Time flies when you are having fun; time waits for no man; procrastination is the thief of time – there are many quotes, both cliché and profound which attempt to impress the importance of time upon us. But what is time really? Well…clock time is measured in this way for most people – a year is made up of 3153600 seconds which equates to 52600 minutes, 8760 hours, 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months and finally one year is spent. Let’s not even go into decades, centuries, millennia and so on.
What we really need to understand that time is a sort of fallacy, even though clock time is seemingly measurable. Wherever one is right here and now in the present – that is where we are. If we went back into the so-called past to ancient Greek or Roman times, would we be living in the past? No, we would be living there living the present. Many millions of people today have grasped the concept of living in the present and why it is so important.
But, let us unpack this concept a little further?
There are primary actions, and secondary aspects of that make up the quality of a life being lived. Being present is a primary purpose of life, while planning for the practical aspect of life is secondary. So, being present does not mean – stop making short term, easily achievable goals, long term larger goals, five year plans and so on. It means not being here and now and going off to live in the future or past; in other words having our attention elsewhere when focus should be on here and now.
It is part of the human condition to lie awake at night, or drift off into a daydream to something bad someone did to us, or back to better times that are long gone. It is also part of the human condition for us to project to a future that does not yet exist, and worry, or wish were there already. Both of these actions either constitute living in what we commonly refer to as the past, or the future. It is hard enough to live here and now without worrying about what is going to happen next week, or what took place last week.
If we want to leave you with any message for the next 3153600 seconds of your life until 2016 comes around. It is enjoy who you are primarily, in the now, every single moment. Forgive, anyone who might have hurt you in the past – forgiveness is for you, not for them. What is done and gone is over, and while you are still breathing, everything is just fine. Don’t project into the future and worry.
Living in the present does not mean turning into some sort of aimless hermit who refuses to acknowledge clock time. The practical aspects of life need to be attended to also. We need to plan to have some sort of order in our lives, but we also need to remain present so that planning does not spiral out of control, and allow the future take control.
Yes, plane tickets have to be booked in advance, and we need to reach the airport on “time”, and it can be pain. But when we live in the present we enjoy being here right now, wherever we are and whenever. If we cannot enjoy, we accept, and if we cannot accept we surrender, but the point is we never want to wish that we are anywhere else but right here and right now.
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Eggnog is not the only spirit we sip on at Christmas time. The archetypal “Spirit of Christmas” takes hold of just about everyone, except perhaps the “Grinch who stole Christmas”. It becomes a valuable opportunity for customer services teams to play it right, and capitalise on a time where customers can be encouraged to become closer than ever before.
Admittedly for people in sales and customer service, the Christmas rush can be pretty frightening. While the mood might be festive, a lot of us – especially in retail positions – go home at the end of the day feeling as though we have spent it being trampled by Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph. The truth of the matter is that it is highly unlikely we will get a chance to breathe before the 5th January 2015. So, why not just accept this fact, and make snowmen while the snow falls?!
Playing it right with customer service and saturating customers with Christmas Spirit, means we get to benefit form a generous seasonal opportunity. We are not always handed opportunities like this on a plate – this is silver platter time. Small and thoughtful acts of kindness often create a lasting impression, which means we might be remembered a little better, long after the world returns to normality. It does not matter what product you sell, or what service you offer, a lasting impression counts.
Christmas is a time of giving, not receiving. As cliché as this sounds, there are few people who do not believe this to be true. So, making a lasting impression can be as simple as giving something away. It has long been good marketing practice to give something small away to existing clients to celebrate Christmas. While these give-aways might have the effect of appeasing an existing customer, it does not really help to bring new customers into the fold. Every business needs new customers to grow and survive.
Trivial gifts are fun to receive at this frivolous time of year – even a Christmas candy cane or chocolate stuck to a hand-made card will do the job. Basically what you are doing is taking the time, and spending a little, to say thank you to a customer who has taken the time to consider, and spend their money on your products. If these small gifts must be branded then so be it, but the more personally useful it is, the better your businesses products will be remembers. It is not much use giving a box of branded golf tees to a person who only plays tennis. Also remember that branded goods offer a conspicuous advertisement opportunity, so, the point is they need to be something of use.
Personalised Christmas cards are so easy to make and have made these days. Anyone heard of “Microsoft Publisher”? If you haven’t, go take a look if you have MS software on your laptop. Cards do not have to be personalised, and can be given away when each sale is made, but make the card such that the customer doesn’t just throw it away. Like we mentioned earlier, glue a chocolate or little glass Christmas-tree decoration inside, or on the cover! When an envelope feels slightly fatter than it should, it is not likely to be immediately thrown away.
There are many small things that can be done in customer service departments to celebrate the silly season, and make customers feel special. These include but are not limited to – free gift wrapping, limited time promotional discounts or activities, daily deals, voucher codes, and especially not forcing customers to listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Christmas carolling their little lungs out ad-infinitum. The point at the end of the day, is to show excellent customer service, which is liberally saturated in cosy Christmas spirit.
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