How To Get Thrown Out Of An Expensive Italian Restaurant

On Filter-Free Fridays™ you get the opportunity to tell businesses, organizations and people how they are doing - in a non-hurtful way.
Last Friday, my wife and I headed out for some Italian at one of the city’s most expensive Italian restaurants. We had never been to this particular restaurant before but the reviews showed well.
We ordered a glass of red wine, the Caprese salad to start and my wife ordered the House Specialty Lasagna and I ordered the Veal-stuffed Cannelloni. They brought fresh bruschetta on crostinis as their welcome. Delicious - well as delicious as you can make tomatoes in December but well spiced and flavorful. The Caprese was alright I suppose - but again made with out-of-season tomatoes - it was good.
Then the main courses arrived straight from the oven in the same dishes. We had to wait several minutes before we could taste since it was piping hot. When we did, my wife thought the bechamel/tomato sauce (which the pastas were swimming in) tasted more like Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup, both pasta dishes were overcooked (disintegrated when touched) and there seemed to be a lack of any sort of seasoning. Have you ever tasted veal or lasagna without seasoning? Well it’s tastes like … uh … nothing.
The “pepper girl” came by a few minutes later and asked if we wanted fresh pepper. I simply replied, “I don’t think that’s going to fix it.”
She immediately summoned our server (turns out he was the owner) and when asked, we simply said that the sauce tasted like tomato soup, the pasta was overdone, there was no seasoning and therefore no taste and perhaps it was the worst pasta I have ever had in an upscale restaurant (true).
“Well then this place is not for you,” he barked and angrily gathered up the dishes. “I will pay for what you’ve eaten. You can leave at any time,” he barked and then threw the dishes into a tub in the kitchen (really he threw them). And we left.
If it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it anyway and then pay for it. Say something. The worst that happens is they ask you to leave. I suppose I could have said everything was “fine” but then I would have been lying and the next customer who ordered the same dish would get an expensive mouthful of nothing.
On Filter-Free Fridays™, you’re not just helping the business get better, you’re making it better for the next person. Tell the truth. They need to hear it.

What Service Is Supposed To Look Like

I inadvertently broke the LCD touch-screen of my new camcorder this week. In a panic, I emailed Panasonic to find an Authorized Repair Depot. They emailed back next day suggesting that I contact Southland Crossing TV here in Calgary. I called Southland immediately. But because I would be traveling within a week and needed to take the camera, they asked to see it and diagnose it right away. They confirmed the LCD screen needed to be replaced - but because it is a professional camera and a new model, they couldn't access the parts catalog online.

Melanie at Southland promised to call Panasonic directly - and she did - three times with no reply. Then she sent three separate emails begging for Panasonic to return a call which she finally received with an acknowledgment that the part would be sent by air overnight - no extra charges for overnight shipping.

Melanie then sent me this by email: "Hi Kevin, I heard back from Panasonic. The part is in stock with them, cost of the part is $161.40 + GST. If this is OK, please give me a call so I can create a work order."

I called immediately and Melanie promised to alert me when the part arrived so they could get the camera in right away. The challenge was going to be scheduling because of Remembrance Day. They would be open Thursday but closed Friday and Saturday. She told me the part was being shipped by overnight courier and scheduled to arrive by 9 am next day.

Melanie called at 9:30 saying don't leave the house because the part isn't here yet - but I was already on my way. I left the camera anyway with the intention of picking it up by end of business regardless of whether it had been repaired.

Then, at 11 am, this email arrived: "Hi Kevin, the part arrived & it has been given to Rommel to work on. I will advise once it is completed."

An hour and a half later: "Hi Kevin, your camcorder is done. We will be here till 5:30 today."

Calgary is a city of 1.1 million people. Southland Crossing TV does business like they're in a small town. I gushed to Melanie directly that the service experience was incredible and that given the opportunity, I would return to them in the blink of an eye.

On Filter-Free Fridays™ you speak your truth in a non-hurtful way. Well here's the truth, if you're in the electronics repair business, Southland Crossing TV is the service model you have to compete with. Yeah, good luck to you. It's going to be pretty hard to top that. And given the choice between you and someone like Southland, why would anyone choose you?

Will You Acknowledge Their Service?

November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada and Australia. It is Veterans Day in the United States. And although November 11 is the day marked to honor military veterans in the United Kingdom, the ceremonies won't take place until Sunday.

On this November 11, how about we take a moment out of our own busy lives to, just for a moment, think about someone else for a change.

Perhaps you work with someone who has done military service or work with the spouse of someone who has done military service. Perhaps one of your own relatives may be former military. Why not think about them for a moment on November 11.

Look around. Look at all of this stuff you have been able to amass. Think of all the things you are able to do and all of the freedoms that you have. We live in some of the best countries in the world. Oh sure, we have our moments and we have our difficulties from time to time. And we don't always get it right. But, we pretty much have it all.

There is a process in place that is as simple as a young man or woman who makes a decision to sign up for active military service. That one person along with thousands of others get trained, focused and deployed to protect the very freedoms and luxuries of life that we have. How hard would it be to say "thank you" on November 11?

Here's how easy it is: on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month take a moment to just be thankful that you have what you have. Someone, maybe someone you don't know, made a decision to stand up for you. Some lost their lives standing up for you and some returned home. Remember, it's not the price they paid that is important, it's the fact that they chose to do something important at all.

Will you acknowledge their service?

“Service Postponement” Is Rampant

So let’s say you had a bad meal in a restaurant. You call over your waitress and you tell her that the meal is not satisfactory. She apologizes and offers to make it right.

When your waitress appears at the table again she presents you with your bill. You notice that you are being charged full price for a meal you had already told them was not satisfactory but you find attached to your bill is a $10 off coupon good for your next visit.

Offer to fix my problem at some point in the future and you won’t have a problem to fix in the future because I won’t be back. But I will make sure that none of my friends come to visit you either.

Trust me, this happens more often than it should. Why is it that restaurants want to wait until sometime in the future before they fix the problems you had today? But it’s not just restaurants who do this. This same service abdication happens across all industries. This is what I call, “Service Postponement.”

How ridiculous is it that you think that you will be able to solve a problem at some point in the future if you are not prepared to solve that problem today?

A customer who is having a problem today needs to have that problem fixed today. And if you are that customer who is having that problem today, then you need to address it today. Do not let businesses wait until sometime in the future before they fix the problem today.

Remember, on Filter-Free Fridays™ you take off the filters that prevent you from telling the truth and you say something in an effort to help them serve you better.

Leave me your comments about your “Service Postponement” experience below.

13 Service and Business Oxymorons

These really don't need much of an introduction. They are pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy on this Filter-Free Fridays™.

1. Your call is very important to us. Your approximate wait time is 12 minutes. Please continue to hold.
2. (Voice mail) I am out of the office until Wednesday next week. If this call is important ...
3. You have exceeded the maximum allowable bandwidth on our "Unlimited" Data Package.
4. We absolutely guarantee your satisfaction. Would you be interested in purchasing an extended warranty?
5. To report a non-working phone line, please call our emergency repair department ....
6. Your $29 item qualifies for free shipping in the USA. Standard International Shipping to Canada fee of $35 will apply.
7. Thank you for reporting your emergency issue by email. Our support staff will respond to your inquiry within 48 business hours.
8. If you are unable to reach us by telelphone, please use the automated customer service form on our web page.
9. (Automated phone message) We attempted to deliver your overnight courier package but you weren`t home. It will be available at our retail location (8 miles away) after 10 A.M. tomorrow.
10. Our Company is Proudly 100% Canadian Owned. (on the back) Made in China.
11. While customers want more from the companies and employees they do business with, they have actually come to expect less than they did before.
12. Have a suggestion for us? We are open to your suggestions Monday to Friday between 10 am to 4 pm. Closed nights, weekends and holidays.
13. (As found in the operator`s manual) This page has been intentionally left blank.

Go ahead and tell them when they're doing stuff like this - especially on Filter-Free Fridays™. They obviously could use a little help. They probably don't even know they're doing it. Maybe they'll see the humor in it.

Fighting The 5¢ Fee For Plastic Bags

Request from a reader: Would you please address the issue of paying 5 cents for a bag to put your purchases in before leaving the store? I'm sure there is enough markup to cover the cost and carrying out the items un-bagged leaves me, the consumer, open to charges of shoplifting and is also opening the door to easier shoplifting for those that take part in this kind of thing.

Response: I agree with you that the 5¢ charge is ridiculous. In fact, I think the charge should be 25¢ and it should be imposed at every store - not just a few. I understand your point of shoplifting so put magnetic anti-theft strips on every item (a cost covered by extra bag fees). Bags were free when we didn't think about the cost of cleaning up all of the free plastic bags in landfills.

But the market is changing and so must we.

I think the discussion really has nothing to do with whether or not a store can cover the cost of a plastic bag. The question is whether a store can cover the cost of what the plastic bag does to the environment in the long run? The bag fee is to make consumers decide whether they REALLY need a bag in the first place. And, if the bags continue to be free, you'll probably see a 3% jump in your property taxes to cover off the the cost of cleaning up all those free plastic bags in the landfill. You're going to pay one way or another.

But the discussion shouldn't be just about shopping bags. There should be another 25¢ charge levied on each plastic disposable diaper (not 25¢ per box but each diaper individually) sold. In addition to the 82,000 tons of plastic a year and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp -- 250,000 trees used to make a year's worth of disposable diapers, these materials are trucked away, primarily to landfills. It is illegal in most U.S. states to dump human waste in landfills. That law is simply unenforced when it comes to diapers.

I am all for charging 5¢ for each compostable vegetable-gluten bag in the stores - a fee I would gladly pay. These bags break down in landfills in less than a year.

Customer Service isn't just about fawning over customers and trying to kiss their butts. It's about being a "service" to the lifestyle of the customers and customers' families now and in the future.

Every organization needs to have a conscience in today's marketplace. And every organization needs to have that conscience drive both their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy as well as their Corporate Culture initiatives. Personally, I think it is incumbent on business to re-shape how the consumer thinks - not just bow to what consumers are used to. Consumers only demand what they know - not what they don't know. So change their minds and make a difference. Your employees will carry the torch of their work meaning something.

How To Score High In Customer Satisfaction

"Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and continue to hold."

Your call is very important to us? No it isn't or you'd have picked up the phone by now. You say it's important but your actions say otherwise.

Your customers are watching that what you say and what you do are in sync. Most times, they are not. Why do you think you don't score "perfect" in your customer satisfaction surveys? Hello! You started by making them wait. You will never get a high score starting out that way.

Whether it is virtual or real-life, those long lineups of "cattle pens" (think banks here - moo) force your customers to wait in line to solve their issue like you're doing them a favor by allowing them to stand (or wait on the phone) in your line. Their business is NOT important to you or you'd be serving them in a far timelier fashion.

This is not a McDonald's or Tim Hortons lineup (people can choose any place for coffee or a burger). Your customers have chosen to call your "support" center or need an answer or want to access some of their own money. This is how you treat the lifeblood of your organization?

Unfortunately, this philosophy swings down into your Culture too. If this is how you CHOOSE to treat your customers and hold them in low-priority regard, your employees can only imagine what you think of them.

Don't TELL me my call is important to you - show me. Then show your employees how important their contribution is to you too.

Stop being so bloody mediocre. Just because "everyone" else does it this way doesn't make it right. But keep doing this if you want to keep your customer satisfaction rates low, keep on treating your customers like they're not the most important aspect of your business. But don't be surprised if they go someplace else - oh, and your good employees too.

You are NOT an employer or organization of choice, you are simply an employer/organization of convenience. Make people wait and it's not convenient anymore.

How To Handle Arrogant Businesses

I can admit when I am wrong. It just doesn't happen very often - the "being wrong" part, not the admitting it part.

Last week, for Filter-Free Fridays™, I blogged about how you can't just lie to businesses by saying everything was fine when it wasn't and then go home and trash them on the Internet. In fact, I said, "Businesses want to be better. They want to serve you better. They want to offer you better products and service. They want to offer you innovative new ways of improving what they do to make your experience that much better."

And I was wrong.

Not every business wants to be better. In fact, some businesses are so full of themselves that no matter what you say, they will treat you like an idiot and make you feel as though they're doing you a favor by allowing you to do business with them. Those are the businesses that need a swift kick in the revenues.

I encountered one of those businesses this week. After dealing with a constant turnover of sales reps over a seven-month period, my frustration got the better of me. The new sales rep was more concerned about looking good than serving us well. So, I was honest and forthcoming. I told them face-to-face what I thought they might improve but they refused to listen. I told them directly how disappointed I was with their service but they refused to listen. I told them what we initially agreed on but they attempted to arbitrarily change the contract by adding items and clauses not previously spelled out. I did this in-person, in writing and in telephone conversations. And still, they feel that I need to pay more money than what we agreed so that I can be served less.

So now, I will warn others to keep clear of dealing with banquet staff at a particular hotel in the Ottawa area (and if you are an Ottawa area meeting planner or are considering hosting a Ottawa area conference or event, I would be pleased to offer you the name of the hotel and all of the awful salespeople on the inside. Just shoot me an email). I just know that this expereince will become a story in one of my presentations that I will end up sharing with thousands of people. Whoops.

When businesses refuse to pay attention to professional customers, then maybe they'll pay attention when they are forced to see the (dis)satisfaction of their customers telling their stories on the Internet or in other public forums. But then again, maybe not. There comes a time when you are forced to use the court of public opinion if you want to warn others. And that should be the spirit of your efforts: to warn others - not to be vindictive.

Arrogant businesses need to be knocked a peg or two and you are just the person to do it - especially on Filter-Free Fridays™.

You Big, Fat, Two-Faced Liar

You've seen it. I know you have. There are a lot of businesses, especially restaurants, who specifically ask, no make that "plead" with you, to tell them how they are doing. (See photo)

Businesses want to be better. They want to serve you better. They want to offer you better products and service. They want to offer you innovative new ways of improving what they do to make your experience that much better.

So they ask important questions like, how was your experience today? And do you know what you do as they attempt to access your expertise as a customer to improve themselves? You lie right to their faces and say everything was "fine."

Even when they print it on their menus how much your feedback means to them, you still lie to them and tell them everything was fine. Then you go home, tell your friends to never go there. You tell your followers on Facebook and Twitter not to go there. You trash them. Even when they come right to you and try to get an honest conversation going, you lie to their faces. And then, when you are a safe distance away and know that they have turned their backs, you ruin their business.

On Filter-Free Fridays™ you tell them exactly how it was. Don't be a jerk about it. Just be honest. Offer something constructive so they can be better at what they do. On Filter-Free Fridays™ you grow a pair and HELP them - don't hurt them.

Or just stay out of their place of business and stop ruining a business. You are not entitled to ruin them just because they had a little too much salt in their soup and you didn't have the courage to say something.

Harsh? It's Filter-Free Fridays™ - get over it.

Jet Blue's Steve Slater Is An Idiot

Steve Slater, the now infamous former Jet Blue flight attendant who recently snapped on-board, showered passengers with his unceremonious tirade of expletives while he quit in a most public way, drank a couple of beers and then slid down the emergency slide (there was no emergency) is the kind of employee that coporate legal departments should make an example of. Steve Slater should be dragged into court and sued for his childish tantrum. Anyone who applauds this idiot is someone who is incredibly unhappy with their own job and they're living vicariously through a six year-old in adult clothing.

Sure, it may sound like something you want to applaud until you are one of passengers on that flight and are berated with a tirade of swearing and infantile behavior. If you were a passenger that day, you'd be writing nasty letters to Jet Blue expecting some sort of compensation for having to endure this childishness. You'd be questionning how a wingnut like this guy could get a job that required him to be responsible for your safety. You would question the screening process at Jet Blue and demand answers.

Here's the big problem: in this situation, Steve Slater had a problem with one passenger but by his antics, he punished all of Jet Blue's customers (on-board passengers) for the actions (alleged) of one passenger. He snapped and took his frustrations out on a full planeload of passengers who had nothing to do with it.

Like Slater, organizations are aften too quick to create Blanket Policies and unleashed it on everyone because of the actions of a few. Blanket policies are never perfect for every situation and they tend to alienate more than serve. Companies that issue new policies for everyone in response to a problem with one or two seems drastic - and idiotic.

I agree that employees need to be prepared to handle difficult situations but let's ensure that the preparation does not become a blanket policy - which is usually the choice of managers who don't trust their own people to solve problems nor do they empower them to do so. People will lean on and use the policy as an excuse to not take their own initiative and solve a problem (Sorry, it's company policy). And when your people start claiming "comapny policy" as an excuse for not serving customers, you will have a serious Culture problem.

Slater's stupid and selfish antics punished all passengers that day and directly hit Jet Blue's finances because of his childish arrogance. Jet Blue should sue his ass for damage to their reputation and then issue a free flight to the passengers on board that day as an apology.

Until there is a consequence to launching into tirades in front of customers, this will happen again because apparently, it gets you your 15 minutes of fame. And that is a sad indictment of our society.

How Marketing Connects To Culture

Speaking with a medical school student last week, she commented that she wished more time was spent on marketing a medical practice. I think she is going to be a bright doctor. It's something more medical professionals need to concentrate on to drive more profits to their practices. (By the way, they're called "practices" because they haven't been perfected yet.)

Marketing, however, isn't just advertising. Advertising is a very small component of marketing. In fact, if you simply made a few adjustments to how you interact with your steady stream of clients, you could slash your advertising budget substantially and still increase your business.

How you treat customers (patients) is marketing. The customer experience is marketing. How you handle customers on the phone is marketing. How long you make them wait is marketing. How you set up your waiting room is marketing.

Now here's the problem: if you do the marketing part wrong, you can have long dire effects on your corporate culture. Let me explain. The experience you give to your customers will be reflected back to you by your customers. Upset your customers and they will be upset with you - which creates an adversarial relationship - which, over time, creates an us-versus-them attitude and culture in your workplace. And the longer that culture exists, the more unhappy your employees will become with their jobs.

The less respect you offer your customers, the more damage you do in the long run to your own corporate culture. You will never turnaround culture until you accept an outward attitude of service which will create an inward Culture of Service. An outward Attitude of Accountability creates an inward Culture of Accountability.

If you want to build a strong culture, don't just do what your competitors are not doing. Do what they are not even prepared to do. Start with the experience you offer your customers if you want to start improving the Culture of your workplace.

Why Customers Don't Care How Good You Are

Customers don't care how good you are. They care about how good you are .... for THEM.

Motivational speakers will boast about anything nice said about them like, "he received a 4.2 out of 5 from our delegates." Huh? Isn't that for internal use? Then there's, "our group really liked him" or "he was fun, entertaining and lighthearted," or "our people warmed up to her quickly." How exactly does that make a business different? How is the group now better than when you arrived?

But what about outside of speaking? Being liked is not a measure of organizational success or strategy. How many friends you have on Facebook is not indicative of your ability to help make your organization better. Your Twitter follower-count doesn't help build healthier bottom-lines for your customers. The fact that you've worked hard to connect with 2600 people on LinkedIn says to me that you don't do much with your day. So how is your organization going to benefit from you?

If you want to build a Culture of Performance, you've got to start with what it is you bring to the table that benefits the organization. Each person plays a role in Culture. It's not about how much you are liked. It's about how much you are respected for your contribution to bettering your workplace and your customers.

What are your specific strengths? How is your organization better because of you? Get your people to answer those two questions and you have a solid foundation to build a Culture of Performance.

Why Courier Companies Are Hated

I got a phone call from a courier company the day after they attempted to deliver a package. No one was home - for one hour. That's when they showed up. The call came from an automated system from the company's 1-800 number announcing that because I wasn't home when the delivery attempt was made, I would have to drive eight and a half miles to get my parcel - and past two retail locations of the store I purchased from.

I was not joyful that the company had called me to tell me that I would have to drive over eight miles now to get a parcel that was at my door earlier today. However, I would have been joyful had they called ahead to tell me a day or two in advance that my parcel would likely be delivered on one of two days. I would have been ecstatic that I didn't have to expend my time and money to retrieve a parcel that the courier company was paid to deliver. Besides, if I have to pick it up, it's not courier anymore - it's mail.

For those that may be unfamiliar with what courier companies do when they are unable to deliver a package, here's how it works. If a parcel is unable to be delivered, it must return to the depot where it is offloaded from the truck and loaded onto another truck to go to a retail location for pickup the next day. There is increased handling, wasted fuel (two trips with same package) and lost time for every parcel that can't be delivered because no one was home.

So, I began to think that if a courier company is able to tell you where your parcel is (tracking), which truck it is on at this moment, the hours that a pick-up location will be open and they already have your phone number to be able to generate the call, why can't they call ahead a day or two to announce when the parcel is likely to be delivered? That way, if I wasn't going to be home, I could make arrangements with a neighbor to accept the parcel for me and leave a note on the door for the courier to deliver next door.

The way I see it, the infrastructure already exists to automate calls so why not improve the delivery rate, reduce lost revenue from additional handling and substantially improve customer satisfaction by calling a day or two before? Any organization can call you to tell you that they didn't deliver. How hard would it really be to re-program the automated phone system to call residential numbers a day or two in advance?

Sometimes, all it takes to provide excellent service is to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Are you forcing your customers to go out of their way to do business with you? Does your service policy and procedure benefit you or your customers? The answer to that question really is the difference between mediocrity and greatness.

8 Reasons To Understaff

A 2:30 in the afternoon, after most of the restaurant staff had been dismissed until supper hour, one cook, one waitress, the assistant manager and the owner's wife were able to seat, serve and feed 45 senior citizens whose bus tour stopped at the restaurant without warning. What you may not know is that the cook LOVED his job, the waitress made it her mission to serve her best, the assistant manager had cooking experience and the owner's wife wasn't going to let excuses get in the way of a big payday.

The waitress and the owner's wife served the customers. The cook and the assistant manager worked as a team, split the duties and didn't miss on a single meal. There was not a single complaint. Everyone was served their meal in under twenty-five minutes. Compliments abounded. Deservedly, the skeleton staff gave each other a high-five at the end of the hour.

Later that night, with a full complement of staff available and not more than twenty patrons in the restaurant, food quality was inconsistent, waitresses argued over tables, customers complained and kitchen and wait staff blamed each other.

So which would you rather manage:

1. a seriously understaffed group of highly engaged employees with a heavy workload risking burnout, or
2. a full complement of staff including a mixture of engaged, disengaged and actively-disengaged employees with a light workload

Give me the understaffed, highly-engaged group any time. Here's why:

• the risk of burnout is low when people love their work and engage highly into it
• there is no time for excuses when it's busy
• people only become territorial and disruptive when they think they are better than others (entitlement)
• actively-disengaged is like a cancer in an organization that needs to be removed before it spreads
• other engaged people are attracted to exciting and vibrant workplaces of high-productivity
• people complain when they are bored so the point is to keep fewer people busier and make the work mean something
• waiting for the "right" employee is smarter than settling for the "right now" employee
• it's far easier to build a strong Culture when there are no actively-disengaged employees fighting you

Look around your department right now and figure out whether this is the team that will win you a championship when you need to or is it a team that is likely to miss the playoffs? Then make your decisions from there.

Why Customer Service Courses Don't Fix Culture

I drove out of my way today to gas up the truck and to pick up a few groceries. There is a gas station and grocery store just two blocks from my house, but I drove about a mile out of my way because I normally get superior service at the other store - but not today.

The teenage gas jockey filled the truck to $43.87 - but didn't bother rounding up to $44.00 - that would have required an effort of adding thirteen cents to the gas tank. If you've ever had to add up your monthly fuel receipts, you appreciate rounding up. He didn't wash the windows either. In fact, I drove back to the pumps to have him wash the windows because the sign reads "Full Service" - not half-service.

In the grocery store, the checkout clerk completely ignored us. No announcing of the total, no eye contact, no "thank you." Not a word was spoken. No smile on her face. Simply boredom with a side of "I don't want to be here."

It used to be that I would get exceptional service at this grocery store and gas bar. The manager, who I've spoken with many times, is a gregarious man who is always smiling and speaking with customers. But the store has developed a service problem, one the manager hopes to correct with part-time courses and certifications in customer service. The courses are voluntary with a duration of six months.

Here's the problem: staff must desire to serve customers for voluntary customer service courses to look attractive. People who are bored with their jobs won't make a 6-month commitment to learn anything. They're watching the clock. Customers are an annoyance. They're actively disengaged from their work. This isn't a "service" problem - it's a Corporate Culture problem.

Doing just enough to not get fired has become "how we do things" around this store. If poor service and a lousy attitude aren't aggressively discouraged, then they are passively accepted. It's stuff like this that creates an awful culture. No 6-month course is going to change that because the people who love to serve customers will likely be the ones who sign up take the course - not the ones who NEED the course.

Before you seek out the long, hard, expensive way of addressing your service problems, make sure it's not a culture problem first. If only 10% of your staff want to improve and 90% want to remain actively disengaged, your culture will swallow your service improvement attempts. You need to first create a culture that supports your improvement efforts.

Demote Managers Who Don`t Answer Phones

Like you, I have a telephone on my desk. I can't actually remember a time where I didn't have a telephone on my desk. I think it's an important tool in communication with clients, suppliers and associates. Sure, it might occasionally get used to call my mom - but it gets used nonetheless - that's my point.

The difference between my telephone and your telephone is that I answer my telephone when it rings. Heck, I even go as far to use it to return phone calls when someone leaves a message. Unlike the many of you who have become rude, disinterested parties who have an office phone you use to check voicemail messages you're not likely to return.

The tool that once tied satisfied clients with service-oriented humans has somehow, over time, become an interruptive device. Checking your email in silence has become more important than talking to clients, co-workers and suppliers somehow. You now let your incoming calls go to voicemail so you can screen your interruptions. How incredibly selfish of you.

We all know, for a fact, that you have a telephone on your desk and we know whether you return your messages or not. In other words, we know if you're being a jerk.

This is perhaps why, when a company promotes themselves as actually having a live human answer the phone, it presents them with a marketing opportunity to overtake their competition. Rogers now has Live Agent: a toll-free number you call to actually speak to a human. No word on whether the phone is answered in a third-world call center or not but think of how revolutionary this idea is. No voicemail hell. No phone tree frustrations. Just people who answer their phones and guide you to the right department. Also, no word on whether anyone in the departments actually answer their phones or not but you get the idea.

You will never develop a Culture of Service or a Culture of Excellence if the people in your organization don`t answer their phones or return their voicemails. It`s impossible to create a working Corporate Culture if you don`t place some measurement to see if people are actually using their phones or if they are in fact, hiding behind them - as the rest of the world suspects.

You are NEVER too busy to speak with a client. If your office doors are open, you`re OPEN. That means your phones are open too. Answer them and stop being so rude.

There is no argument that can be made for creating silos in your workplace. Anyone who attempts to justify NOT answering phone calls and messages should be put on probation immediately - and demoted if they are in management. Arrogance has no place in building strong Corporate Culture.

How To Win Back Unhappy Customers

I made a harried phone call at 4 pm to track a flower order - one I placed online but one that hadn't been delivered on the day it was supposed to. The company web site had taken my order, my credit card info and my delivery instructions and sent along a confirmation. But no phone number, no store ID and no person to contact. So I started calling the individual stores.

First store - 4:00 pm: (the closest geographically) "Nope, we didn't get the order here. How did you place it again? You could try this number and take your chances. Good luck."

Second store - 4:25 pm: "No it wasn't our store and I don't know how to help you. I don't know the codes to get into the system to find out where your order went. I just started working here a few weeks ago and I can't help much. But try this number (same as first store gave me). What? They're not answering? Hmm, then I don't know what to do. Sorry."

Third store - 4:30 pm: "I'm not sure who would have gotten the order but let me make a couple of calls and I'll call you back (which she did ten minutes later with the number for the fourth store)."

Fourth store - 4:45 pm: (a forty minute drive away) "Yeah we got your order and we'll call our delivery guy to get that out to you pretty quick here. Oh, you're not going to be home? Oh yeah, it does say you'd only be there until 5. Well what do you want us to do? Forget it? Really? Well OK. Yeah, we can refund your money but that's going to take a couple of days. Sorry."

But here's where it all changed. The fourth store called back the next morning and the store manager, who personally had messed up the order, offered this: "Mr. Burns, I am so sorry what happened yesterday. I messed up. I didn't read the order right and I wasn't on the ball. There are no excuses. I'm so sorry that we missed the special occasion. But the buck stops here. I'm the one who messed it up and I'm the one who is going to fix it. Your credit card has been reimbursed but I still want to send you your order today and I will pay for it, if you will accept it, as well as a $25 gift certificate in our store. Will you accept my apology and allow me to fix what I messed up? Please."

That's how you build strong service and win back lost customers: you are accountable, responsible and you make it right, no matter what it takes. People mess up, sure they do - and most would make up some lame excuse to not have to put their tail on the line. Some will protect themselves instead of keeping the customer. Some will use the "I just work here" clause to abdicate responsibility. And then some will damn the torpedoes and do it anyway - just to make it right. I am now a satisfied customer - one who is prepared to cross the city to get my flowers from here on in.

There is "WOW" or there is "not-wow." Fourth store gets a WOW - even though they messed it up the first time. That's how you win back unhappy customers.

5 Questions To Challenge Your Culture

Two and a half years ago, I wrote a Blog post called, Employee Training Ends At Competence.

At that time, I illustrated why organizations train an employee or manager only to a level of competence - not excellence. Here's a new reason: there's little loyalty to employers anymore so why would they train you to be excellent and then have you go off and work for a competitor with all of the excellent training still in your head?

The truth is that an employer is only responsible for making you, as either an employee or manager, competent. Nothing more is required. If you want to become excellent at your job then it's up to you to improve. Then, if you leave your employer, you take the training that you paid for with you.

So why don't more employees and managers pony-up and take the initiative to be their very best? Because their Corporate Culture doesn't demand it. Sliding by on "mediocre" is OK for these organizations.

And there is the conundrum: who goes first - the employer or the employee? Here are 5 questions to ask that should challenge your Culture:

1. Can you build a Culture of High-performance if no one is willing to step up and become a high-performer without the employer's investment?
2. Can you build a Culture of Accountability if everyone thinks the responsibility for making you better is on someone else?
3. Can you build a Culture of Service if no one is willing to serve themselves?
4. Can you build a Culture of Leadership if everyone else is waiting for someone else to lead the way?
5. Can you build a Culture of Excellence if everyone is satisfied with being trained to a level of competence?

At some point, these questions need to be addressed among all of the employees and managers - but only if you want your Culture, the pulse of how your organization works, to improve. Otherwise ignore this post and keep on doing what you've been doing.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

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