Elaine Allison

Elaine Allison became one of Canada’s first female guards at a maximum security men’s prison at the age of 19. Her life depended on reading behavior accurately, de-escalating conflict fast, and maintaining authority in rooms full of people who had no interest in cooperating. She spent the next several decades helping organizations translate exactly those skills into exceptional customer service — and her clients have the independent survey data to prove it.

The Velvet Hammer Method
Allison is the author of the bestselling book The Velvet Hammer: PowHERful Leadership Lessons for Women Who Don’t Golf and holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation, conferred by fewer than 10 percent of professional speakers. Her training programs have won first-place awards from Airports Council International North America for customer care excellence, and clients including the RCMP, TSA, Bombardier, and Vancouver International Airport have used her work to move measurably in national customer satisfaction rankings.

From Frontline to Boardroom
Her background spans corrections, aviation, finance, food service, insurance, military, retail, and health services, giving her a credibility with frontline employees that most consultants cannot manufacture. Allison has been featured on ABC World News, Global TV, and The Globe and Mail, and has addressed audiences across North America and internationally.

Elaine Allison keynotes on customer service excellence, women in leadership, conflict resolution, and building service cultures that become a genuine competitive advantage.

Transforming Teams into Customer Care Crusaders

Without customers, there is no business. You won’t need a marketing, accounting or operations department without them. Organizations that have raving fans actually have fewer error rates and lower costs to handling service breakdowns. The question is: How do you get your departments, stakeholders and (in some cases) even your suppliers to provide the kind of service you expect?

The customer is affected by what is happening with your organization, internally as well as externally. If you are ready to discover how a Culture of Care is created so your customers rate you number one, you will need the resources and skills Elaine provides to audiences. In Elaine’s “customer ized” sessions, you can find out how to:

Use the secret technique that turns teams into Customer Care Crusaders

• Deliver extraordinary service even when things don’t go as planned
• Employ the “Knock it Off Nicely” technique with each other and your suppliers so they understand your standards
• Implement change and get your teams eager to implement it
• Use a simple unique technique to solve service breakdowns from the inside out

Leading a Culture of Customer Care

Everyone’s leadership styles vary, from participative to autocratic and everything in between. There may be no “best way”, however leading a culture of care is based on results. In Elaine’s leadership programs, the focus is on how you can turn your staff into Customer Care Crusaders. In her interactive and laugh out loud sessions, leaders will:

Uncover which service breakdowns to focus on first

• Discover whether it is a system problem or a people problem, or both and what to do about it
• Learn how to set limits, encourage and engage teams to deliver their best every time because they want to and can
• Find out which targets, goals and nets to set with your teams and how they can be hit them every time
• Build a fool-proof system to keep continuous improvement alive and well on your team

Negotiating with Your Customer – So You Can Both Get What You Want

When a customer leaves dissatisfied, or you go broke trying to keep them happy, you won’t be around long to serve them. Client and customer retention is the cornerstone of any business. In fact, every business or not-for-profit organization is actually in the “relationship” business. In this session, attendees will:

• Know the most important thing to do before you start any negotiation
• Learn the “Ask, Don’t Tell” approach
• Uncover that negotiations are not meant to be tough even though they might be stressful
• Discover how to present your side without alienating the other person
• A method to understand your final options and walk away position
• Understand there is no problem so great that it can’t be solved
• Bonus: Discover why women lead differently than men and what to do about it Biography