Sweat the Small Stuff

What's the secret to success? Sweat the small stuff. That means paying attention to the details.


In order to provide excellent customer service, our employees must be able to communicate effectively, politely and they should genuinely care for the customers. This doesn't happen by itself. How we interact with friends and family is not necessarily a model for how we should interact with customers and prospective customers. This will require training and a development of skills necessary to carry out activities. Just because we care, that doesn't mean we are showing it in a manner that others would recognize. Do you know how your voice sounds? What does your face look like when you show empathy? How does your body language connect with the message your voice is giving?


It requires sweating the small stuff to ensure that an encounter with a customer or prospective customer ends on a positive note.


We need to ensure that our employees can actually solve problems for our customers. Have we given them the tools to do so? Clear cut guidelines help your staff know the boundaries as well as what's expected of them. Give people the ability to solve problems. Put procedures into place so people clearly know where they stand. Reward people for going above and beyond.


Then take it a step further. What needs to be done to avoid the service issues in the first place? Is it product based? Is it the result of unclear policies and procedures? Keep a log of service issues and incidents. Actively work to cut down on the factors creating them in the first place.


We need to create companies that create cultures where providing the best products and the best service is not just words on a poster. "Good enough" should never be tolerated...and, yes, you must sweat the small stuff. I hate that phrase by the way, "Don't sweat the small stuff - and it's all small stuff". It gives permission not to care. Just because it's small to you, doesn't mean it's not big to your customers.


Respect your customers. Do you value them as the reasons for your continued success or are they simply dollar bills to be pocketed? Your attitude is also felt by your employees. They'll take their cues from you.


Great success requires great effort. Sweating the small stuff - how you act, how you react, your attention to details - all combine to lift your efforts above others. Commit to it and reap the rewards.

Can I tell you a Secret about Sales and Service Coaching?

Yes, I know I look tired - but here's a short message worth listening to!

Click here for the video:

I've Got a Secret

Sales Experience is NOT all the Same

I've been reading a discussion on one of the Inside Sales boards I follow, the gist of which is that most sales managers would rather hire for sales experience than industry experience. I'm not going to disagree but I am going to posit that the issue is actually more complicated.


There are many different types of sales and most of them boil down to transactional vs. consultative. I've had the opportunity to work with both types and I've seen people go from being very successful in one and then failing when they take on a job in the other. They are usually dumbfounded and can't understand why. "I was a crack closer" they'll say. "I always exceeded my quota", they'll claim. They're right - they did. But that's not the whole story.

Let's face it, closing a sale for a car or a home improvement can be done in one call. Closing on a high dollar sale in a large business can not. Now, it's not that the skill set is different per se, but that the skills are used differently. I'll need to hand hold more people. I need to build consensus - on teams, across departments and divisions in some cases. It's a slower process. I'll ask the great questions, I'll be prepared to take my opening. However, if I don't understand how the sales process works, I'm not going to get anywhere. It works in reverse, too. If I've worked in high dollar b to b sales and now I find myself selling lower dollar, high volume consumer goods, it's going to take a while to find my footing. Unfortunately, some people never will.


So, my bottom line isn't just going to be sales experience, it's how that sales experience has been acquired and how willing the sales professional will be to learn and make changes as necessary. Everyone can learn, everyone can grow. We must be willing to take those steps and most importantly we must understand that those steps must be taken. Sales hotshot in Company A doesn't automatically translate to sales hotshot in Company B. 

As managers and trainers it's our responsibility to make sure this transition goes smoothly. On boarding and on going training and coaching are essential to the success of every salesperson who joins your team. 

Need some help making this happen in your organization? For more information, contact me at info@krgcommunications.com  

www.krgcommunications.com 

The Important Things

When you decide to engage a consultant or trainer, you want to make sure that both yourself and them feel the same way on some very basic issues. As a result, every so often I feel it's  necessary to review what's important to me.

I have a need to stay true to my core values - as a business women - as a person. For those of you who haven't yet had the opportunity to work with me, here are some insights regarding my values:

• People are your most valuable resource.
• All employees deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
• Behavioral changes take time. Sending someone for training with no follow up or positive encouragement from management dooms the training to failure and lowers morale.
• Expect the best and you will get it. Just make sure people are given the right tools to make it happen.
• It's OK to fire someone for non-performance.
• Just because a person reports to you doesn't mean they couldn't do your job if they had the training - sometimes they've simply made different life decisions. In other words, treat people as equals with different responsibilities.
• All managers, supervisors and business owners are responsible for coaching their people to success.
• Yelling in the office is unacceptable. (unless the place is on fire)
• Employment is a two way street. Employees should earn their compensation; employers should treat people as more than just a pair of replaceable hands.
• People want to do a good job.

Finally, I'm a big believer in the golden rule.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

It's important for all of us - regardless of our level or type of employment to treat each other with courtesy and respect.


BTW, did you know you can follow me on twitter? Check out @thejoannkirby

The Difference Between Knowing and Doing

Selling is very different from many types of jobs. One very important reason is that selling is a behavior. It's not a task like keyboarding or knowing how to use Excel. Selling requires us to use our interpersonal communications skills in order to achieve our goals.

In order to use our skills to the best effect, we need to be completely comfortable using them. Being completely comfortable requires more than just writing out your presentations. You need to actually practice it. This means role playing. Now many people are not comfortable with this. However, the best way to become comfortable with any skill is to practice it until you master it. Offer to partner with co-worker - use the buddy system to help improve both your skills sets. Role play several times other a period of several days or weeks. Don't do it once. It's the repetition that helps you feel comfortable. 

This is the difference between knowing and doing.

Don't be afraid to ask for a critique. Feedback is crucial to the process. Often we are too close to be able to accurately judge how we are doing. Don't assume feedback is negative. Ask your partner: What did you like? What was good but could be better? What needs improvement? You'll notice that we took 3 steps in this feedback process. First, it's important to know what you are doing right. It gives you something to build on. Second, you want to make sure you are mastering the skill - not just going through the motions. Third, you need people to be honest enough with you to be able to tell you what areas you really need to improve. Create a plan of action for yourself based on this feedback. Think about it, practice it on your own. Use it in your sales presentations. After a few days, ask your buddy to role play with you again. See where you've improved. Repeat this process over time to see real improvement. 

See the difference between knowing and doing.

When we master a skill, the comfort level comes with it. It becomes easy to use because we've taken the time to master it. Simply attending a teleclass or a seminar won't increase your comfort level for questioning sequences by themselves. Leaving the class with a resolution to practice and use the skills - put yourself on a course of self-improvement until you master them - that will make it easy for you.

It's the difference between knowing and doing.

The Best Sales Trainers Sell the Best

As a change of pace, I wanted to spend some time talking about training and leadership.  There's a parallel between training and selling. Let's walk through it and see if you can spot the similarities while exploring the differences between effective facilitated learning and teaching orientated training.

You might find yourself asked to "train" others without learning how to so effectively. In order for a training program to be successful you need to understand how adults best learn. You'll need to learn how to lead them into the new behaviors. Anyone who is attentive and willing during class will learn the material. But will they use the new behaviors back on the job? If you are in a manager's role, you'd want to make sure that the time you invest in a learning initiative is time and money well spent.

How do Adults Learn?

Adults learn differently from children. Whereas children can be considered "blank slates", adults bring a wealth of already accumulated knowledge. This is quite helpful to the learning experience and a savvy facilitator will use this to their advantage. Adults also bring different expectations to the learning process. Adults will expect the learning to be a partnership, with the facilitator providing the impetuous and the means for the learning process while the adults expect to be responsible retaining and being able to use the learning. Adults expect to be respected for both their experiences and their opinions.

Adults tend to learn best when they are able to make connections between what they are currently learning and past experiences. They also prefer to be full participants in the learning process.

What is Facilitating?

Facilitating is the art of leadership in group communications. In a training or learning environment, this may mean the facilitator directs the activities and the line of questioning, but allows the learners to come up with the answers themselves. This has several positive effects on the learning experience. First, this interactive environment will be more stimulating for the learner. This increases the likelihood of retention. Second, by requiring the learners produce or generate the information instead of simply hearing it from a "teacher", the learners will develop a stake in the learning process. Learners with a stake in the process will retain more. Third, this allows for more learning by doing, whether looking up information in a manual or on a website and using that information that information in order to process requests.


Teaching assumes that the learner knows nothing and the teacher everything. Some of the differences between teaching and learning can be summed up in this way:

• Teaching is delivery-heavy and often requires entertainment to keep attention. On the other hand, if we focus on how to use the expectations and experiences of our learners, we realize that effect learning requires more.
• Learning through facilitation involves questioning-heavy, inductive/ inferential, hands-on, reflective, interactive. You lead the participants to the desired behaviors.

Participating in the experience helps retain information more effectively as well as buy into the experience. Hmm, sounds a lot like a sales situation! It is. Treating your learners as though they are potential customers goes a long way towards getting acceptance of and ultimately mastery of the skills you want them to use.

Leave Your Ego at the Door

We often hear the phrase "perception is reality" - how and what people think about things is often more important than what really is. I found there's an exception to that, though. We often can't judge our own performance, particularly when it comes to "soft" skills. See, we can't hear ourselves as others do (seriously, we can't - we can't hear our own voices as others do. We hear it from inside our heads, they hear the sound that comes out of our mouths ) and we can't see our body language as others do.

I was reminded of this recently after cantoring (leading the singing) for a Catholic Mass. I've been away from singing for over a year and half and am slowly going back to "performing" in public. I had made a point to record myself so that I could hear what others heard and create a plan of action to correct myself based on that. As the music director and I discussed my work, we touched on the topic of singers perspectives of their work. Sometimes when you think you sound great, you didn't and sometimes you sound great when you think you were awful. Very hard to judge ourselves.

So, why am I musing on this today? I had one of those light bulb moments yesterday. You see, I'm often asked to train people with lots of experience whom management feels - and I've verified - are not performing well. Their perception is that they "know this" and "I do this all the time". Often it's important to record and role play, not to break people down but to help them recognize that perhaps their perception is not the reality and their performance has been suffering.

It takes a lot be able to put yourself on the line and change your view of your skills. In order to maintain your skills. It's important to leave yourselves open to the possibility that you are not doing as well as you think you are. Scary, right? It can play havoc with your sense of self and who you see yourself as. But without the ability to accept that you can always improve and that there is always something new to learn, you'll stagnate or go backward. So, you leave your ego at the door and recognize that other's perceptions may be your reality. Like my singing, your communication skills will be the better for it.

Preparation: A Key to Success for Inside Sales and Customer Service

Have you prepared properly for your inside sales project? Whether it's a new assignment for the team or whether you've tasked your customer support personnel with revenue responsibilities beyond up-sells and cross sells, preparation is key of a successful endeavor. 

I was once tasked with the assignment to start an outbound lead generating  team for a small company. On my first day of work, the company owner gave me a list of customers and told me to call them "to see how they are doing". At least I had tons of experience doing similar projects. But how often do we do the same thing to brand new, relatively untrained inside sales personnel?

Let's make sure that we increase our odds of success by doing some planning first. This is important whether you are creating a framework and process for a team of 10 or whether this is your solo show.

Here are some tips for getting started:

• Make sure you know exactly what you want to accomplish. Too many people decide to add inside sales to their business mix and then tell their customer service people to "call and see if you can get them to reorder". 
• Your objective should be well thought out, measurable and specific.
• Break every thing out. No detail is too small. 
• Visualize what you want the results to look like and work back from there. 
• Consider the optimum style of selling. Is this a prospect effort or repeat customer sales? 
• Metrics are important. You can't improve if you don't measure. Consider tracking the following: How many orders will you expect - hourly, daily, weekly? What dollar amount? How many dials per day? How many contacts? What products should be suggested? How much of each do you want to sell? 

Without doing this type of thought process up-front, you will be running a muddled mess within 3 months.Taking the time to prepare thoroughly may push your implimentation date back, it will be worth it in order for the project to succeed. 

Teaching and Leading = Effective Managing for Effective Performance

As a change of pace, I wanted to spend some time talking about training and leadership. Many managers are asked to train others without learning how to train effectively. In order for a training program to be successful you need to understand how adults best learn. You'll need to learn how to lead them into the new behaviors. Anyone who is attentive and willing during class will learn the material. But will they use the new behaviors back on the job? In a manager's role, you'd want to make sure that the time you invest in a learning initiative is time and money well spent.

How do Adults Learn?

Adults learn differently from children. Whereas children can be considered "blank slates", adults bring a wealth of already accumulated knowledge. This is quite helpful to the learning experience and a savvy facilitator will use this to their advantage. Adults also bring different expectations to the learning process. Adults will expect the learning to be a partnership, with the facilitator providing the impetuous and the means for the learning process while the adults expect to be responsible retaining and being able to use the learning. Adults expect to be respected for both their experiences and their opinions.

Adults tend to learn best when they are able to make connections between what they are currently learning and past experiences. They also prefer to be full participants in the learning process.

What is Facilitating?

Facilitating is the art of leadership in group communications. In a training or learning environment, this may mean the facilitator directs the activities and the line of questioning, but allows the learners to come up with the answers themselves. This has several positive effects on the learning experience. First, this interactive environment will be more stimulating for the learner. This increases the likelihood of retention. Second, by requiring the learners produce or generate the information instead of simply hearing it from a "teacher", the learners will develop a stake in the learning process. Learners with a stake in the process will retain more. Third, this allows for more learning by doing, whether looking up information in a manual or on a website and using that information that information in order to process requests.

What's the difference between teaching and facilitating (and why you should care)?

Teaching assumes that the learner knows nothing and the teacher everything. Elementary school, specific tehniqual or Some of the differences between teaching and learning can be summed up in this way.

Traditional Teaching is:
Passive.
Authoritarian.
Delivering information.
Convergence, conformism.
One-way (top-down)

Teaching is delivery-heavy and often requires entertainment to keep attention. On the other hand, if we focus on how to use the expectations and experiences of our learners, we realize that effect learning requires more.


Facilitating is:
Active and dynamic, experiential.
Reaching forward.
Empowering.
Responding to a challenge.
Divergence - going out of the box.
Interactive

Learning through facilitation involves questioning-heavy, inductive/ inferential, hands-on, reflective, interactive. You lead the participants to the desired behaviors.


What does this mean for your training efforts?

In order for your training efforts to be successful, you must be aware of the needs of your learners. Top heavy teaching generally doesn't do well helping adults learn new material or master new behaviors when teaching adults.

Having people participate in the experience will help them better retain the information as well as buy into the experience. Hmm, sounds a lot like a sales situation! It is. Treating your learners as though they are potential customers goes a long way towards getting acceptance of and ultimately mastery of the skills you want them to use.

   

_________________________________________________________

Does this subject strike close to home? If so, you may be interested to learn that I coach managers and small business owners to be more effective and efficient in your own sales and service efforts as well as become better facilitators to improve performance for your staff. After agreeing to your goals, you will work on your skills in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Contact me,  Jo Ann Kirby at 973.709.1252 or email me at info@krgcommuncations.com for more details and next steps.

4 Habits of Effective Salespeople

Out of the many things that sales people can do to be effective in their selling efforts, 4 habits stand out above - and encompass - many others.

Passion
You might not think of this as a habit per se, but getting in the habit of being passionate - about your product, your customers and selling in general will help you go about your days wanting to succeed.

Being passionate about your product helps you want to learn everything you can about it. What it does, how it works, how it helps the customers. The more you know, the more you can serve. You should also show passion regarding your co-workers. Treat them well, remember you are part of a team and do your part to help them succeed.



Prioritize
Prioritizing also encompasses time management. Think in terms of "what is the most important thing I can be doing right now?" Be sure to arrange your day strategically. Make sure your call backs are scheduled according to your prospects/customers' needs. Although you might find this inconvenient occasionally, it more than pays off in time saved because you're reaching them when they are available.

Avoid chasing accounts. You only make a pest of yourself and harden people against answering your calls. That's not to say you shouldn't be assertive in trying to reach people or close the sales, however, you do need to gauge people and make sure you're not heading into stalker territory.

Prioritize to take the time to take classes - in selling skills, service, and leadership, or pursue a specific course of study related to your field. Knowledge is key to success. It's important to make that a priority. Sometimes taking time for learning may seem like "down time" but it's really not.

Finally, remember to prioritize your time off. First, make sure you take it! Second, follow your industry and your customer's needs when scheduling time off. It may be tempting to take that spring cruise, but if that's your industry's busy season, you'll be more successful scheduling your time another time.



Persistence
I want to go back to chasing accounts for a moment. Chasing accounts is different from being persistent. Chasing an account who probably won't buy, just to see if things have changed, wastes your time. Being persistent with customers and prospects who you know are a good fit is a good use of your time.

Ask for the order. One call closes are possible and indeed expected in some industries. If you've been thorough there's no reason not to close. An effective sales person builds the close right into the entire presentation.



Professionalism
Being professional involves more than just being professional in front of your customers. Take care that your Facebook and LinkedIn pages show you to your best advantage. (Sorry, take down those old Spring Break pics from Facebook or become very familiar with Facebook privacy settings).

No yelling in the office...Ever... Really... I don't care to whom, I don't care how angry you are, it destroys professional reputations in seconds, creates a hostile working environment and doesn't help you achieve your objectives. It goes without saying (or should) that you won't yell at your prospects or customers either.

Treat the support staff well: your support staff as well as your customers' and prospects'. This also applies to anyone you come into contact with in your organization - or just about anywhere, actually. Call it karma or just invoking the golden rule (do unto others), treating others well only helps you in the long run.

Finally, avoid gossip. I know it feels good to share, but it feeds on itself and takes on a life of its own. Plus it has a habit of coming back to bite you.



Being an effective sales person is something to work on continuously. Keeping these 4 P's in mind helps you in this process.

Managing to be the BEST

Today you're a salesperson, tomorrow you may be asked to lead a team, supervise a group or manage a department. Whenever you find yourself in a position of needing/using others to help you accomplish goals, you'll want to be able to manage or motiviate others to their peak performance. 

Whether you're a manager of a traditional sales or service department, a distributor with a downline, or a team leader for a sales account, the way to improve productivity is not just through training but by providing regular reinforcement. People perform best when they know what's expected of them. The best way to do this is by actively reinforcing behaviors. Here are some tips.


Give positive feedback promptly
This reinforces positive behavior.
TIP The sooner the positive feedback is given after the actual performance of the activity, the greater it's influence. The longer the time period between the action and the reinforcement, the less influence the feedback has. So don't wait for a meeting: DO IT NOW!


Give specific positive feedback.
Be as specific as possible.
TIP Give examples by repeating the words or the techniques used.


Reinforce small achievements
TIP Even if skill mastery is not complete, let people know you are aware of their improvements.


Give negative feedback privately
This enables employee to receive appropriate feedback along with suggestions for improvement without loss of face.
TIP Public shaming (i.e. calling someone out during a meeting) will not increase performance. Rather it breeds resentment and turnover. After all, who wants to work in that type of environment? Keep it private and keep comments focused on behavior related to speicfic job performance.


Everyone learns and masters skills at a different pace. If an employee or team member is not showing improvement, ask these questions:

• Do they know what is expected?
• Have they been given appropriate training?
• Have they been given a specific time frame for mastering the skill?
• What are the consequences for non-performance?
• What are the rewards for performance?

People want to succeed. Increase your success by helping them do so.

Calming an Irate Customer

Nothing can be more frustrating than a caller who is irate, no matter how well trained or prepared we are. Dealing with some one who is irate evokes emotions in us. These emotions tend to cloud thinking and make it difficult to respond effectively to the caller.
Here's the kicker: if a situation is not handled correctly, the caller becomes even more irate - creating bad blood between the caller and the company.

There are several points to consider when communicating with an irate caller:

Evaluation of the situation: Be sure not to negatively evaluate the caller's complaint. Listen actively and objectively, and then do all you can to assist them.

Strategize: Sometimes a caller may think we are not "leveling" with him, particularly if they've had problems before. Strive to sound sincere and open at all times.

Control: Keep control of the conversation even though it isn't always easy to handle. You keep control by asking questions and gathering information. Use a combination of both open and closed ended questions to keep the information flowing and keep you in control.

Neutrality: Listen and stay neutral. This can be hard, particularly if something about the caller strikes you the wrong way. However, you want to stay neutral. It will assist you in the calming process and not alienate the caller or you. Try to separate your emotion from the issue at hand. It will be appreciated.

Superiority (ditch it!): Deal with callers as equals. No one likes to be treated as an inferior. You may know why your company policies exist, but your callers should not be expected to understand. Often policies and procedures seem incomprehensible to outsiders. Help them out. After all, these callers are your customers or potential customers. They are the people who make your paychecks possible.

Quick Tips for Effective Telephone Communications

Here's a few quick tips for effective telephone communications.

Voice Mail

A voice mail message should follow this format:

Name, Company name, interest statement, close say number, repeat number

Remember:

Always use your first and last names

Use area codes

Message should be brief

Message should give reason to call back

Make message an opportunity for a 30 second commercial

Effectively Reach a Decision Maker

Getting Voice Mail

Give people a reason to call back

Screener

Develop a relationship with screener

Use screener to qualify prospect

Remember: Screener many have decision power

Time of Day

Always easiest to reach either early in morning or late in the day

Avoid Phone Spam

Don't leave constant voice mail messages that aren't returned

Don't call more than once a week (unless otherwise requested)

Do be respectful and polite, regardless of reception by decision makers or screeners

Listening

Learn to Listen

Be aware of listening patterns

Listen actively

Listen objectively

Don't be afraid of silence

Rely less on non-verbal cues

Over 1/2 of all communication skills are non-verbal

Asks Questions to Generate Information and Shift the Conversation

Generates Information

Open ended Questions 

Can be used for general information or specifics

Open ended Questions start with these words: Who, what, where, why, when, which, how

Close-ended Questions

Can be used to verify

Closed-ended Questions may start with: Is, Are, May, Can, Do, Would, Could, Should

Controls the conversation

Begin with the end in mind

Create a prepared sequence of questions

Have alternate questions ready

Conversations can go in many directions

Asking Questions Will:

Allow people to talk to you

Create engaged individuals

Give them the opportunity to "buy into" your conversation

5 Thoughts on Achieving Success (When You May Not Expect It)

Wow! What a busy summer it's been. Usually the months of June, July and August tend to be slower for me. Most organizations don't want to schedule training during those months due to vacation. The fact that it's different this year speaks to a few things. We can be proactive and make things happen for ourselves. It's for us to be our own catalysts for change.  Here are five thoughts to help you.

First, change your reality. I've made a commitment to making sure my marketing efforts are consistent and give value to potential clients. I decided to market as though the summer was any other time of year. Business continues and the need for skill development doesn't stop because the weather is warmer. Is scheduling more challenging? Sure, but why wait to solve sales or service issues that are costing your firm money? 

Second, we can't just roll up the sidewalks and go home when things are tough. It's even more important to keep our skill sets current and look for new ways to achieve our goals when times are hard. Analyze the strenghts and weaknesses of your team. Where can you improve?

Third, we can't wait for the economy to recover. We have to be proactive in our own corner of the world. We need to focus on what WE can do. Look at the areas that are within our control. As sales and service professionals we control our behaviors. Have we presented our offer in the best possible light? Are we helping to guide our prospects or customers through the decision making and purchasing process or do we just say "No money.... what's the use?" Fortunes are made even in depressions, folks. Target the right people, the right industries, arm yourselves with the best skills possible and see what a difference that makes.

Fourth, approach everything with a "can-do" spirit. Yes, I know that sounds hackneyed and I'm not a believer that positive thinking solves everything. But I DO believe that positive thinking/attitudes help us make better decisions.

Fifth,  make your goals personal. Don't just look to succeed in order to fulfill company objectives. Think about success looks like to you. A promotion, higher commissions, or just an easier day at work? Be specific. If you're in inside sales think about what higher commissions will bring you. A better hotel on vacation? New kitchen cabinets? Monies to be saved for college educations or just a rainy day? If you're in service, you might be thinking about the next step in your career. How can achieving company goals help you achieve that? Perhaps you'd just like to be less tired at the end of the day... Personal goals help you succeed. Just as we're told that buyers are always tuned in to radio station "WII-IM : What's In It For Me" so are we too. We're all just human. Go with it.

I wasn't expecting this summer to be so busy but in retrospect I'm not particularly surprised. I made it happen. You should, too.

Teleclass is November 17th - Here's the info!

Researching information to update the KRG website.
www.krgcommunications.com is still up and most of the information is still valid. However, product info like teleclasses and behavior style assessments is woefully out of date. Looking forward to some new solutions shortly.


In the meantime, my November teleclass for the "So... You Need to Sell" series is set for Tuesday, November 17th at 7PM. This month's class is "Introduction to Basic Telephone Skills" and is only $25 for the one hour class.

Topics to be covered include:

• The Manager of 1st Impressions - Adjusting your message to the medium
• Put you best voice forward - intonation, diction and articulation
• Words that pack power and words that don't
• Create a "telephone" presence through your words and voice
• Telephone etiquette
• Empathy and Sympathy
• Voice Mail: Make it work for you
• Make it easy for yourself - and your listener

To register for the class call 973.709.1252

NOTE: This is a teleclass, not a webinar. I do this on purpose as it's important to become comfortable absorbing information solely over the telephone. After all, that's the skill set we want to improve, right?

I look forward to you joining my class!

"Secrets" of Customer Service

Once again I've received one of those emails. You know the kind, offering a book or seminar/webinar on the "secrets" of good service, or the "secrets" to successful selling. Except, there's one problem with these offers. There is no secret. Really.

There's no magic formula, no silver bullet needed to offer your customers great service. In fact, there's really only one Rule (and it's a pretty old one, at that): Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. See? Simple, as most good rules usually are.

The challenges for those of us who deal with people for a living is that we forget the Rule. Or, if we are supervisors, we forget to remind others of the Rule. Kindness begets kindness. Rudeness begets rudeness.

We must create policies and processes that enable to us to carry out the Rule. Instead of thinking about what's best for us, we need to think about what's best for our customers. The rewards are great... and that's no secret!

The (incorrect) Rationalization for Poor Service

Why do we keep hearing about customer service employees whose behaviors border on the hostile? For example, the fast food worker who doesn't like how a customer treats him/her and privately spits on the food (or worse). The retail employee who feels justified in poor customer service because he/she doesn't like the working conditions, the boss and/or the pay.

How have we become a nation who feels it's OK to mistreat customers?
Back in the early 1990's, a friend of my husband's pointed out that if the US was going to become a service based economy, we were big trouble.

People taking jobs in the service sector must be aware going into a job just what "service" means: to serve. Period. If you don't like the idea of serving others, you need to seriously consider another line of work. If changing fields isn't possible, you need to be able to suck it up and deal with it.

Now, there are those who will feel quite put upon at that idea. They'll tell you that customers should always be nice to the help... and so they should. However, when people come into an establishment to spend money, they have certain expectations. Expectations that need to be fulfilled if they are going to return. Polite, courteous, helpful. That's what people expect.

Can we put out the idea that customers should treat employees with respect and courtesy? Of course, they should. However, they are the ones spending money so they get to call the shots. Unless a customer is completely abusive, it is not up to the employee to retaliate. In those cases, call for a supervisor to deal with them. Pass the customer off politely to management.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, we've forgotten to set expectations on how we expect people to behave when interacting with others. This just isn't a customer service issue, but an issue about what constitutes appropriate behavior. Have we failed as parents, teachers, mentors, managers because we haven't been clear on our expectations? Have we failed as a society because we haven't always set appropriate limits?

People who are disrespectful of others will wonder why they continue to make low wages or have difficulty holding jobs. They will rail against the idea of having to subjugate their needs and wishes temporarily in order to get a job done well. They can rationalize their behavior all they want. They will continue to be unhappy.

There is never an excuse for treating people poorly, no matter what line of work you are in. So, put a smile on your face and courtesy in your voice. You'll be surpised at the difference it makes in your life.