No Problem-ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

by | May 30, 2013 | Sales

If you’ve attended a TrainerTainment VIP Guest Service training in the last year then you know what an irritant “no problem ” is for me.  I’m sick of it.

Why would it be a problem anyway for you to do your job? I walk up to the bowling counter and say, “I’d like to bowl for an hour”. The desk person says, “No problem.” My first thought is, why would it be a problem? It’s the middle of the day.  32 of your 40 lanes are empty. Of course it’s not a problem. Why would I be a problem? I’m the customer, I have the money!

Oh good grief, I’m getting anxious just writing. I tried out my theory of calling someone out on the “no problem” situation because I kept wondering, “what if it is a problem?” Would you wait on me anyway?

Here’s what I did. It was happy hour; and I thought a Cape Cod would be just the thing. A friend of mine was already sitting at the bar chatting with the bartender. I sat down. The bartender was super nice and immediately asked me what I’d like to drink. I say, “I’d love a Cape Cod”, she says, “No Problem,” and in an instant I’m unglued. As the bartender walked away to grab my drink, I couldn’t help but say, “When would it be a problem?”

As you can imagine, she didn’t quite know what to say! Best I remember she stammered a bit, smiled, and said something like “of course it’s no problem, I didn’t really mean there was a problem.”

Then don’t say it! Now I know that no one means anything bad when they say no problem. But honestly it’s NOT the right thing to say. Here’s my favorite… I thank my server for a lovely dinner, they say, “no problem.” Give me a BREAK…the appropriate response is, “You’re welcome!”

I’m not the only one that feels this way. Mary who trains with us called me Sunday morning and was very excited to tell me that the CBS Sunday Morning show had a “No Problem” feature.

That’s all I needed. Now I know I’m right! They said so on TV ; ). Listen, here’s my service plea to you and your staff. Be aware. If you are saying “No problem” when it’s more appropriate to say, “my pleasure” or “you’re welcome” then please substitute your “no problem” with the higher service language of you’re welcome or my pleasure.

It’s your job to do many of the things that you tell the guest that it is “no problem” for you.  The Sunday Morning piece suggests that if you are dealing with someone born before 1980 then you are going to irritate them! Read the article…He says it better than I’m saying it and gives great examples of when, “No problem” is appropriate.

By the way, we have a GREAT new VIP Service E-learning course that allows you to interact with the guests and make great decisions. AND if you’ve been wondering how to teach your staff to deal with difficult guests, please go to the TrainerTainment Virtual Classroom NOW and take the “Dealing with a Difficult Guest” course!

What’s a Nice Guest Got to do with Anything?

by | May 16, 2013 | Sales

Ever wish that guests were nicer? There’s a lot of talk about attitude, the customer’s always right, you gotta’ smile, yadda yadda.  And then there’s the cranky guest. It’s easy to be nice when others are being nice. Not so much when it’s the other way around.

I’m here this week in Las Vegas for the Indoor US Soccer Event. I love Vegas. There’s so much energy and fun in every nook and cranny! Of course I would love Vegas, right? We are at the Green Valley Resort – what a beautiful property. Everyone from check in to room service has been extremely nice.  It seems like all the staff is intentionally interacting in the hallways, on the casino floor, at valet, and really everywhere.

I love to play cards, so I have the opportunity to interact with other guests (some cranky-some fun) and lots of dealers and other casino personnel. Last night (or maybe it was this morning), I was chatting with the dealer about how nice everyone is.

She said, “it’s because we all got reamed on Monday”!  Now this is just the kind of conversation that fascinates me! This dealer had helped open the property 11 years ago. She seemed to enjoy her job and talked about how easy it was to interact with people who were having a good time and NOT fun to deal with guests who “blame” the dealer if their cards are bad.

Nonetheless, they need to stay up and motivated. Jennifer, the dealer I was visiting with, talked about her co-workers who were all pretty friendly during their shift. However, the “talking to” Monday was in reference to when they walk from the pit to the break room or visa-versa. Apparently it’s easy to mentally turn off during the “in-between” times of their shift.  However, when you are on the floor you are in the view of the guest and represent the facility. Smile, engage, interact… I’m sure that must have been the message of the “training” on Monday.

I expect that most family entertainment team members aren’t facing guests who are losing money. If there is one angry guest for every 100 guests that come through the door we could count ourselves lucky. The challenge is that if we don’t deal with an angry guest very often, how can we get good at taking care of those difficult situations?

At TrainerTainment, we think this is a pretty unique situation and saw an opportunity to help solve a problem. Of course we believe that training is a valuable way to grow sales, employee loyalty, and a strong customer base. We also believe that winning an angry guest over is a tremendous way to create a raving fan! Next week, we will launch a TREMENDOUS e-learning product that is sure to build the confidence of even your most timid team member. Armed with the right tools, your staff can diffuse and care for your guests (even the cranky ones) in a way that keeps them coming back again and again.

Be on the lookout for this great product. You can find it at The Grow Academy. I’d love to hear how you resolve issues with angry guests!!!  Post on Facebook or give us your best “angry guest” story by commenting below!

You Go First

by | May 8, 2013 | Sales

ServiceSign.29203237A terrific thing happened this morning on the way home from the gym. After a great workout I love the reward of a “Starbucks!” I’ve switched to green tea so it’s not as much fun as the triple grande skinny caramel latte but I think it’s a lot better for me.

I’m literally in the afterglow of working hard and feeling pretty darn good about life in general. When I pull around to the drive through another car has pulled up at about the same moment. I put on my brakes and waved that driver on. We had a moment of “no you go”… I smiled and simply waved again and she pulled on through. I can promise you on another day I might have been indignant because from my point of view I got there first!

Anyway, I’m enjoying my seventies in the morning on the radio, waiting my turn in line. Unbelievably, when I got to the window an amazing thing happened. The lady that is usually at the window was there this morning and as she handed me my tea and I passed her my “gold” card (yes I have a gold card), she said, “Oh the lady in front of you paid for your drink this morning.”

I was astonished. How cool is that? I was feeling so awesome, I didn’t think the day could get better and then this! I know it’s only $2.53 but you know what, it was big. I grabbed $2.00 out of my secret change spot in the car and handed it to the server at Starbucks… She was absolutely delighted. I wonder what she might do for someone else today? I think that’s possible.

I share this with you today because at TrainerTainment, we really believe in a service model that teaches that if we got it that we were all “in service to each other” that our jobs would be easier. In fact I think our lives would be a lot better and this morning proved that.

Trust me, I love to be first. However, this morning it was awesome to let someone else go to the front of the line. I encourage you this week, in your job, with your friends, especially with your family… serve them. See what happens. I bet you won’t feel like you’ve even been to work. When you are on the look-out to serve another and then pull that off, I think you’ll find a ton of gratification in that work.

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Beth the Builder

by | May 2, 2013 | Education, Leadership, Performance

I had a pretty amazing experience last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. My CEO group decided that helping a friend with some major remodeling projects of an old family farmhouse would be the perfect retreat experience for our group!

We had different levels of experience (mine was very limited). I don’t even watch DIY. Our lead for the project is my friend Nancy who is launching a new company in the summertime called Hammers & Heels! With her knowledge, and two others who have some remodeling experience and a ton of power tools, we got to work on Thursday afternoon.

There was a recurring theme throughout the 4 days about how important it is to have the right tools. I want to tell you that I still have all of my fingers and only broke 2 saw blades and one countersink drill bit. It took me 2 days to quit referring to that handy drill bit as a sink hole. It’s hard to learn stuff you don’t know!

I was eager to learn and surprised at how much I wanted to try those power tools. There’s something pretty “powerful” about using power tools! I have a new found relationship with the cordless drill. I also have the knowledge that if you put dozens of screws into backer board so that you can tile the kitchen counter and the backsplash, your hand will swell up so that it is unrecognizable. Ice and a couple of days have taken care of that very sore situation.

Honestly, I spent the 3 days thinking a lot about new employees. For the first time in a long time I was in an environment that was completely new for me. I had to work with a team that had different levels of experience. There were several jobs to do. I am glad I got the tile work. One of the team members did a ton of awful cleaning under the house. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have liked that job at all, although it needed to be done and if I had gotten the nod that that’s what I needed to do, I would have done it. Fortunately, Ann took the heat for us all!

The correlation between a new employee and the work that I did was profound. You don’t even know what you don’t know, so asking the right question is practically impossible. I can’t tell you how many times I had the drill going the wrong way. It’s hard to get the screw to go in if it’s in back out mode. Also, it won’t back out when you need it to because you didn’t get the screw drilled in flat IF you keep clicking the wrong button to back it out. You see, I thought the button on the top of the drill was the screw in/back out button. Not so. It’s on the side of the drill. It really helps to know the correct buttons to push. (TIP-NEVER touch a screw head that you’ve been spinning effortlessly the wrong way with a cordless drill-IT’S VERY HOT!)

Fortunately, I got a lot of support and excellent training. My partner was patient. There were things we learned together. Nancy was an excellent teacher and showed me how to make a counter sink hole with a fat drill bit (once the countersink drill bit was broken…by me of course).

Again, I just kept returning to how a new employee must feel when they can’t get something right as it often happens in the beginning of a new job. I’m not sure why I wasn’t afraid to use the circular saw or the tile saw, but I wasn’t. I’m not sure that happens with new employees. I think potentially they could be hesitant to use a lot of things-technology, equipment, etc.

There were a lot of lessons over the weekend. Patience, persistence, fun, adventure, forgiveness, laughter, soreness, teamship, satisfaction, encouragement… I could go on. When new people come on board, maybe these lessons could be at the top of your orientation list. Creating a work environment that encourages people to take on new things, forgives them for goofing up, and recognizes the goodness in a job well done could make your business THE business of choice. You’ll attract the kind of superstar performers that will continually BUILD your business shift by shift!

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