(Gulp) I know you: Reasons why you should maintain your customer service role

Last week I discussed some of the reasons why providing great customer service to your clients is important.  This week I want to discuss some reasons why you should continue to offer great customer service to the internal client (your coworkers).

No matter what industry you work in, chances are you have witnessed someone consistently be inconsiderate of other coworkers (or you may have been that someone).  This said person typically doesn’t adhere to the team player mentality and likes to play the lone wolf.  While being a lone wolf is not necessarily a bad thing, it can become bad when the wolf decides not to work well with others in the group. 

Another person who can be destructive in the workplace is simply the jerk.  This person may play well with others, but then decides to be uncooperative with a certain individual or group.  Sometimes there is a reason (whether justified or not) and sometimes they behave this way just because they can.  If this person has direct contact with clients, they may behave similarly with them as they tend to not have an off switch when they become agitated.

So what does it mean if you happen to know one of the two people above or you are one of them?  Well, if your industry is anything like the audio visual industry, there is a good chance that you will be working with that person in the future in another capacity.  One day they are sitting next to you and the next day you are buying from them (or they are buying from you).  Since the audio visual industry is rather small compared to other industries, people know each other from working together over the years.  And most of the people are passionate about what this industry stands for and they tend to stay in it, no matter what shape or form.  That makes it imperative that you treat everyone the same way you would expect to be treated: with respect.  Treat the internal client just as you would the external client.  People don’t need to be best friends at work, but they do need to work well with each other to get the job done.  Trust me, there are plenty of people that I have worked with that I would not have a beer with after work, but in the confines of the workday, we were the ultimate team to get the project done and provide the client with a fantastic service. 

If we all take the moment to review the problems we face with a rational though process, it will help to make the workplace environment more hospitable.  You may not like the person you have to deal with to fix an issue, but that doesn’t mean that the two of you can’t make it right.  It is easier to fix an issue and be done with it than to let it linger because you want to prove a point that the other person is wrong.  Maybe they are wrong, but is it really your place to point it out?  You never know if the person you choose to have a vendetta with will become your boss in the future. 

Considerable Customer Service

What comes to mind when you think of the phrase “customer service”?  Most people may envision a smiling person who assists you with your purchase or transaction.  This smiling person was knowledgeable, polite, and competent in providing you with your needs.  This assessment is correct; however, there is a lot more to customer service than assisting a customer with just one transaction. 

Customer service is the embodiment of the interactions that occur between the customer and the provider.  Customer service is something that should never go away, even after the project is completed. Great customer service is the reason why your customer will continue to do business with you and will have no qualms referring additional business in your direction. 

Recently my company provided a bid response for a large opportunity.  One of the requirements to be included in our submittal was client references of projects that were similar to the opportunity we were vying for.  This is not a rare occurrence, as we often provide references of similar projects to help showcase our capabilities.  After we provided our submission, my coworker and I were talking about this opportunity (we both contributed to our bid response).  My coworker said to me “I really hope that our references are happy with us”.  We went on to discuss that we know these customers are happy with us, at least they tell us they are, as otherwise we would not have used them for a reference.  We went on to discuss how a customer could be perfectly happy with the sales representative, but not be so comfortable with the installation staff (or vice versa).   We concluded the conversation agreeing that customer service is fluid and needs to continually happen with the customer and that it needs to flow from all positions within the company. 

You never really know if a customer is fully happy with you until they are asked from another source.  That is when the most honest reviews will surface about your workmanship and competency.  What you can do to help make sure a customer is happy is take the time to talk to them.  Confirm they are happy with what they have purchased or received.  Confirm the overall feeling that they received from your company is positive.  You want the customer to feel like you were their champion during the project and that you were looking out for their best interests in providing the best solution for their needs (which you should be doing anyway).  There is nothing worse than having a good customer receive bad service because you were rushing to complete the job, or you were having a bad day and leaked it out to the customer (whether they were the reason for your bad day or not).  There have been surprise instances (luckily not that many) where a customer who you thought was going to give you a glowing recommendation was actually not happy with your performance. 

Continue to follow up with your customers; show them that you care.  While there are a few customers who never seem to be happy, most customers will continue to do business with you if you provide the extra effort to show them they are important to you.

Morale and it's affect in the Workplace

Many of us talk about morale in the workplace, but what is it that we are talking about? 

Per the Random House Webster’s Dictionary (2001), the definition of morale is:

Morale, noun: emotional or mental condition, as of cheerfulness, with respect to work or a duty.

Per the Roget’s II The New Thesaurus (1996), the definition of morale is:

Morale, noun: a strong sense of enthusiasm and dedication to a common goal that unites a group.

Of the two definitions provided, I prefer Roget’s definition.  A workplace is a unity of people working towards a common goal.  Sometimes that goal gets lost during the process.  As most of us in the A/V world know, we are coming down the homestretch of our busiest season.  With this occurrence, everyone has a role to play and multiple balls to juggle.  Once in a while tempers fly and we have to be reminded that we are all working towards a common goal of customer service to the customer and to ourselves. 

There are many moments where we do not think of our actions and how they are perceived by others or how they affect the office environment.  If another coworker hears you flipping out on someone, they may label you as difficult. Most people remember the saying “If you don’t have anything nice to day, then don’t say anything at all” from when we were younger; it helps to try to keep that saying in mind when in the workplace.  Even if you are confiding to our best friend at work the juicy rumor we just heard, we are spreading negativity, and that affects the workplace atmosphere as well.

There are days where I leave my desk totally pissed off, either at myself, a coworker, or a customer, but I remind myself that I do like my job and my coworkers.  Sometimes that reminder comes later in the day, but it does surface.  If we can all take a moment to realize that our actions do affect others positively and negatively, we can work towards improving the morale in our work environments. 

Having a great morale in the workplace makes everyone have a more enjoyable experience.  Turning the morale around won’t happen overnight, and there will always be negative people in the workplace.  Give out more smiles and hellos during the day and most likely you’ll receive them back.  I certainly like to see smiles instead of frowns throughout the hallways at work!

The Value of a Warranty

Many times in the A/V world people weigh the option of purchasing an additional warranty.  For most people, the more expensive the item the more likely we are to purchase an additional warranty (such as a washer, dryer, refrigerator, or car). 

Warranties are often viewed as “insurance” and are considered an expense that is not needed or that it will never recover the money put into it.  I say that all of the naysayers need to remember back to a time when an extended warranty helped them out in a crisis.

Last week I took one of our cars to the shop for an oil change.  While there I also explained out there was a banging, bumping noise coming from the driver’s side front of the car.  I was staying at the shop anyway, so I broke out my laptop and book to wait it out and hope that the banging, bumping noise wasn’t anything extravagant that would require extra money or another visit to the shop.

After an hour or so the employee who helped me at the counter informed me that I had a damaged control link that is in stock at a local dealer and that it would be there within the hour.  Also, this fix would be covered under our warranty.  That was exciting news as when we purchased this vehicle (used) we decided to add on a 3 year extended warranty just in case.

My car was fixed in a total of 2 hours and all I paid for was an oil change.  Even though I knew the value of extended warranties, I was excited that I had one work in my favor that day.

The same principle of an extended warranty can be integrated with an A/V system.  If you don’t have the ability to maintain a system or simply don’t have the time, an extended warranty on your A/V system could really work in your favor, especially if you are trying to make your equipment last one more year before you purchase an upgrade.

Perseverance in the Workplace

When I was of middle school age, my family summer vacation consisted of a day at a water park.  My brother and I loved this idea!  We went on every ride and raft possible, except for one.  From the ground, this one slide looked amazing and everyone who went on it was screaming their hearts out on the descent.  My brother and I looked at each other and decided we wanted to go down that slide.  As we climbed the steps we delighted in the screams we heard from the passengers riding down the 60-degree angle slide.  Being the big sister, I was to be the first to go on the slide.  I put the plastic surf-boggan under me and was waiting for the ride operator to ask me if I was prepared.  He did not and suddenly the platform underneath me tilted to start my descent down the slide.  Only I didn’t go, my arms shot out to my sides to hold me back.  Looking down that slide and realizing it was only as wide as I was scared the hell out of me.  All of a sudden thoughts of plummeting off the side of the slide filled my mind.  The platform beneath me went horizontal again and the ride operator asked me what was wrong.  “You didn’t ask me if I was ready!” I screamed.  He asked if I was ready now and I said no.  I took my surf-boggan and put it back on the pile and walked to the top of the long staircase.  I asked my brother if he still wanted to go down the ride and that I would meet him at the bottom.  My 2 ½ year younger brother said no, he would walk down with me.  I don’t believe he was scared of the ride as I suddenly became, this was his moment to be the big brother that he never could be for me.  By the time we walked down the steps we were ready to go back to another ride we previously enjoyed.

Every day in the workplace we have “fight or flight” moments, most are not to the extreme of my story above.  Yet, we have decisions to make regarding co-workers, customers, manufacturers, etc. that affect us in how we deal with them.  These moments can also happen within the confines of a meeting; you have the ability to bring your ideas forward or you sit back and allow others to lead and present their ideas, knowing that your ideas are just as good or better.

If we allow the flight moments to take over, then we start to offer sub-par customer service.  We start to allow quotes to take longer than they should; we lollygag in returning phone calls to customers or manufacturers.  We start to get lazy.  Laziness spreads like wildfire and once one co-worker sees another exhibiting this, they start to do it as well.  Suddenly the moral of the workplace and level of service plummet.

Fight moments allow us to shine and provide top-notch customer service.  We strive to provide customers with timely quotes, timely order status, and timely information. This dedication to be the best we can be for ourselves and others is perseverance.  When the laziness threatens like a storm on the horizon, persevere through it and continue to challenge others as well as yourself (not to a dual or anything, keep that kind of challenge on the playground). 

Persevering through the good times and the bad times will help to make you a well-rounded employee who is willing and able to deal with anything. 

How layout and design affect a website

I am a person interested in websites. Having technology at my fingertips all hours of the day practically requires me to view websites for information multiple times throughout the day.  While I may not think a business is inferior if they don’t have a website, I instantly like a business if they do have a website, even if it is a basic page that gives contact information and a little history about the company.

I was curious about A/V industry websites and whether they conveyed a message that says, “Look at me!  Just because I’m nerdy doesn’t make me unfriendly”!  So I focused my energy on two websites to see if they pass the worthiness test.

The first company I looked at was Inavate (www.inavateonthenet.net).  Inavate is a professional audiovisual integrator located in the UK that provides many professional A/V technology solutions.

The first two things I noticed when the page loaded was the company name largely displayed at the top left corner of the page and the use of color.  There is a nice variation of white, black, pink, blue, red, yellow, etc. against a white backdrop.  Boxes containing various information are duplicated throughout the page.  Some of the images are actively moving, which allows your eye to wander to them to see what the hubbub is.  The color scheme and duplication of boxes are consistent throughout the website, which makes for an easy read if you are bouncing around the site.

The web pages are balanced nicely between text and images, with neither making you feel overloaded.  The typography is appropriate for each topic discussed.  There are no 50-point fonts that eat up excess space, nor do you need to get your bifocals out to gather information.

Overall, the website is extremely easy to navigate.  The tabs located towards the top of the pages are helpful navigational tools to lead you down the path you wish to explore.  The information in each tab is organized appropriately. When you visit Inavate’s website, you instantly get the connection that this is a technology company that can provide you with many professional solutions.  This website gets a thumbs up from me for ease of navigation and effective use of text and images.

The second company I looked at was Omega Audio Video (http://omegaaudio.net).  Omega Audio Video is a home theater integrator located in London, Ontario that provides many solutions for the home theatre enthusiast.   They also dabble in the commercial A/V realm, check out their “Our Services” tab.

Upon entering their website, your eyes get drawn to their name in the upper left-hand corner as it is large, black text against white. Then your eyes get drawn to the rotating pictures in the center of the page.  The homepage has a clean feel to it with a white background combined with black and blue text.  The rotating pictures utilize muted, neutral colors, which work very well with the background and text.  Scrolling to the bottom of the homepage allows you to share Omega Audio Video’s website with others in various forms (Twitter, Digg, etc.).  To the right of this information are their phone number and email address (I personally like when you do not have to search for contact information).

The web pages are balanced with the use of text and images.  The typography is appropriate on each page and doesn’t differ depending upon the topic of the page.  While there is more text than images used, the website as a whole still feels balanced.  This balance comes from appropriate image use that doesn’t overwhelm the viewer.

Visiting Omega Audio Video’s website gives you the instant connection that they are a technology company that can provide you with the A/V solution that you need.  The website gets a thumbs up from me for ease of navigation and appropriate use of information.

In conclusion, I was impressed with both Inavate’s and Omega Audio Video’s website as while they were both different, they both were easy to navigate and provided me with the information I was seeking.  Both websites show a professional company that seems fully capable of assessing and providing you a fantastic A/V solution.

Ethics in Workplace Communication

This is my first blog outside of being a requirement for school, so please, be nice.

I originally came up with this Top Ten list for my Advanced Business Writing class that I am taking this semester.  I initially thought this would be an easy task, a total “no-brainer”.  But as I started to list the communication items that I thought were important, I realized that there are many workplace guidelines that go into communicating effectively with coworkers. 

The list compiled below is a starter list.  The items are not listed in any particular order of importance.  This list can be utilized by anyone from the intern up to the CEO. 

1. Treat everyone fairly. This extends to coworkers (regardless of hierarchy), internal, and external customers. You never know if the person sitting next to you will be your boss one day, so you should strive to remain cordial and fair, even if they may not give you the same treatment.

2. Honesty. This simple word goes a long way with building relationships, especially with customers.

3. Confidentiality. No one ever wants to hear their dirty laundry whispered back to them. Confidentiality is especially important if you are dealing internally with sensitive issues such as workplace harassment or if you are dealing externally with a customer or vendor regarding proprietary information.

4. Emphasize key information. Whether you are verbally discussing your topic or providing it in written form, get to the point. Too many words can risk your audience missing your main point all together.

5. Use clear and concise language. Occasionally, misunderstandings happen in the workplace. Misunderstandings due to communication can decrease if you use words your audience can grasp. Keep the $5 words on your Word-a-day dictionary.

6. Confirm facts before passing them along as truth. As tempting as it is to be a part of the grapevine, make sure that the information you are hearing really is the truth. There is a fine line between gossip and real industry news and this is where you can increase your credibility by researching the topic before making a jaw-dropping newsbreak that may be incorrect.

7. Give credit where credit is due. Everyone likes a pat on the back whether they will admit it or not. If a coworker or customer has helped you with a task, thank them. A simple thank you will let that person know that you acknowledge them and their efforts. This will also show that you are a team player and are willing to reap the benefits with everyone and not try to claim the glory all for yourself.

8. Steer clear of plagiarism. Even if you do it by accident, it is still wrong. If you are going to site other people’s work within your presentation, make a note of where you received your information.

9. Avoid conflicts of interest. Sometimes the lines of conflicts of interest are dim and gray. Try your best to be cognitive of these situations.

10. Make yourself available. Everyone is busy. If you make the time to have a quick conversation with someone, it can save both of you time and money if the situation is resolved immediately. Miscommunication happens when questions aren't asked or answered. Confirmation conversations are always beneficial.