Recently, I was engaged in a conversation with some friends about customer service and some of our recent experiences. As is natural, the stories quickly deteriorated into laughable displays of everything customer service should not be. Story begat story about how a simple customer service issue quickly became a quagmire of bad systems, bad decisions, red tape, and rude customer service reps. Each story was rewarded with painful laughter, shaking of heads, and a general disbelief that anyone would ever believe calling customer service can ever be considered a good idea.
After nearly doubling over in pain from laughter about some of the experiences, I decided it was time to reverse the fields and tell a story about a good customer service experience that I had. I recounted the story about quickly reaching a human being to talk to rather than a lengthy, hierarchical phone menu. The person I dealt with spoke perfect English and I later learned that she lived and worked in Texas. When I described my issue, this person asked me a few intelligent, probing questions and then began to walk me through to a very satisfactory solution. I was actually pleased with the experience and told my friends the specifics of what worked for me and how it impacted my view of the entire company. This company, which I hadn’t given a lot of thought to before, suddenly took on a positive light for me, and made me think well of the entire organization.
My story was followed by another story from one of the listeners about an experience he had with a very small company that took exceptionally good care of him. He remarked how the positive interaction had impacted him and how, as the result of this experience, he had sent several of his friends to this same company to have work done. In this particular case, he had not been dealing with a customer service rep but just one of the employees of the company.
The simple truth is that each time one of our employees touches one of our customers it creates an impression of the company that has long term implications. When our experience with a member of the company is good, we walk away with a favorable impression. When our experience is bad or lacking in any way, it impacts us negatively, often giving us pause before using that product or service again.
There are certainly a number of factors that impact the way your employees or your Customer Service Reps treat your customers. Part of the issue is training. Have the employees been properly trained on handling complaints? Do they know how to disarm aggressive callers? Are they competent on the systems that they use to find answers quickly and efficiently?
Another key issue for Customer Service Reps is attitude. Do they honestly and sincerely believe it is their job to make the customer happy? Or, are they focused on handling calls within the 2 minute and 37 second guideline that they have been given? How do you go about instilling a positive attitude in the people who, after your sales team, have the most direct customer contact day after day.
I always find it somewhat ironic that “Customer Service” reps are often the lowest paid employees of an organization, receive the most training, and have the highest turnover. Yet these same employees are the ones who are talking directly to our customers. They have intimate contact with people who will likely decide, based on these interactions, whether they will ever buy from us again. Why is it that the people who come in direct contact with our customers are not the highest paid employees?
As you think about your customers and your desire to build your revenues and create long term customers, consider the impact that your Customer Service Organization has on your business. And then ask yourself these simple questions:
Is my Customer Service Organization structured and compensated like they are the key to long term customer satisfaction? Or have I simply created a cost center where customer satisfaction goes to die?
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Lost Art of Listening – Part 2
In last week’s blog, I recounted a “discussion” between two friends of mine where it was clear that neither side was really listening to the other. Instead, they were intent on making their own points in the argument regardless of what the other person was saying. It’s not exactly a secret that two monologues do not make a dialogue, yet too often that is exactly the way our discussions are treated.
Listening is something that most of us say that we do well, but few actually do. I’m sure there was a time in the history of man when people really listened to each other, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you when the time was, or why people stopped listening to each other. However, I can tell you some secrets to good listening that the best listeners employ and that make them “great conversationalists.” The secrets themselves are not complex and do not involve a lot of deep psychological understanding to employ. But, while they are simple to discuss, they are much more difficult to implement because they are “uncomfortable” and require a lot of thought. If you practice the techniques below, I promise you that you will be a better listener and that people will interact with you differently on a day to day basis.
Secret Number 1: Clear your mind
Just like Stephen Covey wrote in his groundbreaking book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” you must first seek to understand, and then to be understood.
When listening to another person, clear your mind of all thoughts and focus your attention 100% on the other person. Put aside your own perspective on the issue, or your feelings about the other person and make your mind a blank slate to be filled by the other person’s words.
Secret Number 2: Don’t anticipate the conversation
As the conversation starts, resist the temptation to leap ahead in the discussion to its “obvious conclusion.” Don’t try and guess what they will say next. Instead, let their words come to you in the way that they had intended. When we anticipate where the discussion is going, we often miss key points the other person is trying to make.
Secret Number 3: Don’t multi-task
Study after study has proven that multi-tasking doesn’t work. Although many of us feel that we can do two things at one time, the truth is that when we try and do two things at once, neither task gets the attention it deserves. This is especially true when we are trying to listen to someone else. When you are engaged in a conversation, give the other person your undivided attention. Not only will you hear more, but the other person will appreciate your efforts as well.
Secret Number 4: Pause before responding
Normally, when we are engaged in a conversation we develop our response while the other person is still speaking. Sometimes we key in on a word or phrase that they used, and sometimes we anticipate what they are going to say (see number 2 above). In either event, we begin crafting our response while they are speaking, and in doing so we tune them out, carefully picking the words in our response for maximum impact. Instead, try letting the other person finish their statements and then pause before you respond. In reality it will only take you about 2 seconds to determine the perfect response, because of the quality of your listening. At first, this might seem like the longest 2 seconds of your life, as pauses in conversations tend to be rare these days. But after a little practice, this will become natural for you and for your listeners as well.
At first glance, it might appear that following these guidelines for listening could lengthen your conversations, taking up more of your valuable time. In reality, you will find that you will save time overall because the conversations will be more meaningful, you will reach resolution quicker, and you won’t have repeat conversations because of items left unresolved.
What are some of the rules that you engage in listening? Do you have secrets to share that make you an effective listener? If so, I’d love to hear them.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Listening is something that most of us say that we do well, but few actually do. I’m sure there was a time in the history of man when people really listened to each other, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you when the time was, or why people stopped listening to each other. However, I can tell you some secrets to good listening that the best listeners employ and that make them “great conversationalists.” The secrets themselves are not complex and do not involve a lot of deep psychological understanding to employ. But, while they are simple to discuss, they are much more difficult to implement because they are “uncomfortable” and require a lot of thought. If you practice the techniques below, I promise you that you will be a better listener and that people will interact with you differently on a day to day basis.
Secret Number 1: Clear your mind
Just like Stephen Covey wrote in his groundbreaking book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” you must first seek to understand, and then to be understood.
When listening to another person, clear your mind of all thoughts and focus your attention 100% on the other person. Put aside your own perspective on the issue, or your feelings about the other person and make your mind a blank slate to be filled by the other person’s words.
Secret Number 2: Don’t anticipate the conversation
As the conversation starts, resist the temptation to leap ahead in the discussion to its “obvious conclusion.” Don’t try and guess what they will say next. Instead, let their words come to you in the way that they had intended. When we anticipate where the discussion is going, we often miss key points the other person is trying to make.
Secret Number 3: Don’t multi-task
Study after study has proven that multi-tasking doesn’t work. Although many of us feel that we can do two things at one time, the truth is that when we try and do two things at once, neither task gets the attention it deserves. This is especially true when we are trying to listen to someone else. When you are engaged in a conversation, give the other person your undivided attention. Not only will you hear more, but the other person will appreciate your efforts as well.
Secret Number 4: Pause before responding
Normally, when we are engaged in a conversation we develop our response while the other person is still speaking. Sometimes we key in on a word or phrase that they used, and sometimes we anticipate what they are going to say (see number 2 above). In either event, we begin crafting our response while they are speaking, and in doing so we tune them out, carefully picking the words in our response for maximum impact. Instead, try letting the other person finish their statements and then pause before you respond. In reality it will only take you about 2 seconds to determine the perfect response, because of the quality of your listening. At first, this might seem like the longest 2 seconds of your life, as pauses in conversations tend to be rare these days. But after a little practice, this will become natural for you and for your listeners as well.
At first glance, it might appear that following these guidelines for listening could lengthen your conversations, taking up more of your valuable time. In reality, you will find that you will save time overall because the conversations will be more meaningful, you will reach resolution quicker, and you won’t have repeat conversations because of items left unresolved.
What are some of the rules that you engage in listening? Do you have secrets to share that make you an effective listener? If so, I’d love to hear them.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Lost Art of Listening
I was at a meeting of a local service club, sitting at a round table with 7 other people. And, I was trying to keep track of about 3 different conversations that were going on. Suddenly, one of the conversations got a little more heated, a little more intense, and a little noisier than the others. Obviously this discussion got my attention and I began to listen to it more closely. It was a challenge to listen to the conversation and follow the argument because it seemed to be jumping all over the place.
Tempers flared as the conversation got more heated, with both sides making bold statements, and even accusations, about the topic at hand. It was not so much a back and forth debate as it was two people standing atop their soapboxes shouting out their beliefs. Fortunately, this conversation was finally interrupted by the scheduled entertainment for the evening and things quieted back down.
The actual subject being discussed by the antagonists is not really important here, and the issue was never really resolved. What fascinated me was the way the two people involved went back and forth, each one deeply entrenched in their beliefs and unwilling to yield to the other. On one level, the lively “discussion” made our table the most exciting table to be seated around. On another level, the lack of true communication was astonishing.
Later that same evening I spoke with one of the two protagonists and asked him about the exchange. Specifically, I asked him what point the other person was trying to make that had gotten him so upset. He rambled for a few minutes, focused mostly on “how stupid” the other person had been, before finally quieting down. I asked a few more questions about the incident, all meeting with similar responses, before coming to the obvious conclusion that my friend didn’t understand the point the other person was trying to make, merely that her statements had been “wrong.”
“But how can you debate the merits of her arguments,” I asked, “if you don’t understand what her point is?”
I’d like to tell you that a little light bulb went off in my friend’s head when I asked that question. I wish I could tell you that my friend realized he had been too busy making his own points to even listen to the other person’s perspective, but that would not be true. Instead, he continued his diatribe without pausing for thought.
I’m sure that many of you are aware of Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habit’s of Highly Effective People.” If you are not, it’s a book you should read. Habit number 5 is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” It’s a valuable habit that we should all study and practice.
But how exactly do we do this?
What is the secret of understanding?
I’ll be writing about that next week.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time......
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Tempers flared as the conversation got more heated, with both sides making bold statements, and even accusations, about the topic at hand. It was not so much a back and forth debate as it was two people standing atop their soapboxes shouting out their beliefs. Fortunately, this conversation was finally interrupted by the scheduled entertainment for the evening and things quieted back down.
The actual subject being discussed by the antagonists is not really important here, and the issue was never really resolved. What fascinated me was the way the two people involved went back and forth, each one deeply entrenched in their beliefs and unwilling to yield to the other. On one level, the lively “discussion” made our table the most exciting table to be seated around. On another level, the lack of true communication was astonishing.
Later that same evening I spoke with one of the two protagonists and asked him about the exchange. Specifically, I asked him what point the other person was trying to make that had gotten him so upset. He rambled for a few minutes, focused mostly on “how stupid” the other person had been, before finally quieting down. I asked a few more questions about the incident, all meeting with similar responses, before coming to the obvious conclusion that my friend didn’t understand the point the other person was trying to make, merely that her statements had been “wrong.”
“But how can you debate the merits of her arguments,” I asked, “if you don’t understand what her point is?”
I’d like to tell you that a little light bulb went off in my friend’s head when I asked that question. I wish I could tell you that my friend realized he had been too busy making his own points to even listen to the other person’s perspective, but that would not be true. Instead, he continued his diatribe without pausing for thought.
I’m sure that many of you are aware of Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habit’s of Highly Effective People.” If you are not, it’s a book you should read. Habit number 5 is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” It’s a valuable habit that we should all study and practice.
But how exactly do we do this?
What is the secret of understanding?
I’ll be writing about that next week.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time......
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A Culture of Openness
A few years ago I got a call from a client after her first day at her new job. She had spent several years after college working for non-profits and was just experiencing her first days of life in Corporate America. She had hired me because she wanted help adapting to life in this new world, so I was anxious to hear about her experiences. But when I asked her how her first day was, her response surprised me.
“It was weird,” she said.
“What do you mean, ‘weird’?”
She was working for a privately held company with about a dozen offices across the country. The company was headquartered back east some place, and on her first day on the job they were being visited by the CEO on day 1 of a trip to every location in the company.
“He talked to us about the former executive,” she said. “Apparently he had embezzled a lot of money from the company before getting caught and the CEO was telling us about it.”
I was intrigued.
“What did he tell you?”
“He told us how much money the guy had embezzled, how he had done it, and who had helped him. He also told us about some new accounting controls that were being put in place, and about a new auditing department that was being formed. I don’t know what to do. It was a lot to absorb on my first day.”
Digging deeper she was impressed by the open way the CEO had spoken about what had happened and how they hadn’t tried to cover things up. The other employees, she observed, had asked questions and probed the CEO, but none of them seemed to be overly concerned. This had also impressed her, but the fact that she was starting with such bad news had left her somewhat concerned.
Flash forward a few months and we were talking again and I brought up the issue of her work and her company.
“It’s really an amazing place,” she said. “Each month we get a note from the CEO telling us how we are doing in revenue against our plan, what big projects we are bidding on, which one’s we have recently won and lost, and anything else he thinks we might want to know about. It’s really pretty amazing.”
And how did this openness in the organization affect her and her fellow employees?
“Everyone trusts the CEO to tell us the truth and everyone knows what is going on. The openness from the top permeates the organization and there just aren’t any secrets. Our Office Manager takes the note from the CEO and adds comments on how these things affect us directly and what we can do to help. I really wasn’t expecting this kind of honest communication, but we all feel like we’re part of the team.”
When I pressed her for how this had impacted her productivity, she told me that she considered herself a professional and didn’t think she was necessarily working any harder than she would otherwise.
“But,” she said, “I love this place so much I’m not sure I ever want to leave. I just want to stay here and keep learning more about the business and find new ways to help. That has to count for something.”
You bet it does.
A culture of openness, like the one my client has been experiencing, reduces employee turnover and, therefore, holds down your costs. It also encourages employees to want to learn about new parts of the business and grow with the company. And while these things aren’t easy to measure on the Income Statement, they definitely impact the long-term growth of your company.
How can you implement a culture of openness in your organization?
It’s really pretty easy once you know how. It’s about communicating with your employees on a regular basis, being honest about the company’s business, and sharing news and upcoming plans. As I’ve written about before (http://ecilearning.blogspot.com/2010/06/3-keys-to-building-trust.html) and as my client found out personally, this kind of openness builds an undeniable trust within the organization – among the employees, among the leaders, and between the employees and leaders – that will take your organization to the next level.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
“It was weird,” she said.
“What do you mean, ‘weird’?”
She was working for a privately held company with about a dozen offices across the country. The company was headquartered back east some place, and on her first day on the job they were being visited by the CEO on day 1 of a trip to every location in the company.
“He talked to us about the former executive,” she said. “Apparently he had embezzled a lot of money from the company before getting caught and the CEO was telling us about it.”
I was intrigued.
“What did he tell you?”
“He told us how much money the guy had embezzled, how he had done it, and who had helped him. He also told us about some new accounting controls that were being put in place, and about a new auditing department that was being formed. I don’t know what to do. It was a lot to absorb on my first day.”
Digging deeper she was impressed by the open way the CEO had spoken about what had happened and how they hadn’t tried to cover things up. The other employees, she observed, had asked questions and probed the CEO, but none of them seemed to be overly concerned. This had also impressed her, but the fact that she was starting with such bad news had left her somewhat concerned.
Flash forward a few months and we were talking again and I brought up the issue of her work and her company.
“It’s really an amazing place,” she said. “Each month we get a note from the CEO telling us how we are doing in revenue against our plan, what big projects we are bidding on, which one’s we have recently won and lost, and anything else he thinks we might want to know about. It’s really pretty amazing.”
And how did this openness in the organization affect her and her fellow employees?
“Everyone trusts the CEO to tell us the truth and everyone knows what is going on. The openness from the top permeates the organization and there just aren’t any secrets. Our Office Manager takes the note from the CEO and adds comments on how these things affect us directly and what we can do to help. I really wasn’t expecting this kind of honest communication, but we all feel like we’re part of the team.”
When I pressed her for how this had impacted her productivity, she told me that she considered herself a professional and didn’t think she was necessarily working any harder than she would otherwise.
“But,” she said, “I love this place so much I’m not sure I ever want to leave. I just want to stay here and keep learning more about the business and find new ways to help. That has to count for something.”
You bet it does.
A culture of openness, like the one my client has been experiencing, reduces employee turnover and, therefore, holds down your costs. It also encourages employees to want to learn about new parts of the business and grow with the company. And while these things aren’t easy to measure on the Income Statement, they definitely impact the long-term growth of your company.
How can you implement a culture of openness in your organization?
It’s really pretty easy once you know how. It’s about communicating with your employees on a regular basis, being honest about the company’s business, and sharing news and upcoming plans. As I’ve written about before (http://ecilearning.blogspot.com/2010/06/3-keys-to-building-trust.html) and as my client found out personally, this kind of openness builds an undeniable trust within the organization – among the employees, among the leaders, and between the employees and leaders – that will take your organization to the next level.
At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees
When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.
Until next time.....
Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/
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