Monthly Archives: November 2016

Emotional response

An email comes through with some not so nice things to say about a product, experience, or a recent transaction from a client. What is the first thing you do?

Most likely it is get a little irritated and want to respond with a lot of “I’m right and you’re wrong” type statements. Those might be good for grade school but in business we need to make decisions with a clear mind and separate feelings from a response.

If we responded with our emotional reaction every time, chances are we would end up in a lot of arguments and lose clients. A good way to start a response is to look at the facts and take your time. Do not respond in 5 minutes or even 30 minutes. Take a couple of hours to let your emotions come back to baseline.

Also remember, we don’t know what is going on in our clients life. They could have an extremely stressful day and you happened to take brunt of it (which is not the way to go, but that is another conversation)

Take a couple of hours to formulate a response. Remember to keep emotions out of the email and remain cordial. Use facts and offer more assistance.  The more help you offer, the more difficult it becomes for the other person to push anger towards you.

Always try to keep your emotions in check when dealing with business relationships. It will help keep client relationships strong and show you can be counted on to deliver a solid customer service experience.

Make it the best day!

-K

“Homemade” salsa

Looking for a way to add some zip to a regular jar of salsa? It only takes a few ingredients and few minutes.

Ingredients:

  • One 16oz jar of medium salsa and one jar of hot salsa (32oz total)
  • One ear of corn
  • One can of black beans, drained (no salt added variety please)
  • One white onion
  • Two Serrano peppers

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.

On a sheet pan roast the ear of corn, onion and Serrano pepper. The pepper will roast the fastest so keep an eye out for it (5 to 10 minutes)

While the veggies roast, smash the black beans with cumin, cayenne and black pepper.

After mixing and mashing the beans and spices add it to a large bowl with the salsa.

Once the veggies have roasted, dice the onion, and shave the corn off the ear. Put all that goodness in with the salsa and bean mixture.

Stir and enjoy!

Make it the best day!

-K

Nail in your tire

A nail in your tire. Something you normally can’t fix yourself and leaves you in momentary lurch for between 20 minutes and 3 hours. (Depending on what kind of assistance service you have or when this nail decided to strike)

The tire is running flat and you need a repair. You can’t drive on it, so now, all your days plans take a backseat. This is a frustrating time. Chances are when the alarm went off you didn’t think..”How will I deal with the flat tire today?!”

This scenario plays across our daily lives more than we think. It might not be a nail in your tire to change your day, it can be a meeting cancellation, lost wallet, sudden complaint from a high priority client.

All of the above situations are curveballs we didn’t see coming when we greeted the day. How we deal with these moments will define the rest of the day and the way you feel. Find gratitude in the event that just took place. In most cases, it can always be worse. Find the positive and reflect on that. Make plans to overcome the disturbance with minimal day interruption and adjust your day the best you can. It won’t be the “perfect” day we had imagined, but how you overcome and move on will determine how you feel and act for the rest of the day.

Remain focused on gratitude and positives that you are currently experiencing. That will help make that nail in your tire just a small bump in an otherwise successful day in your great life.

Make it the best day!

-K

Find your unicorn

The one thing that makes you beyond excited to be alive.

It can be anything or any person!

Find your Unicorn, love it. Dance with it, go crazy with it!

Make it the best day!

-K