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Happy Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving is here, and I'm happy you stopped by to share it with me. Here are some other things I'm thankful for:

• I'm thankful for my family and for the things I learned through "Love and Logic" books and tapes that have helped make me a better parent. Even great kids (like mine) can be a challenge and being clear that it's my job to keep him safe and prepare him to be a good adult makes it easier.
• I'm thankful that I published my first booklet, "Rodney's 52 Ways to Impress Your Boss--Without Sucking Up!" I'm hoping more people will get to enjoy this kicking booklet in 2008.
• I glad my dog didn't die with her stomach flipped over (literally) inside her. We got her to the vet just in time, and now she's doing better than she has in about 2 years.
• I'm glad my mom is still with us. I lost my dad about 2 years ago, and I still missing him.
• Heck, I'm even thankful for TypePad, the website that hosts this blog. TypePad makes it easy enough that I can just say hello without fighting with the darned technology--and how often do you see that these days?

As you enjoy this little break from work and spend time with those you love, I hope you will take a few minutes to think about the things you are thankful for.

All the best,
Rodney Robbins

PS
Learn more about my fun cartoon tip booklet "Rodney's 52 Ways to Impress Your Boss--Without Sucking Up!" here. This booklet is a hoot and makes a wonderful business premium, holiday gift, or year end thank you mailer. E-mail me to learn more about buying in bulk.

Customer Satisfaction--The Easy Way

Customer service and customer satisfaction depend on knowing what the customer wants, and giving it to them. In quality management circles, we call these steps "verification" and "validation." These aren't big issues if your "selling" involves running a cash register, but it you are selling a complicated product, a service or an idea, you better make sure you understand how to make these concepts pay.

Verification means checking back with the customer to make sure you under stand what they want. If you sell shoes, you could just bring what the customer wants, and often times that will work. When you have a finicky customer, or aren't making the sales (and frankly, it wouldn't hurt to do it most every time with most every customer), you might want to take a moment and say, "Are you looking for something slinky, black and shiny to go with that black dress you are carrying?" That way, if you don't have the size and style the customer wants, you can intelligently suggest an alternative.

Validation means making sure you have met the customer's needs and expectations. If verification is a way to ensure you understand what the customer wants, validation is a way to ensure you've supplied what they want. "Those sandals look great on you, Miss. How do they feel? Do you think you could dance in them?"

So many, many companies make a product based on their best guesses and hunches, and that's great when it works. However, the odds are with companies, and with employees, who make sure they understand what the customer wants, and make sure the customer gets what they paid for. Haven't you bought a computer that crashed more than the Wright Brother's first plane? Haven't you paid big bucks for some new hightech toy then found it was so complicated a high school techno-weenie couldn't make it work? I sure have, and it pissed me off. If your number one customer is Mega Corp. or just your boss, wouldn't you like to be sure you know what they want, and that they are happy with your services?

Bookmark this page now because next time, I'll share simple ways you can apply verification and validation to help you make more money and enjoy greater peace of mind.

Dealing With Customer Service Frustrations and Mood Swings

Frustration! It is easy to get frust-er-ated doing customer service work. The problem is not that people are bad or stupid or put on this earth just to piss you off. The problem is probably that YOU change from day to day or, you are training your customers wrong.

Some days you feel good and nothing can keep you down. Other days, you wake up with a lead weights tied around your earlobes. The trick, I believe, is not to take your moods too seriously. You are not your moods. You don't have to be in a good mood to get your work done. If you don't like your mood, wait a minute and it will change. Whatever you do, don't read too much into a bad mood, or a good mood. Our moods depend more on the weather, what we ate two hours ago, and how much sleep we got last night, than they do on what's really going on in the world. Our brains take our moods and try to fit the world around them. "I feel tired, therefore I must be depressed about my terrible customer service job!" T'ain't necessarily so! You could just as easily be tired because your blood sugar is low, and your rational mind is just trying to explain things to you as best it can. Don't take your moods, or the things you think about when you are in a bad mood, too seriously! Just be proud you can keep moving forward.

It is also possible that your customer service job is tougher than it needs to be because you are training your customers to give you a hard time. If people are calling and calling and you hate handling telephone calls, maybe the instructions on your website should say, "For more help, send us an e-mail and we will do our best to respond within 24 hours." Maybe you are promising too much. We all know how much trouble you can get in for promising "Same Day Service" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed" at a D. C. dry cleaner. (Little aside here: How can Roy Pearson have such bad judgment and keep his job as an administrative judge?) Is there something you are asking or requiring your customers to do, that you actually HATE dealing with? If so, stop doing that! Give alternative instructions. Put up a new sign. Put up a frequently-asked-questions poster by your desk, or on your website. Don't offer free refills if it irks your butt to give them out! Instead, give clear instructions on how you want to be treated.

If you can learn to take care of yourself without taking yourself too seriously, and train yourself to train your customers, I believe you will enjoy customer service once again.

Customer Service Tip--Give 'em the Biggest Donut

I went into a donut shop on my way back from helping out at the North Carolina Star Safety Conference the other day. Since I was buying just a few donuts to bring home, I asked the server for the biggest chocolate and maple frosted donuts they had. The server completely ignored me and instead grabbed a scrawny little reject of a pastry. It was so small, a mouse wouldn't stop to eat it. I glanced at the tip jar on the counter and just shook my head. Here was this girl, who could have so easily been my personal hero, but instead, she just blew me off. So, no tip for her, but I do have a tip for you:

Customer Service Starts with Listening

Customer service doesn't have to be tricky or hard. We don't always learn about customer service when we are working either. When my wife and I had been married 10 years, we had a wonderful picnic for both our families. During the party, I took a few minutes to try out my new video camera by interviewing my Nanna (my mom's mom). Nanna Sharp was a widow by then, and we talked about her life, raising my mom and my aunt, travel tips, marriage and more. I noticed she was having a hard time breathing and had to take frequent breaks from our conversation to cough, just a little, or catch her breath. I had never noticed these things before. I guess I never really sat down, and looked at her, and listened to Nanna Sharp like that before either. A few months later, she died suddenly from an undiagnosed and incurable lung problem.

No one saw it coming but me. I only knew she was in trouble because I sat down right across from her, looked right at her, and listened intently to what she said. If I had been her doctor, could I have cured her? Nope. Her lungs were shot from years spent vacuum plating TV and radio tubes. But I wish I could have sat down with her and just talked like that more than once in our lives! I would have learned a lot and been a better grandson, father and husband.

Now, that's a very sad story to illustrate the need for listening (and I'd like to thank Carol Bradley Bursack for reminding me that we need to listen to my elders). How much could we learn from our customers if we would only listen? How much are they begging to tell us? How badly do they want to tell us how to serve them better?

Life is short. Don't miss another chance to listen to your elder, or your customers.