Speak Well

It doesn’t matter how brilliant the words coming out of your mouth are; if you mumble and use slang your listeners will value what you say far less than if you speak clearly and confidently. Pick any great speech from history and imagine it with mumbled slang and you’ll see what I mean: “Umm… y’know I, like, have a dream or somethin’, right. That, uh… maybe this country will, like…”

Quick tips for speaking better:

• Speak from your diaphragm. Breathe from the bottom of your belly and push your speech out from your there.
• Throw away “uh”, “er”, “like”, and any other words that don’t have any meaning.
• Avoid slang.
• Don’t swear.

Dress Professionally

You’ve probably heard the phrase “dress for the job you want, not the job you have”. It’s a bit cliché, but it absolutely works. This doesn’t mean that you need to wear a three-piece suit to do data entry, but it does mean dress professionally. You may be able to get away with a polo shirt in your office, but you’ll command more respect if you wear a button up shirt. Wearing what you can “get away with” gives the impression that your attitude towards work is to only do what you have to. Making the effort to dress nicer that you have to implies that you’re willing to go the extra mile in your work.

Be Extra Punctual

If you’re late people notice and think poorly of you for it, so being on time is a no-brainer, but if you want to be noticed then show up 15 minutes early for work every day. You don’t have to start working the moment you get there—in fact you can use that time to have a cup of coffee or discreetly surf the internet. Just being there makes you look good, and your boss will definitely notice.

Good Posture

Good posture goes hand-in-hand with speaking well. If you’re constantly slouching or hunched over you simply look bad. If you stand straight and confident, you’ll come across dynamic and confident. There’s a reason that you never see slouchy pictures of CEOs, great political leaders, or super heroes. It’s because you wouldn’t respect them as much.

To improve your posture try a technique my chiropractor calls “The Woodcutter”. Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart. Then raise your arms straight above your head like you’re about to chop wood. Now leaving your body in the same position, lower your arms to your side. Your shoulders should be relaxed, your chest forward, your head tall as if pulled by a string from above, and your pelvis rotated slightly forward. Give it a try. You’ll feel better and look better.

Propose Solutions, Not Problems

Here’s what most people find a problem at their work: they complain about the problem. The way to stand out is to present a solution, not a problem. Let’s look at an example: your office store room is crowded and nobody can ever find what they need. Everyone in your office gripes about this problem. Instead of just complaining, you, being destined for greatness, take two minutes to look at how it can be fixed.

When everyone else is telling your boss “the stock room’s a disaster”, you go to your boss and say “I noticed that the stock room is pretty disorganized. Perhaps we can get the maintenance guy to put shallower shelves in. This would give us more room to move in there, and prevent things from being lost behind other items. Once the new shelves are in we can label each shelf so that our supplies are consistently put in the same spot, making them easier to find”.

In the situation above, you look good for being a creative thinker and problem solver, and even better: you didn’t have to do any additional work. You just had to approach it from a different angle.

Conclusion

There you go: five super-easy, painless ways to look smarter, more competent and ready for a promotion, and all without actually working any harder. No overtime, no added stress. Here’s my challenge to you: try these for one month. If nobody comments on what a great job you’re doing, I’ll refund your admission price to this blog.

Know the Customer’s Name

I once heard a quote that said that a person’s own name is, to them, the most beautiful sound in the world. That seems a little flowery to me, but the truth is that we feel more connected to people who call us by our name than those that don’t. Calling a customer by their name is an great way to build trust and rapport.

Depending on your line of business, the client’s name may be handed to you, or you may have to ask. Then, once you have it, use it. Now I’ve certainly dealt with sales people who take this too far and use the customer’s name in almost every sentence; they end up sounding like some kind of satire of themselves. Use it sparingly, but a sincere “Hi, Mark. How’s it going today?” will go a long way toward developing a loyal customer.

Follow Up

If you see your customers on an ongoing basis this is easy. It can simply be a casual “How are you liking the nuclear reactor you bought last time you were in?”. If you don’t see your customers regularly, write a quick email, or make a quick call in your downtime to make sure that a customer is still happy. It takes very little effort and it makes a huge impression.

A follow up has three main benefits. First, it shows the customer that you care about their satisfaction, and that you remember them – they weren’t just another face in the many that you see in a day.

Second, it opens the doors to further sales. The customer may respond with, “The nuclear reactor’s great! We’re really loving it. Now we need lead-lined pants for the whole family. Do you sell those?”.

The third benefit is a chance to make it right if they are unsatisfied. Many customers are hesitant to complain if they are unhappy. Following up gives them a chance to tell you why they unhappy, and for you to fix it. They say that when a customer has a complaint it’s a huge opportunity to turn them into a customer for life.

Put Yourself in Their Place

When doing the same thing day after day it’s easy for us to fall into giving the same stock answers to customer’s questions. Taking an extra moment to figure out the best solution for this specific question can make a huge difference to the customer’s satisfaction.

Several years ago I worked in a large store selling musical instruments. One day a customer came in looking for a bass with active electronics. I began to show him what we had and he was looking at a model that cost about $800. After a little discussion about why he wanted an active bass I was able to suggest that he try using an active DI  (which sold for $80) with his existing bass.

A few days later the customer came in a thanked me for saving him a lot of money, and from then on he would always phone to make sure that I was there before he came in because I was the only person he wanted to deal with.

Thank Them

You may get paid by your employer, but indirectly you’re really paid by the customer. Without their patronage your company would be out of business and you’d be out of a job. So it seems only appropriate to thank the customer for their business.

There is a small store in my neighborhood that sells specialty groceries. The man that owns the store runs it by himself working twelve hours per day, seven days per week. Every time I buy something from him he thanks me sincerely, and if there was even a small lineup he adds “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you faster.” His store may not be the cheapest, but I feel good about shopping there, and as a result I go out of my way to shop there and have recommended it to many people.

How Do You Give Awesome Customer Service?

We want to hear your customer service tips and stories. Post a comment below to share.

A Recent Reminder

In my non-work life I recently took on the project of building a dining room table. When I was getting started I went to the local gigantic hardware chain store (since most of their competition has now disappeared) to get the supplies I needed. After spending what seemed like an eternity picking wood under fluorescent lights, all that was left was to buy stain and urethane. Since these final stages are my least favorite part of this type of project my exhausted self was thrilled to find a one-step product that stained and urethaned at the same time.

At first glance this increase in productivity seemed like a great idea; the amount of time I would spend with a paint brush in my hand would be cut in half. Well, as those of you who know anything about stain may have already guessed, the results were less than favorable. The table that I’d spent many hours working on (and was very happy with before staining) now looked rather ugly, and I ended up spending a lot more time fixing the mess than I had saved in the first place.

The Lesson

The point of that story is that it reminded to me of how important it is to carefully consider the implications of my productivity-increasing choices. Below are four areas to consider when boosting productivity. If you can implement the idea without negatively affecting any of the areas below, then it’s probably safe.

Criteria 1: The Finished Product

How will an increase in productivity affect the final product (the product and/or service that your business offers)? If there is a chance that it will cause even a slight reduction in quality it may not be worth it. This is where I fell short in the example above; in my haste I didn’t stop to ask myself if it might affect the end product.

Criteria 2: Customer Satisfaction

No matter what business you’re in, customer satisfaction is vital to success. Happy customers are repeat customers (and it’s way cheaper and easier to sell more to existing customers than to try to find new customers). Happy customers also refer new business (by far the cheapest way to grow your customer base). In short, keeping you customers happy is almost priceless, so it’s always smart to steer clear of increasing productivity at the expense of customer satisfaction.

Criteria 3: Your Reputation

The reputation of your business is more critical than most people realize. If you don’t believe me, just ask Coca-Cola; it’s estimated that more than 50% of their sales are based on the strength of their brand name. The value of your reputation is hard to measure, but for most businesses a damaged reputation can be very costly. With any business decision, not just those related to productivity, it’s good to ask yourself “does this support, or hurt, our reputation?”

Criteria 4: Downstream Workflow

In many cases, increased productivity in one area can mean more work down the road, or more work for other people in your organization. These situations aren’t always obvious, so taking time to think about all the downstream implications can help you sidestep problems.

It’s also worth considering the need for versatility and extendability in your situation. Often the fastest option is also the most limiting. Taking a little extra time in the beginning of a project to build versatility into it can save redoing the whole thing later when circumstances change.

Tell Us Your Story

Have you been in a situation where your increased productivity wasn’t worth it? Post a comment below to share.