below New England’s results for fourth graders in reading proficiency in 2013. According to the State of Maine’s Department of Education website, one of our local school districts in Northern Maine for the period ending October 31, 2013 scored two percentage points above New England, seven points better than Maine’s average and 10 points better than the U.S. average, when comparing them to the benchmark report’s scores.3 State education expenditures are working in Northern Maine at the elementary level benchmark. This bodes well for growth in northern Maine so long as this budding workforce is taught that they do not need to leave the area to find meaningful employment.

“The dynamics of northern Maine render our employee base second to none in diversity, ingenuity and work ethic giving us a competitive edge”.

– Peter Chase, Buildings Etcetera.

As the Measure of Growth report states, “Entrepreneurship helps provide more opportunities for Mainers and is critical to creating jobs and growing the state’s economy”4 Nowhere is this any more apparent than Northern Maine. A regional group of concerned business people called Leaders Encouraging Aroostook Development, created an Entrepreneur of the Year program in which several entrepreneurs are showcased at an annual awards dinner culminating with one of them being awarded the entrepreneur top spot for the year. Past recipients have run the gamut from a young developer of a wood pellet plant (who just so happened to be a paraplegic), the owner of a successful hardware/development business, distillers of award winning vodka, manufacturer of patented stainless steel, deep-water hand pumps for wells, to one of the largest prosthetics and orthotic device manufacturers in the Northeast. In addition, several areas in the region are creating business plan competitions to bring new entrepreneurs to the forefront, hoping they’ll take the leap and step outside their comfort zone to start a business.

One of the gems of the 2015 Measure of Growth report was that Maine’s cost of doing business is the lowest since the early ‘90’s and second lowest, only to Rhode Island, of the New England states. This same trend has continued in Northern Maine as well. Electrical costs have shown some savings over the past year and Southern Aroostook, due to a consumer-owned utility in Houlton- the Houlton Water Company, has one of the lowest rates in New England. Also, downward pressure of total energy costs has been achieved with a concerted effort by the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation (SADC) and APP to educate our region on the use of alternative energy sources by hosting energy fairs and other seminars on the topic. Northern Maine now boasts some of the highest sales per capita of pellet and wood stove installations.

The area has seen a marked increase in automated and semi-automated wood pellet boilers, pellet stove and fireplace inserts, and a great increase in heat

pump installations. The area heating contractors have become experts in the sale and installation of energy saving technology. Several commercial biomass boilers have been installed in schools and larger commercial operations and while piped natural gas is not available yet in the region, several businesses have taken advantage of compressed natural gas being trucked into the region. Peter Chase, owner of Buildings Etcetera, a large general contractor serving northern Maine, states ‘We have seen a remarkable utilization of alternate energy in Aroostook, whether it be biomass boilers, heat pumps or other cost effective means of heating. Some of this new energy expenditure has tapered off due to the lower cost of oil but when you can purchase a BTU of heat for 30 to 50% less than oil it is still a solid investment.”

The report showed that housing affordability in Maine continues to be another bright spot for the state over the remainder of the country and especially in comparison to the rest of New England. “When housing is readily affordable, people have more disposable income to spend on other goods and services.”5 The report showed that for 2013, the average house cost for Maine was $169,900 compared to $197,400 for the U.S. and almost $250,000 for the Northeast. The Northern Maine region showed a mixed bag in this area as the average Aroostook County home cost for 2013 was about $81,235.6 This is a great sales tool for attracting homebuyers from outside the region, but not as

good an investment for local residents that might need to relocate to other areas of the state or country with the need to purchase a replacement home.

Nonetheless, the affordability factor is a plus for the area residents since wages are lower than elsewhere in the state.

So how is Northern Maine doing? Is the glass half empty or is it half full?

While struggles remain in areas such as outmigration and wage growth, Northern Maine is tackling those challenges head on using our strengths and the positive trends found in the Measure of Growth report to launch our success in the future.

(Endnotes) 1 2015 Measures of Growth 2 From an APP “You Tube” presentation 3 10/31/13 Grade 4 NECAP Performance Level Report – Reading 4 2015 Measures of Growth 5 2015 Measures of Growth 6 Derived from assumptions based on 2007 figures found on Northern Maine Development Commission website Jon A. McLaughlin is the Executive Director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation, a non-profit, private/public funded economic development organization in Houlton, Maine.

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Steps to the Next Level

Take Your Content Marketing Strategy to the Next Level BY: JOE PULIZZI, FOUNDER OF CONTENT MARKETING INSTITUTE, AUTHOR OF EPIC CONTENT MARKETING

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ccording to the latest research from Content Marketing Institute, just 38% of marketers say they are finding success with content marketing. With nine in 10 marketers doing some kind of content marketing, but yet the majority “failing” at it, we have a significant problem. In many cases, marketers are doing the wrong things. Here’s five thoughts you need to be thinking about right now if you want to take your program to the next level.

don’t do this. In my third book, Epic Content Marketing, I talk about six principles that are essential to epic content marketing. The sixth, and perhaps most important, is setting a goal/mission to be the “best of breed” informational provider for your industry niche — i.e., to truly be the leading informational resource for your industry.

1. Take “best of breed” seriously Ninety-nine percent of companies

If no one would miss your information, you’ve got work to do. Start by setting your goal, then set up the processes and invest in the people you need to reach that goal.

* Native Advertising A Directly Paid Opportunity.

Native advertising is “pay to play”. If a brand or individual did not pay for the spot, it’s not native advertising.

Usually Content Based. The information is useful, interesting and highly targeted to the specific readership. In all likelihood, it’s not an advertisement promoting the company’s product or service directly.

Delivered In-Stream. The user experience is not disrupted. The advertising is delivered in a way that does not impede the normal behavior of the user in that particular channel.

Again, the goal of native advertising is to not disrupt the user experience…to offer information that is somewhat helpful and similar to the other information on the site so that the content is engaged with at a higher rate than, say, a banner ad.

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Ask yourself this: If your content marketing disappeared from the planet, would anyone miss it?

2. Follow the “3-legged-stool” model Almost every successful media company in the world leverages the “3-LeggedStool” model: creating content for digital, print (print magazine or newsletter), and in-person (customer event or series of customer meetings). I believe that if your brand doesn’t leverage all three channels in a meaningful way, you cannot truly be an industryleading informational source.

Beyond that, there is a huge opportunity in leveraging print channels specifically.

Just think of it like the value of a trade show where all your customers are in attendance, but none of your competition showed up. That’s the value print content marketing currently represents. I smell opportunity.

3. Leverage native advertising while you can In a recent LinkedIn native advertising* post, I wrote the following: Publishers are using native to survive and grow. Brands are using native to steal audience from the publisher. It’s that simple.

I’m not sure how long publishers in your industry will offer native advertising opportunities. If I’m a brand, I’m going to want to go all-in

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on leveraging native to steal as much audience as possible. Look into it.

4. Kill a channel Here’s a publishing truth: It’s likely that, with each new channel you add to your content marketing plan, the other channels you are already using will take a small hit in quality and focus. I’ve seen this time and again as our concentration goes wider and our relevance gets broader.

I’d like to challenge you to kill a channel (or two) and put a renewed focus on the channels that are most worthy of your time and attention.

Be amazing: Be great at distributing content through three channels; use another three to heavily promote that content; and forget the rest… at least for a while. Then check the results.

5. Begin with the end in mind If you’ve read Stephen Covey’s long-time best-selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, you’ll recognize this one as the second habit: Begin with the End in Mind. In Covey’s words: It focuses on what you want to be and do. It is your plan for success. It reaffirms who you are, puts your goals in focus, and moves your ideas into the real world.

If you don’t know what you want to be, in terms of your content marketing, when you grow up, how will you know if you are on the right path?

Things to do: Create your content marketing mission statement.

Set a subscriber goal for your content.

Decide what you ultimately want subscribers to do.

Answer the question, “How Will We Know We Are Succeeding?“ Joe Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute and author of Epic Content Marketing. Joe can be reached on Twitter @JoePulizzi.

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Put Your Agent to Work

Are High Workers Compensation Costs Bringing Your Business Down?

BY: KEN WHITE, VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES, F.A. PEABODY INSURANCE

W

orkers Compensation insurance is essential for making sure your employees are taken care of properly if they should be injured at work. It is considered society’s ‘exclusive remedy’ for an employee’s work related injuries by providing statutory benefits regardless of fault, while protecting the employer for their liability arising out of these injuries. However, just because workers compensation insurance is such an important part of your business, it doesn’t mean you should be overpaying for it.

In some states workers compensation (WC) insurance policies are provided through a monopolistic state fund or purchased in an assigned risk pool with rates set by the state. In Maine, a business owner can purchase a WC policy in a competitive commercial market place where dozens of insurers compete for the business. Most of the licensed insurers use independent agents to represent them. A few insurers are ‘direct writers’

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with the agent being an employee of the insurer who only represents the one company. Either way, a business owner must select an agent representative to best match their business to the insurer and obtain a quotation. “Unlike in many states with very structured workers compensation systems, Maine employers can play a significant role in controlling their WC costs by selecting agency and insurance company relationships which work in partnership to produce the most cost effective results for their business.

Successful businesses take advantage of that opportunity”, says Gary Hall, president of a local workers compensation insurer domiciled in Maine called Great Falls Insurance Company.

The complexity and size of the business will determine what a business owner should expect from their agent and ultimately the insurer. For small firms with less the 10 employees or less than $5,000 in annual premium they will want

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to focus on convenience, price, billing options and claim service simplicity.

Many firms this size rarely experience a claim but when they do, they may require assistance from their agent as an initial resource to help guide them through the process making it as simple as possible.

Once engaged, the insurance adjuster will take over. Larger firms between 10 and 75 employees or between $5000 and $75,000 in premium generally rely on their agent to not only select a price competitive insurer but they may also need the agent to review the more complex details of experience modification rating, premium calculations, loss report reviews and acting as a claims liaison for troubleshooting. Firms larger than 75 employees or $100,000 in premium tend to have more active workers compensation accounts. Some may even have their own internal claims or risk manager. The agent’s role will continue to focus on matching a price competitive

insurer with the business but she will also be valuable in determining a service plan by working with loss control professionals and the claims management team on a more regular basis to help monitor and control the claim activity. The larger insurers will also rely on the agent for creative policy designs that may involve the business sharing in the risk thus lower the premium.

In summary, you should look to your agent for the following things: 1. Access to Multiple Insurance Companies to provide the most competitive pricing available.

2. Class Code Review and Assignment – your premium is developed by assigning payroll by job classification to a base rate for that class. The agent should know and check the class codes to make sure the codes chosen are appropriate and the least expensive to most accurately describe your operations.

3. Experience Modification Review – If your policy is large enough to have an Experience Modification, your agents should have the tools to determine if it has been calculated correctly. If an error has been made to your detriment, the agent can help you get it corrected.

4. Loss Prevention Resources – Our agents can help you find the resources you need to create a safer workplace. Safety manuals templates, coordinating loss control visits from insurance carriers and providing education materials on how to work safer are a few of the ways your agent can help. If a loss should occur, the agent can also provide ways to help mitigate the claim so that it has the least impact on your future costs as possible.

directly with your payroll. Under these plans your cash flow is maximized and you will not worry over a ‘surprise’ audit because the premium is earned and paid exactly as the payroll is expensed. Another option available is a seasonal pay plan where you can pay all of your premiums during your busy season, and have no payments due during your slow time.

6. Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) – Another important insurance often available as an option on WC policies today is employment practices liability insurance coverage (EPLI). EPLI covers the business from certain employment related claims such as discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination or hiring practices. Claims in this area have skyrocketed in the last twenty years. Coverage is now more readily available than ever before and relatively low priced starting at less than $35 per employee per year for basic coverage levels. If the insurer your agent suggests does not have this option, your agent should have ways to provide this coverage as an endorsement from the commercial general liability or access to markets that provide an EPLI policy on a ‘stand alone’ basis.

Ken White, a Certified Insurance Counselor and Past President of Maine Independent Agents Association, is Vice President of Sales at F.A. Peabody Company.

In Maine, workers compensation insurance does not need to be complex nor expensive (relatively speaking, of course!) if you know what to expect from the insurance marketplace and most importantly, the agent you select.

5. Flexible Payment Plans – The standard pay plan for a WC policy is typically quarterly or ‘4-pay’ with a large down payment up front. Many insurers are now offering various flexible payment plans and your agent should be familiar with all the options. In addition to monthly direct pay, some insurers now offer a ‘pay-as-you-go’ program which no service or installment fees and tied

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