If I didn’t have such a brilliant wife and business partner as Christine, my Trip Advisor review would have been the direct, gory and glorious…

‘Adam stinks of tabs’.

In the end, I think I went with; ‘Good but could have been better’.

The challenge was Adam did smell. Actually he stank. He stank of old cigarettes which made our experience less than pleasant.

And what made it worse was that Adam was a lovely bloke. Just a bit ‘ashtray-ey’.

BTW this wasn’t a cuppa in a back street café, it was dinner with a client in a very good London hotel. But should it matter?

I don’t even blame Adam. I blame Adam’s boss. Adam’s silent – let’s just be mates – boss.

One of the biggest challenges in customer service is terrified bosses (and team-mates) who are scared to confront their colleagues when standards drop.

‘It’s not my job to tell Adam he needs to freshen up after his cig break’.

‘I probably wouldn’t have handled a call like that. I could say something, but then that’s my supervisor’s job’.

‘I don’t want to tell her she has bad breath.’

As part of our Hearts and Minds Programme we teach tools and techniques that empower colleagues to feel confident about helping each other and ultimately improving their customer’s experience.

Often it’s not what you say, it’s the confidence, your intent and the way you say it.

When Hearts and Minds tools are taught and tested it’s amazing how quickly service levels improve.

If you’d like to know more about our ultimate Customer Service and People Development Programme, Hearts and Minds, we’re talking to organisations now who are planning for early next year.

You could join over 40 organisations as diverse as; HSBC to The Houses of Parliament, Virgin Trains to Vanarama and Countrywide Estate Agents to Kensington Palace.

They, with dozens of others, have all improved their customer service and employee engagement through this exciting and unique Programme.

If you’d like to know more, please pick up the phone and call 08456 733 336 or email [email protected] to find out more.

Be Brilliant!

Michael

PS If you’re reading this during a cigarette break then click here

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