BusinessIQ Magazine

ISSN:2141- 5994

VOL 2. NO 4 | 2014

BUSIN SSI

THINK. BELIEVE. BECOME

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Eight Things You Need to Understand About Life Benjamin Kwentua

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A Winning Mind

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Setting your Business Hours

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How to Survive Office Politics

Lincoln Davis Joshua Zerkel

Nathan Jansch 21

Are Bad Employees Ruining Your Business

Stephanie Frank 27

What To Do When Your Customer Is About To Explode

Ron Kaufman.

How to KEEP YOUR

CUSTOMERS

By Alan Fairweather

www.businesiqnetwork.com

VOL 2. No 4/2014

Note: Persistence In-Between

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Four Tips To Kick Start Your Self Esteem

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Alfred Ade-Iimakinwa

Seyi Eyitayo

Eight Things You Need To Understand About Life

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A Winning Mind

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BenJamin Kwentua Lincoln Davis

What To DO If You Have Difficulty Remembering Names

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Trevor Johnson

How Can I help You Brian Cantor

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Editor-in-Chief

Alfred Ade-Ijimakinwa

Editor

Valentine Okolo

Associate Editors

Theophilus Umoru,

Executive Contributors Benjamin Kwentua, Rachel Hill,

Warwick Merry, Joshua Zerkel, Nathan Jansch, Mitchell Osak, Ayad Mirjan, Fabrienne Fredrickson, Ezinne-Kufre-Ekanem, Ron Kaufman, Stephine Frank.

Photography

Kayode Kasum, Aborishade

Subscription/ Distribution Manager Advert Manager

Uchenna Osondu

Graphic/Design

Augusta Onwusanya Anselem Ohasuru

Setting Your Business Hours

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Graphics/Page Planning Print Production Adsnique Consults Ltd.

How To Survive Office Politics

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Website

Victor Osare

Board of Advisors

Charles O’Tudor, Chief Olujimi Olusola III Chris Parkes

Joshua Zerkel

Nathan Jansch

Three Things You Should Never Tell Your Customers

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Are Bad Employees Ruining Your Business

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Ayad Mirjani

Stephanie Frank

What to Do When Your Customer is About to Explode

2014 Tri-planetary Solutions.

All right reserved.

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Ron Kaufman

How To Keep Customer Alan Fairweather

Business IQ is published by Tri-planetary Solutions

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Send your letters to: BusinessIQ Magazine, 16 Bode Thomas Road, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria. email: info@businessiqnetwork.com Letters should include the writer’s full name, address and phone number and may be edited for clarity and space.

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Note Persistence is In-between “I just don't know how to lose to an unseen opponent. I have learned to persist until I win. And I always win”—Alfred Ade-Ijimakinwa

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was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, not amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since and I win by it.”

fter experiencing some significant business failures, I was inspired to write an article which I titled “How to Handle Business Failures”. I posted it on my Blog and sent some media broadcast to my regular readers, and I got good response of how the article inspired most of them.

Donald Trump, the real estate billionaire had gone through bankruptcy twice. He once had a personal debt of $1 billion and corporate debt of $9 billion, but he courageously pulled himself out of the mess and this is what he has to say: “Sometimes by losing a battle, you will find a new way to win the war.”

Failing in business is inevitable. For successful business owners, it is one of the necessary rungs on the ladder of enduring business growth. But most times, when we fail in business, it is unexplainably how it happened or what went wrong, most especially if it is a first time business failure.

Richard Branson's first business (Magazine for students) failed despite showing strong potentials. He was arrested and went to jail for the sake of his record company, Virgin Records. Virgin Airline almost didn't kick off, but Branson’s boldness and stubbornness, drove him to compete with British Airways. And he is saying to you that: “We have always had a pretty competitive ferocious battle with British Airways. It lasted about 14 years and we are very pleased to have survived it.” And again he wants you to know this truth: “To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can't guarantee it just by following someone else formula.”

Business failure can either be losing part of your startup capital or all of it! Whatever the case may be, the excitement you once had will suddenly disappear. It can be likened to having a suddenly deflated balloon, in our case, a balloon of hope. And if you are not careful, you will probably want to call it quit. Before you give-up, you need to hear from the successful business moguls who once failed.

Henry Ford failed twice in business before he successful built his first automobile in a rented garage. The car was so big he couldn't get it out of the garage. But he eventually went on to build the Ford Motor Company with franchise everywhere in the world. His perception about failure is: “Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”

At this point, I believe you now understand that quitting is not part of the game. The thin line between failure and success is persistence and that is what kept these moguls in business. Persistence is the key to the breakthrough that you seek. So, like me, persist and you will eventually write your own life changing quote that will inspire entrepreneurs, both young and old. Did you notice one of my quote? Read again and you will. Good luck.

Thomas Edison failed ten thousand times in his incandescent light bulb experiment. He still went on to build General Electric, which is one of the most powerful companies in the world. Here is what he has to say about failure: “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

At the age of 66, Colonel Sanders developed a chicken recipe. He took it to several restaurants and was turned down over a thousand times. But he established Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) anyway. Do you have one in your neighborhood? Have you tasted his chicken recipe? I bet you have. Here is what Colonel Harland Sanders wants to say to you: “I made a resolve then that I

Alfred Ade-Ijimakinwa is the Editor-in-Chief, BusinessIQ magazine online. He is, also, the Founder of businessiqnetwork.com, the fastest growing online library for entrepreneur. He is the author of the best selling book‘Turning Idea into Business’ To reach him, email: info@businessiqnetwork.com

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Four Tips to Kick Start Your Self Esteem

By Seyi Eyitayo

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re you struggling with low self esteem and self confidence? If you have answered “yes,” do not despair because here are some valuable tips on how to re-gain your self esteem and manage it.

1. Avoid the blame game: It's almost impossible to appreciate your individuality or to see the good in you if you are constantly putting yourself down.

To re-gain your self esteem, you have to find the reason why you lost it in the first place, and then re-trace your steps from there. For example, imagine you've just lost your job. And as a result of that you are feeling worthless. The best way to avoid the blame game is to face the reality of what has happened. Learn the lesson, if there are any, and then form a plan of action to get back into work. The human mind can only focus on one thing at a time, and that is the reason why you must focus on solutions and not the problem.

Whatever the mind focuses on eventually becomes your reality.

The moment you start to take yourself too seriously, you will find it hard to enjoy the funny side of life. This will only lead to more stress, frustration, anger and resentment. Part of what makes life interesting is the mixture of the good and the bad. No one has a monopoly on life.

And no one has the perfect solution to some of life challenges. To re-gain your self esteem, you must not take yourself too seriously. Strike a healthy balance. Learn to laugh at yourself and some of your problems. More importantly, start to view them as challenges. Always take responsibility for everything that happens to you in life, whether it is your fault or not.

Adopting this type of attitude will put you back on the driver seat of your life. Instead of getting stuck in the back seat, and feeling helpless.

2. Avoid the urge to blame someone else: It's a well known fact that we won't be responsible for some of the setbacks we might experience in life. But we will be responsible for the way we choose to react to those setbacks. The problem with blaming other people has to do with the fact that it shifts the focus from trying to find a solution to feeling like a victim. You won't be able to re-gain your self esteem whilst feeling like a victim. A victim feels powerless, cheated, ignored, deprived, and in some cases deeply hurt. Part of what will help to improve your self esteem is the cultivation and conviction that you can work towards turning things around regardless of how things might be at present.

4. Avoid analysis paralysis: Sometimes the more intelligent you are, the harder it can be for you to re-gain your self esteem.

Why? Highly intelligent people usually want to figure out the answer to everything. They want to know, “Why did this happen! Why did that happen!”

3. Never take yourself too seriously: Life is hard.

We all know that. But life can be great fun as well.

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Analysis paralysis will not only keep you in a vicious circle of trying to figure everything out, it will also drain you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

One of the ingredients needed to re-gain your self esteem is emotional stability.

When your emotions are under control you will find it easy to think objectively, which is essential in re-gaining your self esteem. Clarity of mind will help you retrace your steps, identify the root cause

of your low self esteem, and help you formulate a plan to re-gain and maintain it.

Whenever you feel tempted to over analyze stop and remind yourself that clarity equals sanity.

Seyi Eyitayo is the author of the inspirational book, 'The Power of Self Belief. He is a professional keynote speaker, prolific writer, poet and a self confidence coach for those going through a transition.

To reach him, visit: www.seyieyitayo.com

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Eight Things You Need To Understand About Your Life

you to showcase a life of integrity and godly character. The greatest challenge most people have is the ability to recognize opportunity.

This principle is called the law of recognition.

It is the ability to recognize potential and position yourself to seize the opportunity when it presents itself.

By Benjamin Kwentua

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ne of life's greatest challenges is understanding your purpose and having the ability to seek find, follow, and fulfill that purpose. We live in a world that thrives on principles and this behooves us to sit back and reflect. This in turn drives us to seek understanding rather than groping in the darkness for the lack of it. In that vein here are eight things you need to understand about your life.

1. Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express your highest values and best self: I want you to know that people matter. You are always four people away from your desired breakthrough.

Everyone you come in contact with presents a window of opportunity for

2. No matter where you go, people treat you

the way you treat them: Observe the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.� Remember, no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. You must build a reputation that is based on service. Be relevant and remember that people will first buy into you before they buy into anything else you represent.

Therefore, it is important you treat others right before expecting the same. Sow the right seeds and you don't have to bother about the rest.

3. No work is unimportant: Even the most 8

seemingly insignificant job is a chance to show your creativity and make a contribution.

Remember this—from little things the greatest often grow. Therefore always do your best at all times because your work is your signature. In all you do you must realize that excellence is a trait you must develop in order to make success a certainty. Excellence simply put, is the ability to exceed expectation. Do more than is required and let each work you do announce and showcase your creativity.

4. "Perfect Moments" can happen in the least

likely of places: Be prepared. You can never have a second chance to make a first impression. So don't wait for “perfect moments” but rather make every moment special by being excellent. There are really no perfect moments. But you can make each moment perfect by putting your best effort into what you do. You have the ability to recreate your world by taking responsibility of the things you are in control of.

middle ground. You will only be remembered for two things in life—the problems you solved and the problems you created. Learn to leave people better off than the way you met them. Add value to as many people that you come across.

Learn to create good memories wherever you go. Lift people up. Otherwise, you may just be bringing others down.

7. This time is the best time for you to

show your leadership+virtuosity+humanity: Today is the tomorrow you talked about yesterday. You can start living your best life now. Today is the future. Because when you get to the future you will still call it today. Therefore, take the lead, make a difference, and be a change agent in your world. Be a difference maker. Be a leader with a human face. Because when people see and can feel the sincerity in your heart they will give you their hands.

8. We each have the responsibility to lead

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6.

Mastery Matters: In a world filled with a lot of general practitioners your uniqueness sterns from your point of difference and not similarity with others. It is good to know something about everything. But better to know everything about something. Stand out from the crowd and find your own niche.

Your uniqueness is not your point of similarity with another person but your point of difference. Get into “your zone” and shine forth.

If you're not lifting others up, you're bringing others down: In life there is no

without a title and do our part to build a better world through world-class work and stepping into our best selves. Your life is your responsibility. It is a vehicle that requires you to take the driver's seat. Lead your life!

Benjamin Kwentua is the founder of Lead Your Life, a self help / business consulting firm aim at helping you improve your personal life and business. He is the author of the bestselling book Lead Your Life

Address: Abuja: Plot 43b, Lobito Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja PortHarcourt: 356 Evo Road, GRA Phase 2, Portharcourt Phone: 09 870 3866: 0805 152 0919 Website: www.yutees.com

A Winning Mind

By Lincoln Davis

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inning or being successful is not just a matter of luck. While fortune plays some role in it, a consistent winner, in sports or other pursuits will need discipline to train and the right skills. More often than not, the most important physical feature you have is your brain. Mental fortitude, discipline and even creativity are some things that help one achieve greatness in his or her given field. Here are some ways you can help yourself achieve some successes in your endeavors by training your mind.

Self-Talk: One of our biggest enemies in life is sometimes our own selves. We are our own demotivators. Instead of pushing forward, a lot of people tend to give-up or not pursue certain things because of the way they talk to themselves. Although, unconsciously, you will sometimes hear words like "Fail,” “You can't do it,” or “No" from your own mouth. While there are some things that you need to put your foot down on, having self-talk that is against your own abilities does have a certain effect on your mental health. It can slowly eat through your confidence and slow down, or limit the effort you put toward winning.

Changing Your Words: A good way to change the way you self-talk is by first being aware of it. Take a pen and paper with you throughout the day for a week. Listen carefully to the things you say to yourself and write down the phrases that you either say out loud or think.

Look at this list later on and relate it to the situations that relate to them. After auditing what you say to yourself, switch out these words with more positive phrases. While it may seem odd at first, these small

changes in what you speak, or say out loud, and think, will slowly change your outlook in life. These may seem incremental and minor, but are very important. Psychologists explain that self-talk is more of a manifestation of one's own mental outlook in life. By changing your words, you can trick or reprogram your mind to have a better outlook. Simply saying, "You can do it" can push you beyond your own limitations. Eventually, they can help you move into another level of confidence and success.

Visualize: Everyone daydreams. It is but natural that one fantasizes of certain things to be happy.

While it can lower motivations, there are some ways that this type of mental activity can sharpen one's acuity for an activity. If you have a task to do, training your mind through by visualizing the sequence and the reward can give you a clear picture of the situation that you are going to be faced with. This is a form of mental training and disciplining that can help you develop not only skill but creativity on your sport or job.

Reward: Lastly, while it is critical to have mental pictures of your rewards, having physical object also helps anchor your motivations. Learn to reward yourself when you succeed at something. Learn the act of compensating yourself and your winning attitude will grow larger.

Lincoln Davis knows all about trophies and what makes a good trophy design. He has been working in the trophy business for many years. For more info, you can visit: www.awardsandtrophies.com.au.

What To Do If You Have Difficulty Remembering Names

By Trevor Johnson

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ou know the feeling—you know the face but their name eludes you. It happens to everyone on occasion. But for some of us it can become a habit. There are only so many times you can ask to be reminded of someone's name. And, unhelpfully, we don't all go round wearing name badges all the time. So, is there anything you can do if you have difficulty remembering names?

Repetition helps. When someone introduces himself or herself—or gets introduced by a third party—then that introduction will almost certainly include such person's name. Repeat the name back as soon as possible. For example, something as simple as: "Oh, hi Bob, my name's..." will help with this. But if you can bring the name back into the conversation a few more times without sounding like a cheesy chat show host that will also help your mind. Try to make sure that you're looking at the person—without appearing like a creepy stalker—when you say his or her name. So that your mind adds some extra connections in its neural pathways and therefore stands a better chance of remembering the name.

Link something with them. Some people find that using some kind of word and face link works. Not as extreme as the Elephant Man. but you probably get the idea from that. If they look a bit like a famous person with the same name then you're on a home run. Just link their first name with the famous person and bring them to mind when you see your new contact's face. But remember not to use the famous person's surname as well, that would come across as foolish.

Play games. The mind likes to play games. It's one of the ways that we learn. And a great trick for remembering people's names is to let your mind play a game. Imagine that everyone you meet has their name tattooed on their forehead in big letters so that you can always see their name. It's only there in your mind, and you haven't actually taken them to a tattoo parlor, obviously.

Do your homework. Facebook helps enormously with this. So does LinkedIn for business contacts. Most people will have profiles on these kinds of sites. When you get back from a meeting, whilst their name is still fresh in your mind, look up their profile. Set up a new folder in your browser bookmarks and add them to the appropriate section. Use sub-folders as well, splitting them up with memorable titles such as business prospects because just their name probably won't help.

Then, when you're likely to meet someone from that group of contacts, spend a couple of minutes going through the appropriate profiles. Of course, not everyone keeps their profile pictures up to date so you may need to get your mind to do the mental equivalent of those CSI aging programs but most of the time you should be able to refresh your memory enough to make the connection.

But your mind may enjoy the challenge and fun of doing this and, in turn, you could find that your difficulty of remembering names evaporates at the same time.

Trevor Johnson is a platinum level author on Ezine. He is interested in self help and personal development. He is trained in hypnosis and NLP. 12

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How Can I Help You?

By Brian Cantor ommunication is not simply about the words you speak but the tone and gestures you use to convey the message. Sarcastic facials and a snide delivery can make the most beautiful love sonnets sound insulting.

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words. You do not greet someone by offering to help them—in fact, you are actually being thoroughly unhelpful by badgering them with a rude, unappreciative tone the second they walk in the door.

So when I hear a team of six or seven employees at a New York City's Dunkin' Donuts store bark, “How can I help you?” with a poisonous cocktail of disinterest and frustration, I cannot help but question how committed they are to those words. If they cannot be bothered to wait until I have a chance to look over the menu board, and then greet me with a smile, are they really going to go out of their way to “help” me?

You greet people with a smile and a “hello,” and then you commit to doing everything in your power to help them through the transaction. If they need more time to scan the menu, you give it to them. If they need a recommendation on which flavor of coffee to order or whether the new donut is good, you give it to them. You do not express your bitter frustration the second they hesitate on an order.

Probably not, given that they do not even keep track of who they have agreed to “help” and are known to repeatedly deliver that same invitation to customers, obnoxious tone and all.

Most adults know what it is like to hold a job, and few would even attempt to present the notion that the working world is all fun and games. Work, quite frankly, can be very difficult and unrewarding at times, and so the idea that frontline agents are as excited to satisfy customers as they once were for Santa's arrival on Christmas

A testament to how “best practices” get bastardized throughout the marketplace, it is clear that these employees are saying what they are told they should say without thinking about the meaning behind their 14

morning is unrealistic. No matter how much some might talk about it in customer management articles (or seminars), few agents live for serving customers. That reality is not a valid excuse for poor customer-centricity. The job of a customer service representative is not simply to show up at the office and take orders. It is to deliver a valuable, delightful experience for customers.

And if the agent's behavior and demeanor are undermining that objective, he is not doing his job correctly.

nothing in life more important than making my experience enjoyable. But when I enter the restaurant and answer his call to help me through the process, help me through the process he shall. Smiling through his greeting, understanding my goals for the transaction and executing on that understanding is not a bonus—it is the bare minimum required of any fruitful agentcustomer interaction.

A customer service representative job is not to tell me he is going to help me (and certainly not to yell that sentiment at me). It is to actually help me. And if your organization's management structure is not creating an atmosphere that compels its agents to do so, it is time to rethink how you approach the customer experience

An accountant's hatred for his job is no excuse to forego preparing an income statement for a quarter. A warehouse employee's hatred for his job is no excuse to forego packaging and shipping orders on Monday. And so no matter how far from passionate a cashier might be about helping customers, that is what he is there to do. That is what determines successful or unsuccessful performance. That is what creates his worth to the organization.

I have no illusion that a coffee shop cashier has

Brian Cantor is the managing editor / community director of IQPC's Customer Management IQ, an advisory portal for professionals. Feel free to contact him: brian.cantor@iqpc.com 15

Setting Your Business Hours

By Josuha Zerkel

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ven if you work for yourself, you still need to know when you're on or off the clock.

If you're working for yourself, one of the key things to think about when you're trying to effectively manage your schedule is how are you going to set up the boundaries around your work life. Some people really like having flexible boundaries and that's one of the benefits of being your own boss—you can set things up how you like them.

But I encourage you to think about structures you can put into place, whether it's starting or ending work. Setting boundaries that can carry you forth from day to day can help you be much more effective in managing your time.

One of the most important boundaries you need to set for your business is what your regular hours will be. This can be as flexible or inflexible as you feel comfortable with—you're in charge, so you get to set the parameters.

But I encourage you to set some parameters. For instance, which days per week will you be open for business, and how many hours do you want to work in a day? What time will you start and end each business day? Your working hours become the general container for your schedule.

You also want to factor in how many hours per week overall you want to work. This is something that varies from person to person. I've worked with clients whose goal is to work less than 40 hours a week, while others are so passionate about their businesses that they are happy—elated—to work 60, 70, or more hours per week if they feel like they are using their time effectively. Whatever it is for you, choose it deliberately. Then set your working boundaries to accommodate the schedule.

Once you've decided on that basic schedule, then it's time to let the people connected to your business know what that schedule is. If they don't know what your hours of business

are, how can you expect them to respect those boundaries? You need to be able to communicate these effectively to the people who are connected with your business—your vendors, your clients, your family, your friends, your business partners and associates.

That way you don't have clients calling you at ten o'clock at night when you're only anticipating being open for business until five.

Depending on your business, clients might think you're available whenever they need you. If that's the case for you, great. Let them know that. And if it's not, you definitely want to communicate when they can expect to reach you. Once you've decided on these hours you can let people know what those hours are in a variety of ways: post it on your website; leave it on your outgoing voicemail; if you have a retail storefront or dedicated office space, post it on the door.

Another effective way to set boundaries is to let people know when they can expect to hear from you if they don't reach you during your business hours. For instance, you might want to indicate in your outgoing voicemail that clients can expect to hear from you within one business day, so their expectations are appropriately set.

Joshua Zerkel is a productivity strategist, a certified professional organizer and the founder of Custom Living Solutions. You can reach him: www.customlivingsolutions.com or email: info@customlivingsolutions.com

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How To Survive Office Politics

By Nathan Jansch

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ou think you're done with office politics now that you're a business owner? Think again. Whether you like it or not—or whether you're even aware of it or not—you are indeed involved in politics.

Wherever more than two people come together, in any setting, politics comes into play, and this includes executive suite and shared office situations. So the question is: Are you playing it smart? Or are you committing political suicide?

Power struggles are at the heart of office politics. It's built into our DNA to try to overcome any threat, real or perceived. And it's human nature to want to rule the roost.

But you don't need to give in to your baser self, and you don't need to learn how to manipulate people. But you do need to learn to play the game in the most honest, selfprotecting, and helpful way you can.

Number one problem in the workplace—gossip. You know it. You've probably even engaged in some of this poisonous banter. Seemed harmless enough at the time, but maybe later you felt a little stained. How do you avoid this toxic chatter? First: don't initiate gossip within your shared office environment. Don't talk about other people in the office. On the other hand, you want to be open to the office grapevine to keep yourself informed of what's going on—unwritten rules and business trends.

Do you see the difference? Gossip is talking about people.

Grapevine talk is idea and experience centered. So, what do you do when a colleague starts whispering about an 18

office-mate's affair? As hard as it may be, walk away. You don't have to be rude, or give the impression that you're morally superior. You can always give the old, "I just remembered I need to e m a i l M r. X ! G o t t a g o ! " Fifteen helpful pointers 1. Always be professional. 2. No whining or complaining. 3. Don't criticize someone to someone else. 4. Look for common ground. 5.

Use caution when disclosing personal info. 6.

Don't share secrets you want to stay secret. 7.

Endeavor to be generous instead of right. 8.

Keep others' perspectives in mind. 9. Strive to make others look good. 10. Don't make enemies.

11. Help others. 12. Be positive even when you don't feel positive. 13. Smile. 14. Don't be aggressive, but be assertive when necessary. 15.

Leave personal problems at home.

Final thought. The best way to handle office politics is to keep it professional at all times.

Remember the immortal words of Michael Corleone in The Godfather: "It's not personal—it's business."

Nathan Jansch is Owner and P re s i d e n t o f T h e B o a r d ro o m Executive Suites in Denver, which provides office space, virtual office services, conference room rentals, telephone answering, and other services and amenities to small and medium sized businesses.

Three Things You Should Never Tell Your Customers

By Ayad Mirjanl my best to do that for you, and if it doesn't work, we will try…”

2. “It's in aisle 57 M”: What's more important than the act of serving customers at the store?

Nothing. Customers are the most important aspect of retail and service staff must be customer-centric rather than function-centric (e.g. organizing aisles, cleaning, etc.) in order to keep customers happy and satisfied. Instead of pointing customers in the direction of an item, service reps must walk them to it: “It's in aisle 116 W, please come with me, I will take you there.”

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he stood behind the counter and stared at me suspiciously as I explained my situation. She then started shaking her head in a “no” motion halfway through my explanation. Such was my experience at Finish Line–the second largest athletic retailer in the country–simply because my seemingly-reasonable request fell outside of the service rep's normal processing procedure (they mishandled me so badly that I have not shopped there since—it has been 7 years).

3. “You need to calm down”: Nothing makes a person angrier than someone else asking them to 'calm down!' “Absolutely unforgivable” we may think. This phrase is possibly aggressive because it is an order and a judgment (are you saying I am not calm?) at the same time. So instead, service reps can say: “I understand. You have every right to be frustrated…” Service reps do not represent themselves, they represent the business.

Therefore, extra care must be shown when dealing with customers. Arguments with customers and pointless give-and-take should be avoided at all costs. At the end of the day, regardless of how “frustrating” or “impolite” customers may be, service reps must adopt the stance of a mature older brother whose only goal is to diffuse an unsatisfactory or fiery situation.

Customers are often faced with seemingly unaccommodating service reps who simply respond with a “no” or with one of its despised derivatives.

Positive tone and vernacular are extremely important in customer service settings, and retail stores must engage customers with positive words in order to provide satisfactory service.

Highlighted below are three of the most derided sayings that assuredly pave the way for the loss of business:

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1. “I can't do that”: Those words are often said by unskilled service reps in various retail environments. Either that one or “the system does not allow me to do that.” In either case, customers rarely get a fuzzy feeling when hearing those words.

Service reps should focus on providing alternative solutions because at the end of the day customers want their problems to be solved. So instead of saying those words, service reps can say: “I will try

Ayad Mirjan is a Customer Experience Consultant and Managing Director at CustomerX Consulting.

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Are Bad Employees Ruining Your Business?

make it to the office already tired and sweaty from the commute. You walk in to find your employees, the same ones who are supposed to be helping you move forward, stuck in permanent water-cooler chatter. They scurry back to work just as you arrive .

Mistakes, apologies, Internet surfing and just plain goofing off are ruining your productivity and profitability of your company. In short, you have C.R.A.P.—Confusion, Resistance, Apathy and Procrastination in the driver's seat. It's time for a new approach to getting things done!

By Stephanie Frank

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t's a brand new day. You wake up after a great night's sleep and get ready for work. You have objectives to meet, deadlines approaching and meetings scheduled which will make for a very full day. After a quick breakfast and a cup of your favorite morning beverage, you head to work.

Then, your day goes haywire. Traffic jams make you cranky. Nothing on the news you wish to hear. The parking lot is full and it is hot outside. You finally 21

Before we go any further, let's get real here for a minute. Do you really believe that people come to work saying to themselves: "I wonder how I can mess up this company and get paid for it?" Probably not.

Down deep, every human being wants to be a part of something they can be proud of. The rampant "what's in it for me" apathetic approach to work cannot be tolerated. At the same time, it's an almost insurmountable job for an organization or individual to be responsible for changing the attitude of every employee individually. While simple steps can be taken to reprimand bad employees, the root of the problem must be addressed as an organization before real change is to take place.

interruptions and "can you just fit this in now?" requests. Ill-equipped to handle the ever-increasing amount of information, email and phone messages, many employees are simply overwhelmed by the amount of work required and goof off because they can't handle it all. In order to set people up for success, allow them to have an hour a day of "focus time" where they are not allowed to be interrupted. They will use this time to tackle those high priority items on their list of tasks to complete. This promotes a feeling of accomplishment and success and demotes the frustration of having too much to do.

The root of the solution to the problem is a simple formula called F.A.S.T. In short, your employees need to have the right Focus, take the right Action, have the right Systems, and be on the right Team in order to provide your company with the most profitable return on investment.

So how does this formula work?

3. The Right Systems: Take a look at how things are being done—do employees take the simplest and cleanest route to accomplishment or are they stuck in the process maze? The harder it is to get things done, the more your employees are apt to be confused, nervous or just plain resistant to going through the pre-established systems. It may be time to do an internal systems check.

Ask your employees which systems make it difficult to do their job in an efficient and timely manner. Prioritize those which are most often reported, and fix it. Create new and more streamlined systems that do the work with less effort, and employees will step up to be more productive.

1. The Right Focus: Bad employee behavior is rampant when employees or managers are isolated and do not know the "bigger picture." People need to know what is expected of them and why. With downsizing happening, many employees have taken on the job of others and have lost sight of this original focus. They are unsure how their job fits in with the company objectives, which can lead to resistance and procrastination.

Additionally, employees need to know the actual requirements of their job and what is considered success. For example, a bank teller may be required to process a particular type of transaction in a specified amount of time, or may be required to process x number of customers in an hour. This sets a guideline for both employees and management, or leadership of the organization, by which success or failure can be measured.

4. 4. The Right Team: We all know how important it is to have the right person for the job, and the right team to make it happen. Yet all too often, people are asked to step into doing jobs that have been vacated with disastrous results. Simple tasks to some people may be daunting to others, which leads to a decline of the organization. It may be time for an internal individual audit of each of your team members. Schedule a private interview with each one and ask them what they believe they contribute to the team, what is working for them and what is not working for them.

Then ask them what they need to be completely successful in their position. The

2. The Right Action: Time productivity is a primary component of success, yet we are all bombarded with daily distractions, 22

results may shock you, and when you take corrective action, they will also take corrective action, and profitability (not to mention productivity) will grow to new heights.

structure that enhances both employee happiness and productivity, which will eliminate confusion, resistance, apathy and procrastination—and all those wasted trips to the water cooler.

Stephanie Frank is the founder and

People have always been, and probably will always be the single most important asset to any organization. At the same time, those same people can be the biggest problem in any organization. By putting this formula into place, you will immediately see where you or your organization can create a

president of SuccessIQ University and the bestselling author of “The Accidental Millionaire.� Visit: www.stephaniefrank.com 23

What To Do When Your Customer IS About To Explode

By Ron Kaufman

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hen things go wrong, customers get upset. Sometimes they blow up in anger. Here are five steps to sanity when your customer is ready to "explode."

Step One: Let them blow off steam! No one is rational when they have pent up anger and emotion. Let your customer vent his rage and fury. Don't take it personally, and don't get in the way. Just open a pathway for them to let off the pressure.

Several years ago I had a real problem with a shipment by an express courier company. I called the company and got a reasonable sounding woman on the phone. "You folks messed up!" I yelled. "OK," she replied in a very attentive tone. "This was a really important shipment!" I continued loudly.

"OK," she replied with concern. "And my customer is going to be very upset," I complained. "OK," she replied again a calm voice. "Well, what are you going to do about it?" I finally asked, exhausted by my own tirade. She paused a moment. "OK?" she asked

gently? "OK," I replied, smiling at her quiet but effective approach. And then we began the process of identifying details needed to get everything worked out.

Imagine if she had asked me for all the information right away? In my anger, it would have taken twice as long to give her the details, and extended my frustration, too. Instead, she gave me the space and time to simply "blow off steam," not taking it personally, allowing her angry customer (me!) to settle down.

Step Two: Show the customer you are "on his side." Let the customer know you are here to help, not to argue, defend or disagree. Phrases like these will work: "Oh! I am really sorry to hear that. Can you tell me exactly what happened?" "I can certainly understand your frustration. Let me be the one to help you." Phrases to avoid are like these: "That's strange. It's never happened like that before. Are you sure that's what happened?" "It's not our policy.� Some words are triggers for angry conversations. Avoid phrases like these: "Who's fault is this?" "Who is to blame?" "About your accusation..." These sound like phrases from a

police investigation or a court case...which is not 14 where you want to end up!

Step Three: Tell your customer exactly that you will do on their behalf. Explain what steps you will take, and when you will get back in touch with the results.

Step Four: Take fast action! Get the problem fixed. Resolve the misunderstanding.

Communicate inside your organization as a "champion" for the upset customer.

And when you do fix the problem, go the extra mile. Give them a bit more than they expect. They will remember and appreciate your efforts.

Step Five: Go back to the customer and explain how the problem has been resolved. Ensure they are fully satisfied, and thank them for allowing you to help.

But wait! What about the customer who curses and screams, threatens and throws things about?

What do you do with a genuinely abusive customer? An upset customer should never be an abusive customer. If you encounter an irate customer who threatens, insults or barks foul language, use a phrase like this to calm them down: "Sir, I am here to help you. But it's hard for me to help you if you keep speaking to me that

way."

12 Try this several times.

If they continue berating or attacking you personally, simply say: "I would really like to help you, but I cannot when you speak to me this way. If you will calm down, I can help you now. Otherwise, please call me again later."

If they calm down, then help them. If they continue the abuse, hang up.

Always remember this: An upset customer tells a lot of people about their problems. But that same customer, when truly satisfied by your assistance, can become a great promoter, too.

"Positive word of mouth" is precious for your business: be sure that you deserve it.

Ron is a regular columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Uplifting Service and 14 other books on service, business and inspiration. Ron has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, a n d U S A To d a y . V i s i t : w w w. R o n K a u f m a n . c o m f o r m o r e information.

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How To Keep Customers

By Alan Fairweather

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fact that we might be a bit more expensive than others. So how do we perform this miracle? It's dead easy really; you only have to consider two factors: be reliable and be likeable. First off, let's consider what we mean by being reliable.

ell for those of you who can't get through the day without knowing, it was H Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridges's department store in London.

The question I want answered is; did he ever work with customers on day-to-day basis and if so, was he some kind of saint? Let's face it customers can be a real pain in the neck.

Reliability is about your product or service doing what you say it will do. It comes in two parts, the first part being: doing it right first time and doing it on time. If you can't get this bit right then you're going to have big problems. Customers will accept the occasional mistake, but too many and you've had it. So, let's look a bit closer at reliability.

You move heaven and earth for them, you respond to their every whim, you give them time to pay and they still try to screw your prices down. Just when you've done all that, they leave you and start buying from one of your competitors.

We've come a long way in recent years in terms of product and core service reliability. Nowadays when people buy a product or service they expect it to work. You don't buy a computer, a washing machine or an automobile and worry that it might not work.

You know that it will. You also know that if it didn't, it would be replaced without quibble.

Wouldn't running a business be a whole lot better if we didn't have customers? Well, as we know only too well, we do need customers and lots of them.

We want them to stay with us and we want them to say nice things about us to other people. We also want them to pay us on time and accept the

The only thing is that if you deliver this type of 27

reliability in your business then don't expect any brownie points from your customers, they merely take it for granted. Where you are more likely to slip up in the reliability stakes (and this is the second part) is in what some people still regard as minor issues:

impresses the customer because it doesn't. So let's just repeat it so there's no misunderstanding later on: firstly your product or service has got to be reliable. Secondly, everything you say to the customer has to be reliable.

Failing to phone back when we said we would; Failing to deliver when we said we would; Failing to send information when we said we would; Failing to include something extra when we said we would.

However, I believe that more than anything you, your product or service and your people have to be likeable. Too many organizations forget that their customers are humans and the thing about humans is that they don't always make decisions logically.

The ironic thing is that some customers often regard these failures as quite normal. However, these people won't stay with you, they don't say nice things about you to other people and they'll complain about your prices.

You may have a reliable product or service, reliable delivery time and competitive prices. But it's not enough. Customers are driven by their emotions and it helps a heck of a lot if they like you and feel good about your business and your people.

If you say you'll phone a customer back by 5pm then phone before 4pm not the following day. If you say someone will call between 9am and 12noon, then do everything you can to ensure that someone calls closer to nine than 12.

Don't think for a minute that calling at 11.55

"Our customers do like us," I hear you say, "except maybe the difficult ones, the awkward people, the ones who are never happy, the miserable devils—need I go on?� Have you ever heard the saying: "You only get the customers you deserve?"

Run your eye down the following list and see how many you can tick off.

How well did you do? If you've got a lot of ticks then you probably have lots of customers who like you. Just a word to the managers and employers amongst you; run your eyes down that list again and replace the word "customer" with the words "employee" or "staff colleague."

? We always have a genuine smile for every customer. ? We are warm and friendly to all customers. ? We listen carefully and make it obvious that we are listening.

How many ticks did you get this time? Lots of ticks mean your staff like you and it probably follows that your customers do as well.

? We use the customers' name and our name appropriately.

Have you noticed how being likeable costs so little?

A lot less than advertising or other promotional activity required to replace lost customers.

? We give the impression that we care. ? We empathize with problems or complaints and respond quickly.

Maybe the customer isn't always right, but if you want to keep them, make sure they like you.

? We occasionally do something to pleasantly surprise the customer. ? We always keep our promises. ? We give the impression that we are fun to deal with.

Alan Fairweather is the author of How to get More Sales Without Selling. This book is packed with practical things that you can do to get customers to come to you.

Visit www.howtogetmoresales.com for more information, email alan@howtogetmoresales.com

? We treat the customer the way they want to be treated, not the way we want to be treated.

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