Enthusiasm

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Enthusiasm (Download)

Date/File Number: 03.31.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Lethargy, Monotone, Sleeping on the Job

File Under: Wake up! Going for a drive.

Direct Companion Files: Focus, Goal, Smile, and Attitude

Enthusiasm:  (Noun) 1.  absorbing or controlling possession of the mind by any.  2.  an occupation, activity, or pursuit in which such interest is shown interest or pursuit; lively interest.

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

You wake up with a start, jarred from slumber by a sound that epitomizes evil, drips with caustic excess, and causes a deep distress in your soul.

The alarm.

Your arch-nemesis.

You risk opening your eyes and strike a quick glance at the clock face next to your bed, your fortress of solitude.  6 am.  In an act of defiance you deftly and quickly swat the alarm, in the hopes of slaying the beast that has ripped you out of your dreams.  Not quite slain, the clock quiets down in response to your request for a brief reprieve from its insufferable urgings.

Snooze button triumphant.

This battle is waged four more times before you finally, against your will, admit defeat and warily get out of bed in a desperate search for the solace that only a shower and two cups of coffee can bring.

Sound familiar?  It’s tragic that a morning can begin this way with a battle between what we want and what we need to do.  Wouldn’t it be nice to begin the day a different way?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have the same enthusiasm to wake up and jump out of bed that we sometimes have for going back to sleep?  Absolutely.  In fact, this desire to do the opposite of what we need to do to be successful is very much “Anti-Enthusiasm” as it keeps us from being our best and looking forward to the day ahead.  So what is the secret of “Enthusiasm?”  How do we confront our daily activities with the same level of enthusiasm we achieve when we attack our alarm clocks some mornings?

Change your attitude.

Alter your Focus.

Remember your Goals.

Smile.

A keen observer will notice that the four points above (Attitude, Focus, Goals, and Smile) were the subjects of recent Coroner Reports.  For more detailed information on each point, refer to the prior investigations.  As you can see: Change your Attitude, Alter your Focus, Remember your Goals, and Smile are your tools to help you to build your enthusiasm.  “CARS” for short. In other words you can use “CARS” to drive your enthusiasm in the right direction.

<Author pauses for collective groan from audience>

Okay, yes it is corny, but because of that you’ll probably remember it long after you finish reading this report.  Aright, mnemonic out of the way, let’s take a quick look at each step and get you started on building the enthusiasm you need to succeed.

Change your attitude:  If you find that a task is difficult for you or uninteresting, it becomes an express-elevator to boredom and tedium and your enthusiasm rides all the way to the ground floor.  In order to help turn this around, you need to find something in the task that can help ignite your passion.  If you don’t like rebuttals, how can you view them or the process of learning them as a plus?  Do they help you build your confidence in dealing with tough situations (in life and at work)?  Does it help you to come out of your comfort zones and therefore help you to grow both professionally and personally?  At a basic level, if you use rebuttals and get results, does that leave potential for a future raise at your next performance review? You bet.  Changing your attitude then leads to step 2.

Alter your Focus:  If you focus on what is difficult, boring, or upsetting about a task, you will not be enthusiastic.  You need to focus on the positive about a task or situation in order to get through it with enthusiasm.  Really and truly, altering your focus and changing your attitude go hand-in-hand.  If you can focus on the positive and benefits of a task (and there are always benefits), then you can change your attitude about them.  If you are called into a coaching session and your team leader stresses to you that you need to work on following your script and offering up-sells, it can be very easy to focus on the fact that you have more work to do.  Instead, focus on the positive things the team leader said to you: you sound fluid on the phones, you are inviting and personable, and you handle questions expertly.  Then review the areas you can improve upon and take the necessary steps to improve.  Next time you have a review, you’ll be golden.  If you are selling a product or service that doesn’t send a shock up your spine or put a skip in your step, that’s okay, but what about either the product or its effect on a customer makes you feel good?  Perhaps customers you’ve spoken with have gushed about the product and shared with you how much they love it.  Focus on that, and your enthusiasm will follow suit.

Remember your Goals:  Let’s examine the snooze-alarm scenario above.  It can be difficult to get up when you are focused on the wrong things in the morning.  Sometimes you need to take the time to reexamine your goals and why you are doing what you are doing.  If you are working to pay off school so that so that you can start your dream job – remember that.  If you are working to give your children a better life than you – focus on that.  If you are working extra hours to save up for a vacation with your family – let that set the tone for the day.  Focusing on your goals, both big and small, will help build your enthusiasm and help you to look forward to the challenges and opportunities the day ahead promises.  Remember your goals.

Smile: The last part of the process is also the simplest.  Smile.  As we’ve seen in previous reports, a smile is the single, most easy step you can take to change your attitude.  There is no way around it – some days it is tough to be enthusiastic, even if you are changing your attitude, altering your focus, and remembering your goals.  That’s okay, but a smile will go along way towards bridging the gap.  Sometimes you have to “fake it ‘til you make it.”  Smile, and keep on smiling, your body will do the rest (chemical reactions, improved posture, more even breathing) to help build your enthusiasm naturally and make things a little easier.

Change your attitude.

Alter your Focus.

Remember your Goals.

Smile.

CARS.

As this Coroner Report draws to a close, let’s look at the impact that Enthusiasm (or lack-there-of) can have.  Take a moment to think about the most boring, dull, and downright mind-numbing teachers you’ve had the pleasure (or displeasure) of knowing.  What do they have in common?  What was it about them that drove that voice in you head to scream at you go get out of there or caused you to want to drift into a sweet, sweet sleep?  Was it that they weren’t knowledgeable about what they were speaking about?  Probably not – in fact, they probably had too much (at least it seemed) to say about a particularly subject.  What were they missing; what special ingredient was left out of the mix that made you want to run?  Enthusiasm.  When someone has passion they tend to become animated and move around, talk with their hands, and their voice is inviting and has many peaks in valleys.  Their cheeks flush and their eyes light up.  You can’t help but listen in and learn something, even if you normally wouldn’t be interested in the subject.  That is the power of enthusiasm.  When you speak to a customer on the phones with enthusiasm, they are that much more likely to share their most valuable commodity with you: their time.  Therefore you have a much greater chance at getting a sale or closing an interview.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” – Samuel Ullman

“Enthusiasm is that secret and harmonious spirit which hovers over the production of genius.”

– Isaac Disraeli

“Knowledge is power and enthusiasm pulls the switch.” – Steve Droke

“I studied the lives of great men and famous women; and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.” – Harry S. Truman

“We were young, but we had good advice and good ideas and lots of enthusiasm.” – Bill Gates

“Enthusiasm…the sustaining power of all great action.” – Samuel Smiles

“If you are not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” – Vince Lombardi

“The real secret of success is enthusiasm.” – Walter Chrysler

“Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life” – Tennessee Williams

“I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill.” – Sir Edward Appleton

“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm; it moves stones, it charms brutes. Enthusiasm is the genius of sincerity and truth accomplishes no victories without it.”

– Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Thanks for visiting and make it a great day!

-The Call Center Coroner

Practice

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Practice (Download)

Date/File Number: 3.30.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Poor Implementation, Missed steps, Lack of Fluidity

File Under: Makes perfect.

Direct Companion File: N/A

Practice:  (Noun) 1. habitual or customary performance; operation.  3.  repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency.  4. condition arrived at by experience or exercise.  (Verb) 11.  to perform or do habitually or usually.  14.  to perform or do repeatedly in order to acquire skill or proficiency.  18. to exercise oneself by repeated performance in order to acquire skill.

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”

“…practice.”

So, quote from a less-than-well-received Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy aside, we have arrived at the subject for today’s autopsy: Practice.

Here is the scenario:

You just turned 16.  You are chomping at the bit to get your driver’s license and finally get out on your own: finally establish a bit of freedom from your parents and do something that gives you wings so that you can soar into your destiny.  You’ve read the driver’s manual, you’ve even asked for your parents’ and friends’ aid in showing you the ropes.  You are at a momentous moment in a young teen’s life: you are going to take your driver’s test for the first time.  You’ve been sitting at the DMV for the past hour; constantly glancing at the number you picked up (157) as if it would magically lower itself so that you could get this over with quicker.  Another half hour passes and, against all odds, they finally call “157.”  A smile comes to your face and is quickly erased by the daunting task which is before you. You start to sweat.  Fear rushes over you as you meet your instructor and head to the car.  You go to open the door, only to realize that it is locked.  That mistake corrected you get in and fumble with your keys, missing the ignition on your first few tries.  Finally, you get the car started and take the first few turns, stop lights, and inconsiderate drivers in stride.  You find yourself starting to speed and you self correct.  The instructor interrupts your focus by saying, “Okay – good. Now pull into the parking lot and we’ll try some parallel parking.”  “Great,” you think to yourself, “We’re almost done and I am one step away from my freedom.”

There is only one problem.

While you’ve read about parallel parking and understand the fundamentals, you’ve only had a chance or two to practice it.  Your rational was that you very rarely need to use it, so why spend too much time on it.

You fail your driver’s test.

As we’ve seen in prior Coroner Reports, it’s often the little things that trip us up – the processes and tactics that seem simple on paper, but become more difficult when put into action.  The key to success in most endeavors is practice.  This is true in life and at our favorite, everyday call center.  Having difficulty with the latest rebuttal or not quite sure how to deliver that new product description?  Practice.  Do you find yourself clamming up when a customer/respondent starts to get irate or questions you in a condescending manner?  Practice.  Do you find that your contacts are hanging up on you during your introduction?  Practice, practice, and just when you think you’ve got – practice it some more.  Practice in-between calls.  Practice and role-play with your fellow phone representatives.  Ask your supervisors to do the same.

Practice, it has been said, makes perfect.  It’s probably more accurate to say, “Practice makes preparedness.”  You already have the talent to speak to people and win them over, but practice will make you more confident, cut down on those “um’s” and “Ah’s” that sometime arise when you aren’t sure of what to do next, and get you one step closer to your daily goals.

Practice.

Or course, don’t just take my word for it:

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.” – Jim Rohn

“Ask yourself the secret of YOUR success. Listen to your answer, and practice it.” – Richard Bach

“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.” – Anton Chekhov

“I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true — hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice.” – Ray Bradbury

“You can’t hire someone to practice for you.” – H. Jackson Brown

“Practice is the best of all instructors.” – Pubilius Syrus

“It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.” – Arnold Palmer

“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them.” – Socrates

Thanks for visiting and make it a great day!

-The Call Center Coroner

Attitude

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Attitude (Download)

Date/File Number: 03.27.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Incorrect focus, rampant frowning, poor performance

File Under: Turn that frown upside down

Direct Companion File: 03.17.10 – Focus and 03.21.10 – Smile

Attitude:  (Noun) 1. manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, esp. of the mind.  2. position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion, etc.

(Please see:  or the full text)

Change your attitude, change the world.

It sounds quite simple, some might even say trite – “If it were that easy, everyone would be happy all of the time.” While that may be true, it doesn’t mean we can’t change how we face our day-to-day problems whether our primary irksome event is a driver who cut us off on our way to work or our inability to figure out how to pay the rent this month.  Every day we will have new challenges, problems, and hurdles that stand poised to knock us off our feet and send us running to the hills.  The problems, when it comes right down to it, are neither good nor bad – they just are.  Ultimately, the power to face these issues and how we look at them is completely up to us.

“…but, Mr. Coroner, how do you do that?  I’m all for making lemonade when I get lemons, but sometimes it’s just too tough.  Where do I start?”

Good question.  It can be tough, but all you need to do is start small.  If you’ve been reading along for the past week, you’ve read about the importance of Focus and the power of a simple, solitary Smile.  For our purposes, let’s start there and examine how to help get you through the work day.

If an event/situation/person is causing you problems and you can’t seem to get through a call effectively because of it, what can you do to turn this around?  What choice can you make in that moment to help do your job better and at the same time give you some relief?  Focus.  Make a concentrated effort to focus your energies and thoughts at the task at hand.  Does your customer understand and appreciate the features of the product you are selling?  Is your customer happy with their experience with the product and, if not, what can you do to help them enjoy it?  Are you having difficulties with a particular refusal – why not practice your rebuttals or review the FAQ’s in-between calls?  If you find that your worries and frustrations are still intruding while you try to change your focus, simply redouble your efforts.  Keep at it and it will get easier.  These are all ways to help you focus your energies on your work and help you to break away from getting stuck on anything that may be frustrating you.  As I’ve said before, this won’t make your problems go away, but what it will do is give you a much needed break so that when you go to deal with them later, you can come to them fresh, instead of exhausted from thinking about them all day.  That in and of itself can have a profound affect on your attitude towards your specific challenge.

So we have one part of the plan, the other is a little easier: Smile.   Force that smile on your face even if it is the last thing you want to do.  Smile while you speak with customers, respondents, co-workers, and your supervisors/managers.  You will feel better and have an easier time getting through your day with this simple adjustment.

As for facing a challenge head on, often times we put our focus on the wrong things.  If you find that your supervisor is constantly coaching you to shorten your call times, how do you react?  Do you get upset that he/she isn’t leaving you alone and wish they’d focus on someone else?  Or, do you take the suggestion to heart, examine the issue, and try to figure out how to apply your supervisor’s suggestions in order to become better at your job, get promotions, and maybe even a raise?  There are always multiple ways of facing a challenge, the trick is picking the best way to approach it that leads to the most positive result.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Have a great day?”  It’s a nice sentiment and is usually a welcome thing to hear from a friend or a loved one.  It might momentarily even make you feel better about your day.  Does it last?  Not quite as long as we’d like it to.  In fact, even if every five minutes someone said this to you, it probably wouldn’t make your day that much better and it might just start to annoy you in its repetition.  Here is a better way to look at it, instead of saying “have a great day” – mix it up a bit: “Make it a great day.”  You have the power to make today the best day you’ve ever had.  Only you.

Focus on your work, on your current call, or on a skill you can improve today.

Smile whenever you have the opportunity.

Change your attitude and change the world.

Or course, don’t just take my word for it:

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”   – Charles R. Swindoll

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.”  – Brian Tracy

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” – Winston Churchill

“Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” – Francesca Reigler

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Oprah Winfrey

“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.” – Victor Frankl

And for fun:

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Herm Albright

Thanks for visiting and make it a great day!

-The Call Center Coroner

Seek

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Seek (Download)

Date/File Number: 3.24.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Missing Knowledge, understanding, personal/professional growth

File Under: Who am I and why am I here?

Direct Companion File: N/A

Seek:  (Verb) 1. to go in search or quest of, 2. to try to find or discover by searching or questioning. 6. to ask for; request.

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

You are at a crossroads.

In this very moment, in fact – in every moment of every day – you are faced with a choice.

This choice will sometimes define you…

…other times it will allow you to relax and recoup (to live to fight another day).

It is one of the single most important choices you will ever make.  In fact, by reading this right now you are making that choice.

This choice will affect your work, your personal life, your relationships, and even how you view yourself at times.

The choice is this: Stagnate or Seek.

When we stagnate we settle for the status quo.  We look at our life and we say, “This is okay.”  We brand our day as ho-hum and we settle for what comes our way.  On the other hand, if we choose that path that some say is “less traveled” we choose to seek.  We seek something greater than “the norm” – we look to improve, we take initiative to try something new, or we simply find that one piece of information that helps us make the next step or solve the latest challenge.  We become seekers.

Sometimes the choice is simple (but epic in its effect): “Do I get out of bed this morning?”

Other timers, the choice complicated and difficult: “Can I afford go back to school again?”

We embark on this seeking quest in many ways.  It can be by asking for assistance when we are at a difficult point in our day, year, or lives.  Sometimes we seek to improve through trial and error.  Observing those around you and learning from them can be a powerful way to seek as well.

Now this may come easy for you and it might not.  The good news is that through a little practice and a small amount of time you can learn to seek out what you need to succeed.  Through persistence this can become second nature.

In our daily call center lives, we have abundant opportunities to seek and improve every day.  Asking questions is probably the most apparent route.  Have you ever been faced with a customer/respondent who asked a question you didn’t know the answer to?  What was your response?  What did you do to solve the proposed query?  You might have taken the hard route and guessed, or made up an answer.  Only to find you were wrong, causing the customer irritation and perhaps your supervisor too.  Or – you might have simply asked for assistance.  This simple action avoids the pain, gets you the knowledge you seek, and helps you to grow in your position.

Questions are an integral part of seeking.  If you are having a difficult day, you might ask your team leader or supervisor to monitor you and see if they can offer some tips.  Additionally, you might discover the perfect way to deliver a scripted line by playing with the words you emphasize.  You might practice different rebuttals or responses to a specific question in order to make it second nature and sound more natural.  If you have some downtime, observing your co-workers and seeing what works for them can be helpful too.

These are all ways to help you do your job better, but, more importantly, they help you grow.  Practice makes perfect and the old adage, “Seek and you will find,” is as true today as it was 1000’s of years ago.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“If you have, give; if you lack, seek” – Malayan Proverb

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.” – Karen Ravn

“Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing.” – Confucius

“Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.” – Og Mandino

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.” – William Arthur Ward

“I seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted.” – Og Mandino

“It concerns us to know the purposes we seek in life, for then, like archers aiming at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain what we want.” – Aristotle

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood” – Stephen R. Covey

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” – Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.”  – Richard Bach

Smile

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Smile (Download)

Date/File Number: 3.21.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: No Energy, Poor Posture, Urgent Attitude Adjustment

File Under: “Fake it ‘til you make it”

Direct Companion File: Back-to-Basics (3.12.10)

Smile:  (Verb) 1. to assume a facial expression indicating pleasure, favor, or amusement…characterized by an upturning of the corners of the mouth.  (Noun) 8. favor or kindly regard.  9. a pleasant or agreeable appearance, look, or aspect.

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

A car wreck.

One person walks away, a frown prominently displayed on his face – his brow creased and damp.  He’s angry: eyes red and fury in his heart.  A tear starts to appear, he quickly wipes it away with the speed of a puma herding its prey.

Anther person walks away from the same accident, joy in her heart and a smile on display for all to see.  She’s thankful to be alive and is giving off a vibe so bright you can’t help but notice and feel better about your self.  She laughs, looks back at the car, and continues on with her day.

What’s the difference?  What separates these two individuals?  How can two people experience the same event and walk off into the sunset with a wildly different reaction?  Sure they might have different financial backgrounds, careers, family needs – and these all come into play, but what simple act can help you to face a tough situation with courage and laughter, rather than with doubt and depression?

<Author waits for drum roll>

A smile.

“What?  Are you crazy?”

Perhaps a little, but that doesn’t take away from the truth of the above statement.  A smile both creates and conveys an attitude of pleasure and favor.  Notice the distinction – it conveys said attitudes…but it also CREATES them.  That is the key, or focus of today’s autopsy.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Fake it ‘til you make it?”  You probably have, and if you haven’t – the phrase boils down to this:  Sometimes, even if you don’t know what to do, how to do it, or if you need an attitude adjustment – you have to act like you do until you acquire the knowledge, skill, or proper perspective to succeed.  In the above example, do you think the woman who was walking away smiling was happy that she got into a car accident?  Of course not.  THAT would be crazy.  She did have a choice though: she could wallow and weep about her misfortune, or she could use the opportunity to be thankful that she wasn’t hurt, that both participants walked way with little more than, perhaps, a bruised ego, and go about her day.  Counter that with the man who succumbed to the temptation to be swallowed whole by the experience and let it ruin his day.

The ultimate question is this: In this example, who would you rather be?

Let’s bring this autopsy home.  In our daily call center work, we have a simple choice each day we walk in to work, for every call we take, and for every interaction we participate in: we can choose to be positive or negative.  One might ask, “But what if I’m having a rough day – my spouse is fighting with me, my kids are struggling in school, and I feel like I can’t get past it?”   Well, that’s the trick of smiling.  When you smile, you aren’t simply putting on a mask and lying to the world about how you feel.  You are participating in the miracle of the human body.  Smiling not only makes you look more pleasing and inviting to others, but it brings about changes in your physical appearance as well as in the chemical make-up in your body.  You naturally, almost subconsciously start to improve your posture.  You’re breathing starts to regulate.  Your brain starts to release endorphins that naturally start to make you feel better.  Please notice you feel “Better” and not “Euphoric.”  No one is saying that this will cure-all of your pains and make your problems go away, but it will help make your day better and you will be better able to deal with your problems then if you took a turn to the dark side instead.  In short, by smiling – even though it may be the last thing you feel like doing – you have successfully “faked it until you made it.”

One last note, because of the effect of smiling you will sound better on the phone, come across as more open and safe to talk to, and you will get a better response from both customer and co-worker alike than if you approached them with a grimace and a grunt.

This simple act can help alter your attitude and change your day for the better.

Smile.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available.” – Jim Beggs

“Remember even though the outside world might be raining, if you keep on smiling the sun will soon show its face and smile back at you.”

- Anna Lee

“It is easy to be pleasant when life flows by like a song, but the man worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is trouble, and it always comes with years, and the smile that is worth the praises of earth is the smile that shines through the tears.” – Irish Saying

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow” – Thomas Paine

“I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it… The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on.” – Samuel Goldwyn

“Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A word of optimism and hope. And you can do it when things are tough.” – Richard M. DeVos

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” – William Arthur Ward

“Smile, it is the key that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo

“Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.” – Christina G. Rossetti

Goal

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Goal (Download)

Date/File Number: 03.19.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Lack of Direction, Focus, A lull in enthusiasm and drive

File Under: Steps to Success

Direct Companion File: N/A

Goal:  (Noun) 1. the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

“Goooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!” – Soccer (or Football, if you prefer) Announcer

Goals.  We all have them whether our goal is to wear out the couch while relaxing and watching television or owning a Fortune 500 company.  Goals are what give us our purpose, our drive.  They keep us from inaction and propel us forward into our destiny. They can be time-based (Long-term: “My goal for this year is to pay off my school loans.” Short-term: “My goal for today is to get through it without getting tongue-tied or tripping over my feet.”). Some of them are basic: keeping food on the table, a roof over our family’s head, and having a little spending money from time to time.  Others are more epic: purchasing a house, a new car, a business, or our favorite sports franchise.  While that last example might be more difficult for most of us, the point is clear: Goals are not only important to who and what we are, but they are essential.

The trick with goals, especially long-term goals, is that you must have mini-goals along the way; signposts if you will.  Otherwise, it can become quite easy to lose site of the prize or the light at the end of the tunnel. These mini-goals help you see your progress, celebrate how far you’ve come, and spur you into action when you need a boost.

If you’ve worked in the call center industry for any length of time, you know that goals are the name of the game.  From completions to occupancy, rate to average call length – managers, supervisors, team leaders, client services managers, and phone representatives all have one word usually on their mind: Goal.

The interesting thing about goals is that, usually, the goal is not the end point.  If you make your goal for sales today, that is great.  You should be proud and hopefully your fellow team members and supervisors will acknowledge you accordingly.  The trick is you have to get up tomorrow morning and do it again.  Sometimes, and this happens to all of us at some point, we achieve a goal and then we want to rest on our laurels or just take a break.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work.  This is especially true if you achieve your goals in your first hour or two at work.  You might think, well, I’m at rate, so I can let up a bit on the next few calls.  Unfortunately, if you were to do that, you would quickly fall below your goal and possibly end the day with poor numbers.  This is why we always have to raise the bar for ourselves.  If you make your goal early, challenge yourself – set a new goal for yourself and work towards that.  If you achieve, that – repeat the process.  Not only will your day go by faster, you’ll feel even better when you finish.  To put it in perspective, when a team wins the Super bowl, do they all go back to the locker room and say, “Whew – that was great. What a rush!  I’m glad we won, because next season we can just coast by.”  Do you think that is what they are thinking?  No.  Next season they want to do it again and then again after that.  They set goals and they stick to them.

Set a goal today, even if it is just a simple one like, “Today, I’m going to get 2 more sales/completes then I did yesterday.”  Then work from there.  You’ll be surprised to find that your skill will improve, your confidence will rise, and you’ll look forward to each new challenge you set for yourself.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal. A parable.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein

“A good goal is like a strenuous exercise — it makes you stretch.” – Mary Kay Ash

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Larry Elder

“Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.” – Robert H. Schuller

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn

“Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people’s criticisms, carry out your plan.” – Paul J. Meyer

“Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.” – David Joseph Schwartz

“To have Goals is to have a future, because without goals we will strive for nothing.” – Andrew Ridings

“People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals / that is, goals that do not inspire them.” – Anthony Robbins

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

“Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long-term; it’s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.” – Anthony Robbins

Focus

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Focus (Download)

Date/File Number: 03.17.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Lack of Direction, Missing key points, Missing Buying/Service Signals

File Under: In the moment, Now, “Focus-Pocus”, Call Center Magic

Direct Companion File: 03.15.10 – Listen

Focus:  (Noun) 1. a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity… (Verb) 7. to bring to a focus or into focus.  8. to concentrate.

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

“Focus-Pocus”

In the last Coroner’s Report, we discussed “Listening” and its importance.  When we fail to listen to our customers, clients, parents, our own gut instincts, or the guy at the local gyro shop we are also failing at a much more basic skill: Focus.  If you’ve viewed my LinkedIn Profile then you know that this is something that is somewhat of a passion of mine.  The ability to focus is powerful in its simplicity and all-encompassing in its results.  In some ways…it can be quite magical (Focus-Pocus).  But, we are getting a little a head of ourselves.

Have you ever missed your bus, subway stop, or your exit off of the highway because you were preoccupied with something else?  Raise your hand if you have. <Author pauses and watches all but one person in the back row raise there hand. Upon further inspection, the individual is texting a friend.>   Now that we are on the same page, why did you miss them?

<Audience offers up their reasons>

“I had a fight with my oldest child over going to a party at an older friend’s house.”

“I didn’t sleep well last night; they are working on the elevated train stop right next door to my house.”

“Hang over.”

“My husband just lost his job and I was trying to figure out what we were going to do.”

“…”

“My mind wandered.  I was just preoccupied with something else.”

Fair enough – in every one of these examples we are faced with perfectly reasonable situations where a person might have a tendency to focus on something else rather than on what they are doing at this moment.  The question is, is it worth it?  Missing your stop or exit might not be the end of the world, but what if something more tragic occurred (a truck crossing over into you lane and forcing you off the road)?  You might have a change of heart.  Conversely, what if something positive occurred (you noticed a $20 dollar bill on the ground as you exited the subway car at your correct stop)?  Focus is powerful.

Let’s bring it back to our daily call center work.

You are dialing on an inbound sales program.  You’ve had some great success in the past, but for the past week things have been off.  Your “Game” hasn’t been the best you’ve played and you are feeling discouraged, almost defensive.  Your Team Leader approaches you.  She inquires as to why you don’t seem to be yourself the past few days (“Where are your usual double-digit sales?”).  Quickly, you rattle off your frustrations: wrong numbers, hang-ups, prank calls.

Now, at this point we have to take a look at the reasons that were given for not getting sales: Wrong Numbers, Hang-Ups, and Prank Calls.  What do all these “reasons” have in common?  They are all completely and utterly out of our control and not your fault.  Think about it – if you answer the phone and a contact immediately hangs-up before you have time to speak – is that your fault? No.  If someone dials the wrong number or prank phone calls you – are those your fault?  No again.  Can you control the situation if a contact makes those choices at the beginning of a phone call?  No.  Here is the real question: If focusing on what you can’t change going to help you? Unequivocally: No.

Bruce Lee was born with one leg that was shorter than the other.  This could have easily derailed any career he thought he might have in martial arts, let alone movies.  Did he pout and complain about this obstacle?  No.  He did what he could to work around it, use it as an advantage, and build his other skills.  The result?  He is one of the most famous martial artists of all time.

So, what is the point of this Call Center Coroner Dissection?  The point is simple: Focus on what you can change not what you can’t.  If you are having an off day (or week), don’t focus and blame it on the things you can’t control (wrong numbers, prank calls, the weather, or how the Cubs are performing this season).  In fact, don’t blame at all.  Instead, focus on what you can change: you’re script delivery, your emphasis, practicing your rebuttals, remembering to smile while you are speaking to people, etc.  If all else fails, ask a team leader, supervisor, or quality control person to listen to your calls and see if the two of you can work together to overcome this hurdle.

To sum it all up: Focus on what you can change, not on what you can’t.  You’ll save yourself a lot of headaches and be using your powers for good, not evil.  Focus is the power, the magic (Focus-Pocus), to transform you day.

Focus.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“It is wise to direct your anger towards problems – not people; focus your energies on answers – not excuses.” – William Arthur Ward

“Think about trivial things.  Focus your attention on big objectives.  Before getting involved in a petty matter, ask yourself, ‘Is it really important?’” – David J. Schwartz, PhD

“You can have fun while working hard. You have to get focused and then laugh all the way.” – Janet Ledford

“Keep a grateful journal.  Every night, list five things that happened this day that you are grateful for.  What it will begin to do is change your perspective of your day and your life.  If you can learn to focus on what you have, you will always see that the universe is abundant; you will have more.  If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey

“I think we’ve established ourselves at home. But we’ve still got to keep that focus every night.” – Vince Carter

“He was good at focusing on your weaknesses. As pros, we all practice our strengths because it’s fun and makes us feel good about ourselves. He’d say, ‘Well, you didn’t do this well the past couple weeks, so let’s work on it.’ It seemed like I was a little more consistent with everything.”

-          Lucas Glover

“Jim has always displayed an even keel, which is sometimes hard to do in the midst of the pressures a daily newspaper brings with it. His focus was always sharp on whatever task he was working on. I’d like to think this is why he ignored so many of my quirky comments.”

- Ken Black

Listen

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Listen (Download)

Date/File Number: 03.15.10 (The Ides of March)

Reason for Call Autopsy: Failure to communicate, missing information, unnecessary repetition

File Under: “I’m sorry, what did you say – I wasn’t paying attention.”

Direct Companion File: N/A

Listen: (Verb) 1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.  2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often fol. by to)  3. to wait attentively for a sound

(Please see: Dictionary.com for the full text)

A headset or a phone has two main components that we use every time we make a call.  The first part is the transmitter: the device you speak your words of brilliance into.  The second part is the receiver or the device that you use to listen to what the other person is saying.  Now, it is safe to say that everyone who is reading this is aware of the above, but, what they might not be aware of is which part they are focused on while they are using it.

We live in a culture that is increasingly focused on what “They” have to say.  The “They” for our purposes is “Us.”  Meaning: the average person is focused more on what they are going to say next, then what is being said to them now.  From Text Messages to Tweets, to blogs and Instant Messages – people are becoming more and more centered on their own voice then the voice of the other person.  This isn’t necessarily good or bad, but it is a change that affects what we do in a call center.  If you are more focused on what the next rebut will be, getting to the next up-sell, or that part of the script you have difficulty with you will miss what the customer/respondent is saying to you.  This becomes a difficulty because in doing this you miss little nuggets of information or buying signs that you could use to help turn an inquiry into a sale.

Let’s pull back for a second and think about it practically.  Imagine this: you are speaking to your spouse (or children, or a good friend) about something that is deeply important to you.  You’re pouring your heart out about a situation that has you riled up.  You’re at your limit, you’re upset and what you need more than anything in the world at this moment is a sympathetic ear.  You finish your tale, eyes gushing and nose running and ask for their opinion in a desperate plea for understanding.  Silence follows.  The sound of a distant owl breaks the quiet.  Then, finally, a response starts to form on the lips of your audience.  The sound starts to emerge.  You heart flutters and fills with joyful expectation.  And is suddenly trounced upon by a seemingly callous, “I’m sorry…could you repeat the question?”

Dramatic? Of course.  Upsetting?  You bet. When you fail to listen to a friend or a potential “Future-greatest-customer-of-all-time” you risk missing a sale, losing a customer, and dropping the ball.  That is the power of listening.  It’s a lost art and one we need to cultivate, especially when almost everything we do requires that we pay attention and stay in the moment.  Listening: it will get you every time.

One of my favorite quotes about listening is this:

“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.”  – M. Scott Peck

Take a second and take that in.  Listening allows us to “See” things we would normally miss.  In our daily lives if we didn’t pay attention and listen to the world around us we’d be in trouble: We might get hit by that care going 40 in a 25.  We might miss that person warning us of poison ivy as we jog down a forest past.  Or, we might miss that special someone saying “Hello” to us for the first time.

Listening.

It’s what we do.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” – Epictetus

“We cannot let another person into our hearts or minds unless we empty ourselves. We can truly listen to him or truly hear her only out of emptiness.” – M. Scott Peck

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper.” – Robert Frost

“I can try to accept gracefully all things that affect my life. I can think and act, not react, I can study and learn. I can listen …”

– Barbra J. Miller

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” – Karl Menninger

And for Fun:

“I wrote a song, but I can’t read music so I don’t know what it is.  Every once in a while I’ll be listening to the radio and I say, “I think I might have written that.” – Stephen Wright

Back-to-Basics

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Back-to-Basics (Download)

Date/File Number: 3.12.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Getting into a rut, stagnation, lack of new ideas and innovation

File Under: “When I’m bored or don’t feel challenged with my job.”

Direct Companion File: In some ways, all other files lead to this one.  The basics are that important.

Back-to-Basics:  (Adjective) 1. stressing simplicity and adherence to fundamental principles.  2. emphasizing or based upon the teaching of such basic subjects as reading, arithmetic, grammar, or history in a traditional way.    (Please see:  Dicitonary.com for the full text)

We start a job.  We learn a new skill.  We accidentally discover that we excel at some craft and run with it.

Time passes.

We are successful and enjoy the fruits of our pursuits. (The rhyme was accidental.)

More time passes.

That “I’m on the top of the world, James Cameron” buzz starts to ware off.

It’s tempting to type, “Even more time passes,” but you’ve probably figured out where this is going.  Something occurs with most successful people where they reach a point where something starts to feel off.  They aren’t as excited as they used to be.  That “new car smell” has worn off.  They’ve lost that fire or spark that invigorated them each morning.  They’ve become bored.  The worst part of becoming bored or stagnating in any endeavor is that we start to make mistakes.  We don’t mean to, we just, in the rhythm of doing the same thing every day, day-in and day-out, start to overlook or miss steps in our work routine.  We get sloppy.  In some ways, we even get detached.

How do we overcome this?  This happens to all of us in one situation or another.  So, what is the trick?  What is the secret to not only stopping this and turning the bus around once it sets in, but stopping it from ever happening again?  Sometimes you have to get back to the drawing board and wipe the slate clean.  You have to get back to the heart of the issue – back to basics.

So what does this Back-to-Basics approach entail for those of us dialing on the phones day (or for managers, supervisors, team leaders, and the like)?  Forget what you’ve learned?  Now, yes, that is a little easier said than done and it wouldn’t be prudent to bank your head into a wall until amnesia sets in.  The challenge here is this: go back to the beginning – that moment where things clicked and started to make sense.  Remember what it felt like.  Now, if that sounds a little esoteric, then give this a shot: Read your training manual again and/or your orientation materials.  Look online for new ideas and new ways to win over people and get sales.  Look into the hottest customer service trends.  Read a book on the subject.  Ask your immediate supervisor to monitor you and give you some feedback if you can’t figure out what’s missing.  If you are a supervisor or manager, why not jump on the phones for an hour and take calls with your customer service or sales reps?  Get back into the field and remember what it was like.  You’ll quickly start to find things coming back – feelings, tactics, or even new ideas that will help propel you to the next level.

If this sounds too easy, then why not just simply give it shot?  It can’t hurt to try.  And you’ll probably be surprised yourself at the progress you make.  One simple way to step up your game?  Listen.  “Listen to whom,” you might ask?  Your supervisors, your fellow phone representatives, your managers, people on the street and, most importantly your customers.  You’ll find out ways to make positive changes quickly and effectively with this one simple step…but, we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves.  Listening will be the subject of the next Coroner’s Report.

In the meantime, practice the “Back-to-Basics” approach on the phones (and in your lives if you are feeling courageous).  You might just like the result.

Or course; don’t just take my word for it:

“It all comes back to the basic. Serve customers the best-tasting food at a good value in a clean, comfortable restaurant, and they’ll keep coming back.” – Dave Thomas

“I had to reset everything and go back to the basics, … You have to crawl before you walk, walk before you run, and (the knee) was all new to me.” – Darrell Campbell

“When we started writing, we went back to the basics of just kind of jamming out riffs, … That brought us back to some of our influences. It made the songs seem like some of them could use guitar solos. We just thought we would expand on that. We’re trying to contribute in our way bringing this element back to rock music.” – Dan Donegan

“We went back to our basics, and it really paid off for us. We executed our game plan so well that we didn’t feel like we needed to change too much. We just needed more takeaways. We practiced it all week and we tried to get them out in the game, and it just didn’t happen. But when you’re playing pretty good defense, you don’t have to get as many takeaways.” – Jason Simpson

“When you have a performance like we had, everything needs work, … We have to go back and re-emphasize fundamentals and try to get good at the basics. We’ll go back and look at this offense. When you have trouble, you identify what the problems are and try to fix them.”  -  Romeo Crennell

Proceed

Coroner’s Report

File/Subject: Proceed (Download)

Date/File Number: 3.10.10

Reason for Call Autopsy: Poor customer interaction, complaints, lost or lagging sales

File Under: Back to Basics Call Improvement

Direct Companion File: Acknowledgment 3.9.10

Proceed:  (Verb) 1. to move or go forward or onward, esp. after stopping.  2. to carry on or continue any action or process.  3. to go on to do something.  4. to continue one’s discourse… 6. to be carried on, as an action or process.  7. to go or come forth; issue (often fol. by from).  8. to arise, originate, or result (usually fol. by from).

(Please see:  Dictionary.com for the full text)

In the last Report we stressed how important acknowledgment was not only in a call, but in everyday, practical life.  People want to not only have a voice, but to have their voice heard.  Acknowledging what they say is the first step to creating a positive relationship, and for our purposes, a customer.  BUT, this is only half of the process.  As with most areas of our lives, it’s one thing to say something, but quite another to take action on it.   It isn’t enough to simply acknowledge a customer; you must take the next step and demonstrate what you can do for them.  You must proceed with whatever action either completes the given tasks, solves the customer’s problem, or leads to the sale/conversion.

Let’s start with an everyday example to better demonstrate what this means.  If a friend tells you that he/she has a headache what might you do?

a)       Show sympathy or identify with them in some way (I’m sorry, I had one last week and it nearly knocked me on off my feet)

b)       Turn up the volume on the Television or start talking loudly to aggravate them and prove what a great friend you are.

c)       Say nothing and continue on with your day

Okay, for the sake of our argument, let’s assume you like your friend and care about how the feel.  This helps us to eliminate both choices b and c.  This leaves us with choice a.  Now, simply acknowledging your friend’s problem is great and they will feel good because you did so, though they are still left with the problem of the pounding, take-no-prisoners headache they are currently experiencing.  This is where “proceeding” comes into play.

In order to help your friend you could make a couple of suggestions:

a)       You might offer them an aspirin or ibuprofen to help take the edge off

b)       You could suggest that they take a nap

c)       You could offer them some water to help rehydrate themselves

Any of the above options would assist your friend in his/her quest to feel relief.  In suggesting these options and then taking action on them you would have successfully proceeded in solving your friend’s problem.  This is what “proceeding” is all about.

So, how does this apply to our call center work?  Let’s take a look at a few quick examples (including a few from the last report) to help cement what we mean and improve our daily numbers.

• If a customer asks you to repeat something — don’t JUST repeat it, acknowledge them in some way (“I’m sorry…,” or, “I’d be happy to…”).  From there, slowly repeat what you said, rephrasing or adding more information where necessary (or as the script allows)
• If they can’t hear you — don’t fallback and make the mistake of speaking more loudly.  This doesn’t work when someone speaks another language, and it often doesn’t solve the problem here.  First and foremost, apologize, “I’m sorry…” and then proceed… (“Let me try that again…”)  In most cases, simply restating what they missed more slowly will solve the problem.
• If a customer has a problem with a product, don’t just solve the problem (though, in this one instance that might be enough).  Instead, let them know you understand, “I can understand how Product X’s failure to do Feature Y would be upsetting…”  Then, let them know what you are going to do to solve the problem, “Let’s troubleshoot a few things and see if we can narrow down what is causing the issue.”

After these first two reports, you might be asking yourself, “Well, this is all well and good…but aren’t these tips a bit…I don’t know…basic?”  The answer to that question is a resounding, “Yes.”  Most issues that we face in a call center when it comes to interaction with customers, clientele, and respondents usually boils down to the basics: Simple things that get overlooked in the day-to-day actions while working on the phones.  In fact, that will be the subject of our next report: Back to basics.

In the mean time don’t forget to acknowledge the people you speak to both on the phones and off.  It will make a difference in their attitudes and how they respond to you (meaning they will respond more positively).  For the effective one-two-punch and double whammy, follow your acknowledgement up by explaining what you will do to help them and then following through on that plan of action.  In other words: Proceed.

Of course, don’t just take my word for it:

“The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.” – Jim Rohn

“Begin thus from the first act, and proceed; and, in conclusion, at the ill which thou hast done, be troubled, and rejoice for the good.” – Pythagoras

“Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, the other from pride or fear.”

– Horace Mann

“Every action is measured by the depth of the sentiment from which it proceeds” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To proceed from one truth to another, and connect distant propositions by regular consequences, is the great prerogative of man” – Samuel Johnson