Imagine a ballroom full of exceptional bankers celebrating a truly successful year. That was where I found myself last Tuesday night as their keynote speaker for their annual awards dinner. The CEO of First Federal of Bucks County, Jeane Coyle, shared many good news stories about the community contributions the team had made both personally and through their service at the bank, she reported on the strength of their customer testimonials and everyone in the room was inspired by the work they are doing.
As their evening speaker I was fortunate to share a message of how to make it matter. How do we make our customers feel like they matter? How do we make our internal customers feel like they matter?
It’s easy to make our customers/clients/members matter… we are often paid to do that… but do we make our internal customers feel like they matter? Who are your internal customers?
Here are three strategies:
Embrace what matters – let’s choose to communicate clearly in our everyday conversations. Don’t assume your team know everything that is going on, don’t assume those you share your life with know your plans (or they can read your mind). Take a few moments today to communicate clearly with those around you.
Invest 15 minutes to remind someone they matter – today reach out and thank someone for the work they do, handwrite a note to someone (no one does that anymore), call a client and remind them how much you enjoy working with them. There is always time. Remind someone they are a VIP (very inspiring person). If you are fortunate to still have your mum on this planet, call your mum. Simple. Tell someone they matter.
Accelerate Engagement – Give someone the gift of your undivided attention by looking them in the eyes, put down your phone and focus on the conversation. In horse racing the trainer place blinkers on the horses to prevent them looking behind them or beside them… do you ever wish you could have blinkers on to stay focused on the person in front of you?
Today choose to ask someone feel like they matter and make your conversation meaningful. What can you do today to make someone feel like they matter?
Remember you don’t have time to do everything; only time to do what matters.
We’d love to hear your thoughts what did you think, share your ideas with us here on our blog.
PS. If you want more ideas on how to increase your productivity – check out other blogs here and several eBooks you can share with your team.
