Customer Service Isn't Just A Department

It’s one of the first things a road-weary traveler searches out when he or she arrives in their hotel room: the Guest Services Directory. That little book, packed full of information, gives the traveler the rules of the hotel. And don’t kid yourself, hotels all have rules and it is best if you acquaint yourself with the rules before you go and make an embarrassment of yourself.

I arrived at the hotel, an international business-class chain of hotels. I had stayed at this hotel on several occasions and I expected that my stay would be much like the last experience – at least as satisfactory.

After checking-in, and making my way down the hall of old, lumpy and overstretched carpeting, I arrived at my room to find the phone ringing. It was the front desk calling to say that I had left my credit card there. (Not really how I remember it – the clerk simply forgot to give it back to me.) So I was asked to return to the front desk to pick it up. On my way to the desk, (again over the lumpy worn-out carpeting) I thought this would have been a great opportunity for the hotel to show some courtesy and professionalism by having the card sent up to my room instead of me fetching it since I was on the top floor and as far away from the elevators as possible. But that was not the case.

It was much later that evening when I decided to have a late supper – it happens sometimes – time-zone changes and all. I had scoured the Guest Services Directory to find that room service served until 10:00 pm. I phoned down at 9:10 pm. No answer. I was then connected with the front desk.

“No sir, they close at nine,” said the clerk.

“But your Directory says ten,” I relied.

“Oh, that’s a mistake then,” she brushed off.

After my trip around the city looking for a place to find something to eat at almost 9:30 at night, I found a Subway open which meant sandwich for supper.

The next morning, two guests were complaining in the elevator that the pool and hot tub were supposed to be open until eleven (according to the Directory) but actually closed at ten.

“Aren’t you Kevin Burns the speaker?” asked the clerk at the front desk.

“Yes, I am.”

“I attended one of your sessions a few years ago when I was with another company. So how was your stay?”

I related my stories of the room service hours in the directory as well as the complaint of the folks in the elevator. I also asked about the obviously worn carpets in the halls.

“Oh those are being replaced,” she offered, “As soon as we can find a crew to do the work.” (It’s a tough time finding people to do anything in Western Canada – short labour pool.)

“Perhaps you could put a little sign in each of the rooms telling your guests that carpets are about to be changed. If you don’t tell us you know about the problem, we are just to assume you either don’t know of just don’t care. And the directory needs to be reviewed. Apparently a few things have changed but the directory has not.”

And with that I checked out.

Two days later I received an email from the hotel Manager and an invitation to return for another night with the hotel’s compliments.

Attitude Adjustment:
Tell your clients what you’re doing. Let them know you care. Let them know you’re on top of things before they have to ask. Show them some courtesy. Make sure the information you give them is accurate. Make it as easy as possible for them to do business with you. They will. And when you change how you do business with them, tell them. And when you mess up, make it right – right away. Customer Service isn’t just a department – it’s an attitude!

"Tough Labor Market" As An Excuse

Clive Beddoe, former CEO of WestJet Airlines (a company I not only admire but frequent as often as I can) was asked a question in a television interview, "How is it possible that every single Westjet employee I meet has a smile on their face?"

Beddoe replied, "I learned long ago that you can't teach people how to have a personality. So we just hire people with great personalities and then train them to do the job."

With that being said, understand that Beddoe was asked the question before huge expansion of his airline and long before the western Canada labour pool became depleted. That answer, although it may still apply in other places, doesn't work anymore. Is Westjet's service as good as it once was? No it's not. I'm a customer. I've noticed the difference. Huge expansion and a tight labour market mean you're not always going to get the cream of the crop.

In many parts of North America, and particularly in Western Canada, we are dipping so far down into the gene pool to find warm bodies to fill positions in a tight labour market that people, who wouldn't have even gotten an interview a few years ago, are being hired on the spot. Now this has presented a challenge to employers and employees. Many new employees would not have been "first choice" employees a few years ago because many of them lack the basic social skills and internal motivation to take charge on the job.

Years ago we would have taken the employees with personality and trained them in sales, time management, goal-setting and other developmental courses. However, today, and this is VERY important, many of the new hires lack self-discipline, self-esteem and self-confidence. So attempting to train them in the old ways (time management, sales, goal setting, etc) is an absolute waste of a company's time and money. A person lacking in self-discipline will go right back to their old ways within seven days of a time-managment course: showing up late, missing deadlines, scrambling at the last minute. The same with sales, goals and even safety. These people require soft-skills training first and THEN the standard training after.

Personal development should be the order of the day for most organizations. Improve your people and the organization will improve. Improve the PEOPLE, not the people's ability to do the job. Do you get the difference? Help them learn and understand simple things like values, ethics, accountability and personal responsibility. Make them get that part first and then you can teach them the other stuff.

Get this point: it's a different labour market so stop thinking they can be trained the same way you would have trained baby-boomers. It doesn't work. So stop it. The only reason company executives are complaining about tight labour markets is because those same executives refuse to change their minds about how they train their people and then complain about the poor quality in the labour pool. Maybe it's easier to whine than to be accountable and act.

I had a manager once who had a desktop statue of a pig. Below it was the following inscription: Never try to teach a pig to sing - it's a waste of your time and it annoys the pig."

Get that message. People don't leave your organization because you don't offer enough time-management courses. They leave because they want to feel proud about their work. Pride comes from within. Motivation comes from within. Accountability comes from within. Responsibility comes from within. So stop appealing to your people externally and start changing them internally. You will be more likely to keep them for a longer period of time doing a better job.

The old ways don't work anymore. When any organization embraces this new reality, they're going to begin to kick the butts of their competitors. Mark my words.

And if you're an employee, it's up to you to do this for yourself or you'll find yourself drifting from job to job in the hopes that one day, the Job-Satisfaction Fairy will wave her magic wand and you'll start loving your job. Sorry Bucky, it doesn't work that way. The job gets better when you get better. Improve yourself and you increase your value ... and ultimately your paycheck.

Employee Tip #12 - You Are Not Entitled To Anything

The biggest barrier to happiness in life is a sense of entitlement. So long as you feel that you are entitled to something, the more you will tie your happiness to obtaining what you feel you are entitled to. If you don't have what you think you are owed, you will focus on that one thing and it will consume you.

Having now said that let me help illustrate that point. Pretend you've been with the company the longest of any of the other employees and your boss makes an announcement that the new kid, the twenty-four year old whiz kid in business school is being promoted and will now be your boss. If you feel, because of seniority, that you are entitled to that promotion, you will no longer cheerfully do your best on the job and in all likelihood, you will take every opportunity to make your new boss look foolish or at least develop a less-than-positive attitude about your new circumstances. The truth is, is that your new boss will have every right to fire you because you refuse to let go of your sense of entitlement.

In business, if a sales representative is fired for non-performance, that sales rep can assume that the next paycheck is the last paycheck. As much as that sales rep may have played a part in the current success of the company, once he or she has been fired, that's it. However, if that sales rep has a sense of entitlement to share in future profits of the business, well then the sales rep will never be able to move on. So long as he or she hangs onto their sense of entitlement, he or she will never move forward nor will he or she be attractive to other businesses.

Years ago I heard a great saying that addresses entitlement: the world owes you nothing - it was here first. But unfortunately, because of the way many parents today try to give their kids everything that they themselves never received, are they really preparing their kids to have a good work ethic? Think about it. If our kids come to know that the Bank of Mom and Dad is always open, will they ever really learn the concept of self-sufficiency? I think not.

All too often we are exposed to the concept of entitlement as it pertains to politicians. "I am entitled to my entitlements," were the historic words of one Canadian politician under investigation for lavishly spending at the taxpayers' expense. If our leaders can't understand that we are not entitled to anything, how in the world are the rest of us supposed to get it.

As an employee, you are not entitled to anything outside of your paycheck, basic necessities to do your job, a safe work environment, tools required to accomplish your tasks and maybe a bathroom.

• You are not entitled to be promoted - that's something you earn.
• You are not entitled to a pay raise - that is something you earn.
• You are not entitled to a benefits package - that is something the company does voluntarily.
• You are not entitled to paper clips, staplers, and notepads for home use - that is theft.
• You are not entitled to a company vehicle - unless that is a condition of your employment.
• You are not entitled to come and go as you please or to show up late - unless specifically set out in your terms of employment.
• You are not entitled to show up to work hung-over or possibly still drunk or high - that is simply irresponsible.
• You are not entitled to whine, moan and complain about your lousy job or your circumstances at work - that will not make the job any better.
• You are not entitled to attend personal development courses at the company's expense - that is entirely up to you. (However, many companies are finally clueing in that if they improve the employee, the company will and must improve. But the company is not required to do it.)
• You are not entitled to a full day's pay for a half-day's work - that too is theft.

However, with that being said, there are a few things that you are entitled to:

• You are entitled to give more than is asked.
• You are entitled to treat the company property with respect.
• You are entitled to treat your boss and co-workers with respect - even if they don't treat you with the same respect.
  
• You are entitled to show up early and stay late.
• You are entitled to be a positive influence on the rest of the staff and to make the job a better place to work.
• You are entitled to agree to take the job regardless of the working conditions.
• You are entitled to leave the job if you don't like it.
• You are entitled to improve yourself and, in turn, your personal value.
• You are entitled to give your full attention to the job since you agreed to take the job in the first place.
• You are entitled to ensure that those who are not pulling their weight are either reported or are spoken to.
• You are entitled to enjoy yourself while you do your work.
• You are entitled to receive your agreed-upon paycheck provided you've kept your agreement - to work.
• You are entitled to cheerfully accept that the job that you do was chosen by you.

Sorry, but as I look at it now, I realize that the headline is wrong. You ARE entitled to some things.

Boss Tip #17 - “Courtesy” Attitude Is A Time-Saver

John and I had an hour-long phone call yesterday. The phone call was in response to an email he had sent after receiving my article on The Three Most Important Things In Life.

It seems that as John’s organization grows, changes are made to process, policy and direction. But the need to review and update these changes in written reference manuals has begun to lag behind. He presented me with an opportunity to offer input on how to make the updating of the written reference materials a higher priority for all involved in the organization.

“Courtesy” Management is a concept that I believe, if adopted by organizations everywhere, would be not only a time-saver but would allow employees the freedom to complete their tasks without needing to interrupt others in the workplace. It would also make them more autonomous in their responsibilities giving each employee the feeling of greater control over their jobs. When employees have autonomy in their work, performance goes up and morale goes up with it.

Here’s what “Courtesy” Management is.

Courtesy, although primarily thought of as a personal trait, is an attitudinal skill which can and should be utilized in the workplace. Courtesy is an attitude. When changes are made to corporate or organizational policy, those changes should be reflected right away in any archive written materials. If an employee goes looking for the answer to a question or concern, that employee should be able to find the answer in the written materials and manuals. I mean, where else would you look for information on policy other than the policy manual.

Update from an attitude of courtesy. Otherwise, a decision may be made based on out-of-date information and time will need to be taken later on to correct the mistake. Courtesy says that an employee should not have to wander the halls hoping to find the right person to answer a question which should be written down somewhere – especially as it pertains to policy, process and direction of the organization. Picture how frustrating it would be to one employee wandering the halls for one piece of information because no one that it important enough to inform the employees. What kind of attitude do you think that instills?

If an employee is sent in search of an answer that has not been updated in the written reference materials, he or she must interrupt the work flow of possibly many employees until the answer is found. Each time, other employees must stop to answer questions. They are then pulled away from their own work flow and performance and productivity suffer. What kind of attitude do you think results when that happens?

Courtesy says that people have jobs to do. The courteous thing to do is to respect that everyone wants to perform their job without unnecessary interruption. Therefore, if a change is made to organizational policy, computer software, etc., then the courteous thing to do would be to make sure everyone has easy access to the new information.

Forcing your people to go in search of an answer when they should be accomplishing their responsibilities is not a courteous thing to do to employees. So don't give them attitude for not getting more work done. Had the answer been where it was supposed to be, they would have been back to work much sooner.

Similarly, if an employee shows up at work with a flu bug, they risk infecting several others with the same bug. Courtesy says to stay away from others if you yourself are sick. Showing up at work while deathly ill is simply selfish, regardless of how much work needs to be done.

(Just this morning I received a phone call from my dentist’s office. My appointment today had to be rescheduled because my dentist is sick. I’m glad he chose not to come in today and risk infecting me with his bug. That’s a courtesy attitude in action.)

When you train your people to think “courtesy,” then you ensure that courtesy will begin to permeate the interactions with clients, customers and other staff and departments. Your people, while being respectful of others time, duties and responsibilities, will come to expect the same courtesies that they themselves offer up. What you then generate is a respectful workplace – one where people actually begin work closer together.

Make it a policy for your people, if they are sick, to leave a new voice mail message telling people that they are off sick today. That way, clients don’t expect to have their phone calls returned immediately. Better yet, find someone who can take the calls personally for the sick person offering perhaps a solution to a caller’s inquiry instead of piling up the workload for the person off sick. Be courteous to your clients and customers as well as your people.

An attitude of courtesy is easy but not simple. Here’s the problem: courtesy can not be taught. It can only be modeled. It has to be modeled from the top down. You, as the boss, must ask yourself at every opportunity whether or not you are the model of courtesy in your actions. I’m not saying you have to start “wimping” out and walking on eggshells around your people. But I am saying that you can still be firm, forthright, respectful and courteous all at the same time.

You, as the boss, will instill the same courtesy in your staff that you yourself model. You can’t tell people how to be courteous. You have to show them. Your attitude has to show them. Think of how refreshing it would be to have a staff that wanted to be courteous and still productive. It can be done. You just have to have the attitude that you want it done.