Chapter Thirteen. Are You Ready?

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

—MARK TWAIN

YOUR COMPANY CAN make a difference in your industry and community as a result of the service you offer. The companies that I write about in this book have all shown this, and it has been validated time and time again. That decision, however, is up to you to make.

This difference does not come as a result of seminars, motivational speakers, memos, annual meetings or reports, or temporary campaigns. If it is not permanent, do not waste your money or time on any of these things. The change has to come from one customer contact after another—one customer at a time, hundreds of times a day, seven days a week; change comes customer by customer.

I would like to issue some final challenges to you readers. If this book has served its purpose as a catalyst for change in your company, I want to ask these questions for you to answer honestly about your company.

1. Are you ready to guarantee your product or service to every customer you do business with? Are you willing to tell your customers—all of them—that you proudly stand behind your product or service? If they are not happy, will you gladly (with no questions, proof of purchase, evidence of defects, or any other requirements) return their money? Are you willing to tell your employees to do the same if a customer is not happy?

L.L.Bean is.

2. Are you ready to talk about customer service every day? Are you willing to have every employee in your organization take a few minutes every day to talk about customer service? Will you provide a few basic points to remember, that will keep service at the top of every employee’s mind? Are you willing to take your time every day to participate in these meetings? Are you willing to visibly show to your employees that customer service is so important that you commit to participating in long-term programs instead of the latest fad?

The Ritz-Carlton is.

3. Are you ready to trust your employees to use their best judgment and do the “right thing” without having to check with a manager each time a decision needs to be made? Are you willing to tell your employees that they were hired because of your confidence in their judgment and values and that you trust them to make decisions in the best interests of both your customers and your company? Are you willing to take the time to find the best people, not the most skilled, and to teach them your industry and the skills needed to achieve success in that industry?

Nordstrom is.

4. Are you ready to ensure that each employee in your company realizes what they come to work each day to do? Are you willing to discover the “higher cause” that your company is in business to serve? Are you willing to determine whether you are just cutting stone or building cathedrals? Are you willing to look inside and determine whether the work that you and your employees do serves a purpose or simply serves your purpose? Do the employees at your organization know why they come to work each day?

The ones at St. Jude do.

5. Are you ready to do whatever it takes to make doing business with you an experience that is distinct from dealing with your competitors? Are you willing to create an environment that makes your customers feel so important that they would be missed if they didn’t do business with you? Are you willing to stick to your guns when it comes to maintaining the highest standards for your product and service in the face of early start-up woes and through growth and expansion?

Debbi Fields was.

6. Are you ready to give up income and wealth because you believe in your values? Are you willing to look investors in the eye and say, “This is what I believe”—even if it sacrifices business and profits? Are you willing to set an example for your employees to the extent that the benefit might even go to their next employer?

Chick-fil-A is.

7. Are you ready to make a commitment to a goal, keep that commitment as the focus of your business, and let everyone know how you do in trying to attain that goal, even when you never achieve it? Are you willing to “put it out there” where each of your employees and customers can see exactly how you are doing?

FedEx is.

8. Are you willing to make kindness a value that permeates your organization? Are you ready to take a moment to simply be kind in your dealings with employees and customers alike?

The Baddour Center is.