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Top Takeaways:

What breeds complacency in business?

Most businesses don’t realize that one of the main drivers of complacency is success. The more success we have in our customer interactions, the more we get overconfident. We become vulnerable to taking customer relationships for granted.

This week on Amazing Business Radio, Len Herstein discusses why complacency is dangerous and how to avoid it. He offers the following insights and more:

• Avoid tunnel vision. Companies can become too focused on matching their top competitors that they lose sight of new competitors or new categories that have entered the market.
• Be a disruptor. Successful companies like Amazon and Netflix are always coming up with new ways to engage their customers. Instead of reacting to what their top competitors are doing, they are the disruptors in their industry and beyond.
• Learn from success. Most companies debrief when a mistake happens with the idea they will avoid the same mistakes in the future. However, they often forget to look back on their successes, not realizing there are opportunities to replicate the same moving forward.
• Always be vigilant. The best way to fight complacency is to be aware of it. You can’t protect against threats that you didn’t see coming.

Quotes:

“Complacency kills businesses. It kills brands, customer relationships, and personal relationships.”

“Complacency is born out of success. The more successful we are, the more vulnerable we are to complacency.”

“In business, we form tunnel vision. We become comfortable with where our competition is coming from, and we fail to recognize the ‘danger’ that comes from other places.”

“The best way to fight complacency is to be aware. The more aware you are, the more in the moment you are, the more you have that forces you to think, and the less complacent you’re going to be.”

“Success is not the end goal. Keeping it is.”

About:

Len Herstein, CEO and President of ManageCamp Inc. and author of Be Vigilant!: Strategies to Stop Complacency, Improve Performance, and Safeguard Success. Your Business and Relationships Depend on It. He has worked with brands like Coca-Cola, The Campbell Soup Company, and Nabisco. He is also a volunteer State-certified peace officer with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

1. What causes complacency in business?
2. Why is complacency so dangerous in customer service and experience?
3. How can a business fight complacency?
4. How can businesses safeguard success?
5. What does it mean to be vigilant in business?