Quote of the Day 30/12/09

“It’s more important that you be passionate about what you do all day than it is to be passionate about the product that is being sold.”
—Seth Godin

Quote of the Day 20/12/09

“Man who not smile should not open shop.”
—Ancient Chinese Proverb

Quote Of The Day 13/12

“Training is a tax you pay for a lousy hiring environment.”
—Robert Stephens of The Geek Squad.

We’re On A Mission From God, Ma’am

I did some following-up on customer service and some reading around the Geek-Squad IT support organisation which was discussed in the marketing book ‘Never Mind the Sizzle... Where’s the Sausage’. They definitely appear to put the customer at the centre of everything that they do. Something we are often not too good at in the design sector. At the subconscious level (and often at the conscious level) one of the foundations of the designer’s mindset invariably seems to be that, to some degree, they are doing their design work for themselves.

The Geek-Squad have a customer service bible called ‘The Little Orange Book’, a remarkable guide to great service (produced by the Squad’s ‘Ministry of Propaganda’ no less). It includes this six-point pledge that every one of their geeks is expected to sign.

I will:
1. Never violate the trust of my clients or disrespect their property.
2. Never say, “I don’t know”. Instead, say “I’ll find out.”
3. Always understand that my clients’ time is more valuable than my own.
4. Assume every problem is my fault, unless proven otherwise.
5. Consider my job done only when my client is completely overwhelmed with joy. And instead of assuming they’re happy, I’ll ask them.
6. Keep every promise I make. Including this one.

I think that this is a really powerful example of customer service orientated thinking that must have some broader general applications.

Going The Extra Mile

Here is a good customer experience story. Last week I bought a stale bag of O’Briens-branded Pan Fried Crisps at one of their coffee shops. The crisps were all stodgy and stuck together. Given that these were higher-priced luxury crisps, I decided to exercise my consumer rights and posted the pack back to the manufacturer. I had a similar experience with Tayto a few years ago and was sent a pretty formulaic letter and, incongruously, a voucher for Dunnes Stores.

I was expecting a somewhat similar treatment in this instance. Instead I got a very pleasant apologetic phone call from the representative of Perri’s Crisps who produce the crisps for O’Briens. She also arranged to deliver some sample packs to me. It turned out Val had to be at the airport on the morning in question, leaving our house unoccupied. Breaking from a six-hour workshop, I found two voice-mail messages from the Perri’s representative: she was personally delivering the crisps and had called to our house twice! There were a few more messages waiting on my landline when I got home that evening. She eventually called over again on Saturday and brought a whole retail box of crisps – that contains sixty packs! Talk about over-delivery!

It is good to experience such a real example of an organisation going the extra mile to address an issue, hence this blog post. The lesson I take away from this is: fix your mistakes fast.
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