People frequently want to change the world (and if not the world, than their small part of the world) yet because they don’t know where to start, they end up doing nothing.
Rather than looking “big picture” start small. Get some momentum going, take the first step.
Take the first step, get the momentum going and see how much easier things get.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
When the economy is down, there is a tendency to want to drastically lower prices in order to maintain market share (or various other reasons). The problem is, sometimes they lower their prices to the point where they aren’t increasing their numbers of clients but are reducing their revenues.
I ran across an example recently when I was looking on the Greyhound web site (for those of you who don’t know, I choose not to fly so I take buses when I travel). I was looking to travel round trip between Charleston WV and St Louis MO. The regular fare was $205. The 7 day advance ticket was $148. I felt this was a reasonable discount as the 7 day advance ticket is non refundable. However, they also offered a 10 day advanced ticket (also non refundable) for $46. Did they really need to discount this ticket so that it’s less than 25% of regular fare? Considering there is no way to fly or drive for anything close to this amount, couldn’t they have charged $89 or $99 for the same ticket?
Another example of discounting hurting the bottom line would be two free lancers I hired recently for some work. One quoted a very low rate and the other quoted a price that was almost three times as high. I gave each small projects to work on (the actual projects aren’t important for this example) and the lower priced one kept talking about wanting more projects in the future because she needed the money and how important this was to her. The more expensive worker just did her job (exceptionally) and didn’t “beg” for more business. While the less expensive worker had a lot of short term work, she never finished the project for me and wont ever get any more work from me (and probably wont get more from others either). The more expensive worker has already received two bigger projects from me to work on and most likely will get much more. She didn’t offer great discounts but rather, was able to concentrate on the particular project because she wasn’t having to do so many things for so many people.
Charge a fair amount, offer great products or service and the rest will take care of itself!
Have a great day
Lawrence
At this time of the year, a lot of people will be calling customer service for things that were purchased over the holidays. These calls might be because of a missing piece, or something being broken or any number of possibilities. I’m now going to tell you the secret to getting things resolved as quickly and easily as possible.
First, I will tell you this works all year round and also works for services as well as products. It does NOT involve the following:
*Demanding to speak to a supervisor
*Yelling
*Cursing
*Arguing
*Threatening
Before I reveal the secret, I will tell you how I figured this out. Recently, I had a small problem with my PayPal debit card. I have read horror stories about dealing with PayPal customer service (everything from it being impossible to get their phone number to when you get their phone number it taking forever to speak to a person and if you do get a real person they barely speak english and are uncooperative as well). Well, I went online and found their customer service number (they
hid their number behind a link titled “Contact Us” who did they think they were dealing with, those bastards lol) and in less than 30 seconds, I was talking to a real live, english speaking person. I politely explained the problem and this customer service representative had the nerve to ask if they could put me on hold. I sat on hold for what seemed like hours (although it was only 25 seconds) and she came back online, apologized for the delay and explained what the problem was. It made perfect sense to me so I then asked what needs to be done to resolve the problem. She explained the process that needed to be done (which basically was for me to wait to receive something in the mail from them and then go online to activate) and then asked if she could help me with anything else.
This got me thinking as to my experiences when dealing with various customer service people. I can’t think of more than one or two times I’ve had anything less than a positive experience when dealing with customer service people. I don’t always get the resolution I want but am almost always treated fairly and with respect. A client of mine told me recently about her dealings with PayPal after she demanded to speak with a supervisor. She said the supervisor wasn’t understanding at all, wasn’t willing to see her side and the result of her encounter was she shut down her paypal account. Why did this client have such a bad experience and I had a positive one?
Now for the secret. Be polite, be patient and be detailed in your explanation and good things usually happen.
Understand that the customer service representative is a person and should be treated as such. It’s difficult for them to treat you with respect if you don’t treat them with respect. If you want them to be polite you should be polite as well. Realize that for a big company, they might be getting hundreds (thousands) of calls and there might be a need for you to hold a bit. While you might know exactly what the problem is, they don’t so if you are calling about a product, have the product ID and name readily available and explain in great detail what the problem is. In a large majority of the cases, the customer service person WANTS TO HELP YOU. Give them the information they need, be polite and you will be surprised at how well things go for you.
So, the secret is, treat them as you would like to be treated…shhh don’t tell anyone else because if everyone were to start doing that….who knows what might happen?
Have a great day!
Lawrence
They cheated, which is why we didn’t win!
They didn’t tell me, which is why it was never done.
They didn’t do their job, which is why the rest wasn’t done either.
At what point do we stop looking at what “they” did or didn’t do and instead look inward at what I did or didn’t do.
If I feel someone took advantage of me, it’s only because I allowed them to do so.
If I didn’t get all of the information, it’s because I didn’t insist upon it.
If I didn’t lead people in the correct direction it’s no ones fault by my own.
When people stop blaming others and start taking responsibility for themselves, everyone will be more successful!
Have a great day!
Lawrence
One of the “great” things about the Internet is it allows people to communicate while remaining anonymous. People can post on forums or blogs using fictitious names, send emails that don’t reveal their identity or create entire web sites without saying who they are.
Over the course of a week, over 100,000 email newsletters go out with my name on it (most are soccer related from FineSoccer.com). Not only is my name in the domain (just as it is for LawrenceFine.com) but I sign every newsletter the same way and make it easy to contact me. A large majority of the emails I receive are positive or are questions but I do receive the occasional negative emails and I’m fine with that. However, if someone wants me to take their comments seriously, whether they are positive comments or negative ones, they need to identify themselves.
An email saying they disagree (or agree) with me that doesn’t have a name connected to it (for example from coach1234@email.com and signed ‘coach’) doesn’t carry much weight. How difficult is it to put your real name on an email? If you are too embarrassed to sign your name, you shouldn’t be sending the email in the first place.
A comment on a forum or blog that is signed ‘unhappy person’ doesn’t mean much to me at all.
If you don’t identify yourself you are losing a great deal of credibility in your work. In short, at least in my case, if you are anonymous you are irrelevant to me!
Have a great day!
Lawrence
“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
Chinese Proverb
Have a great day!
Lawrence
A week and a half ago, the NCAA Division 1 womens soccer championships were concluded. The finals were UNC vs Notre Dame. Notre Dame went into the match undefeated and had already beaten UNC once this year. Notre Dame scored 17 seconds into the match. Many teams, in UNC’s position, would have panicked. Instead, UNC kept to their game plan and went on to score two goals and win the championship.
Last year, Penn State played Stanford in the NCAA Division 1 womens volleyball finals. Penn State went up two games to zero and then Stanford came back to win the next two games. It looked like Stanford had all of the momentum and many teams, in Penn States situation, would have panicked and lost the last game. Instead, Penn State came back to win the fifth game and the championship.
Why do some organizations succeed when facing adversity and others fail?
Why does it seem some people look for ways to succeed while others look for ways to fail?
A very successful coach (who is a reader of this blog but who I didn’t ask for permission to quote him so will leave it at that) answered this with “because they are accustomed to winning – culture”
Have you created a winning culture around you? Even if you haven’t been ’successful’ in the past, can you act the part? In football, some coaches discourage their players from celebrations in the end zone because they want the players to “act like they have been their before”.
There is a great quote “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right” by Henry Ford. The attitude and belief a person or group has, when under adversity will directly effect their success or failure.
Have you created a culture of success around you>
Have a great day!
Lawrence
Is it really that difficult to say “thank you”?
If a person working at a company that is NOT a client asks how to do something and my response saves them $1000, is it unreasonable to expect an email back acknowledging they have received this help and thanking me for it?
When a server at a restaurant brings a drink refill, is it that difficult to acknowledge them and say thank you?
When walking into a mall, is it that difficult to hold the door open for the person behind you?
If you request a proposal from a company, is it unreasonable for them to expect acknowledgment that you received it?
Do the words “please” and “may I” cost more to use and if not, why don’t people use them?
In short, when did manners go out of style and just as importantly, WHY/
Have a great day!
Lawrence
People are constantly forced to make the decision of whether they should do what is best for themselves or should they do what is best for the greater good.
An example of this would be the business person who minimizes costs as much as possible in order to show a greater profit. This might allow this person to get a larger bonus or to get a better job with a different company but it might be done at the expense of research and development so while the short terms gain might appear wonderful, it’s done at the expense of the long term health of the organization.
Another example would be the college coach who cheats to win games and then leaves for another job only to have the previous institution penalized for his actions. In this case, the coach would have forsaken the greater good for short term personal gains.
When you make decisions, do you think only of yourself or are you also taking into consideration the greater good?
Have a great day!
Lawrence
People mistakenly believe that what works one place will work other places as well. People will leave a job where they are extremely successful to go somewhere “better” only to find that for various reasons, they aren’t as successful.
A college soccer coach I know took over a program that was one of the worst in Division 1 and in a relatively short period of time, turned it into a strong program competing at a national level. When he was approached to determine his interest in a job at a more prestigious institution he decided to stay where he was because he considered that to be the right place FOR HIM. We talked about this some and he went on to explain that while he doesn’t consider himself to be the best coach, he does think he is the best coach for his particular institution. However, he felt that might not be true at another institution.
It’s a fine line because on the one hand, a person must be willing to stretch themselves and take chances but on the other hand, the perfect job for them, might be the one they currently have.
This is true for coaches, realtors, lawyers, business people and pretty much everyone. Don’t look for the perfect job, perfect spouse, perfect life. Rather, look for the one that is best for you.
Have a great day!
Lawrence
If there is one thing Lawrence Fine is most passionate about it's teaching. From sharing his knowledge about soccer as a soccer coach, he now shares his expertise in the field of human resources and the Internet. (More...)