Humor at Work: Are Your Customers Having Fun Yet?

Published: Wed, 01/16/13

Humor at Work

ISSUE 471 - Jan 16, 2013


			Getting to Know Your Customers - Are They Having Fun Yet?

	The third Thursday of each quarter of the year is Get to Know Your Customer Day. So this Thursday, January 17th is the first of four reminders throughout the year of the importance of getting to know your customers better. Starting, perhaps, with the most basic of all questions: Who are your customers? This may seem like a basic question, but a surprising number of people don't know! In a survey conducted at a northeast U.S. hospital, for example, the nurses believed the doctors were their primary customers, not the patients! Organizations that excel at providing memorable customer service are masterful at getting to know their customers inside out and upside down. This is a big topic, so for today I just want to remind you of two questions you could and should be asking your customers under the old "putting humor to work" banner: 1. What's NOT fun about doing business with us? (This is a great one for identifying excessive procedures, unnecessary policies or irritants such as the inability to speak with a live human being.) 2. What would make it MORE fun to do business us? (You never know what wacky, creative insights and ideas you might get when you pose this question on a regular basis.)

		Mike's Fun at Work Tip

Last week I suggested creating a fun "2012 Highlights Wall" featuring the top memories from 2012, so this week: Create a fun "What We'll Achieve in 2013 Wall" filled with inspiring words, phrases, quotes, goals, headlines and fun photos that will get your team pumped about the year ahead and highlight the top areas you want to focus on in 2013.
		Quote of the Week

"Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated." Robert McNamara, former US Secretary of Defense
		It's a Wacky World

A study into eating habits found that people eat 71% more food while watching television. But wait! There's more! The study also found that people watching David Letterman eat more food that people who watch Jay Leno. So if you're watching your weight this January you may have to forgo a few top-10 lists! (Maybe just trim it back to a top-5 list, see how that goes for a while.) But wait! There's more! A Vanderbilt study found that 15 minutes of laughter burns 40 calories, so maybe it's a matter of forgoing the popcorn all together and just enjoying whatever comedy show gives your funny bone its best workout.

Funny Watching

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Inspiring Reading

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