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Monday Morning Motivators – March 31, 2007
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Enjoy your java with an eclectic collection of tips and ideas to use today and to get energized for the week ahead. Subscribing and unsubscribing at www.mondaymorningmotivators.com
"Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.”
--Unknown
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Table of Contents
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1. Customer Service Wrap-up – Linda Fayerweather
2. Presentation Savvy: The Right Foot - Rebecca Booth
3. The Law of Polarity – Pat Altvater
4. How Do I Build My Business In a Slow Economy? – Paula Frazier
5. To Do This Week
6. Fine Print
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1. Customer Service Wrap-up ============================================================
After four weeks of fun stories about customer service, let's end with some tips you may find helpful. I, like many, cringe when I do evaluations of myself because I am drawn to the negative comments and sometimes forget to enjoy the positives. But I know to get what we want in business (profit) we need to give others what they need and that includes customer service. As leaders of departments, businesses, As leaders of departments, businesses, teams or companies, we need to regularly do several things.
1. Contact a random sampling of customers to find out “how did we do?”.”
2. Track complaints AND solutions.
3. Empower staff to solve problems.
4. Reward staff for solving problems before they spiral out of control.
5. Do postmortems for the benefit of all on what did work and kept a customer.
Although these sound simple, they do require putting procedures in place, testing those procedures and making sure that all staff members are following them. Consistency works best when everyone on the team knows that asking for feedback from customers -- either on a specific call or in general -- is perhaps the best way to assess their performance.
To wrap up this month of customer service, remember your company’s core values are being tested each and every time a complaint happens. Making sure everyone knows these values will surely help 2008 be great.
Copyright 2008 Linda Fayerweather
"What do your customers teach you this week?”
Changing Lanes LLC
www.ChangingLanes.biz
The Customer Service Rules
http://www.changinglanes.biz/index.cfm?p=page&ar77=Y&id=89&blog_cat_name=Getting%20and%20Keeping%20Customers%20-%20Marketing%20and%20Sale
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2. Presentation Savvy: Starting Off on the Right Foot
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Do you hate to stand up in front of a crowd and speak? What about sitting there and listening to someone else drone on and on about something you really don’t care that much about. Well, here’s some good news: the power of presentation success is in your hands! When you’re getting ready for your next speech be sure to:
• Use questions to jump-start the audience. Get their input as to what they’d like to get out of the day’s discussion. For those of you who have to listen – go into the meeting with a list of questions you’d like to have answered.
• Keep your presentation to 20-30 minutes. By the end of a 55-minute speech, no one’s in the mood to ask questions that might prolong the meeting. So keep it short in nature and break off into groups so that people can discuss what they’ve learned. This period of reflection and sharing often yields more productive questions. Those who are listening: get involved. Share your thoughts and don’t be afraid to play devil’s advocate.
• Avoid death by PowerPoint. PowerPoint is often over used. You don’t need to have every talking point listed in your presentation. Limit your slides to 10 or less. And don’t completely darken the room – those who are reading this have my permission to fall asleep if the speaker doesn’t follow the rule of 10.
• Be creative! If part of your mission is to get people thinking in new ways, ask them to draw their goals, role-play or do free-form writing about plans, goals and struggles. Opening up the right brain in your audience elicits unique insights and solutions. For those who are stuck listening, doodle!
Copyright 2008 Rebecca Booth
Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
419-855-3399
www.rebeccaboothmarketinggoddess.com
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3. The Law of Polarity
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Have you ever pondered the fact that everything in the Universe has its opposite? This is the result of the Law of Polarity which states that anything can be separated into two opposite parts, with each part having its own essence.
This law is essential for defining objects; for example, white and black, up and down, right and left help us be clear. However, this law is also crucial to helping us fully experience our lives. If what we perceive as bad did not exist, how would we know when we are having a good experience? If failure did not exist, how could we know success?
Both sides always exist simultaneously. So consider this, the polar opposite of a question is the answer. By law, you couldn’t have an idea without the way to do it also being present. If it were not possible, you couldn’t think it. So in your business, know that if you have a creative idea but don’t know HOW to bring it to life, there is an answer or you wouldn’t have thought of the idea. Just move forward with confidence and slowly the HOW will unfold.
Pat Altvater
Certified Law of Attraction Practitioner
www.thesecretofpermanentweightloss.com
www.permanentweightlossebook.com
www.transformationsinstitute.com
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4. How Do I Build My Business In a Slow Economy?
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Dear Monday Morning Motivator Readers,
So many folks are tossing around the “r” (recession) word. I wanted you to benefit from this (partial) article from Dr. Ivan Misner. When it comes to referral marketing, he is a world’s leading expert, my mentor and my friend. My best to your success…Paula Frazier.
When the economy is slow, new business is harder to get. What can you do to build your business in a recessionary economy?
It’s been about ten years since our last recession in the United States. For the most part, the U.S. economy has been strong and business has been good. However, the fact is that the economy goes through cycles and business has slowed down for many people. Unfortunately, every time it takes a downturn the fallout is felt strongly by salespeople, business owners, and professionals alike.
Successful business professionals learn from the past. For many of us, this will not be our first recession. So, what did we learn from previous economic downturns? While you cannot control the economy or your competition, you can control your response to the economy.
If you want to do well in business, you must understand that it does absolutely no good to complain to people about tough things are. When you complain about how bad business is – half the people you tell don’t care and the other half are glad that you’re worse off than they are!
Referrals can keep your business alive and well during an economic downturn.
During the last recession, thousands of business people grew and prospered. They were successful because they consciously made the decision to refuse to participate in the recession. They did so by developing their networking skills and learning how to build their business through word of mouth.
Don’t let a bad economy be your excuse for failure. Instead, make it your opportunity to succeed. It’s not “what you know,” or “who you know,” it’s “how well you know people” that counts. In a tough economy, it’s your social capital that has value. Make good use of it and you will thrive while others struggle.
By Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D. & Contributed by Paula Frazier
To learn more about Dr. Misner, read this article in its entirety and weigh in on the subject visit http://NetworkingEntrepreneur.com.
Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization, which has more than 4,900 chapters in 37 countries. Dr. Misner is also the author of several books, including the most recent addition to the bestselling Masters Series—Masters of Sales (www.mastersbooks.com), and the New York Times bestseller TRUTH OR DELUSION? (www.truthordelusion.com); and he is the Senior Partner for the Referral Institute (www.referralinstitute.com), a referral training company with operations around the world.
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5. To Do This Week
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Last day of March, make sure your back-ups are working.
