Here’s a problematic question for entrepreneurs and managers: is it that people don’t want to work nowadays? Or is it that they don’t want to work for YOU?
Twenty years ago, I wrote that you must provide the “Ultimate Experience” for both customers and employees. Over the past two decades, we’ve observed significant strides in how organizations engage their customers. Frankly, we haven’t seen that level of progress across the board regarding employee engagement.
In the United States, we’ve heard many leaders talk about how today’s employees don’t want to work and are lazy. Many studies are confirming this is not true. The companies and managers who have had problems with employee engagement have failed to create an environment where their staff was happy or felt it was a place they wanted to work.
To have a successful business, you need happy and engaged employees. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good for business. Employees who are disengaged cost businesses billions of dollars every year in lost productivity. Gallup has even gone as far as saying that employee engagement is the key to success for any organization.
Here are a couple of questions for you:
Have you designed the employee experience with as much passion and precision as you plan customer acquisition?
Have you developed a specific list of WHY both current and prospective employees would recognize working for you as a superior option from their other opportunities?
For most, frankly, the answer will be, “No.”
That needs to change — and it needs to change now if you want to attract and retain a superior team.
So, what can you do to create an environment where your employees want to work? It’s not easy and takes time, but here are five tips:
Treat your employees with respect. This includes listening to them and considering their ideas.
As I wrote in “ICONIC,” respect is reciprocal. If you want your team to respect and value you and your organization, you must display how you value and respect them FIRST.
Make certain they feel appreciated. The best way to make your employees feel part of the company is by giving them ongoing recognition. In other words, leaders don’t recognize their work only when milestones are met or when achieving sales targets.
Recognition can be in many forms, including praise for doing a job well done, even if it’s not on the radar screen yet.
Offer them development opportunities. No one wants to feel like they’re stuck in a dead-end job.
Employees want to know that there is room for growth and that they are valued enough for the company to invest in their future.
Let them have some fun! Work can be stressful, so it’s essential to find ways for employees to let off some steam.
Whether through social activities, team-building exercises, or just taking a break for a little bit, employees need to know that they can have fun at work and not be all work and no play.
Finally, PAY MORE! My great pal, Randy Pennington, related a story on a recent live stream where we both were guests about a consulting client of his that dramatically increased the compensation of his team. Guess what? It SAVED him money!
How could this be the case?
He reduced his expenses of recruiting and onboarding new team members.
He drastically reduced turnover.
He kept his best employees and attracted top-level recruits.
He prevented massive overtime outlays because he now had a productive team that could get the work done during regular hours.
AND the fact that no one had to put in extra time meant happier employees and families.
The next time you think about how employees “just don’t want to work today,” remember it’s not because they’re lazy. It’s likely because they aren’t attracted to work for a company that they aren’t certain appreciates them or doesn’t have their best interests at heart.
Change your ways and see how your employees change their tune!
If you can successfully implement these tips, you’ll be well on your way to having an engaged and happy team!
Whoever said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” got it all wrong. As I have often said (and been quoted for it), imitation is the sincerest form of theft.
Being like your competition was assumed to be a safe space for many. No longer. If all you are is a mirror image of your rivals, then you’re nothing more than a commodity.
Being distinctive is the key to success.
You must be willing to think uniquely and develop ideas to stay ahead of the curve. It is why “Creativity” is the second of the Four Cornerstones of Distinction.
To help you get started, here are ten steps that will help you think differently:
Step #1: Be curious. The best innovators are always curiosity seekers. They’re constantly exploring new things and looking for ways to improve their products or services.
Step #2: Embrace change. Change can be scary, but it’s required for innovation. If you’re not open to change, you’ll never create anything new. You cannot create distinction by doing things the way they’ve always been done.
Step #3: Take risks. Innovation requires risk-taking, so don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things.
Step #4: Be open to feedback. Feedback is essential for innovation, so make sure you’re always listening to what others whose opinions you value have to say. This doesn’t mean the nay-sayers on social media should rule your thoughts. It means seeking and obtaining insights from those who sincerely want you to succeed.
Step #5: Think outside the box. (As much as I hate that old cliche — it is the truth here.) Don’t be afraid to come up with unconventional ideas. Think about it; someone really said in a meeting somewhere, “What if sharks got caught up in a big tornado?”
That sounds strange, but it was probably just as wild when Marc Randolph (my colleague on the “in residence” faculty at High Point University) said to Reed Hastings, “What if you got DVDs in the mail instead of having to go to Blockbuster?” (You know how that turned out with Netflix, right?)
Step #6: Be persistent. Innovation doesn’t happen overnight, so don’t give up if your first few ideas don’t work out.
Step #7: Brainstorm often. For many, the most productive approach to develop innovative ideas is by brainstorming with others.
Step #8: Be patient. Innovation doesn’t happen overnight, so be prepared to work hard and put in the time necessary for success.
Step #9: Stay up-to-date. To stay ahead of the curve, you need to keep up with the latest trends and changes in your industry and others. By learning about what’s new in other industries, you may get insight into what you could do to stand out in yours.
Step #10: Get inspired. Inspiration can come from anywhere! Be certain that you’re constantly looking for new sources of inspiration. I’ve learned they are all around us – we just need to be on the lookout for them!
Remember, it’s not about copying what others are doing! It’s about creating fresh ideas that will help you stand out from the competition and create distinction!
Flight attendants attacked by passengers. Retail clerks shouted down by customers. Almost every day, we watch videos posted of outrageous behavior by customers toward those employees seeking to serve them. It used to be those angry customers who would seldom — if ever — physically or verbally assault frontline employees.
It’s getting to the point where angry customers threaten the well-being of our employees and customers!
Now angry customers seem less concerned about the consequences of their actions. Often, angry customers presume they can take out their anger on frontline employees who seem powerless and vulnerable. These customers evidently believe the company will not support that employee or file charges against them.
While angry customers may feel they can get away with their bad behavior, they may be causing your other customers to lose the superior customer experience you provide.
It’s increasingly difficult for any company to maintain good customer experiences when angry customers are attacking their employees. Companies are losing customers by the droves due to angry customers who have no consideration for others. Your employees are leaving because they don’t want to put up with the stress of dealing with the venom — and your good customers might be leaving because they are reticent about experiencing some angry idiot making a scene. (And perhaps your employees are so stressed from dealing with angry customers that their level of service to your good customers has declined.)
In today’s pandemic marketplace, angry customers are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.
To deal with angry customers, here is a five-step plan that provides employees insight into coping with angry customers. The following are those steps:
Don’t go it alone. It’s not uncommon for customer service agents to be “alienated” by angry customers, leaving them to feel as if they’re all alone against angry customers. That’s not the case at all. Companies must recognize that angry customers are spreading like germs, and they must do everything possible to help employees not feel alienated or alone in dealing with them.
Employees now have the ability to tap into online customer service communities where they can ask questions of other customers who have dealt with angry customers. Additionally, they can ask their managers for help in dealing with angry customers. This means you need to be having conversations with your leaders to ensure they back your team members against angry customers and to help coach and train them on how to best handle these potentially explosive situations.
Ask yourself the right question. It’s not uncommon for angry customers to hurl profane or abusive language at employees, leaving them feeling angry and defensive themselves. That’s the wrong attitude to take. Employees should instead think about angry customers as angry people rather than angry customers.
What are angry people angry about? What are their concerns, fears, and worries? How can employees help angry people achieve some sort of resolution so they can move on with what they need to do in life?
Put yourself in their shoes. Angry customers lash out at employees because they feel angry, upset, and frustrated with their situations. They lash out in the wrong place by attacking customer service agents who have nothing to do with their problems or concerns.
Employees should realize that angry customers are angry about something – maybe even angry about feeling angry. Think of it this way: angry customers are mad because they are angry about being angry. Employees should ask themselves whether they’ve ever felt angry about being angry.
If the answer is yes, now they can better understand how angry customers feel and why they lash out at customer service agents, who have nothing to do with their problems in life.
Listen carefully. Listening is one of the most challenging things to do, especially when angry customers are yelling at employees. Listening requires deep concentration on what angry customers are saying.
Employees should be open-minded and actively ask themselves whether angry customers have a point. Maybe angry customers don’t really know why they’re so frustrated, but they’re acting out because that’s the only way they know how to deal with their feelings.
Check your ego at the door. It’s not uncommon for angry customers to resort to name-calling and other forms of verbal abuse when talking with customer service agents, leaving your employees feeling angry and upset in return. That’s normal human behavior of those who lash out at others because they are angry.
Employees should not take angry customers’ words personally, however. They can’t be upset about angry customers being abusive with them – that’s too much anger for anyone to handle. Instead, employees should focus on the feelings behind uncivil words yelled by angry customers acting out of irrational emotions.
In other words, angry customers are often that way because they are angry at themselves for being so distressed. Employees should consider whether they’ve ever been irritated about being upset before responding to these customers who are acting out of their own overwhelming feelings.
There’s no excuse for this type of customer behavior. It should not happen. However, it does — and much too frequently in the real world.
Our job is to help our team deal with this challenge in a manner that de-escalates an emotional situation while maintaining a superior experience for your customers who are behaving in a way that should take place in any professional situation.
Employee happiness is a critical factor when it comes to excellent customer service. Employees who are happy with their work — and how their employers treat them — are more likely to care about their customers. This factor is because when employees are treated with respect and engaged, they naturally want what is best for their company.
If employees are happy, it means they will be willing to go above and beyond for their customers — which in turn leads to more delighted customers.
The employee-customer relationship is an essential factor in successful customer service; when companies put their employees first, they find success.
What do employee happiness, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction all have in common? Granted, they are all very similar. However, employee happiness is perhaps most critical.
Employee happiness is the employee’s overall contentment for everything related to their job, including how they’re treated by management and customers alike.
Here’s an aspect easily overlooked: employee happiness has a much more significant impact than employee satisfaction.
Satisfaction is just the employee’s opinion of their current job; happiness means employee contentment for all aspects of their work-life, not just their specific job assignments. Employee happiness means employee engagement.
Here are three ways to improve employee happiness:
The first step to employee happiness is that there must be buy-in from leadership. If leadership doesn’t care about employee happiness, it won’t go beyond something as minimal as creating a flimsy employee satisfaction survey.
It is incumbent to communicate with employees how their opinions are vital for improvement and what changes are in process due to their input.
Decide to make employee happiness/employee engagement an organizational priority. It’s impossible to have employee happiness without employee engagement. A company cannot be engaged with its employees if managers aren’t showing constant commitment to their teams.
Employees believe that if their manager doesn’t care about the happiness of team members, how can the rest of the organization?
Offer benefits and compensation that matter. Employee benefits and compensation are essential aspects for employees to feel as though they are compensated fairly for their work.
It’s difficult to feel valued and under-compensated at the same time. Make sure your wages and benefits also display your commitment to your team.
The more employee happiness there is within an organization, the better the workplace culture will be for everyone involved!
In a recent conversation with a friend who is a leader in the luxury hotel market, I learned of an aspect his organization is experiencing that stunned me. “We are having significant turnover because our younger employees have decided they do not want to serve people of affluence.”
Let’s discuss what it means that Millennials and Gen Z are now key members of customer service teams. It’s an overlooked aspect of the shortage of superior employees: what happens when employees no longer want to serve your customers?
Here’s my perspective on this: everyone has the right to choose where they want to work and the jobs they want to perform…until they’re hired.
By this, I mean that if I don’t want to mop floors, I have every right to refuse to seek a job as a custodian. However, if I accept a janitorial position, I don’t believe I now have the right to complain when my boss tells me to get out a broom. I can either perform the assigned task — or seek employment elsewhere in another field.
You may ask, “What does this have to do with customer service?”
It’s about perspective. Customers are the most important factor for any business. Years ago, speaker Floyd Wickman published a book with a fantastic title: The Customer Signs Your Paycheck. Too often employees forget who their boss is. They can spend too much time thinking of themselves without a thorough understanding that they are working to ensure customers repeat their business and refer their organization to their colleagues and friends.
In this customer-centric environment, companies must focus on providing a customer experience that goes “beyond the sale” and provides a distinctive level of services.
Today, customer service is the name of the game. Let’s start with some facts:
79% of consumers expect companies to provide superior customer care (Vistaprint).
40% of Americans say they will not use a company again after one negative customer experience (Siebel Systems).
Unfortunately, customer service has gone downhill over the years.
60% of US employees don’t understand or agree with their company’s customer service strategy (American Express).
Only 25% of customer-facing employees and managers strongly believe they can make a difference in providing excellent customer care (Vistaprint).
The good news is that training your team to deliver world-class customer service isn’t as difficult as you might think. By focusing on key areas, such as recognizing customer needs, understanding customer behavior, and embracing change, you can “set the table” for your team members to deliver the experience your customers crave.
By the way, we can help you with your organization’s efforts here — just as we are doing with several dynamic and distinctive organizations.
However, today’s generations — Millennials and Gen Z — may need a unique type of education and training from their predecessors. While customer experience training is critically important across all age groups, Millennials and Gen Zs have grown up differently. Their experience comes from an environment where they constantly interact with brands via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. They want to work for organizations that are making a difference in the world and are socially responsible.
For example, my hotel executive friend didn’t simply tell disgruntled employees something that might have been said a few years ago, “If you don’t want to serve the affluent, you can quit now!”
Instead, he talked with them about the cardiologists who were recently guests there for a meeting would now return home better prepared to save lives — maybe even family members of those who worked at the hotel.
He had them envision the couple that has saved for two years to take the perfect one-week vacation — and were guests of their hotel in anticipation of an extraordinary experience. He also reviewed the commitment of the hotel to recycle and other environmentally friendly efforts.
Would this have been a component of his education/training programs a few years ago? Of course not. However, that does not mean it isn’t of critical importance today.
It’s my belief that the employees of my friend’s hotel group weren’t really saying they didn’t want to serve affluent customers.
They were subtly informing their leader that they hadn’t discovered how their work was making a difference. They had not yet been educated on why the experience they were delivering could have a positive impact on their customers, colleagues, and organization.
In other words, the way we show how much our customers matter in today’s world is to begin by educating our teams on how they can make a positive difference. It’s a primary tool we can use to become distinctive in a hyper-competitive marketplace.
“Start with why” is a philosophy widely popular in business today. There’s no doubt that knowing your “why” is an excellent motivational tool.
The problem is…customers don’t buy our “why.”
Customers buy our how.
Think about a recent purchase — anything from an extensive B2B investment to something as varied in B2C as fast food or a laptop. If the product or service failed to perform as promised, did you give the company or its representative a pass because they possess a compelling “why”?
Would any customer ever say, “Gosh, this hamburger tastes terrible! But I can’t wait to go back and buy another one because their ‘why’ is so fantastic!” Of course not! Their “why” will never overcome their inability to distinctively deliver what we have purchased.
Customers will never be interested in discovering our why until they are thrilled with our how!
It seems to me that reviewing an organizational or professional “why” is something akin to the cliché that “hindsight is 20/20.”
Isn’t it intriguing that we talk about the wildly successful companies and point out their “why,” yet frequently ignore the “why” of those who failed to achieve distinction? (Or authors “cherry pick” companies and retrofit a “why” statement to create an example that will fit their purposes…)
I’ll promise there are some companies – and individuals – who have failed, despite having a sincere and compelling “why.”
There is a fundamental reason this is the case – the “why” is not why they buy.
Telling customers the reasons why you should be their preferred option is a necessary part of any successful marketing strategy, but it’s just one piece in the puzzle. The real challenge lies in helping them understand how you deliver a solution to their situation in a manner that is so remarkable that they choose you instead of the alternatives in the marketplace.
Please don’t misunderstand — if your “why” motivates you to dig deeper in delivering for customers, it’s a critical tool to help you succeed. A why can be a great motivator, but it’s just that — motivation to commit to delivering for your customers.
However, if you’re the type who contemplates their “why” and merely leaves it on paper or prints it on motivational posters – or believes your “why” will attract and retain customers – without delivering a strong how, then your business is in trouble.
The how is what customers want and need from you.
If you aren’t illuminating for your prospects the unique reasons they should acquire your product or service – and if you aren’t developing repeat and referral business from the customers you already have — then there must be something missing with how you’re delivering.
Focus on improving your “how” — how you deliver, how you serve, how you enhance their experiences. Break it down and improve your delivery at every step along the way.
We discuss this phenomenon in detail – and provide specific strategies for you to enhance your ability to obtain and retain customers – in our Iconic Inner Circle. I’d love for you to check it out – your first month is FREE! Simply go to: https://IconicInnerCircle.com
