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Customer Service and Leadership

What’s the relationship between Customer Service and Leadership? I firmly believe that as a Leader at any level of an organisation you have responsibility for setting the standards of customer service that your part of an organisation will deliver. As a role model for your team, whether it’s internal or external customers the way you deal with your customers will set the standard that your team will deliver against.

Customer satisfaction should be the number one priority of any business. It can make a huge difference to the bottom line. As a leader you have a responsibility for training your team members to ensure that they are always striving to increase your customers’ satisfaction and building a good relationship with the customers.

15 Ways to Increase Customer Satisfaction:

So how exactly do you ensure that they are always striving to improve the levels of customer service that your clients are receiving? The following suggestions of benchmarks that you and your team can measure and monitor yourselves against might help you to achieve your goal.

Listen to what they have to say. Some will just need to rant, even if they are in the wrong. Don’t take it personally and always respond in a professional manner. Others may have a valid point and need to know someone is actually listening to them.
Don’t refer the person to someone else. No one likes to get the run around and be shoved off onto someone else. Get the answers the client needs as quickly as possible.
Keep your promises. Only agree to what you can actually deliver. Telling the client you can deliver more than you can not only stresses you but you lose the customer’s trust.
On the other hand, under-promise and over-deliver whenever possible.
Be courteous. Thank your customer for their business. Let them talk without interrupting.
Develop personal relationships with your clients. Treat each one as if he’s your most important client, even if he is your cheapest.
Anticipate their needs. Go the extra step and be ahead of them.
Apologize if you are wrong or make a mistake. Everyone makes them.
Respond quickly to communications. One working day turnaround time should be top priority for all customer inquiries.
Be honest. If a requested deadline can’t be met let your client know before you take their order.
Keep in touch with the customer. Follow-up with a postcard, an email or a simple thank you phone call.
Ask for feedback from your customers. They will give you information to help you improve your customer service and your business reputation.
Listen to what your unsatisfied customers have to say. Act on their advice if it is the right thing to do.
Smile. Be happy and courteous. Never answer the phone, a text or email when you’re angry. Before you pick up the phone or keyboard, paste a smile on your face and in your voice.
Throw away your scripts. People want to hear from real people who treat them like individuals. Each situation is different so you shouldn’t have a prewritten script that won’t fit everyone.

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important parts of any business. Learning how to deal with your customers the right way will increase your customer satisfaction, build a community that trusts you and lead to a bigger bottom line. The standards you set and agree with your team as their leader in terms of customer service could also form the basis of your relationship with your team couldn’t they? Customer Service and Leadership go hand in hand. What do you need to do to make you and your team more effective?

Are You Ready To Step Up and Lead?

Are you doing enough to stand out from the crowd and step up into that leadership role within your business or organisation?

Some years ago I came across an individual who had all the talent, skills, resourcefulness and potential for a promotion. However, they continued to go unnoticed while many of their colleagues were being recognised and indeed promoted. We agreed that she needed to find ways that they could get noticed at work and onto the fast track to a promotion.

First there were four questions that needed to be considered:

Am I gradually slipping into more and more obscure roles at work?
Have my colleagues with the same experience and talent already moved up the ladder?
Are my ideas and opinions looked upon as insignificant by my manager and team leaders?
Am I ready to move into the spotlight?

When she realised most of her answers were yes she knew she had to learn how to increase her visibility.

She needed to begin by learning to promote herself. We are the salesperson for our own skills. Just as with a job interview, where we sell ourselves to a potential employer, the same is true for when we are ready for a promotion.

10 Steps To Get Noticed

She came up with 10 ways to get noticed at work and get on the fast track to a promotion.

1. Dress professionally and appropriate to your positon. Be well groomed and invest in your appearance.

2. Be on time to the job, for meetings and functions. Be there for important events.

3. Respect others and yourself. Treat others with respect. Greet people with pleasantries. Be helpful and supportive to new employees. Make friends in other departments. Give complements and tell others when they are doing a good job.

4. Share your knowledge. Go ahead and share it with your boss. Be prepared to share your skills.

5. Make your presence felt whenever possible. Do your research ahead of time. Ask good questions and be visible at meetings and important functions. Add value as well as hard work.

6. Find your niche by knowing your stuff and your worth. Be confident in what you know. What are you really good at? Become the expert in it.

7. Be a good communicator. Your body language, how you talk, and your conversations should all reflect your confidence. Speak up clearly. Be assertive.

8. Get know throughout the organization. Be someone others recognize for their friendliness, hard work and the value they add to the company.

9. Be a leader. Don’t be afraid to head up committees.

10. Stay up to date with what is happening in the world. Know who the company competitors are and what they are doing. Do your market research. Join LinkedIn, start your own blog based on your profession, be on Twitter following your business. Be visible.

There are many ways to become more visible to your employer and get on the fast track to a promotion. It takes more than hard work and longevity. Suzy began implementing many of these tips and is on the way to getting that promotion she’s been eyeing.

Are You Inspiring Your Team?

Job satisfaction doesn’t always mean financial rewards. Many people attribute being happy with their jobs and feeling like they are a valuable part of the team as what gives them job satisfaction. Being appreciated consistently and getting feedback on their performance can affect a business’ chance of keeping employees motivated.

Are you inspiring your team so that they stay motivated and engaged? Often you or your managers will forget to encourage and reward the team members to keep them motivated. Motivation is often just using some type of common sense.

Here are 12 ways to inspire your team members to be motivated and engaged.

1. Keep your promises to them. If you made certain promises when you hired them, and you should have, then your employees expect you to keep your promises. Things like pay, working conditions and job security are basic expectations.

2. Challenge your team members. Those employees who are the most sought after seek challenges to help them grow and learn.

3. Don’t use fear as a way to motivate. Making your team members fear the loss of their job will only lower morale and energy levels.

4. Use their creativity as a motivator. Give them projects that let them use their own creativity.

5. Don’t be too strict and formal with your rules. You should have clear standards set and stick to them fairly but you also need to allow for a little wiggle room.

6. Know your team member’s personal goals and values. This lets you see how you can inspire them and keep them motivated. Pay attention to their lives outside of work. Showing them they are valued as team players and you will gain their respect.

7. Outline clear career paths for each team member.

8. Make sure your team members have what they need and want. Don’t take for granted they have all the tools, training they need or the support they need from their supervisors.

9. Keep the lines of communication open. Make sure you offer plenty training sessions, send out regular newsletters, use memos and regular meetings. Ask questions and if they don’t understand or are confused about something, find a way to get the message to them in another format or wording.

10. Coach them for success. Practice random acts of kindness. Give useful but positive feedback often. Give feedback in a way that encourages your team members to continue doing good work. If you must give negative feedback, do it quickly and privately. Don’t discuss problems while other members are present. Don’t forget to say “Thank you” to team members who have done a good job.

11. Treat all your team members the same way and with respect and trust. Use your best judgment and experience when problems arise. When you make a mistake apologize and admit you’re wrong. Your team members will relate to this and you will earn their respect for being honest.

12. Make work fun. Smile. Making work fun lets people be more relaxed. That let’s get more work done since they are more likely to enjoy themselves.

No matter how many team members you have, you may well see your turnover rate will drop drastically if employees are happy in their jobs. They try hard to be better at what they are doing, employee morale stays high and your business will be more enjoyable for all involved.

How To Feel More Confident As A Leader

I remember coaching one individual who was responsible for managing a key team of people. There was one problem though which they and their line manager had identified which led to me becoming involved. They lacked the confidence in their own ability in the role of leadership. They were constantly asking their boss if they should do this or say that. Their boss was starting to have become concerned because, even though they knew that the individual had the skills, the team were floundering as well without the strong confidence from their Line Manager.

Does this sound familiar? Are you feeling less than confident in your own leadership role? So let’s take a look at how to feel more confident in your leadership role.

Confidence isn’t something you learn like rules. It’s your state of mind. It begins with positive thinking, practicing, training and gaining knowledge. You build confidence through actions and acceptance of your own skills and experience.

Are you ready to be confident leader? Have you hidden your power and confidence from your company’s leaders? There are ways to feel more confident even when you aren’t.

Keep your emotions out of it.

Good leaders know that their emotions don’t normally have a place in business. Yelling and getting animated over problems have no place in the workplace. Allowing your emotions to get in the way is a sign you’re not objective enough and may be too passionate about the situation. Learn how to put your emotions aside.

Respond decisively and with conviction.

Leaders who have self-confidence don’t show any signs of doubt. You can do the same by speaking with conviction and authority- even if you are unsure. This shows your employees you are in control.

Act like you have confidence.

If you are lacking confidence in some area, put on a smile and act like you do have confidence. Don’t lose your composure by worrying and giving in to fear. As the saying goes, “fake it until you make it.”

Know your strengths.

Knowing your character strengths helps you build your confidence in the areas you are lacking. Play up to your strengths in the way you lead. If you are good at building morale, use it in your role. If you are better at appointing work to others in a fair way, find ways to carry that over into other areas.

See yourself as confident.

A strong leader has a compelling vision of how they want to lead others. They know where they want their career to go. You can develop this skill by creating your own vision. See yourself as confident.

Hire a coach or find a mentor or role model.

You may need to get help building your leadership confidence. Hire a coach who specializes in building confidence. A mentor is another way you can build your confidence. Having someone who is already a confident leader mentor you through those times when your confidence is lacking will go a long way in building your self-confidence.

Take courses in leadership.

Most community colleges, technical schools and business schools offer courses on being a good leader. These courses will walk you through different scenarios and help you build confidence in how you handle them.

Most leaders aren’t born with the confidence it takes to lead others. It takes time and practice to before you begin to feel confident in your role as a leader.

The Importance Of Self-Awareness

I want to take a look at something I have been talking to a number of people about of late and that is the importance of self-awareness and how to increase your self-awareness as a team leader.

How do you know you are being a good leader? What are the most important traits you need to have to be a good leader? Is there one characteristic that is more important than any other? Some believe it is being a good motivator while others say it’s having integrity. According to psychologist and author Sherrie Campbell it is self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the ability to monitor one’s own emotions and reactions.

“Self-awareness keeps us grounded, attuned and focused,” said Campbell, author of “Loving Yourself: The Master of Being Your Own Person” (AuthorHouse, 2012). “When leaders are grounded, they are able to be efficient and deliberate in staying on task, and being attuned to those around them. Leaders who have the ability to control their minds and emotions help to guide those around them to develop their own self-knowledge and success.”

It can be difficult to master the skill of becoming aware of oneself but it can be done.

Learn to be mindful of your own weaknesses and strengths. Self-aware leaders are mindful of what they can and can’t do.
A mindful leader has strong boundaries in place. It’s fine to be friendly to others but you need to say no when you have to.
Figure out what your emotional triggers are. Self-aware leaders can immediately identify their emotions. You don’t want to limit your emotions or even deny what is causing them. Instead you need to be able to be flexible with them and process them before you communicate with others.
Self-aware leaders embrace their intuition. They trust their gut instinct and are willing to take any risks associated with following them. Instincts come from our need to succeed and the survival of the fittest. Your gut instincts tell you what you should do next. Go ahead and trust them.
When you are self-aware, you are disciplined in every area of your life. Practice self-discipline to help you stay focused as a strong leader.
Those that are self-aware are able to remain focused even among the many distractions in business environments. You need to train yourself to block everything out but what you are focusing on for long periods of time. That means the distractions of social media, emails and office politics as well.
There are a plethora of courses and self-help guides available to help you build your self-awareness. Personality test like the Myers-Briggs Predictive Index and the Strengths Finder are both popular and very good at helping you dig into self-reflection. Some people say that these psychometric tests can be useful for getting an objective view of how you behave.
Being new experiences can help you discover things about yourself that you don’t normally face as I have talked about previously. Your reactions to new people, environments or demands can help you see how you deal with your everyday life. Take a different type of vacation or try a new hobby. A stimulating or energizing activity may help you find hidden talents or other things you didn’t know about yourself.
Tell your life story to your mentor or coach. They will hear and see much more than the words you are saying. It can help them understand who you are and give you feedback on what they see.
Again as I have talked about before trying doing a daily writing exercise. Writing down your thoughts and feelings daily can help you build your emotional confidence. It can also help you keep track of the range of emotions you may be experiencing during any particular period of time when you review it at a late time.

Having a high level of self-awareness helps you be a better team leader by helping you build better relationships. When you know your strengths and weaknesses, you’re better able to control your emotions, and you can face situations from a distant perspective you are seen as a confident leader by your team members.

If you are interested in reading more about self-awareness then do take a look at Sherrie Campbell’s book Loving Yourself: The Mastery of Being Your Own Person in the UK or in the USA