Staying Ahead of the C.U.R.V.E.!

Last week, I sat in on a Crew Leader training session with Summit Coach Conal Mulreany.  Below is a highlight from his training:

Dealing with angry customers can be a very delicate task.  Surely it is not a job for the faint-hearted! It is a skill that takes years to perfect, or shall we say… practice makes perfect. We often wonder how or why we end up in these situations.  What went wrong?  Everything was going soooooooooooo well!   The customer threw us a curveball, and we weren’t ready for it.  When we actually take a step back and reflect, we find that it was usually something very simple that lead us to the current state of dealing with angry or upset customers.
So what can we do to prevent ourselves from getting into these situations in the first place?   We must remember to stay ahead of the CURVE! This is an exercise that all team leaders should be aware of on a daily basis in order to reduce or eliminate angry customers.  When we get away from these basic steps we set the stage for problems to arise. Below is a checklist we can use to keep us out of these difficult situations:

C- Communication.  Communicate to your customer and your crew members frequently

U- Updates.  Update your customer daily and before leaving at night, leave a note on the kitchen counter

R- Reminders.  Always have to-do lists for yourselves and for your customers.

V- Verify. Verify that the customer is on the same page as you, that they are following your system – not their own.

E- Envision. Visualize what the completed project looks like and work toward that goal; happy and under…with check in hand!

Thanks for a great teleconference, Conal!
Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!
Bryan Evans