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Page 26 - LETHBRIDGE JOURNAL - WEEK OF MAY 20, 2010 Free Classifieds CALL 403-320-8936
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APPLICANTS BEWARE: In the day and
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prospective employee’s name as part of
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How to keep them engaged
JOURNAL
At a recent class, I asked participants: “If
you are asked to make a five minute presentation
during a business meeting, how many
minutes are you responsible for?” Class
members looked confused and wondered
what I was getting at. After all, wasn’t the
answer obvious? A five minute presentation
occupies five minutes of a meeting. Not necessarily!
Consider a meeting with six people present
in addition to yourself.
While your five minute contribution occupies
five minutes of the agenda, in another
sense you are occupying 30 minutes of time.
Each of the six
individuals present is giving you five minutes
of their time.
Whether you are speaking to a small group
or several hundred, your goal should be to
engage each person present, to add value to
their life.
This requires thorough preparation. The
following tips may serve as helpful guidelines
for both your preparation and presentation:
* Pay particular attention to your opening
Ask the Coach
By Greg stonehocker
For the Lethbridge Journal
Q: How do I develop better customer
service in my business?
A: First off, you need to ask yourself,
what is your business’s most valuable asset?
If you didn’t say customers then you’re kidding
your self. A business is nothing without
customers, and knowing this is the first step!
My mother in law once told me a story
WAY FOR BUSINESS
Your opening provides your first impression
to the audience. Know the audience and
the purpose of the presentation. Find out
what they might expect from your remarks
and what they may already know about
about how we need to “Cuddle our Customers”,
and it has stuck with me ever since. She
expressed that it’s not good enough anymore
to just take care of our customers, but that it’s
required now to do a little more and “cuddle”
them. It may sound a little, should we say
“fluffy”, but there is a big difference here.
So let’s discuss how we can do this. Here
are three things that can help you define you
customer service, in order to cuddle those
customers.
1) Deliver consistently. This is by far the
the topic.
Consider how you will grab the audience’s
attention. If you need to deliver bad news,
consider ways to connect with the audience
from the beginning of the presentation. Be
well prepared for the opening, as it sets the
tone for your entire presentation -- leave
nothing to chance.
* Focus on a Few Key Points
Know the major points you want to make.
This will help ease your worry and increase
your confidence. Outline the key concepts
in your electronic visuals, on a note card,
or better still use a memory technique such
as stacking or linking to enable you to remember
your key points. Avoid trying to
memorize your presentation, as it will sound
canned and stiff as opposed to comfortable
and real.
* Support Ideas with Evidence
It is always important to provide evidence
most important of the three. You must invest
the time and effort to build the systems and
train your team to ensure that orders are processed
systematically, and that the services
are delivered with regularity so that customers
can trust coming back and even refer others
to buy from your business.
2) Make it easy to buy. This includes everything
from the ability to reach the “right”
people, website navigation and phone and email
protocol, to payment methods, delivery
choices and post-purchase follow-up. You
must do your “market research” to make sure
buying from you is both simple and satisfying.
3) Deliver the WOW factor. Do the unex-
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to support your main points.
Supporting evidence will reinforce your
points to the audience and give you a chance
to explain your points more fully.
* Close with a Call to Action
This will be the last impression your audience
has of you and your presentation. It is
important to look at the purpose of the presentation
and then determine a proper close.
Emphasize the key action, or actions, you
want the audience to take after hearing your
presentation. This will serve as a nice summary
of your content and assures they leave
with a clear direction.
* Prepare for Future Success
View each presentation you give as a development
opportunity.
Enjoy the experience. Use each presentation
as an opportunity to enhance your confidence
and skill for the next presentation.
pected; it doesn’t have to be big, just genuine
and different from your competitors. Check
your industry to determine basic standards,
and then build in a strategy to WOW them.
All three of these steps are important but
without the first two, the WOW factor is irrelevant.
Remember, without customers – there is
no business.
Email your questions to:
gregstonehocker@actioncoach.com
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