Customer Service Communication

Customer service is most commonly thought of as the customer support / help desk department for upset customers. In this post I explore best practices for customer service and customer care from this Micro customer service / help desk department perspective.

On a Macro level however, the customer service is linked to every person and every thing that impacts your customers’ buying, using and even returning experiences. Look for a soon to be released blog post about Macro customer service – or Follow This Business Communication Blog now (upper right side of your screen), to be sure you see it.

There are many workplace stresses (both good and bad) that go with a career in customer service. The valuable thing to know is that whether a customer service experience goes well or goes badly is often the result of the (largely manageable), approach and reactions of the people engaged… not the situation.

So if people are the triggers, how can you help your customer service representatives unload the gun and turn a potential bad situation into a great experience for everyone – preserving both relationship and lifetime value for customer and business?

The following are customer service techniques I expand upon with clients when establishing policy / procedures / training. I must point out that while this looks like a sequential process, every customer care experience has a life of its own. These are best practices for people in customer relationship positions.

1. As an individual – protect yourself. Allow yourself to have needs for safety, respect and care. Know what your responsibilities are. Stay calm and don’t own the situation – this will help you stay creative and open to suggestions for resolution.
2. If the customer yells, don’t yell back. You cannot control your customer but you can control yourself. If you stay calm you will be happier, see things clearly and be of much better help to your customer and a better ambassador for your company.
3. Be polite at all times.
4. If the customer is ‘heated’ (and some will be), stay calm and listen. Listening is your most important job. Don’t jump into solution mode or judge your company’s actions or the customers’ actions / needs / goals. Assigning blame will likely not help at this stage. Give the customer space to let off steam. Comments like “I understand” are safer than “I agree”.  When the customer is calmer they may see things differently.
5. Let the whole story evolve. As you listen look for the customer’s real need / goal. It may not be what they are pointing at… that may only be a trigger (read my customer service example of the book and the birthday gift). Look for what is getting in the way of them achieving their goal and for other things that might become an issue later on.
6. Be careful to use language the customer will understand – which often means staying away from jargon. Communication is based on interpretation and making assumptions – be sure your understanding is correct.
7. Confirm.
8. If it’s your company’s problem take responsibility – but you don’t need to take personal ownership of the problem unless it is your fault (see Point 1.)  You should however take personal responsibility for the resolution… for many good reasons.
9. Agree upon clear expectations and next steps including who is responsible for what and timelines.
10. Confirm again.
11. If the resolution takes a while – keep the customer up to date. This shows respect and that you are in control. If they are on hold, check in with them. If the resolution is taking days – call them with an update. If there are delays let them know. Manage their expectations.
12. Follow through with the resolution promptly. Speed and accuracy are important. This may help reestablish a profitable relationship and avoid a public relations problem.
13. If you can do something extra and unexpected then do it. In most cases it will be noticed. It doesn’t have to be cash and often the personal gestures like a hand written note are more valuable.
14. If there is any question as to values, policies or possible next steps… or if you cannot satisfy Point 1 then escalate.

Notes:

1. Pointing fingers and assigning blame is not helpful – uncovering the reason for the challenge is helpful. If the customer is at fault they will realize all on their own – pointing it out may only embarrass them and put them on the defensive.
2. Stay positive, upbeat and solutions orientated during the whole process.
3. As you need, explain the problem. If it’s an internal issue the customer doesn’t need to know every detail… especially if the information is going to shake their confidence in your solution, your product / service and or your company.
4. Do what you can while staying professional and in-line with company values and policies… remembering not to judge (Point 4 above).  Perhaps ask yourself… “What would I do for my best friend?”

If you can win them over with your customer care you will have a customer for life.

When you are done… you are not really done. It never hurts to ask, “Would I have enjoyed that experience?” Circle back to see if there is an internal problem that needs addressing so it doesn’t recur. If you can stop other customers from a negative experience that will be valuable on many levels. This also shows customers and employees you have high standards and that you respect your product / services as well as your customers, employees (professionalism and time), and your company.

If you demonstrate pride and respect your employees will pick this up and also be proud. Pride will take your customer service and customer care to the next level – like booster jets on a rocket.

Happy communicating… Happy training.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Bruce on Canada AM, Unique Value Proposition Definition, Measure Training Effectiveness, Build Client Trust and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is Strategic Branded Relevant

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

I’d enjoy reading your comments on this post.

How To Send And Receive Less Email

This year most of my email training clients have had the same main request; they want their employees to learn how to email effectively so that they send and receive fewer email. And no wonder since the average business person sends and receives over 100 email every day… many over 300 every day.

Email was once seen as a tool that would increase efficiencies and competitive opportunity. Today email is a great business tool we can’t do without. But more and more we’re using it as a crutch instead of as a catapult.

Email Icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The challenge is that the way we write email is decreasing our efficiencies, easily costing companies $3,000 or more PER employee every year in loss of productivity and opportunity lost… not to mention the loss to their personal and professional reputation.

How much time we spend emailing every day is astonishing. For example: if a person sends and receives 100 email during an 8-hour day (not accounting for lunch, breaks or meetings), they use email every 4.8 minutes.  If they send and receive 300 email they use email every 1.6 minutes. imagine…

Thankfully there are a easy steps we can all learn to use that will reduce email volume and be more efficient at work; here are just a few.

Use The Phone Or Walk Down The Hall

Sometimes even the most professional email is not the right solution. If we’re wondering how to email, the best strategy may be to pick up the phone – especially if there are issues that need to be brainstormed. The bonus is that conversations often build better business relationships and usually take less time.

Consider All Of Your Needs – And All Of Your Readers Needs

Too often we write email as a single thought – not a complete need or objective. Over an extended period of time (and countless email interruptions), we send email messages back and forth until we finally have discussed or shared (perhaps with some frustration), all the important points. When you write email, learn to bottom line your objectives and stick to the important issues – but cover all of them at once.

Write Great Email Subject Lines

Email subject lines are used as a primary resource readers use to determine if they will read your email now, later or never. Subject lines are also the first opportunity for you to make an impression. If you leave the subject line blank – or use a universal word like ‘Sale’ or ‘Meeting’, you risk being overlooked – all the time.

Value Your Values

Employees should know without hesitation the corporate and department values. They should also know how they can use these values to differentiate the company and themselves every time they write email or speak with clients, suppliers or their co-workers.

Conclusion

Email training is a fast and efficient way to turn email back into a catapult for your employees and business. When you know how to email, it’s a powerful business tool and a very sound investment.

Happy communicating.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is based in Toronto and facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

We are… Strategic   Branded   Relevant

Other Interesting BMC Articles: What Is Communication?, Measure Training Effectiveness, An Email Style Guide; Should Your Company Have One? and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Give us a call at 416 462 1473. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

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My Business Email (a rhyme – not a poem)

If someone told me yesterday I would be posting a business email rhyme I would have thought that they were off their rocker. Then last night happened.

To be very clear, I am not a poet. However last night I awoke at 11:30 PM with a pile of words rhyming around in my head. I learned long ago sometimes destiny needs to have its own way so I got out of bed and put fingers to keyboard. Soon after I crawled back into bed and was fast asleep having purged the words from my mind.

Long story short… with only a sparse attempt at editing, here is my business email rhyme (out of respect for all poets and poetry readers I refrain from calling it a poem).

My business email
Get to the point
They answer Who, What, Where and When first
Then Why and How last

My business email
Are easy to read
My ‘Action Items’ found easily
For the reader and me

My business email
Use a ‘Subject Line’ that’s clear
There’s no question of purpose
So they’re read first and not… last (at the rear)

My business email
Use To… and Cc… proper
To… means ‘Read This Now Please’
Cc… means ‘This Is Not A Show Stopper’

My business email
Are short not abrupt
Care is important
Email can cause a reader to erupt

My business email
Consider customer service as key
Clients, suppliers and co-workers
Deserve quality attention from me

My business email
Let my values shine through
I remember to do
Everything I can do

My business email
Are used to confirm fact
I use the phone or my feet
When I need to brainstorm or chat

My business email
Know grammar’s a friend
I use bullets and commas
And periods to end

My business email
Use Hello, Please and Thank you
Young family lessons
Are business tools also

My business email
Address people by name
I build trust in my promises
And that trust is my fame

So there you have it my friends and followers. I hope this has brought you a smile… and perhaps an email writing tip. And if you get woken up in the middle of the night by a thought, know you are not alone. I may also be awake. Mine might be the other light that is on down the street.

Happy communicating.

Imagine work being easier. Imagine work being more productive.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Email Writing Training, Core Values and Good Email Bad Email.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates email writing, email etiquette and customer service courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

What is Empathy?

I was recently asked ‘What is empathy?’ and ‘How might empathy at work impact business and business communication?’ They are great questions so I thought I would explore them here with you.

Empathy is the ability to ‘imagine’ what it would be like to experience what another person is experiencing. Empathic people are intuitive and often sense the unspoken needs, emotions or tensions of people. That said, it doesn’t mean empathic people agree with what they are sensing.

Empathic people often have terrific people skills and enjoy working with and helping people. In these cases an empathetic person becomes a knight in shining armour – coming to the rescue.

While empathy is a valuable business communication (or parenting), asset – it can also be a business challenge. It’s important for employees to always realize it’s important to care for the integrity of the business (brand, quality and reputation), while they support its customers / suppliers / employees. Therefore the empathic employee must look for the immediate value as well as the long-term value of all sides of every relationship.

Empathy Isn’t A Weakness

Empathy is sometimes seen as a weakness – an opportunity to take advantage of the caring person or company. While the manipulation of anyone is possible, there’s no good reason to isolate empathy as a character weakness.

The reality is that many great leaders have great empathic skills. Empathy is an asset because it allows great leaders to accurately motivate staff to perform in a way that satisfies both company and individual (staff and leader), objectives.

After reading Steve Jobs biography I expect he was quite empathetic (he always seemed to know what someones wants / needs were). But Steve Jobs had virtually no compassion for people so was often hard on those around him (family being a wavering exception). On the flip side, Steve seems to have had much compassion for the products he was involved in building and the customers (as a mass market), he was ‘helping’.

Compassion And Other Closely Related Character Traits

Many strong, empathic people are aware of the symbiotic relationship between other related character traits. For example, important to empathy are core competency (a person’s ability to do their job), values and job satisfaction.

Compassion (or caring), is also important because compassion can motivate the empathic person to take action and to use their people skills. A person who says “I see” or “Tell me more about that” is demonstrating they care for what the other person is feeling, knowing and / or experiencing. If the other person doesn’t feel sincerity it’s likely they will not be as open as they could or would like to be.

Empathy Example 1.

Bob is a carpenter who is proud of the decks he builds and personally designs them to meet the needs of his clients. His empathy and compassion help him focus on things competitors overlook or don’t care about (for example making sure clients can’t trip when entering the house from their deck).

Bob has decided to get a part-time job and finds one at a hardware store; the fit seems complementary. During his shift there is a constant flow of homeowners who ask questions related to building their own decks. When Bob gives the customers advise they often ask for short cuts.

It doesn’t take long before his boss notices Bob is visibly frustrated and raises this as a customer service issue.

Bob is still an empathic person but he is also proud of his ability (core competency), and his finished product. The challenge is that because many customers are looking for short cuts he feels he and his profession are not being respected.

Certainly some changes need to be made if Bob is to remain a valuable employee – and lets face it – he has great value. There are many possible solutions… for example Bob may be better suited to be a special support representative for other contractors or to give demonstration classes.

Empathy Example 2.

Mrs. Smith calls your Customer Service Hotline after receiving a book she ordered online for her husband as a birthday gift. She realizes she mistakenly ordered the wrong issue but your company is now sold-out of the issue she needs.

Possible Non-Empathy Solution; Customer Service Representative Speaking:

“That’s unfortunate Mrs. Smith. We are sold-out of that issue and not expecting stock for 1 month.

Please return the book you did order and I will see you get a full credit. You can re-order the book you want in a month.”

Possible Empathic Solution; Customer Service Representative Speaking:

”That’s unfortunate Mrs. Smith. We are sold-out of that issue and not expecting stock for 1 month.

May I suggest a book from the author XYZ – I see that people who have been reading ABC have quite enjoyed this new author. I can have XYZ’s best selling book to you in two days and it might give your husband a new favourite author. We can also pre-order the volume you wanted which means your husband will have another surprise in a month.

Please return the book you did order and I will see you get a full credit.”

What happened here was that the book wasn’t the problem. The problem was she didn’t have a birthday gift for her husband… and that she had made a mistake. But being empathetic and having compassion for Mrs. Smiths situation enabled you to resolve her problem, secure an additional sale and likely – create a customer for life that will positively tell other people about your brand and company.

Conclusion

By using empathy and knowing how to be compassionate within your business communication you can often quickly get to what happened and explore why. Customer service, customer retention and employee job satisfaction will also soar. You may find that ‘the situation’ is often just a symptom of another business issue… so if we can work with the customer to uncover the other issue we can often find a better solution to a much different problem… easily.

What Are Good Careers For Empathic People?

• Customer Service Professional
• Physical therapist
• Counselor
• Psychologist
• Teacher / Professor

Happy communicating.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Email Writing Training, Core Values, Measure Training Effectiveness and Good Email Bad Email.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Communication Skills: How To Write

We work in a communication age where we have remarkable tools that all but guarantee we can communicate with anyone at any time and at any place.

Do you remember when the promise was that these communication tools would improve our productivity so we would have the time to build valuable relationships with our customers? These deep customer relationships would also lead to long-term corporate profitability and employee satisfaction.

How is that working out?

I bet you and your teams are busier and have more pressure at work (and unfortunately frustration), than ever before… and there’s good reason.

At one end of our pressure at work problem is global competition, which is greater than ever (you and I can’t do much about global competition). At the other end of our pressure at work problem is that we have never received training on how to use the technology our employers have invested in (heavily). The result is that most of us are using writing skills we learned to write essays at school to build and manage professional relationships (you and I can easily fix this in as little as four hours).

Lets Look At Two Email Examples.

Instead of building relationships based on mutual trust, understanding and need we default to writing unnecessarily long or surgically short messages that often frustrate and confuse our reader. Also, our messages are interpreted as abrupt and (unfortunately), self-serving.

Original Email Example 1: It’s Surgically Short

Please set an appointment to bring your car in for its Spring Service. We’ll also check your air conditioner. Your cost is only $15.95.

Revised Email Example 1: 

To maintain optimal fuel economy and save money on gas, please set an appointment to bring your car in for its Spring Service next week. This appointment includes an air conditioner test so that we can help you stay cool this summer. Your cost is only $15.95.

Original Email Example 2: It Lacks Important Information

Below are the orders that I need a status on. Please reply as soon as possible. I am trying to prevent the customer from cancelling.

Revised Email Example 2:

I would like your help to prevent the customer cancelling the following 5 orders.
Please confirm today if it’s possible for us to receive all 5 orders at our Galt Ave location by next Wednesday, July 13.
My mobile at 416 617 0462 if you have any questions or if I can help.

Questions:

• Which manages your businesses expectations and makes the receiver feel cared for and respected?
• Which manages the receivers’ expectations and builds long-term relationships?
• Which makes the receiver want to take immediate action?

The Original Email Examples are both accurate – but they are cold and seem to be only about the reader. The Revised Email Examples are about the writer as well as taking care of and / or partnering with the reader.

The Solution

To be successful you have to focus on both a micro and a macro business solution.

It’s important to know your audiences aren’t sitting around. They’re busy trying to get what they need. So when you make contact you have to show them you are looking after their best interests… every time. To do this your messages have to fill their needs first.

Macro: Your marketing and advertising messages have to be honest, up front and uniquely yours. This includes all communication to prospects, customers, suppliers, and to each other. Everyone at your company has to act as a cohesive team and support the corporate brand.

Micro: Your one-on-one conversations (with prospects, customers, suppliers, and each other), have to be honest, personalized and relevant to your readers needs. Nothing fancy – just focused on their needs.

If you clearly care for your readers needs:

• They will be impressed, do what you want and come back… and likely tell all their friends about you, your service and how happy they are.
• Your stress, frustration will decrease. Your workload and email inbox will also decrease as you become more efficient and effective writing better business email.

You can’t just say you are customer focused; you have to live up to your brand promise all the time. You have to think different and act different to be different.

Happy communicating.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Bruce on Canada AM, Build Client Trust and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Related articles

• Be Amazing… At Work. (brucemayhew.wordpress.com)
• Organizational Behaviour; Impact On Customer Retention (brucemayhew.wordpress.com)

Does Customer Service Live In Corporate Values?

Everywhere I turn I see articles and books about corporate values. I also see more and more companies defining their values as well as training, nurturing and rewarding employees who demonstrate corporate values. Hallelujah! 

What have been key ingredients in most entrepreneur and family businesses are being fully embraced and recognized as important elements of a successful company. Giants like Starbucks and Apple are showing that adoption pays off. Yet I suggest we have to be careful to recognize corporate values are not the end game but an important part of a healthy strategic marketing plan.

I want to share a recent experience I had with a supplier whose employees do well at demonstrating their values… but the company is missing critical elements to make customer service (and customer loyalty), live.

Before we start, lets define what we should be looking for to rate customer service high. For me, customer service lives through many things including our:

• Employees’ abilities
• Employees’ values
• Corporate values
• Corporate policies
• Corporate employee empowerment
• Product / service
• Delivery system

You may have a few more to add to the list (like… ability to innovate and diversity), and that’s great. Customer service is a balance of many soft and hard skills that combine to define your brand reputation and long-term profitability.

My Example

For many years I’ve enjoyed the service of a large, popular ‘Business Supply Store’. I used (past tense), them for pretty much everything which includes printing the participant guides for the Business Writing / Business Email Etiquette courses I deliver.

Their staff have been terrific; they’ve been polite, happy, knowledgeable and helpful. Unfortunately, things started to slide a few months ago… then last week came.

Last week I needed one 8.5 x 11 colour copy of new campaign I was building. As always, I brought them a USB memory stick with a pdf of the required document.  The print specialist informed me that to insert the USB stick into their computer would now cost $3.50. I could avoid the $3.50 by going back to my office and emailing them the file.  Really? Go back to the office to email them?

Out of immediate need I gave her the go ahead.  Within seconds she inserted the drive and opened my pdf.

Now, let’s be clear that it’s not the money. I don’t mind paying for service but don’t like being taken advantage of.

Did I complain? Yes – I mentioned my views to the print specialist and the Manager including that they were about to lose my business.  What happened?  NOTHING!  They said they were sorry but it was a new policy from corporate and they didn’t have authority to override it.

Fast Forward: The End Of The Week

I found an independent printer a few blocks away to print the finished campaign (alternate solutions are everywhere).

But the real loser wasn’t me… or my $3.50 (plus tax), or even all my printing business. The real loser was a long-term relationship and my respect for the ‘Business Supply Store’. I’m also disappointed how they treat their staff.  Not only are customers being taken advantage of… their staff seem to have no opportunity to use their judgment.

Side comment: I believe well hired – and well-trained employees should be empowered to make straight forward decisions and to make a problem situation right… especially the first time a loyal customer runs into a new… ‘policy’.

What We Can Take Away From This

We get a chance to make a first impression every time we have an interaction. Every time we speak with or write to our customers / co-workers we set the stage for how successful that interaction will be and establishes expectations for the next interaction. Example: If I have a great interaction I want to go back and I want to tell people about it; and if I have a bad interaction I want to stay away… and perhaps tell people about it.

We’ve talked before about how it’s cheaper to keep good customers – customers who will refer you to their friends.

• In a time when companies are begging for loyal, hard-working employees who give great customer service – what is wrong with this case study?

• In a time when companies are begging for loyal customers who will make more – and hopefully larger purchases in the future – what is wrong with this case study?

Imagine how this could all be different if the company was looking beyond having a greeter at the door but included employees and customers in discussions about all aspects of their product development, customer care, corporate values, policies and service delivery.

Imagine the possibilities when we consider all of the places customer service lives.

Conclusion

If you want your employees to invest a lot in your business and your customers – you have to invest a lot in them… and trust them.  If you want your customers to invest a lot in you – you have to invest a lot in them… and respect them.

Happy communicating.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Bruce on Canada AM, Build Client Trust and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Related articles

• Be Amazing… At Work. (brucemayhew.wordpress.com)
• Organizational Behaviour; Impact On Customer Retention (brucemayhew.wordpress.com)

Be Amazing… At Work.

We are all amazing in our own way.

In this post lets discuss some of the workplace advantages and opportunities to impress ourselves, our bosses and to improve customer satisfaction so that customers will never think to go anywhere else.

Why should you be amazing… at work?

Being amazing is very attractive… to your customers and your boss. By being amazing you will FEEL GREAT and Proud. You will also:

• Be more creative, innovative, adaptable, and therefore efficient
• Provide enviable (and hard-to-copy), customer service
• Save time (yours and your customers)
• Reduce costs (yours and your customers)

All of these benefits also make being amazing financially rewarding. However, if you hold back there’s no way you can be amazing and show your passion for your work. There’s no way to give yourself AND your company that competitive advantage.

What can you do to be amazing… at work?

Leave behind your hesitations. It doesn’t matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert; some of the common workplace hesitations that may be holding you back are as follows:

• Being amazing is the same as showing off – which is VERY different
• Being amazing takes more time – it often saves you time
• You don’t have the corporate freedom – in many cases I bet you do
• You don’t know how to be amazing in a respectful way – that can be fixed… starting here

A friend of mine would be quick to point out that this is a list of reasons and fears. He would also say, “Leave them behind. Overcome them” Instead of thinking of all these negatives, think about all of the possibilities where you can embrace creativity to create the future you want. Just go do it!

An example of a small safe step

Get your team together (or get a blank piece of paper by yourself). Your goal is to brainstorm amazing ways you can provide great customer service – there are likely hundreds. Let all ideas be good ideas. Then prioritize your list. When you’re done, choose one or two ideas to implement. Don’t try to implement them all at once.

You might need some help or some training to accomplish your idea(s). You might need to create a few new templates. You might have to move furniture around your office. Don’t let those things hold you back – Just go do it! As soon as you have the confidence to show your strengths there will be no stopping you and the financial and personal payback will be many times your time and / or monetary investment.

If you have read many of my blog posts you’ll know I often give practical applications. So, since I specialize in Effective Business Writing I’m going to show you two practical email examples of how you can be amazing (without being egotistical).

Since 90% of our business communication is via email – polishing your email writing is an easy win where training can have a large impact on your whole team.

Email Example 1:

Before…

Yes, we have the latest iPhone in stock.

After…

Yes, we have the latest iPhone in stock in white and black.

We only have two in black so I have put one aside for you. Is that the colour you wish?

Email Example 2:

Before…

Here is the latest report for Mondays meeting.

After…

Here is a pdf. of the latest Sales report for Mondays meeting. Our October and November sales are 22% above last year’s volumes. Lets explore ways to continue this growth.

In the After… messages you have managed expectations and found simple ways to be amazing by thinking about what your audiences needs. By being amazing you have:

• Made your expectations clear
• Managed everyone else’s expectations
• Saved YOUR time
• Saved your audiences time

That’s how you build relationships and create loyal customers. Take a look at your email messages. Do they say you are amazing? Do they say you are taking care of the people who depend on you?

Conclusion:

Let flexibility, creativity and innovation happen. Being amazing is the only sustainable strategy to create long-term value. Anything less can be immediately copied by your competitors.

How can you encourage everyone to be amazing? By always looking for creative ways to delight. Being creative for the sake of creativity only satisfies your needs. But, if your main goal is finding new ways to delight your customers… being amazing (being creative) will bring you much success.

Happy communicating.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is based in Toronto and facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

We are… Strategic   Branded   Relevant

Other Interesting BMC Articles: What Is Communication?, Measure Training Effectiveness, An Email Style Guide; Should Your Company Have One? and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Give us a call at 416 462 1473. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

Don’t forget to share this blog.

Create A Team of… Director of First Impressions.

I was inspired to write this post after reading an article in Fast Company©. The article reminded me of a conversation I had a few months back with a past co-worker.

He was excited that the staff he hired was more educated than ever before – but frustrated because his budgets were cut so his ability to help these great new people learn the culture of the organization and be productive team members was near impossible.

So, to all of you in the same boat (as my dad would have said), I offer you this perspective.

Your employees are your most valuable – and probably your most expensive asset. They are central to every customer experience.

Your employees are busy:

• Finding your customers
• Answering questions / concerns
• Conducting marketing research
• Designing new products / services
• Invoicing and collecting
• and more…

Yet your financial success is hanging by a thread. To be successful your employees have to find a balance between doing their jobs and always making good first impressions.

Customer Relationships Are Built On Customer Experiences

Successful reputations are no longer created only by marketing strategies. Your brand is determined by how each customer / prospect ‘feels‘ after they have contact with your employees. Then they decide if they will do business with… your employees / your company.

First impressions are made in 1 to 4 minutes and people make these judgments as soon as they:

• Meet your employees
• Read an email from your employees
• Sit through a presentation by your employees
• Visit your website… designed by your employees

So it’s important all your employees know how to be Director of First Impressions – no matter what their job is.

Yet training to be a great Sales Person, Advertiser, Product Developer or Accountant doesn’t include how to manage expectations or make good first impressions. When did any of us receive communication training?

At university I learned a skill but not how to write a short, to-the-point email or to create and deliver professional presentations. At home my parents taught me about values and work ethics… but not business etiquette or email etiquette.

And the problem is getting worse. An associate of mine is teaching a college course and was instructed by the college to grade his class on how well they seem to understand the material – not their writing or presentation skills.

Communication Challenges Cause Customers & Employees To Leave

Our most valuable assets are trying to be their best to make the company profitable using their education and skills… but are being frustrated because they are having trouble building relationships and getting their work done. They might even be creating enemies along the way.

For both employees and customers this frustration begins soon after their professional relationships begin. Feelings of not being appreciated and of not being given the service or opportunities promised. This frustration starts your customers looking for a new service provider and your employers looking for a new employer. This means a drain to your ROI as the investment you’ve already made in your customers and employees will be lost.

We all know it’s more profitable to keep an existing customer rather than to find a new one. Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company reports that acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer. A stat I’ve seen many times during my career.

It’s also more profitable to keep a talented employee than to find, hire and train a new one. William G. Bliss estimates the cost of losing an employee is 150 – 250% of their salary. He calculates that for a company with 10,000 employees the cost of turnover equals $75 million (or $750,000 for a company with 100 employees)!

Investing In Your Employees Is An Investment In Your Company

If these last two calculations are even half true, it’s clearly economical to invest in employees and help them learn the skills they didn’t learn in school – as we’ve discussed: How to be Directors of First Impressions.

The benefit is that employees want to be productive, fulfilled and they want some stability. They also are fully capable of building the relationships customers want. Employees just need a bit of help to know how to communicate well in this electronic world they do business in.

Happy communicating.

Other Interesting BMC Articles: Email Writing Training, Measure Training Effectiveness and Good Email Bad Email.

Give us a call at 416.617.0462. We’ll listen.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is based in Toronto and facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

We are… Strategic   Branded   Relevant

bruce@brucemayhewconsulting.com

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An Email Style Guide; Should Your Company Have One?

Since over 90% of most business communication and relationships are managed via email, now might be the right time for you to have an email Style Guide. In other words… create a policy guide that will do many positive things like:

• Establish e-guidelines and expectations that help employees provide consistent professional service
• Empower everyone to demonstrate your company’s unique style, products / services, brand
• Unite your employees in a Team Building exercise
• Support all levels of your company and your customers

And to add even more benefit, an email Style Guide is also a powerful orientation tool to introduce new staff as well as suppliers / contract employees.

As you consider this path, your first few questions will likely be, “What is the process?” and ”What will we end up with?” Well the answer to both questions is quite simple. You can focus on policies that outline:

• “What People Can Do”  Or
• “What People Can Not Do”

Because we live in a judicial society (more stick than carrot), the more common approach is unfortunately the later. My advice as a Toronto based consultant who provides email writing training, is that you choose the flexible approach and create a Style Guide that will be a positive influence and act as a guideline – not a rulebook. By focusing on “What People Can Do” you benefit by empowering your employees to make the right choices in many different situations.

Should Your Company’s Email Style Guide Be Custom?

Another question you might have is “Can I buy an off-the-shelf solution?“

To answer that question you need to look internally. Your products / services are unique. Your customer service is unique. Your mission, vision and values are unique. The way you do business and your unique value proposition is different from your competitors. Your customer mix and their needs are unique. So, should your email Style Guide be unique?

The way I am positioning this you already know I believe your email Style Guide should be unique to your company. Here is more detail why.

Your brand reputation is one of your most valuable assets – and because you and your employees communicate 90% of the time via email, it’s one of the most visible ways to live your brand… every minute of every day.

Using another company’s Style Guide is like moving into a neighbours home. Even in Toronto that just isn’t done. In a business environment, if you use policies that are not your own you force a disconnect between your core competencies, your customer service and your customer expectations. That disconnect will be felt every minute of every day by your employees and your customers… and that will result in you losing both employees and customer from frustration (both of which negatively impact ROI).

With virtually no more work this is also your opportunity to define your companies unique style for all electronic based communication be it email, email marketing, presentations, websites etc. Because they are all in the electronic world – they all pretty much follow the same guidelines.

By building your own email Style Guide you will also get maximum team-building benefit by seeing this process as a unique organization-wide opportunity. The benefit is to let all employees have impact – to allow everyone to join together and build a document that represents all that is best about your company / employees / product / service. That said, most companies will want to establish a design team, (a body of people who will collect and evaluate employee feedback with the corporate culture and corporate mission and vision for the future).

What Should Your Email Style Guide Include?

There is no definitive email style guide rulebook that must be followed to the letter. Every company is unique and as I suggested I believe your email Style Guide should be designed to match the unique corporate culture.

But, it’s nice to have a starting place, so the following offers a sample of email etiquette categories to be addressed.

1. Support The Visual / Readability:

• Agreed upon email signature structure
• Social Media references and graphics
• Agreed upon fonts, colours and layouts

2. How to Support Your Brand:

• Tag line
• Demonstrate corporate values and customer service promise
• How to treat ethnicity, gender, religious or racial references

3. Structure /  Composition:

• When to use To, Cc… and Bcc…
• How to quickly address the essential information (get to the point)
• How to manage multiple topics and / or multiple audiences

Conclusion

As you plan your email Style Guide and who will help you with this important project I offer you this one last tip.

In most cases when someone reads your email they are making a choice to invest their valuable time and talent. In almost every case the decision to read or not read your email is based on your email etiquette and the following:

• Your past email reputation (for being relevant, to the point, well written and polite)
• Your subject line
• What they see within the preview screen  (which is usually only the first few lines of your message). In fact – many people even answer based on those first few lines only

Make sure you create a helpful guide that everyone at your company uses to demonstrate they respect their audiences time as much as they respect their own time. If they do, your employees – and your company will be rewarded with respect, loyalty, better work relationships and greater ROI.

Imagine work being easier. Imagine work being more productive.

Happy communicating.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Email Writing Training, Measure Training Effectiveness and Good Email Bad Email.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

On The Job Training – Like Getting Back To The Gym.

This blog post is about inspiration. It’s about developing a training plan that is equally beneficial to you and your company. Because I believe that if on the job training is good for you – it will be good for your company.

Now is the perfect time for you to plan on the job training that will make the ‘You Brand’ even better. For example:

• Attend a skill building workshop
• Organize a team building event
• Study for a professional certificate
• Get back to the gym

Whatever staff development you choose – as soon as you start planning it you and the people around you will start to benefit from the excitement. Even a few small changes can have a noticeable result on your personal and corporate brand value and competitive advantage. But any on the job training is just like getting back to the gym – the full benefit will take a bit of time to realize. Most great things need practice to experience amazing results.

Example 1

Because I know email writing training and email etiquette really well, let me use that as my first example. In this world of electronic communication as much as 90% of our communication is by email or instant message (IM). Our writing habits often are the first impression we make and reinforce our ongoing relationships. That wasn’t always the case – as little as 10 years ago most of our communication was face-to-face or over the phone.

The numbing reality is that most business people receive and respond to between 100 and 200 email each day; this staggering number has taken its toll on relationship building and customer care. We’ve transitioned away from managing people’s expectations – not because we don’t care… we’re just so busy, and were never taught easy methods to effectively manage this volume while protecting our reputation and our relationships.

But there is still a universal truth that business success depends on being able to:

• Demonstrate your personal uniqueness
• Demonstrate your corporate advantages
• Take care of your customers
• Differentiate you and your company in your market

How does communication training work?

Good communications skills are as much a competitive advantage as a five-star sales representative and a product like the latest iPhone©. Good communication skills turn every employee into a brand advocate and a customer service expert. Even people in departments without direct customer contact (like Accounts Payables and Purchasing), have direct impact. Consider: they do:

• Make an impression on outside influencers
• Have an influence on the moral and productivity of employees from other departments (like Sales and Customer Service)

But as I said earlier, I believe any investment in self-improvement and on the job training benefits the ‘You Brand’ and your company success.

Example 2

I’m currently experiencing my own learning curve – I’m moving from PC to Mac©. Thankfully, I am receiving professional training and support from employees at the Apple© store – but in the end… I have to practice. It takes a bit of time – and sometimes I just want to go back to the old way because I can ‘get it done quickly’. But in the long run I know my time investment and practice will pay off.

I must say I’m amazed at the quality of service I receive. The employees are thoughtful – polite – curious – energetic – present (not looking like they want to be somewhere else). Why is that? Is it because they are paying these kids 6-figure salaries? No.

As a corporate trainer I’m sure these kids (mostly Millenials – who have a reputation for being ‘hard to motivate’), are engaged because Apple invests in staff development – so these happy employees treat their clients with respect. Every employee knows how to represent the corporate values.

The same thing happens at Starbucks™ where it’s easy to see ongoing on the job training. Positive energy and corporate investment helps create proud, talented employees who in turn believe in their employer, product and customer… and it shows.

Evey employee and every company is worth the time and commitment that comes from a solid training plan. And, your clients will reward you with purchases and loyalty.

As soon as you upgrade your skills the people around you will notice something is different. They may not know what it is… but they will ‘feel’ something good has happened – and this will help your reputation… as well as productivity. The same thing happens when my clients start writing better email. Their clients get better customer service as their expectations are consistently met.

Conclusion

Take a class – invest in you – develop a training plan – look for on the job training opportunities. Over time things will start to change. You’ll be managing your expectations, your client expectations and even co-worker expectations better.

But remember it’s important to be patient and to practice. It takes time to manage and experience full benefit… like learning a new routine at the gym makes a great difference in your health and how you feel.

Another opportunity to take full advantage of staff development is to consider is team training. Team training also provides motivation and support from your co-workers. And, giving everyone the same resources and knowledge promotes:

• Peer support (seeing how your co-workers are using new techniques)
• Knowledge sharing and best practices
• Learning by example (seeing how your co-workers are using the new skills)

Happy communicating… Happy training.

Click here to join our priority list of people who receive our latest Business Communication blog posts.

If you enjoyed this post we think you’ll like: Bruce on Canada AM, Unique Value Proposition Definition, Measure Training Effectiveness, Build Client Trust and Effective Business Email Writing Training.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting facilitates business writing, email writing and email etiquette courses.

Give us a call at 416 617 0462. We’ll listen.

Bruce Mayhew Consulting is Strategic Branded Relevant

www.brucemayhewconsulting.com

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