Does Positive Matter in Business?
Just this week, I received three online survey requests. Two were from restaurants I had eaten in and the third was for an order from Amazon.
I may be wrong, but I think most people just delete those survey requests. Not me!
If a couple of minutes of my time will help someone's business improve, or encourage them to keep on doing what they are doing, I am in!
My intent is to provide positive feedback. If I see a way to improve, I do my best to phrase it with positive verbiage.
A business would not take the time and effort to ask for feedback if they didn't want it. Right?
Have you ever walked into a business or restaurant and walked smack into a vibe, good or bad?
One can usually tell as soon as the door opens if there is effective training, leadership, and good morale practiced inside. Or worse, a bad environment.
On the other hand, if it's your business, wouldn't you welcome constructive feedback? Or suggestions? Or kudos on what customers are pleased with?
There are only two ways to think: positively or negatively. I do believe we all know at least one or two that try VERY hard to NOT think. That is not today's topic, though. :)
Before we begin, let's take a moment or two to visit my best friend dictionary.com.
Impossible. NOT a good word. It means not possible, unable to be, exist, happen, etc., incapable of being true, utterly impracticable, hopelessly unsuitable, difficult, or objectionable.
An antonym would be: surmountable, hopeful, realistic, practical, thinkable, possible.
Don't know about YOU, but I like the antonyms MUCH better!
It's been a while, but one day, a co-worker of mine, and I were having a discussion about some we know with serious cases of "I can't."
He wrote down the word impossible. He asked if a knew of a different way to read the word. I said of course; add an apostrophe, and add a space and you have I'm possible.
To continue on:
I won reads much better than I won't.
I don't is just as easily I do.
See how easy this is to do?
To see more phrases and ways to adjust that ingrained thinking, click this link, and have fun!
Will any attitude adjustments bought on by a shift in ye olde thinking process carry over from work to home? You betcha!
Will it work in the opposite direction? Definitely!
Be forewarned, though, that these adjustments may take a ton of work, at first. It won't be long before it becomes natural and is your default setting. So, don't -
do NOT - give up!
Just the last couple of day, I have seen this in action, personally. One of those things we all dread is to see the "check engine" light on in your car. It just gets worse when the car starts chugging and becomes extremely sluggish.
Due to some miscommunication, it took three weeks to get an appointment with the dealership service center. But, oh boy, was it worth it!!
For those who do not know, I have a Chevy Cruze named Lucy Cruze, who I adore! So, we made an appointment with Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Service Center thinking it was a recall issue that finally caught up to us.
My assigned service advisor, Chris, met me as soon as the roll-up door to the service bay opened. He asked me some questions about what Lucy was doing and/or not doing, took the recall notice I had, and then took me to his computer station.
Turned out to not be the issue I thought, but another sensor was causing the issue and Chris promised to see if it was covered by warranty and quoted both options. Then he went down a list of other suggestions, one of which I had already requested: an oil change and tire rotation.
He sent me off to the visitors waiting room and said he would be back about the warranty. He did come back as soon as he received the news that the sensor was covered by warranty. Don't we just love good news like that!
I was sitting doing one of my favorite things, people watching, when Chris came back and handed me his phone. On it was a page from Wikipedia with the information on the sensor causing Lucy's problems: knock sensor. He felt that I had specifically asked about it and he wanted me to know something about it.
Now, THAT is customer service! Of course, when I got home, I searched even deeper and was grateful for the information I learned in addition to what Chris had shared.
When Lucy was ready to go, Chris came and got me and took my back to his computer station. We went through all the work done, all the costs, and advice on anything that might need attention in the near future - and provided it all in writing.
He let me know that he would be my advisor for all Lucy's needs in the future and said to call him directly if I needed to schedule any work.
I was so happy to receive a survey from Jeff Gordon this morning. You better believe I gave the best possible review that I could!
The moral of all this is, from the moment I pulled up to the service bay, I did not encounter anything but excellent teamwork, happy people sharing lots of smiles, questions to enable the correct service, answers to other questions and my Lucy Cruze back running better than ever!
They even made sure that Olaf and Sandy, my backseat co-pilots, were sitting up straight and properly secured by seatbelts before we left.
Do you WANT your business to be that way? Of course you do! And don't you WANT customers and potential customers to know this about your business? Then, why haven't you contact me yet?
Fly high, my friends!