In this age of online shopping and worldwide competition, the relationship between companies and their customers has changed. It’s not enough to just provide a product or service – your customers can probably get that same product or service around the corner or online and they can probably find it cheaper. Therefore, it’s important for […]
Imagine if you worked in an organization where staff members have no idea what other staff members are doing, management has no idea what staff is doing, standard operating procedures aren’t followed, important things often “fall through the cracks,” there’s a lot of redundancy of effort and communication, and any improvements implemented quickly go by […]
Have you ever suffered from BSS? Body Snatcher Syndrome? You know it. It works like this: You THINK you’ve done everything right in the interview process and you THINK you’ve found the right person for the job, but somehow between the interview and the first day of work, the person you hired is body snatched […]
I understand that everyone has bad days and one day’s actions might not be a true reflection of that person. I understand that you can’t know what else might be going on in someone else’s life that could cause them to behave badly. I also understand that dealing with customers who are schmucks comes with […]
In the 20 plus years I’ve been presenting workshops to both managers and employees, I’ve always advocated Assertiveness as the way to stand up for yourself in most situations. Although being passive or aggressive might be the best option in some situations, when it comes to dealing with a disrespectful boss or bullying co-worker at […]
If you have a business, one of your top goals is probably customer retention, but guess what? Your employees are driving customers away every day and you probably don’t even know it. Let’s face it, no matter your industry or type of business, you have competitors. There’s another business like yours on the next block, […]
People often ask me what’s the first step to becoming a better listener. The answer? Get rid of your bad listening habits. As much as we don’t like to admit it, most of us aren’t the best of listeners and we’ve developed some bad habits over our lifetimes. As you review this list of bad […]
Please. A simple word that shouldn’t require a reminder. Our mothers demanded it when we were children. “What’s the magic word?” “What do we say when we want someone to pass the broccoli?” “No thanks,” perhaps. As we get older, move out on our own, and no longer rely on our mothers to keep us […]
I’ve always wanted to plant a garden, so several years ago I did. Since I wanted it to be successful, I really gave my garden a lot of attention. I watered every day, fertilized, fussed, and worried over it. My reward? A whole lot of nothing. I harvested one zucchini from my zucchini plant before […]
Today has not been a good day. It started off badly when the GPS on my phone and the one in my car contradicted each other with the fastest route to get to my workshop and I didn’t know which one to follow. Then, when I got to my destination, the payment machine for the […]
