Did my brain grow overnight? Was I the subject of a new government “smart drug” study? Did aliens kidnap me and inject me with massive amounts of knowledge using their telepathic powers?

Nope. I read a book last night.

Ok, so I didn’t read a whole book, but I did read at least a couple of chapters. I read almost every day. It’s one of the ways I get inspired, learn new things, and spark new thoughts. It’s part of my personal development plan.

Why do I do this? It’s simple. I love what I do, I want to keep doing it, and I want to be the best in the world at it.

Do you have a personal development plan? What I’m talking about goes beyond simple goal setting. You can say you want to lose 25 lbs, or that you want to become a leader in your company, or that you want to establish yourself as a world-class expert in customer service, but without a plan you’ll never get there.

A personal development plan doesn’t have to be difficult or complex. We have development meetings every month with each member of our staff. One of the questions each person has to answer (even me) is “What am I doing to develop myself in my current role?”

The answers may vary from learning new software to reading a book to attending a seminar that pertains to their role. I honestly don’t care what the answer is…as long as there is an answer.

As a company, we’ll do what we can to develop our people, but what I’ve discovered is that the real rock stars are the ones who constantly develop themselves.

When one of his employees asks for a raise, my brother (a much wiser businessman that I am) looks them in the eye and asks, “What are you doing differently or better than you were doing this time last year?” Sadly, many of them leave his office with their tails between their legs because they haven’t grown in any way. If you don’t grow, how can your contribution to the company grow?

If you want to be worth more tomorrow than you are today, you’ve got to start developing yourself.

If you want your team to be higher performing tomorrow than it is today, you’ve got to start helping your team members develop themselves.

There’s a quote that’s attributed to Zig Ziglar that says, “In 5 years, you’ll be the same person you are today…except for the books you read and the people you meet.”

I’ve also heard that if you read about a subject just 30 minutes a day for 5 years (probably less than that), you’ll know more about that subject than 99% of the world. There’s always going to be that freaky genius in every field who somehow knows more than you, so don’t worry about the last 1%.

Reading certainly isn’t the only way to develop yourself. Here are some other ideas:

• Try a new approach to an old problem.
• Take on a project that challenges you.
• Go to lunch with a mentor or potential mentor.
• Take a vacation.
• Take a longer vacation than normal.
• Take a working vacation related to your field.
• Study a competitor.
• Do an internship (yes, even if you’re not 20).
• Browse a bookstore.
• Do something you never thought you’d do.
• Apply for a new job that interests you.
• Identify your weaknesses and improve one.
• Identify your strengths and expand one.
• Turn off the TV and do…anything.
• Join an association.
• Start an association.
• Experiment without fear of failure.
• Take a class.
• Teach a class.
• Attend a conference, workshop, or seminar.

Other articles you might like:

• Customer Service Book Review: Super Service
• Customer Loyalty Book Gets Reviewed on AllBusiness.com
• Customer Service Book Review: Choosing Civility
• A simple four step plan for renewed success
• Plan your customer service improvement for 2010

1. Can you identify where it is HARD to do business with your company? Consider your website, phone system, email response time, physical layout, process and policies. It is amazing how we make it difficult for our customers to do business with us. Arrogance and ego can create systems that are convenient for the company but not for the customer.

2. What rules do you need to eliminate? Most rules are written for 3% of your customers. Then we start to think all of our customers are out to cheat us. Believe me, the majority of your customers are not a problem, stop punishing the wrong group.

3. Are you one mistake away from losing a customer? That mistake could be a broken promise, no callback, a missed deadline or not getting it right the first time.

4. Who needs to go? The right people are crucial to your company’s success. It is a great time to hire really good people as many of them are out of jobs. Work on upgrading your team. If you are not hiring, then what cross training needs to be done so the employees are at their best to serve your customer.

5. Would you want to do business with your organization? No need for elaboration on this one.

No one likes change but it is needed and demanded. So go to the edge, jump in with both feet, hold hands and get it over with.  Make something good happen today.Other articles you might like:

• Deliver better customer service by being prepared
• To Improve Customer Service, Be Easy to Work With
• Is your job a TGIF or a GIFT?
• Put customers before tasks
• Real people rock

You remember what happens, don’t you? That dumb, happy mutt develops rabies and poor Travis, the teenage boy who bonds with the dog the most, has to put him down with a shotgun.

Excuse me while I choke up a little even now. Darn you, Walt Disney!

I heard a reference to Old Yeller the other day and in addition to bringing back the saddest movie memory of my childhood, it also made me think of all the tough decisions we have to (or should) make every day. The day I heard the reference I was working on some customer service ideas.

Forgive me if the movie reference gives you horrible flashbacks like it does me. Stay with me for a minute, because there’s a good customer service lesson in this decades-old tear-jerker.

Here’s the lesson: sometimes you’ve got to pull the trigger and put an old customer service practice out of its misery.

We all have customer service practices that have served us well. In fact, there are some that have worked so well in the past that they have become completely ingrained in the way we run our businesses. They are so much a part of us that we can’t imagine life without them. Sort of like a lovable dog that plays with you, protects you, and licks your face all over.

These practices could be as simple as how you greet customers when they call or walk in the door.

“Welcome to (your company)! What can I do for you today?”

Some could be a little less obvious or more complex, like the follow up you do with clients through phone calls, comment cards, or surveys.

And in some cases, it’s our products and services themselves that have become trusted friends that we believe will never turn and bite us.

When was the last time you took a good look at your customer service processes, practices, and products? Are they really serving you and your customers the way they should? Or have they gotten weak and sick and you haven’t noticed?

Sometimes we’ve gotten so accustomed to our practices that we’ve developed an unhealthy love of “the way we do things.” So much so that if one of our beloved customer service practices develops rabies, we can’t take it out behind the shed and put it out of its misery.

In some cases – actually in MOST cases – pulling the trigger is necessary if you’re going to continue to grow, improve, and profit.

There’s an old saying that you can do anything you want to do, you just can’t do everything you want to do. None of us has unlimited time, people, and money to execute every customer service practice that we’d like to. So there needs to be a constant weeding process.

Take a look right now at your customer service practices. Which ones are serving you well, and which ones need a mercy killing? You’ll no doubt find some of both.

Constantly evaluate your practices and make sure you’re focusing on the ones that give you the biggest return on your energy.

And as hard as it may be, take the other ones out and pull that trigger. Once you do, you’ll likely find new ideas just waiting to be generated.

If you remember, once Old Yeller was gone, Travis was given one of Old Yeller’s puppies. And there’s nothing better than a puppy…except maybe an exciting new customer service idea.Other articles you might like:

• Three things you can do to improve customer service
• Lessons from Groundhog Day
• Never to part (with your customers)
• Customer Service Tip – Diffuse First Educate Second
• A New Tool to Improve Customer Service

I can no longer distinguish between my wife’s and my daughter’s clothes.

If it is pink, red, or girly in any way, there’s a high likelihood that I will sort it into the wrong pile. This results in a kind smile from my wife. It’s the same smile she gives to babies and puppies that are cute but helpless. It also results in a head-cocked, eye-rolling, “how-dumb-are-you?” look from my daughter. She’s eight. Going on sixteen.

In my defense, my daughter is taller than nearly every other eight-year-old on the planet. Some of her clothes say “12″ or even “14″ inside, which I always assumed should somewhat correspond to the age – not the attitude – of the wearer.

My wife is a few years older than eight, and her clothes have a whole different numbering system (another mystery to solve at another time). But, honestly, side by side, it’s sometimes really, really hard to tell them apart. Ok, so my wife doesn’t have a t-shirt that says “I (heart) Justin Bieber”, but she and my daughter do have some matching pajamas that look the same size to me. Gotta read the labels to know which is which. I really wish I understood those numbering systems better.

I am quite lucky. My wife actually does do the majority of the laundry. She actually kind of enjoys it. It’s one of the few old-school gender roles that we honor in our house. She does the laundry. I mow the lawn and kill all the spiders.

So when I do fluff and fold a basket or two, I now have to pay extra attention. Because somewhere along the way, my daughter grew. It was so much easier when she was little. Pink + tiny = daughter’s pile. Now I have to check the label on almost everything, except that Justin Bieber t-shirt.

In other words, things change. People change. Customers change. Their needs shift, grow, and change constantly. When we have a few, distinct customers, it’s relatively easy to tell them apart and provide them customized products or personal service. As our customer base grows, and our customer’s needs change, we have to pay closer attention.

What does that take? Before you run out and buy a new CRM software package or hire a bunch of new salespeople, stop for a minute and just think about your customers (or your staff, or your family, or your community organization). Ask yourself these questions:

1. How have our customers changed since we first met them?
2. What do they need from us now?
3. Will they have any new needs in the foreseeable future?
4. What are the simplest and most direct ways we can meet these needs?

These questions don’t require a two-day retreat in the woods to figure out. You could come up with some great answers in a sixty minute staff meeting or your personal reflection time.

While this may be the first time you’ve thought about these questions (like this is the first time I’ve thought about my laundry dilemma), it definitely shouldn’t be the last. These are questions that we should be asking ourselves at least once each year, or even each quarter.

I doubt I’ll ever completely escape laundry duty, so I’m going to have to pay even more attention as time goes by. The way my daughter is growing , she will someday be the same size as my wife, maybe as early as next week.Other articles you might like:

• X-rays Can Be Fun? Who Knew?
• Customer service tip: Handling two customers at once
• Remember to Have Fun
• Hire smart to start
• 5 easy ways to improve customer service today

But this can also be an obstacle to growth and improvement.

Too often our habits stop us from making internal changes in response to external changes the world had brought to our door. They can blind us to how the rest of the world has changed, which can affect our business.

Our habits can also prevent us from trying new things even when we know we should. There’s risk involved in trying something new. Will it work or not? How will I know? And there’s a cost of figuring out what to do and how to do it. Some days it’s just easier to put such decisions on the back burner and keep doing things the way we always have.

Many of us will only change when two things happen.

1. We get frustrated with how things are.

We finally understand or acknowledge things are not as we’d like them so we get upset, irritated or even angry. This is critical for motivating us to make a permanent change.

2. We believe we CAN change.

Frustration is usually not enough. We need one more element: Faith.

We need to know we can successfully make the changes we want to make. We need to believe we can do it. If we lack this belief we might never try. Faith is what pulls us through the fear of the unknown. It helps lead the way to our solutions.

So, to be better at making changes in your business, find ways to get frustrated and to have faith that you can make changes successfully.

The “frustrated” part really just means knowing what’s going on with your business and how it compares to what you want. It’s the difference between reality and your desire. Maybe there is no difference, in which case, maybe there’s no need to change.

Develop some key measures for your business and establish your goals for them. They could be simple like revenue, revenue growth, net income, net income growth, employee turnover, etc. Or, you might have more detailed metrics. That’s okay. Just make sure they are measurable. Apply them to your business on a regular basis and note the gap between your actual performance and your goal.

Do this without fail. It can be an eye-opener.

The second part is to get better at making changes. Do this by making changes a regular and frequent part of your business. I’m not talking about massive change. I’m talking about small, manageable things you can do on a regular basis.

For example, you wouldn’t fire all your sales people and put your whole marketing budget into Google ads. But, you might hold off on replacing a sales person and instead try some Internet advertising for 3 to 6 months. That would be a manageable change.

Larry Wilson talks about failing fast and failing small. This is a great way to think about it. When you try new things, do them small and fast. The faster you learn what works (and what doesn’t) the smarter you get and the less risk you have. And you’ll see more success this way. Most important though, you’ll start to create a method or process for implementing change.

When that happens you’ll be able to see faster what’s working and what is not, according to a measurable standard. Then you’re well on your way to building a stronger business.Other articles you might like:

• Here’s an Easy Formula for Change
• What is Leadership?
• How to Beat the Recession – Part 3
• Is Your Company Delivering the Right Experience?
• 8 Reasons to Feel Good About the Economy

Want to lose weight, earn more money, stop smoking, be a better parent or build a successful business? Just want it really bad and you’ll get it.

Sounds silly doesn’t it? It is.

The issue is never how bad you want something — everyone raises their hand when asked if they’d like to be successful. The issue many hate to face is the fact wanting success isn’t the secret to getting it — the secret is doing what it takes to be successful.

Doing what it takes means you do things like eating healthy, exercising regularly, turning off the television, reading more to your kids, focusing your attention beyond your desires, calling someone you’ve never met, asking for help, seeking advice, etc.

The secret to success is doing what it takes within the bounds of ethics and the law.

Forget the excuses, accept responsibility. Don’t merely want success, do what it takes to create and earn it.

You can do it! Act!Other articles you might like:

• Green grass (and a great company) takes time
• Improve customer service by paying attention
• Top 7 Tips to be More Successful at Everything
• What Successful People Do
• Put the Mouse Down! An Easy Way to Improve Customer Service

And we understand it’s okay to expect companies that will work WITH us as partners rather than adversaries.

Companies that ignore this will end up just like “Mr. Advertising” in this video: alone and wondering what happened.

Other articles you might like:

• Here’s how to have real customer loyalty
• Use faith and frustration to improve
• Social Media helps Dave Carroll tell his customer service story
• Don’t multi-task when helping your customer
• What are you really doing for your customers?

We like to say the “smart businesses” sharpen their customer service edge during a recession. And maybe this is so. But maybe not.

The smart businesses have been offering good customer service long before this recession. They will continue to do so. And they’ll come out of this downturn stronger than ever.

The others fall into three groups. One is those who never really improve customer service. They’ll drop prices. They’ll start aggressive rewards programs. And many will go out of business. But they’ll never improve service because they don’t get it.

The second group will improve their customer service during the recession. Some will still fail. But once business picks up, those still in business, will go back to their normal mode. They’ll focus more on new customers and on profits. Customer service will resume its place as the ugly step sister to sales and marketing.  Customer service will (again) be no more than a job title or department for them.

Avoid these first two groups. They’re in business to make money, not to help people.  Watch and you’ll see it in their actions.They’ll change with the wind and do whatever they think is necessary to get your business. But they are not there to serve you.

The third group is where the magic happens. These are companies run by people who embrace and encourage change. This tiny group will actually make permanent changes in how they do things. They will learn to focus on their customers. They’ll start to build a culture that values service over greed. They’ll remold their businesses to serve their customers in a way that is sustainable for them.

The recession will separate the good, the bad and the ugly. Many companies will fail because they fail to help their customers. Simply saying you deliver better customer service does not make it so. Customers are smarter now than ever. They know the difference between a company that exists to help them and one that exists to pick their pocket.

Use this recession as an opportunity to build  a better business. Build  a culture in your company that values service and you’ll build a company that can last forever.Other articles you might like:

• New law will start healthy conversations between restaurants and customers
• Using Twitter for Customer Service: 6 Reasons to Consider it in Your Business
• A lesson on changing your organization
• Lessons from the “Southside Mafia”
• How to Beat the Recession – Part 3

-Stephen Covey

Author of: The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes EverythingOther articles you might like:

• Customer Retention Tip: Fill their experience bank accounts
• Motivate yourself to deliver Amazing Customer Service
• Getting back to basics (of customer service)
• Customer service quote for September 16, 2009
• You Don’t Earn Customer Loyalty in a Day

(DVP) x (BA) = Change

D = Dissatisfaction (with a current situation or condition)
V = Vision (for how you would like things to be)
P = Plan (actions and strategies needed move you toward your vision)
B = Belief (the genuine belief and faith that you can make your vision happen)
A = Action (actions you actually take to move toward the change you want)

(This uses similar elements as both Gleicher’s Formula and the Harvard Change Model.)

It works like this:

D = Dissatisfaction (with a current situation or condition)

You decide you are dissatisfied with something. It could be anything. Anything that bugs you, irks you or that you want to change. For example, I’m working on losing weight. My present response to the earth’s gravitational pull is more than I want. It bothers me. I am dissatisfied with it.

V = Vision (for how you would like things to be)

Because of your dissatisfaction, you create a vision of how you would like things to be. This is where you paint a picture. How does your new and improved situation look? How does it feel? Walk around a little and experience the change you want. Then describe it in abundant detail. Be specific and tangible. make it simple to understand and easy to remember.

My vision for weight loss is easy. I step on the scale and it does not laugh at me anymore. Actually, my real vision is it say “180″ when I step on it rather than the current unreasonable value (which, for now, shall remain unpublished, unseen and highly classified).

P = Plan (actions and strategies to move you toward your vision)

The next step is to create your plan to make your vision reality. You can be as detailed or brief as you want. Make it work for you. But a requirement for every plan is action steps. make sure your plan includes actions you can take (right away) to begin moving toward your goal. Some people prefer the actions to be measurable. Some don’t. Some people chart their completion on actions steps. Others won’t. Again, do what works for you. Just be sure your actions steps move you closer to your vision. They should be reasonable, and doable. Or, as my high school running coach used to say, “stretch but don’t pull anything”.

Continuing my weight loss example, my plan includes several items. One is to exercise every day for at east 30 minutes. My wife and already walk the dog and workout at LA Fitness 3 times a week. So these 30 minute sessions would be in addition to those. Plus, I am eating at least 4 servings of fresh fruit or vegetable every day. And I am avoiding junk food, fast food and greasy food. (Too many calories and too much fat.) Finally, I’m watching my daily calorie count.

Notice, not all my plans are measurable. And not all are positive. That’s okay. The only two requirements are that they are doable and they will move you toward your goal. I know some self-help gurus say you need to measure and chart everything and set goals that are positive. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, unless it doesn’t work for you. Like I said before, do what works and forget the rest.

B = Belief (the genuine belief and faith that you can make your vision happen)

You have to believe you can make the change you want. All the visions and plans in the world are worthless if they’re not followed by action. And people will rarely take action on something without the belief or faith that can do it.

This does not necessarily mean you have all the answers or you know exactly what to do to accomplish your vision. This happens a lot less than most of us admit. Plans are fallible, subject to change because they’re not perfect. But belief (or faith) that is absolute. When you are confident you can do something even though you have no clue how you will do it, then you have belief. And that’s required for making a positive and permanent change in your life.

A = Action (actions you actually take to move toward the change you want)

Finally, you need to take action. All the talking and planning in the world won’t get you anywhere is you fail to take action. Remember, the Plan component details the NEEDED actions. It does not say you’ve actually done them. Action is where most attempts at change fall apart. It needs to be sustained yet flexible. You need to start and keep going, even when it seems things are not going the direction you want.

Nothing happens until someone takes action. There is no substitute for this.

Remember, change is a process, not a project. It’s an ongoing thing. Once I get my weight to 180 I won’t go back to my old ways. By that time I will have developed new habits based on the actions I have taken. Those that fit my life and help me meet my goals will remain. And isn’t that what change is all about?

What do you think? Would this work for you? Are you using this (or something like it) already?Other articles you might like:

• What is Leadership?
• Use faith and frustration to improve
• A simple four step plan for renewed success
• Remember What You Control (And What You Don’t)
• How to Beat the Recession – Part 3

Case in point: my recent lunch at Buca di Beppo. Buca is a chain of very colorful, slightly irreverent, highly tasty Italian restaurants. For a chain, the food is really pretty good. But this isn’t about the food.

One of the fun, quirky things Buca has always done is parade you through the kitchen as they escort you to your table — it’s part of the experience. It’s intended to be fun and interactive, and probably keeps the kitchen staff from swearing like a bunch of drunken sailors. I absolutely love this idea. In addition to the good food and interesting decor, this single act really made Buca stand out from the crowd.

But not this time. Yes, it was Easter Sunday. Yes, they were busier than normal. And I also heard the hostess say they were short-staffed. Which is why I shouldn’t have been surprised when our server sped through the kitchen like a hard-core mall walker. She stayed about 4 steps ahead of us and never really looked back as she pointed out the bread station, the cooking area, the “owners table” (not really the owners eating there, just plain folk like us), and about three other kitchen highlights that I missed because I was breathing too hard from trying to catch up to her. My 7 & 9 year old kids looked like they had just fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice and they were desperately trying to understand what the rabbit was trying to tell them.

When we reached our table, we were a bit dazed & confused. My wife shot me a look that said, “Was that as bad as I think it was?” I shot her a look back that said, “No, it was worse.” When you’ve been married for 19 years, you develop the ability to communicate without words. It’s one of perks of being married a really long time to somebody you love with all your heart.

Hey, we’re all short-staffed right now. We’re all trying to do more with less. And that’s the problem. We literally cannot do everything we used to do, but we keep trying. The result is a rapid decline in our level of service because we don’t have the time, money, or people to provide all the things we used to. Why are we doing this to ourselves?

More importantly, why are we doing this to our customers?

Seriously, as much as I love the idea of the kitchen tour, I would rather NOT have it than to chase the rabbit down the rabbit hole like we did. Something that was meant to be unique and fun instead became bewildering and the subject of an article on customer service.

At sparkspace, we’re forced to do more with less right now just like you are. We love, live, and breath customer service. We work daily to invent new ways to serve you. But right now, we can’t do everything we want to do, so we’ve had to (temporarily) let a few things go in order to have enough time, energy, and resources to do the things we still do, and to do them really well.

Here’s how we’re avoiding creating customer service failures right now. You can do the same things.

1. We’ve developed a list of the various components of our business that are critical to our success. For us, it’s reservations, operations, programs, catering, finance, and marketing. Your list should be specific to your business.

2. Under each area, we’ve listed FIVE OR FEWER things that we need to be really, really good at right now. For instance, under reservations, we listed that we need to be uber-good at responsiveness and we need to answer the phone every time in two rings or less. You’ll probably notice that your lists are not much more than the basics.

3. We read and re-read our lists. Then we allow ourselves to forget (temporarily) all those other cool things we used to do and focus on this list while our resources are limited. It helps to understand that this will not last forever.

Even when things are going great and we have all the money and resources that we need, we should never, ever forget to focus on the basics. If we don’t get the basics right, even the world’s best kitchen tour won’t be enough to create the kind of customer loyalty that we all desire.

So the moral of today’s article is: If you don’t have the resources you need right now, get out of the kitchen! And go back to doing the basics, really, really, REALLY well.Other articles you might like:

• To improve customer service get back to basics
• You’re Here to Serve Your Customers
• Recipe for a great customer experience
• Customer service basics are timeless
• Customer service means making good on your mistakes

Seth Godin has some useful things to say about this. Here’s a great example  from his latest book, Tribes:

“Sternin went to Vietnam to try to help starving children. Rather than importing tactics he knew would work, or outside techniques that he was sure could make a difference, he sought out the few families who weren’t starving, the few moms who weren’t just getting by but were thriving. And then he made it easy for these mothers to share their insights with the rest of the group.”

Godin goes on to quote Jerry Sternin:

“The traditional model for social and organizational change doesn’t work. It never has. You can’t bring permanent solutions in from outside.”

This is powerful stuff. This tells us we need to think and act differently than we have been. The old model, as Sternin points out, has been to look outward for the big solutions. So we hire consultants to come in and tell us how to do things better.  And sometimes that works fine.

But mostly it will not. Here’s why.

Unless your organization is completely dysfunctional, you already have most of the solutions you need. They exist in the knowledge, creativity and experience of your management, your employees and your customers. These people know your company best. Put them all together and nobody has more insight into how your company works.

The key is to engage all three of these groups so they want to find and implement solutions. I call this “getting everyone involved”. To do this you need to create a persistent and transparent flow of information between these three groups. 

This enables you, as a manager or leader, to dive deep into the most valuable asset your organization has: your employees and customers. Find out what your customers want from you. Figure out how to deliver that in a way that is sustainable and meets your goals. And ask your employees and customers to help you deliver on that promise.

It’s okay to get help from the outside. You need to keep abreast of what’s going on in the world. And bringing in new ideas from the outside can be healthy. Otherwise you risk becoming stagnant and inbred.

But don’t expect complete solutions from the outside. Don’t look outside for every detail on how to implement your plans. Just because a specific model or plan worked in one company does not mean it will work for yours. Because your company is different. 

The key is to take in the best ideas and from them synthesize a solution that will be most effective for only one company: yours. And you need to do this with your people: you employees, your managers and your customers.Other articles you might like:

• How to Beat the Recession – Part 3
• Use customer service standards to engage customers and employees
• Here’s how to have real customer loyalty
• Five Ways to Improve Customer Service Starting Today
• Minnesota Public Radio knows how to engage customers

I found the article fascinating because the it talked about specific things these people do to get higher mileage. Most suggestions they offered were low-tech things anyone could do. Like coasting when ever possible or driving the speed limit. They employ a lot of little behavorial changes to produce some remarkable outcomes, like 100 miles per gallon!

What I really like about this article is that it shows us how easy it is to make changes in our lives. It’s not hard to produce a different outcome than what we have in the past. Even better, producing big changes in outcomes does not necessarily require making big changes. Because a lot of small changes can add up to a big difference in outcomes.

The same is true with customer loyalty. You can experience big changes in customer loyalty by making small changes in how you deliver customer service. You do not have to make massive changes to your organization to improve customer service or customer loyalty.

But you do need to be consistent about the changes you make. And you need to keep doing them or you won’t see the outcome you want.

So, take time to discover what you can do better for your customers. Learn this by asking them. Then implement small changes in that direction. Get your employees involved in creating the changes. Teach them what they are accountable for and monitor their behavior. Make these your new customer service standards.

If your employees change their actions according to your new standards and they stay consistent then you’ll start to see improvements in your customer loyalty. It might take awhile but stick with it and you’ll see amazing results.Other articles you might like:

• Customer Retention Tip: Let your employees be real
• Never Ask for Referrals
• 5 things your customer service training should cover
• For better customer service be consistent
• Know your company’s customer service standards or create your own

Part of leadership is passion for the purpose and the mission of the organization. But it needs to be passion with direction and focus. It needs to have strength of character; courage, integrity and fairness or it cannot sustain itself.

Leadership needs to have drive and initiative. It needs to have faith that what you are doing is the right thing. It needs to inspire that same faith in others because leadership understands that you can’t do anything worthwhile alone.

Leadership is what plows the road of doubt, fear and uncertainty. Leadership paves the way for others to help create something that did not previously exist. Leadership has broad shoulders but a gentle heart.

Leadership changes our world. It’s not about power but it empowers anyone it touches. Leadership makes things clear and simple and forthright. Leadership makes all good things possible.

To be a leader is to see the future. A leader sees what is not yet there but what is possible.

In the end, leadership is about faith and people and purpose. It’s about having the vision to know what to do, the faith that it’s the right thing to do and the courage to enlist others in the pursuit of your vision.Other articles you might like:

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