Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Today, Robyn McMaster, senior VP at the MITA Brain Based Renewal Center, and I upgraded cell  phones at Verizon Wireless.  Joe Selvaggio sold us the phone and then stuck around until we had the pieces assembled.

Turns out that this phone can do more than most office machines put together and in a miniscule amount of the time.

It takes pictures, plays music, send text messages, rings in any tone or none, stores phone numbers, navigates direction…. Did I just say this phone get’s me somewhere without getting lost? Any cell phone that does that – is worth its weight in gold.

My experience at Verizon was high quality for the amazing memory and capability of this tiny phone, for a reasonable cost, but especially because of the the sales rep, Joe Selvaggio, who served us.

Three outstanding practices of this brain based leader:

1, Joe didn’t pressure me, but rather asked 2-footed questions and seemed more interested in the functions I wanted to pay for, than pushing phones he knew like the back of his hand. Without any pressure, there was enough serotonin all around, for me to make decisions I could live with later. We laughed, and with Joe's expertise to hook parts together, I learned the differences between phones. The best part of this service approach though, was that I left with a phone that was just right for all I had in mind, when I entered the service desk.

2. At all times, in our transactions, Joe represented Verizon Wireless with professional dignity and with the kind of pride that any top supervisor would recruit. Nevertheless, while he left us with a sense that Verizon rocks, he never compromised his care or tipped the balance of customer service in favor of Verizon. You felt that Joe had genuine service in mind by the way he treated us and other people in that center - with respect.

3. After the sale was complete there were a few further functions that were well beyond Joe’s duty – and yet he volunteered to set up both phones to make it easier when we left. In fact all I had to do was charge the phone ... and hope I remembered how to make it perform its magic as this sales rep could. Joe did the rest, as if that was his privilege to help out. At the MITA Center, we call this – problem solving with the brain in mind. It worked, but it makes you wonder!

Are some sales reps like Joe, just naturals at serving you as he might serve a friend or a close colleague, and then leaving you with a sense that you’d made the best deal? Or did he develop multiple intelligences as a result of being with Verizon? Not sure…. Brain experts would say it’s likely a bit of both. Others say people can learn from expert reps like Joe. 

Either way, such superior service is quite rare… especially in firms such as Verizon … or in any fast paced companies competing at the fierce cutting edges. No question, Joe’s kind of service calls people like me back into the ring for another round though. And it leaves me as proud of this little phone as Joe seems to be with its technical details and with the organization he serves. 

These top service and  product strengths just mesh together in ways that model why companies ratchet up their bottom line, when sales reps like Joe Selvaggio take their helm, and when phones like V Cast LG VX8300 line their shelves. Thanks Verizon for the service experience I encountered when I walked into your Rochester, NY store at 951 Jefferson today.

Thanks Joe for your linguistic intelligence, leadership acumen, and helpful ways that added enough serotonin to my day so I thought I’d blog back in appreciation. Come to think of it,   I’ll use this service example the next time I teach brain based practices to business leaders or survey for Joe’s kind of intelligences at work.