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Your Customer Relationship Executive and Your Business

Feb 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Following on from a previous article on Customer Relationship Executives I thought you might like a few more pointers to make the process of building this role easier, here goes.

Your business has become big enough to have a person in this role, other businesses of your type and stature have them and it seems to work for them. So how about your business? The decision has been made and someone has to implement it. What to do next?

  • You’re leading them so ask what you want them to do and how you will support them to do it. (make a list FAST!)
  • Get a budget sorted their wage and ancillary costs, the resources they will need on a basic level and then the resources needed for them to excel at what they do.
  • What sort of person would you IDEALLY like to select for the role. Think personality type, adaptability, flexibility, nimbility, stunning phone manner, highly courteous at all times to ALL other personality types and so much more (another list!)
  • Where will you position them so they can feel part of the team but have the privacy their role may require?
  • How will you support, coach, mentor and support them?
  • How will they be seen by other staff who might currently do a part of this role as part of their usual duties… How will they be seen by other staff in terms of importance within the business?
  • What access to the database will they have?
  • What I.T. support will they get?
  • What Admin support will they have?
  • How will you measure their performance?
  • What will your expectations be of them?
  • How often will you meet with them?
  • What other people will have to interact with them so they can get their job done?
  • What sort of position description have you put together, does it include enough detail? Does it leave scope for them to add to the role?
  • What training will they need – to start with and along the way?
  • Who will fill in while they are away? Will this fill in person be able to effectively fill the gap and continue in a ‘business as usual’ kind of way or will they need to work one on one with the existing person to make the transition seamless?
Notice how there are lots of questions, stop and ask yourself, how will I cope with all this as well as my existing workload… hmm hope you have your ‘skates on’!
  • How will you make sure they are not under too much pressure from ‘moaning customers’ and those who want to yell and scream?
  • What strategies will you use to keep them motivated and highly engaged in their job?
  • How will you include them in planning sessions, showing them the stats, having them measure the stats…
  • What control will they have over the various situations which may arise… Feeding back info  to staff, dealing with difficult customers (what sorts of gifts can they send)?
  • What sort of ongoing ‘keep in touch program’ will you let them do, special occasion cards, reminder letters, promotional freebies and goodies.
Notice how what started out as ‘just another role in your business’ has become a major one, and the person has not started yet!
  • What limit will be set for their budget? Is it big enough or is it a bare minimum “we don’t know yet how big it should be, perhaps we should start out low and work up from there”?
  • What level of authority will they have? Can they go straight to HR to warn of  another staff member who is causing service ‘issues’ or so they have to ‘go through you’?
  • Will you require them to work after hours at special customer events?
  • Will they require the ability to think outside the square or is that left for the Marketing Department only?
  • Do  you want them to be loaded with ideas, or a person to ‘just do the job…’?
Okay you get the idea, this role is vital to your business, if you are not in a big enough position to have a person in this role perhaps there are a bunch of people who are in this ‘type of role’, if so how many of the above become applicable to them… Take a look at the organisations mission, vision, values, beliefs and ideals and see how highly customers are valued throughout that. Need to make changes?
So what is all this, a customer service initiative to cause customers to LOVE what your business does. Without this sort of thinking and action going on, your business just may as well fade into the sunset. :)

We Need a Customer Relationship Executive…

Feb 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Human Resource Management, People!, Planning, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

“Well team” Said the CEO excitedly “We need a Customer Relationship Executive and we need them now…” The rest of the team looked on knowingly and some slowly nodded in agreement.

One brave soul raised their hand and dared to ask “Why?” The CEO smiled widely and said “Glad you asked, you see other businesses in our industry have them, they say the sales have gone up because of that and the customer feedback has been very positive! We should do the same.”

There was little disagreement that day, a few minor questions, most leading to “what will they do?” The CEO responded with “Build customer relationships, short and long term. They will be busy chatting with people, getting feedback, feeding leads to the sales team etc.”

Any thoughts of ‘why’ were soon quashed and so the HR department had a task, get one, and get them up and happening fast. The big thing that needed to be asked though was “What will they do specifically, how will we measure it and what will the budget be, what resources will they need…” Followed by “who will lead this role the sales manager, HR, Marketing or Service?”

  • Clarify the role, what exactly is expected of them
  • What will their limitations be (if they have to make a customer happy how far can they go? How much can they spend)
  • Did the other organisations who have an exec in this sort of role just have a natural sales high or was the measurement really objective
  • Who will coach, support and lead this person?
  • Where will they have their space, office etc…
  • Does the values of the organisation fit to having a person in this type of role, does the organisation REALLY love customers this much?
  • Is there a track record of customer complaints that this new role will ‘magically fix’?
  • Will someone take their place when they go on holidays?
  • Will they have a support admin person allocated to them to do the ‘hack work’
  • Will the marketing team work with this person to assist them to get STUNNING results
  • Will the I.T. department be able to offer suitable solutions for a database, email auto responders, web access or any other I.T. resources? Or will they throw their arms in the air and say… ERRGH! we are too busy already.
Now that those issues have been put on the table, it’s time to look deeper and make the role really work. After all adding a new staff member should add value to the organisation, right?

 

The problem with customers is…

Dec 14

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, People!, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

They want to be loved – Yes you read that right, loved.  Think about it there are few who don’t want to be loved. So to make sure your customers are going to be great fans of your business and come back to buy time and time again, love them.

Here are some ways to give it.

  • Make things to go smoothly – If there are hassles things can go bad fast.
  • Give them timely responses (not waiting) – Make sure you connect with them as fast as possible, they will appreciate it and you will stand out from the crowd.
  • Show great courtesy (the best service wins) – Manners matter.
  • Respect, their views values and ideals – That does not mean you have to change yours to meet theirs just respect them.
  • Give them clear explanations in their language style – Speak at their pace using their tone etc.
  • Keep them informed – We have ordered that for you, we will call when it comes in…
  • Acknowledge them – Hello – Someone will be with you soon.
  • Listen to them – Active listening means you pay full attention to what they are saying, be there (in the moment as they say) so they feel as though you are focused on them

If your organisation is doing this part of customer service  right, then you have a chance to impress people and provide them with what they want, solutions to their needs and wants. Now that’s another story…

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Stunning looks but what happened?

Oct 22

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Leadership, People!, The Customer Service Dept | 2 Comments

Have you ever had a friend who looked stunning but over time they ‘faded’, perhaps the look they once had is now ‘not in vogue’ or they have aged and the look does not fit the image, they should have altered to an image which suits their age, level of maturity etc…

I was out shopping today and started to see a few, “not quite Walmart’ people” but some a bit too close for comfort. Then a few who were the opposite, I started to put two and two together and thought… “Isn’t it interesting how the looks convey so much”. What I was now seeing was confidence, poise, pride, conviction, energy, warmth, integrity, strength, trust, beauty… “Guess which group this was!”

While on the other side there was, sloth, lack of care, little confidence, an unruly ‘dis-ease’, coldness etc.

It then struck me, it was a reflection of the shopping experience I had been having recently. Some businesses were, poised and confident while others, uneasy and fragile. Wow what a comparison, on the one hand people and the other hand businesses, yet there was a correlation to the way I felt about them both, a sort of emotional connection, ethereal and subtle but somehow strong at the same time.

Well that’s how I feel sometimes with some businesses I observe. The businesses I love are the ones who are consistently on top of their game. The ones who take care to present well, keep up with the times without following the latest fad. The ones who have pride and professionalism without an air of arrogance.

One quick example, I parked near a shop which sells Chef’s essentials, it’s open to the public so I took the chance to browse (I’m an avid cook so hey it was a great fit). On entering the store, one of the staff (although serving others) nodded and said “hello” I reciprocated and continued to browse.

As I went further into the store another service professional approached and said “It looks to me as though you are happy to browse, unless there is something specific you my like assistance with?” I smiled broadly and said “I’m quite happy thanks you read my interest well!” She smiled back reassuringly.

I wandered some more and selected a few things which took my fancy, on arriving at the counter, I was assisted with some light chatter and some ideas about one of the items I had selected “You can also use that for…” it was welcome info. I felt confident to ask a few silly questions without the store people rolling their eyes and I was met with some great responses which answered my queries well and helped me feel as though they were not silly questions after all.

I left the store pleased with the purchases and information I sought, nice… Mind you I have had the opposite on more than one occasion. Oh and by the way the store was well stocked (range and qty of each item) and beautifully presented, with items clearly labelled with price and other details.

To get back to the original idea of the post, I reflected on a not so good experience in a store earlier in the day, not enough staff, taking too long to serve and trying to find what I wanted in their crowded space was annoying, If I did not want the item so much I would have gone elsewhere. I walked out of there with a sense of disdain and grumpiness. Mind you this store had started out well a few years back but is fading off my radar the more I go back and suffer the little things which annoy me.

Stunning looks, but what happened? Take the time to figure out what’s happening in your business so  you can prevent this from happening and keep on top of your game.

 

Guaranteed! But at what cost…

Sep 6

Posted by Steve Gray in Planning, Risk Management, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

It’s standard practice to have a guarantee for many products and services. For some in business it’s the thing which sets them apart from their competition, for others it’s a legal compliance issue which they prefer wasn’t there.

What does it cost your business and how should you handle it?

Being a service nut I like the way it can make your business stand out from the crowd, compliance or not… so handling guarantees becomes a major issue you solidly stand behind, giving every customer ‘peace of mind’ in knowing you will be there with them if ANY issue arises.

Over the period of a year or three it can be easy to look at the cost of supplying services to fulfill your guarantee obligations to keep your ‘customers happy and fulfill your legal obligations. In the intervening ‘learning phase’ it may be a case of  guessing how much guarantees might cost. Here are a few points you might consider in the process.

  • Is there a consistent percentage of sales which you can attribute to guarantees?
  • What is the time taken by staff in providing guarantees?
  • What is the cost of providing the staff to do these tasks?
  • Is this time significant enough to impact on other aspects of  your business… e.g. making profits from std sales.
  • How much will the cost eat into your profit margin?
  • What will you need to add to your operating costs to take into account this ‘cost of doing business’?
  • How will the cost variation affect your average dollar sale and will that still make your business competitive?

I’m sure there will be other questions to ask in the process as you explore guarantees and their impacts further. The main thing is to be very mindful that guarantees have a cost, learn to live with that and allow for it in your forward planning.

More Customer Love…

Aug 17

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

As If I haven’t prattled on enough lately about customer service people and loving customers… some more ideas and chunks of info must be useful to assist people to really think about what they do and how they might make this whole area better. If this resonates with your organisation then you could use this as a brainstorming tool to get practical action to take place.

So here, take a lok at more weird and whacky ways to “love the customer!”

Concentrate on the customer, figure out  what they need – want – love – aspire to – entertain them – quiz them – excite them – prod and poke them! (careful!) – cause them to giggle – get VERY curious about them (In the right way…)

  • Thrill them with a fresh approach or two to loyalty
  • Tell them things (good things, bad things, things they want to hear and get engaged with)
  • Wrangle with them (Perhaps their minds.) – Massage them (metaphorically perhaps)
  • Tell them to love you / cause them to love you!
  • Care about them intensely but don’t tell them
  • Invigorate their souls
  • Cause them to blink (for the right reasons)
  • Feed them deeply satisfying nourishment
  • Talk to them seductively (think more metaphors…)
  • Tenderly hold their hand/s
  • Cause them to blush (by doing Ok things…)
  • Give them a passionate embrace
  • Dance with them
  • Know their fears
  • Know what they love
  • Develop personal profiles of them (not stalking!)
  • Know why they love your organization
  • Keep them warm and comfortable…
  • Readily and effectively tantalize them
  • Get quirky with them (like they are experiencing a Cirque Du Soleil clown act!)
  • Thrill their senses
  • Knock them down with a feather
  • Build them up with kindness
  • Awe inspire them with a sensational view
  • Throw windows of exceptional opportunity at them
  • Link them to things they will love (think strategic alliances here)
  • Give them a recipe they will love or at least might love it if they try it
  • Cause them to cry with splendid delight
  • Caress their emotions/soul with every ounce of passion you can muster
  • In short, build the relationship with them, because people buy from people they like/love.

There, now go love your customers, your bottom line will appreciate it. One things for sure though, your competition will not be able to keep up if you get started.

More service ideas

Aug 15

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

As if I hadn’t provided enough already… But it’s such a key component to doing great business it should be the highest priority on your business list.

Although the other posts offered insights into Customer Service people and some aspects they should look out for the following thought came to mind.

“When it comes to sales (esp business to business) it’s not about simply waiting to hear ‘no’ from your prospect, it’s more about finding out what people want and providing that for them.”

Many sales people are trained to be persistent and go for a minimum of 5 no’s… when they get that far they generally get the feeling the first few might have been a smoke screen the next few could be the way forward to open up the chance of a sale. I am suggesting there’s more to it than that, and the offering of other ‘things’ could be the start to a long term deal maker. Lets tackle an example.

If you sell copiers, how would you go about providing other ‘things’ for the prospect? Lets take a look at what I mean, if you sell copiers and not tooth brushes then it would be silly to try and sell tooth brushes… however if you can assist the person to evaluate their current copier situation then you might be solving a problem they didn’t even see before.  Or if you are able to provide them with information on a topic of interest, you might just build more rapport (people often buy from people they like… greater rapport means a greater connection is possible.)

I think all good long term relationships start off slowly and develop from there, if you are selling bigger ticket items then you might want to make the connection to your prospects, customers and clients work for you. In my first article in this series I outlined some ways a Customer Service Executive might go about it.

Go ahead and do some planning to make more of the right connections to more of the right people, instead of simply churning through the ‘no’s’ to try and get to a yes, because you might miss a future customer if you lose a prospect this early in the process.

 

Love those customers!

Aug 12

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept | 2 Comments

In keeping with my recent rants on service and Customer Service Executives here’s some more info to get your team going.

The organisation you work for has done some shuffling of titles etc. Or perhaps they are about to hire a new person (you) for a role in Customer Relations – they want you to manage it… Let’s say they are giving you ‘some scope’ to develop the role and or the department and let’s say they are serious and want to really wow the customers, love them so to speak. How will you go about it? Here’s ten thoughts from my perspective.

  1. Create an environment in the organisation from top to bottom where the Customer is King (it’s not new but it is still a great idea) no customers – no business right… so it should make solid sense.
  2. Get clear about the intended results – more sales from more visits of existing customers – or higher level sales from existing customers? (Hey did you notice I’m talking about existing customers and not new ones, they’re the role of the marketing dept…)
  3. To what level can you ‘schmooze’ them? If you sell luxury or expensive items it will be very different to lower value items (or it should be…)
  4. Plan like crazy – implement the same way. A great plan will beg to be implemented, so take a look at the plan and set out what will happen for the year (once in place the tweaking should be fairly easy).
  5. Develop a budget plan, see if you can get the budget to go up based on results more sales more slice of the pie to build the relationships further.
  6. Customer loyalty plan – sounds nice what does it really mean – I think it’s more part of the relationship and a guide as something to aim towards, not so much a plan on it’s own.
  7. Exceptionally train everyone who comes into contact with Customers, remind them, support them and allow them to give the customers service brilliance…
  8. Watch customers dealing with your business and go crazy over any and or ALL barriers to them being able to do business with ease. Just watch them for a while, any squirming, wincing, annoyance of any kind do something about it NOW!
  9. Ask yourself (and the rest of the team) how many ways can we woo the Customers so they love us and want to come back… perhaps search the web for ways to connect with customers you might not think of (go for weird, you can always cut back.)
  10. Scream “Service – Service –SERVICE!” at the start of every training session on service and at the start of each day (just before the customers start to buy) and ram home the message often (perhaps whisper it quietly to staff with a grumpy disposition).

Now take massive action on all of the above and give the people what they want, your unconditional love! Sure it might cost a few $$ to do, but the end result should be very well worth it. Oh and one last thing, do not tell people you love them, just show it by brilliant action and example,.. They will tell you they love being loved and that’s a far sight better!

If they are serious you will be too…

Aug 12

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

So you have been given the title of Customer Relationship Executive – Specialist – Manager – or whatever… the main part of the title is ‘Customer Relationship’. If you have this sort of role there are a few things I think you should ask

If you land this role ask for clarification on a few points, just to see if they are on the same wavelength…

  • What do they really mean – Customer Relationship – ?
  • What’s the budget to do this? (Not including wages…)
  • How many customers are there?
  • How important to the business are they? (No brainer! It should be priceless!)
  • What will they let you do to build and maintain the relationship…
  • In the organisations mission, vision, values and beliefs, is there much about the customers? If not why not…
  • How did the title come about? (They should have a quaint story for this part…)
  • What resources are you allocated?
  • What has been done in the past?
  • Does the organisation have an strategic partners
  • Is the aim to truly and unconditionally love them?
  • The person you will answer to, do they know all this and fully support it? (Better hope so!)
  • Does anyone in the organisation know the lifetime value of the customer?
  • What is the average dollar sale and is the aim to make that rise or the number of visits by a customer rise?
  • What level of tech support will you be given? (Database, admin support, access to the website etc…)
  • To what level do they want the relationship built?
  • Will they expect you to do other (non customer focused) tasks… and how much time will that take up?
  • Do they have key performance indicators for this role… what are they
  • Will you have open access to the data on turn over, number of customers through the door etc?
  • Will you have to train others on how to work brilliantly with customers?
  • What previous training has been provided for the organisation in customer service – relationship building?
  • What promo products have been used to thrill customers?
  • How often are the customers currently contacted per year?
  • Is the organisation worthy of excellent customer loyalty? (does it look great etc…)

Notice all these things are about exploring customer relationship excellence…  and how the role you first accepted might not be quite what you thought it was but could be so much more… I thought you might notice that. If you have a keen eye you will have noticed this article is similar to the one just after it (inspiration comes from some interesting sources!)

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Dear Customer Relationship Executive… ERGH!

Aug 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, People!, The Customer Service Dept | 6 Comments

Dear Customer relationship Executive.

Many thanks for the phone call recently, I note the last CRM person did not last long in the role… Pity, like you, he sounded  good on the phone, sent me a business card and an intro letter. He also asked me how my car was going. Nice…

Slight problem, the only time anyone has been in touch, has been to send me a Christmas card or to let me know the CRM person has altered.

Sure you did ask if I was thinking of upgrading my vehicle… (nope but I figure you get that kind of ‘smoke screen’ from a lot of people).

I figure you probably make such a lot of calls and get so little from it, iot would look good for your weekly stats however. The good thing about your call is it set me thinking, (And thanks for the nudge!) here is what I thought.

Nice that you called, but where’s the add on, the incentive, the relationship building, the “Hey next time you’re near here drop in for a coffee.”

Ok, so being the generous soul I am, may I give  you a few free chunks of info on how this could all alter.

  • The email program your dealership has is okay, but can it be tweaked to take into consideration my interests and let me know about things related to my interests? – Maybe
  • Can you send me a birthday card, a hand written one? – Yes
  • Can you chat to me about my interests and send me little snippets you might find (other than via email) ? – Maybe
  • Can you send me updates on programs your organisation is supporting? (Oh, so you did send me something once… er… what was it again?) short answer… Yes
  • Could you share stories of other people using the same type of quirky little vehicle I buzz about in town in… er yeah!
  • Could you have an in store tea and bickies session to chat about the latest version of the quirky little car, and developments in the future like an electric version? – Maybe
  • How about adding a photo of yourself on the intro letter so I can find you in the dealership and say hi, and thanks for the info, the invites, the great stuff the company is doing? -  Easily, so that’s a yes
  • Maybe you could ring me and invite me to be surveyed at a time which suits me… to find out what I love (and possibly hate) about the vehicle. – Yes (I’m a sucker for a good survey!)
  • Perhaps you could find a whole bunch of ways to build the relationship with me and others like me, ask me when my anniversary is or any one of a number of events which are of value in my life so you can assist me to celebrate these events and feel like the relationship with you is a special one. – Yes
  • How about the anniversary of when I bought that special quirky little car from you, how about we celebrate that too! :) – YES

So take that to your team and brainstorm a few more ideas, so you can blow me away with excellence, sweep me off my feet and find out what I have been up to lately.

Sure there are a few maybes and a few ‘yes’s’ but it’s a whole lot more to go on than simply one phone call a year and one card… BLEH!

So take a look at your card and see your title, ‘Customer Relationship Executive’ now build that relationship like you mean it. NOTE! The highest level of any relationship is  unconditional LOVE… so get on with the role of loving me, because I might just want what you, have and it could be sooner than you think!

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Frustrating Customers

Jun 4

Posted by Steve Gray in The Customer Service Dept | 1 Comment

Working with customers can be annoying at times, but with a good communication strategy, it’s possible to alleviate some of the hassles and cause things to flow better in  your business.

There are customers who need to have detailed knowledge of what’s taking place and others who don’t care too much about the details. For instance, if the customer is hiring a tradesperson or a specialist to do a task. The ‘detailed’ customer can feel much more at ease if they have some information to appreciate the complexities of the task to be completed.

If you find you have customers who end up complaining about how long a task takes, why it costs so much… or any one of a number of other pointers to ‘moan’ about, then perhaps they need education. Especially if it is a recurring problem and creates negative stress for your team!

It could be an information sheet which answers their queries BEFORE they become an issue, a bunch of FAQ’s could be a starting point and then build from there. Or it could be a series of points woven into a sales spiel which lets them know about issues which may arise.

Either way someone needs to educate these challenging customers so it creates less heat for your team and gives the customers peace of mind in knowing they have some answers before they even have questions.

 

How does the receptionist sound?

Apr 7

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

In the past few months I have made many hundreds of phone calls developing a Customer Acquisition Program. It’s been fascinating developing a program like that. The thing is though you get to hear a lot of people answer the phone and you realise how many great receptionists there are out there. The problem is the bad ones drag the rest down!

It must be hard to be in the one spot taking calls and saying the same thing all day, every day and then directing people. The challenge is doing it in a way which makes the company sound professional every time.

Here are just some of the things I found.

  • The company name was not clear – Some companies have strange names, okay so make sure you say it in such a way that people don’t have to re ask the name to make sure they have the right number. Mumbling, a quiet voice a poorly directed phone hand-piece, speaking too fast or an accent make it very hard to understand.
  • The person’s name not clear – For all the above reasons the name of the person answering the phone is not clear, as the caller it’s hard to refer to them by name if you can’t understand it.
  • What do I do next? – Ok they figure out you are calling to chat to a specific person who does not want to get sold to. They have been told not to pass you on, but with a few ‘deft words’ and a touch of rapport building, voom “I was in the door” due mainly to them not really knowing how to deal with calls out of the norm. Training would help I’m sure.
  • Being a great gatekeeper can be an art, but not that difficult if you do some research – I was amazed at how easy it was to get through at times to the right Dept or the right person in a flash. If the company has a policy of not letting their people get tied up with inbound sales call then figure out a method to stop the callers in their tracks. A privacy policy of not letting callers know the name of any staff from a chat to the receptionist is a great way to go.
  • Being on hold while waiting – It’s a necessity some times sure, but to get the obligatory recorded advert at the start or a “press this button for sales..” became frustrating. I want a person on the phone who can direct me fast.

Have you rung in to your business… have you had a few friends ring in… what did they find, what was the experience like. Now ask, what can we do to make a change for the better and get the system right, so the caller can feel like they are dealing with top notch professionals.

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Don’t do it! – How not to be part of a trade show

Feb 17

Posted by Steve Gray in People!, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

A recent trade show, lots of activity and displays for all sorts of interesting suppliers, generally a good time was had, however one thing which struck me was the appalling use of mobile phones by those who’s stalls were not doing a brisk trade.

There were staff sitting and standing about texting or chatting on their phones, some CLEARLY bored out of their brains.

Dear Boss… Tell them not to do it please!

I was embarrassed for them and I was a spectator.

If you take a stall at a trade show, you are on show, the business is on show… Therefore make sure you do the right thing and present professionally and do it well.

Firstly, these people may have had no idea what to do when they got to the show, they may have been told to “Turn up and chat to people.”

Secondly, if you feel you must text or email people use a lap top or an i pad so you look like you are doing business, or don’t do it at all.

I fully appreciate it can be a hard task to be at a trade show and be attentive all day long, it really is a draining experience.

May I suggest.

These people need to have something to do,

  • Set the situation up so they have appointments with people before the event, book some prospects to drop in and see what’s going on.
  • Make it clear about the things they can and can not do while on the stand texting for more than 30 secs is a no no!
  • Ensure you use a friendly branding expert to have creative ways to work with the people walking by the stand. It may be a giveaway you actively hand to the people, get the chance to chat to them and find out more, qualify them to see if they are a fit to what you have on offer, if they are then get their details and reward them with a better handout, this time with solid “remember us” branding on it.
  • Perhaps involve the people in a survey.
  • Consider other novel approaches to create interest. A juggler, a celebrity… make it so the people walking by want to stop, engage them, qualify and go form there.
  • Just because a person is not a prospect now, does not mean they can’t change if they move companies or start a different business later on.

Simply put, having people just sitting or standing about mindlessly not engaged in “working the crowd” are a liability, not an asset. perceptions and image are often paramount to ensuring your business puts it’s best foot forward.

Oh and to finish, “To the man who was so rude as to ignore myself and my friend by looking straight past us once he had figured out we were of no use to him, think again. The scan tag telling you my line of business is only one of my business activities so you gave me a BAD impression of your business, so the very important question I wanted to ask you will wait for the next celebrity speaking bureau chief I meet.”

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Does your business have a heart problem?

Sep 10

Posted by Bren Ryan in Excellence!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Operations Dept | 2 Comments

I live and work in Geelong. I have for 15 years or so. In that time, we have pretty much been in drought conditions, and under water restrictions.

This year, month, week, that’s pretty much changed. The word is, we are fast moving towards breaking the drought. With just “average” rainfall mind you. Fantastic! However, it’s caused a bit of chaos this week. You see, Geelong is a city divided by the Moorabool River. It runs roughly West to East, and dissects the North from South.

Of course, there are multiple points at which to cross the river, but one (apparently) vital one. It’s called the Breakwater Rd & Breakwater bridge. As the name suggests, it’s a breakwater, and it floods every time the Moorabool River reaches a certain level. It a pressure release valve so that the river doesn’t flood as badly as it might.

It’s a two way, one lane intersection. It’s tiny. It’s insignificant. It doesn’t appear to be that busy in the scheme of things. I take it everyday in my 5 minute trip to the office.

When it floods, it throws the City of Geelong into Traffic chaos! This week has seen a lot of Geelong employees late for work. My daily 5 minute drive has turned into 45-60 minutes!

My City has a heart problem. Like our Hearts, the city depends on all it’s arteries to follow un-hindered – block one, and you have a heart problem.

It made me think about my business (while i was stuck in traffic :-) ) Sometimes, we have arterial blockages in our businesses. It might be that the phone messages stall at reception and don’t quickly get sent to the sales guy, it might be the order release message from the accounts dept stalls and doesn’t get communicated to the despatch area, so an order sits on the back dock two days longer than it should.

An arterial blockage in our business is simply a part of the system that gets blocked up, slows the rest down, and sometimes even stops the system dead – grid lock!

The first step to clearing such a blockage is to identify it. Sit back, take a breath, and objectively look at your business and how an order goes through your system, even place an anonymous order and see how your system looks to an outsider. Once identified, you can take steps to alleviate the pressure and work out ways to prevent future issues.

In my business for example, the artwork process can be one of those areas that can bog down and block the system. It might be the client is slow to send us appropriate files, or our email breaks down, or a contract artist does not do the job fast enough – there are any number of ways that part of my business can (and has) block and stop orders from proceeding. I don’t like it, but knowing it is an area for a higher potential for screw ups, I pay more attention to it to avoid said screw ups.

Another area with potential for blockages is delivery. I rely on third parties often for delivery. I have clients all around Australia and even a few Internationals. Therefore, I am often reliant on third parties like manufacturers and couriers. If the guy on the back dock at the pens factory is having a bad day, my urgent delivery might not go out, just as the courier driver might have a flat tyre or only pick up 2 of 3 boxes. Even a foggy night made us miss one deadline when the plane holding one box was grounded.

I can’t completely avoid potential blockages, but if i know exactly what they are, I can put safe guards and pressure valves in place to reduce the risk.

So, does your business have a heart problem? It’s one of those questions just like your own health – it might not be comfortable to self analyse if you are at risk, but well worth the effort.

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Elegant service communication

Sep 10

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

I love it when I meet people who chat about things of instant interest to me. Recently I got chatting with a person about service, particularly the first few delicate moments when you connect with people in that all important exchange where you aim to connect and attain an idea of what they want from your business.

The chat started with the difference between “May I and Can I…” May I assist you, or Can I assist you, what happened next was a BFO, (Blinding Flash of the Obvious).

You see it was so simple when he explained it. “Imagine you are at the top of a cliff and your task is to push someone off, would you say “Can I push you off or may I push you off…” ” Can I”, relates to skill and “May I” relates to permission to do a thing.” I was engaged in the conversation now, what a great hook! Yes he clearly knew his English and the lesson was simple but so good. Actually on thinking about it none of the above would get you far in the pushing stakes but it makes a point also about service being more about offering, rather than demanding. Chances are you would not ask a person if they wanted to be pushed!

I asked him for a view on my old favourite, “help and Assist” he agreed, Help is needed when you are in dire straits, assistance is softer and more readily taken up unconsciously. So many people will say “Just looking thanks” when you offer help, but more people take up an offer of assistance “May I assist you…”

It could go further you could say “May I assist you to find what you are after today?” That way you are being specific about what you are offering. Without the specifics it is so open you might get in a bit of a bind, like this… ‘May I assist  you?” asks the store attendant… “Oh yes, you can give me a million dollars, that would be great assistance…” replies the customer.

Take the time out to consider the small things like this which may impact on people  you deal with so the service you offer is as elegant and correct as possible. We also chatted briefly about G’day as a greeting, I will leave that one for another article.

Well time got the better of our conversation too quickly and circumstances meant we had to part ways, all I can hope is that I said goodbye in an elegant manner!

On providing great service, “I don’t know if you can but you may…” :)

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Bitter, grumpy annoyed… get over it!

Jun 24

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept | 2 Comments

I have been on about good customer service for years now, and while I recognise it can take a lot to make it happen, it’s a thing, which needs to happen.

In my more recent travels I have noticed bitter, grumpy and annoyed people operating businesses. It’s one thing to have grumpy staff, but quite another to see the operator of the business in this “state”. Seriously if you want to be in business and be a grouch stay out of site of the customers…

I guess it’s in part due to the Global Financial Crisis or at least compounded by it, to the point where people are wondering about where the next customer and cash is going to come from. Okay so you may not be able to do much about that, (especially if you have spent all your marketing budget already!) So you have to sit and wait… BUT if that can’t change, what about you?

To alter being a “grump” you may have to take a stance and force yourself to be happy. try a few of these.

  • Write a sign for yourself “Be Happy!” and put it where it can be seen by you and not the customer, make a bunch of them, put them up and act on them.
  • Make a list of things that make you happy and each day “do” something on that list somehow… and DON”T give me the line of “Oh I don’t have time…”
  • Get or make a CD of a bunch of funny things, jokes etc by comedians you really like and laugh at even though you have heard them a zillion times, play it on the way to the office, and LAUGH heartily!
  • Look up, yes it’s that simple, look up and try to not feel good, hard to do eh? Note how glum people tend to look down a lot, makes sense right…
  • Tell  your staff to tell you to smarten up… Go on I dare you to.
  • Make a list of the things getting you down, now write a bunch of ways to fix them, then act on it… go on do that now! Keep adding to the solutions list.
  • Take a five minute stroll, go out of the office or store, walk briskly and get the blood pumping.
  • De stress, mediate or do whatever thing helps you to de stress (without hurting others or things…)
  • Get an unreasonable friend, one who can hold you to your promises, and chat to them about ways to work around your challenges, share a few jokes etc.
  • Kick a footy, It won’t de stress everyone, but It might work for you, heck even going to a sports shop and buying one might break your routine enough, no cash? Borrow one off a kid in your street… hey imagine going door to do and asking “Does your kid have a footy I can borrow for an hour?” Heck that kid has probably been looking for a kick to kick friend for ages.
  • Go to an Art Gallery or five for a few minutes, I used to do this when driving around in a van all over the city, I would drop in to see contemporary art, (no cost!) and I knew where heaps of them where so I could get to one fast for a break in routine. Oh and turn your mobile off for the few minutes you are there. ;) Seeing other people’s “views” on and about the “human condition” can be useful.
  • Put a picture of yourself up on the fridge at home and yell at yourself… Did you like that? Now think about the last time you yelled at someone, did that feel good? Perhaps for you, how about them? Get the point, it’s not good.
So make yourself a “grump free zone” and get out amongst the customers with a happy disposition and see if that impacts well on sales or even just staff morale.

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Silly Season Service…

Dec 27

Posted by Steve Gray in The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 2 Comments

It’s just after Christmas and all through the land people are buying, while others take orders, sell etc.

It’s a great time for retailers, it’s all so busy.

Me, I’m after an item, and like to compare prices and hunt about for a good deal (so I’m a cheapskate at times, negotiating can be like that.)

I saunter about zipping through lines of shoppers going this way and that, slow fast, turn right, shoot down an aisle, negotiate another bunch of people… I get to my destination to be greeted on browsing with a pimply faced kid who asks, “Are you right?” I have a standard response to that, “I’m fine thanks” unless “narky” and I give them a serve of “Great question are you implying I’m otherwise wrong?…”

The other one they serve up is, “Can I help you?” perhaps it’s a better approach but I go for “I only want help if I’m drowning…” This generally stops them in their tracks.

If I was running a retail  type business I would sack INSTANTLY any staff member who said either of these.

For goodness sake, chat to me, get to the point and discover if I have a need or want, but spare me the pathetic lame approaches, say hi, after all I am human and may well spend enough to pay your wages this week, but put me off and your wages will go elsewhere very fast!

Folks, if you are in retail, teach your people so say hello, how are you, good morning etc. Then follow this with some pleasant banter that engages me more effectively. Then and only then can I let you through to be able to find out what I want.

For those of you who find this pedantic, lots of people are put off subconsciously by these initial approaches and will shop with their feet, going elsewhere in search of their needs. I will be amongst them.

The sprung leader…

Sep 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Chill out!, Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Following on from the spring cleaning theme… is your leader leading the charge? did they “twig” to the change of season? did they come in the door with a renewed spring in their step? Well if the answer is no, maybe you should take the lead and remind them.

Get them focused – ask them to be flexible – give them support and watch them flourish (if not just run the show yourself and do your bit to make the Biz better.)

You see, often it’s the small stuff which happens that makes a difference, and people notice. In a retail setting, pull things off shelves and give the place a great wipe down. In the office, get in a tad earlier and clear out the “crusty” bits from around your area, in the lunch room, in the client areas… make a difference, do it for you and of course you are doing it for “them” the customers.

Reframing, renewing, refreshing it’s all good, so make the most of it.

A little enthusiasm can go a long way….

May 30

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, The Customer Service Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

Here’s a short video from Tom Peters, if ever you wondered what comes first passion or skills, here’s Tom’s answer…

Thanks to Tom and the team at Skill Soft.

Really? That’s the BEST you can do?

Mar 20

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept | 1 Comment

I received an e-mail from a supplier yesterday. They sent me a proof to approve and fax back to them.

First thing I noticed was that my Purchase Order (PO) number was wrong. The next thing I DIDN’T notice, was the fax number to which the supplier wanted me to fax the approval back. It was buried within 3 pages of blah, blah, blah … blah, blah, blah.

I faxed the proof back noting my approval. I also noted that my PO# was incorrect and what the correct number is. I then mentioned that they should consider putting the fax-back-to number right on the proof. Ya know, because it would make it easy for me.

The supplier wrote me the following reply:

Mr. Crooks.

When your PO came across our fax machine the numbers on it were hard to read. The Order Entry Department did the best they could considering what the fax looks like but, I assure you, I’ll change that one incorrect digit. I truly apologize for your inconvenience. I’ll forward your idea about a fax number being on the proof to the proper department.

In my opinion, the Order Entry Department DID NOT do the best they could. Their best would have been to call or e-mail me to verify the hard-to-read-information. So, if guessing is the best they can do … do I need to find someone with perhaps higher standards?

Look. You don’t have to be a genius to put a fax number on a form that you want a client to fax back to you. Nor does it take the wisdom of Solomon to verify information you can’t understand.

With regard to service, attention to detail and making life easy for your clients, before you tell someone, “That’s the best I can do” ask yourself, “Is that the best my competitor can do?” Find out before your client (ex-client) does.

Carnival of Australia – February 27, 2008

Feb 27

Posted by Bren Ryan in Chill out!, Excellence!, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

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Welcome to the February 27, 2008 edition of Carnival of Australia.

 Thanks to all the contributors, some great stuff there, enjoy your reading! 

Elias presents The day we said “sorry”! posted at Ramblings of an Australian teacher, saying, “I hope I can still squeeze in the current carnival.” – Yes and No Elias! I think you wanted to be in last fornight’s carnival, but you are welcome in ours :-)

John Crenshaw presents The Biggest Scam Your Bank Gets Away With Everyday posted at Truthful Lending dot Com, saying, “This little known scam accounts for a huge portion of fees paid to banks every year and is going on right under your nose. The worst part is, it’s completely legal.”

Micellaneous Mum presents Project book – introducing my Illustrator! posted at Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum, saying, “The next installment in the series on how I’m going to publish my book this year.”

Business

D Robinson presents Diana Williams and Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs | Australian Women Online posted at Australian Women Online, saying, “This interview with Diana Williams is just one in a series of articles on successful women in business featured on Australian Women Online.”

Kathie Thomas presents Being Ready To Receive posted at soho-life.com, saying, “Helping clients to receive information.”

Leela Cosgrove presents How to Write a Professional Bio posted at Leela Cosgrove.

Leela Cosgrove presents The Seven Step Book Leveraging Program posted at Leela Cosgrove.

Michael Crooks presents Promotional Marketing Articles posted at Crooks Advertising Alliance, saying, “This article explains how salespeople can prevent children from sabotoging a sale.”

Martin Russell presents 5 Keys To Word of Mouth Marketing posted at Word of Mouth Marketing.

Dr. Gavin R. Putland presents Can you stop paying the mortgage and keep the house? posted at /etc/cron.whenever/, saying, “In America, thanks to reselling and repackaging of mortgage loans, the answer is often “Yes” because nobody can prove to whom you owe the money.”

Culture

bryce presents Tropfest Tumblings posted at a strangled duck, saying, “Tropfest was a great night with some great movies.”

Suzie Cheel presents There is a Fork In The Road: Which Path Will I Take? posted at The Abundance Highway, saying, “One morning walking on the beach I was fascinated how a tree branch thrown up by the tide was so beautifully positioned on the beach. For me, it was a fabulous image for a fork in the road. I knew then that one day I would find a saying or the words that would be just perfect to go with the picture.”

Michelle Sweeney presents My How Times Have Changes posted at Tonic Gifts.

Current Affairs

Dr. Gavin R. Putland presents Rationalizing stamp duty posted at Putland Uncensored.

Environment

Carole Fogarty presents Your Wealth Location for 2008: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE, saying, “Locate your prosperity and wealth energy for 2008 and then elementally enhance and energetically uplift to bring new opportunities into your life. This is a potent energy that given the right conditions will surprise you.”

jen presents Semantically driven: blogging about blogging, parenting and living in Australia. » True blue posted at Semantically driven, saying, “This is a bit about what I do to save and reuse water.”

Family

Carole Fogarty presents The ultimate guide for a calmer driving experience: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE, saying, “Ten practical and simple ways to ensure your car is not a metal container full of adult and children stress. Turn the calm dial up in your car now.”

Megan Bayliss presents Alleged sex predator masquerades as parent blogger posted at Imaginif…, saying, “What’s the time Mr Wolf? Time to take care because I have seen the avatar of an alleged child sexual abuser on many of your sites. Posing as a family blogger and all round decent human being is an easy thing to do…particularly when you want something. Be aware of who you are letting in the front door of your virtual home. Child protection is serious business. An investment in it nets returns beyond any current financial investment.”

PlanningQueen presents Ten things we should never say to kids. posted at Planning with Kids, saying, “A reminder to me as a parent about how I can impact my child through what I say to them.”

Food

Lightening presents Zucchini Lovefest posted at Lightening Online, saying, “Need some help using up those zucchini’s. Here’s a recipe or two for you to try.”

Gillian Polack presents Food History at the Royal Canberra Show – #1 posted at Gillian Polack, saying, “There’s a second article on bush foods, too. http://www.foodpast.com/food-history-at-the-royal-canberra-show-1-2/”

History

Romeo Vitelli presents Constance Kent posted at Providentia, saying, “Either a tragic victim or a brutal murderer (and maybe even Jack the Ripper). You make the call.”

Music

Duncan Macleod presents The Presets produce My People posted at Duncan’s Music Videos, saying, “Music video for My People, by Sydney electro pop duo The Presets, directed by Kris Moyes, younger brother of Kim Moyes. “I’m here with all of my people, locked up with all of my people. So let me hear you scream if you’re with me”"

Travel

Raymond presents Airline Credit Cards That Offer Free Miles posted at Money Blue Book.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of australia using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Improve Customer Service: Turn Employees Into Customers.

Feb 24

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept | 4 Comments

I was sitting in the eye doctor’s chair. Only moments earlier I had been traumatized by that stupid glaucoma test where they shoot a puff of air in your eye. Well, they try anyway, because with me it’s more like testing the resistance of the surface of my eyelid. On the upside, apparently, my reflexes are still faster than a puff of air.

Anyway, the doctor examining my eyes, knowing I run an advertising agency, asked, “Michael, what can I do to improve customer service?”

I asked, “When your employees need to have their eyes examined or their glasses adjusted, you sort of fit them in somewhere during the day don’t you,”

“Well, sure,” she replied. “We just fit them in where we can. Just makes it easier. It’s an employee benefit.”

“Well,” I began, “If you really want to improve customer service, make your employees make an appointment like everyone else. Make them figure out how to get time off work to come in because you don’t have “after hours” appointments. Make them sit in your uncomfortable chairs that only serve to emphasize the fact that their appointment was supposed to have been 15 minutes ago. Let them listen to music they hate that is playing too loud. Make them look at magazines that are 9 months old. And let them sit in the waiting room and see how your receptionist, who has the personality of a tree stump, makes everyone who approaches her feel as though they are a huge interruption. At that point your employees may begin to develop some effective ideas on how to improve your customer service.”

She just stood there staring at me. I soon found out, in addition to the fact that the receptionist was her niece, that in her silence, she was merely calculating how much my critique of her business was going to cost me.

The money part doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the fact that she says I now need to come in weekly for a glaucoma test. The worst part? On my way out, I overheard her telling one of the tech’s, “We need to train the receptionist to run the “air gun” for Mr. Crooks’ weekly visits.”

Two lessons. First, being brutally forthright with clients, customers and prospects isn’t always the best way to go. A little “sugar-coating” goes a long way. Second, if you’re a business owner, don’t ask questions to which you don’t really want an honest answer.

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How to train to Win/Win

Jan 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Training to win/win
You and your staff should be trained to make the whole show win, then the customers can win too. A great position to get to and stay in.  For some the idea of training staff means showing them the bare basics of their job, but go a bit deeper and encourage thinking around the idea of Win/Win, when they get the idea the concept will probably become infectious.

  • Find out more about win/win and how you might create some examples you can discuss with your team.
  • Look for examples of win/win already at play in your business.
  • Use the concept to develop a team get together every so often to ask about and pass on ideas in business development.

Getting all this together is a great way to cause the team to work effectively together and can build the business to a strong position where people feel valued. This will then pass on to the customers and cause them to feel valued as well, in the end that’s what we all want.

How to create a business where the overheads are easily covered

Jan 9

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Finance, Franchisees, Franchising, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Covering overheads easily…
Overheads are often the thing, which can break the camels back, so make it easy for the camel and take the pressure off. In this case keeping the turnover and cash flow up so the overheads are not a challenge EVER! (I know, easier said than done…)

  • Sell things which are wanted by your target ‘ideal customers’ this will mean you have things moving in and out again fairly quickly, and that’s good for business.
  • Set your pricing right, sure beat your competition if you want, but make enough to make a profit too, then you are sure the overheads are covered.
  • Know what your industry average is for turnover and profits, this way you can measure (benchmark) against the industry average and see how you fit in the scheme of things.
  • Ask your customers what they want more of, it might be as simple as “better service” then you will know “It’s not the products or after sales service it’s the SERVICE!”
  • Know exactly how much your overheads are and how many things need to be sold per day to cover them, then anything over this amount puts you ahead.
  • Know what is selling and what’s not, aim to make every square inch of your sales area sell well, (even if it’s an online page!) simply by providing more of what your customers want. perhaps just moving something to another spot in your ‘store’ will make a difference.

Getting an objective view of your business is vital to figuring out which areas to focus on to improve cash flow and keep your overheads under control, so ask lots of questions, observe thoroughly what’s going on.

Now put these things into action and watch the results alter in a positive direction.

How to create an easy saleable range

Jan 7

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchisees, Franchising, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Planning, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Creating easily saleable products and services
You want people to buy, not to um and err then walk away, so it should be easy for them to select what they want and then make the purchase with great peace of mind. Especially people in your ideal target market.

It may be one thing to provide a prestige product and another thing to have enough people in the right target market to meet the needs you have. Again it might be a case of having some prestige products and more of another not so prestige product.

When it comes to business you should be making sure that customer satisfaction is a number one concern, and a big part of that is the service and support your business provides. Make it EASY for people to get things serviced, not a hassle. Make it easy for people to select the right product, Make it easy for them to find a sales person, the list goes on.

So take a customers viewpoint and walk in and out of your store as if you were them, how quickly are you attended to? how gracious was the enquiry “How are you today sir…” How easy was it to get your bearings on where things are (online or in a physical sales environment…) Now ask yourself what can be done to make changes so the people walking in and out are really satisfied.

Also look at the things you may want to add to your range… How easy are they to market? And will people readily make enquiries that could lead to sales… These are all aspects of easily saleable products and services.
Taking all these things into account you should be able to”pull apart” the customer experience to know what’s working and what you can do about it.

How to make your business readily understood.

Jan 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchisees, Franchising, Innovation and Creativity, Planning, The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

From an original article on various business success pointers, here are the individual “how to” possible options for you to explore.

Is it readily understood?
If your business produces widgets for the trucking industry it’s important for the target market (trucking companies in this case), to readily understand what it is you are providing. If you are in the start up phase your brand may not mean anything until the prospect sees it a few times (probably 6+ times!) so you have to make sure that it is presented in such a way that they know who you are, what’s on offer and how it’s done (online, retail, wholesale etc.)

There are many companies that put a logo on their vehicle, drive around and no body has a clue what they do or if they are of value to them (i.e. target market). It can be ok if the target market is a niche In this case a trucking supply Co, but if even your target market does not know then you have a challenge on your hands.

Consider working closely with your designer or PR people to make sure the people that should know clearly do know, otherwise your marketing $$ can be wasted.

Is it Christmas?

Dec 13

Posted by Steve Gray in The Board Room, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

I was in a local shopping Mall last Sunday, 4 pm a number of the shops were closed! Shutters pulled down, lights off the whole shebang… What Gives!!!!

It’s Christmas, a time when people want to shop… a week out from the big event.

In our area we have another shopping mall being added to so we will have more retail outlets, probably more than we need but that’s another story. The existing ones where I was, if they are struggling to make ends meet and can not afford to open ’til 5 on Sunday then something is very wrong. There were people in the mall but not heaps. Down the other end where renovations were completed earlier this year, there were people and open shops, the car park was full… So what gives?

Is it a conspiracy… is the other shopping centre going to buy out the smaller player so they can revamp the centre for themselves? (can’t beat a monopoly…)

I smell a rat but have no proof (hey its just a theory) but I would not put it past the ‘players’ to be in bully mode with the aim of taking over.

What really is at stake is customer service and customer satisfaction, If I want to buy a specific item and the store is closed I can’t buy it. If the Co is in dire straits they need to get out and save what little cash they might have, or market better. The little Chinese massage shop is doing okay, they stand out the front and invite people in. We need more of that.

Go on guys, engage with the paying public, build the relationship, evaluate your offerings. but remember one thing, you are in business, if you lay down and die that’s it the end of the road. I figure on one thing, if you are going to lay down and die, get on with it.

Hello?! Are You LISTENING?

Dec 7

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Growth, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 1 Comment

I’m on the phone with a salesman from one of my suppliers. He asks me, “So, do you sell to any medical practices?”

“Yeah I do”, I replied. “I have some dentists and a periodontist.”

“Great!” he exclaimed. “You’ll be interested in our new stethoscope covers!”

Really, I think to myself. Let’s see, when was the last time I saw a dentist with a stethoscope. Oh yeah … NEVER!
He drones on. “So can I send you a couple samples. They’re really great and they can imprint their practice logo on them, and they keep dirt off of them, and … I cut him off.

“Sounds great”, I said. “You send them to me and I’ll see where it takes me. I look forward to getting them, I’m so excited. Wow! Stethoscope covers.”

What a moron. Sure, maybe he doesn’t know that a periodontist treats gum disease. But then again, he’s the one selling medical equipment supplies. And furthermore, why would a doctor want an imprinted stethoscope cover? The people who would see the imprint are already in his office. A better tactic would be for me to take the stethoscope cover to a business such as a pharmacy or health club that wants to get their name in front of those the doctor has access to. They’d imprint their logo and distribute them to doctor’s offices.

But here’s my real point.

How often are you so focused on selling what you have to sell … that you aren’t even listening to the answers people give you?

Bad Acting Is Bad For Your Business

Nov 27

Posted by Michael Crooks in Excellence!, Human Resource Management, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 2 Comments

I called my stockbroker a couple weeks a go. I had a question. I wasn’t sure who to ask for because it’s been about a year or so since I actually talked to anyone there. Anyway, I finally get “my guy” on the phone. What a phoney!

This guy doesn’t know me from a fence post but acts like he just saw me yesterday. He ACTS like he cares about me, but his act is so bad no matter what he’s saying it sounds like this:

“Haaaaayyyyyyy, how ya do’in? Boy It’s nice to hear from you! I haven’t a clue who you are — but as long as you called — I’ve gotsome really great ideas for you to consider that will suit you perfectly, what-ever-your-name is. We should sit down and talk. I’ll pop some information in the mail to you. You look it over and give me a call. Cause, hey! I don’t remember your name, so there’s no way I know your phone number … as evidenced by the fact that you never, EVER hear from me.”

I got the info in the mail and I’m like, “Whatever!” I didn’t call him. Course, he didn’t call me. Until three days ago … I called him.

“My guy” wasn’t in. Someone took my name and number and said “my guy” would call me back. He hasn’t.

I’m moving my account.

Sure, maybe he wants my account and the fees that go with it, but it’s obvious he doesn’t care about my account or me. And no, sending me a birthday card every year doesn’t make up for treating me like I don’t matter the other 364 days a year.

Here’s My Points:

If the only communication I get from you is a birthday card, then the card simply calls attention to the fact that I never hear from you.

If you make me feel like the small account I am … I will never become a bigger account … at least not your account.

If you really don’t want my business … fine. But if you really do want my business … then genuinely treat me like I matter.

My Article Could Have Prevented A $53 Million Dollar Lawsuit

Nov 16

Posted by Michael Crooks in Finance, Growth, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | 1 Comment

Back in September of 2006 I posted an article here warning business people to only guarantee that over which they have control. I advocated only guaranteeing such things as, “Your Money Back” or “Replacement”. I specifically warned against guaranteeing a customer’s satisfaction because you have no idea what will satisfy a customer.

Better than 9 months after I wrote that article, a Judge in the U.S. took his suit to a dry cleaners that guaranteed satisfaction. They lost his pants. That made him unsatisfied. And even though the dry cleaners offered to buy him a new suit, the judge felt it was more important to make a point and sued the cleaners for $52 million dollars for failing to live up to their “satisfaction” guarantee.

The judge was a judge by appointment. He is no longer a judge because those who had the power to appoint him again, decided that it may be in the best interests of the entire free world that he not sit in judgment of others. That’s great news.

The bad news is, the owners of the dry cleaning business, have lost about everything in an attempt to defend themselves before the lawsuit was dropped.

How much better their life would be today, had they been avid readers of FreeBusinessTips.com.au, had read my article and decided to guarantee “replacement of lost garments” instead of satisfaction?

Warm Regards,
Michael Crooks

The people service continuum

Nov 15

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

In the service stakes, there are those who connect with the people they need to serve and those that quite frankly wish the customers would go away. There are of course levels within that and as always I would like you to focus for a moment on the top end.

People who serve in those lofty heights, have a few qualities which makes them stand out from the crowd, but don’t let that descriptor fool you, you probably will not see anything different in the way they interact with the customers to give away the fact, that they have this high end skill.

In simple terms what they do is often invisible, it has great depth, it is a level of intimate connectedness. This allows them to encourage, influence, involve, engage, be in alignment with, but above all it allows them to be effective with the customers.

It also means customer loyalty is built in a way that makes it hard to erase, these customers do not fade away, they become advocates of what the service person has provided for them, which is much more than a product or service, it’s that intimate and deep connectedness all great relationships have.

The customers who come into contact with this exceptional sales or service person, will follow them if they leave the company.

For the company to ensure this type of customer service person is attracted and retained, they need to carefully look at their culture and the environment they provide.  In short they need to become employers of choice.

For the employee that has or wants to develop this skill level, they need to make sure they listen actively, find ways to connect genuinely with the customers (and most probably their team mates).

Great service is its own reward, and the return of customers time and time  again due to the intimate connectedness of the service people, is what the sales and service game is all about.

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Excellence is a state of mind…

Nov 1

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Personal Development, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

I don’t mind stating I feel less than excellent. I have some quotes to do, some work to do, some people to chase, some calls to make, bills to pay, $$ to chase and frankly I don’t care if it all gets washed away in a great flood (or any other disaster for that matter.)

We all have our down days, but at the moment I am swamped by all sorts of minor details and they are driving me nuts. My answer, do things one step at a time and let the rest hang for a while.

Okay I am feeling “fluey” sore throat, headache, sore joints and all the rest but that’s not the only thing on my mind (list too numerous to mention here or waste your time with…)

Lets face it it can be too easy to say “I provide excellent customer service”, or “satisfaction is our business” or any one of a thousand other customer service clichés. But if you are feeling lousy the truth is they can all go to Hades…

So after a “Nana” nap late yesterday afternoon and a restless nights sleep, some light work this morning I feel like I am slowly getting back some mind space so I can head back towards excellence.

Your brain can shout excellence all it likes but if the body is unable or not willing then that changes things all together.

7 Steps to finding your most profitable target market by Emma Rhoades (Guest Blogger)

Oct 11

Posted by Guest Poster in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Operations Dept, The Sales Dept | 4 Comments

So often people delve into advertising their business, without much thought to the process. This not only a huge waste or precious $$, but it leaves your business vulnerable to cash flow problems. Taking the time to research exactly who your most profitable customer is, will ensure you receive a higher return on your advertising investment.

  1. How many products or services do you have? Is it 1-2, or 30-40? Write them all down individually.
  2. Write down who buys each product. It’s ok to overlap a few people here. Try to make it as detailed as possible. For example, mothers with children 0-2 yrs, men who like golf, etc, rather than mothers and men. The more detailed you can get it, the more profitable your advertising can be!
  3. Work out your profit margin for each of your products. For example, how much would you make if someone bought your product. Again, the more detailed you can get, the better.
  4. Take your top performing product and have a look at who buys this. You may have more than one type of person on that list. Choose one person to start with, and think about the type of person they are. Do they shop online, do they read magazines- if so- which ones??
  5. Do lots of research!! Find these people and ask them! Ask them what type of magazines they read, ask if they prefer to shop online of offline etc. Don’t try to skip this step; otherwise you will be flying blind in your advertising. These have now become one of your target markets. Do this for all of those who purchase your products.
  6. Once you know more about them, you can start looking around for places to advertise. Don’t be tempted to go for the cheaper option- always make sure that it is getting directly in front of your target market
  7. Start with one product at a time and one customer type at a time. Always start with your most profitable product or service, and this will ensure you get a higher return on your advertising investment.

Today’s guest blogger is Emma Rhoades.

Emma owns advertising business Diva Promotions. She aims to give women with their own micro business highly targeted, cost-effective advertising campaigns. Visit www.divapromotions.com.au today to book into your next campaign and start growing your business! Emma can be contacted via the website, admin AT divapromotions DOT com.au or 1300 76 36 76.

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See something, do something…

Oct 11

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Leadership, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Risk Management, The Customer Service Dept | No Comments

Earlier in 2007 I did a post on Trademarks not what you think… It gave some starting points and some background to an idea that is really all about values and beliefs but does so in a more street smart way.

I thought it was time to pull out a few more and explore how they can be developed and a bit about why they can be developed (e.g. the end product of doing all this.)

Trademarks, the notion is that it sets you apart from anybody else that might have a similar business name (in the traditional use of the word), but beyond that it says “This Co does things in certain ways, ways that set it apart.” so the same with our trademarks.

It can be used to provide guidelines and information on bigger picture things in the business Marketing – Operational issues – Management. Then of course it can go to smaller issues within each area right down to the last ‘nut and bolt’

One key to using “Trademarks” is to utilise an overall device to assist with the development of each area within the framework lets call it a mantra.

“See something,
Do something”

If one person in the organisation saw something that was not “right” within the organisation they can invoke this mantra and take it from a saying to a thing to be acted on. If anyone says we can’t do that ‘because…’ then the person putting forward the idea need not feel put down, they were just doing what was asked of them, their aim might be to look deeper to find a way that can alter the first point they raised.

An example a customer service indiscretion is witnesses, you would (under ideal circumstances) report it as a matter of urgency or act on it immediately in some other way (take action) as it would effect a key area of the business (Customers!). If a mistake was spotted in an advert, “see something, do something” should then kick in immediately before it’s too late. (Again a key area of business and one that needs to be right.)

Using this simple mantra can give the business a developmental edge in all areas… so what to do, how to go about putting it into practice… make a sign “See something, do something” and put it up, everywhere! email people in your organisation about it (keep it brief) and support it at all levels, (from the customer down…)

Next, make a list of all the key areas in the business (to raise awareness) and give a few examples of how this system could be used in each, then start developing the business from that stand point. If profit is down, start with that, you will soon see what things are preventing your profit from developing and so you will be able to action those things more strategically.

Imagine, you know have a way of creating an improvement culture in your organisation simply and effectively. So go ahead, you have seen this now do something.

You do NOT have my needs!

Sep 28

Posted by Michael Crooks in Innovation and Creativity, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | 3 Comments

Printed on the sign were these words, “We have your plumbing needs.”

No they don’t. You see, they can’t have my needs. Only I can have my needs.

If I need a sink-stopper thingy, I seek out someone who has a sink-stopper thingy. I don’t need someone who has my sink-stopper thingy needs. Because if they have my sink-stopper thingy needs — that means they need a sink-stopper thingy too!

Mr. and Mrs. Retailer please, if you are currently saying, “We have your ______ needs”, please change it to:

“We Satisfy Your ______ Needs.”

Here’s the difference:

1) “We Have Your Sink-Stopper Thingy Needs”
2) “We Satisfy Your Sink-Stopper Thingy Needs”

#2 is a lot more inviting and quite frankly it tells prospects, clients and customers that an answer, a solution or possibly satisfaction is just beyond that door.

Please remember this as you put together your adverts: You don’t have the consumer’s needs, rather, you have what can satisfy the consumer’s needs.

Customer profiles

Sep 25

Posted by Steve Gray in Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Planning, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

There are customers and there are CUSTOMERS! it can be very useful to know who you are deailing with so you can figure out the best way of working with them so they are influenced to purchase and deal with your organisation.

there are personality profiles, psyche profiles and marketing type profiles here is one we can explore.

1. Deal Makers,
2. Price Seekers,
3. Luxury Innovators
4. Brand Loyalists. 

There are other ways different ‘schools of psychology’ describe  these but for this is one way.

Lets start to build a profile of these and see what descriptors we can come up with to fill in the gaps (its one thing to have a title, and another to have the depth of understanding to make it useful). Some sales people run into the trap of imposing their own profile on customers, e.g. price seekers, just because  you might like to buy on the cheapsest price, does not mean all customers want to, so talking price only is of little value. Being able to relate and connect with the various buying types is therefore very useful.

Deal Makers - They want to negotiate – They want the thrill of pushing and pulling and thinking they have got good value for money – They may not want the latest release of an item because it might not have much bargaining power for them – They are not fussed about brands too much.

Price seekers - Is it the cheapest? – Will I have buyers remorse if I see it cheaper elsewhere? – Not interested in the latest technology, they know it’s expensive in teh start up phase of it coming on to the market – Brands are almost meaning less, its more of a back up to a ‘wise purchase’.

Luxury Innovators – “I only buy high end luxury items” – They buy the latest for its show off value – Price is often a secondary or lower value – they want their friends to notice – They know the top brands but are not loyal to any one of them they want the latest and the more luxurious it makes them feel the better!

Brand loyalists -  These guys stick to brands they love in all products – They belive they are getting value becasue they know that quality is important and the right brands seem to produce quality that lasts.

Using these profiles you could figure out the types of customers your offerings might attract and therefore how you might lure or influence them to buy from  you.

The “easy in” franchise start up.

Sep 24

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Franchising, Human Resource Management, Innovation and Creativity, Negotiation, Risk Management, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept | 1 Comment

For the Franchisor: How do you make the start up phase easy for the Franchisee?

For the Frachisee: How does the Franchisor make the start up phase easy for you.

This is the sort of question both parties should be asking themselves and for the Franchisor reviewing it often to make sure they have the best systems in the business.

Lets take a look at perhaps a usual scenario… the Franchisee joins the business, signs up and does the training, they start the business and pay the usual franchisee fees in the first month or so… it’s baptism by “deep end” immersion!

Lets step back a bit further and take a look at what really happens. For some this business opportunity is a start up, no business experience, and while there is probably great support systems in place after the training, some may not know how to use them, or perhaps might feel as though they would be embarrassed to use them. Although the Franchisee is keen to start there will probably be a range of issues they have to contend with, a new start, a change of work habits, new systems, training to learn… and the list could go on… and ON!

It might be suggested that the Franchisor’s role (in part) is to make this transition phase as simple and easy as possible so they can build the esteem of the Franchisee (vital really). So here are a few suggestions that could make a solid point of difference to the way your franchise business starts its new recruits (remember to use these as selling points!)

Fees - Consider not having the first two or three months of fees, and or making the fees a low start option (e.g. they pay an increasing percentage in the start up phase) To redeem the loss you include it in the start up fee for buying the franchise.

Income – During the training period and the first few weeks of set up, there is probably a loss of income, if you do not have an income guarantee, include a short term one to take the pressure off. Let the franchisees focus clearly on the training and getting things right.

Support – coaching – mentoring – training – Training is usually a given, the coaching, mentoring and other forms of support may be voluntary, or the onus put on the Franchisee. The aim being to ensure the Franchisee is a “happy camper” your role is to make these aspects more robust and easy to implement. If the new recruit is thrown in the deep end, how can you provide ‘services’ to ease the pain and ‘stop them from drowning”? Lets face it there are too many Franchise horror stories and the time stop this is at the start. If you have support staff in contact with franchisees how well do they coach, mentor and support?

Advertising – A vital part of the business mix, advertising can make or break a start up business. How many ways can you build extra value into the start ups advertising to ensure added value and possibly more customers? Show them the Press Releases you have sent out to their local media, then scour their local papers for articles that have been printed and show them, look for opportunities in the local media and utilise those to ensure the start up phase is happening with a lot of interest. Perhaps consider teaser adverts to build intrigue. Of course all the extras are in the price of the franchise.

List – Frequently asked questions for new franchisees (perhaps in an intra-net) and provide a whole range of support materials for them, from simple short video examples to PDF type documents or power point presentations they can get answers with very quickly. give the peace of mind in knowing the answers are there 24/7 so they do not have to wait for an “Area Manager” to call them back with an answer on Monday and it’s Friday night!

Family – A little touched on area of business… but the family support is vital to how the new franchisee feels. What material can you provide to raise their awareness of this new change to their lives? How it might effect things, the rewards it might bring later on… and so on. Most of all though provide something, even a brochure or leaflet is better than nothing and encourage them to get involved. For smaller franchises it might be as simple as inviting them to help out with the bookkeeping (if they have those skills) or delivering pamphlets in the territory. Any way they can help out can be very useful to the family stability in the early phases.

Thats the list for now, but keep searching for ways to help the new recruit. For Franchisees, look for franchises that offer as many of these support devices as possible and ask existing franchisees about how well these worked in reality.

For more franchise info…

The one BIG thing

Sep 21

Posted by Steve Gray in Franchising, Leadership, People!, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept | No Comments

Experiences are everything, if you have any sort of business that sells to people then the experience the customer has is vital to your operation.

In a franchise the franchisor would then have a greater duty of care to ensure the prospective franchisee has customer service skills, is customer aware, is able to communicate effectively and willing to go the extra mile.

Apart from aiming to build exceptional customer experiences of the franchise business the aim is to also assist the franchisee to build repeat business and know they are well ahead of their competition dues simply to providing exceptional experiences.

In the same vein they should also be serving the customers (the franchises) so they can feel the experience of great service. (lead by example).

So in the end its about finding ways to be exceptional in the people stakes, being able to connect, communicate and value their part in the scheme of things.

To start the ball rolling, consider…

- Have I or any of my staff called a franchise to just have a catch up chat (not because I have anything I want to tell them, but just because I could…)

- Have we kept an online blog going of what’s happening in the business for our franchisees?

- Have we found ways of opening the lines of communication further so they feel they can call us at any time, (and do they? If not why not…)

Take these ideas further… Now show your franchisees how to do it (you are the role model here…) give them ideas on how to build the customer experience so it becomes a rock solid foundation for them to build a successful business from.

Remember it’s all about the experiences we have, yours, theirs and the customers…

For more on franchising

Trash Talk & Delete Buttons: A candid letter from your prospective customer. By Jill Konrath (Guest Blogger)

Sep 20

Posted by Guest Poster in Excellence!, Innovation and Creativity, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Marketing Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

Dear Seller,

I only have a few minutes, but I understand you’re interested in what you can do to capture my attention and entice me to want to set up a meeting with you.

Let me say this loud and clear right now – you have no idea what my day is like. You may think you do, but you’re missing the boat. Until you understand this, my advice to you makes no sense.

I got into the office early this morning so I could have some uninterrupted time to work on a major project – something I can’t seem to squeeze into the normal business day, which is filled with back-to-back meetings.

But, by 9 a.m. all my good intentions were dashed. My boss asked me to drop everything to get her some up-to-date information on a major reorganization initiative. Product development informed me that our new offering won’t be available for the upcoming tradeshow. Sales is already in an uproar because they have customers waiting for it. Then HR tells me that one of my key employees has been accused of cyber-stalking.

Starting to get the picture? Welcome to my world of everyday chaos where, hard as I try to make progress, I keep slipping behind. Right now, I have at least 59 hours of work piled on my desk, needing my attention. I have no idea when I’ll get it all done.

Did I mention my how many emails I get daily? Over 100. Everyone copies me in on everything. It drives me crazy. Then, add to that at least 30 phone calls – many from vendors who want to set up a meeting with me. And the pile of junk mail I get each day is ridiculous.

In short, I have way too much to do, ever-increasing expectations, impossible deadlines and constant interruptions from people wanting my time or attention.

Time is my most precious commodity and I protect it at all costs. I live with the status quo as long as I can – even if I’m not happy. Why? Because change creates more work and eats up my time.

Which gets us back to you. In your well-intentioned but misguided attempts turn me into a “prospect,” you fail woefully to capture my attention. I’m going to be really blunt here: I could care less about your product, service, solution or your company.
I’m not one bit interested in your unique methodologies, extraordinary differentiators or one-stop shopping. Your self-serving pablum, while designed to lure me into your clutches, has the exact opposite impact.

It’s trash talk! I quickly scan your emails or letters looking for those offensive words and phrases that glorify your offering or your firm.

The minute they jump out at me, you’re gone. Zapped from my inbox or tossed into the trashcan. When you talk like that in your voicemails, I delete you immediately. Delete, delete, delete.

That’s the most expeditious way to handle bothersome telemarketers. Use those same words on the phone with me and I’ll quickly raise an objection you can’t address.

I’m a master at sniffing out trash talk and deleting it. I have work to do and refuse to waste even one iota of my time on something that’s irrelevant or self-promotional.

You need to know though that I’m not always like this. Occasionally a savvy marketer or seller captures my attention, gets me to raise my hand asking for more information and even entices me to request a meeting.

What are they doing? They’re completely focused on my business and the impact they can have on it. That’s what’s relevant to me – not their offering.

I’m always interested in ways to shorten time to market, speed up our sales cycles and reduce our supply chain costs. Notice that this is business talk, not marketing speak!

When you get even more specific and tell me how much impact, now you’re really talking my language. I guarantee that if you mention you’ve helped organizations similar to mine increase sales conversion rates by 39% in just 3 months, I’ll be on the phone to you in no time flat.

Do you have any good information or fresh insights about the challenges my company is facing? How about how other companies are addressing these issues? If so, I’m interested in that too.

That’s the good stuff. It stems from a focus on the difference you can make for my company, instead of how you’re different from every one else. When you emphasize that, I’m interested.

But you can’t rope me in with the good stuff, then slip back into that trash talk. If so, you’re gonzo as fast as I can hit the delete button.

I pay attention in about 5 second increments, too. I don’t have time for fluff. If it’s relevant info, you’ve got me; start meandering and I hit delete.

Get the picture? I hope so, because I’m late for a meeting and while I’ve been writing this, the phone’s been ringing off the hook.

Hope this helps!

Your Prospective Customer

Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and founder of the Sales Shebang, is a frequent speaker at national sales meetings and industry events. For more articles like this, visit www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com. Sign up for the newsletter and get a BONUS Sales Call Planning Guide.

The attitude or the money?

Sep 12

Posted by Steve Gray in Excellence!, Growth, Human Resource Management, Leadership, Negotiation, People!, Personal Development, Starting out in business, The Customer Service Dept, The Sales Dept | No Comments

In business there are many things to consider, but one of the most overlooked is the fact that you have to deal with people, staff, customers, suppliers, partners and support teams (accountants coaches and the like). The factor that makes or breaks the relationship that’s built is your attitude. But what is it, and specifically how does it fit to a business context.

Here are a few points to consider that go some way to making up your overall “business attitude.”

- Service orientation

- Persistence

- Practical and direct business skills (or lack of them)

- Planning and organisational skills – to set achieveable goals

- The ability to achieve

- Creativity and innovation

- Desire to succeed

- Honesty, intergity and sincerity

- Communication and leadership skills

- Motivation and drivers

All of these have a bearing on your attitude and if you take one or a few of them away or skew them poorly the money vanishes, or at best fades. In business profit is king, therefore you should be finding ways to enhance your “attitude” so you can attract more of the “right stuff” into your business and personal life.

Your aim is to have a Positive Mental Attitude and avoid a Permanent Bad Attitude!

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