Who Drinks Tea at Starbucks Anyway?

I do.

Why? Because I don't drink coffee.

Yesterday morning I went into my local Starbuck's for a meeting and ordered a Grande Earl Grey tea, because, like I said, I don't drink coffee.

They were out of Earl Grey, so as I paid for my flavored hot water I said "just give me Awake", knowing that it is another good black tea flavor.

And they were out of it too.

I ended up drinking some herbal tea variety which was fine, but not the reason for blogging about the experience. I blog about it because as they handed me the Vente size (the big size - larger than I ordered), they also handed me my money back.

Some people, with a different perspective who might be having a bad day might have been quite peeved by this lack of inventory management. While I was inconvenienced I was happy to pay for my drink regardless of the flavor. But they insisted on giving me my money back.

It is a simple gesture, done automatically and without thought - in other words they didn't wait to see if I looked upset (I think I was quite pleasant) to offer the refund and no one went to a policy manual either.

It was simply good Customer focus and Customer service.

You may be thinking it is easy to give me my money back because their real cost was insignificant - a little water, a cup and two tea bags. And while that might be true, but if you stop at that you have missed the lesson.

Starbucks won more of my meetings, and many coffee and tea orders, even though I can't be on wireless internet access there for free, because of the gesture. Their residual revenue from my decision is significant.

They won more of my business for the gesture, but the gesture came from great hiring, training, and systems that made it a very pleasant and automatic service recovery.

And whether you drink coffee or not, you can learn from that.

Connect the Dots

Last week I facilitated a two day Internal Consulting Skills Workshop. As a part of that session we talked about expertise and how most people don't value the expertise they have.

One of the first things we need to do to be more successful in getting our expertise valued and used (a great way to think about consulting) is to value our own expertise.

I've thought about it a lot since the session ended - trying to convince people quickly that they under-estimate what they know.

Then I saw one of my daughter's coloring/activity books. Along with the pictures to color and other simple exercises, I saw a Connect the Dots puzzle.

From the context of the other lines/pictures on the page I had some idea what the picture would be when she connected the dots, but it wouldn't be clear until the pen went from 1, to 2, to 3, etc.

That is what we need to do - connect the dots. Our expertise, knowledge and perspective allows us to connect the dots for others.

As a leader, give people enough context and background to really understand a task or action plan, in other words, connect the dots. (This is equally important as a parent.)

When helping Customers, use your expertise not in a way of talking down to but in a serving and educational way. When the Customer understands your offering better in a more complete way they will value you what you have offered. You have connected the dots.

When teaching or training someone on something, whether as a trainer, coach, leader, parent or what ever, use examples. Give people an idea of the nature of the situation. Give background. Give additional data. Connect the dots.

In so many ways when we begin to value our expertise (recognize that not everyone already knows what you assume to be obvious) we become more confident, productive and valued. Recognize that I am not talking about becoming arrogant or condescending. In every case my suggestions come from a serving, helping perspective.

Your expertise can help others in dramatic ways, if you take the time to help them connect the dots.

Process, Project, or Panic?

I recently worked with one of my Clients, Indiana Farm Bureau, to discuss with their organization the differences between process and project work. I helped them uncover some differences and see how more and more of their work is becoming project based, rather than purely process driven. This realization that they are having is true in most organizations. More work is becoming project based.

Then, yesterday, a participant in an Effective Internal Consulting Skills workshop made a comment that struck me as profound.

She said, "I get called in for project work or panic work."

Panic work.

I'm guessing you either smiled or cringed as you read that phrase.

Far too many people in far too many organizations know what panic work is. We call it by other names: Urgent work, problems, or putting out fires, but we are all too familiar with it.

Panic work comes when our processes aren't well enough set, defined or followed. Panic work comes when we haven't established processes at all - or haven't changed them in 20 years.

Some people thrive on panic work - they love the challenge and the adrenaline rush that comes with solving the problem, satisfying the Customer in a dramatic "save" or otherwise "saving the day."

While people might profess to like it, it is one of the biggest challenges that organizations face. Too much of our work is panic work. We don't invest the time to build, document and/or improve standard processes. By having standards, we free ourselves to use that adrenaline for more creativity, new product development or delighting/Wowing Customers.

As more of our work becomes project based, the only way, paradoxically, that we can succeed is by making our processes more solid. This will reduce the panic work and allow us to use our potential to create even greater results.

Thanks to Patti Besuner for the phrase.

What's in a Word?

My friend Rosa Say on her great blog Talking Story has asked people to weigh in this month on "the Art of the Sale", so here are some of my thoughts.

I've never met anyone that didn't like to buy something. Even if it is someone who doesn't like to go to the mall, or someone who doesn't like to part with their money, EVERYone likes to buy something, be it tangible, or an idea, or something.

On the other hand, many people have stong negative experiences/feelings about being sold. When they hear "sales" they think of buying a car, buying insurance or a telemarketer being a bit too agressive on the phone (apologies to people in these industries, I'm just stating my observations).

The words used and the tactics connected to those words is where the disconnect lies. For many people then, sales or selling is connected with words like manipulation, trickery, force, pressure, tactics, negotiation. Most of those people with those feelings will say they don't feel comfortable in doing sales. No big surprise here.

If people like to buy but don't want to be "sold" then what do they want? I think they want: assistance, help, advice, options, expertise. People don't mind being influenced, they just don't like being forced.

Based on this quick discourse, it isn't surprising that the best salespeople see themselves as experts, consultants, or "assistant buyers." It is why they are successful.

For those who have the negative view of "sales" it is time to get a new set of words in your mind so that you can help serve your Clients and future Clients. Those new words can help you get to your personal art of (and comfort with) sales.

The Seven National Crimes

William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian minister wrote these. I have read them attributed to Abe Lincoln, but from some reading I've done recently, it seems that is a false attribution. Here are what Boetcker defines and the Seven National Crimes:

1. I don't think.
2. I don't know.
3. I don't care.
4. I am too busy.
5. I leave well enough alone.
6. I have no time to read and find out.
7. I am not interested.

Crimes indeed. Rather than thinking about these from the "national" perspective (I'll leave that for bloggers with a different focus), let's think about them as organizational crimes.

1. Too often, sadly, people don't think.
2. While not knowing isn't a crime in itself, it becomes one when it is a closing statement, rather than an opening one. (Are the trainers and Customer Service leaders among us listening?)
3. Giving people reasons to care is one of the most powerful things we can do as a leader.
4. Everyone is busy. But the paradox is that the busiest among us always seem to be able to get one more thing done. Sort of takes the value out of that excuse, doesn't it?
5. Leave it alone, and no change will occur. The problem is, often, it isn't "well enough" to start with.
6. Ever made it ok for people to read on the job? Why not? Give people opportunities to find ways to learn.
7. Interest drives action which is a precursor to achievement. As trainers we need to help people be interested in learning new skills. As leaders we must cultivate interest in our team members.

The critical question is - what will you do to reduce the organizational crime in your organization (or behind your desk)?

Happy Anniversary to Me . . .

I'm excited!

One year ago we started our blog experiment. We were in the process of renaming and rebranding my company - changing the name to The Kevin Eikenberry Group. As we developed the concept for our new website we thought we wanted to include a blog, but we decided I should try it first.

So we tried it. Starting on March 22, 2204.

365 days. 130 posts.

A few weeks ago I posed a question in email to my team. It read something like:

"The one year anniversary of the blog is coming up. Do you think we should celebrate in any way? If so, what are your thoughts?"

The ideas they had were fabulous... and as you read the rest of this post you will be the beneficiary of their ideas . . .

First Gift

When I started writing this blog I wanted to share something of value, and in reviewing these posts over the last couple of weeks I think I have acheived that. You can judge for yourself, because our first gift to you - for visiting to help us celebrate is our Best of Blogs Special Report. Since this is a PDF file, click to open it, or right click and save the file if you want to read it later,)

Holly Powers read through all of the posts, selecting one from each month to include in this collection. Thanks Holly for your help.

We hope you will benfit from this Special Report and will choose to share it with others too.

Second Gift

The first five blog readers (that is you) to call and talk to me today (and they have to tell me they were reading the blog - I'm not giving products away to the guy trying to get my phone business). You will be able to choose from one of the five products listed below:

Becoming a More Effective Team Member Learning System
Effectively Managing Projects Learning System
Being More Creative Learnng System
Understanding and Mastering Change Learning System
Effective Internal Consulting Skills Series (there isn't a link for this product yet on one of our websites, so I'll have to tell you about it if you are one of the first five callers.)

I appreciate you reading our blog and hope that you will continue to do so. I look forward to talking to some of you on the phone today. (You can reach me at 317.387.1424 or 888.LEARNER in the U.S.)

Pick up the phone!

Just Five More

Reading the March Training + Development Magazine, I saw a snippet on focus from Sam Horn's book, Tongue Fu. IT describes an acronym using the letters in the word FOCUS to provide five tips.

I loved the first one - the F.

"Five more rule. If you are in the middle of a task and want to give up, just do five more: Write five more paragraphs, read five more pages, work five more minutes. Working past the point of frustration helps build mental stamina, just as not giving up when your body gets tired helps build physical stamina."

Let me add a couple more "fives" to this great idea...

- Try five more times to help an employee who you are losing patience with.
- Find five more possible solutions with the brainstorming session is winding down.
- Count to five before responding to a Customer who has frustrated you in some way.

Add to your focus by adding your own fives in areas you most want to focus.