Jeweller - July 2019

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MANAGEMENT HAPPIER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE LEADERSHIP SCALING UP A BUSINESS CAN TAKE ITS TOLL ON ONE’S WELLBEING. IN PART ONE OF THIS TWO-PART SERIES, DOUG FLEENER DETAILS HOW TO CHANGE MINDSET AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO BEAT STRESS AND IMPROVE OUTCOMES. Over the years, I’ve worked with various stressed-out owners and managers. Usually they are smart and dedicated people who couldn’t work any harder if they tried but they always feel like they’re getting less done and falling further behind. Does this sound familiar? Chances are there was a time you felt you had everything under control. It almost seemed as if your store or company was on autopilot. For some people, this may not have been too long ago – while for others it may be a distant memory. Everything was all good... and then something changed. You added more lines, more stores, more employees or perhaps fewer employees; your socialmedia exploded; your foot traffic fell away or increased and so on. Change is the one constant in business. Change is rarely the result of a single event; it’s instead an evolution driven by alterations in technology, buying behaviour, competition and countless other external and internal forces. So, are all of these changes the reason things no longer feel in control? Not really. It’s not the evolution of your business that causes you to feel stressed and overwhelmed; it’s the lack of evolution in the way you work. You can’t run a four-store chain the way you ran a single store You can’t manage a business that has an revenue of $2.5 million in the same way you ran a store with only $500,000 revenue. Also, you can’t run your business like you did three years ago. Too much has changed and if you’re feeling overwhelmed then there’s a good chance that you haven’t changed with it. The good news is that you can jumpstart that evolution right now. FOUR WAYS TO CHANGE Let’s look at four key areas that can help you be a more productive and happier leader. Accept that your work will rarely be done – Let’s agree that it is nearly impossible to get everything done in this always-on, always-wired, 24/7 world. I always joke that I became more successful when I started keeping a ‘to-don’t’ list instead of a ‘to-do’ list. At the end of the day, we just have to accept that some things will have to carry over to be done at another time or maybe they’ll never get done at all. Time management is neither the problem nor the solution – Unless you’ve got a time machine in your office, just take time management off the table. Of course, if you do have a time machine, please let me know because I have a few things that happened in my twenties that I’d like to go back and change... but I digress. There can be no blaming a lack of time for being overwhelmed. We all have the same number of hours in a day. What you have to manage is not time, but priorities – It’s about making the right choices regarding where you focus your energy and effort. Managers can make two mistakes when it comes to this. The first is doing what they want to do, not what they need to do. It’s human nature to gravitate to the things we like or do well and sometimes these are aligned with our priorities, but sometimes they’re not. The second is letting employees and outside forces dictate priorities. This happens more than people realise. Leaders have to manage priorities like a full-back holds on to a football. MANAGING PRIORITIES IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MANAGING TIME IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET EVERYTHING DONE IN THIS ALWAYS-ON, ALWAYS-WIRED, 24/7 WORLD – I ALWAYS JOKE THAT I BECAME MORE SUCCESSFUL WHEN I STARTED KEEPING A ‘TO- DON’T’ LIST It doesn’t mean you’re not available when needed but you should be the one who decides when something else should take precedence over your priorities. Delegating isn’t enough – Although most managers and owners could increase delegation to their staff, this is not the cure-all that most people think it is. I can’t tell you how many times an owner or manager has told me he or she needs to delegate more, which always makes me think, ‘So do it!’ I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to distribute some of the tasks you’re doing that are keeping you from your priorities but the biggest reason to delegate is to have more engaged staff. It really isn’t going to have much impact on your own levels of stress. There’s a fifth critical element I’ll explore next month. In the meantime, think about the actions you can take now that will result in a more productive and happier you. i DOUG FLEENER is president and managing partner of Sixth Star Consulting. dougfleener.com 38 Jeweller July 2019
MARKETING & PR WHEN CUSTOMER SERVICE IS UNSHACKLED IT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR A BUSINESS TO OFFER CUSTOMER SERVICE – IT SHOULD BE CUSTOMER-CENTRIC FROM THE TOP DOWN. BARRY URQUHART EXPLORES HOW CORPORATE CULTURE MUST EVOLVE TO PUT CUSTOMER-SERVICE SKILLS FIRST. Customer service skills are easy to master but they are impeded and compromised in many instances by inadequate, superficial and narrowly-focused corporate cultures. Delegating authority improves morale, contributes to staff loyalty, stabilises team compositions and reassures customers that they are dealing with people who have the Well-scripted mission statements and brand philosophies on office walls are insufficient and often misleading. This is because they seldom articulate the underlying driving force that makes things happen in a business. capacity to resolve issues to their satisfaction. The manner and speed in which product returns take place, and in which quality issues and service deficiencies are addressed, are key indicators of the degree to which a Considerable resources and funds are channelled into processes that reduce costs and enhance internal efficiency – at the expense of customer and client satisfaction. IN RETAIL, CUSTOMER SERVICE COMES FIRST service-oriented corporate culture prevails. For some, following up with customers is time-consuming and does not necessarily generate additional revenue. Under-utilised customer skills often remain unrecognised; employees go unsupported and improvements are not implemented. Frequently, the importance of customer service may be appreciated on a superficial level – but it often remains unrealised, to the dismay of front-line service providers. THE PERSONAL TOUCH Customer and client satisfaction is determined by, and measured against, expectations, as well as first impressions. Automated telephone systems remain a source of frustration and dissatisfaction, mostly because there’s no way to bypass prerecorded messages and get access to actual service professionals. By the time a customer reaches a person, it can be difficult for staff to recover from the anxiety and frustration that customer feels. The ability of staff to neutralise such emotions is important but this falls a long way short of creating customer satisfaction – let alone delight. A case in point is the recent declaration by Centrelink that telephone waittimes have been significantly reduced... to ‘just’ 17 minutes! Against the benchmark of service excellence – when incoming calls are answered within three rings – it is little wonder that customers are reluctant to call. HAVING HIGHLY- TRAINED, QUALIFIED TEAM MEMBERS WHO POSSESS GREAT PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE COUNTS FOR LITTLE IF THEY ARE INSUFFICIENT IN NUMBERS AND CAN’T READILY BE FOUND ON THE SHOP FLOOR SERVICE BEGETS PERFORMANCE Even if staff have excellent service skills, an inadequate corporate culture will compromise customer-service standards. Department stores throughout Australia are reporting losses in sales, profits and market share. The response from senior management has been to declare a commitment to customer-focused endeavours, including increased training in customer service. Such utterances again fall well short, as do the number of available and accessible service providers. The consumer perception of the Australian department-store sector is that it is difficult to find staff when visiting stores. Having highly-trained, qualified team members who possess great product knowledge counts for little if they are insufficient in numbers and can’t readily be found on the shop floor. There is a universal need for all seniorexecutive and non-executive ranks to champion customer service delivery. ONE TOUCH ONLY A need for staff to refer matters to another person or department mars the customer experience and diminishes the chances of them becoming a long-term advocate of the business. Moreover, businesses are frequently reluctant to expose themselves to expressions of dissatisfaction from customers – but some things are better to know first-hand. Thirdparty complaints are difficult to manage and impossible to contain. It remains true that open, two-way communication is a key characteristic for sustaining client satisfaction and loyalty. DON’T COMPROMISE COMMITMENT With service excellence there is no place to hide. Training should involve senior management and board members, and active participation is essential. At the very least, participants should be able to present considered action plans to senior executives and non-executives at the conclusion of the training programme. They will feel rewarded and be reassured that they have been heard. In the new retail environment, customerservice initiatives are particularly relevant and businesses should ensure all endeavours are universally embraced and applied. i BARRY URQUHART is managing director of Marketing Focus and an international keynote speaker. marketinginfocus.net.au July 2019 Jeweller 39
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Jeweller - July 2019

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