This is a week of vacations and celebrations in America.  We take the 4th of July seriously.  We plan for it, prepare for it, enjoying the day--and perhaps the entire week--with those we love on vacations, at lakes, concerts, picnics and more.

Let's remember the reason for the day: celebrating our country's birthday, and the effort that went into creating this great democracy.  An experiment for the world still plays out 242 years later, a feat not to be taken for granted.

Let's remember that service to our country is service to fellow Americans, helping to ensure America remains what she has been:  a wonderful country, filled with promise, filled with ideas to solve problems and through those solutions, create hope always for a better future.

And let's remember that our experience as Americans is a pretty special experience, not to be taken for granted.  Celebrate it with joy.  Happy 4th of July!

Together, we really do achieve more.  In service, working together spells efficiency.  And that spells fast service for the customer, who knows that when people get along, they have a better chance of getting the service they think they deserve.

Teamwork affects quality and makes the job more fun.  Your co-workers deserve you to be the best team member you can be. And so do you!

Teamwork requires cooperation, communication and a commitment to serve.

Work together, keep your co-workers informed, and commit to being a great part of  your team every day.


An excerpt from Dee Dee's book, JourneyWords: 52 Strategies to Achieve Great Service

Customer experience should be positive, and for many customers, that means fun. Especially this time of year when families travel with their kids.

Each spring I train chamber members across the Midwest on how to deliver great service.  For the past 10 years I have trained high school, college and a few older employees on how to deliver great service for the parks program at Aberdeen, SD.   In a single word, the experience they create should be fun.

What makes that happen?  From start, to finish, all along the yellow brick road, there are moments of experiences that make the visit fun.  From the correct information on social media, to the first smiles in the visitor center, to the positive energy of staff giving their 30th train trip of the day, each contact with each visitor creates the experience that in turn creates the positive word of mouth that park programs depend on each year.

A big part of that is creating service fun for kids.  Not just adults.  It's a different approach, a "get down to their level" connection that produces life long customers whose memories include fun they want to share with their own kids someday.

Fun sells.  Are you ready to make it happen?

Language is important.  What we say to others, both customers and co-workers, affects our relationships with them.  How we say it, our tone of voice and our body language, conveys a message as well.

The single biggest mistake we make in customer service is assuming we've communicated effectively with someone when in fact, we haven't.
The second biggest mistake we make is assuming our communication creates a positive customer experience, when in fact, it doesn't.

In personal, face-to-face communication, the goal is to create feelings of trust.  You want customers to know that this is a good, safe, fun place to be, that you are professional, caring and know your stuff.  How you communicate reinforces that image or destroys it quickly.  How you communicate creates a positive experience or it doesn't.  There isn't much in-between.

Communication that builds a positive customer experience is authentic, coming not just from a script or a template, but from the heart.  It's filled with a faith in the goodness of people, faith in the quality of your organization, and faith that conveys to the customer: this is a good place to be.  It reflects the positive energy of the person trying to connect.  That's why I love the photo of the bird.  We reflect what's inside of us when we communicate.  Let's make that communication a positive experience for customers and co-workers.

There's a problem.  There's a solution.  How much time exists between finding the problem and finding the solution to the problem is critical to the Customer Experience.

One of the best ways to create a great experience for every customer throughout your organization is to create ownership of service at every point in your organization.   Don't consider only the places where a customer connects directly, although those are critical.  The departments that impact the order, affect the packaging, change the pricing, etc., all impact the customer significantly, and are worthy of your attention.

Ownership is the 5th Key in my program, Leading to Achieve Great Service.  Each employee deserves to know that what they do impacts the customer--the reason the organization exists--and that when they do their part to the best of their ability, they are serving the customer.  And at the simplest of levels, it means that every employee has the positive energy to believe there IS a solution to every challenge they face as they serve customers.

Ownership connects to purpose by reinforcing a key aspect of life:  we all want to make a difference for others.  When we get to do that, we sit taller, we stand taller, we feel more pride.  The first solution for achieving a great customer experience every day, with every customer, is that every person in your organization knows you couldn't do it without them.

Wouldn't that be a nice message for your employees to hear?