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Seth Godin’s Business School Extravaganza

Seth Godin, business and marketing guru has posted an amazing offer to his blog. And, like many of his ebooks, it’s free. Here’s his offer:

If you could change your life

…would you?

Getting into Stanford Business School changed my life. In college, I trained to be a mediocre engineer (I didn’t set out to be mediocre at it, but I sure was). I was on track to become Dilbert.

Getting into Stanford meant jumping the track. Going from one path to another in one fell swoop.

I didn’t learn much of substance at business school, but that’s fine, because the school allowed me to make a graceful transition. I had permission to reinvent and a platform to do it.

Which leads to this post, this track and this opportunity. (Please read all the details at this link before jumping up and down).

I’m offering an apprenticeship/not-internship/graduate school/charm school track-changing opportunity to a few people this winter. It’s free, it’s fairly audacious and I hope you’ll check it out. It might not be for you (in fact, it probably isn’t) but I have no doubt that you know people who might be interested.

I’m convinced that there are people out there who–given the right teaching, encouragement and opportunity–can change the world. I’m hoping you can prove me right. You don’t have much time and there are only a few slots, so if you’re even flirting with this idea, check out the lens here.

Two years at business school is a lot of time (and money) to spend to change paths these days. Most people over 20 can’t afford either. I think six months might be a lot more do-able.

The beautiful conceit of Stanford during its heyday was that they recruited people who were really quite good at something, even though it might not be business. Or people who were at one level in an organization but strived to jump ahead several notches. I had a pro golfer and a teacher in my section, for example. As far as I can tell, most MBA programs have become finishing schools for commercial bankers hoping to become consultants and investment bankers (at least until recent events occurred). The creative achievers need a new, faster way to jump the track. For a few, this might be it.

This is a huge commitment for the people who sign up, of course, and a big shift for me as well. So, I’m leaving myself this escape hatch: if I can’t find enough truly amazing people to take advantage of the opportunity, I’ll quietly move on and won’t do it (this time). I’m not prepared to settle, and you shouldn’t either. But, if I’m right about the caliber of restless people reading this, I’m figuring that there will be plenty of amazing people out there passionate enough to take a leap.

So, if you think you’d like to find a new track, here’s your chance. If you think you might be able to turbocharge your impact on the world, let me know. Sort of my way of repaying the admissions officer at Stanford who was crazy enough to let me in all those years ago.

Customer service is all about the Reps first, customers second

If you want consistent, golden, five-star customer service from your customer service people you have to teach them, customer service is NOT about the customer.

Customer service is NOT about how to treat a customer. Customer service is about the customer service rep. Why? Because customer service reps are human too. And while many of them certainly enjoy helping others what keeps them going over the long haul is how giving great customer service helps them. When you both *get it* that they can improve their lives, their people skills, their ability to communicate by learning how to interact with customers in a positive way – they will. And the customer will benefit in the long run and so will you. Because when people see that doing something pays off for them they are more likely to keep doing it.

If you are a customer service rep knowing how to listen, how to recognize opportunity, how to problem solve with another human being – particularly one you’ve never met and don’t know! and learning how to think on your feet, on the fly, on the phone or on the internet is a skill-set you can’t learn anywhere like you can in customer service. Not only do you learn to think, you learn how to learn to be proactive and how to be confident.

If you’re a customer service rep the customer is the person who is going to help you become a better person, a more compassionate person, a better thinking person. The customer is going to help YOU achieve YOUR goals for yourself. Because the customer is your measuring stick.

Their satisfaction is what tells you how well you’re learning to apply those thinking, problem solving and interaction skills. So, stop thinking you are a servant or whipping boy for an angry mob of customers. You’re not. You are developing the most critical tools a successful business person can have – the ability to HEAR, really hear what your customer is saying; to know how to respond, what to do, to spot trends in what customers like/want/need or hate/love. That’s invaluable. Every minute you talk to a customer is your own private focus group.

It doesn’t matter if you are a in a formal customer service rep job for the rest of your life or not. The skill-set is what you’re after. You will have families, you will participate in professional organizations, some of you will teach. In everything you do from here on out your success at whatever you do will rest in learning how to listen, how to solve a problem, how to deal with angry people, how to control your own emotions, how to have compassion and empathy and how to interact with strangers in a way that leaves the world a better place. Customer service can teach you those skills if you listen. Your instructor may or may not *get it* but you can.

Those skills will be disguised as “customer service” but make no mistake about it – customer service is about YOU service. This is about YOU. I hope you understand what I am saying because if you learn to see the service you give as a way to hone your life skills – life will come so much easier to you and your success will be great.