Customer Service: A Little Goes a Long Way

Today's post is about one of my favorite subjects for business owners, managers, employees, and partners of any business, and I think it is one of the absolute keys to business success.  Plenty of it can make your business a sensation, and lack of it can make your business infamous.  I am talking about customer service.

In the age of the internet, cellphones, laptops, and automated phone services, much of the focus on customer service as shifted towards a focus on technology.  However, if you are like many businesses and more concerned with your website pictures, your cell phone applications, or having the latest and greatest gadgets to offer your customers, you are missing out on an easy to manage segment of your business that can lead to higher profits, better customer retention, and a better relationship with your community.

Great customer service will not make up for a terrible product, but it can make an average item great in the mind of the consumer.  Fantastic customer service can allow you to charge more for your products, ensure stability, and provide better marketing than any amount of dollars ever will.

I will give you a prime example of this.  This evening I was on the phone with a customer who was very upset about some bad customer service she had received.  I am speaking to her on a Friday night, she is upset, and time is running out, so I had to make a decision.  I could either lose this customer's business, and with some certainty ensure that she is going to tell every single person she knows to avoid my business like the plague, or on the other hand, I could spend some quality time not only discussing her prior service, but also providing exemplary customer service and attention to her to tonight.

Instead of my customer having a terrible taste in her mouth with regards to the business, telling her friends about it, and posting negative reviews all over the internet, I now have a customer who is extremely happy, appreciative, and thankful for all of the time I spent with her on the phone (including multiple calls).

The lesson is simple.  Whether you are an owner, manager, employee, or partner in a business, you have to ensure that customer service is at the forefront of every single thing that you do.  If something goes wrong, as it occasionally will, you have to go above and beyond to fix it.  By making things right, you ensure that your business, reputation in the community, and profits all grow.

Going Out on a Limb...

"Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is." -Mark Twain


The above quote, although written long ago, is just as true today.  Most people like to imagine obtaining the sweet fruits of life, yet very few are willing to take a risk and move beyond their safe zones in order to obtain what they want.  


This makes sense of course.  There are risks involved with going out on a limb to get what you want.  The limb might not be steady, the fruit might not be what you had hoped for, and you could always fall a long ways down.  However, if you truly want something and think it is worth reaching for, doesn't it make sense to not let your fears and doubts hold you back?  Fear is learned, and many people have learned to fear taking risks, being taught instead that they should stay in their comfort zones and just wait for fruit to fall into their lap.  However, anything that falls will only be what remains after those who were willing to go out on a limb have left behind, or missed only by chance.


Is this really what you want for your life?  Do you really want to wait and hope that something will fall into your lap, or do you want to make things happen for yourself?  Do you want to sit on the ground and know that you never took a risk, or would you rather live your life knowing that you were willing to go after what you wanted.


Above I said that fear is learned, but remember that success is learned as well.  You can choose to become a student of success, learn to control your fear, and put yourself on a path towards accomplishing your goals.  Do not just sit there gazing longingly up at the fruit that you crave.  Stand up, climb that tree, and go out on that limb to get what you seek.  The fruit will taste even sweeter because you will bite into it with the knowledge that you were not one of those people who waited for something good to fall into your lap.

I Read Another Great Quote Today

I seem to keep coming across great quotes on a daily basis, and I really enjoy sharing them with this blog as they are both informative and inspirational.  Today's quote was in regards to what people do when they need more money: "Poor people are willing to do anything to get money.  Rich people are willing to think of ideas on how to make money."

Now, to be honest, the quote does not flow as well as some of the ones that I normally put up, but there is some definitely truth in the words.  I have expressed my view on this before, but never quite seen it put so starkly in terms of economic class.  When poor people without the proper education needs money, they are often prone to say things such as "I would do anything for..."  When a person with the proper education needs money, they are instead prone to say something along the lines of "How can I make money?"  Instead of limiting themselves to self-action which will obviously be of limited use in obtaining money, those with the right mindset instead ponder how they can get more money.  The distinction is subtle, but very telling.  You only have so many hours in a day in which you can do stuff, but coming up with ideas that can generate passive income or something that does not require your direct attention is a long term solution that will provide more money.

In essence, the difference is between short-term small-time thinking, and long-term big picture thinking.  One allows you to eat for a day, and the other allows you to potentially eat for a lifetime (referencing the old "teach a man to fish" axiom.  Dream big, accomplish big.

Knowing When To Let Go

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

I think one of the hardest things about doing something entrepreneurial is actually dealing with the success, whether that means hiring on employees, franchising out your business, hiring a manager and moving onto other possibilities, or any number of actions that will require you to take your hands off the reins and let someone else drive the cart.

It is hard to take a step back and let someone else care for something that has been your passion and received so much of your perspiration over such a long period of time, but this is a necessary step if you really want to be successful in life.  Just as important as hiring the right people is restraining yourself enough to let them know what you have hired them to do.

Strictly in terms of numbers, this is how it has to be.  You have a limited amount of hours a day in which you can devote yourself to a business.  If nothing else, you must eat and sleep, so we will say that you have 18 hours a day to devote to business (if you are comfortable sleeping only 6 hours a night).   If you are at the point in business where you feel the need to hire someone else on, then you have realized that you simply do not have enough hours in a day that needs to be done, and that your time can likely be spent better elsewhere doing other things.  

However, if you attempt to micromanage the person/people that you hire, then you run into a time problem.  You won't have time to do all that you were doing before, and all that you brought the new people on to handle.  Instead of saving your time or being able to direct your energies in a positive direction, you'll be doing your old job, their job, participating in your new activities, and you will burn yourself out.  There is no quicker road to failure, and you have to recognize that you only have so much time in the day.

Also, in terms of personnel, if you don't trust your employees, you will not build long term quality relationships and staff.  You will also hurt their development, as your lack of trust will hinder their own personal growth.  Trust yourself to be a good teacher, and trust them to be good learners, and things will work out if you let them.

Hire quality people, trust your judgments, and enjoy success.  Think of it like teaching a child to ride a bike - at some point, you have to let go, and trust them to keep on pedaling.  It is likely that they will have a few mishaps, but imagine the price you will feel when they are going full steam ahead all by themselves.  Your business is the same way - learn to let go.

My Quote of the Day

Most of the time, I like to share inspirational quotes from various people throughout history, but every now and then I think of something that I think is worth sharing.  It is not that my ego makes me think that the quote is going to be all that special, just something that I think might resonate with others who might read it.

My quote for the day is simply this: "It wasn't until people taught me the meaning of the word can't that I realized all of the things that I couldn't do.  It wasn't until I became deaf to the word that I accomplished all of my dreams."

If you have been paying attention this week, you know that this is one of the things I have really been thinking about lately.  How is it that we iconify success and hold successful people in such high regard, yet when our young people express their hopes and dreams we take the time to explain all of the reasons why they cannot and will not succeed?  It just does not make any sense.

If we truly want our children to succeed, and if we truly believe that the children are the future, then it is time to stop explaining to them why they won't make their dreams a reality - instead, we should be encouraging them to chase their dreams, make their hopes a reality, and to believe in themselves.

It is time to encourage success.  It is time to teach children to believe that they can accomplish great things.

A Look Back

Today I was thinking about all of the times when I was growing up that someone told me what I couldn't do, and then also explained to me all of the reasons that I couldn't do it.  This kind of behavior seemed to occur across a wide range of things, from school clubs, to scoring well on the SAT, to attending college, or any number of things.  It really didn't matter what it was that I wanted to do, someone always found a reason to tell me that I couldn't do it.  The sad part is that all of these people did not have the time or inclination to encourage me, but nearly all of them always had the time and inclination to put me down and crush my hopes and dreams.

Now, it is a different story.  Instead of telling me all the things that I cannot do, people ask me how I am able to do all of the things that I do.  Instead of telling me the reasons why I cannot succeed, people ask me to explain the reasons why I succeed.  Instead of looking down upon me, people look up to me.

This realization is not me going on an ego trip, but rather it is me again pondering all that I might have done if people had encouraged me way back then.  If I hadn't had to work so hard to overcome all of the negativity around me, would I be doing even better?  If I hadn't had to spend so much time teaching myself to ignore anyone who wasn't on my side, would inspirational words have lifted me higher?  If I hadn't had to live with the mentality that if someone wasn't with me, they were against me, would I have been happier growing up and struggling to make it?

Probably not.  The truth of the matter is that I took those words and used them as inspiration every single day.  Any time that I felt like quitting, any time that my belief in myself started to falter, or whenever I started to lose my drive, I used those words to inspire me to accomplish greatness.

Now, I have surpassed all of those childhood dreams, and the best part is that I have realized that the sky is the limit.  I was never deaf to negativity, but I always heard it as inspiration.

What Could You Do?

Today I found myself pondering all that I could have accomplished if no one had ever introduced me to the word "can't".

Think about it.  As children, we are taught a lot about all of the things that we cannot do.  One can't chew with their mouth open, cross the street without looking, stick a coat hanger in an electrical socket, or any one of a laundry list of things.  Admittedly, a lot of these restrictions probably save a lot of lives, and are a good thing to teach children about, but what about the other instances where we teach children what they can't do.

How many times have you ever heard a child say the phrase, "When I grow up, I want to..." only to immediately be told by some slightly condescending adult the variety of reasons why they shouldn't say that, why they can't be that, or how they should know better?  What if instead of telling children all of the reasons why they cannot do something, we instead told them all of the possibilities and helped them figure out a way to accomplish their dreams.

Many people may see this as silly, saying that children will outgrow most of these childhood fancies, and that they will likely forget all about ever saying them.  Granted, this might be true, but if even one child could live out a childhood dream, why wouldn't you encourage them on the path of happiness.  Plus, think of the learning that would occur if we encouraged children to think and plan about how to achieve the realization of these dreams.  Children would become better planners, more critical thinkers, and generally have a better sense of self esteem and self-worth.

Think about it a bit.  Think about a childhood dream, and then think about why you never went after it.  I bet that you will realize that it was because at some point some adult convinced you that it wasn't rational, possible, or for someone like you.  Wouldn't you like to help a child avoid ever being able to look back and remember a moment like that?