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I was at the local Wal-Mart deli the other day and found myself waiting for a good five minutes before someone noticed I was standing there. Let me correct myself, before they ACKNOWLEDGED that I was standing there. The workers were busy avoiding me and kept their distance from the counter. They did all they could to avoid making eye contact. I finally caught the attention of an older lady who reluctantly made her way over to me and asked how she could help. As I gave her my order for honey ham, I noticed another customer waiting patiently too. The workers were busy at avoiding her too.

Many years ago I had the pleasure of providing training on personality for a group of prison workers. Using actors, I had created a skit to introduce the different personality types. We had our smarmy salesman, an artsy department head, a chronic complainer, a conservative accountant and a dictator. The goal of the skit was to show how the characters’ differences were tearing them apart so that I could then train them on how to use those differences for better results. The audience was able to laugh at the wild approaches the artsy department head offered to the team while fending off bad

There is a person on staff here at Tooty Inc. who is possibly the most industrious person I know. Many of us talk about goals and dreams. Teresa actually achieves them! She sets high standards for herself which she demonstrates in the quality of the work she does for our customers. She has high expectations when it comes to service. It could be the training she has received here at Tooty Inc. that has made her more aware! Or, maybe it is that her high expectations are a part of her Mexican heritage where loyalty, respect and appreciation are the fundamentals of good business. Teresa is directly responsible for making and evaluating any Spanish secret shopper calls we complete for our customers. She has had to learn the nuances of the Spanish language as spoken by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexican Americans, etc. She has learned that a construction dumpster may be called one thing in Puerto Rico, something else in Miami and yet another in Texas! But, the biggest source of frustration for her is what she experiences as a Spanish speaking customer. She has been transferred back and forth as a receptionist frantically tries to find someone who speaks Spanish. CSRs shout at her as if a request for assistance in Spanish means she is hard of hearing, too. If she is lucky enough to be connected to someone who does speak Spanish, he or she often knows little, if anything, about the subject she needs help with.

So, Teresa being Teresa, decided to do some research to see what was really happening in the marketplace when it came to winning and losing the Hispanic customer. She called 50 Hispanic households and asked if they preferred to speak with a customer service representative in English or Spanish. 70% of the individuals she spoke with said that they preferred to speak with someone in Spanish. Additionally, she determined they were more likely to ask friends and family for recommendations when looking for a service provider instead of researching on-line or using the yellow pages. With an

Do You Know Who You Sound Like?Voice and attitude will make or break your team in 2009.

We’ve all done it! You hear a voice, you picture the person, you draw a conclusion about the person and then decide whether or not the company is worthy of your money and loyalty! The focus for me is not whether I sound like I’m 5’6” and wearing the latest fashion, but whether or not I convey to my customer and those around me that I care and I want to serve. However, I am curious about whether I sound taller than my 5’1” frame!

When TOOTY INC. first started in 1988, telemarketing was the only form of advertising we used. Every day, religiously, we would contact new companies to

What a manager can do in 2009

Stand in any check-out line and see the cheerless expression. Call your service provider and hear the disinterest in the voice. Deceit, abuse, mistrust, disorganization, lying and cheating are commonplace in the workplace. Companies and departments are infested with negativity that sucks the life right out of those that are expected to “love on their customers”. Many of us wonder why, in a world where jobs are scarce, why aren’t people more excited about their jobs? As executives and managers we need to set good examples and fill the tanks of our customer service