The Relationship Difference by Rommel Anacan
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Training & Speaking
    • Consulting
    • Your Training Department
    • Multi-Family Housing
    • Video Production Services
  • Meet Rommel
  • Speaking Samples
  • Fan Feedback
  • Contact Us

It's Our Blog!

Grab a cup of coffee, relax for a minute or two, find your happy place, read the posts and join in the conversation!

First Time Visitor?

Your People Are Your Brand to Customers... Does that Scare You or Make You Happy?

1/20/2015

0 Comments

 
Until they merged with United Airlines I made a decision that I would NEVER again fly Continental Airlines. Ever. This was all because of one bad experience I had with a member of the Continental crew while traveling.
Picture
This is what it felt like from that flight attendant! (Image Credit: Depair.com)
After this experience whenever I saw a commercial or marketing piece for Continental, I thought of this crew member and how she treated me. No amount of colorful airline livery or fancy marketing would ever replace the fact that to me that associate was Continental Airlines. And since I didn’t like my experience with her, I didn’t like the company. Period. End of story.

What does this have to do with your company?

I don’t care if your CEO has degrees from Harvard, Yale and Oxford; or if your executives have every certification given in the multi-family universe; if your regional managers are the most intelligent and articulate groups of regionals the industry has ever seen . . . to the average customer, they are not your ‘brand.’

The people sitting behind the desks are your brand. The people answering the phones at your offices, stores, car lots, front desks etc. responding to emails, monitoring your social media spaces and taking clients on tour are your company to the average customer.

Remember your first day?

I remember my first day working for a well-respected real estate company. I was a leasing consultant responsible for renting apartments that rented for $1,860 per month, all the way up to over $4,000 per month! Now how much time and effort do you think was spent preparing me to be the face of this mega-multi-million dollar community and of the company’s brand before I met with my first client?

One hour!

On my first day I was given the tour, handed the keys to the model and golf cart, showed where my desk was and given the book of many, many floorplans and a site map. I shadowed a manager on one tour and then was then let loose to help customers and become the face of this iconic community.

How good do you think I was in my first 30 days? Not very. In looking back, the people I worked with just had very full plates, so they really wanted (needed) me to figure things out on my own. While I can understand that, it doesn't change the fact that life was still difficult for me in those early days and I wasn't doing the company any favors either. 

When I got the chance to manage my own community I didn’t want my people to go through what I went through. I didn’t want someone to become the face of my community and company (and me!) without preparing them for the role.

Here is what I did:

  1. I developed a new hire on-boarding program. I walked my people through all aspects of their jobs; giving them all of the tools, techniques and secrets that I learned during my career. (Eventually my company adopted some of these ideas and created an on-boarding program for all associates.)
  2. I didn’t allow my new hires to help clients until they went through the program and felt they were ready. This period lasted anywhere from one week to two weeks, depending on the person.
  3. I personally worked with and trained my new team members because I wanted to be the dominant influence in the early stages of their careers.

I’m not going to lie, doing these meant more work for me! There were times I thought I was nuts to do this. But when the results showed me that the effort was worth it, I was thrilled! When the office could essentially run itself and I didn’t need to be involved in the minutiae, I knew it was worth it!

Of course, the specifics of your situation may be different~but the important question to ask yourself is this...

How have you prepared your people to be the face of your brand?
0 Comments

Don't Sell Out to Make the Sale

1/6/2015

0 Comments

 
I remember a story I read a few years ago from a book (I think it was Living Large by Sarah Wexler) in which the author described the experiences of a young woman who was a sales associate in a national retail chain. This sales associate proudly explained the strategy that helped her sell jeans to men and it goes something like this … (paraphrasing) 
Picture
“When a guy comes out of the fitting room in a pair of jeans, I stare at his butt several times as he looks in the mirror. Then when ne notices me “checking him out,” I act embarrassed and flustered and smile nervously so that he thinks he caught me admiring how he looks in the pair of jeans. This usually encourages guys to buy those jeans!”

As this associate went on to tell the story, it was clear that the higher ups in the store approved of her selling strategy; after all, she was getting the results everyone wanted; the young woman hit her numbers, the store likes sales, and the customer thought the cute woman in the store was checking him out, so everyone was happy, right?

So, what’s the problem?


Read More
0 Comments
    Picture

    Rommel Anacan

    I am a national speaker, trainer, and strategic consultant to companies and organizations. I'm also
    the president and founder of The Relationship Difference a professional and personal development company in Orange County, California.

    My passion is helping people succeed by helping them connect, communicate and engage with the people around them more effectively. 

    More about me and this blog here!

    FIRST TIME HERE?

    Most Read Posts

    • How to Lose a Customer in 10 Seconds
    • Break-Up! When Change is a Great Thing
    • The Second Button-Lessons From the Famous Seinfeld Episode
    • Why People Love Southwest Airlines
    • When Do You Take a Chance on Your Dreams?
    • Communicating in Social Media
    • It's a Wonderful Movie
    • Someone to Believe in Me
    • Can I Order Some Food First? Improving the Work Environment
    • Renew, Refresh and Restore!
    • Developing a Leadership Culture



    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from Jessa B.C., roland, Joits, Veronique Debord, a4gpa, Neon Tommy, Keith Allison, phoenixshade, ThinkGeoEnergy, psigrist, Tony Fischer Photography, Jeffrey Beall, permanently scatterbrained, tastybit, Chris Winters, jurvetson, DWallis, North Devon Council, gnuckx, fabbio, NicoleElocin, marragem, Andy M¢, Gage Skidmore, JohnSeb, zzpza, Luigi Rosa, Erin Costa, justinbaeder, Jeffrey Beall, Keith Allison, neil conway, devinStein, losol, wanderingone, Bludgeoner86, vasilemadalin, wjarrettc, paulhami, Shaun Greiner, DonkeyHotey