How many times have you as a customer felt as though you were putting a salesperson out by asking for assistance or interrupting them as they were engaged in a personal conversation with a co-worker or friend?
I can recall times I've actually said to different store clerks, who were either fully engaged in telling their co-workers about the wild party they attended over the weekend or the big fight they had with their husband, "I'm sorry to bother you, but do you have this in my size?" and have them look at me as if I had just shattered the most important moment in their life.
Have you ever had an experience like this?
Many years ago when competition was almost non-existent for many businesses, consumers accepted this type of behavior because they didn't have many options to choose from.
Business owners had the upper hand and could charge the prices they wanted without having any real concern for whether or not the customer was truly satisfied or had their need fully met.
Today, competition is fierce, particularly with the power of the Internet and expanding global markets.
If a consumer doesn't like the product or service, or has a bad experience, all she has to do is tuck her credit card back into her purse and take her pick of any number of other businesses who will gladly give her what she's looking for.
She doesn't even have to leave her home if she doesn't want to! She can shop online from thousands of vendors who will gladly deliver the goods right to her doorstep.
What does this new reality of conducting business mean to you as a small business owner or home-based entrepreneur?
It means you have to provide exceptional customer service and top quality products if you want to build long-term relationships with your clients and customers.
If you have employees, it is also critical that they understand the importance of making each customer feel like a million dollar customer. It's all about the experience you provide – the feeling your customer has when doing business with you.
Get to know your customers. Find out what they're looking for and why by asking questions, then really listen to what they say. Make it a point to truly understand what it is they want to create or solve, then if you can provide a solution, offer it to them.
Building a successful, profitable business is dependent on establishing long-term, loyal customers. Having to pursue new customers to replace those who are not returning can become tiring and expensive.
As you serve new and existing customers and clients, make them feel heard, seen and valued. No one likes to be invisible, especially those who are about to hand over their hard earned money.
Treat every customer like a million dollar customer because when you build a long-term relationship with them, they just might very well become one.
2006 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
Online Poker Room Psych 101
It's hard enough to keep it in mind when you're playing with chips in a casino, but in an online poker room it's even easier to forget that you're wagering actual money. When all you've got to do to stay in the game is click a button, you can get yourself into loads of trouble, if you're not careful.
To keep your head (and your trigger finger) "in the game" and under control in the online poker room, follow these simple but vital guidelines:
Stay Focused
In a land-based casino, distractions come in the form of cocktail waitresses, bright colors, loud music, flashing lights. In an online poker room, they come in the form of the TV, the phone, the kids (or the parents), the refrigerator, the dog, other websites...
Before entering the online poker room, minimize all distractions as best you can, because in the end distractions will do worse by you than even your opponents. Don't start playing when you're in the middle of cooking or homework or doing laundry. Don't sit down to play right before you have to leave the house for an appointment. Don't play when you're so exhausted, you can barely keep your eyes open.
Staying focused also involves playing only when you're in the right headspace. If you're thinking about a fight you just had with a parent or a lover; if you're worried about money, bills, your job, school, or your health; if your head is not in the game, get out of the game until you are ready.
Stay Smart
There's a big difference between being bold and being careless. Playing bold is calmly and rationally considering all the facts of the hand at that moment in time before making any aggressive moves, whereas playing carelessly is basing your moves on emotions. Boredom, hopelessness and frustration, insecurity and self-doubt, arrogance, superstition, impulsiveness, laissez faire -- all of these lead to careless play. Observation, careful analysis, patience, discipline -- all these lead to intelligent play, which is sometimes bold, sometimes reserved.
Stay Calm
People don't like to lose -- you don't, we don't -- it's a fact of human psychology. The very act of losing then, especially when one expects to win, can easily put even the most hardened player on tilt.
To be on tilt is to be off your game, to be distracted by your emotions (frustration, remorse/regret, fear, anger) from making sound decisions. In an online poker room, coming from an emotional place rather than a rational one is the equivalent of playing with impaired judgment.
To subvert your opponents' abilities to put you on tilt, simply turn off the chat feature. Any online poker room with a chat feature will give you the option to turn it off -- usually right from the table itself. You can still view the real-time betting sequence of each hand but without all the distracting and potentially off-putting chatter.
Of course if you do this, you also forfeit your ability to put other players on tilt. Here, it's a choice. If you feel steely-nerved and aggressive, go for it. Just don't cross the line from the controlled and deliberate method of putting another player on tilt to bullying and spouting hostility. There is a difference, and we bet you already know it.
Stay Healthy
It's a sickness -- becoming so obsessed with the game that you forget to eat, drink water, or sleep. Don't laugh -- it's easy to do. You're in a tournament and one hour turns into seven and suddenly it's nighttime and you haven't had breakfast yet, or it's morning already and you've been sitting in that one position all night. Yikes! Fun is fun, but please don't make yourself ill having it.
Which brings up one final point...
Stay Sober
Really -- if you're going to get wasted before you enter the online poker room, will give you give us a heads up so we can join you at the table? Seriously, if you're going to throw your money away like that, you might as well throw it in our direction.
To keep your head (and your trigger finger) "in the game" and under control in the online poker room, follow these simple but vital guidelines:
Stay Focused
In a land-based casino, distractions come in the form of cocktail waitresses, bright colors, loud music, flashing lights. In an online poker room, they come in the form of the TV, the phone, the kids (or the parents), the refrigerator, the dog, other websites...
Before entering the online poker room, minimize all distractions as best you can, because in the end distractions will do worse by you than even your opponents. Don't start playing when you're in the middle of cooking or homework or doing laundry. Don't sit down to play right before you have to leave the house for an appointment. Don't play when you're so exhausted, you can barely keep your eyes open.
Staying focused also involves playing only when you're in the right headspace. If you're thinking about a fight you just had with a parent or a lover; if you're worried about money, bills, your job, school, or your health; if your head is not in the game, get out of the game until you are ready.
Stay Smart
There's a big difference between being bold and being careless. Playing bold is calmly and rationally considering all the facts of the hand at that moment in time before making any aggressive moves, whereas playing carelessly is basing your moves on emotions. Boredom, hopelessness and frustration, insecurity and self-doubt, arrogance, superstition, impulsiveness, laissez faire -- all of these lead to careless play. Observation, careful analysis, patience, discipline -- all these lead to intelligent play, which is sometimes bold, sometimes reserved.
Stay Calm
People don't like to lose -- you don't, we don't -- it's a fact of human psychology. The very act of losing then, especially when one expects to win, can easily put even the most hardened player on tilt.
To be on tilt is to be off your game, to be distracted by your emotions (frustration, remorse/regret, fear, anger) from making sound decisions. In an online poker room, coming from an emotional place rather than a rational one is the equivalent of playing with impaired judgment.
To subvert your opponents' abilities to put you on tilt, simply turn off the chat feature. Any online poker room with a chat feature will give you the option to turn it off -- usually right from the table itself. You can still view the real-time betting sequence of each hand but without all the distracting and potentially off-putting chatter.
Of course if you do this, you also forfeit your ability to put other players on tilt. Here, it's a choice. If you feel steely-nerved and aggressive, go for it. Just don't cross the line from the controlled and deliberate method of putting another player on tilt to bullying and spouting hostility. There is a difference, and we bet you already know it.
Stay Healthy
It's a sickness -- becoming so obsessed with the game that you forget to eat, drink water, or sleep. Don't laugh -- it's easy to do. You're in a tournament and one hour turns into seven and suddenly it's nighttime and you haven't had breakfast yet, or it's morning already and you've been sitting in that one position all night. Yikes! Fun is fun, but please don't make yourself ill having it.
Which brings up one final point...
Stay Sober
Really -- if you're going to get wasted before you enter the online poker room, will give you give us a heads up so we can join you at the table? Seriously, if you're going to throw your money away like that, you might as well throw it in our direction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)