Will Bowen's Blog, page 75

What Successful people all have in common

If you consider people that are successful, you’re often struck by their drive, their passion, and their resourcefulness. However, if you study the lives of successful people more closely you find that they all have one thing in common – – they’re not very smart and they embrace that fact. Now, that may surprise you. […]

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What successful people all have in common

If you consider people that are successful, you’re often struck by their drive, their passion, and their resourcefulness. However, if you study the lives of successful people more closely you find that they all have one thing in common – – they’re not very smart and they embrace that fact. Now, that may surprise you. […]

The post What successful people all have in common appeared first on Will Bowen.

Setting Your Compass Straight

Exciting news! After more than a two-year hiatus, I am bringing back my daily JumpStart videos based on popular demand. What is a JumpStart video? It is a couple of minutes of wisdom and insight designed to make your day better than your life brighter. In this very first JumpStart in this new series, I […]

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How to Become a Super Hero – what 1 customer service rep can teach us about life

You learn a lot about customer service when you’re the world authority on complaining.  I’ve studied customer service for years and what I’ve discovered can teach us a lot about human nature and even how to become a Super Hero!

Here’s a true story about Amanda (her real name) and Brittany (not her real name—or, even her real gender for that matter — LOL). 

Eighteen months ago, I executed a total upgrade of the Complaint Free World program.  I updated and expanded our free courses for Businesses, Churches, and Schools.   Plus, we completely revamped our web site, store front and much more to better serve everyone.

During this process, I had to learn several software programs—a couple of which seemed way over my head!  It was while attempting to master Infusionsoft that I met both Amanda and Brittany, both of whom are Live Chat reps — helping customers via live, on-screen support. 

I’d worked with five or six other Infusionsoft Live Chat reps before I met Amanda.  When the little alert chimed declaring, “You’re live with Amanda,” before I could even paste in the problem I’d clearly defined in Notepad, Amanda started into our conversation with several pre-planned images and comments to set the tone for our experience.

“You’re live with Amanda”

Amanda: “Hi Will! I’m Amanda.  I’m here to give you the greatest customer service experience of your life!” (A link to an image of Amanda was included.  When I clicked the link I saw a smiling Amanda in a cowboy hat.)

Amanda (again): (I’ve not even been able to hit CTL-V to paste my question and she’s already sent me another image, this one is a cartoon of a bright, happy sun rising that says, “It’s a Great Monday!” I later learned Amanda has one for every day of the week).

Will: (Pastes his question and asks for help.)

Amanda: “It will be my pleasure to tackle this problem in one single bound!” (Another link to a third  image — Supergirl, this time.  I’m starting to enjoy this experience and really like this woman.)

Amanda explains she’ll have to do some quick research to answer my question, asks if I mind waiting and when I say no, she sends a fourth image of a cheery “Thanks!” 

Within a minute, Amanda is back.  She has not only figured out the solution, she has created a video using screen capture software that explains the process in detail. Amanda sends me a link and waits for me to watch the video and make sure I understand. 

Will: “Oh, I get it.  That’s easy, I’m surprised I didn’t see that myself.”

Amanda: “No problem, Will!  I’m really glad I could help — ‘anything else you need?” (A link to a “YAY!” image comes up.)

I assured Amanda, “I’m good for now but I’ll be back,”  Amanda thanks me for “allowing her to help” and sends a final “Have a Great Day!” image. I closed the chat window and thought, “Wow, that was fun.”

QUESTION: When was the last time YOU said, “Wow, that was fun” after working with a Customer Service rep?  ‘Probably never, right? Ah, but then I met Brittany—Amanda’s polar opposite.

“You’re live with Brittany”

Brittany: “Hi, Will.  How can I help you?”

As with Amanda, I paste in a carefully planned explanation of the problem and pose a question.  I wait thirty seconds — nothing.  “Is she there?” I wonder.  A minute ticks by.  The chat window tells me that I’ve got to reengage the conversation or I’ll be kicked out in 2 minutes.

Will: “Hello?”

Brittany: “Hi, Will.  Sorry to take so long.  Actually, that’s more of a coaching question than a Customer Service question and we’re not really supposed to do that.”

Really?  I never knew there was a distinction.  Everyone else, especially Amanda, just really wanted to help.

Brittany: “But…I’ll send a link to an article that explains everything.  Would you also like me to send you a list of paid services such as coaching that can help you?”

I declined and ended the chat so I could read the article Brittany sent.  Again, everyone else had only wanted to help.  Brittany, it felt, helped grudgingly and seemed to want to pawn me off and/or make me pay.  When I ended the chat I thought, “What a drag.”

Now, here’s the vital point. Both Amanda and Brittany do the same job at the same company with the same time and resources.  One person decides she’s going to be a super hero while the other person does enough to get along.  Amanda is stellar whereas Brittany is more the customer service norm—just ok.

Psychologists have found that what is most important about our job is NOT how much money we make, who we work with or any other external factor. The one thing that determines how much you enjoy your job is,  ”Do you feel a sense of accomplishment?”  To enjoy our jobs we must feel like we’ve accomplished something — we’ve fixed something, improved something, figured something out and, primarily, helped someone.

Given only what I’ve told you about Amanda and Brittany, whom do you think has a greater sense of accomplishment at the end of the day?  Amanda, of course.  She puts more into her day and into her job and, as a result, she gets more out of it.  And, she helps people enjoy rather than tolerate a fixture of modern life: dealing with a customer service reps.

Every day, you choose to just get by like Brittany or to be a super hero like Amanda.

The question is, “Who are you going to be today?”  You were born to be a super hero.  You were created to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment but it’s up to you to contribute at the highest possible level to achieve the greatest satisfaction and, ultimately, the most success. 

Put forth a little more today and you’ll get back more than you can imagine!

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Kids Quit Complaining and Confound Scoutmaster (I was one of the kids)

When I was a Boy Scout we would go on monthly camping trips. On every campout we would complain about having to clean the pots, pans and dishes after eating. We took turns doing the work but on every trip our disdain for dishwashing was always a center of attention.  

I was elected the patrol leader and at the first meeting I said, “we all hate washing pots and pans, right? is there a way that we can get around doing it?”

Someone suggested that we take only prepared food. At that time SpaghettiOs,  canned soup and other processed foods for becoming very popular. We decided to take only foods that we could cook and that didn’t require cleanup.

For example, we would open a can of chili and then use pliers to hold the can as we nestled it into hot coals to heat up. Afterwards, we simply through the can away (this was before recycling).  If we wanted a snack we would make JiffyPop or smores.

Friday afternoon, when all the boys showed up to get the equipment for the camping trip, my patrol announced we were not going to take any pot, pans or other heavy cooking equipment.  When the scoutmaster, a stern old guy who always had a pipe clinched and his teeth, heard that we were not going to be cooking on the campout, he flipped!

He said that we had to cook food in pots and pans and clean up. “It’s part of the experience!” He spat.

I said, “Well, it’s a part of the experience that we all hate.” He gave me a arrogant glare as I swallowed hard from fear.

“Fine! Go hungry all weekend–it’ll teach you boys a lesson,” he said turning away and giving his attention to a more obedient group of boys.

Here’s the kicker: The senior patrol leader, and nearly ALL of the fathers who volunteered to come on the trip came over and ate with us! They were fed up with eating undercooked hamburger prepared in poorly washed metal pans.

We were the hit of the campout! And while all the other boys in the seven other patrols were washing pots and pans, we were playing, hiking, or just lying around reading comic books. We even found a tree with a hollow bottom and inside were orphaned puppies!

Spotting a spark and deciding to stop it before it became a wildfire, the scoutmaster put his foot down. It seemed that power was going to, once again, override ingenuity. He called the parents of all the boys in the troop – – 80+ kids, and said that we MUST all cook the same foods and any variations would be approved by him: scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, hotdogs and beans for lunch, and hamburger meat cooked with veggies for dinner.

The point of the story is, while everyone else was complaining about washing dishes we did something about it! We thought outside of the box. We chose to not be focused on the problem but instead to be focused on a solution!  And we all got a free puppy in the process!  (Although most of our mom’s made us take them to shelter.)

How about you? Are you complaining about what is, currently, or are you working to create new solutions?

It all starts when somebody says, “Okay, I get that this isn’t going the way we want it to go, but griping about it isn’t going to make it better. The  question is, ‘What DO we want?'”

Anyone can point out a problem. It takes someone with vision to look for a solution.

You are a person of vision! Stop focusing on the problem by complaining about it and start looking for ways to create the ideal situation.  

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How to Get 50,000 People to Work for FREE

50,000 + Men haul tons of dirt every day–for no pay!

Check out these photos by the brilliant photographer Sebastiao Salgado from the now played-out Serra Pelada gold mine in Brazil. Salgado spent months photographing workers in this vast mine during it’s peak of production during the 1980s. According to him, between 50,000 and 100,000 men would show up every day to do backbreaking labor FOR NO PAY!!

All day in the blazing sun, these men strapped heavy bags of dirt to their shoulders (think: sacks of concrete) and climbed out of the pit—the height of some of our tallest skyscrapers, on rickety ladders. When they got to the top they would find a place to empty their bag of dirt and then run back down the steep jagged slope into the maw of the mine.

Why did these men kill themselves to haul the dirt away for free? Because if (and that was a very rare “if”) if a laborer happened to be working at a particular spot when a vein of gold was discovered he was given a chance. Each worker at a strike site was given the chance to carry (1) one specially packed bag of dirt to the surface—a bag of dirt that could change the impoverished, malnourished, broken man forever.

Inside one bag was a gold bar worth nearly $90,000 in our current western

Reaching the Top–Note how small and distant everyone and everything is beneath this worker

economy. Just imagine how much that would have been worth to a peasant living in rural 1980s Brazil!

The workers would hastily sling their bag over their shoulders and rush to the top ground level. After tearing open their sacks, all but one would hang their heads and shuffle back down into the pit knowing it could be weeks, months or or even years before another strike; and their chances of being present when one happened again were slim.

These men worked day in and day out–hoping that one day, chance would find them. Unfortunately, their bodies typically broke down and they died long before.

How about you? Are you waiting for chance?

The average American household spends $540 every year on lottery tickets. If you buy lottery tickets, even if it’s “just for fun”—stop it, now! Every time you buy a lottery ticket you’re hauling a bag of dirt up that hill. And your odds of winning are much worse than the workers in the Serra Pelada gold mine.

Instead, invest at least $540 each year (just $45 each month) in increasing what Brian Tracy calls, “your Earning Power.” Read books on your field, take classes, and go to seminars. Commit to consuming (not just buying) at least $540 worth of personal development material each year.

It’s easy! In addition to online courses everywhere, check out audiobooks through ITunes or Audible.com. A short 15-minute commute will consume an average audiobook in less than 2 weeks and that equals 26 books a year!

How about you? Are you ready to stop breaking your back hauling dirt and waiting for your chance? Invest in the one thing that always pays the highest profits and which can never be taken away from you–your Earning Power!

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JumpStart MEDICINE MEN

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“We can’t heal ourselves… we need others.” Everyone needs Medicine Men and Women. Even great teachers face issues and still find themselves stuck— until they talk to someone who can help them see what they’re missing.

Enjoy Today,

Will

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JumpStart TELLING THE TRUTH

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Do you really want better relationships? Do you want to be happier? Honesty will improve both these areas of your life and more.

Enjoy Today,

Will

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JumpStart GIVERS

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The more you give, the happier, more engaged, more connected and more fulfilled you are.

Enjoy Today,

Will

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JumpStart LENT

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What if Lent was an acronym? What if L.E.N.T. stood for “Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking”? As the origin of the word tells us, we’ve been thinking negatively long enough and it’s time to stop.

Enjoy Today,

Will

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