This is when this story becomes amazing.  My husband called the salesperson and he was told “We want to make it right.”  And they did.  They first set up an appointment with the chair manufacturer to see if there was something that could be done with the chair.  And when that didn’t work – we were told we could ”start over” and exchange what we had with something that would work better for us.  What can we learn from this story?

When something goes wrong, we have an opportunity to “win back” our customers.   Encourage your leaders to teach your customer service professionals to look at problems at opportunities.  Recognize the positive impact that you can have on your customers when you can creatively brainstorm solutions.  Take a look at your company policies and make sure they provide enough room for people to do what it takes to keep that customer relationship.

Guess what, this furniture store has made fans of us!  What about you?  We have got to “make it right for our customers!”

1.    Write a checklist for those tasks you do frequently.  For example, when I prepare for a training program, I need to do several things, including,  discover training needs, write an outline, create participant materials, develop slides, and design customized case studies. With checklists, I can estimate how long these activities will take – which helps me plan more effectively.
2.  Review your checklists with others.  A friend and colleague in the training field will be sending me her checklist – I may want to incorporate some of her ideas in my process.  I will send her my checklist!
3. Update your checklist as needed.  Sometimes certain activities can be automated, or delegated to an assistant or even assigned to a team member, or even deleted altogether!  Other times, we need to add important tasks to our checklists.   Be sure to update your checklist – deleting or adding items as needed.

You can experience more freedom (and carve out more time) when you follow checklists - enabling you to focus on creative brainstorming - something that many of us never seem to get around to doing!

• I got an answer that day!
• Dave, the customer service professional was friendly, professional, and highly competent
• He was so knowledgeable about the clock that he troubleshooted why the clock may have stopped working and walked me through the step by step process on getting it fixed
• When we called back the next day with some remaining questions, we got the same person!
• In a few moments, Dave walked my husband through some additional steps and our clock now works wonderfully!
• And now we are raving fans about this company! (Note:  The pink kit-cat® clock (with eye lashes) may be joining our family soon!)

For more information about this incredible organization (celebrating 80 years in business) – go to http://www.kit-cat.com/

You don’t want to miss the three-story tall fully-functional Kit-CatCat®’s Clock that will be seen by over 300 million TV viewers at the Rose Parade!

During a recent three-day supervisory class that I facilitated for Washington state governmental employees, I was impressed with how many leaders talked about the human side of leadership. In the midst of technology, changing priorities, and budget cuts, they recognized how important it was for them to show their team that they cared – about each team member individually and about how each person’s role positively impacted the success of their team.  

On this holiday and throughout the year, here are three practical ways to show you care:

1. Say thank you –  One of the best ways to show we care is to express our gratitude.  In our instant message society, receiving a handwritten note means a lot.  A sincere thank you – whether written or spoken, tells an employee, “I notice and what you do – matters.”
2. Acknowledge extra efforts – Think about a team member who always goes above and beyond.   Ideally, all your team members have this kind of attitude and extra commitment but practically speaking, there are some people who just do more than others.  Show you care about that person’s contribution by acknowledging that person’s efforts.  Or how about a former low performing employee who has successfully achieved his or her goals?  Show you care about this person by acknowledging this person’s efforts. 
3. Recognize all employees – Many times, we can’t do a lot with extra salary or benefits but what we can do is recognize every person’s impact.  Take the time to show you care by making sure team members know their impact to your team’s goals.  

One way you can “rewind your tapes” is to ask yourself, “Would you say the same thing to someone you love?” Often times, we can be our worst critics.  We would never say to others what we say to ourselvs.  Take a look at how much you are feeding your mind and thoughts with negative news.  Strive to focus on the positive, rather than the negative.

If you are not achieving all that you would desire- take a look at – or take a listen at – who you are getting most of your information.  Who are you most listening to?  Even well-meaning people can tell us things that can take us further away from our goals and dreams. 

And if you feel that your thoughts are mostly negative – reevaluate where you getting most of your information.   Bad news sells in the news so if you are spending most of your time listening to the news – you may need to step away from that source.

As Anthony Robbins said, “Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”

• Regular meetings (once a week. Twice a month)
• Clear expectations (fines for not writing your goals, fines for not accomplishing your goals, fines for missed meetings)
• Committed individuals who are supportive. 

 From one my master mind buddies:

I just wanted to say how stoked I am to be part of your Mastermind group!  I can really feel it – we are going to move ground this year!  Wahoo!  I so look forward to working with both of you and watching our business explode in 2012!  We are really going to rock!         

 I want you to know that regardless of how 2011 was for you and your business, take a moment today to bless it and let it go.  I wish you a very prosperous, wildly successful and joyful 2012! 

 With support like this – how can we not be successful!

The first step in creating successful goals is to wrap them around your passion and interests.  Certainly, there will be some goals where you just need to achieve them.  But even those – I encourage you to look for creative ways to link your passion, energy, and your interests.    The goals that you have a better chance of achieving are the ones where you are passionate.   Here are some examples of my goals that are linked with my passions:

I want to be healthy and I love to swim!  My goal for 2012 is to swim 4-5 times a week.

I love to read!   I want to be more intentional about reading and my goal is to read 2 books a month.

I love my husband!  We will continue our date nights since this are a practical way to keep our love alive.

How about you?  What are you passionate about?

1. Celebrate your Successes.  What goals did you accomplish?  What do you think was instrumental in your achieving them?  What did you learn about yourself or your processes that you can take into the New Year?
2. Learn from what went wrong.  Perhaps there are some goals from last year that you did not achieve. Why? What could have been helpful for you in achieving these?  What can you do differently in the New Year?
3. Offer thanks to those who helped you.  How many people helped you achieve your goals last year?  Have you taken the time to express your gratitude to those who supported you – and without them – you couldn’t have succeeded.

 Here’s to a great new year!  The next 3 Blog entries will contain some strategies that will help you create goals and plans that will increase your chances of success.