Storytelling    Challenge & Selection    Storytelling is a great tool that I use all the time. I have worked with vulnerable customers, while in  automotive service center. Many of these people love their vehicles as their babies. I spend a lot of time  “opening people up” and finding ways to know their needs to improve our company circumstances.  When I work with customers, we share stories for different reasons. Often, they are so happy to share  stories of their lives with me to connect and they find meaning in sharing these experiences as a form of  teaching and/or legacy, in a sense. With my clients I share stories of other customer’s life in order to  help them visualize a state of happiness and awareness of our services, I use their feedback against the  context of our services to ascertain their goals, and sometimes we use stories to better understand  their interests and thought processes. I use this information to develop different strategies to try and  find a way that works for them to gain more satisfaction in the areas they find lacking in the service of  the vehicles.    Application    I have a story about using storytelling. In discussing policy changes with a automotive service center, I  was trying to explain to them the benefits of taking a more client focused approach, among other things,  and in particular, of recognizing each person as a unique being, and addressing their individual needs first  and foremost. The center was in the grip of a “compliance culture” and its clients were failing in this  non-empathetic, rigid structure. I was also explaining how sometimes addressing the needs of one  individual can impact everyone for the better, even if it seems extreme or out of the ordinary. As when  a customer is satisfied with the service, he or she refer your center to others, by mouth-to-mouth mode  the marketing strategy starts, which helps our center to acquire more customers.    Insight & Approach    Well, wow, that was an eye-opener. So, our center adopted the idea and I think it had a big impact on  people or customer. The policies are being reevaluated and the workers are going through new  training. Sometimes a little story can do a lot of good.    This course made me see this as a tool in a new way. When I've done it before it was really "ad  hoc," but now I can prepare ahead and think of stories that will assist me in presenting my ideas  and best illuminate them.    I have a customer service background, but I ended up as a student in college to learn more. I had no idea  this would ever be considered an asset, but I am so very grateful that it is!

