Making Lemonade in a Crisis – Part 3

This is my last email about my webinar with Lee Milteer and how I’m using it to:

1. Cement my relationship with clients
2. Get something done that I didn’t get to before
3. Create a new product for my business

Again, the intent here is to inspire you to do the same three things right now in your business, not to toot my horn.

On Monday, we’ll discuss one of my incredible private clients’ who is not only getting through this, but setting her sights on a whole new income stream when it’s over.

Back to my webinar with Lee

The webinar with Lee started out as me trying to give you something for free that you can use now.

I invited Lee, who is the best GET YOUR HEAD SCREWED ON PROPERLY person on the planet to join me.

Members of my Customer Service and Leadership Monthly Membership Program get Lee’s Millionaire Smarts Program on “proper thinking for business profits” with their membership.

For some time I’ve wanted to offer Lee’s Millionaire Smarts to you even if you don’t want to be in my Customer Service and Leadership Membership.

Until I started planning the webinar with Lee I didn’t know she doesn’t allow that.

Here’s why she doesn’t allow it…

Her program is designed to be included as a bonus to members of business coaches programs… like I do. She wants to keep the value of that bonus as high as possible. If the program is out and about for anyone, it might reduce the value in the eyes of the members and coaches.

BUT…
When I told Lee what I wanted to do she said, “Keith, I don’t allow that, but these are crazy times. Let’s do it.”

So… now I have another product to offer you that I would not have except for this crazy virus… Making Lemonade!

You can get that product for free for two months here

In review… with the webinar with Lee I have:

1. Cemented my relationship with you by giving you something of value for free
2. Got something done that I didn’t get done before
3. Created a income stream for my business

On Monday, I’ll be talking about my amazing client, Kyong Lee from Nutley School of Music, in Passaic NJ – just outside of New York City – Covid 19 Ground Zero.

She thought she might need to close her business and maybe not come back. Instead… her sales are down only 7% and she’s planning of a whole new stable income stream when this blows over. She’s amazing!

And I’ll be discussing another client who wrote to me, “My business faces collapse. What is the way forward for me?”

After I talked with him he wrote, “Thank you very much for your time. Great human being such as yourself are what any entrepreneur needs around them – especially in this rather testing time. Your words of wisdom an encouragement were very inspiring and I will make sure that I make the best of opportunity that this tragic incident of corona virus presents.”

That client in London will be using the same strategy to stay in business as Kyong is using and he will very likely create a new stable income stream when this is done.

If you think this is valuable, share it so other business owners can use it.

Stay Safe

Making Lemonade During a Crisis

I’m a small business coach, specializing in staff development.

I talked with two private clients the other day who decided they were going make Lemonade during this Corona crisis.

So, I decided that each day, until we come out the other side, I’m going to share a lemonade from lemons story with my business email list. Then I thought, I might as well share it on here… maybe someone can use it.

I hope you enjoy these posts, but more importantly, I hope you get an idea to help your business.

Please share your Making Lemonade story here.

What are you doing right now to make your business better now and/or in the future?

THE FIRST LESSON IS FROM ME.

Clients in my Inner Circle get Lee’s Millionaire Smarts program every month.

Lee’s Millionaire Smarts Program is designed to be a supplement to membership programs like mine.

I teach leadership, systems and empowerment, and customer service; but I don’t teach the mind stuff… and frankly, if you don’t get the mind stuff right you’ll never be as good as you can be.

I asked Lee to share some of her wisdom on a Webinar for my clients. Lee graciously accepted.

I’m guessing whether you’re a business owner or not, you’ll get some great something of value. You can watch the webinar here…
https://TinyURL.com/ClearThinkingLee

I’ll be back tomorrow with another Making Lemonade story for business owners.

Grumpy Must Be a Make-You-Happy Customer Service Fanatic

Whenever I speak on the topic of customer service, I ask a few “audience participation” questions at the beginning to get the group warmed up and introduce my topic.

One of the questions often ask is, “How many of you get “Who’s the Boss” Customer Service? The level of customer service that says to you, This business really understand that I, the customer, am the boss. I give them every pay check they’ll ever get.”

How many of you get that kind of customer service most of the time? No hands go up.

When I say half the time, a few hands go up.

When I said 25%, a lot of times most of go up.

When I said 10% of the time, again, a few more hands go up.

Frankly, I am usually surprised by the number of people who say they receive “Who’s the Boss” customer service 25% of the time. For me, it’s more like 10%

I think it’s because I’ve harped on exceptional customer service so long that I have become jaded. Maybe my expectations of exceptional customer service have gone beyond what’s likely to happen.

I do get it 10% of the time, so I know it’s possible, so I’m going to keep my expectations high. I’m going to stay with my fanatical approach to exceptional customer service.

But I need to warn you, when you get to the point where I am, you’re likely to be grumpy more often because you’ll go into places wanting and expecting exceptional customer service, and you’re not going to get it.

Like today, when I went to lunch. Most of the time when I go shopping or to a restaurant, I’ll say something to the clerk whether the clerk says anything or not. You probably do the same.

But every once in a while, because I’m a customer service fanatic and teaches others how to deliver Make-You-Happy Customer Service,  I don’t say anything… just to see what happens.

I’m absolutely amazed at how often the clerk on the other side of the counter says absolutely nothing.

OK, I really don’t get Grumpy because I know that my clients who practice Make-You-Happy Customer Service love competing with, and beating the competition who doesn’t.

You can get my book, The Happy Customer Handbook for free, just click here. I simply ask that you pay $2.97 for shipping and handling.

Show Sincere Appreciation

I provide my members with three 90 second customer service videos to share with their team each month.  I keep these to about 90 seconds because no one needs a long interruption to their work day, but EVERYONE needs reminders of how important the customer, client, patient or member is.

Here’s an example of a recent video

Would reminders and ideas like this help you WOW customers so they come back time and time again and tell their friends and family about you?

Follow this link to see how you can give these reminders to your team three times a month.  https://keithlee.com/customer-service-training/

Create an Experience

My wife, Patty, and I spent almost all of April on a vacation in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.  Here’s a customer service lesson from that amazing trip.

Today in lots of businesses, it’s about, The Experience. People shop at Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop for the experience.  American Girl Doll is about the in store experience.  When my wife and I we in London last year, regardless or the time of day, the line to get into the Lego store was at least 50 long.

Cruising on The Crystal Symphony is all about the experience.

Can you make what you do an experience?

Follow along with me. You’ll see exactly what I mean. Go to the internet, get Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World” and start playing it now.

Picture this. You grew up in a lower income family. The address on my birth certificate is #9 Fink Trailer Court, Minot, ND. Vacations were great. I loved them. I got to see my cousins. But visiting far off lands was for rich people – certainly NOT ME. I certainly never pictured myself on a luxury cruise ship in Bali, Indonesia. You’ve just had a wonderful time ashore discovering a new exotic land. You’re dressing for a casual dinner. You realize you’re leaving port so you step out onto your balcony as the sun sets and you hear Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World” playing over the ships speakers. As I’m writing this today, I tear up.

“I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world”

Now you hear a winsome single cry from the ships fog horn.

By the time we left our last port everyone was outside to hear Louis Armstrong and wipe away tears. No one on that cruise will ever hear that song again and not think of their Crystal Cruise.
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Then later that night, after leaving our last port the ship’s captain gives delivers toast.

“Here’s to tall ships.
Here’s to small ships.
Here’s to all the ships on the sea.
But the best ships are friendships so
Here’s to you and ME!
Until we meet again.”

And yes, we made new friends. With only 850 passengers, verses up to 6,680 on the biggest ships it was easy to meet people. We plan to visit Willie and Elaine Montgomery in Ireland in two years.

Please don’t miss this, again, the big thing for Crystal Cruises is doing high end cruising well, but the hook… the way they get you back and have your raving to other is the emotional experience.

I’m guessing they’ll book 20 cruises from people I’ve told about Crystal.

How can you create an emotional experience
for your customers, clients, patients or members?

On Crystal, it starts with the size of the ship. The Crystal Symphony has 850 passengers. An average cruise ship today has around 3,500 passengers and the largest have more than 6,000. With the smaller ship you see many of the same staff often. They get to know you and you get to know them.

When Patty and I were not with my brother and his wife and Tirso saw us he asked, “Where are Ron and Mary?” When he saw us in around the ship he’s exclaim, “It’s martini time soon. Will I see you on Lido deck?” That’s doing a little thing right… and it becomes a big thing.
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You also start seeing people who like to do the same things as you. The entertainment on the ship was fabulous and that’s where we met Willie and Elaine.
They had an early show and a late show every evening. Willie and Elaine, my brother and his wife, and Patty and I went to the late show and we always sat middle left. We were soon talking with Willie and Elaine all over the ship.

Follow this link and discover how to deliver
WOW, emotional customer service in your business.  

Are You Hug Worthy?

My wife Patty and I spent almost all of April on vacation in Australia Indonesia and Singapore.

Along the way we got phenomenal customer service.  In almost every case it’s the dozens of little things YOU do that gets clients, patients, members or customers coming back time after time and telling others about you.

Every business category has its low priced competition trying to take your customers.

Businesses who just a year ago thought they were immune from internet competition are no longer immune.  Patients are skipping the orthodontist and buying Invisalign Braces on the internet.  People and businesses are getting legal advice from internet businesses.  All types of businesses are being bombarded by competition from giant corporations, huge franchises, national chains, the internet and discounters.

The solution for staying in business and beating this competition is your extraordinary customer service and the little things you do to excel.

Here are some of those little things… the “…and then somes” we experienced in Australia and Southeast Asia.

…and then some

When you were a kid, and your mom said you needed to clean your room before you could go out and play, if you did what you thought mom wanted and then some, you probably got to go out and play quickly.

If you needed to weed the garden before you got to go play and you weeded it like your dad wanted, and then some, you probably got to go play quickly.

When you got to school and you did what the teacher asked, and then some, you probably did pretty well.  If we do …and then some with our customers we’ll probably do a darned good job.

Here are some little things, some …and then somes, we experienced on our trip.  Hopefully some of these will help you think of little things you can do to insure customers come back time and time again and enthusiastically tell their friend about you.

Here’s Clifford at The Amora Hotel in Sydney, Australia coming back after literally running down our Uber in Sydney.
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He saw that the driver missed the turn into the hotel and sprinted out to catch him.  Now that’s service.

But that’s not all Clifford did.  As we were waiting for our Uber he engaged us in conversation.

Disney calls this being Aggressively Friendly – not just being friendly but going out of your way to be friendly.  An example of this at Disney is, a cast member seeing a family taking a selfie and offering to take the picture, or a cast member seeing a guest looking at a map of the park and asking if they can help.

Clifford could have just stood there while we waited or messed around on his cell phone but he didn’t.  He was Aggressively Friendly in asking where we were from.  When we told him Seattle, he WOWED me with his knowledge of American baseball.  I had no idea anyone in Australia followed American baseball.

But that’s not the point, the point is he was Aggressively Friendly in asking us where we were from, and regardless of our answer I’m sure he would have continued the conversation in a friendly manner.

As a post note.  I am absolutely positive that Clifford will soon be promoted at The Amora and if not, someone who gets his great Make-You-Happy Customer Service will offer him another job.

Clifford was so nice that soon Patty was greeting him with a hug.

Are you hug worthy?
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I did a pretty good search for a hotel in Sydney and determined that we want to stay close to the Circular Quay which put us near the ferries, the Opera House and The Royal Botanic Gardens.

Trip Advisor told me that The Amora was the place for Patty and me.  They were rated the 5th best value out of 500 hotels.  There were some places that Trip Advisor rated as a “better value,” but Amora was the only one in the location we wanted and we were happy to pay a little more for the amenities we wanted.

The reviews consistently mentioned the fabulous staff and Clifford and the rest of the team delivered Make-You-Happy Customer Service during our stay and The Amora got another 5 star review.

This story was originally shared in the Make-You-Happy Customer Service Team Member monthly newsletter for employees.  Would reminders and ideas like this help you and your team WOW customers so they come back time and time again and tell their friends and family about you.

Follow this link to check out
The Make-You-Happy Customer Service System. 

Did You Know.. Tinker Bell and the Tooth Fairy are FRIENDS?

In June our entire family… our kids, grandkids and Patty and I went to Hawaii.  For part of the trip, we stayed at Disney’s Aulani Resort on the island of Oahu.

When I owned American Retail Supply we had a distribution center in Honolulu so I had a bunch of Hawaiian Airlines miles saved up. Enough for all seven of us. Yeah!!!

Our granddaughter Whitney had a very loose front tooth and when she bit into here shave ice (like a snow cone), out it came.

Jen, Whitney’s mom, went to the Shave Ice counter and asked for a napkin mentioning that Whitney had lost her tooth.

The cast member at the counter exclaimed, “Oh My Gosh, did you know Tinker Bell and The Tooth Fairy are friends? With a wink of her eye, she told Jen to go to the concierge desk and let them know Whitney lost her tooth and they would make sure Tinker Bell told The Tooth Fairy.

Jen and Whitney went to the concierge desk to get Whitney’s Lost Tooth Certificate and make sure The Tooth Fairy knew Whitney was at Aulani.

And then surprise, surprise, not only did Whitney get her normal fifty cent piece from the Tooth Fairy under her pillow, she got a special pin from Tink.

Bet she’ll tell all her friends, likely keep forever, and tell her children! When it comes to getting Guests back Disney doesn’t just think about current Guests, they think generationally.

Disney doesn’t miss a step in finding ways to WOW their Guests! Sure, their demographic guarantees that they’ll have more lost teeth than most places, but they can’t have that many.

This front line Disney Cast Member didn’t miss a beat in tell Jen to visit the concierge desk. That doesn’t just come about. It’s trained. Be sure that you’re training your team to WOW your customer, client, member or patients.

Share this story with your team and ask if they have ideas for WOWING your customers.
This article is example of the content in The Team Member (Employee) Newsletter I provide my Inner Circle clients.

Do you think your team members would remember to WOW your customers, clients, patients or members if they got weekly reminders like this?

Right now, for a limited time, you can get The Make-You-Happy Customer Service System for just $67 and test drive the monthly customer service newsletter, emails and videos for free. Plus you’ll get some very cool marketing resources for FREE

Click here for details

What Would Walt Do?

You may have seen that I’m leading a Customer Service Expedition to Disney World with my friend Vance Morris in February.

I’ve, mostly, been discussing it in my Customer Service tips and newsletters, but it’s critical to understand that ALL GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE STARTS WITH GREAT LEADERSHIP.

While at Disney World, you’ll discover the secrets Disney leadership uses to get minimum wages employees (cast members) delivering, what is considered by many to be, THE MODEL for The World Best Customer Service.

My friend and mentor Dan Kennedy is a self described curmudgeon (a bad-tempered or surly person), yet he seldom goes on vacation anywhere other than Disney World. He says, “One of the reasons I go to Disney World is that I am never told no.”

Vance Morris, my co-host on our Disney Business Accelerator Service Boot Camp is a past ten year executive with Disney. I’ll be asking this question to Vance and other current Disney execs we meet with at the boot camp. “My friend says he comes to Disney World because he’s never to no. How do you train your team to not say no when the answer is no?”

What question will you ask the current
Disney execs when we meet with them?

P.S. February in Orlando sounds pretty nice eh?

What would Walt do
with your business or practice?

There is an insidious decline in customer and client service in America with many customer service departments focused on neither service nor customers. This gradual, seemingly harmless, decline may not be easily noticed, but it is having a grave effect on the profits of businesses across America. And if Walt Disney were to rescue some these laggards of customer service, here is what he would do…

The first thing Walt would do with your business is to infuse some magic into it. But not the magic that you may be thinking of… A different sort of magic.

You generally do not hear or use the word magic in business, unless of course you are a magician. You won’t find magic on a balance sheet or in a financial statement of any business. Most bean counters will probably not be able to measure the return on investment (ROI) for magic, nor is it depreciated or amortized over the next 20 years. How then, does the Disney company, a multi-billion dollar global enterprise manage to generate so much money around magic?

We all know that there really is no magic. Only the illusion thereof. To the audience the magic show is something that can be completely amazing, filled with wonderment and joy. Not knowing how the trick or illusion is performed is all part of the fun of a magic show. However, to the magician performing the show, the perspective is the polar opposite.

A magic show is merely a very systematic event, a series of repeatable steps designed to create a specific outcome; the delight and amazement of the audience. Now to answer the question posed above… Disney really has practical magic all figured out. I hate to burst your bubble, but contrary to popular legend, Disney does not have a mine where pixie dust is extracted and then showered on the cast members (Disney speak for employee) before every working shift. They just have a REPEATABLE, replicable system to perform their show.

It is practiced.
It is updated.
It is practiced again, and again and again.

Then it is performed. Whether it be at a restaurant at one of the resorts, an attraction at a park or the route the buses take, all the magic at Disney is created with repeatable, replicable, practiced systems.

The next thing Walt would do with your business would be to implement some WOW components to how you serve your clients. The question Walt would ask you is “how can you create an experience out of the mundane”

The Wow Component means not only to meet the expectations of your clients or guests, but to exceed them, on a repeatable and consistent basis. To be sure, there are many companies that may WOW their clients occasionally. Maybe the occasional “above the call of duty” experience. Getting upgraded for free on a flight, extra whipped cream on a sundae, or an employee just did everything possible to make an unhappy client, happier.

But to truly Disnify your business, you need to make exceeding your clients’ expectations your standard operating procedure. In order to consistently exceed your clients’ expectations, you must be dogmatic, strict and unyielding in your pursuit. Analyzing your clients’ experience (from their perspective, not yours), understanding your Client Compass (Needs, Wants, Stereotypes and Emotions) and committing every part of your business (Processes, Infrastructure, Design and Training) to creating a magical experience.

The next thing, Walt would introduce to your business is to have an obsession with details. Walt Disney was famous for his attention to every detail and he dictated that everyone had the same attention that he did.

Every business should be about the details. One small oversight of the smallest of details is the beginning of the end for you. You must be unwavering in your demand for adherence to every detail in your business.

One of the chief causes of failure today is the striving for unearned success. Doing just the bare minimum in providing service and then wondering why your client never calls you back. I recently had an appliance repair company come to the house to fix a noise in the drier. When they arrived the technician was in a clean uniform (it was already 2 oclock and he had been working), placed a mat on my porch to wipe his feet, placed a towel under his tool bag and used special mat to slide out the drier so he would not scratch the floor. Now mind you, the drier is in my basement on a concrete floor and he still used the special mat. Deciding on the right “level” for each thing we do is important.

Walt once said: even if I’m the only one that notices, some things are still worth doing, because I need to be prideful to be motivated. I’m paraphrasing, but I’m close. I have to be proud of what I do, at least comfortable with it, regardless of others’ appreciation. And if I lived on others’ appreciation, my service would be nowhere as powerful as it is. Few clients can appreciate every nuance, my reasoning and the psychology behind the service I provide, many take it for granted, hardly anybody faints from awe or gives my technicians standing ovation.

Walt would then create a Service Theme and Service Standards for your business. Disney’s Service Theme is “To create happiness for people of all ages everywhere.” Vaguely sounds like a USP, doesn’t it? This Theme is the foundation and prerequisite for all undertakings at Disney. Every decision made by the cast and management is measured against it.

Service Standards are then set to create the specific actions that are necessary to achieve the Service Theme. Disney has ONLY FOUR Service Standards. Here they are in order of importance: Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency.

This is cut in stone.
It is immovable.
There is no questioning it.
This is the guiding principle for everything that happens at Disney.

Safety: Safety is built into everything they do. It is the first consideration when they are designing Rides and Resorts, Emergency Services, Environmental Protection, Prevention, Training and Policies & Procedures.

Courtesy: Courtesy is taught from day 1. The fundamentals include Treating every Guest as a VIP, knowing the answers to questions (or finding the answers), giving the personal touch, using friendly phrases and gestures and being aggressively friendly.

Show: Show is integrated into every element of setting and theme. This includes Cast Appearance, Costumes, Documentation, Show Quality reviews, Standards Manuals, and of course, Cast Members are performers as well as service providers.

Efficiency: Efficiency involves both the utilization of facilities and systems and the cast members who operate them. Points that are considered include: Capacity of Facility, Guest Flow Patterns, Sales, Speed of Service, Space Utilization and Operational Readiness.

In order to have over 75,000 employees providing a seamless, exciting and memorable experience to millions upon millions of people 365 days a year, you must have a systematic process to avoid the utter chaos that would ensue.

There are processes for every little thing that occurs at Disney. From putting air in bus tires, to the bus drivers’ greeting to guests, from how many lanes are needed at the entrance to the park to how the parking lots are filled up, there is a step-by-step, exacting procedure for each.

And as with any good plan, process or system, there are clog or combustion points, and breakdowns can occur. And instead of creating a happy memory for a guest, that clog point can turn a good day into a bad one rapidly. One example we worked on was the “Lost Car” problem.

Imagine if you will that you have rented a car, (Continued P10 – What Would Walt Do?)
that by the way looks like just about all the other rental cars in Orlando, and you parked it in a veritable ocean of other cars early in the morning. Then after 8, 10, twelve hours at the Magic Kingdom, they emerge only to forget where they parked. Was it Goofy 5, Pluto 4 or Daisy 9? (Disney names and numbers its’ lots after their characters). The tram drivers also announce those locations as guests board the trams, but still, cars are lost.

Now instead of leaving those sunburned, exhausted and weary tourists wandering will-nilly through the acres of parking lots, the cast came up with a fix of sorts. Since the parking lots are filled in a specific order, the tram drivers began keeping track of what lot and row they were in at the time the cars were parked in the morning. That list was then distributed to the next shift of parking attendants. So if the guest could remember at least an approximate time they arrived, they could narrow down where the car was.

Examining your processes and choke points could reveal some serious client and guest pain points.

Finally, and this really is the bottom line point: You are running a business. Disney, at the end of the day is a BUSINESS. And the whole point of running a business is to generate PROFIT. As of this writing, Disney has just increased it park entry tickets by another 5%, and NO ONE is complaining. If they are, they are doing so quietly, as the theme parks are having record attendance. Also, as of this writing, Disney announced that they have raised their stock dividends a whopping 34% after a year of record results.

IF that’s not a reason to Disnify your business, I don’t know what is.

Join Vance Morris, ten year Disney exec and me at Disney World Ferbruary 27 – March 2 and discover how to Disnify Your Business.

Get your Invitation and complete details at https://keithlee.com/disney-info.

If Walt Disney were an NFL Owner

What Would Walt Disney Do,

If He Were An NFL Owner Today?

NFL owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place with players kneeing for the national anthem, entire teams deciding to stand together, or kneel together, or deciding to not participate and stay in the locker room.  Players protesting, displaying their political beliefs both before the game and during the game.  Fans are being turned off, rating are down and ticket sales will be next.  And the owners have no one to blame but themselves.

As a management and customer service consultant, I often look to Walt Disney for inspiration and guidance.  In fact the name of my management and customer service system comes directly from Disney training.  In Traditions 1, new cast members (Disney speak for employees) at Disney are asked, “What business are we in?  Everybody knows that McDonalds makes hamburgers, General Motors makes automobiles, Sony makes TVs, what does Disney make?”  The answer, “Disney Makes People Happy.”

My Management System is called The Make-You-Happy Management System and my customer service system is called The Make-You-Happy Customer Service System because in both cases the focus is on a system that makes customers happy, team-members happy, management happy, and business owners happy.

But yikes! What would Walt Disney do if he were an NFL owner today?

If Walt were an NFL owner today he would have no issue at all, because every player, coach, and all support staff would have gone through Traditional 1, and each and every one of them would know that they are in the entertainment business.  That they are all players in a performance, and their job is to entertain the fan – the people in the stadium.  They would understand that at no time are they to break character and do anything that is not focused on providing the best entertainment value for the fan.

On the very first day of employment, every player, coach and staff member would have gone through training focused on the history of the franchise, and its value of putting the fan first.  The first time Colin Kaepernick took a knee, Walt would have instructed the staff to repeat Traditions 1 and remind the team of the basic values of the organization, and make it clear to every team member that their duty is to the team and that they must always respect the fan.  The general manager might even ask the team if they could imagine George Harrison in Indiana Jones stopping while fighting the Germans and making a comment on a political issue.

Then when Donald Trump made his statement, Walt himself, would have addressed the team and reminded them that their obligation is to the fan and the values of the team.

It’s clear to me that the NFL, and most team owners, don’t know who they work for, and they certainly have not passed it on to the players.

They don’t know that there is only one boss, and whether a person shines shoes for a living or heads up the biggest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same.

IT’S THE CUSTOMER.

He is the person who pays everyone’s salary and who decides whether a business is going to succeed or fail. And he doesn’t care if a business has been around for 100 years.  The minute it starts treating him badly or taking him for granted, he’ll put it out of business.

The boss, THE CUSTOMER, has bought and will buy everything you have or will have.  He’s bought all of your clothes, your home, your car, pays for your children’s education and your vacations.  He pays all of your bills, and he pays in exact proportion to the way you treat him. 

The man who works inside a big office building or plant might think he works for the company that writes his paychecks, but he doesn’t.  He is working for the person who buys the product at the end of the line.

In fact, THE CUSTOMER can fire everybody in the company from the president on down.  And he can do it simply by spending his money somewhere else. 

Some of the largest companies that had flourishing businesses a few years ago no longer in existence.  They couldn’t or didn’t satisfy THE CUSTOMER.  They forgot who the boss really is.

In chapter one of The Happy Customer Handbook I write,

“The starting place for Make-You-Happy Customer Service isn’t exciting or fancy, but it is critical.  Your core values, your vision, your mission statement, what-ever is at the heart of your company, needs to put a huge emphasis on the customer.  If it doesn’t, it’s going to be apparent on a daily basis.  Your team members simply won’t believe you when you tell them that customer service is all-important, and it’s going to be reflected in the service they give your customers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like making money as much as the next guy.  In fact, the best reason to implement Make-You-Happy Customer Service is to maximize your income.  But if your core value is only making the most amount of money in the least amount of time, then you might as well stop reading!”

Giving a lot of thought to your core values is critical when it comes to making tough decisions in your business.  Often the right decision is easy when you refer to your core values.

I’ve been a season ticket hold of the Seahawks since 1977, their second year as a team.  Today I have six season tickets.  I go to football games to escape reality, not have it thrown in my face.  Every time I walk in the stadium I’m spending close to $1,000 and yet the players, and now coaches and management think it’s OK to both take and make me feel uncomfortable.  I don’t know how long I’ll keep my tickets.  I used to proudly wear my Seahawk apparel, now I’ll only wear it on game day when I go to the stadium.  I don’t want to walk around and have someone ask me what I think of their protests.

It was apparent to me, when the NFL implemented instant replay that they didn’t understand what business they are in, The Entertainment Business.  With instant replay they took excitement from the game.  They think “the game” is more important than the entertainment.

Prior to instant replay, on a close play in the end zone, you looked to the official and if he signaled touchdown you “went nuts.”  Now you look to the official and if he signals touchdown you “start to go nuts” and then you come back to reality and think, “I hope it stands.”  Then after a five minute wait for the official you see it was a touchdown and no “half nuts.”  They don’t know what business they are in.

As a side note.  Disney, especially ESPN, has forgotten who the boss is also, which is why they are in a tail spin.

You can get my book, The Happy Customer Handbook for free.  Go to www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook. I simple ask that you pay $2.97 to help cover shipping and handling.

In Customer Service and Fly Fishing, It’s the Little Things

Often it’s the little things that make a big difference in creating Make-You-Happy Customer Service.  It’s the difference between making your client fill out all the paperwork, or doing most of it for them.  In retail it can be as simple as telling the customer to “walk this way” and going with them to find what they are looking for instead of telling them which aisle to go to.  In any environment just doing slightly more than anyone else is willing to do will make you stand out.  Thirty-five years ago when I used to go around to retail store and sell label guns it was not only making repairs in the field but showing the client how to keep the labeler working smoothly so they didn’t waste time.

A client of ours Rolf Williams, with Jerrol’s Book and Office Supply, trains his staff to walk the client to the item while asking what they’re working on.  They have a lot of people working on arts and crafts coming into the store.  Rolf says more times than not this leads to sales of other products.  https://www.jerrols.com/

So, not only does doing the little things lead to customer service that creates happy clients, it often leads to sales right then and there.

I discuss this idea in my book The Happy Customer Handbook.  You can get it for free at www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com.  I just ask that you pay $2.97 to help with shipping and handling.

Secret #34 in the book is Do Macro and Micro Well.  When I talk about doing the macro and micro well, I mean doing the big things well, but also doing the little things well.  Disney is an excellent example of this.

For instance, Disney does big things like, ‘creating a new theme park’ incredibly well.  Their Animal Kingdom is an example of doing a big thing well.  That’s doing the macro well – – the easy to see things.  But what about the micro… the small things?  If you’ve ever been to a Disney theme park you’ve seen this in action.

Disney theme parks are among the cleanest places on earth.  Everything is picked up – almost spotlessly 24/7.  That’s one example of doing the micro well.  I use many Disney examples in our Customer Service training at American Retail Supply so our team knew about litter and Disneyland when a number of us went to the park together.

At Disneyland, a piece of litter is on the ground for only about three minutes before it is picked up.  One time, while we were in Los Angeles for a trade show, our sales team went to Disneyland.  While in line for Star Tours, I saw a piece of litter way in the back behind some of the props.  I told one of our sales reps, ‘I bet they don’t get that in three minutes.’  We rode the ride and when we were done, we saw the line was gone so we ran around to ride again.  As we ran through the line the second time, I saw the piece of litter was gone.  That’s doing the micro well!

Here’s another Disney example of doing the micro well.  Let’s say you go to Disneyworld in the morning, park your car, and take off for the theme park.  Before you even enter the theme park, you are going to be told seven different times where you parked.  They don’t want you to come out at the end of the day frustrated because you can’t find your car.

But what if you still forget where your car is?  What happens then?  You might go to a Disney employee (cast member) and say, ‘I can’t find my car,’ or maybe a Disney cast member will see you wandering around and say, ’Having trouble finding your car?’

The Disney cast member will then ask if you know the approximate time you arrived that morning.  He’ll then look at his log and find out where they were parking people at that time.  You’re going to find out that you were in ‘Pluto’ in aisle ‘J or K’.  And then he’s going to run you over there in his little cart and help you find your car.  That’s doing the micro well.

Do the big things well in your business, but don’t miss the small things.  Often the little things really make the difference.  Can you imagine how frustrated you would be if, after a long day at Disneyland, it took you two hours to find your car?  Versus wandering around for ten or fifteen minutes and someone helps you find your car in a way that would probably not happen anywhere else on earth.  You would tell dozens of people about your experience.

What does this have to do with Fly Fishing?  One day I told Travis that just about everything in fly fishing and marketing (I put customer service under marketing) relate and he gave me the same look I got when he was in high school.  The, “Ya sure old man” look.

Doing the micro well is an absolute must in fly fishing.  If you’re not a fly fisherman you might think that bait fishing (sitting in a boat fishing) and fly fishing are a lot alike.  The reality is most fly fishers are a bit anal retentive and often bait fisherman like to just sit back and wait for the fish to bite.  I have ADD and the ADD works well with fly fishers because you have to be detailed and always looks for the next thing.  So if you’re anal retentive and ADD like me, but need a way to relax try fly fishing.

To give you the idea of the detail you need to for fly fishing, one day while fishing the fish were feeding all around me.  I literally saw 3 or 4 round circles on the water’s surface from fish eating little teeny bugs.  I tried everything in my bag and I couldn’t catch anything.  Finally I was to the smallest little bug in my bag and still nothing.  Finally I tried snipping off the tiny tail off my tiny bug.  The tail was no bigger that the bottom of the y in this y… and BAM.  The very first cast I hooked an 18 incher and caught about 6 more before they quit eating.

Be sure to take care of the little things.  They can often make a big difference.  Learn more about doing the micro well in my book The Happy Customer Handbook.  You can get it for free at www.TheHappyCustomerHandbook.com.  I just ask that you pay $2.97 to help with shipping and handling.