The Daily RICHual

Over the Holidays my sons, step-daughters, grandkids and others came over to hang out and celebrate the season. December was also a time when I was fresh off several flights to and from a variety of destinations. With a head full of recent experiences with the various friendly skies of the airline industry, I was excited to deliver my guests the same level of hospitality that had been given to me.

Today, I want to talk about this concept that is tossed around so frequently in the workplace and in our lives that I think we misunderstand what it means. It’s time to talk about, yes, working smarter.

So, Are you a good listener? Many people aren’t. In this episode, we’ll examine WHY you would want to be a better listener, the KINDS of listeners, WHICH is the best type, and HOW to be the best listener I can possibly be.

If you are customer centric, if your company is customer centric it goes far beyond actual customer service. Being truly customer centric reflects your ability to show customer oriented leadership, it shows your ability to understand your customer. You have designed the experience they have for THEM, you empower them, you put them first, you design ways to measure their satisfaction and you correct the customer centric ship when it drifts off course. AND….. you give great service. Here are 8 rules/laws/tips for great customer service.

With the new year already in full swing, most of you have put together either resolutions, goals, or plans OR some variation of all of those. And while we business planners reinforce important things like our vision statement, set new goals, play with the budget and finances, and carefully design our action plan; we ignore a key component of success in this year. Strengths.

So here we are, saying good-bye to the year and look to the coming year with hope and anticipation. Honestly, I can’t help but to think it’s going to be an excellent year. The question, then, becomes: How do I (I meaning you, me, anybody) make it a better year, or at least have it be as good as we’d like it? For me, the answer has always been clear: OPTIMISM!