Now, I understand that there are technical difficulties with any service so while I was frustrated I am willing to deal with some issues when they come up.  However, I am not willing to accept lousy service.  It started with every time I called in I was told call volumes were high by a recording.  I typically had to wait at least 15 minutes to talk with a person that could help me.  When I did talk with an agent the conversation was so scripted that it demonstrated to me that they believe service is more about them than their customer and the customer’s problem.

AT&T also does not support any email except their own; not something I was told when I switched to their service(I was actually told they would make sure it worked after install) .  In fact, not only do they not support other emails they actually have their system set up so it is actually difficult to use other email.  They block ports etc.  It is a strange problem with my email.  Sometimes I can send email and sometimes I cannot.

When it was sold to me and installed I was told AT&T would do whatever it to make sure the transition was seamless and they I would be up in running right away.  I was told that if I had any problems they would come back to fix it.  That is not what happened.  They run tests remotely and if the tests on their end say everything works then they will no longer help you.  In fact, they will try and sell you a paid service plan.  The irony is that we have both Mac’s and PC’s and both are having problems not just with email but consistent connectivity.   Sometimes we can connect, but not access certain websites or parts of websites.  It is like the AT&T system is having trouble talking with other systems.

When I called to tell them I was in a time crunch and I needed to fix a problem the rep quickly told me that they could not provide support for that problem without diagnosing what was going on.  In fact, what I have found out is that they listen for key words such as “Outlook Email” and before they even understand the problem they shut down the conversation.  So now, here is the clincher…After telling them that their service did not work, and being told by them that they could not support me, they tried to up sell me on an even larger, more expensive package and make it sound like they were doing me a favor.  What nerve.  I did receive a call back from that person’s supervisor.  They left me a message asking me to not be upset with the rep because she was only doing her job.  She then went on to say it is a standard to always to up sell a person who calls in regardless of the circumstances.  How she thought that would make me feel better I do not know.  I mean, what kind of service standard is that? A stupid one!  There is a time to up sell and there is a time not to and knowing the difference is service.

I even used their paid service support tier who was not a help at all.  They wanted to pass me back to the U-Verse people who could not help in the first place.  Nobody there cares.  They tried to tell me that Delta, GoDaddy, Apple, and Outlook, and my computer were the issues when a week ago all was fine when I was with Comcast.  I blew up!  Still did not help.

Needless to say I will be on the phone shortly to ask about cancelling the service.

The study of irrational factors and their patterns in economics has been coined “Behavioral Economics.”  You might be asking… “What does this has to do with employee engagement surveys, customer engagement surveys or focus groups?”  Simple…what people say and what they do are often different.  And the circumstances and consequences surrounding these efforts have an impact on how people behave and respond.   What this means is that the interpretation of your results and the questions you are asking may not be very helpful.

Here are some quick tips to help you in your efforts:

1. Don’t try so hard to understand people’s thinking or the reasons for their behavior.  The data probably won’t tell you all of that.  This is even tricky for professionals in the business.
2. Try to use items or questions that are quantifiable.
3. Use scales that have more than 5 levels because generally people have an aversion to extremes.
4. Utilize scales that are specific such as “2 times a quarter.”

How do these issues line up with your experience?  What is not represented?  Share an experience you have had…good or bad?

5 Tips for Sales Prospecting

Prospecting is a difficult sport.  Yes I said sport.   In fact it is a contact sport.  The problem is that most sales people, including me at times, sit on the sidelines.  You see sales people want the glory.  They want the touchdown or home run, but they don’t want to do the preparation needed to gain the glory.  I am not saying sales people are lazy.  I am saying most people hate cold calling.

What do people do when they hate something?  They avoid it.  Now is the time to change.  Here are five practical tips:

Tip 1:  Determine how much business you need, your close ratio, and then back into the amount of prospecting calls you need to make your goal a reality.  If you fall short of your call goal one week then add those calls to the next week and be prepared to make the extra calls to catch back up.

Tip 2:   Schedule a time to make the calls.  If it is not on your calendar it just won’t happen.  My suggestion is the first hour of your morning.  You are fresh and so are the people you are calling.  If you know your contacts are more likely to be at the phone at the end of the day then make that your time.

Tip 3:  Referral calls are a prospecting call and they are very effective.  Start by asking those people you know and do business with who they can introduce you too. I am amazed how many of us passively hope people will send business our way.  Hey I’ve got news for you…everyone is busy.  If you want or need something you are going to have to ask for it.

Tip 4:  Go to meetings.  If you can, speak at meetings.  But set a goal.  How many people are you going to meet?  How many business cards will you collect?  Going to meetings is a passive activity.  Utilizing meetings to develop relationships is a dynamic activity.

Tip 5:  Know why people should do business with you.  Ask yourself…Do I have a powerful introduction?  Do I have value I offer potential clients?  Too many times sales people call without a reason.  I don’t talk with people just to talk with people.  Time is too precious.

Remember in all that you do be authentic.  Work to develop trust with people.  In the end your success has more to do with your curiosity and ability to focus on others rather than yourself.  Never lose that spirit when attempting to master any sales skill including prospecting.

Here are some tips that will help you more successfully apply for and find a job:

1.  Snail mail is dead.  Email or upload your resume.
2. Computers read your resume first.  These programs use algorithms and keyword searches to sort the resumes in categories related to best fit.  You want your resume seen use the right keywords.
3. To find the right keywords look at the job description and pull words directly from the job description posted by the company.  If they do not have a clear description of the job look up similar positions and use those to develop your keyword list.
4. Customize your resume to the job and the company, even if that means you apply for less positions.  Remember, your resume is a marketing tool so make it about their needs while marketing yourself.
5. Know your red flags.  Have you switched jobs a great deal?  Did you get fired?  Whatever the concern stop trying to hide it.  Deal with the issue upfront.  There are ways to position these challenges positively or as learning experiences.

I am extremely excited to be a part of this, and am equally excited to be a contributing author along with Tory Johnson, Laura DeCarlo, Brian Tracy, Charlotte Weeks and many more of the world’s leading career experts.

To get more information, go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4209867

This book was created by David and Michelle Riklan, the  founders  of the #1 Self Improvement website in the world, SelfGrowth.com. They tapped into the minds of today’s greatest career experts and pulled together something that will astound you.  It’s a complete collection of 101 insider secrets that shows you how to instantly and positively enhance your career!

David and Michelle have also bundled the book with life-enhancing tools!   They call  them “bonus gifts,” and  have created a package of $1,500 worth of absolutely free gifts that you get by purchasing just one copy of our book.

These bonus gifts aren’t the typical items you may have seen in other campaigns. That I can guarantee! Every single gift has been cleverly created to offer value beyond the imaginable.  David and Michelle are so confident you will love it, that  they are  backing it up with a completely solid guarantee.

Go there and take a look for yourself – and make sure you check out the bonuses. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw what they put together. You may want to be sitting down yourself, because it could knock you over…

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Sincerely,

Brad Federman

The first line in the email says…”We love having you as a customer.”

And then it states, “We’d like to thank you for being our customer. To show our appreciation…”

Doesn’t that sound great?  They want to demonstrate their gratitude.  Well, actually, they want to sell me something.

The rest of the email continues…“we want to tell you about this special offer on…”

Talk about having the opposite effect.  If you want to thank me then thank me.  If you want to demonstrate appreciation then provide a gift of some kind.  But do not say you want to and then try and sell me another service.  It is disingenuous!  It is self interested!  And it is inauthentic!

Customer engagement and loyalty require transparency, authenticity and a sincere interest in your customer.  Let’s leave these old sales tricks that are outdated where they belong…in the past.

India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, have strained relations, for last 6 decades, in Political, Military, and Religious spheres which also affect sports, even to a game of Cricket which is known as Gentlemen’s Game. This situation draws lots of attention towards this sporting event, from all the strata of society alike, which reaches to the extent of anxiety. A cricket match between these two countries is not left merely as a sport, but becomes a crusade of national pride and Cricket supremacy! Plus both the teams have pressure of winning against their archrival, as it is considered more important, by those for whom Cricket is a religion and exist in both the countries, than winning World Cup itself.

To draw a parallel imagine Israel and Palestine, or North Korea-South Korea, or even more accurately America and Taliban as contestants in any sport. Probably the relationship between India and Pakistan is more complex than the above examples put together.

If this was not enough, this match was made super high profile by Dr. Manmohan Singh’s, Indian Prime Minister and Architect of India’s economic liberalization of 1991, invitation to Mr. Yousaf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Bollywood Superstars (Indian Film industry), and Indian Inc. top honchos were also present to witness this historic match and cheer Team India. Reportedly Hollywood star Josh Hartnet also enjoyed this match while shooting for a crossover film in Central India.

Typically during such matches, albeit this match was unprecedented, the national productivity levels, level of attentiveness, and presence in offices dips significantly.

To hedge this many diligent and empathetic companies in India either declared a half day leave, which would be compensated some day later, or altered their working hours from standard 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM to 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM or even earlier and for those who had to be in office inevitably, TV sets or match screening through projectors was arranged. Prime minister of Pakistan Mr. Gilani, declared a half day leave for Government Employees of Pakistan.

This measure offered multiple benefits, first it ensured that there was no substantial productivity loss or disturbance in essential services, like call centers, medical services etc.  Second employees felt accommodated as they got chance to watch this high voltage match with their friends and families instead of being in office unnecessarily. Third it instilled a confidence of a possibility to work out a win-win situation between workforce and management.  Arguably this was the one of the biggest employee engagement initiative, which showed instant results as employees returned charged and excited next day, this scene however was in India as India had won against Pakistan.

There are other perspectives to look at this match; one is a social perspective which shows how unifying a sport could be, even for an immensely diverse India, this was evident on roads in India after victory where poor and BMW-owners celebrated India’s success till late night. The other perspective is diplomatic where 2 prime ministers sat next to each other and assured each other of smoother and warmer relations ahead. Also the way both teams played showed the world that it is not impossible to play against archrival with discipline, civility, and sportsmanship. From a Management and Leadership perspective the resurrection of Indian Cricket team, Indian Cricket team Captain ‘cool’ Mahendrasingh Dhoni’s Leadership, and Mentorship of Former South African Cricketer Gary Kirstein, each of them are worthy of becoming a case study in itself.

About the Author

Roshan Rawal is mid-level HR professional and is working in a volatile and competitive Indian outsourcing/off shoring industry. He has contributed extensively in areas Talent Acquisition, Building new teams and practices, Institutionalize and optimize HR processes, Training and Development, compliance to ISO and CMM, benchmarking etc. Lately he has been driving Employee Engagement activities. He is also in support of idea of Open Training.

It is time to re-engage hospital staff. According to a 2010 report by Press Ganey Associates, 45 percent of hospital employees consider themselves “distanced from or discontent with their current work.” Here are 12 best practices to turn that sad statistic around and nurture a fully engaged workforce.

1. Culture eats strategy. Vincent McCorkle, president and CEO of Akron (Ohio) General Health System, is fond of saying that “culture eats strategy.” He means that while strategy is key for a successful organization, it can only produce short-term compliance if there is no strong employee culture. All the strategic planning, launching of new initiatives and use of sophisticated metrics in the world won’t be successful without a fully engaged workforce.

2. Draw from a ‘well of credibility.’ Any effort to engage employees should be treated as a valuable investment, says Kevin Haeberle, senior vice president and senior advisor at Integrated Healthcare Strategies in Kansas City, Mo. “Whenever you are engaging in mutual trust, you are putting water into the well,” he says. “How deep that well is begins to matter when you need to take water out.” For example, you have to postpone annual pay increases, cut back on benefits or make some other unusual demand that is going to be trying on your staff. “If you hit hard times and your well is shallow,” he says, “you’ll be in for a major negative reaction.”

3. Be available. “When the hospital starts losing money, do all the top executives hide in their offices, no longer to be seen by anyone?” asks Brad Federman, president of Performancepoint in Memphis, Tenn. This is poisonous for employee morale, he says. Left without any information, employees start getting fearful, invent scenarios and are distracted from their work. To keep in touch, Mr. McCorkle holds regular “town hall meetings” for all shifts at his hospital. “We talk about aspirations and achievement in there,” he says.

Availability is crucial up and down the chain of command, says Vicki Hess, RN, an employee engagement expert in Owings Mills, Md., and author of “The Nurse Manager’s Guide to Hiring, Firing & Inspiring.” A common complaint from employees is, “My boss is in meetings all the time,” Ms. Hess says. She advises managers to maintain an open-door policy and spend time with the staff. When the manager cannot always be personally available, there should be other ways to keep in touch with the staff, such as calling in or stopping by between meetings, she says.

4. Provide achievable goals. “People respond to goals,” Mr. McCorkle says. For example, orthopedic surgeons are famous for ignoring requests to consider less expensive implants, but if they were told, “Saving x-amount of money on implants means we would be able to fund these specific projects,” they would more likely respond. Having something to work toward “narrows the gap between itch and scratch,” Mr. McCorkle says. He wants all goals to be ambitious, adding: “If we don’t set high goals we will never achieve them.” For example, the proper policy for dealing with patient falls is to set a goal of absolutely no falls with injuries.

5. Be transparent. Mr. Haeberle says the traditional approach is for management to be secretive. “If you were going to lay off people, you would announce it just before it happened,” he says. The reasoning was people would stop working hard if they knew, but in fact, most people will continue to do their jobs well, he says. Indeed, Mr. Federman found that hospitals in financial straits during the recession fared better if they were very open about it.

When Mr. McCorkle meets with employees at Akron General, he gives them “total amnesty” to talk about anything they want, even if they don’t like his policies. “Transparency is essential,” Ms. Hess says, adding that when staff know and understand management’s objectives, they will be more likely to share them. For example, a nurse who is tempted to give away medical supplies to patients when they go home might not do so if she knew her department was struggling to balance its budget. “Shared knowledge can be a powerful tool,” Ms. Hess says.

6. Nurture mutual respect. Under an older management style, the CEO says, “I expect you to respect me,” Mr. Haeberle says. But if workers are treated as equals, they are more likely to be engaged, he says. “When I respect who you are, I try to understand why you think the way you do,” he says. At Akron General, Mr. McCorkle insists that employees call him “Vince.” He thinks they are more likely to be frank and open that way. “If someone can say, ‘Hey, Vince,’ they are going to tell you what’s on their mind,” he says.

7. Be supportive. A big part of nurturing respect is being supportive. Ms. Hess says managers should assume employees are doing the right thing until proven otherwise. For example, when a patient complains about an employee, assume the employee is innocent until proven otherwise, but all the while seriously check into what was going on. “You have got to ask questions and find out what happened,” she says.

8. Link employees to the mission. “Employees need to feel that what they do connects to the overall goals of the organization,” Ms. Hess says. “If the manager tells me, ‘You have to do this because it’s our new rule,’ that doesn’t make me feel good about it,” she says. She advises using the vision and values of the organization as a roadmap to guide employees.

Mr. McCorkle tells this story about the power of the mission: A janitor sweeping the floor at Cape Canaveral at night is asked what he is doing. “I’m helping to put a man on the moon,” he says. “Healthcare is a calling. It means embracing something bigger than yourself,” McCorkle says. “There needs to be a passion and an energy for all the things that the mission is about.”

9. Create an effective team. Healthcare relies on relationships within a team, Ms. Hess says. The manager’s guidance can make the team more productive. “Managing an effective team means promoting a high level of trust and comfort with conflict,” she says. To be effective, team members need to speak up, identify their differences and work through them without hostility.

10. Let employees do their work. Ms. Hess says the hospital’s goal should be helping each employee find his or her “professional paradise,” where they are satisfied, energized and productive. Mr. Haeberle says managers who respect employees’ opinions recognize there can be a variety of ways to accomplish a task. He advises management to get out of the way and let employees do their work. “When I ask you to do something, I’m going to assume it’s going to get done,” he says. If the employee doesn’t do what he said he’d do, the pact is damaged. “The mutual trust has declined,” he says.

11. Give employees choices. Employees who are given choices are going to be more invested in the work they do. It’s not always possible to do this in a hospital environment where work is often based on prescribed protocols, but there are still many opportunities, Mr. Federman says. Rather than saying, “We can’t do that,” leaders should be saying, “How can we do this and still follow the regulations?”

“If there is a way to meet employees’ pressing concerns, use it, even if it’s a little unconventional,” Ms. Hess says. For example, employees may prefer to work extra hours rather use locum tenens nurses, but taking over one eight-hour shift may be too daunting for a full-time employee. One solution might be to cut the shift into two four-hour blocks, which full-timers would be more likely to accommodate.

12. Lead by example. Every two weeks, Mr. McCorkle has a meeting with his top-level managers. “We talk about barriers and roadblocks,” he says. “People commit to a goal by signing a pledge.” When his staff meets with more people down the organizational chain, they apply the same principles. He says top management’s example is like a wave going through the whole organization.

See original article at Becker’s Hospital Review