Word Of the Week #532: Recognition
October 16, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word Of the Week #532: Recognition
Recognition – acceptance of an individual as being entitled to consideration or attention.
How many times have you entered a business and not been acknowledged? How does it feel to be ignored? How long is “too long” to make a guest, member, customer or client wait to be served?
I was in Florida last week for the Club Managers Association and thought this would be a good time to revisit my 7 Simple Steps of Service. And #1 is recognition. If you want to be memorable and develop long lasting relationships, you need to recognize and pay attention to all of the people you come in contact with.
First, I suggest you determine how many seconds it should take to recognize your customers, guests, members and clients. When I worked for Houlihan’s back in the 70’s, it was stressed in all of our training the we were to recognize our guests within one minute. Today I would say that is too long! So what is a realistic expectation to strive for? 30 seconds?
Restaurant in Cancun
And secondly, you need to talk about it with your staff so they understand the importance of recognition. The first person your guests, customers, members or clients come in contact with will set the tone of their experience. I believe the quicker we are to recognize people the more positive that experience will be.
I titled my book, “The FUN-Damental Secrets of Service: How to have fun and make your customers feel good about spending their money” because I believe that if you make people feel good about doing business with you they will come back, spend more money, and tell everyone else about you. Positive word of mouth is essential for success in any business. And I am sure you have heard that people will tell more people about a bad experience than a good one!
This week’s focus is on recognition. How much attention are you giving the people that you come in contact with? How many seconds is too long to wait to be served? How does it make you feel when you are recognized immediately?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
Word Of the Week #531: Interact
October 8, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word Of the Week #531: Interact
Interact – to act on or in close relation with each other.
How much time do you spend on your computer or cell phone each day? How comfortable are you interacting with your co-workers? How much time do you spend with your friends and family?
This week’s WOW comes from Sefan Stern’s article in the Times of London that was reprinted in the LA Times Sunday Business section titled, “To truly interact at work, try it offline. ‘The Village Effect’ says group creativity arises from resisting digital solitude.”
“The benefits of the digital age have been oversold. Or to put in another way: There is plenty of life left in face-to-face, human interaction. That is the message emerging from an entertaining new book, “The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make us Healthier, Happier and Smarter,” written by Susan Pinker, a Canadian psychologist.
Citing a wealth of research and reinforced with her own arguments, Pinker suggests we should make an effort – at work and in our private lives – to promote greater levels of personal intimacy. Pinker writes, “In a short evolutionary time we have changed from group-living primates skilled at reading each other’s every gesture and intention, to a solitary species, each one of us preoccupied with our own screen.”
Pinker says creating our own “villages” of friends and colleagues is good for our health and working life. But these should be real-life connections, not merely virtual ones. The Internet presents a paradox: Some say we’re more connected now than ever – mostly due to the Internet – and some sat we’re less connected – mostly due to the Internet. Both views are correct.
In offices everywhere, proximity matters. Ideas flow better when people can see each other and talk easily. Pinker says, “Face-to-face contact with a skilled teacher for even one year in a child’s life has more impact than any laptop program has had so far.”
Reciprocal altruism is a winning strategy in life and in business. Pinker reminds us of a great insight from former baseball player and manager Yogi Berra: “Always go to other people’s funerals. Otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”
This week’s focus is on how much you interact at home and work. How much face-to-face time do you spend with people each day? How attached are you to your computer and phone screens? Do you have a hard time turning them off? How many “villages” of friends and colleagues do you have?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.
Word Of the Week #530: Relationship
October 2, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word Of the Week #530: Relationship
Relationship – a state of connectedness between people (especially an emotional connection).
How well do you handle relationships at work? How good are you at reading your co-workers or staffs reactions or feelings? Would you say you are good at dealing with disputes?
This is the follow up to last week’s WOW and the final one from Daniel Goleman’s book on Emotional Intelligence. The 5th key quality needed is social or interpersonal intelligence. It is the ability to handle relationships, which in large part is, the ability to manage the emotions of others.
He writes, “Social intelligence allows us to connect with people quite smoothly, be astute about reading their reactions and feelings, lead and organize, and handle the disputes that are bound to flare up in any human activity.
The Four Components are:
- Organizing Groups – the essential skill of the leader, this involves initiating and coordination the efforts of a network of people. This is the talent seen in theater directors or producers, in military officers, and in effective heads organizations and units of all kinds.
- Negotiating Solutions – the talent of the mediator, preventing conflicts or resolving those that flare up. People who have this ability excel in deal making, arbitrating or mediating disputes; they might have a career in diplomacy, in law, or as middlemen or mangers of takeovers.
- Personal Connection – the art of relationship, easy to enter into an encounter or to recognize and respond fittingly to people’s feelings and concerns. Such people make good “team players,” dependable spouses, good friends or business partners; in the business world they do well as salespeople or managers, or can be excellent teachers.
- Social Analysis – being able to detect and have insights about people’s feelings, motives, and concerns. This knowledge of how others feel can lead to an easy intimacy or sense of rapport.
These people are the natural leaders and are the kind of people others like to be with because they are emotionally nourishing – they leave other people in a good mood, and evoke the comment, “What a pleasure to be around someone like that.”
This week’s focus is on your relationships. Would you say you are a good team player? Are you a natural leader? How good are you at negotiating solutions? Do you easily connect with people you meet? Are you a pleasure to be around?
I LOVE feedback! Join my Facebook community on my FUN-damentals Fan Page.