Over the years I have seen many examples of managers casting blame upon others as though they were sorcerers casting magical spells. Throughout my management career I have always conducted myself in two ways. One, everything starts and stops at my desk. Two, I take all the blame and none of the credit. When something goes wrong it is my fault. I am the manager, who else’s fault can it be? I own it, and accept the consequences. Then I make adjustments that ensure it won’t happen again. When things go well, or I am given a compliment, I pass it down to my team where it belongs, don’t thank me, it was John, or Greg, or etc., which did all the work! If more managers would accept responsibility and stand up for their team, how much stronger would the American workforce be?
Unfortunately, in today’s world, I see more sorcery and finger pointing than accountability. It seems that more people are concerned with self preservation than with doing the right thing. Many managers are interested in setting themselves up in a position with no accountability. When something goes wrong, they divert the focus to a team member and the blame game begins.
As a manager I try to make it very clear to my team what my expectations are and how they will be held accountable to those expectations. If ever I cannot apply accountability, then I know there is an issue with structure. So the question has to be asked, how do people get themselves into a position of power with no accountability? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question, but I can help by giving advice on how to keep it from happening to you.
If you are in a management position be sure to check your structure. If there is no accountability to a team member, group, or division, then more than likely you have a sorcerer in your organization. Here are the basics: You shouldn’t have responsibility for something you have no control over, nor should you be held accountable to something that you have no control over. Same goes for your team. Take the time to think through your reporting lines and make sure that everyone has a way to be held accountable for everything under their control. Then make sure that all team members truly have control over all they are being held accountable for.
Recently I had a discussion with a good friend of mine (we will call him Jim for this story). Jim is a Sr. PM at a competitor’s electrical company. He was expressing to me some of the frustration he felt due to a series of events he was involved in and I felt this situation would help illustrate the sorcerer’s techniques.
Jim was called in for a meeting by Ken, the Operation’s Manager, to review some of the projects under Jim’s “control”. When Jim arrived, Ken sat him down in his office and began asking Jim why his jobs were losing money. Jim tried to explain to Ken that after he had done his own project analysis, he realized that the estimating department on one of the projects had left out an entire page of the plans, which consisted of the whole third floor lighting and associated labor and materials. On a second project the purchasing department had purchased the generators for the project for nearly $500,000, when the estimate only had a total of $130,000 figured for generators. When you actually looked into the projects they were in good shape considering, all the mistakes made outside of Jim’s control. Once Jim finished with his explanations, Ken was upset and blamed Jim for the problems. Ken went on to let Jim know that he is the Project Manager, and it is his responsibility to make the projects financially successful. He went on to say that, mistakes in estimating are not an excuse for a bad project, every project has estimating mistakes.
So who is the Sorcerer? Is it Jim or Ken? The answer might surprise you. Actually they are both sorcerers. Jim blamed the estimating department and the purchasing department, and Ken blamed Jim. I would be willing to bet that the chain of blame continued in both directions. More than likely the estimating department will say they weren’t given enough time, and the purchasing department would say they got a great deal; and Ken’s boss would say that Ken needs to figure out what’s wrong with his whole group.
If Jim had gone through the plans himself and done his own take off before they started the project, he could have brought this to Ken’s attention before the job went south, and then Jim wouldn’t have looked like he was making excuses since at that point the job hadn’t even started yet.
Ken should have a process in place to make sure that an estimate is right prior to submittal, or at least before accepting the contract, and not put all the responsibility on the PM. That way, if there is something missed, you know before signing a contract and have time to correct the numbers, or take the risk.
For this particular scenario our chain of checks and balances goes like this: as soon as a team is awarded a project, we name a project manager and a superintendent. The project manager, superintendent, and the original estimator take an entire new, and separate, take-off of the plans. Then all three get together to compare notes and only once they have all agreed that the take-off is correct, do we move forward. There is also a high level legal contract review done to avoid contract language pitfalls. This includes the PM, Legal Counsel, Division manager, and a VP. Only once all agree that this is a good project, do we move forward with contract execution. While some people may feel that this expense is unjustified, just think about the amount of money lost on the two examples above.
While there is no guaranteed solution to eliminate all blame, you need to do your best to make sure that everyone is working together to the successful completion of every project. If you can commit to your team and they can count on your support and integrity, you will win and lose as a team with little to no blame or finger pointing. The sorcerer relies on smoke, mirrors, and misdirection and eventually they are reveled for the frauds that they are. It doesn’t take magic to establish accountability but it does take a brain. And remember, thinking is hard work. That is why so few do it!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
The Danger of Silence
If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Basic physics can prove the answer to this question, and it is Yes! It absolutely makes a sound. However when a customer is disappointed there is no way to be sure they will make a sound.
Many of us have seen the survey cards, emails, or call backs asking how a company did. Were you satisfied, etc…? I applaud those companies because at least they are asking. Furthermore they are taking an extra step to try and understand their perceived value, and if the customer enjoyed their experience.
The problem is that most people don’t want to be bothered by these surveys. They are way too busy to take the time to fill out a survey or comment card, or spend time answering questions. Many studies have been done, and the average is around one percent of patrons actually fill out a survey or comment card. If you dig deeper into that statistic you will find that, a majority of the surveys that are filled out are not complimentary. Therefore, you can reduce it down to approximately one out of a hundred people will actually take the time to tell you how you are doing, and usually it is only if they were dissatisfied. So what about the other 99 customers? Where they all happy? Of course not!
This blog was inspired by an experience I had this weekend. My wife and I went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. Actually, it used to be her favorite restaurant. When we arrived we spent about five minutes waiting at the door with no one acknowledging that we even existed. Finally we had someone come over to and take us to our table. Then a waiter came up and took our drink order. About ten minutes later he came back with what must have been a very complex drink order, two waters and a diet coke! Then, before we could say anything, he said he would be right back to take our order.
As we waited for at least another 10-12 minutes, I couldn’t help but notice there were hardly any people in the restaurant. While the bar was pretty crowded, the actual restaurant was empty. What could cause such bad service at what used to be an excellent restaurant? The more I thought about it the more I realized that the last several times we had visited this restaurant the service and food had progressively lost the quality it once had.
Just then the waiter came over, and took our order. After we waited for what seemed to be an eternity, the cook actually came and brought us the food at last. I guess the waiter couldn’t be bothered? My food was not only a disgrace to Mexican cuisine, but the cook hadn’t even remembered to stuff the peppers I ordered. After two bites I pushed the food to the end of the table, and figured I would send the food back when the waiter came back to check on us. Roughly 30 minutes later the waiter came to our table and asked if we were done as he took up all the plates, completely ignoring the fact that I hadn’t eaten any of my meal. At this point I was so angry I figured I would just keep my mouth shut and leave.
My wife and I left and talked about how sad it was that they could let, what was once a great product, become such a disappointment. We will continue to spread the word to everyone we know that this place is a dive, and will never again recommend it to anyone. Once more we will never patronize that restaurant again.
So the question I put out there is how many customers do you have that are not saying anything to you, but are saying a lot about you? In the past if I came across this situation I would take the time to express my dissatisfaction to the manager. However, in the above case I was pushed so far over the edge that I was just done with this establishment. Most people are not going to say anything to you regardless of their frustration level. They will just disappear.
Today I have had a chance to calm down and I plan on stopping by the restaurant and letting the manager know what happened and why I will not be returning. Being in business, I feel I have that obligation. However, it will not change the outcome.
Too many companies in today’s world feel that ‘no news is good news’. I hope that this example helps illustrate how dangerous silence can be, as well as the importance of having a specific process and continually monitoring its success. That which is not measured cannot be improved. So how are you measuring your customer’s satisfaction?
The truth is that I love to hear from happy customers that sing my praises. However, I need to hear from the ones that are not as impressed. Every time a customer has a problem, I have the chance to excel. It is my duty to my customers to always be looking for ways to improve their customer experience and reward them for choosing our service over the hundreds of other options they have.
So if you don’t currently monitor your customer’s satisfaction, you really should start to think about implementing a plan. While yes, there will always be a small group that is willing to tell you where you went wrong, it is the silence that is the true danger to your bottom line.
Many of us have seen the survey cards, emails, or call backs asking how a company did. Were you satisfied, etc…? I applaud those companies because at least they are asking. Furthermore they are taking an extra step to try and understand their perceived value, and if the customer enjoyed their experience.
The problem is that most people don’t want to be bothered by these surveys. They are way too busy to take the time to fill out a survey or comment card, or spend time answering questions. Many studies have been done, and the average is around one percent of patrons actually fill out a survey or comment card. If you dig deeper into that statistic you will find that, a majority of the surveys that are filled out are not complimentary. Therefore, you can reduce it down to approximately one out of a hundred people will actually take the time to tell you how you are doing, and usually it is only if they were dissatisfied. So what about the other 99 customers? Where they all happy? Of course not!
This blog was inspired by an experience I had this weekend. My wife and I went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. Actually, it used to be her favorite restaurant. When we arrived we spent about five minutes waiting at the door with no one acknowledging that we even existed. Finally we had someone come over to and take us to our table. Then a waiter came up and took our drink order. About ten minutes later he came back with what must have been a very complex drink order, two waters and a diet coke! Then, before we could say anything, he said he would be right back to take our order.
As we waited for at least another 10-12 minutes, I couldn’t help but notice there were hardly any people in the restaurant. While the bar was pretty crowded, the actual restaurant was empty. What could cause such bad service at what used to be an excellent restaurant? The more I thought about it the more I realized that the last several times we had visited this restaurant the service and food had progressively lost the quality it once had.
Just then the waiter came over, and took our order. After we waited for what seemed to be an eternity, the cook actually came and brought us the food at last. I guess the waiter couldn’t be bothered? My food was not only a disgrace to Mexican cuisine, but the cook hadn’t even remembered to stuff the peppers I ordered. After two bites I pushed the food to the end of the table, and figured I would send the food back when the waiter came back to check on us. Roughly 30 minutes later the waiter came to our table and asked if we were done as he took up all the plates, completely ignoring the fact that I hadn’t eaten any of my meal. At this point I was so angry I figured I would just keep my mouth shut and leave.
My wife and I left and talked about how sad it was that they could let, what was once a great product, become such a disappointment. We will continue to spread the word to everyone we know that this place is a dive, and will never again recommend it to anyone. Once more we will never patronize that restaurant again.
So the question I put out there is how many customers do you have that are not saying anything to you, but are saying a lot about you? In the past if I came across this situation I would take the time to express my dissatisfaction to the manager. However, in the above case I was pushed so far over the edge that I was just done with this establishment. Most people are not going to say anything to you regardless of their frustration level. They will just disappear.
Today I have had a chance to calm down and I plan on stopping by the restaurant and letting the manager know what happened and why I will not be returning. Being in business, I feel I have that obligation. However, it will not change the outcome.
Too many companies in today’s world feel that ‘no news is good news’. I hope that this example helps illustrate how dangerous silence can be, as well as the importance of having a specific process and continually monitoring its success. That which is not measured cannot be improved. So how are you measuring your customer’s satisfaction?
The truth is that I love to hear from happy customers that sing my praises. However, I need to hear from the ones that are not as impressed. Every time a customer has a problem, I have the chance to excel. It is my duty to my customers to always be looking for ways to improve their customer experience and reward them for choosing our service over the hundreds of other options they have.
So if you don’t currently monitor your customer’s satisfaction, you really should start to think about implementing a plan. While yes, there will always be a small group that is willing to tell you where you went wrong, it is the silence that is the true danger to your bottom line.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Problem Solvers
It has been my experience that problem solvers hold the most value within a company. For that reason, I try to surround myself with team members that look for solutions. Since my first job, I have always felt that my duty was to make my boss’s job easier. I figured that it was my job to find ways to solve my superior’s problems. This same attitude flows over into the customer service side of business as well. No one wants to solve your problems, they want someone with solutions.
Yesterday, I was speaking with a colleague, and he was telling me that he is sick of people bringing him problems. He doesn’t need people to bring him problems; he can find them all by himself. In fact, problems will ultimately present themselves in almost every occasion. So why am I paying people to bring the problems to me? This was a very insightful view and quite accurate.
Over the years I have encountered many of these types of team members. Most of them fall into one, or more, of the following categories: gunslingers, time travelers, and tenants.
The Gunslingers will shoot holes into the best laid plans. They are only concerned in casting blame and showing where all the problems are in any given situation. You can spend hours trying to help them solve problems, but they will just continue to tell you why those ideas won’t work. Try to stay away from these types of people. They are rarely trainable, and I have only seen a few that could be converted from their pessimistic outlooks.
The time travelers are the employees that either want to know the future or can only focus on the past. A time traveler will always stay focused on what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. The best way to deal with these team members is to constantly reinforce the fact that we can’t change the past, and we don’t know the future. I have found that if you can get them to start expecting the best but planning for the worst, you can break them of this bad habit. My experience has been that you can learn from history but you need to focus from this point moving forward. Finally you want to have contingency plans in case something does go wrong. However, you cannot afford to stop production due to fear of the unknown.
Our last category are the tenants. I call them tenants because I think of the relationship between a tenant and a landlord. All the tenants do is bring the landlord their problems to fix. While that might be the job of a landlord it is not the job of a manager. Over the years I have used the following technique to stop the tenants in their tracks. When I have someone who continuously brings me problems, I simply ask them the question, what would you do if this was your company? Based on their answer you will know if they are the right person for the job or not. If not, maybe some mentoring is needed? I will get into mentoring next. However, if they can handle it without having to come to you, then why are they coming to you? The simple answer is that they are afraid to make the wrong decision. I have a simple fix for this as well. When I get someone who constantly comes to me with problems or questions, and I know they are capable of handling it without my involvement, I tell them the following; “From this point forward I don’t want you to ask me anymore questions that I can’t answer with a simple yes or no.” For example, don’t come to me with a question about what do I think you should do about….. Instead come in with a statement. I was going to do this about ……is that ok? This will show me that the manager has at least taken the time to think through the problem and come up with solutions. Therefore, bring me one or multiple solutions to choose from. This will eliminate the fear factor and cut down on the interruptions. Over time the manager will also start to build confidence, and realize that they don’t have to involve you on every decision.
My last comment is about mentoring. This is a lost art. Many people today think that they can just hire the perfect employee, and that doesn’t work. While I have spoken about many specific problematic personalities, you have to be honest with yourself. This whole article only applies to skilled and seasoned team members. If you continually have people coming to you with questions, is this a personnel problem or a training problem? If you look back on your own career I am sure you will remember many people who took the time to teach you the skills you have acquired. Make sure that you make time to mentor and train others. I personally have time built into my weekly schedule for mentoring. You cannot just hire the perfect employee. There are too many differences from one company to another. However, if you spend the time to train them properly you will build a relationship with a valued team member that will solve your problems and in the end give you more time to train others.
Yesterday, I was speaking with a colleague, and he was telling me that he is sick of people bringing him problems. He doesn’t need people to bring him problems; he can find them all by himself. In fact, problems will ultimately present themselves in almost every occasion. So why am I paying people to bring the problems to me? This was a very insightful view and quite accurate.
Over the years I have encountered many of these types of team members. Most of them fall into one, or more, of the following categories: gunslingers, time travelers, and tenants.
The Gunslingers will shoot holes into the best laid plans. They are only concerned in casting blame and showing where all the problems are in any given situation. You can spend hours trying to help them solve problems, but they will just continue to tell you why those ideas won’t work. Try to stay away from these types of people. They are rarely trainable, and I have only seen a few that could be converted from their pessimistic outlooks.
The time travelers are the employees that either want to know the future or can only focus on the past. A time traveler will always stay focused on what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. The best way to deal with these team members is to constantly reinforce the fact that we can’t change the past, and we don’t know the future. I have found that if you can get them to start expecting the best but planning for the worst, you can break them of this bad habit. My experience has been that you can learn from history but you need to focus from this point moving forward. Finally you want to have contingency plans in case something does go wrong. However, you cannot afford to stop production due to fear of the unknown.
Our last category are the tenants. I call them tenants because I think of the relationship between a tenant and a landlord. All the tenants do is bring the landlord their problems to fix. While that might be the job of a landlord it is not the job of a manager. Over the years I have used the following technique to stop the tenants in their tracks. When I have someone who continuously brings me problems, I simply ask them the question, what would you do if this was your company? Based on their answer you will know if they are the right person for the job or not. If not, maybe some mentoring is needed? I will get into mentoring next. However, if they can handle it without having to come to you, then why are they coming to you? The simple answer is that they are afraid to make the wrong decision. I have a simple fix for this as well. When I get someone who constantly comes to me with problems or questions, and I know they are capable of handling it without my involvement, I tell them the following; “From this point forward I don’t want you to ask me anymore questions that I can’t answer with a simple yes or no.” For example, don’t come to me with a question about what do I think you should do about….. Instead come in with a statement. I was going to do this about ……is that ok? This will show me that the manager has at least taken the time to think through the problem and come up with solutions. Therefore, bring me one or multiple solutions to choose from. This will eliminate the fear factor and cut down on the interruptions. Over time the manager will also start to build confidence, and realize that they don’t have to involve you on every decision.
My last comment is about mentoring. This is a lost art. Many people today think that they can just hire the perfect employee, and that doesn’t work. While I have spoken about many specific problematic personalities, you have to be honest with yourself. This whole article only applies to skilled and seasoned team members. If you continually have people coming to you with questions, is this a personnel problem or a training problem? If you look back on your own career I am sure you will remember many people who took the time to teach you the skills you have acquired. Make sure that you make time to mentor and train others. I personally have time built into my weekly schedule for mentoring. You cannot just hire the perfect employee. There are too many differences from one company to another. However, if you spend the time to train them properly you will build a relationship with a valued team member that will solve your problems and in the end give you more time to train others.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Customer Always Wins
Last week I received another overwhelming response to my article “Educating The Customer”. I thank everyone for their support and comments. It seems that many of the comments I have received relating to the customer being right, come down to negotiations. One person, who actually commented on the blog itself (which is greatly appreciated and helps promote discussions), explained that they were “A non-confrontational person” and had trouble when it came to educating the customer. While the example I gave in my story was based more on a safe and professional installation, those comments conflated with many other comments from my previous article “Who’s Your Customer”. So I thought I would share this story with everyone. This is an actual event, from when I worked on a hospital remodel project.
I was the project manager on an emergency room expansion project to an existing, well established, hospital in Florida. We had been working on this project for approximately six months and the overall project had been broken down into twelve different phases. We were just starting the third phase which was building out an old storage room into a new pharmacy.
Prior to starting this phase the GC had a pre-construction meeting with all the sub-contractors to discuss the plan. I had put together our electrical plan and our schedule for the execution of this phase and was well prepared for the meeting. The meeting went off without a hitch. Everyone seemed to be on the same page, and it looked as though this phase would run as smoothly as the previous phases.
The following Monday the GC’s superintendant came up to me and asked why we hadn’t started work in the storage area yet? Confused, I looked at him and stated, that I thought we had just discussed this at the meeting last week, and they were supposed to start the demo today. The superintendant said, “Yes, exactly, why aren’t you in there removing the fixtures?”
I tried to explain to the superintendant that the demo work was not in our contract and that all we were supposed to do was disconnect the power to the storage room for the demo crew. The super flipped his lid and started screaming at me and calling me some less than flattering names. Rather than become emotional and take it personally I sat there and listened to him, and allowed him to vent his frustration. I then told him, I understood his frustration and maybe I was wrong. I invited him back to my office trailer to check, and if indeed it was in my contract, I would get people in there immediately to start removing the fixtures.
I will not bother to go into the details of the contract but we were at a standstill. After looking over the contract the super was convinced that it was my responsibility, and I was convinced that it was not. At this point the super and I went to discuss this with the Project Manager for the GC. The Project Manager, again not letting emotion get involved, sided with me on the fact the there was a note on the electrical plans that said: “all demos by others”. The problem was that there was a note on the demolition plans that said: “fixtures to be demoed by others”. This was clearly a mistake and now we had to get it resolved.
The GC brought in the owner to discuss the situation and the owner was very adamant that they were not going to pay any money out for something that was in the contract, regardless of how unclear. They believed that it was not an acceptable reason for a change order and that the problem should have been found before this point in the project.
Again, I am not going to get into details but in the end the owner realized that since the architect was hired by the owner, and the architect drew up the plans and wrote the notes, that the liability lies with the owner, and if they wanted to they could go back to the architect for compensation.
Now in most cases this situation would have resulted in a change order, and the only person coming out of the whole process with a positive experience would have been my company. However, as I have said many times, I believe in giving the customer the best possible value.
What no one else knew was that I was also doing a project for a small warehouse facility. This warehouse had minimal lighting installed and the owner was planning on adding shelving and was in need of additional lighting. However, his budget was extremely limited to say the least. Keeping in mind that I am always looking for a win/win situation for my customers, I asked the owner of the warehouse facility if he cared if the lights to be installed where used. The owner quickly replied, that he didn’t care as long as they worked. I asked him to let me check on some things for him, and I would get back to him.
I went back to the hospital and spoke with the GC. I told him that if the owner was willing to let us keep the lights, that I would remove the lighting for free. The GC went to the owner and then the owner and I discussed it. I told the owner that if I could keep the fixtures we would not charge for the demo, assuming I could get the other customer to buy the lights from me. The owner was thrilled and in full agreement.
I went back to the warehouse owner and told him that I had the opportunity for him to buy 400 fixtures at $40 each. I explained that I understood he only needed 275 fixtures, but at $110 each that would cost him $30,250. Some of the used fixtures would not be working or usable, but I promised that we would get 275 working fixtures out of the lot, and for much less than buying new fixtures. He agreed and thanked me for helping him with his tight budget limitations.
In the end the Hospital got what they wanted, the GC was praised for hiring us, the warehouse owner got a great deal, and I walked away with three customers singing my praises all while taking a little coin home in my company’s pocket. If I had gotten caught up in the battle, and not stopped and listened to what the objections were, then I would never have come up with this solution. When faced with a customer who is unhappy, stop! Listen, and try to find out how you can make everyone a winning proposal. It is not a battle, it is not an argument, and it’s not even a confrontation. What it is, is an opportunity for you to help your customer, and earn a reputation.
I have told this story to illustrate that you cannot get caught up in who wins and who loses. The fact is that if your customer doesn’t win every time, then I promise you, you are the one who has lost.
I was the project manager on an emergency room expansion project to an existing, well established, hospital in Florida. We had been working on this project for approximately six months and the overall project had been broken down into twelve different phases. We were just starting the third phase which was building out an old storage room into a new pharmacy.
Prior to starting this phase the GC had a pre-construction meeting with all the sub-contractors to discuss the plan. I had put together our electrical plan and our schedule for the execution of this phase and was well prepared for the meeting. The meeting went off without a hitch. Everyone seemed to be on the same page, and it looked as though this phase would run as smoothly as the previous phases.
The following Monday the GC’s superintendant came up to me and asked why we hadn’t started work in the storage area yet? Confused, I looked at him and stated, that I thought we had just discussed this at the meeting last week, and they were supposed to start the demo today. The superintendant said, “Yes, exactly, why aren’t you in there removing the fixtures?”
I tried to explain to the superintendant that the demo work was not in our contract and that all we were supposed to do was disconnect the power to the storage room for the demo crew. The super flipped his lid and started screaming at me and calling me some less than flattering names. Rather than become emotional and take it personally I sat there and listened to him, and allowed him to vent his frustration. I then told him, I understood his frustration and maybe I was wrong. I invited him back to my office trailer to check, and if indeed it was in my contract, I would get people in there immediately to start removing the fixtures.
I will not bother to go into the details of the contract but we were at a standstill. After looking over the contract the super was convinced that it was my responsibility, and I was convinced that it was not. At this point the super and I went to discuss this with the Project Manager for the GC. The Project Manager, again not letting emotion get involved, sided with me on the fact the there was a note on the electrical plans that said: “all demos by others”. The problem was that there was a note on the demolition plans that said: “fixtures to be demoed by others”. This was clearly a mistake and now we had to get it resolved.
The GC brought in the owner to discuss the situation and the owner was very adamant that they were not going to pay any money out for something that was in the contract, regardless of how unclear. They believed that it was not an acceptable reason for a change order and that the problem should have been found before this point in the project.
Again, I am not going to get into details but in the end the owner realized that since the architect was hired by the owner, and the architect drew up the plans and wrote the notes, that the liability lies with the owner, and if they wanted to they could go back to the architect for compensation.
Now in most cases this situation would have resulted in a change order, and the only person coming out of the whole process with a positive experience would have been my company. However, as I have said many times, I believe in giving the customer the best possible value.
What no one else knew was that I was also doing a project for a small warehouse facility. This warehouse had minimal lighting installed and the owner was planning on adding shelving and was in need of additional lighting. However, his budget was extremely limited to say the least. Keeping in mind that I am always looking for a win/win situation for my customers, I asked the owner of the warehouse facility if he cared if the lights to be installed where used. The owner quickly replied, that he didn’t care as long as they worked. I asked him to let me check on some things for him, and I would get back to him.
I went back to the hospital and spoke with the GC. I told him that if the owner was willing to let us keep the lights, that I would remove the lighting for free. The GC went to the owner and then the owner and I discussed it. I told the owner that if I could keep the fixtures we would not charge for the demo, assuming I could get the other customer to buy the lights from me. The owner was thrilled and in full agreement.
I went back to the warehouse owner and told him that I had the opportunity for him to buy 400 fixtures at $40 each. I explained that I understood he only needed 275 fixtures, but at $110 each that would cost him $30,250. Some of the used fixtures would not be working or usable, but I promised that we would get 275 working fixtures out of the lot, and for much less than buying new fixtures. He agreed and thanked me for helping him with his tight budget limitations.
In the end the Hospital got what they wanted, the GC was praised for hiring us, the warehouse owner got a great deal, and I walked away with three customers singing my praises all while taking a little coin home in my company’s pocket. If I had gotten caught up in the battle, and not stopped and listened to what the objections were, then I would never have come up with this solution. When faced with a customer who is unhappy, stop! Listen, and try to find out how you can make everyone a winning proposal. It is not a battle, it is not an argument, and it’s not even a confrontation. What it is, is an opportunity for you to help your customer, and earn a reputation.
I have told this story to illustrate that you cannot get caught up in who wins and who loses. The fact is that if your customer doesn’t win every time, then I promise you, you are the one who has lost.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Educating The Customer
A couple weeks back I posted an article about the customer always being right, and with that, came a large amount of emails and comments. While it was not a topic I expected to receive such an overwhelming response on, it made me understand that this is a topic that people feel very passionate about. One person in particular responded to me about a customer that wanted them to do something not only wrong, but unsafe, and was looking for some direction. A friend of mine had a similar experience that he requested my help with, and I felt it would be helpful to share his story, as a lesson learned, with my readers. I thought that this was a good example of how even though a customer may always be right, you may also need to educate them a little, so they can make the correct choices. (While this story is accurate in the details the names are fictitious.)
I got a phone call from Tony, he is a good friend of mine who started his own business a few years back and calls me from time to time for some guidance. This particular day he called to let me know about a customer he had that was building a restaurant. The owner of the restaurant, Steve, asked him to move some switches that were going to be in the way of a new cooler he was installing. Tony looked over the job, came up with a price, and turned over a change order. When he gave the proposal to Steve, Tony explained that this was a turnkey price that included all the required patching and painting. Steve told Tony that his price was ridiculous; and questioned why he would have any patching and painting costs.
Tony went on to explain to Steve all that he would be required to do to make the installation up to code. Steve told Tony that he “knows” about electric and went on to describe a cheaper, easier, and highly illegal installation. He further stated that he has had many electricians do this in the past. Steve went one step further and told Tony that if he didn’t do it that way that he would not pay him for the work he had completed to date.
Tony knew of my philosophy that the customer is always right and was perplexed on how to proceed. After all he wasn’t going to put his license on the line for this guy by doing something illegal. That is what led to his phone call to me. When I heard what Steve was requesting, I was alarmed and I told Tony that not only was that a code violation but that it is a life safety issue and someone could die from a job done that way. Tony told me that he had tried to explain that to the customer, but that the customer was very adamant that it was ‘his way or no pay.’
I asked Tony to set up a meeting on site with Steve that I would attend. While we were waiting on Steve, Tony was showing me the area where the switches needed to be moved. Just as we were walking out to the parking lot Steve came pulling up in his gorgeous Ford GT, he was dressed to the nines, and was obviously quite successful in his line of work.
After a brief introduction I walked Steve over to the area were the switches needed to be moved. Steve was confused about why I was there and why we were still discussing a situation that in his mind had been resolved. Steve barked at me that he had already made it clear that he was not paying extra money to patch walls for something as simple as moving a switch. Steve further stated that he has been in business a long time and knows the tricks contractors play to make up money and he isn’t about to fall for it. I explained to Steve that I had no interest in money, that I was there as a favor to a friend. I then complimented Steve on his experience and mentioned that he must be very proficient in his business practices his success was obvious based on the beautiful car he was driving.
I asked Steve if there was a problem with any of the work that Tony had done to date, excluding the switches that needed to be relocated. When Steve said no, that Tony had done a great job thus far-- but he still wasn’t paying a bunch of extra money to move those switches! I jumped in right there and let him know that we had two completely different situations. One had nothing to do with the other. He paused long enough for me to explain my position. If Tony did a good job on the rest of his restaurant then there shouldn’t be a problem in getting paid for the work he had done. The issue we needed to discuss was the relocation of the switches.
Steve then said that he could not open the restaurant until he got the new cooler set and Tony was holding up that process. That is why he was threatening to hold his money. I explained to Steve that the issue Tony had was with safety, not money. When Tony refused to proceed with the relocation of the switches as Steve requested, it was because that process was a safety hazard and did not constitute a professional or safe job. “Tony’s license is tied to every job for the life of the building, and if someone were to be injured, he could lose his license and be held criminally responsible, as could the business owner. If you really stop to think about it, Tony is trying to protect you and your business as well as his best interests”, I explained.
Steve, still thinking this was a ploy for more money, told me, “I don’t care! I just want it done quick and cheap!” I explained to Steve that I could only see two options moving forward. One: negotiate a fair rate for Tony to do the job according to code and have a safe working condition, or Two: sign a waiver, releasing Tony’s Electric from liability, and sub that portion of the job out to another contractor that is willing to put others lives in jeopardy. I explained to Steve that Tony is only interested in making him happy and helping him to get his restaurant done the way he wants it done in the most efficient manner. However, Tony was not going to violate any laws or put anyone’s life in danger.
Steve stepped back and asked me, “ how is it possible for this to really be a safety hazard? As long as the splice is good and tight and the wires are taped up well, then there can’t be any real risk.”
I went on to say that I would be happy to go into detail about the theory of electricity and how this particular practice could cause a shock and or fire hazard. I told him; “It doesn’t matter whether it truly is a safety hazard or not, it is a code violation, and therefore illegal. The fact remains that if for any reason there was a fire or someone were to be injured, the investigators would find this violation and it would be used as a tool to show negligence against the owner and the electrical company putting you and Tony at risk. Stop and think about it for a minute. How many fire hazards are there in a restaurant? If, God forbid, there was a fire that had nothing to do with any form of negligence, would you really want to be held accountable just to save a few bucks on this move? The investigators will make a report that states there were electrical code violations, and it will be up to you and Tony to go to court to prove that this particular violation had nothing to do with causing the incident. It may be hard to convince a court that you are not a negligent person if they can prove acts were performed that demonstrated a blind eye to safety. Even if you are successful it will cost you a bundle in lawyer’s fees just to prove it.”
I finished up with Steve by explaining, “Tony runs a professional company that looks out for the best interests of the customer and provides a superior product. He has spent many years building a reputation by providing the customer with the best possible solution to promote an efficient and safe electrical system. While we understand that you have your own goals and deadlines to deal with, Tony cannot compromise the moral foundation he has spent years building, to save a customer a few dollars.”
I then asked, “Steve, if you were buying a new computer, would you tell Bill Gates how to build it? More than likely you would trust the expert on how the computer was built. You may want to decide on what extras or options you need but in the end the core of the system would be built based on the expert’s experience. All we are asking for is to be extended that same courtesy. We are the experts when it comes to electrical installations, and this is part of your core system. You want to trust the expert.”
In the end Steve understood what I was expressing. I did spend some time going into the technical side of what could happen and why it was in his best interest to make the move according to the code. It was no surprise to me that once the job was completed Steve was happy, his cooler was installed correctly and to code, and he was able to open on time. Tony was paid in full; and everyone walked away with what they wanted.
The idea behind this story is: don’t compromise your ethics, or integrity, due to a pushy customer. You have no idea what stresses the customer is under, so you shouldn’t judge them based on a single interaction, and even when your customer is wrong they are your customer. If you take the time to help them understand why your proposal makes sense and the risks involved with cutting corners most of the time your customers will come around and start to trust you. It is up to you to educate them on the proper path and any risk associated with alternative options. In the end, if your customer doesn’t understand your proposal then it is your fault for not communicating the details in a way they can understand. You are the expert and it is your responsibility to help your customer to “always be right”, and many times that is through education and communication.
I got a phone call from Tony, he is a good friend of mine who started his own business a few years back and calls me from time to time for some guidance. This particular day he called to let me know about a customer he had that was building a restaurant. The owner of the restaurant, Steve, asked him to move some switches that were going to be in the way of a new cooler he was installing. Tony looked over the job, came up with a price, and turned over a change order. When he gave the proposal to Steve, Tony explained that this was a turnkey price that included all the required patching and painting. Steve told Tony that his price was ridiculous; and questioned why he would have any patching and painting costs.
Tony went on to explain to Steve all that he would be required to do to make the installation up to code. Steve told Tony that he “knows” about electric and went on to describe a cheaper, easier, and highly illegal installation. He further stated that he has had many electricians do this in the past. Steve went one step further and told Tony that if he didn’t do it that way that he would not pay him for the work he had completed to date.
Tony knew of my philosophy that the customer is always right and was perplexed on how to proceed. After all he wasn’t going to put his license on the line for this guy by doing something illegal. That is what led to his phone call to me. When I heard what Steve was requesting, I was alarmed and I told Tony that not only was that a code violation but that it is a life safety issue and someone could die from a job done that way. Tony told me that he had tried to explain that to the customer, but that the customer was very adamant that it was ‘his way or no pay.’
I asked Tony to set up a meeting on site with Steve that I would attend. While we were waiting on Steve, Tony was showing me the area where the switches needed to be moved. Just as we were walking out to the parking lot Steve came pulling up in his gorgeous Ford GT, he was dressed to the nines, and was obviously quite successful in his line of work.
After a brief introduction I walked Steve over to the area were the switches needed to be moved. Steve was confused about why I was there and why we were still discussing a situation that in his mind had been resolved. Steve barked at me that he had already made it clear that he was not paying extra money to patch walls for something as simple as moving a switch. Steve further stated that he has been in business a long time and knows the tricks contractors play to make up money and he isn’t about to fall for it. I explained to Steve that I had no interest in money, that I was there as a favor to a friend. I then complimented Steve on his experience and mentioned that he must be very proficient in his business practices his success was obvious based on the beautiful car he was driving.
I asked Steve if there was a problem with any of the work that Tony had done to date, excluding the switches that needed to be relocated. When Steve said no, that Tony had done a great job thus far-- but he still wasn’t paying a bunch of extra money to move those switches! I jumped in right there and let him know that we had two completely different situations. One had nothing to do with the other. He paused long enough for me to explain my position. If Tony did a good job on the rest of his restaurant then there shouldn’t be a problem in getting paid for the work he had done. The issue we needed to discuss was the relocation of the switches.
Steve then said that he could not open the restaurant until he got the new cooler set and Tony was holding up that process. That is why he was threatening to hold his money. I explained to Steve that the issue Tony had was with safety, not money. When Tony refused to proceed with the relocation of the switches as Steve requested, it was because that process was a safety hazard and did not constitute a professional or safe job. “Tony’s license is tied to every job for the life of the building, and if someone were to be injured, he could lose his license and be held criminally responsible, as could the business owner. If you really stop to think about it, Tony is trying to protect you and your business as well as his best interests”, I explained.
Steve, still thinking this was a ploy for more money, told me, “I don’t care! I just want it done quick and cheap!” I explained to Steve that I could only see two options moving forward. One: negotiate a fair rate for Tony to do the job according to code and have a safe working condition, or Two: sign a waiver, releasing Tony’s Electric from liability, and sub that portion of the job out to another contractor that is willing to put others lives in jeopardy. I explained to Steve that Tony is only interested in making him happy and helping him to get his restaurant done the way he wants it done in the most efficient manner. However, Tony was not going to violate any laws or put anyone’s life in danger.
Steve stepped back and asked me, “ how is it possible for this to really be a safety hazard? As long as the splice is good and tight and the wires are taped up well, then there can’t be any real risk.”
I went on to say that I would be happy to go into detail about the theory of electricity and how this particular practice could cause a shock and or fire hazard. I told him; “It doesn’t matter whether it truly is a safety hazard or not, it is a code violation, and therefore illegal. The fact remains that if for any reason there was a fire or someone were to be injured, the investigators would find this violation and it would be used as a tool to show negligence against the owner and the electrical company putting you and Tony at risk. Stop and think about it for a minute. How many fire hazards are there in a restaurant? If, God forbid, there was a fire that had nothing to do with any form of negligence, would you really want to be held accountable just to save a few bucks on this move? The investigators will make a report that states there were electrical code violations, and it will be up to you and Tony to go to court to prove that this particular violation had nothing to do with causing the incident. It may be hard to convince a court that you are not a negligent person if they can prove acts were performed that demonstrated a blind eye to safety. Even if you are successful it will cost you a bundle in lawyer’s fees just to prove it.”
I finished up with Steve by explaining, “Tony runs a professional company that looks out for the best interests of the customer and provides a superior product. He has spent many years building a reputation by providing the customer with the best possible solution to promote an efficient and safe electrical system. While we understand that you have your own goals and deadlines to deal with, Tony cannot compromise the moral foundation he has spent years building, to save a customer a few dollars.”
I then asked, “Steve, if you were buying a new computer, would you tell Bill Gates how to build it? More than likely you would trust the expert on how the computer was built. You may want to decide on what extras or options you need but in the end the core of the system would be built based on the expert’s experience. All we are asking for is to be extended that same courtesy. We are the experts when it comes to electrical installations, and this is part of your core system. You want to trust the expert.”
In the end Steve understood what I was expressing. I did spend some time going into the technical side of what could happen and why it was in his best interest to make the move according to the code. It was no surprise to me that once the job was completed Steve was happy, his cooler was installed correctly and to code, and he was able to open on time. Tony was paid in full; and everyone walked away with what they wanted.
The idea behind this story is: don’t compromise your ethics, or integrity, due to a pushy customer. You have no idea what stresses the customer is under, so you shouldn’t judge them based on a single interaction, and even when your customer is wrong they are your customer. If you take the time to help them understand why your proposal makes sense and the risks involved with cutting corners most of the time your customers will come around and start to trust you. It is up to you to educate them on the proper path and any risk associated with alternative options. In the end, if your customer doesn’t understand your proposal then it is your fault for not communicating the details in a way they can understand. You are the expert and it is your responsibility to help your customer to “always be right”, and many times that is through education and communication.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Lack Of Training Not Talent
I have written many articles about successful management techniques and how to get the most out of your team by making them feel like they are part of something larger than just a company. Throughout these articles I have received hundreds of emails explaining specific problematic employees and excuses as to why they could not be managed, let alone productive. While I agree that there are a small percentage of people out there that cannot be taught, trained, or motivated to do anything more than the minimum to sustain their employment, I believe the percentage is very small. When I ask my students, clients, or team members, the question about how many people do they think fit this bill? I usually get numbers like 30% or as high as 60% of people are “useless” or un-trainable in their minds. It has been my experience that the actual number is closer to less than 1%.
Let me explain. I believe that most people in this world want to do a good job and have pride in the work they produce. However, even the best of intentions fall short when specific expectations are not laid out, and the proper training provided. In past articles I have covered in great detail the importance of providing clear expectations so I will not go into that in this article. What I would like to cover is the second most important tool to an employees’ success: Training.
In today’s business world almost every new hire is either thrown into the work pool and expected to sink or swim, or given a week or two of “Training”, and expected to be a productive part of the organization from the start. The problem with this is that even in a very simplistic business structure, it is unlikely for anyone to understand the entire business operation in two weeks, even in the best of circumstances.
In the first example, we throw a new hire into the field and expect results. Even if we have been clear on what our expectations are, there is little chance this new hire can be successful until they have learned all the ins and outs of the company through trial and error. This is expensive to the company, and very frustrating to the new hire. In most cases they will quit or you will fire them and consider them to be a poor employee.
In the second example you offer “training” to the new hire but it usually only consists of the bare minimum needed to function, and is only as good as whomever the “trainer” is and their qualifications. Worse yet, often they are trained by other employees with a huge work load of their own. So the new hire spends most of their time sitting and waiting for the “trainer” to have some free time, or simply just watches the “trainer” and hopes to learn by example.
The issues with both of these methodologies, is that only the top performers in the industry can be successful under these conditions. Thus, the reasons so many people think that there are so few good candidates out there. If we do not set up our new hires for success, then we are the only ones to blame when they do not succeed.
So how do we solve this problem? When you have a new hire start they should be given proper training on how to do their job within the company’s process and procedures. This training should be specific, have a set timeline, and a well defined syllabus. This training cannot be different for each new hire and based solely on the discretion of the trainer. The person training the new hire needs to have the sole focus of preparing the new hire for a long term career within the organization. I know that many companies will argue that they cannot afford this process. They don’t have the time or the money to expend on training. However, if you actually consider how much time and money it takes to hire a new employee; Ads, interviews, application process, testing, background checks, etc… you should start to understand that what you can’t afford is to lose this new hire due to a lack of training.
When CEO’s set up budgets each year very little, if any, money is put into the training budget. On average less than five cents per hour worked. So that means if your company averages 50,000 hours a year, they will only commit $2,500 dollars to training. In this scenario it is easy to see why so many new hires complain about the same thing, no training. You would have a hard time teaching someone how to play a board game for that amount of money, let alone the intricacies of a corporate structure. We need to change our way of thinking and begin to understand that our employees are our most valuable asset, and that we need to invest in them the same way we invest in other parts of our business. Only then will we begin to see the true talent curve of our industry.
So now you have a new hire that has been properly trained. The next step is to keep them trained. Another common misconception is that once someone has been successful they will continue to do so, and they end up being ignored. Training needs to be an ongoing process. Internal processes and procedures are always changing, as is our market, the laws, the customers, etc. We need to keep our team up to date on the latest codes, customer trends, safety issues, customer service practices, and so on. Your employees should receive some kind of training every month. This doesn’t need to be anything more than an hour or two meeting each month. When it comes down to the actual training the important part is to keep your team informed and feeling like they are part of something bigger than a paycheck.
Like I said at the beginning, I truly believe that most people want to do a good job and take pride in their efforts. So we need to spend more time making sure that we are giving our team the proper tools to be successful and take care of our customers. Training is the first step to creating a memorable customer experience. And if you do not provide your team with the proper training, then it is you that let your team and your customers down. Avoid that pitfall by providing a structured training program with ongoing sessions, it will build a stronger team, and will set you apart from your competition and help make your company a true leader in the industry.
Let me explain. I believe that most people in this world want to do a good job and have pride in the work they produce. However, even the best of intentions fall short when specific expectations are not laid out, and the proper training provided. In past articles I have covered in great detail the importance of providing clear expectations so I will not go into that in this article. What I would like to cover is the second most important tool to an employees’ success: Training.
In today’s business world almost every new hire is either thrown into the work pool and expected to sink or swim, or given a week or two of “Training”, and expected to be a productive part of the organization from the start. The problem with this is that even in a very simplistic business structure, it is unlikely for anyone to understand the entire business operation in two weeks, even in the best of circumstances.
In the first example, we throw a new hire into the field and expect results. Even if we have been clear on what our expectations are, there is little chance this new hire can be successful until they have learned all the ins and outs of the company through trial and error. This is expensive to the company, and very frustrating to the new hire. In most cases they will quit or you will fire them and consider them to be a poor employee.
In the second example you offer “training” to the new hire but it usually only consists of the bare minimum needed to function, and is only as good as whomever the “trainer” is and their qualifications. Worse yet, often they are trained by other employees with a huge work load of their own. So the new hire spends most of their time sitting and waiting for the “trainer” to have some free time, or simply just watches the “trainer” and hopes to learn by example.
The issues with both of these methodologies, is that only the top performers in the industry can be successful under these conditions. Thus, the reasons so many people think that there are so few good candidates out there. If we do not set up our new hires for success, then we are the only ones to blame when they do not succeed.
So how do we solve this problem? When you have a new hire start they should be given proper training on how to do their job within the company’s process and procedures. This training should be specific, have a set timeline, and a well defined syllabus. This training cannot be different for each new hire and based solely on the discretion of the trainer. The person training the new hire needs to have the sole focus of preparing the new hire for a long term career within the organization. I know that many companies will argue that they cannot afford this process. They don’t have the time or the money to expend on training. However, if you actually consider how much time and money it takes to hire a new employee; Ads, interviews, application process, testing, background checks, etc… you should start to understand that what you can’t afford is to lose this new hire due to a lack of training.
When CEO’s set up budgets each year very little, if any, money is put into the training budget. On average less than five cents per hour worked. So that means if your company averages 50,000 hours a year, they will only commit $2,500 dollars to training. In this scenario it is easy to see why so many new hires complain about the same thing, no training. You would have a hard time teaching someone how to play a board game for that amount of money, let alone the intricacies of a corporate structure. We need to change our way of thinking and begin to understand that our employees are our most valuable asset, and that we need to invest in them the same way we invest in other parts of our business. Only then will we begin to see the true talent curve of our industry.
So now you have a new hire that has been properly trained. The next step is to keep them trained. Another common misconception is that once someone has been successful they will continue to do so, and they end up being ignored. Training needs to be an ongoing process. Internal processes and procedures are always changing, as is our market, the laws, the customers, etc. We need to keep our team up to date on the latest codes, customer trends, safety issues, customer service practices, and so on. Your employees should receive some kind of training every month. This doesn’t need to be anything more than an hour or two meeting each month. When it comes down to the actual training the important part is to keep your team informed and feeling like they are part of something bigger than a paycheck.
Like I said at the beginning, I truly believe that most people want to do a good job and take pride in their efforts. So we need to spend more time making sure that we are giving our team the proper tools to be successful and take care of our customers. Training is the first step to creating a memorable customer experience. And if you do not provide your team with the proper training, then it is you that let your team and your customers down. Avoid that pitfall by providing a structured training program with ongoing sessions, it will build a stronger team, and will set you apart from your competition and help make your company a true leader in the industry.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Who's Your Customer?
The Customer is always right, right? No doubt that throughout your life you have heard this phrase, but is it accurate? Is the customer always right? In my opinion the answer is yes! The customer is the one who spends their money. Money is what a business needs to survive. So therefore, ipso facto, if you don’t take care of the customer, you will inevitably fail at your business. This makes the customer right every time, even if they are mistaken. While I believe that it is more important to build a relationship with the customer, the bottom line is called ‘the bottom line’ for a reason.
Throughout my career I have had some extremely difficult customers that were mistaken in their views. However, it was not their fault they were mistaken, it was mine. As the Service Provider it is my job to explain the conditions to the customer, make sure that the customer understands the scope, and has clear expectations of what to expect when we perform our service.
So if the customer is always right, and you have a disgruntled customer, then you must be wrong. This is going to be hard for some to handle, but please hear me through. There are many ways you can be wrong, while technically you may be correct. Don’t focus on the facts. In many cases, when it comes to the facts or the specifics, the customer may be wrong and you may be right. However, in the overall experience, the customer ultimately is always right. If you lose the customer, then somewhere along the way, you must have made a mistake.
As a business you must understand who you are and what your brand is, also, you must understand your customer. No one company can be everything to everybody. But, in this ever shrinking economy many companies are trying to be just that. This will not end well for the company or the customer. Think about this for a minute. You will never see a Rolex watch in a display case at a Wal-Mart. Why? Because in general the customer who visits a large box bargain store is not interested in quality, only price. In short, they are not the right customer for their brand, so Rolex focuses on high-end jewelry shops where the customers are more interested in quality than price. They are targeting the right customer for their product.
Excluding a complete lack of attention to the customer experience, most cases of disgruntled customers come down to three things:
1. Poor communication.
2. Wrong customer for the company.
3. Wrong company for the customer.
So you need to ask yourself, where do I fall in this structure? (Be careful! I have had a number of companies say, “those just aren’t our customers”, when in fact the problem is internal.) All too often the easy out is to blame the customer. In one example I had a company that tried to convince me that they could not compete in a certain market because their internal costs are too high to compete with the smaller companies. The disconnect with that thought process is that if you are a bigger company you have advantages that a smaller company doesn’t have, so this argument is not valid. The size of your company shouldn’t determine your brand, or customer. If your internal costs are too high then you have to understand that you have waste that needs to be trimmed. I suggest looking into programs like Lean, Six Sigma, and TOC, to help find internal efficiencies and not exclude an entire market segment. Your marketing strategy needs to identify your brand and customer segment, and advertise to them. Your managers need to be able to identify the wrong customers and help them find the right product or provider. And most of all you have to be clear in your communications so that every customer has a clear expectation of what the experience is going to be when they purchase your product or service. This requires well motivated and highly trained managers and/or sales staff.
In today’s virtual world of online ordering, scheduling, and learning, we have cut out the sales person or customer liaison that would have taken the time to explain all the details of a product or service, and managed the customer’s buying experience. Or we have outsourced the customer service to a call center in another country, using services that handle multiple companies and whose staff has little knowledge or care of your customer’s actual experience, let alone the authority or capacity to resolve a customer’s distress. Many think that this is the reason why the costs are less since the “middle man” was cut out of the equation. The truth though, is that the reason the pricing is lowered is because the company doesn’t have the overhead they would require to operate a store front any longer. These companies are counting on the customer to read and understand the “Terms & Conditions” and click on an ‘accept’ button. Then these companies label someone a difficult customer because they didn’t read or understand the Terms and Conditions they accepted. This is a dangerous slope we are traveling down. In the virtual world how can we make sure a customer will have that special feeling once the sale is completed? Even more, what about service after the sale? This could be a whole separate article and I don’t want to get off track, but you see where I’m going.
In today’s market it is not enough to be great at your job, or to have superior quality. You can no longer count on good customer service. The economy is in transition and there is no recovery. What we are seeing is a correction factor that has been long overdue. If you want to be successful in the new world market you need to set yourself apart from your competition. You need to completely blow away your customers and give them the unexpected. When it comes down to it, if the customer doesn’t choose your service or product over the tens of thousands of other choices, then you will not make it through the next decade, and that is why it’s up to you to make sure the customer is always right!
Throughout my career I have had some extremely difficult customers that were mistaken in their views. However, it was not their fault they were mistaken, it was mine. As the Service Provider it is my job to explain the conditions to the customer, make sure that the customer understands the scope, and has clear expectations of what to expect when we perform our service.
So if the customer is always right, and you have a disgruntled customer, then you must be wrong. This is going to be hard for some to handle, but please hear me through. There are many ways you can be wrong, while technically you may be correct. Don’t focus on the facts. In many cases, when it comes to the facts or the specifics, the customer may be wrong and you may be right. However, in the overall experience, the customer ultimately is always right. If you lose the customer, then somewhere along the way, you must have made a mistake.
As a business you must understand who you are and what your brand is, also, you must understand your customer. No one company can be everything to everybody. But, in this ever shrinking economy many companies are trying to be just that. This will not end well for the company or the customer. Think about this for a minute. You will never see a Rolex watch in a display case at a Wal-Mart. Why? Because in general the customer who visits a large box bargain store is not interested in quality, only price. In short, they are not the right customer for their brand, so Rolex focuses on high-end jewelry shops where the customers are more interested in quality than price. They are targeting the right customer for their product.
Excluding a complete lack of attention to the customer experience, most cases of disgruntled customers come down to three things:
1. Poor communication.
2. Wrong customer for the company.
3. Wrong company for the customer.
So you need to ask yourself, where do I fall in this structure? (Be careful! I have had a number of companies say, “those just aren’t our customers”, when in fact the problem is internal.) All too often the easy out is to blame the customer. In one example I had a company that tried to convince me that they could not compete in a certain market because their internal costs are too high to compete with the smaller companies. The disconnect with that thought process is that if you are a bigger company you have advantages that a smaller company doesn’t have, so this argument is not valid. The size of your company shouldn’t determine your brand, or customer. If your internal costs are too high then you have to understand that you have waste that needs to be trimmed. I suggest looking into programs like Lean, Six Sigma, and TOC, to help find internal efficiencies and not exclude an entire market segment. Your marketing strategy needs to identify your brand and customer segment, and advertise to them. Your managers need to be able to identify the wrong customers and help them find the right product or provider. And most of all you have to be clear in your communications so that every customer has a clear expectation of what the experience is going to be when they purchase your product or service. This requires well motivated and highly trained managers and/or sales staff.
In today’s virtual world of online ordering, scheduling, and learning, we have cut out the sales person or customer liaison that would have taken the time to explain all the details of a product or service, and managed the customer’s buying experience. Or we have outsourced the customer service to a call center in another country, using services that handle multiple companies and whose staff has little knowledge or care of your customer’s actual experience, let alone the authority or capacity to resolve a customer’s distress. Many think that this is the reason why the costs are less since the “middle man” was cut out of the equation. The truth though, is that the reason the pricing is lowered is because the company doesn’t have the overhead they would require to operate a store front any longer. These companies are counting on the customer to read and understand the “Terms & Conditions” and click on an ‘accept’ button. Then these companies label someone a difficult customer because they didn’t read or understand the Terms and Conditions they accepted. This is a dangerous slope we are traveling down. In the virtual world how can we make sure a customer will have that special feeling once the sale is completed? Even more, what about service after the sale? This could be a whole separate article and I don’t want to get off track, but you see where I’m going.
In today’s market it is not enough to be great at your job, or to have superior quality. You can no longer count on good customer service. The economy is in transition and there is no recovery. What we are seeing is a correction factor that has been long overdue. If you want to be successful in the new world market you need to set yourself apart from your competition. You need to completely blow away your customers and give them the unexpected. When it comes down to it, if the customer doesn’t choose your service or product over the tens of thousands of other choices, then you will not make it through the next decade, and that is why it’s up to you to make sure the customer is always right!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Customer Service & The Smoothie Shop
It’s no secret that the better the customer service, the better the chance at success. However, you have to wonder sometimes what people are thinking. This story is based in fact and illustrates why I spend so much time preaching and training my team on the importance of customer service.
About a year ago a gym opened up in my neighborhood and did a great job at promoting the multiple programs and membership levels offered. So good in fact, that they lured me into signing up.
Our neighborhood has an annual fall block party where we all come together and bring food, play games and have a blast. While at the function an interesting neighbor, Stacey, came over and started up a conversation. She asked me if I had been to the new gym that just opened up. I told her that not only had I been but I am a new member and go four times a week. My wife loves their Zumba classes. Stacey just laughed and said I love those classes too. Then her facial expression changed and she became very staid. She said, “Let me ask you something… what is missing at the new gym?”
Puzzled by the change in the conversation, I just muttered, “I don’t know?”
She said, “A smoothie bar! Every gym I have ever seen has a smoothie bar in it or next to it, but not this one. Everyone wants a nice fresh smoothie after a hard work out don’t they?”
If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew Stacey just divorced her fourth husband and made out very well with the cash settlement, I would have sworn that she was about to hit me up for money to invest. Stacey went on to tell me about her ideas for a whole section with supplements, diet programs, and energy bars. All and all it did sound like a good idea. I asked Stacey, what experience did she have running a business? Stacey went on to explain that she had been talking with a large smoothie chain. They provide the business plan, contractors, even managers to run the place efficiently. All she needed was money which she had plenty of after the divorce. I let her continue on and had decided that she already talked herself into it so my job was to just listen and nod in agreement.
A few weeks later I saw a sign go in the window next to the gym that said, “Coming Soon: Smoothie Queen”. (I am leaving out the real name) It wasn’t long before the new smoothie place opened, and at first it was packed. Stacey had a young woman running the place that really knew what she was doing. Inside the shop they offered healthy breakfast & lunch sandwiches, smoothies, milkshakes, and a whole line of health supplements and energy bars. I told Stacey she was going to make a fortune!
Not long after the store opened I noticed that the young woman who used to run the store for Stacey was gone. When I ran into Stacey at the gym I asked her what had happened. Stacey told me that the original girl was given to her by the corporate chain and that she garnered a large salary. Instead, Stacey brought in her niece for a fraction of what she was paying the other manager.
“Besides I already learned everything necessary from the corporate placed manager anyway”, and she gave me a wink and a smug smile.
I told Stacey that there is a lot to running a business and asked if she was sure that was a good idea? Stacey barked at me and said she knew what she was doing and that I was the one who told her how great the place was, everything has been set in place so there is no need for a large salaried manager anymore. Once again, it was obvious that her mind was already made up so I just left it alone.
As the weeks went by I noticed less and less traffic stopping by the smoothie shop. My wife and I decided we were going to have breakfast there before our work out one Saturday morning. We got there and the lights were off and the door locked. I looked at the time and it was 9:00am. The sign on the door clearly said that it opened at 8:00am. I was confused, but just as we were about to walk away a guy walked up and said, “Are they open?”
I said, “No.”
He said, “That figures. You never know when this place is open.”
When my wife and I got home I walked over to Stacey’s house and knocked on the door. I spoke with her and told her about the situation and the comment made by the other potential patron. Stacey didn’t want to hear it. She said that they don’t open till 10:00am so I must have read the sign wrong.
As the weeks passed I heard many people at the Gym comment on how bad the quality and service had gotten at Smoothie Queen and it had almost become a standard water cooler topic.
My wife and I decided that we were going to give them another chance, being that it was our neighbor and we always try to support local businesses. So that Saturday we stopped by the smoothie shop again before going to our workout. This time it was 8:30am and they were open as they should be according to their sign which did state that they opened at 8:00am on Saturdays.
As my wife and I stood there looking over their menu for breakfast options, the woman behind the counter said in a very cavalier tone, “The grill still hasn’t heated up yet so if you want food you are out of luck!”
Really! My wife and I just shook our heads in disgust. As we walked over to the gym, who did we bump into, but Stacey. I told her what had just transpired and that Smoothie Queen had become a standing joke at the gym. While I understand that nobody likes to hear someone tell them their baby is ugly, as a business owner you have to listen to your customers. However, Stacey just gave me an angry look and told me not to go there anymore if it was so awful. A few months later the smoothie shop was out of business.
Once again, last week was the annual fall block party and my wife and I were there having a great time talking with a whole bunch of our neighbors when Stacey came walking up. She butted into our conversation and began droning on about her failed business and looking for sympathy from the block. Many of the neighbors gave her the pity she was digging for and blamed the poor economy.
You see Stacey was the block captain. Which also means she was the one who sent out the invitations for not only the annual fall block party, but also the Christmas party, the New Year’s party, and the Fourth of July party, so it was usually in your best interest to suck up a little if you wanted to stay in the good graces of the neighborhood social scene. Unfortunately, I could not keep my mouth shut.
“You have to be kidding me!” I exclaimed. “Bad economy? Poor Stacey?”
I looked around at the stricken faces of all of the neighbors within earshot, and rubbed the spot on my ribs where my wife’s elbow had landed, but I’m not good at sucking up.
I went on to explain to Stacey, that the reason her business failed had nothing to do with the economy, the location, or anything other than her complete lack of regard for her customers. Not only did she remove the one and only person who understood the business, to save a few bucks at a point when she was making money hand over fist, but she ignored the fact that her patronage was shrinking month after month once she made that change.
She also never spent any time herself, at the shop to understand her customer base, and when I tried to tell her that there were some issues based on my own experiences, she told me to go jump in lake! Her open mouth snapped shut at this point, and she seemed ready to speak, but thought better of it and just stared at me.
It doesn’t take a Harvard business degree to figure out what went wrong here. She was a lazy, selfish, money grubbing, narcissist who never took the time to put her customer’s needs above her own. At that point I figured I had said enough. I took my wife’s hand, and we walked down the sidewalk back to our home.
This story is a perfect example of how easy it is to lose a customer base. You can have the best laid plan and all the money to back it up, but if you forget about the most important thing, your customer, failure is inevitable. Remember that it may take months and thousands of dollars to earn a customer but it only takes seconds to lose them forever. Since then several neighbors have gone out of their way to be extra nice to me. I don’t know if they are hoping I won’t voice my opinion about their business skills, or they liked what I said. My wife says it’s the later. Either way I don’t think I will be invited to any more block parties.
About a year ago a gym opened up in my neighborhood and did a great job at promoting the multiple programs and membership levels offered. So good in fact, that they lured me into signing up.
Our neighborhood has an annual fall block party where we all come together and bring food, play games and have a blast. While at the function an interesting neighbor, Stacey, came over and started up a conversation. She asked me if I had been to the new gym that just opened up. I told her that not only had I been but I am a new member and go four times a week. My wife loves their Zumba classes. Stacey just laughed and said I love those classes too. Then her facial expression changed and she became very staid. She said, “Let me ask you something… what is missing at the new gym?”
Puzzled by the change in the conversation, I just muttered, “I don’t know?”
She said, “A smoothie bar! Every gym I have ever seen has a smoothie bar in it or next to it, but not this one. Everyone wants a nice fresh smoothie after a hard work out don’t they?”
If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew Stacey just divorced her fourth husband and made out very well with the cash settlement, I would have sworn that she was about to hit me up for money to invest. Stacey went on to tell me about her ideas for a whole section with supplements, diet programs, and energy bars. All and all it did sound like a good idea. I asked Stacey, what experience did she have running a business? Stacey went on to explain that she had been talking with a large smoothie chain. They provide the business plan, contractors, even managers to run the place efficiently. All she needed was money which she had plenty of after the divorce. I let her continue on and had decided that she already talked herself into it so my job was to just listen and nod in agreement.
A few weeks later I saw a sign go in the window next to the gym that said, “Coming Soon: Smoothie Queen”. (I am leaving out the real name) It wasn’t long before the new smoothie place opened, and at first it was packed. Stacey had a young woman running the place that really knew what she was doing. Inside the shop they offered healthy breakfast & lunch sandwiches, smoothies, milkshakes, and a whole line of health supplements and energy bars. I told Stacey she was going to make a fortune!
Not long after the store opened I noticed that the young woman who used to run the store for Stacey was gone. When I ran into Stacey at the gym I asked her what had happened. Stacey told me that the original girl was given to her by the corporate chain and that she garnered a large salary. Instead, Stacey brought in her niece for a fraction of what she was paying the other manager.
“Besides I already learned everything necessary from the corporate placed manager anyway”, and she gave me a wink and a smug smile.
I told Stacey that there is a lot to running a business and asked if she was sure that was a good idea? Stacey barked at me and said she knew what she was doing and that I was the one who told her how great the place was, everything has been set in place so there is no need for a large salaried manager anymore. Once again, it was obvious that her mind was already made up so I just left it alone.
As the weeks went by I noticed less and less traffic stopping by the smoothie shop. My wife and I decided we were going to have breakfast there before our work out one Saturday morning. We got there and the lights were off and the door locked. I looked at the time and it was 9:00am. The sign on the door clearly said that it opened at 8:00am. I was confused, but just as we were about to walk away a guy walked up and said, “Are they open?”
I said, “No.”
He said, “That figures. You never know when this place is open.”
When my wife and I got home I walked over to Stacey’s house and knocked on the door. I spoke with her and told her about the situation and the comment made by the other potential patron. Stacey didn’t want to hear it. She said that they don’t open till 10:00am so I must have read the sign wrong.
As the weeks passed I heard many people at the Gym comment on how bad the quality and service had gotten at Smoothie Queen and it had almost become a standard water cooler topic.
My wife and I decided that we were going to give them another chance, being that it was our neighbor and we always try to support local businesses. So that Saturday we stopped by the smoothie shop again before going to our workout. This time it was 8:30am and they were open as they should be according to their sign which did state that they opened at 8:00am on Saturdays.
As my wife and I stood there looking over their menu for breakfast options, the woman behind the counter said in a very cavalier tone, “The grill still hasn’t heated up yet so if you want food you are out of luck!”
Really! My wife and I just shook our heads in disgust. As we walked over to the gym, who did we bump into, but Stacey. I told her what had just transpired and that Smoothie Queen had become a standing joke at the gym. While I understand that nobody likes to hear someone tell them their baby is ugly, as a business owner you have to listen to your customers. However, Stacey just gave me an angry look and told me not to go there anymore if it was so awful. A few months later the smoothie shop was out of business.
Once again, last week was the annual fall block party and my wife and I were there having a great time talking with a whole bunch of our neighbors when Stacey came walking up. She butted into our conversation and began droning on about her failed business and looking for sympathy from the block. Many of the neighbors gave her the pity she was digging for and blamed the poor economy.
You see Stacey was the block captain. Which also means she was the one who sent out the invitations for not only the annual fall block party, but also the Christmas party, the New Year’s party, and the Fourth of July party, so it was usually in your best interest to suck up a little if you wanted to stay in the good graces of the neighborhood social scene. Unfortunately, I could not keep my mouth shut.
“You have to be kidding me!” I exclaimed. “Bad economy? Poor Stacey?”
I looked around at the stricken faces of all of the neighbors within earshot, and rubbed the spot on my ribs where my wife’s elbow had landed, but I’m not good at sucking up.
I went on to explain to Stacey, that the reason her business failed had nothing to do with the economy, the location, or anything other than her complete lack of regard for her customers. Not only did she remove the one and only person who understood the business, to save a few bucks at a point when she was making money hand over fist, but she ignored the fact that her patronage was shrinking month after month once she made that change.
She also never spent any time herself, at the shop to understand her customer base, and when I tried to tell her that there were some issues based on my own experiences, she told me to go jump in lake! Her open mouth snapped shut at this point, and she seemed ready to speak, but thought better of it and just stared at me.
It doesn’t take a Harvard business degree to figure out what went wrong here. She was a lazy, selfish, money grubbing, narcissist who never took the time to put her customer’s needs above her own. At that point I figured I had said enough. I took my wife’s hand, and we walked down the sidewalk back to our home.
This story is a perfect example of how easy it is to lose a customer base. You can have the best laid plan and all the money to back it up, but if you forget about the most important thing, your customer, failure is inevitable. Remember that it may take months and thousands of dollars to earn a customer but it only takes seconds to lose them forever. Since then several neighbors have gone out of their way to be extra nice to me. I don’t know if they are hoping I won’t voice my opinion about their business skills, or they liked what I said. My wife says it’s the later. Either way I don’t think I will be invited to any more block parties.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Leadership
A few weeks back I posted an article called “No Fear” and I got some mixed reviews. I expected to hear from all the HR groups letting me know why you have to be so cautious when firing someone, even if they deserve it. However, what I wasn’t expecting, was all the negative feedback I received from others who felt the article was based on invoking fear in subordinates. Thus the reason for this post.
Throughout my career I have managed people with a strong focus on fairness, equality, and team related efforts. It has always been my primary objective to make sure that everyone on my team knows that their input and ideas are every bit as important as anyone else’s no matter where they fall on an organizational chart. In fact, before any meeting, the first thing I tell everyone is that all egos and titles are checked at the door. From this point forward we are all equals and only interested in coming up with the best solutions.
So when I started getting multiple comments on the “No Fear” post I felt I needed to clarify any misconceptions. Furthermore, the only person who posted on the actual blog rather than emailing me directly, brought up some very good points. So I wanted to cover my personal views on leadership.
My last post spoke directly to being held accountable by your team so I will not cover that in this post. However there are a few important things I think need to be expressed. While I will not speak to my own aptitude as a leader, I will express what I feel is important from a leader and what I expect from my superiors.
When you really break it down I think there are five basic attributes of an effective leader.
• Communication
• Accountability
• Resilience
• Integrity
• Humility
I will briefly cover each attribute to better illustrate their relation to effective leadership.
Communication. The most important thing in business is communication! No matter whom you are or how it applies. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that everyone is on the same page with all aspects of any project that a team is working on. Without clear and concise communication about what is expected, when it is to be delivered, and what the rules are to achieving the goal, all else is lost. Anyone who is not exceptional in their communication skills has little chance to be an effective leader. It is the leader’s responsibility to make sure that these goals and rules are congruent throughout their organization, and it is 100% the leader’s responsibility to hold their superiors accountable for any ambiguity that could exist and cloud the overall objective.
Accountability. A leader must hold his team accountable for their performance as well as being accountable to his superiors for the overall performance of the team. That’s right! It is a leader’s responsibility if his team fails. No need to look any further than the mirror if your team has not met their objectives. A true leader will never blame a team member for the failed performance of a project or task when questioned by his superiors, nor will a leader accept any less from his team when deficiencies are discussed. It is a leader’s responsibility to let team members know when and why their performance is unaccepted at the time it is unacceptable, prior to the final outcome of a project. If a task or project was unsuccessful, that is the end result, and usually is a culmination of multiple failures under the leader’s control.
Resilience. A leader must have thick skin. You cannot be swayed by what others think of you. You also cannot be afraid of confrontation, nor losing your job. You need to be able to make business decisions that sometimes are not popular with your team. To be an effective leader, people are going to get mad at you, so get used to it or step aside. You cannot let office politics play a role in doing what is right for the customer, your team, and the bottom line. A true leader can be told their line of thinking is skewed and hold no grudges over someone bringing it to their attention. Finally, a leader has to be able to have heated discussions, arguments, and sometimes screaming matches, and in the end have no hard feelings. As a leader you must remember that most heated arguments are misguided passion. And you cannot hold a grudge against someone for being passionate about their job.
Integrity. Probably the most important attribute a leader can hold is integrity. An effective leader must have the trust of their team. Your team needs to know you have their back and that you will stand up for what you believe in. If you cannot stand up to your superiors to fight for your team then you are not a leader. Your word has to be gold and your team needs to have that foundation in order to produce at any effective level. If your team feels that they will be sold down the river when a mistake is made, no one will be willing to take any risk, and therefore nothing spectacular can ever happen. In the end, your word is a promise and a promise is nothing until tested. When the time comes, will you pass the test?
Humility. Throughout my career I have learned many things. The key to being an effective leader is always learning, always developing better, stronger, and faster ways of doing things. You can learn these things from anyone at any level. Build a team around you that isn’t afraid to challenge you and you will continue to learn from them and also continue to improve, as a leader don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’, or ‘I was wrong’. I have been doing this job for nearly 30 years and I still don’t know everything, so trust me, neither do you. Keep an open mind and stay humble. Realize that great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. A leader should also stay positive and don’t get drug down into the corporate pits of cynicism and derision. I constantly hear people saying things like can’t and never. These are negative words that a leader should try to eliminate from their vocabulary. I have always believed that the one who says it can’t be done, is most often interrupted by the one doing it. So remember that you cannot go it alone, and in order to be a good leader you must first learn to be a good follower.
In closing, and not completely off topic, I was reading an article about effective leadership. I will leave out the source since I do not agree with some of their views. This article claimed that a leader that is fair and treats their team with respect is a less effective leader. In fact , this article claimed, that in the corporate world, it is better to be feared than respected. HAH! I couldn’t disagree more. I am willing to bet that in the studies that were conducted to support this article I was reading, that the manager lacked at least one of the attributes I mentioned above. In too many cases I see weakness being documented as fairness. I not only believe that you can be fair and tough at the same time but have a proven track record of doing just that throughout my career. Again, it is all about accountability. Holding people accountable at the time they should be held accountable. Catch them doing things right and reward with the same veracity as when you reprimand them for doing something wrong. If you follow that, along with the other attributes mentioned in this post, you will find yourself in a solid leadership role with the respect of your team.
Hope that clears everything up for all my followers and thanks again for the overwhelming responses I receive each week. Just a note though. If you post on the blog rather than emailing me directly everyone can engage in the conversation and contribute to all of us learning together. Thanks again and good luck to you all.
Throughout my career I have managed people with a strong focus on fairness, equality, and team related efforts. It has always been my primary objective to make sure that everyone on my team knows that their input and ideas are every bit as important as anyone else’s no matter where they fall on an organizational chart. In fact, before any meeting, the first thing I tell everyone is that all egos and titles are checked at the door. From this point forward we are all equals and only interested in coming up with the best solutions.
So when I started getting multiple comments on the “No Fear” post I felt I needed to clarify any misconceptions. Furthermore, the only person who posted on the actual blog rather than emailing me directly, brought up some very good points. So I wanted to cover my personal views on leadership.
My last post spoke directly to being held accountable by your team so I will not cover that in this post. However there are a few important things I think need to be expressed. While I will not speak to my own aptitude as a leader, I will express what I feel is important from a leader and what I expect from my superiors.
When you really break it down I think there are five basic attributes of an effective leader.
• Communication
• Accountability
• Resilience
• Integrity
• Humility
I will briefly cover each attribute to better illustrate their relation to effective leadership.
Communication. The most important thing in business is communication! No matter whom you are or how it applies. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that everyone is on the same page with all aspects of any project that a team is working on. Without clear and concise communication about what is expected, when it is to be delivered, and what the rules are to achieving the goal, all else is lost. Anyone who is not exceptional in their communication skills has little chance to be an effective leader. It is the leader’s responsibility to make sure that these goals and rules are congruent throughout their organization, and it is 100% the leader’s responsibility to hold their superiors accountable for any ambiguity that could exist and cloud the overall objective.
Accountability. A leader must hold his team accountable for their performance as well as being accountable to his superiors for the overall performance of the team. That’s right! It is a leader’s responsibility if his team fails. No need to look any further than the mirror if your team has not met their objectives. A true leader will never blame a team member for the failed performance of a project or task when questioned by his superiors, nor will a leader accept any less from his team when deficiencies are discussed. It is a leader’s responsibility to let team members know when and why their performance is unaccepted at the time it is unacceptable, prior to the final outcome of a project. If a task or project was unsuccessful, that is the end result, and usually is a culmination of multiple failures under the leader’s control.
Resilience. A leader must have thick skin. You cannot be swayed by what others think of you. You also cannot be afraid of confrontation, nor losing your job. You need to be able to make business decisions that sometimes are not popular with your team. To be an effective leader, people are going to get mad at you, so get used to it or step aside. You cannot let office politics play a role in doing what is right for the customer, your team, and the bottom line. A true leader can be told their line of thinking is skewed and hold no grudges over someone bringing it to their attention. Finally, a leader has to be able to have heated discussions, arguments, and sometimes screaming matches, and in the end have no hard feelings. As a leader you must remember that most heated arguments are misguided passion. And you cannot hold a grudge against someone for being passionate about their job.
Integrity. Probably the most important attribute a leader can hold is integrity. An effective leader must have the trust of their team. Your team needs to know you have their back and that you will stand up for what you believe in. If you cannot stand up to your superiors to fight for your team then you are not a leader. Your word has to be gold and your team needs to have that foundation in order to produce at any effective level. If your team feels that they will be sold down the river when a mistake is made, no one will be willing to take any risk, and therefore nothing spectacular can ever happen. In the end, your word is a promise and a promise is nothing until tested. When the time comes, will you pass the test?
Humility. Throughout my career I have learned many things. The key to being an effective leader is always learning, always developing better, stronger, and faster ways of doing things. You can learn these things from anyone at any level. Build a team around you that isn’t afraid to challenge you and you will continue to learn from them and also continue to improve, as a leader don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’, or ‘I was wrong’. I have been doing this job for nearly 30 years and I still don’t know everything, so trust me, neither do you. Keep an open mind and stay humble. Realize that great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. A leader should also stay positive and don’t get drug down into the corporate pits of cynicism and derision. I constantly hear people saying things like can’t and never. These are negative words that a leader should try to eliminate from their vocabulary. I have always believed that the one who says it can’t be done, is most often interrupted by the one doing it. So remember that you cannot go it alone, and in order to be a good leader you must first learn to be a good follower.
In closing, and not completely off topic, I was reading an article about effective leadership. I will leave out the source since I do not agree with some of their views. This article claimed that a leader that is fair and treats their team with respect is a less effective leader. In fact , this article claimed, that in the corporate world, it is better to be feared than respected. HAH! I couldn’t disagree more. I am willing to bet that in the studies that were conducted to support this article I was reading, that the manager lacked at least one of the attributes I mentioned above. In too many cases I see weakness being documented as fairness. I not only believe that you can be fair and tough at the same time but have a proven track record of doing just that throughout my career. Again, it is all about accountability. Holding people accountable at the time they should be held accountable. Catch them doing things right and reward with the same veracity as when you reprimand them for doing something wrong. If you follow that, along with the other attributes mentioned in this post, you will find yourself in a solid leadership role with the respect of your team.
Hope that clears everything up for all my followers and thanks again for the overwhelming responses I receive each week. Just a note though. If you post on the blog rather than emailing me directly everyone can engage in the conversation and contribute to all of us learning together. Thanks again and good luck to you all.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Email Etiquette
The reason behind this publication is not motivated by any recent personal experience. However, I continually see issues with email etiquette and felt I had to express my views. I realize that there are no written laws governing email etiquette but at the same time there are things that just make common sense that I continue to see being ignored. I would like to clarify that many of these issues would also apply to texting, IM, etc…
Reading others email. I know that many companies make it a point to capture their employee’s emails in an attempt to make sure they are doing the right thing, or catch them saying or doing the wrong thing. While part of me says that if you’re not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about, I have to say that I disagree with this practice. It is a federal crime to read someone else’s snail mail, but electronic mail is fair game. Doesn’t seem right to me! While I agree that only a fool would have any expectation of privacy in an email, I also feel that capturing someone’s email is no different than reading someone’s snail mail, or diary for that matter. At the end of the day the thing to remember is even though I believe this practice should never be implemented, you need to assume that “Big Brother” is always watching, so don’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want to see posted in the company lunch room.
Forwarding emails. Over and over again I see examples of emails that get forwarded from one individual to another. Sometimes it is done maliciously and on purpose to show someone else what is being said, but many are sent because the person forwarding the email didn’t bother to read the whole email trail before forwarding it. Many times, in this case, there will be some sensitive information in the email trail that was never meant to be seen by anyone other than the recipient. But, because they didn’t take the time to read the whole string, they have now put the sender in a bad situation by forwarding this information to others who, you can bet, will read the whole string and spread around what was said to everyone. Again, this can be avoided by not putting anything in an email that you don’t want everyone to see. However, there are many times where the only way you can contact someone is through email. While I understand that in an email, things are kept brief and this makes it easier for executives to deal with more issues, we need to make ourselves more available to our teams so they don’t have to put everything into an email. The lesson that needs to be learned in this section is that you should never forward another person’s email unless they approve of you doing so. You can forward an email if you delete the other person’s name from the trail, or copy and paste the pertinent information from their email, so it cannot be traced back to them. Otherwise you will begin to shut down the communication between you and your team and then no one wins. Be considerate and think before you hit that forward button.
Blind Copy. This is a pet peeve of mine. It takes me back to high school when you would receive a phone call, and they had someone else on the other line listening to what you had to say. I guess the group Bowling For Soup had it right, “High School Never Ends”. I don’t understand why we even have a BCC option on an email. I know I will hear from many people telling me good reasons to BCC other people (keeping them in the loop and other such nonsense), however my personal feeling is, that this is a cowardly way of letting someone in on a conversation while hiding it from the person you are communicating with. In my mind this is no different than setting up a hidden camera, or tape recorder. Once again, I feel that this is a breach of trust and there is no reason why you would have to BCC someone unless you are too afraid to let the recipient know you are including a third party. Trust is the key component to any good relationship and over and over again I see trust being violated through the use of electronic communication.
Emailing Angry. Some of the best advice I have ever received from a superior was to never email angry. This practice has time and time again saved me great embarrassment. The right thing to do is go ahead and respond to the email and get it off your chest. Just don’t send it. Leave it in your draft file. The following day re-read the email. If you still feel that way, send it. In most cases you will re-write the email in a more docile tone, or you may just delete it and let the whole thing go. There are too many cases of email trails that go on arguing for pages and pages adding more and more people to the email trail with each response. This is a huge waste of company time and resources and usually is over a personal issue that has little to do with work. (I would also like to include that you shouldn’t email after drinking either.) A great rule of thumb is to never send or respond to, a loaded email after work or on the weekends. More often than not this turns into a bad situation and people could end up fired. No one wants to deal with drama, or work issues during their time off unless it is an emergency. So think before you send!
For well over a decade email has been the standard form of communication in a professional setting. With iPads, Blackberry’s, smart phones, etc…, electronic communication is more popular than ever. While I agree that many times it makes more sense to send a quick text or email to let someone know where you are, or a quick note rather than getting drawn into a long phone conversation, I also fear that we are breeding a generation of future business professionals that will lack the ability to verbally communicate in a face to face environment. When we send an email, we have time to stop and think about what we are going to say and choose our words carefully. In a face to face conversation you do not have this luxury. You have to think on your feet and be able to communicate your ideas without taking long pauses. This new disturbing trend is causing people to completely cease all verbal communication. What will the long term consequences be if we lose the ability to communicate in person? Furthermore, electronic messages lack the personal touch. It locks out the ability to read the inflections in someone’s voice and to tell when someone is joking, mad, or lying. Finally, email should be used as a tool to be more effective at your job and not as a weapon. I believe that if you follow these few simple rules of etiquette then you can avoid most of the pitfalls associated with electronic communication.
In closing, if you have something to say don’t be afraid to pick up the phone. Email and other electronic communications are great tools, but we should never lose that personal touch that separates us from our competition.
Reading others email. I know that many companies make it a point to capture their employee’s emails in an attempt to make sure they are doing the right thing, or catch them saying or doing the wrong thing. While part of me says that if you’re not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about, I have to say that I disagree with this practice. It is a federal crime to read someone else’s snail mail, but electronic mail is fair game. Doesn’t seem right to me! While I agree that only a fool would have any expectation of privacy in an email, I also feel that capturing someone’s email is no different than reading someone’s snail mail, or diary for that matter. At the end of the day the thing to remember is even though I believe this practice should never be implemented, you need to assume that “Big Brother” is always watching, so don’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want to see posted in the company lunch room.
Forwarding emails. Over and over again I see examples of emails that get forwarded from one individual to another. Sometimes it is done maliciously and on purpose to show someone else what is being said, but many are sent because the person forwarding the email didn’t bother to read the whole email trail before forwarding it. Many times, in this case, there will be some sensitive information in the email trail that was never meant to be seen by anyone other than the recipient. But, because they didn’t take the time to read the whole string, they have now put the sender in a bad situation by forwarding this information to others who, you can bet, will read the whole string and spread around what was said to everyone. Again, this can be avoided by not putting anything in an email that you don’t want everyone to see. However, there are many times where the only way you can contact someone is through email. While I understand that in an email, things are kept brief and this makes it easier for executives to deal with more issues, we need to make ourselves more available to our teams so they don’t have to put everything into an email. The lesson that needs to be learned in this section is that you should never forward another person’s email unless they approve of you doing so. You can forward an email if you delete the other person’s name from the trail, or copy and paste the pertinent information from their email, so it cannot be traced back to them. Otherwise you will begin to shut down the communication between you and your team and then no one wins. Be considerate and think before you hit that forward button.
Blind Copy. This is a pet peeve of mine. It takes me back to high school when you would receive a phone call, and they had someone else on the other line listening to what you had to say. I guess the group Bowling For Soup had it right, “High School Never Ends”. I don’t understand why we even have a BCC option on an email. I know I will hear from many people telling me good reasons to BCC other people (keeping them in the loop and other such nonsense), however my personal feeling is, that this is a cowardly way of letting someone in on a conversation while hiding it from the person you are communicating with. In my mind this is no different than setting up a hidden camera, or tape recorder. Once again, I feel that this is a breach of trust and there is no reason why you would have to BCC someone unless you are too afraid to let the recipient know you are including a third party. Trust is the key component to any good relationship and over and over again I see trust being violated through the use of electronic communication.
Emailing Angry. Some of the best advice I have ever received from a superior was to never email angry. This practice has time and time again saved me great embarrassment. The right thing to do is go ahead and respond to the email and get it off your chest. Just don’t send it. Leave it in your draft file. The following day re-read the email. If you still feel that way, send it. In most cases you will re-write the email in a more docile tone, or you may just delete it and let the whole thing go. There are too many cases of email trails that go on arguing for pages and pages adding more and more people to the email trail with each response. This is a huge waste of company time and resources and usually is over a personal issue that has little to do with work. (I would also like to include that you shouldn’t email after drinking either.) A great rule of thumb is to never send or respond to, a loaded email after work or on the weekends. More often than not this turns into a bad situation and people could end up fired. No one wants to deal with drama, or work issues during their time off unless it is an emergency. So think before you send!
For well over a decade email has been the standard form of communication in a professional setting. With iPads, Blackberry’s, smart phones, etc…, electronic communication is more popular than ever. While I agree that many times it makes more sense to send a quick text or email to let someone know where you are, or a quick note rather than getting drawn into a long phone conversation, I also fear that we are breeding a generation of future business professionals that will lack the ability to verbally communicate in a face to face environment. When we send an email, we have time to stop and think about what we are going to say and choose our words carefully. In a face to face conversation you do not have this luxury. You have to think on your feet and be able to communicate your ideas without taking long pauses. This new disturbing trend is causing people to completely cease all verbal communication. What will the long term consequences be if we lose the ability to communicate in person? Furthermore, electronic messages lack the personal touch. It locks out the ability to read the inflections in someone’s voice and to tell when someone is joking, mad, or lying. Finally, email should be used as a tool to be more effective at your job and not as a weapon. I believe that if you follow these few simple rules of etiquette then you can avoid most of the pitfalls associated with electronic communication.
In closing, if you have something to say don’t be afraid to pick up the phone. Email and other electronic communications are great tools, but we should never lose that personal touch that separates us from our competition.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Expectations of Management
In previous writings I have given instruction on the importance of clear expectations and accountability when it comes to dealing with team members. So in turn, what expectations should your team have of you? What is a fair expectation from subordinates, and do you understand those expectations? How are you held accountable to your team?
As a manager you need to communicate with your team and make sure you understand what it is they need from you. As a manager you will always be held accountable by your team, even if not to your face. By understanding what each team member’s expectations are, you can begin to try and offer a tailored level of support to each team member that fits them and their specific needs. While no two people need the exact same support structure, I will address the two most common complaints I hear when asked, what could their manager do better?
Number one is: Support. As managers, sometimes we get caught up in all the day to day activities and forget that our team counts on us for support, guidance, or sometimes just as a sounding board. We need to understand that at times members of our team may be drowning, but may never ask for the proverbial ‘life preserver’. I have always been someone who tells it like it is and is never afraid to say “I don’t know” or “I need help”. However, it seems more and more common that people today don’t want to udder those words.
You need to take the time to understand what personalities exist on your team. Once you understand who will always ask for help when needed and who will not, you can start to put together a communication plan.
You will find that some team members will require constant assurance that they are doing well, or guidance due to lack of training. Others may be 90 percent of everything you need, but are afraid to ask for help. If you do not spend time communicating with them, by the time you find out who they are, it will be too late. I am not saying that these types of team members are any less valuable, just that they need more support in the day to day operations.
Some team members require very little support. They are highly motivated, well trained, and their views and philosophies run a close parallel to yours. These team members will require very little support from you but they are also the most dangerous. The reason being, that it is easy to forget about them. They don’t call you and they don’t require much direction. You just point them at the goal line and they will score every time. However, if you don’t take the time to let them know how appreciated they are, they can quickly become disconnected and possibly disgruntled. They may start to feel taken advantage of and begin to look around for another career path, which brings me to the second biggest gripe from subordinates: Feedback.
Lack of feedback is the number one reason employees will jump ship. Once again, as managers, we get bogged down and lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with people, not machines. I never give much thought to what people think of me, and I am very confident of my abilities. However, even I can start to question my worth to the company if once in a while I am not thrown a bone. It is not required to pat someone on the back every time they do a good job, but the more often you do, the happier you will make your team. And a happy team is a profitable team.
Most managers have the misconception that money solves everything. I know of companies that give raises to employees without ever even talking with them. No review, no communication, just all of the sudden more money in their check. This blows me away! I will never understand giving anyone more money without having them sit across my desk and the two of us going through an entire evaluation process. I make sure they know what they are doing outstanding, what they are doing well, and where they need to improve. Only after a new set of expectations and accountability are in place will we discuss an increase.
Stop! This doesn’t mean that money is what matters. In fact when over 40,000 people were polled in a National study about what motivates them at their job, money placed 7th. That’s right! 7th.My colleague Dave Cloniger, wrote a great blog detailing ways to motivate your team. http://mcdean-charleston.blogspot.com/2011/09/employee-relations-steps-to-success.html. In this blog he hits it right on the head. Most people just want to know what to do, when to do it, and did they do a good job? There are multiple ways to do this without spending money. I share everything with my team and therefore, they all understand the financial constraints we are up against right now, and have stepped up their efforts, with no compensation. I never hide the financial picture from them. They know when we hit a home run and when we strike out. This fosters a win-together/lose-together mentality. I never let them forget how much their efforts are appreciated, and I look for small ways to reward them for their devotion to the company.
It’s all about feedback. Letting them know when they do something right as well as when they do things wrong. Let them know what the expectations are and what will happen if they are not met.
In the end, if you can conquer providing individual support and feedback to your team, you will have made it to the red zone and then across the goal line. It’s only fair that your team holds you accountable to their expectations the same way you expect them to fulfill your expectations.
As a manager you need to communicate with your team and make sure you understand what it is they need from you. As a manager you will always be held accountable by your team, even if not to your face. By understanding what each team member’s expectations are, you can begin to try and offer a tailored level of support to each team member that fits them and their specific needs. While no two people need the exact same support structure, I will address the two most common complaints I hear when asked, what could their manager do better?
Number one is: Support. As managers, sometimes we get caught up in all the day to day activities and forget that our team counts on us for support, guidance, or sometimes just as a sounding board. We need to understand that at times members of our team may be drowning, but may never ask for the proverbial ‘life preserver’. I have always been someone who tells it like it is and is never afraid to say “I don’t know” or “I need help”. However, it seems more and more common that people today don’t want to udder those words.
You need to take the time to understand what personalities exist on your team. Once you understand who will always ask for help when needed and who will not, you can start to put together a communication plan.
You will find that some team members will require constant assurance that they are doing well, or guidance due to lack of training. Others may be 90 percent of everything you need, but are afraid to ask for help. If you do not spend time communicating with them, by the time you find out who they are, it will be too late. I am not saying that these types of team members are any less valuable, just that they need more support in the day to day operations.
Some team members require very little support. They are highly motivated, well trained, and their views and philosophies run a close parallel to yours. These team members will require very little support from you but they are also the most dangerous. The reason being, that it is easy to forget about them. They don’t call you and they don’t require much direction. You just point them at the goal line and they will score every time. However, if you don’t take the time to let them know how appreciated they are, they can quickly become disconnected and possibly disgruntled. They may start to feel taken advantage of and begin to look around for another career path, which brings me to the second biggest gripe from subordinates: Feedback.
Lack of feedback is the number one reason employees will jump ship. Once again, as managers, we get bogged down and lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with people, not machines. I never give much thought to what people think of me, and I am very confident of my abilities. However, even I can start to question my worth to the company if once in a while I am not thrown a bone. It is not required to pat someone on the back every time they do a good job, but the more often you do, the happier you will make your team. And a happy team is a profitable team.
Most managers have the misconception that money solves everything. I know of companies that give raises to employees without ever even talking with them. No review, no communication, just all of the sudden more money in their check. This blows me away! I will never understand giving anyone more money without having them sit across my desk and the two of us going through an entire evaluation process. I make sure they know what they are doing outstanding, what they are doing well, and where they need to improve. Only after a new set of expectations and accountability are in place will we discuss an increase.
Stop! This doesn’t mean that money is what matters. In fact when over 40,000 people were polled in a National study about what motivates them at their job, money placed 7th. That’s right! 7th.My colleague Dave Cloniger, wrote a great blog detailing ways to motivate your team. http://mcdean-charleston.blogspot.com/2011/09/employee-relations-steps-to-success.html. In this blog he hits it right on the head. Most people just want to know what to do, when to do it, and did they do a good job? There are multiple ways to do this without spending money. I share everything with my team and therefore, they all understand the financial constraints we are up against right now, and have stepped up their efforts, with no compensation. I never hide the financial picture from them. They know when we hit a home run and when we strike out. This fosters a win-together/lose-together mentality. I never let them forget how much their efforts are appreciated, and I look for small ways to reward them for their devotion to the company.
It’s all about feedback. Letting them know when they do something right as well as when they do things wrong. Let them know what the expectations are and what will happen if they are not met.
In the end, if you can conquer providing individual support and feedback to your team, you will have made it to the red zone and then across the goal line. It’s only fair that your team holds you accountable to their expectations the same way you expect them to fulfill your expectations.
Friday, September 23, 2011
No Fear!
Throughout my life I have given little thought to whether or not people like me, or what their conception of my abilities were. When in football, music, and business I always felt that what other people thought of me had little to do with the overall mission. I never spent time afraid of what was being said behind my back. In fact most of the things that were said were probably true, so why would I get mad. I am honest with myself and not afraid to admit my faults. Nor am I delusional and think that everybody is my best friend. I know I can be harsh and that my aggressive tactics cannot be received well at times. However, my conviction is clear and when things go south there are few people that would not want me by their side in battle.
Now the first paragraph of this piece could be misconstrued, and paint me as a maniacal narcissist. However, I am trusting that my followers already know by now that I truly understand the importance of a team and how to foster great business relationships. But that shouldn’t get drawn into making business decisions.
Be honest with yourself and ask these questions:
1. Am I afraid to deal with confrontation? (subordinates and supervisors)
2. Do I let what other people think of me effect my decision making?
3. Am I afraid to lose my job?
4. Do I fear what an employee will do in retaliation of a reprimand or termination?
5. Do I allow others to take blame for something I knew about?
6. Am I afraid to take on my superiors for the good of my team?
7. Am I unwilling to fight for change that will benefit my team?
8. Do I prefer to take the backseat and let others take the risks?
If you can answer yes to any of these questions then you need to be honest with yourself and realize that you are not a leader. That doesn’t mean that you cannot be an effective manager, just that you need to find a leader to put on your team and offer them the support required when problems arise. Do not just automatically say no to each question, but dig deep and do some soul searching.
Over my years in business I have seen multiple examples of managers that allow fear to get the better of them. They complicate situations by worrying about what an employee might do in retaliation of a reprimand or termination. This is in direct conflict with everything I believe in, from a managers stand point. When conflict arises, and decisions have to be made you do what is right to support your team, and your top performers. You do not waste time in fear of their retribution. If an employee is insubordinate you cut him off at the knees. You make sure he understands that type of behavior will not be tolerated. You need to deal with the problem employees with the same veracity you compliment the good team members.
I already know that I am going to get hundreds of emails from HR folks telling me the liability that exists when terminating employees. Please understand that I am not suggesting that you do not follow HR guidelines. I am also fully aware of all the HR implications when terminating employees. But if we continue to allow employees to hang on to their jobs because they file a complaint with HR, safety, or legal, when they get wind of an impending reprimand, then we are breeding a culture of squatters.
Just like in the rental housing industry, there are squatters that have figured out how to work the system, and can remain living in a house for years without paying any rent, with little concern to the path of destruction they have caused to the owners. There are employees that have figured out how to use the same guiding principles in business as these parasites have done in the housing market. These business squatters make accusations about managers to take the focus off their paucity in an attempt to save their jobs. To avoid HR, safety, or legal issues these problem employees get moved around the company from group to group, keeping their jobs for years and causing irreparable harm to the reputations of the managers they have attacked. And it is all due to fear!
I have never allowed fear to have any control over my actions. I don’t believe that any true leader can allow fear to play a part in their judgment. All business decisions need to be exactly that, a business decision, and let the chips fall where they may. The truth is that we have no control over what a disgruntled employee will do, and keeping them as part of your organization is just moving the risk to a different department. It is time that all companies take a stand against these business squatters and extricate them permanently from their organizations. Follow HRs guidelines, but start building a case to rid yourself of these destructive freeloaders once and for all.
In closing, you should never let fear run your business or affect your decision making. Whether it is with employees, customers, competitors, or any other outside influence you must persevere. Stay true to your core set of values and make decisions based solely on business principles and do not let emotions play any part. In the end you will be much happier and have a much stronger team around you, if you just do the right thing and leave fear where it belongs…out of the business world.
Now the first paragraph of this piece could be misconstrued, and paint me as a maniacal narcissist. However, I am trusting that my followers already know by now that I truly understand the importance of a team and how to foster great business relationships. But that shouldn’t get drawn into making business decisions.
Be honest with yourself and ask these questions:
1. Am I afraid to deal with confrontation? (subordinates and supervisors)
2. Do I let what other people think of me effect my decision making?
3. Am I afraid to lose my job?
4. Do I fear what an employee will do in retaliation of a reprimand or termination?
5. Do I allow others to take blame for something I knew about?
6. Am I afraid to take on my superiors for the good of my team?
7. Am I unwilling to fight for change that will benefit my team?
8. Do I prefer to take the backseat and let others take the risks?
If you can answer yes to any of these questions then you need to be honest with yourself and realize that you are not a leader. That doesn’t mean that you cannot be an effective manager, just that you need to find a leader to put on your team and offer them the support required when problems arise. Do not just automatically say no to each question, but dig deep and do some soul searching.
Over my years in business I have seen multiple examples of managers that allow fear to get the better of them. They complicate situations by worrying about what an employee might do in retaliation of a reprimand or termination. This is in direct conflict with everything I believe in, from a managers stand point. When conflict arises, and decisions have to be made you do what is right to support your team, and your top performers. You do not waste time in fear of their retribution. If an employee is insubordinate you cut him off at the knees. You make sure he understands that type of behavior will not be tolerated. You need to deal with the problem employees with the same veracity you compliment the good team members.
I already know that I am going to get hundreds of emails from HR folks telling me the liability that exists when terminating employees. Please understand that I am not suggesting that you do not follow HR guidelines. I am also fully aware of all the HR implications when terminating employees. But if we continue to allow employees to hang on to their jobs because they file a complaint with HR, safety, or legal, when they get wind of an impending reprimand, then we are breeding a culture of squatters.
Just like in the rental housing industry, there are squatters that have figured out how to work the system, and can remain living in a house for years without paying any rent, with little concern to the path of destruction they have caused to the owners. There are employees that have figured out how to use the same guiding principles in business as these parasites have done in the housing market. These business squatters make accusations about managers to take the focus off their paucity in an attempt to save their jobs. To avoid HR, safety, or legal issues these problem employees get moved around the company from group to group, keeping their jobs for years and causing irreparable harm to the reputations of the managers they have attacked. And it is all due to fear!
I have never allowed fear to have any control over my actions. I don’t believe that any true leader can allow fear to play a part in their judgment. All business decisions need to be exactly that, a business decision, and let the chips fall where they may. The truth is that we have no control over what a disgruntled employee will do, and keeping them as part of your organization is just moving the risk to a different department. It is time that all companies take a stand against these business squatters and extricate them permanently from their organizations. Follow HRs guidelines, but start building a case to rid yourself of these destructive freeloaders once and for all.
In closing, you should never let fear run your business or affect your decision making. Whether it is with employees, customers, competitors, or any other outside influence you must persevere. Stay true to your core set of values and make decisions based solely on business principles and do not let emotions play any part. In the end you will be much happier and have a much stronger team around you, if you just do the right thing and leave fear where it belongs…out of the business world.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Slow Your Swing
As many of you know, I love the game of golf, but unfortunately I have never really gotten proficient at the sport due to lack of practice. Being a perfectionist I have many internal arduous battles when I hit the ball and it doesn’t land exactly where I wanted it to land.
As any golfer knows if you don’t put the time into practicing you will never see any sustainable improvement in the game. With that known fact, and my schedule, I may as well sell my clubs and take up a sport I can handle, like dodge ball. At least that way I could alleviate some of the stresses from work. Haha!
The other day I made it a point to go to the driving range since it had literally been months since the last time I hit a golf ball. I was afraid to see how much my game had deteriorated over the past several months. Next to me was a man that had to be in his mid seventies, as I set up I noticed him crushing the ball off the tee. I warmed up and proceeded to tee up myself. The first strike was my usual slice. Nice to know nothing had changed since the last time I struck a ball. I dialed in a little better and started to keep them with-in sight. Every time I hit a ball, the older man next to me would hit the ball 60 or 70 yards past mine.
I guess my ego started playing with me, so I was starting to swing harder and harder. I noticed that the harder I swung the club, the shorter my drives were getting. The older gentleman just sort of chuckled. After it was obvious I was getting more and more frustrated, the man came over to me and said “You need to slow your swing down. It’s not about how hard you hit the ball, it is all about the groove, the plain, and where the ball strikes the club.”
The man took my club stood up and just effortlessly struck the ball. “Crack” it sounded like someone shot a gun. The ball flew down the range an easy 260 yards perfectly straight. While the things he said are all things I have heard several times over the years, I had never made the connection before with work.
It seems with today’s economy we are all trying to do more with less, which means less time for recreation and such. As we continue down this avenue, the stress begins to pile up and we lose our patience. This starts a domino effect of spending less time teaching and more time telling.
I continue to see more and more examples of managers taking on tasks that should be delegated to others, and less time spent working on the business. In other words, yes, we are ‘working harder not smarter’. Take some time to reflect, think of what the best solution is to complete a task and “Slow your swing down”. In the end you will reduce your stress and be more efficient at your job.
As any golfer knows if you don’t put the time into practicing you will never see any sustainable improvement in the game. With that known fact, and my schedule, I may as well sell my clubs and take up a sport I can handle, like dodge ball. At least that way I could alleviate some of the stresses from work. Haha!
The other day I made it a point to go to the driving range since it had literally been months since the last time I hit a golf ball. I was afraid to see how much my game had deteriorated over the past several months. Next to me was a man that had to be in his mid seventies, as I set up I noticed him crushing the ball off the tee. I warmed up and proceeded to tee up myself. The first strike was my usual slice. Nice to know nothing had changed since the last time I struck a ball. I dialed in a little better and started to keep them with-in sight. Every time I hit a ball, the older man next to me would hit the ball 60 or 70 yards past mine.
I guess my ego started playing with me, so I was starting to swing harder and harder. I noticed that the harder I swung the club, the shorter my drives were getting. The older gentleman just sort of chuckled. After it was obvious I was getting more and more frustrated, the man came over to me and said “You need to slow your swing down. It’s not about how hard you hit the ball, it is all about the groove, the plain, and where the ball strikes the club.”
The man took my club stood up and just effortlessly struck the ball. “Crack” it sounded like someone shot a gun. The ball flew down the range an easy 260 yards perfectly straight. While the things he said are all things I have heard several times over the years, I had never made the connection before with work.
It seems with today’s economy we are all trying to do more with less, which means less time for recreation and such. As we continue down this avenue, the stress begins to pile up and we lose our patience. This starts a domino effect of spending less time teaching and more time telling.
I continue to see more and more examples of managers taking on tasks that should be delegated to others, and less time spent working on the business. In other words, yes, we are ‘working harder not smarter’. Take some time to reflect, think of what the best solution is to complete a task and “Slow your swing down”. In the end you will reduce your stress and be more efficient at your job.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Obstacles To Customer Service
Are there obstacles between you and your customers? Are you putting processes in place to slow down or muffle your ability to provide a quick solution to your customers? If the answer is yes; then Stop!
Too many companies get caught up in checks and balances at the expense of their customers and their own ability to respond to a customer’s needs. I see this everyday in the business world. CEOs and CFOs are so worried about setting processes in place to control their own employees that they retard the ability to react in the event of an emergency. Please don’t misunderstand my point. Checks and balances are important, so is safety, internal controls, inventory, etc… However, if you have any processes in place that will stop you from being able to quickly resolve a problem for a customer, then you are missing the mark. Furthermore, all these processes cost money. From the personnel and time required to manage these processes all the way to the material costs of paper, ink, storage, etc… I have seen companies that have internal services that charge as much as 33% of the hourly bill rate. When you consider this, added to the division’s overhead, direct costs, direct and support labor, you can quickly price yourself right out of the market, building new processes and policies that do little to improve the overall operation of the company.
I have seen examples of companies that require Managers to get approvals for special purchases, overtime hours, safety requirements, even things as simple as stopping in at a local hardware store to purchase a two dollar item. While I understand internal controls, these need to be invisible to the customer. If we develop processes that require approval, while a technician is on site, this is slowing down our reaction time. If we require technicians to wait, or go off site, for specialized materials or tools, this is also impeding the process. Over and over again I see examples of reduced resources for the front line in order to have some fallacy of control.
I subscribe to the thought of putting the right person in charge and empowering them to make decisions that are within their skill set, then holding them accountable to the decisions they have made. I believe that if you hire the right team and provide them with the right training and support, then the rest will take care of itself and you will not need all these policies to police them, you will be able to trust them to make the right decisions based on experience and education. You still need controls in place but these are done on the back end where there is zero impact to the customers and zero impact to the team’s ability to react.
One needs to really look at the risk to reward when it comes to policies and processes. What is the real liability and what would it cost to implement this process. When I say cost I don’t just mean dollars and cents. What impact will this have on our ability to provide immediate and superior customer service to our clients? What psychological impact will this have on our team? Don’t be fooled! Trust is a big deal to most people and if they feel that they are not trusted by their employer they will move on. Finally, once you have balanced out this evaluation, if it makes sense to move forward, do so with zero impact to the customer. If this process or policy doesn’t pay for itself, then it probably isn’t a very good idea. Therefore it shouldn’t cost the customer any more for you to implement. Once fully implemented the new policy or procedure should not slow down your response time or the ability to handle a customer’s request on the fly, it should only improve your overall operation and support providing your customers with a better overall experience.
The service industry is about exactly that: “SERVICE!” When a customer has an emergency, or even just a need, it is our obligation to satisfy their need as quickly and efficiently as possible. We cannot afford to have obstacles and barricades in place to slow down or even stop our ability to respond. We need to react at the speed of light. We must never forget that it is because of the customer that we exist!
Too many companies get caught up in checks and balances at the expense of their customers and their own ability to respond to a customer’s needs. I see this everyday in the business world. CEOs and CFOs are so worried about setting processes in place to control their own employees that they retard the ability to react in the event of an emergency. Please don’t misunderstand my point. Checks and balances are important, so is safety, internal controls, inventory, etc… However, if you have any processes in place that will stop you from being able to quickly resolve a problem for a customer, then you are missing the mark. Furthermore, all these processes cost money. From the personnel and time required to manage these processes all the way to the material costs of paper, ink, storage, etc… I have seen companies that have internal services that charge as much as 33% of the hourly bill rate. When you consider this, added to the division’s overhead, direct costs, direct and support labor, you can quickly price yourself right out of the market, building new processes and policies that do little to improve the overall operation of the company.
I have seen examples of companies that require Managers to get approvals for special purchases, overtime hours, safety requirements, even things as simple as stopping in at a local hardware store to purchase a two dollar item. While I understand internal controls, these need to be invisible to the customer. If we develop processes that require approval, while a technician is on site, this is slowing down our reaction time. If we require technicians to wait, or go off site, for specialized materials or tools, this is also impeding the process. Over and over again I see examples of reduced resources for the front line in order to have some fallacy of control.
I subscribe to the thought of putting the right person in charge and empowering them to make decisions that are within their skill set, then holding them accountable to the decisions they have made. I believe that if you hire the right team and provide them with the right training and support, then the rest will take care of itself and you will not need all these policies to police them, you will be able to trust them to make the right decisions based on experience and education. You still need controls in place but these are done on the back end where there is zero impact to the customers and zero impact to the team’s ability to react.
One needs to really look at the risk to reward when it comes to policies and processes. What is the real liability and what would it cost to implement this process. When I say cost I don’t just mean dollars and cents. What impact will this have on our ability to provide immediate and superior customer service to our clients? What psychological impact will this have on our team? Don’t be fooled! Trust is a big deal to most people and if they feel that they are not trusted by their employer they will move on. Finally, once you have balanced out this evaluation, if it makes sense to move forward, do so with zero impact to the customer. If this process or policy doesn’t pay for itself, then it probably isn’t a very good idea. Therefore it shouldn’t cost the customer any more for you to implement. Once fully implemented the new policy or procedure should not slow down your response time or the ability to handle a customer’s request on the fly, it should only improve your overall operation and support providing your customers with a better overall experience.
The service industry is about exactly that: “SERVICE!” When a customer has an emergency, or even just a need, it is our obligation to satisfy their need as quickly and efficiently as possible. We cannot afford to have obstacles and barricades in place to slow down or even stop our ability to respond. We need to react at the speed of light. We must never forget that it is because of the customer that we exist!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Learned Behavior
The other day the AC stopped working in my truck and I had to use my wife’s car to get back and forth to work while my truck was being repaired. That particular morning it was raining outside and as I went to turn on the wipers, instead I turned on the lights. Over the next couple days I kept trying to put the key in the steering column rather than the dashboard where it belongs on my wife’s car, flashing my high beams rather than using my turn signal, etc, etc, etc.
This got me thinking about how many bad habits we get into as service providers. For our technicians this learned behavior could result in safety risks. For our management this same behavior could mean less responsive customer care. Let me explain.
With our service technicians, which can also apply to other industries as well, they get into situations where they are performing the same functions over and over again. This repetition causes them to stop thinking and just perform the learned behavior (trying to stick the key into the steering column). The reason this becomes a safety risk is that every job is not the same. Every job is unique even if it is the same action but in a different location. As an example, I have a technician that is on a job replacing wall packs on the outside of a building. The technician starts out on the back side of the building. In this location there is little outside influence. They are working in a dead end alley with no people around. As the tech goes up and down the ladder and back and forth to and from their truck they start a learned behavior. Moving along as the day progresses the technician starts to work on the side of the building. This side of the building has an entrance from a side street and parking spaces. If the technician is not careful they could come down off the ladder and walk into traffic, or drop something on a pedestrian walking to their car. Furthermore, they need to be more aware of cars that are backing in and out of parking spaces that could hit them, their truck, the ladder, etc. This is just one simple example but you can begin to see the danger in a learned behavior.
As managers we also get into learned behavior that can be dangerous. We continue to get more responsibility lumped onto us as the economy continues to shrink. We sometimes get into a rhythm of handling our daily activities. While this is beneficial to our efficiencies, when a problem arises, or a customer has a need, we can use this same learned behavior to brush over the problem or the needs of the customer. It is imperative that we never lose focus of the customer’s needs. We need to understand that every customer is different and every need they have is unique. Just like the technician scenario, if we get into the habit of dealing with every customer the same way every day we may figuratively get hit by a car.
We need to continue to stay focused on the task at hand and give it the attention it deserves. Let go of the learned behavior, and avoid repetitive thought processes. I am reminded of a story I read about a child who visited the circus with his parents. The little boy was in awe at the huge elephants being washed by the trainers. The little boy walked up to the trainer and asked her, “excuse me, how does the little chain around the elephants leg work?” The trainer said “why what do you mean little guy?” The little boy said “that elephant is huge, and I have seen in movies where elephants can rip trees out of the ground with just their trunk. It seems to me that the elephant could easily break that chain, or rip out the small wood peg the chain is attached to, couldn’t he?” The trainer chuckled and said “he sure could! But you see, when the elephants are little babies we chain them up like this and they are not strong enough to break the chain or rip out the stake we drive into the ground. When they are small they try over and over again to break free but they cannot and eventually they give up. The elephants have great memories and because of that, they never try again. They are convinced that they have already tried to break free but it is impossible.”
This story was retold by Ken Blanchard in one of his many great books on management and customer service. I am repeating it yet again because it has a valuable lesson about learned behavior. Not only are there risks involved with learned behavior as stated above, but what else are you not achieving because you have been convinced it is not possible through past experiences or years of others telling you so. Break free of the chains that bind you, and stop thinking as you once did, and start thinking of what could be. Only then you can eliminate all risks and open all possibilities.
This got me thinking about how many bad habits we get into as service providers. For our technicians this learned behavior could result in safety risks. For our management this same behavior could mean less responsive customer care. Let me explain.
With our service technicians, which can also apply to other industries as well, they get into situations where they are performing the same functions over and over again. This repetition causes them to stop thinking and just perform the learned behavior (trying to stick the key into the steering column). The reason this becomes a safety risk is that every job is not the same. Every job is unique even if it is the same action but in a different location. As an example, I have a technician that is on a job replacing wall packs on the outside of a building. The technician starts out on the back side of the building. In this location there is little outside influence. They are working in a dead end alley with no people around. As the tech goes up and down the ladder and back and forth to and from their truck they start a learned behavior. Moving along as the day progresses the technician starts to work on the side of the building. This side of the building has an entrance from a side street and parking spaces. If the technician is not careful they could come down off the ladder and walk into traffic, or drop something on a pedestrian walking to their car. Furthermore, they need to be more aware of cars that are backing in and out of parking spaces that could hit them, their truck, the ladder, etc. This is just one simple example but you can begin to see the danger in a learned behavior.
As managers we also get into learned behavior that can be dangerous. We continue to get more responsibility lumped onto us as the economy continues to shrink. We sometimes get into a rhythm of handling our daily activities. While this is beneficial to our efficiencies, when a problem arises, or a customer has a need, we can use this same learned behavior to brush over the problem or the needs of the customer. It is imperative that we never lose focus of the customer’s needs. We need to understand that every customer is different and every need they have is unique. Just like the technician scenario, if we get into the habit of dealing with every customer the same way every day we may figuratively get hit by a car.
We need to continue to stay focused on the task at hand and give it the attention it deserves. Let go of the learned behavior, and avoid repetitive thought processes. I am reminded of a story I read about a child who visited the circus with his parents. The little boy was in awe at the huge elephants being washed by the trainers. The little boy walked up to the trainer and asked her, “excuse me, how does the little chain around the elephants leg work?” The trainer said “why what do you mean little guy?” The little boy said “that elephant is huge, and I have seen in movies where elephants can rip trees out of the ground with just their trunk. It seems to me that the elephant could easily break that chain, or rip out the small wood peg the chain is attached to, couldn’t he?” The trainer chuckled and said “he sure could! But you see, when the elephants are little babies we chain them up like this and they are not strong enough to break the chain or rip out the stake we drive into the ground. When they are small they try over and over again to break free but they cannot and eventually they give up. The elephants have great memories and because of that, they never try again. They are convinced that they have already tried to break free but it is impossible.”
This story was retold by Ken Blanchard in one of his many great books on management and customer service. I am repeating it yet again because it has a valuable lesson about learned behavior. Not only are there risks involved with learned behavior as stated above, but what else are you not achieving because you have been convinced it is not possible through past experiences or years of others telling you so. Break free of the chains that bind you, and stop thinking as you once did, and start thinking of what could be. Only then you can eliminate all risks and open all possibilities.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Goal Setting
I was talking with a client over lunch yesterday and we were discussing some of the goals she had and that they seemed unattainable. The more time we spent talking, the more I realized the problem wasn’t with her goals but with her goal setting abilities.
We all have “Goals”, but the truth is, that when analyzed, most of us only have dreams-- not goals. So what’s the difference? Simple really, a goal is a final outcome someone has planned. Yes Planned! If you have a goal without a plan then it is just a dream.
Over and over again I have interactions with people that think they are real goal oriented with a one year, five year, and ten year plan. But when I ask probing questions I find out they really only have dreams. Now this isn’t to say that dreams can’t come true, but if you want to achieve a goal you need a plan.
I can comment on a personal example to help clarify this thought. Since I was a young child watching the “Wide World of Sports” I always thought that a tri-athlete was the pinnacle example of strength and conditioning. I can remember thinking to myself, ’someday I want to compete in a triathlon’. That was a dream. About two years ago I made a personal goal to lose weight and get back into shape. I focused my goal on being able to compete in a triathlon and check off that bucket list item once and for all. I sat down and worked out a schedule of exercising, diet, and month by month weight loss goals. I then started walking, then biking & swimming, and eventually running. I just registered for my first triathlon, on October 16th. I also put together a more focused training schedule that included weight training, running, swimming, and biking daily, to prepare for this event. I will let everyone know how it all turns out but there is little chance I will not accomplish this “goal” unless I give up on it, because I have a goal, and an action plan to accomplish it.
Now that we understand the difference between a goal and a dream, let’s look into the next biggest problem with goal setting. Too many people put time limits on their goals. In many cases this can cause destructive behaviors, internal stress, and a reduced level of patience. You become so focused on falling behind that you end up abandoning your goal, or you start to let other things in your life become effected. Also, you can get so drawn into accomplishing that goal within a certain time frame, that you will miss other opportunities that can have a greater impact in your life than completing the original goal itself. Furthermore, things change. Outside influences may change that directly affect your ability to attain that goal. Therefore, your goal has to be a moving target, both in time and effort. There is nothing wrong with having an approximate time frame attached to a goal as long as you understand that the timeframe is not the driving factor, the goal itself is what should be important.
To summarize, when goal setting, you must have the duality of the goal itself and an action plan in place to achieve it. The action plan should be a detailed, step by step program, without time constraints. It should also be an adjustable plan to make room for changes due to outside influences.
You should treat each goal as you would a vacation. Before you go on a vacation, you check the weather, air fares, hotel prices, etc. You plan your route, budget expenses, and make allowances for the unexpected. Just like a vacation you want to plan the details of your goals. Focus on what needs to happen to obtain the goal and plan step by step activities to achieve the goal. Only once you have a comprehensive plan of baby steps can you start implementing the required efforts to accomplish the goals you have set for yourself.
Finally, if you take the time to put together a solid action plan, the only thing stopping you from achieving the goals you set forth is you. Stay focused-- but fluid, and there won’t be any goals you cannot achieve.
We all have “Goals”, but the truth is, that when analyzed, most of us only have dreams-- not goals. So what’s the difference? Simple really, a goal is a final outcome someone has planned. Yes Planned! If you have a goal without a plan then it is just a dream.
Over and over again I have interactions with people that think they are real goal oriented with a one year, five year, and ten year plan. But when I ask probing questions I find out they really only have dreams. Now this isn’t to say that dreams can’t come true, but if you want to achieve a goal you need a plan.
I can comment on a personal example to help clarify this thought. Since I was a young child watching the “Wide World of Sports” I always thought that a tri-athlete was the pinnacle example of strength and conditioning. I can remember thinking to myself, ’someday I want to compete in a triathlon’. That was a dream. About two years ago I made a personal goal to lose weight and get back into shape. I focused my goal on being able to compete in a triathlon and check off that bucket list item once and for all. I sat down and worked out a schedule of exercising, diet, and month by month weight loss goals. I then started walking, then biking & swimming, and eventually running. I just registered for my first triathlon, on October 16th. I also put together a more focused training schedule that included weight training, running, swimming, and biking daily, to prepare for this event. I will let everyone know how it all turns out but there is little chance I will not accomplish this “goal” unless I give up on it, because I have a goal, and an action plan to accomplish it.
Now that we understand the difference between a goal and a dream, let’s look into the next biggest problem with goal setting. Too many people put time limits on their goals. In many cases this can cause destructive behaviors, internal stress, and a reduced level of patience. You become so focused on falling behind that you end up abandoning your goal, or you start to let other things in your life become effected. Also, you can get so drawn into accomplishing that goal within a certain time frame, that you will miss other opportunities that can have a greater impact in your life than completing the original goal itself. Furthermore, things change. Outside influences may change that directly affect your ability to attain that goal. Therefore, your goal has to be a moving target, both in time and effort. There is nothing wrong with having an approximate time frame attached to a goal as long as you understand that the timeframe is not the driving factor, the goal itself is what should be important.
To summarize, when goal setting, you must have the duality of the goal itself and an action plan in place to achieve it. The action plan should be a detailed, step by step program, without time constraints. It should also be an adjustable plan to make room for changes due to outside influences.
You should treat each goal as you would a vacation. Before you go on a vacation, you check the weather, air fares, hotel prices, etc. You plan your route, budget expenses, and make allowances for the unexpected. Just like a vacation you want to plan the details of your goals. Focus on what needs to happen to obtain the goal and plan step by step activities to achieve the goal. Only once you have a comprehensive plan of baby steps can you start implementing the required efforts to accomplish the goals you have set for yourself.
Finally, if you take the time to put together a solid action plan, the only thing stopping you from achieving the goals you set forth is you. Stay focused-- but fluid, and there won’t be any goals you cannot achieve.
Friday, August 19, 2011
What is Value in the Service industry?
We all know what value is when we are buying the “Big Gulp” at our local 7-11. It’s obvious! For ten cents more you get nearly 30% more. No brainer right?
In the service industry it is not quite as transparent as at your local convenience store or even with your favorite product. Service is an invisible product that most customers have to experience before they can decide if they are happy with it or not. Think of a restaurant. You can’t go out, order your food, consume your order, and then not pay because you were dissatisfied. You have to, pardon the pun, “eat it” and just not patronize that establishment again. While you can, and I suggest you do, complain about your dissatisfaction, you have little recourse at the end of the meal.
Why complain? In many cases the owner or manager will not know that there is a problem unless someone tells them. While I am a firm believer that a good manager needs to have processes in place to measure how they are doing, few actually do. I always preach that you need to worry about what people are saying, but what they are not saying is even more important. Most people will look you in the eye and tell you everything was fine, then tell everyone they know, about the awful experience they had, and never use your service again.
In some cases customers go after the cheapest price, throwing caution to the wind, and ignoring the signs of value, and get exactly what they bargained for, poor service and quality. However, in many cases it’s not that simple. A customer’s motivation was not just price, but they wanted the best value. Many poor service minded companies have great ad campaigns, and lure in unsuspecting customers who find out too late that the real signs of value didn’t exist.
So what are the signs of value in a service industry? My belief is that you need to focus on a few key points.
Reputation What is the reputation of your service provider? To start with, reputation is paramount. While yes it is possible to use a service with a great reputation only to have your expectations fall short. In general, the only way to build a reputation of excellent customer service is by covering all key points consistently. When you consider how easy it is for the general public to voice their disappointment within the online world, it is more important than ever to focus on complete customer satisfaction. So a company with a good reputation most likely earned it.
The Experience How would you rate your overall experience with your service provider? The other day I was sitting in a doctor’s office filling out paperwork and thinking to myself, in today’s electronic age, why couldn’t I have filled this out online prior to coming into the office? Instead I have to sit here and try to recall all the pertinent information and sit around and wait for the receptionist to enter all my information into their system. That is not thinking about the “customer’s” overall experience. If they were, they would have an online portal, for patients to enter and update their information, while having access to all their medical records. This would also save the doctor administrative time for entering and updating patient’s records.
As I have stated in previous blogs the overall customer experience, in my opinion, is the single largest reason that customers open their wallets, and develop loyalty to a service provider. It is also the number one reason a customer will never grace you with their patronage again if it was a bad experience. You need to focus on each step of the customer’s buying experience and do everything you can to make it as pleasurable and free flowing as possible. Remove any barriers that slow down the process, and make your service easier to use than any other service provider.
Dependability Can you count on your service provider? One key component to offering a great value to our customers is that when we say we will be there, we are there on time. When we say the job will cost this much, and be done by this time, that is exactly what we deliver. I have experienced many occasions of poor customer service in this area. Not to pick on doctors, but I have never shown up for a doctor’s appointment and been seen at the time of the appointment. Why is that? How is it that I can build a job that takes over a year to complete and finish it on time but a doctor can’t keep an appointment? If your customers can count on you to do what you say, and do it when you say you will, that is a huge value.
Communication Can you get a hold of your service provider? Every one of my customers has my cell phone number and when they call 24/7/365 I answer it or call them back within the hour. When you consider that we touch over 400 customers a month, just in the Tampa market alone, you might think I am crazy. However, because I have a great team that understands the culture built here, my phone rarely rings.
The key to good communication is to always answer your phone and talk with your customers. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know-- but I will find out”. All too often I hear peers and students tell me that they don’t call the customer back until they have an answer. That is a quick way to be perceived as non-accessible.
In many cases poor communication is why people are considered undependable. You need to be clear with your customers, explain exactly what you will and won’t do, and when you will do it, or if you simply don’t have an answer right this minute-- tell them, but then get them one. Clear and concise communication will eliminate most cases of conflict or perceived unmet expectations.
Safety How safe is you service provider? Safety is one of the key points that most customers overlook. Depending on what service you are buying, safety could and should be your biggest concern. When hiring a service provider you are allowing unknown individuals access to your facilities, employees, customers and possibly sensitive areas. You want to know what kind of pre-hire screening, drug tests, background checks and training the company does before you just give the technicians carte blanche to your empire. In many cases they will be working around your customers, employees and the general public. You need to know what kind of training they have had to safeguard any risk of injuries. In our line of work we are actually working on the electrical systems, which are the life blood of your building, not to mention all the risks associated with electricity. We spend thousands of dollars per technician, and hundreds of training hours to make sure that we keep our customers and technicians safe. Our technicians understand the risks involved prior to beginning any project. We not only make sure our customers know our safety process, but get feedback from them to continually improve our methods to insure the utmost safety practices are being implemented, to protect our customer’s systems, employees, assets, and the general public.
Most of our customer’s general counsel and risk managers are aware of the importance of safe work practices and have put in place minimum requirements for those larger companies. But if you don’t have these resources you may want to ask a few questions before deciding on who you are going to grant access to your company’s assets.
• Do they have a written safety program?
• What training do they give to their Technicians?
• What safeguards do they implement to mitigate risks and protect the general public?
• What is their EMR (Experience Modification Rate) rating?
• What PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) do they provide their technicians to avoid injury?
While some of this may seem to be over the top, think about what it will cost your company if there is an accident on your site? Lawyer’s fees, Insurance claims, Workman’s comp claims, etc… not to mention the bad press you might receive, especially if you are found negligent. It truly isn’t worth the risk to save a couple of bucks.
In closing, while the economy continues to shrink, and everyone continues to tighten their belts, we all are looking to find a better deal and to shave a few bucks off our costs and budgets. However, I urge everyone to stay focused on what you are cutting. We all should be looking for better value, but that doesn’t always mean a lower cost. What we are really trying to do is ‘do more with less’. This takes some thought and strategizing, not just finding cheaper options. Bring in your service providers and see what they can do to help you. If they are true business partners they will listen to your issues and come up with options that can help. If they don’t they are not really business partners, they are just vendors. You need to find the “Big Gulp” companies that will help you figure out how to get 30% more for only ten cents. Those are your business partners and that is VALUE!
In the service industry it is not quite as transparent as at your local convenience store or even with your favorite product. Service is an invisible product that most customers have to experience before they can decide if they are happy with it or not. Think of a restaurant. You can’t go out, order your food, consume your order, and then not pay because you were dissatisfied. You have to, pardon the pun, “eat it” and just not patronize that establishment again. While you can, and I suggest you do, complain about your dissatisfaction, you have little recourse at the end of the meal.
Why complain? In many cases the owner or manager will not know that there is a problem unless someone tells them. While I am a firm believer that a good manager needs to have processes in place to measure how they are doing, few actually do. I always preach that you need to worry about what people are saying, but what they are not saying is even more important. Most people will look you in the eye and tell you everything was fine, then tell everyone they know, about the awful experience they had, and never use your service again.
In some cases customers go after the cheapest price, throwing caution to the wind, and ignoring the signs of value, and get exactly what they bargained for, poor service and quality. However, in many cases it’s not that simple. A customer’s motivation was not just price, but they wanted the best value. Many poor service minded companies have great ad campaigns, and lure in unsuspecting customers who find out too late that the real signs of value didn’t exist.
So what are the signs of value in a service industry? My belief is that you need to focus on a few key points.
Reputation What is the reputation of your service provider? To start with, reputation is paramount. While yes it is possible to use a service with a great reputation only to have your expectations fall short. In general, the only way to build a reputation of excellent customer service is by covering all key points consistently. When you consider how easy it is for the general public to voice their disappointment within the online world, it is more important than ever to focus on complete customer satisfaction. So a company with a good reputation most likely earned it.
The Experience How would you rate your overall experience with your service provider? The other day I was sitting in a doctor’s office filling out paperwork and thinking to myself, in today’s electronic age, why couldn’t I have filled this out online prior to coming into the office? Instead I have to sit here and try to recall all the pertinent information and sit around and wait for the receptionist to enter all my information into their system. That is not thinking about the “customer’s” overall experience. If they were, they would have an online portal, for patients to enter and update their information, while having access to all their medical records. This would also save the doctor administrative time for entering and updating patient’s records.
As I have stated in previous blogs the overall customer experience, in my opinion, is the single largest reason that customers open their wallets, and develop loyalty to a service provider. It is also the number one reason a customer will never grace you with their patronage again if it was a bad experience. You need to focus on each step of the customer’s buying experience and do everything you can to make it as pleasurable and free flowing as possible. Remove any barriers that slow down the process, and make your service easier to use than any other service provider.
Dependability Can you count on your service provider? One key component to offering a great value to our customers is that when we say we will be there, we are there on time. When we say the job will cost this much, and be done by this time, that is exactly what we deliver. I have experienced many occasions of poor customer service in this area. Not to pick on doctors, but I have never shown up for a doctor’s appointment and been seen at the time of the appointment. Why is that? How is it that I can build a job that takes over a year to complete and finish it on time but a doctor can’t keep an appointment? If your customers can count on you to do what you say, and do it when you say you will, that is a huge value.
Communication Can you get a hold of your service provider? Every one of my customers has my cell phone number and when they call 24/7/365 I answer it or call them back within the hour. When you consider that we touch over 400 customers a month, just in the Tampa market alone, you might think I am crazy. However, because I have a great team that understands the culture built here, my phone rarely rings.
The key to good communication is to always answer your phone and talk with your customers. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know-- but I will find out”. All too often I hear peers and students tell me that they don’t call the customer back until they have an answer. That is a quick way to be perceived as non-accessible.
In many cases poor communication is why people are considered undependable. You need to be clear with your customers, explain exactly what you will and won’t do, and when you will do it, or if you simply don’t have an answer right this minute-- tell them, but then get them one. Clear and concise communication will eliminate most cases of conflict or perceived unmet expectations.
Safety How safe is you service provider? Safety is one of the key points that most customers overlook. Depending on what service you are buying, safety could and should be your biggest concern. When hiring a service provider you are allowing unknown individuals access to your facilities, employees, customers and possibly sensitive areas. You want to know what kind of pre-hire screening, drug tests, background checks and training the company does before you just give the technicians carte blanche to your empire. In many cases they will be working around your customers, employees and the general public. You need to know what kind of training they have had to safeguard any risk of injuries. In our line of work we are actually working on the electrical systems, which are the life blood of your building, not to mention all the risks associated with electricity. We spend thousands of dollars per technician, and hundreds of training hours to make sure that we keep our customers and technicians safe. Our technicians understand the risks involved prior to beginning any project. We not only make sure our customers know our safety process, but get feedback from them to continually improve our methods to insure the utmost safety practices are being implemented, to protect our customer’s systems, employees, assets, and the general public.
Most of our customer’s general counsel and risk managers are aware of the importance of safe work practices and have put in place minimum requirements for those larger companies. But if you don’t have these resources you may want to ask a few questions before deciding on who you are going to grant access to your company’s assets.
• Do they have a written safety program?
• What training do they give to their Technicians?
• What safeguards do they implement to mitigate risks and protect the general public?
• What is their EMR (Experience Modification Rate) rating?
• What PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) do they provide their technicians to avoid injury?
While some of this may seem to be over the top, think about what it will cost your company if there is an accident on your site? Lawyer’s fees, Insurance claims, Workman’s comp claims, etc… not to mention the bad press you might receive, especially if you are found negligent. It truly isn’t worth the risk to save a couple of bucks.
In closing, while the economy continues to shrink, and everyone continues to tighten their belts, we all are looking to find a better deal and to shave a few bucks off our costs and budgets. However, I urge everyone to stay focused on what you are cutting. We all should be looking for better value, but that doesn’t always mean a lower cost. What we are really trying to do is ‘do more with less’. This takes some thought and strategizing, not just finding cheaper options. Bring in your service providers and see what they can do to help you. If they are true business partners they will listen to your issues and come up with options that can help. If they don’t they are not really business partners, they are just vendors. You need to find the “Big Gulp” companies that will help you figure out how to get 30% more for only ten cents. Those are your business partners and that is VALUE!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)