Spotlight: Deliver Service Now Institute
We recently asked Morning Report subscribers to introduce themselves by sending a photo and answering a few questions.
Name: Vance Morris
Position: Owner
Name of business: Deliver Service Now Institute
Location of business: Centreville, Md.
Website: deliverservicenow.com
Nature of business: Showing business owners how to become the “Disney” of their town or niche. Disnifying is creating experiences out of the mundane. I offer exclusive three-day boot camps at Walt Disney World, group and individual coaching, and have a group of monthly subscribers. All are invested in price elasticity through experiences they create.
Number of employees: Six virtual assistants, each of which has their own area of expertise: editing, visual, phones, research, posting to social media so I don’t have to.
One key decision that helped you get where you are: Listening. And then listening more.
What you would do differently if you had it to do over: Start my consulting business sooner. I am a former birth control factory security guard, turned rock star, turned Disney leader, turned corporate muckety muck (15 years of hospitality), turned carpet cleaner, turned entrepreneur, turned coach/consultant.
What you get to do on the days you enjoy most: Help my clients create memorable experiences for their clients/patients. The process of creating experiences out of the mundane is energizing and profitable. Take for example, answering the phone. Ninety-nine percent of companies answer the phone with some version of “Thank you for calling ABC company, how can I help you?” A phone-answering experience would be saying in their best radio DJ voice, “Thanks for calling Biff’s Allstate, the agency that rocks!” Biff, of course, is a HUGE rock & roll fanatic, with gold records, band posters and guitars hanging from the walls of his office.
One aspect of running a business you have yet to master: Sales. I can market with the best of them. Sales, not so much — though my reputation and past clients make it so I don’t have to do much selling.
My employees are [fill in the blank]: All over the world, responsive, and work like they own the business.
Most successful form of marketing: Referrals, testimonials, and networking.
Problem you would most like to solve now: Convincing business owners that they are in a commodity business and that the only thing that will lift them over the masses is the experience they provide. This is truly MY problem. My sales cycle has to convince a prospect that: a) their service sucks, b) their client retention sucks (or can be improved), or c) demonstrate that they ARE in a commodity business, before I can prescribe/sell my products or services.
