To engage or not to engage - that is the question.

Ever heard of happy people = happy clients = happy dollars. For those of you who have heard me speak before would have.

But oh how easy it is not to have happy people and the smallest of things will start to disengage them.

It's coming up to that time of the year, reviews are due, salaries are up for discussion, KPIs are reset and promotions are being considered. However truth be known everyone wants to feel important, told they are doing a great job and yes get a bonus or pay rise

If you manage a team consider the following:
1. Have you had regular one on one meetings with them
2. Are you using standard forms
3. Have you booked in a time to catch up to discuss the above before end of June
4. Have you got team member to do self assessment
5. Do they understand your biz plan and how they fit into it
6. Do you need to reassess their kpis

If you haven't you must do so. If you need help I can provide you with easy simple tools to start you off.

Your people give to your biz every day, the least you can do is give back to them. Do not make the mistake of cancelling a performance meeting because you are busy and have too much on your plate but keep a personal appointment like lunch or hair cut or worse drinks at the pub!

If you are an employee and your manager has not made the time to give you feedback in the role, drop me a line, more than happy to help you provide them with feedback.

Remember engagement is the key, this is the responsibility of managers, directors, CEOs...happy people = happy clients = happy dollars.

More on this hearty topic in the next few weeks

When service becomes over zealous

Delivering that blow away client experience is what most businesses strive to do. We create processes that support this goal, train our teams on the concept, we create documents within departments that guarantee clients their money back if they feel we have got it wrong, train our teams on service delivery etc etc etc

However there are times when i feel that the whole concept of customer service has been done to death and in many ways become an unemotional process itself.

Let me give you an example of this:

I recently bought an investment property off the plan in Melbourne. I told the real estate agent that I was happy for them to organise the solicitors etc

I pay the deposit and a few days later I get a call from the solicitors looking after the exchange and they are sending me paper work to sign off on... Tick the box on customer service

Two days later I get a call from NAB bank saying they would like to talk to me about my loan to purchase the property. Firstly I had not given permission for my details to be provided to anyone re a loan and  secondly as I am not settling for two years I didn't really need a loan right now..... Scratch my head and go interesting 

A week later I start getting calls from connect now about contacting them urgently re a connection matter. I ignore it at first thinking they have made a mistake, the calls turn into text message 2-3times a day at which point I call them to be told the solicitors have given them my details re utility connections on a property I am yet to settle on that mind you has not even been constructed as yet....this time I go Customer service gone mad!!!

Here is what has happened, the solicitors have designed a process that they believe is what their clients need but have probably forgotten some basics:
They didn't really ask their clients what they want
They did not take into account every scenario and then build process
They did not actually walk through each process from their clients prospective as an audit to experience the service they are trying to deliver

Customer service is about the delivery of excellence to the clients standards not the biz.
It's about going above and beyond and the blow away experience.

But first you must undersstand your customer, what are their needs right now, then you fit your process and the service delivery around it.

And one size does not fit all. We( customers) are all different and we have different needs. Your challenge is to find out what it is and then deliver the "blow away experience" whether you are a biz or individual agent.

An interesting sat morning

After a sleepless night with my brain refusing to switch off I find my self in Roselle in a healthy organic shop drinking thick green sludgy juice that actually tastes ok and watching people shop and eat. 
I have to confess that I did buy food.... Yes of the organic type about twelve items in total and when I got to the check out counter the total was 60 bucks!! I nearly choked. 
What is it about organic food that we are willing to pay triple the amount? 
I grew up in fiji and was lucky to have fresh market food every day. It was better than any organic produce I saw this morning and cheaper. 
My friend was getting a shopping lesson on what to buy that is healthy however a number of people were buying simply because they assumed it was healthy. 
I wonder how balanced the rest of their lives are?
Do they cook the food in a heathy way?
Exercise at least 4 times a week?
Have a balance of work life and play
Don't overdo alcohol?
Catch up with family and friends?
Read, go to the movies, have a massage, facial etc
Have a happy healthy loving relationship?
Have work goals that they are on track with and held accountable to?
Know what key things they want to achieve every week biz and personal to have had a great week?
Where are you with this?
 I wonder where the people are who I am watching are with all if this? 
For me it is always a work in progress.... No ones perfect though.