• If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow rice. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people. – Chinese Proverb

  • It costs 10 times more to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer.

  • Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. Winston Churchill

  • Corporations can work five times harder and spend five times more money to gain new customers, or they can keep the ones they have.

  • Employee loyalty builds customer loyalty, which builds brand loyalty. It’s as simple - and as difficult - as that.

  • Leadership IQ being equal, it is believed emotional intelligence – how we manage ourselves, our emotions and the emotions of others – accounts for 85 – 90% of what separates the most outstanding leaders from their peers.

  • 85% of business leaders agree that traditional differentiators alone are no longer a sustainable business strategy.

  • People are the core strategic asset. To be successful, a company must listen, involve, encourage, nurture, support, empower, and reward all its constituencies.

  • 25 of every 27 customers who have a bad experience fail to report it because they don’t believe anything will change.

  • No one of us is as smart as all of us – when teams function well, miracles happen.

  • The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving. Oliver Wendell Holmes

  • The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.

  • Companies Don’t Solve Problems.
    People Do.

  • The number one fear in the world is public speaking. “You” vs. “I” messages are powerful tools for capturing your audience’s attention.

  • Change is constant. To implement change you must listen, engage, and empower individuals in the change process.

  • Effective coaching is a key method for increasing productivity and profitability in an organization. Recent studies have shown that 85% of the workforce wants holistic coaching so that they can continually improve and grow.

  • The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. Vince Lombardi

  • 50 – 70% of how employees perceive their organization can be traced back to the actions of one person – the leader.

  • 70% of organizational changes fail and these failures can be traced to ineffective leadership.

  • A survey of 350 executives across 14 industries, 68% confirmed their companies experienced unanticipated problems in their change process. – International Consortium of Executive Development Research.

  • First, people don’t grow and change much unless they’re in a supportive environment where people know what they want to do and encourage them to do it.

  • "High performing organizations are constantly focusing on improving their capabilities through learning systems, building knowledge capital and transformational learning throughout the organization.” - Ken Blanchard

  • The key to building a culture based on Trust and Personal Responsibility is getting all employees to be committed to the organization’s Vision and the Values That Build Trust.

  • It is estimated that 80% of mergers and acquisitions that occur today fail to meet initial expectations.

  • The key to keeping customers satisfied and loyal is to value and train employees while making them an integral part of corporate success.

  • Leadership is being the best you can be, and helping others be the best they can be.

  • 78% of consumers say their most satisfying experience occurred because of a capable and competent customer service representative.

  • Learn something every day. Never stop learning.

Insurance Advocate - Psych-101 For CSRs and Bottom Lines

Featuring Dianne Durkin of Loyalty Factor

Insurance Advocate

By Phil Zinkewicz

Last Christmas I decided to get my wife a new cell phone, one of the modern, up-to-date ones. On the street where I live, there are two competitive cell phone carriers - let's call them carrier A and carrier B. They occupy two separate storefronts, each opposite the other. I had no choice as to which carrier I needed to approach. My wife already had a contract with carrier A, so I was locked in. When I entered the storefront of carrier A, I was turned off immediately. The décor was drab and dreary, and the employees had, on their faces, looks of forbidding boredom. Nevertheless, I was determined. Rather than stand on the long line that was almost reaching out into the street - these were people who were there either to pay or argue about bills - I endeavored to catch the eye of a floor-walking employee.

The experience was a frustrating one, to say the least. I tried to explain to him that I was a cell phone idiot and that I needed assistance. Instead of enjoying what should have been for him a sense of superiority, the employee just looked to the heavens and rolled his eyes as if to say, "oh, another one." Not only did he care little about helping me, but I began to get the feeling that he didn't even know his own merchandise. I left disheartened and headed for the nearest Radio Shack.

A couple of months later, I decided, after much resistance, that my wife was right and that I should join the 21st Century by getting my own cell phone. I walked down the street to where carrier A was and immediately crossed the street to the storefront of carrier B. There was no line, probably because the employees there were efficient and able to expedite problems. Before I even removed my hat, a salesperson approached me. The exchange was pleasant and informative. Within a half-hour, I had a contract and a cell phone. Everyone I had encountered at carrier B's was friendly and helpful. One technician even programmed in some numbers for me so I could watch him and get the hang of it.

Needless to say, whenever anyone tells me that are in the market for a cell phone, I recommend carrier B and warn them emphatically to steer clear of carrier A.

Now, you might ask, what is the point of this story. After all, it is common sense that if you treat a customer well, that customer will not only return, but also pass on that pleasant experience to others. But Dianne Durkin, president of Loyalty Factor, a New Castle, NH-based training and consulting firm, says that in the customer service representative (CSR) community, common sense is not always all that common, and she is quite outspoken about it.

"Sure, CSRs can tell you how to locate the fine print in your HMO contract, explain the benefits and side effects of the medication that sounds like a miracle cure on a TV commercial, or explain why car rental is not covered on your auto insurance policy, but ask them to show empathy when speaking with clients, or actually care about the people they serve, and you may as well be trying to sell your tech stocks for a profit," says Durkin.

While it isn't always easy to convince CSRs that how they communicate with clients is often more important than what they communicate, Loyalty Factor's Customer Service Training Program, less formally known as "Psych 101 for CSRs," is getting through to thousands of call center representatives at some of the nation's largest insurance, pharmaceutical and technology corporations and increasing customer satisfaction and corporate profits, Durkin says. Loyalty Factor's clients include Genuity, Abbott Laboratories, IBM/Lotus, Kronos and The Hartford. Durkin started Loyalty Factor in 1996. The reason for starting the operation, she says quite frankly, was that she was "just fed up" with the kind of treatment she and other customers were receiving from customer service representatives in just about every industry. Her philosophy is that customer loyalty drives the brand, not the other way around.

"Corporate executives are becoming wise to the fact that customer loyalty is crucial to company growth and profitability, and they are putting their money into the mouths of customer service representatives who have the ability to either please or infuriate customers with each word they speak," says Durkin. "It's all about understanding human nature, expressing empathy, and responding to the communication nuances that are often the key to people's personalities."

Durkin says that, through Loyalty Factor's "Psych 101 for CSRs," technical and customer support representatives are learning how to best communicate with customers to keep them loyal and satisfied. She quotes a recent Gallup Poll survey, which said: "Today, the search for the ties that bind customers to brands has taken on fresh urgency. The equity markets are volatile and venture investors are chastened, so loyal customers represent a company's best prospects for pumping capital into a business."

"It should be remembered that industry analyses demonstrate that the cost of acquiring new customers is ten times the cost of servicing established ones," says Durkin. "Savvy executives are eager to train those with direct customer contact on how to care for customers so they remain customers."

Durkin says that, through exercises, role-playing and providing information about the different ways that people communicate, Loyalty Factor trainers help customer service and call center teams accept the importance of explaining information in a way that customers can understand, while making those customers feel appreciated and important.

"I admit those with specific industry knowledge often resist the concept that their jobs are more than finding solutions to problems,: says Durkin. "But by the end of our seminars, they have learned about their own communication styles and the importance of simplifying their message, treating customers with respect and conveying sincere concern."

Role-playing is an important part of the training seminars, according to Durkin, because it gives the CSRs the opportunity to wear the customers' shoes. "Part therapy session, part educational seminar, Loyalty Factor's "Psych 101" training also gives CSRs the opportunity to bond with each other about the problems they face when trying to communicate with customers on a daily basis. They laugh at themselves, share stories about difficult customers, and help each other understand what our trainers are teaching them. The team-building is an added benefit. They return to their jobs as a team that understands how important they are to enhancing the corporate brand and increasing the company profitability, not as individuals left alone to handle needy customers each time the phone rings."

Durkin speaks of "neuro-linguistic" programming techniques. "Neuro-linguistics is a body of knowledge regarding communication skills that came out of the West Coast, she says. "It has to do with many things, such as the pitch of one's voice, the pace and the verbs that are used. Sixty percent of the population are visually-oriented. They want the 'big picture.' They use phrases such as : 'This doesn't look right to me.' Or 'I sense that something's wrong.' Then there are those who are auditory. 'I don't like the sound of that.'

"The first thing we want to do is to have a CSR get into touch with himself or herself. We do an analysis of how that person tends to communicate. Are they visually-oriented, feelings-oriented or auditory-oriented. Then we teach them how to recognize these characteristics in others. In this way they can adjust their communications skills to be better able to understand the customer - to actually listen to what the customer is saying and understand the customer's needs."

Durkin says that the firm's success rate with clients has been considerable. With come clients, customer satisfaction has demonstrated a 3.5 to 4.2 on a scale of 5. "The CSR s are happy about our seminars too, because learning to listen to someone and be of help is much more rewarding than just getting into an argument. And when a customer's experience with a seller of merchandise or services is a combative one, that customer will not return."

I and my cell phone can attest to that.

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