Successful people are obsessed with learning.  They out-learn everyone around them.  They’re voracious readers.  Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, and Disney CEO Bob Iger read and learn.  They finish newspapers, books, audio books, journals, and magazines like Harvard Business Review, Inc, or Forbes while their not-so-committed peers waste their time on worthless entertainment.

I am a huge promoter of reading and learning.  All the books I have written, all the seminars I give, all the coaching I do is based on learning.  Learning about your industry, learning about yourself, learning about products, learning about your employees and most important, learning about customers.  It’s my passion and has been for the past 40 some years.

In May 2003 I invested $9,000 ($1,000 ea.) in 9 service leaders. Today this investment is worth $34,363. I wanted to prove that service leaders continue to grow because they focus on the service strategy.  Hard to understand the reasoning why CEO’s do not focus on a service strategy.   Probably because they do not understand how it impacts market share, brand and the value of the business.  Following is proof that a service culture will increase the value of a firm by over 25%.  Take a look:

One of the things that I love about Northeast Delta Dental is that they are a values-driven company.  They state in their description of their company that they successfully balance profitability and community involvement.  They make sure that they encourage children and adults alike to practice good oral health habits with contests and donations to programs that benefit everyone.

I have two reports Vernon Hill, Founder and CEO of Metro Bank London sent me in the last 2 weeks. In London there are 5 large banks which have about 85% market share. Metro Bank opened its doors on July 29, 2010 with 40 employees and 4 stores. Today they have over 1600 employees, 30 stores and over 410,000 accounts. Read on to see how much they've grown.

Service Leaders consistently have more revenue, make more money, plus have a stronger brand and market share. They dominate the market and crush their competition.  In this issue I will share my ideas on Apple, Metro Bank London and my investment of $1000 each in 9 service leaders in May 2003.