This is a story that I heard several years ago, that somehow has stayed with me and helped me maintained focus in what is really important and where our focus need to be in our everyday business life, hope you enjoy it as much as I have in the last few years since I first heard of it.
Have a very Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous and Productive New Years 2010!!!
con referencia a:
"This is a story that I heard several years ago, that somehow has stayed with me and helped me maintained focus in what is really important and where our focus need to be in our everyday business life, hope you enjoy it as much as I have in the last few years since I first heard of it.Have a very Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous and Productive New Years 2010!!!" - Service Excellence: Working Towards What you Already Have (ver en Google Sidewiki)
This is a story that I heard several years ago, that somehow has stayed with me and helped me maintained focus in what is really important and where our focus need to be in our everyday business life, hope you enjoy it as much as I have in the last few years since I first heard of it.
Have a very Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous and Productive New Years 2010!!!
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, "Only a little while"
The American then asked, "why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"
The Mexican said, "with this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."
The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The Mexican fisherman said, "i sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life."
The american scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing: and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico city, the Los Angeles and eventually New York where you will run your-ever expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this take?"
To which the American replied,"15 to 20 years."
"But, what then?" asked the Mexican
The american laughed and said, " That's the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become rich. You would make millions."
"Millions?.. Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
Sometimes the best way to make a point is by telling a story. This is one of those times. If you work in customer service or if you have ever been treated poorly as a customer, I hope this story conveys the value of an apology.
con referencia a:
"Sometimes the best way to make a point is by telling a story. This is one of those times. If you work in customer service or if you have ever been treated poorly as a customer, I hope this story conveys the value of an apology." - Service Excellence: Making a Point!!!!! (ver en Google Sidewiki)
Sometimes the best way to make a point is by telling a story. This is one of those times. If you work in customer service or if you have ever been treated poorly as a customer, I hope this story conveys the value of an apology.
Not long ago I traveled to the east coast to attend a special event and visit some relatives. A few days before I left, I dropped off some clothes at the cleaners and picked them up the morning I flew out. Over the years I've learned to pack light, so I took just enough clothes for the trip.
The afternoon of the special event I took my dress shirt out of the suitcase - only to find the shirt had shrunk. A lot. "I didn't eat THAT much for breakfast," I thought.
Because the shirt was 100 percent silk and dry-clean-only, it was fairly obvious the shirt had been laundered by mistake. I called my relatives to say I'd be late and headed to the shopping mall where I bought another shirt.
Deny, Deny, Deny
After I was back home I went to the dry cleaners and asked to see the owner. As I explained what happened, she asked no clarifying questions and did nothing to investigate the problem. She offered no apology. But she did sound like a broken record: "Impossible - it could not have happened here."
I reiterated the facts and then asked how a shirt could fit fine before coming to the cleaners, but afterwards the sleeves are suddenly two inches shorter.
Amazingly, she continued to deny that her store was responsible, and there was nothing she could do.
Win the Battle, Lose the War
I was going to ask for minimal compensation, but what really bothered me most was she didn't even apologize. I spend probably between $700 - $900 a year at this particular dry cleaners. It would have been really nice to hear her say, "I'm so sorry this happened to you. How much was the shirt? How about if I give you some of that back in laundry credit?"
I would have been fine with that, but she did nothing of the sort. Like I said, she didn't even apologize. All she did was deny.
As she walked away I stood there thinking I would be taking my business elsewhere.
Winning Back the Customer
Just before I turned to leave, an employee who had been hovering nearby came over and said, "Why don't you come back in the morning and talk with the other owner - her husband." That was all she said, but her voice tone and facial expression told me I'd probably get a different result.
When I came back to talk with the other half of the ownership team, I explained the situation and showed him the shirt's tag (which his wife wouldn't even look at). He said out loud, "100% silk. That's dry clean only."
The man apologized, stating it was obvious from the shirt's appearance it had gone through the laundry. He had me fill out a damage form and then compensated me even more than I'd requested. We parted on good terms.
As a result, I actually intend to continue taking my clothes to this cleaners. For a couple of bucks and an apology, this business will continue to receive $700 – $900 of my hard-earned dollars each year.
The Power of a Sincere Apology
I share this story because it illustrates the power of a sincere apology. It also outlines two ways to approach a problem: One method is effective - the other isn't.
The ineffective method is easy: Be pigheaded and refuse to see anything from the other person's point of view.
As the story illustrates, customers treated this way prefer to leave and not come back. And their money goes with them.
The effective method is not so easy. It involves being objective and listening with an open mind before making a decision. It may even require apologizing about a mistake.
The main point is that apologies are powerful. In fact, one restaurant owner I know makes it a point to apologize and then compensate customers who have legitimate complaints. He says those actions actually bring in more business, because people tell others about how professionally their complaint was handled.
Obviously we don't want mistakes to happen. But when a customer brings a complaint to our attention we have a choice. We can be arrogant and pigheaded, or we can listen carefully. And, if needed, apologize and make it right.
According to conventional wisdom, businesses must offer something unique in order to compete successfully, the rub is that this task is becoming more difficult as products and services become more similar.
con referencia a:
"According to conventional wisdom, businesses must offer something unique in order to compete successfully, the rub is that this task is becoming more difficult as products and services become more similar." - Service Excellence: Don't Be Unique Be Better (ver en Google Sidewiki)
According to conventional wisdom, businesses must offer something unique in order to compete successfully, the rub is that this task is becoming more difficult as products and services become more similar. The only solutions, this line of thinking continues, are to differentiate your offerings through branding and the communication of emotional values or to completely change your industry's rules. While there is some truth in each of those assertions, I belive they have been overstated and over generalized and have distracted firms from listening to their customers and consistently delivering on the basics. What customers want is not more differentiation but products and services that are simply better at providing generic "category benefits"-those routine benefits customers expect to get when they make a purchase. Failure at this, is one of the prime contributiors to today's continuing high levels of customers dissatisfaction. The good news is that this dilemma presents a low-risk, high-return opportunity for most businesses-provided top executives buck their conventional wisdom and rethink what people really want from a product or service.
Ask anyone in your workplace what treatment they most want at work. They will likely top their list with the desire to be treated with dignity and respect. Popular songs tout the need for respect.
From Aretha Franklin:
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T
con referencia a:
"Ask anyone in your workplace what treatment they most want at work. They will likely top their list with the desire to be treated with dignity and respect. Popular songs tout the need for respect. From Aretha Franklin: "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" - Service Excellence: 10 Tips for Respect (ver en Google Sidewiki)
Ask anyone in your workplace what treatment they most want at work. They will likely top their list with the desire to be treated with dignity and respect. Popular songs tout the need for respect.
From Aretha Franklin:
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me."
"Everybody needs a little respect
Everybody needs a little time
Everybody needs a little respect. You know when you have respect. You know when you don’t. But what is respect really? And, how is respect demonstrated at work?
You can demonstrate respect with simple, yet powerful actions. These ideas will help you avoid needless, insensitive, unmeant disrespect, too.
1. Treat people with courtesy, politeness, and kindness.
2. Encourage coworkers to express opinions and ideas.
3. Listen to what others have to say before expressing your viewpoint.
4. Never speak over, butt in, or cut off another person.
5. Use people’s ideas to change or improve work. Let employees know you used their idea, or, better yet, encourage the person with the idea to implement the idea.
6. Never insult people, name call, disparage or put down people or their ideas.
7. Do not nit-pick, constantly criticize over little things, belittle, judge, demean or patronize. A series of seemingly trivial actions, added up over time, constitutes bullying.
8. Treat people the same no matter their race, religion, gender, size, age, or country of origin. Implement policies and procedures consistently so people feel that they are treated fairly and equally. Treating people differently can constitute harassment or a hostile work environment.
9. Include all coworkers in meetings, discussions, training, and events. While not every person can participate in every activity, do not marginalize, exclude or leave any one person out. Provide an equal opportunity for employees to participate in committees, task forces, or continuous improvement teams. Solicit volunteers and try to involve every volunteer.
10. Praise much more frequently than you criticize. Encourage praise and recognition from employee to employee as well as from the supervisor.
There are many other ways to demonstrate respect at work. These ten constitute a solid foundation. Implemented consistently at work, these respectful actions help ensure a respectful, considerate, professional work place which brings huge guest satisfactions and along great revenue.
Throughout business history, companies have introduced grand strategies designed to raise their levels of customer service. They soon discovered, however, that the strategies were the easy part. Getting employees to buy into the strategy and make it work proved more difficult. Not surprisingly, results were usually doomed to failure from the start.
con referencia a:
"Throughout business history, companies have introduced grand strategies designed to raise their levels of customer service. They soon discovered, however, that the strategies were the easy part. Getting employees to buy into the strategy and make it work proved more difficult. Not surprisingly, results were usually doomed to failure from the start." - Service Excellence: Customer Service Principle (ver en Google Sidewiki)
Throughout business history, companies have introduced grand strategies designed to raise their levels of customer service. They soon discovered, however, that the strategies were the easy part. Getting employees to buy into the strategy and make it work proved more difficult. Not surprisingly, results were usually doomed to failure from the start.
This inability to "close the deal" has been a perennial cause of puzzlement and frustration to company executives. They assumes that once strategies are unveiled, employees will implement the program in such a way that customers notice an increased level of customer service.
Wrong. Not only do sales and service not rise; morale goes down with them! The reason? The assumption that customer service can improve without employee commitment.
All too often, management forgets that strategies and programs start and end with their people. This assumption is a throwback to the thinking of the American Industrial Age when employees were reduced to a component of production, not unlike a piece of equipment.
Industrial age thinking was based on the concept that employees did not want to work and were definitely not concerned enough to do quality work. Employees were given orders, and except for breakdowns (injury or illness), tasks were grudgingly completed.
Of course time has proven again and again that employees DO want to work, they DO enjoy their work, and they want to care about the quality of their work. Research has shown that work plays a huge part in a person's self esteem, self worth and personal happiness.
To turn your strategy into reality, you must create an environment that builds employee pride and quality. It is absolutely vital that customer service be a long-term, everyday commitment that employees believe in. Otherwise, employees will think it just another passing management fad that will fade away after a brief flurry of activity like so many other programs. They've seen it all before and if they don't believe it, it won't succeed.
To illustrate the difference in employee attitudes consider this parable. An observer passed by two job sites and asked one employee from each what they were doing.
Employee one: I'm working like hell for too little money.
Employee two: I'm building a cathedral.
Notice any difference in attitude? One was sold on the project and therefore became part of it, while the other was merely a part of the machine. Which employee would you want representing your establishment?
Customer Service Principles:
Commit to excellent customer service. Live it, breathe it, believe it, and reward it.
Sell the employees on the whole, not just their part.
Ensure that any Marketing initiatives emphasize your employees, not just your products. When morale and pride go up, you can bet services and sales will go up. Make your employees feel they are part of an elite group.
Ensure all customer contact employees have autonomy to accommodate their customers, even if it means bending company rules. Then take a hard look at those bent rules, and see if they need to be discarded entirely.
Be better than your competitor by knowing your competitor. Take your key people out to a competitor's operation, and talk about what works there and what doesn't (after you've left, of course.)
Finally, keep the focus on your people: They ARE your business!
The whole concept of remembering that great service is ultimately given one customer at the time-of being willing and able to break the rules when we need to give great service to a guest; of identifying and making moments of truth into positive outcome-is inspiring, because it demonstrates how each of us as individuals really can make a difference every day for our customers and for our organizations. It's also a little intimidating if I really stop to think about it long. Because opportunities missed are..opportunities missed...and much needed sales and very real customers are lost.
The whole concept of remembering that great service is ultimately given one customer at the time-of being willing and able to break the rules when we need to give great service to a guest; of identifying and making moments of truth into positive outcome-is inspiring, because it demonstrates how each of us as individuals really can make a difference every day for our customers and for our organizations. It's also a little intimidating if I really stop to think about it long. Because opportunities missed are..opportunities missed...and much needed sales and very real customers are lost.
Happily, by staying vigilant about your service and teaching these concepts throughout your organization, you may have a chance to really contribute to significant success in years to come. If this resonates at all with you, then quickly, before you get caught up in the rest of the day's distractions, go find a customer or pick up the phone and do something special for them.
