Jeffery Marx

Reports on a training session of a company for its total-quality-management initiative. Creation of \`Cookie Store' as part of the training; Evaluation of products and services from the customers' point of view.

Cookies and quality

The phone is smart. How smart is the user?Have you noticed the shift in human focus and concentration?Sitting in the lobby of the Public Hotel in Chicago, there are about 50 people sitting and milling around, engaged in some form of interaction – primarily WITH THEMSELVES.Oh, there are others with them, but these people are head down on their phones. I’m sure you have both seen them and been one of them.Maybe you’re even reading this on your mobile device right now!Guidelines of phone use have significantly changed because of technology availability. Five years ago (before the launch of the game-changing iPhone), all you could do on a phone was send and receive calls – and painfully text. Remember your early texts – a-b-c-(oh crap)-2. That was a technological EON ago.Cellular phones are smart these days. Most of the time, they’re smarter than their user. They are as much “app” driven, as they are talk and text. If you include email and the Internet in general, your calendar, Facebook and other social media apps, Google and other search engines, news and other of-the-moment information, Instagram and other photo apps, your camera, music, movies, Angry Birds (I’m currently playing RIO HD), Scrabble, and other games, Foursquare, Paypal, and of course the ubiquitous Amazon (where you can buy anything in a heartbeat, and read any book ever written), you at once realize your phone or tablet has become your dominant communication device – and it’s only an infant in its evolution.Voice recognition is the next big breakthrough.Most people are not masters of their own phone. They use programs they need, and rarely explore new ones, unless recommended by a friend. (Think about how you found many of the apps you use.)If you’re seeking mastery of your device, here are the fundamental how-tos:• How to use it mechanically. (Not just on and off.) Your phone holds technological mysteries and magic that can make your hours pay higher dividends once you master them.• How to use it mannerly. The “when” and “how loud” are vital to your perceived image. See some more rules and guidelines below.• How to use it to enhance communication. Texting is the new black. Data transmission now exceeds voice transmission – by a lot. Emailing a customer? How do they perceive you when they read it? Is it “C U L8r” or “See you later”? Is it “LMK” or “let me know”? You tell me. I don’t abbreviate. My mother would have never approved.• How to use it to master social media. Tweet value messages on the go. Facebook is inevitable, and now that Instagram is linked, you’ll need an hour a day to post and keep current. RULE OF BUSINESS: Whatever time you allot to personal Facebook, invest the same amount of time to your business (like) page. Post and communicate to customers.• How to use it to allocate your time. Use your stopwatch feature to measure the total amount of time you spend on your phone. You can easily hit start-stop-memory each time you use it. Your total at the end of the day will shock you – but not as much as multiplying the total by 365.Here are the rules, guidelines, and options to understand the proper time and place for use:• When you’re alone and no one is around. The world is your oyster. Be aware of time. If left to your own device, minutes become hours.• When you’re by yourself, but others are within hearing distance. Speak at half-volume, and keep it brief.• In an informal group. Ask permission first. Use your judgment as to what to ignore. Be respectful of the time and attention paid to the people you’re with.• In a business meeting. Never. Just never.• In a one-on-one sales meeting. Beyond never. Rude.AIRPLANE HUMOR: Flight attendants scream at you to “power down,” whatever that means – not as loud as is you if you referred to them as a “stewardess,” but close.Plane lands and the entire plane is on their phone or staring at their phone, and walk off the plane like lemmings marching to the sea in a robotic stare.REALITY: People are walking into walls, tripping, bumping into other people, and crashing their cars while looking at and using their phones.A classic cartoon in The New Yorker magazine a few weeks ago showed a picture of a woman on her phone saying, “I’ve invited a bunch of my friends over to stare at their phones.”The smart phone is here to stay – they’re cheap to use and application options are expanding every day. Your challenge is to harness it, master it, and bank it.Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of

Sales Moves by Jeffery Gitomer 4-26

How have you progressed since the third grade?“What I did on my summer vacation.”Every one of you have given a speech, or written a paragraph or essay about what you did on your summer vacation while you were in grade school.You wrote about the lake, the mountains, or the week at the beach. Or you gave a speech and your opening line was, “What I did on my summer vacation.” And you held your own hands and nervously performed in front of your peers.You were worried about what they would think and you were nervous about performing in front of your classmates, but somehow you muddled through it.Your essay was returned with all kinds of red marks for punctuation, grammar, and misspellings.For those of you who are pack rats, or have parents who are pack rats, you may still have the document.PERSONAL NOTE: I have many of my daughters’ early writings. All gems.I’m giving you this reminder, this bit of nostalgic instant memory, so I can issue you the following challenges: How have you progressed since then?How much better are your writing skills? How much better are your presentation skills? And how important are those skills to your sales success, your business success, your social media success, and your career success?I’ve been a professional writer and professional speaker for 20 years. But like you, I’ve been an amateur since the third grade when I talked about what I did on my summer vacation, and in the fourth grade when I wrote about Hurricane Hazel which rocked Atlantic City where my family was living at the time. (If you Google it, you can figure out how old I am!)What most people don’t understand is their initial training forms the foundation of their present skills. Your grammar, your ability to spell, your self-confidence to be able to speak, and your overall character are formulated by your ability tocommunicate both orally and in writing.Every one of you reading this is now thinking, maybe I should have paid more attention when my high school English teacher was drilling the difference of there, their, and they’re or the difference of your and you’re.Think about the emails you receive with the subject line that says: “Your in Luck!”The person who wrote it is immediately perceived as an idiot and the email is discarded as both disingenuous and poorly prepared.Maybe I’m prejudice, but I don’t want to do business with someone who can’t correct his or her own work in the simplest subject line of an email.The reason I’m harping on speaking and writing is because they are the foundation of the two most important elements of your success: image and reputation.Everyone wants to have a great image.Everyone wants to have a great reputation.GOOD NEWS IS: You can influence both your image and your reputation with your CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE.I’ll ask my audiences, “How many of you would be nervous speaking in front of a group of 300 people?” Almost everyone raises his or her hand. The real answer is, they are not nervous, they are not uncomfortable - those are symptoms. The real issue is they are UNPREPARED. They lack the experience, the subject matter expertise, or suffer from limited self-image or low self-esteem – or perhaps all four.This is further complicated by the fact that most of you reading this know what show is on television on Wednesday night at 9 o’clock, and you’re glued to the set to see witness the next episode of “other people’s drama.” You make a conscience choice to watch something rather than to learn something or do something.Perhaps if you took a Dale Carnegie course on public speaking, or joined a Toastmasters group, you would be able to become a confident presenter.Perhaps if you started your own blog, and at the age of 30 or 40, you write about what you did on your summer vacation, you might be able to attract people with similar likes and values as they search the internet, same as you.Please do not confuse this column as a call to action.Rather it is a call to reality.REALITY: Your writing skills and your speaking skills need to be at a higher level of competence if you are looking to elevate your income to a higher level.REALITY: Your reputation is the sum total of your words and deeds – a large portion of which can come from writing and speaking.REALITY: Your customer is more likely to buy your message if they buy into your passion.REALITY: You can gain an amazing business social media presence if you combine your ability to write and your ability to convey a value message to your customers.Here’s my recommendation to you…1. Write a 500-word blog post once a week. Write about something you love. Write about something that may impact your customers. Write about something you have an expertise in.2. Speak in public once a week. A civil organization will be happy to have you as their breakfast or lunch presenter. Speak on something you love, speak on something others will value, speak onsomething in which you are an expert.2.5 You will not reap immediate rewards. But slowly over time your image and reputation will emerge. That’s a reward that has nothing to do with commissions or earnings, but it has everything to do with the feeling of fulfillment. That’s a feeling I hope you get to experience.Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, CustomerSatisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2012 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this documentwithout written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

Jeffery Marx

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