Starting Over – Part Two

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The sun always rises tomorrow!

The other day my friend and one of our avid Shepard Letter readers, Doug Schukar, shared this quote he heard over and over from his father growing up. I knew Doug’s father, the late and great Buzzie Schukar, a larger-than-life man who loved life and always had good advice.  “The sun always rises tomorrow” is exactly the kind of advice Buzzie would espouse to his son – and his friends. My take on this is that no matter how tough the day is, tomorrow is another day… and of course, the sun will rise.

I’ve written and spoken about how bad days only last 24 hours. That’s another way of saying it; that tomorrow is another day. And, of course, the sun will rise. These are words I live my life by, and I encourage you to do the same. The concept of starting over is also an optimistic viewpoint that tomorrow will be a better day, especially if today was a bad day. It applies to us in our personal lives, but also in the business world, especially in customer service.

Previously, I’ve shared the concept of starting over in one of my books. When I first wrote about this idea, it had to do with the idea that no matter how good we are today, tomorrow is a new day and we must start over. We’re only as good as our last customer interaction, so we need to see every customer interaction as an opportunity.

Sometimes customers – both internal and external customers – aren’t easy to deal with. They may have complaints, problems, or even be upset or angry. We do our very best as professionals, regardless of what our roles are in the organizations where we work. We work to fix problems, resolve issues, and make our customers happy. Even when we are successful, and we usually are, the stress of dealing with any negative situation can impact the conversation we have with the next customer.

That is where the concept of starting over applies. At the end of every interaction, good or bad, it’s time to start over. If the conversation was a tough one, put it behind you and move on. If it’s a good interaction, don’t rest on success. Strive to be even better next time – every time. Start over with a clean slate. That may mean you’re starting over immediately with the next customer, or you’re going home and will start afresh tomorrow. Regardless, it’s a new beginning – and the sun will once again rise.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. As a customer service speaker and expert, Shep works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. He is a hall of fame speaker (National Speakers Association) and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author.

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