THE SKY IS FALLING

Chicken Little runs into the crowd and exclaims the sky is falling!!! Oh my, what do we do now?  Well, let’s look back in history and realize the sky has fallen before.  This is just an excuse for anyone who is scared to succeed.  Think about it, 9/11 in 2001 things were bad.  1976 cars circled gas stations because of a gas shortage.  The 80’s weren’t particularly easy. 

What do businesses do when business and the economy are struggling?  They reduce their staff.  With reduced staff and more possible cuts coming, what type of service do you think you are receiving?

Poor.  At best when the economy was good and unemployment was low the expected service from most is average.  Now with people cutting back on staff service is dwindling.  But if you have been to stores or restaurants you may notice there are still people there spending there hard earned and precious money.  Mike and I live by a huge outlet mall and to pick up our mail we have to visit the outlet almost everyday.  I’ve got to tell you people tend to forget the times are bad on weekends.  Today alone I was at the outlet for 10 minutes and watched 3 buses pull in and park by the cluster of other buses that were there.  How can you get these people, who must choose where to spend their money?  Exceptional service. 

Why can exceptional service keep you busy even now?  Think about our world today.  Most all of us have computers that we can shop on, bank on, interact with others on.  Many people have large TV’s, DVD players, surround sound, and a membership to some type of a movie rental store (it may even be one on the internet).  Many people home school their children.  The point I am trying to make is we have very little face to face interaction with other people.  With a decrease with other humans our social skills have deteriorated.  Then think of the heroes of today for our children: Politicians, sports figures, and actors.  What do these people teach the kids?  That they are number one and don’t worry about the next person.  People are graving human contact, human contact that is positive and make them feel appreciated.  People want to feel important and special.

To provide exceptional service and get the money that people are spending we must teach our front line associates skills to provide exceptional service.  Your training must start with the basics, smiling, caring, putting others first, thank you, and hi.  You must also teach them proper appearance.  Do they know what professional attire is?  Do they know what is meant by exceptional service?  Think of who has the most interaction with your customer? The people who are normally the lowest paid in the organization.  Have they had a five star experience?  Most likely not, so you must give them one.

What I am telling you to do is not stick your head in the sand and just blame your dwindling revenue to the economy, but rather invest in your company and your people and teach the skills that will make you immune to the outside forces.  To do this, teach your people exceptional service skills and make sure they are practicing them every time they interact with a customer. 

A perfect example of what I am telling you about is Disney World.  Who has the most interaction with the visitors to Disney?  Believe it or not the people who sweep the park.  People feel less intimidated of these people so when they need directions or have a question these are the people they normally ask.  Disney invests the most training dollars on these people.  Disney’s training is one of the best out there and has been emulated by many.  Another company that shows this type of service is Nordstrom’s.  Nordstrom’s keep data about there customers so they can remember names, anniversaries, sizes, style preferences.  Why is this so important?  They call people to remind them of a special event and make a gift suggestion.  If you have a particular style preference they will call and tell you when something new has come in or if there is a sale.  Customers have even ordered shirts and bras over the phone because their sizes are kept on record and the sales person can send it to them.  Think about how long both of these companies have been in business.  Do you think they’ve experience some struggling times?  What do you think has kept them going?  Exceptional service!

We all have the ability to do it and most of us want to be great people, it is now your challenge to supply the skills to your people and let them do it.  The investment you make now will help you in the future and make you struggle proof.

Kim Popella