Intention, the source of . . . . . Everything !

 

 

 

I’ve been thinking about intention for a couple of days now.  So, I may as well post.

I think great work of any lasting value comes through intention.  In fact, I believe clear intention may be a prerequisite to greatness.  I read somewhere, ”if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else”.  The place we end up may be a good place, but we will probably not be able to reproduce our results consistently.

Through intention we can transfer the “human-ness” of our effort to another person and increase the likelihood and strength of the potential emotion.  Simply because two people purposefully and intentionally interchanging in a common interest is emotional.  Intentional service.

Some touch-points are managed by technology, collateral materials and other innimate methods, but even then, our intention can be made to show through.

Without intention we run the risk of having our companies feel machine-like and impersonal, even when we do a good job.  Without intention we loose the opportunity to create and be part of a culture that is sustainable, reproducible and proud.

My intention is to serve my customer as I would like to be serviced myself.
Because it feels right and brings positive emotion to all involved.

Committed to XCS !
Rudy Vidal

Wearing Good Customer Service Like a Uniform.

Ok, I’m glad to be writing about a good experience, since sometimes I think I concentrate too much on the poor ones.  And, although I could use the excuse that there are many more poor ones that good ones, I still think we learn more from discussing good customer experiences.

Today, I went to a newly opened Harmon’s supermarket near my house.  As a result I have decided I need to find the person in charge of training at Harmon’s because it is clear that training is the key to consistency and consistency is the key to exceeding customer expectations quickly.

From the moment I walked into the store my expectations were exceeded: 

The deli guy: (a young man not older than 18), asked if I would prefer my slices of Parma ham separated by individual sheets of paper.  Usually I have to spend 5 minutes peeling the paper-thin slices from each other, making a mess and causing unnecessary handling (not pretty). – Sure, if it’s not too much trouble.  – Not at all, my pleasure.  I’m assuming  you would like them very thin, right?  Yes, please. 

Over to the bread counter from where a French Baguette had been staring at me for some time. - Could I have a Baguette please?  – Of course, can I offer you a sample of it first, to make sure it meets your expectations?   – Yes, that would be nice.  Delicious, I think I’ll take two.

Over to the prepared foods: – Could I have a pound of the mozzarella, tomato and artichoke salad?   -You’ll be glad you chose it, and you will not feel bad you didn’t make it yourself.  The Mozzarella is fresh, the artichokes were cooked today and the tomato’s are those off the vine, right behind you.  Would you like to try it first?.  – No, no need thank you, I know fresh mozzarella when I see it.    – By the way, that Baguette and this salad were made for each other. – I know, I can’t wait.

Where can I find the honey?  – let me take you to it.  – if you point I’ll find it.  – No, its my pleasure, right this way please. 

At check out:  Do you prefer paper or plastic?  You gotta be kidding me, right?  – No sir, your choice.

What happened at Harmon’s today is special.  Not because I was treated well as a customer but becuase in one day (my first visit) I had enough great experiences to bring me to a tipping point about the store.

Normally, most retail establishments need multiple visits to gain the trust and loyalty of a customer.  This takes time, and money.   Harmon’s on the hand, was able to provide me enough examples of excellent service and quality to exceed my requirements for loyalty, on the first visit !  This means they shortened the meantime to loyalty and thereby increased their velocity of cash.  Brilliant !

What made this possible was consistancy across the employee base.  What made that possible was training and hiring.  Very good training and very good hiring.

The right people, in the right seats, on the right bus, well trained, following a clear vision. 

That’s beautiful.

Kuddos to Harmon’s in Draper, Utah !

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS !

Difficult Customers are Customers Too.

You know the one.  She or he is a paying customer.  You need their business, but you don’t necessarily want it anymore.  They ask more questions, question your answers, challenge policy and/or procedure, threaten their account or business and in some cases, harrass your staff.

When do you say good-bye? 

My opinion is; unless the customer has blatantly abused someone, Never ever ever.

 

The scenario du jour:

Special order and handling was required, which meant a little research on my part.  When I was making a call for our Special Customer (profile above), one of my team members took notice of the research I was involved in, heard my questions – and even some aggresive negotiating tactics on behalf of our customer.

He asked me, “How can you still be trying so hard for this guy? He’s not very nice!”   The answer was so clear to me, that I thought I should start sending money to the XCS founder, because clearly something is catching on.  What I mean to say is, “there was a time when… “ 

This person is OUR customer, a fee paying bank customer.

We have to be careful to exude the same level of enthusiasm in our work for the engaging, warm and  pleasant people who buy our products and use our services as we do for those who can tend to drain us.  They should be viewed as the same, even when this is something of an effort.

To Err is Human, so is to Care.

My father called Quest to have a new phone installed at the house.

On Monday, as scheduled, the technician came and connected the new line on the outside of the house.  After some time, not knowing they had come, my father checked to see if the line was working and found the main line was not working, but the secondary line (available only in some of the rooms in our house) was now present. 

He called Quest and asked them to return and install the line correctly.  A new visit was scheduled on Thursday. 

On Thursday a technician knocked on the front door to let my father know he had finished re-installing and was leaving.  My father, who is not easily fooled twice, asked him to wait so they could test the line together.  They found once again, the connection was made incorrectly.  They both went outside and the technician quickly discovered the problem, fixed it and went on his way.

What is wrong with both of these customer experiences?

Most of us might say what went wrong was the technicians’ inability to complete their work correctly the first time.   However, when I talked to my father about it, he seemed to understand and accept the inevitability of human error.  What he was having trouble with was the lack of intention to provide a good service.  Both times the technicians were uninterested in the effectiveness of their effort and more interested in moving on to the next task.  The problem in my father’s mind did not seem to be lack of expertise as much as lack of intention.

Interestingly enough, if the right intention had been present, the problem, the costs associated with the second visit and the strain on the customer relationship would have been averted. 

Why then, would Quest not ask their technicians to check with the customer before and after doing the work?  The return on investment is certainly clear.

Intention overpowers errors and inefficiencies – because we are human and we value experiences more than error-free service.

Rudy Vidal

Committed to XCS !

Its about the heart. Put your money away.

A couple of days ago I traveled for the second time on Southwest Airlines. 
It took the second time to fully understand and appreciate the experience.  I think it wasn’t clear to me the first time because I was accustomed to a certain way of flying.  I had accepted the flying paradigm handed to me over the years. 

On the second trip, I read the airline magazine and came across a farewell article from the airline’s president Colleen Barrett.  In the article she explained Southwest’s customer philosophy and how their success was based on a simple premise, an expectation and requirement of a display of “:Golden Rule Behavior” among and from Southwest Employees -

“Do onto others as you would have others do onto you”.

Once I read the article something seemed to click and I began to see things I had not noticed until then.  Flight attendants were fun, helpful, nice, friendly.  More importantly, passengers were the same.  When the captain announced a weather delay, no one made the usual sarcastic comments or eye-rolling sighs.  In stead there were the inevitable jokes about Chicago and its weather.  The next thing I noticed was that the energy on the flights was less hurried, intense and more  . . .I’ll say it, “loving”.

Southwest is not a high priced airline that can afford great customer service,  in fact, they are the opposite, a low cost airline (one of the few making money).  So, how does that work?

Ms. Barrett, understands it, and I suspect the entire culture does as well.  Customer satisfaction comes from a state of mind.  It comes from a caring spirit that needs no funding, no budget nor gadgets.  Loyalty comes from the emotions we are able to create in our customers when they see that they are cared for, as people.

Most executives with whom I speak regarding Customer Satisfaction mention they would like to work on customer centricity but believe they can’t afford it.  We must convince them all to put away their money and put their hearts out where the customer can see them. 
 
Higher quality of life and higher business benefits are just around the corner, ask Ms. Barrett, or fly Southwest at least twice.

RudyVidal
Committed to XCS !

XCS Means Customer First

Yesterday I set out to purchase a car for my father, who just moved to Salt Lake City from Miami (don’t worry dad, the winter is not so bad here . . sigh)

In the interest of fairness and support to our ailing automotive industry I went to a Chevy dealer, in spite of my resent experiences. 

I took some test drives with Christian, a nice young fellow who was very interested in my needs and working hard to address any of my questions, as we drove.  Once we returned, as is expected, I soon met Christian’s manager, who also seemed pleasant and interested.  However, he soon brought up the fact that the currently offered 0% financing was only available until Monday and that I would have to act fast.  He asked me what was keeping me from the purchase and I mentioned that I was hoping to reach $XXX.XX as a monthly payment.  He sent me off on another test drive and mentioned that when we returned, he would do his best to work the numbers so we could reach this goal.  Great, I said, and went off to the next test drive with Christian.

On my return, after some niceties, I asked him “Perhaps we can go inside and see if we can work on those numbers”.  His response, was shocking but not surprising “well, only if you are committed to purchasing the car”.  At that point it became clear that the sales manager was interested in something beyond my best interest; perhaps his time.  I said goodbye.

From there are I went to a couple of dealers.  I purchased a Toyota.  I reached the price point I needed, my dad likes it.  Almost everyone won.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS!

Sometimes It’s Best to Listen

 

Thanks to Nelli Giribaldi for bringing this article to my father’s attention, and thanks to my dad for passing it on to me.

 

I am always looking for real world examples of such philosophies at work.  It is all too easy to be academic and not so easy to live one’s own philosophy. 

Thanks to all – RudyVidal

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Among others, Wipro has recently won the prestigious ‘Risk Management Award,’ instituted by the Financial Times-The Banker magazine. What is that which makes this company so successful? ‘An obsession for excellence,’ says Azim Premji, Chairman & Managing Director, Wipro Limited.
Chairman and Managing Director of Wipro, Premji is credited with transforming Wipro, his family’s vegetable oil business, into one of the world’s foremost software company.
Although one of the richest Indians, he flies economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the foundation he has set up to promote primary education.
 

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These are changing times. Yet in the middle of all the changes there is one thing that constantly determines success. Some call it leadership. But to my mind, it is the single-minded pursuit of excellence.
Excellence endures and sustains. It goes beyond motivation into the realms of inspiration. Excellence can be as strong a uniting force as solid vision.
Excellence does not happen in a vacuum. It needs a collective obsession as I have experienced the benefits of excellence in my own life. Excellence is a great starting point for any new organisation but also an unending journey. What is excellence? It is about going a little beyond what we expect from ourselves. Part of the need for excellence is imposed on us externally by our customers. Our competition keeps us on our toes, especially when it is global in nature.
But the other driver of excellence is internal. I have found that excellence is not so much a battle you fight with others, but a battle you fight with yourself, by constantly raising the bar and stretching yourself and your team. This is the best and the most satisfying and challenging part about excellence.
 
How does one create excellence in an organisation?
 
First, we create an obsession with excellence. We must dream of it not only because it delivers better results but because we truly believe in it and find it intrinsically satisfying to us.
We must think of excellence not only with our mind but also with our heart and soul. Let us look outside, at the global standards of excellence in quality, cost and delivery and let us not rest till we surpass them.
 
Second, we need to build a collective self-confidence. Organisations and people who pursue excellence are self-confident. This is because excellence requires tremendous faith in one’s ability to do more and in a better way. Unless, we believe we can do better, we cannot.

Third, we must understand the difference between perfection for its own sake and excellence. Time is of essence. Globalisation has made the customer only more impatient. This may seem like a paradox: should we aim for excellence or should we aim for speed?
Excellence is about doing the best we can and speed lies in doing it quickly. These two concepts are not opposed to each other; in fact, speed and timeliness are important elements of quality and excellence.
 
Fourth, we must realise that we cannot be the best in everything we do. We must define what we are or would like to be best at and what someone else can do better.
Excellence is no longer about being the best in India. It is about being the best in the world. We have to define what our own core competencies are and what we can outsource to other leaders. Headaches shared are headaches divided.
 
Fifth, we must create processes that enable excellence. Today, there are a number of global methods and processes available whether it is Six Sigma, CMM or ISO. Use them because they are based on distilled wisdom collected from the best companies in the world.
Also, we must build a strong foundation of information technology, because in this complex, dynamic world, it is imperative that we use the most modern tools to keep processes updated.
 
Sixth, we must create a culture of teaming. I have found that while great individuals are important, one cannot have pockets of excellence. Quality gives ample opportunities to build a culture of teaming. Cross-functional teams that are customer facing can cut through an amazing amount of bureaucracy, personal empire building and silos and deliver savings that one would not have imagined possible.
The other advantage of building teams focused on quality is that the teaming culture eventually spreads to the rest of the organisation and teaming becomes a way of life.
 
Seventh, invest in excellence for the future. Future always seems to be at a distance. But it comes upon you so suddenly that it catches you by surprise, if not shock. What constitutes excellence in the future will be significantly different from what it is today.
In these days of severe market pressures, there is big temptation to sacrifice the future to look good in the present. We must certainly trim our discretionary expenses, but we must ensure that our investments in strategic areas that lead to excellence in the future are protected.
 
Finally, excellence requires humility. This is especially needed when we feel we have reached the peak of excellence and there is nothing further we can do. We need an open mind to look at things in a different way and allow new inputs to come in.
Otherwise, there is a real danger of becoming complacent or even downright arrogant. I would like to end my talk with a story that illustrates this very well.
 
A brilliant young professor went to meet a famous Zen master to have a discussion with him on Zen. He found himself in front of a modest house. He rang the doorbell and waited. A while later, he heard shuffling footsteps and the door was opened by the Zen master.
He invited the professor to sit with him on the dining table. The professor was a little disappointed with the shabby appearance of the Zen master. He started quizzing him immediately on comparative philosophies and the Zen master gave some brief answers.
When the professor began to debate with him on those answers, the Zen master stopped speaking and kept smiling at him. Finally, the professor got angry. He said, ‘I have come from a long distance just to understand the relevance of Zenism. But apparently you have nothing to say. I have not learnt anything from you at all.’
At this point, the Zen master asked the professor to have some tea. When the professor held the cup, the Zen master started pouring tea into it. After some time, the tea started spilling and the professor shouted, ‘Stop! The cup can contain no more.’
The Zen Master stopped and then, once again smiling, he said, ‘A mind, full of itself can receive nothing. How can I speak to you of Zenism until you empty your mind to learn.’ The professor understood and apologized to the Zen master. He parted from him, the Zen master — a wiser man.
The author is Chairman & Managing Director, Wipro Limited.