Qubein, Riley inspire attendees
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 10, 2006
San Diego — If your theme is "Achieving Your Potential," who better to explore it with than Nido Qubein?
Qubein represents the epitome of achieving one's potential. The 57-year-old Lebanon immigrant, the keynote speaker at Myriad's user conference here, is now chairman of four corporations, author of a dozen books, a renowned motivational speaker and, more recently, president of High Point University, where he's quickly transforming the school (see story, page 26).
Qubein learned to speak English by studying 10 words a day on a three-by-five card. "You position yourself with words," he said, "but most important is attitude. If you believe you can, you can move heaven and earth."
Another motivational speaker, Lorna Riley of OTC Learning Solutions, told attendees that for off-the-charts customer service they need to meet four levels of customer expectations revealed in a Gallup poll survey of one billion customers over a 20-year span.
Those factors include:
Accuracy: In presenting sizes, numbers and other pertinent facts. Sales consultants need to double- and triple-check facts, she said. Will the sofa fit through the door? Can the sales consultant differentiate between a right-arm upholstery piece and a left?
Availability: Do you have the right size, the right finishes? More importantly, "Are you there when I need you?"
Partnership: "We're both in this thing together." For example, retailers can send disposable cameras home with their customers to take pictures of their space so salespeople can better understand their needs. "There's reciprocity. You do something nice for me, and I'll do something nice for you.
Advice: The more information and help a retailer can give the consumer, the better. "Treat everybody like they're going to spend $10,000," she said.
