Preoccupation is defined as “being engaged in irrelevant thought.” this is best done when you are alone.
Teach your fellow employees above all that if they are in the presence of customers, that they must pay attention and not be preoccupied. When customers come anywhere close to your employees, they should:
-
Snap to attention and FOCUS on them.
-
Greet them and find out how we can assist them.
-
Find out where they are from.
-
Pay attention to their children.
-
Make them feel special.
-
Treat them as individuals.
-
Show complete respect for them by paying attention to them.
-
Share their product and service knowledge with them .
This is one of the easiest things you can do to make sure that your customers are being treated so well that they will do business with you over and over in addition to telling everyone else how great you business is.
Being ignored is something we all dislike whether it is on purpose or because people are just not paying attention. Use your eyes and ears to know when a customer is coming anywhere near you and then spring to action and make their day.
Remember your business reputation is in direct relationship to how well the employees that come into contact with the customers perform. Your employees are your brand…… Lee
PS:…..I hope all of my new friends around the world had a great weekend and that everyone celebrating Easter woke up energized this morning. Go our this week and focus on making everyone feel great about you and your business. You customers will not be committed to you until they are sure you are committed to them.
As always, Lee is on point! I would like to take it a step further and say that this applies to all of the people in our lives, what I like to call our Life customers. Our spouses, children, parents, and those important people who we are close to need our attention as much as our customers do. If we pay attention to them and as Lee so eloquently stated, FOCUS on them (as a former soldier I appreciated the snapping to attention), we can expect the same “customer service” from them, as well. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Lee!
Lee:
This is a big one today. Preoccupation is now becoming a ‘social disease.’ I read a statistic from the American Advertising Association that the average number of messages a person in this country receives a day is around 6,000! Then add the preoccupation with a Blackberry or an I-Phone and this becomes a real problem. It can lead to an accepted lack of civility and care-especially when in groupsor meetings. Part of the problem is one of simple attention. I like to think of it as ‘attending’ to another person. Attending to their needs if a customer.
But the first ‘attention’ needs to be to one’s direct reports or the team. I like to think about attending to the customer as an ‘inside-out job.’ If I know my leader is focused on me and cares about me, then I will take care of him or her. More than that I know that I have the support and care ftrom my leader to take care of the customer. This makes the entire organization ‘hum.’ It means that I will now search for ways to make the customer experience even better because my leader cares enough about me to make my life better. And with that goes organizational pride and even more care for the customer.
Lee, thanks for your thoughts. It’s so important to show your customers how much you care about them and value their business. It takes a lot of work to get someone to pay you for your product or service and employees should never forget that or take it for granted.
I hope you had a great Easter. We are in the process of planning a Disney cruise for the fall : )
Lee,
re: “Remember your business reputation is in direct relationship to how well the employees that come into contact with the customers perform. Your employees are your brand…… Lee”
My thoughts here are on the wisdom of Jan Carlzon former Chief Executive Officer of SAS Group from 1981 – 1994. Jan had a Disneyesk focus on quality and customer service. His phrase for the hundreds of customer and employee interactions that take place every day at SAS, and every service firm, is “Moments of Truth.” At the instance that these Moments of Truth occur your lowest paid employee is your organization to the customer, guest, client, patient, and the like.
Jan’s Moments of Truth align with your — Snap to attention and FOCUS on them and — Greet them and find out how we can assist them.
Best regards, Lee
Jim