Speak slowly and smoothly for faster service 

by Betty Hintch, editor, First-Rate Customer Service Forum

Speaking clearly will improve your customer service. Customers judge you by your voice. That may be unfair, but it’s the truth. Make sure your speaking style is confident and professional by following these tips:

• Speak loudly enough for customers to hear you without straining. If customers often ask you to speak up or repeat yourself, turn up the volume.
   
• Monitor your diction. If you speak to customers all day long, your speech may grow sloppy. Be especially careful about words that end in “ing.” Say “I’m going to,” not “I’m goin” or “I’m gonna.”
   
• Pause between sentences. Count one or two beats to make sure the customer is still following what you’re saying. That’s especially important if you have to repeat the same information throughout the day, which can sound like rattling off a speech at customers rather than communicating with them.
   
• Unclog your speech by eliminating filler words such as “Well,” “You know,” “Like,” “Uh” and “Um.” They make you sound uncertain.
   
• Slow down. It’s likely that you will speak too quickly, rather than too slowly, especially when handling an angry customer. Keep a sign posted on your bulletin board or a sticky note on your computer screen that says “Slow down.” That way, when you become flustered, your note will remind you to take your time. Use the same moderate speaking pace when you leave voice-mail messages. Customers will tune you out if they can’t understand what you are saying.

Connect with your customers by viewing Communicating for Results: How to Be Clear, Concise & Credible. The video features tips on how to focus on your customers’ moods to promote positive interactions and solve problems quickly. 

Last month’s poll

Personal relationships are the focus of our readers’ New Year’s resolutions. Reconciling problems in your personal life allows you to focus your attention on your work and professional development.

Learn to manage professional relationships with 21 Workplace Personalities: How to Say the Right Things at the Right Time. This tip book features techniques to find the right words to ease tension and produce the results you want at the office—and even in communications with family and friends.

MAKE COMMUNICATION
A TOP PRIORITY FOR YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAMS!

Communicating With Customers 

The average organization loses up to 30% of its customers due to poor customer service. Don’t let this happen to you!

This best-selling video reveals how you can keep customers coming back by avoiding the eight most common mistakes made when serving customers. 

Learn more!

Making Every Call Count:
Best Practices for Business Telephone Communications

No matter how telephone-savvy you and your employees are, your organization can benefit from a telephone skills audit.

This special report will help you assess the quality of your organization’s phone transactions. It outlines best practices and provides a guide to correcting and improving your company’s most critical communication link with the world. 

Learn more!

 Click here to receive First-Rate Customer Service Forum once a month, delivered straight to your inbox!

3-D meetings—No funny glasses required

This is a guest article by AmyK Hutchens

You and your team are facing an extraordinary opportunity—one that could dramatically improve the course of business in the years ahead. There are, however, decisions to make, plans to create and, of course, actions to take. How do you ensure that the first of these—decisions—will lead to the success you foresee? Make it a 3-D experience for everyone involved.

Unlike the Euclidean version that may come to mind, this 3-D experience is defined by three essential elements: Discuss, Debate and Decide. Each element forms the foundation for execution success and goal achievement. Neglecting even one will compromise your opportunity for success.

1. Discuss: The most valuable discussions are those of dialogue as opposed to dissertation, and the most productive dialogues occur in two steps.

First, state the opportunity in clear, unbiased terms. With a mindset of respect and equality (organizational hierarchy has no place here), encourage free-thinking and sharing from the team members about how best to maximize this opportunity—if it should even be pursued. Provoke constructive controversy and resist any propensity for judgmental commentary. Seek to stretch perspective beyond the status quo and mitigate potentially limiting beliefs. Doing this step first will engender thoughtful regard and trust among the team members and open the door to creativity and innovation.

Second, add structure to the dialogue. Take a closer look at each of the contributions to the discussion so far and apply objective questions to all of them. What are the potential consequences, intended and otherwise? Who will be involved and feel the effects, for better or worse? What’s the value of the “extraordinary” opportunity to all those involved? Think of this step as a culling process, where the most valid contributions are identified and clarified for subsequent debate.

2. Debate: Having shared an intellectually curious, thoughtful discussion, it’s time to take sides. Debate is essentially a well-reasoned, respectful, even passionate argument. Debate the proposed positions and discussion points from each plausible perspective. The goal is discovery. Through deep inquiry, clear and thorough presentation, and thoughtful rebuttal, answers to questions that otherwise would not likely come to mind are brought to light. Perhaps even more revealing is the discovery of questions behind the questions—the things you were unaware you didn’t know. Debate where and how a proposed course of action might fail, how it might succeed, is it even feasible, and so on. And, above all else, listen with the same intensity others reserve for speaking. It will pay dividends even beyond the decision you choose.

3. Decide: Finally, after all the discussion and enlightened debate, it’s time to choose. This does not mean defeat nor acquiescence for anyone. For even those who “lost” the debate will ultimately win with a great decision made. It means to commit—completely and clear-mindedly for everyone. This is not a place for compliance. Commitment necessitates regard for the process you’ve completed and respect for the people with whom you’ve processed. What does this look like down the road? Unity of command—when in the moment the decision that was made is challenged by circumstances or individuals, you stand by the decision you made as a team and present it as your own, without caveat or condition.

How will you know your decision was the “right” decision and even a great decision? Fair question—perhaps not the best question, however. The more compelling question is “How will you lead in the wake of the decision you made?” Great leaders do far more than make great decisions. They deal with consequences, they focus, they listen, they navigate the unpredictable course of life, and in so doing they inspire those they lead to make their own great decisions.

About the author: Having worked with 30,000+ executives in eight countries, AmyK Hutchens serves as an intelligence activist and business strategist to leaders around the globe. She is a former executive vice president of operations for a leading sales and marketing firm, director of education for Europe and Australia for a billion-dollar consumer products company, and chosen member of National Geographic’s Education Advisory Board. To learn more about AmyK International’s ground-breaking Leadership Links program please visit www.amyk.com. Follow AmyK on Twitter @AmyKinc.

Inspired Leadership

The brand new Inspired Leadership: Propel Your Employees to New Heightsprovides you with advice for more effectively leading your team or organization. Learn the keys to becoming a respected and trusted leader, to building employee loyalty, and to driving creativity at every level in your organization. 

This multimedia toolkit includes:

• The 17-minute videoBottom-Up Innovation: Unleash the Creative Intelligence of Everyone in Your Organization, with a companion Trainer’s Guide and Viewer’s Guide. 
   
• The 60-minute audio conference presentationNo Leader Does It Alone: Empower Your Team to Succeed!
   
• A 65-page workbook stuffed full of best practices, guides, tips, quizzes and more.
   
• A CD with dozens of customizable, print-ready forms.

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Click here to receive The Organized Executive’s Piority One  twice each month!

Mistakes can be a good thing

“When someone makes a mistake, it is a great learning experience.”
— Meryl Runion

If you overreact to every little mistake, you will discourage your people from taking risks. If they don’t take risks, creativity will stall. Prove to your staff that you are accepting of errors—within reason—and then show them how they can learn from every mistake. When someone errs at work, follow this process:

• Maintain your cool. If you start yelling or throwing out insults, your employee will become defensive or tune you out. Stay calm and remain respectful. If you are truly outraged, take some time to calm down before you address the problem. 
   
• Point out the error to the employee. Do it as soon as you are aware of the problem. Don’t put it off; it’s better to discuss the issue when the actions that led to the mistake are still fresh in the employee’s mind. 
   
• Offer the person a chance to give his or her viewpoint. The person may not have had the correct information or might offer some other justifiable reason. Don’t immediately assume that carelessness or spitefulness is to blame. 
   
• Together discuss how to correct the mistake. You may need to show the employee how to do something correctly, or the two of you may need to come up with a damage-control plan. Don’t just tell the person what to do. Involve him or her in coming up with a solution and implementing it. That is critical to making it a learning opportunity and not a reprimand. 
   
• Clarify your expectations. Before you leave, confirm that the person understands what needs to happen next time. Just avoid the “this better not happen again” shtick that many bosses employ.
   
• Sum up what you learned. Simply ask the employee “So what did we learn from this?” Then you might say “I learned that you are committed to your job because of how determined you were to find a solution to that problem.” 
   
• Thank the employee. Don’t end the discussion without first telling the person that you are grateful that he or she remained professional and solution-focused during the meeting, rather than offering excuses or pointing fingers. 

What else can you do to spur creativity and inspire your staff? Find out how in the brand-new training kit Inspired Leadership: Propel Your Employees to New Heights. Gain advice for more effectively leading your team or organization. Learn the keys to becoming a respected and trusted leader, to building employee loyalty, and to driving creativity at every level in your organization.

New to leadership or know someone who is? Follow the Bud to Boss Blog or subscribe to the Bud to Boss Take 5 e-letter for management and leadership advice written specifically for first-time supervisor.

You can clear your email

Maybe you have been out of the office for a week or you’re so swamped with work that you allowed messages to pile up. In any case you will feel—and be—more confident and in control when you can see the bottom of your email inbox on one screen.

Follow these steps:

• Start with a clean slate. For extreme cases, when the number of messages exceeds 500, move every message older than this week to a new folder. Then deal with the recent messages and new messages as they come in. Commit time on your calendar to using the steps below so you will clear the message backlog that you moved. 
   
• Develop a system. Decide which messages you must keep and which you can delete. Check your organization’s policies on record keeping for guidance. Create folders not only in your email program but also in your document files. Just because information originates as email doesn’t mean you must keep it that way. You can convert an email message to a task, an appointment or a document.
   
• Sort and deal. Start by looking at your messages by date received. Go to the oldest and see what you can delete or move there. Next sort them by sender. Often the most recent message will eliminate the need for older messages. (Note: Learn how to use the Conversations feature, with the free Outlook 2010 Tip Sheet available at OrganizedExecutive.com.)
    
• Apply rules. Creating rules to automatically filter messages is a great tool, and you can apply a rule to the messages in your inbox as soon as you create it. So if you notice that you have a number of messages that meet the same criteria, such as e-letters that you can move to a “To Read” folder, set up that rule and apply it now.
    
• Reply to minimize. As you work through the messages, analyze the patterns so you can head off email overload in the future. Ask people to remove you from distribution lists. Tell people when they don’t need to email you or should contact someone else. Train your staff to use common subject lines so that everyone can apply email rules to their messages.
   
• Be ruthless. Often email builds up because we delay making a decision. Force yourself to act on email, and delete often. If you can’t shake the fear that you just might need a message, move it to a “Kill after hold” folder that you clean monthly.

Now savor the feeling of a clear inbox, and don’t allow bad habits to fill it again.

The Complete Time Management Toolkit

This product is designed specifically with the busy manager in mind. Not only will you learn how to manage your own time, but this product also provides you with all the resources necessary to train your staff to be more efficient.

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The Complete Time Management Toolkit teaches you and your staff how to improve your productivity and efficiency and do more in less time—all in an easy-to-understand, step-by-step process. You’ll learn to overcome typical time traps and wasters and find the best practices to follow.

But best of all, it provides you with a detailed process and all the handouts you need to conduct a successful, thourough and memorable training session. This budget-friendly product is designed to save you the time of developing your own training session—and it teaches you and your employees how to manage your time more effectively.

This toolkit includes:

• The 21-minute video Conquer the Chaos: The Best Ideas in Time Management. 
   
• The 60-minute tip-filled audio program Overworked and Overwhelmed at Work: Tips for Calming the Chaos at Work.
   
• A 34-page workbook stuffed full of best practices, guides, tips, quizzes and more.
   
• A CD with dozens of customizable, print-ready forms.

Read more or order!

Click here to receive The Organized Executive’s Piority One  twice each month!

How to write business reports

This is a guest article by management consultant Norman Wei

There are two main reasons you write a business report or memo: You are either asking someone to do something or you are seeking permission to do something.

The readers of your report may be your employees, your bosses, your customers or your government. These key elements will help you get your message across:

• Be concise. Say what you want to say and no more. Focus on one or two main issues at a time.
   
• Tell them why. “I am asking all of you to do this because …” When people understand your reason behind what you are asking, they may buy into your idea and claim ownership. Once they have ownership, they will be much more willing to help you implement your idea. No parents ever call their own babies ugly. 
   
• Write short sentences in short paragraphs. Keep your paragraphs to no more than five or six lines. No one wants to read a 10-page memo. That’s why one-page memos and executive summaries are so common. If you can’t squeeze all your ideas in one page, distill them in an executive summary. If you are discussing a complicated program, you will, of course, need to attach the details in a separate report.
   
  Use one-sentence paragraphs to emphasis key points.
   
• Keep the tone informal and style conversational. Think of your business report as a conversation with your readers. 
   
  Instead of writing the following to your line supervisors: 

“Please inform all employees that in accordance with Corporate Policy 3.4.9 (b) and OSHA Standard 1910, all employees must wear safety glasses while on the job at all times.”

Try this:

“Please remind your staff members that they need to wear safety glasses for their own protection when they are on the job. We don’t want them to get hurt.” 

If someone wants to read your Corporate Policy 3.4.9 (b) and the OSHA standard, you can give that person a copy.
 
Do not use a lot of jargon unless you know all your readers are familiar with it. The most successful managers are always the ones who can translate technical (legal, engineering or financial) terms into plain English for senior management and the public. Your business memo should not read like a Ph.D. thesis.

• Be wary of PowerPoint slides. Many senior managers use PowerPoint slides to communicate complicated business proposals or ideas at meetings. The slides take the place of a written report. That is a very dangerous business practice, because it often leads to serious miscommunication.
   
  Here is an example: An executive makes a slide presentation on some complicated business proposal to the board of directors. Even though each of his slides is jammed with terse bullet points, he is able to convey his thoughts and the nuances of his proposal to the board members in person. Questions are asked and answered.
   
  The board approves the proposal. The problem comes when the manager passes those slides down to his managers to implement the program. No one knows what those bullet points mean, since none of his managers attended the board meeting. The bullet points in the slide report lead to misinterpretation. 
   
  Always back up your slide presentation/report with an actual report written in complete sentences.

About the author: Norman Wei is an author, public speaker and management consultant. He is well-known for conducting two-day seminars for corporations without using a single bullet point. Wei writes the Excellence in Presentations blog at http://nobullets.wordpress.com. He is available for speaking engagements and in-house seminars. His email address is norman@normanwei.com.

The Ultimate Communicator Training Camp

This two-day workshop will take you through a carefully designed process centered specifically on the goals you want to achieve through powerful communication!

In February, we’ll bring that training to you at these locations:

• Feb. 6-7: Orlando, FL.
   
• Feb. 8-9: Dallas, TX.
   
• Feb. 14-15: Charlotte, NC.
   
• Feb. 16-17: Atlanta, GA.
   
• Feb. 21-22: Birmingham, AL.
   
• Feb. 28-29: Miami, FL.

Register today!

C³: Clear Concise Communication

This toolkit will provide you with the communication strategy that will allow your team to thrive. You and your employees can work together to reach—and even exceed—your goals. You will learn how to communicate in a direct manner—across all channels—so that you get the results you want while avoiding the communication pitfalls that can wreak havoc in the workplace.

You will learn how to:

• Communicate effectively in any situation.
   
• Improve employee performance.
   
• Provide instructions that produce correct results.
   
• Gain buy-in from others.
   
• Identify barriers that interrupt communication flow. 
   
• Improve listening skills. 
   
• And much more!

Learn more and order!

Click here to receive the Communication Briefings E-Letter each month.

Write first drafts with ease

By Betty Hintch, editor of American Speaker 

Don’t agonize over writing your speech. Prevent writer’s block and procrastination with these steps:

• Commit to a deadline. Motivate yourself to complete your first draft by setting a deadline and sticking to it. Expect to write your rough copy in a few hours. Tip: Create an outline before you start writing.   
   
• Choose a medium. It’s easier to edit your draft if you type it into a word processing program. However, if you compose better material by hand writing the text, start a new page for each main idea or section. That way, you can switch the order or add new material without having to rewrite the document.
   
• Allow for imperfections. If full sentences aren’t flowing smoothly, jot down your ideas in bullet format. Don’t take time to find precise words. Record ideas that come to mind, knowing you’ll be able to edit the text later.
   
• Write out of order. When a section is difficult to compose, move on to the next one. You can go back to challenging sections after you’ve completed the easy ones. Tip: Write the introduction last. That way, you won’t waste time tweaking ideas that never make it into your presentation.
   
• Note slide placement. Highlight areas that will be the subject of a slide. When it’s time to create your PowerPoint presentation, you’ll have a rough outline to work from.

Your first draft should never be your final draft, so don’t worry about perfection. Just start writing.

Sponsored by
American Speaker 

The American Speaker Blog is here to help you—all of you, whether you’ve never set foot on a stage or you’re a professional orator—ease that anxiety and grow into the most effective, compelling and persuasive public speaker you can be! Subscribe today!

American Speaker is an easy-to-use electronic resource that gives you everything you need for preparing a top-notch speech. Monthly tips and articles, along with a robust searchable database, will give you all the techniques you’ll need for a successful presentation. Subscribe today for only $49, and you’ll be on your way to delivering powerful speeches!

Every Person’s Guide to Public Speaking guides you through each step in the process, from creating the perfect presentation to overcoming challenges that might throw you off your game. Commit to learning and implementing the training and you will build your confidence and become an impressive speaker. Learn more!

The American Speaker Training Camp teaches you the essential public speaking skills to expand your persuasive power and personal presence. Check out these upcoming workshops:

• Feb. 28-29: Miami, FL. 
   
• Apr. 10-11: Washington, DC.  
   
• Aug. 13-14: Los Angeles, CA.  
   
• Sept. 10-11: Boston, MA.

Register today!

Click here to receive American Speaker Forum once a month, delivered straight to your inbox!

Stop miscommunications before they start

by Catherine Welborn

Problem: You recently gave someone on your staff an assignment that went awry. This employee is usually on the ball, so you didn’t watch over his shoulder as he worked on the task. But when the deadline arrived, the work he handed in didn’t come close to your expectations. After discussing the issue with the employee, it became clear that the two of you understood the parameters of the project very differently. How did this miscommunication happen?

Solution: As the supervisor, it’s your job to clearly communicate your instructions and expectations to your staff. Adopt these practices to ensure that you and your employees stay on the same page:

• Choose the appropriate medium. Some assignments you can deliver orally, but others require written directions. In some cases an example is essential to explain what you want. Adapt your instructions to the complexity of each assignment. Also consider the employee to whom you’re giving directions. Know the person’s communication preferences. Some employees are happy to receive instructions orally; others easily forget what’s not written down. Adjust for each team member’s needs.
   
• Expect questions. Some employees avoid asking clarifying questions because they don’t want to appear incompetent. Guide them to break that bad habit by encouraging them to ask questions. Don’t wrap up your instructions by saying “Do you have any questions?” Instead ask “What questions do you have?” Then pause to allow them time to think of questions to ask. 
   
• Confirm understanding. Once you’ve given employees an opportunity to ask questions, ensure that they fully comprehend what you expect of them. Ask “What are your next steps?” or have staffers paraphrase the assignment in their own words.
   
• Follow up. Don’t assume that employees will retain the information. Check on their progress to ensure that they are moving in the right direction. Schedule checkpoints and review first passes or drafts to ensure that the work is accurate and progressing as desired.

Find more great communication strategies in the multimedia training kit C³: Clear Concise Communication, described below!

MAKE COMMUNICATION A TOP PRIORITY

C³: Clear Concise Communication

This toolkit will provide you with the communication strategy that will allow your team to thrive. You and your employees can work together to reach—and even exceed—your goals. You will learn how to communicate in a direct manner—across all channels—so that you get the results you want while avoiding the communication pitfalls that can wreak havoc in the workplace. 

You will learn how to:

• Communicate effectively in any situation. 
   
• Improve employee performance. 
   
• Provide instructions that produce correct results. 
   
• Gain buy-in from others.
   
• Identify barriers that interrupt communication flow. 
   
• Improve listening skills. 
   
• And much more!

Learn more and order today!

INVEST IN YOURSELF 

The Ultimate Communicator Training Camp

This two-day workshop will take you through a carefully designed process centered specifically on the goals you want to achieve through powerful communication!

In February, we’ll bring that training to you at these locations:

• Feb. 6-7: Orlando, FL.
   
• Feb. 8-9: Dallas, TX.
   
• Feb. 14-15: Charlotte, NC.
   
• Feb. 16-17: Atlanta, GA.
   
• Feb. 21-22: Birmingham, AL.
   
• Feb. 28-29: Miami, FL.

Register now!
 

Bud to Boss Training Camp

This two-day workshop will help you navigate the difficult transition from peer to supervisor, avoiding the most common mistakes new managers make!

In February, we’ll bring that training to you at these locations:

• Feb. 6-7: Orlando, FL.
   
• Feb. 8-9: Dallas, TX.
   
• Feb. 13-14: Charlotte, NC.
   
• Feb. 16-17: Atlanta, GA.
   
• Feb. 21-22: Birmingham, AL.
   
• Feb. 28-29: Miami, FL.

Register now!

Click here to receive Bud to Boss: Take 5 once a month, delivered straight to your inbox!

Top-notch complimentary resources for you!

Briefings Media Group believes in providing high-quality, informative and accessible resources to our readers! Because of that commitment, you have access to an abundance of free resources that will guide you to be more successful in the workplace.

Look at what’s available to you:

Subscribe to our e-letters and blogs!

Every month receive top tips and strategies straight to your inbox by signing up for our e-letters. Take advantage of these excellent resources:

• Communication Briefings E-Letter brings you valuable workplace communication insight. 
   
• First-Rate Customer Service Forum offers top-notch tips for improving your organization’s customer service. 
   
• Bud to Boss Take 5 helps new supervisors solve their toughest management problems. 
   
• American Speaker Forum gives helpful public speaking advice, whether you’re new to speech-making or a veteran presenter. 
   
• The Organized Executive’s Priority One goes out twice each month with quick tips to make you more successful.

Offer us your feedback, either by participating in a survey or by emailing the editorial team your tips, strategies, comments or questions.

Make sure you read these blogs:

• The Organized Executive’s Blog offers productivity, time-management and leadership advice. 
   
• Bud to Boss Blog guides new managers and supervisors to success. 
   
• Nitpickers’ Nook provides workplace communication advice, so you can write clearly, speak effectively and listen carefully. 
   
• Raising the HR Bar shares insights about high-level human resources. 
   
• American Speaker Blog offers presentation and public speaking guidance.

Additionally, you can find an archive of our e-letters on the Workplace Survival blog, so if you’re ever looking for an old issue, that’s where you’ll find it. Read and comment on our blogs so that we can extend the dialogue even further!

Visit the websites!

OrganizedExecutive.com, CommunicationBriefings.com and AmericanSpeaker.com contain loads of freebies. Read the Focus On sections, which we update each month with tips and articles. Or download a free special report!
 
Follow us on Twitter!

Every day receive tweets from @WorkSurvival and @BizarreHR to keep you informed about the best strategies for effective leadership, management, communication, customer service, public speaking and human resources. Have a question or a comment on a work-related issue? Tweet it to us to start the conversation!

Like us on Facebook!

Become a fan of Workplace Survival on Facebook, where you’ll receive updates from our blogs as well as news about and discounts for our products, audio conferences and training camps. Join the community’s discussions about leadership, workplace communication, customer service—anything and everything that will help you thrive in your workplace. While you’re at it, become a fan of Bizarre HR too, where you’ll be shocked by stories of what goes on in some workplaces! If you have a question, comment or great story from the Web to share, post it on our wall!

Do you offer five-star service? 

by Betty Hintch, editor, First-Rate Customer Service Forum

Start the New Year by evaluating your skills. Answer the following questions, and then calculate your score to determine your level of service expertise:

1. A service rep meets a customer for the first time. This is an appropriate greeting: “Joe, it is nice to meet you. I work in the parts department and can help you find what you are looking for.”
    
   ___ True
   ___ False
    
2. You are writing an email response to a customer. You want to communicate that you are excited about locating a lost order, so it is appropriate to draft the email message in all capital letters. 
     
   ___ True
   ___ False
    
3. An angry customer expresses frustration with being transferred to several people in different departments. The best way to handle that scenario is to assure the person that you will handle his or her inquiry from this point forward. You will not transfer the customer to someone else. 
    
   ___ True
   ___ False
    
4. A customer asks you where a certain item is in your store. The best service you can give is to provide detailed directions to the product’s location.
    
   ___ True
   ___ False
    
5. A shoplifter takes an item from a store’s shelf and runs out the door with it. A good customer service rep would run after the thief.
    
   ___ True
   ___ False 

Answers: 

1. False. The rep used the customer’s first name, which is too informal for a first meeting. Use the last name with a title, such as Mr. Smith or Ms. Jones, until you are certain a first-name basis is appropriate.
    
2. False. Email etiquette rules discourage using all capital letters. Customers may interpret all-caps messages as yelling.
    
3. True. Never put angry customers back into the same situations that upset them. Reassure them that you will resolve their issue.
    
4. False. The best way to handle a customer’s question about the location of a product is to walk the person to its exact location. That applies to locations on your website as well, where you can virtually guide people to the proper location.
    
   When you cannot leave your post to take a customer to a location, offer detailed directions. If necessary, write down the aisle number or provide a map of the store with the desired location circled with a colored marker.
    
5. False. Although apprehending a thief seems like a heroic act, you could be hurt in the process. Many employee handbooks state that employees should not take the law into their own hands. Instead, call security or the police.

Results:

• Five correct answers: Congratulations! You are a service superstar.
   
• Three to four correct answers: You are on your way. Keep improving your skills.
   
• Fewer than three correct answers: Don’t give up on developing your service abilities. Take advantage of any training your organization offers.

First-Rate Customer Service Training Kit: A budget-friendly way to train your customer service reps! Learn more!

Last month’s poll

Noisy co-workers are the top workplace pet peeve for respondents to a recent First-Rate Customer Service Forum survey. Almost two-thirds of readers said that loud talking in cubicles or public areas is a source of irritation. Thirteen percent said their top pet peeve is messy team members. Only a few respondents said unpleasant odors from food and inconsiderate co-workers who don’t stock supplies annoy them.

You spend as much as 75% of your waking hours on work-related activities. Learn to turn difficult workplace interactions into constructive relationships with “Mission Positive.” The report offers guidance on how to stay upbeat amid day-to-day frustrations at work.

Special thanks to those who provided feedback to last month’s survey. Read on to share your New Year’s resolutions. We’ll report next month on what areas your colleagues plan to improve in 2012.

SERVICE TEAM MANAGERS: BUILD STRONGER TEAMS WITH THESE BRAND-NEW PRODUCTS!

C³: Clear Concise Communication will teach you and your reps how to communicate in a direct manner—across all channels—so that you get the results you want while you avoid the communication pitfalls that can wreak havoc in the workplace.

Customer service reps will discover how to: 

• Communicate effectively in any situation.
   
• Identify barriers that interrupt communication flow.
   
• Improve listening skills.
   
• Break bad habits that have impeded successful communication.
   
• Assess needs quickly in order to improve responsiveness.
   
• Feel comfortable responding to unexpected situations.
   
• And so much more!

Learn more!
 

Detox Your Workplace! will teach you how to address the negative behaviors that are hurting your team’s collaboration, productivity, customer service and bottom line. Even if you feel your team is healthy, you can use the advice presented in this training kit to recognize warning signs and flush out toxic behaviors—before they contaminate your team.

You will discover how to:

• Recognize the kinds of management behaviors that destroy teams.
   
• Avoid becoming a toxic manager.
   
• Assess the causes of difficult behavior on your team.
   
• Understand different personality styles by using the D.I.S.C. method.
   
• Reduce negativity.
   
• Resolve conflicts with difficult people.
   
• And so much more!

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Overcome the reasons resolutions go off track

This is a guest article from Tom Connellan, author of The 1% Solution.

A quarter of people who make New Year’s resolutions have already given them up by the end of the first week. By the next New Year’s, 88% of resolutions are kaput.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are three significant—and avoidable—things most people do wrong after they make a resolution:

1. They rely on “motivation.” They mistakenly believe that once they feel more “motivated”—once they find the secret key to motivating themselves—they will finally be able to get off their butts and take action. Initially, the act of making a resolution may seem motivating enough—but that quickly fades, and these people find themselves with no other strategy to help them stay on track.

Then they become part of the 88% who fail.

There is something you can do to prevent this right now—a faster, more effective, and astonishingly easy way to get your momentum going.

Just start.

Many people forget that while motivation leads to accomplishment, it is equally true that accomplishment also leads to motivation. Once you have a feeling of accomplishment, you don’t need to rev up your motivation, because your motivation arises naturally from the accomplishment. Pretty soon, you aren’t trying to jazz yourself up to become “more motivated”—you are simply more motivated. You have momentum on your side.

So the real question isn’t “How do I get motivated enough to start?” The question you need to ask yourself is “Where do I start so that I’ll become more motivated?”

The answer is that you start from where you are right now, and you do one thing, no matter how small. Get going on whatever it is you have resolved to do, whether you feel motivated or not. Take the first, small step. That first, small step will produce a bump in motivation. Then take another step. That, too, will produce a bump in motivation. And that bump in motivation will lead to more action on your part, and … See how this goes?

2. They only think big. New Year’s resolutions tend to be big, bold goals, and we do need goals to aim for. Where most people go wrong is that they think about only the big goal, not the stages they will need to pass through along the way. They could rejoice in each small win—losing a pound, being another dollar closer to freedom from debt—but instead, seeing only how far they are from their goal, they lose heart.

The solution is to think big but start small. Let’s say your New Year’s resolution is “To get fit.” Will you be able to run a half-marathon next month? Probably not. But can you walk 1% farther today than you did yesterday? Can you run 1% faster, or lift 1% more weight at the gym? Of course you can. Everyone can be 1% better at something today than they were yesterday.

Now imagine you keep that up every day. Each time you reach your goal of 1% improvement, your sense of achievement will rise, and your motivation will rise along with it. And those 1% improvements will build upon one another, the same way that money accrues in your bank account thanks to compounding interest. Step by step, you will become stronger, faster, better—and grow closer to your ultimate goal.

3. They don’t realize that even positive change feels uncomfortable. We do most everyday actions unconsciously. For instance, you don’t have to stop and think about how to brush your teeth. But if you try brushing your teeth with the other hand, it feels downright weird and uncomfortable. Keeping a New Year’s resolution has the same effect: You are changing a habit you’ve had for years, and even though you are replacing it with a good habit, it doesn’t necessarily feel good right away. This discomfort is the reason 25% of people give up their New Year’s resolution in the first week.

But the brain is capable of amazing feats: Each time you do something a new way, the brain goes to work making new connections and setting up a new habit, which will eventually feel as natural as the old one. This takes time—at least 21 days. This means that you need to make a minimum of 21 days of conscious effort to establish a new habit. In my experience, it is more helpful to think in terms of 30 days, because it is easier to fit into your calendar and track.

Commit to making a positive change—however small—every day for 30 days. Work through the discomfort, knowing that at the end of 30 days, you will have formed a new habit. And then it won’t take anywhere near as much conscious effort for you to keep your New Year’s resolution.

Don’t be one of the 88%. Turn your ideas about motivation upside down; think big and start small; and realize that even positive change feels uncomfortable for a time. Make this your year for positive, lasting change.

Take that first step today.

About the author: Tom Connellan is a New York Times best-selling author, a former program director and research associate at the University of Michigan, and a popular keynote speaker whose clients include FedEx, Neiman Marcus, Acura, Canadian Tire and Home Depot. He started a wellness company and built it into a network of 1,200 instructors serving 300 hospitals and most Fortune 500 firms. More than 1 million people participated in its programs. Learn more at www.tomconnellan.com.

Map out your plan for success by downloading the Goal-Setting Worksheet from the Free Reports section at OrganizedExecutive.com.

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