R&B Cooke Spring 2015

Cooke Insurance Group

RISK& BUSINESS SPRING 2015

MAGAZINE

Kat Cole The Rise of a Business Superstar

7 Social Media Strategies • Hiring is a Risky Business • Equal or Equitable Pay • No More Problems

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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 Greg Crabtree John DiJulius III Danny Corriveau Eric Fry Verne Harnish Dave Kerpen Joe Pulizzi Dr Brad Smart Neil Wadhwa

ADVERTISING (National) ADVERTISING (Local)

Keith Keane Jeff Cooke

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

125 Pownal Street Charlottetown, PE C1A 3W4 Ph: 902-566-5666 • Fax: 855-566-4662 www.cooke.ca Cooke 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, the publisher nor Cooke Insurance Group will be held responsible for omissions or errors.

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, overnight-delivery return envelope, postage prepaid.

Carle Publishing Inc. and Cooke Insurance Group 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

16 From Waitress to President:

The Rise of a Business Superstar

Kat Cole’s Sweet Success

Welcome to our inaugural issue of Cooke Insurance’s bi-annual Risk and Business MagazineTM. We are confident you will find this information of interest and that it provides value for your business. We understand the issues facing business owners today and the need to increase your efficiency and profitability.

CONTENTS Letter from the Owner

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Community Events

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Cooke Insurance - Supporting Our PEI Communities and Events - Since 1972

No More Problems, Please!

A Different Approach to Strategy for all Companies

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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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Meet Your Brokers

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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 Cooke Insurance - Since 1972

Steps to the Next Level

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Health Benefit Plans

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Take Your Content Marketing Strategy to the Next Level Understanding the Cost of My Health Plan

www.cooke.ca

welcome to R&B

At the Cooke Insurance Group, we offer fully integrated solutions ranging from business, home and auto insurance along with a full slate of financial services including individual and group health benefits, life, disability, travel insurance and group pensions.

What we have heard from our customers is they appreciate the ability to deal with one brokerage, one with the ability to provide complete solutions and create a business relationship that they can rely on. Cooke Insurance prides itself in being a valuable resource to you and your business.

One of the hot topics affecting everyone’s business is the rising cost of health care which has a direct impact on your group health benefit plan. We believe that by having the right advice and a plan tailored to your needs that it will help your business maximize your return by keeping your current employees happy but also serve as a tool to help you to attract new employees. In this edition, we uncover how plans are priced and provide you with questions to ask to ensure you have the right plan for your business, no surprises!!

We pride ourselves on being your trusted advisor and partner as you manage the risk that affects your business. In this edition of Risk and Business MagazineTM, we are also introducing our business insurance team that can help and provide the real solutions you are looking for. With the depth of our team, they can handle risks affecting businesses of any size, across every industry operating in our great province, Prince Edward Island.

Should your business expand operations in other provinces, we are licensed to do business across Atlantic Canada, as well as Alberta.

We are all business people trying to operate successful companies here on PEI and contribute to our local economy.

Cooke Insurance looks forward to providing you with advice and information that is valuable to you in running your business.

If you have specific topics you would like to have more information on, please email us at info@cooke.ca and we will do our best to provide it to you.

Sincerely, Jeff Cooke, President

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R & B Community Events

Cooke Insurance - Supporting our PEI Communities and Events - since 1972

Staff raising awareness for Anti-Bullying Day

Holland College

We are all working together to prevent bullying in our schools, in our communities and online.

Group Picture L-R: Back Row: Jennifer Monaghan, Meg Cooke, Lindsey Clark, Donna McNeill, Meaghan Coyle, Andrew Scott, Karen Trainor, Scott Cameron, Joanne MacKay. Front Row: Heather Gregory, Linda Dunning.

Pictured at Right: Shelly O’Meara of our Alberton PEI office.

Cooke Insurance Bursary Awards:

This picture was taken during the annual Holland College Student Awards night at the Tourism and Culinary Center.

Cooke Insurance is proud to donate 11 bursaries (6 Football Awards, 5 Tourism & Culinary Awards) to very deserving HC students to put towards education and expenses.

Congratulations to all award winners!

L-R : Meghan Arsenault, Stephanie Doull, Jeff Cooke, John Benedik and Christina Murnaghan

Holland College Donor Wall : Proud to be a Benefactor

Browns Volkswagen PEI Marathon Corporate Team Relay The Brown’s Volkswagen Corporate Relay is a great opportunity to encourage a life of fitness and health amongst your employees, corporate engagement within the community, and of course some healthy competition amongst fellow Island businesses. Cooke Insurance were proud corporate sponsors of the 2014 marathon, and volunteers made the event happen.

We also entered a team to compete in the corporate relay… what a great team building event!!

Team Picture Pictured L-R: Back Row: Andrew Scott, Scott Cameron, Stephanie Cooke-Landry.

Front Row: Rob Landry, Barbara Runovec, Cameron Trainor, Heather Gregory

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Holland College Gymnasium signage supporting the athletics program

Cooke Insurance and the Union of Public Sector Employees - Partners of the Silent Witness Project

The goals of the Silent Witness Project are to remember women killed in acts of violence, create awareness of family violence issues and to promote action. Adult sized silhouettes are constructed of plywood, painted bright red and a plaque is placed on the silhouette containing the name, age, personal background information of the victim and her relationship to her murderer. (These are the actual silhouettes of the murdered women.)

Hillsboro Hospital Christmas Silent Auction We hold a Christmas Silent Auction where proceeds help support the inhouse mentally and physically challenged patients at the Hillsboro Hospital, PEI. We have various items auctioned off at our Charlottetown office and many thanks to the staff for participating.

Jennifer Monaghan and Linda Dunning then go out and purchase items that have been asked by the patients at the Hillsboro Hospital and deliver them. Seeing their smiling faces is priceless!

Children’s Wish Foundation Christmas Tree Lane

We have teamed up with UPSE PEI and President Debbie Bovyer in an effort to raise awareness and remember those women killed.

Pictured L-R : On behalf of the Insurance Company of PEI, Scott Cameron of Cooke Insurance presents a $6,000 cheque to Eillen LeClair (left) & Pam MacKinnon (right) of the Silent Witness Project.

Appin Road Day Camp – For Troubled Children and Youth The summer program is a therapeutic, recreational and educational five-daysa-week day camp that has been running since 1980 – as a charitable organization since 1987. Cooke Insurance, represented by Jerome Hannah who specializes in Non-For-Profit Organizations, partnered with Intact Insurance and made a considerable donation of $5,000 towards the program.

Children’s Wish Foundation and the Greater City of Charlottetown light up historic Great George Street every November for the Annual Christmas Tree Lane.

It was a great day decorating a Christmas tree as we grant children facing a life-threatening illness their most heartfelt wish.

Picture (2013) L-R: Children’s Wish Mascot with special helpers Evan Trainor, Ryleigh Ostridge, Madelyn Gregory, Scott and Willa Cameron.

If you are interested in assisting Appin Road’s fundraising efforts, please call #902-675-4282 or email rlacey688@gmail. com.

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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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R & B Meet Your Brokers Cooke Insurance - since 1972

Commercial Brokers Jeff Cooke

jcooke@cooke.ca With over three decades of experience with Cooke Insurance, Jeff is a seasoned professional.

His career began in 1983 shortly after receiving his BA from UPEI. His first job was in accounts receivable where he spent the next two years learning the operational side of the business - under the expert direction of his father Charlie, the founder of Cooke Insurance. It was at this early stage in his career that the foundation of success at Cooke Insurance - service, respect, and integrity became Jeff’s operating standards.

Continuing in his close working relationship with his father, Jeff spent the next 10 years in sales - at first specializing in home and auto insurance. It wasn’t long before Jeff realized he was “meant to be in sales” - an awareness that eventually lead Jeff to discover his niche in business insurance.

In 1990 Jeff was promoted to President of Cooke Insurance. As President, Jeff is dedicated to delivering nothing less than competitive products, innovative insurance solutions and service excellence to their growing customer base. As an entrepreneur Jeff is an “outof-the-box” thinker, an expert corporate strategist, and a visionary - traits that have, and will continue to serve the company very well into the future.

A typical day at work finds Jeff balancing his duties as President with his role as a Business Insurance Consultant specializing in the manufacturing, construction, and tourism sectors.

Business insurance truly is Jeff’s niche - as an entrepreneur himself, his clients have come to value his advice from his ability to see things “from their side of the fence”. Jeff also enjoys the challenge of solving “difficult to insure exposures”.

As he says, “There is not a business in PEI we can’t insure. The days of dealing with large, off-island brokerages are gone.”

Ron Hately

rhately@cooke.ca A civil engineer by training, Ron has worked internationally as a project leader for construction accounts ranging from $1million to $200million. After several years in the role of project leader, Ron honed his business skills at the world-renowned MacDonald’s University where after he spent 3 years as a Construction Engineer and Project Manager for the Macdonald Corporation.

Returning home to Atlantic Canada to raise his family, Ron joined Cooke Insurance as an Account Executive in 1993.

With innovative and extensive technical expertise, Ron is able to bring a wealth of business acumen, risk management guidance and insurance knowledge to assist his clients.

Allan Vickerson

avickerson@cooke.ca

Jerome Hannah

jhannah@cooke.ca Jerome has been with the Cooke Insurance team for ten years specializing in NonProfit, Health Care, Long Term Care and Religious Intuition coverage. He came to Cooke Insurance with an extensive background in quality control work in the Precast Concrete Industry over a 15 year period.

Jerome has successfully managed a large

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investment book of business over a 10 year period for families in Edmonton, Alberta. The knowledge that Jerome has acquired in the financial planning field and his construction background over the years lends itself to offering superior insights to our clientele at Cooke Insurance.

His clients find the business partnership that he creates to be of added value because he is able to advise clients on group RRSP’s, benefit plans, life insurance in addition to their commercial insurance needs.

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Allan has 20 years experience working in the Agricultural sector and has a broad understanding of issues associated with the farming trade as well as businesses associated to the farming sector.

Growing up on a farm has given Allan insights to many issues faced by today’s farmers. Allan can offer your business guidance and knowledge in the ever changing agricultural sector.

For 5 years and counting, Allan has worked at Cooke Insurance to assist a broad spectrum of business owners with Risk Management and their insurance requirements.

Commercial Brokers Andrew Scott

Scott Cameron

A native of Charlottetown, Andrew graduated in 2007 from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in Recreation & Sport Studies with a Minor in Business. He is also a graduate of the Sport and Leisure Management Program at Holland College. With many years of experience working in retail stores growing up Andrew brings a great understanding of the exposures many businesses are faced with today.

New to Small Business Insurance, Scott is excited to bring his extensive background in customer service to the Cooke team.

After spending 7 years in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry both in service and management, Scott joined Cooke Insurance in 2012 as the Marketing and Business Development Manager.

ascott@cooke.ca

Andrew has a strong community involvement and is a board member of Cycling PEI. In 2009 he was the Head Coach of the PEI Cycling team at the Canada Summer Games. His volunteer activities also include organizing the PEI edition of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. Andrew is licensed for Commercial Insurance, LLQP Life Insurance & Group benefits and is completing his CAIB Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker distinction.

He is committed to providing excellent customer service and seeks to provide the best Insurance products and knowledge to his clients.

Outside the office Andrew likes to spend time in the great outdoors with his wife, son and daughter, kayaking, cycling, camping, skiing, and snowshoeing.

Bachelor of Arts Degree. He has not looked back since and quickly fell in love with Prince Edward Island and all it has to offer. It was here on PEI where he met his best friend and wife Jill; together they have a beautiful daughter Willa.

scameron@cooke.ca

Scott enjoys spending time with his family and friends. Summers, you can find him cruising on his motorcycle, or at the golf course. Winters, you’ll find him at the hockey rink.

Let Scott be your Small Business Broker. From seasonal business, special events, individual trainers, “hole in one” sponsorships to all forms of small business adventures, Scott is here to be YOUR trusted advisor.

From Kingston Ontario, Scott came to PEI in 1998 to pursue a hockey scholarship at the University of Prince Edwards Island while completing his

Group Benefits Brokers - Cooke Capital* Danny Corriveau

Linda Dunning

Danny is a graduate of the University of Prince Edward Island with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with concentrations in accounting and economics. Danny also holds the Canadian Risk Management designation from the Global Risk Management Institute facilitated through course work from the University of Toronto.

Linda is a graduate of UPEI in Psychology and the Institute of Canadian Bankers with a diploma in Personal Financial Counseling.

Her career path has been both in the Public and Private sectors in Administration, Customer Service and Sales. Prior to joining Cooke Capital she was with RBC as an Investment Broker.

Danny joined the Cooke Insurance Group in 2006 as a team member in the development and implementation of CookeCare; a flexible and affordable means for companies to invest in their human capital through Custom Group Health Plans.

Linda joined Cooke Capital in 2000 as Manager of the Life Department. After completing her accreditation as a licensed Broker she added Life and Employee Benefits Advisor to her responsibilities.

She is known for taking the time to educate her client and match their needs to the products and services available.

dcorriveau@cooke.ca

ldunning@cooke.ca

In 2008 Danny was promoted to President of Cooke Capital. In addition to managing the daily operations of the company, his passion is consulting with businesses, large and small, seeking customized Group Health Plan solutions.

His experience in serving a broad client base enables Danny to respond quickly to the unique needs of both employers and employees enhancing long-term prosperity for his clients.

A very active business and community volunteer she is an Ambassador for Charlottetown Chamber, Member of PEI Cancer Advocacy Committee, PEI Marathon, Confederation Centre Singers, Hillsboro Hospital and Trinity United Church Trustees and Council.

Linda knows that with her knowledge and insurance products she can meet the need of her clients.

* a Division of the Cooke Group RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETMSPRING 2015

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Steps to the Next Level

Take Your Content Marketing Startegy 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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Health Benefit Plans Understanding the Cost of my Health Plan BY: DANNY CORRIVEAU, COOKE INSURANCE

When you shop around for your health plan, pay attention to see if the insurance companies’ proposed claims number is realistic to what you anticipate your claims costs to be. In a lot of situations, insurance companies will try to buy your business by offering favourable costs the first year until re-adjusting at renewal.

Methods Available to Fund Your Claims Once you know what your overall claims are—what’s driving your health and dental costs—there are three models available for funding your claims. We’ll explore the differences of each model in the next issue, but here’s a brief introduction to each of them: Pool Plan: Many smaller companies as part of a larger overall plan. This model is typically stable and doesn’t have large yearly increases, thanks due to the large number of companies involved. This plan works best for businesses with 10 employees or less, as claims can fluctuate greatly from one year to the next.

T

he costs of benefit plans have been steadily increasing in the past few years due to the rise of overall health costs. Unfortunately, how the price works isn’t always clear for everyone. Spreadsheets showing “the” lower cost might be great on the surface but if you don’t understand the underlying numbers the long-term costs won’t change and, as a result, you’ll be facing the same dilemma of rising costs when it comes time for renewal.

Fully Insured: The cost of your health plan will be based on your claims experience and the insurance company’s overhead.

ASO or self-funded: This model is the most misunderstood, yet it’s the most cost-effective approach available in the long-term for businesses. Typically, you’ll need a third-party administrator (TPA) to offer you this option, unless you have 100 employees or more.

1 Plan; 2 Pricing Method Insurance is used to cover low frequency, high cost claims (e.g. your house catching fire). In your health plan, insurance would cover life, disability, and travel, as well as critical illness and catastrophic health claims.

For these benefits, the insurance company looks at the perceived risk, analyzes internal factors (e.g. occupation) and external factors (e.g. general market conditions). Your previous claims have very little impact on your rates with this type of insurance coverage (unless you have a high frequency issue with your health plan).

Experience pricing is used to cover high frequency, low cost claims, which are the routine day-to-day claims, such as dental cleaning. These benefits are more transactional in nature. To price your cost, the insurance company will first review your claims experience history and try to anticipate your claims for the following year. The insurance company will then add their overhead costs to create your rates to fund your claims.

The larger your group, the lower the overhead should be.

Keep a lookout for the next issue of Risk & Business Magazine, where we’ll explore the differences between the funding methods in greater detail.

Should you have any questions or comments about this article or would like to see any specific topics discussed about your group plan, please feel free to e-mail me at dcorriveau@cooke.ca.

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