8 Tips to Attitude Control in Tough Service Situations

Here are 8 tips you can use to help you and your team control stress and worry in tough situations:

1. Live in a compartment of the present. The professional with a commitment to service seals off each interaction with a customer so that negative experiences don't poison future interactions. Don't allow past successes or failures or future anticipated success or difficulties influence your current performance. When it comes to customer service, live in the moment.

2. Don't fuss about trifles. A "trifle" is something that is insignificant in comparison to other things in your life. When you focus on trifles, you lose perspective. Keep the big picture in mind. Doing so will help you objectively sort out the small stuff from the important issues.

3. Cooperate with the inevitable. Realize when your situation is inevitable. If you can learn to recognize situations where you have no control, you can gain some control over the emotional aspects of the situation. By cooperating with the outcome, you are making a conscious choice about how to respond to an inevitable situation.

4. Decide just how much anxiety a situation is worth and refuse to give it any more of your energy. Once you make it this decision, it is easier to find ways you can improve on the situation or let it go and move on.

5. Create happiness for others. This principle appeals to your nobler motives. It is difficult to sustain a negative attitude when you are doing something good or helpful for someone else. Simply put: Doing good for others makes you feel better.

6. Expect ingratitude. In your job, you provide many diverse services. When you do so, you probably expect in return some signal of gratitude for your assistance. This expectation is rarely met. If you do receive heartfelt thanks from someone, you should count yourself lucky you are dealing with a grateful person. Most people are simply not accustomed to being grateful, even when you provide them with excellent service. You shouldn't let ingratitude deter you from providing top-quality service.

7. Put enthusiasm into your work. Enthusiasm is the positive energy and sustained effort that keeps you driving toward your goals. Making a decision to have a positive outlook can be critical in enjoying your job and working with your internal and external customers.

8. Do the very best you can. It can be difficult to deal with criticism, especially if you feel it is undeserved or if it hurts your self-esteem. One way to put criticism in perspective is to ask yourself if you are doing the very best you can with what you know and are able to do. If you are, then you can avoid taking the criticism personally. If there is room for improvement in your performance, you can look at the criticism objectively and take responsibility for improving your performance.

Seven Types of Listeners and Tips to Better Listening Skills

Exceptional listening skills and the ability to persuade others to your way of thinking make the difference between good and great teams.  Pure listening builds trust, credibility and respect.  One reason is because when you fully listen, instead of trying to compose your response, the result is a relevant and on-target response.  What you say is proof of how well you listen.

The “Preoccupieds”

These people come across as rushed and are constantly looking around or doing something else.  Also know as multi-taskers, these people cannot sit still and listen.

Tips

If you are a “Preoccupied” listener, make a point to set aside what you are doing when someone is speaking to you.

If you are speaking to a “Preoccupied” listener, you might ask, “Is this a good time?” or say, “I nned your undivided attention for just a moment.”  Begin with a statement that will get their attention, be brief, and get to the bottom line quickly because their attention span is short.

The “Out-to-Lunchers”

These people are physically there for you, but mentally they are not.  You can tell this by the blank look on their faces.  They are either daydreaming or thinking about everything and anything else but what you are saying.

Tips

If you are an “Out-to-Luncher”, act like a good listener.  Be alert, maintain eye contact, lean forward, and show interest by asking questions.

If you are speaking to an “Out-to-Luncher”, check in with them every now and again and ask if they understood what you were saying.  As with the “Preoccupieds,” begin with a statement that will catch their attention, and be concise and to the point because their attention span is short.

The “Interrupters”

These people are ready to chime in at any given time.  They are perched and ready for a break to complete your sentence for you.  They are not listening to you but focused instead on what they want to say.

Tips

If you are a “Interrupter”, make a point to apologize every time you catch yourself interrupting.  This will make you more conscious of it.

If you are speaking to an “Interrupter”, when they chime in, stop immediately and let them talk, or they will never listen to you.  When they are done, you might say, “As I was saying before…” to bring their interruption to their attention.

The “Whatevers”

These people remain aloof and show little emotion when listening.  They give off the impression that they could not care less what you are talking about.

Tips

If you are a “Whatever”, concentrate on the full message, not just the verbal message.  Make a point to listen with your eyes, ears, and heart.

If you are speaking to a “Whatever”, dramatize your ideas and ask questions of the person to get his or her involvement.

The “Combatives”

These people are armed and ready for war.  They enjoy disagreeing and blaming others.

Tips

If you are a “Combative”, make an effort to put yourself in the speaker’s shoes and understand, accept, and find merit in his or her point of view.

If you are speaking to a “Combative”, when he or she disagrees or points the blame, look forward instead of back.  Talk about how you might agree to disagree, or what can be done differently next time.

The “Analysts”

These people are constantly in the role of counselor or therapist and they are ready to provide you with answers even when you have not asked.  They think they are great listeners and love to help.  They are constantly in an analyze-what-you-are-saying-and-fix-it mode.

Tips

If you are an “Analyst”, relax and understand that not everyone is looking for an answer, solution, or advice.  Some people just like bouncing ideas off other to help them see the answers more clearly themselves.

If you are speaking to an “Analyst”, you might begin by saying “I just need to run something by you.  I’m not looking for any advice.”

The “Engagers”

These are the consciously aware listeners.  They listen with their eyes, ears, and hearts, and try to put themselves in the speaker’s shoes.  This is listening at the highest level.  Their listening skills encourage you to continue talking and give you the opportunity to discover your own solutions and let your ideas unfold.

Tips

If you are an “Engager” keep it up.  People truly appreciate this about you. 

If you are speaking to an “Engager” take the time to acknowledge their attentiveness.  Thank them for their interest in you and your topic

Dale Carnegie - Principle 7 Be a good listener. Encourage other to talk about themselves.

Managing a Successful External Partnership

In today’s business environment, most organizations rely heavily on the expertise of external business partners.  A typical business has multiple external partnerships operating simultaneously, such as:  IT Consultants, Accounting Firms, Training Organizations, Vendors, Suppliers, Customers, etc.  Managing external partnerships successfully requires commitment at all levels of the organization to plan carefully, communicate openly, follow through, and provide a profitable outcome for each partner.

Like any relationship, successful external partnerships evolve over a period of time into higher levels of trust and accomplishment.  Part of managing external partnerships involves successfully guiding the relationship to the next level.  There are five dynamics to achieving a successful partnership.

Formation

Ideally, external partnerships are formed through comprehensive needs analysis and a selection process that balances emotional and logical factors.  In the formation process, you assess the required experience and knowledge of the external partner, and the perceived chemistry that exists between your values and theirs.  In this initial stage, everyone in the partnership gets to know each other and learns how to work together as a team.

Planning

Nothing ensures the success of an external partnership more than careful, thorough planning.  This is a collective process with your external partners to bring everyone’s expertise into the design of the team effort.  In this step of partnership development, the goal is that all members grow in terms of their respect and understanding of each other, and in mutual understanding of the desired outcomes.

Cohesion

As the teams move beyond the initial stages into performing as a partnership, everyone’s vision becomes more unified.  Relationships smooth out as you learn how to approach and engage one another.  A sense of accomplishment begins to set in as you see the partnership effort unfolding as planned.

Achievement

As the partnership accumulates successes, people see that the synergy of their talents and effort is working.  They begin to take pride in their joint accomplishments and have a greater sense of the importance of their endeavor.  People engage each other with an attitude of confidence and mutual trust.

Actualization

In this stage, the partners are operating at an ongoing high level of cooperation and mutual understanding.  The partnership is functioning at its greatest level of efficiency and collaboration.  The likelihood that this external partnership will endure is very high.

Dale Carnege Program Schedule 7-12-11

Dale Carnege Program Schedule 7-12-11

Warren Buffett on Communicating

If Dale Carnegie were alive today, what would he say about Social Media? The same thing

By Corey Perlman, eBootcamp

Here are 9 Dale Carnegie Human Relations Principles that are just as relevant today as ever before.

1. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.

Engagement is the key to success with social media. A Facebook page that is just a platform for a business to talk about themselves will not draw the attention of people. In the world of the Internet, you listen by asking questions. When you ask questions, you tend to garner more engagement because people love to be heard. And when people comment, your page spreads.

2. Talk in terms of the other personʼs interests.

A question Iʼm often asked is “What should I post to my social media profiles?” My answer is always the same. Whatever your audience thinks is valuable. Value can be in the form of an intriguing article, a thought-provoking question, an inspiring quote, a humorous video, or something else. The more interested they are, the more likely they are to engage in the conversation.

3. Smile.

How do you smile on the computer? :)? No, itʼs not that easy. What Mr. Carnegie meant is that a smile helps warm people up to you. And when writing content on the Internet, a smile takes the form of a positive attitude. In the world of social media, this can come in the form of a LinkedIn endorsement, a Like on Facebook or a Re-Tweet (restate something someone else says) on Twitter. 

4. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Most people know that if you aggressively sell your products or services on your social media profiles, people will run for the exits as if there was a 3-alarm fire. So donʼt do it. Instead, find ways to creatively get people to “want” to learn more about your products or services. An example of this would be a free preview of a Dale Carnegie Course or a low-priced workshop that is easy for a new prospect to say yes to. By keeping the risk low, youʼve successfully aroused an eager want and found a creative way to get me to

the next step in the sales process.

5. Remember that a personʼs name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

If youʼve used Twitter, youʼve most likely seen the letters “RT” in many different tweets (Twitter posts). This stands for “re-tweet” and means that you are restating what someone else originally said. The proper way to do this is to add the personʼs Twitter handle (or name) to that message. This is to give them the recognition for originally writing what you considered to be a valuable tweet. When you do this, it makes that person feel important and they, in turn, are likely to return the favor and re-tweet one of your future messages. When they do this, your twitter handle is hyperlinked and so anyone who reads their tweet can easily click on your name and connect with you. So would Mr. Carnegie have been successful on Twitter? Well, he would have used a personʼs name in every tweet he posted and, therefore, would have had thousands of people very happy with him and ready to return the favor. And thatʼs a very successful Twitter strategy.

6. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.

This pertains to negative reviews on the Internet. Now that people can vent their frustration behind a computer screen, these nasty-grams seem to be more frequent and a lot more damaging. So when confronted with criticism on the web, the best thing to do is avoid, or ignore, if at all possible. By defending yourself, all you will do is fuel the fire and, unfortunately, give more recognition to the critic as well as the content they have written. Do your best to rectify the situation or the next best thing is to simply ignore the negative and work on getting your champion customers to come to your defense by writing a positive review.

7. Throw down a challenge

Having a blog that nobody reads is no fun. Having a Facebook page for your business with no connections is both lonely and downright depressing. So we need to be proactive in getting people to connect with our social media profiles. Mr. Carnegie was right again as the best way to get people excited about connecting with you is to throw down a challenge. An example of this is a recent contest we have done with local Dale Carnegie Franchises. Each Franchise donated $100 and the first Franchise to 1000 Facebook connections got to donate the total amount collected to a local charity. The Franchises were able to promote this contest to their customers and class members

and everyone was anxious to help out as it was for a very good, local cause. The result of this challenge was every Franchise who participated saw an increase in support to their Facebook page.

8. Give honest, sincere appreciation

Linkedin is a powerful networking tool geared more towards businesses and

professionals than itʼs counterpart, Facebook. Studies show that roughly 80% of companies check Linkedin before hiring an employee and many of those same companies also review other businesses before purchasing a product or service. A nice feature that Linkedin offers is the ability to post recommendations from other people on your profile. This allows others to sell you instead of having to sell yourself which can appear more like bragging. One way to increase the number of recommendations you have is to go out and give recommendations to others. When you do this, the person receiving the recommendation is asked by Linkedin to approve or reject your recommendation and, more importantly, if they would like to return the favor by giving you a recommendation as well. By following Mr. Carnegieʼs advice, you can give others sincere appreciation for something theyʼve done for you while also building your recommendations at the same time. A win-win! 

9. Become genuinely interested in other people.

Few times in my life have I been truly speechless, but what else is there to say? If you follow only one of these principles when using social media, just follow this one. Truly become interested in those you are connected with on the web, and positive things will begin to happen for you and your business.

So would Mr. Carnegie be successful in social media? You bet he would. My guess is heʼd have literally hundreds of thousands of friends, fans, or followers, but theyʼd all truly feel that they had a friend in Mr. Carnegie. Heʼd probably tell them to just call him Dale. :)

Leave a Lasting Impression

Making a good impression the first time you meet someone is very important because it is what people remember the most. Your employer and employees will appreciate if you are pleasant and warm the first time meeting you, but it should not stop there. It is crucial that they continue to have a positive impression, trust and respect you. The following steps should get you started on leaving a wonderful and lasting impression.

1. Smile - Always have a smile on your face when you first meet someone. It makes you look friendly and confident. People like someone that smiles, because they seem approachable and easy to talk to. This makes others feel at ease as well, especially your coworkers.

2. Be a good listener - By listening attentively to others, you open the doors to trusting you. People love talking about themselves so ask them questions and listen. When devoting your attention to others instead of talking about yourself, it shows that you are truly interested. This will make you stand out because everyone appreciates a good listener.

3. Look them in the eye - To show others you are easily approachable and feel comfortable, shake their hand firmly, look them directly in the eye and smile. This never fails! It creates a connection between the two parties meeting. Everyone loves someone that looks confident and friendly.

4. Remember names -  People love the sound of their own name, therefore, it is important to remember names. It is not always easy to remember someone’s name, especially if you are meeting a group of people at once, but try to remember. It shows that you are paying attention and interested in what they are saying.  A good way to do practice is to repeat the name out loud after meeting someone. Try to mention the name several times in the conversation so it remains in your mind. Another way to remember someone’s name is to find a connection or characteristic between the name and the person.

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Effective First Impressions

Each customer is different, but certain basic principles apply to nearly all customers, and you can safely assume that most customers are looking for the same things in their interactions with you.

To be treated with courtesy:
Even rude people dislike being treated rudely. Common courtesies go a long way towards expressing respect to your customers. Good manners, like saying "please" and "thank you," listening attentively, and expressing understanding, are courtesies that nearly everyone appreciates.

To be heard:
Every customer has a unique situation, issue, and desired resolution. Even though a customer's circumstances may seem identical to the circumstances of many other customers, each customer typically still wants to talk through their issues, and your role is to listen.

To get what they want quickly:
Customers are on the move today, and you are just one stop on their list of errands. While there are exceptions to this preference, you can assume that the faster you address the customer's issues, the happier they will be.

To be satisfied with their transaction:
Every customer wants a satisfactory end result and a hassle-free encounter with a customer service professional. Your primary goal in serving the customer is to leave them feeling positive about your organization.

To deal with someone who is knowledgeable:
Customers come to you for your expertise, advice, and experience, as well as for the products and services that you provide. They expect you to be able to answer their questions or know where to find answers.

To deal with a decision maker:
A customer's life is easier if one person can provide answers and make decisions about the resolution of the problem. Customers don't want to have to repeat their requests over and over as they are referred to other people for decisions.

To be appreciated:
Customers have a wide range of options. You should never take for granted their willingness to do business with your organization. It takes little time to express your appreciation for their business, and it sends a positive, reinforcing message to the customer.