Business Owner Newsletter - Page 34

In the last few weeks, we've discussed the importance of knowing your customers and being able to listen for when your customers are frustrated. The next step in providing excellent customer service is to understand what areas of your business are likely to frustrate your customers and be able to quickly react to them. As you work through understanding your customer's frustrations there will be a set of frustrations that you can solve through systems and processes, but there will also be frustrations that your business will never be able to completely eliminate.

 

When a business is reactive to customer frustrations instead of being proactive, it's often more difficult to turn the experience into one that leaves the client feeling as if the businesses went above and beyond to meet their needs and exceed their expectations. They key is to identify a frustration...

Quote: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."  -Henry Ford

 

Our Thoughts: There have been many articles written, especially on innovators such as Ford or even Steve Jobs, which discuss that customers don't always have the answer. They can't always tell you want they want if they can't imagine it themselves. There's definitely a kernel of truth to this, but it doesn't mean you can tune out your customers. It means that your business needs to listen differently.

There's a little known feature in Google Maps that displays just how well Google understands their customers. Take out your cell phone and open the Google Maps app. Now let's say you were trying to find a location, but when you got to the end of the directions the destination was wrong. Frustrated? Shake your phone and see what happens.

This month we have been looking at what causes resistance to Change, and the beliefs, attitudes, and experiences that feed the fear of Change. Now that there is a better understanding of what gets in our way, it is time to embrace those elements and leverage them to become the Champion of Change that your business needs!

Quote: "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." ~ Alan Watts 

 

Question: How are you embracing the inevitable change in your business?

 

Last week we identified factors that contribute to the resistance of change. As we continue to explore the topic of change, we will dive into three elements that reinforce our resistance to change: Our Beliefs, Our Experiences, and Our Attitudes. These elements live inside each of us, molding who we are and how we visualize and interact with our surroundings. We develop these three elements through living the lives we have chosen, and to change them, we have to be willing to look in the mirror and see the people we are and identify what needs to be different in order to achieve the change we desire in our business and in our life.    

There are few things in business and in life that are constant and guaranteed. Possibly the scariest of these things is ‘change.’ As human beings, we like order, structure, and a sense for knowing what is coming next. What we don’t like to face is the inevitable shifting of our reality. When an event, whether in our personal lives or in our businesses, causes a shift in the status quo, stress and uncertainty build. The question becomes: How do you deal with the stress and uncertainty? This month we will look at what causes resistance to Change, the beliefs, attitudes, and experiences that feed the fear of Change, and lastly, what you can do to embrace change.

This month we've been focused on dealing with employee issues. We've discussed creating an Employee Notification Form, being aware of your own reaction to the issue, and looking for the root cause of the problem. The final step is to create a solution that lasts.

 

Often times, creating a solution is not an interactive activity with the employee, but rather a lecture. This leads to solutions that are not long lasting. Here are a few tips to help you create a long lasting solution:

What do you do if you have a headache? It's always fun to hear the different methods people use to treat a headache. Many ignore it or take an aspirin. Some turn down the lights or apply a compress to the back of their necks. The common theme is that most people treat the symptom and not the cause of the headache. This is similar to how most business owner's deal with employee frustrations. This week we challenge you to slow down when facing an employee issue. Don't give in to the temptation to treat the symptom right away, but walk around the issue with curiosity. In doing so you will come to see the real issue and be able to create a long lasting solution.