Talking About Your Business

Leaving for Milan, Italy

I am heading out to Milan, Italy then jumping on a train and down to Savona, Italy. On the 6th I will be getting on the Costa Atlantica for a cruise in the Mediterranean with stops in Naples, Messinna, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and returning to Savona on the 16th of October.

This is another "working" cruise where I will be conducting Management Development Training.

Working cruise - you've got 2 be kidding me!

Andrew will be running the radio show on his own so help him out with a call in.

This coming Tuesday we have a great guest author Captian Kahn, talking about your career.

She you all in two weeks.

Learning from the zoo animals

On June 5th and 6th I facilitated a retreat with a colleague. We took 50 executives on a chartered bus to the Cleveland Zoo. They were divided into 8 groups of similar size, each group was given a hand held GPS and told to learn how to use it and to figure out where we were taking them. They were given no instructions.

Once we arrived at the zoo they were given journals and were sent on a scavenger hunt (following the way points in the GPS) to the different animal exhibits. They recorded what they observed based on a series of questions pre-printed in the journal.

The next day we gathered to debrief the event and share discovery, and take-a-ways.

We were delighted to learn the following:

• This was the first time I have had a chance to visit with my co-workers in something other than a suit and in a meeting room.
• This really will help with our trust level with each other.
• I learned so much about how we interact with each other from the animals.
• Looking at one of the animals looking at me I thought this must be what it is like for our employees, they are tied to their work stations and we wander around looking at them, something needs to change at work!

I won't take the time here to list all the comments but rest assured they were all equal in discovery to the ones above.

I have been using metaphorical learning for some time but to this this scale. This success has really pushed me to design more daring learning opportunities for my clients.

Authenticity

While developing our 5 Day Customer Service Academy for businesses, Ned and I have focused on the need and demand for "Authentic" customer service.

Much to my surprise (and delight) the book Authenticity by Pine and Gilmore (Authors of one of my favorite books The Experience Economy) has been released.

I plan to go to Borders today to buy a copy and indulge. Why Borders and not Barnes and Noble? Partly because I like the experience at Borders stores a little better. Who do you like better?

If anyone has read the book Authenticity and has some thoughts or comments, please post your comments and let me know.

Here is the link for the book's website...in case you are interested!! http://authenticitybook.com/

Celebrating the Return of a Good Book

Many of you have been asking if I was going to reprint my first book "The Power of Asking For What You Want -- Jimmy's Secret", and the answer is YES! I'm very proud of this book and have big dreams and goals for it!

The reprinting and updating are finished...and the book is now available for purchase. Would you please buy one today so I can park my car in the garage again soon? (Hehe) Here's the link for purchasing the book:

http://www.peopleconnectinstitute.com/vp/store.htm I believe it is the 5th item on the list...so please scroll down to locate it, and click on buy now. Because you are buying the book, I will be happy to sign it as a thank you!

The description of the book is given below.

How can a little five-year-old boy change your life? In the book The Power of Asking for What You Want – Jimmy’s Secret not only does Jimmy show you time and time again how a child asks for what he wants, but he also asks for his sister and his mom when they’re afraid to ask for what they want for themselves. The story is set in an undisclosed small town in the Northeastern United States and centers around Jimmy’s family which includes his ten-year-old sister Cynthia (don’t call me Cindy) and his mom, Lynda Chamberlin. The story begins with Jimmy sitting on Santa Claus’s lap asking for everything that he wants for Christmas and ends with the opening of the last present on Christmas Eve. The adventures of the Chamberlin family during a two week snapshot covered in the book include Lynda’s sister Danielle having a baby, a baby hippopotamus being born at the zoo where Lynda works and the incredible relationships with the people in her family’s lives that bring each other together in a space of kindness, caring and love.

Have a great weekend...and please tell a friend about my book too!

Andrew

Don't Leave Home Without Your Cell Phone

I had the opportunity to stay at 4 different brands of hotels this week, Radisson, Marriott, Embassy Suites and Holiday Inn and all of them have taken out the pay phones because people aren't using them.

My need for a pay phone is a symptom of a bigger problem, my memory and or lack of it. I had accidentally left my cell phone in Florida.

This has turned out to be a huge inconvenience. Not only for myself, but for my family and clients. I paused for a moment and thought about a time when there weren't any cell phones.

Like them or not, cell phones are no longer a luxury, they are a neccesity.  

Mediating our way to conflict resolution

Last night our radio show guest was John Bertschler from North Coast Conflict Solutions. John shared with us what mediation is and how we can use it to resolve conflict in business and with elder issues to avoid costly lawyers. John's wife and business partner Patti Bertschler has written a book on elder mediation.

Click here to listen to the show.

The Power of a Compliment

In the U.S. we are celebrating Memorial Day today, a holiday to reflect on the lives that have been lost in the many wars the U.S. has fought. With a thank you in mind to my father and brother for their service, I also want to suggest that all of us remember the people in our lives that have made a difference to us.

To all of our readers and BlogTalkRadio listeners...thank you! To Rachel Perry at Nova Southeastern University, thank you for your blog on my Management and Leadership Skills Workshop in Fort Lauderdale. http://ts3078.wordpress.com/

To everyone on this day, focus on your happy memories and let go of the rest. I woke up today with the song Shame, by Evelyn Champagne King, running through my head, and with a quick check of the lyrics I understand why. Paraphrasing, To live your life without love...would be a shame! 

Andrew

Something for Nothing?

Yesterday was "Free Museum" day in my hometown, St. Petersburg, Florida. Our Museums of Art and History, Children's Museums and Experiences and the Salvador Dali museum were all open to the public for free.

Sounds like a good deal right? For everyone? That's what I'm wondering on the day after Free Museum day! The museums were packed...people waiting in lines outside the buildings. It's Florida, and it's May, so you figure out the temperature!

It looked like the gifts shops were doing a steady business and I have to think that the exposure for the museums would be a big benefit to holding a free day every year.

Yet...I see another side to this annual pilgrimage to the museums: STRESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

The staff was stressed...security guards were stressed. Parents and others unlucky to be close enough who had waited for an hour with the children were definitely S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D! The buildings themselves were taking on much more traffic and OOPS! sorry about that stain on the carpet.

So...is it worth it to our business...to give away our products and services for free sometimes? Your comments are appreciated...unless you are with a pharmacuetical company. We can get your stuff for free by watching your commercials and visiting our local doctor by telling them that we know for sure that your product will cure us from whatever disease it is that we don't have. 

Sorry...I digressed...didn't I?

Oh...one more thing...is it really good customer service to have free days?

Check out the Dali Museum for yourself at www.salvadordalimuseum.org and get surrealistic!

 

Calling all Talkers!

Visitors to this blog should know by now Andrew and I have a radio show that broadcasts on BlogTalkRadio every Tuesday night at 10:00PM EST. Do you see that great big button in the upper right hand corner of this blog? Yep that will get you there.

Blog Talk Radio is exploding and we are on the front door step of the revolution. This past Tuesday we had our first guest, Tim Steed and interviewed him about his comedy, his book, and business in general, it was a hilarious show and you  can listen to it on the archive.

Now for the point of this blog; We are looking for guests. We want to have interesting and thought provoking guests on the show every week. While Andrew and I know a ton of people we want more.

Drop us an email and introduce yourself and why you might be a good guest OR tell us about someone you know that would make a good guest for the show.

Drop in next Tuesday night and have a listen, join the chat, or call in with questions and comments.

Ned

Tattoo's and Customer Service

Greetings from Portland, Oregon. An absolutely beautiful place to visit and from what I hear...to live too!

I have been surprised by the number of passengers on my flight and customer service people in the Portland area that have tattoo's and wear just enough clothing to let you see many, if not most of them.

For starters, I must admit that I have no interest in having a tattoo of my own. Here is my dilemma. I look at some of the body art work and am totally impressed (my daughter would have loved the dragons on the lady at the airport) yet I don't know that this is the image of a customer service person that I would want in my business. Now, if I owned a tattoo parlor or head shop, it might fit...at the airport, hotel, restaurant or getting a rental car...I really start questioning what's appropriate and what isn't.

Tattoo's are certainly an approach to expressing one's individual self. Companies tend to squash individualism by having employees wear uniforms and dress codes that might include suits and ties for men, and skirts and panty hose for women.

So what do you think? Are tattoo's acceptable in front line customer service? Or should they be covered up for the good of the customer? And what about tattoo's and internal customer service?

Let me now what you think...and join us on our radio show tonight at 10:00 pm est...I'm going to pose this question to Ned and our listeners.