Video-The ART of Excellent Customer Service

This is a straight to the point less than 3 minute video explaining the ART of excellent customer service. Watch and be informed!

Be uniquely different, be you.

The ART of Excellent Customer Service

I had a 5 minute presentation to give last week but the program was postponed. I was more than pissed. I was so angry that I made sure my preparation did not go to waste. I call it productive anger. I dressed up and did the presentation at home. I will post the video next week. Since it is informative, it would be unfair to keep the information all to myself, so I am sharing…

Customer service is not exclusive to customer service officers alone. It cuts across all departments especially for service providing businesses like banks, hospitals, schools, consulting firms and many more. Any time you interact with a customer or a prospective customer, you are providing customer service; and at that point, you are a customer service ambassador of your organization. We know that customers are the best people to advertise your business. Prospective customers trust the words of existing customers more than your words. Even if you pay the best Nollywood actors to advertise your business but give poor customer service, people will only watch your advertisement and YIMU. So how do you ensure that you are giving your customer excellent customer service?
By practising the ART of excellent customer service.

The acronym ART stands for
A-Attention: You must pay attention to your customers and your customers’ needs. Paying attention to your customers means that when they come to you for enquiries or make complaints, you should listen to them. Show them you care and you are willing to help. While paying attention to your customers’ needs means ensuring through feedback and proper research that whatever product or service you are providing satisfies your customers’ needs.

R-Respect: Regardless of your customers’ age, gender or status, each customer must be treated with respect. Do not look down on a customer because he is not richly dressed. You don’t know who he knows or who he could refer to you. We say the customer is king. How do we treat a king? With respect.

T-Timeliness: In business, time is money and nobody wants his time to be wasted especially now when everyone wants things done sharp sharp. You should not be the one to waste your customers’ time. If it’s a 5 minute transaction, stick to 5 minutes. If you do that, your customers will see you as efficient and would love to keep doing business with you.

So now that you know the ART of excellence customer service, Attention, Respect and Timeliness, nothing should stop you from making your customers feel like the kings we say they are.

Be uniquely different, be you.

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HOW TO TRAIN YOUR CHILD IN THE WAY OF THE LORD-Tips to remember

I wrote this article which got published in our 2014 Children and Youth Harvest brochure. The harvest took place today and I thank God for answering my prayer-it did not rain. *smiles* This write-up is for parents and intending parents. A friend of mine said her dad needs to read #2.

Children are precious gifts from God and they need to be nurtured with wisdom because the way a child is trained determines to a great extent the type of adult the child would become. This means parents have a large role to play in the lives of their children. Below are tips parents should always remember as they train their children in the way of the Lord:

Do not try to play God: Parents should allow their children to be who God has created them to be. Do not plan out your children’s lives without seeking God’s opinion or their opinions. Your job is to guide them in the way of the Lord, not control them or manipulate them. If he wants to study theatre arts, don’t force him to study law. Do not kill the dreams of your children by imposing your dreams on them. God has a plan for each child.

Do not compare your children: Child A could be excellent at Mathematics, while child B could be excellent at Literature, whichever case, there are both excellent. Parents never compare your children outright or secretly. Never let a child feel like his or her sibling is better or is loved more. Do not breed unhealthy competition among your children. This could lead to jealousy and disunity. Embrace their differences. Your first child may be book smart while the second may be more skilled with his hands. Learn to accept and love your children for who they are.

Discipline with love: Just like you do not kill a mosquito with a hammer, do not treat your child with so much aggression over a minor transgression. When your child does something wrong, punish with love and not anger. Don't just scream and insult, criticise constructively. Let your child know the reasons why his/her actions are wrong. Also do not call your child derogatory names or label him/her negatively. You would be doing more harm than good.

Listen to your children: For some parents, it is either their way or no way. They assume they know what is best for their children and don't listen to what they have to offer. Any  ideas from their child that is contrary to theirs seem like a challenge to their authority. It should not be so. You kill your children's self esteem each time you shut them up  when they try to express themselves. Although your child shares your genetic makeup, he/she is uniquely different from you. It is not a crime to engage in healthy arguments with your child, it could help you learn more about your child or even learn from your child.

Be a good example: How can you teach your male child to love and respect a woman when most of the time you belittle your wife and treat her like her opinions do not matter? How can you teach your female child to be a peacemaker when you always nag and insult your husband in their presence? Exhibit values you want your children to imbibe. Be a role model to your children.

Commit your child to God: God says "Without me you can do nothing" and anything put in God's hands is safe, so always commit your children to God through prayers. Also teach them the word of God; bring them close to God; and let them understand what it means to serve God in spirit and truth, because life is a whole lot better when you walk with God.

Finally, I will conclude by quoting Proverbs 22: 6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

Till the next post, be uniquely different!

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Ebola Awareness

This morning I turned on my radio and the first word I heard was Ebola. Out of hunger for knowledge of this dreaded disease, I listened. The station was Top Radio 90.9 and Dr Yetunde was the guest on the show. I did get informed and was happy I listened. After the program, I tuned to the next station to listen to something else, and it was Ebola again! I looked at my phone, it was 92.3 Inspiration FM and the guest was Dr Kehinde Ososanya. I decided to listen because I realised that the situation was way more serious than I took it to be.

Both doctors said virtually the same thing except that Dr Yetunde referred listeners to a website www.ebolaalert.org for more information about the virus. I summarized what I learnt below. I left out the history of Ebola virus so you don't have to deal with tonnes of information. You can visit http://www.who.int/en/ for that.

What you need to know

Always wash your hands: Dr Yetunde said Ebola virus is sensitive to soap and water. She said the virus cannot withstand them. I would call soap and water their kryptonite. So always wash your hands frequently. Please use sanitizers too for extra protection.

Keep your surroundings clean and use disinfectants: Dr Kehinde advised that we maintain environmental hygiene. Make sure your surroundings are always kept clean and when cleaning, it is best to use disinfectants. They contain chlorine and Dr Yetunde mentioned that Ebola virus cannot withstand chlorine.

Cook foods properly: Dr Yetunde also said that Ebola virus cannot live above 60 degrees. She said that she had heard rumours that people should stay away from bush meat and in response to that, she said properly cooked meat is safe. Even though I have never been a fan of bush meat, I would not taste it even if it was cooked for so long that it got burnt. In other words, please just stay away from bush meat and suya for now. Unless you can take it back home and reheat it to 100 degrees Celsius.

You can still shake hands: Dr Kehinde said Nigeria has not got to the point where we should stop shaking hands because we don't have an outbreak. He only advised that we always wash our hands. Dr Yetunde informed that infected people are not contagious until they display the symptoms which are fever, joint and muscle pains, weakness, loss of apetite, diarrhoea, headaches, stomach pain, and vomiting. She said that when Mr S was on the plane and seemed healthy, although he was infected, he wasn't contagious. So those who might have shook him on the plane would not get infected. But when the disease was full blown i.e. when he started showing symptoms, anyone who had contact with him could get infected. But I would advise you simply avoid unnecessary contact.

Report suspected persons: The two doctors advised that if you know anyone who you suspect has the virus, for example, they passed through or just arrived from infected countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and are showing symptoms, such persons should be reported so they can be checked. Also contact with them should be avoided unless you are fully protected, latex gloves, goggles and the like. They also added that you should be honest enough to report yourself if you suspect you have the symptoms.

Do not touch a corpse whose cause of death you don't know: Assume the deceased died of Ebola, he is still very contagious and contact should be avoided. He should be buried in a protective bag and those perfoming the burial rite should be well protected.

There is no cure for Ebola: About kola-nuts having a compound that can cure Ebola disease, Dr Kehinde said it has not been scientifically proven and didn't advise anyone to use it. However he said that if it is, we would be advised accordingly. Prevention is better than cure does not apply here because there is no cure yet. Take precautionary measures as aforementioned and pray it does not spread in Nigeria, we already have enough issues to deal with.

Be aware and spread the word:  When asked by callers about the best way to address the Ebola situation, both doctors said awareness, education and precautionary measures. Also some callers complained that the government isn't creating enough awareness about this dreaded virus. Instead of waiting for someone else to spread the word or blaming the government, I am using what I have to aid Ebola awareness. So even if you are too busy to write an article, you can share this post via your social media handles. 

Don't fold your arms and watch, help spread the word.

 

May God deliver us from Ebola.

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Talking too much (Are you a compulsive talker?)

Talking is an important social skill. You need it to interact efficiently with others; you need it to communicate effectively; you need it when negotiating or closing a deal.

To talk is to express something by speaking
To talk is to have a conversation about something

To talk is to discuss a subject

To talk is to communicate

To talk is to reveal information.

To talk is to gossip.

To talk is to lecture.

To talk is to be friendly with someone.

To talk is to be persuasive.

To talk is to call attention... (From Encarta Dictionary)

Dalai Lama says, “The best way to resolve any problem in the human world is for all sides to sit down and talk.” While Morrie Schwartz quotes, “For me, living means I can be responsive to the other person. It means I can show my emotions and my feelings. Talk to them. Feel with them …”
and I love this from Joyce Meyer, “Prayer is simply talking to God like a friend and should be the easiest thing we do each day.”

Talking is essential. As long as God has blessed us with speech organs, we must talk. When some people open their mouths to speak, you hear intelligent use of words and wisdom, and we tend to push every distraction aside to listen to such people. You could call them conversationalists, public speakers, raconteurs, orators, and many more. On the other hand, there are some whose voices make us cringe, because once they start they don’t know how to or when to stop. Words gush out of their mouths like water gushing out of a broken pipe and most times, their voices are annoyingly loud. These are those we characterise as: compulsive talkers, gossips, blabbermouths, chatterers, windbags, tattlers, etc. The sad thing is that most of such people are oblivious of this weakness and ignorantly give this flaw of talking too much a facelift. They term it as being sociable, being informative or even see it as a form of bonding. Now you may ask, “How do I know if I talk too much?” 

When you see silence as an opportunity to talk

Silence is like a taboo to a compulsive talker. Not the awkward silence when you lack what to say, but the silence which indicates that the talk should be placed on hold while something more important is attended to. For instance if they are having lunch with friends or acquaintances, the only time you won’t hear their voice is when they are drinking water. Or if they are chatting with colleagues, they keep going on and on even if there’s pressing work that needs utmost attention. They don’t read meaning into silences. Even when it is obvious the other party would rather be doing something else like concentrating on a movie, eating their meal, working, or even thinking, they just yammer on. 

When you have the urge to always pass a comment on whatever you see

Compulsive talkers rarely keep their opinions to themselves, even those not worth sharing. If they see a person or people pass by, they must pass comments. They make comments on body sizes, outfits, hairstyles, shoes, rides, phones, sexuality, babies, spouses (panting...the list goes on). Most of the time, their intention is not to correct or appreciate, but for the mere sake of talking and they do it all the time. They say things like:

I cannot fix that kind of weave-on, see his ugly shoes, that skirt is too common (Don’t look down on them because they cannot afford better);

See her fat yam legs, his lips are too big, she is too busty (God made them that way, stop insulting!);

That guy must be her aristo (How do you know? He may be her uncle.)

They just dey speak fone, sure say they never smell airport breeze (Oga, madam, how do you know? Did you bug them?) etc.  If you cannot utter positive words, if you cannot advise them, if you cannot pray silently for them, just shut up!

When you always talk to yourself

Compulsive talkers love to fill the atmosphere with the sounds of their voices, not singing but talking, and they do it all the time. Thiers is not thinking out loud which could be helpful especially when one is really confused. Even this year’s GUS winner did it while searching for the lost item in the final episode. However in the case of compulsive talkers, they utter random unimportant sentences at a time just talking to themselves. They do this most times because there is no one to talk to or the person close to them is not one they can talk to and sometimes to gain attention. If you observe them, you will hear things like: I cannot find my pen, I will go to the salon tomorrow, I feel like eating popcorn, I feel like sleeping...yadda yadda yadda, which can be very distracting to the unfortunate person who has to hear it all. 

When you speak without observing if the other person is interested

Communication involves feedback but not for compulsive talkers. They do not bother to know if the other party is actively listening to them or just pretending to. Even when the other party gives obvious signs that they are not interested, they still don’t get it. It’s not because they are not smart enough to decipher such signs, but doing the talking is just fine by them, your interest doesn’t count. 

When you love to prolong issues

When a compulsive talker has a disagreement with anyone, they are quick to tell whoever cares to listen the ‘whole story’ because of their urge to always talk. They are happy to quickly fill you in on any detail you want; a reason and an opportunity to talk more. They make a big deal out of little issues that even when you beg them to stop talking, they tell you they are trying to pass a point across. Silence is not golden to them neither do they believe that it is the best answer.   

When you make other people’s business your business

Compulsive talkers love getting involved in everything, whether it concerns them or not. Wherever there is something happening, there you will find them. If they were journalists, news/entertainment bloggers, it would be pardonable because we could say it comes with the job; but compulsive talkers most times leave important matters unattended just to tatafo. Even if they cannot offer even the slightest form of help, they would ask questions and get all the information there is so they could share the gist. It is an honour for them to be the first to tell you the latest on any situation, no matter how irrelevant it is or how it has absolutely has nothing to do with them. When people are discussing, they yearn to be part of the discussion. They are always eager to chip in and join in. To them it is getting the latest gist but it is simply not minding your business and they do this because it gives them something to talk about, not necessarily because they are concerned.

When you find it hard to keep things confidential

Because of a compulsive talker’s urge to talk, they tend to say too much. After they have run of out what to say, they start going personal. The listener may at first see himself or herself as being a confidant but if you are observant enough, you will realise that you are not the only one the compulsive talker is sharing such confidential information with. You are just the most available option, and the moment you are not available, the next available person takes your place.

Talking too much or compulsive talking is a flaw that seriously mars the culprit. Unlike some bad habits that have physical side effects like pain, compulsive talking doesn’t, your tongue would never hurt you. Rather it eats away the reputation of the compulsive talker which is far worse.

The respect people have for you will reduce gradually.

People will be afraid to confide in you or trust you.

When you distract those around you with your excessive talking, you would eventually be seen as a nuisance. 

You would be seen as a gossip and a liar.

Ambrose Bierce a U.S. writer and journalist said, “A bore is a person who talks when you wish him to listen.” and Charlie Kaufman agrees in her quote, “Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating.”

 “If I knew more, I wouldn't talk so much.” says Ljupka Cvetanova

Now you know what compulsive talking is (or simply put, talking too much) and how it affects you, you definitely need to work on this character flaw. Unless you are the type that believes in self development and regularly evaluate yourself rationally, you may not know if you have this as your shortcoming. It implies that when people tell you that you talk too much, instead of taking it as an insult, check yourself and make necessary changes if it is true. It takes conscious effort and you have to be patient with yourself. It is also very helpful if you tell someone close to you to keep a check on you and to work with you in monitoring your progress.

No one is perfect; we all work towards perfection. Compulsive talking is not the worst character flaw but it must be addressed when noticed. 

Remember, “The art of talking is beautiful when not abused.” Fredilia Momodu