Mind Your Own Business
I coach retailers and all sorts of service providers: doctors, lawyers, and sales clerks. The common struggle with all is that they forget their 101 classes, i.e. how to get an easy add on sale, how to "capture" a client, how to get customers excited enough to brag about their experience.
Stamps and Eye Brows...So What!
I am standing in a long line at arguably the worst post office in Pittsburgh.
I mean these workers have been there for years and still don't know how to smile, be polite, or even pretend to care.
But I got a break. It's April 17th and taxes are due; thus, the long line, and I got an "extra" taking care of me. She smiles, she's conversational, she 's helpful. And after placing my package in the Out bin, she politely asked me, "Mr. Rubin, (she actually took note of my name on my credit card) do you need any stamps today?"
I thought about it. And I realized I did need stamps today. So I bought a roll. And she said "thank you."
Wow! I asked her if I could compliment her to her supervisor, whose picture may have been on the wall under "missing persons."
I am getting my 3 week "buzz" haircut at a large chain that I always go to. I'm known as "8-minute-Larry" (which should give you a hint about how much hair I don't have). I'm always in a hurry; I'm in and I'm out.
The last time my scalp needed a stylist was somewhere around the time I got my driver's license. But this new staff member, who randomly gets me, makes me stay two minutes longer (I began by despising him for attempting to make me remain in this momentary prison longer than normal) by trimming my eye brows and the obvious social-security-eligible hair now growing around my ears as well as the follicle or two that has suddenly regenerated on my naked scalp.
Guess what? I like this guy, Rob.
I'm going back there only when he is there...and I'm going to continue to generously tip him.
It's About Personal Care, Stupid!
I was a month away from opening up a high end coffee shop, high end in motif, quality of product, staff. I needed a take-charge, "I-know-what-to-do" manager. I found him at last at one of local Starbucks. I didn't need an interview or references because on that particular Monday, as he made me my regular drink (without asking me what it was) he says to me, "Larry, how was your week-end in Cleveland with your kids and grandchildren?" I reply, "Jason, how did you even remember my name let alone where I was this weekend?" Says Jason, how can I not know your name? You come in here at least three times a week and you told me last week how you were spending your weekend."
Hey, valued readers, do you get it! This guy Jason…he listens. He remembers. He's hired (no matter what his salary requirements are) and he's still with us 6 years later.
Someone else once said: you have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that ratio.
OFFICE DEPOT & TRADER JOE'S vs. wal-mart
Yea, one is smaller than the other two. But ask someone at Wal-Mart (if you ever find an employee) where you can find a certain item and their finger will do the walkin'. Ask someone at Office Depot or Trader Joe's and they'll take you. I, and many others, will gladly pay the extra 7 cents, if that, for the item.
So, it is about the basics, the foundation.
Cheryl, one of the fundraisers I coach got it.
After a relationship-building meeting with a donor, she recorded that this donor was a fan of John Grisham novels. A month later she e-mailed him that she noticed Grisham's latest was on the Barnes & Noble shelves. This donor of large bucks was astounded and bragged about the very person who solicited him.
The lesson here: listen, remember and record. Remembering the dog's name or the client's anniversary can pay huge dividends...but that's basic, right? I know you know this already. It's intuitive. But maybe it's time to refresh, or add to your skill set. Maybe it's time to relight the fire, get back the passion and exhilaration... And then charge forward. Coaching can help you do that. I can help you do that.
So here's to Rob, Jason, Cheryl, the U.S. postal worker, Trader Joe's and Office Depot. And here's to Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: "nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
I coach retailers and all sorts of service providers: doctors, lawyers, and sales clerks. The common struggle with all is that they forget their 101 classes, i.e. how to get an easy add on sale, how to "capture" a client, how to get customers excited enough to brag about their experience.
Stamps and Eye Brows...So What!
I am standing in a long line at arguably the worst post office in Pittsburgh.
I mean these workers have been there for years and still don't know how to smile, be polite, or even pretend to care.
But I got a break. It's April 17th and taxes are due; thus, the long line, and I got an "extra" taking care of me. She smiles, she's conversational, she 's helpful. And after placing my package in the Out bin, she politely asked me, "Mr. Rubin, (she actually took note of my name on my credit card) do you need any stamps today?"
I thought about it. And I realized I did need stamps today. So I bought a roll. And she said "thank you."
Wow! I asked her if I could compliment her to her supervisor, whose picture may have been on the wall under "missing persons."
I am getting my 3 week "buzz" haircut at a large chain that I always go to. I'm known as "8-minute-Larry" (which should give you a hint about how much hair I don't have). I'm always in a hurry; I'm in and I'm out.
The last time my scalp needed a stylist was somewhere around the time I got my driver's license. But this new staff member, who randomly gets me, makes me stay two minutes longer (I began by despising him for attempting to make me remain in this momentary prison longer than normal) by trimming my eye brows and the obvious social-security-eligible hair now growing around my ears as well as the follicle or two that has suddenly regenerated on my naked scalp.
Guess what? I like this guy, Rob.
I'm going back there only when he is there...and I'm going to continue to generously tip him.
It's About Personal Care, Stupid!
I was a month away from opening up a high end coffee shop, high end in motif, quality of product, staff. I needed a take-charge, "I-know-what-to-do" manager. I found him at last at one of local Starbucks. I didn't need an interview or references because on that particular Monday, as he made me my regular drink (without asking me what it was) he says to me, "Larry, how was your week-end in Cleveland with your kids and grandchildren?" I reply, "Jason, how did you even remember my name let alone where I was this weekend?" Says Jason, how can I not know your name? You come in here at least three times a week and you told me last week how you were spending your weekend."
Hey, valued readers, do you get it! This guy Jason…he listens. He remembers. He's hired (no matter what his salary requirements are) and he's still with us 6 years later.
Someone else once said: you have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that ratio.
OFFICE DEPOT & TRADER JOE'S vs. wal-mart
Yea, one is smaller than the other two. But ask someone at Wal-Mart (if you ever find an employee) where you can find a certain item and their finger will do the walkin'. Ask someone at Office Depot or Trader Joe's and they'll take you. I, and many others, will gladly pay the extra 7 cents, if that, for the item.
So, it is about the basics, the foundation.
Cheryl, one of the fundraisers I coach got it.
After a relationship-building meeting with a donor, she recorded that this donor was a fan of John Grisham novels. A month later she e-mailed him that she noticed Grisham's latest was on the Barnes & Noble shelves. This donor of large bucks was astounded and bragged about the very person who solicited him.
The lesson here: listen, remember and record. Remembering the dog's name or the client's anniversary can pay huge dividends...but that's basic, right? I know you know this already. It's intuitive. But maybe it's time to refresh, or add to your skill set. Maybe it's time to relight the fire, get back the passion and exhilaration... And then charge forward. Coaching can help you do that. I can help you do that.
So here's to Rob, Jason, Cheryl, the U.S. postal worker, Trader Joe's and Office Depot. And here's to Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: "nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
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