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Business Business Cartoons motivation

Customer service is turning lemons into lemonade.

If you are in customer service, you’ve had to face a lot of lemons lately. It has been nearly impossible to give customers exactly what they wanted when the whole world was turned outside down. Yet the best customer service representatives turn lemons into lemonade.

When I drew this cartoon, It didn’t occur to me how sales and customer service do this every day. Instead, I was thinking of how even a humble lemonade stand owner can benefit from customer service. I didn’t think about the sour events customer service representatives face every day.

One of my friends works in the billing department for a hospital. She has fielded calls from people who have been affected by the financial hardships of COVID-19. Both couples in a family have lost their jobs. Or maybe someone just wanted to talk about the disease. She’s done a lot of listening. She’s shed tears with customers that are going through tough times.

About a year ago, our plant was going through some capital improvements. We hit some snags with installing and testing the new equipment that caused jobs to be late. It was a very rough time for our customer service department because they had to field the calls of frustrated customers that were used to excellent service. I was impressed by those in the department that took the time to listen and be helpful even when they may have felt there was little they could do.

Excellent customer service looks like the following:

  • Treat each customer the way you want to be treated
  • Taking the time to listen to the customer even when you may not agree with them
  • Offer solutions that may not be exactly what they want, but involves compromise
  • Being an advocate for the customer while avoiding making unattainable promises

In the end, if we’re in business, we are all in customer service. Everyone wants to know they are being listened to and that the other person cares about their plight.

Cartoon of a boy at a lemonade stand and a girl. the girl says, "How's your customer service?"
Categories
Business motivation

Know Your Customer/Audience

Christmas is less than two weeks away. Have you got that special gift yet? It can drive us crazy searching for the one gift that will light up a loved one’s face. It can be even more difficult to find one that is age appropriate. One year, my eight-year old nephew wanted an axe. While he would have enjoyed it, and all he wanted to do was chop wood, his parents agreed with us he was too young for that special gift that year.

Cartoon of two kids looking at a present. The boy says, "What do you think? Did Mom get me that table saw for Christmas?"

You may not want to give a book lover a table saw. Nor would you want to give a carpenter a book if he or she doesn’t like to read. It’s common sense, but frequently in business, we try to sell a product to a customer that isn’t interested. It just may not be for them.

Gift-giving is a lot like the business of selling. You want to find the right person for the right product or service. Don’t try to force a “gift” onto a customer that just isn’t appropriate for them. They may force a smile and utter, “Just what I wanted.” But if it really isn’t for them, it will soon be cast aside and never used.

Know your customer.

Categories
motivation

Stay in the Game!

I’ve been reading Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt.

In the book, he tells the story of the runner, Heather Kampf. In 2008, she won a race after falling to the ground in a 600-meter dash. She could have given up. Instead, she picked herself back up and ended up winning the race.

She had a setback. Setbacks happen. If they don’t happen to you, you are probably playing it safe and not living up to your potential.

When I was active in magazine cartooning, I knew the odds were good that it would take about 120 cartoons submitted to different magazines before I sold one. There was a .8% chance a cartoon would sell. But I knew I needed to create and submit the other 119 cartoons in order to sell the one.

I knew rejection would come. But I also knew if I held out, a sale would come too. Whatever your goal, stay in the game. Know there will be setbacks and rejections. Those who stay in the game get to reap the rewards.

Categories
Marketing

The Most Important Marketing Message Ever!

Two note cards. One says, "You are beautiful!" The other says, "You are smart!"
Not the actual notecards (After all, I thought the little girl should keep her affirming notes from her parents).

The other day, I was a substitute teacher and had lunch duty. A little kindergartener raised her hand and I came over to her. She had two notes in her lunch bag. She asked me to read them. One said, “You are beautiful!” The other said, “You are smart!” The little girl beamed as I said, “Two very true statements!”