Let’s Get Personal

Reminds me of a song, “Let’s get physical”… Not sure I mean exactly the same thing but on a certain level I think I do mean that being personal means physically connecting with others.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m wild about all the electronic ways that we have to connect and communicate with people.  I believe that in so many ways, (let me count them, 1. Facebook  2. LinkedIn  3. Twitter  4. Email  5. Video  6. Websites  7. Blogs … I can go on and on) we are able to get personal with others and stay in touch more than ever before.  The speed that we can reach people has never been faster.  I like that a lot. I like fast, easy, and efficient.

BUT, there is no substitution for REAL PHYSICAL PERSONAL connection.  Whether it’s a first time impression or follow up to a short or long time relationship, the opportunity to make the sale, confirm the relationship, or influence a decision maker is always easier in person.

When it comes to communication, much can be lost in translation.  In person, you get a lot of feedback.  You can see expressions, you can hear tone, and I think that listening is easier in person.  With the written word, sometimes people can read between the lines or make up tone in their head that is completely off base.  I had a team member who thought I was mad most of the time or really more impatient than I really meant to be because I was firing back quick emails that were short and to the point. I was in a hurry … not mad or impatient.

There are two reasons why this is so on my mind this week.  If you read the article last week about Poinsettias in August,  you read about a GREAT waitress who was so personal in her invitation to have us return next week. By the way, I’m going to see if my daughter is available on Sunday morning and I think we’ll go again!  (I digress – SQUIRREL!)

Anyway, on the way home, after this great service, I thought about the fact that people will use the statement, “It’s just business, it’s not personal.” If this waitress bought into the management model that supports that statement, there’s NO WAY it would matter to her whether or not we come back next week.

I’m a business owner and guess what?

Everything is personal.  I’ve had to make very difficult decisions about staff at times, customers, products, events, everything. And while  many of those difficult decisions were made because they were good business decisions, I can promise you that they were all very personal.  I think your people (internally and externally) need you to be personally involved and engaged in the business. We want them to engage our guests. With that in mind you must know that as leaders our customers and our staff need us to physically be with them on a personal level.  I don’t think that means we have to live with their drama or put up with inappropriate work behavior but it does mean that we have to include leadership behavior that says I hear you, I’m listening, I care, and I expect!

It’s personal as a business owner that the business succeeds.  Oh brother, I’m preaching again … Since I’m this far in, I hope you’ll accept my personal invitation to join us at our Leadership Summit in OKC Sept 27th, 28th, 29th.  If Carla Bishop, our AMAZING Sales Gal and trainer happens to give you a personal call to attend and you book and pay with her, you can save $50. Better yet, why don’t you give her a call and she’ll give you the same $50 off: 214.683.7551.

The second reason this personal connection situation is on my mind this week is because we held an event for a client this week where the local sales person invited community leaders and group planning decision makers into the facility.  This is a program that we call the “Outside-In” Sales Method.  The initial invitation process is via email but in coaching our client we really emphasize that the success of the program is completely dependent upon personally following up and connecting with those potential attendees.  We had decent success with the event but so many people that could have been invited were completely missed because the sales person refused to go out the door or pick up the phone!  A kind, sincere invitation to attend this focus-group based event would have gone a long way with potential attendees in this small community.

Well I’ve rambled on long enough so I’ll conclude this week’s article by wishing you a happy Labor Day, a cooler fall, and while I’m writing (pre-hurricane Irene land fall), I’m really hoping the east coast of our great nation is safe and personally taking care of one another.

Please feel free to share your stories of how a personal connection made the difference for you, your business, or your staff.  And thank you for reading!  Many of you have been so sweet in recent weeks to provide feedback and personally share with me that you’re reading our stuff.  Thank you so much!  It means everything to me that it means something to you!

Poinsettias in August?

My faith in great guest service is improving by the day! My husband and I were out to eat on Sunday having a leisurely brunch at Cyclone Anaya’s Mexican Kitchen, in Dallas. One thing you need to know is that anytime I can have chips and queso, there’s a good chance I’m going to be very happy about everything!

It’s hard to get hips as big as mine without having a lot of chips and queso! I digress.

So JD and I are enjoying each other and some wonderful Mexican food. Our waitress is spectacular! Before you know it, she’s talked me into “bottomless” Poinsettias. I don’t think I even knew what a Poinsettia was before Sunday (well of course I know they are beautiful flowers we must have a Christmas). But at Cyclone Anaya’s you have a choice of bottomless Mimosas or Poinsettias on Sunday morning.

I’m not wild about mimosas because orange juice does not sit well with me. I told the waitress that when she insisted we should have these bottomless mimosas with our brunch. I didn’t even know you could sell any kind of alcohol in Texas on Sundays before noon (and I’m sure I should not have entertained the idea of having a drink before noon on any day).

However, our server was very persuasive and she had a solution to my distaste for orange juice. She said, “Well you must have the poinsettia then.” To which my reply was, “I’m not sure what a poinsettia is.” She was more than happy to educate us and when she mentioned the poinsettia had cranberry juice and champagne, my resistance went right out the window and I had to say yes.

It seemed to me that she was very interested in making sure we had the very best experience. They must have a culture of “fun” at Cyclone Anaya’s.

The valet said, “Have fun in there,” as he gave us the valet ticket and parked our car. Our waitress said, “Hope you had fun this morning” when we closed out our check. Of course, I love that. I think I have a core value in my life that things ought to be fun. Oh right, I made a company with a motto of “fun training-serious results!” I was definitely intrigued by their focus on fun. Maybe champagne poinsettias in the morning assure that a fun attitude is had by all!

Finally the thing that impressed me the most happened as we were getting ready to leave …

Our waitress looked us in the eye and genuinely thanked us for coming and then she said, “I hope to see you next week.” She made it very personal. She asked if we lived in the area.  My husband explained that our daughter, Leslie, lives close but that we live in Ft. Worth. We were in the neighborhood because I had driven Leslie’s car home to our house the night before and we were simply returning her car.  I don’t know the waitress cared for all of that extra information but if she didn’t you couldn’t tell. She followed up with the fact that with our daughter in the area we should definitely come over on Sunday mornings and have brunch with her.

I was so taken with her sweet invitation and honestly feel like we need to go to Dallas for brunch every Sunday.  Of course that great feeling is probably a combination of the sincerity of her invitation, my love for chips and queso, and the 2 ½ Poinsettias I had with brunch. Nonetheless, my faith in service and the ability to find great guest service is on the upswing this week.

Oh, and from a sales point of view, our ticket was $10.50 more than it would have been if we had not purchased the poinsettia – so Great Guest Service is GREAT SALES! (This is a program that we teach all the time!  We would love to bring that message to your staff.)

Have you had outstanding service lately?  Have you given great service? Is your staff sincerely inviting your guests to return tomorrow, next week, next month?  I think it’s a great idea to get specific.  It’s not good enough to take a chance on “see you next time.”  I would love to hear your recent great guest service moments in the comments section below!

Butting in Line

Maybe I’m just overtired this week.  I considered what to write and can’t get past the urge to absolutely share a pet peeve that I ran into today. It actually happens to be something I deal with on a frequent basis.  It’s never my intent to be negative but I think there is a message here that might be important, and if not, I need advice to on how to deal with the situation better and am hoping you’ll help!  You can imagine that with all the flying I get to do, that I’m in the TSA security line a lot. It’s a crap shoot as to whether or not TSA is kind or fussy. The same holds true for flight attendants.

So here’s the situation today: I’m standing in line waiting to get through security. Wait wait wait. No big deal.  It’s part of the process.  I usually meet some neat people in the security line. Often times, I even let people who are obviously about to miss a flight go in front of me.  I can feel their anxiety and it’s just not worth it to witness or be a part of all of that pressure.  Since 911 I typically get to the airport really early; I don’t need to frustration of being right on the verge of missing a plane. I digress…

So here I am, waiting patiently for my turn to get through security. And then it happens: Two airline employees – pilots – just cut to the front of the line.  I gotta’ tell you this is APPALLING to me.  Hello, everyone else in line is your customer.  We pay your salary.  I want to know WHY they think their time is more valuable than mine?! Why do they get to cut in the line?  Why do they not need to play by the rules? I just don’t understand it.  The front line staff in a family entertainment center would no more cut in the line at the snack bar during their break to get a coke than the man on the moon!  You ALWAYS let the customer go first!  Isn’t that the golden rule of guest service?

Every time this happens I get upset. AND it just gets better (worse really). Today, I finally get to the spot where I pick up the bins, take off my shoes, unload my liquids, pull out the laptop and as I turned to grab that laptop out of my suitcase two flight attendants had stepped up in front of me.

This chick (and yes I mean chick) turned to me and said, “Do you mind?” I’m telling you I must have been too tired because I responded with, “Does it matter?”  She says to me in a haughty voice, “Well yes.”  I took that to mean, “Of course it matters, I’m going to step in front of you and that’s how it’s going to be so if you really have anything to say about it too bad for you!”  Unbelievably, I kept my mouth shut. That might be a first.  My husband will be so surprised!

Let me be clear, I appreciate the job that these guys do.  Maybe they even have a right to go to the front of the line.  If they do, there ought to be some type of explanation. Because right now the way it looks is that it just seems like they think they are more important than the rest of us.  I want to make the point again that I’m the customer!!!  Why are you cutting in front of me?

Finally, I need to complete this rant and point out that I expect courtesy while I wait in line, and I expect courtesy when I get on the other side of the x-ray machine as well.  I’ve waited patiently on the other side of security while airline employees have cut in front of me and families try to take their full bottles of shampoo with them.  I’ve efficiently loaded my stuff up into the appropriate bins in order to keep the line moving.  I’ve gotten my computer out in its’ separate bin so the TSA can make sure I’m not sneaking a bomb through in my laptop.  My liquids are out and in the see-through baggie as required. I take off any jewelry that might set off any alarms.  I’m very compliant about Xray screening and count it a bonus to be felt up in a pat down (just kidding).

SO, I don’t think it is too much to ask to give me more than two seconds to load my laptop back into the case, and grab my shoes, liquids, and jewelry off the belt!  Do you think that’s too much to ask?  BUT NO! Do you think that happened today?  NO. I love it when they say, “Slide your bins all the way to the end,” and there are seven other bins in front of you and NO WAY to do that.  If that’s not enough, the guy today just kept running the belt and the bin that had my jewelry smashed into the all the other bins and flipped my laptop over and my watch got caught in the rolly things!

I should have asked to speak to a supervisor.  It just drives me crazy.  Again, I really respect the job that these folks have to do.  I believe in MOST cases they are doing the best they can to keep all of us safe.  BUT It might not hurt to remember WHO pays the bills!

Shheeezzz, I thought writing this rant might make me feel better.  Not so much. I’m still irritated.  I’m open for advice.  Does anyone have any suggestions? Please post here in the blog or on our Facebook page. I’m really looking for any good thoughts or ideas about how to better handle this recurring situation!

Thanks,

Beth

 

Why Get Up Today?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about drive and leadership.  It’s such a trick to understand what motivates another human being.  If you are the business owner like I am, I suspect your values may be very different then your employees.  Have you thought about what drives you?  Why do you get up every day and go to work?  Why do you stay up at night solving problems or better yet, worrying about paying the bills?  Have you spent just 15 minutes assessing why you do what you do?

I encourage you to do that today, right now.  Take the next 15 minutes and think about the highest points in your life.  What have you counted as success in business?  What have been the successful personal achievements in your life?   List them in chronological order if possible.

Highs

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lows

Now, do the same exercise for the lowest moments in your business and your personal life.  From here, you might want to spend 15 more minutes assessing WHY you counted these moments as high or low. When you take a look at why you listed these events as the best and the worst times in your life it can be very easy to see what you value.

In understanding your values you can better understand what motivates you and drives you to do what you do each day.  This is an awesome exercise and can help you understand what you value!  This exercise is also something that you should do with your team.  The leaders or potential leaders that influence your daily work life can and will make a difference positively or negatively. You and the people around you are driven or not.

I guess I’m preaching this morning.  It’s more fun when I write an article and tell a story, so if you want to, I’ll tell you about my 10-day, 5-city, 13-flights, 10-Seminars travel schedule that I just completed.

HINT: I left my laptop in the back pocket on an airplane on day six…

That’s right…The cleaning crew must have felt like they hit the jackpot because they chose not to turn that laptop back in. The good news is that I always have everything backed up using an online service called Carbonite.  The bad news is it took about 5 days to get everything restored.  It was a bit of a computing trick to gain access to everything, but I survived!  And, of course, I have that nagging feeling that my entire life, business, etc., is in the hands of a complete stranger.  Other than that, all is good!

I had the opportunity to work on a grand opening project with some good folks in MI.  And we were invited to speak at the MI BCAM.  What a great show.  I’m always struck by the resiliency of business owners in the great state of MI.  No one told them there’s a recession!  They keep their heads down and work hard.  They are the definition of survival!

Fast forward-I attended and was invited to speak at a Bounce U convention.  These guys know their stuff.  Their research and study with Birthday Parties is amazing and with permission I want to interview and potentially host a webinar with their leadership.  I haven’t ask and don’t know if they will participate but honestly the work they’ve done is simply incredible!  Bounce U is a terrific brand and they’ve done some great things to establish and develop their values; and it is apparent that they are communicating that culture on a daily basis.

Finally I finished this whirlwind week (week and ½) with a wonderful 1 day event in Winnipeg Canada. (I love it that we are so international!)  Todd Britton and his team are the bomb.com.  I don’t know how else to say it! These guys have 5 pin bowling.  If you’ve never seen 5 pin you MUST!  I can see where it would be totally addictive… AND I have to say that I did strike on my 3rd ball…NOT an easy thing with 5 pin!  Todd’s GM for Academy Lanes, Nathan Hogg has been a TrainerTainment fan for a long time.  Nathan and his team are doing great things with the center. Check them out on Facebook.

Until next week – Party on and have tons of fun selling!

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