The Art of Good Customer Service

Nordstrom has long been known for its gold standard customer service.  When you are shopping at Nordstrom, a good sales representative makes sure everything revolves around you - what you are looking for and what else you might like.  A few days later you get a personal note from your new BFF thanking you for the purchase and looking forward to your next visit.

Nordstrom isn’t the only store with a reputation for customer service - the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s are just a few of the well-known companies known for great customer service. 

A more recent entry into the excellent customer service arena is Apple with their Genius Bar - the cadres of high tech geniuses who will remove the evil spirits from your Mac or iPhone without making you feel stupid in the process.

Great customer service creates brand loyalty.   When it is a great experience, you’ll return and buy again. You feel good. You are pleased with your selection. However, there is a lot more than soft and fuzzy feelings motivating great customer service. 

A great customer service representative will help you make decisions - decisions to buy things. You won’t notice.  You’ll think you made that decision on your own.  But while you are focused on the product, the store representative is focused on you. 

They are watching for hints about what is holding you back from saying “Yes” to the deal and  then relating that information to their sales approach. Your attitude, your expressions, and even your body language are all providing information about what is standing between you and the “cha-ching.”

If you hesitate about a new outfit, you might hear, “I bought that same skirt last month and wasn’t sure where I would wear it either but I found it can be the right outfit for almost any occasion.”   You express reluctance about learning something new and the techie might say, “I don’t like to change systems either but when I had to upgrade I found it was easy to install and the computer ran faster.” 

The scientific theory about what is going on is called Emotional Intelligence Competencies or EI Competencies.   First studied in 1998 by Daniel Goldman, EI Competency skills relate to both intra-personal awareness skills and inter-personal social skills.  The better you are at being aware of your own emotional state, controlling your emotions, and using your emotions to motivate your behavior, the better you will be at empathizing with others and building positive relationships.

Often a sales representative will offer you three choices.  Just a coincidence?  No – that too is based on research. It is easier for humans to choose between three products than it is to choose between two.  Too many options overwhelm but three are just right - and mostly likely the choice will be neither the premium nor the least expensive options but the value option in the middle.

Knowing that customer service is based on reading you may sound intrusive or manipulative.   But it shouldn’t.  Yes, the goal is to make a sale - but to make a sale that you are happy with and that makes you feel good.  And if you later decide it wasn’t a good purchase - no problem - good customer service means easy returns with no questions asked.

Study examines mindset of entrepreneurs

We all marvel at the innovation and creativity of young entrepreneurs.  Some people seem to be born with the entrepreneurial spirit - destined for careers of purpose and accomplishment.

Two renowned institutions decided to study the development of entrepreneurs and the qualities that spur their drive.  The Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University and the Stanford Center on Adolescence jointly developed a longitudinal study to identify the "cognitive, motivational, behavioral and ecological" characteristics of adolescents and young adults who display entrepreneurial purpose. 

The Young Entrepreneurs Study (YES) was in part funded by the John Templeton Foundation. 

If YES could identify the attributes of entrepreneurship and determine if those attributes were inherited or could be taught, the findings might have profound impacts on teachers, parents, employers and even on individuals themselves who wanted to prepare themselves for entrepreneurial careers.

Beginning in June 2011 YES tracked over 4,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 24 for three years.  The group represented a wide range of ethnic groups; 60 percent were females and 40 percent males; 16 percent were foreign born and 84 percent were U.S. born.

There were four areas where young people who were engaged in entrepreneurial activities exhibited markedly different traits.  They were twice as likely to have"business sense" - always on the lookout for investment opportunities and understanding the tax implications of financial decisions.  Many had started a business on their own as children mowing lawns or shoveling snow in the neighborhood.

Perseverance and initiative were also important.  Whether it was organizing others around a cause, reworking businesses plans until the winning model was developed, or overcoming challenges, once the goal was established setbacks didn't stop them. 

Over 76 percent of those identified as aspiring entrepreneurs demonstrated innovative thinking skills. They found new ways to do things rather than follow the beaten path.

The other major difference was in the availability of mentors and role models - 45 percent of the aspiring entrepreneurs had a family history or someone close who had started a business. 

Entrepreneurship comes with high risk and high reward.  Having these skills doesn't guarantee financial success.  However, for those who want to chase the golden ring, it can mean a lifetime of fulfillment.

Equally important, the researchers determined that these are skills can be learned.  Parents, teachers, friends and family can encourage young people to start businesses, become financially aware, spend time with entrepreneurial adults, and above all try, try again.

Creative Economy Packs a Big Punch

Are you the innovative, creative type?  Maybe you teach music or design software.  Perhaps you sketch new fashion ideas.  Maybe your love is architecture or interior design.  If so you are part of the creative economy, Southern California is the right place for you.

Traditionally we think about economic impact in terms of well-defined economic sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services.  We count how many jobs and establishments are in each sector.  We compute their economic output in terms of GDP, wages, and tax revenues. 

All this data paints a picture of the economy - what businesses and jobs are increasing or decreasing - data which policy makers, educators and employers use when making public policy, training, and expansion decisions.

But there are other ways to look at the economy which cut across those defined industry sectors and measure some of the same economic output data based on professional attributes rather than by industry.

A recent report prepared for Otis College of Art and Design by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) did just that.  It asked, “What is the economic output of Southern California’s Creative Economy?”  

The word “creative” immediately brings to mind Hollywood and the entertainment business.   After all, Southern California is the entertainment capital of the world and, as would be expected, the entertainment industry is the largest employer in the creative economy.

But creativity is a critical aspect of many industries.  The Otis Report looked at entertainment and all the other “businesses and individuals involved in producing cultural, artistic and design goods or services.”  In the Los Angeles region those business and professions deliver a hefty economic return. 

The total gross regional impact of the Creative Economy in Los Angeles and Orange Counties is $766 billion. Creative businesses directly employ 406,600 people with a total payroll of $33.5 billion. 

When you add in the indirect jobs (people employed by the sector’s suppliers and vendors) and the induced jobs (jobs supported by employees’ spending) the total impact is 695,100 jobs - five percent of California’s wage and salary employment.

In Los Angeles County alone creative economy businesses have a combined payroll of $30.4 billion of which 45 percent or $13.7 billion is derived from the132, 700 direct employees of the entertainment industry.  Visual & Preforming Arts and Fashion are also significant contributors.

Over $5 billion in property, state and local income and sales taxes are generated by creative businesses in Los Angeles County.

California leads the nation in creative businesses and jobs.  Southern California claims 40 percent of the total creative jobs in California and Los Angeles County is home to 87 percent of the creative jobs in Southern California. 

That’s great news.  But these are the jobs every state and region wants to attract.  Other regions and states are looking to entice the creative, innovative talent who reside here. Our public policy, training and economic decisions must consider how they will impact the Creative Economy so it will continue to grow and thrive here.