Customer Service

Every worker, employer and entrepreneur works in Customer Service.


It’s true. If you had no customers, you would have no employment. You might say that Customer Service is for people who purchase your product or service. That is true. But have you considered that an employer purchases your product; your work product?

We are all in service to our customer; every person on the planet is in service for some customer, but that’s another blog on another site. This blog is about serving your customer on the job. It is also about the persons who serve you.

Man is a social animal. He can survive without other people around him, but he cannot thrive. This is especially true in the economic sense. We all depend on others; people who will buy our product and people from whom we can buy products. How well we meet our customers’ needs will, to a large extent, determine how well we will thrive. So it is important to support your customers in any reasonable way that you can, especially in today’s workplace.

The job place has changed dramatically. At one time we were welcomed in as part of the family. We might work our whole professional life for one employer. Not today. Today employees change jobs on the average of every 3 to 5 years and during the course of their working years may have careers in several different fields.

Today publically traded companies are being driven more and more to think short-term by shareholders who want to see their money make money immediately.

Technology is advancing so rapidly that a new product can be obsolete before it hits the retail shelves.

Businesses are being forced to think innovatively and globally. The secure job of today is the off-shore job of tomorrow and the software program of the day after. So the employee-entrepreneur while taking care of his customers and keeping up with new thinking and technology must prepare himself for his own obsolescence.

But however much business and technology change there is one need that will remain; the need for customer service. It is one of the few skills that you can take from job to job and from career to career. The person who has the reputation of serving his customer, whether it is the public, his supervisor, management or colleagues is going to be welcome in most working environments. This is the “go to” person. The one who can get things done. The one who can point you in the right direction. The customer oriented employee-entrepreneur will have many success stories to talk about in an interview. He will have many illustrations of how he contributed to a team but was also able to work on his own. The customer service oriented employee-entrepreneur will have many examples of how he was able to overcome obstacles and improve processes.

The employee-entrepreneur is approachable. He is the one that people end up turning to when they need help and ideas. He has likeability. Likeability is one of the qualities that employer-clients are looking for in the workplace today. Because they are working leaner and there are lots of people looking for jobs today it is much more desirable to have the likeability factor than to have all the technical skills, though technical skill cannot be dismissed.

As you are looking over your accomplishments in preparation for an interview, make special note of your customer service successes. Think about the many ways that you served your customers and apply that to the job for which you are interviewing.

Employee-Entrepreneur

Consider how the concept of the employee has changed over the years. At one time an employee entered an organization and pretty much was assured of staying with that company for his/her whole career unless they chose to leave for one reason or another. Except for misconduct, some mild recessions or some obsolescence employment was pretty steady and assured. If you wanted to work, you could find a job, for the most part.

That picture has been changing since the mid-seventies and it took a big leap in its new direction two years ago with the recession. A large part of this change is due in no small measure on how we view investment. At one time people looked at their investments as long-term. No one expected to make a quick buck and move on. When you invested it was with an eye on tomorrow. Not today.

So what happens when quarterly and annual reports do not show the results that stockholders want? They take their money and go play elsewhere. Since Equity is a component used to leverage borrowings they have to find some way to reduce expenses. Care to guess what the quickest way to reduce expenses is? That’s right, lay off workers.

In addition, production expectations of employees have changed over the years. Many office workers are expected to produce in quantity, sometimes to a degree that they do not have the time to properly analyze the information they are processing. When irregularities are noticed by some particularly alert and ethical employee and brought to the attention of management, they may be ignored, pooh-poohed or dismissed out of hand. If the employee spends some effort trying to get someone to listen, that employee may find themselves looking for new employment. It’s hard to prove a dismissal for whistle blowing.

As a result of all these changes in the modern work environment employees need to rethink their approach in working in Corporate America. In fact the employee should take more of an entrepreneurial approach to their jobs. What does that entail?

As an entrepreneur you keep a bird’s eye view on your clients or customers. This means being aware of trends in their industries as well as where they place in that industry. You also keep your ears open for any negative rumors, which you quietly check out, without adding anymore fuel to the fire. It means that if the company is headed to hard times, if you are not already casting about to add new customers you begin to look at the possibility that this customer may go away. (i.e. lay you off.) You want to be current on all this information, don’t walk around with your head in the sand until you’ve lost your window to make a move on your own terms.

It also means that you do not discuss your concerns with just anyone. In fact, other than reporting ethical and/or moral and/or illegal matters to the appropriate authority in the organization, I would not suggest that you discuss your concerns with another single employee, no matter how trustworthy or close they may be. If you need to discuss these matters with someone, discuss them with a private counselor or coach. You would do no less in your own business. For instance, if you were having personnel problems in your organization and needed some advice, you would not turn to another employee to get that advice. You would turn to someone you trusted and who exercised discretion with no ties to the company.

As for whistle blowing, that is tricky. Depending on the seriousness of the matter and the resistance of management to address it, you might want to set up your exit strategy before you pursue it to any degree. Whistle blowers are generally considered anathema by all employers and often find it difficult to find work once let go by their employers. It takes great courage, a strong sense of ethics and moral fortitude to be a whistle blower. However you handle it, make sure you keep good records.

One last area to consider is making yourself known in your area of expertise and in the market. That means networking while you are employed. Make friends. Help people where you can. Become known as the go to person and people will start thinking of you first when they are looking for someone to fill a place in their organization. Additionally, so that you don’t become locked in with one company to the extent that people become concerned about your ability to adapt to changes, you might want to consider changing jobs every three to five years. Many people do this anyway in order to advance their careers. It is a quicker way to move up the corporate ladder than waiting for an opening in your present organization. Also, many corporations actually prefer personnel to change every three to five years as it brings in fresh blood and new ideas. The perception is that people become stale and complacent when in one position and with one company for too long.

While the problems and concerns voiced above have been around for a long time they are of greater concern in the current corporate environment. Thinking like an entrepreneur and making conscious decisions about your relationships with colleagues and employers may help to ease your way through the current employment market.

As it was in the Beginning, so it is at the End

Ever noticed that many of those we consider the very old, mid-eighties and up spend a good deal of their days napping? Many would say it is because they do not get enough stimulation. Maybe. But have you ever watched them while they nap? It seems to me that this sleep is very different from what we call normal sleep.

Most of the time when people sleep they shift position at intervals, maybe take a deeper breath from time to time, change their expression, even have a light snoring sound. But the people I have observe of late are not doing any of this. They don’t twitch or shift a muscle. Except for the pull of gravity, they don’t move at all. Their breath is light and they don’t make a sound, not a snort or snore or sigh. They seem totally absorbed in their nap. Very often, when they wake up, it is just as if they had stepped out of the room for a few minutes and have just returned, or if they werer wakened, they act as if they were interrupted from an important private conversation.

All in all there seems to be very little difference to them between the waking state and the sleeping state. Curious.

When they are awake they seem to be disengaging themselves from those around them. Last week I noticed that during their lunch they did not talk to or even look at one another, only the aides who presented their food only in response to a direct question. If you ask them what they are thinking, they may say “Nothing”, if they say anything at all and they may follow the comment with a far away stare. But I wonder.

It occurred to me that this behavior is in some aspects similar to that of a newborn. In other aspects it is just the opposite. And I had the sudden thought that this is exactly right. Newborns are coming while our ancients are leaving.

Most newborns spend a great deal of their first weeks and moths sleeping. Certainly they are growing very fast at that time and many of the organs are completing their development. But is it possible that there is something else going on too? Could it have something to do with transitioning from the other side of the Veil to this side? Certainly, the longer they are on this side, the less time they spend sleeping. Is it possible that all the napping of the elderly has much to do with their upcoming transition back through the Veil?

Is it possible that the newborns are saying their goodbyes to souls, teachers, guides, soul mates and friends on the other side before making their full and complete transition here? Maybe there are last minute instructions and reminders.

Is it possible that the elderly are becoming reacquainted with a similar group on the other side? Might they possibly be getting information on what they will be doing when they make their final transition? Their naps are certainly peaceful and absorbing.

It is curious that a newborn spends less and less time napping while the elderly spend more and more time napping. What do you think?

Networking – The take and give

Last time we discussed that networking is every interaction you have with any other person. True; as far as it goes. That discussion was about getting your message out. It was the “all about me” part of the message; getting out your message.


If everybody was standing in a room getting out their message, there would be a lot of noise, but where would that message be going? Nowhere. Everyone would be so absorbed about their needs they would not be able to pay attention to anyone else’s needs and they might miss some information that would be very useful for them. Listening is the second part of networking.

Networking involves communication. Communication in its simplest form requires a conveyer of a message, a speaker, and a receiver of the message, a listener. If you do not have those two components, you do not have communication and the purpose of networking has been defeated. The two rolls switch back and forth in a conversation.

The speaker’s job is obvious, to get the message out in a way that the listener can understand. At the very least this means a common social language. Using techno-speak on a lay person will come across to the listener as so much babble. But the listener has an important job, too. The listener needs to listen actively.

What does it mean to “listen actively?” It means that as you listen to the speaker you ask for clarifications or explanations of what the speaker is saying. You repeat back to the speaker what you have heard. When you do this the speaker becomes the listener and identifies areas that need more explanation and areas where your understanding needs to be validated. After the listener has asked his questions or repeated his understanding the original speaker returns to his role as speaker and answers the listener’s questions and validates his understanding. During this process the speaker makes his needs and desires known. The listener may be able to help him achieve these goals or offer suggestions on how he can achieve these goals or know of some way in which he can achieve these goals.

Afterwards the original listener becomes the dominant speaker and expresses his desires and needs and the process is repeated. At the end we have had a conversation and if each party has done their job well, we have an understanding of what is motivating each party and if everyone is even more fortunate we may find that we can help one another. And if we actually are able to help each other we have made that perfect connection.

The relationship may take time to develop. There may need to be many encounters before either party achieves their desired result. More than talking, people need to see you in action. How do you work? How do you respond to people when you are not “on”? In the end, if you have a message that resonates with others you will achieve your goal. Patience is the final part of networking.

Networking

Networking. what is it and how does it work?


We have “networking” groups these days and many people think that is what is meant by networking. When you are with or in these groups you are networking. As far as that goes they are correct. But it is not the only form of networking.

Actually every interaction you have with any other person, whether by word or deed, is networking. You never know how what you say or do will travel and affect someone. And you never know how far a word or action may travel.

We are social animals and, to a large extent, our survival is dependent on our interactions with one another. Some interactions are positive and some negative, but each interaction leaves behind an effect on everyone that action has touched. If we lash out negatively at someone, whether in pain, frustration, fear or anger, we can be pretty sure that will set up a chain of negative reactions to us individually and possibly to what caused us to lash out. But if we raise our vibration and look at the circumstances calmly, we may find a way to turn this internal reaction to something positive and not set up the negative chain.

Most of our interactions are neutral; neither negative nor positive. While negative experiences may stay with us for some time, positive experiences may stay with us for very short times unless they are reinforced with other, related positive experiences. Thus while a confrontation in the check-out line at the grocery store may stay with us for several hours, a pleasant interlude with the person next to us in the same line is likely to be forgotten before we get to our car.

The trick in networking is to make every encounter as positive and memorable as possible. A smile, a personal connection is a start. An exchange of business cards is reinforcement. If a need can be identified and met an additional connection is made. Enough of these interactions and a relationship is established. This may lead to a connection that helps you to build your business. This, too, is networking.

The conversations you have after making a speech are also networking activities.

Look closely at your business. Where are your ideal customers? Wherever they are is where you need to be. Will your networking activities work best in networking groups, making speeches or some other activity? Do not limit your perceptions of what constitutes networking. Just reach out and “touch” someone.

Help Wanted

Are you working too hard in your business? Are you spending too much time on the busy-ness of the business and not enough time on those activities that generate or lead to generating revenue? Are you spending so much time trying to run your business that your life has become unbalanced. You have no or very little personal life. All your efforts are geared toward your business.


If you own your own business you know that you are wearing most if not all the hats in the organization. You are probably working long hours, sitting before your computer late into the evening trying to get all the things done that you couldn’t get done during the day. You may be spending less and less time on those activities that generate your revenue because you just can’t get to them.

STOP!

Take a cold hard look at what you are doing. How much do you really need to do. How much of what you are doing needs to be done at all. Look at every task you do and evaluate whether it needs to be done at all. Look at all the remaining tasks and evaluate whether you really need to be doing them or could they be done by someone else. Look at your remaining tasks and evaluate them. Could they be done by someone else with just a little tweaking? After all this separation the only activities left should be those that only you can do.

Next, determine how much revenue you generate, on the average, when you are actually selling your products or services.

Now take your average revenue amount and subtract from that what it would cost you to pay an administrative assistant to do all the jobs that you just eliminated from your personal task inventory. The difference (assuming you can generate more revenue than you’d pay an assistant) is the revenue you lost by doing all those tasks yourself.

There are a lot of people who can take care of the small stuff for you. Let them. Spend your time generating revenue. Your revenues and profitability should all prosper from your decision to get some help. Bonus: You should have more time for yourself.

Questions, questions

Have you ever just sat some place with a lot of foot traffic and watched the people go by? Do you ever imagine what their lives are like; their joys and sorrows, what makes them tick? Do you ever imagine that their lives are not much different from yours but experienced differently. Are they more in tune with the Universe and their place in it? Are their insights more penetrating? Do they have insights or are they just coasting through life, never realizing that there are lessons to learn and work, soul work, that needs to be done? Do you ever wonder if at some point their lives will cross with yours and how that might happen? Do you ever wonder what that might be like?


For the most part we live our lives in an insular fashion, only letting a select few enter our circle, our space. We protect our space keeping at bay people who are “different”; people who think, act or live differently than we do. Differences intimidate us. Differences scare us. Differences make us aware that our way is not only not the only way but may not even be the “best” way. Those strangers who pass us every day reflect back the aloneness that we feel about ourselves. Or do you feel alone. Are you surrounded by people. Do these people mean any more to you than a reinforcement of how you have chosen to live; who you have chosen to be?

Do you ever wonder if you are living the life you came here to live? Does it ever cross your mind or do you just exist without thought or curiosity? Do you ever wonder if there is a purpose for you being here and now and if so what that purpose might be?

Do you ever allow yourself to sit, watching the world go by and just wonder, not directing your thoughts in any direction but letting them wander where they may. Where do you go? What do you find when you get there? Do your thoughts change your life?

When all the wondering and consideration of other people is done do you feel a restlessness inside? Do you feel like something is missing but can’t quite put a finger on it? Have you ever gotten real quiet, shutting out all of the random thoughts that constantly inhabit your mind and listened to the quiet? Have you ever let the quiet voice inside you speak when all the other voices are quiet? All the answers are there inside you. Do you listen? Do you have the courage to follow the course it asks you to set? Do you?