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WOW Your Customers, Grow Your Business

March 25, 2013 — Leave a comment

iStock_000018595234XSmallCustomers drive your business. If customers feel trusted, honored, and respected in discussions and transactions with your business, they typically come back a lot and are positive word-of-mouth advertisers for your business.

Employees are the primary face of your business. If you have employees that love their customers, service rankings go up and customers keep coming. Those customers create a positive buzz about your business in your community. That positive buzz typically has a logical consequence on your business revenues – they go up.

If you have employees who do not love their customers, they leave a lasting impression. Customers often choose to go elsewhere – and create a negative buzz about your business in your community. That negative buzz typically has a logical consequence on your business revenues – they go down.

Recent conversations about service experiences prove this point. In one case, a client had been receiving a quarterly report and payment for years. When this quarter’s payment date went past with no communication, she reached out to this provider. The person in charge said that the amount was too low to send a check so they decided to roll over that amount to the next quarter. This client was fine with that – but was frustrated that the decision was made without any attempt to communicate the circumstances to her.

In another case, a client had a charge appear on his bill that he questioned. He reached out to the provider and spoke to a live service agent on the phone. The agent explained the charge which was for a feature the client didn’t need or want. The agent cancelled the feature and refunded the fee – all in less than five minutes. The client could not have been happier with the experience.

How do you know how customers are being treated? How do you know what customers think about your business and about your employees? The best ways to understand customer perceptions is to ASK – regularly. Observe and/or listen in to customer interactions with employees, especially during hectic times. Create a quick survey channel – five questions on a postcard or online survey.

Embrace the information you receive. Review it with employees. Refine policies and procures if they stand in the way of trusting customers. Coach employees on appropriate ways to interact with customers. Then, ask customers again. Observe interactions again. Gather data. Celebrate progress and address gaps. Repeat.

The economy in your community (no matter what country you work in) has growth potential. If you have strong products & services that are priced right, customers will be drawn to your business. If employees treat those customers as valued partners, your business will grow.

That’s something we all need in our communities: strong businesses that provide fine products, good jobs and great service to customers. Every community needs more businesses like this.

Join in the conversation about this post/podcast in the comments section below. How do your customers feel about the way your business and employees treat them? How do you stay “in touch” with customer perceptions?

What is it like to live in your organization’s culture? Share your experiences in my fast & free Performance-Values Assessment. Results and analysis are described on my blog site’s research page.

This research can help you refine your organization’s corporate culture. Contact me to discuss conducting the Performance-Values Assessment in your company.

Photo © istockphoto.com/yuri_arcurs. All rights reserved.

Subscribe!Podcast – Listen to this post now with the player below. Subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

The music heard on these podcasts is from one of Chris’ songs, “Heartfelt,” copyright © Chris Edmonds Music (ASCAP). Chris plays all instruments on these recordings.

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Change Your Perspective And Connect

November 12, 2012

2012-11-09 10.41.47I’d heard about our “pond beaver” for a year. My lovely bride (of 33 years) Diane has seen it. The neighbors have seen it. I’d never seen it, until this past Friday.

Since I’d never seen it, I didn’t quite believe we had a pond beaver. Our mountain community is remote but we live on a school bus route. Our road has regular traffic. The pond is 40′ from the road. I couldn’t imagine a beaver taking up residence in our little pond in an inhabited neighborhood.

I thought, “My wife and our neighbors have been seeing things.”

On Friday, I had a number of client calls. My cordless phone and headset allows me to be on calls and walk, stretch, and talk. I was upstairs on our deck. The phone was muted because of breezy conditions. And – there he was. Our pond beaver was real.

He (or she – we’re not certain at this point) is huge. His body is easily 3′ in length and his flat tail adds another 12″. He’s healthy – I believe he weighs 40 pounds.

He was waddling across the meadow, stocking up on fresh branches for his winter meals. He’d chew down a small, narrow tree then drag it into the pond and disappear into the lodge he’d built over the past year. A few minutes later he’d pop to the water’s surface again, swim around a bit to check out his surroundings, and head across the meadow for more provisions.

2012-11-09 10.43.34I grabbed my DSLR and took these pictures to document his activities.

Take Off Your Blinders

It is a thrill to see wildlife thriving in our mountain neighborhood. We see deer, foxes, ducks, and elk regularly, and bears periodically. And, this was a treat. It is my own fault for not noticing our new neighbor before now. I didn’t pay attention to the reality in front of me.

Leaders experience this all too often and may not be aware of it. Organizations and teams are constantly in flux. New processes, new services, new opportunities, etc. are exciting and threatening at the same time!

Leaders fall into routines that serve the daily activities and habits that “work” for them. They trust and act on what information is “in front of them.” However, we all have made lousy decisions when we are disconnected from the reality that others (employees and customers, for example) experience.

We need to “shake up” our routine, change our perspective, and learn as much as we can about what others are experiencing. Leaders must push themselves away from their desks, their keyboards, even their smartphones, and connect face-to-face with employees. Those connections shed light on refinements that can boost employee morale, WOW customers, and generate better profits for your business.

How can you change your perspective and connect more deeply with your people? Consider:

  • Take 30 minutes a day to “wander around” strategically. Connect with staff one on one. Ask, “How’s it going?” and “How can we make your job easier?” (Then make changes, where possible, that address employee issues.)
  • Do weekly breakfast or lunch with a random selection of 5-6 employees. Have no agenda other than to ask the two questions above.

Join in the conversation about this post/podcast in the comments section below. What are ways that you “shake up your routine” and learn other’s perceptions?

FREE SURVEY: What is it like to work in your company culture? Contribute your experiences in my FREE Performance-Values Assessment. Results and analysis will be shared in an upcoming post and podcast.

Photos © S. Chris Edmonds.

Subscribe!Podcast – Listen to this post now with the player below. Subscribe via RSS or iTunes!

The music heard on these podcasts is from one of Chris’ songs, “Heartfelt,” copyright © Chris Edmonds Music (ASCAP). Chris plays all instruments on these recordings.

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Great Bosses Connect Through Conversations

September 17, 2012

iStock_000012681402XSmallAre you your employees’ best boss?

If you’re not, you may be surprised how quickly you can become their best boss. It’s not complicated.

Think about your own best boss – the person you worked for who created an environment where you were immensely productive and you loved going to work every day. What did your best boss do to create that environment for you and your team members?

I’ve asked this question of clients for over 20 years. The answers are remarkably consistent across a wide range of industries, organization size, country of origin, even personality. From my research, these are the most consistently reported “best boss” behaviors:

  • They care. Each team member is a valued person.
  • They celebrate. They give praise, encouragement, and credit.
  • They listen.
  • They validate others’ ideas, efforts, and accomplishment.
  • They’re available.
  • They inspire increasing performance in service to customers.

Notice the pattern of these great boss behaviors. They are primarily about support, validation, and connection – not about, for example, pay, goals, or metrics. Certainly great bosses must inspire terrific consistent performance. And, for these “best bosses,” they spend more time creating and maintaining positive personal relationships than they do driving results.

The payoff for leaders that connect through conversations with employees? Better results.

Knowing these consistent great boss behaviors is one thing – demonstrating them every day with team members is another! The simplest, most effective avenue for leaders to connect to employees is through regular conversations.

Two colleagues have written a terrific book that helps leaders have more authentic conversations with employees. Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni’s book, “Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go,” is available today. Beverly and Julie present a vibrant model that outlines the importance of proactive, frequent discussions about progress, opportunities, and career.

Their model describes conversations that engage leaders and employees in hindsight (learning from past effort and identifying what employees are good at AND love doing), foresight (considering the changing business environment and what those changes mean for the future), and finding insight, the “sweet spot” where hindsight overlaps foresight, illuminating paths to enhance employee skills, contribution, and career.

Being a great boss is not complicated. It simply requires proactive engagement on the leader’s part to invest time, attention, and conversation with each team member. Where those conversations enable the employee to feel cared for, listened to, validated, and inspired, the leader is on the path to being that team member’s best boss.

Please join in THIS conversation! What did your best boss do to create an inspiring work experience for you? How do your great bosses engage you in career conversations? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Get your FREE EXCERPT from my new book, #POSITIVITY AT WORK tweet, written with the delightful Lisa Zigarmi. View our video on why we wrote the book, understand the research on positivity in the workplace, and more!

Photo © iStockphoto.com/yuri_arcurs

Subscribe!Podcast – Listen to this post now with the player below. Subscribe via RSS or iTunes!


The music heard on these podcasts is from one of Chris’ songs, “Heartfelt,” copyright © Chris Edmonds Music (ASCAP). Chris plays all instruments on these recordings.

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A Musical Team or a Noisy Group?

September 3, 2012

untitled-50aMany of you know that I’m a working musician in my free time. I was invited to join the Jones and Raine band in 2007; it is the most talented, musical, and enjoyable band I’ve ever experienced. The reason why may surprise you. It’s not about musicianship or cool gear or great songs or even teamwork – though all those things certainly help. It’s about listening.

Live music is an interesting challenge. Great live performances are not created by individuals playing their parts at full volume! That creates noise and static which is not pleasurable to listen to.

Great live performances require well-prepared, skilled players who work WITH each other, listening carefully to leave space for others’ contributions, and not step on anyone’s toes with an unfortunately timed vocal or instrumental. Every note played, every word sung, needs to serve the song’s message and the listener’s receipt of it. Every tune played needs an intentional strategy to guide the players and the performance.

Recording in the studio is a different deal. In that sterile setting, individual players can lay down perfect tracks. The producer and engineer(s) mix and master those tracks to position parts (instruments, vocals, lead instrumentation, etc.) in the stereo soundstage, to ensure clarity of tracks, and to present the song in it’s best, final form. For performers, studio work is less complex than live shows – you come in, play your parts, and then leave the mixing and mastering (HOURS of hard work) to the pros.

In a live setting, it is all too easy to create a “wall of sound” that doesn’t distinguish vocals, keyboards, or guitar performances – or the song’s meaning. The best bands – like the best work teams – listen carefully, in the moment, to work together to present the best possible combination of skills and performance for the receiver(s).

Does Your Team Create Music or Noise?

In organizations, it is all too rare that a team cooperates, listens, and leverages team members’ best selves in service to internal and external customers. Most teams create noise – where individual performers do their thing without clear regard for the total package.

That noise may not be intentional. It could be that individual performers see themselves in a “sterile setting” much like that of a recording studio. They perform and leave the “mixing and mastering” to someone else.

In most cases and with most teams, there isn’t someone else to pull it all together. If you want your team’s live performance to be pleasurable to your “listeners” (customers), every team member needs to bring their best performance, listen for the right space to contribute, and offer space for team mates to contribute, too.

Please join in the conversation! What are your experiences with work teams – has it been music or noise or something in between? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Get your FREE EXCERPT from my new book, #POSITIVITY AT WORK tweet, written with the delightful Lisa Zigarmi. View our video on why we wrote the book, understand the research on positivity in the workplace, and more!

Photo © Kevin Krayna at Creation Photoscapes

Subscribe!Podcast – Listen to this post now with the player below. Subscribe via RSS or iTunes!


The music heard on these podcasts is from one of Chris’ songs, “Heartfelt,” copyright © Chris Edmonds Music (ASCAP). Chris plays all instruments on these recordings.

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