JJ's Tips in this
issue:
1. Readers' Comments
2. A Key To Your Success
3. JJ's Favorite Quotes
4. Tele-Coaching & Tele-Mentoring FREE Consultation
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Use the following tips as training tools.
Present the problem to your group and brainstorm solutions together, or submit your own
situation question to be answered in an upcoming newsletter.
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Readers' Comments:
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In the last (July) newsletter, this QUESTION was asked: How do I enhance my value so I can
avoid being vulnerable if another layoff or downsizing occurs?
The SOLUTION consisted of EIGHT TIPS to make you more purposeful about influencing how
you're viewed by your boss and the other decision makers in your company. (Posted on
newsletter archives, Enhance Your Value (July 03) http://www.jjlauderbaugh.com/News/archive.html)
After receiving the newsletter, a reader from a financial institution wrote:
"Hi JJ,
Your 8 solutions are really on target. We had to lay off one staff member a couple of
months ago, and the one who was sent packing was good at her job but was a downer to the
office in general. The winner provides a great atmosphere by always having a smile and
speaking pleasantly to others as they enter and leave. The decision was easy when the
office as a whole was taken into consideration.
Thanks, Jack"
Another client, Aaron Everhart, Technology Manager at Landor Associates wrote after
receiving the June newsletter:
"Thanks for this (newsletter), I forwarded it on to our newly appointed director of
new business, and I'm sure she'll find it a good thing to share with her team. JJ, one
things for sure, we have not put on the shelf your influence on our group; it lives on
minute to minute of every day, and contributes to our success!"
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SITUATION QUESTION:
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What is a major key to my being successful personally and professionally, and how do I
develop it?
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SOLUTIONS:
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Whether you're running a large business, managing a department or working on the front
line serving or selling to customers, one of the MAJOR KEYS to your success will be your
ability to consistently get into customers' shoes.
Now I'm talking about both kinds of customers who are (external) those who buy our
products and services and (internal) the ones working above, beside and below us in our
companies. Family members are internal customers and friends and acquaintances are
external customers.
It's hard to get outside ourselves when we have so much on our plates to handle and
accomplish. Some days we have too many things to do and we're defeated before we begin,
and then the unexpected occurs. Feelings of overwhelm, frustration and stress take over to
literally stop us in our tracks. That's when we make it all about US instead of our
CUSTOMERS.
When every day has become about us and our stressors, it's time to get off the tread mill
and reinvent how we're doing business, how we can get more recharging in our personal
lives, and how to reprioritize time, commitments and our perceptions of the life we've
chosen or inherited.
Last week was one of those fast-lane weeks for me, and to my surprise at the end of the
week, I hit a Freaky Friday. I've called it that because it reminded me of a movie you may
have heard about or seen lately called Freaky Friday, starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
My week started after returning from New Orleans and my National Speakers Association
Convention. It had been one of best of the nineteen conventions I've attended and I came
back with lots of great ideas on how to reinvent my business immediately.
Since I was so inspired and passionate about implementing the ideas, I spent the first few
days going over my notes and developing a process to follow. Mid-week other commitments,
deadlines and unexpected time-stealers began to add extra stress to my already busy week.
One of those commitments was a promise to my daughter Cassie that I would have my 10-year
old grandson, Russell, with me Thursday and Friday. So most of my work commitments were
tabled until the next week.
On Thursday I drove Russell to his summer school and football practice, and on Friday we
went to see the movie, Freaky Friday. The movie is a a remake of a 1976 Disney comedy, and
it shows what happens when a mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her daughter get some bad
Chinese food and magically switch into
each other's bodies. The transformation produces an excess of accessible feelings and
comic frustrations as they resist, but finally work to get into the other's feelings and
thinking. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie as it made us laugh together.
After the movie, Russell and I agreed that the movie demonstrated how hard it is to get
into other people's shoes and really feel for them. It also takes effort to forget about
ourselves and put the emphasis on them. In our work or at home, this is a major key to our
success in communicating that we care about them (our internal and external customers).
On the way to Russell's football practice from the movie, I commented that people were
especially erratic in their driving and we had better be extra cautious. About a mile
later as we were stopped in traffic at a signal light, all of a sudden we found ourselves
looking up at the medium-blue ceiling of our car instead of looking straight ahead. Then
we heard a crashing sound as we were being pushed toward the car in front of us. As our
heads dropped forward again, we realized that we had been rear-ended by the van behind us.
Feeling very shocked and jittery, we looked at our damaged bumper and later exchanged
information with the other driver before driving on to Russell's practice. We were still
feeling jittery as we decided that this had been a truly Freaky Friday for us with lots of
lessons learned that we shouldn't forget.
THOSE LESSONS WERE:
1) Time spent with people we love helps us have better balance and a different perspective
on life in general.
2) Adjusting to others in our erratic and sometimes out-of-control environment helps us
get back in control quicker.
3) Working (not trying) constantly to get into other people's shoes, and taking the
emphasis off of ourselves will help us truly understand and appreciate their feelings and
needs.
And even on Freaky Fridays and days when we're challenged beyond our imagination, there is
also something good that comes from trying times. Sometimes we see the good right away, as
Russell and I did, but other times it takes years before we can see it. If we look for it,
we'll find it.
MAJOR KEYS: Strive to get into the other person's shoes and persistently work on
developing the attitude of, it's not about me, it's about them, and it's not what happens
to me, it's how I deal with it that matters.
When we apply these success keys and lessons learned, we'll increase our customer service
and sales, and enhance ALL of our relationships for greater success!
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JJ's FAVORITE QUOTES:
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The road to success is based on the choices you make. There will be many challenges.
Face them one at a time, and you'll go further and farther than you ever
dreamed.
- Jeff Mayer
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try
to help another without helping himself."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Tele-COACHING & Tele-MENTORING
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Call for your FREE CONSULTATION now! 800 500-9656 or 408 866-7673
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Customer service or sales?
Inbound or outbound call center sales and service?
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One-on-one Tele-Mentoring (our by-phone coaching service) is available to business owners,
executives, managers, supervisors and staff members.
Call now for FREE phone consultation!
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EVALUATION OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT:
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Have you had a quick Evaluation of Your Environment lately so you could receive
suggestions on improving it? (It's like the doctor's check up, you often don't know you
need it until after you've had it.)
http://www.jjlauderbaugh.com/about.html
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ABOUT JJ:
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JJ Lauderbaugh, CPCM
189 Altura Vista Dr.
Los Gatos, CA 95032
408 866-7673 or 800 500-9656
JJ works with companies that want to give exceptional customer service to increase sales,
and with Directors and Call Center/Help Desk Managers who want to improve human
performance.
She's an international speaker, trainer, facilitator and certified management consultant
(CPCM) on customer service management, specializing in performance improvement, call
centers, up/cross selling and outbound calling.
For training resources, free articles, tips and streaming video, go to our web site at
http://www.JJLauderbaugh.com
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Copyright and Reprints:
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Reprint permission is granted when the following credit appears: © JJ Lauderbaugh, CPCM,
Lauderbaugh & Associates, Inc., 2003. Reprinted with permission from JJ's Tips, a
monthly internet newsletter. For your own personal subscription, email
jj@jjlauderbaugh.com.
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