Schedule Time for InterruptionsWritten by Eric Plantenberg
One of most challenging situations people face when planning their day is how to stick to their schedule when they are constantly being interrupted. Just when your activities are organized, someone else’s emergency seems to get in way. A client has a crisis, co-workers are in a jam, your boss is breathing down your neck, a friend calls, or any of dozens of other interruptions you face on any given day. The training tip for month of March is extremely simple and equally powerful ~ Schedule Time for Interruption. That’s right, just as you would schedule a meeting with a customer or event with your boss, scheduling a specific time in your day for interruptions is a technique that our students nation wide continually tell us is one of most powerful time management tips they have ever used. How does this work? There are two components. First, as you are planning your day or week, allot a certain amount of time for sole purpose of dealing with ‘other people’s emergencies.’ What normally happens when someone calls or comes running into your office with something that they need your immediate help with? You drop whatever you are in middle of and rush to their attention. Not only is their issue something that may not be of any importance to you, but I recently heard that it takes most people around 20 minutes to return to level of focus they had before being interrupted. Wonder where those ‘lost hours’ go each day? Rebounding from all your interruptions!
| | Take Care of Yourself Before You Take Care of Your CustomersWritten by Eric Plantenberg
One of most important questions people ask when they are focused on improving their quantity and quality of business is: “What is my competitive advantage? What makes me unique, memorable, special… what truly sets me apart from rest?" While there are no definitively right answers to that question, most people come to some conclusion that customer service is a critical component of your competitive advantage. For most businesses, service they offer can vary from exceptional to not so hot, depending upon circumstances. Why is that? Why does same company, and even same people within that company provide world class service some of time, and marginal service (or worse) other times? That answer can be found in asking a different question: “What makes you (or your staff) happy when serving your customers?” While these answers also vary, most people come up with some sort of variation of “I am happy when my customer is happy.” Do we enjoy dealing with agitated or disgruntled people? Normally not. We derive our joy from delivering value, by making others feel good about their experience, and by exceeding people’s expectations. What comes first then? The happy customer or happy person serving customer? This is not chicken or egg quandary. The happy person serving customer NEEDS to come first, because it is a very unusual day when your customer comes into your business looking to cheer YOU up.
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