Heart Based Service Expo

I just finished doing my seminar on the Heart Based Service Expo. What fun - my heart felt thanks to Lori and Raleigh for inviting me to take part in this extraordinary event.
If you missed it and you want to listen in do this:
Download your handout at www.PositivityPractices.com and then go to
http://www.heart-based-service.com/expo/Brandi http://bit.ly/23U3mL to find my seminar (in the next 48 hours) and to sign up for the others! 20 Experts 5 days - spectacular info, great fun!

All the best, JoAnna

What the Mind Believes

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

Last week I had the honor to chair the North American Conference on Customer Management’s Customer First conference in Anaheim, CA at Disneyland. What a treat. (You can read more about it in this week’s tip)

One of the several speakers I had the honor to introduce was Robert Stephens, the founder of the Geek Squad.

http://customers1st.blogspot.com/search?q=robert+stephens

http://www.geeksquad.com/

I was so happy to have a chance to spend a few quiet moments with Stephen in the ballroom before the sessions began. I’ve been talking about Robert for years in my speeches and retelling a story I heard a famous speaker tell years ago. I wanted to hear Robert tell the story and add a few details.

I was shocked (not to mention embarrassed) to find out that I have been “lying” about the origins of the Geek Squad for years. Robert was gracious about it and shared a few moments with me before it was time to introduce him. I was thrilled to talk to him personally, so I didn’t read the printed introduction that was given to me in my chairperson pack.

Up I go to the stage with my printed introduction in hand. He’s an impressive guy and so I decided to read some of his interesting credentials before adding in my personal thoughts. Right there on the paper it said, “In 2002, The Geek Squad acquired Best Buy and opened Geek Squad precincts in all Best Buy US and Canadian stores.”

I saw it on the page, but before opening my mouth, my mind decided this could not be so and so I said, “Best Buy acquired the Geek Squad” instead, figuring it must be wrong. Nope, it was right and I was wrong.

Later in the day, after I had made a personal apology to Robert, I apologized to the entire audience, explaining what I thought happened.

Because it seemed so impossible to me that a midsize service company could possibly buy a “big box” store, I assumed that what I saw on the page was incorrect. Talk about the old adage - when we assume it makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me”. I’m still embarrased.

Because I wondered if this was happening to others as well as me, I asked the audience how many of them thought that Best Buy had bought the Geek Squad rather than the other way around - half the audience did.

It’s a great example of seeing what we want to see. When our belief system is strong it simply won’t let in information to the contrary.

I am truly humbled by the experience.

Robert taught us that what we need to create today is an “Authentic Experience” and I’ll tell you - my embarrassment was an authentic as it gets. Yikes.

Robert, I learned so many valuable lessons from you last week - the most important of which were those I learned about myself.

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi was a keynote speaker and conference chair at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!

NACCM 2008: We Are All Storytellers

Becky and Greg have been good enough to provide their own perspectives on our keynotes yesterday. I also was on hand for our great presentations. The morning began with an opening address from our chairperson, JoAnna Brandi. I've had the chance to work every day during this conference with JoAnna. She has reminded so many here of the importance of looking past customer satisfaction and to remember that even for ourselves, satisfactory marks are not enough. We are all seeking the exemplary. She reinforced what Kevin discussed the night before that we are all seeking the magical, that moment that makes us go WOW!



Keith Ferrazzi, author of "Never Eat Alone," followed and he focused on the importance of relationships in order to help us achieve our goals in our career. Keith had been good enough to host a web seminar with us over the summer to share some of these ideas. Here is just a small portion of that discussion:



Keith was followed by Joe Torre. I had the chance to meet Joe before his presentation. He is a very warm, welcoming, and friendly individual. During his discussion, he answered many questions from the audience. He was quite frank, not only about the actual details of his remarkable career, but he also reminded everyone that in the end, no matter the figures, or the expectations, it all comes down to people and their own personal responses. Everyone in attendance appreciated not only his insights in baseball but also his management experience, handling difficult bosses, temperamental staff, and the expectations of customers. His ability to manage all of these elements clearly has led to his success on and off the field.

Joe was followed by Peter Guber, Chairman & Founder of Mandalay Entertainment. I've had the opportunity to hear Peter speak before. He discusses the importance of storytelling to achieve those goals we have. Great storytellers are able to engage their listeners and create an emotional connection. Storytelling is such a fundamental aspect of our emotional makeup, we all can be storytellers, but its understanding the power of storytelling that will help us to become great storytellers. Here is a small portion of that presentation:



As we come into our final day of the conference, we have several corporate practitioners who will be sharing their own experiences in dealing with the daily challenges so many face in customer-facing organizations. I won 't have the opportunity to post immediately after but in the coming days and weeks I will certainly add more material from the event. If you haven't been by the site, be sure and check all of the great material we have been posting including photos from the conference.

Finally, I want to send a 'shout-out' to my colleagues. The team who produces and puts together this great event, works very hard to create an experience attendees will not forget. Even for those of you not here can see how much effort and work goes into creating this remarkable conference. You can be sure they appreciate your feedback in order to ensure you have the best possible time here.

NACCM 2008: Another Day

By Becky Carroll, Customers Rock!

At the NACCM Customers 1st Conference today, we had the opportunity to listen to some fabulous keynotes as well as start to dig-in to the sessions. Along the way, we may have even gotten a little Goofy! Lots of nuggets, video, and photos, including Keith Ferrazzi, Joe Torre, and Peter Guber. Keep reading!

Inspiring Employees
The theme across all of the keynotes today was one of community, relationship building, and emotions. (Customers Rock! note - many of these themes work very well with the social media tools that are available to connect with customers, and with each other.)

JoAnna Brandi kicked off the day with an energetic discussion of being leaders that inspire customers to be more engaged at work, which, in turn, leads to better customer engagement. As leaders, we need to use more positive emotion; this will affect our employees and our customers. Keep your employees out of the fear we are seeing, and start focusing on the positive. What is right? What is possible? What is the next solution we can find?

She also challenged attendees to stop focusing exclusively on customer satisfaction, as customers don’t want things that are just “satisfactory”. They want something better than that! While important, satisfaction is not the end game. The pot of gold at the other side of the rainbow is joy, happiness, Wow, and Magic. We have to start creating emotional relationships with our customers. This is done by showing up at work with emotion, not checking it at the door! It is the leader's job to make sure everyone around them uses Magic – Make a Great Impression on the Customer.

Never Eat Alone

The first keynote was Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone.He turned this into a working session to give people a personal relationship action plan for the upcoming year. Who do you need to work with to get you where you want to go? People are critical to your success, and relationships are the core. We discussed which words describe business relationships: Trust, human, feedback, fun, candor, collaborative. Which words add for most personal relationships? Laughter, love, listening, intimacy, reliable, trust, passion.

The shift – a business relationship is a personal relationship in a business environment. Make it purposeful; strategically guide your relationships. It is not about waiting for someone else to start the relationship; it is about you being proactive with others.

If you have strong personal relationships, you will be more easily forgiven when you mess it up!

Video of Keith: you can't get there alone.

Keith had the group go through a series of exercises to help crystallize thinking around this. Our job in this world is to create an environment around ourselves that invites people in to have a better relationship with us. It is all about what we do – it is our responsibility. Lower our guard, invite people in. As we talk to people, we ought to be having the following internal conversation:

- Is there something I can care about with this person? A way to connect and remember?
- Is there a way I can help? “How can I help you? Who can I introduce you to?” How powerful is that?!

Keith also discussed the “Fluffy” factor. This was referring to a phone conversation where the service rep could hear a dog barking in the background – ‘Fluffy’. "What is the name of your dog," this rep might ask, as a way to connect with the other person and see them as a human being (not just an irritating caller). We need to show up as the human and empathetic individual they want to see. If all call center folks projected a wonderful positive outcome, in their own minds, it would begin to manifest itself.

How are your customer service people seeing your customers? As a pain, or as a real person with real issues?

Keith also shared about the importance of being real, authentic, and human to others. He stated that others can tell right away if we are not being truthful or transparent with them, even over the phone! We need to have the following mindset, with customers or with those we want to build relationships with: We really care. We want to hear you (people need to be heard). When we have this mindset, we begin to empathize.

I will wrap up this section on Keith with a video of him telling the story about someone who cared about another human being and how it changed lives.

We then had the pleasure of listening to Joe Torre, manager of the LA Dodgers, share nuggets from his many years in baseball. Here are some highlights:

• You only get better (at whatever you do) when you have to deal with setbacks. Tough times don't last; tough people do.
• It's the little things in a game that help you win. Concentrate on the little things; big things will happen.
• Be loyal to each other on the team, and have respect for that other guy who is out there, perhaps where you want to be.
• You can't assume your customers are yours forever.
• What can I help us do to win today?
• Whatever line of work you are in, it is all about the people.

Making Connections Through Storytelling

The morning ended with a fascinating speech by Peter Guber, Chairman and Founder, Mandalay Entertainment. Peter has quite a line of Hollywood successes, including his role as producer for such films as Gorillas in the Mist, The Deep, The Color Purple, and Rain Man, to name a few.
Per Peter:

"Coping with failure in uncertain times is a necessity; it has always been a partner in my journey."

He shared three navigational states for these times and how to get through them - fear, uncertainty, and change. Peter also shared that the game changer, the secret sauce, is the story we tell ourselves and the story we tell our customers and clients.

Oral storytelling. It is in all of us. We need to connect our story to the emotions of our customers and employees to help them propel themselves through all of this. We are all wired to do oral storytelling. When we do it, it changes the word from "customer/client/patron" to "audience". One thing to keep in mind about an audience: they expect experiences and to be engaged emotionally. They want to be moved.

Here is a video of Peter talking about how human beings are "wired" to tell oral stories.

Peter encouraged us to unleash our story for our benefit, and do it by MAGIC.

MAGIC – like a hand, each of the following concepts works independently, but they work better together.

Motivating your Audience to your Goal Interactively with great Content

Are you motivated about your story? Yes – you can craft a powerful story. You can tell, before someone says a word, whether they are authentic. Be calm; be coherent with it. Then tell it. Demonstrate you are authentic with your story. This engages people.

Audience – everybody you talk with (not to) is an audience. How do I get their attention? If it’s not a good time to do it, don’t tell your story! Know what is interesting. Try to be interested in them, create an emotional connection. The context makes the story different for everyone. What are they interested in? Find out then connect it to that. Aim for the heart, not the head. Feelings. Often times a story, elegantly presented, can change the results.

Here is another video of Peter discussing how he convinced the head of the studio to let him make the film Gorillas in the Mist. In this video, Peter was just talking about how he had come to realize that he was not connecting with his audience (the studio head). So, he became a wounded gorilla in order to help explain why it was important to tell the story of saving gorillas:

Goal – specifically direct someone to a call to action. We have to have authentic goals that are generous; then, we both win. Virally-advocated stories are authentic; they have to be real.

Interactively – it has to be a conversation. The more senses you engage in your story, the more likely you are to own it. They feel they are participating in the story – let your audience own it so they can tell it for you. It’s the way we are wired. Interactivity – think about it before you start. You have to surrender control. Why do you think you control the customer or your brand? When you relinquish control, it allows them to come forward and own the information in a unique way.

Content – The actual story is the Holy Grail. Look to your own experience – true story, inspired by story. Use observation – retell other people’s stories. Use them for emotional transportation. Look at history and use artifacts; make emotional connections today from it. Use metaphor and analogy; he became a gorilla for the studio head to get him to connect with the story and make the movie.

Think of your customers as an audience, interact with them with really great content, and enjoy the front row seat to your success.

Other Goodies

The afternoon consisted of 4 main tracks of sessions. I attended the session on Disney presented by Maritz and The Disney Institute. Bruce Kimbrell was again the presenter, along with Kathy Oughton from Maritz.

Bruce told a great story about how serious Disney is about surveying customers in the theme park. He shared that some days, the survey at the entrance gate to the park might only ask for your zip code. On other days, the conversation might go like this:

Disney: "Hi, do you have a some time to take our guest survey? We would need about 2 hours of your time."

Guest: "Uh, no, that would take up a big chunk of my time here."

Disney: "Well, how about if we take care of you for tomorrow?"

Guest: "No, I would have to change my flights, my hotel..."

Disney: "What if we took care of that? Would you be willing to give us your time?"

Now that is serious focus on getting the voice of the customer!

I also had the opportunity to sit in on JoAnna Brandi's session/discussion about what makes people feel good at work. Here were some of the attendee responses -

- Liking the people I work with

- Harmony

- Making a difference

- Being recognized by others, especially when you find out about it later

JoAnna is trying to understand these motivators so she can help coach others on how to improve employee retention and loyalty.

There's More!

Go check out my blog, the flickr group, and my Tweets to see/hear more about the day. Last day - tomorrow!

NACCM 2008: What's Your Red Ball

The Conference has arrived, and I have to say, in my opinion, it began with a bang. A day long pre-conference summit that lead to the official launch of the conference opened by JoAnna Brandi, Publisher, Customer Care Coach & President, Joanna Brandi & Co. who in turn introduced our opening conference keynote, Kevin Carroll. Kevin is a remarkable presenter with a personal story of conviction, personal success in the face of great strife and difficulty. He has been inspired by the truly simple and discovered the remarkable and innovative in his life. His opening keynote was not only a chance to share that perspective but to also to help us consider the opportunity we have being here to develop, network and share. Everyone came away very enthusiastic and excited.

I have here a snippet of his presentation. He discusses the inspirational moment that he describes "saved his life."



Afterwards, we sat down with Kevin and JoAnna who discuss some of their shared perspectives:



After seeing these videos, I'm sure you'll want to learn more, so be sure and visit his website and blog and his own social network related to his books.

Then I sat down with Becky Carroll, from CustomersRock! who has already been participating in many great sessions and will be here posting her thoughts during the conference. Here she discusses the Disney experience



If you haven't subscribed to our feed, be sure and do so, you don't want to miss more of her great insights and thoughts during the next few days.

Next, I met Fred Broce, Program Manager of Request IT for GSK. He's here presenting later today on the IT Service Catalog: Opening New Customer Channels While Driving Service. I asked him to share some highlights on what attendees can expect during his presentation:



Finally, last night, the CSIA and ICCSO who hosted the International Service Excellence Awards that honored companies large and small, and individuals in customer service positions based on the highest industry standards. I actually had a chance to record a great deal of material, but I'm going to need a little more time than one night to edit it all. But I will share this clip from the opening remarks from Brett Whitford, Secretary-General of the ICCSO, as he tells a rather extraordinary story of individuals going that extra step of customer service.



We have two more days of great experiences and presentations we'll be sharing. Gregory North has joined us and is also blogging his experiences. So be sure and check back here and our event website to see the many updates including photos and videos we'll be posting.

NACCM 2008: Off To The Races

Good morning everyone, we are live here from the 2008 NACCM: Customers 1st Conference. We're very excited to bring to you regular updates from the conference that will include photos and interviews with many of the great speakers who are here presenting. Our goal over the next few days during the conference is to provide daily updates. You'll be able to check back here and the event website and see the latest from the conference.

We're off to a fast start with posts by our chairperson, JoAnna Brandi, CEO & Publisher, The Customer Care Coach, who has been regularly blogging in the weeks leading up to our conference. She joins us with a few early posts as she prepares for the conference to begin. And this morning she has some early thoughts for everyone getting ready to network and participate in some great presentations from a wide-range of companies and presentors.



Also, Becky Carroll of Customers Rock! is on hand and will be posting her own experiences during the conference. She gives us this great perspective to begin with. She will be actively updating everyone on twitter so be sure and follow her here.

Now I had the chance to quickly catch up with Amanda Powers, Conference Director of NACCM: Customers 1st. She had a few minutes to stop and share with us a little about what has gone into this year's event as well as some details of what to expect during the next few days.



Finally, we are very proud to have The International Service Excellence Awards at this year's conference. I had the opportunity to speak with Brett Whitford, Secretary-General, of the International Council of Customer Service Organizations and Christine Churchill, Executive Director of The Customer Service Institute of America who will be hosting the awards ceremony tonight. Hear from them as they tell us about these renowned service awards. Remember, if you are here, you can still purchase tickets to this great event.





Over these next few days there are so many people to meet, and great presentations to watch. We'll be updating you throughout the conference, so be sure and subscribe to our feed to get our updates and check our website for even more detail from the conference.

Stay Beautiful

This is co-posted on JoAnna Brandi's blog.

I once had a boyfriend who used to end every phone conversation and every email with the phrase, “Stay beautiful.” At first I was delighted by it, but as time went on, I have to admit, occasionally it annoyed me. At that time in my life I was certainly not used to taking compliments gracefully (I’ve gotten over that) and there were many days where I felt far from anything that resembled beautiful.

So one day I talked to him about it. I explained that it made me uncomfortable – that I didn’t feel beautiful all the time (in fact I felt it rarely) and his saying it so often had the effect of me feeling “less than.”

Oh, I was so off base.

“Beautiful,” he explained from his perspective, was a state of being. It was a graceful way of interacting with the world. It was a consciousness, rather than a thing. The phrase, “Stay beautiful,” was a reminder to put myself into that way of being and operate from there.

Oh, that’s different.

Time has gone by since he was here to remind me, but that phrase often comes to me as a reminder that I do have a choice how I show up in the world. I ask myself if I am creating beauty in my relationships, my work, my attitude. I think about my clients and the people I teach – am I encouraging them to create a vision of what beauty, caring, and positive interaction can be in their organizations? What does it take, especially in tough times, to stay beautiful in the eyes of your customers?

Today I’m in Disneyland, just hours away from premiering my latest workshop, The Positive Leader, at the NACCM Customer’s First conference. I’m in a restaurant surrounded by pictures of Walt Disney. Before sitting down I had a delightful conversation with 5 year old Tara who was dressed up as Cinderella. She’s been here for three days, and I suspect been wearing the dress just as long. The excitement in her voice and the twinkle in her eyes lead me to believe that Walt knew how to teach his “cast members” the quality I know as “Stay Beautiful.”

Stay tuned this week to the NACCM website where we will be broadcasting live podcasts, and interviews with speakers and guests. http://www.iirusa.com/naccm/event-home.xml

I’m the conference chairperson this year – I’d love to know that all of you are getting to share in the excitement and the learning – even if you can’t be here in person with us.

Remember, stay beautiful.

Visit JoAnna Brandi's blog and website.

Walk Like A Dancer

This post is cross posted on JoAnna Brandi's blog.

I was schlepping myself and my luggage through the airport this week feeling tired and old when I heard my friend and teacher Scotty’s voice in my head. “Walk like a dancer JoAnna, walk like a dancer.”

I have to tell you that at that very moment I felt myself grow taller, I felt my gaze rise from the moving sidewalk to what passes for a horizon in an airport, I took a deeper breath, I lifted my head and heart and then exhaled. I thought of how a dancer might move her body through an airport pulling luggage. I figured it had to be different than the way I’d been doing it. So I made up, in my mind, a vision of how I thought a trained and graceful dancer would be moving herself through the tunnel between terminals A and B – a mighty distance.

Scotty, tries to teach me to dance, and once in a while succeeds. (That is, if I’m in town when he’s in town and there’s space in our schedules.) I’m a tough student. And if I never learn to dance that’s okay. Scotty taught me how to walk – forward and backward – across a stage, down the aisle forwards and backwards with confidence, poise and grace. I’m not sure of the score he would give me if he actually saw me work with an audience, but I know that I can continue to improve if I allow myself to keep hearing Scott’s voice in my head. “Walk like a dancer, JoAnna, walk like a dancer.”

What a beautiful reminder for me of a principle I teach (and sometimes forget to practice myself) Act “As if.” I wrote about it in my first book “Winning at Customer Retention, 101 Ways to Keep ‘em Happy, Keep ‘em Loyal and Keep ‘em Coming Back”

Here’s an excerpt on that wonderful practice.

“Service providers can’t be expected to be nice all the time, to be polite all the time, to care all the time, can they? No —not human ones, anyway. However, there’s a skill that’s easy to apply that can bridge the gap between the times you feel genuinely, positively involved in your interactions and those you don’t. I call it acting “as if.”

What if you’ve had a tough day? Can you act “as if’ you haven’t? Or, if you feel confused about solving a customer’s problem, ask yourself how you’d act if you weren’t confused. Suppose you’ve just heard some not-so-encouraging words from a supervisor about the status of your big project, and now you have to get on the phone with a customer. Can you act “as if’ the interaction with your supervisor didn’t take place, muster faith in your ability to overcome adversity, and go on to help the customer? You have a headache; can you act “as if’ you don’t?

As a performer, [and you ARE] you’ll be called on to perform when you simply don’t feel like it. Skilled performers — actors, speakers, service reps, and salespeople — have developed great confidence in their ability to “do what they have to do.” Many know the act “as if’ secret.

As a performer and frequent traveler, I can assure you there are many times when a delayed flight, a night of fitful sleep in a hotel room, overwork, or a cold threatens my ability to do my best in front of an audience. But what are my options? Cancel the perfor­mance? Resign myself to giving a bad show? Beg the audience for forgiveness? I’ve never considered any of these acceptable alternatives. With faith in my ability to rise to the occasion, I act “as if” — as if I had a good night’s sleep, as if I were feeling terrific. Very often, I find myself starting to feel just that way.

When I’m nervous, I remind myself how it feels to be at ease —how my voice sounds, how my face looks, how I stand. I try whatever I can to affect that other feeling. Very often, by changing something in my body, by acting “as if,” my mood changes and then my attitude and state of mind follow suit.

Begin right now to act “as if’ you have faith in your ability to succeed as a performance specialist and relationship expert. (Of course, this includes taking action, not just harboring positive thoughts.) Remember, if you act helpless, you’ll be helpless.

If you act creatively, on the other hand, you’ll be creative. Acting resourcefully can make you resourceful. Cultivate the habit of acting like a first-rate, best-in-your-class customer-care expert, and it will be so.”

Well said, even if I say so myself. So there I was standing tall, breathing deeply, pulling my luggage through the strangely psychedelic underground tunnel in the Detroit airport, acting “as if” I was one of those people on “Dancing with the Stars.” The experience was fun. It gave me energy, It stretched the muscles in my body and it put a smile on my face. It simply had to be healthier then schlepping through the airport with my head down and my shoulders bend. .

“Act as if,” is a simple and powerful concept used by people in all walks of life. When Billy Joel is struggling with writers block he puts on a particular set of clothing – relaxed and easy – goes down to the coffee shop where he has successfully written things before, buys the same kind of beverage, and takes out his old familiar notebook and pen. He puts himself in the same spot – “as if” the words and music were flowing from his fingertips. Because the body and the mind are so connected, he knows that when he puts his body in the same place, his mind will follow.

Where will you find the opportunity this week to “Walk like a Dancer” and act “As if?”

May you have many opportunities to excel!

Visit JoAnna Brandi's blog and website.

This post is cross posted on JoAnna Brandi's

Wake Up Call

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

Monday morning, like many mornings, I woke up in a hotel. A brand spanking new Comfort Inn Suites in Tampa , Florida. Like many mornings the phone rang at 6:30 and stirred me out of a deep sleep.

“Beeep -beeep - beeep -beeep,” was the first sound I heard.

Dumb-dumb-dumb. Here was the hotel’s opportunity to make a “first impression” on me this morning and they did a poor job. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

As I was getting ready for the day I recalled the full spectrum of wakeup call experiences I’ve had in all the years I’ve been waking up in hotels.

At one end of the extreme is the call I received today - at the other end the LIVE bright and cheery voice of a hotel employee actually talking to me and telling me what the weather was and how happy they were I was in THEIR hotel.

In between is the automated call that gives the date, the weather and any other topics of interest (perhaps a breakfast special in the coffee shop, or free coffee service in the lobby.)

As I was reviewing all these messages in my head, I realized that there is a full spectrum of touching going on in any activity.

Pretend there is a scale. At one end of the scale is Hospitality with a big “H” – warm, friendly, inviting. At the other end of the scale rudeness, abruptness and maybe even contempt (thinly veiled of course.) Now take a look at all the touchpoints in your organization and see where you rate on that scale.

Find any wake up calls?

Wake up because in THIS marketplace – if you snooze, you lose.

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, and comment on this post, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!

What Makes YOU Feel Good at Work?

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

According to my informal research people who feel good at work are more productive, like their jobs more, have better performance, are more likely to be creative, enjoy "going the extra mile," and have more energy at the end of the day when they go home to be with their families or pursue hobbies and outside activities.

Help me with my research - every body has their own "Feel Good At Work Factor" and Amanda Levy and I are writing about it. Please help us understand more about yours.

Please go to our comments section after this blog entry and finish this sentence. "I feel good at work when....."

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, and comment on this post, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!

A Blessed Vacation

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

I sat down on the flight from West Palm Beach to Atlanta, shortly followed by my seat mates, a lovely couple from Chicago who were just coming from an anniversary celebration trip on Singer Island.

Not expecting much of a response I asked, “How was the vacation?”

Wow. Turns out the vacation was outstanding. “Over the edge.” Apparently The Resort at Singer Island treats its guests quite nicely. With a grin on his face that went from ear to ear my seat buddy went on to recount a customer experience that will remain a fond memory in their lives forever.

Last night, the last of their trip, they returned to their room to find a card and an anniversary gift made of chocolate, but that was just the topper to a stay that was full of special attention. From the front desk personnel, the people that handed out the towels at the pool, to the valets that got the car each day everyone was friendly and took the time to talk. The service, he repeated, was “over the edge.” From the infinity pool overlooking the ocean to their room fully equipped with a kitchen every part of the vacation made them feel “very very special.”

Last night they found a restaurant that kept up the remark-able experiences. They dined at the Capitol Grill. While making the reservation he did mention it was their anniversary. The restaurant responded by offering them a free dessert and delivering it with a fresh flower and a candle. It was a beautiful display. When his wife said she felt badly because she’d forgotten the camera, John, the server went into the back and came back with his. He took the picture and then came back with a printed copy and slipped into an envelope for them to take home.

As I sat in amazement (I usually hear about bad experiences) he smiled and me and said, “I feel like God blessed our anniversary.”

Oh my.

And his wife pointed out, it was so reasonably priced. Here’s where my ears really perked up. That kind of luxury attention for the same price I pay at the courtyard hotel I’m headed to? Double wow ( off season of course. ) Perhaps a possibility for a weekend getaway, I tucked the idea away for the future.

And so before I opened my paper to read the bad news of the day, and it was worse than usual today, I soaked up the joy of their blessed anniversary celebration. Emotions are contagious and I’m really glad I caught some of theirs.

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!

Customer Service Week with JoAnna Brandi -- Day Three

On day four of customer service week, JoAnna Brandi talks about employee happiness and customer happiness.

Watch the video here:
http://www.customercarecoach.com/CSW2008/CSW_day4.asp

What can you do to promote happiness within your company? Do you have any activities you do on a daily or weekly basis to promote happiness within your organization?

Customer Service Week with JoAnna Brandi -- Day Three

On day three of customer service week, JoAnna Brandi addresses the return on happiness when your employees are happy.

Check out the video here:
http://www.customercarecoach.com/csw2008/CSW_day3.asp

And as a reminder, we have a webinar this week presented by NACCM. Bill Price will be presenting "Outsourcing and offshoring, insourcing and onshoring -- so many choices, so little frank information." It's tomorrow, Thursday, October 9, from 2:30PM to 3:30 PM EDT. We hope you can join us!

Sign up here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/890742670

Customer Service Week with JoAnna Brandi -- Day Two

Today, JoAnna Brandi discusses negativity. What can your team avoid that's negative? What are some of the positive things you can do for your costumes?



For more, check out JoAnna Brandi's website, Customer Care Coach.

Customer Service Week -- Day One

For Customer Service Week, NACCM Conference Chair JoAnna Brandi will be sending out a daily message. Here's the message for day one:

Let 'em Feel the Love

The Customer Experience is all about emotion - loyalty is an emotional attachment. The “Experience” is the sum total of the feelings a customer has as a result of interacting with any part of your organization. It's based on THEIR PERCEPTION.

All Fired Up

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

Over the last year I’ve done some things that have some of my friends wondering about me. Maybe it’s that I’m getting better with age. Maybe it’s being afraid to age. Maybe it’s all these happiness coaches I hang out with and study with.

One of the things we learn in happiness training is that positive psychologists have proven that the more time you spend using your strengths the happier you are. That makes sense. When you are doing something you are good at you feel good, and you usually get better at it. When you spend a lot of time doing something you are not good at you usually don’t feel as good.

I can relate.

So it turns out that the psychologists have found – and have evidence to support this – that if you identify your top strengths and spend time each week deliberately working to improve them, you will be happier over time. Certainly happier than if you identify your weaknesses and spend time each week trying to improve them. (Which is basically what I HAD been doing.)

All righty then. Let’s get going.

And so I went to www.viastrengths.com to identify my top strengths. (Warning: don’t go there without a food or at least a beverage – the instrument they use to determine your strengths is long and a tad redundant, you’ll need at least a cup of tea or equivalent to get through it.)

My first strength is creativity – that was fun. I knew that, so it’s always fun to find ways to be more creative. My second strength it turns out is bravery and courage.

What? Me? That was a bit of a shock. And so it was that I began challenging myself in ways I never thought I would. It all began with ziplining last year in Costa Rica.

http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/canopy/tour.htm It looked something like this.

Soaring some 120 feet above the ground scared the devil out of me, but in the end, I was thrilled and excited that I had done it – and done it with a good attitude. I chose excitement over fear. I told everyone that would listen about my “SuperCheeka” experience and reveled in the admiration. Me, a perennial scaredy cat, doing something brave and courageous - how cool was that?

So I figured I’d done my brave deed and that would be that.

Until I got that email from Connie and Karen. They are friends of mine from South Florida. They do workshops too. We met about five or six years ago and have a lot in common. Except that when you take one of their empowerment workshops you break things, bend things and end the evening walking on fire.

I swear, I never, never had the desire to walk on fire.

They’d been kind about inviting me to come and see their work, but I’d declined each time, until one day I got an email that said they were filming a corporate video and we asking friends to participate since there would be cameras starting and stopping and bright lights in the night. They invited friends that would be patient and would work with the awkward situation.

It’s tough enough to do the activities in that workshop – and with a cameraman in your face – well!

Well 53 friends showed up! From early afternoon until late in the night we broke boards, bricks and arrows. We bent rebar, walked on glass and then at the end of the night topped it all off with a little walk on fire. Everybody chose to walk (they say that never happens.) Even the cameramen walked (on walked while pointing the camera down on his feet.

Everyone did the firewalk – about 1250 degrees at its hottest – and no one burned their feet. When you walk on fire things change. You learn that your mind is powerful. You get to see your patterns. You think differently about beliefs. There was no hypnosis involved. All choice.

I’m the second one you’ll see on the video – busting through the brick. And now I’m all fired up, because I have this belief that when I put my mind to something (and keep it there) that I can make it happen.

By the way – want a firepower seminar? Call me, I’ll fix you up. We now proudly tell our clients that board breaking and even firewalking are optional add-ons to any of our workshops. Empowered? You bet! Whooooooooooowahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! http://firepowerseminars.com

Also, check out JoAnna's first customer service message for Customer Service Week here:
http://www.customercarecoach.com/csw2008/CSW_day1.asp

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!

Podcast Series: A Conversation with Michael Cubric

The NACCM team has released a new segment to the Customers 1st Podcast Series in anticipation for this year’s NACCM Customers 1st Conference. In this podcast, JoAnna Brandi speaks to Michael Cubric of Firstline Mortgages who gives a taste about what his speech, “Being customer-centric is not cheap; are you ready to put your money where your mouth is?” is going to be about. Don’t miss Michael’s track session at NACCM on Wednesday, November 19th at 10:55 AM at Disneyland Hotel Anaheim in California this year.

Listen to the podcast here.

My Favorite Book

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

I had to call the bank the other day and ask the embarrassing question, “What’s my favorite book?”

The woman on the other end of the line didn’t understand, she said “Excuse me?”

“My favorite book, I need to know what it is… ah, was ” I said. “Apparently the favorite book I had when I used that clue as my security question is not the same book that I think is my favorite this week.”

“Oh!” she laughed. “I get it. The answer to your security question doesn’t match.”

“Right,” I said, “but I really need to know what I thought my favorite book was because I tried all three I think are my favorites and none of them work, and now I’m really confused.”

“Oh!” she replied, using a tone of voice that made me think she really understood why this was a problem for me.

One thing I routinely find about the people in the call center of Commerce Bank is they seem to “get” me. No easy task.

I resisted the urge to share with her what my top three favorites were and hope that she could find a match because she told me that as much as she’d like to help me solve the dilemma, the answer was controlled electronically and was pretty much lost forever. Would I like to choose a different question?

Okay.

And so it was I chose a different question and said “Thank you for your help, I appreciate it.”

“Would you like me stay on the line with you until you have your security questions changed?”

“No” my ego said, I’m a grownup and can do this myself. But she was quick to say kindly, “Why don’t you just keep me on the line until you are sure you have it, and know it so the next time you need to use it it will work for you.” Ahh, I thought “proactive” okay, let her just do her job. I’m sure I can get this right.

Well low and behold I forgot to put a period after an abbreviation in the answer and (just as she thought would happen) the new security question didn’t get me in.

Ahh, I thought now – she really knows her job, and her customers well. We had a good laugh together and after she was sure I had picked an answer I couldn’t forget or misspell she let me off the line.

Now you know and I know that it is probably cheaper for the company to do it that way, because it takes less time to make sure I do it right than to initiate another call when I do it wrong again – but that’s not what it felt like. It felt like someone who knew the ropes was getting me used to them, and doing it with TLC (tender loving care) and not TVC (thinly veiled contempt) which tends to be so rampant in some of the “helping” professions. Bravo Commerce – I hope your merger doesn’t interfere with your customer care, because so far, I like it.

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!

A Gold Medal for FUN

This is posted on behalf of JoAnna Brandi. It is co-posted on the Customers 1^st Blog and JoAnna Brandi blogs.

It all started as a crazy idea. From an intern nonetheless. While the “real” Olympics were taking place in China the folks over at the Midwest ISO were having an Olympics all their own.

The intern - Brooke Rodda - thought it would be great fun to come up with some challenges for interdepartmental games, and it was easy to think how that might just be good for morale.

Deb Lang, Director of Training, liked the idea and built on it. Deb’s big on teamwork and fun so the idea instantly appealed to her. As fate would have it, the Friday before a box of “BeanBoozled” had landed on her desk and she saw immediate application. (For the uninformed like me - it’s a box of BeanBoozled jelly beans - 10 colors of beans and 20 flavors - every color has one tasty flavor, and a disgusting flavor - the idea is that you never know whether you are about to get a good one or a bad one. This, apparently, makes it ideal for party games.)

This instantly started Brooke’s mind going in the direction of whacky games – one having to do with blindfold bowling another with condiment painting (held in the cafeteria at lunchtime of course.) Before long she and her team of equally creative thinkers had planned the games and word rapidly spread throughout the company grapevine and more people came on board. “We want to be involved too,” was the most common sentiment heard. Energy and excitement were building.

By the time the day for the Olympics arrived representatives from several divisions withing the company were on board, with more joining in to coach from the sidelines as word continued to spread.

The Olympics occurred mostly in 15 minute increments so not to take too much away from the work days. These short burst of activity really energized people throughout the five day competition.

I just happen to call on the last day and got a “blow by blow” on the final minutes of the events. I sat laughing in my parked car while a thunderstorm threatened right behind me. I had to make sure my car was not moving because I laughing much too hard to be driving.

Since I wanted to find out the results, I called back the next week and got the scoop. “So what did you get out of it?” I asked.“Besides fun? Team participation, increased communication between departments, memorable common experiences, innovation, engagement.”

“I gather then, this is only the first of your Olympics,” I asked.

“Yep, the first Annual.”

A tradition is born. All because a company was open enough to listen to a suggestion of a young intern – a crazy suggestion at that.

Gary Hamel, oft called the world’s greatest strategist, says that we need to find ways in companies to create thousands of crazy ideas, and out of the thousands we’ll distill them down to hundreds of not-so-crazy ideas, and out of them perhaps 10 or so viable ideas and out of the one or two really really great ideas that will fundamentally change the nature of our business and give us a competitive edge. Congratulations Midwest ISO, you’ve got a great start.

If you’d like to see more of Joanna Brandi’s blogs, visit JoAnna Brandi’s Blogs. You can also find out more by visiting her Customer Care Coach website. Joanna Brandi will be a keynote speaker at this year’s North American Conference on Customer Management, and has already been profiled on our Customer 1^st blog. Stay tuned for her posts on the Customers 1^st blog!