Improve Customer Service by Taking Care of Yourself
If you've ever been on an airplane, you know the flight attendants always recommend that you put your oxygen mask on before assisting others.
Why is that? Because if you've not taken care of yourself, it becomes impossible to help anyone else.
It's interesting that so many business people spend the majority of their time focusing on taking care of everything and everyone else, at their own expense.
Never mind that this is not good for your personal well-being, this is not good business practice.
Would you be willing to work with a personal trainer who is overweight? Or a financial advisor who is in debt? Likely you would prefer to work with someone who has the results you are seeking; someone who is at the top of her game.
And the only way to be that person for your clients is to make sure you are keeping your commitments and, as Stephen Covey says, "sharpening the saw.
" Customer service has as much to do with helping yourself as helping your customers; delivery of value suffers when the person or people running the business are not taking care of themselves.
Yes, customer service is about serving the customer, but if the business owner or her employees are not a priority, the customer feels the (negative) effects.
And that's never good for business.
Part of taking care of yourself is keeping your commitments to yourself and to others.
The other day, I had the pleasure of attending a popular book author's event.
Weeks earlier, I had mentioned this opportunity to several people in my network and many said they would like to go.
But when it came down to it, not one followed through.
I went anyway because I had committed.
Not attending a particular event doesn't make someone a bad business person.
But it's the not keeping the commitment and not taking advantage of an opportunity to sharpen the saw part that hurts success.
Many of the things that create success are easy to do.
The flip side is that they are also very easy NOT to do.
You won't necessarily see the results or consequences of your decision right away, however, over time, weeks or months or years, it makes a difference.
Do customers really know if you're keeping commitments to yourself? And do they care, as long as you're doing what you say you'll do for them? The answer is YES.
On some level they do always know.
If you're not willing to keep your commitments to yourself, somewhere down the road, clients will not believe that you'll continue to keep your commitments to them.
So make a commitment today to do what you say your going to do, not just in your business and for your clients, but for yourself and future success.
Why is that? Because if you've not taken care of yourself, it becomes impossible to help anyone else.
It's interesting that so many business people spend the majority of their time focusing on taking care of everything and everyone else, at their own expense.
Never mind that this is not good for your personal well-being, this is not good business practice.
Would you be willing to work with a personal trainer who is overweight? Or a financial advisor who is in debt? Likely you would prefer to work with someone who has the results you are seeking; someone who is at the top of her game.
And the only way to be that person for your clients is to make sure you are keeping your commitments and, as Stephen Covey says, "sharpening the saw.
" Customer service has as much to do with helping yourself as helping your customers; delivery of value suffers when the person or people running the business are not taking care of themselves.
Yes, customer service is about serving the customer, but if the business owner or her employees are not a priority, the customer feels the (negative) effects.
And that's never good for business.
Part of taking care of yourself is keeping your commitments to yourself and to others.
The other day, I had the pleasure of attending a popular book author's event.
Weeks earlier, I had mentioned this opportunity to several people in my network and many said they would like to go.
But when it came down to it, not one followed through.
I went anyway because I had committed.
Not attending a particular event doesn't make someone a bad business person.
But it's the not keeping the commitment and not taking advantage of an opportunity to sharpen the saw part that hurts success.
Many of the things that create success are easy to do.
The flip side is that they are also very easy NOT to do.
You won't necessarily see the results or consequences of your decision right away, however, over time, weeks or months or years, it makes a difference.
Do customers really know if you're keeping commitments to yourself? And do they care, as long as you're doing what you say you'll do for them? The answer is YES.
On some level they do always know.
If you're not willing to keep your commitments to yourself, somewhere down the road, clients will not believe that you'll continue to keep your commitments to them.
So make a commitment today to do what you say your going to do, not just in your business and for your clients, but for yourself and future success.
