Companies are facing unprecedented pressure from the financial crisis. As a result, many of their employees may get nervous and start complaining emotionally to their vendors - you! Here are 8 tips you can use to help you and your customer service team control stress and worry in tough situations:
Live in a compartment of the present.
The professional with a commitment to service seals off each interaction with a customer so that negative experiences don't poison future interactions. Don't allow past successes or failures or future anticipated success or difficulties influence your current performance. When it comes to customer service, live in the moment.
Don't fuss about trifles.
A "trifle" is something that is insignificant in comparison to other things in your life. When you focus on trifles, you lose perspective. Keep the bigger picture in mind. Doing so will help you objectively sort out the small stuff from the important issues.
Cooperate with the inevitable.
Realise when your situation is inevitable. If you can learn to recognise situations where you have no control, you can gain some control over the emotional aspects of the situation. By cooperating with the outcome, you are making a conscious choice about how to respond to an inevitable situation.
Decide just how much anxiety a situation is worth and refuse to give it any more of your energy.
Once you make this decision, it is easier to find ways you can improve on the situation or let it go and move on.
Create happiness for others.
This principle appeals to your nobler motives. It is difficult to sustain a negative attitude when you are doing something good or helpful for someone else. Simply put: Doing good for others makes you feel better.
Expect ingratitude.
In your job, you provide many diverse services. When you do so, you probably expect in return some signal of gratitude for your assistance. This expectation is rarely met. If you do receive heartfelt thanks from someone, you should count yourself lucky you are dealing with a grateful person. Most people are simply not accustomed to being grateful, even when you provide them with excellent service. You shouldn't let ingratitude deter you from providing top-quality service.
Put enthusiasm into your work.
Enthusiasm is the positive energy and sustained effort that keeps you driving toward your goals. Making a decision to have a positive outlook can be critical in enjoying your job and working with your internal and external customers.
Do the very best you can.
It can be difficult to deal with criticism, especially if you feel it is undeserved or if it hurts your self-esteem. One way to put criticism in perspective is to ask yourself if you are doing the very best you can with what you know and are able to do. If you are, then you can avoid taking the criticism personally. If there is room for improvement in your performance, you can look at the criticism objectively and take responsibility for improving your performance.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Friday, 21 September 2012
Jack Petchey CBE Honored With The Dale Carnegie Leadership Award
On September 20th 2012, Mr Peter V. Handal, Chairman and CEO of Dale Carnegie Training flew in from the United States of America to present Jack Petchey CBE with the prestigious Dale Carnegie Leadership Award.
The Leadership Award recognises organisations or individuals who have truly demonstrated that the development of their organisation has been achieved through a commitment to the development of people.
In his first years of business Jack Petchey, now aged 87, picked up a copy of the infamous book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. It was a moment that changed his life! He promptly signed up for a Dale Carnegie Course and that decision was one that undoubtedly contributed to him becoming one of London’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Jack’s entrepreneurial ventures have spanned travel, property and investments. He founded companies, such as Petchey Holdings Plc and Petchey Leisure, turning them into multi-million pound empires. But he is perhaps best known by many for his commitment to supporting youth projects, predominantly across his home turf of London and Essex. In the last 12 years he has sought to inspire a generation through The Jack Petchey Foundation, a charitable trust that has invested well over £75 million into raising young people’s aspirations, rewarding their achievements and encouraging them to achieve more in life.
From humble beginnings, Jack was born in 1925 to poor working class parents in Plaistow, East London. Despite leaving school at the age of 14 with no qualifications, he had already begun to demonstrate the entrepreneurial skills that would aid his later success. Following his discharge from the Fleet Air Arm in 1947 he invested his whole life savings (nearly £60) in a car to found a car hire business.
His exposure to Dale Carnegie Training gave him the self-belief and skills to build his business and to go on to found many more!
All his life he has carried a commitment to the basic principles of management learnt through Dale Carnegie. His belief in reward as a powerful motivator for change has been implemented in his staff reward schemes and now been developed even further through the Jack Petchey Award Scheme, operating in over 2000 youth clubs and schools across London and Essex. Another saying from Dale Carnegie was “Don’t criticise, condemn or complain” and to this day Jack carries a small cardboard disc in his pocket as a permanent reminder! His aim has always been to encourage staff to give their best.
Now, with a focus on the work of the Foundation, his heart’s desire is to enable young people to access the ‘power’ of positive thinking, to believe in themselves, to learn how to capture their dreams and turn them into reality by setting goals, learning new skills and sheer dogged determination! With this in mind he is currently exploring some new training programmes to be delivered to young people through schools.
It is only the second time that this Award has been approved and awarded by the Board of Directors of Dale Carnegie Training to a businessman in London, “and there is none more deserving than Jack!” says Clive Thompson, of Dale Carnegie, London.
The Dale Carnegie Leadership Award, established in 1985, was given to The Ford Motor Company that same year and in subsequent years to such well known organisations as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Boeing, Four Seasons Hotel, Daimler-Chrysler and SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
Jack Petchey joins a long chain of the world’s greatest businessmen and through his Foundation it is hoped his legacy will be to continue to inspire a generation. Jack said: “I feel really proud to accept this award, Dale Carnegie was such an inspiration for me; I just hope that future generations of young people will be able to see that they can achieve – if they really believe they can, they can!”
The Leadership Award recognises organisations or individuals who have truly demonstrated that the development of their organisation has been achieved through a commitment to the development of people.
In his first years of business Jack Petchey, now aged 87, picked up a copy of the infamous book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. It was a moment that changed his life! He promptly signed up for a Dale Carnegie Course and that decision was one that undoubtedly contributed to him becoming one of London’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Jack’s entrepreneurial ventures have spanned travel, property and investments. He founded companies, such as Petchey Holdings Plc and Petchey Leisure, turning them into multi-million pound empires. But he is perhaps best known by many for his commitment to supporting youth projects, predominantly across his home turf of London and Essex. In the last 12 years he has sought to inspire a generation through The Jack Petchey Foundation, a charitable trust that has invested well over £75 million into raising young people’s aspirations, rewarding their achievements and encouraging them to achieve more in life.
From humble beginnings, Jack was born in 1925 to poor working class parents in Plaistow, East London. Despite leaving school at the age of 14 with no qualifications, he had already begun to demonstrate the entrepreneurial skills that would aid his later success. Following his discharge from the Fleet Air Arm in 1947 he invested his whole life savings (nearly £60) in a car to found a car hire business.
His exposure to Dale Carnegie Training gave him the self-belief and skills to build his business and to go on to found many more!
All his life he has carried a commitment to the basic principles of management learnt through Dale Carnegie. His belief in reward as a powerful motivator for change has been implemented in his staff reward schemes and now been developed even further through the Jack Petchey Award Scheme, operating in over 2000 youth clubs and schools across London and Essex. Another saying from Dale Carnegie was “Don’t criticise, condemn or complain” and to this day Jack carries a small cardboard disc in his pocket as a permanent reminder! His aim has always been to encourage staff to give their best.
Now, with a focus on the work of the Foundation, his heart’s desire is to enable young people to access the ‘power’ of positive thinking, to believe in themselves, to learn how to capture their dreams and turn them into reality by setting goals, learning new skills and sheer dogged determination! With this in mind he is currently exploring some new training programmes to be delivered to young people through schools.
It is only the second time that this Award has been approved and awarded by the Board of Directors of Dale Carnegie Training to a businessman in London, “and there is none more deserving than Jack!” says Clive Thompson, of Dale Carnegie, London.
The Dale Carnegie Leadership Award, established in 1985, was given to The Ford Motor Company that same year and in subsequent years to such well known organisations as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Boeing, Four Seasons Hotel, Daimler-Chrysler and SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
Jack Petchey joins a long chain of the world’s greatest businessmen and through his Foundation it is hoped his legacy will be to continue to inspire a generation. Jack said: “I feel really proud to accept this award, Dale Carnegie was such an inspiration for me; I just hope that future generations of young people will be able to see that they can achieve – if they really believe they can, they can!”
Friday, 17 August 2012
London 2012 What an Inspiration
Wow what an eventful 2 weeks! Who would have thought that Team GB would have finished 3rd in the tables? Can you remember where you were on ‘Super Saturday’? I remember shouting at the television with the family as Jessica Ennis, sprinted to the finishing line as she won gold in the Heptathlon, then a few minutes later cheering as the lovely Greg Rutherford took home gold in the long jump, and then moments later, jumping for joy as Mo Farah won the countries first gold in the 10,000 meters in over 100 years.
1 week on and I still get goose bumps thinking about some of these events.
You could write & reminisce for hours over the wonderful achievements that Team GB have achieved, not just in winning medals, but the way the whole country united together and what an inspiration every athlete has been. There are not many people who would get a fractured jaw as a result of getting wacked with a hockey stick, and will be back on the pitch 3 days later like Kate Walsh, then successfully achieve bronze in the tournament.
Working and living in London, I have experienced the other side of the Olympics as well, and the atmosphere around the city has been electric. Just walking around, every street was filled with red, blue & white in all different forms, from flags, to buildings and clothing. Every bar and pub would have an event showing, and you would hear silence as the athletes were about to start their journey to the finish line. That silence would last for spilt of a second, as it was shortly followed by cheering and shouting.
The Olympics has changed the country and lifted our spirits in these difficult times. Children and adults of all ages have been inspired & motivated to take up a sport, or to hold their own family version of the Olympics, and it does make you proud to be British, and is an experience that we will relive forever.
Well done Team GB on everything that you have achieved!
1 week on and I still get goose bumps thinking about some of these events.
You could write & reminisce for hours over the wonderful achievements that Team GB have achieved, not just in winning medals, but the way the whole country united together and what an inspiration every athlete has been. There are not many people who would get a fractured jaw as a result of getting wacked with a hockey stick, and will be back on the pitch 3 days later like Kate Walsh, then successfully achieve bronze in the tournament.
Working and living in London, I have experienced the other side of the Olympics as well, and the atmosphere around the city has been electric. Just walking around, every street was filled with red, blue & white in all different forms, from flags, to buildings and clothing. Every bar and pub would have an event showing, and you would hear silence as the athletes were about to start their journey to the finish line. That silence would last for spilt of a second, as it was shortly followed by cheering and shouting.
The Olympics has changed the country and lifted our spirits in these difficult times. Children and adults of all ages have been inspired & motivated to take up a sport, or to hold their own family version of the Olympics, and it does make you proud to be British, and is an experience that we will relive forever.
Well done Team GB on everything that you have achieved!
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
High turnover?
Is your organizational performance not of a high standard?
Talented staff, but not sure how to inspire them?
The charted institute for personnel & development recently stated in their publication ‘Becoming an employee of choice’ that ‘70% of people leave their employer and not their job.’ When employees feel inspired and engaged by their manager they will contribute more, take fewer sick days and focus more on satisfying customers.
Engaged employees make a difference to your organizations performance both today and in the future. With our free seminar you can learn to deliver creative and powerful messages to those individuals who can help your organization the most. Develop inspiring ideas to engage your talent staff and engage those individuals in your business who can make a difference.
The Engaging Talent Seminar on Thursday 2nd August, 8:45am - 10:45am plans to be thee FREE seminar event of the year.
Join today, to guarantee your seat for the most engaging event you have been too. For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us on 02073794323
Employment means winning the hearts as well as the minds of employees.
Is your organizational performance not of a high standard?
Talented staff, but not sure how to inspire them?
The charted institute for personnel & development recently stated in their publication ‘Becoming an employee of choice’ that ‘70% of people leave their employer and not their job.’ When employees feel inspired and engaged by their manager they will contribute more, take fewer sick days and focus more on satisfying customers.
Engaged employees make a difference to your organizations performance both today and in the future. With our free seminar you can learn to deliver creative and powerful messages to those individuals who can help your organization the most. Develop inspiring ideas to engage your talent staff and engage those individuals in your business who can make a difference.
The Engaging Talent Seminar on Thursday 2nd August, 8:45am - 10:45am plans to be thee FREE seminar event of the year.
Join today, to guarantee your seat for the most engaging event you have been too. For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us on 02073794323
Employment means winning the hearts as well as the minds of employees.
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Trains run on tracks for a reason
Trains run on tracks for a reason
Take the most reliable train on the UK network, the Parry People Mover, and put it on a Tarmac road. What happens? Well this great piece of simple technology will end up going all over the place, ruin the tarmac, have lots of disgruntled passengers, and become less reliable every minute it runs. In fact in a very short space of time it will be put out of service as it is of no use to anyone.
Such my friends it what we expose ourselves to each any every day. No, this is nothing to do with the train or tube you get to travel on to work each day. What it is to do with is the guidance system we operate within, in order to deliver the results we need for our organisation. It is the tracks the train runs on that makes it efficient and gives it direction. The ease with which it slides over the track makes each journey enjoyable.
So, to our business then. What are your tracks? Is it the strategy, the business plan, project plans, personal developments and career plans? Maybe it's the appraisal process, the performance systems or the CRM. Is it the relationship we have with our boss or our colleagues, our clients and suppliers?
Well, it's all of these and for most of us it is truly ALL of these. If just one goes wrong we are inefficient. When more that one goes wrong we become frustrated, annoyed, perhaps angry and stressed. What about if we workforce an organisation without these 'tracks' to guide and smooth our progress? The answer is as unthinkable as it is unfortunate.
Knowing how to develop these tracks and build our business around sound principles that create efficient organisations takes knowledge, skill and a positive attitude that they will deliver the results.
For evidence that they will, give us a call and we'll show you how.
Friday, 18 May 2012
Top Tips For Communicating In The Digital Age
Mark Fitzmaurice of Dale Carnegie, shares his top tips for communicating on social media platforms, in the Bdaily Business Network.
There’s no doubt that technology and social media has transformed the way we communicate, both in a work and home environment. For all the advantages however, there are various pitfalls that have the potential to damage your reputation and do you and your business more harm than good.
To mark its 100-year anniversary, learning and development organisation Dale Carnegie has updated and re-released its classic ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, originally written in the 1930’s, to identify with the scenarios facing businesspeople in an age of increasing technology.
Many of the key principles Dale Carnegie set out all those years ago still apply today and have been adapted to suit the modern age. They include:
1. Take your criticism offline. Little good comes from public humiliation, whether it’s by Tweet or blog post. The rise of anonymous message boards and online comments seems to incubate negativity, but engaging in that kind of back-and-forth does little good.
2. Commit to self-improvement instead. Instead of telling other people what they could do better, save the harshest criticism for yourself.
3. Focus on other people’s interests, not your own. This might be a hard one to follow but social media users must resist the temptation to talk about themselves. Instead, ask about others, comment and inquire about their own updates, and focus on what interests them, not you.
4. Engage with others. Social media, after all, is all about interaction, and people use those platforms with the hope of hearing directly from their favourite author, celebrity, or company. Companies like Zappos take advantage of this fact and use social media to build their brands.
5. Smile. Recent research that analysed Facebook profiles found that people who frown in photos tend to be on the outskirts of social networks instead of in the centre of them. In other words, smiling gets you more friends (and influence).
6. Spread positivity. On that same note, if you can make other people smile, you’ll also grow your own popularity. Tweeting positive thoughts is far more effective than tweeting negative ones. In fact, skip negative Tweets and posts altogether.
7. Don’t argue. Has anyone ever won a back-and-forth over Twitter? Or by leaving snarky comments on an online article? Even if the answer is “yes”, the potential damage to your reputation by such an exchange makes public arguments bad ideas.
8. Engage and be responsive. One of the best way to build your network either personally or in business is to engage with others and be responsive to other people’s needs.
9. Be a good listener. Even on line, listen to what people are saying, look for the message behind the message, sometimes people will say things on line that they won’t say out loud, we just need to listen in a different way
10. Make other people feel valued and important. In any that you can, on line or off line if you make people feel valued and important they will be loyal to you and give you much more in return
For more information on how Dale Carnegie can help you in the digital age, contact us, or purcahse the How To Win Friends and Influence People In The Digital Age which is available in all good retailers.
Stephanie Fletcher
To continue reading this article visit
http://bdaily.co.uk/news/technology/10-05-2012/1336492916-top-tips-for-communicating-in-the-digital-age/
There’s no doubt that technology and social media has transformed the way we communicate, both in a work and home environment. For all the advantages however, there are various pitfalls that have the potential to damage your reputation and do you and your business more harm than good.
To mark its 100-year anniversary, learning and development organisation Dale Carnegie has updated and re-released its classic ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, originally written in the 1930’s, to identify with the scenarios facing businesspeople in an age of increasing technology.
Many of the key principles Dale Carnegie set out all those years ago still apply today and have been adapted to suit the modern age. They include:
1. Take your criticism offline. Little good comes from public humiliation, whether it’s by Tweet or blog post. The rise of anonymous message boards and online comments seems to incubate negativity, but engaging in that kind of back-and-forth does little good.
2. Commit to self-improvement instead. Instead of telling other people what they could do better, save the harshest criticism for yourself.
3. Focus on other people’s interests, not your own. This might be a hard one to follow but social media users must resist the temptation to talk about themselves. Instead, ask about others, comment and inquire about their own updates, and focus on what interests them, not you.
4. Engage with others. Social media, after all, is all about interaction, and people use those platforms with the hope of hearing directly from their favourite author, celebrity, or company. Companies like Zappos take advantage of this fact and use social media to build their brands.
5. Smile. Recent research that analysed Facebook profiles found that people who frown in photos tend to be on the outskirts of social networks instead of in the centre of them. In other words, smiling gets you more friends (and influence).
6. Spread positivity. On that same note, if you can make other people smile, you’ll also grow your own popularity. Tweeting positive thoughts is far more effective than tweeting negative ones. In fact, skip negative Tweets and posts altogether.
7. Don’t argue. Has anyone ever won a back-and-forth over Twitter? Or by leaving snarky comments on an online article? Even if the answer is “yes”, the potential damage to your reputation by such an exchange makes public arguments bad ideas.
8. Engage and be responsive. One of the best way to build your network either personally or in business is to engage with others and be responsive to other people’s needs.
9. Be a good listener. Even on line, listen to what people are saying, look for the message behind the message, sometimes people will say things on line that they won’t say out loud, we just need to listen in a different way
10. Make other people feel valued and important. In any that you can, on line or off line if you make people feel valued and important they will be loyal to you and give you much more in return
For more information on how Dale Carnegie can help you in the digital age, contact us, or purcahse the How To Win Friends and Influence People In The Digital Age which is available in all good retailers.
Stephanie Fletcher
To continue reading this article visit
http://bdaily.co.uk/news/technology/10-05-2012/1336492916-top-tips-for-communicating-in-the-digital-age/
Monday, 14 May 2012
The value of Teamwork
There has been a new addition to my household recently. One which has bought uncontained joy into the hearts of my family and myself. It was a long and hard struggle to get their but the delivery eventually took place on Friday 11th May at 12:16pm. Comments from friends have poured in telling how beautiful the pictures I’ve taken are. I’ve wanted one for such a long time and to finally get one for so cheap I am over the moon. I never thought I’d see the day…. but today I can say, with a beaming smile across my face that I have my very own exercise bike.
I’m sure many of you have found yourself in the position I currently face. You’ve purchased an item and it has arrived in bits for you to assemble. You take out the parts and place them in random order on the floor. Taking out the instructions, you attempt to familiarise your self with pages of diagrams, complimented by very little written instruction, as though the pictures accompanied by a frenzy of arrows should be sufficient for you to know how to assemble your newly purchased wonder. Suddenly, my exercise bike wasn’t as glamorous as when first arrived.
It did however get me thinking. Like me, you may have heard numerous quotations about teamwork like;
‘Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.'
‘A unit is only as strong as its weakest link.'
'Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else.'
Okay maybe scrap the last one but my point is we’ve all at one time been lectured on the importance of teamwork. Putting together my bike however, it was reinforced to me that we all have a part to play in the team / organisation we work for and if we do not work to our fullest capacity, the collective will never be as successful as it could be. Take my bike as an example. If I had no handlebars then I’d have nothing to grip, if I had no pedals then I could not generate any movement and if I had no saddle…well a trip to A+E would be on the horizon.
Keep teamwork at the forefront of your mind. Ensure that not only are you seeking your teams help but make sure you’re available to help others. Encourage those around you and praise them for their achievements. Be accountable to one another and ensure that unity is at the forefront of everything you do but above all else…above all else…if you know anyone who’s constructed an exercise bike before, get them in touch with Dale Carnegie London as that saddle won’t attach itself.
I’m sure many of you have found yourself in the position I currently face. You’ve purchased an item and it has arrived in bits for you to assemble. You take out the parts and place them in random order on the floor. Taking out the instructions, you attempt to familiarise your self with pages of diagrams, complimented by very little written instruction, as though the pictures accompanied by a frenzy of arrows should be sufficient for you to know how to assemble your newly purchased wonder. Suddenly, my exercise bike wasn’t as glamorous as when first arrived.
It did however get me thinking. Like me, you may have heard numerous quotations about teamwork like;
‘Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.'
‘A unit is only as strong as its weakest link.'
'Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else.'
Okay maybe scrap the last one but my point is we’ve all at one time been lectured on the importance of teamwork. Putting together my bike however, it was reinforced to me that we all have a part to play in the team / organisation we work for and if we do not work to our fullest capacity, the collective will never be as successful as it could be. Take my bike as an example. If I had no handlebars then I’d have nothing to grip, if I had no pedals then I could not generate any movement and if I had no saddle…well a trip to A+E would be on the horizon.
Keep teamwork at the forefront of your mind. Ensure that not only are you seeking your teams help but make sure you’re available to help others. Encourage those around you and praise them for their achievements. Be accountable to one another and ensure that unity is at the forefront of everything you do but above all else…above all else…if you know anyone who’s constructed an exercise bike before, get them in touch with Dale Carnegie London as that saddle won’t attach itself.
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