How To Express Genuine Interest In Your Customers

Author Steve Curtin, in his book, Delight Your Customers, suggests you and your employees do these 12 things to express genuine interest in your customers:

Offer personalized greetings
Use names
Practice assertive hospitality
Ask questions
Cosset
Anticipate needs
Remember preferences
Pay attention to details
Display a sense of urgency
Solicit feedback
Offer personal farewells
Follow up on service

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Top Five Factors That Drive Employee Loyalty

A 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management shows that job security is what matters most to employees. And, having that job security helps to keep employees loyal. Okay, that's really not too surprising during these times of high unemployment. Next on the list is benefits . The unstable economy, coupled with rising health care costs, make employer offered benefits more important than ever. Third on the top five list is an employee's opportunity to use his/her skills . When employees feel good about their jobs and their abilities, and clearly know they are contributing to their organization they remain engaged and loyal. In fourth place is an organization's financial stability . Compensation came in fifth on the top five list. Employee pay often is not the most important driver for employee retention. Despite study after study that shows pay is not the top reason employees stay with a company, research results like these often surpris...

Reach Communications & Leadership Expert David Grossman Via His New App

If you haven't engaged with David Grossman's website, Blog and incredibly useful eBooks, make a point of checking them all out at his website for The Grossman Group. David just launched his new App, called " Ask David ." Via the App, David promises to bring his communications industry expert advice and wisdom right to your fingertips. Topics covered include: Employee engagement Internal communications Change management Leadership effectiveness Crisis messaging Diversity and inclusion

5 Tips For Generating Ideas From Employees

Your employees have lots of ideas. So, be sure you provide the forums and mechanisms for your employees to share their ideas with you. Hold at least a few brainstorming sessions each year, as well. And, when you are brainstorming with your employees, try these five tips: Encourage ALL ideas. Don't evaluate or criticize ideas when they are first suggested. Ask for wild ideas. Often, the craziest ideas end up being the most useful. Shoot for quantity not quality during brainstorming. Encourage everyone to offer new combinations and improvements of old ideas.

Great Business Quote

Here's a great quote from author and speaker Harvey Mackay : "When a person with money meets a person with experience, the person with the experience ends up with the money, and the person with the money ends up with the experience."

"Great Places To Work" Employee Perks

StLouis magazine is featuring in its January issue 60 companies that they deemed "great places to work". Helping those companies to earn that honor are the perks they give their employees, some of which you might want to consider for 2011. Here's a sampling of the perks that cover the vast range offered by the 60 companies: ARCO Construction Company -- Paid sabbaticals after every five years with the company Armstrong Teasdale -- Women's career-coaching program Bryan Cave -- Backup day-care/elder-care services Build-A-Bear Workshop -- Health Insurance for part-time employees Boeing -- Continuing education tuition support Centene Corporation -- Dry-cleaning pick-up/delivery; on-site car washes and oil changes HOK -- Paid paternity leave LarsonAllen -- Development coaches for employees Maritz -- Health fair Monsanto -- Lactation rooms Nestle Purina PetCare Company -- On-site tailor Ralcorp Holdings -- New jobs listed internally first Scottrad...

The Science Behind Getting Ahead At Work

Michelle P. King’s new book, How Work Works , is composed of ten years of her research examining corporate culture, which includes a review of more than three thousand academic journal articles, seventy-two original interviews with executives from two different organizations (in England and Australia), two surveys with over three thousand participants and much more. In other words, King knows what it takes to advance at work, and more importantly, how we derive fulfillment from what we do and contribute beyond a job description. How Work Works is a unique and revelatory guide to understanding and navigating the unwritten rules of the workplace—the key to achieving success, finding meaning, and staying true to your authentic self in today’s business world. Through all King’s research she discovered to get ahead in the business world, the most successful individuals do not rely on the often generic and outdated written formal rules that for a century have ...

Use A Board Of Advisors

David Burkus often provides valuable comments to my various Blog postings, and he's a person who effectively uses a board of advisors, instead of mentors, to help him achieve success. "I've found that in my life, it was easier and more effective to set up a board of advisors," said Burkus, the editor of LeaderLab . "This is a group of people, three to five, that have rotated into my life at various times and that speak into it and help me grow. I benefit from the variety of experience these people have." LeaderLab is an online community of resources dedicated to promoting the practice of leadership theory. Its contributors include consultants and professors who present leadership theory in a practitioner-friendly format that provides easy-to-follow explanations on how to apply the best of leadership theory. Community users can download a variety of research reports and presentations about leadership and leadership versus management. For example, a pr...

How To Avoid 8 Common Performance Evaluation Pitfalls

As the year comes to a close it's likely time for many business leaders to tackle the annual performance appraisal process. So, here is a good reminder from author Sharon Armstrong about how to avoid eight performance evaluation pitfalls . These are in what I consider is the best chapter of the book The Essential HR Handbook , that she co-authored with Barbara Mitchell. 1. Clustering everyone in the middle performance-rating categories 2. Overlooking flaws or exaggerating the achievements of favored employees 3. Excusing substandard performance or behavior because it is widespread 4. Letting one characteristic - positive or negative - affect your overall assessment 5. Rating someone based on the company he or she keeps 6. Rating someone based on a grudge you are holding 7. Rating someone based on a short time period instead of the entire evaluation period 8. Rating everyone high, to make you look good There's ot...

Do You Really Need To Read Leadership Books?

The answer is yes. And, fortunately, there are lots out there to select from. However, if you don't have time to read books about how to be an effective and good leader, you can select a few words from the list below and then practice what those words mean, as you lead your team every day. Leaders on the LinkedIn Executive Suite group came up with these nearly 50 words in answer to a discussion topic I posted in the group forum: " A Good Leader Is [insert one word]." A big thank you to that group for this valuable list. Accountable Adaptable Approachable Authentic Aware Bold Brave Candid Caring Clear Challenging Charismatic Compassionate Courageous Credible Decisive Dedicated Ethical Empowering Engaged Fearless Forward-Thinking Gracious Honest Humble Inclusive Influential Inspiring Intuitive Loyal Mindful Moral Motivating Objective Open Passionate Pro-active Receptive Responsible Respectful Skilled S...

A Tale Of Leadership, Marketing And Blogging From Debbie Laskey

For the past 15 years, I have relied on Debbie Laskey’s Blog for expert leadership guidance and always interesting insights into marketing best practices and recaps of marketing trends. Fortunately, through the years, Debbie has also shared her expertise through a variety of postings on my blog and I’m honored again today to feature Debbie via the following Q&A’s: Question: During 2024, you published two interesting leadership series on your blog: the Spring Leadership Series (March-June 2024) and the Olympics Leadership Series (July-August 2024). What are some of your leadership takeaways that you learned from the participants in those two series? DEBBIE LASKEY : I've been honored to attract thought leaders to my blog in Q&A formats over the years and especially during 2024 in two leadership series. Fifteen experts participated in my #SpringLeadershipSeries, and 17 experts participated in my #OlympicsLeadershipSeries. Three key ques...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

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