Purchasing and Negotiation Training

Editor’s Note: Steve writes, speaks, and consults on customer service.

December 9, 1980 was a terrible day because I totaled my car. I loved that car too. It was a 1974 Toyota Corolla. Fortunately, I was not injured in the car accident. It was a dark, rainy night and another driver mistakenly turned left into my car’s path and the collision was unavoidable. As my only mode of transportation, the absence of a car was sure to wreak havoc on my mental stability and mobility. Returning home that fateful night, my thoughts did not dwell on the accident or the future disruption to my usual activities. Instead my mind was consumed by the previous day’s tragedy; John Lennon’s assassination.

John Lennon, whether you loved him or hated him, possessed an inflexible drive to be unique and true to himself. In a world so filled with advertisements which persuade people to forfeit their individuality so they can become like everyone else, it was clear that John Lennon was not playing the forfeiture game. He played the individuality game and he played by his own rules.

His unwillingness to bend and forfeit a piece of himself cost him dearly at various times of his life, but this is also what made him so unique.

To the 77 million Baby Boomers in the United States, John Lennon’s lovely and haunting song, “Happy Christmas” will bring special meaning this season. The song’s slow rhythm and spatial vocal reverb added to the lingering ambiance.

Honesty and integrity has a lasting legacy – whether people agree with you or not. Like John Lennon, service professional who remain true to their ideals of value will be remembered long after a customer is served.

Therefore, when service professionals perform their duties in a perfunctory manner without a smile or a pleasant greeting it may be perceived as incongruent to their employer’s culture and by extension, the company’s brand.

Steve’s World Class Value Pack

Congruency is a powerful business force, because when it is absent from service events, the result is usually a confused or skeptical customer. The skeptical customer thinks, “Something isn’t right here,” and this mind-set makes a customer indifferent and resistant to future cooperation, until hard facts can prove otherwise. This instantaneous customer reaction occurs more often than we think.

Service professionals are urged to be like John Lennon this Christmas season by being true to their company’s culture and keeping the bar high. John Lennon said it in one word; “Imagine.”