"The Maiden Voyage...What's In It for Me?"
Introduction – The Maiden Voyage
After being invited to do a Podcast with Mary Schuster from RamQuest this year, I decided it was time to start catching up with social media in the year 2021 and Blog. This is my first Blog, and I hope people have as much fun reading them as I do writing them! (For the record too, Mary and I had a blast talking about Title and Settlement Industry Disrupters in our Podcast once I was able to overcome my technical difficulties. Who knew my download speed was so incredibly slow or that my microphone volume was so loud? Once the Podcast release is scheduled, I will Blog about it!)
I want to begin by sharing the history of the Blog Title “Life Lessons: Six of One Dozen of the Other.”
I am a child of the 1970’s- one of the grooviest decades in history. I watched Johnny Carson, listened to the advice of Durk Pearson, was fed wheat germ- probably because of Durk Pearson, took care of my pet rock, learned math and grammar from School House Rock, proudly wore tube socks, worshipped the Flintstones and Charlies Angels, and hosted Tupperware parties for my Girl Scout Troop fundraiser. Both my grandma and my mom always used their own rather unique words of wisdom shaped out of this colorful decade. One of my grandma’s was “six of one dozen of the other.” I used to correct her and tell her it was “six of one half-dozen of the other.” As I grew older, I realized she was right, “six of one dozen of the other” is far more applicable to my life. There has always been a better choice to make and path to take for me.
What will follow in these Blogs are the life lessons that I have continued working to perfect thanks to the personal and professional people that have surrounded me.
What’s In It for Me?
One of my most rewarding career experiences has been delivering customer service training. I was fortunate to have done this for three of the large companies I worked for mentoring their employees and vendors both domestically and internationally on the importance of customer relations.
I feel privileged to be a certified MAGIC® (Make A Great Impression on your Customer) trainer. There is so much great content and information in Communico’s MAGIC® program that can be used not just at work but also at home. I have always referred to it as the Rolls Royce of customer service training which at one point Communico had posted to their website. I learned a lot about myself and the impact I can have on others through my experiences with customer service training.
The best take away has been using the information I learned in customer service training and celebrating it with others in life on a daily basis. I do this by looking for exceptional customer service all the time. When I am out in the world- whether it is at home or at work- I am constantly looking for exceptional customer service. When I find it, I celebrate it. I begin by recognizing and thanking the person personally. If I am really blown away, I take the time to send an email to their superior. You can literally see employees preen when you pass out a compliment for a job well done. It has the power to make someone’s day, it will warm your soul and is absolutely worth the small effort it takes.
A recent example of exceptional customer service involved the closing of my escrow when I refinanced my home. The escrow officer and notary were the kind every title company wants to think they employ but very few do. The escrow officer literally would let me know she was going to lunch and when she would be back when we were down to the wire and having some issues with the lender. The notary they chose was one of the best I have ever worked with and this was after managing 15,000 notary closings a month in one of my jobs. Clearly the escrow company knew the value of a good notary as an extension of them. I called and thanked the escrow officer and notary personally when we closed, recognized their exceptional service and then sent an email to their boss recognizing their superior service. The email was shared with the owner of the company. The employees were thrilled. The owner commented that seldom if ever do they get compliments… they usually just get complaints. What a sad statement. I don’t think the general population understands the pressure and complexity of what an escrow officer and notary do. It pains me that the job is so thankless. I am so glad I took the time to share my opinion of the exceptional service I received from them.
Another recent experience stared when a Fed Ex driver texted me and offered to come back to deliver a package when she attempted delivery and I wasn’t home. I was out of town and she readily agreed to come back the following week when I returned. When a box of the shipment was missing, she took it upon herself to follow up and kept me updated for more than a week. I was so impressed I wrote a letter to her boss sharing in her exceptional service. Every time I see her in the neighborhood now she smiles from ear to ear and waves exuberantly. I have made a new friend, and her happiness at seeing me is contagious and makes me smile every time I see her with the good memory.
People appreciate being recognized. It is good for their soul and energizes them. It is good for my soul to find the good parts of life and celebrate them. The impact of doing this personally as opposed to through email or posted on a company intranet has far greater impact and is far more beneficial. It helps me to smile at life and see the proverbial glass half full. It is easy to celebrate life every day. You just have to make a concerted effort. Making this effort will improve your days. It will bring smiles to you and those around you both personally and professionally.
So What is Your Life Lesson…. 1- Do you take the time to thank people personally who deliver exceptional service? 2- When is the last time you wrote an email or letter to thank someone for their exceptional service? 3- Can you think of a time when you were in a bad mood and the reflection of your negative attitude caused someone to deliver bad customer service to you?