The Zig Ziglar Newsletter carries this article and I just had to publish it here, since it proclaims one universal truth about servicing customers: give them what they want and they will always come back and recommend you! -- Jorge Pinkus
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Flexibility! A key to developing customers who return!
Recently, I had a pair of experiences that are a perfect illustration of this customer service secret.
My family and I were looking for an early dinner before returning to our church for normal Wednesday activities. There is a family owned pizza restaurant near our house in Frisco. We had been there before and really enjoyed their pizza. It was early, so we were just about the only patrons there.
My son happens to be a fan of cheese pizza and does not care for all of the other toppings. My wife and I prefer a good pepperoni pizza. We approached the counter to place our order. The cook took his place just behind the counter and started flipping the dough, trying to convince us of their Italian authenticity. Politely, I told the young lady working the register (I’ll call her Rose), that I wanted one large pizza. I asked if I could have three fourths of the pizza with pepperoni and one fourth with extra cheese. (I also let her know that I was fine paying for an entire one ingredient pizza.)
Rose looked at me and said that they could only split the ingredients on a half pizza. (The cook was listening to the conversation and was anxious to start building our order.) I restated that I really wanted only a couple of the slices to be extra cheese for my son. I asked, “Can’t you just tell the cook (who was listening to the whole conversation), to leave off the pepperoni on a couple of slices?” Her response was: “No. Our system won’t allow us to do that and it will confuse the cook.”
After an additional unpleasant exchange of comments, we cancelled our order and left the restaurant.
I have spoken to several groups since that day and have used this establishment as the negative example of flexibility. Without naming the restaurant, one person in the audience guessed the location! She had experienced the same poor service and also vowed to never return.
Several weeks later, we were in the same position on a Wednesday night and my wife was hungry for a good pizza. She had seen another local pizza restaurant called “Sal’s” in Plano and we decided to give it a try.
We walked in and were greeted by a friendly young man. (Let’s call him Tony.) It was early and we were again the only people in the place. Tony escorted us to our table and gave us the menu. He took our drink order and then the moment of truth happened…
I asked Tony if it would be possible to get a large pizza with three fourths pepperoni and one fourth just extra cheese. (My wife kicked me under the table, not wanting to go through another unpleasant experience.) Tony smiled and said, “Sure, I don’t see why not.” (My wife breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.)
The experience and pizza were both great and we have recommended Sal’s many times. We would choose their pizza whenever we are hungry for that type of food.
What is the difference between these two experiences?
It is their flexibility and willingness to give the customer what they want.
Organizations need standards, policies, and rules to operate efficiently, but it is critical that all employees utilize some basic common sense when dealing with customer requests.
Your goal should be to satisfy 100% of needs for each customer, within reason.
Also, don’t let your computer system (or whatever other system) dictate what you can deliver to your customer. Learn to deal with exceptions!
Here is another example of this point. There is a phrase that appears on the bottom of many menus that drives me crazy! You can probably guess it. “No Substitutions Please.”
When I see that, I read “Mr Customer, we are not interested in truly meeting your need. Please go elsewhere.” (I’m not talking about asking to substitute a skewer of shrimp for my fries, but for only some comparably priced item on the menu.)
Contrast that with another line at the bottom of a menu I saw just this week: “Anything is possible. Please ask.”
This demonstrates a true desire to give a customer what they want and dramatically increases the chance that your customer will return.
This same concept applies to businesses outside of the hospitality industry. Employees should be trained to ask the question: “How can I satisfy this request?” instead of simply answering, “No, we do not do that.”
Many new product and service ideas come from organizations that listen to their customers and make every attempt to tailor their offering to the specific need. Chances are there are other customers who want the same thing, but have been conditioned not to ask.
Flexibility! Giving your customers exactly what they want will eliminate their desire to go to your competitor!
Take a few minutes and review your systems and policies and ask yourself, “How would I or my employees deal with a request that is slightly different than what we are used to hearing?”
Develop a culture of flexibility and your organization will be one step closer to delivering world class customer service.
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Customer Centered Consulting Group works with organizations of all sizes to improve their effectiveness through enhanced customer service, strong leadership, and simplified processes. For more information, visit: www.cccginc.com.
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Your Maximum Success Coach,
Jorge Pinkus
http://www.123-sites.com
P.D. Get your own webdomain registered, annual hosting, unlimited email accounts, 999 autoresponders, 999 maillists, dozens of scripts installables with one click, and much more for only $99/year. Go here: http://www.123-sites.com
Feb 19, 2008
Jan 21, 2008
Be a Better Presenter, by Kevin Eikenberry
I'd like to share this article, from Kevin Eikenberry, which I think it's long due... Almost every presentation I've witnessed (as a Coach, as audience member or as a client) it's guilty of at least two of the following errors. Here are eight uncommon approaches (they may be uncommon, but I wholeheartedly recommend them!) to presentations. Read them, and apply all eight of them:
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Rather than sharing the common wisdom with you – which must not be working very well if so many presentations are still so poor – I will share some uncommon advice. Think about it this way – if you try some uncommon advice, you might get uncommon results. Given the overall record of the common presentation, that will likely be very good!
1. More visuals, less words. Your PowerPoint presentation has too many words, on every slide (and there are probably way too many slides too – but that’s another article). Visual aids should be visual. Start replacing the words on your slides with images. And not just pie charts and line graphs, but pictures and images that help tell your story.
2. More emotion, less logic. It takes more than logic to move people. Give your audience the facts they need, but don’t overload them. Make sure you speak to the emotional part of people as well. Talk about why, and not just how.
3. More stories, less “facts”. We read books, watch TV and buy movie tickets because we love stories. When you create stories around your presentation or include relevant and passionate stories as a part of your presentation, you will be more successful.
4. More focus, less scatter. If you can’t put the key concepts and ideas of your talk on the back of an envelope or on one side of a 3x5 card, your message is too scattered. Hone in on your key message; know exactly what it is. If you don’t know it, how can you expect your audience to know (or remember) it?
5. More preparation, less “I’ll wing it”. Giving an effective presentation takes preparation and planning time. Too many people give poor presentations because they simply rely on their slides and muddle through. If you want to be a more powerful presenter, you must be prepared.
6. More belief, less bluster. Let your passion for your topic, your message and your recommendations show! If you believe in your message, let people know that through your words, actions, body language, energy and more.
7. More audience, less you. Hopefully you aren’t giving your presentation for your benefit, but for your audience’s. So, focus more on them. Worry less about how you look or sound and more about helping them understand your message. If your focus is all about you, stop reading – none of these points will help you. A presentation should always be about the audience.
8. More you, less façade. No, this isn’t in conflict with the last point; you will be a more effective presenter when you are real, genuine and sincere. Drop the posturing and be real. Your audience will appreciate it, and they will listen and trust you more.
You’ve just read eight pieces of uncommon advice. But reading them isn’t enough. You need to apply at least one of them to your next presentation. When you do, you will be more confident and will achieve more of the results you desire. You will have an audience that has heard and understood your words and takes action because of the presentation.
Potential Pointer: If we want to better at anything – including presentations – sometimes we need to do things differently than everyone else. Following the crowd will, at the very best, allow you to only be incrementally better. Taking a different approach can lead to breakthrough success.
=====================
About The Kevin Eikenberry Group
They help organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential through a variety of products and services including:
- Consulting / Coaching
- Speaking
- Training
- Products
to support the development of your potential.
To learn more click on the links above or call 888.LEARNER or 317.387.1424
========================
Have you already made a plan to apply some or all of the above ideas to your presentations? If you have, then great! If you haven't, stop right now and do it!
Your Maximum Success Coach,
Jorge Pinkus
P.S. Get your own domain name registered for one year, hosting for 12 months, unlimited email accounts, 999 autoresponders, 999 email lists, scripts and lot more for only $99/year. Go here:
http://www.123-sites.com
======================
Rather than sharing the common wisdom with you – which must not be working very well if so many presentations are still so poor – I will share some uncommon advice. Think about it this way – if you try some uncommon advice, you might get uncommon results. Given the overall record of the common presentation, that will likely be very good!
1. More visuals, less words. Your PowerPoint presentation has too many words, on every slide (and there are probably way too many slides too – but that’s another article). Visual aids should be visual. Start replacing the words on your slides with images. And not just pie charts and line graphs, but pictures and images that help tell your story.
2. More emotion, less logic. It takes more than logic to move people. Give your audience the facts they need, but don’t overload them. Make sure you speak to the emotional part of people as well. Talk about why, and not just how.
3. More stories, less “facts”. We read books, watch TV and buy movie tickets because we love stories. When you create stories around your presentation or include relevant and passionate stories as a part of your presentation, you will be more successful.
4. More focus, less scatter. If you can’t put the key concepts and ideas of your talk on the back of an envelope or on one side of a 3x5 card, your message is too scattered. Hone in on your key message; know exactly what it is. If you don’t know it, how can you expect your audience to know (or remember) it?
5. More preparation, less “I’ll wing it”. Giving an effective presentation takes preparation and planning time. Too many people give poor presentations because they simply rely on their slides and muddle through. If you want to be a more powerful presenter, you must be prepared.
6. More belief, less bluster. Let your passion for your topic, your message and your recommendations show! If you believe in your message, let people know that through your words, actions, body language, energy and more.
7. More audience, less you. Hopefully you aren’t giving your presentation for your benefit, but for your audience’s. So, focus more on them. Worry less about how you look or sound and more about helping them understand your message. If your focus is all about you, stop reading – none of these points will help you. A presentation should always be about the audience.
8. More you, less façade. No, this isn’t in conflict with the last point; you will be a more effective presenter when you are real, genuine and sincere. Drop the posturing and be real. Your audience will appreciate it, and they will listen and trust you more.
You’ve just read eight pieces of uncommon advice. But reading them isn’t enough. You need to apply at least one of them to your next presentation. When you do, you will be more confident and will achieve more of the results you desire. You will have an audience that has heard and understood your words and takes action because of the presentation.
Potential Pointer: If we want to better at anything – including presentations – sometimes we need to do things differently than everyone else. Following the crowd will, at the very best, allow you to only be incrementally better. Taking a different approach can lead to breakthrough success.
=====================
About The Kevin Eikenberry Group
They help organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential through a variety of products and services including:
- Consulting / Coaching
- Speaking
- Training
- Products
to support the development of your potential.
To learn more click on the links above or call 888.LEARNER or 317.387.1424
========================
Have you already made a plan to apply some or all of the above ideas to your presentations? If you have, then great! If you haven't, stop right now and do it!
Your Maximum Success Coach,
Jorge Pinkus
P.S. Get your own domain name registered for one year, hosting for 12 months, unlimited email accounts, 999 autoresponders, 999 email lists, scripts and lot more for only $99/year. Go here:
http://www.123-sites.com
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