Category Archives: Rants & Raves

Why I Love ‘PlusDelta’ Feedback

By Phil Stella | Published: July 4, 2019

Giving constructive feedback is an essential management skill that escapes most supervisors. Feedback is all about helping people get better at what they’re doing. Effective feedback is neither positive or negative – it’s just information. Information that is specific, observable, constructive, timely and focused. Read More »

Why I Hate ‘Soft Skills’

By Phil Stella | Published: June 1, 2019

I love the concept but hate the term – let me explain. I’ve dedicated my entire career to empowering business leaders to enhance their workplace communication skills. Taking away some of their pain when they interact with colleagues, staff, managers or customers in writing, in person and in presentations  – that’s what I love most and do best. Read More »

I Love ‘reply to sender’

By Phil Stella | Published: May 13, 2019

On the opposite of this month’a rant, I really appreciate it when people select ‘reply to sender’ or something similar on a group response email. I actually don’t know when that happens because I never see the response, I just assume the person responded properly. Read More »

I Hate ‘reply all’

By Phil Stella | Published: May 13, 2019

I hate being copied on responses that I don’t need to see. I bet you do, too. Someone responds to a question asked in a group email with a careless ‘reply all’ response because they were lazy or inept to do the right thing.
Read More »

Why I Hate Lame Customer Service

By Phil Stella | Published: April 2, 2019

While no one believes that customers are really always right, CSRs and Sales Reps should believe that customers are always critically important to their jobs and the success of the company. And they should act like that all the time. Problems occur when employees make these mistakes: Read More »

Why I Love Customer Centricity

By Phil Stella | Published: April 2, 2019

People have different preferences about how they communicate. Some people would rather talk than write. Others would rather write than talk. Yet others have very high response rate to text. No surprises there! Read More »

Why I Love ‘Or’ Networking Relationships

By Phil Stella | Published: March 5, 2019

I willingly admit that many of my networking strategies and best practices dance to a different drummer. That’s why I love ‘or’ networking relationships. They’re opposite from and much better than ‘and’ relationships. Read More »

Why I Hate ‘No Problem’

By Phil Stella | Published: March 5, 2019

Why do so many people respond to ‘Thank you.’ with ‘No Problem.’ today? I doubt that many of them felt that the act I just thanked them for was, in fact, a problem. Maybe it would usually be a problem, but not this time. Or maybe a problem with other people, but not me. Read More »

Why I Hate Automated Voice Messaging

By Phil Stella | Published: February 8, 2019

When calling a business or colleague, how often do you hear ‘Your call is being forwarded to an automated voice messaging system … 475 338-0298 is not available … ‘ I really hate that – it’s cheap, lazy, impersonal and not caller-friendly.

How much better to have taken a few minutes to record a short, customized message, like  ‘Hi, this is Ben Dover with Glitztronics. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you by the end of the day.’

I wouldn’t hate that at all … would you?

Why I love Caller ID

By Phil Stella | Published: February 8, 2019

I love Caller ID – I really do. It saves me so much time and grief. When a call comes into the office, I can easily tell if it’s from someone I know or if I recognize the number. If not, I let the call roll into my voice mail and check it immediately.

It allows me to avoid answering calls from ‘out of area’, ‘unknown caller’, ‘invalid #’ or ‘wireless call’. So, if that was you, don’t be surprised that I didn’t pick up, especially if you didn’t leave a message.