Customer service lessons from Tony Soprano and Club MedWritten by Cathy Goodwin
Whether you work one-to-one or deal with customers in groups, you identify a target market of customers most likely to value what you can offer. You develop processes that work best with those clients. You learn to anticipate their responses and help them feel pampered. Ideally, you recruit new customers who fit your target customer profile, but sometimes you attract a customer who doesn't belong. These customer misfits can drain your energy, alienate other customers and fail to recognize value you provide through your service. A lesson from Tony Soprano For an extreme example of what happens when you accept a "different" type of client, watch a few episodes of The Sopranos, an HBO mega-hit. You can rent videotapes of first two seasons. Almost every episode includes scenes between mob boss Tony Soprano and his psychiatrist, Janet Melfi. These scenes are so realistic that professional psychotherapy associations have included them in training programs. From a customer service perspective, psychiatrist seems overwhelmed by her notorious client. She can't resist hinting at his identity during a dinner party. And Tony in turn is dangerous to his therapist. His curiosity about her background goes well beyond average client's harmless fantasy, as he orders a wayward cop to follow her around for a few days. Tony means well. When therapist's car breaks down, her patient simply "borrows" car and arranges for a repair at one of "family" garages. He brushes away therapist's concern about boundaries.
| | Midlife Career Change Can Feel Like Getting a DivorceWritten by Cathy Goodwin
Most of us are aware that we need to grieve death of a close friend, relative or favorite pet. We are beginning to learn that other events -- relocation, divorce, illness -- can also be experienced as loss.Losing a professional-level career can also be a source of grief, anger and frustration. Starting a business is a death as well as a birth. You may feel as though you are getting a divorce after a twenty-year marriage. Here's why. 1. Sometimes career leaves you. The field wants "younger people." Or you have to change in ways that violate your sense of self. 2. Sometimes you leave a career that seems perfectly wonderful and fulfilling to those on outside. "The money's so good," your mother says, "and it's not as if you're scrubbing floors all day. Can't you just hang in there and pretend you like it?" 3. You feel disloyal. After all, you've gained a lot from this career. For rest of your life, you will view world through lens created by your training and experience. You will question assumptions, criticize, challenge, argue, prepare, organize, or negotiate. 4. Friends take sides. After you leave, some former colleagues no longer return your calls. Others try to engage you in a rousing session of "Aren't they horrible," which you don't want either.
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