Invest in Customer Service
How much money and time do you invest in customer service training ( books, seminars, cd’s etc) to improve your skills ?
The average answer is “Nothing. I go to work and learn while I’m there”
Would you feel comfortable visiting a doctor who had that philosophy? or a dentist?
and knowing that a large majority of customer service and sales people have the above philosophy……..
are you surprised that most customer service is very poor ? or that many many sales people are not good at their craft?
Read a book, buy a cd.
Please improve, even if you’re very good……. there’s still so much more to learn !
Extreme Choices
So you won’t try the advice from yesterday.
That’s ok, most people will agree with you.
They will say it’s too difficult to not look at either/or choices.
Try this instead then ( a different road to get to the same destination)
- Make your second choice painful
File my taxes today…… or else I will go to jail !
Work out today…….. or I will die a painful death tomorrow!
Get up now…….. or I will be fired from my job !
Now at first glance you might say I’m being over dramatic. But when do most people submit their taxes? that’s right….. when a penalty is imminent.
I admit the second choice you present yourself with has to be extreme, because it needs to force you into action.
The real trick isn’t coming up with the extreme choice, it’s fooling your mind into believing the story you tell it !
Given the Choice…….
Given a choice, most everyone chooses the easy path.
- Work out now or work out later ? most say later.
- Get up now or sleep for another 10 minutes? most sleep.
- File my taxes now or wait until tomorrow ? most wait.
The list goes on and on……. the results are the same.
So how does a person avoid this trap?
Here’s one solution; Don’t give yourself choices.
Stop the either/or cycle.
Do this.
Do it now.
There is no later.
Treat your actions as a first impression…… you only get one chance to do it right.
Don’t Give Up
I met a gentleman yesterday. I had met him a week or two ago; but I got to know him a bit better yesterday. He came into my restaurant to sell us advertising space in a local coupon book. I began to ask him about his past …….I blinked, and an hour and a half had suddenly flown by.
This man was fascinating ! He’d done so much with his life, and his ability to retell these events held me captivated.
He also gave me hope, and recharged me.
It’s easy to get down, for all of us. Once you begin the downhill journey, it can be difficult to climb out of it. Most people get to a certain point and simply give up.
Imagine floating in the middle of the ocean with no hope of being rescued. Each person will tread water for a different length of time. Eventually every single person’s strength and determination will leave them, resulting in a slow sinking below the water surface.
What would happen if, at your darkest moment of despair, you saw another person floating slowly towards you? You would likely find a new reserve of strength and attempt to get close to the other survivor. Once the two of you got close enough, both of you would be re energized by each other.
You would survive a little longer.
This man who walked into my store the other day was a fellow survivor, wading through life and doing very well at it. I was getting tired of the wading…..
Thanks to Glenn, who will likely never read this blog.
To the rest of you…… don’t give up. Look on the horizon and find someone to help you.
No one can do it alone.
It really is that simple.
We love to complicate things. Maybe because, from an uninformed perspective, things look really complicated.
We hate to appear stupid. Rather than admit our short comings…… we console ourselves by saying topics and skills are so complicated, that only an expert can understand .
What am I talking about specifically? Pick a topic. Love, how to play the guitar, the stock market, real estate, customer service, marketing, tooth decay, ,,,,,, anything.
Everyone shrugs.
The novice who quits, shrugs and claims it’s too complicated.
The master shrugs and says things are so simple.
Who’s right?
They both are.
Everything is complicated when you first see it. Do you want to spend enough time and effort to understand your topic ? If do, then things will change from complicated…… to simple.
It’s magic……yet it works every time.
If you’re content to see things as complicated; then you will remain frustrated and a novice.
If you continuously struggle to see things as simple; you will be on your way to becoming a master.
the life long novice accomplishes nothing.
When Will They Learn……….?
When do you learn?
- Everyone is expected to learn when they attend a class or seminar…..
- We should learn from our mistakes…..
-But what about other peoples mistakes ? If you see a total stranger messing up in real life, do you attempt to learn from that?
You see a parent scold their child in a public store….. do you think to yourself, “Wow, what a bad parent. Freaking out on their kids in a public place and over reacting.” or, “That is one terrbile kid, the parents should be ashamed of themselves.”
Do you Judge or do you Learn?
It’s impossible to do both at the same time.
Learning will benefit you more.
Great Summer Activity for your Kids !
My kids are too young for any real job, but we wanted to give them a chance to make a little bit of money while keeping their school skills honed over the sumer.
Here’s what we came up with…. Helped them make a Blog and each day that they post to it they can earn 2 dollars. Not a lot of money, but also not a ton of work for them to do.
The benefit to them – they get a bit of money that can add up over a couple months. They also earn it, so they are a bit more discerning about how they spend it.
The benefit to the parents ( and to the kids to but they don’t consider it a benefit) - They keep their writing and reading and creative skills in practice. Already after just a couple days they are doing very well and slamming out their blog entry in very little time.
Blogs are serious business in the world today, My kids are getting introduced to them and seeing that they can be used to make money.
It works for Seth Godin and many others…… it could work for them someday soon! If it doesn’t at least a couple of the 3 r’s are still being practiced.
Here are their blogs if you want to take a look;
If you do check them out please leave a comment, I know they would be thrilled to hear from you !
Sucbscribe Here
