节目资讯
刊物:职场秘诀
日期:2009-03-31
难易度:High
关键字:elite status, foremost, sentiment
Advanced Studio Classroom is on the air.
You’re great, Winnie. You’re wonderful.
You too, Brandon.
You guys are just super.
Do you believe me?
Hello, listeners, welcome to Advanced Studio Classroom.
This is Bill Quinn.
What did I do there in the beginning there when we had the music and I paid a
compliment to Winnie and a compliment to Brandon?
And uh, the reason I did that was our article is Complaints and Compliments.
And we’re talking about customers being able to give, uh, encouragement positive
feedback to employees or companies and also uh, dealing how people deal with
complaints too.
But I made that point of kind of paying ridiculous compliments to Winnie and
Brandon.
Because I was thinking about it as I read this article - one thing is be sincere
when you do pay complements to people.
Make sure you are very sincere.
By that I mean you know, give it... give some real meaning to it and emotion and
be honest with people.
Don’t just uh, tell people, ”Yeah, you’re great. You’re doing a super job. Yeah,
keep up the good work,” and then walk away.
People know you’re not being sincere, right?
Yeah, I mean, especially because people do that a lot.
And so it kind of doesn’t really have much meaning if people say thank you all
the time or you’re great, you’re awesome.
It doesn’t really mean much after a few times.
Yeah, that’s great.
That’s right.
You know, if... ”Oh, yeah, you’re great, you’re super, you’re awesome,” and then
you’re right - after a while, it’s like, ”Oh, well, he just says that to
everybody,” right?
So...
And as far as...
Winnie, have you ever received compliments like that?
Well, I just did from you, didn’t I?
Yes, you did.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!
I don’t know whether I should believe you or not Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
Yeah. Well...
But I’ll take it. I’ll take it.
Um, you know, as far as uh, we are talking about compliments and complaints,
actually yesterday was our first day in this article.
I want to give a thought from yesterday of maybe one key idea that stood out to
our panelists.
And uh, back for day 2 are Brandon Bryant and Winnie Shih.
Now first let me ask Brandon as far as, uh, pick out one thing from yesterday
that you really thought was a good idea.
Well, I thought a great idea was, towards the end of what we talked yesterday,
making a gratitude visit,
because I think sometimes we think I should take the time to thank someone, but
we don’t want to go to the trouble.
So I mean at least maybe send an email with substance there - something that is
really meaningful - saying... you’re thankful for something.
Right.
And you make something... about sending an e-mail to people.
And there’s one thing I really find is that just even acknowledging people.
Just acknowledge them.
Communicate back to them.
You know what?
I timed myself - I think it was last week - typing the word thanks and an
exclamation point on my keyboard.
And it was about a second.
It was one second, and then maybe I had to move my mouse over and click ”Send.”.
Right.
And the whole process took maybe, you know, just a handful of seconds.
And... it’s all... And the person got thanks and that means so much.
Think how many e-mails you get from people.
They’re... They give you information, they do something for you, they get back
to you, and you never acknowledge them.
And all it takes is five seconds, you know.
Are they worth five seconds?
Is that person worth five seconds?
Now, Winnie, let me get a thought from you on yesterday.
Yeah, I really like the idea of how when you say thank you to somebody else.
You, the person who’s saying thank you is the one who actually benefits most
from it.
And they did many studies in the universities in the States, and that showed
people uh, physically... their health was better simply by saying thank you.
And I think that’s really important to remember that we receive a lot uh, when
we are thankful for other people, and we actually say it and express it.
OK.
All right.
Very good.
Now, listeners, we’re on day two of this article.
It is March 31st, the last day of the month.
And we are on page 43 for the second page of Complaints and Compliments.
What is your company doing to let gratitude blossom?
Yes, we know, you have surveys, but they’re impersonal, and no one ever sees the
results except the marketing department.
And no, it doesn’t count to say that your customers should call up your support
hotline and offer some praise.
That’s like complimenting your wife’s new haircut by leaving her uncle a voice
mail.
Suppose there were some way to lower the transaction costs of a thank-you so
much that praise became effortless.
What if there were some way to instantly deliver a thank-you to the people who
count?
American Airlines has taken a step in the right direction with a program called
Applause.
It gives frequent travelers who’ve reached elite status a set of preprinted
cards - instant Hallmark moments - that can be handed to employees who provide
exemplary service.
Applause isn’t ideal, but it has the right spirit.
What is your company doing to let gratitude blossom?
Now what does that mean as far as blossom and letting gratitude blossom?
Well, it’s just talking about:
What is your company doing to let gratitude flourish or develop or allowing
people to be thankful toward you or you’re hearing these thank-yous comment?
OK.
One of the things uh, that the companies do we talk about in the next sentence
or two.
That’s right.
Many companies have surveys, employee surveys.
But the article says they’re impersonal; no one ever sees the results except the
marketing department.
OK.
Now survey, it is a form maybe they send out to their customers with 10 or 20
questions on them, asking about their products or services.
And... but it says they’re impersonal.
What does that mean - impersonal, Winnie?
That means it’s maybe kind of cold.
You don’t have a personal touch.
It’s not like you’re... you’re going from one person to another, but you are
dealing with uh, just information.
OK.
And that’s second part of that sentence.
No one ever sees the results except the marketing department.
I worked in sales and marketing.
I know what that sentence means.
And uh, companies just use these surveys a lot of times just to try to figure
out: How do we generate more revenue?
All right?
And OK, we’re trying to improve customer service, but also what do we need to
increase our sales?
And so it’s... it’s also not only customer service thing, having the service,
but what do we need to increase revenue?
That’s... and that’s why they go just to the marketing department, so.
Um, but uh, it doesn’t count, does it, Brandon?
No, it doesn’t count to say that your customers could call up your support
hotline and offer some praise.
All right.
Now what are they talking about - calling up the support hotline offering
praise?
What does that mean?
Well, you know, these people are sitting there waiting on these phone calls to
come in from... receive feedback from customers.
And you know...
And it says it doesn’t count to say that your customers could call up their
support hotline and often some praise,
meaning that um, it doesn’t... sometimes even though they do call and it doesn’t
really matter.
They don’t really see the results.
Like... like you said, the marketing department’s the only one that sees it.
So, you know, someone does something really good.
They may never know about it. It doesn’t count for them.
OK.
Well, or they may get the information secondhand.
Right.
Right?
OK.
So if I... I’m the customer, I call up this customer support hotline and I get
you, Brandon, on the phone, and I say: Oh, could you tell my sales
representative, Winnie Shih, that XYZ was really good.
And then you pass it on to her and maybe she gets it three weeks later.
That’s right.
Right?
And it doesn’t mean anything. It’s coming from you.
And uh, so.
And in fact, there’s a great example in that next sentence, right, Winnie?
That’s right.
Uh, the example is: It’s like complimenting your wife’s new haircut by leaving
her uncle a voice mail.
So the writer here is being very funny.
So imagine, if your wife got a new haircut, instead of saying thank you to her
directly, you would call her uncle and then leave a voice mail.
Not the best way to thank her or tell her how beautiful she is.
So, Winnie, say, you’re my wife.
I mean just an example.
You are my wife and you got a new haircut.
And Brandon’s your uncle.
I like your haircut, so I call Brandon up and say...
But I get his recorder, and what I do is I leave, ”Brandon, did you see Winnie’s
haircut? It was really great. I’ll see you later,” and the message, ”Beep.”.
Right? And then he might pass it on to you.
What would you think of that?
I would say, ”Bad husband. Try again!”.
Yeah. Yeah.
It doesn’t mean anything.
Right.
So that’s what that sentence there is saying.
It’s kind of a humorous and sarcastic example, so.
All right.
Now we move into that next paragraph, Brandon.
Yeah.
Suppose there were some way to lower the transaction costs or the... the
business costs of a thank-you so much that praise became effortless.
OK. All right.
So we’re gonna lower that cost and make it effortless.
What does... What does that mean?
Well, that’s...
If you... If something is effortless, then it means that you don’t have to be
very much in order to make that happen, OK?
So, in this case it says thank you... uh... making thank-yous and praise become
effortless.
OK. We’re gonna make it easy for people.
Yeah.
We wanna make it easy for everybody - not only the customer but the people on
the receiving end - to get it and communicate it and use it quickly and easily.
And then they ask another question to finish up that paragraph in line 26,
Winnie.
Yes. What if there were some way to instantly deliver a thank-you to the people
who count.
All right.
Now I underlined ”people who count.” Are these people that stand there and go
one, two, three, four?
Ha, ha.
No, it doesn’t mean people who count literally.
But figuratively, they’re saying the people who are important, the person that
you are actually trying to thank.
OK. OK. The important people, or at least the one, yeah, your target of your
thank-you.
Well, we see great example, don’t we?
Yeah.
American Airlines has taken a step in the right direction with a program call
Applause.
And this is a program that gives frequent travelers who’ve reached elite status
a set of preprinted cards.
OK.
All right.
American Airlines is uh... the... First, they’ve taken a step in the right
direction.
I underlined that ”a step in the right direction,” Winnie.
It’s also a phrase or... or a figurative... figure of speech, meaning they’re
going, doing this in the right way.
OK.
So they’re doing something good.
Mmhm.
They came upon something and they’re doing the right thing then.
So they’ve got this program called Applause.
Literally, I... I’m just picturing they’re making it for customers to give their
employees a round of applause - to clap like they were in a theater or
something.
And... and what about the... Who does it give uh, these things to?
Well, it gives the frequent travelers who’ve reached elite status.
And these are the travelers who, um, are classified as whether they are given
benefits for travelers, like, faster check-in and free upgrades.
So these are the customers that fly a lot with this American Airlines and so
they’re giving special privileges,
and they’re able to take part in this Applause program.
All right.
So we’re talking about people that fly several times every week.
So they’re always on planes.
So they might be on a business class or maybe a first class kind of status.
OK.
I wanna ask you and stop right there.
Why do they give them just to these elite-status, frequent travelers?
The... these preprinted cards.
Now think about this.
Why do they give them to only them?
And why don’t they just give these cards to everybody?
Why not?
Any idea.
Well, I think maybe it’s because the people that fly a lot or in this elite
status are probably pretty thankful that they get all of these perks,
so maybe they’re more inclined to give some applause.
So you think that they’re just doing this to kind of like, um, harvest
compliments.
That’s right.
It’s that what you’re saying?
Yeah, I mean...
Oh, come on.
... that’s easy to get compliments when you’re getting everything, right?
Brandon, it’s an idea, and I... I give you... I give you a gold star for
volunteering an answer on that one.
It’s OK.
It was... This is a trick question now.
It’s a trick question, kind of, so.
But I appreciate you, you know, offering...
Thank you, Bill.
He is a very thankful person.
You’re a good student.
Good job.
I sincerely mean that.
Thank you.
From the bottom of my heart, so.
OK.
Winnie, any idea?
Well, Bill, the irony here is usually the elite status or people who fly often,
because they’re paying for better service, of course they would get good
feedback.
Of course uh, the, maybe, service they get would be very good.
Now if they were to give preprinted cards to everybody, people who pay, uh, for
regular airfare, maybe they wouldn’t only get thank-yous.
I’m... I’m thinking they might get some complaints as well. I don’t know.
OK. OK.
All right.
Here’s my thought on it.
I’m not saying I’m right.
I don’t know.
I... I mean I usually am, but I was just... Sorry.
But, um, I think that they might consider their frequent travelers, their elite
status customers, may be more savvy, and able to determine good service from bad
service.
These people know what good and bad service is.
They fly not only on American Airlines but they probably fly other airlines.
They... they’re experienced and they know good and bad service.
It’s very... The reason they probably don’t give, um, every customer these
things, one is too expensive to do that.
The program would be too expensive.
But also I’m thinking somebody travels once a year, they don’t really know what
good service is.
Mmhm.
We might have... you know.
There’s extremes.
We know there’s a bad situation.
But the savvy traveler probably knows what is really good service and what is
not good service.
So that’s why they give it to the experienced travelers.
That’s just a guess on my part.
And the elite travelers also are the most profitable group.
Like you said, maybe they’re fishing for compliments too.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
But they get these preprinted cars - their instant Hallmark moments.
Now I underlined ”instant Hallmark moment” because our listeners here may not
know what does that mean - an instant Hallmark moment.
Well, Hallmark is a very... a large... uh... greeting cards company in America.
And so they print a lot of cards.
And so if it’s a Hallmark moment, usually it’s a moment that is worth capturing.
OK. All right.
For special holidays and moments, birthdays, anniversaries, things like that.
This is for employees who provide exemplary service in line 36, Brandon.
Exemplary service just means great service or maybe even ideal service, the
service that you picture in your mind, that kind... the service that you think
you deserve.
Very good.
Now the article interestingly says Applause, the program set up by American
airline called Applause, isn’t ideal, but it has the right spirit.
So what does that mean, Winnie?
Maybe it’s not perfect.
Mmhm.
That’s what it’s saying.
It’s not ideal.
But it has the right spirit that it is, again, a step in the right direction.
OK.
The meaning behind it is very good.
OK.
We’re gonna move on with our finalreading.