Uber Good Experience with Rafael Perez

3 Tips to Becoming an Indispensable Employee   “The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do.  Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become ind...

6 Reasons Why Meditating Leads to Better Customer Service Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net "Meditation is not to avoid society; it is to look deep to have the kind of insight you need to take action.  To think that it is just to sit down and enjoy the calm and peace, is wrong." --Naht Hahn Recently, I have been reading a book by Arianna Huffington, sent to me and recommended by Dan Miller of 48Days.com.  It’s called Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder.  I read it only because Dan sent it to me and saw something in it he felt was important.  I have never really ever considered meditation in my own life, although I must say that prayer and quiet time with God is a form of meditation.  So, as I read the book I just knew how these principles when applied could improve us in our lives and customer service occupations.  So, with the help of the book Thrive and Deepak Chopra, M.D, I’d like to share with you: 6 Reasons Why Meditating Leads to Better Customer Service 1. Reduces Stress – In an earlier episode, I shared with you how stress can be damaging and reduced stress can lead to an improved performance.  So as I’ve mentioned chronic, unmanaged stress can literally make you sick.  It can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, stomach ulcers, autoimmune diseases, anxiety, cancer, insomnia, chronic fatigue, obesity, and depression. Wow!  Well, with meditation your body can release this stress and begin to reverse the effects of these medical conditions.  Our bodies need time to rest and recover.  Meditation allows for this process to occur quicker than just getting a good night’s rest. 2. Harmonizes Relationships – Meditation helps one to become more balanced and centered.  It draws you into a state of calmness.  When you’re feeling balanced and centered, it is much easier to respond rather than react to a person or situation.  This also helps you to be more present with a customer, client, or co-worker.  This balance and center gives you a better ability to really listen to what they are saying and what their needs might be.  As you meditate on a regular basis, you develop what is known as “witnessing awareness” – the ability to calmly and objectively observe a situation, notice when you are being triggered, and consciously choose how you want to respond.  This ability of being present and increased awareness is very valuable and can be utilized with great benefit in the workplace.  But not just in the workplace, it has benefits in all areas of your life. 3. Improves Focus and Concentration – There are many people who believe that they perform at their best when they are multitasking.  The truth and studies now show that multitasking can make you dumber.  Not trying to be controversial here but literally dumber.  As we attempt to do more than one thing at a time we end up not being able to do anything very good.  If I am writing this blog and talking to my wife at the same time, I’m not doing either very well.  We can only completely focus on one thing at a time.  Meditation helps us to train our brain to stay focused on the task at hand rather than letting our attention be pulled away by every passing thought and distraction. This one-pointed attention makes us more productive and less stressed.  I completely get this last point, I call it people watching, but I am easily distracted and could greatly benefit from more focus.  Besides, the bird singing made me miss that putt! 4. Enhances Your Creativity – Studies show that we have an amazing number of thoughts per day.  We have between 60,000 and 80,000 thoughts a day!  Wow, we must all be geniuses right?  Nope – unfortunately many of them are the same thoughts we had yesterday, last week, and last year.  It’s like the movie Ground Hog Day in our minds.  The mind tends to get stuck in repetitive thought loops that squeeze out the possibility for new ideas and inspiration.

5 Reasons Passion is Contagious   "Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." --Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel When it comes to customer service it is helpful to be on the right seat of the right bus.  That’s an analogy from “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.  What that essentially means is that people do their best when they are in the right position.  In customer service it definitely helps if this is what you enjoy doing.  But the more ideal person should have passion for the job.  When you have passion it becomes a game changer.  So today I want to discuss 5 Reasons Passion is Contagious and why you should have passion for your customer service work!  I have a day job, but I have a passion for customer service and that is why I’m here! 1.  Passion is Clarity – Passionate people tend to have clarity, a clarity that non-passionate people lack or don’t have.   When you become passionate in your work, it becomes what you focus on, what you dream about, talk about.  You begin to eat, sleep, and drink your passion.  We are all attracted or drawn to something.  Some of us are more drawn to certain things than others.  It can be politics, business, serving, or TV shows.   When you are passionate about something this then becomes your everything.  Your focus.  Your clarity.  When this is the case it is not difficult and doesn’t take much effort to care about your interest.  Passion takes all the work out of work and make it fun!  So, get on the right seat on the the right bus and things will be easier.  Are we clear on this? Good. 2.  Passion is Popular – Kent Julian, a speaking coach at Speak it Forward.com, teaches that you should end your speeches with, “As you can see, I am passionate about…”  Then you fill in the rest for whatever your topic might be about.  So at the end of my speeches I say, “As you can see, I am passionate about customer service”.   The reason he advises to tell people what they are passionate about in their work, is that people want to deal with and are attracted to passionate people.  Passion literally makes you popular.  Stop and think about it for a moment.  How much fun is it to hang out with someone who really doesn’t get excited about much?  Well, it just isn’t.  People are drawn to people who are excited about what they do for a living.  As a customer service person, when new customers eneter your area, they will be drawn to you like flies at a cookout if you have passion.  They will pick up on your energy, joy, and popularity!  You’ll finally get the recognition you deserve, you popular kid you! 3.  Passion is Exciting – My wife and I have a few shows that we enjoy together.  With 3 little kids it is our way to have an easy date, be together, and get a little entertainment while we are at it.  We enjoy watching America’s Got Talent or AGT as they refer to it.  We love to watch the show because we are looking for high quality acts.  Now the acts that do the best seem to have one common denominator.  What is that common denominator?  Passion!  They are passionate about what they do, their performance, their craft, dance, art, music, etc…..  Why else would they endure the long waits, tiring hours, and stress of the experience?  This passion, when well-rehearsed and delivered to an audience, spills out and leads to excitement.  Excitement that is contagious.  That’s what we are looking for.  People that have passion are exciting and fun to watch.  If you are passionate about what you do, you’ll be exciting to watch too!  Are you passionate about your customers?  Meeting a customer’s needs?  Well, if you are, then dealing with them will be exciting for you as well as the people watching you.  All I have to say is exciting!   "There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." --Nelson Mandela  4.  Passion is Contagious – Do you have kids?  If you do,

5 Simple Ideas for Thinking Big in Customer Service   "Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every o...

8 Steps to take after a Bad Social Media Review   "Refuse to let small, petty people distract you from your big purpose." --Unknown 1.  Breathe.   Stop and breathe.  Take a deep breath before reacting to any negative news.  When you are upset at a customer one of the worst things you can do is to allow your emotions to dictate your response.  In the world of Social Customer Service one of the pieces of advice that is given frequently is to respond quickly, but not in this instance.  As a matter of fact one of the smartest things you could do is to sleep on it.  Sleeping on it allows you to gain a new perspective on the situation.  You’ll become less emotional with the situation and hopefully a cooler head will prevail.  2.  Seek Wise Counsel.   Seek wise counsel is excellent advice.  It’s even in the bible. Proverbs 15:22 says,  "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."  This one action will help you and me from doing anything irrational and something we might regret.  Seeking wise counsel is also helpful if the person is not emotionally involved.  They will have a  better perspective and a better view of the beginning, middle and end of the situation. 3.  Consider the alternatives.  I love it when Dan Miller of 48 days says the we should not limit ourselves to either/or solutions.  He likes to look for "and" solutions.  So, in your anger perhaps you’ve decided that you should either go kick their butt or go strangle them.  Dan’s advice would be to kick their butt and strangle them.  You see you are not just limiting yourself to only one outcome.  Stop!  I was just kidding, please don't go kick someone's butt or strangle them.  Seriously though an “and “solution opens the door to other possibilities than just one or two things.  If you followed step #2 of Seeking Wise Counsel they should help you arrive at several possible approaches to the problem at hand.  This will help you create a clear plan of action with a predictable end result. 4.  Consider someone else.  Consider the reality that it might be in your best interest to let someone else respond to the complaint or allegation.  Even when we think we might be at the point of being sensible and non-prejudice the reality is we are directly involved.  It is very difficult to remove your emotions and feelings completely from the situation.  Consider allowing someone else see this particular situation to completion.  Besides, after this you may never want to deal with social media ever again.  So consider allowing someone else to take it over completely.  Do what you do best and that is to focus on the business or your work, not tweeting or posting! 5.  Don’t be condescending.  Whatever you do, don’t be condescending.  You might think you have enlightened the customer with your response or responses but you have only made yourself look bad and validated their original complaint.  There is a local corporate dental office here in town.  One of their patient’s posted a complaint.  The doctor felt it was his duty to respond and he did so with a lengthy post.  He did a nice job of apologizing and trying to make things right, but in between the apology and offers he became condescending.  In the end he ended up looking like a jerk which only justified the person’s reaction and complaint.  Way to go doc! Oh wait, was that condescending! 6.  Recover Remarkably.  I don’t have the perfect answer for every situation but there are ways in which you can recover remarkably.  The first is to not focus on the problem, focus on the solution.  Allow yourself and your posts to move beyond one bad posting.  Show the world that you are bigger than one complaint.  Want to counter your complaint?  Go and get fans, raving fans to be exact.  Have them post on your blog, Facebook page or tweet out positive messages on your behalf.  Most people aren’t dumb.  They know there are grumpy people in this world and you just can't make everyone happy. 7.

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 8 Ways to know if Serving Customers is Your Calling   The mountains are calling and I must go. --John Muir The opposite of being “called”  is often referred to as being "driven".   Driven people think they know everything, are typically caught up in the pursuit of acknowledgement, and are competitive to a fault.    That is not to say that being driven is all bad but being overly driven can be destructive to you and your relationships. Called people are different, they behave differently and think differently.  So here are 8 ways to know if Serving Customers is your Calling. 1.  You are humble.  You are humble with your knowledge. Called people understand that they don’t know everything.  There is still much to learn and they are open to new concepts and ideas.  Being called is about learning and realizing that you will get better by additional experiences and education.  Reading is always a great way to improve and expand your knowledge base.  When you are called you operate in your sweet spot and gathering information is energizing and rewarding.  On the other hand driven people believe that they know everything, are not open to new ideas and concepts and always think they know what they are doing. 2.  No Guarantees.  You realize that your relationships are on loan, your job is on loan and your position is on loan.  Called people have a tendancy to not take relationships, jobs, and position for granted.  They understand the importance of them and work to nurture, develop, and gain from them.  As a provider of customer service, you treat those relationships tenderly and attempt to meet the customer's needs in a productive manner. 3.  You know YOU.  You know who you are.  Called people know exactly who they are. We do not need to craft an identity, we already have one. We are beloved, no matter what we accomplish.  Knowing who we are takes some deep reflection. We are never as good or as bad as we think people see us.  Called people value relationships and grace-filled approval over any amount of applause. 4.  You are relational.  You seek genuine relationships. As a matter a fact, they perceive their identity as part of genuine relationships.  I asked one of my employees recently why she felt she was called to customer service and she responded by saying “I love customer service because I get to have a genuine relationship with other people.”  She didn’t hesitate in her answer.  It was so natural for her, as part of her calling. 8 ways to know if Serving Customers is your Calling. 5.  You are a teammate.  You get to be a part of a team.  If this is exciting and gets you fired up, then you are called to serve.  I recently asked another employee the same question, "How do you know you were called to serve?"  With a huge smile on her face and excitement in her voice she responded, “I feel called to be in customer service because I get to be a part of a team.”   Driven people think that being part of a team means you are in their way. 6.   It’s a stewardship.  Called people understand stewardship.  They see it as their responsibility to take care of the resources entrusted to them, their job,  position and customers for example. Their job is to shepherd and safeguard the value of relationships.  When driven people lose status it’s a crisis, when called people lose status it doesn’t change anything. 7.   Have a sense of purpose.  Called people possess an unwavering sense of purpose.  They are able to say "no" to that which is not their purpose. Called people do a lot more listening than talking…a lot more reflecting than speaking.  Called people choose their time and priorities according to their purpose.  The ability to say “no” is one of the keys to a person who has been called to customer service.  We say “yes” to the things that accomplish our purposes, and “no” to the things that distract us. 8.  Unwavering commitment.

10 Mistakes People Make with Customers Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source for learning” --Bill Gates Top 10 Mistakes People Make with Customers--David Letterman Style Courtesy of Sugar Pine Realty, Ca. 10.  Overlook that the customer is their greatest billboard. 9.  Forget that the customer is always right (even when they are sometimes wrong). 8.  Neglect marketing to them. 7.  Don't follow up after the sale (nurture customers for repeat business). 6.  Forget that without customers, there is no business. 5.  Overlook that they can't please everyone all the time, but they can please most people most of the time. 4.  Don't respond to customers' complaints. 3.  Forget to go the extra mile. 2.  Believe customers think like them. and the #1 Mistake People Make with Customers is... 1.  Treat customers like dirt and still expect them to make a purchase!

Image courtesy of chanpipat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 5 Customer Service Difference Makers “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” William James Do you want to make a difference in your company or business?  Are you willing to take your ...

5 Important Truths of Team Unity “Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” Mattie Stepanek    I don’t believe a business can rise to the level of exceptional with their customers unless it has a unified team.   Every business, company, and employee will perform better, enjoy their work more, and reach a higher level of success when they are unified.  As their team becomes unified, then so does their message.   By creating this unified team I, therefore, believe every business can attain exceptional customer service .  So how do we do that?  How does a team become unified?  Well, a great place to start is by recognizing these 5 Important Truths of Team Unity. 5 Important Truths of Team Unity 1.  You.   Or, as I like to say, unity starts with U!  What are you doing to improve YOU?  What are you doing to become a better boss, employee, father, coach, friend etc…?  What daily steps, if any, are you taking to be a better you?  Being a better you is the foundation needed to becoming part of a unified team.  Becoming better at something does not happen naturally.  We have to work at it.  Remember when we were little and we wanted to play baseball or perhaps soccer.  We would drive our parents crazy replaying that same kick or throw over and over til we got better.  Our hope was that one day we would get to use that skill in the big leagues.  Well guess what?  Now that you are in the big leagues, you can’t stop getting better.   It’s time to keep on practicing.  Keep kicking or throwing that ball against the wall.  So what are you doing to keep getting better?  Getting better requires being intentional with your time, your efforts, and your inputs. You have to put in the work and effort to improve yourself before you can expect to have a positive effect on others. 2.   Trust.  Funny thing about trust, it takes a long time to earn but only one second to lose it.  Trust is something that must be earned day by day.  You can earn your employees, co-workers, and friends trust first and foremost from leading by example.  Let them see that you’re the man/woman you say you are.  Are you the same person at the office and out of the office?  If you make any promises are you the kind of person that keeps them?  Don’t be that person that is always saying that you’ll get together or you’ll do this and that and never follow through.  Be the guy that does what he says and says what he does.  Ultimately you’ll be judged by what you do, not by what you say.  James Earl Carter, Jr. said, “To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others." 3.  Communication. George Bernard Shaw said it best, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."  Ahh... so much is either gained or lost by communication.  As Dave Ramsey says “If the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing then you can’t have unity."  What you end up with then, is a large gray area in the middle, which often times isn't good!  Without communication, people will use their own imaginations and pre-conceived notions to determine for the company what goes in the middle.  Don’t let that happen. Make communication an important part of your unification. 4.  Power.  There is a lot of power when a team becomes unified.  There are endless sports analogies of what a team is able to overcome by operating as a unit.  The best or most talented teams are not always the ones that win the Super bowl, the pennant, or the cup.  It is typically the best unified teams that win.  Super bowl winning coach and NY Times best-selling author, Tony Dungy, said that when he won the super bowl in the 2006-2007 season with the Baltimore Colts it was not with his most talented team.  He would have considered them to be the 4th or 5 most talented team that he had coached.  But what they had was unity in vision and desire.  When the going was good they fought hard,

How to Create a Culture of Wow!   “Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless.”                                                                   Jeffrey Gitomer The Customer Service Story of the Week is about The Residence Inn located in Franklin/Cool Springs, Tenn.  Click the Play button to listen! How do we get that customer loyalty?  How do we get a customer that is willing to come back again and again?  Even more importantly tell 2 or more friends!  Well, I believe it starts with your Wow Culture! I believe every business can create a Culture of Wow by adopting these 6 simple ideas. Solicit feedback.  Find out from your employees exactly what it is that they believe will be needed to create a Wow experience.  There is no one CEO or president of a company that has all the answers or ideas.  The smartest and the brightest always seek counsel. Dan Miller has a Master Mind e-book called 1+1=3.  The idea is that the power of two minds does not equal 2, the end result of putting two minds together has a greater effect with greater possibilities than a single mind.  When you solicit feedback from you staff or employees, you might be amazed as to the ideas and fun that can be created.  The ideas and creativity is an important part of what your company is to become.     Eliminate rules.  When I was younger I was in the Air Force.  The culture of the military is "we will do the thinking for you, your job is to execute".  How do they accomplish this?  Well, they do it by rules.  If it doesn’t achieve the goal then they add more rules, and so on and so on.  I think you would agree with me that there is no culture of Wow with a lot of rules.  The opposite is necessary if you’re going to change your culture.  Take a look at the rules and begin to eliminate the un-necessary ones.  With too many rules people will begin to feel micro-managed.  This will lead to the elimination of trust and responsible workers. Have Fun.  You should create opportunities for fun in the workplace.  At Christmas time we have a decorating contest.  Each area of my office decorates their section into the Christmas theme of their choice.  For example the previous year we decorated ours to resemble “The Grinch that Stole Christmas”, another area loves Jimmy Buffett so they created a tropical Christmas theme.  Our employees love the process of decorating and the joy of competition.  But the fun didn’t stop there.  We extended the fun beyond our employees.  As the patients visited our facility we would hand them a voting slip and they would tour the office and vote on the theme they liked the best.  On our last day of work before breaking for Christmas I would tally the votes and reward everyone for their efforts and the winning team with a special prize.  Every year we have done this, it has gone over very well and the best part is how creative and fun the office has become.  So don’t be afraid to have fun, your employees and your culture will thank you for it. For a seven step process of how to create Wow in the workplace please download my free pdf called 7 Steps to Wow!  I’ll have a link in the show notes or you can download it directly from my website at ubergoodexperience.com/resources.   Employee decisions.  Don’t be afraid to get your employees involved in decision making.  This is a wonderful idea for a couple of reasons. The 1st is it helps to take some of the pressure off the owner's and/or management's shoulders from having to decide everything.  Now I’m not saying all of their ideas will be grand but either are yours.  Lord knows I’ve made some bad decisions.  But perhaps they might have been avoided had I solicited the help and ideas of my staff.  The 2nd is that it creates a sense of ownership in the company.  Employees that feel like they own part of the company will naturally want to work harder and take more pride in its success. A company is not an individual sport, it’s a team sport.

How to Deal With an Angry Customer   "Speak when you are angry and you  will make the best speech you will ever regret." ---Ambrose  Bierce---   This week’s Customer Service story is from Ivan in New York and is called “You are an Angel”  Clic...

7 Reasons Positive Talk is Good for Customer Service "Your state of mind today will be your state of life tomorrow. Trust in a brighter future and it will come your way. When at war with yourself, you're more likely to start a war with others. Create peace within yourself to make peace with those around you." ---Kemmy Nola---   Customer Service Story of the Week "Here's Your Tip!" Click Play Above to Listen Innovate is the Conference I attended in Franklin, Tenn.  It was awesome!  Here are a few of the books written by the speakers.  Dan Miller: 48days to the Work You Love, Michael Hyatt: Platform; Get Noticed in a Noisy World, Ken Davis: Secrets of Dynamic Communications, Chad Jeffers: 25 Notes for the Successful Musician. What's A Dobro?  A dobro is an acoustic guitar with a metal resonator built into its body. Here's the picture of my suitcase after the Fire!  Yikes!!! 7 Reasons Positive Talk is Good for Customer Service   1.  It reduces stress!   Researchers are finding more and more evidence pointing to the many benefits of positive talk.  Such findings suggest that positive talk makes you less stressed and also gives you a greater sense of overall well-being. 2. It’s Attractive!  While you might think that positive talk and positive influences only affect you in the moment, you have to remember that because you are around peple, you serve people, and that is your environment, it is actually so much more. 3. Good health!   In recent years, researchers have found that your mind can have a powerful effect on your body. Immunity is one area where your thoughts and  attitudes can have a particularly powerful influence. 4.  Attitude of Gratitude!  Now the opposite of resentment and dissatisfaction is gratitude. You have the power to turn any negative talk to positive talk.  By doing so you will develp the power of gratitude or an attitude of gratitude. 5.  Softened Heart!  When you are a positive talker it naturally makes you less likely to look at things and think of people pessimistically.  You begin to see the good in people and the good in things.  It lowers your defenses and gets the idea that, “they are out to get me” out of your mind. 6.  Improves your skills!   This is know as the Broaden and Build theory.  It states that positive emotions, created through positive talk, broaden your sense of possibilities and open your mind, which in turn allows you to build new skills and resources that can provide value in your life.  You see the benefits of positive words don’t stop after a few minutes of good feelings subside. In fact, one of the biggest benefits that positive talk provides is an enhanced ability to build skills and develop resources for use later. 7.  Better Coping Skills!   When faced with stressful situations, positive talkers or thinkers cope more effectively than negative ones do.  We all know that dealing with customers can be unpredictable at times.  We must remain flexible and able to adapt to every situation.  Positive talk does just that.  By improving your coping skills it gives you the flexibility needed to cope with the changes of serving people. 7 Reasons Positive Talk is Good for Customer Service! Do you believe in Positive Talk?  What affect has it had in your life?  Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!

7 Reasons Gossip is Bad for Customer Service Our Customer Service Story of the Week is called, Here’s Your Package! And it comes to us from Darice in Holliday, Texas! Click on Play Above to hear her story! "Gossip is the Devil's radio." ---George Harrison--- 7 Reasons Gossip is Bad for Customer Service 1.  Its Gossip!  That simple.  Anything said in less than a constructive manner can be viewed as gossip.  Now if the setting is appropriate, for example, breaking down the scenario with your supervisor or boss, then it’s not gossip.  This is called taking it up or moving it up. 2.  Affects others.  When you decide to vent or gossip about a customer, to a co-worker, you pull them into the situation.  They might be having a marvelously productive day, but your pulling them in takes them away from their productivity or task. 3. Hardens hearts! – Gossip hardens hearts.  The free dictionary defines a hardened heart as to make unfeeling, unsympathetic, or callous.  What happens when you complain once or about one customer is that It becomes easier to complain a second time or about a second customer.  And even easier to complain a third time and so on and so on.  If you complain enough times it can become habitual. 4.  Other foot.  The shoe might be or have been on the other foot.  You might have been there once yourself.  Question!  Do you buy products or consume services?   You’re not just a provider, you’re a service and services consumer.   Just because we provide service doesn’t mean we are always the best at receiving it.  Keeping in mind that the shoe might just be or might have been on the other foot will help you keep things in perspective and ultimately allow you to serve your customers better. 5.  Lingering affect.  Speaking negatively about a customer or situation can have a lingering effect on you and others.  After you’ve completed the transaction, with the difficult customer, there is still another just around the corner.  You might be frustrated but to gossip or speaking negatively of the situation will cause it to linger and ultimately effect the next person you’re dealing with.  You have to decide it’s not personal and move on to the next customer.  You are a professional and every new person is a chance to serve and serve well. You never know, the next person served might just make your day! 6.  It’s contagious.  It’s like a bacteria man!  Something you don’t want to catch!  When you start to gossip it’s like a disease, it’s contagious.  It spreads, it pulls people in.  Be contagious in a positive manner not a negative one like Gossip! 7. Your Company.  When you vent or gossip about a customer your are tearing down your company.  It’s poisoning your workplace. Negative speak and Office gossip can create tension and disruption in a workplace, can undermine productivity and can cause irreparable damage. It hurts morale and as I mentioned earlier it can take the focus of employees away from their more important responsibilities.  Also if you take the gossip outside of the workplace, what are people to think about your company?  They go around and discuss their clients behind their back?  Well I’m a client, so what do they say about me?  Remember your company is your bread and butter, it’s what pays the bills, sends your kids to college.  Is it worth poisoning the workplace or spreading negative talk outside the walls? 7 Reasons Gossip is Bad for Customer Service Does Your Business Have a NO Gossip Policy?  I'd like to hear about it! May all your experiences be Uber Good Experiences, now go and serve wisely!    

5 Simple Steps for a Customer Service Plan   Our 'Customer Service Story of the Week' comes from Brian in Dallas.  Click on the PLAY  button above to listen. “You never get a second chance to make a good first Impression” ---Will Rogers--- So now onto 5 Simple Steps for a Customer Service Plan 1.  See the Value.  Obviously before we begin any adventure we need to see the value in it. Webster’s defines value as “to regard highly, esteem".   So in order to transform the customer service experience, you need to recognize its value and regard it highly.  Without that anything beyond this first step will be for naught. Studies show that it can cost between 6-10 times more to get a new customer than it does to keep one. 2.  Have a Vision.  Making a plan requires a vision.  The bible tells us in Proverbs 29:18 that “Where there is no vision the people perish”.  The same can be said about a business.  Where there is no customer service plan, the customer will leave or even worse the business will perish.  I've created a questionnaire to help you develop your own personal customer service plan for FREE--  10 Questions to ask in Developing a Customer Service Plan. 3.  Set a Date.  Set a start or implementation date.  Setting a date helps in giving you a mental time line for preparation and completion.  It’s essentially goal setting.  Zig Ziglar said “A goal properly set is halfway reached”. So by setting a date you are literally half way there! By setting a date you are providing direction, facilitating the planning, and limiting your stress. 4.  Proper Training.  So maybe you have recognized the value, you’ve worked hard to make a plan, you’ve even set a date so that you will be sure to follow through.  But it will all be worth nothing if there is no training!  Last year I decided I was going to run my second half marathon.  After making that decision I knew that I had to see the value in it to stay motivated.  I had to make a plan so I downloaded a schedule on-line.  I set the date and finally began the training.  Yes, the training.  I could not expect myself to complete the half marathon, especially in a decent time, without the proper training.  So we can’t expect our staff or fellow employees to do a decent job of treating the customer exceptionally without the proper training. 5.  The Execution. Ready, aim, fire!  No, not that type of execution,  the execution or implementation of the plan.  Time to implement all the hard work you’ve applied in the previous four steps.  In order to properly execute you may have to delegate the responsibility.  This does not mean that you should not manage the plan but the truth is you can’t be everywhere all of the time.  Having followed the previous steps allows you to delegate and accomplish the goal of transforming the customer service experience.  Keep in mind no plan is perfect from its inception.  There will need to be some plan adjustments and corrections as it is being executed. So if you want a new customer service plan or to transform your existing plan be sure and consider these 5 Simple Steps for a Customer Service Plan.   See the value, have a vision, set a date, have the proper training, and then execute! Pow! Remember, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.  So do the homework, do the work, and make it count. May all your experiences be Uber Good Experiences.  Now go and serve wisely! Does Your Business Have A Customer Service Plan? I'd like to hear about it!     

10 Principles of Servant Leadership   This week’s story is called!  Bada  pah pah pah, "Not loving it" and it comes from me! (Rafael Perez) Click Play Above to listen to this unbelievable tale! “I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.” ---Nelson Mandela--- We all lead somewhere.  Where do you lead?  Church, work, your family?  I believe that when you choose to lead like a servant that’s when you can provide the best customer service experience. Recalling my previous  my blog post, after Getting the “I” out,  you start seeing the rest of the world.  It’s amazing what it will do for you.  Dave Ramsey says, "The best way to not be selfish is to do or give to others."  That makes perfect sense.  If it’s all about you then your heart is not open to see the needs of others or your customers.  In order to get away from focusing on self you have to do the opposite--focus on others, focus on the customer. 10 Principles of Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf 1.  Listening - When you are a servant leader you make a commitment to listening intently to others.  You also seek to identify and clarify the will of a group.  Paying close attention to what is being said but sometimes more importantly what is not being said. 2.   Empathy - What is empathy?  To help clarify, we’ll define sympathy first.  Sympathy is implying pity but you maintain distance from another’s feelings.  For example, feeling sorry for a person,  "I’m really sorry that happened to you."    Empathy on the other hand is more a sense that one can truly understand or imagine the depth of another person’s feelings.  It’s like saying, "I feel you man! I feel ya! And I’m right there with ya!" 3.  Healing - Learning to heal is a powerful force for transformation and integration. One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing one's self and others. 4.  Awareness - General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens the servant-leader. Deciding to be self-aware can be scary, you never know what you might discover. 5.  Persuasion - Servant-leaders rely on persuasion, rather than positional authority in making decisions. Servant-leaders seek to convince others, rather than coerce  compliance. 6.  Conceptualization - Servant-leaders seek to nurture their abilities to "dream great dreams."  The ability to look at a problem (or an organization) from a  conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day realities. 7.    Foresight - Foresight is a characteristic that enables servant-leaders to understand lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision in the future. 8.  Stewardship - Robert Greenleaf's view of all institutions was one in which CEO's, staff, directors, and trustees all play significant roles in holding their institutions accountable for the greater good of society. 9.  Commitment to the Growth of People - Servant-leaders believe that people have an intrinsic worth beyond their tangible contributions as workers.  As such, servant-leaders are deeply committed to the personal, professional, and spiritual growth of each and every individual within the organization. 10.  Building Community - Servant-leaders are aware that the shift from local communities to large institutions has led to us having a changed perception of community and an overall feeling of communal loss.  Bottom line is we just aren’t as close as we once were. How can you lead YOUR organization or business  using these 10 principals of servant leadership?  See the ReRun Dance!!