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As leaders, how we say things impacts both results and future interactions. If our words are future focused, we lead to the future. We inspire a learning culture.

When our words take employees back to the past, we create a guarded blaming culture and lead nowhere.

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Phrases like:

“I would have thought we would have …”

 or “we should have …”

are blaming statements badly disguised as “we’re all in this together”.

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Let’s Not Lead Back to the Future

Short Story. A recently promoted director of customer satisfaction, walked up to his former boss at the end of a training program that she helped design and said “I would have thought we would have approached this subject in another way.” He had provided no input during the development of the training program yet spoke with derision. Those around just stared at him. What was his goal?

Lesson. If we want to lead forward, let’s use forward focused words. “Going forward, I suggest xyz in phase II.” In this approach, the director would be contributing and leading forward, not back, to the future — like a know-it-all nit!

To do this, it helps to …

1. Want to encourage others instead of correcting others.
2. Consider that there are different views not just one view.
3. Believe that we don’t ever have the perfect answer.
4. Assess the emotional needs of others when trying to achieve results with them.

The newly promoted director, in the story above, is a Six Sigma Black Belt. His focus is to find root causes of customer satisfaction problems and improve them.

Root cause analysis is extremely valuable especially when it spawns future improvements. Whereas, black belting people about what they should have done leaves scars that impact future interactions and results.

Leading people back to the future with criticism demoralizes them with a blaming culture. Leading them forward — to the next times with lessons and insight — breeds commitment and outstanding future results.

Let us always remember that people-skills and emotional intelligence are just as important as vision, intellect, data, and drive in achieving the end results.

And the good news is, the words next time and going forward, are two no cost leadership phrases with dual power. They both inspire and deliver!

What do you think? Do words make a difference?


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™


©2011 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers consulting, training, DVDs, and keynotes on customer service, teamwork, and leading change. She turns interaction obstacles into business success in tough times of change. See this site for workshop outlines and customer results.

This year for National Customer Service Week, I ask each of you to look behind every customer.

For a moment, don’t look at metrics, scripts, forms, procedures, the structure, the flashing queue light, the long line, or the clock. Look behind every customer to discover the true need, the future, and success. Our future is behind every customer.

Graphic by: Kimb Manson


Customer Service – Stripped to the Core

1. Behind every customer is the unknown yearning to be known. That’s our future of customer loyalty.

Empathize!



2. Behind every customer ID number, is a person with a name whose needs we can fulfill. That’s our future. That’s success.

Ask for their name before their ID number!



3. Behind every customer question – odd, crazy, simplistic, or repetitive — is a chance to move them to the future and success.

Listen with an open mind!



4. Behind every customer is another person whom we impact with our actions. Our care is growth for both. That’s our future and theirs.

Follow-through!



5. Behind every impatient customer is our future success with the tough times of life. That’s a future of skill and ability.

Study up!



6. Behind every customer are the factors that define great service to them. Look behind the customer to reach that future.

It’s a one-to-one match!



7. Behind every customer is limitless potential. Cultivate the future.

Go to the well!



8. Behind every customer is the heart of our success. It beats for our future.

Maintain heart health!



9. Behind every customer is a wealth of knowledge free for the taking. Learn!

Is there a #10? What would you add to this list?


Lead the future of customer loyalty …

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Listen
Emapthize
Assess
Deliver

Don’t leave it behind!

Offer: Subscribe to this Smart SenseAbilities™ blog and download your thank you gift poster of Our Future is Behind Every Customer. Print it and hang in your customer service area for continued inspiration!

From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

©2011 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, delivers consulting, training, DVDs, and keynotes for customer service and teamwork — that turn interaction obstacles into business success especially in tough times of change. See this site for workshops outlines and customer results.

Business leaders always seek ways to ignite customer passion about their products and services.

Here are 12 ways to light the fire by investing in the customer relationship using today’s technology and resources:

1. Give customers valuable information and simple ways to organize it. The Internet and social media are overwhelming individuals and companies. It is no surprise to find so many applications to organize info on mobile devices and for social media like Twitter. Deliver info that is valuable to your mutual industry and offer ways to organize it. Does your website feature the latest tweets about a hot issue in your industry? Do you have a daily summary of an industry conference? If not, why would the customers connect with you?




2. Make your information quick and easy to read. Is your website an easy read? Does it speak to them or just about you? In this economy, your customers are truly doing more with less and are pressed for time and solutions. Your conversations, your texts, your tweets, your website — must clearly speak to them.




3. Energize with learning.  Customers can feel the energy in a company. They are attracted to the energy. Establish a free-wheeling fun learning culture to ignite this energy and don’t crush it with corporate structure and SMART goals. Pick hot industry topics and get employees talking over lunch. Tap into podcasts and webinars on professional development topics. Transform staff meetings from in-person status reports into learning exchanges!




4. Fire them up with fun.  Fun is always memorable and memorable brings customers back. Advertising execs have known this for years. How are you using fun to engage your customers? How are you using fun to engage employees who engage customers? Example: Customers are more connected to you when they hear you smiling on the phone. TRUE. So for years the chosen solution was a mirror on each customer service agent’s desk as a clue to smile. BORING. Instead have something fun on the desk to inspire a smile.




5. Flex when communicating.  People do business with those they like and trust. They tend to be most comfortable with those of a similar personality type. Communicate to the customer’s personality type not from yours. Honest messages are more accepted when delivered with personality type in mind. Know your own type, spot  your customer’s type, and flex to it. Sales reps. have done this for years. It’s time for all to do it.




6. Use your uniqueness.  You must also use your special talents to create bonds with customers. One of my strengths is seeing the big picture quickly while others are stuck in details.  My customers bring me in for that purpose and welcome my dissent. Many of them are detail-oriented and, to use their words, get stuck in the weeds.




7. Care.  We often think of caring as something done in the customer service department.  Care is not a department. Care is a mindset that leads to behavior. It should be visible in every person and in every aspect of your company including your website, your phone menus, your service recovery, your ethics, and your products and service. When you care about customers it ignites their passion for your company.




8. Pump up your heart rate.  Customers are attracted to companies whose heart is beating loud and strong. It gives them hope. Show the customer the vibrancy and energy  of your company — perhaps through contributions to the community. Offer them a freebie on something that matters to them that doesn’t cost you loads of money.  After the attacks on 9/11, Broadway theater banded together to perform shows even though far fewer people were buying tickets.  The message: We will survive and we want you back in our theaters.  I delivered six months of free job coaching to job hunters.  My message: We will survive this downturn and here’s my contribution!




9. Be ready for your customer’s rainy day.  When it rains in New York City many store owners push carts onto the streets to sell umbrellas to unprepared tourists.  Customers will bond with you if you can provide what they need at a moment’s notice — either through your company or another source.  How can you foresee this?  Ask your customer service agents to keep a running list for one week of all the requests they get to which they currently say no. Go through this list and identify a solution for each request to prepare for your customer’s rainy day.




10. Give each employee a crystal ball.  Customers are attracted to companies that are forward thinking. What image do you and your employees project to customers? Often the official publications of a company sound forward focused yet the employees don’t. Do all your employees sound focused on the future or just the sales/mktg departments? Do they ask the customers interesting questions to unearth future needs? Are you asking your employees interesting questions about the future to instill this thinking in them? Think about it.




11. Revel in diversity.  Cultural norms impact customer’s expectations and buying choices.  In many countries, including the USA, your customers are from different countries and cultures. In every aspect of your business, embrace and use cultural diversity to bond with the customers. In your presentations, use stories and references that make sense to that culture. When designing a product or delivering customer service, make sure it makes sense to that culture.  Ask  your customers to teach you about their cultures through Social CRM.  Look for an unfilled niche based on cultural norms and fill it!




12. Develop an uncommon talent to build common bonds.  How good are you and your employees at building common bonds with  your customers and your suppliers?  How good are you at connecting with leaders in your customer’s industry through conferences, social media, and the press?  Across generations, cultures, and industries, the ability to form common bonds ignites passion for your services.  Continue to develop your communication, listening, social networking, creativity, and innovation skills.  If your reaction to this  is “I don’t have time”, then learn from those around you as you work.  They may ignite your passion in developing an uncommon talent for common bonds. 

From my experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

©2011 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish this post, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, delivers customer service and teamwork training for delivering the guts of great service to every customer. Preview and purchase her new DVD Customer Service USA – Regional Differences That Matter.

Teens & GEN Y, your future will be successful beyond your current boundaries.  Many teens and GEN Y see the difficulties and the boundaries and think: Why do we have to go through this? Your future will rock when you start to ask: How do we get through this?

Your future will rock when you combine your special talents with lessons learned from others who have overcome difficulty.  This came to me recently when a friend said,  “If I only knew these things when I was a teenager!  I could be so far ahead of where I am now.”

So here’s a list of lessons learned from my life and diverse friends on Facebook & Twitter to rock your future with success.  If you are a parent reading this post, share these with your teens and GEN Y and their friends/parents.

1. Separate surviving and thriving in your mind.
   Hopes and dreams stay alive when you can live with survival skills and work for and towards thriving.  If you think that your current survival is the only life you will have, you will miss chances to thrive.
2. Volunteering to help those you live with builds bonds that grow into adult relationships.
   Many people today volunteer with charitable organizations and non-profits. This is wonderful. Yet, do you volunteer to help your family? It shows your ability to think of others’ needs without being told. It lays the seeds for your adult relationships with them. It also prepares you for teamwork in the workplace.
3. Build your network early and keep in touch.
   The more people you know and help, the more people who will be there when you need help. Sooner or later we ALL do. ~ Joan Koerber-Walker, Chairman & CEO, CorePurpose
4. Create your future self now.
   Ask yourself, “How might this choice affect me in 5 or 10 years? ~ Don Eric Weber, Executive Coach
5. Show genuine care for any job you do.
   Even if it’s not your dream job, people will remember your attitude and actions. ~ Jay Baron, Cable Techie, Canada
6. Never let disappointment discourage you.
   Consider it a chance to learn. ~ Kathi Browne, Executive Spouse Coach
7. Lead by example.
   Lead in ways of being respectful to others even if they differ from your beliefs. Value acceptance and tolerance. ~ James Sorenson, Customer Service Professional
8. Work hard at what you utterly love.
   Work hard. Embrace risk. Do something you utterly love. Be a good person. Pay it forward. ~ Ted Coine, Author & Speaker, 21st Century Business
9. Develop the habit of finding out everything about things that interest you!
   In this way, be a fanatic to build your life. ~ Joshua Symonette, former NFL Player, Professional Speaker
10. Find your strengths.
    Success follows from self-awareness of one’s strengths and playing to them. ~ Joe Williams, NASA Scientist
11. Never under estimate the power of gratitude. ~ S. Max Brown, Speaker & Radio Co-Host
12. Let your walk be your talk.
    Stars walk their talk. Super Stars let their walk be their talk. ~ Dave Carpenter, Mentor to High Performers
13. Conquer your fears with knowledge and will.
    You will achieve things you thought were impossible to do. ~ Anne Egros, Global Executive Cross Cultural Coach
14. What you do for others matters.
    In some ways, relationships beats smarts. ~ Barry Dalton, CIO
15. Show up. Pay attention & participate.
    Honor commitments or let people know you can’t, and why. ~ Roy Atkinson, IT Professional
16. Honor, regard, respect.
    Hold tenaciously to honor, regard, and respect for yourself and others. ~ Ty Sullivan, Director Marketing NYC Restaurant Group
17. Just because you think it, that doesn’t mean it’s true.
    Don’t act on big thoughts without checking other sources. ~ Jim Morgan, TeamTrainers.
18. Define Success.
    Think about what success means to you. It’s different for each person. ~ Jane Perdue, Leadership Consultant & Coach
19. Pay attention to the details.
    Also, nurture and help everyone in your orbit — friends, family, teachers, employers. ~ Pattie Roberts, Professional Writer
20. Form and live good habits.
    Habits are the most important thing to success. Take constant daily action steps toward your dream. ~ Gary Loper, Business/Life Relationship Coach
21. Use the GROW model.
    Goals, (Current) Reality, Options, Will (what will you do) from MindTools.Com. Start with identifying your goals and writing them down or verbalizing them. ~ David Brand, Coaching Fan
22. Nothing beats a forward focus, solution orientation toward life. ~ Dan Rockwell, Non-Profit Leader & a Leadership Blogger

My final tip: Get comfortable with change. When it knocks, open the door! A VP of HR told me that #1 trait they look for — flexibility and comfort with change.

Please share your lessons learned for success in the comments section below.

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Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, inspires success through her keynotes, workshops, and training DVDs on various people-skills topics most especially communicating across diversity. Her latest DVD on the regional differences in customer expectations throughout the USA is available here Customer Service USA – What They Expect Coast to Coast & Everywhere in Between.