Cheerleaders: A business imperative
What matters in your business? We know what we DON’T want; we know what employees are NOT supposed to do. But, how much time do we spend discussing, reaffirming and encouraging the behaviours we DO want to see. In her grade one class, my wife spends less time criticising errors and transgressions, and more time…
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Finding Your Customer in all the Noise: Four Questions
I was in Pavilion’s Exclusive Books Cafe recently (before it suddenly and unceremoniously closed down). I found myself looking out into the very busy passageway watching what seemed like hundreds of people walking, sauntering or rushing past. Some were alone, some in a group, others were with family or a special friend. Some were very…
Read More...Business lessons from a three-year-old
Simply Communicate is three! What a privilege it has been to do what I love these past three years and to share my passion. I have met some wonderful people, sat in a host of delightful coffee shops around KZN and drunk barrels of coffee. I have been privileged to journey with a variety of businesses and people…
Read More...‘It’s not my job’
‘It’s not our job’, screamed the newspaper headline as I sat in a Coffee Shop at the Musgrave centre last month during a round of load shedding. The story was about Durban Metro Police claiming that traffic control at intersections when the lights go out is not their problem – they have other things to do. No one seems…
Read More...Customer service on the freeway: the devil in the detail
A trip to Durban on a cold drizzly morning led to a minor irritation on the freeway. At the Mariannhill Toll Plaza I did what we all do on approaching a toll booth. I slowed down and began to open my window, timing the opening to coincide with my coming to a stop at the window.…
Read More...Putting people first in Alan Paton country
I was privileged to spend three days recently in Ixopo running a workshop for ward councillors. Driving through that magnificent, though presently brown and dusty, countryside, I was reminded of Alan Paton’s words, ‘There is a lovely road which runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass covered and rolling, and they are…
Read More...Mugg & Bean: picking up serviettes
Jen and I were in Mugg & Bean, Liberty Midlands Mall, over the weekend. A waiter walked by with a tray of dirty plates, and a used serviette fell to the floor as she passed our table. She didn’t notice, but another waiter did and immediately picked it up and threw it away. Of course, it…
Read More...Sharing the love: Going the extra mile
I was invited to run a workshop on presentation skills at the Maritime School of Excellence (MSE) in Durban last week. The prospect was pleasing, but the location was a nightmare, and I had less than 24 hours’ notice. The MSE is on one of the scariest and longest roads in Durban: Bayhead Road. It…
Read More...Customer service: lessons from the KZN South Coast
Jen and I spent a few days in Scottburgh on KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast a couple of weeks ago. We took a slow walk around town on the first day looking for a place to eat. Apart from the usual fast-food outlets, there are a couple of interesting places on the main shopping street, but there…
Read More...Customer care and dieting: easy to do, difficult to sustain
Good customer service is not difficult. Yes, there are big things that can make our efforts more effective: the vision/mission thing; the tracking systems; the social media programmes. But customer care happens in the ordinary, everyday interactions between staff and customer. If we don’t get those right, all the systems in the world will make…
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