Refractions

Refractions

Refractive Communications  //  A matter of message perspective and customer communications.

Jan 26 / 10:39am

The Right Knot Improves Customer Service


I discovered a better way to serve my customers … all because I just learned how to tie my shoes.

This is in no way a poor reflection on my mother or maternal grandmother, who taught me as a young child how to tie the shoestring knot using a big ribbon around the neck of a 4-foot-long stuffed toy tiger. This is a reflection of a good-enough process providing sufficient results with easy-to-correct deviations. I never thought twice about tying my shoes … until a trustworthy source recently asked a fundamental question:

Are you tying your shoes the right way?

Of course, I am. Aren't I? My shoestring knot has two loops of near equal size, the shoestring ends (aglets) do not drag the ground, my shoes stay on my feet, and I only occasionally have to re-tie a loose knot.

Good enough.

But Runners World brings up the point that there is a right knot: it stays tight and many of us are tying the correct knot (a reef knot) on one shoe, but not the other. That’s me; how about you?

Now that I know the difference and I have bought-in to the benefit, basic though it may be, I’m relearning how to tie my left shoe (one of my 3 Words in action: Notebook). Six Sigma process improvement folks call this DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. I’m in the Improve stage and finding it surprisingly difficult to alter my habit, but now my deliberately tied shoestrings are matching examples of beauty and performance (not like the pre-insight image above).

This got me wondering about possible good-enough habits in the way I process work, in the way I work with others, and in how my team conducts business. I took a thoughtful look at the everyday things I never thought twice about, and found that I should. A tweak here and change there would achieve an even better experience for my customers and me.

Have you intentionally thought about the processes you initiate or manage: the way you manage your email interactions, engage in personal discussions, address challenging situations?

Many years ago my Psyc 101 professor started the year by wordlessly projecting this statement on the screen for 10 seconds, “You have every right to be who you are, but no right to stay that way.” Now I’m thinking about how that statement applies to how I do things.

I found ways to improve. What did you find?
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Jan 19 / 12:17pm

Solving the Wrought Iron Rat's Nest

I like puzzles. Especially, a “tavern puzzle” crafted of wrought iron twisted and bent upon itself, and then intertwined with another piece. The goal is simple: Extract the one piece from the other. It’s the “doing” that’s perceived as daunting and I’ve had friends wave off even trying to solve such a complicated-looking conundrum.

In just the same way, I’ve seen very capable managers dodge leadership and project challenges because the doing looks too tough, or too unusual, or too far afield from what they’ve done before. Or else they rattle the situation around a bit to see if it will solve itself and then, if it doesn’t, confirm the situation as intractable and cobble together a work-around.

The key to the puzzle is a position of perception: There is a solution.

For example, I KNOW this cantankerous, obstinate metal ring will untangle from this wrought iron rat’s nest. I know there is some way to get turf-sensitive Department A and belligerent Department B to cooperatively achieve this market-changing goal.

I just don’t know how … yet.

If you look closely at my tavern puzzles, you’ll notice shiny spots in the crooks and bends where I time and again slid that metal ring along the wrought iron trying one idea after another; winnowing down the possibilities. There is a solution, usually something unexpected, unusual and, before now, untried.

Did you notice, though, that once you solve the challenge, you can much more easily do so again and again and again, even where others still cannot? A career skill differentiator. What challenge have you solved into a skill?

In my tavern puzzle collection is one called “The Treble Clef.” I worked that puzzle for days, trying this and that to no avail, until I finally solved it. “Check.” I knew how to solve that puzzle … and now I’m told “Treble Clef” has two solutions. 

Interesting. 

I wonder what happens if I go around this way …
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Jan 5 / 6:33pm

GPS. Architect. Notebook. 2010.

I am not a natural list-maker. I am not even a natural list-checker to a list I did happen to draft into existence. Therefore, I am a poster child New Year’s resolution-maker in the time-honored tradition of make’ em and miss ‘em, which is fine unless I really want to achieve certain goals in the coming year.

So, if not a list of goals, what then to bring about the new me in 2010?

My natural state is a creative, big picture strategic thinker, quickly seeing connections, opportunities and possibilities in nearly all situations … and now I see my goals for 2010 coalescing around Chris Brogan’s “3 Words for 2010” approach.

Chris uses three words to guide his actions and the projects he takes on throughout the year. As he says, “… what I’m trying to do with the words is come up with something that would take more than a sentence to describe, but that when you think about it, the ideas explode out to fill your head with thoughts of how you might want to conduct yourself.”

Just three words: Got it.

No long list: Excellent.

Big picture thinking: Naturally.

After much pondering and, yes, a LIST of thoughts and ideas, I brewed it down to these three words that have meaning and direction for me in 2010:

1. GPS (God-Positioning System) – On track, attentive and in motion

2. Architect – Build up ideas, build up people, build up situations

3. Notebook – Note what I can learn from others, draft creative ideas in the margins

For another Three Words example, see Cheryl’s.

This’ll be an interesting year for me. I can tell already. A year of changes and achievements in three-part harmony. 

Naturally.
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Jan 4 / 8:21am

They Got It Wrong, Daddy

My youngest daughter sparked some thoughts on team management Sunday morning. She walked up to me in the dress she picked out and said, “They got it wrong, Daddy.”

Apparently after careful consideration, she intentionally put the dress on backwards. In her 8-year-old wisdom and opinion, she felt the dress looked better that way. It didn’t matter to her that a well-known brand, its century of experience, its bevy of educated designers and its well-established manufacturing processes clearly marked the back of the dress with the fancy tag now residing under her chin. She tried the dress on backwards, liked the result and came to me with her idea.

Can your team confidently come to you with your product on backwards in an off-label application that’s obviously not the way we do it around here? How would you respond if they did?

I like creative ideas. I encourage disruptive brainstorming. I’d rather back a crazy idea down to a brilliant idea than try to process-build up to one.

But do you, the leader, allow it? Have you given your team permission to generate wild ideas? Are you willing to consider them?

An open-door policy does little good with a closed mind sitting at the desk.

My daughter and I carefully considered her idea. We looked at how the dress fit, how it felt when she sat down and how the bows tied. After testing her idea, we agreed that the dress worked best with the tag in the back.

But, with what she knows now about testing her opinion, if I hear “They got it wrong, Daddy” again, I bet she walks out the front door wearing her dress backwards.

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Filed under  //  ideas   leadership  

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Dec 14 / 11:11am

Fitness Center Unfit for Business

A friend mentioned that he’ll probably drop his fitness center membership this month to save money. He enjoys the new facility and programs, though he only uses the workout room. Apparently, other customers are feeling the financial pinch, too, so the facility is in a budget crunch … and what does the fitness center plan on doing about it?

They will raise the fee on the remaining members as of January 2010. Should we start painting the Out of Business sign now? Will the paint have time to dry before hanging it?

Unfortunately, this everyday circle-the-wagons business response misses the opportunity for creative customer engagement and retention … and growth.

What if, instead of raising the single, comprehensive membership fee, the fitness center broke the fee structure into three levels, each with greater degrees of access to facilities?

What if the inexpensive basic package allowed access to just one program … say, the workout room … and those customers had a black rubbery wristband that allowed them access to the workout room. Those signed up for swimming had a blue wristband.  Mid-level access (and price point) is a bundled package with its own, single distinguishing wristband. The premium level has the ultimate colored wristband.

What if the fitness facility staff came up with an even better approach than this one to segment their products?

Now their customers have lower barriers to entry, more purchase options, and, perhaps, a visible status incentive to increase their membership levels.

Never allow “Never done that before” to define your customer service. 

Always default to “What if …”
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Dec 12 / 7:10am

Help Opportunity Knock

My 20-something cousin just returned Stateside from serving in the Peace Corps in Ukraine and Ghana. She's preparing to kick off her DC job search for an international policy position, and asked me for suggestions from my own recession-sparked career change.

Here's the gist of the conversation:

1. Establish a LinkedIn Profile - Immediately make your business skills and experience available for the world to see and build your contacts network. This is not an online resume. This is a networking, promotion tool. For each position (paid or volunteer), briefly summarize your skills and responsibilities. Your profile gives your connections and browsing HR folk talking points to spur that next recommendation or job interview query. Write recommendations for your contacts; they may reciprocate. Update your status weekly. The update appears on everyone else's pages (keeping you fresh in their minds), gives an idea of your business skills and shows activity on your part. As you broaden your online business brand, maximize your exposure by linking to your blog, Twitter and any other online resources. LinkedIn's About is a great starting point.

2. Set Up a Twitter Account for You, The Professional - This is the account where you follow your industry thought leaders, talk with other business professionals, and start building a network in your desired field. Tapping into the Twitter stream of consciousness reveals what these industry professionals are working on, what skills you may need to develop, and how your unique abilities can help solve those challenges. Use an aggregator (like TweetDeck) to manage the wealth of streaming information, and follow Chris Brogan's advice on managing your time.

3. Write Your Resume - This is third because the simplicity, impact and immediacy of the first two rank them higher. Remember, your resume must answer not only the What, but also the So What. Sure you held this position with these responsibilities for this organization---what impact did you have by being there: positive increase, positive decrease, reduced time, improved relationships? Use numbers; 99% of the time.

4. Print Business Cards - Yes, get a card reader/sender for your phone (like Mashable's list), but you also need a hard copy version to fill the gap until we reach the same smart phone saturation point email achieved in replacing hard copy memos and letters. Don't short-change your printed business card with only contact information. Include three bullet points with three-word or less statements of your top marketable skills. Be unique in your list. Your Twitter stream listening post should give you which of your differentiator skills would catch someone's eye. You may also want to include your Twitter account and blog.

5. 10-second Response - Write down and practice saying a 10-second synopsis of who you are, what position you're seeking, and how you're using your three differentiators in whatever you've done recently. You will use some version of this response more frequently than you might expect.

6. Start a Microblog - You have great thoughts. You are the only one with your life experience and, therefore, your perspective in your industry. Writing your thoughts down builds your own understanding of your perspective and gives others the opportunity to expand your thinking. It's also another way employers can learn more about you and encourage a job contact. Simple tools like Posterous and WordPress make it easy to post content and distribute across multiple social media.

7. Network in Person - Join an organization with other professionals and build those personal relationships. Make it easy for your contacts to remember you and recommend you to others by defining yourself using your 10-second Response. Once you've built a relationship, ask if you can connect on LinkedIn. Twitter is a more open network and enables a connection without necessarily developing a relationship first. Larger metro areas often have a Young Professionals group, like this one in DC.

8. Volunteer - Take your focus off yourself and give of your business talents or personal abilities to a nonprofit organization. You'll help make the world a better place, and just might build your career skills and form beneficial relationships in the process. Seek out your favorite charity or check with your local United Way for a list of area nonprofits.

9. Above All and More Than Anything Else - Be yourself, be honest and be optimistic.

What else would you add to help a 20-something find her next marvelous career?

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Filed under  //  social media  

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Nov 28 / 7:54am

Company's Bobble-headed Explanation Is A Strikeout

When you explain your company's products or services to your customers, you know what you're talking about (or you should) ... do they? Too often we insiders forget to translate our business-speak and our customers end up bobble-head nodding with a glazed stare as we cheerfully confuse them.

Confusion does little to engender trust or build relationships. 

When I wrote promotional copy trying to explain the wonders and workings of life insurance products, I would occasionally run my golden words past my wife or friends to ensure the gobbledigook made sense to these "outsiders." Once we got past the bobble-head moment and I got my explanation through to them, they often said, "Oh, you mean it does ..." and I had my re-write. Never underestimate the value of an ignorant eye.

Try running your material past your uninitiated target audience. You may find your clear, simple explanation is as effective as this baseball description:

Baseball is a game played by two teams, one out the other in. The one that's in, sends players out one at a time, to see if they can get in before they get out. If they get out before they get in, they come in, but it doesn't count. If they get in before they get out it does count. 

When the ones out get three outs from the ones in before they get in without being out, the team that's out comes in and the team in goes out to get those going in out before they get in without being out. 

When both teams have been in and out nine times the game is over. The team with the most in without being out before coming in wins unless the ones in are equal. In which case, the last ones in go out to get the ones in out before they get in without being out. 

The game will end when each team has the same number of ins out but one team has more in without being out before coming in. 

Got that?

(Thanks to http://www.crosswalk.com/fun/ for the Baseball description)
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Nov 16 / 7:44am

Don’t Print This

I recently did something that I haven’t done in a long time. While waiting for my car to be inspected early one morning, I read a newspaper. I’m talking about one of those traditional, printed on grey wood fiber, smudged ink newspapers.

It was that morning’s paper with all the fresh news and commentary---except, of course, it wasn’t. The bold print headline stories appeared yesterday on my TweetDeck. I experienced them in near-live timestream as they unfolded on Twitter.

So, what to read for the next 45 minutes??

- Section A International was old news.

- Section B Business was old news.

- Section C Local was old news.

- Section D Classifieds was ignored (thanks, searchable Craigslist).

- Section E Lifestyle was old or uninteresting news.

The print articles’ facts and commentary were dated and even incorrect as compared with postings I read online before driving to the dealership.

Too bad I don’t have a birdcage.

Along with the printed news, the ease of instant information is also whittling away at my RSS feeds. More and more of them seem to deliver dusty thoughts already received real-time via Twitter. Unsubscribe.

Other communication mediums are failing, too. Email and my big, old mailbox up at the street are great for receiving packaged content, but correspondence, well-wishes, updates and invitations are all tweeted these days. Email’s coffin nails accelerated with Google Wave’s launch. Truth be told, I often forget to check my Inbox, and the mailbox doesn’t even cross my mind. How often do you send or receive a letter? I don't even know how much a first-class stamp costs. Do you?

By focusing my Twitter lists and TweetDeck columns on select primary sources, a few wild cards, and Facebook, I easily stay informed and engaged with an immense spectrum of the world and my family that no other medium can match.

How often do you connect via newspaper, RSS feeds, email, snail mail and Twitter? Are your communication methods consolidating?

Excuse me, I have to go … my phone/calendar/browser/camera/game-console/radio/tv/to-do-list just chimed.

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Nov 6 / 11:54am

Mashable (Facebook): How Do You Know?

I regularly click through to Mashable's informative postings and noticed that a good friend of mine, Cheryl, appears in the Facebook window nearly every time. Indeed, since I started keeping track a month ago, Cheryl's photo has graced the FB panel EVERY time, with only one exception.

You may remember, Cheryl is the one who garnered national coverage when her photo unexpectedly appeared in a Seeking Single's ad on her husband's Facebook profile, stoking Facebook's privacy flare-up.

Not that I mind seeing Cheryl so frequently, but still I wonder how Mashable's fan panel knows that Cheryl and I know each other on FB. Seems there might be a lingering link in a backroom server somewhere not included in Facebook's *white hat* privacy options resolution.

Anyone else experiencing this?

See you around, Cheryl ...

[Updated: Soon after this post, Cheryl disappeared from Mashable's Facebook window.]

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Nov 4 / 4:53pm

Stop Sign Conversations

Everything I needed to know about conversation, I learned from a stop sign: Stop. Look. Listen. Engage.

I often forget how easy it is to NOT have a great conversation. By the time I talk to you first thing in the morning, I’m already juggling a brain full of thoughts, my calendar is dragging me onward, I see someone else I also need to catch ... and you have a bit of bagel stuck in your teeth.

Stop. Not a rolling stop, but a full, pause-all-else mental stop and then focus on the person speaking. Looking at him or her helps. Tunnel vision, if necessary, to keep eye contact. The ultimate challenge: Have a truly romantic conversation in a TV sports bar. Could you? Would your date agree?

Try this listening test …

Participants in a listening study averaged seven mental distractions a minute. Score your distraction rate in your next one-on-one conversation. Are you seven or less? Active listening requires proactively refocusing on the speaker every time your attention wanders. Are you with me?

Now ask a question. Questions are the lifeblood of a great conversation. Think of it like a tennis match; each time you ask a question, the ball goes into the other person's court. The most energetic and interesting tennis matches (conversations) include a lot of volleying (questioning) back and forth. Without questions, it’s just one person repeatedly hitting the ball over the net to an empty court. Boring.

Think of the people you really enjoy engaging in conversation. I bet they're great listeners and askers.

I recently realized my distraction rate was low with adults, but often off the scale when my kids talk to me about their day. There were numerous stop sign moments and I'd inattentively blown right through them. My loss. I'm paying attention again.

So, what's your distraction rate? Can we talk?

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