“As always, I enjoy our humorous and “productive” meetings together.  I want you to know how much I appreciate the way you not only “listen,” but you “hear” what I’m saying to you. You have a way of processing quickly and giving phenomenal insights.

“I always feel enriched and re-energized after our meetings. You help me see things from a different perspective and push me to step out of the box a bit.

“There are many potential distractions during our public meetings (ie. gorgeous women walking about;) however, you remain focused on our time together. I respect and appreciate that about you!”

Jeanine Calandri
Retirement plan and asset management consulting
Sacramento, CA
Nov. 12, 2011

Life Coaching; Business Coaching: My brother, Lance, got what he wanted simply by asking for it! The following advice came from his friend, Tem.

“Everything is clearer and faster when you just decide what you really want and go for it or go for broke.” And the follow-up lesson is: “Be willing to walk; don’t sweat the details.”

The above involved a business deal, but it’s equally great advice for personal relationships. There’s great clarity in knowing what you want as you hit the dating scene. Because, eventually, your date will request something that isn’t part of your plan – whether your plan is for the date or for the rest of your life. Clarity of knowing what you want, and the willingness to walk away and not sweating the details, means that you get to “enjoy” your life!

Life Coaching: There is a Zen approach to our inner War. A Zen War! Winning without harming, without fighting.

It is The Secret of Frustration™ – the secret that How You React IS Your Life™. Frustration holds truths about who you are, who you were, who you can be. How you react IS your life. How you react IS your happiness, your success, your health, your family, your marriage, your children, your job, your legacy.

Frustration simply reveals… “buried treasure” or “wrong path.” Frustration reveals that you’re either right on top of your treasure – so keep digging; or you’re way off base – so pick a new path.

Frustration, and how you react to it, is life-expandingly powerful.

Life Coaching: Just started re-reading The Power of Nice, by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval. I completely agree with their philosophy that “it pays to be nice.” Finally, a four-letter word I can use around my parents.

The Power of Nice is available through Amazon.

Also visit their site at: www.thepowerofnice.com

Business Coach – Guy Kawasaki on The Art of Customer Service

(From http://blogs.openforum.com/2008/12/17/the-art-of-customer-service/)

I’m a huge fan of Guy Kawasaki and own a thoroughly highlighted copy of his book, The Art of the Start. The excerpt below is from a chapter in Guy’s new book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition

1. Start at the top. The CEO’s attitude toward customer service determines the quality of service that a company delivers. If the CEO thinks that customers are a pain in the ass, her company will provide lousy service. If the CEO thinks customers are treasured assets, it will provide great service. If you’re not the CEO, either change her mind, quit, or learn to live with mediocrity—in that order.I’m pretty sure you can check this box off at Virgin.
2. Put the customer in control. The best customer service happens when management enables employees to put the customer in control. Th is requires two leaps of faith: first, trusting customers to not take advantage of the situation; second, trusting employees to make sound decisions. If you can make these leaps, then the quality of your customer service will zoom; if not … well, there is nothing more frustrating than working for a firm that cops the attitude that something is “against company policy.”
3. Take responsibility for your shortcomings. Companies that take responsibility for their shortcomings garner good customer-service reputations because they have acknowledged that the problem is their fault and their responsibility to fix. Most people understand that “shiitake happens,” but it’s aggravating when companies deny that the problem is their fault and responsibility. Th at’s when you hear people say, “It’s the principle.”
4. Don’t point the finger. This is the flip side of taking responsibility. For example, when a computer program doesn’t work, vendors resort to finger pointing: “It’s Apple’s system software.” “It’s Microsoft’s application.” “It’s Adobe’s PDF format.” A great customer-service company doesn’t point the finger; it figures out what the solution is, regardless of whose fault the problem is, and makes the customer happy. As my mother used to say, quoting Eldrige Cleaver, “You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.” (By the way, as a rule of thumb, the company with the largest market capitalization is the one at fault.)
5. Don’t finger the pointer. Great customer service companies don’t shoot the messenger. It could be a customer, an employee, a vendor, or a consultant who’s doing the pointing. The goal is not to silence the messenger, but to fix the problem so that the messenger never has to bring that message again.
6. Don’t be paranoid. One of the most common justifications for lousy service is “What if everyone did this?” For example, to cite the often-told, perhaps apocryphal, story of a customer returning a tire to Nordstrom even though Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires: What if everyone started returning tires to Nordstrom? However, the worst case is seldom the common case. There will be abusers, but generally people are reasonable.
7. Hire the right kind of people. To put it mildly, customer service is not a job for everyone. The ideal customer-service person derives great satisfaction by helping people and solving problems. Th is cannot be said of every job candidate. It’s the company’s responsibility to hire the right kind of people for this job, because it is a bad experience for the employee and the customer when you hire folks without a service orientation.
8. Underpromise and overdeliver. The goal is to delight a customer. For example, the signs in the lines at Disneyland that tell you how long you’ll have to wait from each point are purposely overstated. When you get to the ride in less time, you’re delighted. Imagine if the signs were understated— you’d be angry because Disneyland lied to you.
9. Integrate customer service into the mainstream. Let’s see: Salespeople make the big bucks. Marketers do the fun stuff. Engineers: You leave them alone in their dark caves. Accounting cuts the paychecks. And customer service? They handle angry people when something isn’t working, and something isn’t working all the time. Customer service largely determines the company’s reputation, so do not consider it a profit-sucking necessary evil.
10. Don’t give them a sales pitch. Never give customers a sales pitch unless they’re calling your sales department. When customers call for customer service or technical support, they are hardly in a mood for a sales pitch. If you sell anything, you’re in danger of losing the customer, so you certainly should not ask customers to shell out more money to fix problems that they perceive as the company’s fault. And don’t even think about offering more free defective products as a token of your appreciation for their business.
11. Use operating procedures, not scripts. You’ve probably called at least a few companies and been sure the representative is reading a script—it’s annoying and certainly not personal. Have standard operating procedures for common things, like cancellations and product returns, to ensure the job is done properly, but never ask or train your representatives to read from a script.
12. Use operators. Use people, not PBX systems (the push 1 for sales, 2 for billing). Make it so the operator can answer basic questions (like How do I sign up?), collect information about problems, assign a ticket number or reference ID, and find an available representative to take the call. If you must use a PBX system, keep it to one level with three or four options, as well as an option to be connected immediately to an operator.
13. Use a callback system. A few companies have a callback system by which they offer the option of calling you back at a set time rather than making you wait on hold. The first time I encountered one of these systems, I hesitated, thinking I might lose my place in the queue, but it really worked, and I’ve been a believer ever since.
14. Keep customers in the loop. Customers should never have to ask what you are doing. Let them know what’s happening as you’re doing things like looking up their account or researching an issue. Extending this concept, you can post information about outages right on your Web site, so people don’t have to call to figure out what’s happening. Be honest: Tell them if there’s a problem and what’s causing it, when service will be restored, and what you’re doing to prevent it from happening again.
15. Make customers feel important. Train your employees to make customers feel important. If a customer makes a suggestion, the representative should note it and let the customer know he’s noted it. Don’t hesitate to do things like give credits or say things like “because you’re a valued customer, we can do this for you.” Customers are usually frustrated when they call customer service or support, so try to make them feel good.
16. Follow up. The biggest difference between acceptable and great customer service is how often and how well the customer-service department follows up on requests. Give customers a call or send them an e-mail with the result of their complaint or request. If a customer calls with a problem and you believe it’s resolved, call or send an e-mail to ask if the issue has been resolved to their satisfaction.

The irony of customer service is that at an intuitive level, most people know that it largely determines a company’s reputation, but companies spend less money on it than sales and marketing. The double irony of customer service is that nothing I’ve listed is particularly expensive. Now you know what to do, how to do it, and how cheap it is to do, so you have absolutely no excuses for poor customer service.

The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success

Marcus Buckingham has a very practical “finding your passion” technique that I just started introducing into my life as well as my life coaching client’s lives: “ReMemo – the technique of revealing your strengths using your everyday experiences!” Finding your passion is a matter of spending one week and keeping a log of your emotional reaction to each activity as it comes up. Write down the activity, and check whether you feel “energized” or “weakened.” It’s refreshing and simple!

Personally, I feel very energized when I’m producing fashion photo shoots, among other fun things. I’ve produced a handful over the past few years and really get a kick out of bringing people who enjoy what they’re doing together for a project – photographers, models, hair stylists, makeup artists and designers. I also love discovering new modeling talent and introducing them to my trusted photographer David Howe and having him assess and educate them about posing, lighting, professionalism and attitude. Producing fashion photo shoots, workshops and promoting talent definitely makes me feel “energized.”

I first heard about Marcus Buckingham and ReMemo at the end of October 2008 through Susan Bratton’s DishyMix podcast: “Episode 70: Marcus Buckingham on The Truth About You, Career Intervention on Oprah and the Strength’s Revolution.”

About the Author: Marcus Buckingham is a multi-million-copy, best-selling author with over 3.6 million copies of his landmark bestsellers in print. Drawing on more than 150,000 interviews collected by Gallup over the previous 25 years, he developed the thesis for his strengths message that is changing the way the world approaches life and work. He has been the subject of in-depth profiles in the New York Times, Fortune, and Fast Company and has consulted with national and international brands, such as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Best Buy, and Wells Fargo. He is also a member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Leadership and Management.

The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success by Marcus Buckingham

Business coach customer service research. I just finished my second customer service presentation for Plato’s Closet Reno employees as part of my continuing business coaching research.

Owner, Hillary Schieve, was kind enough to invite me back to present customer service, part 2, and asked when I can present part 3 shortly after we wrapped up.

A quick 5 minute presentation put the employees on track for followup customer service presentations.

First Impressions – How Your Customers Perceive You

Greetings:

- “Hi, welcome to Plato’s Closet. If you have any questions, I’m happy to help.”
- This also helps prevent retail theft, as most thieves prefer not to be noticed upon entering the store.

Smile:

- Dude, smile:)

Attitude:

- Treat customers like your friends. Be friendly☺ “How’s it goin’? Can I help you find anything?”

Empathy:

- Over the years I’ve heard, “I’ll only be nice to customers that are nice to me.”
- Not every customer is happy – sometimes their just goin’ through some stuff and they bring it in the store with them. That’s OK.
- Always smile and be friendly with every customer.
- Angry customers want to be listened to, too.

Proximity:

- When you’re behind the counter: Ask, “How can I help you?” if a customer is near the counter.
- When you’re on the floor: Ask, “Are you finding everything OK?” (even if it means interrupting them while their shopping; even if it means interrupting what you’re doing).

“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson’s sage advice applies to our families, relationships and businesses equally. What we “be” is what we “see.”

Brian Gardner lists 5 things that were essential in establishing his online success in designing Premium WordPress Blog Themes. I also see the life & business coaching benefits of Brian’s list:

1) Establish a game plan
Part of this step is identifying not only what your good at, but also what you enjoy doing. A lot of us are good at our jobs, but if enjoyment isn’t there, life can really be a drag. …it’s essential to map out the direction you want to head. You might stray from time to time, and that’s ok, but keeping your eyes on the prize can really take you there.

2) Get yourself on the map
Take a chance, and email the owner of a site, and ask them if they need a redesign, or if you can offer your services at a discounted rate. …As I look back, there were two sites that I designed which, in my opinion, really helped me and my business take off.

3) Do favors for people
…whether it be to offer assistance at no charge, or simply do work for people at a discounted rate. …when you’re starting out, any exposure is good exposure. …I can recount at least two things I’ve done in the last year for people that have come back tenfold.

How To Be Successful Online, Part 1, by Brian Gardner

4) Be innovative, and take chances
So many of us (myself included) have a tendency to want to “mimic” those who are doing something successful. …but in my opinion it is far better to pioneer a concept, than to be a follower of one that already exists. Be innovative and take chances.

5) Put customer service on the top of your priority list
…I used to see customers on a daily basis, and I made it a point to get to know them – to learn their names, to know what they did, and to do little things for them that mattered. For as long as I am working in a business that deals with customers, I will do my best to put [customers] first. Make sure that they are happy with the product. In addition to that, it’s very important to set up an infrastructure for your business to accommodate your client base. Happy customers can be a huge marketing tool. They spread the word about you and your services and they refer others to your site. In other words, they can really help build your business for you. As long as you are willing to put them first, and to make them feel special.

How To Be Successful Online, Part 2, by Brian Gardner