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Marilynn Deane Mendell
President
Win
Spin CIC, Inc.
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In the service industry, kindness takes many different guises. It's that immediately returned phone call, instead of an email a week later. It's sending gifts and thank you notes, without looking for a returned favor. It's giving credit where credit is due. And most importantly, noticing the less fortunate. Kindness to others in its many iterations, continues to surface as a lesson learned--that's not getting through.
Kindness & Exceptional Customer Service = More Business -- could be the subtext to this article.
We have all seen the
United diabolical along with several other screw-ups lately; and why are these things happening more often? They aren't -- we just notice them more now because of social media. Treating clients with outstanding care has been an ongoing thorn for many companies for generations. The firms that get how to respond to everyone well-- experience steady growth, while others (like United) never seem to learn.
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Typically exceptional customer service spreads exponentially through word of mouth. However, negative reactions to bad service expand and spread more than ten times the positive review. Most marketing 101 courses use that example to try and convince students to take the possible results seriously. And yet.....
The impact to business development (or just keeping satisfied regular clients happy) takes a similar toll when seemingly inconsequential things like not answering phone calls or emails that don't get returned within a 12 hour cycle. With electronic devices ubiquitous today, everyone knows that people check into their devices regularly. Therefore, an ignored response generates a sour feeling immediately that tends to linger much longer than one would normally expect. It's human nature to dwell on the negatives which explains why even what may be perceived as a tiny slight by not responding immediately can escalate into a full-blown resentful reaction.
There's another part to business development that gets overlooked all too often. I always tell my clients that they are "on" from the moment they step out of their house. Everything that happens on or off the clock counts and can be a plus or minus. How the barista is treated, how quickly invoices get paid, what gets said to the waitress at lunch, or how the dry cleaner gets pulled into your life...all count. The guy standing next to you may be your next customer or the husband of a really great client. Being kind and always putting on the other person's hat as though it is your own can have a vast influence on your bottom line. Say thank you anywhere and everywhere possible.
And let me be clear, your employees are your best clients -- so treat them that way. Corporate attrition can almost always come back to how an employee was treated. How a leader instructs, gives critical advice, and offers comments can create negative or positive results that often hinge on whether there's passive aggression, avoidance, sarcasm, gaslighting, lack of organization, horrible time management, or passing the buck. A zillion business books offer ways to become a memorable leader--in a good way.
In my opinion, attitude means how you carry yourself and treat others. In today's political environment, we all find ourselves dealing with an onslaught of seemingly unimaginable events that showcase cruelty towards others. As a final note, I implore you to remember what Margaret Mead once said:
Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.
Thank you,
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NEOCON 2017
Provide Sage Advice as Experienced Professionals to Help You Start or Grow a Successful Enterprise
Tuesday, June 13 2017 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
If you want to avoid the common pitfalls of starting a design business and capitalize on action points to grow your business, all from a range of experts, you'll find this seminar both insightful and instructive. You'll profit from their various experiences and backgrounds, as the seminar focuses on the importance of assembling a team, managing a team, as well as providing upfront advice that prevents costly mistakes down the road. You'll understand how to legally establish your new business, negotiate successfully and manage risks. Also, you'll discover how to minimize legal or accounting missteps and how to market your company. In the end, you'll learn how to incorporate marketing and relationship building into negotiations, including developing options to the no-negotiation contract.
- Marilynn Deane Mendell, president, WinSpin CIC, Inc., Fredericksburg, VA
- Samuel DiSalvo, tax director, Freed Maxick CPAs, P.C., Rochester, NY
- Jessica Foscolo, Esq., partner, Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP, Buffalo, NY
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A Litany of Books on How to Run a Successful Business
Most of my clients never went to business school, consequently few of them have ever read
In Search of Excellence,
Good to Great,
Built to Last, and
Alpha Dogs to name a few. Usually I try to highlight new books in this section, but with all of the recent customer service disasters in the news, I think it might be a good idea to recommend a few old standards. Become a life learner--it's the least expensive way to improve your business and your life.
Recommended Reading
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For those of you not familiar with my book I was
once the best and largest
off-premise caterer in Western New York. For years I have paired business acumen with my fabulous recipes to help cement business concepts for my clients and that teaching idea became the foundation for my book. The book conveys my story of how to achieve the American Dream; where anyone in this country can become whatever they want with hard work and a never-give-up attitude.
Hence the title:
Elbow Grease + Chicken Fat
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