Karl's SMB Email December 20th

Nothing Happens by Itself

Customers Really Do Understand

When Things Go Wrong

There's an old saying, perhaps you've heard:

Sh*t Happens!

Everyone know it: Stuff happens. Things go wrong. Sometimes, even when you do everything right, something still goes wrong.

One of my rules for project management is: "Something's going to go wrong. I don't know what it is, but we'll find it and we'll fix it." In a big IT project, something along the way will not be right. It might be big, like equipment showing up broken or not at all. It might be small, like forgetting some paperwork.

But, as I always told my techs: We have never failed to execute a project. Eventually, the cloud migration is complete. The printers are all replaced. The new Internet connection is up and stable.

Most of the time, problems are speed bumps, not mountains. And here's the important part: Your customers know this.

I've been impressed with how patient people have been (in my personal experience) over the last two years. Yes, there are plenty of things to complain about. But most people get that the barber and the nail salon didn't close or set up new procedures because they wanted to. Everyone's doing the best they can.

You know that the person you're talking to at the [airline] [restaurant] [UPS store] did not create the pandemic or the supply chain delays. Unless you're a total jerk, you don't blame the person on the front line when something goes wrong, unless it's handled poorly.

Most of the time, there are two things that drive us crazy when something goes wrong. Either the person you're dealing with mishandles you, or you can see that the process is broken.

Mishandling a customer happens when a service person refuses to take responsibility, blames the client, or is just bad at dealing with people. The customer is already frustrated and could go either way. A little empathy and understanding go a long way. Making the customer "wrong" makes the situation worse.

When processes are bad, it's another story altogether.

When processes are bad, there's almost nothing the service rep can do to make things right. Even when a customer realizes that the person they're talking to didn't create the situation, that person represents the company that created the situation.

And just in case there's not enough fuel on the fire, you can combine bad processes with mishandling and make it all much worse. Typically, this happens when you can see the process is broken and the rep keeps saying, "That's our policy" or "There's nothing we can do about it."

Obviously, you can avoid a lot of problems by hiring people with good interpersonal skills and having great processes. In some cases, you can train people to be better in dealing with people. But just as often, that's a very difficult task.

One of the most powerful actions you can take is to create great processes. Remember: You can't control people, but you can control your processes. This includes standard operating procedures for delivering service and processes for handling problems.

Think for a minute about the BEST customer service experiences. In most cases, those companies have figured out how to provide excellent service with normal, average people. That's done with processes.

Creating great customer service processes is easier than you might think. Because you can't foresee the problems that might arise, you can start by hiring good people and then giving them authority to solve problems.

Think about it this way: At the moment a client is talking to your employee, that employee knows more than anyone else about what happened, what went wrong, and all the variables involved in the problem. So, you should rely on them to assess the resources and actions needed to solve the problem.

In some cases, you can simply have a policy that allows an employee to spend up to $X to fix a problem. In other cases, you will have set up a system where they figure out the answer and need to come to you for permission to proceed. In either case, the employee has conveyed to the client that your company is taking ownership and you're already working on a solution.

Even if the problem is big and complicated, the clients sees immediately that you're working with them on a solution - not blaming them because Sh*t Happens.

SBT Community Prices Go Up Jan. 1st

Lock in the lower rate for life: Join Today

We just made a major announcement in the Community for a GREAT new program. And I'm teasing it below.

This new program will increase member benefits by potentially thousands of dollars per year.

And you can lock in the current rate forever.

Now is a great time to join the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community.

We're going to raise our rates on January 1st. If you join before then, you lock in the current price for life.

Starting January 1st, the Annual Membership is going to $1199 and the monthly is moving to $129. All existing members will continue at the price they're already paying.

Join us! www.smallbizthoughts.org

More live events listed on the calendar. Please keep sending updates.

Note two biggies in January: My annual State of the Nation Address and an all-new Killing IT Live!

Have a great week. - Karl P.

:-)

Coming January 2022 . . .

Our training company has used the name Great Little Seminar for eight years.

In January, we will become IT Service Provider University - ITSPU.

But this is WAY more than a name change. With over twenty classes - both live and on demand - we have built the framework for a massive new program.

All the Resources That Are Fit to Print

Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos

Small Biz Thoughts Blog:

SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday

The Killing IT Podcast - New episodes drop every Tuesday

National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog

Relax Focus Succeed:

You Control Almost Nothing - and that's okay

Selected Recent Videos and Webinars:

A quick guide to my Playlists:

Total: More than 780 videos on the Small Biz Thoughts channel
320+ SOP videos
100+ Relax Focus Success videos

Plus . . .

Training, Courses, Seminars on Managed Services
Product Reviews
and more

You can always check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/smallbizthoughts

OR my Relax-Focus-Succeed Channel at https://www.youtube.com/relaxfocussucceed

Small Biz Thoughts Community News

SmallBizThoughts.org

Prices Go Up January 1st

Members always lock in their price for life.

Annual membership will go to $1199 on January first. Monthly membership will go to $129.

Join now and you can lock in the lower rate forever!

Weekly meetings will continue all month!

Weekly Community meetings are un-interrupted in December. We meet every Thursday at 9AM Pacific.

So we WILL meet December 23rd and 30th.

If you're a member and have not attended a weekly meeting, feel free to jump in! We make everyone welcome. And if you have a problem or question, we are very happy to assist.

The link is at the top of your dashboard.

Also Note: We have another amazing SBT Roundtable scheduled for January 6th - the first Thursday of the month.

Join us Thursday to find out who our next amazing guest is going to be.

And if you missed the December news video, check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJBpBWDeipQ

:-)

Picture of the Day

One of the stupidest decisions I ever made

In the mid-1990s, I worked with a company called Firebrand EDI (electronic data interchange). It made sense, therefore, to buy branded lighters as a give-away. That worked fine for the local market.

But trade shows were another story. Turns out, you can't take a case of explosive devices on an airplane. Who knew?

:-)

Live Events Calendar

What's Here?

This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.

If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.

Of course: Everything here is subject to change based on Covid. Click the links for the latest details. Please send updates so we can post them.