Jacob Ahmadzai – Page 129 – STL

Exceeding expectations – service or delivery?

Do you really mean it?

Great customer service isn’t a convenient statement for business to slap on a mission statement. It’s not a gimmick nor is it a side-line for those filling a job card out while doing a PhD. Great service is serious business and it starts with a philosophy dedicated to an attitude. It takes an application of intuition and empathy and researching expectations to fashion exceptional service.

To present your business, through to delivery of product, is the greatest opportunity to showcase and promote who you are. Service – to deliver what has been ordered. It is one of the most powerful blends of adverting, suggestive selling and relationship building a business can have. The best opportunity for the client to experience you. You have to mean it.

Corporate image vs social media

The effort companies go to promoting ‘loyalty’ cards and ‘no claim bonuses’ to their customers. With an endless supply of catch-phrase advertising at giant financial costs they build an illusion that each client is special. One who deserves the very best. Yet it only takes a phone call or a face-to-face interaction to realise that maybe the advertising dollars could have been better spent elsewhere.

Take the national insurance company who openly prides themselves on putting the customer first. Upon investigation the conditions are extraordinary. If a client does not meet these conditions, they are refused. The advertising budget has become a punchline, a cautionary tale in the social media reviews. Social media could have worked for them, for free.

Turn a client into a fan

Don’t you just love a business who knows you? Who understands that you have a want and need and that both are entirely separate. The ‘want’ may be car insurance, the ‘need’ is to be understood by a professional who can recommend the best policy. Who can point out the areas you should focus on. Who speaks like they know the industry, the pros and the cons. Can inform you of the finer detail in an engaging conversation, not just a tick box.

I called in and the account manager greeted me by my name. Asked if I got the paperwork through? He always sounds so happy to hear from me. Are there any questions you need answering? And look don’t sign it off just yet, you have a week’s grace, send it in at the end of the month – let me save you money. He notes I bought the car two months ago, a Honda. He asks – so are you enjoying the car? For me getting a new car is incredibly exciting, you must be thrilled sir, glad you phoned me – I love looking after new clients. He again acknowledges my name. I am now his greatest fan.

To Exceed Expectations or not?

I wanted my new car, my pride and joy, to be covered with a great policy. I needed someone to understand how I felt about getting a new car and guide me through suitable options. Not to fit in with their way-of-doing-things or answer a tick box. And guess what – I pay more per month than anyone else charges, purely because of the service I get. So how much is your client really worth? Do you exceed expectations, or do you just say you do? Consider that one could be making you a fortune – an investment the future. The other could be eroding your business. As for me I am heading onto social media, singing my new companies’ praises.

The Art of saying No.

A surprisingly easy way to assert yourself

The Power of No

One ill-placed No can rebound around you like an echo, haunting you for years to come. The only word you can practise speaking with warmth and engagement and still fail to use correctly. It has the dynamic of so much intention. From self-defence to a statement of authority. The ultimate denial or an aggressive attack. This one little word can hold the power of the world or drown out your vision. Get the delivery wrong and it can become your protagonist. For those of us who have been on the receiving end, the reply of ‘no’ can pillage energy from the mind like a ninja.

When you consider the power this one word can command, the skill of assertiveness seems to be weighted directly by the way we hurl this syllabic land-mine. The science of carefully blending the right tone, correct posture and lasered eye contact rarely comes together when you need it most. Most of the posturing and assertiveness gimmicks I have used in the past have failed dismally until I met one man who changed my life. I’m eager to share the wisdom.

So why use it at all?

You’re probably in a position where your opinion actually matters. Consider that your superior might not want to hear a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ in response to their closed question. That maybe, the test of your position has far greater importance in how you translate the question. For example, ‘will you have Project X done by 3pm this afternoon?’

Your best objection will be to grab a prop, in this case ‘time’ with both hands and eagerly command the use of it. Open the humble diary. Yielding more power than a tax audit, this device can be the best topic you have ever discussed in three steps.

With the boss waiting for an answer you comment “That’s a great project. I would love to finish it as it’s incredibly important. Let me check my diary and see what I can hold off for you.”

And now the boss leans in and observes the heavy handed-writing across the dated page “No, you can’t push that back, you can’t hold that up.” And in a smooth exchange of priorities the discussion launches into time, that one invaluable commodity shared and acknowledged by all. Bring time into the conversation and watch as plans are made. Welcome to your new servant, the art of not saying ‘no’. Time Management is just one way.

Another point of view?

In dialogue, professional leadership can also manage situations without saying no, by working from the other perspective. Although a tad harsh, consider that your opinion to another is now unimportant. They may be absorbed in their desired outcome. Take what the person has said and reflect it back to them, then turn it into a question. I would obviously not do this all the time however look at the pro’s. It is a great way of summarising and with the right assertiveness training it becomes easy. It is a great way to show your understanding and it’s an even better way to acknowledge the other persons point of view.

When asked if a report can be done by 3pm I might simply reply, ‘So the report needs to be done by 3pm, in what format would you like it?’ By mere reflection I can avoid ‘no’ and at the same time acknowledge that I am on the same page. Avoid saying ‘no’ and become a class act, your communication skills are now a work of art.

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