Don’t Count Your Blessings, Count Your ‘Sorrys’
Several news services and blogs were writing about the same subject recently and they caught my attention. They were discussing a study conducted by Zendesk and generally they were concluding that the more often a customer service agent says “sorry,” “please” or “thank you” the angrier the customer gets. One article put it like this: “The more times you tell your customers you’re ‘sorry,’ ‘thank you’ or ‘please” when they come to you for help, the angrier they tend to get, new research finds.” Correlation vs Causation It’s true that the Zendesk study found a direct correlation between those words – especially “sorry” – and an increase in customer anger. However, most writers opining on the topic made an analytical error that runs rampant today: mistaking correlation for causation. If you read the study, you’ll see that it tries, albeit somewhat unsuccessfully, to explain this. Let me see if I can make it a little clearer. When a customer service interaction is not going well, the agent will naturally use a greater number of words such as “sorry,” “please or “thank you.” Of course, when that happens the customer is getting angrier by the minute as well. Those words don’t cause the anger, they reflect a situation that engenders anger in a customer. Further, when customer service calls are problematic, they are lengthier and therefore naturally include more of these polite and apologetic words. Some of you may have seen these articles that attempt to summarize the study’s findings. I wanted to shed additional light on it because I don’t want you to run out to the floor and tell your customer service representatives to stop being courteous on the phone! Develop awareness How can you make good use of this information? You should discuss the study findings with your staff and help them become more aware of how often they find themselves using these words – and as I said above, when the word “sorry” begins to be used frequently, customers are getting pretty ticked off. If your agents start hearing themselves use these trigger words too often in one customer service interaction, they need to take action and find a better way to resolve the situation so they can stop walking further down that “sorry” road. Also, by making your agents sensitive to these words, you’ll also get them listening more closely to what they are saying, which is always a good thing. Before we leave the topic, the study offered another interesting piece of related information. When customers use polite words such as “please” and “thank you,” it tends to indicate greater satisfaction with the customer service interaction. So here’s the winning formula: Things are going well when your agents don’t have to be walking on eggshells and apologizing all the time, and when your customers are speaking in very polite terms. Image: Public Domain...
read moreHow to Avoid the Pitfalls of Your Comfort Zone
For years there has been a “quote” going around that was attributed to Albert Einstein. It says, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” First, Einstein never said it. Second, it’s not really a definition of insanity. However, with those two points out of the way, it is extremely dumb to keep doing the same things again and again with the hopes of achieving a different outcome. And for my purposes today I want to apply this principle to the habits around which your life revolves. If you are doing the same things day in and day out, it becomes virtually impossible to get a fresh perspective on anything, including how you are running your business and how you are living your life. Be proactive As 2014 is winding down and we begin to look ahead to 2015, I suggest you intentionally get outside of your comfort zone, leap clear of your rut. Do this in both your personal and professional lives. Sometimes it takes a major outside influence to get us to take steps like these. I’m thinking about life events such as the loss of a job or business, or the breakup of a personal relationship. In those cases, pain forces us into new places. However, I suggest that you draw on your senses of curiosity and adventure to propel you into some new experiences. Don’t wait for the hammer of pain to get you hopping. Have you ever moved to a new city and spent the first year or more exploring all the interesting places it has to offer? If you ever do this, and then share your experiences with folks who have spent their entire lives in that city, you’ll find that many of them will have never gone to the majority of the places you visited as you took time to know your new hometown. How the ‘Lost Generation’ Found Greatness Is it just a coincidence that many of the world’s greatest artists and writers left their native countries post World War I and settled in Paris? It presented a new and vibrant culture where creative types with all kinds of new ideas could be inspired by one another. I see some of that kind of synergy today in co-working spaces. If you run a home-based business, why not go outside of your comfort zone for a few months and lease a desk at a co-working space? See what other local entrepreneurs are up to. Make some connections. Be inspired by new ideas. If your evening time devoted to unwinding revolves around what’s on TV, pledge to go TV-free for a week or longer. Find a local pub that has a trivia night. See what books business leaders are reading and grab one from your library. Volunteer at the local rescue mission. You’ll see yourself and your community from a different perspective. In your business, start a project where people, including yourself, trade jobs. I’ve always found that this is a great way to break through chronic problems in a business setting. Often person “A” doesn’t even realize that something he or she does routinely causes a problem for person “B.” We get so accustomed to dealing with various workplace inconveniences that we stop seeing...
read moreSay ¡Bienvenidos! to the Global Economy
“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” – Charlemagne. I certainly love the sentiment in that Charlemagne quote, but for the practical small business owner, being able to speak a second language in today’s global marketplace and increasingly polyglot United States does even more: it can be a distinct competitive advantage. A friend of mine – an Anglo – speaks Spanish quite well. He once supervised a fairly large assembly line in California where Spanish was the first language of almost half the workers. He remembers his first few days on the job. He hadn’t used his Spanish yet or told anyone he could speak Spanish but he overheard several employees speaking among themselves saying, “I think he knows Spanish.” They could sense it. Advantages of a second language It was a great group of employees and his ability to speak Spanish created more loyalty and better shop floor communication. People are more relaxed and open when they are speaking their first language. If you’ve ever been in a country where few speak English, you know how relieved you are when you finally connect with someone who does. The workplace certainly requires command of a common language among employees, but when the owner or manager speaks a second language, it can be a very useful tool. This is even more important when overseas expansion is a possibility. Fortunately we have a wealth of resources today that can get us well along the road of learning a second language. Gone are the days when all you got was a box of cassette tapes and some workbooks when you purchased a language course. Rosetta Stone, for example, is mostly Internet-based today and it uses sophisticated software to guide your learning. There are plenty of free language learning resources on the Internet and they’ll serve you well if all you need right now is an introduction to a language. However, to push yourself further than the most common conversational phrases, you’ll need a bigger commitment, in time and probably in money as well. Local courses Beyond web resources, one of the best ways to get some serious second language skills is by signing up for a course at a local community college. The instruction there will be more formal and held on a regular schedule. The discipline of attending a class a couple of nights a week on a continuing basis will probably help you learn more quickly. Sometimes when we plan to pursue a self-paced course in our free time, we find that we don’t have any free time. If you have children studying a second language in school you might ask to see their materials and unofficially “audit” their coursework from home to give you at least an overview of what to expect. Of course, before you jump into learning a second language, give some thought to which language will best serve the interests of growing and managing your business. Spanish is certainly a strong candidate in many cases, but if expansion into Asia is on your radar screen, you might want to go in that direction. Image: Public Domain...
read moreSo Crazy, These Small Biz Ideas Might Just Work!
Even smart venture capitalists swing and miss far more often than they hit home runs. It’s difficult to predict which business ideas will make money and which will tank. A friend bought extra tickets to this year’s PGA Championship tournament figuring he’d be able to resell some to help defray his cost of going. When he listed them he found that there was a glut of tickets selling for under their face value. However, it turned out that parking passes were fetching two to three times their original price. Alas, he hadn’t invested in parking passes. The lesson here is that you need to be willing to experiment and subject even the oddest ideas to marketplace testing. To offer you a little inspiration, here are some quirky business ideas that should help you think outside of the proverbial box. Pet Rock When listing the craziest ideas that made money, you have to start the list with the Pet Rock. Advertising executive Gary Dahl had this idea one night in a Bay Area bar while listening to friends complain about their pets. TIP: Do a better job remembering all those wacky ideas that get tossed around in bars late at night. Place-in-line-holder Guy New York city resident Robert Samuel lost his job selling cellphones and needed to make a few bucks. There was a new iPhone release coming up, so he offered his services via Craig’s List to hold a place in line. Samuel has branched out since then and it looks like much of his work has been waiting in line for cronuts – you know, doughnuts made from croissant dough. By the way, I also think cronuts rate as a crazy, yet very successful, idea. Rent-a-Pet(lover) Perhaps this is a new twist on the Pet Rock idea: petless people who love pets sign up to take care of pets for people who need to get away. Websites like BorrowMyDoggie and DogVacay connect the pet-plentiful with the petless for as little as a few hours to several days. The advantage is that the pets get to stay with folks who are enthusiastic about animals. If you don’t want to turn your home over to strange pets, consider dog walking. It’s becoming a growth industry in bigger cities. Rent-a-Chicken There seems to be an animal/pet theme here, doesn’t there? This one plays to the current desire to get closer to the source of our food – way closer. If you think you might want to raise your own chickens for eggs, in the spring Rent The Chicken will set residents of Western Pennsylvania up with a portable coop, two layers and all the supplies needed for the rental period. If you fall in love with the chicks, you have the option to adopt. I think a lesson to be learned from these businesses is to be on the lookout for how you can help people cope with their modern busy lives. This is reflected in the boom in personal assistants, shoppers, trainers and chefs. A more traditional business that taps these needs and is growing significantly is housecleaning. But don’t be afraid to experiment with the wild and wacky before you turn to a tried-and-true business idea. Image: Big and little dog 1, © 2006 Ellen Levy Finch, used under a Creative Commons...
read moreYou Are Your Company’s Culture: Three Essential Qualities
Have you worked for any large corporations? Some are great to work for; others make employees feel more like the number on their security badge than the smiling face on the badge. Often the difference between those ecosystems is this: In the first, the original founders are still active, while in the second, the founders left the scene three to four mergers ago. The lesson is that as the founder of a small business you virtually are the company culture. Unfortunately, as small business owners wrestle with staying afloat they can easily forget this fact and inadvertently create a bad company culture. So if you’re in a hurry and can’t read any more, just remember that your business will be a reflection of who you are, or at least who your employees perceive you to be. And now that we have the “big idea” out of the way, let’s break it down a little bit and examine three essential qualities. Openness and transparency The term “transparency” gets bantered about a lot today, especially as it applies to our political leadership. Being open and transparent with your team is critically important. You want to instill in them the same passion you have for your business. If you build a wall around yourself, that passion will never be transferred. I’ve often heard the saying, “More gets caught than taught.” You can have employee meetings every week stressing what you think is important, but if you actively model what is important, the information is transferred much more efficiently and internalized much more deeply. Communication The prefix “com” in communication means “with” or “together.” While it takes one person to be transparent – you – it takes two or more people to communicate, one of which must be you. You need to consistently communicate your values and priorities while at the same time listening to your employees. Make sure they understand your message and also be certain that you hear – and take to heart – their observations, suggestions, feelings and concerns. Remember: It’s just possible that you may occasionally be wrong! Focus I mentioned priorities above. Your small business needs to have a focus and everyone needs to know it, understand it and share it. A friend once worked in a struggling division of a large corporation. One day he and his coworkers found themselves under the thumb of the company’s “fix it” guy. To some, this manager was an ogre; to others, he was focused and intense. If an employee strayed from his priorities, it was bad news. However, even when employees screwed up big time there was no problem as long as their focus was the same as his. That was liberating for the employees who got on-board. They had the freedom to be innovative and creative without the fear of failure as long as they were aligned with leadership. That is a productive environment. I can’t tell you exactly what “flavor” your company culture should be. It’s different with every small business and its owner. However, I want you to understand how wise it is to invest your time in creating a strong company culture. If you can achieve that, it will serve like the keel of a sail boat and keep your business headed in the right direction...
read more