Any good business person knows that one of the keys to a successful business is good customer service. Providing customers with a positive business experience is key to repeat business and customer satisfaction. In the process of providing good customer service, developing a relationship with your customers gives them a sense of comfort and creates a safe environment. As a customer would you want to revisit a business if when you entered you get a bad vibe or you don't feel like you are wanted? Absolutely not! The reasons why you DO revisit a business is because the products or services offered meet your standards and needs, the atmosphere is inviting and you've had or you continue to have an experience that pleases you.
So if providing good customer service is for the purpose of selling products and services and retaining customers, what is reverse customer service? Is "Reverse Customer Service" a real thing? Granted this is a phrase that I coined but hopefully you will understand this concept by the time you finish reading this post. To preface this please know that my businesses but more importantly my employees and my customers are extremely important to me. In order for me to provide jobs and thus take care of my employees I have to have customers; in order to continue to evolve my businesses I need customers; in order to keep customers I need to provide experiences and services that keep them happy and wanting to continue to utilize our services. In order to accomplish this I am constantly working to develop relationships with everyone that I meet. Essentially reverse customer service is being a good patron to other businesses. Many of the businesses that I patronize on a regular basis happens because I have created relationships with the people that work there. My personality lends me to feel generally comfortable talking to people that I don't know. So when I am at a checkout counter I will joke or participate in playful banter. If I have the opportunity to learn something about the person working that can further the conversation or be used on the next visit, then I have taken a step to developing a relationship with that person. "OK, so you are a friendly person and you talk to the people at the businesses you frequent. How does this help your business grow?" Great question. You see as the continual relationship grows the people you are conversing with will naturally start to take an interest in what you do. Maybe they will see a logo on your shirt for your company or maybe you are buying the same items on a repeated basis but to someone who is paying attention and is pursuing good customer service, they are going to ask questions. The more this relationship grows you may find that these people are starting to refer people to your business or maybe they themselves are wanting to utilize your services. Now you have created a partnership with someone who is essentially working to help your business while you are helping them by being a repeat customer. Your good patronage and relationship skills are leading to good business decisions that can benefit everyone thus you have demonstrated, "Reverse Customer Service." Building Leaders for Success is dedicated to educating and providing training and skills that will benefit you, your employees and your business. Check us out on the web at www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com, on Facebook at Building Leaders for Success and on Twitter @Leading4success. Enter your email address in the box to the right to receive these blogs and other offers from Building Leaders for Success.
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I have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing a lot of speakers talk about success and one thing many of them have said was, "Dream big" or have "Big goals" and even make "grandiose movements." Maybe this is a the work of Freud seeping into the minds of even our most greatest success educators. Why does there have to be a size to the dream or the goal? Does having a "big" dream mean you are going to have a great reward when you achieve it?
Dreams.. the ideas that we see in our minds, sometimes while we sleep and sometimes during the day. These ideas can represent reflections of actions or scenarios that we have encountered, fantasies to allow us a mental break from the stresses of the world, the impact of the divine or cosmic forces on us or maybe - dreams are the key to finding out what we want to achieve with our lives. How many times have you dreamt of having a certain car, a promotion in your job, becoming an entrepreneur, starting a business, taking a trip to a certain destination? What exactly constitutes a "big" dream? By putting this size label we are theoretically saying that certain goals or achievements are considered to be more important, thus "Big" while others are not as important so they could be considered, "small." Instead of equating size with a dream, why not equate it to the end result of what someone wants to accomplish. As we are all different in our personalities, hopes and dreams, we should focus on the actual act of having dreams. In order to be successful we have to have an idea, a goal, a dream, something that is driving us. Using the size theory, what might be a "Big"dream to one person may be a "Small" dream to someone else. The way to achieve that dream is by following the various steps and actions needed to make that dream a reality. Depending on your work ethic, you will determine how quickly you can achieve the goals needed to make your dream come true. Although despite my best efforts I have not quite figured out how to fly like Superman but I dream about it. There needs to be a realism to your dreams. As much as I would like to fly like Superman, until modern science finds a way to make that happen, I may have to wait. Now if I was a scientist or had a deep scientific background, then maybe I would be the one to find a way to make it happen. However since I don't have that background I will focus on the dreams that I know I can make a reality, like continuing to build my businesses to successes even in the faces of the many obstacles that I run into, educating people on how to pursue their dreams and pursuing my music career. Maybe the idea of dreaming "Big" is for you. That's fine. My advice to you - Just Dream. Explore your dreams and find what you want to achieve in life and make it happen. Let your dreams be your guide for finding success. Do this and I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the results AND you will be happy with what you have accomplished. Building Leaders for Success is dedicated to educating people on success and leadership. Enter your email address in the box at the bottom right and receive our blogs instantly when they are published. Check out our services at www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com and like us on Facebook at Building Leaders for Success. Achieving success in a business is like wielding a machine with many moving parts. In order for one part of the machine to work, another part must work and in order for that part to work, another, etc. Of course any machine requires fuel to get it moving. As the entrepreneur/owner/manager/CEO, you have to be that driving force, that fuel that makes the machine work.
When I think about dreams and dream jobs and what we have to do to make those dreams reality, I am reminded that it takes extreme amounts of teamwork. The various teams that make up a business are equivalent to the gears or the parts to the business machine. Each team has to be functioning properly in order to assist with the next team and the next, which in the end helps the business or project to work properly. I would like to call to mind three concepts presented by the great Stephen Covey from his book, "7 Habits of Highly Successful People." Dependent - as it suggests a dependency on someone else to do or accomplish something. We'll think of this in the terms of "You" Independent - you as the individual take on and maintain responsibility for a task or project without having to rely on someone else. We'll think of this in terms of "Me" Interdependent - this refers to the idea that people come together to work together to accomplish a task or project. This is ultimately the direction we want to go in terms of forming a team. We'll think of this in terms of "We" I am going to show you how all of these terms come together to form the team that is going to move you towards success. To do this I am going to illustrate this idea with a symphony orchestra. Lets identify some of the teams within an orchestra and then we'll later demonstrate how it all fits together. There has to be a creative team that develops the concept or theme for a concert; a logistic team that will coordinate the preparation of music, scouting locations and securing any necessary equipment; a production team that coordinates the lights, sounds, curtains, stage work; the musicians, whose individual teams are the sections of musicians who play together and of course the conducting team, which can be one or multiple people. Now lets apply our three terms to this example: Dependent - in an orchestral situation one person must depend on the next to make sure that they have practiced and prepared their music so that when they come to rehearsal they are making good use of their time. Within each instrumental section, the section leader or principal player depends on the people in their section to come prepared with music. While the section players depend on the principal to provide them with music if the designated music distributor is not available. The conductor is going to depend on each musician to come prepared with the notes and rhythms prepared so that the role of the conductor can be that of shaping said notes and rhythms into a musical idea. This is all about depending on someone else to do their part and not yours. Independent - this refers to the individual musician and the conductor. It is my responsibility to practice my part and prepare everything on my own. When I enter rehearsal my job is to play my part and not have to depend on anyone to do my work for me. As a conductor it is my responsibility to make sure that I have properly prepared my interpretation for the music to be performed. This is all about me being able to act independently in my preparation and execution of the music. Interdependent - this is when it gets really cool. This refers to the combination of dependency and interdependency. Now instead of you and me, it is now WE. We are independent in our personal preparation; we depend on each other to work together to make the music happen but we coordinate our efforts and we do so as a team. Multiple teams have now moved from the approach of the individual to the approach of the group. The success occurs because all of the moving parts (the individual musicians - section teams - large group teams - full orchestra) are now working together in a harmonious union of dependency, independence and interdependence. Another quick example - if you are a sports person, you can apply this to the dynamics of a sports team. In order for the team to function, each player must be independently prepared on his/her position and have prepared the skills needed to be successful in that position. They have to depend on one another to have prepared for their position and then interdependently they can work together, putting all of the moving parts together, to make the team work. Success is all about having the dream and then building the team to make it happen! For more success tips and blogs coming directly to you, subscribe using the link on the bottom right of this page. For more information and utilizing our services, check us out at www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com or on Facebook at Building Leaders for Success |
AuthorFrank Taylor is founder and CEO of Building Leaders for Success, Inc. A musician of 25 years, educator of 15 years and a motivational speaker of 16 years, Mr. Taylor brings a wealth of knowledge that will promote success and fundamentals of leadership. Archives
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