A Habit Of Amazing People – They Know What It Means to Be Amazing
Amazing people have habits in common, which are discussed in Shep Hyken’s book, Be Amazing or Go Home. One habit we have already shared is that amazing people show up ready to amaze.
So, how do you show up ready to amaze? As Hyken says, “People do business with people, not organizations – and they do more business, more often, with AMAZING people.” Think about this for one moment. How do you—or should you—apply this statement in your work environment?
When I read this statement, I immediately thought of my company’s core values and what we are trying to practice. Our sales, marketing, and leaders promote and have built a company on the foundation of amazing people, so our customers will be satisfied with our work and, most importantly, want to stay with us for the long haul. We need to make sure we continue to be amazing, or we will lose customers and could ultimately lose our reputation.
“What is Amazement? If you don’t know, you should find out… before your competition does.” That’s a very good point made by Hyken. You can’t show up ready to amaze if you don’t know what it means to be amazing. Hyken describes three “moments” in the “Moment of Truth” to make up “The Anatomy of Amazement”. I think they sum up perfectly what is needed to have amazing moments:
A Moment of Misery: This the moment a customer is not happy with our work. It could be anything, but these moments, if not addressed adequately, can lead to a customer loss because of a lack of confidence in us or our product.
A Moment of Mediocrity: This is neither good nor bad but is just so-so. This is the moment where you do the bare minimum to support your customer. It is not that you did not help them, but you did not take that extra step to make the experience above average.
A Moment of Magic: This is the moment when you create that above-average experience for a customer. All these moments are not and cannot be the wow factor moments. This is the opportunity to take that little extra step, in the form of a greeting, asking about their kids, or telling them about a new product that might make their life easier. The hardest but most rewarding moment of magic is when you take a moment of misery and turn it into a positive experience.
One of my key takeaways from these chapters is how easy it is to slip from one moment to another. I have been taking notes on calls and making an effort to keep customers in those magic moments. I have also noticed that, in the course of a single phone call, the conversation can easily move between these moments very quickly.
A single phrase or an aggressive word can change the tone and feel of the discussion, and the use of a positive word or phrase can quickly change the mood in the other direction (By the way, this was one of my “duh” moments I referred to in the previous blog). To help me stay on track and in the right mindset, I have a Post-it note on my desk with the three moments written on it—just one visual queue to help remind me that I need to make the mental effort to turn those experiences around.
How can we as individuals or a group be amazing? For each of the Habits, Shep Hyken provides suggestions on how you can accomplish this. Several of the items were what I would call common sense tactics, but I was surprised to see how many of these tactics I see and find myself not using as often as I should. These are seven habits to help turn the moments of misery and mediocrity into those moments of magic.
How do you create moments of magic for your customers?
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