Michelle Ray

Business and Leadership Keynote Speaker

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transformational service

Sink Or Swim? How To Anticipate Change

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Why do organizations repeatedly react to rather than plan for change? Why are leaders often stupefied by the glaring realization that their workforces are aging, or that their customers have “suddenly” switched allegiances?

Consider the example of Mike, a manager working in the wholesale grocery business. Mike sought my advice to lead his department through change. He had just received a list of his company’s soon-to-be retired employees. [Read more…] about Sink Or Swim? How To Anticipate Change

Are you taking the lead with your customers?

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A friend of mine went to pick up his dry cleaning last Friday. While this isn’t exactly headline news, be assured that the dry cleaner in question has no idea that he is the main story of my blog. He doesn’t know that potentially 1,000’s of people are reading about his example of appalling customer service right now.

Most of us expect that if our dry cleaning is tagged for pick up on a particular day, it will be ready. When my friend went to the store, he found a sign on the door that read: “Closed Fridays”. He had several suits waiting for pick-up…the only suits he owned. He needed them urgently and was left high and dry. When he was finally able to pick up his clothes and asked the dry cleaner why he tagged his clothes for Friday, the owner of the store tersely replied: “What do you want me to do about it”? Wrong answer.

The cleaner offered my friend a 20% discount. Although he had not asked for one, the offer made no difference. He had already made up his mind that he would not be coming back. False promises and the owner’s attitude were enough for him to make the decision in a split second. The dry cleaner failed to realize the implications.

Unfortunately, these situations play out every day, worldwide. Businesses of every description often fail to realize the consequences of poor communication as the fundamental reason for people deciding to invest their dollars elsewhere. One “faux pas” can destroy the relationship permanently. This truth applies to transactions at the highest level…from the board room to the mail room. Millions of dollars are being lost due to the absence of a Lead Yourself First mindset.

The tone of your communication is your responsibility. When you say or do the wrong thing, when your advertising is misleading, when your clients question any inconsistencies, listen and apologize immediately. Otherwise, you and your business may may find yourself front and centre on a very popular website known as “I’m-not-happy.com”.

Service with no smile

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What is your experience of customer service? Why are we so surprised when we have a transformational customer service experience? Unfortunately, we usually experience transactional customer service to the point where it has become expected. Here is what happened to me on the way to a customer service speaking engagement earlier this week.

At precisely 11.10 am, I walked into an “On the Run” Tim Hortons location in Markham, Ontario to be “greeted” by two people behind the counter who did not utter one word during the transaction, except to ask for payment. I knew that both were capable of speaking, as I heard them talking to each other as I approached the counter. Then it seemed that they lost the ability to communicate verbally and were completely disinterested in interacting with anyone except themselves.

Why does this matter, you may ask? “It was just a cup of coffee”. It matters significantly because these are impressions that stay in the minds of customers for years, not days or months. Research confirms that the memory of an experience like this stays with us for over 23.5 years. I was not the only person to experience a transactional act of service. The entire line-up behind me received the same, expressionless interface. Every encounter like this one is a moment of truth that has the potential to be either meaningful, meaningless or magical.

We are all someone’s customer on a daily basis and we have memories like elephants when it comes to customer service. The simple gesture of a smile and at the very least “hello” is an expectation, let alone a requirement, in a service role. It takes 43 muscles to frown and only 17 to smile. Therefore, giving your face a gentler workout can benefit many people! To the ladies serving coffee as well as owners of the “On the Run” store who will probably never read this blog, your customers are watching. For all of us who realize that every day we have the opportunity to be “of service” to others, let’s create transformational rather than transactional human contact. If for no other reason, it makes the 24 hours we all have in a day more enjoyable.

PS: See this great article on Coffee Culture in Australia: Note comments from readers