"ABC" and "AUC" Principle of Success

Please ask yourself these two fundamental questions:

• What enhances your life? 
• What inhibits your life?

You thought about it and here are some of the things you possibly came up with:

• Motivation 
• Attitude
• Knowledge
• Skill
• Policies
• Market
• Government
• Weather
• Money
• Other people

So, please ask yourself another two key questions:

• Which of these (things you thought of) do you control?
• Which of these (things you thought of) are outside your control?

When you review the list of your thoughts you can easily see things that you control and things that are out of your control.

This leads to the essence of how you could manage your life. You could start operating on the simple ABC and AUC principle:

• ABC - Areas Beyond (my) Control
• AUC - Areas Under (my) Control

Finally, look at these two principles and please ask yourself “Where are you spending your time, effort & energy (in ABC or AUC)?”



Thank you Arjun Aiyar for sharing this knowledge with me.

The "REAL" Key of Communication with Customers

Communication is key factor in moving from poor or mediocre service to service excellence. This is back to basics, the essence of I-AM customer model. 

Let's look at it another way – when a baby wants feeding it cries however when a adult requires food he/she will ask for it.  Both are communicating but in different ways to get to the same results.

Communicating effectively requires conscious effort from you.  This is what allows you to make FACT an effective tool to deliver service excellence.

Communicating with customers will involve learning four key components:

• Rapport Building - Any kind of communication requires rapport.  Rapport put simply is the skill to link up with another individual in a manner that creates a sense of trust and understanding. To be successful in communication involves relating to and influencing others.
• Empathy - According to Psychology Today empathy is the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. You place yourself in the customer's shoes and feel what they are feeling.    
• Art of questioning - In order to be successful in different aspects of your life, you need to ask questions. Without asking questions it will be extremely difficult to identify the needs and wants of a customer, especially when dealing with difficult customers. So, what does the word “question” mean?  As per the dictionary it means: “A sentence or phrase used to find out information”
• Listening - The greatest challenge for all of us is that we believe hearing is the same as listening. Listening and hearing are not the same thing. To hear means: sound entering your eardrum which passes through your ear canal and is finally registered in your brain. Listening means: taking that sound you have heard and interpreting, making, meaning or sense out of it. 

Service excellence is not about a transaction, it is about feeling, energy and enthusiasm.

Service Excellence four pillars of "FACT"

Day in, day out you work with customers and without a doubt one time or the other you are likely to take your customers for granted. It is imperative to avoid such a situation otherwise in the long term this has a negative impact on the bottom line of the organisation.

Think about it, you yourself are customers. You buy products, receive service and you ask for information. You want to be provided excellent customer service and when you receive that poor or mediocre service it just does not feel right. In the same manner your customers expect the service excellence out of you.

Apart from having a great product or service it is vital to remember the four pillars or fundamentals of providing service excellence: 

• First Impression - This play's a critical part in how customers feel about your organization. It is the introduction of the organization to the customer. This include aspects such as general grooming, clothing, voice, non-verbal language, individual’s personal style
• Attitude - There is no excuse for a bad/poor attitude/behaviour. Your customer will not forget bad/poor attitude/behaviour, even when they are being difficult. 
• Courtesy - A "Thank you" can take you a long way, always “Thank” your customer. Every organisation has competition and your goal is to ensure to retain your customer rather than sending them on to your competition. In scenarios where you are unable to provide a service or product, be thankful for their attention and business. 
• The Right Thing - Being honest in what you provide plays a vital part in building a strong relationship with your customers. Every customer needs are important and being dishonest, misleading or withholding information never wins a customer.

As a service provider, just remember that nowadays your customers have numerous choices.  The difference is you.