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Happy Leap Year!
I can only say this once every four years. I hope you are enjoying this "exrra" special day and making the most of it.
Technorati Tags: leap year, February 29, leap day Outstanding customer service is the key to creating a successful organization during any economic time... but especially during challenging economic times.
It's amazing how most organizations will invest millions, if not billions, of dollars on new computer systems, new displays, new phone systems, and new marketing campaigns to try to acquire new customers. The moment of truth comes, however, when the new customer has first contact with these organizations. If the customer is ignored, disrespected, and disappointed with the customer service experience, that customer may never come back. When this occurs, these organizations apparently haven't heard the old saying, "You only get one chance to make a great first impression."
What about the present customer base? Many times these customers are treated with indifference and, in many cases, quietly go away to do business with a competitor.
Why not jumpstart your organization's success with outstanding customer service? It doesn't matter if you are involved in retail, restaurant management, consumer products, or even the government, customer service is being recognized as the key to increasing productivity, decreasing employee turnover, and increasing an organization's bottom line. Especially during challenging economic times, the quality of your customer service determines if you remain in business to serve customers or cease to exist.
The following are eight secrets to giving outstanding customer service so that your organization will be successful:
Make Outstanding Customer Service Your Mission
What is your organization's mission statement? What does the mission statement say about how you should treat your customer? Are you communicating this to all your employees, no matter what position they have in the organization? Take the time during meetings, e-mails, phone calls, and other communication opportunities to express the mission statement and how it relates to giving outstanding customer service. Ask during your meeting, "What did we do this week to live our mission statement and its customer service values?"
Go to the following link to read the rest: Jumpstarting Customer Service
Economic times constantly change and organizations adapt to these changes. For you to find career success, you must be pro-active about your job. What are the career secrets of those who soar to the top in their careers no matter what the economic environment is in the world?
The following are ten career secrets you can use to "recession proof" yourself and find career success no matter what the situation is:
To read more go to Career
Technorati Tags: job career work, job, jobs, career, career advice, work International Make a Point Day!
Have you ever been in a meeting where the presentation when on and on. Have you ever asked yourself, "What's the point to this presentation?"
Here are five public speaking secrets that will keep your message on point:
Follow these five presentation secrets for staying on point and your presentations will have more impact and will create new business, career, public speaking, and life opportunities for you.
You don't need to be fourteen time Olympic gold medal winner Michael Phelps to achieve your goals. However, you can learn the goal setting secrets Michael Phelps used to achieve his success by reading the following article:
Five Secrets to Creating a "Goal" Medal Life - Part II
Recently, Joy and I had the pleasure of speaking at a conference of Educational Office Professionals in Baltimore, MD. The other speakers included Ms. Deborah Phelps, mother of six-time gold medalist (Now fourteen-time goal medalist) in the 2004 Summer Olympics swimmer Michael Phelps, and Agatha von Trapp, the 91-year-old daughter of Captain and Maria von Trapp, the family on which the movie "Sound of Music" was based. To say the least, there were a variety of subjects discussed that day.
As I listened to Ms. Phelps describe Michael's achievements, I realized that his story had many of the secrets of success mentioned in my September article, Five Secrets to Creating a 'Goal' Medal Life.
Let's go over these goal setting five secrets again and see how you can apply them:
What do you have passion about in your career, your life? Have you put pen to paper and developed goals to achieve what you want in life?
To read the rest of the article, go to "Goal Medal Success."
Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation (see previous post) and a best-selling book, died on July 25. He was 47.
What a great gift of hope and inspiration he left with us before and after his passing.
This Memorial Day has even more meaning for me this year. One of best friends from high school, Christian Haerter, lost his only son, Jordan Haerter, in Iraq this year. Jordan was killed as he pushed another Marine out of the way of a roadside bomb. The following is the video of his funeral.
Take time to remember and honor our fallen heroes as we enjoy our liberties today.
Memorial+Day Jordan+Haerter Marines leadership Christian+Haerter Sag+Harbor March Madness is here! I am not talking about the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament. I am talking about the free bonuses offered with our new success e-book, "Jumpstart Your Greatness!"
Find out more about this success system and bonuses at Success.
March+Madness success successful+people Jumpstart+Your+Greatness What Would You Do If You Had Two Months to Live? Would you forget about the little things in life that hold you back? Would you change the way you think and decide to change your life? Take the time to invest in your success by watching the following eleven minute motivational video:
or watch full 76 minute lecture at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxS
January 21st is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. His "I Have a Dream" speech motivated millions to dream and take action to make the United States a better place.
Many of my presentation coaching students think that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave that speech for the first time on the Washington Mall. My students are surprised to learn that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been practicing by giving different variations of that speech for over a year. He consistently made changes until the speech became the masterpiece that changed the world.
Great presentations start with great preparation! Enjoy!
Just a quick note to wish each of you a Happy New Year. We sincerely hope that 2007 was the best year of your life, and that 2008 is even better!
There have been a lot of changes at The Sykes Group in the past year, and we have many more great additions planned for the coming year.
In the next week we'll announce the beginning of "Jump Out the Gate in 2008" program, so stay tune!
P.S.-The following are some six quick tips to goal-setting:
For additional goal setting and success resources, go to Goal Setting.
goal+setting goal goals 
If you have watched T.V. lately, you’ve probably noticed a growing popular genre - reality courtroom shows. These shows are centered on litigants bringing small-claims court cases in a televised forum. Some of the cases can get pretty racy and you might think there is little you can gain unless you plan to go to court yourself. What if I told you that watching Judge Judy can not only expand your understanding of the law, but teach you how to make better presentations? The following are five public speaking lessons you can learn from following courtroom protocol and procedures:
Lesson 1 – Concentrate on I and Why
Every plaintiff, before proceeding into a courtroom, needs to be able to answer one simple question, “Why am I here?”
The same is true in public speaking. When you give a speech, you need to focus not only on the “I” but the “why” of the program. You need to know the purpose for your speech and clearly be able to answer:
Why is this talk important?
Why should the audience listen to me?
Why should the audience put my talk into action?
When you choose to focus on the “I” as well as the “why” of your presentation, you are more likely to connect with your audience and increase the overall value and effectiveness of your speech.
Lesson 2 – Dress for Success
Imagine walking into a courtroom and attorneys are dressed in pajama pants, a polo shirt, and worn fuzzy slippers? What about drooping pants and a top with a plunging neckline and bulging cleavage? You may laugh at the thought, but odd and outlandish attire choices seem to be more of the norm for many who are not court officers. Why is this so important?
One universal truth we know to be true is that people are strongly influenced by visual cues. Your attire can accentuate or detract from your message. How? In thirty seconds or less, the audience will assess your look and decide whether or not you “appear” worth listening to. Choose to make a strong impression as you increase your credibility quotient; always choose polished and professional apparel.
Lesson 3 – Get to the point
The calendar of any court judge is full daily with no time to waste. Time is a precious commodity. If you waste the time you’re given, you risk being cut off by the judge and left wondering how you lost your case.
When you address an audience, it’s important to remember that their time is precious. Waste time and the audience will choose to tune you out and you will lose their attention and the ability to make your points. Plan, prepare, and practice your speech with information that is relevant, interesting, and concise.
Lesson 4 – Make Eye Contact
The eyes have it - truth is in the eyes. “Don’t look up there or look over there; look at me!” is a common admonishment you’ll often hear the popular Judge Judy often extol. Eye contact is the connection that helps judges and audiences alike to connect with the speaker. Audiences are more likely to believe what you say when you are able to look them in the eye without wavering. Make eye contact with your audience often and watch your credibility and connection with your audience go up!
Lesson 5 – Speak Up
Mumbling in court is not optional. Fail to speak up in court and you risk others speaking over you and drowning out your opportunity to make your case. What good is testimony if the judge, court reporter, attorneys, litigants, jury and court observers can’t hear it? When you make a presentation, ensure that the eloquence of your message isn’t lost. Use your voice and be sure to maintain an appropriate volume for the venue in which you speak. Speaking to a conference room full of your peers will require a different need that giving a keynote given at an industry conference. Make the choice - choose to speak up.
Apply these five public speaking secrets and you will always give outstanding presentations and be in control of any room.
Joy and I were recently invited to tape a Public Broadcast Service (PBS) television segment about interesting people making a different in society. Well, to say the least, we were honored, excited, and motivated about the opportunity.
We drove up to the television studio, I opened the back door to the retrieve my bag and bam; I closed the car door on my thumb (See my thumb to the left). Joy eyes exploded with fear as she covered her mouth to keep from screaming. I calmly opened the car door and reassured Joy that the thumb was not broken and all I needed was some ice to control the swelling. You see, I was motivated and wasn't going to let a big thumb get in the way of an opportunity.
By the time we arrived at the television studio, which was unusually hot, my thumb was throbbing with pain and I was dizzy from the heat. I forgot about the pain and the dizziness once they said we were able to tape the segment. As they say, "The show must go on."
The taping was a success and I couldn't wait to put the ice back on my thumb. Joy asked the our contact when the segment would show. She mentioned that the segment would show in late April after "Clifford the Big Red Dog." At that time, I didn't know who "Clifford the Big Red Dog" was, but Joy quickly let me know that everyone knows Clifford and what cave was I living in not to know of Clifford.
We will keep you posted when the video when it is available. I need to go now to take care of the big thumb.
Academy Awards come and go, but one thing is a constant: bad acceptance speeches. You may never win an Academy Award, but you may be asked to give an acceptance speech for an accomplishment in your business, your career, your community, or your organization. Sometimes your acceptance speech will be for what you accomplished, or for what your team has accomplished.
Will you be ready when it is your time to give an acceptance speech?The following are seven presentation secrets to giving an outstanding acceptance speech in any situation:
When giving an acceptance speech, use notes as a tool to enhance your presentation and not as a crutch. Only use notes for remembering the opening sentence, important names to thanks, or whatever facts you need to mention. Don't have the entire speech on notes.
The following are some quick tips for working with notes:
Take the time to give appreciation to the organization giving you the award and to those who helped you achieve the award. No person is an island. You achieved the goal through the help of someone(s), so acknowledge and appreciate them. To save time, if it is a few people, acknowledge them by name. If it is a large group of people, department, or organization, mention the group by name. For example, you might say, "I would like to acknowledge the people in marketing for their hard work on the Peterson project for making this moment happen. If it were not for their time and effort, we would not have won the XYZ account. Thank you."
Also, only thank the necessary people during your acceptance speech. Don't thank Guttenberg for inviting the printing press if he has nothing to do with why you accomplished your achievement. Stay focused on only those people who had a direct effect on your achievement.Be clear and concise in your showing of appreciation because you will most likely be under time constraints.
Many times when you are given an award during a meeting, conference, etc., you are also under time restrictions. In most cases, you will have longer than thirty seconds. Take the time to ask the person in charge of the meeting how much time you have for your speech. Also, make it a habit to look at the agenda ahead of time to see how much time you have been allotted. It may be only three minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes, but find out ahead of time. By finding out ahead of time and staying within the time given to you, you show respect to your audience, the people in charge of the meeting, and most of all yourself. Once you go over the time allotted, you can see the audience members start looking at their watches and stop listening to your important speech.
Note: If you can't find out ahead of time how much time you have to make your speech, assume you have very limited time and keep you comments brief.
Take the time to apply these seven acceptance speech secrets and you will give an outstanding presentation each and every time you receive an award.
We are honored to be involved of the third annual American Cancer Society's African American Men's Health Forum at the Marriott Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, VA on April 19th. As a volunteer for the American Cancer Society, I implore everyone to be proactive in taking care of their health. As Co-Chairman of this important event, I am especially happy that NFL Legend Bruce Smith has become a spokesperson for this event. See the following commercial with Bruce:
For additional information, go to www.cancerhealthforums.org. Get the information to make a difference for your love ones and for yourself.
Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!
Today is National Speak Up and Succeed Day! Great communication skills will set you apart from the competition and new opportunities will open up for you. Read the following article to find out how you can speak up and succeed:
"Career Advice: Three Secrets to Telling Your Story for Career and Job Success"
presentation+skills presentation speaking+skills success 
I hope all is well and we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving today.
Even if it's not a holiday in your part of the world... it's always nice to be thankful for the people, opportunities, and things we have in our lives. Take a moment today to call, e-mail, or text message the special people in your life and let them know how you appreciate them.
Thank you for your continued interest and support in The Sykes Group. We hope our postings have made a difference in your lives and will continue to make a difference in the future.
Also it is my birthday today. It's a big one (I'll let you guess which one). As a friend wrote in her card, "Nice that the entire nation has declared it a holiday."
Have a Great and safe Happy Thanksgiving today!
Giving+Thanks Happy+Thanksgiving Thanksgiving+Day Happy+Birthday The definition of insomnia is the difficulty the person has in falling asleep and at times even remaining sleepless through out the night. The body desperately craves sleep but there is a nightl...
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