You are a manager of the local power company. A recent survey had questions about recipient’s attitudes towards the company. On the 7-point friendly… unfriendly scale, you came out at 2.1 with 1 being the lowest score possible.

The only contact most people have within the power company comes through monthly bills, ads, and phone calls. Many of these calls are about routine matters; whether people can delay payment, how to handle payment when they are away for extended periods of time, how to tell if there's a gas leak, how the budget system works. Workers answer these questions over and over and over. But the caller askes because he or she needs to know.

To the worker, the caller is just one more faceless voice; to the caller, the worker is the company. Write a memo to your staff urging them to be patient and friendly when they answer questions.