When was the last time you experienced great service, first hand? How did you feel after the exchange? Did that experience effect the rest of your day?

Keep those feelings and thoughts in one of the corners of your mind. Now, let’s take you back to a negative service experience. When did that occur? Was it this morning or last night? Perhaps, you have been lucky and you cannot remember the last bad service experience you had. Hopefully that is the case and that you haven’t had so many negative experiences that you have forgotten what a positive service experience looks, feels or walks like!

Let me share with you an experience that a friend of mine named Joe had a while ago. Joe was born and raised in Brazil. He moved to the United States about fourteen years ago. His first job was to rent cars and buses for individuals and groups that would come in from out of town. His English was fair at best and one day he had a woman call in to check rates for renting a bus. Now this woman was an elderly woman from Pascagoula, Mississippi who was a transplant as well. These two individuals spoke for several minutes trying to understand what the other was saying and were becoming very frustrated with one another. Joe kept his cool and suggested that she come down to the rental company so that they could speak in person and she could see if their product would be the right fit for her needs. After a little prodding, she agreed and came down and they were better able to communicate in person. This business transaction turned out to be very profitable for Joe as the woman ended up renting five twenty-passenger vans for an upcoming family reunion. The woman and Joe ended up having a great experience because of a couple of principles that they consciously or subconsciously covered. Let’s dissect this story.

First, Joe practiced patience. Perhaps he did so because of his humility of being in a new country, trying to do well at his job and realizing that he had to overcome a language barrier. This woman also practiced patience, perhaps she emphasized with Joe’s situation due to the language barrier. She also took time to listen and to thoughtfully consider Joe’s suggestion of making the trip to the store to further research her buying decision. Each of these individuals tried to understand first then be understood through listening in the frame of the other person. As Dr. Stephen R. Covey, world renowned business/self-improvement specialist, refers to in several of his books. Because they each practiced time tested principles they both experienced a win/win solution and created a positive outcome.

What would have happened if one or the other didn’t listen or practice patience or humility? Well, you can probably guess neither would have won and the next time the same experience occurred. They would have “played the old tapes” from their experiences and would have probably experienced the same outcome. Because they had a positive experience, the next time a similar experience occurred, they would remember the past experience and subconsciously bring back those positive emotions and reactions.

Our lives and in effect our minds are like a computer when we experience positive exchanges with others they will repeat themselves. Likewise, when we have negative experiences we develop expectations of experiences to have the same sort of outcome. So what can you do to have the momentum of positive service experiences?

The first suggestion I would make is to expect a positive experience and take time to pause and try to understand first before you are understood. I would also suggest that you think about what a positive experience is to you. You have probably heard that what the mind can conceive the same you can achieve. Also if you practice patience and humility in your life, you will experience more peace and prosperity and others will enjoy interacting with you. A win/win all around!

So are you ready to get started? What are YOU going to do in the next hour, day, week or month? I would love to hear your stories.

Next month we will cover how you can inspire or influence those who you have leadership responsibilities over. Stay tuned…