SUPERCOMPETENT Key #2 : Availability

Availability is Driven By Activity
Laura Stack, CSP

Just as setting valid priorities and goals is important, so is accepting your responsibility in carrying them out. You have to structure your schedule very carefully to ensure that things get done – because if you don’t, other people will be perfectly happy to structure your schedule for you.

Think about it: how many times have you attended a meeting and asked yourself, “Why am I here?” Often, it’s because someone decided you should be – without bothering to consider if that was best for you and your productivity goals.

Improve Customer Service with Employees Who Live the Brand

Improve Customer Service with Employees Who Live the Brand
Barbara Sanfilippo, CSP, CPAE

I recently called my auto insurance company to discuss a potential claim. Keep in mind their brand promise is all about, “being easy to work with”. Well, after three attempts at getting through a maze of voicemail prompts before I got a live voice, I was feeling a bit frustrated. After discussing my questions with two employees and a supervisor who made me feel I was the 100th customer they reluctantly had to help that day, I felt I was being “processed” and their brand promise was a joke. The employees were not necessarily to blame. Very often, management creates a brand but doesn’t do enough to show staff how to “live the brand.” The question I suggest you ask yourself is, “Are your customers having the experience your brand promises them?”

Mindshare Minute #2

You Asked for It, You Got It!
Libby Gill

As former PR chief and spokesperson for Sony, Universal and Turner Broadcasting, I did my fair share of spin doctoring and damage control with the press. So I’ve been watching Toyota’s media circus regarding the “sudden acceleration” in the Camry, Prius and Lexus like a hawk.

How to Sell Against Competition

How to Sell Against Competition
Nido Quebein, CSP, CPAE

Any salesperson who wants to become successful must learn to sell against the competition. Those who do it well often find that it is both financially rewarding and exciting. In fact, many salespeople who are very competitive by nature find that they are stimulated by competitors far more than they are by incentive programs, commission checks and quotas set by their own companies.