Who’s Your Customer?

Accountability, Attitude and Motivation, Communication, Conflict Resolution5 Comments

I spent most of last week teaching customer service classes at Baylor Medical Center in Frisco.  For the last nine years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with them to help build a culture of service.  Having gone through the last two months in the hospital with Evan, I certainly had a different perspective of what it takes to provide great service in a hospital.  They have more than doubled in size since I started working with them, and their customer service scores are phenomenal.  Why then would they continue to have customer service training?   Because they know that getting complacent is the fastest way to lose the culture they have worked so hard to create.

I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some very successful, high performing teams, across multiple fields and disciplines.  I have come to realize is that regardless of industry, most people do a pretty good job of providing service to the external customer.  It’s the internal customer that’s a problem.  The challenge is that we spend 70% of the time we are awake at work.  That means we spend more time with the people we work with than we do our own family.  The biggest mistake we make is not considering our co-workers our customers.

So how do you apply the same levels of customer service to your colleagues that you would to the external customer?  Here are 7 strategies that can improve your internal customer service and working relationships:

What’s Your W.I.I.F.M.?

Attitude and MotivationLeave a comment

Good morning!

I hope you had a fantastic, relaxing weekend and a great Mother’s Day. 

W.I.I.F.M.  It is an acronym that has been around for decades.  It stands for What’s In It For Me?  On the surface, that may sound a little selfish.  In reality, we do things for only one of two reasons: To gain a benefit or avoid a loss.  This could be an emotional benefit or loss, but it holds true nonetheless. 

Why is W.I.I.F.M. so important?  Because it is the way to tap into what motivates us and others to repeatedly create an environment that helps us flourish.  Whether using this concept for your kids, co-workers, managers, family and friends or significant others, the same concepts hold true. 

I often get the question, “How do I motivate my peers, boss, husband, kids, etc.?  I believe that every one of us is motivated.  Now, some people may be motivated to do as little as possible, but they are still motivated by something.  Unfortunately, you cannot make someone motivated.  While you can provide fear or incentive for immediate motivation, it doesn’t last, and if overused, it can have negative effects.