It’s the 21st century! We have the
ability not only to walk on the moon now, but also talk to the other
side of the world and see them through your mobile phone. That’s
technology! But as your computer gets smaller and your car begins
to talk to you, when do past practices become obsolete? When is
it no longer necessary to follow past expectations? Or common courtesy
for that matter?
A friend of mine was recently holding a dinner party. The night
was just beginning and people where starting to arrive. He receives
a text message on his mobile phone from one of the guests, saying
that he could not make it. Are these complete disregards also
happening
in business today? Is it that as technology gets better, we get
more rude? Can you still get ‘good service’? What
is classed as ‘good service’? Well looking through
my old notes I found six simple rules that a marketing guru once
told me.
They
are quite straight forward, but maybe simplicity is what we need
at the end of the day.
1. Prompt service.
This means RETURNING PHONE CALLS. Its not hard, a quick
phone call before the end of that day will not make the
world fall off its axis. They made the effort, so should
you! Things get done quicker and people really do respect
prompt service, basically because they are not used to
it.
2. Preparing written documents inside a short time-span.
I admit this is sometimes hard to do, but making a habit
of it can mean more work gets done quicker, also it lets
you totally focus on what you are writing about because
it is fresh in your head.
3. Avoiding spelling errors.
Most people use spell check, which works 99% of the time
unless you have it defaulted to U.S English! Also a quick
read through may save emarrassbent (woops!) later.
4. Clear and plain language.
Not all of us have doctorates from UNSW; so simple layman’s
terms will suffice. Don’t think for a second that
your client will think you're a dummy, they will understand
it more easily, and in turn things stay simple. This is
especially directed to anyone in the legal sector.
5. Being a good/REGULAR communicator.
Keeping in touch isn’t hard and makes it easier
when you ring someone ‘out of the blue’ for
a favour.
6. Showing empathy.
Humans like to feel that they matter to someone, if you
show interest in someone’s life, they are happier.
Try it, you will be surprised from the results.
The reason why it’s called good service is because it’s
good, not bad. Hopefully someone out there will adopt some of these
rules, so it makes at least one consumer happier. Give it a shot,
if it doesn’t work send me an email and tell me why. I’ll
try and get back to you (joke!).
