Brad Domitrovich

Brad Domitrovich is a professional speaker, award winning public relations strategist, and an advocate for public education He was dubbed “The PR Zealot” by his colleagues due to his enthusiasm and vehement passion for developing people relationships and partnerships. The work that he develops for his clients assists their bottom line and improves their people relationship skills. Call [phone] for bookings or consultations.

[braddomitrovich]

Customer Service Resolutions for 2019 …

The new year always provides us with an opportunity to look back and assess what each of us has accomplished. It also allows us the chance to think about how we can make a fresh plan for improving any aspect in our lives. Although many people dislike the word resolution, its definition does provide a sense of authority when we make a firm decision to do or not do something.

When it comes to customer service, instead of making new resolutions, a review of what we should be doing is probably the best commitment that we can fashion.

In my workshops, I talk about “The 7 Rules for Great Customer Service” quite a bit. These rules provide us with a benchmark that is useful and timely.

Keep customers the priority.

Be access-approachable.

Know your customers’ expectations.

Exceed their expectations.

Remember that interruptions are opportunities to serve.

Use logic not emotion.

Say “thank you” … often.

Each of these rules are simple. Each of these rules are attainable. Each of these rules provides us with a standard for customer service excellence.

What will your customer service level look like in 2019? Take time today to create your personal vision. Review the rules once again and write down your personal goals. Try every day to make these goals a reality. By doing so, this will be an amazing year for both you and your customers.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Words wield power. Choose them very carefully …

Do you think before you speak? It’s amazing at times what comes out of our mouths. If you consider your position in your organization, consider also the power that you have. People will look to you for help, guidance, answers, or compassion. The words that all of us speak are taken as fact and character.

Taking a moment to consider the post-consequence of our words helps us to regret anything that we might say in haste. What we say is equally as important as how we act.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Santa Claus Delivers! 

Customer service and Santa Claus have a few things in common. Delivering is one of them. With customer service, we should always deliver the best we have to offer! Santa does the same by delivering the best to all the good boys and girls of the world.

Santa loves what he does. Great customer service happens when we have a smile on our face and find joy in our work. Customer service is about making sure we greet everyone with a smile and a hearty welcome! Santa does the same. He even adds a cheery “Ho-Ho-Ho” as well. Customer service is about good listening! Santa listens too. He listens to make sure the right presents go down the right chimneys.

Santa Claus delivers every single time. If you check the history books, you know that he’s never missed a Christmas Eve. The spirit of a Santa Claus leaves us with a memorable impression. Isn’t that exactly what we want to do with every one of our customers?

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Showing that you care … 

One of the things that the holiday season lets us do is to show others that we care. Receiving a card, a phone call, a plate of cookies, or a thoughtful gift … all of those things lets us know that someone appreciates and cares for us. Doing the same for others, lets them know that you care as well.

Great customer service is based on a concept of caring and mutual respect. Unfortunately at times, the systems we have put in place at work “for convenience” actually keeps us from personally caring with others. If we think about it, customers really don’t connect with automation tools. Customers connect with people. Customers connect with us.

The spirit of Christmas isn’t sitting in a room by yourself opening your own present. It’s about being with others, family, friends, loved ones. Sharing, giving, and of course caring. Great customer service is a gift that we can share all through the year.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Becoming access-approachable … 

I speak a lot about people relationships. Its important that our employees make a difference with our customers in a positive way. This improves our corporate culture. Looking internally, what can we do to improve or reinforce people relationship skills?

The phrase access-approachable comes to mind. Do people (employees and customers) feel that they have access to us? If they do have access, how approachable are we? No matter what level or position we may be, we can show everyone that our focus is always on people. It will be if we remain access-approachable.

Our corporate culture thrives when people remain our focus. I recently saw an HR survey that said 70% of millennial workers would not stay at their current job if they considered it to be an unpleasant work environment. That’s probably true with older boomers like me as well.

It’s easy to treat people with respect, to listen, and to portray a positive attitude. Most people have to work hard in order to do the opposite. Being access-approachable is one way to improve corporate culture, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll improve a little bit of ourselves as well.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Everybody makes mistakes … 

Mistakes are a part of life. I’ve made a ton of them. How about you? What’s the best thing to do when a mistake happens? Some people think they should shut up, keep quiet, and maybe nobody will notice. That’s not a good thing to do in the customer service world.

When we deal with customers, mistakes do happen. Sometimes, mistakes create a bigger problem. If you make the decision that customer service is your top priority, any mistake should be dealt with in a timely manner. Customers not only appreciate it, they deserve it.  When a mistake happens, admit to it. Don’t blame others. The faster that you admit to the mistake, the faster you can concentrate on a solution.

We are all human. We do make mistakes. The important thing to do is to always make NEW mistakes. Never repeat your old ones.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Is Customer Service Dead?

I recently heard that a survey of business leaders determined that mediocre customer service seems to be the new benchmark these days. Customers in today’s environment, believe it or not, have very low expectations for service.

Why is that? Could it be that we have become used to a fast paced, fast food, no frills level of customer service? Could it be that we have just become silent when we receive less than satisfactory or unmemorable customer service? Maybe we have convinced ourselves that we don’t deserve good customer service?

Whatever the reason, those of us in a customer centric business know that great customer service should be the norm. If one of our customers has a problem, we shouldn't just listen to them, we need to address their concerns. Our job is to actually hear and then dialogue with our customers. We can be empathetic. We can have a positive impact on their experience today.

In the business world, bad customer service affects a company’s bottom line which in turn affects everyone. Is Customer Service Dead? Not if we take the time to make our customers a priority today.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Empowering employees to resolve customer service issues … 

This is our last in my series on developing a customer service program for your organization that will be “world class”. Last week we looked at how to create a culture of customer service, today we end with empowering employees to resolve customer service issues.

Proper training will ensure that team leaders and managers are well equipped at problem solving. Proper training helps overcome most barriers to resolving customer service issues. Employees at all levels will know what customer service issues they can resolve, and which ones they cannot. Employees must also know which issues should be taken to the next level.

Your workforce must be encouraged to provide consistent service to all customers, both external and internal. It’s important to reward good service through normal methods of performance reviews. All organizations should consider a Customer Service Excellence Program where high scoring employees can win recognition, awards, or prizes. Successful programs usually involve nominations from staff members as well as customers. If you’re a non-profit, a good idea is to have a local business, one known for their great customer service, to assist with sponsoring the recognition.

I hope these past few weeks has helped you understand how important “world class service” is. Every successful organization focuses on their customers every minute and every second. There is absolutely no excuse for not starting your program today!

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Creating a culture of customer service …

This is the second in my series on how to develop a customer service program for your organization that will be “world class”. Last week we looked at what was involved in determining what our customers wanted. Did you find out an answer? If not, why not? You’ll be amazed at how your organization will thrive once you decide that your customer’s opinions are important.

Knowing what our customers want helps us focus on the way we provide “world class” service. Your employees should all be aware of the customer’s needs and that’s why training employees is so critical. During the development of the training program, its important to focus on customer service attitudes, behaviors, and skills.

If you’re having trouble getting started with some ideas, you can always look at my “7 Rules for Great Customer Service” as a template. In all of my customer service workshops and keynotes, I use the “7 Rules” as the foundation for awareness.

Here are my “7 Rules for Great Customer Service”:

Keep customers the priority.

Be access-approachable.

Know your customers' expectations.

Exceed their expectations.

Interruptions are opportunities to serve.

Use logic, not emotion.

Say “thank you” ... often.

These “7 Rules” enable employees to easily embrace the training program. They are simple, and most importantly - they make sense. By using these “7 Rules” as the core for creating a personalized training program, an organization can focus on their immediate and future needs as determined by your customer satisfaction analysis. Exercises, activities, and training modules can all be developed to get employees actively motivated and involved.

www.przealot.com 

[braddomitrovich]

World Class Service … 

Every organization, big or small, needs to understand the full implication of customer service and service delivery. Every employee plays a significant role in the process of your organization becoming a “world class” organization.

Customer service attitudes begin at the top. Upper level management sets the tone for the organization. If the boss doesn’t embrace customer service, how can the staff? All employees must be on board. All employees must be trained to realize that their understanding and acceptance is critical to the success of the organization.

Putting together a customer service program for any organization requires a comprehensive commitment. An overnight fix, although wishful in its thinking, is impossible as well as impractical to achieve. Over the next few weeks, we will look at a process to help you develop a customer service program that will be “world class”. Isn’t that what all our customers deserve?

[braddomitrovich]

The customer experience …

What is the customer experience? The customer experience encompasses every aspect of an organization’s identity. If you think about that, you’ll realize that our customers judge us on not only the quality of customer care they receive, but how we look, how we communicate with them, what kind of reputation we have, and more.

How can we shape our customer’s experience? To what extent are you and I responsible for defining that experience? Our customers have a choice, but they choose us. Why? The customer experience has to be at a superior level every day. Customers rely on previous contacts with us and base their judgement on expectations in addition to the actual experience.

What makes your organization a customer experience gold mine? Do you understand your customer’s needs? Pay attention today to what your customers are expecting from you. Create an initiative for enhancement if you think there is a need to do so. By focusing efforts on improving the customer’s experience, you’ll see that the gap between expectations and satisfaction will be impossible to distinguish.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Being late is never as productive as being early … 

I’m old school. As a budding corporate raider in the early 80’s I was taught that being on time meant being somewhere 15 minutes before your appointment. I was also taught how to use a dot-matrix printer and an opaque projector, but times have certainly changed!

Life is hectic. Keeping a time balance in our lives is important. Working smarter not harder is a mantra we have heard for years. Is it possible? Maybe. Everyone is different, but here are a few time management concepts I have used over the years to stay productive.

Make a list. Sounds simple, right? I always begin my week by developing a things to do list for the next five days. I cross off things when I finish, and add to the list when needed. I look at the list at the end of each day, and start my day with a review.

Stay focused. Oh my gosh, this is so hard! My phone rings, my e-mail dings, my twitter chirps. Distractions are all around. Designate a time frame to work on a specific task. Set a timer if you have to. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish if you focus 15 straight minutes on a task.

Develop time task calendars for major jobs. When I am developing a new keynote or working on a client project, I establish a timeframe for my concept, thoughts, drafts, product, review, etc. This keeps me and everyone involved on the same page when it comes to expectations.

Evaluate your time restraints in terms of what you can and cannot control. There are things you are in charge of and things that you’re not in charge of. Designate flex-time in your schedule to accommodate the unexpected.

Always take the time to read and think before answering any e-mail. Why? Being thoughtful, prudent, detailed, and exemplary will always make you look like a professional. Saving time comes from having to explain what you said in the previous e-mail or neglecting to answer a particular question.

Learn to say no. This is tough, but it gets easier as you advance in your career. Sometimes you just have to decline an opportunity. Remember to only take on commitments you have time for, or ones that you really care about.

That’s my list. Do you have any you would like to share? I would love to learn from your expertise and share them with my friends and associates.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

What’s in your heart?

Heart. A fitting topic for Valentine’s Day. Those who know me understand my passion for building great people relationships at work and in your personal life. Having great people relationship skills allows us all to improve our reputation, our image, and our rapport with everyone we meet. Great people relationships start with a passion, and that passion begins in our heart.

Any corporate culture thrives when people remain our focus. In an ideal world, our work lives would be completely fulfilling. But what if it isn’t? Some people see their work as a job, others see their work as a calling, maybe a passion. Many of my friends who are in the education field know that finding a teacher who has passion is a priority for enabling students to achieve success at their highest potential.

People who have this calling unsurprisingly exhibit higher performance levels at work and feel a greater sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. The key for all of us it to determine what we care about, what’s in our heart. Once we discover that, passion and motivation it will build from there. The key for you is to determine what you care about. What drives you? What’s your motivation? Answer those questions. Build from there. Reinforce your strengths and discover your passion. Once you do, you’ll find what’s in your heart.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Keeping promises … 

If we take a good look at our organization and ourselves, are we considered to be people of integrity? If you are, then keeping your promise is probably high on your checklist of personal assets.

Making lots of promises, but keeping only a few of them, is not the smartest thing to do. Especially in a customer service oriented world. To build trust, we need to become a person of our word. Every time we break a promise, we’re telling our customers that we just can’t be trusted. We’re telling our customers to go someplace else. We’re telling our customers that we don’t care.

To build trust, we need to stand by what we say. Not just today, but everyday. Keeping a promise is the best way that we can show others just how reliable we are. Keeping a promise is the best way that we can show others we care. Keeping a promise is the best way that we can show others that customer service is important to us.

www.przealot.com

[braddomitrovich]

Focusing on People Relationships …

In business, every decision we make should focus on people. Yes I know, some executives will say “No! We have to focus on profit!” I agree with that statement too. But I like to think that without great people relationships, it would be hard for any of us to keep our organization flourishing, growing, and making profits.

Employees and customers, in other words people, make or break any organizational structure. Whenever I have the pleasure to talk to my clients about their organization, I remind them that their focus should always be about building and maintaining healthy relationships with internal and external customers.

“Remember that PR = People Relationships”

As a PR practitioner for many years, I learned that piece of advice too late in my career. Instead of focusing on numbers, statistics, and cold hard facts … a focus on soft data probably would have helped me a lot more instead of the spreadsheet I was looking at. Having People Relationship skills allows everyone to improve their reputation, their image, and their rapport with customers.

How can you improve your reputation, image, and rapport? Here are a few tips:

Treat all of your stakeholders with respect.

Be appreciative of differing opinions.

Listen to everyone of your stakeholders.

Portray a positive attitude at all times.

Admit when you make a mistake.

Remember that in order to be credible, we have to know and live our values. Customers will judge us on the values of our organization. Most importantly, they will judge us on our personal values too. How will you fair? How will your People Relationship skills be judged?

[braddomitrovich]

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? 

The new year always provides us with an opportunity to look back and assess what each of us has accomplished. It also allows us the chance to think about how we can make a fresh plan for improving any aspect in our lives. Although many people dislike the word resolution, its definition does provide a sense of authority when we make a firm decision to do or not do something.

When it comes to customer service, instead of making new resolutions, a review of what we should be doing is probably the best commitment that we can fashion.

In my workshops, I talk about “The 7 Rules for Great Customer Service” quite a bit. These rules provide us with a benchmark that is useful and timely.

Keep customers the priority.

Be access-approachable.

Know your customers’ expectations.

Exceed their expectations.

Remember that interruptions are opportunities to serve.

Use logic not emotion.

Say “thank you” … often.

Each of these rules are simple. Each of these rules are attainable. Each of these rules provides us with a standard for customer service excellence.

What will your customer service level look like in 2018? Take time today to create your personal vision. Review the rules once again and write down your personal goals. Try every day to make these goals a reality. By doing so, this will be an amazing year for both you and your customers.

[braddomitrovich]

Yes they are!