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Letter From The Editor

Dear Friends,

We are half way through January 2007 and hopefully, your 2007 has gotten off to an incredible start! What? It hasn’t? Well, you aren’t alone.

The first of a new year is often a let down for many people. Somehow we think that when the calendar turns to January 1 that everything will magically start working the way we want it to. Yet, it simply doesn’t happen that way! The key to having things work the way you want them to is YOU, your commitment, and having a plan that keeps you on track. Yes, I said that nasty four letter word P-L-A-N!

Now don’t run and hide. Just think about it. What is the harm in sitting down and getting clear about what you want and how you are going to get it? Planning is that simple. You don’t necessarily have to follow a certain format, you don’t have to have all the answers (as a matter of fact, writing your plan will help you discover the answers to what you don’t know), and you don’t even have to use it, if in the end you decide what you wrote is something you don’t want. Just get clear about what you do want… and then write your plan accordingly… ask your team to hold you accountable… and then go for it! Remember: You are the only person who has a say in how your life turns out! If you want 2007 to be outrageous and fun in every way, you have to have a plan that gets you on the path to it being that way. So what are you waiting for?

Best regards,

Clay S. Nelson

Defusing a Customer Dispute

While recently strolling through a shopping mall, I unfortunately witnessed a very unpleasant confrontation between a store employee and a customer. I don’t know the details and won’t even attempt to guess at what the problem might have been. However, what I did get out of what I saw were two people determined to be right about their position. That was the first mistake! The second mistake was the employee’s continual interruption of the customer. Both mistakes likely led to the escalating anger, but it simply didn’t have to be that way! Sure, a customer service support person can’t control how a customer is going to act, but they can control how they choose to handle a situation.

When working to resolve a customer dispute, the one thing that every customer service support person needs to do is to actively listen to the customer that is unhappy with the product or service. Active listening is about listening in such a way that the customer feels and knows that he/she has been heard completely and it is simple to do.

1. Don't interrupt what your customer is saying, don't have pat answers or excuses… just listen.
2. When the customer has said everything that they need to, repeat back to the customer what the complaint is. This simple communication allows the customer to really understand that you heard them and understand what the complaint is.
3. Finally set a time and process for resolving the complaint and then make sure you are your word about the resolve and the timing!

It really is that easy, and while there are those customers that are never completely satisfied, when they are listened to, they do at least know that their concerns were heard… and that is as often as much the key to their being satisfied with the outcome as anything.

Handling ‘Challenging’ Employee Issues

It is every manager’s nightmare: Ted from accounting walks in on a Monday morning sporting a new, bright pink mohawk and a pierced nose, and he is the lead for a meeting with your top, and very conservative, client later in the day. What do you do?

The key to handling challenging employee issues is to head them off before they ever become an issue! Make sure all those who work for you understand what the expectations are for not only their work ethic and performance, but their personal appearance and conduct as well, and beyond that, what the consequences of their not adhering to those policies will cost them.

The best way to communicate employee policy issues is in writing, inside of an employee handbook that is up-to-date and one where the management team and employees actually know what it says! In the employee handbook, address dress code, conduct, tattoos and body piercing, etc. and when a challenge arises, refer to the employee policy handbook on how to handle the situation. The key is for everyone involved to be informed of and understand company policies before they ever come to work for you, which means full and complete communication is in order!

Communicate verbally and in written policies so that they know what the job requires and what the integrity of the job is. Communicate and make sure the entire team knows the rules, how things work, and what is OK and what isn’t OK; what behaviors are OK and what aren’t. Everything has to be addressed, and in doing so you lay a solid basis of understanding and communication so that when something happens you know what to do, there are no surprises, and when an unexpected challenge comes up, you have open communication through which you can discuss what you or other co-workers are seeing and what can be done to help them.

The bottom line is: If you haven’t got an employee manual… you should have one. And if you do have one, make sure you know what it says. It will answer your question of what do to when Ted decides to dye his hair pink, at the most inopportune time!

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