Chris Smoje’s Post

I’ve know Graham Harvey CSP for 10 years and this is the first chance I’ve had to attend his newly relaunched/refreshed signature workshop. I’m very much looking forward to supporting my friend and learning lots this morning. Thanks for the invitation Harvs 🙏❤️

I saw something yesterday that interested me. When we think of “do not disturb” or “occupied” signs we usually see them on a desk - like a closed bank teller (back in the days). It’s rare to see it on a human. Yesterday I was visiting an aged care facility and saw this sign worn as a vest on a person. It reads: Medication round in progress, please do not disturb. Makes sense right! You’d hate for anyone to be distracted while doing the medication rounds. But I also wonder whether the sign sends a message of not being helpful? I wonder whether the vest was implemented because of “interruptions” and whether these interuptions have stopped as a result of the vest - especially in a setting where signage may not be as effective. Worth a thought 🤔 #serviceculture #customerservice #serviceexcellence

I was wondering if you could help me. I’m putting some work into a new service culture program and I’ve noticed over the years there is a risk that the program becomes bigger and more complex than it needs to be. Thanks for helping me with your vote 🙏❤️ #serviceculture #serviceexcellence #serviceledership #customerservice

I remember watching this interview back in 2015 and the analogy used just stuck with me. 📚 Many people have referred to authorship as something like a marathon. It's a long and often gruelling process, and the things you hear along the way aren't always helpful. Things like: "You should have a few books in you" "Think of a series of books" "Save something for the next book" "If you forget something, put it in the next book" These aren't always helpful to hear at the time of writing and publishing. But here's the thing. Almost 18 months on from publication date, I've lapsed into creative mode. Took a short break from contributing to LinkedIn while thinking about the next thing. Is it a book? Perhaps. See the beautiful thing I've found about the solo journey is it's very easy to get bored and move on to the next thing. When our primary product is intellectual property, there's never an end date to refining, making it better and gaining greater clarity and cut-through that will benefit clients and audiences. With 2025 now firmly on the horizon, I'm excited that the first major evolution of my brand and content is on it's way... 🙌 🎥 NBC Today Show, 5 Nov 2015 #serviceculture #serviceleadership #serviceexcellence #customerservice

🇨🇦I couldn’t help noticing this sign when I was buying my kids an icecream today in Ontario, Canada. 🍦“We are not responsible if you drop your ice cream” 🤯🤯🤯 The funny thing is, that the dropped ice cream story has long been the poster child example of exceptional customer service in the hospitality industry. 😭Here’s how it goes: parents buy child an ices cream, and the child drops it. Instantly turns hysterical causing a scene and added stress and embarrassment to the parents. The service provider sees the situation and immediately comes to the rescue with a new ice cream before the parent even reaches for their cash/card. ❤️🩹It’s called a proactive recovery ☕️It even happened to my wife recently at a coffee shop. My son had knocked the coffee out of her hands and the barista immediately offered another replacement coffee. 🪧When you think about the ice cream example, the sign is technically right - they are not responsible. But a child with control over their ice cream are not really “responsible” either. 📏A measure of good service in this instance is not in the definition of responsibility, but rather taking responsibility to solve the problem for the customers sake. 🤔I do wonder though whether this sign has been put up for the sake of it, or whether the kiosk had gone over budget with free ice creams for children who drop them? (I suspect it was the former). ⁉️What does everyone else think? Have you seen signs like this anywhere else? #serviceculture #serviceexcellence #customerservice #leadership #allin

💧Water bottle in hand💧 This has been my drink of choice for 2 years now! As over the weekend I clocked 2 years without having an alcoholic drink. There have been so many benefits of giving it up, but posting here as I know there are so many people that need this inspiration - and I don’t think I’m that inspiring at all 😂 Celebrating the milestone occasion in Chicago USA 🇺🇸📷 🙏

It wasn’t meant to be as I didn’t make the shortlist, but it was excited to be able to enter my book in the international category of the UK Business Book Awards 📚 It would have been great to fly the flag for Australia and Rethink Press in th category but not this time 🇦🇺Lucy McCarraher and Joe Gregory best wishes to all your authors who are on the shortlist 🤞 Huge congratulations to the many authors (many of who I know from my publishing journey) who made the shortlist ahead of the awards in London in September 🙏 And special mention to all the judges who work tirelessly in selecting finalists and winners in such a prestigious and competitive process 🏆 #serviceculture #businessbook #customerservice #serviceexcellence #allin

A particular attitude can be very useful in overcoming certain obstacles that get in the way of service excellence. Most organisations typically have a number of daily “things” that can make it easy to be less service focused so having the right attitude makes a big difference. Through my interactions with clients I’ve also found that the attitude of a staff member is also related to their overall feeling and buy-in to the service culture. One of the models in All-In Culture shows how the adoption journey integrates with business obstacles, and the corresponding attitudes to overcome each on the right hand side. #serviceculture #serviceexcellence #customerservice #leadership #businessbook #allin

This weekend, my youngest (book 😂) turned one year old! It prompted me to check the Amazon best sellers list and I can see that the book is sitting within the top 50 (currently #48 for customer service). The launch week was epic last year, becoming number one seller in three categories both in Australia 🇦🇺 and the UK 🇬🇧. I was told you have to screenshot your number one rank and reminded myself of this today. Thanks to everyone who has either purchased a copy, or shared the book with other people over the past year 🙏❤️ #serviceculture #customerservice #serviceexcellence #leadership #businessbook #allin

A few years ago, an owner of a fish market got in touch regarding a service culture program for the team. He asked me, when is usually the best time to deliver such training. I responded with, “the week before Good Friday, and in the middle of June”. He was shocked when I said right before Easter - which prompted him to clarify, given how busy it was. I said that there will always be a different approach to service at different times of the year. Good Friday, would be crazy in terms of traffic, and customer numbers. This would require service that is different to the off season time in the middle of June. Time pressures would make interactions shorter with a focus on pace - whereas other times of the year can allow for a slower but more in depth pace of service. It’s always nice to use these peak and trough opportunities to remind the team about adapting service in those different times. Happy Easter everyone 🙏😀 #serviceculture #customerservice #serviceexcellence #leadership #businessbook #allin