Friday 20 December 2019

Assume Makes an...

.. ass out of you and me is how the saying ends.  

Our lives are governed by assumptions.  We “assume” something will go a certain way (especially if we’ve planned it).  We “assume” that certain views are inherently “right” (or “wrong” depending on our cultural, social and educational background.  We “assume” we understand what the person means.

As Robert McCloskey (and, apparently, Alan Greenspan) said, “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant.”  We tend to think we know what another person means or wants, but this may not always be the case.

I recently attended a wedding reception during the Christmas season.  Luckily, we were the first to arrive at the venue to find that the tables had been decorated with a Christmas theme.  This wasn’t surprising; after all, it was the Christmas season.  What became clear, however, was that the message that the event was a wedding reception rather than a Christmas celebration either hadn’t been delivered or understood clearly.  It was no problem to remove the decorations from the tables, and we all had a laugh about the “crossed wires” that had caused it all.

It got me thinking, though.  How many times have we as managers either been guilty of assuming something was the case without clarifying it, or of assuming that our message to others was clear?  We’ve given an instruction to someone, only to find that when the task was finished, it “wasn’t what we wanted”.  

It all boils down to communication – one of the most important management skills and one on which I find I still need to improve.  One of the best ways to make sure it’s been “well received” is to get the other person to repeat what they understand the task to be.  Look at the restaurant staff who take your meal order.  At the end, they repeat it back to you to make sure everything has been correctly recorded.  

I constantly need to remind myself that what I say may not be what the other person understands.  I’ve learnt not to assume that everything will happen as people say it will, or as I expect it to, so making allowances for miscommunication or misunderstanding should be just as natural.

More work needed, as they say! 


I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.


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posted by William Martin @ 09:42 0 Comments

Wednesday 11 December 2019

How Easy Is Help?

Is your customer help department a “black hole”? If people send in a request or complaint, do they get an acknowledgement? Or is there just silence?  How do they know what’s going on?

How many of us have dealt with organisations (particularly online vendors)?  I’d imagine the answer is “Quite a few”.  Now how many of us have found that getting answers to questions or help with problems is easy with the same organisation?  I’d imagine that the answer to this would be “Not quite as many”.

Selling is about people – at both ends of the sale.  The customer wants something that does what it should do for the price they’re willing to pay.  If it fulfils this requirement, we have happy customers who will (we hope) buy more from us and keep us in business.  

We’re at the other end.  Our job is to convince the customer that what we have is what they want (and will pay for).  The way we react when things go wrong is critical.

I’ve encountered businesses who don’t have a contact number (let alone email) for when things go wrong.  Why would this be?  The cynical among us would say that it’s because things go wrong so often, that they’d spend all their time sorting out problems.  Others might suggest that it costs too much.  The final scenario is that there’s a place “somewhere” on their website where one can log a problem.

Not having any kind of facility for raising problems or complaints is likely to be bad news for business growth once the word gets out (which it will these days).   Most businesses have realised this and will usually have something (albeit not easy to find).

The next focus should be on how the issue is handled.  Ideally, if the only way to log an issue is somewhere on the business’ website, the customer needs to receive an acknowledgment that their issue has been noticed and will be followed up.  Often these come from a “Do Not Reply” or “No Reply” email address, which still keeps the customer at bay waiting for a response.  Whether (and when) they get one is still open.

Personally, I’m a fan of receiving a response from a named individual and there are businesses which do this well.  Equally, there are those that simply don’t seem to have any system.

Unless our product or service is one we can’t do without, we need to have a “problem desk” equipped to handle all issues that may arise.  We can’t stop problems happening, but we can control how we handle them.    


I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.

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posted by William Martin @ 09:47 0 Comments