Archive for July, 2009
Take Back Control
One of the biggest challenges most of us face is managing email – we are inundated by the stuff and the common reaction is to leave it sitting in your inbox until you decide what to do with it. 
And then you spend hours scrolling up and down staring at it; this steals productivity from your day. I love this Wall Street Journal article that quotes Julie Morgenstern, time-management consultant: “People’s workloads are so intimidating now….You use email as an escape. It gives you a false sense of accomplishment.” One of her best ideas is to ignore email for the first hour of the morning and focus on important projects instead. This is something I started doing 2 months ago and I really noticed a big increase in my productivity. Check out the article to learn about other ways to take back control from your email.
Are You Kidding Me?
Friday night after seeing a movie, my husband and I head into the local Starbucks outlet. He asks for a regular decaf coffee and the barista tells him that Starbucks policy is to NOT serve regular decaf coffee after 2:30PM. He can have a decaf Americano – which he hates. He just wants regular decaf.
Are they crazy? Don’t more people drink decaf as the day gets later? No wonder the competition is smiling.
Overthinking
I recently presented a seminar to new business owners on sales and marketing. There was a lot of excitement in the room as these new ventures are being launched. But what also struck me was the amount of hesitation and overthinking that was going on. As they get deeper into building their business, so many people become paralyzed by the amount of stuff they don’t know. Often they overcompensate by obsessing over small details that they feel they have control of. The result is a lot of wasted time and opportunity. The fact is that you will never know everything you need to know when running a business – it is a constant learning experience. Stop hesitating, stop sweating over the small stuff. Just get out there and learn while you do. Believe in your ability to learn and succeed.
Best Bet to Fix the Economy?
This article in the Washington Post is a great read! Fixing the Economy? It’s Women’s Work.
Are You Kidding Me?
Today’s ‘Are You Kidding Me?’ comes from a friend:
A few weeks ago I was in Norwalk Furniture – a store I would not typically shop in, but I had just received a gift card. When I first entered the store, not a single one of the seven sales people on the floor asked if I needed help or if I was looking for a specific item. Throughout the 45 minutes I spent looking around the store, other customers were being helped, but I still hadn’t been spoken to by any sales people. Finally, because I couldn’t get any help, I just left. The only reason I can figure out as to why I was ignored was that I looked young and as though I didn’t have the money to spend on expensive furniture. After my experience, I called the store’s headquarters and explained my experience. A few days later, I received a $250 gift card in the mail with a letter apologizing for the lousy service!
PR on a Budget
I found an article in Entrepreneur Magazine that discusses the power of PR, highlighting the fact that credibility makes PR so powerful. This article, titled 10 Rules for Quick and Easy PR, gives the obvious suggestions such as know your market, show how your product is unique, and use testimonials to your advantage. My favourite suggestion in this article is to create your own newspaper article or news release and make phone calls to the media outlets to get them running your story/article. The author suggests to begin the release with a great headline and catchy first paragraph so that journalists can easily work with your material. I think this is really a great suggestion as it is free PR and also shows potential clients your credibility. You can read the full article here.
How is Soccer Like Business?
Watching my 8-year old niece play her soccer game last weekend, it struck me the business lessons you can learn watching a soccer game. Certain players really want possession of the ball, they want to score. You see them tracking the ball, running into the fray assertively going after the ball, not wanting to give it up once they possess it. Their goal is to score and they flat out go for it. They don’t worry about what other players are thinking or doing. They stay focused on what they want. They don’t stand around and just watch the game – they play it.
Other players hedge their bets, backing off the ball when other players come in. They rarely score. So how is the game of soccer like the game of business? Simple. The people who score in life, business or soccer are those who clearly define their goals, and passionately focus on taking action to achieve those goals. They don’t get distracted by other people’s actions. They wade in and go after what they want.
Thinking About Twitter?
Read these 10 stunning and useful tips about Twitter from the Influential Marketing Blog!
Mean What You Say
There is lots of buzz out there about how you need to create a relationship with your customer (true) and that the key to successful selling is to be able to uncover their needs and provide a solution (true). Unfortunately some companies out there have implemented customer service training programs that have their staff asking customers questions to uncover needs and then ignoring what the customer says. Here is a couple of examples I heard about recently:
- A business associate got a call from his bank customer service representative, asking in a cheery voice if there was anything his bank could do for him. His reply – reduce the interest rate on my credit card. Her answer – no. His next request: was there a way to reduce his bank fees? Her answer – no. Why bother making this phone call – window dressing?
- A client of mine who has run a financially successful business for 5 years and is now expanding her business operation called her large global bank about getting a line of credit for the expansion. They told her it would be no problem – come in and see us and we will get it set up. She goes for the meeting and finds out they are happy to extend credit to her through a credit card with 29% interest attached! Needless to say she has moved to the competition.
If you want to succeed in business, mean what you say. If you genuinely want to find out what your customer wants and you are prepared to improve your product or service, then ask. If you are just doing it because it seems to be the thing to do, don’t bother. You’ll keep more customers and credibility that way.
Customer Service Lesson
I am always amazed at the cavalier way large companies often treat their customers. They ignore complaints or treat them with disdain. The truth is no one likes to deal with a frustrated or angry customer, but you have to remember that unhappy customers are much more likely to tell a lot more people about their bad experiences than the good ones. Who hasn’t experienced getting caught in an endless maze of voicemail or having to repeat your story over and over to a series of customer service reps, only to hear “I can’t help you with that. You need to talk to another department.” Over and over these days, I hear people complaining about the shabby way they are treated by their bank or telecommunications company. We’ve almost become resigned to it as a way of life.
That’s why I was so surprised by the outstanding customer service experience I recently had with Fido. After two separate experiences with their customer service department, I really was not happy with how I was treated. So I dropped Fido an email just to let them know what my experience had been. I was extremely surprised to receive an email and a phone call from Customer Service asking me for the details. They took the time to listen to my story, asked a lot of questions and then offered a generous solution to my issue. They delivered one of the most outstanding customer service experiences I have ever had – I am really impressed. Here is a large company that really does want to improve customer experiences with their products and services.
The lesson learned? If you have a bad experience with a company, don’t just walk away and only complain to your friends. Let the business know how they fell short – tell them where they went wrong. You might be surprised at the results you get! And if you are a business owner, make sure that you encourage your customers to let you know what you are doing right and wrong. You have to know what is broken in order to fix it.
