Do you LOVE New Year's Eve or are you among those who HATE it?
I find most people are solidly in one camp or the other when it comes to the 'First', or, 'Last' Holiday of the year. Either you already have your HUGE 2012 eyeglasses and your only worry is which party you are going to... or you would rather hear the sound of your Mother-in-law saying she will be staying for a few weeks than the opening notes of Auld Lang Syne.
That's not to say that people don't switch sides from fans to foes. I know that I have both loved and hated the night over the years. When I was young and could stay awake dancing past 10pm, I adored it, when I had no one to kiss at midnight I hated it. When we are looking forward we tend to enjoy it more than those years when we find ourselves looking back.
This year there is a lot to look back on. Mother Nature alone brought us such extremes; the Tsunami in Japan, severe droughts in the midwest, devastating tornadoes, and here in my home state of New Jersey a series of floods culminating in hurricane Irene, an earthquake felt from Washington D.C. to Canada and a blizzard two days before Halloween that caused more destruction than I hope to ever see again. Yes, when I look back... well, it makes me want to look forward. So I shall be in the LOVE camp this year (though probably still sound asleep by 12:15!)
Ever since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed the week between Christmas and New Year's, not just because it was a break from school, but I love all the year end retrospectives in magazines and on TV. Remember Life magazine and their 'Year in Pictures' issue? Time and Newsweek, too, and even People gives us a look back at the hijinks of the rich, famous and not-so-famous. My family and I would take that stroll through the events of the year, remember people who had married, babies born, awards and trophies won and lost and those who had left us.
We do the same thing in our personal lives. As the year draws quietly to an end, we send and receive holiday greetings that include that annual photo; either of the family all decked out in matching (hideous) sweaters, new babies wearing 'Santa, I've been (mostly) good' onesies, or our pets gamely enduring reindeer antlers and Santa hats. There are those year-end 'updates' printed out on paper with borders of Holly or leaping Elves, that recount, in often painstaking detail, every hole-in-one Uncle Jack hit, the exact weight of that monster striped bass landed by cousin Earl and just how much weight Aunt Abigail gained on her cruise to Alaska last May.
We also tend to pick up the telephone and reach out to those friends and family that we may have neglected to keep in close touch with the previous 11 months. It's okay, we all do it. Sometimes it's not even a matter of neglecting, or forgetting to call. My Mom has a dear friend that she probably thinks of almost every day, but Barbel lives in Switzerland and that's an expensive call, so Mom allows herself one during the Holidays and another in the summer, otherwise they keep in touch via 'par avion'.
But... there are those folks, whom we do love deeply, but who also treat the telephone wires like a spiders web in which they endeavor to ensnare their prey so that they can liquify our organs for leisurely consumption! Um, sorry, got carried away there. What I meant to say is that we all know someone who just loves to trap you on the phone and regale you with every bit of tragedy, gossip and commentary of the state of the world that has crossed their mind since last you spoke. Or, even worse, there is always dear old great-uncle Danny who will even share all those charming tales from his service during the Korean war that you have heard 187 times before, in addition to his opinion of every politician, athlete and neighbor you have never heard of.
If your job involves customer service (and, I think we have established that most EVERY job does) you have met these people at work as well. Whether it's that caller who just HAS to tell you her experience with every product she has ever purchased, not just from your company, but your competitors and even stores that sell completely different stuff, or the old-timer who is chewing off your ear about how much better his Edsel was than these dang new-fangled cars while you are trying to do a tune-up, or that table that just insists on showing you pictures of their daughters wedding in Vail when all you really want them to do is pay the check and go so you can seat the next party of six who look like they will be big tippers.
What to do? What to do? What to do?
If you have been following my Blog you know that I probably have a tangible skill, a tool for your customer service toolkit, that will enable you to handle these situations, while delivering World Class Service. Of course I do! As the kids say, 'I have mad skills'! Well, I don't know if the kids are still saying that, they were...things change so fast... I am getting old... sigh.
Sorry! Where was I? Oh, yes, about to give you the key, the trick, the strategic step that, in every interaction, will enable you to regain control of the conversation and steer it to a smooth, graceful close without hurting Aunt Abby's feelings OR risking insulting or alienating a customer.
When you find yourself in a conversation with someone who has gone off on a merry ride, even if you are a willing participant, and it is finally time to get them to pull over and let you get back behind the wheel, you need to use the skill we call 'Recap and Next Steps'. The way this works is pretty simple; you go back down the winding road of the conversation and find the 'point', the what-the-heck-were-we-talking-about-before-this-got-out-of-control moment. Could be when Uncle Dan mentioned that the fresh snowfall reminded him of Christmas when he was a kid, or when that lovely couple noticed your engagement ring and told you their daughter had just gotten married, or when you customer said that she had had to return a sweater last month because it was the wrong size. You need to go back to what the original issue was and your response to it and RECAP by restating those two elements of the conversation and then, this is super important, follow that with whatever the NEXT STEPS are going to be, either for your customer/friend/or chatty relation, and for yourself.
What's it going to sound like, you ask? (I'm pretty sure I heard you ask) Well, like this;
"Uncle Dan, I agree that we had more white Christmas's back in the day. I am going to go online and see if I can find any old photo's of the Bronx from the 40's and I will send them to you in the next few days."
"Thank you so much for sharing those gorgeous pictures of your daughter's wedding. I have written down the name of the venue and will be contacting them to see if they are available to do my wedding."
"So, twice you have received sweaters that were mislabeled. I am going to pass this information on to our quality control supervisor to make sure that they are aware of the problem."
It just goes back to the basics, people want to be heard, their issue recognized and know how it is going to be resolved. Once you let then know you are 'on it' and what you are going to be doing, they can sit on back, relax and let you be in control of the interaction.
All that is left is for you to 'sign off' in a World Class way...and, I KNOW you know how to do that.. but I am still gonna save that for another Blog!
I hope that you all have more fond than sorrowful memories to reflect upon as 2011 draws to an end,
I wish you laughter to chase away the tears,
I wish you Health, Happiness and Prosperity in 2012
and I thank you for spending a few moments of your irreplaceable time reading my blog and I hope to be able to continue entertaining you in 2012.
Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment