There’s one in every office — that person whose coffee is always cold, whose commute is longer and worse than everyone elses, who is the only one to face difficult customers, and who is just plain never happy unless he or she is complaining. I’m not talking here about the occasional or legitimate complaint. I […]
Many people don’t realize that a simple, “seemingly” innocent comment, when said to an angry customer can turn a concern or complaint into a full-blown argument. When it comes to the words you choose, they can either be water or gasoline on the customer’s smoldering emotions. If you’d like to be a customer service fire […]
Most companies talk a lot about the importance of customer service, but the actions of their employees don’t reflect that they value customer service above all else. Before the internet, poor customer service stories spread one-to-one, meaning one person had a bad experience and shared it with others one at a time. However, in the […]
This week, I’m combining my regular “Monday Motivation for Performance Communicators,” with my blog because with Thanksgiving just a few days away, we’re officially starting the holiday season- including the stress of family gatherings. Family holiday gatherings should be a time to reconnect, enjoy great food and drinks, and most of all, to celebrate the “reason for the […]
One day, when my daughter was in college, she called me in a panic because that afternoon she was going to be giving her first campus tour at her university. As she did a “run through” of her tour stops and the comments she would make at each, something she said struck me. She mentioned that parents […]
In January of this year, I first met Tinkerbell. At the time, her name wasn’t even Tinkerbell, she was just “Female, black, Chihuahua, stray,” at the animal shelter where I volunteer. After adopting her, I took her to her first vet appointment. The first question they asked was her name, and “Tinkerbell,” came out of […]
Whether we blame it on auto complete, or we cover ourselves with an automatic disclaimer on text messages and emails, such as, “This message was sent from my phone, so ignore my sloppy writing,” we need to stop blaming our communication devices for the poor messages we send. A recent survey found that spell check and […]
I was with a group of healthcare leaders when one person posed the question, “How do you manage conflict?” Many of the responses I heard surprised me. There was a lot of advice to “wait and see what happens,” “let it go,” and “rise above.” The advice given seemed to directly contradict what healthcare leaders would […]
In today’s competitive employment environment, it’s increasingly important to do everything you can to get and stay relevant in your organization and your area of expertise, and to be able to communicate that relevance to others. From job knowledge and the latest trends, to technological savvy, employers have increasingly higher expectations that their employees will do their […]
I have a love/hate relationship with email. On one hand, I love the emails I receive that: Clearly communicate their purpose Are concise Are formatted strategically Have subject lines that are aligned with the email body (for subject line tips, check out this previous blog post on the subject) Use proper grammar and punctuation Are sent […]
