How Is Your Customer Service…Meh?

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How Is Your Customer Service…Meh?

Guest writer John Anderson relates his road trip experiences to readers in his blog post this week: How Is Your Customer Service…Meh? Here’s hoping your service cannot be described as “meh.”

I recently made a cross country trip in the United States, well perhaps not cross country so much as up and down.   Crossing into the US at Detroit and meandering my way to the southern climes of Florida.   Traveling throughout my career I learned to value “windshield time”.  It was my time to solve the world issues at hand.  I had little to distract me save for a chatty sales rep that was there for a ride along.  This trip was a little different.  Windshield time is now a mix of super productive calls, texts and emails thanks to the technology in my truck and the traditional time to stew and think deep thoughts. 

On this particular trip I spent a lot of time noticing how our expectation of customer service had changed.  I mean it’s changed a lot.  The bar is lowered to a near subterranean level.  How many times in the last year have you been surprised that someone has called you back?   How many times have you been surprised by someone actually getting you an answer or making a plan or reserving a product. How many times have you made a call only to here “can you hold please.”  And it’s said as a statement, not a question.

What I liked about this trip is I started to really notice when I got great customer service and when I didn’t.   Surprisingly it was hard to find those instances where someone cared.   It was like I was starving for a meaningful customer interaction.  Had I just become a curmudgeon and gave off so much negative energy that nobody would make eye contact?  I was two fuel stops, one fresh fruit stand and a rest station into my trip.  I had no experience, not bad, not good, just meh.  That’s it! We all accept MEH!  We have come to accept if it isn’t bad, it’s just MEH!  How far we have come and how low we have set our expectations from the days of Customers for Life, What Customers Crave, and Hug Your Haters (these were all bestsellers once).

Day two had promise though.  I woke at 6:00am in the RV.  I was graciously provided an overnight stop at Lane’s Southern Orchards.   Imagine a business that encourages you to stop overnight and use their parking lot with no obligation.  I had stayed before and knew the food was good and the peach preserves were the best I ever had but it was closed because I had battled Atlanta traffic. I did call and tell them I would be late.  I woke to a stellar sunrise over acres of strawberry fields and peach orchards.   The cannery was already in full swing and I can’t describe how good it smelled.  I had to hit the road and when I jumped in the truck, I noticed a small hand written note and a jar on my hood that said, “Sorry we missed you! Come back again soon.” My day was off to a great start and I would definitely be back.  Next time I will be in early to buy lots of goodies and load up for the trip home. 

Next stop was to get fuel, no easy feat when you’re dragging 42 feet behind you.  My technology suggested I stop at the next exit and use BUC-EES.  It also suggested I check out their restrooms.  That’s the oddest recommendation I have had yet, but it was the best.  I will leave it to you to discover on your own. Buc-ees is built around positive customer experiences.   They greet you; they sincerely ask about your trip or what you might need.  I think they have everything in the world.  Its like the Walt Disney World of highway gas stations and they use every customer service trick in the book.   With 40 pumps, and hundreds of parking spots there is now waiting.  Need lunch or supper its already cooking. Forgot your warm clothes or a gift for the grandkids, they have it all. I encourage you to have a look on you tube as I can’t do it justice. 

My point is that here I am, 2 weeks later thinking about going back to those places that gave me better than meh.   Do you actively train your staff to prevent meh! Have you trained them on the fine art of conversation.   Do they understand that before you can sell a lot you have to mean a lot.   The bar has never been lower, all you need to do is care.  People are starving for a customer experience; a good customer experience is a bonus.  I have faith that humanity will return to caring about each other and enjoying each other.  In the meantime, it’s just, well meh!

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Another Look at Success

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Another Look at Success

Learning Without Scars is pleased to introduce our new guest writer, John Andersen. As one of the original owners of PFW Systems, John Andersen was the first person in the industry to be labeled an Evangelist.  Over his 30 years with the company, he visited thousands of dealers in North America sharing a unique vision of the heavy equipment industry from a dealers and customer perspective.  With over $150 million dollars in sales credited to his commercial teaching skills he later aided in the transition to CDK Global where he continued as Director of Sales before “retiring” in 2016.  John now operates as a freelance consultant bringing vastly diverse experience bridging technology, consumerism and sales to several industries. We invite readers to join us as we take another look at success.

Another Look at Success

I read a recent blog from Learning without Scars about success and its various definitions.  Insightful as all of Ron’s blogs are, this one really sat with me for a long time.  The definition of your own personal success and measurements of it can really shift over time.  The most important takeaway for me was that long term success seldom happens by accident and recurring themes like hard work, dedication and sacrifice always bubble to the top.   You don’t often hear someone talk about a myriad of miscues, wrong turns, or potholes along the way, but I believe they are the catalyst to continued success.

I have been known to bring a box of mistakes with me to a presentation just to illustrate.   It’s filled with items like a RIM Blackberry, a Hughes Satellite terminal, my Grandmother’s pressure cooker, and a treasured Dick Tracy watch from my childhood.    The reactions are always the same when I present these items one by one.  Nods of approval or, “I remember that”.   Each has been replaced with a more successful or refined success like a Google phone, a Starlink system, an Instant Pot, or even my trusty Apple Watch.  This kind of evolutionary success doesn’t happen on its own. 

For each success someone has taken the time to look at the result and ask what could be better.  On rare occasions the answer jumps out, in most cases it requires a hard look followed by harder work and even greater investment.  This begs the question, what would happen if you looked at your own success with that same intention.   What would you look like if you went from a 1960’s pressure cooker to a Ninja Foodie?

The first step is the toughest.   It takes an incredibly difficult look in the mirror. A stripped down, honest, humbling introspection is the hardest thing to do when looking for a model of success. Let me share a story.

 I always viewed the peak of my success was in 2010.   I was 46 years old with a thriving lifestyle.  I traveled the country as the evangelist for a growing software company.  I was married to the love of my life and together we had a 10-year-old princess.  I collected interesting cars; we celebrated birthdays in Disney, and we cruised the islands a few times a year.  We had completed our dream house and were just settling into the most “successful” part of our lives.   In July of 2010 I walked up the stairs and dropped from a heart attack called the Widow Maker.   Lies, I’m still here.   Shortly after that my beautiful wife was given a terminal diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.  I left my career to take care of my family, my heart, and those who shared my heart.  That was my sole mission for the next 5 years.

As rewarding as that was, I felt like there was more left to do.  The measure of success hadn’t been met in my eyes.  I worked for a few folks, took on some side gigs, even tried my hand at some new industries but nothing gave me that feeling.  I was forever looking for that opportunity.  Fast forward through Covid when like everyone else I had the time to finally take that hard look over the wall.   If my new role was that of caretaker to my family, then I better be able to do it both mentally and physically.

I started with a lifestyle coach.  That meant a huge change in what I was eating followed by what felt like ridiculous amounts of exercise.  I had a group that helped with the physical and mental side of getting healthy.  I know now that’s the the trinity of well-being: mental health, physical fitness, and sustainable healthy fuel.    What’s the worst that could happen?  I lose a few pounds make a few friends.   Perhaps it would help me sleep better, snore less, walk easier and smile more. 

I could not have predicted the result.  I was evolving into my own success model.  I found myself changing from a Blackberry to an iPhone, or a Hughes satellite to an Elon Musk powered Starlink.   The transition was slow at first but like most good ideas it started picking up steam.  Pounds fell off, energy levels went through the roof, sleep came peacefully, and most of all…. I felt great!

So, what does success look like a year after the hard conversation with me?  For starters I’m 70 lbs lighter.  I go to spin classes at 6am twice a week, I go to the gym three times a week, and on Saturdays I RUN!  I mean 5k, 7k, even 10k and nobody is chasing me.  I run in the heat.  I run in the cold.  I run and listen to Ron Slee podcasts.  I smile when I run, and I think deep thoughts when I run. 

I would have to say my most successful time is now.  The love of my life is still here and still fighting, my daughter met all of her goals so far (she even runs with me sometimes) and I have found my version of the fountain of youth.  I think clearer, everything is a half-step ahead, and most importantly opportunity now seeks me.  

Seeking success requires a first step.  Take a hard look at you, your goals, your dreams and most importantly your “why”.  Everything you are already good at will remain, but the add on skills will put you in a new stratosphere.  Measure yourself honestly, painfully, and accurately then just do something.  You don’t have to be a 1960’s pressure cooker.  You literally own your success. It just takes a difficult conversation with yourself and then, like every success: hard work, dedication and investment.

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