Ducks Quack - Eagles Soar
My friend and client Willis Johnson of the Tivoli Movie Chain in Downers Grove Illinois preaches customer service. His chain of movie theatres and his bowling center are the epitome of great service. If you get to Chicagoland, be sure to catch a movie in one of his theatres or go bowling at the Tivoli Bowl, a great little center that has a unique selling proposition . It’s called “hometown feel”. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t. It reflects Willis’ personality. Straight to the point. No BS. What you see is what you get. So when he sent me this article, I just had to share it with you.
No one can make you serve customers well....that's because great service is a choice.
Harvey Mackay tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine.. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.
He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'
Taken aback, Harvey read the card.. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment....
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice..' Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'
Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today..'
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'
And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts...
'Tell me, Wally, my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.
He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself.. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'
'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers.. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'
'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.
'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
How about us? Smile and the whole world smiles with you.... The ball is in our hands!
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... let us do good to all people.
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.
Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Words To The Wise
Lately I have been falling a bit behind on some books. My Kindle has about 20 books on it (can hold 2,000 I am told!) and I have been reading three or four simultaneously. It makes for interesting multi task actions, but also one where, unlike hard cover books or paper back books,it requires a more focused approach to reading and understanding.
So with that in mind, here are some of my recent and favorite reads that I hope you will like.
1. "How To Sell When Nobody's Buying" by Dave Lakhani
If you have ever had to sell to a group of decision makers or just make some outside sales for your company parties or fund raisers, then this book is for you. It will also give you some very specific ways to up sell, down sell your prospects. Its an easy read on "adapting to newer strategies like social media or video presentations
2. Word of Mouth Advertising - How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin
The book is a quick read - 4hrs total, give or take, and it's packed full not only of WOM theory and a bit of history, but also with some concrete ideas from real WOM marketers and a checklist or two to boot. I love checklists!
3. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Ram Brafman
The Brafmans do an excellent job showcasing the irrational behavior all around us. Whether you're a doctor, venture capitalist, teacher, or even a college football coach, there are subtle psychological cues driving you to engage in irrational behaviors that can have a significant negative impact on your life. Reading the anecdotes, one might wonder 'how can anyone ever do that?' The book's close inspection of many different situations shows us that we all do it, and in fact, most of us are guilty of irrationality every single day. 'Sway' lifts the mystery behind these subtleties of irrational thinking and allows us to be more critical of ourselves so we can understand really what is driving the decisions we make day in and day out. It will provide an insight into some irrational customers you may face
Read On!
So with that in mind, here are some of my recent and favorite reads that I hope you will like.
1. "How To Sell When Nobody's Buying" by Dave Lakhani
If you have ever had to sell to a group of decision makers or just make some outside sales for your company parties or fund raisers, then this book is for you. It will also give you some very specific ways to up sell, down sell your prospects. Its an easy read on "adapting to newer strategies like social media or video presentations
2. Word of Mouth Advertising - How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin
The book is a quick read - 4hrs total, give or take, and it's packed full not only of WOM theory and a bit of history, but also with some concrete ideas from real WOM marketers and a checklist or two to boot. I love checklists!
3. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori and Ram Brafman
The Brafmans do an excellent job showcasing the irrational behavior all around us. Whether you're a doctor, venture capitalist, teacher, or even a college football coach, there are subtle psychological cues driving you to engage in irrational behaviors that can have a significant negative impact on your life. Reading the anecdotes, one might wonder 'how can anyone ever do that?' The book's close inspection of many different situations shows us that we all do it, and in fact, most of us are guilty of irrationality every single day. 'Sway' lifts the mystery behind these subtleties of irrational thinking and allows us to be more critical of ourselves so we can understand really what is driving the decisions we make day in and day out. It will provide an insight into some irrational customers you may face
Read On!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Maybe It's Me
Maybe its me.
I have been immersed for two days in email marketing, blog marketing, twitter and facebook marketing. Been up to my eyeballs in SEO, auto responders, linkages, and cross optimization. It's all great stuff. It's all good information and learning how to do it is absolutely essential for all of us. Or if we choose not to do it, to know what we want so we can hire someone to do it for us. No doubt it is a TACTIC that has become omnipresent.
Tactics are what we all love. We spend oodles of time on checking copy, art work, types of paper, music, scripts, web design, email templates, etc. etc. etc. And we love very minute of it because we can touch it and see it and hear it. Sometimes we even feel it and taste it.
It's the other stuff, before we get to the tactics, that we may be ignoring; its a 2 step process;
1. Approach: are you domineering or bossy or even authoritative. Or are you subservient, non confrontational? Do you get a lot of input from books? Do you test your gut and set up cells for that purpose? Are you ever wrong or do you ever admit it? Is your approach or rather your style a fundamental building block to the business you are in or contemplating? Choose a bad style and all the great tactics in the world go away.
Ever have someone say, "Man, this is a great business if it wasn't for the stupid customers." Now there's someone who will be on life support pretty damn soon!
2. Attitude: some people think this is the most important aspect of the plan because it indicates why you started the business, what you want from it, what kind of people you will hire and how you treat them both as employees and as people. it asks the fundamental question, "why are you doing this at all...besides the money?"
If we dance around these two building blocks and never reach a viable strategy, all the slick tricks, meta tags, embedded codes, auto responders, e-mails, templates and copy points, (with benefits and guarantees), will be merely window dressing if the direction we plotted is just plain wrong.
Translation: Mess up your attitude and approach and even the best tactics will fail, and fail badly.
When was the last time you had a strategy check up?
I have been immersed for two days in email marketing, blog marketing, twitter and facebook marketing. Been up to my eyeballs in SEO, auto responders, linkages, and cross optimization. It's all great stuff. It's all good information and learning how to do it is absolutely essential for all of us. Or if we choose not to do it, to know what we want so we can hire someone to do it for us. No doubt it is a TACTIC that has become omnipresent.
Tactics are what we all love. We spend oodles of time on checking copy, art work, types of paper, music, scripts, web design, email templates, etc. etc. etc. And we love very minute of it because we can touch it and see it and hear it. Sometimes we even feel it and taste it.
It's the other stuff, before we get to the tactics, that we may be ignoring; its a 2 step process;
1. Approach: are you domineering or bossy or even authoritative. Or are you subservient, non confrontational? Do you get a lot of input from books? Do you test your gut and set up cells for that purpose? Are you ever wrong or do you ever admit it? Is your approach or rather your style a fundamental building block to the business you are in or contemplating? Choose a bad style and all the great tactics in the world go away.
Ever have someone say, "Man, this is a great business if it wasn't for the stupid customers." Now there's someone who will be on life support pretty damn soon!
2. Attitude: some people think this is the most important aspect of the plan because it indicates why you started the business, what you want from it, what kind of people you will hire and how you treat them both as employees and as people. it asks the fundamental question, "why are you doing this at all...besides the money?"
If we dance around these two building blocks and never reach a viable strategy, all the slick tricks, meta tags, embedded codes, auto responders, e-mails, templates and copy points, (with benefits and guarantees), will be merely window dressing if the direction we plotted is just plain wrong.
Translation: Mess up your attitude and approach and even the best tactics will fail, and fail badly.
When was the last time you had a strategy check up?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
E Mail From Hell
With the proliferation of email, I find, and I am sure that you do as well, that our email mailboxes are stuffed every morning. In fact, even our spam boxes are filled with hundreds of unwanted emails that have to be cleared out. A bit of a pain, but we put up with it. Billions of emails are now floating out there in cyberspace, ready to hit your PC every micro-second.
So what's a government to do with all the complaints of "unwanted" or "spam" email. Easy, just a question of time before the government does what governments always do; they will tax email distribution or charge a fee for it. Think how that will help to DECREASE the deficit. Not! I guess there will soon be a US Department of Special Emailing Taxation that will be funded by the tax. The tax won't do anything, but it will make the lawyers happy because they will have another issue to litigate. No doubt, it will impact the big guys that send out 100,000 or more emails a day, but it will impact us too. Just a question of time, my friends, just a question of time.
But, and here is what mass email proliferation means for us; the honest email marketer, just trying to personally and economically communicate with people who gave us permission. It jades our customers. It makes them suspicious. It makes our business, the email provider, equally suspicious. Consumers will ask, "is it real or is it spam"? Consumers really don't remember who they gave permission to any more and as a result "open rates" on emails are less than 10%. LESS THAN 10%. (Some reports show email open rates at less than 5%) If you think this number is exaggerated, think about all the emails you deleter every day!
So, if you are counting on your email as a substitute for more traditional forms of advertising, you may be miscounting.
The fact is, a consistently layered approach that adds social networking, direct mail, postcards, letters, as well as radio and or cable TV (by the way because of the recession, media rates have gotten less expensive)to your marketing program is really the only way to go if you want the kinds of results you deserve!
If you want some creative solutions to these issues, give me a jingle at 212 867 2577 or my cell @ 516 359 4874 or comment or email me.
I won't hit the delete key.
So what's a government to do with all the complaints of "unwanted" or "spam" email. Easy, just a question of time before the government does what governments always do; they will tax email distribution or charge a fee for it. Think how that will help to DECREASE the deficit. Not! I guess there will soon be a US Department of Special Emailing Taxation that will be funded by the tax. The tax won't do anything, but it will make the lawyers happy because they will have another issue to litigate. No doubt, it will impact the big guys that send out 100,000 or more emails a day, but it will impact us too. Just a question of time, my friends, just a question of time.
But, and here is what mass email proliferation means for us; the honest email marketer, just trying to personally and economically communicate with people who gave us permission. It jades our customers. It makes them suspicious. It makes our business, the email provider, equally suspicious. Consumers will ask, "is it real or is it spam"? Consumers really don't remember who they gave permission to any more and as a result "open rates" on emails are less than 10%. LESS THAN 10%. (Some reports show email open rates at less than 5%) If you think this number is exaggerated, think about all the emails you deleter every day!
So, if you are counting on your email as a substitute for more traditional forms of advertising, you may be miscounting.
The fact is, a consistently layered approach that adds social networking, direct mail, postcards, letters, as well as radio and or cable TV (by the way because of the recession, media rates have gotten less expensive)to your marketing program is really the only way to go if you want the kinds of results you deserve!
If you want some creative solutions to these issues, give me a jingle at 212 867 2577 or my cell @ 516 359 4874 or comment or email me.
I won't hit the delete key.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Leader of The Pack
For those of you who have ever seen "The Dog Whisperer" with Cesar Milan, or for those who have not seen it, you might be interested to know that Cesar Milan has built a multimillion dollar business based on his skill with pets and their owners.
Now, in its 6th season, "The Dog Whisperer", on the National Geographic Network, premiered in 2004 and has grown into an hour long show with over 11 million weekly viewers. Some of his clients have been famous pet owners such as Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Eisner and Oprah Winfrey. For these "rock star" people, he typically charges $10,000 to $100,000 for his time.
His philosophy of dog training is simple; train the HUMAN to become the pack leader in their own homes. Since dogs are by nature creatures of the pack, the human must be the pack leader so the dog will follow his instructions. He bases his training on three pillars; exercise, discipline and affection.
One of Cesar Milan's favorite authors, Dr. Wayne Dwyer has taught Mr. Milan the power of intention. According to Mr Milan, "the power of intention teaches that anything that is realistic, if I can create it in my own mind, it can become a reality". He further states that by combining this power of intention with balance, "our most important tool; calm assertive energy", any one can become a pack leader.
Perhaps that's what it takes to lead our pack of employees. If we exercise our employees' minds by challenging them to solve little problems at first and then bigger problems later, we can train them into shape. Then by creating a disciplined environment where name badges, uniforms, precise telephone answering techniques; and a customer centered approach to customer service is always present, we can bring structure to an environment that is inherently chaotic. Discipline will also come into play if we consistently "inspect what we expect" and teach accountability to our employees...and maybe to ourselves as well. And finally, if we as owners become that pack leader, we can do it with affection, with a sense of humor and with a feeling that we are moving our organization to a new level of performance.
Woof.
Now, in its 6th season, "The Dog Whisperer", on the National Geographic Network, premiered in 2004 and has grown into an hour long show with over 11 million weekly viewers. Some of his clients have been famous pet owners such as Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Eisner and Oprah Winfrey. For these "rock star" people, he typically charges $10,000 to $100,000 for his time.
His philosophy of dog training is simple; train the HUMAN to become the pack leader in their own homes. Since dogs are by nature creatures of the pack, the human must be the pack leader so the dog will follow his instructions. He bases his training on three pillars; exercise, discipline and affection.
One of Cesar Milan's favorite authors, Dr. Wayne Dwyer has taught Mr. Milan the power of intention. According to Mr Milan, "the power of intention teaches that anything that is realistic, if I can create it in my own mind, it can become a reality". He further states that by combining this power of intention with balance, "our most important tool; calm assertive energy", any one can become a pack leader.
Perhaps that's what it takes to lead our pack of employees. If we exercise our employees' minds by challenging them to solve little problems at first and then bigger problems later, we can train them into shape. Then by creating a disciplined environment where name badges, uniforms, precise telephone answering techniques; and a customer centered approach to customer service is always present, we can bring structure to an environment that is inherently chaotic. Discipline will also come into play if we consistently "inspect what we expect" and teach accountability to our employees...and maybe to ourselves as well. And finally, if we as owners become that pack leader, we can do it with affection, with a sense of humor and with a feeling that we are moving our organization to a new level of performance.
Woof.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Pricing For Profit
A recent article in The Daily Beast, an on line news source says,"the recession has consumers paying with debit cards instead of credit cards. This spring, Visa announced that spending on debit cards increased 4.1% while spending on credit cards sank 14.8%. And the Federal Reserve announced that revolving credit, primarily credit cards, plummeted $6.1 billion or 8% annually in July".
With more people using debit cards, it tips us off that people are no longer wiling to carry big balances on their cards, but would rather adopt "pay as you go" spending.
It could also be a reaction to high credit card fees that banks have been charging and now, once stung, consumers have moved to using debit cards with lower or no fees.
Is this an opportunity for all of us in the "discretionary income" business? I think so...but with caution. We have seen how consumers can sacrifice and save (savings rates are moving toward 6% - the highest in decades) and also curtail their discretionary spending. After all, its easy to decrease your spending when you don't have any money or credit to spend!
However; as bad as spending is today, the US Consumer will still spend as much as he did in 2005 and that was a good year!
But the debit card phenomenon lets customers pay with their plastic cash and therefore they receive no MONTHLY bill at the end of the billing cycle. if there is no pain at the end of the month and no bill to stop them next month, maybe slightly higher prices won't stop them either. After all haven't your costs increased?
As we move into the colder months, check your pricing. That Pizza Pins N Pop program that you have had at $49.95 forever - maybe by raising it to $54.95 with 4 weeks of $5 bounce backs, delivered via email and press releases to MOMS groups in the area, can generate increased cash flow. That $2.50 shoe rental? Can you get to $2.75? Or better yet; build it into your open play pricing and proclaim "NEVER PAY FOR SHOE RENTALS AGAIN."
How about the cosmic nights for $13.95 per person or $25.00 per hour? Can you move that to $14.95 and $27.50 an hour; introduced with a series of bounce backs to keep your regular customers coming back and as an offer for new customers.
The secret is and this is one of our FredQuarters Marketing rules: When you raise prices, create an offer that is so enticing that the increased price is tangential and just becomes absorbed into your "new normal".
Maybe they will even put it on their debit card.
With more people using debit cards, it tips us off that people are no longer wiling to carry big balances on their cards, but would rather adopt "pay as you go" spending.
It could also be a reaction to high credit card fees that banks have been charging and now, once stung, consumers have moved to using debit cards with lower or no fees.
Is this an opportunity for all of us in the "discretionary income" business? I think so...but with caution. We have seen how consumers can sacrifice and save (savings rates are moving toward 6% - the highest in decades) and also curtail their discretionary spending. After all, its easy to decrease your spending when you don't have any money or credit to spend!
However; as bad as spending is today, the US Consumer will still spend as much as he did in 2005 and that was a good year!
But the debit card phenomenon lets customers pay with their plastic cash and therefore they receive no MONTHLY bill at the end of the billing cycle. if there is no pain at the end of the month and no bill to stop them next month, maybe slightly higher prices won't stop them either. After all haven't your costs increased?
As we move into the colder months, check your pricing. That Pizza Pins N Pop program that you have had at $49.95 forever - maybe by raising it to $54.95 with 4 weeks of $5 bounce backs, delivered via email and press releases to MOMS groups in the area, can generate increased cash flow. That $2.50 shoe rental? Can you get to $2.75? Or better yet; build it into your open play pricing and proclaim "NEVER PAY FOR SHOE RENTALS AGAIN."
How about the cosmic nights for $13.95 per person or $25.00 per hour? Can you move that to $14.95 and $27.50 an hour; introduced with a series of bounce backs to keep your regular customers coming back and as an offer for new customers.
The secret is and this is one of our FredQuarters Marketing rules: When you raise prices, create an offer that is so enticing that the increased price is tangential and just becomes absorbed into your "new normal".
Maybe they will even put it on their debit card.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Rude Customer...Handled
One of my followers sent me this and I wanted to pass it on to you. While I cannot verify the accuracy of this story, it should make those of us, who work with the customer every day, smile because even though the customer is not always right, he is still the customer.
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers - An award should go to the Westjet gate attendant in Kelowna , British Columbia some 12 months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was canceled after Westjet's 767s had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS".
The attendant replied, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out." The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?"
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: "May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please, " she began - her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, gritted his teeth and said, "F...You!" Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too."
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers - An award should go to the Westjet gate attendant in Kelowna , British Columbia some 12 months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was canceled after Westjet's 767s had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS".
The attendant replied, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out." The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?"
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: "May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please, " she began - her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, gritted his teeth and said, "F...You!" Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too."
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