September 24, 2007

" Now then we are ambassadors [representataives] for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. II Cor. 5:20

Have you ever had a bad experience with a store or company? Boy! I have...many times. It just can ruin your whole day, can't it?

A few months ago, I changed telephone service in response to a great deal on DSL. I encountered a problem with setting up all the equipment and called customer service. The woman on the other end did not have a clue about what I was talking to her about. She was very young and when I mentioned something about a wall phone, you could tell, it did not compute! I guess she had never seen or heard of a wall phone! I very politely told her it was not her fault that she was not familiar with a wall phone but I needed to speak with someone who was. She told me she could not transfer me to anyone else from her phone, that I would have to call back and go through all those menus again and go to a different department. I was not happy, but I did it. For the next hour I got bounced around, left on HOLD and no one had a clue about how to resolve the problem. And all of this from my cell phone with the minutes clicking away and the dollars adding up!

After getting absolutely nowhere, I got online, found the headquarters for the company and proceeded to email the CEO, the VP and the head of marketing. I figured one of them was bound to be able help.

The next morning the assistant to the CEO was calling me before 8:30 am telling me that she was SO sorry, that it was obvious that they had some training to do in customer service, but that she assured me my problem would be resolved. She had already contacted our local area company and someone would be calling me shortly to make arrangements to come to my house and fix the problem! That person did call and another call came from tech support from a young man who walked me through the entire process online to get my system set up. It took over 2 hours, but he could not have been any nicer.

Now, the first experience with all the ones who did not have a clue, left me feeling very disgusted with this company. But after the efforts were made by the CEO's office and the help of the tech support guy, I felt differently.

The first group of customer service representatives were there to "represent" their company to its customers. They were to help them resolve their problem. They were terrible at their job and what was worst, they didn't care. They didn't care they did a terrible job and they didn't care that I was not being helped. They didn't care what I thought about the company that was paying their salary, not understanding, I guess, that if the company does not do well with its customers, they would be out of a job!

Whenever you do business with the public in any capacity, you are representing your company to them. The company is judged by YOU and how YOU do your job. You do not have to be a sales rep or a customer service rep. by name. No matter what your position, you are representing your company. What you do....positively or negatively.....reflects upon the company who is paying your salary.

I worked a temp job last week in which I was the receptionist. When the elevator door opens, I am the first face anyone stepping off that elevator sees. I am the first impression they get of that company. I can influence the perception of that company either negatively or positively just by how I receive those getting off that elevator. In fact, I was told last week that the only thing they needed me to do was to "be THE FACE"! Now that was a scary thought that they would want MY face to be THE FACE!! But, I got the point! Do you?

We are THE FACE of Jesus to everyone we meet....we are a JESUS REP! At your job every day, you may be a lawyer, a sales clerk, a pilot, a nurse, a construction worker, a janitor, a teacher, a CEO....but you are first and foremost a JESUS REP, if you are a believer! How you treat people, how you respond to difficult situations, how you talk, the language you use, how you love the unlovely, how you handle the difficult people, how respectful you are.....all of those things reflect upon the ONE you represent! People will either be drawn to Him or turned off to Him by how YOU, his representative, treat them.

So today, when you head out to work or the grocery store or to a PTA meeting, remember that just beneath your name tag that reads CARL CHRISTIAN - JOHNSON & JOHNSON REP, is an invisible tag that reads "CARL CHRISTIAN-JESUS REP". Represent Him well!