February 2011

This is the greeting I received recently when I called a place  of business: "Hi. This is Megan.
 How can I make you smile today?"

As long as I am on the theme of appreciation in this newsletter,  I must say I didn't appreciate this. Is there anyone reading this who agrees with me?
Too much. It just hit me the wrong way.
 

The 'you-aren't-going-to-make-me-do-anything' part of me (you too?) got activated by Megan's approach. Okay, maybe I was a bit touchy this particular day. But it hit me as too much and too fake. Who talks like this?!?

 
As I say in my book on customer service, don't turn your employees into employees who sound like trained seals. Making everyone say a semi-ridiculous greeting or the same greeting whether they are into it or not does not work. 

It's a problem.

Solution: Authentic and real are in vogue more than ever in customer service. Make sure that is the sound that comes through your phones into your customers ears.  I prefer "Hi. I'm Megan. How can I help you?"
 

This is a small, but very important detail. It is the impression that people get of your business from simply the tone of voice and choice of words. Tune it up.
 

   BLOG With Me: What bugs you about customer service?   

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A little boy says to his dad: "Let's play darts. I'll throw."
You say "wonderful."

I wish we could all be as straightforward with our need for appreciation!

 
 - "I'll do great sales numbers: You say wonderful."

- "I'll go out of my way to get this done on time. you say: Thank You! Excellent!"

- "I've worked day and night building up our business,

   you say: I am so impressed with what you have done!"

 
 As a consultant to tuning up workplaces, I started to hear this same comment frequently enough to get  my attention. "No one ever tells me what a good job I'm doing."

 
There is hardly a more 'low morale'workplace than one where employees are starved for appreciation. Low morale in the workplace effects the individual, the staff and the business.
 

That's a problem. For it is a rare human who does not want to hear about how well they do in their work.

Ahhhhh those sweet, kind words of appreciation. With a touch of love in the tone. (Yes, love at work. Imagine this.)
  
Not every day. Not all the time. For then it gets too diluted and we get sick of hearing it.  Rarely is this the issue….

 
Solution: Get with it. Be on the lookout for good work. As Ken Blanchard so nicely put it: "Catch people doing something right.."  And then, let them know!

Appreciation Experiment #1: Hearing a compliment is good, getting it in writing lasts longer. Even in this instant electronic age, i still think there is room for the handwritten note*.  Give it a try.

Appreciation Experiment #2: Informally at your next staff meeting, go around the table and tell each person what you appreciate about them. 
  

   Report In please.  Would love to hear what happens. email me at the HumanTuneUp

 
   To make this all easier, use the employee Appreciation Power cards that do this job for you
 

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When repeat business is important to you and when your customers have a chance to go elsewhere, it's essential that employees are top notch at providing service. TuneUp tools help those on the front lines and behind the scenes. 

The TuneUp Tool Kit will refresh service skills and solidify your company's reputation in the markeplace for amazing service. The Customer Service TuneUp Tool Kit consists of three ingredients the It's Not Nice To  Choke Your Customer TuneUp Book, The desktop Customer Service Flipbook and a set of ten Employee Appreciation Cards…all designed to refresh, remind and reinforce the principles and skills of serving The Public.  The Book explains – The Flipbook reminds – The Appreciation Cards applaud. Simplicity at its finest.     more details

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 PERSONAL TUNEUP
The 'Make-Your-List-To-Send-Out-Thanks' Experiment

Expressing gratitude is intended to circle back around and tune us up.
Doing good in the world tends to do this.

Will you join me in an Appreciation Thank YOU Experiment for the next 30 days? 

inside: It's simply a better place with you here.

THE EXPERIMENT

All that I ask in this experiment is no electronic version of thanks.
  
The key is hand-written, drop it in the mailbox kind of thanks. Again I say, even with all of our electronic progress at connection, I still think there is something to holding the tangible in hand.

Sometimes I feel like I'm on the tail end of an era on this. But I notice how my heart still warms when I see a hand written envelope in the mail.

Another reason to put it in writing is that more than 75% of us best receive information visually. So just to hear appreciation usually does not sink in and last as long.

The paper path of appreciation really is best. Who would be on your list?

SAMPLE LIST: Obviously your personal inner circle. But then branch out and imagine
people who could really use a thank you. Be creative and sincere. Grocery clerks, post
office employees, doctors, nurses, politicians, family, friends, neighbors and on and on.

NEXT STEPS: Get some cards. Stamps. Pen and Addresses. Keep them in your purse, briefcase or at your desk. Pick a card, a person and write a few words. Either do it all in one  sitting or as you think of it f it. 30 days of appreciation coming up. 

Again I say, expressing gratitude is intended to circle back around and tune us up. 
Doing good in the world tends to do this.

ESTIMATED TIME INVOLVED: Out of the 43, 200 minutes in the next 30 days, this experiment would take about 120 of those. Still would have 43,080 for the rest of Life. 

Of course I admit I have just created a line of thank you cards (Gratitude Greetings) which I of course wish you would use for this, BUT ultimately the point is putting your version of appreciation out into the world, whatever you use to do it.

                If you want, report in on what happened as a result. email me at the Human TuneUp
 

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Let us never underestimate the body we live in. Without even having to think about it, the heart beats, the blood flows, the food transforms into needed fuel for the systems that make up this amazing symphony of cooperation known as our bodies.

 

Talk nice. Show it love.

Keep love alive.

See you next month,
Cath

 

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