Imagine a company where people are excited about coming to work and giving their best efforts every day. In this innovative and engrossing business parable, Harry Paul and Ross Reck show managers at all levels how they can immediately and easily increase productivity by tapping into the discretionary effort of the people who work for them. Starting from the most basic aspect of business reality—that people intentionally regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based upon how they feel they’re being treated—the authors point out that the most important part of the job of every manager, team leader, supervisor, and executive is to treat people in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.
At the book’s center is the story of Nancy Kim, a human resources director at a magazine that is struggling with all the problems associated with unhappy employees—low productivity and morale along with high absenteeism and turnover. After she openly challenges the CEO’s new management-by-the-numbers system, she’s charged with turning the situation around immediately. Filled with real-world studies, Instant Turnaround! shows anyone how to turn the workplace into a destination—a place where working hard feels like hardly working because it’s engaging, enjoyable, and fulfilling.
INSTANT TURNAROUND!Getting People Excited About Coming To Work and Working Hard.
Instant Turnaround! is the ultimate guide to productivity, profits and your own prosperity. Times may be tough, but for team leaders, supervisors, managers and executives who know how to tap into the discretionary effort of their employees, their productivity and profits soar. The key is to get people excited about coming to work and applying every bit of energy, creativity and passion they have toward performing their jobs instead of doing only what they have to do to in order to stay employed. Instant Turnaround! presents a four-step process that will show you how to make this happen in any kind of business organization.
Read the comments of just a few of the readers….
Thank you so much for sending across the draft of your new book. This is exactly the kind of business book I like reading. No unnecessary text or theories; the parable style of writing works best in today’s world for a majority of the people I know. –Aditi Sharma, Deputy Editor, The Human Factor (HR Journal), New Delhi, India
I have read your draft. Once, I started, I was engaged and didn’t want to delay finishing it! When I started full-time with John Deere, I started as a supervisor of our engine assembly line. I frequently walked around with a smile on my face. I had guys working for me that said my smile would go away as I worked longer. I consider that my challenge otherwise, and continued to tell them that we should all have some fun at work. –Lesley Gustafson, Suppy Base Manager, John Deere, Mannheim, Germany
Your new book is not only a step-by-step ‘how-to’ motivate employees and change from low to high morale, but it teaches how to prevent morale from going downhill in the first place. If those ‘B’s are consistently used in the company, then there are less chances of having unhappy employees. The book is easy to read and it is packed full of valuable information. –Gloria Ku, Manager – Office Administration and HR, PLATEK SERVICES INC., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
The best leadership advice for creating a great organization comes from simple truths. Instant Turnaround is full of these truths. Harry Paul and Ross Reck nail what it takes to get people excited about coming to work and working hard. Read this book. –Ken Blanchard, coauthor of One Minute Manager
Instant Turnaround!’ offers sure-fire solutions to boost any businesses’ bottom-line, via the most powerful connection ever created: the human connection.” –Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval, coauthors of The Power of Nice
One of the biggest challenges facing businesses today is getting people excited about coming to work and working hard every single day. In this absorbing new book Instant Turnaround, leadership gurus Paul and Reck give you the specifics on how to make this happen—in a way that grabs you from page one. Ignore this message at your peril. –Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, New York Times bestselling authors of The Carrot Principle
This is a great guide and a great reminder for managers at any level in any organization. The story line pulls the reader in and enables him or her to gain a deeper understanding of the basic rules for keeping great talent committed and energized. –Beverly Kaye, coauthor of Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay
I just finished rereading your book. Once I get started, I just can’t stop myself. This book is SO-O-O-O-O GOOD! The addition of the Nuggets is a good one! It will keep those reading that feel they have to have everything structured. They’re also good for future reference. The three items you added at the end are also good. It is always good to have your ideas listed. And “A Note for Upper Level Managers” puts the pressure where it belongs. I am hoping your book is a GREAT success!! It reminds me so much of Gast Manufacturing, the company my grandfather founded. It started out as a small local manufacturing company and today it’s a world-wide dealer of rotary engines. They never needed a labor union, because my Uncle Bill, the CEO, spent lots of time on the factory floor talking with employees. –Carol Krieger, Retired Granddaughter of the Founder of Gast Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, MN
OMG! I got home at about 5ish tonight, ate dinner, then sat and read your manuscript (yes, I know it’s a Friday night and I should be out, but I started to read it and I couldn’t put it down)! I loved it! My mind was racing with so many ideas and thought on how I can implement everything you talked about. I thought about giving this to everyone from our CEO at our headquarters building to our crew members. I’m super excited for it and can’t wait to see it on the shelves! –Jessica Chavez, Area Franchise Manager, Cold Stone Creamery, Billings, MT
Thank you so much for the manuscript. Your timing was impeccable as we started a very similar program with our Mobile Mini sales staff last Monday. As I read the manuscript last Sunday I skeptical about seeing immediate results. But you are right. The payoff was immediate. Mobile Mini experienced a very successful week but what is more important, we had fun too. The younger folks responded right away. The “old timers” (like me) took a little longer, but by the end of the week everyone was onboard. –Paul Gryniewicz, Sales Team Leader, Mobile Mini, Phoenix, AZ
What a great message and great story! WOW – you sure can weave a message in cleverly (and a good message at that). I also liked how you repeat the main ideas several times so that it makes an impression and it’s hard to forget (the 4 Be’s, etc.). The story is good, flows easily and the message is sound. –Jane Woyciehowsky, Sales Manager, Financial Intelligence Division, SAS, Austin, TX
Frequently Asked Questions About Instant Turnaround!Who is this book intended for? Anyone whose success depends on securing the enthusiastic support of other people.What is the primary focus of this book? This book has one focus—it shows you how to tap into the discretionary effort of the people who work for you—how to get them excited about coming to work and applying every bit of energy and passion they have toward performing their jobs instead of doing only what they have to do to in order to stay employed.
How soon is “instant”—weeks, six months, a year? When you implement the program contained in Instant Turnaround!, you’ll notice significant improvement the very first day.I work for a nonprofit agency. Does this book apply to my environment? You bet. The method described in this book will work in any environment — volunteer organizations, schools, government agencies and even professional athletic teams.What makes this book different from other management/ leadership/motivation books? The whole book is about showing you specifically how to tap into the discretionary effort of the people who work for or with you.Times are tough and I don’t have any extra money to motivate my employees. What can this book do for me if I can’t afford to pay raises or bonuses? The nice thing about discretionary effort is that it’s free—that’s why it makes such a huge difference.My company’s upper management is resistant to change. Can this book help me turn around our company’s productivity? Absolutely! Start with your company’s poorest performing department and apply the method contained in this book to that department and watch what happens literally overnight. Once senior management sees the results, they’re going to want to apply this method across the entire company.Has the method contained in Instant Turnaround! been tested in the real world? If so, what were the results? Absolutely. We found this method by studying highly successful companies in the real world. It’s the method that Southwest Airlines has been using since 1973 and has turned a profit every year since while most of its competitors are losing billions.We are stretched to the max trying to keep our company afloat. I don’t have a whole lot of time or resources to put into turning our situation around. What does this book offer someone like me? You can’t afford not to buy this quick read which will show you how and where to put your scarce resources to achieve the results you’re looking for—especially in this bad economy.I’m looking for practical ideas that work, not theory. Will this book give me what I’m looking for? Absolutely. This book is all practical and no theory.We just underwent a second round of layoffs and closed a plant. Morale is at an all-time low. What can this book do for our company in this rough economy? It will show you how to motivate your employees with trust instead of fear. Once you start motivating with trust, low morale becomes a thing of the past and productivity goes through the roof.As a department supervisor, I have a performance appraisal coming up in three months and right now my department is cranky and underachieving. If I follow the advice contained in this book, do I have enough time to turn the performance of my department around? You bet. If you implement the management method contained in Instant Turnaround!, you’ll be shocked at what your department is able to accomplish in three months.
There’s only one way to become an outstanding success as a salesperson. It’s called repeat and referral sales. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling cars, real estate, insurance, pharmaceuticals, financial services or farm equipment. If you don’t focus your efforts on generating repeat and referral sales, you’re going nowhere as a salesperson.
Furthermore, there’s only one way in which you can get your customers to provide you with continuing repeat and referral sales and that’s by turning them into long-term friends. Let me give you an example: Joe Girard was a car salesperson for Merolis Chevrolet in Detroit. For 12 straight years Joe was listed in The Guinness Book of World Records for being the world’s best new car salesperson. During his final year of selling cars, Joe sold 1,425 new Chevrolet cars and trucks! That’s 1,425 new Chevrolet cars and trucks sold by a single salesperson during one calendar year! How did Joe do it? The answer is simple. 65% of his sales were to repeat customers and the other 35% were to customers who were referred to him by his repeat customers.
So, the year that Joe Girard got into The Guinness Book of World Records for selling 1,425 cars, how many cars did he actually sell? The answer is NONE! His customers sold them for him. Why? Because Joe took the time to turn each of his customers into a long-term friend. As Joe put it, “I stand in front of my product as well as behind it.” In other words, before you could buy a car from Joe, you first had to buy Joe. He wouldn’t let you buy a car from him until he turned you into a friend. Then, after you bought a car from Joe and you experienced a problem either with the car or someone at the dealership, Joe went to bat for you and personally saw to it that the problem was resolved to your satisfaction. Joe also made it a point to stay in touch with his customers after they bought a car from him; he didn’t forget about them and he made sure they they knew it. Yes, Joe truly loved his customers and they loved him back by providing him with enough repeat and referral sales to make it possible for him to sell more than 13,000 cars in 12 years.
As Joe said in his book, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, “All of my customers these days are people who ask for me by name. All of them.” You too can enjoy the same level of success as Joe Girard once you stop focusing on making sales and start focusing on turning your customers into long-term friends.
Kindle and Paperback Editions available from Amazon.com
Imagine a workplace where every employee is engaged with their work … where every employee shows up each day excited about giving every bit of energy, creativity and passion to performing their job. These employees don’t need to be motivated because they already are and they channel their motivation toward creating a competitive edge for their company that can’t be easily copied. They’re constantly making innovative changes to products, services and customer experiences while providing superior levels of customer service which results in loyal customers. This means higher levels of repeat and referral business which, in turn, translates into significant increases in market share. In addition, absenteeism and turnover rates for these fully engaged employees are far below industry averages because they absolutely love what they do. This book presents a new management model that guarantees an employee engagement level of 100%. If you implement this model in your organization, every one of your employees will become engaged with their work; all working at their full potential. Think of what it would mean to the success of your business or organization if you could get all of your employees engaged with their work.
