Does Your Service Suck?

This a fundamental part of your business, it could stop that all important repeat business or word of mouth business, and it does not take much to make a customer paying or not dislike your business. Companies underestimate the power of customer service...think about the last time you called your favorite bank and got a call center in a far off non english speaking country , (not all are bad) This article suggests a low cost method to see what your own company is like, or if you like I can have a look for you.

Does Your Service Suck? Do Business with Yourself and Find Out

By Michael Hess

How many of you put your own business through its paces, either as an actual customer or a spy? I’ll bet not many, and for those who do, probably not often enough. It may seem like obvious, old-school stuff, but there’s no better way to see how you really look to the world — and to test the quality of your service and your people — than to “do business with yourself.” If you never look in from the outside, it’s like being in a room with no mirrors: Your fly might be down, and everyone knows it but you.

There are many ways to test your own company. I urge you to do at least a few of the things below at least a few times a year. For these self-examinations to be effective, it is critical that you approach them without defensiveness, pride, ego, or company-think. Just be Joe Outsider, be honest with yourself (the odds provided below are based on brutal honesty), and be prepared to say, “Boy, we really stink at that.”

• Give yourself a call: Most automated customer service systems drive customers crazy. Typically the level of insanity is directly proportionate to company size, but even small companies have been known to serve up some telephonic hell. So ring yourself up and try to accomplish a few phone service goals. And above all, test how easy or difficult it is to get to a real person quickly.
  Odds you’ll be OK with it, 59.5%. Odds you’ll be thrilled, 19.4%
• Pay yourself a visit: If your business involves walk-ins, well, walk in. Of course, in a small business where everyone knows everyone, this is a silly idea… unless you are really good with disguises. But if your company is larger or has multiple locations, and you can get away with it, do the age-old “secret shopper” test (or have a trusted friend or relative do it). See what it’s like to be a visitor on your planet.
  Odds you’ll be OK with it, 71.7%. Odds you’ll be thrilled, 30.9%
• Surf your site: If you have a website and you don’t use it yourself, you are missing (or avoiding) one of the simplest and most important self-tests for any business. You must make the time, on an ongoing basis, to surf and test every nook, cranny, function, and feature of your site. I guarantee you will find things that need fixing.
  Odds you’ll be OK with it, 79.1%. Odds you’ll be thrilled, 20.8%
• Buy yourself something: Whether by phone, online, in person, or even by mail (yes, there are people who still do that), complete a transaction with your company. Browse, get assistance, buy, and even return/exchange. Again, if you might be recognized, use a trusted shill. But one way or another, you absolutely must test the customer experience from start to finish.
  Odds you’ll be OK with it, 72.1%. Odds you’ll be thrilled, 26.9%
• Sell yourself something: This is for advanced players. Most companies give “cold-callers” the runaround, and many treat them like dirt. Sometimes it’s hard not to, when for every reasonable call there are many more unwelcome and often annoying solicitations. But people who sell you things are part of your business. And if your goal is to run a business with class, this is a challenging but necessary element of it… perhaps the ultimate test. Can you accommodate legit inquiries, while dispensing with pests efficiently yet as politely as possible?
  Odds you’ll be OK with it, 38.8%. Odds you’ll be thrilled, 9.6%

There are other tests as well: See what people are saying in online forums and social media, read your literature and your press, talk to customers, employees and suppliers. Create a detailed checklist of the things you want to test (phone courtesy, hold time, ease of online checkout, delivery, etc.) and grade yourself honestly.

One of my favorites: The “google suck-test.” Go to a search engine and enter “[your company name] sucks.” Hopefully nothing will pop up about your business. Plug in just about any major company or brand name and you’re almost guaranteed to see plenty. Take it as a cautionary tale. I do it from time to time and am proud to say Skooba Design has gone its entire ten years without sucking. It’s the only time I don’t want search engine hits.

One way or another, find a way to see your company from as many outside perspectives as possible.

Do you test your own business? If not, stop reading this and start doing business with yourself. But if you do kick your own tires, I’d love to hear how you do it and what you’ve learned.

from BNET

Career Coaching on a budget

I came over this post on Career Coaching and it resonated with me, I have mixed feelings about using a Career Coach, no doubt they know there stuff, and can tell you how to dress, how to speak, how to mingle, how to think, but then I think at the end off all that coaching, who are you really, it is not you. I would rather take time out and evaluate, do a SWOT analysis on yourself if you need a structure, but understand what are your core values, and your strengths, play to them and look at how to combat your weaknesses, that's what Sir Richard Branson did, he built a team around himself, guys and girls who were best in class at what they did, and he led them, that's what a good entrepreneur should look to do, understand yourself, and then build the team, or tool box that strengths the weak part of your game, and "γνῶθι σεαυτόνgnōthi seauton" OR "KNOW THYSELF"

Your Best Career Coach: The Future You

The best coaching you’ll ever get will not come from another person. It will come from inside you.Take a deep breath. Take a deeper breath. Imagine that you’re 100 years old and you’re getting ready to die. Before you take that last breath, you’re given a wonderful gift: the opportunity to go back in time and talk with the person who is reading this blog post today, to help this younger version of yourself have a better life — both personally and professionally.

What advice would the wise 100-year-old you — who finally knows what really mattered in life — have for the you that is reading this blog post? As you think of the older you, whatever advice comes to mind, just do that.

In terms of performance appraisals, this is the only one that will matter. At the end of the day, the only person that you will need to impress is that old person that will one day look back at you from the mirror. If that old person thinks that you did the right thing, you did. If that old person thinks that you made a mistake, you did. You don’t have to impress anyone else.

Some good friends of mine had the opportunity to ask old people who were facing death what advice they would have for their younger selves. Three themes emerged:

1. Be happy now. Don’t wait for next week, next month or next year. A common regret of old people was, “I got so focused on trying to get what I did not have, I failed to appreciate all that I did have. I had almost everything. I wish that I would’ve taken the time to appreciate it.”

I ‘ve asked thousand of parents around the world to complete this sentence, “When my children grow up, I want them to be…” One world is mentioned more than all of the other words combined — no matter what country I am in. What is that word? Happy.

Do you want your children to be happy? Do you want your parents to be happy? Do you want the people that love you to be happy? Do you want the people who respect you at work to be happy? Then, you go first. They want you to be happy, too.

2. Build relationships and help people, especially friends and family. When you’re 100 years old and you look around your death bed, no fellow employees will be waving good-bye. You’ll finally realize that your friends and family are the only ones that care. They are the ones that matter.

Of course, building relationships and helping people are also keys to ultimate satisfaction with your professional career. I have asked many retired CEOs an important question about their professional lives, “What were you most proud of?” So far, none have talked about have large their offices were. All they talked about were the people they helped.

The main reason to help people has nothing to do with money, status or promotion. The main reason is simple: the 100-year-old you will be proud of you if you did — and disappointed in you if you didn’t.

3. If you have a dream, go for it.

If you don’t try to achieve your dreams when you are 25, you probably won’t when you are 45, 65 or 85. None of us will achieve all of our dreams. The key question is not, “Did I achieve all of my dreams?” The key question is, “Did I at least try?” Old people almost never regretted the risks they took that failed. They almost always regretted the risks that they failed to take.

No one else can tell you how to find happiness, who to love or where to find meaning. Only you can answer these questions. The best coachingthat you will ever receive will not come from any other person, it will come from inside you. So, what advice would the “old you” have for the you that just read this post? If you don’t mind sharing your thoughts with other readers, I’d love to hear them.

By Marshall Goldsmith
Bnet