Feedback

I asked some seasoned colleagues (and good friends) to review some of my writing. They were wonderfully honest with their questions and comments. You can't buy that kind of candor and honesty built on trust. Building a network or community where you know that there is no malice or alterior motives, is priceless. It may not always fun, but truth is more helpfull than flattery.

Customer Service II

In my last post I mentioned my dissapointment with some on-going customer service issues at my coffee shop. As a follow up, I owe it to them to share how they helped to restore my loyalty today. I walked in this morning and the owner asked if I'd like to try his favorite mocha drink. He said it was on him. (Mind you, I have ordered the same drink in 6 states for the last 8 years. A lot of trust was needed to take a risk like this. don't laugh, I'm dead serious.) I tried to pay, but the cashier told me that they owed it to me since they dissapointed me for being closed the day before. AWESOME. Moral of the Story: Strong relationships are a huge advantage in maintaining, or restoring confidence to customer loyalty. All is well with the world for another day.

Customer Service

How many times do I forgive an enterprise for poor service before I cut them off? I have a coffee shop I love to visit in the morning. It does bug me a bit that they are not open on Monday. Ok, it's a start-up company, with limited budget. Forgiven. They always play Jazz and are always willing to banter about music, local gossip, movies, coffee etc. I love the atmosphere. The coffee is good and reasonably priced. They know my name, where I work. Cool!
Here's the rub. At least 5 times in the last 4 weeks, I have gone to the shop to find a note that they will not be working today. That sucks. I suppose if they had a good reason (start up, remember) I would be ok. Here's the excuses:
1. Had a concert last night, everyone was too tired.
2. We did some cleaning yesterday
3. (Through the window) . . ."drive around the block and come in the back" (not sure why???)

I got in my car, drove on, did not look back. Just a simple reminder . . .Customer service, consistency and quality are still important. We'll see how the forgiveness muscles are working tomorrow.

Met with a non-profit group the other day. They wanted some help in building a PowerPoint to use in their fundraising. We started down the path by describing the situation, what the architecture was to deal with the situation and finalize by defining the mission of the group and what they needed. The rubber always hits the road when you have to be succinct in defining your mission. Simple litmus test: if you can’t define your mission in a Tweet (140 words) then your followers, employees, stakeholders etc. don’t have it clear either.