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From "7 Habits of Successful People"
Have You Got A See-Through Smile
We all know that a positive attitude can make a real difference to the way in which we work. It can also make a real difference to we are perceived by our customers. This is why many large organisations are now starting to link customer satisfaction measurement with staff engagement surveys. They realise that the attitude of their employees is important.
Hopefully, this recognition also stimulates the companies into addressing any grievances, so that their staff are in the right frame of mind to give a high level of service. Ultimately, employees find it hard to completely conceal how they are feeling inside.
True or false?
For instance, it may be relatively easy to force a smile when we’re talking to a colleague or customer whilst inside we are angry, miserable or unhappy. However, we may not realise that many people can (almost subconsciously) pick up the difference between a genuine smile and a fake one. Indeed, research has shown that people often react differently to real and false smiles.
This highlights one possible pitfall of customer satisfaction measurement and results from activities such as mystery shopping. The customer or shopper may be asked to record whether the company or store representative smiled at them. However, they usually aren’t asked whether they felt that the smile was genuine or that the employee was just ‘going through the motions’!
A recent study surveyed restaurant diners to find out how satisfied they were with the level of service they had received. They were also asked whether they felt that any positive attitudes shown by the waiting staff were authentic or not. The results showed that those who thought that their waiters’ attitudes were authentic and not just ‘put on’ were more satisfied with the service they received.
Always look on the bright side…
So can we learn to be more positive? Benjamin Franklin suggested that we should all ‘search others for their virtues’ – i.e. try and finds something positive about the character of each person we come across, even if it’s only something small. It’s very easy to find fault, but changing our approach so that we are always focusing on positive aspects can help us to start to appreciate others more.
On a personal level within an Insight team, Benjamin Franklin’s approach can really help you to build a stronger rapport and increase your influence with your colleagues, your boss and your internal clients. Just try focusing on something positive about them or something you have in common with them. Building bridges isn’t always easy, but ultimately it can help to overcome a lot of obstacles. And you never know, you might just find yourself really smiling at that other person – without having to fake it!
