Friday Fun: Little Acts Of Kindness
11/10/2006
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
When you're on the road for business, eating alone seems more the norm than not. Most times I'm okay with that. I use the time to catch up on "thoughts" or people watch and write blog posts in my mind that will probably never find their way to Diva Marketing. But Girlfriend, sometimes it can be lonely and awkward.
Last week my plane was late getting into Phoenix, where I was speaking about using blogs to build better service relationships, at the ASU's Compete Through Services Symposium. I was tired, hungry and a little frazzled when I walked into the Bistro at The Ritz Carlton Phoenix (sometimes these speaking gigs do have their perks!) to have dinner. As the waiter showed me to a table for one, two women, who were having dinner, waved to me and invited me to join them. Barbara Glanz turned out to be the end key note speaker and Krista Leintz was an attendee. Little Acts of Kindness.
And little did I know that Barbara Glanz's
kindness would be a living example of her presentation - The Simple Truths of Service. Barbara is passionate about building customer loyalty through customer service. As Barbara told us, you can't mandate customer service. Excellent customer service comes from both the heart as well as the head. That usually doesn't just happen. The culture of your organization has to support and encourage Little Acts of Kindness.
I listened to her tell story after story of creative, but simple ways, people within companies engaged with their customers. Barbara tells people to, "Put you personal signature on the job."
Then there is Johnny The Bagger a young man who happens to have Downs Syndrome. Johnny puts a though of the day in every order he bags. Customers come into the store, patiently wait in Johnny's line, just to get Johnny's quote of the day. "Johnny brought his heart to his job. He focused on what he could do in his daily work to make his customers feel special and their lives a little better." Little Acts of Kindness.
Light bulb moment. This is so bloggy thought I. Why not incorporate blogs into your customer service strategies? Why not have a Johnny The Bagger Blog?
Ten Simple Truths of Service
1. Great Service Inspires Stories/Memories.
Tip: Collect and record customer service stories2. Great Service Uses Outside-The-Box Thinking
Tip: Encourage and reward creativity and innovation3. Great Service Is A Choice
Tip: Understand the choices you have to engage with your customers. Teach employees to look for these touch points.4. Great Service Starts With A Clear Vision
Tip: Management must first have a focused vision and be enthusiastic about the importance of excellent customer service.
5. Great Service Requires That Everyone Catch The Vision
Tip: Ensure that all employees understand and buy-into the vision6. Great Service Surprises People
Tip: Have fun. If you're having fun at your job it will spill over to other employees and your customers7. Great Service Begins With Anyone
Tip: Everyone in your organization is responsible for creating Little Acts of Kindness.8. Great Service Goes The Extra Mile
Tip: Give employees the authority to Serve customers without going through channels9. Great Service Brings Customers Back
Tip: Benchmark and monitor customer retention statistics10. Great Customer Service Comes From The Heart
Tip: Manage on both business and human levels
Bottom-line .. your customers have click-of-the-mouse choices. From the heart customer service builds stronger relationships and can differentiate you from your competition. Little Acts of Kindness .. works!
Lessons Learned: Let's take our cue from Johnny The Bagger. What little Acts of Kindness can you implement in your business that will make your customers feel appreciated and special? In doing so you will not only create a much needed point of difference for your business, but a memorable "signature." I'd love to hear what you're doing. Please drop a comment and share your experience.
business astrology for fun -
from The Astro Divas Paula Dare & Donna Page
Happy Friday Diva fans; this could be a very interesting weekend for many of us. The planets are lining up asking us to have a good time, Moon in Leo shouts let loose, play enjoy life from one corner with the other team of players in Scorpio wanting intensity passion and focus.
You may have plenty of homework to do on your business agenda but feel like throwing it to the wind until you are back in the mood. Set aside allotted time to focus and regroup your long term vision, then allow your inner child to come out and play.
