Customer Focus
Time Management
Author Archives: Ben
Global Leadership Summit – Lencioni and Leadership Vulnerability
The Willowcreek Global Leadership Summit was simulcast last week to thousands of people around the world. I had not attended before so was a bit skeptical of sitting in a chair for two days instead of doing “real work.” But, I heard so many positive comments from people at The Pursuit about last year’s summit that I decided to change some plans and attend. In one word – WOW! The summit far exceeded expectations with fabulous leadership speakers and messages …
Make an Appointment to Get Things Done
Never seem to have enough time to get some things done? Concerned because a big project is due next week and you don’t see the time to get it done? Do you feel “out of control” and don’t know what to do next? Why not schedule time with yourself to focus on those tasks? We typically are not late for appointments or blow off scheduled meetings. We are there – on time and ready to go. I was thinking yesterday …
Posted in Leadership Development, Time Management
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The “Faceless” Time Waster
What time waster did not exist five years ago? Yes, the answer is Facebook! “But, Facebook is a social media tool, not a time waster,” you say. Well, a few weeks ago I came to realize how much time is wasted each day on Facebook. Throughout my workday I would “pop in” and see what my friends were doing. Inevitably this would lead to a few chat sessions or looking at friend’s pictures. It was fun and helped me feel …
The Top Three Time Wasters
In our years of coaching, most people confess to having time management issues. There never seems to be enough time. Or, there is too much work for the amount of time available. When we dig deeper we find that there actually is enough time for the person to accomplish there tasks, were it not for a large amount of their day being devoted to “time wasters.” Here are the top three time wasters that consume people’s time. Meetings No one …
Customer Focus: Doing it Right
It is difficult for restaurants to differentiate themselves from their competition. They typically do it by having an excellent menu with a wide variety of choices, to appeal to the greatest audience. They also may do something special for birthdays – a free dessert or a group of untalented wait staff singing Happy Birthday to an embarrassed guest. However, sometimes restaurants get it right. Last weekend was our anniversary and we took a chance on a nice restaurant. I say, …
Posted in Customer Focus, Uncategorized
Tagged Customer Focus, Customer Service, differentiators
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What are your Customer’s Needs?
In Customer Focus – The SID Way we write a lot about knowing the needs of your customer. Part of knowing your customer’s needs are to know more about them and how they will use your product or service. I’m often asked, “How do I learn a customer’s needs?” The wrong answer is to assume you know. The simplest right answer is to ask them a series of questions to learn more. Let’s consider a scenario where you work in …
Posted in Customer Focus, Leadership Development
Tagged Customer Focus, Customer Needs, Customer Service
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Google’s Project Oxygen
I just finished an excellent article in the New York Times about “Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss. It’s not clear where the code name, Project Oxygen came from, but regardless, the results are impressive. It confirmed what we ate BenchMark Learning have been saying for a long time – you build a better leader by focusing on developing their talent management skills and behaviors. Google did an incredible job analyzing more than 10,000 observations about their managers across …
Customer Focus – NOT!
We come to expect that every now and then we will have a bad experience at a restaurant, hotel, or retail store. But, when we bring it to the attention of the Manager, we expect results and for the situation to improve. We have enjoyed brunch three times at a nice restaurant near our home. All three times the food has been excellent and service impeccable. Yesterday, however, we had a bad experience which was exacerbated by the Manager. We …
Posted in Customer Focus
Tagged Customer Focus, Customer Service, Managing Others, Poor Customer Focus
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Assess Yourself!
In our new book, Customer Focus – The SID Way, and on our website (www.thesidway.com) we provide a self assessment of your customer focus skills and behaviors. Self-assessments are tough because most of us like to think highly of our skills and behaviors. A few, however, are often overly critical of themselves in self assessments. Regardless of which category you fall into, a few tips are in order before taking a self assessment of any skills or behaviors. First, give …
