Sunday Morning Reflections: All It Takes is a Smile
A few weeks ago I was in NYC and while standing and waiting for my security badge to get into the PDN building I was getting pretty irritated. The security guard looked at me and said, “You know it takes twice the muscles to frown than it does to smile?”
Okay, so I didn’t believe him and hit Google. The actual count, according to Snopes is 37 to frown and 22 to smile! So at least we can all be accurate when we use the expression it takes more work to frown than to smile…
It’s pretty trite for a Sunday morning blog and at the risk of sounding like I’m trying to be SNL’s Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy…think about the response you get with a smile and a little laughter. It’s the number one biggest secret in great customer service – just being able to empathize with your customer. The angriest of customers can be headed towards being neutralized with a smile and a little kindness.
We all know the customer isn’t alway right and your customers know that as well, but so often they’re only looking for somebody to listen to their concerns. One angry customer today has the power to influence thousands of other people in forums, blogs, tweets and wall posts. You don’t have to give in all the time, but you do have to listen.
With businesses, you go to the same places because you like the service, you like the people and they take care of you. They greet you with a smile. That’s how people want to be treated, with respect. That’s what I tell my employees.. customer service is very important. Magic Johnson
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. Mahatma Gandhi
Now there’s a great example of how much fun the Internet can be – where else could you find quotes from Magic Johnson and Gandhi that say essentially the same thing? Happy Sunday everybody – make it a great one!
This post has 2 comments
March 14th, 2010
A friend of mine was scowling as she walked though the bigbox store. An employee greeted her with the more muscles to frown than smile line. My friend’s response: My face needs the exercise, I’m exersising right now.
March 14th, 2010
Great post Skip. I’ve even heard someone say when on the phone with a client, check in the mirror to see if you are smiling while you are talking. I’ve tried it and it does make a difference for me when talking to anyone. I’m pretty sarcastic and for some people that comes off as rude so I check to make sure I feel “light” when on the phone and am smiling.