Category Archives: Professional Communications

Professional office and other business communication strategies

Don’t Settle for Less Respect with an Accounting Firm

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At this time of year many people are either doing their taxes themselves or having an accountant help them. I have a little story about trying to find an accountant.

I did an internet search for small-business oriented Toronto-based accountants, and came up with a few. After reviewing their websites I chose one to pursue: Ca4IT.com.

Even though I am not an IT professional, I am a contractor, and it was close enough for me and I assumed close enough for them.

I had a free consultation with a wonderful lady named Rachel. She was professional, knowledgeable and very helpful in helping me feel like my taxes would finally be organized in the best way possible. She even arranged for me to come in for a second free consultation early the next week, so that she could ensure my articles of incorporation and HST were in order. Not 1 but 2 free consultations – nice!

After that second meeting I REALLY felt good about my new accounting firm. I was hooked and happy to sign up. The meeting was left with Rachel informing me that she is not an accountant herself, so she would connect me to one at their firm. She would email me a couple documents, and after that I could proceed. I was a very happy potential customer.

THEN – nothing. No email. I waited a week, then emailed her to remind her. Nothing. I waited another week, then called her and left a message. Nothing. Now I was taking it personally. I hate being ignored. Don’t you?

On top of everything there was to be an accounting software workshop coming up soon that I was supposed to attend (sponsored through their firm) and I had yet to receive confirmation of registration for it.

Finally I emailed the Big Boss Andrew through LinkedIn and explained to him that I came to his firm based on his father’s reputation, and was very impressed with Rachel, until she dropped contact with me for no reason. I told him that his almost-new customer’s patience was wearing thin really fast, and asked that if he didn’t want me as a customer then to please recommend a new accounting firm for me.

I’m sure he didn’t like that but I was pissed.

Did he respond? Not to me directly (which I think he should have) but I think he passed on my displeasure to Rachel because the next business day, at 5:30pm, she emailed me finally. Sounds good right?

Wrong. She took no responsibility for dropping me and even lied by saying that my email was lost in her spam box (which made no sense since she had my business file with all the info plus my email from when I originally emailed into the firm, not to mention that she emailed me to 2 different email addresses at the same time, clearly proving that she had my email).

Then in a cold, ‘professional’ tone she proceeded to tell me to fill out a bunch of forms attached and have everything in by the next day, plus an advanced payment, and then I could attend the accounting workshop being held the next evening. Nice.

So what would you do?

I understood that Rachel is an excellent sales woman, and maybe she was too busy to follow up with me or maybe she passed on my file to others who didn’t follow up. She seemed stressed in the email. I don’t need stress. CRA gives me enough on it’s own.

I never filled out the forms, never sent a cheque and never heard from them again. I guess I was expendable, even though they would have had a client for life, not to mention a client who would have recommended them to others. Now they are stuck with an unhappy blogger!

I have since found a new accountant to help me out this year, and going forward. I am happy so far, but this story reminds me (and should remind you too) that there are plenty of accountants and accounting firms in Toronto and the G.T.A., and in whatever are you live in.

Don’t settle on being treated like a file or number. Insist on being treated with respect – as a person.

Good Hunting!

Correction – TV Appearance Has Changed

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Hi “fans” 😉

I have just been informed that the federal leaders will continue talking after 9pm tomorrow (because 2 hours is not enough I guess), so I will not have time to be on LeDrew Live Tuesday at 9pm. HOWEVER they have asked me to come in for WEDNESDAY at NOON instead. So I am happy to oblige.

CP24 (City News) LeDrew Live with host Stephen LeDrew. Look for me around noon on Wednesday.

Thanks,

Coach Ric

Body Language at the Cdn Federal Leaders’ Debate on Tuesday

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Hello Communication Enthusiasts!

Many Canadians will be watching the Federal Leaders’ Debate happening in English this Tuesday April 12th, from 7-9 pm EST. I am sure it will be full of interesting mini-speeches, critiques, replies and maybe some humour. I am also sure it will contain a lot of body language and other non-verbal communication, both positive and negative.

I have been asked by CityNews/CP24 to be a guest on the Stephen LeDrew Live show following the debate. I will be asked to give my expert opinion on the body language used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe during their debate. I am honoured by the request and have agreed to share some thoughts on air.

As of right now the producers think I would be on around 9:30 pm. I’m not sure how much detail Mr. LeDrew will be asking of me so I don’t know how long my segment will be, but I will endevour to give fair and balanced feedback on each of the politician’s body language, and the inferred meaning and feeling. It must be a difficult job to be a professional politician!

Enjoy the debate and enjoy the LeDrew Live show!

Introducing the Customer Service Category

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Hello Readers,

For a number of years now I have enjoyed conversations with friends about terrible customer service or great customer service, and it seems there is an endless supply of stories, especially here in the big city of Toronto.  We Canadians pride ourselves on our stereotypical politeness and our overuse of “please” and “thank you” but the sad fact is that the average customer service experience here in Toronto is mediocre or “good-enough” at best.  Here is the problem:  when we get great service, whether it is at a restaurant or while dealing with a utility company or any other service industry, we are genuinely shocked and almost overwhelmed.  We RAVE about the wonderful service.  Why?  Because it isn’t normal here!  Isn’t that wrong?  So I have created this category in this blog.

As a professional Communication Coach I train people in advanced communication skills which, as you can imagine, includes customer service, building rapport, conflict management etc.  Considering my job, I guess it’s fair to say that I’m a harsh judge of excellent service, but the other reality is that I am a very happy, positive person 99% of the time, and I go in to any interaction with a smile and positive attitude, and the hope that it will be a good experience for both/all of us.   I definitely do not try to be a jerk to anyone!  I used to work customer service myself (most people have at some point).

So I thought I would create a blog category where I can RANT and RAVE about the good, the bad and the ugly customer service here in Toronto.  Heck, there may even be stories in there from outside of this city.  It could be on the topic of public transit, restaurants, utilities, camera shops etc.  No topic is off-limits or too personal.

I can promise you that even though I will use this blog to vent a bit and let people/companies know when they have acted poorly, I will also praise the hard work of others, to make things balanced and fair.  My goal is to be entertaining as well as informative.   I think you will agree that my posts are quite down-to-earth, personable and I hope insightful.

I welcome your comments and stories, but please keep them polite and professional, so I can allow them to be posted.

Thank you!

Yours in pursuit of customer satisfaction,

Coach Ric

When a Customer Asks for Extras – What Would You Do?

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We’ve all asked for some extras at the restaurants, right?  We want malt vinegar instead of white for our fries/chips, we want extra ketchup packets from the fast-food place so we can put them in our fridge, we want 2 helpings of the special dipping sauce at Swiss Chalet.  The question the wait staff, managers and owners of restaurants need to ask themselves is – how much is too much?  That’s tricky when you live in a culture of “the customer is always right”.

I remember I used to visit a Red Lobster in St. Catharines (this is going back a long time ago…mid-nineties!) and they were always giving away free appetizers or discounts off the bill if anything was a few minutes late or if the customer ever said “boo”.  I remember thinking at the time, as I ate my comp shrimp cocktail, that the place must be losing a ton of money.

Anyway back to more recent times, a couple of years ago I took my girlfriend (now my wife) to a new restaurant for Valentine’s Day.  We went to Mambo’s on the Danforth.  Let me tell you – it was awesome!  Great service, great tapas, great mojitos…couldn’t ask for anything more.  I immediately signed up for their newsletter to get coupons emailed to me regularly.  We went a couple more times and even when they changed some items on the menu and did some reno (I can’t remember if they changed management hands or not) we still came back for special occasions, or when we were feeling like we needed to be spoiled.

Anywho, here is my story that relates to the title:  I got an email offer that said if it was your birthday you could come in and get a free main/dinner.  I thought that was good, but who eats by themselves on their birthday at a restaurant like that, right?  So I emailed back to the owner asking, since my girlfriend and I had birthdays within 8 days of each other, could we come in and both get a free main in one night?

I know, I know – I was being a bit pushy right?  But you know what they say – you never know until you ask.  I thought I wasn’t asking for that much, since we were returning customers and he would know that from our names since we had signed up for special nights before via internet.

What happened?  He never emailed me back.  Ever!  I guess he felt it was too much to ask, and instead of responding or negotiating with me, he wrote nothing.  I felt a bit embarrassed and so we never returned to the restaurant again.  Ever.

So the question is now upon you; if you were the customer,  waitstaff,  manager or the restaurant owner, what would you do?   How would you respond to my email/request?  All straight-forward and also creative answers welcome!

It’s Like TTC is Reading My Mind! (Or This Blog?!?)

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I was so pleasantly surprised Wednesday evening!  I was on the subway, heading westbound to Jane, when at approx 6:11pm the train stopped at Dundas West station for a couple minutes.  I was expecting to hear nothing about the delay, which would leave everyone wondering how long the delay would last.  And what do you think happened next?  A calm and clear voice belonging to the TTC operator announced in a very professional way that all trains were stopped due to a burning odour at St. George station, and that they were waiting to get permission to continue.  He told us he would update us again soon as progress was made.  WOW!  Fantastic.  That is a huge improvement on the usual “tell nothing” attitude.  This guy understood our feelings and kept us in the loop.  Kudos!!!

The train began to move again shortly and there were no more disruptions to my ride.  I just wanted to post that here to say THANK YOU to that operator, and to encourage all TTC operators to do the same thing;  speak to us in a calm, clear manner, and inform us of why we are being delayed and approx. how long it will last.  Is it that hard to do?  I think not.

TTC Recorded Voice vs. Live Person

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If you take the TTC as often as I do, then you have heard both their recorded customer service announcements and you have also heard impromptu voices from the drivers of the trains.  The recorded voices are professional, calm and informative.  The loud speaker system doesn’t always work well unfortunately, but at least the voices are clear.

On the other hand, I would say that 90% of the drivers who make announcements over the loud speaker should not be doing so, in the best interest of the company brand.  Why?  Because – simply put – they sound aggressive, and sometimes annoyed.  (On a side note – I wonder if they receive any type of public speaking training?)

I bet they are annoyed at all the stupid questions they have to constantly and repeatedly answer all day, every day.  I bet they have heard the same questions hundreds of times, and are tired of people asking.  I bet they struggle with ESL issues on top of that.  I bet they are annoyed at all the people who stay on a train or try to enter one even after the driver has repeated him/herself 10 times “This train is out of service.  Please do not board this train.  Once again this train is out of service – do not board this train.”  Under those circumstances, not to mention normal stress from the job,  you often have yourself a short-fuse.

That is what I hear in their announcements.  I hear aggression, anger, annoyance and frustration.  So if I’m even half correct in my assumptions, then why would any company want an employee making announcements to the general public?

I know budgets are tight and the TTC is old.  It takes a lot of resources and time to upgrade.  I just want to tell them that almost every time I hear an announcement from a live operator on TTC, I feel sorry for them personally (job stress) and I feel that the TTC will have an even harder time of improving their image as a caring, friendly way of travel.

Asa on Larry King Live (Part 1)

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This is a great interview of Larry King by ‘guest host’ and YouTube sensation Asa the comic. If you watch part 2 as well there is a very deep story about an interview Larry did with a paralyzed police officer many years back – powerful story. Larry is truly the king of interviews. Excellent voice and great story teller. Asa holds his own even though he was obviously nervous. (I would be too!) Good job Asa!

A Thank You Card is Classy

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Today in the mail I received a Thank You card from Leon’s.  Inside contained a hand-written note from Mike, the salesman who sold me my sofa a few weeks back (see previous post Mike Does Right at Leon’s).

I think it’s great that a company is sending out thank you cards, and I think it is also great that the sales rep is personally writing and signing the note.  It’s classy, and it carries positive emotional weight.  I bet you are not surprised then to hear me say that I will be returning to the same store in the future for my furniture needs.

Cheers!