Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Brand new look for Win-Win Web

I was just reading an article on lifehack.org called "When does great service happen?"  According to Rosa, the author:

I think there are only two parts to it, but you need both, not one or the other.

1. When you have hired the right people in the first place, and
2. When you take care of them really really well, providing them with a workplace that is as exceptional as the service you expect them to give others.

I agree that these are essential, but would add that this is certainly a case where "tone at the top" differentiates good organizations from the not-so-good.  Here are signs you are dealing with organizations that don't promote a "culture of service."

  1. They are quick to quote policies which explain why you are wrong or your request is unreasonable.

  2. They do not suggest alternatives to help you solve your problem.

  3. They find creative ways to get out of honoring commitments and guarantees (goofy technical loopholes, strange interpretations of their guarantees, etc.)

  4. They don't offer any sympathy, empathy, or token of esteem when they cannot satisfy their commitments.

  5. Make you feel unwanted or unneeded.

In contrast, other organizations seem to have a better grasp that keeping us as customers is a long-term thing.  They are more likely to:

  1. Apologize for the inconvenience and offer some sort of compensation (a free dessert or a free drink, for example).  Sometimes it's as simple as "I'm really sorry this happened, and I never want it to happen again - I'll write this down and report it to my manager."

  2. Come up with suggestions for other ways to solve your problem, sometimes even telling you where you can find a competitor that's a better fit for your need (ironically, this makes me an even more loyal customer of the company that couldn't help me)

  3. Understand that a guarantee means they have a commitment to fulfill or make things right.

  4. Make you feel needed and wanted.

You don't want one of these slide shows flying around the internet about your company, do you?Not being a good service provider can have all sorts of implications.  Unhappy customers spread their ill will a lot more than happy customers.  Several years ago, I received a copy of a PowerPoint slide show that goes into great detail about a bad customer experience at a hotel.  I've included it here for your enjoyment, since it is well done and quite hilarious - enjoy! Download review_hotel.pps

And if your business provides service, try to ensure that you instill a culture of service within your organization.  You don't want one of these slide shows flying around the internet about your company, do you?

Read More

Wanna hear a secret about your boss?

Pssst.  Did you know that this Sunday, October 16th is Boss's Day in the US?  (And what are they trying to tell us, putting it on a Sunday?)

Whisper If you want the perfect gift, head on over to 1800CEOREAD and order an electronic copy of the book "Nine Lives of Leadership."  This book was created by Lisa Haneberg of Management Craft, along with Jack and Todd at 1800CEOREAD, to share wisdom from 9 hot business authors - told in Lisa's own provocative way.

And pick up a copy for yourself (or start dropping big hints to your employees if you're a boss).

Read More

Comment Conversation Done Better: Never Work Alone

Well, it's the end of day one for our Never Work Alone project, and I've just posted the first summary post on our blog. The scenario we discussed was this one:

A customer comes into a business and asks to buy a product and bill them in a certain way. The person at the counter didn't know how to bill the customer for the product in that way. The customer got frustrated and took their business elsewhere.

The first post is a good example of the kind of discussion you can expect from Never Work Alone, and we would love to have more people involved. So, come on over, discover our insights and get involved in this new endeavour of ours.

And why not do us a favor and pass it along to others if you like what you see?

Read More

Comment Conversation Done Better: Never Work Alone

If you work in a corporate environment, you may find yourself in situations where you really wish you had a sounding board so you could either ask for advice or float ideas and get feedback.

Well, wish no longer. Bren of Slacker Manager, Skip of Random Thoughts from a CTO, and I are happy to announce that we've established a resource to provide community based assistance to all of us in corporate environments, particularly those of us in management and leadership roles. This new resource is called Never Work Alone. Watercooler

What’s Never Work Alone all about?
We’ve all been through “trial by fire” management situations, and have faced difficult management and leadership dilemmas at various points in our careers. As active participants in the brain trust on the internet, we also understand the tremendous power of Community.

The goal of Never Work Alone is to provide a community for managers and leaders to share their experiences and challenges, help each other grapple with issues, learn from each other, and advance the state of the art in enlightened leadership.

How Does It Work?
We’re launching a blog and a Google group. The Google group is at http://groups.google.com/group/neverworkalone. Initially, the blog (http://neverworkalone.typepad.com) will be a weekly summary of a situation that’s reflected upon in the Google group.

We’ll solicit situation ideas via this email address: neverworkalone@gmail.com.

Each week we’ll select a situation and post it to the Google group. Group members can offer suggestions for how to handle the situation. Each week we’ll summarize the situation and responses on the blog, crediting the appropriate respondents and including links to their blogs/websites.

Of course, we fully expect that the Google group won’t be used exclusively for going over the situations. We encourage folks to go ahead and post what they’ve got and see what comes back. We’re doing the structured approach so that people with limited time, but who’d like to participate, will know where to focus their energy.

So come on in, check it out, participate, and let us know how we can make this better!

Read More

Shouldn't a business make money?

A few days ago, I questioned the insanity of airline pricing.  I've been doing some research on the subject, and it still seems today's model is a poor one for the long-term viability of the industry.  A big part of the problem is the "disruptive pricing" phenomenon precipitated, in part, by a lot of the new entries into the air travel market (JetBlue, Frontier, etc.).

These companies have the benefit of smaller fleets and smaller footprints, which means they need much less infrastructure and far fewer people to support their operations.  They are also "buying market share" by offering incredibly cheap seats.  Additionally, these airlines don't have nearly the cost commitment for pensions and other retiree benefits that their more established peers must manage. (And fuel costs just make things worse.)

My gut tells me this is not sustainable (unless we want to accept serial bankruptcies and a perpetual stream of startup airlines as the new reality).

It's bad business to run your suppliers out of businessClosed_1 

In my time as an IT buyer, I always felt it was my duty to negotiate a reasonable discount, but I didn't believe in forcing my suppliers into a position where they couldn't sustain and improve their own business.  After all, I want my chosen suppliers to remain viable and thrive, since the switching process is painful and costly for all involved.

So how do we resolve this in the air travel industry?  I don't have all the answers, but my preliminary research tells me it will likely mean us getting "real" about the price we pay for air travel.  Don't get me wrong - it's not that I want to pay more for my tickets (when my family travels, that means paying for 5 tickets). 

However, if we don't adequately compensate airlines for the benefits they provide in a way that allows them to run reliable infrastructure, we all lose.  I, for one, don't want to lose the benefit of air travel.

Some ideas I've seen that may help:

  • FedEx has been using a "fuel surcharge model" to insulate themselves from fluctuating fuel costs
  • The airline industry needs to get in synch on how pricing is handled (of course, the danger is "price fixing")
  • There needs to be some consistent (and sane) method to allow people who plan ahead to get better prices than last minute purchasers - this fare sale fire sale approach seems to be driving the wrong behavior

What about you - any insight to share on this topic?  Am I missing something here?

Read More