I met a friend for coffee today that I haven’t seen in a few years. He had already arrived and was reading the news on his iPhone.
“Man, can you believe all the negative news.” he said as he rose to shake my hand.
No. I told him. First the economy and now the swine flu. I told him of an article I’d written about staying positive in an economic recession. I said – I guess I sound a little like Pollyanna. Ever the optomist.
“You know, that’s never a bad thing,” he assured me.
Then I came back to the office and an inspiring missive by Erma Bombeck in my email. A wonderful positive message (see at the bottom of this post).
On e-entertainment videos is the latest from Kirstie Alley who has gained back the 75 pounds she lost with Jenny Craig and is bound and determined to loose the weight again. Faced with a huge goal (no pun intended) she is approaching it with a positive attitude!
So I just decided that today is the first day of the rest of my life and I’m going to view it through rose colored glasses! Make the most of every moment. Like Scarlett O’Hara – I’ll be stressed about the negative stuff tomorrow.
What do you say – let’s make this an I’m happy to be alive day! Imagine how our positive attitude will rub off all of those we come in contact with!
IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER – by Erma Bombeck
(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, ‘Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.’ There would have been more ‘I love you’s’ More ‘I’m sorry’s.’
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute.look at it and really see it . live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!
Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what
Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.
Imagine learning from some of the most well respected names in the social media industry: Brian Clark, Ann Handley, Michael Sletzner and Gary Vaynerchuk.
These are just a few of the presenters who will be taking the mystery out of social media and helping you build your audience on the web. The Social Media Summit is a live online event that begins May 26 and continues for several days with great topics, panel discussions and a chance for you to send in your questions.
Social media is the latest, most effective way to reach your customers, build relationships, garner opinions and make a name for yourself. Are you using social media effectively? Click here for more information on the Social Media Summit.
“I just have a local business. How can social media help me? It looks like a big, confusing waste of time to me!”
Have you heard this? Do you say this? As a speaker of such topics as customer service and marketing for entrepreneurs, I often talk of the value of making the most of your online presence. I’m surprised by how many business owners still resist the Internet for their business. Some even lack a basic website.
Ramon DeLeon owns several Domino Pizza locations in Chicagoland and has effectively used social media to reach out to his customers and the community at large. I learned about Ramon thanks to Ben at Church of the Customer. Ben shares how the Lincoln Park Dominos used a video apology to connect with a specific customer, and in the process also sends a message to the blogosphere that shows how connected and commited they are to their customer’s satisfaction.
Beth Harte shares even more details into Ramon (owner of multiple Dominos in Chicago) and his use of social media.
You may not see the need to be connected to the social network, but I guarantee you; your customer is!
You’ve heard it said that a dissastified customer tells seven or ten or fifteen people. Those were the old days. Thanks to social media a dissatisfied customer can spread the word to the WORLD that you missed the boat. If you are actively involved on the web you can quickly respond to your customer and fix the situation.
How do you get started? The first place to start is monitoring the web for your company name. Sign up for Google Alerts to see when you or your company is mentioned. On Twitter, you can sign up for Monitter which will monitor Tweets to see when you or your company are mentioned. Jump into the conversation with both hands and connect with your customers.
How do you use social media to connect with your customers?
I have a new customer. She is in the business of residential mortgages. Not a good time for her business, is it?
Actually – she’s doing great.
But oh those foreclosures. Bet she has a lot of irate customers, huh?
Nope. Currently her foreclosure rate is less than 1%.
So she just sells those small houses, right?
Nope. She’s certified and successful with the over $400k homes as well.
So what’s her secret? She sums it up in one sentence: “I put the customer first.”
Her salary is commission-based and if you’ve ever been in a job where your income is based on commissions you know that you pay close attention to the financial details. Unlike a job where you know what your paycheck will be, those who work for commission receive a different amount each month based on previous month’s sales.
“Oh, I never know what I’m going to make in any given month,” she told me. “I don’t worry about it. If I think about my commission then I’m not doing what’s best for my customer. However, if I focus solely on my customer, I TRUST that the money will be there. That belief has never failed me.”
Not even in this economy.
What can we learn from that approach?
My Dad was ordained as a commissioned minister of Organizational Development in the UCC of New England. He helped congregations resolve internal conflict. I remember him telling of a different approach to the annual pledge drive.
“Most churches ask members to give and once people make their pledges, the church budget is based on the amount of money raised,” he explained. “However, a more successful approach requires the church set their budget first. They determine their financial needs to operate the church and then what outreach or mission programs they’d like to be involved with and what additional services or structural needs they may have. Once they determine the final budget, it is presented to the congregation. In every case the money is raised to support the budget. In fact, I’ve seen churches raise even more money. Interestingly enough – the amount raised is always more than if they just asked people to pledge a certain dollar amount.”
Faith. Focus. Belief. Putting the customers and programs first and trusting the money will follow.
So let’s just work this out a little bit. What happens if I focus on the money first?
Each prospect is assigned a dollar amount – the potential sale they represent
It becomes a numbers game – the more phone calls, the more prospects, the more sales closed, the more commission earned
No time for relationships because I need to move on to the next possible sale
Difficulty sleeping as I lay in bed counting possible commission and subtracting it from the monthly bills to determine if there will be an excess or a deficit
Minimal repeat business – I didn’t build a relationship therefore there isn’t customer loyalty so I’m constantly looking to close new sales
How about if I focus on the customer entirely?
I learn about their needs
I listen to their expectations
I hear their frustrations with past experiences and hopes for the future
I uncover fears, road blocks and true needs
I provide solutions
Together we build a relationship
The customer is satisfied – feels valued – remembers us for the future, refers us to their friends
The quality of sale increases because I’ve uncovered needs they didn’t realize they had and offered comprehensive solutions far bigger than originally discussed
They become loyal customers, true friends
Can you see how focusing on the customer will ultimately drive the sales?
The phone rang not long ago, as it is apt to do, and the woman at the other end of the phone said:
“I know you won’t remember me, but I attended a seminar you gave about three years ago on Generational Marketing. Are you still on the speaking circuit? I really liked your speaking style – it was one of the only sessions that I stayed awake. I’m in need of a speaker next month and wondered if you were interested.”
Three years ago. Talk about planting a seed!
We never know how something we say or do will impact others. What kind of an impression will it make? How long will they remember?
In this “I want it now,” need-for-speed, immediate gratification world we live in, we sometimes forget that good things come to those who wait. That sometimes the best things are worth waiting for and some people just don’t need us and what we offer today - but if we make a good enough impression – they may need us three years from now.
So how can you leave a lasting impression?
One way is to make sure you are all about providing value. If you are constantly thinking about closing the deal you are going to miss the opportunity to make a positive impression. If the person doesn’t look like they will sign on the dotted line that very minute, we may lose interest and move on to someone with their wallet open, money dangling. People can sense your motivation. If they feel you are only in it for what they can provide to YOU, you’ll be forgotten in the time it takes to make eye contact with the person standing next to you.
However, if you show genuine interest in those you are meeting and talking with – if you ask questions – if you share your knowledge – if you give without expecting something in return – you’ll stand out. You’ll make an impression.
Take it a step further. GIVE SOMETHING AWAY. Yesterday I was talking with a prospect about writing her website content. I submitted a proposal and she called to say it wasn’t in the budget right now. We talked about the possibility of just writing a portion of the site now and the rest later. In the meantime I said to her, “Something you can do for yourself is write a listing of key words and phrases that your web developer can put in the Source Code.”
As a webwriter I charge for the content I write – what is visible to the reader and what is hidden in the Source code for the search engine spiders. However, in this case I spent some time on the phone talking with her about things she could do on her own to help the visibility of her site. I’m not going to send her an invoice. It was just the right thing to do to help someone out.
What do you do to help someone out – just because it is the right thing to do?
Be yourself. Another way to make a lasting impression is to just be yourself. If that means, casual, funny and easy to be around – all the better. We been raised to believe we need to be in our three-piece suit, using our best grammar, high-fulooting vocabulary in order to be taken seriously in business. Trouble is – that stiff, professional exterior is difficult to relate to, can be intimidating and if you leave an impression – it probably isn’t positive. Be yourself. In order to make an impression, you need to strive to make a connection – start a relationship. It is easier to build a relationship with someone who is enjoyable to be around.
Be patient. You just don’t know when the person you are meeting today will need to reconnect.
You just don’t know if the person you are talking to will refer you to a friend. However, if you focus on being yourself, offering something of value, showing genuine interest in others and giving away information when it is needed – you’ll leave a lasting impression that may just knock on your door next month, next year or in three years from now!
I just wrote an article for Open Forum called Staying Positive in an Economic Depression. The news is so negative: each day you hear of someone close loosing their job or companies closing or employees being asked to take time off without pay each month so the company can stay financially afloat.
With all that negative – how do you stay positive?
Or do you?
In the article I talk about:
Finding a new approach to your sales process – selling smaller and more frequently rather than putting all your eggs in the basket of a large proposal
Using this time to learn something new -with social media being front and center in the news – are you using your down time to learn what it is and how it can help you connect with customers/employers?
Surround yourself with positive people. Every situation has a positive spin – do you hang with those that focus on the negative or those that look for the silver lining – the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
Back to basics – one person who commented on the article said that she views this as an opportunity to have quality family time – board games, rented videos, home cooked meals, tossing the ball in the back yard – planting a garden that will help feed you this summer (I added that little ditty)
I went to a Weight Watchers meeting today becuase I’ve been faithfully watching my weight…grow. Part of the Weight Watcher process is writing down, or tracking what you eat. The lesson today was the importance of tracking your food intake. When you write what you bite you’ll find more success at the scale.
The leader talked through all of the EXCUSES we have for not doing what we know we need to do: writing what we eat. So she passed out pens and paper and had us each write one thing that helps us be successful at writing down our food intake. She collected our answers and as we left the meeting we took one idea out of the basket. A positive tip to help us be successful.
Sharing positive ideas is a great way to spread the positive feeling. So how do you stay positive? Share you tips here so we can all benefit.
It saddens me when I hear stories of customers and companies fighting over something that can be so simply resolved. With everything going on in our lives, why do we choose to spend our energy fighting when working together can be so much more satisfying.
I just found a post written by Kevin Stirtz in which he tells a sad tale of returning an item at a regional home improvement store. Things went fine until it came time to get his money back. And then a fight ensued. A manager had to be called. Blood pressures rose. Kevin sums it up by saying:
They broke the first rule of Amazing Service. They failed to give me what I wanted right away. They made me fight for it.
At fault here are both the company and the employees.
Sure they might have been following store policy. But they were also being stupid. Whatever the company policy is don’t try to get a customer to accept something they clearly don’t want. And if you have the ability to give them what they want, then do it. Do it quickly and courteously.
Don’t make customers fight for what they want.
To me, this is a clear case where the employees and managers are trained to respect and adhere to the company policies; the customer be hanged. Sometimes I wish we could just listen to how we sound. I think if we could listen to ourselves argue with customers – later when the emotion is removed from the situation – it would almost be comical if it weren’t so sad.
It reminds me of little kids fighting until the tears flow. When you ask what the fight is about, most times they can’t even remember! If we just LISTENED to what the customer wanted and thought creatively about how to fill their request we’d have far less customer battles.
What comes first in your company? The policies or the customer?
“How’s business? What kind of impact is the economy having on sales?”
We used to start social conversation by asking “what’s your sign” or “How’s tricks” but now the economy seems to be the center of attention for all conversation; business and personal.
Just the other day I was talking to a friend who told me a story that has a lesson we can all learn from.
“Sales are down from last year, but not that bad,” he said. “The biggest challenge is keeping my sales force from jumping to the conclusion that we have to discount to stay a viable option.”
Now if you’ve been watching the news or reading the paper you know that many retailers are doing just that. Home Depot has a new television ad about their new lower prices, the car wash I talked about last week lowered their prices by $2 a service and some businesses – like Dennys are even giving food away for free. Not lower your prices?
“One of my sales guys came to me the other day in a panic that we were about to loose a regular client,” he explained.
“The word on the street is that ABC Corporation is putting a product out to bid that we’ve supplied for years. You need to call them right now and lower the price or we are going to lose their business.”
“Now hold on Nellie,” my friend said. “Let’s just sit back and make sure we have all the facts.”
He called his contact within the organization and confirmed that one of the products was in fact being re-bid, however, only to one other company. The competition was known for poor turn around times and less than stellar customer service. My friend spend a good amount of time listening to the customer. Asking about their business, their needs, their reason for the bid process and what they hoped to accomplish. At the end of the conversation, the sale was confirmed at the original price.
“I think we learned three things from that situation,” he told me:
1. Don’t panic. Just because you hear something through the grapevine doesn’t make it gospel. So before you jump off the cliff, take a deep breath and then…
2. Get all the facts. And get the facts from the actual source that can provide the truth – not through someone who knows someone who once dated your customer.
3. Stay in communication with your customers. The fact is, companies are looking at ways to save money and that may mean that a contract you’ve had for a long time may be in jeopardy. But if you stay in touch – asking how things are going – what can I do to help – what are your goals and how can we work together to help you be successful – in other words -HAVE A RELATIONSHIP with your customer, you are more likely to keep the contract without cutting costs.
Great Clips of Hudson, Ohio announced recently that they are offering FREE haircuts to residents of Hudson who are out of work.
When you are looking for a job, you want to feel good about yourself and Great Clips anticipates the needs of those job hunting by giving them one free haircut.
It seems like such a little thing and yet can make such a big difference to someone out of work. Hats off to Great Clips owners Jeff and Janie Lehman, for understanding the needs of their community and reaching out to make a difference.
p.s. in searching the Hudson Great Clips, I found that they are also contributors to the local library. Way to be an active part of the community!
How are you helping the members of your community? What can you offer that will help someone in need?
A friend of mine took her two young boys to Paris for Spring Break this year. Must be nice! So how was the trip? Great except for the last leg of their flight home.
“Our flight from Philadephia was cancelled and here I was in an airport, wanting to get home and trying to entertain my boys,” she told me.
We’ve all been there at one time or another. We know the frustration of having to put Plan B into place. So what did she do?
“I figured that if I wanted to get my kids on a flight home I needed to be as nice as possible to the agent. I needed to kill them with kindness.”
Wait – who is the customer service representative? The customer???
“It worked,” she told me. “I smiled and told her how grateful I was that she was doing her job and what a challenging position she had and how I admired her and pretty soon she found us three seats on a flight home.”
Oh. My. Gosh.
“You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” she reminded me. “So I just piled on the sugar. That’s how you get good customer service – you schmooze the employee.”
Just how twisted a world are we living in that to get good customer service from a company the CUSTOMER has to provide it? Am I crazy or does this seem backward?
Be the First to Comment 
“How’s business? What kind of impact is the economy having on sales?”
Great Clips of Hudson, Ohio 
A friend of mine took her two young boys to Paris for Spring Break this year. Must be nice! So how was the trip? Great except for the last leg of their flight home.
