FailingCompany - Back to the Basics

Many would argue that in modern times, and in our current economy, that customer service is dead. So many of our daily transactions are touchless or faceless that good old fashioned customer service just doesn't matter. That people want their purchase to be fast, easy and competitively priced. Check those boxes and you're good.

I'm all about getting the basics right, so you can probably guess that I beg to differ with this belief. I actually believe that customer service is even more important now than ever. Actually, if you're in the service industry, then the right focus on customer service can easily become your competitive advantage.

Let me expand on my thoughts a bit. I'll start with the basic day-to-day transactions that "only" have to be fast, easy and competitively priced. Even in a faceless transaction like an internet purchase, the transaction MUST be handled properly to be fast. Poor quality work leads to delays. This is customer service at its core. The same goes for easy. Delays and bouncing a customer from one department to another are also a result of poor customer service.

There is also no way for a product to be competitively priced when delays occur. The occasional shipping delay aside, delays on the sellers end cost money. It's waste in the system and that cost is passed onto the consumer in higher than competitive prices. Starting to see how excellent customer service is at the core of the modern day fast, easy & competitively priced products? It's all a matter of how you define customer service. Throw away that old narrowly focused definition that applied 20 years ago!

Certain industries have been really upended recently. New car sales continue to see significant inventory shortages allowing the dealer to add significant market adjustments and gouge the customer. They seem to forget that the pendulum swings both ways and one day the customer will have the buying power again and will not be too quick to forget the terrible treatment, or poor customer service, that they received from the dealer!

Never have your blinders on and use current market conditions to dictate how you treat your customers. You treat your customers properly regardless of how much leverage you currently have. It's the right thing to do. When the pendulum swings and the customers hold all the cards, who do you think they will choose to do business with? The jerk who treated them like they were an annoyance or the seller who treated them kindly and took the time to understand their needs when they really didn't have to? They'll come to you and forget about the jerk!

Automotive service is also a strange industry right now. Plagued by staff shortages and increased demand due to people holding onto their existing cars rather than paying astronomical amounts for new cars, many shops have totally forgotten what customer service means. They seem to process customers like prison inmates. I had one such experience this past week! Let me share to further demonstrate my views on customer service.

I still respect the shop's reputation and will be giving them a chance to make this situation right, so I'll keep the name anonymous for now. I will say that it is a family-owned local transmission shop that rebuilt the transmission in my older vehicle earlier this year. I noticed some issues with the shifting that could have simply been caused by low transmission fluid. This particular transmission requires you to lift the car level and check the fluid at the transmission. Being under warranty, I opted to call the shop and have them check if for me. Sounds simple enough, right?

I call the shop and speak with their customer service consultant and explain my issue. He promptly tells me that I'd have to wait till sometime next year to get an appointment. Wow, so much for standing behind your work!! I was told, however, that if I drop the vehicle one morning during the week that they would fit it in. Sounded fair to me!

I show up at the shop Friday morning. I also had a ride meet me there to take me back home. I go in and talk to the same guy that I spoke with on the phone. He literally looked at me like I was an idiot and told me that he'd never tell me to drop a car on a Friday. He had customers' cars to finish. I reminded him that he told me to drop it one morning during the week and that he never mentioned to avoid Friday. He proceeded to argue with me rather than apologize for the confusion.

After some debating, he reminded me that he had customers to take care of. Wow again!! That's when I reminded him that I was a customer that just paid over $4k for a rebuilt transmission that wasn't working properly. No apology. No empathy. No emotions but annoyance and disdain for me. I was told that I could leave the car over the weekend, but that they weren't going to look at it until Monday at the earliest. How pathetic!

I tell this story to demonstrate that customer service still matters. Yes, the business is booked solid and probably doesn't care if they retain my business. Yes, I have very little recourse other than contacting my lawyer. The business is operating like they hold all the cards, and that the customer is just lucky to have work done at their shop. However, we live in a connected world, and we also live in a world with regular shifts in supply and demand.

I have lots of friends in the car scene and a large reach on social media. There are other reputable transmission shops in the area, and I can easily divert several would be customers away from this business. It may not be impactful now, but customers can play the long game when businesses focus on short term profits.

Eventually, the new car market will stabilize. When that happens, the used car market will also stabilize. People will begin to shop for new or used cars rather than dumping more money into that old beater that they've really wanted to replace for a few years. When that happens, this shop will see a decline in business and the damage they have done to customers like me will become reality. Sad but true.

Had this shop treated me with respect and human decency, things would have been different. They could have apologized when I call them and fit me in to make good on their work. They chose to prioritize existing customers and new profits over past customers and honoring their warranty. They could have been more specific on when the drop the car during the week. They could have apologized to me when I showed up at the shop and explained politely how slammed they were.

By treating me with respect, we could have resolved the situation peacefully. Rather, they chose none of the above and to treat me like a liar and a nuisance. As a consumer, I was livid! If this shop doesn't make right on the issue, I'll choose another shop to handle my transmission work in the future and will be advising those that I know to do the same. Good customer service could have avoided this!!

I know that this is just one story, but it's very relevant. Imagine that there are 20 other customers like me that are treated wrong by this shop due to poor customer service. Each of them tells 10 - 20 people that they know. Eventually the shop will hit a tipping point as more and more people choose a larger name franchise or national chain to do the work for better after sale service. All due to one person throwing basic customer service principles out the window.

Have you let the customer service at your business slip a little too much and need some help getting back on track? Do you keep customer service top of mind already but would like to make it a competitive advantage. Check out FailingCompany.com to find the help that you need. Go sign up for an account or log in to your existing account and start working with someone today.

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Warning, rant time! If you're reading this post, then I'm assuming that you aren't like most people. Most people complain about anything and everything at work. Complaining is such a core part of their personality that they are actually uncomfortable when there is nothing to complain about. They tend to go searching for things to complain about to fill the void and will tell anyone who will listen about all their woes.

Why do you think complaining is such a common phenomenon? I'm sure there are dozens of reasons. I tend to believe that constant complaining is a result of a soft life. The body and mind are made to stay active, work hard and to survive. When life gets too easy and people don't have a proper outlet for their excess energy, then the mind begins to search for its own outlet. It's not long and the mind is finding anything and everything to complain about because complaining uses a lot of energy.

Granted, my this is my personal theory and may not be backed by any science. However, my observation seems to hold water. When someone is consumed with hard work and grinding away all day, they don't have time or energy to complain. They are fully consumed in their work and at the end of the day they are too mentally or physically exhausted to complain. What little energy they do have left is positively invested in their friends & family or simply planning what they are going to achieve tomorrow. The same goes for people who work out hard at the gym. They are far too consumed with pushing their bodies to achieve greater levels of fitness to burn precious energy finding things to complain about. Complaining simply isn't in their vocabulary.

On the flip side, people who have lots of free time on their hands seem to have lots to complain about. It's too rainy, they hate the cold and can't wait for summer, they hate the heat and can't wait for fall, every process is broken, everyone else is an idiot, etc. Ironically, this is often the very same person who spends all of his or her time talking about how many hours they work, how they have to do everyone else's job, they are underpaid, etc. You never seem them do any real work, as they are always talking about working. It's like they subconsciously become allergic to work and find things to complain about to avoid starting anything productive.

Leaders aren't immune to being complainers either. We hear lots of stories about bad bosses. Those bosses that find something wrong with everything that their employees do. Sort of like the drill instructor in basic training, only there is no real purpose for the boss's poor behavior. Some of these horrible bosses are just perfectionists, controlling or unhappy. Others, particularly in large companies, are just complainers.

When you look at large companies, there are usually lots and lots of leaders. Most of these leaders add very little value to the company and have very little real work to do on a day-to-day basis. As a result, they need an outlet for all of their excess energy. Rather than finding something productive to do to help their team out, they focus all their excess energy on picking apart everything that their employees do. It's simply a complainer disguised as a leader. It's really quite sad and they gain the reputation of the boss that nobody wants to work for.

One common theme I see is that anyone who isn't a complainer themself wants to avoid a complainer like the plague. They drain your energy and waste your time when you talk to them. Nothing is ever good enough and the glass is always half empty. The world is always about to end! They consume so much of your time that you become unproductive too! You also don't want to be associated with them for fear of being tagged a complainer yourself, which always keeps you on edge. Sadly, it's often like trying to avoid getting hit by a rain drop when walking in the middle of a down pour. It's the zombie apocalypse...you're surrounded and outnumbered!

Then there is the rare non-complainer. This person is the doer. The person who is so focused on grinding away and achieving more and more that there is absolutely no time for complaints. They don't like excuses but rather look for a path forward. This person is a success! He or she pumps you up when you talk to them, and you walk away feeling inspired and ready to take on the world. The conversation is focused on possibilities and ideas and making things happen. Everyone who is driven wants to be around this person and recognized as a doer themselves. Collectively, this small group can achieve what an entire department of complainers could only dream about...if they took a break from complaining long enough to do so.

I believe that we're all called to do great things in life. Our bodies were built for hard mental and physical work. It makes us stronger and more capable. However, we also all find ourselves complaining from time to time. It's what you do about it that matters. If you see yourself complaining more consistently throughout the day, then you need to immediately identify it as a symptom and quickly do something to break the cycle. Do something hard. Pick up another project at work or hit the gym or start a new hobby. Do something to divert that excess energy into something productive and avoid becoming another statistic (a.k.a. another complainer). In a world of complainers, be a doer. Choose to stand out!

Not only will you keep yourself a rare breed by actively doing productive things rather than complaining, but you'll see other benefits too. Who makes more money and achieves more of their professional goals? The person sitting around complaining about how bad everything is and how life's stacked against them or the person who is grinding away being more productive than any 2 or 3 of his or her peers combined? It's inevitable. Intense focus and effort toward productive goals always pays off! It's a win-win for you. Your mind stays healthy, and your career grows to mythical levels!

Are you a doer looking for more doers to make big things happen? Maybe you're a recovered complainer and need a little help laying out a path forward. Check out FailingCompany.com to find the help that you need. Go sign up for an account or log in to your existing account and start working with someone today.

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If you've been following my recent posts, then you know I'm leading a major initiative for my company. Like all major initiatives, personalities are involved. Also, like any other major initiative, problems exist. Some are real problems that must be resolved quickly while some are minor issues resulting from information being reported out differently and causing confusion. Other "problems" really aren't problems at all, but merely the leader's perception that there is a problem.

It's how you handle these problems that counts. Some require immediate and aggressive action, as they will derail the entire project. Others are more like blisters on the bottom of our feet. Annoying to walk on, but not the end of the world if left alone and given time to heal. These smaller problems require proper perspective and must be prioritized correctly, or that small blister will end up requiring an emergency room visit.

If you live in any state that gets snow and ice throughout the winter, then you've probably dealt with clearing driveways, walkways and front porches. It gets old to do but is sometimes a necessity. If the deep snow isn't removed, then you can't get your car in or out of the driveway or walk up to the front porch. Other times, the snow or ice is very light. It's not quite as urgent to deal with, so what do you normally do about it?

Have you ever looked out and seen the walkway to your front porch covered in a thin layer of ice or snow and felt the need to do something about it right now? Many people will go out and dump salt on the path to melt the snow. Sounds reasonable. However, if you use the wrong salt, too much salt or leave it too long on the concrete, then things can turn worse. Why? Salt is corrosive to concrete. In extreme situations, it will dissentegrate the concrete and turn it into powder. You've effectively taken a minor inconvenience, a little ice or snow, and turned it into a very expensive problem, which is needing a new sidewalk.

Let's analyze the problem a bit further. You perceived a problem, which is a little ice or snow on the sidewalk. You assumed that salt was the quickest and easiest way to fix the perceived problem, so no one would slip and fall. You rushed into action and dumped a way too much of the wrong kind of salt all over the concrete to fix the "problem". You did this without evaluating options, considering the entire situation and gaining proper perspective. Essentially, you created a caustic environment that gave the situation no chance but to go badly. Things did go badly, as now you need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to have your sidewalk repaired or replaced.

What if you would have evaluated the situation better? Maybe the forecast showed that tomorrow the temps will rise plenty high enough to melt the ice or snow naturally? The best course of action would have been to do nothing. Perhaps you could have spent a little extra time and shoveled the path if it were light snow. You could have even researched safer ways to melt ice before dumping all that salt. All of these paths would have led to much more favorable outcomes, as you would have avoided damaging the concrete in haste.

Starting to see a parallel between this hypothetical situation and your business or work environment yet? How often do we perceive problems and, in a rush to fix them, create bigger problems. This may be in the form of a small problem that you turned into a big problem by not understanding the full situation before acting or your perception that one of your employees isn't doing enough or working fast enough to fix something. Instead of letting them work it out or chatting with them about your expectations, you rush in and do it yourself...and mess things up.

As leaders, we must learn to evaluate the entire situation and gain the correct perspective prior to taking action. This is called systems thinking and is a critical skill to develop. We must also learn to trust and communicate with those that we have put in charge of certain work. You should always coach and offer to help, however jumping in and dictating what need to happen is usually completely unnecessary. Rather, what you're demonstrating is your impatience, need for control and lack of trust in your employees.

As a leader, you need to have capacity in reserve to deal with critical issues. Those things that really are serious problems and require your intervention to resolve. How can you do that if you are spending your valuable time chasing minor problems or, worse yet, ghosts. You'll get so lost in trying to fix the problems that you inadvertently made much worse, that the big problems will go unresolved. Then you'll have real mess on your hands and things will quickly spiral out of control.

You must know your place as a leader! It's imperative that you always maintain an accurate view of the big picture and keep proper perspective. Only then will truly know when you need to intervene to solve a big problem and when to let your employees solve those that you hired them to solve, even if it's not how you'd do it. When letting them solve the problem, NEVER criticize them or imply that they are doing a bad job. Coach them on your expectations, but never criticize. That's worse than trying to solve the problem yourself and royally messing things up. You must know your place!!

Have you royally messed things up by not letting the right people fix the problem? Maybe you rushed to fix something minor and made it much worse? There are people waiting to help clean things up. Check out FailingCompany.com to find the help that you need. Go sign up for an account or log in to your existing account and start working with someone today.

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Have you ever been in a work situation where you didn't feel like you could speak up and say what you though really needed to happen? Maybe it was with a boss or perhaps a business partner? You knew exacly what needed to happen, but your opinion would have been the unpopular one. Instead, you didn't want to rock the boat or go against the grain. How did you feel after that? Did the situation work out great or would things have gone better if you would have spoken up and did what you thought was right?

Sometimes you have to bite your tongue and go with the group due to circumstances. Perhaps you have a really controlling boss or the culture rewards being a team player more than real success. In those situations, I'd encourage you to look for better opportunities, as you'll never achieve your goals there. However, sometimes we are afraid to speak up for more deeply rooted reasons. Reasons that are totally within our control if we choose to acknowledge them and do something about it.

Most of us are wired from a young age to seek external validation. We get praise for getting good grades in school. We may have gotten acknowledged somehow for having good conduct in our grade school classroom. We make friends or become popular when we can fit in with the crowd. Over time, we become conditioned to do things to receive that external validation rather than doing what is right for us or right for the situation. That external validation becomes far more important than how we feel about ourselves and that becomes the glass ceiling to our success in life.

Conditioning that is so deeply engrained in us doesn't just disappear when we go to work. We want validation from those we work with too. Whether it's a boss that we want to impress, business partners that you don't want to upset or co-workers that you want to hang out with, it's no different than when we were in grade school. We'll be subconsciously reading reactions and adjusting our behaviors to receive more favorable reactions. We want to impress them and certainly don't want to seem like we're better than them, as we fear the consequences.

Why is this important? Most of us don't even realize that we still seek validation at work. Often times, we don't push to do what we know is right simply because we don't want others to think badly of us. Like it's a bad thing to have a different point of view or opinion than the rest of the group. Instead, we suppress our desire to shout out that you know exactly what to do and settle for seeking group consensus instead. Don't get me wrong...there's a time for group consensus. However, there's also a time to stand up and be a leader! Would you rather be a team player who goes down with the ship or be the person that spots the impending disaster and takes confident and decisive action to save everyone?

Sometimes, it takes getting to the point where you're fed up and don't care what others think. Then you speak up. What happens? A lot of times people shut up and listen. Why is that? You are speaking your truth. What you are saying and what you feel inside are in total alignment, so you are totally confident. That confidence radiates and others pick up on it. All the sudden, you're viewed as an authority on the topic and people listen. Not the person that's rocking the boat like you imagined in your head.

It doesn't take you getting fed up to start speaking up. It also doesn't have to be confrontational, and you definitely shouldn't speak up too quickly if you're unsure of what to do. However, starting to politely and confidently offer your suggestions, even when it's the unpopular one, will start gaining you respect. The more you do it the easier it gets. You can even do it in a way to make your boss, co-workers or business partners look good if that makes it easier for you. Pitch it like is just a slight variation of their brilliant idea! You'll be surprised how quickly people will start looking for your thoughts and opinions. In many cases, the other really have no idea what to do but feel like they have to say something. You might just be their lifeline.

You're probably saying to yourself, "if it were that easy, I'd have done it years ago." You'd be right. However, for years, you've been looking to these people for validation without even knowing it. Now you realize that they are just like you, and they are seeking validation too. The real trick is knowing that you don't need validation from anyone else. Just look inside yourself. If you know in your gut what to do, then trust that and speak your mind. Eventually, others will start to look up to you for your confidence and your insight. It all comes down to believing in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, then no one else will either!

Have you gotten your business into a bad spot by seeking validation from others rather than doing what you know needs to be done? Perhaps you've learned to go within and trust that you know what needs to be done, but need a little extra help in executing? Check out FailingCompany.com to find the help that you need. Go sign up for an account or log in to your existing account and start working with someone today.

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