October 2, 2023

The Seven Principles of Delivering Exceptional Customer Service

brian smith-pld, Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Dealing with Difficult People, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Management, Management Training, Mentorship, Personal Development, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, small business owner, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Your advertising and traditional marketing campaigns based on the Four P’s (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) are no longer considered a strategic advantage. Some businesses refer to their customers as guests or clients and try to reinvent themselves by adding non-traditional product lines to maintain or grow market share. However, adopting the seven principles of delivering exceptional customer service is the only advantage you have left to set yourself apart from your competition.

‘A business absolutely devoted to delivering customer service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly high.’ – Henry Ford.

If you want an advantage over your competition, then you need to adopt the seven principles of delivering exceptional customer service.

F – Friendly – Smile, say hello and make eye contact. Build those all-important relationships. People like to do business with people they like and with companies that make them feel wanted.

O – Observant – Learn to recognize customers who want help and those who don’t. Ask open-ended questions. Customers know what they want, but if they have never done the task or that repair before, they don’t know what they need.

C – Competent – Don’t make stuff up. Trust me, your customer has already done the research; they want to know what you know about the products and services you provide. If you don’t know the answers to their questions, then find out or get someone who does.

U – Understanding – Be empathetic.. See things from your customer’s point of view – especially when dealing with an angry and upset customer. Don’t waste your customer’s time reciting company policy. Find out what the customer wants to resolve the situation. If you don’t have the authority to grant it, get someone who does.

S – Sincere – If you genuinely want to help your customers, it will show in the way you communicate and interact with them. You communicate 93% of the time non-verbally. You are speaking volumes, and you haven’t said a word. Your actions and words must be congruent, or your customer will believe the non-verbal as being more accurate.

E – Energized – Be enthusiastic; act like you want to be there. Approach your customers instead of leaning on the counter, talking to your co-workers or spending too much time on your phone. Give customers your undivided attention.

D – Dependable – Whatever you said you would do, do it. Your word must be your bond. Customers need to trust what you say. If they can’t trust your word – they won’t trust you at all.

“To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” – Douglas Adams.

Providing exceptional customer service is not that difficult. All you have to be is better than your competitors. Based on what customers say about the current level of service or lack thereof, that won’t be difficult if you apply the seven principles of delivering exceptional customer service.

Copyright (c) 2023. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To learn more about Brian and our Let’s Get FOCUSED (c) on Customers – The Seven Principles of Delivering Exceptional Customer Service workshop, contact Brian at – brian@briansmithpld.com or visit our website – https://briansmithpld.com

September 16, 2023

Authentic Leadership Defined

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Management, Management Training, Mentorship, Personal Development, Personality Types, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher, Uncategorized

Authentic – Adjective: of undisputed origin, genuine. Synonyms: – credible, legitimate, original. Being authentic implies that you’re trustworthy and reliable. Some leaders and managers start taking on bogus characteristics because they feel pressured to be what they’re not. They believe it will help them increase their chances of successfully leading or managing others. Are you being your authentic self, or are you faking it?

“You were born to be real, not to be perfect. You are here to be you, not ot live someone else’s life.” – Ralph Marston.

You can’t rub the stripes off the tiger or the spots off the leopard, no matter how hard you try. You are who you are. However, your authentic leadership style may not be effective in some situations. A strength can become a weakness. One way of managing and leading others does not fit all. The key to working with others is to communicate and interact with them the way they like. You don’t have to change who you are – just modify your approach.

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are supposed to be and embracing who we truly are.” – Brene Brown.

Dr. William Marston believed we are one of four distinct personalities, Dominant, Interpersonal, Steadiness or Conscientious, that heavily influence our behaviour. He ascertained that we become who we are and act the way we act at a very young age. We get accustomed to behaving a certain way, communicating and interacting with others a certain way and managing ourselves and others a certain way that eventually becomes our authentic selves.

“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomfort.” – Arnold Bennett.

If you want to be more effective in leading or managing others – don’t change who you are – change the way you do it.

D – Dominant: To be more effective in leading or managing dominant personalities, get to the point quickly, use a rapid pace and be business-like. Answer the “what” questions.

I – Interpersonal: To be more effective in leading or managing interpersonal personalities, be casual and approachable, and establish those all-important relationships. Answer the “who” questions.

S – Steadiness: To be more effective in leading or managing steadiness personalities, use a slower pace and establish rapport by being friendly. Answer the “how” questions.

C – Conscientious: To be more effective in leading or managing conscientious personalities, be reserved and wait for them, limiting your feelings and enthusiasm, Answer the “why” questions.

Copyright (c) 2023. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To learn more about DISC and how it can help you and your leadership team manage and lead others more effectively, contact Brian at: brian@briansmithpld.com.

August 30, 2023

Shit Happens – Figure It Out!

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Leadership Development, Management, Management Training, Mentorship, Personal Development, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Teacher, Uncategorized

Shit happens – figure it out. I love that quote from Tony Gareri. It spoke to me because most things never go exactly as planned. Too many obstacles can get in your way and throw you off course. You can’t control what’s out of your control, but you can decide how to react. Shit happens – it’s called life. You can either step over the shit or step in it. You pick. You can either let it ruin your day and torpedo your plans – or you can learn from it and use it to learn the lesson it’s trying to teach you and begin again. This time, a little wiser and a little more informed.

“A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you. ” – Joyce Meyer.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, or a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. We can only play on the one string we have, which is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes. Wise words with remembering by Charles Swindell.

“The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.” – A. Kane.

Do you walk around thinking your cup is half-full or half-empty? I think my cup is half-full. I choose to see the positives in everything that happens to me as a learning opportunity. Even the negative things that happen to you, and trust me, there will be plenty of them, are positives if you look at them from another point of view. It helps if you believe everything happens to you for a reason. Whatever happens today is preparing you for what will happen tomorrow.

“Some people want it to happen., some wish it would happen, and others make it happen. ” M.J.

I am, without a doubt, the most optimistic person you will ever meet. Besides being an eternal optimist, I’m also a realist. I do have my Dr. Phil moments of clarity. I know that I can’t control everything that happens around me. But I know I can control how I react in any situation. In that space between stimulus and response that Dr. Covey talks about and what Dr. Viktor Frankl knows to be true from his experiences, I know I must react in a way that will get me what I want. I know that shit happens, and I will figure it out. You can figure your shit out, too.

Copyright (c) 2023. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To learn more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization, visit his website – https://briansmithpld.com.

August 7, 2023

Do You Need To Learn To Say No?

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Development, Management, Management Training, Mentorship, Personal Development, Professional development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Teacher

The constant pressure to find innovative ways to accomplish our daily tasks at work and home is becoming even more challenging in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing environment. We all face the same dilemma: too much to do and not enough hours in the day to do them. Your time is the limiting factor, not the things you need to get done. Time management is life management. How you manage your time is how you manage your life. Time is not adaptable – but you are. To gain control of your life, you need to learn to say no.

Worth Remembering – “Whether you think you can or you can’t – you’re right.” – Henry Ford.

How much control do you think you have over your life? Please take a moment and consider that question carefully. Your answer will be a clue as to whether you’ll successfully control your time. Do you believe you control nothing in your life? Do you think you have control over some things in your life, but there are some things you have no control over, or you can control everything in your life? Where do you place yourself on that external (I can’t control anything in my life) to the internal (I can control everything in my life) continuum?

Worth Remembering – “If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it.” – Covey.

Managing your time wisely requires self-discipline, self-mastery and self-control. What are the three most important things in your life? Is it family, friends, career or your spare time? We all have 168 hours a week – no more or no less. You are the master of your fate. You are in control of how you spend your allotted time. How much of your 168 hours a day, week or month are you spending on your three important things. If you aren’t spending some of your time on those three, then you need to learn to say no.

Worth Remembering – “Half of the troubles of this life can be traced back to saying “Yes” too quickly and not saying “No” soon enough.” – Josh Billings

To be truly happy and in control of your life is to use your power to say no. Please don’t feel guilty or afraid to disappoint someone who only remembers you when they want something from you. If you keep spending your day solving everyone else’s problems, you’re teaching them to come to you instead of forcing them to put out their own fires. One of your roles as a parent, manager or leader is to teach others how to think of their feet. You aren’t doing them any favours if you keep doing the thinking for them. Your freedom doesn’t come from your ability to say yes – it comes from your ability to say no. You need to learn to say no.