Difficult customers, escalating situations, internal conflict – all of these (and more) can lead to the need for a challenging conversation. How do you calm a screaming customer? How do you defuse a potentially volatile situation? How do you address an employee’s or a coworker’s negative behavior? Let’s start with what not to do. None […]

Let’s get together next Friday and work on the project. This Friday? Right, next Friday. Which Friday? Ugh. The Friday that’s coming up. Ok. That’s this Friday. Sound familiar? Do you sometimes feel you’re going around in circles when you’re trying to get someone else to understand you? Although your language may be the same, […]

Empathy in the workplace … the human communication connection Empathy has become a kind of new workplace buzzword, even though it certainly has been in existence for a very long time. Empathy is not sympathy. When a team member empathizes with a customer, it simply means that person can understand what the customer needs, perhaps even […]

What is the power of the unplugged word? Have you ever misinterpreted an email or text – or worse yet, not received the message at all – and decided that the sender must be mad at you? Have you sent countless messages back and forth, trying to clarify the intent or content of the original […]

When I tell others that I help business people with human communications, they nod and smile in agreement that “something needs to be done” in that area. We are all bombarded by electronics and have forgotten how to communicate on a human level. However, we then all go back to our desks, to our meetings, […]

True story: Went through the drive-through of a fast food restaurant. (Isn’t that how these stories always start?) While waiting at the window for my food – after getting a very pleasant greeting of “$9.71” (and literally no other words) from the restaurant’s employee – I noticed a sign on his side of the window. […]

Is your team addicted to their phones?   Technology is amazing. It enables us to communicate across towns, across states, across the world … across the table.   What? Across the table? Yes, just like teens sitting next to each other on the couch, grown business people are often glued to their cell phones when […]

Now that we have (mostly) survived the holiday shopping season, let’s reflect on our experiences, shall we? As a customer, did you feel appreciated when you chose to spend your money in certain stores? As a business owner, did your team show appreciation to your customers? Sure, there might have been exchanges of “have a […]

Do you always thank your customers—every time? The next time you interact with other businesses, whether stopping at a fast food restaurant, buying groceries, or shopping at a “big box” store, count the number of times you are actually thanked. If conducting a transaction with a service business, whether in person or online, you should […]

First lesson: Capture a screenshot whenever you have a sketchy “customer service” experience online. Second lesson: As a business owner, never let any of your employees do this to a potential customer. The story: A few days ago, I decided to send an older family member some flowers for her birthday. The branding message in […]