Making Attitude Adjustments - Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people
Making Attitude Adjustments - Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people
Imagine you are a twelve year old who hates school. You despise it so much that you can hardly wait till you’re old enough to drop out. It’s late one Friday afternoon and you’re stuck in math class gazing out the window at the beautiful day, counting the minutes until the bell rings and the weekend starts. Your reverie is suddenly interrupted by the sound of your teacher’s voice. He’s in the middle of issuing a three-page homework assignment due on Monday. You and several other students start groaning. He looks directly at you and says in a low, serious voice, “I’d like to speak to you in the hallway—right now.”
Now, you’re embarrassed and you’re probably angry. Mostly you’re scared about what’s next. Then it happens.
Looking you square in the eye in the deserted hallway the teacher says, “I’ve been watching you lately and I’ve noticed that you have real leadership potential. When you act a certain way, other students watch you and start doing the same thing. The problem is that when I give a homework assignment, you start rolling your eyes and saying, ‘Oh, no! Do we have to do this?’ Other students watch you and start doing the same thing. That makes my job harder. I wonder if you could do me a favour? Next time I give a homework assignment, could you just do nothing? It will help me, and I also think it will help you because with your leadership abilities you could go a long way in life. Thanks. Let’s go back inside the class.”
Not a bad way of handling a problem student, in theory at least. But as Paul Harvey would say, “That’s not the rest of the story.” The rest of the story is that the twelve-year-old was me.
I hated school so much that I counted the days until I was old enough to drop out. I remember the afternoon in Varsity Acres Elementary math class when my teacher, Mr. McCullough, gave us that homework assignment. I was trying to look cool as I was being marched into the hallway. But I was scared. When Mr. McCullough gave me that two-minute talk, however, it changed my life.
Here was a teacher telling me I could be a leader and showing me a simple way I could make it happen. My parents had always encouraged me and told me I had potential—but they were only my parents. At twelve years old, what do your parents know? I took Mr. McCullough’s advice, and it changed everything. From that day forward, I got along better with teachers and, not surprisingly, received better grades. I ended up staying in school because Mr. McCullough knew how to change a cynical kid’s attitude. I’ve thought about that conversation many times since then and realized as I began studying frontline employee motivation, that he did two things particularly well…
Two keys to corrective feedback
First, he focused on behaviour, not attitude. In other words, it doesn’t do much good for a manager to tell employees that they are not friendly enough with customers. Friendliness is an attitude. The employee thinks, “I am friendly! You’re being unfair.” Instead, a supervisor would get better results by focusing on observable behaviour. The supervisor might say, “The customer walked in. You avoided making eye contact until she asked you a question. Then you frowned as you responded.” That’s observable behaviour. No one can argue the facts. That leads us to a second reason Mr. McCullough’s approach worked.
He gave a positive direction. He told me exactly the behaviour change that needed to be made (“Next time I give a homework assignment, could you just do nothing?”) In the case of an unfriendly employee, we might say, “The expectation here is that within ten seconds of a customer walking in the door you are expected to smile enough to show teeth and greet them.” In other words, rather than saying you need to be more friendly, explain exactly what that looks like. Add to that your underlying belief in the potential of the employee and you could end up making a significant impact not only on your company but also upon the lives of your employees. Maybe, like me, they’ll not only improve their behavior, they’ll also remember fondly what you said decades later.
Making Attitude Adjustments Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.
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Not long ago, if a customer service employee fouled-up, he or she was warned, then if improvements didn’t happen, was shown the door. In today’s workplace however, where it’s so difficult just maintaining staffing levels, dismissal doesn’t really fix the problem – it just changes the problem. That means it’s more important than ever for managers to be able to confront unacceptable employee behaviors without causing the person to simply walk out and get a job elsewhere. Next time one of your frontline employees needs an attitude adjustment, consider how this teacher handles a surly student…
Imagine you are a twelve year old who hates school. You despise it so much that you can hardly wait till you’re old enough to drop out. It’s late one Friday afternoon and you’re stuck in math class gazing out the window at the beautiful day, counting the minutes until the bell rings and the weekend starts. Your reverie is suddenly interrupted by the sound of your teacher’s voice. He’s in the middle of issuing a three-page homework assignment due on Monday. You and several other students start groaning. He looks directly at you and says in a low, serious voice, “I’d like to speak to you in the hallway—right now.”
Now, you’re embarrassed and you’re probably angry. Mostly you’re scared about what’s next. Then it happens.
Looking you square in the eye in the deserted hallway the teacher says, “I’ve been watching you lately and I’ve noticed that you have real leadership potential. When you act a certain way, other students watch you and start doing the same thing. The problem is that when I give a homework assignment, you start rolling your eyes and saying, ‘Oh, no! Do we have to do this?’ Other students watch you and start doing the same thing. That makes my job harder. I wonder if you could do me a favour? Next time I give a homework assignment, could you just do nothing? It will help me, and I also think it will help you because with your leadership abilities you could go a long way in life. Thanks. Let’s go back inside the class.”
Not a bad way of handling a problem student, in theory at least. But as Paul Harvey would say, “That’s not the rest of the story.” The rest of the story is that the twelve-year-old was me.
I hated school so much that I counted the days until I was old enough to drop out. I remember the afternoon in Varsity Acres Elementary math class when my teacher, Mr. McCullough, gave us that homework assignment. I was trying to look cool as I was being marched into the hallway. But I was scared. When Mr. McCullough gave me that two-minute talk, however, it changed my life.
Here was a teacher telling me I could be a leader and showing me a simple way I could make it happen. My parents had always encouraged me and told me I had potential—but they were only my parents. At twelve years old, what do your parents know? I took Mr. McCullough’s advice, and it changed everything. From that day forward, I got along better with teachers and, not surprisingly, received better grades. I ended up staying in school because Mr. McCullough knew how to change a cynical kid’s attitude. I’ve thought about that conversation many times since then and realized as I began studying frontline employee motivation, that he did two things particularly well…
Two keys to corrective feedback
First, he focused on behaviour, not attitude. In other words, it doesn’t do much good for a manager to tell employees that they are not friendly enough with customers. Friendliness is an attitude. The employee thinks, “I am friendly! You’re being unfair.” Instead, a supervisor would get better results by focusing on observable behaviour. The supervisor might say, “The customer walked in. You avoided making eye contact until she asked you a question. Then you frowned as you responded.” That’s observable behaviour. No one can argue the facts. That leads us to a second reason Mr. McCullough’s approach worked.
He gave a positive direction. He told me exactly the behaviour change that needed to be made (“Next time I give a homework assignment, could you just do nothing?”) In the case of an unfriendly employee, we might say, “The expectation here is that within ten seconds of a customer walking in the door you are expected to smile enough to show teeth and greet them.” In other words, rather than saying you need to be more friendly, explain exactly what that looks like. Add to that your underlying belief in the potential of the employee and you could end up making a significant impact not only on your company but also upon the lives of your employees. Maybe, like me, they’ll not only improve their behavior, they’ll also remember fondly what you said decades later.
Making Attitude Adjustments Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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