Welcome to the September issue of our Spotlight on Service (SOS) newsletter designed to help those of us looking for ways to improve their service culture and customer experience.
You’re part of an ever-growing group of readers focused on service excellence so thank you for taking this journey with us as we endeavour to share our thoughts and ideas on how to truly stand out in your field – just like our old friend the Purple Cow!
Shout It From The Rooftops
Imagine if the biggest, brightest, purplest cow in the herd was too shy to leave the cowshed. The whole point of being different is that you get seen and the people who matter in your particular field recognise your uniqueness.
We would all like to think that the world is searching for us, but the harsh truth is that business just doesn’t work like that. As well as being amazing and making a difference, you need to overcome your inhibitions and shout about it.
Get Yourself Focused
Here at FIT our business is teaching our clients to WOW their prospects and customers with game-changing customer service. We love what we do (as you well know), we’ve been doing it for decades (as you know too) and we’re very good at it (I can say that with 100% confidence, because you know it simply reflects what YOU say about us).
However, believe it or not, the shouting about it does not come naturally to FIT! We’ll always go above and beyond for our clients and being a GEM (Going the Extra Mile) regardless of the time, effort or resource it takes to move our clients forward, is something that’s as normal to us as breathing! Sure, David and I have sat on dozens of award judging panels over the years, helping companies shout from the rooftops about their awesomeness – but becoming our own publicity agent? Well that’s a whole other ball game!
So one of our key objectives this year has been to put this reticence right – and stop hiding our light under a bushel.
Enter Richard Woods, at Million Dollar Sprint (MDS). Richard’s focus is helping small business owners scale from zero to one million in revenue within 12 months. His process is centred around doing ONE THING in a dedicated fashion rather than the alternative (we know it so well) “shiny-object syndrome” and attempting to do too many activities poorly. To quote the man himself “Be warned, the road to a million in revenue is littered with company tombstones and entrepreneurial tears. Only the ‘all in’ survive which creates one huge variable – YOU and your dedication to the goal.”
The “one thing” we were prepared to dedicate to was easy – LinkedIn. This is where the majority of our avatars, prospects and customers hang out so, since March of this year, we’ve been dedicated to sharing our messages, guidance, thoughts and advice to our LinkedIn audience. We’re really hoping you’re noticing this uplift too with articles every Monday and Thursday, our Tuesday polls, Wednesday videos and High Five Fridays where we recognise real-life, inspirational events and stories of fabulous service in the UK and around the world.
Being “all-in” takes time, effort and resources which is why we’re thrilled to add Mary Thomson to our team so that we can really commit ourselves to delivering high value every day. This newsletter is just one of those activities that we’re using to share valuable information and guidance to our readers but we’re not stopping there….watch this space for the addition of our new “LinkedIn Lives” where we’ll be inviting you to join our free sessions to learn all about those 1% tips and ideas that will make a 100% difference to your customers experience.
So our message is simple! If you’re brilliant, shout about it! Don’t hide your achievements – find your ONE THING to get the recognition you deserve and dedicate yourself to engaging and nurturing your audience.
Great Things Always Begin From The Inside
Whatever your thoughts on the power of mindfulness, meditation and psychology in general, I would challenge even the most cynical of people to argue against this principle: Everyone sees the world from their own unique and individual point of view – from the inside of their mind.
It is why multiple witnesses at a crime scene all give slightly differing accounts; the same film gets both 5-star and 2-star reviews from critics, and why beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Millions of factors determine how each person sees the world: genes; cultural upbringing; family influences; life experiences; sleep patterns and diet, right through to which side of the bed a person gets out of on any given morning (figuratively speaking).
So it’s useful to keep in mind that understanding these differences in perception can enhance empathy and improve communication in both our personal and professional relationships.”
“If an egg is broken by outside force – life ends. If it is broken by inside force – life begins. Great things always begin from the inside.”
The Inside Out Model
As a Wellbeing Therapist and NLP Master Practitioner, it is blatantly obvious to me that each person’s external world is simply a reflection of their internal world. It explains why we overreact to something one day that might not bother us on another, and how we sometimes just wake up feeling like we are not ready to face the day. Yes, outside influences can try to affect us, but we (inside our head and heart) get to choose if we are going to let them.
The Inside Out Model is a powerful tool to help you manage your state at the best (and worst) of times and it works like this:
1) Inside: Our beliefs determine our thoughts, which drive our feelings and emotions – if I genuinely believe that I am capable, strong and valuable, I will feel better about myself than if I believe negative things.
2) Outside: How we feel (determined by our beliefs and thoughts) will drive the way we behave and the actions that we take – and these in turn, will determine our results and outcomes.
The best thing about this model is that you can start the process from scratch, each new day – yesterday should not affect today. Yes, outside events (beyond our control) will happen – but we get to choose how we react or respond and that will impact the outcomes we achieve.
To keep my attitude on track, I choose to apply the E+R=O formula every time something doesn’t go quite to plan – and so can you….it just takes practice. You’ll see the benefits in no time.
Top One Percenters for September
1) Getting Results: In 1982, a band called Bananarama sang a song with the lyrics, ‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it – that’s what gets results’ and they were absolutely right.
When we’re coaching frontline staff, we switch the line slightly to ‘it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it…’ and find that the results start to flow. So, check your vocal tonality, pace and pitch today. Do you sound upbeat and easy to listen to? Is there rise and fall, creating rhythm in your voice? Does your voice say, “I’m happy to help and I’m focused on my customer’s needs” or “I’m just doing a job and going through the motions?”
2) NLP Anchoring – create good feelings! Remember a time when you felt really confident / happy / fell about laughing / full of energy & raring to go / totally motivated / excited. Imagine being back there now – see what you saw / Hear what you heard / feel what you felt
Now turn up the brightness, increase the volume and stir up all those good feelings!
When the memory of that time is at its most clear squeeze your thumb & middle finger together or press your magic button and notice how good that feels!
Repeat the exercise for each good memory and notice how all those good feelings get stronger and stronger!
You can also create Seeing, Hearing, Tasting & Smelling NLP Anchors – because whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve!
3) If It’s To Be, It’s Up To Me: you can read all the self-help books in the world, watch two TED Talks a day and attend a FIT training course every week (if you want to), but none of this education will work ….unless YOU do!
We have never had easier access to more information than we have today. However, success will always require education, backed up by application and action. So, go and apply these one-percenters and make a 100% difference to you and your customers NOW!
Book Review: The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
This book opens by challenging you to ask questions, such as “Am I willing to feel good and have my life go well all the time?” Hendricks observes that everyone would say ‘yes’ to that, but most choose to subdue their expectations. He goes on to explain how we all seem to have an inner thermostat that is set to limit the amount of love, success and creativity we can enjoy. So, when we start to max out, we begin to sabotage our own achievements.
His inspiring book then goes on to explore various aspects of dealing with fear, removing that upper-limit and being able to move into our Zone of Genius.
Living in this Zone of Genius is, in effect, the Big Leap that the book is addressing. Hendricks suggests that our limiting beliefs and low expectations of life cause us to live in Zones of Competence or, at the very best, a Zone of Excellence.
“The problem is that a deep, sacred part of you will wither and die if you stay inside your Zone of Excellence. There is only one place where you will ultimately thrive and feel satisfied, and that’s… in the Zone of Genius.” Gay Hendricks
So if you’re thinking of turning your thermostat to it’s highest setting you’d be warming up nicely with this book (see what we did there 😊). Enjoy the read.
See you next month…..
Well that’s it for September – as always we hope you found something useful to swipe and deploy and we look forward to catching up with you again in next month’s Spotlight on Service (SOS).
Wishing you much success in the meantime,
Marie and the FIT team
PS – If you’d like to find out more about how we might help support your business to deliver world-class, Purple Cow service to your customers do feel free to book your 30 minute Discovery Call here https://firstimpression.training/DiscoveryCall30
