by Jurek Leon

The best way to motivate people is to catch them doing things right and praise them for it.

This isn’t something that comes easily to a lot of managers.  Even those who do praise regularly need some guidance on how to do it effectively.  For example, I often caution business owners and managers attending presentations not to stride back into work and say, “I just want you all to know I think you’re doing a fabulous job.”

The staff will soon work out that their manager has just been on a course or at a conference, and they’ll say to one another, “This won’t last. Give it two days/hours/minutes and things will be back to normal!”

Even the most intelligent of people can get praising wrong.  Let me illustrate this by sharing an example from my colleague, Jan Collins.  She was running a leadership program for nursing supervisors and managers at a hospital.  The importance of praise in creating an effective team and a positive workplace was discussed.

That’s when a nurse turned to her boss and said, “One thing that really gets on my nerves is the way you say ‘Thanks’ at the end of every shift. 

(more…)

by Jurek Leon

In his best seller “Freakonomics,” renegade economist Steven Levitt describes the power of revealing difficult-to-obtain information.  Levitt says that when one party to a transaction uses information the other does not have, a condition of “information asymmetry” exists. 

Sounds complicated, doesn’t it?  And how does it have relevance to mystery shopping and the health of your business?  Stay with me, while Steven Levitt explains a bit more….with the help of the Klu Klux Klan.  Well, he cites the Klu Klux Klan as an example.  Here goes:

(more…)

by Jurek Leon

Customer loyalty.  It gets mentioned a lot, but who does it well? 

Think of your own buying behaviour.  Who are you loyal too?  What is it that makes you loyal to them?   How do you demonstrate that loyalty?  Do you come to the organisation’s defence when you hear others being critical of it?  Do you automatically buy from them or go to them without even thinking of alternative providers of the products or services?

It’s a topic that fascinates me, but I do often wonder about programs that get called ‘loyalty programs’ by financial institutions, retailers and many other organisations.  With most of them, where does the loyalty come in?

(more…)

by Jurek Leon

One of the things I love to do at workshops and seminars for owner/operators of tourism-based businesses is to ask them what they did in their previous life.  Invariably the answer involves little that would prepare them for life in the tourism sector but it does make for fascinating conversations and I’m sure their guests find this interesting too.

These people usually prefer to leave their past corporate, professional or public sector lives well behind them but often I encourage them to build it into a point of interest, even a point of difference for their business.

(more…)